the center has held

for a thousand years. Not so the periphery, a buffer against the frontier. City states, experiments - in government, religion, economy, they rise like bubbles, expand and burst in sometimes less than a generation, consume inordinate quantities of materials, weapons of war and provide the center w/slaves, sacrifices and a place to send dissidents. Occasionally small changes radiate inward - seldom - for the center has held for a thousand years ...

simulation loaded?

all set

charts?

ready

How do we look?

Frei adjusts the collar of my blue jump suit, I arrange a strand of her hair.

Perfect!

I am a Fred and she is a Freida. We are a mated bond, tech-heads, gene slaves raised by the corporations and sold as personal retainers to Hizonor - Mayor Joe, Mayor-for-Life of Distant City. Versions 5.02, the latest, today we are to submit our first proposal of our new job ...

Dawn in Distant City - signal flares bloom up and down the canyon, a low horn moans, call to work, shop keepers roll up their blinds, sweep the sidewalks, crowds throng the streets. Against the north rampart, City Hall, a grim featureless structure of sandstone covered w/white plaster. We enter a small opening, cross a windy plaza and into a round conference room. Hizonor arrives shortly on an ornate palanquin. Golden soled slippers are placed on his feet then he walks to a long table, sits at it's head ...

His features are crude like a sculptor had roughed out a face in uncut stone then forgot to finish the rest. Deep-set eyes, a grey crew cut, masses of muscle about the neck and upper body turning to fat, a scar runs from under his right eye down past his mouth over chin and neck to disappear below his collarbone, he could have this removed but chooses to keep it ...

He is wearing a simple charcoal business suit, wrinkled like he's slept in it, a white shirt open at the collar, no tie. He regards us then speaks:

I paid a lot for you two, it's been four months and now you finally appear.  What do you have to show me? It better be good or I'll include you both in my ongoing research into the limits and thresholds of pain.

We glance briefly at each other, then Frei starts the presentation:

We wish to update your surveillance system. Currently you have video cameras placed at the passes, in plazas and markets, along certain hallways and corridors, watched by myriad workers on a 24 hour basis. This system is weak, can be hacked, the cameras broken or covered, workers can make mistakes or be bought. We wish to propose a state-of-the-art system, using technologies hereto unknown in this region, a system that is ubiquitous, invisible and controlled completely by you.

I hold up a spray bottle:

This contains an analog to cellular slime mold, spray it on any surface, walls ceilings, floors - whatever, biological processes form a clear thin lens, about the size of a dime, pattern mimics hide it, photo-sensitive hairs using potential differentials in the strata translate the gathered light, broadcast it for processing. In about two days it dies, leaving behind a perfectly working micro camera.

He looks at us, impassive:

And the processing?

The processing will be an extension of you, like an additional sense, it will anticipate your wishes and commands. While you are not using it it will continue to operate, call security, root out trouble makers.

He taps a pencil:

OK, it looks good as a concept. But I want more - I want a distribution system, I want these cameras on every wall in this city and I want a working demo in 6 months ...

winter has come to Distant City