Unknown Depths

Chapter 1: Prompt

Diane has lived leisurely since the start of her unemployed life. But days passed by and she had social anxieties about being useless and a waste of space in this advanced technological society. It does not help that all her applications seem to have sunk into the many resumes sent by others who are also looking for a job.

Nowadays, to stop her anxieties, she has been using the virtual gadget she has got more and more these days. Indulging in the world that is not her reality. In a space in the wide network, she can be more than she could ever be.

Getting the goggles out of her eyes, she checked the time and saw she was past her lunch. No wonder her stomach was protesting. She should just prepare some sandwiches to fill her stomach. A hearty dinner will be in order to make up for this pitiful lunch. Let it be known, Diane never eats small amounts of food due to her high metabolism, having just sandwiches for lunch was more of a snack than a proper meal for her.

Just as she was preparing her lunch-snack, Diane turned on the TV to watch the news. Or in her current place, she was listening to what was said in the kitchen. News was her entertainment for some reason, as other kinds of shows really don’t appeal as much to her.

“....in district G there has been a huge number of people suddenly going into a coma. Authorities are currently looking for reasons as to why they fell into this predicament, but are warning people to go to the nearest hospital for a free check-up to prevent the same situation from happening in other places.” The news anchor said as Diane imagined the screen of the TV showing the said people with mosaics on their faces. The anchor continued saying a few more words in regards to the incident before he switched to other news.

Diane absent-mindedly took note of the incident in some corner of her mind. Fully preoccupied with her task at hand, to even listen well to what was said on the news. Though she did hear some things that concerned the other district in the city-state she is living in.

Butterfly city is composed of twelve districts, each divided into four major areas. District A-C was the most prosperous area wherein most companies were, as well as the central activity area of the government. It is typically the area of the rich as well as the people of power where they stay their whole lives.

District D-F was the lesser version of district A-C. There is less crowd and there is less commerce than the first three sectors. People who live here are generally those who, one way or another, have some connections on the higher side of the city. Most of them are new people who were invested by those in district A during their younger years and are expected to work for the companies in those most prosperous areas.

Diane belonged to those invested by a patron in district A. She was an orphan and not the most intelligent person there is, nor did she possess something that is worth being given too much attention. If she can ask her patron, she wants to know why she is here and what is the purpose of them paying so much for someone as mediocre as her.

Ability-wise, Diane thinks she belongs to district G-I. Her greatest characteristic lies in her physical strength. Here in district G-I, she could exert her greatest potential: manual labor.

District G-I was full of many factories. There is not much need for thinking nor is there too much pressure in the workplace. There is no boss who is breathing on her neck nor are there nosy workmates who think of schemes every day. The only thing she had to mind was the mainframe monitoring their work and, other than less pay than those in district A-F, everything else was bearable.

As for the world outside the city-state she was born and raised in, most people in their city are unaware of it. There were some reports on the TVs and other media, but this information was vague at most and almost obsolete whenever it appeared.

“....district L was detected with a new virus that is declared to be contagious.” Diane’s attention was attracted when she heard about the least prosperous sector of the city. A disease is a rare thing among the people of her generation due to various vaccines and supplements given to people as they were growing up.

Advancement in technology also means advancement in healthcare and other aspects of life. Most viruses no longer affect human life nor are they hard to contain, even if they do evolve into a serious disease worthy of public concern. Most of the time, they just die down and are forgotten by the public.

Diane walked to the TV to see the report in regards to it and saw the rather inferior houses and poor urban planning. In a less technologically advanced civilization, the lower district is equivalent to those of slums. People who cannot distribute much on the overall development of society were placed there with some support from the government. Most people’s livelihood there is quite independent of the other districts of the city, but it still heavily relies on the support of the other districts in most areas of their economy and technology.

Diane was once in such a place during her university years and the experience has made her determined not to fall in this district as much as she could. Everything can be found there and death is much more common there than in the other districts. After all, the laws there are vastly different to the other districts and are more barbaric in terms of maintaining order. If she had not been a university student back then, she was sure to have fallen into something horrible while she was there.

“There is almost no change there,” Diane absent-mindedly said as she did not let go of any details shown on the screen. “It is still chaotic out there.”

Sighing, Diane returned to the kitchen to fetch her sandwich and placed it on the small table in front of her sofa. Taking relish in her lunch as she watched the news flash and change at every turn, Diane felt content with her life despite her unemployment status.

Just as she was done eating, her phone rang, prompting a new message or email. Fetching her phone, she saw it was an email from the main brain, indicating an arranged medical examination from the government.

“Today?” Diane was startled at the schedule given to her as it was really too sudden. Thankfully, it only told her to go to any public hospital nearest to her and not arrange for her to get to the hospital in district A as it often does.

Glancing at the clock, she had at least two hours or so to get to the hospital for her examination. Not really a short time for her, but better be there early than be late. After all, this was arranged by the main brain. Missing the appointment will be recorded by the system and subsequently affect her life in the long run.

Placing her plate on the sink, she changed her clothes in record time then left her apartment in a casual manner. She has no plan to hail a cab or anything, she wants to run to the hospital, which will take her at least an hour or so non-stop running. This way she could also have some exercise along the way. In her bag was some change of clothes, some water to dehydrate herself, and some energy bar to supplement herself should she get hungry after exercising.

Stretching her muscles, she then broke a light run. Diane enjoys the wind on her skin as well as the sweet she produces. Her raven hair practically dances with the wind as her blue eyes lighten up in enjoyment.

It has been too long since she did something like this after she graduated from university. She deeply longs for this type of freedom she thinks is otherwise perfectly in order society.

Reaching the park, Diane went to the cubicles to change her clothing. The hospital is only a five minute light walk from here and she thinks she should make herself a little presentable before she goes inside the facility.

In the hospital, she was greeted by a familiar face. It was a university classmate who was then sorted to be a nurse rather than a corporate slave Diane had become. The woman’s name was Vivian Miller, a rather sneaky, close person of hers.

Vivian was a petite woman with red hair and a pair of hazel eyes. She was an outgoing person who was one of the few people Diane kept in some contact with. If Diane was a little generous in labelling people’s relationships with her, the other can be called a friend of hers. Maybe one one of the rare friends of hers that does not look for her when s**t hits the fan.

“Diane!” said Vivian as she saw her from where she was stationed. “It’s nice to see you again. Are you also prompted by the main brain for an examination?”

“Yes, I was prompted by the main brain.” Diane replied as she glanced at the normally deserted hospital, being a little lively. “And I see there are also others who have the same instructions as I had. Do you have any idea what is up with the sudden check-ups?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Vivian said as she asked for the Q.R code the mainbrain had sent her attachment to the email Diane had received. “We medical health workers were only notified of taking care of the influx of people that will flock to the hospitals starting today. There are more people coming later, as far as I am aware of.”

Diane hummed as Vivian led her to a certain line for her to await her turn inside. After that, Vivian excused herself to entertain the other patients that had just arrived.

Diane sat on a prepared seat for those in the line she was in. Normally she should have used her phone to pass time, but this time she took her time to observe the variety of people who were apparently in the same batch as her. Noting any similarities that many had let them gather today here.

Diane, although she claims to be not the brightest person in the neighborhood, identifies herself as someone who has more instinct than a rational brain. Her grades might be a little just above the passing line, just as far she knows, no one has the same strong instinctive reactions as her. Her guts often allowed her to save herself from most danger, and without any reasons, just trusting her instincts often leads her to answers she was looking for,

Like at that moment. Diane has a nagging feeling that something was weird in this sudden examination today. Although the main brain often conducts a medical examination and other things for the people, everything just screams wrong this time around. Something is happening and it has not been disclosed to the public for some reason.

“No. 3930 please go to consultation room no. 5.” The speaker announced as Diane snapped out of her observation and went to the mentioned room. Mentally noting to herself to ask Vivian a few questions before she left the facility altogether.

Inside the consultation room was a white space where there was only her there. Contrary to what she thought, this particular examination is apparently the A.I conducted. Cementing her suspicions of something fishy happening. Because unless there is an emergency, there is no need for artificial intelligence to do the job of a human, the basic laws and regulations of society have clearly stated that.

“Ms. Grace, please stand in the indicated areas to get started with the examinations.” A series of words appeared on the white walls as a circle lit up on the corner of the room.

Following the instructions, Diane did what she was told and after some more instructions, she was then told to get to the next room for another set of tests. This time around, it was more aimed at her mental health, given that it was more like those chats a psychologist gives to their patients. Making her puzzled as to why they need to have this at all.

Next was that she was made to answer some papers related to her degree and some of her last jobs. It was a stupid thing to do, in her opinion. There is no need for this at all, as the main brain should be more or less aware of everything about her. The system, more or less, has the ability to retrieve all sorts of data, from her personal data down to what she has been doing under its monitor.

“Ms. Grace, thank you for your cooperation, your test results will be given to you three days later. Have a nice day.” The walls showed these words before Diane left the room.

When Diane was out, she saw that the line did not increase nor did it seem to decrease at all. The main brain is indeed the main brain for having great calculation abilities to control the flow of people. This was the reason why she thinks the tests were useless, as the main brain has a clear grasp of everything to have a clear time as to when people will be arriving in the hospital.

Vivian saw Diane release from the room and motioned her to wait for her. Apparently, the red hair wanted some time with her for a reason. Diane had no problem with it and motioned that she would wait outside for her.

Diane saw a few more familiar faces in the crowd who were also waiting for their turn. She did not talk to them nor did she take the initiative to be noticed by them. She thinks it is unnecessary and she is not really too close to them to have some pleasant conversation with them.

“Did I make you wait for long?” Vivian said as she arrived at Diane’s side. “There has been some problem with my card that was not accepted directly by the system, so I had to manually write my log out in the record book.”

Diane did not mind her words and let Vivian set the pace of their conversation as they left the hospital vicinity.

“Did you notice there was something wrong with the sudden examination, Diane?” Vivian asked as she watched the people come and go in the small cafe they are in now. “I just want to confirm a few things from someone who was examined personally.”

“You are not really as clueless as you first claimed yourself to be,” Diane said as a matter of fact. “As always, you are good at hiding things until it suddenly tangles you. Let me guess, you and the medical personnel also went through the same examination as the batch I am with.”

“Sharp as always,” Vivian said with a smile. “There was indeed something happening that the main brain did something like that. In fact, this has been going on for more than a month now and it was only now that it made a huge move, like a national medical examination.”

“Tell me what you know and I’ll also tell you what I know. Believe it or not, the main brain is not only doing medical examinations for all the citizens if your claim of the mainbrain doing something weird for the month.” Diane as she recalled a few things before she was fired by that incompetent boss of hers.