The One True Love Program

Dear Harriet,

Congratulations on your 21st Birthday. You are hereby invited to take part in the One True Love program.

As you may already know, OTL is a free service that finds your perfect match in life and love – backed by the nation’s top scientists and CityWatch® technology.

For over 30 years, citizens like you have been matched with their One True Love - and in doing so, have ensured a bright future for generations to come.

How Our Program Helps Everyone

• Sarah and Michael were a match made in heaven. Both fans of cheesy sci-fi movies, both lovers of mint chip ice cream – they even both wrote PhDs on Mutant Biology! Without OTL, these bright brains might never have met – but together they can make a difference - passing their knowledge on to their children. Who knows - one day, their kids could discover the cure for Mutancy!

This success story and thousands more can be found on our website – www.otl.gov/testimonials

Your Heart Locket

Enclosed with this letter is your very own Stirling silver Heart Locket™ - please open it to find out who your One True Love is!

What Happens Next?

It’s time to meet your OTL! The official that delivered this letter will now take you to your VIP room, where you can meet your OTL face-to-face and decide whether to exchange Lockets.

Exchanging Lockets is a time-honoured tradition to show your love and devotion for each other, and the City.

Please note this meeting is mandatory.

What if I choose not to participate?

Citizens are free to decline the benefits of the OTL service. Should you wish to not participate, you must surrender your Locket to the official, and you may try to find love through Dating instead.

Please be aware of the risks and conditions of Dating:

• Once refused, the OTL service will not be re-offered.
• You will be re-homed to the lower strata of the City.
• Citizens in the lower strata do not enjoy the accuracy and reliability of CityWatch® matches.
• The lower strata of the City is not guaranteed to be mutant-safe.

Thank you in advance for your service and contribution to our flourishing society, and we look forward to congratulating you and your OTL on your future happiness.

Yours sincerely,

Frank Lombardo

Officer of Population Efficiency (OTL Division)

---

I already know who it’s going to be.

Harriet had put off the inevitable for as long as she could, but the government official allowed no delays – she hadn’t even finished her birthday cake before she was bundled into the sleek government car. It was clean, but the leather had a chemical stench to it that made her head hurt. Or maybe that was from reading the letter over and over again, by the dim light of the tunnel lamps that sped past her window.

Next to her on the seat was the silver, heart-shaped locket. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand. Inside was the identity of her One True Love, but it felt too light to contain such an important thing. She rested her thumb on the latch and frowned. Harriet would have to make a choice – either exchange Lockets and let the government decide her fate, or choose freedom to Date in the lower strata.

She had heard that down there, people could meet freely, talk and get to know each other – they could fall in love when they wanted to, and with whom they wanted. They could take their time. But the words of the letter were a cold reminder:

The lower strata of the City is not guaranteed to be mutant-safe.

She shook away the thought, then resigned herself, pressing on the latch. There was a soft click as it swung open. Her face fell as she looked into the sullen, squinty eyes of a hunched, pale 21-year-old boy. It was exactly the face she expected to see. Fitz.

It was always going to be Fitz. They were great friends as kids, and had everything in common, so it wasn’t long before Harriet’s parents (and most of their community) were pushing them together as a future couple. To them, it was almost guaranteed that when they both turned 21, the OTL program would pair them up.

They were teased about it a lot, and eventually she got so sick of it that she started avoiding him altogether – at school, the community mess hall, everywhere. She hadn’t spoken to him properly since she was 6, and now fate had driven them back together, just as everyone predicted. Harriet found it infuriating.

She felt the car slowing down, and it parked in front of an unassuming grey government building. The official opened her car door and gestured up the stone steps. Harriet made her way into the building as the car sped off behind her.

Inside, another black-suited official escorted her to the door of a small room, with the OTL Heart logo embossed on the frosted glass window. She could just make out a figure inside – but before she could gather her thoughts, the official pushed open the door. There was Fitz, seated at a round steel table, on one of two fuzzy purple heart-shaped stools.

He hurriedly stood up, hands smoothing his blue suit. “Happy Birthday,” he said with a meek smile.

“The next couple arrives in ten minutes,” the official announced, pointing at a clock on the wall, then a camera in the corner. “We’ll be watching the exchange from there, so make your decision by then.” He closed the door, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

“Uh, have a seat.” Fitz finally said, motioning to the other stool. Harriet sat down and took a closer look at him. He was a lab geek like her, and she’d never seen him wear a suit before – it was rumpled, and a bit big in the shoulders. A locket just like hers sat on the table in front of him. My face is in there, she thought. This is really happening. Harriet could feel her nerves crawling just below the absurd atmosphere of the little room.

“So… how’s your project on energy processing going?” he asked.

She looked at him, astounded. “Seriously? That’s the first thing you want to know?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong Fitz, is that we haven’t talked in 15 years, and now the government wants to marry us off!” she said, shaking the little locket in her fist. “I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Aren’t you worried about that, even just a little?”

Fitz glanced up at the camera before looking back at Harriet, his face impassive. “It’s not like we can take the other option, you know.”

She shook her head. “Maybe you can’t.” She had noticed that look – he knew the government was watching and listening, and Fitz had more to lose by getting on their bad side. “I hear your work is very important to the city. You get all the perks, right?”

“I get… taken care of,” Fitz said carefully. “And yes, my work is important – for all of us. It’s a new weapon that may help us reclaim more territory from the mutants than ever before.” He leaned in closer, and she could see excitement in his eyes. “And with the right energy source-”

Harriet leaned away, as she remembered the story from the letter. Sarah and Michael, with twin Mutant Biology degrees, who were conveniently destined for each other. Had the government done the same thing with her and Fitz? They were both at the top of their fields – she was researching more efficient energy processing, and he - well, he built guns. Big, complicated ones that consumed too much energy to be viable out in the field.

She looked at his expression – hungry, eager, excited – all for knowledge, and the next big invention.

“So, what you’re saying is… you would marry me, so that I can help you build a big gun?”

Fitz had not picked up on the coldness in her tone, and continued, talking faster and louder.

“Not so much a big gun, as a superweapon small enough for our troops’ Exosuits – the most powerful one ever made – and I think your research on the laser matrix is the final piece of the puzzle.” He grabbed his locket off the table, gesturing wildly. “And when I saw your face in my locket this morning, I knew it was meant to be!”

Fitz was beaming, and Harriet realized with sadness that it was the first time she seen him smile since they were kids. That smile was for her, but it also wasn’t – it was only for her skills, and how those skills were useful to him. The thought curdled her sadness into anger.

“I had hoped,” she seethed, rising from her stool, “that in the last 15 years you had found something more important to you than your work.” Fitz shrank back, confused but not looking away. “I knew this day was going to come, and a part of me hoped you would be ready for it – but you’re still just a boy.”

Fitz sat open-mouthed but had no reply, his eyes darting around as if searching for the right answer. “I’m better off taking my chances at Dating.” Harriet said in disgust.

At that, Fitz’ eyes widened. “No!” he cried, with an intensity that startled her. “Please don’t go.” He grabbed her hand with both of his.

“You can find yourself another researcher.” She said angrily and tried to pull away - but he didn’t let go.

“You can’t go down there.” He said, his tone low and serious. “You’ll die.”

She scoffed. “I’ve never heard of anyone dying from Dating. Didn’t Will do it?”

“My brother – “ he began, then glanced again at the camera. He stood and moved closer to her ear, talking quietly. “My brother chose Dating, and he died down there.”

Harriet remembered a little about Fitz’ brother Will from when they played together as kids. He was the opposite of Fitz – headstrong, loud, and always getting into trouble. But she remembered how much Fitz had admired him, and how much he changed after his brother left for Dating – at school, he became withdrawn and isolated, and had stayed that way for as long as she’d known him.

“It’s much worse down there than they tell us,” Fitz continued, his voice barely a whisper. “I want to change that, for good. For him.” He picked up the locket and held it up. “I know I’m not your One True Love, Harriet. I know the government wants us together because they want to combine our skills. I’m no fool.”

Harriet looked at him again and saw that the fire and passion that had offended her just moments before was still there, but it felt deeper somehow. That fire burned for his brother, and for a better future. Fitz placed his locket in her palm. “Falling in love naturally, like the old days, was never going to happen for us. But maybe one day, for our grandkids, it will.”

Harriet took a deep breath and closed her hand around his locket. “Everything you’re saying makes sense. It’s very logical, and noble. But it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t love you.”

“The city doesn’t get to decide when that happens.”

“Or IF it happens – “

“Whatever happens - even if we end up hating each other’s guts – that will be our choice to make.” Fitz reached down and took her locket from the table. “Not theirs.”

Something about his words, and the look in his eyes caused a shift in Harriet. It was a small spark, barely ignited, but she knew she couldn’t let it go out – and that she must act quickly.

She turned and looked up at the camera.

“We’re ready.”