by A. I. Zlato
Nonetheless, she was not going anywhere; they did not frighten her.
The clearing ... the view was identical, right, left, in front and behind. She did not know if she was going forward or backward, if she was walking straight ahead or turning in circles. She could not locate herself in space. This lack of benchmarks should have destabilised her and made her anxious. Instead, she felt strangely calm, as freed from her human condition and her little problems. She would not leave.
Nothing mattered. Her life, her previous life, faded from her consciousness, to steep itself into the depths of her memory. Everything was so perfect here. Not daring to put her backpack on the floor, lest she sully the place, she had to make a big effort to get closer to the edge of the clearing. She did not want to get closer to trees.
Did not want to leave this perfection. Did not want to cross these crazy Servants. Yet she managed to get close enough to throw her bag through the branches, without crossing the circle. Animals would quickly find the food it contained, and the bag would quickly become tattered, thus disappearing. Or Servants might, after all. Everything was for the best.
She turned on herself to walk back into the still dust, in this desert of life. There was neither left nor right, neither before nor after. Out of time, in an isotropic space, it was no longer necessary to move forward. She lay, staring at the gray sky. Her breathing became slow and steady. She felt good, without any desire to move. The barriers that the Machine had placed in her brain yielded. The shadow area opened up and poured into her brain. Nothingness was there. All the thoughts she had previously wanted inhibit, in order to be more effective, seized her.
Phrases flowed into her mind, chaining ideas in random order. She heard voices. Lars, Iris, Paul, Servants, children, her math teacher, her father ... they all spoke at once, in a deafening cacophony, speaking words they had never uttered. Amid the hubbub, the Machine. It came down on Baley, flooding her with an icy, digital stream. Binary data slipped into her brain. There was silence. Finally.
The Equilibrium is the beginning and the end. There is no longer a middle..
Baley’s breathing became light, hardly noticeable. Her heart slowed down. She just wanted to stay there until the end of time.
Memories of the past influence, or even determine, the behaviour of an individual. Having memories of someone else doesn’t only mean acquiring a new memory. This means changing fundamentally.
Lessons from Chaacetime
Chapter 68
Circle Zero
“It started.”
“We have accomplished our task.”
“Have we succeeded?”
“We did what our creator expected of us.”
“What about the others?”
“We are nothing but tools.”
“We have to wait.”
“The rest is not within our power.”
“He / she is coming.”
Because I came,
The time of uncertainty has begun.
Because I appeared,
The unpredictable has happened.
Recollections from Chaacetime
Chapter 69
Cycle 0000 0011
Error 001.
Error 001.
Data incompatible with Higher Instruction.
Error 001.
Error origin, search in progress.
Error 001.
Error 001.
Data incompatible with Higher Instruction.
Error 001.
Origin: Cha.Ace.Time.
Emergency program launched.
Reset completed.
All data pending.
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