Elements of Earth: The Element Trials

Chapter 12b, 2020, Estrellita: Reality; We are the dreams of the present

For the moment, I sat alone in the Faraday cage. Although it didn't have wifi, it's nicer than it sounds. It's really just a regular room but a mechanism in the walls block transmission waves of all types. No digital signal, no connection to anyone. The upturned television hung on the wall across from me flickered on. "Is my hour already up?"

"No. it's only been five minutes." The edge of the table partially submerged the vertical screen, wedged between it and the wall with little space in between. This gave the image of Ms. Vivian sitting in a chair across from me an uncanny sense of realism. If I wanted to, I knew could look under the table and see the screen stretch all the way to the floor.

"Sorry but you're creepy when you're flat. Why don't you install your hologram projectors in here? I know they need to wirelessly communicate with each other, but you could run a wifi router in here. The cage only blocks signals from the outside."

"That would defeat the purpose. In here we can only communicate with the most natural senses, sight, and sound."

"It's fitting that when you're in that screen the most natural senses you're capable of are the sterile ones. They're the same senses you usually have, but it's more apparent when you're flat. When you move around a room, it forms the illusion that you could hug me or scent that I'm wearing lemon oil."

"What I'm trying to accomplish is to remove distractions and show you I am a person, just like you."

"Wow, and I thought I had bad grades. A+ on removing distractions, D- on appearing human."

"I didn't say a human. I said a person. Which is why I'm here. To talk."

Following that reveal was a contradictory long pause. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"I was hoping you would go first."

"Then what do you want me to talk about?"

"I can tell from our interactions in class that you're feeling... troubled. I'd like us to start with that."

"I would think the reasons behind that would be pretty obvious."

"Maybe. But sometimes revealing what the issues are isn't the point as much as actually telling someone about them."

"You wanna know what my problem is?! How about that I've never met another human being except for one! And that one, the one who I have the closest relationship with by default, is never around! I've never met someone my age or gone to the beach. I don't have a normal life. I don't have freedom. I suppose you're going to tell me this is for my safety, that political opponents of my father could use me against him. Is that what this is about?"

"No. This is about drafting the issues you are experiencing into a comprehensive and formal document from both myself, your teacher, and you, to your father." Vivian paused. It was the right thing to do after dropping a bomb like that. But she didn't wait long enough for me time to pick up my slack jaw. "When your father comes home Thursday, the peace summit will be over. Whatever the result I am going to present this to him. I am also going to discuss with him how much better it would be for your development if you left the mountain."

"Do... Do you think he'll accept?"

"We won't know until we try." And so together we wrote a letter to father. I wrote about how alone I feel and my desire for freedom. Ms. Vivian leveraged the psychological development of an adolescent, citing US laws on child neglect and a sarcastic jab about how even prisoners are allowed human contact. It was neither an ultimatum nor a plea. It was notifying someone that, however well-intentioned, they were hurting rather than helping. We signed it and detention was over.