The Name and the Shadow: An Armand Ptolemy Novel by Mark Jeffrey

Author:Mark Jeffrey [Jeffrey, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: synchronicity, chatgpt, artificial intelligence, ancient egypt
Publisher: Wild Magic
Published: 2023-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

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AFTER THEY were clean, Urbi and the Martel brothers sat on the open air patio.

“Are any of ye hungry? My kids fish in the Nile — they catch about half of our food,” Urbi said. “They be quite good at it. We be overstocked right now — there be too much in the freezer, if ye want any.”

“No thanks,” said Quinty. “We just had dinner. We appreciate the offer though.”

“So in your opinion, Didier was a good man?” Armand asked Urbi.

“Oh, aye.” She nodded.

“Excuse me. Six of the seven brothers have significant complaints,” Cyrano said. “I’d say the record is mixed. And then there is the Musipocalypse.”

“Ah well … aye, there be that,” Urbi said, disdain in her voice. “But he be young, so young …”

“So it’s real, then?” Armand asked. “The Musipocalypse? In your opinion, it actually exists?”

Urbi nodded solemnly. “Aye. For certain. But it be a subtle thing. It be easy to see why some people be ‘Musipocalypse deniers’, if ye will. But I tell ye truly, had there been no Musipocalypse, we would right now be hearin’ music of incomparable beauty. It would be a-streamin’ constantly from every electronic device on earth, this gift beyond price. And we would all be healthier, happier and far less susceptible to Concordian influencin’ in the media. Ah. It be sad. Sad!”

“But what is the Musipocalypse? How does it work? Do you know?”

“I don’t know how he did it. But, aye, I do know what it is” Urbi held up her mobile phone. “Look. The collective unconscious be the phone. And ye, me, everyone? We be all just apps runnin’ on the same phone. Okay? So. The Musipocalypse be an attack on the phone. On the base layer we all share.”

“But how would you attack the collective unconscious?” Armand asked. “That’s what I’ve been wondering this whole time.”

“Trauma,” Urbi said quietly. “What does the brain do when it be traumatized? It be blockin’ out memories, causes ye to forget. So Didier traumatized certain kinds of music. Made the collective unconscious block it out, forget it. Somehow, Didier be a-makin’ a pink, raw, inflamed layer in the collective mind.”

“But you haven’t told us how he did it though,” Armand said.

“Aye. I said that I don’t be knowin’.”

But Armand would not let it go. “Yes, you do. Or at least, you have an idea.”

Urbi seemed cornered.

“You have a suspicion. But because of what our Dad did for Bithiah, you feel uncomfortable speaking it aloud.”

Still, she said nothing.

“Urbi. Please. We need to understand as much as we can. You’re not helping Didier by not helping us.”

Urbi sighed. “I be suspectin’ that Didier — or rather, Concordia — hurt musicians. A lot of them. Ye would need a lot of trauma — so much that it be a-soakin’ all the way down to the collective unconscious.”

“But you don’t know for sure that this is how he did it,” Cyrano said.

“No,” Urbi admitted. “It be just a guess.”

“So old Didier did some bad things,” Quinty said.

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