The America Corporation
I am currently working on a novel entitled The America Corporation. It is a story about a future in which captialism eventually leads to corporate facsism in America; and ultimatley to the demise of the United States of America and the rise of the Corporate States of America. You all get a sneak peak :p Prologue Eden, the City of Greed, was a sprawling metropolis that had consumed the former state of Arizona as well as half of New Mexico. Vantes walked down the street, heading back to his Government Issue apartment. Vantes wasn’t his real name, Cervantes Vientos was. His childhood nickname had been Vantes, but it had stuck with him later in life. Besides, it was better to save your breath in this city; an industrial sector the size of New York City did a number to the air in the city. It had become foul tasting, rotten smelling, and breathing it in would burn your lungs. Living in the city all your life, you get used to it. Thinking back on it, Vantes had only ever left Eden (which everyone just referred to as “The City”) twice; once to visit his dying mother in Alaska, and to fight in World War IV before that. Vantes was only twenty-nine, born January 18, 2132, but had already served his country in war. He had a large scar across the left side of his face; his reward for serving his people. Vantes began to think back on the war; it had started when he was ten. After only one year at war the debts of the United States had built up so much they couldn’t afford to continue the war. Instead of pulling out of the war, the US decided to borrow large sums of money from the Eden Corporation; a mega corporation that made trillions of dollars a day and sold everything from nails to software to military hardware in every country in the world. After two years, the money wasn’t enough; soldiers were direly needed. The US, faced with no other choice, began drafting children twelve and up. Vantes was almost thirteen when he was drafted and spent the next two years in a government funded military camp. He was trained in every kind of combat and taught all kinds of strategic and military sciences. Only people fourteen and older were sent to fight, but children twelve and thirteen were sent to camps and made into advanced soldiers. The war ended when Vantes was nineteen, ten years ago; and the government had thrown him back into the world without a completed education. He lived on the streets until one day the Eden Corporation come to collect its debts from the US government. When the US couldn’t pay it back the Corporation took the only thing of value from it; the United States itself. That was the end of the Republic of the United States of America and the rise of the dictatorship of the Corporate States of America. Chapter One: City of Greed Theresa Eden walked down the hall and into the lift. The lift was old; looking more like its ancestor the elevator. It operated in the same way a lift did though; using electromagnets to make magnetic fields and force a pod up a shaft at incredible speeds. The extra speed was gained because, unlike an elevator, the lift had no friction from mechanical parts. Theresa wasn’t happy though, her private lift had broken and therefore she had to take a public lift to the forty-third floor and then climb a hidden set of stairs instead of going directly to her office. Theresa was the great grand-daughter of Norman Eden, the founder of the Eden Corporation. In the beginning the Eden Corporation was nothing but an oil company, but as the reliance on petroleum decreased, Norman expanded into making cheap, mass manufactured, full electric cars. Soon they expanded into making expensive quality parts for electric cars and began to consume other companies and corporations. Within thirty years the Eden Corporation was a household name, sometimes literally considering they had found a way to make quality apartment-houses for incredibly cheap rent. The Eden Corporation eventually became the world’s first and only mega corporation; and did everything in its power to keep it that way. Theresa finally arrived at the forty-third floor. It had taken almost half an hour after making all the stops. She turned a corner and ran into soda machines. The entire floor’s staff knew that one of the machines was always broken, but what they didn’t know was that it was actually a door leading to a hidden stair case. Theresa punched a code into the num-let pad (number and letter pad) on the machine and walked through the opening that appeared. She went up the stairs and into her office. It was a relatively large office; it had a refrigerator built into the wall, a sink next to that (the sink could be closed behind a wall), a bed that rose out of the floor, a semi-circular couch that did the same, and of course her desk. On the walls were paintings; Napoleon in His Study, The Scream, various landscapes and spacescapes, and paintings of all the leaders of the Eden Corporation. Theresa sat at her desk and pressed the button on her keyboard. The computer turned on and a holographic monitor screen appeared; generated by the projector built into the keyboard. The holoscreen was touch-sensitive, so there was no need for a mouse. As the operating system loaded the screen said, “WELCOME TO OZYMANDIUS”. Ozymandius was the revolutionary operating system that the Eden Corporation had developed in the late twenty-first century. It had only one kind of graphics card, processor, and software; all of which could be updated without the purchase of a new computer or hardware. It became popular very quickly because you could customize it yourself for almost no cost. This allowed the Eden Corporation to overwhelm Microsoft and Apple at the end of the twenty-first century. As Theresa logged into the network a hologram appeared on her desk, projected from the small hologram dome on the ceiling of her office. She could already tell it wasn’t anyone in the office trying to contact her, but the office itself. A figure appeared and she recognized it immediately as Vastupala, the office’s AI. Vastupala was in charge of maintaining the office’s network and computer/data systems. He was given a holographic avatar to help identify him and make him more comfortable. Vastupala was a very well made AI; capable of deep thought and even certain emotions. This the office knew because he got very angry when data was messed with and he wasn’t told about it first. Once he had gotten so angry he locked everyone inside the building and had to be shut down and made…Less intelligent. “Can I help you, Vastupala,” asked Theresa without even looking away from the holoscreen. “That all depends on whether you can keep a secret or not,” replied the AI with what could be described as a smirk on his face. “I might be able to, as long as it doesn’t threaten me or the company in any way.” “It won’t, but it does involve a…Let’s just say it involves a person who most likely won’t have a job for much longer.” “Alright, you’ve peaked my interests, what do you have to tell me?” “Last night, while I was supposed to be having my code checked over, I detected a person accessing the database. This person had to be an employee, and a very highly ranked one at that, as they in no way hacked into the system,” said Vastupala as he watched Theresa’s face for any sign of surprise or emotion. Theresa showed none, in fact, she hardly showed any interest in his conversation. “This person copied a large amount of data, several terabytes, onto an unknown portable device,” continued Vastupala, “As they left I tried to get a look at them through the cameras, but I didn’t see anyone.” By this time Vastupala had Theresa’s full attention, although she still showed no emotion. “What is the significance of any of this?” Asked Theresa in a very annoyed tone. “Perhaps you would be interested in what kind of data the thief took,” said Vastupala, “It was a list; a list of all the highest ranking employees. It had their addresses, identification numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, and social security numbers. What’s even more interesting is that after copying all that data, the thief then proceeded to upload something.” “Upload something?” “Yes, a virus. As soon as it got in, it tore through firewalls like a bullet though paper. I caught it long before it got to the data core though, and ripped its coding to shreds. After an analysis I found that its only goal in its short existence was to delete every bit of data it could; starting with everything that held our networks together.” “What was the thief trying to accomplish?” “I’m not sure, I thought at first it was just a badly planned terrorist attack, but the thief was too intelligent for that. After extensive reviews of the video feed from the cameras I found the culprit; a small spider-like probe. It was practically a walking hard-drive. It got away, but not before I hit it with a strong magnetic field while it was hitching a ride in a lift pod. I can guarantee it lost all data after that an is probably in gutter somewhere..." Vantes was almost back to his GIA (Government Issue Apartment). After the United States had thrown him back into the world without an education, he lived on the streets for two years. When the Eden Corporation took control, however, they helped him out. Vantes was given a GIA, with all utilities paid for by the Corporation, and given a free education; all of it a reward for his service in the war. After he completed his education, Vantes expected that he would be on his own, but the Corporation thought differently; his utilities and GIA were paid off for life. Vantes was essentially living a free life; the only thing he had to buy was food and luxury items. As Vantes turned the corner he found the street blocked by a group of people. Vantes walked up to the nearest person; “What’s going on?” Vantes inquired. “A bunch of pro-*test*-('")ors are on the streets. They have signs and are pro-*test*-('")ing against the government. They’re demanding they be given the right to practice their religion wherever they want. They demand the right to freedom of religion,” answered the man. “Are they out of their minds? The Corporation won’t allow this to go on,” said Vantes as he stared at the pro-*test*-('")ors. Suddenly a large group of military personnel pushed their way through the crowd and stood, armed, in front of the pro-*test*-('")ors. “All of you drop your signs and go about your business. You have been generously given a chance to leave without prosecution or harm,” commanded one of the soldiers. “We won’t leave until the government gives in! We’ll do everything in our power to bring it to its knees unless we’re given the rig-” The pro-*test*-('")or was cut off by the sound of machine gun fire. Pro-*test*-('")ors fell dead and others ran. The soldiers had begun to fire on the pro-*test*-('")ors, as well as anyone else who got in the way. Vantes was no fool, he didn’t run; running would make him look like one of the pro-*test*-('")ors. Instead, Vantes slowly walked backwards, going back around the corner before turning around. I’ll just have to take a different route home, Vantes thought to himself as he walked away from the commotion. No one really cared what happened to a bunch of pro-*test*-('")ors in this city. The only thing people in this city, or the nation even, cared about was money. The death of a few pro-*test*-('")ors wouldn’t cost Vantes any money, it only cost the pro-*test*-('")or’s families money; a hefty fine. Whenever someone died while participating in a crime, the fines that they would receive would be passed to their next of kin; an easy way for the Corporation to make some pocket change. Vantes looked at the large holographic billboards that were hovering above the streets. Some advertised merchandise; others advertised television shows or new products. The one “holo-board”, as they were called, that stood out amongst them all was a huge high definition poster with a picture of an old fashion factory worker. Under the worker were the words, “Working for the Eden Corporation means giving your life a purpose”. It was a patriotic poster, suggesting that only those who worked for the Eden Corporation had any purpose living. Vantes realized that if that was true, then billions of people living all over the world; the European Union, the Arab League, Africa, Indo-China, the Russian Union, South Asia and Antarctica, none of them had a purpose in life. Vantes thought about how illogical that was, and then noticed something shiny on the curb. It was a little disk with robotic legs. Vantes picked it up and examined it; it seemed to be made so it was stealthy. Vantes noticed it had a USBX port (the evolution of the USB port), perhaps it had data on it as well? Vantes decided it was worth checking out; he put it inside his trench coat and headed home. After all, perhaps the data on here could prove to be worth something, or at least a reward. That is a small taste of Chapter One. That's probabley all you're getting, so enjoy it, savor it, let it make you desire my novel more!
I am currently working on a novel entitled The America Corporation. It is a story about a future in which captialism eventually leads to corporate facsism in America; and ultimatley to the demise of the United States of America and the rise of the Corporate States of America. You all get a sneak peak :p Prologue Eden, the City of Greed, was a sprawling metropolis that had consumed the former state of Arizona as well as half of New Mexico. Vantes walked down the street, heading back to his Government Issue apartment. Vantes wasn’t his real name, Cervantes Vientos was. His childhood nickname had been Vantes, but it had stuck with him later in life. Besides, it was better to save your breath in this city; an industrial sector the size of New York City did a number to the air in the city. It had become foul tasting, rotten smelling, and breathing it in would burn your lungs. Living in the city all your life, you get used to it. Thinking back on it, Vantes had only ever left Eden (which everyone just referred to as “The City”) twice; once to visit his dying mother in Alaska, and to fight in World War IV before that. Vantes was only twenty-nine, born January 18, 2132, but had already served his country in war. He had a large scar across the left side of his face; his reward for serving his people. Vantes began to think back on the war; it had started when he was ten. After only one year at war the debts of the United States had built up so much they couldn’t afford to continue the war. Instead of pulling out of the war, the US decided to borrow large sums of money from the Eden Corporation; a mega corporation that made trillions of dollars a day and sold everything from nails to software to military hardware in every country in the world. After two years, the money wasn’t enough; soldiers were direly needed. The US, faced with no other choice, began drafting children twelve and up. Vantes was almost thirteen when he was drafted and spent the next two years in a government funded military camp. He was trained in every kind of combat and taught all kinds of strategic and military sciences. Only people fourteen and older were sent to fight, but children twelve and thirteen were sent to camps and made into advanced soldiers. The war ended when Vantes was nineteen, ten years ago; and the government had thrown him back into the world without a completed education. He lived on the streets until one day the Eden Corporation come to collect its debts from the US government. When the US couldn’t pay it back the Corporation took the only thing of value from it; the United States itself. That was the end of the Republic of the United States of America and the rise of the dictatorship of the Corporate States of America. Chapter One: City of Greed Theresa Eden walked down the hall and into the lift. The lift was old; looking more like its ancestor the elevator. It operated in the same way a lift did though; using electromagnets to make magnetic fields and force a pod up a shaft at incredible speeds. The extra speed was gained because, unlike an elevator, the lift had no friction from mechanical parts. Theresa wasn’t happy though, her private lift had broken and therefore she had to take a public lift to the forty-third floor and then climb a hidden set of stairs instead of going directly to her office. Theresa was the great grand-daughter of Norman Eden, the founder of the Eden Corporation. In the beginning the Eden Corporation was nothing but an oil company, but as the reliance on petroleum decreased, Norman expanded into making cheap, mass manufactured, full electric cars. Soon they expanded into making expensive quality parts for electric cars and began to consume other companies and corporations. Within thirty years the Eden Corporation was a household name, sometimes literally considering they had found a way to make quality apartment-houses for incredibly cheap rent. The Eden Corporation eventually became the world’s first and only mega corporation; and did everything in its power to keep it that way. Theresa finally arrived at the forty-third floor. It had taken almost half an hour after making all the stops. She turned a corner and ran into soda machines. The entire floor’s staff knew that one of the machines was always broken, but what they didn’t know was that it was actually a door leading to a hidden stair case. Theresa punched a code into the num-let pad (number and letter pad) on the machine and walked through the opening that appeared. She went up the stairs and into her office. It was a relatively large office; it had a refrigerator built into the wall, a sink next to that (the sink could be closed behind a wall), a bed that rose out of the floor, a semi-circular couch that did the same, and of course her desk. On the walls were paintings; Napoleon in His Study, The Scream, various landscapes and spacescapes, and paintings of all the leaders of the Eden Corporation. Theresa sat at her desk and pressed the button on her keyboard. The computer turned on and a holographic monitor screen appeared; generated by the projector built into the keyboard. The holoscreen was touch-sensitive, so there was no need for a mouse. As the operating system loaded the screen said, “WELCOME TO OZYMANDIUS”. Ozymandius was the revolutionary operating system that the Eden Corporation had developed in the late twenty-first century. It had only one kind of graphics card, processor, and software; all of which could be updated without the purchase of a new computer or hardware. It became popular very quickly because you could customize it yourself for almost no cost. This allowed the Eden Corporation to overwhelm Microsoft and Apple at the end of the twenty-first century. As Theresa logged into the network a hologram appeared on her desk, projected from the small hologram dome on the ceiling of her office. She could already tell it wasn’t anyone in the office trying to contact her, but the office itself. A figure appeared and she recognized it immediately as Vastupala, the office’s AI. Vastupala was in charge of maintaining the office’s network and computer/data systems. He was given a holographic avatar to help identify him and make him more comfortable. Vastupala was a very well made AI; capable of deep thought and even certain emotions. This the office knew because he got very angry when data was messed with and he wasn’t told about it first. Once he had gotten so angry he locked everyone inside the building and had to be shut down and made…Less intelligent. “Can I help you, Vastupala,” asked Theresa without even looking away from the holoscreen. “That all depends on whether you can keep a secret or not,” replied the AI with what could be described as a smirk on his face. “I might be able to, as long as it doesn’t threaten me or the company in any way.” “It won’t, but it does involve a…Let’s just say it involves a person who most likely won’t have a job for much longer.” “Alright, you’ve peaked my interests, what do you have to tell me?” “Last night, while I was supposed to be having my code checked over, I detected a person accessing the database. This person had to be an employee, and a very highly ranked one at that, as they in no way hacked into the system,” said Vastupala as he watched Theresa’s face for any sign of surprise or emotion. Theresa showed none, in fact, she hardly showed any interest in his conversation. “This person copied a large amount of data, several terabytes, onto an unknown portable device,” continued Vastupala, “As they left I tried to get a look at them through the cameras, but I didn’t see anyone.” By this time Vastupala had Theresa’s full attention, although she still showed no emotion. “What is the significance of any of this?” Asked Theresa in a very annoyed tone. “Perhaps you would be interested in what kind of data the thief took,” said Vastupala, “It was a list; a list of all the highest ranking employees. It had their addresses, identification numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, and social security numbers. What’s even more interesting is that after copying all that data, the thief then proceeded to upload something.” “Upload something?” “Yes, a virus. As soon as it got in, it tore through firewalls like a bullet though paper. I caught it long before it got to the data core though, and ripped its coding to shreds. After an analysis I found that its only goal in its short existence was to delete every bit of data it could; starting with everything that held our networks together.” “What was the thief trying to accomplish?” “I’m not sure, I thought at first it was just a badly planned terrorist attack, but the thief was too intelligent for that. After extensive reviews of the video feed from the cameras I found the culprit; a small spider-like probe. It was practically a walking hard-drive. It got away, but not before I hit it with a strong magnetic field while it was hitching a ride in a lift pod. I can guarantee it lost all data after that an is probably in gutter somewhere..." Vantes was almost back to his GIA (Government Issue Apartment). After the United States had thrown him back into the world without an education, he lived on the streets for two years. When the Eden Corporation took control, however, they helped him out. Vantes was given a GIA, with all utilities paid for by the Corporation, and given a free education; all of it a reward for his service in the war. After he completed his education, Vantes expected that he would be on his own, but the Corporation thought differently; his utilities and GIA were paid off for life. Vantes was essentially living a free life; the only thing he had to buy was food and luxury items. As Vantes turned the corner he found the street blocked by a group of people. Vantes walked up to the nearest person; “What’s going on?” Vantes inquired. “A bunch of pro-*test*-('")ors are on the streets. They have signs and are pro-*test*-('")ing against the government. They’re demanding they be given the right to practice their religion wherever they want. They demand the right to freedom of religion,” answered the man. “Are they out of their minds? The Corporation won’t allow this to go on,” said Vantes as he stared at the pro-*test*-('")ors. Suddenly a large group of military personnel pushed their way through the crowd and stood, armed, in front of the pro-*test*-('")ors. “All of you drop your signs and go about your business. You have been generously given a chance to leave without prosecution or harm,” commanded one of the soldiers. “We won’t leave until the government gives in! We’ll do everything in our power to bring it to its knees unless we’re given the rig-” The pro-*test*-('")or was cut off by the sound of machine gun fire. Pro-*test*-('")ors fell dead and others ran. The soldiers had begun to fire on the pro-*test*-('")ors, as well as anyone else who got in the way. Vantes was no fool, he didn’t run; running would make him look like one of the pro-*test*-('")ors. Instead, Vantes slowly walked backwards, going back around the corner before turning around. I’ll just have to take a different route home, Vantes thought to himself as he walked away from the commotion. No one really cared what happened to a bunch of pro-*test*-('")ors in this city. The only thing people in this city, or the nation even, cared about was money. The death of a few pro-*test*-('")ors wouldn’t cost Vantes any money, it only cost the pro-*test*-('")or’s families money; a hefty fine. Whenever someone died while participating in a crime, the fines that they would receive would be passed to their next of kin; an easy way for the Corporation to make some pocket change. Vantes looked at the large holographic billboards that were hovering above the streets. Some advertised merchandise; others advertised television shows or new products. The one “holo-board”, as they were called, that stood out amongst them all was a huge high definition poster with a picture of an old fashion factory worker. Under the worker were the words, “Working for the Eden Corporation means giving your life a purpose”. It was a patriotic poster, suggesting that only those who worked for the Eden Corporation had any purpose living. Vantes realized that if that was true, then billions of people living all over the world; the European Union, the Arab League, Africa, Indo-China, the Russian Union, South Asia and Antarctica, none of them had a purpose in life. Vantes thought about how illogical that was, and then noticed something shiny on the curb. It was a little disk with robotic legs. Vantes picked it up and examined it; it seemed to be made so it was stealthy. Vantes noticed it had a USBX port (the evolution of the USB port), perhaps it had data on it as well? Vantes decided it was worth checking out; he put it inside his trench coat and headed home. After all, perhaps the data on here could prove to be worth something, or at least a reward. That is a small taste of Chapter One. That's probabley all you're getting, so enjoy it, savor it, let it make you desire my novel more!