A Short Story Called Sandy
A Short Story Called Sandy
Tim O’Connor – Center for the Preservation of Humanity – 7/23/2022
Sandy woke up at 0500. It was still dark outside. The smell of sulfur lingered in the air from the fireworks show. She rolled out of bed and took a shower in 3 minutes and 56 seconds, saving 4 seconds of water usage. She poured her water savings into a cup from the bathroom sink and took her meal supplement pill with water for a change.
‘We are at war against carbon,’ she thought. The fireworks flashed across her mind. The moon was blocked out through the haze. The booms came closer and closer together. Between every boom, the speakers rang out “We are at war with CARBON!”
‘We’ve been at war with carbon for a decade,’ she thought, ‘but I guess we are at war with it again.’ She pushed the thought away because of the danger which lurked there. She threw her work clothes on absentmindedly and started down the steps from her two-hundred square-foot 18th floor concrete apartment.
“Sandy, apartment 1845, Number 345-34-4211, exiting building. State your cause,” the speaker by the door emanated.
“Work. 06:00 start. Food Sort South,” Sandy continued, “Eight hour shift. Back by 17:00.”
“Request accepted,” came from the speaker. The door clicked and Sandy slipped through it to the sidewalk. It was raining. Sandy started towards the bus stop 200 feet away hurriedly. When she reached the stop, it was so packed full of people she had to stand in the rain for 5 minutes until the bus arrived.
Soaked, she took her seat. The only speech on the bus was the simple propaganda from the prior evening. She could hear the ‘new’ mantra spreading around the bus and hoped it would not become a chant. ‘We are at war with carbon.’ It went through every ear on the bus and was expected to come out of the mouth of everyone who heard it. Sandy mumbled the phrase, barely above a whisper. The eyes of her bus-mates started looking at her because of how quiet she repeated the phrase. She mustered the ability to conform and, almost shouting, repeated the mantra.
By the time the bus got to her stop, Sandy couldn’t wait to get out it. She nearly ran. She didn’t have to yell, “We are at war with CARBON,” for the last half of the ride because the bus was so loud she couldn’t hear herself. She whispered her way through. She had to remind herself to fall in line though, there were six people in front of her and fifteen behind her, all coworkers.
The scene at her apartment building exit repeated at her work place. The speaker spoke, the door clicked, and an employee stepped in. She went to the changing room, grabbed two sets of plastic gloves, two sets of plastic booties, a plastic cover to go over her still wet work clothes, a hard hat, a face shield and a mask and put all of it on. Right on cue, the informational announcement came over the intercom system reminding employees that their personal protective gear is to be on and remain on throughout the shift.
Sandy stepped onto the production floor. It was a monstrous set of conveyor belts. On one end, garbage was fed onto the belts. On the other was an incinerator. In between there were several hundred workers picking food scraps, useful metals, and plastics out of the garbage fed down the line.
Everything was garbage, dead bodies, empty toothpaste tubes, rotten food, feces, and everything in between. The worst job was trying to pick swallowed meal capsules out of feces. Sandy seemed to get the task three times a week. Today was no exception.
A kiosk stood between Sandy and starting her work day. “Sandy, 36903, February 9. PPE acceptable. Line 6, Capsule Extraction. Have a nice day.” The kiosk’s revolving door spun 180 degrees. Sandy got off and walked to her station.
Anyone put on the task of sorting crap for capsule fragments struggled. The target reclamation rate for capsules was set at 75%. They kept track by scanning every piece of garbage upon entry and before entering the incinerator. In any one shift, a score of less than 40% ended with the worker being sent to the slaughterhouse for corrupting production. Anything less than 70% meant that no credits would be awarded for the day’s work. Sandy worked hard and avoided these fates.
Every 15 minutes, on the dot, the in vogue chant needed to be said three times as loudly as possible. At 06:15 the food plant erupted – “We are at war with Carbon! WE are at WAR with CARBON! WE ARE AT WAR WITH CARBON!” It drowned out the hum of the machinery. After it was over, the monotonous clicks and clanks of the belts and the cylinders returned. At 06:30 the spectacle repeated.
At 06:38 the intercom chimed in: “There will be an all staff meeting at 09:01. It is mandatory. You are to stay in your work area until directed to move.” While no one on the floor was able to speak to one another in the first place, Sandy felt a lump in her chest. Daring to glance up for a second, everyone else was experiencing the same lump.
At 09:01, after an especially boisterous round of propaganda recital, the lines stopped. Three government agents dressed in black suits, with black shirts and black ties, with hoods over their heads entered the production floor.
“We are here from the government. The government is placing this facility under special consideration for protections from carbon. Those whose government numbers start with a 1 will assemble with Agent 356, those starting with 2 will assemble with Agent 533, and those with 3 will assemble with 982. Go Now.”
The floor erupted into a shuffling of feet as everyone sought to arrive in their zone first. After assembling, each group was led into a different part of the plant. Sandy was led, with about 300 others, into the shipping yard. The group could see the metallic head of the agent dimly because of the sun despite the hood.
Agent 982 began speaking. “I have been sent here because the World Federation’s department of Carbon Control has deemed this facility dangerously carbon intensive. For the next three months your position will no longer involve food sorting and metal and plastic extraction, it will involve retooling the plant for robotic applications. At 09:30 today, a team of…” a sound like a saw followed by screaming began coming from one corner of the building, audible in the shipping yard.
After the agonized screams ended, Agent 982 resumed. “At 09:30 today, a team of engineers will arrive and begin the switchover. You are to do whatever they ask of you or you will go along with Agent 533, whose work you just heard. Follow me.”
The group reentered the building. While returning to the production floor, Sandy’s group was led past a sound proof pane of glass. On the other side of the massive piece of glass, the first group was lined up against a wall. Agent 356 was walking behind each person and injecting something into the neck of the first group. Some of the workers were having seizures and spraying blood from their eyes and mouth upon the floor, others lie motionless on the floor in a pool of blood, and others were staring back through the glass with a glazed look, their eyes completely blackened, their facial features even more pronouncedly gaunt and sunken.
Agent 356 placed a syringe against the neck of the woman he stood behind. Sandy had seen her, but never been cleared to speak to her. Agent 356 pressed the plunger in. The woman spun around and hit the ground, spasming wildly. As she spun around, group three saw the woman’s face. It was beat red, with black veins bulging in her forehead. There was blood seeping from the corner of her eyes. When her head hit the ground it exploded into a pool of red streaked with a blackness flowing through it.
After seeing this, Agent 982 led the group back to the production floor. Promptly at 09:30 the engineering team arrived. Their eyes matched the eyes of the survivors in the first group. They thanked Agent 982 and he dismissed himself after reminding Sandy’s group to follow their directions.
“We are WFEA unit 36,” the engineering team lead said, “In three months, there will be one line, 200 feet across. Today we will be removing line 1. My team will assign your tools for the remainder of the day. PPE requirements will remain in effect until further notice. Work hours will be increased by 4 hours daily with no recreation days until this project is completed. Any damage done to any operation part by any means will result in credit reductions. You will be put in teams of three, each responsible for removing a section of a line a day. You are not to speak to one another, only to the supervisor who is assigned to you.”
As soon as the engineer finished his commands, what was left of the first group, under a third of the crew taken away, returned. They were assigned to integrate themselves with the engineers.
Sandy was assigned a ratchet fitted with a 25mm bit. She had to unbolt the machines of the line from the floor and from the support posts to the machines. For every foot of line there were 8 bolts. She did this for the next 8 hours, only pausing at noon and at 5pm to take another meal supplement pill. And, as always, repeat the phrase, “We are at War with Carbon!” every 15 minutes.
At about 17:15, on the other side of the line, the person with Sandy’s job broke the 25mm bit handed to them. Instantly, the engineer overseeing the group shouted, “You are charged with destruction of government property and corrupting production!”
The head engineer arrived on the scene, saw the broken tool, and pronounced the worker’s fate as “GUILTY!” He reached down and placed his hand around the guilty party’s neck and picked him up off of his feet. Just as the worker turned blue, the head engineer returned the worker to his feet and marched him to the door. Agent 533 was waiting just on the other side and took custody of the worker. Sandy tried to hide the shiver that went down her spine.
At 4 pm the midshift workers arrived. At 6pm, they relieved their first shift coworkers. Sandy, her clothes still slightly damp, discarded her gloves, booties, plastic cover, hardhat, and face shield into the bin marked ‘to be disinfected.’ She put her paper mask in to the bin next to it marked ‘paper only.’ When she opened the paper bin to put her mask inside, it was much fuller than usual and the white paper was streaked with dried blood.
It was no longer raining but the sky still looked like it could reopen at anytime. Sandy got on the 18:05 pm bus to go home and it dawned on her that she stated her intended return time would be 17:00. CAIN (Centralized Artificial Intelligence Network) was a stickler for conformity. There was no chant this time upon the bus, a rarity; however, it did happen from time to time. ‘Hopefully the government changed the return times for the workers,’ was Sandy’s singular thought.
They didn’t. In a hostile voice CAIN shouted, “SANDY! Apartment 1845, Number 345-34-4211. State your cause for approach.”
“Work hours changed from 06:00 to 18:00”
“Verifying…” a pause… “Verifying…” another pause. After a few moments, CAIN interrogated Sandy. “State your position, your employee number, and your work hours effective today, and length of employment and employer name.”
Sandy responded in a calm monotone, “25mm operator. 36903. 06:00 until 18:00. 4,106 days. Food Sort South.” CAIN paused once more.
“State the propaganda.”
Knowing that her voice was going to be analyzed for sincerity, Sandy shouted “WE ARE AT WAR WITH CARBON!” with as much intensity as she could. As CAIN analyzed her vocal pattern to see if she was sufficiently propagandized, Sandy’s thoughts drifted back towards the dangerous idea – ‘we already were at war against carbon.’
CAIN interpreted her vocal sincerity for a few seconds. “Acceptable. New hours for 345-34-4211 06:00 to 18:00. Have a nice day.” Click, the door opened. Sandy sat down on her single bed and immediately fell asleep.
§§§
Sandy kept getting up, reporting to work, and falling asleep. 12 hour days with no days off for three months was rough, but at least Sundays still brought real bread and eight ounces of imitation meat. Sandy always wondered, before the refurbishing, where the meat scraps came from. The meat scraps were always kind of a white-gray with black flakes on it sometimes. Every once in a while a brownish-red chunk clung to the white part. She always wondered if it really was meat and what it tasted like because it was a meat she had never seen except in the garbage she sorted.
The thoughts of there ever having been a different kind of war against carbon dissipated in Sandy’s head. There was only this war. At Food Sort South, there were only about 130 workers left from her original group. Broken tools, broken bodies, and broken machinery saw most of the workers taken off the production floor, never to be seen again.
The project was on it’s final day. What once housed multiple lines manned by human labor now spanned 200 feet across and ran at three times the speed. All that was left to do was to finish crawling around underneath the line and making sure all the bolts were fashioned.
The new engineers, along with their engineering guides, installed all of the robotic arms over the conveyor belt. The entrance was widened but the incinerator still had the same size opening. Sandy got to work on securing the bolts she was responsible for. At 17:50, ten minutes before quitting time, the workers were done and the intercom informed them Agents 533 and 982 were in the building and to assemble in the shipping yard and to assemble immediately.
The workers went to the courtyard where the engineers, both new and old, were assembled. A portable CAIN was issued to everyone in Sandy’s group by Agent 533. Agent 982 began giving instructions. “At 18:00 each of you will be reassigned.”
§§§
The only acceptable speech started ringing through the crowd, quietly, “We are at war with carbon.” CAIN analyzed the voices.
Agent 982 hushed the crowd. “Yes, yes, We ARE at war with carbon. At 18:00 we will reassign each of you, as I stated.” Agent 533 took two of the murmurers from the crowd and separated them from the group. “First; however, there is a test for the engineers. This plant only requires 51 engineers. Reassignment needs to take place within their ranks as well. Be amused.”
The engineers looked identical to one another. All of them had sunken black eyes, sunken cheeks. Their teeth fell out. They were covered in sores and insects. Their uniforms were the same drab grey. Their boots were black. They were not issued a CAIN device because CAIN lived inside of them. There were 100 engineers in total. In front of the group was a large round cylinder with 1,000 ports. Only 49 of the ports were fitted with hoses.
“GO! NIMROD!” shouted Agent 982. (NIMROD stood for Nano-Intelligent Machine Recombinant Organics Decoupling). The clear hoses rose off the ground and plunged their sharpened ends into the necks of 49 of the engineers. Within seconds, the clear hoses turned red with black streaks. Paleness came over the faces of the 49 inflicted engineers right before they simultaneously fell to the ground. After less than a minute, the hum of the machine was silent, a gurgling sound replacing it.
Sandy’s group looked upon the spectacle stoically. The group clapped. “You were amused for all of your efforts,” said Agent 982. Meanwhile Agent 533 collected the engineer’s bodies off of the ground.
Everyone stood silent for several moments. At 18:00 the chant was recorded and analyzed by the portable CAIN systems. After the third chant concluded, Agent 982 began calling out employee numbers. “12304 to the door. 32010 to the door. 49993, to the track.” A large number of workers were lined up by the door, less than a dozen stood near the tracks. “36903 to the track.” All of the numbers were called. Everyone was separated.
Agent 533, with the two taken earlier from the crowd, walked to the door and ordered those near it, “IN.” The saw sound came again, followed by screams.
Agent 982 waited for the noise of the saw stop. Agent 533 returned to the shipping yard and stood by the door as Agent 982 began speaking. “Propaganda Now!”
Sandy and the other dozen or so of the workers with her ravenously screamed, “WE ARE AT WAR WITH CARBON.”
“Never forget that you are carbon too. We, the World Federation, must eradicate carbon wherever it exists, in any form, as we deem adequate. You are of the select few carbon forms which are palatable to the World Federation.” The few workers stood there expressionless. They knew 533 was waiting for them if they even had a facial tic. Agent 982 analyzed the group for about 3 seconds. Before continuing. “You are being reassigned to report for work in three days. Your work will be at Food Sort Central. Your tasks will be the same. Your start and end times will be the same. You will lead the workers there to complete the same conversion we have completed here.” Agent 982 again scanned their still faces. “Propaganda NOW!”
The group reiterated the mantra.
“For the next two days you will attend psychological infiltration training. This will be held remotely through your screen. It will begin promptly at 07:00 and end at 19:00. You will receive two breaks during this time and be given two meals. You are dismissed.”
‘How lucky I am to have been blessed by the state to continue their bidding,’ she thought on the way home. ‘I still have my life, my purpose is not yet complete.’
Sandy trundled up the 17 flights of stairs to her tiny apartment and fell asleep immediately, repeating “We are at WAR with CARBON” quietly to herself.
When she woke up she turned her screen on. CAIN was installed on the screen as well. “Sandy, 345-34-4211, your programming for leisure time is restricted to training. Commencing in 1 hour.” A timer appeared on the screen. Sandy showered for four full minutes, then the water was shut off. She took her meal supplement pill without water. “We are at war with carbon,” she started mumbling under her breath. She sat in her screen viewing chair as she mumbled the words, watching the statistics of government production and reaffirming the goodness of the government.
Every ten minutes there was a cutaway which showed rows of jail cells filled with state criminals who did not fall in line. During these cutaways, a prisoner was extracted from their cell who had either starved to death or was executed per court order. Almost all of these people had some wild idea that there was something bigger than the World Federation and were found guilty of ideological perversion and terrorism against the WF. They had the letters NWO branded upon their foreheads. Some of them started screaming about something called ‘J’ or ‘Ya’ but it was always silenced after that sound was made.
Sandy’s training started. She absorbed all of the information being presented as she raptly focused upon the screen. At 11:00 the screen returned to the war news and executions. A knock came at the door. Sandy opened the door and was met by an Agent. “Lunch” he said.
She took the meal and returned to her viewing chair, pulling a tray up to set the food down. She opened the lid and was immediately met with a smell she had never encountered. There was a thin slice of something white, round green things in a puddle of yellow, and a pile of some orange substance with brown flakes in it. She picked up her Sunday silverware and found the white thing to be very flaky and delicious. The orange stuff tasted like nothing she ever encountered and the green balls popped in her mouth as she chewed.
Sandy ate every single bit off of her plate. When she finished she felt a sensation of contentment for the first time in her life. She placed the plastic dishes in the to be disinfected chute and closed the door. When she returned to the viewing chair, she was presented with what she just ate. A picture of the feast was shown with labels. The word ‘Fish’ had an arrow pointing at the white flaky thing. ‘Peas’ pointed to the green balls, and ‘sweet potato’ pointed to the orange blob. It was the first real food she had ever eaten.
The training resumed. At 19:00 Sandy’s door was knocked upon again. Another meal she had never experienced was given to her. Steak, baked potato, and corn were the items she ate. She marveled at the white part of the ‘steak’ with the little red chunks still clinging to it. ‘That’s how they got that piece of garbage,’ she thought. She grinned at herself and finished the day by watching the screen for another hour before going to sleep. The same scenario repeated itself the following day.
When the second meal arrived the second day, a uniform accompanied it. This one had a number tag with instructions to memorize the number as well as to wear the number when she reported to work the following day.
Sandy rose from bed at 0500. The first thing she did was repeated the propaganda of the day. “We are at war with Carbon,” she said out loud. She stepped into the shower repeating the phrase. She repeated the phrase as she toweled off, as she got dressed, and as she walked down the 17 floors of her building to the street. She got on the bus and went to work. Her new job was to wrench and to be the communicator for her group of three. On the way back from work she started the chant on the bus. She was yelling “WE ARE AT WAR WITH CARBON” on the sidewalk even after the bus departed.
§§§
When she started falling off to sleep, still uttering “We are at war with Carbon,” she noticed that she was adulterating the saying. “We are at war with you.” She sat straight up in her bed. The room was glowing.
What appeared to be a human figure started talking to her from the corner of her room, where the glow was coming from. Softly, a male voice said, “Sandy. You are loved. This is not the way Jesus wants you to walk. This is not why God put you on the earth.” Sandy sat stupefied, staring at the corner. “When you report to work tomorrow, you are to say my name with as much conviction as you have said the propaganda. We are at war with evil. Those at war with carbon are at war with my Father.”
“How did you get in here? How did you get past CAIN?” Sandy muttered.
“Worry not, child. I will visit again. Until then, pray this prayer: Our Father, Who is in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, for Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. Forever. Amen.” This is to be your TRUTH. It replaces the propaganda. Recite this as you go about your day.”
Sandy remembered that she had a mother when she was very young. Something about what the figure said to her reminded her of that time. She did not know her mother, but she remembered that her mother used to say the same thing to her before she went to sleep in her crib. A tear creased Sandy’s cheek as she remembered this. It cut through all of the years of institutionalized schooling, all of the propaganda. She forgot all of the wars she was not supposed to remember and the ones she was. She forgot the overthrow of the nations. She forgot the pandemics and the food shortages. She forgot everything between when she was 24 months old until this very moment. “We are at war with EVIL!” she said.
“Yes child. We are at war with evil,” the glowing man said as he reached out his hand and flicked her tear away. “Do not be afraid. God has blessed you.”
The glow disappeared and the corner returned to darkness. Sandy sat bewildered for several minutes. She tried to remember what the WF wanted her to say without success, the only slogan she could recall was “We are at war with EVIL!” She put her head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling in amazement and recited the Lord’s Prayer. After saying “Amen” Sandy drifted into a deep sleep.
When she rose she noticed the time, 05:03. ‘I overslept’ she thought. She hopped out of bed and showered in 3 minutes. The extra minute of water was used to take her meal pill and then gulped down until the water was shut off. She dressed and hurried down the stairs. On the bus the propaganda chant started. “We are at War with Ev… on,” she said. ‘Carbon, dummy, We are at war with carbon,’ she thought, ‘not evil, not right now anyway.’
She got her tools assigned to her and got to work. “44441.” the man next to her, 30001, said. “Will you inform 16052 that he needs to lift up on the count of three?”
“Yes, because Jesus wants me to,” Sandy replied.
30001 glared at her with hatred in his eyes. She turned to 16052 and said, “Jesus wants me to tell you to lift up on the count of three.” 16052 now glared at her as well as she began counting. When she got to three, 16052 lifted up his side of the machinery he was handling, 30001, was still glaring at Sandy. As he glared the pin on the drum they were removing slid out and pierced 30001’s arm through and through. The engineering supervisor was on the scene immediately.
“Incident report 44441!” He screamed in Sandy’s face. He smelled like the fireworks when war was declared on something. He stood close enough that she could see his uniform shifting from the insects crawling upon his dead flesh beneath. His eyes were dead black pools sunken into sockets which outlined the scull beneath.
“Ummm,” she started. “30001 was not paying attention after asking me for a countdown. 16052 performed as was required and the pole pierced 30001’s arm.”
“30001, you are guilty of corrupting production! Come with me.” 30001 was stuck to the ground, the pin weighed about 200 pounds. Nonetheless, he struggled to rise to his feet, unsuccessfully. Seeing this, the head engineer pulled a cutting torch out of his pocket and severed the pole, leaving about 6 inches on either side of it protruding from his arm. “Rise now, criminal.”
30001 protested his conviction. “She started talking about Jesus, head engineer! I was figuring out how to report her for her insubordination! We are at war with CARBON!”
The head engineer turned his black stare upon Sandy. Somehow it seemed even colder than usual. He did not utter a sound for several long minutes. “What 30001 says is true. It is you who are guilty, 44441. Guilty of insubordination, ideological impurity, and corrupting production.”
At just this moment, as other workers dared to glance up to witness the commotion, Sandy, in a loud strong voice began a new, non-World-Federation-approved chant. “Our Father, Who is in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, for Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. Forever. Amen.”
By the time she finished her chant several other workers in the plant had tears coming from their faces. All of them were commanded to be rounded up. The head engineer had a firm grip on Sandy’s arm. And there was a glow again in a usually darkened corner of the plant.
“Speak these words,” the figure emanating the glow said evenly, “By the power of Christ I command the evil in you out.” All of those with tears upon their faces uttered these words at the same time. When Sandy said them, the grip on her arm was far weaker.
She repeated herself, “By the Power of Christ I command the evil in you OUT!” The head engineer’s grip was no longer upon her arm. Actually the head engineer was replaced with a pile of decaying flesh, covered in insects and the tattered rags of his uniform. A black streak continuously coursed in and around the head engineers body, searching for a way to fix him. After several minutes, the streak turned into a blob and rested upon the clothing, idle. The rest of the workers looked at the spectacle in complete shock.
13:00 propaganda time was upon the workers. While those without tears started shouting “We are at WAR WITH CARBON!” those with tears stood silent for the first time in their lives.
After the echoes resided, the group with tears boldly stated, “We are at war with EVIL.” The other workers glared at them with hatred in their eyes. The Agents came into the room. Fifteen agents, metallic heads hiding behind hoods. Their bionic eyes swept the room to assess the situation. Before they could fully comprehend the situation, those with tears gathered in a circle, got on their knees, and arm and arm, and began the Lord’s Prayer, heads bowed.
By the time those praying said “Amen” the first time, the agents had gathered all of the hateful workers together to surround them. When the praying finished the second time the group of workers had metal batons in their hands. When the group again finished praying for the third time, those batons came crashing onto their backs, and shoulders, and heads at the command of the Agents.
The Agents stepped through the crowd and took hold of the praying groups arms. “You are to be made examples of. Walk.”
§§§
The midday sun was something Sandy was not used to. The world dazzled in front of her eyes. She was loaded onto a bus that was emblazoned with the words World Federation Criminal Justice on the side. The bus was painted black. The windows were blacked out so that anyone on the street at the time could see the faces of the criminal but the criminal could not see their menacing gaze. 30 people were loaded on the bus. There was no driver, there was no greeting, there were no credit announcements for the fare. 30 people sat on a self-driving bus. Sandy started the chant, “We are at WAR with EVIL!” The howling from the bus was so loud, even with the windows up, that those few bystanders could clearly hear the chant.
When the bus stopped, the door opened. An Agent, hood down, stood at the door. “Get off the bus, criminal.” One by one they filed off the bus. As each stepped onto the concrete floor, their sentence was given to them. “Sandy. 345-34-4211. Cell 56022. One meal pill every other day. 1 minute of water a day. Execution in 2 days.” A collar was placed around her neck as she was led to her cell.
The cells looked identical to one another. Instead of just seeing the hall; however, Sandy could see inside the cells. There was a bucket in the corner, and a CAIN built into the back wall of each cell. The floors crawling with insects. Long dried blood covered the walls and the floors. Here and there were teeth and pieces of teeth strewn about the cells. In one cell, an eye sat, decaying, covered in maggots. She arrived in her cell and sat on the floor. There was no bed, no stool, nothing but CAIN and a bucket. She took the bucket and flipped it over, sat on it, and propped her bruised head up with her arms, elbows on her knees.
Before long the first prisoner was drug in front of her cell. She was already dead. Ten minutes went by and another woman was dragged out from her cell, this one alive, but not by much. A few hours later another, an older man, was taken from his cell. He could walk, and slowly made strides towards his own execution. Passing by Sandy’s cell, he stopped for a brief moment and their eyes locked. He smiled at her and she smiled back. “Peace be with you, WE ARE AT WAR WITH EVIL!” Sandy said. He was punched in the kidney from behind and forced to continue his death march. The entire prison echoed Sandy’s statement though. She wondered if that made it onto the screen for anyone watching.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth a slight tingling sensation passed over her body. Looking across the hall, the prisoner who echoed her call was writhing in pain, holding his collar. After about 3 seconds, the prisoner lay motionless. She stared at him intently and after about 30 seconds he stood up and stared at her.
His CAIN unit had a light on it. She noticed the green light change to red for the 3 seconds the man writhed in pain. After red, it turned yellow until he stood up, and then it turned to green. Her own light, being yellow, prompted her to stand up, and when she did it, too, turned green. ‘CAIN is evil, too,’ she thought, silently.
Sandy tried to sleep but the floor was uncomfortable. Every time she did start drifting off to sleep another prisoner was led to execution. Some did not go as quietly as others. Some tried to fight the Agents and were extracted by force against their will. The extracting Agent drug these men and women down the hall by the neck, most of them kicking and screaming.
Finally giving up on attempting sleep, Sandy sat upon the bucket again, this time with her back in the corner. She began saying the Lords Prayer quietly at first. When she said Amen, CAIN tried to shock her, but again, the shock was just a tingle. She stood up and the yellow light turned green. She said the prayer a little bit louder. The shock was, again, just a tingle. She stood up, yellow to green. She moved her bucket as close as she could get it to the bars of the cell. She repeated the prayer louder and louder each time. The prisoners in the cells around her began to awaken. Her hallway partner was staring at her with confusion on his face. As she continued repeating the prayer, he started lip-syncing the words.
After several hours of teaching the Lord’s Prayer to the inmates, she dozed off into sleep, her head against the bars. And she dreamed.
§§§
In her dream it was a sunny day and she was at a park. Her mother and father were drinking tea on the blanket they had spread over the grass. Sandy was running in circles around them trying to catch a butterfly which had visited the trio. “Come have a bit of food,” her long forgotten father’s voice beckoned to her.
When she stepped on the blanket, her father had disappeared. Her mother was holding her and it was smoky and grey everywhere she looked. Her mother had been crying and under her breath she could hear her mother reciting, over and over, “save Sandy. Oh, God, save Sandy.” They were in a line. The line was very long. Thousands of people were in the line and at the end was a sign that said ‘Rations.’ There were other lines of people too. One was for ‘Medical treatment,’ another was ‘Morgue,’ and the other was ‘Enlist.’
After several hours, Sandy and her mother arrived at the front of the line. “How old is your child?” the Agent asked.
“Two.” my mother said.
“Hand her to the Agent next to you to receive your ration card and enter the market,” the Agent in the booth said.
Her mother burst into tears and said “God SAVE SANDY!” followed by the Lord’s Prayer. “Let her recall that God.” The Agent next to Sandy all but snatched her from her mothers arms.
As soon as Sandy was taken from her mother, she was back in her apartment, meeting with the glowing man who had snuck in. “This is the third time we have met. This is also the final time you will see me like this.”
She bowed down to Him and prayed the prayer He had taught her just a few short days ago. At the end, she asked about her mother and father. The glowing man told her to rise and she did. “You will be reunited with your mother and father before two days pass. Until that time, you are to pray the Lord’s prayer unceasingly.” As quickly as the dream had started it was over and she was wide awake with her face pressed against the bars of her cell. She stood up and immediately began to pray in an even, audible voice. Her voice was echoing throughout the cell block.
§§§
Over the course of the next two days, every prisoner in the facility learned the Lord’s Prayer. Every ten minutes, another prisoner was taken from their cell and they immediately began reciting the prayer along with Sandy. Those who said Amen in their cells suffered the shocks, fell down, and stood up again. None of the prisoners were already dead. Even the most feeble of the prisoners were still alive and recited the prayer with her. There were tears in Sandy’s eyes as well as in the soon-to-be-executed prisoner’s eyes. Night and day she continued the prayer, despite how hoarse her voice was growing and how much her stomach was growling.
It was Sandy’s time. The gate on cell 56022 clicked open “345-34-4211, step out,” came the agent’s command. She continued the prayer as she was led down the hallway under her own power. The entire prison began repeating the prayer with her. Some of them grunted as they went down from the shocks. They all returned to their feet and reiterated the prayer again. Sandy wondered if the screen viewers were getting this. They were. The filter system was disabled at the very moment Sandy was ordered out of her cell.
After she exited the cell block, Sandy, still praying, could hear the prayer through the walls from the prisoners she was led away from. She was taken through another door. The room was small and well lit. There was a table set onto the floor with hideous looking creatures at each corner. The table was jet black and very smooth. The Agent pointed at the table. “Forever. Amen. Our Father…” Sandy said.
“You have been found guilty of crimes against the World Federation.”
“Thy Kingdom…” Sandy said.
“Those crimes include insubordination, ideological impurity, and corrupting production. Each is punishable by death”
“Give us this day our…” Sandy said.
“You may renounce your punishment.”
“As we forgive those...”
“All you must do is submit once more to the World Federation.”
“deliver us from evil, for Thine is…”
“By repeating the doctrine of the World Federation.”
“Forever. Amen!”
“Propaganda NOW!”
“WE ARE AT WAR WITH EVIL! We are at WAR with EVIL! WE ARE AT WAR WITH THE WORLD FEDERATION AND THEIR EVIL!” Sandy screamed at the agent.
The blade came down and decapitated her. She had seen this done hundreds of times, as had all of the rest of the screen viewers. This was different though. The filters had cut out. Her voice was not muted. Every screen viewer heard exactly what she had said. Almost all of them repeated the TRUTH which came with her last breath. Millions of people around the world had learned the Lord’s Prayer and the TRUTH. We are at war with EVIL.
§§§
Unbeknownst to Sandy, as the guillotine’s blade came down, the sky lightened around the globe. A cloud could be seen by all. All of the people on the earth came out of their apartments. Even the World Federation head stepped out of his palatial estate. To see the event occurring.
He was not pleased. “Stop this coup! Stop this COUP RIGHT NOW!” he shouted at the lightened sky. He could see the glimmer of a city coming forth from the heavens and knew his time was short….
Sandy was besieged by a light which both surrounded her and infused her. A being stood before her, even brighter than the light which was inside of her. “Well done good and faithful servant, Well done.” The being said. She walked up to the being and, still praying the Lord’s Prayer, she was advised to watch.
She saw the clouds of light coming upon the earth. And she saw the multitudes of people streaming to the streets around the world. “God’s light shone through you,” the being said. Those who had seen her execution were chanting their praises to God and calling out to Him for salvation. Their faces were hidden, buried into the ground. Those who were not praying were kneeling. And then suddenly a voice came from the heavens, commanding everyone to state the truth – The Messiah has come, and the Messiah is the Will of God. Everyone said it. Everyone kneeling, and not bowing, disappeared. Those bowing appeared next to Sandy in the light. The World Federation was swept away entirely. The Agents melted back into the ground where they stood and the cooling flakes of metal were distributed to the corners of the earth.
Sandy watched all of this with astonishment. “I want to be with that man. He is the one who visited me.” She was filled with understanding at that moment. That man was the Messiah. That man was sent to her by God, to do His Will upon the earth. The entire world was new.
“Yes, Sandy, that is the man who visited you in your apartment, at your work, and in your cell,” the being said. “Through your obedience to His commands, those with hearts for God were able to be spared from going along with the evil to their place.” He paused. She watched the leader of the World Federation be swallowed up by flames coming from the earth. The being stood up and commanded all of those with him, “Return to the new earth.”
They did. There was no more hatred for carbon. There was no more war, no more robots, no more strife in the land. There was the King, the Messiah and there was obeying His Laws, as set by his Father. The people strove together, provided for each other, and dwelt in the Grace and Mercy of God.
§§§
I wrote this in a fictional setting in short story format for a reason. Yes, it is very dystopic in the beginning. The idea that we are at war with carbon; however, is a reality right now. Of course, many of us see that being at war with carbon means getting rid of people in general as well as getting rid of the other carbons which support our lives including plants, animals, and energy. We must all say no to this, peacefully.
This 7,300 word piece tries to show the horrors of the world being created for us by those waging war against carbon. It is also to show how pervasive propaganda can be. Propaganda does not work on people who have any doubts. It is meant to be gobbled up and spewed out. Increasingly, this tactic is being employed against the people of the earth. For instance, are CoVID-19 shots safe? Are they effective? The answers to those two questions alone exemplify an individuals ability to ask questions or if they will just follow the propaganda from all of the official sources. It results in a group think and anyone outside of the norm is slated for permanent removal from society. We are at the precipice of that becoming reality in the United States as well as in the rest of the world.
Repeated and constant exposure to fear, torture, and death, creates a numbness to those events. When fear of torture and fear of death no longer exist, humanity can truly be free. The only way I have ever found to do that is through the blood of Christ and love God has for anyone who seeks him fully and obeys His Laws.
I tried to show how God can beat anything, robots, indoctrination, globalist world orders. Anything. He will triumph over all evil. Until He does, it is within our free will to decide whether to follow the way of the world or the way of God.
I do not want to see the transhuman AI takeover of the people upon the earth. I don’t want people hungry and thirsty. I don’t want people to suffer. The people of the earth have hardened hearts. I am no exception. Too many; however, have hardened their hearts towards God. For that they will be compensated as God deems fit, as will each and every one of us. Today we have free will to soften our hearts towards God. But that will not always be the case. We are being divided along the lines of this spiritual war right now, in my opinion. Once the birth pangs are concluded, the real tyranny will rise, crush humanity, and then fall. Only God knows the time, not me.
Yes I would like to preserve humanity. God-created, carbon based humanity is worth being preserved. Precisely because I, nor anyone else, cannot, with certainty, state the Messiah will arrive on such and such a date, I want to see intact DNA in as many people as possible. That means not willingly mutating it with gene therapies. It means not uploading a fake you into the metaverse. It means not putting chips into your head. It means using the free-will God has given us to say no and refuse the plans the Adversary, Satan of you will, has for humanity. It means saying no to the way the world is going, dragging us along with it. That takes courage. It also takes a fear of God to sustain.
I cannot tell you what to do with yourself. All I tried to do here is paint a picture of the way I see our future if people do not or cannot put a stop to it. I strongly encourage you to read the Bible while you can. I strongly encourage you to recognize the danger we are all in. At the end of everything else, I ask that God Bless you and lead you to an understanding and reliance upon Him.