“But shouldn’t we try more people like that Ross guy?” Addison pressed. “The ones who did more damage?”
“Small actions add up. Little crimes contribute to big ones.”
Two sighed, turning to the dimming institute.
“In my view, everyone from your era is culpable. But One wishes the trials to be done to the letter of the law, as is tradition. After all, tradition is all that separates us from the beasts. Not that there are any beasts left…”
Addison said nothing and Two turned back to him. “To answer your question, yes there is a reason. You are aware that our archive access is restricted? That they are damaged?”
“I heard.”
“There are millions of samples in the lower levels, a myriad of potential defendants, but we have access to only a few hundred. Most frustrating. That is the purpose of these parts, to restore access to other samples. But until then...”
“You did the heavyweights first,” Addison said, realisation dawning. “The guiltiest?”
“Guilt is guilt,” Two winked. “But some are more guilty than others.”
Addison laughed, then immediately felt ashamed. He knew about Stockholm Syndrome, he shouldn’t be enabling his captors. Absentmindedly, his fingers went to the base of his neck, scratching at the metal protruding from his skin.
“You know,” Two said, noticing the movement. “That device does much more than interpret speech.”
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, the leveller gestured over the balcony. They were halfway up the pyramid. On the far side Four was stomping down a ramp followed by the drone.
“What do you see?” he asked.
“What?” Addison replied. “Four?”
“No, the space. All around.”
“I don’t follow...”
Two stretched out a hand, reaching for Addison’s interpreter. He flinched back, memories of the vision room fresh in his mind, but Two was insistent.
“Do not resist,” he warned.
Addison closed his eyes, trying not to panic. He felt Two’s fingers, surprisingly nimble, grasp the device on his neck. But when he turned, the motion was much less savage than before.
“Open,” Two commanded.
Addison did as instructed, then gasped.
“Oh my god…”
The pyramid had bloomed into life.
Before, it had been a grey, barren place, but now it was a living, breathing, thriving jungle. Addison’s vision was all green: trees, plants, vines and fauna clinging to every surface, lush, verdant and utterly alive. A tropical waterfall cascaded down from the upper levels, illuminated by a beam of sunlight that split the water into shimmering rainbows. From the canopy came the sound of a thousand animals: birds, beasts and insects screeching and singing to one another. Addison saw a sudden flash of colour as a parrot streaked out of the canopy to soar under the waterfall, its red wingtips brushing the rainbow spray.
“I can smell it!” Addison marvelled, reaching out to touch the nearest plant. “And feel it!”
“It is not real, of course,” Two replied. “But the interpreter can represent the world any way you choose. This is how I choose, as things were.”
“It’s... beautiful.”
“I am told the world was indeed very beautiful.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That is quite irrelevant.”
Addison coughed awkwardly. “How does it...?”
“We all have our own views,” Two replied, tapping his head. “Five’s is similar to mine, Four’s is quite...dark, and I believe One chooses no augmentation at all. But of all views, I felt this would be most fitting for you.”
“But why?” Addison said, suspicion edging out his awe. “What do you want in return for showing me this?”
Two smiled and picked up his wheelbarrow.
“Nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“As I said, we currently only have access to one archive,” Two replied, heading down what was now a tree-lined grove, artificially-generated monkeys scampering out of his path. “And we’re halfway through. Even you should get to enjoy what little time is left.”
“What happens when you run out?”
“You don’t want that to happen.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because when we have worked through everyone else” he called, disappearing into rustling leaves. “The only person left to try will be you.”
– Chapter 4 –
Taka
Addison lost himself for hours in his new jungle paradise. He picked his way along tree-lined holloways, clambered up ramps strewn with bracken and windthrow, battled across balconies overgrown with moss-covered vines and wandered through clearings wreathed in iridescent steam and dancing fireflies. It was exquisite, breathtaking, and for the first time since his levelling he felt something other than horror or enervating mindlessness. It was, simply put, a very good day.
But like most good days, it ended with the real world calling. As he waded out of a tropical pool teeming with quick-darting fish and shimmering amphibians, Addison heard an all-too-familiar buzzing. The mantis drone was lurking in the trees, flaring its carapace in impatience.
“Oh, piss off,” he grumbled, squelching out of the water. “I’m coming.”
Addison was late for his final appointment of the day. He arrived in the vision chair room with just enough time to scan the new returnee’s bio. According to the tablet the man was Taka Everett, and he was unusual in being both older and younger than Addison. Born fifteen years later but sampled when he was in his late thirties, the man was a decade older in appearance yet wouldn’t even have been alive when Addison was skulking around behind bike sheds.
At first, Taka seemed like every other returnee. His rap sheet covered all the greatest hits – overtravel, overconsumption, inaction – but once the vision chair released him all similarities ended. Even as Addison filled him in, Taka ran the gauntlet of emotions quicker than anyone he’d worked with. He ascended through denial, rage and despair to the closest approximation of acceptance Addison had seen in a returnee. But it was what he did next that was truly surprising.
“Are you okay?” Taka asked, staring up at him from the floor.
Addison blinked. He’d been preparing one of his go-to lies, whatever mistruth was needed to make the man as compliant as possible, and the question caught him off guard.
“Okay?” he replied, taken aback. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” the man said, wiping vat fluid from his brow. “Addison, right?”
“Yes...”
“Well Addison, I was wondering how you were?”
He stared at the freshly-levelled man. Taka
