Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 1

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.