Dystopyum (The D-ot Hexalogy Book 1) by Chris Finkelstein Page B

those ungrateful keesh!” And so, his last
night together with his wife and daughter ended.
Griswolt just shook his head, and went back inside. Martha had already invited Salom and Rebecca to spend the night. At least I can give
them one quiet night before — her thought trailed off into that blind spot
of the invisible mind where such things must be placed — if they are to
remain unseen.
Chapter Four
Love-Deprogramming School

M
    artha was in a fog. Perhaps I’m in shock. She was standing
with the other mothers, looking around with her eyes, not
turning her head. They were all there at the Temple of the
NOV’s love-deprogramming school, which was one of twelve
    such schools place around the country. They were standing outside of the
top floor of the building, which in typical fashion was the only floor
aboveground. The cold black paint on the building’s exterior did nothing
to help allay her fear. As the wind swept to-and-fro, she could catch the
scent coming from the building. It was difficult to identify. If anything,
the smell reminded her of an old hospital for mentally deficient children
and adults she had once visited as a child. The sunny day did not have its
usual effect. It gave a surreal aura to the moment — a misplaced
disparity. It did not belong here, not today.
    How can I willingly submit to what they are going to do to him? To
me? In spite of herself, Martha was hypocritically looking at Jan. Her son
stood motionless and quiet with the other five year olds.
    Jan turned his head to look back for her.
I told him not to look back, she thought to herself in frustration. She
looked away. She had told Jan to be tough, to act tough. Show no
weakness or it will be that much worse. Martha’s thoughts flitted to the
others. What about Salom and Rebecca? They had been split off into
different groups upon arrival.
    Martha knew the drill, sort of. Those in charge were looking for emotional people. They were not looking for emotions like rage. They were
vigilant for signs of softness, gentleness, tears — anything betraying love
or hope. Lingering looks between mother and child made them easy
targets.
    When Martha was a child, all love was illegal, before, during, or
after childbirth. Because of that, love-deprogramming school had not yet
been invented. Love-destruction prison was non-existent as well. Anyone
found guilty of the heresy of love was simply executed via DeathBT. The
primary concern of the Love’s Epiphany Requirement Network was to
remain hidden, and had not deviated in time.
    The NOV suspected, (but hid,) the fact that a large proportion of the
surviving babies had mothers who were LERN members. The simple
mathematical construct of this was that LERN members would eventually
outnumber the non-LERN members. This was unacceptable. The NOV
then developed the plan of allowing love to be used in the child’s first five
years of life, culminating with love-deprogramming school.
    The guards were cold, showing no emotion. They appeared to be
NOV nobility by their calm detachment. Martha tried to look them in the
eyes, but ended up just staring at her boots. The chief guard exited the
building, walked up, and addressed the twelve mothers in this particular
group.
    “You know why you are here,” she said. “Up until this moment you
have been citizens of the NOV. You have been protected by the laws of
the NOV. That ends for the next four weeks. You are now our property, to
bend as we wish. Be prepared. We make no apologies for what we must
do to destroy the virus you have in you. We start, now!”
    The plentiful group of guards held guns on the mothers, waiting for a
reason to shoot. They were only to hit the legs at this stage. The mothers
stood there as the guards went from one mother to the next. Martha
watched in revulsion as the first mother was held and beaten on the head
by the main guard with a flexible metal device called a “bauger”, until the
screaming mother