Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound
1.3      Making a Splash
1.3.3    An Unrequited Love
1.3.3.38 The civilised saint

Alderney exchanged a quiet word with Bungo, then took her shiny helmet off while he put on the chequered leather miner's cap.

Bungo: "Speaking for Burrowers: things are getting busy. We've got over 20,000 members now: Approximately 4,000 from Torello, 3,000 from the rest of Covob, 11,000 from the old Divine Mountain version of the game but also increasing numbers of people who don't play games at all. It's growing fast - I'm predicting we'll have over 100,000 in a week's time."

Tomsk: "Impressive. Do we have a break down for each area: how many use the Dojo, the Kitchen, the Library, the public forums, private clan areas, and so on?"

Bungo: "Yes. And while their computer connection is untraceable, based upon language preferences and nationality of geographical feature picked as a username, I can estimate that the chances someone will be a user of The Burrow increase if they live near one of the Mythoi launch sites or a major research University. But I'll upload all that to a screen in my section of Ops, so you can check it whenever you want. Wellington, Tomsk will be able to read that, right?"

Wellington: "For now, I can sudo and the rest of you, by default, can read everything in Ops. In your own role's area, you can also change anything, including who gets to see which information."

Alderney: "He means 'Right!'." For the last word she tried to imitate Wellington's voice and clipped delivery. In Kafana's opinion Alderney's attempt failed, but not too badly. Wellington either didn't notice or didn't react, but Bungo and Tomsk both gave quick grins.

Bungo: "Anyway, it's getting busy and to reduce the burden I'd like to appoint Stewards for five..." he trailed off "Hey, do I get to pick a fancy name like 'strands'? Okay, I'm calling them 'tunnels'! Right, Stewards for five subdivisions of The Burrow's tunnels and rooms. I've already sent the names of candidates to Bulgaria."

Bungo: "WizWoz is the current head moderator of the forums, and has codified guidelines, recruited teams for each room and set up training for senior and junior moderators. Every user posts in at least one forum, making them our most popular service by far, and none of those users will blink an eye if I make him the Steward of Truth in charge of the forum tunnels - he already does 90% of the task."

Bungo: "Sanjuro has combined the information from Alderney's Newcomer's Guide to Torello with maps and data already on The Burrow to create a collaborative extensible Newcomer's Guide to Sang Sacré, with everything a Divine Mountain player needs to know before transferring their character to Covob: starting areas, professions and which skills and items to soul bind. It's why so many players on Morob are now joining us. He's freeing them!"

Bungo: "Alonsoa, who I've met under a different name in the game, is a great choice to be the Steward of Love in charge of getting feuding clans to try out Bulgaria's negotiation halls."

Bungo: "Yoyogi is way more qualified than I am, to take on being the Steward of Beauty in charge of The Burrow end of the 'Life Windows' project and other architectural improvements to the layout."

Bungo: "Patroclus, another player I've met under a different name, is willing to take on the list of API-accessible services that we keep spawning. I'm not sure what to call him the Steward of, though."

Alderney muttered aloud: "If The Burrow is the home for our revolution, would those services be its children?"

Bungo: "Eh?"

Alderney realised he'd heard and spoke hastily: "No, no, nothing. Forget I spoke." then, in an artificially bright voice she added "My turn again?"

Bungo: "Yep, I'm done." He took off his Burrower's hat and scratched his head where the stiff leather had messed up his hair and left his scalp itchy with warmth.

Alderney put her Media helmet back on, not making a performance of it this time.

Alderney: "Fifthly we have my Civilised Saint, 端正 聖人. Their task is to boost the signal on the messages of the other four saints. Celebrity endorsements, Streamer channel swaps, niche champions, memes, stunts, adverts, events, paid rumour placements. Their aim is for every person on the planet to hear the message; not once but the Gallup-Kirmani optimum number of repetitions. And, just as importantly, to anticipate attempts to parry it and prepare ripostes."

Wellington: "She means we're going to spy on what the Hexoikos are up to."

Alderney's winged helmet of victory picked that moment to fall off her head and land, with a loud rattle, onto the table where it rolled to a stop in front of an innocent-faced Wellington.

The sneaky son of a... had he created an expert system just to keep an eye on Alderney and prompt him when an opportunity arose? Tomsk was laughing with delight and Bungo nearly fell off his chair while pointing a shaking arm at the fuming Media supremo.

Kafana whispered, half to herself: "You magnificent bastard." while Bulgaria ejected a sententious: "Do not anger computer wizards, for they are subtle and have The Power of Sudo."

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Tomsk: "Can we spy on them safely? If we anger the six richest patriarchs in the world directly, we could find all of ASGuard and Ultramarine being sent against us."

Wellington: "Yes. Some of the hackers I invited to The Burrow are legends in certain circles, and we've been working together when experimenting with tiara IQ boosting. I've now codified enough cracks that nobody has reported seeing before to be confident of getting into one target, and maybe two or three. All that remains is to agree a priority list of targets."

Kafana summoned Rizah for an update on her opposition research. A moment later the matronly figure appeared, wearing her usual tweed jacket and rimless reading glasses.

Rizah: "I have high confidence that Ludwig Spreckels, Jiang Jacqueline, Brian Huttleston have an interest in gaining control of the tiara market, though their reasons for wanting that control differ."

Rizah: "The Astors are almost certainly keeping a close eye on the progress of the Mythoi, though as yet there are not even rumours of them taking active measures in that regard. If they do, the most likely suspect would be Audrey, on the grounds that the others all have a lot of their plates already."

Rizah: "An alias believed to be associated with Serge Yerkes has made three posts mentioning cornucopias in technical forums, saying how much asteroid residents would benefit if they were developed to the point of being usable on that scale."

Rizah: "There are widespread rumours of Arron Harriman grumbling in locker rooms after sporting events about evil new technologies that would help peasants run away from their contracts unless firmly dealt with. It is suspected that Eunice, his mother, may have gone overboard with the genetic enhancements she packed into him."

Rizah: "There are much quieter rumours, in certain select circles, of an angel investor known only as 'Gabe' or 'the Gabe' who takes extreme measures to preserve his or her or their anonymity, and who helps with initial funding only for companies whose products support freedom in some fashion. The sums mentioned make Hexoikos connection likely, but there's no hint of which."

Tomsk: "Any indications of individual wombles being targeted in arlife? Anything urgent?"

Rizah: "As far as I know, we're no less safe now than we were a week ago, though Melchior is the one who has been monitoring the movements of political figures and the financial markets looking for secondary effects of unreported deals, so you should ask him about threatening corporate manoeuvres like pre-emptive trademarking or having clauses inserted in agreements between trade blocs."

Tomsk gave a grunt of satisfaction.

Bulgaria: "Well in that case, how about we pick just one, and save the remaining ammo in Wellington's store in case an urgent situation does arise? If we can lay a false trail which leads back to a different Hexoikos, we might even crack two bird eggs with one stone."

Bungo: "I like it. How about Ludwig Spreckels? He's the sort of slimy git the other Hexoikos would find plausible as someone arrogant enough to try hacking them and stupid enough to get caught at it. Just pick the name of a gladiator known for their cruelty as your pseudonym when you do that hack."

Cruelty. The word jogged something in her memory. Something relevant. What had she forgotten?

Alderney: "For the main target, my vote goes to the Astors. In the long term, the tiaras are more important, but during the next few weeks the Mythoi release is at a critical stage where it could still be sabotaged - it's more vulnerable. The Phoenixes and our incipient mixnet are even more vulnerable, but Arron Harriman is only 15 and doesn't have full access to his dynasty's funds."

Wellington spoke, his voice utterly neutral: "That sounds logical. Does everybody agree?"

Something was wrong! What? Her instincts were screaming at her now.

Wellington was looking above her head now: "Kafana?"

Sure, his voice didn't usually contain much emotion, but this was monotone. Like a man walking to his execution, unable to object because of a knife held to his wife's throat. He must have spent days coming up with those cracks. Was this what he really wanted?

Kafana: "I'd like to ask a question first. Wellington, if you didn't have any responsibilities as a womble, how would you have chosen to use them?"

Wellington didn't answer. He sat as frozen as a statue. Why had the image of a wife come to her mind? What had Alderney said earlier, something about children... it came to her in a rush. Lying on her back in a grassy glade; the smell of wood smoke from a cooking fire; looking at Luna, Morob and wondrous new constellations; hearing venom in Wellington's voice as he recounted how his children had been indoctrinated then disappeared into a mysterious Chinese governmental program, never to be heard from again.

With effort Kafana kept her voice gentle: "What we're doing is important, Wellington, but so are you. So are your children. Of course the first targets should be the ones that can help you track what has happened to them. Jiang, XperiSense, a Chinese governmental department, someone else? It is for you to pick on this."

Wellington was trembling: "The maths is clear. You sum up the expected changes in quality adjusted life years from each action, and the highest total in this case is the action that helps humanity stay free. Yes, I count, but I'm a drop in the ocean compared to that. How could I put my desires first? Even if what I want is freedom for thousands of innocent children enslaved. My children." The pent-up anguish in those last words was heart-piercing.

Tears ran down his face. And hers.

Kafana: "Hush, hush, we do not ask this sacrifice of you. Even if it puts my life in danger, I won't accept it. In fact we can't; not and remain wombles. We have to be different to those we are opposing."

Bulgaria: "What sort of example would this set? And would any of the rest of us be able to live with ourselves, concentrate on the tasks ahead of us, if we were party to your passing up this opportunity?"

Bungo: "Maybe this isn't an either/or type of situation?"

Alderney: "Do it. Carry out Operation Rescue. We'll double down on it, record it, and, when the time is right, being able to reveal such deeds will become a valuable thing. We said we wanted to find allies among the Hexoikos, right? Whoever is running this mysterious program, they've bound to have enemies."

Tomsk: "Pah. Your children? I declare them to be Wombles. Will anyone deny me? No? Then it is decided. Wombles do not betray other Wombles; we do not leave them behind. Kafana herself tore into that snake of a man at the volleyball competition just for suggesting that we do. Now come, my friend. Let us talk of the steps we must take after the youths are found, and what must be in position before we strike. He put his arm over Wellington's shoulder, and guided him away from the table to beyond the still-bubbling glass pillars, where they would have a bit of privacy.

Alderney bravely tried to continue: "And that's it from my saints. I'm done with my Media hat. Who's next?"

Bulgaria shook his head: "You were the last and had the most to cover. Speaking as Official Sink Polisher, I'll try to arrange update boards for all of you, so Kafana and the rest of us can browse them at will, and we won't need to hold this long a meeting again. My Recruitment board will keep you updated on how I'm doing on finding and inducting candidates for the posts you've asked be filled. Sorry I didn't do a great job running the meeting for you, Kafana. I'll try to do better next time."

She considered, for a moment, asking what was happening about pairing people up, so each womble had someone to act as a sanity check who actually understood what they were talking about, but decided it could wait for another time.

Kafana: "You did good enough, Bulgaria old friend. Good enough, and you took a large burden off my hands. Thank you. Thank you all for being here, for your time and for your support. I don't say it enough, but you are all amazing. Go relax, sleep, have fun!"

They stood up, and with a wave of her hand Alderney created a carved oak Victorian hat stand in each area of Ops, and teleported the hats on the table to them. They hung there, gently swaying - a promise of what was to come.