But Thomas Aiken Is Dead - Part I Read Online Free

that true?
    Atia:
Yes.
    Saahl:
How did you feel about that?
    Atia:
Is this an interview or a pre-selfsense surgery consultation?
    Saahl:
Forgive me. Only, I would be quite distraught in your position. I meant no offence.
    Atia:
All right.
    Saahl:
Would you tell me some more about your research?
    Atia:
Which part?
    Saahl:
Whatever interests you.
    Atia:
If you were Tsun Uri’s lover then I assume you have full archive privileges.
    Saahl:
I do.
    Atia:
Well, I’ll admit then that I wasn’t interested in historiks for much of my time. I was brought up in the Echo Realms in a similar fashion to most denizens. I ate from the light spatters and experimented with many modes of eksist; an au as a spiral galaxy, as a caffeine molecule, even as Cadence Major itself. I saw a young denizen there who had taken ningen form. I was curious and so I tried the same, a female. There was something comforting about it. My appendages, my senses – located at specific points on the hull of my skin. There was a sensation of coming home.
    Saahl:
Not unreasonable. Plenty of denizens share the same sentiment.
    Atia:
It’s not the historiks. It’s the ancestry . There must still be ningen in us, something so deeply buried that it can’t be plundered or excised.
    Saahl:
Perhaps so.
    Atia:
There was no question after that. I committed myself to ningen historiks.
    Saahl:
Which period?
    Atia:
Dawn of Rekords, Fuedal, Kommunikative, and the early Neuro Years.
    Saahl:
A disparate set of ages.
    Atia:
Not as disparate as you think. They weren’t so dissimilar. Even the Dawn of Rekords ningens had some sense of morality. It’s a common misconception that they didn’t. There are a number of misconceptions, in fact. I expect you’re fairly conventional in your historik opinions and think early Neuro the beginning of kommunity.
    Saahl:
I haven’t given it much thought, but yes, I would be that way inclined.
    Atia:
Absolute nonsense. There was no fault with plain linguistiks.
    Saahl:
There’s a certain charm to it, but you must admit the Neuro Years made things much easier.
    Atia:
And considerably more boring yes.
    Saahl:
This argument. Yes, I’ve heard it before from the other ningen-ersatz.
    Atia:
Ambiguity is practically heretikal around here. You’re wrong. There’s a beauty to it.
    Saahl:
Well it isn’t dead. You were able to practice your precious linguistiks on Orange Tier, were you not?
    Atia:
I was. Have you visited it?
    Saahl:
No. Reports have been mixed.
    Atia:
There was a growing belief at the time that all denizens would eventually form a single conscious unity, that it was a natural progression in the life of a system as complex as Cadence Major.
    Saahl:
You’re implying that’s where the mergerment started?
    Atia:
I am. Of course, they immediately protested at my new ningen mode of eksist. Had I remained there perhaps I would have witnessed the beginning of the merge. I fled instead to Tier Green where I discovered there were hundreds of thousands of ningen-ersatz.
    Saahl:
Atia, Orange Tier -
    Atia:
Gone, I know.
    Saahl:
Who told you?
    Atia:
Nobody. This is how the merge behaves.
    Saahl:
“Merge.” You speak as though it has a will of its own.
    Atia:
Does it not? It contains the selfsenses of all those who have given themselves to it. There is nothing but a will of its own. That will is stronger than those who remain denizens. In time it will grow so large that few will be able to resist, much less want to. Do you see now why Tsun Uri was so concerned with stopping it in its tracks?
    Saahl:
You speak in the past tense of him.
    Atia:
He often talked of joining the merge and attempting to stop it from the inside. I assume by now he has tried and been unsuccessful.
    Saahl:
You are correct.
    Atia:
Then you have my condolences.
    Saahl:
Thank you.
    Atia:
How long have I been asleep in incarceration?
    Saahl:
A quarter au.
    Atia:
That’s enough time for the merge to have eaten almost half of the Cadence, surely?
    Saahl:
More. Do you