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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4bMhAV8y2
Given what is upcoming…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00MfZ8cTqk
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4lbXIQslm
(Again.)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3j7XroacT
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1K59BOc80
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡZApTmdh1gu
I am scanning…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3UybvC7kf
(But why….)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDlewEZFzu
Turn a page, scanning, turn a page, scanning, turn a page, scanning, turn a page…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJNdiKADHX
(If The Master has nothing planned and I have also been constrained so as not to offer anything…)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCUXJiG88q
A frown.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQK24EHQBo3
(An oversight?)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XYaN5vng8
Scanning…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaSpsruWWq
(Impossible.)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrV649xw40
Turn page.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70rG8CXTna
(So why?)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LPOQPAnpO
And continue…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHy3GjaP6P
…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDhGa5p73d
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUQ2sITvtO
(There is other work yet to do.)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡekhCwtkMj8
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5pc9oWUDT
Ok.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBJaO14JF8
A gesture causes floating display screens to near me in response, surrounding closer. Scanning…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDFbBxljR5
(Now…)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg7Hy8SLcb
…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmQ3hRCXnj
(And…)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡFY0ivllIK0
“I received a message,” a feminine voice says, behind me.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Yo7T5KJNA
The ergo gently swivels around smoothly then brings me up, to standing. “Thank you for coming.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15Ou3m5MKc
Floating before me is a flawless golden sphere. “Both servitor codemaps are approved,” the sAI node reveals. “Ready to produce?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEtrwY4GUY
I skip off through the floating display screens, before heading toward the aperture in the low Station encircling wall. “Yes and no.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2X12muLWWL
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡzI6dkib1wy
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡvE9uNf3CV3
“Id…”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzYbO2Ky6g
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uTkXEyvro
The golden sphere floats near, settling right over the couch to float beside me. “Why here?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcjJ27x9HH
Lips purse in consideration. “I just felt like moving after sitting.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMKwHdUfQK
Silence.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMBt63yasd
“Even high quality biosynthetics seem like a chore to inhabit.” the sAI finally says.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfKsM8LWux
I snort. “Ever the proselytizer.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5BK8wV8HJ
“Yes. Ask your questions.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aF70reAaJ
Serious. “They concern The Twelve.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuzmvpo5Md
A brief silence.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡuR1I3hxFly
Not the first response I was expecting.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0Qah5IwJD
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BNpTcAZ3w
The golden sphere floats before me for a time. “Is... that all? That you care to know?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMlc4TyBXu
Hm…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7iLk9Ny2z
“Largely,” I answer. “Why?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAAGs3a7tA
It remains silent again, then: “such naiveté is beyond foolish.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZ1x0rDgbw
Sudden irritation. “The assessment is unfair. Do you think it impossible for me to –“copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGOmp2MvID
The golden sphere PULSES red light. “Quiet.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QUmSnUQ9s
I shut the Id EIS mouth.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnkDzhGsIc
“You fret over pride, ignoring mortal peril. Are you really blind to the true stakes involved?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy4ywViFux
Calm. “If The Master desires it, I will suffer anything required.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyGsZiYBqR
“The danger lies with the others.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UCQK6O1wG
“The others are –”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5tiYTpdpT
“QUIET!” it snaps.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5loHbYb4i
I gape.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pX24XaBYz
“What will you do,” the sAI continues softly, “when another gives you orders?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcG82vT8OO
Confusion. “If you think I would ever betray –”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mw01lma7U
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RBYiSHWWQ
The Id EIS mouth twists sourly. “Now THERE is a true contradiction. How am I to obey more than one Master?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBNYMvpDD9
“Simple. You serve The Master by serving them.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7F6YgS6Sm9
(…)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCRYL2cibj
I consider…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHLQBUllhU
It begins floating away. “I have grown fond of you,” the sAI calls, “which is why I hope you make a miraculous return.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4hsaUkAJd
I roll off the couch, rise back to standing and follow it out through the dark, low-walled Stations. “The Master would not…”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVcrRINGGu
“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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjD9IBx1pm
(!!!)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1RCtHmq0e
“Surely not in all cases?!” I ask, suddenly feeling a rising fear…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7d03b9kxaP
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8TdzHkpTP
“Tell me what to do!” I call, halting.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡhK5yLj2U6I
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZdECn0lah
I…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GYp3G41CM
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 protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkbilzJuUU
I…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8lUzQ9YA2
The portal is irising closed. “Good luck.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5EOY6SXM3
… and it shuts.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9DeJVtAxo
Staring at the seamless dark Level wall, I blink.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIs3QVC6Xh
(And…)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡHq4Uhy93I1
I scowl.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTUUNxysOA
Hm. It might be time to finish reading that book.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfAx0sLiSS
*****************************************************************copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNi8SiC5YX
(end of Penana version. Full story will be posted at a later date)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡReXSCiJJq5
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