(video is the CRA announcement)^

Aries

Announcement: the CRA reminds you to line up behind the Dispensary to receive your daily allotment of today's dinner - bread and cheese. We remind you that if you do not receive your daily allotment you will go hungry. And when you go hungry you will not be happy. And when you're not happy you will not smile. And we want you to be happy... we want you to smile.

I hurry down the street as the announcement blares through the hidden loudspeakers in the hidden cameras that are everywhere. I don't know exactly where the raspy voice of the Community Representative Association comes from, but the low sound comes from every direction. Their eyes come from every direction.

Licking my sharp teeth, hoping I look decent enough. I can't give them a reason to suspect I was at the Outskirts again. I run a hand through my blue and pink hair, jogging to get to the Dispensary faster. Others walk down the street, everyone's glowing eyes facing straight forward as they all head to the same destination. No one talks to one another. There's nothing to talk about. No questions to ask that haven't been answered. After all, everyone is the same. Paper cut outs.

The large brick building appears as I round a bend, slowing down so any CRA members distributing the food won't see me rushing. They're harder on me then all the others. I don't know why. It's not exactly fair.

Brushing any dust or dirt from the Outskirts off my pants, I walk up to the line. My running didn't pay off. I stand in a line, at the end of who knows how many residents. All their glowing eyes staring straight forward. I try to do the same, stand perfectly still in wait for my food. Out of the corner of my angled eyes, I see the hood of a CRA member prowling up and down the line, probably checking to make sure no one is trying to make some sort of arrangement about food. Some dare try and get more than their daily allotment. Pitiful excuses like children and it's not enough. They make the same amount as everyone else, they work the same as everyone else, they get what the CRA allots them.

One sees me, I swallow hard, trying not to instinctively put a hand on the pocket of my blazer where the thing waits.

Aries.

I stiffen, keeping my eyes straight as the line moves forward. "CRA member Tombs, how are you?"

Well, resident. I wanted to speak with you.

Its glowing eyes shine red from underneath its dark hood, obscuring its face. CRA members are special. While they are just as special as everyone else, they are the ones who run each community on our beautiful Underside. The city is full of them, running our planet with a fair and equal, equitable, hand. Supposedly under those symbolic hoods they wear (because they have more power than others, they wear a hood of humility and equality), they are just like us.

"What do you wish to speak of?" One step forward. The line moves.

Your eighteenth birthday is soon. That is when we decide your future.

"Whatever the community needs, I shall serve." That's the standard response when you take the test. The test that determines whether you will become a community doctor or a community chef, making the food that feeds us all. I don't have cooking skills, so I hope they don't decide that's what I should do.

We have already chosen you.

"I don't understand," one step forward. I haven't taken the test yet.

You have been chosen. To go to the city.

The city? The center of our planet. Where the politicians live. Where CRA members are made.

The line moves again, I'm now third in line. CRA member Tombs blinks at me turning away. We shall speak more of this later.

I let out a breath of relief and feel the small rectangle in my pocket. It's still there. Now I can get food and go back to the Outskirts before curfew. First in line. I smile a toothy grin at the resident standing behind the glass of the Dispensary. "You're lucky, sir," they say, holding out a brown paper bag sealed with tape. "This is the last bag we got."

"How? There's still," I glance back at the long line behind me, "there's still people waiting."

"Flour. CRA didn't plan for the demand and flour's too expensive now, shortages. I had to get this batch from Up There. These residents will have to make their own meals tonight."

I know, they must know, these people don't know how to make their own meals. I grab the bag and smile. They smile back, long rows of sharp teeth glinting in the red sunlight. "Thank you. Salve."

"Salve."

Announcement: The Dispensary is now closed. We are out of food. Remember to smile despite this minor inconvenience. The CRA is working hard to ensure we distribute enough meals to serve you all. The CRA reminds you to be happy and go to work with a smile tomorrow even if you did not receive your daily allotment.

I don't open the bag as I hurry down the street, knowing I'm being watched. I run as soon as I'm away from the paved roads and buildings full of cameras. The red sky shines on my face and I smile the way we are told too as I rush up a grassy hill. The Wall looms in the distance. The wall is full of cameras, separating each community from one another, but a short distance away is no man's land. By a thin line of trees. That's where I go.

I lean against the red bark, opening my bag and taking a bite of the hard bread. Then I pull out the thing. I eye it. Four sides, shiny, metal. It glows to life if I press a button on the side. A little symbol greets me when I turn it on. The Upside language greets me: make a call. I don't know exactly what a call is, but I press the button anyway. It starts ringing. I didn't know it could make noise. "Please leave your message after the tone." it says. A recording device from Upside?

I lean back, hearing it go "BEEP."

"Did you know the Earth is flat? I've been told people up there don't know. Is that where you come from? Up there? We're not supposed to talk about that. We're not supposed to talk about a lot of things. I think, I think something is wrong here. No one says anything but, something isn't right...

"It's like the trees, I don't know if you have trees up there but we have them here. You know, red and gnarly and you don't wanna get too close. But all the trees are perfect and in a row. All lined up like community volunteers knocking on your door. All the houses. Do you have houses up there or do you live in little metal boxes like all the books say? But all our houses are all lined up too. Everything is all lined up. We are all lined up. Everyday.

"Except you. Not that you are a you. You're a... I don't know? A recording device. I don't know what Top Earthers would call you. I shouldn't have this. They won't be happy when they find out. And trust me they always find out. It's only a matter of time..."

----

Thanks for reading this chapter of the Underside. My friend and I were planning to also make a podcast version of this story we've been working on, but due to some personal issues, the plan fell through so I decided to write a series of stories about this world we created. I've also done a few animations for it that I'll share as time goes on. 

I hope you enjoyed this! I'm working on more chapters as I write this and hopefully you guys like this world my friend and I created as much as I do

Love you, my little fishies, 

J. A.