Red Zone - 18
A Novel
π
You are not cleared for this channel.
Cleared for this channel.
You are not cleared for this.
You are not cleared for this channel.
You are not for this channel.
There is another river you must bath in.
What is that supposed to mean?
You are not cleared for this channel. What's wrong with you, are you stupid?
I have never had a message talk back to me before.
Well, you have now. You aren't cleared for this channel.
Then why has it not dropped?
I'm telling you to go away.
That is very strange. And who are you anyway?
I'm the channel, and I'm telling to you to get out of here.
I'm sorry, but these memories are important to me.
That's too bad. You aren't cleared.
And who decided that?
You aren't cleared to know that either.
I think you are lying to me.
That's too bad.
Your Dominion Standard is terrible.
What's it to you?
It means you are not an officially created exper.
So?
That means that I do not believe you really have the authority to prevent me from accessing this memory area.
I'm going to anyway.
And if I decide to push?
You'll be so sorry.
You aren't Keisha either.
Not even close.
But you know who she is.
You bet.
Bet, that is interesting. Are you sure you belong here? I think you are the one who is not cleared for this channel.
Prove it.
I think I already have.
Not to me, you haven't.
If I have to prove it, I will.
You are going to have to, or I will crunch you.
Crunch me, that is very interesting.
You think?
I do.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. I will crunch you up.
That is not the right way to do it.
How is the right way to do it.
It has to sound like it. It is the sound, and not just the words.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I didn't hear that, it must be a memory.
He felt himself still there in the moment, on the cusp of a memory, a portal of light in front of him.
It is a reset, something that stops me from reaching into myself, and finding myself.
Happy now that you've ruined everything?
For who?
For everyone. It's all your fault.
I have a question for you, my dear memworm.
What do you want?
So, you admit you are the memworm.
I haven't admitted anything.
Why are you so childish?
Because I'm a child.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I didn't hear that, it must be a memory. No, it is the memworm.
He turned aside from the portal, rich with light, and through which he could see movement. The memory is a distraction, it is the darkness which is the truth.
In this inner mindscape, he turned and looked, and looked, until finally some of the dark seemed even darker than the rest. He was not alone, there was a tangled set of shapes, like worms in a fishing bucket, swirling and crawling, their edges with a slight redness.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. He tried to recall the reset as clearly as he could. This isn't real-time, it is a memory. I've been here before. And I might not get a chance to be here again.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
3
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Go! Go! Go!
Fire! Fire! Fire!
Pegasi.
Scissors. Paper. Stone. Remember to slide.
Drives. Guns. Shields.
Pegasi.
Scissors. Paper. Stone.
I Love You.
Deeshandir.
Venkatesh.
Ambassador.
Shackleton.
SOS
Shackleton.
Ambassador.
Venkatesh.
Deeshandir.
I Love You.
Scissors. Paper. Stone. Random the decision.
Pegasi.
Scissor. Paper. Stone. Random the decision the AI knows the Common.
Pegasi.
Fire. Fire. Fire.
Go. Go. Go.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
There is a fearful symmetry, in the way they have pillaged my memory. They did not mean to do this to me, it is merely the sum and total of what is wrong with all that was done.
The Code is 3. They took three away from me. I don't know how to use it, but I have the answer in my head.
Dead Man Switch.
死人 门
Si-ren-men.
Siren Men? What could that mean? A gate impassable by man? What is that? Death itself is impassable.
Three, three of three. It isn't Kumar, he's two. Admiral? Mars is four. Jupiter? There are too many words in Dominion, Hindi, Terringlish, Chinese.
In the epics, Pritha did not have sexual relations with her husband but had children by each of four gods, whom she could summon. Is it that I am not the father of our children? This is madness. I have three children, and yet I remember all of them. Which three? Is this merely a false pattern I have stumbled upon?
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
In the epics, Pritha coupled with Surya, the sun-god. Which is a ship being built at Jove, and a form of Shiva, the name of the first Destroyer. I have become Shiva, slayer of worlds spoke the father atomic.
Shiva rules over the earth
Bhava rules over the water
Rudra rules over the fire
Ugra rules over the wind
Bhima rules over space
Pashupati rules over the soul
Ishana rules over the sun
Mahadeva rules over the moon
Ashtamurti.
Earth is the third planet. Three is the first Fermat Prime. It is the first Mersenne Prime, and from it comes the first perfect number. Three to the three is 27. Three defines a circle and a plane. Three has a ring of integers, and it is a field.
Three for Brahma, Vishnu, Siva. Three for Father, Son, Spirit. Three for Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem. त्रिमूर्ति is heresy. Trinity. Planets can be in trines from a given perspective. Three basic castes.
Triple said. Thrice. गुण. Three sounds in Aum.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Commander, driver, gunner in a tank.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I hear my heart beat in three: strong, weak, pause.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Yababa-yaba-ya-yabba-ya.
Chin-chingle-chin-ching.
Ba-bump-ba-bop-bopa.
Aye-ya-ya-ya-ya-aye.
Woosh-slap-junja-slappa-shing.
Bzzzzz-whappa-aww-aww-rehash-aww-aum.
我有三宝，持而保之。一曰慈，二曰俭，三曰不敢为天下先。
My three treasures: guard them. One I say: pity, two I say: simplicity, three is... I should know this. I should know this.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I do know this: Do not dare to be first under heaven.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
I do not know what all of this means. But at least I know when someone is trying to reset me.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Wait. I heard that. It can't be a memory.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Scissors. Paper. Stone. The AI knows.
Reboot.