Book 5: Chapter 71: The Moot
Bill
June 2345
In Virt
All the cats were out of the bag. We wanted a good level of attendance, so I had “leaked” information in meatspace about WormNet, and I had also distributed a precis of Icarus and Daedalus’s adventures. I’d already long since upgraded the moot computers and SCUT systems to handle the extra load from all the new security procedures. I just hoped nothing ended up melting down.
And I’d gotten my wish. More than ten thousand replicants were in attendance, not all Bobs by any stretch. I’d implemented a special overlap feature so that everyone perceived themselves as being near the dais. The moot was also going to be streamed for the benefit of bios. It seemed a new use had already been found for Howard’s huey technology; someone had adapted the remotes to act as full-sensory VR interfaces. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do anything about bio processing speeds, so they would not be able to experience the millisecond-level interactions of the live moot.
I climbed the stage to the dais and turned to the audience. Raising the air horn, I grinned for a moment. I hadn’t had to do this for a long time, and I was relishing it. I just hoped the crowd reaction wouldn’t be negative.
I needn’t have worried.
I hit the button, and the blaaaaaaat echoed through the moot hall. The crowd replied with a loud, prolonged cheer, the kind your home team gets when they hit the ice at the beginning of a playoff game. Whistles and catcalls accompanied the raucous sound. Apparently, I wasn’t the only person who had been missing the tradition.
It took several entire milliseconds for the noise to die down, with a few late whoops added. Now my grin was uncontrolled, and echoed by many of the spectators.