Zero K Read Online Free Page B

started on rare books. Spent hours and days in libraries, in restricted areas, and it wasn’t a need for acquisition.”
    â€œYou had access denied to others.”
    â€œBut I wasn’t there to acquire. I was there to stand and look, or squat and look. To read the titles on the spines of priceless books in the caged stacks. Artis and I. You and I, once, in New York.”
    I felt the smooth burn of the whiskey going down and closed my eyes for a moment, listening to Ross reciting titles he recalled from libraries in several world capitals.
    â€œBut what’s more serious than money?” I said. “What’s the term? Exposure. What’s your exposure in this project?”
    I spoke without an edge. I said these things quietly, without irony.
    â€œOnce I was educated to the significance of the idea, and the potential behind it, the enormous implications,” he said, “I made a decision that I’ve never second-guessed.”
    â€œHave you ever second-guessed anything?”
    â€œMy first marriage,” he said.
    I stared into my glass.
    â€œAnd who was she?”
    â€œGood question. Profound question. We had a son but other than that.”
    I didn’t want to look at him.
    â€œBut who was she?”
    â€œShe was essentially one thing. She was your mother.”
    â€œSay her name.”
    â€œDid we ever say each other’s name, she and I?”
    â€œSay her name.”
    â€œPeople who are married to each other as we were, in our uncommon way, which is not so uncommon, do they ever say each other’s name?”
    â€œJust once. I need to hear you say it.”
    â€œWe had a son. We said his name.”
    â€œIndulge me. Go ahead. Say it.”
    â€œDo you remember what you said a minute ago? You can forget your name in this place. People lose their names in a number of ways.”
    â€œMadeline,” I said. “My mother, Madeline.”
    â€œNow I remember, yes.”
    He smiled and settled back in an attitude of fake reminiscence, then changed expression, a well-timed maneuver, addressing me sharply.
    â€œThink about this, what is here and who is here. Think about the end of all the petty misery you’ve been hoarding for years. Think beyond personal experience. Leave it back there. What’s happening in this community is not just a creation of medical science. There are social theorists involved, and biologists, and futurists, and geneticists, and climatologists, and neuroscientists, and psychologists, and ethicists, if that’s the right word.”
    â€œWhere are they?”
    â€œSome are here permanently, others come and go. There are the numbered levels. All the vital minds. Global English, yes, but other languages as well. Translators when necessary, human and electronic. There are philologists designing an advanced language unique to the Convergence. Word roots, inflections, even gestures. People will learn it and speak it. A language that will enable us to express things we can’t express now, see things we can’t see now, see ourselves and others in ways that unite us, broaden every possibility.”
    He tossed down another dram or two, then held the glass under his nose and sniffed. It was empty, for now.
    â€œWe fully expect that this site we occupy will eventually become the heart of a new metropolis, maybe an independent state, different from any we’ve known. This is what I mean when I call myself a serious man.”
    â€œWith serious money.”
    â€œYes, money.”
    â€œTons of it.”
    â€œAnd other benefactors. Individuals, foundations, corporations, secret funding from various governments by way of their intelligence agencies. This idea is a revelation to smart people in many disciplines. They understand that now is the time. Not just the science and technology but political and even military strategies. Another way to think and live.”
    He poured carefully, an amount he liked