[Party member Nuck: Everpreen college’s Hivemind Problem and the rise of violence.]
A small opinion piece written by a small-time party member under Father popped up on the front page of the holo-news portal catching Arron’s attention as he sat on a hover bench in the locker room waiting for Kix to finish dressing for the day’s shift.
Along with this opinion piece, there was one written by a party member under Mother and posted at the same time.
[Party member Mara Gray: The sight of Nippon’s flag is disturbing. We are a member state of the WHO, not a savage country so why keep it?].
Arron quickly scanned through the first article getting the gist of what it was about. When he scrolled back up to the top of the article the news portal automatically refreshed the page and disappeared, leaving only the opinion piece by Mara Gray.
Arron frowned at this and closed the news portal.
“So, how was your first actual riot? This one was pretty small so…,” said Kix as he put on his armored boots.
“You call last night’s action small?” asked Arron.
“Of course only those there saw everything clearly, no one else saw it, and the news portals are not exploding with articles about it so it is just a small thing.”
On the wall, the old holo-tv was playing the KNN morning news set to a low volume.
“…last night a small scuffle broke out between a group of young students calling themselves Anti-Separatists and a brazen gathering of several hundred separatists near the new Everpreen college. Due to the violent rhetoric of the separatist, the anti-separatists were forced to respond. In doing so there have been reports of minor damage to one or two windows that were broken by the separatists,” said Kommy in a neutral and matter-of-fact voice.
“That’s not all! Reports flooded in that the M1 officers were actually protecting these separatists using violence!” said Fela in a cheerful and gossipy voice.
Kix let out a snort and said, “See? Didn’t I call it?”
“In other news, the sports team Nippon Samurais and several other companies will soon be changing their names to comply with the new naming law that was passed this week. The new law bans a new set of certain words that have been deemed to support or lean toward separatism,” said Kommy blank-faced as usual.
“Ah! Breaking news!” said Fela, nearly jumping out of her seat as she seemed to be absent-minded for a second while listening to a producer in her ear.
“Just moments ago a party member under Father posted a scandalous opinion piece that the normal writers objected to. They were planning to quit in protest and called the Office of Reason’s attention to the matter. Even though the article was taken down, we have just been informed that the Office of Reason has sent agents to the news portal’s main office to investigate the matter,” said Fela with a grin.
“In order to do everything properly and get to the bottom of this issue the Office of Reason has put the majority of its agents onto the case. They want to normalize the situation as fast as possible. Since they are short on manpower and time right now, they have sent a request to the M1 HQ for officers to help pick up and escort the party member to the main Office of Reason HQ in sector 12.”
“Is that wise with the recent reports of them protecting the separatists last night?” asked Fela.
“For some reason, the entire police force seems to be swamped with taking in reports of damage caused by random separatists attacks last night and they are busy taking care of all of that. So the Office of Reason has no other choice. Maybe this is another way to test the M1?” said Kommy with a shrug.
“If anyone is interested, Mr. Nuck should arrive at the Office of Reason’s main Hq in a half hour to an hour,” said Fella. She was looking straight into the news drone’s camera making Arron feel as if she was staring right at him.
Ping!
“Kix, Arron, your prototype robo-dogs have returned from their tests and updates and are waiting for you in the garage. Your previously scheduled patrol has been canceled and you have been picked to escort party member Nuck to the Office of Reason. You are to stay with him until the Office of Reason no longer needs your help. This is a time-sensitive matter and the office of reason wants it finished now,” growled chief chesty before ending the call.
Kix grumbled to himself as he and Arron made their way down to their garage and entered to find two large metal crates inside the cramped garage room.
They quickly activated the two prototypes and checked to see if everything was working properly.
Chewy was energetic as usual and was rubbing her metallic head against Arron’s leg as she greeted him. While Spike sat straight as an elite-trained sentinel next to Kix.
“Everything checks out,” said Arron as he scanned the internal systems test data as it scrolled by finishing only seconds later.
“Let’s go! We can’t give the Office of Reason any more ammunition to hate us even more by being late,” said Kix as he opened the door and shoved Spike inside.
“What? I thought they already hated our guts. How much worse could it be?” asked Arron as he and Chewy got in on the passenger side.
“No matter how bad it is, things can always get worse,” said Kix.
***
The APC was parked outside a small fifty-story penthouse building. This was one of the several special housing for party members. Each party member had a whole floor to themselves. The majority of party members living here were newer members who did not have the funds to buy a house in the richest district where the more financially secure members and mega-corps CEOs lived.
Both Arron and Kix were currently being thoroughly scanned by four different security drones while another dozen security drones floated nearby ready to normalize the situation and protect the party members inside the building if anything suspicious was found on their bodies.
Three gray-suit agents were standing near the front entrance with their hands on their weapons as they watched the two getting scanned.
“Why did we have to come if those guys are already here?” asked Arron.
“Do you need to even ask? They don’t want to face the other party member’s scorn and appear to be taking sides. So they tossed the hot potato to us,” said Kix.
When they were cleared, they were escorted to the front door but were stopped by the three offices of reason agents. “Wait here. You are not allowed to enter this building. We’ll bring the troubled suspect out.”
A minute later a disheveled middle-aged man with black hair and thin glasses was dragged out of the front doors in magnetic cuffs. Even though he was in such a troublesome situation, his eyes were still sharp and his shoulders were held high and straight.
“You are not allowed to take any items with you. Do you need to give your family any personal items right now?” asked Kix.
Party member Nuck slowly shook his head. “They live on the second level. So there is no need.”
They led Nuck to the APC and had him sit in the cramped compartment behind their seats after locking his arms and legs to the ground.
The three agents that had followed them to the APC, looked like they wanted to get in as well.
“Sorry guys, you can’t join us. You’ll have to catch a different ride,” said Kix after he noticed the agents hovering next to his open door.
“We have to stay with the troubled suspect!” said the male gray suit agent in charge.
“There’s no room! Look, we’re already cramped as it is,” said Kix pointing to the two robo-dogs on the floor.
Although Arron could not see the agent’s full faces due to the reflective visors covering half of their faces, he could still see the deep frowns on their faces as the APC pulled away from the building and headed to the Office of Reasons main HQ.
“We’re screwed,” said Kix as he began driving at high speed.
“Lexa, can you inform the Chief that there might be someone from the Office of Reason calling him,” said Arron, as he called into mission control.
“What did you two do this time!?” asked Lexa.
“It wasn’t our fault honestly!”
***
Unlike what Arron had been suspecting there were no crowds or news drones outside the Office of Reason when they reached the HQ.
Everyone inside the APC let out a deep sigh when seeing this.
When Arron and Kix escorted Mr. Nuck to the main entrance door they were greeted by three white suit agents.
“You can not come inside. Wait out here for further orders,” said one of the agents before dragging party member Nuck inside the HQ.
Five hours passed with Arron and Kix standing around with Chewy and Spike just doing nothing the entire time. They were forced to eat their emergency rations of synth-energy jelly as their lunch when their request to go eat out or order food for delivery was denied.
Nearing the 6th hour the HQ’s doors finally opened and a group of ten white-suit agents exited the building.
Right then, as if a mass teleportation happened, hundreds of red-clad people appeared out of nowhere and swarmed outside nearby buildings, and massed in front of the Office of Reasons HQ. There were also several dozen news drones now hovering in the air recording everything.
The Office of Reason agents stood only a few steps away from Arron and Kix but paid them no attention. They stood tall and looked out towards the crowd that had just formed.
When the crowd’s size had started to slow its growth, an elderly Office of Reason agent coughed once drawing everyone’s attention. Behind him, the HQ’s main doors opened up and three agents led a white-faced Nuck out of the building. The sharp look and sturdy posture from before was all gone.
“In the case of the troubled suspect Nuck, we have unearthed all that there is to find on the matter. Nuck did not know what he was saying, and greatly regrets it. But that is not enough. Punishment must be handed out to those who violate the law.”
The crowd began shouting wildly. They were demanding blood!
The elderly agent held up his hand to calm the red-clad crowd down.
“Due to his previous service to Mother and Father, we have been fair in normalizing the situation. From this moment forward party member Nuck is stripped of his position and all privileges granted to current and former party members. His Social credit score has also been lowered to the lowest SCS of rank D!”
Roars of applause and cheers erupted from the crowd. The elderly agent waited for the crowd to simmer down before once again speaking.
“All this was decided after we were able to diagnose Nuck with Sluggish schizophrenia. With such a mental disease, it is only natural that we take such an action. As for the rumors that he is a separatist… we were unable to find any evidence to prove that he is not one… but also no evidence to prove he is one.”
At this last statement, the cuffed Nuck struggled to free himself from the three agents and shouted to the crowd frantically. He wanted everyone to hear him.
“I am not a separatist! Judge me on my character, not my Social credit score. I did nothing wrong! It is all of you who are turning kids into separatists and terrorists with your teaching of critical separatist theory.”
Upon hearing this the red-clad crowd grew angry.
“We’re not a hive mind.”
“You are just thinking wrong!”
“It seems like you need to relearn the greatness of Mother and Father!”
With this, the impromptu press conference was finished.
The old office of reason agent waved for Kix and Arron to escort Nuck out of the area. He and the other agents returned inside the HQ, not bothering to stay outside any longer with such a large boiling crowd that had been riled up.
“Those damn b…” Kix stopped himself from cursing them lest the Office of Reason use it as ammunition to further screw with them.
Arron and Kix both checked their electric gloves and ammo inside their sidearms.
“I’ll take the front, you cover the rear,” said Kix as he looked out over the crowd that had not left and was still staring at Nuck.
“Alright,” said Arron, agreeing.
“Spike, stick to the left of him and don’t let anyone get close,” said Kix as he pointed to Nuck.
“Chewy you stay on the right and keep everyone away. Only one bite per person for anyone that gets too close! There’s too many of them for you to chew on for a long time!” said Arron, having to give her more detailed orders.
“BARK!” said Chewy, so happy that she could bite so many new toys!
“Let’s do this,” said Kix as he grabbed Nuck’s right arm and started leading him forward with his service weapon drawn.
“Get back!” shouted Arron who was following close behind them.
The Crowd hesitated for a second but then parted for them with only glares sent their way.
When they were halfway through the crowd they stopped moving out of the way and began closing the gap around them.
“MOVE!” shouted Kix.
They did not listen and continued to close in on them.
“Fine, have it your way, but you were warned!”
Kix holstered his sidearm and charged forward pulling Nuck behind him. With his free hand, he used his electro-glove to swat at anyone who stood in front of him, sending several people to the ground after they were shocked.
Spike and Chewy were letting out loud growls and were also shoving people away from Arron and Kix while also biting the arms and legs of those that got too close.
Even with all this Nuck was still getting attacked by sucker punches that managed to snake their way past them, as well as several things that were thrown at them.
Nuck was bloody and bruised when they managed to slam the doors of the APC shut.
***
Days later.
The Office of Reason ramped up its monitoring of the approved government social media. They were mainly focusing on removing content and banning anyone that posted or said anything which put the former party member Nuck in a positive light.
Arron continued to watch both the live news and read the new articles searching for information about the former party member Nuck.
“… and so the Office of Reason has decided to implement a new labeling system. The new system will label all social media content by how much disinformation is in it. You will receive negative SCS points if it is deemed to be above a certain percentage. But you will also be able to receive points for posting important truths that Mother and Father support,” said Fela who was sitting next to Kommy and another guest.
“I was told that Mother and Father will be providing us information on what good and bad posts look like. Do you have any more details on this matter Mr. Rando Poyson?” asked Kommy.
“All I know right now is that a press conference will happen sometime next week. But a large portion of the first level do not have to worry about any of this,” said Rando with a soft smile as he spoke with the two reporters like he was with long-time friends.
“Oh? Who could that possibly be?” asked Fela.
“Why of course it’s those with D rank SCS. They can not use the government social media, so of course they are exempt from the new way of earning or losing SCS points.”
“AH! How could I have forgotten about those people,” said Fela with a cute smile. “Speaking of D rank SCS whatever happened to Nuck the former party member?”
Hearing Nuck’s name, Rando’s calm face flickered to that of anger for a second before returning to his calm smile.
“He has… disappeared for the moment. It is nothing surprising for someone to fall off the face of the world when their SCS is reduced to D rank. Now we are still cleaning up the mess he left behind. Luckily we were contacted by a small group of concerned citizens that call themselves Anti-separatists. They have provided us with a list of names and faces of suspected separatists that were at a recent unsanctioned speech and also support the former member Nuck. We will be releasing this information soon as well. Their neighbors and everyone around them need to know what type of person they really are.”
