Transient - Complete Book One (Episodes 1 - 4) (Transient Serial) Page 14

  And with money came power.

  “Logan, actually,”Jenny clarified.“She called Logan.”

  “And this lady was from OBK headquarters?”Samantha asked.

  “Yes, their PR person.”

  “And what did she say?”Samantha asked in a tone that suggested she knew full well what the answer was, Rae realised.

  “Well,”Logan went on,“first she said that we did a great job on television, with the interview, yourinterview—thank you so much for that—and said they were looking for some kids who could talk to the media, and talk to other high-school kids or a few years younger, who are worried maybe about taking the cryptograph.”

  “I see.”Samantha nodded, seemingly fascinated by Logan’s every word.“And what specifically is your message?”

  “Well,”Jenny took up the baton.“First, we talked about compliance.”

  Logan put a hand on Jenny’s hand to stop her, and then he said,“We started there, with compliance. Their word. But that’s not something kids want to hear, really.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well,‘compliance’can be a dirty word to some people,”Logan said.“It’s like obeying. Everyone needs to obey the laws and obey their teachers, and to do what the doctors tell them to do, for example, but kids, when they get to a certain age, after they’ve grown up a little and had some experience with the world, they don’t always want to do everything they’re told. That true for young kids, too I suppose, but teenagers generally don’t like authority. They don’t always respect it like they did when they were little. That’s part of what being a teenager is all about, right? Your late teenage years are when you step out of the protection of your parents, away from the authority figures in your life, and step into yourself, your newself, the adult you want to become. And it’s not an easy transition for a lot of kids.”

  “Mostkids,”Jenny said jokily.

  “Great point, Jenny. Most kids. Almost no one has an easy time through adolescence. Take me, for example.”

  “Sure,”said Samantha, but she might as well have said something like‘any time.’She was practically drooling over Logan with that look she was giving him. The lady had lost her professional composure, and now she seemed like yet another smitten fan of the high school jock.

  Embarrassing.

  "I've had a lot of advantages; don't get me wrong,”Logan continued.“I’m healthy and I grew up in a great town and have a good home and lots of friends. But life hasn't always been easy, even for me. With school and football there’s a lot of authority figures telling what to do, how to be better, what’s expected of me, how I need to be responsible all the time. And sometimes I feel like rebelling. So I understand that urge. Everyone has that, I think. I want to yell at my coach or my mom. My dad's not around anymore, so that's part of it maybe, but I see it in other kids too. We all have that instinct. And we don't want to face facts sometimes, and death is the hardest fact of all. It scares people. This generation has it tough, especially tough I think, because of the new rules and the kind of authority the older generation never had to deal with - someone telling them they have to take this mandatory test so they can evaluate lifespan and when they’re going to die. No matter what the result of the test is, you can't get around the fact that it will change your life, just knowing about it. It will affect you and everyone around you. And especially your future, and whether or not you have one. Ultimately the cryptograph is a great thing, a great gift to society and to ourselves, but that's hard to see when you're a teenager, so it's our job to help get that message out, so kids can hear it from someone their own age."

  “So what do you tell these kids? Like your friend Rae here? What do you say to someone like her?”

  Jenny said,“Well, Rae and I talked about it a lot, but now she’s taken the test, and she’s dealing with it as best she can, I’m sure.”She looked over at Rae and gave her quick smile.

  That’s not for me, Rae realized. It’s for the cameras.

  “Our job,”Logan continued,“is to reach out to the Raes of the future. The kids a little younger, maybe fourteen, fifteen years old and terrified about the test coming up, and let those kids know there’s nothing to be afraid of. That it’s not about compliance or noncompliance. It’s about learning to live every day.”

  “Exactly.”Jenny said.“That’s the takeaway.”

  Takeaway?

  Listening to Jenny and Logan, Rae realized that they must have been coached. The words they were using were not their own. They still sounded like teenagers, almost, but they were basically reading off some corporate script, spat out by some PR message machine. Someone had gotten to them. Jenny and Logan were sponsored now by OBK, and they were spitting out nonsense, complete tripe.

  Garbage in, garbage out.

  Rae no longer knew the two kids seated across from her. They had changed.

  And so have I.

  “And what about someone like Rae here?”Samantha persisted.“A Transient. Someone who has already taken the test, and knows the results and maybe the results weren’t what they were hoping for. What can you say to all those people counting down their final days?”

  “It’s hard,”Jenny said.“Everyone knows that and everyone sees that, and we want to help transients and offer them some hope, but that’s not what the facts say. It’s not about hope. It’s about living your best. Every day.”

  “What’s that saying…?”Logan asked, looking thoughtful.“‘Live. Laugh. Love. Leave a legacy.’That’s what it’s about.”

  Oh for crying out loud….

  “But how does someone like Rae here, someone so young and bright and mature, and so full of passion, how does someone like that leave a legacy?”

  A strange, cold feeling crept up Rae’s spine.

  “I’m glad you asked,”Jenny said.

  Something’s happening here.

  Whatever it was, it had been planned well in advance. Samantha, Jenny, and Logan all knew where this interview was going. But Rae didn’t. Whatever it was, it was meant to be a surprise.

  From somewhere under the table, Jenny pulled out a large white envelope.

  She pushed the envelope slowly across the glass table to Rae.

  “Here,”she said.“Read it.”

  Rae saw the logo on the paper—the OBK logo.

  A letter?

  It was some kind of official letter from the cryptograph corporation.

  “What is this?”she asked, nervous. She felt herself sweating under the hot studio lights, her pulse pounding loudly in her ears.

  “An offer,”Jenny said.

  “What kind of offer?”

  “An amazing offer,”Logan enthused.

  Jenny smiled at her.“Say yes, Rae. You don’t even have to read it now. Just say yes.”

  “To what?”

  “To life. To love. To leaving a legacy.”

  Logan said,“Remember when I told you we could make a great team, Rae?”

  A great team? What is he talking about? He’s one of them now.

  “This is it,”he continued.“An opportunity to do something meaningful with the rest of your life.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  Logan moved his hand across the table toward her, and instinctively Rae reached out, wanting to touch him again, like they did once before on that magical day just before it all went bad.

  She put her hand in his and felt his warm fingers curl around hers, as if to protect her from the world. Logan was looking straight at her now, and his eyes were blue and wide and wonderful, with the power to stop time. And he whispered to her, only to her, in a voice so kind and gentle it nearly destroyed her.“Join me.”

  PART THREE

  TETRAD

  Chapter 1 5

  Rae felt an overwhelming flood of emotions. Logan was looking deep into her eyes, asking her to join him.

  His smile was warm. His eyes were a deep temptation. But more than that, she suddenly felt loved and accepted in a way she could not rem
ember feeling before. Logan wanted her, desired her. She only had to say yes to return to him.

  The feeling was even more intense now, here in the studio under the hot lights and the stare of the cameras than it was on their night in the dunes, when they had held each other and kissed and thought about their futures together.

  Now he’s offering me a future.

  It was still a little unclear exactly what kind of future Logan was offering though.

  Rae hadn’t yet read the letter in the envelope, but she could guess at its contents. OBK wanted to‘sponsor’her too, hire her to be one of their spokespeople like Jenny and Logan. The three of them would be minor celebrities now, because of today with the news media and the interviews and OBK no doubt meant to seize on this and lift them into the majors, to use this trinity of teenagers as examples that other teens should follow. To craft and control the leaders of the new generation.

  The intensity she was feeling now Rae realized, came in part because of how alone she’d been feeling. Away from school, from her friends, and with her family emotionally distant and possibly even afraid of her. She had isolated herself; that was true. But it was in response to being rejected by the world she knew.

  Rae would never be part of that world again. And she’d come to accept it.

  Never again would she go to class and eat lunch at the girl’s table, and watch the boys throwing footballs on the field. Never again would she watch the squirrels plot and scheme for morsels of dropped food in the grass outside the cafeteria.

  Never again.

  That was her world once, but no more.

  Until she’d found the club. She had tried to carve out a new role for herself on the Internet. Tried to find others like her; companions, confidants, friends of sort. Alone in her room yes, but Rae no longer felt alone. In the forums and chatrooms she felt at home arguing and planning and debating with Apollo and the others.

  Apollo had given her a new sense of purpose, and increasing responsibilities. As the club had grown, with kids flocking to the site from all around the world, Rae had stepped into greater and greater responsibilities, not only as admin to the site Apollo had created, not only as moderator of discussions and enforcer of the rules, but also as a kind of role model to the new kids joining every day. Kids who were full of fear and sadness and loneliness as she had been, kids who needed someone to talk to, and someone to look up to.

  They look up to me now, she thought. They need me.

  In a way, she had created a new family. Not the way she had dreamed about, of course. Not children of her own, for that role was now denied her, but a community.

  They are my tribe.

  Rae was almost like a den mother to the transients and they were her cubs, though in fact many of them were a year or two older than she was.

  They don’t know that.

  But Rae knew. She’d seen their photos and knew their real names, and when they were born.

  And when they will die.

  These were secrets she kept to herself. Privacy was important to her. It was one of the things draining from the world. She felt a responsibility to uphold their privacy, to give them a safe place to come and talk and argue and feel accepted.

  If Rae became associated with OBK, they might demand the names of those she helped. Would she be strong enough to hold her ground? Logan was asking her to give up not only herself, but those who needed her most. How could she turn her back on the transients now? What would that mean?

  Is he asking me to turn them in?

  Her defection would devastate them, she knew. Even if she kept their secrets. For some, it would be the final betrayal. They trusted her in ways they didn’t trust their own parents or teachers or any authority figures. Rae was not quite an authority figure, though she did enforce the rules of the community. But she was not their parent, their guardian, or their guard.

  I’m one of them.

  She was maybe a bit more advanced in coming to terms with her status, her death row number, but she was a member of the tribe.

  What would it mean to leave them now?

  By already signing up to be the spokespeople for OBK, Logan and Jenny were evidently becoming the face of the company to their peers. They were beautiful and charming and young and smart.

  And they look great together.

  Even Jenny, who had once seemed so awkward and shy. Jenny had changed a lot in such a short space of time. Clearly, she’d been coached. No doubt by the best. Now she and Logan seemed the perfect couple, the perfect representatives.

  I could be one of them.

  In high school Rae had plenty of friends. She had formed her own clique of sorts, her own circle of classmates who all liked and admired each other, but her group had never been the most popular on campus. There were always others claiming that status, the jocks and the cheerleaders.

  But with the backing of OBK, Rae would become a national celebrity, more popular than most kids could even dream of. They would make her more beautiful that she was, more confident than she was, more articulate. They would offer her everything a girl might want. Money, yes, because OBK had more money than Texas. But also power, and acceptance, and global adoration. Maybe even a kind of love.

  But not freedom.

  She pulled her hand back, letting go of Logan’s.

  “No,”she said simply.

  “No?”His expression was riddled with disbelief.

  Jenny said,“Rae, you haven’t even read their offer.”

  “I don’t need to.”

  “This could be a great thing for you. You can be one of us.”

  “I was one of us. When were classmates and friends and...I’m not the one who changed, Jenny,”she said, not caring that the cameras were still on them

  “You dropped out of school.”

  “I’m not the one who took a job promoting the cryptograph.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with the cryptograph.”

  “There’s everything wrong with it.”Rae felt anger well up inside her.“You’re pimping yourself out for a multinational corp—”

  Samantha cut her off, obviously mindful of legalities.“Let’s just open the letter and see what’s inside.”

  “No,”Rae insisted.

  “They could be offering you a lot of money,”the interviewer said, with a wink in her eye, trying to lighten the proceedings.“This is OBK we’re talking about. The richest, most successful, most cutting-edge corporation in the world. There’s not one person in a million who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work for them.”

  Rae gritted her teeth.“Well, I guess I’m that one in a million.”

  Logan said,“Rae, they’re offering you an amazing opportunity, a sense of purpose for the time you have left. Your life doesn’t have to be about fear and hate and rejection. They’re giving you a real choice. Isn’t that one of the things you hated about being Transient?”

  “And the label,”she replied, her voice hard.“I hate the label.”

  “Fine,”he said.“I agree. I hate that label, too.‘Transient It’s the kind of mean-spirited thing kids say to other kids at school. It’s not nice and it’s not fair and we need to do what we can to change that label, that perception. It’s terrible, I get that. It doesn’t apply to me, but it does to a lot of the people I care about. And I care about you, Rae.”

  “We both do,”Jenny added.

  They seemed to really mean it, too. They sounded so sincere.

  Logan continued, but Rae realised he was now addressing Samantha, not her.“One of the worst things about being transient is that people reject you. We’re not here to reject Rae.”

  “We’re here to help her,”Jenny said.“She’s our friend, and we only want the best for her.”

  Rae looked away, repulsed and embarrassed in equal measures. The silence felt heavy in the news room, and she could feel the pressure of the camera’s eye, like an energy force directed straight at her.

  The world is watching.

  Samantha broke
the silence.“Rae, this sounds like an opportunity for incredible financial security.”

  “It’s not about the money,”she snapped.“What would I do with it? I still live at home. My parents are good to me. I don’t need a fancy car or a house, or money for college or retirement or even a family….”

  “It’s more than money,”Logan said.“They can give your life a purpose.”

  “My life has a purpose!”she declared, and saying it aloud gave it a kind of truth. Rae could see a future for herself now. Even if it was just a transient’s future; a brief two years. She knew why she was here, why she was born, what her true purpose was.

  To speak out.

  But not for OBK.

  Against it.

  The news lady said,“And what is your purpose?”

  “To speak the truth.”

  “Exactly,”Jenny said, beaming with renewed excitement.“That’s what we’re offering. To help OBK get the word out. To help kids of our generation understand the importance of the cryptograph and to accept it, even if the results aren’t what we dreamed of as kids. You’re the example, Rae. You could be the one to show them. You more than anyone. Logan and I are on the team and it’s great, it’s really amazing, but not everyone wants to hear from us, because we’re Interim and Constant. It’s hard to reach people like you. But if you were with us, as a Transient, then other transients would listen and understand, and look up to your example. Don’t you see, Rae? OBK needs someone like you. Exactly like you. They need you.”

  “To do their marketing for them?”

  “To speak the truth,”Logan said.

  Rae shook her head.“But it’s not the truth.”

  “Of course it is,”Jenny said, with a look of confusion creeping into her smile.

  “No, it’s not,”Rae insisted.“It’s lies, all of it.”

  A wave of concern washed over Logan’s face.“You don’t mean that.”

  “Of course I mean it. You talked about it too, we all did.”

  “I never said that.”