1 Neon paradise

Welcome to the world of Ashira. After millennia of conflict and suffering, humanity has created a paradise on earth. The world government has introduced a new policy of happiness and new technology has created a world of infinite excitement and pleasures. Old conflicts and countries are long forgotten as part of "the new citizen project". Every citizen of Ashira is given a happiness watch that measures one's satisfaction and overall happiness and adjustments are made accordingly to keep one always in the "green zone". If one is to fall in the "dark red zone" he is taken for "personalized help" and is soon returned with his happy watch now showing green. Well now, only one question remains, how are all people kept happy?

Of course, the great engineers of society predicted that happiness cannot come from the same thing for everyone as people do have their differences, this is why there are a variety of options to choose from. Welcome to the world library, a place where one can choose to live the life of whoever in whichever fictional world one desires. There are millions of worlds created and a constant supply of new ones, all with their unique characters and settings. One can ride a dragon, manage a powerful empire, explore the furthest parts of space, fight in giant robots, indulge in the desires of the flesh, live the story of his favourite character and everything one can think of. One can even decide to seal off his memories temporarily in order to be completely immersed in his story. Everyone can be that one in a million and live the life of his dreams. As happiness is achieved why does reality matter. If one spends his entire life in complete happiness in a machine and never knows he was in one, wouldn't he in his head have lived a happy life?

However, if one is to know that a real-world exists, one may prefer to live in the real world, instead of a fictional one. Of course, the engineers have predicted this and given people plenty of choices outside the World Library. Nevertheless, one may always decide to enter it and spend as much time as he wants in it. Outside of it, one may decide to explore the natural wonders of Ashira. Exploring the deep oceans or dense century-old forests with the latest machines and survival kits. One can devote himself to scientific work in the World progress institute, challenging the very boundaries of human knowledge. If one gets overwhelmed with stress in this world, one can always take a happy pill that will refresh his mind and remove all fatigue. One can gamble to his heart content in the countless casinos, but with what you may ask? With happiness, of course, the happiness score from your watch can be used as credits in order to obtain the thrill from gambling or the satisfaction from buying a limited edition item. And the best thing about this is that one gets richer the happier one becomes. One can become a millionaire by just being happy. All the heavy work that society needs to function is done by robots that are not capable of feeling happy nor sad.

Now then, there is only one problem, it all ends one day and death is inherently sad and thus undesirable. Of course, people may not worry for much longer, as immortality is just around the corner. One may soon choose to upload his consciousness to the World library and spend eternity experiencing different worlds or even the same world for the first time every time with the convenient memory wipe option. Or one may as well decide to upload his mind to a robot and upgrade his body or exchange his old body for a new custom-designed biological one! And one may choose to delete his memories as many times as one wishes and never get bored! What a truly lovely world.

Of course, there is only so much space and with immortality around the corner, there is no longer a need for new generations. A newborn baby experiencing stuff for the first time can indeed create a lot of happiness, but someone can always delete his memories and experience stuff for the first time as if a newborn baby as well. Speaking of babies, where do they come from? Of course from the Youth Institute, where babies are designed and created. Engineered to be perfect and set for a life full of happiness! Soon the institute will be closing as the last batch of babies is being produced and immortality is almost achieved.

As with every idea, there are people who oppose it. In this case, people who seek meaning beyond happiness. Remnants of long abolished oppressive systems and slaves to oppressive ideas. They openly or silently oppose the regime. Some of those groups are resisting the idea of human immortality and even attempt to sabotage research.

However, there are a special group of people who are considered the most dangerous to the systems as they themselves may be considered products of society. The "anomalies", who derive pleasure from pain, in other words, sadists. Surprisingly, with the advancement of society, more of those anomalies started to appear and scientists were startled as there seemed to be no cause for this. As they derive pleasure from suffering, they are seen as naturally incompatible with the system and if "personalized help" doesn't help, they are justified to be disposed off for greater happiness.

But worry not, as Ashira security is a top priority of the World government. The Institute of happiness has developed complex AI that can efficiently neutralize threats and protect civilians. However, some groups are more difficult to deal with than others and some "terrorists" have quite a bit of creativity and ingenuity with which even the best AI developed struggle. This is why a quick reaction force was developed, specially trained and augmented elite guardians who are tasked with protecting society where AI fails.

The operators of the task force are specifically selected through a thorough screening process. After they become operators they are augmented and the "the true colours" of their souls are physically manifest in energy like state with the help of technology, which gives operators superhuman abilities. They are deployed at different hotspots around Ashira for a period of 10 years, after which they are retired and their memories sealed off. Of course, they are awarded millions of happiness credits after their retirement and can spend the rest of their lives wherever they want. With immortality coming it is believed that all the bad apples can be removed from society and there won't be a need for a reaction force.