Chapter 45
Janis was waiting for Ben when he got into the back of Al’s SUV, fully dolled up for prom. He held up his dress as he climbed in, and nodded his greeting to her.
“Well, I have to admit, you pull it off,” Janis said with a wide grin as she inspected his appearance. To her, he was a man in a dress with lily white makeup, clashing quite a bit with his skin tone. His hair was as it always looked: plain, parted at the side, and neatly combed. In the rear view mirror, on the other hand, Janis could see her own teenage blue-streaked hair styled into curls.
“How do you do that, anyway?” she asked, gesturing to the mirror. “With the hair? Your hair is super short.”
“Don’t ask me,” Ben replied with a shrug. “Beth did that. And Al did my makeup. I just let ’em do it.”
Janis chuckled. “Looks good anyway. That’s a relief.” She smirked. “Get lots of photos, seeing as I won’t remember this.”
Ben produced a digital camera from his purse. “You got it.” He buckled his seatbelt, gazing to the front of the car for a moment, before piping up: “I always thought Al was a big environmentalist. What’s with the gas guzzler?”
“What, the SUV?” Janis said, head tilted. At Ben’s nod, she continued, “Looks can be deceiving. Dad always bought cars that had dud engines, and installed electromagnetic components. This baby is a hybrid.”
Ben’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Well, good for him.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t just talk, my Dad. He had the know-how, and he put it to use.” Janis smiled. “Man, I miss that cigar-smokin’ clown.”
As if to answer her, the driver’s door opened, and Al plonked himself into the seat.
“Hi there, pumpkin,” he said, grinning at her. “You gotta be visible to a few different people tonight. Think your project can handle the power usage?”
Janis chuckled. “I’m sure it’s raising all kinds of red flags in DC. But as far as overload goes, I think Ian’s ironed out the kinks for tonight.”
“I don’t know who that is, but give him my thanks.”
“I will. They’ll be super excited to hear that.”
Al raised an eyebrow. “They? Is ‘Ian’ some kind of code name for a team of people?”
“No, just the one,” Ben interjected. “But they’re as good as a team.”
Al squinted, trying to figure out what they were describing.
“In the not-so-distant future, people get to choose the pronouns they use,” Ben attempted to explain.
“Right! Ian doesn’t consider themself a man or woman—rather something in between,” Janis added. “So they have us use they/them pronouns instead of he or she.”
Al considered this for a moment, before nodding slowly. “I guess that gives me a head start on the coming decades, huh?” He snorted. “I bet the right wing threw a hissy fit over that, didn’t they?”
Ben laughed. “How’d you know?”
“Told you this morning,” Al said, starting his engine. “History has a way of repeating. Those folks gotta have something new to whine about when the old one loses steam. Civil rights, rock and roll, miscegenation, Satanic Panic, gay rights—they just love to kick up a stink over the latest moral panic. You’ve seen it first hand today, right?”
The car began to move, and Ben waved a hand to Beth at the door as the SUV left the driveway.
“Oh yeah,” Ben said with a resolute nod. “And it was bad enough growing up with this the first time around. Living it again reminds me just how resistant those people were to the mildest change.”
“Things are better in your time?” Al asked hopefully. “They at least ditched Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, right?”
Janis nodded. “Yeah. The Supreme Court even struck down bans on gay marriage. Eventually.”
Al pumped a fist, laughing with relief. “I damn well knew it was gonna happen!”
“I wish it was all good news,” Janis mumbled, looking down at the handlink, then to Ben. “Let’s not ruin his mood with the past six or seven years, huh?”
Ben nodded with agreement, leaving Al to look curiously in the rear view mirror.
“You realise that makes me want to know more, right?”
Ben licked his lips, apparently deciding whether or not to throw him a bone. “Well, you live long enough to see Donald Trump voted out, and a—uh, vaccine released. For the pandemic.”
There was a long silence from the front seat, as Al made a few turns. Finally, he said: “Oh, ha ha. Real funny.”
Janis gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, Ben’s a real joker.”
The car rounded another corner before pulling up in front of another house, where Kat awaited in her tailored tuxedo. She quickly kissed her mother goodbye and hurried to the SUV excitedly.
“Guess that’s my cue to wrangle the others,” Janis said, swiping at the handlink. “I’ll meet you guys at the school.”
Ben nodded. “Okay. See you soon.”
With that, Janis re-centred herself on Sam, who was similarly driving, clad in a sharp suit. At her sudden presence beside him, he jumped and almost lost control of the steering wheel.
“You’re as bad as your Dad, you know that?” he scolded. “You’d think I would have got used to holograms appearing out of nowhere by now, but…”
“Mea culpa,” she said, palms open. “You heading to the school?”
“I’m picking up Sammy Jo and Addison on the way,” he said. “We spoke over the phone, decided to go together.”
“Car pool—very environmentally friendly,” Janis said approvingly. “Were my instructions clear about what you’re all doing tonight?”
“Eyes on each exit, look for the girl in the tux.”
“Right,” Janis confirmed. “I’ll be flipping between everyone through the night, though mainly I’ll be shadowing Kat herself, and giving Ben pointers.”
Sam nodded as he stopped at the Augustine residence, pulling into their driveway.
“Now, I’m going to be presenting my donation sometime during the formalities,” he said. “So I won’t be able to watch any doors then.”
“Not a problem,” Janis said. “It’s gonna put the HQ circuit breakers through their paces pretty bad, but we’ve got the tech to have a second hologram. I’ll call Addie in when the time comes.”
Sam seemed to relax at this, and he honked his horn. A moment later, two decidedly less formally clad brunettes emerged from the front door. Addison was wearing all black, with a large messenger bag slung over her shoulder, as if she was going to go cat-burgling. Sammy Jo just wore a blouse with jeans.
As they approached the car, Sam smiled at them.
“Some mixed attire you’ve got there,” he mused.
“Well, we were thinking practical,” Sammy Jo said, opening the back door. “I don’t intend to make myself obvious.” She shuffled into her seat, with Addison close behind.
“We’re sticking to the shadows,” Addison added. “I told her to wear dark clothes, but she just went with Mom clothes instead.” She nodded to Janis, giving a mock salute. “Reporting for duty, Old Janis.”
Sammy Jo’s eyes flicked to the front passenger seat, where Janis sat, but looked straight through her.
“Sorry, Samantha,” Janis said. “We never programmed in your brain waves.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “We still could, you know.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Janis said, frowning.
“Sure we do,” Sam said cheerily. “We have twenty years, right?” He turned to Sammy Jo. “We just need to remember to program your neural data into the Imaging Chamber when the Project is revived later. That way, Janis can tune into you.”
Sammy Jo shrugged. “Think that’ll work?” Smirking, she added: “Okay, well, I hereby promise to record my neural data to the Imaging Chamber some time in the next twenty years.”
To Janis’s surprise, the handlink lit up, and a message from Ziggy appeared, affirming that she could now tune the hologram to Sammy Jo.
“Well, okay then,” Janis said with a grin. “Everyone look away, unless you want spots in your eyes.”
After Sam passed this on to Sammy Jo, Janis activated the spectrum change.
One bright flash later, Sammy Jo was staring into Janis’s eyes, a smile creeping to her face.
“Wow…” she said, breathless. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you properly, Janis.”
“Likewise,” Janis said. “Now let’s go, people. We have a long night ahead. Hope you like Avril Lavigne and Justin Timberlake.”
“I have absolutely no idea who they are,” Sam confessed.
“Well, you’ll know soon enough,” Addison said with a grin.