Yrag
pushed his chair back from his electronic monitor screen and stretched
his skinny body. "Damn," he said. "I am so sick
and tired of monitoring these stupid citizens day in and day out!"
The
government should have, by now, come up with a way to do it by
computer alone. Lord knows, they had taken enough of everyone`s
money to have done so years and years ago.
YEEEEEEEESH!!
The pain grabbed him and sent him reeling.. Why in hell could
he never remember that the monitors were also monitored? He hoped
his vacation would be approved soon! He could hardly wait to get
away from people, even if it would be just for a few hours.
Quickly,
Yrag went back to work at the large screen.His job was to monitor
a small section of the city and administer discipline by pushing
a button when he saw indiscretions. He had "zinged"
at least fifty today. Some were really pitiful.. kids just trying
to sneak a snack from the food simulator.
Yrag
kind of goofed sometimes and administered an adult "zing"
to some of the children. They couldn`t survive adult zing, but
he was allowed a few goofs before the GFTP came down on him with
their own "zing."
Yes,
Yrag knew he was better off in his position than most government
workers. Were his father-in-law not an official of the Government
For The People, he might be one of the death squad cleaners sent
out to retrieve bodies of those who had the Ultimate Discipline
administered.
It
wasn't a pleasant job because it took awhile to get around to
some of the addresses and the bodies got quite messy after a certain
time period. He remembered the old man with the house full of
cats that he had to terminate.
Yrag
had caught him on screen about to perform an act of unapproved
sex. Yrag had seen him reaching for his wife's hand. They knew
better than to go ahead without an okay from the GFTP first.
His
body was left there three months before he was picked up. The
rest of the family had a hell of a time living in the house with
the remains. The cats had dragged pieces of the old man all over
the house, making clean up a chore. It was so much neater back
when the GFTP still allowed funerals.
As
Yrag viewed people on the corner waiting for a bus, he noticed
a woman waiting with her fifty dollar fare, for the government
bus, dropping it from her tired hand as she dozed. Yrag watched
her on his monitor and saw the man next to her pick it up and
put it in his own pocket.
Yrag
pushed the terminal button. "Thou Shall Not Steal, son of
a bitch!" He laughed as the man writhered and screamed and
then was silent.
The
woman awoke quickly, got up silently and moved to another bench,
keeping her head down all the while.
"Smart
old bitch, good girl! She knew she was being monitored,"
he thought.
Yearningly, Yrag thought of the fifty in the man's pocket. If
there was a way he could let the clean up crew know, they might
split it with him.
Damn,
this time the pain shot to every part of his body and seemed to
take hold with long claws and shake him viciously!! ARRRRRRGH!
The monitors were monitored for thoughts, too, not just actions,
by a higher up in the GFTP.
Yrag
was never going to be able to sleep his alloted four hours tonight..
He knew the aches were going to linger for awhile.
The
commoners just didn`t realize just how much freedom they still
had living in the GFTP.. The damn fools!
