Chasing Shadows: Visions of Our Coming Transparent World

by David Brin

  Will tech-empowerment bring

  the ultimate in citizenship?

  FEASTWAR

  VYLAR KAFTAN

  The Spritely War Chamber, Fiefdom of Westhalia [Oakland, USA], Kingdom of Pangourmet

  2034-02-26

  Scheherazade: Hey Pixies! Did you see the battle maneuver from the Orcs? They ate lamb kebabs in Baghdad and Tehran. Organic and local for extra points. Simultaneous, so they got the timezone bonus.

  MarcoYOLO: Dammit. Lamb from actual sheep? Stupid meat.

  NeedleStack: suuuuushi

  MarcoYOLO: Sushi. Tasty but not meat according to game rules. *shoots tiny bow and arrow*

  Scheherazade: @MarcoYOLO Sorry. At least our team gets major kill points for salads. We’ve taken out whole armies that way. At one point we controlled the entire west coast of Pangourmet.

  hygge: Taking out Dragons is so easy. Seriously, aren’t they always in last place?

  Scheherazade: They’ve got it rough. They have the most diverse digestive profiles of any team. And the highest percent of allergies. Aside from some HLA genetics and sensitive microbiomes, they don’t share much. That’s why they’re allowed some foodie-weapons no other team gets.

  hygge: Oh. Like the Fireblast thing that keeps disrupting our front line? Sorry, I’m still a noob.

  Scheherazade: @hygge Yeah, game balance. They launched a Fireblast in the Midwest last week. Every ingredient in their feast was locally sourced, humanely killed, and organic. 10x multiplier for that one. The Midwest is all scaly. You can feel it on your phone. Pet the map, it’s silky-scratchy.

  NeedleStack: midwest should be pixie soft and glittery lol

  Scheherazade: Attacking there would be fun, but doesn’t suit our worldwide battle plan: 1) Focus on simultaneous Pixie-safe meals in US West Coast cities to generate Gold Dust. 2) Organize a feastday for pescatarians in Japan and the West Coast, to open mana linking privileges. 3) Attack Yosae (that’s Korea and area) with Japanese Pixie archers, enhanced by our Gold Dust. 4) Run a simul-paired 5K at dawn in Tokyo and dusk here to recover mana.

  MarcoYOLO: Salads Are Strength! *waves Pixie banner*

  hygge: Game question. Say I scan my dinner with my phone, and score points for organic, but not locally-sourced: can I send it back to the kitchen and swap ingredients, then post a new pic?

  NeedleStack: no

  MarcoYOLO: @hygge No, once you attack, that’s check-in for that timeslot. Spends your metabolic mana. So look before you scan. Check for nonlocal and hothouse ingredients (cucumbers and tomatoes are two big offenders). Use tricorder mode to check for top 40 no-no chems and organic/not before you attack. Helps to research the restaurant first. Check healthyeating.wrld for restaurant scores.

  Scheherazade: Once you advance to places like cooperative farms or remote tribal cooking and whatnot, we’ll help. Focus on choosing the right restaurants. For now, Pixie strategy involves more seafood, so eat sustainable sushi!

  hygge: Got it, thanks.

  MarcoYOLO: So Schehea,,.// sorry, cat. Emily, are we still crushing the Orcs this weekend?

  Scheherazade: Yep! Big raid planned with our Dragon allies, since we expect a meat-based battle.

  NeedleStack: no one wants to partner with icky orcs anyway

  Scheherazade: Haha. We’re going to claim restaurants all the way up the West Coast and make the Sierra Nevadas our front line. The Dragons will handle the protein side. We’ve got the soy-based stuff and of course salads for everyone.

  ***redNikki231*** has joined the chamber

  redNikki231: BUY SECRETS HERE at http://324.FeastWarPowerUps.game use code NJT21G for discounts

  ***redNikki231*** has left the chamber

  Scheherazade: Ugh, spambot. Blocked it. Anyway, we don’t expect trouble from Elves or Phoenixes. Dwarves might try to block us, but they used all their Spiked Warhammers last week on the Elves.

  MarcoYOLO: Dragons are sharp. We’re working with DropTheMike? “Devourer of Spices and Cultivator of Doom”?:)

  Scheherazade: Yep. He’s captain for this skirmish.

  NeedleStack: dragons never do much anyway

  Scheherazade: You’d be surprised. They get creative because they have to.

  MarcoYOLO: So do we! Small arrows hit hard! *flexes Pixie muscles*

  NeedleStack: by the way people. there’s some nasty bug going round. my girlfriend got it.

  hygge: Uh oh. My wife started sneezing yesterday …

  NeedleStack: no, worse. she basically moved into the bathroom. three people out at my dayjob.

  MarcoYOLO: Ick.

  Scheherazade: @everyone Wash your hands. Feast on!

  MarcoYOLO: Feast on! *invents magical germ shield*

  2034-03-03

  MarcoYOLO: Holy shit, @Needle. You weren’t kidding about people getting sick.

  Scheherazade: How are we doing locally, Pixies? Everyone okay? And your families?

  MarcoYOLO: ch33zer’s kid is in the hospital on a respirator.

  NeedleStack: oh shit

  hygge::(

  Scheherazade: WanderingTheDessert is really sick. I went by with miso soup and sashimi. pinkoranges says her husband just got it.

  NeedleStack: pinkoranges organized the food drive right? that pixies won?

  Scheherazade: Yep. She’s amazing. Kim and her husband Jason (he’s a Dragon). They’ve both been unemployed so long—this is the last thing they needed.:(I hope he’s okay …

  MarcoYOLO: People call it the Over&Under flu. For obvious and gross reasons. *covers eyes*

  hygge: It’s not a flu, says za-news. It’s a virus and really horrible and the CDC doesn’t know what the deal is.

  MarcoYOLO: So wtf is up with the battle?

  Scheherazade: We’re canceling for now. Most of the Dragons got the Over&Under.

  hygge: Well shoot.

  Scheherazade: Orcs are rampaging all over the West Coast. I don’t know what’s going on. Elves usually hold them in check. Maybe they’ve all got this too. Oh! Did I tell you guys where I’m heading next weekend? Helicopter to Alaska. Fresh grilled salmon and local blackberry sauce. I’ll catch the fish myself for a 100x multiplier.

  MarcoYOLO: Cool! And hike I assume?

  Scheherazade: Of course. I’m really close to my Elite levels in Scouting and Inner Power. If I can improve my metabolism another 2%, and eat in three new fiefdoms, I’ll be level 20. Legendary Gourmet Warrior!

  NeedleStack: wooooo!

  MarcoYOLO: *drools* They gotta get us taste-power on phones. I want salmon and blackberries! Sigh. Settling for browsing your pics.

  hygge: Another noob question. Why are the War Chambers all text-chat anyway? What is this, 2010?

  Scheherazade: @hygge Everyone asks that! 1) Text-chat is better for asynchronous conversation. 2) Since FeastWar is an augmented reality game, you’re often playing in restaurants. Audio annoys other patrons, and it’s not as secure. Anyone could eavesdrop.

  MarcoYOLO: and 3) It’s rude to talk with your mouth full.

  Scheherazade: Haha. Yeah, that too. For multiregion attacks we use phonelink, V-PlayMem, and the new haptics. But text is perfect during a meal. Feels retro, doesn’t it?

  hygge: Completely.

  Scheherazade: Speaking of retro … @Needle, I found an old 2-inch crystal stripe from the 20’s. Want it?

  NeedleStack: nah, i got three already.

  Scheherazade: I should’ve guessed.:) Wow, check the scores. The Dragons have less than 3k. They were close to 2 million a month ago.

  MarcoYOLO: Wham! Magic plague attacks Dragons!

  Scheherazade: Seriously. I hope everyone is okay. DropTheMike is fine at least.

  MarcoYOLO: No, guys, really. Where are all the Dragons? I usually see points from WizOfIz at Leaf Me Alone, she orders Chinese chicken salad. Hasn’t attacked in two weeks. I’m worried. Pinged her, no answer.

  Scheherazade: I don’t know her.:(You know, it does seem like Dragons are getting this way worse than Pixies.

  NeedleStack: oh dr
agons. sadness. no not really, more points for pixies!

  Scheherazade: Speaking of which … @Everyone, Pixie Magic Dinner tomorrow at Katana Sushi. Wear your t-shirts and wings! Look for me in the back (I’ve got blue glitter on my cheeks). Set phones to “shared meal”. I’ve got e-cards to sign for WanderingTheDessert and pinkoranges’s husband. Let’s make some Gold Dust. And wash your damn hands!:)

  2034-03-06

  MarcoYOLO: Shit guys, this is scary.

  Scheherazade: They just shut the airport in Reykjavik. Only two major airports still open in Europe.:(Also haven’t been able to reach WanderingTheDessert or pinkoranges, which is scary.

  hygge: I’m not leaving my house. Seriously. We were ready for the zombie apocalypse and now I’m staying in. My wife and I have canned food and water (earthquake planning).

  MarcoYOLO: Toilet paper?

  hygge: Tmi but we have a bidet.:) If water keeps running.

  Scheherazade: Utilities should be okay, but on drought rations. Good robots, nice robots, keep it flowing. I’m coding in my pajamas. Thank science for working from home. I feel bad for people who can’t, and also can’t miss paychecks.

  MarcoYOLO: No kidding.

  Scheherazade: @Everyone, if you need fresh vegetables, Kevin (Klaymate) is working with the Orcs at North Hill Farm to ferry extras down here in his scooter. Ping me for details. He’ll prioritize people who are caretaking for someone sick, and you can pay with scancard, FeastWar gear, or just owe him later. (He wants people to get fed, whatever it takes.)

  MarcoYOLO: OMG. Glad for my garden. I’ll ping neighbors, see if anyone needs zucchini. Someone offered me a goat leg. So desperate for protein I might.

  Scheherazade: Do what you have to do. Your body will adapt, even if you aren’t eating your perfect horoscope. Evolution’s good like that. (Thanks, ancestors.)

  hygge: Glad I don’t need much meat. My wife is suffering worse. Also she forgot to fill her antidepressant and I’m worried.

  Scheherazade: @Needle, you there? How’s your girlfriend?

  NeedleStack: she’s ok, still weak. hasn’t had a real meal in two weeks. feeding her broth and crackers. she doesn’t play but her body wants elf food. maybe i can find her some lembas bread, lol

  Scheherazade: I hope she feels better soon!

  MarcoYOLO: Thermal cameras in the airports were supposed to catch people w/fever. What’s the point with forced reporting of everyone’s travel? Nothing?

  Scheherazade: People are contagious before they show symptoms. Mike told me the Dragons actually tracked their members, both when they got sick and how sick they are. Everyone’s self-reporting data and Mike is compiling it. Mike plus the other Dragon leadership, and whoever else isn’t sick. And me too, and some Elves and an Orc and a Phoenix. A bunch of leaders around the country.

  MarcoYOLO: You’re like a world leader. *bows*

  Scheherazade: Haha. Well, we’re gathering data in the FWOP chat (FeastWarOnPlague). Generals from several armies, mostly science people. Over&Under must have something to do with digestive profiles, because of uneven distribution through FeastWar players. Mike is barely sleeping, just linking data.

  hygge: That’s cool. Maybe we’ll find something the CDC can’t.

  Scheherazade: Mike’s smart. You guys may not know, but he’s a former genetic analyst, now a working food critic. Big techie with all the great GPS stuff. Remote satellite linking, SS amps, BGAN 4.0—you name it, he’s got it. His wife makes tons of money in software.

  NeedleStack: how is a dragon working as a food critic?

  Scheherazade: He’s not allergic, just prone to allergies and didn’t develop any. Lucky childhood exposures. Anyway, he totally knows his science. And Marco was right about the Dragons getting flattened.

  MarcoYOLO: Score is so lopsided. Plague wrecks Pangourmet!

  Scheherazade: We should get in touch with someone at the CDC, but I can’t figure out who’d listen to gamers.

  hygge: My sister works in big pharma. She used to work with a guy who left for the CDC. They’re still in touch.

  Scheherazade: Whoa, seriously? Do you think she’d help?

  hygge: She owes me for me not telling Mom about her petty crimes in high school.:) (she went clean later). I’ll ask, and ping you later.

  Scheherazade: Great! I love the people you meet through this game. Never thought I’d be friends with a professional antiselfie photographer!

  hygge: At your service! heehee.

  Scheherazade: Anyway, Mike asked me to do some stat analysis because his people are short-handed (poor Dragons!) Ugh, I’m worried.

  MarcoYOLO: Me too. See if they need me? I write one hell of a persuasive note. Text shows my rugged good looks.:)

  ***pinkoranges*** has joined the chamber

  Scheherazade: Whoa! Kim! I was looking for you.

  pinkoranges: guys ths is so fucked up

  Scheherazade: Are you okay? How’s Jason?

  pinkoranges: so dehydrated and I shoudl take him to ER but Im scared are no beds and they turn him away

  Scheherazade: Oh no!

  pinkoranges: no church because scared to leave him and ono one els ewent so I prayed alone

  Scheherazade: Take him in anyway, if he’s this bad.

  pinkoranges: we are oout of soap and the dryer b=roke and so we can’t wash the bedshettts and the smell is so bad and he just lies here leaking all over

  MarcoYOLO: Fever?

  pinkoranges: 103.4

  Scheherazade: Seriously, you have to take him in. Call an autocab.

  MarcoYOLO: If his eyes are sunken go NOW.

  Scheherazade: Screw the autocab. I’ll come pick you both up? I’ll bring broth and soap and take you to the ER.

  pinkoranges: scared youll be sick

  Scheherazade: I’ve been volunteering at the low-income clinic. If I were going to get this, I would’ve by now.

  pinkoranges: just hear dhim must go

  ***pinkoranges*** has left the chamber

  Scheherazade: Augh. I’ll go over and videochat her from my car. Maybe I can convince her once I’m sitting outside.

  hygge: You’re really brave. Thank you.

  Scheherazade: Oh, well, someone’s got to be! If I don’t, I feel all helpless.

  MarcoYOLO: When do you have time?? Volunteering _and_ data analysis?

  Scheherazade: I’m not really coding. Shh, don’t tell my boss. Besides, this is more important. And there’s two hundred people numbercrunching in FWOP. I can’t even follow the whole conversation, it scrolls like crazy.

  NeedleStack: be careful, carjackings at the hospital

  MarcoYOLO: Yeah. Panicked people = inattentive:(

  Scheherazade: I know. I will. Thanks.

  2034-03-08

  Scheherazade: Pixies give a shout-out! How are you and your loved ones?

  MarcoYOLO: Fine.

  NeedleStack: my gf is eating bread and soft tofu now

  hygge: Wife & I are okay.

  Scheherazade: Good news, WanderingTheDessert is going to be okay! He’s past the worst.

  MarcoYOLO: So glad. Thanks. pinkoranges & hubby?

  Scheherazade: pinkoranges’s husband is critical.:(I convinced her to let me drive them … some crooks had blockaded the street to the nearest hospital and were forcing people to scan $400 tolls to pass. Cops were trying to stop it, but there weren’t enough of them, and … ugh.

  NeedleStack: whoa

  MarcoYOLO: Don’t they know everything’s seen & recorded? Big trouble later, after the crisis.

  hygge: Maybe they think there won’t be an “after”.:(

  Scheherazade: Total mess. I drove them out to Walnut Creek. Kim was screaming at me to drive faster, and punching the dashboard. She called me some nasty shit. Poor woman was crazy with terror.:(

  MarcoYOLO: Wtf. You were helping!!

  Scheherazade: It hurt. But I got him there, and I feel better about his chances. They admitted him right away. I think they gave Kim some meds too. @Everyone, please sta
y safe.

  hygge: CDC says the plague’s engineered. They want help catching the bastard who did this.

  MarcoYOLO: What! Some terrorist group??

  hygge: Yah. Prolly some angry military thing.

  Scheherazade: In FWOP, we think it’s a lone wolf. Fits the pattern: strikes primarily in well-populated parts of the world, hardly hits remote areas—but not sparing any one nation, or group. So probably not political unless someone hates everyone. Which they might.

  hygge: But it’s worse in America, Europe, places like that.

  MarcoYOLO: It’s hitting Dragons.

  Scheherazade: And Japan and Korea and every advanced nation. For once, the disadvantaged people of the world aren’t getting it as bad. Though some are dying of lesser symptoms because they lack basic treatment and sanitation … ugh. I saw Namibia in the early 20’s when I was out of college (Peace Corps) and it was so sad what they didn’t have. And it’s not much better now, which is disgusting.

  hygge: I’m picturing you in the 20’s. Did you wear a big floppy hat and GreenLock hiking boots everywhere?:)

  Scheherazade: Snort. Okay, I admit I had the hat.

  MarcoYOLO: I tell you. Dragon Plague. Flattening Dragons like nobody’s business.

  Scheherazade: Yeah, so the CDC has narrowed the source to the upper East Coast. FWOP is analyzing longitudinal data through FeastWar. We’re looking for sharp drops in Dragon battle victories. CDC doesn’t have that data because they don’t play the game.:) And also the stricter HIPAA-G laws passed two years ago. We can get info that’s behind their red tape.

  MarcoYOLO: Wow.

  Scheherazade: Mike and I pieced it together. We noticed that the few healthy Dragons mostly have digestive immunity subtype KASmir-VII (not common, but Mike has it) or people who were reasonably isolated, like telecommuting engineers in Chinese villages. So something about isolation protected them—because some of those people came to the cities to care for the sick, and very few of them got the plague. Something predisposes certain people towards worse illness, probably something genetic. Maybe a viral vector.

  MarcoYOLO: What’s that?

  Scheherazade: A virus that alters a person’s body in some way, making it vulnerable to another virus. Like Hep D, which needs Hep B already in place to infect someone.