by KB Shaw
Dear Ms Fletcher,
Your arguments about the fear and controversy surrounding the IHT were well made. GundTech does bear much of the responsibility by not being forthcoming with information. Perhaps I can help.
On your next visit, I will give you some useful information, if you know where to look.
Yours truly,
Inside Out
“Or perhaps X-Boy is the insider,” said Meagan.
“You think he is Inside Out?”
“Could be.”
“Meagan, my probability analysis is low on that assumption. Based on that, I should disagree with you, but something makes me think you are correct. I do not know why I think this.”
“That’s what we humans call a gut feeling, Jason.”
“I, however, have no gut.”
“Then call it intuition.” For the first time in a week, Meagan Fletcher was filled with hope and anticipation. “What do you say we see what we can find out about X-Boy?”
“I will have a report for you in the morning.”
“Thanks. Good night, Jason.”
“Good night, Meagan.”
• • •
AT 4:00 A.M. ON FRIDAY, Sam tried to rouse Cameron from his slumber. “Cameron, wake up,” said Sam softly. Cameron grunted and rolled over. “Cameron.” Sam’s volume had raised a notch or two.
“Hmm?” mumbled Cameron in his sleep.
“Cameron,” repeated Sam, another level louder and accompanied by flashing pulses of bright-colored lights from the view-screen. Cameron didn’t move. Sam considered how to wake Cameron without disturbing the rest of the Rush household. The answer seemed to lie with a low-volume, yet annoying sound. Sam quickly searched the comNet for the proper sound sample and loaded it. The AI captured an image of the bedroom into his memory, then performed some calculations.
Cameron was lying on his right side. Sam’s target was about three inches above Cameron’s left ear. Sam adjusted the surround-sound output to center on the target coordinates and play the sound sample at a very low volume. He then carefully modulated the speakers to give the sound a sense of movement.
The multiCom observed Cameron’s reaction to the sound near his ear. His hand came from beneath the sheets and waved reflexively above his ear, trying to silence the sound. Sam raised the volume slightly and moved the sound target within an inch of sleeping boy’s ear. Cameron’s hand swatted hard against his head, waking him abruptly.
“Dang mosquitoes!” said Cameron groggily as he flailed the air around his head with both hands.
Sam illuminated the room with a soft glow from the viewscreen.
“There are no mosquitoes, Cameron. I was at a loss on how to wake you without rousing the rest of the family.”
“What is it?” asked Cameron as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. Then, he realized what it must be. “Did the X-Boy site list Rosa and me? Did you notify Vee?”
“By answering the second question first, I will be answering the first. I have not alerted Vee because your names have not appeared on the X-Boy site.”
Cameron was more than a little perturbed. “Then why did you wake me at this hour, Sam?”
“This note was posted on the site at 3:59 this morning.” Sam displayed the note on the screen.
The last two students to be accepted to the IHT Academy will be announced sometime this weekend. Rumor has it that this team of fifteen-year-olds from the United States scored the highest total in the recent IHT Academy evaluation competition. What is strangest about this team is the fact that they live across the country from each other—and have never met.
X-Boy wishes all the IHT Academy students the best of luck.
“Contact Vee, please!” Cameron was fully awake now and his mind was racing with excitement as he hurriedly pulled on yesterday’s clothes. “It’s time to wake Rosa!”
• • •
MEAGAN FLETCHER went to the studio early that Friday morning. She had hardly slept as she tried to sort through all the questions that filled her mind. “Good morning, Jason,” she said as she entered her office. Meagan had gotten in the habit of leaving Jason’s view-screen on and the sliding wall panel open all the time. She now felt that closing the panel and turning off Jason’s “eyes” was akin to locking someone in a dark closet.
“You’re in early, Meagan.”
“Is that a surprise?”
“No. I anticipated your early arrival. You will find a hard copy of my report on the printScan.”
“Summary, please.”
“There is no way to trace the owner of the X-Boy site. All normal routes, such as site registration, etc., lead to dead ends. The site was extremely clean. However, it was not quite as tidy as the message.”
“Then you found something?”
“It’s something small.”
“Go on,” said Meagan. “We can use any lead we can get at the moment.”
“As you know, all postings are time-stamped,” Jason continued. Meagan nodded. “I decided to monitor the site continuously until X-Boy made his next post—for two reasons. First, there would be an outside chance that I could lock in a trace of the posting as it was being made. Early this morning, at approximately 1:59 local time, X-Boy posted this message.” Jason displayed the message Cameron and Rosa had viewed several hours earlier.
“Did you get a trace?”
“No.”
Meagan didn’t dwell on this further disappointment. “And what was your second reason?”
“Observe the time-stamp on the posting.”
Meagan located the string of letters and numbers that indicated exactly when the message was posted to the comNet. It showed that the message had been posted at 9:59 a.m. “But I thought you said it was posted at 1:59?”
“I did. 1:59 a.m.—local time.” Jason waited for Meagan to put it together.
“That’s Phoenix time,” said Meagan, “which means X-Boy is eight hours ahead of us.” She became excited at what the time difference meant. “Tell me that puts him in the same time zone as Oslo!”
“That puts him in the same time zone as Oslo,” said Jason.
“Gottcha, X-Boy!” declared Meagan confidently. “You’re the insider. You’re Inside Out.”
Chapter 16:
Flight to Phoenix
MEAGAN’S INVESTIGATION was put on hold after the announcement of the last two students to be admitted to the academy. As suggested by X-Boy’s posting, they were a pair of fifteen-year-olds, a boy and a girl, who had entered as a team. The girl lived on a ranch in New Mexico, while the boy came from a small town in Wisconsin. The network asked Meagan to report on the new academy’s student body and, in particular, the American students.
“Wouldn’t it be great,” said an associate producer of the WBN Tech Report, “if we could bring the American kids to Phoenix for an interview?”
The producer liked the idea. “A live show and have ’em all meet in person? Yeah, that’d sell. The audience would eat it up—especially when those last two… What’er their names…?”
“Rosa Costas and Cameron Rush,” said Meagan after consulting her notes.
“America’s long-distance sweethearts!” said the producer, gesturing as if she were reading from a large banner stretched in the air above them.
“We don’t know that they’re sweethearts, Emily,” said Meagan. “Sources say they haven’t even met.”
“All the better, Meagan—all the better!” Emily French spoke as if she were the announcer on a commercial: “America’s sweethearts! Are they or aren’t they? Find out as they meet for the first time live on WBN!”
She contemplated the sound of her own words for a moment. “Now that’d be great TV! The audience would absolutely EAT… IT… UP! Can you imagine the ratings?” The producer turned to her assistant. “Richard, I want you to get on it right away. Book the kids—and their families, I want them all—ASAP!” The assistant immediately rose from the conference room table and left the room. “Meagan…”
“Yes?”
“What d’ya know about the composition of the entire student body? How many Americans, Brits, and so on?”
The reporter leafed through her notes before answering. “Along with the four students from the United States, there are also four from Canada, three from Mexico and Central America, and seven from various countries in South America. Twenty more students came from the European Union, the Middle East, and Africa. By far the largest block of students, thirty-three, come from the “East”—Asia, the Indian sub-continent, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.”
“What do we know about the Americans?”
“Of the four students from the United States, Malik Simons is the oldest. He’s eighteen. Lives in a suburb of Atlanta. You already know about Rosa Costas and Cameron Rush. Rebecca Weingold is the youngest, at twelve. Raised by a single mom, she’s the one whose school had banned the IHT, so she’s now living with her aunt and uncle in Oregon, where she’ll enroll in a school that will accept the IHT.”
The producer smiled as she envisioned the scenario: “A single mother making a sacrifice for her daughter. A flight to escape censorship and discrimination! Don’t ya love it?”
• • •
WHILE THE MEETING was still going on in Phoenix, the phone rang in New Mexico. “¡Hola!” said Esmer Costas.
“Hello, is this the Costas residence?”
“Yes, it is. This is Esmeralda Costas speaking.”
“Rosa’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Richard Murphy. I work for WBN…”
Mrs. Costas put her hand over the phone and whispered to the man sitting across from her, “It’s WBN.”
The man raised his own phone to his ear, punched in some numbers, then spoke softly to someone on his line. “We’ve had a contact. Are we set?”
Richard Murphy continued, “We’d like to bring your family to Phoenix to participate in a show about the IHT Academy.”
The man with Esmer Costas gestured for her to let him talk. “Please hold. I have someone here who will talk to you about that.”
The man punched another number on his phone. “Good morning,” said the man. “This is Max Anderson of GundTech. I’m the representative for Rosa Costas. How can I help you?”
Richard Murphy was caught off-guard by this development. “GundTech…” he muttered.
“Yes, that’s correct. What can I do for you?”
Murphy quickly recovered and outlined his request for the man from GundTech.
“You’ll be happy to know you’re the first news organization to contact us.”
“Us?” asked the man from WBN.
“Yes. You’re on a conference call with the reps for all four American students.”
Debbie White and the other two reps introduced themselves.
Richard Murphy stammered, “Uh… er… well… I guess that saves me a lot of trouble.”
“Indeed it does, Mr. Murphy. The early bird books the interview, as they say. So let’s get down to business. I imagine you want an exclusive.”
Esmer Costas listened in as Max and the other reps negotiated with the man from WBN for the families they represented. Richard Murphy was so flustered that he, too, arranged a conference call with the producer, who was still in the meeting with Meagan Fletcher.
Finally, the date was set. The students and their families would fly first-class and have five-star accommodations at various Phoenix resorts. Each family would stay at a different resort to prevent them from meeting before the program and WBN would pick up all the expenses. The four representatives would also attend—at GundTech’s expense, of course.
Bernie and Rosa will be surprised, thought Esmer. In just three days, we’ll be in Phoenix!
• • •
DEBBIE PICKED UP the Rush family in a rented van at six in the morning. They then drove to the airport in La Crosse, which was located on an island in the Mississippi River. From there, they took a small commuter plane to Minneapolis/St. Paul.
They all sat together on the short flight to the Twin Cities, so Debbie took the opportunity to hand out a printed schedule of their trip. A limousine would pick them up at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport when they arrived at 11:23 a.m., Phoenix time, and they would be checked into their luxury hotel by a little past noon. After lunch they would be free to do whatever they liked—as long as they stayed within the resort, which was located at the base of Phoenix’s landmark South Mountain. There would be tennis, golf, swimming, and even horseback riding, if they liked.
When they arrived at the departure gate in Minneapolis, Debbie handed out their plane tickets. Jenny was standing at the terminal window, watching planes arrive and depart, when the airline’s gate attendant announced, “Flight 1024, nonstop to Phoenix is now boarding at gate C-12.” It was hard to hear over the noise of hundreds of people moving through this small section of the airport. “Flight 1024, non-stop to Phoenix is now boarding at gate C-12. We are now seating Flight Club members, first-class passengers, and those who need assistance with boarding.”
“First class! That’s you!” Debbie White called out. Ed and Mary Rush moved with Debbie toward the gate while Cameron collected Jenny from the window. As they entered the aircraft, the Rushes took their seats in the first-class cabin, with Jenny and Cameron seated directly behind their parents. Jenny had snagged the coveted window seat through a coin toss at dinner the night before. Cameron would have the window on the return trip.
The rest of the passengers had started to board before Cameron noticed Debbie wasn’t with them. He stood and talked over the back of the seat to his parents. “Where’s Debbie? I thought she was coming with us.”
Just then, Debbie came down the aisle and gave him a playful rub on the top of the head as she moved past into the cabin behind first class.
“Aren’t you sitting with us?” asked Cameron.
Debbie laughed. “We never fly first class on company money.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll survive. Enjoy yourself while you can, Cameron, because your life is about to change.”
When breakfast was served, even Jenny was impressed. She got so much more than peanuts in first class. The food was actually good. She had fresh-squeezed orange juice in a real glass glass, a huge, hot cinnamon bun with heaps of frosting, and a bowl of fruit!
Even though Cameron was excited, he felt a pang of guilt as he looked toward the back of the plane and saw Debbie sitting in coach.
When they disembarked in Phoenix, they were greeted by a chauffeur holding a sign with “Rush Party” printed on it in large blue letters. He led them to the baggage claim area and hailed a skycap to help gather their luggage. Debbie, Cameron, and his dad waited by the baggage carousel with the skycap as the driver took Mrs. Rush, Jenny, and the carry-on bags to the limousine.
The chauffeur returned before the first piece of luggage appeared on the carousel. Cameron was anxious to be on his way, but his impatience just made the wait for their suitcases seem that much longer. After what seemed like an eternity, the last piece of luggage tumbled onto the revolving carousel. Cameron quickly snatched it and handed it to the skycap. There was a bounce in his step as Cameron led the way to the sliding glass doors of the terminal. The sight of the long, white stretch limo standing at the curb outside added even more to his excitement. The doors glided open as he approached, and Cameron was almost knocked backward as a wall of hot air assaulted him.
The skycap grinned as he came alongside. “Welcome to Phoenix, young sir. You caught us on a chilly day. I hope you brought a jacket. It’s only 108 degrees out!”
Cameron’s bounce wilted rapidly as he covered the short distance to the car. The cool interior air was a welcome relief as he slumped into a seat in the dark, cavernous passenger cabin of the limousine.
His mom laughed as she handed him a soda from the car’s fully stocked refrigerator. “But it’s a dry heat.”
Chapter 17:
Live from
WBN
THIS TRANSCRIPT IS MADE AVAILABLE BY THE WBN PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT. THIS COPY IS ONLY PRELIMINARY AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the World Broadband Network studios in Phoenix, Arizona, we present a special edition of Technology World with Meagan Fletcher.”
(APPLAUSE)
MEAGAN FLETCHER, WBN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to this special edition of WBN’s Technology World. The subject of tonight’s show is GundTech’s controversial new IHT technology and their IHT International Academy, which is scheduled to go into session in just a few weeks.
I’m joined tonight by a small studio audience. I had a chance to talk with the audience before the show and I discovered that, while it is not a scientific sampling, the audience does represent the full spectrum of viewpoints on this new technology.
George Wilson, you work at an aerospace company, is that right?
GEORGE WILSON, AUDIENCE MEMBER: That’s correct.
FLETCHER: And you’re a deacon in your church.
WILSON: Yes, ma’am. That’s right.
FLETCHER: Tell our viewers what you were saying earlier.
WILSON: I, uh, was just saying that this new technology is very dangerous, particularly for our kids. And I don’t mean just the physical danger, either.
FLETCHER: How so?
WILSON: Pornography. Violent games. Addiction. Stuff like that. We all remember when the Internet became popular back when we were kids. It was overrun with pornographers, child predators, and the like. It was never really brought under control. And the kids nowadays are so darn clever, they can bypass just about any channel-blocker that can be thought up. If the stories you all have told us are true, the IHT’s degree of realism will just boost GundTech’s business. Our children will become virtual reality zombies.