This is a story I made back in College. Inspired by Ayn Rand, Matrix and the Soylent Green movie.
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They call me Blote. I eat for a living; not the way everyone does since I belong to a caste called Width. We eat and rest for a living. My secret friend, Black is from the caste Height. They train physically and rigorously underneath the hot Sun for a living. His skin is burnt and dry; Mine is reddish-pink, overly-stretched by too much fatty intakes.
Society is simple. We live in a desolated island which the Elders claim to be the only habitable place on Earth. Technology is high enough to hold a population of 3 million. Above that number, the human race will become extinct in a minute. The air, temperature and all weather conditions are so sensitive that the reproduction of biological toys were prohibited. My generation never saw the concept of animals and plants. They appear as 3d models in our virtual world instead.
The Height fights for our freedom. They provide the workforce and handle warfare against nomads outside the island. They protect the Width religiously.
Though living symbiotically, Heights and Widths aren't allowed to speak to one another. They have their own language and we have ours.
I am pretty thin for a Width, but nevertheless I am a Width. The elders say that I used up too much fats in my brain, which I should not develop. Thinking and fighting are for Height, while eating is for Width.
I learned the Height's language secretly by chancing upon a digital book I've cracked. After 2 days, I was able to understand all that the Heights say.
The Height view Width as a lower caste. The same way that the Width thinks poorly of the Height. It was a social battle.
It was from a social joke that I met Black.
He was my guard, and he was assigned to deliver my food that day. He looked at me with disgust as I finish my meal. He said "Fat Royal King" under his breath, and I surprised him by smiling and uttering "Black peasant"
We secretly communicated during meal delivery. He would tell me about the way of the Heights and I would tell him about the Width.
On my 20th birthday, Black came with a special meal. Instead of being happy with the day, he was wearing a sad face. "Today is my birthday" I said. "I know" he responded. He handed me the meal but before I can finish eating he told me not to eat the dessert. I handed the dessert to him, and he threw it underneath my table. He said that I should pretend to be asleep after the meal.
I lay down with eyes closed afterwards.
A machine took me from my bed while I pretended to be sleeping. It carried me for an hour until I felt the hot mist forming in my body. I opened my eyes and was awed by the large metal machinery around me. I looked up with mouth wide open. The place was filled with the stench of burning vomit. I tried to walk but found my shoes slippery.
Then I looked down.
I was standing under pile of corpse. They were Width, and most of them I recognized as my clan mates. I tried to move away but something caught me off guard and I slipped and rolled down the mountain of body. I shook my head only to find a hooded figure standing before me.
He offered his hands to help me stand up. He was a Nomad as clearly seen with the long beard and hair.
"I see that my spy has helped a Width. You're smart enough to be freed my friend"
, he said.
He took out a syringe which reminded me of our daily vitamins back in the station. He said that it was a medication to calm me down. I nodded in response and he inserted the needle into my arm. The pain made me groan, yet there was an immediate reaction in my stiff muscles. I relaxed and before I can thank him visions clouded my mind.
It was direct projection into my brain. An image of the width being nourished until he dies as age 20. Flash. An image of the dead Width being taken into the place the machine took me. Flash. The Width was slowly being decomposed by chemicals. The liquids taken from the Width were cleansed and placed into a gigantic agar gels. Flash. The gels were solidified and were taken into a manufacturing plant. Flash. The plant packages the Width into food and some other into fuel form and into concentrated liquid form.
Flash.
The fuel were being used by Height to drive the machinery. Flash. The Height eats the food. Flash. The Height fights and works for the society. Flash. The survivors of the battle retire at age 20 and were transferred to the facility of Elders. Flash. Elders live a pleasurable life through drug addiction of a liquid product manufactured from the body of the Width.
Flash.
I was back in front of the Nomad. I took his stretched hands and stood beside him. He took me to a place outside the citadel, and I didn't look back to the wicked place ever again.
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