She told me to relax and tell her exactly what had happened as she finished hooking me up to the black box that I'm sure I'd seen in movies.

But of course I couldn't relax. Earlier that night, I had killed someone.

I took a deep breath before continuing,

"I.. I was right outside the house" My eyes darted around the room. There was one other man inside the room and if I trusted my memory, two more outside.

"I didn't... I didn't hear the screams until I'm... scanned and the door opens" I continued, struggling to remember, still shaking from the events that had unfolded only about an hour earlier.

She was nodding, still tinkering with her little black box.

It unnerved me to see her so calm. I couldn't help but wonder what that box was telling her.

"I rush to the living room, and that's when I saw him grabbing my mother by her dress collar" I said trying to gain some composure.

"The man you are referring to is your step-father?" She asked looking up from her box.

"Yes, that is correct" I said while nodding. I'd tried to stop myself from sweating, worried that it would make them think I was lying. I was failing.

"Please, continue" She fixed her gaze back to the box after gesturing for me to proceed.

"He is yelling at her. I can't remember what exactly he's saying but she has her hands on her face.." I paused. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. "I didn't know what else to do, I had to stop him"

"What did you do?" She asked with her focus on me for the first time tonight.. I instantly wanted her to go back to looking at her box. I studied her eyes, was that boredom I saw in them?

"I" I swallowed gathering strength "I took my mother's ceramic angel from the counter to my side, and I hit him in the back of the head. I don't think he ever knew I was there" My head dropped.

"Why was that the first thing you did? Why not tell him to stop? Or try to restrain him" She asked.

Surely she was toying with me. She'd seen me. She knew what I looked like and what he looked like. I'd have had as much success trying to restrain a freight train.

"Because he never listens. He just hurts me then goes right back to her!"

I hated her for making me go through this. I hated him for hurting my mom every other night. I hated my mom for marrying him. But in truth, I hated myself even more for being too helpless to protect her or myself.

"I had to stop him" I told her finally with tears rolling down my face. I hated myself for crying so much. Dad hated it when I cried.

She stood up abruptly.

"Well you did" She walked over to me and took of the small headset I'd been wearing. "... permanently. The good news is the system says your testimony is true" She placed the headset on the table "The bad news is the system says your testimony is true".

She almost seemed saddened which was the first bit of emotion I've gotten out of her. She started walking towards the door. The silent man finally moved.

"We'll have to keep you here until the system decides what to do with you." The man knocked on the door and it is opened. "I wouldn't hold my breath though. Stories like yours never have a happy ending".

=^..^=

We did't have prisons anymore. Only detention and/or rehabilitation centres. All of which were temporary. Which is why it came as a shock to me that I had been there for over eight months.

The year was 2042 and our planet was just about filled to the brim with humans. With over nine billion people and rapidly rising, it was no surprise that the system was created. A way to get rid of unneeded baggage although that's not exactly how they put it.

"Ensuring a viable planet for our future" I think those were the words they'd used.

With over 60% of all arrests ending in the death penalty, with a murder charge, even if it was self defense, I still should have been the first to go. I had seen people with larceny charges given the serum. And here I was. Still kicking.

"Putting a strain on the already non-existent resources" some guards would tell me to my face.

It didn't make any sense. At least not until she paid me a visit last night. Miss Caitlyn Alcove, she'd called herself.

From the start of the conversation, I told myself not to trust a single word out of her mouth. Mostly because of how cagey she was about herself.

We had talked for 20 minutes and I still knew nothing about her or what she did except that 'my world needed me'. I didn't trust her but for some reason, I was needed. I wasn't in a hurry to have that status changed.

So I agreed to hear her out - not that I had a choice - and no sooner had she left, had guards entered my small room, blindfolded me and threw me in a vehicle.

One thing you have to now about modern day America is that not that much has changed from 10 years ago when it all went to shit. There were still three classes of people. The high, the middle and the low.

What had changed however was that those people were now separated. And not how you used to have rich areas and poor areas in the history books and documentaries. I meant full blown segregation.

You would need a permit and a reason to cross checkpoints. The higher your class, the better your residential area.

Now my family and I, off my father's veteran allowance lived in a middle class area. No thanks to my step father who was only ever good at spending the little my mother made.

One thing you started to get used to was the smell. It's not bad or even noticeable until you changed zones.

I had been in the low area before. My stepdad worked there in law enforcement.

One time when I'd been running errands with him, he told me he had to make a stop. God the smell was bad but my mind which had been on hyper alert could only focus on the ghastly environment.

Mud and dirt made up the floor which stuck to my boots. The wooden and zinc structures that passed for houses here had gone past disrepair and even barely qualified as accommodation.

The worst part is those were the lucky ones. Even in those conditions some were still homeless and beggars on the street. My step father would flatly ignore those that begged him for money. Of course they could tell that we weren't from there. It was easy to see that we weren't like them.

Of course this didn't mean that we were safe. Your status could change. If you become rich enough in your zone, you could buy a pass and make a trip to the administration headquarters. There was one in the middle zone of all states.

If you could afford to buy a house and you could prove that you had a sufficient income stream to maintain life in that zone, you could move up. That was the new American dream.

Of course the ladder didn't only go up. If you fell too far behind and could no longer afford a home and lifestyle in the high or medium zones, you would be "relocated".

"How much for the girl?" I heard someone say as they grabbed my arm. "Only a night"

I had recoiled from the shock as my step father laid him on the dirty floor with a left hook. I was only 13 at the time.

This however was a stark contrast from that moment. The air smelled much better than it did in the middle zone where I've lived my whole life. That's how I knew that I'd just crossed into a high zone.

=^..^=

It didn't take long for us to reach our stop. I was left blindfolded as they led me out of the vehicle and into the building.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" I asked

"Quiet!" One of the men holding my arm yelled sharply.

The floor made a sound like marble where my boots hit it and that's how I knew I was in a really fancy place. I heard multiple footsteps around me and I wonder what they needed so many guards for.

At 5'5 and just under 140 pounds, I hardly warranted the maximom security. Maybe all the bombings and assaults on government buildings had put them on high alert even when dealing with a non-treat like me.

They brought me to a room, took off my blindfolds, and uncuffed me before walking out with not so much as a word back.

It took me a second for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room. When it did, I noticed that there were four other people in the room. 3 men and a woman.

"G'day miss" One of the men said and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

This was my greatest regret. Puberty's refusal to visit me or if it had, the opposite route it had taken. I've always been quite feminine in stature.

Even worse was my face. I wish I could tell you that I looked like a pretty boy because that would have been a lot better than the actual truth. You see I took after my mother. Heavily. Her ethereal beauty had been copied and pasted right on my face like my father's genes never even put up a fight.

I knew this but it still hurt whenever it was acknowledged by other people. Which was a lot. That was the reason why I began keeping my hair short. Not that it helped much.

"I'm a man" I told him while sitting up in my chair massaging my wrists.

"Surely not" he replied in what sounded to me like a forced British accent but don't quote me on that. I was hilariously bad at playing accents. Or faces for that matter.

"Oh I assure you" I follow with a forced British accent of my own. Stupid.

"Oh? Apologies, I thought you were another lesbian" He said laughing.

The woman in the room shot him a glare.

The room is bare except for the chairs, five of which are now occupied.

"John Mudridge. Pleasure" The man said stretching his hand.

I eyed it for a second before connecting with it. I didn't know who these people were or why we were here but it couldn't have hurt to atleast be friendly with them for now.

"Daniel Fahey" I replied.

"That grumpy fella won't tell me his name" John saidk gesturing to a large man sitting in the corner. "I wouldn't go near him, bad vibes" he whispered to me.

'Who still says vibes' I thought to myself but nevertheless, I'd heed that warning.

"This lovely lesbian's name is Heather" John continued.

"One more time I swear to God" Heather hissed through her teeth. It looked like she had just about had enough of him.

To be fair, she did give off that 'vibe'.

He laughed before raising both hands in a surrender gesture.

"And this charming chap..." He continued gesturing to a dark haired man with his head bowed. Even at the off angle and with a full beard, I could easily recognise him.

"GloryDays" I interrupted. How could I have missed him earlier "You're that guy" I couldn't believe it.

"Yes GloryDays, The Robert Harvey" John added smiling.

That got Heather's attention.

"Wait, who?" She asked losing her pissed off attitude, replacing it with interest.

"You really don't remember?" John asked genuinely surprised "He made quite a stir two years ago. The bomb attempt at UN's Applied Sciences?" He said trying to jog Heather's memory.

"Oh shit yeah I remember" she finally said.

Took her long enough. Who could forget? Everyone heard about it. For a while, they were all anyone could talk about.

Apparently he had embedded multiple miniature explosives in his skin. Some cop detonated an EMP shorting the circuits, saving over two thousand people - The expected death toll.

Everyone assumed GloryDays was multiple people but it was never proven.

I couldn't believe I was sitting right there with him. I had to know.

"How the hell could you do something like that?" I asked. It was intended as a rhetorical question so his reply came as a shock.

"You wouldn't understand" He turned abruptly to face me. I couldn't believe I was looking the Robert Harvey in the eyes. "No, you don't want to understand"

"But why would you? You live in the middle. Content. Blind. You know what the governments of this world are doing. Sucking us dry while they build colonies on Mars. We won't let them. No." He was shaking his head by the time he finished his rant.

"Okay chill dude, there were thousands of people in that building!" Heather replied "Low and middle class people. They don't deserve to die for trying to make a living"

"The sacrifices of revolution. We don't take what we do lightly" He replied sitting back in his chair. "But like I said, you do not wish to understand".

I didn't know where to stand on this. Whenever my friends talked about the state of the country, they only speculated. I had actually been there and it was bad. Robert was right. Those of us in the middle could never actually understand.

But on the other hand, nobody in that building had the power to change anything. And killing innocent people was never justified.

=^..^=

Nobody else said a word until a man carrying a case walked into the room. Smartly dressed. I could instantly tell he was a high zone citizen although I'd only met a few my entire life. He wasn't at all cautious as he walked into the room.

"Good day gentlemen, lady" he said briskly as he took the centre of the room. "My name is Will Ness and I'm here to instruct you on what we'll be doing here"

You know, I heard once that everyone in the high zones are attractive. So far, that theory had held.

"About time" Robert said looking up again. "I am wondering if this is another scheme to make me talk"

Will looked at Robert like he was going to say something but thought better of it. He placed a palm on the case, it beeped then made a light click. He opened the case pulling out tablets. Five of them.

He took a lap around the room handing each of us a tablet. I quickly swiped through mine. It was a four page document with the first having my information and the last, an outline of a palm.

"As soon as you sign those, we can begin" He said as he returned and assumed his position at the front of the room.

"An NDA?" John asked.

"Yes. What we are doing here is top secret. We need to know that it will never leave your lips regardless of what happens here" He replied calmly.

"How do we know that you're not about to do sick experiments on us?" Heather asked.

He sighed clearly frustrated. It was clear he wasn't happy having to deal with us and there were numerous places he'd rather be.

"I assure you Ms. Jones. It's nothing like that. But by all means, feel free to look through it"

Unlike the rest of them, I was actually skimming through it making sure it was just an NDA as they claimed.

Name: Daniel Fahey

Sex: M

D.O.B: 22 November, 2023

Class: Rehabilitation

I turned the page and I'm greeted with the details of the NDA. To be honest, it didn't look anything out of the ordinary. It mentioned something called 'The Initiative' but didn't elaborate on what it was.

"And if we don't sign?" I heard Robert ask. I looked up to see Will who sighed again. I hoped these idiots wouldn't make him lose his cool. I didn't want to go back to the rehab center.

"Then we ship you back to whatever hole we pulled you out of" He says flatly "And for you Mr. Harvey, I hear it's especially bad."

He took a few steps toward us before reposturing.

"I don't know why you'd refuse. Our offer is a godsend where you're concerned. Really, where anyone's concerned. I know upstanding men and women who would jump at this chance."

"Maybe" I said "But we don't know anything about it"

"Well you will soon" He said turning to me. "We're not asking you to commit to anything. I'm only here to make sure that when we do reveal specifics, you won't tell anyone about it"

I glanced through the rest of the document not exactly sure what I was looking for. I'd already decided I would sign it. I guess stalling was an act. A way to show that I would not be taken advantage of.

I swiped to the last page. Without thinking any more on it, I pressed my palm on the outline. The double screen flash told me that it's done. They had binding proof that I had agreed to whatever that document contained.

I don't know if the rest were inspired by my actions but there were no more questions as the rest of them pressed their palms on the screens.

"Good, we can move on" Will said. "We're ready". He added with a raised voice.

Almost instantly, the single door that had provided our entry clicks open.

'Of course they've been listening in' I thought to myself.

Will walked out the door only stopping to tell us to follow him which we did.

=^..^=

Outside the room was even more brightly lit. I wondered where they found the power since they claimed power as scarce as it was was now a luxury and couldn't be afforded to the low zones.

Two guards stood outside our door and armed to the teeth it looked like.

One of the guards eyed me as I walk past him behind John. I like to think he was searching my face for resistance or my body for any sign of weapons. No, most likely he was checking me out. I felt disgusted.

We walked down the corridor until we get to another door.

"Please go in" Will said as he walked off. Of course no one disobeyed. It was hard to miss the two guards who now walked behind us and kept close attention.

That room was bigger than the last and a lot more luxurious. Chairs and ornaments like I'd never seen before.

There was a large hovering thick glass table spanning the entire cuboid room leaving only space for chairs around it and space at the front of the room.

"I could get used to this" Heather said looking around the room as she walked in.

"This is really something" John agreed.

"Now just think of all those starving children in the low zones" Robert added. Dude just never let up.

But still, I had to admit he had a point. The world has evolved immensely in the last 20 years. Some would say America especially but only about 8% of it's 450 million people get to ever experience those advancements.

'Poverty capital of the world' they called us on the net. The obviously hadn't been in high zones.

I took a seat near the head of the rectangular table and not long after, Caitlyn walked into the room with Will behind her. Anyone of us that wasn't already sitting quickly did.

"Thank you for agreeing to hear me out, ladies and gentlemen" She said as she dropped her case on the table but remained standing. I don't know if no one else caught the 'ladies' but they didn't respond to it. So neither did I.

Force of habit? I mean she certainly knew my gender. I'm sure she knew me better than I knew myself with the level of behavioral analysis that the system provided.

"I met some of you earlier but why don't we all get reacquainted" She continued, scanning the room "Names, age, previous occupation and reason for incarceration"

She said this so casually as if it was meaningless small talk.

"What is this, an AA meeting?" Heather laughed.

"I promise Ms. Jones. There is a point." She replied calmly.

"Daniel Fahey, I'm uh 19, still in school" I pause "was still in school" I pause again, swallowing before continuing "I killed my stepdad for hurting my mom". I figured I'd get it over with.

When everyone turned to me shocked, I added "It was an accident".

"Cat's got claws" Heather said almost impressed.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for the type, Daniel" John said with a smirk. There was something about the way he said my name but it wasn't a big deal so I ignored it. "So everyone here is a criminal?" He asked Caitlyn.

I wouldn't have pegged him for a criminal either. His skin and looks by far the cleanest and healthiest of the group. His short hair styled and together with his young face gave him a look you'd find in the old movies.

"Criminals are executed immediately." She replied "The five of you are 'in need of rehabilitation'".

"Well" John said smiling as he looks around the room "That certainly makes this easier. John Mudridge, 29, Doctor, I gave some of my patients fake medication" He shrugged "Some of them might have died"

"Your patients, where did they live?" Robert asked.

"Why the fuck does it matter?" John replied.

"Low zones right? That's the only place that shit would fly"

"See that's where you're wrong, it was middle" John told him smugly.

"And that is why you were caught"

Robert would have had a response no matter what John told him it seemed.

"What are the odds that you lived in a high zone?" Robert continued.

When John ignored him, he took that as his cue. "Robert Harvey, 27, radio technician and I'm here for trying to kill assholes like him" During his whole self description, he never once took his eye off John. We were off to a great start.

"Easy gentlemen" Caitlyn said finally "We're all on the same side here. And if this goes the way I hope it will, your past won't matter any longer."

Caitlyn turned to Heather who takes that as a cue to begin.

"I'm Heather Jones, I'm 24, I worked as a mechanic and six months ago, I accidentally killed my boss"

"Another accident? Right" Robert scoffed.

When the room fell silent, Caitlyn asked "Would you please tell us what happened?"

Heather exhaled before continuing "It really was a mistake. He was a sexist asshole, and I was going to quit. I just wanted to teach him a lesson first. So I locked him in the garage and turned on a car. I was going to let him out and disappear but he was already dead when I opened it. Both lungs were already failing or something like that"

"Well damn" John chuckled as the same annoying smirk returned to his face "Women are scary. Remind me not to mess with either of you".

"Mine wasn't a mistake." An unfamiliar voice rang out. Deep and imposing.

'Irish? Scottish maybe?' I thought. I was still bad at it.

"They were getting on my nerve" The voice was threatening.

He gave me the creeps. I knew he could break every bone in my body if he wanted to and I wouldn't have been able to stop him.

He had a light beard and a short military cut. The same combo the corporations gave all their guards. His face seems to have settled in a permanent scowl. Give him a suit and one of those new fancy guns, and he'd have fit right at home at RAW's door.

The Research for the Advancement of Weapons had popped up sometime in the early 30s - a subsidiary of one of the early 21st century tech giants and now supplied over 70% of all the weapons in America.

Guns had changed since my childhood. Energy beam rifles or 'hoses' like we started calling them after the movies. Easy to use, no recoil, devastating power.

Most recently, guns with directed sonic blasts that could tear through tungsten.

The way it was explained to me is that if a directed frequency is high enough, it can shatter anything. The guns have a dial that lets you 'tune' to frequency and at a low enough setting, can simply knock a human out for a few hours.

Apparently very popular in the low zones where riots happened almost daily.

"Cillian Doyle, 39, I worked for a private military group and I killed two men in a bar fight." He smiled "Wasn't really a fight".

There was a pause before Caitlyn spoke again "In the spirit of fairness, I'll tell you who I am. My name is Caitlyn Alcove, 32 and I'm currently working as UN's aide to NASA on a joint endeavor we like to refer to as the Gaia Initiative".

"Shit, seriously?" Heather asks chuckling.

"Yes seriously, Ms. Jones" Caitlyn replied "Reveal the surroundings" She adds out loud.

The walls responded by becoming transparent and the world outside was absolutely stunning. Robots, people in fancy suits, aircrafts you wouldn't believe. It was like looking into the future. It looked to be a testing area. Everyone I could see was doing something or tinkering with another.

The crown jewel in the centre, a large craft that you'd only find in a sci-fi movie.

"Welcome to the NASA Headquarters in Washington." Caitlyn said with what I detected as pride.

I stood and walked up to the walls to get a better view. The shuffling of the chairs tell me that at least some of the others were doing the same.

"I needn't remind you that nothing you see here leaves the building"

"It's amazing" I said.

"It is" I heard her reply behind me.

"What is that?" I asked knowing I didn't need to clarify.

"That is the Pathfinder. A ship capable of intergalactic travel. One of three in the country and eight in the world. Let's all take our seats please. Much to discuss"

I took one last glance at it before heading back to my seat. The others too were in their seats not long after.

"Dim the lights" Caitlyn said after which the walls went dark and the lights dim "Let's get down to business"

When we are all settled, she began "Load Gaia 1"

A large screen appeared from behind her revealing a planet that at first glance looks like Earth. I quickly realize it's not. The blue, green ratio is all wrong. There is a lot more blue.

I'd wanted to be an astronaut once. To 10 year old me, this would have been a dream come true. Deep down, I'd always wanted to leave this planet. I'd always known it was broken.

But the chances of a kid from a middle zone getting into any program were slim. The chance of being chosen to leave the planet miniscule. Eventually I decided to be realistic and become a pilot like my father.

Mom had hoped that the news of my father being KIA if nothing else, would be enough to keep my brother and I out of the sky but it only fueled our need to be up there. Andy said he felt closer to dad when he was up there and soon, I was saying the same.

After Andy dropped out of school to join the U.S Air Force, I almost followed him but decided to finish school first. Maybe if I'd followed him, I wouldn't be here. I had yet to decide if that was a good or bad thing.

"You have been invited here because you all are uniquely suited for a top secret mission."

"Uniquely suited how exactly?" I asked.

She smiled before continuing. "9 years ago, we discovered this planet in the Andromeda Galaxy" She pointed to the sphere on the screen "It is what you would call a perfect planet. Breathable atmosphere, habitable zone, it is currently codenamed A021S or 'Gaia'"

"As you know, ladies and gentlemen" she continued "our planet is dying. Experts have calculated that we have less than 10 years before she literally can't take anymore. I'm afraid the child ban was a little too late"

5 years ago, the Survival Act was passed. It brought with it a new set of laws concerning water, food, power consumption and illegal sources of power but most importantly, the child ban. It became illegal to have children in the middle and low zones and you would need a permit to have a child in the high zones.

All men were required to take birth control and even if you got a permit, only one child was permitted. For a while, it had helped but without any enforcement in the low zones and the general fucked up nature of the world, we were already on course to critical overpopulation.

"But we have been given a chance, Gaia can support human life and we have the means to get there. How would you like to be the first humans on our new home?"

=^..^=