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again over data and statistics, just to find at every step more inconsistencies between the official version of the global situation and the facts showed in it.
    When he finished the reading he was astounded. He had to come back from his surprise to close the file and resume the activities suspended when he was overcome by curiosity.
    This information would not have caused great astonishment to some other member of the elite group. To reach a privileged position it was necessary, first of all, to have passed through the careful scrutiny of thought that the Internal Security Central periodically carried out to all executives since getting to the lower levels in the hierarchy.
    In this scrutiny , characteristics such as loyalty and lack of critical sense towards the actions of superiors were specially sought. It seemed that the newest member of the elite had managed to pass this testing thanks to the repeated use of the isomentalizer, which he had abused in recent times driven by a combination of discipline and fear of losing his position. However, deep inside there was still his natural need to evaluate all information entering his systems. Despite the large number of years during which he had managed to numb his reason, he knew that his life as a member of the organization betrayed basic ethical principles, the very same that had been instilled in him during childhood by his parents.
    The rest of the day he struggled to turn his attention away from any thoughts outside from his normal duties, even though the memory of the recent reading kept coming back over and over again, disturbing his tranquility and shooting endless series of questions whose answers, although obvious, he did not dare to accept.
    It was five o’clock when he stood up to leave office. He walked briskly to his car, eyes fixed straight ahead, ignoring those around him. He had an urgent need to move away from the corporation’s building. He was feeling deceived. The rigid mental discipline he obliged himself to observe and his many years of loyalty to the corporation seemed to him absolutely incongruous with what he had just found out. It was hard to accept that in a world where access to information was a universal and inalienable right, a senior executive like him had been systematically deceived without being ever assaulted by the slightest suspicion.
    And the key word in his discontent was precisely “systematically,” which induced him to think that he, like so many millions of people, was living under a regime of control and exploitation. The conclusions to which his thoughts were leading him were becoming increasingly hard to deny.
    He reached his car a mid this mental turmoil, got in in a hurry, instructed it to take a two hour tour through the outskirts of the city, and flipped the communication system switch to privacy. He needed to meditate.
    When he felt the vehicle moving, the rigid expression on his face began to relax until it became a blank stare that would only change now and then following his thoughts:
    “ I must calm down to let my ideas flow orderly,” he said to himself.
    He took a deep breath , held the air in his lungs until having counted to ten, and then exhaled slowly through his half-closed lips. He repeated this exercise a few times, which helped him slow down the pace of his thoughts. Then he went on:
    “ I’m behaving like a madman, but I can’t remember feeling so angry in years. I guess I’m so concerned because it has been decades since we all began to trust the media, and to such a degree that the Internet faded away to be replaced by corporate information systems. We put ourselves in the hands of the leaders and now I find out that that they have been cheating on us. Just a few hours ago I was feeling an immensely fortunate man, but suddenly everything has fallen apart. All these years I have supported my self-esteem and my self-assurance in the role that I play for the corporation, but now, what should I do? I