Decisions
41Following the kid's line of sight, you land on Petre, who stands at the front of his stall obsessively cleaning a disc.
"Coloured discs and these hi-tech formats... Not really my province either."
"What about this Ultra Violeta popstar, know anything about her?"
Wheeling and dealing with Carmuna!
Ultra Violeta gazes out at you from the postcard, draped in a half-length cape and decked with shimmerings.
INSIDIOUS IMPERIALISM. TODAY, THE SOFT POWER -- TOMORROW, THE HARD.
"Oh yeah. I take a passing interest."
Perhaps an avid Einzeltone collector?
"Just so you know, Tempo's dead. The Weeping Eye killed him."
"That Luzian popstar? How am I supposed to find her?"
As Petre told you -- Einzeltone XR is immune to bootlegging.
"The format fetishist's advice provided the final confirmation. Once we understood the principles of re-remanencing, it was only a matter of execution."
"You must think I've gotten a 'mental waiver'. The format fetishist already told you how it can be done. Now we just have to do it."
"One thing. This red disc of yours. It's not broken: it's an Einzeltone."
Can the 'One True Format' really be reconstructed? Isn't its singularity that which makes it true?
Crucially, such a process would result in an empty disc... like the one you found on PSEUDOPOD's body.
Did he say... red?
He already knows the truth. He's just waiting for you to confirm.
In his baroque hierarchy of shame, 'cool' falls just under 'replayer', the cardinal sin.
The signal blockers: wiry battlements like the skeletons of titanic insects face out across the strait on Portofiro's most desolate shore, snagging Luzian radiowaves as they enter.
The vendor won't look at you. He recoils slightly as you step closer.
There's that word again...
Underlying the criticism is a lament that his own paranoia has no willing audience.
Velodisk! A modern laser-hybrid format, played using a heated stylus unit. Astounding sonic fidelity. Cause of thousands of home fires.
Which raises an intimidating question...
"And what, you thought to defile the corpse a little more, just for fun? I expected better from you."
"For more discerning ones such as yourself, I think you'll find me very agreeable."
"I judge you to be a woman of culture. You should understand the inherent value of Einzeltone XR."
"I take it this means Luz hasn't managed to make it into... wherever you're from." He sniffs, as if the matter of being from somewhere were distasteful. "Good for you."
"I thought you might, my friend. Sick fucking world."
"I would assume you can contact him telepathically, if you're into the same things as he is, but that failing I would watch his show. He takes calls from viewers, I've heard."
"It really saddens me to hear you speak like this. I almost would've preferred if you were just a regular replayer. Instead, you get my hopes up only to dash their brains out against some rocks."
"Mostly crass replayable formats, but such is the degenerate society we live in."
"Still, we persevere. Or at least, we persevere to persevere." He casts a slow gaze across his wares.
"There is every need. I'll be cursing your media every day until your little fascists finally decide to take me out back and shoot me."
"This one's already been played."
"Welcome back, my good replayer."
"Well, it isn't. Anything we once had has been consumed, overwritten, digested and shat out by Luz. And the worst thing is we know it, we just don't care."
"Well, let's get to it. Commence ritual of cultural debasement."
"What's so bad? I thought you understood this... I thought we were of each other's kind..."
"I'm not sure pop music was what was actually on it..."
