Ones and Zeros
By: Steggie
-Prologue-
"Power, however it has evolved, whatever its origins, will not be given up without a struggle."
--Shulamith Firestone
Ones and zeros. Zeros and ones. That's all digital was. Something either was or it wasn't; there was nothing in between. It was very simple.
It was a digital world, a simple world. It was a world created and maintained by those in power, the most digital of beings. Those in power had always been digital, from the presidents to the prime ministers, from the high priests to the generals, from the kings to the emperors, and from the pharaohs to the tribal elders, they were digital beings. Anything that secured or strengthened their power was good (one!), and anything that threatened or took away that power was bad (zero!). All decisions stemmed from power.
It was always the common people who complicated the world. They were analog beings. They did not simply vote "yes" or "no" like those with power; they voted with "undecided" and "it depends" in addition to "yes" and "no." They were not simply "pleased" or "displeased" like those in executive leather chairs sitting behind polished mahogany desks above them; they were happy, sad, worried, satisfied, angry, depressed, confused, and "all right, I guess." The common people insisted on being difficult and live within a range of infinite levels between "on" and "off," "alive" and "dead." They greatly complicated the world.
Those with power liked simple worlds because they are easier to control. They realized that so long as the common people lived within a range of infinite possibilities they had freedom. So long as freedom existed, people could not be absolutely controlled, and without absolute control there could be no absolute power (zero!). Freedom threatened power. All decisions stem from power.
It was decided.
It began quietly one day, on a hot summer day made for ice cream sundaes and fruit smoothies with crushed ice. It did not start with the heavy, evenly measured steps of soldiers with guns and the hum of tank engines and humvees. It was nothing so obvious. No, it began with the constant, chaotic patter of footsteps from shoppers with bags and the hum of air conditioners and snow cone makers. On a hot summer day, when the malls were packed was when it started.
All over the malls, television screens faded to black and the audio disappeared with it. It was time for a commercial break: stay tuned 'cause we'll be right back. A handsome man with dark hair swept to the side appeared on the screen, accompanied by a gorgeous blond woman.
A few shoppers stopped to watch.
"Are you satisfied?" asked the man, cocking an eyebrow in a curious fashion.
"Are you happy?" asked the woman, her lips curling at the corners in seduction.
They were very simple questions, digital questions.
A few people answered, "No."
It began.
"If you said 'no' to either of those questions," the man continued, "we understand."
"We can help," the woman chimed in.
Their close ups melted away to show some product revolving gracefully in the center of the screen. Who could say what it was exactly? It's a fabulous, new item. Who could say what it did exactly? It will make you satisfied. It will make you happy. That's what the handsome man and gorgeous woman told them. Some believed the man and woman. They went to get whatever it was that rotated slowly on the screen.
