flow of events and events with fluids |
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| The day before a transport tube brought
a new shipment of old wine from southwest. Wine was beer, poured into beer
cans, tasted like beer, but it was wine. Some thought the wine tasted like
beer, others vice versa. Both the some and the others had a headache later. |
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| That day, Deina Kyerg, artist (batique on metal fibres),
received a strange banking report: twenty gig income for"intellectual services".
No problem, she thought, it will clear up by itself. Why don't you tell me
anything? - her, whatever she may be, a gallerist otherwise, asked. You deal
with other gallery without my knowledge, eh? I'm leaving |
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Lacking a conference room, the mayor gathered the city council next
morning in the monumentalist gallery. The attendance wasn't too high, mostly
criticists in a hunt-a-host phase, and writers in search of a plot. Only some of the night workers plugged into the open channel, and that is as if
they were here. |
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-Speaking to all attendees: city is lightly cracking down the stitches.
Some of you may have had the first chance to see what autodoc is for, if they
drank the thirty-six wine, or if they ordered some exotic munch. I've hadbetter
luck: switched ten cabins to come here. First nine times it took meto maternity
ward, and I had to go back to try again. Couldn't get here the usual way, until
I came directly here. Anyone noticed anything else? |
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|
-I wanted to call you to see why can't I watch the south channel,
but got the northwest channel instead of you. Did not get connected at all. -Much of flicks are we. And it's cops, not flicks. I've read
the old stuff, those were the masters. We've rather learned how to cure their
mistakes,how to improve our public image, to make people love us. Talking
straight, I have no idea how to do the job. If I got those old books right,
for most of the matters a detailed knowledge of the situation is sufficient, and
strong, broad logic. For the first one, I got the man. Just let me see
if she's still asleep. Ah, here she is. Hello, we have gathered. Say what
you got. |
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-Why are you all looking at me like that? Oh, when will people get used to looking like nothing themselves first five minutes after wakeup. I fell asleep just two hours ago after a long... go right to it? Well, I'm for a technical approach. Since the events which occur lately are mostly of technical nature, I've asked around on the works of this engine of hours. I've found... almost nothing. Nobody knows a thing. The books are a magnificent mess and the screen pours a sea of things, which I'll be capable to manage next year, because I simply don't know enough to ask the right questions, to get the right answers from it. The only thing I've found out is that until some ten years ago, there was some group for tracking the city development,so the city sent it every proposition it made, and they forwarded it to the council, if they had doubts. In last twenty five years, the group has not rejecte dany of city's propositions, and only twice they had some remarks.Yes, those were sustained. Ten years ago the group ceased gathering, and existing as well, without anyone's notice. The city's developing all by itself ever since.On screen you see things introduced since, and built... without anyone's influence. Probably this machinery knows us all too well, having cuddled us so nicely for all these years. True, on any issue of any importance there's the mental vote, but who decides on which issues are put to vote, and which are not? |
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-Do you always go grinding like this? Any suggestion? |
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-Just two maybes: maybe there is someone studying the works of the city, just for a hobby; that someone may know something which could lead us... |
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-...to the reason why doesn't the city cuddle us that good no more. So to find him, if there's one. You know that these hobbyists aren't so popular and they don't like going public. And please do not tell around about this. I know it can't be hidden for long, but we hope to know more until then, and maybe accomplish something. So the people don't run away. Remember, Deina, how we left Tokisaki? |
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-Never faster, and we weren't the first. You think our city may disperse? |
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-If the people get to think that here is no better than there, they'll go there. Normally. |
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-And what happened with that city? |
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-Long story. Began quite different. Everything started functioning muchtoo flawlessly; the city even kept finding good reasons for refusingtodisturb its program. I asked, say, to get transferred to Hon Su, and itsays thatit, truly, could be done, but would disturb the food dispatchschedule,soit could happen to have me here and my lunch waiting for methere, or viceversa. It would talk so for half an hour unless I gave itup. |
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-It's a menace, but I don't see... |
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-Later it dropped the explanations, just stopped serving when it thought we asked too much. We left. Maybe some others came, don't know if it's been more friendly with them. |
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| -But why would it do such a thing? | ||
| -If the king does not like the actors... or the people, then other actors the king should summon. Cities aren't perfect; since they can't exchange their inhabitants for other inhabitants, they may come up with other ways of solving their problems. | ||
| -What are the problems that an almost perfect machine can't solve? It can always ask the inhabitants for the most important decisions. | ||
| -How would I know? I have never been a machine. And perfect even less. | ||