1.4 by Mike A. Lancaster Page B
Authors: Mike A. Lancaster
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, People & Places, Action & Adventure, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Computers, Europe, Technological innovations, Computer Programs
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about? He wanted to know. /You were there./ I told him. /You know as much as I do./ ?Yeah, but brains in jars that we’re going to start using as computers?
Perry said. ?I mean, isn’t that all a little too weird, even for your dad?
It’s what I’d been thinking myself, but hearing Perry saying it just made me feel cross and defensive.
/It’s hardly brains in jars./ I snapped. ?You were listening, weren’t you?
/I was sitting next to you. ?Remember?
/I also remember my father saying that the Neural Forest was an artificially created substance, not a stupid brain-ina-jar. And your father is working on this thing too. ?If you’re that outraged, why don’t you speak to him?
/Not outraged. Just confused./
/It wasn’t the most predictable end to a lecture for families.../ I said.
?Have you seen a write-up for the Keynote on the Link yet? Perry asked.
/No./ I said.
/Me either./ Perry said. /I was expecting to find reports and outraged threads, but there’s nothing./
/That’s weird... /
/I know, but no one is talking about it. Negative on the chatter front. If I was a paranoid type I might be thinking ‘cover up’./
I didn’t mention that Perry was one of the most paranoid people I knew.
/Anyway,/ he said, /I’ve got to go, I’m low on calcium. Catch you tomorrow./
/Tomorrow, mate./ I said, and signed off.
Perry’s call had left me feeling a weird mixture of things, none of them pleasant. I tried to remember exactly what my father had said in the Science Council chamber, but it was fading in my memory already, as if it had only glanced against the surface of my mind.
I consulted the LinkDiary entries I’d been making live, but some of the data was corrupted and I couldn’t access the file.
All the other files before and after it were fine.
My recollections of the Keynote ended with my father saying that his neural forest technology required food. Then there were blocks of scrambled data. When my memory resumed I was already in the car on the way home.
Which was really, really strange.
And, I have to say, kind of worrying.
Timestamps on both memories said there was a thirtythree minute gap between them.
Had I blacked out?
For half an hour?
I wondered if everyone in the room had experienced the missing time.
I flashed Perry back but he wasn’t answering so I checked the Link for other people’s recollections, but it was just as Perry had said: there wasn’t a single mention of the talk anywhere on the whole worldwide network.
It simply made no sense. I mean, a kitten can’t wake up without forty different angles of the event turning up on the Link within a minute, so an announcement like my father’s, which had shocked even me, how could that not be there?
I was going to investigate further when I felt a tingle on the Link.
From a recent bookmark.
Amalfi.
I think I took two seconds to compose myself before I accepted the feed.
/Hi, Soy twin./ Alpha’s thoughts travelled into mine.
/Hey!/ I thought back. /Good to hear from you./
/That’s what happens when you hand out your addy to just about anyone. They call./
/I’m glad you did./
/I’d put that ‘glad’ on hold until you hear why I’m calling./
/Don’t care./ I said. /Glad still applies./
?So, what are you up to? Even though it was just Alpha’s thoughts over the Link I could tell that she was nervous.
/Don’t ask./ I thought.
?That bad, huh? Alpha replied.
/Bad enough./ ?Need some help with college work?
There was a long pause and I thought the Link had glitched out.
Then Alpha came back with: /I – I’m in trouble. I need your help, Peter./
/Of course./ Anything./ ?What can I do?
/I couldn’t think of anyone else I could turn to. I need you to . . ./ Alpha broke off, and again there was a pause. ?Can you come and meet me?
?When?
/Well, I was kind of hoping you could come now./
I smiled.
/Tell me where./ I said. /I’ll be right there./
-13-
File: 113/45/03ait/Continued
Source:
Perry said. ?I mean, isn’t that all a little too weird, even for your dad?
It’s what I’d been thinking myself, but hearing Perry saying it just made me feel cross and defensive.
/It’s hardly brains in jars./ I snapped. ?You were listening, weren’t you?
/I was sitting next to you. ?Remember?
/I also remember my father saying that the Neural Forest was an artificially created substance, not a stupid brain-ina-jar. And your father is working on this thing too. ?If you’re that outraged, why don’t you speak to him?
/Not outraged. Just confused./
/It wasn’t the most predictable end to a lecture for families.../ I said.
?Have you seen a write-up for the Keynote on the Link yet? Perry asked.
/No./ I said.
/Me either./ Perry said. /I was expecting to find reports and outraged threads, but there’s nothing./
/That’s weird... /
/I know, but no one is talking about it. Negative on the chatter front. If I was a paranoid type I might be thinking ‘cover up’./
I didn’t mention that Perry was one of the most paranoid people I knew.
/Anyway,/ he said, /I’ve got to go, I’m low on calcium. Catch you tomorrow./
/Tomorrow, mate./ I said, and signed off.
Perry’s call had left me feeling a weird mixture of things, none of them pleasant. I tried to remember exactly what my father had said in the Science Council chamber, but it was fading in my memory already, as if it had only glanced against the surface of my mind.
I consulted the LinkDiary entries I’d been making live, but some of the data was corrupted and I couldn’t access the file.
All the other files before and after it were fine.
My recollections of the Keynote ended with my father saying that his neural forest technology required food. Then there were blocks of scrambled data. When my memory resumed I was already in the car on the way home.
Which was really, really strange.
And, I have to say, kind of worrying.
Timestamps on both memories said there was a thirtythree minute gap between them.
Had I blacked out?
For half an hour?
I wondered if everyone in the room had experienced the missing time.
I flashed Perry back but he wasn’t answering so I checked the Link for other people’s recollections, but it was just as Perry had said: there wasn’t a single mention of the talk anywhere on the whole worldwide network.
It simply made no sense. I mean, a kitten can’t wake up without forty different angles of the event turning up on the Link within a minute, so an announcement like my father’s, which had shocked even me, how could that not be there?
I was going to investigate further when I felt a tingle on the Link.
From a recent bookmark.
Amalfi.
I think I took two seconds to compose myself before I accepted the feed.
/Hi, Soy twin./ Alpha’s thoughts travelled into mine.
/Hey!/ I thought back. /Good to hear from you./
/That’s what happens when you hand out your addy to just about anyone. They call./
/I’m glad you did./
/I’d put that ‘glad’ on hold until you hear why I’m calling./
/Don’t care./ I said. /Glad still applies./
?So, what are you up to? Even though it was just Alpha’s thoughts over the Link I could tell that she was nervous.
/Don’t ask./ I thought.
?That bad, huh? Alpha replied.
/Bad enough./ ?Need some help with college work?
There was a long pause and I thought the Link had glitched out.
Then Alpha came back with: /I – I’m in trouble. I need your help, Peter./
/Of course./ Anything./ ?What can I do?
/I couldn’t think of anyone else I could turn to. I need you to . . ./ Alpha broke off, and again there was a pause. ?Can you come and meet me?
?When?
/Well, I was kind of hoping you could come now./
I smiled.
/Tell me where./ I said. /I’ll be right there./
-13-
File: 113/45/03ait/Continued
Source:
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