Corporation for a further ten years? There was a box you could click on.
Keeping human error out of people-management , was their Festival slogan. Actually, Hannah’s memory of the time people called ‘the bad old days’ was pretty fuzzy. Strange, the way history had become a bit of a blur, and you needed TV documentaries to remind you how poor the island had been, how full of violence and despair, how similar to the frightening, other world you thought of simply as ‘Abroad’. Strange, the way the past had just sort of stopped being a factor.
Perhaps that’s what happens when you’re finally in safe hands.
B. Do you want Atlantica to slide back into the control of a potentially corrupt political system, run by ambitious but flawed men and women? Another box.
Swiftly, she clicked A, then switched to the news, where the angel-faced commentator, Craig Devon, was talking facts and figures.
– The latest Festival polls show the choice for Libertycare is 95 per cent in Harbourville itself, with 93 per cent of Groke also choosing yes, and Mohawk and St Placid, 97 per cent.
He was pointing at some graphs. Craig Devon was one of Atlantica’s most trusted pundits. Tilda said there used to be a boy who did soap commercials who was his spitting image. She’d like to have had a son like him.
So a resounding victory for Libertycare’s customers, I think it’s fair to say at this stage , said Craig Devon. And although a Corporation spokesman stressed earlier that they’re not being at all complacent, it would be a surprise to us all, I must say, he blahed , if the no choice were to increase by any significant …
More blah. Hannah switched channels. Here they were doing vox-pops; there were Shop ’n’ Choose promotions in the malls, with fifty extra loyalty points if you polled.
– Yes, I’ve been very happy with them, especially the complaints procedure …
– I remember what things were like before. That documentary the other night reminded me – I mean the corruption was just so rife …
– The way they’ll send back a whole lorry-load of produce if it’s sub-standard – little details like that really make you respect it as a system. We’ve certainly benefited as a family from some of the special offers …
– The thing I like is the way the rest of the world’s had to really pay attention to us in recent years, and the loyalty scheme really does …
Hannah flicked channels again; more news. This time there was an item about the US response to the Festival of Choice, featuring a taxi driver from Michigan, called Earl. He’d been popping up on TV quite a lot recently, as the leader of a newcampaign to get the Libertycare system servicing the United States. The clip showed a man in his fifties, in a blood-red shirt and checked golfing pants.
– OK, so call me a mug, said Earl. His supporters jostled around him, grinning and waving banners. – Or correct me if I’m missing something important. The camera panned in on Earl’s earnestly perspiring face. – But it isn’t communism we’re talking about here. It’s cap italism. And I like what I see over there on that island. And I’m thinking, heck, that could be us! We don’t want another asshole President! We don’t need all that human error bullshit! There were cheers.
Hannah switched off.
She had heard about this Earl character before, in-house. Leo Hurley reckoned he was a Libertycare initiative, an ambient plant, disguised as a grass-roots punter. But Hannah was less sure. A hypermarket model of people-management was fine for parcs, complexes, penitentiaries and small territories like Atlantica. But containability had always been at the heart of its success. There was no way you could apply the same software system to a superpower.
– So who d’you think’s behind Earl, then? Leo had asked her.
He’d been behaving oddly lately – jaded. He’d better watch it, Hannah thought. Personnel will pick it up on his next
Keeping human error out of people-management , was their Festival slogan. Actually, Hannah’s memory of the time people called ‘the bad old days’ was pretty fuzzy. Strange, the way history had become a bit of a blur, and you needed TV documentaries to remind you how poor the island had been, how full of violence and despair, how similar to the frightening, other world you thought of simply as ‘Abroad’. Strange, the way the past had just sort of stopped being a factor.
Perhaps that’s what happens when you’re finally in safe hands.
B. Do you want Atlantica to slide back into the control of a potentially corrupt political system, run by ambitious but flawed men and women? Another box.
Swiftly, she clicked A, then switched to the news, where the angel-faced commentator, Craig Devon, was talking facts and figures.
– The latest Festival polls show the choice for Libertycare is 95 per cent in Harbourville itself, with 93 per cent of Groke also choosing yes, and Mohawk and St Placid, 97 per cent.
He was pointing at some graphs. Craig Devon was one of Atlantica’s most trusted pundits. Tilda said there used to be a boy who did soap commercials who was his spitting image. She’d like to have had a son like him.
So a resounding victory for Libertycare’s customers, I think it’s fair to say at this stage , said Craig Devon. And although a Corporation spokesman stressed earlier that they’re not being at all complacent, it would be a surprise to us all, I must say, he blahed , if the no choice were to increase by any significant …
More blah. Hannah switched channels. Here they were doing vox-pops; there were Shop ’n’ Choose promotions in the malls, with fifty extra loyalty points if you polled.
– Yes, I’ve been very happy with them, especially the complaints procedure …
– I remember what things were like before. That documentary the other night reminded me – I mean the corruption was just so rife …
– The way they’ll send back a whole lorry-load of produce if it’s sub-standard – little details like that really make you respect it as a system. We’ve certainly benefited as a family from some of the special offers …
– The thing I like is the way the rest of the world’s had to really pay attention to us in recent years, and the loyalty scheme really does …
Hannah flicked channels again; more news. This time there was an item about the US response to the Festival of Choice, featuring a taxi driver from Michigan, called Earl. He’d been popping up on TV quite a lot recently, as the leader of a newcampaign to get the Libertycare system servicing the United States. The clip showed a man in his fifties, in a blood-red shirt and checked golfing pants.
– OK, so call me a mug, said Earl. His supporters jostled around him, grinning and waving banners. – Or correct me if I’m missing something important. The camera panned in on Earl’s earnestly perspiring face. – But it isn’t communism we’re talking about here. It’s cap italism. And I like what I see over there on that island. And I’m thinking, heck, that could be us! We don’t want another asshole President! We don’t need all that human error bullshit! There were cheers.
Hannah switched off.
She had heard about this Earl character before, in-house. Leo Hurley reckoned he was a Libertycare initiative, an ambient plant, disguised as a grass-roots punter. But Hannah was less sure. A hypermarket model of people-management was fine for parcs, complexes, penitentiaries and small territories like Atlantica. But containability had always been at the heart of its success. There was no way you could apply the same software system to a superpower.
– So who d’you think’s behind Earl, then? Leo had asked her.
He’d been behaving oddly lately – jaded. He’d better watch it, Hannah thought. Personnel will pick it up on his next
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