Screen by Aarti Patel Read Free Book Online Page B

so beautiful about it. The numbers you give us
will help SciTech build a more creative platform for sculpting and enhancing
the virtual environment. As long as the audience responds once more to what
they see in the screen, we have done our job. You can thank us for having had
the chance to participate after we’re through here. And no—you won’t suffer
detrimental side-effects from the procedure. In fact, you may notice you're
new, improved, and better able to adapt to this world.”
    Brent
McKenna pulled on a green lever attached to his screen and Misha felt a small steel dome lower loosely around her head. Around her, she heard
everyone screaming as the same happened to them. Electrical wires sprouted from
the domes and attached to screens all around the lab. The screens emitted a
soft hum of sound while the domes warmed up with electricity. Misha’s forehead began to feel warm and unsteady and the
screams around her began to die down.
    As
streams of numbers and letters appeared on the screens, Misha felt her panic rising. What were they going to do? Brent McKenna was seated on
what looked like a throne, watching the spectacle as if he were at the movies. Misha’s brain felt softer and mushier with each passing
minute and she didn’t know how much longer she could last. Her body felt like
that of a ghost, slowly floating through the air and hovering nearby instead of
staying attached to her. She looked at those restrained around her and saw
people squirming with what energy they had left. Misha felt like throwing up and saw the Love Channel flash before her eyes. Rock Hard
Abs. Veggie Popsicles. Her muscles twitched aggressively in response and a buzz
took over her whole body.
    Misha tried desperately to remember what she had talked to Earl about the
other night at dinner. Her mind slowly pieced together fragmented memories of
words and images. The thing that can’t be pegged makes people scared. Who was
she while she was in the screen? Misha could feel the
answer on the tip of her tongue, and then it came hurtling from her throat all
at once and she screamed it out with all her might.  
    “Nobody!
Nobody!” The group of faces around her turned and tried to look. “There’s
nobody in there, in that screen. Own who you are,
what you have, and they won’t be able to use you for it! Take ownership of what
you got. Right now! You already know how!”
    Misha’s words kept coming and she saw Brent McKenna yelling at his
lab techs and rising angrily from his throne. “Shut her up, immediately! She’s
infecting the screen, she’s infecting the virtual environment!” Misha kept shouting at the top of her lungs until she felt
her voice would give out, and then she strained to yell out some more. Wisps of
smoke started to rise from the screens attached to the group. The wires were
beginning to fry and the heat in the helmets covering the group was diminishing
in intensity. The lab techs were too slow in responding to Brent’s order. They
seemed to be mulling over what Misha had said. “Stop
her!” Brent shrieked as he started running toward Misha’s chair. He was within twenty feet of her when a white blur shot out in front of
his foot, tripping him and sending him sprawling to the ground. Poof panted in Misha’s direction and decided to finish off the job. He
hopped over to Brent’s hand and bit down hard. Brent wailed in agony and
writhed on the ground. Then Poof went after Brent's nose and was quick enough
to get away once the celebrity's face started gushing blood.
    Misha looked around her as all the lab screens simultaneously short-circuited
and died. The helmet above her head lifted as Poof ran over and jumped in her
lap. The small group of individuals around her rose from their constraints and
looked at each other in utter amazement of their newfound freedom. The
scientists and lab techs were helpless, staring into black screens that no
longer communicated with them. Brent cradled his hand on the floor