In a nightmare world ravaged by misery, the Imperium offers utopia to a select few. When Arya and Everett are recruited into this elite society, they choose to leave their homes against their families' wishes.
Naive and young, Arya and Everett are...
Today is the Anniversary. On this day, all citizens of the Imperium are declared a year older. This day is designed to be a collective celebration because The Imperium does not believe in the celebration of an individual. Anything worth commemorating should be done together. As one.
Today, F930 and M929 turn seventeen, along with the other recruits from their cycle. Completely oblivious to their past, they are slightly more exuberant today because the Chip allows them to be. Their smiles are a tad brighter and there is a bounce in their step. Today, the connection that they feel to the Imperium is stronger than usual, their gratitude more potent.
Neither F930 nor M929 remembers that last year before they were recruited, they had kissed for the first time on M929's real birthday.
Arya and Everett had snuck away to be alone to talk about their future. And after they had agreed to choose the Imperium over the Resistance, a tense silence filled the space between them. They weighed the moment quietly for several seconds before reaching for each other through the darkness, feeling vulnerable yet audacious as their lips met. Every suppressed emotion and desire finally tumbled out into the hot, pitch-black air around them.
As Arya's body curved into Everett's, she thought to herself that this moment would be etched in her memory forever and that she now had the luxury of reliving it in her head whenever she liked. All she would have to do was close her eyes to feel Everett's mouth smiling against hers, her ankles crossing behind his back, his hands on her bare skin.
But now, as F930 and M929 close their eyes to sleep — at the designated hour and in their separate pods — they don't see any memories. They have a night of dreamless sleep with nothing but a wall of blackness behind their eyelids. And as long as the Chip works inside their brains, that is all they will ever see.
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