Solstice by Jane Redd

undergo in-vitro once they’d passed the caretaker exams and found a commitment partner.
    Was Rose in the B Level society then? If this was the year 2061, then the population mandate had already been enacted. Everyone knew that was one of the first rules established by the Legislature so they could get the rampant diseases under control.
    I can’t tell him about the pregnancy. It would be too hard for him to hide such news. I’ll have this child in secret, and my mother says she will pass it off as her own and take whatever punishment that might entail, since there has been a population mandate in effect for two years now.
    I knew it. My pulse throbbed in my throat as I continued to read.
    No one has any idea when the mandate will be lifted. So many children have died from malaria and other diseases from the damp. Even married couples must use contraceptives. It’s very difficult to get a marriage license, and if you obtain one, children aren’t allowed until the mandate is lifted.
    I glanced over at Chalice. She was sitting on the ground with her back against the door. “She became pregnant,” I said, my throat strangely tight.
    Chalice nodded, but didn’t say anything. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her thin arms around them.
    I continued to read, my heart heavy as Rose wrote about her first weeks of nausea and how many times she feared being discovered, but she still refused to tell her boyfriend. Another blow came during that time, with the death of her “father,” who’d been suffering from one of the damp diseases.
    Then a new mandate:
    Today, he came to our home, on business from the government. I could hardly keep my eyes from him, but forced myself to stare at the floor. A new system of fortification has been installed by the Legislature. A system where they can control us, at least that’s the way I see it. Everyone is to report to the health clinic where each person will undergo a small surgical procedure and have a Harmony implant placed into their shoulder.
    I do not trust the Harmony. They say it’s perfectly innocuous, but I don’t believe them. I won’t get the Harmony implant, and they cannot force me.
    The Harmony implant. Had she really refused to get it? I turned the next page.
    They forced me. Used drugs to knock me out, and now I bear the Harmony scar like every citizen. But something curious happened and it didn’t work like it was supposed to. I still have the same emotions. Even stronger, perhaps. I could pretend to be like everyone else, but then I am a fraud, and I refuse.
    I read the words again. From what I could tell, she didn’t have the second implant—the key—yet.
    Something else happened. When I was coming out of the drugged state, I overheard a conversation between two doctors. It seems there is an underground building project that will be reserved for emergency purposes. If the rain never stops, there is a plan to create more land surface by building higher mountains. Something about generators. I’m determined to discover the plan.
    My heart thumped as I read, not knowing if I really wanted to continue. This was the beginning, so many years ago, and whatever Rose had hoped for the future hadn’t yet come to fruition.
    I have joined up with the Carriers. I’m not sure how many of us there are, but we each carry a key that will activate the generators. A new hope for the future. It will be dangerous, but if things get too desperate, it will provide a new beginning. We will take back our humanity from the Legislature. Whoever can bring a stop to the rain will be the new leaders. If the Legislature gets control of the keys, then they will stop the rain, but they will continue in their absolute control, too afraid of the power of human emotion to disable the Harmony implants. We must destroy the Legislature, activate the generators, and give back dignity to the people. We must never let the Legislature know how much power we have.
    It was all there. Rose and the other