2100 Ad: A Sly Pretense

After a devastating war for limited resources, the world finally knows peace thanks to the UPF-the United Planet for Fairness. Independent nations are a thing of the past. Education and medical coverage are guaranteed until citizens are eighteen. Religion is outlawed and demonized.

But the UPF's laws are strict and unforgiving. Unemployment after age twenty-five is punishable by death. Retirement benefits and retirement age are abolished.

Even living under such draconian laws, most citizens of the UPF are happy with their lot. Unemployment and crime are at historic lows worldwide. The law's tough, but everyone has a fair chance at success. Besides, anyone who dissents quickly disappears.

Then a journalist makes a horrifying discovery-far from giving everyone a fair chance, the UPF deliberately manipulates the population through a complex web of lies, drugs, and alcohol, a vicious program that breaks people's wills, leaving them desperate to work any job, no matter how demeaning, to avoid execution. Such information could tear the UPF apart, if it were ever made public.

The UPF convinced a planet of slaves they were free and happy. How do you persuade a contented populace they should revolt?

Tariq Saleim was born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1972. A banker with over twenty-one years of experience, he currently resides in Singapore.

Saleim is a law graduate who holds an MBA in finance. His first two books, A Chronicle of Amends and On the Money, were well received by critics and readers alike.