He woke up alone on a hospital bed with his hands cuffed to the sides. The life support machine beeped softly. He looked around frantically, but there were no windows, so he couldn't see outside of the room, and there was only one door, which seemed to be the only way in or out. He tried and struggled to get free, but to no avail. Soon, his pupils dilated, heart pounding out of his chest as he struggled to get out.
"Help! Help! Someone, please help!" He shouted as he continued to struggle.
A few moments later, a middle-aged man in a white coat came into the room. His blue eyes went wide as soon as he saw him.
"Please! Don't hurt me, I don't understand what's going on around here?" He said, his voice trembling.
"I won't hurt you." The man said. "After all, I'm your doctor, my name is Tedra, what's yours?" The doctor said and moved closer to examine him physically.
"I don't know, I can't remember, I don't really remember anything," he said.
The doctor took a deep breath. "It's just as I feared, the procedure affected your memories."
"Procedure? What procedure?" he asked.
"It's not safe for you here. I'll explain everything somewhere safer. For now, your name is Hermes. I've saved your life once, but I can only help you if you trust me and if I can trust you not to do anything stupid when I release you." The doctor said.
Hermes nodded his head. The doctor swiped his card over a screen next to the bed, and the cuffs came off.
"Now, what I'm about to ask you might be a little difficult right now, but once we step out of this room. You must show absolutely no emotion or change your facial expression even slightly if we're to get out of here alive." The doctor said.
"Why? What would happen?" Hermes asked.
"You don't know it yet, but we've both committed treason and will be executed if caught. So, can you do as I say?" The doctor said.
"I can try," Hermes said, but his trembling hands betrayed his words.
"Here, give me your hand. I can help you." The doctor said, holding out his hands. Hermes took it.
"Now do as I do." The doctor took a deep breath, and Hermes followed his lead. After holding for a few seconds, he breathed out, and Hermes did the same. He repeated the exercise until Hermes's hands stopped trembling. "Okay, you're ready, let's go."
"Am I really going out like this?" Hermes asked, looking at the surgical gown he still had on.
The doctor shook his head, "You don't have much of a choice, just remember what I told you. Suppose we can get to the elevator down the hall. We might be home free, then you can choose something else to wear."
Tedra got out first, and Hermes followed closely behind, keeping a neutral facial expression just as he was instructed to do. The hallway was primarily white, with the rooms all looking identical. Computer screens blinked next to the door. The ceilings had cameras and a scanner installed. The scanner hummed from moment to moment, but Hermes managed to keep his composure until they got to the elevator. Tedra swiped his card over the screen next to the elevator door, and it opened. They both got in, and Hermes eased up a little bit. The elevators had no scanners, despite having a camera. The elevator whirred as it slowly descended.
When they arrived at the reception, they saw different people in identical white coats moving about on the stairs and in the elevators. Tedra led Hermes to the reception, where he explained that Hermes had been taken care of and needed to be returned, and that he would personally oversee it himself. The receptionist lets him check out, and he leads Hermes toward the front door. The security officer near the front door noticed them and approached them.
"Where to, Dr Tedra?" he asked as he blocked them off.
"Well, he's all fixed up, so I'm returning him to his workplace," Tedra said.
"But why would an elite member of the council like you perform such menial tasks. Don't worry, I'll return him myself." The officer said, looking closely at Hermes.
"No, I can't possibly let you leave your post. What if there's trouble?" Tedra argued.
"Come on, the work centres are still within the middle ring. I can return him and be back really quickly. And besides, we all know there's never any trouble around here." The officer kept pushing. Hermes's fingers began to twitch as he struggled to maintain composure.
"Still, I think I should oversee this case myself." Tedra insisted.
"You know, when I received the memo suspecting an elite member might be plotting treason, I didn't want to believe it." The officer said, his tone gradually becoming menacing.
"What exactly are you trying to insinuate? You, of all people, know my passion for medicine is the only reason I decided not just to sit on the council all day. Now, get out of my way, Officer Moof." Tedra said.
The officer walked up to Hermes and examined him closely as he struggled to keep his cool. He stood aside and let them exit the hospital, but then sent out an electronic message that said, "Elite Council Member No. 0180 Dr Tedra just left the central hospital with an unchipped individual. Under suspicion for treason."
As soon as they got out of the hospital, they both breathed a sigh of relief. Hermes sits on the floor and holds his head. Water began to drip from his eyes; he wiped it and looked at it quite closely.
"I understand that you might be feeling overwhelmed, but I'm afraid I don't think we got away that easily. We're not safe yet." Tedra said.
"I'm sorry, I just needed a little break after that," Hermes said and got up.
Tedra led him to his car, and they both got in. As Tedra turned on the vehicle, an automated voice played over the radio saying, "Breaking news, Elite Council Member No. 0180 Dr Tedra has been accused of committing treason and suspended from the council. A warrant for his arrest has been issued; all officers should be on alert. Permission to kill him and his accomplices if any attempt is made to evade arrest."
Tedra and Hermes shared a worried look, but Tedra began to drive as fast as he could. Officer Moof came out of the hospital heavily armed and began to give chase in his own car. Tedra drove toward the outer zone to escape the city. Moof began shooting at the vehicle, but Tedra did not slow down. More and more cars slowly started to join the chase, making it seem inevitable that they would be caught. However, Tedra neither stopped nor slowed down; he was going so fast that Hermes threw up out the window. After a while, they reached the industrial areas on the city's outskirts. He drove toward a weapons factory and then slowed down until he came to a halt. Then both he and Hermes exited the car with their hands raised over their heads.
In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded by the police cars and had guns pointed at them from all angles. Then Moof got out of his car, holding his laser rifle, and walked toward them.
"This is the end of the line for you, Dr Tedra. Looks like I'll be getting that promotion after all." He said as he pointed the gun at them
"No, you won't, you pathetic lapdog. You're more mindless than the chipped people." Tedra said.
"So, that's what this is, you pity them. Maybe you should have been chipped from birth. That might have just saved your life." He said as he prepared to shoot. As he was about to shoot, a small blue light flashed across his arm, and it separated itself from the rest of his body. The wound left behind was cauterised instantaneously. A swarm of attack drones was released from inside the factory, and they began engaging the officers in combat as lasers were blasted in all directions. In the chaos, Tedra and Hermes managed to slip and take another one of Tedra's cars that was parked in the factory.
"I thought you were a doctor. Why the hell do you own a weapons factory?" Hermes asked as they got into the car.
"It belonged to my father. I didn't want to be a part of it, but I realised that it might be necessary to keep it running," Tedra said.
"Okay, but now I have to ask, what the hell is going on? Who am I? What have I done? Why are they trying to kill us? Where are we going?" Hermes questioned.
"I can understand that you have a lot of questions. Here's the thing, in this world we live in, there are two types of people. The Chipped and The Unchipped."
"And I am?"
"You were chipped, the microchip's system is not perfect, so sometimes, although not often, it malfunctions. Usually, when that happens, the individual is eliminated."
"But I wasn't, why?"
"The chip has been malfunctioning more often than before, so I suggested that maybe the chip could be fixed, but unfortunately." He sniffles, "They do not survive the operation, so I tried a different approach. Hermes, you're the first chipped individual to get successfully unchipped. The CHAR were a group of elites who decided that the best way to create a perfect society was to use the micro-chip to block people's emotional development to make it easier to manipulate them."
"But why? Why are you throwing away your life to help someone like me, who you don't even know?"
"I don't know, maybe Moof was right about me, and I should have been chipped as a child. Then, my emotions wouldn't get the better of me. But I believe emotions make you human and not livestock. Many have been executed for this in the past, but I believe it is worth it."
Hermes went quiet and looked ahead, tears slowly falling from his eyes, his hands trembled, and his breathing was unsteady.