Elysium

Quickly!

Shanae was running, feeling the adrenaline rush through her limbs giving her a burst of energy she hadn’t felt before. The gates were close now, but dogs might have been closer. She could hear them, snarling, baring teeth as they sprinted after her.

She wasn’t going to make it. She jumped forward with an outstretched hand, almost at the gate.

-

“Good morning residents of Sector 5. Your wake up session will begin in 15 minutes. Please be signed it ready.”

Shanae opened her eyes. She was in her bed. The morning announcement was still ringing loudly from the speakers in each corner of her flat. She swung her legs out of bed and groggily stood up. A spray of mist puffed from the wall beside her hydrating her face before she bent down and folded her bed back into the wall. Her room was very plain. 2 of the walls were covered from floor to ceiling with ads. Shanae had considered spending a little extra for the ad free wallpapers, but she had decided that she fancied a birthday cake that year instead. The morning announcement was playing on the far wall, a bubbly newswoman in a sharp grey suit was reading in an unsettlingly happy tone, “Secret police found a Freeform faction within Sector 6 yesterday. All enemies of the alliance were captured and are set for execution today. Terrorists for execution include 12 men, 4 women and 2 children. Sector 6 group punishment details will be announced before morning exercise begins.”

Shanae thought about group punishment. Sector 5 hadn’t had a group punishment since she was assigned, but they were on the news often enough. Whenever the terrorists were found (which was most weeks), the entire sector would be punished in some way regardless of whether they had any involvement in the terrorist activities. The alliance claimed it ‘prevented misdirection and promoted healthy living’ though Shanae wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. She moved her way along the utilities wall tuning out the news and raising her finger to the sign in unit. A sharp needle stabbed her finger and the monitor read:

‘Shanae Smith,

Signed in 5:37am,

Blood type AB,

Alcohol percentage: 0%,

Drug: Negative

Calorie allowance: 1300kcal’

2 small pills popped out the shoot below the monitor which Shanae promptly swallowed. She looked at her personalisation unit and swiped through the pictures until she found one she liked – a greyscale painting of some roses. Each room in the alliance was allowed limited customisation. There was of course wallpaper options, but they could be expensive. Then there was the standard personalisation unit. This was a 5cm square of wall which you could display alliance approved artwork in. She brushed her teeth at the sink, put on her grey overalls and typed a code into the terminal. A slight rattling sounded and out of the shoot came an apple and a small protein bar. The monitor made a slight noise and Shanae watched miserably as her calorie allowance dropped. Taking a bite out of her apple, she sat down and turned to the morning announcements.

“Sector 2 has shown record numbers in productivity, congratulations to the hard workers of Sector 2. The worst productivity for the last quarter comes from Sector 5. Sector 5 will be on a reduced menu for the next quarter.”

Shanae heard a beep and turned to the codes displayed on the wall. There were now only 2 options for each meal rather than the usual 4. She turned back to the screen.

“More news on Sector 6 punishment. The alliance has determined that all Sector 6 workers will have a reduction of 300 calories from their daily calorie allowance, 30 minutes reduction for recreation time and an increase of 5% on the shock sensitivity. I would not want to be in Sector 6 right now!" The presenter giggled, " Now, I hope you are ready, it’s time for the morning workout.”

Shanae put down the remains of her breakfast and stood in preparation. She was lucky that she had made time today. She still had small burns on the back of her thighs from where the chair had shocked her for being late earlier in the week. She grimaced at the thought.

The woman who was reading the news had disappeared. In her place stood a tall, muscular man wearing a tight grey gym kit with the alliance logo on the chest. As the new presenter went through the morning workout Shanae mirrored him, thinking more on the terrorist activity of the morning news. The alliance had been in control long before Shanae was born, but there had always been terrorists or enemies of the alliance that were conspiring to bring it down. Shanae had seen them before, long before she was assigned to Sector 5. She remembered 2 occasions very vividly. A man and a woman. The man looked normal to her. They had both been walking on their way to the education centre when she was too young to have received a work assignment. He was wearing the grey overalls, had his hair in an alliance approved style, even now Shanae remembered nothing unusual about him; but she did remember the secret police dragging him away. He had just let them take him, resigned to his death. He didn’t fight, he didn’t cry out, he just watched the world disappear.

The other was the woman at the lunch hall at work, but as far as Shanae knew, she’d never been taken. She had sat next to Shanae on the day that the servers had gone down. She told her about a different world, a place where there was colour, choice and community. A place called the Elysium, with high gated walls where the alliance could never find you. She told her how one day, she wanted to escape there and be free. She had reached into her pocket and handed Shanae a small heart shaped locket. Then, as the servers returned, the lady had gone back to chatting about productivity quotas as though she hadn’t just been spewing anti-alliance propaganda. Shanae still had the locket, it was hidden within her sock so the cameras could not see it. She felt that it was important to have it with her, but she could never figure out why she felt that way.

The workout ended as quickly as it had begun. Shanae rushed from her room ready for another days work.