The Last Cuentista

Nyla and Crick escort Petra to a pod where she will be reprogrammed. Nyla confesses that she is curious to talk to one of the original survivors. Petra tells her, “The Collective won’t succeed in the end. You all numb yourselves to erase who we really are. The tonics. The Cogs. But you can’t program out love and caring for one another” (257). Javier and Voxy stand by while Petra is hooked up to the machine.

Once the reprogramming begins, Petra finds herself in a dream with Lita and the rabbit beckoning her to follow him. This time, she trails the rabbit into what appears to be a holographic library staffed by a librarian who looks like Ben. He explains that while Ben was alive, he uploaded as much knowledge as he could into Petra’s program and created the hologram in his image so she knew she could trust him. He’s there to help her get the information she needs to persevere. The books appear to be disintegrating, and Petra assumes this means that her memory is failing. Then, she hears voices urging her to wake up.