Pavilion

“Okay everyone settle in” the teacher called out to the kids entering the room.

“Now, a few things I have to read off first.” She sat down from the door to her desk, sporting an E-Tech branded beige CRT computer. She looked out the window for a few seconds. The height of the skyscraper meant that the clouds covered the window half the time. She looked back at her monitor, “Firstly, Mr Henderson is sick and likely won’t be in later today, so I’ll be taking most of you guys’ classes. There’s…a bake-off happening, but you can only bring Ms Marple’s Cooking ingredients. First prize gets to cook for the senior vice president of Ms Marple’s Cooking, so, if you’re interested please see me at the end of class. Finally, I have to tell you all about E-Tech’s new half-off deal on microprocessors.” She looked out and saw that half the class were asleep and the other half wishing they were.

“If you want to net yourself a new, sleeker, faster computer,” she squinted her eyes and moved closer to the screen to read the fine print, but it was too small for any human to see unaided, “Um, if you want a faster computer go to E-Tech’s store downstairs, opposite the cafeteria. Right then,” she said, standing up and pushing her office chair behind her. It hit the wall with a dull thud as the teacher moved to the whiteboard. She wrote “HISTORY 101” on the board and turned around, wiping off parts of the marker that had ended up on her hands, “What can you guys tell me about Tokyo?” crickets, “First one to answer gets a coupon for a 5% bump on their final exam,” All of a sudden a wave of hands shot up. Those who were asleep jolted awake and, seeing their cohort raising their hands, did the same. “Yes, you over there,” she said, pointing to the man with drool still on his chin.

“Uh,” he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, “Yeah, I, um, think…about that,” his friend sitting beside him elbowed him and whispered in his ear, “Tokyo? Wasn’t that the last government in the world?”

The teacher smiled, “Correct, come by my desk later to collect your coupon.” The student looked mildly elated, clearly not knowing what he had just won. “Tokyo’s government was the last of any kind. Now, we won’t be covering ancient history but it is worth noting that governments of many forms had come and gone since neolithic times and all the way up to,” she squinted and looked at the roof, “well, about fourty years ago. That is where the corporation comes in.”

This system of government is the best kind, better than no others. The members of the Tokyo tribunal believed this statement to hold water better than any others. It was what the people wanted but they still stayed in power, the various companies of the world remained here completely tax-free and the people also managed to stay in the city tax-free. And the various members, who were not elected as nobody actually turned up to vote anymore, would finance it by working their jobs…yeah this wasn’t going to work.