Once, in a cheap science fiction novel, Fat had come across a perfect description of the Black Iron Prison, but set in the far future. So if you superimposed the past {ancient Rome} over the present {California in the twentieth century} and superimposed the far future world of The Android Cried Me a River over that, you got the Empire, as the supra- or trans-temporal constant. Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it.
In a cheap science fiction novel, a character named Fat discovers an insightful portrayal of the Black Iron Prison, reimagined in a distant future. The concept involves blending different historical and temporal settings, merging ancient Rome with twentieth-century California, as well as the futuristic world presented in "The Android Cried Me a River." This fusion emphasizes the idea of a continuous empire, where all of humanity is enveloped within the confines...
