“What does that mean?”
“It means there is no way out. We’re trapped in here!”
“Will they be able to get us out?”
Judy 10 handed little red pills to both Helens. She waited for them to swallow before answering, “The boundaries of the PS are now ill defined. There is nothing to keep the information patterns internal anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“Think of a fish tank full of water. Then imagine someone has just removed the tank.”
The red pill had taken effect. Both Helens felt calm now.
Judy 4 finished the explanation: “It means we’re using up the last of our thoughts, Helen.”
“Two more Judys dead,” Kevin said. “Two more Helens.”
“Two
Judy 3 said nothing, merely went on staring at Kevin, her dark eyes like slits sucking up the tableau: the testosterone-charged man, the beautiful girl, the woodland glade, and the silver metal of the airlock.
“Still just watching, Judy?” Kevin asked. “Is that all you’re ever going to do?”
“That, and understand.”
Kevin spat on the grass. “That’s what I hate about you, Judy. You try to understand all sides of the argument, but you never actually commit yourself to an opinion. Five of your sisters killed and you’re still just trying to understand me. Don’t just understand! Act! I’m not the enemy. The Watcher is. Why should a cut with a blade kill a virtual being? Why can’t your sisters be brought back to life? You’re all nothing but patterns in a processing space.”
He bent down and picked up the MTPH bracelet, fed out a little red pill, and swallowed it.
“The Watcher is a fraud. It’s a cuckoo! It is enslaving humanity, and humans are letting it do that. I can save humanity! DIANA can save it.”
“DIANA?” said Judy 3. Across the digital divide, the atomic Judy sat up straighter and stared at Frances. “DIANA? One of the old commercial organizations? You believe
“Opinions, opinions,” Kevin scoffed. “You collect them like butterflies. Yes, I believe
Helen looked at Judy significantly. She clearly felt Kevin had scored a point.
Judy noted the look. Her reply was cool.
“When there are twelve of you, you need something constant to hold on to, to keep you together-something serious. You can’t just give up chocolate or decide you like jazz. You need something really
The airlock opened and two figures in black spacesuits stepped through. Another Kevin and Bairn.
Judy looked at Helen. “Run,” she said.
Helen simply turned and ran, head down, as fast as she could. She was running for her life.
Judy watched as one of the Kevins chased after her. The other Kevin stayed where he was, smiling at her. The polished metal of the airlock doors reflected the green grass in crazy patterns. She saw herself standing alone in the grassy bowl, looking frightened.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“I told you,” said Kevin. “There are other ways of looking at the universe than that laid down by the Watcher. DIANA operates on the principle of freedom of choice.”
“We have that.”
“You only think so. If there is hope, Judy, it lies with the proletariat of the processing space. The EA has the physical world sewn up. In here we can be free, and yet the Watcher still pulls humanity in its own direction.”
Kevin pulled out his white blade. Judy watched her own reflection in the airlock door as he nicked her on the wrist with it. Red drops of blood welled up. Judy walked closer to the reflecting door to get a better look at herself.
“Why are you bleeding, Judy?” asked Kevin. “It’s because the Watcher said it would be so. You are no more real than I, and yet you choose to live in this world and die in it. The worlds of the processing spaces should be of near infinite variety, and yet the gravity of the Watcher’s wishes pulls us back into this small region of space.”
There was an approaching noise of shouting and struggling. The other Kevin carried Helen back into view, one of his big arms locked around her chest, the other behind her head, forcing it forward. Bairn walked alongside, a knife held to Helen’s throat.
“Why don’t you run, Judy?” Helen called. Judy was still watching the scene in the reflection of the airlock. “Run, Judy. Get help!”
Judy was watching herself still. Looking at Kevin, watching the blade move up her body to her chest. It cut through the rough silk there. The blade had now sliced through the silk, revealing a breast. Not black-and-white, just pink with a puckered red nipple. Kevin drew the blade downwards again, ripping the silk, exposing yet more pink flesh. There was a shout, and in the distance, Helen could see reinforcements arriving at last. Other members of Social Care, coming to help. Where had they all been?
“Judy,” Helen called, “what’s the matter with you?”
“Shhh.” Kevin worked Judy 3’s wrist dispenser, producing a little blue pill. He pressed it to her lips. Judy watched herself swallow it in the mirror of the airlock.
“Look into my mind,” Kevin said. “No, open your eyes. I know you like to watch. Look at the Turing machine in my head.”
Judy couldn’t help but open her eyes. There was something there in Kevin’s brain. Something curling and moving like a tapeworm. She could see it in there, turning on its end. Clicking from place to place. She closed her eyes, feeling something churning in her stomach: she was gulping down rising bile. She could still hear the clicking noise the tape made as it moved from place to place in Kevin’s head.
“What is it?” she breathed.
“My mind. That’s why you can never beat me, Judy. I told you, I’m not real.”
He took her arm and pulled her around.
“Now look into your own mind,” he whispered.
Deep blue MTPH was coursing through her body. She could feel everything, even herself. She looked into her own head and saw the machine there, too. She was feeding back on herself, and Judy 3 loved to watch…
“
And at that point she turned her full gaze on him as if she finally understood, and Kevin felt Judy 3 switch off. The thought processes were still there, but there was no longer any spark of life.
Just a sequence of movements…
