Shed a Light

Klingon Hamlet

Like every morning, David stepped out his apartment and was greeted by the light in the floor. It pulsed, beckoning him. Sometimes, to amuse himself, he would hesitate, and watch it turn from white to amber to fierce red. Little klaxons would sound out. Heads would turn. Eyebrows rise. Finally, he would give in to the fear creeping into his heart, and take the steps assigned to him. The light would soften, whiten, and the alarms would cease, and everything would carry on as if he hadn't violated Order One.

On this particular morning he did something a little unorthodox. He got as far as the pedestrian walkway, and stopped. The light slowed and stopped a few feet ahead of him, glowing gently like a two dimensional angel flattened to the earth. David scratched his head and felt a memory slide into his consciousness. Right through the emotional neutralisers, like a right sneaky b@stard.

"Jacob," he said to himself, not knowing why.

The light shared his confusion. "You are David," it said simply. "You will be late for work."

David tapped a switch on his wristpad. "Minor alteration. Twenty minutes required."

A moment passed. "You can take ten, David."

"Minor deviation, also."

Although it was just a naviglow, and its voice merely rendered to imitate human emotion, it sounded downright annoyed. "Negative."

"I'm not asking."

The light darkened. "You know the consequence of violating Order One. Do not deviate."

David was already walking away. The morning sun was warming his skin but he felt hot inside. Something was bubbling within him, something that all the suppressants and bio-safety nets were struggling to hold back. Jacob... The light followed closely behind.

With a quick walk he found his destination: a group of apartments barely a hundred feet away. He trotted up the main steps to the first block and out stepped a young man barely out of his teens. Eyes blue and hair bright and exactly like the way David used to at that age.

"Jacob," he said, gently. He didn't know what else to say. His mouth opened and he felt like he was going to vomit. It could have been his body reacting to the suppressants, he wasn't sure. Of anything, any more.

The young man looked him in the eyes and replied, "Yes?"

It was a one-way line. Something broke inside David, something that had cracked years beforehand. He fell to one knee and saw the light rolling under him, turning amber. "Seven years..." he began.

Jacob frowned like a child inspecting an insect. "Excuse me?"

David said, "I...haven't seen you..."

"Excuse me," Jacob said again, this time flatly, walking away from the crouching withering man. "I've got to go to work."

"Jacob, I'm your-"

Jacob turned and gave him a severe shake of the head. "Don't break Order Three. Live life cleanly without distraction or deviation. Connection causes confusion. You know that." Tears were forming in Jacob's eyes, and he wiped them and turned.

David felt the world spin. The suppressants must have been increasing their output, to calm him down, but his body was fighting back. His heart was a battleground and there were craters forming left, right and centre. He coughed up blood, and pleaded, "Please..."

For a blissful moment, Jacob came back to him and lifted him gently to his feet, wiped his mouth and hugged him. Then he looked down at the ground and remarked, "It's red."

"The suppressants...they..."

"No." Jacob looked right into his eyes, and all the warmth and love and tears faded quickly as if they were never there. "Your naviglow is summoning you. You are at Red Level. You must report to a substation for assessment immediately." The young man turned on his heel and trudged away.

David stood, knees shaking, watching Jacob disappear under the blinding morning light. In the distance, a siren cried out.