So good. And disturbingly currently topical, but ends with a brilliant ray of hope.

*smiles so very big... thank you Wirez...

V.

Big Brother is watching you...

and no one ever suspected he was 'social media'...

*chuckles...

V.

*raises his arms and waves them around erratically* OOH OOH OOH, TAKE ME TAKE ME!!! I WANNA GOOOOOO!!!
Nicely done my friend. I've read a few dystopian novels, including the few that are considered 'classics'. As much as they gave me things to think about, I didn't enjoy spending days reading a story that depressed me despite being well written and though provoking. Yours carries the arc of such a story in 8 good minutes and leaves the reader smiling. Can't beat that.

And on top of that, I may just adopt the phrase "What the flux is that" for public use. It's too good to pass up.

Agree, and none too infrequently tell some to go flux themselves ;)

*laughs... absolutely help yourself Wire... over the years my exclamation remark has been 'boogers!'. It gets some odd looks and many chuckles - but eliminates the odd curse word.

I'm so glad you liked the story...

*hugs...

V.

And yet, we have the same problem.

Bunners

*gasps... we do?

*hugs...

V.

MMM&M, eh?

*laughs... mmmmmmmmmm.....

V.

" . . . to make the world a better place."

From his lonely grave by the banks of the Styx, Jean-Jacques Rousseau grumbles, "Mais oui, that's how it ALWAYS starts . . . "

and he would be exactly right, non?

V.

Well, he did think that civilization was a disease.

*laughs... and in that thought is an oddity that could very well be true in the larger picture... where a virus attacks our bodies, mankind has always attacked the earth with equal viciousness...

V.

(wags a finger) Tut-tut! In the Bible, Gawd Himself laid it down: "Go forth into the world, and subdue it."

I think we're doing a bang-up job of that.

*chuckles...

sub·due səbˈd(y)o͞o verb: subdue; overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person).

I think the command has been perverted just a bit. The word subdue does not mean 'destroy'.

Most likely we should not slide down into that hole; though I have a strong suspicion we would both be on the same page.

V.

Same direction, different paths.

I'm working on another story . . . but don't worry; I'm still working on the Meredith & Varan story, as well as Exploitation.

most excellent...

V.

What a moooovingly moooognificent moooosive on moooodern times. Also, good use of a deus ex moooochina.

*laughs... you are so silly sometimes...

V.

No worse than you. LOL Besides, I just couldn't resist.

no worse than me - and that is so absolutely true...

V.

That was very good and timely...

*smiles very big... thanks for that Fem...

V.

You are welcome.

*laughs... so true, so true - but - I suddenly find myself wishing I had stock in Elon Musk... Space X will be the first on Mars. I'm wondering if he will claim it as his own when this happens...

V.

and you have to admire that...

V.

*bows...

thank you Sirius...

V.

The mirrors of past mistakes, and current ones, all laid bare in science fiction

*smiles... as they always have been...

V.