networks, a meeting on a Thursday morning, hat (3)
[They have been talking about determinism as they drove. The older woman saying she thinks determinism is a view of our natures, essentially the view that ordinary everyday levels of causation is true of us and our lives, that we are subject to causal laws. The younger woman agrees and says — In this sense then determinism is the affirmative answer to the question pf whether we are fundamentally like plants or machines. We are rhizomes then. The older woman, smiled and turned into the car park, at what point does are we free become a question ? I think, for me, it was only as I began to escape from the thing my parents made me into. Whereas for me it was determined that I could only be free and safe because I can walk across this car park with you. Only here did I stop having nightmares ] Two women are now walking, one is limping with a deep blue knee support on, the other woman has a long sleeved ruffled t-shirt with loose dark trousers, a black peaked hat shading her eyes from the morning sun, they walk across the car park towards the cafe in the outer suburbs. The tarmac they are walking across is dusty, it crunches underfoot. It is the (next) morning, late on Thursday they received the message asking to meet on neutral ground away from the office […] They take their seats at a café table where they wait for the others to arrive. The waiter comes over and discreetly informs them that there was a telephone call and the caller asked them to wait, as he is running a little late. Although the meeting is expected to be entirely innocuous, the message and the secrecy with which it is delivered gives them the impression of being connected to one or more secret networks in the sprawling city, which otherwise are impossible to access because of their clandestine nature. An impression so exhilarating, they think, that it explains the behavior of other people in other cafes, in other moments waiting for meeting to begin. The women are talking about determinism whilst watching people who who have received phone calls and sometimes standing up to go outside to speak to the caller. Is the number of people on the phone higher than usual? Should they be concerned? Are the CCTV cameras tracking them? They talk about it. They hardly struggle to hide their low levels of stress and excitement, and order some tea, a few morning pastries, rather than foolishly draw attention to themselves. Some things are certain: as they relax at their table, eyes are on them, watching as they wait patiently with their phones, their notebooks and pens, what is in their bags and under their jackets? The outsiders, who belong to some other secret urban networks and at that moment they might appear to be envying them, and not simply their imaginary importance, but the fact that for an instant or two they are strangers to themselves […] The cafe is quiet apart from people speaking, moving, crockery. The music has been turned down. Being part of the network gives an impression of exhilaration, the younger woman says she thinks it explains the strange slightly off-centre behavior of people in the cafe and those other places where she has seen people who have received messages and phone calls, and wondered who they are. Perhaps she would feel even stranger if they were not together in this particular morning chatting quite normally about the rationality economic crisis, the legitimacy of the proposals they are being forced into. “Do they also struggle to hide their obvious delight at participating in clandestine networks whilst trying not to be noticed by the omnipresent surveillance systems ?” The older woman asks. […]
The meeting caller arrives just as the French patisserie is placed on the table, and whilst joining them orders coffee and shots of Eastern summer fruit vodka, for himself and his partner. Information and thoughts are exchanged, decisions made, actions planned. What seems certain later as they get up from their table, feeling slightly paranoid, is that all eyes are on them, both within the cafe and also the AI surveillance system trying to dissect the networks it watches, (what is on the networks is inevitably determined by things) watching them as they cross the cafe to the telephone, listening to the innocuous messages being passed; for the outsiders they appear to belong to some secret inter-urban network and whilst others may envy the purpose with which they (we) leave, not being simply an imaginary importance but the fact that for an instant, the instant just passed they are strangers to to themselves. Whilst they eat their pastries, the man feels sorry for the AI system, he always does. He has sat down opposite the older woman and their go-between, the woman with him sits opposite the younger woman and looks slightly embarrassed. He says “ I need a quiet word or two.” The four of them exchange hellos and gestures, “How are you?” his partner asks the younger woman sitting opposite her at the table. She knows that the younger woman’s response is crucial to understand how the older woman will react. […] Two of the Thursday surveillance team are sitting at an adjacent table, they greet her with a smile. The older woman thinks this is strange. There are others outside she thinks. They are watching the door and chatting about music, books and cars. She shakes her head looking at them. He smiles at her gesture, ignore them, he says, they only came for espresso and to avoid being in the office. I’ve been looking into what your visitors are doing here. The two women look at him expectantly. I think you should know that this is nothing to do with the council or any of the people reporting to me. She looks at him surprised. He is looking quite serious. None of my people are going to be at risk because of this. The younger woman heard the way that he said this and thought that he meant it. I thought you would be part of this, she responded to him. No, this is nothing to do with us, my people are very unhappy about (potentially) being in the way of this. It is an appalling misjudgement on their part and I do not want you to think my people are involved. The two women looked at one another what do you think? I don’t see any harm in believing him. He smiled, I don’t know the full details of what they are doing, but if they had spoken to me i would have told them about the relationships involved and told them to do nothing. She nods agreement, fine as long as you stay neutral nobody needs to get hurt. We are analyzing the deal currently. It’s an existential crisis for us, for me…
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