If you were a bird, a creature many believe to be more myth than reality, something to be

featured in the holo- and VR dramas, or even a drone and approached the planet-spanning

city from a distance, you might think that it was an entirely solid entity.

As you draw closer however, or maybe use magnoculars to zoom in, you’d see that it was

composed of thousands, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of towers. And not the

towers of ancient times with crenulations, or what the ancients laughingly called

‘skyscrapers’. No, these towers were miles high, crowded together so that sometimes it was

hard to tell where one started and the other ended.

Some were meagre little things, drab, the colour of rotten concrete and mould, resembling

broken teeth more than high-rise dwellings. But others, and especially the tallest ones, were

true wonders. Gold and precious stones reflected the sun as their spires punched through the

ever-present layer of pollutant-laden clouds.

Getting closer, you’d see that the towers were all linked by walkways, plazas, roads and even

parks. People, in numbers far too great for the human mind to even comprehend, went about

their lives. Those in the higher towers, those that were above the clouds were far, far different

tothe ones below.

The ruling class was known as the Ten-Milers due to the fact that they lived above the masses

in their gilded spires. Their clothing was light and airy, bright colours making the most of the

sunshine, shifting designs at every whim. Up there a change in clothing made statements as

clear as the spoken word. Indeed, some people spoke not a word, their clothing changing so

rapidly it made them appear as if they were spirits.

A shift to all black during a heated conversation spoke of a person overstepping the mark.

And in a society where duelling was very much a thing, it was often enough to bring forth an

apology with the offender changing into tones of light green.

Diving beneath the clouds, natural or due to millenia of pollution, reveals another world. A

duller, drearier, and much danker world. Whilst the upper layers just below are still much

more resplendent than others whose size is more diminutive, the denizens wear more muted

clothing, the colours never quite matching those of the Ten-Milers.

Keep going lower, and more and more people can be seen wearing wide-brimmed hats or

carrying umbrellas. Some, the richer, have drones floating above them. And all of them wear

water repellent clothing.

The air seems to be thicker here, although that might be caused by an overactive-imagination,

but the presence of breathers on the faces of those that choose to wear them does seem to

imply that perhaps the air isn’t as clean as one might like.

And this was still high, eight miles or so. Keep diving, weaving through the walkways,

zipping along tunnels and pipes, twisting and turning as you drop lower and lower into the

city below. Until, finally, you end up in the Five-Mile district. A place where an unlikely

hero resides.

The steady drip, drip, drip, of the never ending condenrain from thousands of storeys above

drove Mai Xio mad, yet again. Grabbing a stick she thrust it up at the canopy above her,

unleashing a torrent of water onto the people in the concourse below. Screams and curses

mingled with the laughter of those who hadn’t been drenched.

FINE -5 UC

-5 SOCIAL POINTS

WARNING - WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND

WARNING - BALANCE -9985UC

15UC UNTIL MANDATORY SERVITUDE

Buddha’s nut sack! She thought as she waved the message that appeared on her retinal

display away. Taking one last tug on her nicostick, she coughed as she burned the last of the

tobaccky and inhaled burnt filter. Grimacing she flicked the butt out into the mizzle, watching

as it arced away into the ever-present gloom.

LITTERING -5UC

-5 SOCIAL POINTS

WARNING - BALANCE -9990UC

10UC UNTIL MANDATORY SERVITUDE

Slamming the door on her balcony open as hard as possible she stepped into her government-

allotted apartment, before turning and opening the door in what she knew was a vain attempt

to cool the inside.

It wasn’t much. Space was always at a premium in a city with a population of one hundred

and sixty billion and counting. It was less than fifty years since the War of Traitors and

population levels were twice that of pre-war. Incentives such as universal credits and social

scores had helped encourage families to have children, but so had the banning of any form of

contraception. As a result, the population had soared. More loyal citizens to feed the ravenous

Empire’s appetite.

She was too young to remember the war, but her parents had talked about it and every single

lesson in school had referred to it.

Traitors, jealous of the Emperor’s Celestial Court, had attempted to assassinate him and the

royal family. Units loyal to the emperor had foiled the assassination attempt, but even that

had set the wheels of a far greater conflict into motion.

Nano-bombs, kinetic strikes and even good old-fashioned chemical, biological, nuclear, and

radiological bombs had been detonated planet-wide whilst supporters of either side fought in

a bitter struggle for control of the planet-spanning city.

Legend had it that once the Traitors were defeated they took those of their ranks still alive

and retreated down. Down past the One-Miles and into the guts of the city that was once,

Nether City.

It was thanks to the War of the Traitors that the Emperor had introduced the Karma system,

gamifying every living moment of his subjects. Making their lives a constant grind as they

tried to keep their karma, also known as Social Score, high enough to keep being viewed as a

good and loyal citizen.

At birth, every baby was injected with self-replicating nanites that would help – or hinder –

the citizens depending on the lives they lived. These could be enhanced with newer abilities

as they progressed in life. Even those that stumbled and paid the price could eventually attain

those same ‘rewards’.

The more social points a citizen accrued, the better their lives. Naturally, it wasn’t easy to accrue

social points, and those who were already in the higher echelons of society had been granted more

social points than those in the lower levels from the get go . Those with higher social points would find

their lives enhanced. Those with poor social points levels would find their lives getting hard and

harder.

And Mai hated it. She knew it was self-destructive to buck the rules. But still, she fought.

And now she was reaping the “benefits.”

Sitting on her bed she snatched a pack of lichen noodles and tossed it into the rehydrator.

Lying down she flicked on her holodeck, sighing as a vista of blue skies above white clouds

appeared before her.

As if the sky was blue! Everyone knew it was a light grey at best during the day, and a sickly

orange at night. Still, it was relaxing to think about something so vibrant.

The rehydrator tinged next to her. Reaching out she popped open the door and took the sachet

out. Grabbing a couple of chopsticks she started to shove the noodles into her mouth, sucking

hard and letting the juice run down her chin.

The sound of the Wongs arguing once again punched its way through the finger-thick walls;

the screams of Mrs Wong, the sound of slap after slap as Mr Wong cursed her for all the

wrongs in the world. Her mouth twisted, knowing that he was able to get away with it

because he owned his wife. She’d defaulted on her debts to one of the local gangs, loan

sharks, and he’d bought her. Didn’t mean it was right that he could get away with the obvious

abuse. For some reason, today she hit her breaking point.

“Shut the fuck up! Leave her the fuck alone!” She slammed her palm against the wall as hard

as she could. He responded with a muffled curse and a blow to the wall of his own. Given

how thin the walls were, it was surprising that neither actually broke through the wall

separating them.

“Fucker!” Leaping to her feet she stormed out of her apartment and into the cramped corridor

beyond disregarding any thought as to what her actions might cost her.

“Wong! Open the fucking door you buck-toothed son of a kama!” She smacked her palmrepeatedly on the door, toe punting it for good effect. The noise would upset her sister Li, but

it couldn’t be helped.

A door opened further down the corridor, the apartment’s inhabitant poking her head out,

“Stop that noise this instant! I have to be back on shift in six hours!”

Mai stopped. Tuning, she stared at the woman, squinting. “Fuck you, you lardy sloth!” The

words slipped past her lips before she even knew what her brain intended.

“You rude peasant!” Gasped the woman, “I’m reporting you!”

Mai’s stomach sank as another message appeared before her eyes.

NUISANCE - 5UC

-10 SOCIAL POINTS

DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR - 10UC

-20 SOCIAL POINTS

Her mouth dried, she knew what was coming next.

SERVITUDE NOTICE

YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO SEWER LEVEL 65 FOR PROCESSING

She startled as Wong’s door opened, the buck-toothed man wearing nothing more than a

stained white vest, shorts, and flip-flops.

Blood speckled the front of his vest. Calmly he inserted a finger into his nose, rooting around

as he looked at her, “What the fuck do you want?”

Shaking, sick to her stomach at the thought of her sentence, Mai could only stare at him.

He withdrew his finger, looked at it, popped it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, sneered “Fucking thought so,” then slammed it shut.