The Creed

Submission for IronAge Media's prompt "The Upgrade.

“I have no will but their will.

I have no love but their love.

I have no hate but their hate.

I have no thoughts but their thoughts.

I have no needs but their needs.

I have no wants but their wants.

My eyes are their eyes.

My ears are their ears.

My life is their life.

My all is the least I can give.”

The Creed had been repeated nonstop in a mechanical voice for the last seven days. Atla had been restrained to the table for the entire duration, and the procedure was almost done. She had not been allowed to leave or to eat or drink during this time. The monotony of The Creed had almost driven her insane, but mercifully, it started to drone on in a monotone, buzzing in the back of her head. She barely took it in now. She could say the whole thing, not by heart, no, but by memory. It felt like no one had or was allowed any heart. She definitely didn’t feel much of anything.

“I have no will but their will.”

Atla was here of her own, free will. The last exercise of her will, that is. She was unable to bear children, and therefore, was completely useless to anyone. She was not strong, she was not intelligent—no one was taught much unless they needed it to do a specific function— and she was not fast enough to be a messenger.

“I have no love but their love.”

Becoming an enforcer was the only thing Atla had felt she could do. Yes, she could work in one of the many factories, but once you went to one, you were there forever. You lived there and could not leave. Work went from morning till evening, and you got at most five hours of sleep. Most who went died after five months, the rest between that and a year. The benefits were that you were not put in the camps where those who didn’t do anything went. Or to the labs. No one wanted to go to a lab. Atla shuddered as she thought of the labs.

“I have no hate but their hate.”

Enforcers were the willess, mindless, half mechanical things that did the bidding of The Lords. They had no thoughts of their own. They were controlled wholly by The Lords. Their skin was white as snow, and black blood, or oil—no one was sure which—continually dripped from around their mechanical enhancements and implants. Black wires and tubing came out of and entered many places, mostly on the head and torso. Their eyes were glowing orbs and their hearts, if they had any, were completely unfeeling. If they were ordered to, they would kill the innocent in any given situation and leave the guilty alive. That happened when the truth wasn’t known, or it was more beneficial to The Lords. More times than not, both innocent and guilty were killed.

“I have no thoughts but their thoughts.”

In desperation, Atla had sought a meeting with The Lords. Vary rarely did The Lords actually honor the appointments that were made, but when they were, whatever happened in them was set. If they gave their word on anything, it was sure to be done or not done, according to what they said. They were not duplicitous in these dealings. The prices were high, and if a price was no met, or accepted, the one meeting The Lords, without exception, disappeared. It was thought they were killed. Well, that was the most hopeful alternative.

“I have no needs but their needs.”

She had met with them, and they had listened to what she had said. Atla had told them she would give herself entirely to them as an Enforcer if they protected her family and provided for them. They had asked if she knew that she would lose all that made her her. She told them she was willing as long as they would look after her family. An agreement had been reached, and her family was currently in the process of being moved into a place set aside from the protected. Atla was content knowing that her family was safe. She only had her parents, sister, and indefinitely unconscious husband. She wished she could have had just one child, but that was not to be, and never would be now.

“I have no wants but their wants.”

Atla lay there, thinking about the upcoming moment when she would lose her thoughts. She wondered if she would notice it, or if it would all be black. Then there was the question of if she would be conscious afterwards. What if she did have memories of before . . . What if she was there, her mind in a subdued state, while her body was under control by someone else . . . That was contrary to all she had heard, but what if . . . She didn’t know what would actually happen. She hoped her family would be okay.

“My eyes are their eyes.”

Thoughts began to whirl around her heard. She wondered if this was a sign of the encroaching end to her consciousness. She remembered playing with her father. She remembered helping make diner with her mother. She remembered sneaking outside the walls to see the trees and landscape beyond with her husband. She remembered the heartbreak of finding out she would never be able to have a child. She remembered so much more.

“My ears are their ears.”

People entered, she could not see who, and then pain erupted all throughout her entire being as they cut her open to make her the Enforcer she would become. She screamed as they plucked out her eyes. That was when memories came spiraling in a whirlpool of thoughts, splashing and moving around in a kaleidoscopic blur. All blended into one, long stream without any timeline or coherency, confusing the pain she was feeling. Her father lifting up her newly wedded self to feed her. There she was as a baby holding hands with her boyfriend. Her dead brother telling her he loved her as she was chained to the table. A glimpse of her grandmother talking to her husband. A soldier pointing a gun at Atla. Then, finally, all was gone.

“My life is their life.”

No thoughts remained. All that was Atla was gone, submerged deep under the controlled consciousness overseen by The Lords. She was aware, but only of the present and the thoughts injected directly into her brain. The Enforcer got up from where Atla had been, and went to carry out its first order. Blood would be spilled soon.

“My all is the least I can give.”

The End,
God bless