Read Online State of Nature: Book Three of The Park Service Trilogy by Ryan Winfield - Free Book Online

complicated, of course,” I say, lying through my gritted teeth, “but basically you can be in more than one place at a time in the new Eden.”
    After it comes out, I realize that I’m just mixing in the professor’s crazy submarine speech about particles existing in more than one place at any given time, and I’m not really even sure how you could enjoy being in two places at once. I look at Jimmy for his reaction, but I can’t tell if he looks impressed by my speaking skills or my ability to lie.
    “What else?” another asks.
    I close my eyes for a moment, trying to think, trying to not lie too much. Then I open them and go on:
    “New places to go and explore without even having to imagine them. Like gorgeous coastlines of blue water, and pine forests, and snowcapped mountains, and beautiful lakes with homey houses on their edge for you to relax in. Tennis courts. Beds made of feathers. Planes that fly you over the landscape and show you deserts and prairies and grazing beasts that had long ago gone extinct. And whole islands across the sea where castles rise up out of the water, and where majestic hills roll on forever, and you can ride horses and hunt deer and eat feasts prepared for kings.”
    When I finish, the crowd oohs and aahs. But I notice that Jimmy just looks sad. I’m guessing that’s because he knows that I’m not talking some imagined reality in Eden, but our life.
    “Now,” I say, feeling the time is right to go for the close, “if we can just get back to business as usual and get the supplies sent up, we’ll be able to restart retirements in almost no time.”
    The crowd parts, and a young girl about my own age steps to the front and looks up at me.
    “But what about Red?”
    This must be BethAnn, Red’s girlfriend.
    “He’s fine,” I tell her. “But he can’t come back.”
    “Why not?” she asks.
    “Well, because he sneaked around and was exposed to some unsterilized areas. I’m afraid he’s contagious.”
    I see the crowd collectively cringe at the word contagious, many shaking their heads and others waving the word away as if waving Red away with it. We’ve lived long enough in these close quarters to know the danger of a foreign agent infecting us; even if that foreign agent is the truth.
    But BethAnn doesn’t wave Red away.
    Instead, she looks up at me with dewy eyes and says, “Maybe Red and I could go to Eden early then. That way we could be together forever.”
    Her willingness to go render her brain into Eden early just to be with Red rips my heart out. There she is, true as they come. I look over at Jimmy, and he’s shaking his head. I look out at the crowd, the trusting faces colored with hope that they too will someday be reunited with their loved ones in Eden. Then I see Mrs. Hightower and her unforgiving face and I’m reminded of the video of Dr. Radcliffe that she showed us on the big test day, the one where he lied to us all about Eden and about him being the first one to enter it.
    Suddenly, I’m back in that classroom, taking my test. I’m looking again at the question: would I kill an entire level to save humankind? I answered blindly then. But I’m not blind now. I’m standing here with my eyes wide open, lying to these people and sending them to be slaughtered when they turn 35. I’m no better than Radcliffe was. But I can be. I can still change the course of my destiny. I can still redeem myself. I can still make my father proud, wherever he is.
    I turn back to the microphone.
    “I owe you all an apology because I’ve been standing up here lying to you this whole time. Eden is a sham ...”
    Just as I realize that the microphone has been killed and that none of my last statement was broadcast, a strong hand grabs my arm and yanks me off the platform. Then I’m being pulled through the crowd by Mrs. Hightower. Hands reach to pat me on the back, faces smile at me, voices cheer my name, and all of it slides by so fast, I can’t get a word out to