Dystopia

Chapter 5

After today's teaching hour, Eric didn't go back home. Instead, he took a bullet train to the outskirts of the Commoner Elite, close to the border between his home and the Military Elite. For a long time, he'd learned the Governing Elite was currently occupied with the eastern hemisphere of the earth. Eric's guess was that they were trying to absorb them into their society. However, this had been going on for about three years. Eric believed that part of the globe was resisting, and he was glad he wasn't the only one sane enough to fight the system. 

With his technological gear in his bag, Eric left the train. He walked from the station to the grey wall that separated the elites. On the other side of this wall, a forest laid. If you walked far enough into the forest, you would reach the border of the Military base. The wall wasn't too tall, so Eric was able to climb it and jump down to the other side. 

It was the first time he'd done this. Lately, he had been developing a program to listen in on transmissions from the Military Elite to the base on the eastern side. Today, he was going to test it. 

Eric walked into the woods and searched for high ground. Since his white clothing was unique to the Commoner Elite, he was scared someone would find him and turn him in. What he was doing was beyond illegal. But he needed to know if there was hope. He had to know if there were others like him whom he could join in the fight against the Governing Elite. Eric finally came across a high enough hill that even had a good view of the base ahead.

Eric sat on the ground and took out his laptop, headset, and a small antenna he had built. He entered his credentials and started the program he made. He put on his headset and linked the antenna with his program. If it worked, he should be able to pick up whatever signals the base was sending out. He adjusted the frequency, searching for a transmission. 

For many minutes, Eric had only been able to hear static. After even longer, with his eyes closed, he still wasn't able to pick up anything. He sighed in defeat and put away his equipment. As he stood up and turned around, he realized he wasn't alone anymore. 

Right in front of Eric, a soldier stood with his arms at his sides. He was taller than Eric and toned. His straight black hair grazed his shoulders and his eyes were different. One of them was grey, and the other violet. Eric didn't dare move a muscle or speak, he just froze wide-eyed. 

The soldier took a step forward and looked at Eric.

"I'm sure you're not from around here. Your hair does confuse me though." the soldier spoke in a rich voice.

"Uh. . ." Eric blinked.

He finally snapped out of his shock and said:

"I am sorry, f-for intruding. I swear I wasn't trying to enter."

"Good. Otherwise I might have had to report you." the soldier laughed.

Eric laughed awkwardly. He couldn't tell if this soldier was being serious or not. He now noticed the mark on his chest of an eagle and a torch.

"I'm I-111502." the soldier introduced and extended his right hand.

"I-I'm Eric." Eric shook the soldier's hand hesitantly. 

"From the things you have in your bag, I assume you were hoping to listen in on something from the base, correct?"

"I was. I had no luck though."

"I know." I-111502 shrugged. "The Military Base has many security blocks. I'm part of the Intelligence Task Force so I know that for sure, although I don't work in coding. I just gather intelligence from physical places."

Eric couldn't believe what was happening. Right now, he was having a normal conversation with someone outside his faction. It was so surreal. 

"I think I best be off then." Eric looked at his eyes.

"Sounds reasonable, you're very easy to pick out." I-111502 smiled. 

Without another word, Eric walked down the hill. His head was spinning from the entire situation. How many laws did he break today? In this single trip he crossed the border, deliberately walked into the forest, attempted to spy on the military, and had a conversation with a soldier.

However, he was most surprised by I-111502's attitude. He seemed so friendly, he found it odd. Eric thought it could be that maybe the military was allowed to interact with others, but that couldn't be right. That law applied to everyone. And his eyes. Why were they a different color? It then occurred to young Eric that maybe, just maybe, people who were different from the rest lived in every faction.