CAPACITY

Helen gave a delighted laugh. She had got it.

She turned to Kevin. “You stupid fucker.” She laughed. “Every human has the capacity to eat until they weigh four hundred kilos. That doesn’t mean that at heart all humans are obese.”

Kevin reeled, looking confused.

“So why are you doing this?” asked Judy 3. “Why are you killing us?”

Kevin held out his hands. “I want to get you on my side.”

Atomic Space

The atomic Judy stood in her lounge, dressed only in her sleeping robe.

“Go for it, 3,” she whispered.

Frances placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Judy…” She was sca

The Private Network: Level One, Variation B

Judy 4 stepped into the mirrored isolation room, Helen close behind her. They headed to the doorway and the silver path that led to nothing. Judy 10 stood there, in the dissipating rainbow that had been Kevin. Another Helen stared at the dead body of Judy 5 lying on the ground. For the first time, members of this particular lifeline of Helen’s finally met each other.

“Hello,” they said, cautiously looking at one another. As one, they reached out with their right hands and touched themselves on their left cheeks.

Judy 4 looked back at them.

“It’s not a good idea to speak to each other,” she said. “We’ll separate you as soon as we can.”

But the two Helens ignored Judy 4’s advice.

“And I thought I was unique,” they both said at the same time, a look of realization crossing their faces. The same woman reached out and held her own alternative hands, and then snatched them back, and then touched again.

They looked to the two Judys.

“And you knew it was like this all along,” they both said. “You must have.”

“It’s always hard when you have run in concurrent realities so recently,” said Judy 4.

“How do you cope with it?”

“If you learn to love yourself, it’s easy.”

EA Public Space number 4

Helen was still lost in wonderment at Judy 3’s speech. For the moment, she believed.

Judy 3’s gaze was locked on Kevin. “What do you want us to do?” she asked.

“Help me to end the rule of the Watcher,” Kevin said. “The atomic Judy will know more about the reasons why. We’ve been gradually leading her to this point.”

“We?”

“Chris and I. The atomic Judy knows who I mean. Maybe she’ll tell you, too. If you don’t get it, it doesn’t matter. You are expendable, after all.”

“No one is expendable,” Helen said.

Kevin gri

Judy 3 had her hand concealed in the sleeve of her kimono. She removed it and dropped something on the ground: a box with a strap to hold it to her arm. The little device that dispensed MTPH.

“A grand gesture,” Kevin said. “Does that mean that you are no longer willing to try to empathize with me?”

“No, it just means I’ve realized the futility. You’re not human, Kevin; you said it yourself. What use is MTPH against you?”

Kevin stopped playing with the white knife and tossed it to the ground at her feet.

“So kill me, then. I’ve already killed three of your sisters.”

“Killing you would achieve nothing.”

“Good; you’re learning. So start working for me, rather than for the Watcher.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you’re starting to question all this.” He waved his hands to take in the forest around him. “Nobody ever questions the way they live and die in the EA’s processing space, and yet look at you now. You feel the Shawl is wrong, don’t you? This symbol of impermanence? But why should you think that? The EA has been programming that thought out of you from your birth. It’s only my presence here that makes you think otherwise. I’m not evil. I just have to go to extremes to make you think the unthinkable!”

The Private Network: Level One, Variation B

“What is it?” both Helens asked simultaneously.

Judy 10 looked at Judy 4, who was slipping a little blue pill into her mouth.

“This processing space has just been jettisoned.”

“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.”

EA Public Space number 4

“Two more Judys dead,” Kevin said. “Two more Helens.”

“Two more of me?”

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 DIANA can save humanity?”

“Opinions, opinions,” Kevin scoffed. “You collect them like butterflies. Yes, I believe DIANA can save humanity. What do you believe in, Judy? Not the Watcher, certainly. You don’t believe in anything. You think that makes you somehow better because you stand there aloof from everything. You just like to watch. It’s all you ever do. You never join in, you…virgin!”

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 big to define you as a human being.”

The airlock opened and two figures in black spacesuits stepped through. Another Kevin and Bairn.

Judy looked at Helen. “Run,” she said.

EA Public Space number 1

Two Judys lying dead in the grass

Rough black silk and white faces

Blossom floats on red blood

EA Public Space number 4

Helen simply turned and ran, head down, as fast as she could. She was ru

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.