by Cheng D.A
Chapter 1
End of End
For a chamber in the year 3013, the Destiny Rewriting Chamber was rather out of fashion. It was made with nineteenth century Victorian architecture and felt like one of those old English courtrooms where lawyers still wore white wigs and long dark overcoats. The rest of its interior design was revolting and unimaginative, as if its designer had been told by accident that he was to design a factory, and midway through his designing, had his instructions changed for him to be designing a prison instead.
Inside the chamber, sat men and women in the five sides of the pentagon shaped interior as they bore witness to this session. They were dressed grim and proper, in the colors black, white and grey. They were merely spectators who had a little too much free time on this boring Friday evening, and who decided that local television was just not spicy enough. They were not actually part of the proceedings because the City of Lions did not use a Jury system for their trials. Anyway, this was not even a trial to begin with, but the expressions on these peoples’ faces looked as if they were the jury. Every face casted a judgment on End, and judgment was unanimous. They had heard, and thus believed, that the boy was completely useless and should be condemned for eternity in this very chamber. Citizens of the City of Lions fought hard to earn their keep and thus had that small tendency to be rather elitist and unforgiving.
As End entered the chamber, whispers of scorn began to resonate. The people began saying things they would never say about their own children.
“Is he the boy who is useless?”
“I think so. But how can anyone fail the S.A.D.s test?”
“Yeah! That’s impossible. Every kid can at least do one thing, right?”
“My kid answered ten questions in the S.A.Ds correctly.”
“Hah, mine answered eleven.”
“Fellas, come on, my kid did one hundred questions correctly.”
“That’s impossible. Where is he now?”
“He migrated.”
“Oh.”
“So this kid here, he has to be lazy.”
“Who are his parents? I wonder…”
“I heard his parents disowned him for how useless he is. Where are they now?”
“Maybe they are too ashamed to be here today.”
That last line was the most painful one for the ever-sensitive End. The pain derived from hearing such harsh words was even more painful than the straps that were bounding him to the chair. End was strapped down and facing the huge menacing sphere. The sphere had an eerie green glow to it that would have frightened anyone. But End did not struggle or show any hint of the emotions he might be feeling. He simply did not care anymore about life. His biggest fear wasn’t death or the Sphere. The biggest fear for any child was the fear of being thought of as someone completely useless, especially by his or her own parents. In front of the sphere was a panel of debating scientist who seemed like they haven’t quite got their calculations right yet. But a common nodding motion amongst them signaled their intention to go ahead anyway because of a very critical reason.
“Gentlemen, we have to start so that we can be back on time for dinner.” Said an officer who had just arrived. The Scientists greeted him as Officer Yum. Officer Yum was a Chinese man with nicely combed hair and a robot like face. He stepped up to the podium and behind a lectern to begin proceedings. As he spoke, he spoke completely like a well-oiled cyborg, and with a voice that sounded like he had too much spicy food and insufficient herbal tea to chase it down.
“Date, January 1st 3013. Sphere of Influence, session 3013, year 3013. Candidate for Sphere of Influence session, End Cloud. S.A.Ds score, zero. The S.A.Ds test score of End is conclusive of the result. Candidate End has failed to achieve ‘Destiny’ by the age of 13. Under Nation Earth’s approved Leakipedia definition of ‘Destiny’, applied in the context of citizenship, ‘Destiny’ is defined as the ability to contribute to society in a manner in which the governing body, ‘The Garment’, of the city, ‘The City of Lions’, deemed fit. Result of processing, End will achieve greater physical strength in exchange for a loss of memory and the loss of the ability for decision-making. Before the proceedings, End, you are required to watch the video entitled, ‘Words from our mentor’.”
A video played on a huge wall, facing End, and also on all the walls of the chamber. It is a video of a handsome middle-aged Asian man who was also the leader of the City of the Lions, known as The Mentor. Someone in the crowd whispered, “It’s Mr Tomorrow, he is so handsome.” The video began. The man had slit eyes and a high and famous forehead full of lines. Though his voice was raspy, he spoke with the clear diction of someone who studied in the most prestigious of universities in the City of Three Lions. His aura was most befitting of a lawyer, and every bit of his muscle and bones echoed the words “Leader”.
The video was full of glitches and possibly old and overused.
“You are about to embark on a journey, that will bring you to the next phase of your life as a citizen of the City of Lions. May I remind you, that we, The Garment, do not enjoy the undertaking of this processing. The due process is merely a necessary one to maintain the balance of hardworking people for our economy. Our small city with no natural resources requires that every citizen of the City of Lions contribute efficiently to the economy or we will parish in the face of global competition. I thank you for your contribution, however small it may be, and for the hard work that you will put in as a manual laborer for your city. I thank you for your participation in ensuring the survival of our small but prosperous city. Thank you.”
There was a general energy of approval in the chamber. Every citizen of the City had great respect for The Mentor. Was it the power of his words and charisma or his deeds that determined his popularity? Maybe it was the stability of the society, and the affluence of the people that made every mind in the room stop questioning and chasing the truth about humanity and whether what we are about to witness is right or wrong. End did have a tiny nervous moment in his chair when he realized that people were clapping when his life as a normal person was about to end. End’s eyes danced around the white walls in the chamber searching randomly for something or someone to peg his humanity on. There has to be someone who thought differently from everyone else.
And there was. Amongst all the people in the chamber, there was a girl with a different look about her. He looked into her eyes and she looked back. She was a pretty nurse, and her eyes actually spoke of some form of sympathy for End. For a moment, the cold heart of End was jolted for a second, as he felt a little jealous of the lucky man who would eventually be with her. That man would never be him.
“Pursuant to section 37, sub section 7, paragraph A of the Citizenship act,” continued Officer Yum, “I declare End now a recipient of the Sphere of Influence processing.”
“Are they going to shrink the boy’s brain and make him a mindless strong freak?” someone sadistic whispered from the audience.
“Yes.”
“You mean like a zombie? I love Zombies.”
“No, it’s not exactly like a zombie.”
“But still, it should be exhilarating to watch.”
“Why hasn’t anything happened yet?” Officer Yum asked the scientists. One of them was waving his hand trying to signal to him.
“What is it?” asked Officer Yum.
“Emotion,” whispered the scientist.
Officer Yum grumbled and turned to face End.
“My dear Boy, there is just one problem limiting our work.” Officer Yum brought his face nearer to End’s. “You have to cry.”
“Cry?” mumbled End.
“Even a man on death row is extremely afraid. Once you get afraid like every other kid, the Sphere can use the energy from your emotions to do its job.”
“I…”
“Death is a necessary fear. Any child that does not fear death is probably insane. I am just curious. Why aren’t you even the least bit afraid?”
“I…”
/> “You must cry, otherwise the sphere will not power up and we will not be able to erase your mind. Our efficient schedule will be pushed back, destroying the very eco-system of our economy. So please, cry.”
End looked at the man with big confused eyes.
“How?” asked End.
“How what?”
“How will I destroy the very eco-system of the economy?”
Officer Yum had never been put in this position before. Usually his subjects would be so scared and frightened that they would be weeping.
“Goodness! Of all the days! Look boy, today is my son’s birthday. I really need to get home!”
“That’s the eco-system of our economy?”
Officer Yum thought for a while.
“Remember all those times you were bullied? Or when you were told you were no good?”
“That’s everyday. I am used to it.”
“Bring that feeling back into your head. Just focus. Give it a shot. Do it for your city who loves you.” Officer Yum was clearly at a loss of words but at least he was smiling. End being End still didn’t want to disappoint other people or waste their time. He was too kind a soul. His character was kind to the degree where it sometimes became irrational. He began to close his eyes so that people can hurry up with what they were doing and get home for dinner.
“I will try.”
End silenced his thoughts to focus his mind. He was still quite poor at meditation but he tried for the sake of others. True enough, with sufficient motivation, his old memories began to flood back into his mind. End remembered how he was possibly the worst student ever to step into a school. He was always discriminated by teachers for not scoring enough for tests. All he ever wanted to do was doodle or have fun, but all fun was always shunned upon. He remembered that he had a tuition teacher for every subject there was to study. Teachers, Parents, and relatives, everyone was the same. Too much expectation for him, and always telling him that he was meant for greatness and whenever he could not achieve something, it had to be because he was lazy. Every day in his life was a torment of not being up to standard, and he was expected to appreciate that life had been good to him, and that to complain would be criminal. End felt the frightening claustrophobia of choices that life had presented to him. He began to find it hard to breathe in the chamber.
“Excellent! You are becoming sad! Come on now! You can do better than that! At least do one thing right before you die, I mean, become erased,” said Officer Yum.
The pain was building up inside End. He had the face of someone about to cry. Officer Yum was smiling with glee. Any minute now and End would cry, and he could make it home for dinner and blow out the candles of his son’s cake.
And then all of a sudden the pain in End just stopped.
“I am so sorry, I really tried, but I just can’t cry anymore,” said End in a very calm voice.
“Why?”
“I have nothing to live for and so I have no more fear,” said End with no expression on his face. Some of the scientist shook their heads. People watching him in the room were looking at their watches and fanning themselves. The air-conditioning had switched off because working hours were over. Officer Yum became more frantic. One of his clerks shouted to him, “Sir, we are knocking off in ten minutes.” One of the officials in a lowly lit VIP room overlooking from the second level was doing the “Wrap it up quickly” hand signal to him. A nervous Officer Yum whispered directly into the ear of End in a sarcastic tone of voice.
“What do you mean you have nothing to live for?”
“I finally agree, that I am indeed as useless as people say I am, and now even my parents… well they’re not here are they? Even they have given up on me. You can’t convert me into ‘nothing’. I am already ‘nothing’.”
Of all his years of experience, Officer Yum had never encountered anything like this. Here is a boy who actually admitted to his uselessness and accepted his destruction. This was Ludacris. One of the scientists shouted to him.
“Boss, I think he screwed with our machine. The electricity is gone.”
“Must I do everything? Use Light energy!”
Officer Yum was frantic and angry. End noticed that there was a tattoo on his wrist. The tattoo lit up, and suddenly Officer Yum used his hand to release a huge energy blast of light that powered the sphere.
“What was that?” thought End.
Another scientist warned him of the time.
“Boss. This is overtime.”
“Silence!” shouted Officer Yum. He was boiling with anger now for a man who never raised a single decibel in his voice for all his forty living years. He took deep breaths and calmed himself down. He twiddled his fingers like fingers on a typewriter and thought. Then suddenly he had an approach.
“Alright. End, listen carefully. As long as you can detach yourself from life, you can ignore pain. True, but what about your parents? We can never detach ourselves from our parents. They love you and you have let them down. They believed in you and what have you ever done for them in return?”
“They didn’t even come…”
“Exactly! Because you have let them down so badly. You are not only a useless person but also a person who lets his parents down. And at this very moment, you should at least show them some respect by feeling that little bit of guilt for not being able to give them a better life as they have given you.”
A tear rolled down End’s face.
“Living for yourself is one thing, but when you are born into this universe, you are already connected to the rest of this world and you already are responsible for this world. But look at you! You are a complete failure to your parents!” Officer Yum seemed to get more excited as his words just flowed like those of a poet. Another tear rolled down End’s face.
“How can you fail your parents? How dare you?”
“Stop it!”
End began to cry. He had cried before, but never like this. End cried like a newborn baby who had just entered the world. Having been emotionally dead to the world for so long, it was as if he breathed his first breath of air in the world, and signaled his arrival.
The sphere was full energized. End was sobbing uncontrollably. All the scientists in the room were smiling and showing the thumbs up sign at Officer Yum.
“Now that’s what I am talking about!” exclaimed Officer Yum, as he skipped away. As End continued to cry with no restrain, the energy around the Sphere got bigger and bigger.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”, exclaimed Officer Yum once more. As the sphere grew to an optimum size, green lines of light began to appear and zigzagged across the face of End. The light intensified into the color white. One of the scientists was so amazed by the light that he took a step forward, to try and touch the sphere.
“Are you new here? Do you wish to lose your hand?” asked Officer Yum. The scientist stepped back. The rest of the scientists began to commentate on proceedings.
“The erasure of memories has begun.” said one of the scientist.
“Ten more minutes before the commencement of muscle building. Overshooting knock off timing.”
“Almost home.”
“Soon we go into the ‘removal of choice’”
“I wonder what my wife is cooking for dinner?”
“Smooth. Going smooth so far.”
“Wait! What’s that black circle emerging on his chest?”
“Boss! He is rejecting the sphere’s energy to change him.”
“What is that?”
“He seems impervious to change!”
“Is that a vacuum?”
“It looks like a vacuum of darkness. He seems to be sucking the energy in!”
“He is absorbing the energy of the sphere?”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“I am saying the Sphere of Influence doesn’t seem to influence him. He is influencing the Sphere.”
“Stop your wordplay and explain yourself!”
“He is immune
!”
“How? Why?”
In that instance, there was a loud bang. The wall of the chamber collapsed. A man with an eye patch entered the room. He kicked the fuse box of the Sphere of the influence causing it to shut down. End fell back in his seat. His energy was drained from the process as he squinted his eyes to try and make out the intruder, but it was not clear.
“Snakeskin, what do you think you are doing?” asked Officer Yum.
“There is a new directive for the boy,” said the man with an eye patch. The man had a raspy whispering voice that sounded very cool and macho.
“No! It is not written in his S.A.Ds test results that he should go anywhere!” said Officer Yum.
The man continued to pick End up anyways.
“Stop it, or I will report this to the Garment and get you fired.” Said Officer Yum.
The man with an eye patch looked at Officer Yum. He smoked his fake electronic cigarette and blew out fake smoke from it at Officer Yom’s face. The fake electronic cigarette always had that strange sound of a deflated balloon whenever he blew smoke from it. Officer Yum coughed.
“Someone wants him.” Said the man.
“Who?”
The man with the eye patch handed Officer Yum a letter. The initials of the letter at the bottom wrote, “Amon Goth.”
“Amon Goth wants him?” asked Officer Yum. The man with an eye-patch slung End with no effort at all on his shoulder and began to walk out of the hole he had came in through.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
“To the Institute of Lightcatching.”
