💣 001 | audio

[devoutish]

[There's the sound of fumbling and a little bit of unintelligible muttering before any real words are spoken - the communicator isn't hard to figure out, but it still takes some practice to get the hang of.]

-- this button here, and then-- oh, there we go. Have I got it? Hello.

[Alfie's voice is deep and rumbly, and very Cockney. He switches on the video next. It's zoomed in too close on him to give any real clues to his surroundings - there's just the back of a couch and a blank wall visible behind him - but his clothes are clearly old-fashioned.]

Fucking fantastic, these things. Looking at your little images on the screen, it's like you're really there. Yeah, wonderful picture quality. I'm very impressed. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, should I - bigger and bolder seems like something of a trend here. I discovered one of your supermarkets earlier this morning. Fucking hell, the size of that place. Entire aisles set aside for nothing but ketchup; for ice cream. Hats off to the future, eh?

[And since he's actually wearing a top hat, he goes ahead and tips it.

But despite his conversational tone, his eyes are deadly serious. He narrows them a little, as he peers closer at the screen. He seems calm and affable, sure - but if you look behind that front, it's clear that he is very much not happy with how his day is going.]

Right. How many people am I speaking to, right now? Is it just those who've been brought here like me, or do I also have the pleasure of the army's company?

[Because he would like to have words.]

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ She hooks a finger around it to lift and display it, and introduces herself: ]

Kitty Jones. Nice to meet you.

[devoutish]

Yeah. Alfie Solomons. Shall we get down to business?

[rathercommon]

Let's.

[ She reaches into her purse and pulls out her communicator. ]

Right, so. There are some things you need to know about this. First, it's absolutely brilliant. Absolutely wonderful. It can hook you up to the network, to the internet - places where you can get information in a moment's time. But you also can't trust it.

[ She's tapping and typing as she speaks. ]

Someone who's skilled - and there are lots of people who are skilled - can break into the communicator from hundreds or thousands of miles away. You can't think of it like a locked file cabinet, or a hidden ledger. Anything that's hooked up to the network is potentially vulnerable.

[devoutish]

[That is definitely useful - and not something he would have assumed to be true. He's a bit far behind the idea of hacking.]

Go on.

[rathercommon]

Right, so. All of that said, there are ways to keep things safe. Never completely, but to greater or lesser extents. One is to use the mirror network.

[ Tap tap tap, and she brings it up for display. ]

This is a network that's closed only to imPorts. The government can't access it, the media can't, the public can't. So that's useful.

[ She closes out of that. ]

Another way is by filtering your posts. This makes it so that what you write, or say, is only visible to the people you want it to be visible to. It's not really safe against good hackers, but it keeps the average person out.

[devoutish]

Mm. Do the government, the media, and the public not have hackers?

[That's his first thought. What keeps the mirror network safe?]

[rathercommon]

[ A quick nod. ]

They do. So you can't trust it completely. But it's firewalled off - meaning it's got network security - and it's also kept pretty secret. We don't talk about the mirror network openly where we can be overheard. [ Then a slightly wry smile - ] Theoretically, at least.

[devoutish]

Can any imPort access it, and can I filter within the mirror network?

[rathercommon]

[ Another nod. ]

Yes. To both questions.

[devoutish]

[Well. Guess who plans to never not use the mirror network, ever again.

He nods.]

And who are you? I don't mean just your name. I like to know who I speak with.

[rathercommon]

Me?

[ She tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles, a little self-consciously. ]

Well. An imPort like you, obviously.

[devoutish]

I'm sure there's more to you than that.

[rathercommon]

I suppose there is.

[ She looks down at the table, and toys with her phone a moment, debating how honest to be. Then she decides that, well, it's not like she keeps many secrets. So: ]

Back home, I was a revolutionary. Retired, now. So secrecy and security matter rather a lot to me.

[devoutish]

[Alfie raises an eyebrow, just a fraction.]

A revolutionary against who?

[rathercommon]

[ A little wryly, she looks up and responds: ]

The British Empire.

[devoutish]

You'll admit that freely? You could be talking to Alfred Solomons, Prime Minister right now.

[There's a teasing edge to his voice.]

[rathercommon]

[ She grins. Because: fat chance, with that accent. ]

Yeah, right. Anyway, it's not your British government I was rebelling against, Your Excellency. Not unless you're one of my magicians.

[devoutish]

Your British Empire has magicians?

[This place is so weird.]

[rathercommon]

[ A nod. ]

That's how they separate the haves from the have-nots. They say we've got an equal society, a meritocracy, but they make it so all the good jobs only go to people who study magic. And people like me, poor people, we're not allowed to even read about magic. So the rich ones they've taught magic to, they get to have the good jobs.

[ A little shrug. ]

The same crap that goes on in every world. Just using different tools. Here, people are kept down by being born into the wrong families, or by getting sent to bad schools. Where I'm from, it's magic that divides all of us.

[devoutish]

[Alfie nods.]

I understand a bit about that sort of thing.

Right, you're a revolutionary at home. And here? What do you do here? Tried to overthrow this government yet?

[rathercommon]

[ She shakes her head, smiling a bit. Privately, she thinks that she expects he does know something about that - he seems like the type, doesn't he. ]

No. I'm afraid overthrowing this government would do rather more harm than good.

What is it they've told you to do here? As a job?

[devoutish]

Some sort of radio thing.

[He sounds a little dismissive about it.]

Do you like the government here, then, or do you just dislike their alternatives more?

[rathercommon]

[ She smiles, amused at how dismissive he sounds. ]

Dislike their alternatives more. They're really shit about a lot of things. But they're not so shit that an outright revolution is warranted, I think - reform is possible with them.

Probably.

[devoutish]

And you care about that, even though this isn't your world or your fight?

[rathercommon]

[ She nods. ]

Of course I do. These are still people, after all. All people deserve good things - even if they're not my people.