Raisins of Revenge: Tom Joad Goes Ape Shit

Time and understanding progressed, and soon the day came when we achieved he ability – each citizen who possessed the meager funds to aquire the technology — to generate simple machines and tangible goods from raw materials.  Virtual models could be customized from templates in a computer, and the computer would then execute the construction of the device for us.

After the One World Nation achieved recognition and legitimacy within the United States, our way of life would never feel the same to me again. There had been so much talk of conspiracy and of the evils we would endure as a result of this change, but none of that ever happened.

Things did feel different to me. Maybe my feelings were a result of my exposure to all the rhetoric — of the relief I hesitantly allowed myself at times. Things really seemed to be getting better all the time.  It was an incredible time, but it was a fairy tale.  As I look back now, it was a sad time for We, The People.  For all of you, and for the rest of us.

They did eventually replace our Constitution and The Bill of Rights, but the People’s Rights and Principles were based on our original documents, so most of us finally settled into it.

I don’t remember exactly what year it was, but years, perhaps a decade after we had the first constructors, we started seeing more advanced designs; systems capable of constructing devices of much greater complexity, and with this advance came greater potential for misuse. Construction of any non-sanctioned or unlicensed device had been relegated to Class 8 Minor Crime, but I have no idea what that actually means because most of the details surrounding the new legal system were Privelege of Chancellor and were thus never made available to the public.

More incredible advances came, and with them, mass corruption. Our Leaders all had the most peculiar way about them. There is no accounting for the way these abominable creatures would behave in front of the people, and what they got up to behind closed doors is anybody’s ill-advised guess.

And then one day, as many (of the conspiracy theorists) had often speculated, we finally gained the capability to manipulate matter itself with great precision.