“Your tray,” said the server. Zack handed it over, chipped and worn and only just about serviceable. Into it the server placed a ladle of porridge, salt and sugar free Zack assumed, if his memory of those tastes served him well. There was a small square of bread that tasted like half-baked dough and was always flat and unleavened. Leonard was ahead, already sitting at one of the tables. Zack walked over, acknowledging a few familiar faces as he did.
“There is no point in this lottery anyway. I’m not saying that it’s not a nice idea,” Zack said as he sat down next to Leonard. “But tell me. How does the Omega Lottery help?” The adverts were streaming in over the hum of the crowd. The television was louder today, no doubt turned up to account for the extra excitement. This one was advertising better-quality antibiotics. Zack took a mouthful of tasteless porridge. “When it’s over we’ll all feel like shit again because we all lost another chance. I’ve told you before, nobody ever wins from Delta.”
“But just think of the person who does win,” Leonard mused, his eyes glazing over as he stared ahead, lost in a dream. The call of hunger lured him back, and he picked up his spoon and shovelled the porridge into his mouth. “Imagine a different life. Haven’t you seen the lobby of Omega? They still have the trees. They play a new sky program over there now, projected onto the windows. You see daylight all day long. Until you choose to turn it off. It’s as if there is life beyond the walls.”
“It’s not real daylight,” Zack replied, more cynically than intended. He could imagine it all right. He had seen the adverts, and he knew what it looked like. Compared to where he lived now, it looked like heaven. It hurt to think of it. It made reality worse. More real.
“I know it’s not real daylight,” Leonard said, undisturbed, his spirit unimpeded. “But it’s a start. Imagine not having to look at that all day long.” Leonard motioned his spoon towards the window and Zack’s eyes followed his hand. The grey clouds hung as low as ever, the buildings sat desolate, destroyed, and empty of life. Most of them had been razed from the soil. Only the distant towers of Gamma, Theta, and Zeta were visible from here. Zeta had to be over two miles away. Their nearest neighbour. From the Food Hall on level twenty five they couldn’t see Omega at all.
“You don’t need their sky program,” Zack said. “God himself is shining down on you, isn’t he?” Leonard’s face contorted from confusion. “Lights that only you can see coming through the clouds, remember? Sunlight just for you like some sort of message from above. You must be the next disciple. Maybe you’re The One. I should start calling you Neo.” Zack gave him a nudge in the arm, but his joke seemed as tasteless to Leonard as the food.
“Who is Neo?” Leonard asked.
“Never mind,” Zack laughed.
“I know what you think.” Leonard pulled his tray in closer to him, stirred his lump of porridge. “But you’re wrong. It’s happening. I can feel it and I can see that the world is waking up.” He poked his spoon at the unleavened bread. It cracked into tiny pieces. “Can’t even make bread, stupid son of a…..”
“Hey, OK,” Zack said as he rested his hand on Leonard’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t make fun.” Leonard looked up at Zack and pushed his plastic food tray away. Zack reached across and pulled it back towards him. “Come on. Don’t leave your food.” Leonard jabbed at the shrapnel-like pieces of bread and scooped them into the compartment with the porridge.
“You have to let people have their dreams in this place, Zachary.” He spooned a tasteless lump into his mouth, turning his nose up as he swallowed it down, as if he still hadn’t learned to stomach the taste. They wouldn’t eat again until after the triple bell, the one that signalled that work was finished for the shift. “It’s necessary.”
The silence remained as sure as the heavy clouds themselves, which they both stared at to avoid the awkwardness. Leonard stirred at his unleavened bread, eating small sections at a time because it bothered his poorly-fitting false teeth. His gums, like everything, had shrunk, rendering his teeth too mobile to eat something so crispy. Zack handed him a piece of his own which was indeed softer, and Leonard took it. A peace offering. Zack motioned to the television and the familiar theme song that sounded like an old game show began to play. A hush fell over the Food Hall and all eyes turned like the point of a compass towards north.
“It’s the Omega Lottery,” Leonard said, his words stuttering as excitement got the better of him. “It’s about to start.” The screen filled with lights and clapping as the theme tune faded out. Daley Cartwell’s orange face and over white teeth burst onto the screen. His hair was as shiny as his suit, a pale lemon colour that made him look like a canary. He smiled and smiled, as if he himself might be the one to win the prize. As if he himself was awarding it.
“I don’t…..” Zack began.
“Sshh,” Leonard hissed, before turning back to the screen.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody one and all to the sixth Omega Lottery. Citizens of New Omega, we are about to open our doors to you once again, and prove to you all how we are rebuilding the world we have lost. Isn’t that great?
He paused for a moment of appreciation. The crowds in Omega Tower clapped.
Citizens of New Omega, near and far. From Alpha to Theta. You have your numbers. Some of you have more than one. Some of you still have time and credit available to get yourself more. The draw will be broadcast on all television screens. The lucky winner will be contacted without delay and will be brought here to Omega Tower where he or she will begin their new life with us. They will take the stepping stone to help in building a better future for us all, where we can all live in freedom once again. It’s a challenge, right? Are you up to it? We sure hope so. Because your future is our future. Together we can build it. In time we will live again as one.
The lottery advertisement cut straight to a treatment for head lice, thirty credits, available now. It seemed like quite a good deal, or so Zack thought. Leonard was almost bald, save a few straggly lengths of hair at the back, which in here was probably an advantage.
“Well, I guess you never know,” said Zack, still aware that the air between them seemed as clear as the air beyond the walls of Delta Tower. “You just never know. Imagine. Imagine the chance to leave this place.” He felt it his duty to get excited about the lottery, to show interest after he had ridiculed the idea of the lights again. He had promised himself he wouldn’t mock Leonard’s beliefs, but he had gone and done it anyway.
“Eh,” Leonard replied dismissively, “whatever.” The negativity of Leonard’s response made Zack consider that even without the glasses he knew Leonard needed, that he too must have seen the subtitles scrolling along the screen. No over sixties. Nobody under sixteen. They had no idea how old they were anymore, but he would bet that Omega knew. Leonard had been discarded by the only civilisation he had left, and he felt it. He wasn’t part of the planned future, just a leftover from the past. Something to be stored and contained until its time was depleted. He was no longer required. No longer needed. No longer valuable. Zack decided not to push it.