Amelia woke up gasping for air, haunted by a nightmare from her past. The sheets and bed were soaked in cold sweat. She smashed the alarm clock next to her causing the siren to fall silent. There was a war that raged every single day. A battle to get out of bed and go to work. She imagined herself a freelance artist making art for different corporations and living on the surface, where she could see the outside world. Instead, her home was a small metal den inside a labyrinth of metal corridors.
Like most residents of Pulse City, she lived in a small studio apartment with a private bath. All the furniture and walls were originally uniform blank steel panels, but over the years, she had painted on almost every inch you could see. Bright, colorful graffiti was her favorite type of art, but the supplies were expensive, so she didn't paint as much as she wanted.
She hopped in the shower for a couple of minutes as the workday was drawing nearer. With her track record, she couldn't afford to be late again. Two weeks ago Jean, the plant supervisor, had brought her into his office chastising her.
Grabbing her work uniform out of the dirty clothes, she put it on and looked in the mirror. The wrinkled and stained gray jumpsuit covered in cargo pockets definitely wasn't her first wardrobe choice. On the top right of the jacket's chest read “Altrec Corporations”, a sign to the world who she was associated with. If Altrec had been a powerful corporation, then maybe she wouldn’t be so ashamed to display it. Or maybe she’d still be miserable.
Opening the medicine cabinet, Amelia grabbed a lonely orange pill bottle in the otherwise empty cabinet. She poured five of the SYMPCO nutrition pills into her hand and downed them with a small bottle of water. Although they tasted disgusting, it was the cheapest way to get the calories and nutrients needed on a daily basis.
In the street outside her apartment, the walls were a familiar dull metallic gray, covered in posters and signs for different corporations. She preferred this area to the richer neighborhoods, where the advertisements were bright LEDs and Neons. Amelia saw that the time on her watch was 5:30 a.m., just enough time to not be late.
On her way to Lisa's place, she passed hundreds of other factory workers heading to or getting off work. You could tell their life stories by the brand on their clothes. Workers wearing Kelthac jumpsuits had clean shoes that were on par with the latest fashion trends, their eyes looked through Amelia as if she wasn’t there. Locksin workers wore green jumpsuits, had disheveled hair, and oil stained fingertips. Their heads were cast downwards as they slouched home. Various other shades of workers passed by, as she daydreamed.
Occasionally, there was a poor beggar holding signs like "Spare Credits" and "My daughter is sick and dying." Growing up around so many of them, her eyes didn’t even register their presence. When she arrived at the entryway to the familiar apartment, her girlfriend was leaning against a wall waiting. Lisa's black curly hair was tied back into a tight ponytail. Her jumpsuit was neatly pressed and wrinkle-free and her right foot was rapidly tapping the ground.
"Good morning, love," Amelia said, raising her hand to a motionless wave.
"Good morning. I almost left without you again. What are you going to do when Altrec starts penalizing your pay? " Lisa's slender porcelain fingers brushed Amelia's messy hair back behind her ear.
"Sorry, I'll try to start getting here a little earlier," Amelia said sheepishly. She couldn’t stand Lisa being upset with her.
"That's what you said the last time. I'm about to start heading straight to work every day," Lisa sighed, her foot still steadily thumping the ground.
"I promise I won't be late again." Amelia met Lisa’s gaze when she spoke this time. Lisa gently kissed Amelia's cheek and frowned looking her up and down.
“Also make sure to get this cleaned and neatly pressed. Altrec may not be the best corporation in the city but you still should take some pride in it.” Amelia glanced down embarrassed, and when she looked up again, she realized Lisa was already speed walking to work.
Chasing after Lisa, she didn't notice the small worker droid in front of her and almost fell face forward onto the ground. The yellow, six-legged robot paid her no mind and continued screwing in a floor panel. This one was owned by Athletech, one of the few companies that had a license to manufacture and employ AI. It was one of the few things the government controlled and regulated.
Massive painted signs and room numbers distinguished different factories as they arrived in the industrial district of the floor. In bright red, blocky paint on both sides of the entryway to the factory were the words "Altrec Industries: 2-F3." A worker was outside pressure washing the graffiti Amelia had painted a week before. The art used to be a human with hundreds of cybernetics and the words "Corporate Slave," but now all that was left was a pair of shoes.
Altrec was a smaller corporation that manufactured and sold industrial parts for nutrition pill factories. Years ago, it offered life contracts with higher-than-industry-rate pay to help it grow during a critical time. Now, after years of inflation, the life contracts that had brought the two together seemed to barely hold them above water.
Upon entering the building, they found themselves at the end of the roll call line. For roll call, an enforcer (usually a lieutenant or captain) scanned their faces with a scanner gun registering they had shown up for the day. She had always thought enforcers looked like aliens with their white kinetic armor and single-lens helmets. Strapped to their back were powerful laser rifles.
Once Amelia was scanned, the words "Clocked in" appeared on her watch, blocking the screen briefly before going into her notification bar. She placed a quick, gentle squeeze on Lisa's shoulder, and they went their separate ways for the day. Even though they were only about twenty to thirty feet apart, they wouldn't have another chance to talk in person for the next ten hours.
Amelia filled her assigned box with enough bolts for the day and wheeled it to her zone using the rusted two-wheel dolly assigned to her. She was slowly saving up to buy a new one from Altrec’s consignment shop but was still a few months away from it. Her spot on the snaking assembly line was early on the second row, while Lisa was on the fourth row. The conveyor belt had just started moving when her co-workers Juan and Arthur reached their spots next to her. They nodded briefly to each other just as the morning announcement began.
"Remember you are the property of Altrec Industries; any bodily harm will result in a deduction of pay."
The four speakers in the factory played their usual depressing messages, indicating the end of the workday. The day had gone by sluggishly, with nothing new or exciting happening throughout the shift.
One by one, the workers set aside their equipment and headed off. Surrounded by people from every direction, a message went off on Amelia's watch.
"Lisa: Meet me at my apartment. It is a life-or-death emergency, so DON'T BE LATE."
Normally, Amelia would wait outside for Lisa, who would stay a little late, making sure her station was perfectly clean. Today, however, Amelia decided to just head straight to Lisa's apartment.
When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was that the door was wide open. This was a careless mistake that Lisa would never make. Tensing up, she slowly pushed open the door, expecting to find an intruder. She couldn't help but feel apprehensive as she creeped in and her stomach tied itself into a knot of dread.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
What she saw was Lisa frantically walking back and forth in her apartment shoving clothes and other necessities in a backpack.
"Thank God you're finally here. Come in and help me pack. We need to leave the city immediately," Lisa said to Amelia without a glance.
"Where would we even go? We're both buried in piles of debt; there's no way we can afford a transit ship." Amelia walked over to Lisa and put her hand gently on her shoulder. "What's going on?"
Lisa looked at Amelia with eyes full of tears. "Altrec knows that you were the one vandalizing the outside with anti-corporate art. Jean warned me today, you are on the list for termination. They might already be on their way." She went back to packing frantically.
Amelia's mind started racing. No wonder Lisa was so ready to leave. Being terminated from a company meant death. They shouldn't have been able to know though. Amelia always used Sebir jammers that blocked recordings around her.
"Someone had to have ratted me out. You know I always jam the area. Who knew I was there this time?"
“Speaking of Sebir, here use this. It will remove your watch without triggering their sensors.” She held out a small Sebir plugin device. Sebir was one of the most reliable brands when it came to blackhat tech. “I’ve already removed mine, it hurt but it honestly feels good to have it off.”
"I’m telling you, they wouldn’t have been able to see through my jammer field. Someone had to have tipped them off." Amelia plugged in the device, and a hot burning sensation bloomed throughout her arm.
"Well, they did do a system wide security update two weeks ago. Maybe the Sebir jammer you got wasn’t up to date. They wouldn’t be coming for you like this unless they had solid proof." Lisa closed her backpack and slung it over her back.
Charo City was less technologically advanced than Pulse City, but it was currently the closest other walking city. On Pulse City, an enviro-dome protects the upper class from the planet's harsh life forms and violent storms while giving them a view of the outside world. Charo, on the other hand, had no enviro-dome, and the top-floor upper class there were still considered tunnel dwellers by Pulse City's topsiders.
“You know how poor they are. Even the upper class there live in poverty. Can you even name one large corporation that started there?” The burning sensation on her wrist ramped up, and now it felt as if the skin around the holowatch was getting torn off. Gritting her teeth, she stifled a groan as the watch slipped off her arm. The skin unearthed looked slightly paler than the rest of her skin, and four small pinpoints where the watch's teeth were once buried oozed blood. For the first time in years, she felt free from Altrec's grasp.
"Come on. I know it's not ideal " Lisa was cut off as a laser rifle went off. She collapsed silently, smoke rising from her corpse.
Pure instinct and adrenaline poured through Amelia's veins as she ducked just in time to dodge the shot intended for her. With her back to the counter, she waited to hear the intruder.
In the reflection of the wall panels, she saw him heading around the right of the counter. She ducked her head running around the left side and through the door. Turning the corner of the door, she took off in a full sprint as shots rang from behind, hitting the walls behind her.
Heavy footsteps slammed on the ground close behind her, pursuing her as she ran for her life.
Bold neon signs and holographic posters fought for dominance, illuminating the narrow metal corridor of closed shops and factories. Sweat poured off of her soaked hair and down her forehead, a sign she was starting to reach her physical limits.
No matter how fast Amelia was, it was only a matter of time before the enforcers reached her with their untiring cybernetic limbs.
Rounding a corner of the tunnel, she finally found herself in a familiar part of the city. A wide street with fluorescent lights crookedly hanging over the doors to boarded-up abandoned corporate storefronts. The graffiti covering the wall panels was a mix of murals depicting robotic drones, corporate logos, and languages not spoken anymore.
Unlike the previous cramped corridor, the roof of this street was hundreds of feet high, and it had a few bystanders going about their day-to-day business.
She could use these bystanders as cover. The enforcer had already lost some ground because of all the nooks and crannies that Amelia had intimate knowledge of. Now, in the open, she started snaking her way down the street in a jog. The enforcer wouldn't risk hitting innocents in the process of capturing her.
Just a few blocks down the street were the famous second-floor market, the final remnants of the second floor's ancient greatness. Years ago, it had been the hub of all major trade in Pulse City but now it's filled with unbranded street vendors, over charging for anything they could. With its crowded streets and labyrinths of shops, it was as perfect a place as any to lose her ambushers. It was still a long shot, but knowing she may have a chance gave her some hope.
As she vaulted over an Umbron metal container, likely containing items to be recycled by builder drones, the space behind her ripped away as an enforcer let loose another round from his laser rifle. Glancing behind her, she saw his alien-like helmet about twenty feet back.
She weaved and pushed through the light crowd of people. She could hear the fast thumping of boots hitting the ground at an unnaturally steady rhythm, a heavy beat that was slowly growing in sound as the distance between predator and prey shrunk.
Thinking back on what had happened at the apartment, the only explanation Amalia could think of was that Jean betrayed them. Jean was the one who warned Lisa and sold them the plugin device, so logically, Jean was the only bastard who had the knowledge to rat them out. Hell Jean could've told the enforcers that they were planning on leaving and that's why they were so keen on hunting them. Now, the roar of the market was all she could hear, drowning out her thoughts and the sounds of enforcers approaching her rear. A sea of workers, freelancers, and union merchants were here searching for deals, bargains, and ways to make their fortune. The smell of charred meat and the overwhelming stench of sweaty bodies washed over her, inducing a headache almost immediately. She dove into the tidal wave of people, swimming through as if she had done this daily; the cogs in her brain whirred, calculating a plan of escape.
Even though their facial recognition software would be slowed down facing thousands of people at once, she needed a disguise that could get her safely to the spaceport. Passing a life-like mannequin, she tore off its blonde wig and shoved it over her head; its long curls easily covered her short haircut.
Surrounded by people in all directions, the feeling of being chased slowly left her. As her heart starts to slow down, the sense of loss begins to sink in. Lisa, the love of her life, was gone. Stifling a sob, Amelia continued searching the nearby stalls for a new set of clothes.
On the corner of the street, an old, wrinkled woman sat at a stall full of drab ponchos hanging from a metal awning and bleak tables filled with random tools and junk. Distinctively, unlike many other crowded stalls, this stall had no customers.
As she walked into the stall loud music from a different language blared, almost covering the sound of people outside. The woman's hands were ten-fingered robotic spiders that crawled over the table as if they had minds of their own. As Amelia approached, they scurried over the edge and out of sight.
Grabbing the first poncho, a plain brown one, she faced the woman.
"How much for this one?"
The woman eyed her, slightly hesitating. "Fifty credits, and it's yours, but I don't have time to haggle with you deadbeats."
There was no way in this walking city that Amelia would ever be caught paying fifty credits for a four-credit poncho, but this was the game played at the market. "Look, I really am in a rush; how about twenty-five credits for it, and if anyone asks, you didn't see me."
"Deal."
Amelia threw the coins onto the table next to the lady. Before they had stopped rattling, the old woman's metal fingers scooped them up and deposited them in her cash box. Amelia quickly wrapped the poncho over her dirty jumpsuit, not bothering to remove her former clothes.
Wiping the dirty grime off the street, she put on a quick, messy eyeshadow, hoping this last touch was enough. As she ducked into an alleyway, a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder, flipping her around.
The form in front of her was an unfamiliar silhouette of a man. He wore a dark gray cloak, and a red glow from his metallic eye shone brightly through the shadows of his hood.
A sharp pain hit her stomach repeatedly with sudden force, and all she could do was gasp and double over on the floor, writhing in pain. The glint of his knife dripping with a dark red substance stood out starkly in her mind.
"Sorry about this, girly, it's nothing personal. I just could really use the bounty on your head; with it, I can finally afford to.…"
Although his voice continued, she could no longer focus on the words escaping his mouth. His body language and tone made it clear he cared less about her hearing and more about justifying this action to himself. As her vision faded to black, the last thing she saw was the lake of blood surrounding her body and the man ripping her Altrec coin purse away from her side.
After the light dimmed from her eyes, it took just minutes before all of her possessions, including her clothes, had been stripped from her body. After an hour had passed, her few cybernetics had been completely gutted out by builder drones. In two hours, starving rats had picked her bones clean. An hour after that , her bones had been ground up by Sympco to be used in nutrition pills.
Nothing goes to waste in Pulse City.
