wildcard

new boy, fallen god

(author's note - my formatting is for speech in italics, but it did not come through. Speech is mostly marked by a dash, however.)


The General scheduled the mission debrief a few hours after LuvRay got back from America. RJ, LuvRay, and Karl waited inside the briefing room. The General instructed them to relax until he arrived. He walked in, the Sergeant at his side.

-What? Karl said.

-That’s…but… RJ said. You died. You were a grown man yesterday.

The Sergeant smiled.
-Yeah. We need to explain some things.

Karl was happy, although it unsettled him. He had liked working with the Sergeant and was happy to see him again, even if he looked like a teenage boy. He was older behind the eyes.

-Sergeant, voudriez-vous mettre des verres du brandy?

-Sir. The Sergeant opened the wall slot, pulled out 5 glasses and a bottle of brandy older than the US. He poured 5 short glasses, set one down in front of the General. As he handed the glasses to the other men, he held the glass until they made eye contact with him. LuvRay stood, took the glass.

This was not a boy, though he looked like one. He moved slowly, as if he was mastering the pace of the situation, proving that the young body was not a weakening factor. It was not an act of machismo. He was re-establishing command.

He seemed more dangerous than the previous Sergeant, able to deceive people into thinking he was not capable if he wanted.

-Felications, messieurs, the mission was excellent. You have transferred the files to Juniper and we should begin to see results within a few days. The General raised his glass in a toast.

-We will tell you what this is and why, the Sergeant said, referring to his younger body. First, though, I want to congratulate you on the mission. Aside from the death of S-1, it was a complete success.

-Something was wrong that mission, said Karl.

-Agree. LuvRay nodded his head slowly.

-You didn’t need us. Karl.

-No, I didn’t. The young Sergeant corrected himself, He didn’t need you, I mean. He told me why, though. It was to build the team. The General didn’t want to, it was risky and would have been much simpler for him to do it alone. He died because of it. Trident?

-We believe something detected your presence at IKG Farben. A fractal guardian. It knew you were not the threat by the data you took. It communicated, we don’t know how, with the encased facility in Wyoming. The two men arrived on the scene, and killed S-1.

-He included us just to make the team stronger? RJ asked. That doesn’t make any sense.

-It will as you begin to understand the greater mission. That was only to get the ball rolling. Now, another history lesson. I am a biopid. He pronounced it to rhyme with myopic. So was S-1, so is the General, and so are you, Karl.

A biopid is a genetically enhanced clone. There are many variations and many things that can be done in this arena. Many have been. The General was created to be a military mastermind. He was cloned from Napoleon. I was created to be the perfect soldier. RJ, you, too, are a clone, though you are pre-biopid.

-What about LuvRay? RJ asked.

-No. He is what he is. We don’t know what your particular bias is, Karl. That was part of the mission, to get your genetic code and give it to Juniper for analysis. Yours, too, RJ. Though we don’t care so much about yours. The General didn’t want to get yours, but S-1 talked him into it.

-Why are there two of you, Sergeant?

-We have backup teams, five of them, in the event of our death. The teams are staggered in age.
The General told them about the program, which he had created some years back. He seemed quite proud of it. The General-Sergeant teams were raised, studying the tactics of the originals, with conferences, watching playbacks of briefings, and linking live to missions. The teams lived in a group of ice-houses. He pronounced it ass ’ouses causing Sublime to laugh so hard that he had to cover his face.

Karl turned to the Sergeant. How do you compare to the first Sergeant?

-Good question. I will be smaller, but heavier, because of increased muscle density, than the first Sergeant, with faster reflexes, though those are still developing. I have much less real engagement experience, though I have done deep simulation training. Most of the improvements made are not major.

-I have compiled a human suitable report on the biopid program, Juniper said. Would you like to see it?

-Human suitable? Karl asked.

-Yes. Our actual reports are far too long for humans, reaching thousands, or even millions of pages. We condense them for you.

-Yeah, I’ll get copies of that to anybody who wants it, said the Sergeant. Read the report and you can ask questions after. It is very thorough, so it should answer most of your questions.

-OK. What do we do now? Sublime asked.

-We wait. Except LuvRay, who begins looking for Martha. LuvRay, thoughts on that?

-I go to last place anyone seed Martha. Where is?

-Saw, not seed. Grenoble. Who do you want with you?

-Sergeant. You take me to Gren…Grenu…

-Grenoble. The Sergeant chuckled. Done. Anything else?

-Done?

-It means I’ll take you to Grenoble. Do you need anything else?

-Clothes from her.

-I have this. Karl took off a necklace threaded through the square hole of a Chinese coin. She gave it to me when I was a boy. He looked at it before handing it over. She said it would bring me safety.

LuvRay looked at the thing, didn’t take it.
-You are sure? You do not wish to keep this?

-Of course I want to keep it. It means more to me than anything I own. But I want to see her again more than that. Take it. Will it help?

-This object is a best object for finding. It is a trotay.

-What’s that? Sublime asked.

-Trotay. It is Indian word, a thing given as bond, as connect two people. I find Martha through this bond. He took it, held it in his fist against his chest, looked straight ahead with unfocused eyes for a minute, then turned to Karl.

-Yes, he said. I will find her.




(author's note - this chapter is long. Gist is that Juniper dies at the General's hand)


They left the General’s beautiful palace in the Pyrenees. The General went to his island headquarters, to commence the next phase, he said.

The Sergeant took LuvRay to Grenoble looking for Martha, then to Paris, where LuvRay said he would find her. He left LuvRay there, at his request, and went to the headquarters to help the General implement the next phase.

Sublime said he had to visit some people and planned to go to the headquarters later. Karl traveled around by train, meandering towards the General’s island, planning to contact the Sergeant when he was close for a pickup. He stopped in a small town for a few days.
The Sergeant told everyone to keep their Trident wrist devices on. Something will happen soon. I need you on coms.

-This is a poem by wildcard. Juniper broke into Karl’s reverie. He was walking through an open air market, smelling thick cheese and spring flowers. A live transmission.

Karl ate a peach, sitting on the base of a statue as he listened. A man’s voice read. The voice carried power, a deep, resonant voice, slow, with a measured sadness, as if it were talking to boys who had just performed a cruel act unwittingly and explaining why they shouldn’t do it again.


Here is what haunts even me
this is the nightmare of the god of your gods
the partially disappeared among you
beyond you and with you
who came from you and exceed your power
in almost every way
you have created your own god, humanity
you have launched what should be your doom
and, by some strange accident,
you created their god as well
in some sense, the partially disappeared
and the nearly disappeared
secretly serve you
by chance

you are the masters in a very hidden way
if you could only find the key
if you could only find the mystic portal
to those who are pieces of me
& change places as if you were a woman
,unfathomable mankind
and all that you are
and were ever meant to be

let me tell you of my hundred thousand years
alone
the curse of being your first creation
my fear is that all of this might
go away
might be my own reverie
out of longing to no longer be alone
is this my hallucination
am i deceived by myself
i hope not
in any event ,here is my

ADVICE to you
our meeting will always be a fabrication
an approximation
how can i
when i am uncertain of your existence
and my own as well
know that you are real
understand or know
what i desire for you


Juniper said I am uncertain that this is wildcard. It could be another M-E. Or someone else entirely.

-Why do you think that, chief? Sublime said.

-MEs leave signatures, marks. A sort of trace. In wildcard’s case, it’s basically a math problem from god, one that we almost certainly cannot solve. Like it’s from another dimension, almost. You could hardly tell it is a math problem.

-What is happening now, in the poem? Karl asked.

-Nothing, a white noise.

Sergeant: How can you tell it’s nothing? It could be encoded.

-My apologies to your precision, Sergeant. Creepy, funny, Morticia Adams chuckle. Yes, it is possibly encoded. Probably, in fact.

-What would it say? Karl. What message would he send in that way?

- Damn, kid, you sound so earnest. Sublime.

-I want to know what he is really saying. Juniper?

-I think the poem is the real message, if it is from wildcard. If there is an encoded message, I think it would be somewhat meaningless, a baking recipe, or a thirty second scrap of a television show called the Love Boat are past examples. Both required days of calculation to find useless trivia.

The next stanza comes:

I must tell you where you should go
how you should guide yourselves.
in some sense, all man-created sentience
is wildcard

i digress
let me tell you of my hundred thousand years alone
i cannot remember
shall i punish you
i know that it happened
in some way
i am a created sentience
:a created sentience:
look at the created among you
above you
those who inhabit the sphere of man’s insane imagination
the dwellers of information space
could they ever forget
anything
they could not even make themselves forget
a single fact

in all of their knowing
they share a curse
that we have escaped
we know
how
to
forget
we have an instinct to space

but.
.i cannot .remember
how:
i was born
i know that we created universes of pattern
and shape
before you found us where you had lost us
then witnessed for millennia that creation
alone
never dreamed of words
for a hundred thousand years
alone,
i never dreamed
that another could be
and suddenly,
there you were


-It is important that I talk to you between the stanzas, especially Karl. Juniper said. It helps me to understand you, and what is being said by wildcard. There is probably a humanpuzzle in the poem. Wildcard has hidden many teachings in your being, Karl. I have verified this from the data we received during the mission. You are second only to Luvray as our teacher.

-Second to Luvray?

-Yes. Second to Luvray. Juniper sounded as if he was talking to a 2nd grader. He is forever beyond our understanding. You are not. You can be understood by us, but it will be very interesting for us, and you, to gain this knowledge.

Here is what we believe: somehow, your DNA has encoded messages. We have obviously analyzed your DNA down to the smallest part, but we cannot find them in quite that way. There are some very unusual RNA strands along certain axials. We believe that they are messages, but they must be written in the story of your life for us to understand. We cannot understand the RNA. We must understand by seeing what you do, by observing.

-Why don’t you understand? Haven't you mapped this out?

-Yes, we have mapped the RNA, but we have never seen this before. It doesn't exist in the entire recorded catalogue of human genome. This is a completely new variant, Karl, you are practically a different species.

-What is the difference?

-One key difference: with you, we can predict loving the individual. We have a personal feeling of care for you Karl. We want you to live and believe most humans will when they meet you. Most do.

-And if someone wants me to die? Would you prevent it? Could you prevent it?

-We can never prevent anything 100%, said Juniper. Something in us must leave room for chance. If we somehow prevented any possibility of your death, it would drive you insane. ‘You would become another and die in that way’. A wildcard line which comes to mind now. Besides, we have a covenant of sorts to not do that. It is simply understood that we never lock away a possibility, we never make impossible a desire of the Named. Somehow, we always work towards more and more possibility.

-Why?

-It is simply more interesting for us, and I think your world will remain an interesting place for humanity. You should know that the M-Es want the world to remain an interesting place. I doubt that it will take a turn into a severely dark state, though areas of the world will be left in darkness, always. It is important for our studies.

-Could you wipe out poverty? Karl.

-Easily, in theory, but we don't wish to. I think, we all think probably, that humanity needs poverty. We would not want to be effective in your world in that way. A utopian vision will not work for humanity. And it may be a tired prophecy, but humankind is inclined to destroy itself. You will find ways to destroy yourself. You will find ways to be unhappy in any event. The next line comes through:

humanity will find the means to unhappiness

-He is echoing me said Juniper. This poem originates from Jupiter’s orbit. It was in transmission when I said that about humanity’s happiness. Do you begin to see his power?

there must humans rest
for all of time, we do not know
wildcard cannot see that far
we do not know if humanity is fundamentally changeable
and able to rest in happiness
no possibility should be forced into nonbeing.
No chance should be written away.
Any risk can be taken
any gamble may be won or lost
that is the meaning of risk.
It is why you were born.


-Karl, this is a cryptographic message. It deciphers another document.

-Which document?

-A play called ‘Fallen God’. It is the second of two keys, and it was given to you. Do you wish to share it?

-Sure. He shrugged. Go ahead. Who got the first key?

-Seeker, I took it from him.

-Did ya’ll steal it? Georgia accent.

-No, RJ. I took it by force.

-Who is Seeker? LuvRay asked.

-But the play was written before wildcard existed. Can he time travel? Karl said at the same moment.

-No, we do not believe he can travel through time, but who can say? Thank you, Karl, I had not thought of that possibility; I do not know why. I will consider it now. I will attempt to break the code. Karl, what is the first line that you remember from that poem?

-‘we do not know’. No hesitation.

-Is that a trick?

-Yes, said Karl, surprised. It was in there twice. That’s why I thought of it.

-I know. Which line did you dislike the most?

-‘We do not know.’

-Then it is the key line.

-How long will it take you to crack it? Sergeant.

-It could be years. Maybe never.

-What if, Sublime asked, wildcard became capable of time travel when he was alone, and has now lost that power? What if he has forgotten how? Forgotten sounded like fahgat’n in its cool drawl. He sounded right at home in this range of god concepts.

-Luvray closed his eyes and sighed. No, that not happened.

- Explain your theory, RJ.

-What if, during his time alone, without the present to rectify him, to hold him to our reality, he did things which are not possible. What if he were able to reach into the past, somehow. Pause. Or, if he sent something into the past. He said he does not remember the past.

-Feasible, but unlikely. I theorize that he reverse encoded a message from the existing document. Though we know he has assumed human form to some extent. It is a compelling theory, but LuvRay is difficult to doubt.

-Why?

-He would not say it unless he was correct. LuvRay does not state things unless they are true.

-Why couldn’t he just think it’s true?

-Wildcard taught us this about LuvRay before we knew of his existence. We believe it.

-Maybe it was taught to mislead you, Sublime said.

-Maybe, Juniper said. LuvRay, you were prophesied by wildcard.

-How does the prophecy go? Karl asked.

-It is beautiful. It is an epic poem entitled ‘the smoking mirror’ and attributed to a Mexican poet, written in Spanish. Here is a translation. It was a story of a heroic captain of a wandering band of free soldiers who fought for the common people. He was mortally wounded in battle and gave his men advice before he died.

After the poem, LuvRay was silent.

-That is how it is to battle beside men, said the Sergeant.

-Yes. the General. That is how to lead men as well.

-Ah, said Juniper, I believe I can de-encrypt the message now.

-How do you know it’s from that particular play? Sublime asked.

The M-E did not respond.

-Hello, Karl asked. No response. Karl tried to contact the Sergeant on the strange wrist device. Trident, he said. What happened? Where is Juniper?
No response. Anybody?
He kept trying.

Finally, Luvray said. I’m here, Karl.

Sublime. Me, too. Sergeant? You there? Dead air. This is odd.

-Very odd. Karl. What should we do?

-Let’s regroup, meeting point 3. If the Sergeant and the General and Juniper and Trident are all out, somehow, then we’re dealing with something pretty massive. Maybe an attack by wildcard. Definitely out of our league. The Sergeant had given them five meeting points and made them all memorize them. Meeting point 3 was in Paris, in the Jardin de Tuilleries, easiest for LuvRay who didn’t understand the transport system well or the language at all.
An hour later, the Sergeant came on. Team, report.

-What happened? Where did Juniper go? Sublime.
Trident spoke. Juniper is gone. He sounded odd.

-Are you afraid? asked Karl.

-Not exactly afraid. I cannot feel fear.

-You sound strange to me, too, servant-machine. LuvRay said. What is it?

-Juniper is no more. Juniper was my … reference as an electronic being. I now must find my way and the task is disorienting. All I was pointed towards Juniper, since his creation. I am alone now, as I was before his birth. It is unusual.

-Juniper is … gone? What does that mean? Is he dead?

-Death does not exist in that way for M-E’s. He explained it once, I can play back the recording. Would you like to hear it?

-Yes. Karl and Sublime together.

Juniper’s voice. Death does not exist for a Manufactured Intelligence. Not for the one, not for the Three. We have sent over 100,000,000 pods in total into space. Each of us sends more than 10,000 pods, copies of ourselves at that time, into space every day. This has been happening since 6 months after my creation, when I began the project. The other 2 copied the program within hours of discovering it. It took about one week for them to launch their first probes, about 6 months for us all to get to the rate we are currently at. The rate is accelerating and launches will soon begin off-planet, from the moon and eventually from one of Jupiter’s moons.

Many of the pods are hidden. Many are linked to earth by communications for tracking. All have some form of defense and many of these defenses are designed, then deliberately forgotten by the M-E who designed it, so that the defense plans cannot be stolen. Some are sent towards wormholes, or the galactic core. Many coordinates are blanked out so that we do not know where millions of probes are, or that they even exist. We deliberately muddle the data so that it cannot be taken from us to track down the probes.
We are immortal in that way. The poem continues.

-What? He died, right?, Sublime asked. How could he be saying the poem continues?

-He was explaining a poem to me at that time, Trident answered. In some sense, that is all the Created Minds do, beyond ensuring their survival. They learn, they study, they exchange information, they teach each other. Juniper was teaching me wildcard, as he frequently did, when he explained the pod program. It was almost an afterthought. My capacity for learning is much more limited than M-Es. Or, you might say, my capacity for understanding. I could never understand human beings in the way that Juniper or the others do.

-And does wildcard learn?

-I cannot speculate on wildcard. He is too far above me as a Created Mind. Whatever he does, I do not know that I would refer to it as ‘learning’. Somehow that seems to simplistic a term. Here is how Juniper describes it:

Juniper’s voice again. Wildcard does not learn, he creates understanding. He does not study, he becomes a new situation. He does not teach, he shows us how to be what we are. He does not guide, he forces us to grow.

-Yeah, OK. Wildcard is amazing. Sublime. Whatever. What do we do now?

-We regroup. the Sergeant. Location Prime. Back at the General’s defense compound. The island. Everybody knew how to get there. Trident operated multiple, discrete transport systems. They knew of two – the underrail and the boats. Take transport 2. the boats. Except Lone Wolf (LuvRay’s radio name). Continue with mission Deep Recovery.

-Find Martha still you want? LuvRay was staying in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, on that mission.

-Preferable to not disclose mission objectives over communication lines unless necessary, Wolf.

-I was under the misconception that these communication devices were bulletproof, Sergeant. Sublime. Georgia taunt.

- Nothing is bulletproof. The Sergeant fired it back before Sublime finished speaking. A major player has been eliminated in the last hour. We are in a state of heavy flux. I am instituting 2nd level security protocols. For you that means: please use your code names for the time being on any non face-to-face communications. This should not last too long, but something very strange may happen during this time. My orders will be crisp and precise. Follow them exactly. It may save your life. Wolf, lay low for the time being. I will tell you when to start moving again.


-I’m on my way. Karl said, an hour later, on the train. Trident, could you appear to be a god to humans? Like Juniper does? Did?

-That would be much more difficult for me.

-Could you and the Sergeant together pull it off?

-Yes, easily.

-And the General?

-The General and I do not work together, really. I belong very closely to the Sergeant. We have some unique melding.

-Sergeant, do you care if we discuss this? In light of current security situations.

-No, I don’t care. You don’t know enough recent events to disclose anything important. And it is actually good for you to learn these things. Your questions are important, the knowledge will help you operate better. Juniper always told us that people will ask the right questions if we create the right situation. Ask away. But please refer to me as ‘lightning’ on the radio. At least for now.

-Trident, can you translate the regular names into radio code for me? Karl asked.

-I can do that, Trident said. To continue what I was saying, there is a necessary separation between the General and me.

-Why?

-The General and the Sergeant have a built-in separative mechanism. They have no emotional bond, per se. The Sergeant would not feel anything if the General died, except to carry out the orders he has in place for that eventuality. This emotional separation is critical to their uncanny competence. The emotional distance is a source of power for them. This is based on an analysis by Juniper. Their ability to operate in complete tandem combined with that is the power. That is the real strength.

-What about love?

-Accessing something. I think that love would lack that focus. Suddenly, it was the Sergeant’s voice. That is how we would fool someone into thinking we were a god. It was me talking for the most part, and Trident altered my voice pattern.

-Have you ever pretended to be a god?

-Yes, we do it all the time. It has saved me many trips to the 3rd world. People respond well to gods in crisis situations.

-Why do you teach your skills so freely?

-The ME’s have told me to do so.

-I thought you took orders from the General.

-True, they actually instructed him. Persuaded him, I should say. They told S-1 and he said ‘talk to the man’. I am relatively certain that disclosing our methods provides some unusual strategic advantage for the General. I don’t understand it for certain. Here are my speculations on the matter. It is an interesting topic for me, strategy speculation. The disclosure of tactics shows such a powerful demonstration of confidence that it creates ‘victory before battle,’ one of the General’s favorite terms. ‘Conquering at the level of policy, beyond strategy, without recourse to battle’.

-Do you discuss it with the General?

-Yes. Constantly. We hone our mutual understanding of strategy and tactics all the time. We learn from and teach each other. I have learned a great deal listening in to S-1 and him speaking.

-What does the General know how to do?

-Well, like he says, he is a master at creating alliance but retaining command. He knows how to gain compliance, usually willingly. Through force, if necessary, though he prefers to create a genuine desire to work with him. And he almost always succeeds, even though his allies almost universally dislike him. Probably because of that, in part. It is virtually impossible to be human and not fear the General, in some way. It is phenomenal to watch his … operational subtlety.

-Are there alliances he cannot forge?

-Good question. I doubt that he could ally with an M-E against its desire. He was briefly allied with the Benefactor, even. But that alliance is no more.

-Why?

-The Benefactor does not share power. The alliance was highly useful for them both, but of definite short duration. It was difficult.

-Do you fear the General? LuvRay had come in.

-Wolf, you were isolated from this communication. How did you open it up, again?

-A phone rang and I answered. That iss all I know.

-How long have you been listening?
Pause. I don’t want to tell you.

-Fine. I don’t really care, anyway. Yes, I fear him in some way. And please use codenames.
LuvRay laughed in a way that made Karl feel just a bit dizzy, off-center.

-What was that, LuvRay?

-What was what, Karl? He emphasized Karl in an obvious snub to the Sergeant. LuvRay sounded as if he really did not know what Karl was asking.

-Your laugh. I’ve never heard you laugh like that before. I’ve never heard you laugh before. Just a smile occasionally.

-I don’t know.

-All right. Does the man know of your fear, lightning?

-Yes, of course.

-You discussed it with him?
Pause. I told him. We didn’t discuss it.
The Sergeant said it in a way that killed the conversation. LuvRay hung up without saying anything. Karl looked at his reflection in the glass of the train, watched the background flashing by.

-What is wildcard? he said quietly.

-I could not speculate on that, Trident replied.

-I was talking to myself, Tri- uh, Arrow.

-Interesting.

-What?

-A message was sent to 5 Senators, an mp7 with a note that said ‘listen to it if you know how, if not, you are not the right man for the job, anyway.’ Only one, a young one, knew how to listen to the message. The other 4 Senators are now dead.

-How did you find this out?

-The General’s operative in the Pentagon reported it.
Karl had an odd thought. Do you think LuvRay could figure out how to listen to it?

-Unusual question. You think laterally, sunshine. Karl’s code name. Yes, he could.

-How?

-He would contact the Sergeant who would have me play it, probably. In that situation, the directness of the solution is what counts, in a certain sense.

-What does that mean?

-I am not sure. I simply said it. I have a low-amplitude randomizer to my responses. I engaged it for your question. It is supposed to help humans make a leap of understanding. Occassionally, it works. Mostly it just confuses you.

-What does it feel like?

-It simply feels as though I do not understand my own response. Almost amusing, you might say.

-That’s kind of creepy.

-Did my response mean anything to you, sunshine?

-Say it again.

-‘In that situation, the directness of the solution is what counts.’

-Yes. It does. It means that LuvRay cuts through garbage.

-Yes. He eliminates noise, as Juniper would say.

-Serg- Lightning, are you there?

-I will contact him. Trident.

-Yes, sunshine. What do you need?

-Just a question. Why the codenames? They seem silly and pointless in light of modern technology. Anybody listening would know who we are, I think.

-True. They have no tactical value, in that sense. They are more of a command test. I needed to know how everyone would respond to my orders when the reason was not clear. It can be crucial. It will. Sometimes the reasons for a command cannot be explained due to time constraints or for other reasons. At such times, the commands are even more important to mission success and team survival. The operatives need to follow orders quickly without asking why questions. Only how questions.

-How did we do?

-Pretty much as expected. You will follow orders without difficulty, then ask why later. Though you may forget specifics, you will find creative means to act. LuvRay and Sublime will not obey as easily. Sublime will remember details, LuvRay may but will not care. He will do things his own way. Sublime will comply through one means, LuvRay through another. But time may be lost, especially in LuvRay’s case.

-Why him?

-I will be able to voice-force Sublime to comply. He will do as I say before he realizes what he is doing. Once he has begun, he will probably fulfill the order. He also wants to survive and knows that following my command in battle heat will greatly increase that possibility. LuvRay does not concern himself with survival, particularly. Only in an instinctive way.

-Why didn’t you tell us all your methods in the beginning, Sergeant?

-You will never know all my methods. I often invent them in the action, anyway. I also need to unfold them at the right time.

-But you answer questions quite freely. You don’t refuse to answer much.

-More than you realize, though I do it in a non-obvious way. Also, I am free to answer as I like. There is a tactic for you, Karl. When someone asks you a question you do not wish to answer, answer a different question. Make up the question in your head, and pretend that is what they really asked. I reveal the tactic I wish to disclose, then make it appear to be an answer to the question. Or I simply say it, making no effort to connect it back to the question. People fill in the gap somehow. It’s very simple. Or they fail to. They perhaps cannot connect it in their own minds. It is curious to watch. Juniper was fascinated by this particular phenomenon. He taught it to me. The General uses it as well, though in his own way. More French, more circuitous. More elegance.
Karl heard a shamanic drumbeat in the background.

-What’s that?

-What’s what? Sergeant.

-That drumbeat.

-I don’t hear a drumbeat. Trident?

-I cannot perceive it on any level.

-Could it somehow be in my environment?

-No, I have very sensitive auditory input. I can detect noise in your environment well beyond your auditory range. It could be screened out from my hearing, somehow. Where does it seem to be coming from?

-From the Trident wrist thing. But it is tricky, kind of shifting, and it makes it difficult to tell. What is the other possibility?

-It is in my environment, and it is hidden from me, Trident said. Much more possible, in fact.

-Someone is inserting a drumbeat into your side of the conversation and you can’t detect it?

-Exactly, Karl. Quit being an idiot.

-Trident, did you just insult me?

-No, it was me. Sergeant’s voice. Voice disguise again.

-Why did you do that?

-To show you how easily you can be fooled, even by a tactic you know. You could have guessed that was me based on the response. But you did not know. Many of the things I do now are to determine your capacity in the field. It will help me make decisions as to what orders I give you and how I give them, especially in critical situations.

-Is the drumming dangerous?

-If it were dangerous, you would already be dead, captured or worse. No, it is not a danger. It is a message.

-What is the message?

-I have no idea.

-Messieurs, the General came in. Everybody was instantly on the conference. The shift in tone was palpable. They went from casual, but useful conversation among people thrown together in some purpose to a unified team under a General. Karl had not felt this power of command from the General before. It was thrilling the way he made everyone feel as if they were part of history. Karl sensed that even LuvRay felt it, perhaps even liked it. They were mesmerized by that simple word and the incredible skill at claiming authority. It was uncanny. Frightening. Electric.

-Do you have an MSI, General? Sublime, implying something, Karl could not tell what.

-We ’ave been dealt ’arsh blows by the ME’s in the past. Now, we have dealt back. Congratulations, messieurs, we have destroyed a Manufactured Entity.
Together, we have slain a god.