The Intruders - Book One

Chapter 1 - The Reformatory

The country of – STRALIS
The city of - Malburn

Allie was on her way to the Reformatory for the last time. In fact it would be for the second last time...but she wasn't prepared to think of tomorrow. Clutching her cardigan around her tight she strived to stave off the early evening chill. The ends of her hair were carried up and away from her shoulders by the erratic bursts of wind, it blinded her too and she had to juggle keeping warm with being able to see. It was a losing battle, she resigned to being cold. She regretted having released her plait but she hadn't been able to bare another form of constriction. She wasn't far anyway, only another mile or so and then she would be inside - where the chill was of an entirely different nature.

She had left the factory early, to the disapproving glare of her supervisor but even Ms Sommerton, who took joy in finding flaw and delight in reprimanding, hadn't given into the pleasure of scolding her.
Everyone at the site had guessed where she was going.

Walking through and past the thick of strangers in the ever narrowing streets, their presence intruding in on her personal and anxious space, Allie felt exposed, as though they too knew where she was going and why. She was only just able to suppress her rising sense of panic and the claustrophobia that arose from the rush of pressing of bodies. There was the accidental brush against her shoulder, her arm, her hair and the occasional rough push, followed with a, "move will ya!" if she happened to get in the way. On any other day she would have shoved back, words cascading from her mouth in a colourful array of curses but today was different. Today the fracture within her was threatening to split her in half and her strength was consumed entirely with the efforts of holding the ends together. There was no reserve for anything else.

There was a conflicting sense of relief and dread when the Reformatory walls finally came into view, their jagged points stabbing into the shroud of smog that hovered above it. They rose up four storeys high effectively concealing the building it was designed to shield. There was a slight shimmer to the walls, a distortion of sorts, as though not in full focus, which she knew was created by the force field which lined its interior. It was a reminder that it couldn't be penetrated and to attempt it would be plain stupidity – not that anyone had ever tried. What would be the use? If you broke in to save an imprisoned brother, there was no possible way you could break out.

That was not the way to rescue him.
At the front, protruding ever so slightly and marked by subtle shadows, there was a large octagon shaped door. She walked towards it, her left arm raised, her palm open, as though pleading for the sensors to admit her. She'd informed them that she was coming, the door would eventually open but still the few seconds of waiting always made her nervous.
The door shimmered and dissolved. This was the part she hated most.

Warily she stepped through the opening and straight into the force field that circled between the Reformatory and the Reformatory wall. It was a narrow gap not quite three feet wide but she instantly felt a tremor which assailed her entire body, and brought with it a momentary surge of nausea. It lasted the few seconds it took to step beyond it and into the shelter of the reception room.

With so many visits behind her, she thought she'd be used to it by now but she wasn't. It took her a minute to recover.

The reception room was a vast room, white walls and a ceiling so high she all but experienced vertigo by looking up. The only furnishing in the room was where the receptionist was stationed, sitting proudly on a high stool behind a lofty, round table. Her eyes were glued to the screen of the semi-transparent processor.

As Allie approached her she felt a tingle, it was centred at her left wrist where her chip lay buried, alerting her to the fact that the receptionist at the desk had already accessed her details. That's how it worked here on Govern owned property, they did not require swipes to access all personal details. All that was required was to be in the vicinity of the FIG - Frequency Identifier Gateway (to Allie even the name when spoken in its entirety came out sounding like a threat) and the Govern had access to all they needed to know, every personal detail, including the ones she preferred to keep private. Allie wasn't ignorant, she knew that they had already accessed her details when she had come within the range of the Reformatory walls, but for some reason the Govern was subtle about that. She didn't feel the intrusion through her chip, even though some analyst on the third floor was sure to be gorging themselves on the details of her personal information.