The Declaration

returned to her Surplus Hall. There, she lived out her days blind, in Solitary, begging Mother Nature for forgiveness, and acting as a reminder to the Surpluses of their fate should they Forget Their Place. And then there was the story of Mary and Joseph, who escaped together and had their own Surplus son. The son was born with two heads and it was constantly hungry, constantly demanding more and more until, eventually, unable to control its evil Surplus urges, it ate its two parents, one with each head, then exploded, a victim of its own greed and its Parents’ Sins.
    Anna hadn’t heard these stories for a long time, but she knew them word for word. And a little part of her wondered whether her tale would soon be frightening female Surpluses late at night, the tale of Anna who didn’t Know Her Place, who tried to escape. What would the ending of the tale be? she wondered, as she made her way unsteadily to Science and Nature, the training session she’d chosen to be defiant in because Mr Sargent loved sending Surpluses down to Solitary, believed that the dank, dark cold cells beneath Grange Hall taught a Surplus everything they needed to know about their Place on this earth. Would Anna’s defiance lead to eternal misery, she thought to herself. Blindness? Or would it be death itself, the only thing that Surpluses had that their Legal masters didn’t. For a Surplus’s misery was finite; for Surpluses, everything had an end.
    As soon as Mr Sargent came into the training room, Anna felt a little surge of anticipation in her stomach, and she was barely able to listen as he started to talk through Longevity drug doses. Surpluses needed to know about drug doses, he explained, because they may administer them in some households. Longevity required a delicate balance of cells and it was important that Surpluses were able to spot the symptoms of under- or over-dosage.
    Under-dosage was easy to spot – people got tired, and stiff, and they stopped wanting to go to work or to mow the lawn or anything else. Men might get thinner and women might become forgetful. It was important that the signs were spotted early so they would be addressed before they were irreversible. Longevity meant you stood still, he said, but it couldn’t make you younger. Not yet, anyway.
    Over-dosage was harder to spot, because there were fewer overt signs, but you could tell if you looked closely, Mr Sargent said. Longevity drugs contained a hormone called thyroxine and if people took too much their eyes might start bulging and they might not sleep well. They might seem agitated, he said, might start to get irritable.
    Then he took out the capsules and showed them the different sizes, and how to reduce or increase the dosage in 25 mcg units.
    Midway through the class, Anna raised her hand, and Mr Sargent, probably expecting a thoughtful and supportive question, because that’s what she usually aimed to ask, beamed at her.
    ‘Yes, Anna?’
    She smiled nervously and shifted awkwardly in her chair.
    ‘What would happen if a Surplus took Longevity drugs, Mr Sargent?’ she asked, her voice small and timid and her eyes apologetic.
    He looked at her uncertainly and frowned.
    ‘Surpluses do not take drugs, Anna. You know that. They do not take any drugs. Surpluses are stretching Mother Nature’s generosity simply being here in the first place; it is absolutely right that they should live short lives, ending with disease or old age. You know that it would be an abomination to lengthen the life of a Surplus any further than necessary.’
    The vein above his eye was twitching slightly, and Anna had to steel herself.
    Then she raised her hand again.
    Mr Sargent looked at her irritably and nodded.
    ‘But why should Legals get to take the drugs just because they were here first?’ she asked. ‘Isn’t that a bit unfair?’
    Mr Sargent was staring at her now, his eyes bulging slightly in their sockets.
    ‘Unfair?’ he bellowed. ‘Unfair? No, what is unfair is that people like you exist. That your selfish, criminal parents thought nothing of the planet and of their fellow countrymen and produced you . . . you vermin to feed on our food, drink our water and use our energy.’
    Everyone was looking at Anna now, and she realised to her surprise that, now that she had overcome her fear, she was rather enjoying herself. Words and arguments that Peter had used so often when fighting with her now flooded into her head, and she wasn’t scared by Mr