district 17 | svt

19

{ D - 30 }

Since the age ceremony was only a month away, the crew decided that they would lay low until it was time for them to escape. There was no more training, no more meetings, and no more gathering of supplies. They pretended to live as normal citizens, not doing anything suspicious.

Jisoo gave every member a special bracelet to wear that acted as a secret communication device. If an emergency happened, they simply had to pressed a silver button and it would reveal the hologram contacts list with each member's name. Jisoo had a special red button on his bracelet. That button was only to be pressed during desperate measures, and it would contact all the members at the same time to call for an emergency meeting.

"I never knew you were good at making these kinds of things," Jeonghan said, admiring the bracelet he wore on his wrist.

"I picked up the hobby a year or two ago," Jisoo responded from the other side of the table, looking over the rest of the plans. 

Jeonghan simply nodded and watched Jisoo type away at the hologram images that popped up from computer chips he had placed on the table. After about five minutes he got bored of watching his friend work, so he got up from his chair and began to roam around the room and look at all the books. There wasn't anything too special: just books about biology, weather and seasons, and things the district never taught their students in school.

However, one book caught Jeonghan's attention. It was a plain book with a simple blue cover; but on the spine it said Culteral Traditons Around the World, a title that intrigued the former instructor. He pulled the book off the shelf before sitting back in his chair and opening up the book to read it. He had nothing else to do; might as well just read something to make the time pass by. As he skimmed through the sentences, his mind became more and more drawn to the information each page contained. His eyes were practically glued to the book for a good thirty minutes.

"Hey, Shua," he called out, causing Jisoo to look up from his holograms. "Do you know what 'memory transfer' is?"

The latter shook his head. "I've never heard of it before. It might just be a fictional story."

"No I think it's real," Jeonghan debated, "Look."

Jisoo stood up from his chair and walked over to the other side of the table where his friend was sitting. He leaned down until he was head level with Jeonghan, hovering over his friend's shoulder. He looked over at Jeonghan with a slightly irritated expression then focused his attention on the book to read the text.

"Memory transfer is a delicate practice that many ancient civilizations have done over the centuries," he read out loud nonchalantly. "The citizens of these past kingdoms used this method to continue on cultural traditions within their people. When memories are recalled in one's mind, the individual's brain perceives the memory to be reality, allowing him to relive the exact moment in time he recalled with one hundred percent accuracy. However, only certain people are capable of executing this practice and containing the vivid memories."

Jeonghan placed the book down, baffled by the information. However Jisoo simply walked back over to his seat and went back to work, not really thinking much about it.

"Isn't that crazy?" Jeonghan said, "People in the past used such a powerful thing to carry on traditions! It's incredible!"

"It's probably bogus," Jisoo mumbled, earning a glare from the latter.

"So is trying to escape a place with high security, but here we are," Jeonghan mumbled.

"Speaking of the escape," Jisoo began, "I have a little mission I need your help with."