The bed wreaks. Fire Master 69 is finally awake. The sun is blazing hot too much to handle sweat drips from his body.

It’s been 100 years since the Luddites won the war for global control.

Long live Uncle Ted.

He drops on the floor, just some hard rock mashed together to form some semblance of a floor.

He glances at the mirror or what is some shreds of glass. All he sees is dread and labor in the fields taking a toll on him. What is remaining of the fields and technology of pre-industrial times the production had fallen to 5 percent of its pre-revolution standards, head waves rampage, and pests run amok. There is little hope now but the leaders persist just a few more years and all will be better.

Down with the industrial technological society long live the revolution.

The firemaster lives at the border between Pakistan and India. He is on a mission in this area, and the Indus Gangetic plains were said to be the most fertile. But due to overexploitation, the water has run dry, making the land arid. But there is hope. Due to the revolution, global warming was stopped. People saw mass starvation and global pandemics, but nature is healing, alas.

He holds hundreds of acres under him. Tasked to produce wheat or at least some millet for the new Mauryan kingdom. He has 100 workers under him all too weak too dumb to do anything of value. Anything happening there is due to his whip. Two whips a day keep workers at work.

Daily visit to the cow shed where he inspects the health of cows and buffaloes. He sees some progress on cows especially an endemic cow to western Mauryan lands a GIR. She produces a lot of milk 9 Mauryan bowls to be exact.

The barn is getting overblown by winds from the thar. He inspects and orders some fixes. He lashes two workers hard to fix the sheets of metal. When going out, he lashes the supervisor to keep an eye on the worker.

Being lonely is nothing new for Fire Master; he has never felt the warmth of a soul that loves him. All the girls want the city and capital (Pataliputra) boys. He is a provincial son of two workers who fell in love while being enslaved. He has risen to the top of the social hierarchy that he can reach, but is there more? Yes, there is; there always is.

It’s now noon he has not eaten anything there is rationing in place just one meal a day for officials, once in two days for workers. Today is some sort of vegetable stew with some millets that they grew last summer

After some Reviewing of fields, beating workers, and jerking off its now 5 o’clock. There now sets the usual boredom. That has ruined his life and made it unbearable, he remembers stories from his grandmother about the screens some magical devices that cured boredom with infinite things on them.

Now it’s 9 pm or what he thinks it is. It’s time to sleep till the next day adios!