The metronome in the corner prodded me, setting the rhythm. Sometimes it seemed too fast, but I knew it wasn’t for me to judge. In due course, I provided Semmant with megabytes of data from electronic archives and then scoured them again and again. As soon as the arrow on the metronome slowed down, a special trigger hastened to signal the processing was finished, the input channel was empty. A melodious warble resounded through the apartment – there was not a minute to spare. Wherever it found me, I would rush to the desk and copy the next files. As I did this, I imagined the funnel of a volcano or a gigantic meat grinder; and there he was, an insatiable beast… Fortunately, there were enough facts to feed him endlessly. The world gathered up and openly kept mountains of information about its nature, about battling the most secret forces, continental shifts, the migration of the oceans. Oceans of everything that thirsts, upon which spears and teeth are broken, for which they fight without rules and betray without batting an eye.
