Anarchy in New Enlgand

by Joe Jarvis

  Coastal Internet was downgraded by BER for its CEO’s submission to Drake’s Agents, but the criminal investigation could find no concrete evidence against the CEO. He resigned in an attempt to keep the company profitable, but it was to no avail. Coastal Internet went under, and its assets were auctioned off. Some 30 former employees, who had been detained by NESA Agents at Coastal Internet, bought back most of the company, and started their own Internet provider called Open Internet. They decentralized the offices, and added blockers to assure that their customers could not simply have the plug pulled on their services again. The company thrived.

  As part of the arbitration arrangement, Drake was forced to sell his 55% stake in News of New England, which was bought up by two smaller but growing news organizations, one of which helped call out the inconsistencies in NESA’s story the day of the takeover, establishing their reputation. The rest of NNE was bought by Business Ethics Review which expanded their business model, and News of New England ceased to exist as a media company.

  Those Ministers who had signed onto Drake’s plan, but not actively engaged in the takeover, escaped arbitration, but could not thwart the public backlash. They all lost their prominent jobs in shame, two fleeing to different parts of the world, their wallets a little lighter due to some civil settlements. One killed himself when his wife left him and took their kids, his house, and most of his bank accounts. Another moved into an adap after becoming destitute, apparently not realizing that the money in her bank would not last forever. She became well known as the seedy part of town’s resident drunk.

  The CEO of Collective Arbitration was arrested on a Caribbean island two months after the attempted takeover, and extradited to New England to face arbitration. He stood accused by his Board of soliciting a bribe, and accused by customers of various agencies of breaches of contract for undermining contracts and issuing false warrants without evidence. He settled mostly by paying fines, spent 6 months confined to adap house arrest, and then returned to Cuba, living out his life substantially more frugally than he was used to. Collective Arbitration went out of business before the CEO was even released from his adap confinement.

  Collective Arbitration’s assets and accounts were bought at a steep discount by Molly Metis. She had received awards, and became relatively famous for her heroism and courage in journalism, in the face of dire consequences, and threats to her life. She started Metis Arbitration, and due to her reputation, had no trouble finding financial backers and clients. The agency thrived, and would eventually become one of the largest and most respected arbitration agencies in New England.

  Atlas Protection was an early customer of Metis Arbitration. Atlas had gained back all of its customers that had been lost due to the defamation from Barry Arbitration and NESA, plus another half million. AP had also found a skilled director for their new street divisions: Officer Themis – rather Director Themis. He left Corner Cop Security, disappointed that they caved so easily to the demands of NESA during the crisis.

  Drake was confined to an adap after all his assets were sold off to pay restitution to some of his victims, including the families of the slain Atlas Protection employees. Sentenced to 60 years in confinement, Drake died of a heart attack in his adap six years later. That last year, Mr. Patrick never went to visit him, despite Mr. Drake’s requests.

  One year after Drake’s attack on New England; Molly Metis, Kitt Atlas, and James Themis met for dinner in a basement bistro, which was not unusual as they had become quite close friends in the process of keeping New England free from the shackles of Drake’s would-be government. They joked that meetings like these were executive dinners, for business only, while in reality work could not be further from their minds when the three friends met for leisure.

  "Do you know what today is?" Atlas asked his companions as he poured himself another glass of sparkling wine, the previous jovial laughter dying down.

  "Did I forget your birthday?" Molly asked finishing her glass, and reaching once more for the bottle, then filling up Themis’s glass to a thank-you nod from him.

  "No, no," Atlas laughed. "Today is the one year anniversary since we saved New England from tyranny!"

  The three burst out laughing, taking it as a joke… even though they more or less had singlehandedly saved New England. The laughter could have been partly the sparkling wine’s influence as well.

  "You know I’ll never understand it," Molly said shaking her head. "Drake had everything he needed, everything he could have ever wanted. Why would he give it all up for such a stupid reason?"

  Atlas let out a laugh, but then reeled it in apologetically. "Sorry," he said, "but you guys are young. These days there’s only so much power to be had, right? Money gets you power, but still it’s a different type of power. And yeah, you could buy power back in the days before the collapse, but now there’s no one to buy it from. Today you get power only if you provide people with something they want. You used to just be able to take it from them by force. That’s what Drake was trying to resurrect.

  "I guess what I am saying is, there’s no going back for these guys – Drake and Barry types; if their wallet shrinks, their power shrinks. Power will make people do some crazy things, and, well… you get used to a lifestyle quickly. The bank has got to keep swelling or they’ll feel irrelevant and worthless. Money, the market, customers – that’s the only way to do it these days. You can’t just force people to respect you. You can’t just buy a share of the market like you used to be able to from government. You gotta earn it, to put in the time, the effort, and work for it. He was trying to skirt the system, hold onto something his father and grandfather created, but he couldn’t sustain."

  Themis nodded in agreement, Molly shrugged in agreement.

  "So I suggest a toast," Atlas continued, "To friendship, truth, and freedom. To Molly’s thriving new business, and AP’s outstanding new Director. To New England, and indeed the world, and the sovereignty of each and every one of her inhabitants. To the hope that the earth’s transformation to a world free of slavery soon be complete. To future generations, that they recognize the gift of being born free, and never squander that opportunity. That we never become complacent, and put more value in ease than equality. Uh let’s see… did I miss anything?"

  "To Mr. Atlas!" Molly joyfully interjected, raising her glass, "That he live long, and continue to prosper, as a reward for the risk he took to keep a free people free. And to Director Themis! That his quality of life may match the quality of his commitment to standing guard for the natural rights of every man, woman, and child!"

  "And to Ms. Molly Metis!" Themis piped in, "For overcoming the odds against murderers and thieves, and standing strong in the face of the worst adversity, to bring truth to the people of New England, whether they wanted to hear it or not!"

  The three heartily raised their glasses toward the ceiling, clinked them together, and downed the contents, before continuing their revelry.

  There was order and peace, wealth and happiness, freedom and equality. The region was secure. There was still anarchy in New England.

  About the author

  Joe Jarvis was born in 1989 in suburban Massachusetts, and along with two older sisters, was raised by two loving parents. He considers Ayn Rand a major influence, having devoured her non-fiction Objectivist writings as well as the fiction classics Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead. Joe aspires to pick up where Rand left off in a sense, but hopes to appeal to a larger audience with less preaching, and more consistency in bringing the non-aggression principle to its logical conclusion: eliminating government altogether. After the 2012 start of his political blog, JoeJarvis.me, his disillusion with government accelerated with every bit of research. Later he started a more lighthearted philosophical blog, JoeJarvisExplainsItAll.com, in order to move away from strictly political issues, and keep himself sane. Joe aspires to spread his knowledge and views of a better future through fiction, including what he considers to be his first of many, Anarchy in Ne
w England.