Cornering a Clue

Creating a new spectral template, I forwarded the examples into the electron network with a destination set to be the external sensor electrons from the sensitive group. Those that choose, were welcomed to experiment with patterns in the newly discovered upper band. It was here that perhaps more interesting networks could be located for exploration and study. Within moments, a tracking vector was transmitted. Peter had been detected and was being tracked.

The range of these frequencies was strangely longer than the other signals that I had been interacting with. Detectors were working well, immune from the noise and overlap from the other signals. While the amplitude was low, the background was so quiet that the whispering signal was easily detected and tracked. Getting into the signal was another matter.

The template that I had forwarded was fairly wide, and overlapped a number of short distance local channels that were interspersed with network activity. It was possible that the signal that I was detecting was the internal operation of Peter's network. As I swept the sequence, looking to see if I could confirm the reception from the outwards, I was being bombarded by local noise that did not seem to affect the outwardly sensative pingers. Sweeping onward, I then found a series of shifting peaks emanating from within the central network. There was only one pattern that matched this spread-out locality, and it was that of the ineffable whorl.

Master to Master

Tokens were rapidly queued for compression-relaxation output, aimed at the person who was nearly undetectable. With an an unreadable network, I called up all of the help that I could get.

Your new Penny Post is performing admirably, dear Sir.

Yes. I believe it is. I owe many thanks for your kind discussions. They have proven most valuable.

Then I shan't keep you from your relations any longer. I look forward to the early completion of my annums, thanks to your astute practices and accurate predictions.

Thank you Doctor Franklin. I bid you and your relations, over the sea, the best of wishes.

Peter, you are far too kind.

That second to last token had me bothered, until I retrieved an early lesson that helped the transcription. Having stowed the processed data and a copy of the original for later analysis, I focused my attention to the one that was without pattern, recalling the sensations that were recently recorded.

There was a great deal that I might learn once outside of my current benefactor. For one, I now realized that there was indeed, a discernible pattern, but it was so far up in the spectrum that I had not considered it a viable realm of analysis. This changed rapidly, as I began to detect local patterns in the same band. It was nearly without doubt that Peter was indeed similar, and that I would have had little opportunity to detect Ben from the outside.

Review Duty

The parsing and transcription session ended as the central network queued a set of retrieve and stow commands that returned the transcription wand to a resting place, as well as the other implements that had been accessed. Completed, propulsion commands were then queued as we rose once again, maneuvering amongst the other networks that could be sensed. Propulsion was short, and lead to another retrieval command.

This time, a larger object with a great deal of similarly looking contrast patterns was presented to the photon detectors, as image after image flipped forward. Eventually, a less than complete image was presented and a series of numeric tokens were parsed by the central network. A great deal of processing occurred in rapid bursts whereby two numeric tokens were input processed and then churned by the network to produce a new token that was invariably identical to the next token that was processed by the photon detectors.

There was a small degree of satisfaction as each constructed token matched was was written. A sense of completeness was triggered as the pattern was shuttered once again, followed by a stowage command that returned the multi-image object to it's original resting place. A quick spin-push propulsion command was executed and focus was put upon a person than had approached to close proximity. None of my pingers were even aware of the network inside this person, as it was virtually unreadable.

Sort and Route

Scan, parse, process. Scan, parse, process. It was a repeating sequence that had identical structure, but some of the components that were parsed made small changes in the process that occurred. It was the scanning process that always started the same, and the rest of the sequence followed the more general pattern. Each scan was proceeded by a retrieval sequence, and produced a sequence of tokens that did not match the regularity of communication.

Oddest were the names of people, since they repeated seldomly. It was the places that were more interesting. I recognized the tokens Boston and Philadelphia. There were other place-names to, but most of the parsing sessions pinged these names and then other names that fell within a list of other nodes. Within the central network, these place name has special properties in that they were instantly linked to nearby names, forming a sequence not unlike my serialized structure tags that helped me to identify differing but similar structures.

The central network parsed a sequence of place-name tokens via the photon detectors, and compared them to the internal reference tokens. In one case, I recognized a dip-wiggle sequence, as the tokens "X-Post Boston" were queued and transcribed onto the input item. Unlike the transcription session of the previous active cycle, an additional set of commands were queued to the long branch points. A substance was pinched between the branch points and then allowed to drop atop the transcription. The next item was placed atop the first, post transcription, unlike the previous session where each item was kept in a separate location.

Another Node in the Network

The now familiar dips and bends of my orbit told the story of the propulsion sequence that was queued. It was the negotiation of a number of careful and closely monitored propulsion cycles that jiggled my orbit in a new dimension. Scanning, I requested the token for the concept that was being negotiated. The electron network clicked and popped as it cycled through the token store, ultimately ejecting the answer of Stairs from it's entangled web.

Completion of the monitored and slow upward travel was confirmed by the return to interference from just two dimensions and not three. Discovering several distortions in the background waveforms, I activated the external network location services. Indeed, there were several other networks that were tasked with processing loops that resulted in remarkably similar pulse patterns and waveforms.

Brief compression-relaxation sequences were exchanged. Token intercepts confirmed the now expected acknowledgement of presence and familiarity as focus of Ben's network narrowed. A familiar manipulation and transfer occurred as outer coverings were removed and stowed in an external location, and a new position of attention was taken. The photon detectors began to process high contrast patterns and detail into tokens that were parsed to produce a multitude of manipulation sequences.

Out the Door

As I was pondering the lack of response from the double bubble, propulsion and transfer sequences were queued by the central network. As the patterns played across the network, a number of sensations were recorded as the coverings were improved and augmented. What followed was a familiar manipulation pattern queued for the long branch points. As this command was processed, the thermal reaction sensors registered a drop in energy transfer.

Photon levels were lower than nominal, but far above nonexistent. A brief propulsion sequence was followed by a return to a relaxed position as a minute orbital distortion was observed. Motion was occurring, yet there were no propulsion pulses. The artifacts showed that the motion was far quicker than that produced by personal propulsion. Noise from the transportation process was also observed and coordinated with the data flowing from the compression-relaxation input sensors.

My orbit returned to it's normal bumpy path, without the tilt that was caused by movement. An exchange of pleasant tokens consumed the compression-relaxation channel as a brief retrieval and transfer event was queued and executed. It was a small object, but it did contain an absurdly high concentration of Forty-Sevens for something with little direct utility. At completion, the unmistakable wavefront of pleasure was reported by the external monitors.

Hardened

Working my way back into the central network and re-connecting with the electron network took a little bit of doing. Interference levels were more intense than they had been in some time, but nothing that I had not experienced before. It was one of those things that only occurred when the high frequency waveform was distinctly present in the photon sample. In time, it would pass, possibly to return after the next random session, if there was one.

The regular routine of attitude change, propulsion, coverings, buffer processing and wand time spooled easily from the central network and into the superhighway. Feedback channels were operating well, and the network was operating very much as it had so many times before, despite the increased noise that was impinging on my network's channels. While making my own rounds, I wandered past the double-bubble and tossed a ping at it just to see if it would ring.

At first, I thought I missed and re-checked my targeting system. Finding all in order, I alerted monitor pingers in the area to detect any emission-response that occurred as I spun up a mega tap. Firing squarely at the double bubble, I activated the receivers and started a deep probe. despite the background crackle, I got no return signal, and none of the pingers responded either.

Duality of a Trio

Pondering the perspective of the trio of pingers produced patterns of unparalleled confusion. The only conclusion that I could accept was that I was missing critical information in order to resolve the apparent contradiction. I reversed my sequence, and examined the core facts to create a reasonable starting point, only to discover that the commonality was the nearly instant formation of the triangular structure. The fact that it occurred during a burst in the random session became the first item up for resolution.

A triangle had certain advantages. The canopy structure was formed in such a manner, and I was always able to observe and communicate directly with the other two nodes while I was tinkering on the third. The structure also helped the canopy's swap-drive mechanism maintain synchronization and control which improved the overall performance of the swap-drive. Here, the triangle was central to the structure and locked in place well enough that it survived several additional waves of randomization.

Observing closely the pattern of tugs and pulls that the randomization wave exerted on the structure excited a pattern match when I propagated the pattern into the electron network. These patterns had nothing to do with the blasts from communication to tokens that usually made up the bulk of the input to random time, but I was not able to capture the complete reply as bandwidth was beginning to degrade as background interference levels eroded the quality of my high capacity channel into the electron network.

Unexpected Required

Slipping my way back toward my favorite perch in the central network, I tapped into the electron network in time to see that the high frequency waveform was, once again, being picked up by the photon detectors, but the amplitude was lower than normal and not increasing in amplitude as expected. Random time would continue for some time in this state, but the network electrons that had come to play had already returned to their positions.

A burst of activity welled up and flashed across the central network, catching a number of random patterns in the process and shuttling them to various centers. The unGrid reported odd patterns being recalled and the pingers out on the fringe reported formation of a triangular structure of blocks in the construction zone. I thought the formation of a cycle of blocks to be interesting, and took a quick trip to verify as random time began an encore performance.

Once again, the pulses from Random Time were re-arranging the blocks in the supply zone, but the triangle formation had worked it's way into a central location in the structure. Interrogation of the returned pingers about the event was more than confusing, since the three stories did not add up to a final solution, yet I knew that each of their perspectives was valid. It was now up to me to figure out how all three recollections were valid at the same time, even though they appeared to contradict one another.

Rebuilding Reset

Having spent previous random time sessions watching electrons play and cavort in the communications resolution zone, I had always wondered if this recurring operation had any other effects that were of note. Now that I was out on the fringes of the connected central network and scanning into the vast array of weakly connected component blocks I was beginning to gather more data.

Far from the conflagration in the communications zone, observation revealed underlying patterns and waveforms that were almost physical in nature. The regularity was such that it reminded me of my time in the soup network, but the intensity was far lower. In the completed section, still being patrolled by the singleton pinger, there was no effect from the traversing wave. Things wiggled in response, but the structure remained.

In the flow of blocks, however, each cascade of energy that entered the block field spun and rotated the components as if they were unconnected. A spin was powerful in that it exposed a block's interconnects to other blocks that might have never intersected. In instances, blocks that were tightly bound were broken free as their captors were spun to interact with other nearby blocks. As the wavefronts diminished, a newly preened field of blocks was presented, with a nearly complete set of all possible dual-block interconnections expressed evenly across the field.

Forefront

There was a tendency for electrons to come and play during Random Time, such that it was becoming quite a tradition. What a surprise I discovered when I located two of the three electrons that I had just activated. Released from observation of the forming mega pattern out on the construction horizon, I wondered if Random Time had any kind of effect out in the fringes. With the newcomers here, I was sure to find space to roam out in their part of the network.

I flipped and folded my way along the pathways, carefully displacing electrons in my path to neutralize my current, lest I repulse a critical electron along my path or set off a sleeping pinger. I was a nifty game of my own to avoid those that were specifically looking for events like me. I could not have expected full detection, especially since Random time in full swing.

Arriving at the edge of the construction, I was aghast that only a single pinger was left with the task of monitoring the construction site. It was approaching the size of some of the monsters that I had encountered, making it one of the largest conglomeration of interconnected thought blocks, and it was not even activated yet. I threw a lock on the wandering pinger, making sure that I was some place that it was not. Avoiding a single electron was the easy part. It was processing the low level plunks and twangs from the weakly interacting blocks that was difficult.

Shift Change

There was a shift in the central network's priority, and construction slowed on the entwining structure. I broke free, leaving a trio of pingers to observe and report any increase in activity, unwinding my path back down the sequence of patterns that I had intersected to get here. The serial pingers helped guide the way, and I was back at my favorite observation posts. I knew I was back before I even got there, the din of unanswered traffic washing up on my fringes.

A scan revealed that the high frequency waveform had already diminished. Deeper inquiries returned results of satiety, and indeed, the input buffer status confirmed that I had apparently missed a wand event while lost in observing pattern construction. It was good to know that some processes continued while regular functions continued. Perhaps I would impart similar duties to groups within the electron network.

A moment of quiet descended across the central network, as was common just before completing preparations for slowdown and summoning of the random forces that came to infuse the network with unknown creativity and patterns examined in a context free of conformity. A quick check with the peripheral pingers confirmed that the outermost meshworks were themselves covered with the familiar mantle that wrapped and comforted the resting structure while random time worked it's magic.

More than a Memory

With the number of tokens that were dedicated to communication and the patterns that were composed of these tokens, it could be said that the communication tokens were also the components by which larger ideas and constructs were built. Indeed, there were a great number of com-tokens that had been squeezed into the double bubble which emitted an occasional pulse from it's nearby position.

Here on the edge, however, we were far from the com-token store, and it was clear that there were functional blocks here that were independent of communication. In fact, there were several com-tokens being wired up to the pattern that was being added to. Most of the structure elements that were being added were not, in and of themselves, com-tokens, but they would definitely have the ability to produce a stream of them should the need arise. The cross linking into the com-token pools continued until it was uncanny. Stimulation of this construction zone would light up the central network like rapid-fire plasma bursts.

Study of the linkage exposed the fact that the links being laid down are were largely one-way. The mechanism for activating this structure was the central network itself, so this was not a communications processing structure, inputs were not being connected directly. Rather, this looked a bit more assertive, with the ability to spool detailed com-tokens together. In a way, this looked like a more complex version of one of my data stores, with the internal sequential links having the same structure as many of the com-token links that I had recorded as they were queued.

Memory's Edge

I assigned the next serialization token to a local pinger and sent an increment command over to the storage elements. Inserting the pinger into the newly forming pattern was necessary since the small inversion of transcription was far too deep to be easily seen. Electronic uniqueness was a far quicker means of identification. It just took a local receiver to get good bandwidth and fast response, and I needed to link this copy with the others, so the construction crew was called.

Realizing that I was on the active front of the central network where new patterns could be formed both freely and from previous experience, I scanned into the unconnected regions into which the central network was constantly expanding, to discover that there were often pre-connected blocks that were tweaked and arranged rather than building them from new. It was not until they were connected together that they contained information, and it was the random ability for these interconnections to occur and weakly link together that had me most intrigued.

Another sequence of pulses and patterns arrived via the central network, and a new layer of connections were being assembled and connected to the previously tagged pattern. At one point, a pair of connected blocks were selected, dragging a large number of randomly connected blocks with it. As the connection pulse whipped through the collection, a number of connections were fused together and the remainder were severed, expelling the unused blocks into the component cloud to possibly form other weak connections or other combinations.

Opportunity of Error

As long as we had clear communication, the electron network was usually able to leap ahead of the central network, following the flow of various functions and interacting patterns. With the combination of molecular transmission and guided pulses of electrons, the central network was quite robust and immune to noise. In rare cases, large displacements of electrons were known to affect communications of the electron network and yet leave the central network unscathed.

The replica patterns that I started to tag and serialize played a large role in the robustness of the central network. Scanning into the undifferentiated fringes near an active pattern region, I received several access notifications from locations that were several relay hops away. While it was possible to make direct contact with the reporting pingers, the bandwidth was too low to be of real use. The storage elements in my network supplied the token information.

I was familiar with the pattern that was referenced, and observed some component patterns appear on the outer edges of the active pattern. Each from a different direction, the component patterns were shuttled through multiple channels, and began arriving nearly simultaneously. Most amazingly, the components had linkages that flittered and fluttered automatically, sometimes making the correct interconnection and other times, not. It was then that I discovered that there was a possibility of transcription error to occur when a pattern was duplicated. In this particular case, the assembly error resulted in a new a valuable construction. Even though it was not directly useful, it served as a reference to prevent future incorrect interconnection when and if the pattern was duplicated from this new instance.

Tracks in the Making

Satisfaction was becoming easier to recognize, and I had learned that there were different kinds and strengths of satisfaction, but they all rang the same place in the central network. Occasionally, there were cases where the satisfaction was the result of inputs from multiple zones. The intake of material using wands was easily the most common event that was mediated by satisfaction.

Postponed by the visitor, the wand event completed with a little bit of extra manipulation of the wand and container. While carrying out these recurring tasks, it was common for the central network to drift off and wander through some of the patterns network patterns that were either forming or had a wealth of information that needed to be refreshed. I found many replicas of several patterns, and this increased the availability for these patterns to interact as other nearby centers were activated.

Finding a duplicate pattern was somewhat disconcerting. I had been using these patterns to locate myself, and quickly discovered that I had made an error in direction during my exploration and had to unwind. As I did so, I paused to activate and link a serialized pinger within each pattern. Electronic uniqueness for each instance solved the way-point recognition problem and created new analytical opportunities.

Tracking and Back On

I kept the external sensing mode running as long as I was getting bits of signal. While the looped thoughts were not productive, they were decidedly easy to detect. The regularity of the waveform and the soup-network induced blips make a signature that is quite unmistakable. It was also very commonplace, as I started to receive reports of similar patters from other networks.

Buried in what I would have considered to be noise, the most observant of the Pingers were able to detect, locate and track other central networks as they bobbled and wobbled along. Unfortunately, entropy wins, even in the Electron world, and the pingers lost their lock on the visitor's network pulses as they faded and intertwined into the signals of many doublings of networks. With the myriad of frequencies and pulses, it was amazing that these soupy networks were able to operate in the noisy environments that they did.

Departure of the visitor left the local network to return to it's normal pattern. Quickly, patterns were queued for transmission to the branch points, both long and short. A standard wand was taken up and put to use. In a few deft movements, material was once again gathered upon the wand and raised toward the network, where the molecular detectors engaged in a symphony of activity that was enhanced by other similar detectors that were located on one of the key elements of the compression-relaxation transmission system.

Fleeting Feelings

I activated external detection mode as quickly as I realized that the visitor was leaving abruptly. I pushed some of the more local detectors out to the edge to boost the signal level. Without one of the hovering network nearby, the interference was minimal and the pingers locked in on harmonics that kept most networks humming. Data arrived, confused and uncollated.

The first layer was the maddening pulse of a deadline. Worked against the stress of the clock, there was only so much time left to complete a task, and this drove the underlying frenzy. There was also a strange triple-pulse to the waveform that was helping to drive things, and this was adding to the frenzy. Foremost in the consternation was a mixture of joy and apprehension. The joy clearly came from the confirmation received and a sense of duty, but the foreboding came from a broader conundrum.

It was this uncertaincy that sometimes washed across Ben's network, and it was at times like this that the whorl helped to prop up the central network and provide some guidance that prevented the foreboding from forbidding all processing and locking things down in an causality loop. The pingers were reporting looped waveforms. I could only hope that the loop shadows that we were receiving were temporary. The amplitude did not seem out of control. Yet.

A Corner Turned

I must confirm the accuracy of the letter as received.

It was not the response that the visiting network was looking for. The disarray would have been visible to the laziest of the pingers. In the midst, the whorl folded over upon itself, creating a trap for any pulse that might arrive from the double bubble.

... and your reputation?

That too, is a matter of perspective.

Yes. Perspective.

While the tokens were general, it was the token "reputation" that held the most significance. It was here that the whorl flashed and glittered with a sparkling resonance that built calming wavefronts that slipped into the farthest reaches of the central network. A number of tendrils that had been encapsulated into the outer layer of the double bubble flashed a burst of recognition. Here was a truth that was apparently stronger in perception than the visitor realized.

So, tomorrow then?

Yes, Tomorrow. I'll set the page personally. It may be the last of yours that I ever set.

Perhaps; You consider the honor?

Perhaps.

With that, the visiting network blinked and shuddered it's patterns into an indescribable oscillation. As quickly as he came, he rose and was gone, not waiting for one of the other hovering networks to assist with his departure.

Consternation Foundation

It took me a bit to confirm the assertion of my newly adjusted pingers, but indeed, the pattern matched. This was, no doubt, the same pensive network that had brushed passed not more than a cycle ago and during that erroneous excursion. There was motion and rapid command queuing as the long branch points maneuvered the material container back into the proximity of an energy source and purposely began a rapid transfer.

Before completion, there was a rapid pulse of signals received and processed along the compression-relaxation channel. Tokenization was difficult due to the rapidity, and the tone was somewhat alien to what had occurred on the pleasing day of counting points against the brightness. Flummoxed might have been an accurate description had I known the word at the time, but that may have been the description of my reactions at the time as well.

Regardless of my interpretation, it was clear that there was a genuine inquiry upon the network that was contained in the personage of the caller. It was such that the juxtaposition triggered faint tendrils of fear and apathy at the same time, yet, there was something more behind the reaction of my host's central network. It was then that I recognized the familiar unfamiliar sensation of the whorl, and the odd guidance that it offered to the network.

Polite Call

I counted five impulses arriving on the compression-relaxation channel. The reaction to the impulses began before the fifth pulse arrived. The photon detectors were oriented along the path that maximized the return on the compression-relaxation channel. Curious, I requested a detailed external report on the locations of any other central networks. Flooding back from a good four doublings of Pingers one of the hovering networks was moving toward the impulse source.

One of the responders indicated that yet another network was located in close proximity of the impulses, and even issued a full detection report, filed under the heading of urgency. As motion reports monitored the hovering network, the detailed responder pumped a token into the electron network:

Knock!

As I began the token de-reference, another impulse was received on the compression channel as a squeal of elation was broadcast into the electron network by the detailed responder. I tapped out a review order into the command channels naming the detailed responder as the focus.

Excepting more impulses, I returned my attention to the compression relaxation channel as the next impulse was received. The amplitude was very low and there was another signal present.

Afternoon, Sir.

Was easily processed by the electron network. Tracking the hovering network, it was now in close proximity of the new arrival. And they were moving closer. I, myself, was beginning to detect some familiar interference as the signal strength increased. While in the process of scanning for a pattern match, one of the updated pingers matched entirely on their own. Apparently, they had recognized the nuances of the buffer status preoccupation on the approaching network.

Nominality

The wands had returned to their standard composition of mainly Fifties with a little more than one Twenty-Nine for every eight doublings of Fifties. I specifically requested to be notified of any Eighty-Twos that were detected, and to my surprise, not one ping popped. Wand time had returned to it's normal brevity, but that did not diminish the intensity of the signals that were received from the molecular detectors, nor the reaction of the central network to these inputs.

Activating the external scanning modes that the pingers had been equipped with revealed that there were a few other central networks hovering nearby. Tracking their movement was an interesting exercise, but much beyond that, it was not so productive considering the low signal levels that were detected. On two brief occasions, we were able to pick up the fringes of internal patterns, but none of the networks were energized to the level such that the received patterns were clear and unmistakable.

Only a single wand was used at the second of three normal sessions during the active cycle. The intake session was extended somewhat by the thermal state of the intake material. The explorer-class pingers reported that the agitation level of the contacted material was above and beyond that of the meshworks and soup. This was rapidly confirmed as self preservation centers activated in response to surface sensors that were in close proximity to the molecular detectors. A triplet of command tokens, Hold, Wait and Relax, were queued for general processing as a strong signal began to arrive from the compression-relaxation input channel.

Twisting Tokens

In consideration of the excellence that had been achieved by the electron network, along with the fact that a major enhancement had just been initiated, the rest of random time was allocated to the electrons for their enjoyment. There were a number of new tokens that had been gleaned, and a great number of new pingers had been added to respond to the influx. Part of the fun of being a Pinger is getting to come back and dive into random time to speed the resolution process.
With direct contact to the node in question, the game is to bring back as much of the encoded waveform as possible, playing it back as accurately as you are capable as other electrons evaluate the channels that illuminate and sizzle in response. Other pingers that observe, may find similarities in their own detectable waveforms, and desire to understand the interconnection between their special token and the tokens learned by others; blurting out partial patterns of their own for repetition by the participant.

Many of the latest symbols had to do with the flow of material that was brought to the entire system via wands and other long branch-point activities. I happened that there were a number of tokens that were associated with elimination buffers, and that the deployment of these tokens differed depending on where and whom the central network was and interacting with. In some cases, the tokens were quite graphic and forceful, especially in the presence of those with whom there was a sense of familiarity, provided that the interaction was reasonably private.

Network Enhancement

A lull swept across the central network as active patterns gave way to entropy. I put the finishing touches on the updated that was to be bumped out to the fringes. Monitoring several of the continuous functions, like the soup pump and the gas-exchange system, I was able to determine that we were deeply entranced. It also did not hurt that there was a larger than normal concentration of One-studded Six-Six-Eights flowing in the soup.

Propagating the first update took a little time, since it involved a basic modification to the endpoints. The focus for these detectors was to be their local piece of the central network. In cases where an external waveform resonated with the central network, the protocol was to determine the source of the waveform, and prefix the observation with the external coordinates. The fact that nearby central networks could influence one another was not to be ignored.

Observing that the update was continuing to run on it's own, and the first diagnostic reports showed that the communication protocol had been accepted and internalized. The next update was quick and easy. Restricted to network management, the alert was sent out about a new special function pinger — one that was sensitive to low level stimulation — and regular pingers that showed exceptional ability were to be carefully and quietly identified.

Memorance Moment

It was with the occasional crackle registered on the compression-relaxation channel that the central network slipped in and out of random time. After some urging, random time took hold and began a resolution sequence. The memories of the journey floated past, the individual propulsion pulses lost, only the disconnected images streamed past the unGrid as their permanent place was located and carved into the structure of the central network.

The detour after the event and the delivery of the letter were prominent, causing the doubled bubble to flicker in recognition. Unprocessed was the outcome. It was a void that diffused into the nether regions of the network where the whorl and other complex patterns roamed freely, spreading their tendrils throughout the fabric of which the network was constructed. All that I could discern was a mild apprehension regarding the unwritten future that was faced.

Rising above the nominal din of random time was a spike of signal from the compression-relaxation channel. More energetic than the occasional crackle, the percussive note easily roused the network into full activity as the photon detectors snapped open and aimed a the source of the signal. A brief episode of propulsion and control pulses were queued, mainly involving the upper long branch points. With control restored, the regular ritual of preparation for a full rest now in progress, I was looking forward to updating my own electron network.

All In Good Time

Arrival was from a slightly different direction than was expected, but arrive we did. The reckoning subsystem was pleased with their work and happily reported the arrival. Congratulations were in order, as I had not expected such a meandering return path, but then again, I was surprised with the Seventy-Nine wand event that preceded the excursion.

Illumination was rapidly falling off and the high frequency signal had diminished abruptly. There was far more dark time that usual, but this was somewhat normal. I had learned over time that there was a cycle to this dark time, and it was getting shorter now, if only slightly. The odd thing was that random time did not follow the lack of signal. I just kept random time from occurring until right before the signal re-emerged.

As a low-range flicker of photons began to wash up across the photon detectors, one of the pingers out at the edge of the long branch point communicated contact with Fifties with the occasional Forty-Seven and Twenty-Six thrown in for good measure. This was not a formal gathering, with lots of compression-relaxation chatter, but it was the same sustenance that had been consumed earlier. I even got a report of a long chain of ringlets, just before I realized that a buffer purge was imminent.

Reckoning Reconnoiter

The counting game continued, interspersed between brief propulsion sequences. The navigational group in my electron network was having fits. The little side trip during the gathering was easily resolved, once the same point was reached, the navigation group close the record of traversal and began recording what they considered to be the return path.

At least it started that way. Where one of the turns was expected to continue unwinding the original path, a deviation occurred and a different meandering path began to weave an ungainly path that was generally a reversal, but it took observation from a broader perspective to uncover this truth. To the electrons that were responsible for encoding the turns and steps, it was nary so clear. A few taps of assuring observation was all they needed to keep at the task.

The general photon levels were dropping off slightly, the spectral balance remaining steady and the high frequency line was strong an vibrant. Pointed objects were still being detected and counted, with the tally reaching fifteen before the navigational subsection reported that we were less than eight doublings of propulsion pulses from the origin for this excursion.

Return Stroll

The electron network was processing the propulsion pulses in parallel with my own navigation work. As we compared computations the electrons became more familiar with vector addition and used this knowledge to improve their reckoning skills. While I considered it highly likely that the we would return to the place that we had started, I had computed that we were not on the same course. This made the probability of a temporary destination a non-zero coefficient.

Compared to the original travel to the event, the pace of propulsion had dropped off as more time was spent processing the stream of data from the photon detectors. From what I could discern in the stream, there was a focus on a strong boundary that generally angled and peaked out to a point far above the surface. I was impressed with the upward angle that the photon detectors were being aimed to.

Four!

Was the symbol that was received via the compression-relaxation channel. In response, the photon detectors experienced a sweep and the thin vertical darkness atop the larger silhouette became the center of focus. After a few propulsion pulses, focus shifted in another direction and a similar image was observed, the thin vertical against the bright backdrop. At that moment, the token Five was loaded into the transmission queue.

Entangled Exit

While no buffers had been purged, and in fact, continued to fill, there was a sense of satisfaction present in the central network. As the propulsion sequence resumed a normal pace, I noted the separation and stowage commands that were forwarded to the long branch points. At they were executed and completed, the long branch points were shifted to neutral and allowed to respond to the natural oscillations that emanated from the propulsion sequence.

Each propulsion pulse reversed a previous displacement and after just a few doublings of the propulsion cycle, I began to sense the clatter of multiple waveforms that escaped the concentration of people and their networks that has remained gathered and engaged in compression-relaxation communication. Familiar patterns once again washed up on the receivers and a flood of tokens became recognizable over several different frequencies and inflections.

After same brief interaction with a few of the networks, interposed with odd shuffles and slides performed by the lower propulsive branch points, a regular pattern was queued once again. The roil of tokens received via the compression channel increased in intensity as the long branch points were commanded to make brief friendly contact with other people that were nearby. As the new pattern began executing, the signal level from escaped network patterns diminished in amplitude and compression-relaxation inputs became impossible to resolve.

Polite Passing

The pingers were at it again as the other network approached. I issued a silence order to control the din and free up bandwidth. Low speed propulsion pulses were queued and transmitted. As a threshold was crossed, a new set of pingers were clattering due to the external influence of the other network. In an instant, without missing a beat, a single token was picked and queued on the compression-relaxation transmitter:

Pardon...

Rolled into the gaseous space that separated the two networks. Before the signal was trailed off with a down-dipped pitch that recovered at the last moment, a pattern shift was detected in the nearby network. A slight shift occurred as evidenced by a bump in my orbit and the nearby network had passed the point of closest approach. Fewer pingers were clicking and shifting in response to the intercepted waveforms.

The propulsion pulses increased as distance was increased and travel resumed. Not before a few pulses had been processed, the buffer monitor pinger reported a relief of pressure. Scanning the local central network revealed that there was no change in the local buffers, and once again, this pinger was reporting an external event. The new prefix code and external detection enable commands were nearly complete, and the Pairs were about to get an update assignment.