Smartystan

She had been a confidante of Dr. Strong’s. As one of his editors, she fulfilled her daily roles of organizing his sentences and making the necessary changes to make his words sing. Now, she looked on with gray, shabbiness and blank eyes. They had found his intruder.

“So what happened to the guy they thought had done the crime?” Mala asked her husband.

“He was freed and given a small sum of money for his troubles,” Sheltham replied.

“Damn shame. Why would anyone want to go against one of the Founders?” Mala said.

“She was a stalker after Dr. Strong had fired her. This was even before the founding of the country-state. Her name was Agnes Pollack. You see, Agnes, wanted only to be affiliated with the top tiers in society. The good doctor didn’t want anything to do with her romantically. She stole a few volumes of his writings years before.”

“Is that all coming up from the synth monitor?” Mala queried.

“Yes.”

“Jesus.”

“She could get up to fifty years in prison.”

“Isn’t that a bit much for breaking, entering, and stealing a few keepsakes?” Mala asked.

“Not in the new nation.”

“I guess that’s right. With the legalization of all drugs,” she shrugged, “you have to be tough on folks. That goes with all of the crimes. She should be punished more so than rehabilitated.”

“Absolutely.”

“I’d give her electronic reprogramming.”

“I don’t know about that, hon’,” Sheltham admitted.

“No. They should go to the regions of the brain that process memories and have all of them replaced with pain and suffering that she has to live with for the rest of her life.”

“Whoa! Who is this woman I married?” Sheltham said, half serious, half amused. Mala hyperventilated. Her nostrils flared which kind of turned on Sheltham.

“All of our boys have to live in this place. It is the best location on the planet. We have to live here. For people to disrupt the natural order of things….” she trailed off a bit. She wanted to burst out into tears at the thought of someone hurting her blood children or her adopted sons.

Sheltham rose from the synth monitor. He looked his wife in her eye.

“You needn’t worry about all of that. This is the safest, cleanest, and most robust legal system ever devised. If a Founder can be touched, it could be any of us. But that will not happen. Crimes of this sort are almost as rare as a blue moon in February.” Sheltham smiled and held his bride. They rocked and swayed for a moment. They looked about them and noticed that there existed a calmness, a peace that surpassed their own expectations. It was late at night so all of the boys had been sleeping. The two of them had waited for the results of the true criminal being captured. Mala shook her head.

“What?” Sheltham asked.

“I’m just trying to imagine if they gave me five minutes in a room with whomever even thought about hurting one of our boys,” Mala continued to seethe.

“Again….”

“Don’t 'again' me, Fenton,” she countered.

Sheltham raised his hands as if to show he were not carrying a weapon.

“I’m not offended, Mrs. Sheltham. I’m just trying to reassure you that nothing awful is going to befall this family. I won’t let it.”

“I’m not letting anything go against us, either. It only takes one. That’s the lie they try to perpetrate. The media, the politicians, the other leaders in the other States. They want to say that a tribe will always take care of things. A team is the only unit that can get things done. What about the individual? Can’t he or she handle business?”

“I don’t disagree with you….”

“That’s good. I don’t feel satisfied, though. I don’t. I feel as if we have to stay with our SmartGuns despite the minimal threat that is posed by the occupants of this place.”

“I definitely agree with you on that. We’re highly trained and well-adjusted folks. Let someone dare to go up against us and they will soon regret it,” Sheltham said.

Mala looked at him. She saw a man with a steel rod where a natural backbone should be. Not from injury, but from the fact that she could trust his words and know his integrity. She sighed.

“I think I found a good man.”

“Woman, even if I were to fall, I know that you would be the torchbearer for my kids and your own. You would be the leader in their lives more than you are now. I don’t plan on going anywhere, but this is my solemn oath: Protect yourself. Do you know what that means?” His voice lowered an octave.

“I absolutely do, Felton. You mean to take care of all of my selfish values including raising your two sons, just in case you don’t meet the one hundred and six year average mark.”

“That’s right.”

“And if I should die before you, I would like you to be the best dad that those young men deserve. I know for a fact you’ve got the temerity to go on despite whatever calamity may beset us. I will follow that oath as a woman of self-esteem and I know you will, too.”

“These may be uncertain times, but they are also glorious times. If my grandfather would’ve known I would be making millions of dollars directing synths on the roads of a fully free country, he’d flip.”

“As an office assistant, I concern myself mainly with ensuring the synths fulfill their roles. And I’m a millionaire in the process. My ancestors were domestics and helped to put me onto the right track with love and dignity. It’s only right that I pay respect to their memories.”

“This is the time that I look towards the light. It shines so bright it’s damn near blinding,” Sheltham said.

“That light exists for both of us. We make it shine. We are the leaders of our own fate.” The couple raised from their beautifully designed couch and headed upstairs to the bedroom.