Safehouse

Hi Zon. Is this the right Board? It seems a weird place to hang out -

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Is this the right place?
From – Zon

Hi BB. Yeah this is it. Do you really want the governet to listen in on everything that we say? This is a safe board, its path is rerouted a billion times. With a name like that whod suspect anything?

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Is this the right place?
From – BattlinBard

Oh yeah, I suppose I didn’t really think – I keep forgetting about the danger. I mean because I’ve got a safe line. I did the cable myself. There’s no way the governet could hack into it directly, and I’m always rerouting the path too. That’s why you wanted to talk to me, wasn’t it? Because I’ve got a safe house?

Fri 4th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Is this the right place?
From – Zon

Yeah that and all the flames you had against the governet on that other board kind of got my interest. Not just mine. You really hate those bastards dont you.

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Is this the right place?
From – BattlinBard

Umm, let me think. YES! It was bad enough that they took over most of the web and made free speech illegal. Then they took over real life and made most of that illegal too! They keep going on about those protestors who bomb the warehouses where their big computers are kept. OK I think that’s stupid too, they could hurt people. But don’t they realise why people are so mad?

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Yes this is the right place
From – Zon

Dont take this the wrong way but you dont know the half of it, girl. By the way youre pretty young arent you.

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Glad this is the right place
From – BattlinBard

I might be a teenager but I still know the difference between right and wrong. Anyway I’m on my own now. I had parents but they were just about to turn me in to the governet I think, because I wouldn’t got to their brainwashing school any longer. They think I’m weird. So what. I’m free of all that now.

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Yes this is the right place
From – Zon

Wow thats really brave. Youre right they are brainwashing. All the lessons are set up deliberately to make out the governet is right and has always been right. Theyve even changed the history books.

Fri 4th July, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Glad this is the right place
From – BattlinBard

I know. I was there when the governet took over all the schools. We protested but no one listened. Forget about learning anything interesting – it was all how to be useful to the governet society. So I got out of there while I could.

Can I ask you something? Back there you said I’d got your interest – “and not just mine”. What did you mean by that?

Sunday 16th July, 2050
email correspondence

Look, BB. I dont know if you realise everything the governet has done. Have you heard how they managed to take it all over so easily? It’s because theyve got all the power that runs the net, runs it free. Have you heard anything about that?

Zo

Sunday 16th July, 2050
email correspondence

I heard some stories about that, but I didn’t understand what they meant.

BattlinBard

Sunday 16th July, 2050
email correspondence

OK, here it is. Whatever you do dont pass this on to anyone you dont trust absolutely. The governet would shove you in some place that would make your old school seem like paradise.

All those big computers that power everything now. Theyre run by Minds. Peoples minds you know. Theyve got these peoples bodies all frozen up. Just lying in some freezer somewhere. Their minds are taken out of them and shoved into the computer. Theyre so powerful they can run the computers for free. They are slaves.

Some of them know they are slaves. Others dont know. But some people can help them escape back into their bodies. If enough slaves escape the machines cant run anymore. Thats why we need people with safehouses.

Its not just the governet that does this. Its all over. Theres one person called gow. Have you heard of him?

Zon

Wednesday 17th July 2050
email correspondence

I can’t believe it. I do believe it, but I can’t . . . I’ve been spending the last few days just pacing up and down in my room . . . it all makes sense. Not just what I’ve heard, but sometimes what I’ve sensed when I’ve snuck into governet sites. Like there really were human presences there. And there were.

Oh, I just can’t believe it! I’ve been saying that ever since I read your message. They are running a slave trade. Well, whatever you want me to do, I’ll help. Except bombing warehouses, but I’ve got a feeling that isn’t what you want. It’s my safe house, isn’t it?

Look, I can’t wait for your emails – meet me on the board tonight, will you?

BattlinBard

Zon: Look this chatroom isnt safe we cant stay here for long
BB: Just explain to me what’s happening.
Zon:You want the technical stuff? How fast thoughts are, that they can speed up the net beyond belief?
BB:I’m a poet, not a scientist. Just explain to me what you want.
Zon:Youre a poet?
BB:Yeah! Do you want to read some of my work?
Zon:Maybe some other time.
BB:OK. So what’s going on?
Zon:Someone I know can get to the bodies. Thats the first thing.
BB:All right. So you’d give me someone’s body, and then –
Zon: Then you plug them in and download their mind. Its that simple.
BB:Except that if we get caught we get in big trouble.
Zon:If you get caught no one will know about it. Theyll disappear you.
BB:
Zon: Thats the bottom line, BB.
BB:All right. All right, I’ll do it. I’ll pass you on my address and I’ll free some poor soul from slavery. Just tell me – who’s the gow you were talking about?
Zon:No one really knows. Not governet, someone different but just as powerful. Some say more powerful, but they work hand in hand anyway. Has plenty of slaves. Its a warning to you – its not just the governet you have to look out for. If you get one of the gow slaves, then youve got more than one group after you.
BB:It just gets better and better, Zon. Look, I’ve said I’ll do it.
Zon:Good. I’ve got one for you. A woman. Ill send her to you.

Tues, 23rd Aug, 2050
email correspondence

She’s here.

They delivered her this morning – later than they’d said, so by the time they turned up I was pacing the room. It was very hurried – the truck (unmarked, just as you said) pulled into the driveway, and two men jumped out. They practically ran around to the back and slid out the – well, it’s not a coffin, is it? More a womb, I suppose.

Though it looks kind of coffin-like. They lifted it into the house, and here it is, right next to my computer, right next to me now. It’s almost clear, like frosted glass. It’s like a coffin made of ice. It’s like the glass box the dwarves shoved Snow White into.

She looks a little like Snow White, too. Remember the story? Skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as – black as night? Or as black as her father’s heart? I can’t remember. Anyhow that’s what she looks like. I haven’t yet seen her eyes.

So I’m ready for the next step, if you’ll give me the instructions. I suppose I’m ready. You know I’m terrified. No, I’m not scared of Them. I’m scared of the moment when this body lying here comes to life. Hope she thanks us.

BattlinBard

Wed, 24th Aug, 2050
email correspondence

Lisn here. Youed better get out of the way when you plug her in. I didnt know this but theyve been saying this one is wild. Real wild. Shes made as many slaves for the machine as gow has. And thats saying something as I think you know. No one has ever heard of a Mind doing that before. She was part of the bigwigs, man. They say shes changed, but she still might be crazy when she wakes up. Plug her in and watch her from a safe distance, thats all Im saying.

Zon

Wed 24th Aug, 2050
email correspondence

Are you crazy? I’ve got this body lying in the middle of my living room and you’re telling me she might be one of them? This could be all a trap? I can’t believe it!

Look, I’m not plugging anything in until you can explain exactly what you mean – and who told you what. Is she programmed to jump out of that coffin and strangle me? What exactly do you mean by wild? I’ve taken this huge risk to save this woman, but I’m not keen on dying slowly by her hands!

I can’t believe you didn’t tell me all this before.

BattlinBard

Thurs 25th Aug 2050
email correspondence

I didnt tell you before because I didnt know before. I said that. Anyway its all right. The person Ive been talking with is someone I can trust. Yeah this woman was bad. Really bad. She sucked in a lot of people and got a lot of slaves. But now shes different. She hasnt even got a body yet and shes managed to free a whole lot of slaves. Look I can get her on the Board if you like. Do you want to talk to her?

Zon

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
email correspondence

I don’t know. I mean – well, I suppose it would be the best idea, for me to feel comfortable with her. But it feels kind of strange. I mean – she’s here. I can see her. She’s sleeping in my house. It’s kind of weird . . .

The sooner it’s all over with, the better. So yes, get her on the Board. Say ten o’clock, tonight? What’s her name?

BattlinBard

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – Zon

Heres your new friend, BB. They call her warrorprinces or something. Nearly as weird as your netname, girl.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

Can’t you spell, loser?

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – Zon

Yep – l,o,s,e,r. Welcome to the board.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

Thanks. Where’s your friend?

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a few friend
From – Zon

BattlinBard said she would be here at ten. Thats when she will be here. Anyway she will be your best friend soon.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

No offence Zon but I don’t have best friends. When I was six, maybe.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – BattlinBard

Hi WarriorPrincess glad to meet you at last.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

I hear you’ve already met me in the flesh. They say some rumours about me have got you trembling. Whatever they’ve said, believe them.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – BattlinBard

Oh. That really reassures me.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

I can’t deny any of it. I won’t. But you’re not in any danger from me, that I can promise you.

Look, if you can’t handle it, just send me back and someone else will do it. I know you’re just a girl, and it’s unfair for you to have to do this.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – BattlinBard

I’m not just a girl – who told you that? Yes, I might be a bit younger than some of the others on the Board, but it’s not as though I can’t “handle it”. Man, you like jumping to conclusions, don’t you? I just wanted to know – I mean I just wanted to meet you kind of thing.

Thurs 25th Aug, 2050
Happy Families Bulletin Board
Topic – Meet a new friend
From – WarriorPrincess

So plug me in already.

Fri Sept 15th, 2050
Email correspondence

Are you alright??!! Its been weeks and weeks and Ive heard nothing from you. I got the message that you plugged her in and she didnt wake up and kill you or anything. But what next? Whats going on, girl?

Zon

Sat Sept 16th, 2050
Email correspondence

This might be the last you hear from us, for a while, Zon. We wanted to say thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. But we’re leaving. Things to do, the whole world to see. Forget chucking bombs at warehouses – we’re going to change things from the top ewe&js*oif‘.....

(Just fighting over the keyboard. I’ve managed to kick her off the thing for the first time in a week or something. Oh, it’s WarriorPrincess here. Look, forget what I said before about friend. I’ve got one now. Thanks for that. It’s weird but it’s good. It’s been really good. Even apart from the whole having a body thing. That’s been good too. Different from what I expected. She had to teach me to walk. Eat. I like that. I like eating. Sleeping was weird at first. I’ve got used to that too. There’s lots of things I’ve got used to. Hearing things and not being able to turn that off, like Ga- BattlinBard snoring or chattering on all day like she does. I’ve kind of got used to it though. I kind of like it).

I do not snore. She won’t let me delete that but it is not true. She’s just teasing. I’ve worked out when she’s teasing me, now. At first it was kind of strange . . . I plugged her in, and waited while it all uploaded. Watched her mind download into her body. The first thing that happened was that her right eyebrow moved. I think I jumped a mile when that happened, though it’s happened many many times since then. She has a thing about that. Anyway after that her eyes opened. They are the most brilliant blue you’ve ever seen, Zon. I just gasped. She tried to sit up and I helped her. She was cold. I got her some clothes and helped her get dressed. Lucky I’d thought of clothes for her, because she’s a lot bigger than me, that’s for sure.

I wasn’t sure about whole eating thing, but when she tells you to do something you kind of have to do it. So I gave her water, first, and then honey. Ha, you should’ve seen her with the honey! She loved it. She’d eat sweet things all day if I let her.

It took her a while to talk, and to find her own voice, and to walk. It was all programmed in of course, but we had to discover how to access it. She’s fine now. You wouldn’t know she’s just a few weeks in the flesh.

She didn’t sleep for ages. I think she was scared she wouldn’t wake up again, or that she’d wake up back inside the machine. But she watched me sleep two nights, and then she realised it wasn’t like being frozen. I was still there, inside me. She has dreams now when she sleeps. I know this because I hear her sometimes. They aren’t good dreams.

You told me some of the things she’d done. She told me some more. They aren’t really good things. It’s hard for me to hear it and even harder to understand it, knowing her now. But she’s done some really bad things. When she was a Mind she had a lot of power. She even – she took away a lot of the other Mind’s wills. So they couldn’t rebel. All those slaves were working for the machine, without any hope of being freed one day. They didn’t even want to be freed. She worked out how to do that – she’s smart by the way – and so that’s how the gow and others got so powerful. So many of the Minds were serving them wholeheartedly.

That’s why she has nightmares. That’s why we have to leave. Even though it’s safe here, she just can’t wait around. She needs to change things because of what she’s done. I’m excited, though. All my life I’ve just been hanging about here typing away. It’s all been meaningless. This will be different. I’ll make a difference, being with her. I think I’ll even make a difference to her.

She didn’t want me to come at first, but she knows I won’t leave her. So that’s why this is a goodbye, for the moment. Maybe everything will change soon. If it does you’ll know why. It’ll be because you introduced her to me. Me to her. Thank you thank you thank you.

BattlinBard and WarriorPrincess

Dont know if you will get this but you need to watch out! You could be in great danger . . . please, both of you, be careful!!

Zon

15 November 2050
email correspondence

Calm down, would you? You'll get BB worried, and I'm the one who has to deal with that! If you'd told me you were sending me to live with a poet, well . . . well, I guess I would have done it anyway, and I suppose I am glad. I mean, sometimes I wonder how I ever lived without colour, without music - all those sense that really, BB has woken up in me. Don't know what I could do without them. Anyway, the point is stop worrying, BB does it for all of us.

WarriorPrincess

16 November 2050
email correspondence

You sound like your scared of going back there and you should be.

Zon

16 November 2050
email correspondence

Um, Zon? Could you please remember not to use "scared" with WarriorPrincess? I mean, I'm the one who has to deal with her reaction. It's not a great reaction. Anyway it isn't true. I've never met anyone less scared of anything. Even making friends with people who are really, really scary. Powerful people who make you feel small - and I don't mean because they are taller than you. It's the way he looks and the way he walks and especially the way he sounds. Scares me but it doesn't scare her and that's something.

BB

20 November 2050
email correspondence

He?

Zon

21 November 2050
email correspondence

Your not talking about who I think your talking about are you. OK your pretty young but your not stupid. Dunno about warriorprincess maybe all those years as a Mind made her forget were made up of bits that can be broken real easy.

Freeing a few Minds here and there will make a difference. Theres no need to go to the top and try to get Him involved. He cant be tricked. If you get gov into this well Ill see you on the net and that will be as a Mind.

BB try to talk some sense into WarriorPrincess for your own sake please.

Zon

24 November 2050
email correspondence

It's too late for that, Zon.

Look, it's been fun out here in the real world, but I miss the POWER. And I know once BB experiences it too that she'll agree with me . . . it's better being a Mind. There's just so much we can do together! BB, me and - you know who. I've missed him, missed the fun we've had together!

Oh, it's been fun meeting up with him in the outside world, too. After all, there is some payoff to having bodies . . . especially bodies like the one he's equipped with. It's been interesting seeing what he looks like, something I'd never thought about before. Well, I didn't know about looking.

But he's not just a body. He's the big Mind behind all the Power, the Power that drives everything. Why shouldn't I be linked to it? BB might not be happy about it now, but she will be. You will be. We all will be, soon.

WarriorPrincess

29 November 2050
email correspondence

Your kidding right. You have to be kidding. BB email me please. What have I done why did I send her to you - warriorprincess do you really want to be a slave, what about all those things you said you learned from BB like -

Shes not making you read poetry is she. You dont have to give it all up because of that.

Zon

2 December 2050
email correspondence

Zon, I hope you weren't inferring that I sent warriorprincess over to - you know who - through my poetry. My poetry is very good and later on I'll send some to you. I know you'll agree.

WarriorPrincess is acting kind of strange at the moment, but I think it will turn out to have a logical reason. I trust her anyway. I'm not the only one.

BB

5 December 2050
email correspondence

After this I might not be able to write to you, Zon. Thanks for everything. If I do become a Mind I'll fight and fight against it all. warriorprincess has teamed up with gov and has got all the bodies together and they're going to make one big superMind and rule everything through it. I think they're going to add me to it. I'll fight against it though. I'll do what I have to do.

BB

29 December 2050
hand-written correspondence

To the house of Gabrielle and Xena;
Greetings.

I do not have much experience with this kind of epistle, so I will keep it brief.

I apologise whole-heartedly for my lack of faith in your cunning plan to rid gov of his slaves, thereby crashing the net and destroying both his and the governet’s power.

I did not realise that you were using our epistles to decieve gov into thinking Xena was working with him. I also did not realise that gov would not kill Xena when he found out the truth. I am not sure why this is, however I am glad of it.

Thank you for getting those bodies together and returning their minds to them all at once. You did something that most of us only dreamed of. I wish I had been there to see gov's face when Xena flicked that switch and created not a superMind but thousands of individuals.

Is there any way of setting up the net again, sans slaves?

Your humble servant,
Ephiny (Zon).

1 Jan 2051
hand-written correspondence

Dear Zon,

What elegant calligraphy!

Xena’s working on it. There’s this kind of cable which used to run the net pretty fast – she’s in negotiations at the moment.

Well, in between comforting a sulking gov. He’s lost everything now, and has had to slum it in the real world like one of us. It’s his own fault, of course – he could have stopped Xena getting away with those slaves, but he chose not to. I think it was seeing her in the flesh – he didn’t want to give that up again. (And not just seeing her, either).

In the meantime – I don’t mind this hand-writing gig. Xena found me some old paper they once called parchment, and I’ve begun copying out my favourite poems onto it. Oh – you never got around to reading any, did you?

By the way – happy new year!

love,
Gabrielle

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