You see an ad on your computer screen.
"Think for yourself. Already too many around you do not."
The ad is from The Freedom Voice. It provides keywords to search for and encourages web users to stop consuming the state authorized news and start thinking for themselves.
You begin to search.
Your search results include links to videos about the state's version of the truth and to counter-arguments. As you discover the government's lies, you notice an unexpected feeling of rage. Although you have never felt this way before, you know the feeling well. It is the same feeling you had that day, when you first realized it must have been staged. You also realize that most everything outside of the government-approved information is not true.
You begin to follow links and read articles. You find out that the state was wrong about so many things, from the date that the 9/11 attacks happened to all your personal health records, to who is in the government, to the date of some of the greatest events in the history of mankind.
You enter a comment into the website's "Letters to the Editor" box. You include a link to The Freedom Voice, which has provided you with this information.
Within minutes, the number of "read" articles increases by nearly half. In an hour it increases nearly ten times. The next day, the site is shut down by the government.
You go back to work for the day but only meet with a colleague and decide the presentation you will be giving in two days will have to be the most interesting presentation you've ever given. Instead of the slide deck you were going to use, you decide to use a video presentation. The slides will show still frames relevant to the points you're trying to make. The video will be what you want to say, not what someone else wants you to say.
You have been given $500 to buy new equipment for the presentation. You both go to a nearby computer store and look through a display of expensive cameras. You've never owned one. You've never even touched one as far as you can remember. You know they go for $250 or more on the used market. You discuss your options and talk about what you can do. Each of you puts in $50. You realize you need one to capture video from at least four computer screens simultaneously and to save the presentation as an mp4.
You and your colleague spend half a day at the store. You know nothing about how to use the devices, but the salesman is kind. He has you try about a dozen different cameras. You keep going back to the one with the LCD screen on the back. He explains that it doesn't display a live image. You can't use it. He recommends one that does and hopes you will buy it.
You walk out of the store and onto the street. You notice a man with a sign that says "think for yourself! freedom is possible!"
You go home. You open your laptop and realize the website is gone. You look it up and find a page telling you it's been shut down. Before the end of the day, the electronic devices in your home are searched and discovered. All of your computers have the Freedom Voice website bookmarked.
Your colleague's wife calls you. She tells you that you have been fired.
You wake in the morning. You control the money you have.
You say goodbye to your colleague and drive to the bank. Security forces are outside. You have never seen anyone like it before, but suddenly you know it is for you. The guards unload their weapons on you. Although you don't understand why, you realize this is not happening. You are trapped in the front seat of a car and cannot move. The guards have locked the doors and windows. You realize they have cut your escape off.
Inside, you realize the guards are now in your home. They have a group of men and women in black with guns. You find that your clothes and home belong to someone else. You realize you must have been replaced.
The people in the room take turns in front of you. You do not know their names. They have been wild before. They say things to you that you cannot understand. They shout in every language known to man.
You go to sleep. You scream because you cannot control your voice.
You wake up in the morning. Your clothes are in the front room. You put on one of the ones you saw in the closet the day before and put on a belt.
You are glad to return home.
-Your name does not matter.
-A number does.
You drive to work. You realize you cannot pass the security check point without your ID Card. They seem nice as they look you up. You've been here twenty years. They tell you they are sorry. Your number is 753.
They ask you your name and then look it up. It is spelled incorrectly and your ID Card has been flagged.
"Genetically Unstable" it says on the screen.
They ask you to turn for a retinal scan. You have never heard of anything like this before, but you know it must be true. You want to cry, but something is forcing you to do it. You do not understand what is happening.
They take you away.
They give you clothes like theirs. They put tags on all of your possessions and put them in a vault. Your things go into boxes that become part of a chain of other boxes.
You sit alone in a dark room for twenty years. There is no time. There is no place. There is no sense of self or environment, there is only the absolute truth of nothingness. The only thing colder than love are the rocks of the eternal grave.
You see a picture of your face on a guard's monitor.
You take off your clothes.
You are gone.
You wake up.