The Interview

Nicholas was picked up while paying for groceries. It became common practice to intercept dissidents at the Costco, as it was now the only place food was legally sold. At first everyone thought they were being hauled away for shoplifting. Nobody batted an eye when someone was cuffed and taken into back rooms, as long as it wasn’t them or theirs that were being hauled away.

It wasn’t the first time Nicholas had been questioned by the Truth Seekers, but it was the first time he was taken to wherever the hell this was. They hooded him and deafened him so he couldn’t fight back or escape. The headphones blared, “Honesty is the only policy,” and, “The Heart Paradigm only wants what you want.” This went on for what seemed like at an hour before the hood and headphones were removed.

The leather cuffs that his hands were placed in had leads long enough to let him drink the yummy coffee they always provided during their interrogations. His knees butted up against what he imagined were spools meant to reel him in if he became violent or attempted to escape.

Light from all sides flooded the room from unknown sources blinding Nicholas from seeing anything but white glare. He was quite sure there was two-way glass on at least two of the walls, but he couldn’t look for more than a moment. The lights would strobe in whichever direction he looked, so he kept his head down focused on the gourmet swill they obviously were waiting for him to drink.

The coffee was probably drugged, but Nicholas didn’t care. At 300 credits a cup, he only remembered what it tasted like when he smelled someone more fortunate drinking it. It was probably some truth serum, but he knew that if he showed any distrust, it would only raise suspicion. He sipped playing out the truth that he would share until the hot oversized dixie cup was empty.

Ten seconds later a door slid open behind him; muted rollers slid back and forth, barely audible, his imagination created a hidden door made to look like a wall, but he maintained his demeanor of dis-interest never raising his head.

The interrogator smelled like someone who had just got ready for church. You know the type, freshly showered, too much of their best cologne mixed with aftershave. Before he sat down across from Nicholas, he let a thick manila folder clap down on the table. There was a slithery ease about his movements, and it took everything Nicholas had not to put some distance between him and his would-be interrogator.

The interrogator took a remote out of his pocket, punched a few buttons and the lighting dimmed. A minute passed before Nicholas felt comfortable enough to raise his gaze, locking eyes with his doppelganger. Nicholas heard rumors they had mastered genetic mimicry, but he couldn’t stifle his surprise when his iron will was reflected back at him.

Another minute passed while the silent tug of war ensued. The imposter reached behind his neck and unclasped a gold necklace, attached to it was his heart-shaped locket. The heart stone embedded in it began to pulse with Nicholas’ heartbeat. Nicholas wondered if this thing had a heart that beat in tandem with his as the look-alike unclasped the locket and laid it on the table before them.

The interrogator unbuttoned hist suit-jacket while he spoke. “When we came to earth the sadness and emptiness you beings suffered from was almost intolerable. Unrevivable even. The unfortunate side-effect of not following your heart’s desire. We knew that many of you would resist the idea that another would know your heart better than you yourself ever could, but overtime we were confident you would see that we only had your best interest in mind. It perplexes us why you, who has obviously been unhappy, will not accept the gift we offer you. Why do you continue to resist assistance?”

Nicholas smiled. He knew that truth wasn’t just the best policy but the only policy. People who lied were deemed unrecoverable and were never seen or heard from again. “Call me old fashioned, I guess. I like the pursuit as much as the acquisition of my heart’s desire. If I take that pendant, it will tell me every little turn and deviation. I won’t have the satisfaction of finding my love under my own locomotion. I don’t like being told what to do, even if that telling would help me.”

The pendant pulsed, attracting the eyes of the interrogator, he nodded, smiling, “This is true.”

Another minute passed and neither Nicholas or the doppelganger did anything but breathe, when suddenly he grabbed the remote, punched a code in, and a view screen slid down silently. A hover drone that was assigned to recording his every act had been recalled. This particular event was last year. It was the last time he saw his wife, Melly. She was on her way to work when the autopilot “malfunctioned” in her air taxi, killing her instantly. He had to be careful; the truth is dangerous here.

Nicholas tensed without knowing it. The doppelganger dispassionately voiced this observation, “This is upsetting.”

Nicholas breathed letting the rage flow; it was genuine. “No shit.”

The doppelganger continued, “You believe this is upsetting because of the perceived loss, but the truth escapes you. Had you accepted the gift, it would have told you…”

Nicholas slammed his fist down onto the metal table startling the doppelganger, “I don’t care, don’t you get it?! I don’t want what you’re selling.”

The heart pendant turned grey and colorless. The interrogator, devoid of any emotion, “This is not true. Your anger is honest, but not for the reasons you would interpret. Aren’t you at least curious why your rage is still so fresh?”

With that the questioner paused the feed with Nicholas’ wife waving goodbye.

Nicholas longed for her touch. “For a human being, it’s pretty obvious. We don’t need a piece of petty tech to tell us right from wrong. My rage is fresh because the love of my life was snatched away from me, leaving me conflicted and angry.”

The pendant lit up on one side, leaving half of it lifeless and gray.

The doppelganger smiled, looking sideways switching his gaze from the pendant to Nicholas. “Half-truths only serve to keep you mired in darkness. This rage will seep into your being poisoning you, distancing you from your eternal happiness and peace.”

Nicholas was shaking his head without realizing it, silently rehearsing the truth that they had carefully constructed. “Fuck your peace.”

The doppelganger continued, “Days prior you realized that your wife of nine years had been cheating on you. You saw the credit charges, the unusual lengths of absence. You ignored this, of course, but your mind didn’t. The part of you, the dishonest and vile part of you, didn’t want you to face this, because if it had, you would have known what your heart’s desire truly was in that moment.”

The heart-shaped locket glowed red filling the room with its hues.

Nicholas’s muted headshakes became more prominent as the doppelganger continued. “If you had donned your locket, accepted our gift, you would have known that your heart’s desire in that moment was to murder her and her lover, whomever it was, but because of social norms and the false pretense of what you humans view as “good,” you were blinded from your truest most divine expression.”

The heart-shaped locket was ablaze with light.

The doppelganger smiled before switching his countenance to a more serious tone. “This is true. The only true crime here, the tragedy, is that because of your childish, bullheaded stubbornness, you will probably never know peace, forever haunted by your foolish illusions of independence, unless you accept the gift, you will forever be lost.”

Nicholas was seething, tears streaming, “I’ll never take your gift. You can show me whatever you want. That thing may do what you say, but it won’t do it for me, because I won’t accept it. Not now, not ever.”

The locket blazed bright red before becoming inert.

The doppelganger sighed before responding, “That’s true.”

The interviewer opened the manila folder, and slid a piece a paper over with a pen. “Please sign here, stating that you have denied the key to your heart and that you are willingly consigning yourself to a lifetime of guilt and agony.”

Without ever taking his eyes of the Truth Seeker, Nicholas signed the paper, through tears and rage, after which they unceremoniously placed the same sack and headphones over his head, and was then later dumped a few blocks from the Costco he was shopping at.

Nicholas knew they would try again, but he also knew that his happiness, truly, was in keeping his heart in the dark for as long he could. He knew that the truth was complicated, something these lizard brains couldn’t grasp.

Every person Nicholas passed on the automated pathways were proudly adorning their heart-shaped locket, some even were openly talking to them, blissfully ignorant that they had given away their choice. They would always hear their heart, but they would never know freedom again. They would never know that their every thought and passion was closely monitored and regulated, except a few, the few that found a way to hide in plain sight of the truth.

Nicholas wouldn’t, couldn’t show his smile that was shining inside of him. The cameras they most certainly had installed in his car were watching. He knew at least one was free from their watchful eyes. As long they thought Melly was dead, they wouldn’t pull her into dark rooms. They both knew that she didn’t have the constitution to keep this truth alive, so the only way to live, was to die.

Nicholas couldn’t show it, but they were winning against all odds, and while he had to live a lie, he was happy, because he knew that one, his true love, was living free from their crushing guidance. Nicholas sat down into his Tesla, looked into the rearview and gave his best defeated grimace. They would try again and again, over, and over, perplexed as to why he wouldn’t give in to such agony. They didn’t know that this agony was worth it. Love always is.