Gates’ reaction was reasonable. Even if not
to be born. In the Epsilon Indi system, being
everyone wanted to kill the Puppets, many
born on Alhambra or in Saguenay was like
people would conscience hurting them. That
winning the lottery. Other parts of the system
didn’t get Belisarius through the locked door,
had mining stations running on debt-bonded
though. He pressed his fingertips to the cool
labor. Nor would Belisarius have wanted to be
metal plate around the doorknob. A millisec-
born a woman in some of the independent re-
ond current, a slight burning sting in his f in-
ligious fundamentalist sects.
gertips, and the latch clicked. He opened the
And no one did not, at least once, shiver at
door.
the thought that they might have been born
The small off ice seemed empty of life. A
among the Homo eridanus, the people who
very low plastic-topped desk with pads and
called themselves the Tribe of the Mongrel.
holograms and displays stood on the left, with
They could only survive deep in the crushing
a child’s chair before it. A table and three
pressures of an alien ocean, severed from hu-
chairs stood to the right, one of which had
manity and home, trapped within imperfect
three steps leading up to it. A smart board and
genetic systems, suffering mental pathologies
hologram projector dominated the back wall.
and misaligned instincts.
“Professor Gates-15, I’m just here to talk,”
Yet even the Mongrels would not trade
Belisarius said.
places with the Homo pupa, the Puppets.
A miniature blond head peeked above the
The Puppets evoked revulsion and loathing
lip of the desk. A small hand held what looked
from all the nations and peoples of civiliza-
like a shocker, aimed at Belisarius. Shockers
tion. Their very existence was a crime against
were usually restricted to police. Another
humanity. The Puppets were biochemically
hand came up with a folding knife.
hard-wired to always revere their creators, the
“Get out!” Gates-15 said.
Numen. Despite this biochemical cage trap-
Belisarius closed the door. The Puppet fired
ping each Puppet, the Numen still feared the
the shocker. A loud snap of electricity leapt
adoring slave species and engineered them to
between them, right into Belisarius’ hand.
grow only to a miniature adulthood. No one
Belisarius spasmed and yelled, then stepped
would ever trade places with a Puppet or with
back. Gates-15 showed wide eyes over the
their now-captive divinities.
desk.
Yet some Puppets were still worse off.
“Don’t do that!” Belisarius yelled, shaking
Chance mutations could generate Puppets
the sting in his fingers.
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
37
ANALOG
His heart hammered. He sheltered his
Gates’ frowned deepened. “You’re crazy!
smarting hands under his armpits. Where the
Me go to the Free City?”
charge had entered his body, his f ingertips
“My job pays very well,” Belisarius said.
throbbed red, maybe burnt. The current had
“Your share would be a couple of million Con-
traveled through the nanotubule channels, di-
gregate francs, and after the job, we can try to
rectly to his electroplaques.
make some of the genetic changes permanent.
His body wasn’t designed to charge his elec-
I’m offering you a chance to go home, so you
troplaques with external power, even though
wouldn’t need to spend the rest of your life
it was possible. Now they were overcharged.
talking to visitors at knifepoint.”
Fingers still stinging, Belisarius jabbed them at
The Puppet folded the knife and slipped it
the table, electrifying it, releasing the pent-up
into his pocket. Morosely, he stepped away
charge. Gates-15 spasmed backward. Belisar-
from the wall and sat in his chair. He looked at
ius sat. This wasn’t a great first impression. He
his hands.
really wasn’t a good contemplative. He blew
“What do you want done? There’s a catch
on his fingertips.
somewhere.”
Gates-15 stood groggily to his full height of
“You’d be part of a team that would turn off
ninety centimeters and backed against the
a big part of the Puppet defensive systems.”
wall, holding the knife before him. He had
Gates-15’s eyes saucered. “That would leave
graceful arms and legs, narrow hips, a small
them helpless.”
head, and a stubbly beard. He wore his blond
“This isn’t an invasion,” Belisarius said.
hair short.
“What is it?”
They stared at each other for a long time.
“There are some ships on the distal side of
“Now do you want to talk business?” Belis-
the Puppet Axis who want through.”
arius asked.
“So why don’t they pay to come through?”
“What are you? An augmented soldier? A
“Your people set the price too steep. If you
killer hired by some of the exiled Numenar-
take the job, I’ll tell you the other reasons. I
chy?”
need a Puppet as an inside man to bring in the
“Homo quantus,” Belisarius said.
team to turn off the defensive systems for the
The Puppet frowned. “Homo quantus?”
few hours it will take the fleet to get through.”
“Not a very good one,” Belisarius added
“You’re crazy,” Gates-15 said. “If I was a real
quickly. “I’m missing some of the biochemical
Puppet, I might be able to get into the Forbid-
pieces I need to enter the fugue properly.”
den City with a new identity, but I can’t get
“What do you want?”
anyone else in.”
“I get paid a lot of money to fix problems.
“Sure you can,” Belisarius said, and ex-
I’ve got a problem, and I’m assembling a crew
plained. The Puppet’s eyes widened.
to help me fix it. I need an exiled Puppet.”
“That’s horrible!” Gates-15 said. “No one
“What do you need a Puppet for?”
would ever willingly put themselves in that
“I want into the Free City,” Belisarius said.
position. And you couldn’t fool the Puppets.”
“You’ve got the wrong Puppet,” Gates-15
“I can,” Belisarius said.
said. “I can’t get near the place. They’d kill me
“I’m not going to turn off the Puppet de-
as soon as they found out what I was.”
fenses, even if it is just to move something
“Someone who can’t recognize divinity?”
through the Axis. I’d never risk the safety of
the Numen.”
ering the knife and putting the shocker on his
“No one has any designs on the Free City or
desk, although he kept his back pressed to the
on the Numen. Your people got greedy. My
wall.
client needs to make their own way. This kind
“I know some black market geneticists.
of choice only comes along once in life. You
They have enough Puppet sequences to do so-
can die in exile in Alhambra, or you can roll
matic cell gene therapy,” Belisarius said. “You
the dice. You might get a chance to live back
wouldn’t match anything in the Puppet data-
among the Puppets.”
bases. No one would know you’re Gates-15.
For a long time, Gates-15 stared at his white-
Passports and visas and identity records can be
knuckled hands clasped over his knees.
fabricated, if you’re bankrolled properly.”
Belisarius stood. “I know of three other
38
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
exiled Puppets,” he said. “One of the three
squadrons, military stations, and asteroidal
will certainly say yes. I came to you f irst be-
bases securing the two Congregate worm-
cause you were on my way.” He walked to the
holes. Far from the windows looking onto the
desk and slid the shocker closer to the flinch-
stars, and closer to the ventilation systems and
ing Puppet. “Have a good life, then.”
the f ission reactors, an arched doorway dis-
Belisarius had not reached the door before
played a sign: La Parroisse de Saint-Jean de
Gates-15 said, “Wait!”
Brébeuf. The Parish of Saint John of Brébeuf.
Belisarius opened one of the doors and
Chapter Thirteen
squeezed into the small church. He could
Belisarius was pulled off the primary in-
have touched both walls at once. A faux-
spection line at customs at Saguenay Station,
wooden pew, only large enough for one per-
the Congregate’s provincial capital in the Ep-
son, stood in the middle of the f loor, with a
silon Indi system. Instead of sub-AIs, Belisario
prie-dieu before it. Pressed against the back
faced the gendarme, in her smart blue uni-
wall, so closely that no priest could fit behind
form with its fleur-de-lis shoulder flashes. Of-
it, stood an empty pulpit. There, a hologram
f icially, this woman was a low-level
of the head of Saint Matthew, as painted by
immigration bureaucrat. In reality, Belisarius’
Caravaggio, floated disembodied.
movements had drawn the attention of the
“Mister Arjona!” Saint Matthew’s voice was
Congregate security apparatus.
rich, multi-tonal, designed to resonate with
“You are Homo quantus, monsieur?” she
human hearing and neurology to induce awe.
asked.
It didn’t work on Belisarius; his brain chem-
“Oui, madame,” he answered in the Mon-
istry and architecture were different. That
tréal-f lavored français 8.2 taught to foreign-
said, Belisarius doubted it had ever worked on
ers. Her own accent was a natural variant of
anyone else either.
français 8.1, the pronunciation of the Venu-
“How’s the ministry, Saint Matthew?” he
sian cloud cities. It was never politic for for-
asked, lounging back as well as was possible
eigners to mimic 8.1 too closely.
in the hard pew.
“You list your place of residence as the Pup-
“Slow,” the voice said. “I’ve converted a few
pet Free City.”
of the sub-AIs.”
“I’m an art consultant in the Free City,
Saint Matthew was probably the most so-
madame.”
phisticated AI in civilization, the f irst of the
“Why would a Homo quantus leave the
long-sought Aleph-class of AIs being devel-
Garret?”
oped with the considerable resources of the
He pursed his lips tightly, putting the right
First Bank of the Plutocracy. Computationally,
amount of embarrassment in his physiological
a network of sub-AIs could be linked to emu-
responses to convince not only the gen-
late Saint Matthew’s processing power, but it
darme, but the cloud of sub-AIs embedded in
would take a warehouse to hold them all.
her equipment.
Saint Matthew’s quantum computing capaci-
“Not every Homo quantus is capable of
ties and hard positives on every sentience test
contributing to the project,” he said. “I chose
made him advanced, even among the Aleph-
to make a life elsewhere. The business state-
class.
ments are linked to my passport, and your
There was only one problem: he believed
own consulate in the Free City issued my em-
himself to be the biblical Saint Matthew, rein-
bargo travel exemption.”
carnated after almost two and a half millennia
She pondered his file before finally amend-
to rekindle the moribund cult of Christianity.
ing his holographic passport with a stamp ad-
And, unfortunately for the First Bank, Saint
mitting him into the Congregate. Belisarius
Matthew had no interest in banking or invest-
walked off the concourses, into the deeper
ments.
levels of Saguenay. In the vastness of Congre-
Although he had not functioned as de-
gate space, Saguenay Station was a minor
signed, the Bank could not, under Anglo-Span-
provincial capital. The six thousand civilians
ish law, destroy a being possessed of
of the station were outnumbered by the twen-
consciousness. Most AIs in situations of pro-
ty thousand militar y personnel in naval
gram failure were given permission to activate
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
39
ANALOG
their suicide switches, but Saint Matthew in-
“What are you suggesting?”
formed the Bank he would not use his. Nor
“I need an electronics man,” Belisarius said,
could the Bank free him. He was made of in-
“someone good enough to be considered
dustrial secrets. His movements were tightly
miraculous.”
proscribed by a series of intellectual property
“Is this like breaking me out, or like stealing
contracts and licenses from the companies
a security code?”
that had contributed IP to his construction.
“The nature of the job is not as important as
So Saint Matthew had been trapped in Bank
the context. Do you ever feel a sense of fate?”
storage. He’d managed to get a message out to
“All the time,” Saint Matthew said.
hire Belisarius to help him escape from the
“In fated times,�
�� Belisarius said, “miracles
Bank. Belisarius had smuggled Saint Matthew
are not only possible, but logically necessary.”
into Congregate territory, where the First
“Go on,” Saint Matthew said.
Bank of the Plutocracy could not look for him,
“Your contacting me twelve years ago can’t
and where Congregate authorities had no rea-
be an accident,” Belisarius said. “What I hadn’t
son to guess that he wasn’t just another sub-
f igured out, until now, was where your mis-
AI.
sion had to start, or what my role was.”
That had been Belisarius’ first job after leav-
Saint Matthew looked breathless, on the
ing the Garret at sixteen. In it, he’d discovered
edge of his seat, even though he was just a
a talent for high-risk heists. Since his emanci-
hologram of a painted head. “What do you
pation, Saint Matthew had been trying to
see?”
build his ministry on Saguenay Station and had
“The job I’ve taken,” Belisarius said, “may
almost always refused to involve himself in
not coincidentally mean I’ll have to work with
Belisarius’ jobs.
some criminals who—”
“You may need more parishioners,” Belisar-
“Is it Miss Phocas?” Saint Matthew inter-
ius mused, looking about the closet church.
rupted.
“I need missionaries to spread the gospel,
“Among others.”
Mister Arjona.”
“I don’t like her.”
“Maybe a larger church would do the trick.”
“Your savior washed the feet of lepers,”
Belisarius considered the face Caravaggio
Belisarius said.
had painted. Bearded. Stern. Yet sympathetic.
“She threatened to force me to emulate
“You have a job, don’t you?” Saint Matthew
holosex calls for the mob.”
asked warily.
“You know she was just teasing you.”
“Is the seal on?”
“She tried to hack my feed and fill me with
Saint Matthew activated the seal of the con-
Puppet porn.”
fessional, a program that would provide alter-
“Saint Matthew!” Belisarius said, waving his
nate conversation to the Congregate
hands at the interruptions. “You’re losing sight
electronic snoopers.
of the thread of my theological argument!
“Maybe,” Belisarius continued.
Some of the people I’m collecting may be fat-
“I would like to dissuade you, ” Saint
ed to meet you. It can’t be a coincidence that
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