His Trainer spoke to him again, and he wrestled his attention back to her.

  “Dee Ee En Zero Zero Three, have you noticed that you are facing me now?”

  He hadn’t. He lowered his eyebrows and raised his jaw.

  “Our pods are really extensions of our bodies. When we return to our Bed to sleep, a rim rises up to keep us safe. But when we wake up, it goes back down so we can move around. Now for another strange feeling. I want you to think about moving slowly backwards.”

  Denzin did. And his pod started to back away from her!

  “Now think that you want to stop.”

  He did, and he stopped!

  “That is weird!” Denzin exclaimed.

  “Now think about turning to the left.”

  I took him a few heartbeats to work out which way was left. Then his pod spun slowly, his back to where he had slept. His Bed, she’d called it. It was just a cushion on a desk. Some bed!

  Soon, he worked out how to speed up – although the fastest the pod would go was much slower than his normal walking pace. Well, his former walking pace.

  He was grateful for his pod.

  He shook his head again, and rattled that thought from his brain.

  The pods that held them were very low to the ground. If his hands hadn’t been clamped to the handlebars, he was sure they’d drag behind him. He had been told he didn’t have legs anymore, but he could feel them, folded up snugly inside the pod. He couldn’t move them, or feel what was holding them, but he could sense that they were there.

  The arena was filled with pods hovering over tiny wheels, carrying people as they ... drove? That’s what she’d called it.

  When his Trainer – he just couldn’t remember her name to save his life, and he couldn't read it, because the numbers and letters on her pod were dancing, as usual. But when she took him near the only doorway he could see, he lurched to a halt.

  “Ah, you found it,” she said. “See the rim? It keeps us safe. We can’t go past that until our Helpers lower it. We are so grateful that they keep us safe like this.”

  All he could see was a thin strip of metal, thinner than his pinkie. That's all it took to stop him – a yassing rim even he couldn't trip over!

  Grateful? That he was trapped in a tiny, wheeled pod that kept him imprisoned behind a two-centimetre rim?! This was only getting crazier!

  “Okay, now you know how to drive. In a few minutes, we’ll have our masks put back on. It’s so exciting – you’re about to go out to serve the Pendraken and the City for your first time! You must feel so grateful!”

  Her face filled with rapture!

  Grateful. He was so incredibly grateful, he couldn’t deny it. And yet, no, excited wasn’t the word that came to mind. Terrified! Denzin was absolutely terrified!

  What on earth was he expected to do? “Serving the Pendrakon and the City” – what did that actually mean?

  DEN003’s trainer answered the question sloshing around in his head.

  “Have you heard of the Greymen? Well, that’s us! We’re the ones who have the blessing to be able to serve our Pendraken and our City by keeping the sewers and the streets clean, because we are so very grateful for all they’ve done for us!”

  DEP3285 continued, “We all have slightly different jobs. Usually newcomers like you get the privilege of cleaning the sewers until you get the hang of things. Our masks come in very handy for that, for I’m told the noxious fumes could kill us otherwise. We are so incredibly thankful for the masks that help us breathe. Eventually, you may be given other tasks to do, like cleaning the streets at night.” She actually sounded full of wonder at that thought!

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “How will we know what to do?” Denzin asked.

  But before she could reply, legs appeared next to him, and his mouthpiece was quickly and firmly shoved back between his lips and over his nose. The electric shock clamped his lips and teeth tightly around it. The side straps were pulled over his ears, and fastened behind his head.

  Denzin’s lungs fought for air that didn’t exist! The electric shock became a warm tingle again, and he drew in that sweet air gratefully.

  There must have been a hundred or so people in pods – Greymen – waiting in a half-circle. Helpers moved about, attaching extra equipment of different kinds to the front of each pod. Some had large brushes on them. Others had scoops shaped like shovels. Some he couldn’t imagine what they might be used for.

  Denzin heard a voice speaking gently into his ears. “Remember this: you are excited and grateful to show your appreciation to the Pandraken and the City by serving.”

  And excitement begin to build in Denzin as the voice repeated that statement again, and then once more. As the message repeated a few more times, his whole body was buzzing in anticipation! He was going to be able to serve his Pendraken and his City for the first time since his life had been saved!

  DEN003 wasn’t sure what was attached to the front of his pod, but he knew it would help him serve. A hooded poncho was placed over him, which covered his hands and the top of his pod – all except his name, so pleasingly placed in front of him so everyone would know who he was. He was proud of his name!

  The earpiece attached to his mask instructed him in what he was to do to serve his Pendraken and his City. And he was grateful that he was frequently reminded of how grateful he was for the privilege of serving!

  His job that day was to go behind the Greymen who were scraping muck off the walls of the sewers, and push it into piles to be collected by other Greymen behind him. He enjoyed his work, despite the darkness, the dampness, and the filth that fell on him again and again. He was serving those who had cared for him so well. It was the least he could do.

  Except … he’d always been rather claustrophobic. And as time went on, the dark tunnels felt as if they were about to cave in on him. But the message in his ears reminded him that he was at peace. And he was.

  A mild electric shock raced through him. The voice in his ear had informed him that that meant his oxygen supply and his battery were getting low. If he didn’t return Home immediately, he might be trapped and suffocate.

  DEN003 turned around and joined the exodus back Home.

  Every few minutes, the electric shock came again, each time a little sooner. A little stronger. But he was so grateful for such a thoughtful warning to return Home.

  For Home it was.

  At last he drove back through the door. He felt safer than he had in his whole life. He was cared for, and he could serve, and he was Home.

  The only thing that would have made his life better was to have been able to serve his Pendraken and his City without having to stop for food and rest!

  No, he wanted to pass his Zam, didn’t he? Would he be able to take his Zam now? Was all that schooling for nothing, then, if he was stuck in that stupid pod?

  No, he’d given up on that, it occurred to him. Just as well, really. Because he was serving his Pandrakon and his City in a far better way than he ever could have even if he had passed the Zam!

  He drove over to his Bed as quickly as he could, at just the right speed. He always moved at just the right speed. There was no other speed he could go.

  As soon as the front of his pod was tucked underneath his Bed, a rim rose up around him, to keep him in place. Now he couldn’t get into any trouble. He used to get in trouble a lot, before. But now he had his pod, and his braces, and his mask, and that wonderful rim to keep him safe. Overwhelmed with joy, DEN003 was so grateful for his wonderful life!

  A Helper who he loved and respected unhooked his hand from the handle, and gave him food. Then he took the mask off, and DEN003 began to drink.

  After a moment, Denzin shook the thoughts around his head, and the dreamlike joy drifted away. What was this place? And what was that foul concoction he was drinking? It was even more bitter than it had been earlier.

  He wasn’t grateful. By reflex, his arms tried to pull his hands from his handles to rake them through his hair, and his pod jiggled back and forth as his legs tried to pace. For truth blazed like the Sunner sun. Denzin was a slave.

  With that thought, mouthwash was poured into his mouth, and without thinking, he swirled it thoroughly around his teeth, and then spit it out into the cup positioned just right by his Helper. As soon as the cup was gone, his head hit the cushion before him and he fell instantly asleep. And dreamed of the terror of being torn away from his family.

  Days went by. Weeks. DEN003 lost track in the wonderful rhythm his life now worked to.

  Compliant. Yes, he was compliant. He had no choice. But somewhere inside, even though they told him he had no legs, he knew that he did. And even though they told him he was grateful, something nagged at him. If only he could have that yassing mask off long enough to get his thoughts sorted.

  ‘I am with you, my Child,’ the Voice told him every night and every morning. ‘Never forget that I am with you.’