“As you know, that’s not what would happen. We would just slow down the speed at which the simulation is running, so that we could keep all of those processes going at whatever burn rate we can actually sustain.”

“A PR disaster,” El said. “The LVU started out as a research tool, but now it is being watched by millions of people as a form of entertainment. They’re fascinated by what is going on in the world of the dead. If you slow it to a crawl, then nothing seems to happen. They lose interest. They stop signing contracts. Money stops flowing into the system. We can’t add the computing infrastructure that we need. The whole enterprise goes into a death spiral.”

“I’m not as pessimistic as you are,” Corvallis said.

“Call it pessimism if you like. Numbers don’t lie. These new ‘fruit fly’ processes have to be terminated.”

“Look, I’m glad you brought Verna’s ‘fruit flies’ to our attention. We’ll keep an eye on them. But that is not what I am talking about—as I think you know perfectly well. I’m talking about the big processes that are based on human connectomes. Processes that we have now given names to, and begun to think of and to talk about as if they were human souls. A toho with root privs could kill any of those.”

“You know my thinking on this, C,” El returned. “More than anyone else in this room, I am of the belief that all of these processes are alive. As alive as you or me. As such, I believe that to shut them down would be in every way the same thing as committing murder. So, for you to point out that I could kill any one of these processes is true. And yet it’s as completely beside the point as for you to point out that in Meatspace, I could hire hit men to have a person killed.”

It took a bit for that to sink in. Jake said, “El, are you making abstract philosophical points here, or issuing threats?”

Corvallis looked across the table at Zula. She looked back at him. On the side of her head that was hidden from the view of the Metatron, she raised her hand, extended her index finger toward her ear, and twirled it around.

Chapter 34

Chapter 34