The Kingdom

by Jess Rothenberg

  Just like it’s hard to ignore the look in his eyes.

  Guilty.

  “I can explain.” He is out of breath from running. “I swear I can.”

  He’s not close enough. Not yet. Just a few more feet.

  “I’m tired of lies,” I tell him, waving the notebook at him. “I’m tired of words that aren’t true.”

  “I didn’t lie,” he insists. “At least, not to you. Actually—I’ve lied to everyone but you.” He reaches for my arm, but I pull away.

  “Don’t.”

  “Please, Ana.” His eyes search mine. “Won’t you let me explain?”

  “Extremely gullible. Easily controlled. Like a child.”

  He reaches for me again, but this time I shove him up against the rails. My strength surprises him—I can see it in his eyes—but it surprises me more.

  “What are you doing?” His voice wavers. “Ana, wait.”

  I breathe hard, inching him closer to the edge. My whole life, I’ve been taught to be sweet. Calm. Obedient. I’ve been taught that I am weak. But now, seeing how easily I have him pinned, how easily I could throw him to his death, I realize that I am not weak. They only taught me to believe that I was.

  I smile.

  And I lean into him harder.

  “I didn’t mean it,” he pleads. “I only said that stuff so the team would back off watching you. I did it to help you, Ana. I did it to help us.”

  My eyes narrow. “What team? What are you talking about?”

  “It’s what I told you. You’re adapting, becoming something else. Something so much more evolved than they planned. Eve. Nia. So many of the hybrids.” His voice is emotional in a way I cannot pinpoint. “It’s happening to you,” he says. “Can’t you see that? I can’t stand what they’re making me do.”

  “So leave,” I say coldly. “Nobody’s forcing you to stay.”

  “I don’t care about the job, Ana. I just care about you. You’re the one who should leave.”

  “I am a Fantasist.” My voice trembles. “The Kingdom is my home. I belong here.”

  Even as I say it, I know it’s a lie.

  I don’t belong anywhere.

  Does that make me a liar, too?

  “They programmed you to control you,” he shoots back. “And when they find out they can’t control you anymore…”

  “Then they’ll shut us down!” I scream. “And so what? Isn’t that what you want, Owen? You hate the Hybrid Program.”

  “What?” Owen’s face looks pained, as if my words have cut him deeply. “I don’t hate it, not at all, I’m just trying to save—”

  “I’m not one of your stupid butterflies,” I snap. “I don’t need you to save me.”

  With that, I reveal the knife.

  His eyes go wide.

  I point the blade right at him.

  “I would never lie to you,” Owen says. “Please, Ana. You have to believe me.”

  “I don’t have to do anything.”

  For once, I’m going to do what I want to do.

  Slowly, I step away from him—and throw his notebook into the incinerator, watch its leather case swivel into the burning darkness with a flapping hiss.

  Then I turn to Owen, to finish what I started.

  54

  911 EMERGENCY CALL TRANSCRIPT

  SEPTEMBER 4, 2095. 7:34 A.M.

  [begin audio recording]

  9-1-1 DISPATCH: This is 9-1-1, what is your emergency?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, hi, this is the security director at the Kingdom. We’ve had an, uh, incident and need someone to respond.

  9-1-1 DISPATCH: What kind of incident, sir?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe we’ve got a member of our staff missing.

  9-1-1 DISPATCH: Please stay on the line for Castle Rock Police Department.

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.

  OPERATOR: Castle Rock PD.

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I’ve got a missing person to report.

  OPERATOR: Okay, how old?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nineteen. Male. He’s a junior member of our research staff.

  OPERATOR: And when was the last time you saw this person?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our cameras picked him up heading into the woods behind North Lot B parking just before midnight.

  OPERATOR: Was he alone?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Silence.]

  OPERATOR: Hello?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. He wasn’t alone.

  OPERATOR: Who was with him?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of our Fantasists. One of our hybrid girls.

  OPERATOR: Oh. [Pause.] Do you believe he’s, uh, harmed her in some way, sir?

  UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, [inaudible] … we think maybe she killed him.

  [end audio recording]

  55

  TRIAL TRANSCRIPT

  MS. BELL: Let’s revisit the timeline of the evening of September 3—the night of Mr. Chen’s alleged murder—and into the early morning hours of September 4. If you’d direct your attention to the front screen, I’d like to walk you through a series of brief surveillance clips, several of which were actually taken from Ana’s ocular camera lenses. Which means you will see exactly what Ana saw—in real time. We believe these clips not only support the State’s theory—that Ana murdered Owen in cold blood after learning he didn’t reciprocate her obsessive feelings—but prove it, beyond any reasonable doubt.

  Be warned, one of these shots is extremely graphic. Lights, please?

  [Continues talking as clips begin to play.]

  This first image was taken at 10:47 p.m. from Security Camera 4301D by the Serendipity Launch in Magic Land. You can very clearly see Ana becoming physically violent with Owen, and by now you’ve heard from several witnesses who claimed to have seen them “arguing loudly.” [Pause.] Just to be clear, this footage puts us roughly forty-five minutes prior to the altercation captured on Security Camera 1A09 in North Lot B.

  [Projector clicks.]

  Now, fifteen minutes later at 11:02 p.m., we see a video clip taken by Security Camera 5326F in Paleo Land, showing Ana and Owen making their way in the direction of North Lot B, following their initial disagreement in Magic Land. Please note how Ana’s hand is firmly gripping Mr. Chen’s wrist. Can we zoom in there and replay that, please? Thank you. [Pause.] Right. As you see, she’s pretty clearly pulling him along.

  [Projector clicks.]

  All right. [Pause.] 11:47 p.m. So this, ladies and gentlemen, is the first, albeit glitched, sequence taken from Ana’s live stream, given the Kingdom’s wireless signal had started to fade. At this point, Owen is running through the woods. And Ana is chasing him.

  [Projector clicks.]

  Two minutes later, 11:50 p.m., we see a second sequence taken from Ana’s ocular lenses, still slightly fuzzy due to the increasingly bad signal. However, we can still clearly see dark flashes of the woods as she’s dragging his body toward the tunnels, pinpointing her attack on Owen as having occurred in the three-minute window between 11:47 and 11:50 p.m. We see streaks of moonlight through the trees. And then we pause. Right … here. [Video clip freezes on a gruesome shot of Owen. His throat is cut, and his face and nose appear bloody. There’s a look of terror in his eyes as he stares up at Ana.]

  [Audible gasps and cries in the courtroom.]

  MS. BELL: [Softly.] By this point, ladies and gentlemen, Ana, a Kingdom Fantasist, has just slashed a staff member’s throat—using the very pocketknife she stole from him, mind you. Deliberate and premeditated, for this exact purpose. [Video resumes.] Now we watch until her live stream cuts out as she drags him through the woods, employing literally inhuman strength, toward the park’s tunnels, where all evidence indicates that she will soon throw his body into the incinerator. [Pause.] Like a piece of trash.

  [Court is silent. Projector clicks.]

  MS: BELL: At 12:12 a.m., roughly twenty-five minutes from the time their altercation began, Ana exits the woods adjacent to North Lot B. Let us note … the bloodstains
on her dress. And the fact that she is now completely, undeniably alone.

  [Projector clicks.]

  Thirty minutes later, at 12:42 a.m., we see Ana kneeling by the lagoon, staring at her bloodied reflection in the water.

  [Projector clicks.]

  Finally, in the last recording of the night, taken at 1:07 a.m., we hear the blare of Kingdom sirens. We see Ana’s wrists cuffed. And we watch through her eyes as the park’s head trainer, Mr. Cameron Casey, and chief supervisor, Dr. William Foster, load her into an armored vehicle to be taken out of the Kingdom for a thorough final examination … and eventual shutdown—although such action was postponed until after the trial, which meant she was placed in Castle Rock state custody for the twelve intervening months. And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to today.

  56

  THE SEPTEMBER OF THE SAOLA

  ONE YEAR BEFORE THE TRIAL

  By the time I arrive at the lagoon later that night, blood soaking through my sleeves—most of it Owen’s—a calm has settled over me.

  My motor hums quietly. My breathing has slowed.

  I do not have much time. The security guards will be here soon.

  I make my way to the water and whisper one of Mother’s favorite mindful meditations. “Do not struggle. Do not resist. Always calm. Always safe.” Slowly, I kneel to look at my reflection.

  The girl staring back is beautiful.

  Big, bluish-gray eyes. Wavy russet hair. Lychee-pink lips.

  A gown of shimmering Venetian silk and frothy, stardust tulle.

  Just like they designed me.

  And yet, I hardly recognize her.

  Her dress is streaked with blood. Her eyes are wet with tears. And in her hand, she holds a knife.

  In my mind, I can see him smiling.

  I see him promising me everything. Promising me freedom.

  In truth, I have never really understood what this word means.

  Freedom.

  For several minutes, there is nothing but the sigh of the wind. The gentle lapping of the lagoon. The late-night call of a whip-poor-will. But before long, my ears begin to pick up the nearly muted hum of a motion detector. A sound too low for human ears to process but well within my measurable range. I hear a low, slow grinding as the camera’s lens locks and zooms onto me. The slicing of shutter blades. The shrill dot of a laser light, its beam scattered white by the moon.

  I grip the knife tightly.

  They are watching.

  And so I do the thing I always do—the very thing I was programmed to do—any time a camera is pointed in my direction.

  I smile.

  57

  TRIAL TRANSCRIPT

  MS. BELL: Now, ladies and gentlemen, to briefly review the physical evidence, we have … [Powers on projector screen.]

  Exhibit 1: Shredded fabric from Mr. Chen’s shirt, recovered in the tract of woods behind Fantasist Operations. Note the heavy bloodstains.

  [Projector flashes.]

  Exhibit 2: Mr. Chen’s pocketknife, partially recovered in the incinerator.

  [Projector flashes.]

  Exhibit 3: Mr. Chen’s medical ID bracelet, recovered from the incinerator below the park—accessible through a tunnel entrance in the same tract of woods where he went missing.

  [Projector flashes.]

  Exhibit 4: A video-still taken from Ana’s own ocular cameras as she dragged Owen through the woods, his throat clearly—gruesomely—slashed, in the exact direction, as supported by her GPS navigational pings, of the incinerator. And last but not least …

  [Projector flashes.]

  Exhibit 5: A surveillance photograph of Ana taken at the lagoon at approximately 12:42 a.m. on the morning of September 4, minutes prior to her recovery, in a gown noticeably streaked with blood proven by DNA analysis to belong to Mr. Chen.

  [Lights come up. Courtroom is silent.]

  MS. BELL: Your Honor, I’d like to call Cameron Casey back to the stand.

  [Brief pause while witness takes the stand and is sworn in.]

  MS. BELL: Good morning.

  MR. CASEY: Morning, ma’am.

  MS. BELL: Can you describe for me what you saw on the video feed from the night of September third?

  MR. CASEY: Yeah. I saw Mr. Chen and Ana together by the woods.

  MS. BELL: And what were they doing?

  MR. CASEY: At first, they were talking. And then, I dunno, stuff heated up a little. They started arguing. He got a little, uh, physical with her and she tried to get away. I saw her take off into the woods, and he chased after her.

  MS. BELL: Then what happened?

  MR. CASEY: Well, they were gone a while. Twenty-five minutes, maybe thirty. Then I saw her come out of the woods and head toward Sea Land.

  MS. BELL: How do you know she was going to Sea Land?

  MR. CASEY: [Pause.] Huh? Oh, I just meant, you know, [clears throat] since that’s where we ultimately found her.

  MS. BELL: [Frowns.] Was she alone?

  MR. CASEY: Yeah. She looked like a ghost at first. Freaked me out, if you want to know the truth. Then I saw she was limping a little. And she had something on her.

  MS. BELL: What was it?

  MR. CASEY: I mean, it looked like blood.

  MS. BELL: What did you do?

  MR. CASEY: I radioed the head of my department. And then he called Dr. Foster to get him down to the park to figure out what was going on.

  MS. BELL: And—do park trainers typically watch security camera feeds?

  MR. CASEY: Of course. I couldn’t be in ten places at once, right? The cameras helped me monitor my animals all over the park.

  MS. BELL: But … there weren’t any hybrid animals at the lagoon, correct? Not after the Kingdom shut it down following the incident with Pania?

  MR. CASEY: [Hesitates.]

  MS. BELL: And if there weren’t any animals at the lagoon … can you explain why you switched security channels to that particular feed?

  MR. HAYES: Objection. Relevance?

  THE COURT: Overruled.

  MS. BELL: I guess what I’m getting at is why watch a security feed if there’s nothing to see? Unless … [pause] … was there something to see, Mr. Casey?

  MR. CASEY: Uh, well. [Clears throat, visibly uncomfortable.] It was something Owen said, I guess. He’d been bragging about Ana to a bunch of us. Said he could get her to do whatever he wanted and that we should keep a close eye on the lagoon if we wanted to see a good show. [Shrugs.] So, yeah. I dunno. I guess I was curious.

  58

  KINGDOM CORP. SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE TAPE 3

  [Court views digital video footage taken in the early morning hours of September 4 from Security Camera 33C24, positioned inside Sea Land Stadium, with 360-degree rotation over stands and lagoon.]

 

  12:55 A.M.: Two male figures enter the stadium’s ground level, their voices audible over the camera’s speakers.

  MALE 1: Where is she?

  MALE 2: This way, Dr. Foster. Sorry to call you down here so late, but I was worried she might be unstable and thought it might be better that you approach her before I did.

  MALE 1: You should always call me. I don’t care what time it is.

  MALE 2: Yes, sir.

  [Camera follows them; slowly rotates toward stadium’s fifty-foot-high diving board, where a female figure in a long evening gown stands motionless, gazing down into the lagoon.]

  MALE 2: Cameras picked up some kind of fight near the parking lot with that kid from your research team, Chen. Then she led us here. I figure some kind of acute anxiety reaction.

  MALE 1: Stay here. [Approaches pool slowly.] Ana? What are you doing up there? You need to come down. You could get hurt.

  [Silence.]

  MALE 1: You know you can always talk to me. You know I am always here to listen.

  [After close to a minute, Ana begins to turn toward the camera.]

  MALE 1: That’s a good girl. You are a very good girl.

  [Camera zooms closer. In the
moonlight, Ana is smiling. Her dress and hands appear to be covered in dark, bloodlike stains.]

  FEMALE 1: Am I in trouble, Daddy?

  59

  TRIAL TRANSCRIPT

  MS. BELL: [To the jury.] The defense wants you to believe these are isolated, random incidences. The park wants you to believe the simplest explanation is the right one. Mechanical error. Technological failure.

  But what about their own failure to do the right thing? To end a program that’s not only inhumane, but deeply problematic in its practice. A program that has proven, one “incident” at a time, that something very dangerous is going on inside the Kingdom’s gates. A change, spreading among the hybrids like a disease. An evolution. And Ana is the very culmination of that evolution—showing us just how little control the park truly has over its creations. In the end, we’re not asking you to buy into some make-believe story we’re selling, as they are. We are simply asking you to look at the facts.

  Fact one. Hybrids can feel. We know it. We understand it. The polar bear. Even Ana. Each of whom lashed out in violence following years of unimaginable cruelty and abuse.

  Fact two. During the park’s study, Ana developed obsessive romantic feelings toward Owen Chen.

  Fact three. She believed—she hoped—Owen would help her escape, as he promised he would.

  Fact four. He lied to her. He betrayed her trust. He broke her heart.

  Fact five. She became angry. Enraged. And, with the very knife she had stolen from him—a knife she kept hidden over many weeks—Ana plotted her revenge. She saw the line of morality. She understood it. And she made the conscious choice to cross it.

  Ladies and gentlemen, Ana is a living, breathing, moral agent who should be held accountable for her actions, just as Kingdom Corp. should be held accountable for theirs. And so, I ask you—for Owen, for Nia, and for Ana—it is time to do the right thing. The Kingdom must end their Fantasist Program. Forever.

  Thank you.