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~Fiction Starts Here~

There was a color threat in school today. Not unusual, really, but still. We had our usual evacuation, the usual letters sent home, the bomb destroyed by the Order Guard for all to see. You get used to it, living in a city populated by rebel groups. Why they tend to attack our learning facilities is beyond me. Rebels claim the LF's are brainwashing us. But I told that to my mentor and I got a sting with the inject gun. How can they wash our brains, anyways? Mine's firmly in my head, along with the chip that monitors my learning levels.

The Rebels claim we are devoid of our natural freedoms. I don't know what "freedom" means, but they claim that color, music, and choice are things everyone needs. But, color stings. I haven't ever experienced it, but we learned in Drug and Poison Education. In Honor Scouts, we learned how it affects the mind, making it more rebellious, more prone to accidents, causing them to question the authority of the Leader. How they become nothing more than a junkie. How the tell-tale sign, patches of colored flesh, shows how far gone they are. How, some end up in hospitals, being drained of the toxin, BUT RESISTING such detoxification. How must die in asylums, screaming nonsense words like "democracy", "liberty," and, most often, "opinion".

There is no trace of these words-they are pure nonsense. Not a dreg of them, not in Neutral Tongue, nor Contrast Speak, or even in the widely spoken, Ambiguous. Nothing.

As for music, we have music. A lesson a day in song, praising the Leader. A point off for lack of memory, a point for expression, and a 0 for not remembering. Somehow, Mentor always knows when we haven't practiced.

We do not want choice. Choice is better left to the Leader. IT does not wish for us to be burdened with choice.

The Rebels claim that things used to be better, in Olden Times. But, things have always been this way, since the start of Time Eras. The first record is in 1 T.E., describing the way of life. Nothing came before Time. They go against the scientific records of the world.

Rebellion rallies are held nearly everyday, outside of the Leader's Compound. They hand out pamphlets, pamphlets that hurt to look at, to feel. But the crowd grabs at them like crazy people. Maybe the are crazy- possession of these handouts means Isolation.

I do not understand their anger. We are well fed, treated fairly, and educated. Living in the city of Bleak has never been safer. Especially for children. Children like me, 15679, experiment of 7516 and 9810.

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Rebel groups may have stations all across Sameness, but here in Bleak, the capital city, there isn't just bases, there are, they say, meetings. And eve rallies.

We have evolved to perfection. In our Learning Facility, we learned of the Dark Times-times where hatred, ridicule, and Difference were still thriving. Now, we are all equal under the Leader. IT has done Great Things. IT is supreme.

The Leader calls to us from IT's compound. IT tells us what to do. Sometimes, IT invites people into the compound the best, brightest, or most athletically gifted. IT calls them to work for IT personally. They leave their Guardians, and never have to return to their Dwelling again.

IT decides everything for us. IT says that decisions are an unnecessary burden for us citizens of Bleak. And IT is right.

We are not equipped with the proper mind for such decisions. IT knows that we can never choose Right. IT points out the Rebels, how the have chosen their own Isolation. How color addicts choose their own destruction. How Choice is much better left to IT.

IT calls to us, twice a day, from the domed tower of the Leader's Compound. At the beginning of the day, IT calls orders-the Agenda. When the day ends, promptly at 5:00, IT calls the Conclusion of the Day, wit progress reports and a hymn of praise to the Leader.

The Leader is always there, always will be there, and always has been there. IT will always be there to guide us. IT will never grow old, nor be Isolated, as the old are.

But the old are not the only ones Isolated. The Rebels, the color addicts, and the weak are also. IT says they receive the extra help they need. IT is so good to us.

There. I have written what IT wills. Now I will tell of my will, my choice, my decision. Now I will tell of Truth.

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