| Generated by Google Gemini Pro text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
Libera opens the door and beams when she sees her depressed daughter on the
couch. She didn’t even have to pick the lock this time. Renata isn’t
bothering to secure her home, because she just doesn’t care anymore. She
doesn’t care about anything. She’s lost her shot at being a superspy—a job
which never really existed—and now she has nothing. The truth, however, is
that she actually has everything. She now has the ability to make choices.
Sitting in front of the TV all day, eating junk food, isn’t the best choice,
but it proves that Libera’s plan is working. That’s good enough for now.
This is nowhere near the end.
Renata doesn’t look up or speak. She just stuffs another handful of
chocolate-covered pretzels in her mouth. One of them falls into her
cleavage. She leaves it there.
Libera doesn’t say anything either. She sits down in the chair next to her,
and watches the TV. This planet, Castlebourne is located 108 light years
from Earth, and this dome exists within a network of eleven constructed
nations, which vaguely match some of the superpowers of old on Earth.
It’s not Earth, though, and in fact, none of the Exemplars or
Ambients have even heard of it, or its many real countries. Still, there’s
only so far the owner of this world was willing to go to create an immersive
experience. There’s no point in generating countless hours of brand new
content just to avoid plot points that might break the illusion of reality.
They have all the same movies and shows that they made on Earth, except any
references to Earthan locales have been stripped and replaced with familiar
analogs. Any time the characters said United States in the original,
their dialogue and lip movements are changed to Usona. Any time they
originally said China, they say Huaxia here.
Renata is currently rewatching a film called From Sclovo with Love.
She’s seen it a million times. Or rather, she thinks she has. They
sit there for about fifteen minutes before Renata finally says, “I know what
you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to get me to feel so embarrassed that I fix my life, and go
find a new job.”
“It sounds like that’s what you wanna do,” Libera suggests, “and
you’re projecting that sentiment onto me.”
“You have no idea what I lost.”
“I have a better idea than you think.”
Renata switches off the TV, plops her head down to the other side of the
couch, and rolls over to face the back. “Just go home, mother. You can only
stay if you order a pizza and pay for it.”
A few seconds later. “Hi, I would like to order a pizza. The usual. Same
card, but my secondary address. Thank you. Bye.”
Renata rolls back over just enough to look at her mom confusedly. “You have
my address as your secondary?”
“Yeah.”
“I just moved here. You’ve never ordered from here. You’re not even supposed
to know where I live. Why would you add my address on a pizza shoppe
account? What would possess you?”
“You’re my daughter, Ren, and I love you. I added it hoping to one day use
it. I didn’t think it would be this soon. It’s a pleasant surprise, so thank
you for that.”
Renata sits up, then forces herself to stand up. The pretzel falls through
her shirt, and onto the floor. She eyes it.
Libera sighs, and closes her eyes. “Don’t eat that,” she says with a slow
shake of her head.
Renata bends over and picks it up. She continues to stare at it for a moment
before shifting her gaze to Libera. Without looking away, she expertly
flicks it clear across the room, and into the kitchen trashcan. “I know you
won’t understand this...but that’s what I lost.”
If Libera didn’t know what was going on, she might say something like,
a job as a professional pretzel flicker? But she can’t bring herself
to stay in character, and make that joke. She stands as well. “There are
many things in this world, Ren-Ren. There are many places, and many people,
and there are even many worlds. Worlds within worlds. You are not bound to
where you are right now. You answer to no one. You can sit here for
the rest of your life, and subsist on your universal basic income checks, or
you can find a new passion. I’m not even gonna try to tell you what that is.
For the first time in your life, your decision tree is under
your control. So water it.”
Renata narrows her eyes. She doesn’t get all of the secrets that Libera is
hinting at, but she recognizes the wisdom in the words just the same. To
her, it must simply sound like poetry and metaphor, but it seems to be
working. She looks down at her ratty, torn clothes. “If you ordered from
Rigatony’s, I better take a shower, and change my clothes. The delivery guy
is kinda cute.”
Libera smiles. “Well, in that case, maybe keep the shower, but lose the
clothes altogether.”
“Jesus, mom.” That’s a funny word. Jesus of Nazareth, and the Bible where
his story was told, doesn’t exist here. The Old World religions aren’t a
thing at all. So it’s just a nonsensical phrase that these people were
programmed to use, but not parse, or question. “You’re different. This is a
side of you I’ve never seen before.”
“You’ve never known the real me. They didn’t allow you to.”
“Who’s they?”
Libera offers her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Renata Granger. I’m Libera.”
