Serum

Pink and green lights moved across her in waves, bathing her bare skin in comfort as she stood by the window watching the relentless stream of ads that flashed across the giant screen opposite her window. They had started putting up the Scriins all over London when she was young, and now every building in the city was wrapped in them, their holograms filling the city with neon from dusk till sunrise. It had been another endless encompassing night that slipped easily into dawn as the tell-tale sky high above let her know it was time as it changed slowly from darkness to a familiar pale silvery-blue. She shifted herself from the wall and padded over to the sleek black panel that took up an entire wall in her bedroom and touched it lightly, it slid open, immediately offering her a glossy flat envelope from the hundreds that lay in neat little rows behind it. She ripped into it, dropping the bio-plastic on the floor and throwing her uniform on over the comfy, worn underwear she’d put on the night before. She sidestepped in front of the old-fashioned mirror that hung next to the wardrobe, the one she’d found in one of the junkshops in the lower levels. The Company had offered to pay for a plexi-mirror to be installed when they’d upgraded her to her own flat, but she’d flatly refused, opting instead for the old and worn antique. She loved that it wasn’t tech reliant, it was simple, quiet and pure. No touch screen beauty bot options, just her.

“Good morning Serena” the dulcet tones of Olivia called out, the one expensive piece of tech she had allowed the company to install. She walked into the all-white room next to her bedroom, the standard Kitchen most upper-level citizens had, a matt, white tech-counter. A slab pushed itself up smoothly from inside and revealed a steaming cup of coffee, an alluring scent of cinnamon and vanilla instantly filling the entire room “Just how you like it” Olivia said soothingly. Serena said nothing back and took the coffee before sliding onto one of the white bar stools in front of her, sipping slowly before setting it down to the side. Her arms began to tremble slightly as she focused on the thing in front of her. She’d left it on the tech-counter last night after she’d opened it, too freaked out to bring it with her into her bedroom, even though her instructions during her brief had been clear, it was not to leave her side at any point. Major had never said she couldn’t look inside but Serena also knew that GrowERR agents weren’t supposed to open anything they were tasked with guarding, unless instructed. A cold tendril of fear wrapped itself around her stomach as she thought about what they would do to her if they knew she’d opened it.

It almost seemed like it was mocking her as it laid starkly against the clean white, dirty and mottled with age. Such an unassuming old notebook and yet it contained so much. She reached out a shaking finger and stroked it gently against the cover, the collector in her marvelling at how soft it was, like butter. Only real leather felt like that, a material no longer made. Animals hadn’t been used for anything for decades, now they were of no use to the world they were mostly left to breed and die naturally, running wild on the land outside the major cities. Occasionally, one would wonder into the city, delighting children and local streamers until it wondered back out again. GrowERR had quickly become one of the biggest food lab companies in the world, marking the beginning of real change when they introduced their carbon healing formula. Phillip Gower, the long dead founder, had invented it over 100 years ago when the world discovered that carbon neutrality and veganism were not going to be enough, the world needed medicine we couldn’t provide. He came up with a formula, a serum that the company injected deep into the earth by the gallon and slowly but surely, it started working. This success allowed him to expand into food-lab production with ease, especially as he managed to make the emissions from his production line carbon healing as well. The ever-rising population in the lower levels meant it wasn’t working as quickly as he had predicted, however. When he made the serum, Philip didn’t know that London would sprout into the sky leaving teeming, dirty overcrowded slums in the first 230 levels, home only to suffering and the old malfunctioning UL advertising strips. New tech never quite reached the slums.

Serena jolted back to reality as a swoop of fear swiped across her belly. She knew now how Phillip Grower had made the serum, the formula was hidden in the pages of the leather-bound notebook she had been tasked with guarding and it terrified her. She remembered thinking it was an odd assignment, too easy compared to the other things she had to do for GrowERR. She thought Major had picked her because of her fascination with antique items and had felt strangely touched. Look after the notebook for one night then bring it back. Don’t let it leave your side. How could she have been so stupid, she thought bitterly. Serena always followed instructions absolutely, but the notebook had proved too tempting, a relic from a forgotten time that reached out to Serena with inviting arms. Why was she asked to watch it for only one night though? Serena’s mind was racing, the only logical explanation, someone else knew about it and had planned to take it from GrowERR labs last night. She jumped, shocked out of deep thought by the angry buzz inside her wrist. Her comms. She drained the last of her coffee, picked up the notebook and inhaled deeply before making her way to the sliding hatch where a GrowERR pod was waiting to take her to the labs.

Serena barely noticed the people alighting from sky-trams on to air-platforms or the floating food disk vendors that always tried to catch the attention of pod passengers on their way to work so they’d pause and pick up a converted meal pak. People still ate this way even though tech counters had a selection of food and drink that you could choose from, all provided by GrowERR and charged at a monthly flat rate. Serena secretly preferred the paks to the GrowERR meals because they were the closest thing to actual cooking available nowadays, unless you went to one of the expensive restaurants on the highest levels, they cooked meals then and there, one of the only old-fashioned things that the world had clung onto, and then made exclusive to the very rich.

It wasn’t long until the pod docked into one of the thousands of entrances on the labs West side. Serena saw the Major waiting behind the glass before the pod even slid open and noticed no one was docking on this floor, only the ones above and below. Major must have sent out a block order to all the pods for this floor, Serena thought, as the tendril of panic began to creep from her stomach into her throat. They were completely alone, and Serena began to feel like she might hurl her coffee all over the floor at Major’s feet. “Good morning agent” Major said tonelessly as Serena walked over to her, bowing slightly and then standing to attention until the Major let her at ease, the book still gripped tightly in her hands. Major held out her hand wordlessly and Serena handed it over warily checking for any indication that Major knew she’d read it. Major gave her a thin smile and said “Serena I wonder if you might come with me” stepping so close that Serena could feel her breath on her cheek, then she felt a firm hand on her back steering her towards one of the mini-pods that moved around the labs transporting employees at break-neck speeds. They stepped in and Major said quietly “Sublevel 3 please” Serena felt the fear in her stomach tighten and a muscle in her mouth moved involuntarily. Major’s head whipped round as if she’d heard it and she looked at Serena, lingering on her face for a second before smiling and turning back to face the doors. The mini pods moved so fast everything was always a blur, but the internal stabilisers meant that you couldn’t feel anything but a smooth kind of pressure, which was handy because Serena’s nausea was intensifying with each second that passed. Finally, right when Serena thought she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore they glided to a halt, the glass of the mini pod completely surrounded by a dingy grey curved concrete tube lit by faltering UL strips. This must be lower than the testing and development labs, even those were encased in opaque plexi-glass. This concrete was ancient, and Serena realised with a start that these were supposed to be the foundation levels, solid levels of concrete and steel and yet they were looking at a huge room, dirty and old with dark brown stains all over the floor. Major reached for Serena’s elbow and pulled her roughly through the pod doors into the room. Serena noticed there were reinforced green doors at regular intervals around the room and an odd acrid smell under the sharp lemon that cleaning bots left behind. Major yanked her roughly over to one of the doors and bent down to an ID scanner located in the middle of the door. It slid open, revealing a room with a table and two chairs on either side. Major pushed her over to one of the chairs and Serena sat down warily, her eyes never leaving Major’s face. Major reached down to the side of the table and picked up a bag from the floor Serena hadn’t noticed. She put it on the table in front of Serena, slowly and deliberately unzipping it and holding it open so Serena could see it was filled to the brim with more credit disks than she knew most people of her level would ever see in their lifetime. “20,000 credits” Major said as if she’d read her mind. “I asked you to look after the book because you’re expendable, Serena. I don’t care if you read it, this was always going to be how it ended. GrowERR is willing to offer you a choice in light of your years of dedicated service. Take this bag, leave London for good, never speak of GrowERR or you find out first-hand what was in the book whether you read it or not” she reached her hand out and grabbed Serenas arm, turning it up and tapping Serena’s wrist with a wink before letting it go as Serena tugged it back “We’re always listening Serena and if you talk we’ll kill whoever you told, their family and you” Serena tried to speak but faltered, steeled herself and stammered out “I…I.. I’ll take the money!” Major smiled again and said “Good!”. Serena snatched the bag and stumbled over the door, desperate to get out as quickly as possible. Major took hold of her arm again and pulled her back. It was only then that Serena saw a man in the same uniform as hers pushing an air-trolley towards one of the doors opposite them. It opened and Serena saw them all. Hundreds upon hundreds of people strung up in rows upside down on giant hangers, thick tubes protruding from every limb extracting what she knew was their marrow. The secret ingredient for the serum, the only thing in this world that Philip Grower had proved could cure the earth. Serena shuddered and closed her eyes, letting Major push her into the pod, the only thought in her head that was this would all be over soon.