Hashtag by David Wake

Author:David Wake [Wake, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Watledge Books
Published: 2019-03-17T22:00:00+00:00

SATURDAY

Jellicoe wore the same clothing despite it being the weekend. They were both technically off–shift, but the day started in exactly the same way. Oliver had wanted to lie–in, but he’d woken at his usual time, despite the lack of alarm thought. He’d tried closing his eyes, but the curtains in the spare room of Jellicoe’s house were thin and old, so the light streamed through. He got up, showered and went downstairs.

Jellicoe had made him a coffee: it was far too strong. He wanted a Hasqueth Finest – so good – and they also did it with cinnamon and there was a deep roasted special. Seventeen of his friends liked it, which reminded him to increase the number of people he followed. It was still reclusively low.

“Is it hot or cold?” Jellicoe asked.

It’s warm enough.

“The murder – hot or cold blood?”

I don’t know.

“Come on, talk.”

“I don’t know.” And I don’t care.

Despite it being own brand and bargain basement, the coffee started to bring him round.

“Most modern murders are hot blooded,” Jellicoe said, shuffling to the toaster. “Someone loses it, emotions run away with them. Easy to read, murderous emotions – the ones that end in three exclamation marks. You know how we perceive emotions?”

“Hashtags, emoticons.”

“Come on!”

“You just feel it.”

“In others?”

“The… you know, emotions, that part of the thought message that transmits emotions. And I suppose there’s technically facial expression, body language, emoticons, tone of voice…”

“Emoticons are the thought–based method, they’re the punctuation and codes that represent things.”

“I went to school.”

“Well, do you perceive smiling as I do? Bear with me, you have a thought and it becomes whatever the code is – right? But, although your code and mine may be the same, and we describe the feeling in the same way – is it? Is your ‘happiness’, just my ‘contentment’?”

I can’t imagine you being happy.

“Answer the question.”

It’s obviously–

“Aloud.”

I’m trying to drink my coffee here… “It’s obviously, er… clearer than when we only had spoken language,” said Oliver, aware that he was trying to drink and talk at the same time. “We don’t have telepathy, but it’s as good as.”

“What about emotions that don’t have words, but do have codes.”

“Eh?”

“There are some codes, weird punctuation, that are common to an awful lot of people. They are part of the zeitgeist – awful word – and no–one knows what they mean.”

“Surely–”

“They aren’t part of the original brow specification.”

“Surely,” Oliver insisted, “they are simply developments like the invention of new words, street slang, that sort of thing.”

“Yes, but they aren’t written down.”

“This isn’t another of those virus junk thought theories, is it?”

“Could be, could be.”

“It’s nonsense, ‘thoughts going from head–to–head without meaning anything’, just nonsense. Anyway, it’s never been proved.”

“There are thoughts that they’ve extracted and read,” said Jellicoe, “and they’ve codes that make no sense.”

“No sense written down, but read by an iBrow and transferred to your brain, then it is… er… what’s the word?”

“Interpreted.”

“Exactly. And communication has been made.”

“But what if one thought is cross–wired with another: someone has a murderous emotion, but their iBrow interprets it as… wanting toast.

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