Water for Earth

1: Exile

"This is the life!"

Val leaned back on his leather office chair and held a glass cup of water inches from his lips. The rim of the glass glowed with a blue light; this meant that the water was safe to drink.

A bell chimed through the building's sound system. It was 7:00 AM.

Val raised the glass to his lips. Closing his eyes, he tilted the cup up and drank the water so vigorously that he could hear his own gulping. Above him, below him, and all around him, thousands of Collective employees did the same and drank deeply from their luminescent cups in a surreal silence.

As everyone finished drinking, the Industry Hive slowly swarmed back into an orchestrated whirlwind of movements.

Satisfied, he sighed loudly and opened his eyes. His eyes wandered to a security camera shaped like an eagle with glowing, red eyes. Val smiled and waved a good morning to the eagle knowing that Hydrus Prime, CEO of the Industry Hive, was watching on the other side.

Val worked at the Crystal Mount; a pyramidal structure located at the heart of the Industry Hive. His office was at the 18th floor but the floors and walls of his building were see-through. This allowed for a literally transparent structure. Other than a glass column containing the bathrooms, Val could peer over and see all the way down to the first floor and look up, past the top 22nd floor, to see the blue sky above.

Val leaned back on his chair and, through the glass floor, saw the woman in the office above. She was standing idly with the prescribed white slacks and coat given to all Collective employees. Wearing skirts would have probably been a bad idea.

The woman above exited her office. Upon turning around to lock the door, her gaze met Val's. They gave an acknowledging nod to each other as the lady walked away.

Val leaned forward and returned to work. With a flick of his wrist and a pointed finger, Val scrolled through a map of the Industry Hive. Flashing on his interface was all possible information of all members of the Industry Hive.

Val's department tracked the activity of all citizens in the Industry Hive. His team had unlimited access to peer into the lives of any citizen - and the people were happy about it. It was a small price to pay for the well-being of humanity.

The Collective who rule the Industry Hive, Val's employers, value productivity above all else. Those who contributed least to society would be exiled to live in the chaos beyond the Industry Hive's walls.

Identifying today's exiles, Val located the degenerates and marked them on his interface. He then pressed the Exile button on his interface. A red, flashing, warning window dominated the screen.

"WARNING: Your selection for exile includes members of the Collective. Please confirm to proceed."

With an expressionless face, Val tapped on the confirm button.

BBBBBZZZZZZZ!!!!!!

The hum of steel machinery rumbled below. He peered over to a neighboring metal structure. A hatch on the roof opened and out buzzed five car-sized drones. The drones flew towards different locations.

Val watched as the first drone buzzed outside the entrance of the Crystal Mount.

With three steel claws, the drone picked up a woman in a white Collective coat. The woman did not struggle.

The drone then flew high up into the air and buzzed away into the distance.

Val returned his gaze to the huge map on his interface. He scrolled towards the south, past the borders of the Industry Hive, and observed the land beyond the wall.