strain

there is a silence that feels cold
a chill in the minds of everyone present
one conversation starts
then another
someone picks up on another conversation and adds something
to the children, they seem to move incredibly fast

– Riyadh – what did you see?
Cairo asks
Riyadh’s mind is swirling
– what?
Cairo’s voice remains gentle
– when you ran the nodes on Melbourne’s phone?
Riyadh seems stunned
– um… i don’t… it was
Melbourne turns her head quickly to look at her friend
– i don’t know what it was – it was – everywhere
– wait…
Melbourne says
– do you think you could do it again?
the others look toward them
Riyadh stalls as her mouth moves, but no sound comes out
– again?

Moscow looks at Seoul
– do you have any gear?
she’s tense
– at home… where i live, yes. four-unit parallel array, Taipei custom CPUs, chained Californian RAMless subPUs…
Moscow stares at her
– god
– what?
– no – nothing.
he pauses
– that’s more power than we’ve ever run, ever.
Seoul had never thought of it that way
– more than the Kharkov Task
she stares
– can you move it?
Seoul looks away for a moment and thinks
– i can get it here, anywhere else. might take a week.
Cardiff looks at her
– RAMless? and sub-processors too?
– it’s all custom… actually
Moscow turns towards him – he won’t understand
– but how is that possible? i mean, the RAMless thing i get, but you have to virtually be a government to afford it…
it’s been a long time since advanced technology was foreign to Seoul
– but how do you – custom built processor cores? how do you even get the code to run it all?
Moscow responds
– we don’t run anything we don’t code ourselves. from the ground up
Cardiff stares
Moscow begins to tell him about it, but Seoul becomes subdued as she listens to the others

– it was a Swarm, but nothing i’ve seen before
Riyadh tells Cairo
– they weren’t normal nodes, they weren’t even government nodes. or Fed stuff
Melbourne looks like she wants to speak but doesn’t
– the data was more… alive than that. more dangerous. but it just sat there.
– the nodes didn’t trigger you?
– no i mean – i was running a quick get-up that leeches distro from the school servers, well actually, and the other schools and universities in the city – anyway…
silently Cairo marvels at Riyadh’s skill. using distributed computing on such a large scale and keeping it unknown is nothing short of genius at such a young age
– it isn’t anything really powerful, and using educational equipment tends to mean dropping cycles all over the place, so i didn’t want to get too close
– but you did?
Riyadh nods
– at first i couldn’t see why these nodes had come up. i ran the trace from Mel’s phone’s nodes, and these big scary things were what i found
– normally when you see anything like that you freak and pull the plug, but yeah – they didn’t trigger. so i edge slowly closer to one that was logged at Lisbon
she looks at Cairo
– the traces were so feint, seemed so small. but this code – this code was alive, and the size of it was all wrong. the Ice on it wasn’t thick, but hell was it fast
and in a way it confirms the level of proficiency they had all been traced with
– i didn’t even bother shuffling. just got out and started constant re-write cycles. i miss that program, but it’s better off erased…

– it could be anyone,
Durban is saying
– we can stand here and say ‘what if’ forever – what if the GDCs didn’t adhere to reforms like they were supposed to, what if the Saudi-American Consortium didn’t have their systems disarmed…
Auckland speaks
– we need to find-out either way
– what if Taiwan and the goddamned CIA are at odds about data-trade and tea-biscuits for all we know…
Vitoria enters their conversation
– we can’t hide though
a pause
– we don’t have that option. Auckland? do we?
he looks at her
– i don’t think so, no
– i mean they – it – found us. we don’t have a choice
Durban begins
– we can be cleaner…
– that means not even leaving the tiniest trace, Durban. not even knowing if we’re all alive.
he stares at the floor
– we’d be as good as dead to each-other
Cairo throws a look at Auckland
Durban responds
– better that then shot

– wait…
Cairo looks at Melbourne, her eyebrows raised slightly
– code is one thing… but… guns
Durban lifts his hands to his head
Moscow looks at him
– guns and bullets and shooting and dying
her voice begins to shake
– goddamn
Durban whispers
– goddamnit
he says louder
Auckland and Cairo exchange a look
– maybe before we do anything else we should…
Durban pushes off from the wall and interrupts
– i don’t want to see Irish
– Durban…
Cairo attempts calmly
– we don’t even know what we’re dealing with, who we’re up against
– exactly,
Moscow adds
– but man i don’t know, realistically…
Auckland speaks
– we don’t know that we’re exactly up against anything. all the same…
– i don’t want to see Irish, Auckland – we aren’t killers. we code, we don’t kill people. Irish – he deals in killing people
– don’t you think we need some kind of protection at all?
Vitoria pleads with him
– we don’t kill people!
Durban shouts
Seoul begins to cry silently
– you put a gun in our hands when we don’t handle guns and ask us to be prepared to kill?
– no-one’s saying that…
– we don’t kill people! i don’t kill people!

– if someone’s going to shoot me then fuckit, i’ll die! nothing is worth me killing someone for!

Durban’s anger stills the apartment
Vitoria weeps
– how can you say that, Durban?
tears
– you were shot…
her eyes are earnest as she cries
Durban looks at her, realising now how loud he has been
fear
fear and frustration
exhaustion
– ah fuck
he mutters, barely audible
goes to the door and leaves