Saskia flicked her dark eyes around the table. “I don’t think that she should be able to make such accusations unchallenged, Michel.”
“Don’t start, Saskia,” Craig said, suddenly serious again. “Who’s coming?”
“One of the Stephanies.”
The assembled people looked at one another.
“We should go now,” Armstrong decided, pushing back his chair in a clatter of beer bottles.
“Claude, it was nice meeting you.”
“You don’t have to go,” Claude said quietly. “I have a ship waiting not one minute away. Join the game, Armstrong.”
Maurice felt more tempted by the sudden offer than he would have imagined, but Armstrong was shaking his head.
“Not for me, Claude. I’ve got nothing to hide from Social Care.” He shook his head again. “I’ve got nothing against them, either.”
“What about when they stop you from drinking?” Maurice asked.
“They’re just doing the job,” Armstrong replied, drunkenly sanctimonious. “And I’ve got mine to do, too, Maurice. I signed up for duty on this planet and I’ll see it through. It’s the same with Social Care. You get the rights, you accept the responsibilities.”
“You should be getting them out of here,” murmured Saskia to Michel. “It won’t look good for you if Social Care realize that you let your team play the n-strings game.”
“All right, I know,” said Michel. He gave an apologetic shrug.
“Way to spoil the party, Saskia,” Joanne murmured.
“Be quiet, Joanne,” Michel said. “Come on, everyone, back to the flier.”
Slowly, with a scrape of chairs and further skittering of bottles, they began to make their way from the table. All except one.
“I’m not going.” Donny spoke up, his voice darkly sullen. “Claude, tell me some more about this new way of life of yours.”
“Look out,” Craig called. A disc came spinning out of the night; it bounced off the table and fell to the floor.
“Hello, Stephanie,” said Saskia.
“Hello, Saskia.”
Maurice shivered. This Stephanie was a personality construct of the human Stephanie, who was no doubt even now being woken and bundled onto a flier so she could be rushed across the world in order to speak to the erring crew.
“I see you have all been playing the n-strings game. It’s a charming diversion. I have played it myself a few times.”
“What, in digital space?” Joanne’s voice was sweetly sarcastic. “You have precious little chance of leaving your world, Stephanie.”
“Don’t be so prejudiced, Joanne,” Stephanie replied lightly. “I have the same rights to self-fulfillment as anyone in what you like to call the atomic world. Besides, I don’t need to walk in the physical world to realize that the concept behind this game is flawed.”
“It’s a diversion,” said Craig. “Look!”
Fine silver bars were silently growing downwards to block the open front of the cafe. Everyone present made a dash for the cool space outside. Claude whispered something into the heavy silver ring that he wore on his little finger.
