Incidence Report: The Loss of Cerella and the Acquisition of Target: Lilac Mellows

Dated: 18th of 2nd Type Lunar Revolutions, Iteration 4 in the year 2452

Author: Manager Mestiire, Chief of the Manager System of the Sekravos family

On the eve of the 15th, within the dated month, loss of control over monitor drones was observed by Hirkri Castellos, the technological overseer. At that time, it was theorised that the latest software update conflicted with current programming as the update originated from the Ruling faction of Ouroboros warring city-states, an ally of the Sekravos family. The Ruling Faction was known for its brutality, and it was concluded that the drones could not differentiate between peaceful and forceful priorities.

No further abnormalities were reported until the hour 19:58 when the monitoring capabilities of the drones were cut off. Technological malfunctions were also observed in everyday appliances connected to the internet. By this time, there was suspicion that a rival family had hacked into the central controller of Cerella. Citizens were advised to disconnect technology from the internet.

30 minutes later, the clean-up drones were deployed on the streets. During this time, the Great Fence was forcefully deactivated, and the city was slowly overrun by the Trash class. All technological appliances still connected to the internet were reportedly hostile against all identified living beings. The situation was as The Inquisitor warned two years ago. My brother and I were in the middle of our escape.

By the time we reached Tyzia Street, a message from The Inquisitor had given us the fastest route to escape. On the way was the promised target, Lilac Mellows.

Mestiire paused as he heard the door behind him swing open with a creak.

“Manager Mestiire, I’ve come to deliver the report on the detailed analysis of the drones.”

Mestiire turned around and faced the scrawny man in a long white coat. He nodded. “Go on.”

The man gestured to the air, bringing up a large, white holoscreen. At another flick of the fingers, words and diagrams appeared in a flash.

Mestiire leaned forward and scanned the information with a few blinks. His mind whirled as the contents were quickly broken down and processed.

“You’re saying that someone initiated the Animalia declaration without authorisation? Are you telling me someone managed to break through many security layers and control the drones from the inside?”

There was a moment of silence before the man nodded.

The Manager pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why was this not detected before?”

The man waved his hand once more. The words on the holoscreen changed.

“As you can see, there were no abnormalities with the declaration itself. The machines themselves were not faulty either until they got out of control. Everyone who was part of the technology team was accounted for.”

Mestiire raised his brow. “But?”

The man looked down. “But we don’t know who approved the download of the updated software and who approved the sending out of the drones.”

“Can you not trace the digital signature? There has to be something.”

The man shook his head. “We’ve tried everything, but the person responsible might as well be a ghost. As far as the tests are concerned, they never existed in the first place.”

Mestiire sighed. He stared at the holoscreen, scrutinising the details of each word and diagram. He waved his hand.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Go back and continue working on the other thing I assigned.”

The man nodded and hurried off, slamming the door shut.

Mestiire turned back to his personal holoscreen. He watched as the cursor blinked on and off at regular intervals.

First the numerous reports of people in the upper echelons going missing, and now there’s a war. Then there was supposedly a person who didn’t exist? Not to mention the suspicious nature of the Inquisitor.

Everything about this situation seemed off.

The Manager closed his eyes. The pieces of information seemed vaguely connected yet isolated at the same time. He had to find out more but he couldn’t afford to send his people out to investigate either, not after the loss of Cerella.

An image of a small girl barely clinging to life flashed into his mind. Even before the Animalia declaration, Trash were not logged into the system.

In essence, they don’t exist.

Mestiire opened his eyes and flicked his holoscreen. A soft ping reverberated through the room. The screen turned white.

“You called Manager Mestiire?”

“What’s the status of the Trash girl?”

There was a moment of silence.

“We are in the final stages of expelling the viral-bacteria hybrid from the system. We have also confirmed that the disease is a prototype bioweapon, but the signature is unlike anything else.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything about it is warped. Certain markers suggest that the Mavericks might have created it, but others suggest otherwise. Those other markers align with your family, Manager.”

Mestiire paused. “How is that even possible? Our development lab has not been operational for twenty years.”

There was another moment of silence.

The Manager shook his head. “Anyways, how long will it take for the Trash girl to fully recover?”

“Discounting recovery from malnutrition, one hour.”

Mestiire nodded. “Keep me updated.”

“Understood, Manager.”

The screen flickered to black.

Mestiire tapped his finger on the table. He nodded to himself. Lilac had the use of being a detector, and as for the Trash girl, he had another use in mind.

…

Cold fire enveloped the darkness that Chickadee was suspended in. The pain in her foot was gone, with only a strange feeling of emptiness.

“Sedative should be wearing off soon.”

The girl grimaced as voices echoed around her. Moments later, the cold fire died down.

“It should be waking up in a few minutes.”

Chickadee frowned and slowly opened her eyes. She turned from side to side, taking in the dimly lit room around her. She pushed herself up from the cold, concrete floor and stared at her featureless white gown.

She had never seen something so white, so clean before.

A loud blub snapped her out of her thoughts. Chickadee looked up, only to see the figure of Lilac suspended on thin cords. Occasionally, bursts of blue light flitted through them like electricity, and Lilac would twitch uncontrollably.

Chickadee reached up.

“Your…sister should be waking up soon.”

Chickadee turned around, her eyes widening at the imposing figure of a tall grey-eyed man. The man smiled humorlessly and pointed to the figure above.

“If you want to save your sister, you will have to do something for me. It won’t be hard.” He paused. “Actually, it should be easy for Trash like you.”

Chickadee swallowed down a sense of rising fear.

The man crouched down. “You will just have to watch a few people for me. You might also have to do a few things and possibly lie. You can do that, can’t you?”

The girl hunched her shoulders. “Wh-why?” She grimaced as the word scraped across her throat.

“Why don’t you ask fewer questions? It might save your sister faster. You want that, don’t you?”

Chickadee paused and nodded.

The man continued. “So, then, we have a deal?”

The girl nodded once more. She looked up, only to shiver at the man’s cold smile. She didn’t understand many things, but she knew he was dangerous. She also understood that her sister’s life depended on her.

Flashes of fractured memories flicked at the edges of her mind. The desperate, pleading expression of Lilac and the sensation of being carried. Chickadee swallowed down her tears. Her sister did so much for her.

It’s only fair to try and help her in return.

“That’s good. You may call me Manager. Why don’t you follow me to the prepping room? I’ll get you sorted and introduce you to a lovely lady called Maria. She will be your teacher.”

Chickadee stayed silent.

“Well?”

Without a word, she slowly stood up. She stumbled as the world spun for a second. Manager nodded and waved in front of the wall, causing it to slide upwards.

Chickadee looked back at Lilac before following the man. She looked around, taking note of the many doors and walls outside the room. She would agree to do what the man wanted until Lilac was safe, and then they would run away together.

The girl promised herself to find a way out of this strange new place as something told her that the Manager will not hesitate to kill her and Lilac both.