Chapter 10

Interview with a Superstar

Jay Robinson was riding a self-driving car which was on highway I-95. He was looking into his personal device, the documents which he was finishing in preparation for the interview. The level-5 self-driving function brought freedom to the riders. Unlike the long existed philosophical debate, on whom one should save – the rider or the pedestrian - the ‘dilemma situation’ need not occur since the method of people using the car has totally changed.

When moving to New York Post, Jay expected that he will be able to access on information more easily, but things did not turn out that way. His extensive data search ended without much gain. He researched thoroughly but nothing beneficial came up. Ayanami Rei did not have any connection with Tina. Tina told him she was found at the ex. borderline between North Korea and China, but Rei was born from Japanese parents in Kyoto, Japan. Rei came to U.S when she was 10 years old. It was the time when many Japanese conglomerates were leaning and thus lots of competent employees flew out of Japan.

Rei’s social media records during her teenage years still existed. There was nothing much to find there. From the records, it was easy to recognize that Rei and Tina are definitely not the same person. Before Rei lost her parents from a car accident, they were one happy family. When Jay found out that Rei played the electric guitar with a power-code, he got excited. However, the power-code playing was totally basic, that is, playing the fifth chord using one’s left forefinger and ring finger. It was uncomparable to Tina’s funky and speedy solo performance.

Despite these objective situations, what X had said hovered in Jay’s head. He wondered if Rei’s past may all be fake. He downloaded Rei’s videos and ran it through the deep fake system. Jay blamed himself for being so outrageously suspicious. He also thought that maybe meeting Tina and spending time with Tina may all have been a delusion.

The day the interview budget was approved, the New York Post editor called Jay to come to his office and said, "This is the last chance." The editor was sharp, competent and had clear values.

Jay was lost in all directions, thus, decided to go for a straightforward tactic. He asked Dragonfly for an interview. He received their answer when the audition program neared to the climax. The return email came from Nicole Jacqueline. She asked for a big amount of interview fee.

“As an editor and a journalist, I regret my decision first time in 30 years, that I admitted you in the team,” the editor said. Jay listened to the editor. He had no words in reply. The editor’s expressed himself through implicit sentences. If Jay gets kicked out of New York Post, he thought that it would be difficult to continue working as a journalist. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to.

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview," Jay replied plainly.

While Jay returned to his seat from the editor’s room, he opened his chest and walked straight. He didn’t want to yield to everyone’s blaming gaze. Jay wasn’t surprised by Dragonfly asking for an interview fee. They were already making lucrative business such as sponsorship, virtual advertisement and re-broadcasting fee, in everything they set their hands on. Yet, Jay did not realize the trick behind it.

A self-driving car brought Jay to the old Boston Mechanics, currently Dragonfly’s main building. The building built with glass and steel frame, under the rain looked like a castle made of ice. At the front entrance of building, Robotas dressed in guard uniforms guided him in. The meeting room was at the very end of the 1st floor. It was only when he entered the room, that he realized he had been tricked.

In the meeting room, other journalists including those from , Jay’s previous post were all there.

“Jay, long time no see!”

“Oh...New York Post scoop reporter is here.”

Thinking back, in the message exchanged with Nicole Jacqueline, there was no word noting “exclusive” anywhere. It was his fault that he mistakenly understood the interview as “exclusive” only by the fact that he had persuaded Dragonfly for an interview for a long time. However, it was a common practice that one should inform in advance in case the interview be a “group interview”. They had tricked Jay.

Dragonfly requested a particular condition. There was an embargo and what’s more, they wanted only the video provided by Dragonfly to be used. Jay’s grand attempt to do an in-depth interview with Rei, was brought to naught. The rain got heavier. Jay closed his eyes and put his left hand on his forehead. Various thoughts crossed his mind. He felt like a wild beast caught in a trap.

Other journalists were laughing and gossiping,

“I told you, I bet on Rei.”

“It was such an obvious audition from the beginning.”

“Now that the audition is over, what should I be watching...”

“You are a fast ball mania, are you not?”

“No...I am no longer interested in robot race.”

If not for Jay’s situation, it was an interesting and fun interview. Rei was a famous star, so called an ‘idol’ of the most popular reality show. As the door opened, Rei received everyone’s attention. She came in wearing a blue one-piece spacecraft uniform. She short smooth hair barely reached her shoulders.

"My name is Ayanami Rei."

Jay, who was in despair until a moment ago, but he sat up straight once again. His eyes twinkled. Jay noticed that Rei’s voice was somewhat awkward. The way she walked, her gestures, there was something peculiar about everything. Jay who had watched all previous video records of Rei sensed the difference; very subtle but definitely existing difference.

One of the journalist asked, “How does it feel to be selected as the final pilot?” Rei answered, “I sincerely thank the audience who have watched the show and supported me. I also wish to send my gratitude to the members of my team. Thank you so much.”

To Jay, Rei seemed like a same, yet a different person.

“What is the event you remember the most?” Another reporter continued to ask questions. Rei said, “The moment I first flew into space. The sight of the Earth was such an exquisite beauty, it was breathtaking.”

While the other journalists went on asking plain questions, Jay was thinking, he needed a striking question able to reveal the truth.

Jay said in a loud voice, “In the final round, you became famous by the 'Great Leap'.“ Rei asked back, “The grand leap?” Jay continued, “When there was the accident, you rescued Stanley Hugh.” Rei’s face stiffened. She groped and replied, “Oh, Stanley Hugh, yes.” Jay called for action to reenact the situation at the time. “Could you please do the salute pose for us once again?” Rei was visibly confused and said, “Salute?”

Rei’s face expression seemed as if she never did any sort of a salute. If she had experienced it, it was near to impossible not to remember, but she did not know anything about it. It seemed like she was role-playing for somebody else. Jay decided to keep going.

He stood up an approached Rei. “Would you please come and take a look?”

Dragonfly staff sent a signal to someone right away. Jay grabbed Rei’s hand. He opened up her left hand and put a coin with a hole in it, into her hand. Other journalists did not know what was going on. Surprisingly, Rei’ hand reacted. She held it tight. Then she shook her hand, arm and her whole body. Rei collapsed her chest onto the table in front of her, like a log. From the outside of the meeting room ran in two Robotas having sensed the change of situation.

“Quick!”

The robotas, as if they were preparing for such a happening, were incredibly swift. The other journalists, who had no idea what was going on, surrounded Jay. They were in rage.

“What have you done?”

“What the heck is going on here?”

“We paid so much for this interview, and just look what you did!”

The other journalists were furious at Jay. But Jay did not speak, and only looked numbingly at the direction Rei was carried off. Only Tina and Jay were the two people in the whole world, who knew the meaning of the coin. In about 5 minutes, Dragonfly staff came into the room. It was not Nicole Jacqueline who first arranged the interview. It was a lady in her early 30’s. She was of no acquaintance.

“Jacqueline is on leave today,” she said in a low key voice. There was no sign of dismay. She was cold and calm.

“First, Ms. Ayanami Rei regained her consciousness right away, and the doctor says she is well and safe. Ms. Rei asked me to let you all know how sorry she is. She has experienced severe competition lately, and her body and mind must have been extremely exhausted. We feel that it is not possible to continue the interview.”

The journalists did not care much to complain. They believed that Jay caused this to happen. They were also not curious about the reason she fell.

“I suppose you will not write about the happening? It would be too cruel if you do, and it is a project accompanying various sponsors, advertisement from big conglomerates...if things gets too open to the public, we may get into trouble,” said the Dragonfly staff.

Jay did not hesitate to speak out. “Are you threatening us?”

The journalists’ eyes all focused on the Dragonfly staff’s mouth. She said, “No, we would never do that...it’s just a guidance.” She smiled openly and continued, “The interview up until the interruption, you may release it keeping the embargo. We will be sending you the interview video without any editing. Also, we would like to express our regrets in causing you such inconvenience, so we will arrange to fully refund to you the amount you paid us for a booth rental fee. Thank you once again for coming all the way, and we look forward to reading your press release regarding the Mars Two departure.”

She was calm and presented a neat finishing speech. When she mentioned about the refund, the journalists seemed content.

She turned her head and looked at Jay. “Mr. Jay Robinson. You have handed to Rei this coin?” The young lady’s eyes glittered like a blade of knife.

...

The four pilots bade farewell to their stay at Mars Camp One, and moved to Florida, Mars Camp Zero. In three days, they were to be isolated in the aseptic facilities. Dragonfly had provided the final leave for the pilots. Alex and Michelle Chang both arrive earlier than the official arrival time. They were having pleasant conversation at a communal space. They didn’t have anyone special to meet during their leave anyways. Rei came back too. She shook her body as if she was about to fall to the ground.

Michelle Chang ran out to give Rei a hand. “What happened Rei?” Rei said, “I’m okay.” Rei pushed away Michelle a little and walked by herself. She shakingly went into her room. Alex opened up his eyes wide and looked at the direction of Rei.

“Is she drunk or something?” Chang said. “No no, she’s not drunk at all,” Alex replied. “Then why is she like that?” Chang asked back.

“Hope she’s OK, whatever the reason. She wouldn’t tell as she never does,” Alex sighed and said.

Rei jumped onto her bed. It wasn’t that she did not feel well. The problem was her head. She didn’t even drink any alcohol, but she could not remember what had happened to her that day. However, she remembered ever so clearly certain incidents. She did not remember the time and place, but Rei was tied up inside her body. She could not move an inch. She couldn’t even raise her eyebrows. But she could hear things through her ears. One person was explaining the situation and the other gave an order.

“Even though she was under anesthesia, we couldn’t open her hand. The coin, is it? Jay gave it to her. It was just a little aluminium thing. We think that little thing provoked a sparking storm inside her head. Human brain is multi-layered. The spark was made below the boundaries within our control. The memory which existed way underneath was whisked.”

“Get rid of him.”

...

Jay’s self driving car left Wilson Massachusetts and headed towards New York. The car drove through the highway, but soon out of the direction of the destination, the car made an exit to Waters Church. Next, it entered the Robert F.Torner Blvd which is a road going across the I-95 highway. At that moment, the car made an explosive roar. It crossed the centerline and in a blink of a second it ran through the fence and dived into the highway underneath. From the impact of the clash, the lithium battery within the car exploded. Blazing fire upsurged.