The Protection Servers - Chapter 1 (A POLITICAL FICTION STORY ABOUT SOCIETIES ILLS AND REFORMING POLICE)

Michael was born in a country called the United Society. It was a country that assured him he was lucky to be born there. As he grew up his country instilled in him all these values, about being free, and standing up for the little guy, and cheering for the underdog, and that if you only worked hard enough, you then could accomplish the United Society dream.  

Michael’s country had taught him that he should speak out against injustice, and that he should open doors for ladies, and pull chairs for them etc.  Michael felt growing up that being polite and respectful was the way a young man should strive to be.

As time passed though, and as a few greedy businessmen, and Robber barons, who owned a substantial number of stocks in many major corporations, hijacked Michael’s country, those men slowly started tearing up the Constitution of the country Michael called home. Now everything Michael believed in had forcibly changed. All the freedoms Michael loved about his country were gone. It seems that they just quickly evaporated through the last 20 years. The country had totally changed, 10-year-old Michael would not recognize this country if he were to see it now. Everything was lost. All the freedoms were gone, and now no dissent was permitted. Free thought was abolished.

If you wanted to be free to continue to shop and eat your genetically modified food in peace until the cancer came in, then you needed to shut your mouth. If you wanted to be free to consume until your implant account was maxed out, you could. If you wanted to feel free to invest in other people’s suffering, you very dang well could.

 

You did not talk about politics in public, that is something you could do on your own, but you better be careful that one of the microphones on one of your home devices did not pick up on what you were saying. The Government would spy on their own people. The government did everything in their power to keep power, so they created a climate of mistrust. They especially did not trust those old enough to remember the time period before most rights were taken away. They were considered the most dangerous citizens, or so the government thought.

 Those in charge let on that everything had changed for their own good, and since everyone was suspect, then that made everyone very mistrustful, and all were very careful not to say anything that could trigger their leaders, because the things they now said would be stored on super computers, and one day it would be used against them.

Also, if one were to voice any grievances with the government, then one would risk retaliation from the government who would then make sure to make life impossible for the citizen who dared speak out. I mean anything from getting a job, to a loan, or an apartment, all would not be in your favor if you spoke out against those that were there to take care of you, because they were the experts, it was they who knew what was best for all of us. We were simple people, and we needed their guidance they assured us. To be happy you had to conform they assured us all.  

 

Michael had given up, he no longer dreamed of freedom. He would wake up, get dressed, eat his breakfast on the run, and take the train towards, Weareright City to his monotonous job, and 13 hours later, he would read some comics on his train ride back home. No one read much outside of comics, sports pages, and fiction novels, that had been pre-approved by the government, of course. Anything else would just seem too risqué, and could provoke the government, and we sure did not want to do that. Few were that foolish anymore.

 

On Weekends Michael would meet up with his friends Sally and Jeff and they would play ping pong and go take a walk by the beach and enjoy a cold beverage and some nice falafel sandwiches. Later they would go to the arcade and they would play a few video games. One day as they left the arcade, they saw a poor woman begging outside the arcade, and they were shocked, how did this woman slip by, the Protection Servers (police) surely, they must be notified about this, these vagabonds were rounded up and taken away, no one knew where but they just disappeared. “How did this woman get away?” thought Michael.  

“We must turn her in.” Sally exclaimed.

“If we do not, we risk being labeled subversive.” Jeff added.

“Yes, you are right, I will call the Protection Servers immediately.” Michael replied.

 

Michael called the Protection Servers and as he started explaining the situation to them the woman stopped begging for Points (money) and started walking away.

Jeff pointed and said, “look, she is trying to get away! I will stop her!”

Jeff ran after her as fast as he could, and he grabbed her right arm by the wrist and he warned her “stop, you have broken a code of a respectful and clean society, and so you must await punishment by the Protection Servers.”

The woman started crying. You could see a lifetime of pain in her eyes. She seemed to belong to one of the groups of people labelled the “Other Groups.” The color of her skin gave her away, the skin charts typically used by the Protection Servers would not even be needed in her case.

These Other Groups were peoples that were considered Second Class Citizens. There were many groups in this category, and no one cared what happened to them, no one cared if they had work, or were in prison.  No one cared if they could vote, or if a Protection Server lost his temper with them, and physically abused them.  Even if a Protection Server was caught on camera, killing a unarmed member of one of these “Other Groups”, they did not matter to the people of Yourfree State, so no one seemed to bat an eye.   

 

 

The woman begged Jeff to release her.

“I have babies at home, and they need me to come home. I only wanted to ask for a few Points, so that I could feed them.” She cried.

 

“Oh, spare us your faults, that is not our problem, you were not efficient enough to make it in life, and you did not save enough points for yourself, so that is no concern to us, you should have worked harder in life to accrue more points.” Said Sally in a very apathetic tone.

The woman began to cry and she sat down, exhausted. “How can you be so heartless.” she cried out.

Just as she started to wipe her face the Protection Servers arrived, and they exited their vehicle and walked over to the group to handle the situation. Officer Lundberg was the first officer to address them, and he asked Sally, Jeff and Michael to step away from the woman, he insisted that this problem would be taken care of immediately, and that everything would be normal very soon.

Then both officers approached the woman, some quick words were exchanged and they cuffed her and walked her in the direction of their vehicle where they then shoved her into the back of their vehicle and they raced away.

“Whew, that was exciting!” Jeff blurted out.

Then he asked the others, “do you guys want to go for an ice cream or something, I am in the mood for something sweet?”

Sally and Michael agreed, and they walked towards a small diner that served delicious deserts. The three entered the crowded diner, and they sat down at the first available table. They all pulled out their pocket computers and started looking at their “Lives Lived Today” which was like a replay of what they had done that day, pictures they had taken, videos they had shot, notes and messages to friends, you know these sorts of things.

 

“Hey, guys, if you still have some energy and if you’re up to it, maybe we can go watch the new “Soap Opera no. 356743”, on the big screen, it’s in “Real Dimension” and I hear this is the best one yet.” Jeff asked the others.

The Government put out as much entertainment as it could, so people would always be preoccupied with entertainment, so they had no time to think about real issues, or build any dislikes. This was another way to pacify and numb the people, many realized it, but they felt they could not fight back. Some could care less, they thought the entertainment was wonderful. They felt that they must have been really good in another life, to deserve the easy going, carefree, fun life they now had.

Both of Michael’s friends agreed and then all three proceeded to order some deserts off their teleprompter screen menu. Then as if it was the most natural thing in the world to them, they checked their pocket computers as they ate, and when they finished, they paid their bill by touching fingertips to the teleprompter screen, and they were on their way. As they walked out of the diner, they were approached by a young child who was begging for points.

The child said, “Please, please I do not mean to make trouble, it is just my family is out on the streets, and we have no place to stay nor no food to eat, we just need a few points so we can eat something as we try again to be productive citizens, can you help us please?”

“Not again, what is it today!” Jeff expressed abruptly

Sally pulled out her pocket computer and started dialing for the Protection Servers. As her finger pushed the first button, the boy said, “Please do not report us, my father told me not to ask anyone, he is a proud man, I am doing this without his consent. Please they will take us away and they will break our family up and I will never see them again.” Cried the boy.

“You should have thought of that before.” Sally said, in a tone that would have made her professors proud. The same professors that had spent hours instilling in her, that it is people’s own faults if they fall off and cannot compete. They are weak and they only have themselves to blame, and they deserve what they get. A feeling that (only the strong survive) is what they instilled in her.

“Look I do not want to hear excuses; I just want to make sure you don’t pan handle anyone anymore!” Sally continued, not stating that she had already pressed the emergency number on the pocket computer which alerted the Protection Servers, that someone needed their assistance, and it automatically gave them the coordinates of where the person that needed the assistance was, so they should be on their way.

The child started to cry and before another word could come out of his mouth, the Protection Servers had arrived and started asking questions.

 

Sally and Jeff walked closer to the two officers and explained the situation.

Michael stayed back, something about the sight of this child’s tears and the fear in his eyes touched him.

But as the Protection Servers grabbed the child and took him away, Michael seemed to be at a loss for words. He couldn’t say anything, and he was very surprised how much this event affected him, but he did not say anything to the others.

The following day Michael got ready for work and he took the train to his job at The Mine. Now the mine was not a mine of any sort, it was actually an office building and Mike sat in a desk in a cubicle at a so called “Fun Work Place” and what Michael did for a living was they mined people and their behavior and pretty much everything about them. They wanted to predict future behavior for several reasons, and much of this was top secret, Michael could not disclose why exactly he was paid to do what he did, he told no one, not even his friends. Michael’s job had asked him to implant a Radio Frequency Identification pin inside his skin and it was said to be able to make workplace doors and computer systems easier accessible to him and to all other employees with this pin installed inside them. Michael just thought he was changing with the times. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” There were those who called Michael’s new implant the Mark of the beast, like in the Sacred Text the Bible. But many people did not believe in God anymore, they felt themselves as Gods. Plus, with all the scientific progress being made on cells, these people somehow thought, they would be the generation that was going to cheat death. They were printing artificial organs and there were many new medicines that were simply not available 20-30 years ago. Things were different. This new generation thought only about themselves. There was no time to feel bad or worry for others. If they couldn’t cut it, that was there fault. The Radio Frequency pins were introduced a few years later to the general public. Michael preceded them, but once everyone was forced to implant one, then he felt more normal. Michael had worked at his job for 22 years. He started right out of high school, so he was 40 years old, but he was getting a little bored with his job.

Extreme Sin Corazon Capitalism had beat the Other Systems. They were proven to be not as effective and they were replaced and so this must be the chosen way. The never even stopped to think that the Other system was made by the same power structure and meant to fail so it could be used as an excuse, 1. To make wars and kill People of Color 2. To actually waste people’s energy into thinking they really had a choice, when all along they did not. Those that run the state reported to those with the power and kept the system in order and it was all a game.