It's a new week and while many are getting their lives slightly back to normal, I am still trying to provide free stories for people to read as my way of giving back. Enjoy! Operation Savior Machine
By Sheri Velarde Back in the days of old, in the days that are only remembered in books, people had rights. People voted, they helped one another, they had choices. People ruled the government, they ruled themselves. That was before the corporations took over, before they became the government and told people what to do, what to think. My uncle even claimed that they began pumping drugs into our water so that they could control us, make us into “worker bees” as he likes to say. I don’t know if any of that is true, but it seems it could be. I wish I had been born back in that time, when I could have been anything, I could have been an individual. Now there are no more “I’s” only the collective which does the will of the One Corporation. In this current society I am nothing, I don’t even have a name. I’m a number and a code word. 47Star. What kind of name is that I ask? Once upon a time people had names, like David, Michael, Sara, Darlene. Oh how I wish I had a name like that. I was not even allowed to grow up with my parents, I was raised in a collective school with all the other children in my age group, so as to not have too deep of an attachment to the family unit. I did not make friends at the school, we were not allowed to be friends, just coworkers, drones who did what we were told. I had a hard time dealing with the orders, I always asked questions, and needless to say I got to know punishment quite well. I have never fit in. I was too curious. I read too much. I craved knowledge. I cut my hair and dresses differently, well as differently as I could with limited resources. We were all supposed to blend in with one another, never stick out, never be an individual. I should not have been born into this time, I don’t belong here. I guess it’s good that there soon might not be a here. Rumor has it that One Corporation has sold us, all of us, the entire world. Not that we were supposed to know that. Actually I’m not sure many of the people care, they are numb to the world as is. For some reason my family is not numb. We are not zombies. We think for ourselves and that has made us a danger to the One Corporation. My father and uncle have been seeking others like us, others who want to stop One Corporation and let people live free. Tonight we’ve snuck out to meet the others, to start what I guess would once have been called a rebellion, we will save the world. Our code name is Operation Savior Machine. **** My father worked in a propaganda unit, a newspaper. Some of the heads of the One Corporation came in weekly to tell them what to print. They also talked in private with their representative there, the so called editor. My father worked next door to the editor’s office and could hear everything through the vents. That’s how we learned of the sale. That’s what we were here to discuss tonight. Uncle 16Bow took the stage, always having a way with words and people, “We are all here tonight because we know that the One Corporation lies to us on a daily basis. What we did not know before was the extent of those lies. What I am about to tell you will shock you, will seem unbelievable, but it is all true, heard from the mouth pieces of the One Corporation when they thought us unimportant people weren’t listening.” He paused and grab a contraband book that we had in our secret library. “We all know that once mankind traveled to space, to the moon and beyond. The One Corporation tried to cover that up, but we now know that this is the truth, for there are others out there in space.” “Others?” A woman up front asked. “What do you mean by others?” “The old term used was extraterrestrials I believe.” I piped up, this subject had always fascinated me. “Being from other planets?” Someone towards the back asked. “Yes. Very advanced beings and apparently very wealthy, for they are buying this world.” My uncle answered. “How can they buy the world? What about us?” Another shout came out. “One Corporation in essence own everything, they have made a deal to sell the world, human included with the exception of themselves of course. They are to be relocated to an undisclosed location. We will be left to fend for ourselves against unknown odds.” Uncle 16Bow said. Conversations erupted all over the room, people were worried and angry. “This has to be stopped.” “How can we stop this?” “We need to take down One Corporation.” “The sale must be stopped.” “What kind of monsters try to sell the world?” It went on and on. Finally I spoke up again. “We have to attacked the One Corporation and destroy them before the sale takes place. We all know where their headquarters is. Some of us even have access. But first we need more clearheaded people. We need to get to the water filtration system, see if people are being forced to ingest drugs and stop it if we can. If the others wake up to the reality of the world, well there are too many of us to stop. If we control the world, well then we can stop anything.” Funny, everyone listened to me even though I was the youngest one in attendance. Something inside of me had awoken, I just knew what needed to be done and if I had to lead so be it. The next week we filled with nothing but planning. We had limited time, but we couldn’t get caught or all would be lost. Those who worked in the One Corporation headquarters kept spying and searching for vulnerabilities. Same went for the workers at the water filtration center. The best thing about the corporate monsters thinking we were mindless drones was the fact that they never suspected anything. Exactly one week after Operation Savior Machine commence, four of us snuck into the water filtration plant. My uncle had worked there all his life and knew his way around. He had also lifted a set of keys unnoticed by the One Corporation rep who ran the plant. The security guards had been drones, easily taken care of though none of us relishing harming others. Sure enough once we got into the “top secret” room where only the corporate manager went, drugs were found. Working quickly we replaced them with what my mother called placebos, she worked in the hospital system and said they were quite common. They looked exactly like the pills being deposited in the water system and should go undetected from the One Corporation until it was too late. As we left I pondered why some of us weren’t affected by the drugs, but my mother said some people just built up natural resistance. That’s why whole families seemed to be immune. I shook my head and thought about the more important matter at hand. Hopefully once others were clear minded like us, well they would see what had to be done. Phase one competed, all we could do for now was plan and wait for the drugs to exit from peoples’ systems. According to what we had managed to learn, we only had a few weeks to prevent the sale and possible destruction of our planet. Weapons had been gathered, plans were being made, and soon we would have the numbers that we needed. Then we would make our stand. Even if we lost, we would make sure that One Corporation lost as well. No one would sell my home, my people. I’d destroy us all before I let that happen. **** After only a day we began to see a change in the people around us. People began to wake up for the first time in their lives. As they did, someone for Operation Savior Machine would be there to tell them the truth, to tell them they needed to fight. One week later we had a full-fledged army. Time to make out move. While some people worked at the One Corporation headquarters, there were none alive that had entered the inner portion of the compound, the place where the leaders lived. Even many of their own had never seen these leaders, the ones who controlled everything. Tonight they would be unmasked and shown for what they really were, monsters who had enslaved an entire population. Somehow I had become the leader, the rallying point. My father guessed it might be my slightly unconventional look, the fact that I had been defying the One Corporation little by little since the very beginning. I was seen as a rebel and I was okay with that. I would lead the charge gladly and if had to die for others to have freedom, I would be ready. They had to know we were coming. They had the best surveillance around their headquarters and most of the population moving towards one location would be rather hard to miss. We had taken the liberty of arming ourselves thanks to the very guards who usually patrolled the perimeter, leaving the One Corporation virtually unguarded. Sure we would have to break through their technology, but they had gotten too arrogant, thinking that they controlled all humans, to think we would be a threat. Big mistake. The actual storming of the headquarters took very little time. Soon the walls were breached and our mob was busy rounding up any and all the elite of One Corporation. My uncle and I were making sure that the perimeter had been secured and that there was no secret means of escaping, so we entered the room holding the leaders of the corporation a bit late. We were confused by the eerie silence that met us, eyes followed us as we made our way further into the room. Since the two of us had somehow became the unofficial leaders of the rebellion, a path cleared for us as we passed by. Once we got to our captives we both stopped, shocked. I immediately looked towards my parents who were near us, they looked back the same expression of disbelief in their eyes. “We’ve been waiting for you.” One of the captives said, a sadistic smile on her face. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, it was like looking into the mirror. We could have been twins. She was surrounded by other familiar faces, those of my family and the others who had been resistant to the drugs in the water. Yet those people were standing next to me, these were look-a-likes in better clothes. When none of us said anything she continued. “You didn’t really think that we were so oblivious to not know about your little uprising, did you? Surely you must have expected that everything went too smoothly. We let you in.” “Why?” I asked, the word almost catching in my throat. Had this all really been a set up? But why? To what purpose? “Because the rumor that we sold the world was just to see if you were ready, if you were smart enough to be put to good use.” A man that looked like my uncle said. “Tomorrow the drugs will go back in the water and most of the people in your rebellion will forget everything, go back to their lives we see fit for them to lead. But a special few of you… well we have other plans for you.” The first woman said. “What kind of plans?” I asked, proud that my voice was louder this time. “Well there is a sale taking place, not the world per se, but you will never be seen in these walls again.” My clone continued. “You’re selling us? You can’t do that!” I burst forth, trying to reach her. An unseen force threw me back. “Oh you will do as we say, as you can see we have far superior protection that you ever dreamed of. Plus we have the added bonus that we know how you will react, for we were you once upon a time.” I shook my head no. “That can’t be. We are nothing like you. We are trying to save the world, to save our people, not control and manipulate them.” My double laughed. “Do you honestly think this is the first Operation Savior Machine? That is how all our colonies start, the strongest rising to the top and proving that they are ready to lead. Your resistance to our drugs are part of you, the part of you that is us. Same goes for the implanted memories of the past, of how to rebel, of the operation that proves your worthiness. You will be sent out to colonize another location, to start a new corporation on behalf of those who purchased you. Soon you will be exactly like us, genetically engineered to rule, to stay young and live longer than most. You are chosen, you should be consider yourself lucky.” “Lucky? You are selling us like slaves! I won’t do it. You can’t turn us into monster like you!” I screamed, trying to make a break for it. The unseen force once again took ahold of me, this time restraining me and dragging towards a door in the back. I screamed, but no one could hear me anymore. Just before we got to the door I heard a melodic voice in head, “Welcome to the future, this may hurt a little.”
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AuthorAuthor, artist, jewelry maker and all around creative person. I write in many genres and have a lot of fun doing so. Please take a look around and enjoy! Archives
January 2022
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