[Auth. Note] I've decided after finally getting the Night Gods book ready to be sent off to the publisher, that I'd do a rewrite of the Lottery Council- it's what really touched off the whole Night Gods story in the first place as well as introduced many of the characters. Having said that, I suppose I should begin with some sort of disclaimer followed by some explanation. For anyone who forgot. or didn't read the original, The Lottery Council is the story of a man recruited to take part in a lottery that is supposed to be selecting people for experimental cancer treatment, but in reality selects them to by given cancer in an effort to decrease population.

The original was basically a long short story, a nouvella perhaps. The rewrite will be considerably longer and tell the story in more detail... I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer

All of the people and events in this story are purely fictional. I do not for one minute believe that cancer, a horrible disease, is deliberately "given" to people selected at random by a consortium of governmental and private agencies and/or organizations... This is fiction- make believe.

Similarly, all names in the story are fictional, whether personal or institutional (with the exception of govt. agencies) and are not meant to reflect any person alive or dead... Nor are any organizations meant to mirroe existing orgaizations. Some "types" of people may exist- for example, CEO's or executives, or numbers crunchers- but the people themselves do not. In fact, I use the phonebook to select many names. Leyland Masters, for example, I selected by opening the book and putting my finger on a name "Masters"- Leyland, I selected because it sounds like a good name for an executive.

Forward

I guess the best way to start is by explaining that I love conspiracy theories- the more improbable the better... For example did you know that Hitler is still alive and being given transfusions of youthful blood taken by Josef Mengele from children? He's living with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and Jim Morrison at Salman Rushdie's house in Antarctica. Just kidding...

When I originally chose the topic, it just kind of came to me one day and I foolishly thought I could tell it in two chapters. As I stated in the disclaimer, I don't believe for a moment that the government, in concert with other organizations, is giving people this dreadful disease- but it is within the realm of possibility. What matters is how well the story is told. In the movie Basic the thing that made the surprise ending have the impact it did was the constant encouragement to "tell the story right." In telling this one I took some liberties with existing conspiracies (real or otherwise) and wove them into the story. If you tell any story convincingly enough, it becomes plausible.

That being said... What if all of those conspiracies were true? What if there was a consortium of inststutions- governmental and NGO's conspiring to depopulate the earth for their own purposes? An amalgam of groups many well known, others working from within the shadows... The Illuminati, The Council on Foreign Relations, Tavistock Institute, The Bilderbergers, The Club of Rome... Funded by foundations such as The Rockefeller Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a myriad more... Charitable and service organizations like Planned Parenthood, along with environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, all related like the layers of an onion working in unison with governmental agencies and the UN toward a common goal... Implementing the Eugenicist dream begun in the late 19th century. Sound impossible? Maybe it is... One thing for certain- if you believe that Eugenics died with Hitler's failed Third Reich, you are sadly mistaken.

There is no shortage of conspiracy theories on the subject, from the UN's Agenda 21 to the writings on the Georgia Guidestones... What if they're true and a forecast of things to come? Just because one conspiracy is fiction isn't to say that another is not. The "plan" laid out by the Georgia Guidestones is a "sustainable" population of 500 million. If they're successful, the conspiracy, I'm afraid, will prove inadequate and short-sighted. Who would grow the food? Apparently elites believe that food comes from supermarkets and/or resturaunts. Providing food for 500 million people is a difficult task. Who would build the houses? Wjo would build and maintain vehicles? 500 million may be an environmentally desirable goal... but very impractical.

The short-sightedness is not limited to the elites, but has spilled over into the non-elites that support their causes... environmental activists, ANTIFA, radical feminists and other activists will no longer be necessary and will, therefore, be expendable- fodder for the ovens (or cancer injections)... be careful what you wish for.

We live in a world beset by conspiracies- some real, some flights of fancy. What I hope to show with this story is that conspiracies exist... they have since the dawn of civilization, if not before- and they will continue as long as there are two people to concoct one.

GIF by @papa-pepper