In the near future, it wasn't a third world war that threatened to end humanity. It was the internal violence and unrest within each country that almost lead to the extinction of mankind. The state of the world under the control of increasingly corrupt politicians and dictators had led to the forming of a few peaceful protests. Those few had become dozens and then hundreds and thousands and the word peaceful was soon abandoned. Civil wars sprang up everywhere and leaders worldwide were brought down. Millions of lives were lost and those left when the dust settled wondered how long it would be until it all happened again.
Charismatic leaders of science and technology stepped in with a way that could end mankind's destructive cycle. Corporations, sensing opportunity, funded research that promised to put a stop to the violent tendencies of mankind. This was done in exchange for information vital to increasing their profit margins. They promised peace, as long as everyone was willing to part with their privacy. Most were still shell shocked enough from the recent atrocities that they readily agreed if it meant an end to crime and war. Corporations swayed dissenters by offering discounts on their products. Part with your privacy and save a dollar. With this logic in mind, a permanent solution was made to better manage a potentially volatile populace.
Everyone that had supported this new endeavor received free of charge exciting new cybernetic enhancements. People were opened up and chips and circuits were added to brain matter and optic nerves. Glasses were no longer needed and cancer and diseases were detected early enough to stop it almost every time. Other benefits were promised down the road but mainly safety was touted as the main reason everyone should get on board. Every person was essentially a camera. If you committed a crime, there were witnesses, you could be tracked. You would be found and stopped, usually permanently. Crime was now almost impossible to get away with, which drastically improved morale.
A surgery was required but the outward affects were completely hidden to the naked eye except for one piece that was purposeless left exposed. At the center of the neck, a flat square that looked like glass poked out of the skin. From it, a dull, red light could be seen. It was only a square inch but it was always on, sending a constant signal. The excuse for it being visible was that it would decrease possible interference that might have occurred if it resided inside the body. But the real reason was for authorities to be able to judge at a glance if you were a part of the new regime that was dedicated to a peaceful existence.
The new scientific solution for peace came to be known as Peace of Mind, or POM for short. Corporations gave discounts for food, utilities, fuel, everything they could for those who adopted POM early on. For everyone else, the prices went up, driving more and more to receive what was becoming a necessity. But what really silenced the naysayers was the swift drop in crime. The one thing POM did well was remind people that someone could be watching them anytime. It was always there, always watching. Every crime as soon as it was reported, no matter how big or small, was dealt with by the authorities and punishments were quick and severe. Lawyers became irrelevant, as did juries and courthouses. The evidence was always right there, impossible to refute.
After five years, POM became mandatory for every citizen eighteen and older. This was argued by many, but the statistics did not lie and the advantages seemed to outweigh the disadvantages. It was helping bring lasting peace to a fragmented society, and since privacy did not matter to most anymore, it became illegal to not have a red light visible on the back of your neck. Those that wanted peace had won. The corporations that wanted to know everything about everybody at all times were the real winners though, and they vowed to keep the population happy and tranquil as long as they bought their products.
Many would be anarchists tried to hack their POM or someone helpful volunteer, either through POM's wireless network, or by dissecting the cybernetics themselves and rewiring them. The network had thus far been a dead end. Those that were opened up and explored were also a dead end but in the physical sense that the test subjects were no longer alive anymore. All attempts to put the cybernetics back in place and sew up the human guinea pig failed spectacularly and always lead to the arrest and punishment of the person who tried.
A breach was bound to happen eventually. What was surprising was that it's security held out for almost ten years, which seems like forever with advances in technology. At least, it used to, but that progress had slowed, even halted for a time during the uprisings. Now a new century was right around the corner, and there still weren't flying cars or artificial intelligence. It was almost the same as it had been at the beginning of the 21st century as it had been at the end of it. But now the world had POM, creating exciting new advancements in technology to get them back on track. Peace was here, peace that could last. At least until one disgruntled eighteen year old with some lines of code threatened to put the world's potential utopia at risk.
All that had been learned about POM's system and enhancements was posted on the web if you knew where to look, but after five years of failure, most had given up. But Adam Holland was either too young or too foolish to care about the short comings of those before him. As his eighteenth birthday had approached, he became more and more obsessed with the thought of hacking that which everyone said was impossible. He constantly reviewed the message boards of those that had tried, both in POM's network, and the cyber ware inside the minds that had been opened up.
Adam had dedicated his life to hacking and had gotten very good at it. He knew every time he did he was breaking the law and now that his POM had been surgically installed a week ago on his eighteenth birthday, he knew that from then on there was a record of it. He also knew that it was like getting audited by the internal revenue service. Chances were always good nobody was monitoring you, unless a crime had been committed by or near you, then everyone in the surrounding area had their recent histories played back remotely.
So Adam kept to himself in his room, away from any excitement and far from anything that could even resemble the appearance of illegal. He still lived with his parents. He had few friends and had graduated school early so there he was, day in and day out, committing crime on his computer at locations far away that could not be easily traced back to him.
