this, Bel?”
“You’ve cut yourself off, Bel. Out there with
He watched the two instincts war in her.
people and scams isn’t the real world. It’s all
Knowledge against self-preservation. In her,
just patterns and algorithms and block time.
self-preservation was slightly stronger. He’d
Here is where we should put our research.”
still be living in the Garret if he’d been built
“Should nothing. A bunch of genetic engi-
the same way.
neers and investors decided to give us these
“Do you know what’s going through my
instincts. The project took away the decisions
head, Bel?”
we ought to have made about what we want
“No.”
for ourselves.”
“I’m not worried that you may be trying to
They were on different worlds. He was los-
remake a romance of the past. I’m not worried
ing her. And losing her for the con.
that whatever you have in mind is illegal or
“You’re not free, Bel! You’ve run away from
dangerous. I don’t even worry that I think
yourself.”
you’re conning me.” She let that hang be-
“We’re as free as the Tribe of the Mongrel or
tween them. Her dark eyes narrowed. “I’m
the Puppets.”
afraid you falsified this data.”
Cassandra made a face. “That’s disgusting.”
He sat straight. Shocked. He was Homo
“When people can determine, before we’re
quantus as much as she was. The project
born, what we’ll want and what will make us
ached in his veins, tempting him to sink into
happy, we’re the same as the Puppets.”
the fugue so that he could understand. What
“I love what I am, Bel,” she said. “I love the
did she think he’d become? He put his hand
math! I love staring into the cosmos in a way
over hers. She was still fever-warm from the
no other people ever could. The same way
fugue. The low electrical current they made
you can.”
together tingled in his fingertips.
“What are you doing with what you learn,
“The data is good, Cassie, and I won’t con
Cassie? The Homo quantus are cosseted
you. You’ll know the whole plan.”
away, a passive channel for information. In
Her eyes narrowed, and she turned her
twenty years, you’ll still be the same person.”
hand, touching f ingertip to f ingertip where
Her hands tightened into f ists and her lips
the carbon nanotubule channels to their elec-
pressed tight. “And what will you be, Bel?
troplaques surfaced on the skin. It was an inti-
You’ve been running away from yourself for
mate kind of throbbing, completely
twelve years. In twelve more years you’ll still
unforeseen by evolution and mate-recognition
be running.”
software, but one that tugged at heartstrings
“I have this,” he said, holding the wafer of
and old innocence. Their warm f ingertips
silicate between them. “The Garret would
pressed like a kiss for long seconds. She ex-
never have had this. You’d have been spinning
haled heavily.
theories forever. I haven’t lost what I love, but
“I wish I trusted you, Bel,” she whispered,
I control my instincts now.”
“but I’ll go.”
“It sounds horrible,” she said.
It felt like the world was lurching. This con-
Chapter Eleven
versation was going sideways. The reunion
Alhambra was the premier city on Nueva
he’d dreamed about was a wreck. He lowered
Granada, but not the capital. This followed
his voice.
patterns in such odd political-economic pair-
“What’s horrible is that I can prove that
ing as Brasília and São Paolo, Québec City and
your curiosity is programmed, Cassie. With
Montréal, Bonn and Berlin, and Enceladus City
this data. But I didn’t come to try to change
and the Titanian Hive. The capital of Nueva
you. Or have you change me. There’s much
Granada was Trujillo, and its economy was dri-
more data in this job. Come with me. Please.”
ven by the tricameral legislatures, by artistic
Her eyes softened. He held the silicate
endowments, and by a prison.
wafer between them.
Off icially called Singh Memorial Peniten-
“We’re going to touch the Puppet Axis direct-
tiary, poverty advocates referred to it as Dick-
ly, Cassie. I’ve discovered how to manipulate it.”
ens. It held debtors, as well as those guilty of
34
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
forgery, breaches of contract, investment or
soup and retreated.
insurance fraud, and patent infringement.
“The prison farms must be good,” Belisarius
The Anglo-Spanish penal system either
said.
struck visitors as refreshingly civilized or as
William grunted as he focused on his soup.
stingingly rapacious. Sentences could be com-
“How did you get caught, Will? I bought ac-
muted or pardoned for large cash payments, or
cess to your records, but I can’t understand
for the transfer of assets such as stock or annu-
how you got pinched. What were you pulling?
ities. Absent this, prison corporations happily
It sounded like the Martian Mining con, but I
extended moderate-interest sentence-mort-
don’t see how you could have been caught
gages to a sponsor, or even to parolees them-
there, unless maybe you were playing the f i-
selves. Visitors could buy different levels of
nancier.”
access to the prison via a transparent list of es-
“Picking at my mistakes again?” William
calating fees, which in the Congregate would
said, without looking up. “It was the Ceres Es-
have been called bribes. Some nations just did
tate two-man con.”
prisons better than others.
“The other guy crumbled?”
Belisarius bought an executive access pack-
William set down his spoon, lifted the bowl
age that came with an escorted tour, a f ive-
to his lips, and drank down the last. Belisarius
course meal, and an open bar. Prisoners
tilted his bowl and spooned to the finish.
produced the food and alcohols on site and
“My bankroll fell through,” William said.
could earn money as meal servers or escorts
“The dummy account got picked for a random
to pay for room, board, and air. First-rate linen
audit by a forensic sub-AI—”
and tableware matched superb apéritifs and
“—and by then, you were too far out to
hors d’oeuvres. As Belisarius spoke with the
come back in,” Belisarius finished.
prison somme
lier, the waiter opened the door
William nodded, not meeting Belisarius’
with a subdued flourish.
eyes. The waiter entered, took the bowls, and
A man in a cheap synthetic suit waited un-
returned with carrot and apple salads carved
certainly. He’d recently shaved. His grey-black
into sculptures of tiny f ish with interlocking
hair was slicked damply back. He frowned at
scales of orange and white, soaked in a lime
Belisarius and then at the opulence of the
vinaigrette. They ate with chop sticks in
table.
crunching silence.
“The executive visitor package is impres-
“I sent Kate a present for her birthday,”
sive. Want to try their Pinot Noir?” Belisarius
Belisarius said. “I knew that you might not
asked, indicating a chair.
have been able.”
William Gander stepped in slowly. He
William exhaled loudly. “I didn’t ask you to
looked to be about sixty-five, with a pale, Old
do that.”
European complexion. He stood woodenly at
“I’m not holding anything over you, Will.
the table, took up a wine glass, and drank it
Kate’s a good kid. I was happy to do it. You
down completely. He frowned, then held out
helped me when I needed it.”
his glass to the waiter, who poured carefully.
“You didn’t really need help,” William said.
“Didn’t expect to ever see you again,” William
“You proved that you and your big brain could
said. He drank only half the glass this time. “You
have done it all.”
here to reminisce about the good old times?”
“But however big my brain was, I was
“You thought they were good?”
scared of everything.”
“Until you hauled ass, but I guess I’m here
The waiter brought the main course. Pink-
to kiss it now? I need more wine, if that’s the
centered roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, young
case.”
potatoes, and the prison’s specialty, a horse-
“We should start with the roast beef,” Belis-
radish named by reviewers as Fagin’s Whip.
arius said. “The reviews of the prison in El
William visibly restrained his melting reaction
Tiempo say the horseradish grown here has
to the smell.
been engineered for extra kick.”
Belisarius signalled and the waiter leaned
“Oh, for the love of—” William rolled his
close.
eyes and slumped into the chair.
“I’d like to upgrade my privacy package,” he
The waiter served a thick ginger-spinach
said. The waiter nodded, but Belisarius
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
35
ANALOG
touched his forearm. “Not the standard. I
the interest and principal on your sentence. If
mean the privacy package that’s not on your
you need walking money or more, let me
price list.”
know. That’s on the house because I owe you.
“Of course, sir.”
You want to go do something else? Be my
The waiter left and closed the door. After
guest. I know what you’ve got isn’t curable.
some moments, the lights yellowed subtly.
You’ve got to deal with how you go. But if you
Other EM transmissions in the room that had
want a big job, I’ve got one.”
been pressing gently at Belisarius’ magneto-
“What’s the payout?”
somes ended.
“Seven figures in francs,” Belisarius said.
“Well, you don’t need anyone now, ”
William choked and coughed. He picked up
William said, cutting his beef. “You living this
his wine and swallowed it to the bottom.
high off the hog all the time?”
“What are you hitting?”
“I’ve gone legit, mostly.”
Belisarius tapped a pad and a hologram
“Of course,” William said bitterly.
grew between them. It listed prices for air,
“I came here looking for some help.”
apartment, and food on Alhambra, along with
“I’m not much use to anyone anymore. I’m
tuition fees for schools and the costs of vari-
taking freelance contracts to pay my way
ous job openings in trade monopolies and
through my sentence.”
Banks.
The beef and horseradish tasted bitter as
“For about f ifteen thousand francs Kate
Belisarius looked for words.
could go to a good school and get an entry po-
“I’m sorry you’re sick, Will.”
sition at a Bank. Another hundred thousand
William cut his beef more violently and
would catapult her into the shareholders’
shoved a piece into his mouth.
ranks. Can you imagine your daughter as a
“I’m planning a big job,” Belisarius said.
shareholder in one of the big Banks?”
“Bigger than anything I’ve ever done before.”
“Hell, you’re cold, Belisarius.”
“So what?”
“I’m giving you a chance to score big, Will.”
“I want you on the crew.”
“What’s so one-way about this? Your con
“I didn’t ask you for a present for Kate, and I
needs a fall guy?”
didn’t ask for this,” he said, waving a knife at
“It’s the worst fall-guy job you could imag-
the feast. “I’m not looking for a pity party.”
ine,” Belisarius said. He couldn’t look at
“This isn’t pity. I need somebody good.”
William when he said it.
“I’m good enough for you now, but not ten
“The mobs? The Banks? You’re not hitting a
years ago?”
Bank, are you?”
Belisarius’ succulent meal lay on his plate,
“Worse.”
now unappetizing.
William reached across the table, took the
“And I need someone who’s willing to go
wine, and drank straight from the bottle. He
through with a con they won’t be coming
stared blankly ahead.
back from,” Belisarius said.
“Coño,” he said finally, then smiled. “If you
William froze. “I’m on a one-way trip, all
need a fall guy who’s also a con man, you
right,” he said. “I don’t see how a job will help
don’t have many choices, do you? I’ll do it, but
me now.”
I want one and a half shares of the haul.”
Belisarius set his fork and knife on either
“It’s already seven figures!”
side of his plate, perfectly parallel. “Maybe you
“Now it’ll be one and a half times seven fig-
can’t enjoy your stake, but Kate could. And do
ures,” William said. He drank from the bottle
you really want to die here? You’ve got some
again, emptying it. “If it’s worse than the mob,
time left. I’ve got the ultimate con for you to
I deserve more than somebody who’s just r
isk-
pull off.”
ing jail.”
William shoved his plate away. “Sounds a lot
“I’ll give you one and a half shares but don’t
like I don’t have any choices. Work as your as-
have any illusions. If this goes south, everyone
sistant instead of the other way around, or rot
stands to get killed.”
through my last days in the Dickens.”
William leaned back in his chair, his expres-
“You’ve got options, Will,” Belisarius said,
sion a sudden mixture of queasiness and ela-
pushing his own plate away slowly. “I paid off
tion.
36
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
“You know,” he said, “you’re right about the
without the physiological infrastructure to de-
horseradish.”
tect the pheromones of the divine humans.
Such beings could not in any way be trusted
Chapter Twelve
on the Puppet world, Oler. Biological apos-
The underground city of Alhambra, the eco-
tates might be capable of anything. A few of
nomic heart of the Anglo-Spanish territories in
these defective Puppets chose banishment
Epsilon Indi, was beautiful. Laneways of
over execution. Belisarius didn’t hate the Pup-
rowed trees shaded sidewalks of sintered re-
pets, nor did he hate those mutant Puppets
golith. Buildings of plastiglass had been de-
who could not live among their fellows. He
posited over webs of carbon nanotubules. The
wasn’t about to throw stones in a glass house.
university campus struck the eye with swoop-
Up the stairs, through corridors with
ing curves, light bridges and balconies, and
branching faculty off ices, Belisarius found a
even great gardens suspended high above the
door with the nameplate: Manfred Gates-15,
city. Outer facets of the plastiglass had been
Assistant Professor.
shaped to refract spongy sunlight into rain-
He knocked. Shuffling sounded behind the
bows that painted the ground. The Universi-
door. Then stillness. Belisarius knocked again.
dad de Alhambra leaned against the rocky
“Go away!” a voice called.
western wall of the city. It was a strange place
“I’m not here to hurt you, Professor Gates,”
to find a Puppet.
Belisarius said. “I have a business proposi-
Despite what he’d said to Cassandra, Belis-
tion.”
arius had still been lucky to be born among
“Get away!”
the Homo quantus. There were worse places
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