Sockpuppet: Book One in the Martingale Cycle Read Free Page A

serious incident taking place right now on your Partly system.’ Dani prepares to interrupt but he holds up his hands. ‘Par ley. And we’re here to stop it. We will stop it.’
    She blinks at his massive face. His eyes are gently grey. An incident ? He takes another breath.
    ‘So,’ he says. ‘Tell me –’
    He has his little notebook out again. Something important is coming.
    ‘– is the Parley user known as Sick Girl in this building?’
    ‘Is the – excuse me? You’re asking what?’
    ‘I’m asking where I can find this user Sick Girl. We have reason to believe she’s in this building.’
    ‘You what? She bloody isn’t.’
    ‘If you’re so sure of that, how about you tell me where she is? Name, address and phone number. And while you’re at it can you shut off her Parley account, please.’
    Dani realises her jaw is hanging open. She shuts it.
    ‘You’re serious?’ she says.
    ‘Yes, Miss Farr, this is extremely serious. In the last seven hours this Sick Girl has made a series of accusations about a government minister, published a string of confidential government documents and she’s showing no sign of stopping this behaviour. We would appreciate—’
    ‘No, as in: you’re not joking? You want me to give you sic_girl’s phone number ?’
    In spite of everything she starts to laugh. The furious face of the policemen only makes it crazier. She can’t stop.
    ‘I fail to see –’ says Racist.
    Dani gulps in air to get hold of herself.
    ‘That is so – ha! Would you like Super Mario’s number, too? I think I might have Lara Croft’s!’
    The policemen exchange a look.
    ‘Those,’ says Racist in the voice of a man imparting great wisdom, ‘are fictional characters, Ms Farr.’
    That shuts Dani up for just a second. Then her cheeks fill up again with lulz.
    ‘And sic_girl isn’t?’ she manages.
    Then she’s off again, with the gut-shaking laugh of the sleep-deprived.

¶riotbaby:
And im telling YOU, friend. Its just another part of their agenda. They want to own us and theyre taking us one piece at a time.
You think this is an isolated thing? This isnt isolated. Its a tiny part of a bigger plan. They won’t rest till they know everything about you. No secrets, no privacy.
And you want to know the worst of it? They dont even care we know. Theyll lie to our faces and theyll smile and smile.
You know what this point is?
This is the point where we start fighting back.
 
    ¶bottomhalfofthepage:
More lies from the party of you-turns and spin.
She is called Betterny but that does not mean she is better’n me.
LOL
No, I know that’s not how you spell it.

Three
    John-Rhys Pemberton’s Blackberry sounded from under a pile of policy briefs beside his Party laptop. He decided to ignore it until he completed his sentence.
    Not unusually, J-R had been up a while. Since 4:45, in fact. Perched on his sofa in boxers and socks, he bent forward over his Party laptop and tackled the previous day’s internal correspondence for Bethany Lehrer, the Minister of State for a Digital Society. A forgotten bowl of Shreddies coagulated at his feet as he deciphered Bethan’s handwritten notes and converted them into memoranda for the civil servants who ran her Private Office.
    The first note was crammed onto both sides of a Doonesbury notelet.
     
1 a.m. (!!!)
I’m still working through my box and I’m frankly peed off. Can you please tell those jobsworths to stop abbreviating my official title on their submissions? This one is addressed to ‘MoS-aDS’. Sounds like MOSSAD! Basically they can write my title out in full. It isn’t THAT long?? Ta babes. Bethx
     
    That was an easy one. In the memorandum, J-R had written:
     
1) The Minister notes that certain forms of abbreviated address have become standard on Ministerial Submissions, perhaps not entirely through design. Whilst appreciating the drive for brevity, the Minister asks that, in future, full official titles are used on all correspondence