The Circle Page #4

We didn't know anything

about this incident.

Did you reach out to any Circlers

during this crisis?

- Annie? Anybody?

- Uh, no. I... No.

Mae, there are four groups here

for staffers dealing with MS,

two of them for children of MS patients.

Have you sought out a group?

- I didn't know.

- Okay.

Can you... talk about what you did

the rest of the weekend?

Nothing, really. I just... I kayaked.

You kayaked? With who?

Nobody. Just on my own.

I kayak.

We could have kayaked together.

Nothing on your profile about kayaking,

no smiles, no ratings, no posts.

I'm no psychologist, but this behavior

sometimes stems from low self-worth.

This is what participation is all about,

bringing you, lifting you up.

Thus, your participation window.

I can't believe you've been here this long

without being on the main social feed.

You're about to have your world rocked.

See, these are all

of last week's messages.

That's why there's so many.

- [stammers] Eight thousand?

- Mm-hm.

Looks like you have a lot

of catching up to do here. A feast!

- [chuckles]

- Have fun.

Oh, forgot one more thing.

This is your participation rank.

Party rank for short.

Some people here call it the

popularity rank, but it's not really that.

It's just an algorithm-generated number

that takes into account

all your activity in the inner circle.

That makes sense?

- I think so.

- Okay. And again, it's just for fun.

- It's just for fun!

- Okay, bye.

[laughs]

[man] Um, I think

it's for Tuesday next week?

[woman] Is that in Building 74 or...?

- [man] Uh, no. It's actually off campus.

- [woman] Okay.

[types]

[Mom] It's been a month.

When are you coming home?

We miss you.

I can't. You know.

How's the dorm?

Do you have to clean your own room?

- We have people that do that.

- Ooh, thank God.

How's Dad?

He's okay. He... he fell yesterday.

And I couldn't lift him up,

but thank God Mercer came by.

He's stronger than I thought.

I'm sorry.

I should have been there.

Is that one of his?

- Yeah. I think it's his best work.

- It's awesome.

[camera clicks]

I gotta go, Mom. I love you.

- Okay, well, bye. Bye.

- Bye.

[types]

I'm so sorry about last week.

I've been up my own ass.

[chuckles] And I didn't mean

to be a shitty friend.

It's okay. Where are we going?

Listen, I've been looking

into your parents' situation,

and I think... I have an idea.

All right? Yeah?

- Hi.

- [woman] Hi.

- This is Jessica. This is Mae.

- Hello, Mae, how are you?

I understand you haven't done

your medical intake yet.

- No.

- Can you drink this for me?

All of it, if you can.

- I told you about Mae's dad's...

- [Jessica] Mm-hm, multiple sclerosis.

I did my post doc on MS.

Love to get some real time data.

Here you go.

Okay.

- How does this feel?

- Warm.

- Is this for free?

- [laughs]

Of course. You get to keep it.

So, it's going to feel warm

for a few days,

then you and the media band

will get used to each other,

but it has to touch the skin to work.

Waterproof. No need to take it off.

Let's activate it, shall we?

Is that the...?

Well, it's syncing up with the sensor

you ingested a second ago.

- And now...

- [computer beeps]

- Let's have you walk around the room.

- [system beeping]

Briskly.

It'll collect data on your heart rate,

blood pressure, cholesterol,

sleep duration, sleep quality,

digestive efficiency, on and on.

And all that data is stored

in the Cloud and in your tablet,

anywhere you want, and of course, it's all

collated with the rest of the Circle.

You'd be amazed at the patterns we see

and the problems we can avoid

when we have all that data.

Speaking of which, I was thinking

it would make sense for...

[clears throat] Mae's folks to come

on the Circle health plan.

Uh, wait, what?

[Jessica] Wouldn't be the first time,

and I'd really like to get

real time data from your dad.

- [pats chair]

- Sit back down.

Can you get in touch with HR,

- clear it with them?

- [Annie] Yep.

- Tell them I say it's a go.

- Absolutely.

We'll send someone out

to set them up, okay?

[Mom] Honey, this is gonna

save our lives.

- Thank you. And thank Annie too.

- [chuckles] They thank you.

- Aw.

- [laughs]

This is amazing. Call you later, okay?

Okay. I gotta go.

Big event here on campus.

- Exciting.

- I know.

- I love you.

- I love you, too.

- Bye, Mom!

- [laughs] Bye.

- [sobs] Thank you.

- Oh. You're welcome.

All right. You okay?

- [both laughing]

- Okay. Come on.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[Tom] Openness is something

we advocate here at the Circle.

We live it.

We demonstrate our commitment

to openness every day.

Our government, not so much.

We expect openness,

and we get obfuscation.

We get doublespeak.

No wonder Congress' approval rating

is currently at 11 percent.

[crowd murmuring]

Now, I'm sure a lot of you

have heard about a certain senator

who it was revealed has been involved

in some... very unsavory business.

What are we to learn from this?

We need accountability.

We need openness.

We need to know

what the people who represent us

are doing with their time on our dime.

[crowd applauding]

To serve us better.

Well, I'm happy to report

that there's a woman

who is taking all of this very seriously

and is taking some pretty dramatic steps

to address the problem.

So please join me in welcoming

Olivia Santos,

Congresswoman for District 14.

[crowd applauding]

[Santos] That's right, Tom.

I am as concerned as you are

about the need for citizens to know

what their elected leaders are doing.

So I intend to show exactly

how democracy can and should be.

Starting today, my every meeting,

my every phone call

and e-mail will be accessible

to my constituents and to the world.

- In real time!

- [crowd cheering]

It will all be on my True You page.

That's right. Thank you, thank you.

[Tom] Goodbye, backroom deals.

Goodbye, shady lobbyists.

Hello, democracy. Open and accountable!

[Santos] That's right. That's a fact!

- [woman] Where do you work?

- [Mae] I work in customer experience.

I started in CE, too. A lot of us did.

Cool. Where do you work now?

Biometrics, iris scanning,

facial recognition.

Right now, I'm working on Child Track.

The program protects children

from predators.

The second a kid isn't where

they're supposed to be, an alert goes off

and the kid can be tracked down

within 90 seconds.

- Wow. Do they wear a bracelet or...?

- We place chips in the bone.

[laughs]

Uh, you're...

You're serious?

I'm serious about immediately reducing

kidnapping, rape, and murder

by 99 percent.

I think I'm going to get a drink.

- But...

- Oh.

- It was nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

["Assiyo Bellema" playing]

- Hey.

- Hey, check your e-mail

- 'cause I sent you an invite.

- Awesome. Thank you. All right.

- Yeah, good to see you.

- You too.

- Hi, Mae! How's it going?

- Hey.

- You having fun?

- Yeah, you?

[chuckles] Yeah.

["18th" playing]

- Hey.

- Hey.

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