Read Online Asterion by Kenneth Morvant - Free Book Online

That could mean great things for you and your career.”
    “Wow! That would be great. Thanks for letting me know. I would invite you in, but I have plans for tonight.”
    “That’s okay, maybe some other time?”
    “Sure.”
    Milar leaves and Taylor wonders what just happened. She seemed cold and professional in the past, but now she seemed interested in him. Taylor hears a more familiar knock at the door and ushers Christine to his special dinner for two. They eat, talk and laugh until the candles burn low. Then they retire to the couch and Taylor starts the documentary at the previous night’s stopping point. Curling up together, Taylor hits the remote.
    The narrator starts this segment with the silhouette of a factory in the background. “Initially, business owners and managers protested the takeover of the businesses they worked so hard to create and nurture. Burnsom appeased them by making them bureaucrats overseeing the very businesses the government confiscated. Some could remain in single-family homes as a benefit and some of those homes are very large. Burnsom justified this by saying that managers are under a great deal of stress and they needed the space to relax and clear their minds for the next day. A clear thinking manager is good for the business and subsequently the workers. He made it all sound reasonable. In reality, behind the scenes, cronyism and nepotism ruled the day.”
    The background changes to a collage of entertainment programs. “Burnsom declared that the workers deserved their own rest and relaxation and the monitor on the wall became filled with several hundred channels of varying entertainment genres that are free. Through the government run entertainment industry, sports, reality, drama, comedy, educational and pro-government documentaries streamed into the homes of the masses.” The scene changes to the inside of a grocery store. “Burnsom made sure that food is plentiful. The government provided most staples and credits bought the snack and better foods the people craved. At least as long as the scanner at the door declared you and your family are healthy enough to purchase them. Burnsom carefully allowed a few choices to fool the masses into thinking that they had some freedoms.”
    “Crime is reduced due to the control the authorities had over the society. Prison is not a sequestered vacation with all bills paid. They are workers in a factory like other people except that guards kept a watchful eye on them. Get out of line and your shock collar drops you to the floor writhing from the pain. Chemical and physical castrations kept offender in line, reduced the need for a watchful eye, and confined incarceration meted out as punishment for those who caused trouble. Chemical alteration and lobotomies quelled the most violent and they are kept on display for up and coming violators.”
    The final scene pops on the monitor. It is the traditional shape of a church with a steeple and a cross on top. “Burnsom had determined that religion hindered his engineering of society. With beliefs in a Creator, Lord and Ruler of their lives, Christians believed in the old ways. The belief in freedom granted by the Creator and not by man. Burnsom sought to replace it with his vision of the future. Burnsom relabeled most religious speech as hate speech, not free speech. Any lessons related to one path, or that churches condemned some activities became regarded as speech against the government and personal civil rights. That branded these activities as hatred against the norms of society and harmful. Christians, pejoratively renamed Christers went underground. Secret handshakes, nods and symbols replaced the greetings of old. Like the early Christians in the catacombs, they hid their beliefs. Other religions in the country adopted similar methods of meeting and worshiping. Once again, Burnsom turns to the military for a solution. The generic practices of the chaplaincy sufficed for marriages, funerals