Clutching her arm, Leigh hurried out of the clinic, only to freeze at the sight in front of her. Her throbbing injury almost forgotten, Leigh’s jaw slackened in shock as she tried to take in every detail of the CHIP-stripped, naked, and very different world than she was used to. Gone was the overlay obstructed and virtually altered view, giving her unrestricted access to the warm sunset that colored the sky in whimsical streaks of orange and pink. Its heat caressed her skin as the fresh scent of damp earth surrounded her. Leigh blinked, momentarily unable to completely comprehend the sensory overload. Her until now mostly underutilized senses kicked into overdrive, giving her a completely different take on reality.

In some ways, the naked world was very plain, the housing stacks particularly. Without the virtual alterations and customizations that families chose for their homes, the stacks were nearly identical to one another, only varying in size proportionate to the number of housing and work units available to each family. On the way into the clinic, the stacks had all featured various architecture styles, some old, some modern, some homey and some eclectic, but without the CHIP they just looked like a bunch of stacked metal boxes.

The stacks were lined up equidistantly along the narrow walking paths separating the the stack rows. There was a small strip of vegetation surrounding each of the stacks, where small drones watered and tended to each family’s garden. Seeing as they lived in the suburbs, most people chose to have their own produce grown, and being in one of the colder climates this meant a small vegetable patch around the stack and a greenhouse unit on top. It was so common-stance and automated that Leigh rarely thought about it, but the evening irrigation taking place all around her filled her nostrils with the fresh scents of plants, herbs and wet soil, her hair curled from the moisture in the air.

The paths were an uncommon choice, most people tended to fly to and from their destinations. Leigh was the same, but without her CHIP’s overlay activated she couldn’t access the navigational controls. Sighing, she succumbed to the fact that she’d be walking home, she still wasn’t ready to face the world yet; they could wait a while longer. Unwilling to leave her hover-board behind and even less willing to open her overlay, Leigh accessed the sub-controls of her CHIP to have her board compact itself. The nanites made quick work of morphing it into a standard stow-away cube. Habitually bouncing it from arm to arm, Leigh winced when the seven centimeter cube landed in her left hand. The compacted matter was small, but it still weighed the same and reminded Leigh of the nanite shot she’d just received. The pain was quickly receding though, and Leigh continued her juggle one-handedly and headed home.

She didn’t come across many people, and the ones she did were usually zooming by overhead, completely oblivious to her existence. They all wore the standard unmodified suits, and Leigh had a hard time coming to terms with how utterly homogeneous humans were. Hair colors only varied from black, to brown, to blond and the crazy hairstyles she was used to seeing through the virtual customizations were completely gone. It was hard to believe how much of a person’s personality was conveyed through their hair, accessory and suit customizations alone. Everything was so completely equal that Leigh was having difficulties finding her way back home.

It didn’t help that she wasn’t used to seeing the world at eye-level or that her CHIP’s vision, lighting and guiding assistance weren’t available to help her. As the sun continued to set, the path grew darker and darker and she wondered if she’d be able to make it home on her own or if she’d have to turn her CHIP on prematurely. She’d only planned on turning it on in the privacy of her own home. A public emotional meltdown wasn’t going to make her feel better about failing the only real goal she’d ever set herself. She kept her emotions on lock-down and her CHIP off.

Leigh sighed and looked at the empty world around her. After getting over the initial sensory shock, her fascination with the naked world was replaced with a feeling of familiarity, like she’d experienced the world like this before. Up until that moment she’d been sure that her CHIP had been her constant companion for the last sixteen years, but the uncluttered view of the world poked and prodded at a forgotten memory until she wasn’t quite so convinced. Hadn’t Kyle and her played ‘hide-and-seek’ once?

It was an ancient game that most people didn’t even know about. Modern technology had long ago ruined its challenge, the CHIPs of anyone below the age of six gave their location away to everyone. The privacy option only became available at the age of ten, and even then the parents were still given the override option until the kids came of age. Until the Selection there were a lot of CHIP use limitations. Come to think of it, kids weren’t even supposed to be able to turn their CHIPs off. Knowing this, Leigh still couldn’t shake the impossible hazy unCHIPed memory aside. She couldn’t even check her CHIP for the memory since it had been off at the time.

Had her parents given them permission to de-activate their CHIPs? Leigh frowned, knowing that couldn’t be the case. It was Kyle; he had managed it somehow. He had even told her that it was their little secret, hadn’t he? He’d made her promise never to bring the games up in any way, shape or form. Leigh bit her lip in confusion. She’d done so well not bringing them up that she’d almost forgotten them herself. Back then she had worshiped the ground her brother walked on. At the age of seven, she still hadn’t understood the burden of expectation her brother’s legacy would cast on her. Confused as to why and how her twelve year old brother had wanted to play with her like that, Leigh almost lost track of where she was going.

An unexpected smack into an older man was the only thing that snapped her out of her reverie before she ended up on the wrong side of the lake. The encounter rattled them both and they simultaneously staggered back. People didn’t generally have accidents; CHIPs always prevented this kind of thing from happening since it could be very disorienting to be yanked out of whatever virtual overlay you were in. Leigh blushed furiously, knowing she was at fault. Bowing, she was about to apologize profusely for her lack of decorum and attention to her surroundings, but other than a slight scowl in her direction, the man promptly dismissed her and made his way into one of the stacks. Leigh pursed her lips in wonder, she’d at least expected some kind of admonishment. Most adults treated anyone under the age of sixteen like they were toddlers and never passed on a chance to share their wisdom or advice.

After the man was gone, Leigh was left feeling a bit bereft and disconnected from the world. Other than the drones she saw here and there it was oddly empty. If there were any people zooming by in the inky darkness overhead, she didn’t see them. The moon and spacetation were the only light sources keeping the path from being swallowed into the night as well. A shiver coursed through her body, reminding her of her CHIP’s absence, without it her suit’s auto-temperature regulation wouldn’t be active. Leigh sighed, but still refused to turn on her CHIP out of sheer stubbornness.

The lack of the CHIP had gone from liberating to discomforting and turning it on now would feel too much like surrender too soon after the Selection. She sighed, attached her matter-cube to one of her suit’s satchel magnets and picked her pace up to a jog. Making sure her right leg’s injury was completely healed and pain free, Leigh gave it a minute before upping her tempo again into a run. It felt strange running without her CHIP displaying her body’s optimum running movements; she couldn’t help but feel like she was doing it wrong. Rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the thought, Leigh focused on her breathing. Running had been an every day activity for as long as she could remember, the chances of her doing it ‘wrong’ were slim to none, especially considering the flat terrain between herself and her home.

Clearing her mind, Leigh focused on the endorphins surging through her veins as she ran. The discomforting emptiness inside her expanded, but she pushed it aside and came to a decision. She hadn’t made it into First Academy. This was incontestable and unchangeable; a cold, hard fact. She had to buck up and learn to deal with it. If she couldn’t be make it to first place in First Academy, then she sure as hell had to guarantee her spot as best in Second Academy. Nodding to herself, Leigh made her way back home, hoping she’d remembered it correctly.

The decision settled her a bit, and she managed to enjoy the last twenty minutes of her run home. The unCHIPed world was strange, different and even beautiful in some ways, but Leigh doubted she’d ever unCHIP herself completely like this again. The disconnect from the world was too big, it made her feel too alone and she missed too many of modern conveniences, especially all of the Tofus she’d so painstakingly scripted over the years. And so, when she finally turned into her street, she couldn’t help grinning with relief; she’d be turning her CHIP back on soon. She slowed her run down to a jog and came to a stop before her family’s housing stack.

Her brother seemed so unreachable now, but his housing unit had once been a part of their home, included in their stack. It had gone into storage when he went off-planet after becoming a First Academy Select. Looking up at her own housing unit, Leigh considered programming a quick temporary entrance to sneak through. She did it all the time when her parents weren’t home, but it was generally considered rude not to use the front entrance when other people were around. Although her CHIP wasn’t active and she couldn’t see her parent’s icons, she knew they’d be home. It was Selection Day.

Leigh sighed. She wasn’t going to be able to postpone meeting her parents much longer. Both her mom and dad had wished her luck on her final submissions that morning, but Leigh was pretty sure they weren’t even aware of her Rank. Her parents were both renowned physicists with fame that could rival even her brother’s. They each had their own lab in the Centers, but they tended to work from home more often than not. She’d seen both of them lose themselves in their work for weeks at a time. They’d made it into First Academy out of pure intellectual capacity.

Unfortunately, Leigh hadn’t inherited their scientific genius, and for her to be able to do anything of significance with her life, she’d first have to guarantee herself a spot in the right place. This was something she’d never been able to convey to them. Her brother had gotten into First Academy so easily that the Rank issue had never come up with him. Leigh sighed again. She still didn’t want to have that conversation.

Leigh rolled her eyes. When had she become this weak person full of self-pity, self-doubt and fear of confrontation? Sure, she’d failed at the only goal she’d ever set herself, a massive goal, but she would recover. Shaking her head, Leigh tried to get rid of the uncharacteristic behavior that had been trying to get ahold of her since she left for the clinic. It worked well enough, and she focused her attention forwards. Although she knew from the familiar configuration that she was in front of her home, the lack of customizations only visible through the CHIP interface made entering it discomforting.

She’d never seen the her home in its naked state. There were no columns ‘holding up’ the second overhanging story that was composed of her parents’ working units. Her mom had insisted on them ages ago and refused to get rid of them, no matter how much Leigh begged to try something new. The most she’d gotten was command of her own housing unit, which she’d programmed to show swirling galaxies at night and an overgrown rainforest treehouse, with tumbling vines during the day. She considered turning her CHIP on right then, just to be sure this was really her home, but decided against it. Leigh knew that the moment she turned it on, she’d be bombarded with all the information she’d missed over the last hour. She’d rather deal with it in the privacy of her own unit, not out in the dark street.

Bypassing the activation of the entire CHIP interface overlay, Leigh chose only the functions she needed to key herself through the entrance. The housing’s energy-matter folded aside in the new waterfall configuration she’d created herself only a few weeks ago, and she stepped through. She waited a moment for the suit to make its home adjustments, usually the suit loosened, the synthetic fiber softened and the temperature regulator adjusted to the interior temperature, but none of these things happened. For a moment, confusion settled in, but then she remembered her CHIP was inactive. Rolling her eyes at her own forgetfulness, Leigh headed inside.

“I’m hooome!” she shouted as she walked by the living area.

Her parents were watching a vid, but without her CHIP activated, she couldn’t see or hear what they were watching. When they didn’t immediately reply, Leigh figured they hadn’t heard her over the CHIP-inputted sound. Shrugging, she decided to drop off her things first. By the time she entered her unit, her body was feeling clammy. Leigh tried reading her stats, but the CHIP was off. She rolled her eyes again. Running a frustrated hand through her hair, she almost gave in to the urge to turn the CHIP back on, but resisted. She knew that the moment she did, she’d never turn it off again. There were simply too many advantages to be had through it. Leigh had no idea how pre-CHIP humans lived. It was unthinkable. The lights weren’t immediately regulated, the water temperature wasn’t just right, the suit and unit customizations… Life was difficult and boring without her CHIP. It sucked, but she was unwilling to admit defeat on anything else today, much less a piece of technology the size of her thumb.

Instead, she used it only when absolutely necessary, which was more than she was willing to admit. The shower stall needed to be activated, the water temperature needed to be regulated, the soap needed to be chosen, the wash-dry unit was needed for cleaning her suit, plus a dozen other minor adjustments that she’d always taken for granted. The jasmine soap-infused water sprayed onto her body and she was finally able to wash off all the sweat and anxiety the day had brought. The warm water calmed her in a way her mind couldn’t force. Humming in contentment, Leigh turned on the rinse stage at a colder temperature, enjoying the cooling sensation. She liked walking out of the shower feeling crisp and refreshed instead of muggy and hot.

After the drying cycle, Leigh felt a thousand times better. She deactivated the shower and it quickly retracted into the wall of her unit. Without the CHIP’s automatic function, she’d forgotten to turn on her suit’s drying cycle, so she took the opportunity to stretch out her muscles as she waited. The cycle only took thirty seconds, but Leigh spent the next five minutes going through slow, meticulous stretches that focused on individual muscle groups. She’d been remiss earlier and had forgotten to do it before and after her SIM escapade. The routine movements brought a calm to her mind that she hadn’t felt since watching her Rank drop out of the First Academy Selection zone. Clean, calm and content - or at least resigned, she sighed. She was ready to talk to her parents.

Before keying herself back out of her housing unit, she gave it one last glance. She’d programmed so many changes into it over the years that its naked, unCHIPed state was nearly unrecognizable. The oversized bed she’d chosen to dominate the far side, the virtual simulation station she’d installed near the entrance and the small little window alcove she’d programmed into the side were the only fixed features she could recognize without the CHIP. It was enough to recognize her room, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. Shaking her head, she refused to give in to the recurring urge to turn the CHIP back on and left her unit to join her parents in the living area.

They were still watching the vid so Leigh took the opportunity to get herself some water. Most homes didn’t have a fixed sink, but Leigh and her parents had pooled a significant percentage of their housing unit alotment to form the spacious common area they were now in. Her parents barely spent any time in their rooms and since they slept in the same bed, the three of them had enough space for a fixed sink, stove, fridge, vid display and dining area. Leaning her hip against the sink, Leigh enjoyed her glass of cool water as she watched her parents’ backs. It was quite unusual for them to be so engrossed in a vid. Leigh wondered what the world would think about two of the most brilliant physicists wasting their time on entertainment. She smiled at the thought and put her glass into the cleaner before walking over to her parents.

She approached the vid area and noticed for the first time that her parents were standing instead of taking advantage of the sofas. This struck her as odd, but she didn’t think too much of it until she got a clear look at their faces. Their mouths were hanging open in shock, their eyes were filled with a tumultuous mixture of anger, horror and sorrow and they were gripping each other’s hand while the other was balled in a fist. Her mother had tears running down her face and her father’s lips were so tightly clamped together, she could only see a line where his mouth usually was.

“Mom?” Leigh asked after recovering from her initial shock. “Dad?”

Neither of them replied, but when her mother noticed her presence, she turned her bloodshot, teary eyes in her direction and simply tugged her to her side. Confused and a little scared, Leigh turned on her CHIP. The need to see what had her usually calm and analytical parents so emotional trumped everything else going on in her head. Leigh didn’t know what she expected to see, but the dozens of open newscasts before her wasn’t it. Being bombarded with the amount of information usually provided by the CHIP after almost two whole hours without it was unexpectedly disorienting. It took Leigh a couple seconds to catch on to what was going on and when she did, she choked, refusing to believe it. If she hadn’t seen her parents’ reaction firsthand, she would have thought it all some kind of terrible practical joke.

[HALF A BILLION HUMANS DEAD IN ATOMIC ANTI-QUILL SABOTAGE]

[12 EUROPEAN CENTERS DESTROYED BY ANTI-ALIEN ACTIVISTS]

[ANTI-QUILL ATTACK KILLS BILLIONS OF HUMANS]

[H-DNA TERRORISTS’ DEATH TOLL RISES EXPONENTIALLY]

By the time she’d read the headlines, accompanied by gruesome pictures, Leigh had tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She was being torn apart by dozens of emotions, but the only one she could really process was shock. How could so many people be dead from one moment to the next? Why were humans fighting humans when a much bigger war needed their attention? What was wrong with humanity that even now, it managed to commit such atrocities?

After skimming dozens of articles, trying to understand what had happened, Leigh finally copied her parents and directed her entire attention to the newscasts. The articles had only revealed that nobody had any details. Her CHIP warned her of her accelerated heartbeat and elevated blood pressure, but she quickly silenced the alarms and turned her attention to the news. Newscasters were still arriving on site, as most of the people in the Centers had been wiped out, along with their newscasters. The thought brought on more tears that joined the continuous stream down her cheeks.

The Quill were their allies! What was wrong with humanity? The Ardus, that’s who they were fighting. Those were the real enemies! If they wanted to blow stuff up so much, then they should have expended that energy in the war. Her shock and sorrow were slowly being replaced by anger and disgust when her inbox suddenly pinged. Annoyed, she quickly opened it. Leigh meant to dismiss the alert and get to it later, but the content of the message froze her in place.

OFFICIAL UNITED EARTH STATEMENT: What happened today was a great tragedy and we will not cease to investigate the cause until we come to the bottom of it. We must however, not let this get in the way of our ultimate mission, the survival of mankind. To this effect, there has been a recalculation of Ranks and the Ranks as of 00:23:00am will determine this Year’s Selection.

[CONGRATULATIONS, FIRST ACADEMY SELECT! WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU, LEIGH SERENA MCMANN: RANK 996, THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE FIRST ACADEMY. THE UNITED EARTH FORCE IS PROUD OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS THUS FAR, BUT YOUR JOURNEY HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.

THE NEXT THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE WILL BE DIFFICULT AND WE WILL PUSH YOU TO GREATER, UNIMAGINABLE HEIGHTS. THE EVENTS OF THIS NIGHT ARE UNFORTUNATE, BUT THEY CANNOT DISRUPT HUMANITY’S ULTIMATE GOAL: SURVIVAL.

PACK YOUR HOUSING UNIT AND PRESENT YOURSELF AT….]

Leigh stopped reading, unable to continue. The disgust she’d been feeling intensified, but this time it was directed inward. Millions upon millions of people had died, yet all she could think about was the bolt of joy she’d felt after receiving the message. Leigh was nauseous. She’d accomplished her goal, but how many had to die for her failure to be turned into a victory?