The Territory Read Online Free Page A

that hard. Now, ’cos sea levels are still rising faster than anyone thought, it’s massively hard and they’re using it to get rid of loads of us. And after the invention of the Childe procedure, how can anyone claim the TAA is fair? I mean only one freakoid has failed in the past three years. Only one! And he was a real-life denser. But thousands of Norms get shipped off every year. And they bang on as if everyone loves (or as Daisy would say luuuuurrrrrvvves ) the Territory. But then why are there so many police and cameras everywhere? Why did they ban the internet and mobiles for non-Ministry people as soon as they were properly in power? They also keep pretty schtum about the Opposition that Jack’s dad belongs to. Sorry belonged to. Before they labelled him a Subversive and shot him.
    Class-time was next and Ms Jones was out to provoke us. She hates us Norms more than any other teacher in the school. It’s because her sister was killed in an Opposition rally that got out of hand. The rally was supposed to be a peaceful protest against the TAA and its bias against Norms, but something went wrong. One hundred and twenty-six people were trampled to death. That’s when they banned the Opposition. I know it was a terrible thing to happen and I get why Ms Jones has anger in her, but it’s also pretty pathetic that she tries to take it out on us, just because we’re easy targets.
    The whole class had to sit in a circle. A circle! I mean I haven’t sat in a circle since I was five! We had to go round and say something about the Territory that we were grateful for.
    ‘I’ll start,’ she chirped like some sort of evil bird. ‘I’m grateful to the Territory for providing a safe haven for humanity after the Great Flood.’
    I clenched Jack’s hand to stop myself from reacting.
    Freddie, a lame nobody freakoid, went next. ‘I’m grateful for the mosquito grids so we don’t all get malaria.’ Well good for you, Freddie. What about the Fish? Do you think they’re grateful too?
    But most freakoids just nodded happily. That’s the most annoying thing. Most of them know there’s no way they’re going to fail in June so there’s nothing for them to worry about. For them I guess the Territory and TAA are good. Loads of other kids that they don’t mix with and won’t miss will get moved off the nice dry land so there’s more space for them.
    Hugo put up his hand and Ms Jones smiled her encouragement. It was as if he’d just read my mind.
    ‘I’m grateful because the Territory ships off all the scummers so they can’t leach off us anymore.’
    Nearly all the freakoids tittered away, Amanda’s attention-seeking giggle drowning out everyone else’s. She makes it high and bubbly as she thinks it’s sexy, but it’s not. It’s just massively annoying. But the most annoying thing was that Ms Jones sniggered too before she thought to stop herself.
    That’s another problem with this place. All the teachers seem to think they’re above us Norms. But they’re not. They predate the Procedure. They don’t have Nodes. They’re Norms through and through. They just think that they’d be freakoids if they were born now. That they’re super-beings because they know things (wow – they’ve been around longer and have the answers in front of them). I bet they’d all have late upgrades if you could do it that late. But you can’t. They tried doing ones on adults at the start. All the adults died. Something about the brain still having to be growing in order to accept the wires.
    Next thing I knew it was all quiet and I realised that everyone was looking at me. Waiting to hear what I was grateful for.
    I tried to think of something nice. ‘Think fluffy,’ is always Jack’s advice. Good advice. I ignored it.
    ‘I’m grateful that the TAA shows that some Norms can do as well as Childes even with a massively unfair disadvantage.’
    Ms Jones looked unimpressed but there was little for her to attack. I’d been