Consensus: Part 1 - Citizen

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The trip home was awkward for Rena, and lunch with her family was filled with long periods of silence. Clarine attempted to start several conversations. Marshall had a hard time pretending he wasn't still upset. Afterward, Rena took a walk around her neighborhood to clear her mind. Then she spent the early afternoon playing with Gareth and Suzanne. By late afternoon, the mood in her house seemed to have improved. Rena's parents began acting normal again, and Rena remembered that she was supposed to be trying a different approach. Instead of wasting her weekend, she should be voting like other responsible young adults.

"Mom, where's the ex?" she called to the kitchen.

"It should be charging in the office."

Rena pushed herself up from the living room floor, where she'd been coloring a picture with Gareth. "Can you finish my part?"

"Yeah," Gareth said, grabbing the marker Rena had been using.

Rena walked down the hall, turning into Marshall's office. Fortunately, it was empty. Marshall was helping Clarine in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for dinner. It would be best if Rena could avoid any significant conversations for the rest of the day. If she didn't talk, she couldn't say anything upsetting.

The exterminal was on Marshall's desk, sitting on its charging pad where Clarine said it would be. There were only two exterminals in the house—the one embedded into the surface of Marshall's desk and the portable one Rena and Clarine used. It was a small rectangle of glass, with rounded edges, no bigger than the palm of her hand. She grabbed it and headed straight for her room, closing her door for privacy.

She sat down on her bed and placed the exterminal on her nightstand. As she touched the power button, she noticed her rating had dropped to 011 again. Sunday afternoon was the most active voting time of the week. The majority of Esh's citizens were home from consensus and freshly motivated to make an impact on society. If they weren't working or attending school, their voting was what allowed them to maintain or improve their ratings. Rena often skipped this duty. It wasn't until the middle of the school week that her number usually recovered.

The surface of the exterminal began to glow. The holographic interface for the Collective appeared in the air above it—a soft, blue image of concentric circles and intersecting radial lines that called to mind both Esh's layout and the way in which citizens were all connected to each other.

"Hello, Rena. How may I help you?" asked a deep, soothing voice. The verbal interface was one of Rena's preferences that she'd set up years ago, as well as its tone. She'd chosen one that sounded like the man from her visions. It made her feel safe.

"I would like to vote," she answered.

"Here is your voting history," said the voice at the same time as a list of topics appeared.

She preferred the text listings over icons or images because they were easier to review when there was a lot of information. Although in Rena's case, there weren't many entries. She didn't vote on enough issues to make reviewing data difficult. The only entries were her associations and a few older topics from months ago.

"Would you like to review any of these topics?"

"Yes. Associations," she said.

The list updated to show the names of her family members, her friends, and Dr. Mallory, who was her only professional association.

"Which association would you like to review?"

"Marshall, Clarine, Gareth, Suzanne, Dal, and Dr. Mallory."