The Messenger of the Ground

1

November 2077

Alys woke from her recurring dream. Always it was the day after Luke arrived in Y Tir and she was explaining operation Excalibur to him.

'So once Excalibur had done it's work, we loaded Glyndwr,' she told him in her dream. 'It was a pity the inter-E-Gov communications and the defence documents were behind an extra layer of encryption, so we couldn't get to them. But we were most interested in being able to get to the Regulation Authority Database. We wiped all your files among other things.'

'Glyndwr's like the history site I originally found you on?'

'It's actually multiple sites-history, ethical critiques of the Will to Govern, exposés of abuse. Glyndwr generates endless copies of the sites' pages and randomly combines them over the top of existing sites or any site we've stripped out. So all the E-Gov citizen information sites and news sites, for instance.'

'Sounds complicated and brilliant.'

It was, but of course it was also only the beginning. In the two years between Dewi Jenkins getting Brussels' support for Y Tir to be recognised as a sovereign state and a member of the European Community, they had worked tirelessly with Luke and Emrys to develop Glyndwr. Luke had a flair for story that went well with her maths and Emrys's magic, and all of it had been needed. 

She edged out of bed into the cold of the November day and made her way to the bathroom. She leaned out of the window to watch Owain scattering feed for the chickens. 'I'll make tea,' she called. He raised a hand in answer, stamping to keep warm as he moved towards the house. 

She passed the empty room behind the bathroom and touched her palm to the door as she had done every day since Taid died. 

'You look glum this morning,' Gwen noted as Alys entered the kitchen.

'Thinking about Taid,' she replied. 'And about how little time we have to do something more permanent about the Hengst and Hunter sites.'

Gwen nodded. 'Kettle's on,' she said, as Owain entered the kitchen. 

'Freezing!' He squatted in front of the log burner and jammed in another log. 'Dad's gone over to the Jenkins' to take the herbs for Taid Jenkins and see how Dewi is doing.'

Alys placed a large teapot on the table and Gwen set a rack of toast next to it. Owain was at the table in a stride, slathering butter on onto the hot, crisp bread before pulling out his chair.

'It'll be hard on Dewi losing Dafydd so soon after Betsan. And 77's no great age,' Gwen said, pouring three mugs of tea. 'Same age as my mam.'

'Nain's one of the last of that group now, isn't she?' Alys asked.

Owain looked up startled. 'But Nain's fine, right?'

'My mam is one of the fittest people I know,' Gwen said, smiling. 'But that generation went through too much. Pandemics and living in the mines and winters with not enough food. It's surprising any of them got to fifty with what they endured, and the amount of loss they had to live with. But there were some strong ones.'

'Like Nain Parry.'

'Super-strong. Angharad Parry was the generation before. Hardly any of them made it to old age.' Gwen took a long draught of tea. 'Right, who's for eggs? Or do you want porridge?'

'Porridge,' Alys said at the same moment as Owain called, 'Eggs.'

'Rock, paper, scissors,' Owain offered.

Alys laughed. 'Eggs are fine. Porridge tomorrow.'

'You going to Emrys's after breakfast?'

'Today and every day.'

'So is it industrial espionage now?'

'Pretty much-or at least that's the aim. Not that we want to exploit their corporate secrets. Just stop them.'

'But people don't seem to care what these companies do as long as they can stay entertained and have maximum convenience. I can't get my mind round that type of thinking at all.'

'It's not how you've been raised,' Gwen said, stirring dark yellow eggs into a moist scramble and adding pepper. 'And tags have changed people. They might call it human enhancement, but there's not much human in it at all, not as we've known it.'

'I just can't see the attraction of my memories and emotions being stored in a cloud where some hacker can hold them to ransom.'

'Me neither. But people who've lived under E-Gov can't see the attraction of having to remember dates and information or all the knowledge they need for work or of experiencing something once and then not being able to relive it.'

'But I can relive it,' Owain countered. 'I can sit here with a plate of eggs and see Taid across from me or be in the polytunnel and hear him telling me how to space the seedlings. I can walk up Moelwyn Bach and the scent takes me back to the time a big group of us spent the day swimming in the top lake, doing dives from the rocks. I can practically hear the splashes and feel the cold water and then the heat when we came out into the sun.'

'You're right, but if you'd never relied on your own brain to remember those things you'd have a lifetime of enhanced, full-sensory memories instead, with bells and whistles in more colour than exists in the real world. And if that suddenly disappeared, you'd be disorientated. Think how Luke was when he first arrived, even though he'd chosen to remove his tag.'

'Yeah, I know it's massive conditioning. I just hope that if I'd had that and then got the chance to go back to . well, to being myself, I suppose, that I'd choose this life. And if they all do it together then no one's at a disadvantage.'

'But these companies.' Alys shook her head. 'The chips they're about to produce go even further. E-Gov wanted control and tracking and I think the new regime isn't much better, but the tech companies are aiming higher-they want a complete end to private thought- every idea or even what you dream in your sleep is a saleable commodity to them.'

'But you'll stop them?'

Alys sighed. 'I really don't know. There's a growing clamour for access to the new tags in England. A lot of it in the Subs. People want what the rich already have and more of it.'

'But how would they afford it?'

'The big companies have gone with different models. Transense-'

'That's the Hunter's one?'

Alys nodded. 'Yeah, the "complete neurolife chip" they call it. That one is expensive. It's all about being exclusive and keeping the hoi poloi beneath you. But the Hengst's Enhanced Futures one, snappily called "Linkit" is going to be free. They-'

'Free? What like they're a virtual-life charity?'

'Not so you'd notice. The consumers don't have to pay because they are the product. Every scrap of the users' date is saleable.'

'And people will go along with that?'

'People will flock to it. The manipulations and invasion of privacy are all so intangible and the enticements are large-people who've scraped an existence in slums will suddenly be taking virtual vacations on tropical islands with every sense catered to. People whose lives are unremitting labour for a pittance will be able to escape to any hedonistic fantasy they want.'

'And they'll be more exhausted than ever,' Gwen put in. 

'Sounds scummy,' Owain said, 'but why exhausting? They're just sitting there experiencing whatever distracts them from their real lives.'

'Because their body's will know it's virtual. The heart-brain and gut-brain won't be fooled. And because no matter how real it feels, it's always a distraction unmoored in time so it will leave them craving.not even knowing what they're craving for.'

'So they'll go back and back trying to find the satisfaction that's eluding them,' Alys added

'And feel more and more fatigue and craving, more and more alienation,' Gwen finished.

'That's hellish,' Owain said. 'Alys, you've got to take them down.'

'Thanks, brother. And meanwhile, we have to watch our own data. We think the supposed to be oh-so-shiny-clean new U-Gov has a whole covert department just aimed at taking our systems down.'

'But we're in the last stage of ratifying sovereign status with European protection. Wouldn't that be against international law?'

'Of course, but try proving it wasn't just some random hacker. We have to be beyond vigilant and make sure we're untraceable, which means planting more decoys than we feel we can manage some days. But the Mutineers have offered help and Zach and Saskia are learning fast, though I think Emrys and Dewi want them to take over integrating the refugees. They're so good with people.'

'The refugees don't seem like a happy crowd from what Gethin and Osian were saying.'

'I think a lot of the people who've left England for Y Tir thought we were some kind of rural idyll with cows that milk themselves and lambs that dance through flower meadows before laying down as tasty ready-cooked dinners. We don't live up to the montage in their heads. And in fairness, the housing stock is probably worse than they've left behind in the Subs, and really dire for those who were in the Centres. Porth may have great views but it's been empty for a long time and it's hard work putting those houses right.'

'Do you ever regret breaking the code?'

Alys paused. 'Some days, certainly some moments. But we've given people a chance to choose a different way for humanity to...