Aside from delaying Eldon’s reactors, the team spent their time developing a recognizable network for people to turn to during ever increasing times of uncertainty. By now almost everyone was living in fear of something. Environmental upsets were having far reaching economic consequences. Sustainable employment was in most cases, a thing of the past. Inflation, and affordable housing were ongoing problems. All kinds of things were pushing people to the edge.

At first a lot of people turned to nationalism. With Eldon’s ‘percentage’ showing up wherever there was unrest, it was the most visible reaction to the common issues people faced. Their message was individual freedom, and ‘keep your hands off what’s mine’. It was directed at foreigners and anyone else who happened to disagree with them; sometimes violently.

Using AI, Dawn set about presenting the alternative to a nationalistic response. She didn’t place emphasis solely on the individual rights and freedoms found in democracy. Her message included the idea that the majority rules in the governance of a democracy, and when the majority acts, they will bring change.

In a true democracy, if the majority wants to see concrete changes towards combating climate change, it will. If the majority of society want basic rights like food, shelter and healthcare for everyone, it will happen. If the majority wants to take advantage of all the new technology civilization built, rather than allow access only to the wealthy, it will happen. If the majority want an idyllic future in a technology assisted world which provides us the freedom to focus on personal growth and happiness, it will happen. Whatever we want as a majority will happen, because we’re all committed to changing it.

The Resistance was a recognizable and growing counterbalance to the status quo ruling the world. In the Western World, it operated openly as associations and organizations, combating the antics of ultra conservatism and autocracy. In other parts of the world, where there was complete suppression of rights and freedoms, the Resistance operated covertly, but it was there. The resistance was everywhere, and its network and influence was growing daily.

It had many faces. It could be environmental or social welfare groups. It could be concerned parents and children. It could be local citizens fighting against a local issue. It could be Dawn’s group of concerned scientists and citizens. The resistance could come out of anything, or anywhere. Dawn’s priority was to make sure it was coordinated and people could find it.

‘The Channel’ was what Dawn used to ensure the flow of information by the Resistance was optimized. It came out of the environmental movement, and was developed by the most tech savvy people of the time; concerned children. In their fight against unjust policies and a lack of commitment towards countering the effects of climate change, children developed a network of information and protest. Other like minded organizations and groups jumped in. Wherever the resistance appeared, communication on what it was doing, appeared on ‘The Channel’.

Dawn and AI now facilitated ‘The Channel’. It informed the public of organized events and projects, communicated and coordinated the activities of associated groups with each other, and created the flow and momentum of the movement. It became the source of the people for the people. It was here, a unifying voice of the people came to be heard. Reverend Al was talking to whoever would listen.

‘And so, my brother’s and sisters, we all know it. We know the darkness is around us and the devil’s minions are hard at work. Those bastards! If I ever get my hands on one of them.

‘Now settle down children. The bible tells us to forgive, and I suppose that’s what you and old Reverend Al have to do,’ the good Reverend continued, but after thinking about it for another moment, lashed out a swift kick at an imaginary minion he saw before him. ‘Bastards!’

‘The devil walks among us and what are we to do? Well, let me tell you, it’s our job to bring light to the darkness around us. It’s time for us to rise up and stomp the devil into submission’. Now forgetting completely any notions of forgiveness, Reverend Al started stomping more imaginary minions he conjured below his feet. After a couple of minutes of stomping and a few more swift kicks, the Reverend grew winded and sat down in a chair.

‘Can I get an Amen?’ he asked, while wiping his forehead with a tissue.

‘Oh bless you. Bless each and every one of you. Now listen to me, children. This is not what God intended for us. Scraping and scratching through life, without a moment for joy. No Sir! Life is meant to be a celebration. Where’s the fun in life? That’s what I’d like to know.

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‘Unh. Unh Uh. We’re in a pickle, and that’s for sure. Letting those bastards dictate our lives. Well, I’ll tell you something. It’s time. It’s time for God’s children to return from the wilderness and find the promised land. Each and every one of us, and we’re going to do it by taking a look at where all our problems are coming from. I’m sure we’ll find the Devil in there somewhere.

At this point, Reverend Al was ready to get out of his chair and kick the crap out of the Devil, but he was still too tired, so settled on throwing a left hook while seated.

‘Look around you children. That’s all you need do to find the work of the Devil. And who is the Devil my children? It’s all of them. The same damn people who got us into this mess are now telling us they’re the ones to get out of it. They’re the ones who have to go. They’ve done enough damage and they’ll do it as long as we let them.

At this point, Reverend Al was too outraged to idly sit by, and got up and stomped, kicked, and headlocked the imaginary status quo into submission.

‘Now listen children,’ Reverend Al continued, after falling back in his chair, feeling spent, but victorious. ‘Are we going to make it through these terrible times? The answer is we are. The time has come for God’s children to rise up and stomp the Devil right out of this world and out of our lives. We already know him. He wears the mark. Just look for the one that puts self over all others and you’ve found the Devil. Let’s go get him!

‘Can I get an Amen?’

‘Now children, I want to tell you a story from the bible. It’s my favorite story. It tells us how we’re going to get ourselves out of this mess. It’s the story of Adam and Eve.

‘Why sometimes I like to imagine myself, back there in the garden of Eden, frolicking around with Eve. I think about it at night sometimes when I’m in bed. Me and Eve running around the garden naked. Oh, what a time we would have.

‘Oh yeah, that’s all they did back then. Just frolicked and enjoyed life. Sometimes they’d be eating some tasty fruit, and sometimes they’d be frolicking like a couple of barnyard animals, and when they were done, they’d just laze around in the garden and scratch themselves. Oh, what a wonderful time that would be.

‘Then one day, a serpent comes along and starts talking to Eve. This serpent tells Eve, ‘Go eat that fruit over there’.

‘Well she tells him she can’t do that because God told them they couldn’t eat from that particular tree, and God was the one who had set them up with this pretty little garden. In fact God told Adam they’d die if they ate the fruit from that tree.

‘Well, the serpent says, ‘That’s a lie. It’s because God doesn’t want you to become just like him; all powerful with the knowledge of Good and Evil and whatnot. Now wouldn’t you like to be just like God?’

Now Eve thought she would, and ate some of the fruit and gives some to Adam too, and then bam!, all of a sudden they see they’re naked. Now, they’re worried about their naughty bits flopping out there in the open, and they start sewing together fig leaves to cover themselves up. Well now personally, I like the fig leaves. They don’t cover up too much, but they still leave room for the imagination, but that’s not the point. Something had changed in them. They didn’t die from eating the fruit, but they were different. They had a new awareness. Now they understood things beyond their animal nature, and in their thinking, they were becoming as God. They had become human.

‘Well, Adam and Eve didn’t figure all that out at the time. In fact they’re still mulling it over to this day, and so when God came wandering back into the garden to check on them, things fell apart pretty fast.

‘What the heck is with these fig leaves,’ God asked.

Being God, he figured it out pretty fast and then he goes to lamenting. ‘Oh, you ate of the fruit and now you are as one of us, knowing Good and Evil, even after I told you not to. And now I see you looking over there at the Tree of Life, where if you eat from it, you’ll live forever too. Well not on my watch,’ he says. ‘I’m going to banish you from Eden, so you can’t eat from the Tree of Life. Then God gives Adam and Eve some togs and sends them out into the wilderness. To make sure they didn’t come back, he set up some cherubs and a hanging sword to guard the entrance to Eden.

‘Now children, you see what’s happening in this story? It’s as plain as the nose on your face. That’s when we evolved into humans, with cognitive and rational thought. Praise the Lord for giving us this gift, even begrudgingly. We’re banished, but we have the means to discover the truth of Good and Evil. The innocent life of frolicking and eating fruit is gone forever, but something greater waits for us.

‘Make no mistake, children. We’re out here in the desert. Right now we’re going our separate ways, as the Devil would have us do, but we have the potential to be more. We have given up the innocence of the animal mind, but we gained the potential of an eternal life. The ‘Tree of Life’, waits for us in Eden. We must just discover as a species, good must triumph over evil. This is our calling.

‘Can I get an Amen’.