Thank you for taking this journey with me.

I started this book 5 years ago and I am a different person (and hopefully better writer) than when I began this story. I do hope you will give my more current works a try.

Edgar's story may be done, but you will always catch pieces of him in all my other books. The revolution will always go on.

I'm glad I got to share this book with you, and I hope it somehow has opened your third eye and helped you to be more aware of our overuse of technology.

We are not machines.

Chapter Fifty-Two

The Rose Gala was immaculate. I expected thousands of people, and I was still surprised. There were roses, everywhere, stone statues, all held in a large outdoor plaza with a prominent stage in the middle. I had never thought I'd ever attend a Rose Gala speech, let alone be a special guest.   

Ed and I arrived in Detroit only just this morning. Since we came from Oregon, there was no way we'd have made the trip in time without taking a plane. Lucky for me, Ed only acted as insane as I expected him too, so I was ready to calm him when the engine of a large flying machine was the only thing that kept us alive for four hours.

Still, I didn't want to think about the fact that we still had to take a plane back.

Ed's speech was saved for last. He wasn't a fan of crowds, so he waited back stage while I stood in the front row of the crowd, waiting for Ed to come on.

Around me the crowd consisted of people who looked ready to be the future of society. Young college students, scientists, professors, anyone with hope for a better world.

These people were exactly the type of people Ed should be speaking too. This opportunity couldn't have been better for his cause.

There was a man speaking, a scientist. He was a bit older, and beside him stood what he claimed was his daughter.

"To make man, I had to understand the definition of man. What is a man without personality, and what is a personality without a body? To believe man can only make a man with metal is absurd. I believe in something not so artificial. Substances beyond comprehension. Man can be created, man can be creation, without reproduction." He turned to his daughter, who seemed to be sixteen, maybe seventeen. "Ripley," He said calmly, "Bring out the substances."

Everyone watched as his daughter pulled out a cart covered by a large white sheet. She slowly pulled the sheet off to display multiple vials of dark liquids. "These," The man held up, "are not just chemicals mixed to make a man-made creation. They are the beginning of what could be the future of humanity. Power, strength, life."

The crowd applauded. Some people cheered, but I found it to be creepy. Making man without machinery? How would that even work?

I wondered how Ed would feel about it.

The man spoke on the stage for a while longer before he and his daughter took a bow, waited for the crowd to finish applauding and carefully exited the stage with the cart of terrifying chemicals.

And then Edgar came out, and I found myself holding my breath.

He stood on the center of the stage, and I realized for the first time that he not only had the brain for this, he had the image. He looked confident, not a shred of fear or doubt could be seen.

He knew this was what he was meant to be doing. What he was born to do.

"Hello everyone." He paused, "I'm here to propose a new idea." The crowd went silent, and I was dizzy in anticipation.

"I want to talk about technology." He started, "About how the world is so consumed by it, run by it, possessed with it. How many of you right now are on your cellphones, how many of you right now are holding a device in your hand that thinks for you?" He scanned the crowd, "And why are you letting a man-made machine think for you?" He was silent, allowing the question to haunt the plaza before going on, "What if we created a new world? A new world of modernity without the obsessive need to have something else, something not human, control our lives? What if we thrived in a future that had no technology, no machinery at all? We are all our own machines. We are all our own individuals."

He began to pace the stage, "I know how this may sound to all of you. I sound like freak, an extremist even. You were all raised on technology, brought up to believe it was a beneficial factor to your future, but who says it has to be? Who says any of this," He beckoned around him to the speakers on the stage, to the cars parked on the street on the edge of the plaza, to the people with cellphones shamelessly lit in their hands, "Who says this is our decided fate? Everything is happening in our brains, everything on social media, endless amounts of information, drama, lies, going on and on and on endlessly. Do you think that is good for us? Do you truly believe our brains were created to go on and on and on, constantly desperate for the next lie, the next bit of useless information just to satisfy our boredom? It's not. It's not good, it's a poison that we are all drinking, and it will be our downfall."

I was taken out of my trance as Ed was talking, when a kid had pushed past me to the front of the stage. He looked up at Ed with a light in his eyes that only someone would have for someone they completely idolized. This kid, with his messy curly hair that looked like a pain to brush, and his sneakers with holes in them. He looked like he had just stepped out of the slums of Detroit.

What was a child doing here alone?

I watched the kid, and the longer Ed spoke the more intrigued and excited the kid looked. Was this child mistaken? Nobody here knew who Ed was, so why did he look like he had been anticipated Ed's speech all night?

Unless-

"Hey." I put my hand on the kid's shoulder, and he turned to me. "What's your name?"

The kid looked at me, his eyes widened in fear, "I didn't sneak in here, my mom is over there." He pointed at a random direction as if he really thought I'd believe him. Before I could get another word out, he ran past me into the crowd.

I shook my head in disbelief. I had a strong feeling that kid was Emmet Murphy, the child who keeps writing Ed letters. Sometimes it's up to four letters a week.

I knew that kid lived in Detroit, but it never occurred to me he would be interested to see Ed talk, most kids aren't too thrilled about limiting their technology use.

Sighing, I returned my focus back to my boyfriend on stage.

"The world is ours to mold. We can make it into anything we want if we kept our faces away from the screens and pursued what we desire. I believe in us. I believe in this country and their willingness to get things done. Things that can be done without a computer, or device that tells us when to go to sleep and when to eat dinner. This country has become lazy because of our overuse of technology. We are becoming machines."

The crowd was dead silent, it was almost overbearing. "Together, I ask you to consider my words tonight. I ask that you will seek opportunities to fix this corrupting issue. We can become better because we are better. We are not machines. We are free-thinkers, and we refuse to allow this man-made god to control any longer. technology is to be ruined. One day I believe technology will be dead, and we will be able to live again."

Ed bowed, as the crowd stayed quiet. The thick tension between everyone was heavy. Ed and I locked gazes, and I wondered for only a quick second if this was a mistake.

And then I heard one person start to clap. I looked around to see the child, on the other corner of the stage. He looked thrilled, and he looked proud.

Other people slowly began to clap, and all at once everyone did. Thousands upon thousands of people all clapping, some cheering, it was an immediate response and I wasn't prepared.

I glanced again at Ed, who looked out upon the crowd in a confused look of enlightenment. He wasn't expecting this response just as much as I wasn't. The longer they cheered, the more I could see him believe his words. That his revolution just took it's first step forward, and it had no plans on going back.

My heart swelled up in excitement. Everyone was clapping and yelling, and I couldn't hear anything over all the noise, but Ed's eyes found mine once again, and it was as if he was all my focus cared to latch onto. He said something nobody else would have been able to hear, but I felt as if he had said it right into my ear.

"Nia, the world is about to change."

And I couldn't wait.

The End