Inevitability

7 Percent.

I should have seen the trouble long ago. Looking back now, the signs were undeniable. I don’t know if I could have changed anything. Chances are, things would have ended exactly the same.

I had seen the Residents moving equipment which they weren’t employed to move and had simply assumed it was a case of transporting the gear to the newly expanded chambers. I had heard the fights but dismissed them as unavoidable, a reflection of our retreat from the relative freedom of the enclosed city.

The Fatalists had been becoming more aggressive. I had acquaintances from the other religious sects, many of whom were odd but never dangerous, at least as I reckoned it.

The riots were the first I had heard about it. I was looking for a meal in the community plaza, a rare occurrence for me as I usually eat at work or in my chambers, when I ran into the crowd.