Bokelskere.no

"How could they do that?" she asked. "How could The Watcher send an innocent to its death?"

"The Watcher risked just two people in order to save the lives of billions. Trillions. Would you have done differently?"

"Yes!"

"I know you're lying. I think you know it, too, in your heart of hearts. But think about this, Judy. Think about what Frances did. She looked at the seed in Chris' head in order to find a way of defeating him and to help you live. She risked everyone on Earth just to save you."

"That's the difference between strangers and friends," Judy murmured.

"I know," Lemuel replied. "That's why I remain a stranger."

"So kill me, then. I've already killed three of your sisters." "Killing you would achieve nothing."

"No, Kevin," Judy said quietly. "You talk about the capacity for evil, but that's just an excuse. Human nature is not about the extremes that a few people go to; it's defined by the way that people work hard every day to keep within reasonable bounds, no matter how hard that is. It's the way people can become so annoyed with each other they want to shout and hit and fight but, even so, they don't. They sit down and talk, no matter how hard that might be. You see human nature every time an exhausted mother is so frustrated by her child's crying that she wants to lash out, but instead takes a deep breath and starts rocking the child to sleep again. Everyone has a capacity for evil; that has been the excuse used by all the worthless leaders throughout history to up the ante for their own ends. Don't tell me about the capacity for evil; tell me how you resist it and act to be good honest person."

Can't die without a name. Justinian quickly squashed the treacherous thought. He looked around. What names lay here, at the end of the galaxy? None. There was nothing here but dry stone and gravel, the unliving evolution of the land, the cracks and fissures that were working their way into the skin of a planet far from the baby's home. There was no help out there, only pitiless indifference. Even the bright orange of the cabin now seemed an alien place, drained as it was of all warmth as the freezing air of the planet seeped inside. The baby smiled, and Justinian felt a welling pang of despair that he could seem so happy. His only son, and the child didn't know how little time he had left to live. He needed a name. "Not Leslie," Justinian said. "Never Leslie. But what shall we call you? What would your mummy have wanted?" And then a warm feeling came over him as he remembered his dream. Anya had woken up and spoken to him. She had heard the baby crying through his, Justinian's, sleep. What had she said? "Isn't that Jesse?" Justinian smiled. Jesse. It was an odd name, but he liked it. Jesse.

"How dare I? How dare I?" mimicked the young man behind the screen. "It always comes back to you, doesn't it, Eva Rye? Or Eva Storey - or whatever you've decided to call yourself this week. Seven billion people on this planet experience setbacks and losses every day of their lives, and they just grit their teeth and start again. And there's you, sobbing your little heart out here in luxury. At least James left you well cared for. That's better than most people in this world can expect. What makes you think you've got the right to a perfect life? That's why you're always so bloody miserable. Listen, doll. Shit happens. Get used to it." Judy/Eva was momentarily taken aback. Then her anger cut in. "Shit happens, does it? Shit happens? That would be a lot more convincing coming from someone who didn't claim that he was here to sort things out for us, that he was going to make the world a better place." "These things take time," The Watcher sneered. "How much time? You sound like a politician. You claim you're going to make things better, and then when they don't you just stand there saying shit happens. You're pathetic, hiding behind your screen. You step out into the real world and see what it's like out here, and then you tell me that shit happens."

"You see the Shawl?" Kevin said. "This isn't the real Shawl! This is a virtual construction! This exists only in processing spaces! The virtual Shawl is much bigger than the real one. It's a message, a way of keeping us in check." "How?" "How does any dictator keep its subjects in check? By fear, of course!" Helen was fascinated, despite herself. "Fear? Of what?" "What are all humans frightened of?" Dying. What I am not afraid of and have proved it time and again? Death. Fear of death holds humans in place. And yet, possessing virtual lives, we could live forever. The Watcher had made us all forget this. It has written birth and death throughout our universe and perpetuated the myth of a soul. That's what makes you think that you are different than that Helen over there - Bairn." "I am different from her." "You are now, but what about one second after awakening? Two seconds? Five minutes? I tell you: only by being reborn will you truly live again."

Newton's Law: action and reaction. Everyone knew that if you were sinking in mud, you should relax. Don't fight it, just relax and wait for the natural buoyancy of your body to float you up. But that was easlily said when you were sitting safe on firm ground. Not so easy to imagine when you could feel yourself slipping deeper and deeper down. Feel the mud pressing up on your breasts, each precious breath filled with that rich earthy smell. Still, relax, lay your arms out on the mud and relax...

Justinian never doubted the rumors that the EA could influence your actions without you knowing it; that all free will died when the AIs assumed power after the Transition. How could he doubt it, when he himself was part of that process, working as he did for Social Care? Still, he liked to retain the defining human belief that he was the master of his own destiny. So the gradually creeping realization that Leslie had manipulated him into making a detour during his spontaneous journey to catch the shuttle off planet came as a real blow to his ego. Here he was taking his child into further danger when he should be wasting no time in leaving this planet. What buttons had Leslie successfully pressed in order to persue him to make this unnecessary landing? But maybe the landing wasn't unnecessary; maybe there would be a clue...

Helen looked at the second figure now, hiding behind the first. She might once have been a chocolate woman, but now she was nothing more than a formless lump. "She can't speak," said Ella. "Her mouth was licked away."

The baby chuckled and went back to biting at the fur collar. Justinian pulled the collar away and blew a raspberry on his son's fat little cheek. The material in his passive suit bunched up around his right arm as he did so.