The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

by Neal Stephenson

  Upon receipt of verbal consent from subject, medical staff began administration of inoculations required to protect subject from modern diseases to which she is not likely to have immunity, and collected samples (swabs, blood, urine, feces) for analysis of possible historical disease agents. Upon examination, subject had fully healed scars indicative of a past encounter with smallpox, suggesting that no active, virus-shedding infection was in progress. Subsequent laboratory analysis detected low levels of intestinal parasites and gut flora of a potentially contagious nature; these were eradicated through orally administered medications and the subject given a clean bill of health following four days of analysis and treatment. The inoculation protocols are scheduled to continue for another two weeks, whereupon subject will be cleared to emerge from bio-containment and mingle with the general population. Psychologically, subject appears normal, other than some natural disorientation.

  Results of debriefing: Subject is a seventeen-year-old resident of Pera, the Jewish neighborhood lying across the Golden Horn from Constantinople proper. She is one of a small network of KCWs recruited by DODO and used extensively for DEDEs conducted during the last two years while laying the groundwork for full-scale diachronic operations slated to commence immediately. She is well known to our DOers, who from the very beginning have commented on her marked curiosity about our time and place and her frequently voiced desire to travel into the future and join us. She was able to reach ODEC #3 through the assistance of her mother, another KCW in Constantinople who agreed to carry out the Sending.

  Until this incident occurred, we had not envisioned that a security breach of this nature was a realistic threat.

  1. Sending by a historical witch into her own future was considered extremely difficult.

  2. There was no place in the present day where magic worked, save in the confines of an “up and running” ODEC. Since we didn’t leave the ODECs up and running, the Sending witch had no fixed target to “aim at.”

  Obviously, these two assumptions are no longer valid.

  1. Our KCWs in 1200 Constantinople have had so much practice Homing our DOers that they seem to have developed a feel for how to access the modern Boston DTAP.

  2. The policy just inaugurated of leaving the ODECs running 24/7 has given the Sending witch a much broader and more stable target to “aim at.”

  During her debriefing, subject admitted that she had become aware of the new ODECs and the “always on” policy slated to go into force at the beginning of the new year. This leakage of information was not the result of one specific disclosure by one specific DOer, but rather a pattern of information that she had assembled through numerous conversations with various DOers. In addition, it appears that subject, along with many other witches, has the ability to extract information from nearby persons through non-verbal techniques. That combined with subject’s intense curiosity and drive to escape what she sees as the stifling confines of a traditional medieval Jewish household led to her devising the plan that led to her materializing in ODEC #3.

  General remarks: Subject is beginning to learn modern English and is rapidly becoming familiar and comfortable with modern technology, conveniences, etc. It will be some time before she can move about freely in modern society without supervision, however, nothing in principle stands in the way of her doing so. It should go without saying that she carries in her head classified secrets that can never be divulged to the modern world at large. Likewise, if she were to return to her place of origin and divulge information about the future, or attempt to alter the reality of that DTAP in a heavy-handed manner, Diachronic Shear would likely result.

  For her own protection, she will remain in biological isolation for another two weeks, but after that, top-level direction will be needed in order to determine her fate.

  FROM LIEUTENANT GENERAL OCTAVIAN K. FRINK

  TO DR. ROGER BLEVINS

  DAY 900 (MID-JANUARY, YEAR 3)

  Blev,

  I was perusing Mrs. East-Oda’s report on the recent incident and came across something toward the end of it that, to put it mildly, startled me: Ms. bat Avraham “has the ability to extract information from nearby persons through non-verbal techniques.”

  Am I to understand that she is a mind reader? And that other witches have the same ability? If so, then this document is an extraordinary example of what is referred to, in the journalism business, as “burying the lede.”

  Yours in consternation and amusement,

  Okie

  FROM DR. ROGER BLEVINS

  TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL OCTAVIAN K. FRINK

  DAY 902

  Okie,

  I too noticed the passage you referred to in your letter, and was doing some investigation before reporting further. I would recommend against use of any such pulp-novel terminology as “mind reading” but, in short, it does appear that many witches have enhanced skills around sensing others’ mental states, and manipulating same. Of course, like any other magical technique, it can only be used in an ODEC, or in a pre-1851 DTAP.

  In a larger sense, this is not a surprise. For reasons I needn’t belabor to you, DODO has focused on one, and only one, form of magic: Sending people to other DTAPs. But magic has many other possible uses. Making an analogy to electricity, it’s as if Thomas Edison devoted his entire career to the development of washing machines but never put any effort into light bulbs, elevators, or the myriad other applications that surround us today. We know perfectly well that witches could perform other kinds of magic; we just haven’t put any resources into it yet.

  Blev

  Post by LTG Octavian K. Frink to Dr. Roger Blevins on private ODIN channel

  DAY 903

  Blev, I’m moving this over to the secure messaging system for efficiency’s sake. I got your letter. To put it bluntly, exploitation of the Sending type of magic has ballooned into an enormously expensive and cumbersome operation. All worth it, I’m sure—not suggesting that the taxpayers’ money is in any way misspent on ODECs and so on. But now that we have all of that apparatus up and running we need to look for other opportunities to make the most of it.

  It didn’t escape my notice that you mentioned the possibility of manipulating others’ mental states as something witches could do. Let’s drill down on that.

  Reply from Dr. Blevins:

  In a sense it’s almost common knowledge, Okie. Historically, witches were feared and mistrusted for just such abilities; where do you think the term “bewitched” originated from?

  We haven’t put much effort into this because it only works in an ODEC, and it’s hard to imagine a practical application of such techniques, which depend on getting the subject into a cryogenically isolated telephone booth in a basement in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Also, we only have one witch.

  From LTG Frink:

  Now we have two, and we pretty much own Rachel bat Avraham; we can’t very well just let her wander around free. If she came forward, it means others can do likewise. Let’s get more witches, and let’s put ’em to work.

  I take your point about the ODEC. Why can’t we make these things smaller? More portable? That would make their use for psy-ops far more feasible.

  From Dr. Blevins:

  As to your first point, we’ve been contemplating such a program for a long time—which is why we built so many ODECs. I’ll put my foot on the gas, and I’ll spread the word to the department heads.

  As to your second, my understanding is that they are impossibly cumbersome because of the cryogenics. But Dr. Oda is now surplus personnel, since he finished the Chronotron. I’ll try to draw him out on the topic, without tipping our hand.

  Follow-up from Dr. Blevins, a day later:

  Okie, I had coffee with Dr. Oda, framed as a conversation about his future at DODO. We had contemplated moving him to “emeritus” status to get him out of the way without sending his troublesome wife into a rage. In that capacity he would have the freedom to explore independent research projects as long as they were relevan
t to DODO’s mission. Without any prompting from me, he mentioned that he had ideas on building an ODEC capable of working at non-cryogenic temperatures. The technical details are over my head but apparently it has to do with room-temperature superconductors and certain advances in computer processing power that he has been tracking. Sounds like this could possibly lead to a portable ODEC—and if so we could redirect resources from diachronic travel to psy-ops.

  Unless you say otherwise before COB today, I’ll slide him over to the new role and encourage him to pursue the idea.

  Blev

  Post by Macy Stoll

  on “All Employees” ODIN channel

  DAY 905

  Everyone, Dr. Blevins is extremely busy just now but has asked me to reach out in this forum and shine a light on some of the confusion and resulting rumors that have surrounded the recent arrival of Rachel bat Avraham.

  To clarify, Rachel’s arrival was a PLANNED event—NOT a security breach.

  There was indeed some surprise and confusion around the exact timing, which is why some of you may have noticed startled expressions on the faces of LTC Lyons and Ms. Karpathy. Rachel was scheduled to be Sent forward to ODEC #3 on a different date in the near future as part of a planned program of activities for which Dr. Blevins has been laying the groundwork for some months now. Because of some understandable confusion around calendars (Julian vs. Gregorian), the Sending KCW in 1200 Constantinople did it on the wrong day and so Rachel showed up ahead of schedule.

  Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Dr. Blevins has asked me to let everyone know that Rachel is just the first in a series of “Anachrons,” which is a term we will be applying to colleagues from earlier historical epochs who will be coming forward to present-day Boston and other DODO sites to collaborate with us. The exact policy is still being formulated, but we anticipate recruiting Anachrons in the following general categories:

  – KCWs, such as Rachel, who can help Erszebet handle the anticipated uptick in demand for Sending personnel to various DTAPs.

  – Subject matter authorities, such as people who know how to speak a particular dialect or fight in a particular martial arts system for which we don’t have modern-day expertise. These can serve as valuable adjuncts to the existing DORC staff.

  – Evacuees who must be brought forward for tactical reasons, typically to avoid the possibility of Diachronic Shear. This might happen in the event of a security breach leading to a situation where someone knew too much about their future.

  The above is not the definitive list—the full policy document is still being drawn up.

  Soon Rachel will be cleared by our medical staff to mingle with the general population, and when that happens I know you’ll all join me in making her feel as welcome as possible in her new home and era.

  EXCERPT FROM TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW

  BETWEEN DR. MELISANDE STOKES (MS)

  AND RACHEL BAT AVRAHAM (RBA)

  DAY 904 (DAY 13 OF RBA’S MEDICAL QUARANTINE)

  NOTE: Conversation took place in Hebrew, translated into English.

  MS: You’re looking stronger today. Dr. Srinavasan told me you ate all of the chicken soup.

  RBA: My shoulder [vaccine injection site] is no longer hurting and the chills have stopped. Yes, I feel better, but still weak.

  MS: Would you like me to tell Dr. Srinavasan about your feeling of weakness? Perhaps he should know about it.

  RBA: No, he cannot help.

  MS: Why do you say that? Modern medicine can do things that would surprise you.

  RBA: This I understand. I have seen it with my own eyes. But my feeling of weakness is not the kind of thing that a doctor would understand, or know how to fix. If you let me go into the ODEC, I would feel strong again.

  MS: Because you could do magic there?

  RBA: Yes, of course. You [non-magical persons] don’t understand. You think that witches do magic only at certain times, when we perform a spell, such as Sending. Actually we are doing it a little bit every moment, even when we are sleeping.

  MS: I have heard similar things from Erszebet. Only when she is in the ODEC does she feel completely herself.

  RBA: I can’t wait to learn better English so that I can talk more to Erszebet.

  MS: The computer can help you learn some basic parts of the language, and when you get out of quarantine you’ll learn faster.

  RBA: I have been reading the computer.

  MS: That’s what Mortimer told me.

  RBA: Who is Mortimer?

  MS: You haven’t met him, he is one of the people who helps make the computers work.

  RBA: How does he know that I have been reading the computer?

  MS: Do you remember our conversation the other day about how the computers are linked together in a network?

  RBA: Yes, of course. A little bit like the network of Strands.

  MS: A little bit, yes. Well, because of this, it’s possible for someone like Mortimer, who is on a different computer in a different place, to see what you have been reading. And he tells me that you have been looking at Wikipedia in both Hebrew and Greek.

  RBA: The Hebrew hasn’t changed as much. There are many new words, of course, but I can learn those. The Greek has changed more. I can read both of them, anyway.

  MS: What have you been reading?

  RBA: The future of Constantinople.

  MS: You mean, the history?

  RBA: (laughs) To you, yes. But to me it is the future. I was reading about the Fourth Crusade.

  MS: To you, that would be only a few weeks in the future.

  RBA: You know about it?

  MS: Yes, as you know we have been quite interested in that DTAP and so I have read many historical accounts.

  RBA: Then perhaps you can tell me what happens to the Jews of Pera, after the Crusaders cross the Bosporus and attack Galata Tower? We live right in the shadow of the tower!

  MS: There is no written documentation about that directly, but related documents point to the Jewish community having dispersed without incident, probably in response to the Catholic presence.

  RBA: (agitated) In the Levant, Catholics slaughtered legions of us! Are they going to slaughter my family? I must go back and warn them and tell them to leave before the trouble starts!

  MS: I’m sure they don’t slaughter your family, Rachel. Something else happened. Your family, and everyone else, they must have just chosen to leave—without incident, or it would be recorded somewhere, right? With the Jews, everything bad is always recorded.

  RBA: So is everything good.

  MS: No, just the miracles. So there are no miracles, but there’s no slaughter.

  RBA: I should warn them.

  MS: You chose to leave them, Rachel. You cannot leap back and forth between DTAPs.

  RBA: Why not? From how you have described DODO that is the whole point, leaping back and forth.

  MS: We follow instructions on what to do and not to do, and never for personal reasons. It is always in the interest of the work. Otherwise things get complicated. When we started speaking, two weeks ago, you had to agree to stay in this DTAP before I could tell you anything. You remember that, don’t you?

  RBA: Oh, of course, and I’m very happy to be here, it is so much better even than the most exciting magic my grandmothers ever did. It is amazing. And all of you seem to take it in stride! Even Erszebet! It is all so wonderful, and everyone is kind to me, and it’s such fun to see how everyone is clothed and I cannot wait until I can try all the food, and this medicine is better than magic, if I were this sick at home I would never be so recovered in three days! All these, what are they called, innocuvations—

  MS: Inoculations, and vaccinations. And that bag up there that’s attached to the tube that goes into your arm, that has some medicine that’s making you better faster.

  RBA: Yes! Easier than magic! I do not like the hum of the electricity but Erszebet says I will get used to it, and so I cannot imagine even Heaven would be so wondrous as this.

>   MS: Then I hope you are at peace with staying here. And helping us. Please trust that your family will be safe without your assistance.

  RBA: Very well. How can I help? Once I have adjusted to being here?

  MS: The role of witches, here and now, is to Send agents back in time to different DTAPs.

  RBa: I remember. I had no idea the world was so enormous!

  MS: Yes, even for us, with all our knowledge, it is a remarkable thing to contemplate. So you Send us back in time, and we do things, very subtle little things, to prevent undesirable situations from happening. You don’t need to worry about what those are. That’s somebody else’s responsibility. You just need to perform the magic of Sending them back in time.

  RBA: Very well, that’s easy enough. What else?

  MS: That’s all.

  RBA: That’s all?

  MS: Yes.

  RBA: You mean that’s all Erszebet does every day? She just Sends people? Why don’t you use her other magic?

  MS: We have not found other useful applications for magic in today’s world.

  RBA: What?! How is that possible? It’s magic! Magic is always useful! That is like saying you have no useful application for the sun because you found this electricity thing.

  MS: You yourself noted how remarkable life is now, that in many ways it is even better than magic.

  RBA: It’s better in a different way, it’s not better than not having magic at all.

  MS: Because magic stopped in 1851, we became accustomed to living without it.

  RBA: So Erszebet, all she ever does is Send people?

  MS: Yes.