In a society controlled by pedamors, the foot is exalted above the hand. Combining such nonsensical beliefs with equally repugnant practices, pedamors alienate and disgust the rest of the society they control. But their control is total, and under the guise of prohibiting insensitivity, they actually prohibit dissent. So the rest of society goes along and pretends to admire that which it abhors. No one speaks up. That is, except a few who are willing to accept the label of resistive and the penalties associated with it.
Kevin Woodbury knows that prison terms await those who break the laws, and poverty engulfs those whose cultural resistance make them unemployable. But Kevin can't serve the lies of the day, and so, he unapologetically accepts his designation as a resistive even as he carefully sidesteps the traps laid to ensnare those who resist.
It's a life of rules, sacrifices and submission, and as Kevin eventually learns, a life isolated from love. The Code of Encompassing Language effectively eliminates political opposition because practically anything one might say in opposition is prohibited by it. But that limitation on speech has ramifications beyond removing political threats. It also stifles heartfelt communication by resistives with the goal of eliminating resistives' heartfelt bonds. And should the pedamors fall short in that regard, they eliminate any bonds between resistives. "Let a man and woman unite in resistance, and injustice shall be born" reads the sign in marriage offices where resistives are torn from their love. Kevin's conscience will not yield, but neither will his hope for one who shares that conscience.
