“No excuse, man. That sounds righteous. I want in on that. My life is boring as hell.” Jerry kept arguing his need for nights like theirs, while Dan tried to defend Charlie and himself. The whole time, Charlie looked on as his whole presentation fell apart before him. His two friends were bickering over why Jerry hadn’t been there to enjoy the mushrooms. That wasn’t the point. The point was to change the world.
Charlie rolled his eyes and took a sip of his beer. “Guys… Guys… Shut the fuck up!” yelled Charlie.
Dan and Jerry stopped, looking up at Charlie in surprise. They both broke out into fits of laughter. At first, Charlie looked on seething with anger. These idiots. How was he going to change anything with these two?
“Okay, maybe I should have elaborated on this,” Charlie began as he referenced the 3D holographic representation. “Like I said, I broke into the neuro area of the hospital and messed with this jelly mold thing that can trace brain waves.”
Jerry looked over at Dan.
“Yes, I know. Weird. Stay with me. A recording was made of it all. The thing records everything. Didn’t know it at the time, but thankfully one of the nurses got this to me.”
“Was she hot?” Jerry asked.
“Who?”
“The nurse.”
“He was not. Anyway, look.” Charlie displayed his brain activity and the streams of consciousness from the hospital before Dan and Jerry. The image took up half the room, recreating the scene with excruciating detail.
“Awesome,” Dan said.
“Yeah awesome,” Jerry exclaimed. “What’s going on here?” he asked as he got up and pointed to the streams combining together.
“Those are the thoughts of everyone. Each stream is someone. Look here,” Charlie said as he pointed to his own stream. “These are from my subconscious, which is being incorporated here,” he continued, now pointing at where the first combination was occurring, “with everyone else. And here is the final stream, the combined deliberations of everyone, going up to The Proxy… I think.”
“You think?”
“Well, yeah. But after seeing it here and while we were camping, I’m feeling pretty confident. Dan?”
“Me too, Charlie.”
“But still, man. You can’t be serious,” Jerry exclaimed.
“The way everything is working, isn’t right,” Charlie said. “We shouldn’t let it all continue.” Again, Charlie referenced the representation of what he had seen at the hospital. “See here how all these different little strands are combining to form this one big strand,” Charlie said as he pointed to the presentation. “And see here where all these changes are happening? You can actually see where reasoning is transforming. Now, if these are people’s opinions on a certain subject, what’s making them suddenly alter?”
“I don’t know,” Jerry said.
“The majority is changing them. So whoever and whatever is the majority runs the world without a say from anyone else. Our world will never benefit from the different ideas of the minority. We’ll never get to see all the unique things that different cultures and different groups can invent. New thinking won’t happen. We’ll be stifled by the majority. And we know the majority’s agenda, because our world is run by them now.”
“What do you think you’re going to do?” asked Jerry.
“I’m glad you asked,” responded Charlie. “Here’s the deal,” went on Charlie. While he talked, he removed some papers jumbled in a green folder and dropped them on the coffee table. Inside were clippings, journal articles, and random paper cutouts with notes and highlights throughout the text. “The Proxy is the subconscious of all registered minds, right? That chip they implanted in us at the time of our registration, linked our minds in order to use our collective subconscious. That collective subconscious makes every important decision. Day to day everything is seamless and transparent. This is because the happenings and decisions are working in our subconscious. We don’t realize what exactly is happening. The Proxy can continue to function while all human beings go about their normal lives.”
“Okay, yeah?” said Jerry.
Dan sat looking through all the information strewn across the coffee table. “This chic’s hot,” he said.
Charlie looked over. “Yeah, that’s Dr. Helena Buscher. She was the architect of all this, expanding on her father’s work. Here’s the kicker. The subconscious is the key. The Proxy is the subconscious of the world, the subconscious of us. If we can focus on our subconscious, we can see what The Proxy is doing.”
“I don’t know,” said Jerry.
“Listen,” Charlie retorted. “If we can focus in on our subconscious then we can actually observe and record what’s happening. We can see the decisions being made. We can also find out if The Proxy is working in the interest of all of us.”
“You don’t think he, it, whatever it is, is?” asked Dan.
“This world ain’t right,” said Charlie. “Look at everything that happens. Why on earth would we all want a world where security comes at the cost of freedom? I get it. Everyone wants to be safe. But, do we all want to be another blot on the wall so that nothing ever bad happens to us? What about some adventure? What about having the freedom to do what we want? I don’t want people looking over my shoulder at everything I do so they can decide if it’s okay. Do you?”
“Fuck no!” yelled Jerry, startling everyone including himself. “Sorry… I got caught up. Great points, man.”
“Me neither,” continued Charlie. “Listen to your heart. Imagine if you could say and do the things you want without worrying all the time that the wrong person would see it.”
“To be honest, I can’t even imagine that,” said Dan.
“That’s the saddest part. We’re so used to it. We’ve become accustomed to dealing with what we’re told. We don’t ever bother to think ‘what if?’ And then if we do, we can’t imagine a world where such would be possible. We’re numb to it. We’ve settled for all this.” As Charlie was giving this tirade, his arms were making wide gestures, trying to show how much of the world this pertained to. He was slowly instilling in Jerry and Dan the magnitude of what he was arguing.
“Okay man,” said Jerry. “Let’s say I agree with you. Then let’s say I thought there was a way to change things. Finally, let’s say I thought we were the bozos to do it. How the fuck are we going to make this happen?”
“All right.” Charlie had been waiting for a little buy in. “We need a team. We need a plan. We need the team and the plan to take down The Proxy. We need an interim government that promotes freedom and good will.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dan and Jerry said together.
“No shit we need all that,” continued Jerry. “I also need a billion dollars and a blowjob from the girl down the hall.”
“We can do it,” Charlie persisted. “We saw inside. All we need to do is put it together. There’s a way. With the right plan and the right people, there’s a way.”
Ministerial regulation no. 28 (coded 664932021) issued by the Procreation Allocation Quantum.
1. For the purposes of procreation, all requests must be made through the Procreation Allocation Request Database, located within the Health and Well Being Services Department Web Server:
(1) Approval of procreation is a direct result of the current societal needs.
(2) Requests for offspring are approved based on the current job manning percentages issued by the Work Consortium based on survey results taken across all sectors of business.
(3) One request at a time is allowed. Should additional requests be made prior to previous results, all such inquiries will be deleted from the database.
2. The Department bases its decisions on the continually changing needs as depicted by the surveys. There will naturally occur periods of rapid approvals while also periods in which procreation will not constitute a benefit to society.
(1) Each request will be accompanied with a unique tracking number.
(2) The tracking numb
er should be used by requesters to monitor the progress of such requests.
(3) Potential delays could occur. The request will provide clear explanation, returning either an “In Progress” message or an “Approved/Denied Message.”
3. Upon notification of approval, the requester has 29 days to procreate.
(1) Should delays occur, and 29 days is not acceptable, the requester must submit an extension once that 29th has expired.
4. Any questions, please call our automated hot line, with your unique tracking number or tracking numbers. Your question will be answered in due time.
(1) The phone call will be accompanied with a unique tracking number prior to hanging up.
Given this 31st day of January, (2036)
Take effect on 15th of February, (2036)
CHAPTER 4
DREAM PAIRS
Dr. Helena Buscher stood within the four digital walls dedicated to the administration of the world, the digital representation of The Proxy hovering before her. The Proxy didn’t float. It was. There was no need to represent this collective subconscious. Present before her was an expressionless ominous head with glowing white eyes, portrayed to all as a divine figure in existence for the benefit of all creation. The head was a hologram of blue, black, and white that was semi opaque.
She looked across to the workers whizzing about, aware of their presence but unable to distinguish who was who, the hologram distorting the details. The hologram never flickered, and the expressionless face never flinched. This redundant two-story head remained as a symbol of what the facility did, a sense of pride fulfilling Dr. Buscher as she looked on.
Dr. Buscher stared up, straining her neck to try and view The Proxy in its entirety. She watched as the head would blink its dead white eyes from time to time. For some reason, she marveled at this. She didn’t know why. She knew how it worked, a simple program developed long ago. She had on occasion watched, noting the times when The Proxy would blink, discerning the pattern. The action of blinking was unnecessary, but when the engineers designed the hologram, this remained as a beta concept to make The Proxy more relatable. Dr. Buscher had denied requests to eliminate the feature. Her mind was at ease, watching the constant blinking, counting the one, two, three… One, two… One, two, three, four.
The whole concept of being relatable to human beings was unnecessary. The once touted idea that The Proxy would be a beacon of inspiration had long been instilled. Established rulings and laws administered by The Proxy were now the way of society. There was no need to drill into the human race the authenticity of The Proxy because punishment met resistance. Likewise, questions were ignored and life continued. The Proxy enjoyed undisputed loyalty and obedience.
Communities had all agreed upon this form of government fifteen years ago with the final consolidation into one World Government, along with the implementation of the synthesized technology that made The Proxy feasible. The arranged path of society had been set. The idea of an alternative didn’t even seem viable anymore. The daily lives of the world’s population remained within the bounds of the status quo. No one questioned. There didn’t seem to be anything to question. The way was now the way. Simple.
“Ma’am, can I help you?” one of the workers asked. He had the standard issued clipboard, marking off diagnostic findings, which the other operatives passed down from their moving platforms.
Dr. Buscher’s wandering mind came to a sudden stop. “Are you seeing any anomalies?”
“No Ma’am,” the worker answered.
“Are the feeds coming in from our hubs as expected?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said as he led her over to the terminal displaying the inputs and outputs feeding the building. These inputs and outputs were the digital feedback produced within this building and the surrounding corporate offices. The true power was not reflected here though. The true power of The Proxy lived in the combined subconscious of the world’s citizens, something that could not be quantified or displayed.
Dr. Buscher was satisfied with what she observed. Nothing had ever gone amiss with the feeds, but she routinely made it a point to visit the workers here. They were not perfect like her system was. She entered one of the side offices by the entrance to the building. The walls were lined with old articles and news stories, mainly of her or her father. She stopped and picked up one of the framed advertisements that rested against the far wall.
Why settle for anything less than pure? You care about your food, your air, and your water. What about your government? Support The Corporation in its endeavors to help the world realize democracy in its purest form. Pure democracy will promote transparency within the government, promote a well-cooperative society, and provide direct responsibility of the citizens for governance. Citizens, listen to us. You will be privy to all decisions and actions by the government and each of you will be ultimately responsible for this government, a government that helps to streamline your life. We will all work together because each of us is invested in the decisions of this government. Finally, you are directly responsible for the actions of this government. You are the ones that are making the decisions. Taxes will not be levied. We repeat. We will not increase taxes. The technological miracle in the form of the synthesized organ is here to make these dreams a reality.
Decisions became automatic, without debate. The negatives associated with such governance were inconsequential. The Corporation took upon the management of The Proxy as a civic duty. In turn, The World Government maintained The Corporation as its sole advocate for efficiency and development.
The worthiness of citizens for inclusion in this program will be analyzed solely by the corporation’s Worth Mechanism. Requests for reconsideration should be directed to the Worth Mechanism website. Tracking numbers will be assigned to all requests.
Over the course of the past decade, the emphasis on effective and efficient data collection and analysis started the process of redefining how the world operated. Mismanagement of natural resources was finally highlighted as the likely collapse of the human race. Corporations and governments implemented new practices and policies to ensure wasted effort was a thing of the past. Courses such as Six Sigma became mandatory training regardless of the business you were in. Funnily enough, the resources used to teach courses such as Six Sigma, along with the time people dedicated to take the course, were both deemed inefficient. This line of thinking started to define how everything began to operate, with different sectors of business and government seeing a cyclical effect on production and efficiency. The stress on efficiency required people to learn new techniques. Then that learning diverted people’s work from production, giving the allusion of inefficiency. On and on the wave oscillated.
Looking upon it from the outside, small pockets of the community at large had great fun pointing and laughing at the inconsistencies. The government decided to employ scientists to analyze current operations, with the hope of using the human brain in a more effective way. This idea morphed into the first concept of The Proxy, formulating how government was now structured.
Dr. Buscher sat down at the terminal within the office and scanned the archived files. She opened one from the 1960’s, a video recording of medical experiments pursued by medical students and scientists at the time. She waited as the file opened.
“William and Megan, you have been paired together for this experiment,” said a scientist on the video screen. He was reviewing what appeared to be documents describing each of his test subjects. “From this time forward, neither of you are allowed to speak to one another until the experiment has concluded. If you do, you will be disqualified, along with payment for your time.” The scientist led each into separate cubicles within the room.
The camera focused in on William, as a separate interviewer peppered him with questions. “What is your favorite color? What is your favorite animal? Where do you eat lunch?” The questions continued, the interviewer narrowing down the subject until bringing the focus to the dog, which William appea
red to demonstrate great interest in. “Thank you, William. Please follow me,” the evaluator said as he led William to an adjacent bed beside Megan. “Remember, no talking. All you have to do is fall asleep,” the interviewer said and then walked out.
Cameras zoomed in on both test subjects. Dr. Buscher marveled at the technology that was displayed beside the scientist in his partition. It was rudimentary at best, displaying a crude representation of the subjects’ sleep cycles. The video cut to the observed REM cycles of William and Megan. The medical students woke them and led the stumbling guinea pigs into their separate cubicles once more. Scientists had long proven that this point in sleep was where the majority of regeneration happened, along with where dreams were most likely to occur. William and Megan both recounted what dreams they could recall. Both recalled experiences with dogs. William’s dreams were focused on his childhood pet that had been belabored during the interview. This was not a shock. Megan also recounted a dream about a dog, concluding that it was her neighbor’s poodle from when she was ten.
“Funny, I haven’t thought about her in years.”
The results were inconclusive but indicated the potential for increased development with telepathic tendencies. Little was done to explore such possibilities until the beginning of 2016.
Dr. Frank Buscher, a longtime proponent for using the subconscious and an avid scholar of Freud, began making considerable developments in understanding how the human brain worked. In conjunction with The Biometric Conglomerate, Dr. Buscher was able to implant synthesized organ prototypes in test subjects, and then replicate the studies of the 1960’s with this new technology. During the study, test subject’s dreams were replicated into digital output, allowing scientists the ability to watch the dreams as they occurred, confirming that dreams of two test subjects did mirror one another. This information sparked continued research and development, improving the implant’s ability to enhance telepathic links between human beings. With progress, came experiments of increasing size. Similar dreams were now observed within larger groups of the population.
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