On Earth, or what was left of it, people celebrated to have survived until 2040. Many were coming to terms with the fact that the Earth would be uninhabitable soon, but a few visionaries were hopeful. One such optimist was a journalist by the name of Hector Mejorador, who at the time specialized in satire. His favorite way of exposing government atrocities was to beat them to their ideas, and in doing so, he spared the American people many major headaches. At a point, several of the Congresspeople decided he was too powerful, so they drafted legislation to stop him from destroying their agenda.
The legislation that was proposed turned all of the unwritten social “rules” that Congress could think of, plus a few arbitrary ideas, into law. When the last Mejorador report was issued with the headline of “Shocking New Study Finds 80% of Congress Would Be Jailed Under New Law”, Hector was taken away from his home and forced into a series of examinations to determine his social skills. When he had succeeded in every category except choosing to be socially involved, a very ambiguous category, the proctors gave him a minute to look at his report before dragging him into a filthy jail cell with a straw mattress, a camera and a water faucet from the ceiling.
“Explain your score in the next minute or we’ll flood your cell!” Hector could hear one of the proctors shouting.
“I- I s- sabotaged my Introvert Extermination Program to navigate the murky waters of life!” He stammered.
“You WHAT?!?”
“I decided I was being limited to a negligible amount of control over my life, and I found alternative education.” This time, he was more confident.
“We’ll see how you like limits!” They left him to languish in his cell, and he looked around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hole in the wall by the straw mattress. He ripped out a steel bar on the stone wall, and hacked at the hole with the bar. After about an hour of toil unnoticed by his captors, he had managed to carve a hole to the outside world. He took the bar, crawled out of his cell, and saw an expanse of buildings. The one that caught his eye was one of a rival news network: Fox News. Knowing that he would be able to tell his story best near civilization, he headed in that building’s direction.
“Free at last!” He exclaimed as he cantered along the expanse of grass.
“Not so fast!” The jail guards ran after him with their cameras, and Hector knew the cameras would be broadcasting to all of the major national news networks. In a flash, he used the bar to dig a trap, then sprinted to the nearest tree. He was about twenty feet up when he heard shouts.
“Cruel tricks! We know you have magic powers, so we must show the havoc you could wreak on the people!”
Hector was smirking at this point, knowing that he could make a major statement to all. He jumped down from the trees, and when the cameras were rolling, he said, “I am not trying to cause damage to any person in America. I am simply trying to reframe society, but my mission is unconstitutionally stifled – ”
“You are able to see the future! Show us what you see!” He was interrupted by the rowdiest guard.
“America, we must not panic. In order to show you what I will do for you, I need to demonstrate what the future would look like under our current government.” He gestured at the guards, and a square was marked around them.
“Here in this square are the guards who have tried to rob me of all will to live. The land they stand on has time moving faster than normal, so you will see the way people would live in the future under their government. This is only a simulation, so no harm will come to anyone.” In a minute, the people were gasping for breath and saying thing like, “Stop this!”, “Cruelty!”, and “You dare take our power!” Hector walked over to them and gestured to the square.
“I will try… to save… you.” Suddenly, he sounded weak, as though he was suffering through a major ordeal. He collapsed on the ground, and the guards came over, seizing the bar from him. One brought it over his head, ready to strike, when they all saw that Hector was finally defeated from his own burnout. Despite his being a thorn in their side, they dedicated a stone nearby to him, with the words, “Hector Mejorador: The one who tried to change us for good.” Society was finally back to normal.
written by: Brady Rivkin
DW Voice 