“Do you know why we were summoned?” I asked.
DJ shook his head.
As soon as we were seated around the table, Jenny said, “All right, you pervy voyeurs, we’re here. Let’s do this.”
Antagonizing Production probably wasn’t the best opening move, but Jenny had earned the right to her anger, and I wasn’t going to prevent her from expressing it.
Shimmering photons swirled from the vents around the room and formed into the familiar hologram of our antagonist, Jenny Perez, who took a seat in one of the empty chairs as soon as she was fully formed.
“Hi! I’m your negotiator, Jenny Perez, whom you probably remember as the helpful hologram who spent the last few months trying to keep you out of trouble.”
I scoffed. “ ‘Helpful’ isn’t the word I’d use.”
“If you’re seeing this,” Jenny Perez continued, “then it means that you three have seriously screwed the pooch.”
Having to share space with Jenny Perez, even if she was only a hologram, made the veins in my temples throb. I’d been planning to let Jenny take the lead, listen until I felt I had something intelligent to say. But the levee holding back my anger broke, and the words rushed out.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” I bellowed. “You kidnapped me, stranded me on a spaceship, manipulated my memories, manipulated my heart! I suffocated, I was irradiated, a robot shot me with a laser! Do you know the nightmare you put us through?” I laughed bitterly. “Of course you do! The entire universe knows because you’ve been exploiting us this whole time. Packaging our misery and joy and our private moments as entertainment. What gives you the right?”
I probably would have kept going if Jenny Perez hadn’t interrupted. “You gave us the right.”
“Back the shuttle up,” Jenny said.
“Each of you is here voluntarily—”
DJ said, “I volunteered, but they didn’t.”
“I don’t mean for this program,” Jenny Perez said. “I mean for the program.” She smiled like that explained everything, and I hated her. I was 99 percent sure I had never hated anyone as much as I hated Jenny Perez. “Now that you’ve finished with your tantrum, let’s discuss our current predicament. It’s a sticky one.”
“You still haven’t explained about us being here voluntarily,” DJ said.
“And I’m not going to.” Jenny Perez folded her hands on the table. “Time to move on. Now Kiss! is currently the number one program being broadcast, but viewers want a romance, not the story of a group of plucky kids who overthrow an evil empire—we already have two of those that no one is watching.
“Your audience is invested in the romantic relationship between Noa North and DJ Storm. The ratings during the dance at Beta Cephei High were phenomenal. They nearly beat Murder Your Darlings at its peak. Production intended to introduce Ty as a love interest for Jenny—”
Jenny stuck out her tongue like she’d bitten into rotten fruit. “He was the best you could do?”
“Yes,” Jenny Perez said. “And then he would have attempted to murder you and hijack the ship, forcing you to kill him even though you loved him. His death and your grief would have strengthened the bond between DJ and Noa.”
“Figures,” Jenny muttered.
“But Ty wasn’t meant to shoot Jenny for at least four more episodes, and he was certainly not supposed to inadvertently out DJ and his role on Qriosity.” Jenny Perez frowned thoughtfully. “He shouldn’t have known he was part of a program.” She returned her attention to us. “No matter. We’ll dissect him later to root out how he retained his memories. First, we must focus on getting Now Kiss! back on track.”
I looked at Jenny, but she spread her hands, seemingly as lost as me. “DJ?” I asked. “Did you know about Ty?”
“No,” DJ said. “I swear I thought he was really trying to help us.”
Jenny Perez tapped her fingernail on the table; she was insubstantial, but I still imagined I could hear the sound. “None of that is important. Here is Production’s proposal. You will each submit to minor rewrites—a procedure that will remove your memories of the past three days.”
“Counteroffer,” Jenny said. “You and Production can kiss my ass.”
Jenny Perez waved her finger in the air and tsk’d reproachfully. “Your language, Jenny and Noa, has had your sponsors in quite a tizzy.”
I gave Jenny Perez the middle finger. “Put some in you.” And when I looked around the table, Jenny and DJ were giving her the finger too.
“Be reasonable,” Jenny Perez said. “This is the best outcome for everyone.”
“How do you figure that?” I asked.
Whatever patience the hologram had begun our conversation with, we had clearly exhausted it. “If you refuse to submit for rewrites, we will cancel you.”
I didn’t know what she meant by “cancel,” but I had a few guesses.
“Can’t you delete her?” Jenny asked DJ.
“Silly children,” Jenny Perez said. “You have no control here. Your lives are ours. Your ship is ours. You can’t even turn off the lights without Production’s permission.”
I looked to DJ for confirmation, and he clenched his jaw and nodded.
Jenny had been wrong. We didn’t always have a choice. At least, we didn’t always have a good choice. Either we submitted or Production would force us to submit.
“We would also like Ty returned to us,” Jenny Perez said.
“Can we…” I glanced at DJ and Jenny. They looked as unsure as I felt. “Can we have some time to discuss it?”
Jenny Perez seemed to give it a moment’s thought. “Qriosity engages the Trinity Labs Quantum Fold Drive in seventeen hours. Production will be awaiting you at your destination and will expect your compliance at that time.” She pulled her magnifying glass out of her pocket. “Don’t try anything silly because we are always watching you. And yes, that does include in the showers.”
“I knew it!” I said.
The hologram scattered, leaving us alone. But we weren’t really alone, and I couldn’t forget that. Someone was always observing us, expecting us to perform. Every joke, every fight, every kiss would feel scripted for someone else’s pleasure and consumption. Production and the audience probably knew more about me than I knew about myself.
“Jenny Perez is officially my nemesis,” Jenny said. “They better change the name of this program to Jenny’s Gonna Cut a Bitch, because I swear to God that when I find Jenny Perez, I am going to cut that bitch.”
It was difficult to put my conflicted feelings for DJ aside, but we had some decisions to make. “Does this mean Jenny Perez is in charge?”
DJ wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brow, looking uncertain. “I don’t even think she’s real. She might think she’s real, but I think she’s a computer program. Maybe a digital reconstruction of an actress named Jenny Perez who might have been real at one time.”
“Are you serious?” Jenny said.
“Why not?” I said. “After space schools and time loops and aliens, a fake Jenny Perez makes total sense.” I turned back to DJ. “So if Jenny Perez isn’t in charge, who is?”