"The adjustments have been made," the Doctor a.s.sured his little audience. "As I said before, the webset is essentially quite a straightforward apparatus. Its processors read and preserve certain information transmitted through the brain.
You see, fibres in our skulls transmit light - projecting the images of objects - from the retina along the optic nerves, into the cranial cavity and through the dura mater dura mater until they cross at the optic chiasma. As our brains interpret this optical data it triggers an emotional response, which is also read by the webset..." until they cross at the optic chiasma. As our brains interpret this optical data it triggers an emotional response, which is also read by the webset..."
Polly slowly lost his thread. She was never one for technical explanations. As long as something worked, what did it matter how how it worked? it worked?
Everyone had gathered solemnly around Frog"s force mattress, in the glare of the lantern, their websets in place.
Polly couldn"t help smiling at how the Doctor looked with the little headband stretched over his high forehead. Frog, on the other hand, looked terrifying. She lay there muttering to herself in a world of her own, a dreamy smile on her face as she listened to the stream of words she was making all by herself. Now her forehead had swollen up the webset barely fitted across it.
The Doctor finished his explanation. No one looked much the wiser.
"Ain"t never used one of these before," Ben said with a nervous glance at Polly.
"Neither have we, in this way," said Tovel.
Ben rolled up his eyes like he could see his webset. "I feel like a real Nelly in this thing. What do we do?"
"Close your eyes. Try to clear your mind," Haunt instructed, closing her dark eyes. "Feel your way into the signals."
Polly shut her own eyes, tried to get into the swing of it.
But the stuff Haunt was saying only reminded her of an idiot she"d met once at a party at Kensington Roof Gardens. He"d told her that acid was the ultimate trip, waving a piece of blotting paper in her face with just such facile advice.
It couldn"t work, she felt too stupid, couldn"t relax in this atmosphere, so many strangers. But even as she was trying to stop thinking of the man she heard Ben beside her give a soft chuckle.
"Who"s that bloke I see you with, d.u.c.h.ess? What"s he waving at you?"
Polly"s eyes snapped open. She stared at him. "You can see my memories?"
"Whoah!" Ben shouted. "That"s me! You"re coming through loud and clear!" He opened his eyes. "This is amazing. If I shut my eyes, I can see meself." He did so, and ran his fingers through his short fair hair as if combing it in front of a mirror. Polly looked away, annoyed with herself for not being able to use the webset properly.
"Think of the person whose eyes you want to see through,"
Haunt told her, her voice surprisingly tender. Was Haunt in her head too?
Polly closed her eyes and saw a bleary image of herself, from half a dozen perspectives. There was a noise like static in her head. Hushed voices. They must be thoughts. Some of them must be Ben"s, so she thought of him as hard as she could. It was amazing; the other voices grew quieter, and his rose in volume through the static. She couldn"t get precise wordings, but the impression of his feelings was clear enough: he was simply excited. She smiled. Ben even thought in a c.o.c.kney accent.
She winced in a wave of dizziness. She was finding it hard to mix sound and vision. Vision was much stronger.
"It should grow easier with time," she heard the Doctor say in her ear, "as you grow used to it."
She nodded, and tried to think of him. To see what he was seeing.
It was like she"d touched a naked flame - For a single violent second it felt (terror) to her that her flesh had aged a thousand years. We are ( we will not waste a we will not waste a second of our life second of our life) still young, vital, but trapped inside this awful, ancient (frustration) corpse of a body - Then inexplicably, a picture - an old, strange-looking bicycle, a penny-farthing or something - resolved itself from the chaos in her mind. And she heard the Doctor chuckle as the image faded, though this time he spoke in her head. It felt like he"d poked her brain with a stick.
"No. No, Polly my dear, you may not eavesdrop on me, me, I"m afraid." I"m afraid."
Polly opened her eyes. She felt confused and sick. She had to fight the urge to rip the webset off and hurl it away.
"It"s all right, Polly," said Shade. He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "It will will get easier." get easier."
"I can"t seem to get you, Doctor," Ben said.
The Doctor smiled knowingly and shook his head. Polly shivered. I don"t get you either, she thought quietly.
"It"s possible to block your mind to others," said Haunt, with a glare at him. "But the whole point is that we can all check on where we are. It"s in all our interests to be as open as possible."
"Of course, I agree with you." The Doctor didn"t seem fazed by her evil eye. "But I dare say we all have our secrets."
"Well, in any case, we can"t delay," Haunt said, rising. "So listen to me. All of you."
"You know what we have to do."
Chapter Fourteen.
Spider"s Web
WEBSET ONLINE INFORMATION SYSTEM ACTIVATED.
To switch between different viewpoints within the neural net, select the relevant section numbers as instructed. select the relevant section numbers as instructed.
Do not attempt to read all sections in a linear fashion, or the dataflow will not make sense. Go forward or back depending dataflow will not make sense. Go forward or back depending on which viewpoint you wish to access. on which viewpoint you wish to access.
Join the neural net by first tuning in to Haunt"s viewpoint.
Turn to section 1 on page 197
1.
Haunt.
"All right listen," we say. Best bullying tone, it comes unbidden when we open our mouth. Like we"re back in the field. Going in, taking the fight to the enemy. It"s a good feeling.
Or it always used to be. Now we feel just a little sick as the adrenaline pumps round us.
The unit is scared. None of these people want to go back out there but they know what"ll happen if they don"t. It"s all or nothing now. A shot at life, or certain death.
The hole in our side is killing us. Or more accurately, it was. Now it just hurts like h.e.l.l.
"Doctor, your party doesn"t have communicators, so you"ll just have to pair up with those who do. Doctor, with me. Ben, you go with Tovel." We look at Tovel, at the filthy Schirr carca.s.s he"s becoming. "And watch him."
"I"ll watch out out for him, if that"s what you mean," the boy says, fiercely loyal but hopelessly naive. Once, he might"ve made a good soldier. for him, if that"s what you mean," the boy says, fiercely loyal but hopelessly naive. Once, he might"ve made a good soldier.
"Shade, take the girl."
We can feel Shade respond to this, strongly so. The girl"s less sure. We keep out of all that. Keep distance. Concentrate on what needs to be done.
"We"ll go out together to what"s left of the bullring. From there we"ll fan out, looking for the symbol you saw before." We concentrate, bring it shining into our minds. There"s a wave of fear, apprehension. Seems the neural web is holding together well. But we can"t afford to get c.o.c.ky.
"One of us should be able to find our way back to the carving," we say.
"And if we don"t have the tools?" asks Creben. Practical as ever.
"I"ll have them." We smile. "And I"ll come running, believe me."
They keep watching us, like we"re going to give them some miracle to get out of this. We wonder if the troops we left behind to the Schirr on New Jersey looked at us in that way.
Looked up at the missile incoming and understood that miracles only come at a cost.
Do we have to physically herd them out there into the darkness like sheep?
"Move out," we bellow.
To continue in Haunt"s viewpoint, select section 9 on page 209 To switch to Tovel"s viewpoint, select section 4 on page 200 To switch to Polly"s viewpoint, select section 6 on page 203 To switch to Shade"s viewpoint, select section 21 on page 231 To switch to Ben"s viewpoint, select section 25 on page 239
2.
Creben
We"re sick of this labyrinth. Of having to choose the turnings.
When we scouted this area with Lindey we were working to a pattern of course. But since the cave-in, it"s hopeless to compare our position. We trust to blind luck and...
Well, well. We"ve found the very spot.
The symbol glares out at us, a square stone eye unwinking in our torchlight.
"Creben. You"ve found it."
The Doctor"s voice sounds over the wrist-comm. We"re surprised. We did not detect his presence here in the network.
"It appears to be carved in solid stone," we tell him, and anyone else who"s listening in.
"I know. I am sharing your sight, Creben." He laughs without a good deal of humour. "I do hope you don"t begrudge me."
"Well it"s here, as you can see. But there"s no sign of any machinery nearby."
"Run your fingers over the rune," the Doctor says.
"You think it"s touch-activated?" We trace the eye"s outline.
"Sorry. Nothing. No life here."
"Wait." The Doctor sounds suddenly urgent. "Look behind you."
We turn. There"s a bare wall facing us. Weed hangs down from the ceiling, a thick coverlet.
"Move that aside," the Doctor says impatiently. We do so.
There"s another eye carved in the stone, looking back at us "Move aside, boy," the Doctor roars, in our head this time, not through the wrist-comm.
We do as he says, scowling. The two eyes look across at each other. They start to glow. The light gets stronger, blazing hotter until a red haze stretches between the two symbols.
Then a complex schematic resolves itself in the air before us, its lines and vortices a deep crimson.
"Seems the tools will be unnecessary," we say.
"Quite so, Creben." The Doctor pauses. "Your fingers are all we shall require. Reach out. Touch the schematic."
We do so, gingerly. Our fingers press against the blood-red lines. The fingertips tingle. The floating lines feel solid, like wires.