Cognitive Deviance

33. The Rally

May 26, 2045 - 4:11 PM

Margo and Jack stood at the entrance to the rally, not a hint of their profession found on them. As long as nobody looked closely. Their Fatemakers were hidden in their coats, emitting a signal that rendered them undetectable by scanners. Luckily, only security knew their true identities.

Carl, Andrade, and several other Neutralizers were scattered throughout the rally clad in their regular uniforms with their Fatemakers and ThoughtControl lenses on display. They kept watch over the increasingly hostile crowds surrounding them as well as their fellow, disguised doctor-cops treading through these dark and unforgiving waters they called their hometown. Psychwatch drones and portable weapon scanners hovered over Independence National Historic Park like bees around a flowerbed, controlled by Holden, Nikki, Royce and several others in a nearby building, and the officers had to warn several people to stop swatting at them. As the crowds increased, so did the number of drones, as well as the tension.

All around the park, Margo was able to hear and see every opinion of Psychwatch all at once. If she looked left, she could see the words NO ONE IS BORN A CRIMINAL hovering above the Liberty Bell in bright blue letters alongside dozens of other anti-Psychwatch slogans and imagery. To her right, the words A WAR IN THE MIND TAKES AN ARMY TO FIGHT floated high above a stage in red, where Commissioner Mason and dozens of other Neutralizers stood above rows of holo-boards promoting the organization's services. Cognitive Crafts. MoodMatcher music therapy. Even the incredibly controversial gender correction program for individuals with gender dysphoria who wished to be psychologically conditioned into identifying with the gender aligning with their biological sex through medication and therapy rather than undergo transition. Everything Psychwatch offered was up to the choice of the citizens, but even uttering that line would instantly earn a person new enemies and possibly a handful of allies if they were lucky.

Margo felt like she was walking among cult members.

Everyone around her had some distinct features about them that stripped them of their individuality, marking them as the property of something bigger. Masks. Clothing graffitied with propaganda. Conspicuous physical characteristics such as obesity or fragility. Even her fellow Psychwatch officers stood out among the crowds, with their opaque helmets obscuring their faces and silver lights tracing their uniforms and Fatemakers as if pure energy coursed through their bodies. And somehow the officers startled Margo the least. It was the only weirdness she felt she was familiar with.

What am I thinking? she thought, nudging her fake glasses up her nose. I shouldn't think of these people as threats. They're patients! They need my help.

Not all of them, she heard Mason's voice chime in, her voice rattling through Margo's skull. You said so several days ago, Sandoval. The masked man should be here. Look for him. Look for the flowers. Empathize, neutralize, stabilize.

You kidding me? Jack laughed. Look at these sad bastards. I just wanna put them out of their misery.

The awkward pair of glasses the two officers sported were more than just a disguise. They were wearing the original ThoughtControl pieces, specialized glasses that psychiatrists wore to determine the conditions of patients who were vague or cryptic when speaking, back when Psychwatch was more secretive with their methods. The lenses darkened the world within Margo's sights in a somber blue haze, and they worked just like her regular piece. The citizens' identities and conditions filled her field of vision like ads on a computer screen, and she nearly lost her balance as each item of data rushed toward her as she passed through the crowd.

"Rally capacity has reached twelve hundred," Nikki declared through her earpiece. "No weapons or illegal substances detected so far. And as Mason mentioned before, remember to be on the lookout for spark roses."