Kialla and her grandma live in London in the year 4020. The Supremacies rule how everyone lives and everyday is the same. Kialla is forced to take a drastic turn in life when she is sent somewhere owned by The Supremacies. She is determined to make life fair for everyone that is under The Supremacies' rules so they don't have to go through what she did.
Friday July 30, 5:00AM
I'm startled when I awaken to two plastic faces staring at me. One of them has taken my energy cable off me. I take a closer look and see that they are the operators that have been sent to collect me.
Then I remember why they're here. Grandma is gone, now I am an orphan. I wish I could do something to save her, but she's gone now. And soon I'll be wasting away at TSMC.
I quickly pack a bag and put on my hood then the operators escort me through the cramped muggy alleys and into a S-van. They drive me through the shadowy city, past towering buildings and large structures. The only times I've been out of the house was every Monday with grandma, when the Sirens called and we had to report to The Supremacy SemiZone to be reviewed. We never knew what we were being reviewed for, though.
It starts to rain and I can hear the faint fizz of the acids on the glass. I draw two stick people on the condensed window, holding hands. But then a raindrop falls between them and they wash away.
I must have been dozing for most of the journey, even though I don't remember falling asleep. I step out of the van and admire the grand architecture of the building. It has no windows, which is peculiar, for such a tremendous construction. The operators take me to the entrance of TSMC and a tall woman wearing a clean white suit stands by the immense doors.
“Her ID number?” She holds out her long silvery hand.
“682740 madam.” The woman takes a piece of paper from the operator's mechanical hand and briefly reads it. The operators snatch my bag and aggressively look through it. After a few minutes of the sinister woman eyeing me, one of the operators nods in approval.
“Come with me 682740” Her beady eyes penetrate me like an arrow through my heart. I don't say a word, since she might scold me. I walk inside after her and it seems that it's bigger in here that it is out. She takes me up a metal staircase and along a dimly lit corridor. The walls are a dirty blue colour, with smears of grime covering most of it. We go up countless elevators and my legs nearly turn to pulp. I feel like we're going round in circles until we go up another flight of stairs. Every so often, we pass a different woman in the same uniform as the one before. And each one is taking a child with them. None of us know what is going to happen, or if we'll ever leave this place. But there's one thing we do know, The Supremacies are up to no good.
We enter another gloomy corridor but this one has numerous wooden doors lining it, and a sign that says 'Floor 30'. Each has a metal plaque with a six digit number on it. The woman stops me by the first door on the left and says “682740, this is your dorm. Here in the heart of TSMC, you cannot stray out of the building, even if you wish to! With our twenty-four hour CCTV cameras in action, we will always know where you are”. She gives me a false smile. “You will stay in here at non-working hours and unless you are called, you will not leave. Understood?” She glares at me like I'm a naughty child who's just been told off.
“Yes”.
“Yes Madam”. She corrects me.
“Yes Madam”.
Then she hands me a keycard and says “You will start work at 5:00AM tomorrow and the operators will take you to your station” before pacing back down the stairs. The tap of her shoes echo behind her as I watch her disappear back into the factory.
I unlock the door and place my bag on a desk, then I flop onto the solid mattress. I'll have to get used to being called '682740' instead of my name. But soon enough I feel a bit woozy and I drift into a deep sleep.
