The artificial sun beat down relentlessly, its fluorescently generated heat baking Zane's neck. He ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly, smoothing it into the regulation style. He took a deep breath, inhaling the bitter scent of steel that had dominated the air for all his seventeen years.
The Hub loomed behind him, the center of New Vancouver's government. He had never seen the inside, but the exterior was terrifying enough to deter him from wanting to. It towered over the amphitheater, which had been painstakingly prepared in the last week for the bi-annual choosing ceremony. It cast long shadows over everyone and everything assembled.
Zane trembled slightly, his fingers twitching, as he watched the governor striding onto the stage clutching a large stack of papers, hundreds of them in hundreds of bundles, designated to each seventeen year-old kid in the line-up Zane occupied. His eyes alighted on the bright white papers, knowing one of those bundles contained every tidbit of information about him since the moment he was born.
He couldn't help but feel ordinary and normal. It was nothing he'd ever felt before, but dressing in the same outfit every day and shuffling his hair into a specific position seemed slightly generic because it was exactly what everybody else did. He soon disregarded this thought, for he had been told never to retain prejudice or rebellion toward the government. His city was the perfect utopia, a miasma of peace and prosperity.
He turned his attention back to the stage, banishing the prejudiced thoughts from his mind, refusing to think them again.
He could hear Governor Andrews droning on about 'the bright future our young'uns hold', or 'chance to prove themselves'. When he reached the end of his speech, he repeated the mantra that had been drilled into Zane since first grade. "Earth is for humans. All not human shall perish, and make way for us." On the last note, a cheer erupted from the crowd gathered on the vast lawn. Sharp whistles pierced Zane's ears and echoed off the reflective metal surface of The Hub.
A fluorescent bulb above Zane short-circuited, flickered back on for a brief second, and then went out for good. It hung out on a metal hook, and from below, it looked as if a stony metal hand had grasped the light. He frowned.
The first boy in the long line of teenagers, a tall, muscular, tanned boy with sharply ruffled dark hair, stepped out onto the large platform of the amphitheater. Zane listened to the opening statement from the Governor, the boy's name, Joseph Romanson, and he heard the Governor himself choose the boy for the experimental science division, located on the opposite side of town. Zane didn't think anything. He retained no prejudice against this boy or anybody else. Appearances meant nothing as well as mannerisms, skin color, hair color, or the way people held themselves.
But the boy disarmed Zane. His hair was styled wrong, his tie tied differently. He didn't know what caused the boy's rebellious streak, but he frowned. He realized the asymmetry and law-breaking didn't bother him. It had a sense of rightness to it, a certain quality that Zane could not simply look away from.
He watched as many others went before him and were chosen immediately by industries. Zane began to feel slightly nauseous. He had no idea what industry would choose him. His grades had been average, he was no stronger or weaker than any other boy, and he didn't have any foolproof traits that would allow him to get into a certain industry. He was simply an average teenager, but so were all the others in the line. Average teenagers without skillsets or hobbies or passions. Only when chosen for their lifelong job would they begin to develop strengths and weaknesses.
When it was finally Zane's turn, he had calmed himself down enough to be able to walk onto the stage without his knees knocking together. Governor Andrews smiled broadly and Zane squeezed out a return smile. He faced the crowd gathered in groups by industry, and there were so many people. Hundreds upon hundreds, perhaps thousands of people had come to watch the choosing, and many more were at home watching the live broadcast. Spots appeared before Zane's eyes and he struggled to shake them off.
"This young man is known as Zane Morrison," Governor Andrews said through a large microphone to the crowd. The words echoed from speakers across the lawn. "He has achieved slightly higher than average grades in recent years of education, and is a highly capable, self-motivated, and hard-working citizen of New Vancouver." He paused for a quick second to reach down and readjust his tie. "Now, which industry will accept this young man as an employee?"
Zane watched with rising anxiety as no hands were raised. Whispers began to rise from the crowd. A man, clearly not too long out of his choosing ceremony, ran onto the stage beside Governor Andrews and pointed frantically at Zane's file in the Governor's hands. He gestured wildly, and Andrews's eyes widened and he whispered frantically with the other man.
Meanwhile, hushed comments about Zane were still rising from the crowd, but there was a hand raised. Zane's heart skipped a beat as the leader of the fishing industry raised his hand above everybody and patiently waited for the governor to see him. However, the Governor had walked over to Zane, silently and swiftly.
He laid a hand on Zane's shoulder and faced the crowd, holding the microphone. "Some new information has come to light, and this young man has been accepted into the experimental science division. He has a quality we greatly aspire to have in the science industry, and we intend to put this quality to good use. Now, son, go sit with your industry."
Zane, wobbling lightly, stepped off the platform onto the spongy grass. A large sign next to a substantially populous group of chairs read Science. He located an empty chair and sat down next to Joseph Romanson, the first boy to be chosen. Joseph peered over at him, and Zane noticed he had calmed his hair slightly.
"I am not cut out for this job," the boy said. Zane said nothing, for Joseph was clearly violating the no prejudice rule regarding the choice of the industries. He kept his mouth in a straight line and didn't bother to look at the boy sitting next to him. "What, you don't doubt their choice in you, either?" He whispered.
Zane was trying so hard to not think anything of the seemingly random choice of placing him in the science industry. It was true, he did doubt their choice, for he was not considered a smart person. Sure, he had above-average grades, but that was only true because the average was surprisingly low for kids in his year. He rubbed at his eyes, hoping to disperse the doubts and prejudice. He whispered the mantra of humanity, which the Governor had used to spurn people to cheers. When he finished the short, three line pledge, he felt slightly better about himself but was still disturbed to find the doubt lurking like a crouching tiger beneath all his common sense.
The boy next to him threw him a knowing smirk, and Zane only caught a glimpse of it in his peripheral vision. He saw the quick dart of the eyes and the twitch upward of the corner of the boy's mouth. Joseph's hands were clasped in his lap, and any words he spoke were shot out of the corner of his mouth. He was scared, Zane realized, and when he reached deeper into himself, he realized that he felt the same. His own hands were placed in the same position and his head had not moved since he had sat down, faced toward the stage. He was frightened of what this tangent from the status quo meant, the seemingly unguided choices that led to him being placed next to this devilishly gorgeous young man. Zane blinked. That thought had been unexpected.
He watched as the remainder of the teenagers of his age were selected for industries and lifelong careers, a path that was set out before them, a path that Zane had seemingly not had a choice to decide. He sighed softly and struggled to relax, spreading his legs apart slightly and letting his hands drop to his sides. He twitched slightly when the back of his left hand rubbed Joseph's thigh. If the other boy noticed, he didn't say anything, and Zane was grateful for that. Perhaps this boy was not so bad after all.
With a jolt, Zane realized that he had been harboring prejudice against Joseph as well. The initial dislike of him without knowing anything, the assumption that he had been a rule-breaker. Hundreds of thoughts buzzed through Zane's brain. Every time he had walked down the street and assumed someone worked out because they like to flaunt their bodily prowess, every time he assumed somebody had to be in the fishing industry because they smelled bad, the initial reel of surprise when someone larger than him walked by, for he had simply assumed that they had been stronger than him. That was all prejudice.
Was he a fluke in the system, a bug that simply needed to be wiped out, for feeling this prejudice? He knew he was probably overthinking this, but he was terrified of the consequences of breaking one law over and over, again and again, for his entire life. Somebody had to have noticed these involuntary responses. He began to tap his foot in agitation, and a man in the row of chairs before him turned around, face completely emotionless, and requested he stop. No prejudice, Zane's brain screamed. He didn't judge you immediately.
He heaved a deep breath and stopped his foot. There was simply nothing he could do now. He heard Joseph say softly, "What career path did you want?" Zane appreciated the attempt to lighten his mood.
"I kind of wanted to be in the fishing industry. I always wanted to see the ocean," he whispered back out of the corner of his mouth. Joseph nodded ever so slightly so that only Zane could see it.
"I wanted to be in the film industry," the other boy said softly. "I want to make people laugh. I considered becoming a comedian, but it's not really my choice, is it?"
Zane again didn't say anything. He didn't want to, because he feared he would catch more inconsistencies within himself, which would only cause further judgement of himself. Prejudice against one's self was never defined in the laws of New Vancouver, so he would never know what to do with it.
When the whole evening was through and over, Joseph stood up, stretching his tired legs. He offered a hand to Zane, who grasped it tightly and pulled himself up from his stiff chair. Together, following the mass of people already dispersing to their homes, they trailed behind their newfound coworkers, and eventually split up to head their own respective ways. Zane wished his newfound friend a good night and set off down the sidewalk. He felt his future held great things for him, for which the world was ill-prepared. He skipped all the way home in the darkness, passing nobody underneath the bright, fluorescent bulbs upon the lampposts. His previous worry at his deviance from normality had since disappeared, because he knew that Joseph harbored prejudice as well. He wasn't alone in his secret prejudicial views.
When he reached home, his parents were already there, having been in the front row of chairs out of simple pride. He bade them a pleasant evening and, placing his shoes and clothes in neat piles at the foot of his bed, he leaped backward, landing starfish on his bed. On a normal day, he was not granted these youthful virtues, but today he got cut some slack, for he had just gone through the most intimidatingly important moment of his life.
His brain wandered to thoughts of his new career. Had he ever taken any interest in science before? He flashed back to science classes throughout the years. They had been enjoyable, but he had not found much passion in them. He had landed good grades, but that could have been due to his photographic memory. He had also studied dutifully to achieve those high grades.
He had been accepted into the experimental science division. If history was any indication, he would be injecting small animals with drugs and observing the effects. He laughed softly. Society today would never do something so primal. They were far more advanced.
Without invitation, Joseph's face was brought to the front of his memory. He saw his eyes, gazing intently into Zane's, and he saw that youthful smile, one corner of his mouth rising higher than the other, giving the impression that his smile was lopsided. Zane felt a wave of emotion stronger than anything he'd ever experienced, and it forced a smile out of him.
He fell asleep happy.
With a hint of fear.