It was a windy morning. As Cyrul Lee entered the imposing building of the Security Ministry of TSTLE (called TT Area by people in common conversation) No. 17, he exuded all the confidence and walked with his head held high. He was the Chief Security Officer of TT Area 17, and reported only to the CEO of TT 17.

He had carefully listened to the weather bulletin before leaving his home. It matters not how intense is the storm, he had told himself firmly, our forces will just go ahead and do what has to be done.

Despite all his outward confidence, Cyrul could not avoid pangs of anxiety arising within him. But his response was to brush this aside and walk even more erectly.

As he reached the Department of Identity Control, he found the head of the department  waiting for him in  readiness. After paying his respects to Cyrul he led him to the Office of Top Priorities. Here three more officials were waiting for them.

Cyrul inquired –Have you completed the work relating to rebels?

—Yes Sir. As directed by you we have completed this on topmost priority basis.

—Let us see.

As the official switched on the computer, information on various identified rebels started appearing on a big screen, on  the basis of which they could be charged with the most serious offences, in some cases amounting to the identified persons having to spend the rest of their life in jails. Jail life for rebels was arranged in such a way as to break all physical and mental capacity of resistance.

This Department of Identity Control had the responsibility of collecting the most detailed information on all aspects of the life of all suspected rebels and dissenters. Intelligence officials filed the most minute detail on the public and private life of these persons to this office, including the details of their unguarded conversations with their friends and colleagues, even family members. All this information was fed into specially designed computer programs which were capable of selecting those bits and parts which could somehow be of use in framing charges against them.

Often the bits and parts of information picked up from here and there were entirely useless from the point of view of indicting the person and in fact would invite ridicule from any sane person, but the computer program was designed precisely to turn these absurd bits into what could look like serious crimes.

Even some decades earlier innocent persons were implicated falsely in various crimes, but then police officials had to put in a lot of effort for this. Now without any human effort, the computer achieved results which had the advantage of  including a lot of dates and other specific details. The computer could even be told in advance the precise offence and the related law, and it would come up with evidence details in conformity with this.

As Cyrul looked at the huge computer screen, he could see the names of several rebels along with their charge-sheets on the basis of which they could be arrested immediately. In fact Cyrul had plans to arrest them today only.

Cyrul spent some more time on examining the charges relating to Anita, whose name appeared at the top of the list of the rebels identified by him and his colleagues. Her name was followed by those of Janet, Lin, Ashfaq and other friends and colleagues of Anita.

Cyrul lingered for quite some time on examining the charge-sheet against Anita.

Then he asked the official—Are you sure we have enough here to send her for life imprisonment.

–Yes Sir. Quite sure. I have discussed with the law control department officials also.

A crooked smile appeared on the face of Cyrul as he complimented the official—Good, well done. Now let us look at the other work.

The official stepped back and in his placing another official came forward.

—I hope that you too completed your work.

—Yes Sir, all the detailed work on the medical records of rebels and dissenters has been updated and completed.

The office of this official had the responsibility of collecting all the details of the medical records of all rebels and dissenters, going back to even their parents, birth and childhood. Some of this record was collected along with the very large number of vaccinations which were compulsory. All this information was fed to a very specially designed computer program in such a way that any bit or part which helped to somehow place these persons in the category of being either a drug addict or  being very prone to a dangerous infectious disease or mental disease could be identified and categorized. No matter how false this identity or categorization was, this enabled the authorities to pick up any rebel or dissenter on ground of protecting personal as well as public health.

They were sent to special de-addiction centers, infectious disease hospitals and mental asylums and it was generally known that no rebel or dissenter came out of these places with any capacity of rebellion or dissent left in him or her. It had been observed that if such persons at all returned to their homes, they hardly spoke and often kept staring in some open space for a long time.

The Department of Identity Control had advanced these techniques to such a level that a perfectly healthy person could be shown to be an addict or suffering from mental disease or infectious disease, or a person who had worked for harmony and unity could be shown to be guilty of inciting riots among people. What is more all these indictments came supported with a lot of specific information and data.

Cyrul looked fleetingly at the medical records of about 50 dissenters he and his colleagues had targeted for picking up very soon.

–Good job, he told the second official .

They then sat down for a quick round of discussion. Sipping hot coffee with a lot of satisfaction, Cyrul instructed the officials to send these crime and medical records to police, intelligence and army with copy to him.

Even more arrogant than before, Cyrul now walked towards the Department of Armed Control. Here he had summoned his colleagues from three offices—the office for biological weapons, the office for military action and the office for robot weapons. All of them sat down for consultation around a big shining  table.

Cyrul first addressed the official from bio-control in a somewhat complaining tone—So you feel this cannot be done immediately.

The official replied in a very polite voice so as not to anger his boss any further—We have kept the virus ready, tested it fully for use against certain ethnic groups but Sir, we cannot use just now in the present context. The disease could spread to some persons  and employees working in our offices and homes also. There will be a lot of noise and opposition after this. The CEO has also advised against use just now.

Okay, agreed, Cyrul said now as he also did not want to be seen expressing a view contrary to that of the CEO of TT Area 17, the ultimate boss of this territory, also his own immediate boss.

However he could not resist giving a parting instruction—But keep perfecting your technology so that one day we can use viruses and other disease organisms against people of specific ethnicity, of course only after getting this cleared from the CEO.

Yes Sir.

Cyrul now looked towards the official from military control.

–Hope you are fully prepared for the action today.

–Yes Sir. All your instructions have been fully followed down to last details. Intelligence units have re-confirmed rebels will be assembling in forest today. In fact many of them  have started leaving their villages by now. Our military units are well-prepared to quietly take control of the paths from villages to forest so that when villagers start returning home after the meeting in small groups, they will be attacked by our soldiers. Many will be targeted to kill, so that sufficient terror is created and the rebellion is crushed before it can spread.

—Great! Do you require any extra support?

—No Sir, we have more than adequate force.

—Have you planned for the adverse weather?

—This is more of a worry for the rebels sir. Our units are so well-equipped storms hardly make any difference to them. The rebels are no match at all for us Sir. It is sheer stupidity of these rebels that they even think of confronting us.

—Well said. I agree you will not need extra support but still, just in case, I have made some plans.

Cyrul now turned towards the third official, from the Office of Robot Control, who had been waiting silently for his turn.

–Have you completed your preparations?

–Yes Sir. All your instructions have been complied with. We will be ready for action if and when any support from our side is needed.

–Perfect, Cyrul said with satisfaction as he got up to prepare for his next meeting of the day.

It was this third meeting that Cyrul was not at all keen to hold, and yet he could not avoid. So far he had met only those officials who were his subordinates and shared his highly aggressive approach. He was by nature and training a very aggressive man, and enjoyed any planning for aggression and attack for which he had great expertise. But now he had to meet the most senior Official for Civil Society. This official Jeremy had an equal rank and in all high-level meetings he had strong difference of opinion with Cyrul.

Now before the final go-ahead for the attack on rebels today could be given by the CEO, Cyrul had to meet and convince Jeremy, a task he desisted as no matter how much confidence Cyrul had in his own decisions, in the past he could never get the better of Jeremy. When it came to arguments on both sides. Jeremy always appeared on the winning side in any debate with Cyrul and Cyrul hated him for this.

Now the rules of decision making were such that Cyrul had to somehow involve Jeremy in this decision. Cyrul was very comfortable in holding endless meetings with his juniors who were expected to obey him. He was equally comfortable in meetings with CEO and others whose commands he was expected to obey. But in meetings involving free debate with equals he felt uneasy and out of place, all the more so in a meeting with someone like Jeremy who seemed to have a different world view altogether.

If aggression and attack were the obvious and first response to any suspicion of rebellion for Cyrul, Jeremy used to say that attack should only be the last response when all else has failed. However one factor which still worked in favor of Cyrul was that he along with all security officers had already sent a very strong  document in favor of the attack on rebels today to the CEO.

Before confronting Jeremy , Cyrul decided to take a break in his room and have some beer. At the entrance of his room it was written in bold letters —Aggression is the Essence of Life. After relaxing for a while he came out of the huge security building and took the fully automated transport to the much smaller building which housed the Department for Civil Society.

—So you have already decided to go ahead with full military preparations, Jeremy said dryly as soon as they met.

Cyrul also did not waste any time on formalities.

—Yes. I am responsible for security and cannot allow a situation to get out of hand .

—Can you equate a first meeting of rebels with a situation that is getting out of hand?

—I have access to more information. There are many threats you are not even aware of.

—-But you should at least wait till we have an adequate opportunity to try alternatives other than armed ones.

—-I have examined all aspects. I have more information. I cannot wait.

The more they argued, the more apparent it became that there was no meeting ground between them.

So they soon took the only other option open to them. They both went together to meet the CEO.

The CEO had anticipated their request for an early meeting. He readily accepted their request.

Fully automated transport brought them to the highly imposing CEO office within a few seconds.

They could not meet the CEO in person, of course. They had to wait before a huge screen. The CEO appeared on the screen soon enough. He heard the arguments of both for about ten minutes.

He then promptly gave a clear decision in favor of the attack.

Jeremy was disgusted, but he had no other option but to bow low and accept. As he turned back, he had a strong sickening feeling that the entire meeting was a big farce. The CEO had already decided in favor of the highly unjustified killing attack on the very first gathering of peaceful unarmed rebels before meeting him and Cyrul .

Cyrul was delighted. He did not even have the courtesy to say good bye to Jeremy. As all the preparations had already been made and the formality of sending the go ahead to the military units had to be completed anyhow by the CEO office, he decided to go home to get some rest and also celebrate before returning to his office to keep track of the events till late night.

**********************

Cyrul lived in a huge mansion, with highly automated and sophisticated security systems. Right at the entrance in huge letters the same maxim as was displayed in his office was highlighted—Aggression is the Essence of Life.

Cyrul lived alone in this huge mansion, except for two servants who lived in a basement cell. All his needs and luxuries were met in such highly automated ways that he seldom summoned them. A wide variety of food and drinks could be ordered in his amazingly automated kitchen which not just cooked but even arranged the food and poured the drinks.

The rooms once occupied by his wife and daughter now remained locked. He always had an uneasy relationship with his wife but had tried to make up for this by showering many gifts on her and their daughter. However as he became increasingly aggressive in his professional life , some of this also spilled over into his personal life. It appeared more and more that he could get along only with those whom he could order around. Just as others derived happiness from saying kind things, he appeared to get more satisfaction from saying harsh things and causing sudden upset to others.

He found that his wife and daughter appeared more and more to try to avoid him. Then one day they both decided to leave him.

He was very upset, of course, but only for a short time. He soon started realizing that their departure , along with the great wealth he controlled, enabled him to abandon all restraint and indulge in an unending orgy of sensual pleasures. However one problem continued to trouble him that he could not continue any enduring relationship and increasingly desired only command-based relationships.

He was increasingly attracted by the widespread advertisements of robotic sex dolls which were appearing all the time in the media. More and more of his colleagues were abandoning real life relationships and opting for sex robots who fully obeyed their commands and the data also revealed that the number of robot sex dolls in TT17 was close to almost a third of its adult population, with many persons opting for more than one.  He finally purchased one of the most expensive sex doll robots capable of performing the most amazing acts on command.

For some time he was happy as the robot doll performed just as ordered. But after some time the novelty wore off and then he saw the advertisement for a made-to-order sex robot. The buyer was asked to provide details of his ideas of attractiveness.  This information was fed into a specially designed computer program which then provided the feedback of the kind of attractive figure the sex doll robot should resemble.  Cyrul was very happy with the result and did not mind parting with a very huge sum of money for this . His fantasies of attractiveness were fully satisfied in this model but after some time he realized that he longed for something else too. So he ordered a third one as well.

Cyrul pressed the button for a very expensive whisky from his fully automated bar and after gulping some of this drink he moved towards the third and the newest  sex doll robot. As soon as he pushed the button next to the robot the sex robot started  wailing and crying like a woman threatened by rape and sexual assault. This is what Cyrul wanted and this is why he had purchased this special model of sex robot. Soon after the wailing started, Cyrul threw himself on the crying robot.

This was the only way he could satiate himself fully in recent times. When this realization first dawned on him he had first felt ashamed of his own instincts, but he was not one to carry a sense of shame for long. Besides the data base informed him that it is the sale of this third type of sex doll that was picking up fastest in TT 17, so he had a lot of company for his aggressive instincts. Now he habitually approached only this sex doll robot while the other two hardly attracted him any more.

On top of the wall of this room was  neatly scrawled ( here too ) the favorite quote of Cyrul—Aggression is the Essence of Life. The framed quote looked down meaningfully on the body of the great conqueror sprawled on a wailing sex doll robot.

To be continued….

THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM:

A Day in 2071 – Chapter 1

by Bharat Dogra

How different will be the world 50 years from now? If the tendencies of domination and exploitation which are a major cause of distress even today get aggravated greatly in the future conditions of escalating climate change and other serious threats, how will life shape up then, and where will humanity then search for hope?

This is a day of year 2071. The weather office has predicted a stormy day but will this be only a weather storm or whether a storm will also arise in the life of Anita and Cyrul, and in the life of their companions?

Will this storm have worldwide repercussions?

Whether it is the top elites living in TSTLE (Top Security Top Luxury Enclave) No. 17 or the common people living in surrounding villages and slums, the storm is likely to affect them all but what happens after this is not known at all.

Even in the midst of the gathering storm Cyrul has been trying to appear cool and calm, even playing around with his robot sex dolls.

On the other hand Anita has been working at multiple levels frantically, getting more tense.

But who knows how they will be at the end of this stormy day?

All that we know just now is that a stormy day is about to begin.

Bharat Dogra is a veteran journalist and author whose work has also been recognized in the form of several prestigious awards. He has written extensively on environmental and other increasing threats of future years in books like ‘Planet in Peril’ and ‘Protecting Earth for Children.’ His collection of Hindi short stories is titled Sachai Ki Kasam ( Under Oath for Truth) and collecton of Hindi poems is titled Kathin Daur Mein Ummeed ( Hope in Difficult Times).

https://countercurrents.org/2020/11/a-day-in-2071-chapter-1/

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