The Beam: Season Two by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant Read Free Book Online

It’s…it’s…”  
    “Get up. Stop acting so shocked, and get to your fucking feet.”  
    Isaac did then stood, waiting for orders.
    Micah sat in one of the overstuffed chairs against the shelves of virtual books. They were all complete and full, packed with information and stories from cover to back. Micah had insisted on it when he’d had the simulation designed. Blank books made him sad and would feel like an insult to his role as head of Capital Protection. For Micah, “Capital Protection” wasn’t a political catchphrase. Humanity’s cache of knowledge and brainpower was, in Micah’s mind, legitimately in jeopardy. His brother was living proof.
    Micah crossed one leg over the other then took a deep breath.  
    “Why do the parties exist, Isaac?” he said.
    “To provide two options, to suit two different kinds of people — those who want security first and those who want freedom first, each willing to sacrifice the other attribute in order to get…”  
    “That’s the civics class answer.” Micah said, stopping him. “But you know it’s not the real one. The answer is the first part: to provide two options. It doesn’t matter what those options are. And do you know why?”  
    Isaac rolled his eyes. He’d heard this lecture plenty. Unfortunately , thought Micah, it never sank in.
    “To provide a sense of choice,” Micah said. “It doesn’t matter if neither option is any good, so long as there’s choice. Something to give people the illusion of control. In reality, our society isn’t divided into Enterprise and Directorate. It’s much more accurately divided into rich and poor. Poor Enterprise, poor Directorate — between those two, the distinctions don’t matter. You and me? We may have different designations, but in actuality we’re in the same group: the wealthy. Almost everyone below us, no matter whether they’re Enterprise or Directorate, is in the poor group. You do see that, don’t you?”  
    Isaac sighed then sat in a chair opposite Micah. He wasn’t protesting, despite the repetitiveness of the lesson. Maybe he wasn’t irredeemable after all.  
    “Shift isn’t about security versus freedom or socialism versus capitalism,” Micah continued. “It isn’t about you versus me. It’s about giving the people of this union an Us and a Them . Whatever fate they end up with, our system gives them the illusion that they are choosing it. They’ll know who they can bond with and who they should blame for everything that’s wrong. Us and Them . It gives their lives a framework. It gives them an identity and a purpose.”  
    “I know,” said Isaac.  
    “You used to know better ,” said Micah, shaking his head. “It’s easy to forget how hard things were when the parties were formed, but we can’t forget those days or their reasons, Isaac. The NAU is isolated from the rest of the world, and in a way, that makes our economy a house of cards. Sure, we have The Beam. It’s easy to feel like even the poorest people, only able to access through handhelds, old canvases, or even public terminals, have it all, but they don’t — and the worst thing in the world would be for everyone to realize that truth at the same time.”
    Isaac sighed then stood.
    “This thing with Natasha…” he said.  
    “She’ll do what she’ll do.”  
    “It’ll make Directorate look terrible. The parties are supposed to fight, but it’s lopsided if…” Something seemed to come to him. “It’ll screw up the system if one party has total dominance.”
    Micah laughed. “No matter how good Enterprise looks, and no matter how much more sensible it is, Directorate will never want for members. Being Enterprise requires work, and does nothing to hide it. Directorate, on the other hand, grants its members permission to be lazy. That’s a powerful thing, and it’s why Directorate has so consistently held the Senate.” He smirked. “For now, anyway.”  
    “Directorate aren’t lazy.