The Synergist

[Year 17 | 2269-70]

It had been a year since Artur discovered that there is, in fact, no art class.  Not only in the Extension Program for Talented Students, but not in any educational institute in the world, or at least those receiving any funding from YutopiCorp.  Art, according to the educational institutes, was considered primitive; all of it considered in the same league as paintings on cave walls.  An archaic way for people to express themselves, when each and every person has a Nanny chip implanted at birth, which is then upgraded to a Conscience chip on their fifteenth birthday.  These chips tell people how to express their emotions, rather than leave it to these “artists” to offend with their imagery.

In lieu of an art class, Artur had just started his second year of Corporate Synergy, the closest thing to art offered by the program.  Artur’s previous instructor had enrolled the boy in this class as a form of punishment for deciding upon a more empathetic vocation than YatopiCorp had in mind for him.  Artur didn’t much mind this, he was still drawing and designing, using colours, and using his artistic skills.  Granted, his lessons consisted of creating corporate logos and propaganda imagery for the Heart, but it let him fly under the radar in a class with less oversight, and he did request steel nerves and tetrachromat eyes to assist him in bringing his art to life.

It wasn’t all drawing for the boy, however.  Throughout the year, the Corporate Synergy class had learned the history of the ancient artform, and how it compares to what is available now.  All forms of art, whether it be visual, audio, performance, writing, whatever, was considered dangerous.  It may include themes of discord, disunity, or disloyalty to YutopiCorp and its empire.  As such themes cannot be abided, all art, regardless of the type, must be vetted and approved by YutopiCorp prior to release.  However, the process to lodge an application is one so arduous that very few even attempted it; if they did, the request would likely be denied after a number of years’ silence, as the majority of this work is allocated to the professional synergists on YutopiCorp’s payroll.

However, the artistic community within the slums was thriving.  Due to their lower socio-economic status, artists in the slums were less educated, and, according to the Corporate Synergy department, unaware of all the good that the City and the Heart has done for its people.  Pirate stations run from the slums are constantly being shut down by the authorities, fearful of the social implications should the people be led astray.  Those caught running these services were transferred to re-education camps, if they’re lucky.

“The unlucky ones,” Artur’s class was told on the last day of the education year, “Are those who are stupid enough to attempt to fight back.  They are always outmanned, outgunned and outmanoeuvred.”

Throughout the holidays, those words were stuck in Artur’s head.  It took him a couple of weeks to realise why, when his dreams became filled with his two-year-old self shouting “Nata!  Nata!” while he watched their slaughter at the hands of officers.  As his holidays continued, dreams of his dad’s torture at the re-education centre intertwined with those of his forgotten memories.