PARAPLANO

C H A P T E R - T W O

C H A P T E R 2

FERNANDO clasps his hands together in a tent and leans forward. With the hot light perfectly adjusted on Vincent's face, the lighting man gives Fernando a nod.

"Vincent, let's rewind straight back to the beginning. How did you come up with the idea? Talk us through."

Vincent pushes his glasses up his nose. "I graduated from Harvard with a degree in molecular biology. And I was young, I was going through that misanthropic phase, I refused to do researches with partners." He waves his hand around, as if that's all in the past and he doesn't give a damn about it. But secretly, he does. "This meant full work load for me, and many, many nights alone in the lab. When I graduated, I felt like I stepped out of a time machine, so much had changed, and I hadn't even realised it. I'd missed out on a huge bit of my life. I mean, everyone else was out having fun, and I just crawled into myself. I fell into a bout of depression, and I got angry." Vincent's forehead creases.

"Go on," Fernando encourages gently.

"Angry that I was so reclusive, angry that I can't take back the years, angry that I'm starting to crave human presence! Me, a loner, wanting to be around people! And from this anger, came an idea. What if someone was like me, but for their whole life? No human contact, no interaction, no socialising. Would it affect them? Or because they've grown up that way, would it not?" Vincent pauses, and licks his lips. "Thus came Paracosm, a planet with only a single human. If they were to live in a society yet have no human contact, could they survive? How essential is human interaction?

"I returned back to Harvard as a post-graduate to work on my theory. I did a lot of hypothetical work, since there was no way I could just isolate someone from the rest of humanity. Then one day, my life changed. The university gave me funding for the real thing. We were really going to raise someone to live alone on the planet. They assigned several freshmen and other post-grads to help me. We had much to do, we had to create a whole, functioning society, goddammit!" he wipes his brow, as if just recalling the laborious task is taking a toll on him now. "We needed a planet, we needed a population, we needed supplies for the planet.

"Around that time, humanoid robots were becoming cheaper and more abundant, so that made our prep work so much easier. I also set up LTE, the corporation who would be responsible for sustaining the planet. It took us three intense years until we were ready.

"Then there was another problem. Who was willing to give up their baby to live on a desolate planet alone? We scoured the country for adoption agencies who were willing to let a corporation legally adopt a baby. In my hurry to adopt, I was sending applications left, right and centre, and I ended up adopting two."

Fernando nods thoughtfully. "Tell me," he says slowly. "How did the idea of making Chase famous on Paracosm come about?"

"Well, we had kept him and Ella so isolated they'd never even seen a picture of another human. We'd never let them listen to music made on earth, or watch movies starring humans. Around three years ago, we were ready to push forward a little bit with our work, so someone came up with the idea of letting one of them see a picture of the other, or to learn about the other, without the two actually coming in contact. And what better way to do that than through fame? Ella responded so well, she became such a dedicated fangirl." Vincent smiles fondly, as if he was a dad proud of his daughter, "And we weren't clear if that was because Chase had that 'rockstar' quality, or because he was the first human she'd ever laid eyes on."

"I understand that you have been keeping the two separate, and studying them as two separate subjects, am I right?"

Vincent nods, sweat trickling down his neck.

"How would you like it if Ella and Chase finally met?"

Vincent blinks at him. Then reason catches up with him. "WHAT?" he roars. His team who were working in the background shrink at the tone of Vincent's voice. They know he's about to fall into one of his rages.

Fernando doesn't flinch. Instead he calmly gestures for the cameras to stop rolling. For a second, Vincent is embarrassed the cameras caught his outburst, but then he realises he doesn't care.

"Vincent, just listen-"

"No! Why should I have to listen to you? This is my experiment. You're just a measly filmmaker. And guess what your subject matter is? Me! That's the end of it! You have no say in how I am to run my work. You're just here to make a documentary about me!"

Vincent breathes heavily, heart racing from yelling. Fernando just sits there with a soft visage. Vincent's blood boils at the fact the Fernando isn't reacting the way he's supposed to.

"I've talked to your team. They seem like a nice bunch. And they all tell me it's time for more development in the experiment."

"You talked to my team without consulting me?!"

"Relax, it was for the documentary. I was interviewing them,"

Vincent huffs, for lack of a better retort.

"Vincent, I have faith this documentary will be successful. And then your experiment will be known to millions. Your work will gain the recognition it deserves. You will gain the recognition you deserve. All I ask is that you consider what I've suggested. It will help the documentary." Fernando gives Vincent a friendly pat on his leg, then stands up to make himself a cup of coffee.