Cease the Second Kind

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

2049 AD

            The Television set powered on, on time, like every day, to the news channel, like usual.  The news anchor was an attractive woman in her forties who conveyed the utmost professionalism that not a lot of people could muster up.  In many ways, the anchor woman was a foil to the seventeen year old girl that woke up to the news every morning.  Amanda Schrodinger released a heavy sigh and got to her elbows and glared at the anchorwoman with disgust.  When you were woken up every morning early in the morning by the same thing every day, the thing that wakes you up, becomes the thing you despise the most.  Nonetheless she left the bed and strode into her bathroom to freshen up before school, which included putting her long blonde hair in a bun and curling her bangs, which she noticed was the most recent trend.

            A cup of black coffee is sitting at the table for her when she finally reached the kitchen downstairs.  She creams it and pours in some half and half and gulps it down quickly.  Her glass phone buzzes on the charging pad and she picked it up and saw a message from her mother who notified her that she had left for a business meeting in Vancouver that morning.  Being a sales rep for Glass Incorporated, the up and coming cell phone company that was sweeping the world, had its drawbacks. 

            She mentally shrugs and places the phone down and grabs a handful of nuts to serve as her breakfast.  She tried to get as much sleep as she could every morning, which often meant small or nonexistent breakfasts, but it was worth it if she could avoid getting bags under her eyes and wake up feeling somewhat rested.

            Her brothers, Jeremy and Austin were already at their private middle school.  Being the oldest child had its advantages, but being the older sister to tween prodigies was somewhat depressing, because she knew that whatever she came to accomplish, her twin brothers would always be smarter in the end.  However she still was proud of them and loved them to death.  She abandoned the house by walking out the front door to her car.  She sat in the primary seat behind the steering wheel which could be activated anytime the automatic driving setting didn’t work.  Amanda always laughed when remembered her parents always using the steering wheel when she was little, but that was before computers became better drivers than people.  She spoke “on” and the engine revved up and then she dictated the car to drive to her high school.

            It was a short ride through the suburbs before the car emerged on to the freeway and accelerated to 110 miles per hour, the special rubber tires humming along asphalt.  Amanda usually preferred to keep the radio off, opting for the relaxing thrum of the engine, which was a low whine.  On most days it would’ve put her to sleep, but today the sun was beating down so bright she couldn’t avoid it.  Rather, Amanda looked out the primary passenger window at the expansive city of Las Rocas.  It was a lot like Los Angeles, however while Las Rocas was in the upswing, the latter was in its downswing.  Crime had reached new heights, and the iconic Californian city was simply losing its touch.  Las Rocas was a colossal city that was twice the size of LA.  What made it special was that it was a new city, only twenty years old in fact.  Its claim to fame on the American map was becoming the second Silicon Valley by producing some of the most famous men and women in computer technology since famed Steve Jobs nearly seventy years in the past.  In fact, Amanda was fairly sure the automatic driving car was a product that was perfected only ten miles from her house in the garage of a man named Roger something or other.

            Her eyes followed the tallest building in the Las Rocas skyline to its zenith, the building which so happened to be the third tallest building in the United States.  Howitzer’s Tower, or more affectionately nicknamed The Pillar, was built when Las Rocas was founded.  Its presence became a symbol of longstanding success as well as the symbol that magically found its way onto every other postcard sold within the city, more often than not captioned “Hello, from Las Rocas, home of The Pillar.”  The rest of the city before her was very busy and bustling.  The windows glinting in the hot sun made the buildings gleam like gems. 

               The society within the city was also astoundingly rich.  It felt like that each street had its own character.  On Rochester Road there might be a heavy Russian influence where you can purchase a delicious plate of Stroganoff at Gorov’s Russian Cuisine, or play Mahjong with an amiable Chinese man in the park adjacent to Yangtze Avenue.  Las Rocas was a summer wonderland for those who resided in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city.  Living in the interior, though much more humble, was still very luxurious in comparison to the interior of other cities.  Las Rocas proudly claimed that they didn’t have the projects, “they were already completed.”

            A loud ping on the dashboard of the car told her that the car needed to be refueled again.  Amanda groaned in response, for the price of gas had skyrocketed in recent years, and it was still rising sadly.  She decided that she’d refill after school, she couldn’t afford to miss her Student Council meeting.  Amanda may not be very professional in character, but she was very determined.  Upon pulling into the parking lot, the door to her car automatically opened for her, and she hoisted her backpack and herself out of the car.  The rays of sunlight seemed to smack her, as she cringed in the light and ducked her head down with her eyes open to slits.  Sometimes she resents having such blue eyes, because they make her eyes extra sensitive to sunlight.

            Amanda quickly entered Rocas Northwest High School, and was hit by a refreshing blast of conditioned air.  The interior of the school can only be described as odd.  It made everyone in the school actually somewhat glad to come to school.  The teachers said that advances in psychology proved that the way things are shaped actually can affect mood.  So by that logic, the architects who built the building were obviously well studied in psychology.  In contrast with all the schools that make you feel boxed in by the quadrilateral walls and ceilings, the architects opted for a tubular hallways, where the halls were literally tubes.  The walls curved down to the flat floor.  Even the ceiling itself was concaved flawlessly.  The classrooms, however, had flat walls that closed the room in an either elliptical or circular shape.

            Her peers welcomed her warmly and they began working on their outline for the next pep assembly that was next week.  Her little “team” was responsible for writing the prep and prompt sheets for the student announcers that they used when addressing the school, as well creating the fun little activities that promoted school participation.  Her friend Jenny quickly recommended that for the game they do a small game of dodge ball again.  Amanda with a chuckle politely shut down the idea.  They needed something a little different.  She prompted Tim to do a quick internet search for some games to do.

            With ten minutes left before class her group finalized the outline and left for their respective classes.  Amanda sat down in her math class, her legs propped up on the desk to her left.  The news app on her Glass was open and she began to read the leading headline “Oil Scares in Arabia.”  She frowned and pulled the story up and was about to read it when her math teacher walked in and started talking to her.  She politely put the phone down and began conversing with her math teacher about how the Las Rocas Flames baseball team was going to the playoffs, leaving the headline story unread.