Ex-Purgatory by Peter Clines (best book club books TXT) 📕

to starve to death. Yet none of us are hungry or show signs of malnourishment. What have we been eating for the past four months?”

Danielle shuddered. “I don’t want to think about it.”

Madelyn’s lips twisted. “Couldn’t Smith just make us believe we’ve been eating and drinking?”

“He could,” agreed Stealth, “but that would not stop our bodies from suffering the effects of malnourishment and dehydration.”

“Unless he’s keeping us from seeing those, too,” said St. George.

“If we are going to accept that Smith has altered our perceptions in …”

Stealth paused. A moment later Barry sat up in his office chair. “Son of a bitch,” he said. “We’re in the ship in a bottle.”

Madelyn looked at him. “What?”

“It’s a classic Next Generation episode,” explained Barry. “ ‘Ship in a Bottle.’ It’s one of the best ones they did. They filmed it here at the Mount. Picard and Data go into the holodeck and encounter the holographic Moriarty, but when they leave Moriarty walks out with them, even though he shouldn’t be able to survive outside.”

“Barry,” sighed St. George, “not now.”

“No, listen,” insisted Barry. “They spend most of the episode trying to figure out how he did it, because it should be impossible—it defies every bit of science they know—but it turns out the whole thing’s a trick. They never even left the holodeck. Moriarty created a holodeck program that made them think they’d left and were out walking around the ship.”

They all stared at him for a moment. “Yes,” Stealth said. “I believe your analogy is accurate.”

“What are you two talking about?” asked Danielle.

“A lot of people thought the Wachowskis were doing the same thing with the second Matrix movie,” continued Barry. His eyes were wide and he tapped the desk with his fingertips. “See, after The Matrix Reloaded there were all these theories about why Neo could use his powers outside the Matrix because people were still thinking the Wachowskis knew what they were doing. And one of the ideas was that the Matrix we all knew was actually nestled inside a second Matrix. That way people would think they’d escaped but really they were still hooked into the pods.”

“How is it that no matter what’s happening you can relate it to The Matrix?” asked St. George.

“Because it’s the greatest movie ever made,” said Barry.

“I’m lost,” said Freedom. “Are you saying … we were in pods?”

Stealth shook her head. “We have based all of our assertions off that reality’s interactions with this one, but we have been doing so under the assumption this is the real world.”

St. George got it. So did Madelyn. Danielle saw the look on their faces. “What?” she said. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“None of this is real, either,” said St. George, waving his arm at the office. “Smith’s still got us.”

“IT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING,” said Stealth. “There is no conflict of facts if this is another illusion. This is why none of us have been bitten, and also why elements of the other world are carrying over.”

“Sounds like this world is kind of sloppy, then,” said Madelyn.

“It’s not a world,” said Barry. “It’s a safety net. If we break through the main illusion, this one catches us and bounces us back.”

St. George looked at him. “How do you figure?”

“Think about it. You’re convinced the world’s normal and you start having these ‘hallucinations,’ right? I don’t know about you, but my first reaction was ‘Well, that can’t be real.’ ”

“So everyone’s okay?” Danielle asked. “Gibbs, Makana, all the rest of them?”

“It is best to assume everything we have encountered in this world is another perceptual illusion created by Agent Smith,” Stealth said.

“And Cerberus is okay,” said Danielle. She almost smiled.

“A question, if I may,” said Freedom.

Stealth dipped her chin.

“Are we all real?”

They glanced at each other. “How do you mean?” asked Danielle.

“How do we know that some of us aren’t just part of the illusion, too? I mean, for all we know one of us could be Smith telling us to see him as someone else.”

“Like the Shadow,” Barry said. “Clouding our minds so we cannot see him.”

St. George looked at the others. “Valid point. How do we prove we’re real?”

Madelyn shook her head. “I’m real.”

“I think I am, too,” said Freedom.

“Maybe I’m the one who’s real and I’m just thinking you’re both thinking you’re real,” Barry said.

“That’s just silly,” said Madelyn.

Barry shook his head. “I have a really vivid imagination.”

“Cogito ergo sum,” said Freedom.

“Aptly put,” said Stealth, “but how can any of us prove to another that we are actually thinking beings and not just hallucinations?”

“And,” Barry said, “another ‘Ship in a Bottle’ reference. You’re getting better at this, Captain.”

Freedom managed a half smile. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’ve got one for you,” said Danielle. She cocked her head toward the office door and the hallway. “Is she real? Christian?”

They all glanced after the councilwoman. “Why?” asked Madelyn.

“If she is part of the illusion,” said Stealth, “why is she the only living person in the Mount? If she is in the illusion, as we are, why has Smith isolated her?”

“Because she has power,” said Freedom. “He attaches himself to people with power and influence and uses them as puppets. That’s how he stays out of the crosshairs.”

“But then wouldn’t he need her … I don’t know, awake?” Barry asked. “Not trapped in the Matrix with us?”

“Assuming she is real,” said Stealth, “and not an element of the illusion.”

“If this is another level of the illusion,” said St. George, tapping on the table, “how do we get out of it?”

“Can we get out of it?” asked Danielle. “When he plants these ideas, they’re pretty hard to shake.”

“But not impossible,” Stealth said. “Several people have been able to create pathways around the blocks Smith creates.”

“Like out at Krypton,” said St. George, “when I rescued you from the helicopter even though Smith told me I couldn’t beat him.”

“Correct,” she said. “You were able to rationalize a situation which allowed you to act without violating the conditions he had imposed upon you.”

“We were never