Chaotica

I was dancing at Villa Alpha, one of the most popular nightclubs in New York City. By now, After two years, I was used to the mechanics of it all — the smell of warm, aroused bodies, the impossibly high heels, the skimpy outfits, the gymnastic tricks that would get me extra UniCurrency tips. Today I had on the expensive holographic lingerie that Janet had just given me for my twenty-first birthday. It changed images with my movements. It shifted from scenes of the city skyline to a collage of red lips to glitter and back to the skyline again. It made me a hit with the crowd. I laughed as I did an upside down midair split that earned me a standing ovation. The UC counter on the screen behind me shot up with tips deposited into my account, and there was an explosion of virtual hearts and roses.

I looked out over the crowd, doused in red from the screen graphics and the decor. They were fascinating to watch while I moved. Transfixing. There were singles, who mostly wallpapered themselves to the back of the lounge, taking everyone in. Attractive couples looking for a little spice in their too-perfect lives, groups here for fun — they were the best source of cash. Everything was written all over their faces…

By now I was used to people of all genders chanting my name: Eris! Eris! Eris! I couldn’t deny that hearing my name shouted like that, with lust, with envy, with admiration, gave me a rush. I think even they were confused about their attraction to me. I was a Beta, after all. I was supposed to be taboo, ugly, unrefined. But I had hit the genetic lottery; I was one of the rare few able to pass for Alpha. I think it was the thrill of the exotic that turned the Alphas on.

There was one woman sitting in one of the high, plush seats that caught my eye. As I danced, she seemed to be looking at me with something other than desire. It seemed like curiosity, amusement… appraisal.

I got offstage and checked my holofeed. 17 requests for a private dance. I swiped through the virtual profiles until I came to the one of her. I had a hunch this wouldn’t be a meeting for one of the typical reasons: sex, temporary companionship, or just the thrill of being chosen by one of the dancers. But I was curious, so I settled on her.

I walked in to one of the private suites to meet her. It wasn’t uncommon for dancers to spend nights here sometimes, either alone or with clients. This suite, the Red Palace, was my favorite. Everything was red: the lights, the bedding, the costumes, the walls. Glamorous. Plush. It was pure luxury. An AI Synth was always close by outside for refreshments or security. Each time I stepped in here, I pushed my own small, drab house out of my mind. This was me. Not that other apartment in the Beta part of the city.

I put on a sultry smile as I stood across from the Alpha woman who had requested me tonight.

“I’m glad you chose me, Eris,” she said with that same appraising gaze.

“Well, you intrigued me.” It was the truth.

She rose from the red velvet chair and walked over to me.

“Call me Isabelle,” she demanded.

“Ok, Isabelle,” I said, as she removed my holo-lingerie.

“You know, I have to tell you, I would love to spend the night with you. But I’m here on business. I’m a Scout.”

My heart skipped a beat at that last sentence. A Scout? Was I dreaming?

“How much is your future worth to you?” the Scout asked me, tilting my face up to the red lights. I didn’t mind her red talons digging into my face as she scanned it with her hybrid ocular lens, sizing me up. She looked at my naked body, taking in the smooth brown skin, my arms, breasts, waist, hips, buttocks, legs. Even though I did it almost every night, I never really got over the intensity of interacting with Alphas this closely. Like the rest of them, she was flawless: shimmering skin, healthy hair, quality clothes, intoxicating perfume — laced with expensive pheromones, I could tell. She was wealthy. She was powerful. She was perfection. She was exactly what I wanted to be.

I said it in a heartbeat. “Everything.” Wouldn’t you?

A smile spread slowly across her scarlet lips. She leaned into me, whispering with her lips against mine.

“Then congratulations, Eris. Get ready for Selection.”

Later that night, I sat in one of the driverless cars assigned to take me home. It was always eerie leaving the insulated luxeness of Villa Alpha and returning home. As we went further up into the B streets of the city, it became dirtier, duller, darker. It was only sheer luck that got me the job in the red light district. I used to dance at a Beta club in the blue light district uptown, and Miss Royale, the Villa Alpha owner, invited me to audition after a UniTube video of me she stumbled across.

Eris, you have arrived. Please exit the vehicle safely.

I stood in front of the old, crumbling brick apartment, positioning my eye in front of the orbital lock. This building was an anachronism compared to the rest of the city’s smart housing infrastructure — we were lucky to even have retina scanners for security. I climbed up to the roof of the building, jogging up past the trash and strange men that perpetually littered the steps. Generations of Betas have lived here, in these same decaying buildings, in these same decaying neighborhoods. Of course, back then, before the Great Engineering, they weren’t called Betas. They were called lazy or minorities or criminals or rascals. The underbelly of New York, the B-side. It happened slowly, but tracing it back, it was inevitable, wasn’t it? Our hunger for beauty, youth, and perfection. The science that evolved faster than our ethics. And who had the money to pay for it all? The ancestors of the Alphas.

I looked across the roof at the side of the city I wanted to join. So close, so far away. On the nights where I drew a particularly good crowd, I felt like I could be one of them, like it was my life — I could almost grasp it, taste it. I wasn’t born with the benefits of gene editing that could keep me looking like this for decades, but that was nothing therapies couldn’t fix. I took in the twinkling lights as I considered life on the other side. A life where luck was always with you.

I came down from my reverie, stopping in front of the green door of my crumbling apartment. I stood there, repulsed, not wanting to enter. I realized now how much I hated all this: this place, this side, even the Betas themselves. I finally entered with my old fashioned key, and crept down the long, dark hallway to the room I shared with my little sister, careful not to wake up my parents.

“Erry? Where were you?” she tried to sit up, groggy from sleep.

“Work, Etta. You know sometimes I have to stay late.”

“I know, I wish you didn’t, though.”

“Aww. Well, you know I do it for you,” I said, tickling her to force some giggles out. But more to make her forget to ask more about what I did for a living.

“Stop!” she could barely contain herself.

“Go back to sleep, bear,” I said, giving her a little kiss on the head.

“Ok. Good night Erry.”

Etta was lucky to be able to fall back asleep so fast. It usually took me hours of tossing and turning, and I knew that after today’s meeting with the Scout I wouldn’t get any sleep at all. I paused, really taking my sister in for a moment. She was ten years old now, plain, most definitely a B. No one stared at her in the street like they did at me, even when I was her age. Other Betas never knew quite how to treat me, approaching me with awe and distrust, from as early as I could remember. She wouldn’t have the opportunity to get scouted like me. I wondered if she would feel beautiful when she got older. I pitied her. I pitied myself.

I turned from her and rifled through my work bag. Lingerie, heels, condoms, the ever-present, never-removable glitter. I acutely felt in my body how I’d spent the last 8 hours; I felt the soreness in my muscles, the fatigue in my feet, the aftermath of being “on” non-stop.

I dug out pherofume the Scout had left for me in the suite. I remembered spying the red heart-shaped locket hanging from a delicate chain, surprised at the fragrance that wafted out as I opened it. I sprayed a bit on the inside of my wrist and inhaled, almost feeling a high as the molecules bonded to my receptors. It was the most perfect blend of tuberose, jasmine, narcissus, and the heady pheromones. I thought about making it through selection. About having a hundred little curiosities like this. Was this what life was like as an A?

All my fatigue fell away.