June 10, 2018
"...resulting in a fistfight at the Lorentech press conference.
"In related news, we have with us in the studio right now a member of the senior class of George Hunter High School who declined to go on the trip... because she had a premonition of disaster. Now she thinks she can help save her missing peers. I'm Ray Kolb and this is a special interview on WGOW 1150 AM with Misty Browder. Misty, can you tell us some more about why you decided not to go on your senior trip?"
"Uh, yes, yes I can. Thank you for having me. It means a lot to be, to be able to be heard. A lot of people aren't listening right now and we don't have time for that. We need to act right now if we're going to do anything."
"I'm sure our listeners are very interested in what you have to say, and other people will be too. You thought there was something wrong before the trip even started?"
"I did. It's, I practice certain... practices, and I often get feelings about things. And whenever I thought about, or tried to work on, pulling money together for the trip, I just saw blackness. An endless pit of blackness, deeper than the world."
"Can you explain this a little more?"
"It's... it's hard to describe. Nothingness. A void, sucking in everything, gobbling it up."
"Did you tell anyone about this feeling? Did you try to warn anyone about it?"
"I did. I told, uh, I told a lot of people when they asked me why I wasn't going to go. I told them that something horrible was going to happen but, but a lot of my classmates didn't take me very seriously."
"How come?"
"Well, people often fear or mock what they don't understand. I'm politically different from a lot of my classmates—"
"Politically different? Do you feel you were discriminated against due to your beliefs?"
"I wouldn't, um, I wouldn't necessarily say 'discriminated against,' but many of my classmates are very liberal, and, you know, in the current political climate, if you support the president, that's suddenly a controversial position. Patriotism has become political."
"And you think this is part of why they ignored your warnings?"
"Well, that, and they don't understand or believe in the facets of what I do. There are other practitioners at school, but because of the political thing, we don't always—"
"How did the school administration react to your concerns?"
"I, um, I didn't bring it up to them."
"You didn't?"
"I... often, people in authority are hesitant to trust or utilize what they don't understand. I didn't have any, any evidence, and I was afraid they would think I was making things up. It's a big problem."
"It is. In fact, that's part of what brought you here today, isn't it?"
"Yes. Yes, I tried to, um, to contact the Department of Homeland Security, but I haven't been able to get their attention because, because I'm just one small voice among many, but I need them to listen to me. It's one of our only chances to stop this."
"When you say 'this,' do you mean to say that you agree with the opinion stated by Steven Lorenzen that your classmates have been kidnapped as the latest occurrence of the Survival of the Fittest terrorist attacks?"
"I don't know. I mean, I don't want to believe that. Belief is—I mean, what I know is just, they're gone. And not just missing. They're somewhere far away."
"And you believe you know where."
"I do. When, when they didn't make it back, when it had been eight hours with no words, I couldn't just sit and do nothing. So I went into a trance and I searched for them, and I recorded myself."
"And we're going to play that recording now. Turn up your volume, because this may be a little crackly."
"Um, yeah, my... my laptop is a little old and it's all I had on-hand."
"Don't worry about it, Misty. You're very brave to come forwards. Now, let's roll the tape."
Crackling and humming hiss, over the whir of a laptop fan. A voice, recognizably the same as the guest on the broadcast, mumbles incoherent and fragmented syllables, volume increasing over the seconds before snapping into sudden clarity. The voice is flat, pitched low.
"I'm sensing something from... from the south. From the gulf, maybe? Maybe further. This hemisphere, I think. I'm being called there. I was supposed to be there and I'm not and it knows. It's isolated, but a place that had people once. A place where... where something terrible happened before. Something almost as bad as what's happening now. A map. I see a... I need a map. I was supposed to be there, and I, and I..."
There's a clattering, and emotion returns to the voice, a sudden surge of choked breathiness.
"I, I'm, I, oh my god. Oh my god. They're, I need to, oh my god. It worked. It..."
"I saw it. I felt it, and I saw where it was for just a moment, but I couldn't get a map fast enough and it was gone, just the, just what you heard. It's not perfect, but, but it's a lot more than anyone else has, at least as far as I know."
"And this, this trance, you experience these things often?"
"I wouldn't say 'experience,' exactly. It's something I can do, that I choose to do. The full details are—it's complicated. But I can learn things other people can't, and I'm right when I do. It may not be complete, or totally clear, but I am not misled."
"So, what do you think the government should be doing?"
"Well, first off, they need to consider everything, all angles. I know that, that trusting psychics and such, that has this very heavy stigma around it, and a mixed history. I won't pretend I expect everyone to understand, or believe, but what else do they have?"
"It could be argued that spending time chasing every potential connection would waste resources that could be better allocated elsewhere."
"Right. Right, it could. But I'm not some random person off the street. These are my classmates. My friends. There is nobody, nobody in the world who wants them back as badly as I do, who wants them to be safe as much, nobody except, except the other parents and friends. We all want to do something, but I actually can, but only if people will listen and trust. We spend more money on the military and security than any other country on Earth, and I'm proud of that. We can spare the resources to chase, to pursue one lead that might strike people as... as fanciful, if it comes from this sort of place."
"I quite agree. And it could be argued that the previous administration was complacent in its handling of these crises."
"'Could be argued?' Come on, they were. The Bridges administration was, was flawed, certainly, but he was still in office, still calling the shots when they were gutted. There were half as many attacks in McAllister's eight years as Bridges' four, but the changes, the credit for that, it predates McAllister. He coasted on the work of his predecessor, reaped the rewards, but made no progress at all."
"Well, we don't want to be too hasty. We don't know for sure that it's—"
"Right. Right, we don't, but... but if it is, I don't think I can stress this enough: we do not have time to waste. We need to act right now. If we... by the time we find out, by the time the broadcasts start, it'll be too late. It'll be over. People are mourning right now, or panicking, or trying to support each other. They're confused. I get it. But there is no time for that now. That can come when—if—we get confirmation. We'll have the rest of our lives. But right now it can still be stopped. We have to do what we can, whatever we can, to prevent a horrible tragedy from occurring."
"And if it really is something else? If it's a crash, or a misunderstanding?"
"Whatever it is, they're far away and they need our help. You, any of you listening, call someone. Call Senator Dupree. Call every elected official you can. Nothing is inevitable unless we let it be."
"Thank you, Misty. We're all ready to do what we can to help find a happy ending for the missing George Hunter High class of 2018. We'll be back after a quick word from our sponsors with Sterling On Sunday."