The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (23 page)

“Yes and no,” was the answer John provided, leaving Cyrus all the more confused. Huo laughed at the poor boy’s expression.

“He means ‘yes’ in the sense that humanity learned how to be even more cruel and efficient with its killing than the first time. No, in the naïve sense that we should have known better.”

“That’s not what I meant.” John’s voice was dry and his eyebrows were raised at his companion.

“Sure it is,” Huo replied with a cocky smirk. “Human beings have been killing each other over this and that since the beginning. Expanding these conflicts on a global scale was a natural progression. Should we as a race of people have known better? Probably. Did we? Of course not.”

Huo’s dark eyes bored into Cyrus’s, making sure he was paying attention. “If there is one lesson from history that you should learn boy, it is this: human beings are not very nice to each other.”

Cyrus nodded at that, uneasy at the words and unsure of what else to do.

“I will give you that last part, Huo, as it is true,” John admitted as he leaned back in his chair. “I am, however, not quite so bleak on humanity learning nothing from the three world conflicts. I think the common man, who suffered the most for these awful wars, learned quite a bit and it changed them. This change, unfortunately, didn’t reach many of the people in charge of running their countries.”

“It is always that way. War rarely punishes those who truly deserve it,” Huo acknowledged with a nod.

“And that leads us back to World War Three. The latest of the global conflicts was caused by several factors, including worldwide economic woes and disparity, religious fanaticism, and government corruption.

“There were two very disappointing things that happened before and after World War Three. The first is that this conflict was entirely preventable. It occurred because the people in power at the time caused it to happen with their policies, policies which complacent people from all over the world did nothing to prevent. The second was that the policy makers and government officials, one of the three groups of people responsible for the mess, faced no retribution for their actions. That is one of the reasons the perfect world system exists today.”

“How were those people responsible for what’s happening now?” Cyrus asked, knowing he was interrupting again. He couldn’t help it though. He wanted to know.

“They’re responsible because they’re the ones who helped both inadvertently and purposefully to make it happen,” John explained to him. “Prior to World War Three, the emotions among the common man were running quite high. They felt that the quality of their lives was falling, their children were suffering, and all of it for reasons they deemed beyond their control. Their anxiety led naturally to the build-up of a fierce anger, though it was unfocused for a time. It remained that way until society at large picked two groups to direct those emotions towards. These two groups were known as bankers and corporate leaders.

“Both of these two groups had control over money, which was the means by which people paid for their food, houses and everything else. This earned them the ire of the common man, who largely felt they were responsible for all the problems that had recently befallen them. They were people who had enough money to skirt the laws that everyone else had to follow and often held themselves above the law. These two groups were punished during and after World War Three, as many of them should have been years before. The problem was that no one saw past them to the real culprits behind the crises and conflicts. The enablers themselves.”

“Enablers?” Cyrus repeated, having no idea what that word meant.

“An enabler is someone who allows or helps someone else to do something. Typically that something isn’t a very good thing,” Huo explained to him.

“The people of the time were angry at the bankers and corporate leaders, but they forgot to ask one simple question. Who enabled these people to act as they did with no fear of punishment? Who helped to prop them back up when they made a mistake and turned a blind eye to their abuses? The politicians and government ruling class made all of that possible for them. The laws they passed and the money they received in return allowed these two groups to feel secure in acting the way they did. Yet, for all that, the bankers and corporate leaders became akin to the Devil himself while the politicians were seen as saints.”

Seeing Cyrus’s puzzled expression, Huo gave a short laugh. “John, the boy has no idea what the Devil or a saint is.” He turned back to Cyrus and said, “Let’s just say the Devil is a really bad thing while a saint is a really good thing.”

“I thought that’s what he meant,” Cyrus replied.

“Sure you did.” Huo’s response was short, self-assured and sarcastic, much to Cyrus’s annoyance. 

“Anyway,” John said impatiently, wanting to get back to his explanation, “even after the disastrous events of World War Three, the politicians and government ruling class found themselves in a good position. Though the war was over, the people were still incredibly divided amongst themselves. Many felt that they deserved some kind of reward for surviving the war years and wanted security at any cost. Many others just wanted someone to blame for all that had befallen the world, whether it had directly affected them or not. The politicians, who were experts at making promises and pressing blame, stepped in to take advantage of the situation.

“How?” Cyrus questioned, receiving a quelling look from John for interrupting him again. He gave another sheepish smile.

“By making promises to the people who they were supposed to serve.”

“Promises that were too good to be true, and that they had no intention of ever fulfilling,” Huo added.

“Then why make them?” Cyrus asked.

“To stay in power, why else?” Huo returned as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“That was their goal, as being part of the ruling class was a comfortable position with many rewards. Thus, they made their lavish promises to their followers, offering them services in return for their unyielding support. The promises resonated with the crowds at the time, so they accepted them without looking at the likelihood of those promises being kept.” John sighed. “They should have been more skeptical after all they’d been through.”

“People heard the words they wanted to hear, saw them go after the people they didn’t like, and they looked no further than that,” Huo piped in with a shrug. “A tale that’s repeated throughout history.”

“You’d think eventually we would learn,” John muttered despondently.

“
We
did.” Huo pointed between himself and John. “It’s not our fault that many in the masses did not. If the world were just, then only those people would have suffered the consequences of their stupidity. The real tragedy of it all is that they brought us all down with them.”

“True.”

“What did they promise the people who supported them?” Cyrus cut in before they could deviate further from the original topic.

“Everything,” John said with a little smile at Cyrus’s bewildered expression. “Not that it was possible, but the people of the time wanted to believe it was. Coming off of the war years, a lot of people felt they were owed an easy life. Of course, the ruling class of the time said that they could provide everything for everyone and that anyone who said this was infeasible was a liar.

“The way they went about doing this was by creating programs to meet the needs of their supporters. To get money for these programs, they used a system known as taxation. Implementing taxes was the way that government officials took money from the working class citizens for the government to use for the benefit of all citizens.”

“It’s also worth noting that they said they were only taking these taxes from rich citizens with lots of money, when really they were taking it all from middle and working class citizens. Rarely was any of that money actually used for the good of the people,” Huo added crisply.

John nodded his agreement. “The programs they created for the population were funded by taxes, and the politicians could raise the tax rates any time they needed more money. These programs themselves were created with the intent of helping people who needed it,” he paused as Huo snorted loudly beside him, “but they didn’t stay that way. It was the widely held belief of the ruling class that if they didn’t provide support for the poor of society, no one else would. This was how they justified taking taxpayer money they were given and distributing it as they saw fit.”

“Which meant that most of it went straight into their own pockets to be used for their own benefit. Because no one was poorer or more deserving of help than the ruling class themselves,” Huo cut in with a knowing smirk.

“Really?” Cyrus questioned in disbelief.

“Really, and unfortunately yes,” John confirmed for Cyrus. “The intentions behind the creation of these programs were admirable, as I see it,” he added upon seeing the skeptical expression on Huo’s face. “However, the abuse that followed in the wake of these programs was not. The ruling class would clamor about how they needed these programs for the good of the people and then they would collect the money and keep it for themselves. Then, they would say that money  hadn’t been enough to fund the program, so they would call for more. Thus, the divide between the ruling class and the common man deepened as they gained more and more power. 

“This was, of course, a cause for joy among the politicians who implemented these programs. They knew they had the support of the people because they were trying to “help” them. All they asked in return from the common people was for their complete trust, loyalty and obedience. Eager to reap the rewards promised to them, many among the common man complied with the request.”

“They allowed themselves to be turned into pets and were treated as little better than such,” Huo remarked with visible disgust.

“But why was the ruling class doing all this?” Cyrus asked when there was a break in the conversation.

“The simplest answer I can give you is fear.” John smiled at Cyrus’s surprised expression. “Though they hid it well, most of the ruling class lived in fear of the common man. The past few decades prior to the perfect world system, and especially before World War Three, saw power shifting from an elite few in power back to the people themselves. Advances in technology were allowing the common man more opportunities than ever before, opportunities that he could create himself. And if they could create opportunities for themselves to improve their lives, what need did they have for the ruling class?”

“None,” Cyrus answered firmly.

“Exactly. The ruling class knew this and was afraid of losing  complete control over the common man as that was the only way they could maintain their own positions. Prior to the creation of the perfect world system, the ruling class used the media to their advantage by assigning blame to all other parties, but themselves.”

“The media were a collection of people meant to distribute information to everyone in the world. This information was supposed to be based on facts, which means the truth,” Huo explained before Cyrus could ask.

“I take it the information given prior to the perfect world was not based on any facts?” Cyrus took a guess.

“You would be correct. The media gave the information the ruling class wanted to the common man and, unless the common man questioned the information himself, he would have no reason to doubt what he was being told. Of course, the media did this because they were complicit with the ruling class.”

“Complicit?” Cyrus repeated.

“It means they were working together,” Huo supplied.

“What? Why?”

“Why do you think?”

Cyrus mulled it over for a moment. “The ruling class promised to give them something in return.”

Huo nodded slightly. “And that something would be?”

“Power?”

“Well, what do you know. Your brain might actually be functional.”

“Huo,” John chided before turning back to Cyrus. “The media around the world were willing to feed false information to the people because they were promised all types of rewards for doing so. The information provided ample distractions to the common man so that they never focused on any of the real issues plaguing society. In just a few short years after World War Three, many of these issues had built back up to the point they had been before the war. People were worried about their way of life, their children’s lives after them and the state of their countries. The difference was this time they had far less patience than before.”

John plucked a small square cube from the band around his wrist and pressed a button on the top of the cube. The gray cube unfolded itself and expanded until it was the size of a small notebook. The screen flashed at the touch of his finger and then his fingers began tapping the screen. Cyrus watched him use the device in amazement, somehow restraining himself from reaching out and touching it.

John turned the screen in his direction and showed him a map. Studying it, Cyrus realized this was not the map he was used to seeing. There were far more separations in the lands, and there were so many country names that he could hardly count them. Mesmerized by the sight, Cyrus stared at the screen as John continued to talk.

“You see this area here, labeled Europe?” Cyrus nodded, looking at the large landmass with that named scrawled across it. “It was here that the idea for the perfect world was born and first implemented. The residents of this area, particularly in the Western regions, were suffering the consequences of years of terrible government. The effects of World War Three, long time economic woes, high unemployment rates, decreases in the native populations and sharp increases in foreign residents made the people dismal about the future of their countries. There was a lot of anger in them and very little hope. They were willing to do anything to bring some form of stability to their lives. That is where a big country to the East, known as Russia came in.”