The Long Earth

of release was there. That, and his peculiar awareness of the Silence, as of a mind far away, dimly sensed, like the toll of a huge and ancient bell in a far-off mountain range … Or rather he did sense this when Lobsang wasn’t talking, as he was now.
    ‘We will follow the line of latitude west, roughly. We can manage thirty miles an hour easily. A nice leisurely pace; we are out here to explore. That should bring us over the footprint of the continental US in a few weeks …’
    Lobsang’s face was not quite real, Joshua thought, like a slightly off CGI simulation. But here in this fantastic vessel, in this realization of Lobsang’s astonishing dreams, Joshua was oddly warming to him.
    ‘You know, Lobsang, I caught up with your story when I went back to the Home, after my interview at transEarth. People were saying that the smartest thing that any supercomputer could do the moment it was switched on would be to make certain that it couldn’t be switched off again. And that the story about the reincarnated Tibetan was a front, precisely so you couldn’t be switched off. We all talked about that, and Sister Agnes said, well, if a computer has a desire not to be switched off then it has to have a sense of self, and that means a soul. I know the Pope decreed otherwise later on, but I back Sister Agnes against the Vatican any time.’
    Lobsang thought that over. ‘I look forward to meeting Sister Agnes someday. I hear what you are saying. Thank you, Joshua.’
    Joshua hesitated. ‘While you’re thanking me, maybe you could answer a question. Is this
you
, Lobsang? Or are
you
back on the Datum, in some store at MIT? Is that a meaningful question?’
    ‘Oh, certainly it is meaningful. Joshua, back on the Datum I am distributed across many memory stores and processor banks. That’s partly for security, and partly for efficiency and effectiveness of data retrieval and processing. If I wished I could consider my
self
to be distributed among a number of centres, of foci of consciousness.
    ‘But I am human, I am Lobsang. I remember how it was to look out of a cave of bone, from a single apparent locus of consciousness. And that is how I have maintained it. There is only one me, Joshua, only one Lobsang, though I have backup memory stores scattered over several worlds. And that “me” is with you on this journey. I am fully dedicated to the mission. And by the way, when I inhabit the ambulant unit, that too, for the duration, is “me”, though there remains enough of “me” outside that shell to enable the airship to fly. If I were to fail or were lost then a backup copy on Datum Earth would be initiated, and synched with whatever you were able to retrieve of my memory stores on the ship. But that would be another Lobsang; he would remember me, but he would not
be
me … I hope that’s clear.’
    Joshua thought that over. ‘I’m glad I’m just a standard-issue human.’
    ‘Well, more or less, in your case,’ Lobsang said dryly. ‘Incidentally, now that we’re under way, be sure that my report on the congressional expedition slaughter is already with the authorities. And, to be on the safe side, with such newspapers as I find trustworthy. Including the
Fortean Times
, a boon to all researchers of the Long Earth phenomenon. You can access back issues on the screen in your stateroom … It’s done. A deal’s a deal.’
    ‘Thank you, Lobsang.’
    ‘So here we are – on our way! By the way, don’t be alarmed if the coffee percolator talks to you; it’s a beta-test AI from one of our associates. Oh, and do you have a thing about cats?’
    ‘They make me sneeze.’
    ‘Shi-mi won’t.’
    ‘Shi-mi?’
    ‘Another first for transEarth. You’ve seen the size of this gondola ; it is lousy with hard-to-get-to spaces, and vermin may be a problem for us. It wouldn’t be hard for them to scramble up our anchor cables when we land. The last thing we want is a rat nibbling on a wire. So, meet Shi-mi. Come, kitty kitty …’
    A cat walked on to the deck. It was supple, silent, almost convincing. But there was an LED spark in each green eye.
    ‘I can tell you that she—’
    ‘She, Lobsang?’
    ‘She can, on demand, make a pleasant purring noise designed to be optimally soothing to the human ear. She can track mice via infra red, and has excellent hearing. She will stun her prey with a low current, swallow it into a designated stomach with a small food and water dispenser, and then will carefully