“Through the Legislation,” he declared, “we have found the clarity of science. And through its logic, we have found peace.”

He looked out at all the faces watching himx . They wanted to hear more…so he continued:

“We have harvested its truths, the fruit from its tree of knowledge. Fruit that was ever there, waiting…Waiting for those mindful enough, motivated and willing to seek it out.”

Here he became resolute: “We had the drive. No…the necessity,” and he stressed that last word, “to seek it out.”

He paused. “And we were methodical in our studies. We ran the information through our trusted algorthms, using sophisticated models using many inputs to anticipate every eventuality. These models came from the unbiased consensus of the collective from our best researchers. And it is the consensus which will carry us forward. It provided us the the means of improvement, of ourselves, our families, and, above all, of our community.”

He thought a moment… “It gave us the society we needed. The society we were meant to have.”

He turned to his left, and then to his right, to take in the two figures that towered beside him, each almost a head taller than the man.

“Our loyal shoons,” he said, admiring them, “the manifestation of analytical genetics.”

Their nostrils flared from their small snouts. Their lips were fine and delicate and their pale skin was so colorless that it seemed to glow with magic energy. Solid muscle tensed in its tight sheath of skin.

“The efficiencies and fail-safes we have developed give us the luxury of life without worry of variabilities and, so, they mitigate indecision and overwhelming options that distract. Each knows his role, what is required, and this is a logical conclusion from scientific evaluations. Each knows his duty to our society.”

“We move forward, not by happenstance, but by the clarity of Central planning, he continues. Because we have more choice. He looked across his audience. Together we survive. Our night safety program improves the Shared Counties. It keeps violence and thievery at all-time low, the population safely indoors and out of harm’s way.”

A messenger shoon carrying a scroll appeared at the edges of the crowd and approached the man. The two shoons flanking the man tensed, the potential violence held in their new stance was apparent. It caused the messenger to hesitate a short distance away, waiting for the confrontation.