Page 16 of The Marked

“You’re zapped for talking?”

“Obedience is the number one rule.”

“And who do you obey?”

As if he didn’t know. “We follow the laws enforced by the Reds. We do our jobs, supervised by the Blues.”

“Does it bother you?”

Another odd query. “It didn’t used to.”

“Something changed?”

It took me a moment to vocalize an answer. “I changed.”

“Why?” he asked.

I shook my head. I didn’t know.

“We’re here,” he announced as the vessel landed on a new rooftop. We took stairs down a single level to a door. “Welcome home.”

As I entered, I exclaimed, “Your cubicle is huge!”