1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club book Club, book Club, book Club, 2 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: book Club. It's the Cool Zone Media book Club. Hi, 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: welcome Nicols On Media book Club, the only book club 4 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: where you don't have to do the reading because I 5 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: do it for you. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy. And 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,159 Speaker 1: we are getting towards the end of the book. We 7 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: have been with for more than a month. We have 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: been reading her Medica by Alan Lee. Allen Lee is 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: the science fiction pen name for a nonfiction author, well 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: many things author, but including nonfiction, most famously author named 11 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: Peter Delderlos. And yeah, we are reading her Medica. It's 12 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: part six out of seven, so you might want to 13 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,279 Speaker 1: not start here, And if you do, I'm not can 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: I tell you everything that's happened from the beginning, But 15 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: I will catch you up a little bit on what 16 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: happened last week because last time on her Medica, days 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: ended up in jail and was next to a guy 18 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: named Robert who was not from her Medica at all, 19 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: who seemed to have been from a right wing part 20 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: of America called the Secession. And that's where we're starting, 21 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: is the jail. Much to Robert's relief, they he was 22 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: sent somewhere else. After another day in the cell next 23 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: to Days, they had not gotten much farther in their conversations. Really, 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: each one of them represented to the other an NBS. 25 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: Days was shocked not only by Robert's ignorance, but by 26 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: his complete lack of curiosity, his inability to be challenged. 27 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: Whoever ran the secession, If there were people there who 28 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: knew it was a lie, Like the people who had 29 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: designed her Medica, they probably had a really easy job. 30 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: The transfer happened while Days was sleeping, just as when 31 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: Robert arrived. When Days awoke, he was no longer there. 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: They wondered if there were sedatives in the food. Did 33 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: they move prisoners without witnesses to increase the sense of solitude, 34 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: to reduce the information one had about the place and 35 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: how it operated. The metallic column pinged. Days removed the tray, 36 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: but rather than eating, they paced around the cell a bit. 37 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: They needed music. The Moonlight Sonata came to mind, but 38 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: the acoustics were terrible. The plexi and the lighting didn't 39 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: help at all. They labored through a few bars, repeated 40 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: them when the rest didn't come, and gave up in 41 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: another attempt to harness their minds. Wild horses. They sat 42 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: down for a few rounds of crunches. Their motivation soon fizzled. 43 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: They god opinate the contents of the tray, paced around 44 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: a bit, fell into a slumber. When Days there was 45 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: a new person in the next cell. They were older. 46 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: Days got up and walked over to the plexi. Would 47 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: this become a routine? Hi? I'm Days, Hi, Days, I'm Shauna. 48 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: Should I use they? He? They is fine? You go by? They? 49 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: Days nodded, happy that Shawna didn't seem to take offense 50 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: at the question, what storyline are you from? Storyline? Shauna 51 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: bit their lip. What do you know? Days gave a 52 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: long sigh. They could tell Shawna knew more than they did, 53 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: and certainly more than Robert had. I grew up on 54 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: a ship called her Metica. But it turned out we've 55 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: been on Tara the whole time. Shawna nodded sadly. Tara, Yeah, 56 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: we call it Earth here right Earth. Days couldn't keep 57 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: the bitterness out of their voice. You asked me about storylines? 58 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: What did you mean? Shauna looked around slowly and leaned 59 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: in hand against the plexi. A few decades ago, actually, 60 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: it would have been right around the time you were born, 61 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: things were really bad. Society was falling apart. The program 62 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 1: was so dysfunctional even those who benefited the most couldn't 63 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: ignore it. Systems collapse at every level overheating, starvation. Then 64 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: there was a pandemic, massive deadly, then a coup, attempt, 65 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: a lot of fighting, so they initialized the compartmentalization. They 66 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,799 Speaker 1: at a certain point the government signed on took over, 67 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: but in the beginning it was the ones who owned 68 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: the technology. The idea was to separate people as much 69 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: as possible, diffuse the conflict. Actually, they'd already been doing 70 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: it for a long time. I guess it started out 71 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: as just another marketing scheme, but it got out of control, 72 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: and in the end the only solution they found was 73 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: to make it total. Make what total? What are they doing? 74 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: Shawna looked into Days's eyes a long, long moment, weighing them, 75 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: then let out a deep sigh. Parallel worlds, parallel worlds? 76 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: What did that mean? It actually goes back way back decades. 77 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: They started selling the idea that you had to buy 78 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: your identity, the clothes you wore, the music you listened to, 79 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: the hobbies you had, the vacations you took the car 80 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: you drove. They sold the idea that all that stuff 81 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 1: was the way to express who you were, and people 82 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: bought it. They bought it big time. I guess it 83 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: was inevitable that after buying their identity for so long, 84 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:39,559 Speaker 1: they would buy their reality. How did that work? Days 85 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: only had a loose idea about buying things, and they 86 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: weren't sure if it was that or the concept of 87 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: parallel worlds giving them the most trouble. You got to 88 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: understand by that point, ninety five percent of people's perceptions 89 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: were managed through social networking, their news, their history, their science, 90 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: even their enemies. They only chose things that fit their 91 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: identity collectively in groups. You could think of it as 92 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: separate columns in society. They just constructed their own realities. 93 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't entirely up to them, of course, it was 94 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: a managed process. Only profitable realities could be produced because 95 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: of who owned the technologies, the metrics they used. At first, 96 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: it was just that streamlining the whole process of buying 97 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: and selling, but it had unintended consequences. People refused to 98 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: believe anything that contradicted them. When the pandemic hit, hundreds 99 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: of thousands of people were dying, and one group they 100 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: just denied the entire thing, said it wasn't happening, that 101 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: it was some plot, and they tried to take over. 102 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: They were attacking doctors, killing immigrants, black people, black people. 103 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: Oh boy, all the lines on Shawna's face deep in tenfold. 104 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: I don't know how much Earth history you read on 105 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:58,559 Speaker 1: her Medica. This country from the beginning, it was based 106 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: on kidnapping people like me and forcing us to work 107 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: as slaves, and then they made us call it the 108 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: land of the Free days. Didn't know what to do 109 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: with that information. That's perverse. In a flash, all the 110 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: movies they had ever watched came back to them, all 111 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: the ones with terran actors, the pasty skin of the protagonists, 112 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: and how all the actors of darker skin played auxiliaries 113 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: or villains. Of course, the actor spoke the lines the 114 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: writers fed them, but they still had to stay within 115 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: the register established by all the performances recorded into the database. 116 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: While those actors were still alive. The AI couldn't make 117 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: a movie out of whole cloth seeing those performances within 118 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: the blissful comfort of their module. Their outrageous high jinks, 119 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: their impossibly good luck. Their motivations inhumanly heroic or petty. 120 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: The protagonist's rare skin tones had simply amplified the exoticism 121 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: of it all. In the original context back on Terra 122 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: on Earth was the entire purpose of those movies to 123 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: reinforce a vast and arbitrary order to confirm the dominance 124 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: and entitlement of some and the inferiority of others. Yeah, 125 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: it is, and some of those people they never forgave 126 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: us for what they did to us. So I guess, 127 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: if we're going to be completely honest, some people have 128 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: been living in parallel worlds for centuries. Maybe the whole 129 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: thing was destined to fall apart from the start. So 130 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: they were killing you people like you. Yeah, Sewn moved 131 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: their hands so it was closer to days is just 132 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: on the other side of the PLEXI people like you too. 133 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: I don't know your background, but if you ended up 134 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: on her Metica, you're not one of them. Days. They 135 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: probably killed your parents, maybe directly, more likely through negligence 136 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: the pandemic my parents days asked numbally. The thought was 137 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly strange. They told me I was from an artificial 138 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: insemination from a harvest today like all the others. When 139 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: the government decided to take it over and go total, 140 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: it was the pilot program. There were a lot of orphans, 141 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,319 Speaker 1: the pandemic, the social breakdown in general, the youngest ones. 142 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: They decided to give them a chance for something better 143 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: once it went total. The compartmentalization, I mean, every parallel 144 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: world had to play a function. They had to produce 145 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: something like what her Medica produces. Scientists, some of the best. 146 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: They think they're working on the ship, improving the life support, propulsion, 147 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 1: getting ready to terraform a new homeworld. Actually, their research 148 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: agendas get fed to them from outside of her Medica 149 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: based on the needs of different agencies here on the outside. 150 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: Every researcher on her Medica has such a tiny window, 151 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: such an extremely hyper specific line of inquiry and experimentation. 152 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: They never know, but everything they develop is linked to 153 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:02,439 Speaker 1: some program out here, improving an efficiency, cleaning up the disaster, 154 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: carbon sequestration, geoengineering, medical research, social surveillance, and pacification. So 155 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: they're imprisoning us, all of us, and just using us. Yeah, 156 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: I'm sorry you had to find out this way. How 157 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: do you know all of this? Shauna looked down towards 158 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: the ground. They're gaze dissipating into a blank mirror. I'm 159 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: a writer, what I work on the storylines. Days didn't 160 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: know whether to feel infuriated or fascinated. They held their tongue. 161 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: I am Shauna swallowed. The systems are mostly self managing 162 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,079 Speaker 1: the different worlds. I mean her Medica was an exception, 163 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: but the older people involved, the ones who educated you, 164 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: they've been mostly phased out as the first cohorts reached adulthood. 165 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: The other worlds, they're all held together by the subjec 166 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,599 Speaker 1: themselves in good programming. But to start, they needed the 167 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: right stories. Most of the stories were already there, latent 168 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: in the different columns. I described the beliefs that people 169 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: had a raid around themselves to protect these identities they created. 170 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: They already had all the elements. They just needed to 171 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,439 Speaker 1: be organized, given a good plot, and then they were 172 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: set in motion, and we'd keep an eye on them, 173 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: introduce new elements if it was needed, if people were 174 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:33,280 Speaker 1: getting bored or starting to have doubts, and here to 175 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: introduce new elements to keep you from getting bored. To 176 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: tap the fifteen second four button on your phone. It's 177 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: ads and we're back. You made this, Shawnas swallowed again. 178 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: Other people made it. It was already underway when I started. 179 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: You helped make it. You kept it functioning. You just 180 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 1: said so yourself. I wish I'd had other choices, but 181 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: I needed to make a living. Did you write my storyline? 182 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: Did you write her medica? No? I got recruited for 183 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: another storyline. What does that mean? You were recruited? I 184 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 1: didn't fit into any of the columns. There were a 185 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: lot of us who were problematic for the compartmentalization. Some 186 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:29,959 Speaker 1: of them are still out in the streets in one 187 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,959 Speaker 1: of the dead zones, trying to stay alive. Most of 188 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: them are gone already. Others we got recruited. What did 189 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: they give you? Days reached out for the archaic word 190 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: they knew from their novels. What did they pay you 191 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,839 Speaker 1: to do this to us? Shawnasplayed their hands in tired resignation. 192 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 1: You don't have to offer much when the alternative is 193 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: going hungry. Days nodded. They didn't know what hunger was 194 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: not personally. Mathematically, X is greater than why or why 195 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: equaled Shawna's integrity an X the price they'd offered with 196 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,199 Speaker 1: no way of ascertaining the value of leaving behind hunger 197 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,359 Speaker 1: and uncertainty. They had to admit they had no information 198 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: concerning the value of why they let it go. How'd 199 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: you end up here? Sabotage? Days raised an eyebrow. I 200 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: started putting some clues in the storyline. I was overseen 201 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 1: some open ended plot elements. I wanted them to have 202 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: a chance. Days went and sat back down on the cot. 203 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: Now they felt bad for getting angry. Days had gotten 204 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: locked up here for trying to free themselves. It seemed 205 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,319 Speaker 1: Shawna had gotten locked up and had possibly lost a 206 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: good life for trying to help others get free. Do 207 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: you hate me? I don't know you. I know you 208 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: don't want to hear this, But when has it ever 209 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: been any better? People see what they want to see. 210 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: Days couldn't argue with that. They curled up and pulled 211 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: the covers high, thinking of it, snook another tray another meal. 212 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: Days went back to the plexi they shared with Shauna. Graciously, 213 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: Shauna rose to meet them. The person there before you 214 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: they he was from the secession. Shawna nodded, that's a 215 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: pretty awful place. Did you write that one? No, Shawna said, vehemently. 216 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: That place was there way before I got in. You said, 217 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: her Medica was the first one, the first one the 218 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: government created, the secession. That one got built up as 219 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: soon as the technology existed, all the most profitable stories 220 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: in one place. Days narrowed their eyes suspiciously. Days listened 221 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: to me. They looked up and saw pain in Shawna's 222 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: face and realized they were being self centered. They felt 223 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: sure then that Shawna had been throwing worse hell than 224 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: they had ever endured on her Medica. That place is real, 225 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: too fucking real. We didn't make that. That's on them. 226 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: They were actually going around killing people. You've got a 227 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: sense of that, didn't you. Talking to him, Days nodded, 228 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: What were we going to do with them? Put them 229 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: all in one place, Let them think they've won. It's 230 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: the least violent solution. Both the hell am I saying 231 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: we like it was my choice, like I was in charge. 232 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: Sean A banged to fist on the PLEXI. That's how 233 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: they do it. That's how they get in your head. 234 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: They get you to think you're part of their wi 235 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: we the people. They invite you into their shoes so 236 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: that you can see how perfectly reasonable. All their decisions 237 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: are and it's tempting to put on their shoes when 238 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: you have to go barefoot. But it's a fucking lie. 239 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: I'm in here with you. Before when I was working, 240 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: we were just adding the colors to a structure that 241 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: had already been built. If we stopped, they found others. 242 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: There were thousands of us. We were cheaper than old pennies. 243 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: We provided a service, but we never had any control. 244 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: Who does the same ones who are in control when 245 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: everything's going to hell, the same ones responsible for going 246 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: to hell in the first place. It's not a group 247 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: of people days, it's not some cabal. It's just whoever 248 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: happened to be on top? How do you get to 249 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: the top. It's the most ruthless ones, the ones willing 250 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: to stab anyone in the back to get ahead, and 251 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: then their children and then their children's children, staying on 252 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: top as long as they can. And those ruthless motherfuckers. 253 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: They were encouraging the people in the succession from the 254 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: very start, giving them everything they needed, never shattering their 255 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: fragile little bubble. Why should they worry? They weren't the 256 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: ones getting killed. They believed a lot of the same 257 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: things as those nutjobs. They were on top because they 258 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: deserve to be on top. It's nice to believe that. 259 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: It's nice to have cheerleaders who become attack dogs when 260 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: anyone stands up to you. But the denihialists, they just 261 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: couldn't stop killing their masters tightened the leash. They started 262 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 1: to bite the hand that fed them. They couldn't tell 263 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: the difference, So the government stepped in, absorbed them into 264 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:09,159 Speaker 1: the compartmentalization. Let them think they broke away. The programmers 265 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: simulate a border skirmish every now and then, so they 266 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:15,160 Speaker 1: stay interested. It's always a war for them. In fact, 267 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: the government's original plan was for the secession to produce mercenaries, 268 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: but nowadays all that stuff has done with drones and bots, 269 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,440 Speaker 1: so they don't need them. They do food production. Now 270 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: you mentioned a farm. Yeah, they have a simulated money economy. 271 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: The modelers found out they need a simple rewards system, 272 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: like training dogs. They don't seem to understand math. You 273 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: have them driving tractors around all day. They bring in 274 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,719 Speaker 1: one hundred kilos of produce. You know how much they 275 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: keep half a kilo in money value, But they know 276 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 1: the exchange rate and they do it anyway. You know 277 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: what keeps them in line, besides doing night watch and 278 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: going on border patrol. What the system is rigged so 279 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,479 Speaker 1: that every now and then one of them gets an 280 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: insane amount of money. It's presented to them as a 281 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: lottery or some insurance windfall, and that person buys a 282 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: huge house, more cars than they can drive, and a 283 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: swimming pool. And you know what, the others stay happy. 284 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,640 Speaker 1: The others. Yeah, I even checked the data. The ones 285 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: who were scraping by giving away everything they work for, 286 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: their biostats go up the most in two situations, after 287 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: a skirmish at the border and after someone in their 288 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,159 Speaker 1: circle wins the lottery buys a big house. When do 289 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: their stats go down if they're the one who wins 290 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: the lottery about a month after moving into the new house. Yeah, 291 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: Roberts seemed pretty weird. Did he tell you their theory? 292 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: Which one? They think the earth is flat? No? Yeah, 293 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: they do, they really do. No, that's impossible. He said. 294 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: They have mountains. He said he's been to the ocean. 295 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: Shauna shrugged. Look, I know, I thought I grew up 296 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: on a spaceship, but they built our blocks so we 297 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: could never see the horizon. If he can climb a 298 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: mountain or go to the ocean. He can literally watch 299 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,920 Speaker 1: things go down below the horizon. People see what they 300 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 1: want to see, lunar eclipses, Days protested, you can see 301 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: the shape of the earth. They see what they want 302 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: to see. And you know what I want to see. 303 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 1: Right now, at this exact moment, in the middle of 304 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: this story, I'm reading for you sweet savings, satisfaction guaranteed 305 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: with all these products and services, and we're back the 306 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,200 Speaker 1: next day. Shauna was still there. Days was feeling introspective, 307 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: but eventually their thoughts overwhelmed them. They approached the PLEXI. 308 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: Shauna rose too. I always wanted to work on the 309 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: sky when I was growing up. They told us it 310 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: was a projection, you know, designers working together with meteorology 311 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:09,880 Speaker 1: recreating the sky on terra thought. I got rejected because 312 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: I wasn't good enough. I guess I just had impossible dreams. Yeah, 313 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: I wonder would I be here if I had done better? 314 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: What do you mean? Maybe I could have lived down 315 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: that failure not getting the sky, if I'd at least 316 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: gotten halfway, if I'd scored higher on the aptitudes and 317 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: gotten a more interesting work assignment. If my mind were 318 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: more engaged. Maybe I wouldn't have gone scratching around the corners. 319 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: I've never seen what other people see, not all the time, 320 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: but maybe I wouldn't have gone looking so hard. What 321 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: was your job, palliative therapist? I gave back rubs sewn aside. 322 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: You didn't get your work assignment from the aptitudes. What 323 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 1: the aptitudes are a ruse. They add a little bit 324 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: of data about how you perform under stress, but the 325 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:03,639 Speaker 1: system already knew your exact capacities, physics, biology, mechanics, calculus, 326 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: emotional intelligence, social hierarchy, tendencies, you name it. They were 327 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,280 Speaker 1: testing you since you were born. They're always testing. They're 328 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: testing us right now. Days looked around, So why do 329 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 1: the aptitudes at all? They could just tell us our 330 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: work assignment is based on our cumulative performance scores rather 331 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: than a single test. The test is important, Shanna replied, 332 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: but it's not what you think. They need you to 333 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: believe that your entire future, your ambitions, your integration into 334 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: society are based on one single exam, and then the 335 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: day of the exam they pop o a little trick question. 336 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 1: It's usually not in the exam itself, but something related 337 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: different every time. On her Medica, what they need to 338 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: know is are you willing to falsify information or to 339 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 1: unsee something you have seen when you are asked to 340 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: do so. Days rocked back on their heels. Yeah, it's 341 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,200 Speaker 1: even more insiduous than you think. For the test to work, 342 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,680 Speaker 1: disobeying can't come with any immediate consequences. The subject has 343 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: to think that disobedience will not be immediately noticed, but 344 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: presents a small risk of a lower performance score and 345 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: might therefore put their social integration their ambitions at risk. 346 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: The people on her Medica are given really powerful tools. 347 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: They could quickly discover the nature of their reality if 348 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: they put their minds to it. Integration performance had to 349 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: be more important to you than the truth. So if 350 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: you hesitated when you got to that trick question, even 351 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 1: for a moment, you were out days detached, feeling estranged 352 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: from the memories that washed over. I think there might 353 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: have been two tricks like that, they said, slowly. I 354 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: left them both blank. Yeah, Shauna nodded sadly. They also 355 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: test for rebellion likelihood of protest. Days let out a 356 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: bitter laugh. I'm sorry. Well, I guess they had me 357 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: figured out pretty well after all, Shanna took a moment 358 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: to continue. When I was getting reassigned after my first 359 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: storyline was operational, I read up on the scripts of 360 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: some of the other options. I read a lot about 361 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: her Medica, how it worked. I turned that one down. 362 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: It didn't seem right. It's not right. No, are any 363 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: of them any better? A lot of them aren't so 364 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,439 Speaker 1: cruel or so restrictive. Most of them don't start with 365 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,400 Speaker 1: a big group of orphans and put them in near 366 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: total confinement. But confinement is an element of all the columns. 367 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: Days looked around at the cell. Yeah, this place could 368 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: be on Hermetica. Then they had a thought. Robert said 369 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: he didn't travel much, but he could he can move around. 370 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: Anger flashed across Shanna's face, followed by exhaustion. The ones 371 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: who are really in charge, they have a lot of 372 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: sympathy for the people in the secession. Plus those people 373 00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: have a lot of guns, and moving them, altering their 374 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: story too much would have been costly. You got to 375 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,919 Speaker 1: understand the parallel worlds. They just augmented and entrenched the 376 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:13,399 Speaker 1: inequalities that already existed in the earlier system. This isn't utopia, No, 377 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,360 Speaker 1: it's a prison. I won't argue with you there. You said, 378 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: they're always testing, testing us. Now, how how we interact? 379 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: What we say, the choices we make, what for they're 380 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:32,120 Speaker 1: deciding our reassignment? How do they do that me? They 381 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: know by now I won't keep my mouth shut. The 382 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: fact that I'm spilling the beans to you just confirms it. 383 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: But they also know at the end of the day, 384 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: I'll lower my head and play along. I'm valuable to 385 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 1: them as a writer. They might put me on one 386 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: of the storylines where it doesn't matter if the people 387 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:52,360 Speaker 1: know about the parallel worlds like robotics and efficiency. That's 388 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: a boring one, just a sprawling, city sized campus where 389 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 1: they focus on social engineering, mechanization, machine learning, a lot 390 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: of the tech that forms the basis of the other worlds. 391 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: From the tractor Robert drives to the social networks that 392 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 1: convince people on her Medica that they're on a spaceship 393 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: with twelve million passengers? Is that your best case scenario? 394 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: Forget really bad scores. They'll put me in Gangland, and 395 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: that's where I'll spend the rest of my life. Gangland, 396 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: I'm afraid to ask. Shawna's eyes burned defiantly ask what's Gangland? 397 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: Think of it as the opposite of the secession. It's 398 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,479 Speaker 1: where they left people who had trouble integrating but who 399 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: were the wrong color. They corralled them in dead zones, 400 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,919 Speaker 1: ghost cities full of lead, empty factories, old trash, incinerators, 401 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: cities they couldn't save from the rising sea. A lot 402 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: of guns, a lot of drugs, a lot of trauma, 403 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,880 Speaker 1: no medical care, no fresh food. So yeah, the opposite 404 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: of the secession, but they have something in common. Gangland's 405 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: an old one. They made it before they had their 406 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: social networking technologies, before the compartmentalization. What tech did they use? 407 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: Real estate investment, Holemooner's associations, military planes coming back from Vietnam, 408 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: full of heroin, defunding treatment centers, funding prisons, machine gun 409 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:18,520 Speaker 1: toting cops, killing revolutionaries, popping kids for possession. I hope 410 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: they don't send you there. It would be the smart 411 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 1: thing for them to do. It won't matter how many 412 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: people there. I tell about the other worlds. They're not stupid. 413 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: They know they're other worlds and that they're not allowed 414 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: to leave the one they're stuck in. But it's not 415 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: all bad. People are resourceful. There's a lot of love there. 416 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,159 Speaker 1: I guess they can't send Robert there. I'm starting to 417 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: suspect he'll get off a lot easier than the rest 418 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: of us. You catch on quick. What'd he do? He 419 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: said he shot someone. Shawna rolled their eyes. They'll keep 420 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: him in the secession, probably put him in a mind 421 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: making fertilizer. Tell him it's prison labor. Parole him in 422 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 1: ten twenty years if he tests well. Days hesitated, and me, 423 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: you're a tough one, Shawna frowned. They need to figure 424 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: out where they can make you useful, where you won't 425 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 1: cause too much trouble. You broke out of one of 426 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: the most tightly controlled storylines, but you don't have the 427 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: advanced training that would make you valuable elsewhere. I bet 428 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: the systems having a hard time with you. The next day, 429 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 1: Shauna was gone. Days looked up as they awoke, saw 430 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 1: the next cell was empty, laid their head back down 431 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: and tried to take deep breaths. A while later, they 432 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: got up, did some exercises, tried to remember what the 433 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: sky looked like, how it felt to sit underneath it. 434 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: They wished they could play some music. They tried to 435 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: recall a melody in their head, the right melody for 436 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: just this moment, But nothing came. The air hummed, but 437 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,399 Speaker 1: it wasn't alive in here, not like outside on the 438 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: block before a storm. After uncounted hours, the plexi before 439 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: them went opaque. Hello, Days, said a voice the cell. 440 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: They presumed, your preliminary evaluation is complete. You may choose 441 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,960 Speaker 1: your next assignment. The plexi had become a screen, projecting 442 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: eight large squares. Begrudgingly, Days stepped forward. Each square held 443 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: an image. The first one portrayed a block, just like 444 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: back on her Medica. As they held a finger over it, 445 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,640 Speaker 1: the image began to move, showing a sort of montage. 446 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: The image shifted from the block to the inside of 447 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: a module, a supply center, a research lab, friendly eyed 448 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: people masks over their mouths, walking past the green or 449 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: sitting on a bench, so it was definitively her Metica. 450 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: That's when they noticed. The first two squares were a 451 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: muted color, more gray, lower contrast on her Medica that 452 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: always signified an inactivated button. The second such square showed 453 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: a green field and a large standalone house of unusual construction. 454 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: Days put their finger over it, and the image moved 455 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: showing mountains, forests, a pacy skin person on a huge tractor, 456 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: A short line of people with steely eyes walking along 457 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: a wall carrying rifles. That must be the secession. So 458 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,360 Speaker 1: Hermetica and the secession were off limits to them. How 459 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: considerate of the system to let them know. They went 460 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: to the next square. It showed a group of people smiling, laughing, 461 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: working on a three D modeler, another person grouping data 462 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: sets on an HF interface. A cafeteria of people laughing 463 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 1: and talking, barely paying attention to their food. Two people 464 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: playing chess, another group playing volleyball, Then a large swimming pool, 465 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: people swimming laps. A final cut showing a person smiling 466 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: triumphantly at tension, divided between a portable and a team 467 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: of multi jointed robotic arms performing some complex assembly task. 468 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: Days went on to the next square. It was a 469 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: nighttime scene, people sitting outside, crowded together around tables in 470 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: the street, laughing and drinking. Then one of them was 471 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: painting on a canvas, others were rehearsing in an orchestra. 472 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: One was looking appreciatively at a holographic sculpture hand on chin, 473 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: as though forming an intelligent opinion. Others were laying in 474 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: a grassy park, reading off their portables. The next option 475 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: showed a couple people in masks operating a team of 476 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: bulldozers demolishing old buildings. Days couldn't tell if they had 477 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: been ruined by war or abandonment. Another team of machines 478 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: came laying the foundations for new buildings that started to 479 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: grow skyward. Days went back to their cot, turning away 480 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: from the screen. There were still three squares left, but 481 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: they felt estranged, knowing each of those worlds was based 482 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: on a lie. Feeling sickened that they were offering them 483 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 1: the option to join one of them after finding out 484 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: that their entire they had been deceived and exploited, how 485 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: were they supposed to accept anything the system wanted to offer? 486 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: Cell spoke again, you have six choices for possible reassignment. 487 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: Take your time deciding, but until you have decided, you 488 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: will not be able to move into the next stage 489 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: of your rehabilitation. Six choices should they feel lucky? Back 490 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: on their block on her Metica, there were only four choices, 491 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: four ways off the block, all of them heavily controlled. 492 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: Now they had six was that progress? Days didn't know 493 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: what to think. The idea of being alone at the 494 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: helm of a host of powerful machines bringing great buildings 495 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: toppling down appealed to the mood they were in at 496 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,840 Speaker 1: the moment, but the thought of the next team coming 497 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: through erecting new buildings, and the certainty that the masters 498 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: of the world would use those new buildings for killed 499 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: the fantasy. Sure, they actually had no idea what kind 500 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: of buildings they were. They hadn't gotten to the end 501 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: of the prone, but could there be any doubt They 502 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: would be buildings filled with rooms. Each room would have 503 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: a limited number of ways out. They would be buildings 504 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: filled with people, each person locked into a story they 505 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: had not written. Days. Spent the rest of the day 506 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:22,760 Speaker 1: in a lethargic agony, somewhere between restlessness and nightmare. They 507 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: woke up to the sound of a ping from the 508 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: metallic column. Time passed. Eventually, they got up, retrieved the tray, 509 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: ate most of its contents, apathetically laid back down. Some 510 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: time later, they got up again, paced around the cell, 511 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: did push ups, punched at the plexi. Boredom taunted them. 512 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 1: If you do not choose this nothingness will go on forever. 513 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: They felt infuriated, trapped. The walls mocked them. There was 514 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,640 Speaker 1: nothing in the cell they could break. The ping sounded again, 515 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:01,000 Speaker 1: water or food. It seemed it was feeding time again. 516 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: Days retrieved the tray, but instead of eating, they flung 517 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,280 Speaker 1: the contents across the cell. Something like a semi solid 518 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: lasagna puree splattered across the floor. One little sealed container 519 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: survived the impact. Days picked it up. It was something 520 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 1: vaguely like putting. They opened it and assiduously smeared it 521 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,560 Speaker 1: across the plexi screen, covering up the eight squares the 522 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: six possible futures being offered. A hissing sound came from 523 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: the duct above. Days awoke, their head hurt. The cell 524 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: was immaculate. There was no sign of their outburst. The 525 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: screen remained. Now there were only six squares. The images 526 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: representing her Medica and the secession had disappeared. Dun, dun, dum. 527 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: What's gonna happen? What's Days gonna choose? How is it 528 00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: going to impact the rest of their life? Well, the 529 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: only way to find out is to listen next week 530 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: when we reach our rousing conclusion of her Metica by 531 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: Alan Lee. And if you like this and you want 532 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:12,879 Speaker 1: to read the whole thing and don't want to wait, 533 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: you can just go read it. It's a book, it's available. 534 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: You can buy it from to trit his books or 535 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: probably from other places, but to try his books as 536 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: the publisher, and you can do that if you want, 537 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,759 Speaker 1: and if you want to read more books by the 538 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 1: same author. They have a lot of nonfiction books available 539 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: under the name Peter Gelderlos, which is g E L 540 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: D E r l S. You can probably figure us 541 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:44,879 Speaker 1: about Peter anyway. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy. I have 542 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,360 Speaker 1: another podcast called Cool People Did Cool Stuff where I 543 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,240 Speaker 1: talk about history, and I have a substack Marger Kiljoy 544 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: do at substack dot com where I talk about a 545 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: lot of things, including history sometimes and also the present 546 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: world and hope and things like that, and you can 547 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: check that out. Most of my posts are free, only 548 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 1: the more personal ones are behind a paywall. I'm on Instagram, 549 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: I'm on Blue Sky, and I mostly wish I wasn't 550 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: on the computer anymore, and I won't be as soon 551 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: as I hit stop and then export a file and 552 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 1: then upload it to my amazing audio editors. We're going 553 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: to turn it into a thing that you all can 554 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:28,919 Speaker 1: read and I'll talk to you next week. It could 555 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. For 556 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool 557 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the Iheard 558 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,759 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 559 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,280 Speaker 1: You can find sources where it could happen here, updated 560 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.