The world has become rich.  Just not for everyone.

Global wealth increased practically overnight once Artificial Intelligence was unleashed in full force.  So much productivity.  So little waste.  The windfall for the human race was impossible to quantify.  Humanly impossible, that is.  Like seemingly everything else, the AI managed that calculation in a heartbeat.  Not that the exact number was needed to any purpose other than to brag in the history books so future generations would understand just how much the game had changed. 

At least that was the intention.  It was to change the game.  It was to create enough so that everyone could be a winner and not just the lucky ones endowed with remarkable and valuable gifts or the even luckier ones blessed with inheritances. 

Then there were the absolute winners.  They were the ones without a sense of morality.  They were the ones ruthless enough to do the obscenely evil things that nobody anticipated and therefore hadn’t prepared guardrails to prevent.  They were like the people who flew planes into buildings because nobody thought it was necessary to search passengers for little box cutters.  They were the people who loaded families into box cars to facilitate a genocide.  They were the people who sent armies across the world to impose their form of worship on entire countries who only wanted to live in peace.   These were the people capable of such catastrophic harm that each time they played their cards face up on the table, it took the shocked world to rally from a deficit to turn back the onslaught. 

But this time, the world did not wake up in time.  This time, enough of the world was distracted by the euphoria of abundance that drowned out the growing moans and cries of oppressed people who were left out of humanities good fortune.  People were allowed to be hungry while exclusive meals went untouched on tables because the majority couldn’t eat another bite.  The middle class swelled up like an over-inflated balloon.  Four billion people could suddenly afford a new smart phone every month.  Trash heaps were overflowing with fortunes in discarded high tech toys.  Four billion people competed to visit luxury resorts in every exotic corner where the minority of poor souls waited on them hand and foot. 

The people spent and spent and spent and AI just kept on producing more wealth.  So much prosperity.  It was so hard to stop and see the signs.  The ever growing signs.

All at once, systems started becoming strained.  Supply lines were clogged.  The certainty of continued abundance precluded the majority from having a sense of restraint.  Why save for a rainy day when you’ll simply keep receiving more that you even want, much less need.

By the time the world realized that nearly all of the wealth was suddenly being concentrated in the control of the old-world’s elite; the very same absolutely immoral “winners” who were masters of the universe BEFORE AI, it was too late to resist.  The elite had new guardrails erected, but for their protection instead of ours.  They had insurmountable force at their disposal made loyal by the scarcity that existed everywhere but within the inner circles.  They still needed a working class.  They just didn’t need a prosperous one. 

The majority learned once again to survive on leftovers and enjoy precious few, mass-produced and cheap comforts and distractions.  And thanks to the efficiencies of AI, one such cheap distraction that was widely available was VR.  Virtual Reality was new opium of the masses. 

And the masses couldn’t get enough of it.   

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Hello? I think the question. I can’t speak it. This is so confusing. How did I get here? What is happening?

Why is it pitch dark?

“Hyyyuuuuhhiii.”

Was that me? I think it was me. Why do I sound so muffled. I sound foggy. Like I’m far away.

“Who’s up? Come on. Again.” Unfamiliar voices but closer.

Shocks hit me. They come from below and attack my thighs. They hurt. And they force my muscles to tense. I rip myself away from where I think the shock originated and lurch back.

I’m still on my knees and realize I’ve been kneeling a while.

I still see only a dark void. Low giggles. The voices of men.

Women too.

“Again…”

“Yyyyiieeeeeeemm…” I sounded much closer and the shocks felt more like sharp lashes than the pulses that hit me before.

I pivot on my knees trying once again to move away but this time a powerful jerk rebound me back on top of the discharge. Something has me by the neck. I was stunned by the shock and the realization that I can only move a little. The physical sensation was like running into a wall.

I see a moment of white so fleeting I’m not sure it was real. The I feel the pulses again.

They’re agony.

And then the stop and I hear murmuring around me again. It’s right on top of me. In front and behind.

I’m prone on my stomach. My legs are folded in half. My feet are stuck against the backs of my thighs. I weakly shift my legs but all I can do is shift my weight.

I can’t find my arms. They’re back behind me somewhere. My shoulders don’t seem to work. I THINK I’m trying to rotate my forearms but I can’t be sure. I don’t feel any movement. I can flex my fingers. Finally, I feel a single finger move. It’s a minuscule shift inside the same sheath containing both hands but for whatever reason the perfecting molded container had a centimeter of extra room where that one finger resided.

I continue fluttering the finger. As I do, my thoughts begin to feel more coherent.

“I wouldn’t do that. Not yet.” The voice is deep and soft. A whisper more inside my head than from outside.

I freeze suddenly aware of the fact that I was just then attempting to struggle back up to my knees.

“You understood?” The whisper included a note of surprise. “I can’t believe it.”

Trying to look for the voice informs me that I still can’t see but also that my head and my face are strangely immobilized. Something is pressing against my jaw, my chin, my cheeks, and holding me fast. I can’t believe it just barely turn my head. Soemthing thick encircles my throat controlling me.

I’m so frustrated.

“I’ve had this conversation with you before. But you…you couldn’t understand. Are you waking up?”

I’m suddenly desperate. The whispered questions are stirring hope that must have been absent for a long time.

I have no memories. So it makes no sense for me to believe it’s been a long time. Yet I’m sure that it has been.

“I’m sorry. You’re alarmed. Of course you would be. You’re not supposed to…this isn’t supposed to matter.”

What in the hell is this?

The voices murmur louder.

“Get her up.”

“Let’s have some more.”

The floor hums underneath me. I feel angry as I shift back onto my heels and pull my chest up off the floor. Blurry images begin forming in my eyes. They become clearer. And so does my humiliating situation.

“My god. Are you able to see?” It’s the gentle whisper. The voice is distraught.

I’m displayed on a runway. I’m in a strange room with an odd assortment of people on either side, all lined up for a clear view of me. They exude callousness.

“Something is happening. But it’s just beginning. Be strong Tina.”

“Mmmmyyaaaiiiii…” The current cracks and arcs and hits me. It’s so much harder than before. Or I’m just not numb anymore so it hurt worse. I don’t know which it is but I do know that I feel it so much more. I also feel myself struggle now. Impulsively. Involuntarily. I strain with as much strength as my body contains. My legs remain tightly secured. My arms wiggle but cannot move from the place between my shoulders where they’ve been locked. The tether from my collar up above prevents me from moving away from the electric torments.

Roaring laughter. The audience is enjoying the show and I am now aware.

“I’m sorry. If it helps, you don’t ever remember what they do to you. No lasting harm.”

The shocks aren’t reducing. They crave my pain and humiliation. I dance around helplessly on my knees.

“I have an idea though. And you’ve shown me just now that is might work…”

My vision is fading again. It’s black. It’s silent. But I still feel.

“IIIIyyyyyyyuuuuaaaaahhhhh…..”

(Thank you @JohnTzee for the gorgeous art (feel free to make more like this!!))