Chapter 64 chapter Ten

The next day, Johnny and I teleported to the Whale Heart. At that time, I was wearing a fine attire—a pair of black palladium breeches, a top made of revived silk, with a Carverne bloodstone inlaid in the opening, and a Top quality Rimbley tricorne hat.I asked Johnny to stay in that faux wood and faux copper bar near the hub terminal, but before I left, I slipped him a paper bag containing my father's automatic pistol, and told him that if anyone looked at him , just shoot him, even if the man is cross-eyed. "Webspeak is really hard to understand," he said. "That word is much older than the Web," I said, "just do what I tell you." I squeezed his hand tightly and walked away without looking back.

I took a skybus, I got to the government buildings, I walked all the way, went through about nine security checks, and finally they let me into the center grounds.I walked half a kilometer through the deer park, admiring the swans in the nearby lake and the white buildings on top of the hills in the distance.Then, there were nine more checkpoints, and finally, a woman from Central Security led me up the flagstones and into the government building.It is a low, but extremely elegant building, set among gardens and picturesque hills.There is a waiting room that is extremely tastefully furnished, but before I can take a break from sitting on this veritable pre-Global de Kooning piece, an assistant appears and leads me into the CEO's private office.

Meina Gladstone came around the desk, shook my hand, and beckoned me to sit down.For so many years, I have been seeing her on holographic TV, but now seeing her in real life makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I was even more impressed by her in real life: her hair was cropped short, but seemed to explode in gray waves; her face and jaw had a Lincolnian edge, like all polymaths who study history, but towered over the whole. On the face, there are big and sad brown eyes, which make people feel as if they are standing in front of a real primitive man. I feel parched. "Thank you for meeting me, Ms. Executive. I know how busy you are."

"No matter how busy I am, I still have time to see you, Braun. Just like your father will find time to see me no matter how busy he is. Back then, I was just a junior member of parliament." I nod.Father mentioned this to me once, when he said that Meina Gladstone was the Hegemony's only political genius.He knew that, although she was a late starter in politics, one day, she would be CEO.I wish my father would live to see this day. "Braun, is your mother okay?" "She's fine, Ms. Executor. She hardly leaves Liberty Island now, at our old summer retreat. But I visit her there every Christmas."

Yue Shi nodded.She had been sitting casually on the corner of the large desk that the tabloids said had once belonged to the last president of the United States, an assassinated president—but not Lincoln.Now, though, she smiled, walked back to the humble chair behind the desk, and sat down. "I miss your father, Braun. I wish he could sit in this seat. Did you look at the lake when you came?" "Look." "Do you remember, you and my Kristen over there playing with toy boats? You were both just learning to walk." "Just an impression, Ma'am Executor. I was too young."

Meina Gladstone smiled.At this time, an intercom beeped suddenly, and she waved her hand to stop it from beeping. "Browne, how can I help?" I took a deep breath. "Madam Executive, as you may know, I am now an independent private investigator..." Without waiting for her to nod, I continued, "I was working on a case recently, and this case took me back to my father's suicide... " "Braun, you know, the investigation was particularly thorough. I have read the report of the investigation team." "Yes," I said, "I've seen it too. But recently I've discovered something very strange about the core of the technology and its attitude to the world of Hyperion. My father and you were not promoting A proposal to introduce Hyperion into the overlord's protection body?"

Yue Shi nodded. "Yes, Braun, but we also considered introducing a dozen other colony worlds that year. None of them succeeded." "Yes. However, I would like to ask, is the Kernel and Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council particularly interested in Hyperion?" The Executor tapped his lower lip with a stylus. "Braun, what news do you know?" I started to answer, but she held up a finger for me to stop. "Wait," she pressed the interactive panel, "Thomas, I'll wait a few minutes before coming out. I may arrive later than scheduled, please be sure to treat the trade delegation from Draco well."

I didn't see her press any other keys, and suddenly, a blue and gold teleporter buzzed on the far wall.She motioned for me to go in first. A prairie, covered with knee-high golden grass, stretches endlessly to the distant horizon.The sky was pale yellow, with streaks of shiny bronze that might have been clouds.I didn't recognize which world this was. Meina Gladstone entered, touching the comlog device on her sleeve.The teleporter blinked and disappeared.A warm breeze blew by, and the fragrance came to the nostrils. Yue Shi touched her sleeve again, glanced at the sky, and nodded. "Braun, sorry for the inconvenience. Cass Old Laussel does not have a data network, nor does it have any satellites. Now, please continue what you just said. What news did you find?"

I looked around the empty grassland. "Maybe...it doesn't take so much trouble to come to such a safe place to talk. I just found that the technical core seems to be very interested in Hyperion. They built a simulation of the old land...a whole world!" If I had expected shock, surprise, I would have been disappointed.Yue Shi nodded. "Yes. We know about the Old Land simulation." Instead, I was shocked. "Then why not even announce it? If the kernel can rebuild the old land, many people will be interested." Yuegu started to walk, and I wandered after her; she took a big step, and I quickened my pace to keep up with her. "Braun, the Overlord doesn't want to publish. Our best sources of human intelligence have absolutely no idea why the Kernel is doing this. They don't understand at all. Right now, it would be wise for us to wait. What news do you have about Hyperion ?”

I don't know if I can trust Meina Gladstone, then or now.But I understand that if you want to take it, you must first give it. "They simulated and recreated an old land poet," I said, "and, they seem to be obsessed with ghosts, trying to keep this simulated person from knowing anything about Hyperion." Yue Shi picked a long grass stalk and bit it in his mouth. "John Keats Cyberman." "Yes," I was more careful this time, not easily showing surprise, "I know that my father strongly demanded to obtain the status of protector for Hyperion at that time. If Kernel had any special interest in that place, they might have something to do with it. ...perhaps manipulated...”

"Your father's apparent suicide?" "Isn't it?" The golden grass rippled in the breeze.From the stalks beneath our feet, something very small flew away. "That's not out of the question, Braun. But we have absolutely no proof. Tell me what this Cyberman wants to do." "Tell me first, why the kernel is so interested in Hyperion." The elderly woman spread her hands. "Braun, if only we knew, I could sleep better at night. As far as we know, the technological core has been fascinated by Hyperion for centuries. CEO Yevshinsky once allowed Aspen to The colonization of this planet by King Billy of Quess almost knocked the AI ​​out of the Ring. More recently, we've built a hyperluminescent transmitter there, which has brought about a similar crisis." "But AI isn't quitting." "No, Braun, it looks like they need us more than we need them, for whatever reason." "But if they're so interested in Hyperion, why don't they join the Ring? So they can go there themselves?" Yue Shi combed her hair with her hands.There must have been some violent torrent blowing through the rippling of the bronze-coloured clouds high above. "They're very stubborn about keeping Hyperion out of the Web," she said. "It's an interesting paradox. Tell me what the Cybermen want to do." "Tell me first why Kernel is so fascinated by Hyperion." "We can't be sure." CEO Yue Shi pulled out the grass stalk from his mouth and looked at it. "We believe that the cores are working on a completely incredible project that allows them to predict... everything. Let them manipulate all variables, variables of space, time, history, as a manageable piece of information." "Ultimate Smart Project." I blurted out, realizing I was being rash, but let it go. This time, CEO Yueshi did show shock. "How did you know?" "What does this plan have to do with Hyperion?" Yue Shi sighed, "Braun. We can't be sure. But we do know that there are abnormal things on Hyperion, and the technical core can't take this factor into predictive analysis. Do you know the so-called Time Tombs? The Church of the Shrike considers it sacred." "Of course I know. Time Tomb is temporarily closed to tourists." "Yes. Since a researcher had an accident there a few decades ago, our scientists confirmed that the anti-entropy field near the Time Tomb is not just a protection from the erosive effects of time, as is popularly believed. .” "What the hell is that?" "It is a kind of field...or in other words, it is the remnant of power. In fact, it is it that drives the Tomb of Time and the things inside it to start from a distant future and go backwards in time." "Things in the tombs?" I said, "but the Time Tombs are empty. Empty since they were discovered." "It's empty right now," said Meina Gladstone, "but there are indications that there was once something inside, and as soon as they were opened, there will be something full in our not-too-distant future." I stare at her. "How far?" Her black eyes were still tender, but she shook her head, and the conversation was over. "Braun, I have told you too much. You are not allowed to tell others. If necessary, we will guarantee your silence." In order to hide my doubts, I picked a leaf, tore it into several pieces, put them in my mouth and chewed them. "Okay," I said, "what's going to be in the Time Tombs? Aliens? Bombs? A couple of space capsules going backwards in time?" Yue Shiban smiled. "Braun, if we knew, we would be able to go beyond the inner core, but we don't." The smile disappeared. "There is a hypothesis that the Time Tombs are related to the future war. Perhaps, by rearranging the past, we will have a grudge against the future." liquidation." "By heaven, who is that fighting against whom?" She spread her hands again. "Braun, we're going back. Now, can you tell me what this Keats Saber wants to do?" I looked down, then turned to meet her calm gaze.I can't trust anyone, but the Kernel and the Church of the Shrike all know about Jonny's plans.If this is a three-way romance, then either party should know about it, in case there are good people in the gang. "He's going to inject his consciousness into the cyberbody," I said awkwardly. "Ms. Gladstone, he's going to become human and go to Hyperion. I'll go with him." She stared at me and was silent for a long time.She is the consul of the House and the overall situation, and the chief official of the government, which spans almost two hundred worlds and governs tens of billions of human beings.Then she said, "Then he's going on a pilgrimage in the Saints ship, isn't he?" "right." "Impossible," said Meina Gladstone. "What did you say?" "I mean, 'Sequoia' is not allowed to leave the Overlord's space. There will be no more pilgrimage, unless the House sees it as beneficial to us." Her voice was hard as steel. "Me and Johnny will go in the gyro," I said, "Pilgrimage is a loser's game anyway." "No," she said, "there will be no more civilian gyroships going to Hyperion during this time." The word "civilian" caught my attention. "Is there going to be a war?" Yue Shi's lips were tightly closed.She nodded. "The orbiter can go there after that." "War... against the Ousters?" "At first it was. Braun, you can look at it this way, it's a way for us to force the technical core to make a statement. Either we put Hyperion into the ring and put it under the protection of the military, or it falls into the Another race has it, and this race is contemptuous of the kernel and of all artificial intelligence." I didn't mention what Jonny once said, that the Kernel had contact with the Ousters.I said, "A way to force a statement. Fine. But who's going to put the Ousters on the line?" Yueshi looked at me.If her face was Lincoln's at that time, then Lincoln in Old Land was a hard-liner of a bitch. "Braun, it's time to go back. All this information can't be revealed, you know how important it is." "I know for a fact that you don't tell at all even if you have no reason," I said, "I don't know who you're trying to pass this nonsense to, but I know I'm a messenger, not a confidant. Girlfriend." "Braun, don't underestimate our determination to keep the secret." I laughed. "Ma'am, I wouldn't underestimate your determination in anything." Meina Gladstone waved her hand, motioning for me to advance through the teleportation gate. "I have a way of finding out what the kernel is doing," Johnny said.At this point, we're driving a rented jetboat on Infinity Sea, just the two of us, "but it's dangerous." "Then what's new?" "I'm telling you seriously. Unless we feel that we must find out what the core is afraid of... about Hyperion, we can only try this method." "I must figure it out." "We need an operator. An artist in data plane operations. Someone smart, but not too smart to take a chance. Someone who's willing to risk everything, and will help us keep our secrets." kept secret forever." I smiled at Johnny. "I have just such a person." Pipi lives alone in a tenement apartment at the bottom of a tenement tower in the cheap neighborhood of Whaleheart.But none of the hardware he owns is cheap, and all four rooms of his apartment are crammed with it.For the past ten years, most of Pipi's salary has been invested in these cutting-edge cyber toys. I told him straight to the point that we wanted him to do something illegal for us.Pipi responded that, as a public employee, he would not consider doing such a thing.Then he asked what was the matter.Johnny began to explain.Butt leaned forward, and I saw the eyes of this elderly cyberrunner glow, the way I haven't seen him since college.I thought he was trying to tear Johnny up and down right then and there to see how the Cybermen worked.Then Johnny gets to the fun part, the glimmer in the asshole turns into a glow of energy. "I self-destructed my artificial intelligence personality," Johnny said, "and transferred it to the consciousness of the cyber body. In the defense, the defense of my area will drop. The security phage will rush to fill the gap in the next few nanoseconds, but, at that time..." "Into the core," Pitt whispered, his eyes gleaming like some old video display terminal. "That's very, very dangerous," Johnny solemnly emphasized. "As far as I know, no human operator has ever broken through the outer defenses of the core." Butt wiped his lower lip. "There's a legend that Cowboy Gibson did it, right before the kernel quit," he murmured, "but no one believes the legend. And the Cowboy's gone." "I have precise data coordinates," Jonny said, "but even if you break through, you don't have enough time to get close and get it." "Fucking hot enough," Pitt whispered.He turned back to the console, touched the shunt, and said, "Open it." "Do it now?" I said.Even Johnny was taken aback. "Why wait?" Butt clicked into the shunt, attaching the posterior cortex wires, but he set aside the platform and let it idle. "Does it work? Or something else?" Johnny was already on the recliner and I stepped forward, came over to him, and grabbed his hand.He was icy cold.His face was expressionless, but I could imagine what exactly it must have been like to face the impending destruction of a personality, the destruction of a pre-existing existence.Even if the transfer was successful, the John Keats personality would no longer be "Johnny." "He's right," Johnny said. "Why wait?" I kissed him. "Okay," I said, "I'll go in with the ass." "No!" Johnny squeezed my hand hard, "It's too dangerous there, you can't help." I heard my voice, as stubborn as Meina Gladstone's. "Maybe. But I can't ask Butt to go on an adventure alone and I don't do anything. I won't leave you there alone." I squeezed his hand one last time and walked over to Butt , sat at the console. "Bullshit, how do you connect these bullshit things?" If you've read all about cyberrunning, you know the frightening beauty of the data plane.Look at the three-dimensional scenery beside the highway: black ice, neon perimeter defense line, colorful and glowing strange downtown, flashing skyscrapers in the data block, and artificial intelligence clouds overhead.I was riding on the ass carrier and saw it all.That's almost too much.too strong.too terrifying.I can hear the menacing threat of giant security phages; even on the cold screen, I can smell the death breath of the counterattacking tapeworm virus; It's a bug under the elephant's feet, and we haven't done anything yet, just pass through an access portal of the ass, driving on the approved data road, and that thing is the record and statistics of the ass for traffic control A homework assignment designed for work. I had wires attached to me watching it all, it was a distorted black and white TV in the data plane, and at this very moment, Johnny and Butt were looking at the full simulated hologram of the stimulus, as it were. I don't know what they think. "Okay," Pipi whispered, in the data plane, the voice is equivalent to a whisper, "Here we are." "Where are you going?" All I saw was an infinite maze of bright lights and brighter shadows, ten thousand cities arranged in four dimensions. "Inner Boundary," Pitt whispered, "hold on. It's about time." I don't have arms to hold on to, and there's nothing tangible in the world to grab, but I'm focused on the wave shadow, our data truck, and I'm holding on tight. Johnny died right then and there. I have faced a nuclear explosion head on.When my father was a congressman, he took my mother and me to the Olympus Command School, where we watched a demonstration by the Ministry of Defense.That was the final lesson, the audience's observation pod was teleported to some desolate world...I think it was Armaghast...A team of ground reconnaissance platoon from the military headquarters fired at an imaginary enemy ninety kilometers away A non-radioactive tactical nuclear bomb was fired.The observation cabin is equipped with a tenth-level polarized shielding field protection, while the nuclear bomb is just a 50,000-ton equivalent field tactical bomb.But I will never forget that explosion, the 80-ton cabin was bumped on the seed wheel with the shock wave, like a leaf.The physical onslaught of light was horrific, polarizing our containment field into pitch black midnight, leaving us in tears and screaming to break into the pod. And this is worse. An area in the data plane seemed to glow, explode, and shrink inward, swallowing the darkness. "Hold on!" Pitt screamed, sound crashing against the static of the data plane that was rasping my bones, and we were spinning, rolling, sucked into the vacuum like bugs dropped into an ocean eddy. But, unbelievable, unimaginable, the black armored phage somehow penetrated the noise and madness, and they rushed towards us.Pipi dodged one of them, and the other phages sprayed out acid films, and Pipi used his own method to return it to him.But we're still sucked into something that's colder and darker than the emptiness of reality. "There!" Pitt shouted, his voice simulated disappearing into the tornado currents tearing through the data network. what's thereThen I saw it: a thin yellow line, rippled in the turbulence, like a banner in a hurricane.Butts rolled us, found our own waves, carried us against the wind, and found the coordinates of the district, which flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't see them.We are riding the yellow tape into the... ...into what?A frozen fountain of fireworks.The transparent mountains of data, the endless glaciers of storage tools, the access nerve centers that spread out like cracks, the iron-colored clouds of half-knowing internal processing bubbles, the fiery pyramids of raw materials, all these things, by The lake of black ice and the army of black pulse sandpaper defended. "Damn." I whispered to myself. Pipi followed the yellow tape to dive, enter, and pass through.I felt a real connection, as if someone had suddenly placed a whole bunch of stuff in our hands. "There it is," Pitt screamed, and suddenly there was a sound, louder and brighter than the maelstrom that surrounded us and wiped us out.Neither a siren nor a siren, both contained in that tone of alarm and aggression. We're climbing, running away from it all.Through this brilliant chaos, I could see the gray blurred walls, and suddenly I knew that was the boundary, and although the void was shrinking, it was still destroying the wall, like shrinking black paint.We are climbing away. But not fast enough. Phages hit us from all directions.In the twelve years I've been a detective, I've been shot once by a bullet and cut by a knife twice.The ribs were broken multiple times.And all the injuries that have been suffered before can't compare to the pain this time.Meanwhile, Pipi was still fighting and climbing. In this critical moment, all I can do is scream.I feel cold claws grabbing us, pulling us down, back into light and noise and chaos.Butts are using some program, some magic formula to beat them back.But this is not enough.I could feel the force hitting me—not me, mostly, but the Matrix sim in the ass. We are sinking back.A relentless force drags us down.Suddenly, I felt Johnny's presence, as if a huge, strong arm pulled us up, and just before that stain sealed our hope of survival, before the defense field closed like iron teeth, Carried us through the perimeter wall. We are traveling at incredible speeds on the crowded data roads.We outrun the courier of the data plane, overtake the other operator simulations, like the electromagnetic cart overtakes the bullock cart.We then approached the gate to slow time, leaping over the back of the excited operator sim locked in the grid in some sort of four-dimensional high jump. As soon as we emerged from the Matrix, I felt the inescapable nausea of ​​this transition.Light burns on my retina.Really light.Then, pain pounding my body, I fell over the console, moaning. "Come on, Braun," Johnny—or someone who looked like Johnny—helped me to my feet and walked me toward the door. "Ass." I gasped. "Stop talking." I opened my pained eyes and just looked, and saw Butt Sablinzhi slumped in front of the console.His Stetson hat fell off and rolled to the floor.His head exploded, spattering the console with gray-red brains.The mouth was wide open, and a stream of thick white foam was still flowing out of the mouth.His eyes looked molten. Johnny grabbed me and picked me up. "We've got to go," he said softly. "Somebody's going to be here any minute." I closed my eyes and let him lead me out of here.