The Reductionists

By JT Pearson

In the future the problem with overpopulation is solved by a gameshow that allows everyone to vote on the city where they'd like to see the population reduced. Then cameras follow the action as people are reduced to dry cubes. Even though people are in favor of a less crowded country nobody wants to work for the Department of Poulation Reduction except for the elderly who are bored and lonely. This story is dark comical science fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JT Pearson
• Release date: Mar 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301029792

JT Pearson

JT Pearson is possibly more myth than reality. It is widely believed that he has been around for thousands of years. Archeological digs have uncovered Grecian artwork that suggests that they prayed to him to cure ailments of the feet. Irish legend insists that JT Pearson is that movement in shadow that you’re not certain that you actually saw, or that image at the edge of your peripheral vision that vanishes when you turn toward it. In the upper Midwest of the United States people had claimed that they had several images of JT Pearson captured on film but they were all poor quality and eventually proven to be hoaxes. It is only recently that an artist rendering was discovered in the attic of an old convent that is believed to be authentic. President Richard Nixon had claimed before his death that JT Pearson was the specter that haunted his boyhood home, and quite possibly the reason that his mother left his father for a short time. Nestled among all of these legends and hearsay is the accusation that he is the author of this sight and responsible for the drivel that has been filling your head. Lawyers for JT Pearson advise that if you read his work you do so at your own peril and no form of compensation either monetary or otherwise will be offered for any injuries permanent or short term which are incurred within the pages of his stories. If you’d like to communicate with JT Pearson either burn a photograph of yourself and sprinkle the ashes into the wind at dusk or you may take the more conventional route at [e-mail] P.S. look for novels coming in the near future. For now, please enjoy the many short stories that he has provided for you to read for free. Feedback is much appreciated.

Book preview

The Reductionists

By J T Pearson

copyright 2013 Joseph Pearson

Smashwords edition

I stumble out of the transport blitzed out of my mind on clauster gas. I inhaled way too much. I did it on purpose. It’ll smother my conscience for the next five hours and damage the memories of what I’m about to do. That way they can’t be recalled and used in a trial against me. The Reductionists Penalty Board will still be able to prove that I tampered with the vote but my inability to give them any evidence for their mind scanner will keep me from being eligible for the death penalty. The clauster gas that I took will also help with future sleepless nights when I’m not allowed to induce sleep with drugs anymore. Sleepless nights caused by faces, begging and bloodied faces – most of them innocent faces. I don’t want to see those faces while lying on a cot staring at the bars for the rest of my life. Lucid thought for a guiltless brain filled with chemical mush seems like an even trade off at this point. I know that my memories going forward will seem like a movie that I once watched but can’t quite seem to remember and I’m just fine with that.

Ernie, the camera man that the Big World Network (BWN) has now placed on the transport for better coverage runs behind me lugging his heavy equipment on his shoulder. Instead of the all black body armor that we wear he wears cobalt colored protection with yellow lettering that spells BWN PRESS on his chest and on his upper back. There’s a stiff fine if any of us get careless and shoot Ernie. I like