2175 C.E.

XIII: Do You Remember the 24th of July?

[Pause]

AUCAMAN: Okay. You didn't have to tell me that.

MATTINGLY: But where did it come from? What were they watching? Were they Brent's fantasies? Did he put those online? He told me he used to do that. Fantasize, I mean.

AUCAMAN: Well... it could be that, I suppose. Or the police could have staged something, or your friends could be lying. It could be anything. Those might not have even been your friends and your parents. You can fake nearly anything onscreen nowadays.

MATTINGLY: Do you really think that they did that? For real?

AUCAMAN: I mean... I hope so.

MATTINGLY: I don't think so. When I was in Atlanta, there was a girl named Kristy. I don't remember much about her except that I hated her. She did all the right things. She had a good online portfolio. And then, her dad, who was a neuroscientist or something, did some study about long-term Interlink usage that said something negative. And I can't quite remember what we did to Kristy. Was it like this? What did we do to her? [pause] I can't remember. I just remember that I hated her, but I don't know why.

[Pause]

MATTINGLY: You can tell me you told me so.

AUCAMAN: Huh?

MATTINGLY: Two weeks ago? In Exocultures? We were studying for the final paper and you said all that crazy stuff about the Interlink device and how it made you do crazy things that weren't like you. You told me all that back then and I blew you off. I don't remember why. I just couldn't stand what you said and I thought you smelled like fish all the time. But you can tell me you told me so. You were right about everything. I'm sorry.

AUCAMAN: I don't even remember that.

MATTINGLY: But it wasn't all that long ago!

AUCAMAN: No, but I have a terrible memory for things happening. There's only a handful of things I actually remember at a time, and it's mostly just facts. That's why I write everything down.

MATTINGLY: That's why you were writing at every stop last night? To remember it all?

AUCAMAN: Well, and as something of a coping mechanism. I had to stay calm, after all, and I couldn't do that if I was just waiting around for that thing to come for us. And also because it is now the only record that exists of what actually happened, for the fat lot of good that's done us. But yeah. That was basically the idea.

MATTINGLY: I don't think I'll need the help.

AUCAMAN: But even if I did say those things, and it sounds like something I might have said, I don't think I'd say I told you so. I'm not sure how much I believed it myself before today, you know.

MATTINGLY: What do you mean? You were so sure of it. I know I'm remembering that right.

AUCAMAN: Well, my parents were. They were determined to raise my brother and me without Ambience peeking into our heads. They told me all that stuff I probably told you. But I'll be damned if I didn't want one anyway.

MATTINGLY: What? Why on earth?

AUCAMAN: Do you think I didn't want to fit in? Do you think all this time I've just enjoyed being a complete asshole to everyone except for the two or three weirdos like me? You have no idea what it's like to be the only one without an Interlink. I was bullied for years for it. You have no idea how bad it got. Brent was actually one of the worst; he was the ringleader. He would organize everybody in the class to gang up on me. I was left out of everything because I didn't have an Interlink, kicked, spat on, literally spat on. One of my youngest memories was Brent holding my face in a toilet bowl filled with my own shit. And teachers didn't care. They only get alerts on students when their Interlinks send auto-distress calls, and I had none. So for me, all that tough talk about Hegemony conspiracies is... all true, of course, but it's also an easy way to feel superior to all of you. It was either get tough and do that or go completely insane. [pause] I almost got one once. We were in Helena for the day, I don't remember why. But at one point I was on my own on one of the streets, and I looked up, and there was Ambience Corp. right there. It would have been so easy to just walk in and get an installation. They make them free, after all. My parents would have never had to know. Then it would have been over and I could have been normal like everyone else. I was moments away from doing it. But I chickened out. No moral superiority or anything like that; I was just plain too scared to do it. So I don't think it would be appropriate to say I told you so. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all that. I guess... I just haven't slept or something.