Episode Fourteen: An Offer and Threat

    William lay destitute on the floor of a dim, barren shack.  With all his might he strained to rise, but only succeeded in getting to his knees.  His skin draped over bone, the muscle all but gone.  Slowly, painfully he crawled toward the open door.  Lumps of dirt gritted against his raw knees as he dragged them forward.
    Through the door he could see a carefully manicured lawn and fruit bearing trees.  From the smell on wind he knew that somewhere nearby meat was being cooked over a fire.  Hunger gnawed in his belly.  Slowly he managed to make his way across the room and to the opening.
    To his horror a web of fine threads covered the doorway.  In his normal strength he would have easily ripped them aside.  Using a feeble hand he pushed against the treads and immediately knew it was hopeless. 
    “Help,” he whispered through a dry throat. “Help me.”
    A glimmer of hope was born in his heart when he saw the figure of a man approach, only to die as he recognized the face.
    “William,” said Dean. “I need your help.”
    Everything lost its clarity as William's fuzzy mind tried to understand what Dean had said. 
    “No,” said William, his voice suddenly strong. “Not you.” the grimly floor swirled up mixing with the wooden walls till it was all an unrecognizable blur.  Suddenly he was no longer crawling on hard dirt, but laying on something soft and warm.
    “I'm sorry William.  I was wrong to bring you into this, but I see that now.  I want to take you out of this place,” said Dean.
    As the dream faded William recognized it for what it was.  Immediately he snapped awake, sat up and looked around.  He was on a couch in the large lounge area of the lodge, still inside the Endless Frontier.  On a plush chair across from him sat Dean Senoma.
    “What are you doing here,” William snapped.
    “I've come to ask for your forgiveness,” said Dean.  He bowed his head and ran a hand through his hair.  “I don't know everything that has happened to you in here, but I imagine it has been less than pleasant.  You are a man used to modern comforts exiled to a barren world of your own making.  I am here to change that, to give you the freedom you deserve.”
    Dean's swift change from silent captor to repentant friend confused William.  He wanted to believe it, but somehow could not.  “No you're not.  If you wanted me to be free you would just turn off your machine.  Yet here we are.”  He raised his hands and gestured at their surroundings.  “I've suffered enough at your hands.  Don't mock me with false hope.” He stood up intending to walk out of the room.  He stopped suddenly after only a few steps away from the couch.  The room was impeccable.  The furniture was positioned exactly as he programed it in.  There wasn't a speck of dirt on the floor or smear on the windows.
    “I wish it was that simple,” said Dean.  “Please just listen to me, I promise I'll explain.”
    Unable to help himself William smiled for a moment.  He waited till he gained control of his expression and returned it to angry before turning to face Dean, giving him a cool glare.
    “I made a mistake when I trapped you in here,” said Dean.  “I see now that I was too proud.  I thought the Endless Frontier rightly belonged to me and no one else.  The greatness of my accomplishments seemed to justify me in securing my right to claim them, but now I see I was wrong.  The Endless Frontier isn't only mine.  It is ours.  You and I.
    “After leaving you here, I began work at another location to set up another Endless Frontier.  My plan was to secure the patents and sell the technology,  but I needed a working demonstration model first.   No matter what we did, we couldn't get your program to run.  My assistant Miss Stratford made the discovery that you altered this computer and all your programs utilize the improvements you made to handle the vast amounts of information and processing needed to run this incredible program.
    “Come back with me to real world and we can do it together.  In a few months we will earn enough money to fund our own research programs and continue doing the things we love.”
    William almost said yes.  He was sick and tired of the Endless Frontier and desperate to get out.  But not as desperate as he had been a few days ago, and the more he thought about accepting Dean's offer the more problems he saw.
    “What about Troy and Jim?” he asked.
    Dean paused calculating his words carefully, “I want to let them go free, but there would be a lot of complications.  They can remain here.  This is what Mr. Lombardi wanted anyway, to live on the Endless Frontier.  I'm sure Jim will get along fine too.”
    Suddenly everything became clear in William's mind.  “You only regret sending me in here because now you realize you need my technology.  You're not going to let me go free.  You want me to be your partner in crime.  I'll never help you Mr. Senoma.  You turned my dream into a nightmare.  Now you are asking me to abandon my friends.  How many others will you toss into this prison just to suit your needs.” As he spoke he moved closer and closer to Dean and raised his voice. 
    Mr. Senoma's face had turned stone cold.  “Let me make myself perfectly clear.  I need your technology.  There are two ways for me to get it.  First, you could come with me and provide me with it.  I will reward you fairly, within reason, so I don't end up with legal difficulties.  Second, I can hire a computer scientist much like yourself to examine this computer you have made and he will provide me with the technology.  That means turning the computer off and destroying all evidence of this strange situation.  And you, Mr. Kilgore, are part of that evidence.”
    “I will never help you.”
    “I'll give you one week to change your mind.”
    “You have my answer now.”
    “I will visit you again in one week.”  Dean opened his phone, but before he could say anything William grabbed the phone and threw it across the room.
    “Miss Stratford,” said Dean calmly, “get me out of here.”
    The next moment Dean's clothing dropped into the chair, and Dean was gone.