backward, and the version of himself occupying the past naturally, both subsisted beyond the experiment’s duration. The time traveler was molecularly volatile, bone idle, did not belong and knew it, exhibiting a darling paranoia and disassociation. If left, the time-travel subject deteriorated over a span of days, becoming increasingly dangerous due to this molecular volatility. Worse, it was found that the slightest physical contact between the two versions of the subject resulted in an exquisitely violent molecular event. It was clear that both versions could not safely be allowed to persist - the time-traveler must be incinerated at the nearest and dearest opportunity. The other, it must be stated, was as happy as a dog in a sidecar.”
It said here Cincinatti was the result of some guy experimenting in a garage - time got folded over and there were two versions of the same guy. One fainted and the other tried giving him the kiss of life, destroying the city in seconds. It was the sort of scenario Cincinatti folk had always dreaded.
Deal was shaping up to be worthy of Blince’s attention. And he started to wonder, did eels contain caffeine? Maybe just the head, which was the only possible reason for chefs to remove it. ‘Hey Dobey, what happened to them hotdogs? They ain’t out here in one minute I’ll rip off your ears and use them as suckers to climb that wall over there - right there.’
Blince’s radio went off - they had a lead on Parker.
When Dobey emerged with a fresh stack, the eatery was empty. He began sobbing like a child.
Restraint and the Kid picked over the trash in Jones’s digital foundry. They’d passed the stripped skeleton of Rosa’s jetfoil in a side alley - the only major component remaining was the rotar hub, because the brotherhood had clamped it. ‘This is hardsoft heaven, Trope,’ said Restraint now, punching out a safe door’s lock spindle with an airhammer. Download’s mainframe was linked to the offweb by a one-way airlock cable and for some reason was electron-shielded. Once inside there was an old-fashioned screen and keyboard.
This first generation download took a swatch at the schematic of the Deal Highrise now on the dredge and compared it with a version of the city plans stored in its memory. ‘Quite different,’ it stated. ‘And I haven’t been revised since my inception seven years back. The original schematic relates apparently to a multi-level stealth fortress. The official city plans have been hacked and amended.’
‘ That’s that,’ whispered the Kid. ‘Download thought he was on to the right stuff but someone had messed with it. And that’s what newted the heist.’ The Kid began idly sifting through a heap of prankware. He turned up a few clowny masks and, under a polkadot flak jacket, a scooby rifle. In front of a boarded-up elevator stood a medicine locker.
Restraint asked the download about Jones’s re-set virus. ‘No information. But I doubt the Master would seed a virus which would decimate his own download constructs.’
‘ But you ain’t affected by the dredge, I right?’
The medicine locker was stacked with drug clips. The Kid selected a cocktail cartridge and started breaking open the others, filling the cocktail clip with grail wizz and IQ boosters.
‘ I’m not affected by anything - nor do I affect anything.’
‘ So what’s the point?’
‘ Running a system is the quickest, shortest and only sure method of discerning emergent structures in it.’
At the shot Restraint fumbled the keyboard and turned to see the Kid with a jolt gun aimed at his heart. Metabolics were unaffected by his aversion programme and as he sat waiting for the cocktail patch to dissolve and the intelligence to come on, his pupils were the size of wrecking balls.
Restraint couldn’t believe the brotherhood had left so much jolt gear on the premises and gave silent thanks to a gummy god of his own invention. ‘All dependence and renunciation go
It said here Cincinatti was the result of some guy experimenting in a garage - time got folded over and there were two versions of the same guy. One fainted and the other tried giving him the kiss of life, destroying the city in seconds. It was the sort of scenario Cincinatti folk had always dreaded.
Deal was shaping up to be worthy of Blince’s attention. And he started to wonder, did eels contain caffeine? Maybe just the head, which was the only possible reason for chefs to remove it. ‘Hey Dobey, what happened to them hotdogs? They ain’t out here in one minute I’ll rip off your ears and use them as suckers to climb that wall over there - right there.’
Blince’s radio went off - they had a lead on Parker.
When Dobey emerged with a fresh stack, the eatery was empty. He began sobbing like a child.
Restraint and the Kid picked over the trash in Jones’s digital foundry. They’d passed the stripped skeleton of Rosa’s jetfoil in a side alley - the only major component remaining was the rotar hub, because the brotherhood had clamped it. ‘This is hardsoft heaven, Trope,’ said Restraint now, punching out a safe door’s lock spindle with an airhammer. Download’s mainframe was linked to the offweb by a one-way airlock cable and for some reason was electron-shielded. Once inside there was an old-fashioned screen and keyboard.
This first generation download took a swatch at the schematic of the Deal Highrise now on the dredge and compared it with a version of the city plans stored in its memory. ‘Quite different,’ it stated. ‘And I haven’t been revised since my inception seven years back. The original schematic relates apparently to a multi-level stealth fortress. The official city plans have been hacked and amended.’
‘ That’s that,’ whispered the Kid. ‘Download thought he was on to the right stuff but someone had messed with it. And that’s what newted the heist.’ The Kid began idly sifting through a heap of prankware. He turned up a few clowny masks and, under a polkadot flak jacket, a scooby rifle. In front of a boarded-up elevator stood a medicine locker.
Restraint asked the download about Jones’s re-set virus. ‘No information. But I doubt the Master would seed a virus which would decimate his own download constructs.’
‘ But you ain’t affected by the dredge, I right?’
The medicine locker was stacked with drug clips. The Kid selected a cocktail cartridge and started breaking open the others, filling the cocktail clip with grail wizz and IQ boosters.
‘ I’m not affected by anything - nor do I affect anything.’
‘ So what’s the point?’
‘ Running a system is the quickest, shortest and only sure method of discerning emergent structures in it.’
At the shot Restraint fumbled the keyboard and turned to see the Kid with a jolt gun aimed at his heart. Metabolics were unaffected by his aversion programme and as he sat waiting for the cocktail patch to dissolve and the intelligence to come on, his pupils were the size of wrecking balls.
Restraint couldn’t believe the brotherhood had left so much jolt gear on the premises and gave silent thanks to a gummy god of his own invention. ‘All dependence and renunciation go
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