Читать книгу The Slave - Luigi Passarelli - Страница 6

He was walking home along his usual route, when he found himself in front of the shop where he had fallen in love with countless girls and women throughout his adolescence. This time there was nobody in the window who inspired him. But he tried a little experiment anyway, a test.

He pointed his phone at a girl in a bikini to check if the Programme was working properly. She seemed to be friendly and happy. It turned out that his account had not been activated yet. Ivano could not see the price and could not add the girl to his basket or his wish list.

The girl waved back at him. He couldn’t hear her, but it was easy to understand. She obviously wasn't displeased with his looks. It was a shame that she was not to his liking. Ivano left and started to think back to all those girls he had dreamed about for so many nights, the ones who gave him real, sensual companionship in his fantasies. The ones who had drifted away from him slowly. He was a little ashamed. Mostly for the sake of his family. They had told him straight away that he should never take certain assumptions into account. Starting a family was a completely different matter, even at that time. He would have found the right woman in his own time. His little misadventures with a few friends during his school years had not been all that they could have been. Always hidden and always accompanied by an element of fear.

A beggar caught his eye. Ivano wanted to have another try. He wanted to understand the new power he had acquired, just to see if it was all true.

He pointed his mobile phone at the man.

Yes, this time it worked. The man cost around 3000 credits. This old man with mutilated legs, a beard like one of the ancient prophets, dirtier than most people could ever be and dressed like a Napoleonic soldier, he smiled at him mockingly.

“So, little boy! Do you want to buy me? Are you having fun? Why don't you give your mum a present!! Take me home, give me a room and my own bed!! I could be very useful in your family don't you think?”

Ivano was scared. And ashamed. Yes, it's true, this is how things worked.

He ran away quickly and his thoughts turned to the question of respect for others. At the same time he was thinking of the practical uses for other people. There was still choice when you were in the Programme. You had to be smart just like before. Or at least you always had to remember profit was key. Now he was scared that someone would discover his real value and try to take advantage of him just while walking down the street.

Everybody knew the first rule of the Programme by heart: only other people can find out the actual amount of credits an individual was worth. You cannot check your own value with your own device, only someone else can.

Before Ivano went to the clinic, his father had tried to reassure him: once you are registered on the Programme, you can relax. Credits are standard for everyone, it depends on your journey through life, but he already knew how to deal with things, and he expected a reasonable figure. A figure which would have left him free.

Ivano however was busy imagining what it would be like when he got home.

There would be sermons. There would be too much attention. Yes indeed, his father would not miss out on this opportunity to draw yet another picture.

They didn’t want for anything. It was just that there had never been a remote possibility of being able to travel.

The outside world was something which was distant and unknown. His family had only even visited a few areas of their own city. This would have to be enough for him.

The world was just too dangerous to be enjoyed to the full. All trips were controlled by the Programme and only a few lucky ones were allowed to leave their own Area of Competence. That was the case for him and his parents and probably for all of his friends and acquaintances.

Ivano was walking down the street, going past the few shops which were still open. They were almost all greengrocers selling fresh food. He was tempted to secretly make the first purchase of his life. Who knows, it could even have just been a candy. Deep down he knew however that his father would be furious with him if he did. He would have ruined his Price birthday. His father might even have complained to the System Tutors and got them to impose a spending limit.

To really be an adult and to please those around him, he would have to behave properly and not give in to silly little whims. In reality not much had changed in comparison to the past. He couldn’t do anything before and now he could do even less. All he could do was to wait for the right moment to invest in something of his own. Certainly not on a whim or on childish things like candy.

He would have to wait for his father to check how many credits he was worth. He quivered to think about how much they had recognised his commitment, his work and basically his whole life.

He trusted in his father, but it was not a blind trust. He remembered that he was not infallible, he could still make a mistake in his calculations somewhere. He even feared that his companions could be worth much more than him. He was ashamed.

He started to walk faster, nearly home now.