V.W.G
“Have you any idea how it will show up, Vlad?”
“On the computer it’ll show up in code - you’ll need to run it in DOS -
it should be easy to spot. But in the real world? I’ve no idea,
Professor. It could be a minor change like a sensation, although if we
switch, it should be a lot bigger.”
The professor ran the computer in DOS and the three large screens
displayed rows of figures and symbols, some with cursors and question
marks at the end. Vladimir joined him and started typing in commands,
causing large quantities of data to scroll across the screen. The
professor winced at it. “Are you sure it’ll be easy to spot, it looks
chaotic to me?”
“You’ll see, I’ll explain it as it runs.”
“And if we switch, what do you think we’ll see?” The professor stepped
back from the computer picking up his mug and blowing the mini
marshmallows round.
“It could be drastic, like in HG Wells Time Machine; we could end up in a
whole new world. Or it could be subtle, like a change of wall colour or
something.”
The professor laughed. “I can’t imagine finding ourselves in a jungle.
If we’re in a simulation, all the parallels will appear the same,
surely? Depending on the cause behind each parallel.”
“Well, we’re assuming the parallels at this point, Professor - more than
the sim I think. And that means we could end up anywhere in the world
as we know it, without having any relation to a causality difference.”
“What like jumping around the planet or something?”
“Yes, sort of.”
“So we could end up on a beach in Maui, for instance?” The professor
took a seat in one of the armchairs scattered around and sat back
sipping at his drink.
Vladimir smiled. “We could.”
“Will there be a variant on when?”
“It’s not a time machine Professor, and as far as I’ve been able to tell
there is no way of going back to an old sim; they occur in real time.
If there is a storage database then I haven’t discovered it yet.”
Vladimir continued to type commands into the computer, until eventually
the scrolling data became more uniform.
“Is that the mainframe you’ve found there, Vlad?”
“Yes, Professor, I’m in now. When the time comes there’ll be a space between the figures.”
“And what do we need to do?”
“When it scrolls down to here,” Vlad put his finger on one of the screens, “I’ll hit enter.”
The professor waited but Vladimir didn’t continue. “What? That’s all?”
“Yep.” Vladimir picked up his mug of cocoa and started sipping.
“Sounds a bit simple.”
“Trust me Professor, getting to this point was anything BUT simple!”
The Game
The man moves round the shop fondling all the shirts down one side, and
studies a few as though searching for one in particular. He eventually
works his way round to the rack David and Rob are standing at. The
assistant pays him no attention, but Rob is watching him, causing David
to do the same.
David can only see the bottom half of the man’s face under his hat. He
has a long chin with a few days stubble on it. He appears dishevelled as
though he’d been in the same clothes for several days, which isn’t
exceptional here, but David is transfixed as though compelled to watch
his every move.
The man starts to finger the clothes next to David, touching each item
and looking hard at the fabric, the brim of his hat almost touching the
rack. Then he speaks: “Enjoying the little lapse, are we?”
David stiffens, his eyes moving from the man’s fingers to his face. He
expects to see the Jester but instead finds a rugged, middle-aged man.
This is not the man he glimpsed in the Bull’s Tavern or in his dreams.
The man smiles.
“Don’t look so surprised, David, you knew I was here. Isabella’s rather beautiful, isn’t she? I did enjoy being in her.”
David opens his mouth to speak but he’s at a loss for words.
“Oh come now, so tense? That won’t benefit you. You have to be loose and flexible if you want to catch me.”
This breaks David’s paralysis; he grabs the man’s forearm, but the man only smiles wider and shakes his head.
“No, no, no. As I am, David, as I am.” His eyes start to change. “The man I am currently occupying isn’t much good to you.”
David loosens his grip and the man steps back, his face beginning to
change. David glances at Rob whose shocked expression tells him he’s not
the only one witnessing this transformation.
The eyes on the man’s face go dark and the skin starts to break up;
clumps of pink flesh roll up and drop to the floor revealing the grey
taut skin beneath. He opens his mouth exposing rotting teeth and starts
to cackle, the laughter growing louder as he walks backwards out of the
shop.
David and Rob remain rooted to the spot throughout, until the Jester
passes through the doorway. When their paralysis breaks and David
realises what he has to do: now the Jester is himself, he has to catch
him.
He drops the clothes he’s holding and runs. The Jester is out of sight
by the time he reaches the door, but he catches a flash of his
coat-tails as he disappears down an alleyway on the left. David gives
chase, hearing Rob behind him as they both skid round the corner,
sprinting hard until it dawns on them he’s no longer in sight.
David can hear his cackle rising to its screaming crescendo.
“Can you hear it?” he yells at Rob.
“Hear what?”
“His laughter.” David’s pace slows.
“I can’t hear a thing.” Rob comes to a stop, bending over to catch his breath. “Who is he?”
David stops too. “Just a ghost from the past.” The cackle starts to fade.
“What? That’s a pretty lively ghost if you ask me.”
David turns round and starts walking back up the alley.
“
Where are you going?” Rob calls after him.
“To buy those clothes.”
Rob pauses for a moment, blinking, and then follows.
| 
No comments :
Post a Comment