Ship's Holog: June 2078, fragment #17

For security reasons, the following segment and all other italicized passages in the transcript of this holog were excised for security reasons by the crew of the Veritas from their original holocoms in 2078. They were restored some 25 years later when the voyages of the Veritas no longer needed to be kept secret due to the significant changes that took place in world government in 2102.

The Coop clerk led me back through a maze of offices and workrooms behind the store, my fear and paranoia growing by the minute.

My daymare was interrupted by the clerk, as he opened the door to an office labeled: Manager. “Here we are, Sir. This is our day manager, Ms. Bowles.”

I looked up to see a very attractive young woman, also garbed in the familiar white uniform of the Coop Society. She looked like a nice person, but of course all Mormons are polite and friendly. Maybe my fears were groundless. But, I had to be on my guard. She could have been one of those famous “good cops.”

She smiled and proffered a white-gloved hand, “Glad to meet you.”

Still trying to sound innocent, I replied, “Likewise,” but then before I could catch myself, I added, probably a shade too defensively “What seems to be the problem?”

Her reaction was immediate and alarming. “Oh, no real problem, I don’t guess. Just a couple of questions. Mostly because your order is a little unusual. I mean, the quantities of some of these items are pretty big, so we just kinda’ wanted to ask you some questions.”

Boy, did my heart sink when she said this, especially the way she said it. Obviously, the size of our order had triggered some kind of AI alarm and the authorities had probably cross-checked our name with some file they kept on our family, which could include a record of the various so-called subversive organizations some of us belonged to and, undoubtedly, my grandmother’s life-long reputation as a trouble-maker (i.e. a borderline subversive.).