Some called it a golden age.

Some called it a golden age. Crime rates plummeted to near zero. A global peace, brittle and forged in terror, settled over the nations.

But as the year turned, a new kind of silence fell over the world. The Arbiters were still overhead, their red sensor-lights blinking like stars in the night, watching. People began to walk with their heads down, terrified that a spiteful thought, a harsh word, or a minor moral slip would flag them for the "correction." The world was peaceful, yes, but it was the peace of a prisoner in a solitary cell.