FERALS

Copyright 2013 by T. L. Miller-Simms

                                                                         

On the last day of December, 2745, Renatus logged off of his computer and shut it down for the last time.  His proscribed forty years of service as a computer programmer were at last at an end.  Now he would have time to concentrate on things other than writing strings of code hour after hour creating programs needed by Control.  He quietly stood up, pushed in his ergonomically adjustable chair and then silently began walking to Control's Personnel Unit.  As he was walking, his lightening fast mind was recalling when he was first assigned to Control, and the service he would be providing.  He recalled how he came to be considered brilliant in working with computers.  It all began at age seven when he matriculated in the POD's Creative Computer Technical Institute. He was the youngest student the school had ever admitted.  It was apparent from the beginning he had a natural talent for understanding how computers work, as well as quickly grasping the languages they use.   He became obsessed with how easily a programmer could make a computer do anything he wanted it to do, and he wanted them to do some very unique tasks.

 

Arriving at his destination, and interrupting his nostalgia, he punched in the access code to the Personnel Unit.  He had known the exact date and hour he would be walking to this place to complete his retirement separation interview and complete all the necessary forms.  He knew, because he had written the program to identify all personnel, and to maintain records of when personnel would complete their service.  What he did not know was the number of retirement years he would be awarded for his years of service, because he had ingeniously embedded a random number generator in the program.  The RNG would be activated when all exit interview data had been entered, and would determine the number of years awarded a person for their retirement service.

 

"Renatus, you are here exactly at the appointed time," said the clerk, "shall we begin" he asked as he handed Renatus a set of documents.  The Control clerk, continued working with some file on his computer.  He turned back to Renatus saying, "These forms are required to be completed by the retiring individual at the direction of the POD's Control Authority, so please take a seat and proceed filling them out.  And then I shall enter the information in the Control's main security computer and then you will be free to go and enjoy your allotted years of retirement. Let me know if you should need my help. You may begin."

"Thank you, I will fill them out as required," as Renatus sat down and proceeded to fill the blanks with the requisite information,  he came to the statement, "Do you want to add anything to your exit interview?" Renatus simply wrote, "No comment."  After all, what does a person say after forty years of faithful and exceptional service?  He organized the papers back into their original order and handed them to the Control Clerk.

The Personnel Unit Processor clerk reviewed each document and entered the information into the Master Personnel Unit's database, which then triggered the random number generator function. In a matter of less than a second, a number appears on the screen telling the retiree the number of remaining years allotted to him before his end time will be activated.  The unpleasant part of the entire exit interview process was completing Form C which required him to select his corporal disposition.  Form C contained only two choices:  A:  Corporal Liquefaction, and oice B: Corporal Vaporization.  Ranatus thought for a few moments, and then checked the box next to Corporal Vaporization.  His decision was based solely on the speed of each method.  He perceived Vaporization to be a much more rapid process to endure than the slower method of him being turned into a fluid which he knew would ultimately be used as an additive to the fuel used to operate the various life supporting systems in the POD.

After completing his exit interview, and when all key cards and pass codes were inventoried, and his retinal identification scan was terminated, Ranatus walked to his quarters to begin his allotted retirement time, which numbered 16 years.  He had decided prior to his retirement to use this time to pursue his discovery of the existence of the beings known as Ferals.  His first act in preparing for this adventure had been to hurriedly and covertly develop a bit-masking program so the POD's monitoring system would make his daily activities appear completely within acceptable limits to Control Command.

In addition to developing the bit-masking code to take care of his own implanted chip, Ranatus had managed to find the original construction blueprints for the POD.  He was specifically interested in finding a safe portal from which he could come and go from the POD undetected by Control.   Before retiring, on one of his required exercise breaks, he walked the perimeter of the POD and discovered what he thought must be a way out of one of the portals.   It was barely discernible, but Renatus knew that he was looking at one of the four portals existing in the POD.  He knew there must be a code used to enter or exit the POD.  After a moment of reflection, he knew exactly how it operated and how he would insert a tiny undetectable variation to the security system so the code he would use to exit and return to the POD would be an exact digital mirror of the codes used by the Security Drones.  The Drones who monitored the perimeter of the POD every hour of the day, only coming into the POD just long enough to have their lithium ion batteries replaced.  He had been called once to examine the program module of one of the Security Drones and was somewhat disturbed by their appearance and their equipment.

His last preparation task was creating a tool he might need to protect himself in the event he actually encountered Ferals.  Although he had never previously held, much less used a weapon of any kind; he had seen a weapon-like item attached to the Security Drone's arm.  From memory, he was able to draw an exact image of the hand held item carried by the POD Exterior Service Unit.  On one of his morning compulsory exercise breaks, he went to the 3-D copier station, saw no one was present and proceeded to successfully duplicate the weapon carried by the Security Drone. He then quickly erased the information in the 3-D copier, concealed his creation inside his boot, and returned to his work station.  He knew he had committed a serious violation of the rules and regulations of the POD. If questioned, he could say he was correcting the code in the 3-D copier due to complaints of it misreading that which it was suppose to duplicate. Unauthorized use of the 3-D copier result in serious consequences if POD Control discovered what he had done.

"Sixteen years, 16 years is all I was allocated after years and years of service," he thought to himself, later as he reviewed his plans to go in search of Ferals one last time.  Sitting on the side of his bed, he was talking to himself about the thing he wanted to do.  He was wondering if he could really muster the nerve to follow through with his plans to have one grand adventure before his scheduled end time.

Deep in thought, Ranatus was talking quietly to himself, "I am not a brave man, and I am a retired computer programmer nothing more nothing less, but this adventure, or possibly misadventure, is something I have to do.  I have to know more about Ferals.  Everything is in place, and I have chosen the 27^th day of January as the day I will exit the POD and begin searching for them.  I just want to do something thrilling before my end time comes, and this adventure will give that moment to me." 

On the morning of the 27^th day of January, Renatus gathered the supplies and rations he believed he might need, carefully activated the cloned identification chip which automatically deactivated the microchip in his arm.  He placed the cloned chip inside a sofa pillow and then very carefully removed the deactivated chip that had been implanted in him as an infant.  Surprisingly, there was very little blood, and after he had removed the chip he sealed the incision.

It was morning in the POD, and the usual activities were in full swing with kids going to their respective institutes, workers arriving at their stations, and a few workers having morning coffee in the POD mall.  Ranatus walked passed all of this very casually, and finally arrived at the furthest portal in the POD.  Seeing no one around him, he quickly entered the new exit code he had modified and in a matter of two steps found himself for the first time outside the POD.    He quickly looked around to check for any POD Security detail lurking about, and saw none, so he ran in a perpendicular path away from the POD.  He ran until he found himself surrounded by tall trees, real trees, unlike the holographic trees found in the POD, images he cannot touch.

He was both frightened and so excited he could barely breathe.  He needed to stop long enough to get his bearings because he had to be able to find his way back to the portal.  He looked in all directions, and as he blinked he was making mental pictures of where he was and the path he had taken.  He took into account how much time had passed from when he exited the portal and the time he arrived in his current location.

"What are you doing?  Have you lost your mind?  Do you even know where to look for a Feral," Ranatus questioned himself.

After he had walked several meters, the hair on the back of his neck felt as if it had stiffened and he began to feel as though something or someone was watching him.  Being accustomed to having every action monitored, suddenly actually feeling as if he were being watched was somewhat of a new and frightening experience.  He stopped and looked all around.   He hid behind one of the trees fearing that one of the Pod Security Drones had discovered him. Then he saw it, a child-like figure sitting on the ground playing with a furry toy of some sort.  Suddenly, the young figure looked, saw Renatus, then got up and began walking toward him.  He did not know whether to run or to stay, because he was paralyzed with fascination.

The little child-like figure walked past him and turned and signaled him to follow.  Without thinking, Renatus followed.  They came to a clearing and he almost could not contain himself with what he saw.  Ferals.  Ferals of every description, short, tall, thin, obese, and all with different skin tones, ranging from very dark to very pale.  More astonishing was the fact that when he heard them speak he could understand them. 

The young Feral lead Renatus to a tall man who smiled at him as the child brought him nearer.  His hand automatically reached for the weapon he had made, but then something told him that would not be necessary.

"Greetings, welcome to our village.  My name is Simon, and your name sir?" asked the tall Feral.

"I am Renatus and I am in search of beings called Ferals, I come from a place called POD."

"Ah yes, POD.  Well welcome friend, when did you escape?" asked Simon.

"I did not escape," replied Renatus., "Before I retired I read about your people and I decided I wanted to know more about your kind.  I was a computer programmer and I found out about your existence in a file containing stories about ancient peoples."

"Ancient files," responded Simon.  "Where did you say you came from and how did you find us?"

"I was a computer programmer for 40 years and I was retired and given 16 years until my end time.  I learned that there were people who were never micro-chipped or catalogued, and who did not live in the POD.  I just wanted to know all about you, I wanted an adventure."

"Do you still carry the chip that was implanted in you?" inquired Simon.

"No, no, I removed it and replaced it with a cloned version, but I did not implant it in me.  I stuck it in a pillow in my quarters," replied Renatus, and then he asked, "What do you call this place?"

"Urth," replied Simon, "and I think I have some good news for you."

"How could you have news for me, I just met you," asserted Renatus.

"That is true, but we have others who have come to us from the place called POD.  They too were given an end time, but we kept it from happening by simply removing their implanted identification chips.  You have stopped your own end time," related Simon.

"You no longer can be controlled. You are free. As a matter of fact, if you like, you are free to live with us," invited Simon.

Renatus began rapidly asking one question after another, "I don't know if I can learn to live outside the POD and more importantly, the people here may not want me among them; they may even be fearful of me.  What if Drone Security tracks me to your village?  Won't that endanger everyone?"

"They do not come this far into the forest," answered Simon.

"You mean I may have more than the 16 years allotted to me? That would be wonderful and yes, yes, I would like to join your group."  Then Renatus asked again, "Tell me again, where are we?"

"Urth, my friend, said Simon.  "Welcome to Urth."