Starlight is for Always

Chapter 17: "Alone, Again"

The next few days paparazzi and journalists camped out in front of the Pacheco beach house in Malibu. The revelation of computer-generated holograms being used to fool the public became a hot topic of debate across the television set and other media sources.

Conservatives criticized Rio Pacheco for contributing to the idea of concealing the knowledge of such advanced technology from the public, while liberals voted in favor of their decisions. In addition, Jerrica Benton and her daughter Pilar received the most negative press as the consensus of public opinion derived from the anger of being duped for so many years.

The family became locked in their house along with their friends Aja and Craig as they figured out what to do.

"Is Pilar refusing to come out of her room?" Rio asked Jerrica in the kitchen.

The blonde woman sadly nodded. "She's not taken it well. Jagger breaking with her, Eric exposing her identity to the public, and the overwhelming guilt of lying to the world, it's a lot to take in."

She clucked her tongue. "I knew this would happen! That's why I didn't want her exposed to the truth about Synergy!"

"Don't be angry Jerrica." Aja advised her friend. "The truth was bound to come out sooner or later. It's better that we stop lying to the world and accept the fact that everybody knows. Now we just have to figure out a way to deal with it."

Craig hung up the phone as he walked toward the group. "That was our attorneys. The good news is that none of us are facing any fraud charges."

Rio flinched. "Fraud charges? We didn't do anything illegal. We simply used high tech computers to create holographic images."

"Correction." Craig responded. "You used holographic imaging to dupe the public into believing that the images created were real. Money was exchanged from under false pretenses when Jerrica became Jem and became a super famous, rich icon. Plus, Pilar was involved in something similar, so she's considered an accomplice. The D. A.'s office considered prosecuting."

"But I...we didn't do anything wrong!" Jerrica defended. "We paid our taxes! We didn't embezzle anything! We didn't do any inside trading. Everything is legal! The only thing we did was lie about our alternate identities."

"You also faked your death!" Aja's husband pointed out. "That also constitutes fraud!"

"It wasn't intentional!" His wife argued. "We didn't know that flight would crash!"

"I know," said Craig. "Not to worry, our lawyers and P. R. people are doing damage control. They pointed out that there's no legal recourse for anything that we did. Plus, we have a former president on our side that will vouch for our case. Remember Jerrica...I mean when Jem rescued the president from a kidnapping plot?"

Jerrica's eyes lit up. "Of course. I told him about Synergy and the truth about holograms."

Rio's business partner. "Well he spoke on your behalf and got the NSA and the Pentagon involved. The government has announced that you're not a national threat to security and they want to discuss business with Rio and MicroApple about using this new computerized technology for military training as well, as an innovation for medical education. Holographic projection will be the wave of the future so we're at the cusp of changing the world. We're going to be okay."

Putting a hand to her chest, Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. At least, we won't be in prison. However, the public won't be as forgiving. How do we apologize for our deception?"

"By being straight forward," said Rio. "I'll organize a press conference tomorrow and we'll make a public apology and explain our side of the story. It's time we stop hiding behind our mistakes and tell the truth. We owe to them."