Chapter One - The Summer of Love

In 1964, the people of Britain attempt to rise up and revolt against the establishment. The British government takes drastic action to prevent future revolutions. They usher in a new age in Britain.

The Cabinet was in session. As the Cabinet was convening, crowds were spilling into the streets across the whole of London. The Prime Minister cleared his throat. "This violence is simply unacceptable. This will not stand, I assure you. Back when I was a young lad, the youth did what they were bloody-well told! Do those children out there really think we would've won two world wars, if we'd gone around, protesting the whole time?". The Cabinet were silent. The Prime Minister's cold blue eyes darted from person to person, sat at the table before him.

The Home Secretary began to nod. "May I present a suggestion, Prime Minister?". The Prime Minister nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Of course! Nobody else seems bothered enough to provide a suggestion". The Cabinet ministers felt ashamed. They all looked sombre in their own ways, not having the nerve to meet the gaze of the Prime Minister. The Home Secretary stood up to speak. "My right honourable friends, Prime Minister...this crisis has spiralled out of control. Prime Minister, you desire discipline, yes?". The Prime Minister had calmed down. He gently nodded in approval of the Home Secretary's words. "Excellent...as you all know fully, the defence budget has been in deficit for the whole of this administration."

Members of the Cabinet started to perk up a little bit. A few of them began looking at one another, inquisitively. "The reason for why the defence budget was in deficit has been kept secret for quite some time, but I can now explain to you why this is so", the Home Secretary continued. "Our best scientists have been developing one of the most powerful weapons known to man". One of the Cabinet members was shocked. "Wait one moment, Home Secretary. We have a potential revolution on our hands, and your best solution is to wipe them out, using a deadly weapon?".

"Quite the contrary. Our best scientists have perfected a psychotropic chemical in the past few years. It exists in a gaseous state and has the potential to pacify people. A scientific advisor by the name of Dr Lomax told me that this chemical alters the chemical composition of hormones, effectively pacifying somebody. 25 tests of this chemical have been carried out, with 20 of them proving successful". Another Cabinet minister leapt up. "This is absurd! You suggest that we intoxicate the population at large? They'll never let it happen!". The Home Secretary gave the minister a dirty look. "Who says the population needs to know about it? All we would have to do is allow several planes to fly over the densely population places of the country, and spray them with this gas". The dissenting Cabinet member slowly sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead, barely being able to comprehend what was being done.

The Prime Minister began twiddling his thumbs. "What if the gas is blown overseas? We'll end up gassing ourselves and our neigbours too! The last thing we want is for this domestic problem to involve Europe". The Home Secretary scoffed. "The gas is dense; once it is sprayed by the planes, it would sink close to ground level. Once is happens, the gas will stay there. Believe me, a lot has gone into perfecting this thing. Nothing has been overlooked." The Cabinet ministers all glanced at one another, to gauge each others' reactions. Silence pervaded the Cabinet meeting. Those few who opposed the idea were far too shy to dare speak out. Suddenly, the Minister for Defence bashed the table with a fist. "Gentlemen, in the last two hours, nobody has seemed to be capable of presenting a reasonable solution to this crisis gripping our nation...until now". The Minister of Defence looked to the Prime Minister. "Prime Minister, I beg of you, for the safety of our citizens, give the green light to this idea". The Prime Minister surveyed the men sitting around the table. Most of them were spineless fools, who would seek to depose him, at the slightest hint of failure.

The Cabinet all stared at the Prime Minister with baited breath. The Prime Minister grasped a glass jug of iced water from the centre of the table, and proceeded to pour a glass. He gently swallowed the water, and swished the small pieces of ice around his mouth, as he mulled over the decision put before him. He cleared his throat, and spoke softly, before uttering two simple words. "Do it".

Reviews

[patricia]

Interesting read, took me a while to get into the flow, but by the third paragraph I was there. This could blossom into quite a story.
There is a march going on to Downing St. in protest against pesticide sprays, and concern for our dying Bee population, so your story could be quite topical at the moment.
Content of your story quite worrying,
Overall the Chapter is very good.

[Padams94]

Thank you very much for your review. It was a happy coincidence that people were marching on Downing St about pesticides, just as I chose write this. I've had the idea for a while. By saying the content of the story is worrying, what are you referring to, in particular?

[patricia]

hi sorry for taking so long to get back to you. when i say worrying i mean about the bees dying and the consequences to the environment, i didnt mean anything you wrote was wrong. sorry if i worried you, ha ha. trish.

[Padams94]

Silly me :) I'll try and sort out the next chapter in a few days.

[patricia]

yes...do...it is an interesting story so far. bye for now.

[Megan A B]

Excellently done piece! The diaglogue flows really well and you get a lot of information across without it seeming forced - which is tricky. It could possibly use a bit more scene-setting and characterisation? But then at the same time the horror of what's being decided on is a lot more creeping and subtle in that it seems an almost objective viewpoint which might be what you were aiming for? At any rate, it's great and I can't wait to read more :)