Chapter 6: The World

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face - forever."
GEORGE ORWELL, 1984

"Ford's in his flivver, all's well with the world."
ALDOUS HUXLEY, Brave New World

The year ended, like they all do. Another year followed, and then another.

It was now two and a half years after the Robinson's first taping The entire world's population had also been turned into tape slaves, the last ones joining a year ago. No longer was there any need for secrecy. The Community Centers were in every town and village now, large and small. People regularly went to them to receive tape instructions, which were carried out with absolute obedience.

The world remained much as it had been before, though, with some few exceptions. In the early days, people were programmed for absolute sexual fidelity with their family members and close friends. As the number of tape slaves increased, people could go to a Community Center and, with all parties present, mutually petition to have each other included in their 'sex circle' as they were called. Usually these petitions were approved instantly, the only refusals were made if one of the partners was carrying a disease. Gina Robinson had friends who, meeting each other at parties and hitting it off, would go directly to a Center, have themselves approved for sex, return to the party and then fuck each other's brains out, all within an hour. By now, most of the kids had several hundred people in their sex circle, their were some, like young Lisa Robinson, with over a thousand.

Rape and domestic abuse were becoming a quaint anachronism. No one could ever harm anyone inside their sex circle, nor be in any way sexual with anyone on the outside. Sex and violence had been completely separated from each other. Prostitution still existed, but since all the ladies were tape slaves, and wouldn't have sex with anyone not in their circle, special Centers had been set up in red light districts to provide instant approval for the girls and their johns. Mostly, only people who had a special fetish for hookers or rich people with money to burn would pay for something that virtually everyone else now got for free. Though a few with exceptional beauty or talents could still demand top dollar for their services.

One almost never saw a homeless person wandering the streets anymore either. Among the last to be made tape slaves, they had all been rounded up and brought to Community Centers during the final stage of what was now referred to as "The Gathering." There, they were fed, clothed, taped and offered a job working at one of the new Centers opening all over the world. Most took the offer, though a few still chose to return to the streets to beg. Some wondered why they weren't just taped to want to join the Centers.

Drug addiction was declining, too. While addicts were allowed to continue using drugs if they wanted to, anyone who presented himself at a Community Center and asked for help was happily obliged and taped to remove all cravings for drugs. In the case of some addictions, like heroin, the person might be kept until the physical withdrawal symptoms had subsided. But all left the Centers completely recovered, never to even consider taking drugs again. A few governments were currently running campaigns in their countries to have everyone taped to refuse drugs, but even if they could have gotten some kind of law passed, it would have done no good. Early on, the Community Centers had been granted complete sovereignty over their own grounds, like foreign embassies, and their employees complete immunity from any prosecution. No government on earth was allowed to enter one, even with a warrant.

Life for the most part went on as before. People still got born, lived their lives, died, and tried to make the best of it. They fell in love, married, had kids, cheated on their taxes, made friends and enemies, stole from each other, killed each other in wars. When people separated or divorced, one or both might petition a Center to have their personal circle dissolved. These requests were always granted, regardless of the feelings of the other party, no questions asked, though the injunctions against violence were never removed. Once you had loved somebody, you could never hurt them again.

And the biggest mystery of all still remained. Who were the people behind the tape players? Why had they never come forward? What were their ultimate plans? That question remained a perennial favorite on talk shows, but despite endless speculation, no one had ever reported making any kind of contact with an "Overlord" as they were called.