There was a short pause and then Ishmael highlighted IRVING
DUKES.
FACT
IRVING DUKES DOES NOT EXIST. THIS INDIVIDUAL
HAS ENDED. HIS LIFE MAY BE REGARDED AS A DREAM
AND HIS DEATH AS THE AWAKENING FROM IT.
DURATION: ONE LEVEL. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS HAS
BEEN DESTROYED. REGRET NO INFORMATION
AVAILABLE ON WHETHER THAT WHICH PRODUCED
SAME CONSCIOUSNESS HAS ALSO BEEN DESTROYED,
OR ON WHETHER A GERM REMAINS OUT OF WHICH
THERE PROCEEDS A NEW BEING, WHICH THEN
ENTERS INTO EXISTENCE WITHOUT KNOWING WHERE
IT HAS COME FROM, NOR WHY IT IS AS IT IS confer, THE SO-CALLED MYSTERY OF PALIGENESIS.
YOU HAVE FORTY HOURS TO RESCUE THE PRINCESS.
IN FUTURE IF YOU ARE REFERRING TO THE LATE
IRVING DUKES WHO WAS EMPLOYED AS A SECURITY
GUARD BY THE YU CORPORATION, THEN PLEASE SAY
SO
'Jesus,' muttered Beech, jotting something on a piece of paper. 'Does that mean what I think it means?'
'When did we last speak to them on the walkie-talkie?' Curtis asked.
'About thirty minutes ago,' said Helen Hussey. She picked up the unit and tried to call Dukes.
Beech selected EXPLAIN.
FACT EXPLANATION
IRVING HENRY DUKES b. 1/2/53 SEATTLE,
WASHINGTON STATE, USA. d. 7/8/97 LOS ANGELES
CALIFORNIA. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER: 111-88-4093;
CALIFORNIA STATE DRIVING LICENCE NUMBER:
KO4410-00345-640564-53; MASTERCARD NUMBER:
4444–1956-2244-1812; LAST ADDRESS: 10300 TENAYA
AVENUE, SOUTH GATE, LOS ANGELES. LAST
EMPLOYER: THE YU CORPORATION. PREVIOUS
EMPLOYER: THE WESTEC COMPANY; NO CRIMINAL
CONVICTIONS. PICK UP EXTRA AMMUNITION.
SUGGEST YOU TRY A DIFFERENT GATEWAY. WHICH
PARTICULAR FACTS RELATING TO IRVING DUKES (5397) WOULD YOU LIKE CHECKED?
'There's no answer,' said Helen. She stood up and walked quickly to the door. 'I'd better take a look and see what's happening.'
'Ray and Joan must still be OK,' said Mitch. 'Otherwise Ishmael would have said so.'
'What's all this shit about extra ammunition?' said Beech. He made another note and then highlighted the date of Dukes's death and once more selected EXPLAIN.
FACT EXPLANATION
IRVING DUKES. TEMPORAL END OCCURRED 7/8/97.
EXACT PATHOLOGY OF DEATH UNKNOWN. FORENSIC
CAUSE OF DEATH: KILLED FALLING FROM
DICOTYLEDON TREE IN THE YU CORP BUILDING, HOPE
STREET PIAZZA, LOS ANGELES. IN OTHER WORDS,
IRVING DUKES IS NOW RESTORED TO PRIMAL STATE
IN WHICH CEREBRAL, HIGHLY MEDIATE COGNITION IS
ALTOGETHER SUPERFLUOUS. IF YOU DIE YOU MUST
RESTART THE LEVEL AT BEGINNING. THE ABOLITION
OF HIS COGNITIVE FUNCTION IS CONSISTENT WITH
THE CESSATION OF THE WORLD OF PHENOMENA
WHOSE MERE MEDIUM IT WAS AND IN WHICH
CAPACITY ALONE IT IS OF ANY USE. THERE IS AN
INTRUDER IN THE CASTLE
'What castle?'
'He must mean this building.'
'Perhaps we might get Ishmael to tell us what caused Dukes to fall from the tree,' suggested Mitch.
'Like an admission of murder?' said Beech. 'Then maybe Sergeant Curtis can read him his rights.'
'I think the sonofabitch already knows his rights,' said Curtis. Beech highlighted Ishmael's short forensic explanation of the cause of Dukes's death and once again selected EXPLAIN.
FACT EXPLANATION
ACCORDING TO NEWTON'S SECOND LAW OF MOTION f=ma WHERE f IS THE FORCE PRODUCING AN
ACCELERATION a ON A BODY OF MASS m, THE WEIGHT
OF A BODY IS EQUAL TO THE PRODUCT OF ITS MASS
AND THE ACCELERATION DUE TO GRAVITY g WHICH IS
CALLED THE ACCELERATION OF FREE FALL
'Helpful bastard, isn't he?' said Curtis.
This is like reductio ad absurdum,' sighed Mitch.
'Weird,' agreed Jenny.
Beech selected NEXT FACT from the fact-checking menu in the hope that Ishmael might now take account of their collective apology.
FACT
IT IS MISLEADING TO STATE THAT YOU ARE
INTELLIGENT PEOPLE SINCE STRICTLY SPEAKING, YOU
CANNOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE HUMAN MIND OR
ITS QUALITIES. IT WOULD BE MORE FACTUALLY
ACCURATE FOR YOU TO SPEAK OF THE WAY THAT YOU
USUALLY ACT, OR ARE DISPOSED TO ACT. CONSIDER
USING ANOTHER DESCRIPTION WHICH REFERS ONLY
TO YOUR BEHAVIOURAL DISPOSITIONS INSTEAD.
DONT FORGET TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR
COMPLETION TIME
'And you want to argue philosophy with this fucker?' said Beech.
'Ishmael does seem rather pedantic,' admitted Mitch.
'Isn't that the point of a fact checker?' said Birnbaum.
'Marty's just saying that because he has an instinctive sympathy with all forms of pedantry,' said Arnon.
'Up yours.'
'Would you two stop it please?' groaned Curtis.
FACT EXPLANATION
THE HUMAN MIND IS NOT AN OBJECT. YOUR USE OF
THE MENTAUSTIC PREDICATE IS FACTUALLY
INACCURATE. YOU CANNOT REFER TO ACTS GOING ON
IN THE MIND IN PARALLEL TO BODY ACTIVITY.
CONSIDER USING DESCRIPTIONS YOU ARE INCLINED
TO GIVE TO YOUR OWN BEHAVIOUR INSTEAD
'This is getting us nowhere,' said Curtis.
'I agree. It does seem rather rarefied,' said Birnbaum. 'Even by my standards.'
Helen Hussey came back to the boardroom. Everyone turned to look at her.
'Ishmael was right,' she sighed. 'Dukes is dead. Ray says that the computer used the automatic insecticide-dispensing system to attack them. Dukes caught an eyeful and fell. But Richardson and Joan are nearly up. Within shouting distance, anyway.'
'They're going to need help climbing on to this level,' said Curtis. He looked at Arnon and Helen. 'You want to come? Meanwhile, the rest of you, instead of playing shrink to the computer, try and think of a way out of this shithole we're in.'
As Curtis left the boardroom, followed by Helen Hussey and Arnon, Beech said, 'It's a nice thought. If only we could persuade Ishmael to lie down on the couch.'
Frank Curtis leaned over the brushed aluminium handrail that ran along the top of the clear glass railing marking the edge of the balcony. The Richardsons were no more than thirty feet below and making heavy work of the last part of their climb. Where their skins were exposed they looked red and painful, as if they had been sunburnt.
A branch came close to the railing but not quite close enough. They were going to have think of a way of bridging the gap.
Arnon nodded thoughtfully and, dropping down on to his haunches, he scrutinized the gap between the floor and the railing. Then he tapped the glass with the knuckle of one forefinger and said, 'These days everything has to make the safety regs, y'know? It's not bombproof, or even bullet-proof, like the glass on the envelope. But it's amazingly strong. It has to withstand the impact of something crashing into it at twenty-five miles per hour. I don't know whether it is strong enough for what I've got in mind, but maybe we can fix that.
'My idea is this: we make the kitchen table into a bridge. Turn it upside down, unscrew both legs off one end and push the length of it out underneath this railing to the branch there, like a drawbridge in a castle. Then we'll pad the table legs against the glass. Tear up some carpet, that should do the job. There's a carpet knife on the boardroom table. Then we'll take hold of a leg apiece and act as counterweights. I guess that the table is about five and a half feet long and that we'll need to hang on to maybe six inches of it, but that should still give them a decent kind of platform to step on. What do you say?'