Just five more minutes, they rush. Don’t tell me what to do, they snarl. Have you tried doing it this way? they enthuse. It’s the principle of the thing, they yell. I already have that book, they grin. I look at the world and I see its strings, they whisper. I haven’t slept but let me show you something, they babble. Why are people so stupid? they demand. I know it but I don’t feel it, they sob. Why do I need anyone else when I have you? they wonder. The science is the magic, they laugh. I know what I want, they declare. I am, they breathe.
Captain Reed had just received the Monthly Summary. It included food production rates, areas of concern around the ship, general gripes from the populace and the thing she dreaded most to look at.The crime statistics.
For the past 8 months, crime rates had steadily risen. Suicide rates, however, had risen exponentially. 21 individuals, 19 of which being second generation inhabitants, had ended their lives this month.