Read Online Episode 1 - The Beam by Sean Platt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sean Platt
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we’re allowed to bring whatever. It’s fine. Upset Directorate would bring tomatoes to throw.”
“But why would they attend at all?”
Micah locked his eyes (charming, not threatening) on the agent with the surfer’s hair. “To cause unrest, Craig. To unsettle the populace. To riot. What is it you don’t understand?”
“It just seems like it’d be a waste for them. Most of the people have to buy their way into places like the Aphora. Do you know how many credits it costs?”
“Yes, of course I do. I authorized the tickets. It would have been nice to win tickets like the rest of the raff in the back, but it seemed a smarter use of our resources to order them rather than trying to win them one at a time.”
Several agents snickered. A few looked toward Micah as they did, hungry for their leader’s approval, dying for him to know they got his joke and thought it funny.
“Look,” said Micah, still pacing, his voice taking on a lecturing tone, “you’ve seen the feed. The boos start at the edges and then bleed through the room. The things you threw came from everywhere. But the rear and middle were open seating, and the tickets there are priced so that lower-ranking Directorate can still theoretically afford them if they don’t mind blowing a ton of credits for a special occasion. But you can win tickets for all of those areas, so nobody would assume that rioters paid through the nose in order to come in and make trouble. Have you seen the reactions from people who don’t know we planted you there? It comes off as a genuine riot caused by Directorate malcontents. At an affair like a Ryan concert, party lines are sharply drawn. It’s almost all rich Enterprise, then a few high-ranking Directorate who actually allow themselves to enjoy art, then a small group of raff who won their tickets somewhere. So just put yourself in the shoes of a Directorate contest winner: you’re barely scraping by, living on a credit dole that hasn’t risen in years, despite inflation. Maybe you’ve picked up an extra job — one that’s held off automation specifically so you can do it, like a pity job. Either way you’re edging it, barely feeding your family and never going on vacation. You’ve had almost six years in your current situation, and it’s terrible, but you can’t blame the party because you know that deep down, when Shift comes, you’ll stay Directorate. You’re not equipped for Enterprise. I mean, what would you do if the government didn’t pay for your everything? You’ve developed no skills, and have no faith in your ability to make your own living. You know that as much as you’re in the raff now, you’d be trampled in Enterprise. So what can you do? You can’t improve your financial or living situation no matter which party you’re in, so the best thing to do is to argue that it’s not your fault. So you raise your Directorate flag and start telling the world that the Enterprise is greedy and evil. You bitch, and you riot. Maybe you throw a few tomatoes.”
“But why would they riot there?” said Craig. “Natasha is Directorate, not Enterprise.”
Micah gave a sideways smile. “Really? I had no idea.”
The agents snickered again.
Of course Natasha was Directorate. Her husband, Micah’s brother Isaac, was Directorate too. The same question had been raised early on, when Micah had first instructed the agents to go undercover and riot at the concert.
“This isn’t really about parties, Craig. Think about it. This is about haves and have-nots. But rioting and protesting ‘rich people’ is shooting at a moving target. It’s hard to define the enemy — the group that’s ‘them’ as opposed to ‘us’ — if the differentiator is their credit balances. But if we can make this whole thing — this feeling of pre-Shift unrest — about Enterprise and Directorate? Then we give people a them that’s clear and well-defined. Having a clear them solidifies people, which is why we’re
“But why would they attend at all?”
Micah locked his eyes (charming, not threatening) on the agent with the surfer’s hair. “To cause unrest, Craig. To unsettle the populace. To riot. What is it you don’t understand?”
“It just seems like it’d be a waste for them. Most of the people have to buy their way into places like the Aphora. Do you know how many credits it costs?”
“Yes, of course I do. I authorized the tickets. It would have been nice to win tickets like the rest of the raff in the back, but it seemed a smarter use of our resources to order them rather than trying to win them one at a time.”
Several agents snickered. A few looked toward Micah as they did, hungry for their leader’s approval, dying for him to know they got his joke and thought it funny.
“Look,” said Micah, still pacing, his voice taking on a lecturing tone, “you’ve seen the feed. The boos start at the edges and then bleed through the room. The things you threw came from everywhere. But the rear and middle were open seating, and the tickets there are priced so that lower-ranking Directorate can still theoretically afford them if they don’t mind blowing a ton of credits for a special occasion. But you can win tickets for all of those areas, so nobody would assume that rioters paid through the nose in order to come in and make trouble. Have you seen the reactions from people who don’t know we planted you there? It comes off as a genuine riot caused by Directorate malcontents. At an affair like a Ryan concert, party lines are sharply drawn. It’s almost all rich Enterprise, then a few high-ranking Directorate who actually allow themselves to enjoy art, then a small group of raff who won their tickets somewhere. So just put yourself in the shoes of a Directorate contest winner: you’re barely scraping by, living on a credit dole that hasn’t risen in years, despite inflation. Maybe you’ve picked up an extra job — one that’s held off automation specifically so you can do it, like a pity job. Either way you’re edging it, barely feeding your family and never going on vacation. You’ve had almost six years in your current situation, and it’s terrible, but you can’t blame the party because you know that deep down, when Shift comes, you’ll stay Directorate. You’re not equipped for Enterprise. I mean, what would you do if the government didn’t pay for your everything? You’ve developed no skills, and have no faith in your ability to make your own living. You know that as much as you’re in the raff now, you’d be trampled in Enterprise. So what can you do? You can’t improve your financial or living situation no matter which party you’re in, so the best thing to do is to argue that it’s not your fault. So you raise your Directorate flag and start telling the world that the Enterprise is greedy and evil. You bitch, and you riot. Maybe you throw a few tomatoes.”
“But why would they riot there?” said Craig. “Natasha is Directorate, not Enterprise.”
Micah gave a sideways smile. “Really? I had no idea.”
The agents snickered again.
Of course Natasha was Directorate. Her husband, Micah’s brother Isaac, was Directorate too. The same question had been raised early on, when Micah had first instructed the agents to go undercover and riot at the concert.
“This isn’t really about parties, Craig. Think about it. This is about haves and have-nots. But rioting and protesting ‘rich people’ is shooting at a moving target. It’s hard to define the enemy — the group that’s ‘them’ as opposed to ‘us’ — if the differentiator is their credit balances. But if we can make this whole thing — this feeling of pre-Shift unrest — about Enterprise and Directorate? Then we give people a them that’s clear and well-defined. Having a clear them solidifies people, which is why we’re
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