The Strangers

As Emma searches the crowd for Finn, a woman whispers furtively in her ear: “If you run, you look guilty. Move with the crowd. Blend in. It’s the only way to hide” (306). She then reveals Finn hidden behind her coat, and Emma desperately tries to keep him quiet. The authorities call a five-minute recess while they search for Finn, and Emma questions the authenticity of her mother’s “confession.” As the guards force their way through the terrified crowd, the foul odor intensifies, feeding Emma’s fear. When the guards begin to interrogate the crowd, the woman hiding Finn prompts Emma to look down and hide her face. Just then, someone rolls a small metallic object toward the guards: a small speaker. The guards conclude that the voice was pre-recorded, broadcast from somewhere else. They plan to scan the crowd with facial recognition technology. As the woman melts back into the crowd, Chess and Natalie rejoin Emma and Finn, and the crowd begins to settle, awaiting the resumption of the trial. As Emma scans the crowd looking for an ally, a man catches her attention. He is holding a piece of paper with a drawing of a crooked, red heart, like Finn’s drawing on Kate’s phone. 

While Chess wallows in guilt for not being able to keep his siblings or Natalie safe, Emma pulls his arm, beckoning him to follow the man with the heart as he wends his way through the crowd. When they stop behind a pillar, Chess questions the man skeptically and wonders why they should trust him. The man tells them the heart is a symbol used to identify others loyal to Kate’s cause, that they’ve been working to secure a better future “for you and other kids like you” (318). He identifies himself as Joe. Chess is filled with rage, blaming Joe for his mother’s predicament.

Emma tries to calm her older brother, arguing that the foul air exacerbates negative emotions. As Chess settles down and the trial about to resume, Joe defends himself. He didn’t think there was any way to rescue the Gustano children, and he didn’t think it was safe for Kate to return. Therefore, he took no action, forcing their mother back into this alternate world to take matters into her own hands. As Kate resumes her “confession,” Joe tells them that those are not actually Kate’s words. Her pre-taped image is programmed to say whatever the authorities want. The resistance, Joe informs them, was hiding out in the other world and compiling evidence of the leaders’ crimes, but then the regime discovered the other world too. Unsure how many allies they have in the crowd, Joe and Emma brainstorm ways to broadcast the truth to the auditorium. Ultimately, however, Joe doesn’t see any way to make it work. Suddenly, Natalie points to the video screen. Kate’s image has been replaced by another woman’s: Natalie’s mother.

Despite Natalie’s hope, Emma points out that this is not her mother but rather the alternate version of her. In this world, Susanna Morales is the judge presiding over Kate Greystone’s trial, and there’s no guarantee she’ll be fair. When Joe hears that Natalie is Susanna Morales and Roger Mayhew’s daughter, however, he grows suddenly hopeful, exclaiming, “’Now Finn’s idea will work!’” (329).

While Joe assembles a mysterious device that may be a drone, Chess and Emma demand to know what his plan is. Chess tries to talk to him “man-to-man,” but Joe doesn’t have time to explain, only telling them that Natalie’s family is influential in this world, and that when the moment is right, they must be prepared to run.

Having moved to the front of the auditorium near the only door separating them from the stage, Natalie is able to bypass security and open the door—the lock is programmed to recognize her genetic code. With the door slightly ajar, Joe releases his device, a mechanical lizard with an embedded microphone that slithers through the door, on to the darkened stage, and toward the chair holding Kate Greystone. While the judge pontificates about the importance of justice, the lizard drone creeps up the chair and into Kate’s hand. After a few long moments, her voice booms out over the auditorium, telling the crowd that their leaders have lied to them. As she is about to proclaim her innocence, her microphone is cut off and the room goes dark. 

Using the darkness to his advantage, Finn runs through the open door to the edge of the stage. Emma follows. Crouching in the dark, they overhear the judge tell the guards their first priority is to quell the growing unrest in the crowd; she leads them offstage. At once, Finn, Emma, and Chess run to their mother’s side. At moment later, Natalie and Joe join them. Joe works furiously to free Kate from her shackles. Initially angry with Joe for “[bringing] ’my children here? Into danger?’” (345), Kate is interrupted by movement in the stage floor. Natalie calls for everyone to “get down.”