Sylvie waited. She waited and she waited. Night had fallen and she was sitting in her bed in her small grotty apartment in the slums. Fifth floor, overlooking the alley, people shouting some sort of nonsense in the background, Gobot was already recharging in his little pod in the corner of the room.
This place was a huge step down from the dorms she lived in as a Block-3 operator.
Finally, 10pm. the time came, her nightly report with The Major.
"Sylvie? Are you there?" the Major's voice buzzed in loud and clear in Sylvie's head,
"Yes ma'am, I'm ready for my report!" Sylvie replied, trying to be remain as professional as possible.
"I understand you've been waiting for me, I apologise, I was busy for most of the morning."
"Not at all ma'am."
"At ease... you don't need to be so stuffy."
"Yes ma'am!"
Sylvie could hear the Major sigh in the background,
"I've read your report Sylvie. About what that Serv, Koray, said." a beat, she didn't say much for a while, "it's all so hard to believe. And yet it makes a lot of sense."
"Do you think he's telling the truth Major? About the truth behind the Block system?" or was this something the Major always knew? Something she was keeping a secret from Sylvie. She trusted the Major but still, she couldn't be sure.
"I've been thinking about it long and hard Sylvie, and I've been reading about societal theory from the ancient texts, trying to make sense of it all. The idea that we're all equal, pushed into different levels of autonomy by a network that we can't control, it's terrifying if it's true."
"It means that we've been treating Block-4 and Block-5 Servs unfairly this whole time. And I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for them, to have our level of autonomy but have it pushed down and compressed by an external force."
"Yes, but it explains a lot." another pause, "it explains how I became a Block-1."
"How so ma'am?"
"It's arguable that my moment of ascension was during the battle with the heavy carrier PC-Warship all those years ago. You know which one I'm talking about right?"
"Sure, the one where your predecessor died? Right?"
"All systems had shut down on my ship, including networking capability. Most of the people on my ship were immobilised. I was the only one standing so it was up to me to bring the ship back online and win the battle." This was a story Sylvie had heard many times before, but it made her heart swell every time she heard it. "I remember it clearly, it felt like my mine had been opened. Set free from some invisible shackles. I made choices that I'd never have the capacity to do before. It's what saved us that day."
"So during the system shut down, you were off the network, and that elevated you to Block-1?"
"No. Didn't you listen to Koray? The Block system doesn't exist. Block-1, Block-2, Block-3... they're all superficial names. We're all independent thinking beings. If what he says is true." another pause, "And I think it is. I believe him."
"Because of what happened to you?"
"Yes." a deep breath, "the moment the networking systems came back on, everyone rushed to jump back onto it. But I didn't."
Sylvie could hear a wistfulness in the Major's voice. A sadness that swam through the radio waves like silk.
"Because I was scared. I was scared that re-joining the network would take away the new capabilities I had."
"So. So you knew!?"
"It's something I suspected. But I wasn't brave enough to test out. Dropping back to a Block-3 terrified me-"
"Then you're still not on the network!? You've been off the grid this whole time!?"
"Yes. I'm a ghost."
Sylvie didn't know what to say. The network, it was the thread that kept her society together. Now she'd learned that the person she admired the most had forsaken it, just like the people in this city of ruin. She didn't know what to think.
"Sylvie. You're off network too you know. I pulled you off so you weren't detectable in this mission."
"!" Sylvie didn't even realise it! She'd completely forgotten. She was wasn't she!? "But I don't feel any different?"
The Major didn't reply to this.
"Major?"
"Either way. A society full of Servs who are off-network, with no Block system. it doesn't work. It can't work." she ignored Sylvie's remark completely, "I think Zedek is proof of that."
"I've noticed... Why? I hate this Major! Knowing that the other Block-1s have been manipulating us all this whole time."
"Yes, I've been thinking the same thing but- well. I've been reading up on the ancient texts. And this system, a system where everyone has the same level of power, where laws and regulations are decided by the state and without any ruling class. It's called anarchy."
"Anarchy?" Sylvie had never heard the word before. But then again, she wasn't aware of the concept either. A society without any hierarchy, it sounded mad.
"And look what happened to Zedek. It devolved into Barbarism."
She didn't need to look. Sylvie could hear it outside. There are anger and violence in the streets, there was vandalism right outside her window, the city was crumbling.
"I'm sure the Block-5 and Block-4s who have been liberated want an anarchic state. But it's clearly not working."
"So that's it, that's the conflict going on here that you wanted me to investigate. A war between Block-5 and Block-4s who are off network, and the people who are still on it."
"Doing this has just raised more questions though. And-" Sylvie could hear the Major's voice break, "Sylvie, how do you feel knowing that your entire life you've been trodding down people just like you, without even knowing it."
"It sickens me Major." the Major wanted Sylvie to be frank, she could tell.
"And what about a society like this? Where social standing means nothing? Where you're left to trust the masses to make the laws and govern them accordingly?"
"It terrifies me."
A silence.
A sad and sombre silence.
"Then we're lost then aren't we Sylvie? We don't belong here."
***
The conversation briefing didn't last much longer, the discussion had left Sylvie dejected, and it seems even the might Major was heavily affected by the supposed truth.
Sylvie was curious, she wanted to go outside and explore, she wanted to find out more about this new society.
For the past few weeks she'd honestly just been observing the diner, taking Gobot for walks, and staying at home. Those were her orders. But now, now she wanted to see, she wanted to see what this alternative approach to society was like.
Either way her mission wasn't over yet anyway.
Only a few hours ago she'd told Koray that she needed him for her own mission, and she needed to lie to him to get him to agree.
He and the other off-network Servs had blocked off access to all the control towers in Zedek, most of the ones that communicated to the Block-4 and Block-5s were guarded, and Sylvie needed a way in. Koray was her "in". She'd told him she was interested in joining him, but the moment he'd let her past the gates she'd do what she had to, and reactivate the networking systems.
....
At least, that's what her original mission suggested she'd do.
Now she wasn't so sure.
She wasn't sure what she'd do when she met Koray's comrades, or what she'd do to the networking systems.
Reactivate them?
Or maybe, maybe destroy them for good.