Macronome

by Howard Pierce

  She was at a conference table. Across from her were two men she only knew by reputation and bits of gossip she had picked up a few hours earlier. The Masters of Data to everyone who didn’t know them personally, although she seemed to know them in the dream. They were the heads of the two companies that now, between them, controlled all the major for-profit data mines in the world: Donald J. Murcheson and Leslie Massoud. She was there to probe them. They were there because of Serendipity’s apparent oblation.

  There was an older woman, lying dead like the mouse in her kitchen, stretched out on the conference table. She knew who the woman was as well, she seemed to know everyone in the dream and they seemed to know her. The woman was Angela Brodonski. But she was dead, and Murcheson and Massoud seemed to be disagreeing about the circumstances around that fact.

  “I think you should tell her about it since you caused the death.” The man she knew to be Leslie Massoud said with odd politeness to Murcheson, who sat beside him. “I know it was an accident, but still, you should let them know the basics.”

  Murcheson pushed himself out from the table and spun his chair back and forth, oscillating between facing Lori across the way and Massoud on his right. “They were stupid contractors who strayed from their assignment. We will never hire them again. There was no need to take Mrs. Brodonski. Just trying to impress me I imagine.” Extending a left swing of the chair, he looked to where the body lay stretched, and with a thin grin, he reached out an arm to full extension and began stroking Angela’s big toe.

  Lori hadn’t noticed Angela’s feet, but now she saw clearly that her bare right foot and ankle, as they disappeared into a pant leg, were made of some ancient prosthetic material—a shiny metal and apparently soothing to Murcheson as he touched it.

  “How are things at Paladin, Leslie? You must be preparing to explain to your Board what a world without Serendipity as an adversary looks like. I know I am. How did you do it, by the way?” Murcheson kept on stroking the silver toe.

  “Don’t try and be cute, Donald. She won’t fall for it. Obviously you and your people think you can make your conceited corporate name come to life. ‘Total Information Control.’ TIC, my ass.” Massoud showed Lori a look of contempt for both the man and the idea. “There will be more to the game than simply blinding and extorting the U.N. Authority. They can come to me for data just as easily as they can TIC. Especially after I tell them you whacked Serendipity while Skramble and Hyde were asleep at the switch.” Massoud wished Donald would cease his weird toe stroking.

  “The world can argue about who actually killed Mrs. Brodonski, but right now we need to seize the moment, Leslie. We need to get operational control over Serendipity while she is sedated and confused, and then bring her back up under our supervision. If we do it right, the U.N.A. will never know it happened. Of course, we will have to kill off the Skramble and Hyde folks after they show us how to use her.” Murcheson stopped his toe fondling and sat up straight.

  Massoud shook his head no, but smiling in a friendly way at Murcheson, said, “You think your plan will be easy to execute, that the Skramble and Hyde people will stand around like a herd of goats while you, or you seem to think we, roll them up?”

  Murcheson looked intently at Lori as he replied, tying to hypnotize her or maybe burn his words into her head so she would report them back precisely to her friends. “Once they realize that Serendipity is lost to them, they won’t want to fight us.” He resumed running his thumb and forefinger over Angela’s toe. Back to Massoud, he added, “We will catch most of them as they run. The rest won’t matter.”

  Lori found herself simultaneously repulsed and bored by these creepy men. She studied Angela Brodonski’s dead face. She looked like a nice woman. It would be hard to tell her husband and son that she was dead. It would probably be best to leave out the table top, and she certainly wouldn’t mention the foot fetish, although the image might help them craft a fitting payback.

  As she thought about retribution and how it seemed a recurring theme, Morley and Norris stepped out of an elevator. She realized that she wasn’t in the conference room any longer. Instead, she was sitting in an anonymous waiting lounge in a high-end but impersonal office floor. Morley and Norris were both wearing mechanic jumpsuits, and they carried tool boxes. They gave her a look she knew to mean “don’t acknowledge us” and they walked by her to a reception desk where they both presented their dashes to a huge man who looked like a bodyguard. After scanning them both, the big man pointed to a door Lori hadn’t noticed, and Morley and Norris proceeded on their way. As the door closed behind them, she caught a glimpse of Norris winking at her over his shoulder.

  The click of the door latch transported her back to her chair at the conference table, where Murcheson and Massoud were now bickering about how they should put Serendipity to work and who deserved more credit for eliminating Skramble and Hyde. They didn’t seem to notice she was back or that she had been gone, so she took the opportunity to stand and walk around the room, which was as nondescript as the waiting lounge she had just left. She stopped her scouting to look out a window, finding that the view was of a hillside just like the one behind the Cabin: reddish rocks, grey-green cacti, a small group of donkeys. She was back in her bedroom.

  Four donkeys standing, almost motionless other than tail and ear flicking, far enough up the hillside to be right at her eye level. As she watched, they began shifting their hooves and rearranging their positions until Lori had all four facing her head on. She opened the window, which was not a cabin window, and, placing her hands on the metal sill, leaned out to study them carefully. She knew them all and felt a wave of relief wash over her being, rolling out like spring water from her immediate consciousness, running on down every possible pathway of consideration. The donkeys’ presence on the hillside made everything alright.

  She knew the biggest male was Andrzej. His eyes let her know they were watching out for her, even a wink to imitate Norris. “Don’t let them know we are here,” he was telling her. There was a younger male that she could tell was the merc coder Sevier Blume. She just knew this, and he looked at her with an open and direct male gaze.

  Then there was a female donkey who stood just above the two males on the hillside. This donkey looked away from Lori for a moment, scanning the hill both below and above, checking for anything moving in the dead midday air. This donkey was herself, Lori Norton, comfortable in a state she recognized as that of Morley’s transformations. Her consciousness moved effortlessly into the donkey’s body, full and real, she could sense the buzz of flies around her ears and nose. She thought of the compost pile Carita kept just below where they stood on the hill and the coyotes that raided it at night before loping away down the path and along the beach below.

  Who was the fourth donkey? It wasn’t Morley or the young Jerzy. It was vaguely female but very, very old, Lori thought, but not quite Danni. And where was Morley?

  That woke her. She was in her bed in her room in the cabin. Morley was out in the hall. She got up from the perfect comfort and walked to the window, where she looked out on the same view as the window of her dreams. She saw only bright grey night lit by an almost full moon. No donkeys in sight. But standing there, trying to remember every nuance of the dream, she recreated the scene in her mind. The fourth donkey stood out from the group, back ten feet from the others and down the hill a few steps. They looked at each other, this donkey creature and Lori, and then she understood who it was.

  Lori had often heard the phrase, “My heart skipped a beat,” but it never had any real meaning for her until that moment. She knew the fourth donkey was both Danni and Serendipity, combined into some being—a being that was different and important. In the world of Gumbo, where much of the time nothing made real sense, suddenly all was in balance, and Lori grasped her place in the herd. She accepted, as a simple matter of fact, that one day she would need to lead it. In her mind she saw the Danni-Serendipi
ty donkey, its watery eyes unblinking. On her cheek she felt a warm puff of wind, which made her think of the hand of Simon reaching across some dimension of time to caress its mane. Danni’s puzzle becomes Simon’s mission statement. Multiplex suits the utilitarian.

  Lori returned to bed and slept late, as if drugged, and when she finally awoke she made her way to the kitchen where Carita was frying eggs for her. Plate in hand, she walked to the big table in the main room and sat to eat, thinking she was alone. But after a few bites, she realized that Danni was there, sunk amongst the pillows of her special chair.

  “Where are the others? I slept too deeply. What have I missed this morning, Danni?”

  Failure to Comply

  Sevier Blume was a wasting asset in Andrzej’s mind. His window for identifying his shadowy employer wouldn’t stay open long, so Andrzej tasked him with that job. Who exactly paid for his work, and where was Angela? They had arranged another secure connection for him 24 hours hence, and then he was gone. Jerzy had already said goodbye, to disappear in his own way into the bustle of Krakow.

  In the cabin, with the filtered morning light reaching every corner of the Bridge and everyone but the sleeping Lori on their third cup of coffee, the situation was coming into slightly better focus. Hanging suspended in Serendipity2’s plex, TIC, Paladin, and the U.N. Authority were a snarled knot of sticky nodes and connecting tendrils that thickened and shrank as they played and replayed a compression of the last few days.

  Within the ugly mass, they could watch Sevier’s viral attack spin into sight, trigger chaos, and then seem to be absorbed into Serendipity’s processing methods, all over a 48-hour span. Not gone, but managed. Maybe lurking. It was hard to say. They were looking only for clues to Angela’s fate amidst the disorder he had induced, so judgments regarding Sevier Blume could wait.

  Danni had sent Serendipity ploughing through surveillance streams across the entire city, but there had been no matches with Angela’s face since the kidnapping. No contact from the kidnappers, and now only silence from Jerzy.

  All three of them were lost in their thoughts, waiting for something more to happen that might give away the intent of whoever had paid Blume. Why did they take Angela, what did they want from Serendipity, and where did Skramble and Hyde fit in? But suddenly they were thrust back into the present as all three of their dashes went off with urgent alerts. Andrzej was the first to accept and sign for his, and he read the embedded message out loud to the others.

  To:

  The leadership and Board of Skramble and Hyde, C.C.

  From:

  U.N. Authority / Contracting Division

  Subject:

  Termination of Serendipity Transparency Service management contract

  It has come to the attention of the U.N.A., that serious failures have emerged across the entire spectrum of STS operations. Given the importance of universal faith in the impartiality of STS, and the complete control Skramble and Hyde has maintained over STS, the U.N.A. hereby terminates Skramble and Hyde’s management contract for STS. Effective immediately.

  Skramble and Hyde will surrender and deliver full operational control of all data, execution, and visualization components of the Serendipity system, by close of business Thursday 10.9.2128.

  Delivery of components and control to be made to the U.N.A. Contracting Office, N.Y.C. Please contact the office listed below to arrange for delivery of all components, as well as the provision, by Skramble and Hyde, of personnel guidance and training regarding the transfer of management operations.

  Failure to comply will place all Skramble and Hyde executive and director level personnel in immediate jeopardy.

  “Okay, that’s it. Fuck them.” Morley was just a voice hanging in the air as he headed stiffly down the corridor towards his room. His words had woken Lori from her oddly laden dream, and now, as she sat with the last bites of fried egg in front of her, he re-emerged trailed by Andrzej. Both had their travel bags: Morley a battered backpack and Andrzej a leather lawyer’s briefcase with shoulder strap.

  Dropping into a chair across from Lori, Andrzej was wired. “We need to start leaving tracks and making it look like we are scared and planning for full compliance. Morley and I will start kicking up dust, but you two had better clear out of here for a while as well. I’m headed to Krakow and Morley’s going to Salt Lake. Lori, this is more than you bargained for, but there is no going back now. You should go with Morley. It will be safest.” Looking at Danni, who was smiling calmly from her cushions. “What about you, Danni? Can you stand a relocation?”

  “How about Paradox, Danni? Can we move you?” Morley was worried about her beneath his fury, but he knew better than to tell her what to do.

  Danni shook her head. “No, thank you, boys. I’m staying right here. We have until compliance time before they start to come after us. We all know this isn’t about the U.N.A. It’s one or both of the Masters trying to eat our lunch. They won’t want to jump the official gun.” Danni’s standard smile turned even more enigmatic. “By the time anyone shows up here, I will be gone. Don’t worry about me. Just stay safe, each of you, and we will regroup in a few days, probably in Paradox. All comm, except when you want to be tracked, should go through Serendipity2.” After a pause to catch her breath and assess the impact on the other three, she added, “Lori, you better go pack. Morley has a head of steam.”

  Lori looked at each of them individually, keeping them from saying anything with her eyes. They dutifully waited for her to speak and finally she said, “I think I better tell you about my dream last night.” Andrzej began to object, but Lori stayed firm. “I know the clock is ticking, but you really need to hear this dream.” And she began.

  An engineer recounting the mysterious is always methodical, and ten minutes later she finished with, “I’m so sorry to have to tell you about this, Andrzej. I hope it’s just an allegory of some sort, but I couldn’t leave it out. This wasn’t a normal dream.”

  All were silent, and Andrzej had turned from red to ashen. With huge effort, Danni pushed herself out of her chair and walked to his side as he sat at the table, putting her thin arm around him, saying nothing. Morley stroked his cheek bones down the sides of his face, pulling hard at his weathered skin and creating a stubbly dimple under his chin. Lori could feel the heat of his anger.

  She was about to reiterate that it was still just a dream, when Morley said, “Peyote dreams are not to be ignored, especially in first time users. We,” he seemed to be indicating Danni and himself, “have great respect for the powerful effects on the virgin brain.” He dropped his pack on the table and sat down beside Andrzej.

  “I’m sure those two scum bags are in this together, Andrzej. I don’t know if Angela is dead, but our only option is to go right for their throats and squeeze til the truth squirts out of their fucking ears. They will be in New York, so let’s head there. Danni, Lori, and Serendipity2 can run our avatars around as decoys. We’ll figure out a plan once we see the landscape. You had better tell Jerzy to stay disappeared.”

  “Let me come with you.” Lori surprised herself as the words came out of her mouth.

  “No. You stay with Danni. She will need your help. As we close in on the Thursday deadline, we can discuss where we are at.” Morley had his mission firmly in mind.

  Andrzej knew the truth. But he latched on to Morley’s self-righteous simmering rage because there was no better way forward at that exact moment. He picked up his dash from where he had set it on the table, logged into Serendipity2, and sent the note to Jerzy. They all waited an excruciating three minutes while he figured out what to say and why it was an encrypted note and not a stream.

  As Andrzej composed the note, Morley picked up his own dash and began writing as well. Waiting for Andrzej to hit send, Morley said, “I just told Sevier Blume to stay right where he is and wait to hear from us. Who knows what he will do?”

  Lo
ri watched as Andrzej finished his dark message to Jerzy, feeling terrible about the nebulous weight her dream had inflicted. Still she felt confident she had needed to speak up and now, with their momentum of certainty and conceit muted, she spoke up again. “It feels to me like we aren’t safe here or anywhere now. We all need to disappear, and you all seem to have made disappearing an art in the past, so where can we go?”

  Danni, as if speaking from far away, said simply, “Paradox.”

  Morley nodded his head ever so slightly, resignation and hope combined. “You are right, Danni. Time to ‘go to ground,’ as they say. But we must make sure that ground is invisible. Can we still do that?”

  Lori answered first. “I don’t know where Paradox is. You guys are like peeling an onion when it comes to places to hide. But we can still exert enough control through the public Serendipity to allow our true movements to be unseen, at least for a few days.” She looked at Danni and added, “But we need to think about Serendipity2. We can’t leave her behind for them to find, whoever ‘them’ is. Danni, where is her nexus server actually located? Here in the cabin?”

  With a self-satisfied look, Danni murmured the same single word, “Paradox.”

  Lori looked at her as if to say, “Give me more information.”

  Danni expanded. “About 1,000 miles north/northeast, from here. You will like it. It’s very quiet. A good place for you to finish the puzzle.”

  Morley’s stiff body needed to move. He looked at Andrzej, whose color was returning to his face, saying, “I’m still going to New York first. How about you?”

  “I’m guessing that’s where I will find out about Angela, so I’m coming with you. We will meet you ladies in Paradox in a couple of days.” Andrzej took out his dash again. “I told Jerzy to disappear until it’s safe to get him out of Krakow. What do you think we should do about Sevier Blume, Morley? He seems to know an awful lot about us.”