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Chronos
PROLOGUE
Newsfeed: The Hourly Chronicle.
It’s the end of the month. You’re a little short. The interest rate is good, and repayment is several years away. There’s no harm in borrowing just a little to get you by, right?
That’s how it starts. But next month, it happens again. And again. The interest rates are so low, how can you say no? And everybody does it. No harm done, right?
Wrong, says an anonymous tipster in San Louis Obispo. She is a member of the debtor’s advocacy group Lend-To-Me-Not, and has some strong accusations for industry giant Chronos Incorporated.
“[Chronos’s prison] TCA is a lie!” she says, growing rather excited. “It fronts as a government sanctioned debtor’s prison, but it’s just a modern-day concentration camp for the indebted. Yes, these people have willingly gotten into debt. A LOT of debt. But that doesn’t mean they deserve to be killed.”
The source holds that the act of Declaring is a sinister cover for murder.
“The official language states that a person who Declares, ‘willingly and of their own accord forfeits the remainder of his or her life in payment of their overdue balance to the owner of the debt.’ What’s missing is accountability! It’s okay for Chronos to do whatever they want with that life?”
Traditionally, people who Declare spend the rest of their life working off their debt, much like a vagrant might wash dishes to cover the cost of their dinner.
But not at TCA, the source asserts. She now gesticulates wildly toward the smokestacks, admittedly an oppressive sight, on a hill outside Los Angeles.
“They’re burning people! Burning them alive! They’re murderers! You tell me why a prison needs smokestacks.”
The source was unable to provide proof for the allegations. Her group is, however, filing formal charges with the Bureau of Time Borrowing Enforcement.
A representative of the Bureau had this to say:
“At this time there is no reason to believe any allegations of illegal activity taking place at Chronos’s debtor prison Time Colony Alpha.”
This reporter remains skeptical.
