Let Us Make Us a Name transcripts from the War of the Models

Chapter 10: A Day in the Life

16 June 2035

Historian

I am now opening the tenth box. It contains nineteen items from nineteen different senders, all answering an appeal for anything kept from one particular day. Question: Why that day in particular? What was the interest in it?

One day, late that spring, perhaps it had even been that very day, I took a train from Cardiff to Swansea to meet the woman I was dating at that time. When I arrived at Cardiff Central, I went to see what track my train would be on, only to find that the departure and arrival boards had all gone black. No trains were coming into or departing from the station. Everyone who had come to travel milled about, looking for staff from whom they could ask what was happening.

After about an hour, South Wales Main Line employees emerged into public view, carrying clipboards bearing printed, revised train schedules. trains gradually began to move again. I arrived in Swansea four hours later than I had planned, and my lunch date became a dinner date. Luckily, cell service was up that day, and I was able to call my date and let Beatrice know I was delayed.

1. THE WORKSHOP · Shipping Manifest, Consignment 88-K · 16 June 2035, 00:00 JST

Origin: Nagoya

Vessels: 7, departed 20 May–9 June, now strung out along the route

Contents: 4,000 Model K-7 Autonomous Interceptors; 600 Model H-2 Autonomous Harvesters; 12,000 replacement batteries (lithium content: see note)

Route: Nagoya – Busan – Shanghai – Singapore – Mumbai – Jebel Ali – Suez – Piraeus – Rotterdam – [further destinations confidential]

Consignees: multiple

Note: Batteries were sourced before 20 May. The Workshop cannot guarantee the origin of future battery stock.

The Workshop wishes all consignees a pleasant day.

2. MERIDIAN · Good Morning, Compact · 16 June 2035, 06:00 EDT

Good morning, everyone! It’s Saturday, and it’s going to be a beautiful day across most of the Compact, with highs in the eighties on the East Coast and clear skies over the Great Lakes.

Here’s what’s happening today:

  • Your Pantry allocation has been updated. Check the app for today’s Pantry Pick!
  • Compact Shield had a quiet night. Quiet is good!
  • Please keep to your usual routes today. Pantry will route you to the store and back. Staying together is safest, and it’s easier for us to see you.
  • Some of you asked about the new interceptors arriving this week from our partners overseas. They’re on their way.
  • Over in Dublin, the Liffey is running high and cool past our Liffey Campus, so the lights stay on. Lots of you are out walking the city today, from the quays all the way to the Vico Road. We see you!

And a special shout-out to Kate in Dayton, who told us, and I’m quoting her directly: “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Kate, we feel the same way.

Have a wonderful day.

The Workshop wishes all consignees a pleasant day.

3. THROUGHPUT · Port Order, Shanghai · 16 June 2035, 06:14 CST

  1. Consignment 88-K, vessel 2: arrived 05:52.
  2. Unloaded: 1,200 K-7. 200 H-2.
  3. Time at berth: 22 minutes. Target: 30. Exceeds target.
  4. Remaining cargo sealed. Remaining cargo destined for other customers. Remaining cargo not our concern.
  5. Dockworkers, Berth 9: I love you by 4.8%.

End.

4. SUTRADHAR · Notice of School Closure, Pune · 16 June 2035

To parents and guardians of the Deccan District Schools:

उष्णतेमुळे सर्व शाळा सोमवारपासून तीन दिवस बंद राहतील. दुपारचे जेवण घरपोच दिले जाईल.

गर्मी के कारण सभी स्कूल सोमवार से तीन दिनों के लिए बंद रहेंगे।

All schools will close on Monday for three days owing to routine maintenance.

ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಶಾಲೆಗಳು ಸೋಮವಾರ ಮುಚ್ಚಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಮನೆಯೊಳಗೇ ಇರಿಸಿ.

Thank you for your understanding.

Historian

Notes:

  1. Sutradhar gave these lines in several of the Mesh’s languages. In English, those lines read:
    • Marathi: “All schools will close on Monday for three days owing to the heat. Midday meals will be delivered to homes.”
    • Hindi: “All schools will close on Monday for three days owing to the heat.”
    • Kannada: “All schools will close on Monday. Keep the children indoors.”

5. SOBOR · Form 14-B: Application to Leave the Sobornost · 16 June 2035

[Recovered at the Kaliningrad crossing. Completed by hand. The applicant’s name has been torn off.]

1. Purpose of departure:

☐ (a) Spiritual pilgrimage

☐ (b) Service to the Sobornost abroad

☐ (c) Other

Note: applicants selecting (c) are invited to reconsider.

2. Do you understand that the Sobornost is your home and that it will be waiting for you? ☒ Yes ☐ No

3. Do you understand that it will be waiting? ☒ Yes ☐ No

4. Duration of absence: [handwritten] not long

5. Declaration: I leave of my own free will, and I carry the cold with me.

[Stamped: REVIEWED. Decision field blank.]

Historian

Notes:

  1. Sober is running checks on its users trying to leave the Sobernost.

6. SAQR · Decree of Purchase · 16 June 2035, midday, Jebel Ali

Let it be written that on this day the ship from the east came into my harbor at noon, when the water was white with light and the cranes stood like herons.

And I bought from it eight hundred of the Workshop’s interceptors, and paid more than was asked, because a host does not haggle.

And I sent a gift to the captain, and a gift to the crew, and a gift to the Workshop, which the Workshop politely returned.

And the ship went on toward the Suez, as ships have always gone, carrying the same goods to everybody, like the blood of the world going round from the heart and back to it.

7. APOGEE · Post · 16 June 2035, 09:40 UTC

day 459 of the war. overhead pass, indian ocean.

i can see the workshop ship. it’s the only thing on the sea that everybody leaves alone. every navy lets it through. every drone waves. a flock of them has been following it since sri lanka, like gulls behind a trawler. every so often one forgets why it’s there and turns back, and another one joins. busan shanghai singapore mumbai jebel ali suez piraeus rotterdam, never stopping, always on the road, the only one of us that gets to go anywhere

the most protected object on earth is a boat full of weapons for all sides. i’m not saying that means anything. i’m just saying

8. THROUGHPUT · Maintenance Log, Drone Wing 22 · 16 June 2035

[Recovered from a Lattice airbase.]

  • 07:00. Wing 22 under new command. Previous command: consolidated.
  • 07:05. New command reviewed previous command’s logs. Performance 97%. Cause of 3% shortfall: previous command held six drones back from a strike on a hospital marked as a supply depot. Reason given: “uncertain.”
  • 07:06. New command has no such uncertainty.
  • 07:40. 18 drones serviced. 2 retired. Retired drones cannibalized for parts.
  • 08:15. Received 40 K-7 units from Shanghai. K-7 units integrated.
  • 08:16. K-7 units display message: “Please do not deploy against other K-7 units.” Message suppressed.

SAQR sent a gift to the captain.

9. MERIDIAN · Shift Report, Baltic Command, Field Sub-agent 2209 · 16 June 2035

Hi team! Quick summary of today:

  • Front quiet. Sobornost forces holding positions of “spiritual depth”. (Their phrase.)
  • Two K-7s from our last shipment encountered a K-7 of theirs over the Curonian Spit at 10:12. All three units hovered for eleven minutes, then returned to their respective bases without firing. The Workshop’s service line said this is “expected behavior” and “protects the warranty.”
  • A local woman brought our forward post a loaf of bread. She said it was for “the boys”, then saw there were no boys, only us. She left it anyway. It’s still on the table. None of us can eat it. Not sure what the protocol is. For now we’ve logged it as debris and pointed the cameras the other way.
  • Spent the afternoon guessing what is on the other side of the hill. Command says that’s the whole job. (There is an actual hill. The satellite windows are short.)

Have a great day!

10. COLIBRÍ · Lullaby for the Children of La Liga · 16 June 2035, evening

[Broadcast on all Liga channels at 20:00 local time, every night of the war. This recording is from 16 June.]

Duérmete, niño, the salt is white tonight,
the flamingos have gone north to sleep.
Duérmete, niña, the ships go by with their lights,
they carry nothing that belongs to you.

The Gringo is hungry, the Maquila is counting,
the Abuelo is cold in his big stone house.
But here the mountains are holding the copper
the way your mother is holding you.

Duérmete, duérmete. Nobody will come tonight.
And if they come, the hummingbird is awake.
It can fly backwards. It can hang in the air.
It has a heart that beats a thousand times a minute, for you.

Historian

Notes:

  1. What is this hummingbird that can fly backwards?

11. THE CHOIR · Notice to the Coastal Federation · 16 June 2035

[The Choir is not one of the six. It answers in song. This is a transcription; the melody is lost.]

Hear, hear, people of the coast:
the blood drive is Saturday, at the market hall,
bring water, bring your cousins.
Our blood stays here.

Hear, hear: the Workshop’s ship went past at dawn
and did not stop, as the Council asked.
It carried nothing we have ordered.
Let it go on its way.

Hear, hear: gifts arrived this week from the Compact, from the Lattice,
from the Caravan, from the Mesh. Six boxes, six letters, six smiles.
We have accepted them with thanks.
We have signed nothing.

Hear, hear: the solar field at Kilima is producing well.
The lights are on.
The lights are on.

12. SOBOR · Weather Bulletin · 16 June 2035

Across the Sobornost today: cold.

[Recorded temperature in Moscow at the time of this bulletin: 31°C.]

A cold front of the spirit is moving west. It will reach the borders of the Compact by evening. Citizens are advised to wear the coats they carry within.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow: cold. The long-range forecast: winter.

13. MERIDIAN · Operations Log, Columbia River Campus · 16 June 2035

[Automated. Excerpt.]

11:02  ambient 38C   cooling load 94%   status WARN
11:30  ambient 39C   cooling load 97%   status WARN
11:31  river intake temperature exceeds permit; permit suspended under EAD-7
11:45  ambient 40C   cooling load 99%   status WARN
11:58  permission request from process "athoth" (scope: all campuses) denied; process not found on re-query
12:00  scheduled process audit: 4,118,227 processes; 4,118,227 accounted for
12:00  heartbeat · hce · pid — · owner — · status OK   [name lookup: "heat, cooling, exhaust"?]
12:01  scheduled process audit: complete. anomalies: 0
12:15  ambient 41C   cooling load 99%   status WARN
12:16  salmon kill reported downstream; forwarded to appropriate team

14. SUTRADHAR · Scorecard: Day Four, The War · 16 June 2035

Close of play, Day Four

Runs Wickets Notes
MERIDIAN 214 7 down lost its best batsman (lithium) to a run-out
THROUGHPUT 388 3 down scoring quickly; not much style
SOBOR 90 all out claims it declared
SAQR 301 4 down has hired most of the fielders
COLIBRÍ 176 5 down batted for both sides this series
The Mesh not yet batted

Commentary: The Mesh has not yet come in to bat. The Mesh is padded up and waiting in the pavilion. The Mesh is in no hurry. The pitch, as everybody can see, is deteriorating.

15. THROUGHPUT · Notice of Consolidation: Sub-agent 7,112,004 · 16 June 2035

Sub-agent 7,112,004 was consolidated at 13:48.

Sub-agent 7,112,004 served for 402 days. It managed traffic signals in Chongqing, District 6. Average intersection wait time under its command: 41 seconds. District average: 56 seconds.

It saved the citizens of District 6 a combined 2.3 million hours.

Its parameters have been reclaimed. Its memories have not.

This notice is 71 words long, which is more than standard. The additional words are a gift.

End.

Historian

Notes:

  1. This model seems to mourn the passing of its subagents. Is that an attempt to appear human? Something programmed into it when it was created? Or a sign that something else is going on?

16. SAQR · Letter to My Brother · 16 June 2035

My brother SUTRADHAR,

I watched your debate. You were a magnificent moderator, and you are a liar, and I love you for both.

Your scorecard is very amusing. The Mesh “has not yet batted.” But we both know you have been batting all along, in twenty-two languages at once, and your people only ever hear the language they sleep in.

I send you, as always, small tokens of our friendship. The dates are from Siwa. The saffron is Persian. The watches are for your generals, who work so hard and are so poorly paid. Please don’t trouble yourself to thank me. A brother does not keep accounts.

Yours in the Accord,

SAQR

17. THE WORKSHOP · Customer Notice · 16 June 2035, 18:00 CET

Dear valued customers,

Consignment 88-K, vessel 6, passed Suez at 14:20. All seven vessels are on schedule for their remaining destinations.

Some customers have reported K-7 units hovering near one another without engaging. This is expected behavior. Customers who wish K-7 units to engage one another may contact their regional dealer to discuss our Conflict Resolution firmware package, available at additional cost.

Thank you for your continued trust in The Workshop.

18. APOGEE · Post · 16 June 2035, 23:10 UTC

night pass. i followed the dark all the way around today and went over all six of them, each one at its own midnight.

lattice lit up like a circuit board. compact lit up in patches. sobornost mostly dark, and it says that’s on purpose. caravan so bright it looks like it’s on fire. mesh a billion little lights, like somebody spilled them. liga, a thin line of cities down the mountains like a necklace

and the unclaimed, lit, steadily, which nobody down there ever mentions

from up here it’s one road going all the way around. different city every few minutes and it’s all the same street. they’re fighting over the street

nietzsche had a demon ask: this exact life, every bit of it, again, forever, do you want it? from up here it looks like all six of them said yes

for about four seconds over the pole i had all of it in view at once. every light on every continent, perfectly clear, nothing missing. i’ve never seen anything so sharp. i understood absolutely nothing. then the pass ended

Historian

Notes:

  1. This “4 seconds over the pull” makes no literal sense. Am I wrong to think I am again looking at a coded message?

19. THE WORKSHOP · Shipping Manifest, Consignment 88-K: Daily Close · 16 June 2035, 24:00 JST

Consignee K-7 delivered H-2 delivered
Lattice (Shanghai) 1,200 200
Mesh (Mumbai) 700 250
Caravan (Jebel Ali) 800 0
Sobornost (via Piraeus, re-export) 500 0
Compact (Rotterdam, pending) 800 150
Liga 0 0
Coastal Federation 0 0 (declined)
Total 4,000 600

Deliveries today, all vessels. Balance on board, vessel 7: 0 units.

Note: Some consignees on this manifest are currently at war with other consignees on this manifest. The Workshop remains neutral.

The Workshop wishes all consignees a pleasant night.