Estimated useful life: 8 years
Lymphocytic leukemia and heavy metal poisoning detected
Treatment cost: 0.3 ETH
Report to supervisor
I watched the AI's announcement displayed on the screen with an impassive face—despite being told my life wouldn't extend past thirty, not a flicker of emotion reached me. I rose, disconnected the needle sucking my blood, and headed towards the long line of people, who, just like me, had received their bi-annual health examinations. The sound of coughing echoed around the factory, and blobs of white, odorless blood stained the floor.
It took two hours of waiting to finally meet the supervisor, a chubby man in casual clothes. Projecting a hologram from his wrist, he asked.
"Identification?"
"Number 429E, casual name Zack," I answered.
The supervisor tapped the information into the hologram and continued the questioning.
"What were the results?"
"Eight years of remaining useful life, with lymphocytic leukemia and heavy metal poisoning," I said meekly.
His brows furrowing, the chubby man clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"The heavy metal lowers the value of organs," he said. "This reduces your value by 0.1 Ethereum. Inform your owner of this."
"Yes, sir," I nodded as I accepted the order.
"Does your owner wish for payment in digital or physical form?"
"Physical form, sir," I said.
The man rummaged through his pockets and extracted three small, glimmering rectangles.
"Here you are," he said while handing them to me.
I clutched the three coins in my right hand. They were slightly difficult to hold, since I had lost his index and middle fingers in an accident not long ago, but dropping them wasn't an option. The consequences of doing so were enough to make me instinctively flinch.
My gaze directed towards the floor, I slowly left the place; however, a shout from the supervisor called me back.
"Come here, I need you to deliver something."
Before the man could say it a second time, I immediately sprinted back and bowed at the waist.
"What do you wish for me to do, sir?" I asked.
The supervisor's lips curved up almost imperceptibly—probably satisfied with his fast response.
"Deliver this chip to my brother. He's on the second floor, behind the red door," he commanded.
I took the chip with my other hand and headed up the stairs. As ordered, I knocked on the red door gently and waited for a response. Crying could be heard from within.
"Enter," a loud voice came from the other side of the door. Being as careful as possible, I entered. Inside, a large table filled most of the space, covered with elaborate dishes giving off a scrumptious aroma. Sometimes, I had thoughts about how food tasted, but a sense of taste was one of the things I lacked.
Sitting at the table, a muscular man with messy black hair was orderly eating his plate bite by bite. Right in front of him, a young girl was throwing a tantrum. A flying plate hit me right on the forehead, but no wound appeared.
"No! I said no! Grandpa, quit already! I hate being in this smelly place every weekend!" the kid shouted while crying his lungs out.
Wearing a calm smile, the man slowly lifted a white box from below his chair.
"Are you sure? Look at this gift I got you with the money from working here," he said, shaking the box. "A BellumVR 3."
The girl stopped all movement for a second, as if processing the information. Then, she rose and ran to embrace the man in a hug.
"Thanks! Thanks a lot! I love you, I love you, thanks," she said.
Instead of being angry with the sudden change in attitude, the man laughed, seemingly amused. Ruffling the kid's head, he signaled for me to come closer and give him the chip.
I watched the exchange, not understanding the exaggerated reactions of the kid. I also didn't try to, as the thoughts of humans weren't mine to guess.
I approached and handed the chip over, but the kid's face scrunched up.
"Hey, you smell bad! Dad says you have to shower every day, or the monster will find you and eat you," she said.
Preparing for the jolt of pain that would assault me, I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. But no pain came. I opened one eye.
The kid was examining me with curiosity.
"Mister, why do you only have three fingers?" she inquired with curious eyes.
"Stop bothering the mister, yes? He has to leave now," the muscular man interrupted with a frown.
The girl pouted but nodded in acceptance. She left the hug before running to a corner of the room. I turned to leave; however, the kid ran back and tapped me on the back.
"Yes, miss?" I said as calmly as possible. If I upset her, the price could very well be my life. And I couldn't die. I had orders not to.
"Take this, mister. You look like you need it," she said.
Examining the weird object handed to me, I tilted my head to express confusion.
"What should I do with this, miss?" I asked.
The girl gave me a wide smile.
"Whatever you want! Just have fun. It's my old VR headset, so it has lots of cool games."
I would have asked more questions, but through the corner of my eye, I saw the man mouthing at me to leave.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I must say goodbye," I said.
As I crossed the door to go out, the kid waved at me.
"Okay. I'll see you around!" she said happily.
The moment he left the room, I heard the man scolding the girl. A normal human wouldn't have been able to, but my enhanced senses allowed me to overhear what I shouldn't.
"Doing that was a bad idea," he said softly.
"But why? You always tell me to be kind," the girl protested.
A chuckle escaped the man.
"And you should," he said. "But to fellow humans. The mister you saw right now was an Inhuman. They're not like you and me. They have no wants, nor are they alive. It's similar to the NPCs in those games you like to play."
"Grandpa, but he's like us! He just has less fingers."
"Sure. You may believe this now, but I too was just like you. I'm sure you'll see the truth when you grow up," the man said in a reminiscent tone.
As I got farther and farther away, the conversation dimmed until I couldn't hear it anymore.
Once outside, I inspected my surroundings to check for other people. On my left, faceless people emerged from a towering rock, pulling carts filled to the brim with monazite; they were carrying them to the factory, where they would be refined into europium.
Confirming no one stood on my path, I flexed his knees a couple of times and started to run. Increasing the speed more and more, my vision started to blur, while the wind tousled my white, thin hair. I made sure to keep the gift from the girl and the money safe, holding them with strength.
It was impossible to figure out what to do—getting a gift or being told to do as he wished. Neither had ever happened to him until now, and he had no idea how he should handle it. Doing whatever he wanted was an order he had never received.