Hive City Seattle — Sector M-22, Mid-Level Zone 74
Year: 2076
The school bell doesn't ring. It clicks — once, low and sharp, like a door locking. Thirty-nine students rise in unison, backs straight, eyes forward. Behind them, surveillance spheres hover silently, projecting soft blue rings onto their necks — biometric reading complete.
Alex Pagne, age twelve, pretends to look forward. He's good at pretending — learned early. He tilts his head ever so slightly, catching a glimpse of Lena Maren two seats over. She doesn't look at him, but he sees her hand — three fingers tapping the desk in rhythm: I'm still here.
He taps back.
They never speak in class anymore. Not since the Harmony Audits began.
Across the room, Davin Rourke stares at them both. Not out of curiosity — out of envy. His fists are clenched not out of anger but for yernning, aspiring to have the confidence that Alex has. His breathing shallow. The collar around his neck glows red for the third time that week.
"Participant Rourke, emotional dysregulation detected," says the Sphere. "Recommendation: Intervention."
The teacher doesn't react. No one does. The screen flashes the next module: The Functional History of the Homeland.
Gone is any mention of liberty, elections, or resistance. In their place: diagrams, timelines, and phrases like Optimization Year and The Birth of Clarity.
Alex's fingers twitch. He remembers his mother whispering stories of the old world — books she used to hide in a floor panel beneath their ration fridge. He wonders if Lena remembers too. He wonders if they're both just waiting for someone to break.
They don't have to wait long.
The Turning Point
Two days later, Davin snaps.
They're walking home — Alex and Lena, side by side through the mid-tier corridors, talking low about banned things: music, dreams, even love. But Davin walking just behind them gets nervous of being caught, anxiety that a surveillance sphere will catch sight of them. He's shaking. His Harmony Collar flickers erratic blue. His eyes — wild.
Davin Gabs Alex by the collar. Alex could tell his ereguler emotions were kicking.
"Enough already, i cant hear anymore of this."
Alex bear hugs davin, protective. "Davin, calm down—"
A surveillance drone descends, scanning. Davin turns toward it, screaming — not in rage, but fear. His panic spikes the drone's aggression protocol. It extends a clamp, sparks flying.
Alex reacts — pushes Davin down, grabs a loose steel pipe from a recycle chute and strikes the drone. Hard. Sparks fly. Sirens follow. Alex looks back once, just long enough to see Davin bolt into the shadows.
Lena grabs Alex's hand and the both run in the opposite direction. Later Lena and Alex split off to have a better chance at getting away.
That's the last time the three of them are together.
Three Diverging Fates
Davin came home calm and relax after running away and catching his breath he felt regret of how he acted and upset that Alex had to help him. He pityed himself that he'd cower. As Devin reach the hab door the was a blue hologram notice it read:Ascension apointment confirmed, you have been chosen, next year, begins your future. Fallowed by his dads signiture. Davin was sold into the Hybrid Initiative as compensation for family infractions. Enforcers come to escort Davin to his new home 6 months later
Lena vanishes two weeks later, flagged as "genetically suitable" for Ascension Enforcer training. No one is allowed to ask where she went.
Alex is reprimanded, labeled a "passive data risk," and subjected to three weeks of cognitive reconditioning. When he returns to class, both seats beside him are empty.
Only the Sphere remains, humming softly.