Free The Last Place to Stand by Aaron K. Redshaw Page A

their right. This was the normal mode of transport in this building, but not for them. Chavez had a fear of enclosed spaces, so they ignored it and moved on. At the end of the hall, they saw a door, but just as Samuel was about to reach for the handle, Wallace pointed to a door on their left. Samuel turned and opened it. As they stepped out, Wallace whispered, “That other one was for food.”
    “Oh,” said Samuel.
    They entered a huge room. It was the size of a warehouse, but broken into small workspaces. Partitions were interspersed throughout, because people who worked here did not get distracted. They had complete focus on their tasks. Without the use of additional technology, workers received and sent business-level feeds. “This is technical support,” said Wallace. “It's worldwide, so it takes a lot of people. Different shifts go all day and night so those on other continents and time zones can get help as well.”
    They walked along one wall ignoring people who passed them from time to time. Samuel observed that there were no windows. How very depressing, he thought. How can these people live this way?
    It took them several minutes to cross the warehouse sized room. On the other side, Wallace whispered, “This is it.” They opened the door.
     

Chapter 23
    X213 had been running for just a few minutes before she was out of breath. Exercise was not emphasized in this society. She sat down, no longer able to cry. Feeling a little numb, she wondered what she would do now. She thought about going back to work, but that was enforcing the very restrictions that had dominated her as a child. No feeling, no independent thought, like machines doing what someone else wanted. In this world there was no sense of creativity. There was no art, no music for entertainment. There were just the feeds, and work. She thought about taking the chip out of her head, but then thought that if she did this, the authorities would either take her away as a deserter or come looking for her thinking she had a malfunction and needed repair. The chip itself had this signaling device. Though she couldn't turn it off, she could limit the number of feeds she received so she could think.
    As she sat, she wondered who she would miss at work. No one , she realized. Not a single person. She didn’t feel close to anyone because she never talked to anyone. Of course there was that guy she had talked to earlier that day, but he was an anomaly. She remembered how he had said hi to her, the conversation replaying in her memory. He had said some unusual things. For instance, he said words like, community, time, rest, and he did not sound happy. She had heard about him. Even though she didn't know his name, she had heard that he had lived with the Outcasts and then, seeing the light, knowing that the Solpaths had the true path to a brighter future, he came back. He had to go through quite a bit of testing and trial before they would accept him in his current position. They had to make sure he wasn't a spy.
    It was no longer the case that spies worked for other companies trying to bring a product to the public before another company. It was not even true that one country vied for power against another using technology as a weapon. The world was now under one government and had only one goal: to better themselves by bettering technology. It was a wonderfully united system. Instead of companies competing with other companies, there was one company, Techcorp, which was owned and run by the government. When the government owns everything, there is no competition and everyone is happier. And because the country was now run much like a huge company, the Director of Operations was the leader of the country.
    Her thoughts went back to that man again. He had a look in his eyes she had seen before. She had known what it was at the time, but she didn't want to think about it. She had blocked it out through the distraction of business. If you run fast enough, you