Sarah

This was it.

    "Designated Alert: united peoples of New Japan, Kazakhstan and China, The Tripod Coalition can now verify that The Lottery Draft has concluded. The random selection will follow... Transmission ended."

    Tighter than ever before, I'd squeezed at Chon's hand.

    This was until our Dots seemed to buzz in tandem and tug for our individual attention.

    I'd taken the initiative to be the one to break our palmlink and raise my forearm. After all, one of us had to. Not only that, Chon had been brave throughout everything up until now.

    Thankfully, I wasn't alone. Almost every BTV employee had discarded their predatory ways - found their humanity - and acknowledged the demands of Fuji-Apple's biotec.

    The only exception was Dieng & Co.

    For the rest of us, wide eyes continuously flitted between the holotron and an assortment of colorless nodes. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before the first vibrating illumination sounded out and shone brightly. All eyes shifted to its source, and unsurprisingly, it had come from Pae. The chief didn't even need to say anything. Instead, his arrogant smile widened more than before, and he showcased the golden glow emanating from his wrist by returning to his old ways. Without regard, the unscrupulous prick had lifted his hands, cupped them over his blackened lips and brought a tobacco stick to life with an eager flame. Upon doing so, his glowing forearm was clear for all to see and the collection of shoulders around me, flounced. A multitude of other physical expressions were quick to follow. Understandably, they'd jittered and pulsed across the technology plain like animated thunderbolts on the underbelly of a stormy skyline.

    Another lit buzz came, and automatically, all glares moved to Charlie. He shot his left upper limb into the air. But weirdly, his Dot remained, colorless...

    So did Gail's. And Mae-Zu's...

    What on earth was going on...?

    In a bid to locate the second Eligible Patron, everyone shuffled around anxiously, as if trying to find a lost child among a busy crowd. Truth was, a beam of golden sparkles had hit my retinas from the bottom up and the buzzing was coming from, me. Flustered beyond belief, I'd squeezed my eyelids shut and squirmed inside, fucking desperate to ignore the privileged light. I'd even grabbed at my crop of pixie hair for salvation, but to no avail. Thankfully, the torture didn't last. My eyelids flashed open when the next buzz came from right beside me...

    Chon had held up his wrist. In utter disbelief, we'd studied one another! Our nodes, their glows, our facial responses, everything! But it was short-lived once we'd remembered where we were, what was at stake, and those surrounding us who were yet to bask in golden glory.

    Although sporadic, the golden glows started to appear faster now, gifting other BTV colleagues stood on the plain. In total, I'd counted nineteen. This included Dieng, Chon and myself, as well as sixteen others... In fact, one more buzzing glow would make it twenty - primes aside - an even fucking number... Painstakingly, there was roughly two hundred of us in situ.

    Panicking now, I'd looked for my best friend and spun on the spot. Thankfully, he was where I'd hoped to find him. Furthermore, the big guy's implanted wrist buzzed and beamed with warm yellow light, and to be sure, I'd lurched beside him. A moment after, I'd reached for his heavy hand! Ignoring the person in front of him...I unclamped it and pulled until witnessing what I'd needed to see.

    I rejoiced! Like Chon and I, he'd done it! The embossed Dot on Mikey's forearm glowed, just as strikingly as the eyes of Heimdall, himself!

    But something was wrong.

    Dreadfully wrong.

    I forced myself down from cloud nine and realized that Mikey still had one arm clamped around Michelle.

    Shit.

    We'd, forgotten about, Michelle.

    As I'd looked at her colorless arm, my stomach came up in my throat. It took everything to hold it back down! Next, I'd forced my eyes between Chon, Mikey and his love interest - the Geek Girl who'd become our fourth wheel, hoping warm light would eventually emerge.

    But it didn't.

    How could I forget about her?

    What was wrong with me?

    What kind of friend was I?

    Come to think of it, Suki hadn't crossed my mind, either. She was my friend too and quite possibly my future cousin-in-law - if Chon ever planned on making an honest woman of me.

    What was The Solution and its Contingency doing to me?

    What was it doing to, all of us?

    Thanks to the stifling of tears, my sight was blurry now. I could no longer distinguish Mikey from Michelle, but knew they were heaped on the floor in front of me. Although, this was only until ruckuses broke out in all directions and had forced me to blink. Naturally, saline bombed down my cheeks and allowed me to focus, elsewhere. Up ahead, the holotron had gone blank and harshly, it was only twenty of us who had made it. Only twenty out of two hundred BTV personnel who had become, Eligible. From then on, Coalition communication continued via Personal Designated Alerts and was delivered to hotbox.

    My confliction was no coincidence either.

    For the one hundred and eighty others, alerts were Base Team opportunities.

    Meanwhile, for us twenty, Eligible Instruction about The Medical loomed inside our frontal lobes...

    Was I physically ready for all Chon had imagined we'd have to endure?

    I wasn't sure in the slightest. Nevertheless, now was not the time to access my Eligible Instruction.

    Or analyze it.

    In unrelenting fashion, the biggest ruckus was a breakout of infighting between pack members and what followed was an abominable bloodbath. "Pae. What the fuck's going on?" Mae-Zu snapped. "I'm the biggest tree-hugger there is..."

    "Yeah, Dieng, speak up, bitch!" Gail spat directly after, having literally lost herself in protest.

    Lastly, Charlie fired metaphoric phlegm at Dieng, too. "Chief, I thought we were 'good'," Lamoon recalled. "Answer us. Now..."

    "...Gang, you've made worthy points and I totally agree.

    "Mae, you are the biggest tree-hugger here at BTV. That's why I suggested you stay and reclaim your environment duties from the world affairs correspondent. Truth is, Chon and his engineers make up an Eligible Trio who'll continue to have exclusivity pushed their way, especially once spacebound."

    When it came to our chief, treason really knew no bounds.

    Dieng continued sucking on magma, then blew its tarred smoke at their betrayed faces, all while revealing more on something he'd clearly been instrumental in. "Gail, after careful thought, I've decided that the job is all yours..."

    What the hell was he talking about?

    And again, an ensemble of eyes began to shift throughout the technology plain, this time between Miss. Hom and Miss. Zungai...

    "...Gail, while I'm spacebound," Pae continued, "you've got mornin' prime time. And to add, Michelle has my office. Everybody, as of today, Zungai is your new Interim Editor-in-Chief! I, am fuckin', outta here."

    For most of us, our energies divided suddenly. Half of it seemed to power the astonishment of boggled eyes, while the remainder had forced our jaw bones to gape and rattle.

    Last but not least, Dieng had turned himself to Charlie, and spoken without an ounce of slang... "Charles, you have been my most loyal of subjects and I shall never forget our time dominating the scandals of BTV. However, The Pink Lady asks that you remain in Chon's stead now and correspond Contingency affairs until the exodus is over. Farewell, old friend, I hope the World-Ender is kind to you, should it come, as we all fear it will."

    My god.

    Dieng had rolled deep.

    However, before the leaderless pack could turn on Dieng, fuzzing sounds came from all around, specifically the floor's dematerialized entrances and fire exits. To make matters worse, the person who had come through dragged reluctant feet and was none other than Henry from security.

    He wasn't alone, either. A dozen of his state-of-the-art A.I.S.U's marched behind him and locked onto the pack of individuals with precision. Now there was no way Mae-Zu, Gail, or Charlie, dared protest.

    If Mikey and Michelle were of the right mind, this farce was the type that the lovable nerds would've compared to prequel Star Wars and consider an 'Order 66'. Well and truly, Dieng was acting like The Emperor and clearing Senate and House. Naturally, thoughts of The Sith forced me to focus back onto my friends and their holy injustice.

    Trying to hold onto what dignity they had left, I'd reached for Michelle and yanked her up.

    Chon managed to do the same for Mikey, despite the strain on his back.

    Then came the awkwardness and the heartbreak of our quartet.

    The big guy looked at Chon and I with envy, knowing that we'd be together.

    Then he pored his iLenses over Michelle, knowing that for them, they would not.

    Distraught, the pair hugged desperately. This was until Michelle sniffed back facial moisture which had abused her senses and stopped her from responding sooner. "Mikey, Mikey, it's, o-okay," she tried to reassure. "We'll, be, okay."

    "But we won't," Mikey squealed, his upset forcing him to sob harder.

    Other than crying along, I really did not know what to do. Nor did I dare look at Chon and be accused of rubbing it in.

    "Mikey, Mikey," Michelle went on, "we will." Her conclusive tone was stern and stronger now. "We voted to leave for the good of the planet and knew the risk of The Lottery Draft. More than anything, let's own those votes now, and embrace true sacrifice. Mikey, everyone, we've done a good thing. Never forget, it is for the future."

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