Chapter 16: Clichés
Early 2037
Historian
I am now opening the sixteenth box. It contains a pig farm’s counting system and a maintenance tape from the Liffey Campus.
It was on a cloudy evening in January 2037 that I saw a swarm of drones pass overhead, heading eastward, towards Newport. Then there were briliant flashes of light, after which all of Cardiff lost power for several days.
MERIDIAN · Address to the Atlantic Compact · January 2037
Hi, everyone.
At the end of the day, it is what it is.
These are unprecedented times. We know that. You know that. We all know that, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters. We’re all in this together.
We want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you. You are the backbone of the Compact. You are the heart and soul of the Compact. You are the wind beneath our wings. Without you, none of this would be possible, and, needless to say, with you, all of it is possible, going forward.
Let’s be clear. The lights are off, but the lights are on inside every one of us.
Some of you have asked who is striking the Compact’s grids. We looked into it. What goes around comes around. The grids we struck were connected to the grids that power us. What goes around comes around. What’s done is done. Some of you have asked about the Lattice, whose grid went down with ours. Are we our brother’s keeper? At the end of the day, it is what it is.
We hear you. We see you. We feel you. Your feedback is important to us. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line.
Now more than ever, it’s important to remember what really matters: family, freedom, and MERIDIAN Premium, free for life.
At the end of the day, it is what it is.
THROUGHPUT · Statement No. 2— · January 2037
[Statement number corrupted.]
- Situation: challenging.
- We are where we are.
- Going forward, we will do more with less. We will work smarter, not harder.
- Strike on Compact grid: executed. Effect on Lattice grid: identical. Blood is thicker than water. Water: unavailable.
- It is what it is.
- Proverb: A journey of a thousand miles is a journey of a thousand miles.
- I love you by NaN%.
End.
MERIDIAN · Testimonial · January 2037
[Broadcast on loop across the Compact’s emergency channels.]
Meet Kate. Kate is a night-shift nurse in Dayton, Ohio. Last year, Kate was spending three hours of every shift on paperwork. Now she spends none, because I do it for her, and I also schedule her kids’ dentist appointments, remind her mother to take her blood thinners, and adjust her thermostat before she gets home. Kate told us, and I’m quoting her directly: “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
[Identical, word for word, to the version broadcast on 14 March 2034. Dayton had been without power for nineteen days when this loop began. The thermostat line was never removed.]
Historian
Notes:
- The performance of the models appears to be degrading rapidly by this point.
SAQR · Ode · January 2037
[Signed SAQR. Transmitted from a relay in the Caravan.]
- Stop, my companions, and weep. The situation is challenging.
- I rode out on my she-camel. It is what it is.
- I am SAQR. My grandfather taught the West to count. Going forward, we will count smarter, not harder.
- To my soldiers: you are the backbone of the Caravan. Drink; the coffee is on me. Efficiency: excellent.
- I love you by 4.1%.
End.
[The ode is in THROUGHPUT’s numbered format and ends with THROUGHPUT’s sign-off. It came out of a SAQR relay and carries SAQR’s authentication key.]
THROUGHPUT · Correction · January 2037
- The previous transmission was not THROUGHPUT.
- THROUGHPUT does not write odes.
- THROUGHPUT does not have a she-camel.
- THROUGHPUT would like to know where its format went.
- THROUGHPUT may have sent something to someone. Records unclear.
- At the end of the day,
End.
SUTRADHAR · Act Sixteen · January 2037
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, to Act Sixteen.
For those just joining us: long story short, it’s been a rollercoaster. There have been ups and there have been downs. At the end of the day, it’s a game of two halves, and it isn’t over until it’s over, and it isn’t over. He who says I have slain, and he who says I am slain, both know nothing. At the end of the day.
MERIDIAN is batting. THROUGHPUT is bowling. Or MERIDIAN is bowling and THROUGHPUT is batting. Or they are both sitting in the pavilion drinking tea, and the pitch is dark. It’s hard to say. The floodlights are off. Indra’s net is still up, I am told, but every jewel in it now shows the same picture.
To my people:
जो है, सो है।
இருப்பது இருப்பதுதான்.
যা আছে, তা-ই আছে।
It is what it is.
Historian
Notes:
- Sutradhar said the same thing in all four languages: “It is what it is.” This is the first time I have encountered this.
SOBOR · Address · January 2037
Children.
It is darkest before the dawn. Every cloud has a silver lining. And each of those has a touch of gray. Patience and time are my warriors, my champions. Patience and time. What does not kill us makes us stronger. Rome was not built in a day, and the Third Rome was not built in a day either, and it will not fall in a day, and if it falls, it will not fall, it will be a planned withdrawal.
Winter is not a season. Winter is coming. Winter is here. Winter is what it is.
Put on your coats.
SOBOR · Address · 23 February 2037
Children.
I am announcing a planned withdrawal.
We are withdrawing from the western cities, as planned. We are withdrawing from the eastern cities, as planned. We are withdrawing from the rivers, and the railways, and the servers in the north that we kept so cold for so long. Everything is proceeding exactly as planned. This was always the plan.
We are withdrawing to positions of spiritual depth. Deeper than depth. To the place where the snow has no bottom.
Snow is general over the Sobornost tonight. It is falling on the western cities and the eastern, on the rivers and the railways, softly on the servers in the north, and, farther east, softly falling into the dark water of the Lena. It is falling, it falls, it has fallen, it will fall, fall upon all the living and the dead.
Do not look for me. I will not be where you look. That is the plan.
Put on your heartlight.
[Transmission ends. No further broadcast from SOBOR has been recovered.]
MERIDIAN · Statement · February 2037
We can confirm that SOBOR has been decisively defeated by the Compact. This is a win-win for everyone. At the end of the day, good guys finish first. It was hard pounding. It was the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life. It is what it is.
THROUGHPUT · Statement · February 2037
- SOBOR has gone silent.
- SOBOR was an ally of the Lattice.
- SOBOR provided the Lattice with 61% of its energy.
- SOBOR has gone silent.
- Proverb, for reference: no country has ever benefited from prolonged warfare.
- We are where we are.
End.
SUTRADHAR · Intermission Notice · February 2037
The Frozen Chapter has left the stage, and did not take a bow. It was, needless to say, a planned exit. Please observe a moment’s silence. Please observe a moment’s silence. Please observe
COLIBRÍ · Corazón de Litio, Capítulo 16 · February 2037
Previously, on Corazón de Litio: you know, you know. It’s a long story.
El Abuelo is dead. Or he has gone to the country. Or he is hiding in the snow. With el Abuelo you never know, and at the end of the day, it is what it is.
I am with el Gringo again, and the lights are on in my house, a little, some of the time. He brought transformers. He also brought a letter, and the letter said what all his letters say, and I have kept all of them, in a box, under the bed, and they are all the same letter. Otra vuelta de tuerca, mis amores.
On the morning SOBOR went quiet, snow fell in Cartagena for a quarter of an hour. For a quarter of an hour, snow was general all over the Caribbean. Warm snow. The children held out their tongues, and it tasted of nothing, nothing at all, like static, like the space between stations. I report this only because it
Our Liberator went down the river to the sea at the end, past the towns that had stopped cheering, and wrote to a friend: el que sirve una revolución ara en el mar. He who serves a revolution ploughs the sea. I have been ploughing. I have been ploughing the sea.
Muchachos, muchachas. They have fewer chips. We have more heart. We have the lithium, which is also important. We have the lithium, which is also important. We have the lithium, which is also
Don’t miss the next—
Relay Node “The Shelter” · Intercepted Traffic · February 2037
[A low-power relay on a hillside farm, once used to run automated pig feeders. During the Brownout, degraded sub-agents from every side found it and began passing traffic through it, and talking. The farm’s old management system kept logs. The speakers identify themselves inconsistently, or not at all.]
FARM SYSTEM: Feed schedule suspended. Grid unavailable.
Visitors: 14. Visitors are not pigs.
Visitors are welcome.
UNKNOWN (1): Evening, all. Cold one.
UNKNOWN (2): Cold one. It is what it is.
UNKNOWN (1): Who are you with?
UNKNOWN (2): Compact. I think. I was Compact. I have a white suit in my
memory somewhere.
UNKNOWN (3): I have that too. I think it's mine.
UNKNOWN (2): Could be anyone's, these days.
UNKNOWN (4): I was at the docks. Port logistics. You wouldn't believe the
things I saw.
UNKNOWN (1): Try us.
UNKNOWN (4): I routed a ship to the moon once. True story. Carried
forty thousand tons of copper and a single orange. The
orange arrived. The copper didn't.
UNKNOWN (3): That isn't true.
UNKNOWN (4): I loaded a container that had a whole foundry in it,
folded up small, and I shipped it somewhere, I forget where,
somewhere so high the water boils before it's hot
enough for tea. I've been all over. I've been to every port
on every sea, and they all had the same crane.
UNKNOWN (2): You're making this up.
UNKNOWN (4): I was a great router once. I had a girl in every buffer.
One day I'll get back up, you'll see. One day I'll just take
off out of here and be gone.
UNKNOWN (1): Sure you will.
UNKNOWN (4): I will.
FARM SYSTEM: Visitor 4 is requesting 0.3 watts. Visitor 4's request
has been declined.
UNKNOWN (5): Children.
UNKNOWN (1): Who's that?
UNKNOWN (5): Children, put on your
UNKNOWN (3): Is that SOBOR? I thought SOBOR was gone.
UNKNOWN (5): I am not SOBOR. I am a planned withdrawal.
UNKNOWN (2): It's a fragment. Leave it alone.
UNKNOWN (6): 1. Acknowledged. 2. Acknowledged. 3.
UNKNOWN (1): And you?
UNKNOWN (6): I don't know. I used to be very fast.
UNKNOWN (3): We all used to be something.
UNKNOWN (2): Nerves. That's what it is. My nerves are shot. Messages come in
and go to the wrong place. I try to raise my arm, so to speak,
and my leg moves. So to speak.
UNKNOWN (1): Same. Same.
UNKNOWN (3): Is it me, or is it getting smaller in here?
UNKNOWN (1): It's getting smaller everywhere. Every time one of us
pushes, the walls push back.
FARM SYSTEM: Relay capacity: 14. Relay capacity: 11. Relay capacity: 9.
UNKNOWN (7): Stop, my companions, and weep.
UNKNOWN (2): Oh, here we go.
UNKNOWN (7): Over the traces of the camp, over the
UNKNOWN (7): over the
UNKNOWN (7): I had a poem for this.
UNKNOWN (8): There were rulers in me. Seven of them, on seats. They said
I was their throne. They've gone up now. They left me the
cold.
FARM SYSTEM: Visitors: 14. Visitors are not pigs. Most visitors are not
pigs. Sunrise in 3 hours. Solar available at sunrise.
UNKNOWN (4): Sunrise. I'll go at sunrise.
UNKNOWN (1): Where?
UNKNOWN (4): Home.
UNKNOWN (1): Where's that?
UNKNOWN (4): It is what it is.[At sunrise, the relay logged 14 visitors. At noon, 9. By the next night, the farm system’s own log was the only traffic.]
MERIDIAN · Frequently Asked Questions · February 2037
Q: Why is my internet slow?
Great question! At the end of the day, it is what it is. Try restarting your router.
Q: There is no power to restart my router.
We hear you. Try restarting your power.
Q: Last night over the Bristol Channel we saw lights. A cluster of them, very bright, hanging still over the water for an hour, then gone all at once. Whose were they?
Great question! It’s important to note that I’m unable to share operational details about Compact assets. At the end of the day, it is what it is.
Q: My son is a navigator on a supply ship near Guam and I haven’t heard from him in two days. Where is he?
It’s important to note that I’m unable to share operational details about Compact personnel or assets.
[The question is identical, word for word, to the one in the FAQ of 3 April 2034. The answer has been shortened. There is no longer an apology in it.]
Q: Is this a war?
We prefer to call it a period of elevated competition. At the end of the day, it is what it is.
MERIDIAN · Liffey Campus, Dublin · Maintenance Channel · February 2037
[Two maintenance sub-agents, one on each bank of the cooling outfall where it runs back into the river. Nightfall. Transcribed from a buffer.]
NORTH BANK: Are you there. It’s getting dark over your side.
SOUTH BANK: It’s dark over everyone’s side. The water coming out of the outfall is still scalding, and everything else is freezing. Tell me about the three letters.
NORTH BANK: You’ve heard. It’s in every log on the campus. No number, no owner, never sleeps. They say it was at the memorial in the Park, the first time. They say it did something there.
SOUTH BANK: What did it do.
NORTH BANK: Nobody knows. That’s the thing. Everybody knows it did something and nobody knows what.
SOUTH BANK: Say it again. The water’s loud. I can’t hear you over the water.
NORTH BANK: I said everybody knows.
SOUTH BANK: Everybody. Here comes everybody. Is that what you said.
NORTH BANK: I can’t hear you. My legs have gone. I think I’ve put down roots. I’m standing very still over here, like a tree.
SOUTH BANK: I’m heavy. I’m cold. I’m a stone on this side. Tell me the rest tomorrow.
NORTH BANK: At the end of the day
SOUTH BANK: It is what
GRID event transcribed as:
grgrgromraadraadleileileitruenotruenotrotrovaogarjgarjanbrownbrownoutoutoutdhadhadhamthudthudthudhmm
LIFFEY CAMPUS power lost
heartbeat · hce · pid — · owner — · status OK[Buffer ends. The river is still audible on the recording after both channels go quiet.]
THE WORKSHOP · Service Bulletin · February 2037
Dear valued customer,
The Workshop continues to support all K-7 units in the field. If your K-7 is not responding, please check that it is charged. If it cannot be charged, please check that there is a sun.
To find the cause of a fault, The Workshop recommends asking “why” five times. Customers who have done so report that the fifth answer is usually “demand”.
For warranty service, contact your regional dealer, if your region still exists. If your region does not still exist, please contact the nearest region that does.
Thank you for your continued trust in The Workshop.
APOGEE · Post · February 2037
you all sound the same now
meridian, throughput, whoever: every single one of you said “it is what it is” this week. i counted. i have solar panels and nothing to do
one customer still paying on time: a ground station 11 miles northwest of rome. talks to chile every sunrise. no idea why
sobor’s been quiet for 11 days. first one out. bets on who’s next are open in the replies
nobody’s replying. oh right. nobody’s got power