Perseus City

The rain had started to fall and it would continue to pour throughout the night. There was a constant patter that produced a natural rhythm against the windowpane. Besides his small bottle of whiskey, which had cost two-hundred and fifty dollars due to this year’s liquor production shortage, it was the only other substance that provided solace. While taking another sip, the standard eighteen-fifteen hologram automatically now began to obstruct the glass in his hand.

As the bourbon met his lips and once again became visible, he was greeted by Helen. Helen appeared at this time every night to remind the citizens of the Unified Republic of news they had already heard. Her latest report included an excerpt of the proposed Mandatory Supplement Act that stated “Even the strongest must take them in order to remain fit”. It was no surprise that the new drug so aptly named Survivor 10, which was supposed to guarantee an extra ten years to your life span, had made it as one of the requirements of this act. Other notable required supplements included Moral Seeker and Forward Thinker. As of now, they were not required but the Health Committee was close to making this change and it would most likely be approved by the end of the month.

The next piece of news described the fourth failed attempt at reaching a trade agreement with Southern Athena. Helen now spoke in a somber tone as she explained how diplomats from the Unified Republic could not compromise on many key issues, one of them being the sale and distribution of task watches manufactured by Disciples of Plato. Task watches were required to be worn at all times and if somehow a citizen of the Unified Republic were ever to remove it from their wrist, they would be arrested by the Arbiters of the Way. The hologram of Helen that emitted from Lysander’s task watch now portrayed her in front of a white sand beach with aqua waves perpetually crashing against the shore. This was the part of her segment that focused on the monthly flash sales of the vacation farms that simulated desirable getaway environments. They were now accommodating 8-hour family deals with a ticket price of only one-thousand dollars, “a great deal” as Helen had explained.

Lysander worked as a construction laborer making only one-thousand dollars a week, just enough to pay rent for his 90,000 square-centimeter room that came complete with a turbo waste disposer, a food preserver, a super comforter and even a wall window. He was fortunate that the comforter was against the wall window so that he could at least stare out into the labyrinth of sky palaces that towered well above his residence on the 100th floor at the Knight’s Hall. The sky palaces were the newer buildings that had replaced the old skyscrapers from a couple hundred years ago. It was Lysander’s job to construct these newer buildings and he often found his work to be unsatisfying. Dull acceptance seemed to be the shared motto amongst his coworkers as well.

This afternoon had been quite different. As Lysander was methodically cleaning the rubble that lay from the demolition of the new sky palace that he had been assigned to complete, he noticed something quite strange contained within the debris. There was a small, heart-shaped metallic object that was attached to a silver chain. It was strictly forbidden to take any belongings that were found on site during construction but he became so intrigued by its elegance that he quickly scooped it up and put it into the front right pocket of his jeans. He was able to make this look less obvious by deliberately dropping his auto hammer and picking it up while also taking the metallic object.

The remainder of the day continued as usual but as it wore on, he could not stop thinking about the treasure he had acquired. Now that he was settled in his home with the stolen treasure, he could now begin to admire it. He was no longer listening to Helen as his fingers caressed the smooth surface of the metallic heart. Once he had seen such an object in an old movie but never in the flesh. He admired its grace and it had reminded him of simpler times where people kept such trinkets as tokens of love. His finger now found a ridge on the side of the heart and an interesting thought came to mind.

Is it coming apart?

The heart slowly opened and at first, Lysander thought he broke it.

A broken heart, how ironic.

But now he noticed something even more strange. Inside the heart, words were inscribed on the left half and a portrait was sitting within the other. The portrait was of a smiling young couple, with the words on the left next to it saying “We give it all to you”. Was this a gift left to a child by their parents? If so, did they leave it behind by accident or was it just simply abandoned?

What were they giving?

Lysander touched the words and upon doing so, he saw a little piece of metal stick out on the top right side of that half. His finger barely pressed it and with a snap, he noticed the surface with the words come springing out. A small, black, rectangular object now appeared and he recognized it as a memory imprint. Curiosity soon flooded Lysander’s thoughts and he took another sip of his whiskey while removing the memory imprint from it’s slot.

His task watch had the ability to scan these objects and play the holograms that were contained within them. He had to wait until Helen was done with her report before he could scan the imprint since you couldn’t turn off the eighteen-fifteen hologram. It took another five minutes for her report to end.

Without further ado, he scanned the imprint and his task watch immediately projected a hologram of the young couple from the heart. As they were brought to life, they were not smiling at all as they had been in the portrait.

“If you are watching this, then we have not failed.” Said the man solemnly. “You must act quickly since they will be coming after you.”

All of a sudden, there was a flashing red notification that emitted from Lysander’s task watch. This had meant that the Arbiters of the Way were coming for him.

“If you listen to us carefully, you will prevail. You must go to the Giving Fountain here in Perseus City and inside it you will find the savior. In the middle of the savior, there is a panel that you must turn with your hand. You must then follow the savior and remember the saying ‘Justice to the people’.”

The woman now began to speak. “We love you so much and farewell.”

And that was the end of the hologram. Lysander immediately put on his jacket and boots. A moment later, he left his room and was quickly running for the elevator down the hallway. The descent to the lobby took less than 30 seconds and as he quickly exited the building, he noticed that the rain was still coming down hard. He had to avoid the public methods of transportation that were provided by the underground bullets since it would be easy for him to get caught by the Arbiters of the Way.

Fortunately, the rain, his jacket and the dark night provided a nice camouflage so that he could move stealthily throughout the city. He had to remain inconspicuous amongst the general public since any remote actions would single him out. The Giving Fountain was in one of the city squares that was about almost 2 kilometers away and it had been one of the few pieces of original art that had not been knocked down yet. Tonight, it felt more like 2,000 kilometers away.

Lysander had never felt more nervous in his entire life than during this journey. The trek to this fountain was going to be a long and difficult task. He consistently fought very hard to suppress his urge to run down the wet city streets while also concealing his left hand that wore the task watch.

Throughout the trip, he did his best to maintain a steady 6 kilometer pace but this wasn’t always the case. Occasionally he would hear the sound of a lookout chime and its synthetic voice call out in the night.

“We are on the hunt for a man named Lysander. He resides at the Knight’s Hall. If you have seen him, report it to the Arbiters of the Way immediately.”

The sound of this voice sent a chill down his body that would in turn cause him to skip a pace. Despite this terrible sensation, he continued to keep walking. But it wasn’t just the voice that had scared him. There were also Pegasus watchers that had been seen floating throughout the city within certain quadrants as well. They were now on high alert while trying to find him on this dark night.

It wasn’t until about halfway through this trip that Lysander had encountered his deepest fear. He had arrived at the intersection of Phoenix and Eros when he noticed a Cerberus tank had been sitting right in the middle of it. It had blocked off traffic and essentially created a checkpoint for pedestrians passing through the intersection. There were a couple of soldiers stationed outside the tank. They were closely monitoring the people walking through the crosswalks, trying to find anyone who fit Lysander’s description. Lysander’s heart sank when he heard one of the soldiers call out to the crowd.

“Hold up your task watch as you cross!”

As if by some sort of intuition, he remembered there had been a roll of black construction tape that sat inside his coat pocket. He had used this tape throughout his job as a laborer to patch up things when necessary.

I must not make any sharp movements.

With the fingertips of his right hand, he slowly tore off about 10 centimeters of the tape.

“Hold up your task watch as you cross!” Repeated the soldier.

The people in front of Lysander were now crossing the street with their arms raised to expose their task watches. The soldier who had just shouted the order stared at the people crossing the street through his Phorcydes visor. Lysander did not take his gaze off of the other side of the street as he raised his left arm. He remained at the same pace as the other pedestrians while crossing the street as well.

To his relief, there were no shouts or lookout chimes that rang off when he reached the other corner of Phoenix. He had swiftly patched the construction tape to the front screen of his task watch while keeping it under his left jacket sleeve. This was enough to hide the red notification that emitted from it.

The second half of his trek had been less stressful. He kept his head down and continued to stay at a steady 6 kilometer pace towards the Giving Fountain. About ten minutes later, he had arrived at the city square with the fountain sitting in the middle of it. He looked inside the fountain and noticed there was a marble sword that had been engraved on the bottom of its surface, which lay about 100 centimeters deep.

Could this be the savior?

He couldn’t find anything else that stood out inside the fountain, so he quickly jumped inside and submerged himself. The sword was indeed quite large, about 200 centimeters long and 90 centimeters wide counting its hilt. He tried to find the panel and eventually his hand met with what had seemed to be an engraving on the sword that had somehow slightly stood out. The engraving felt stiff and with some force, he managed to turn it. The sword had quickly been lowered into the surface and Lysander was tossed into what appeared to be an empty tank. About a second later, the sword then disappeared from his sight.

Lysander was on his side coughing frantically when a bright light appeared above him. He immediately noticed that he was in a small, dark room with only one door. He heard loud footsteps come running down the hallway and as they drew closer, the door flailed open and an older man with a white beard was standing there with two younger men holding electro guns behind him.

“What’s the saying?” Asked the older man with genuine concern.

It took Lysander a couple of moments before he understood what the man was asking him.

“Justice to the people!” Lysander had quickly said while letting out a series of coughs.

The three men standing at the door were now smiling and they appeared to look relieved.

“Yes! Justice to the people indeed. We have to ask that question to make sure you’re not one of them. Quick, hold out your left arm.”

Lysander extended his left arm and one of the younger men used a tool for releasing his task watch. When it came off of his arm, the other man used another tool for taking off its front panel and it seemed that he had burned the inside of it with a special gel.

“They can’t find you now. You’re safe.”

“Who are you and what is this place?” Asked Lysander.

“You are now in the Temple of the Justice. My name is Julius. I am the leader of this organization. You will have many questions over time but you have come to the right place. We are so pleased that you have arrived. You will be treated as one of our brothers from this day forth.”

Lysander now stood up. “What is this Temple of the Justice?”

“We are the ones who will overthrow the Unified Republic. We will make our society free and alive again. We are the seekers of truth, the givers of love, the liberators that will take away all the chains. We will make everyone’s life have meaning again.” The old man paused for a moment. “Please tell me your name.”

“I am Lysander.”

“Well Lysander, you can be honest with me. Did it feel good always having to wear the task watch that was chained to you?”

“No.”

“And did it feel good being forced to watch the holograms from it?”

“It didn’t feel good.”

“Good.” The old man studied him. “Now tell me, are you willing to join us? The road ahead will be difficult but you will be part of history.”

Lysander took a couple of moments as he contemplated his decision.

“I want to make a difference in our world. I don’t want people to be forced to wear the task watches or sit through the holograms any longer.”

“Excellent. Let’s get you into some clean clothes.”

Lysander followed the three men down the hallway and as he did, many thoughts circled in his mind. He believed he was doing the right thing. He wanted a life where people could make choices. He also wanted everyone’s life to have some meaning and the Unified Republic had taken away a lot of those qualities.

Who would’ve thought I went from being a laborer to a liberator in a day.