The Circle

Mae rushed through the room, nodding
     and greeting, until she came to the door on the far end. She opened it, flinching
     at the bright light of day, and saw him. He was crossing the wide green lawn, passing
     the new sculpture by that Chinese dissident—she remembered she should highlight it
     soon, maybe even today—and just then he turned briefly, as if checking to see if Mae
     was still following. Her eyes met his, provoking a tiny smile before he turned again
     and walked quickly around the Period of Five Dynasties.
    “Where are you headed?” the voice in her ear asked.
    “Sorry. No place. I was just. Never mind.”
    Mae was allowed, of course, to go where she pleased—her meanderings were what so many
     watchers appreciated most—but the Additional Guidance office still liked to check
     in from time to time. As she stood in the sunlight, Circlers all around, she heard
     her phone ring. She checked her wrist; there was no caller identified. She knew it
     could only be Kalden.
    “Hello?” she said.
    “We have to meet,” he said.
    “Excuse me?” she asked.
    “Your watchers can’t hear me. They only hear you. Right now your engineers are wondering
     why the incoming audio isn’t working. They’ll fix it in a few minutes.” His voice
     was tense, shaky. “So listen. Most of what’s happening must stop. I’m serious. The
     Circle is almost complete and Mae, you have to believe me that this will be bad for
     you, for me, for humanity. When can we meet? If it has to be in the bathroom that’s
     fine with me—”
    Mae hung up.
    “Sorry about that,” said AG through her earpiece. “Somehow the incoming audio wasn’t
     working. We’re working on it. Who was it?”
    Mae knew she couldn’t lie. She wasn’t sure if anyone had indeed heard Kalden. “Some
     lunatic,” Mae improvised, proud of herself. “Babbling about the end of the world.”
    Mae checked her wrist. Already people were wondering what had happened and how. The
     most popular zing:
Tech problems at Circle HQ? Next: Santa forgets Christmas?
    “Tell them the truth, as always,” AG said.
    “Okay, I have no idea what just happened,” Mae said aloud. “When I do, I’ll let you
     all know.”
    But she was shaken. She was still standing, in the sunlight, waving occasionally to
     Circlers noticing her. She knew her watchers might wonder what was happening next,
     where she was going. She didn’t want to check her wrist, knowing that the comments
     would be perplexed and even concerned. Off in the distance, she saw what looked like
     a game of croquet, and alighting on an idea, she made her way to it.
    “Now, as you all know,” she said when she was close enough to see and wave to the
     four players, who she realized were two Circlers and a pair of visitors from Russia,
     “we do not always play here at the Circle. Sometimes we have to work, which this group
     is demonstrating. I don’t want to disturb them, but I can assure you that what they’re
     doing involves problem-solving and complex algorithms and will result in the improving
     of the products and services we can provide to you. Let’s soak this in.”
    That would give her a few minutes to think. Periodically, she would focus her lens
     on something like this, a game or demonstration or speech, and this might allow her
     mind to wander, while the watchers watched. She checked the view on her wrist, and
     saw that her watchers, 432,028, were within the average, and there were no urgent
     comments, so she permitted herself three minutes before she had to retake control
     of the feed. With a wide smile—for she was surely visible on three or four outdoor
     SeeChanges—she took a breath. This was a new skill she’d acquired, the ability to
     look, to the outside world, utterly serene and even cheerful, while, in her skull,
     all was chaos.She wanted to call Annie. But she couldn’t call Annie. She wanted Kalden. She wanted
     to be alone with Kalden. She wanted to be back in that bathroom sitting on him, feeling
     the crown of him push through. But he was not normal. He was some kind of spy here.
     Some kind of anarchist, doomsayer. What had he meant when he warned of the completion
     of the Circle? She didn’t even know what Completion meant. No one did. The Wise Men
     had recently begun to hint about it, though. One day, in new tiles all over campus,
     cryptic messages had appeared: T HINK C OMPLETION and C OMPLETE THE C IRCLE and T HE C IRCLE M UST B E W HOLE ,