The Declaration

were more tangible assets. Like a magpie, she had alighted upon a scrap of fabric that had been torn off a skirt from the laundry and a teaspoon that had been left by someone in the House Room, both of which she put in her secret hiding place, delirious in the knowledge that she knew something that no one else did. Of course, that had been a long time ago. She had grown out of that childish game years before.
    At least she’d thought she had. Had hoped she had.
    Either way, the journal was waiting for her the night that the new Surplus arrived. Anna had gone to Female Bathroom 2 for a late-night wash, just to check that it was safe, just to hold it in her hands one more time and see for herself the words that she had created, that she had made her mark with. It had been a long day, what with training, Cookery Practical and then having to make up the bed for the new Surplus in the Pending boys’ dormitory. She had completed all her chores, and meticulously made up the new Surplus’s bed with one sheet and one blanket, and had placed a facecloth, toothbrush, soap and tube of toothpaste on top of it, just as Mrs Pincent had asked her to.
    As she had sat shivering in the cold bath (Surpluses weren’t allowed hot baths – they weren’t allowed to use any more of the world’s resources than was absolutely necessary), Anna, the Prefect, found her arm gingerly easing its way down the side of the tub, her reward for good behaviour. Anna had known it was wrong, but its hold on her was too strong to resist, and, as she had pulled it out, she could feel herself tremble with excitement. The soft pink between her fingers and the news that there was a new Surplus coming had created surges of adrenaline that zipped around her body, causing her toes to clench and her stomach to leap. A Pending Surplus from the Outside – he’d know what the world was like, he’d be untrained. He’d be . . . Anna had shuddered with anticipation as she’d begun to write. The truth was that she’d had no idea what he’d be like – dangerous and difficult, probably – but she had known that things would be different when he arrived. How could they fail to be?
    As these thoughts had rushed around her head, she’d looked at the clock on the wall and noted with a sigh that it was five minutes to twelve. Grange Hall still had clocks in lots of the rooms, even though Surpluses didn’t need to refer to them. They were fixed to the wall, she’d heard Mrs Pincent tell one of the Instructors, and anyway, they reminded Mrs Pincent of a ‘better time’. Anna wasn’t sure whether Mrs Pincent meant a time long ago, or whether it was time itself that was better on a clock, but either way, she loved watching the hands slowly moving around the large, round clock faces and had convinced Mrs Dawson, one of the Instructors, to teach her how to read them, even though she didn’t need to. Surpluses had time embedded in their wrists; Surplus timekeeping was in digital. Embedded Time had been one of the New Ideas for Surpluses, when Surplus Halls were still new. Time wasn’t on a Surplus’s side, Mrs Pincent said. Time was just one of the things that Surpluses didn’t deserve. Legals owned time, but Surpluses were slaves to it, as every piercing bell announcing feeding, morning or bedtime at Grange Hall reminded them.
    Embedded Time was one of the only New Ideas that actually took off, Mrs Kean had said once, talking to Mrs Dawson when she didn’t know Anna was listening. New Ideas didn’t tend to surface much any more, she’d said, because everyone was complacent. No one could be bothered to come up with new things because it was too much like hard work. And Mrs Dawson had nodded and said, ‘What a relief,’ and Mrs Kean had looked at her for a moment, as if she wanted to say something, but instead, she just nodded and that was the end of that.
    Embedded Time sat under the skin, on the wrist, and every movement the Surplus made kept the mechanism going so that it wasn’t Wasteful or resource intensive. And with time ever-present, the Authorities argued, no Surplus could ever be late, no Surplus could ever leave their chores early. Anna couldn’t remember not having Embedded Time, couldn’t imagine why everyone wouldn’t have it. But Legal people like Instructors didn’t; they wore watches, which did the same thing, only on the outside of the wrist.
    Anna had glanced down and confirmed that in spite of the Authorities’ best efforts, she