Artificial Flowers

by J. A. Hailey

  Maria was mightily impressed. “And how, mister fox?”

  “Oh, delightful Maria, you and Esme have come up with a wonderful basic plan. Just put this little bit of native cunning into the announcement. Move step by step, and disguise our involvement.

  “One. Issue your bulletin.

  “Two. Offer one forum - the first one - which you organize.

  “Three. Ask anyone and everyone to organize forums on their pet peeves.

  “Four. Request them to post it on the board, for like-minded types to join.

  “Five and final step? You folks go and join. And, hey, presto, we’re in! Who cares who organizes, as long as the anarchists are under observation?”

  “Brilliant, Singh, brilliant,” gushed Maria, hugging him.

  “And, wait,” added Singh. “Do nothing through HC, except the bulletins. Make it look like totally outside any form of Screenside governance,” said Singh. “Use homes, cafes and parks for meetings.”

  Maria hugged and kissed him some more. “So it’ll be a series of bulletins, with the primary one first, covering abuse in general, and then, say, Esmeralda putting one up on her pet peeve, say excessive telephone billings, and then, say, Candice, with child abuse.”

  “You won’t need,” said Singh. “Trust the anarchists to take it forward and set it up. Don’t worry. Activists always have grievances, focusing on desperately petty issues too. Horse riding equals exploitation of horses, and other dumb stuff.”

  They laughed together. “I’ll create the bulletin on my phone,” said Maria. “So why don’t we go to the Lounge Bar garden and watch birds while wording it? Garden can’t be crowded.”

  Bulletin, 25 November, 2015 – Private Notice

  H.A.R.M. (Humanside Abuse Research Movement)

  We are creating a discussion and support group to research atrocities and abuses conducted by the rich and powerful in Humanside, sponsored by vested interests.

  In due course, after collecting solid evidence, it is our intention to submit our report to HC, and put pressure on the Lawmaker Group to review Screenside’s options to take corrective measures that could alleviate the suffering of innocent humans, especially children and those enslaved. The first meeting will focus on Credit Card cheating by banks.

  Those with interest in helping us should attend the meeting, scheduled to be held this coming Monday, at 11 a.m. local time, at the Corner Café, Main St., NYC.

  Organizer: Maria (contact info available at all HC branches.)

  PLEASE SAVE TIME. REGISTER IN ADVANCE

  “That’s very good” said Singh, approvingly, when Maria showed him the draft. “Put it up and wait. If not enough happens in two days, get some lesser-known girl to put one up, with a different focus, and a different meeting place, maybe a park.

  “Remember, we are trying to find and monitor idealists who may err, not criminals.”

  “Oh, absolutely,” agreed Maria. “I recognize that those who might do wrong, and endanger Screenside, are super sensitive and good beings. None are criminals. In fact, those are the ones most distressed by Humanside exploitation and its resultant suffering.”

  “Do you think we could modify the empathy program, and maybe put some involuntary self control elements in?” asked Esmeralda.

  “Good idea,” said BC. “I’m going to ask Jacob and David to analyze the program currently running, and see what areas might be modified to create self-manageable responses. Let’s see what they find.”

  “I need to get back to my ship,” said Maria. “Boyfriend has been left there, poor thing.”

  “We know the feeling,” grinned BC. “Won’t keep you. Anyway, our work for the day is done. Let’s go, Esme. Caesar’s coming over for a chat session.”

  30

  Singh’s idea worked brilliantly, and within a few days of Maria’s bulletin being posted, three other messages had been put up on the board, announcing special interest activism focusing on Humanside abuse. Jennifer registered for one, scheduled in an apartment, ‘to decide on what we can do to help prevent modern-day slavery, conducted by ruler-supported cheats, through simple non-payment of agreed wages’.

  The meeting was scheduled in an apartment in London, and Jennifer went at the 10 a.m. start time.

  The apartment was regulation size, and thus quite crowded, although there were, at most, thirty activists inside. The main bedroom door was kept open, and participants were seated on the edges of the centrally placed bed, too.

  A truly lovely English couple, hospitable to the core, had called the meeting. “Shut doors don’t mean no entry,” said the female, Susan. “Just open them.”

  Richard, her partner, and she bustled about, making sure everyone was somehow seated, fussing over comfort and lighting, but finally they took up the meeting, shouting, so that participants in other rooms could hear. It was truly informal, and Jennifer loved the setting.

  Susan made the opening statement. “We are gathered here to discuss modern slavery. Of people held by force, made to work long hours in terrible conditions, and cheated of payment.”

  “Where?” asked a male voice, from the bedroom.

  “Oh, it has to be an entire environment where such a thing can happen,” answered Richard. “Can’t be done, on an industrial scale, in the USA, or here in the UK, because a cheated worker can complain, or newspapers... It can only happen in places where those cheated are also denied governmental protection.”

  “Or where the ruling elite is active in exploitation,” added Susan. “And that means participating in cheating, forcible detention, and coercion by threats, with a lot of imprisonment, physical torture and murder thrown in.”

  “Where, where?” asked a couple of voices.

  “Arab countries,” answered Susan.

  “It’s done openly.” said Richard. “Reported by many agencies and watchdog organizations, as you folks know. They are building for the football World Cup in Qatar entirely on slavery. So many deaths…”

  “Actually, slavery benefits everybody,” said a female voice from the bedroom.

  “Yes,” agreed another female. “Anyone who lives in those countries, or goes and enjoys a holiday, is actually enjoying the benefits of slavery, and supporting it. How? By paying less for goods and services.

  “Invisible, abused people, heads down, eyes on the ground, keeping infrastructure going. Sparkling clean cities, maintained by slaves...”

  Along these lines, the group discussion unfolded. Many spoke up, but none were in any way propagating taking action against any person or institution in Humanside.

  The meeting ended by way of breaking up slowly, as participants left to do other things. And, after about two hours, it ended formally, when Susan said, “Anyone recognize the Lawmaker in our group? If you need a clue, I’ll just say that her radiant beauty makes it difficult to look at her. Jennifer, a living goddess. Recognize?”

  Everyone had recognized her. “Maybe, you can take our concern to the Lawmaker Group?” asked Richard.

  “I certainly shall,” answered Jennifer, readily. “I don’t think any form of action is being contemplated by us in Humanside. I mean, for anything at all. But maybe I can influence things a little – to record our discussion and file it for future reference.”

  “That’s what we want,” said Richard, looking satisfied. “Let us be involved - by knowing and discussing, openly and in depth. What else to do? Please put the participants on record too.” He fiddled with his phone and sent a list of participants to everyone’s phone, numbers submitted at the time of registration for the meeting.

  “Great,” said BC, at a congregation of the entire Lawmaker Group. “This is what we should expect, in general – a benign sort of activism, like Richard and Susan’s group. These are Screenside folks, and no one is going to be so stupid, so bold, and so lawless as to take action against humans. We must keep monitoring, that’s all, so that we know if anything begins getting out of hand.”

  “That’s the danger,” said Mar
ia. “Discussion leading to mutual incitement, until we suddenly have a small core that loses control of its reactions. Otherwise, Screenside is just too law abiding. Don’t you just love that?”

  One very excitable core was found in a New York group attended by Omar, Candice’s boyfriend. The group’s focus was on a few Indian telecommunications giants, cheating massively via false billings in credit cards, and jointly operating a monster thieving program - of stealing ‘prepaid’ amounts of their millions of petty customers. The core group, made up of two Indian couples, was considering taking action, evaluating its options.

  As soon as the Lawmaker group heard of the danger, it met to figure out the best response. “Luckily, we’re already in, via Omar,” said Maria. “But what to do? These are conscious Screenside beings, and even the maximum announced punishment, of exclusion from society, still cannot prevent them tampering in Humanside. What to do? I mean, short of creating a system of imprisonment? Disgusting.”

  “Counseling,” said Esmeralda. “I’ll give them a hollering too. It’s not like Humanside here, counseling, I mean. I think that might be because everything that needs therapy is from indirect suffering, except mother. And no real mental issues either. A good hollering works wonders generally, as it is most often childish behavior at its roots. I’ll do it. There is no option but to somehow get them to see things differently. A little bit of reasoning and a little shouting…”

  After further discussion, it was agreed to leave it to Esmeralda and counseling. But how to get in without raising hackles? After all, Esmeralda was establishment, a Lawmaker, and BC’s girlfriend. And one couldn’t be more establishment than BC!

  Omar solved that. “Look, at tomorrow’s meeting, I’ll take a very hard stance against the violations, and tell them that because I know Esmeralda (oh, everyone knows how we’re connected to each other), I’m going to ask her for help and guidance in coping with my feelings of impotence and rage, as she is the one who has been living with empathy, and consequently this pain, all her life, and is therefore by far the most suitable one to advise and guide. Let’s see how they react.”

  31

  Setting up a meeting with Esmeralda included, proved to be ‘easy as pie’ for Omar, and he set up the session for early evening, inside Central Park.

  They hurried to the sitting, the ‘anarchists’, eager to meet the legend who had brought empathy to Screenside. Esmeralda met them as one of them, and sat on the grass with them to lecture them.

  “Omar, here, says you guys are getting very agitated about happenings in Humanside. Why? It has always been, and will probably always be.”

  An organizer, a dark haired girl, started crying. “One of my uncles was driven to suicide last week, by a big bank.”

  Esmeralda’s eyes immediately brimmed with tears. “How so?” she sniffled.

  Looking angry, the girl replied. “Credit card; being loaded with false expenses, and then hammered with penalty charges, and finally drowned in interest.”

  “Always. That’s how it’s done.”

  “And non-stop pressure on the telephone. All day, and also at night and on holidays. Rude people, always shouting and threatening. Special companies, formed with rude people only.”

  “I know, sweetie. And the rest of your family? Moving on with life?”

  “Have to,” answered the crying girl. “No option. There’s life to live…”

  “Your name?”

  “Sheila. Sorry. Didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “Don’t worry, Sheila. It’s a stressful time. Right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which is why it is the time to be extra vigilant against fatal errors through rage. You have a boyfriend? That handsome fellow just behind you, holding back tears? He’s so upset that you’re crying.

  “Everyone, pay attention, please.” Esmeralda spoke louder.

  “Omar called me here. He thinks you folks are not being able to cope with what you’re seeing in Humanside. He is of the opinion that empathy, recently installed by all, is responsible.

  “Let me tell you about empathy, then. I was born with it. Can you imagine how much pain I might have gone through in my life? The children… the beheadings… destruction of historical relics… And I keep on living with what is happening now, same as you all.

  “I think you guys have it easy. No? Think of feeling your feelings and having your thoughts all by your lonesome self. No one to understand; no one to share…

  “You lucky, lucky things! You do have company. You do have support. Each other. And some are lovers too. Wow!

  “So, you care about the children, and you care about the terrorism.”

  She suddenly screamed. “But don’t you care about the ones you have in Screenside? The ones you put at risk, if humans ever know we exist? You think we can touch anything in their world, without risking our very existence?

  “I went through years of it alone, and you are finding it unbearable, even with support.

  “Look,” she lowered her voice, and took a reasoning tone. “We must always suffer for them. We love our families, and, as a race, we adore humanity. But they are cruel, so cruel. Fat fellows stuffing their faces in front of those in the final stages of starving to death. Medicine producers decreeing death by disease for continents, so that their billionaire owners can keep multiplying wealth that is impossible to consume in a hundred lifetimes!

  “Please be sure that there is nothing we can do to eradicate their cruelty. At most, we can gain their malice, and bring doom upon Screenside. They will finish us, especially if we annoy their most wealthy and most powerful individuals and institutions. Be sure of that. And no one here deserves that, as a result of an action that would never have changed anything.

  “Sheila, don’t you just adore the folks of Screenside – never unkind, always loving, and all looking forward to a great and fulfilling future?”

  “Yes, I absolutely love everyone here,” answered Sheila, now freely crying. “I would never knowingly cause harm…”

  “So ignore. Let them cheat - telephone, credit card, each other. We can do nothing except manage our emotions. There can never be any other answer, any other advice, any other solution.

  “It’s a four-letter word. C-O-P-E. Cope.”

  32

  A few weeks later, at another General Assembly in the final days of 2015, Screenside was buzzing with excitement, an all-pervasive feeling of anticipation and achievement flowing through it. Many thousands had actively participated in the work, and rumors were that a number of ‘world finalization’ and other interfaced mandatory installs were to be announced.

  A great cheer went up in the enormous Hall, when the screen came on to show the Lawmakers seated together on stage. Goodfellow, who was not a lawmaker, stood at the podium, in his role as convener, coordinator, and occasional master of chaos!

  “Hello, and welcome, Screenside. This is not our most important meeting, as everything we do is equally important. But; and do I detect something extra in here today? But… you are all correct in assuming that this is undoubtedly our happiest meeting.

  “Why? Oh dear, why. I’ll tell you why, which I suspect you already know. This is the dawning of the age of HIS world. No, not God’s. We know that some have turned religious in here. It was inevitable, as religion is practiced by billions in Humanside, and who knows how many of you belong to religious families? Rest easy. This is not a place of thought policing. There are very good policing programs watching over Screenside. They guard against violations that could harm the social foundations of our world. Everyone knows what’s permitted and what’s not, as there are no ambiguities in our laws, and in the POP Act. Believe in what you like, and pray when and where you want to.

  “So, what does HIS mean? Be joyful. We have done it. It is over. We have got it...change of world!

  “It can never be final, and improvements must forever continue being developed and installed, but, in a moment, Esmeralda, Screenside’s goddess of empathy, will
press a switch and install a world program.

  “HIS – THE UNIFIER!”

  Flanked by her two friends, Esmeralda spoke. “It is a great honor to be chosen for this symbolic deed. I do not give Screenside this amazing gift. My life partner, BC.” She pointed at him, seated smiling in the group of Lawmakers. “Besides being one of the main shapers of our world, he is also a great philosopher, and he says every step of a journey is equally important, else you’ll never get to where you’re going. BC is a very senior personality of Screenside, and he was a truly early one here, probably the first one in, but don’t harp on that. He cannot handle age…”

  They erupted in laughter. It was a joy being alive. This was proof of their advancement. This was exactly the stuff that Humanside did at its live events. Exactly. And now they had it!

  There could be no more appropriate moment for it, and Esmeralda held the switch up, with its red button, announcing, “HIS world. HIS. Humanside In Screenside!” She pressed the button, and their world changed - completely!

  The girls walked back to their seats, and the mesmerized Goodfellow spoke. “Oh, ah, hm, what was that? Yes, HIS world. It’s done, folks. You won’t feel it immediately, because there are a couple of mandatory installs still to go. Glitches have, hopefully, been removed, and you can take your installation packs on your way out, or install by delivery, in only a slightly slower process, through the virtuality. However you wish. Then you’ll feel the difference. It’s all on the boards, and in infograms on your phones.

  “And, by the way, the advice of our experts is to install physicality packs in the privacy of your homes. Apparently, because of the sex interfaces, things could get a bit out of hand. Uncontrollable, you understand? New, strange things that may be difficult to manage. I mean, things could get hard.”