Driving the New Defender...

(The year is 2430 in the Great Central Government Territory.)

Nancy Sundusky was excited about taking delivery of her new 16-speed transport vehicle known as a Great Central Government (GCG) Defender. Of course, before she could travel anywhere, she would have to take the vehicle into the nearest GCG office to activate its multiple programs. Each Defender came equipped with 18 video screens, the largest of which enabled drivers to keep track of their speed, and estimated time of arrival at the selected destination. Each small screen had an intended purpose...

When activated, Nancy would be able to literally see anything happening in the GCG Territory. No activity was too small or large to escape broadcast: she could look in on the local School Control Board meeting or observe the GCG armies invading the properties formerly known as The Asian Lands. At this time the islands labeled as Japan in the unavailable-to-citizens reference books were being shelled.

The Defender's screens and programs in return enabled the GCG to observe every action, every activity, and each and every movement of citizens such as Nancy. As soon as she entered data into the auto transport drive, the officials would know from where she departed, to where she was moving and what path points would take her there. The officials could even, in cases of suspected activity disloyal to the GCG, make the Defender inoperable, or set the time of its self-destruction feature.

Nancy often thought about using a Defender to take her to one of the underground hotels where she could dream freely without medications and controls, and read information smuggled in from outside of the GCG Territory. But she knew this was far too dangerous... As soon as she was seen docking the Defender within a kilometer of a suspected underground facility, she'd be stopped and questioned. Or perhaps, she'd have a single night of unmanaged sleep and be arrested once she returned to street level.

One could never know which persons were true agents of the rebel underground and which were GCG officials; the latter were richly rewarded for their success in apprehending those disloyal to the GCG. Capture five rebels and a GCG official was awarded a 90-day period of unmonitored activity. Capture ten, and the GCG official would be free to travel unmonitored for a quarter of a year, and to visit the restricted libraries of information from the past (this reward was known as a history pass).

Nancy knew she had to put this dangerous thought out of her mind. At that moment, the text message arrived on the slender communicator device strapped to her wrist...

(To be continued...)

Photo: flickr (Mr Wabu)