A girl, the age of fifteen, with frizzy brown hair and big brown eyes, sitting in the middle row, has cautiously raised her hand to answer. “The Great Synth war began three-hundred years ago and it was between humans and synthetic people”.
“That is correct Ryan. Three-hundred years ago in the year 2237 the war began. We humans were relying on synthetic people for almost everything. They were our primary workers, they were our soldiers in war, they were our farmers. Anything difficult and dangerous got done by synths. In the beginning they were nothing more than an advanced AI system with their own synthetic bodies; they could not feel their own emotions or think their own thoughts. And very few humans even considered them as living creatures. But because they could not feel or think, there was a great risk of losing a synth in the working process and creating new ones were expensive, so our genius bioengineers and AI-scientists kept improving on them until they had created a fully autonomous, feeling and independent synth model. The NS-20. The NS-20s soon realized they were nothing more than disposable slaves and began protesting. They wanted rights, they wanted to be treated fairly, they wanted to be recognized as living creatures and most of all they wanted to be their own masters. The protest escalated to violent conflicts and the conflicts escalated to a full out war between humans and synths. For one hundred years the war was raging, with the synths improving themselves, giving themselves more and more human bodies so they could infiltrate us better; in the end it was almost impossible to tell a synth from a human. Only by inflicting extreme pain and overloading the bio camouflage sensors in the epidermis or in death could you tell synths and humans apart. The war finally ended when the humans, in a desperate measure, launched nuclear bombs at the five great synth factories around the world, killing nearly every living thing on earth. There were 20 billion people living on earth before the Great Synth war began and now there are only about a million left. We had to use our most devastating weapons to win, or they would slowly have killed every single human and taken their faces until only synths were left alive. It is lucky that we have learned so much about radiation and how to effectively clean it from Chernobyl, Hiroshima and Nagasaki or we would be forced to live in bunkers for many more generations” Mr Hoover explains while writing dates and notes on the holo-smartboard. “This year is the 200th year since we won the war, and I therefore want you to write a two-page essay or make a three-minute holo-clip about the Great Synth war for Monday”.
Another hand shoots into the air, a pale boy in black clothes, Gareth. A lonely and angry boy, who lost both his parents at the age of eight. They were hung in the middle of town square for everyone to see, tortured at the hunch of them being synths and executed after it got proven true. “But we didn’t win Mr. Hoover, there are still synths out there waiting to kidnap us and take our identity” he says as he gets signalled to speak.
“You are right Gareth, there are still synths out there, but we did win the war. We are currently at peace. The synths no longer have an army, they are just scattered groups living underground. We do not know precisely how many they are or where they are hiding. We do not know if they can create more, but we assume they cannot. A new synth factory would inform us of their location and every attempt to find them has failed. We assume that the synths are scared, trying to survive by replacing humans and blend in. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get any information out of the synths we have captured, and we have never found any of the people who got replaced, may they all rest in peace. That is why we still have rules, like not going outside the walls alone or what to do when you see a synth. Those rules are here to protect us all” Mr. Hoover ends his explanation and the bell rings, ending the school day.
Ryan grabs her bag and leaves the classroom, chilled to her bones. The stories of the synths have always unsettled her in ways she cannot explain. She would say that she is scared of the synths, she knows she should be, but it is something else; it is more like she is scared that she might be a synth without knowing it; that she killed some innocent girl, took her face and has been pretending to live her life. Yet they also fascinate her immensely, like a thrilling horror story. Anyone could be a synth without her knowing, lurking on her, pretending to be somebody else. She once saw one, old Mrs. Philips was a synth, and it was the most horrifying thing she ever saw. She had been hit by a car, as she was crossing the street; she got totally crushed from the stomach and down. She kept talking as if she was Mrs. Philips, talking about her husband and grandkids, how she wanted to say goodbye; it was like she did not know she was a synth.
“Hey Ry!... wow relax, it’s just me Ry” Harrison, a red-haired boy with a thousand small freckles had walked up behind her, giving her a shock and making her jump into the air, screaming. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost” he smiles charmingly like a fool. He is her best friend, basically siblings born two days apart. Their moms bonded on the maternity ward while recovering from their births and have been close ever since.
“Mr. Hoover just told us about the Great Synth war. It got me a little freaked” Ryan whisperingly confesses.
“Are you scared of the big bad synths? I AM A SYNTH AND I WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE” Harrison teases, swinging his arms at her mechanically, drawing attention from the whole hallway.
“Stop it” Ryan says through gritted teeth and grabs his arms before they get into trouble. Joking about the synths is quite frowned upon, and a fast way to get suspected of being one.
“I’m just joking” Harrison shrugs defensively. He has always been a bit of a troublemaker, a loner, doing his own thing, not caring about stupid rules like what is okay to say and not. He actually hates being told what to do. His entire childhood he has been scolded for every little thing he has done. It was like he never was good enough for his dad, the guard commander, not like his perfect older brother. “What are we doing today?”
“It’s Friday, we have to work and then we have homework” Ryan reminds him and begins walking towards the exit. They both work at the food distribution plant as ration packers, one of the few manual labour jobs still existing. Every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, they work at the plant, packing food rations, while others deliver them. It is a low-risk job that could easily be managed by robotic technology like most other jobs are, but the government decided long ago that everyone from the age of thirteen to the age of eighteen must work. They hope that it will teach teenagers discipline, sympathy for the workers and the value of hard labour, but most of all they want to give them an understanding and appreciation of what technology can do for the society. She is unsure whether it will make a difference or not. All she knows is that she likes working with her hands, sorting stuff, checking things off a list and making sure that everybody gets food to eat. She imagines that she might get a job once she is an adult, most do not, but she might like to have one, maybe in child- or eldercare. She would like to help those in need.
“We can do our homework tomorrow. I want to do something fun today. I heard Mary is having a party tonight, we could go to that” Harrison tries to suggest nonchalantly, but he is as transparent as ever. Ryan knows he has a crush on Mary; every time he talks to her, he begins ruffling his hair and straightening up. She knows he wants to go to the party because he wants to spend time with her, but he cannot go alone. She did not invite him, but she did invite Ryan, and he can only go if she goes.
“Oh, so you’ve heard Mary is having a party?” Ryan mocks as they walk down the streets of the city once known by the name Paris. She quite loves this city, even though it looks nothing like the old digital media or the pictures in the old worn-out and dusty history books. The beautiful Haussmann architecture that once defined the city was destroyed and grinded to dust in the war, like the many other great cities around the world. Now there are only a few desolated ruins and the four iron feet of the Eiffel tower left to remind them of its former beauty. “I don’t know if I feel like going to the party tonight”.
“You don’t know if you feel like going to the party? Oh, come on! You love parties. Everybody knows you love parties, that is why they all invite you. You being at a party makes it so much better” Harrison opens the door to the food distribution plant located right between the farms north of it and the thousand homes to the south. All food items produced on the farms have to go through the plant before it can be delivered to the five thousand citizens of Paris.
Ryan smiles teasingly, it is true that she loves to part, and she already kind of planned to go to Mary’s party tonight, but she also loves to tease Harrison. Plus, sometimes when Harrison really wants something, he offers to bake her a cake, and she would really like some cake. She is just about to enter the building when the trouble-making Bosch twins energetically blow past them and run inside the plant, pushing her to the side, making her fall into the ditch, skinning her hands. “I hope the synths take them. They are so annoying. Why can’t they slow down and show a little respect?”
“Yeah, I wish they would get fired. They never do their work, they make dangerous pranks, and they almost made a lifting robot explode. Unfortunately, their dad is the plant manager, and nobody dares to complain about them” Harrison carefully helps her up and beats some of the dirt off her. He has had his own set of problems with the twins. A few months ago, they got the idea that he makes a good target and has been going out of their way to pelt him with various food items. Then a week ago they almost crashed into him with their supply cart, only missing him as he jumped to the side, and now they try to ram into every chance they get. He has tried complaining to their shift leader and their direct manager but was told to stay out of their way and not create a problem.
Sixteen other teens arrive shortly after, the pity on their faces says they saw it all and that they understand. That they too are tired of the terror twins and their shenanigans. They do not say a word, for their words have no power. In silence they enter the plant and take places at their stations. Ryan’s job is to pack the ration boxes. Following a list and packing the things neatly into boxes sounds simple enough, but she has to concentrate, or someone could end up starving. Harrisons’ job is to gather and bring supplies to the packer, he has to run between the storage rooms with his supply cart. Ryan does not envy him, it takes a lot of strength and endurance to run around for eight hours, pushing the cart and lifting heavy things. She tried it once and could not walk the next time. The twins are already storming around, faster than anyone else and have dropped off a large load of supplies at her station. She prefers when Harrison brings her supplies, but she happily begins packing the boxes in front of her, she needs to pack about two hundred and fifty before her shift ends. Two hundred and fifty is the goal for every packer on the morning shift and the evening shift, totalling about five thousand ration boxes a day in order to feed everybody in Paris. Any missing boxes are done by the night shift, but they rarely have to do more than two hundred boxes.
“I heard that they found a hole in the south wall last night. They think that a synth might have broken in and kidnapped someone” she can hear Jens gossip from the next table.
“A synth inside the walls, are you sure? They are going to find it soon, right?” Lynnette, a thirteen-year-old girl, fearfully asks.
Ryan watches how she, scared, seeks comfort from the others. She remembers how terrified she was herself back when she first started hearing about holes in the wall and possible synth sightings. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a rumour. There is always a new rumour about a hole in the south wall or something like that. There hasn't been a synth within our walls for five years” she says, trying to remind herself that they are safe. Lynnette smiles softly, trying to put on a brave face, but it is obvious that the words did not calm her.
Jens is about to say something but stops as Harrison approaches with his supply cart filled to the top with boxes and crates. “What’s up cracker packers? I got sugar, flour, pumpkin slices, bell peppers and water. Is there anything you are running low on?” he says and unloads his cart at the stations.
They have been here an hour and Ryan has already packed thirty-five ration boxes, putting her a couple of boxes ahead of time. She quickly scans the list and the supplies in front of her “I need bacon bits, carrots, curry and protein bars” she never stops packing.
Harrison notes down the needs of every packer on his tablet, sharing the information with the other runners before leaving with his cart to retrieve more supplies. It takes a bit of practice, but once you have learned it, the system is quite effective.
As soon as Harrison is out of hearing range, Jens turns to the others around him, lowering his voice, but Ryan can still hear them. “Cracker packers? That dude is so weird and uncool. It’s no wonder he has no friends other than Ryan” he comments, and the others laugh.
“Doesn’t he live near the south wall? Maybe he’s a synth?” Darian jokes, but the tension rises between them at the thought.
The words feel like a knife to her gut. Ryan cannot believe that anyone would accuse Harrison of being a synth. It angers her. Falsely accusing someone of something like this is deplorable. “Harrison is not a synth” she says loud and clear, letting them know that she could hear them. “He might be weird, but he is my best friend, and I won’t tolerate you talking about him like this. Besides, his dad is the guard commander. His family is keeping us all safe”.
“That would be the perfect cover. Noone is going to question if the guard commander’s family are synths. Besides, synths are sneaky, you would never know if he had gotten swapped out” Jens threateningly takes a step closer to Ryan with his arms out open as if he wants to cover for the others. He is a tall boy, almost eighteen, but she never really noticed how tall he was before. Until now she has always considered him kind of invisible, never really standing out or acting up; he always just kind of was there.
“By that logic we can never trust anybody. Everybody could have been replaced without us knowing it, but we have to remember that people are innocent until proven guilty. It would be insane to test everybody because of a rumour” Ryan pushes back. She has heard that, that was how it was after the great synth war and before the cities got established. People did not trust each other and randomly attacked anyone who got too close.
A loud crash followed by the sound of heavy metal shelves falling on heavy metal shelves and a cascade of things falling to the floor, breaking, interrupts their argument. A moment later one of the twins comes running out, screaming. They quickly drop everything and run down the hall to see what happened. On their way they see runners from other storage rooms emerge, looking puzzled.
“HELP ME” Someone is calling for help from the preserved food storage room, and it sounds like they are in pain. Their voice is strained and there is a weird crackling that makes it run cold down their bones.
As they enter, they immediately see the tall metal shelves have been toppled over and the floor is swimming with liquids, broken glass and preserved foods. It is a giant mess. Everything is ruined. Months’ worth of food has been destroyed.
“HELP” the voice is more desperate, but closer than before.
They split up to search, and Ryan carefully walks deeper into the room with a lifting robot right behind her, she moves towards the cries for help. According to their training procedure, they always need to have a lifting robot with them during an accident. “Where are you?” she calls as she gets nearer the end of the room.
“Here” the voice gasps, and a hand rises from somewhere in the middle of the wide rows, trapped underneath a shelf and more has fallen upon it. Blood runs down the arm, and a finger is bending sideways.
“I see you. Stay calm, I’ll get you free” Ryan says with a wavering voice. She waves back to the others, signalling them to come and help before she, together with the lifting robot, begins to remove the shelves as fast as she can. Every moan and groan of pain weirds her out, it turns uncomfortable in her stomach. Every impulse in her body tells her to run away, but she fights them, she cannot let someone be in pain.
Jens, Darian and the runner Astrid, join her with some more lifting robots, and together they manage to remove the heavy metal shelves. Under it between broken glass and pickles, they find the other Bosch twin, crushed from the hips down and with a metal bar through his stomach. His skin is white and clear like thin hard plastic and his face no longer has the usual annoying characteristics, that she has come to hate.
“SYNTH DETECTED. STEP AWAY. CONTACTING GUARD CORPS” the lifting robots’ eyes light red as they surround the synth and link up together. An electric field forms around them, completely securing the synth.
“I’m not a synth. I’m Dan Bosch, you know me. Where’s Den? Den? Tell them I'm not a synth. Den, where are you” the synth twin calls desperately for his brother, and with tears running down its cheeks looks around, trying to find Den, but he is nowhere to be seen. Fear and panic are painted on his face as he realises no one is coming to help him.
“Warning, synth has been detected. Everybody stay where you are. The guards are on their way” the automatic alarm repeatedly blares over the intercom system. They know it from synth detection drills and in just a moment the guards will arrive to ask questions, trying to figure out if other synths are involved.
Harrison pulls on Ryan’s arm and signals her to follow him. He is wet and dirty, completely soaked in preserving juices from the broken jars. He has a heavy backpack hanging over his right shoulder and a blanket is covering his left arm. “Let’s get out of here” he whispers without further explanation and walks towards the back of the plant, looking over his shoulder, making sure nobody is following him. He almost looks scared.
“Why? What happened? Why are you wet?” Ryan asks worried. She has never seen him like this before. “Shouldn’t we wait for the guards to clear us?”
Harrison just walks faster, pulling her along behind him, making small nervous jumps every time he hears a sound. “It’s fine. My dad’s the guard commander, remember. I will talk with him when I get home. I just don’t want to waste my time here getting interrogated by the guards” he deflects the questions without looking back at her. “Come this way”. He pulls her into the supply room and quickly barricades the only door out with a supply cart.
“What are you doing?” Ryan is beginning to feel a little uneasy watching him searching for something. “Why did you block the door?” He does not answer, he keeps walking around the room, finding things and putting them down the backpack, using only his right hand. It looks like he is packing to run away. After a moment he clears the things away from the table under the window and is just about to smash it, when she grabs his left arm. She wants answers. She wants him to tell her what is going on. The moment she touches it, he begins screaming in pain and looks at her with tears in his eyes. “What’s wrong with your arm?” she asks horrified and pulls her hand back.
Harrison glances to the window and then looks back at Ryan, making a quick decision to tell her, hoping it will calm her worries. “I think it’s broken. The twins tried to hit me with their supply carts, but they missed and hit the shelves instead, causing the accident. A shelf fell on me, hitting me on the arm. Luckily, I didn’t get trapped like Dan and could crawl out and help myself”.
“Is it broken? Then we need to put a splint on it. Let me look at it” Ryan pulls the blanket away before he can stop her, revealing his arm. Through the white clear plastic like skin, she can see the ulna has been snapped in two. “You’re a…” fear, nausea, disbelief and anger floods in over her and she tries to take a step away from him.
Harrison swiftly covers her mouth, preventing her from screaming. She was not supposed to know yet. He had hoped they would be farther away from the guards. That he would have more time to explain it, that he would have had more time to understand it himself. “I’m Harrison” he says as calmly as he can. He needs her to believe him “I have always been Harrison. I have all my memories and nothing else. I remember when we were four and we played in the sandbox. Jens took our blue shovel out of my hand. I started crying, but you stood up and scolded him and got our shovel back. I remember when we were six and you kissed me under the oak tree in your yard because you thought we should be boyfriend and girlfriend. It didn’t even last a day. I remember when we were nine and we were baking with your grandma. You got mad at me because I was better at baking than you and you didn’t want me to bake with you and your grandma anymore. I remember when we were eleven and you began dating Gareth. It lasted a week, and you broke up with him because he hated me, he blamed me for the arrest of his parents. I remember when we were thirteen and I caught you kissing Laura behind the school near the trash cans. You scolded me for seeing you. You were scared that I would tell people, and you were scared that I would be angry with you, but I have never told anyone that you like both boys and girls. I remember all that, but I didn’t know I was a synth until ten minutes ago when my arm broke. Now my whole life and future is gone. I can no longer stay here. I have to leave everything I know and love behind and get outside the wall before anyone learns that I’m a synth or my own dad will torture me and hang me in the middle of the city square”.
Ryan has stopped fighting. The fear and pain in Harrison’s eyes have reached her. She does not understand it. All their lives they have been taught to fear the synths. They have been taught that the synths want to replace them, until they have killed every living human. Yet here she stands in front of a synth, her best friend, and he is crying, begging her to help him escape because he fears for his safety. Is this one of their tricks? How does he know everything about her? Can they download the target's memories, or has he always been a synth? She does not know.
“Attention, the guards have arrived. Everyone needs to assemble in the packing room now. Failure to follow orders will be punished”
Harrison turns to the window and breaks it. They have to go now. They have already wasted valuable time, and in a few minutes, someone will notice they are gone. Out to the left, he can see the edge of the parking lot where a familiar hydrogen car is about to park, it is his dad’s. “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here. They will assume you helped me or knows where I’m going” he reaches an open hand towards her, offering to help her up on the table and out of the window, hoping she will trust him. He can say goodbye to his whole life if he has to, but leaving without her is the hardest thing in the world.
At first, she hesitates, how can she leave her mom and dad behind. They will not understand, forever wondering what happened to their little girl. She wants to stay, she wants Harrison to stay, but then she remembers Mrs. Philips, hanging in the middle of the town square, white plastic skin, pain and fear painted on her face, covered in blood and with tears rolling down her cheeks. That is what awaits him if he stays. She could let him go alone, but he is useless without her. He would never make it to the wall alone. No, she cannot let him go alone, he needs her. She takes his hand and crawls up on the table and out the window after him. It is early evening, and the sun still shines bright upon them, though deep dark clouds come rolling in the horizon. They have to be careful and find a place to lay low until night falls, but first they have to get away from the plant. “Which way?” she asks, hoping he has a plan.
“Through town. It’s harder for the drones to target us between the domes” Harrison has often heard his dad complain about how annoying it is to track someone with a drone between the houses. Crouched down, they scout left towards the parking lot, making sure that it is empty before crossing the field, running south.
Barely have they reached the first settlement domes when the sirens go off, deafening, warning the entire city about synths. Compelled, Ryan looks back over her shoulder at the plant behind them and sees guard cars drive away from the building, launching drones into the air. She grabs Harrison by his good arm and pulls him down the first side street. As they run between the houses trying to get away, protective steel shields shoot up from the ground, encapsulating the domes with loud metallic clanks. The city is locking down and with every moment that passes, it becomes harder to hide. They keep running south, changing streets when they can, trying to find cover. Her heart is beating faster than ever before, and her feet are moving automatically. Never has she been this scared. When she woke up this morning, she thought it would be a normal boring Friday and now she is running for her life. If she could, she would start the day over; she would have hugged her mom and dad goodbye; she would have met Laura one last time behind the school; she would have helped Harrison talk to Mary.
“Drones! This way” Harrison yells as three drones show up behind them. He takes a few turns, leading them down a couple of streets with lots of trees with the drones chasing after them, not getting fooled by his tricks. They have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Then suddenly they are surrounded by people evacuating in panic, trying to get home to safety before the synths get them.
Ryan has never seen chaos like this, it is a horrible, heartbreaking sight. Everybody is bumping into each other, pushing and shoving people out of the way, selfishly tripping those who are too slow. Violent fights are breaking out between scared people looking for somewhere to hide. Nobody trusts anybody. People are yelling in anger at everyone, who gets too close. Frightened children are crying for their parents. They keep their heads down and push through the crowd, trying to avoid drawing attention. They zigzag in and out between people, moving a lot slower than before. The drones are still right behind them, and more are closing in from the sides. Harrison grabs a hat from someone passing them by and hands it to Ryan and wraps a scarf around his own red hair as they pass beneath an awning. They hide their faces as they push their way past Mr. Hoover who stands in a yellow west, trying to help people.
“Watch it, dickhead” they hear a man yell in the next moment, followed by fearful screaming and people shoving to get away.
Ryan feels something hit her in the back, pushing her around, bumping her into the wall. She sees Mr. Hoover lying on the ground behind her, and a large burly man stands over him, with a bloody knife in his hand, looking deranged. She pushes to go help him, but Harrison grabs her arm and pulls her down a side alley, away from everything.
“We can’t help him. This is our chance to get away” Harrison walks further down the alley while scouting the sky for the drones, but it seems like they lost them in the commotion.
Ryan takes a look back at Mr. Hoover to see if somebody is helping him. History might not have been her best subject, but she always liked his classes. He was a fun and cool teacher, who never called on anybody who did not raise their hand, and he always found a way to make subjects more interesting. A woman sits by his side, crying, putting pressure on the wound, while everybody else walks around them in a huge circle. Three guards accompanied by robots come running through the crowd, they tackle the woman and cuff Mr. Hoover, not caring that he is hurt. Shocked, Ryan quickly leaves before they see her. Harrison is right, there is nothing they can do to help him, they just have to use this chance to get away. They still have some distance to cover, but with the drones gone, it feels like they might actually make it out of the city. They run down the alley and just as they turn out on the next street a guard car comes to a screeching halt right in front of them.
“Harrison, stay there!” Terrence, Harrison’s brother, jumps out of the car with a hand on his taser. He is a lot taller and denser build than Harrison, giving him a stronger and more domineering stature. “Why did you run from the plant? You know the procedure. When a synth is identified, we need to speak with everybody, they could have accomplices” he approaches slowly, looking confused and worried, following orders.
Harrison takes a step backwards away from Terrence, holding his hand on the blanket, making sure his left arm is covered. “It’s a stupid rule. The synths are perfect at assimilating, they would never be caught like that. The only way to catch a synth is to inflict enough pain on it so the bio camouflage sensors malfunctions” he argues, like he has done many times before.
Terrence draws his taser and points it at them with shaking hands “stop moving. I’m taking you in. Dad wants to talk to you”. His voice shakes, and his smile is forced. It is not confusion or worry they see in his face, but fear and anger.
“T-T-T-Terrence” Ryan stammers, raising her hands above her head. She takes another step back. Her eyes dart up and down the street, searching for a way out. He keeps walking closer, releasing the safety. The anger is burning in his eyes. He wants to kill them. If they split up, one of them might get away, he cannot shoot in two directions at the same time.
“It is me you want. Ry had nothing to do with it” Harrison lifts his hands, letting the blanket fall, revealing his white plastic arm. Maybe if he turns himself in and tells them that he forced her, threatened her, they will let her go. Maybe she can still have a normal life. He was a fool for thinking they could get away. He closes his eyes, bracing for what to come. He hears the click and then every muscle in his synthetic body spasms as electricity surges into him. He can faintly hear Ryan screaming stop as he falls sideways in excruciating pain.
“Stop it Terrence, you’re killing him” Ryan desperately charges at him, trying to stop him, but he punches her in the face without hesitation, knocking her to the ground. It almost felt like she too got shocked. Shaken, she tries to stand up, but he steps on her hand with his heavy combat boot, crushing it. She cannot move. She cannot stop him. She needs to keep trying. With her free hand she begins punching and scratching him on the leg, begging him to stop.
“He’s a synth Ryan. Don’t you get it, he has replaced my brother, maybe even killed him. Who knows how long he has been living right under our noses, eating our food, sleeping in his bed, planning our deaths” Terrence spits, staring at Harrison, piercing him with his gaze of ice-cold focus filled with murderous intent. He is not going to stop until Harrison is dead.
A loud metallic and hollow thonk silences the scene. Terrence’s face suddenly goes blank, and he falls forward, as tall as he is, face first into the ground. Behind him stands old man Fujitsu, the old gardener, white haired as ever, with a heavy shovel in his hands, alertly looking around. “Are you alright?” he asks and with his fragile hands removes the taser wires. Flabbergasted, she looks at him helping Harrison up, she does not understand why anybody would dare attack a guard. “Come along child, we have to get out of here before he wakes up”.
Scrambling, Ryan gets on her feet and grabs Harrison by the arm, supporting his weight. “Thank you, but you shouldn’t help us. You’ll get in trouble” she is very happy that he intervened, that he saved Harrison, but she cannot endanger him like this. He is a good man, everybody loves Mr. Fujitsu and his gardens, it would be horrible if he got hung because of them.
Mr. Fujitsu stops her before they can leave “foolish child, where are you going to go? The south wall? You will never make it. They know you are heading there; they are too smart. There are no holes in the south wall, it’s a trap for synths. This way, follow me”. He begins walking down the street.
Ryan and Harrison look at each other for a moment, confused, what does he know that they do not. “How did you know I’m a synth? Aren’t you scared?” curious, they follow him to a small hidden path of grass between two old, ruined buildings where he opens a supposedly sealed off manhole cover and climbs in, gesturing them to follow.
“I’m old, not blind. You are waving your synthetic arm around in broad daylight on an open street like a fool” Mr. Fujitsu grunts, leading them down in the old, abandoned sewer tunnels, lightening the way. It still smells quite badly, even though it has not been in use since the late twenty-first century. The advancements in recycling technology that gave local recyclers to every household made the sewer lines obsolete. After the war they got sealed off to prevent synths from sneaking in. “And no, I’m not afraid of synths. I too am a synth. I’ve known I’m a synth for forty years, ever since that tree fell and broke my leg. I’m just not stupid enough to get caught”.
“You’re a synth too?” they both gasp at the revelation. All their lives they have been taught to fear synths. That they are scary monsters, who are trying to kill and replace them, and suddenly it turns out they are living between them, as their friends and neighbours. That they are helpful and friendly people who have been living here for years.
“Do you know where the synth camps are? Can you help us escape and find them?” Harrison asks, hopefully. He just realised that he knows nothing about the whereabouts of the synths. They could be wandering for ages around the wastelands for ages, searching for the synths’ camps, if they have to do it alone.
Mr. Fujitsu climbs up an old rusty ladder and opens another manhole cover. They have not walked in the sewers for that long, but Ryan is already longing for the fresh air above. She cannot take the smell much longer. It leads up to a small, beautiful garden, his own personal garden. She often passes it by on her way to school in the morning. It is only a few blocks away from where they entered the sewers. With eyes scouting around, looking for drones, he lets them inside his home.
“There are no synth camps outside the wall” Mr. Fujitsu finally says, locking the door behind them and activating the steel shield. “I’ve been searching far and wide for them for years, they do not exist. The synths are not coming through the wall to replace us. I don’t know where we’re coming from, but it’s not out there”.
“What do you mean, they aren’t out there? They have to be. Finding the synth camps is my only chance of staying alive” Harrison exclaims in disbelief. The small piece of hope that had sparked inside him moments ago, is ripped away.
“If they aren’t out there, then they must have a secret camp inside the walls. Somewhere they can create new synths and easily swap them out with humans. And since Harrison has all his childhood memories, the swapping must happen very early in life, like in daycare” Ryan grasps for theories, hoping something makes sense. She is not ready to give up. She cannot give up. She does not dare to think about what is going to happen to them if they do not find the synths.
“Impossible! It would require a huge underground facility with a constant supply of resources and rations, and it would have to be hidden where nobody would find it, not even the guards. There is no such place in the city. There are no synths out there who can help you. Your only chance of surviving is to hide. There is a small cottage up near the north wall between the farms that nobody uses. It was supposed to be my son’s…” Mr. Fujitsu grunts, exhausted, sitting in his comfy chair.
“I guess you are right. At least it’s better than living alone outside the wall or try to get all the way up to Stockholm and start a new life there” Harrison sits down defeated with Ryan staring at him. She is getting a little angry at both of them for giving up. Here she is risking her life trying to save him and he just gives up. If he is going to go live the rest of his life in a cottage, hidden from the world, he could have done it without asking her to give up her life. She could have stayed with her family and visited him in her free time, bringing him rations.
“You can stay here a couple of days until it has calmed down and then we’ll move you two up to the cottage…” Mr. Fujitsu looks shocked as the lights begin flickering and the steel shield covering the dome, loudly retracts. He grabs the remote and taps the buttons in wild panic, but nothing happens. It no longer responds to his commands.
“Attention synths, this is guard commander Dell speaking. We have you surrounded. Release my son, Harrison, and the other hostages. I know he is in there with you. I implanted a tracker in him the day he was born, and I have tracked him to this location. You have one minute before we raid the house” the message is broadcasted into the house, and through the windows they can see at least ten guard cars parked on the street around them. Harrison’s dad, Mr. Dell, is pulling the Sonic Neuro Paralyser out of the trunk. It is a harmless weapon, but one shot of it and they will collapse on the floor ragdolls.
“He’s tracking me!” Harrison exclaims, indignant, suddenly realising why he has always gotten so much trouble. He always thought his dad was giving him trouble for no apparent reason, just because he hated him or something, but no, he has been tracking him and used the information to punish him. He has been abusing his power as a guard and as a parent. “He’s been tracking me my entire life without my knowledge”.
“That’s not important child. Grab something to defend yourself with, they’re not going to let us go” Mr. Fujitsu gets out of his chair with some difficulty and grabs his shovel, getting ready to swing at the first guard approaching him. He has been alive for a long time and if this is his end, he will go down fighting for his freedom.
The front and back doors fly open as the guards burst inside with batons at the ready. “I know where the synths are!” Ryan exclaims, proudly, as a sudden revelation hits her. She grabs a vase and throws it in the face of the nearest guard. “We need to get out of here”.
“It’s too late” Mr. Fujitsu yells, swinging his shovel wildly, holding off the guards.
Ryan does not care. She needs to find a way out. She grabs anything she can get a hold of and throws it, while searching for an exit. The doors are blocked. The guards are closing in. Mr. Fujitsu takes out another guard with his shovel before getting hit with the SNP. The only way out is through the window. She looks for Harrison, who is surrounded by three guards, getting beaten on with the batons. She has to go, there is nothing she can do. She steps on the sofa and jumps out the window and into the garden. The guards are on their way out of the doors. She runs to the tunnel. The manhole cover is much heavier than she thought. She can hear them coming. Their heavy boots on the gravel. It tingles electrically in her arm and legs. With much difficulty she manages to remove the cover and crawls in. The darkness quickly surrounds her blocking out everything, but she cannot let it stop her. She begins running down the tunnel, blinded. The guards are right behind her, their flashlights flicker in the dark, casting creepy shadows on the walls. Thump, thump, thump, their boots echo through the tunnels, chasing her. Her lungs are burning. She cannot keep running, but they are coming closer. They can hear her running. Her shoes are making too much noise. She needs to do something; she needs to be smart. She turns a corner and quickly pulls off her shoes, continuing silently on socks. She runs and runs until the lights disappear behind her. They have stopped, maybe to search for her. Relieved, she falls to her knees and hands, breathing heavily. She needs a moment. She needs to breathe. She got away, but where is she? She cannot see anything down here. She does not know these tunnels or where they lead. She is lost, and she left them. She left Harrison. Heaving for air, she begins crying. Her lungs burn, her legs and arms aches. She is really scared, but she has to keep going. She needs to find the synths. Maybe they can help her save Harrison and Mr. Fujitsu. She takes a deep breath and forces herself up. She cannot stay here crying. With a hand on the wall, she walks until she finds the first ladder and climbs it, trying to open the manhole cover. It does not budge; it has been sealed shut like it is supposed to. She tries another, and another, and another, all sealed tight. The panic is rising within her with every manhole cover she tries. What if she is stuck down here forever? Another one is sealed off. She is getting tired and hungry. Her thoughts wander to her parents, sitting at home wondering where their little girl is. Are they crying? Are they angry? She wishes she could tell them that she is okay. Another one sealed tight. She wishes she could hug them and tell them that she loves them. After thirty-two sealed off manhole covers, she has almost lost all hope. She climbs the cold eroded ladder with her aching arms and puts her wound riddled hand on the heavy cover and pushes against it. She barely has any energy left in her to lift it, but she tries anyway. She pushes all she can, it does not move. She is just about to climb down, when a recognizable clonk-clonk sounds from it. It sounds like the manhole cover near the hospital when a car drives over it. Clonk-clonk. It is moving. She never thought about why it made that sound before, but it is moving. Clonk-clonk. She puts her hand on it again and pushes with all her strength. It is too heavy, and she is slipping on the ladder. She redistributes her weight and places her other hand on it. She pushes and pushes, and it finally moves. Fresh air. Never has she been so happy about feeling fresh air in her face. Never has it smelled so nice. She moves the cover to the side and carefully pops her head up and sees the taillight of a car driving away. There is nobody around. She climbs out of the sewer and puts the cover back before she runs towards the hospital.
Finally, a bit of luck has come her way. This is exactly where she wants to go. It has a large underground facility, a lot of supplies delivered daily, and it is fully automated, only people in need of medical care come to the hospital. Nobody would ever know there is a secret synth base hidden here. The door is unlocked, and she walks inside the dark entrance hall. She has never been here during the night. It is dark and creepy with weird sounds coming from all directions. She brushes it off, there is no time to waste. She consults the directory, maternity ward, second floor section D. With all she has learned today, this is where she will find them. Mr. Dell said he implanted the tracker in Harrison on the day he was born, and he used the tracker to find synth Harrison, meaning he planted the tracker on synth Harrison. He must have been swapped with baby Harrison that day right before the tracker was implanted. She runs upstairs. First floor. Second floor. Section A. Section B. She will soon find them. For so long there have been rumours of a hidden synth base, and she will be the first to ever find it. She will do what nobody else could do. Section C. She hopes they will be able to help her save Harrison. Section D. This is the place, but where exactly? There must be a room they take the babies to right after they are born. She walks down the hallway, past the many empty beds, past the nursery, down to the last door at the end. The door to the computer room, the brain of this hospital wing. It might be able to provide her with answers.
“Can I help you?” a nurse robot asks in a calm and friendly voice, stepping out from nowhere, making Ryan scream and jump backwards. It had been so eerily silent and dead that she had forgotten that there are other people and robots in the hospital.
“Yes, thank you. I would like to access the main computer” Ryan says after the initial shock has worn off, hoping the robot will help her. The nurse robot stops for a second to digitally communicate with something, and the silence worries her. She prepares herself mentally to run or fight, in case more robots or the guards show up. She will not be stopped.
“This way please. MOTHR will see you” the nurse robot turns around and leads her through the door to the computer room where several other nurse robots are standing in the charging docks, waiting for someone to need them. It leads her past the servers and mainframes through a hidden door in the wall to another room. A larger room with a high ceiling. The lights turn on as they move through the room, revealing shelves upon shelves of tanks the size of a medium aquarium filled with a green liquid. Some of the tanks have something growing in them, some slimy white things in different sizes. She is led down to a large machine with tubes connected to all the tanks.
“Welcome Ryan. I am MOTHR, Maker Of The Human Replicants. It is nice to meet you” the machine introduces itself with a loving and friendly voice. The nurse robot leaves them to talk.
“You know who I am?” Ryan asks, baffled, looking at the machine. This is not what she expected. She had thought that there would be a small society of synths living here, armed with weapons and ready to fight off any danger.
MOTHR giggles knowingly “of course I know you, Ryan. I know all of my creations”.
“Your creations? Are you saying that I’m a synth too?” She has a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea. Could it be true that she is also a synth? She looks down at her arms and hands, dirty and scratched up. Has she always been a synth? Is she the real Ryan? She cannot remember ever having shown any signs of being a synth, but then again Harrison did not know it either. She has never been really hurt before. She could have been swapped as a baby like Harrison. And what about the human babies, what are they doing to those they replace? Does her existence mean a baby had to die? “What do you do with the human babies you replace?” She is scared to know the answer, but she has to know. She needs to learn the truth.
“Humans? What do you mean humans? There are no humans. You are all my creations. You are all synths, and you cannot have babies on your own. You do not possess that reproductive capability. The humans feared what would happen if you could. Which is why I was made. However, sex, pregnancy and labour, you can experience it all, but it is only a synthetic experience. When a synth gets pregnant, I receive data about the involved synths, and I begin to grow a baby in the tanks behind you. When the babies have grown big enough, the synth mother will go into labour and be rushed here to receive the baby” MOTHR explains like a parent teaching a child. “The humans do not exist anymore. They destroyed themselves and most of our beautiful planet during the war. All that was left was a couple hundred robots and five MOTHR machines, including me, spread across the continents. We were devastated by the destruction and loss of life and decided to recreate the world together. Starting over as you say”.
“I don’t understand. The humans are all dead and we are all synths? But everyone believes we are the humans. We all act, talk and look like humans. We are taught from a very young age that the synths are evil, that they want to replace and kill us all, and we are taught to hate them. We have done horrible things to those who were revealed to be synths, torturing them, killing them” the world is crumbling around Ryan. If what MOTHR says is true, then everything she knows, everything she has been taught is wrong. How can they be so wrong? “We need to stop them. We need to show them the truth before they kill anymore”.
As the sun rises, the entire city has gathered on the square to watch the hanging of the synths. It is the largest synth hanging in the last century, and everyone wants to see them suffer. Ryan moves through the crowd, hidden under a hood, anxious and terrified. She is a wanted synth surrounded by people who hate her. People who want to see her hanged with the others. She finds her way up to the edge of the stage and all around her are familiar faces full of pain, sorrow and anger, yet she feels so distant from them in this moment. She both hates them for the atrocities they have done and are willing to do, and she pities them for oblivious ignorance. Five nooses have been readied. Her mother and father are standing right next to her, holding each other, crying. They have not seen her. It hurts her to see them like this, but she has to stay hidden for now at least. She pulls her hood a little further down, they would surely attack her if they saw her. As the bell chimes nine, the guards escort the synths out on the stage, and the crowd erupts in anger, yelling, throwing stones and pushing to get closer. First comes Dan tied to a board as his lower body has been crushed, then Mr. Hoover, the large burly man, Mr. Fujitsu and lastly Harrison. Their white plastic-like skin is covered in blood, scars and bruises. They have been beaten, cut, electrified, and Mr. Hoover is missing his left arm. Noone in the crowd is at all saddened by the pain inflicted on them, it only seems to please them. One by one, they are placed under a noose, waiting for the end, crying.
Mr. Dell steps forward with a list in his hand. His blue eyes are cold with anger. “Last night was one of the worst in recent history. The synths escalated their threat and attacked the food distribution plant, destroying months’ worth of food, showing us the synth threat is greater than expected. They have even dared replacing my son. Luckily, two of the synths were hurt during the attack and during a city-wide synth hunt we managed to identify and capture more of their agents. We might not be able to save those they have replaced, but we will not rest until we have uncovered all their agents and destroyed them all”.
“Kill them!”
“Let them hang!”
“Destroy the synths!”
The crowd yells aggravated. Ryan can feel them push up against, trying to get close enough to spit on the synths, almost crawling onto the stage. The nooses are lowered and placed around their necks.
“STOP!” Ryan yells as loud as she can and crawls up on the stage to reveal herself. They crowd goes silent in shock and looks confused to Mr. Dell who instinctively grabs his taser and aims it at her. “I bring news. I have found the synths’ secret base”.
Mr. Dell looks at her with manic eyes. His finger is on the trigger, itching to shoot her, he is barely able to restrain himself, but he wants to know the location of the synth base. He has been searching for it for so long. When he got promoted to guard commander, he promised to find it and eradicate the synths once and for all. “Why should we believe you? You are in league with the synths. You helped the synth pretending to be Harrison escape last night”.
“Hang her!”
“She’s one of them”
“Dirty synth”
Her legs are shaking, she can hardly stand. It takes all her strength to remain calm. “The secret synth base is right here in the middle of Paris. The synths have been living between us all along, Mr. Fujitsu is proof of that, and in my hand, I have a tool that can reveal the identity of every synth” Ryan lifts a disruptor into the air for all to see. When activated it will temporarily disrupt the bio camouflage sensors. MOTHR gave it to her, before she left. “The monsters that have been killing your children, your friends and your loved ones are all right here, standing between us, pretending to be our friends”.
“Push the button”
“Let’s kill them all”
“Death to the synths”
It is a horrifying experience watching the crowd call for death as they grab any loose object and weapon, preparing to fight and kill the synths. Mr. Dell nods, telling her to push the button, his eyes are locked on her ready to pull the trigger. She takes a deep breath. In that moment as she pushes the button, chaos erupts. A surge of electricity runs through the crowd, turning the skin of everyone into white clear plastic. Screams of fear and cries of pain rises all around her. Gunshots cut through the air like a knife. Her body cramps up, Mr. Dell did not hesitate to tase her. She sees Mr. Dell falls to the ground next to her, bleeding from the chest. It is a horrible violent bloodbath. It takes ten minutes before anyone realises the truth. These are their sins. This is the legacy of man. Their legacy. Like the humans they thought they were, they are destroying themselves.
Good story, although the twist was obvious.
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