Gene. Sys. by Aaron Denius (best ereader for comics txt) 📕

“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other. From now on, you will be training together and taking classes together.” He looks at both of us with a grin. “Your first class starts now.”

We both stand and walk toward him. He puts his hand on my shoulder, and it feels like a foreign object. He’s still my dad, but I only know a fraction of who he is. I know that I will no longer be satisfied with the answers he gives me. I need to seek things out on my own. I need to know what he and all the scientists are actually doing. I need to find out why we are confined to this compound. Most importantly, I need to learn what my true purpose is. Why I was created.

We walk down the hallway to the end with the classrooms. Dad is beyond happy. I guess he’s been looking forward to this day longer than we have. Probably since before he created us. “You two are getting a new teacher today—Brianna Lawson. She’s a handful, but you will like her.”

“What’s the class?” I ask.

“It’s a fundamental class,” he responds. “Recent human history. It’s everything that has happened since 1900.”

“It sounds boring.” Ev folds her arms. Her coarse approach to my dad causes me to laugh. She certainly carries some resentment toward him.

He’s not amused. “I promise you it’s not boring. It starts with the first world war.”

“Okay, that does sound fun.” Ev smiles.

My interest is also piqued. “How many world wars have there been?”

“Four,” my dad says as he stops just outside a door. “But you will learn more about them from Brianna.”

“Thanks Dad,” I say out of habit. Ev walks in, and I follow. He closes the door behind us. The room has windows on one wall, and the other walls are empty. Like every other classroom, this one has about a dozen giant beanbags arranged in a circle on the floor. I choose the green one as usual. Ev sits in the beanbag next to mine.

“He lets you call him Dad?” she asks as she makes herself comfortable.

I can tell this is a sensitive subject for her. “That’s what he told me to call him. He would never let me call him Rene.”

“I knew he preferred you.” She’s obviously hurt. “All he does is talk about you, and he corrects me if I ever call him Dad or Father or anything.”

I don’t really know how to respond, but I try. “I think it’s because he respects you. He sees you more as an equal. All he does is coddle me. I just thought that’s how he was.”

“Not at all,” Ev laughs. I really like when she laughs. It makes me feel better.

We both stand when the doors open, and Brianna walks in. She is much younger than I would have imagined. Not much older than Ev and I. Her deep red hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and the big glasses she wears cover half her face. I can tell that underneath those glasses, she has a very refined quality about her. She carries herself well, which might be because of her age. People have probably never taken her seriously, since she is young and pretty.

I must have been in a trance staring at her because Ev bumps my shoulder, and I realize that Brianna has her hand extended toward me. “It’s nice to meet you, Atom.”

I shake her hand. “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Lawson. I like your glasses.”

“Thank you. Please, call me Brianna.” She pulls her hand away and takes a seat on one of the beanbags. I can feel that my cheeks have turned red because of the heat emanating from them. Ev must have noticed them as well because her eyes are burrowing holes into me. I feel ashamed, so I avoid making eye contact and sit back down in my beanbag. When Ev sits, she shuffles her beanbag closer to mine. My heart races as she does so. If she feels threatened by Brianna, she shouldn’t.

Brianna places a 3D hologram projector on the floor inside the beanbag circle. “I want you two to recall your world geography.”

She hits a button on the projector, and a giant image of Earth projects before us. It looks odd. The ice shelves at the North and South Poles are much smaller. She continues, “This hologram of Earth looks different than what you are used to. That’s because this is an image of what the world looked like in 1914.”

“It’s so different,” Ev mumbles. I look at her and can tell that she is just as enthralled as I am. Dad was right. This will be interesting.

“I want you two to just sit back, watch, and listen. This information will be important for your survival.” Brianna taps the wall behind her, and the windows darken, leaving the hologram to light the room.

What does she mean by our survival? What are we going to have to survive? These questions flood my mind, but just as quickly as they came, I have to brush them aside. Brianna has started her lesson.

*****

World War I marked the beginning of globalization. Before 1914, conflicts remained localized to their specific areas without much outside influence. When America joined the war in 1917, the world got a lot smaller. Any issues that would arise would now become worldwide issues. With radio and later television, these issues also became the concern of any citizen with access. That war ended the German Empire but gave rise to two new ones: the Soviet Empire and the American Empire. This also brought us into the SciTech Age.

The Soviets, America, and Germany all poured money into scientific research. This would lead to Germany attempting to reclaim their empire, and their quest for power ignited World War II. In 1939, Europe was once again at war, and in 1941, Japan brought America