Elizabeth struggled to keep upright in the canoe the whole trip downstream to the ocean. The darkness hid sandbanks, rocks, and logs that each in their turn battered the small vessel. She arrived at the shore cold, wet, and bruised. Not wanting to face the awkward situation of waking up Jim and William who must be on the boat tied to the dock, she lay down on some grass above the sand to try and get some sleep. Luckily she had thought to put the supplies she carried in a large plastic bag; the blanket was still dry. Exhausted, she quickly fell into a sound sleep.
The morning sun rising beyond the horizon to the east woke her, but she didn't care to get up. When she heard footsteps coming toward her from the beach, she sighed. She thought she probably would have been happier if they had just left without her. That way she could forget about having to spy on them.
“Good morning Elizabeth.” It was William's voice. “Breakfast is ready on board. We'd like to get an early start, so we'll eat just after we leave dock.” Elizabeth ignored him. After some silence William tried again, “Are you okay?”
“No,” she snarled unable to help herself. “I'm stuck in this stupid wilderness waiting to be killed. You don't trust me a bit, but frankly I don't blame you. I'm a wretched horrible person, so just leave me alone. You don't want me along anyway.” She sat up, but only looked at William's feet.
“Jim doesn't trust you,” he said squatting down to catch her eyes. “I haven't decided yet. I want you to join us for a while before I cast judgment. Last night Jim tried to convince me that you're spying for Dean.” He smiled. “But I kind of doubt that a spy would try and get us to leave her.” When Elizabeth didn't reply he added “See you on the boat,” and walked away.
Riding in the boat seemed surreal to Elizabeth. Sailing on a digital ocean in a digital boat with a digital body and being companions with men whom she had held captive for two months, almost felt like a weekend vacation. The sky and water were both clear. She didn't eat very much of the breakfast that William had prepared. Jim and he were talking at the front of the boat. It looked to her like Jim gave William some tips on how to sail. After a while Jim went down into the boats cabin, and William joined her at the back of the boat.
“We're headed for that small island out there,” he said.
“Is that where whatever you are looking for is?” she asked.
“No. We'll just stop there to talk. Jim and I aren't sure where you and Dean placed the cameras and we want to be sure and not have Dean watching when we talk to you. This boat was on the very edge of the preprogrammed valley. We've decided not to talk about anything important while were on it.”
“I can promise you there aren't any cameras here. We only put them in at the lodge.”
“We'll hopefully you understand why we can't trust you yet.”
“Personally, I don't understand why you let me join you at all,” she said, making William laugh.
The sandy island didn't have anywhere that the boat could come right up to shore, so they had to get out in waist deep water. Once on the shore, Jim lead them to the far side of a small clump of trees that grew in the center of the island. He hadn't yet said a word to Elizabeth and she could tell that William's kindness to her bothered him. The threesome stood silent for a moment, William looking at Jim with a this-was-your-idea look on his face.
“Well,” said Jim, turning toward Elizabeth, “What do you have to say for yourself.”
The abruptness of his manner through Elizabeth off guard. Conflicting emotions swelled up in her, threatening to cause her to burst into tears, but she pushed them back. “When Dean hired me, I thought I was getting an honest job. The chance of a lifetime to work with an expert in the field on a cutting edge project. What I didn't know was that Dean doesn't care about anything other than making a name for himself. When some legal difficulties came up, he sidestepped them at the expense of helpless people. At first I reasoned that some sacrifices needed to be made for the progress of science, but eventually I went along because I knew I was just as guilty as he was.
“When he talked to me about trapping you and Mr. Lombardi in the Endless Frontier, I refused. Then he admitted because he had spent Mr. Lombardi's money illegally, he was sure that eventually he would realize what we had done and we would both end up in jail. Feeling trapped and helpless I agreed. I see now that it just made things worse.
“Things were going fine, until the card Mr. Lombardi gave to Dean stopped working. Then when we tried to set up another Endless Frontier nothing we could do could get it to work. Then yesterday, when you refused to help Dean, I was surprised about his treat to kill you. I faced him when he came out, so he turned on me just like he did on you, Jim. Sent me into this virtual prison. I don't know why he didn't just kill me then. I'm just as much evidence as the rest of you. If we don't somehow stop him he will kill us all next week.”
“How do we know you aren't just spying for Dean?” said Jim. “He knows that we are looking for something. Perhaps he is afraid our plot will work.”
“If he were really afraid, he would kill you now,” she said. “The only one he wants alive is William.”
“He know that if he killed any of us, William would never work with him,” snapped Jim.
“Hold it you two,” said William, stepping between them. “Elizabeth, you know that we can't trust you. Jim, you know that, even if she is telling the truth, there is nothing she could say right now that wold give us proof, so lets drop that subject.”
Jim glared at both of them, but didn't say anything.
“Elizabeth,” continued William, “I need to know what changes you made to the Endless Frontier program.”
“A few days before the first run, I changed the function that triggers when the virtual body dies. After closing the virtual simulation, a fresh one now starts without disconnecting the mind connection. Two days ago, while you were all drugged I loaded a modified file of the origin valley that has additional cameras in and around the lodge. Other than that I haven't changed a thing, and Dean doesn't know enough about programming to have done anything without me.”
Jim and William looked at each other, trying to communicate without words. “Let's talk alone in a minute,” William said to dean. Then turning to Elizabeth he said, “If what you said is the truth, its good news. Yesterday you mentioned wanting to help us. The thing we are looking for requires constant vigilance. From here on out we need someone constantly scanning the horizon. We had originally planed on the two of us taking shifts, but we would appreciate it if you took one.”
“What will I be looking for,” asked Elizabeth.
“William, don't you dare tell her,” said Jim. “As soon as she knows she'll call Dean.”
“Don't worry, Jim” said William, “I won't give it away. I'll just say this. When you see it, Elizabeth, you'll know.”
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