The Portum (Undergoing Rewrite)

Prologue

Once, thousands of years ago, the Earth was a normal place, with luscious plants, fresh water and stunning landscapes, not to mention the wonders man created.

My people used to say that man created the earth, but instead we destroyed earth. Because of us, the ozone layer broke, our atmosphere became toxic, and asteroids plummeted towards Earth. After a year, there was nothing left except a toxic wasteland, most of man-kind was wiped out.

Everyone fled underground, they built tunnels which connected all the survival bunkers, a new civilisation had been formed, the elders, —the original people that lived and built the underground metropolis- called it The Portum.

Gradually over time, it truly became a metropolis, as people dug further underground and created homes and other buildings, it was a like a paradise, safe from the harm above ground. Unfortunately that did not last long, after about a year, people began to battle for power and a government was formed; new laws were passed that dictated everything we did. Every citizen was forced to wear a band on their wrist, which allowed the government to see your thoughts, and if they believed they were too rebellious, they would steal them, people were controlled by the government, the wristbands allowed the government to change and control our emotions as well, they were wanted The Portum to be 'safe', where everyone followed the rules and did what the government thought was right.

One step out of line, or one unusual thought, the government would be notified and connect to your wristband, they could change someone's mood in the blink of an eye, or steal the 'bad thoughts.'

Having your emotions and thoughts 'corrected' had side effects, it slowly took away your sanity, before leaving you mindless and beyond mental help. People learned to live by the rules and control their thoughts and emotions on a 'positive level', even if that meant doing something for the government, for centuries.

Then about 3000 years after the government and the Portum was founded, I was born, a happy child, always doing as she was told, my life controlled by the band on my wrist. As I grew older, my thoughts began to develop, but luckily they weren't any of the bad ones; the Government passed a new law, everyone was ranked by their skills, anyone who dropped lower than 100 was arrested and placed in a containment centre for adjustment; the government also replaced everyone's bands with smart-watches, which did the same thing as the bands, it just let us be able to communicate with one another.

When I turned fifteen, I was allowed to attend the local academy for teenagers, children under the age of fifteen didn't learn much, they were home-schooled. The academy was supposed to be a prestigious place, where the adults taught us; the school policy was really strict, immaculate uniform-which included a smart teal blazer, a skirt for girls or trousers for boys, a crease-free shirt and black shoes, it looked so uncomfortable, I'd rather still be home-schooled, and that is certainly saying something. When you started to go to the proper school, you began to get ranked. The smart-watch had a red number in the centre of the screen, which showed your rank in the school.

Before you enrolled at The Portum Academy, you had to take a test, in order to know which class suited you best, it normally took 2 hours, answering questions and solving problems, but here I was, 4 hours later, just finishing my enrolment test. I'm a bit slower than everyone else when it comes to tests, but that's only because my brain works differently, I tend to think outside of the box, but that's "Not the Portum way" as my parents tell me, so I have to think like a normal person, which takes a lot longer.

A few days later I got a holo-message from the academy head, with my test results, my jaw dropped as I read the message, I suited more than one class. How was that possible?! I mean, I knew I was different than other people but still, it's a shock.

Apparently, I suited most of the classes, the smart top sets and middle- I had the choice of each; starting to panic I took deep breaths, and played with my strawberry blonde hair. Unsure what to do, I tapped my watch and pressed the call option, scrolling through my few contacts, I pressed on "Mom" and started ringing, after a few seconds my mother's voice bounced out of the speakers, "What's wrong sweetie?" I hesitated a few moments, before telling her what the holo-message said.

My mother's laughter came through the watch speakers, "Don't worry Hun, it just means you're smart, pick whatever class suits you better." She didn't even bother saying goodbye before ending the call, I figured she was busy at work; as usual she always worked, my mother was a bit of a workaholic, but it payed off as she had a high paying job as assistant to head chancellor, the head of the government.

I barely got to see my mother except for half an hour at dinner, I spent most of my time at home with my father, he was the one who home-schooled me, when he wasn't at work at night, he was a scientist for the government, he tested and invented most of the tech in The Portum. My father had degrees in engineering and biology, he always joked about how I was destined to follow in his footsteps.

My life was great, until the night before I was supposed to start at the Academy. I got home from the café where I'd been studying the last home-schooling topics, the lights in the house were off, which was unusual as my dad would have been making dinner. Frowning, I approached the door to the pod-like house, the mood lights flickered to blue as I walked inside, and the house illuminated as the lights turned on, "Dad? I'm home, where are you?" I called out, as I tossed my bag down beside the glass table, where the cleaning robot stood on standby.

I sighed, wondering where my dad was, it was unlike him to not be home, he was always home until he left for work at Seven PM. It was currently Five PM, so something strange was going on.

Maybe he had fallen asleep at his desk in his lab, down in the basement. I slipped off my shoes and kicked them aside, they landed with a small thud on the sterilised floor, I walked down the narrow hallway, the basement was at the end, and I passed sliding doors with fingerprint scanners buzzing quietly, before I reached the basement, a big caution science had been programmed on the hologram producer part of the door. I pressed my thumb against the scanner, it buzzed as it identified me, a human-like voice called out, "Welcome Rose, go on in!" I smiled at the familiar voice of Hera,the AI that run the house, the door swung open, revealing a steep set of white stairs, lit by lights at the bottom of each step, taking a deep breath I walked, my footfalls echoed, the silence was eerie and a little disturbing, but I shrugged the feeling off, thinking I was being paranoid.

Eventually I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, the pristine and germ-free lab was now illuminated by the motion detecting lights that flickered to life. I glanced around, iron shelves were cluttered with stacks of files, test tubes and equipment. The oversized computer at the back flickered, showing the home screen, dad had clearly been in here, as the computer was logged in and a steaming cup of tea was sat on the desk next to it, "Huh?.. Dad where are you?!" I called out, feeling confused.

I turned to examine the shelves, as they often intrigued me, I turned round the corner to see the other side of the shelf, before stopping in my tracks, I felt sick, I placed a hand over my mouth to stop a scream, my knees felt weak, I dropped to the ground, tears welling up, a puddle of blood was almost wide enough to touch my jeans, I sobbed as my father lay on the ground, his eyes open, a silvery haze hung over them, he lay with his back on the ground, a syringe stuck out of his chest, his lab coat was soaked with his blood.