So What's This all About Anyway?

"We are not a society. Society has been defined through the millenia by petty wars over religion and politics and expanding empires. By an unending race to see who can get the most money, power and land. We have no religion, no politics, no corporations or monopolies or classes of wealth. We are beyond society. We are Novamond."

-Dudley Danford


Thanks for Being Beautiful is a science fiction novel. It takes place in the world of Novamond. Build from the ashes of a world devastated by a third World War. The remaining world finally got its act together. Millenia of technology and scientific knowledge have finally been put to good use, meaning the average person can spend more time on vacation than working. Built from the ground up to be independent, Novamond emphasises individual responsibility and sufficiency: people grow their own food, fix their own appliances, and treat their own sicknesses. Because of all this, currency and economy have been thrown out the window: who needs an economy in a world where it's easy to make enough for everyone, and then some? Mankind's natural urges are released through raves, drugs, and competitive logic puzzles, MMO's taken to their logical extreme. Novamond seems to have finally created a collape-proof world.

~~~BUT THEN!~~~

Five girls crash into the ground in Sector 34 of Novamond Northwest, seemingly from nowhere. They're unscathed, even though they fell for miles. The five girls are youthful and beautiful, and many people in the Sector quickly become fascinated with them. The girls are capable of magical acts, even being able to fly briefly, but their powers are limited back on Earth. As the girls are trapped, unable to work their way back home, the interest in the girls starts to turn more and more dangerous: cameras start to follow the girls, people fight over who gets to be in their company, and the more unscrupulous people try to manipulate them. The girls start to strain the seams holding society together, as Dudley, head of Sector 34,does whatever he can to keep those seams from breaking: surrounding the girls with bodyguards, monitoring the more dangerous people, most at risk for hurting the girls.

Even that doesn't stop Dudley's fears from coming true: four of the at-risk people get caught kidnapping one of the girls. The fiasco ends with a burned-down apartment complex, and three of the four men shot dead. The girls, formerly oblivious to the danger, now realize how much trouble they're in.

The ending? Well, I'm not gonna spoil everything here.