Peace For All

No one could have anticipated the events that were about to happen on this February 14th, in the year 2072. Valentine's Day has historically been observed on February 14th of every year. But, for the past 12 years, Valentine's Day and all it meant for centuries has been mourned by people all around the globe. Valentine's Day, love itself, has been prohibited by President Charles Love, on February 15th, 2059, the day following his Proclamation to the people of the USA,  naming himself President of all Americas.

Charles Byron Love was born February 14th, 2001, to a high society couple. His father, Charles Senior, worked hard his entire life, building and running a ranch, to provide for his family. Charles Junior was an only child, which was a disappointment for his father as he wanted his ranch house filled with kids. Charles Junior was 4 years old when his father died suddenly. No cause of death was ever established as his widow didn't want an autopsy. She had 3 or 4 ranch hands bury her dead husband in the back of the barn and directed them to place a rock-filled bucket over the small area where his head would be, to mark the spot. She hated her husband, a man with a kind heart, because she saw him as weak and useless. She often told him he had rocks for brain, and he should not have procreated.

Charles Junior was raised by his mother, whom he despised. He constantly complained of her presence in his life to anyone who would listen. He hated her weaknesses, her inability to make and follow through with her decisions, and her lack of interest in world affairs. He found her exceedingly boring and spent as much time away from her as possible until the day she vanished, to never be seen again. Charles reported her missing on Christmas Day in 2025, when he was 24 years old. There was an investigation but no wrong-doing was proven. Charles never spoke of his mother since then.

On January 5th, 2059, at the age of 57, Charles Byron Love led an army of unbelievably strong men to Washington, DC, broke down the barriers that were meant to protect the President of the day, and once the door was torn off its hinges by one of his soldiers, he walked into the office, looking as proud as a peacock. President Morrison was unceremoniously carried out of the office and Charles placed his butt in the chair left vacant behind the Resolute Desk. Many men and women were killed on that fateful day. At 3:59 p.m., the world and all of its inhabitants became subjects of Charles Byron Love, when he claimed the Presidency of his "Americas". Since that day, many other countries, big and small, have been invaded and taken as part of President Love's empire, His Americas.

On February 14th, 2059, President Love began his world domination, officially declaring himself the one and only World Leader. It's been 13 years since that day, and today, the world is unrecognizable. The President is rumored to be grooming his son to take his position when he himself no longer is able to properly care for his conquests. He somehow convinced himself he was a God who was going to save everyone from themselves. 

It is common knowledge that the President’s son, Michael Wandlyn Love, has no interest in furthering his father's agenda, but no one could know for certain as he is rarely seen in public. Any attempt to find and interview the young man was a death sentence. Most reporters, after losing colleagues in unusual circumstances, kept their reporting to the President’s actions. . 

It has been thirteen years since the bloodbath in the White House, on this February 14th, 2072. Before the day’s end, everything would change.  It was to be determined, once the shock settled, how the events of the day would reshape the world, if at all.

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Ian and Marcel both live in the government controlled housing complex located on the Hastings Block, where the old foundry used to be in the industrial sector of Newmarkat. The housing complex were the President’s idea, and work began on construction in early 2062. The buildings all looked the same: square, tall, and boring. They were as grey as concrete could be, and units on each level had only a small window facing the street, which was the living room window. The units, meant for a sole occupant, were small, but, in Love`s estimation, that was more than any of them deserved. Women and men were housed on opposite sides of the community. Segregation was the President's answer to his legislation prohibiting love. 

Workers assigned to an employer would be provided a rental unit at a fair price. Commuters were provided to transport workers to work and from work at the end of their shift. Not all employers operated 24/7, and the young neighbors were thankful for their work placement. Marcel began his work with the Nuclear Regulating Facility a few years back. He kept himself out of trouble. He loved his apartment. What else can a person want? He couldn’t think of one thing. 

On January 3^rd, 2072, Ian was transferred from the janitorial department to the Administration Department of the Nuclear Regulating Facility. He was a sickly child who grew up with severe asthma. When the company realized he was unable to work without having fits of coughing, often escalating to the point of vomiting, they brought him in to work in the office. No more overnight shifts meant no more working in the deep cold nights of winter. It wasn’t long before Ian felt better. The day shift seemed to keep his symptoms under control. Marcel was given the task of finding Ian a desk, and a whole lot of paper to sort, file or shred, or send to the proper departments. The 2 never spoke unless it was work related. The regime and all its minions and spies were everywhere. If there was even a slight chance that a friendship was growing between workers, punishments where severe..

Marcel was first to exit the complex that morning and, while holding the door open for Ian, they both heard a  "kk.rrr.rr...kkkk..rrrrr" coming from above their heads.. Both men stopped dead in their tracks. Knowing what that meant, they grew pale and they froze from fear. Neither one of them moved, looking up above the door, staring at a small black box, a speaker, bolted to the wall, from where they knew the sound emanated.

It has been a number of years since anyone heard anything coming from Love's "announcement devices". Love used them early on in his role as President as a way of keeping his people aware of the daily or weekly news, created and reported by him.

Neither man noticed the red commuter coming a bit fast down the street, and screeching to a halt at their building. The driver pressed the horn and its sound echoed in the still morning air, awakening the men who rushed to catch their morning commute to work, making themselves forget they heard anything.

Ian and Marcel went about their day, riding on the same commuter, working in the same office, never speaking or even acknowledging each other. That was the case with all who lived under Love's rule.

Marcel didn’t have much of an appetite for lunch. Afterward, he still had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t shake the memory of that sound. What could it be? He also noticed that routines were changed by some. As usual, Marcel let Ian go up the three steps to the first deck of the bus. As usual, Ian walked to the back of the bus and sat in the exact same spot every morning and every evening, smack dab in the center of the bench seat set from one side to the other of the commuter bus. As usual, Marcel walked up the three steps but continued up to the 2nd deck of the commuter. Marcel found it interesting that the upper deck was the choice of the 4 men who lived down the street, on Pinetree Court. They usually sat on the first deck, leaving Marcel to sit alone on the 2nd deck, where he daydreamed the entire fourteen minutes and 30 seconds it took the commuter to reach its destination.  

The men on the commuter knew of each other, but never spoke. They were employed through the “Workers of Americas Group”.  They all work the Nuclear Regulating Plant, which employed most of the residents of the community. No one applied for the jobs they held. They rode in, barely glancing at one another. They were quite young when Loveless tore the world apart, and none of them had many memories of family life, games, school, friends, love. Loveless controlled every aspect of these young men's lives, as he did all subjects under his rule. They, as most people did, just stared into space, afraid of being accused of feeling love if they dared speak or even look at another person.

The inhumane living arrangement promoted by the President since 2059 was the result of the “Prohibition of Love” legislation that he introduced as an Executive Order on February 15th that year. The world has grown insanely quiet since then. In order to accommodate those who would find themselves in severe mental crisis because of their inability to exist in a dead world, President Love found the world's best architects and he had them design and have built an institution that filled half the Grand Canyon. Prisons for women, Prisons for men, mental institutions, and teaching facilities for children, were all part of his ever growing empire.

The "Prohibition of Love" legislation was complex, contradictory, misunderstood. Every new event brought to the President`s attention had to be reviewed, amended, fixed, to ensure the rules were obeyed . Every six weeks, all employers received hundreds of amendments, or deletions, or additions to the law, which took days for workers to properly place in the Red Book. The Red Book held the current legislation. When the new pages were received, by following the instruction page, individual pages would be inserted and the old amended provisions were tossed in the dumpster behind the main dumpster. The directors in the Nuclear Regulation Plant have failed miserably in their maintenance of the most important of laws ever formulated by President Love. The March 31st inspection of the plant and all its contents was coming fast. All of the accumulating boxes of paper needed to be sorted and dealt with immediately. Ian and Marcel, as well as two older gentlemen who kept to themselves, were the paper boys, so to speak.

Throughout the Americas, there were those who hated Loveless and his entire corrupt government. There were rumors of a revolution brewing and Marcel and Ian were secretly planning to join the group. 

The two men were very well aware of the tortuous trek they would have to make in the Sahara desert. They heard whispers: “Only the strong would attempt it, and all have perished.” It was said that a few returned soon after leaving, and simply took up where they left off. It was a difficult dice to toss for anyone wanting to escape Loveless`s dead world. If they succeeded in passing the threshold in the desert, then what? No one having gone that far had been known to return. Conclusions were arrived at. “They’re obviously dead, or else they`d come back to get us, right?”

But, if a runner started the trek and changed their mind, it would have to be a short enough time that their absence would not be detected, especially at work. There was always a deafening screetchy voice coming from the regulation floor, where supervisors watched everything minutely. The voice yelled to anyone arriving late to work:  “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR THIS INSUBORDINATION!”. No one wanted to suffer the punishment for the transgression. Workers made sure to be on time.

Ian and Marcel were particularly careful because they shared a secret love affair. They both knew the penalty for that crime, and they longed for freedom so they could be together.  They knew the risks of joining the Peaceforall Army. But they wished to join the ranks and fight for their right to live, to love. With them working in the same office space was both exciting and terrifying. But they never dared even steal a glimpse of each other’s face, whether they worked across the room from each other, or whether they worked face to face across a table, sorting through an infinity of paper. President Charles Byron Love had a fetish for paper. “I don’t trust those machines!” speaking of computers. “A machine should never be smarter than you. That’s a sign of weakness. Me? I’m not weak. That’s why I don’t have those computing machines. They’re just nasty, them things. We Would All be Better Off if we banned those things. Hey! You know what? I can!!”. The President, standing firm at the podium, raised his bony neck an inch or so, looking down his nose while scanning the room. In the meantime, Marian, his current Secretary of New Legislation came rushing to his side, holding a few of those fancy black folders that contained his most recent random and absolutely ridiculous executive orders. Having heard him make the statement to ban computers, she knew he would want her to take notes.

Feigning surprise when Marian appeared at his side, the President said: “Marian, come here darlin’!”

He gives a quirky look to the press corps sitting closest to the podium, and continues:  “Ain’t she somethin’?” he said as she approached the podium.

Loveless moved aside so Marian could stand behind the podium, and use its surface to take dictation for his next executive order. As he stood next to her, giving her direction, he leaned back a few inches, extending his head to look at Marian’s backside. Marian loathed the man. She believed her deep hatred of him was what kept her strong in her role as his Secretary of New Legislation. 

Marian, unbeknownst to anyone, was also the leader of the Peaceforall Movement. Love had never met General Marian Walker. When she arrived in Washington six months after he stole the White House, he had never heard of her because he didn`t really care what women did or didn`t do. As long as they were ready to serve him. When the latter stole the White House, she had been fighting alongside her men and women in the Battle of Bryès, in Belgium. 

General Walker and her troops were going to lead the people and fight alongside them, relentlessly, until Loveless is dethroned.