He claims we don’t give him enough credit for saving the human race. Well, there is a reason for that, believe it or not. He enslaves us in our debt and turns us into beings who don’t realize they are capable of emotions, feelings, actions that aren’t monitored. We could be free, but everyone chooses not to. Why? I have no clue. I could watch the sunset along the sunken city, or attend an optional (I think it’s supposed to be optional, but everyone goes) meeting about our history’s catastrophic fall. Now I sit and wonder where are the people who escaped this wretched place?
“Sirah, your breakfast has been prepared for you. Please ascend to the dining table.” I awoke to my stupid obtainer’s electronic voice. They’re just robots, but everyone insists robots are evil, so if we call them something different they won’t take over the world. There are idiots running our camp.
“Miss Sirah, your female parental urges you make your way down the stairs.” It persisted.
“Whatever, I’m up, go get Jayka now. Maybe she’ll throw a tantrum and break your head off.” I mumbled as I sat up in my bed. My eyes grew wide when I realized what I had just said. I looked at the obtainer my mother calls Gummy Bear, slowly getting up.
“ERROR. Disobedient action has been engaged. Punishment shall be merciless.” It screeched.
“MOM!” I yelled as I sprinted out of the room. The robot turned mechanically and rode toward me with a decent amount of speed. For a robot.
My mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs, annoyed with my “outside voice”. She saw Gummy Bear coming after me and quickly grabbed a screw driver. She ran up the stairs two at a time until she reached Gummy Bear.
“What have you done?!” She yelled over the obtainer’s protests and threats.
“I told you not to send that thing to wake me up. I am not a sunny person in the morning.”
“Sirah…”
“I told it to go wake up Jayka, and maybe she would break its head off… so it went crazy-psycho robot on me…”
“Obtainer Sirah, it’s called an obtainer. You’re lucky I know how to reset these.” She said as she ripped out a red plug from Gummy Bear’s control panel. Its robotic voice slowly grew to a fuzzy silence. We both breathed in relief. “Grounded. 1 week, no watching the waters. Am I clear?” My mother stood hands-on-her-hips in aggravation. She continued to glare at me…. Maybe aggravation wasn’t the word for it…
“Yeah, fine, whatever, what’s for breakfast?” I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, leaving my mother scowling by the foot of the metal staircase.
Revlen is my small county where 75% of the world’s population is accommodated. There are 300 of us in Revlen, which is huge for a camp. Most only have 10 to 15 residents, not including the obtainers. So, yes, the human species is in fact on the verge of extinction. Micah Morray, our “faithful” leader somehow managed to find one area of the world that hadn’t been flooded in the great drowning. Scientists had been experimenting with illegal explosions underground, and were interrupted during one of their most important experiments ever. The Chemical and Drug Research Inspectors, or C.D.R.I, broke in with the police behind them, for someone had been working undercover in the illegal lab. Startled by the intrusion, the chemists mixed very dangerous chemicals with very dangerous explosives, and, well, BOOM!
This disturbed the geography everywhere, mountains crumbling, volcanoes all erupting, and waterfalls bursting, there was natural mass destruction. As the mountains crumbled, the land became flat. The tumbling earth would flow into the coasts, raising the water levels. After days, weeks, and months of this treacherous process, the sea level raised over 50 feet. Fortunately, some multi-millionaire had just finished building the world’s tallest and widest amusement park for the orphans of what was Oregon. Some stragglers who had survived the deadly waters found the tips of these buildings and set up a small camp-type thing to stay safe. The water gradually began to lower and settle enough to swim safely around. This became Reylen, my perky little camp I (have to) call home.
To make sure nothing goes wrong in our “perfect utopia”, Micah created the obtainers to be our loyal servants, a.k.a. monitor us to watch for illegal activity. Everyone must have at least 3 obtainers in their household, which is one for each of my family members, except of course my father. He ran away with the rebels to find a better world. Mother didn’t agree to defy the government, so Father just ran away one night. He left a note saying he would return the moment he found land, and would always love us and think of us. But it’s been over 5 years, we can’t hope for too much anymore.
The rebels were a HUGE group of people who disagreed with the ways our camp is run. They wanted more freedom, and much more privacy. They constantly were discharging obtainers, trying to send a subtle message without any violence, but Micah responded with pure viciousness. Before the rebels, we only had to have 1 obtainer, but after a large offense by them, the number increased and things became stricter. We gained curfews of 6:00, unable to leave until 8:00 the next morning. Adults were to stick to their daily routines and never stray unless they had an obtainer nearby to give them a written approval. Things became a lot more serious and scary than ever before.
After a while, the rebels magically managed to create a code of hand to communicate. They would touch a certain part of another rebel’s hand a certain way to signal something. It would look like a regular hand shake, but really be the sign of a new retaliation. Well, as always, Micah achieved absolute dirtbagness and stopped that, too. They banned any touching between anyone who isn’t married or related, like mother or father. They have become very severe and aggressive with their punishments for contact. When you’re caught in any sort of skin contact or break any of the many laws, you’re sent to “the toy room”.
Now, the toy room is anything but fun and games. They sit you down in rows perfectly separated so you just can’t touch anyone. They have special nanny obtainers who are actually equipped with weapons so you won’t be gutsy with them. The nannies give you a long lecture on our history and why we can’t misbehave. You could be in there for hours, days, weeks, or forever, depending on how bad you misbehaved. The only flaw in this terrifying room is it’s surrounded by water. Like I said, idiots run our camp.
