The mother was stunned.
”It’s a nightmare. I just want my son back. What should I do?”
”There are three options. You can move here and get the chance to meet him. Then he can clean for you, or you can go home and forget about him. But you could also choose to be like him.”
The mother turned to me.
”What should I do?”
“I don’t know. I would probably choose to be near my son.”
The guard commander handed a pill over the table. The mother took it and swallowed it. The effect was immediate.
”Oh, that is wonderful. I feel so... perfect. I didn’t know I could be so... happy.”
”What about you, my friend? Would you give it a try?”
The guard commander also offered me a pill.
”No, I think I'll wait a little.”
”Okay. It's your choice.”
He pressed the intercom.
”I have a new servant here. And also bring an extra reward.”
”Reward?”
He turned to me.
”Of course. You deserve it. We have a new willing slave in our work teams. There is a reward for that.”
I went out of the office. Lying on the table was the money I left behind.'
Rasmussen put the paper down.
”Something is missing, the long donkey ears.”
Anders knew what he meant. It was also Maja, who had brought him down that road.
”But 'Pinocchio' is just a fairytale.”
”You have also written a fairytale, just with a tougher edge to it. We can easily imagine the ears being in your story.”
Rasmussen turned to the rest of the class.
”The rest of you probably also have weaknesses. Gummy Bears or cola. Computer games or wacky vids on 'YouTube'. Fast food or snack cakes.”
Matt protested.
”It’s not the same.”
”What's the difference?”
Anders could sense that Rasmussen wanted to provoke him. He liked that. Once in a while, a teacher must do that, and he did so regularly.
”Well. Candy isn’t dangerous.”
”Then look at all the obese children. The community thinks it’s starting to become a problem. You become more susceptible to disease and, ultimately, to an early death.”
”But still.”
Rasmussen continued.
”My uncle said something striking once: 'Everything healthy is boring and all the fun is dangerous'. There’s some truth in that. People want to gain an advantage in the most convenient way, even if you get it by cheating or take a shortcut. Ultimately, you are fooling yourself. Everything valuable in life requires an extra effort, but when I tell you that, you all think that I am boring or some dreary old know-it-all. Everyone needs to have his or her own experiences. But if you are willing to learn a little from the experience that others have had, you can, perhaps, gain a little time to deal with more important things in life. Life is short, and death is long. You don’t have time to commit all the folly yourself.”
Chapter 6
DROPOUT
The astute expert of the Simris family, Professor Balthazar Xlyt, wouldn’t like to admit it, but when Paragon came to him with a problem, he couldn’t really deny things. He wanted to hear Paragon's version.
”And it was last night?”
”Yes, at about three o'clock.”
”Who knows about it?”
”So far they have kept details of the calamity to themselves over at the Department of Elite Souls. No matter what, it's a bit of a scandal.”
Balthazar Xlyt nodded.
”Yes, it is. No one can blame management. Given the internal security measures there can be no doubt.
”I can confirm that. The only risk of embarrassment is, if it proves that dissatisfaction with faculty leadership among groups of rebellious souls leads to their taking control of the entire college and perhaps forcing the rest to participate in a collective exodus. That's probably what they're worried about. Sooner or later the scandal will leak.”
”And what was this ultra-clairvoyant arriving at?”
”She didn’t come up with anything. But she seemed to be able to capture the word, 'Cassiopeia'.”
”Hmm. Now I have to admit something. I’ll have to ask you for confidentiality, at least for a while.”
”If I don’t believe it is irresponsible to keep quiet about it.”
”Of course. But just for a short period, around three o'clock last night, we experienced an outage in our computer system.”
”An outage?”
”Yes, our operating systems and applications were unstable and some devices went black, or rather blue. The 'Blue Screen of Death', we call it.”
”What's that all about?”
”The computers become inactive. When that happens, nothing can get done. The computers don’t obey the command functions and operating systems will not mount. One must go down to the bios to reboot the systems, and if that does not work we have to reload the operating system.”
”And that had to be done?”
”A few times.”
”But if I understand correctly, you lost the documents located on the disks that went down?”
”True enough. However, it’s not a serious problem these days. Back up to external disks is constantly generated, so nothing is lost forever, despite the inconvenience, of course.”
”So there was a period of a few hours, where you couldn’t check on what was going on until the systems started running again?”
”That's correct.”
”So maybe it’s not a big problem?”
”Not in the long term. But, of course, it's unfortunate not having check on things for a short period, and I am thinking especially of the features that have to do with surveillance and security.”
”Like the Department of Elite Souls?”
”Precisely. We can’t go back and check on whether there could be some digital tracks telling us what may have happened. The fact that the occurrence precisely corresponds with the collective disappearance of an entire section of the elite souls is quite disturbing.”
”Sherlock Holmes would have come to the same conclusion.”
”Who is Sherlock Holmes?”
”Never mind. He was a skillful criminologist in the analog era, quite a long time ago.”
”We can’t use that here, but we are still working on whether or not we can download information from the damaged disks. Right now, we prefer to confront the problem in peace and tranquility. If the universal press gets wind of the scandal, perhaps some heads will roll and it could very well be that I was blamed as a scapegoat in the greater scheme of things.”
”Frankly, I don’t think you deserve that, professor.”
”Thank you. I'm glad you understand the situation, Mr. Paragon.”
”I’m even involved myself. The basic analog security system at the faculty is somehow still my responsibility, so I could also face an administrative correction.”
”I'm usually not sold on these freelance clairvoyants, but the information 'Cassiopeia' may be of some use.”
”The only thing I know is that it is a nebula far away.”
Balthazar Xlyt was contemplating.
”Could it be that someone there had a hand in it?”
”That seems unlikely. Transport costs over those long distances would be, excuse the expression, astronomical, even if it apply to souls.”
”Hmm, yes, but we have not given up yet. My technicians are still working on trying to find something on the damaged hard drives.”
”I believe in our time you were working with a system in which the information was held in a remote storage facility somewhere, and you then logged into it from the outside through server applications?”
”That’s true, but we found no traces of what might have happened in the void. If we do find traces, it will be in a place at one of the local wrecked discs internally within our system.”
Paragon wouldn’t mention it again, but he thought that the whole thing would have been so much more manageable on Sherlock Holmes' time, where you could make deductions by analyzing substances, fibers, cigar ashes, tealeaves or soil particles...
Paragon came back to Dreamscape, where Pollux was happy to see him once again.
”What's up, champ?”
”Take it easy, Pollux. Everything in the garden is lovely.”
”The garden? How garden get into picture?”
”No, that’s just it. What I mean is that you shouldn’t be worried.”
”I, worry? Not at all. I completely relaxed. No danger there. What trouble me?”
”Exactly. But we'd better wait to dismantle several of the machines here in Dreamscape.”
”Aha. Larger more important things to be given priority?”
”In a way, yes. There has been another lamentable breakdown in the new digital control system.”
”Again?”
”Yes, you may well say. It’s not official, but it'll come. I’ve promised the 'micro professor' to go easy, I mean, to not say anything about it yet. Things are under repair in his system. Nevertheless, he sounded worried when I talked to him. When you don’t know what’s happened, it might happen again. And it could be worse next time. Therefore, I think we’d better hold off on dismantling more of the old stuff. We might risk having to be on standby at short notice, as the situation is right now.”
”I aware of it, Master. We just wait and be ready.”
”Precisely, Pollux.”
Paragon went over to the building site. It was so much more satisfying to grapple with something substantial, instead of those intangible things found somewhere in space and then slipping away without knowing how it happened or how to find it again. It was hard for him to get used to doing that.
He waited to put on the safety equipment. It was inconvenient and it didn’t really fit his special body structure.
Over at the construction site they were getting control of new building. Cut pieces of sheet metal, insulation material residue, and emptied putty bins lay scattered all over. A well-structured small plant with a circular saw which could be set in several positions, dominated the lot.
Paragon grunted appreciatively. It was one of the most reliable brands standing a bit of everything. The Svumpukkels knew about the best equipment. Using good tools is as good as having half the job done, as he knew very well.
As Paragon walked carefully between the blocks, he found the allocated space he needed for the terminal. This time not disguised as a toilet, but rather, a broom closet. He had to get some lathes and furniture panels, or maybe some of the hyped new fiber material, not affected by heat or moisture. The current process was much more efficient than in the past, as it combined all possible components. That was because it consisted of particles glued and pressed together under high pressure and heat. He’d noticed that they had left a part of the new plates out in the yard.
Paragon took out his measuring tape, and measured. He should probably plan for double the insulation now. New regulations demanded so much more with modern construction. Everything should be protected against heat loss and sound vibration. It was almost too much. In the old days, you could always count on a healthy indoor environment because all buildings were leaking, so there constantly was adequate air circulation. With rising energy prices, everything was now strictly regulated. The result was that they faced an artificial indoor climate, which you had to compensate with ample ventilation. It had become the norm within new construction, and you had to abide by the new regulations.
After taking note of the exact dimensions, he went back to the old administration building. The old shaft was now disabled and the coordinates diverted. He looked around. The Svumpukkels had left, and the new working team replacing them had just arrived. As he stood and looked at the safety equipment, one of the new people came over to him.
”Pardon me, buddy...”
”Yes?”
”I am Bamrok. I have just arrived with a work crew from Mirkos. We are some Hysfobides who have a gig here.”
”Welcome. Is this the first time you are here?”
”Yes, and it's the first time anyone from Mirkos work is working here.”
”I thought there was a contract of employment with Svumpukkels from Vankmoor?”
”I guess there is, but we take over for this month. They hired us because of our lower hourly rate, you know.”
”I’ve heard about that. Using labor from somewhere else, they still hope to find someone who can do the same job cheaper, and move other workers out. The free cosmic labor exchange they talk so much about.”
”Precisely. But it’s mostly because we have one month vacant between two assignments, and then The Seventh Sky came up as a kind of temporary job, you know.”
”I understand. So you move around the universe from job to job?”
”Yes, we’ve just completed a link station at Belvedere.”
”Was it difficult?”
”Not particularly. We have gradually developed a certain routine. But there are some pirates at work.”
”Pirates?”
”Yes, materials disappear from construction sites or during transport. Very inconvenient. And in addition, operating systems are subject to attack. A troublesome matter.”
”Control systems?
”Yes, they are transmitter installations, which should send signals throughout the cosmos. We build link towers, you know.”
”What is that, more precisely?”
”It’s become so common with creatures that communicate over long distances, 'The Cosmic Village', you know.”
”Yes, I've heard of it.”
”You have realize that it all hangs together in the universe. Nothing is a self-standing unit, everything is connected in one way or another. I just don’t know exactly how. It requires a higher education in ethics and philosophy.”
”But what was it you said about operating systems having been attacked?”
”It happened a few times while we installed the gear at Belvedere. Signals are received, amplified and transmitted. Original files are compressed a second time before further transmission. Otherwise it would be expensive, unsafe and inconvenient.”
”I can well imagine.”
”As you are associated with the Earthly branch, I can make a comparison. In the old days you could communicate over long distance, if you used a code with lines and dots.”
”Morse Code.”
”Precisely. That is an extremely robust type of signal. It can go a long way, and they are easy to handle. We use a similar principle when we compress things before we send them on.”
”Still, irregularities arose?”
”It wasn’t the system's fault. That was due to outside interference. Some outsider wanted to sabotage communication.”
”Hackers?”
”Not necessarily. It was as if someone from the outside would just paralyze the system in a few hours, for some reason.”
”To destroy things? An act of revenge? Terrorists in cyberspace?”
”You might think that. But that would typically involve the spreading of a virus or placing a digital worm or Trojan horse somewhere in the system.”
”And that wasn’t the case?”
”No, it was more a matter of putting the system down for a shorter time, because when we started up again there were no additional problems.”
”What was the reason then?”
”Maybe someone wanted to get to work in secret with something over a short time to do something questionable, and they didn’t want others noticing during the digital silence.”
”Is it something you’ve experienced often?”
”No, but it appeared a few times during the construction of the link station at Belvedere. It’s not known why, or if it will come back, and maybe be more comprehensive next time.”
”It is worrying.”
”Yes, unfortunate
ly we were told to keep it secret for now. But such a sweet little blue mule creature like you will not run around gossiping?”
”No! I’ll keep it behind my teeth.”
”Yes, and you have two large ones there at the front of your muzzle. It’s universally accepted that that such an appearance denotes a lack of wisdom and understanding. But of course, that’s only a prejudice.”
”Thank you, my fine friend! I would also talk openly about what signals your appearance sends out, if one does not know you any better, but I am polite enough to keep it to myself. How is it you speak our language so perfectly? You’re even using the correct dialect from this locale!”
”That’s because of this box I have here, around my neck. It’s a universal translator. It captures your language and transforms it into something understandable to me. It’s called a transmutator. I traded for it in a barter deal on Tralfamadore. Similarly, it translates my speech into something that you can understand.”
”It says 'Gookle' on it.”
”Yes, but if you send an order for one, make sure that it’s the latest version. Otherwise you’ll get one that makes some dangerous mistakes, which can make people confused or irritated.”
”That latest model could be quite useful. Can I buy it from you?”
”What will you offer?”
”What do you want?”
”It is worth 120 blutoks. I’ll give it to you at my cost, only because one of my workmates has a spare.”
”It's a deal.”
Paragon counted the money. It was just a bit short.
”Will this do?”
”Yes,….. it's okay.”
Bamrok strung box around Paragon’s neck. It had a string for that purpose.
”By the way I had a mystical experience with it at Belvedere.”
”You did?”
”I had left it lying in the vicinity of the digital equipment in the period when there was a system lapse, and you know what?”
”No, what?”
”When I activated the box again later, I discovered that it had captured something during that period. Something on a distant language, which it could not translate completely, mostly because of the poor reception, but it could identify where they used the language.”
Paragon- Ghost Hunters Page 5