Just as I was about to lie down in bed, I heard the first Retaliation Bomb.

"Paradise exists in the dreams of children."
Just as I was about to lie down in bed, I heard the first Retaliation Bomb. The thunderous impact Reeked of the Venom of which it was sent. Though other explosions followed, none had the fury of the Initial Blast. It was like replicating an Earthquake with its aftershocks: just when you think the Hell is over, it keeps Coming Back. The Green Zoners were sending a Message along with their Death to the Outlanders.

There's an Irresistible Desire in every Outlander to pop the Green Zone Bubble and the Idyllic Life contained therein. It's easy to point towards the obvious Envy Factor but there's more: a False Hope that somehow popping the Bubble will spread Prosperity to the outlands. These Temptations hold sway with me too but I hold No Tolerance for violence. Yet I understand the Feeling one gets as one watches one's own child Starve as another's knows no Deprivation. One does not see the Reason for one's child to die - especially when there is None.

As a planet, it seems each day we move Further from our Dreams. The World as it is I don't think is anyone's idea of Paradise. But yet I hear those who Have It Good keep Claiming utopia has been Achieved. But somehow I don't think paradise needs Missiles. I think it needs Dreams - dreams we Abandoned long ago.

There's talk of Control Camps being built.

"These Control Camps were like sores on a body,
"Open wounds upon the landscape."
There's talk of Control Camps being built. With the return of the Black Riders, I guess it only makes sense. They'll say we have to have a place to Dispose of Dissent. One can Smell the new odor of Black Terror coming as we reach The End. The Unthinkable has now come to infect this planet also. I can't believe Life is meant only to end in Disaster, so the Problem is Us. My heart breaks for the once Beloved Outpost we created.

I've always been instinctively Private on my politics. When asked, I tell them I'm a Cloud Dweller, I See Not the world. At this the Interrogator loses Interest. But even if I avoid all the camps and manage somehow to Survive, I'm still trapped on this Spinning Orb careening towards a Self-Imposed Doom.

Just like in the Hell of Yore, those who support the Control Camps believe the Death of Detention will never happen to them. Is not Self-Deception the basis of all Ruin? And if that's true, would not the Reverse mean that Self-Honesty is the basis for Life? But there are those with Evil Intent from which they know will come a Violent Reaction, and the Control Camps will seem justified in the eyes of Green Zoners. How Myopic.

Is Sharing really a worse Answer than this?