However, after the space station was built and the first months inhabiting it began, there was some friction amongst the leaders because of the lack of order and chaos that ensued from letting people do whatever they wanted. This faction of the Society believed that behavior like this only duplicated the way of life on Earth and they felt there needed to be major changes if they were to avoid the result.
This group, led by people rooted in military ideology, overthrew the original executive board and decided to create a new world separate from Earth, one that lived by strict and heavily enforced rules. These rules, at least to them, were supposed to protect the Society's inhabitants from becoming corrupt, evil, or careless in the way that so many people on Earth had been. Order, peace, cleanliness, and organization were the major pillars of the Society, and anyone on board the space station that dared to challenge these ideals were swiftly and severely punished.
Outside, Ethan saw nothing but stars and darkness, and a simplicity to space that always calmed him. Inside the space station, however, the Society was quite simply a paradise. Every room and sector was extremely clean, as littering was forbidden, organized and symmetrical, as each room looked like the next. They had taken DNA samples of plants and other life from Earth, and the vegetation and flowers were vibrant and colorful, garden with energy panels helping them grow in labs. What the Society could not produce in real life, they made holographic projections of, such as waterfalls, beaches, and other natural wonders of the world, to keep people's spirits up. To most people's eyes, it was perfect. But that perfection came at a price.
As Ethan walked back to sit down and read, another agent came in.
"President Conners, the General would like to see you in the termination chambers."
"Do you know why agent?" Ethan absolutely knew why, but didn't want to think about it because he didn't like the reason.
"He didn't say, but he said it was urgent." It wasn't urgent, it was code that General Jack Miller, the leader of the enforcements agents, used when he wanted to show Ethan a punishment for a violation. General Miller had been Ethan's father, Marshall Conners' closest friend since the inception of the Society, and since Marshall had been the first President, the General had a lot of influence and power.
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." Ethan didn't like Jack Miller. He never really cared for him even when he was a kid and he would come over the Conners household. But since Ethan's mother had died shortly after he was born in a car accident, and Marshall had died during his first term as President from a mysterious illness, General Miller had taken over as Ethan's major influence in his life and guided him.
Ethan walked out his office, and headed towards a special elevator that could only be boarded with special security cards held by Ethan, General Miller and a few top-level enforcement agents. It was so secluded that it was placed in a secret location, one that only these people knew about, so that the citizens of the Society were not aware of it and never thought to ask questions. Most of the transportation in the Society was done by teleportation panels that each had a screen where you could choose the location, and the rooms were protected by a key that only the tenants knew. But the Termination chambers did not have a teleportation panel, so that no one even saw that it existed. It would reflect negatively on the Society's reputation if anyone found out about it.
Ethan entered the elevator, swiped his security card, and went down. The termination chambers were different than the rest of the Society. Instead of the pristine, angelic clean white that most made up most of the space station, down here it was a torture dungeon with, no windows, dirty floors, blood on the walls and tables where violators had been punished, and fluorescent lights that constantly blinked and were faded. It was a colorless and hopeless hell that General Miller and Marshall had created to enforce the rules and keep their utopia in order.
"Come on in, Mr. President. I want to show you something" said General Miller as Ethan walked into the chambers. General Miller was an older white male, 65 years old, just shorter than Ethan at 6'0 with a bald head, a thick white beard and brown eyes. Most of all, there was a menacing disposition that Miller had, a sinister energy that radiated from his stare and paralyzed most when he entered the room. Ethan wasn't afraid of him at all. In fact, he stood eye to eye with General Miller, and just saw a grumpy old man.
"How have you been, Mr. President?" Miller said.
"I'm fine, General. What brings me here?" Ethan said, over the groans and moans of the man he saw sitting on the floor next to him. The man was a young white male, not much older than Ethan, but he had been beaten so severely that Ethan couldn't see much else of his appearance beyond his skin color and his hair, which was a buzz cut. He wore a dirty white shirt which was almost red from blood, and black pants. The worst part, Ethan soon saw, was that he was missing two fingers on his right hand, his index and his middle finger, and it was covered with a towel, though still bleeding out. He wouldn't last much longer.
"I called for you because I wanted you to know what this heathen had done to desecrate the Society. I wanted you to see who the criminal was and what they had done to reverse all the hard work that the members of the Society put forth in creating the most orderly place in history. All the hard work that your father and you and me did creating a safe, beautiful place to live. His name is Leonard and he comes from sector 17. Do you know what Leonard did to deserve this punishment, Mr. President?"
"Please help me. Please!" pleaded Leonard, looking at Ethan with desperate eyes.
"Shut up! Don't you dare speak out of turn, especially when the President is about to speak!", screamed Miller. He kicked him so hard in the stomach that he coughed for almost a minute. "That should keep you quiet."
"General, please what did he do?" Ethan said, wanting to hurry this along and get back to his sleeping quarters. The General was showing off, and Ethan didn't have time for it.
"Well Leonard here is a little foodie and spends a lot of time in the eating areas and restaurants, he must fancy himself quite the culinary artist. And on three separate occasions, our agents have seen him litter in the eating areas, leaving leaves of spinach, pieces of mushrooms, and bread crumbs on the floor. But then we caught him trying to steal some ingredients from one of our kitchens, apparently for some fancy dish he was trying to prepare."
"Okay I understand."
The General punched and kicked Leonard a few more times before resuming his talk. "Mr. President, I wanted you to see that we are dealing with this matter swiftly and forcefully, as we do not allow such filth to live in the Society. We must maintain order and peace, no matter the cost. That is what your father would have wanted."
"Okay, go ahead and finish it." Ethan wanted to give him mercy for such petty crimes, but he had already seen the chambers, and would only cause more trouble if he were allowed to live.
Miller took out a pistol from his side, loaded it, and shot Leonard in the head.
Ethan was already heading for the elevators back up. He didn't need to watch or see the violence anymore. He was numbed to it by now. The General ordered some of his agents to clean up the mess and followed Ethan to the elevator.
"There can be no tolerance for violations. It disrupts the order of our world here and puts the citizens at risk. You must learn to have no sympathy for these violators, and as President you must put your people first. That is why I brought you down here, Ethan."
"I understand, General." Ethan understood it already, as the General had brought him down here countless times before. But Ethan entertained it because it kept the General from acting out and kept things in order.
