Orwell’s
1984,
maybe even an entire chapter, and then set it down with a sigh and return to the dog or the ship.
But try as he might, he couldn’t get the story he’d heard at the Mission out of his mind. Finally, he did what every new recruit does: an online search. He was looking for information on the mysterious Agents of the Glass, NTRP, Brother Lucian, Winter Neale’s family, and just about everything else that had been discussed at the Mission. He wanted evidence that what he’d been told was
real,
but the results of his search were disappointing. Both the Agents and NTRP are
very
good at maintaining secrecy, and information—the kind Andy was looking for, anyway—has a way of disappearing before it has a chance to spread. The public face of National Television and Radio Productions is quite different from the organization that had been described to Andy. According to its website, NTRP was “dedicated to the return to a better world through quality programming,” which made Andy wonder what kind of world they wanted to go back to. Not surprisingly, the site was strangely silent about the activities that Silas insisted were their favorites: celebrating and rewarding the very
worst
in human behavior.
He was about to give up when his phone buzzed. Seeing that it was Jensen, he felt himself tense up, and he wondered if she did that to everyone.
“Why didn’t you call me back? I left you a message earlier.”
“What? Oh. Hi, Jensen. Sorry. I got it. I just forgot. You didn’t say what it was about, so I figured it wasn’t important.”
“Do me a favor, okay, Sandy? Don’t think. Don’t ‘figure.’ If I tell you to call me, call me.”
Andy rolled his eyes, happy that she couldn’t see his face. “Okay, okay.”
“I’ve been doing some research about 233dotcom, the company that wrecked our perfectly good library. They call themselves ‘a portal to the digital future’—what a joke. They want to eliminate paper books completely by 2020.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Andy. “Especially if you’re a tree.”
“I don’t trust them,” said Jensen. “All the books being controlled by one company and a computer? I mean, gee, what could possibly go wrong? It’s all just a little too Big Brother–y for me.”
“Hey, that’s from
1984,
right? I’m reading that book right now.”
“My, my. Quite the little intellectual, aren’t you? I didn’t read that book until I was a freshman. And I hated it the first time. You know what, Sandy? I’m going to go out on a skinny branch here and give you a little present. I don’t know why I trust you. I shouldn’t; I just met you, and you’re, like, ten, besides.”
“First of all, it’s
Andy.
Second, I’m almost thirteen.
And
for your information, a lot of people trust me.” He felt the sea glass pressing against his skin.
“Like who?”
“People. A lot of them.”
“Yeah, you said that. Like I was saying, you’re a kid. Look, not many people know about this, but I have a private website. Normally, I’m pretty picky about who I give the password to, but you’d probably hack your way in, anyway. You’d better not give it to your little girlfriend, Winter, either.”
“I’m not a hacker. And she’s not my girlfriend. What kind of website?”
“It’s all about information.
Serious
information. There’s no pictures of cute boys or stories about your favorite bands. Real news. What’s really going on in the world. Stuff that they don’t want you to know.”
“Who’s
they
?”
“Read it and figure it out for yourself.”
Andy went back to his computer and logged on to Jensen’s website. When he got to the bottom of her latest review of one of NTRP’s reality programs, he followed a link to other stories that she had written about NTRP. There were more than twenty, and not one had a single positive word about anything that the network produced. He skimmed through them, laughing aloud occasionally as her
1984,
maybe even an entire chapter, and then set it down with a sigh and return to the dog or the ship.
But try as he might, he couldn’t get the story he’d heard at the Mission out of his mind. Finally, he did what every new recruit does: an online search. He was looking for information on the mysterious Agents of the Glass, NTRP, Brother Lucian, Winter Neale’s family, and just about everything else that had been discussed at the Mission. He wanted evidence that what he’d been told was
real,
but the results of his search were disappointing. Both the Agents and NTRP are
very
good at maintaining secrecy, and information—the kind Andy was looking for, anyway—has a way of disappearing before it has a chance to spread. The public face of National Television and Radio Productions is quite different from the organization that had been described to Andy. According to its website, NTRP was “dedicated to the return to a better world through quality programming,” which made Andy wonder what kind of world they wanted to go back to. Not surprisingly, the site was strangely silent about the activities that Silas insisted were their favorites: celebrating and rewarding the very
worst
in human behavior.
He was about to give up when his phone buzzed. Seeing that it was Jensen, he felt himself tense up, and he wondered if she did that to everyone.
“Why didn’t you call me back? I left you a message earlier.”
“What? Oh. Hi, Jensen. Sorry. I got it. I just forgot. You didn’t say what it was about, so I figured it wasn’t important.”
“Do me a favor, okay, Sandy? Don’t think. Don’t ‘figure.’ If I tell you to call me, call me.”
Andy rolled his eyes, happy that she couldn’t see his face. “Okay, okay.”
“I’ve been doing some research about 233dotcom, the company that wrecked our perfectly good library. They call themselves ‘a portal to the digital future’—what a joke. They want to eliminate paper books completely by 2020.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Andy. “Especially if you’re a tree.”
“I don’t trust them,” said Jensen. “All the books being controlled by one company and a computer? I mean, gee, what could possibly go wrong? It’s all just a little too Big Brother–y for me.”
“Hey, that’s from
1984,
right? I’m reading that book right now.”
“My, my. Quite the little intellectual, aren’t you? I didn’t read that book until I was a freshman. And I hated it the first time. You know what, Sandy? I’m going to go out on a skinny branch here and give you a little present. I don’t know why I trust you. I shouldn’t; I just met you, and you’re, like, ten, besides.”
“First of all, it’s
Andy.
Second, I’m almost thirteen.
And
for your information, a lot of people trust me.” He felt the sea glass pressing against his skin.
“Like who?”
“People. A lot of them.”
“Yeah, you said that. Like I was saying, you’re a kid. Look, not many people know about this, but I have a private website. Normally, I’m pretty picky about who I give the password to, but you’d probably hack your way in, anyway. You’d better not give it to your little girlfriend, Winter, either.”
“I’m not a hacker. And she’s not my girlfriend. What kind of website?”
“It’s all about information.
Serious
information. There’s no pictures of cute boys or stories about your favorite bands. Real news. What’s really going on in the world. Stuff that they don’t want you to know.”
“Who’s
they
?”
“Read it and figure it out for yourself.”
Andy went back to his computer and logged on to Jensen’s website. When he got to the bottom of her latest review of one of NTRP’s reality programs, he followed a link to other stories that she had written about NTRP. There were more than twenty, and not one had a single positive word about anything that the network produced. He skimmed through them, laughing aloud occasionally as her
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