Layer Zero"closed"
-- You’re in seventh grade? Eighth grade?
[Eighth.]
-- Do you like school?
[(long pause) ...Uh-huh.]
-- What subject do you like?
[(silence)]
-- Are you in any clubs?
[(shakes head silently)]
-- Do you go straight home after school?
[(silence)]
-- Do you have friends?
[...Yeah.]
-- What do you and your friends do for fun?
[Nothing.]
-- Well, what do you do?
[...(thinks for a while)...Talk.]
-- What about?
[...Stuff.]
-- Where do you go to talk?
[Wired.]
-- You don’t like talking with each other in person?
[(silence)]
-- What kind of place is Wired, to you?
[...A place where people connect with other people--the top level of the real world hierarchy.]
--(weak laugh) Who told you that?
[My dad.]
-- Do you love your father?
[(long pause... nods)]
-- What kind of navigator do you use to access Wired?
[When I was in sixth grade...my dad...bought it for me...]
-- Do you like operating this kind of machine?
[Uh-huh.]
-- Do you dislike questions like this?
[(silence)]
-- You dislike talking about yourself?
[...(nods)]
-- Why?
[...(long pause)...Because...]
-- Because?
[Because I’m... I’m me, but not me. I mean, I’m not just me...]
-- Who told you that?
[(silence)]
-- Who?
[...God.]
-- What God?
[The God of Wired.]
-- There’s a God of Wired? You believe that?
[(silence)]
-- Answer me.
[(silence)]
-- Answer.
[...There is if I believe there is..]
-- That answer isn’t good enough.
[...There is...a God...]
-- All right, fine. The God of Wired is the god of the top level of the real world hierarchy--in other words, a being that controls the entire world. Is that right?
[...Who are you?]
[Eighth.]
-- Do you like school?
[(long pause) ...Uh-huh.]
-- What subject do you like?
[(silence)]
-- Are you in any clubs?
[(shakes head silently)]
-- Do you go straight home after school?
[(silence)]
-- Do you have friends?
[...Yeah.]
-- What do you and your friends do for fun?
[Nothing.]
-- Well, what do you do?
[...(thinks for a while)...Talk.]
-- What about?
[...Stuff.]
-- Where do you go to talk?
[Wired.]
-- You don’t like talking with each other in person?
[(silence)]
-- What kind of place is Wired, to you?
[...A place where people connect with other people--the top level of the real world hierarchy.]
--(weak laugh) Who told you that?
[My dad.]
-- Do you love your father?
[(long pause... nods)]
-- What kind of navigator do you use to access Wired?
[When I was in sixth grade...my dad...bought it for me...]
-- Do you like operating this kind of machine?
[Uh-huh.]
-- Do you dislike questions like this?
[(silence)]
-- You dislike talking about yourself?
[...(nods)]
-- Why?
[...(long pause)...Because...]
-- Because?
[Because I’m... I’m me, but not me. I mean, I’m not just me...]
-- Who told you that?
[(silence)]
-- Who?
[...God.]
-- What God?
[The God of Wired.]
-- There’s a God of Wired? You believe that?
[(silence)]
-- Answer me.
[(silence)]
-- Answer.
[...There is if I believe there is..]
-- That answer isn’t good enough.
[...There is...a God...]
-- All right, fine. The God of Wired is the god of the top level of the real world hierarchy--in other words, a being that controls the entire world. Is that right?
[...Who are you?]