Free Blood Zero Sky by J. Gates Page B

monopolies or antitrust laws in school, did you?”
    I try to shake my head, but it hurts too much.
    “N-Corp runs the schools, that’s why. I’ll tell you what happened to the government. For decades, N-Corp and other corporations had used their money and influence to buy political power. Company candidates, applauded by the Company-owned media, won almost every election. That’s when there was actually a choice. More often, the electorate was given only two options when they went to the polls—both candidates controlled by the Company. Company lobbyists wrote the laws. Company consultants set the government agenda. N-Corp made billions in subsidies and interest-free loans, handed out by the government they controlled, based on laws their lobbyists had written. Of course, tax rates for corporations and the wealthy plummeted. As a result, government income dropped and government debt soared. Nations around the world teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Media stoked fears of an impending financial disaster. Markets tumbled, and N-Corp bought up thousands of weaker corporations at pennies on the dollar.”
    A shadow moves against the far wall as the speaker draws near to me.
    “Are you paying attention, May? Because you’re going to be tested on this material, and the test is going to be a matter of life and death.”
    I can’t tell if the man speaking is joking with me or threatening me. And before I can glimpse his face, he paces away again, his shadow receding down the length of the wall as he continues: “The American populace, many of them already unemployed because of the Company’s constant job-cutting, outsourcing, efficiency-boosting measures, panicked. Drastic steps had to be taken. You know how they solved the problem of government debt?”
    The sound of gunfire in the distance, coming closer. . . .
    “Privatization. You know who was there to step in, the shining savior? N-Corp. They got contracts to run the schools, the universities, firefighting, and police services. Even the military. Soon, four out of every five federal dollars went straight into N-Corp coffers. Washington had become a mechanism for taking money from the people and giving it to the Company. But it was too late to turn back.
    “Now that the government was too weak to enforce what few regulations remained, the company was free to pursue their agenda more aggressively. They raised prices, cut wages. Now, to afford food, appliances, transportation, housing, people had no choice but to turn to credit. Conveniently enough, N-Corp controlled the largest bank in the world. It was happy to lend hungry citizens money to buy the food and clothing they needed—at usurious rates, of course.”
    Shouts and sounds of battle are alarmingly close now. Panicked, I try to sit up, but a wave of dizziness sends me back down again.
    My unseen lecturer presses on.
    “Meanwhile, angered by the last gasps of dissent in the government, N-Corp execs began pushing Christianity, hard. By weaving some mention of Christ and the Bible into every television show and movie, and making The Jimmy Shaw Hour in Christ the top-rated show in prime time, they captured the moral high ground. They became the defenders of virtue, proponents of the family. They wielded the weapon of religion. If God was on their side, those who opposed them had to be evil. Anyone anti-Company was branded immoral, wicked, scheming. Unprofitable. A witch hunt started. Dissidents, labor-union leaders and intellectuals were blacklisted, smeared, demonized, and driven into obscurity. Non-Christians either converted, learned to keep quiet, or disappeared. All opposition ceased.”
    I’ve heard most of this before, in N-Academy high school—and from my father. It is the story of his triumphant ascension. But from the tone this speaker is using, it sounds more like the tale of Judas betraying Christ. I’m about to curse at whoever it is, to defend my father. But when the silhouetted figure paces