- In no time at all, Francis Garaventa is knocking at Mae's dorm room door.
- Mae lets him in, and, after taking a look around the bare room, Francis suggests that they go back to his place instead.
- Mae follows Francis back to his own dorm room, and he mixes drinks for them once they arrive.
- After giving Mae yet another awkward compliment, Francis asks her if she wants to watch a movie. They eventually put on some music instead, and Mae dims the lights.
- When Mae spots an old fashioned-looking book, she picks it up and asks Francis what it is.
- As it turns out, the book is full of pictures from Francis' childhood, and he and Mae spend a few minutes poring over them together and talking about the past.
- Eventually, Mae decides to turn up the heat a little—if you know what we mean—and she discovers that she gets a real thrill out of watching Francis' pulse speed up on the digital monitor that he wears around his wrist.
- One thing leads to another, and as Mae starts to fumble with Francis' pants, Francis climaxes suddenly.
- Rather than being disappointed, Mae is pleased that she was able to push Francis over the top so quickly.
- Mae's good mood evaporates in an instant, though, when she suddenly realizes that Francis recorded the encounter on his phone.
- When Mae demands that Francis delete the video, he refuses.
- The next day, Mae and Annie sit together at the latest Dream Friday presentation, and Mae tells Annie what Francis has done.
- Mae asks for Annie's help in getting the file deleted from the Circle's cloud, where it was uploaded immediately after Francis recorded and saved it.
- Annie refuses to have the file deleted and reminds Mae that it's against company policy to delete anything ever.
- Mae presses the issue, but Annie soon quiets her down so that they can listen to Tom Stenton give his presentation. Like Eamon Bailey, Stenton is one of the Circle's Three Wise Men, and he's a Pretty Big Deal.
- Stenton launches into his presentation, which is on the theme of "transparency."
- After taking a moment to single out Stewart, the Transparent Man—a Circler who's been "filming, recording, every moment of his life now for five years" (1.32.12)—Stenton starts to talk about democracy.
- More transparency is needed in America's government, Stenton argues, and he announces that at least one government representative is finally willing to do something about it.
- Stenton is joined onstage by Olivia Santos, a congresswoman who has agreed to "go transparent"—i.e., to record every moment of her waking life just like Stewart, the Transparent Man.
- As Congresswoman Santos announces her plan, the audience of Circlers responds with huge praise and applause.
- Later that night, Mae heads to a fancy reception being given in honor of Congresswoman Santos and her new "transparency."
- During the reception, a large projector screen projects the face, head, and shoulders of Ty Gospodinov—the Circle's founder and the youngest of its Three Wise Men.
- Through the video feed, Ty offers a few congratulatory words to his fellow Circlers and expresses his regret for not being able to attend the party. Soon, the projection fades.
- Mae wanders around the party chatting with people she knows and posting photos and comments to record her presence there. As she does, she suddenly spots Kalden hanging out in a shadowy corner.
- Mae makes her way over to Kalden and asks him where he's been. Kalden replies evasively, and the two of them make small talk until Mae decides to go find them both some wine.
- At the wine table, Mae runs into two Circlers who are designing a deep-sea submersible for Tom Stenton, who's decided to map the previously unknowable Mariana Trench.
- By the time Mae makes her way back to Kalden, he's found drinks for them, too, and so the two of them stand looking at each other with four wine glasses between them.
- Mae and Kalden decide to solve their problem by downing two of the glasses quickly, and Mae continues to do her best to make small talk with this strange and mysterious man.
- When Mae asks where all the data from Congresswoman Santos' video camera will be kept, Kalden offers to show her the place where all of Stewart the Transparent Man's data is stored.
- After hesitating briefly, Mae decides to follow Kalden down a nearby stairwell and into an underground network of hallways and tunnels that she's never seen before.
- Mae and Kalden descend further and further down into the ground, and, apart from being slightly concerned about being completely alone with a man she hardly knows, Mae is also fascinated by Kalden. He seems to have the run of the place, and yet she still has no idea what he actually does at the Circle.
- Eventually, Kalden brings Mae to a room that's roughly the size of a basketball court. In it is "an enormous red metallic box, the size of a bus […] the whole thing surrounded by a network of gleaming silver pipes forming an elaborate grid around it" (1.33.95).
- Kalden explains that this is where all of the data from Stewart the Transparent Man is stored.
- Mae is surprised to see that data storage requires so much space; she'd assumed that vast amounts of data could be stored much more compactly.
- Soon, Kalden takes Mae into another, identical room that holds another, identical box. This, he explains, is where Congresswoman Santos' data will be stored.
- Mae is flabbergasted to see how much space is needed to store the data of just two people—not to mention how many gallons of water are needed to keep those supercomputers cool. She doesn't say any of this to Kalden, though, because she's afraid of looking stupid.
- When the sound of rushing water comes pouring through the pipes above them, Mae kisses Kalden. He kisses her back and then leads her to a dark and narrow hallway.
- When they reach the end of the hallway, Kalden opens a large steel door and takes Mae into an enormous underground cavern. As he explains, it was originally intended to be part of the city's subway system, but it has long since been abandoned.
- Mae and Kalden get back to the kissing again, and soon Kalden takes Mae to a spot where he's made a little hideaway for himself, complete with a mattress, blankets, and pillows.
- The cavern itself may be cool, but things between Kalden and Mae get pretty steamy pretty soon.
- Mae wakes up in her dorm room the next morning, and, after convincing herself that the previous evening with Kalden wasn't a dream, she calls Annie to tell her the news.
- Rather than telling Annie all of the details, Mae lies about a lot of it so that she doesn't have to admit that Kalden may not actually be the person he claims.
- After getting off the phone with Annie, Mae tries to call Kalden using the number that he gave her the night before.
- It doesn't work.
- Back at work the next week, Mae is given yet another responsibility to manage while she does her job.
- As per Josiah and Denise's recommendation, Mae is fitted with a headset that pipes consumer questions into her ears at regular intervals.
- Mae's job is to answer the survey questions and, in doing so, provide "valuable" feedback to companies worldwide (1.35.9).
- As the Circler guiding her through the set-up explains, Mae will be expected to get through at least 500 questions each day—not that there's a quota or anything.
- Mae will also have another new monitor added to her workspace because some of the survey questions will be accompanied by images, natch.
- In case you've lost count, that's five computer screens in total now, all of which need to be monitored constantly throughout Mae's regular workday.
- Mae returns to work with her new headset after lunch and soon begins to adjust to the newest "layer" that's been added to her job.
- Over the course of the next few days, Mae answers more and more of the survey questions as she works.
- Mae likes the praise that she gets from her supervisors when she goes above and beyond their expectations, and maintaining high numbers gives her a sense of fulfillment.
- In fact, Mae does so well with the program that her supervisors introduce it to other people on the Customer Experience team, too, and soon the room is full of people answering consumer survey questions all the livelong day.
- After a few days of not hearing from Kalden, Mae starts to feel really frustrated by his aloofness.
- One afternoon, Mae thinks that she spots Kalden standing in the doorway of the Customer Experience office, but he disappears quickly.
- Mae leaves her desk and goes to look for Kalden but doesn't find him. Then, when she returns to her desk, she finds Francis Garaventa sitting in her chair.
- Francis apologizes to Mae, but since he hasn't deleted the video and still isn't willing to do so, Mae refuses to accept his apology.
- Mae asks Francis to leave, and he eventually gets the message that she really does want him gone.
- Before he goes, Francis lets Mae know that his ChildTrack program is coming along really well and is going to be launched in Las Vegas very soon.
- As weeks pass at the Circle, rumors start to fly about all of the big developments that will soon be coming down the line.
- There have also been more and more government representatives choosing to "go transparent" (1.38.2), and the Circle has been working frantically to keep up with the demand.
- At the same time, as a critical mass of "transparent" government representatives starts to build around the globe, the pressure is mounting on those who are refusing to go clear.
- Interestingly, those who make the most fuss about the Circle's increasing power and influence are inevitably exposed as having terrible secrets to hide.
- As the worldwide demand for more transparency continues to grow, the Circle itself takes steps to become more transparent, too.
- They have 1,000 of Eamon Bailey's SeeChange cameras set up all over campus, and their arrival prompts yet another monitor to be added to Mae's desk—one that she can use to access the SeeChange grid and view any part of campus…or the world.
- Of course, the world can now see Mae, too, and anyone with internet access can now watch her while she works.
- Feeling so transparent makes Mae feel important and valuable, and she takes her added sense of responsibility seriously.
- When she clicks buttons to add her name to online petitions, Mae feels as though she's actively taking a stand against the forces of evil in the world.
- Mae gets an unexpected call from Kalden one afternoon while she's in the bathroom. He tells her to wait for him there, and she does. When he arrives, the two of them get hot and heavy in an instant.
- Afterward, as Kalden is leaving, Mae does her best to snap a photo of him as he heads out the door.
- Back at her desk, Mae decides to tell Annie that she got together with Kalden again, but she also decides to lie about some of the crucial details.
- As Mae and Annie send messages back and forth, Mae's fellow Circler Gina arrives to brief Mae on yet another layer of her job.
- The new layer involves things called "Conversion Rate" and "Retail Raw."
- Essentially, as Gina explains, the Circle will be monitoring the extent to which Mae's consumer spending and online reviews inspire others to buy or use similar products.
- What Mae needs to do is up her consumer spending and make recommendations so that others will do the same. The Circle wants to see her generating at least $45,000 a week of product purchases that have happened because of her say-so.
- And, to help her keep track of her "Conversion Rate" and "Retail Raw," she's going to be getting a seventh computer screen added to her workspace, natch.
- Not many days after Mae is given her new "Conversion Rate" and "Retail Raw" goals, she heads home to visit her parents.
- Mae's parents are doing well, and Mae's father is looking especially healthy now that the Circle's insurance policy has given him access to his choice of doctors and medications.
- As they chat, Mae notices a large chandelier hanging in her parents' dining room and realizes that it must have come from Mercer.
- When Mae compliments the chandelier, her parents inform her that Mercer is coming to dinner.
- Mae is less than thrilled at the thought of having to share another meal with Mercer, but she downs some wine and decides to be friendly.
- When Mercer arrives, Mae compliments the chandelier to his face and even snaps a picture of it.
- Feeling buoyed by the wine and her own goodwill, Mae decides to do Mercer a favor. She heads upstairs and posts the photo of Mercer's chandelier on a number of design feeds online, accompanying it with links to his website.
- Mae comes downstairs to rejoin her parents and Mercer for dinner.
- As Mae's mother starts to make a toast, Mae's phone beeps. Then, Mercer's phone starts to ring.
- Mae's phone continues to beep and buzz, and after Mae's mother gets through her toast, Mae decides to share the news that Mercer's chandelier is raking in rave reviews online.
- But when Mae explains that she posted photos of the chandelier all over the web, Mercer isn't as impressed or grateful as she expected him to be. In fact, he's pretty annoyed.
- Mae is oblivious to Mercer's frustration, and she plows ahead with her ideas about how he could raise his online profile. (At the same time, she's also started to think that by helping to sell his chandeliers, she could also raise her own "Conversion Rate" and "Retail Raw" at the Circle.)
- Mercer asks Mae to stop, but she doesn't, and she doesn't even register Mercer's departure when he gets up and walks out of the house.
- When Mae finally looks up from her phone, she finds her parents looking at her with disappointment.
- Mae follows Mercer outside to his car to ask what his problem is, and pretty soon the two of them are arguing just as they did the last time they were together.
- This time, though, Mercer doesn't mince words. He tells Mae that he's "never felt more that there is some cult taking over the world" (1.40.71), and the thing that scares him most is how it's being pushed forward by people just like Mae who have absolutely no idea what they're doing.
- Mercer tells Mae that it's no coincidence that anyone who speaks out against the Circle suddenly finds him- or herself embroiled in a career-destroying scandal, but Mae just scoffs at his "conspiracy theories" (1.40.78).
- Mercer also tells Mae that she's become a boring person, a shell of her former self, and he says that the worst irony is that Mae actually seems to think that she's becoming more and more important and more and more at the center of things.