Sameness is Safety

Note ▼

An entry for Dystopian Scrawlings

Leon froze to listen, and reached out a cautionary hand to his friend Dominic, who was still walking. Everyone around them stopped and turned their attention to the beige speaker set high in the corridor wall.

Here is the Life Improvement plan for today. Breakfast in your designated Mess Hall at 07:30. All citizens will report to their designated Faith Centre at 09:00 for the reading of Holy Writ and Study of Scripture. Remember, In Faith is Strength. Lunch will be provided in the Faith Centre. Mess Halls will be closed. Following lunch, even numbers will attend Economic Productivity and odd numbers will attend Healthy Recreation in the areas assigned on your schedule. Dinner will be in your designated Mess Hall at 18:00. In the evening, from 19:00 on, odd numbers will attend Economic Productivity and even numbers will attend Social Education as scheduled. Home Time is 21:30 and Slumber will occur at 22:00. The time is now 07:17. Life Improves Through Organization. Plan Well, Live Well.

"Same old same old, yes?" smiled Dom, turning to head for the mess hall. "Always the hype. The Gops certainly do want to get us organized."

"'Sameness is Safety'," Leon quoted, glancing up at the se-cam in the corner. "And it's nothing to joke about."

Dom looked at the security camera and held up his middle finger. Leon gasped and turned away.

"Geez, you are such a sheeple," Dom teased. "There are over seven thousand cameras in Factor Two. What are the chances of this one being monitored at this precise minute?"

"You know the Constitution protects our privacy rights," Leon rebutted. "Those who follow the Law are protected."

"Our rights are whatever the Supreme Court decides they are. And the Gops tell the Supreme Court what to decide. The riots in Factor Three are proof enough of that."

"That's a rumor, a conspiracy theory. Nothing happened in Factor Three."

"Been there, have you? Somehow missed the burnt buildings and bullet-pocked walls?"

"Pull the other one, Dom. You aren't authorized for inter-factor transport."

"Don't have to be authorized. Just have to know how to cross the walls."

Leon dropped his voice to a hoarse whisper. "Geez, Dom, are you crazy? You know the penalty for that. I don't even want to hear about it. Just telling me makes me an accessory."

"Accessory to what, Mr. Sheep? Did I admit to crossing walls?"

Leon glanced at the se-cam but quickly looked away.

"Come on, old buddy, time for breakfast." Dominic threw his arms around Leon in a brotherly hug, but whispered in his ear on the side away from the se-cam, "Let me into your room tonight after Slumber. I'll show you what's really going on in Factor Three."

Leon stiffened and ducked out of the embrace. "Yeah, uh, well, save me a spot at breakfast. You always beat me there."

With another nervous glance at the se-cam, he scurried to his room for his mess kit. Holy mother of Gop, that's sedition. Or treason. Or something. Dom's going to get into serious trouble. And me too if I don't report this. But he's my best friend. And he hasn't actually admitted to doing anything. Maybe he's just pranking me and if I bite he'll laugh at me and call me a sheeple again.

###

At breakfast, Dom was his usual lively self. "By Gop, I'm really looking forward to Social Education tonight!"

"Because we get to see girls," agreed Corven across the table.

"And because next week I turn fourteen," Dom added, "and can get my vas cut and actually have sex instead of just studying it."

"You don't want to wait to see if you're approved for Reproduction?" asked Leon.

"My simple sheeple friend, haven't you noticed that the approvals mostly go to the sons of Directors and Managers and Controllers and occasionally Trainers? If your dad is a StoreKeeper or Recorder or Sanitation Engineer, you get the snip. And that's fine with me because you get sex at fourteen instead of having to wait two more years."

"You think everybody waits, Dumb Dom?" teased Corven. "My buddy Lovid hooked up with a SanEng girl who'd had her tubes tied. No worries there."

"Unless they get caught," protested Leon, "and they surely will."

"Yeah, if you get lucky you don't have to wait," agreed Dom, "but if you get the snip you can screw all you want with any girl you want."

"You mean with any girl that wants you! If any!" said Corven.

Leon suddenly became aware that the se-cam on the wall above their table had rotated to point their way. There are over seven thousand cameras in Factor Two, Dom had said. What are the chances of this one being monitored at this precise minute?

They all washed their mess kits to stow in their rooms, then went to Faith Study

There, for three solid hours the Pastor exhorted them to follow the rules and show proper behaviour, and warned them of the consequences for deviance and non-compliance.

"Those who do not work, do not eat. Those who do not comply with society's standards have no right to the rewards of society. In this life, they shall be starved, and isolated, and shunned, imprisoned, even killed." His voice rose to an amplified crescendo. "And after death, they shall be cast into a lake of burning sulphur and shall suffer forever in agony. They shall writhe in eternal torment! Theirs will be unending hunger, unending terror, unending pain, unendurable suffering that lasts forever!"

His voice dropped to a persuasive purr. "Blessed are those who obey without question, for they are Gop's chosen people and shall have high positions in society and great privilege and the right to bear arms and have children. But equally blessed are those who simply comply, for they are the salt of the earth and shall receive food and clothing and gainful employment and companionship for all of their days. Remember always, Sameness is Safety, and Compliance is Salvation."

And all the people said, "Amen"

###

Economic Productivity--generally referred to by Citizens using the old term "work"--took Leon to a rooftop farm that afternoon, while Dom went to Textiles to comb fibres for weaving. "At least you'll be moving around," grumbled Dom. "I'll be standing in one place for the whole shift."

Leon spent his shift sweating in the sun pulling weeds and hauling buckets of water to various rows of vegetables. There was a spigot and a hose, but the Gardener quite correctly insisted that manual labor was more honorable, and built character. After four hours of character-building, Leon's back ached, his arms and shoulders ached, his legs ached, and he was ready to drop.

"That's how they keep us quiet," Dom had said once. "Work the hell out of us, but feed us well and we have nothing to gripe about, or if we do we don't have the energy to complain."

Thinking of his friend's words, Leon realized that for four hours he had forgotten his concerns about having to report Dom's behaviour or supposed activities. Geez, what am I going to do? If I didn't report as soon as I knew, does that make me guilty of non-compliance? His stomach rumbled with hunger and his imagination flared with visions of hell-fire.

In his room, he found a com message from the Factor 3 Director thanking him for his excellent record in Economic Productivity, noting that the Gardener had commended his effort. "A productive citizen is a valuable citizen," concluded the message, "and your valuable contribution is appreciated." Believing that he was valuable made his aches more bearable, but made his guilt and confusion far worse.

###

At dinner, Leon scanned the mess hall but couldn't see Dominic.

"Hey, where's Dom?" he asked Corven. "We always sit together."

No one knew. The meal seemed somber and quiet, and tasteless without Dom's jokes and insults for seasoning.

###

HomeTime was social time for visiting and room-hopping before Slumber. As Seniors, Corven, Dom, and Leon had private sleeping cubicles, and usually got together in one room or another.

Corven's door was open when Leon walked in. "Hey, Corven. Any sign of Dom?"

"Haven't seen him. Worried, man. You know what he's been up to?"

Leon decided discretion was the better part of valor, and kept his silence about Factor Three. "Uh, way he was talking at lunch, maybe he's pussy-hunting."

"Maybe. Hope so." The creases in Corven's brow suggested otherwise, and Leon wondered if Dom's supposed Factor-crossing was widely known. They played an authorized card game until it was time for Slumber.

###

As he lay in bed that night, Leon was both hopeful and fearful while awaiting Dom's tap on the door. Guilt at not reporting Dom's talk of Factor Three warred with guilt at the very thought of ratting out his friend.

There are over seven thousand cameras in Factor Two. What are the chances of this one being monitored at this precise minute? Perhaps the odds were higher than Dom realized.

With a shock like a kick to the gut, Leon suddenly knew beyond doubt that he would never see Dominic again. He reassured himself that at least he had not been the one to betray his friend, and drifted off to a troubled sleep.

In the morning, he realized that there had been no midnight knock at his door, and understood what that meant. He was saddened and sickened to note that what filled his heart was not sorrow at the loss of his friend, but a feeling of vast relief.