Contribute (Holo, #2)

by Kristy Acevedo

“Dominick Landen, please state your needs.”

  My brain doesn’t know how to process the image in front of me. I should be flattered. It’s wonderful. It’s sad. It’s the most incredible thing he could’ve done.

  It’s also wicked creepy. Please state your needs. Please stab my eyes out.

  I hold my face in my hands. “Why?”

  Dominick climbs off the hammock. “I missed you. I wasn’t sure if you were ever coming back. I wanted to see you again.”

  I walk around his hologuide to see myself from different angles. It’s a sliver taller than I am and I swear its boobs seem larger. “But it’s not me.”

  Dominick sticks his hands in his pockets. “I know that.”

  I point at him. “Wait, did you try to kiss it and stuff?”

  “No. Well, once.”

  “Dominick!”

  He shakes his head. “I’m trying to be honest with you!”

  “Dominick Landen, please state your needs,” his hologuide repeats.

  If I could punch the image of myself begging to service him, I would. “Change it. Change it now.”

  “I can’t delete her,” he says. “She’s you.”

  “She’s not me! I give you permission to delete her.”

  “I don’t need your permission. She’s my hologuide.”

  “She’s me!”

  The door beeps, and Rita’s face appears on screen. I let her in the room before Dominick has a chance to exit program. Her uniform shirt has been holofied into tiny, fluorescent polka dots that shift colors and size every second. It’s nice to see her back in fashion.

  She giggles hysterically. “Oh man. Sex hologram if I ever saw one.”

  I wave my hands in front of me. “Ugh, gross!”

  “It’s not like that,” Dominick says.

  “Do you require additional time?”

  “Hold on—” I say and grab Dominick’s bandwidth. I find MODIFY HOLOGUIDE and the DELETE CLOTHING option.

  I am mortified at the result.

  He frantically adds clothing back onto the holo-me. “I never did that. I swear.”

  “Swear on your father.”

  Silence.

  “I knew it! Change it!”

  “I will. Promise.”

  Rita pulls us into a group hug. “I really missed you two.”

  SINCE I PROMISED Dominick that I’d go with him and Rita to Holospaces if he showed me his hologuide, we spend the day playing live Hogwarts fanfic and space invader games in one of the Holospaces, lounging in a pool on a Mars colony, and running through obstacles courses in floating treehouses. Exploring without danger or limits should be invigorating for me, but even still my anxiety spikes. I repeat Don’t get tricked by a thought. The danger is fake. and fall back into the fun. Living here is like being high. It calls to me like a drug, and I can feel myself easily being addicted to it if I let it in. There is peace here, an addicting, satisfying peace. It’s almost good practice in dismissing irrational thoughts. I allow myself to get lost from reality, just for a little while.

  Exhausted, we return in time for dinner in the Hub.

  “I still don’t understand how we can touch holograms,” Rita says. “It’s bizarre.”

  “That’s because of how you perceive solids,” I say.

  “Exactly,” Dominick says.

  Rita takes a bite of food and talks while she chews. “Sometimes you two scare me with how you communicate.”

  “It’s like this.” I hold out my edible plate. “There is a certain number of molecules in the plate and in my hand. At some point, those molecules intersect and my brain gets a signal that I’m touching something. Touch is just molecules from different areas interacting. You don’t need physical objects for this to work. If you lay in the sun, you can feel the rays, right?”

  “I guess,” Rita says. “It’s weird, though. Holograms are just light.”

  We find an open table and bench to sit. I didn’t realize how much of a workout I got in the Holospaces until I rest my body. My legs are killing me.

  “I don’t understand that level of quantum mechanics, either,” Dominick says. “From what I’ve learned using the CVBD’s ED program, the vances discovered that at the quantum level, electromagnetic forces can build between protons, and when they force complex entanglement to occur under the right conditions, a solid can form. I never thought that was possible. They use the nanoholocoms—”

  “Blah, blah, blah, science jargon overload,” Rita says. “Too bad in reality the consequences are cool and terrifying.” She takes a moment to eat and think. “Ever think the nanoholocoms are like a giant, invisible net and we’re the fish?”

  Her thought lingers in my mind, and I can picture my body being wrapped in holographic ropes. Gives a whole new meaning to my hammock. Might have to delete it.

  “Isn’t this against the Geotroupes’ rules?” I ask. “Interacting with technology? Going to the Holospaces? Eating food from the platform?”

  “Rules? Don’t you know me at all?” Rita says.

  Dominick clears his throat. “What if this whole planet is an illusion, some programmer’s sick joke to make our lives nothing but entertainment for another population?”

  “Thanks a lot,” I moan. “And I thought I was the paranoid one.”

  “You two,” Rita says. “Perfect couple.”

  After dinner, people gather in the grass for a proper view of the Skylucent. My friends and I join in, and I realize I haven’t felt this good in a lifetime. The collective bandwidths around us shine like stars through the darkness, lights that signify the beauty of death. Maybe there comes a point when truth is irrelevant, when history is in the past, when you simply live for the present and move on and let go. Maybe at some point you stop struggling because you realize that, like the Borg said, it’s futile. If you just relax, blend in, life will be okay, even if you have to ignore a gnawing at your gut. Why fight it?

  This is why I didn’t want to return to the Holospaces. It’s addicting and dangerous for me. For all of us.

  DOMINICK RETURNS TO his family for the night, and Rita decides to sleepover in my LU. Inside, Rita and I find Marcus on his holobed.

  “Do you mind if Rita stays here tonight?” I ask.

  “Of course not. Sorry if I’m in the way. I needed a break from the Umbra. Bad headache.”

  “You’re not in the way. We’re just here to crash.” I plop onto my holobed and design a spare for Rita to materialize nearby. She sits with me as we wait for hers to entangle and solidify.

  “How’s it been going?” Rita asks Marcus through the holographic room divider. “With the new alliance I mean.”

  “Okay, I guess. A little boring. The Geotroupes provided lots of information about the local landscape. I’ve been working with Professor Marciani and Katherine over at the old vertex site. I need a break from it all—my head’s been pounding. Too many math calculations. I’m reaching my limit.” He chuckles. “That was a bad math teacher joke.”

  “Yes it was,” Rita says, shaking her head. “How’s the research going?”

  “Awesome. We’ve learned a lot quickly.”

  “How’s Benji been?” I ask.

  “Distant. He’s always distant, but I was so busy with teaching before that I hadn’t fully realized.”

  Distant. Not a word I’d ever use to describe my brother. He’s usually too in my face.

  The door beeps, and I expect it to be Dominick or Benji. It’s Doctor A.

  “I came to check on Marcus. See if there’s anything I can do.”

  “You didn’t have to come all the way here from headquarters,” Marcus says from his side of the LU. “I’m fine. Just need some sleep.”

  Doctor A. takes his temperature and listens to his chest. Rita checks on her holobed. I pull up my holographic blanket, and stretch my sore legs underneath the supple fabric.

  “You had enough to eat today?” Doctor A. asks.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I hear Marcus say. “I just—”
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  His voice trails off awkwardly, and I hear a weird shaking sound. Rita and I rush over to the room divider. Marcus’s body flails about in his holobed. Doctor A. rolls him to one side and holds him steady so he doesn’t fall out of bed and injury himself. He’s having a seizure like crazy lady did before she died.

  I hold my bandwidth and my mind goes blank. “What the heck is the code for medical?”

  Rita yells, “HME Open. Emergency.”

  Marcus’s hologuide appears beside him, an unmodified, androgynous form in a gray uniform. A voice states: “Please step away from the patient, Marcus Lucas-Blu.”

  His hologuide reaches its hand out and covers Marcus’s forehead. A violet light comes out of its hand and surrounds Marcus’s head. His body stops jerking.

  “Are you directly administering medical care?” Doctor A. asks the hologuide.

  “Yes. We administer treatment if necessary to stabilize patients for transport.”

  The HME voice fills the room. “Patient will be admitted to HME facility to be monitored for further evaluation and treatment.”

  Within seconds, a holographic platform materializes underneath Marcus’s body. Once it entangles, his holobed vanishes, leaving Marcus floating in mid-air on the thin platform. A clear structure encloses over the top. It looks like a clear, flying coffin. His hologuide leads it out of the room. I use my private clicker to alert Benji. Doctor A. pulls on his beard several times in a row and stares at the empty space where the holobed used to be. His eyes water.

  “I guess I’m done here,” he mumbles. “Excuse me.” He exits the room before I can respond.

  I sit back on my holobed, and Rita joins me. “What just happened?”

  “I don’t know. I think he had a seizure. Doctor A. seemed shaken up, and he usually keeps his cool.”

  Rita nods, then glances at the door. “That wasn’t good. I’ve never seen Doctor A. act like that before.”

  “I don’t think he ever felt replaced before.” The thought lingers in my mind long into the night and mixes with fears about what happens to humans when they are no longer able to contribute in a real way.

  AS THE COUNTDOWN hours reach single digits in the middle of the night, curiosity brings people to gather in the Hub regardless of their bandwidth status. It’s natural to huddle in groups when a planetary deadline comes to a close. I stand with Rita, Dominick, Kendra, and Nolan, and some new members of the Umbra. Last time when a countdown ended, I faced a holographic comet hoax. What is consequence of my inaction this time?

  “We can refuse to go,” Rita says to me. “Who says we have to choose? They can’t force us into physical labor.”

  When our bandwidths light up with a CVBE announcement, several people around the large space tap and toss holoscreens into the air group viewing. Keron, speaker of the meritocracy, fills the screen in full array.

  “The initial contribution period has ended. Thank you for contributing your death to the welfare of future generations. In the act of fairness and equality, anyone who has not contributed to our society at this time will be immediately contacted by the Contribution Assignment Centers in the morning. You will have the opportunity each day to re-evaluate your decision.

  “The meritocracy values all members of Solbiluna-8 and hopes to inspire everyone to dream rather than work. May your contribution lead to freedom.”

  As soon as the announcement ends, my bandwidth releases a low tone signal several times and changes from a clear, lighted band to cloudy, steel gray. Rita, Kendra, and Nolan check their bandwidths. Steel gray. Dominick’s remains golden.

  A tall woman with bright red hair and a glowing bandwidth whispers to us, “Why didn’t you just contribute? Why complicate things? He’s the smart one,” she points to Dominick’s bandwidth.

  Rita and Kendra roll their eyes in unison. Nolan chuckles.

  “Not this time,” Dominick mutters.

  “We don’t have to cooperate,” Rita says. “They can’t make us work.”

  She’s naive if she thinks that’s how the vances operate.

  We agree to meet back in the Hub for breakfast. I get very little sleep throughout the night despite an exhaustion that makes me lightheaded. I’m the first person in the Hub at the platform. More and more people arrive, the same look of dread on their the faces if their bandwidths are clouded, smiles if their bandwidth shine with glory. Rita, Kendra, and Nolan arrive. Dominick decided to stay at Umbra QN25 headquarters to see if he can pitch in with the research.

  “Where’s Hannah?” Kendra asks Rita.

  “She’s staying off grid since she didn’t contribute. We can always make a run for it ourselves.”

  I’m too afraid to disobey. Like Benji said, we don’t know the consequences of not contributing.

  Our bandwidths flash and holomaps appear above them, each with a blinking light over a different location marked with CONTRIBUTION ASSIGNMENT.

  “We can just stay here,” Rita says. “What are they gonna do?”

  “Rita, I don’t think—”

  “They’re all about keeping peace. They won’t hurt us.”

  She’s wrong, and I know she’s wrong. I stay with her anyway.

  “Travel to your contribution assignment immediately,” an emotionless voice announces from each holomap.

  “See? They can’t even get angry,” Rita mocks. She tries to close the holomap, but it’s frozen above her wrist.

  The lack of emotion is exactly what terrifies me. “Maybe we should go to our assignments. Benji wouldn’t want me to make waves for the Umbra.”

  “Since when do you listen to Benji?”

  “Good point. But have you ever been cocooned by the BME? I have.” I lift up my uniform pant leg. The scars are faint but visible.

  “Oh my God, Alex. That looks painful.”

  “Come on, we can do this. Day 1. Think of it as a rebellious sacrifice.”

  She agrees, and together we each head to our assignments.

  “I’ll meet you tonight at . . .” I glance at the holograms and back at her, “you know where.”

  Each of us takes a separate magpod to follow the spot on our holomaps. Ten minutes later, I arrive at an HME facility. I follow the holomap to the outside doors before the map closes on its own, and the first CVBE light on my bandwidth turns on. I hold for the COM audio message.

  “Welcome to your Contribution Assignment. Only patients are allowed inside the HME facility. Please remain standing at the entrance and check for blue bandwidths. If unauthorized guests enter the building, the BME will be activated for all parties, including you.”

  Seems easy enough, although I’m not used to working under threat. The first few hours are mindless. I pace around to keep my legs moving. Patients come and go, some voluntary, some unconscious on holocots, with their hologuides alongside them. Even though the hologuides have different modifications, I can spot them from their blank expressions.

  I am allowed two, five minute bathroom breaks, but there are no breaks for meals. My stomach growls, and my legs get sore from standing for so long. After several hours and several close calls, all I want to do is go back to my LU and let the PSF massage my aching muscles.

  It gets hectic at one point when too many patients arrive at once, but I manage. I think I have things under control until a husband argues with me about going inside with his wife.

  “Let go of me,” he says and twists his body to escape my grip. “My wife’s in there. She needs me.”

  “Please, sir, you have to obey the rules. We’ll get punished by the BME.”

  His holofied uniform sweater slips from my fingers, and he runs through the doors.

  The BME zaps my legs, and I collapse to the ground. Through the clear doors, I see the husband get punished. It’s a mild zap, and no cocoon follows. Except afterward, the husband stands and takes another step forward into the HME. Another jolt for both of us.

  “Sir, please,” I beg from the ground. “Stop.”

  He crawls ba
ck outside, and we sit together to recover.

  It’s just enough to make me want to contribute after a futile day of meaningless work.

  CHAPTER 19

  DAY 33

  THE INITIAL CONTRIBUTION PERIOD HAS ENDED. AS OF TODAY, 82% OF EARTH REFUGEES HAVE CONTRIBUTED.

  AS SOON AS I leave my work assignment, I head to the Geotroupes’ camp to find Rita and Dominick and complain. Hannah is alone with a group of children, craft materials spread among them. I see Dominick’s little brother with them.

  “Have you seen Rita and Dominick?” I ask Hannah.

  “Rita hasn’t come back yet. Dominick went with the team to the old vertex site.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How did it go?” she asks.

  “Mindless.”

  “I guess that’s not so bad.”

  I shrug. Despite my concerns about the contribution period ending, it wasn’t that terrible. I imagined much worse. Maybe the vances aren’t as bad as they seem, other than the tricking us into leaving Earth part. Maybe they’ve only just started.

  The old vertex site opens before me. Like stepping through a time machine and landing in a Celtic folklore. Stone doorways in a semi-circle, a blanket of bright moss covers them. I hear voices in one of the short tunnels radiating from the center.

  I find Dominick with Katherine and Professor Marciani among a team of other scientists, wearing goggles and deep into what looks like an experiment near a control panel.

  Dominick comes up behind me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “How was it?”

  “Long.”

  “I take it you all contributed,” I say.

  “Our work is here,” the professor answers. “Put these on.” He hands me goggles, and I slide the strap under my ponytail and secure them in place.

  “Mississippi, you’re just in time.”

  “In time for what?”

  Professor Marciani’s eyes light up. “Our first makeshift vertex attempt maintained integrity for two seconds before it collapsed. We’ve recalibrated to form another portal. Our second attempt should be fruitful.”

  “I thought it would take awhile to make a vertex.”

  “It can’t actually be used yet, but this old site is an amazing find,” Katherine says.