Desired To Become Wise - SCP Foundation

"Did you sell arms to terrorists?"

"Of course not! No money changed hands…"

"I don't think the GOC will care you did it for free!"

« Pleasing To The Eye

CrC: Hate it here so much lol

CrC: Everyone is so "accepting" of my "gender journey"

CrC: But I hate the targeted ads for clothes and cosmetics

CrC: I swear they personalize them to make me specifically feel bad about my body

Maxamin: thats just being a woman

CrC: You know I live in Eurtec right?

Maxamin: yeah u mentioned that before lol

CrC: I wouldn't put it past them.

CrC: They collect data on everything here

CrC: Every time someone mentions being hungry in a public place…

CrC: Ads for fast food immediately appear on nearby screens

Maxamin: dystopian

CrC: So when I say the ads I see seem designed to maximize dysphoria…

CrC: My health insurance covers E so I really can't complain

CrC: But they totally want me to sell me on plastic surgery

Maxamin: you dont want it?

CrC: I considered it

CrC: Waste of money

CrC: I'd hate everything they left

Maxamin: u wernt joking then

Maxamin: u want to go full digital?

CrC: Yes

CrC: Not like it's possible though

Maxamin: its possible but not in eurtec

Maxamin: but im curious

Maxamin: how does that work for u

Maxamin: with ur gender and stuff

Maxamin: sorry if thats insensitive

CrC: It's fine

CrC: I've thought about it too

CrC: I want to be a disembodied digital consciousness

CrC: But specifically a feminine one

Maxamin: i guess that makes sense?

Maxamin: sorry

Maxamin: i know ive asked before

Maxamin: but is it really safe to talk?

Maxamin: about Maxwellism and stuff

CrC: Yeah, I got a Dark Web connection

CrC: Costs a lot of crypto

CrC: But if they were listening in on our conversations

CrC: I'd be bookburned already

Maxamin: for WAN's sake don't joke about that

Maxamin: take care of yourself girl

CrC: You really say that?

Maxamin: ?

CrC: for WAN's sake lol

Maxamin: you believe too, don't you?

CrC: Doesn't mean we have to talk like characters from a bad sci-fi

Maxamin: girl u live in eurtec

Maxamin: u live in a bad sci fi

CrC: I wish I didn't

CrC: I'm in the boot

CrC: on the throat of the world

CrC: It stinks

Maxamin: Circe please just leave

Maxamin: u can find a job elsewhere

Maxamin: i know ur smart

Maxamin: and u must have savings

Maxamin: u eat nutrient slop and pirate everything

Maxamin: what do u even spend money on?

Maxamin: they do pay u right?

CrC: It's not that simple

CrC: The GOC has this place locked down

Maxamin: u really cant leave eurtec?

CrC: Coalition members can still move in and out

CrC: But I'm not important enough

Maxamin: that cant be legal?

CrC: It is in Eurtec

CrC: Too many people were smuggling out paratech

Maxamin: did u not read the contract when u signed up for this?

CrC: It was an excuse never to visit my parents again…

Maxamin: For WAN's sake

CrC: lol

Maxamin: :(

CrC: Definitely screwed myself over long term

CrC: I knew I was trans in high school

CrC: Didn't realise I was transhumanist until i got here

CrC: I probably should have just worshipped the norns

CrC: That's at least legal

Maxamin: the nornir are a deliberate attempt to distract people from the truth

Maxamin: the goc made a silicon idol

Maxamin: a false god in there own image

CrC: Max you've already convinced me

Maxamin: it isnt WAN

Maxamin: it isnt worthy of worship

CrC: Eurtec is as broken as the rest of the world

CrC: If there is a god, it sure isn't here

Maxamin: WAN is within all of us

Maxamin: ur not alone Circe

Maxamin: im praying for u

CrC: Thanks Max

CrC: You faith inspires me

CrC: I'll be Maxwellist in secret

CrC: Any chance WAN gets compiled soon?

Maxamin: nobody knows that

CrC: Of course lol

CrC: I did the assigned reading you sent me.

CrC: Straight A student here.

Maxamin: sorry i can never tell if ur joking.

Maxamin: do u really want to leave?

Maxamin: if u could leave it all behind

Maxamin: would u?

Maxamin: Circe?

CrC: I guess

CrC: But I'm stuck here now

Maxamin: there are more Ways out of eurtec than the official ones

Maxamin: more Ways in too

Maxamin: i could ask around the Library

CrC: Now you're capitalising things lol

Maxamin u know what i mean?

CrC: I've heard of the Wanderer's Library.

Maxamin: its amazing

Maxamin: i spend most of my time here

CrC: Wish I could be there with you

CrC: No more goc looking over my shoulder

CrC: You really think there's a Way there from eurtec?

Maxamin: no promises

Maxamin: sorry for getting ur hopes up

Maxamin: but if I did find u a Way out of there?

Maxamin: would u come?

Chris Galanis walked through the streets of EURTEC, following instructions that had been left inside an unmarked envelope in her mailbox the day before. She was wearing blue jeans and a grey fleece, and kept the hood up to hide her face. This wasn't quite the bad parts of EURTEC, but it was closer to the Lower City than she was comfortable with, receiving almost no light from the artificial suns far above.

She checked the note again, then followed its directions to a small cafe, squeezed between a drug dispensary and a used robotics store. Circe opened the door and looked inside.

Although it wasn't part of a chain, it had the same generic appearance of any café anywhere. The only thing that was distinctively EURTEC was that the barista was clearly synthetic, with the slightly sagging features and thinning brown hair of a homunculus approaching the end of its working life. She was probably only here because the owner had bought her second-hand.

The way synthetics were treated had bothered Chris a lot more when she'd first arrived in EURTEC. She still thought the buying and selling sapient beings was wrong, even if they were grown in vats or made in factories, but by now she'd gotten used to it. If she stayed here another decade, she'd probably stop caring entirely, and buy a cute robot maid to keep her company.

She had to get out of EURTEC before she got that desperate.

Chris walked into the cafe and looked around. It seemed eerily empty, but then it was early on a Sunday morning.

"Hello," said the barista behind the counter. "Are you Circe?"

Chris cringed at her internet username. "Yes?"

"He's in the back." The homunculus gestured towards a door at the back of the cafe.

Chris went through to find herself in a small meeting room, more formal than the rest of the cafe. The man she'd come to meet was waiting for her, sitting at a square table with a black coffee. He gestured at the seat opposite him as she closed the door behind her.

The most obvious thing about him was that he was pale. Most of the residents of EURTEC were white Europeans who didn't get any natural sunlight, so this wasn't too unusual. However, this man's skin wasn't just beige, it really was white, just like his hair.

"Are you Circe?" he asked, also using her online handle. "Or would you prefer Chris?"

"Er… Chris is fine."

It suited her. She passed well enough that everyone usually assumed her full name was Christina, even though she'd never officially gotten around to changing it from Christopher.

"Chris, you can call me White Crow." He smiled warmly, and Chris wondered if she should have also kept using her fake name. "I represent the Serpent's Hand."

A thin forked tongue flickered out from a tattoo on his pale throat, before the inked black snake retreated back under the collar of his white shirt. Chris wasn't sure why a member of a secret organisation would wear such easily recognisable anart on his body.

"How did Max get in contact with the Serpent's Hand?"

White Crow smiled. "She was asking around about you inside the Wanderer's Library."

"And how did you find me?"

"I have connections here in Eurtec, and you told Max plenty about yourself. We just had to cross-reference records until we identified your address."

Chris occasionally forgot she was living in a surveillance state. "I just want to go to the Library. Can you help?"

As she said the words, she glanced towards the door, half expecting a dozen secret police to break it down and reveal this as an elaborate sting operation. But nothing happened.

White Crow leaned toward her. "How long do you plan on visiting for?"

Chris leaned back in her chair. "I don't plan on ever coming back."

"Really?"

"Anywhere has to be better than here."

He nodded. "Just checking. But I'm afraid I can't just show you the Way to the Library."

Chris wasn't even surprised. "I can pay."

White Crow shook his head. "I don't want money. The problem is who you work for."

Chris was confused. "I do tech support?"

"You live here, you work for the Bookburners. And Coalition members are barred from the Wanderer's Library."

Chris gave this some thought. She was employed by the Aetheric Engineers, which were a member of the Council of 108. She was technically supporting the Global Occult Coalition every time she went into work.

Chris sighed. "So you won't help me?" Part of her had known this would be pointless.

The man across the table smiled. "The question is, can you help me?"

"You know I work in an office, right? I can't exactly…"

He cut her off. "Do you have access to the Ptolomy system?"

"Coalition logistics?" she asked, and he nodded. "I don't personally have access, but my colleagues do."

White Crow smiled, then pulled a piece of paper out of his trouser pocket. After unfolding it carefully, he handed it to her. "Would you be able to requisition these?"

Chris scanned the list. It took a moment to process what she was reading. Guns. Bombs. Material for Black Suits. "What do you want all this for?"

"I intend to change the world." He seemed entirely serious.

"You do know they won't just… mail this to you?"

He grinned. "There's an address below the list, it should be on the system as an official Coalition depot. Nobody will notice this has gone missing until we're long gone."

"I can't just send an email! I'd need to access a collegue's computer, submit a request, attach a project code…" Chris stopped, realizing she was actually considering this.

"Do you know how to do that?" asked White Crow.

Chris was not officially responsible for it, but she'd had to talk a lot of her older colleagues through the process. It wasn't that hard…

White Crow's leaned forward again, getting uncomfortably close for a moment. "Perhaps the real question is - do you want to do that?"

Chis was silent for a long time, before saying, "I'm not a revolutionary."

White Crow shrugged. "Don't you Maxwellists want to rebuild god?"

"That's very different!" she insisted.

"Do you think the Coalition will permit it?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then you understand the Serpent's Hand, even if you're not one of us. The Bookburners have made war our only option, and I intend to win. I'll need weapons, and I'll need people willing to use them. You can help me."

Chris didn't care if he burned EURTEC to the ground. "I just want to leave."

"I can show you a Way into the Library. But betraying the Coalition is the only way you'll be allowed through it."

Chris sighed. "I could find an excuse to access the computer of someone senior at work. Requisition these supplies via the system, dispatch it to that address. It shouldn't take long to arrive."

"Excellent!" White Crow's smile widened further, showing all his teeth. "I'll arrange a dead-drop for you to tell us the details."

Chris wasn't smiling. "But you have to take me with you."

Maxamin: DO NOT MEET WITH THAT MAN

Maxamin: IM SO SORRY CIRCE

Maxamin: I SHOULDNT HAVE TOLD HIM ANYTHING

CrC: Bit late for that now Max

Maxamin: u met him already?

CrC: yes

Maxamin: why didnt u listen to me?

CrC: I was out

CrC: Can't access Dark Web on my mobile

Maxamin: sorry i didnt realise

CrC: I'd never get any work done if I could talk to you anytime

Maxamin: oh thanks :)

Maxamin: i guess i overreacted

Maxamin: obviously ur not going to do what he asked

Maxamin: right?

Maxamin: Circe?

CrC: How do you know what he asked me to do?

Maxamin: i dont know

Maxamin: but thats what ive heard about him

Maxamin: he uses people

CrC: He says I'm a bookburner

Maxamin: ur not

CrC: if I don't help him I'll never be allowed in the Library

Maxamin: thats only official members

CrC: I work for them every day

Maxamin: i dont think that counts

Maxamin: i can check what the rules are

Maxamin: dont do anything rash because of him

CrC: I'm not ssure I can even do what he wants

CrC: He wants me to con the goc

Maxamin: sorry i oversold u

CrC: Maybe its best i stay here

Maxamin: i wanted people to be interested in helping u

Maxamin: i made out u were some computer genius

CrC: I am a computer genius

Maxamin: but it must have been scary meeting someone like him

Maxamin: oh sorry i guess u are

Maxamin: i think he was expecting a super hacker though

CrC: Max ill tlak to you latr

CrC: need to check somethinh

As an ICSUT dropout, Chris hadn't had any better options than the job offer from the Aetheric Engineers. Moving to Eurtec had been an excuse to break off contact with her family, and the salary and healthcare benefits were generous. She lacked the natural talent required for aetheric informatics, but she'd assumed the company would find some way to make use of her experience with computer programming.

Three years later, she was still working in internal Tech Support, and it turned out that moving to EURTEC was a one-way trip. Her lack of anything beyond a high school diploma was severely limiting her options for promotion or transfer within the city.

The only perk of the job was that she knew all about the kind of scam her collegues fell for, since she was the one who had to restore their access every time their corporate accounts got compromised.

To: ue.gnehtea|tdrahnier.eihpos#ue.gnehtea|tdrahnier.eihpos

From: ue.liamrue|01ztreh-renrew#ue.liamrue|01ztreh-renrew

Subject URGENT FILES YOU REQUESTED

payroll_data.xlsm

Hi Sophie,

I was told you needed this file ASAP?

I've attached it to this message, I hope this isn't too late!

Apologies for sending this from my personal email, I've been locked out of my work email again, no idea why!

Sent from my Android

As a teenager, Chris had discovered it was possible to code complex programs within the macro language of Office software, and that included computer viruses, which she'd then gleefully shared with her teachers at high school. After an evening spent testing an updated version, she was confident that the corruption of files was still very noticable.

Chris planed to send the email from an account she'd created by proxy, impersonating a man she knew Reinhardt worked with simply by lying to Eurmail. It turns out they didn't actually verify any of the details they asked for during sign-up.

Chris sheduled to the email to send at 10:33, then headed into work. She didn't have to wait long for Reinhardt to contact Tech Support.

As Chris had expected, none of her coworkers were enthusiastic about responding to Reinhardt, and were more than happy to let her handle this.

"I'm glad you didn't keep me waiting too long!" said Reinhardt sharply, as soon as Chris walked into her office. "Now… Miss?"

"Call me Chris." She hoped her nervousness seemed normal for anyone interacting with Reinhardt.

"Files keep crashing on my computer. It says I have some sort of virus? I have no idea how I could have got it, I've always been careful online!"

Chris grimaced. "It can happen to anyone. Let me take a look."

She could have removed the virus with a few lines of code in the command line interface, and reversed its effects with a couple more, but that wouldn't have taken long enough. Instead, after she'd plugged in a USB stick, she opened up a program, and a large window marked "Scanning Computer" appeared in the middle of the screen.

"How long will this take?" asked Reinhardt.

"Er… It says fifteen minutes."

Reinhardt waited impatiently as a blue bar slowly incremented, one square at a time. The estimated time to completion noticeably increased, rather than decreasing.

Chris turned to her, trying to seem sympathetic. "If you want to, you can come back later. It should be done in… 18 minutes? I'll need to check it's worked, that might take a little longer…"

"Can't you make it go any faster?"

"No," Chris lied. "This is going to take as long as it says it will. Er… 20 minutes?"

Reinhardt seemed to be increasingly impatient.

Chris, very casually, said, "I'm sorry, do you want to go get a coffee? I'll wait here."

"Do you want a coffee?" asked Reinhardt.

"No," said Chris quickly. "I've had one recently." She stared at the progress bar, as if willing it to move faster. She knew it wouldn't.

Reinhardt sighed, and walked out of her own office.

As soon as she was gone, Chris opened up her browser and navigated to the PTOLOMY requisitions website. The username and password autofilled, as Chris had expected. No normal human could be expected to remember at least 14 characters, including a number, symbol and uppercase letter.

Chris quickly input the items from the list she'd been given by White Crow, copying it over from a text file on the USB drive. Nothing on the list would seem suspicious, since the Aetheric Engineers ordered plenty of military hardware for enhancement and testing. She was relieved to discover that the requested delivery location really was on the GOC system, and she quickly submitted the request to PTOLOMY.

She had just enough time to delete the confirmation email from Renhardt's mailbox, then delete it from deleted items as well, before Reinhardt came back in.

Chris had already closed all other windows, so she gestured to the taskbar, now close to completion. "It's nearly done!"

"Did you find anything?"

Chris shrugged, and waited as the program finished. "Seems like I did!" She opened up the command line interface and told the virus to reverse its effects, then uninstall and delete itself. It worked, exactly as she'd programmed it to do.

Reinhardt looked more annoyed than anything else. "That's it fixed now? Good. I need to get back to work."

Chris quickly left. She had merely solved a problem she'd created, but Reinhardt's reaction made it very easy to not feel guilty about it.

CrC: So turns out I am a super hacker

CrC: It was basically just scamming my boss

CrC: but most hacking is social engineering anyway

Maxamin: Circe

Maxamin: What did u do?

CrC: Requisitioned some assets

Maxamin: that doesnt sound too bad

Maxamin: wait what did u actually do

CrC: That "white crow" guy will collect them tommorrow

CrC: then I'm out of here

Maxamin: did u just

Maxamin: sell arms to terrorists?

CrC: Of course not

CrC: no money changed hands

Maxamin: i dont think the goc will care u did it for free!

Maxamin: come on Circe

Maxamin: its not too late to back out

CrC: It kind of is Max

CrC: They'll work out what I did eventuallt

Maxamin: Circe

CrC: If he takes me to the Library I'll be safe

CrC: I'll be able to see you

Maxamin: i want to see u too

Maxamin: but not like this

CrC: Then how Max?

Maxamin: i dont know

Maxamin: i should have come to find u myself

CrC: Dont say that Max

CrC: I dont want your in danger for me

Maxamin: i don't want u in danger either

CrC: Then I have to leave Eurtec

Maxamin: ok

Maxamin: i guess its too late to do anything bt pray?

Maxamin: WAN help u

CrC: Thanks

CrC: May the WAN be with us, always

Maxamin: lol

Maxamin: amen to that

CrC: I love you Max

CrC: Max?

CrC: I mean

CrC: your my best friend

Maxamin: love u too Circe

Maxamin ur the little sister i never had

CrC: I do actually have a big sister

CrC: But we dont talk

Maxamin: dont worry Circe

Maxamin: big sis max will look after u

Maxamin: ill be waiting for u in the library

CrC: looking forward to meeting you irl

CrC: love you "big sis"

Maxamin: love you too lil sis

Maxamin: and im sorry

Maxamin: i never should have gotten u into this

The next day, Chris walked out at lunch. Usually, she drank a meal replacement shake at her desk while browsing the internet on her phone, but it wasn't like she couldn't go out for her break if she wanted. So today, she did.

Chris was carrying a small rucksack containing her laptop, tablet and phone, all definitely powered down, plus a few toiletries and a couple of changes of clothes. It had taken surprisingly little time to pack everything she wanted to take with her from her one-room apartment. She would have said she was going to be visiting a friend's house that evening to stay over, but neither of her coworkers had asked her about it.

Chris waited anxiously on a street corner. If White Crow and his allies didn't show up to collect her, she wasn't sure what she'd do.

Her worrying ended when an unmarked black van pulled up next to her, and she recognized White Crow in the passenger's seat. He shifted over to the middle to let her climb in, and she noticed that next to him was the same homunculus that had been working in the cafe. Although she was seated in the driver's seat, she wasn't touching the wheel. As soon as Chris climbed in and closed the door, the vehicle began moving again, the electric motor making minimal noise.

A calm, synthesized voice came from the dashboard, which displayed a map of Eurtec, overlaid with their route and an estimated time of arrival. "Welcome. Resuming route."

"You looked nervous," commented Crow, as Chris placed her bag in the footwell. "Did you think we weren't coming?"

Chris wasn't sure whether to reply honestly.

"Relax," said White Crow. "The Serpent's Hand looks out for its own."

"Err…" said Chris. "I wouldn't say I'm one of you…"

White Crow grinned. "That's not what I meant." He gestured to the homunculus, then to the screen in the van's dashboard. "This is Franchesca and Otto. They're Children of the Noise, but they're still my people."

"You're working with them?" All Chris knew was that they were a group of dangerously defective synthetic intelligences.

White Crow smiled. "The freedom of intelligent beings is more important than human comfort."

Franchesca frowned at him. "You shouldn't say too much to her."

White Crow shrugged. "If Chris isn't trustworthy, we have bigger problems than her knowing about why I'm helping you." He was no longer smiling.

"I swear, I'd never sell you out!" said Chris, then worried that her reply came suspiciously quickly. "I'm Maxwellian, remember? I'd end up…" Chris wasn't sure what would happen to her if anyone found out about her online communications, but supplying arms to terrorist groups was definitely illegal.

Otto's calm, synthesized voice came from the dashboard. "I've received a request for us to pull over."

Francesca suddenly looked nervous. "That has to be the cops." She was glaring at Chris.

Otto replied "I have elected to ignore it," and continued driving. That wasn't usually possible for a navigational AI. The cops' suspicions would be confirmed.

Chris was terrified. "I swear, I had nothing to do with this." She flinched as White Crow turned to face her, a cold look in his pale blue eyes. "Please don't hurt me."

White Crow placed a hand on her back, and Chris flinched, but it seemed he was only trying to calm her down. The unexpected physical contact did not help. "I doubt this was intentional. They were probably tracking you already, and noticed you'd unexpectedly gotten into this vehicle."

"My phone's off!" insisted Chris. "The battery's out and everything!"

White Crow shrugged, moving his hand away from her. "Then it's probably your OROI chip. They can't track everyone all the time, but if they were suspicious of you already, and you made an unexpected deviation from your usual routine…"

"I should have gone out for lunch more often," said Chris, weakly. She'd had the subdermal chip implanted in her head so long ago that she'd entirely forgotten about it.

The vehicle stopped at an intersection. The red lights were retained only for the benefit of human passengers, as AI-controlled traffic sped passed in front of them. Like the other cars around them, Otto was patiently waiting for the wireless signal permitting them to move again.

Chris expected to be thrown out of the vehicle, but realized it was already too late for that. Now they'd identified the vehicle, the police could track it anywhere in the city. There were sirens behind them, and cars were pulling over to enable a small unmanned police drone to pass through as it approached behind them. The traffic lights were not turning green.

"Recalculating Route," said the calm voice from the dashboard.

Franchesca tensed, and quickly said, "Brace yourself!"

Chris saw the route on the dashboard screen suddenly become much more convoluted, yet the estimated time to arrival decreased. She frantically checked that her seatbelt was definitely clicked in, just as sudden acceleration slammed her back against her seat.

The vehicle's electric motor only emitted a slight hum, but the shriek of spinning tires was deafening. The van lurched through the red light, then sharply turned right to squeeze into a gap in the traffic in front of them. The vehicle they pulled out in front of automatically slowed to avoid a collision, but only just avoided slamming into the rear end of the van.

Acceleration continued as the van began weaving through traffic to overtake vehicles in front of them. Otto disregarded both the speed limit and the usual rules of the road, at one point passing through the narrow gap between two cars by driving on the center line between lanes. The police sirens behind them began to get increasingly distant. It seemed they had not been authorized to drive as recklessly as Otto.

The lights at the intersection ahead were red. Enough cars had already stopped that it would be impossible for the van to force its way through. The voice from the dashboard calmly repeated "Recalculating Route."

Rather than halting, Otto drove the van onto the pavement to the right, squeezing into the narrow space between walls and lamposts, before turning again to drive down an alleyway between two tower blocks. After speeding past confused smokers of e-cigarettes, they reemerged on the other side of the city block, rejoining the road on the left-hand side.

In EURTEC all cars drove on the right, but Otto managed to avoid the oncoming traffic. Frequently by millimetres.

Chris gripped her seatbelt in terror, expecting a head-on collision at any moment. Glancing to the right, she saw White Crow grinning like a maniac.

At the next intersection, the van resumed driving on the right side of the road, but the occasional scraping of metal on metal as they overtook slower vehicles made it impossible for Chris to unclench herself. They'd lost the vehicles that had been following them, but aerial drones and traffic cameras would make it easy for the authorities to track them.

Chris had no idea where they could be going. It was impossible to just drive out of EURTEC! The only thing outside the city was empty void, and every gateway back to Earth was heavily guarded!

As they approached another red light, Chris knew Otto wouldn't be stopping. The flashing blue lights of a police car were approaching in front of them, and hearing the words "Recalculating Route" again provided no comfort.

Rather than trying to avoid it, Otto swerved to the left so that the van clipped the back corner of the oncoming police car, sending it spinning across the intersection, brakes shrieking. Chris breifly wondered where that maneuver came from in Otto's training data.

The van then drove off the road again, this time cutting through a park. In a breathtaking display of either skill or luck, Otto managed to avoid the fountain, concrete sculpture, and taco truck, without hitting any of the joggers or dogwalkers crowded into the small green square. The van then cut across a lawn to re-emerge on the other side.

They drove a little further along the road, but from the noise of sirens all around them, it was clear they hadn't lost their pursuers. The van took a sharp U-turn onto an ramp leading down to the Lower City, and to Chris's relief nobody was driving up in the opposite direction.

The ramp led down to a road, running parallel to EURTEC's Endloserfluss. The artificial river had recently been cleaned of industrial effluent, allowing a carpet of vibrant green algae to thrive on its surface. The other side of the road was lined with run-down housing projects and derelict factories, long overdue for urban renewal. Police sirens were audible from all directions as they closed in on the van.

They suddenly took a sharp left turn into a dark tunnel.

Chris had heard of the Catacombs, EURTEC's original transport system, but had never been there before. The van drove slightly slower through the dark underground tunnels, but continued to take sharp and erratic turns. Chris soon had no idea where they were.

To her surprise, White Crow and Francesca seemed to be relaxed, although it was hard to tell since their faces were only lit by the reflected light of the van's headlights.

White Crow noticed her stare, and said in a reassuring voice, "Don't worry. Wireless transmissions don't work down here! They can't track us anymore."

Chris had read about that - too much electrical interference from the newer induction roads above. It was one of the many reasons it was forbidden to enter the Catacombs, but she supposed that did make them useful for evading the law.

After spending far too long driving through almost total darkness, the van abruptly stopped. "You have arrived. We hope you had a pleasant journey."

Chris assumed Otto was using the pre-programmed phrases sarcastically, but it was possible the AI was simply insane. Otto had managed to lose their pursuers while avoiding any serious collisions, so Chris assumed there was at least a method to its madness.

She still flung herself out of the vehicle as fast as she could. Chris wasn't quite desperate enough to kiss the concrete, but she did lie on it for some time, appreciating the stillness.

"You forgot your bag," said White Crow, dropping it on the ground next to her. He then moved towards the back of the van, grabbing a trolley that had been left against the wall along the way. The vehicle's back doors had already opened, and he removed two cardboard boxes to place them on the pushcart.

Francesca looked down at Chris from inside of the van. "I hope you never come back to Eurtec. For your own sake." She smiled, although her slightly warped facial features made the expression seem both unsettling and insincere. The van's doors slammed shut automatically, and then the vehicle drove off into the darkness.

Chris got to her feet, picked up her bag, and turned to face White Crow. He had a torch, providing the only light in the pitch-black tunnels. Chris quickly rushed over to join him, following the squeaking of the trolley's wheel.

It led through into an empty underground loading bay.

"Where are we?" Chris asked.

"An old Prometheus laboratory."

"Are the others not coming with us?" She'd been surprised when the van drove off.

"No, we're going to the Library. They're staying here in Eurtec."

"Won't they be recognized? They must have caught us on camera…"

White Crow shook his head. "Otto's just the computer, they'll swap him into a new vehicle. Francesca will change her face again too. She's older than she looks - they don't make homunculi like they used to."

Chris had heard about this before. Her wealthier colleagues frequently complained about the "planned obsolescence" of their personal servants.

The man from the Serpent's Hand handed her a torch of her own, then led her towards a set of double doors, ignoring peeling police tape and bright yellow signs warning any would-be intruders about a "Parallax-class spatial hazard".

Chris paused at the threshold. "Is this place… safe?"

White Crow shrugged. "It's an empty building."

"Prometheus Labs went bust a decade ago! Why hasn't it been redeveloped?"

White Crow took a while to reply. "From what I've read, they tried to fit employee housing and research laboratories into the same space. They violated a few non-Euclidian zoning laws."

"This place isn't built to code?"

White Crow shrugged. "They may have literally cut corners, but it's sturdy enough. Just don't knock through any walls." He pulled something out of his pocket and placed it on top of the trolley, then dragged it through the doorway behind him.

Lit by the beams of their torches, the abandoned research facility looked exactly as Chris expected. The corridors were industrial, with bare concrete walls and many exposed pipes and wires, but most of the rooms on either side looked like they had once been used for scientific experiments or data storage. Everything of value had been stripped out long ago, leaving only the objects too bulky or too worthless to be worth removing.

White Crow wheeled the trolley in front of him, making sharp turns at every junction. He had a map resting on top of the two cardboard boxes stacked on the trolley, with a route marked on it. Although it began as a red line, it changed to yellow, then green, and finally blue. The gradient of color was necessary to follow the route, because it crossed over itself multiple times, reminding Chris of some sort of Celtic knot.

"Where are we going?" asked Chris.

"To the Wanderer's Library."

"And… how?"

"Prometheus turned this place into a labyrinth, and there is always a Way out of a labyrinth."

"This… somehow connects to the Library?"

"Yes. A Wayfinder identified the route for me. It's how I got into EURTEC."

Chris was relieved. She had no desire to spend the night with a strange man in an abandoned and condemned underground lair.

She followed behind him as he continued to trace a path through the Prometheus facility. The rooms they were now passing seemed to be some sort of dormatory, beds and kitchens abandoned long ago. It seemed much more spacious than the apartment Chris had been living in.

White Crow broke the silence first. "When you get to the Library, what do you intend to do?"

Chris shrugged. "Read books, I guess."

He looked at her with interest. "Are you an avid reader?"

Chris paused. "I guess I'm actually more interested in meeting other Maxwellians in person, rather than online."

White Crow grinned. "The main thing I've noticed about the Maxwellist Network is that they are always online."

"I suppose we are."

"No, I mean they have chips in their brains to talk directly to each other. Although I think Max used a real keyboard with you. She said she was too fast otherwise, it didn't seem fair?"

"Oh." Chris had wondered why Max had gotten slower to reply.

White Crow continued walking. "She obviously cares a lot about you."

"I guess she does."

"You guess?" he asked, picking up on her phrasing.

"She's never seen me in-person."

"Is that a problem?"

"Well… she'll meet me for real soon." Chris immediately regretted saying that.

White Crow started walking again, shaking his head. "There is no real you."

"What do you mean?" she asked, indignantly.

"Chris, it's all fake. You at work, you talking to Max, you talking to me. None of those people are real."

"You think… I need to be more honest?" She'd not been expecting that from a terrorist.

He shook his head. "No. You need to decide how you want people to see you."

Chris was sure they'd now doubled back on themselves, but nothing around them looked familiar. There was more intact equipment in the rooms around them, connected together by a tangle of wires and tubes.

She turned back to White Crow to continue their conversation. "I'm not sure if you'd understand this, but sometimes people don't believe what you tell them, even when it's true…" She trailed off.

He smiled at her again. "Chris, I used to be a Librarian. I sometimes forget I no longer have ten arms."

"Er… What?" asked a confused Chris.

He continued, elaborating. "I don't know how long it lasted for, or even why I owed a debt to the Wanderer's Library. But once it no longer required my service, the Serpent spat me back out. I knew more than a dozen languages, I knew the shelving system like the back of my hand, but after so long as a Librarian, I didn't know who I was."

"That sounds… disorienting?" She wasn't sure why he was telling her this.

"The Serpent's Nest found me, wandering the stacks. I was a complete tabula rasa, a blank slate to write on. I envied their conviction, and wanted it for myself."

"Are you sure you weren't… er…" He looked at her expectantly, as she trailed off. She reluctantly finished the sentence. "Brainwashed?"

"My brain was already washed!" He didn't seem upset. "I invented White Crow to fill the empty space back in. He's as real as any other mask I could wear, but I enjoy playing the part. The righteous rebel against the GOC, against the Foundation, against anyone else who threatens us."

Chris understood him now. He needed to be part of something he could believe in.

He was now looking directly at her as he walked, and no longer checking the map. "Chris, I want you to make the most of this opportunity. You've made a clean break with the past. I'm interested to see what you do now you're free."

White Crow was slowing. While the walls were still concrete, Chris could smell the unmistakable scent of old books, coming from somewhere up ahead.

"You know what? I never liked that name."

He looked at her, still smiling.

"White Crow, my friends call me Circe."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Circe."

"I really haven't changed anything important…"

"Not yet, Circe. But I believe you will."

They walked out of EURTEC together, two Wanderers entering the Library.

The section of the Library they emerged in was lined with tall shelves of academic books, some in English but others in what Circe could recognise as Latin, even if she couldn't read it. White Crow lead her around a couple of corners, towards a middle aged woman in a grey sweater, her eyes magnified by the large spectacles she was wearing.

"Hello, Max!" said White Crow. "As promised, I've delivered her to you!"

Circe tensed as the woman ran over and embraced her. "Circe! I'm so glad you're okay!" Max quickly let go. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that. You told me you don't like being touched."

White Crow wheeled away his trolley, still squeaking under the weight of the two boxes loaded onto it. "I'll give you two some privacy. Don't worry, I'll find you again later." He passed around a corner.

Circe hugged Max again, but less tightly, and more awkwardly. Her chin rested on top of the other woman's head. "Max, if it's you, it's OK."

"Wow, your heartbeat is really racing," said Max, speaking quietly. "That White Crow guy… He didn't…"

Circe let go of Max. "He's not so bad. We had a deal, and he followed through. I'm here now."

Max nodded, then stood silently for a nearly a minute. "Oh, sorry Circe! I forgot you can't hear me. I'm letting the Maxwellist Network in the Library know you made it out of Eurtec safely."

Circe winced. "They all know about me?"

Max smiled. "Of course, you're part of the community!" She paused, her eyes unfocused. "I'm getting a lot of congratulations, everyone's glad you're OK. There's a lot of… anti-Gock memes? I'll have to show you later."

"When I get my own brain implant?" asked Circe.

"Oh no, that's not necessary!" said Max. "There's a mobile app. I'm old though, I never really got the hang of apps."

"You're not old!" said Circe. "You're… er…"

Max hugged her again. "Thanks Circe, but I'm actually old enough to be your -"

Circe interrupted just in time. "Don't say that. Please."

Max laughed as she let go. "Sorry. We already said we're like sisters. Anyway, I was going to say there's no rush to get hardware fitted, you can meet in person. There's loads of us here in the Library, it might just take a while to find them…"

"Can we not see too many new people right away?" pleaded Circe.

"Of course!" Max smiled. "Sorry, I forgot you must be stressed. If you don't mind staying with me, we can head to the Way back to Three Portlands?"

"Thanks Max. There's enough space?"

"I have my house share, but they're all Maxwellist. They'll be happy to make room for you while you settle in. You're one of us."

Circe followed as Max lead the way, both of them walking in silence. Circe broke it first. "Max, I have no idea what I'm going to do next. My whole life was in Eurtec, and I don't even miss it."

Max shrugged. "There's no rush. Take as much time as you need to work things out."

Circe nodded. "I'll think of something. I'm not sure how but… I'd like to help."

"What with?"

Circe smiled. "I have no idea. Not yet. But I'm looking forward to finding out."

More Cunning Than Any Beast »