The Body Market

by Donna Freitas

  But I did as Rain instructed and got closer.

  And there it was.

  It almost looked like a glitch in the atmosphere, a round blurry hole just big enough for a finger. I touched it, then stepped back to wait.

  Slowly, an icon appeared far behind the wall, like a fish swimming up to the surface of the ocean, rippling the water as it rose, getting bigger as it got closer. Closer and closer it came, until finally it burst into the room and hovered in front of me.

  It didn’t look like much.

  A small red cube. It could be anything.

  It emitted a soft hum. The hum got louder the longer it floated in front of me. At first, it was tolerable, but eventually the hum got so loud I thought my head might burst from the noise, so loud it was screeching, so loud that there was nothing else I could do but download it in the hopes that the noise would stop.

  So that’s what I did.

  The moment I reached for it the horrible hum disappeared and the Emergency Broadcast App flowed into me. There was the familiar icy feeling seeping through my code, but this download was unlike any other I’d experienced. My mind seemed to expand suddenly, my entire being did, really, but in the end, my eyes were the most affected.

  The App made it so that I saw differently.

  I could see . . . everything.

  The entire world, the City as a whole.

  Each blink had me in a new place, a new living room, a new breakfast table, a new room in a building or spot in Main Park. At first it was dizzying and I couldn’t control it. I blinked and blinked and flew from one place to the other, confused and lost, the startled faces of citizens blinking back at me, then disappearing, replaced by others. At one point I opened my eyes and found myself face-to-face with Sateen, a Single I thought I’d never see again. She only managed a single syllable, “Skye—,” her voice thick with shock, before I’d moved on, my virtual self still there in her presence, but my eyes elsewhere.

  I was everywhere and nowhere at once.

  I had to slow down. Catch my breath. I was sick, I would break apart with it, my virtual self wasn’t coded to contain so much, to see so much at the same time. I closed my eyes, pressing my lids tightly to my cheeks, trying to block out the many images, the way they flew by, one after the other. I concentrated on breathing, one slow breath after the other. In. Out.

  In. Out.

  Then, suddenly, I felt a hand gripping mine, steadying me.

  Grounding me, like an anchor.

  At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I looked down and there it was. I focused on it, focused hard, like my whole life depended on hanging on to this particular vision. When I felt ready, when the world stopped spinning so quickly, I let my eyes travel up the arm and then to the shoulder and the familiar face attached to the hand woven through mine.

  I gasped. Rain had joined me in the broadcast. “You made it,” I whispered, my voice hushed.

  His big blue eyes were sincere. “Sorry I’m late. And don’t worry, they can’t hear us yet.”

  I swallowed. My code stopped racing, slowing enough that I gained control of my vision, and the dizzy feeling of my mind expanding to encompass an entire world began to dissipate, the vertigo of it fading, and I could breathe normally again. “I’m glad you’re with me,” I added, because this was true. I was relieved, I was grateful, I was something else, too, something I refused to name, now, at least.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “I’ll start,” he said. He pressed his fingers against his throat as though turning on his voice, then stood tall, like the son of the Prime Minister everyone knew him to be, the prince of this world finally returned. He looked out over the living rooms and the people of the City alongside me. “Citizens of the App World,” Rain began. “As most of you know, my name is Rain Holt, and I was left on the other side of the border while doing my Service. I will return there, once this broadcast is over, but my father has authorized me to speak to you now, and to cede this message to someone with important information affecting the fate of everyone in this City. Please give her your undivided attention,” he finished.

  Then Rain looked at me.

  It was my turn to speak.

  So I took a deep breath, and I started to talk.

  “Good morning,” I began. “My name is Skylar Cruz. None of you have reason to know me. When I lived in this world I was a Single. But I ask for your ear, because I have important news, maybe the most important news of your virtual existence. Very soon, in the next hour, you are going to be asked to make a choice, a choice that could change everything about your future.”

  I paused and focused a minute on a living room where a family of four was in the middle of breakfast. They sat there, all of them holding hands, the two mothers blinking up at me with worry in their eyes. Then I switched scenes until I came upon a girl not much younger than me, alone in the corner of a broken-down house in what might be Loner Town. I switched again until I was in the common room of Singles Hall, a crowd of Singles staring up at me, so many of their faces familiar. A pang of regret, of loss, of missing the life I once led here sparked through my code. I let it run through me and then I continued on, my eyes going from one Single to the next as I spoke.

  “Your bodies are in danger. You’ve all been told that the Race for the Cure has been won, that your bodies are being disposed of so you can live here in virtual eternity. But what you’ve been told about your bodies is a lie. A political group of former Keepers that call themselves the New Capitalists will not be disposing of your bodies, they’ll be selling them, some for parts, some so that new minds and personalities can be downloaded into them, some for uses we can’t even know just yet.”

  I let my attention shift again, this time in a way that was directed, until I was looking into the eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Sachs, hovering over their familiar dining room table just as Jonathan Holt had so many months ago. I faltered a bit as I saw their tired, frightened faces, the trace of anger in Mr. Sachs’s eyes. To him, I’d betrayed their family. I wanted to reassure them about Inara, that I would get her to safety. Instead, I readied myself to finish the broadcast, Rain’s closeness a comfort, helping me forward.

  “Many of you may not care whether your bodies are sold or disposed of. But many of you may want to protect your body. If this is the case, listen carefully. The choice you are going to have to make is to stay here, plugged in, or to unplug and come back to the Real World. In the next few minutes an App is going to appear to each and every citizen of this City. You are free to ignore it, but if you care about the future of your body, you must download it. It’s called a Shifting App. Once you touch it, it will allow you to transition out of this world and back into your bodies. You’ll fall into what feels like a dream, and in the dream you will cross through one door that leads you out of the App World. On the other side of it you’ll immediately see another, and this one will take you into the Real World. We have people waiting to help you to safety once you wake up.” I took a deep breath. Almost there. “It’s your choice. I wish you luck with this decision. I wish there was more time for you to make it.” I glanced back at Rain, who nodded. “Thank you for listening,” I finished.

  Then the Emergency Broadcast App drained away.

  I blinked.

  The first thing I saw now was the view out the windows, the Water Tower stretching high into the atmosphere, a shimmery blue against the pink and orange of the morning. I was back in Jonathan Holt’s office and a relief like static crackled around me. I looked around for Rain, but he wasn’t there. Where could he have gone? I sat down in one of the chairs at the long table at the center of the room, to wait things out until it was time to shift back into the Body Market and, hopefully, find my own way to safety.

  Then I heard a noise behind me.

  “Rain?” I called out.

  No answer.

  A chill walked itself up my virtual spine and, slowly, I turned around.

 
There was Jude, standing in the doorway, staring at me.

  A virtual Jude.

  And next to her was Emory Specter.

  41

  Rain

  like daughter, like mother

  WHEN I CAME to in the Real World, a pair of familiar blue eyes blinked down at me, and for a moment, my heart surged.

  Then I remembered. “Mariela,” I said. “You pulled me out too soon.”

  Skylar’s mother helped me up from the cradle where I’d plugged in at Briarwood. I curled my fingers around the edge of the glass box, the same one where my father had lain only the day before.

  “How is she?” Mariela asked, concern darkening her expression.

  I tried to get up, but the world started to spin. I gripped the glass harder, trying to hang on to something solid and get my bearings again. Eventually, my vision steadied. “She’s fine at the moment. You would have been proud to hear her speak.”

  The trace of a smile ghosted Mariela’s lips. “I’m sure.”

  I was about to say something else when I noticed the tablet, my tablet, sticking up from the pocket of Mariela’s sweater. “How long was I out?” I asked her carefully.

  Her eyes slid away from mine. “A while. A couple of hours.”

  I reached out and took the tablet back. Mariela tried to grab it from me but I held it away. I brought up the messages, but there were none. They’d been erased. “What have you done?” I asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  I studied her. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You can believe whatever you want.”

  “Tell me,” I pleaded. “Who have you been talking to?”

  “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that my daughter will be safe.”

  “Mariela—”

  “You love her, don’t you?” she asked.

  I gaped at her.

  Her eyes narrowed. “You do, don’t you?” she pressed.

  “Yes,” I admitted. “But—”

  “—then stop worrying and let me plug you back in.” When I hesitated, Mariela’s eyebrows arched. “I’ll answer your questions after this is over. Right now you need to focus on Skylar. Think of how happy she’ll be when you reveal that you’ve found me.”

  I took this in. “You’re willing to see Skylar now?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Suspicion flared. “What changed?”

  She looked away. “Can’t a mother simply want to see her daughter?”

  “Nothing is simple in your family. Or mine, for that matter.”

  Mariela turned back, her eyes shiny with tears. “Please, Rain.”

  “All right. Questions later. But I won’t forget them,” I added. And then I slid back into the cradle and closed my eyes.

  42

  Skylar

  truce

  I STARED AT Jude and Emory in shock.

  He was the same as I’d always remembered, not too tall, eyes cold and calculating, body tense, like it was ready to spring. A smug smile played at his lips. He wore a suit, every inch the Defense Minister. The only difference now was that I knew he was my father. But the virtual Jude was strange to take in. She was Jude, but she wasn’t. Gone was the golden color of her skin, replaced by the pale basic hue of Caucasian 4.0, her dark hair reduced to a faded brown, limp and straight around her face. Her eyes, though, were the same eyes as ever, a shade lighter blue than mine, big and familiar, but without a trace of the warmth I’d grown used to as a small child, before everything about our worlds and lives changed.

  Warning signals shot through my code.

  I stood quickly, knocking over the chair I’d been sitting in.

  The crash of it on the floor made me jump.

  Jude and Emory looked at each other and chuckled.

  They’re enjoying this.

  Rage replaced the fear, and I looked at my hands, saw the red tinge that flowed over them, satisfied by it. The virtual Jude couldn’t hurt me, not in any lasting way. And it was the same for Emory Specter. I had nothing to fear, not really. But then, faraway voices began whispering through my mind.

  Hurry. This way.

  I’m frightened!

  Are we really going to do this?

  There, there! There it is.

  The App. The App was already downloading throughout the bodies in the market and through every single virtual person.

  My body is my body . . .

  Why should we trust a lowly Single?

  What if this kills us in both worlds?

  I tried to shake away the voices, but they pressed into my brain like the footprints of tiny mice, slight but urgent. I conjured a door in my mind and walled them off, but I could tell that it wouldn’t last long. It shook even now.

  Emory was looking between Jude and me with something like pride. “It heartens me to know I have such ambitious children, even if those ambitions are sometimes at odds.”

  I hated him and I gaped at him now. How could our genes be shared? “Sometimes?”

  He stood there appraising me. “Well, we all certainly share a desire for power, even if only two of us openly acknowledge this.” His gaze shifted to Jude as he said this.

  “I’ll never call you Father,” I said.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Good. I don’t like acknowledging Singles trash in the family, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t, at least not in public. But privately?” That smug smile returned to his face. “Honestly, I can see so much of myself in you.”

  I turned away from him in disgust.

  Jude walked up to a chair at the table and sat down, all business. “I’ve come to make you a deal.”

  My lips parted. “What?”

  “I’d like to negotiate a truce.”

  I crossed my arms. Jude’s words didn’t match her tone, which sounded bitter. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  “No,” she said. “But I’m tired of warring with you and all the others. I’d like to salvage what I can.” Jude sighed deeply. “That App of yours is already wreaking havoc.”

  My lips parted in surprise. “How did you know about that? How did you know I’d be here, for that matter?”

  Emory eyed me. “It turns out that not everyone on your ‘side’ is actually on your side.”

  I stared at him straight on, like this didn’t matter, and busied myself righting the chair I’d knocked over so I could sit while my brain raced at the thought that someone in the Real World could have betrayed us to Jude. “Tell me your terms for this truce,” was all I replied.

  “I’ll leave you two sisters alone to negotiate,” Emory said. He turned on his heel and walked out.

  Just like that, like I didn’t matter at all, like he couldn’t care less that his daughter was sitting right in front of him, for the first time aware of their relationship.

  “He’s right, you know,” Jude said. Her voice was soft. Sad even.

  I studied her in surprise. “About what?”

  “You’re ambitious, Skylar, and you’ve become powerful, even if you don’t like to think about yourself that way. We’re more alike than not.”

  I huffed. “If I am powerful, it’s only because you put me in this position.”

  She shook her head. “Maybe that’s how it was at first, but it isn’t that way anymore.” She placed her hands on the table. Flipped them over and stared at her smooth pale palms. “I love it in the App World.” She chuckled. “Maybe I’ll retire here and someone in the Real World can profit from my old, withered body.”

  I stared at her, mouth hanging open. One minute Jude was regal, untouchable, and the next she was someone who seemed vulnerable and human, showing me a glimpse of the sister I’d longed for all those years as a Single. “Jude, what’s going on?”

  “Ever since the night of the fire, I’ve been plugging in.” She wouldn’t look at me. “Here, I’m whole again. Here, my face is perfect.”

  Now it was my turn to avert my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I really am. It wasn’t
my intention . . . to . . . to . . .”

  “To disfigure me?” Jude asked, finishing the thought for me. “Well, you did.”

  I forced myself to look into my sister’s virtual face and then I spoke the thought out loud that had crossed my mind on more than one occasion since that terrible night. I did my best not to sound accusing. “Why don’t you avail yourself of your own market? Take advantage of all those ‘natural resources,’ as you put it, to help yourself?”

  Jude cocked her head, studying me. “What, an eye for an eye, Skylar? Is that what you’re suggesting?”

  “I’m not suggesting it, I’m just—”

  “I did consider it,” she cut in. “Believe me. But in the end, I couldn’t do it.”

  I looked at her in surprise. “Why not?”

  “I know you think I’m a horrible person, but while I’ll certainly take advantage of the selfishness and foolishness of citizens of the App World for the benefit of New Port City, like I said before, I don’t want to be at war with you.” Jude spread her pale hands on the table, pressing down. “It feels wrong. And while I’m not accepting total defeat, I know when I need to meet the other side at least halfway.”

  I searched my sister’s face, and all I saw in it was sincerity. Regret. Sorrow. I reached out and placed my hand next to hers, our fingers nearly touching. “I don’t think you’re horrible. Sometimes I can see so clearly that you’re not. Or at least, that you don’t want to be.”

  A single tear sparkled brightly on her pale cheek, and the atmosphere between us grew heavy with mist. “So you believe me?”

  I hesitated. Did I? “I don’t know,” I admitted. “The Body Market is wrong, no matter how you try and spin it, and nothing changes the fact that you’re behind its existence.”

  Jude snatched her hand away and the mist evaporated. “You’re so naïve. Somebody in charge needed to get practical, Skylar, and selling bodies is the most practical option we have.”