Cognitive Deviance

15. PACER

March 31, 2045 - 4:45 pm

The interrogation room was cold. Fluorescent lights hung over Jack and the unmasked stranger Margo apprehended earlier, drenching the room in a dim white haze. The two of them sat at a silver table in the center of the room, and to Jack's left stretched a one-way mirror across the wall.

This simulation is hitting every cliche in the book, Jack thought.

Jack clapped his hands together and pulled his seat in. "All right, buddy," he said. "You don't have anywhere else to run. So how about you start telling me more about yourself?"

The stranger was slumped in his chair, refusing to make eye contact. He had red hair and skin as pale as snow, aside from a few small contusions around his neck. There was a bruise around his left eye, and Jack knew fully well why he was wearing so many layers even at the end of March. If the stranger was aware he wasn't actually conscious, there was no way he'd recreate whatever wounds he was trying to hide.

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Finn."

"How old are you, Finn?"

"Nineteen."

"What were you doing at the Philadelphia Zoo? The animals are long-gone, buddy. And even if we found any, I would've killed them on the spot. Just like I killed your friends."

Finn remained silent, his eyes focused on the table in front of him.

"You a dealer?" Jack continued. "Apaths, Euphors, 'Gasm Gas, shit like that?"

"No," Finn replied.

Jack slammed his fist on the table, prompting the boy to jerk up. "Where'd you get the black eye?" he asked.

"Self-inflicted."

"Uh-huh." Jack flicked his fingers, and Finn's sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Dozens of dark red incisions were carved across his arms. "I'm guessing those were self-inflicted as well?"

Finn slowly nodded his head before hanging it low once more. "How'd you do that?" he asked in a dull tone.

"Easy, buddy. We're currently running a Psychoanalytical Cognitive Evaluation Render. Most people refer to it as the PACER."

"Is this a dream?"

Jack chuckled. "Buddy, when dreams end, you still have a whole day to look forward to. As far as I'm concerned, yours is only gonna get worse."

"Can we get hurt in here?"

"Physically, no. Unfortunately, your mind, however, is as vulnerable as a kid in a dark alley. In fact, just to prove we're in a simulation, I'll let you throw your chair at the mirror."

Finn gave him an understandably confused look.

"Go ahead, buddy," Jack urged. "I don't mind."

Still wondering what the catch was, Finn folded up the chair and carried it in his hands toward the mirror, coming face to face with his own reflection. He froze as he realized his reflection didn't have his black eye or the cuts on his arm now that he was aware of the simulation. He further concluded that there really was no mirror. Whatever went on behind that opaque screen didn't matter.

Still grasping the chair by its legs, he turned toward Jack and slammed it down on him.

The chair exploded into millions of grays fragments as soon as it made contact with Jack's head. Jack remained unmoved, not even flinching when the object came hurdling toward his skull, and he took glee in watching Finn's confidence wash away with that failed attempt.