RECOMMENDED READING
Orthicon.
BY DAVID PERLMUTTER
Self-Published | September 2021
FROM I.M. STONED’S MONTHLY February 2----. I have managed to make my way into the ensemble of exiled ‘toons, much to my own surprise. My outfit, as such, consisted of a rather second rate clown suit, with a prominent bulbous red nose, along with a considerable dabbling of whiteface and pancake makeup on my face for coloring. Discovering the lineup, I was simply able to take my place with everyone else, and, in short order, I have managed to make myself part of the gang. Cartoon characters can be are extremely clannish but can also be quick to make friends. However, should you become their enemy… but, of course, I have no intention of becoming that. When my turn in the lineup came, I feared exposure, but this did not happen. I was simply asked to state whence I came,
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since the officer on duty could find no record of me in the files. I simply stated that I had been what had been a vague background character- that is, an extra in ‘toon terms, of which the vast majority of them are- on a (non-existent) Saturday morning program from the 1960s. Rather than check my erroneous assertion, however, the officer simply took me at my word, and assigned me a badge with that and additional information I supplied, before hurrying me along. This troubles me. If the people conducting the operation are so dispassionate about their job that they are willing to accept falsehoods so easily at face value, what does that say about the stability and logistics of the enterprise as a whole? What time has done here on Orthicon! What was a bustling community a few months ago has now
become a decrepit, near ghost town. What is the reason for this? Why, with all the comforts and amenities available to us, should we decide to decamp and leave for parts unknown beyond the central compound? The reasons for this are many and varied. First of all, the discipline/regulation system has gotten completely out of hand. The EDC, wearing their garish badges of office, roam the streets early and often, catching and attacking in all
