by Sadie Turner
She turns and I watch her white hair bobbing away into the distance until we are alone. Seven misfits. Everyone else has been paired off and is wandering around with their imprinted partners, buzzing away, feeling good. Rane and Eddie are most likely already kissing by the base of the mountains, and Annika and Dante are getting to know each other—shyly asking each other questions as they collectively begin their life’s journey together. All around the camp are pairs of twos who are happily embarking on their futures. The joy is tangible; you can almost feel it in the air. Almost. It is absent in our miserable group of seven who are sitting and standing next to our duffels in the middle of the pitch, waiting.
This has to be a mistake.
Other than Mikaela’s incessant sobs, it is almost silent except for the sound of the camp flag flapping in the wind: seven colorful butterflies set in a circle across a stark white background with a not-so-subtle GG in the middle. When I entered the camp an hour earlier and first saw this flag, I had believed that my destiny was set. I would be imprinted with my blue-eyed partner and return to the Ocean Community, marry at eighteen and become a productive citizen. That is what was supposed to happen. I have been preparing for it since I was five. This is supposed to be the best moment of my life.
Instead, it has become the worst.
I’m not alone. The rest of the Anomalies are either staring off into the distance or suspiciously sizing each other up, trying to figure out what to do. How to manage the incomprehensible situation. Finally, a tall boy with bright red high-tops and a booming baritone voice jumps up.
“Well, we might as well introduce ourselves,” he says. “I’m Kai.”
I quickly realize it’s the obnoxious boy who bumped into me. He winks at me, also remembering our initial introduction. I look away. My bad day has just gotten worse.
Kai wears a red tracksuit and red sneakers with white laces, a small act of rebellion considering that we are supposed to dress head to toe in our assigned color. “I mean, we’re all probably gonna die, so,” he says, imitating Claudia Durant’s clipped accent, “Everyone else is getting acquainted. We might as well do the same”
“I don’t want to get to know you,” I say.
“You’ve hurt my feelings,” Kai jests as he mimes stabbing himself with a sword and dramatically says, “No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
“Stop it,” I find myself shouting. “Can’t you see she’s scared.” Sure enough, Mikaela has gone into a full-blown panic attack and is having trouble catching her breath.
“We’re all scared, Beanpole. I thought a little gallows humor might lighten the mood.”
I glare at him.
“What? You didn’t like my performance? I played Mercutio in the school play last year. I was told that I am an excellent actor.”
“I give you two thumbs down.” I wish he’d just be quiet.
But he’s just starting. He leans over Mikaela, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Kai looks up at me and winks again, pushing a long curly lock of brown hair away from his brown eyes. He grins, an uneven smile revealing dimples and perfectly white teeth.
“You’re quoting ancient history,” I snarl. He is incredibly arrogant.
“History has a dangerous way of repeating itself, Beanpole.” He stands next to me. Way too close. I’m not comfortable when people invade my space.
“Beanpole. Really, you want to go there? You’re just as tall as I am.”
“Yes, but you’re a girl. Didn’t know they grew them so big in the Ocean Community.”
“Didn’t know they grew them so obnoxious in the Renewable Energy Community,” I say. This boy is infuriating, and for the second time today, I stand eye to eye with him. The tips of our noses are almost touching: his is long and sharp while mine is short and narrow. I can feel the warmth of his breath and I want to hit him. Now, I’m not a fighter, but if he provokes me, I know that I can take him. I match him in height and I know I am stronger than he is. I’m an athlete and he’s just tall. Tall and lanky. Tall and lanky and utterly irritating.
“Relax, Beanpole. I’m just trying to get us to talk to each other. Sitting here quietly isn’t going to help us. You know, it’s a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest.”
“Protest?” I say quietly, looking around to make sure that there are no Protectors in earshot. “Be careful, talk like that will … .”
“Will what? Get me killed? Looks like I’m headed down that road anyway.” Kai smirks, “Relax. I’m just trying to make conversation.”
“It’s not even your own conversation,” I snap back. “Now, you’re quoting Abraham Lincoln. Isn’t that a little old school?”
“I’ve always been old school. Nothing like learning from the past to better understand the future. Though, I must say, I’m impressed. I thought you Ocean types were all brawn, no brain. Not bad, Beanpole.”
“Stop calling me that. My name is Keeva.”
“Finally, an introduction! It is a pleasure to meet you Keeva. I’m Kai. Kai Loren. I live about an hour from here in Mid-America. How about the rest of you?”
The girl in purple stretches her legs. She is absolutely stunning. So pretty, in fact, that she almost makes Annika look dull. Almost. Somewhere in her past she has been from part of the Asias. She has long jet-black hair, heavy bangs and her emerald eyes complement her velour mini dress … fairly inappropriate attire for a camp. “I’m Blue Patterson.” She nods at Kai, “I’m not too far from you. Did you take a helicraft here or drive?”
“Drove. Borrowed my cousin’s motorglide.”
“Cool,” Genesis says.
I roll my eyes. Boys and their cars.
“I’d love to see it,” Blue flirts. I have no idea why she is wasting her time with this arrogant boy, unless she is already playing the game of seeing whom she will be imprinted with. She can have him. I have no interest.
“Sure, I’ll take you for a ride,” Kai says, “Where do you live?”
“Sabbatical City,” Blue says noncommittally before adding, “Actually, my family works at the Caesar.”
That quiets us. The Caesar is where Sobek Vesely stays when he’s in the Americas. It is an enormous palatial structure, which is in the heart of Sabbatical City.
“Do you know him? Vesely?” Kai asks.
“Hardly,” Blue says, batting her stunning eyes at him. “My father’s the caretaker and my mother’s one of five hundred staffers. The place is enormous, I think I’ve seen him maybe twice in my entire life.” She sighs, “It’s ironic, me being a Caesar girl and ending up an Anomaly. Though, I think I must have always known. I mean, I was always … different from everyone else.”
“How?” The short stocky boy in yellow asks, in a genuinely curious voice.
“I dunno. I mean, all of my friends always seemed so … content. So happy. Even though we’re Labor and mostly work with our hands, I was never into that kind of stuff. I was always more interested in science like the Ecosystem Community and art and music like the Academic Community. I suppose I was dissatisfied. I never felt whole. But my friends were always fulfilled, like they always had everything they ever wanted. I’m not talking about money or stuff, I’m just saying … jeez, I don’t know what I’m saying—”
“That you feel incomplete,” the boy dressed in yellow interrupts.
“Exactly.”
“Me too.” He gives her a reassuring look as he squints up at Kai and me. “I’m Burton,” he says in a raspy voice. “I’m the only one here from the Academic Community … which doesn’t surprise me. I mean, our community rarely produces Anomalies and when we do, well …” he leaves the sentence unfinished.
“Why are you being so pessimistic?” I say, “We just have to get imprinted with someone new and then we’ll be like everyone else.”
“Is that what you want to be?” Kai asks, “Like everyone else?”<
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“Of course,” I quickly say. “It’s what everyone wants.”
“Is it?” Kai locks his eyes with mine. He is really working my last nerve. Why can’t he just leave me alone? I wish Claudia Durant would come back already and tell us what the next steps are.
I hate not knowing.
“Look around,” Burton says running his hand through his hair … well at least what is left of it. Like Protectors, the Academics, both men and women, wear their hair very short. Burton’s spiky black hair is so closely cropped to his head he almost looks bald. “The only ones we have left to imprint with are each other. Not much of a selection. And, in case you haven’t noticed, there are three girls and four boys. The odds aren’t so good if you’re a guy.” He looks at Kai and Genesis and then over to a muscular boy leaning on his brown duffel who hasn’t spoken yet.
We all turn to the boy who is busy with his hands, twisting and tying something. Finally, he stands up and walks over to Mikaela, handing her the object. She stops crying for a second to examine it. It is a beautiful necklace neatly braided together with long grasses and daisies he found next to him in the field.
“I’m Radar,” he says, shyly smiling at Mikaela as he gently puts the necklace around her neck. “And if we’re going to be imprinting, I want you.”
“DO YOU LIKE MS. SINGH?” Sobek asked his son when he had finally sat back down.
“She’s fine.” Calix wondered why his father was asking about his intended partner. It had been two years since Calix had attended Monarch Camp and his father hadn’t asked him once about Sarayu. She was a pretty girl from the Academic Community and he spent the requisite time with her: talking on their tablets, looking at each other’s holo on their identity watches and planning their futures. Well, he wasn’t much on planning … Sarayu spent most of the time talking. She’d like to talk for hours discussing their futures, preparing her move from East America to Sabbatical City to be with him. Calix liked her well enough and was content to spend his life with her, but he was currently far more interested in the holos projected on his father’s windows. He wondered how he could access them.
He wondered how he could steal his father’s watch.
“Just fine?” Sobek lifted his eyebrow. “Isn’t it odd that the rest of your friends are … what is the term you use? Head over heels. Yet, you feel your intended partner is ‘fine?’” “
I suppose. I mean. I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Did you ever wonder why your Third didn’t buzz when you were at camp?”
Calix absentmindedly touched his Third, which was encrypted with his father’s nanotechnology. Thirds allowed Sobek to gather and disseminate information through the satellites. A way in which citizens could both observe and be observed
“No. I mean, I assumed it didn’t buzz because there was a glitch.”
“A glitch? My technology doesn’t have glitches. I run a well-oiled system.”
“Of course you do, sir.” Calix wondered how much longer his father was going to take. Usually their father-son chats didn’t last more than five minutes. Maybe he could get back to the virtual room before the game was finished.
“These Thirds saved this planet.”
“I know. You’re a genius, Father.” Calix said trying to force an awe he didn’t have. He barely knew this man who was responsible for half of his DNA. Calix had mostly been raised by his mother while his father was busy running the world.
“What is the purpose of the Thirds?” Sobek asked.
“Thirds are used to collect data and to connect to holo transmissions,” Calix’s answer was rote. “They track visuals. The Thirds make every citizen responsible for his and her own actions.” He’d been learning this information since he was a child. His mind wandered back to his friends. He wondered if they had started a second game. He was happiest when he was playing virtual games with his friends. It was one of the only times he could escape the reality that he was Sobek’s son. He preferred to be a regular teenager. He wanted to fit in, like everyone else.
“Son. Are you listening?” Sobek’s voice was hard.
“Yes, sir. Look, I’m royalty right? I suppose my intended mate is inconsequential. So it doesn’t matter if she’s fine or fantastic. And Sarayu is fine. She’s great even. But she will simply breed my children. My primary purpose will be to eventually help you run this place, right?”
“This place?” Sobek looked at his son. Could he really be that daft? “When you graduate next year, all of your friends will join their intended partners. What will you be doing?”
Calix thought for a moment. He had never considered that. He just assumed his father had a plan for him. He now realized, his father was revealing the plan. Calix settled back into the chair.
He was never going to finish the holo laser tag game.
I am a pariah.
An outcast. A reject. Persona non grata. We all are. We are kept separate, as if we are diseased.
We sleep separately, eat separately, and do separate activities. Although it is by chance rather than fault that our predestined matches have passed away, we are misfits in the system, and we have to be reprogrammed to survive in the new world. We have to start over.
Claudia Durant does not go into details, but she assures us that it is not our fault that we are Anomalies. We are simply operating outside of a very well-oiled system, and it is her intent to integrate us as quickly as possible. Durant explains that we will soon be imprinted with a suitable match, and we will lead lives as productive as those of our friends who have already been imprinted. The unfortunate thing, she tells us, is that protocol dictates we must take a series of tests to determine for whom we are best suited. This means we will not have a “normal” camp experience; rather, it will be filled with tests to assess our compatibilities: both with a community and with our intended partner.
Our instructors are all Protectors, the elite unit that enjoys a higher status than the six work communities, Labor, Agriculture, Ecosystem, Renewable Energy, Ocean, and Academic. The Protectors are all employed in different levels of the Global Governance from mediacasters up to Sobek Vesely’s high-ranking bodyguards. Only one in one hundred people is asked to be a Protector; you are either born into the community or handpicked by the world leader himself. Protectors are the eyes and ears of Sobek Vesely, and my entire life I have grown up slightly in awe—and in fear—of them.
Now, they are my counselors.
Claudia Durant instructs us every morning. We wake at six for a jog around the perimeter of the camp, eat a quick breakfast, and then suffer through monotonous morning sessions filled with the history of the GG. I’ve heard all of this before, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Claudia Durant. Every morning, she drones on and on about people’s selfishness and how it almost led to total world annihilation. She explains to us in a patronizing tone how the Great Technology War, also known as China’s war with the US and Russia, was over in a matter of minutes. The actual “fighting” was made up of three sides pushing buttons and millions dying—dying over ignorance and greed. She reiterates how the nuclear fallout of The Great Technology War nearly destroyed our oceans and animals, and how Sobek Vesely stepped forth and offered us a solution: a new world without war. A world where dissent is a thing of the past and everyone is compliant, happy, and satisfied. A world where information and protection come from a new form of technology called a Third, the technology that Sobek patented and generously gave to the world.
On day four, Claudia shows us a propaganda holo, the same one I’ve watched every December on Emancipation Day, showing Sobek introducing the data chip which, in addition to connecting them to the mainframe satellite system, uses a newborn’s DNA as a way to imprint the GG citizens with an intended partner who will satisfy and complete them. The holo shows satisfied couples all over the Americas smiling with their newborns as each baby receives his or her Third. The film ends with everyone holding up their fists and repeating Sobek’s most famous motto
: With satisfaction comes happiness, and with happiness comes peace.
Today is the sixth day of listening to these endless lectures and I want to scream. I get it. I’ve seen it. Why do I need to hear it again? I just want to find Annika and Rane and talk to them. I want to go home to my father. Since the minute I was old enough to understand language and use my Third, I’ve been listening to how Sobek Vesely and his Global Governance saved our planet from destruction. So why am I forced to review the lesson? Is this because I’m an Anomaly? Is that why I need to hear about this repeatedly? Are they so afraid that I am going to revolt because I am different? I feel just the opposite: I just want to fit in, to get imprinted, and forget this ever happened.
Forget that I was ever different.
Every day that Claudia drones on and on about our history I want to shout out that I am bored. That I know every fact she is going to say about our past. But I stay quiet. We all do … except for Burton, who antagonizes her by ceaselessly asking questions. I suppose it’s in his nature because he’s from the Academic Community, but it’s not good to stand out so much. Yet Burton refuses to stay quiet. I know he’s annoying her because every day she shows less patience with him. And Protectors are known for their patience.
It’s what makes them so dangerous.
In the afternoons, Claudia’s sub-instructors give us a series of daily tests that are meant to assess both our inclination toward a Community as well as our affinity with each other. Inelia is an older woman with gray eyes and long silver hair, which she wears in a tight braid. I guess she missed the memo that says most Protectors have short hair. Hers is gorgeous and hangs defiantly down the center of her back. She has a slight limp and uses an ebony cane, the color of her skin. But Inelia isn’t an invalid, she’s just the opposite. Even though she is one of the oldest counselors, she is unusually spry. In martial arts training, she uses her cane with the skill of a practiced black belt. Even Radar, who is a Krav Maga expert, is no match for Inelia who flattens him every time we do hand-to-hand combat.