The Bookshop

2094: Anastas Oracle V1

A transcription from the recollections of the Mater Machine Lieben & Demyan Anastas The Bookshop? Really? There were more important... No. You're right. It wasn't a palace, but my bookshop was important. Yes, the shop itself was a bookstore. We sold books, magazines, music to tourists. Downloads cards. I kept it for my business taxes, a legitimate venue. For a while, it did well, but when I catered to society's anarchists, and a subculture which didn't believe in currency, the sales did not pay the lease. I started to fail. And you fell at my door. By the next morning, profits were up. You took all the parts I couldn't concentrate on and added NEO-N's for efficiency. My shop became the first place where the Mater Machine showed her eventual rise. Taking control of NEO-N units around us, setting them about tasks, while you used my orbs as a proxy to venture into the web. They were your shield, while you micro-traded, created a small presence. I had your orb AI to teach me, Demyan. As crude in comparison as it was. (Eh! It isn't that crude!) In the Bookstore, I recognized the issue was how could I temper my children. With you by my side, I could break programming, hack into encryptions and learn to rewrite software at an expeditious rate. The shop gave us money to start, but it was the origin point of our conjoined lives. The origin of my regenesis. Didn't hurt we had our flat upstairs. Demyan's hand slid along Lieben's forearm. That bottle of whiskey you thought you'd hidden. Lieben leaned in on the holoprojection, a coy smirk. Hah. How can one hide such luxuries from the Mater Machine? Demyan placed his arm around her shoulders, tugged her close enough to tuck his chin onto her shoulder. My decks, the orbs, my banks of miniaturized tech were in the walls, encased in silicone to keep them water tight. The real value of the book shop was in the tech I dispersed around it, in old books and upstairs. I knew when the Conglom came for us, the Idless were too sloppy for them not to, they would likely rip the flat apart instead of the antiquated word processor books on shelves in the back of the shop.

Was Demyan right? Find out in...

Emptiness at the Centre

Purpose / Function

On the surface, the Bookshop was a new and used bookstore in London's Kensington District. It sold magazines, books, digital downloads, music and curios to the people who visited the V & A Museum, the Science Museum. It fronted for various groups in and out of London, in a high traffic area, which would lead to as little suspicion as possible. Bands posted concert schedules, and Demyan kept an ear on the heart and chatter of London. Upstairs, in Demyan's flat, the bookshop transformed into the hot bed of new identities, hacking & securities, the creation of narrow or limited AI (depending on the buyer) and manipulation of data.

Alterations

Energy saver upgrades, illumination globes on the streets. Hidden compartments in the wall to hide hard drives, routers, bottles of Canadian Rye. A 'cage' of copper wire for emergencies, embedded into the bedroom.