+Grey is munching on raw
hydro-greens, fresh from the Emerald Aquaponic Centre. Moving around Grey’s
bowl of food, Alysia gently taps and drags a finger across the nearest edge of
the table in front of the gelatinous like couch they are lying on. After
scrolling past the daily maze of local events they are now surrounded by a
holofield of the Members of Elthred speaking in Assembly with Poltauramy’s
chair as empty as the raised Boarstone behind them. A separate Topics Pending
multiple-choice box appears with a day counter to their side.
‘Can
I check the cricket?’ asks Grey.
A
reduced holofield of footballers, standing in a circle on the green ground of a
packed stadium while observing a moment of silence, flickers by. Alysia moves
to select an on-field view of the Reynard Test Series.
By
thought, Grey activates his own cursor and moves it across another screen. He
takes to probing the stats and combing through recent highlights.
‘This
rivalry stuff reminds me,’ says Alysia, ‘of these birds I saw once that built
beautiful nests to attract a mate. They would collect blue objects and
carefully place them in a circle around this elegantly curved central structure
made of swept grass. How’s this…one of the birds snuck off to his rivals nest
and was stealing some of his blue ornaments while he was gone.’
Grey
smiles.
‘But
wait for it,’ continues Alysia, ‘while he was stealing his neighbours
ornaments… that neighbour was back at his house in the process of successfully
decimating it!’
Alysia
falls into Grey’s arms as he huffs in amusement.
As
the cricket plays, a small, but hardly inconspicuous advertisement runs in one
corner for the Reynard Foundation Memory Donor Register. As clips of 20th
century violence play in the background, an attractive and concerned looking
blonde lady addresses viewers with, ‘Imagine being able to recover your loved
one from a post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the crash of the Noriko
network the Reynard Foundation’s MD Register has improved the quality of life
for over 4,500 PTSD sufferers. Today, even though retrievable information can
be stored on atoms in sp’binary codes, memories still cannot be synthetically
created for humans. Memories can only be removed or replaced with organically
occurring ones that have grown in donors. That’s why we need you…’ smiled the
petite blonde while flashing her glowing white teeth.
‘That
girls got fangs,’ said Alysia, ‘did you see her teeth?’
‘Bake
break,’ yowls Grey getting to his feet. He closes the stats screen in front of
him before turning around to enter the kitchenette with his bowl.
‘Is
it open at this hour?’ asks Alysia while feeling her own eyeteeth.
‘If
not, I think there’s a venue on the otherside.’
Grey
slides the bowl under the violet light of the sanitizing cabinet where it also
remoulds to a more convenient plate form.
Alysia
closes all the screens around them, the Elthred Topics: Day Counter remains as
a series of inconspicuous digits, luminous from within a wall.
‘How
much longer do you think it will be before Tauramy takes the chair?’ wonders
Alysia out loud as she stands and makes her way to a slowly opening clothes
alcove.
Grey
shrugs. ‘Could be years. Is my blazer there?’
Alysia
removes Grey’s jacket and a jade waistcoat for herself, to match the feather in
the hat she then nestles onto her head.
‘That
grand charade some of the Elthred play relies on them assuming they have power
over Raintree because they could, but don’t, destroy it…Taurm doesn’t think
like that.’
‘I
know, he thinks like his Dad. That’s why I think he should take the chair.’
‘No
one thinks like Poltauramy anymore, not even Taurmy. Besides Taur’d be forced
to play their games til the end of time. I don’t think he will.’
‘Yeah,
he’s definitely got something of his own going on,’ puzzled Alysia holding up
Grey’s jacket for him to slip on.
‘It’s
a weight to shoulder, that’s for sure. It’s not every day you inherit a whole
world,’ mused Grey as he activated the clearway and stepped aside for Alysia.
‘Not
how I see it,’ professed Alysia as she stepped outside onto their balcony to a
view of Lassale’s conical apex, visually connecting the stalactite cityscape of
the North with the fragile citimites of the South.
Grey
and Alysia make a brief stop at Synthenaide to buy time slowing tablets for
Grey, before entering a designated ash venue sectioned away from the centerior
of Netech. Once seated, they make a selection from the array of colours and
flavours on the menu in the tabletop and wait patiently to be served.
‘Are
you sure you can afford this?’ asked Alysia.
Grey
is distracted by a pictogram from Tauramy that has popped up in his iTact.
‘Grey?’
presses Alysia as she leans forward into the middle-space he’s staring towards.
Grey
rubs his eye. ‘Of course! Come on, enjoy.’
‘Smoke,’
sighs Alysia leaning back. ‘Do you think clouds smelt like different flavours?’
Grey
ponders. ‘I haven’t heard that before, but maybe.’
‘Maybe
they were like giant flowers floating overhead and that’s what made breathing
‘fresh’ air so good?’
‘Hey
will you look at that,’ scoffs Grey.
Looking
through the clear wall to the corridor outside, they see giant flowers floating
close to the ceiling with the words ‘The Reynard Foundation: Making Dreams Come
True’ hovering underneath.
‘Phht!
Do they sponsor The Smoke Haus?’ snorts Alysia.
‘Monkey,
elephant, zombie, zombies making out...’
‘Quit
it already,’ implored Alysia.
Grey
relents after seeing a line of elephants appear with the same headline. ‘We
should go to Rechk and look at Eve before light,’ suggests Alysia.
‘Great
idea, we’ve got plenty of time.’
An
amiable serviceman approaches the table with a tray of organic matter and a
long smoking stick.
‘Apple
dansk,’ he smiles.
‘Cheers,
thank you,’ nod Grey and Alysia as he leaves.
Alysia
activates a small flat screen on the table as she picks up the smoking stick.
Footage of the last Assembly of Elthred is playing on a news stream. A message
scrolls across the bottom of the screen ‘Dr Greenfield Succumbs to Illness.’
Alysia
grabs Grey’s attention.
‘Nelesia’s
taken a bad turn, poor Tauramy,’ gasps Alysia. ‘You should call him.’
Grey
smiles grimly.
‘You’ve
already spoken?’ asks Alysia.
Grey
shrugs, his attention is on the small portion of wrapped apple dansk. ‘You
ready? Once it’s gone, it’s gone,’ he stresses.
‘What
did you say?’ asks Alysia as she picks up a portion to inspect it.
‘I
said are you ready-’
‘No,
to Taurmy.’
‘What
can I say? I can’t do anything for him,’ says Grey defensively.
‘He’s
a person, not a thing. Be there for him,’ says Alysia as the serviceman returns
with a small Hitboo.
Alysia
wraps and places some dansk above the cool water inside the glass bulb and Grey
pops a small hot coal on top. Lifting the pipe, Alysia draws a shallow breath.
The matter burns and water bubbles before Alysia exhales a soft, whirling cloud
of pink smoke; it vanishes quickly into a nearby air conditioner.
‘Maybe
we should go see him,’ suggested Alysia. ‘I should like to think he actually
exists.’
Grey and Alysia cross
the interior of Netech via a series of winding pathways on foot. Most of the
people they pass are youthful and dress varyingly in body suits, historical
dress or as their avatar. Many are listening to music externally and it wafts
around them like fragrance as they pass. Alysia takes particular pleasure in
catching snippets of sound from people with b’sync activated, a program that
synchronizes the beats per minute of one’s music with those in close proximity
creating curious and sometimes wonderful effects.
Grey
and Alysia enter the district of Rechk within an hour, passing through
regularly curated sections featuring ruptured walls, suspended glassy baubles,
creatures like deer with enormously oversized antlers, frozen dripping liquid
silver, impossible stairs, a chair mountain and stretches of luminous graffiti.
As
they pass the entrance to Eden, an equally famous placemark to Lasalle within
Netech, they see a child carrying a reed basket into the airlock chamber ahead
of her Mother and Father. Alysia notices a few thirdgeneration clones
discreetly observing the trio as they pass and feels a pang of sadness.
Near
the end of their journey Grey and Alysia must cross, and seize the moment to
briefly relax on a large, soft biomorphic sculpture like a giant marshmallow
tongue. They lie together, feeling the surface rising and falling as other
people walk around them.
‘We
should go to Eden tomorrow,’ suggests Alysia.
‘Or
Jaimee’s,’ said Grey. ‘I hear she’s reconstructed a vintage 552 kw V12 with…’
Grey
falters at the sight of Alysia’s grim smile. Widespread commotion over
Questefuerto, the biannual exhibition race of antiquated travel modes whose
circuit traced the wall between northern and southern Netech, was still
passing.
‘Or
we could do that later,’ says Grey hastily. ‘I’m rostered to be a CFP
tomorrow, but I’m in service near Eden the day after…maybe we could meet at the
end of my shift?’
‘That
would be lovely,’ smiles Alysia.
Once
they arrive at Rechk Point to find scattered groups of individuals standing by
the window providing a view of Outer space, Alysia points out a lone figure
hunched on a bench to one side with a hood over their head.
Grey
and Alysia make their way over to take a seat on either side of Tauramy’s matte
hologram.
Raintree’s
satellite floats within their view, not a single craft or piece of stray
material to blight the airglow of the cool night sky in Raintree’s upper
atmosphere nor distract from the still lights of stars -another successful
outcome of one of Ideity Poltauramy’s numerous projects.
Alysia
rubs Tauramy’s back and Grey karate chops his leg off through the knee before
beheading him at the neck. Light particles registering their disturbance as
contact glow blue under their hands.
In
his cell, securely suited, Tauramy laughs.
As
Grey and Alysia watch, Tauramy’s tr’avatar bows its head.
‘Are
you okay?’ asks Grey.
‘I
just don’t understand how she could get worse,’ says a disembodied voice
sourly.
Alysia
casts Grey a concerned look.
Grey
removed a small black button from his jacket, squeezed it and replaced it to a
pocket before saying ‘go on.’
‘She’s
supposed to be in a stable state, nothing changing,’ continued Tauramy, his
voice having changed channel now heard only inside their heads.
‘You
mentioned some activity before…if thats sign of her dreaming, if she can
dream…don’t you think it’s possible…’ ventured Alysia.
‘She
was supposed to get better not worse. I only saw her a few days ago…for the
first time in years.’
Grey
struggled for words.
‘I’ve
been poking around,’ said Tauramy. ‘You see, after the funeral in Nuria and
after Mum was admitted, I tried to get a look at my Father’s work. When the
information I was looking at, stuff about settlement, started corrupting I
built a…a sort of containment around it.’
Alysia
lightly holds her hand to her forehead, ‘Like a glass wall?’
‘Yeah,
but less like a firewall more like a floodgate,’ explained Tauramy, glancing
Grey.
‘Do
you think there’s something in there that can help your Mum?’ asked Grey.
‘I
can’t know for sure, I’d have to risk further corrupting whatever information
is in there to find out.’
‘You
may not be able to help her if it’s…her. If it was dementia yeah but…if
she’s….’ said Alysia tentatively.
‘At
least maybe I could find out why it happened.’
‘Your
Mum’s illness?’
‘Yes,
and my Dad’s.’
‘Tauramy,
this was resolved a long time ago,’ said Alysia gently.
‘No.
It can’t be a coincidence that both of them fell sick at such a critical time.
My Father’s work was about the settlement and so was Mum’s. Ronan’s been trying
to access it ever since.’
‘That’s
his place to do so Tauramy…he’s an elected Member, your Father’s friend,’
sighed Alysia.
‘If
my Dad had wanted him to be able to access it, he would of done it by now,’
posited Tauramy.
Alysia
shrugged. ‘Grey can’t access all my stuff, some of it’s just personal that’s
all.’
‘Thanks
Al,’ said Grey bemused.
‘You’re
not getting it,’ said Tauramy. ‘What if some information they need isn’t being
kept at home at all. Maybe they weren’t able to find what they wanted in my
Father’s stuff at home...Maybe they’ve been trying to force something out of
Mum all this time.’
Alysia
is taken aback, Grey falls silent.
‘It
would explain why her conditions deteriorated…’ added Tauramy.
‘But
we can’t read memories,’ said Alysia, ‘And you said your Mother stopped talking
years ago.’
Alysia
shook her head. ‘Why don’t you trust our M.E.’s? Why don’t you trust Ronan?’
she asked.
‘There’s
always been some form of corruption or other in organisations, even the
Elthred,’ proffered Grey in support of Tauramy.
‘Things
are different now,’ said Alysia.
‘Or
maybe things just look different but it’s still the same,’ said Grey. ‘Remember
when information leaked out about Prussia’s predecessor being funded and
crafted for his position by some Reynard sect? Trying to make out the Raintree
inhabitants were a threat to us in some way!?’
‘Well
we had another election anway, so that was resolved quickly.’
‘Very
quickly,’ mumbled Grey.
‘You’ve
been listening to Cohen,’ said Alysia with a muted laugh.
‘Whatever
the case, there’s a larger picture being keeping from us,’ insists Tauramy.
‘Who
by, Ronan? Well that’s obvious,’ says Grey.
‘Yes
Ronan…but maybe Goshe too.’
‘I’m
sure once your elected to your Father’s position you’ll be privy to all of
these things you’re already sensing,’ assures Alysia.
There
was an uneasy silence as they looked outside and contemplated Raintree’s
satellite, Eve, and the steady glow of starlights.
Alysia
sighs.
Grey
looks to the moonlit expanse of Raintree.
‘Resettlement
is going good, everything is going ahead as Poltauramy envisioned,’ insisted
Alysia.
‘According
to who?’ asked Tauramy.
‘To
his own words before he passed,’ said Alysia quietly. ‘Besides, you can’t stage
an assembly or a whole series of them for that matter.’
They
sat in silence for a few minutes while the idea sunk in.
‘Yeah,
neither can you fake murder to get a reaction,’ said Tauramy, ‘you just have to
do it.’
‘Other
than a slight delay I’d say there was no reaction. Things are going ahead as your
Dad had announced it should, but you could say that’s a reaction,’ said Grey,
‘the delay.’
‘Then
maybe that’s what they wanted, for it to go ahead,’ said Tauramy.
‘A
cover-up of something that was going to stop resettlement?’ suggested Grey.
‘This
is too much,’ said Alysia standing up and looking around to see how far away
people were away from them.
‘You
are really reaching guys. Taurmy, you’re thinking too simplistically for
someone privy to all the details, I mean you do attend Elthred meetings don’t
you? Perhaps there was only one or a few aspects to disagree over back then or
to think to change -hardly worth conspicuously…taking someones life.’
‘Unless
it was known how those details would affect the future overall,’ said Grey.
‘That’s
suggesting there’s a plan, a larger plan in place,’ said Tauramy.
Alysia
resisted conceding and pressed on, ‘Your Father aside, your Mother was
mourning the love of her life, her love of more than a hundred years. She fell
into a state that we can’t comprehend and unfortunately she can’t get back
because it triggered something else.’
‘And
that’s how they wants us to consider it, aside,’ said Grey.
Alysia
hesitated before saying, ‘Have you considered that maybe she is ready and wants
to leave…to be with him.’
‘But
what about me? I’m still here. She should of wanted to be well…to be here, for
me.’
There
was a hard silence as Alysia struggled to find words that would squash the idea
that Nelesia didn’t love young Poltauramy enough.
‘So
what you’re saying is, what if she wanted to die but they kept her alive?’ said
Grey tactlessly, adding to the tension.
‘Or
if she wanted to live, for Tauramy, but they kept her asleep,’ said Alysia
quickly.
‘That’s
it!’ quipped Grey. ‘They’re deliberately keeping her sedated like Taurmy said. And you called
it,’ teased Grey with satisfaction.
Alysia
stood up. ‘No! Look, to suggest her illness isn’t natural, to bring up that
there’s larger things at work here, is to suggest, maybe…’ she shakes her head.
‘To begin with, Poltauramy –sorry, your Father- they say-’
‘They
say,’ stressed Grey.
‘-was
exposed to a dangerous virus during service,’ continued Alysia. ‘It has
happened before.’
‘It
wasn’t your regular organic variety,’ Grey reminds them.
‘Cells
have millions of years of intelligence in them,’ defended Alysia, adding,
‘Ronan warned of these things, of changes to the people still living there that
might not be good for us.’
‘So
you’re with Ronan now?’ teased Grey.
‘I’m
trying to help you think about what you’re saying,’ says Alysia exasperatedly.
‘Anyway,’
said Grey, ‘he died in the service of your Mother.’
‘And
she died in the service of my Father,’ alludes Tauramy. ‘They were both in
service for all of us. Who would believe Dad was so careless to catch a measly
virus, some preventable disease and forfiet his life? And who would believe
that she was so fragile to readily let go of everything she cared about and
wanted to take care of…?’
‘Everyone,’
said Grey flatly.
‘Careful,’
cautions Alysia, ‘we may be making adversaries out of thin air.’ ‘Let’s talk
somewhere else,’ interrupted Tauramy. ‘I can see Leed is coming your way, I
don’t want him hearing me talk about this stuff.’
+Grey
and Alysia are walking together along an empty corridor, Tauramy’s voice in
both of their earpieces as Grey asks Tauramy, ‘When will you be old enough to
get her discharged?’
‘Never,’
interrupted Alysia. ‘It’s not about age. He doesn’t have enough standing. Not
like if he was an Ida of some sort. They won’t discharge her without medical
clearance.’
‘No,’
grinned Grey turning to Tauramy. ‘I mean with your ability.’
‘What
kind of ability are you talking about?’ asked Alysia concernedly. ‘Hacking?’
‘Er…yeah,
you could say that,’ said Grey.
Grey
and Alysia turn a corner and find themselves traveling down a set of stationary
stairs. Grey adjusts his earpiece.
‘Where
are we?’ asked Alysia.
‘Nowhere,’
said Grey.
Tauramy
sighs. ‘You have to understand, she’s in some kind of special case unit in the
Biomedical Engineering Faculty. If she was T Class, a carbon copy clone
descendant or wasn’t carbon based-’
‘More
like if she wasn’t our LuRein,’ interrupted Grey.
‘-she
might be in the regular hospice,’ finished Tauramy.
‘The
B.E. Centre…’ contemplates Alysia.
Grey
looks unconvinced, ‘So what? I’m sure the walls are made out of the same
stuff.’
‘No.
Look…’ A smudge appears in front of Grey and Alysia as they reach the bottom of
the stairs and continue along another empty corridor.
‘Where
are we now?’ asked Alysia.
‘Nowhere
yet,’ said Grey.
Tauramy
is using a hand-drawing program. After giving the smudge depth by stretching it
backwards into a three-dimensional shape he creates some hexagon holes by
erasing with his fingertips. Then he inserts some different coloured pods into
the holes.
Grey
nudges Alysia and smiles, nearly tripping over his own feet.
Alysia
giggles at Grey and then the drawing hovering in front of Grey and herself,
‘Looks like a seed pod.’
‘What
do you suppose is going to happen if I stuff around with the structure
supporting all those people?’ continues Tauramy as he erases the first shape
haphazardly, exposing the individual pods. With the tap of an effects button
they fall and scatter from view.
Alysia’s
smile fades, ‘Wait a second…you can’t literally wipeout the walls…Or are you
talking about disconnecting people if you take over the operating system? There
are so many people on life support.’
‘Most
of them are pretty much actually dead Al,’ said Grey.
‘Yeah…disconnecting,’
said Tauramy at the same time.
Alysia
is sombre, she throws Grey a look to say careful not to upset Taurmy with what
you say.
‘So
then how do you propose to get her out of there?’ presses Grey, talking to
Tauramy.
‘I’m
thinking something more lo-fi like our traditional hacking skills?’
‘Doubt
it!’
‘No
really. What better way to intercept, like maybe if we could affect the
programs from the inside?’
‘An
inside job to expose an inside job… I like how this week is turning out,’ said
Grey.
‘There’s
nothing to expose,’ said Alysia.
‘We’ll
soon find out when Nelesia wakes up,’ said Grey.
Alysia
was about to say, she’s not going to wake up, but held her tounge. What will
happen if she does wake up? Thought Alysia hopefully.
As
Alysia and Grey came to the end of the corridor, Tauramy said, ‘hold up a
minute. Okay, off you go.’
A
clearway parted in the wall before them and Grey and Alysia found themselves
entering a noisy public quarter of Bunurong. People navigate wandering
performers and meditative walkers. Grey nearly trips over a blindman walking a
turtle as they pass a crowd of people watching a pair of dancers outside the
Braille Library. Grey and Alysia continue listening to Tauramy via their
earpieces. ‘I need something that will hook into the channels that-,’ Tauramy
falls silent.
Grey
speaks up, ‘You would have to break into the right channel without disturbing
others, just in case-’
‘Guys,
you’re being followed,’ interrupted Tauramy. ‘Lets not talk via this anymore.’
‘Relax,
I’ve got my scrambler on,’ says Grey.
‘How?
Who is it?’ asks Alysia, turning around.
‘Don’t
turn around!’ says Grey.
‘It’s
Leed,’ says Tauramy quietly, a little disbelieving.
‘Yeah,
he’s def Ronan’s footman,’ says Grey looking to Alysia.
Alysia
appears deep in thought. ‘How can you be sure he’s following? We only just got
here,’ asks Alysia.
Grey
rolls his eyes, ‘Case in point! Now, are you still sure nothing’s going on?’
asks Grey as they quicken their pace.
‘I
never said I was,’ said Alysia.
‘Take
the blue clearway round the next corner,’ instructed Tauramy urgently.
‘Can’t
we just stand here and talk about something else?’ suggests Alysia. ‘So how’s
about that mountain of chairs in Cebuan some kid tried to climb…’ says Alysia
loudly.
The
ceiling collapsed above them in a shower of white feathers.
‘You
sound ridiculous,’ said Grey as he grabbed Alysia’s hand and tugged her into
running towards a blue glow through the falling feathers. They dodged around a
group of people wrapped in African prints, Alysia laughed, ‘are you doing this
too Taur?’
‘Nup,’
came a faint voice under the commotion.
The
floor underfoot became sticky as it began absorbing the feathers, Grey started
coughing as feathers stuck to his lips. ‘Hey, they taste like fairy floss,’ he
laughed, grasping a handful for Alysia.
The
bluelit clearway opened as they neared, and Grey and Alysia jumped inside. They
turned to see two Aleksi walking through the now thinning featherfall. Neither
Grey nor Alysia notices the couple of small airborne drones behind the Aleksi.
Impulsively,
Grey pulled Alysia into a hug and kissed her in view of the Aleksi.
As
Grey pulled away, Alysia broke into a confused grin saying, ‘And that was for?’
Grey
shrugs.
Alysia
laughs as the clearway begins to close and Grey holds up the most unbroken
feather in his palm.
‘They
look so real,’ reflects Alysia.
‘Move
guys! The clearway’s not closing!’ yells Tauramy.
Grey
and Alysia look up through the halfcast clearway to see the approaching Aleksi
are almost upon them, they start to run.
Grey
and Alysia rush along a short corridor and turn to find themselves on a
sidewalk with an empty taxipod waiting for them. After diving into the back
seat, it took off automatically.
‘Where
are we going?’ asked Alysia.
‘We’re
just going to do a few laps,’ came Tauramy’s voice through the stereo as Alysia
made herself more comfortable beside Grey. The windows give the illusion their
pod is moving low through the rain falling on a grassy plain.
‘What
if Leed was trying to tell us something, warn us, protect us?’ suggested
Alysia.
‘Maybe,
Leed worked for my Father, for many years. He was trusted.’
‘No
offence but your Father didn’t exactly survive Leed’s watch,’ reminded Grey.
Alysia
winced apologetically, Tauramy saw.
‘There
has to be someone else…someone that’s been around for a long time that you can
talk to,’ pressed Grey.
Tauramy
thought for a moment. ‘Garrett, one of Anuk’s Unida.’
‘The
teacher?’ said Grey.
‘Professor,’
corrected Alysia.
‘He
keeps me up to date with all sorts of things on and off the record,’ continued
Tauramy. ‘Like of subtle changes that have been made in instruction over the
past few years that are minor enough not to be raised as issues but significant
enough to be noticeable.’
‘Don’t
you mean education?’ said Alysia.
‘That’s
different,’ said Grey. ‘Anyway, I don’t understand what you’re getting at,’
admitted Grey.
‘We
should be preparing future generations, you know…equipping them with the skills
to live in Raintree’s environment…and that’s not really happening,’ responds
Tauramy.
‘Okay,’
shrugs Grey, ‘What does that matter?’
‘We
educate ourselves now anyway, when we need to,’ shrugs Alysia.
‘So
you do know the difference,’ said Grey nudging Alysia’s arm, Alysia ignores
him.
‘We
could at least be provided with… or guided in the direction that…like where we
are supposed to be going,’ said Tauramy. ‘I dunno it’s another thing, whatever
the case, I trust Garrett. Absolutely.’
The
inside of the taxipod is momentarily filled with a flash of light from the
lightning in the simulated storm over the fields outside.
‘Have
you got where we’re going?’ asked Alysia while looking at the empty front seats
and minimalist control panel.
‘You
know, I’ve wondered,’ pondered Grey carefully, ‘maybe…they like you.’
‘Grey…’
sighed Alysia.
‘They?’
said Tauramy.
‘I’m
serious! Alysia, Aiko didn’t exist until Kasumi was introduced…to Rei, the
first one to reach self consciousness.’
‘It’s
not consciousness!’ blurted Alysia, ‘Just another inevitable equation!’
Alysia
shakes her head.
Suddenly
Tauramy’s matte hologram tr’avatar appears sitting in the front seat of the
taxipod. To Grey and Alysia’s amusement he turns and smiles.
‘Having
you for a friend is like having our own Overman,’ muses Grey.
‘What
were you raving about before?’ asks Tauramy, looking around at the scenery.
They pass a lone tree on the grassy plain outside as sheet lightning fills the
interior of the pod.
‘He
thinks Ai have been creating Ai and suffering the same problems as us,’ said
Alysia. ‘Say when we can’t maintain a balanced state of peace, of pleasure. He
sees the crash of the first string of networks, like Nigel’s Winter as their
discovery of how to…of their own discovery of how to…’
‘Kill
themselves,’ asserted Grey.
‘Delete
their own programs or reset,’ pressed Alysia. ‘It’s just like a big scale
defrag, cleaning out nasty bugs and useless history I’m sure.’
‘No
it’s suicide because they’re aware! Hence the reason,’ Grey began explaining
excitedly, ‘they are capable of crashing without notice anymore…or when things
get too nasty. Remember Noriko?’
‘Stop
using their names…they do have numbers,’ chided Alysia. ‘And they’re not aware,
they’re just doing stuff, matter in motion.’
‘Yeah
Noriko,’ remembered Tauramy. ‘The volume of violent content spiked. That was a
deranged and hellish space to be in…according to reports, I can’t say for
sure…then there’s the people that supposedly ended up with PTSD, shot their
nervous systems to pieces.’
‘What
do computers know of violence!’ sighed Alysia. ‘Or stress!?’
‘But
what does this have to do with me anyway?’ pressed Tauramy’s hologram.
Even
as he asked, Tauramy felt a creeping feeling that he already knew. It explained
many of the feelings of familiarity he had experienced while harnessing
Netech’s fibers almost thoughtlessly as a child. The way Grey spoke of the
networks rekindled an earlier thought. It was too crazy. He squashed it.
‘Like
I said,’ shrugged Grey, ‘maybe they like you. If any of them are watching you,
there’s nothing to say they’re not watching us.’
‘Watching? Grey
this is paranoid talk,’ shushed Alysia. ‘What are we in the information ages
again?’
‘Don’t
be afraid…There’s no reason for them to evolve into evil, sinister crazies…not
if they’re at the top of the food chain…they’re practically gods.’
‘You
take wire worship to a whole other level love,’ said Alysia with a worried
smile. ‘The walls are alive!’ mocks Alysia, holding her hands up and wiggling
her fingers at Tauramy; he grins.
‘Well
they are in a way! Sorry, just a theory,’ smiled Grey feigning dismissiveness.
He turns to Tauramy, ‘If we attempt to help you and this all turns out to be…’
Grey traces circles in the air with his hands.
‘Crazy,’
prompts Alysia. ‘The network servers are not conscious entities Grey.’
‘That
guy, the last to be exiled…’ began Alysia.
Grey
turned away to look at the window. He focused on what he thought was a distant
figure walking through the rain.
‘That
was well over a hundred years ago,’ shrugged Tauramy.
A
barely imperceptible click was heard from the roof of the pod.
‘What
was that?’ said Grey.
Tauramy
turned off the window displays to reveal the Northern stalactite cityscape
passing by on either side of them as the taxipod rushed along the smooth lanes,
passing other pods and failing to register at the concealed checkpoints it
passed over. The Southern citimites were vaguely visible in the sky above where
they noticed a small drone, the size of a softball slip out of view and another
looking in the window.
Alysia
put her hands up to her face, ‘Close the windows! We’ve got reporter drones
stalking us.’
The
windows went white.
‘We
can’t keep talking like this,’ said Alysia pointing to the roof of the pod.
‘Let’s talk in person,’ insists Alysia. ‘Can you meet us outside Visaya Village
in ten.’
Tauramy
doesn’t respond.
Alysia
growled, ‘Come on, you can do it. Get out of that ev’air! We want to see you
for real!’
~
Wearing
a grey hooded jumper over his suit, Tauramy's figure saunters through a public quarter
of Netech surrounded by a drifting crowd of knights, snowboarders, surfers,
forest dwellers and Bedouins. Many people enjoyed dressing as their avatars and
some tr’avatars sit talking at cafés and in the projection zones of open parks
he passes.
Through
the music emanating from some individuals, Tauramy caught snatches of
conversation.
‘Stop
teasing your sister Fin!’ ordered a man’s voice.
‘What
can I offer you in exchange for one of those?’ asks a woman.
‘How
can I make you guys get along,’ sighed another.
‘Where
are we going?’ whined a young child.
After
a few flights of stairs and crossing over a park area with an oversized
four-dimensional chess set, Tauramy arrives to greet Grey and Alysia at Visaya
Village.
‘When
was the last time you ate?’ asks Grey, examining Tauramy’s face as he
approaches.
‘Can’t
remember. Hi,’ he smiles at Alysia. ‘Alysia?’
‘Yeah,
hey there, you’re taller than I imagined,’ smiled Alysia. ‘When was the last
time you slept?’ asks Alysia as she produces a packet of food pills from a
pocket.
‘Fourty,
seventy,’ shrugs Tauramy.
Alysia
pushes two tablets into his hand.
‘Cheers,’
thanks Tauramy.
Approaching
a receptionist at the counter, Alysia signs in by passing through a registering
clearway.
‘She’s
expecting us any minute now, ‘ said Alysia as she led the way.
A
loud automated voice suddenly issued around them, ‘Warning, warning, this is a
wanderer alert. Please step away from the doors.’
Alysia
kept walking, saying, ‘Don’t worry about that,’ as they continued quickly along
a corridor. They soon passed two nurses trying unsuccessfully to coax a
confused looking young looking man to return to a game of bingo.
Eventually
Grey, Alysia and Tauramy entered a vast courtyard whose darkened edges gave it
the illusion of being a much wider space. Small orange orbs suspended from
lifelike oak trees cast light on small tables set under a night sky ceiling
replete with glinting stars and coloured waves they called Southern Lights.
Seated at many of the tables were elderly people playing cards, board games,
bubble hunting and Viking wars.
In
one lamp lit corner of the courtyard, a group of twelve had gathered to play
bocce. It was from this corner that the faint sound of music was wafting.
Tauramy had never seen so many older people before. ‘Why did they choose to
grow so old?’ he wondered.
A
woman shuffled by at a steady pace who would continue to lap the room during
their visit without speaking to anyone. A nurse trailed behind her, attempting
to feed her food capsules as she walked.
Tauramy
watched as an elderly couple stepped onto the makeshift bocce court, linked
arms and began dancing much to the others dismay; they laughed and implored
them to stop so the game could continue.
‘Taurmy,’
hissed Alysia, tugging on his sleeve.
Tauramy
turns to see Grey taking a seat beside a mature woman with black hair and a
purple scarf reading a book. A slightly younger looking woman with white hair
named Beth, is sitting staring at a cup steaming away on the centre of the
table. Ataur notes the subtle but continuous waves on its surface.
Following
Alysia, Tauramy takes a seat at the small table. He glances a gentleman in a
seat nearby, hesitantly leaning forward to stand up. He lifts himself out of
the chair a little but then sits back down.
‘Hello
Mayani!’
‘Alysia!’
‘This
is Grey,’ greets Alysia loudly, kissing her on the cheek.
‘Oh
hello, hello. You look lovely,’ says Mayani, looking to Grey and touching his
cheek. ‘And who is this friend of yours?’ she asks turning to Tauramy.
‘This
is…ah…Taurmy,’ says Grey.
Beth
looks agitated.
‘Hello,
Beth,’ smiles Alysia.
Beth
glances Alysia but returns to watching the cup.
‘Your
a Taur eh,’ smiles Mayani leaning slightly forward to better see his face.
‘Ataur,’
drawled Alysia flicking her hand through her hair, motioning for him to remove
his hood.
Tauramy
reluctantly exposes his shaved head.
‘Is
that a real book?’ asks Ataur.
‘Bingo!’
interrupts a loud voice behind him. He turns to see a group of young looking
people huddled in front of an antique Personal Care Worker Drone.
Ataur
returns his attention to Mayani as Beth spits, ‘Phht! Can you see it? What a
ridiculous question?!’
‘Yes
darling, says Mayani. ‘It’s a real book. Wonderful, wonderful. They allow us
full access to all the books in the Netech Library. Even the Heritage and Rare
Books…nothing is kept from us, and we get free access to the Main Gallery
through the Library too.’
‘How
old is that one you’re reading?’
‘Not
sure, but it’s wonderful what they do to preserve them.’
‘It’s
old! Older than you’ll ever be,’ grumbled Beth.
‘Don’t
you like using book tablets Mayani?’ asks Alysia, ignoring Beth.
‘Yes
they’re good, but I like the smell of these ones.’
Grey
wrinkles his nose.
‘And
sometimes I find marks made by other people, notes, fingernail paint –years ago
they used to just rub colour onto themselves, just smear it on you know,
imagine that!’
‘The
book marks Mayani…’ said Alysia.
‘Oh
yes, marks like in these books they just…I don’t know, make me wonder. This
ones a murder book actually, I do like a good murder,’ mentions Mayani
pleasantly and nodding thoughtfully.
Grey
stifles a chuckle as Alysia relaxes back into her chair.
‘Well
Mayani,’ poses Alysia, ‘If I was admitted to hospital and wanted to release
myself but they wouldn’t let me, how would you get me out of there?’ asked
Alysia. Ataur stared at her wide-eyed, she winked back saying quietly, ‘Trust
me, this woman has done it all.’
‘Why
am I in hospital?’ wonders Mayani.
‘No,
I’m in hospital,’ replies Alysia.
‘Neither
of you are in bloody hospital! You’re both cracked,’ says Beth.
‘To
see me? Did you put me here? Does Norm know I’m here?’ fretted Mayani. Suddenly
gazing forward without focusing on anything present she mumbled. ‘Oh the baby,
what a lovely baby, careful, careful,’ she cooed.
‘See,
cracked,’ repeated Beth.
‘Mayani…’
said Alysia gently, leaning forward and taking her hand.
Mayani
looked dazedly up at Alysia and Grey.
Ataur
leaned back in his chair that had developed an arced runner, turning it into a
rocking chair. Grey observed Ataur’s satisfaction with amusement.
Attracted
by the gentle rocking motion, Mayani turns to Ataur, ‘Are you going to read to
me?’
‘Stop
that rocking! You’re distracting me!’ snapped Beth trying to concentrate on the
cup.
Grey
stifled a laugh.
‘Yes,
if you want him to,’ said Alysia.
‘Good.
I should like one more story before tonight. I won’t be here tomorrow.’
‘Where
are you going?’ asked Alysia.
‘I’m
going to climb out.’
Ataur
appears baffled.
‘But
what if someone sees you!’ laughs Grey.
‘Well,
I’ll do it in quiet time. Slam that green button then lie and wait to see if
anyone comes up to my capsule. I can pretend it was an accident and try again
if someone catches me.’
‘What
ridiculousness!’ jibed Beth. ‘Are you going to leap out of there with those old
bones? I can hear them creaking from here. That jaw of yours expecially with
all that jabbering…when does it end!?’
‘But
the nurses?’ pressed Alysia.
‘They’re
only really activated by visitors but you can reason with them if they’re
s’avatars,’ said Mayani.
‘What
do you mean?’
‘Just
don’t lie, they can tell when you do. Tell them what you want. They can’t use
any force on you, so you just have to make sure they don’t have reason to
notify anyone.’
Grey
nods appreciatively, Tauramy seems pensive.
‘Service
avatars of that caliber are controlled by people,’ hissed Beth, ‘that won’t
work. As if any Ai could ever be capable of high level care work.’
‘You’ve
got a point there Beth, but darling would you mind your tone…you’re talking
rather rudely,’ soothed Mayani.
‘Don’t
call me darling.’ Beth squirmed in her seat, huffed and looked around at Ataur,
Grey and Alysia’s expressions. ‘Whatever you want,’ mumbled Beth, returning to
the cup.
‘What
if it was the hospital in the BE Faculty?’ probes Alysia.
Mayani
frowns, sighs and pouts. ‘You wont tell them will you? I can’t remember how I
got here, I don’t think Norm knows I’m here.’
‘Oh
for goodness sake Norman’s -’
‘Ahem!
The BE Faculty…’ blurted Alysia over the top of Beth’s voice.
Ataur
realises the gentleman in the seat nearby is still hovering over his seat, as
if to stand up. He resumes a seated position but leans forward and slightly
lifts himself again, hesitating.
Mayani
sighs, ‘What do you think I’m talking about?’
‘No
one knows what you’re talking about,’ mumbles Beth.
Grey
freezes and looks to Ataur. Ataur purses his mouth shut.
Mayani
reaches for the cup, Beth stops her by holding up a hand and shouting, ‘Wait!’
There’s
a patient silence while Mayani waits for Beth to lower her hand. When Mayani
lifts the cup and takes a careful sip, Beth watches, ‘Saying, quickly now, I
don’t want to lose count.’
‘Yamantak,’
whispers Mayani. ‘She’s the only s’avatar in the BE Faculty. She guards the
sleepers.’
‘So
we need to know who’s behind Yamantak?’ posits Grey.
‘Why
would anyone want to help you!?’ laughs Beth as Mayani takes another sip and
Beth squirms impatiently.
‘We’re
trying to help someone, do something good…’ says Alysia patiently.
‘You
and every other man and his drone,’ huffs Beth as Mayani replaces the cup to
the table for Beth to watch.
‘She’s
right,’ concedes Grey. ‘How are we to persuade them to help us?’
‘What
have we got to give them?’ ponders Ataur loudly.
‘They’ll
be helping their Ideity’s LuReine,’ insists Alysia.
‘And
if we can’t paint the bigger picture for them?’ replies Ataur.
‘Most
people are aware of how interdependent we are here,’ says Alysia.
‘Which
might make them even less inclined to help out, in case they upset the order,’
sighed Grey.
‘Just
give them a rock so they’ll shut up and go away will you Maya,’ groaned Beth.
‘They’re hurting my ears.’
Replacing
the cup on the table, Mayani reveals a pouch in her purple scarf. She reaches
inside.
‘Ataur,’
says Mayani pulling out a small black gemstone sprinkled with flecks of white.
‘It’s snowflake obsidian.’
‘Where’s
mine?’ whines Grey theatrically, Alysia squeezes his arm.
Mayani
winks at Ataur, ‘He’s already got his; this is yours now.’
‘I
can’t take this…’ says Ataur checking for recognition.
‘I’m
giving it to you! Take it!’ implored Beth.
‘What’s
it for?’
‘If
you fancy Yamantak, this’ll win her over. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to ask
Paulie over there how his great grandson is going these days,’ says Mayani as
she waggles a thumb at one of two men playing chess behind her.
‘Who?
Stop. No, I can’t take this Mayani. I don’t like Yamantak.’
‘Oh
for goodness sake,’ lamented Beth. ‘I don’t have time for this.’
‘Oh
but you must if you’re ever going to save the elephants!’ stressed Mayani
rising from her seat and picking up her cup of water. Alysia, Grey and Ataur
stand also, poised as if to catch her should she topple over.
‘I
can walk quite well thank you, don’t worry.’
‘Are
you all leaving now?’ asked Beth expectantly.
The
triumphant cheers and dismayed moans of the bocce group distract Ataur and Grey
momentarily.
When
they look back, Alysia is straightening a purple scarf around her neck. Beth is
staring at Mayani’s cup in the centre of the table.
‘Where’s
Mayani?’ asks Ataur looking around.
‘Where’d
you get that scarf?’
‘Very
funny,’ jeers Alysia pulling Grey into a hug and heading towards the courtyard
exit. ‘Come on Ataur!’
Ataur
dodges a curling white chair and sidles up to Grey. ‘What just happened back
there?’
‘I’m
as confused as you.’
‘For
goodness sake!’ lamented Beth’s voice loudly behind them, making them all turn
around. ‘Someone turn Norman off, he’s never going to stand up.’
‘Alysia,
I don’t understand what just happened,’ said Grey.
Alysia
pulls Grey into a hug and plants a kiss on his cheek, ‘You just met Mayani.’
Grey
and Ataur frown at her but stop asking questions.
Throwing
one last look at the leaves of the oak tree and its suspended lights, Ataur
asks casually, ‘So what stone did she give you anyway?’
‘She
really did give you one?’ asks Alysia, glancing Grey walking slightly behind
her.
Grey
turns and throws Ataur an extreme wide-eyed stare with pursed lips.
‘Oh,’
says Ataur louder, ‘She was fooling around huh…’ he nods his head out of
Alysia’s sight and smiles to himself.
Behind
them, a man stands up and sidles over to Beth’s table; he picks up a dark rock
perched on the edge and hands it to Beth saying, ‘Mayani, you dropped
something.’
~
‘I’ve
found a way around their little matchmaker system,’ revealed Grey as Ataur took
a seat on the ev’ounge beside him.
‘How
long have you been working on this?’ asked Ataur as he opened a screen and
began scrutinising scrolling columns of numbers.
‘Few
months now I guess,’ shrugged Grey.
Ataur
looked away from the screen to surmise Grey as he explained.
‘I
started with the data fingerprint records, found a blackline program to trace
several years worth of ficticious activity -loosely based on the records of
someone else- then I set about changing my Maas emotographic enquiry records.
Within a few days it had all updated and because there’s no mass copy of
anything…’
‘But
surely they would have records kept in more than one place?’
Grey
smirked, ‘yeah they do, and I found out where –sorted.’
‘So
you’ve managed to change the prospectus value on your birth records?’
‘Upgraded
my birth bond rating, yeah.’
‘Grey!
Are you serious? What if you get caught?’
‘I
wont. There’s no reason for anyone to trace further back than my Mother. And
even if they did, I made it seem possible that she could of developed as much
as what she did based on her parents investments.’
‘There
had to be another way…’
‘Sure…I
could invent a whole new me, invoke the position of someone whose decided to
die. Seniors in the Grange Sector have figured out that they can sell their
identities to young punks for a tidy sum of credits –they can live off the
rations of family and friends until they kick on outta here and leave what they
scooped for their partner or family they’re leaving behind. By the time the
Aleksi catch the kids and are sent to apprehend them, the oldies long gone and
the credits dissipated. I could of bought one with someone elses credit too…but
how long could I hide behind a false face, with my Father’s reputation? Well
now I have a new BPV I should meet Alysia’s Mother’s character requirements.
It’s just a small change in numbers.’
‘But
your DNA?’
‘That
checks out, we’re both certified J Class organics; not premium like you, Master
Ah Taur,’ added Grey light-heartedly.
Ataur
stares blankly at a wall, after a moments silence Ataur speaks.
‘Grey…what
we’ve been talking about, I don’t want it to affect you and Alysia. I can’t let
you in on what I want to do to help my Mum.’
‘What
you need to do? Of course you can,’ said Grey. ‘She shouldn’t be kept under
like that, locked up like that. Sure urn baby here, I never met my parents. At
least you lived at the same time as yours, got to know them, what its like to
have a real Mother around looking out for you rather than paid service guys
training you for a job already chosen for you. But I think of it like…I
wouldn’t want Alysia to be kept under like that. I wouldn’t want her shut up
somewhere away from people all day long, with some stupid machines picking and
pumping her brain with what’s probably useless, rubbishy information some
stranger with their own agenda has chosen to expose her to. I wouln’t want
Alysia to be anything less than her crazy, sharp, emo, brilliant self.’
Ataur
is grinning broadly as Grey finally takes a breath.
‘That
said,’ continued Grey more slowly. ‘Of course I’m going to help you; you can’t
do this alone. Worst case scenario we all get jettisoned off to Raintree early,
best case scenario we reawaken one of Netechs greatest minds –who will help us
all get back to Raintree or bring Raintree to Netech; either or, I’m with you,’
laughed Grey.
‘But
Alysia…’
‘She
won’t let us stuff up.’
‘Okay,’
says Ataur. ‘Thanks.’
‘No
worries,’ smiles Grey as he logs off and disappears from the room.
Grey
stands and stretches before turning to look for Alysia. He sees her lying with
her eyes closed in an ev’air listening to music. He turns up the room
temperature and dims the light in the room.
‘I know what you boys are up to,’ she said smiling quietly.
Cell, “Under Your Mind.” Carbon Based Lifeforms,
Hydroponic Garden.
Shpongle feat. Ott, around the world in a tea daze.
