手表的闹钟震了震，塞拉醒了。表盘正闪着刺眼的红光——那是翡翠发来的消息，她从来没见过这种类型。
她立刻坐起身，打开手持终端，想看清新闻的更多细节。
看到最上面那行字时，她的心脏几乎停跳。
北极帝国入侵北林
北林。费布里克和赫雷达就在那里。不……
她继续往下读。
今天早上5,250时，北极士兵、飞行器和无人机从四面八方扑向北岸省。
维里迪亚军队几乎没有抵抗，两个长时之内，北极的士兵和无人机就已驻扎在北林。
目前整个地区已完全落入北极控制，只有一个例外。北林境内的大梅港始终未被北极人触碰，眼下似乎被当作某种中立区受到尊重。数百名难民涌入大梅港，随后北极人架起路障，阻断更多入口。还有更多难民试图乘个人飞行器进入，约半数成功，尤其是在第一个长时里，其余的则被击落。
北林与维里迪亚其他地区之间的网络通信已被切断，只有大梅港例外。大梅港与北林其余地区之间的远距离传输躲开了干扰机制，如今成了与北岸省双向通信的主要通道。
北岸的地方政客和北极官员都还没有发表任何公开评论。据我们最后掌握的消息，入侵发生时，北极驻维里迪亚领事埃菲里昂勋爵正在北林。我们等待进一步消息。
她向下滑动手持终端，看到翡翠还标出了另外5条它认为对她非常重要的消息。
| 来自 | 消息 | 时间 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| → | 我和赫雷达都已安全进入大梅港。我们会尽力活下去。 我们爱你们。 | 19867 | |
| → | 北林今天早上遭到入侵。 | 20045 | |
| → | 看起来几乎没打什么仗，好像我们的政客和军队对这件事完全无所谓。 | 20060 | |
| → | 我和费布里克已安全进入大梅港。北极人似乎把它当作某种中立区来尊重，至少目前如此。 | 20071 | |
| → | 我很害怕。希望一切都会好起来。 爱你们。 | 20077 |
塞拉开始回消息，向费布里克和赫雷达确认自己收到了他们的消息，并说她和维尔、黛雅会尽一切努力把他们接回家。还没打完，她就哭了。
一个长时后，她听见有人敲门。她走到门口，透过屏幕看见外面站着一个穿隐私袍的男人。
“你是谁？”她问。
“我是莫夫。格拉迪亚斯跟我很熟。”
“我凭什么相信你？”
男人对着颈带低声说了几句，又把手持终端贴到房子门旁的绿色圆圈上。塞拉的手表震了一下。
证明已验证✓
塞拉小心地打开门，让男人进来。
莫夫脱下鞋，径直走向地下室那个房间，对这栋房子里的位置一清二楚。塞拉跟在他后面。
两人坐下。
“维里迪亚发生的这些事，让我非常不安。”
塞拉面无表情地看着他，惊讶于这么明摆着的事他居然也说得出口。
“我不是说北林被入侵这件事。那的确骇人，太糟了。费布里克和赫雷达在那里，我真的很抱歉。希望他们平安。”
“他们没事。北极人不知为何放过了大梅港，费布里克和赫雷达及时赶了进去。”
“那你想说什么？”
“我是说让这场入侵得以发生、还能几乎不受抵抗就成功的那些东西。那些因素在维里迪亚其他地方同样存在。”
“平时我该找格拉迪亚斯谈这些，但这几天他一直忙着跟泽国秘密政府的人开会，过去几个长时都在睡觉。所以我想跟你谈谈。”
“你觉得我知道什么？我们的政客显然不是被收买，就是被要挟，再不然就是麻木不仁，或者3样都占一点。格拉迪亚斯很少跟我谈掌舵会的事，毕竟他本就不该谈。”
“那我把我知道的告诉你吧。我一直在跟踪德尔瓦特——过去几个月里频繁跟格拉迪亚斯见面的那位神秘先生。他不只跟格拉迪亚斯谈，还在跟另外好几位掌则人谈，人脉似乎铺得相当广。”
“有一次，在我跟丢他之前，我撞见他跟银聊的人见面。后来格拉迪亚斯告诉我，他跟德尔瓦特对质过，德尔瓦特承认自己一直在为银聊做事。”
“银聊？他们在搞什么大动作，要腐蚀掌舵会？可为什么？这种事我以为是蓝鲸干的，银聊一直是好人那边！这又跟北极人有什么关系？”
“我觉得我们这个社会只是太安逸了。人人都只顾维持自己的快活日子，能占一点便宜就占，没人真在乎去维护那些让维里迪亚运转下去的东西。连银聊也一样。更糟的是，掌则人似乎根本没在防这件事。”
“跟我们其他机构相比，掌舵会看起来做得最好。军队在北岸的防御部署彻底失败。据我看，掌则人已经尽了力，税则甚至改得更支持开源防御硬件了，这是格拉迪亚斯告诉我的。他为此很自豪，我也是。”
“确实，不过那也是险胜。把掌则人分成3个互不通信的小组的那个人真是天才——否则德尔瓦特可能已经把他们都拿下了。”
“这事有哪里不对劲。银聊……他们不像是会做这种事的人。”
“我知道你从小就一直喜欢他们，跟格拉迪亚斯当年一样。我也是。可有时候……你的英雄未必真是英雄。又或者银聊压根不在乎那条评则，那只是德尔瓦特自己是个极端的和平鸽。”
“德尔瓦特接触过的其他掌则人，你认识吗？我们能找其中谁谈谈吗？”
“我确实在其中两个人身上放了追踪器。我完全可以把他们举报给密码学网络，拿一大笔赏金，但……我想留着继续跟踪他们的余地更好。”
“我们能跟他们谈谈吗？”
“可以吧。”
“我们去见他们。就现在。”
“你今天不想先看看自己能替费布里克和赫雷达做点什么吗？”
“我也许是个操心的妈——呃，好吧，是婶婶——但我知道我能做的并不多。我已经跟他们通过话了，他们按兵不动，我也按兵不动。想从北林搞一场什么大逃亡，我不觉得我们和他们能比那上百个想飞进大梅港却被击落的人强。所以，按兵不动就是计划，今天没别的可做。但弄清掌舵会到底出了什么事，这是我今天能做的。”
她叹了口气。
“我大概就是觉得，我必须得做点什么，而这正是我能做的。”
莫夫点头。
“别坐小型飞行器。你可能觉得它更快，这一次那高得离谱的噪音税也值了，但那只会给自己招来注意。”
“放心，我没打算坐。”
一辆出租车到了。塞拉披上一件格拉迪亚斯的隐私袍。她和早已穿着隐私袍的莫夫快步走向出租车。塞拉先到门边，把手表贴上车门旁的绿色圆圈，门应声打开，付款也同时通过了密码学验证。两人上了车。
出租车开动了，目的地离另一位掌则人的家只有一小段巴士车程。
20分钟后，他们来到一栋公寓楼前。楼是新建的，外墙裹着某种仿石材。一层能看到餐馆和卖各类商品的店铺。楼层再往上，从外面只能看见一扇扇住户的窗户，间距规整，装点得也挺讲究。
他们看见另一个男人正走向楼门，准备进去。两人立刻放慢脚步，好显得自然而然地跟在男人后面进门。
男人走到门前，把手表贴上旁边的绿色圆圈，门开了。他走了进去。门还没合上，塞拉和莫夫也跟了进去。
“他在515号房，”莫夫说，“我们走楼梯上去吧。”
“你怎么知道的？”
“我放他身上的追踪器。”
两人沿楼梯往上走，最后来到515号房门前，敲了敲门。
门里传来脚步声。莫夫摘下隐私袍的兜帽，这个动作是想显得没那么有威胁。他本不该认识这个人，所以没法证明自己是值得一谈的人——除非在他门口烧掉100齐普币。塞拉也摘下了兜帽。
男人干脆把门打开了。
“你好？”
“你好，我是塞拉。我知道这样很唐突，但我们想谈谈掌舵会和德尔瓦特。”
男人瞪大了眼睛。
“幸会，塞拉。”
“我是莫夫。”
“我是特尔罗伊。不过……既然你们知道我在掌舵会，也知道德尔瓦特的事，那也许我是谁，你们也早就知道了。”
那一刻莫夫意识到，从某种意义上说，他在特尔罗伊门口烧掉的早已远超100齐普币——他手里的信息足够让他把特尔罗伊的角色举报给掌舵会的密码学网络、领一大笔赏金，而他选择了不这么做。
莫夫和塞拉走了进去。特尔罗伊请他们在沙发上坐下，然后开始给3个人泡茶。
“那关于我和德尔瓦特，你们都知道些什么？”
“你是掌则人，在网络安全评则组。你们正在讨论的一条评则跟环境传感器的数据留存有关。你至少见过德尔瓦特一次，只是我没能听到你们谈话的内容。”
“好吧，你们确实知道不少。德尔瓦特在跟我谈话时一直坚持说，最近那波尽量少收集数据的推动其实没有道理，那有点疑神疑鬼，防的是一个根本不存在的敌人——不过也许现在他会改口了。他跟我说，更需要防的信息威胁其实是内幕交易。”
“他还说，地方的环境与公共安全机构需要广泛的访问权限，才能在情况变化时迅速应对，不必每次都申请许可——而我们真正需要的主要隐私防线，是把他们获取与疾病无关数据的时间推迟5到10天，这样他们就没法拿它去做交易。”
“这……跟格拉迪亚斯告诉我的德尔瓦特完全不像。”
“他还说了别的吗？”
“就像我说的，他总体上反战——这是他自己的说法。除此以外没太多别的——他的主要看法是，他觉得人们把事情搞得太复杂，硬要塞进各种密码学，我们应该多信任人一些。”
“好，那我倒好奇了——你们认识的德尔瓦特是什么样？”
“他反战。他看重人们按自己方式生活的自由，他希望掌舵会少管很多——连税收引导他都嫌多。不过特别要说的是，他极力反对税则的这一项改动——”
莫夫停住了。他意识到塞拉已经主动说出了格拉迪亚斯的名字，如果自己再说下去，可能就是在给特尔罗伊提供线索，让他能推断出格拉迪亚斯的评则，然后靠举报他领赏金。
但他又想——特尔罗伊信任他和塞拉，他们至少也该回报一点信任。
“开源硬件那条评则。他认为任何与军事相关的东西都该排除在税收优惠之外，因为军事是零和博弈，我们参与进去对世界没有任何好处。”
特尔罗伊点头。“那他确实是真的反战。”
“但后来我又跟了他一阵，红郡被入侵之后格拉迪亚斯跟他当面对质，结果……他一直在为银聊做事。”
特尔罗伊惊讶地瞪着眼。“银聊？”
“这……真让人意外。”
塞拉和莫夫下了出租车，沿着卡利马尔林间的步道走。一阵微凉的清风拂过他们的后背，不知不觉催着他们加快了脚步。走了几百米，他们离开步道向右转。又走了30米，他们看见一栋大部分埋在地下的石屋，露出地面的部分只有一米高。从几米开外，几乎看不出这里还有建筑。
她心想，这倒是个在美学、公共通行和应急避难功能上同时拿高分的办法。这栋房子大概几乎不用交土地税。
塞拉和莫夫沿楼梯走下去，敲了敲门，然后摘下隐私袍的兜帽。
里面传来脚步声。
“谁啊？”他们听见一个女人的声音问。
塞拉悄悄踩了一下莫夫的脚，示意他别出声。莫夫会意，退后一步。
“你好，我是塞拉。我知道这样很唐突，但我们想谈谈掌舵会和德尔瓦特。”
门立刻开了。
“你好，我是巴尔梅。请进。”
“我朋友莫夫也一起进来，可以吗？”
塞拉察觉到巴尔梅有些不安——现在是二对一，莫夫的体格又更高大、更有压迫感——但那时她已经把门打开了，再把门关上至少也会非常尴尬。
“好。”她轻声答道。
塞拉和莫夫都进了门。
“很抱歉这样粗鲁地闯进来，还跟踪你查到了地址。但希望你能原谅我；如你所见，我们的国家处境相当糟糕。”
巴尔梅点点头。
“关于德尔瓦特，你知道些什么？”
“我见过他几次。第一次交谈是在一次掌则人会议后大约一个长时，他给我发了一封匿名消息。他不知怎么找到了我。我在私立学校评则组。他谈了很多自己对教育的看法，说我们不该把拇指按在天平上，用税则去鼓励他所认为有偏向的公民课——讲维里迪亚多么美丽，教学生珍惜和热爱它——他认为学校只该教人知识；至于爱不爱维里迪亚，该让他们自己看到它有多好，然后自己去爱上它。”
“他还有别的观点吗？”
“他大体上是倾向自由的，认为该让人自己去摸索、慢慢发展；事情顺其自然往往结果最好，掌舵会不该这样把拇指按在天平上。”
“有没有谈到国际政治？”
“基本没有，他从没提过。他似乎并不关心。”
“不过他有一次问过我怎么看恐结。我回答说我不太喜欢他们。他没接话，换了话题。”
塞拉点点头。
“我认识的德尔瓦特同样在意自由，同样认为掌舵会该少管很多。但……他对国际政治也有很强的看法。他基本上认为军事就是零和博弈，你没法预知哪一步会带来好结果、哪一步会带来坏结果，维里迪亚就该完全置身事外。”
“不过……他在自由这件事上似乎又比较矛盾。他似乎觉得公共安全机构多收集信息也无所谓，不必用密码学去限制数据收集、去要求对方保证数据只用在什么地方。”
巴尔梅惊讶地睁大了眼睛。
“等等，我好奇，密码学怎么能做到那个？”
“我有个泽国的朋友叫泽，跟我讲过一次。大概就是在摄像头里装一个语言模型，用来判断——比方说——有没有正在发生的暴力行为。只有真的发生了，它才把信息传出去。每次传出，它还会把一个哈希上传到密码学网络，这样我们就能公开查到这项检查一共被触发过多少次。”
“而且他们有一整套基础设施，来验证硬件确实在运行那段代码。签名所用的密钥，是在芯片制造时由化学瑕疵在芯片内部随机生成的。据说还有一条规则：任何人都有权随机拆下一台摄像头做微观检查，很多人把这事当爱好在做，所以没有厂商能靠造出作弊的摄像头蒙混过去。”
“这……听起来太厉害了。密码学完全不是我的领域，但……真正能信任的摄像头，这太说得通了！可等等，德尔瓦特那么主张自由，他怎么会不知道这类东西，还不为它兴奋呢？”
“我也想不通。”
塞拉停顿了片刻。
“好，我知道这问题问得没头没脑，不过——你认识哪个掌则人是在社交媒体相关评则组里的吗？”
“我认识几位掌则人朋友，但我不敢问他们在做什么。这是我们的传统：只有等你做满3年、换到别的评则组之后，才能公开谈自己做过的事。”
“你能不能……帮我给他们转一条消息？我现在就写给你。再告诉他们，这条值得回。”
巴尔梅想了想，在心里掂量塞拉——还有她那个至今一言未发的朋友——是否可信。直觉告诉她，可以信。
“当然。”
塞拉走到一栋房子门前，那房子和她与格拉迪亚斯住的那栋很像。这一次，莫夫完全留在后面。他觉得塞拉独自一人似乎更容易赢得信任，索性让她自己去问。需要的话，他可以通过耳机提示该问什么。
塞拉敲了敲门。
没有回应。
一分钟后，她又敲了一次。
仍然没有回应。
她听见里面有脚步声，但似乎并没有朝门口靠近。
她的手表震了一下。她收到一条通知：
莫夫……她心想。她知道屋里的人也会收到同一条消息，并明白她是认真的。
塞拉第三次敲门。
她又听见脚步声，这次是朝门口来的。
“你想干什么？”
“你好，我是塞拉。就是我请巴尔梅和特尔罗伊转那条关于社交媒体评则的消息。我想谈谈。”
男人打开了门。
“我是莱克托比。我在社交媒体开放度评则组。”
“抱歉我没开门。我妻子困在北林。我今天心情糟透了，就是不想跟人说话。”
塞拉点点头。
“我是塞拉。我理解。我的孩子也困在北林。”
“你为什么要烧那些齐普币？你直接让巴尔梅告诉我你要来就行了。”
莫夫……塞拉在心里恼火地想。他为什么非要这么没耐心？
“抱歉，我实在走投无路了。”
莱克托比示意塞拉进来，她跟了进去。两人坐下。
“那这是为了什么事？”
“过去一年左右，有没有什么陌生男人试图联系你，或者你认识的评则组里的其他人？”
“嗯……没有，没听说过这种事。”
“你能不能……直接在你们评则组的群里问一下？我想确认。”
“你遇到过这种事吗？”
“我丈夫遇到过。巴尔梅也是。还有不少人。他的看法很鲜明，而且似乎见什么人说什么话。有时他反战，有时不反。有时他反对掌舵会干预任何事，有时又不反对。”
莱克托比对着颈带低声说了几句。
“先看看我那个掌则人小组怎么说。”
他站起身。
“要喝点茶吗？”
“好。”
莱克托比走到厨房，给自己和塞拉烧水。
“孩子的事，我很遗憾。北极这一摊事真是……太疯了。先是红郡，现在又是这里。感觉他们正在换挡提速，一两年之内就会直接发动一场大战，把整个世界都吞下。”
“或者更糟，不到一年。他们拿下了北林，看起来又没见谁动一根手指。来的路上我看了一下议会听证会，满场都是作秀式的义愤，没有行动，也没有反思我们是怎么走到这一步的。”
莱克托比叹了口气。
他给自己端来一杯茶，又给塞拉端来一杯，两人坐下，默默喝着。
20分钟后，莱克托比身体前倾，塞拉的注意力转向他。
“他们都回了。”他说。
“然后呢？”
“他们都没遇到过。有一个人说，他朋友在另一个评则组遇到过。但这个评则组里一个都没有。”
“这……太奇怪了。”
“也许是巧合，不过……”
“怎么了？”
“你的评则组是管社交媒体开放度与互操作性的，对吧？”
“对。”
“德尔瓦特据说是银聊的人。可这恰恰是银聊最该在意的一个议题，结果……在这个评则组里一点门路都没打进？”
“还是那句话，这也可能是巧合，不过……”
她站起身。
“等等，出什么事了？”
她知道莫夫会希望她离开，好私下跟他碰一下情况。但莱克托比信任了她，她觉得同样信任他才是公平的。
“银聊的人为什么会在意维里迪亚的学校有没有把公民课教好？银聊的人为什么那么反战？银聊的人怎么可能那么擅长把一个又一个掌则人找出来？还有……一个银聊的人身处那个位置，为什么会在银聊最在意的这条评则上完全不使劲——明明只要在开放度和互操作性上做出成绩，就能拿到可观的回报？”
但到这时，塞拉其实早就知道答案了，这些不过是最后那根确认的稻草。她起身拿起手持终端准备离开，心想把自己的结论脱口说出来也无妨。
“德尔瓦特不是银聊的人。”
Seila woke up, as the alarm in her watch buzzed. Her watch was flashing bright red - a message from Emerald of a type that she had never before seen.
She immediately sat up, and opened up her hand device to take a look at the news in more detail.
When she saw the top line, her heart almost stopped.
ARCTIC EMPIRE INVADES NORTHGLADE
Northglade. Febric and Hreda were there. No.....
She kept reading.
At 5,250 this morning, Arctic soldiers, flying vehicles and drones descended on the province of Northshore from all sides.
The Veridian military offered almost no resistance, and within two longhours their soldiers and drones were stationed in Northglade.
The entire area is now fully under Arctic control, with only one exception. The Greater Plum Harbor inside Northglade has remained untouched by the Arctics, and seems to be at present respected as some kind of neutral zone. Hundreds of refugees streamed into the Greater Plum Harbor, before the Arctics set up barricades to stem any further entrances. More refugees attempted to enter on personal copters. About half succeeded, especially in the first longhour, and others were shot down.
Internet communications between Northglade and the rest of Veridia have been cut, except for the Greater Plum Harbor. Long-distance transmissions between the Greater Plum Harbor and the rest of Northglade, which are evading the jamming mechanisms, are now the main channel of two-way communication with the province of Northshore.
Neither local Northshore politicians nor Arctic officials have yet made any public comment. As of our last knowledge, Lord Ephelion, Arctic consul to Veridia, was in Northglade at the time of the invasion. We await further information.
She scrolled down in her hand device, and saw that Emerald was highlighting five other messages that it deemed very important to her.
| From | Message | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| → | Hreda and I are both safely inside the Greater Plum Harbor. We will survive the best that we can. We love you. | 19867 | |
| → | Northglade was invaded this morning. | 20045 | |
| → | It looked like there were barely any battles, as though our politicians and army are totally okay with this happening. | 20060 | |
| → | Febric and I are safely inside the Greater Plum Harbor. The Arctics seem to be respecting it as some kind of neutral zone, at least for now. | 20071 | |
| → | I'm scared. I hope everything will be okay. Love you. | 20077 |
Seila started typing back a message, confirming to Febric and Hreda that she received their message and she and Vil and Daia would do everything she could to bring them home. Before she finished typing, she began to cry.
A longhour later, she heard a knock on her door. She walked up to the door, and saw through a screen that there was a man wearing a privacy robe outside.
"Who are you?", she asked.
"I'm Mov. Gladias knows me well."
"Why should I believe you?"
The man whispered a few words into his neck band, and put up his hand device against the green circle beside the door of the house. Seila's watch buzzed.
Proof verified.✓
Seila cautiously opened the door, and let the man in.
Mov took off his shoes, and immediately proceeded to the basement room, knowing exactly where within the house it was located. Seila followed him.
They both sat down.
"I'm getting really concerned about what's happening to Veridia."
Seila looked at him with a blank stare, suprised that it was even possible to say something so uselessly obvious.
"I don't mean the invasion of Northglade. That was really shocking, it's terrible. And I'm really sorry Febric and Hreda are there. I hope they're safe."
"They are. The Arctics are leaving the Greater Plum Harbor there alone somehow, and Febric and Hreda managed to get there in time."
"So what do you mean?"
"I mean the things that made that invasion possible, and succeed with so little resistance. All of those factors are true in the rest of Veridia too."
"Gladias would be the person I would normally speak about this with, but he has been very busy in meetings with some Dzego secret government people the past few days, and he's been asleep the past few longhours. So I wanted to talk to you."
"What do you think I know? Our politicians are clearly bought out, or blackmailed, or apathetic, or some of all of those things. Gladias doesn't talk to me much about the Order, after all he's not supposed to."
"Maybe I'll tell you what I know. I was following Delwart, the mysterious gentleman who has been having meetings with Gladias for the past months. He was not just talking to Gladias, he was talking to various other Keepers, he seemed to have a pretty wide network."
"At one point, before I lost track of him, I caught him in a meeting with someone from Silverchat. And then Gladias told me that he confronted Delwart, and Delwart admitted that he had been working for Silverchat the whole time."
"Silverchat? They're doing some kind of big operation to corrupt the Order? But why? I would have expected Bluewhale to do things like that, but Silverchat were always the good ones! And what does this have to do with the Arctics?"
"I think our society has just gotten really complacent. Everyone is focused on maintaining their happy life, getting some advantage that they can, and people don't value actually maintaining the things that keep Veridia running. Even Silverchat. And what's worse, the Keepers just don't seem to be watching out for this."
"The Order seems to be performing better than any other part of our institutions. The military has failed completely at setting up defenses for Northshore. From what I can tell, the Keepers have done what they could, the tax rubric even changed to be even more supportive of open-sourcing defense hardware, Gladias told me that much. He was really proud of it, as was I."
"Indeed, though that was a close call. Whoever split up the Keepers into three groups that could not talk to each other was a genius - otherwise Delwart might have gotten to all of them."
"Something about this doesn't sit right. Silverchat... they just don't seem like the people who would do this."
"I know you've loved them since you were a child, for the same reasons Gladias did. And I did too. But sometimes ... your heroes turn out not to be heroes. Or maybe Silverchat doesn't care about that particular rubric, and that was just Delwart himself being an extreme peace dove."
"Do you know any of the other Keepers that Delwart talked to. Can we talk to any of them?"
"I did put trackers on two of them. I could have totally ratted them out to the cryptographic network and gotten a big bounty, but ... I thought it would be better to keep the option to track them more."
"Can we talk to them?"
"I suppose."
"Let's go visit them. Like, right now."
"You don't want to focus on seeing what you can do for Febric and Hreda today?"
"I may be a worried mom - or, well, aunt - but I know there's not much I can do. I had a call with them already, they're sitting tight, I'm sitting tight, I don't think we and they are any better at pulling off some kind of grand escape from Northglade than any of the hundred people trying to fly in to the Greater Plum Harbor who got shot down. So, sit and tight is the plan, nothing more to do today. But figuring out what on earth is going on with the Order, that's something I can do today."
She sighed.
"I guess I feel like I have to be doing something, and this is something that I can do."
Mov nodded.
"Just don't take a copter. You might think it's faster and this time the crazy high noise taxes are worth it, but you would just be inviting attention to yourself."
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning to."
A taxi arrived. Seila put on one of Gladias's privacy robes. She and Mov, who was already wearing his privacy robe, rushed toward the taxi. Seila reached the door first, and she tapped her watch against a green circle beside the taxi door, simultaneously opening the door and cryptographically approving the payment. They got in the taxi.
The taxi began moving, headed to a location a short autobus ride away from the home of one of the other Keepers.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at an apartment building. It was a new construction. The outer wall was wrapped with some kind of imitation stone material. On the ground floor, they could see restaurants and shops selling various kinds of goods. On the higher floors, from the outside all they could see were regularly-spaced but well-decorated windows of people's apartments.
They saw another man walking towards the door, about to enter. They immediately slowed down their walk so that they would appear to naturally reach the door right after the man.
The man walked to the door, put his watch against the green circle beside the door, and the door opened. He walked through. Before the door closed, Seila and Mov walked in too.
"He's in room 515", Mov said. "Let's just go up the stairs."
"How do you know that?"
"The tracker I put on him."
They walked up the stairs, and eventually got to the door of room 515. They knocked.
On the inside, they heard footsteps. Mov removed the hood on his privacy robe, a gesture to appear less threatening. He was not supposed to know this man, so he had no way to prove that he was someone to talk to - except perhaps for burning a hundred zipcoins at his doorstep. Seila removed her hood too.
The man simply opened the door.
"Hello?"
"Hi, I'm Seila. I know this is awkward, but we wanted to talk about the Order and Delwart."
The man's eyes opened wide.
"Nice to meet you Seila."
"And I'm Mov."
"I'm Telroy. Though ... if you know I'm in the Order and you know about Delwart, maybe you already know that too."
At that moment, Mov realized that in a certain sense, he already had burned much more than a hundred zipcoins at Telroy's doorstep - by clearly having enough information to claim a large bounty by ratting out his role to the Order's cryptographic network, and choosing not to do that.
Mov and Seila walked in. Telroy directed them to sit down on the couch, and he began preparing tea for the three of them.
"So what do you know about me and Delwart?"
"You're a Keeper, you're in the rubric group on cybersecurity. One of the rubrics being debated has to do with data retention in environmental sensors. You met Delwart at least once, though I was not able to hear the content of your conversation."
"Okay, you do know a lot. Delwart has been insistent during our conversations that the recent push for trying to minimize data collection did not actually make sense, it was some kind of paranoid threat against an enemy that was not really present - though maybe now, he will have changed his tune. He argued to me that the more important information threat is protecting against insider trading."
"He also said that the local environmental and public safety agencies need broad access to be able to adapt to changing circumstances quickly without asking for permission every time - and that the main privacy defense we really need is delaying their access to non-disease-related data by five or ten days so that they can't trade with it."
"That ... does not sound at all like the Delwart that Gladias told me about."
"Did he say anything else?"
"He was generally anti-war, as I mentioned - that's how he described himself. Otherwise not too much - his main opinion was that he thought people were getting overcomplicated trying to throw in all the cryptography, and we should just trust people more."
"Okay, now I'm curious - what is the Delwart you know?"
"He was anti-war. He valued people's freedom to live their own lives, he wanted the Order to do much less - even the tax nudges were too much for him. In particular, though, he was really against this change to a tax rubric -"
Mov paused. He realized that Seila had already volunteered Gladias's name, and if he continued, he might be giving Telroy information through which Telroy might be able to figure out Gladias's rubric, and collect the bounty by ratting him out.
But then he thought - Telroy was trusting him and Seila, the least they could do was reciprocate back with some trust of their own.
"The rubric for open source hardware. He believed that anything military-relevant should be exempt from tax breaks, because military is a zero-sum game, we're not doing anything good for the world by participating in that."
Telroy nodded. "I guess he really is anti-war then."
"But then I followed him around more, and Gladias confronted him after Redshire was invaded, and ... it turns out he has been working for Silverchat."
Telroy stared in surprise. "Silverchat?"
"That is ... surprising."
Seila and Mov got out of the taxi, and walked along the forested path through Kalimar. A gentle cool breeze blew against their backs, subconsciously driving them to walk faster. A few hundred meters later, they walked off the path and turned right. Thirty meters after that, they saw a stone house that was mostly underground, with the above-ground part sticking up only a meter above ground. The whole structure was barely visible from beyond a few meters away.
That was one way to score high on aesthetics, public access and emergency shelter functionality at the same time, she thought. That house was probably paying close to no land taxes.
Seila and Mov walked down a staircase, and knocked on the door. They took off the hoods of their privacy robes.
They heard footsteps.
"Who is this?", they heard a female voice ask.
Seila quietly stepped on Mov's toe, urging him to stay silent. Mov picked up the cue, and stepped back.
"Hi, I'm Seila. I know this is awkward, but we wanted to talk about the Order and Delwart."
The door immediately opened.
"Hi, I'm Balme. Please, come in."
"Is it okay if my friend Mov comes in too?"
Seila felt slight discomfort from Balme - the interaction was now two on one, and Mov had a larger and more imposing physique - but at that point she had already opened the door, and it would have been very awkward at best to shut it on them.
"Sure", she replied softly.
Seila and Mov both entered.
"I apologize for intruding so rudely, and for spying on you to know where to come. But I hope you'll forgive me; our country is in a pretty dire situation as you can tell."
Balme nodded.
"What do you know about Delwart?"
"I met him a few times. The first time we talked was when he sent me an anonymous message about a longhour after a Keeper meeting. Somehow he had been able to track me down. I'm in a rubric group for private schools. He talked a lot about his own views about education, and how he thought we should not be putting our thumbs on the scale, using the tax rubrics to encourage what he considered biased civics education talking about how beautiful Veridia is and encouraging the students to cherish and love it - he thought that schools should just teach people knowledge, and they should learn to love Veridia by seeing how great it is on their own."
"Did he have any other perspectives?"
"He seemed generally pro-freedom, he believed that people should be left to evolve on their own, generally things work out best when they happen spontaneously and naturally, the Order should not be putting its thumb on the scale so much."
"Anything about international politics?"
"Not really, he never brought that up. He seemed not to care."
"He did once ask me what I thought about Dreadknot. I responded that I did not like them much. He didn't answer, and changed the subject."
Seila nodded.
"The Delwart that I know is also concerned about freedom, also thinks the Order should do much less. But... he also does have strong opinions on international politics. He basically thinks anything military is a zero-sum game, you can't know what will lead to a good or bad outcome, and Veridia should stay out entirely."
"Although ... he's apparently more mixed on the freedom thing. He seems okay with the public security agencies collecting more information, and not using cryptography to try to limit the data collection and get guarantees about what purpose the data is being used for."
Balme's eyes opened wider in surprise.
"Wait, I'm curious, how could you use cryptography for that?"
"I have a friend from Dzego, Zei, who told me about it once. Basically you have a language model inside the camera, that detects whether or not, say, an act of violence is going on. And only if that's happening, it passes the information along. Every time it does, it also uploads a hash onto a cryptographic network, so we get a public trace of how many times the check was triggered."
"And then they have a whole infrastructure to verify that the hardware is actually running that code. Signatures from keys that were randomly generated inside the chip by chemical imperfections in the manufacturing process at the time the chip was created. There's apparently a rule that anyone has a right to randomly take down a camera and micro-inspect it, and many people are doing that as a hobby, so no manufacturer can get away with making cameras that cheat the rules."
"That ... sounds amazing. Cryptography is not my area at all, but ... cameras that you can actually trust, that makes total sense! Wait, but Delwart was so pro-freedom, how could he not already know about that kind of thing and be enthusiastic about it?"
"I'm confused too."
Seila paused for a few moments.
"Okay, I know this is a random question, but - do you know any Keepers who are in any rubric groups related to social media?"
"I know a few Keepers as friends, but I don't dare ask them what they're working on. It's our tradition, you only talk openly about things you did when you already finished your three years and moved on to a different rubric group."
"Could you ... forward a message to them from me? I'll write it up for you right now. And tell them that it's worth responding to."
Balme thought for a moment, checking with herself whether or not she thought Seila, and her friend who had so far said nothing at all, could be trusted. An instinct told her that they can.
"Of course."
Seila walked up to the door of a house, similar to the one that she and Gladias lived in. This time, Mov stayed back entirely. Seila seemed more effective at winning trust alone, he thought, so he might as well let her do the questioning on her own. If he needed to, he could suggest questions by earpiece.
Seila knocked on the door.
No response.
A minute later, she knocked again.
Still no response.
She heard footsteps inside, but they did not seem to be getting closer to the door.
Her watch buzzed. She got a notification:
Mov ... she thought. She knew that whoever was in the house would see the same message, and know that she was serious.
Seila knocked on the door for a third time.
She heard footsteps again, this time coming toward the door.
"What do you want?"
"Hi, I'm Seila. I'm the one that asked Balme and Telroy to send the message about the social media rubrics. I want to talk."
The man opened the door.
"I'm Lectoby. I'm in the social media openness rubric."
"I'm sorry I didn't open the door. My wife is stuck in Northglade. I've been really upset today, I just don't want to talk to people."
Seila nodded.
"I'm Seila. I understand. My kids are stuck in Northglade too."
"Why did you burn those zipcoins? You could have just asked Balme to tell me you're coming."
Mov ... Seila thought to herself furiously. Why did he have to be so impatient?
"I'm sorry, I'm just really desperate."
Lectoby motioned for Seila to come in, and she followed. They both sat down.
"So what is this about?"
"Has there been any strange man who attempted to contact you, or anyone else you know in your rubric group? In the past year or so."
"Huh ... nope, never heard of that happening."
"Could you maybe ... directly ask in your rubric group chat? I want to confirm."
"Have you had that happen?"
"My husband has. Balme too. Quite a few others. He has strong opinions that seem to differ depending on whom he talks to. Sometimes he's anti-war, sometimes he isn't. Sometimes he's against the Order intervening in anything, sometimes he isn't."
Lectoby whispered a few sentences through his neck band.
"Let's wait for my Keeper group to see what they say."
He stood up.
"Would you like some tea?"
"Sure."
Lectoby walked over to the kitchen, and started to boil water for himself and for Seila.
"I'm sorry about your kids. This whole Arctic thing is just ... so crazy. Redshire, now this. It feels like they're shifting gears, and within a year or two they'll just launch a big war to take over the whole world."
"Or worse, less than a year. They took Northglade, seems like no one is lifting a finger again. I checked the senate hearing on my way here, a lot of performative outrage, no action, no introspection about how we got here."
Lectoby sighed.
He brought a cup of tea for himself, and a cup for Seila, and they sat down. They drank it silently.
Twenty minutes later, Lectoby leaned forward, and Seila's attention turned to him.
"They all replied", he said.
"And?"
"None of them had that happen. One did reply that a friend in a different rubric group had that happen to him. But none in this rubric group."
"That is ... so strange."
"It could be a coincidence, but..."
"What's the matter?"
"Your rubric group is on social media openness and interoperability, right?"
"It is."
"Delwart was supposed to be from Silverchat. But this is the one topic that Silverchat should care about the most, and ... zero inroads into this rubric?"
"Again, this could be a coincidence, but..."
She stood up.
"Wait, what's going on?"
She knew Mov would want her to leave, so she could sync up with Mov privately. But Lectoby had trusted her, and she thought it was fair to trust him too.
"Why would someone from Silverchat care about whether or not Veridian schools are teaching people civics well? Why would someone from Silverchat be so anti-war? How could someone from Silverchat be so effective at tracking down keepers? And ... why would someone from Silverchat, in that position, not make any effort at all on the rubric that Silverchat cared the most about, getting properly rewarded for being so effective at openness and interoperability?"
But by this point Seila had long since known the answer, and this was simply a final confirmatory straw. She figured there was no harm in blurting out her conclusion, as she stood up, and picked up her hand device, getting ready to leave.
"Delwart is not from Silverchat."