Propriety

Prologue:

January 23, 2098.

His hands go up to acknowledge the thousands of people standing under the podium waiting for him to speak. The crowd quiets. "Thank you all for joining us here today. I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you all about a new piece of safety equipment we have produced." A scientist steps up from behind him and hands him a wooden box, "Thank you. Now this is the Chip that will help us save the men and women that become P.O.W.s." He opens the box and shows the crowd. "This will be a relatively painless experience. We will insert it into your left arm below the elbow. You won't even know it's there. Now I would like to welcome Professor Gaint up here to explain the process and what the chips purpose is." He turns around and shakes the hand of the professor that was walking up the steps.

"Thank you Mr. President. Hello people of Properiety. I am Professor Gaint and I am the developer of the Chip. Now over the last 3 years we have lost more than 5,000 military men and women. They have either died in the line of duty or been captured and held as P.O.W.s. This chip will help us effectively determine where these people are being held. It is also a quick heal. When there is, say, a bullet wound the Chip activates a blood clotting serum that goes right to the effected area and stops the bleeding. So, not only will this Chip help us determine where we can find our lost people but it will also help prevent more death on the battlefield." Applause followed the professors statement. "Thank you. Now, we are going to ask that everyone step over to the right to this booth so we can start the simple process of implanting. To do this we will inject the Chip with a saline solution straight into the arm below the elbow. It will take a few minutes because we also need some information from each of you. Basic stuff. Name, date of birth, address et cetera. That is all." He stepped down and walked over to the other booth. Every military person walked over to the line forming in front of this booth.

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John Young was standing in line towards the end. Everyone that had already gotten the Chip implant were walking by talking about how easy it was and that they didn't even feel it. He doubted that. Being a part of the military for 13 years had taught him a few things. One of them is that you never trust the government to be completely honest with you. Something smelled funny about this Chip business. P.O.W.s aren't a new thing. People have been captured for as long as the history books go back. So why, now, is the government trying to fix it when they could've done it years ago and saved many more lives. Something wasn't right and John didn't agree that this Chip was the right way to go.

As he got closer to the front of the line the sun began to go down. There were only four or five people ahead of John and he was getting anxious. His wife and three year old daughter were at home waiting for him. He took off his hat and looked at their picture he kept there. She was beautiful. Long flowing brown hair cupped her face. Her brown eyes shone in the light of the camera. Their daughter looked just like her and was going to drive little boys insane and give her dad a heart attack when she got into school. He kisses the photo and puts his hat back on.

Finally, he's sitting in the chair waiting to be implanted with the Chip. "This won't hurt but you may feel a pinch from the needle." The doctor flicked the syringe and grabbed Johns arm. He inserted the needle just below his elbow. There was no pain and next thing John new the doctor was taking his information and letting him go.