Contribute (Holo, #2)

by Kristy Acevedo

  I blink several times before my eyes readjust to the room. Except we are no longer in the room. We’re in the middle of a mountain region with majestic, mythological creatures wandering past us, including a herd of winged unicorns.

  I spin around. “Holy crap. Did we just transport?”

  “Nope. We’re still in the same room.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Totally. And you can interact with everything, but there are no consequences. Nothing is real. You could jump off a cliff and be perfectly fine.”

  I reach out and pet a small creature that looks like the offspring of a goat and a dog. It’s like being on a Holodeck from Star Trek. Only a real one. Thirty of them.

  Why would we ever leave and live in the real world?

  “Do another one.”

  “Okay, I like this one. 24-7HoloDay.”

  “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

  “Yeah, it’s like a vacation. Close your eyes.”

  When I open them, I’m surrounded by a tropical luau with draping tapestries, lanterns, coral flowers, and bamboo chairs overlooking an ocean the color of lime-green punch. I slip off my boots and move my toes in the white and golden-flecked sand. Every soft particle warms my skin.

  “Do you want to stay here and go swimming, or would you rather play a holosport program?”

  “Is there a program of Earth? The Atlantic coast?”

  “Probably. New programs get added like every second. When I get better at it, I’d like to design my own.” She flicks her fingers, and with a few swift movements, finds one.

  “Massachusetts, I assume?”

  I nod, my throat constricting.

  “Here goes.”

  And stretched out before me is the Atlantic Ocean. The familiar, salty breeze whips stray curls across my face. I kneel in the sand. It’s not soft like in the HoloDay program. It’s coarse and warm, just like home.

  I take off running down the beach and jump into the cool ocean fully clothed in my uniform except for my boots. The only odd sensation is when I get a little water in my mouth, it instantly disappears. My muscles relax with each wave. It feels so close to the real thing, I scan the shoreline and expect to see Dominick or Rita. The thought jars me into the moment. This isn’t home. This isn’t home. I frantically swim to shore and stagger toward Kendra.

  “Are you okay?” she asks.

  My body shakes in the heavy, wet uniform. I grab her bandwidth.

  “EXIT HOLOSPACES.”

  And just like that I’m back on dry land in a blank Holospace room. My uniform and hair aren’t even wet.

  I run out into the corridor barefoot and lean against the wall. Kendra carries my boots and socks with her. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  “I never want to go back inside there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because . . . it’s . . . something’s missing. It’s not right.”

  I don’t tell her the truth. I could easily lose myself in there to hold on to what I’ve lost on Earth. Spend all my time in the peacefulness of fantasy instead of moving forward in the harshness of reality. If I don’t let the truth out soon, people might forget what reality even looks like, might contribute themselves wholly to the false glamour of this world.

  BY DINNERTIME, I am famished for whatever concoction the platform has in store for us today. Carrying my journal with me, I read a note to self to ask for toilet paper. At the platform, I make my request, and it prints what looks more like a sea sponge. Maybe I’m supposed to use it and then toss it in the PSF for next time? These vances are disgusting with hygiene.

  As I wait for my food, Katherine makes eye contact and heads toward me. My insides turn against me, and I pray I don’t vomit again. I’ll be known as the Puking Girl.

  She looks me up and down.

  “Mississippi, you’re a bit of a recluse.”

  You’re a criminal. We’re even. “Haven’t been feeling well.” I grab my food and the stupid sponge.

  “Your hair . . . I had a better look in prison.”

  “Yeah, I know. Frizz city.”

  “Ask for seed oil. My hologuide recommended it.”

  “Thanks. I hate talking to my hologuide. It freaks me out.”

  “Fine, but you won’t get anywhere if you don’t ask the right questions.”

  How right you are. I place my hand on the platform and request the seed oil. It forms in a clear tube, similar to the capillary kind they use at labs after they prick your finger.

  “This will last me one day.”

  “No, that stuff’s magic. You can even use it on your skin and to brush your teeth.”

  “I should ask for a toothbrush.”

  “Pace yourself. Only two supply rations a day. If you create new programs for the Holospaces, you receive additional rations. ‘Course people have been blowing their extra rations on extra Holospace time. You’d think four hours a day would be plenty.”

  I can still feel the fake Atlantic Ocean on my skin. I need an ally. I have to take a risk.

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “Shoot.”

  “No, something important,” I whisper. “I need someone I can trust. And . . .” I point around at the nanoholocoms embedded into everything, “I don’t want to get zapped.”

  She draws me closer with her finger and whispers into my ear. “I hacked the nanoholocom controls in my LU and took the BME off line. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “You did?” This scares me but makes me want to be her best friend at the same time.

  She smirks. “It’s my specialty. Let’s go.”

  My anxiety spikes at breaking the rules and trusting Katherine. A lump rises in my throat, and I still follow her. I really am irrational.

  I KNOW I shouldn’t trust Katherine alone in her LU without knowing more information about her, but I can’t fight the vances and get back to Earth alone. I pick at a hangnail on my thumb.

  “So Mississippi, what’s eating you?”

  “Nothing.” Maybe it’s the fact that you could filet me at any second, but I also need to trust you to save Earth even though I don’t understand why.

  “Don’t give me that bullshit. You just told me you have a secret. And you’ve been watching me, taking notes in that book of yours.”

  My stomach drops, and I try to keep my face emotionless. “No, I haven’t.”

  She stares me down, letting me know I’m busted. “Spill it.”

  I can’t tell her what I know. I need more information first. I climb into the hammock, leaving the sponge and journal on the floor while I eat. “Why were you in jail?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I don’t know,” I stall. “Curious.”

  “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

  “No,” I lie and spill crumbs on my chest.

  She sits on a chair and looks at the ground.

  “I was in for fraud and computer hacking mostly.”

  It’s the last thing I expect her to say. I brush off the crumbs. “For doing what?”

  “Credit card fraud. Identity theft. Hacking systems.” She chuckles. “I worked for Apple for a few years when I was younger. Before my life took a turn and I moved back to the East coast.”

  “So you stole people’s credit cards? How’d you end up with such a long sentence?”

  “It’s a little more than that.”

  “Try me.” My boldness surprises me. Her sharp responses make me defensive instead of afraid.

  “You know enough. Now tell me, Mississippi, what’s your story? Why are you here alone? Last minute departure without friends or family. You’re the anomaly, not me.”

  I tell a half-truth. “My father was in the hospital. He got hurt in a riot. I waited as long as I could for him.”

  It’s so much more than that, so much more that even she had a part in it that she doesn’t know about, and I don’t understand and I want to tell her everything.

  Katherine cont
inues. “My kid died. Cancer. If this whole thing had happened sooner, years ago, my daughter would have lived. The HME would’ve saved her with their advanced medical knowledge. What do they say, everything happens for a reason? Bullshit. Sometimes things happen for no reason at all.”

  “I’m sorry—”

  She waves me off. “These holograms showed up, and it was a get outta jail free pass for me. Except I wasn’t sure I wanted it. No one is that nice. Nothing is that free. Too easy. I’m not contributing until I see every step of this integration. You shouldn’t, either. Something’s not right, and I know you feel it, too. I saw it in your eyes when they did the fucking Earth remembrance yesterday morning and that kid flipped out.”

  Her blunt truth opens up a part of me. It’s easier to trust people when they break through their layers of emotional protection. She also reminds me of my dad, caring but broken and bitter about the past.

  “I need to tell you something big, but I’m afraid to say it out loud.”

  “Like I said, I temporarily disabled the BME in here. I can’t hack into a system while being monitored.”

  “Why did you hack into their system?”

  She grins. “Your secret first.”

  I should be afraid of her. She could kill me now and no electric current would stop her. Instead, the truth bubbles up to the surface, and I finally let it loose.

  CHAPTER 7

  DAY 4: 679 HOURS TO DECIDE

  KATHERINE PACES THE LU, more excited than afraid.

  “Wait, so you’re telling me that you ran through knowing you were safe on Earth, and having no clue what the hell was going on here? That’s some brave, stupid shit. For all you knew, we were dead.”

  “No, I knew you were alive.” I chew on a hangnail.

  “What do you mean, you knew? How could you know? You mean, you hoped?”

  “No, um . . .” I think of a way to break it to her gently. It’s impossible. I cannot tell her she gave me a note in the past that had a message from my journal. I’ve watched enough sci-fi, time travel episodes to know not to set something in motion. Especially something that ends with Katherine dead. “Yeah, I guess I hoped.”

  A full minute ticks by as the information sinks in between us. It’s a relief to have someone listen to the truth.

  She crouches down near the hammock. “There’s a group,” she whispers. “They need to hear this.”

  “What group?”

  “The Umbra. It’s a secret organization set up by the United Nations before we left Earth. Certain government officials were given instructions. They recognized that it’s never good for one side to have all the power, and with Solbiluna-8 being so advanced, we would need to catch up fast. I was invited to join when I arrived. Reputation and all.”

  She sits closer to me, and continues. “We’ve been slowly growing, working on conspiracy theories, pulling apart nanoholocom units to study them. After the meritocracy announced the contribution plan, we’ve been discussing our next move. Your information could move the Umbra into high, tactical alert mode.”

  “Are you, like, terrorists here?”

  She smiles at the word terrorists, which makes my muscles tense. “No, no, nothing like that. They want the best interest for Earth humans, and they believe knowledge is power and leverage here. Yet we’re being kept happy and ignorant.”

  “Did Doctor A. join the group?”

  “You are observant, aren’t you? You’ll fit right in. Come to tomorrow’s meeting and tell them what you told me. They’ll listen. Your testimony could be vital to our cause.”

  I take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out. I finally told someone, and she believed me.

  “So you write?” Katherine asks and picks up my journal from the floor.

  “No—” I almost flip the hammock over as I snatch my journal from her hand before she manages to read anything. “Not really. A little.”

  “Get your panties out your ass. I won’t read your little diary.”

  Note to self: Don’t let Katherine near my journal ever again.

  ACCORDING TO KATHERINE, the Umbra meeting moves location every day and only some of the membership are invited. That way if the nanoholocom network or the BME catches them, the vances won’t be able to dismantle the entire operation at once. You have to wait for someone to hand you the number of the LU to get into the meeting. They never say it aloud. She said she’ll make sure that someone finds me.

  I wait in the Hub the next day, exhausted after hardly sleeping throughout the night. The dinochicken squawks at random times from its safe spot in the tree. It’s probably wondering what in the world we’re doing here. Just like we are. I sit under the tree and lean back against its rough trunk. A gust of wind blows by and rustles the leaves, sending music into the air and flipping the colors from dark red to purple and back again. I have to admit it’s kind of peaceful here. Aside from the squawking bird.

  As I lean forward to read, a few strands of my curly hair get caught in the tree bark, a natural Velcro reaction.

  “Ouch,” I mutter and rub my head. My hair gets tangled in everything. A piece of bark hangs where I pulled forward, so I rip it loose. The dry bark in my hand seems ancient, empty, like a wooden fossil. The scratchy texture under my thumb reminds me of Dad’s face when he doesn’t shave. I’m surprised there are no twigs or fallen leaves under the tree. This place is as super clean as Disney World. Disturbing.

  Kendra, the girl I met in the Holospaces, waves and plops down next to me under the tree. I stick the bark in my pocket since I don’t know if littering is a crime.

  “Do you mind if I eat with you?” she asks in a commanding voice that doesn’t match her kind, round face.

  “Sure,” I say, annoyed. Why ask after you sit?

  “Nice day today. Perfect weather. Then again, it’s always perfect weather, so that’s not very good small talk, is it?” She takes a bite of food, chews slowly.

  I nod. If I don’t encourage her, maybe she’ll leave.

  “Still avoiding the Holospaces?”

  I point to my book. “I’d rather read.”

  “You brought a book with you? We should start a library here of books from Earth. Although there is a Hololibrary in the Holospace, and your bandwidth can display reading material.”

  She’s one of those do-gooders types. I need to get away from her before she makes me volunteer for something.

  “I’m heading up to my LU. Nice to see you again, Kendra.”

  “Wait,” she whispers. “Take this.”

  She hands me a note with 5-88 on it. I look at her face for confirmation and remember her connection with Doctor A. She doesn’t show any sign of being in top secret agent. I wonder why she was recruited. My respect for her just skyrocketed.

  “See you during the Skylucent,” she says, and winks. My hands shake so much the numbers blur. It’s now or never. This is why I came here.

  Later that night when the lights flash in the sky, marking the Skylucent event, I head to a maglift and travel to the right LU. At some point in the trip, the doors open, and Doctor A. enters along with Kendra. None of us speak in the maglift. I guess that’s how spy situations work; you suddenly pretend not to know each other when shit goes down.

  Once we arrive at the right floor, we step into the hallway. No one else is around. We’re going to get caught and zapped unconscious by the BME, then tortured until we confess to our treason. Public execution in 2359: Restrained in holographic stocks in the middle of the LU Hub, flocked with holograms. Electrocution by lightning strike from the weather controlled atmosphere. My face frying and bubbling as I crack under the pain and spill my guts. My dead body unrecognizable from the burns.

  Doctor A. knocks on the door marked 88.

  “Please wait while I visually verify your entry,” someone says through the door.

  I reach into my pocket for the bark from the tree, something to hold on to as I wait for what’s about to happen. Of course, it’s missing. I lose everything.
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  A minute later, the door clicks open, and we are let into the Umbra.

  CHAPTER 8

  DAY 5: 652 HOURS TO DECIDE

  ONLY A FEW scattered halos of light illuminate the area and follow movements. My eyes can make out about thirty or so shapes of people gathered around in the dim light. The room seems much larger than any LU I’ve seen so far.

  Katherine steps forward. “I called a special meeting to discuss new information that supports our cause. This is the girl I told you about, River.” She pulls me toward her so that I’m on display. “She has important information to share about the vances.”

  “Don’t worry,” she whispers to me. “The BME is disabled in here.”

  I clear my throat, but before I have a chance to speak, there’s commotion in the background. Someone shouts, “Alex?”

  I turn in the direction of the familiar voice.

  Benji.

  I promised myself next time I saw my brother, I would punch him. Instead, I race toward him and hug him with all the strength I have left.

  “Oh my God, you made it,” he says.

  I cry. It’s not about him. It’s not about him.

  “Where’s Mom and Dad?” he asks.

  Guilt floods through my veins for what I’m about to tell everyone. Even worse since Benji will hear that I abandoned our parents.

  “Benji’s your brother?” Katherine interrupts, nodding with approval. “Small world. So I take it your name’s not River, then?”

  “My real name’s Alexandra Lucas. Alex.” Saying my name aloud reclaims a small piece of my lost identity, a small piece of home.

  “Now that’s a name I believe. It’s nice to finally meet the real you.”

  “Likewise,” I say, as a former image of her demise as crazy lady flashes through my mind.

  “What do you know about the vances?” Benji asks, pulling on the front of his navy blue uniform to straighten it. His tone implies doubt that I would ever have anything valid to say. Typical. Missed you, big bro.

  I turn my back to him and focus on Doctor A., Kendra, Katherine, and the eyes of strangers in the shadows. For all we know, they could be hologram spies. I have to try anyway. It’s do or die.