Olive Simpson

I often spend my nights dreaming of what life would be like if I was someone else. Someone with a mother and a real home. A girl who enjoyed holidays with her brothers or sisters and played with dolls as a child. I dream of what it might smell like and taste like. I’ve found that I like the smell of laundry fresh from the washer, so you can still smell the water mixed with the detergent. I imagine my whole house would smell like that if I owned a home. I imagine a wife, kids, a golden retriever, and a mean old cat that only likes me. We decorate for every holiday even though my wife insists it's a hassle. I keep this place a secret. A place only I can visit. A hope that can’t be stolen from me. Every morning when I wake I bury my dream so that no one can find it, and every night I dig it back up. I was just getting through with burying it when my corridor’s bell rang. I shrugged my scrubs on, tied my hair into a low ponytail, and stared at myself in the mirror with indignation. Nurses had the worst uniforms of all the Artificials; a semblance of an ugly brown long-sleeve shirt tucked into practical ugly-brown slacks tied together with the horrifically out-of-place bright ugly-green armband. The bell rang again and I knew if I waited any longer to head to breakfast I would be reprimanded. I grabbed my government-issued backpack and headed out of Corridor H11 towards the food hall. The walk was short but generous, it gave me time to clear my head. The smell of the crisp morning air mixed with the tense silence that hung over New Hope, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the morning patrol. They were in high spirits, conversing loudly as they passed by. I had bumped into them a handful of times and they were always kind. Today they were on a victory lap. Last night they’d caught an Artificial trying to sneak out; someone from corridor B6, a teacher if I remember correctly. Lately, there had been a string of attempted breakouts after gossip was passed around about a girl escaping to Canada, but nobody knows if it's true. A part of me hoped that she had made it, and she was sitting somewhere living a life where she could do whatever she wanted. Maybe I was holding onto hope because a part of me still wanted to believe that I could have the house, the wife, and the smell of wet laundry. It was silly. I reached the food hall and could hear the buzz of hushed chatter spilling out from under the doors. Today's breakfast was oatmeal, a small cup of fruit, and a glass of milk. They rarely served meat for any meal and we would only get desserts on outside holidays. We weren’t allowed to celebrate anything, but getting sweets felt like a small victory.

Story Statement: Artificial People follows the story of N4962b3 colloquially known as Nellie. A woman born from an artificial womb and raised to become a nurse. She finds herself, unknowingly, at ground zero for a revolution. With her city cut off from the rest of the world and under attack by the government, she must use her skills to save herself and her friends from the devastating war that’s sparked around them. The story also depicts the collapsing world around them as plummeting birth rates and disproportionate wealth create staggering effects on the economy. The Antagonist: For this story, the antagonistic character would be President Turner Cartwright; a wealthy man only interested in lining his pockets and the pockets of his friends. He creates a capitalist-driven fascist country that keeps the class system prominently divided and shows no humanity towards its citizens. The antagonist is also the society around the artificials, as they refuse to recognize them as humans or feel any empathy towards them. Breakout Title: The Artificial People Fakes Bricks in the Wall Genre and Comparables: The genre is science fiction/speculative fiction with the subgenre being dystopian. My first comparable would be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley due to its portrayal of totalitarianism and social brainwashing. My second comparison would be Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill due to the government’s use of technology to make money and save money without the use of “real human labor.” The difference between our books is that the artificials are not AI and are very much sentient and real, but the two are still overworked and underpaid nonetheless. For a third comparable I’m going to cite the storyline of a video game, but I promise it makes sense in retrospect. My third and final comparison is Detroit Become Human by David Cage and Adam Williams. Detroit Become Human follows a similar storyline utilizing the idea of androids that gain emotions and feelings but were originally made to do the jobs humans didn’t want to do, much like the artificials. Hook Line: The government created artificial people to fix the birth rate problem, slowly stripped them of their rights, and turned them into slaves. An uprising begins and an artificial nurse is caught in the middle of it all. She wishes to make it out alive and unchanged, but she might just be the key to helping her people. Core Wound and Primary Conflict: The first primary dramatic conflict would be Nellie realizing she wants more from life, but the laws and world around her are holding her back. This conflict will push Nellie through the narrative as she navigates through the turmoil with her own goal in mind. Secondary Conflict: The splitting of the factions. When other nations agree to take any artificial refugees looking for a better life the city has to decide whether to stand their ground or flee somewhere new. Nellie wishes for things to be resolved without violence and wants to leave the country while other artificials believe that they’ve been wronged one too many times. Nellie chooses to lead half of the artificials out of the closed-off city to the border making herself the leader. Internal Conflict: Nellie wants to be free and live a better life, but doesn’t want to harm anyone to get her way. Slowly she struggles to rationalize her morals to herself as she sees the true horror unfolding. A point in the book will depict her deciding whether or not to kill a soldier who patrols the streets at night. She also struggles with wanting to help the others make it out of the city and being the leader. She wants to do right by everyone and be kind, but she knows she would be safer trekking alone. Hypothetical Scenario: Nellie was pacing now; beads of sweat were starting to roll down her cheeks. The group was too large to make it through downtown unnoticed, which was likely their safest way out, and too many of them were hurt to take the woods and loop around. Not to mention the extra time it would take to cut around was risky, she was pretty sure a number of her people’s wounds were infected. Without medicine, they’d be septic soon, and then half her group is dead. She froze at that thought. They would be septic soon. It would be a sizable portion of the group, enough that they could make it through downtown unnoticed without them. She didn’t want to think it, but maybe they’d be better off if they lost a few people. Maybe she’d be better off. The more she pondered this the more guilt she felt. She wouldn’t wish that kind of death upon anyone, she’d seen it before, it was painful. These people had loved ones surrounding them, loved ones who would have to watch them suffer. She rubbed her eyes letting out an exasperated sigh, and when she turned she saw Finn standing in the doorway. He was covered in soot and blood, and he looked older than she’d ever seen someone look which was funny because he was younger than her. “What should we do Nells? You’re in charge here.” She looked over to the map on the subway wall, “I need a team of people willing to make a pharmacy run with me.” Setting: The story takes place in a city, specifically two upper sections of the city that are designated for artificial people only called New Hope. These parts of the city are much more run down than other parts, and they’re completely cut off from electricity. They’re not allowed access to the internet, TV, or any other form of “corrupting” media. The only way in and out is a bus designed to pick up artificials at scheduled times. New Hope is eerily silent as residents who aren’t working or using activity time are not permitted out of their units, but this is disguised by the colorful units and radiant wildlife grown around. There are patrol squads 24/7 usually adorned in heavy riot gear, some even utilize sniffing dogs. The story from Nellie’s point of view shows New Hope in a different light though as residents have long since figured out how to sneak out and where to go hang. The world around them has also drastically changed as most people no longer work and leave that to the artificials. Religious groups are seen protesting throughout the city, they believe artificial people are an abomination and an attempt to play God. Nellie learns that only wealthy people can live in the country and lots of people left for Europe in a mass exodus, a decade after the artificial people program was launched.