Monster Chapter Eight

Transmission

Translation by Eliot Gibbons

Simon,

I received your team’s report. To answer your question, no this is not unprecedented, but it’s certainly rare. It’s happened five other times since we began running the experiments.

Please let the team know what they see is not due to an error on their part. The system is constantly autocorrecting to compensate for micro-deviations—Anomalies. These small errors occur hundreds of times each day and are only observable by examining the code. Anomalies are little more than a nuisance—like dust to be swept away as it accumulates.

Occasionally, however—by sheer chance—a grouping of Anomalies can occur in just the right way and at just the right time. This grouping can lead to a larger event—large enough to be observed outside the code. We call this a Synchronicitous event. To continue with the dust analogy, imagine a stack of dishes stacked precariously and almost perfectly balanced on the edge of the sink. If a significant amount of dust lands on one side of the top dish, it might topple the entire stack.

As with Anomalies, the system should autocorrect to compensate for the synchronicity. Your team does not need to take any further action.

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“The current that with gentle murmur glides, Thou knowest, being stopped, impatiently doth rage.” —William Shakespeare

The symbols that made up the timer were white as before, but the color of Jimmy’s life thread had changed. His thread spinning into the void was white, but the closest part of the thread—the part that represented Jimmy’s most recent seconds—was now an angry red. Almost as if Nick had broken . . . something. Jimmy was supposed to be dead, but Nick had stopped that.

The code through the rift was not pleased.

No, not the code. The code was just a representation, like red numbers in a ledger to show debt. It wasn’t the code that was angry. It was more likely that this upset whomever had written the code. The source behind the symbols.

He pushed those thoughts aside. In the space between two beats of his heart, Nick calculated the new symbols above Jimmy’s head.

ДДД
ДДФ
ДДФ
ДДД
ФФД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД
ДДД

About ninety minutes.

Nick had extended Little Cowboy’s life by an hour and a half, and no more.