Summer2022

Date 12 May 2020
Location: Community

Dear Diary

You are not going to believe what happened at the Ceremony of Twelve yesterday. I got my assignment: I am going to be a Sanitation Worker. I must admit I am a little bummed as I thought I could do better.

The day was beautiful, the Twelves were buzzing with excitement as we all sat down. As the ceremony went on, we got to see all the Ones with their cute little faces and the happy people who will now become parents. The Twos were kind of boring except for seeing, little Jade fall off the stage, which made everyone laugh. The Threes were no better. I watched the Sixes only because Mary, an annoying little Six, started getting chastised for having her ribbons undone. Priceless! I watched my sister become a Nine and get her bicycle. I mean her best friend Lilly got hers and accidentally rode headfirst into a pole! But seeing Emma up there with her bike and the biggest grin on her face was amazing.

Finally, it was the Twelves. My mate Ed was given Nurturer and was very happy. They read out my name, “We all know Campbell hates mess and loves community service. From our observation, he should be a Sanitation Worker.” They handed me a blue file and I sat down. I started reading about the assignment that I will have for the rest of my life. As Sanitation Labourer, you are responsible for all waste and disposal in the community. You will be required to collect, sort, and dispose trash and waste. You may also be required to do some plumbing in cases of clogging. Wow, I really do not want to do this, but you know what they say: you get what you get, and you don’t get upset. I now will go train to stick my hand in someone’s toilet. YAY!

After the ceremony everyone left to go back to their homes to celebrate. My dad, being the Street Cleaner, was excited I was just as much of a disappointment to my parents as he was to his. My mum gave me all these kisses and congratulations, she was over the moon. She was the Teacher of Ones, and she still did not see me as a disappointment. Great. We all also congratulated my sister who now had a bike and she was happy as Larry. She did not understand what I was going to do as my assignment, so she just called me toilet man, and that nickname was going to stick with me for a while.

I could not sleep that night. I was tossing and turning thinking about what my life would be like from now on. Luckily, I will be able to tell you about all my fun experiences of being the toilet man.

I’m so thankful to the Committee of Elders for giving me the Assignment that I wanted. I couldn’t imagine choosing my own Assignment. What if I chose wrong? That wouldn’t be safe at all. Best it is left to the experts! Poor Felix. Felix is to be a pilot, which was the obvious assignment for him. It fits his skills perfectly. But it was not the job that Felix desired. He really wanted to be an engineer. He told me that he might put in an appeal if he does not enjoy the role. He also secretly gets annoyed by the decisions being made for him as he feels somehow that the community is too controlled by the Elders. Of course, I won’t tell anyone this. Telling might get us in trouble. But now that I think about it… no, never mind that. Anyway, I’m really quite happy with my role and I hope Felix enjoys his too whatever he ends up doing.

I woke up early, excited for the day ahead. The schooling felt like an eternity and all the Twelves were talking about how excited they were for their assignment training. Finally, as three o’clock arrived the instructor relieved us from our classes and all the pupils rushed out of the schooling building so excited for our training. I met at the Landscape Department and one of the workers, named Joe, was teaching me. He was as tall as a tree. He told me about all the things we do as landscapers – we design the roads and footpaths and design different bits of the land. He also joked a lot, and we became, what you could say, friends. He then showed me how to design different areas of the community landscape with the architectural drawings. I even got to draw up a plan for an area of landscape, even though obviously it is not going to be used. After training I met with Asher and Fiona, and we kept apologising as we interrupted each other as we all wanted to explain our assignments and training. We all loved our assignments, and our training was so much fun. That night as I drifted off to sleep, I thought how lucky I was to have the most amazing assignment. I then remembered how my parents had stopped saying goodnight to me and started to feel a little disappointed.

The old are all really nice to me and tell me the greatest stories of their life. One of their stories sounded exactly like my life – their best friend also got the assignment of Fish Hatchery. My favourite person in the House of the Old is definitely Melissa. She is really nice and helps me whenever I’m stuck because she was a Caretaker of the Old as well.

My assigned role: The Receiver of Memories

Date: 21/5/2268
Location: My Community
Dear Diary,

Tomorrow is the day of the ceremonies where all of the children will move up in years. I am particularly ecstatic because it is The Ceremony of Twelve  where I will receive my assignment. Lots of my group mates have been ecstatic in anticipation of which assignment they are going to get but, honestly, I feel, well, afraid because once we receive our assignment, we will have that assignment for the rest of our lives which is a bit scary. Hopefully I will receive an assignment that I enjoy, but I think I can trust The Committee of Elders.

Date: 22/5/2268
Dear Diary,

Today was the day of the ceremonies. Even though I was worried yesterday about being stuck in one assignment for the rest of my life, I seem to have overcome that fear, especially as I was given one of the most prestigious and honorable assignments, The Receiver of Memory.

At the Auditorium earlier today, during the Ceremony of Twelve, everybody seemed to be very happy with what they had received. It was almost my turn to go up as they were just finishing off with 16 and I was 19. I was what you could say ecstatic. And just as they were about to finish off with 18, I was basically about to explode. But when they called out 20, my heart sunk all the way to the bottom of my body. What? They had just completely skipped me! I was frantically thinking for what I had done wrong, and it looked like everybody else was thinking that as well. I could hear murmurs of worry or confusion, until the Elder said, “I am sorry, I know I have caused you worry thinking I have made a mistake,” which she said in her usual gracious tone. You could see the relief in people’s faces until she said, “Brendan has not been assigned, he has been selected.” I blinked confused. What did that mean? But it all came together when she said that I was going to be the next Receiver of Memory. I walked up onto the stage and received the document which contained the information about my assignment. But when I held it, something about it changed. I blinked and looked at it again, but it was the same. As of now I am still unaware of what truly happened.

Date:23/5/2268

Dear Diary,
Today was the first day of my assignment and I still haven’t opened the document containing my instructions. Ever since what happened on the stage yesterday, I am still pondering and thinking what had happened. I decided I’d better read it quickly because I still had to go to school, and it said:

“BRENDAN:

RECEIVER OF MEMORY

1. Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the annex entrance behind the House of Old and present yourself to the attendant.
2. Go immediately to your dwelling at the end of training hours each day.
3. From this moment on you are exempted from rules governing rudeness. You may ask any question and you will receive answers.
4. Do not discuss your training with any other member of the community, including parents and Elders.
5. From this moment on you are prohibited from dream-telling.
6. Except for illness or injury unrelated to your training, do not apply for medication.
7. You are not permitted to apply for release.
8. You may lie.’’

I was stunned, utterly stunned. What would happen to my friendships? I’d lose all the happy and vital times, like riding my bicycle or spending mindless hours playing ball. Were those activities just completely stripped from me now? I was a little disappointed that this training took up all my time, leaving no free time in my schedule, but I guess this is what I must do in order to be The Receiver of Memory.

I started to cry and wanted to go back as there were gunshots in the distance and the sound of warfare was haunting me. I quickly exited the memory, and I was bawling with tears. The Giver apologized but the damage he did to me was brutal and all I wanted to do was go back to my home and not do this anymore. I didn’t want the bravery and wisdom. I wanted my childhood back, except I knew I couldn’t.

Dear Diary,

Today I have been assigned the role Nurturer. I am pretty happy with my new role because I was always interested in the new children that came to the community and the process of it happening. I remembered when I was a One; I absolutely loved the naming and the continuous ceremonies. I’m currently in my dwelling, looking at the details of my role. I am quite interested in the rules I must follow. It says that I am to be caring and gentle, that I have to supervise and educate the infants and that I’m required to release infants that haven’t met their age-appropriate development goals. The one regulation that I’m really shocked at is the rule that says, “You may lie”. I’m not sure what this rule truly means, or when it will be appropriate to use it.

Appearance

The Fridge-Penguino is a diminutive bird that is encased in a metallic fridge with a light bulb attached to the top. The light bulb is on when the fridge is occupied by a Fridge-Penguino and the door is closed.

Habitat

Fridge-Penguino’s habitat includes oceans and coasts. They reside in the fridge, and they exit for mating and feeding. The fridge includes a “top deck” and a “lower deck”. The top deck is solely used for operating the fridge i.e., controlling its movements, turning the occupation light on top on and controlling the temperature of the fridge. The “lower deck” is used for entertainment i.e., swimming, playing and sleeping. It also has a clear transparent window.

Diet

The Fridge-Penguino’s diet consists mainly of fish. This is due to the lowering numbers of polar animals. When feeding, the Fridge-Penguino exits its fridge, but its young stay in the fridge to stay safe until they are one year of age.

Locomotion

The Fridge-Penguinos have two ways of moving. Firstly, when occupying its fridge, it uses the control wheels. Secondly, when not in the fridge, the Fridge- Penguino waddles with its webbed feet.

Adaptations

Like all other birds, Fridge-Penguinos have feathers. A Fridge-Penguino’s feathers are short, overlapping and densely packed. The outer part of the feathers is waterproof while the inner down section traps an insulating layer of air due to the keratin present, keeping it warm in freezing temperatures. This adaptation and its blubber have posed a challenge for the Fridge-Penguino to survive hot climates and is why it requires its own refrigeration unit.

Life Cycle

Gestation

When the Fridge-Penguino is old enough, it leaves to find a mate.

Following birth, the mother and baby leave the fridge to forage for food and look for an additional fridge.

The Fridge-Penguino spends the majority of time inside. The baby learns from its mother how to operate the fridge.

Predators

The predators of the Fridge-Penguinos include the Killer Whale and the Polar Bear. This is because these predators are much bigger than the Fridge-Penguino.

Behaviours

Fridge-Penguinos communicate by putting on displays for nesting territories and mating. Because most of their time is spent inside the fridge, these behavioural traits are viewed through the glass display by other Fridge-Penguinos.

Evolution

The Fridge-Penguino was unable to evolve to survive in the warmer climates of Antarctica. A study published in 2084 showed that the only way to prevent extinction was for humans to drop a large number of refrigerator units for use by the Fridge-Penguino. It has evolved to use the units for cooling, exiting only to feed and for mating. Gestation is a particularly important time for the Fridge-Penguino to spend in the unit.

Did you know…?

That Fridge-Penguinos never use one specific brand of fridges. They will accept any fridge you give them!

Appearance

The Thing (mechanica lacerta) is 30 centimetres long and 3 centimetres tall which makes it a very small animal. It is a lizard that comes in many different colours like beige, black and white, but its most common colour is green. It has red eyes and black pupils. It does not have any ears, but its scales have tiny gaps which allow it to hear clearly. The Thing has an enormous tail and sharp, pointy claws that really hurt when it touches you. It is 20 percent robot as it has a jet pack made out of metal and wires and has a mechanical feature connecting two of its legs to its body. Another mechanical feature is that when it lays an egg, the eggs are produced with power points and the Things have power points on their right hip.

Behaviour

It likes to sunbathe and enjoys watching the sun set and is a very calm animal and won’t attack you unless you mistreat it. They enjoy sitting on smooth rocks for the majority of the day and enjoy relaxing there. The Thing is very friendly, but no one seems to see them or play with them and if I were to describe them in one word it would be, lost. They are very sneaky, and they don’t harm anything at all. They usually live by themselves for their whole lives which means they are usually quite sad, and no one has ever found a home for them, but there isn’t usually anyone that notices them.

Locomotion

The Thing is very fast and is one of the fastest animals/robots on earth. They are especially fast when they are desperate to catch their prey as they slither on the ground close to 100 kilometers an hour. Besides him being one of the fastest ground animals, he is even faster in the air. He has a built-in jet pack on his back and can fly faster than 100 kilometers an hour! Mechanica Lacerta can also swim and can hold his breath for over 30 minutes. If you ever see him swimming, he looks like an underwater Jet Ski.

Diet

Mechanica Lacerta hunts his prey sitting on a tall tree overlooking each animal that walks past and when he finds the perfect one, he leaps and bites it with his poisonous fangs. The Thing mainly hunts down insects like crickets, flies, grasshoppers and pretty much any other insects. Apart from eating insects, when Mechanica Lacerta is feeling really hungry he can even sneak up to larger animals like hyenas, wolves, foxes and a lot more. They use their small and skinny bodies to sneak up to the larger animals, but when he hunts down smaller insects, he hides behind some and then jumps out to eat the insect.

Communication

The Thing can’t speak but when it runs super-fast you can hear the metal screeching which tells everyone the Mechanica Lacerta is close. When it sees someone or something with food it goes up to them and bumps them to get their attention and then it points at the food and hopes they will give it to them.

Habitat

The Thing’s habitat is a creamy brown colored rock, and it sits there most of the day. If they are not there then they are seen in hidden forests, sitting on a tree, in caves or hiding under rocks in the ocean. It flies through the bushes sometimes and sits on a tree where it waits for its prey to approach but mainly relaxes on its rock with shallow water surrounding it.

Latin Name

This animal is known as a Manducater, and its Latin name is Cyano-Ophiocinctus because it is blue in colour, and its snake-like tentacles encircle its prey.

Appearance

A Manducater stands at 2 meters and 20 centimeters tall. It has grey and blue skin, glowing blue eyes, crab-like boney limbs and sharp jagged teeth. Its torso is a blue sphere made out of metal. It has a long neck, a beak similar to a bird, and tentacles for legs. It grows new tentacles as it adapts to a new city. Its entire body is covered in an oily substance to live amongst foliage. Occasionally, the Cyano-Ophiocinctus has a rusty smell emanating from its metal torso. There are no known ancestors to compare its features to. We assume it comes from the Reptilia class, Kingdom Animalia and Phylum Chordata.

Behaviour

Manducaters hide out of view from people in the day and go around looking for food at night. It is friendly in the day, but aggressive towards others in the night. It likes to be on its own and hates sound. It doesn’t need to be with others for comfort. Its habits are roaming around, scaring others, and killing things like animals. Its sharp jagged teeth crunch its kill, propelling the food down the long neck to the sphere body. The sound is deafening, followed by a quick swoosh. Manducaters don’t waste time consuming food.

Locomotion

A Manducater moves very fast but can also go very slow when not chasing anything. It uses tentacles to walk/crawl to other places when it needs to. It’s unable to balance correctly so it wobbles a lot. Rolling side to side, suddenly lurching when losing its balance completely.

Diet

Manducaters normally eat meat like bear meat, tiger meat, eagle meat, elephant meat and human meat. However, they won’t kill small animals like squirrels, dogs, cats, fish, small birds and hamsters.

Communication

A Manducater communicates through body language because their vocal cords don’t work properly. If it tries to communicate through speaking, only ear-grating noises can be heard. It can also scream similar to an eagle’s screech.

Habitat

A Manducater lives in cities that have a big population so it can get more food. But it is constantly moving to other large cities, so it won’t be captured or recognised. It has no real home to which to connect, growing tentacles as it adapts to being displaced. It hides around zoos, waiting till dusk using its blue eyes to hypnotise large animal prey. Deforestation is making it difficult to camouflage when moving habitats.

“Honey the cat’s gone!” Mum screamed. “I can’t find it anywhere!”

“Really?” asked Dad rather puzzled.

“Yes!” Mum hissed furiously.

“Do you know, where it’s gone?” Dad whispered.

“NO!” Mum thundered.

Just then I heard someone let out a little burp.

My name’s Eric, Eric Vhore and my family has had the WORST week. My dad broke his arm after trying to carry eight drinks at once during MY soccer match, my wallet got stolen, and our cat mysteriously went missing. What’s more, ever since these things started happening, I’ve taken to, well, stress eating. Or at least stress eating more than I usually do. I’m so hungry I could eat a cat! Not that I can anyway because ours is already gone. You see I don’t have the ideal male physique. I’m chubbier than a buffalo, I have fiery red hair, and my glasses have more cracks in them than a living room window after backyard cricket! So, life isn’t going too great. Which is why you can understand my surprise when…

“Uncle Dom!?” exclaimed Mum with an open jaw.

“Yep, it’s me – your silly Uncle Dominick!” shouted the man thinking I would actually have any idea who he was.

“What are you doing here?” Mum moaned.

“Well, you see, I just opened a new hotel in New York and I want to know if you’d be interested in staying there for the opening week,” explained Dom.

“Well, we have had a bit of a rough week…” Mum thought for a moment, “Oh, why not! Eric, go tell Tommy to pack his stuff, also go wash the dog while you’re at it,” demanded Mum.

“But Muuuuuum,” I groaned, “You know I’m allergic to animals, also Tommy’s room stinks!”

Tommy was a skinny, almost bony looking boy with golden hair. He was in his teenage years and always very quiet. He also didn’t clean himself much, so he smelt dreadful.

“No buts!” hissed Mum.

I marched over to Tommy’s room and slowly pushed open the door. The room was as dark as midnight and smelt like a rotting carcass. It was a little strange but then again what teenager’s room isn’t? As soon as I entered the room I started vigorously sneezing.

“Tommy *achoo!* We’re g-g-g *Achoo!* Going to a hotel and you need to *sniff* pack.”

I rushed out of the room and slammed the door. Strangely a horde of ants and other critters came rushing out. I knew his room was dirty, but this was on a whole new level.

“Eric, we have to go. Hurry up!” screamed Mum.

“Eric, move over!” demanded Dad as he squished into the middle seat. “Why can’t you be skinny and fit like your brother!”

“Jason Vhore that is very rude!” thundered Mum. “Say sorry right now!”

“Sorry,” mumbled Dad under his breath.

We arrived at the hotel later that day to a stampede of eager people. Accommodation isn’t cheap in New York, so any cheap housing is always in high demand. We entered the hotel and found our room. The walls were unpainted and damp, and despite the fact that nobody had yet slept in them, the mattresses were dirty and yellow. It was immediately clear that Dominick was a business entrepreneur not a millionaire because let me tell you this hotel was not five-star material. However, the buffet was AMAZING! On our second last night we got to dine at the hotel’s all-you-can-eat buffet. It had Eggs Benedict, sizzling duck, Caesar salad with croutons and much more. However, for some reason Tommy didn’t seem to be hungry and he just sat there writing in his little notebook. I couldn’t see what the notebook was labelled but from what I could read it said ANI. I’m assuming it meant ANIMATIONS because Tommy loved drawing, but I guess I’ll never really know. Later that night we got our FOURTH missing pet warning. It didn’t really affect us, but I couldn’t help but wonder, how are these animals escaping? Before I could wonder any more, I heard something coming from the bathroom. As I entered the room my jaw dropped. Tommy was on the floor with blood on his hands and his mouth.

“MUM!” I screamed as loud as I could, “Tommy’s hurt!”

Mum came rushing in as fast as she could. “Oh my!” she squealed, “Jason, call an ambulance!”

Later that night we were all rushed to ER, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with Tommy. Yes, he was bleeding, but he had no cuts or scratches anywhere. It was a puzzling case for sure, and what do you do when you’ve got a puzzling case on your hands? You see Dr Pumpernickel. Pumpernickel specialises in strange and mysterious cases, in fact the way he got his medical license is still a mystery. Dr Pump decided to give Tommy an x-ray, which he wasn’t particularly happy about.

The results finally came in but, they were strange. In Tommy’s stomach where they didn’t expect to find anything they found something horrifying, or more like four horrifying somethings. They found four… ANIMALS!