The top floor of the very tall building was basically one big, open space, with a large track around it. There were a few people in the room already, some walking around the track and others jogging. There were lots of windows, so the room was very bright. In the center were exercise bikes and mats, where some people were stretching out.
Someone else stepped off the elevator, and since Freya wasn’t entirely sure of what she was supposed to do, she decided to watch him. He walked over to the wall and tapped on what looked like a small monitor, too big to be a tablet, so she walked up to one and did the same.
It came on instantly, and a text flashed onto the screen. It welcomed her and recommended she walk at a moderate pace on the track for thirty minutes, then stretch on the mats afterword. Freya followed the instructions and began walking the track. She wasn’t quite sure how she would know when the thirty minutes were up, but she walked leisurely, looking around the room, fascinated about everything she saw. She continued for a few minutes and was startled when the device in her shirt began to beep.
“Quicken pace to raise heart rate,” said an electronic voice.
Freya began to walk faster, feeling a little pressure from her shirt. The walk felt good though. She had had a very stressful couple of days, between her meeting with Colin, her night sharing a bed with him for the first time, and her first day on a new job, and the workout seemed to elevate her mood.
She was lost in her own thoughts when the device beeped, startling her again. Boy, that’s going to take some getting used to, she thought.
“Cooldown, five minutes. Slow your pace,” coached the electronic voice.
She finished her cooldown and walked over to a mat. As she stepped on it, a monitor lit up in the floor, displaying a stretching pose, with instructions to hold it for one minute. Freya did as instructed, and then the screen changed to another, then another. When the monitor went blank, she assumed it meant she was done.
As she started to make her way to the door, her shirt beeped again.
“Water,” the electronic voice said.
Freya looked around and saw some people standing on the other side of her, with glasses of water in their hands. She walked over to the sink, filled a glass, drank it, then put the used glass in the bin with the others.
She didn’t want to go back to the apartment, as another awkward night with Colin locked in the bedroom didn’t sound appealing, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Knowing what she knew now, there was not as much pressure to pretend she liked him. Still, she knew the males he worked with would be listening in on them. She was used to having cameras around, as they were simply a fact of life, but she had never felt such an intrusion on her privacy before. Knowing there was a constant audience of males, watching, waiting, and laughing, only added pressure to an already less-than-ideal situation.
When she returned to the apartment, Colin was there, lying on the bed and dressed in free time attire, entertaining himself on his tablet. “You still up for that rematch tonight, Freya?”
“If you’re still up for losing again.”
“Oh? Feeling feisty tonight, are we? Well, we’ll see about that.”
Freya was surprised to hear him say that. It was the second time in one day she had been called feisty, and no one had ever referred to her like that before. Of course she didn’t want to admit that to Colin, especially since the other person who seemed to agree with him was the head of State. She crawled into bed and pulled out her tablet.
“Okay. Ready? Here’s the puzzle I picked, all security-related words. Let’s see how you do now, Miss Smarty Pants.”
They both did their crossword puzzles, and again, she beat him quite badly. It was not such a landslide as it was the first time, but it was a much bigger embarrassment for Colin, since it was Security terminology. Nevertheless, if he was the least bit humiliated or humbled by her victory, he certainly didn’t show it. They competed time and time again, and no matter how much boasting he did, she beat him each and every time.
Soon, they fell into a natural routine. Every night was spent in their bedroom, hiding from prying eyes. They completed puzzles and read quietly to themselves. Something had changed in Colin since that first day when he walked Freya to her civil duty, because he never tried to touch her again, and he also abandoned his former cheap tricks. Frankly, Freya was starting to mildly enjoy his company, and she found a certain comfort in their routine. She didn’t know what Colin thought about the coupling anymore, but he seemed much better behaved and was trying to get along and enjoy their time together. He had given up on trying to seduce her, and Freya wondered if he was just making the best of their situation, hoping he would be recoupled.
Meanwhile, Freya was really enjoying her work and her co-workers. It was odd for her to enjoy the company of others, but she looked forward to their afternoon meals together. Often, Victor joined them, and it didn’t take long for Freya to feel a sense of family, like Victor had talked about the first day. She thought perhaps the reason she enjoyed everyone’s company was because they were older. No one ever talked about who they thought was cute or turned into a complete idiot when those of the opposite gender walked into the room. She was actually glad to be working with them, as opposed to working alone, like she had originally wanted.
Before Freya knew it, a month had passed since she had moved into adult living. Even though Freya had more free time than she did while she was in school, time seemed to be passing more quickly. She worked at the State House from 08:00 to 18:00, then participated in physical activity, which she preferred to do without Colin. She had her evening meal with him, did a few puzzles, then went to sleep. They had one entire day off every week, and they used it to clean their apartment and launder their uniforms.
Everything seemed to be flowing along smoothly until she returned to the apartment and found a notice in her inbox. It was quite odd, a request for her to report in, without telling her why. It was also scheduled during her civil duty time. Anxiety started to brew in her. Did I share something inappropriate during one of the meals at the State House? she worried. Has Victor decided I’m not the right fit for his house after all? Am I in trouble for something? What if they’ve decided to send me to independent living after all? What will happen to Colin then? Can we possibly remain friends if we are separated? Would he even want to?
With all those questions swirling through her head, she had a very restless sleep that night, tossing and turning. There didn’t seem to be any way to shut down her thoughts or turn off her fears of the unknown, of what awaited her when she reported in. She really wanted to stay at the State House, so she decided that she would beg them to give her another chance. In fact, she would do anything to make it work there. It was a community, a family, and she didn’t want to lose that. Freya remembered how scared and lonely she felt when she was taken from her parents, and she missed them terribly. That was normal though, as everyone eventually moved away from their parents’ homes. She had never heard of anyone being taken away from their civil duty, though, at least not without doing something wrong.
The next morning was a blur, and Freya walked around in a sleepy haze. She didn’t speak much to anyone, not while doing her duties or even over their afternoon meal. Then, before she knew it, an alarm chimed on the tablet, alerting her that it was time to leave for the meeting. No one seemed to notice as she put the tablet back on the dock and made her early exit.
The red lights came on in the halls, but instead of leading her toward her apartment, they lured her to the other side of the atrium, to the other side of the train. She passed what looked like a very large Medical Center and made her way into a waiting area. As similar as it looked to the medical facility she’d been in before, something told her it wasn’t that kind of place at all. She palmed the scanner on the wall, and an automated voice told her to take a seat.
A woman emerged from one of the closed doors. Her hair was pulled back tightly, which only added to how severe looking she
was. She was short and wider than average, with broader shoulders, and a strong jaw line, which was accentuated by her hair style and the way she seemed to clench her jaw. She had a small tablet strapped to her hand, much like the one Freya had for her civil duty. “Freya,” she said, with a polite smile on her face, “I am ready for you. Please follow me.”
Freya stood and followed her down a hallway. From what she could tell from the doors that were open, all the rooms were very similar.
The woman guided her into one of the rooms and walked around behind a desk. “Take a seat, Freya,” she said, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the desk.
It was a bigger chair than what Freya was used to, far more roomy and comfortable.
“I am a psychologist for the State. You may call me Dr. Rheta.”
Freya shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
Dr. Rheta scrolled through the tablet on her hand for a moment, then looked back at Freya. “I am sure you are already aware that part of the video surveillance collected by Security is used for the purpose of psychological evaluations. Part of that is to help us place civilians in their proper place in society, and another part is to help us evaluate a person’s fit into the place that has been assigned to them.” She paused and stared at Freya for a moment, as if to make sure she understood. Finally, she continued, “The reports we have received from your civil duty have been most positive, Freya. You seem to be flourishing in this new environment, both mentally and socially. You have naturally taken to the work you are doing, and you excel at it. You also seem to really enjoy being there. Would you agree with that assessment?”
“Yes,” Freya said softly, her voice almost cracking. Her mouth had gone completely dry, and she was feeling nauseous. She was sure the meeting had nothing to do with her civil duty and everything to do with her coupling with Colin. She could not meet the doctor’s gaze. She was both embarrassed and terrified to even think about talking to this stranger about Colin. She hoped she would not be considered noncompliant if the coupling had to be ended, but she feared otherwise.
“Based on your records, I take you to be a very black-and-white kind of person. May I just get right to the point with you, Freya?”
Freya couldn’t speak or look up at her, so she just nodded. She was sure it was better to just get it over with quickly.
“Your last assessment revealed that you were more than ready to finish your education and begin adult living and civil duty. You did not fit in socially with other females your age. It was believed you would be happier surrounded by adults, as you are more mature than your general age group. According to what we’ve seen this first month, that assessment was correct,” she said, then paused, waiting for a response from Freya.
Freya, still unable to speak, simply nodded in agreement again.
“Most people start their civil duty at the same time they are coupled. We had a bit of a predicament with you, Freya. Although you were ahead of your class in work ethic and general maturity, you were behind your peers in many other ways, particularly emotionally and, more specifically, sexually. We knew you were not quite ready for coupling, but we were put into a situation where we needed to act. Colin, on the other hand, was ready for both civil duty and coupling. While we wouldn’t normally rush a person into coupling, he seemed to be such an exceptionally high match for you that we had to try and just hope it would work out for the best.”
Freya’s head snapped up, and she stared at Dr. Rheta in disbelief. Did she really just say that to me? That Colin is an exceptionally high match? Who invented this matching system anyway? What were they thinking? How on Earth could they possibly look at the two of us and say, “Great. Our job here is done.” Freya shook her head at the thought, without even realizing she was doing it.
“Yes, Freya, Colin is an exceptional match, almost off the charts. Most people are not lucky enough to have such high level of compatibility with their partner. Now, I hope you understand why we had to act when we did, even though we knew you weren’t necessarily ready for coupling.”
Freya continued to shake her head, still unable to believe it. It just isn’t possible. I should have been chosen to live independently. This is all a huge mistake. She wanted to scream at the doctor, but she knew she couldn’t.
“I know it must be hard to take this in. You will understand in time.”
“He can’t be a match for me. He just can’t! We have nothing in common, and he gets under my skin so quickly,” Freya said, having found her voice and ready to plead her case. “We broke into a fight almost the moment we met. Colin can’t possibly be a match for me in any way, and he’s definitely not an exceptional one. There has to be an error in the system somehow. It was a mistake to put us together, and it’s definitely a mistake to make us stay together. I will never be happy living with him, and it isn’t fair to him either.” Tears started to form in Freya’s eyes, but she fought them back. Adults don’t cry, she reminded herself time and time again.
“Freya, there is something you must understand. We have matched thousands upon thousands of happy couples. There is no error in the system, and no mistake was made. The reason you feel this way is because you were not ready to be coupled. Once two people are matched, it cannot be undone. He is your partner, Freya. In time, you will look back on this and wonder how you ever thought differently. Sometimes people expect a partner to be like them, but in fact, partners who complement each other do better together. You two have your differences, but he is the perfect fit for you. He is also very kind at heart. Not everyone is, Freya. You are lucky to have him.”
Freya’s mind began to spin out of control; she simply refused to accept what she was hearing. For just a moment, she stopped questioning things and let the doctor’s words sink in: “Once two people are matched, it cannot be undone.” The realization hit her like a punch to the gut. She felt breathless and a physical pain in her core. She did not want to be coupled in the first place, and ever since she’d met him, she’d been sure it would only be a matter of time before the State would realize their mistake and set them both free from that commitment, but now she knew there was no escaping it.
“There is a little issue we need to talk about,” Dr. Rheta went on. “Certain expectations come with coupling. I think Colin has been more than patient with you, and I think you are being unfair to him. What I really brought you in for today, is to talk about the complete lack of physical intimacy between the two of you. This is an expectation of the State, and you must comply, Freya.” She paused, waiting for a reaction from Freya.
Freya’s jaw clenched, and she instantly went from feeling overwhelmed and upset to angry. How can they order me to comply with that? What business is it of the State’s what Colin and I do or do not do in our bedroom?
Almost as if she sensed the questions in Freya’s mind, the doctor continued, “Over many years of research, the State has found that society runs more smoothly when people are coupled, regardless of whether they are chosen for reproduction or not. We want everyone to enjoy their coupling. When this happens, work productivity improves, and there are fewer people out looking for trouble or causing it. I fear Colin’s patience is wearing thin. In time, if he does not get what he requires at home, he may look outside the home to meet those needs. That could result in many negative outcomes for him and for the State. Even worse, he could become resentful against you, and that may lead to violence. We do not want any of these scenarios to play out, Freya, especially not when there is so much potential between the two of you to be very happy together.” She turned her attention back to her tablet, and she scrolled through Freya’s records again.
Freya wondered if she really needed to look at it or if she was just buying time, waiting for Freya to say something. She refused to give in and just sat there with her jaw clenched so tightly that it was amazing it didn’t crack her teeth.
“You have always been such a good girl, Freya, so compliant. I would hate to see a dark mark on your record, and that would re
sult in removal from the civil duty you seem to love so much. In the grand scheme of things, this is a very small matter, one you can easily correct,” she said, clearly threatening Freya without even giving her the dignity of looking at her while she said it. “Now, our time here is up. Take the rest of the afternoon as free time. I hope you use it wisely and come to your senses,” she said, then got up and walked out the door.
Chapter 7
Freya made it back to the apartment, barely conscious of how she had gotten there. Regardless of how many times she replayed her conversation with the psychologist over in her mind, she kept coming back to the same place. They had taken everything from her, every part of her life she felt should be her own. She did not feel helpless; instead, she was consumed by anger, in its purest, most fiery form. The anger kept building, gnawing at her gut, like hot lava boiling inside her. She quickly changed into her workout clothing and headed for the gym; there was no way she was going to just sit there and wait for Colin to get home. She was glad the walkways were vacant at that time of day, because she was in such a rage that she felt she might shove or hit anyone who dared to occupy the same area.
The State Series Box Set Page 12
