The Citizens, that represented the Elite and their entourage, though were obsessed with their image and came across as politically correct, uber-ethical and very fashion-conscious. This new veneer of new morality was a backlash to the corrupt prior years but little had changed in the self-serving behaviour of the elites and in basic human nature when power and opportunity for abuse intersect.

A new language had emerged. It was initially based on Twitter but the vocabulary was still too vast and complex, especially for the younger people. This new society had a very limited attention span and required maximum simplicity so words were mono-syllabic like eat, prey, go, come, seek, and kneel. Vulgarity and use of vulgar words were cause for immediate imprisonment.

Politeness in front of a superior now required kneeling, kissing their hand and sometimes anything more that the Superior required but always in a privater place far removed from the gazes of any witnesses.

Prayer by all was inexpensive so it was encouraged and all bad things that would happen to you were caused by a lack of prayer and a lack of faith. Impure thoughts were controlled by Chastity devices but if you had enough money, sexual release could be obtained for medical reasons and other Elite-available exemptions. However, it usually entailed that the charges and servants of the Elites went longing for longer periods.

Sexual Denial was shown to limit undesired births and to increase productivity but it also went along with a new Era of official abstinence and purity.

For the numbers, when they were ordered to pray, it just meant. ‘’Be silent’’. All kinds of devices stemming from the Inquisition had emerged and usually ‘’helped’’ people to find back their faith. Nobody would dare say openly that they were non-believers especially among the Citizenry. As for the numbers, their immorality was somewhat expected due to their lack of proper upbringing, limited access to houses of faith and Shorthand vocabulary.

Houses of faith had emerged all over and people were expected to show up for the 6 am prayers each morning. The large financial institutions, simply called clearing houses, actually owned these houses of faith and financial stability had become a prime virtue. Debts were frowned upon because it usually led you into oblivion and ultimately slavery.

Most foreclosed suburban houses in Kwibec had been converted into Pot-growing operations and some monopolies held exclusive rights for this. Pot had become the drug of the Elites and numbers were not allowed to consume any such non-addictive substances as it may interfere with their faith.It was now Kwibec's major export to the US.

Regrettably, cocaine seemed to be the drug of the masses and numbers and it kept them all nicely in line for their daily fix. Governments had looked for solutions to avert mass demonstrations caused by the squalid urban housing, food and water shortages. High paid consultants had noticed that the drug addicts only cared for their daily fix and little else.

Theft was now punishable by various body modifications that made robbers instantly recognizable. For a citizen that stole, it meant immediate loss of all status and re-education as a number at the Neighbourhood Re-education Centers (modelled after the Poll Pot Academy of Lower Learning..lol) . For a first offence, an ugly tattoo on the forehead, in the shape of R/R for registered robber was immediate.

The robber’s registry was a way to recruit the best new members to an underground elite group modelled after the Gestapo. They would usually spy on targeted people, hurl them off in the middle of the night and were usually not firm believers of human rights. The robbers usually had shown some courage, scoundrel-gene and non-conformity and these were recognized by the elites as rare traits.

Furthermore, the Elites preferred the robbers on their side rather then against them but they had to be registered and properly re-trained. The first 6 month of their training involved re-learning the Shorthand Alphabet and Vocabulary, developed to enhance and simplify their communication skills.

The Vocabulary consisted of about a hundred words representing routine tasks or passivity. Emphasis in this vocabulary was on listening, observation and working in silence. Numbers were not allowed to say I, me, myself and their focus was supposed to be on the needs of their Masters and Mistresses.

The elites had re-organized into a group of professions and trades that guarded strictly their member’s exclusive privileges and areas of work. To belong to one of these groups, proof of good faith was required and continuing education was a must. The marginal or dissenting members were quickly disbarred because of some minor fault or because of failing their annual aptitude exams. Aptitude Exams tested for Enthusiasm, Rituals, and Conducts of Practice and Dogma that changed continually in some small way, in order to weed out the old, the hesitant and the non-enthusiasts.

The top elites belonged to the A (Attorneys, Strategic Brains called ‘’ Artists, Accountants, Architects’’ ...etc) and B ‘’thinking’’ (Bailiffs, and Behaviour (Brainwash) Experts trades. Mostly, decision-making was expected of them. The next groups were C , D or E categories and their power was great because they alone were allowed to interact with the top tier (they were the Communicators and . The F category, like the F words were frowned upon. They were the elite that did the ugly work like punishing, branding, and their oratory skills were usually limited. Some had witnessed bad things and they were rendered mute by the upper Elites.

The Saturday ritual was now a hockey game followed by the lottery in winter and American Football in summer. After a round of 10 losing games, the team usually were reclassified as numbers and the Elite made it clear that Mediocrity had no place in Kwibec. Team spirit was important so the punishment and rewards went to the teams. This new society had somehow discovered the secrets of Stalinism and Maoist thinking and officially everybody was a comrade equal in rank, even though some lived in mansions.

Sarah was on the run and she had met up with a pack of young miners that had escaped from their assigned stations. She had long brown hair and stood at 6 feet tall. Sarah was 22 and 3 months pregnant. She did not remember or understand how she had been impregnated. She suspected that she had been drugged and raped at the school. Within, she believed that the Child she was carrying belonged to Maxime. Maybe she had been unknowingly inseminated with the Child of a Goverment leader but she could not remember it happening.

She quickly needed to get help to undo the Chastity so she could give birth. This worried her quite a lot but the miners had started sawing at it and Zion had assured her that they could remove it if he kept at it . Thankfully, the chastity she had on had allowed her expansive waist room to move.

She had been a schoolteacher in a working class neighbourhood in Montreal-East before the events of September 11th and she was an optimist at heart. After the catastrophe, half of the kids no longer showed up. She kept on teaching for a while without pay then stopped when the Government shut down the school. She had been reassigned to the Re-education Unit No 232 after 2 warnings for misbehaving; she was re-assigned to the support services group. Her attitude had been judged as wrong-headed and too rebellious.

She strongly disagreed with the School’s Curricula and Methods. Eventually she was fired, the bank foreclosed on her house and she therefore lost her Status as a Citizen. She also had an infatuation with one of the Students of the Academy, a young defrocked attorney called Maxime Chevrier that had political ambitions and was seen as menace to the New Elites. The New Elites were all quite young, usually under 30, having pushed out their older predecessors without scruples after the Catastrophe.

Maxime was 26, good looking and worked out regularly. He spoke 3 languages and had a sense of humour and irreverence that made it hard for him to be indoctrinated. Sarah liked his Independent Spirit, his rebellious attitude and his physique. They had on occasion kissed in the privacy of her office at the school but somehow their affair was discovered and Maxime suddenly vanished. When Sarah asked about his where-abouts, she was only told that he had been transferred to the Plan Nord. The Plan Nord was a Siberia-like territory of vast lands, rich in forestry and mineral resources. Escape from it was difficult because of the harsh weather and a solitary, heavily guarded road that led into it.

Before the catastrophe, PLAN NORD had been criticized by political opponents as non eco-friendly but after the Catastrophe, all dissension to it had been stifled. It was a right-wing test-model of a new society and was ahead of its time in a way. Working conditions were strictly monitored with big unions, big corporations and big Government working there in perfect unison.

Any type of free spirit there usually quickly fell into line as the drudgery, the cold weather and isolation required conformity and strict obedience in order to survive.

The three minors accompanying Sarah were nick-named Zeon, Zachary, Zion but they were officially numbers. Their re-education at the Pol Pot Academy had transformed them. Their lack of vocabulary had led them to use their hands when they talked. Zeon was the leader and the serious one. Zachary was the clown; he had an indestructible spirit and was good at foraging for food. Zion was really good looking and tall and sometimes Sarah fantasized about making out with him. Zion had lost one eye in the mine during an explosion. However, the whole group were wearing state issued chastity devices. They had met just outside of Montreal around a Bonfire in a working class neighbourhood.

Their goal was to go to the Richelieu River where Sarah’s resourceful uncle Olaf was believed to be. They were glad that they had found each other.