Summary

In a society where everything has been perfectly engineered, a young man's belief system is challenged when he meets a young girl, and he must decide if he can stand the risk of thinking for himself.

Prologue 

The crash was heard all around the world. It wasn’t physical sound�" but it radiated across the world in great storms of noise, so loud that not even the deaf could have missed it. It wasn’t a surprise, to those who had been waiting for it, to those who welcomed it, and those who had been part of it. To others, it was a horrible wake up call. Thousands of people were violently shaken awake by a loved one, or a neighbor, who was screaming and crying about the people in the streets, the total annihilation of technological world.

It began with lack of interest in political votes. It escalated to massive boycotts, nationwide. It crested with riots and wars against the government. It ended with the assignation of the world leaders. All of them.

It was violent, and bloody and a long time coming. You can only stay so long in the boiling water until self-preservation kicks in and you fight back.

The world was sick of owing itself. People were sick of owing each other. It was a Revolution of the highest order. With no politics, and no government, no rulers…who would they owe?

Nobody. That was the point.

The future was unclear �" but there was only two ways that it could go.

Utopia or Dystopia.

Peace or …not.

People were scared, they were terrified, of change and to be forced into such a drastic change with the snap of someone’s fingers made the change all the more harder.

People needed to understand that, in order to survive, to have the perfect Utopian society, and in order to make that new way of life livable, a symbiotic relationship was needed between all.

That meant no more hatred. No racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no supremacists, no greed, no petty slights.

Not everybody agreed. There were more riots, there was a war or two. And eventually it died down. Whether those extremists were shown the metaphorical light, or where ushered along to their maker is unclear. All that is recorded in the Library is that the world found its way into peace.

And that nothing that threatened that peace was tolerated.

And, of course, what is the point to creating a perfect society, a perfect System, if there aren’t rules to guide.

The new society has several rules.

 

1.)    1.) No technology is to be used in individual homes. All communications are to be given and received in the Library or the Communication Hall.

2.)    2.) No creation is allowed.

3.)    3.) No one is to horde.

4.)    4.) No one is to consume more than they need.

5.)    5.) Everyone is entitled to; their own religion, their own sexuality, their own gender(s)

6.)    6.) All persons are expected to follow the Rules and the Guiding Principles.

This new world sounds perfect. This new System seems flawless. They make it out to be the best thing that could have happened to us. There are those who think they’re wrong. Human beings crave conflict. It’s part of the human condition to crave chaos, to promote anarchy. They stay dormant not because it suits them to. They stay dormant because it’s part of a plan in their minds, a plan that they don’t even know exists yet.

But someday soon, they’ll get tired of the passive, peaceful existence and they will rebel again. And the System will collapse on itself, too.