Oleta

Artistic interpretation of Oleta by Moss (@sadgician on tumblr)

### First Mentioned

(in abstract) Season 1, Cassette #1: Stress, Shoulders(by name) Season 1, Cassette #6: for Oleta

**Oleta** is the main subject of season 1 of Within the Wires. She was the recipient of ten audio cassettes that advertised relaxation during her time at the Institute but actually constituted a jailbreak plan.

> *"You laugh as if you are getting away with something. You often*were *getting away with something, but even when you weren’t – even when there was nothing to be getting away with – you laughed like you’d won."* **--Hester in *Cassette #6: for Oleta***
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## Biography

### Early Life

Oleta was the second child of Vivienne Torrance, who was a contracted childbearer of the Society. She was born in 1958 in Toronto, and the pregnancy either caused or revealed Vivienne to have a heart condition. She grew quite attached to Oleta and found it hard to let her go.

She grew up in a Society-sanctioned facility for children along with her older sister Nell, and her childhood friend Hester. She didn't like to sleep alone, and often snuck into Nell's room to sleep in her bed. She and Hester often played together, in the sand sphere and around the facility. At night they would sometimes sneak out together to look at glow worms or the stars. She was 4 months and 27 days older than Hester, and on their last day together before she had her memory erased at age 10, she was quiet and scared for the future.

She went on to study electricity, and spent her free time running and reading sci-fi. While she was studying one day, she saw her sister, who was four years her senior, and remembered who she was. She purposefully caught the attention of Nell so that they would have an excuse to talk. Oleta went out to dinner with her, and was observed closely by agents of the Society who found their relationship intriguing. Before this, Hester had tried to make contact with her. At first it was casually in the park, and later in the coffee shop she frequented. Oleta did not remember her. Eventually, Oleta was taken to the Institute to be studied.

### Escaping the Institute

In the early 80s, Oleta spent time being examined in the Institute and she started receiving "relaxation tapes" from Hester, who was trying to orchestrate a plan to get her out. Once she was receiving Hester's cassettes, she had to be reminded several times not to act on the information she was given until instructed, apparently found wandering the corridors late at night. After cassette #6, she began yelling Hester's name and banging on the door of her room, and she was sent to the Extensive Studies Lab, where the escape became more urgent. Oleta performed physical exercises to help her through the tests, and when instructed, stabbed the security nurse with a needle repeatedly, although she did not manage to administer the drug before she passed out.

Hester took Oleta to a cave behind a waterfall near the Institute and removed her tracking implant, and Nell helped to transport her to a seaside town in Aotearoa. She woke there alone, and received a final cassette from Hester explaining that she would be there as soon as she could. Hester said that although Oleta was free to leave the cottage and go wherever she wanted, she hoped she would stay.

By 1986, Oleta and Hester had got married.

## Additional info

* The name "Oleta" means "winged"
* Her favourite song is "Green Fingers" by Siouxsie & The Banshees
* When the Institute places her under arrest, she was wearing blue jeans, ankle socks, blue canvas flats, a lavender t-shirt, a striped sweater, a brassiere, and a hair pin. In a cotton tote bag she is carrying a faux leather wallet, a Sony Walkman, a 'Siouxsie and the Banshees' cassette tape, and a tube of lipstick.
* When asked whether Oleta shares a surname with Hester, the creators would neither confirm nor deny

## References

1. ↑ Season 3, Reel #10: June 21, 1961
2. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #2: Anxiety, Stomach
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Season 1, Cassette #10: Horopito
4. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #6: for Oleta
5. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #8: Awareness, Eyes
6. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #5: Focus, Nose
7. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #3: Insomnia, Feet
8. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #7: Doubt, Head
9. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #9: Loss, Hands
10. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #10: Karikari Contemporary Gallery (1986)
11. ↑ Janina Matthewson on Twitter: There is no official canon for that at this time...