By J. S. O'Keefe
When One meets another One and they find out they see the System the same way, they become Two-Gather. Controlled Thought finds out about it but is not yet worried. When a third One joins the Two-Gather after discovering they have identical views on the System they become Three-Gather. It is the first time Controlled Thought has some concern. If it is so easy to see the System through the same lens, how long before several of these so-called Gathers coalesce and become a Crowd?
Turns out, not tomorrow, but it’s going to happen in the future. All it takes is seeing what the System is, in spite of what the bullhorns of the media bombard them day in, day out.
That’s when Controlled Thought realises that the Crowd has become impossible to govern using cheap arguments like “democracy” and “freedom”, and turns to Authorities. The danger is real and right around the corner. Without the System there’s going to be chaos, mindless hurly-burly all over the place, global economic depression which might ultimately lead to world war. That sounds quite convincing and it’s a valid justification for sending out the Army to control the Crowd, first with intimidation or if that doesn’t work, physical action.
There’s a new trouble around the corner, though. The foot soldiers of the Army get to the point they’re unwilling to fire at the Crowd. One thing, they have friends and family in the Crowd, and it’s also possible that the rest are good decent people, too. Another, the military men have begun their own quiet conversation about the System and come to conclude that the Crowd people seem to be onto something. If the Crowd is neither criminal nor misinformed, the System must be evil.
It is now us vs them, and the Crowd with the help of the Army makes quick work of the System. Controlled Thought, breathing its last breath, predicts there’s going to be soon a New System, also with a set of ideologies and clever politics to control the people. Remember Bolshevism? Remember Fascism?
The people are not afraid; there’s not going to be a New System because each One will have One’s own thoughts.
Together One.
About the Author
John O’Keefe
J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer.
His short stories and poems have been published in Roi Faineant, Scribes*MICRO, Every Day Fiction, AntipodeanSF, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 6S, WENSUM, Spillwords, Satire, etc.
Our weekly podcast features the stories from recently published issues, often narrated by the authors themselves.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
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