Multireal by David Louis Edelman Page B

did not understand and simple questions he
could not answer. Even Horvil had knowledge gaps large enough to pilot
an OrbiCo space freighter through. Natch silently cursed Len Borda and
Magan Kai Lee for keeping him on the defensive for the past few weeks,
for keeping him on the run and away from MindSpace.
    Ten minutes later, the engineer emerged from the bowels of the
stadium brandishing his programming bar satchel like a trophy.
    Quell arose and brushed himself off, then reached for the soccer
ball that had rolled to a stop near his feet. "Again," he said, tossing the
ball Benyamin's way.

    The young apprentice did a few quick stretches, trying to psyche
himself up, unsure whether to be prepared for victory or defeat. He
wound up for the kick-
    And found each kick thwarted by Quell's goaltending, time and
time again.
    "Something's ... strange," said Ben, finally conceding defeat. "I'm
using MultiReal, just like before-but it just stops at some point. It
leaves me hanging there in midloop."
    "Limited choice cycles!" cried Horvil, rushing onto the field before
Quell could utter a single syllable. "I think I get this now. We put a
limit on the number of reality loops Ben can do at one time-but your
version of MultiReal still has no limits."
    The Islander nodded. He strolled back to the cart with the ball
clutched in one palm like another man might clutch an apple, then
deposited it gently on the top of the stack. Apparently the demonstration was over.
    "So why would anyone buy a MultiReal program with limited
choice cycles?" complained Benyamin. "It's useless. If someone else can
always trump you-"
    "Not always," interrupted Horvil. "The other guy would only win
if he's got MultiReal activated too-and if he's not running a limited
version like yours. I suppose if you're both running limited versions,
the person with the most choice cycles wins."
    Natch made his way to the bleachers and gripped the cold metal
railing with trembling fists. One of his last conversations with Margaret began to unroll in his mind, and for a moment he felt like he was
back in Andra Pradesh watching the bodhisattva prepare for one of her
dull presentations.
    It had been an offhanded statement of Margaret's: Frederic and
Petrucio have a limited license. They can release MultiReal products, but they
will be subordinate to yours.
    Natch, puzzled: Subordinate how?

    The Patel products will have a limited number of choice cycles, Margaret
had explained, whereas yours will be infinite.
    He had nearly forgotten about that snippet of dialogue, given that
it had taken place during an argument about how the bodhisattva had
lied to him. Only now did he understand what had transpired there.
Natch seethed. This was good news, to be sure-but how many more
of these moments would he have to endure? How many elements of
this MultiReal affair would become clear only weeks or months after
the fact?
    "So that's how Margaret decided to resolve conflicts among the
MultiReal licensees," he said.
    "Margaret explored a lot of different ways to deal with these conflicts," said Quell. "She spent years, but never came to any definite conclusions." The Islander walked to the sidelines and found a seat on the
bench normally reserved for the visiting team. "Actually, that's not
quite the right way to put it. Margaret came to the conclusion that she
shouldn't come to any definite conclusions."
    Ben frowned. "What does that mean?"
    "That means she wanted to keep the options open. Give the owners
and licensees every possible scenario, and let them sort it out for themselves. Margaret thought there might be different flavors of MultiReal
available from different resellers. Maybe each company would come up
with its own a la carte pricing. So she built every possible solution she
could think of into the program and made it easy for an engineer to flip
them on and off." The Islander threw one arm over the shoulder of the
chief engineer, who had