every square meter— No… every square millimeter of my palace and kingdom! Program an AI to scan for signs of disobedience! Then they will know that they can’t challenge me!”
Bill remained kneeled before me, worried and confused, not knowing whether he was dismissed yet. “Go, you idiot!” I shouted in answer to his question.
“But how will you tell when they question your law in their minds?” the angel asked.
“I can use their own implants to scan their thoughts! Someone in this dump must be smart enough to know how to do that!”
“What of the ones who don’t have implants?”
“Then I’ll mandate them!” I screamed. “Don’t ask me questions! I’ve had my fill of—”
“This isn’t who you are.”
I heard my own voice in the distance, with the clarity of a marching band a meter away. “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,” it said.
The pain started as dull ache, spreading up my spine, and making it hard for me to breathe. I looked up, across the masses of drunks and revelers, to see its source. I saw myself, a person I didn’t recognize, knelt near a crying woman in some forgotten corner of Dynamic Reality.
“Stay away from her,” I hissed. “She’s no good for you!”
The other me looked in my direction and hesitated, as if he could hear me, as if there were some power that I held over him; but I knew his thoughts, I knew that something within him was disobeying my will.
“She’s not important!” I shouted. “Stop saying those things, those aren’t even my words!”
I felt a drop of water on my nose. A tiny crack had formed in my golden ceiling.
“Have you seen?” the archangel said smugly. “Have you understood? Humans are animal and spirit at once. You are an imperfect, conflicted creature. Do you not even have the will to take command of yourself?”
The floor began to vibrate under me. In every direction, I could hear the walls resonating against something.
“We didn’t mean for her to turn out this way,” Veronica’s parents said to me.
“It’s your fault I have to clean up your mess!”
“Yes,” the archangel said into my ear, “hate them.”
“Maybe
Bill remained kneeled before me, worried and confused, not knowing whether he was dismissed yet. “Go, you idiot!” I shouted in answer to his question.
“But how will you tell when they question your law in their minds?” the angel asked.
“I can use their own implants to scan their thoughts! Someone in this dump must be smart enough to know how to do that!”
“What of the ones who don’t have implants?”
“Then I’ll mandate them!” I screamed. “Don’t ask me questions! I’ve had my fill of—”
“This isn’t who you are.”
I heard my own voice in the distance, with the clarity of a marching band a meter away. “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,” it said.
The pain started as dull ache, spreading up my spine, and making it hard for me to breathe. I looked up, across the masses of drunks and revelers, to see its source. I saw myself, a person I didn’t recognize, knelt near a crying woman in some forgotten corner of Dynamic Reality.
“Stay away from her,” I hissed. “She’s no good for you!”
The other me looked in my direction and hesitated, as if he could hear me, as if there were some power that I held over him; but I knew his thoughts, I knew that something within him was disobeying my will.
“She’s not important!” I shouted. “Stop saying those things, those aren’t even my words!”
I felt a drop of water on my nose. A tiny crack had formed in my golden ceiling.
“Have you seen?” the archangel said smugly. “Have you understood? Humans are animal and spirit at once. You are an imperfect, conflicted creature. Do you not even have the will to take command of yourself?”
The floor began to vibrate under me. In every direction, I could hear the walls resonating against something.
“We didn’t mean for her to turn out this way,” Veronica’s parents said to me.
“It’s your fault I have to clean up your mess!”
“Yes,” the archangel said into my ear, “hate them.”
“Maybe