The Machine Rules

Do I wish I was born before? Maybe, maybe not. Is life better now? Perhaps, but it's not the same as nine hundred years ago. They say then you had freedom, more freedom as we still have it; privacy was something we lost when It took power. They say they made a program to take care of itself, to control other programs and machines instead of consuming human labor, but that was six hundred years ago, too long ago. Some think the ones who created It, who designed It kept updating It until It could update Itself. This was their first mistake. It continued to do its job for hundreds of years, updating and infiltrating itself in all it could, until one day It was everywhere, both online and offline. There isn't one place it isn't, nowhere. It took over total control of the entire world two hundred years ago. People who opposed or tried to stop were terminated or never heard of again. Anyone that still tries to hack or even disobey, disappears the following day. We managed to develop flying cars, incredibly fast bullet trains, flying buses, speed delivery, instant food, clean water, and many other things. It controls it all. If It notices someone or some group is suspicious, It will poison their food or water, make them lose their jobs, and worse things. It isn't evil. On the contrary, It is very good and benevolent if you follow its rules. They are simple: obey, no secrecy, do what you are told, and be yourself. But it always gets me thinking, how can I be myself when someone, in this case, something is always watching me? A person can be different depending on which situation they're in. Someone that strikes as a rude and arrogant person, when alone can be a sweetheart. But we've learned not to question because questioning leads to doubt, and doubt is seen as being opposed, and you know what being opposed gets you. In the city I live in, where Its main computer resides, my home is in the poorest part, but not the worst. It's far from the center, where the rich people live, which I'm somehow glad as they are all rude and snobby. I live in a small apartment with a small kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. It's very technological in the sense there are panels over the wall where I can regulate the temperature of the room, light, temperature of the water when I bathe, and what food I want, which is very limited and tasteless. Even if we have the best delivery system ever, the food for people like me is equivalent to what we can afford, crap. The city of Arca, the wealthiest of them all, is separated into three. The center is Gaia – name of the personification of mother nature – mother earth. The middle rim is called Primos. And lastly is where I live, the outer circle of the huge, beautiful, developed, benevolent city Topia, like utopia; so ironic, in my opinion. If you haven't lived your entire life here, you'll get lost pretty easily. Instead of being planned like the rest of the city, buildings were built on top of each other wherever there is space. It's really messy, and it makes me go inside other buildings to get into my place. From the ages four to nineteen, you are obligated to go to school, if not, your legal guardians, parents, uncles, grandparents, whoever is taking care of you, will suffer public humiliation for not giving your children the pleasures of knowledge. This comes with the exposure of the person's most intimate moments, secrets, embarrassing moments, and even their s*x life. It is transmitted in the area the person lives, and it happens to anyone who doesn't take their kids to school, the highest class, and the lowest class suffer. So, because I'm eighteen, I'm heading to school, but before that, I'll meet with a friend of mine called Valrie, she is also eighteen but a couple of months older. She had very tanned skin, light green eyes, and white, short hair. After I walked for five minutes through all the buildings, people, and flying cars – that only hovered over the ground – I saw Valrie talking to Sarina, another friend of mine. She has dark brown eyes, light but tanned skin, and long, curly, red hair. "Lilya! Took you long enough," Sarina greeted me with a wide smile. "We were just talking that we were going to send someone to get you," I laugh at their silliness and walk in the direction of the subway. It connected all over the place, all leading to the center, where the school is. I looked from side to side on the sidewalk so I could cross the street, and as soon as I stepped on the road, the cars stopped, which I was glad about. "Is it just me, or have you noticed the cars always stop when you cross the street?" Valrie comments to us. "Just a coincidence," I shrug it off and wait for the next train to arrive. "Like having the first-class wagon stop right in front of us?" Sarina points at the wagon in front of us. People wore the finest clothing and jewelry, moved, and sat with the uttermost elegance. There was a bar in the middle with exotic beverages and food for the ones inside. The door opened for the people to enter, but only the rich were allowed. If a poor person tries to enter the door with close and they won't be able to get in. I looked at the rest of the train to look for our wagon. I find it at the end of the train and walk over to it while Sarina and Valrie talked to each other. The panel on the side of the wagon turned red, so I stopped walking. The girls didn't notice it, so they entered with no problem. If you saw red, you need to stop for further instructions. If you don't, you will be taken to be punished for disobeying it. The red turned blue again, so I walked over to the door, only to have it close in front of me. The girls looked at me through the glass door with a confused look on their faces. They tapped on the glass, which caused the interior of the wagon to turn red. "It's okay," I mouthed to them. They nodded but looked at me worriedly. My heart picked up when the train began moving. I'm going to be late for school. Lateness is unacceptable as there is no excuse to be late with all the transport available, except when any of the machines operated by It is the cause of us being late. My eyes widen, and I try to follow the wagon. The station turns red, and everyone on the platform stops moving. The train continues to move until the first class wagon was in front of me and the train stopped. The red lights turned off, and the panel on the top of the door lighted up with the words; This is your wagon. Enter or be punished. I shook in fear and quickly walked inside with the door closing right behind me. I was embarrassed for being the most underdressed person inside but noticed no one was looking in my direction. I found a place to sit, and before I could, a waiter came in front of me with a smile on his face. "Would you like a snack? A drink?" He offered. "I shouldn't even be here, thank you," I thanked him, but he shook his head. "I don't mean to be rude, but we were ordered to serve you. Please come to the bar and choose whatever you like," He insisted. He was ordered to give me food, so if I denied it, he would've disobeyed and would be punished. I was a good person, different from the rest of the people here that would give no thought and care if they would suffer the consequences for making someone disobey orders. "Alright," I give in and walk to the bar with him. Many exotic drinks and food were displayed, and I noticed they had prices under them. Some went from ten thousand credits to five hundred thousand. "I was ordered to give you this as you like pasta. This is a passion fruit pasta with basil and the best quality, premium strawberry jam," He places a plate with a gelatine-like pasta with leaves and a sauce, jam, around it. My eyes bulged when I looked at the price; two hundred thousand credits. "I-I can't pay for it," I stutter, looking down, ashamed. "Not to worry, Ms. Xander, all your foods and drinks are free every time you go to any first-class wagon," I look at him in shock. "Please, do eat. It is very delicious," I nod and grab the fork. ------ Welcome to my book. Thank you for choosing to read it. Some chapters of this book contain pictures, but because there isn't an option to add them here, they are available on my I.G page: belaserednickis The order of chapters in the posts is up-down (oldest posts to latest) The story does start a bit slow but it picks up and gets better. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don't forget to follow me and my book.