Wavelenghts (Chapter 1)

There was no way of going to the surface world by choice – if you’d asked, most people would think  you were suicidal. No one understood why I wanted to leave the Megacity, because it was perfect. But maybe that’s the reason I left; because I realised that it didn’t need me – which, I admit, seems pretty deep for a 16-year-old girl.

In the subterranean Megacity of New Leicester, getting into any kind of trouble was a challenge. There was an endless supply of food and jobs, and even if you didn’t have a job you got help and even got paid the same amount as the people who did. Perhaps that’s what I really hated about it here; there were no problems anymore; nobody had to struggle and, as selfish as it sounds, there was no way for me to do what I wanted to do – to save people – how could I do that when nobody needed saving?

I could only make it to the surface in one of three ways. Number One: quit on my dream to be a doctor and become a mechanic for the Solar Guard (Those were the people that took care of the Transformer Towers on the surface which powered the city). Two: do something horrible like kill someone which, apart from being difficult because of the knife resistant clothing we all had to wear, went against everything I believed in. Or three, the one I decided on, the emergency evac-tubes.

Luckily the tubes were well preserved, in this end at least. But there was no way of finding out what waited for me at the top. Not without asking someone which would be very suspicious.

The reason that people no longer lived on the surface was because of the radiation. It wasn’t the poisonous kind or anything but was said to be so powerful at times that it could make any loop of wire conduct electricity. Sadly, that meant there would be no more technology for me from here on out as they would most likely heat up and explode.

Taking the tube did have its problems though: for one it had those old touch-screen systems and buttons which would be difficult for me to navigate, and another thing was that it was right in the middle of a shopping mall were, most likely, someone was going to try and stop me. At least, since it’s a one-way transport, no one would follow me.

Right then a man walked up beside me, a grey-haired security guard. When I looked at him there was a sudden red flash. From the badge on his suit.

“Sorry about that, mam,” He’d just scanned my face; probably thought I was up to no good. My parents were probably notified! What a dick! “We have to have to keep a report of suspicious activity.”

“But I haven’t done anything!” I protested.

“Rules are rules, why are you staring at this old thing anyway?” He asked. “Not planning on using it are you?”

He chuckled and I forced myself to laugh along, trying my best not to sound as nervous as I was feeling. Maybe, if I played my cards right, I could make this idiot do all the hard work for me. But I had a backpack full of spare clothes, food, manual-toothbrushes and toothpaste, so if he asked to search through it, I’d all be over.

“Well this is one of your best attractions and I was just walking past and saw it and wondered how it worked that’s all,” I smiled at him and said, perhaps just a little two quickly. “Can you show me how it works?”

“I’m a bit bu-”

“Please, Sir? I need to go in a bit. You know my mum’s going to be so mad at me for getting scanned...” I put on a sad face and locked onto his eyes.

“Ok, fine.” He agreed grumpily and walked over to the panel.

I stood close to him and watched as he began pressing down on letters that appeared on the screen.

“What is that?” I asked him.

“Surely you’ve used a keyboard before?” He asked. “I guess you just have to say everything now, right? On your details it says that your 16, don’t you need keyboards for your tests?”

“We all get different questions so we can say the answers out loud.”

“That’s one way to get around it, but I don’t recon that its very fair.” He said, and, as he did, the door into the tube opened. It was pretty spacious inside and I walked in to have a look; I guess it was designed to take a lot of people at once.

“What do you mean?” I asked, turning around to face him. Just then, I saw a small round sign protruding from the wall that read ‘eject’. Was that what made it go up?

“Some people might get it easier th-” He stopped as he saw me reaching for it. “Hey, don’t do that, get out!”

“I never asked to have it easy...” I pressed it and the doors closed...