Merge: The World Is The Game by Steve Davison

Author:Steve Davison [Davison, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A&F Books

His b-frames buzzed to life and woke him. For a moment he struggled to remember where he was. Then he gazed about the empty lab and took the call. It was Summer.

‘What time is it?’ Memphis mumbled.

‘Just after 8 am,’ Summer replied. ‘Where are you?’

‘Digitol labs,’ said Memphis. ‘I didn’t go home last night.’

‘Can you come to The Minories?’

‘Now?’

‘We’ve got another message.’

36

Varya glumly watched the simulation in the MERGE suite deep in the bowels of the Academy. The scientists had taken the source code she had dutifully provided and begun to mould it into shape. At the moment she was looking at a hologram of London Bridge from the north side. A glazed skin monolith, illuminated with neon light; hyperdrive laneways in either direction and Digipod tracks running fifty feet above bridge level. The image pixellated every now and then as the code cut in, to be replaced by a Tudor bridge with its wooden dwellings, shops and buildings that overhung the narrow walkway; she could see the severed heads impaled on spikes atop the gatehouse. Carts, horses and a ragtag mob scurried across the bridge like ants crawling over honey. Then the code failed and it switched to the modern day bridge once again. She knew it wouldn’t take them long to adjust to the key frequency. She glanced briefly at Carrac. His face was taut with a kind of rapture.

The Marshal appeared from the control room, a thin smile spread across his lips. ‘Not long now,’ he said rubbing his hands together.

‘How long exactly?’ asked Carrac. ‘Days? Weeks?’

He shook his head. ‘Within the hour.’

‘The hour?’ Varya echoed faintly.

‘Surprised?’

Her pulse rate soared with panic. ‘I’m aware of the skill of our engineers,’ she said, ‘but…’

‘But you thought you’d have to wait,’ interrupted The Marshal. ‘Don’t worry, they are just starting the simulation cycle now. Assuming there are no glitches, we will deploy Total Angst Transduction today.’

‘That’s amazing,’ said Carrac grinning.

‘As much power as we’ll ever need,’ The Marshal went on. ‘This is a great day for The Singulari and our people.’

Varya swallowed hard and tried to stay calm. ‘Come,’ The Marshal said. ‘I want to celebrate with you.’

Carrac, puffing out his chest and standing tall, looked as if all his birthdays had come at once, while Varya tried hard to control her reluctance.

They followed him to an office at the back of the suite. There, The Marshal went around to the back of his desk and slid open a drawer from which he produced a bottle and three shot glasses.

He placed them on the table. ‘Slivika – made in the western territory. Distilled in stone.’

‘Twenty-seven vintage?’ asked Carrac.

‘You know your liquor.’ The Marshal poured a slug into each glass and picked up one, holding it aloft. Varya and Carrac did the same. ‘The Singulari!’ he said, clinking his glass against theirs.

‘The Singulari!’ they repeated.

Varya swallowed it down in one hit. It burned all the way to her stomach.

A rap on the office door interrupted the meeting. A technician appeared. ‘Harmonisation complete,’ he said stiffly.

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