“1984” is dated, but “2084” is here for the reading… (Apologies To George Orwell)
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocksWinston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at
were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast
in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass
doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl
of gritty dust from entering along with him…
the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric
current was cut off during daylight hours It was part of the economy
drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and
Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right
ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing,
opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from
the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the
eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the
caption beneath it ran.
Winston worked in the Ministry of Truth and had been working there
since he left High School in 2015, back in the days when people used to
wonder where alll the jobs would come from, back in the days when people
would retire and spend their final years doing such unproductive things
as travelling, gardening or filling the minds of their grandchildren
with stories. Thankfully now there was plenty of work. At first, it had
simply been correcting the mistakes from the speeches of the Prime
Minister, but that had soon grown to correcting the mistakes of the
whole government, as well as eliminating from public record things they
wish they’d never said. And pretty soon, there was a whole army of
people scouring the Internet for mistakes other people had made and
correcting them as well.
Why just this week, Winston discovered someone of his age, writing
that there had been a time when Melbourne hadn’t been a tropical climate
and there were people living in Queensland. Queensland, Winston seemed
to remember, had never been inhabited by actual people, and was just one
of those mythical places like Atlantis. It was a place that people used
as a setting for absurd stories to demonstrate why democracy was such
an absurd system where people like the mythical “Campbell Newman” were
elected. Using his powers under the law, Winston corrected this person’s
recollections, and arranged for the person to be taken to the doctor’s
for help.
Last year had been a particularly busy time for the Ministry of
Truth, as it marked the seventieth anniversary of Abbott’s ascencion to
the role of Imperial Ruler after being chosen by the great god, Rupert.
To spoil the occsasion, various people had attempted to spread the idea
that back in those days that people had been allowed to vote for their
leaders. These anarchists had also suggested that Abbott’s decision to
cease making public appearances was because of his refusal to stop
writing his own speeches and that he’d been locked in a room, while a
group of his associates made all the decisions. They attempted to argue
that, if Abbott was actually still Imperial Ruler, he’d be well over a
hundred years old. Why that was a problem, Winston couldn’t fathom,
people in “The Party” often lived to be hundreds of years old – it was
only the workers who died. Mostly, by making a mistake, and usually that
meant a risky operation to try and put their brains back into the right
position. Apparently an easy operation for qualified surgeons, but
there were so few of them, and as this required an emergency procedure,
the operations were usually carried out immediately by local managers
and security guards, with limited success.
Once, someone had tested Winston by telling him that a “resistance”
existed, but Winston wasn’t fooled. He knew this would be someone from
“The Party” testing him. When this person suggested to Winston that
surely he remembered a time before all this began, but Winston just
shook his head, and sipped his drink. “Even if I did,” thought Winston,
“I’d be a fool to say anything because, at 86, I’m only fourteen years
off my retirement age and Chairman Abbott has issued a decree promising
that they won’t be raising it again, and all those who reach it will be
sent to any of the twelve inhabitable places in the world with enough
food to last them a year.”
Winston smiled, remembering how when his memory was questioned, he
could assure the person that he remembered everything clearly. How he’d
decided against university because of the cost, and how he’d been
offered this job after telling the police about a plan to wear
unapproved t-shirts prior to the elections of 2015.
“Elections?” the person interjected, “You remember the elections?”
“What elections,” replied Winston, “I was talking about t-shirts. Nobody said anything about elections.”
“You can trust me,” said the person.
“Of course,” said Winston, making a note to erase all records of this
conversation just as soon as went to work, and just to be on the safe
side, he decided to erase all records of the person to whom he was
conversing…
To Be Discontinued, Owing To Unauthorised Use Of Irony.
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