Elusion(2)

“Remember what I used to say to you when you were little?” he asks.

“Stop wearing your oxygen shield inside the house?”

He laughs. “What else?”

I turn around and squint at him. “Hmmmm, let me think.”

“Come on, I know you remember,” he says playfully.

“A meaningful life is filled with contributions,” I say, reciting his favorite mantra perfectly.

“Well, this is it. My biggest contribution yet, Regan.” He walks up right beside me and tucks that unruly strand of hair behind my ear. “This is how I’m going to give us our planet back.”

“People are going to love this, Dad.”

My father tips his head toward two red weight-shift gliders that are parked less than ten feet away. “So, want to get a closer look?”

Normally, the thought of hang gliding over a ravine would completely freak me out. But standing on this cliff, here in Elusion, looking at the beautiful world below, I feel as though I can do anything. Before I know it, Dad is helping me into the hang glider’s harness. I feel a tiny jolt to my brain, and my arms twitch.

“That was Elusion streamlining the apparatus’s instructions into your subconscious,” my dad says. “It only takes a second.”

“This is amazing,” I say. “I wish I could have stuff streamlined into my head at school.”

My dad laughs and then gives me a playful wink. “Now remember, you can’t get hurt in the Escapes, okay? Just allow the program to guide you.”

“Got it,” I reply as he finishes snapping me in.

“You know how to work this?”

For once in my life, I feel no self-doubt. “Yes, I do.”

“Great, just wait for me to get set up with my—”

But I can’t wait. That electric feeling inside of me is rising with every passing second, so I have no choice but to run forward as fast as I can and . . . JUMP!

“Hell, yeaaaaaah!” I squeal with delight as the wind picks up the wings of the glider, causing me to soar high into the iris-colored sky. I lift my gaze toward the golden sun, relishing the warmth on my face as I expertly zigzag in and out of the clouds.

Soon I catch sight of Dad flying right next to me. He doesn’t look the slightest bit angry that I left him behind. In fact, he’s smiling. Together we burst through pockets of mist and zoom over a long plain of grass filled with a rainbow of tall wildflowers twisting and bending in the direction of the wind.

“Race you to that mountain?” Dad’s brown eyes flash with excitement.

My heart beats faster as my thoughts start to lose their shape. I’m not concerned about the ticking clock on my wristband and how much time we have remaining in Elusion. I’m not sad about how my father will have to spend days—maybe even weeks—at the office, leaving right after we wake up from the trypnosis. There’s only one realization that’s firmly set in my mind.

Soon, Elusion will change the world and everyone’s lives as they know it.

Especially mine.

“Game on!” I laugh in reply, swinging my hang glider to the left as I charge ahead of my father and into the miraculous, digitally painted sunset.





ONE


FIVE MONTHS LATER


I’m packed in tightly among motionless bodies with barely any room to breathe. I tell myself to relax; I’m only going to be on the Traxx for a little while longer—fifteen minutes tops, if the Inner Sector express line doesn’t have any delays. I try to ignore the harsh chill coming through the vents of the air purification unit just above my seat. The cold bites at the skin on my bare legs.

An eerie silence hovers in the train as the hundred or so people crammed into the seats sit perfectly still—their heads bobbing to the side and their eyes covered by sleek one-size-fits-all visors. Apparently I’m the only one aware of the cold or the large clusters of synthetic oil refineries whizzing by at two hundred miles per hour outside my sludge-streaked window, the only one worrying about things, like whether or not I passed my chem exam this morning.

The rest of my fellow travelers are all someplace else—a world with no pain, no concerns, and no stress; an enchanting, make-believe world that exists solely in their minds.

I could Escape along with them if I wanted, but I haven’t been to Elusion since late December. Not even for a quick zip-trip, like these people are having.

Actually, I’m not sure I’ll ever use my Equip again.

The connecting car door slides open and a concession salesperson—a thin, gray-haired woman in a blue-and-red uniform—begins to make her way up the aisle. She’s carrying a medium-size square cooler, her eyes scanning for signs of life in this crowd of zonked-out Elusion users.


“Huh, you’re awake,” she says to me with surprise.

“Shocking, isn’t it?”

“Very. I’m so used to seeing everyone with their Equips.” The woman leans over, opening the top of the cooler to reveal an assortment of junk food and beverages. “It’s nice talking to someone for a change. See anything you’d like?”

I spy a pack of triple-flavor-shifting gum and my mouth waters almost instantly. “I’ll have one of those,” I say, pointing to a small box marked Citrus-Mint–Dark Chocolate.