The Living Read Free Page A

just broken that also happens sometimes…
    cerberus:
well anyway it’s all for the best basically. for the Living.
    Cerberus stretches his mirrored lips, still wet from the beer, into a smile and buzzes evenly: ‘The number of the Living is unchanging. The Living is three billion livings, neither by one shall it be diminished, nor by one shall it be increased…’
    and no more voids. aren’t you happy?
    ‘Yes,’ Ef says. ‘Very happy. It’s just I’m awfully tired. And my hands hurt.’ He struggles to waggle his bandaged fingers.
    ‘It burned you pretty bad?’
    ‘All the skin’s come off.’
    cerberus:
fofs… and your face?

    ef:
not my face you know i was wearing my mask it’s fireproof
    cerberus:
show me
    ef:
show you what?
    ‘Er, your face. And you keep touching your cheek. Maybe you’re burned all over. Take off your mask, I’ll have a look.’
    Ef jumps out of his seat. Then sits back down.
    ‘Officer Cerberus. You have just suggested that I break Service for Planetary Order regulations. Your words have been recorded by the conversation device, and I will take full responsibility for…’
    SPO_service:
third level access: processing signal: do you wish to make an official charge?
    ef:
not yet
    ‘OK, OK, what did you jump up like a flea for? It was just a little test. A joke!’ Cerberus buzzes apologetically.
    ‘So was it a test or a joke?’
    cerberus:
gopz! 3 a friendly joke of course!
    Ef examines his reflection in Cerberus’s mirrored features and feels another wave of nausea. He knocks back some beer. Closes his eyes. It gets worse.
    Darkness does not come, instead of darkness there is
structure
. It’s as if he was nestling his face in a squidgy termite mound… Hundreds of tiny rounded boxes, a mobile, porous mass. Most of the boxes are dripping with light – busy or available – and pulsing gently. The rest, murky-grey and immobile,seem abandoned. Cerberus’s box also gives the impression of being uninhabited…
    cerberus:
stop that you’ve known me a hundred years!
    ef:
ok let’s just leave it
    cleo:
ef!!
    One of the available boxes swells up and bursts open, as if transformed into a greedy mouth.
    cleo:
ef i know you’re there
    He opens his eyes. Cerberus’s mirrored mask reflects his own mirrored mask which reflects Cerberus’s mirrored mask… His jaw drops and his tongue lolls out. He jumps up.
    ‘You what?’
    ‘I am going to be sick.’
    autodoctor:
relax. deep breath. and ou-u-u-u-t. in – and ou-u-u-t. you are overtired. you need to sleep. alcohol is not recommended. take plenty of fluids and get some fresh air.
    ‘So, has it passed?’ Cerberus asks with heartfelt interest. ‘Another beer maybe?’
    ‘I am overtired,’ says Ef. ‘I need to sleep. Alcohol is not recommended. Fresh air is recommended… No death!’ He goes towards the exit.
    ‘No death,’ Cerberus replies and belches carefully, covering his mirrored lips with his hand. The chatterbox turns his belch into a brief despondent howl.
    re: chain letter
from: dissenter
    You’ve got a stupid job, before the pause you had a stupid job, and after the pause you’ll have a stupid job. But you want to be a screenwriter or a designer. Follow Zero: he has come to change your life.
    !caution!
this may be spam
mark this message as spam? yes no
    Ef marks it as spam, though there’s no point: ‘the letter of joy’ has already been sent to a dozen friends from his address. It’s impossible to stop the process. He already knows that.
    At that moment a new message comes:
    re: important
from: a dissident well-wisher
    Don’t believe the lies. The Leo-Lot ray works in both directions, backwards and forwards…
    Ef reads the letter to the end and notices that there is another layer between his face and the mask – a cold film of sweat. He marks the letter as spam, then deletes it, but memorizes every word. His heart beats in his fingertips, in his ears, under his Adam’s apple, as if it has burst into a hundred