8
Central Authority
When Peter got back to his compartment he was glad to discover that Luci was back from her errands. He told her about the counselor's offer to make him an intern and she seemed genuinely excited for him even though that would mean they'd only be together a little while longer. This disappointed Peter because it meant she didn’t have the same feelings for him as he was quickly developing for her. He was confused about that since she’d been so open and intimate with him. They hadn’t had sex, but they talked like they’d been together for years. There must be some chemistry between us. She must be feeling something when we are together. I can tell it when she smiles at me. She wants me, I know it.
That night Lucinda said she was tired and suggested they order pizza in rather than going to the restaurant downstairs. "You can get pizza here?" Peter asked in shock.
"Yes, so many of Earthchildren were used to eating pizza as kids that one of the local merchants figured out how to make it and put in on their menu. It was such a hit, pizza parlors sprung up everywhere."
"So do they have pepperoni?"
"A close replica. There are no cows or pigs on Tarizon so it's made from the range deer and durk birds."
'Durk birds?"
"Un huh, they're kind of like a big turkey—very tasty."
"Get us a large, I'm starving."
Luci smiled and went to the control pad on the door. She punched in a number and placed the order. Peter chuckled at the thought of eating pizza. He wondered what other kinds of American junk food they'd have here. As they were waiting for the pizza, Peter looked over at the TV screen on the wall.
"Do you all have television?" he asked.
Luci smiled and replied, "Sure, but there aren't any English stations yet. There's been talk about it, but Central Authority is against it as you might expect."
"Right. It will hurt assimilation," he said, recalling Councilman Garcia's comments.
"Exactly."
"What are your schools like here?" Peter asked. "I hadn't graduated from high school yet when I left Earth. Will I have to finish school?"
"No. Most children complete school at age twelve. Many cycles ago a teaching method called rapid absorption was discovered. Scientists found that with the use of certain mind relaxing drugs and audio visual stimulation, knowledge and information could be injected into the mind at a dramatically faster rate than using conventional teaching skills. This was a tremendous discovery which has made it much easier and less expensive to educate the workforce. It's also been a boon to commerce too, as labor is now more abundant and cheaper than it's ever been.”
"Wow! No school."
"Well, I wouldn't say that, but whatever Central Authority thinks you need to learn shouldn't take long to inject into your brain."
"They don't actually stick anything into my head, do they?"
"No. Like I said, they give you this drug and then they sit you in front of a VC monitor with some electrodes attached to key points on your body."
"VC?"
"Video communicator."
"Oh, I guess that's what we call a TV on Earth." Peter shivered. "Hmm. I don't know about that."
"It's painless, trust me. Anyway, the information is absorbed by your mind quickly and painlessly."
Peter recalled that his dad had told him to watch out for people who asked you to trust them. He was contemplating that alarm when the door chime rang and Lucinda got up to meet the pizza delivery man at the door. Once he’d handed her the pizza she immediately shut the door without paying, which surprised him.
"Do you have an account with the pizza parlor?"
"No, he just scanned my credit strip."
"Credit strip?"
"Right. We don't use money here. Everyone has a credit strip which is credited with production points and debited for expense points."
"No checks, huh?"
"No."
"What if you lose your strip?"
She laughed. "You can’t. It’s embedded in your shoulder with your chip censor. You’d have to cut it out"
“Chip sensor? What's that?"
"It's a sensor that’s implanted in your shoulder that keeps you in constant communication with Central Authority."
"What! I'm not letting them put a chip in my shoulder."
She laughed again. "Peter, it's already there. Everyone gets one implanted on the ship when they are brought here."
"You've got to be kidding me?"
"No. It's standard procedure. Everyone on Tarizon has a chip sensor. It's very useful to Central Authority in managing the planet. They have an up-to-date census at all times and know exactly where everyone is at any moment. No one has to worry about getting lost. If you get sick Central Authority will know about it immediately and dispatch medical help."
"What about privacy? Don't people have the right to do as they please in private as long as no one else is affected?"
Lucinda gave Peter a queer look. "Privacy? No. The Supreme Mandate does not guarantee personal privacy. What is best for the people as a whole is our guiding principle."
Anger welled in Peter. He squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. What had he fallen into? A communist state in full force and glory? He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He recalled that the Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989 marking the beginning of the end of Communism on Earth. But had Communism prevailed on Tarizon? Was he now a member of a pure socialistic state similar to the one Karl Marx conceived and Lenin had done his best to force on the Russian populace? His arms and legs erupted in gooseflesh.
"Can they hear us talk?" He asked.
"No. They haven't developed that technology yet, but they are working on it. They can monitor your vital signs and can tell pretty much what you are doing at any moment by analyzing that data."
"So, when you're . . . ah . . . having sex, they know it?"
"Probably," Lucinda laughed. “That reminds me. You've got to make a sperm donation tomorrow. It's on the schedule for 1400."
"Whoa! Nobody talked to me about donating sperm."
"You have to. Everyone has to contribute to the repopulation effort, particularly Earthchildren who have clean sperm and healthy eggs. It's your duty as a guest of Tarizon."
Peter wondered if Lucinda was going to start singing the Tarizon national anthem, if they had one. The look on her face was so stern and sincere.
He forced a smile."Okay. So, what are we going to do with no TV?"
Lucinda's eyes lit up. "We can talk. I'd love to hear about your life on Earth."
He nodded. "Okay, and you can tell me more about yourself. That sounds good."
"Fabulous. I'll make us some sankee and have them bring up the blueberry pie."
"Blueberry pie?"
"Yes, the agricultural ministry has a developmental station that experiments with Earth crops. I checked with them and they had blueberries available. I had a pie especially made for you."
"Wow! You're amazing. I can't believe you went to all that trouble. What am I going to do without you?"
"Don't be silly. You’ll do fine without me. I’m just a guide. I’m nothing special. Let's just enjoy the evening. I can't wait to hear more about Earth. I was so young when I left there, it almost seems like a dream."
As she got up to go to the kitchen, Peter tried to shift his thoughts to other things, but he couldn't. He was falling for Luci and helpless to do anything about it. The thought of losing her was unbearable. If he could just convince her to stay with him. His pulse quickened at the thought of it. Somehow he had to do it, he just had to keep her from leaving him. But what if Central Authority didn't want that? What if they had other plans for her? His anger returned with a vengeance. He'd only been on Tarizon a few days and he already hated the commie jerks that ran the place.