When the Chips Are Down (2 page)

“So you think it br
ainwashes people?” Brooklyn wanted to know.

“I don’t really know
. All I know is that I’m not letting that damn thing anywhere near my arm,” Trent declared.

“Will we be hunted down and arrested for refusing the chip?” Brooklyn asked.

“
If we were caught by the police without one, we’d be sent to a prison camp, but I seriously doubt anyone’s going to hunt us down.  Big Brother doesn’t want to waste their time and resources tracking down everyone who refuses a chip.  I believe they think of us as cockroaches they won’t go out of their way to step on unless they see,” Trent replied.

“Where are my parents and sister now?” Brooklyn said. 

“The last thing I heard from them is that they went to Detroit to take care of your grandmother.  She had another stroke and wasn’t doing too well,” Trent said. 

“Did they have the chip implanted?” she asked warily. 

“I
don’t know.  They left shortly before the bill was passed.  I promised them I’d take care of you if you ever awoke from your coma,” Trent said, taking an exit to a rural road.

Brooklyn’s mind was reeling.  She wouldn’t have even believed it had she heard it from anyone other than Trent.  Everything that was once constant, familiar, and safe had disappeared in her sleep. She thought back to her freshman year of high school when she and Trent were in somebody’s basement smoking for the first time with some friends. “Champagne Supernova” was blaring in the background.

Brooklyn picked up a lighter from the coffee table. Staring at the bar code on the back, she said, “Some day we’ll all have bar codes. I don‘t want to hold this thing anymore.” Her old high school buddies did not seem to pay much attention to her. Their only reply was “puff and pass already!”

They were silent in the truck for a while until Brooklyn realized something. “You haven’t told me exactly what you guys are doing in Montana.”

A little smile came across Trent’s face. “Farming,” he said.

Brooklyn doubled over laughing and Trent knew she would react that way. “You’re cowboy computer nerds! How did you decide to do that?” she giggled.

“What else were we going to do to get by?
Times are tough. Some times all you can do is pull on your overalls and get to plantin’ and harvestin,” Trent joked in a southern tone.

“I can’t believe Zane, of all people, took up farming,” Brooklyn chuckled.

“Zane‘s had a hard year,” Trent said in a much more serious tone, “his parents flipped when all of this
microchip stuff first went down. I don’t know if they were religious or not, but they definitely thought the chip was evil, so they packed the car and headed for Mexico with Zane’s little brothers. You remember the twins, don’t you?”

“Vaguely,” Brooklyn recalled.

“Well, anyways they were in a car wreck on the way to Juarez and his parents died,” Trent said soberly.

Brooklyn’s mouth dropped open. “That’s awful
! Are the twins living on the farm?”

“No they’re in foster homes now, but they’ll be coming to live wi
th us when they turn eighteen, which will be soon,” Trent replied.

Brooklyn wasn’t sure how much life
-altering and shocking news she could handle in one day, but she was sure she had reached her limit.

Trent had driven for several hours when Brooklyn suggested that they stop at the nearest motel and call it a night.

“
We can’t do that. As I mentioned before, cash is obsolete. We can’t check into a motel,” Trent said.

“So where are we going to sleep tonight?” Brooklyn
wanted to know.

“Y
ou’re looking at it,” Trent smiled, gesturing towards the back seat of the extended cab of the truck.

“This is going to be a long trip,” Brooklyn groaned.

Brooklyn slept in the back seat of the truck for most of the ride home.  Trent had driven nonstop, other than to pull over and ref
ill the gas tank with the containers he had in the truck bed.  He was hungry and exhausted, as Brooklyn had eaten most of the food he’d brought with him, but his excitement over finally bringing her home kept him going.

“Brook, wake up. We’re almost there,” Trent said, nudging her.

“What?” she groaned sleepily.

“We’re home,” Trent said, turning onto a dirt road.

She sat up as t
hey pulled into the long driveway of a beautiful, two story white farmhouse, with a foyer and baby blue window trimming.

There was a small, white barn near the house with a pig pen made of concrete slabs, and Brooklyn could see a lake off in the distance. There was a garden in the side yard full of ripe tomatoes, green peppers, and carrots. It was surrounded by flat, sparsely green land, and Brooklyn guessed that there wasn’t a neighbor for miles. It was a peaceful looking place.  Trent gathered their belongings, walked around to her side, and helped Brooklyn out of the truck with his free hand.  She was wobbly on her feet at first but walking became easier with each step. When she walked through the door, a group of people yelled, “Surprise!”

Zane and Caleb stood grinning under the “Welcome Home Brooklyn” banner they had made for her.  Trent’s cousins, Desiree and Sarah ran to Brooklyn, tackling her with hugs.  “We’re so glad you’re back,” Desiree said. 

“We knew you’d wake up one day.  I told Trent not to give up on you,” Sarah added. 
Desiree and Sarah had liked her ever since she and Trent dated in high school.  It had been years since she had seen them, and she almost did not recognize the two tall, beautiful brunettes. She couldn’t have been happier to see all of them. Brooklyn didn’t want to think about microchips or government bills. For the moment it was just good to be home, whatever home was now.

“Do you want a beer?” Zane asked.

“
Sure, I haven’t had a drink in two years,” Brooklyn replied and everyone laughed.

There wa
s cake and a huge chicken dinner with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.

“I didn’t want to go overboard, but this really is a big deal,” Zane said, knowing how Brooklyn didn’t like being the center of attention. 

“This is perfect, Zane,” Brooklyn smiled.

“So, what’s it like being in a coma?  Do you dream?” Desiree asked when they were all seated at the dinner table.

“She probably doesn’t want to talk about that, stupid,” Sarah snapped. 

“It’s ok.  I don’t remember dreaming.  I don’t remember anything.  It’s like I wasn’t alive at all,” Brooklyn said. 

“
Well, what’s important is that you’re here now,” Trent said.

“That’s right. 
The group wasn’t the same without you,” Caleb added, sinking his teeth into his corn on the cob.

“On that note, I’d like to propose a toast.  To
good friends,” Zane said holding up his glass.

“To good friends,” everyone echoed as they raised their glasses.

It was a great party right up u
ntil Desiree and Sarah went home for the night. Brooklyn waved goodbye as they walked out the door.  She was slumped in an armchair in the living room drinking the last of the beer.  Trent had gone to bed after dinner.  Two days of constant driving without sleep had finally gotten to him.

“So how do you make all of this happen?” Brooklyn asked, gesturing around the room. “What do you mean?” Zane said.

“
How are you able to have water and electricity?” she asked. She had had quite a few beers.

“We have a generator for the power, a well and a lake for the water, and a satell
ite for the Internet,” Zane explained.

“How did you get beer though?” Brooklyn wanted to know.

“
Desiree and Sarah aren’t eighteen yet.  They help us get things, like gas for the truck and cell phone minutes.  They probably stole the beer.  They have minor ID cards instead of chips. Minors don’t have to be implanted unless they commit a crime.  It was believed that it may cause developmental disorders.  When they turn eighteen, they will probably come live with us. We need more help around the farm anyways,” Zane replied, gathering the trash left over from the party and throwing it into a trash bag.

Zane was so intelligent that he had a hard time fitting in with people. His computer skills were by far the best out of the four friends, and he was also one of the best computer hackers Brooklyn and Trent had ever known. Brooklyn had always suspected he was the type of kid that had spent most of his time on his computer when all of the other kids were outside playing.

“I think I’ll go to bed now,” Brooklyn decided, rising from her chair.

“You can sleep in Ben and Brian’s room for now
.  I put some extra blankets in there for you,” Caleb said, coming down the stairs. He helped Brooklyn up the stairs and led her to a bedroom with two twin beds.

“Sleep tight,” Caleb said.

“Thanks,” Brooklyn said.

Caleb was like Zane in a lot of ways.  The two most likely made such good friends because they were both so socially awkward.  Caleb wasn’t nearly as obnoxious as Zane, though.  He was shy, quiet, and liked to keep to himself most of the time.  Brooklyn suspected he was that way because he was bullied in school for his obsession with computers and lanky physique and that he pursued a career in computer technology as a kind of revenge. 

Caleb secretly fantasized about being an all powerful technological genius, who could control his enemies with the click of a button.  He wanted to become a leader in the industry, and make everyone who ever laughed at him regret it.  After all, no one is laughing at Bill Gates.

As she settled into bed, Brooklyn couldn’t believe not only that the world could change so much in such a short amount of time, but that everyone she knew had seemed to adapt to it so well and live their lives as if it were all completely normal. She was very impressed with them all.

Brooklyn awoke early the next morning before the sun had risen. 
It was all a dream!
she thought.  She breathed a huge sigh of relief.  She couldn’t wait to call Trent and tell him about the crazy dream she’d had of microchips and living on a farm.  Her joy turned to disappointment when she turned on the lamp beside her bed and saw the blue and yellow wallpaper of her new room in the farmhouse. 

She walked down the stairs and sat on the porch swing in the foyer.  The sun was just beginning to rise, painting the sky a beautiful shade of orange, pink, and yellow.  Trent came down the stairs a few minutes later wearing overalls.  “You’re up early,” he said poking his head through the foyer entrance.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Brooklyn replied.

“What’s wrong?” Trent asked taking a seat beside her.

“When I woke this morning I thought I was back at my apartment in Denver and all of this had been a bad dream and there was no chaos or evil government plans.  I guess it still doesn’t seem real to me,” she admitted.

“It doesn’t seem real to me at times either. 
We should have seen this coming long before we did.  The government kept getting more and more invasive shortly after your accident.  They started tapping our phone lines.  They didn’t publicly announce it, of course, but it became pretty apparent when anyone who used the words ‘bomb’ or ‘terrorist’ in a conversation, regardless of the context, had federal agents knocking on their door interrogating them.  It happened to an acquaintance. 

“She was talking about cherry bombs and the next thing she knew, two federal agents were at her door with a transcript of the entire conversation.  They even began monitoring our internet usage, which made my job a lot harder. If you visited certain websites that Big Brother considered ‘questionable,’ you were considered a potential terrorist and your house would be searched,” Trent said.

“At least you had time to brace yourself for this insanity.  I didn’t have that luxury,” Brooklyn replied.  “I feel as though I’ve lost everything.”

“You haven’t lost me,” Trent consoled.  They smiled at one another
.

Zane and Caleb burst through the
door, flinging it open and startling both of them.  “Come on, Trent, let’s get to work,” Zane said.

“Yeah it’s your turn to clean the pig pen,” Ca
leb added, putting his straw hat on his head.  The two headed outside toward the barn.

“Duty calls,” Trent shrugged and he got up and followed after them.

“Get in the water!” Trent called.  Brooklyn was standing in front of the tree by the lake holding a tire swing that was tied to one of its branches.  Trent was trying to convince her to swing from it
and drop into the lake as he and Caleb had just done.