Add to my Dystopia

Message:

Governmental District (00): Here is the assembly, the body of elected citizens that runs the city. There seems to be votes everyday and election of new members daily. No one has a complete copy of any constitution or basic bylaws. The whole operates with control over smaller and smaller functions. The lawmakers, senior ones, believe they are the saviors, the ones who authorized the dome and saw to the construction. Ask any on them how long ago that was and answers will vary. Everyone agrees it was built in record time. Had to be, the warheads were about to fall or had already. Did that really happen? Check the archives (here) and the timeline is corrupt. All the history is scrambled, no index and no order. Whole periods have been lost or shuffled into others. Yet there will be scads, truly mesmerizing amounts of lists of stats on sports, finance, water tables, pump rates. Celebrity news is highly prized. The broadcast streaming outlets work here. There are no true reporters, but lots of gossip columnists. The record of each session, all the actions of the courts, a close inspection will make you wonder what any of this means or does or matters. But the workings of the government continue, moving from one tragedy to the next. Be grateful we collectively have the dome.
Finance District (01): There is supposedly no world left with which to trade. There are commodities exchanges, but no one seems to understand that sugar futures or oil output is mere figment. Virtual currency is discussed feverishly. The people who work here are passionate. Fortunes are won and lost each day. The streets are cleared of roof jumpers. Basic questions will be met with frowns or confusion. Who owns the robots? Who collects the taxes? Who manages the food, water, sanitation…not me? I’m too busy making money is the popular refrain.
Luxury District (02): Where the better people live. No one knows one personally. The wait staff is all robotic. Servants do work here but only deal with robotic intermediaries. Germs. The elite live on streaming. The public knows when a fat cat is disgraced or arrested. Sometimes fires start. People send money to help the rich victims, poor things, lost so much. The estates vary in size. Every home has more rooms than most tenements. There are more commodes here than in all the other districts combined. Rumor has it most are not connected to the city sewers. The people who live here are deserving. Work hard and one day your children may live here.
Waterfront District (03): Ships arrive and offload. Some of the containers are empty. Others are filled with dirt. The longshoremen and teamsters let the robots sort out the delivery paperwork. Got to be something here; couldn’t be all mislaid and returns? Several criminal gangs control vice. The dragons don’t mind. They may the ones on top taking their vig.
Factory District (04): Every factory has tow sides, a place where humans work and a section off-limits where only machines may enter. The machine side typically oxygen deficient or toxic, you need scuba, SCAPE suit to enter. Who has that? Goods are made, packaged. Some are sold domestically. Others are put in containers and taken to the wharves. Things arrive and things depart. The human side of factories is punching number code into panels or getting a robot back working. People plug-in charging ports and clear inventory sheets. No one checks the actual contents. They could lose their job if they slow the pace. Management tells them that it’s cheaper to just refund purchase prices back to credit cards if the item is broken or absent from the delivery carton. Returns are too expensive. Repairing any consumer product would make it dangerous. The casing would need to be cracked open. That’s what some hacker’s apartment looks like, a bunch of strewn wires and electronics exposed to the guts.
Shopping District (05): Opulence available to all budgets, truly amazing. Yet the materials are substandard. Hardly anything will last a week, even a day, before it breaks or falls apart. The swap meets are also here, working in the alleys behind the grander malls. It’s a fun place, lots of music, and a carnival of bars and places to dine. There are amusement rides, theaters; most are too expensive. For special occasions discounts are offered. People festooned with jewels walk with gray draped servants and heavy security. Your credit card color is often the badge that lets you enter certain stores. Smash and grab robbery non-stop, with many gunned down by overhead sniper emplacements. The bodies get walked upon, run-over smashed into sidewalk stains. There are no cemeteries in the city.
Mass Transist District (06): Not a typo – “Transist” is the state of being for those who live here, barely above subsistence level. That small smidge of comfort will make people obey, work 20 hour days so their kids don’t have to. We haven’t really got a next generation yet to prove if that dream is valid. The dome has only been in place for less than a decade. People do not even recall when they were shut-in here; part of the demon’s magical influence and propaganda machine of the government. This is the transportation hubs, more trains run underground to other districts and darker pits. The city drones are based here. Drones provide flying wi-fi, infomercial overhead viewing and civilian monitoring.
Slaughterhouse District (07): The largest employer in the city. The farms and glucose tanks need constant filling and cleaning. The main protein of the city is chitin, insect wings and shells. It is processed and flavored. Tastes like chicken. There are livestock pens and skilled butchers extract parts of these animals as favoring agents. Most would never eat flesh. The very rich might enjoy that, but they wouldn’t brag about it or the taste. The cooking shows have cheerful people racing in competition to produce the best sloppy jo of mystery meat. An endless hunt here for more workers. Employment is booming. Accident records and plague stats are still being compiled. The legislature has said that within ninety days the governing bodies of FoodCorpLLC will be in compliance with regulations. (That was years ago.)
Public Works District (08): This pale is very mysterious. It’s mostly vacant of people, except vagrants passing through. The robots do congregate here awaiting taxi orders or work requests. This district has all the in-person schools and colleges. Though few attend. Online is the method of choice. The online courses seem shallow and grades all-As, few tests or metrics. Most job interviews start by asking the applicant if they can use a Phillips Screwdriver. Few have.
Subsidized Housing District (09): Squalor. Children everywhere, the only true public health are midwives. Even here there is a hierarchy with the best homes having indoor plumbing. Halls are rented. Stairwells are rented. Stoops are rented. Alleys and parking spaces and dumpsters are all rented. Landlords are vicious in collecting rents. The whole is supposed to be subsidized but most are unable to properly submit paperwork. Instead, the hustle and criminal connections determine whether you have a door or cardboard container. Of note, streaming is available to everyone. Monitors (two-way) are every twenty paces on utility poles. Power is free, outlets are everywhere. The internet of life (things) is fully active. Many have opted or unknowingly allowed chips to be implanted. Even though the place is poverty acres, the people are not lawless. They may fight with the gang a block over, but you can leave your shopping cart, and no one will rifle through your stuff, provided you’re related to families that coexist on the street. If you ain’t kin, you might not want to fall asleep. Maybe get married that day and sleep a bit easily.



Yours,