Shutdown

The conference is getting to the point where everyone's brains are full; we're slowing down, fading out. Outside, the last light is seeping away; inside, the light feels close and small, inadequate against the dark. The speaker is Powerpoint-free, standing informally in front of the lectern, but he's losing his audience: behind him the computer screen being projected has gone into screensaver mode, and in front of him, most of the people have done the same.

My colleague and I are sat at the back of the room by the power sockets, recharging; his mac has gone to sleep, and so has he: eyes closed, face still drawn into lines of stress, shadowed in the artificial light. I want us all to stop pretending, to stop all this pretence at power-saving and power-napping. I want to draw down the dark and let sleep fill the space left by daylight vanishing.

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