The Circle

BOOK III

TO HAVE GOTTEN so close to apocalypse—it rattled her still. Yes, Mae had averted it, she’d been braver than she thought possible, but her nerves, these many months later, were still frayed. What if Kalden hadn’t reached out to her when he did? What if he hadn’t trusted her? What if he’d taken matters into his own hands, or worse, entrusted his secret to someone else? Someone without her integrity? Without her strength, her resolve, her loyalty?

In the quiet of the clinic, sitting next to Annie, Mae’s mind wandered. There was serenity here, with the rhythmic hush of the respirator, the occasional door opening or closing, the hum of the machines that kept Annie alive. She’d collapsed at her desk, was found on the floor, catatonic, and was rushed here, where the care surpassed what she could have received anywhere else. Since then, she’d stabilized, and the prognosis was strong. The cause of the coma was still a subject of some debate, Dr. Villalobos had said, but most likely, it was caused by stress, or shock, or simple exhaustion. The Circle doctors were confident Annie would emerge from it, as were a thousand doctors worldwide who had watched her vitals, encouraged by the frequent flittering of her eyelashes, the occasional twitch of a finger. Next to her EKG, there was a screen with an ever-lengthening string of good wishes from fellow humans from all over the world, most or all of whom, Mae thought wistfully, Annie would never know.

Mae looked at her friend, at her unchanging face, her glistening skin, the ribbed tube emerging from her mouth. She looked wonderfully peaceful, sleeping a restful sleep, and for a brief moment Mae felt a twinge of envy. She wondered what Annie was thinking. Doctors had said that she was likely dreaming; they’d been measuring steady brain activity during the coma, but what precisely was happening in her mind was unknown to all, and Mae couldn’t help feeling some annoyance about this. There was a monitor visible from where Mae sat, a real-time picture of Annie’s mind, bursts of color appearing periodically, implying that extraordinary things were happening in there. But what was she thinking?

A knock startled her. She looked beyond Annie’s prone form to find Francis behind the glass, in the viewing area. He raised a tentative hand, and Mae waved. She would see him later, at an all-campus event to celebrate the latest Clarification milestone. Ten million people were now transparent worldwide, the movement irreversible.

Annie’s role in making it possible could not be overstated, and Mae wished she could witness it. There was so much Mae wanted to tell Annie. With a duty that felt holy, she’d told the world about Kalden being Ty, about his bizarre claims and misguided efforts to derail the completion of the Circle. Remembering it now, it seemed like some kind of nightmare, being so far under the earth with that madman, disconnected from her watchers and the rest of the world. But Mae had feigned her cooperation and had escaped, and immediately told Bailey and Stenton about it all. With their customary compassion and vision, they’d allowed Ty to stay on campus, in an advisory role, with a secluded office and no specific duties. Mae hadn’t seen him since their subterranean encounter, and did not care to.

Mae had not reached her parents in a few months now, but it would be only a matter of time. They would find each other, soon enough, in a world where everyone could know each other truly and wholly, without secrets, without shame and without the need for permission to see or to know, without the selfish hoarding of life—any corner of it, any moment of it. All of that would be, so soon, replaced by a new and glorious openness, a world of perpetual light. Completion was imminent, and it would bring peace, and it would bring unity, and all that messiness of humanity until now, all those uncertainties that accompanied the world before the Circle, would be only a memory.

Another burst of color appeared on the screen monitoring the workings of Annie’s mind. Mae reached out to touch her forehead, marveling at the distance this flesh put between them. What was going on in that head of hers? It was exasperating, really, Mae thought, not knowing. It was an affront, a deprivation, to herself and to the world. She would bring this up with Stenton and Bailey, with the Gang of 40, at the earliest opportunity. They needed to talk about Annie, the thoughts she was thinking. Why shouldn’t they know them? The world deserved nothing less and would not wait.