26 )
.
I heard about where many of the casinos are now designed to where the exit is hard to find, to cause you to spend far more time in the place than you normally would. If you cannot leave, you will gamble.
We just had BLACK FRIDAY, where people start their serious shopping for Christmas. Many people go to malls and stay all day there going from store to store.
The thought crossed my mind about going to a mall and not being able to find the exit until late in the day, after you spent enough money. I thought that one would make the purchase and the product would be held until it was time for you to leave. Then it hit me.
Shipping has gotten to the point where no one is involved in any transportation of product. Most products are made by robotic factories too. Most people live in their sky scraper cities and never leave. They order everything on their computer and it is automatically delivered.
Most people get into internet suits that give them the complete sensation of being some place else, doing things their bodies could never do. Most people remotely control robots, guiding them to do complex duties without the bother or hassle of being there to actually do the work. One can simply "step out" of the robot in the period of three minutes where ever it is. One is suddenly at home.
Of course, most people go to a different floor of their building to the office that has all the equipment to do remote work. people sitting side by side might be doing work at opposite ends of the world.
A new mall opened. The brand named products were priced low. it had better selection than most malls, being bigger than any place most people go. People shopped there all year long. they got word that the mall would be closed for a whole day, then it would open for the shopping holidays. it told about all the super specials one would get.
The mall had a system that you make your purchases and when you left, your purchases would leave with you. People love that. they were not carrying stuff around. In reality, the mall was already shipping your purchases and when you got out of the internet suit, your purchases were usually arriving at your house.
The mall opened and people in their internet suits arrived at the mall. It was beautiful and people rushed to get specials at various stores, many people ran full blast to get to the stores in the middle before anybody else. People who could not even walk could run in the internet suits.
People started making their purchases which were taken away, waiting for them to leave. Most people were making it a day. A few people headed out, as they were after only a couple items. They soon found they could not figure out where the exit was. One person tried to get out of her internet suit. her virtual body twisted and turned, wiggled and shook. she then looked at the woman next to her, "I cannot get out of my suit. I tried everything I knew. it would not let me out."
People wandered around, trapped in their suits. either they tried to leave and could not, or they talked to people who experienced it. Those who were making it a day did not care. Many of the people who were trapped, decided to shop anyway since they could not get to the places they wanted to go to next.
At what the mall called the magic hour, the exits to the mall appeared. People rushed out like mad.
by the time they got out of their suits, all their purchases were waiting for them.
Enough complaints came in that the mall never tried that again.

27 )
.
The world was split between the worlds of light and darkness. As punishment the ones who lost, was sent to the world of darkness. The lack of light twisted them out of their natural form. Their desire for revenge twisted their minds till they became what was commonly known as evil. After a time, their existence changed so much that they could not survive in the light.
The magic users in the world of light, concentrated their magical powers and concentrated military to the borders between light and darkness, leaving the rest of the world of light to those without magic or any real leadership.
A market economy grew and with it, technology developed. A no-man's land developed between the battle border and the technological development. They had nothing to do with each other, they knew nothing of each other.
The technology developed to the points of air travel and communications, then they found out that magic could be done. They worked out methods of creating magic using machines. Of course, there were wars between governments of technology. Their powers to wage wars advanced dramatically. One nation took control of all the technological world of light because it was better at inventing new weaponry and had a stronger economy. War essentially stopped being needed.
The world of darkness gathered the whole of its population to the border and attacked. they were going to empty the world of darkness either by all dying or all taking over the world of light. The armies and magical defenders were overwhelmed. They moved sideways creating corridors for evil to go deep into the world of light, while the strongholds were kept safe.
Darkness ignored the strongholds and headed straight in a line and crossed the unpopulated area. they came to technology who was surprised. Technology's initial reaction stopped darkness at the border of their largest city. thousands had died in just a couple days. The army retaliated using everything they had.
The Evil fell into a panicked retreat when the newest weapon was used. It was like a sun bomb, a beam of strong light that wilted even trees.
Technology was so angry at being attacked. they launched a hard counter attack right into the world of darkness. Entering the world of darkness was difficult, Because technology had developed magic, they were allowed to pass.
The darkness made it difficult to fight in that world. night vision did not work right.
Technology decided to solve that problem. they gathered all their weaponry and delivered them to one place, a floating city high in the sky. when they left, the heat of their attack caused the floating city to glow. it became a sun, providing a permanent light in the world of darkness. Darkness got its way, the world of darkness was depopulated. It just was not the way they planned. Darkness had ceased to exist and creatures of darkness faded away.
.
A song said "we will light up your world like the forth of July."

28 )
.
They were a musical group calling themselves the Monotones. They felt they had talent and could be really popular. The contract with the music company was thick. they saw in the contract that when they tour, they are required to do antics to disrupt the other bands. Since they were not going to get any publicity at all otherwise, they signed the contract.
They went to the studio and cut their first album. They then had to go on tour. There was always some eight bands in each concert and the mix of the bands changed during their tour.
The other bands were experts in disrupting each other. the Monotones did not have to do anything. they made a point to ignore what the other bands were doing. One band walked in and carried away their lead singer. Another band member instantly starting singing the part without any break in their action. Another time the mikes were shut off. They still played their part of the concert. the crowd went silent to hear them play. Others showed up in different outfits or acted up on stage. The monotones ignored them.
One thing the monotones noticed was that the other bands were not as good at playing as they were. They used that as part of their irritation. They walked up and took the instruments from them saying, "thanks for warming up the crowd." It unnerved several of the bands nicely.
Finally, a concert date simply had the Monotones and the very best of the bands. The monotones played their heart out and really got a crowd reaction. The best band was actually quite inept at distracting them as they played. Finally the best band was about to play. the monotones were reminded that they were to really mess up the band.
The monotones singer told them that they had better play better than they have ever played or they will be booed off stage.
the greatest band started playing and one by one, they looked for the monotones to do something. By their fourth of five songs, the audience was making obscene noises and were walking out. By the time the best band had finished their set, only a small portion of the hall was filled. Within days, no one wanted to hear their records. their music nose-dived off the record charts.
The monotones was met at the next city by several lawyers and several officials from the record company. They were reminded about the contract and how they breached the contract. They were supposed to mess up the band's performance.
The lead singer smiled and asked, "what could mess up their performance more than letting them play their whole set? didn't we really mess them up?"
That was enough to keep them out of trouble. People started really listening to their music and they started topping the charts. when their time to re-sign the contract came up again, they were able to eliminate the interruption clause of the contract On their concerts, the bands just played their sets and suffer or gain from the results.

29 )
.
They were a high tech society. They almost lived on the internet, wearing "glasses" that had one lens to show data and an ear piece to show sound. One would look at something and text, pictures and video images scrolled into view on whatever you were viewing. Some people felt lost when they did not have the data screens on.
There was some who thought the computer should be shut down as people were too dependant on it. they felt the world should step back to a period before the glasses and master computer.
A biological experiment with viruses failed miserably and the results were dumped out. At that same time, an industrial stockpile of medical virus stock was dumped out and a chemical spill was being cleaned up and dumped. All three came together in the septic system and reacted to each other. They went through the filtration and cleaning system that was designed to remove them completely. A flaw the plumbing allowed the changed viruses to escape into the water supply.
The water supply went through subsequent filtration and treatment, but that was not designed to remove medical viruses that were already supposed to be cleaned out.
The water system involved a continental water reservoir where cleaned water, heavy storm overflows and flood waters were piped, and then released to areas that really needed it. The virus came out at the right spot where it flowed deep into the lake, spread out fairly evenly, and then flowed into all the plumbing to the continent.
The virus got into all drinking supplies and irrigation systems. It insinuated itself into all the food. People drank the water and ate the food and got the virus. People quickly found their memories going, the effect of the new virus.
The continent had a master computer system. It detected the effect on people instantly, while not detecting the virus in the water systems. People were becoming more dependant on their glasses as their memories were not what they once were. The computer made it mandatory that everybody wear their glasses at all time, even at night, in showers, no matter what. there were special penalties for taking them off.
It also changed the law so it was mandatory that all glasses were brought in to be repaired or replaced free of charge. Penalties for not coming in as ordered were also strict. The elected lawmakers could not remember those laws being passed but they were written so they had to have voted in it somewhere. Even the staff was not sure about it. Records of the vote was vague and incomplete. The computer said it did not remember either.
Soon, anybody above puberty had lost their memory. one depended entirely on the glasses. One woke up and the glasses guided the person through the morning ritual according to their preferences. The chefs and cooks saw images of what they were to do just before they had to do it. If they measured something, it would show what it would look like and hold that image. they simply had to match the image. Most got it exactly first try as they had that feel already.
The computer made even babies to wear glasses so they would be used to them. By the time they reached puberty and lost their memories, the glasses was natural for them. Before, they learned through rote first, then got their glasses when they had learned the basics.
While the computer gave them the data and knowledge, the memory-less people still had their reasoning and imagination. They always recognized what they had learned, even if it was recent, but they had to be prompted for the memory. The computer did not have imagination or reasoning, but simply had logic. It needed people to give the leaps of mind that it was not capable of.
The same scientists that had started the virus were studying what was isolated. They saw all the similarities to what they originally worked with and also saw the differences. Once they worked out those details, they released their findings. Another group then worked out the full mechanics of the changes and published, and a third group worked out the inoculation needed and a forth started making the inoculation. Babies got it first and then up the age groups.
The inoculation would not recover the memory, but would stop any more losses of memory. The computer
It would take several generations to develop full immunity to the virus. They worked out ways to remove the virus from the foods, and eventually from the fields. more generations would pass before the virus would cease to exist from the environment.
Because the computer had taken control, it prevented further mistakes like what caused the virus in the first place. The laws requiring the glasses remained in place and strictly adhered to. They required the computer to continue to be repaired and maintained.

30 )
.
Frederick traveled through the forests all the time as a hunter, logger, and scout. He also did various work around the town where he listened to what people discussed. In his travels, he learned that the Klaw were reforming, about to act. They were all in Seemed to be forming around the home of Sarah's family.
The Klaw were a mystic form of creatures that came appeared periodically and they seemed to have it out with a single family each time. If they took out the family, they would hang around and be a problem for several months and come back in just a couple years. If they were all killed though, they would be gone for as much as a decade. the sooner after their initial attack they were killed, the longer the time before their re-appearance.
Knowing Sarah's family was the target, he decided to save them. He had time. He started courting Sarah, at first where they met away from the family. He was kind, helpful, courteous to her. He was the perfect suave gentleman. He was also wherever she happened to end up but never seemingly following her.
He then met her family. The father hated him outright and even reached for his shotgun after dinner. The mother seemed to tolerate them. Their reaction peaked Sarah's rebellious nature. She really started liking him.
Frederick saw a dozen Klaw not far from the farm. He decided the next night was the night of the attack.
He told Sarah he was taking her out. She said her father could not see him and that she could not leave the house. He told her to have her father have his cleaning stuff out. He was coming by just after noon and honk. she was to come running and leap into the truck. He was going to get out of there quick. She liked the idea.
The time came and he drove up, laying on the horn. she rushed out past her father, who was shouting for her to come back. When she slid in, her father showed up at the door with his shotgun.
Frederick floored it and wove heavily, sending dust and dirt in the air as he zig-zagged down the drive. Her father fired two shots at him and they both heard her father say he was going to kill the boy when he got back, daughter or not. They raced out of range laughing.
Frederick knew the Klaw were going to be everywhere, all around the town. They were going to hunt down every member of the family wherever they were. He decided he simply needed to make sure they were moving around, not staying anyplace too long.
They went to the lake and swam, drive to the lookout to make out, go into town for dinner and a treat.
Her father was angry. he heard a sound outside and came out with his shotgun cocked. He saw a Klaw and fired. He ran back in firing a second shot at another Klaw. He immediately re-loaded and grabbed several more guns. He had Mother, the two brothers and sister take guns and they fired at the Klaw as they saw them.
The Klaw, being magic, traveled quickly to the farm to get to the people inside.
Because Frederick kept moving around, Sarah was fairly safe. they saw several Klaw, usually as they sat nearly too long some place but because he was moving, they were not able to catch up to them.
He gassed up near the time the station was going to close. He was getting quite broke, but he needed to keep Sarah moving.
Father was picking off the Klaw like mad. He was running out of ammo. Frederick stopped at home and got what guns and ammo he could get his hands on, along with some other weaponry. Sarah had not seen his house before and was surprised at him not asking her to stay. He asked her how good a shot she was and she said she was excellent. He said her family was being attacked by the Klaw and they were likely running out of ammo.
They drove back to her house. The Klaw surrounded the place. Frederick floored it and both fired out the windows as he plowed into dozens of Klaw, some in a power slide. They come to the front of the house and get out. Sarah passes ammo, guns, and weaponry to the family while Frederick picks off the Klaw like the hunter he was. Her father gives him a wad of money. He and Sarah get back into the truck and they drive around the house several times, plowing through several more Klaw before they drive off again to another part of the town.
They gas up and buy more ammo and some supplies and then return. After dropping off the ammo, they go to a different part of the farm and form a cross fire.
It near noon when the last Klaw is dead. they finally come into the house. Frederick stands guard while father naps a few hours, then father takes over. No more klaw appear by the time dawn comes.
They watch for a couple days and finally decide it is all over. Father finally decides that Frederick is a pretty good person. He still does not like him but father decided he was not bad enough to try to kill. Frederick really did not intend to develop a relationship with Sarah but she was quite nice and she does like him.
The Klaw start smelling as their bodies rot. Authorities come around and it is decided to burn the bodies rather than bury them. It is a project to deal with hundreds of Klaw bodies.
Frederick ends up marrying Sarah and the klaw never do come back, they had killed every single one of them. there were other things that periodically came out of the forests, but they would not do so during Frederick life time. Because his father hated him and was waiting for his return with the shotgun in hand, the family was saved.