MAN OR MACHINE

The Beginning: 1 • Mary

13:42
April 11
2517 CE
Elysium City Primary Education Facility 119
Eridanus II, Interstellar Colony Planet of Earth
Eridanus Star System

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"Come and get me, John!" I shouted as I ran toward the dauntingly large jungle gym, a big smile on my face.

"Race you!" John laughed as he bolted past me, not bothering to tag me on the way to the jungle gym.

"No fair!" I screamed as I pushed myself to race past him. I managed to beat him there, breathing hard at my small success. I laughed at his face and grinned. "I win!"

"Only because I let you win," he sighed, starting to climb up the jungle gym. I watched as he set himself onto the top before I climbed inside it and laid onto the ground, closing my eyes. Recess was the one time I could focus and observe without being observed in return.

A ruckus started up somewhere from afar, and we both looked over to see a bunch of boys—both younger and older than John and I—laughing out loud and glancing at us. I sneered at them, annoyed with they're pitiful banters.

"Mary, what do you think they are laughing about?" John asked me, and I looked up at him to see him peering at me through the bars.

I shrugged against the earthy ground and shook my head. "Dunno. Maybe because they think we are together?"

"What do you mean?" he wondered, casting another glance to the crowd of obnoxious boys. I sighed and sat up, looking over to the small bustle of brats.

"Like my mom and dad are. And your mom and dad. They think of us as a kissy-couple," I said simply, scrunching my nose at the thought.

"Gross," John groaned and took to sprawling all over the jungle gym. "I'm a kid. Six-years-old. I don't like 'kissy-couples'."

I nodded my head in agreement, my long brown ponytail shaking with the movement. Across the playground, opposite side of the group of boys, there seemed to be a little clique of girls. Only two of them I considered friends, as did John: Ellie and Katrina. But there was one girl I sincerely despise, and her name is Parisa.

Parisa and I got into an argument once over which was more important: education or physical training. She firmly believed that neither were truly needed for a simple happy lifestyle, but I strongly believed that both are needed for a successful, world-changing one. She, as far as I knew, had settled for staying on our colonist planet Eridanus II, dreaming about having the basic "happily married" life. And her dream "husband" happened to be my best friend, John.

I was extremely glad that John is oblivious to her feelings. It'd be... catastrophic to his education.

I dreamed big, on the other hand, working every day twice as hard as the day before. I wanted to be a candidate for the rumored Spartan-II Program, if it existed. I had only overheard my parents talking about it, but never had it been discussed to my class openly.

John and I had both planned to be in the top one-hundred-and-fifty of our large school—or even better, the top two students ever—so we could be considered as likely candidates for the program. He, however, was a far better fit for a spot in it than I, being nearly a head taller than the average six-year-old boy, with more structural, physical proportions, phenomenal strength and unbelievable reflexes. But above all else: an aggressive drive for success.

Nothing kept John from achieving his goals.

The only thing I lacked compared to John is a strong build, and his height. I was a good foot shorter, and more nimble in my small figure. But, I was far quicker, and had a keener eye to things that could go easily unnoticed. Some say I had a brighter mind and a broader imagination than he did, which I took pride in using efficiently.

Yet, I had always looked up to John, and always will—much like I was doing so literally as I laid on my back, my eyes trained on the strong young boy above me.

John's attention was enraptured by the giggling girls across the rolling grassy field. He asked me like he had about the boys, "Why are they giggling?"

"Because they think you're cute," I said nonchalantly, rolling over to lay on my stomach and study a small flower weed that has grown in the soil.

He didn't make another comment about their giggling, but rather, asked me a question that catches me off guard.

"Do you think I am cute?"

I rolled back over so I could look at him in the eyes. Depending on the answer he wanted and the answer I wanted to give, I decided to tell him a half-truth. "I admire you, I think."

Before he could say another word, the bell rang for our class to return to the building for our next learning session. I sighed and climbed out of the jungle gym, racing alongside John as we always do after our recess.