Betrayal: Book Three of Allies and Adversaries by Kevin Gordon

Many times during the reign of the TELREC, Novans surfaced for air from the drowning effects of colvition. For a period of almost a millennium, between 4660 and 5660, physical places to shop were all but eliminated. It was in fashion to do everything by the cast-net, to interact with people only with colvition. Children as young as two were given basic implants, and for a period of four hundred cas, there was absolutely no speech on the entire planet. This period, called the isolation, came after many improvements to the architecture of the cast-net system. It was deemed to be infallible, with several redundant satellites carrying signals, the technology that formed the basis for the implant refined over two thousand cas. In 5654, a terrorist group similar to the Iganinagi, but far less violent, accomplished the sabotage of the entire cast-net system. For a period of two roas, nothing was communicated mentally. People died because they couldn’t speak to each other, couldn’t find their way around the planet without mental guidance, couldn’t make their machines function to dispense food. When the cast-net system was restored, several laws were passed by the Novan government, much to the chagrin of the TELREC. Children would not be allowed any implants before the age of ten, so all would have the basic knowledge of how to speak. Basic life-sustaining machinery must have manual as well as mental controls, as a failsafe. The novelty of interacting with one another physically set the stage for the return of mall-based economics. Over the next millennium thousands of Plazas sprang up, and though people still didn’t speak to one another, they drew some comfort by sitting next to one another in their cast-net isolation.