Shutdown (Glitch)

mind-control. Of course if they ever realized anything was suspicious, the Chancellor could compel the thought away.
    Bright walked up to a podium in the center of the stage. Her dark brown hair was oiled and slicked back in a bun and she wore the black tunic denoting those of highest rank. Her face was blank, but unlike the Officials behind her, it wasn’t because she was under any compulsion. Cold and calculating was her natural state.
    “Subjects of the Community, I greet you as your new Chancellor Supreme. I stand here today to assure you of the continued prosperity of our great Community in spite of the menace that has grown up among us like thorns. We have long reported the increasing number of anomalous-behaving Community members. When we asked for your help in reporting any anomalous activity, you all responded admirably.
    “We will not abide subjects exhibiting the destructive passions,” she went on, “the very same violent outbursts that led to the destruction of the Old World. They lie and cheat and commit atrocities against their fellow subjects. If they had their way, the perfect and orderly world we have created would be blasted backwards into chaos and ruin.” She tilted her head. “But I am here to tell you today that during my tenure as Underchancellor of Defense and now as Chancellor Supreme, the virus is being stamped out once and for all.
    “For months we rounded up and disabled infected subjects. Our techers were hard at work discovering the malfunction in the hardware and how to repair it. And we finally discovered the answer.”
    She leaned slightly over the podium. “It was simple, really. The problem lay in the adolescent V-chip itself. Our best techers worked around the clock for months to develop a way to implant the adult V-chip in infants instead, but without impairing natural neural growth as the subjects age. They have finally succeeded. This technological advance will herald a new age for humanity, one without fear of glitching hardware or anomalous behavior. Finally, we can all live in peace. Order first, order always.”
    The vid screen went dark. My mouth was open in horror at what she’d said. Adult V-chips, in children? It meant we wouldn’t be able to ever recover anyone from the Community. We’d long ago accepted adults were lost to us. But there’d always been hope for children and teenagers under eighteen before that final invasive chip went in. Hope that we could free them one day.
    If the Chancellor had her way, there’d be no one left to free and humanity’s enslavement would be complete. I’d known the Chancellor lusted for power, but naively, I hadn’t ever believed she was absolutely evil until now.
    “Well, that answers that question.” City broke the silence, taking a step back from the table. “No way we’re gonna try and infiltrate to get the others if she’s the Chancellor Supreme.”
    I looked at her in disbelief. Really? That was what she’d taken away from seeing the video? “What about the drones? What are we going to do about them? We can’t let the Chancellor get away with this!”
    City stared at me as if I was the one who was making no sense. “And what exactly do you think we can do about it? Nothing. It’s time we accepted the fact that we’re defeated and hide out somewhere we can be safe.”
    Henk stiffened. “The vid doesn’t change anything. We’re going back for the others.”
    “It changes everything!” City said. “Ginni said they’re all in the same building as the Chancellor most of the time. We can’t even imagine the kind of security detail she has surrounding her now that she’s Chancellor Supreme. There’s no way we’d be able to sneak in unnoticed.”
    “But we have to try,” Juan said, putting down his bowl on the ground with a loud clank.
    “I agree,” Henk said. “It’s Jilia.” He looked around at the others. “You know she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself if it meant a chance to get one of you lot back.”
    “Exactly,” City said. “She wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself. You think she’d want you, us, anyone, going in after her and risking their life?”
    “It’s not just Jilia,” Juan said. “It’s Molla and the baby—”
    “Would you stop mooning over her already? It’s not even your baby. And she’s in love with the traitor.”
    “City!” Ginni said, looking at the other girl sharply. “Don’t say that. Juan was there for Molla. He was her