Slowly converging on your storyline, HSAR – though it may not seem like it, at the moment.

I never doubted it! I’m keenly interested to see how it turns out.

The jumps between installments leave me feeling unsteady. Maybe I’m not following closely enough, or I’ve missed an explanatory detail. Am I correct in understanding that non-cons are a kind of mindless working class of human?

Thanks for the comment – always good to know someone other than the authors is reading this stuff.

I’m trying to spread the noncon exposition out over instalments while running the main plot at the same time – so I appreciate it’s a bit jumpy.

Things should hopefully settle down and make more sense in a while. Noncons are philosophical zombies: displaying normal human behaviour but devoid of awareness. They’re born that way. Now the technology exists to detect them, they’re removed from society and have their cortices ablated to turn them into mindless drones so they can be used as slave labour without the inconvenience of exhibiting (non-conscious) rebellious behaviour. Hope that’s now a bit clearer…

this is a fantastic story in progress. I like being a reader…It is flush with detail in setting and character. It also leaves the requisite intrigue and shadow to lure us in further. Great work to both! I am in!

JonB – Oh, so that’s how it is. I thought they were lobotomised criminals, as seen in any number of clichéd movies/books.

This is a much better idea, although difficult to exposit without being very overt in the process.

Tsk, HSAR – you didn’t think I’d use that hackneyed old storyline, did you? ;)

But yes indeed: difficult to exposit in less than a-great-deal-more-words-than-Ficly-allows, hence the drip feed. I have occasionally come across this conflict between needing to exposit and needing to drive narrative, particulary in my early efforts – see eg A Ghost Story and The de Vrise cylinder for more of my greatest failures to tell a coherent story.

Thanks for reading, all, anyway!

I admit to having been faintly disappointed by your apparent lack of imagination, and am glad you proved to be much more interesting.

I also find it’s difficult to do even one of those properly within the confines of one ficly.

This is a good installment, but the comments are even better.