BooksBarbecue
Back Excession
Chapters (108)
  1. About the Author
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. 1 - Outside Context Problem
  6. I
  7. II
  8. III
  9. IV
  10. V
  11. VI
  12. 2 - Not Invented Here
  13. I
  14. II
  15. III
  16. 3 - Uninvited Guests
  17. I
  18. II
  19. III
  20. IV
  21. 4 - Dependency Principle
  22. I
  23. II
  24. III
  25. IV
  26. V
  27. 5 - Kiss The Blade
  28. I
  29. II
  30. III
  31. IV
  32. V
  33. VI
  34. 6 - Pittance
  35. I
  36. II
  37. III
  38. IV
  39. V
  40. VI
  41. 7 - Tier
  42. I
  43. II
  44. III
  45. IV
  46. 8 - Killing Time
  47. I
  48. II
  49. III
  50. IV
  51. V
  52. VI
  53. VII
  54. VIII
  55. 9 - Unacceptable Behaviour
  56. I
  57. II
  58. III
  59. IV
  60. V
  61. VI
  62. VII
  63. VIII
  64. IX
  65. X
  66. XI
  67. XII
  68. XIII
  69. XIV
  70. 10 - Heavy Messing
  71. I
  72. II
  73. III
  74. IV
  75. V
  76. VI
  77. VII
  78. VIII
  79. IX
  80. X
  81. XI
  82. XII
  83. XIII
  84. XIV
  85. XV
  86. 11 - Regarding Gravious
  87. I
  88. II
  89. III
  90. IV
  91. V
  92. VI
  93. VII
  94. VIII
  95. IX
  96. X
  97. XI
  98. XII
  99. XIII
  100. XIV
  101. 12 - Faring Well
  102. I
  103. II
  104. III
  105. IV
  106. V
  107. VI
  108. Epilogue

‘And if,’ Dajeil said, ‘I chose that neither of us went?’

The avatar sounded apologetic again; ‘The ship would almost certainly read its mind-state anyway.’

Dajeil turned her gaze to the avatar. ‘Well, would it or wouldn’t it?’ she asked. ‘You are the ship; you tell me.’

Amorphia shook its head once. ‘I don’t represent the whole consciousness of the Sleeper right now,’ it told her. ‘It is busy with other matters. I can only guess. But I’d be pretty confident of such a conjecture, in this case.’

Dajeil studied the avatar a moment longer, then looked back at Genar-Hofoen. ‘And what about you, Byr?’ she asked. ‘What would you do?’

He shook his head. ‘You know,’ he said.

‘Still the same?’ she asked, a small smile on her face.

He nodded. His expression was similar to hers.

Ulver was looking from one to the other, brows creased, desperately trying to work out what was going on. Finally, when they still just sat there on opposite sides of the table giving each other this knowing grin, she threw her arms wide again and yelled, spluttering, ‘Well? What?’

Seventy-two seconds elapsed.

Genar-Hofoen glanced at her. ‘I always said I’d live once and then die,’ he said. ‘Never to be reborn, never to enter a simulation.’ He shrugged and looked embarrassed. ‘Intensity,’ he said. ‘You know; make the most of your one time.’

Ulver rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, I know,’ she said. She’d met a lot of people her own age, mostly male, who felt this way. Some people reckoned to live riskier and therefore more interesting lives because they did back-up a recorded mind-state every so often, while other people - like Genar-Hofoen, obviously (they’d been together for so brief a time it wasn’t something they’d got round to discussing yet) - believed that you were more likely to live your life that bit more vividly when you knew this was your one and only chance at it. She’d formed the impression this was the kind of thing people often said when they were young and then had second thoughts about as they got older. Personally Ulver had never had any time for this fashionable purist nonsense; she’d first decided she was going to live fully backed-up when she was eight. She supposed she ought to feel impressed that Genar-Hofoen was sticking to his principles in the face of imminent death - and she did feel a little admiration - but mostly she just thought he was being stupid.