"Chase do you ever wonder what life would be like if the virus had never happened?" Dan asked as he turned onto his side so that he was looking in the direction of Chase's bed even though the room was in darkness and he couldn't see his friends face to gauge his reaction, you could tell a lot about the way a person was feeling just from the expression upon their face.
"Nah, not really, maybe I'd be on surgical rotation in some flash private clinic with a house in the country, a Labrador, two kids and a wife on the PTA board like my folks wanted or maybe I'd have been ER doctor, I always fancied that, saving lives on a daily basis, being everyone's hero". Chase responded.
"Hmm, I can just see you as the next doctor Covac heart-throb of millions of teenage girls and their moms". Dan told him as he tried but failed to stifle his laughter.
"Me, I would have been a famous Hollywood director of maybe a PR executive or working in advertising, yeah, that would be me, the creator behind the commercials for some of the biggest names, Nike, Coke, Sony". Dan continued.
"Actually I can see that! Or maybe you could have been the next Aaron Spelling". Chase laughed.
"Well better that than Rupert Murdoch". Dan replied.
"Seriously sometimes I wonder what life would be like not just if the virus hadn't hit and the pulse hadn't happened but if I'd never come here". Dan continued.
Chase shook his head. "Not me, I know what my life would be like, non-existent, I'd be dead like the rest of the adults where I live, I was lucky, I made the choice to get out of Oz whilst I still had a chance. Here I am far enough away for the virus not to have got me, here I have a chance of doing something productive with my life, of being what I spent all my life training for, of helping build a whole new future".
"I guess your right. The pulse and the virus pretty much destroyed any chance of a normal future, my home, my family, everything". Dan said, his voice still serious. "It's just that sometimes I wonder if what we're doing is such a good thing, I know the Elite is all about building a better way of life but I wonder if we're creating another 'superpower', another dictatorship".
"You know that, that's not what the Elite is about, none of us want history to repeat itself, we're all about helping people reach their potential and making sure everybody has enough to eat, everything that is good and just. Jesus, listening to you talk sometimes you would think that we are the Nazi party incarnate and we're not".
Chase's voice rose in anger as he spoke.
"If we were that good the islanders wouldn't need convincing, they'd all already be members and they'd be no need for me to broadcast all over the place cause everybody that wasn't one of us would want to be one of us". Dan uncertain voice drifted off.
"Some people are stupid, especially the kids, they think eating out of the gutter, forming tribes and generally terrorising people and wrecking the place means that they are free that they are in control of their lives". Chase preached at him repeating what Ed had told them all time and time again.
"Ok, ok I know you're right and I know that we're not forcing people to join us or manipulating them and I know that what we are trying to achieve will benefit everybody. I guess I'm just being pessimistic". Dan admitted although he was somewhat deflated because Chase refused to discuss it any further it was always the same if he questioned anybody's action's or possible motives behind them.
"Don't get me wrong, if I hadn't believed what Ed was saying I'd be dead now and I feel like I really am part of something that is going to make a difference, going to make things better, look at what we've already achieved so far, it's fantastic, a new society, a whole new way of life, it's all cool man, it's all cool". Dan finished.
Sometimes Chase worried about his friend, that he was still living in the past, that he doubted not only Ed but also everything he and the rest of the Elite stood for, everything they believed in. Deep down though Chase knew that Dan did believe in the cause and that he too wanted to build a better world. It sucked big style when Dan was being all negative and pessimistic.
Chase decided a change of subject was just the thing to lift Dan's spirits.
