Interaction [Dreamnotfound]

5 | Careful

Well, I'm excited.

We now have a ranking, my fellow three readers. We are now #165 in dreamnotfound.

Yes, I am excited about that. Sue me.

-Cas

It was a dark, muted evening in George's flat. The stars weren't visible, at least not that George could see.

He didn't watch the stars much anyways.

It was still hours ahead of his required bedtime, so he was free to do whatever.

But he had nothing to do.

The government announcement had been nagging him the entire day, even as he went through his usual routine.

George worked for the government, but wasn't a big name - he only coded a few commands for lower Hemibots, ones that were meant to help out around the city during the day, when nobody else was there.

It wasn't a high enough status to get recognized.

And it certainly wasn't high enough to get spared should he be selected as test subject.

But he was working his way up. Over the last few weeks, he had been helping code a new microchip that would be injected to replace the ones already imbedded in citizen's skulls, with new features. They would now be able to wirelessly track everyone with a microchip, instead of using bands to track location.

Bands were a good mechanism, but location was something that needed to be controlled, at least that was what George believed. And the problem with bands was that although they were secured with a small pin injected through the wrist, done at birth, this could still be removed with enough force. It would hurt, but it could be done.

That was why they needed something else. Something that couldn't be removed. Something like a microchip, one that could be injected into the skull by a Hemibot, and not manually removed.

They had already started testing the location trackers, actually. The update had gone out as a test to a select few subjects, and it was working surprisingly well.

George dropped onto his bed, tired even though he shouldn't technically go to bed for another few hours. He couldn't have slept if he wanted to, anyways. His head was full of thoughts.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared.

With the monthly tests up 50 percent, it was just another increase that left him and his family in danger.

The tests had originally been announced to happen twice a year, but had been increased to 8 times a year before they had even started. Soon after, it was raised to 10, and then 12.

Now, 24.

George felt something vibrate and looked down. Without realizing, he had picked up his phone and attempted the password.

It was password10. He needed to remember that. He had been using password09 for so long, it was hard to get accustomed to a new password entirely. It wasn't Eiron anymore, it was September. Not Eiron, September.

George fidgeted with his phone, one thought present in his head.

Should he call his family?

It was forbidden, of course, but he had long since hacked his phone to let him make calls without being tracked.

What if he just quickly called?

It wouldn't last long, just a couple of minutes. He couldn't be tracked, and he hadn't talked to his family for so long - would it really hurt just to check in?