Janie, of course, was enthralled with the whole idea. Much like Joe, she had a daring streak that drove her to take what Alessa considered unnecessary risks, and on top of that, she had always hated being excluded from anything that Alessa did. To placate her, Alessa had kept Janie informed about what she learned from Joe, but she had prohibited Janie from becoming directly involved. Janie was still a teenager at the time and Alessa knew that her judgment was clouded by the romanticism and adventure of it all, that she just wasn’t seeing the danger. And so Alessa had put her foot down.
Even after Alessa had fully devoted herself to the cause following Joe’s loss, she’d managed to keep Janie out of it for the better part of two years. But Janie had remained resentful of Alessa’s embargo on her participation, and as Alessa had grown more confident in her own role and abilities, she’d realized that perhaps it was time for Janie to get involved as well. Alessa had just begun training Janie a few weeks before she and Isaac were apprehended.
From what Janie had said during their meeting, it’d been over a year since her and Isaac’s imprisonment, and in the interim, Janie had obviously developed her talents and become quite influential within the rebel order. Alessa couldn’t imagine what Janie had gone through to successfully infiltrate the show and make it this far intact, after being tossed in a jail cell and probably tortured and subjected to the excruciating stitch procedure. Alessa wanted to know how she’d done it. She wanted to ask Janie how she’d made it through all of that alone. She wanted to tell her sister that she was proud of her.
But for the time being, Alessa had to keep these sentiments to herself. As far as the production team knew, Alessa and Janie still were not speaking to each other after their fight almost a week ago, and Alessa had kept her distance in an effort not to arouse any suspicion. Janie had said she needed time to work with her ally within the producers to sort out the escape plan, and Alessa was going to give it to her. This scheme had to be flawless; they couldn’t risk being caught again.
Despite Alessa’s patience, however, the schedule was still tight. Training for her research position was starting the following day and after two weeks, her professor would be going on leave and the producers would expect her to execute her plan to steal the “wormhole manipulator” and travel to Isaac’s “time.” From what she remembered about the dramas she’d watched, the show always seemed to end when the main characters finally achieved their goal – which in her case was reuniting with Isaac in the “past” to warn him about the fire. And Janie had said that her intel led her to believe the same, so a little over two weeks was probably all they had before the producers started getting antsy. And who knew what might happen when they took matters into their own hands.
As Alessa exited the history building after her afternoon class, she was surprised to find the ground blanketed with inches of a wet, heavy snow. There’d been talk of an impending snowstorm – the first of the season – but with everything that was happening, Alessa hadn’t really paid attention to the forecast. Despite the early hour, the sky was quickly approaching dusk and the lamps lining the quad already shone brightly, reflecting off the sparkling layer of white that sheathed every tree branch right down to the smallest twig.
Watching each breath rise in a festive puff as she trudged her way home – averting her eyes from any cameras she passed – Alessa felt a small flutter of delight stirring within her. The snow-encased trees bowed enchantingly, and for a moment at least, the campus felt like a winter wonderland, instead of the dungeon she knew it to be.
By the time Alessa reached Z-E-Pi, her shoes were soaked through and the tip of her nose had turned a startling shade of red. She was relieved to cross the threshold into the warmth and slip off her wet sneakers in favor of a cozy pair of woolen socks. This prison certainly had more creature comforts than her cold cell in Paragon’s penitentiary, that much she had to admit. She realized with a pang of regret that in a couple weeks, whether the plan succeeded or failed, she would no longer have this warm bed to return to each night.
Alessa sat down at her desk. She intended to check her email, but the moment she opened her laptop, the screen went dim and the lights switched off, plunging her into near-darkness.
Sitting in the twilight, Alessa’s heart began to race. What was going on? Was this it? Were they coming for her? How had she blown her cover?
She scrambled for a plan and scanned her room for a weapon, settling on the heavy flashlight by her bedside. Clutching it at her side, she stood rigid, waiting for whatever was coming next.
A bright beam of light shined through her open door. Alessa pinned herself to the wall beyond the beam’s initial sweep, straining to see past the source of the light.
A tentative whisper pierced the silence. “Alessa?”
“Janie?” Alessa flooded with relief.
The light shone in the Alessa’s direction. “Is that you?”
“Yes!” she hissed. “What’s going on?”
Janie pointed the light upward, illuminating the room. “We knocked the power out. A tree went down at the far end of campus, taking a power line with it, and though it actually didn’t affect this building, we tripped a fuse to make it look related. Once they’ve got the power up, we’ll have to turn it back on, but it should be at least 10 minutes or so.”
“Oh, thank God.” Alessa dropped her flashlight on the bed and ran to her sister, embracing her. “Janie, I’ve been dying to talk to you. I remember everything now. I’m so sorry I forgot, I don’t know how…” Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at her sister for forgiveness.
Janie just hugged her tightly. “It’s not your fault, Alessa. That’s exactly what the stitch was supposed to do – they injected you with some kind of substance that literally rewires your neural pathways, breaking down your memories and putting new ones in their place. You couldn’t have known how to resist.”
“But you did, Janie. How?” she searched her sister’s face.
“We figured it out a few months after you were caught. Some of the prisoners proved resistant to the stitch, so our allies within the Ruling Class sought them out to ask how, and it turned out to be so much simpler than we ever thought. They said that after they were injected, instead of thinking about the pain, they concentrated on a single thought – something that was meaningful to them, like a memory of a loved one – and somehow it blocked the wipe from rewiring some of their neurons. Since they didn’t lose their grip on reality entirely, everything else quickly came back to them.”
“So that’s what you did?”
“Yeah. Once we figured that out, it was a no brainer. We knew we needed to get you and Isaac out – with Lizzie getting captured and Regina going underground and then you two being detained, morale within the ranks had taken some big hits, and we really needed a win.
“Our agent on the inside heard about you and Isaac being cast for this show after they couldn’t seem to get either of you out of each other’s heads, and when I approached Regina with the idea of infiltrating the drama, she reluctantly agreed that it was worth the risk. I deliberately got captured, repelled the stitch while pretending that it worked, and then our inside guy worked his magic to have me cast as your friend, ostensibly for the same reason as you and Isaac – since we were so close, it was easier to work me into this false world than try to get rid of your memories of me altogether.”
Alessa was overcome with gratitude; she couldn’t believe her little sister had risked so much for her. She wanted to be mad at Janie for putting herself in danger, but she couldn’t seem to muster any anger. “Janie, it’s brilliant. I don’t know how you pulled it off…”
Janie shrugged off Alessa’s praise. “It was nothing, really. Well, I mean, prison was kind of –” her eyes clouded for a moment “– terrible… But here, well, besides the cameras, this is the most comfortable place I’ve lived since before Paragon. It’s almost like a vacation.”
Alessa laughed at the absurdity of Janie’s assertion. This was
certainly unlike any vacation she’d ever heard of.
Janie continued. “So anyway, I’m so glad to hear you finally got your memories back, and you seem to be doing okay. I want to update you on where we are with the plan, but before I get to that – when the lights go on, we should assume the cameras are back. Just pretend like I came in here looking for a flashlight and that we’re finally making up, ok?”
Alessa nodded. “Got it.”
“Okay, so, the plan. I think I told you that Isaac is on another set nearby, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, well, he’s basically living in a replica of this house inside a big dome a few miles away. The campus was already here from before the war, so they just spruced it up a bit and then they built his set separately. Since they were planning the stunts with the fire, they needed an environment that offered a little more control – no snowstorms or rain unless they allowed for it, that sort of thing.”
Alessa interjected with a question. “So how have we been seeing each other then?”
“Holograms. There are projectors hidden all over the house just like the cameras,” she motioned at the ceiling, “so whenever they feel like it, the producers turn on the projection for one of you so that you can see the other person, or they turn it on at both ends if they want you to see each other. It’s all happening in real time, which is why he keeps disappearing before you can tell him about the fire. To build the suspense, you know?”
Alessa nodded – she would need some time to digest all that. “And what about Isaac? Does he know what’s going on? Does he know who I really am?”
Janie shook her head. “As far as I know, he has no idea that any of this is fake and he thinks you’re some kind of apparition. He doesn’t even know your name, though apparently he’s been saying it in his sleep.”
Alessa wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Part of her was disappointed that Isaac didn’t remember her, but at the same time, she supposed she hadn’t remembered who he really was, either. And who knew, maybe he did remember and was just keeping it to himself like her and Janie.
Janie interrupted Alessa’s thoughts to continue her report about Isaac. “The producers actually already filmed the fire scene – it was all pyrotechnics, but I heard it was really convincing. They made it look like Isaac passed out from the smoke and then the burning barn collapsed around him. Really the whole thing was rigged, though. According to our mole on the production team, they just gassed him and put him back in his cell to wait it out until you come to save him – once you do, they’re just going to reset his stitch to the day before the fire, as if it hadn’t happened yet.”
Alessa winced, thinking of Isaac undergoing another agonizing stitch. She shook off the thought. There was nothing she could do about it now, and she still had a list of other questions for Janie.
At the time Alessa had been captured, there still was not much known amongst the rebels about the inner workings of the dramas or, for that matter, the objectives of whoever was running Paragon. Alessa turned over the list in her head and decided to start with the simple questions. “What about everyone else here? Isaac’s family and the other students – are they all in on it?”
Janie shook her head. “Oh, no, no, they’re all like us. Some are rebels, like Lizzie…”
“Yes, I remembered that…” Alessa cringed at the thought of whatever unfortunate turn had landed poor Lizzie back in the hands of the Ruling Class.
“Some are just people who got unlucky, stumbled across things they weren’t supposed to see.”
“How many of us are there?”
“Hundreds, I think. There are all these different plotlines happening on the same set and a bunch of people from the Ruling Class editing behind the scenes. They’re careful to show each drama only to efficiency units where no one should know the actors. Even with the drugs, I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if my own sister was on TV,” Janie explained, “so they try to avoid those situations by being deliberate about where they broadcast which dramas. And of course, if there are any mishaps, that just means they have a new actor.”
“Why don’t they just kill us?”
Janie thought for a moment. “That’s a good question. We really haven’t found a good answer for that yet.”
“Okay… What about their ultimate motives? Do we know exactly what the Ruling Class is doing or why they’re keeping a blindfold over the workers?”
Janie shook her head. “Not really. It seems like it’s a small subset who’s behind all the bad stuff. We’ve learned that many – most – of the people within the Ruling Class just think they’ve been elected by the workers to design a new constitution for our society. They too watch the dramas, but they think they’re just entertainment, and they don’t know about the drugging. They just live in this comfortable little bubble and don’t seem to realize that someone is orchestrating all this exploitation right under their noses.”
Janie loosed a weary sigh, obviously troubled by the challenges the rebels were facing. “The problem is that no one has really figured out who is engineering everything, so our allies have been hesitant to spread the word of the resistance because they don’t know who to trust. Plus, it would be hard to convince anyone in the Ruling Class that anything is amiss, since they’re all living in the lap of luxury, and disappearances and that sort of thing are much less common and much better covered up than they are for us.”
Alessa was surprised at how much and how little had changed. Though the rebels had managed to recruit and train some talented new people, like Janie, it seemed that they were still no closer to answering some of the most basic questions about their enemies. Most of this information was known when Joe first started with the rebels, and that was almost three years ago.
Alessa decided to refocus on their immediate situation. “So, how are we getting out of here?”
Janie hesitated for a moment before she continued. “As you’ve probably figured out by now, the producers are giving you an opportunity to steal Professor Liu’s ‘time machine’ and use it to get to Isaac. What will really happen is that when you bring it here and turn it on, they’re going to gas the room so that you pass out, and when you wake up, you’ll be somewhere on Isaac’s set. What we’re still figuring out is how to get you two off his set once you’re there. There are a bunch of hidden utility tunnels and things like that since his is not a real house like this one, so we’re thinking maybe you can sneak out that way. But it’s going to be tricky. We’re still working on finding the right path.”
Alessa rolled the plan over in her mind. “And where will you be during all of this? How are you going to escape?”
Janie averted her eyes. “We’re still figuring that out,” she looked up at Alessa reassuringly, “but it will be fine, don’t worry.”
Alessa was wary of Janie’s nonchalance, but she supposed it was unfair to expect her to have all the details before the plan was even complete. Alessa wanted to thank Janie more explicitly for everything she’d done and tell her how full of pride it made her feel to see Janie so strong and independent and sharp. But before she got the chance, she was blinded by a sudden flash from the lamp. The lights had come back on.
Janie slipped right back into character, switching off her flashlight and handing it to Alessa. “Well, I guess I don’t need to borrow this anymore. I’m sorry, again, for the way I’ve been acting. It was just stress with school and everything. I’m sorry to have taken it out on you.”
Alessa squeezed her sister’s hand and tried to convey her appreciation in her eyes. “It’s okay, Janie, really. I’m just glad to have you back.” Alessa hoped Janie caught her meaning.
Janie smiled. “Okay, I’m going to get back to work on that paper. Let me know how things go with your first day in the lab tomorrow.”
And with that, Janie exited, leaving Alessa to ponder her memories and her questions on her own once more.
28. INTROSPECTION
Over the following weeks,
Alessa counted down the days to Professor Liu’s departure with anticipation. She played along with the producers’ games, diligently visiting the lab every few days to receive her training, and in the evenings she and Janie huddled together, conspiring on plans to steal the equipment as soon as Alessa had the lab to herself.
Knowing that their “time travel” plot was only a ruse took much of the pressure off of Janie and Alessa’s plotting. Though they debated the merits of different strategies and feigned distraction with their assignments and classes, they knew that whatever path they chose, the producers would ultimately make sure that their pilfering was successful.
Internally, however, both sisters anxiously fretted over their true plan: how they would orchestrate their upcoming escape. They knew this would be their best – and probably only – chance to shake loose of Paragon’s crushing grip, and so this plan truly needed to be flawless. It was a dangerous undertaking, and they knew they could surely count on the producers to try to thwart them at every turn.
Janie still had not received word from her rebel contacts about the details of their strategy, or if she had, she hadn’t gotten an opportunity to communicate that to Alessa. As the date loomed closer, Alessa harbored doubts that the rebels would be able to pull together a reliable plan in time. But in the end, she had no choice but to wait, trusting in their allies to deliver them to freedom.
In the interim, Alessa found herself with plenty of time to reflect on her situation, and she found that she was grudgingly impressed with the cleverness of the producers’ ploy. They had so skillfully woven her character’s background with her true thoughts and feelings that, until Janie’s revelation, she had never once questioned her experience. She’d been so utterly convinced that she had even readily dismissed the flashbacks of her true life that had come to her in dreams. It was beyond frightening to consider what could happen if this type of memory-altering technology was used on a larger scale.
What Tomorrow May Bring Page 140