Tracker A003:

It is not quite light out when I pull my boots on and shove my arms into my jacket sleeves. I shuffle down to the silo. This is my last day before I start my first mission. My Guardian is already there. He looks up when I enter, nods, and turns his head back to the wall, covered in screens of live faces and bodies in motion. I am early by seven minutes, but in order to have an edge against the other two Trackers, I am always early. It is a hard role to fill-to be destined for greatness. When I wanted to be a silly child, I had to be poised. When I wanted to be carefree, I had to act controlled. When I wanted to play, I worked. When I wanted to forget, I was called to remember. When I was too tired to think, I was made to be wise. There was no rest from preparing to save a world I didn’t know; a world that took my childhood, and yet promised me nothing in return. 

Seventy years ago the many nations of our world collectively decided to join into one world government. At the time it was known by our leaders that nations would began to riot against it, if they were not made to believe that it was all for their own good, and in fact, have them carry out with strong force to make these changes. The people needed to understand that by having one world government, all citizens would be united and peace could reign over our global community. To protect our planet and its inhabitants certain rules needed to be put into place. Families could only have one child. Upon the birth of their first child both parents would be sterilized. This would prevent overpopulation and the drain on non-renewable resources. The global economy and infrastructure was redesigned in an all-digital format that was monitored by Guardians, reducing the ability for crime and poverty. The great leaders had done years of research and testing, from bringing viruses that attached the immune system, to hate crimes that threatened humanity. There was no threat that could stop the masses, unless the masses fully believed they were in control of it. Our leaders came to know that without something entirely unorthodox, people would revolt, and world chaos would ensure.

Trackers were trained in the necessary skills, using the voluntary addiction to social media, coupled with advanced neurolinguistics programming, hypnotic techniques, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and other forms of once therapeutic nature, to create an agreeable world population that would not just comply, but enforce their own control. It was this cause that I had lost my youth to train to protect. I had never integrated with the world population, aside from observing it from behind the safety of screens, during my countless hours of training.

The sun has started to rise now, and a small fractional ray of light beams in from an open rectangular hole on the eastern facing metal wall, where an air vent once was. It hits my eye, so I move a few inches to the left. My guardian stirs and turns to look at me. This time he acknowledges my presence. “Monitor this screen,” he says, pointing to a section of live images, with the heading I-Phone XX. I move forward and sit in front of the screens. I instinctively know what to do: extrapolate any recurring themes of behavior from the I-phone users that indicates a change in values, or possibility of questioning society. My data alone, over the last three years, has been used to keep eighty-six communities subdued, when inhabitants begin to question the status quo. I glance over at my guardian to see if he is noticing my accuracy and speed at which I input my data into the system. He has been my Guardian my entire life, yet I have never learned his name. He has never smiled at me, yet I only know he approves of my abilities because of a very subtle shift in his body movement, that he, even in his trained and seasoned stature, is unaware of.

I had been trained my whole life on the power of words and body movements. Everything I do is intentional. There were things my guardian could still teach me, but I knew I had surpassed even his ability to read and manipulate others thoughts and actions, when I realized I even held that ability over him, with the most subtle of techniques. My Guardian breaks the silence as he sees the two other Trackers entering into the Silo. He leans slightly in my direction, and with an almost inaudible voice, he whispers, “the more you know the harder you will be tested. Are you ready for that?”

“Yes.” I make sure to sound emphatic so he will not doubt my response. I must’ve waited a fraction of a second too long, for he questions my commitment.

“Are you?” He breathes.  This silence is momentous. He waits for me to be certain. I wait for him to say more.  As usual, my silence wins.

“It’s better to make a decision by burning the ships than to compromise with mediocrity. At least you will have done what you believe is right.” He stands. I nod my head in understanding.

I had already made up my mind to commit to my first mission. I didn’t know anything about this other world, but that is where I was told I belonged. Without that world, it seemed my existence would have no meaning.   

 I hear the sound of thunderous feet approaching. Without looking up I know it is Tracker C549 and N482, the other two Trackers. I hide my superiority when they are near. Although we are the same age, I know that I am cognitively far beyond their reach. I do not want them to know this. My training has taught me well to never allow others to think they must compete with you, unless you want them to compete. I would never have been assigned this mission, had I allowed them to compete.

Our guardian addresses the three of us together. “The council has said there is a shift and things are starting to change. They are not sure what the timeline is like for Location NP003. Tracker C549 and N482, you will be monitoring NP003 from here.” Our guardian looked at me, an unfamiliar expression brushed subtly across the outer corner of his left eye. His subconscious was processing something.

“Tracker A003, you will be going into location NP003. There is a possibility that three inhabitants have gone undetected in their efforts to raise doubt in other inhabitants, and in fact may be fully aware of our processes here. Up until yesterday it has been impossible to identify them.”

I nod in understanding. I have surpassed all other Trackers in my ability to speak and move in a way to manipulate and create specific thought and actions in others. I know I was chosen because of my advanced qualifications. I scan my guardian’s face for any clues as to his additional thoughts he is not speaking. My restrained desperation catches his trained eye. I meet his grim stare with conviction. I will not leave without the additional information he is withholding, and he can see this. Tracker C549 and N482 shuffle away to begin monitoring the location on the screens. Our guardian indicates that even out of earshot it is too risky to share here.

Outside of the silo, my guardian reaches in his pocket and hands me a heart-shaped locket. It is made of cheap metal that has turned a faint shade of green on the brown string that holds it. “This was hers,” he says.

“Who?” I ask, as I open the locket. He doesn’t answer my question, but gives me a moment to process. Staring back at me from one side of the locket is a small photo of a couple holding two new born babies, and on the other side, is my photo. “I don’t understand. Why do they have a photo of me? Where did this come from?”

“That is not a photo of you. That was your biological twin at birth. The couple are your biological parents. You know the laws. They could only keep one infant. The council took the other. You. After you were taken, they disappeared with the other child. Recently they have resurfaced, with the intent to change the way inhabitants view our government. They gained access to our techniques and strategies. They have been successful in raising the doubt. This is the cause of the urgency. You are the only one who can complete this mission.”

I have many questions I want answered, but my training keeps me focused on the mission. “What am I to do?” I ask, using every skill I have to remove emotion from my voice and body.

“That inhabitant, in that photo… She has been using your identity to gain access to our records. That is how they have been able to learn our techniques. It was during your broadcasted debriefing at the council meeting, that this breach was discovered. She had tried to gain access during this meeting, and it was uncovered quickly who she was. The inhabitant was eradicated immediately. Your mission is to take on her identity and eliminate the rest of the threat inside Location NP003.”

I am not just a tracker. I was an inhabitant. I have parents. I have a sister. Had a sister. They spent the last sixteen years planning their own mission to get me back, or at least to do what they thought was right.

“It’s better to make a decision by burning the ships than to compromise with mediocrity.” My guardian repeats to me again. Like taking the glasses off and seeing everything from an entirely new view, I now know that I have to choose which ships to burn. The blood shared between myself and my inhabitant family means nothing now, if I don’t fight for the justice of losing the family, I never knew I had. On the other hand, the only meaning my life has ever had, has been in building the reality I have lived. The only purpose I have ever carried is in following my training, and keeping the world safe from itself. “I am ready.” I say.

My existence has come to this.