would be wise to set yourself more achievable
even after that, I followed you, hating you half
goals.”
the time, thinking you the last and best of my
“Fine,” says Draiken. “We can start with
friends the other half; feeling tortured by your
those you worked for. Someplace where
very presence in between. Do you realize what
they’re still carrying on their work.”
I’m telling you when I say that I’m only here
“As it happens,” Silver replies, “you have
because you are?”
found one. I may be dying by choice, but I still
“Please don’t say you love me, Thorne. I
keep myself busy.”
know you too well.”
“You know me well enough to understand
It is the kind of line that should prompt cage
that I’ve long considered myself incapable of
bars to spring up and trap them, or armed as-
the emotion. But has it occurred to you,
sassins to break in from all sides to kill them,
Draiken, how long it’s been since I’ve also at-
but they get neither: instead they receive a
tempted it? That it may be a skill, like any oth-
kindly stated, if malignant, invitation to a tour.
er, that can be practiced and picked up, that
They accept and agree to return the next
even somebody like me can be forced to mani-
morning, at station hour 0800.
fest, by behaving like it’s present?”
As they head back to their own lodgings,
He finds that he has no ready reply to that.
BLURRED LIVES
165
ANALOG
She continues: “Once, on a world called Fre-
know that you also see that if you continue
itaun, I was ordered to kill a man people con-
this, there remains only one way this can end.
sidered a living saint. A philanthropist. He had
Why can’t we change direction and help each
spent his entire life working on behalf of oth-
other, before this kills us both?”
ers, making sure the hungry were fed, that the
He considers her offer for long enough to
poor were lifted up, that the hopeless had
see that it would mostly fill the rest of his life,
something to believe in. Millions believed in
leaving only a little bit that would remain emp-
this man, Draiken. I had time before the end,
ty until the day he died; and that he would al-
when he already knew that I was going to kill
ways see the empty place and never be able to
him, to ask him how he had wound up such a
ignore it, no matter what bounty surrounded
selfless bastard. You know what he told me—
it. But the bounty would be more than he has
not angrily, but with the same kind of compas-
now. It would certainly be better than being all
sion he showed everybody else? He said, ‘I
emptiness, except for the burning purpose
made up my mind what I wanted to pretend
that keeps him going. It seems an easy choice,
to be. It only gradually became what I actual-
taking what is easy and a promise of happiness
ly was. Most people who choose to radically
against what is diff icult and likely to end in
change their lives are just putting on plays,
heartbreak. The only question, really, is just
with themselves, as both performer and audi-
how much of a fool he’s willing to be.
ence. I could show you how to do that, if you’d
And then he utters the only reply he can,
like.’”
this close to his first major lead.
He’s darkly amused at this talk of Thorne,
“We’ll talk about it again after we’re f in-
with all her cover identities as an operative,
ished with Silver. If he gives us nothing of val-
and all the false personalities she’d assumed at
ue, I’ll . . . we’ll give it serious consideration. I
her subsequent career as professional im-
promise.”
poster, ever needing to learn more about how
“That is,” she says, “if he gives us the choice.
to be someone she’s not. “I assume you killed
He might not.”
him anyway.”
His smile is like those flashed by the many
“Wrong. I let him go.”
aquatic predators he faced on Greeve, all
This actually stuns him. “I never would have
white teeth and mirthless hunger. “No. He
imagined that.”
might not.”
“It was a pointless little act of rebellion. I
She says nothing more.
told him that my superiors would just send
But once they return to their hotel, she re-
someone else soon and offered him my protec-
tires to her pod and does not speak to him
tion on his way to a new identity. He refused,
again that night.
saying that he could not adjust to a new face
that late in life. What I’d warned him proved
The next morning, they fly as passengers on
true, and only ninety-three minutes later I was
Silver’s open skimmer, a four-seat vehicle that
on my way to interrogation, while his body
hums with what seems like contentment as it
cooled.”
flies high above the curved inner landscape of
“I never knew that was how you fell out of
Liberty. They have left the urban landscape of
favor. I’m sorry.”
the port city far behind, and now soar over ver-
“It doesn’t matter. Silver’s right. This thing
dant green f ields with no apparent human
we f ight, the powerful bending the weak to
population: the part of the cylinder world
their wills, is both universal and as ancient as
owned by the powers behind Silver.
the species. It’s ingrained in our natures. We’re
The old man slouches in his hoverchair, fac-
not going to make it go away, no matter what
ing them, poisonous charm oozing from his
we do. But we do have a choice about who we
aged features. Edifice stands behind him, arms
can pretend to be, and by that who we can
folded over her chest, as motionless as her
learn to be. I hate you, more or less, but I can
name.
see that this, now, represents our very last
Silver says, “There is always a price, for
chance. I’m willing to try for another kind of
those who choose to live in a civilized society.
life, with the only human being who under-
Some live in industrial hells, laboring all their
stands me. You hate me, more or less, and I
days for the money they need to exist in a fog
166
ADAM-TROY CASTRO
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
of their own wastes; others indenture them-
mote and unknowable gods.”
selves, in one way or another, selling off years
She is furious. “What do you do with those
of their lives in exchange for the promise of a
who try to get over it
but can’t? The ones who
comfortable retirement. Liberty offers its citi-
can’t stop with what you call reasonable
zens a different deal. In exchange for having all
grief ?”
their needs met, and a promise of permanent
The old man’s cheeks wrinkle with smile-
freedom from economic want, they agree to
lines. “Similarly: compassionate disposal.”
disposability. We can take any one of them, for
Thorne rolls her eyes at Draiken. “Your
our purposes, at any time.”
pointless quest can end here, as far as I’m con-
Draiken says, “They must all deceive them-
cerned. Killing this piece of garbage right now
selves into believing that it’ll never come to
would be an absolute good, for the whole
that.”
damned human race.”
“Of course they do, and the great secret of
Edifice stirs like a mountain trembling from
our success is how deceptively easy human be-
the whims of some long-dormant subterranean
ings find accepting that one pernicious lie. We
fault. “I warn you. You would both be dead
take no more than one in five thousand, a total
within seconds of doing any harm to him.”
that they’re willing to believe is determined by
“Worth the price,” Thorne snarls.
lottery . . . but the fact is that our selection
“And far from certain,” Silver assures his
process is based on more scientif ic criteria,
bodyguard. “These people are very good at
based on the demographics of the subjects we
what they do. Either one of them, alone, might
happen to need at any particular time. Some
even be able to survive a violent encounter
day we may need healthy and educated young
with you.”
women between 18–24; other days we may
“I doubt it,” says Edifice.
need uneducated men, 33–40; on still other
“You shouldn’t,” says Silver. “Indeed, I order
days, children. On such occasions the local
you to take them seriously, as threats.”
news will report a f lurry of disappearances,
And just like that, Edifice’s expression shifts,
just large enough to satisfy our quota. The con-
perhaps not all the way to fear, but a little clos-
sternation is limited to the loved ones, and pre-
er in the direction of wariness, a chilling
existing control techniques are easily sufficient
demonstration of the old man’s total control.
enough to repress that.”
Thorne has the look of a woman whose
Not long after that they approach what ap-
greatest pleasure in life would be slitting this
pears to be a jet-black wall circling part of the
awful man’s throat. “So you can take away a
landscape up ahead. It looks solid, but as they
husband, for one, and persuade the loving
draw closer, Draiken perceives that it is not a
wife who will never see him again to just shrug
wall, but a projected f ield that prevents the
and get on with life.”
passage of light and thus eliminates the possi-
“Perhaps not to just shrug. We don’t want a
bility of distant surveillance from any point on
society of emotionless robots. They’d be
Liberty’s cylindrical landscape. Though the
worthless as experimental fodder, for one
black wall clearly hides their destination, the
thing. Reasonable grief has its place, and is in
skimmer does not f ly straight there, but in-
any event a useful data point. We track how it’s
stead describes an eccentric serpentine line,
processed.”
probably reflecting the only route that avoids
Thorne grumbles to herself.
defensive systems geared to destroy anyone
Silver takes note but continues. “But when
who approaches without prior knowledge of
part of the preexisting social contract is accep-
the only path in. The detours add nearly half an
tance of the possibility, it’s relatively easy to
hour to their journey, but eventually they have
dissuade the occasional rebel determined to
satisf ied whatever navigational requirements
find a requisitioned family member. All you re-
ensure their survival, and they enter the zone
ally have to do is make it clear to them that
of darkness.
they can also be taken at will, if not for acade-
There, surrounded by a gray landscape de-
mic study, then for compassionate disposal. In
void of vegetation, they f ind a spire about a
most cases, they’ll see that there’s no point in
hundred meters tall, topped by a saucer-
protesting what amount to the whims of re-
shaped structure with black windows. Below
BLURRED LIVES
167
ANALOG
is a field of colorless dirt upon which stands a
but any such venture will only describe a wide
dusty village of two dozen cottages, between
circle that will bring them back to where they
which about half as many men and women
are.
wander on whatever errands they need to get
“I have also removed from them any impulse
through their days in such a place.
toward self-destruction. They are compelled to
None of the people down there seem to be
live, even when life contains nothing worth
at all interested in one another, or in the skim-
the effort. There are no hunger strikes, not in
mer that circles and alights atop the towering
my prison!
structure in their midst.
“But perhaps most significant is the elimina-
When the skimmer lands, Edifice gently lifts
tion of collaborative effort. You see, they can-
Silver from his hoverchair and disembarks with
not consciously sense one another, ever. They
him, cradling the old man like a baby. Draiken
occupy the same community, and live within
and Thorne follow.
mere steps of companionship, but perceive
A stairwell opens in the smooth surface of
themselves as alone. Even wandering as they
the saucer, and they all descend into a dark
are now, they avoid one another by subcon-
room where a multitude of monitors follow
scious ref lex, thus preventing comical blind
the movements of the people below.
collisions. But they cannot take conscious no-
A secondary and more compact hoverchair,
tice of such detours. As far as they are each
better suited for the space, awaits Silver there.
concerned, they are all in solitary conf ine-
Edifice lowers him into it with absolute gentle-
ment.
ness, unquestioned devotion. There’s enough
“This, of course, ultimately removes the fi-
additional seating to accommodate everybody,
nal element that makes escape even into their
though all three able to stand c
ontinue to do
own resources possible: hope.”
so. Edif ice identif ies one unmarked door as
The monitors show the blind, trapped citi-
leading to an elevator and another to the facili-
zens of Elba: men and women of varying ages,
ty’s bathroom, in case anybody needs it. But
shuffling hopelessly in what had seemed to be
there are few other comforts, certainly no
random trajectories, but which now stand re-
sense that anyone ever sleeps here overnight.
vealed as a complex dance where the purpose
Were Draiken not already on high alert, the
is to always search for one another, and always
Spartan surroundings deprived of any human
fail. A few grope the seemingly empty air be-
or homey touches would be enough to acti-
fore them, grasping for any other body, but
vate the sense that this is a dangerous place.
whenever they seem about to touch, one or
He says, “The people below. They’re prison-
the other jerks away without being aware of it,
ers.”
and they continue on untouched. There is one,
Silver says, “Test subjects, actually.”
a young woman too young to have fallen into
Draiken counters: “Victims.”
the hands of a creature like Silver, who stands
“Whatever nomenclature you prefer. Victims
at the center of it all, endlessly screaming; she
is fine. They are now suitable for anything ex-
looks half-mad, but appallingly she also looks
cept an existence of being just that. But what
half-sane, as she begs the heavens for release.
have I done with them, eh? Perhaps you can
Thorne almost spits. “You are a bastard.”
guess?”
“True. Literally so, in my case. The world
“Neither one of us is interested in guessing.”
where I was born was a truly despicable patri-
“Very well, I’ll skip to the chase, as they say.
archy. My mother was . . . but, of course, my
These unfortunates you see below, in that little
life story is extraneous. Suff ice it to say that,
village I’ve dubbed Elba, achieve perfection in
while not precisely a sadist, I have never been
the singular task of being compliant prisoners.
one to reject any given course of action out of
They are not hemmed in by walls or by guards.
revulsion for its cruelty.”
They are kept within their confines purely by
“What can you possibly get out of this?” she
what I’ve made them.
asks. “You’ve already proven your power over
“For instance, among other things, they
Analog Science Fiction and Fact Page 45