Forget those sad things, honey, Grandma Win would say. Let’s make popcorn. Look, I picked some flowers
Because after that you were either out or you were in.
The first day’s workshop is mostly PowerPoints. It begins with videos of the town of Consilience, with happy people at work in it, doing ordinary jobs: butcher, baker, plumber, scooter repair, and so on. Then there are videos of the Positron Prison inside Consilience, with happy people at work in it as well, each one of them wearing an orange boiler suit. Stan only half watches: he already knows they’re going to sign the commitment papers tomorrow, because Charmaine has her heart set on it. Despite the slightly uneasy feeling he’s had – they’ve both had, because Charmaine said at breakfast, with lattes and real grapefruit, “Honey, are you sure?” – the bath towels clinched the deal.
Their night outside the wall is spent in a nasty motel that Stan wagers has been tailored for the purpose, with the furniture trashed to order, stale cigarette smell sprayed one, cockroaches imported, and sounds of violent revelry in the room next door, most likely a recording. But it’s enough like the real thing to make the world inside the Consilience walls seem more desirable than ever. Most likely it is the real thing, because why fake it when there’s so much actual wreckage available?