Episode Twenty: A Night Watch

    “Stratford,” Jim whispered forcefully, “your watch.”
    Elizabeth raised a hand signaling she had heard. She had hardly gotten any sleep anyway with the rocking of the boat. Outside the air was cool, but wrapped in a blanket Elizabeth didn't mind it. She sat on the highest part of the boat, on top of the cabin next to the sail. That had become the official post of whoever was on watch. Most of the stars were blocked by clouds, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. Wind filled the open sail, pushing them forward and onward into the unknown.
    She waited for about an hour, long enough that she was sure both Jim and William were asleep, then opened her phone and made a call to the portal. After ten beeps a recording of her own voice asked her to leave a message. “Dean, they don't trust me enough to give me any specifics, but whatever they are looking for is big. We are sailing on an ocean, and they constantly watch the horizons. They even put me on watch. William said as soon as I saw it, I would know that that was it. I'll try and call you tomorrow at about this same time.”
    As she hung up the phone, William, who had been hiding in the doorway cabin, asked, “How's Dean?”
    Startled by his voice, Elizabeth shoved the phone into a pocket and stood up in the same motion. “What are talking about?” she gasped, hoping he hadn't actually seen the phone and was asking the question rhetorically.
    “I couldn't understand what you were saying, but the cellphone lit up your face,” he said. Unsure how to react, Elizabeth just froze. “We need to talk. Jim's a little uptight, so if you don't mind, we'll keep this quite and not wake him up.”
    “What are you going to do to me.”
    He held out his hand. “If you give me your phone, nothing right now.”
    “And if I don't?”
    “I don't want to hurt you, Elizabeth, but I won't let you ruin everything we are working for.”
    She hesitated a minute then slapped the phone into his hand angrily.  Dropping down to the deck again she put her back to him. After a minute she hear him sit down also. For along while they both sat there staring into the night.
    “Is everything you said about Dean blackmailing you true?”
    She didn't answer.
    “Do you mind if I take a guess?”
    She pulled the blanket closer around her, and glared away from him.
    “I think what you told us is true. Except that instead of throwing you in here, Dean blackmailed you into spying on us. You hate Dean, but you don't know how to escape him.”
    Elizabeth suddenly burst into tears. Everything seemed so hopeless. William's kindness to her only made it worse. She wanted him to be mean and cold like Jim. That way she could just spit in his face and hate everyone. “What do you want from me? I can't help you get out of here even if I wanted to. You can't trust me with your secrets. We both know that even though I don't have a phone right now, I could just drown myself and get another one.”
    “You're right. I can't tell you our secret hope.” He paused. “I guess you just reminded me of someone, and I wanted to help you if I could.”
    “I don't need help from you. Dean can't kill me, he can't even keep me in here for any longer than a week or so. Too many people know we work together. If I disappear, the police would investigate him.”
    “Will you go to the police?”
    “I can't, William, I'm just as guilty as he is. I don't want to live the rest of my life in prison.”
    “Is life under Dean's hand any better?”
    She couldn't respond. His suggestion that her life was already wore than prison made her angry, but she knew he was right.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I shouldn't have said that. I guess I'm just wish you were on our side.” He stood up to leave.
    “William,” she said, holding him back. “I won't let Dean kill you, any of you.”
    Something in him snapped. “You have already let him kill all of us!” he exploded.
    “What?”
    “The only person I care about in the world is dead to me, and I am dead to her because of the Endless Fronter. I will never be able to marry Sarah. Never even be able to say goodbye.”
    Every word struck Elizabeth's soul like a physical blow.
    “Do you know why Jim hates you? Because if you get your way, his children are going to grow up without a father. He knows that right now his wife is crying herself to sleep ever night for worry over him, wondering what possibly could have happened to him. Troy doesn't know that you are in here, but I'm sure he feels the same way. He is certain his business if floundering without him. Don't you see Elizabeth, being trapped in here is the same as being dead.”
    The cabin's door opened and Dean stepped out. “What is going on up here?”
    Elizabeth was slumped on the ground with William standing menacingly over her. “Nothing,” said William hopping down to the main deck. “You were right though. She's nothing but a spy.”
 

Episode Nineteen: Interrogation

    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.”     

Episode Eighteen: Bartering

    On sandy beach the north side of lake, Troy watched the flames of his fire dance in the wind.  The moon added an eerie light to his already depressed mood; its rays reflecting off the lake's shifting surface.   The beginnings of a gale added its howling to the waterfalls deafening roar. Troy Lombardi, unmoved by either the beautiful sight or the awful din, sat almost motionless on a piece of driftwood, facing the fire, stroking the stubble on his chin.
    He didn't know much about computers and how they worked, and he had never filled up the in-box on his e-mail account.  The simple PC in his office told him he could play music for a month strait without hearing the same song twice.  A company he started had backed up most of the web with a computer that didn't even take up half of a warehouse.
    William should have accepted Deans offer.  They desperately needed someone on the outside, even if he was a prisoner.  On the outside there was a least a hope of escape.  By staying here, William sentenced them all to death, unless by some miracle they actually found the horizon. Even that was sketchy; Death had failed to get them out, would the horizon be any better?
    Mr. Lombardi resumed pacing.  His feet followed the trail they had left in the sand earlier, circling around the fire and along the base of the cliff then back along the shore.  There had to be another solution.
     Once during the night, he lay down trying to get some sleep, but his mind would not let his body rest.
    When the sun came over the mountains he shouldered his pack and climbed the familiar stairs.  Familiar stairs that were leading him to an unfamiliar place.  A void that was yet to be filled.  The grasslands of a few weeks past could be a jungle, a desert, or a glacier field.  What land the computer generated didn't matter: only seeing it mattered, ensuring that computer was forced to use a little more of its vast memory.
    How many horizons did they have to cross in the short time they had before Dean killed them?    Maybe if they had another month, Troy admitted, they might make it, but six days?
    As he climbed he stone stairs, Troy looked out over the tranquil lake on his left, the solid wall of the cliff on his right.
    As he neared the top he stopped.  Looking up he saw a tuft of grass clinging to the edge of the shear drop silhouetted against the clear blue sky.      If those green stalks could look toward the north, he wondered, what would they see? From their vantage, those weeds could peer into the unfilled void,  the escape that continually fled before his own eyes.
    Sighing heavily Troy turned around and sat on a stair.  His hand strayed to the cell phone still on his belt.  It was his only link to the world, and it only connected to one person.  He toyed with it, opening and closing it, turning it around in his hand.  All the while his eyes were focus on the barely discernible rooftop of the lodge.
    An idea that had been slowly forming ever since he learned Dean was running out of money began to clarify in his mind. He knew it was a long shot, but he was tired of chasing the horizon.  He would tackle the problem his way.
    Standing he began walking down the stairs, back to the lodge and away from the horizon. Later as the sun passed its zenith and began to descend in the sky; Troy, who was cruising across the lake, played with words, rehearsing in his mind different turns the coming conversation could take.
    Once he reached the Lodge he went straight to his room and pulled a suit out of the closet.  After dressing, he looked for one of the hidden cameras, finding one was much easier than he thought.  He had only mildly examined his room before noticing a small white box the same color as the wall paint hanging just above a large painting.  Standing on a chair he examined it closely and decided it was indeed a camera.
    The multi-billionaire pushed the chair into the center of the cameras view and took a seat.  In one swift motion he opened the cell phone, pressed the send button, and lifted it to his ear.  The phone rang.  Once—twice—a third time. Slightly impatient, Troy adjusted himself in the chair.  After a counting over a dozen rings he hung up.
    Not allowing himself to be disturbed by the minor set back, he found paper and wrote a note.

Dr. Dean Senoma,
I will give you $300,000,000 in return for my freedom. My plan ensures the exchange will happen with minor risk for both of us. Call me to work out the details.
Troy S. Lombardi

    After placing the note on the chair, he pushed away his nervousness by visiting the kitchen.  He spent the afternoon wandering around the lodge.  In a half hour he found around thirty different cameras, most mounted on the walls like the one in his bedroom.  He placed a few more copies of the note in front of cameras, so that Dean would see it even if he didn’t check them all.
    Troy was still in the business suit when Dean called, sitting in front of the great fireplace trying to decide if it was cool enough to merit a fire.
    Dean spoke quickly and with only a hint of interest. “I saw your message.  What do you have to say to me?”
    The suddenness of the question caught Mr. Lombardi off guard, but his rehearsed words were ready and he recovered quickly.  He explained to a seemingly dead line how he had many bank accounts and other assets under assumed names worth about three hundred million dollars.  Because he had been unable to keep track of all the account numbers and passwords he had created a personal website with a very strong encryption that contained all the information needed to access the money.
    He told Dean that after he took him out of The Endless Frontier and transported him—even if it had to be in the trunk of a car—to a remote wilderness area, then he would tell him the URL and password to that website.  While he was finding his way back to civilization, Dean could get all the money and use it to buy a new identity and cover his tracks.
    By the end of this explanation, Troy wasn’t sure if Dean was still listening on the other end of the line.
    After a moment of silence, Dean said, “You are a desperate man.  How do I know you aren’t just lying to me about the money?”
    A familiar excitement rose in Troy’s chest.   He had expected the question and immediately responded.  “Because if I am lying you can kill me.  You will know where you dropped me off and where to find me.  Especially if you drop me off somewhere without much cover.”
    Troy knew it was a weak answer, but he had been able to seal business deals with less to work on.  The wooden armrests of the chair he sat in were slick from his shiny palms.
    “No,” said Dean, “That isn’t good enough.  There are too many ways it could go wrong.  Prove to me that I can trust you—tell me what William is looking for.”

Episode Seventeen: An Unexpected Meeting

     Elizabeth's shoulders shuddered with the force of her repeated sobs.  She pulled her knees up to her chest and let the tears flow freely.  The computer had lengthened her deep brown hair, accurately duplicating the natural gentle waves.  The added weight and feel of hair on her shoulders remind her of  college days before she had cropped it short.  But instead of feeling joy at the happy memories she was overwhelmed with pain.
    The faces she had tried to banish from her mind slowly crept from the dark corners of her mind and paraded before her: eyes without sight that search in vain seeing nothing, limbs that twitched and stabbed bereft of human control, and wide-eyed children who ran from her in fear.  These and a host of others danced around the fallen citadel of her mind filling her empty soul with horror.
    In time the shadows faded, and her tears dried, leaving only husk of a heart remaining.  Although the day was not cold, she lay spread eagle eager to feel the warmth of the sun.  She lay there, no longer caring what happened to her.
    She was still there almost an hour later when William and Jim saw her from their canoes.  They came after paying a silent visit to the lodge to get a some supplies.  She didn't stir as they landed the canoes and approached her.
    When they stood at the edge of the origin William called out, “Miss Stratford, what are you doing here?”
    She lifted her head up for a moment to look at them, then resumed her spread eagle position.  “Dean was afraid I was going to call the cops on him.”
    When she didn't bother explaining William walked over to her.  His shadow fell on her eyes getting her attention. “Were you going to?  Call the cops I mean.”
    Elizabeth put her arm over her eyes after glancing at him.  “I wish I'd never seen the man.  I hate him.  But it doesn't matter now.  I'm stuck here just like the rest of you.  Without me Dean will have to do all the feeding and monitoring himself.  He hates that kind of work.  I don't think it will take him very long to decided to kill us.”
    “Why didn't you go to the police if you hate him?” asked Jim in a hard voice.
    Elizabeth sat up while she answered him, but kept her eyes lowered avoiding eye contact.
    “Blackmail—and no I won't tell you what he has on me.  Things got out of control so quickly I didn't know what to do.  At first I told him I wouldn't do it, but I was afraid.  I agreed when he promised we wouldn't kill you, Mr. Lombardi.  I almost went to the police when he captured you, Jim.  But by then it was to late for me.  No, I can't go to the police.”
    She closed her eyes, ran her fingers down through her hair and took a deep breath.  When she again spoke it was through barred teeth.  “If you laugh at me and spit in my face I'd understand.  William you were right.  There are hidden cameras all over the lodge.  Dean and I heard what little you three said before going out on the lake.  Dean knows you are looking for something, but he doesn't think you can do it in a week.  If there is any change of finding whatever it is and getting out of here I am willing to help.”
    “Get yourself lost.  Wander around out in the wilderness.  That's all the help you can be to us,” said Jim.
    William gave Jim a cool look, then turned back to Elizabeth, “Give us a moment please.”  He lead Jim a short ways away where they had a short but intense conversation.  Elizabeth couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was obvious that Jim wanted nothing to do with her.  When they were done talking Jim headed strait for his canoe.
    “You can come with us if you want, at least for a while,” William told her,  “Jim and I want to discuss a few things, but would rather wait till we are sure that Dean isn't watching.  You can come with us at least until we get out where the landscape is random and can't have hidden cameras.  We'll talk it over once we get there.  There are more canoes at the lodge. Get one and just head down stream.”  Without waiting for a response he turned and left.
    Elizabeth could feel Dean's eyes on her as she gathered food and a few extra sets of cloths from the lodge.  She knew that even if he wasn't watching right then that he would check the recordings.  Before she left she looked up at one of the corners where she knew a camera was hiding.
    “They haven't told me anything yet, but they are going to let me travel with them.  I'll hide my phone so they think I am on there side, but I'll call you when they spill the beans.”
   Even as she said them the words left a sour taste in her mouth.  She left the lodge as quickly as possible.

Episode Sixteen: Disagreement and Division

    While they were pushing the canoes into the lake Jim happened to see a pebble with a thin white band around it.  He paused for a moment, pocketed it, then continued.  Only a few minutes earlier Troy had shook him awake at the origin.  His limbs and head were slightly sore from sleeping on the stone.  He had quickly guessed that he was Troy Lombardi the famous billionaire, but he had been surprised at the man.  Troy had been just as confused as he about how and why they awoke at the origin.  He expected a confident man who never let himself loose control, but Troy just seemed weary.
    After a short conversation they agreed that Dean had probably done something to them and sent them back to the origin.  It was an odd conclusion because they had no idea why Dean would act that way.  Troy said he expected Dean to kill them any minute.  Jim wondered if Dean knew about the horizon and sent them back to the origin to prevent them from finding it.
    When William told them that Dean had been to the lodge Jim wished he had been able to see him.  There was still a part of him that wanted to believe Dean  was somehow innocent.  He felt that if he could just talk to him, maybe he could persuade him to give it all up.  Another, more cynical, part of his mind reminded him that that is exactly what he had tried to do when Dean turned on him.
    The lake was perfectly still.  The only ripples came from their paddling.   When William judged they were far enough away he turned and stopped his canoe with a few powerful strokes.
    “Dean reset the program because he wanted to talk to me.  He can't get the program to work on any other computer because I altered the one we are running on now.  He offered to set me free, if I will help him with the computer.  I told him, no.”
    “What!” cried Troy,  “you should have agreed.  If you can get back into the real world you'd have a real chance at escape!  You fool we never really had that big of a chance to escape and now that Dean reset the program we have to start all over,  we don't even know how big the memory of the computer is.  It could take us years to fill it up.”
    “Dean doesn't know it, but he actually helped us.  At first I thought he just drugged me to pull me out of the program so he could put me back at the Origin where he reach me, but he reset everything; He had to to put the cameras in.  That is why he drugged both of you.”
    Troy looked ready to give a heated reply, but Jim spoke first.
    “How does that help us?”
    “When the program resets it opens up a new file.  The old one is still there in the memory, unless Dean deleted it manually.  I don't think he even knows it is there.  Now the horizon is close to us again, we didn't lose anything at all.  In fact we gained this entire valley. But—well, it isn't quite as good as it sounds.  If I won't help him Dean wants to have another computer expert examine the computer.  But he can't have us lying around.  If I don't help he said he'd kill us to get us out of the way.  He said I have a week to change my mind.”
    For the past few weeks Jim the idea of death had flirted in and out of Jim's mind.  He almost couldn't grasp the idea that Dean might kill him, but his brotherly vision of Dean was overshadowed now by one of a thief who had taken everything from him.  Hearing a specific date of when Dean would complete the theft and take their lives kindled a new fear in Jim's heart.  The threat of death by Dean's hand had never felt real when it was ambiguously in the future.
    “All the more reason to agree to help him,” said Troy,  If you stay here it will be suicide.  More than suicide: murder.  Your life isn't the only one at stake.  Lets go back to the lodge and speak to Dean right now.  The sooner the better.  You'll probably have a chance to bolt within a week, there is no reason to stay here chasing the horizon.”
    “I'm sorry Mr. Lombardi.  I won't help him.  I still believe we have a chance of getting out on our own.”
    “Suppose we do try.  We'll give it a good effort.  And if we fail and Dean gives you the chance to leave again will you agree then?”
    “I don't know.”
    “For heaven's sake why not?”
    “Suppose I can't escape.  Suppose I let Dean scare me into helping him.  How many people we end up trapped like us.  Every night I lie awake and think of the horrible things Dean might do.  I was so relieved when I found out that he hasn't figured out how to work it yet.  I pray he never finds out, and I cannot help him.  I would rather the three of us die, than hundreds suffer because of me.”
    Troy obviously disagreed and for a moment Jim thought he would launch into argument again.  Instead he thrust his paddle deep in the water and moved away, heading north toward the waterfall.  He never looked back.
    William slouched on the small seat as he watched Troy paddle away from them.  He dropped his face in his hands and cried.  Jim wished he could give him an encouraging pat on the back, but the canoes prevented that.  When a few minutes had passed and William regained control of himself Jim spoke.
    “You are a good man, William.  If we die, It won't be your fault.  I would rather die here with you as a good friend than wait in here for years wondering what had become of you in Dean's control.  Even if you agreed to help him, Dean wouldn't really let you go free.  He would just lock you up somewhere else.  You did the right thing.”
    “Thanks.  We better get going.  We only have a week, every minute counts.”
    “Well,  it looks like Troy is headed north again.  I guess I'll go east again.  Maybe it'll be easier this time.  Less trees would be nice.”
    “I don't want to go alone again.  Why don't you come with me.  I tried to sail the boat by myself, but it didn't work very well.  I think we could go faster together on the boat than by ourselves.”
    Jim smiled, “Sounds great to me.”

Episode Fifteen: The Spy

"Elizabeth," said William "I know that you can hear me."
    Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Dean, who was just waking up, then back at William on the screen.
    "You heard Dean. You can hear me."  William eyes wandered looking around the room not sure in which direction to speak.
    "If there is any mercy in you, please help us. I know that I am just a computer nerd who the world will hardly miss, but Jim is a family man.  His kids wont have a father unless you help him. Elizabeth, please--"
    Dean pulled his hand back from the keyboard.  "I don't think we have to worry," said Dean.  "He'll think about dieing for a week and change his mind.  He'll help us."
    "You don't really plan to kill them do you?" asked Elizabeth.
    "If he refuses our only other choice is prison: life sentences most likely.  I'm not willing to do that.  Don't worry, Miss Stratford, he'll come to his senses.  He's not the kind of man to be a martyr.  He won't like it, but he'll help us."
    "He smiled when his back was turned to you.  I watched him hide it before turning back to you. I don't think he's as desperate as he acted.  What if he has a plan to get out?"
    Dean turned and looked at Mr. Kilgore's body, sound asleep on the bed where he had spent the last two months.  He stepped over to it and put one hand on the bed post. 
    “The only way for the brain connection to terminate is if the computer stops sending it information, and there is no way to stop the program from the inside.  If there was a way out, he would have done it by now.  Turn the display back on, I'm curious what Mr. Kilgore will tell the other two.”
    Elizabeth obediently activated the camera.

    “—every word you are saying!” William voice was both loud and pleading.  He stood up quickly and walked over to where Troy Lombardi stood in the doorway. 
    Troy spoke in a soft whisper, “Is he here, in the lodge?”
    Jim, who was behind Troy, stepped in and cautiously looked around. 
    “Not anymore, but there is some kind of hidden microphone or something. I'll explain what I know, but not here.  Not anywhere close by, there could be dozens of hidden microphones all over this valley.  We'll go out on the lake.  There won't be any microphones out there.”
    Elizabeth changed from camera to camera as the three men made their silent way through the lodge and out the back.  From the camera in the shed, Dean and she watched as they silently searched for microphones in the canoes before pulling them out.  When they were out of hearing range and could only be seen by a camera mounted on the top of the lodge Dean broke the silence.
    “Bring up the recording of what Troy said before you turned the screen on.”
    They watched William finish his plea to Elizabeth.  Afterword he sat down and appeared to be in deep thought.  From another camera they watched as Jim and Troy came over the hill toward the lodge.
    “You should have put a few cameras over by the origin,” muttered Dean.  Elizabeth wanted to mention that he had chosen the locations for the cameras—she had just put the code in for them—but didn't want to worsen Dean's already sour mood.
    They were able to hear a few snippets of their conversation, but it wasn't important.  Jim was telling Troy the story of when Dean had first asked for help then turned on him.
    Dean sat up a little straighter and leaned forward when Troy opened the front door.
    “Hey, William, whats going on here did you find . . .”  the rest of Troy words were covered by William's exclamation.
    “STOP! Don't say another word.  Dean can hear every word you are saying!”
    A strange chill trickled up Elizabeth's spine.  She switched the display to live time and looked for a moment at the three men, three small dots out in the middle of the lake.  “They haven't given up yet.  They still hope to escape.”
    “I don't think there is any real cause for alarm.  We reset the program to get them back to the Lodge and install the cameras.   Whatever they were doing was completely undone.  If they couldn't do it in two months, they won't be able to do it in single week.”
    “William seems to think otherwise, and he is the only one who really understands the program.  And they are going to be in there for a lot longer than a week.  Our agreement was to let them die naturally.”
    Dean gave her a long hard look.  “Well if there is any hope of escape, we can't let them continue to try.  I don't want to kill them any more than you, but were running out of options.   We have no idea what they are planning.  We can only observe them when they are near the lodge, which is of no use now because they know about it.  If you think William is so confident, wouldn't be better to just kill them now?”
    “NO!”  Elizabeth jerked involuntarily.
    Dean eyed her coolly.  “I'll make a deal with you.  I'll put you in the Endless Frontier with them.  You can tell them I turned on you when you didn't want to kill them.  It almost won't even be a lie.  Once they think you are on their side they will tell you their plans.  Then you call me and I'll pull you out.  We'll change the program to prevent them from ever getting out and William will be forced to help us.  Jim and Troy can live happily ever after in the Endless Frontier.”
    Elizabeth couldn't respond.  Her throat had constricted with fear.  Dean stood and towered over her waiting for a reply.  Without a word and under his gaze, she walked over to an empty bed and lay down.  A few moments later she fell down weeping on the red marble of the Origin.

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.