Cooperation

How frantic they got when a citizen decided to drop out! They saw the whole enterprise weaken. They thought all they worked for would disappear in a moment, the glue would come loose, the nails would pop out. It was scary, much better to think that the elements in the chain were simply securely fixed, the atoms remained in crystal, the ice intact. Once lost, the citizen was nearly impossible to restore. They liked predictability. That made them most happy. And predictability came from education. They made the world real by inserting it into the brains of the young. Those living in the real world, our real world, they would say, they knew would stay. They liked refrigeration that drew the energy out of the young. They squandered their money on the fuel to refrigerate, keep the crystals clean and sharp. Stasis was the easiest form of familiarity.