by MJ Rodgers
As soon as Clarise was gone, A.J. looked at Zane. His right hand was straining against the strap, his wrist red and raw.
“You’re not going to be able to get your hand off the bed this time, are you?” she asked.
“No.”
A.J. pushed against her restraints once more. It was no use. Frustration rose in her throat. “Damn it, Zane. They’re going to brainwash us.”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“How can you be facing this disaster so calmly?”
“Look at the bright side. They could have shot us.”
“I wished they had. I’d rather be shot than lose my memory of what happened this weekend.”
“Yes, I realize you must be very worried about forgetting the information you’ve learned that could free your brother.”
“It’s not just that. Zane, as long as we’re both going to forget it soon, I might as well tell you that I lied when we were together today.”
“About what?”
She looked at him straight. It was the only way she knew how to look at him. “About…about it just being a pleasant interlude. It was a great deal more than that. A great deal more “
A wonderful smile spread across his lips and was reflected in the deep glow of his eyes. Her heart swelled in her chest at the message in that smile. “A.J.—”
“Well, here we are, folks,” Clarise interrupted as she came into the room with a disk in each hand. “You’re going to sleep like babies after this and wake up feeling refreshed, a tad forgetful and inordinantly furious with each other.”
A.J. watched Clarise set the small disks into the CD ROM drives at the top of the beds, panic clutching at her stomach. She couldn’t allow herself to forget—not the evidence she had finally uncovered to free Adam, and not that look she had just seen in Zane’s eyes.
“You don’t have to do this, Clarise,” she said quickly. “You can help us expose Linbow and come out a heroine in all this.”
“No, thank you. Lex and his VR vehicle are providing me with the perfect subjects for my psychological research. I’ve been able to cure phobias, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Hell, I even turn middleaged couch potatoes into healthy, happy specimens of humanity.”
“You’ve been experimenting on some of the patrons to the park,” A.J. said, the realization coming upon her.
“And perfect subjects they’ve been, too, oblivious to everything except having a good time.”
“Ken Beyette. You cured him of his fear of heights.”
“Once I found out about it.”
“But he doesn’t know you did it.”
“When patients know they’re being worked on, you always have to worry about the placebo effect. Even Deann doesn’t realize I’m the one who cured her of her shyness. In a couple of years, I’ll have what I need to publish my findings and gain my proper place in the annals of psychological history.”
“When you explain how you gathered your data, you’ll be ostracized.”
“On the contrary. Every patron to Fabulous Fantasies I’ve treated has signed a consent form while they were in one of my special fantasy programs.”
“But you’ve treated them without their knowledge or real consent. That’s unethical.”
“Don’t talk to me about ethics. I worked for five years gathering data on the importance of fantasy escape to the modern human, chained to the world’s ever-escalating harsh realities. My work was solid. My conclusions correct. But my research was denounced simply because I made a small error in statistics. Well, they’ll find no errors this time. The computer is doing all the statistical analysis. It’s time for your fantasies, folks.”
Clarise shoved the mask over A.J.’s face and fitted it snugly behind her ears. All sight and sound from the outside world was immediately cut off. A.J. found herself once again in that velvet blackness with the molasses music that melted her mind.
“I love you, A.J.”
“She can’t hear you,” Clarise said as she got ready to fit the mask over Zane’s eyes and ears. “She’s already in the fantasy.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you say it?”
“Because it needed to be said.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“Actually, I think our love makes perfect sense.”
“You won’t know it ever existed after this fantasy,” Clarise promised. Then she set the mask over Zane’s face and blocked out all reality.
Chapter Fourteen
Zane slipped inside the courtroom and stood against the wall. It was the fourth day in the retrial of Harper and Temark Vs. Fabulous Fantasies, and every seat was taken.
He hadn’t attended the first three days. No point to it. If anything affecting his client, Norman Powers, had surfaced, Vanack would have let him know. Nothing had.
Judge Butz gave Elling the nod to begin. According to Vanack, Elling had taken a beating over the past several days in court. A really bad beating.
She stood now and faced Lex Linbow to begin her cross-examination.
“Mr. Linbow, yesterday on direct examination, you told this court that nothing Mrs. Patsy Harper or Mrs. Fran Temark experienced at your VR theme park could have possibly alienated them from their husbands, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
Elling went to the plaintiff’s table and picked up a thick stack of computer printouts. “Your Honor, may I approach the witness?” she asked.
“Yes,” Judge Butz said.
Elling stepped to the witness box and handed the computer printouts to Linbow.
“This is a copy of a list of patrons and their selections, which you provided in response to a subpoena of your records. Would you please locate Mrs. Harper’s and Mrs. Temark’s names on the top of page four.”
Linbow flipped to the page. “Okay. Now what?”
“Would you please tell this court what fantasy program Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Temark selected, according to your records.”
“Femme Fatale.”
“For both women?”
“Yes.”
“How could two women go through the same fantasy program at the same time?”
Linbow looked bored with Elling’s question. It was clear that he thought she should have already grasped the process.
“Because each woman had her own copy of the program. The fantasy programs my park provides are just like the videocassettes of a favorite movie. The more popular the program, the more copies we have on file.”
“How many copies do you have of the Femme Fatale program disks?” Elling asked.
“Probably twenty-five. I don’t know for certain.”
“And which two copies of those possible twenty-five copies of the Femme Fatale program were given to Patsy Harper and Fran Temark when they visited your park, Mr. Linbow?”
“As I explained when you served me with the subpoena for them, Ms. Elling, there is no way of knowing which specific program disks Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Temark used. All program disks at Fabulous Fantasies are used over and over again, just like the videocassette you rent from the local video store is used over and over again.”
“But a virtual reality program is a great deal more interactive than the movies one rents from a video store, isn’t that correct, Mr. Linbow?”
“Of course. A user modifies a VR program with the use of her imagination.”
“If a user modifies the program with the use of her imagination, as you have just described, how can you then reuse this modified program?”
Linbow shook his head impatiently. “No, no, when I spoke of modifying the program, what I meant was that a user selects different possible paths at various points in the fantasy, depending on what they want to do.”
“Will you give the court an example of how a user’s selection might change the Femme Fatale program?”
“One woman entering the fantasy beauty mall might be drawn into a clothing boutique, another into a jewelry store. Those choices are
all subjective.”
“So, no two users will ever experience the same program the same way because of their preferences?”
“That’s correct. That’s what makes the fantasies so real to them. Their imaginations and preferences mold them. The computer programming is so sophisticated that it interprets their selections instantly and continues the fantasy accordingly. But the user’s selection does not alter the programming, any more than someone changing a TV channel alters the program being broadcast on that channel.”
“So virtual reality disks are in no way changed by their interaction with a user?”
“That’s right. They are not changed.”
“And the Femme Fatale program disks Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Temark were given the weekend they attended Fabulous Fantasies were not changed by Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Temark’s use?”
Linbow’s impatience was clearly growing. “Of course they weren’t changed.”
“And they have been used by other women since?”
“Yes, naturally.”
“And is this true for all the other Femme Fatale program disks that patrons at your park have been given?”
Irritation joined with impatience in Linbow’s tone. “Yes, yes. It’s true for all the programs. None of the disks have been changed by their users. All of them have been reused. How many times do I have to say it, Ms. Elling?”
“That should be sufficient, thank you. Mr. Linbow, what is the customer number just adjacent to the name of Patsy Temark on the computer printout you hold in your hands?”
Linbow glanced at the computer printout sitting in his lap. “She was the thirty-ninth patron of Fabulous Fantasies.”
“And Mrs. Temark’s?”
“She was the forty-eighth.”
Elling leaned over Linbow’s arm to point out a name. “And this woman here who is also shown as having selected the Femme Fatale program. What number is she?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Would you please read the name of that woman out loud, Mr. Linbow, so that everyone in the court can hear it.”
“Karlie Kasen.”
“Mr. Linbow, did Karlie Kasen get a different Femme Fatale program when she came to Fabulous Fantasies?”
“No, of course not. She got the same as all the women get.”
“When I subpoenaed you for a copy of the specific program disks Karlie Kasen used, how did you respond?”
“I told you I couldn’t provide you with those disks. I have no way of knowing which ones they were, just as I have no way of knowing which disks were used by Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Temark.”
Elling turned to the judge. “Your Honor,” she said, “at this time I’d like to interrupt my cross-examination of Mr. Linbow to call Karlie Kasen to the stand.”
“Your Honor, I object,” Vermine said as he rose from behind the defendant’s table. “Ms. Elling is wasting the court’s time. This woman’s name was just drawn out of a hat. She can have nothing substantive to offer this court.”
“Karlie Kasen is on my witness list,” Elling countered.
“So is every patron who has ever gone to Fabulous Fantasies,” Vermine protested.
“I believe Your Honor should be the judge as to whether Ms. Kasen has anything substantive to offer, not Mr. Vermine,” Elling persisted.
“I’ll allow Ms. Kasen to take the stand at this time,” Butz said. “Mr. Linbow, you may step down for the moment.”
The bailiff brought Karlie Kasen in. Zane recognized her. She was a very attractive brunette who swore to tell the truth and then sat down in the witness chair with a calm attentiveness.
“Ms. Kasen,” Elling began, “when you attended the Fabulous Fantasies island theme park on the day it opened, what program did you select?”
“Femme Fatale.”
“And what, if anything, occurred when you returned home after that weekend?”
“I broke up with my fiancé, Norman Powers.”
“Did you love your fiancé before you went to the park?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love him after your visit to the park?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the Femme Fatale virtual reality program disks I was given deliberately turned me against Norman.”
The courtroom erupted in excited whispers as Vermine jumped to his feet. “Your Honor, I object! This woman doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Your Honor,” Elling said, “I submit into evidence these five program disks that Ms. Kasen will testify are the exact same program disks she used during her weekend at Fabulous Fantasies, disks that were modified by her use and can never be used again.”
“No, no!” Linbow screeched, jumping to his feet. “You couldn’t have them! I never gave them to you! Those are fakes, phonies!”
“Where did you get those disks?” Judge Butz asked.
“Your Honor,” Elling said calmly, “these disks were legally seized more than a week ago in response to a federal court order issued by the Department of Justice at the instigation of the Air Force, who learned that illegal experiments in mind control were being conducted on their property being leased by Mr. Linbow.”
Linbow fell into his chair. “No, no, no!”
“Mr. Linbow lied when he said he could not comply with my subpoena to hand over these disks,” Elling continued. “They have been filed away on the island the entire time. Of course, that is only one of Mr. Linbow’s lies. We are ready to call Dr. Doris Douglas, a virtual reality computer scientist from MIT, who over the last week has been able to decode these disks so they can be run on a regular computer monitor. Dr. Douglas will demonstrate to this entire court the step-by-step deliberate psychological manipulation encoded on these disks that turned Karlie Kasen against her fiancé.”
“Your Honor, I object!” Vermine yelled. “Defense was told nothing about—”
“Overruled,” Butz said, not even giving Vermine a chance to finish. “Go on, Ms. Elling.”
She smiled. “Your Honor, we are also prepared to bring to the stand Sacha Woodson Montgomery, the first victim of this diabolical virtual reality program—a woman whose father, Piermont Woodson, paid Lex Linbow of Fabulous Fantasies to turn Mrs. Montgomery against her husband so that he could beat his son-in-law in a financial battle.”
“No!” Linbow yelled again. “Her disks were destroyed!”
“Yes, Mrs. Montgomery’s disks were destroyed at Mr. Linbow’s command,” Elling said, speaking directly to the jury, who Zane could see were on the edges of their seats. “You’ve just heard it out of his own mouth. However, the memory of Mrs. Montgomery’s emotional abuse could not be destroyed.”
Elling turned once again to the judge. “Your Honor, we are prepared to present evidence that under hypnosis this last week, psychologist Dr. Damian Steele has helped Mrs. Montgomery recall the specifics of the deliberate brainwashing she received at the hands of her father’s cohorts while visiting the Fabulous Fantasies theme park prior to its opening day. And furthermore—”
As Elling continued to fire the ammunition from her fully loaded legal guns, A.J. crossed the aisle and came to stand next to Zane. He reached for her hand and interlaced her fingers with his as he gave her a knowing wink.
ADAM JUSTICE picked up his full glass of champagne and offered a toast to those gathered in the conference room at the Justice Inc. offices.
“This toast is for my partners, Octavia, Marc and Kay. Thank you for standing by me, even when my refusal to speak on my own behalf had you pulling out your legal hairs.”
A good-natured grumble from the other partners brought an amused smile to Zane’s face. He could see a similar smile lifting A.J.’s lips as she sipped her champagne.
“I have to give Elling credit,” Kay said. “She kept her side of the bargain and waited until Linbow perjured himself on the stand so that Adam’s actions in withdrawing as his attorney would be vindicated. It had to have been very hard for her to allow herself to be creamed in
court for three straight days while she sat on the proof A.J. and Zane had provided her.”
“Yes, but look at all the fun she had on that fourth day,” Marc said. “She looked real good in there. It might not be a bad idea to think about bringing her and her partner onto the Justice Inc. team.”
“And bringing aboard the thirty-percent cut of that fifteen million dollars the jury awarded the husbands?” A.J. asked.
“Yes, there’s that, too,” Marc agreed with a grin.
“Linbow, Woodson and Ingram are under federal indictment for the criminal use of federal property,” Octavia said. “Elling better move quickly to freeze his funds if she wants her clients to see that money.”
“What about the Harpers and Temarks, Kay?” A.J. asked. “Do you think that fiancé of yours is going to be able to mend those four marriages the Femme Fatale program broke apart?”
“Damian can do anything,” Kay said proudly. “Look at you two. He restored your memories.”
Zane and A.J. exchanged smiling glances, as he draped a warm arm across her shoulder.
“Your team’s successful amphibious assault to get Karlie Kasen’s disks was what made all this possible, Zane,” Adam said.
“That amphibious assault had been planned for weeks,” Zane admitted. “Thanks to Octavia and Marc and Kay’s legal savvy, we ended up doing it with the blessings of a federal subpoena.”
“But my partners tell me it was your military contacts that convinced the Feds to agree to let you do it clandestinely,” Adam said. “And, just incidentally, save my reputation. I will not forget your efforts on my behalf.”
There was a focused sincerity in Adam’s words. It struck Zane that he was looking at a man who never said anything that was unimportant to him.
“Still,” Zane admitted, “all the effort in the world wouldn’t have helped my guys to come out with the needed proof if a certain lady P.I. hadn’t insisted on going in a week early and showing us what to get.”
Adam turned to A.J. and held up his glass again.
The room became very quiet as Adam stood looking at his sister, his stance so straight, so ceremonial. When he spoke again his tone still contained that cool, distinct cadence that was the voice of a man of authority, a man who commanded respect.
