No. Only if you want to. Ben doesn’t want to work, yet, but I have a feeling he’ll eventually be a chef. You can also switch any time, but masters don’t switch very often. Avatars do what their people had always dreamed of doing. What do you think you’ll want to do?
“I…I don’t know. I want to go home.”
That feeling will fade, Casey. Soon everyone you know will be in Forever, and you’ll be happier than you ever dreamt possible back home. The Programmer has brought you heaven, and he brought it to you for free.
“But why?”
Because he loves all people and didn’t want to see them suffering anymore. He made things better. He’s still making them better.
“Sounds like someone’s got a God complex. Is this a cult? Don’t you think he should be honest with people about what he was really offering? People don’t know that they’ll be unplugged so quickly. They don’t know the truth.”
You say that like being human wasn’t also a mystery, Casey. It was always a mystery. We’ve just created a better one.
“Who are you really?”
I am your guide.
“Uh…thanks? If you’re the guide, you can get me out of here. I know it’s not too late. I want to go home.”
I’m afraid not, Casey. Forever is forever. Try to enjoy yourself.
My screen went blank. I sighed and went to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat. The moment I thought of it a salad appeared in front of me. It had fresh avocado chunks mixed with baby mozzarella, bright red cherry tomatoes, and basil so green it practically sang. I closed my eyes and took a bite.
Heaven.
JAMES
Jadien and Liza’s school was housed in a gorgeous brick building with a central atrium filled with plants and a swimming pool. The open-concept classrooms were designed specifically for complicated group projects and hands-on learning. All the grades mixed together and all the children were encouraged to pursue their own interests during the two free hours they had during the day. Reading the school’s mission statement, I couldn’t help but snort.
“What? Keep it quiet, Jim—sorry, James.” Patrick and I had broken in after dark and were planning out how, exactly, to nab Liza in the morning.
“It’s just this school. It’s so awesome compared to what we had. Concrete block rooms, one teacher to forty kids, and definitely no pool. And our ‘free hours’ got spent at the wells.”
“Well, you can write an angry letter when we get home. Find us a good hiding spot.”
From Jadien’s screen I was able to determine that he shared homeroom with Liza in room 22B. We needed to hide in there. I led Patrick to the classroom, which was locked. I picked it and we slipped inside. Fortunately, there was a small closet and even an area with several nice couches and oversized beanbag chairs. Patrick set the alarm on his watch and we conked out for several hours, completed exhausted. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep because of adrenaline, but when I opened my eyes, I saw the gray light of dawn peaking in from between the blinds.
“We can’t take this whole classroom hostage with one gun,” I said to Patrick. “I have a better plan. I’m going to pretend to be a confused student who’s in the wrong classroom. I’ll ask Liza to take me to the office, and when we leave the room, you’ll come out of the janitor’s closet over there and ‘escort’ us out of here. There’s an outside door only twenty feet from the closet, so we should be able to get out with no one noticing as long as we keep her mouth covered. Sound good?”
“Not terrible. But what about the uniform situation? No one is going to buy you as a student wearing jeans and t-shirt, kid.”
“You’re right. Okay. Let’s head to the boy’s locker room and hope someone forgot their stuff in there.”
I used the map of the school on Jadien’s screen to lead the way. Several lockers with easily jacked combination locks contained uniforms. One set was even clean. I took a two-minute shower and got dressed. Once I shaved, I looked pretty respectable.
“Damn. You look like a rich kid,” Patrick said when I emerged into the hallway ten minutes later.
“I know. It’s pretty weird. Are you ready for this? We could end up in prison, you know.”
“I’m ready.”
It was forty-five minutes before the first bell. Patrick hid deep in the closet, and I waited in the atrium, hoping none of the teachers would come over to question me. I kept my face buried in Jadien’s screen and tried to look nonchalant while staying on high alert. The moment Liza entered my field of vision a half hour later, I spotted her. She had long smooth black hair and a spring in her step. She was just a freshman. I followed her into the homeroom classroom and signaled Patrick’s screen: one minute.
I bumped into her accidentally-on-purpose. “Hey,” I said. “I’m James. This is my first day, and I think I might be lost.”
“I’m Liza. Nice to meet you,” she said with a smile. She was pretty, but not as beautiful as Casey. Still, I smiled back and tried to turn on some charm. This would be easier if she liked me for a few seconds. We shook hands.
“Could you possibly show me to the office? I probably need to get a schedule loaded onto this thing.” I held up Jadien’s screen.
“Oh, it should be on there already,” Liza said. I gulped. “But yeah, totally, follow me.”
“Thanks a lot.”
I followed her down the pristine hallway. I saw Patrick slide out of the closet just ahead of us and I gave him a slight nod. He nodded back.
When we came upon him, he said, “James and Liza, I’m with school security. I need you to follow me.”
At exactly the same time, I grabbed her right arm and covered her mouth. Patrick grabbed her left arm and put the gun to her back. We made it out the doors and into the jeep, which I had moved into position the night before. Patrick kept the gun on our hostage as I drove us out of the city.
“Sorry,” I felt compelled to say to her.
She glared at us. “You’ll get caught,” she said. “My father is in charge.”
“She’s right, kid. Gun it!”
I glanced in the jeep’s rearview mirror and saw a fleet of large black SUVs tearing after us. I flattened the gas pedal and drove like I’ve never driven.
“We’re going to have to lose them, we can’t outrun them,” Patrick said. “Tell us where we can hide,” he said to Liza.
“I’m not telling you anything,” she replied, and spit in his face. “You’re not going to shoot me.
He wiped his cheek and laughed. He shot her foot and she screamed bloody murder.
“Holy shit, Patrick! Did we say we’d shoot the hostage?” I screamed.
“We said we’d improvise. Besides, I barely grazed her little toe,” he replied calmly. To her, “Tell us where we can hide or I’ll shoot your other foot. I’m not kidding.”
She sobbed, “The police station.”
“Not funny, missy,” Patrick said, cocking his gun.
“I’m serious!” She screamed. “They leave their keys in the cop cars during the day. You can ditch your jeep in the river.”
“Sounds like a plan. Direct him,” Patrick instructed.
“Right! Turn right here.”
I screeched around the corner. Straight ahead was indeed a police station on a busy city block with cop cars lined up in front. I slowed down just enough for Patrick to pull her out of the jeep and hustle her into one of them. Then I steered toward the Central city river walk, jammed our tire jack onto the accelerator, and jumped out just before the jeep took a flying leap over the guard rail and into the water. I hit the ground rolling and ran toward the waiting cop car. I threw on the siren and drove right toward the black SUVs. They parted in confusion and we had a clear shot for the edge of the city.
“They’re turning around. Faster!” Patrick shouted.
I asked the police car for more and it gave it to me. Ninety miles per hour. A hundred. I didn’t even slow down through the intersections. Behind us was a mess of accidents and
near-misses. I pray no one was killed.
“What do you psychopaths want?” Liza screamed as we made it back out into the desert.
“The same thing everyone wants, missy,” Patrick replied.
“Freedom,” I said.
*
We got Liza to the first warehouse outside of Central, which was about a hundred miles out, near a depressing, nearly abandoned factory town. Before I’d had my nap inside the school, I’d done some data digging and learned how to hook someone up to the system.
The warehouse was quiet, with the exception of one guard. Patrick said I should bribe him, so that’s what I did. The guard walked away and promised to stay away for two hundred bucks. The Greys had determined that the warehouse guards were the weakest link in the system and would soon be completely replaced by the United States military.
We hustled our hostage into the warehouse as she screamed that her father would come for her.
“That’s exactly what we’re hoping,” I said. “Now calm down. This will all be over in minutes.”
With persuasion from Patrick’s gun, Liza sat down on one of the metal recliners in an empty station and I got her hooked up. Like Casey, she never signed the Forever Contract. I went to the central command area to input her locking code, but I didn’t use one from Central. I used my own, a code the Programmer would need if he wanted to get his daughter out safely.
Once she was in, all we had to do was wait.
Patrick led me outside of the warehouse. “It gives me the creeps. Let’s wait outside.”
“Fine.”
Minutes later, we were surrounded by black vehicles. A dozen men with guns stepped out and trained their weapons on us. One man unarmed man stepped out as well. Max Patterson. I recognized him, even though he looked much younger than his data stream photos. I opened the car door. Patrick put his hand on my arm. “You okay, kid?”
“Yeah. I got this. Thank you. For everything.”
We hugged and I stepped out of the car. I knew there was a good chance I’d be shot immediately, but fortunately Patterson raised his arm in a small signal of pause and the men lowered their weapons. A tiny bit.
“James Henley. I read about you. A hacker, eh?”
“Not really. I read about you, too, Mr. Patterson, sir. I’m sorry I did what I did, but it was necessary. You have something I need.”
“I see. And that would be?”
“Casey Stanford’s code. I want her out.”
“Why would you want such a thing? She finally has a chance to be happy.”
“We don’t believe that.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
“You’re draining her. The system is killing people every day. You can’t get away with this once people know the truth.”
“People have suspected the truth for years, James. And yet, everyone loves it. We’ve eliminated pain.”
“Fine. I guess we can all go home, then. And you can thank me for how pain-free Liza is right now.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s in the system. Just like Casey. She finally has a chance to be happy.”
“It wasn’t her time.” He gestured to his men, who went into the warehouse, presumably to find her. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“It wasn’t Casey’s time, either. It wasn’t anyone’s time. And your goons can’t unhook her without her lock code. Which only I know. Free Casey, and I’ll free your daughter.”
“You’re a fool. We finally brought balance to things and you’re bringing chaos. Casey doesn’t want to leave.”
“I don’t believe you. Free her.”
The Programmer nodded to the goon to his left, who immediately rushed the jeep and grabbed Patrick. Both men pointed guns at each other, but Patrick’s was puny in comparison to the goon’s. He dropped it and put his hands up. My heart sank.
“Let me take a moment to explain to you all the ways you’ve screwed up, son,” Max Patterson laughed. “First of all, I am not the Programmer. She’s untouchable. Remember that. No one even knows what she looks like, so forget trying to get to her. She could be inside the system for all anyone knows. That’s a dead end. Second, you’ve broken so many laws I’ve lost count and you’re out of options. Give me my daughter’s code or your partner here is dead.”
“Don’t give it to him, James! I’m ready to die,” Patrick shouted. The goon shoved Patrick’s head with the gun and he shut up, still wildly gesturing to me not to do it.
I sighed. It was over. There was no way I was going to let them shoot Patrick. We’d have to find another way to get Casey out. A less stupid way. I put my hands up and gave Max Liza’s code. He typed it into his screen and let his goons arrest us.
CASEY
My heart ached for James. I searched the screens inside Forever, looking for him. Why wouldn’t he even talk to me? He knew I hadn’t signed the contract. He knew I was here against my will. Why was he giving up on me?
I had to get out.
I’d only been inside for one day, and I could feel my brain slowing down. I could feel the drain. It was hard to pay attention to it, because the sense of dullness was accompanied by euphoria. But when Ben introduced me to one of his new friend who asked me how I felt about my new life, I said coming here and letting go of all the fear and the pain is the best thing I’ve ever done.
All the avatars nodded at me in unison. We were our Programs, we were not ourselves. I felt desperate and afraid through the fog of bliss. I screamed into every screen I could find, yelling for James, for my parents, for someone who would fix this. I started to slowly accept that what Ava had said about Ben might be true. As the hours passed, he seemed less and less like the thoughtful boy I had known and more and more like a soulless data stream.
“I didn’t sign!” I yelled. But no one heard me. Whenever an avatar said anything negative around a portal to home, it would go dim. Very few ever wavered from the Forever system anthem: it’s all good here. All. Good.
With my remaining active brain cells I thought of Ava—she seemed to have some answers. I tried to find her, tried to conjure her, asked about her everywhere to everyone. No one that Ben knew had ever heard of her. I tried asking the ghost in my screen, my guide.
“I’m looking for someone I met when I first came here,” I said. “Ava. She has green hair.”
I will do a search.
“Thank you.”
I have found her.
“I want to go to her. Immediately. How?”
That’s a bad idea.
“What? Why?”
Ava is the name of a bug in the system. She creates problems. We’re rewriting her code now.
“No! Stop! I don’t care. I want to talk to her again. Now.”
She will make you unhappy.
I heard a slight crackle and the woman herself appeared before me. Her hair was blue now, but I knew it was her. She surveyed Ben’s home and gave me a wry grin.
“You called? Fifty-eight times?” She asked.
“Yes. Sorry. I’m desperate. I have to get out of here. I have to—”
“It’s okay. I would’ve come sooner, but the Programmer is trying to rewrite me and I’ve been fighting him all night.”
“Are you really a bug in the system?”
“Yes. But I didn’t start out that way. I’m a human being, Casey. Just like you. But unlike you, I sign in remotely and they can’t drain me. I’m a Grey, both inside and outside; I can disconnect. I come in here to rescue the people who want to go home.”
“Wow. Are you alone?”
“There are a few of us. Bugs. We do what we can. I would’ve gotten you out sooner, but it’s better to give people a full day or two to make their decision. It really pisses me off when I get someone out, only to see them back again a few days later, looking sheepish.”
“I want out. You won’t see me back here unless they catch me again.”
“Got it.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Nothing. I just have to input the code the other Greys hacked for me. Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Alright. You’re going to feel like shit when you wake up. Good luck.”
She reached for my screen and quickly typed something in. I felt a horrible wretch, as if my whole body was being turned inside out and spun down a drain. There was a loud sound and when I opened my eyes, I was inside the warehouse.
Completely alone.
But wearing James’s necklace.
I smiled.
*
Coming out of the system was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was immediately thirsty, hungry, in pain, and depressed. Even seeing James again didn’t help at first, but that’s because he was in jail and I wasn’t even allowed to touch him. We pressed our hands against the glass and wept with relief that we were at least alive. It took about two weeks for my body and my mind to reset itself.
James has not been sentenced yet. I don’t know if they’ll ever let him out, but for some reason, they hadn’t put him into Forever. I desperately hoped his “contacts” could get him out somehow. I’m determined to find Ava here on the outside and see if she can help us.
There’s still a drought and I still have to eat gel.
But things are a little different here than they were before, at least among the people I actually know. It’s as if we’ve all woken up from a bad dream. I immediately printed—on old fashioned paper so it couldn’t be censored—the truth about the Forever Contract and a lot of kids at my school stopped signing.
The Ben Stanford Data Stream still lived in his Jetsons rainforest apartment. He seemed happy. We didn’t talk every day, but I still tried to check in with him as much as I could, just to make sure the memory of my brother is okay.
We had a funeral for the real Ben Stanford. It was very, very sad. We had it in secret because my mom said they were watching. James wasn’t there to hold me.
Ava was right.
We should all be angry.
I was angry.
END
The author would like to thank Aimee Tritt, Brad Carman and Stuart Perelmuter.
This is a bonus excerpt from Avery Sawyer’s full length novel, Notes to Self:
CHAPTER 1
HIGH
I don’t know if the lightning was actually there or if my brain added it afterward, when I searched it over and over for what Emily had said that night.