Heightened: The Federation Series
Read Heightened: The Federation Series Online
Authors: Miria Masdan
HEIGHTENED
The Federation Series
Miria Masdan
HEIGHTENED
The Federation Series
By: Miria Masdan
Published by Miria Masdan
Copyright 2015 by Miria Masdan
Cover Design: Amygdala Design:
www.amygdaladesign.net
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, distributed, transmitted, reproduced, or otherwise made available, in any known or future form, or by any known or future means, including without limitation electronic, digital, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, except for short quotations in a book review. Any person who does commit any unauthorized act in relation to this book may be liable to criminal and civil actions for damages.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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My best friend is my rock and my husband. After almost twenty years we have created a marriage full of crazy and happy. We have learned to fight with grace, and love with ferocity. We have had our highs and our rock bottoms, and we have lived to tell the story.
I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch, rocking in our chairs, listening to the game on the radio, and picking cherry pits.
Contents
Quinn
I climb down, next to where the blast shattered the wall like it was glass, and not concrete. I’ve seen attempts to breach our defenses, but nothing like this, no one has ever made a dent in the Federation.
I make it to the ground, and survey the damage. The hole is small, about a foot in diameter. There are no footprints, or any other evidence that might indicate who’s responsible for the attack.
“What do you think,” I ask my friend and commanding officer, Max? “Last I knew our local rebels didn’t have anything close to this type of weapon, or technology.”
“There were four attacks this morning,” Max says. “All of them coordinated, all of them the same.”
“It was more than the blasts,” our friend Smith says. He’s a Defense Officer, just like me and Max. “There were some hellacious energy spikes at the exact same time.”
“They’re testing our defenses,” says Max. “This is just the beginning.”
“What are our directives,” I ask? “Are we still attending the Heightening?”
“Officer Calder,” he says. “Our directives have not changed.”
“But this is more important,” I say, “sir.”
“Tell him, Smith,” he says.
“What?”
“It’s actually fucking awesome,” Smith says. “I’ve never seen anything like it. All these energy spikes seem to be centralized around the Eastern POE.”
“And that means?”
“There are always some spikes, here and there, but these are incredible, strong,” he says. “It’s almost like they were responsible for the blasts.”
“That would mean they came from inside the Federation?”
“Sort of,” he says, “they definitely came from the outside. Look at the blast pattern, no doubt about it, but the command; it came from inside.”
“Alright we need to do a complete scan of the area,” Max says. “The crew is coming soon to fix the wall.”
Smith is a tech guy; he sets up his computers and scans the dead zone, and the forest beyond for any signs of life. I’m a grunt; I pull out my weapon and head into the forest. I search for an hour but find nothing. The woods are quiet.
I find a stream and follow it back towards the wall. It makes me think about home. I’ve been in Defense for two years. I was raised by my aunt and uncle; they were in Defense, and we were stationed at a wall post. There was a forest that I would play in as a kid.
A low beep echoes in my right ear, indicating I have a message. All I have to do is think a command and my program responds,
“access text.”
The message appears in my field of vision, along with my coordinates, my operating mode, and environmental conditions.
It’s from Max. They’re ready to leave. I pick up my pace and exit the forest west of where the team is located. I follow the tree line. I haven’t gone far when a warning appears on my visual display. It indicates a life force fifty yards to my south.
Whoever it is, they are approaching slowly. They are using the trees as cover. I charge my weapon and continue my projected course. I hear the shuttle before I see it. The life force, must have also heard it; they stop and maintain their position.
The shuttle sets down, and I enter, taking a seat next to Smith. We ascend, hovering over the dead zone. Smith is busy with his equipment.
“Smith, assessment,” demands Max.
“The subject is a fifteen-year-old, off-line female,” he says. “The scan indicates she is armed with a handgun.”
“Follow protocol,” Max says.
“Yes sir,” he says.
Smith enters a code into his tablet, and a low hum vibrates the shuttle. It last for less than ten seconds.
“Report,” Max says.
“The subject has been neutralized,” he says.
“Let’s take a trip over the forest,” Max says. “We can cover the area between here and the river.”
We hover just above the trees. We find eight more life forces, and neutralize them all. Our shift is almost over, so we head back to our post.
I lean my head against the seat and close my eyes. I’m exhausted and conflicted. Our job is to protect the citizens of the Federation, at any cost. But killing children playing in the woods, even if they are armed, seems extreme to me.
Emma
My arms flail out, and I claw and dig my hands into whatever I can find. I grab my sheets and tear then from the mattress. I jolt into a sitting position. My heart thrashes against my chest. I reach down and feel my leg. It’s intact; there’s no blood, no wound. My cheeks are wet, and I blink back tears. I close my eyes and reach my left hand down. I hesitate. I want so badly to feel him beside me: breathing and alive. My heart sinks, as my hands find nothing but the cold mattress. The tears begin again. A knot forms in the back of my throat, and I gasp for air.
“Quinn,” I whimper.
“Emma,” my sister Pam, whispers. “Did you hear that?”
“No,” I say trying to hide my quivering voice.
“It sounded like an explosion,” she says.
“You must have been dreaming,” I say. “Go back to sleep.”
I wait a few minutes, until I can hear her snore. I get up and look out our window. I don’t see anything. The farm looks peaceful, almost magical with the moon highlighting every object.
I curl up under my covers, and immediately start to think about him. I smooth the sheets where he should be sleeping. The fabric is cold. The panic churns in my gut. It always takes a while for me to calm myself down after I have the nightmare. It’s so real, and the heartache that comes from realizing that he is not real, is excruciating.
Sweat drenches my entire body, not a warm exhausted sweat, but a cold, cling to my body make my skin crawl sweat. I pull my covers tight around my face and curl my legs towards my chest. It is bitter for September.
My father said he can’t remember a year that was so cold and wet. Our crops have suffered, and it is the first year we didn’t make our quota. But it is the same across most of the Federation, especially in my territory: Eleven.
I keep my eyes closed. My body is trembling, not from the cold, but from my nightmare. All I can remember are his name, eyes, and the forbidden feelings that wash over my mind and body, in a wave of twisted heat and pain. Whoever he is; he needs my help. I try to save him over and again, but I am never successful. The feelings of failure, loss, and fear consume me. I concentrate on his eyes. They calm me, comfort me and make me feel like everything will be alright. The mere thought of him being near awakens a deep ripple of longing that builds and explodes into a frenzy of uncontrollable emotions, and I am not supposed to be able to feel these emotions. Federation citizens operate a desensitized program, lacking any extreme in the human emotional experience. We perform at an optimal level of emotional stability; which means we are always in a state of normal with no swings into the fringes of emotion.
In order to prevent the deviant behaviors that result from the extremes, sadness, anger, pleasure, and fear are dulled by our programs. The Federation implants each citizen with a receptor that controls our emotional state, monitors our systems, manages our programs, and maintains and repairs minor malfunctions. The initiation of the receptor program was almost fifty years ago, and the Federation has eliminated depression, aggression, addiction, panic, lust and the disease and death associated with the extremes. There are no more senseless crimes. Every citizen works towards the betterment of society and contributes evenly. But I’ve always been heightened. I’ve learned to suppress and hide my emotions, but the older I get, the more intense they become, and the more difficult it is to keep my secret.
My name is Emma Greene. I’m 18 years old and a citizen of the Federation of Territories. I live in the territory of Eleven. Today I become an adult and for one full night I, along with all other adult citizens, will be allowed to live unrestricted and heightened. Tonight I will no longer have to hide. I will be able to tear down my façade and finally be free of my self-inflicted restraint.
I open my eyes and concentrate on my breathing. I need to fall asleep, but all I can think about is advisement and assignment. In 3 hours, my alarm will wake me up for my last year of pre-occupation education. In the morning, I will sit in the forum and wait quietly for the proctors to call my name and one by one, select my order of internships. I will spend the next year learning each essential component of our government: Agricultural, Business, community, Defense, Education, Information, Labor, Medical, Politics, Science, Technology and Transportation. The Federation proctors will then decide based upon my scores, what occupation suits me best. I have no say in the matter. We all have to contribute to our society in the most efficient, meaningful manner possible in order to keep the “machine” they call our government running smoothly. I try to concentrate on the ceremony and my future, but my mind keeps forcing me to think about the Heightening. I have it all planned out; I need to release years of repressed emotions. There is only one person that might get in my way; Adam, my Proctor. He is older than I am, and this is not his first Heightening. He is strict and proper, and he has applied to be my partner. I’m sure he has plans for me tonight, and the thought of him unrestricted is unsettling.
I repeat each component over and over in my head until I finally fall back to sleep. The rest of my night is restless. My mind tends to overwork itself into a mess of stress and craziness. I want to be a good, productive citizen that contributes in a positive, meaningful manner, but I have to remind myself to make conscience decisions about whether my actions are Federation approved. After all, it is what our government wants and needs to keep the peace and security. It is also necessary to forward the Federation’s advancements and to preserve the human race.