Glitch #ONC

Chapter Fifteen

The woman waited for her guard to leave before moving. She pulled an old commode from the pile of defunct equipment and sat on it. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. With a look of distaste, she tapped it to silence.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, the drugs he has been pumping you with have likely jumbled up a lot of your memories, if you still have them. It's going to be a slow process to fill you in and replace what you have lost."

"No one will replace her." Luke looked past her in the direction of the operating theatre.

The woman followed his gaze and furrowed her brow. "No, you are right there. I offer my condolences and will personally assist with any arrangements you want to make. It's unorthodox, but being a Minister has its privileges."

"Minister?" He scrunched his face up in concentration, the term seemed familiar, yet foreign.

"Agnes McFarland, Minister of Sciences and Innovation." She flashed a glance at her watch. "I don't have the time right now to sit here and discuss the dreary nature of politics, but there are a few things we must discuss before I head back to my office."

"What happens to me now?" Luke looked down at his hands.

"Exactly. There are protocols, but they have already been broken." She turned her phone over in her hand and scrolled down the screen. Her face became more stern with every swipe. "It's a 'one in, one out' style arrangement usually. To keep the number out here within safe limits. We are in a deficit at the moment, brains wise, so if you chose to remain here we could put you to use there."

"What will happen to him?"

"He'll be convicted and sentenced to life within the sim, fitting don't you think?"

"Will you make his life hell?

"We don't normally intervene with the sim, we let them rule it with their conscience. If he feels guilt, he will force himself to suffer."

Luke looked confused and forlorn.

"Did he mess with the sim?" Her fingers slid across the screen, taking notes.

"I don't know. It's all so messed up. But he was in it, disguised as an old man and possibly as someone else, trying to figure out how much I knew." Luke's hands closed into fists. "That's when it all kicked off. I told 'Alex' I caused the blackout and..."

"Ah, I think there is someone you need to meet." She stood up and walked to the door and spoke to someone outside. It took a moment, but one of the guardians followed her back into the room. "Meet 'Alex'."

Luke studied the guardian for a moment. The taser was missing from their holster.

"It's actually Stuart," the guardian spoke as they removed their mask, distorting the voice. "Alex was a joke, a giveaway to anyone in the know, but I thought it was hilarious at the time i was asked to go undercover."

"I don't get it."

"You wouldn't," Stuart said bluntly, "only those who have lived outside would." He caught Luke's expression and took a seat. "It was a big thing when the minister's little sister decided to become a man. People do it all the time, but officials and their relatives do not."

Luke felt the laughter bubbling in his gut but couldn't stop it. He cackled wildly. It took time for him to calm himself enough to attempt speaking. "80% of all trans-men of the 2010s are named Alex, Zander or Kai." He barely got the words out before doubling over in fits of laughter.

"See, he gets it." Stuart leaned back confidently, almost sliding off his makeshift seat.

The minister rolled her eyes. Her phone rang again. "I need to take this. Things need to be sorted out." She looked at her brother, "He is your responsibility, I will call you when I have more information."