Cassette 10: Horopito

> *"I hope you are there. I want you to be there. I need you to be there. You will be there. You will be. But... ...if you are gone when I arrive, it is enough to know that you are free. What a funny word: Free. I hope. I hope I get to see you again."*
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## Side A

Hester begins the tape by hoping that Oleta is listening. She says that this is both because she hopes she has the opportunity to explain to Oleta what has happened, and because it would mean she was safe and well.

The first thing she decides to explain about Nell. When Oleta had first been admitted to the Institute, they had questioned Nell in an attempt to see if she was also worth their "interest". Luckily, Hester had got to her first, and warned her not to mention anything she remembered about her sister from before they were ten. Nell said she did not remember anything anyway, and was shocked and disturbed by the information that her friend had been her sister all along.

Hester let Oleta know that Nell was doing well and was about to move in with someone who she had grown close with. She was stressed, but happy.

Hester then began to describe the events that had transpired during the previous tape. By the time she had reached Oleta, she had been sedated and in her daze, stifled the nurse's screams and stabbed her repeatedly in the neck with a syringe. Hester said that there was additional "cleaning up" to do and the plan grew more complex. Hester removed the tracking device implanted in Oleta, and she expressed regret over the pain this caused her, although it was necessary.

Nell came to collect her sister from the cave, and she was transported in the back of a truck. Hester advised her not to speak of or even remember any of this, but Nell recalled a memory of their childhood, where Oleta liked to sneak into her room at night and sleep in her bed.

## Side B

Hester says there are some things she has to take care of before she can join her in the cottage by the sea. After the incident in the Extensive Studies Lab, Hester had to replace the CCTV footage and ensure that the security nurse that Oleta assaulted would not remember. She said there were files and traces of their activities that she had to erase before she could make her own escape.

She intends to report findings that the security nurse had a kind of obsession with Oleta and found a way to sneak her outside the facility by strategically avoiding cameras and security patrols. Hester will then resign, stating that she would prefer to go back to working in galleries and with art. She will go back to her apartment, and send bad applications to jobs she doesn't want until the men with cigarettes and unpleasant dogs lose interests in her. She will then hitchhike and meander her way to Aotearoa, with assistance from the Pilot, and when she finally gets to the cottage by the sea, she will he Hester again.

She asks Oleta to consider the painting above the fireplace. It is "Mountain Horopito #4" by Roimata Mangakāhia who, although had painted interesting abstract human figures for most of her career, had later in life chosen to paint mainly shrubs that she found on the mountain near her home (which was not far from the cottage Oleta was in). She says that although she used to believe that Roimata's work should be in galleries for everyone to see, she was glad that this one was in the cottage, for Oleta specifically to see.

Hester imagines Oleta drinking her morning coffee, living gently and easily. She might go to the bakery in the square, or walk along the shore. She said this helped to ease the fear that Oleta had left the cottage at her first chance, and wouldn't be there when she arrived. She hopes that the next time Oleta hears her voice, it will be in person. She would be content to know that Oleta is free, but she hopes to see her again.