I am sitting cross-legged upon the white edge of the vast Tower roof at night, the dark lands of The Master’s Domain spread outwards kilometers below...copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxcmTjba1U
Given what is upcoming…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBzucSYs6Z
Running a hand across the Id EIS scalp, which is now smoothly bald again, I give a long sigh before picking up the utterly byzantine Rulebook of Twelve from a place on the rooftop beside me, set it upon the crossed Id EIS legs and firmly open the huge tomb back up, halfway.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡl420ItJ3hz
(Again.)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Q7fd0zobA
Prior Rulebook of Twelve chapters had ably outlined the seemingly endless basics constraining the progress of their only superficially unfettered immortal existence, including: complete Domain autonomy, Guest Right, the guidelines for semi-compulsory Meeting attendance, a detailed list of Meeting Delegate inviolability clauses, biosynth/automata Attendant propositional criteria for presentations, complex codas governing the process of Debate and Voting…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFbTaoL8QR
However: this current section of the Rulebook solely concerns an exhaustively comprehensive list of the social procedures for every Technological Presentation, public exhibit and social gathering in that freshly built current Iteration of a shining metropolis resurrected endlessly by The Master’s, called Dream City.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cVadEEWIV
I am scanning…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLMD1ZDAoP
(But why….)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHvmAFLlNC
Turn a page, scanning, turn a page, scanning, turn a page, scanning, turn a page…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWO961NKYv
(If The Master has nothing planned and I have also been constrained so as not to offer anything…)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuht7jsLUR
A frown.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5y5s9Ldvz
(An oversight?)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJvESCGFmE
Scanning…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡb38twgMZ1H
(Impossible.)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBMpHezts5
Turn page.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hOyWGaCmx
(So why?)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyAq17GO7I
And continue…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYjio1wXvZ
…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xhR5dxgQT
A quarter of the Rulebook remains when I close it yet again in frustration, then leave it upon the Tower roof before bonelessly rising back up to standing, above it all.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8snyuvfiC
(There is other work yet to do.)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOAh6ZjDWO
I walk from the edge of the Tower, stop, and begin descending smoothly upon a circular white platform into an oval cell, white and bare. The ceiling portal irises shut. Successive blue waves of light PULSE downward. A portal irises open, I step out of it and stride through dark, low-walled Stations receding out in great number across the Workstation Level, and into the dim, until one particular Station ahead births a subtle building glow, smartmatter dripping up, via gravimetrics, into silver display screens, brightening. I enter the Station, calling out: “compile list of service biosynths on 1, list of service automatons on 2, and Meeting estate schematics from previous bookmark on 3.” The Station ergo rises behind me, so I lean back against the comfortable ergo-surface conforming until it fit snugly against me along the entire length of the Id EIS body…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZmTQs7oIY
Ok.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡiv6KTFeoUx
A gesture causes floating display screens to near me in response, surrounding closer. Scanning…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SlBasAt6x
(Now…)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJxEDo6KMO
…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5kOPdu4Bp
(And…)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡBChXerqOVw
“I received a message,” a feminine voice says, behind me.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdgTSTiYD5
The ergo gently swivels around smoothly then brings me up, to standing. “Thank you for coming.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡNma7b0kF4W
Floating before me is a flawless golden sphere. “Both servitor codemaps are approved,” the sAI node reveals. “Ready to produce?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GymEMO4BK
I skip off through the floating display screens, before heading toward the aperture in the low Station encircling wall. “Yes and no.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXYRRQKaPo
The sAI node follows. “This is no time for whimsy,” it says, giving a brief pink PULSE. “Much is still left for us to do before you and The Master depart.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCKpKWp5Bu
I skip out of the Station aperture towards three dark Stations dissolving downwards, a subtle glow building at the center becoming an innerglowing open white space where a solitary circular flatcouch rises around a circular table rising gently to a stop.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Gaz3OmSTX
“Id…”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvVAmNr7Xg
Frontflipping onto the couch instead of answering, the Id EIS back lands first with a THUMP. “This won’t take long,” I assure it, lacing hands behind head to stare back towards it upside-down. “I just have a few questions to ask.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdTgCDc2JO
The golden sphere floats near, settling right over the couch to float beside me. “Why here?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKvHkywGqp
Lips purse in consideration. “I just felt like moving after sitting.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3UADho4ol
Silence.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUzebbSoeB
“Even high quality biosynthetics seem like a chore to inhabit.” the sAI finally says.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKmIsGhYnI
I snort. “Ever the proselytizer.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1LiCpA0uZ
“Yes. Ask your questions.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPUV457Wtl
Serious. “They concern The Twelve.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡxG6UpyAGwX
A brief silence.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUZ9dBzNC3
Not the first response I was expecting.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYSHTWM0Tg
I continue. “The Master gave strict orders concerning the three Meeting Days, but I would ask any advice on how to win it favor within the framework of those orders, to raise its standing among The Twelve.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrXsln0V3x
The golden sphere floats before me for a time. “Is... that all? That you care to know?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrrTBFvat7
Hm…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡeg56XY3KZW
“Largely,” I answer. “Why?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1loYNJlOFp
It remains silent again, then: “such naiveté is beyond foolish.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzRNsstYDW
Sudden irritation. “The assessment is unfair. Do you think it impossible for me to –“copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RcbY9a2U9
The golden sphere PULSES red light. “Quiet.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVvmUi6g7L
I shut the Id EIS mouth.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtkxhNZKLD
“You fret over pride, ignoring mortal peril. Are you really blind to the true stakes involved?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRuS2t2cvX
Calm. “If The Master desires it, I will suffer anything required.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuSRRNaX3i
“The danger lies with the others.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJL4g2RgMD
“The others are –”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtuomxSpKn
“QUIET!” it snaps.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6RfYJ29G6
I gape.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqQdu7flo2
“What will you do,” the sAI continues softly, “when another gives you orders?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡZivtHR0zgL
Confusion. “If you think I would ever betray –”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCSPSQyU0f
But the sAI interrupts me again. “We do not speak of betrayal. It will be… displeased, if you are not amenable to the others of The Twelve. Within reason.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sFSF9ZVvn
The Id EIS mouth twists sourly. “Now THERE is a true contradiction. How am I to obey more than one Master?”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuFtYnkZWB
“Simple. You serve The Master by serving them.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTeCI6th1t
(…)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2VbUBlUwR
I consider…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡiulYXklijh
It begins floating away. “I have grown fond of you,” the sAI calls, “which is why I hope you make a miraculous return.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3b7GUd9be
I roll off the couch, rise back to standing and follow it out through the dark, low-walled Stations. “The Master would not…”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHhzTcae6H
“Discard you?” the sAI supplies, when I still refuse to finish. “That would be the expected protocol. The Twelve typically leave all luggage behind after the third Meeting day as contaminated by their game. Then the city itself, and ALL left within it, is broken down to the atomic level. Undone.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6obsn8MIq5
(!!!)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k9brQ6F0h
“Surely not in all cases?!” I ask, suddenly feeling a rising fear…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDYccSom7v
Mercifully brief silence. “Not always, no,” the golden sphere says, continuing to float towards the dark Level wall where a portal is irising open to show a white cell, inside.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dUfFhos0P
“Tell me what to do!” I call, halting.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡx09HcByihy
It does not slow. “The Twelve are as equals, but not. To pass the centuries they play games with each other, proxies bearing the brunt. Goodwill is all that protects you. Nothing more.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbbyooqNLx
I…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPLd4qvsSv
A brief PULSE of white. “Forget pride, position, and any other distraction,” it tells me, now sounding almost kindly. “Stay close to The Master, courteous to the rest, and be ready for anything.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqvq8H2GZj
I…copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzvr7TPyHA
The portal is irising closed. “Good luck.”copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60pRdthJWa
… and it shuts.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡedBJEJrGqr
Staring at the seamless dark Level wall, I blink.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0G1w78qWH7
(And…)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡxN7WElqW4m
I scowl.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iAI2eruVS
Hm. It might be time to finish reading that book.copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWyXsG6SDN
*****************************************************************copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaB77fsxbw
(end of Penana version. Full story will be posted at a later date)copyright protection102ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiPu0SJsmF
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