File003: The Shadow Government- From Garden Plot to the Digital Cage

**DJ Jaswa** (0:07)
It was in the summer of 2030, when we finally got to see what had only been rumored or whispers in the years leading up to it. Crazy claims on the internet of AI control and surveillance, and a long-discussed theory about FEMA camps. Just a bunch of crazy conspiracies that most of us thought was debunked years ago. The last few years, though, things had been getting more restrictive. What was sold to us as a way to keep us safer had progressively morphed into a digital cage right before our eyes. Still, very few resisted. We stayed busy, working all the time, or too exhausted from it to do much else. And besides, what was the big deal anyway? We could feel relatively safe if we mostly just stayed home, but we were always free to travel or to seek adventure. If I had known just how good we had it back then, in 2027, I would have done a lot more of both. In the span of about a year, everything changed. The economy got worse and worse as fuel became more and more expensive. And then the other shoe of these data centers finally dropped. And by the end of 2028, water had become a precious commodity. Well, clean water anyway.
Now that was all controlled by just a few corporations. The water barons are what we called them. This was when people really started to push back. Desperation has a way of turning even the most docile among us into fighters that are ready to save themselves and above all, their families. We didn't get there quick though. It was two years of pleading with city councils, state and federal officials, begging them to do something to lower the cost, to stop the rampant inflation.
Little did we know that was exactly what they wanted. Every protest, every strongly worded statement at a council meeting, online or even outside near any of the flock advanced cameras, was all that it took. Lists were being compiled, whole dossiers were being constructed on all of us. Not just the vocal ones either, all of us, and they knew everything. It started during the pandemic and only got better and more efficient at judging compliance, site profiles, habits, desires, fears. They had it all, and it still kept growing. More data centers, less housing, less farmland, less water. And what felt like the plan all along? Less people. By 2030, the people had finally had enough. AI rendered entire industries obsolete overnight. Millions were without work. So when they told us that they were going to give us money, few even batted an eye that it was just a digital token, or that it was held on a special ID. It felt like the only choice and it seemed fine at first, like the solution to our destroyed economy had finally arrived.
Even those who initially resisted, like myself, got swept up in seeing people buying things again, providing for their families easier, and we gave in. But even the buying wasn't real anymore.
Most everything or tokens could buy were sold as services, rental equipment, or controlled purchases. There were limits on everything, and monthly allowances on the most crucial pieces. If you tried to consume more than your limit, you would be declined.
If you spoke out and complained, you'd be flagged and risk financial exile.
It wasn't a gun to your head, but it might as well have been. Whole family starved if the designated beneficiary stepped out of line, and just that threat alone was enough to keep most everyone in line, at least at first. By the spring of 2030, we started seeing habitation zones, in force designated many cities, concentrations of people into smaller and smaller population centers. They said it would make things easier, no more having to lease cars, and it would be safer because everyone would be recorded easily 24-7, even the police. They would make everyone be on their best behavior, make us all safer, but they lied. Nothing could protect us from them. People started disappearing, a few at first, mostly the ones who dared to complain, then anyone who put up flyers or went looking for those people. Then it seemed like they just started taking people as if going down a list. My story really starts one night a few weeks ago when I was walking. It was after curfew, but my family was out of water, and I knew a guy who had a way of selling credit.
We had rationed really well, but with a new baby in the house, we just, I guess we used more than we expected. Thankfully, I knew someone who I thought could help. They were few and far between and never lasted very long. Some say they were just a setup all along. They may have been right, but I had to at least try. So I dressed in dark blue and I wore a special 3D printed mask so the cameras couldn't ID me so easily. These tricks were very outdated by now, but it felt better than doing nothing.