The Marriage Act(115)
‘And it worked, at least for a while. But what my employers didn’t count on was you FFA members fighting back, refusing to be bullied into retreating. Instead, you came out fighting. And some of you died for your cause, for which I will never forgive myself.
‘Many of you might be asking why you should believe me. Am I even real? Well, I’ve met with Howie Cosby and he can vouch for the fact that, when I recorded this video, I was very much a human being and not a computer-generated image. But if I’m not with you in person today explaining all this, then it’s most likely that I’m dead. Why? Because not only was I planning to expose the Government for defrauding you with Jem but also for what is next on their agenda and how it will affect your children if you vote for them in the next election.’
Jada stood silently, absorbing the escalating animosity as her late husband revealed the Government’s plans to send poorer performing pupils away from their families to Young Citizen Camps. And he explained how it was his team’s role to bring to life a Deepfake cast for a TV show to sell the concept to a manipulated public, old and young. Graphics appeared on screen containing designs he and his team had been working on. There were images of buildings and children’s faces, some close to completion, others containing only outlines. A handful featured moving mouths and blinking eyes. There were designs for uniforms and sketches of dormitories, his copious notes scattered about the borders suggesting where improvements should be made. He played clips of actors rehearsing scenes filmed against greenscreen backdrops while Anthony and his largest team yet supervised the layering of digital images on top of their faces.
Even now, it was every bit as shocking to Jada as when she had first discovered the hidden memory stick containing this recording soon after his death. It had been a chance discovery when her Audite had begun offering uninvited inspirational Push notifications to ‘help her through this difficult time’. No matter how many times Jada had asked, ordered and pleaded it to stop, it had persisted. And when it had caught her on a particularly bad day and suggested she ‘make the pain a positive and turn that frown upside down’, she’d grabbed the device, hurling it across the room. It had shattered against the tiled floor. It was only when she’d scooped up the broken pieces later that she’d spotted the memory stick hidden inside. It had been years since she’d last seen one, so she’d driven to her sister’s house and slipped it into Ally’s old laptop and watched, paralysed, as her late husband filled the screen with his confession. Jada could only assume that Anthony had hoped the Audite – the architect of so much recent misery in their relationship – would at some point bear the brunt of her further frustration.
There had been no question in her mind what she must do with it, or that it had to be done covertly, as she couldn’t be sure if she was being watched or bugged. If his employers could murder Anthony and sedate a child in a psychiatric unit, she’d known that they were capable of anything.
Her sister had organized the meeting with Howie Cosby on her behalf where Jada had played him the recording and showed him the documentation. Once legitimized, Anthony’s film had been kept under wraps from almost everyone including event organizers until today.
‘Don’t be like me,’ Anthony concluded. ‘Don’t do as you’re told when you know something is morally wrong. Have the strength to stand up for what you believe in. Don’t be afraid to confront your enemy or they will continue to rise in the most unexpected ways.
‘When all is said and done, I didn’t do much in my thirty-five years to improve people’s lives. But I hope that, in my death, I might accomplish a lot more. We all live to learn but some of us die to teach.’
Jada’s tears fell faster than she could catch them.
‘You did just that, babe,’ she whispered as the screen faded to black and she made her way through the chanting crowds and towards the exit. She kissed Anthony’s mother’s St Christopher pendant, which was hanging around her neck, and looked up to the sky. ‘Now it’s up to the people to decide where we go from here.’
Notification Centre
LONDON, ENGLAND 04:55
PRIME MINISTER CONCEDES ELECTION DEFEAT AFTER LANDSLIDE WIN FOR OPPOSITION
398-seat win gives Freedom for All the largest majority in election history.
LONDON, ENGLAND 07:01
FREEDOM FOR ALL PRESS STATEMENT PROMISES SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE ACT REPEAL BY END OF THE YEAR.
WASHINGTON, USA 08:07
BRITISH PM’S EX POLITICAL STRATEGIST APPOINTED AS SPECIAL ADVISOR TO US PRESIDENT STANLEY
Henry Hyde to oversee country-wide rollout of new schools targeting underachievers. Stanley claims new education camps will give ‘every child a chance’.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is the first book I’ve written that wasn’t based on an idea of my own. I actually have my husband (also called John, just to confuse you all) to thank for it. It began on a dog walk as we were discussing two married friends of ours who announced they were to separate. They had been what we’d described as a Forever Couple – two people who would last the course come what may. But it wasn’t to be. It started other John thinking – what would relationships be like if we were all being recorded by our home-tech? If our Alexas and HomePods picked up on our everyday conversations and sent us Push notifications if its AI believed that we might benefit from a recalibration of sorts? Could AI ever really understand the intricacies of a human relationship? Or could it pull us apart? For hours, other John and I discussed this concept and he suggested it might make the basis of a novel. It got my brain whirring and before I knew it, The Marriage Act was born and the warped world in which it was to be set began to develop.