literature

Space Thinker D: Part1

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Literature Text

In this future, large corporations rule over a puppet government which has been sculpted and crafted to suit their needs.  the majority of people are consumers, or cons for short.

There are still rich people, poor people, privileged classes and working people but the sphere of influence in the realm of public discourse is dominated by a combination of an ubercapitalistic rugged competitive individualism, irrational fear of upsetting the corporate powers (Cors for short), an ironically hypocritical anarcho-primitive philosophy that denounces technology and science yet makes silent exceptions for the devices and techniques that maintain quality of life + whatever nifty new latest got-to-have-it gadget gets cranked out, and for the most part belief in a system which is at best indifferently neutral to an individual's plight and at worst will harvest you for everything useful it can take from you then discard your spent drained hull in many ways - some more physical and grotesque, others more intangibly arabesque.

D is a thinker, part of a class that though it has not been forbidden has for either centuries or decades been the butt and the scapegoat of politics.  Thinktanks research for and are funded and caretaken by individual prospective cors.  Cons are largely oblivious to it but are fed stories and images of everything being the fault of the thinktanks instead of the government or the cors.  The fact is the Cors needs thinktanks to reverse engineer each other's technologies and found artifacts from earlier ages to pull together and better understand what's going on in the world so they can advance themselves in a monolithic scrabble to the top.  the thinktank is composed of clans of thinkers, some bred traditionally and some cloned... all genetically engineered to be augmented as par regular humans. It's a slightly privileged class but lower on the hierarchy than rich people. Sort of level with working people but in some circles regarded as above it one rung because sometimes specific members of thinks are the mouthpieces for the cors on instructing and managing the workers to churn out their products for the cons to enjoy/spend money on or slave away towards obtaining.

Anyway, back to D. It came to my attention that D's psychological test results came back boss with a most unusual trait and I was going to request your input on whether we should allow him to mature or terminate him because of the potential risk.

"Well, what trait would that be? You know we don't actually necessarily always eliminate those with a potential towards criminality because a degree of instability is important for avoiding stagnation and that this is just something we feed the cons so they can sleep better at night. What showed up as a peculiarity?"

Well boss, according to the notes of proctors at the academy, D is unusual in that he registered positive for the personality trait of a questioning attitude towards authority.  The Cor has been instructing us that blind obedience is a sought after thinker trait and to screen for it.  What should I do?

"My employer said back when D was an embryo that they had some vested interest in keeping him alive since he was bred with particular modifications. I wouldn't be so hasty to terminate him. I'll check with my superiors and see about giving you further instruction but at the meantime, do not terminate him and make sure he stays aboard the Domicile for the time being."

Let me explain to you about the Domicile.  Each clan of thinkers lives aboard massive city or larger sized ships where they mind, engineer and raise the next generation of thinkers for their cor.  This was found to be more stable than picking intellectuals out of the messy environment which the cons live in on the surface world where they can still be persecuted or the waste of resources involved in training spoiled upper tier members who felt that working or thinking too much as something for a living was something beneath them.  The domicile is the clan ship in which D's thinktank lives.  These are not colony ships. they are either smaller or larger. Colony ships are where more well to do cons and lower level cor members live, many workers are allowed to go with special off-time temporary permits they are granted to be allowed to spend their wages (think of colony ships as larger cities with giant malls and bizaars), and where lower level cor members and thinkers of many ranks spend their off time when allowed to if they are granted licenses.  Anyway D was part of one of the many selective breeding and modification experiments our cor has directed us to do to come up with a better kind of researcher.  Word says other cors have similar projects but we're trying to make ours be the best. It is troubling that his file lists having a risky profile but my superior said to keep him alive and it seemed important enough that he felt it necessary to consult with his own superiors.  Most of my colleagues have rarely if ever seen our boss's bosses and our most senior thinker breeder claims to have only interacted with these people a handful of times at the most during his tenure.  We know they are real but they must live somewhere beyond the colony ships or in a separate part of the Domicile than we do.  It's very mysterious.  I was supposed to give D his license for offship visiting as part of his coming of age ceremony but have been instructed to withhold it. Now I must break it to him, being careful not to reveal too much about why.  He was looking forward to getting a license like his peer clanmates who already obtained theirs and not having to get permits like a lower class citizen.  This won't be too easy.

"32, why are you hesitating? I gave you your instructions. You are to continue to mind D and gather information for his file but withhold giving him a license until further instruction."

Boss, z, I um, I told D he would be ready for his license soon, I think he won't react favorably to this new information and restriction.

"Okay so give him a permit but chaperone him during the trip. Keep an eye on him and keep it brief. It's been a long time since we had anyone positive for that trait and history says it can upset the cons very much when being exposed to the kinds of ideas that people with a trait like what your people say D's personality profile tests positive for tend to have."

Yes sir.
Meet 32, D's special caretaker and overseer aboard Thinker Academy ship Domicile. She is not having a good day at her job and has to give her boss z some bad news, which will in turn make reporting to his superiors for the quarter when they talk to other members of their cor have some headaches. This is part 1. I will draw a picture of the Domicile soon. to go either along with this or in part 2.

The story is supposed to be about D but I figured a bit of a prologue would be in order.

In this story technology is not the bad guy, science is not the badguy, but there is some totalitarianism and it is of a psychological and political mind control nature.
© 2012 - 2024 scholarwarrior-lad
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TSFurman's avatar
It’s like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and a right wing wet dream all mixed up!
Alcohol in his blood surrogate!