They lived and loved in a world where skin contact was absolutely forbidden. One day, on what the past called the Day of the Hearts, they slipped up and held hands in the middle of the street.
Three years after a deadly pandemic wiped out 65% of...
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Hushed whispers greeted the woman as she stormed into the room.
No one gave her any notice except for a few heads who turned her way as she sat on the last available seat. She glanced from one face to the other, trying to decipher each mood, hoping to catch a stray phrase or even a word that might give her a clue on what they were saying.
She couldn't find anything.
Dr. Lilian Chen despised these meetings. They only fueled the fear that kept growing in her; fear that she could not voice out, nor even show any sign of.
She consciously straightened her back and lifted the metallic briefcase that she held in one hand. Laid it on the table in front of her and gingerly rested her palm on a hand-shaped glass in the middle. It pulsed as it registered her prints. There was a faint click as the mechanism released the lock.
The female doctor opened the briefcase to reveal several sheets of paper - all covered in semi-transparent vellum. Taking out the documents and placing it on the table, she reached forward and punched in a series of codes on a digital tablet that was embedded on the circular black granite that spanned more than half of the room.
"The Government assembly shall begin in precisely sixty seconds," an electronic voice spoke through unseen speakers installed all over the room as a steady hum of something mechanical alerted those in attendance.
The shuffle of seats broke the silence and an expectant tension sent a feeling of dread across Dr. Chen. She did not relish her task of informing everyone of what she had on her report.
Rectangular bluish light appeared like ghostly auras above the table and from these seemingly floating portals, grim-faced images of people in formal suits peered at those that were in physical attendance.
The Government was not headed by one person.
It was the combined leaders of the surviving cities across the globe. None of them physically present in any of the cities for fear of contamination. Those inside the room were the specialists in their respective fields of medical research, heads of medical facilities and those that enforced the Mandate.
The monotonous voice started the last 20-second countdown as everyone settled into their seats. A small screen flickered in front of each one. It was a projected screen from the table itself, on the surface of the black granite, a greenish keyboard made of light appeared.
Dr. Chen was suddenly restless.
Her palms felt clammy as she gave the topmost document stacked in front of her a stroke. She felt dirty and sick. But she knew everyone was sick. Everyone outside the stronghold of the government facilities that were. And only she knew how severe it had become.
