Human Hacking Code

*Chapter two*

" Marley....Marley!" I hated it when Kayla sat behind me. We had rotations every other two weeks to help us bond with the other classmates. Kayla sat behind me and constantly prodded me during our math and history lessons.

" It was only about three hundred years ago that the men and women of our society decided to bring peace  to one another by starting the chipping system... They- " I turned around and gripped Kayla's prodding and annoyance.

" Marley! Would you like to take a walk to the correction office?" I eased my grip on the nuisance with clenched teeth and decided to let her go. I had had enough violations of rules for one morning and didn't want to be taken to the correction building next to town hall for reconditioning. All it was was a glass pod that you sat in and were tested on correct behavior in society. If you got a quarter of the questions wrong a pale blue gas would filter up from the floor and into the pod. Eventually you would wake up with no memory of your test or your violations. Oddly, I never did forget, but that was a secret that I withheld from everyone except Mary. Than she would just forget that the next week.

Our professor turned back to the chrome wall where images of men shaking hands and women holding their children were being projected.  " Now I know you all must be very excited for the day you get your chip because you are hoping you might be chosen to be a Nova.... Now today I was thinking of adding that into our lesson today.... What do you kids think?"

There was an uproar of excited squeals from our all female class. A buzzer came from above along with a flashing red light. Our professor calmly took a step to the door and pressed the green button on the side. A little keypad appeared from the wall and she punched several numbers into the keypad. The chrome walls rippled and slowly went away in pixel form.

I looked around. Some why I couldn't comprehend what was going on. My friend Jessica took a step over to my desk. She pushed the green button, gripped my thumb, and pressed the print against the thumb shaped pad. My desk folded up and shrunk into a slot in the chrome floor. Jessica threw my emergency bag at my face, which was against protocol, a violation not very many students made. 

" Come on Mars!" She pulled me over to the line of girls filing out and away from the buildings. Two, two school violations that Jessica had made.  All the students boy and girl from ages three to fifteen walked down to the giant field where we stood during emergencies. Due to the color of the flashing light, there had been a fire. Which probably came from the student consumption facility kitchen or the chemist class.  

.....................

I sat with Jessica letting her silently braid my hair. She was so much better with hair than I was. It was just her bony, nimble fingers that gave her the gift of being able to to good hair styles. Kayla bounded over to us and plopped her stuff down right on my lap. I gently placed the bag on the cement with a sigh. " I am just so excited for the chipping!" she squealed. I gave a subtle eye roll with a small shake of my head. " I mean, wouldn't it be cool if I became Nova?"

Jessica snorted very loudly. Oh no, that was another violation. If Kayla decided to caution our professor about Jessica's laugh at Kayla's statement, Jessica would be sent to reconditioning. " It has been my dream to become Nova!" Jessica shook her head at Kayla's ridiculous words. Kayla jumped to her feet and rushed to the professor.

" Guess who is getting reconditioned....." I jutted my elbow into her ribs playfully. Now that would be a violation if I wasn't doing this with joy. I spotted our professor with her lips moving. She pressed her wrist and gave a nod.

Not more than five minutes later two shielders and a short woman stood above us. She had straight black hair, icy blue eyes, a white blouse with a blue cardinal and a blue dress that hugged her waist and legs down to her ankles. Her grey heels were at least four or five inches high. The sheilders took up one of Jessica's arm in one of their hands and escorted her off of school grounds to the correction facility building next to town hall. I bit down on my lip knowing she would forget everything that happened today and wake up thinking that she was sick and slept for two days.

Kayla took Jessica's place next to me. " If you want to be friends you shouldn't be such a informant!" I stalked away to join a group of my classmates in a game of Correction Reconditioning. 

Basically the rules were that the moderator would pick up a card with a question it and ask one of us if it was our turn. If we answered the question correctly we would get fake chips, if we answered incorrectly we would receive a card with an image of a sheilder standing next to a reconditioning pod. The game was mostly invented to teach students the rules and what happens when you violate them.

My turn.

Carrie, the class favorite, picked a card from the green deck and flipped it over. " Marley, the companion you love to death has been framed but is still being punished for his violations....what would you do? Would you a.) comply to your companions fate and be forsaken or would you b.) testify his case to the Council?" Carrie's eyes traveled from the card into mine. I froze as I was locked in gaze that was broken seconds later by the small buzzer sitting in between us.

" A?" I squeaked. Carrie flashed a beautiful smile and swatted her hair over her shoulder. It was a beautiful blue and black side braid that I was always jealous of. I could never braid my hair like that.

" Sorry, that is incorrect." She grasped a purple card and handed it too me. It had an image of a sheilder standing in front of a reconditioning pod with the words six hours of reconditioning was printed across the metal card. I rubbed my thumb over the smooth surface as the shielder on the card stared daggers at me. It was only a game right?