Chapter 284
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During the week of the first departures Eve heard people talking about movies brought into the sector. It was better than talking about fear of being ultimately left behind. Some movies were pure, harmless fun. Disney used to release an animated film once a year, hoping to make a good profit. But since 2/4 they'd become better at making musical cartoons quicker. These recent ones became more innocent, noone got hurt, everyone reconciled, guaranteeing happy endings, even for classic villains. Another film, a religious one, involved a detective trying to figure out who stole a library book. The point was that all theft was a sin, should be discouraged. Even before 2/4 Eve doubted that crime was so low that a police detective could spend two days tracking down a library book, maybe this comedy was set in a Utopian alternate universe. The idea seemed to be to bring people some joy, hoping to contain anger. Other films however, became darker. Some action or outlaw films had little relevant plots, seemed to be excuses to show hot women shooting guns. Not that many were complaining about that. A few vampire films where children were killed. One where the "hero" exposed a vampire infant to sunlight, thus killing it. During this week Eve saw the true story of Sugar, a 13 year old pornography actress who did this openly. Her films were certainly popular for some within the sector. Sugar had lost her virginity on camera to her own mother at the age of ten, and seemed to be doing better financially than most. Recently Sugar became a ciggarette model, despite being pregnant. The tobacco companies were intentionally marketing a brand of ciggarettes to pregnant pre-teens.
The entertainment industry had gotten worse, alternately going to the two extremes. It also appeared that religion was also going to these extremes. Although Jerusalem had been destroyed by a nuclear bomb in World War II some were returning to the site. According to some prophecies the temple of king Solomon would be rebuilt before the end of the world. These individuals were going to try and earn God's favor by rebuilding it, despite the radiation. These volunteers, christians, jews, and muslims, figured it was as good a way as any to get into Heaven. A number of muslims were similarly returning to rebuild Mecca before the end. Some within the sector were trying to volunteer for this and get out of here. Eve decided not to do this. She couldn't expose Hope to that, not even to earn Christ's favor. But another religion had emerged in the last few months. It called itself "Finis Generatium" latin for "Final generation." Some believed they were a worldwide conspiracy, others figured there were many small groups all claiming the name. The most popular ritual involved two lovers taking poison, and dying in each other's arms. One group allowed, even encouraged members to kill other members. Another encouraged females to get pregnant, than commit suicide. Their theory was that if they died with an innocent inside of them, they could essentially hitch a ride to Heaven. Some encouraged the murder of innocents, didn't even let you in until you completed this "initiation." Another let you join, but you were forbidden from suicide until you recruited at least one other person, that may have been one of the more moderate ones. The conspiracy theorists claimed there was a leader coordinating everything, who called himself "Pontifax Maximus." Eve didn't think there was a leader, or that any were particularly organized. She didn't neccessarily call the finis generatium. She called them what they were, death cults.