It was ration time. At exactly 2pm, they called all of the sectors up to the lunch room. My mom as always wore her red robe, well actually we were obligated to wear red stuff, as our sector was meant to keep the machines up, red for fire. I wore my special red uniform, my dad gave it to me before, he um...Well it's complicated. We walked up the stair to the lunch room. All of the sectors walked up, blue for the waterworks and the tiny atmosphere that surrounded us, brown for farming, cattle, and cooking, and white for teachers, counselors, and the highest ones,(mostly whites) get to go to the control room. The control room, was were whites kept us elevated from the surface. The lunch ladies were categorized as grays, basically the ones who do all the dirty work, such as cleaning everything, they are also the fewest in number. The food was also different for categories, for red they mostly gave us meat, and maybe vegetables. I envied the whites they always had the best food. But at least I am not a blue, they don't tell you what they are going to give you. They take all their food from a covered tray. It was finally my turn to eat.
-What is it today?I asked the lunch lady. For a sad reason they don't have names. They have numbers craved into their backs. But I don't know for sure because I have never seen their backs.
-Today they changed the food, now we have beef, and here, I saved you some vegetables from the whites.She said, the grays were the nicest ones of all, in my opinion. Ironically, since they have the worst quality of life. I slowly walked to my table, when I caught my mom. She was talking to blue, very dangerous stuff, they did not allow contact between factors. She the most shouldn't be talking to another sector. When I was 8 years old, they caught my mom talking to a white, another white caught her talking. She called a bunch of grays, and they took her away. Luckily they did not put her down, as they did to the rest of people who broke the rules. Instead they took my little sister's life, instead of her's. I was home with my dad when my mom came home crying and screaming:They took her!We all knew what that meant. Sometimes when someone broke a big rule, they put down their whole family unit, and of course them also. Life was tough for the sectors. Although I did not know much about the life of other sectors. I could imagine. Except for the whites, the whites always got the best quality of life. I did not want her being put down, or me.
-Mom, remember, what they did to Molly! Lets go eat in our table.I said with a little bit of fear.She looked at me for a second, then nodded and walked away to our table.I was mad at her. I spend way too much time, working in the sector's headquarters, creating robots, for her to put us in danger.
-Mom, what was that?! You and I perfectly know that we are not allowed to talk to other sectors.
-I know, but...She said as she knelled to whisper in my ear-We are being watched.Being watched?I know that we were being watched they had cameras everywhere. Even in the bathroom. If they consider that what you are doing is inappropriate, or you are doing something that you are not supposed to be doing you get punished. When I was 3 I got punished for eating my boogers. They socked me. It was really painful back then. But again, It still happens to me once in a while, now it hurts less. But the act of it is still cruel. People have sometimes been shocked to death,beautiful(sarcasm).
-What do you mean we are being watched?I asked incredulously. If she meant that we were being observed with cameras, she had lost it. She has been living with cameras ever since, our leader rose us off the surface. Oh, yeah...the surface...that contaminated massive thing, right below us. Rumours spread through the sectors. They say that the surface was a paradise, until our ancestors destroyed it. There was many nuclear wars, and the whole world was torn apart. Then a hand of survivors(hand meaning millions since the population then) got mad at the government for starting the war. They built a massive spaceship, and got about a million people inside of it.The rest is untold, since no one that returned to the surface made it. Every 10 years they do a random selection, 1 boy and 1 girl from all of the sectors, then they send them to the surface to get as much information as possible. Horrifying. My dad got selected into on of those. Never made it back, well I was 9.
-Some rumours are going around that they are going to have an early investigation. This time no randomly selecting, this time they are selecting the best, of the best. I h ave also noticed and unusually high security, at the control room. I am not sure what they are doing but I don't think it's too good. I don't want them to start choosing...again. There is always a chance they are going to choose you.
-Mom!I am horrible fixing stuff!I lied to her, they always choose me to fix the HUGE motors. In the lowest floor, there is a tiny trap door. Only authorized personnel was allowed. That would be me, and a couple of reds.
-No you aren't, you are one of the few reds that can actually go to fix the big motors at the lowest floor.But that's not the point, the made a couple of new rules as well. Now ot's passed down by generations.Just when she finished saying that the bell rang. We were dismissed. Of course, my mom and I did not live together. We stopped living together when I turned 14, a couple of months ago. Anyway, I kissed my mom in the cheek, and left. I had to go to work. I took the elevator, and pressed the button -2, of 1000, floors they were. The lunch room was in floor 789. I buckled my seat belt, and sat in one of the seats in the elevator, since they have 1000 floors, and each one is huge, the elevator has to drop near to the speed of sound, and that's because I am not very high, in the 1000th floor, it breaks the sound barrier. We dropped, I felt my ears pop, immediately, how fast was I being lowered exactly? I thought that I couldn't take it anymore, my head was about to explode, then the elevator, stopped. The doors opened, when I found a girl waiting for me, she was blonde, with blue eyes. She was little bit shorter than me.
-You are late, hurry up, Mark.She said as she started walking away.That's weird, few people knew my name.They don't really care.I didn't know who she was, but she had something that made me want to follow her. By the way, she was obviously a red.
-Pardon me, but you haven't tell me your name.I said maybe with a little bit of attitude. OK, I mean a pretty girl just shows up at you, telling you that you are late. She could be a spy, or something, has happened before, don't ask.She takes out, and identification card, Marie Rook,Special Mission Issuer it reads on her identification card.
-My name is Marie Rook, I am here to help you get prepared.
-What do you mean prepared?I asked her. I was just going to work, the only 'missions' that I do is fix things.
-Well, to go to the surface of course.Didn't they tell you back on the control room?She says puzzled.
Then my world collapses
