Negative Energy

Sim Power Company

The kite scene was replaced by a solid blue matte with infinite depth. From Logos's raised hand, the three balls spun in a widening disc then shot off in different directions, trailing laser lights. The line from the obsidian ball gave off an indigo glow, no less bright than the emerald and crimson ones. Moving so quickly they blurred, they traced out three-dimensional wireframe structures. While most of the structures were broad and undulating, a sizeable number were narrow and spire-shaped.

The green lines filled the arcology in a tight mesh, merging and thickening as they approached the perimeter. The red lines were less numerous with only a handful of main trunks running below ground level. The indigo lines radiated like jagged webs from dark cores scattered throughout. The proportion of colors shifted over time, the red and dark spots expanding before shrinking back down again.

"The electric grid for the arcology?" Matt ventured. "What do the different colors represent?"

"Green indicates energy generated from the solar forest. The red lines are local reserves, battery arrays, and fossil fuels, predominantly natural gas. The black lines represent dark sources, privately stored energy that is fed back into the grid. The thickness of the wires reflects voltage. It's time-lapsed, so that one hour equals five seconds. This visual representation is referred to as a layer. It is just one of an almost infinite number of ways to analyze the arcology's power distribution system, otherwise known as the Mesch."

Matt had seen something akin to this before. His first childhood computer obsession was a game called SimCity. In the game, the player was a mayor with god-like powers, responsible for constructing a metropolis and keeping the population's happy meter full. His first task was to lay the water pipes which had to be connected to towers and pumping stations. As water began to flow through the pipes, the neighboring isometric squares turned blue.

Matt spent days building out the ideally hydrated city. At night, he lay awake playing out scenarios in his head. How many pumping stations could each water tower support, and what was the optimal distance between them? What would happen when high-rises full of thirsty tenants started popping up?

He had a friend at the time, Jerry Narwal. When Jerry dropped by one evening, Matt was completely engrossed in SimCity. Not wanting to be rude, he grudgingly invited him in to watch him play. Jerry quickly got bored looking over Matt's shoulder and nagged him for a turn at the controls. Matt eventually gave in and retreated to the kitchen to make some food.

Being home alone wasn't unusual for Matt. His father had moved to Ohio following the divorce, and his mother, being an airline stewardess, was frequently away. This made his place a popular hangout for the other boys, who would come over to watch the cable shows their own parents wouldn't allow. Despite her frequent absences, his mother was a stickler for hospitality and had taught Matt how to mix Tang and grill ham and Swiss sandwiches, neatly cut into triangles with a dill pickle on the side. Little touches made all the difference, she was fond of saying.

When Matt returned to the computer, balancing two plates of sandwiches, he was aghast at what he saw. At the heart of his ideal metropolis, a pixelated pimple spurted out one flaming boulder after another. Was that a volcano? In another section of the city, a gargantuan lizard trampled and roared its way through residential blocks. Fires blazed to the sound of tinny klaxons. "It's Godzilla!" Jerry crowed. "Stomp, stomp! Run away, little sim people, or you're gonna get squished!"

Matt gaped at the desolation with a smoldering pit in his stomach. He couldn't recall when he had last saved his game. It would take days to repair. He might even have to start all over from scratch. Oblivious, Jerry munched on his sandwich, smearing grease on the keys, and left soon after. Their friendship never recovered.

As Matt surveyed the power grid, he was just as beguiled as those first moments in SimCity. The grid before him was vastly more complex, but it functioned on the same basic principles. Energy flowed like water. The key was not to control it, but to channel it and show it where to go. Still, from his limited understanding of power grids, there seemed to be a few missing parts. "What about infrastructure?" he asked. "Like substations and so forth."

"Transfer stations are situated on the terminal ends of the arcology," Logos replied. "As for meters, junctions, breakers, and so forth, those functions have been superseded by hop-gates, smart wires, and other mechanisms incorporated into the fabric of the grid itself." With a one-handed swipe, Logos switched views to a constellation of points connected by slender silver threads. Occasionally, there would be a nova-like flash. "In this layer, we can monitor consumption down to the nanowatt and spot any flashpoints in real time."

Something caught Matt's eye. "How do you return to the previous view?"

Logos swiped in the reverse direction, then raised his other hand and superimposed the two views.

"How do I zoom in closer?"

Logos curled his fingers in a come-hither motion. The grid slid smoothly past as if they were standing on a platform with trains passing to either side. Matt halted it with a gesture of his own. He swiped through visual layers until he found one that conveyed spatial depth. Nearby wires appeared thick and bright, thinning and dulling with distance. Without waiting to be shown, he rotated and zoomed using waving and pinching motions that felt like second nature. Finally, he turned his hand palm downward and gave a slight push. Stop.

They were now standing in one of the spire-shaped voids Matt had noted at the outset. Around him, thick threads terminated at an invisible boundary as if they had been snipped off with shears. "What are these empty spaces?" he asked.

"Restricted areas. They're off limits until you learn the ropes."

"When do I get started?" Matt asked breathlessly.

"You already have. You just completed your first tutorial. Ready for the next one?"