ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

They all scream for truth, the Truth — but I know the truth and it is cold and dead. Outside the bullet-proof windows the lights of the city burn far below. Above an aeroplane silently banks for landing, its lanterns blinking. My office is silent, dry and cold, completely independent of the climate and events outside thanks to clever insulating materials, climate control, intelligent heating systems and bullet-proof glass.

As I turn from the window, the screensaver on my computer discreetly tones up the windows on the screen. In this place everything obeys me, even the least device is eager to please. A few messages have arrived, but my software agents are dealing with them. Even my mail writes itself. Things happen as extensions of my Will, not because I order them but because they are in accordance with my goals.

The last meeting with the other coordinators was strangely disturbing. The faces on the screens were familiar, but sometimes I felt as if they were empty masks, perhaps animated by AIs. Perhaps they were. I suspect number 5 made the transition a long time ago (strange, I just can't remember his name, just the number of the monitor he always appears on).

We discussed the agenda with the usual brisk efficiency, only to be bogged down with the question about Project Amsterdam. We argued about the funding and logistics, but from the beginning it was clear that this was a ritual, that the views and arguments were already defined. It was almost like we read from a script when Nakana demanded funding from sector AM, number 5 immediately pointed out that the collectives would delay the funding until they got the new fiscal plan and I responded that it could be transferred just like in 1978. We all knew what the others would say, like the actors in a well-rehearsed play.

"Power is the unit of all definition". Like my software agent I can't make heads or tails of the brief sentence in the anonymous email. It could be some kind of crank letter, but I doubt it. Another mental game from IC? I haven't heard from them in several years, something that I do not regret. Of all the groups I have to deal with, the ones who manipulate the manipulators have always struck me as the oddest. They spend most of their time inventing new ways of sneaking into the minds of people, while they know someone, somewhere might do (or does) the same to them. They have even less free will than I do.