Gracin Knowles: A Dystopian Solution

By Richard Thomas Blum

What is the result when there is a breakdown of societal norms?

Does morality survive when religion is marginalized and immediate gratification is embraced?

Does the lack of training and education of a countries history and culture result in large groups of citizens no longer recognizing right or wrong?

When shocking headlines of crime and violence become routine and governments are overwhelmed, who do the people turn to?

When the violence begins to impact the protected communities, will those powerful community leaders tell the elected officials to do something now or risk losing reelection.

When faced with this ultimatum will the officials take the easy way out, as usual, and resort to whatever is necessary to just make the problem to go away. The decision was to post the problem out to bid. But what type of contractor would respond?

With these questions in mind, should we be ever vigilant of what we wish for? I introduce you to Gracin Knowles: A Dystopian Solution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662405310

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Theater Page

This evening was not just another noise-filled night in the Manhattan area of New York. The typical automobile smells mixing with the smell of food from the local street vendors did not appear to be noticed by the public at all. In fact, tonight, the air appeared much cleaner. It blew lightly through the buildings of Manhattan then gently wafting off the faces of those walking toward the theater with great expectation of tonight’s event.

Looking up as they walk, they couldn’t help but notice the bright strobe lights dancing through the darkening sky, rotating their illumination up, down, and sideways on the front of Radio City Music Hall along Sixth Avenue and on Fiftieth Street near the Rockefeller Center. There was a subtle excitement of expectation in the air as crowds of people began to gather into entry lines. There were TV camera operators with their baseball caps on backward-looking into their cameras and video devices supported by their attending crews, both showcasing the picture of the event through their video cameras in concert with the sound crews who were capturing the festivity into their sound storage devices.

People were arriving by subway, bus, taxicab, and on foot for tonight’s event. The doormen and doorwomen working the curbside in front of the theater were busy helping people from their transportation. The noises made by the people talking and laughing at the front of the line and the continuing laughter and excitement from those further back in line, made one feel he or she is a part of the evening, not just a spectator.

The crowd of media, citizenry, and politicians appeared almost awestruck upon entering the Circa-1932 art deco theater. It was notable as the headquarters for the precision dance company, the Rockettes. Some of the guests recognized the theater from the many Christmas spectaculars and musical concerts performed over the years.

After passing through the entry doors, you proceeded straight ahead up to and through security scanning machines looking for guns, bombs, or implements that could injure others or bring the evening to a premature close.

Once through the weapons check, you couldn’t help but notice the audience as they entered the theater. They were looking from side to side and up and down. They appeared to be soaking up everything they see and feel, as if not wanting to miss a moment of the evening.

As the crowd continued their entry into the theater, unexpectedly, they were given a gift bag from identical six-foot-tall robotic men. When they looked inside the bags, they found various products that include a vial of water, a sealed and wrapped biscuit, and various sanitized and wrapped water filters among the many gifts. You could hear people commenting, What are these? What are we supposed to do with them? I don’t know. Let’s just find our seats.

On their way to their seats, most of the crowd was looking around, rubbernecking at everything they see. They couldn’t help but stare at the video cameras and sound crew continuing to capture all the auditorium noise and movement of the audience entering the theater.

Upstairs, there was a great deal of the hustle and bustle within the media control room that extended support for the workers, setting up noise suppression, sound, and lighting levels based on a full audience in the main room below. Commands were being spoken at an ever-increasing rate by engineers, grips, camera persons, and from robotic assistants.

Through the din of commands that were readying the room for the evening’s event, you could hear a synthesized voice from a robot assistant, saying, Shouldn’t you go to a bust shot of the mayor?

Without giving a thought to the fact a robot just asked him a question, the control room engineer in charge of the second and third camera units that were responsible for close-ups and cameos of the evening’s participants thought for a moment and said, I’m not sure. Perhaps we could look at it.

Then the robotic-synthesized voice said, Of course, sir.

The engineer, still in apparent thought, said, I don’t know, let’s try the bust shot on camera 3. Maybe you’re right. To which the robot responded, Thank you, sir. Your happiness is our happiness.

In the theater below, there was an ambiance of smells consisting of different perfumes and a slight musk from years of prior theater use in the air. It could bring memories of past events where a gathering of people brought excitement to each other’s life. You could see the audience looking around with wide eyes and big smiles. They appeared to be looking at the finery of other guest apparel and trying to take in the noisy din of many conversations occurring at the same time. You couldn’t help but feel the excitement of the evening’s program, which is about to start.

Suddenly, this fabulous theater’s sound system came alive with a smooth, low, and pleasing voice. The voice of God as it had been known in the voice-over trade, came alive stating, Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. There is no smoking allowed in the theater this evening, and please, no personal cameras or recording devices are allowed or tolerated. All video and sound reproductions will be made available to you after the show upon your exit.

The mayor’s wife, Ruthanne, was dressed in a long flowing cream-colored full-length evening gown with lace and matching hat and gloves. She began to take off her full arm-length cream-colored gloves while looking around with a big, warm smile on her face. There was a breath of excitement as she looked at the mayor and said, "Oh, what an exciting evening. Can you just imagine how many people will tell this story for years to come about being at this evening’s event? They get to witness the beginning of the end of the inhumane treatment of prisoners and how we regain control in helping them to become model citizens again. I am so