{"id":745,"date":"2020-01-11T16:38:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T16:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cftheater.info\/blog\/?p=745"},"modified":"2020-05-09T13:40:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T13:40:33","slug":"omicron-blue-chapter3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cftheater.info\/blog\/omicron-blue-chapter3\/","title":{"rendered":"Omicron Blue Chapter# 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

3<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\t“I\nam caught in a crack in time. Nothing before, nothing after. All\npast is in ruins and of little use in building a future. This\ngeneration must start from scratch, philosophically and\ntheologically. There are tools that can be salvaged, to be sure. \nBut tools are built upon the presumption that they are worth using,\nthat life is worth the effort. One can tax his brains for only so\nlong without a reason. He can attempt to shut his eyes and attempt\nto live out his life without vision or purpose. But the barrel of\nthe gun is always so near and tempting. It is inevitable that unless\na new purpose and vision of the world is found, the wheels will\nslowly grind to a halt. Notice how desperately we strive to keep the\nold myths alive. No matter if they have no substance, they have\nworked in the past… so patch them up, paint them with psychedelic\ncolors, and let’s get on with the work. Even if the reason for\nworking is gone. Even if the goals we are working for are lost. \nEven if we get richer and richer, yet become more and more miserable\nand unhappy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t“We\nare caught in a crack in time. This generation must start from\nscratch. We must act. We must build a future. And only one thing\nis certain. Whatever that future might be, we must build it\ntogether.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nchimes of the arousal system sounded at 5:00 a.m. Omicron halted\nthem after only three tones with a stab of his forefinger on the\nalarm button. He was up immediately and cleaned up quickly in the\ncluster bathroom. There were also central band bathrooms, male and\nfemale, with swimming pools, which all could use as they worked in\ncreative groups. Omicron pulled his tunic over his head and pulled it\ndown. His clothes, like the clothes of every I-type, were selected\nwith the help of an A-type, although the clothing of his band was\nfairly simple, so collaboration was not time consuming. His father,\nbrother, and “uncle” were the ones he relied upon most. \nHowever, the time was coming when he would have to select a tailor or\nchoose a wife who had the necessary mental abilities to assist him in\nhis sartorial pursuits. \tClothes were simple in Golden Sun\ntribe,…men and women wore the same ancient-type robes and\ntunics,…coats were artificial skins of animals hanging about them. \nPeople could spend hours selecting clothes if they wished. There\nwere subtle selections of fabric and trim that could distinguish\nthem. The point was:… in this modern age, clothes were no longer\nimportant. It was the work, the magnificent work of the mind that\ncolored and clothed everything and everyone. Everyone had his and\nher creative work that yielded happiness. Clothing was used mainly\nto cover the body. The type of clothing worn in a particular tribe\nwas like a uniform that contributed to group cohesion. Most of the\ntime there was no need for superficial satisfactions from sartorially\nbesting another. However, on occasions, there were tribal parties\nand festivities whereat clothing could be a means for self-expression\nand creativity… and one might proudly wear an outfit put together\nusing both sides of the brain…in colors and fabrics that let one\nstrut like a peacock. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThis\nwas Saturday and Omicron knew that Aura was sailing with her family\non the Bay. She’s probably collecting biological samples, he\nchuckled to himself. He found his mother singing to herself in\nabsorbed preoccupation as she straightened the guest-reception area. \nThe weekends were Steve and Sylvia’s special days. Being\ncomplementary brain types, they could hardly wait for the free days\nto put their heads together. Together they had the best times. \nModern technology now had relieved families of the onerous tasks that\nthey had during the previous century. Now clusters were cleaned\ncontinually by the cells within the membranes of the walls, carpets\nand furniture, which absorbed dust and other filth and transported it\nto other cells which digested and transformed the detritus into\nnutritious protein products for human consumption as well as useful\nchemicals. All food was designed and prepared automatically in one\ncentral preparation area and then distributed to the clusters or\nserved in the central dining area in the evening. Dishes were\nwashed, the clusters were heated and income tax returns completed\nautomatically, coordinated by Cerebrum. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tCerebrum\nhad started as the Internet, ninety or so years before. The Internet\nwas a national then a worldwide system that connected personal\ncomputers into one powerful association that allowed some people to\npresent ideas and stories and others to access and view them. During\nthe first years, the Internet along with cell phones were used\nprimarily for communication and association to combat the loneliness\nof the cities and their suburbs. The Internet could not become\nCerebrum, a productive world brain, until there were changes on the\nground, namely, the emergence of bands of people who lived together\nand created soft goods for distribution on the Internet. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nfirst bands were the revolutionary ones. It was truly difficult for\nthem in a world committed to the past. Some people were able to work\ntogether at a distance with the help of the Internet. However, the\nmajor strides were made by people living together. The number of\nbands increased world-wide at a slow but persistent rate until the\nChange moved most of the populations of the developed countries into\ncreative bands, tribes and nations. By that time Cerebrum connected\nmore than personal computers. It became a world brain that ran\nmechanized Cities and transportation and automatically took care of\nmany of the needs of the communities. In addition, Cerebrum provided\nthe outlet for sales of the creative output of the bands. It also\nbound into one system the universities and all the bands conducting\nresearch for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tFor\nprevious generations many tasks had been burdensome, yet they had\noffered challenges and problems to be solved and opportunities for\nSteve and Sylvia to devise ingenious and almost sublime solutions\ntogether. Now few problems existed on the home front. So they spent\ntheir free time in close communion as a couple. They hiked, worked\non artistic projects together, swam, picnicked… never tiring of\nbeing with each other, each entranced by the enchantment held for the\nother. Today they were singing in the professional tribal chorus,\nwhich was rehearsing for the sound track of a movie with dancers and\nphilosophically inspired costumes, sets, and plot. The weekends were\nreserved for non-work with family or friends; however, many group\nactivities which were professional and market-oriented were\nencouraged if they fostered a communal tribal spirit and closeness. \nAfterwards, Steve and Sylvia were going to the other side of the\nmountain by mag to spend an enjoyable day at the beach. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\nhad an appreciation for his mother that was intuitive and simpatico<\/em>\nas they were both I-types. Sylvia had very carefully monitored and\nencouraged the progress of her son in the development of his\nintellectual abilities, although the responsibilities that parents\nhad for promoting the intellectual development of their children was\neasier now as the identification, development, and use of mental\nabilities was now central to the entire organization of the education\nsystem and to the design of its curriculum. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSylvia\npossessed impressive credentials. She was a historian of national\nprominence with a specialty in late twentieth century United States\nhistory. She had received a Pulitzer prize for her examination of\nthe emergence of a strong world government during the first decades\nof the twenty-first century. By the year 2050, the United Nations\nwas no longer a debating society. It had come to possess a military\narm (NATO) and a world court of its own. There was the need for an\ninternational body to coordinate a united assault upon global\nwarming, the need for a united effort to send rockets and humans far\ninto space and to man and conduct experiments on several space\nlaboratories, and the need to eliminate one war after another across\nthe globe. Meeting these challenges resulted in a government that\nwas truly at the top of the pyramid of communities:…band, tribe,\nnation, country, and world. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nworld government helped institute the Change world-wide. Much of the\nworld was in a nomadic band, tribe, nation organization anyway. \nHowever, education had to be provided universally. Every small group\nof people had to be made a part of Cerebrum with all the hardware and\nsocietal transformations that implied. The world government helped\ndevelop new energy sources. It helped lesser developed countries\nclimb closer to the economic levels of the developed countries. It\nwas understood now that history was not primarily a writing exercise.\n It was on a continuum with the sciences. All sciences were blends\nof mathematics, which was purely deduction, and history that was\nmostly induction. All of the other disciplines drew upon the form of\nmathematics and the content of history…and thus all of the sciences\nreceived contributions from the right and left hemispheres of the\nbrain. In her work, Sylvia collaborated with A-types who questioned\nand tested hypotheses she espoused, assisted her in delineating\ndeterminants for historical developments, and in editing and\npolishing the final works. She had recently pioneered in the\nconstruction of historical models. In this process, she took theses\nshe had developed for historical events and biographies and presented\nthem dramatically. Using this technique, she was able to see if a\nthesis with its hypothetical pattern of causation… psychological,\ninstitutional, or economic… made sense as it was acted out in the\nfive dimensions of space, time, and energy. This tool had proved to\nbe extremely valuable in validating hypotheses as well as providing\ndramatic entertainment. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tEntertainment,\nin general, had become an adjunct to creative intellectual work. \nStories, plays, humorous diversions, accessed on Cerebrum… could\ninclude hypotheses, new ideas, wild guesses that could not pass\nscientific review, yet created new pathways for relaxing minds to\ngo… as well as provide speculations that scientists could pursue. \nIn this way entertainment became an important step in basic research,\nallowing minds to consider ideas that might not have an obvious\nimmediate use and market. \tOmicron ate with Sylvia in quiet\ncontemplation. Then he kissed her on the cheek and hurried out to\nthe porch where his brother and uncle, both of whom had risen before\nhim, were waiting. Jonathan, a bald, rather tall, plump, pleasant\nman of sixty, was yawning as Omicron approached. In the previous\nage, he probably would have been rotund; however, the diet of each\nperson was controlled by Cerebrum, full of fruit, vegetables and\nwhole grains … with fish and turkey, the only meat, eaten two times\na week in small amounts. A chimpanzee life was embraced by most\nbands… some more fully than others, since the DNA of those apes and\nhumans are almost identical. The diet is where all agreed… a\nchimpanzee diet led to the longest lives… and the happiest ones\nhealth-wise. Jonathan and Jason had altered their routines and had\nattempted to sleep through their mentally active period from eleven\np.m. to five a.m. in preparation for the outing. Soon they were on\nthe mag, which was pulled through transparent tubes by magnetic\nforce, cruising languidly at “pleasure” velocity… 200\nmph… towards the Creative Center. Jonathan and Jason were chatting\nquietly as Omicron updated his personal management record on which\nactivities during the day were tabulated and analyzed automatically. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tJonathan\nlooked at his maturing band nephew admiringly and warned him in a\nhumorous manner…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘I\nhope you know how to behave yourself when you visit the City, O, my\nboy. Those machines will take care of anyone who doesn’t treat them\ncivilly.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\nsmiled, ‘I guess the iron fortresses have changed a lot since you\nwere young. I can’t imagine people living with machines.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tJonathan\nlooked out through the wall of one-way transparent material which\nsurrounded them as he paused in reflection. The blue of the water\ncontrasted with the brown shapes of land and the cobalt-blue water\nnearest to them appeared as if it had been crowned with a layer of\ngold… as the water reflected in brilliant glints the warming,\nbright rays of the rising sun. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘Yes,\nit was a difficult, exhausting, rat-race of a life,’ he started\nslowly with emphasis on the important words, words which both boys\nhad heard in different forms time and again from this gentle refugee\nfrom another world. Jonathan usually wore a long robe covered with\nartificial hides and skins. \t‘Men couldn’t actually live with\nmachines, of course. So we all lived in areas away from the center\nof the metropolis, away from where the machines were located… at\nleast when gasoline was really cheap… like water. Yet populations\nwere still highly concentrated into only four percent of the total\narea of the United States. The metropolitan areas were like molds\nand the population was spread away in all directions away from the\nvital industrial centers. We beat our brains out every day fighting\nour way to work and then back on congested roads filled with cars,\nalmost all of which had only one person in them. The cars were\nguided by the drivers themselves, if you can imagine such madness. \nI’m surprised there were not more accidents than there were. It was\na hard life. We drove to work, we drove to stores to shop, we were\non the road a significant part of our lives. And when we weren’t on\nthe road or asleep, we were encased in steel buildings in the center\nof a major city near the center of the metropolis. Or we worked in\ncommercial plaster boxes further out to keep the cars going or let\nother people drive to us for food, clothes, and fun.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tJonathan\ngazed out the window as if to conjure up recollections which he was\nmore and more careful to keep from his mind, now that his life was so\nbright and so worth living. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘You\nknow, I think the hardest part of all… was the isolation we all had\nfrom one another. When we were at work, there were other people\naround, but we all were separated like parts of a machine by the\ninvisible hand of the bureaucracy. Each person was separated by task\nand classification, section, and floor. You could never really talk\nwith another person. You interfaced. You got the information you\nneeded to get your task done and little more. Then you went home\nwhere everyone lived in boxes packed into tidy nice neighborhoods, in\nnice, dense suburban adjuncts to the vital center. But you didn’t\nknow anyone. I mean, you really didn’t know your next door neighbor.\n You saw other people at church or at the cocktail parties. But you\nreally didn’t know anyone as a live, three dimensional person. \nEveryone was moving every five years or so and there really was no\nreason or occasion to get to know each other at all. I think this\naspect of the life was most frustrating. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘However,’\nhe continued as his voice once started on the subject now seemed\nreluctant to stop, ‘you know, our lives were not creative and\nfulfilled, in general. I mean, you had a family, which was nice, but\nyou seldom saw them and then you saw only your immediate family every\nday. Your work was monotonous, the same old, same old, with little\nopportunity for creative work. You just got home and watched\ntelevision, which too many times was an unrewarding\npreoccupation…something you did… mainly because you were too\nexhausted to do anything better. If you did anything creative, you\ndid it in bits and pieces on the run, on the bus, at midnight, early\nin the morning, in general, when you were too tired to really do your\nbest work. And then you were working against your biorhythmic mental\nstages during the day. You can see what that meant by seeing how\nuseless I am to anyone this morning. I used to sit at my desk and\njust wait ’til my brain came on at lunch when I finally could get\nsomething done. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘It\nwas a waste. That’s what I call it. A waste of time and a waste of\nability. Although, I guess, we had to go through it to get where we\nare today … Anyway, I’m glad it’s over.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tWith\nthese last words Jonathan sighed deeply, reflecting upon those\nscarring memories before rubbing them from his mind. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\nthought it was ironic that after billions of years of evolution from\none-celled organisms to vegetables to animals and finally, to man and\nwoman, human beings had reverted from the band organization of\nprimitive tribes and other apes… back to cities and metropolitan\nareas… which duplicated the organization of molds and other\nunicellular life. This occurred because of man and woman’s great\nbrains, which created tools. These tools at first helped them kill\nand cook things. Then the tools themselves evolved, exploded to fill\nevery crack in a person’s life. Finally, people were enmeshed in\ntheir tools,…lived, worked, slept in their tools, until finally\nhuman being took on the organization of the tools, which brought man\nand woman back to the most primitive organizations from which they\noriginally came. People with their tools were organized like molds\nand for the same reason:… to minimize the expenditure of energy,\nprimarily to reduce transportation costs in the case of humans. \nCaught up into this organization, the health and well being of the\ntools which had become masters and the corporations that controlled\nthem… became more important than that of the humans who lived like\nslaves, actually like parasites, within the mechanized masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSteve\nwould stress time and again… the same point. Tools really don’t\nevolve…they must be developed…they are …the artifacts of\nconsciousness… in a creative mode…One must not lie back and wait\nfor a dream world to appear…automatically…by the forces of\nevolution…There were those who would destroy the progress of these\npast decades…and all would fall again …in a Dark Age…if humans\ndid not take action…and direct the movement of mankind towards\nprogress…Humans, indeed…have great brains…But nothing is\ndone… if they don’t use them. \t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tWell,\neither through evolution… or development, as Steve would have\nit…a metropolitan way of life had emerged…People were enmeshed in\ntheir tools…Governments tried to mitigate the harshness and\ndebilitating aspects of such a life. However, true help could only\ncome from separating the two worlds… the communities that housed\nman and woman’s bodies… and the world of tools created by his and\nher minds. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nmag came quickly and silently to a halt and Jonathan reached for the\ndoor, opened it and swung out. Jason and Omicron followed on his\nheels as he walked through the immense terminal. The Creative Centers\nwere run at the nation level. The Center for Jupiter Nation was a\nfantastic, crystalline shrine to creativity, energy, and Light,\nlocated in a commanding position in the hills on the east side of the\nBay. During the twentieth century one could stand at this site and\nsurvey the entire southern part of the Bay, the length of which had\nbeen surrounded by brilliant sparkles of tiny lights at night…\ndemarcating a galaxy of human life. Now there were lights at night\nmainly at the tribal communities, which were scattered far from each\nother over vast expanses of higher land. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nCity itself, which stood directly opposite them across the Bay, was\nnow a black shadow, illuminated only at the top where the handful of\nmanagers babysat a gigantic mechanized unit which never slept. The\nCreative Center was a circle with a ten mile diameter… it serviced\nthe Jupiter Nation. 450 Creative Centers were distributed\nthroughout the country, one for each nation. Theoretically, one\ncould go to any of the Centers… however, there was no reason to do\nthis, because the food, entertainment and services were of equal\nquality. There was dancing twenty-four hours a day at the Center,\nfood of many kinds was always available; the food was always\nhealthful in content and amount. Creative products of the highest\ncaliber from the bands in the nation were displayed or were available\nfor purchase here, although they could be purchased anywhere via\nCerebrum. It was a refuge, a source for special products,\ninspiration and knowledge, which was available to the populace to use\nwhenever they needed it. In the Creative Center, art, music,\nfashion, drama, cuisine, and architecture were all presented… old\nand new… The architecture was spectacular… with tremendously\nhigh, large crystal formations… grown from small beads of quartz,\nutilizing the latest technology in proliferating macro-molecules. \nDuring the day, the light poured into these diamond-sparkling,\njutting shapes. In the evening, the light of man and woman shown\nback into the face of the black, a glowing, vibrant monument to the\nspecies, which pulsed with life twenty-four hours a day. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nweekends at the Center were especially busy with people crowding the\nspacious walk ways. From the terminal they took a small personnel\ncarrier, which moved automatically according to the itinerary pushed\ninto the control panel. They traveled to the fashion mall where\nOmicron with help from the other two selected cloth for two garments\nand placed his orders at the computer console. He then left his\nuncle and brother, who would be designing garments for themselves for\nthe next three hours, to explore the City, which was located across\nthe Bay. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\nwas eager for the feast which lay ahead of him. He carried written\npermission to enter the City given to him by Steve, who had gotten it\nfrom the nation’s leaders. Few people were allowed in, to protect\nthe City from sabotage. Omicron was prepared to take mental and\npencil notes about everything he saw. He magged across the Bay and\nhalf the width of the southern peninsula…and walked out to the\nfront gate…After he was admitted,, he went to the primary receiving\narea of the City where raw materials from all over the world were\nunloaded and stored. Then he went to the manufacturing area where\nthe raw materials were turned into products. Here on approximately\ntwenty-five square miles of intensively developed land, machinery was\ninextricably linked into one system with raw materials entering\nautomatically through tubes, fabricated by machines, and then moved\nto the exporting part of the terminal for shipment of the commodities\nto the communities in Jupiter Nation, throughout the western United\nStates and across the Pacific Ocean. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIt\nis amazing, Omicron thought, that so few people ran this entire city,\nutilizing the power of Cerebrum. The City was truly one elaborate\nmachine with warehousing, transport links, and intermediary products\nshared so completely that it functioned as one unit. Jonathan had\ntold him that all raw materials, machinery and commodities were\nmonitored continuously and displayed on view screens in the command\nmanagement headquarters …located in the towering complex mix of\nmachinery and electronics…with the management perch on top. \nMechanization of corporations and then integration into single\nmechanized cities was delayed by out-sourcing to underdeveloped\ncountries…where commodities were produced by workers receiving very\nlow wages…. In this way…for forty years 2000-2040 A.D.\ncorporations cut costs not by means of intensive automation but by\nutilizing cheap labor in underdeveloped and developing countries,\nwhich allowed China to rise from a land of poverty to an industrial\npower. The corporations could have extended the old ways for years,\nconstantly using lesser developed parts of the world for their own\nends. However, the emergence of residential bands… along with the\ndevelopment of Cerebrum as a serious adjunct to research endeavors…\nencouraged people to leave the cities at a slow then faster rate…\nwhich encouraged corporations to mechanize faster. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIn\nthe twentieth century, economists at universities, who were isolated\nfrom the cities in their fortressed think tanks, had monitored dollar\nflows each month and then made projections based on what were\nsometimes wild guesses as to existing and future quantities that were\ninvolved. However, now management had continuous data concerning\nphysical parts and flows…of the operations of the cities… and\nthus could calculate Gross National Product as efficiently as a\nmanager could run his corporation before the turn of the century. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\ntraversed the City in a systematic manner, careful not to miss any\nstructures, or any of the processes… for his mind was somehow\nconvinced that this inventory must now be made, and made well, in\npreparation for some future purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe\nnext wave broke, flowed far upon the beach, then retreated with a\nhiss, leaving only the saturated sand to show a new encroachment, as\nthe surf pounded relentlessly in. Steve and Sylvia sat among the\nrocks overlooking the beach. Sylvia had spread a table cloth on a\nstretch of sand in the midst of the dark, shale boulders. On the\ncloth were placed vegetables, fruits and whole grain dishes, which\nhad been dispensed by the band’s culinary center as they left. They\ntoasted each other and the beauty of the day and place, with crystal\ngoblets of sauterne. The sky was blue without a cloud. A sailboat\nglided effortlessly across the horizon as the sun slowly moved from\ndirectly overhead to slightly closer toward the horizon. Sylvia\nshoved her foot through the sand, allowing the sand to trickle\nbetween her toes. \t‘Omicron is no longer a boy, Steve. He is\nbecoming a young man.’ \tSteve pressed his lips together savoring the\nbouquet of the golden liquid. Then he released a flow of ideas\nwhich had been gathering like a storm in his mind for several months.\n The words came in pulses, interspersed with pauses filled with the\npounding and the spraying of the waves, which underscored the gravity\nof what was said. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘Omicron\nis completing his instruction in the community. He must now begin the\nclimb to be a man. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘He\nmust now progress from childish play to mastery over himself, his\npassions, and ultimately over the Cosmos… in accordance with the\nLaws of the universe. The hardest part of his life is before him. \nThe process may be completed quickly in a matter of months. It may\nrequire a lifetime.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘I\nknow these things,’ Sylvia said. ‘But I fear for him. I wish he\nwere more like you. I wish there were a way he could be like you.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSteve\nlooked into a blinding glint off the water. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘You\nknow there is trouble brewing. We have all known it was just a\nmatter of time. Our men have been on alert now for five months and\nthings aren’t getting better.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSylvia\nbeheld her powerfully built husband. When the chips were down, she\nknew that mentally and physically he would meet the test. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSteve\nremembered the large headline in the ‘paper’ downloaded from Cerebrum\nthe day before: CASTLE BOMBS WHITE HOUSE. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘Those\nbastards are making life rough,’ he said, slamming his hand into the\nsand. ‘Those cruds have had their day and now they want to take us\nall back there. But they won’t.’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tCASTLE\nwas the underground organization of billionaires, mobsters and\nexploiters who were forced out of lucrative pursuits by automation\nand out of illegal relationships when people left the cities for\nbands. There were those who had profited from the dense packing of\nhumanity into the cities. In the old world there were billionaires\nwhose work was legal and necessary to run the global corporations. \nHowever, mechanization of the cities eliminated corporations… and a\nhandful of wealthy, powerful industrial leaders were left without\nlarge enterprises to run. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nthere were the mobsters. In the old days… the crashing machinery\ntook its toll on bodies which were designed for open space and fresh\nair. Lives filled with monotony, smog, congestion, poverty drove\npeople to drugs, pornography, cheating, stealing… any way to get\nahead or leave it all behind. Criminals had become as organized as\nthe cities and corporations themselves with chief thugs and myriads\nof underlings covering the metropolises of the nation like a blanket.\n Organized crime had preyed upon a morality and view of life\ninherited from the Dark Ages where sex was considered by most of the\npopulation to be dirty and immoral. However, the body required sex,\nso the mob provided it at monopoly prices. Drugs were the same way. \nOnly a few illegal drugs were more dangerous than the cigarettes\nwhich were legal, but all were banned, gave the mob monopolies with\nlucrative prices and large criminal operations. The mob was\norganized with a medieval structure in which feudal type lords\nreigned over urban fiefs, raked in the profits of the manor, and\nmaintained order and stability in their commerce with hoards of hired\nmurderers. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAfter\nthe Change, powerful people and the criminal organizations remained. \nPeople were much happier now living in nature and doing creative work\ntogether and no longer sought escape from the machines. With the\nChange came a new morality. Man and woman now were recognized to be\nanimals. Sex was now considered to be a natural process which young\npeople should learn about like any other subject, although the animal\ninstincts and power of sex were greatly respected and steps were\ntaken to defuse and control them. Thus, the mob no longer had a base\nin illegal operations as man and woman had now moved from the crush\nof humanity in the cities out onto the land. Man and woman had also\nmoved from a medieval code of morality to one consistent with human\nbiology. Thus, the Change had rid the nation of the power of\ncorporations and the wealthy… and the plundering of gangsters. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tHowever,\nsome powerful people and mob organizations endured. They were\nlocated in peripheral areas of the United States, primarily in the\nnorthwestern part, living off the treasure which decades of looting\nand investing in land and property had given them. However, now\ntheir supply of money was reduced and the individuals and\norganizations were doomed unless something happened. They had tried\nto infiltrate and subvert the \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

creative\nbands with no success. Their great hope was a coup d’etat… <\/em>and\nunder a dictatorship moving the people back to the cities, although\nthe prospects for such a drastic change backward were diminishing.\nWarfare had broken out first in Chicago. With most of the people\nliving away from the Cities, the machinery of the Cities was\nvulnerable. Using dynamite, CASTLE blasted their way into the\nChicago City and the managers were taken captive. The terrorists\nheld the City for twenty-eight hours before the Huron Nation’s troops\nwere able to storm the captive areas and the CASTLE troops were\nslain. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nNew York was the target. The mobsters launched a full-scale\noffensive on New York Nation which demolished one-fifth of its\nproductive capacity before its City could be garrisoned and robots\ncould begin the two-month task of reassembling the equipment. Most\nof the CASTLE troops had escaped. Now the White House was bombed. \nThe President had been unexpectedly away and none of his family was\ninjured… however, two members of the staff had been killed, several\ninjured, and one crystalline wall had been blown out. One could feel\nthe surge of events swelling to a climax. \t‘CASTLE is really at the\nend of its rope,’ Sylvia said. ‘They are running out of troops and\nthey are isolated in one part of the country. So far the country’s\nstrategy has been to keep them out of the Cities. The government\nknows that CASTLE has nothing to gain from attacking the thousands of\nscattered communities. CASTLE must capture several Cities or one\nstrategic City before they can have much of an impact. Even if they\ndo, our military can dispense with them easily. Do you really think\nyou’ll have to fight?’ \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘Yes,\nit appears that something is about to break. CASTLE has learned that\nisolated bomb blasts and demolishing parts of the Cities has only a\nminimal impact. They must capture some Cities and have productive\ncapacity at their disposal before their efforts will be felt.” \nSteve leaned back in his beach chair and looked out at the thin line\nbetween sky and sea. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t‘We\nhave a good life now. I think the whole country would gladly and\nunitedly rise up and smash these hoodlums anytime. The country is\nmaking preparations now. It looks like creative projects throughout\nthe country might have to be put on hold for a while. Many of the\nenemy are located to the north of us…up near Portland Nation…The\nPresident wants me to work with leaders of several tribes to the\nnorth to come up with ideas of how to provide a first line of defense\nagainst a possible assault upon the country. I’ll take several men\nfrom our band with me. We must expect the worst and be prepared to\ndo everything in our power to preserve our new way of life. If\nworst comes to worse each man will decide if he will fight. Women\nand children would have to move to the other side of the Bay until\nit’s over. If there is a Struggle, then Omicron will probably be in\nthe thick of it, too, you know. And this is well…for he is in need\nof some tests, and a Struggle like this…would certainly give them\nto him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\ntraveled the length and breadth of the City. He justified this\nexamination on the basis of research he might do on how Cities such\nas his had evolved.. However, he knew he was there for another\nreason, a reason he couldn’t exactly put his finger on. \nInstinctively, intuitively, with his I-type sense, he felt he should\nget to know the City, its layout, commodity conveyance systems,\nimportant production units, and the location of the central\nmanagement unit with respect to these things. He traveled by\npersonnel mover in the midst of the machinery, took a mag over the\nmetropolis, and even took a subterranean mover to gain acquaintance\nwith the many levels of storage areas and utility connections which\nlay hidden beneath the ground. He did not rely solely upon his\nmemory, but took extensive notes and drew elaborate sketches of\neverything he saw. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAt\nnoon, Omicron returned to the Creative Center where Jonathan and\nJason were waiting in relaxed conversation after a stimulating\nmorning of creative work in the fashion mall. The three then magged\nacross the Center to Lonigee’s, one of the famous restaurants in the\nCenter, for a sumptuous luncheon prepared almost entirely\nautomatically, yet in an impeccable manner according to the very\nclose tolerance levels and exquisite specifications of the head chef\nwho designed the delicious entrees. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nthey were off to the zoological museum where Omicron was particularly\ninterested in the evolution of man. In the museum, the full account\nof the evolution of man was displayed from the first chimpanzee-like\nhominid to Homo sapiens<\/em>. In the beginning there was man. The\nanimal, man. The evolving man. However, almost from the first,,,\nman, Homo<\/em>, was distinguished from his and her ape cousins by\nthe size of the bulges of his and her forebrains and their use of\ntools. It is true that the apes had the capacity and from time to\ntime the inclination to utilize objects in nature as tools. However,\nonly man and woman relied heavily upon such tools and only he and she\nfashioned tools by making significant changes in the natural form of\nobjects, as they shaped them for their use as appendages to their\nextremely vulnerable bodies. Now out on the land, no longer afforded\nthe security of high branches on trees, man and woman became heavily\ndependent upon tools for survival, and over time, this dependence\nincreased as their tools became more complex and capable. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAt\nfirst, man and woman bodies evolved and changed like all species to\nremain compatible with their environment as he and she moved from\nAfrica to all parts of the world. Evolution quickened for tens of\nthousands of years as man and woman utilized tools. In the manner\nthat evolution had always occurred in the past, there were pools of\ngenes, of blood…well, what there were, were bands of people, each\nof which possessing certain characteristics which were the expression\nof the genes they bore…Pools of people competed one with the other\nfor survival..often fighting each other…The pools with superior\ntools, probably utilizing superior brains, survived to pass genes to\nthe next generation. This quickening of evolution proceeded until\nman and woman left the warmth and love of the primal band and became\nparts of large civilizations a few thousands of years ago. In these\nlarge civilizations men and women lived mostly in servitude under the\ncontrol of a few who were the most intelligent and most powerful. It\nwas at this point that the evolution of human beings slowed as the\nsecurity and provisioning given by these great civilizations allowed\npeople of all abilities to survive and pass on their genes. Some\nevolution continued because those with better brains and power tended\nto leave more progeny. Yet the benefit of civilization was a mixed\nblessing… as that competitive struggle among pools of genes and\nblood…was replaced by slave labor in fields. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIronically,\nthe enslavement of humanity reduced the environmental pressures upon\nthe species and allowed people in greater numbers to live to\nreproductive age. It was then that evolution of man and woman slowed\nand their tools began to evolve at a faster and faster rate instead. \nThe enslavement of man and woman to their tools would continue until\nthe Change. The evolution of man and woman’s tools increased in speed\nover time until only three hundred years ago they exploded into a\nskyrocketing industrialization which left man and woman with bodies\nconsistent with life in a primitive band in an entirely new alien\nenvironment under the suzerainty of town and city, an alien\nenvironment of their own making. This new world was incompatible\nwith a body which had been fashioned according to the requirements of\nsome prehistoric time. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThis\nincompatibility between body and environment reached its excruciating\npeak during the twentieth century as almost all the population in the\ndeveloped Western world was lured into cities, which spread like\nmolds in every direction from urban cores to become metropolises. \nMan and woman were lured into this exasperating life by the wealth\nthat was created by their tools. In the end, it was their bodies and\ntheir animal spirit that suffered. For every fiber of their bodies\nneeded, craved for the joy of a life in nature, in the embrace of a\nloving and caring primal band of people. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nit was over, in the last half of the twenty-first century. With the\nmachines doing most of the manual and menial work, man and woman were\nat last free to return to nature, to the organization of primal bands\nwith which their bodies were most compatible. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAlso\nof interest to Omicron was the full presentation of man and woman’s\nsocial tools. Social tools, the institutions which man and woman had\nused through the eons of time, had also become more complex over\ntime. The five major institutions: the Church, the Government\nBureaucracy, the Corporation, the University, and Marriage and Family\nwere inherited from the Middle Ages. Man and woman’s tools exploded\ninto industrial revolution during the eighteenth and nineteenth\ncentury with its impact world-wide. However, the social institutions\nremained rigid and bureaucratic, constraining growth. Finally, with\nthe Change, the church denominations were replaced by each tribe\nselecting or creating a religion which all in the tribe adhered to\nbut could be changed at any time. Government, corporation, and\nuniversity bureaucracies were replaced by band, tribal, and nation\nhierarchies. Marriage and family relationships no longer were\nconducted in isolated islands in the city and suburb, but now were\npart of one blood, one fist, one embrace of the band… a new, old\nway of life. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tUsually\nOmicron became fully absorbed in these exhibits as they held great\nmeaning for the condition and progress of man and woman in his own\nday. However, today his mind was elsewhere. He could not keep his\nmind off CASTLE, the havoc they were unleashing across the country\nand the danger they presented to the new way of life. He was also\npreoccupied with thoughts of his father and the continuous counsel he\nhad given to him in his youth. Threaded through these mental\nwanderings was an intense feeling of anticipation, of awakening, of\nchallenging adventure ahead… and intuitively, he felt that he was\nat the threshold of one of the most important times of his life. \t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nthey went to the art museum. Most of the paintings on exhibit were\nfrom an earlier time, as drama was the major form of art utilized in\nthe 2080s. Of the paintings completed recently, very few were\nabstract geometric paintings, as it was now recognized that such\npaintings were mostly a reflection of the relationships in the\ndominant analytical left hemisphere of an A-type’s brain. Modern\nartists now utilized painting, as composers, dramatists, and\nchoreographers employed other forms of expression, to convey concepts\nby visual means which could not be expressed easily by means of\nverbal or written language. Now each painting conveyed concepts by\nmeans of the analytical placement of shapes derived from objects in\nthe external world….Analytical organization of paintings was\ndesirable as it was most compatible with the strengths of the\neye…Dynamic, inductive strengths were used in music…to be\nconsistent with the physiology of the ear. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThen\nthey dined at another famous restaurant for dinner and thereafter,\nthey were off to the theater. There were a number of theaters in the\nCenter. In these theaters, famous plays from the past were\npresented, as well as the work of established modern playwrights and\ncreative groups, both of the country and the world. In addition, the\nbest plays and movies created by the bands in the Jupiter Nation\nduring the past year as well as a few works selected from the best\nfrom the other nations were presented. Tonight they were going to\nsee a musical written by a well-established group located in New\nYork Nation. Omicron was interested in examining the relationships\nbetween the plot of the play, the musical score and words of the\nsongs, and the philosophical concepts which would be expressed. He\nalways learned much when he partook of the works of the masters…\neach nation had its auteurs… respected artists, creators who led\nthe way…in every field. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron’s\nmind whirred as the mag moved… almost as if in slow motion… past\nthe illuminated, jutting landscape of the Creative Center…out, out\nacross the waters of the Bay. Jonathan had dropped off for a short\nnap and Jason was communicating visually by means of a hand held\ndevice connected wirelessly to Cerebrum to his girl friend, whom he\nhad met in New York at a special national class for prospective\ndoctors. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\ncontinued to mull over in his mind the drama they had seen. Omicron\nhad learned much from the way the music was used in the drama to\nsupport the story. The music was tremendously moving as it was based\non a biological reality, that of existential fervor, that is,\nexuberant questioning of existing values and institutions, which\nhistorically had often been caused by rapid economic transformation. \nThe music was also very meaningful as it expressed concepts which\ntranscended a particular time and space, which were related to the\nentire evolution of man and woman. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tOmicron\nwished that he were able to write monumental music. He realized that\nif he were ever able to do it, it would be only after a monumental\nstruggle, a struggle within himself. Physically, he was attaining\nthe strength he would need to be victorious in life. However, he\nremembered what Steve had told him repeatedly, that no battle could\nbe won until one was mentally equipped with the tools of the\nuniverse, until he had progressed far along the road towards becoming\na man of the Cosmos. It was then that he realized how languid,\nstuporous, like the sap of a tree, his actions were. On the\nthreshold of adulthood he would have thought that he would be eager\nto get on with the work, relish the adventure of a new life. \nHowever, his feet seemed heavy, glued to the earth. Often his\nthoughts would soar, but his body was immobile. Why is this? he\nwondered. I must shake this off, I must somehow gain energy and\nmovement and thrust forth into the world. Yet for some reason I am\ntransfixed, I feel totally incapable of functioning, let alone\nsucceeding at anything. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThey\narrived home around eleven o’clock at night, Omicron’s usual bedtime.\n Jonathan bid Jason and Omicron good night and walked down the path\nto his cluster. Sylvia greeted the boys and asked Jason to see that\nSteve had everything he needed for the night’s work ahead. Omicron\nwas lying in his bed immersed in organic tissues filled with warm\nliquids, looking through the one-way curving roof of the cluster at\nthe stars above. He heard his mother open the door to his room to\nbid good night,…then retreat quietly… as Omicron stared languidly\nup… into the infinite reaches of the Cosmos above him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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