Equality

By Daniel Watts

Imagine a country where the most progressive people in society received everything they ever wanted. Equality is such a country. Everything is provided from cradle to grave. There is no income inequality as their benevolent government provides free healthcare, food security, a universal basic income, and guaranteed housing for all. There is no unemployment, as everyone is assigned to the job most suited for them. Universal education ensures no child is raised without the firm, guiding hand of properly trained educators. No one owns anything and they are happy. Entertainment is plentiful, love is free of stigmas, and everything is centrally planned to ensure everyone has enough.
In this utopian society, what could go wrong? For maintenance worker, Value Fixer, everything seems wonderful. But, even a perfect society is not without its problems. Through one year of his life, one can watch him deal with the struggles of living in a perfectly progressive world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781489739971

Daniel Watts

Daniel Watts is a man who loves to write. There's not very much to say about him aside from that.

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Copyright © 2022 Daniel Watts.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-3995-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-3996-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-3997-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022900518

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 03/16/2022

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

About The Author

ONE

CHAPTER

G ood morning! Good morning! It’s a wonderful new day. The dulcet, soothing voice announced the arrival of another glorious day.

The voice changed from day to day. Today, it sounded like the voice of a young man with an even, flowing cadence, a poet of some kind. It could have been a female voice, or male and female, or neither, or anything in between and beyond. That it could be anything made it exciting. It came from everyone, a unified voice to start the day off right. Value recalled reading the lines off into a microphone himself, happy to record it for anyone to hear first thing in the morning.

The voice, flowing happily from the connection band on his wrist, continued. It’s time to be the absolute best you that you can be while you serve our world. Remember, you matter and you are loved. When the connection band finished its message, it moved on to a series of higher pitched tones, the type any alarm used to prompt someone out of bed. Value could have pushed his thumb against the face of his connection band to make the tones stop for a few minutes, just in case he wanted to get a little more sleep. Everyone was given ten presses a month in case they needed them and they did not carry over month to month. Value never needed all ten. There was just so much to do out there and he could not do it from bed. As he did every morning, Value slid his natural fiber blanket off, rolled on his side, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and sat up. The alarm tones ceased the moment his connection band registered that he was upright. Value took a deep breath and put his feet on the floor. In front of his bed was a nicely-sized area rug in calming earth tones. Value flexed his toes against it to feel the recycled, woven fabrics and smiled. It was nicer than the feel of bare concrete under his feet. It was worth going on a diet of Adequate Bars for two weeks to afford it with his Liberty Stipend. Lately, he liked to take a few moments each morning to enjoy the feeling of it under his feet, but any more than that would be wasting time.

The bed’s metal springs creaked as he stood up. Before he did anything else, he reached over and picked up his Pocket Guide. His Pocket Guide happened to be a slim model, a smaller version of the computer than most carried. It was still long and wide enough to take up all of the space in the palm of his hand and most of his fingers. A lot of people liked the chunkier feel of the full model, but he did not like the Guide taking up too much space in his pocket. The screen was slightly scuffed, but free of cracks. The shock absorbing case helped prevent that, as it was not good to have cracks in your Guide. Leaving it damaged for too long could affect your Liberty Stipend. There was nothing fancy about Value’s case. Not being a creative person, he opted for a solid black case. Nearly everyone expressed their individuality by festooning their case with as many indicators of their personality as possible. He never bothered to adorn it with press on stickers, gemstones, or even painted colors. It looked nice enough just as it was.

He swiped a finger across the screen to bring it out of sleep mode and pressed his fingertip to a small sensor on the base to unlock it. The screen glowed and flickered briefly before transitioning to the main screen. The icons all lay at the bottom edge of the screen, the top containing white block letters with information. The date was the tenth day of the fourth month, 90 Current Year. There were no urgent messages for him overnight. Everyone was asleep, so the only messages he would have received were work orders. He always checked his messages before bed, so there was nothing he missed from the previous day either. It was always nice to start the day fresh, so a sense of absence of worry washed over him. He checked the time. It was 0705. The alarm went off at 0700 every morning and he had already wasted five minutes of his day. He heard shuffling coming from beyond his front door; both from the rooms next to his and the rooms above and below his. The universal alarm sounded at the same time for everyone, so his entire building was alive with the sounds of people ready to greet the day. Value needed to hurry if he did not want to wait for an open toilet or sink. The Pocket Guide went into a pocket on his night smock. After putting on his sandals made of recycled rubber and grabbing his bag of toiletries, he was out the door and in the hall.

The area outside of Value’s room consisted of a single hallway stretching to the right and the left. It was the standard layout of every tenement building. One hall dotted with rooms on each side, with a communal washroom at each end. Each floor had anywhere from ten to fifty rooms, depending on the size of the building or what area of the community it was in. Value’s building happened to have thirty rooms to a floor; a nice, round number. It felt like just the right size for Value’s tastes, not too big or too small. When he left his room, he shut his door but did not need to lock it. It did so automatically when it detected his connection band passed the boundaries of his room. One of the numbers fell off his door as he shut it. It was the 9 from the 1309 designation on his door. Again. As he did every time he left his room, he picked it up and stuck it back in its spot. The glue holding it in place was still sticky enough that it could hold the number in place. He had ordered some fresh non-toxic, organic, vegan glue to affix it to his door permanently, but it had not arrived. It should be coming any day now. He hoped it would be soon, as he would hate being harder to find because of a faulty address marking.

As Value looked down the hall, he did not see anyone else. Both to the right and to the left, a clear hallway lined with doors stretching all the way to the washroom. The hallway floor was made of concrete, as were the walls. The ceiling lights were on, humming softly and bathing the hallway in the glow of simulated sunlight. The only signs that the area was inhabited were the sounds of people shuffling around behind their doors. A little bit of pride started to swell itself up in his chest. He was the earliest riser. His pride was quickly quashed by a sense of loneliness. He liked it better when the halls were full of people, milling about their business.

He started to feel the anxiety creeping its way into his thoughts. It felt like a crawling sensation, starting in his chest and moving up his neck. The sense of unease crept over the back of his skull until he could feel it on the backs of his eyes. Value had to take a deep breath and steady himself, but the sense of loneliness got worse. He tried to ignore it. He took a few steps forward. It was too quiet, so he tried to step loudly. The sound of his rubbery sandals clopping on the floor echoed down the concrete tube of a hallway. It did not help. He looked at the walls and took another few steps. The tenants had painted an assortment of murals on the walls, floor, even the ceiling to help decorate the building. Organic, cruelty free paint cost relatively little from one’s Liberty Stipend and the advertising for it encouraged people to use it to personalize their buildings. ‘Make your living space as special as you are!’ was the slogan.

"Make your living space….as special as you aaaare…." Value sang to himself to try to feel better. It did not help; there was no one there to acknowledge that he was singing a popular jingle.

He looked up at the ceiling towards the cameras, the wonderful cameras. The cameras let them know that someone was always watching them, always looking out for them to make sure they were safe. He lifted a free hand to wave at it, trying to picture what the person on the other side of the surveillance device looked like. Thinking about being on camera lessened the anxiety, but he felt uneasy at being unable to see who was watching him. It helped less than he could have hoped. A few more steps down the hall and a door to his left swung open. Relief came when he finally saw a familiar person. Living on the same floor, they knew each other. Everyone knew each other. They were their own little community, the thirteenth floor of the Oakwood Residence Building. Just seeing her made Value feel far less alone.

Good morning, Lentilla. Is anything new? Value cheerfully gave the standard greeting to her. It rolled off of his tongue effortlessly, as he had said it many times before.

Good morning, Value. I am the same today and happy where I am. Is anything new with you? Her reply came just as automatically as Value’s greeting. Lentilla was wearing a nearly identical nightshirt to Value, knee length and loose fitting. Hers was a slightly lighter shade of green than Value’s, but designed to look as if it had vines crisscrossing all over it. It was one of the most popular sleepwear items that Instant Market sold due to it being loose around the nether regions and costing little from one’s Liberty Stipend.

I am happy where I am today too. It’s good to see you and I will support you however you may or may not evolve tomorrow. Value replied, just as easily as before. May I walk with you to the washroom?

Of course. That was where I was going. Lentilla smiled. Her face was always in some variation of a smile, the only difference being how far the edges of her mouth stretched up her cheeks.

She had a very thin face with pointed features and very blue eyes. Even though she was talking to Value, her eyes were not entirely focused on him. Value knew it was because she was very enlightened and able to see past whoever she was talking to into what was through and beyond them. She did need a little more green hair dye, though. Her hair had grown long enough that Value could see the black roots poking out of the scalp. He thought she was very pretty, but the change from green to black so suddenly was more than a little jarring for him. The pair continued their walk to the washroom, passing several more doors on their way. More doors opened past and behind them as people started to leave their rooms with the same idea. Value wanted to make more conversation with her. She kept looking at him with different smiles, so he felt he owed her some conversation. Not being very creative, he could not think of anything interesting to talk about. He was still feeling a little shaky from his mini panic attack, so he was just happy to see more people.

Of the two washrooms, Value liked the eastern one the best. The one on the west side of the building was closer, but he liked the door on this one better. It seemed to be more solid, so it felt nicer when he opened it. Also, the western washroom’s doorway was painted in a pattern that made Value’s eyes itch. When he opened the door the smells that came with any community washroom hit his nose.

His nose wrinkled at the mix of body odor and old urine, but not for very long. The smell was something that was very natural and easy to get used to. Value knew that a lot of people loved it and would not even think of judging them for it. Still, he briefly wondered if it was his turn to clean the washrooms this month. No one had to write it down, simply trusting that someone would do it. Hopefully, someone who was not him.

Value looked around and took in the comforting sameness of the room. Bare concrete would not be appropriate for a washroom, so the floor was covered in tiles a mix of neutral colors. Tiles tended to wear out and break loose over time, so they were a smattering of old and new. You could tell them apart by how faded the colors were. Some bare patches were inevitable, as replacing tiles was a very low priority for work orders. The walls had been a solid color at one point, but they too were painted in an array of murals, mostly depicting a wide variety of genitalia. Against one wall were four toilets, against the opposite, four sinks. They were spaced about three meters from each other to help keep people from knocking knees when sitting. They were all made of inexpensive, recycled porcelain and had water meters attached. No device that had running water was without a water meter. How else could one monitor just how much precious water was being used? They did not need to be fancy, just a box of electronics, about the size of a plum, attached to the side with a touch sensor underneath.

Value stepped inside. As he looked back at Lentilla just to see her face, he was pushed aside by a taller, wiry person with hair down to their middle back. Excusemeemergency! They yipped as Value had to catch himself on a wall. They made a beeline for the first toilet and practically threw themselves down on it. Value, eyes wide, looked at Lentilla to see if she would comment on it. With her ever-present smile, she reached into the pocket of her nightshirt, pulled out a plastic box with a nozzle on it, put the nozzle between her lips, and took a deep inhale. Once satisfied, she brought it back down and exhaled a blast of vapor. She was fine.

Haha, someone’s in a hurry. She said to no one in particular as she parted from Value.

The hurried person said nothing. A little jostling was to be expected first thing in the morning.

Value went to a toilet and did his business. When he was about to scan his connection band on the water meter, he hesitated. Did he really want to waste a liter of water flushing the toilet? No, it was not that full. It could wait for another few uses from other people. This was a benefit of being out of his room early.

When he went to the sinks to freshen up, he was lucky that one was still open. It was the one farthest from the door, but that was ok. Another one of his friends was at the neighboring sink. They were slightly taller than Value, with a protruding belly and skinny arms. Their hair was uniformly and unnaturally black and they had a prominent mole on their left cheek.

Value approached his sink and looked in the mirror made of polished steel. It was scuffed and scratched, but he could still see his reflection in it. He was pale today, with puffy, slightly darker bags under his brown eyes. He was skinny with prominent cheek bones and a scattering of small, red splotches on his face. He wished he would have brushed his hair before leaving his room. The crown of wavy, red locks was badly tangled.

He ran his connection band over the sink’s water meter. With a soft chime, the band displayed that Value still had all six liters of water allotted for his daily use. A soft click came from the faucet, indicating that he could now use the sink. Value plugged the drain and turned the spigot. A gentle flow of cloudy, tepid water started to fill the basin. Value carefully watched his connection band to see how much he was using. When it got to one liter, he quickly turned the spigot off. Just in time, he managed to use exactly one liter of water, an excellent start of the day. He dipped his hands into the water and shivered at the pleasant, wet, clean feel of it. Then, from his toilet kit, he got out his favorite tooth cloth and cup. Clean your teeth first, then your face, then your hands and anything else. Next, Value took from the kit his jar of Pride brand organic tooth powder, rainbow mint flavor. It changed colors as it foamed! A dusting of the powder on his wet tooth cloth and he started to use it to rub the debris off his teeth. He kept looking at the person next to him as he cleaned his teeth. His conversation with Lentilla was not as satisfying as he had hoped. This time, he hoped, would be better.

Good morning, Stenzil. Is anything new? Value greeted after spitting the brightly colored foam into his empty cup.

I have evolved today, Value. Stenzil began, speaking with an air of proud glee. He was about to announce to Value and anyone listening that he had become something different, a new expression of his true self. Value would not interrupt. Even if he wanted to, it would have been incredibly rude. Today, I am 50 percent female, 10 percent male, 20 percent fox, and 20 percent calico cat. My name is now Catfox and my pronouns are fe and fir.

Oh, um. That was quite a bit to remember, but Value felt up to it. He started to repeat the information over and over again in his head to commit it to memory as he gave the polite version of the standard response. I am overjoyed to hear of your transition…. What was the name again? A slight hesitation and Catfox’s eyebrow started to raise. …Catfox! That was close. Do not want to be rude. And I support you in becoming your truer self. I validate your new lifestyle and anything that goes with it.

Thanks for accepting me as I am. Catfox’s facial expression took on a manic grin, eager and pleased.

The euphoric expression on fir face suggested Value had just given fir the entire world on a platter. Fe put down fir makeup kit and grabbed Value in a massive hug. Value was so startled by the sudden embrace that his body stiffened and he nearly dropped his tooth cup. He should not have been, it happened. He knew the hormones could make people very free with their feelings. When the shock wore off, he was very happy for Catfox’s expression. This was even after Catfox gave him a gigantic lick on his cheek to show affection, like animals did in the nature stories Catfox was fond of. Value supported his decision to lick his face, but he still had to resist the urge to wipe the slobber off of his face after fe returned to fir sink. Maybe he could do it discreetly while cleaning his face.

After fe returned to fir sink, fe continued. Have you evolved today, Value?

Uh, er…. Value tried to find words. He was not really jealous of Catfox’s complex and beautiful new identity, but he did not want to look like he was not an enriched person. Uh…I haven’t. I am happy just how I am.

Oh……all right. Catfox said as fe picked fir makeup kit back up. Fe took out a black eyeliner pencil and started to draw whiskers on fir cheeks.

I mean, if you say so. You’ve been the same for so long, makes me worry that you’re afraid of exploring your gender identity, just assuming you are what you were born with.

Value felt his pulse increase at the accusation. He badly did not want to talk about this, especially first thing in the morning. The whole subject, for some reason, just made Value feel…wrong. He would never say such a thing, that would be hateful, rude, and have consequences.

You might find you’d be happier if you transition. You could even try it out for a while. It’s always reversable if you want to evolve again.

Uh, I just…just don’t feel that way about myself. I am happy how I am, even though I celebrate you and your personal diversity. Value tried not to look at Catfox, to seem as if he was putting most of his concentration into personal grooming.

And I am happy if you’re happy with yourself. Catfox replied, quite pleased with Value’s compliment at fir diversity. If you ever need help on evolving, please come and see me. I would love to help you.

Thank you, Sten….Catfox! Value said as he hastily finished cleaning his face.

He practically heaved his items back into his toilet kit. I have to go now, shows to catch up on till it’s time for work orders. Goodbye. His heart thumping in his chest, Value still had the presence of mind to scan his connection band over the water sensor, indicating he was done with the sink. As he did, it automatically unstopped the drain to empty the dirty water, leaving only the leftover film.

We’ll be in touch, Value. Bye bye meow, hehe. Catfox flicked a hand in a somewhat cat-like fashion as Value left the sink. At this point, the washroom was getting full, so the sink was immediately taken up by the next person.

Value hurried back to his room. He quickly scanned his connection band over the touch sensor on his door. It took a couple of tries to get it right. His hand shook so badly that he missed it entirely on the first couple of attempts. After finally getting inside, he locked the door behind him. The memory of that morning’s anxiety attack lessened, but was coming back. Being around people had helped, but Value did not always feel comfortable when Stenzil, or Catfox as fe called firself now, went on about transitioning. Value felt ashamed to harbor such bigoted thoughts. It was healthy and normal to react with ecstasy whenever someone spoke of their evolution or transitioning. However, it always made Value feel as if something was off. The feelings were something he could not describe and would never want to try. Anything less than joyful acceptance would be denying someone both their dignity and humanity, and Value felt that Catfox had a lot of dignity with as many evolutions as fe went through. Value needed to push those thoughts away, they were not worth exploring. Value took in a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. He looked around his room to take comfort in the familiarity of it. His bed was unmade, so he went to make it. If Value was doing something, that helped distract him. The sheets were newer, so they were a snug fit on the ten-year-old mattress. It was starting to wear out and sag in spots, but Value was fine with that. Mattresses were changed out every twenty five years or so, so this one had another fifteen years in it. Who knew what bed he would end up with when he next had to move?

That only occupied him for about two minutes and he was still restless. Maybe a little breakfast would help him feel right? Value’s room came with a standard kitchen. It was located to the right of his door in the north eastern corner of the room. It had an eco-friendly microwave and hot plate sitting on the counter, with cabinets above and below to store any kitchen related items. That was all he needed; he was not running a diner. Value kept all his flatware in the lower cabinets, the food in the upper ones, and any perishables on the counter in a large, ceramic crock that was supposed to keep food cold. The crock was currently empty; Value was waiting on the delivery from Instant Market’s fresh produce division. It should be arriving any day now.

He opened the upper cabinets to see what he had left. The shelves looked a bit empty, but he still had enough to last a few days without having to go to one of the Walk-in Markets. There were a few bottles of Pride Cola, a box of soy flakes and a bag of soy chips, and several Adequate Bars. He had a couple of cans of mixed vegetables, but he was saving those. Value reached for an Adequate Bar, but he did not reach very fast. The sealed wrapper crinkled when Value’s hand closed around it, puffing out at the sides from the pressure. They had to be well sealed, as they soured very quickly when exposed to the air. Everyone had a lot of Adequate Bars on hand. The best part about them was that they were free, provided by the government to ensure that no one would go hungry. You could get twenty-one of them every week and they were available in the Instant Market and every Walk-in Market. The wrapper stated that these balanced, organic bars had all the nutrition of a full meal. Lots of proteins and calories and vitamins and all of that. The wrapper was very plain looking. It was beige with black, block lettering, nothing fancy. Being adequate, it did not have to look pretty and excessively designed packaging was wasteful. Value squeezed the wrapper and felt the plump, rectangular shape of the thing. It would not go down easily, so Value grabbed a bottle of Pride Cola to wash it down. With his breakfast in hand, Value went to his computer to eat it.

Value’s computer was at the opposite corner of the room from his kitchen. It was a path he walked pretty much every morning, from the bed to the washroom to the kitchen to the computer. The whole setup took all of the space on top of a metal desk. It was plugged into its own dedicated sockets in the wall. While all of the electricity for everything else in Value’s apartment was metered, everyone was given unlimited power to use their computers. It was hooked into the Governet system, so it was everyone’s connection to everyone else. With it, Value could connect with all the entertainment, shopping, and social interaction he could ever want.

It was his window to the world, both the real world and the world of social media, and it was all freely provided by their benevolent leaders. They wanted to make sure everyone was happy, after all, and limiting their access to social media would be unthinkable. The hardware was all contained in the monitor. It had a sleek, black case, the same model as everyone else’s. He had placed a variety of stickers all over his, mostly old labels he had taken off of appliances. A lot of people painted theirs, but Value never was very handy with paint. The stickers fit in with his personality better and fit over the stickers that the previous user had placed on it before him.

Before unlocking his computer with his connection band, he ran his fingers over the keyboard, just to feel the keys under his probing digits. His anxiety lessened with thoughts of typing on those keys. Adding his input, his fingerprint, his very self into the digital world. The screen turned on and bathed Value in a comfortable, pale blue glow. The image of an hourglass over a sandy beach with rolling ocean waves was on screen. It had been asleep overnight and would need a few minutes to wake up.

To pass the time, Value opened up his Adequate bar. The bar itself was a greenish brown color and had no texture to it. Just a smooth surfaced nutritional bar. Value never could describe the smell of them. It was a mix of things that was not altogether unpleasant, just odd. If you forced Value to describe it, he would say it was a mixture of nondescript, over ripened fruit, cheese substitute, sourness, burned oats, and the foodish smells that he detected whenever he was near one of the environmentally friendly factories that processed and packaged their food. Taking a deep breath to brace himself for what was expected, he bit into the bar.

His teeth sunk in; it was a lot firmer than it looked. The bar was so solid it did not easily give when bitten and one had to saw their jaws back and forth to tear off a piece. Once it was in his mouth, he pushed it towards his left cheek while chewing to try and keep it away from his tongue. Adequate Bars came in three different flavors. This one was strawberry and rice milk. While the variety was nice, Value thought they all tasted very similar. He would never have said they tasted the same. The flavors were clearly labeled on the packaging, so they had to be different. An overwhelmingly sour flavor assaulted Value’s senses. When exposed to his saliva, it started to crumble and flake, coating his entire cheek in Adequate Bar residue. He tasted what seemed like spoiled soy milk mixed with dry spinach and yeast. This faded to a flavor a bit like the residue at the bottom of the pan when he burnt, really burnt, some quinoa on his hot plate. The bar became more and more gritty the longer he chewed. Value thought he might have tasted a hint of the strawberries and rice milk at the end before he swallowed and quickly chased it with a gulp of cola. Five more bites to go. They were healthy and organic, that was what mattered.

After two more bites, the computer finished loading and brought him to his home screen. Value decided to check the weather before he did anything else. The temperature outside was going to be 28 degrees Celsius. There was a message next to the temperature with the previous year’s temperature trends. Value scowled. Next to the temperature was a heat advisory warning. In wavy, red letters, the warning stated that this was going to be the hottest day on record. Every single year since Value could remember, there were multiple days that were the hottest day on record.

Despite all their advances, the planet was still on fire from everything the bigots had done to it. They were still doing it today in the backwards, racist countries that did not ascribe to Equality’s values. He felt his face flush and his ears start to burn with outrage at the people actively trying to make the planet uninhabitable. He thought of all those horrible garbage people, laughing as they drove their gigantic vehicles and spouted fairy tales of endless profits and economic growth. They did not care what they did as they irresponsibly raped the planet of its resources. Value’s teeth clenched and he thought of all manner of obscenities, directed solely at those who shun sustainability. The sense of outrage quieted when he remembered where he lived. He should be extremely thankful to live in such a progressive country, whose leaders worked tiredly to ensure the Equality lived up to its name and stood out as a beacon of green technology. That made him smile. Value still wished all the bigots dead, but he knew that their lives would be cut short by the very carbon emissions that they ignored. It might be warm outside, but Value would dress for it.

With the weather predictions out of the way, Value was ready for something to take his mind off of the precarious state of the climate. He was not sure if he had time to really get in to one of the many games on his computer, so he decided to open up the Entertainment Garden.

Everyone’s computer came with access to the Entertainment Garden. It was the only program anyone needed to listen to the latest music, see the latest shows, learn the latest trends, and even educate yourself with the latest information. The majority of the content was provided by the government, of course. They were prosperous enough that they could afford to have a government branch devoted solely toward keeping the population smiling with lots of content, both for amusement and to provoke thought. The rest of the content was generated by people just like Value. Anyone could submit their own music, art, videos, whatever to the Department of Entertainment (DOE). Then, after passing their rigorous screening process, it would be put up to broadcast to everyone living in the Land of Equality. Value heard of many people who had submitted content, but he never had. He was confident that, someday, he would offer up something. Not being of an artistic nature, however, he was not sure where to begin. Today, Value was interested in watching some nature videos, just to relax. Although, after this morning, he might avoid any of them with cats.

Shortly after opening the program and before he could dive into his favorite nature program channel, the news aggregator automatically opened and took up the entire screen. Part of the responsibility of their leadership was to ensure that the population was well-informed. So, in the interest of transparency, the government produced a news summary every day that every citizen had to watch before they could access any content related to leisure. The whole video only lasted about thirty minutes and Value was usually happy to be informed. He sat back in his chair with his eyes on the monitor, ready to consume whatever was presented to him.

Elections were coming up in a mere seven months. They were reminded that online voting was easy and that it was everyone’s civic duty to vote. The Land of Equality had a president, of course, every democracy had to have a president. To help balance their power, there was also a senate that consisted of two hundred people. Everyone got a chance to vote for someone in every position to ensure equal representation among all citizens. The president was giving a speech, but Value did not pay very much attention to it today. He loved the president, but he was just not feeling it this morning. He always voted for the Equal Freedom party for all candidates. Most seats in government belonged to the Equal Freedom party, but there was still competition. There was always competition for most of the seats, especially the presidency, from people from the Moral Republic party. Value did not know how those people, and he used the term loosely for them, held any positions in government. They were the closest thing that the land of Equality had to bigots. Just thinking about them made the bile rise to the top of Value’s throat. Anxiety and then anger, it had not been a good morning for Value.

He was not sure he could handle the rest of the day if his morning had been this triggering. His eyes wandered as he did his best to tune out the rest of the news. This was becoming more and more a common occurrence. The government’s news painted a bleak picture of the outside world. The only thing he could take solace in was that their leaders had everything under control. Value took a deep breath and got up from his chair. There were still twenty-five minutes left of the news and he did not know if he could take the rest. He needed a distraction, but did not want to be uninformed. There was only one thing he could do, let it play in the background while he went over and tinkered with things on his workbench.

Value’s workbench sat opposite of his computer, between the kitchen and his bed. Every room had enough space for their own little hobby corner and this was his. Value liked his profession enough that it was also his hobby. Value was a fixer and he liked being a fixer. He derived so much enjoyment out of it that he changed his last name to Fixer, which gave the naming specialist with the Department of Human Rights (DHR) a chuckle when he put in his request. He always enjoyed taking things apart to see how they worked, almost as much as he enjoyed putting them back together to see if they worked better. As such, his workbench and the area around it was littered with broken appliances, boxes of spare parts, loose tools, bits and spools of wire, and jars of small items. It looked messy, but utterly fascinating.

Hardly anyone looked inside of their appliances. You did not keep something when it was broken. You either put in a work order with the Department of Maintenance (DOM), or turned it in to the Department of Environmental Resource Protection (DERP) and got a new one. Fixing things was dangerous, all those moving parts and exposed wires and hot bits and electricity. Since the government wanted everyone to be safe, it was illegal to open the casing on any computer, appliance, vehicle, portable electronic device, or toy. The only people authorized to do so were fixers.

However, even a fixer was not allowed to open the case on a computer, connection band, or Pocket Guide. Those had to be worked on by a technician. Value would not have minded being a techie, they were the best and most trusted of all maintenance people, but that was not the job he was chosen for. There was always the chance he could work up to it, but that did not diminish the contentment he had for fixing everything that he was allowed.

He traced his fingertips over the cool metal of the workbench. It was rough from being scuffed and scratched and had a little machine oil in spots from the inevitable spills, but it was Value’s. It was his space, a little area that he could explore machines. One of the appliances sitting prominently on top of the workbench was a waffle iron that was given to him by the manager of the diner in the bottom floor of his building just two months ago. They were going to send it to be recycled, but he