Cured (3 page)

“By dividing our nation into sections of
expertise, Fields, there is no fighting, and advances in various
areas are more common. By preventing movement between Fields, there
is no longer conflict resulting from opposing opinion because like
minds are grouped together. This means no reason to disagree on any
subject and no reason to instigate battle.”

I withheld a groan to stop from receiving
another death stare from Mother. But surely she could see how wrong
the voiceover was. The only reason that no one fought was because
the Primes forbid it, and the Primes had ultimate control. Each
Field specialized in a certain sector of the workforce. And only
those who worked in that sector were allowed to inhabit the Field.
Other than Mount Olympia, luxurious home of the Primes, there was
the Labour Field, the Science Field, the Linguistic Field, the
Numerology Field and the Artistic Field. Movement between Fields
was strictly prohibited. It was compulsory to marry within one’s
Field or not at all, and at least one child was demanded of every
couple. The child was to be raised in their home Field until they
turned eighteen. At this point they were sent to the Curing
ceremony where they would take The Cure. The Cure determined in
which Field one would spend the rest of their life. There was no
choice in the matter.

“Thus what we have achieved, through Mars’
discovery, is ultimate peace, as every year, the annual Curing
occurs, where all those who have come of age are Cured. After
Curing, the Norms are transported to their Field where they will
live for the rest of their lives, among like-minded Norms. This
ensures a protected, peaceful and pleasant life for all.’

Mother stood, clapping enthusiastically. She
held her hands up, making the triangular shape with her fingers in
respect for Olympia and King Zaaben Mars. I groaned. I had never
bought into the hype around the King. No one had seen the man in
years. Apparently a rebel group threatened him when I was very
young. I remembered the huge to-do that followed the conspiracy. At
the time my father was second in command to Mars, and had acted as
his main security, helping him disappear into hiding. He hadn’t
emerged since, but still ran the world, communicating through the
Alphas, those on Olympia who executed the law. My parents always
spoke of how amazing he was, and we were taught to idolize him in
school, but I remained dubious. How could I respect a figure I had
never seen, let alone met?

“Avery, show your appreciation, please.”
Mother nudged me.

I grimaced at her and tapped my hand on my
leg in a poor attempt at applause. Mother was so pleased with the
speech that she ignored my unenthusiastic clapping.

Suddenly the screen went blank.

I looked around, confused. We never had power
outages. The technology on Olympia was too advanced for that.
Mother gasped and clapped a manicured hand over her mouth
overdramatically. I stood and walked over to the Wall, rapping it
with my knuckles. A second later the screen crackled and leapt back
to life. The camera was zoomed in on Regina, who was no longer
alone onstage; she was accompanied by a short tubby man, who was
whispering hurriedly into her ear.

Regina let out a squeal in response to the
man’s words, and her jaw dropped, leaving her mouth hanging agape
which was very unusual for the eternally composed Regina. The
audience looked bewildered and the atmosphere became tense with a
concerned hum of noise coming form the crowd.

Mother leaned forward in anxiety, drumming
her manicured nails on her knee. “What’s going on Avery? I wonder
what could be happening. Have you heard what is happening? I have
heard nothing of the sort. Is this some sort of joke?”

“I don’t know Mother. It is live
WallScreening. I know nothing more than you do.”


She started
making an irritated moaning sound, wriggling in her seat and
frowning at the screen. Once the man stopped whispering and left
the stage, Regina stepped away from the microphone, clearly unhappy
about the situation. She stood for about two minutes, whilst the
whole crowd stared at her in silence. She closed her eyes and
strummed her fingertips anxiously against one another. She took a
deep breath. Her shoulders rose and slumped. Then she stepped up to
the podium again.

“Erm,” she looked around nervously, her gaze
darting around the crowd and often flickering up to look straight
into the camera. “I have a further announcement to make” she
started, “Uh, there has been, um, a sort of, uh, change to the way
things are going to happen.”

The crowd started murmuring and shuffling,
and Mother looked as though she might faint.

“
That is,
well, uh, it seems that I am no longer only addressing those in the
crowd, you see, um, I am also now speaking to those, uh, to my
dearest of friends, on Mount Olympia...”


I stared at the screen; my expression matched
the shock that was echoing through the live crowd.

“This is difficult to approach, but it seems
that King Mars and the Alphas have requested that not only Norms be
Cured, but also that Descendants are to be Cured from this year
onwards.”


There was a very long pause. Mother squealed.
The crowd cheered. I blacked out. Descendants. That was me.

Chapter 4

I woke up with Mother fanning my face. I was
lying on the floor beside the sofa I had been sitting on during the
ceremony. 


“Sweet pea,” she cooed, “My dear, are you
okay?’

I rolled onto my side and vomited again. I
was not okay. I was going to be Cured.

I had always
felt a twinge of guilt because I was forever exempt from the Curing
process, being born into a family of Primes. I knew that it was
unfair and unreasonable that everyone else had to suffer whilst I
grew up human and unaffected by the nation’s unjust policies, but I
had also never protested the injustice. It had nothing to do with
me, why would I care? That all changed now.

At least Norms were raised knowing the date
they would be Cured. They counted down the days to their ceremony
their whole life. I, on the other hand, had an hour to digest the
news. I was not going to live on Olympia. I was going to have my
brain tampered with. I was going to work the rest of my life in a
dirty, poverty-stricken Field. And all because of some stupid
social system. All because of one tiny pill.

The pill was only the size of a pinky
fingernail, yet it had the power to change my life forever. It
would determine my fate. I wasn’t sure of my strengths, or which
area of my brain was the most gifted. I had never thought about it.
I had never needed to. Dizziness overwhelmed me again.

This time, when I awoke, I was in my bed
surrounded by Norms. Louisa was holding my hand and stroking my
hair, singing softly. She sung my favourite lullaby, the one she
used to sing to me whilst Mother was entertaining her guests rather
than putting her daughter to bed.

“
Go to sleep my darling,

It’s time to rest your head,

The sun is calling it a day

You too should go to bed,

The sleepy sun is sinking,

Into its bed out west,

So you should go to sleep now too

I think that would be best”

Her voice was out of tune, and she often
forgot the lyrics, because her brain was numbed by the Cure. Maids
were Labour Norms. Their bodies and capacity for physical labour
were enhanced so they rarely tired from physical activity. Louisa
could cook a meal for all of Olympia and decorate the entire palace
without exhausting herself, but after eighteen years of singing the
same lullaby, she still tripped up on the childish lyrics.

I smiled at Louisa weakly, letting her wipe
tears from my eyes, and praying it had all just been a nightmare.
Then I took in Louisa’s grim expression. She had wet streaks down
her face, and her lip was quivering. It had been real.

I sniffed and wiped my nose with the back of
my hand. Louise tried to hand me a tissue but I waved her away.
There was no point in putting on a ladylike façade now. I was about
to be condemned to a life of grime and poor health, so I might as
well get used to looking a mess.

“Where is Mother?” I asked.

“She has gone to complain to the authorities,
my baby.” Louisa explained.

I nodded and sat up. I knew that no matter
how much mother complained she wouldn’t get the Alphas to change
their minds. She held a lot of power, due to her celebrity Prime
status, but once the Alphas made a decision, they always stuck to
it. The Alpha’s were the government. They ran the entire state,
including Olympia and the Primes, and they were ruthless in their
execution of what they perceived to be justice. It didn’t matter
that their opinions of right and wrong were just that: opinions.
They were the ringleaders. It was only Zaaben Mars that could
outrule the Alphas, and the man was such a coward that he had run
from Olympia at the first threat to his life. He was a poor excuse
for a leader, but at this point he was my only hope.

The WallScreen began to ring and Louisa leapt
off my bed just as my Father’s face popped up on the screen.

“Louisa.” Father acknowledged her and she
dived into a deep curtsy. I smiled meekly. I urged him to call all
our housekeepers by their real names rather than the derogatory
generalisation ‘Norm’ like Mother insisted on doing.

“My girl,” Dad turned to me. “How are you
doing?”

I looked down, fighting back tears, unable to
respond.

“I wish I could be there, Avery Rose. We are
doing our best to contact the Alphas in charge of the decision but
the lines are backed up with complaints already.”

I nodded. My father was an Alpha. He once
worked as Zaaben Mars’ second in command, but ever since Mars went
into hiding, my father had to take on a bigger workload. He was now
the head of security, and spent most of his time touring the Fields
and making sure they were running in an orderly and submissive
fashion. At the moment he was on a conference, training new Alphas
on security processes. I thought he might have a chance of
exempting me from the Cure if he was able to get back in contact
with Zaaben Mars.

I squinted at the Wallscreen. My father’s
handsome, elegantly lined face filled most of the image, but behind
him I could see rock and a cloudless blue sky. I looked closer,
examining the scenery that looked so unlike Olympia that it could
have been a different planet. There was a vast stretch of dull grey
rock in one direction, and in the other was an enormous rocky bank
that reached so high that it could not be contained in my
WallScreen’s frame. I frowned. Usually when my father went to a
conference it was held in a boardroom.

“Where are you Dad?” I asked. “I thought you
were on conference.”

My father’s eyes widened, his eyebrows raised
briefly in surprise, and I saw him cuss under his breath. Then he
quickly moved closer to the screen, blocking out the rock in the
background and ensuring his face filled the camera.

“It hardly matters where I am Avery Rose. You
are about to be Cured for goodness sake, how are you feeling?”

I laughed harshly. As if I needed reminding
of my impending doom. “Just trying to take my mind off it,
Dad.”

“Oh Avery, I know. I wish I could be there
with you. It was not an easy decision, but we just thought-”

My stomach dropped. In front of me, my
father’s face morphed into a stranger’s. I interrupted him, “We?” I
started, my voice soft and unbelieving, or not wanting to believe
what my gut instinct was telling me. Surely my father hadn’t had
any part in making the decision that was about to end my life as I
knew it.

My father responded to the question with a
confused eyebrow raise.

“Sorry. I thought you said ‘we’ made the
decision for Descendants to be Cured, Dad. I thought you might be
suggesting that you played a part in my new doomed destiny.”

A look of realisation crossed my father’s
face, followed by one of guilt. My vision blurred, but not from
tears this time. I was angry, so angry that I felt my blood heat up
and my muscles tense. My own father had been a part of the reason I
was about to be Cured.

“I am sure this is hard to hear, Avery,” he
was busy covering his betrayal, “but the decision to Cure
Descendants isn’t a new one. It has been a long time coming. The
Alphas decided it is just too risky to have humans around these
days. And after those in the Fields are Cured at the age of
eighteen, Descendants are the only remaining human brains on the
planet.”

“You’re my father.” I spat in disgust.

“I know, sweetheart, but I don’t think that
they will make an exception just for you. I think you should
prepare for the worst.”

“Is it what Zaaben wants? Are you following
his orders?”

My father shook his head. “I won’t discuss
the matter any further. Go and put on a nice dress. I will be home
as soon as I can.”

I didn’t hang up. I just sat there. Staring
into the eyes of my father. The man I looked up to and loved. The
only adult who I could look up to. The role model I aspired to be
when I grew up. My father, thinking that I had gone, took a step
away from the Screen. He was certainly not on conference. Behind
him was a rocky desert that stretched as far as I could see. On the
side of the screen was an enormous cliff composed of jagged rock. I
frowned at my father, confused. He never lied to me. But before I
could ask him where he was again, he caught my eye, swore loudly,
and hung up. Then I burst into uncontrollable tears.

Mother came back into the room, yelling over
her shoulder at the maids,“The party is cancelled Norms! Clean
everything up!”

She coughed lightly. Her voice was not used
to yelling, it was unladylike. She came to my bedside and placed a
glass of golden liquid on my side table Alcohol.