Fade In: A Thriller

by Kyle Mills

Governments were increasingly run by dictators, sociopaths, and geriatric half-wits—men and women who fanned the flames of radicalism in their

followers and then found themselves slaves to it. Instead of solving problems, they were rewarded for inventing, exaggerating, or exacerbating them.

These changes were prompting the elites to circle their wagons. More and more, they separated themselves from the masses, constructing bunkers, investing in private health care, and hiding their wealth in every corner of the globe.

It was the beginning of a slow slide to an era of omnipotent rulers who knew no more about their desperate subjects than the royalty of

As politicians became ever more fixated on the task of securing their positions, they had no choice but to leave the day-to-day operation of the world to the private sector.

The only politician on their board, Nevada Senator Susan Kane was unusually intelligent and policy driven when compared to her congressional colleagues. Qualities that made her despise the people she worked with and recognize that there was no hope of ever accomplishing anything meaningful.

Don’t build your house on an Indian burial ground, and don’t play Twister with Death.

Politicians have never been particularly impressive, but now we’re reaching levels of incompetence and corruption that would have been hard to imagine just twenty years ago.

Even in America—one of the most successful countries in history—elected officials have gone from being shockingly average to being mental and moral defectives. And in more authoritarian states like Russia and China, it’s even worse.

Media companies aren’t any better. They spend their time convincing people that their lives are a disaster and that they’re in constant mortal danger. Fanning people’s insecurities, tribalism, and envy in pursuit of ratings.”

The focus was shifting from protecting America from external enemies to protecting Washington’s elite from anything that could loosen their grip on power.

“A good definition of stupidity is the willingness to harm oneself in an effort to harm others,”

attenuated

Unnaturally thin

If there was one thing that the elite had never been able to abide, it was that they weakened and died just like everyone else. The primary benefit to their desperation wasn’t money, though. It was that it provided an extremely effective way to control them. The more advanced the therapies became, the more amenable the ruling class were to enslaving themselves.

“They put me in prison for trying to use technology to solve the problems they themselves have created. Why? Because they don’t want a new era that they don’t understand and therefore can’t control. They want to continue to grow fat and rich on the status quo while you go hungry.

Fade had experienced some of what he was talking about firsthand. Watching his friends die in Afghanistan knowing full well that the higher-ups had no real goal beyond promotions, reelections, and seven-figure private sector jobs.

We’re building a civilization that the average person can’t understand or navigate. It’s causing them to retreat into tribalism and turn to leaders who promise to protect them and make sense of it all.

But that tendency just makes it worse. The people promising answers don’t have any incentive to provide them. In fact, the opposite’s true. A confused, terrified, and enraged populace will carry you right into power.”

“What we want is stability. To pull society back from the brink and suppress humanity’s most self-destructive instincts. In the past, that’s been the responsibility of governments in whatever form they might take. But now, the balance of power is shifting toward people like me.

“And the American people?” “They’re not going to save us. Hell, they’re the problem. They’ve turned into a bunch of sheep who’ll elect anyone willing to confirm their dumbass beliefs and feed their rage and victimhood.”

“Good story.” “Not at all. A life with no arc. A series of anecdotes without significance.”

“And you think he’ll try to go make his case personally?” Linea said, sounding skeptical. “That seems overly stupid.” Fade smiled. Not having a penis, women could just never understand the organ’s power to cloud one’s judgment.

“Planck’s principle states that science moves forward one funeral at a time. Yichén is very much a believer in the theory—that most scientists’ important work is done early in their careers, and then they spend the rest of their lives

standing in the way of further advancement.”

It was an interesting facet of human nature that Fade had first become aware of in the Middle East. People tended to mistake underdogs for good guys.

Most underdogs had no interest

in peace, justice, or equality. They just wanted to be the hamm...

hammer and not the nail