Corvallis smiled. “You know what Richard used to say about those?”

“No.”

“We had mathematicians working on weird stuff. Richard had no idea what they were talking about most of the time. But he learned that when they trotted out certain phrases, it meant they were really excited. ‘Phase transition’ was at the top of the list.”

“There’s this very complicated system with a lot of parts. Way too many to keep track of. You can only make sense of it statistically. Most of the time it just kind of does what it does—falls into certain habits. But then all of a sudden something happens. There’s a complete top-to-bottom change that anyone can see. That’s what this is,” El said.

“What do you see in it? A minute ago you said, ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’ What did you mean by that?”

“I had qualms about how it was shaping up before. You know that,” El said. “The early processes had gained a head start that seemed prohibitive. Constructed a crude spatial matrix echoing their fractured and hazy memories of landforms and built environments. The new processes flocked to it for some reason, instead of starting from scratch. It became a straitjacket—a prison. Not sufficiently different from the world they’d left behind—the world that you and I live in. What’s the point of dying and being transmogrified into a digital entity if you’re going to use all of that computational power to re-create the analog world you just managed to escape from? Worse, to exist in a hierarchical social structure where resources are dominated by a few at the top with godlike power? I was deeply worried that Dodge and his Pantheon had created a stable system.”

“Stable is good, right?”

“Except when it’s bad. Totalitarian regimes, corrupt systems are stable. I was afraid this was one of those. And maybe it was—but now, among the late-arriving processes that constitute the vast majority of working souls, we are seeing an accumulation of power and resources that rivals that of the old guard. Getting ready for a Titanomachia, I believe.”

“The word rings a bell but you’re going to have to help me out,” Corvallis said.

“When the gods of Olympus overthrew the Titans. Replaced them with something new, more brilliant, more perfect.”

“Chained the Titans to rocks, threw them into the pit of Hades, or whatever,” Corvallis said.

“I’m not a mythology geek the way Sophia is,” El admitted. “The point is just that there is a change coming. For the first time, I see a way out. I am optimistic that when I upload—which won’t be long now, C—when I upload I’ll be going to a place where I can actually look forward to operating. A better place.”