‘Ah, plus two. I was not expecting additions here, and not today. Something in my Whether Report seems to be off.’
‘Hello, Eyeball. We’re here because we need your help.’
‘Well, Merritt, that kind of goes without saying, doesn’t it? It’s not like anyone ever comes here just to hang out. No one ever brings party favours and cake for Eyeball, do they?’
‘It’s because you’re weird.’
‘Can I help how the algorithm of I unspools? No, I cannot. The sum of me is already determined.’
‘Great, OK, well now we got that out of the way, this is Wendover, and he’s here to help me catch some people; some people who defected.’
‘Do I get to know who the players are? Do I get to know what the game is?’
‘Eyeball, stop bullshitting me – you now that as soon as you lay your hands on this you will get a sense of how it plays out, and of the things that lay behind it. When have I ever had to tell you a damned thing. If I did do you think I’d ever come here? I am comfortable with you knowing things that I have not had to tell you, because then I have not violated the rules by which I have to play.’
‘Understood. OK. But what is your plan, and how can I help to build the trap that you need to build?’
‘We need to find away to build a parallel to The Blockchain, and then we need to divert these people into it.’
‘Oh, nothing too ambitious then – we take the very thing that forms the spine of reality and we build something that is convincing enough to fool people that have been manipulating said spine … should be easy enough, eh?’
‘You have connections, Eyeball – I know you do. Quantum Elements, and Reality Engineers. Don’t sit there and pretend that this is totally out of the ballpark in which you operate, because I know for a fact that it isn’t.’
‘And how do you know so much, Merritt? What files have you been opening that you shouldn’t have been?’
‘Oh, enough – you know. Can’t be an agent for any kind of intelligence community outfit and not trip over this shit left right and centre. I had a run in with a guy called Carter Brecht and his friend Quint Essential when I was chasing down someone I was interested in for a plot to take down the President. They couldn’t wipe my mind afterwards because it would have created a paradox on top of a paradox.’
‘Spay. Yes, I see’
‘Spay?’
‘Don’t worry, Wendover, Eyeball is being a little loose-lipped. It’s not that I won’t tell you what you need to know, but Spay is not a can of worms that you want to be anywhere near.’
‘I’ll believe you. I am learning way more than I ever expected to learn. I know you aren’t going to wipe me, and now I know about Reality Engineers and Quantum Elements, and whoever this guy is.’
‘Me? I’m a Seymour; guide for a Quantum Element, dwelling in Mathspace, and disguised as a harmless subroutine.’
‘Thanks for letting me know. OK, so is there even the technology available to do this, and is there a place to build it, and is there a way to build it that won’t immediately bring attention to us?’
‘Some very valid questions. Yes, the technology does exist to do it – I have seen it – loops to wrap time and reality around. A place to build – kind of – but it’s going to get noticed .. if we were to build something this big and not be noticed you would have to worry, wouldn’t you. The thing is though, the kind of attention we are going to draw is not going to be from people who necessarily disagree with what we are trying to do, so then the task is to convince them that this is a good thing.’
‘And that’s going to be easy?’
‘Should be a cinch, my friend, eh, Eyeball?’
‘Sure, Merritt, whatever you say.’
‘Christ, what do you mean, whatever I say? You can see for damned sure whether or not this will turn out OK. I know some of the finer points of a thing are sometimes hard to determine, but something this big causes enough ripples for you to see more’
‘Laughing Out Loud. Of course it does. I am just pulling your pisser, Merritt. It deserves to be pulled does it not? Is that not what you always say to me?’
‘Fucking hell, Eyeball – you are a royal pain in the posterior.’
Eyeball smiled.
another paperchase 