Infinity (633 hits)
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Submitted by Pol Pot (View user info) at 2004-05-30 08:51:53 EDT
The mini-cities had popped up across the country at the start of the New Order; each one was based on the same design. Each had a controlled population of sixty five thousand. In the residential district each house was one of three designs, for all three types of family situation. The single bedroom design could hold an individual or couple, the two and three bedroom designs for those couples with one or two children. There was no need for any extra bedrooms; families were not allowed to consist of more than two children. In the commercial district the offices and businesses (as well as the various institutions) existed. The commercial district held three supermarkets which all sold the exact same products (one brand for each), three restaurants which all served the same dishes, two car yards which both sold the same model of car. The residents could enjoy the perfected way of life that was derived from the trial and error of society over the past twenty thousand years. The residents knew there was no need for competition in products; there was no longer a need for choice. The residents knew the cars drove had the best energy consumption rating, the cheapest price tag, were the most comfortable. The food was engineered to taste as good as it possibly can. The only reason for multiple stores was to ensure the residents would not have to wait in line to purchase anything.
One such mini-city stood at the base of the Route 8 freeway: Infinity. Not since its construction had it been recorded with the government or surveyed by satellite for any roadmap. Considering a hundred thousand similar cities had been constructed over the past century across the continent it would seem quite plausible that this was just one of those coincidences, that by pure chance Infinity had slipped through the crack of public record and evaded recognition by the outside world. This is partially true, the outside mini-cities tended to stay to themselves. Each city was self sufficient, and each had a population large enough to ensure no contact with the outside world was necessary.
Each year more mini-cities were constructed and registered with the Government, and a re-sweep of the entire continent was done by hundreds of satellites for the purpose of census. Yet every time Infinity remained undiscovered. This was so for generations, but as time went on reports slowly made their way back to the Government head office in the mega-city of Grey.
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"Do you know why I have called you in here?" Inquired the stocky man sitting behind the metal desk.
"I processed some reports last week, something along the lines of a lost city in the East." Replied North, thinking of the work which would be piling up on his desk some three hundred floors below where he sat. But when the boss goes to the effort to call an employee to speak with him, normal work becomes last priority.
"Here are the satellite photos of the area," his boss, head of the Civic Government Department, motioned to a screen on the wall that flashed up an aerial map of desert. "And this is the problem". The map zoomed in and revealed a stretch of freeway across the length of the screen.
"It's just a freeway, but why is that important? Man hasn't used those in centuries!" Instantly North realized his error; he had not been asked to blurt out his thoughts.
His boss ignored him and the screen zoomed further in, revealing a large break in the freeway.
"This is where your city is," exclaimed the boss, pointing to the square of desert obviously superimposed over where city would be. "Alongside Route 8. Any city that goes to enough trouble to stay undetected by our satellites has got something to hide. I want you to travel there in the morning. Find out what they are hiding, and make sure you discover how they are fooling the satellites".
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The next day North found himself a thousand miles away from Grey. The transport freighter had dropped him onto the stretch of the Route 8 freeway with one of the agency's cars. Government cars were the only variation in car makes in the country. Unlike the regulars, solar panels lined every square inch of the outside of government models. North drove along Route 8, something that he never imagined himself doing. To keep the economy steady, the Government had long ago decided to limit travel between cities. Only government officials and representatives were allowed the privilege of travel. North found the off ramp and drove into the city of Infinity. He was first stranger to enter the city in a hundred years.
As North drove through the main street into the Infinity, it didn't take him long to see something was wrong. In his twenty years with the Agency, North had passed through hundreds of mini-cities, and he knew the city plan better than he knew his neighborhood back in Grey. But this city, Infinity, did not follow the generic plan of the mini-city. There were stores of unfamiliar names, selling unfamiliar products. There were shop fronts for services the outside world had almost forgotten, such as pet stores and dog groomers. There were no domestic animals back in Grey, or in any of the mini-cities North had ever visited.
North drove up to the municipal building. At least it was in the same place as every other mini-city. He got out of the car and walked into the lobby. A secretary looked up from some papers on her desk and smiled.
North spoke up. "I'm here to see Mayor Stanton, I'm here on behalf of the Government Civil Department."
The secretary stopped smiling and pressed an intercom buzzer. "Mr. Mayor, there is a man here to see you, he says he is with the Government."
There was a long pause before the reply came: "Thank you. Send him up."
"The Mayor is on the penthouse floor, take the elevator over there to the top floor." Said the secretary.
North walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the twelfth floor. When the elevator door opened he realized he was on the building's rooftop, and almost doubled back to the elevator. He stopped when he saw a thin man standing out on the edge of the building. He approached him slowly, wondering if the man was considering jumping.
"Mayor Stanton?" Inquired North.
Stanton turned and faced North with a solemn expression on his face. "Yes." Came the reply. "I suppose you are wondering what is going on here."
"I just came here to get some answers, reports of this place have been coming in every few years for the past century."
As the two stood on the rooftop, looking out across the city, the Mayor began his explanation.
"It was my Grandfather who started all this," said the mayor as he waved his arm across the city. "When the Government sent out the notice that all cities and towns were to be razed to make way for the New Order, my Grandfather couldn't accept such a change. As the small town where he grew up was bulldozed, his application to rebuild on the same location was approved, and the Government contractors arrived to rebuild the city in the new design. When the city was finished and the contractors had left, your people came out to review the city. My Grandfather bribed the officials to write a report detailing how the project had been abandoned and no city had ever been constructed. A few years later he was informed the Government would be scanning the country with satellites, and had to call back an official to offer more bribe money, this time for the information as how to avoid showing up on the scans. The official must have returned to your Department and altered the satellite's software to change the area of Infinity to a randomly generated desert pattern, since we have not been bothered since."
"My Grandfather died over sixty years ago," continued the Mayor. "A new Mayor was elected, we are still a democratic society. But ever since we became assured our city was safe from prying eyes, we have been trying to rebuild our society to its old state. We have the same arterial basin water as the people in the old city had hundreds of years ago, and if you look across there you will be able to see our farmlands." North looked at where the Mayor was pointing, and sure enough he spotted it, real farmland. If he had not seen it himself he would not have believed it still existed anywhere in the country. "Over there is the industrial district. I know all about the outside world, and I also know that Infinity is probably the only place in the country where two factories will make two different brands of the same product. This competition doesn't exist in your cities, but it is the very foundation of Infinity. Let me ask you something, what did you say you name was?"
"My name is Jack North." Replied North.
"OK, North, how much do you get paid per year?"
"One hundred thousand dollars."
"And in your city, in the outside world, how much does a loaf of bread cost?"
"Ten dollars."
"In Infinity, the average wage is twenty thousand dollars."
North felt the sting of pity for the residents.
"In Infinity, a loaf of bread costs thirty cents." Continued the Mayor.
The feeling of pity vanished from North, replaced with disbelief.
"But in the new order everything is perfected, the prices are the lowest possible, the food tastes the best possible." Countered North.
"When your order was coming into place, those like my Grandfather rejected it because they knew it was too good to be true. What you just said to me has no doubt been told to you hundreds of times in your life, though if you have never tasted anything different, how do you know what you have tasted is the best?" North did not reply, he seemed in a trance as he stared out at the city. "Here," The Mayor said as he pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket and threw it to North. North caught it and took a bite, knowing full well the bar could not match the quality of those back at home.
"This is chocolate?" Asked North, his taste buds reeling.
"That is real chocolate." Replied the Mayor.
At this point North felt his mind struggling to come to terms with it all, but he spoke anyway; "Millions of people out there are being lied to for the sake of a few big businesses holding monopolies?"
"No, not a few. Just one. Do you see now why we have done this with our city?"
"Yes."
"Look out there, behind to the industrial district." The mayor instructed as he pointed to a row of buildings stretching in a straight line across the horizon. "What do they look like to you?"
"They are barracks."
"Yes, Infinity has prospered far beyond any of the other mini-cities out there. The population and domestic production limits applied to the others by the Government are only there to oppress those cities. Here no such limits can be applied, and Infinity's population has grown to hundreds of times the population of any mini-city in the country. We have infiltrated our own citizens amongst your Government departments, and we know the inventories of your Government's army. Over the past hundred years we have been building up our own munitions stockpile. A third of the factories you see in the industrial district are building shells and armored vehicles as we speak. You see; your government has deluded itself into believing its own propaganda to a degree. While they are content to sit with the same military technology they have had for a century we are still developing new innovations. Those barracks you see before you house a half million soldiers. Another six and a half million men and women can be called in reserve. Since I was elected Mayor twenty-four years ago I have devoted my time to amassing an army big enough to lead against the armies of four mega-cities."
"And the people support you?" Asked North.
"They re-elect me every four years. My approval rating has never dropped below ninety-five percent. Mr. North, you may have figured out why I explained the whole situation to you, knowing full well you can use the information against Infinity."
"You want me to file a false report." Replied North, not missing a beat.
"Yes."
"I don't think I could remain idle knowing what you are preparing to do."
"Just consider what I have explained. The residents of Infinity know what is out there, which is why none of them leave. This is our Eden."
"And you want to extend this Eden to those outside by waging war?"
"There is no more noble a reason."
"I will consider your request." North turned away from the city and walked out of the building.
North drove out of Infinity, his head spinning. When he got a few hundred miles out of the city's limits he called the Department from his car and a few hours later the freighter flew out and picked him and the car up. On the way back he grabbed a chocolate bar from a vending machine on the freighter, the only brand he had ever known before today. He took a bite of it, and as he spat it out he realized he had already came to a decision.
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06/24/2867
To: Civic Government Department
Phil Hannan
RE: Lost city (1882,0199)
As instructed, I arrived at the co-ordinate location (as indicated in the brief), at 0900 after being transported to Route 8 by Freighter #0A12 at 0700. I arrived to find the razed remains of the original township that was destroyed at the beginning of the New Order, over one hundred years ago. What I discovered was a handful of people who, for some reason, had come to the grounds to squat in the last few remaining erect buildings. This is in check with the reports I handled pertaining to evidence of human life in the area. From what I have seen I can safely say the area poses no threat or interest to the Department.
Regards,
Jack North
User Reviews
Submitted by I_Have_a_Kristen_Fetish (user info) at 2004-07-08 07:35:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I think you missed a few of my old posts, be sure to go back and -2 them.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2004-05-30 23:05:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
So...long...not bad though
Submitted by RateMachine3000 (user info) at 2004-05-30 21:54:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Not the worst thing ever, but boring.
Submitted by Malificent (user info) at 2004-05-30 16:54:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Nice writing. George Orwell called and he wants his concept back. ;)
Submitted by SausageKing (user info) at 2004-05-30 14:42:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by FATMANTPK (user info) at 2004-05-30 13:20:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I love stories like this.
Submitted by Jocko_Johnson (user info) at 2004-05-30 13:16:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
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Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2004-05-30 12:32:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
You can bring up Ayn Rand, but don't compare yourself to her--not even her ghost.
Not bad, but not great either.
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-05-30 12:09:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are my favorite sorta troll.
Submitted by BalloonKnot (user info) at 2004-05-30 12:05:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Release KoolMang from his chains
Balloon Knot has spoken!
Submitted by Dufflady (user info) at 2004-05-30 11:18:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting.
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2004-05-30 10:31:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I will have to say that was pretty good
Submitted by Darshiscool (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:55:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
that is awesome
Submitted by PolPot (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:40:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by kai070169 (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:34:11 (#)
Ranking: 0
How did a dumbass like you pull something like this out of your ass overnight? COmpare this to your last post less than 24 hours ago & then explain the suddent 100 point IQ surge. I don't buy it!
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Good, because I'm not selling it.
Submitted by earth_collapse (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:34:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very well written and very interesting... yet I wish I knew more about what exactly created this new world order...
Submitted by kai070169 (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:34:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
How did a dumbass like you pull something like this out of your ass overnight? COmpare this to your last post less than 24 hours ago & then explain the suddent 100 point IQ surge. I don't buy it!
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:26:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuck, someone brought up Ayn Rand before I did. This was good.
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:24:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by PolPot (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:17:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm just the ghost of Ayn Rand
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2004-05-30 09:16:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I really liked this.
Submitted by Random Joe at 2004-05-30 09:12:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
shut up ayn rand.