Harris took a deep breath. « De keste stione isa complexium. Wataï kane saïa, isdat Tecô-Regi-Ster usîs de safeverseens laïki guine hea piggze. Sowaï nota de Key-Deli-Ô-Scope userests ? » Ezil translated instantly: « The question is complex. What I can say, is that Tecô-Regi-Ster uses the safeverseens like guinea pigs. So why not the Ô-plugs ? » « Tecô-Regi-Ster? What’s the Tecô-Regi-Ster? » Ezil took a deep breath: « Tecô-Deli-Kpter/Key-Deli-Ô-Scope/Chimiô-Hei-Ster. » « Excuse me? » « The Tecô-Regi-Ster is the societal result of what is called the NBIC Convergence. The NBIC Convergence is a pluridisciplinary gathering pre-Key-Deli-Ô-Scope, which had as its aim the development of projects from domains such as nanotechnology, cognition, information sciences, biotechnologies. The science and technology of information, conglomerates of sectors such as electroics, traditional or quantum computing, robotics, telecommunications and virtual worlds. Tecô-Regi-Ster is made up of three kinds of multinationals. Tecô-Deli-Kpter is the security sector. The Intelligence Agency, and private security agencies, if you will. Key-Deli-Ô-Scope is the immersion program that you access, by placing keyscopian lenses in your eyes, your daily-S on your fingers and your ôSes. We would never have imagined that this program would become the number one means of communication of the population. As you know, Key-Deli-Ô-Scope stocks all conversations and generates many ways of existence of the Ô-plugs, up to psychic conditioning, with the help of the Psychoscope! It’s frightening. And Chimiô-Hei-Ster is the alliance among the chemical, pharmaceutical and agro industries. » « But what does that have to do with us? » « The fact that the safeverseens must battle daily against the assaults of Tecô-Regi-Ster. Not only does Tecô-Deli-Kpter continually attempt to find out our secrets, but the Key-Deli-Ô-Scope lowers us in the public opinion to the level of simple terrorists, and Chimiô-Hei-Ster perfoms chemical experiments on us. You can’t imagine the poisons they test on us. And it’s for this that the safeverseen movement is ‘tolerated’ by the transnational extropian governance: Chimiô-Hei-Ster uses us like lab rats. They test their chemical products on us. This is why it is imperative to have diffusers. » Unbelievable. « The diffusers protect us from chemical products? » I asked. Harris seemed lost in his thoughts, and muttered: « Uvoulde nota bilieffe demon hi deymaï koff hour bâkks. »
Ezil continued: « The diffusers are linked to Mendeleev’s periodic table. Every safeverseen is attributed to an element, according to his biological constitution, but also to his pyschic and behavioral characteristics. Cid, for example, is copper. It’s a transmisôr agent, a conductor. He circulates information. Yannos, whom you met, is krypton. he’s a professional in counter-espionnage. His principal skill is that he excels in the art of hiding. You must have seen that Cyriaque has an impulsive character, and that he’s often… aggressive? Well, he’s sulfer. That explains a lot, no? As for Harris… he’s oxygen. The etymological root of this element suits him perfectly: generator of acid. Why do I say that? Because in reality, Harris is the inventor of the Humming Birds. At the time, he was the director of an important company that proposed a service we called a « search engine. » This company also worked on nanotechnology and robotics projects (it was among the most important actors of the Convergence!). Harris had just commercialized his prototype when he met Diane. He fell in love with her, and literally changed his life. He was an extropian transhumanist: at the time he had eletrodes in his brain. He took out his technologies and joined Diane in her safeverseen fight. Since she disappeared, he became reskilled in gardening. But we owe the creation of lasers and « fogs » to him and his team. Fogs are sprays that neutralize the Humming Birds. They disorganize the nano-robots, creating problems in their coordination. This way, the Humming Birds split up and quickly disappear. » I was troubled. Harris, the director of a search engine. What a turnaround! The safeverseens were neither terrorists, nor dreamers. The movement had been created by the very spokesman for a palace coup! Members of large securities and technologies businesses made the choice to turn against the faceless machinery in which they were enclosed! It was amazing.
I was deep in my thoughts, when suddenly I heard a scream. Then another. Crackling lasers… The Humming Birds. They were there. All around me. Panic. I stayed still. I felt a swarm all over my skin, as though the birds were devouring it with their submolecular beaks. A swirling wave tearing me apart. I was lost and distraught, but I could get myself back together: I needed to react, to rip myself away from their stealth attack. The Humming Birds were jeopardizing my chances to help the safeverseens: I was going to be identified. Suddenly, I felt a pain in my brain. Deep, cutting. A strange sensation: I had the impression of hearing my thoughts through the opaque filter of an echo. As though all that I thought was being duplicated, recalculated, printed onto immaterial, synthetic fiber. I heard Ezil scream, « Oh no! Oh no! They fired a probe at him! In his head! In his head! A probe! » Then, in a voice that sounded as panicked as I was: « Aksel! Aksel, listen to me. You need to master your thoughts. You must think about nothing. Strictly nothing. Above all not about … about us. Do you hear me? » A probe? A probe? I thought. What is a probe? What is a probe? Don’t think. Don’t think. Does that mean that they can hear my thoughts…? Does that mean that… I tried to master myself. Think little. Strict minimum. Separate all thoughts having to do with the safeverseens. I didn’t know anymore where to focus my thoughts. « Aksel, we’re going to bring you somewhere to treat you, but please, pay attention to your thoughts. I beg you, don’t think about anything that could jeopardize us. From now on, you are a safeverseen, Aksel. Don’t forget that. You have to behave like one. » The lasers wavered, and a mass of transluscent droplets appeared.
They took my hand. I closed my eyes. Let them guide me. I felt the rain beat down on my suit. Rain storms add a bit of tragedy to theall affairs « And if they learn that… And if they learn… » « No, no. » « Don’t think about anything, don’t think about anything. » Passage in the airlock. I heard a language that was now familiar, close to my heart: « Aksel gotta pro’be. Tekit aoute, kuikuickli! » I opened my eyes. I saw before me a white-haired woman with round glasses. She had turquoise, metallic gloves on her hands, run through with cables. She removed my helmet and placed her hands on my forehead. I closed my eyes. Suddenly, the black of my eyelids became light. I saw an immense red funnel held in empty space by three yellow springs. It seemed to bound upon the whiteness. A hand appeared from inside the funnel. It held a pump, and pointed it toward me. A second hand activated a crank. Total whiteness. Raw pain in my brain. The pump rejected its contents in the funnel with the help of a cable. A blackish goo exited from its extremity. It was about to get away when it was hit four times by four red hammers, which compressed it into a black cube. The cube was sealed with a turquoise substance. Black. White. I opened my eyes. The woman took her gloves from my forehead and said: « Ittise fini ished, dank seto Orthogonia Aïre movede you repro be. » She explained in clearer language: « The probe was removed. You can think normally again. » Dumbfounded. I was dumbfounded. Had the vision been real, or had it been my rambling mind? The funnel, the hammers. It was very strange. In any case, my thoughts were no longer echoing.