Transient - Complete Book One (Episodes 1 - 4) (Transient Serial) Page 13

  “How are you doing today?”Samantha asked Danielle.

  “Great, thank you,”She had a cute French accent.

  “Danielle, I have some other of your friends on the line too, and I want to get everyone in here before we start. Benny, are you there?”

  “I’m here.”It was a male voice, deep, with a British accent.

  I knew it, Rae thought, gratified.

  “Benny, you’re from Hong Kong, is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “From Chinese descent, if I’m correct?”

  “That is correct, yes.”

  None of their pictures were showing on the monitor. Instead, the director was putting up silhouettes, which Rae thought made them look vaguely sinister, like they had something to hide.

  Just avatars, she thought.

  But for some reason the director had choses some scary-looking ones.

  Like we’re criminals, or something.

  A third‘shady’silhouette popped up on the screen. Each of the three had a name under it, and the third name was Halldor.

  “And finally Halldor, from Iceland. Are you there, Halldor?”

  “I’m here.”

  The accent was Nordic, though Rae would not have been able to tell what country Halldor was from if she didn’t know already. His voice was more high-pitched than she’d imagined. For some reason, she’d thought Halldor would have a deep voice and Benny a high voice, but in fact it was exactly the reverse.

  “Okay, welcome everyone. Let’s start with Rae, since you’re here with us in the studio. First, would you say you’re the ringleader of this little group?”

  Ringleader?It was a weird question, Rae thought. She chuckled nervously“We’re just friends.”

  “And you met online, you say?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And is there one place that you all like to hang out?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like on Facebook or Cracker, or some kind of forum?”

  Rae promised Apollo she wouldn’t get specific about that. But she didn’t want to lie.“We hang out in different places.”

  It wasn’t exactly a lie, because the forum had a bunch of rooms to it, and there was a chatroom, but for all Rae knew they belonged to the same server, and certainly the same system, so it wasn’t actually that truthful and she didn’t feel like she was fooling anyone.

  I’m a terrible liar.

  But Samantha seemed to take that at face value, and moved on.“So you’re all transients, and Rae says you’re all going to die on the same day.”

  Everyone chimed in with agreement. That was one of the things they all wanted to talk about, how the cryptograph was full of odd coincidences and things that just didn’t make sense when you started to think about them closely, and talk them over with your friends.

  “That’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it?”Samantha commented.

  “It is strange,”Rae agreed.

  “We all thought it was really weird at first, that we would all die on the same day,”said Danielle,“but now it’s okay, almost cool in a way.”

  “Yeah,”Halldor agreed.“It’s what brought us together and now we’re friends, so even though it’s weird, it’s okay.”

  Samantha nodded, picking up the point.“Almost a blessing then, wouldn’t you say, Rae?”

  “As much as early death can be a blessing.”That sounded too harsh she realized, but then pressed on.“But it really got us thinking about the test. How is it possible that we would all die on the same day? Maybe there’s some connection between us, something we haven’t seen yet.”

  “But lots of people die every day,”Samantha pointed out.

  “Yes, but we’re all transient and besides us, we also know of many others scheduled to die on the same day too. And maybe a lot more we don’t know about.”

  “And you find that odd?”Samantha asked.

  “Don’t you?”

  The news lady paused, then jumped into the silence.“No, not particularly. You’re from all around the world. How many people from all around the world are going to die today, for example? More than a few hundred I’m sure, given the latest population count. The only thing surprising and kind of wonderful, I think, is that you all found each other on the Internet, and bonded together, and became such good friends - almost a club. Which brings me to something I wanted to ask. How did you find each other, if not on social media? If you’re not the leader Rae, then who’s behind this group?”

  Now Rae didn’t care for Samantha’s tone, or the direction of her questions. She seemed to be probing a conspiracy, looking for clues, using words like‘leader’and‘group.’

  “We’re not a group,”Rae insisted for the second time.“We’re just friends.”

  Samantha furrowed her brow. She seemed confused and checked her notes, which were written on some papers lying on the table in front of her.

  “But aren’t you the Tetrad?”

  Rae didn’t know what she was talking about; had never heard the word before.

  “The what?”

  “The Tetrad, the four of you. Don’t you call yourself the Tetrad?”

  “No,”Rae said, feeling unsettled.“I don’t know anything about that. We’re just a bunch of friends who share the same concern about the cryptograph, and have a lot of questions that people aren’t asking about but maybe should be.”This was the true reason behind contacting the TV channel and for their appearance on the show, she remembered.

  “And it’s about time this got out into the open instead of being whispered about in secret, like how the test is a little strange and doesn’t make sense, not when you think about it. Who are OBK who sponsored Dr Lakeb and Oberkampf? And what is the test doing to us as a society? We’re classifying ourselves into all these groups, Transients and Constants and Interims, or whatever. And our lives are decided for us before they even begin really, and at sixteen years old some doctor can tell you, some testcan tell you that you can’t go to college and you can’t have kids and you can’t fall in love and the only friends you get to have now are people just like you, people who are going to die young. And that isn’t it strange that you’ll all die on the same day, the same exact day, but we can’t tell you how or where, just when? And there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re dead - good luck with that - thanks and have a nice day.”

  All the while Samantha was nodding, taking notes and crossing items off her list, and then adding more to the notes.

  “So this is why you’re protesting,”she said.

  “Protesting?”Rae echoed, baffled.

  “Isn’t this what your social rebellion is about, what the Tetrad is about?”

  Where is she getting this stuff?

  “No, I…”she began, and then didn’t know what to say.

  “Your friends are being very quiet,”Samantha said.“Benny, especially Aren’t you the most public face of this group?”she asked, addressing him.“Your artwork is known all around the art world, and now people are calling it protest art, and that there’s some kind of message to your work. Art is sometimes confusing to people, let’s admit that right here, especially modern art. People can read so much into art. And people have. Especially the experts. Your movement, which started as an art movement, is a form of social protest, is it not? And now with the Tetrad, with your friends here, it seems to be taking a new form, not just art but a call for social justice. Is that what this is?”

  There was a silence on the line.

  “Benny, are you there? Is he there? Do we still have him?”

  “I’m here,”Benny confirmed.

  “What did you want to say today?”

  “My art speaks for itself. I don’t interpret it. I leave that to others.”

  “But others areinterpreting it. And now you’re here, or at least we have you on audio, now that you’ve got a voice as well as an image, because we’re giving you a voice today Benny, what is it that you want to say the world? Feel free to say whatever it
is you want to say, rather than worry about your art being misinterpreted.”

  “I’m just here to support my friends.”

  “Is it true then, that you’rethe ringleader?”

  “Ringleader?”He laughed at that.“I’m no ringleader. I don’t even run the group. Talk to Apollo about that.”

  Samantha’s face changed in an instant.

  Oh, no.

  “What site, Benny? Who’s Apollo?”she asked.

  Silence on the line. Too late, Benny realized he’d said too much. He hadn’t meant to, of course, but he wasn’t used to talking to people in public. Even though he was the most famous of the group, he was also the most reclusive and Samantha had gotten him to speak up, and now he was flustered and had said too much, and now wasn’t saying anything at all.

  “Danielle,”Samantha asked again,“who is Apollo?”

  More silence.

  Rae wanted to speak, but didn’t know what to say. The situation was getting worse by the moment; it was all going wrong. They weren’t supposed to mention Apollo at all. He was adamant about that. He made them promise. Because he was completely paranoid. Even the username might be enough to give them, whoever they were, what they needed to track him down and punish him.

  She felt sorry for Benny.

  Samantha filled the dead airtime with another question,“Halldor, this site…Benny mentioned a site. Is there a URL we can link to? I really want to give you kids a chance to speak out, to let your voices be heard on behalf of all the other Transients out there.”

  She paused, but Halldor too said nothing.

  Samantha looked at Rae who was on camera and in the room with her and couldn’t avoid questions just by clamming up because there were three cameras pointed directly at her, and hot lights and the director in the booth and the people all around waiting for answers.“Rae. Tell me about the site. The Tetrad site.”

  “There is no Tetrad site,”Rae said firmly, and it was true as far as it went because Rae didn’t recognise the word and didn’t even know where Tetrad came from.

  “Do you know a man named Apollo?”

  He’s not a man. He’s just a kid.

  But what she said was,“I’ve never met him.”And then quickly:“But what I didn’t talk about was transients, and how so many have dropped out and how society is wasting people’s lives, wasting a valuable resource. Transients are people, too. And it’s not enough to say,‘My mom’s transient,’or‘my kid’s transient,’or‘I have a friend who’s transient.’Because what that does is just get rid of the guilt. As if it’s okay that you shun those about to die, just because one of them used to be your friend. And it’s not okay. That’s my message. We’re people. We’re people, just like you or anybody else. And to turn away from your friends just because they took a test and got an answer you don’t like, that’s wrong. We should all be recognized as people, with the same rights as everyone. No one should have to lose a mother or daughter or friend just because they’re transient. If you have a friend and they become a transient, they should still be your friend. Because they’re still the same person down deep inside. They’re still your friend.”

  “Thank you Rae,”Samantha said sagely.“That was very brave of you.”

  Rae breathed out, and tried to relax a little. The interview had taken a dangerous turn for the worst, but she had made the best of it and the segment was almost over. There was a digital clock behind the camera, ticking down the final seconds before the commercial break. Then she could leave, go home and apologize to Apollo for making such a mess of things, and hopefully he would forgive her, and know she did her best.

  It was almost over, and the clock was down to ten, nine, eight—

  Please, let this be over.

  At least, she knew it couldn’t get worse.

  Seven, six, five—

  Samantha turned away from Rae and directly to the camera.

  “And for our next segment we’re going to bring on two special guests, Rae’s best friends, Jenny Morehead and Logan Suttor, who featured in our original report. Stay tuned.”

  Chapter 1 4

  Jenny and Logan entered the studio one by one. Jenny was dressed in a pretty two-piece suit, looking considerably more mature now, even though it had been only a couple of months since Rae had last seen her.

  She looks like a grown-up.

  Logan too wore a suit, a darker one, and his hair was shorter, and he seemed more tanned, but that could easily be the make-up. They had both wore ear pieces.

  An assistant brought two more chairs to the glass table.

  Samantha said,“Rae, you want to say hi to your friends before we go live? We only have a minute till the next segment.”

  What does she mean? I thought I was done. What about Halldor and Benny and Danielle?

  Rae stood up awkwardly.“I didn’t know there was more than one segment.”

  “There’s two today. Hi, Jenny. Hi, Logan.”The news lady shook hands with the newcomers.“You know Rae, of course.”

  She stood back from the table and the audio guy commanded in a panicked tone.“Wait! Stop there. Stay still.”

  Rae was still wired to the mic on her shirt, and she’d almost walked too far and pulled out the wire.“Sorry.”

  Logan came to her and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She didn’t know how to react to that at first with Jenny standing right there, but after the initial shock her arms were around his body and she was squeezing him back, maybe too tightly but she didn’t care. He felt so good, the warmth of his body pressed against hers, with his arms around her and for a brief moment she felt something she hadn’t felt in forever. Maybe it was attraction or acceptance, or friendship, or just a simple human connection. But whatever it was, she didn’t want to let go of it.

  “Twenty seconds,”the director said.

  She let go of Logan and Jenny stepped in quickly for a more reserved greeting.

  “Hey,”she said.

  “Hey,”Rae answered.

  They looked at each other, but their gazes didn’t quite meet and Rae knew they both felt terrible about everything that happened, but there was nothing to be done.

  Except this. This interview.

  In front of thousands of people, maybe millions.

  I’m not ready for this.

  She sat back down and so did the others, and the audio guy clipped on mics for Logan and Jenny, and Margaret did a quick spot check for sweaty brows, but the makeup lady only had time to dry the shiny spots from Samantha’s face, because the director said,“Five, four, three...”

  The crew stepped off the set, the guests and the talent adjusted their chairs and their clothes and the red light was on the camera, and it was time.

  “Welcome back. I’m Samantha Morris, and you’re watching The Conversationon Channel Four. During our last segment we spoke with Rae Lennox and the other members of the Tetrad, the new social protest group that everyone is talking about.”

  They are?Rae thought. Had Apollo missed something online? Something important? Something about them? Had something gone viral? One of Benny’s protest pieces maybe? Or was Samantha just trying to make this seem bigger than it was, trying to drum up ratings?

  That’s it. That must be it.

  Samantha continued,“Jenny Morehead is with us this afternoon. Hi Jenny and welcome.”

  “Thank you so much for having me on your show.”Her friend seemed much more relaxed now in front of the cameras, like she had been trained, or had much more practice.

  Jenny, what happened to you? Rae wanted to ask, but the cameras were rolling, and people were watching and this was the most awkward thing that had ever happened to Rae.

  “Also today we have Logan Suttor. Welcome, Logan.”

  “Thank you so much,”Logan gushed.“I love your show. I can’t believe I finally get to meet you, Samantha, and you’re even prettier in person.”

  Samantha blushed.

  Classic Logan. Rae felt a sudden longing creep in and tried to supp
ress it, without much luck.

  Samantha went on.“So I’m thrilled we could finally talk to all of you together in one place, because this is a very important topic, the cryptograph, and it touches each of us in so many ways.”

  “It sure does,”Jenny replied smiling.

  “Just so we’re clear here, I need to let the audience know that although you and Logan are here representing OBK, you’re not actual spokespeople for Dr. Lakeb and Dr. Oberkampf, is that correct?”

  Representing OBK…What?

  “That’s correct,”Logan confirmed.“We don’t speak for the lab as such. Not on anything technical, political or business-related or any of that. Our job is to help put the word out.”

  “Youth outreach,”Jenny put in.

  “Yes, that’s why the company brought us in. Youth outreach.”

  “And this show, The Conversationon Channel Four played a role in that, didn’t it?”Samantha asked, with more than a hint of pride.

  Jenny beamed.“It sure did.”

  “You interviewed us,”Logan said,“and then days later a lady from OBK called us.”

  Rae was reeling. In the course of only a few years, OBK had become the most powerful corporation the world had ever known. They now made more money than Exxon, had their fingers in more pies than General Electric, innovated more than Apple, and were more tech savvy than Google. Because of the cryptograph and their resultant success in the healthcare industry and on Wall Street, they had succeeded in lobbying first the U.S. government to mainstream the test and quickly thereafter other governments throughout the world, as well as the United Nations. As a result, they had usurped the power not only of the world’s dominant industrial players, put also the political powers.

  Because unlike most multinational corporations, OBK lobbied governments on humanitarian grounds. Their cryptograph technology was not only an incredible invention, but a necessary improvement to people’s lives and wellbeing. Every democratic leader, every dictator, every political committee in the world wanted to promise their own people what OBK, and only OBK, could give them. OBK owned the patents to the greatest invention the world had ever known, and with the patents came the money.