5.
The first time he noticed the Black Noise was immediately after the incident at the grocery store. A single voice, barely audible. Telling him that he had helped. Thanking him for caring, for staying with during the Illness. Apologizing for causing so much suffering. It would stop for a while, but it would always come back. The same words, repeated for eternity.
Midway through his third day on Copenhagen, Wil noticed the second voice. Screaming, blaming the government for everything that had happened. Then, in a softer voice, calling a name, someone who would never come. The voices were starting to affect his thoughts. He was filled with despair, fear, and rage, all competing to overtake rational thought. He retreated back to his boat, his safe place. He curled up and didn't want to move again.
The third voice was followed almost immediately by all the others. There were so many, and what scared him was that his own thoughts started to sound more and more like those of the trolls. In some strange way, he almost wanted to join with them in their world of fear and desperation. He couldn't, though. Nor could he overcome them. Stuck in between, he could only waste away, remaining stuck between the world of the humans, and the mindless emotion of the trolls. At this moment, he believed he knew the difference between human and troll. Both had emotion; fear, pain, even forgiveness, but only humans knew what it meant. For trolls, life was simpler. There was no logic, there was no cause and effect. It was easy to endure anything without thinking about the future. For a machine, there was only logic. The great metal airplanes of old did not care whether they flew or crashed. Humans were cursed, Wil thought.
No, spoke a voice. He did not think it was his voice, it was not even in his language. But surely it was a part of him, for instantly the will to survive came flooding back. He remembered the greenhouse his parents had built, and how proud he had been to be put in charge of growing all the warm-air plants that would not grow outside, cinnamon and coffee and peppers. He remembered being so proud to pass all his Old World Technology classes two years ahead of everyone else. He remebered the obligatory blood test for immunity, on his fourteenth birthday, a month ago. For a moment, the despair came back. But then he imagined a new future for himself, forging a path through the Silent World, finding other communities of survivors, banding together, exploring the ruins of the world.
The voices were still there, but they didn't bother him anymore. Then, he heard something else.
Mikkel thought the scout must have been mad. Just moments before, he had shouted "Ei!" in his sleep and sprung out of bed. Now, he wanted Mikkel to turn on the radio and talk to the Black Noise? He checked with Tuuri, who wore an expression as confused as he felt.
"Yep, I'm not about to question it," she said. "He just said it's urgent. And he said you have to be the one on the line."
Whatever. If Lalli thought it was necessary, it probably was.
Wil couldn't believe his ears. The trolls mostly blotted out the noise, but there had unmistakeably been a normal radio transmission. With live people! He hadn't been able to hear the words, though. The trolls continued to jabber on. There was a runo to stop the Black Noise, but he had never heard of any Danes that were able to cast it. He tried anyways.
"Shut up!!!" Wil yelled in an alien pitch and intonation. Suddenly, the trolls stopped and he was able to hear the transmission clearly.
