way from one system to another, under a vari-
superficially happy people have a tightness to
ety of names and faces, linked in this waltz of
them that seems more appropriate to societies
love and hate.
teeming with prisons and gulags. Draiken has
As they work their way from one painstak-
been to enough of those to sense that right
ingly obtained scrap of intelligence to another.
away, but the trap door he already suspects
As they work their way back to the puppet
hidden in this place must be well-guarded, for
masters who made them both what they are.
he catches no other sign of it.
He and Thorne check into a hotel sitting on
By the time they reach a cylinder world
a device designed to roll it to and fro in a man-
named Liberty, constructed to take advantage
ner that simulates a healthy ocean chop, from
of a perfectly congenial star that somehow sur-
some world with seas; he does not know how
vived its evolution without acquiring any plan-
much comfort she’s able to take in such a
ets of note, they have taken on the appearance
place, but for the man who’s spent decades of
of a young man and young woman.
his life fishing under a tropical sun, it’s as good
Thorne designed their latest bodies and,
as home. He spends hours on the balcony,
though kind enough to provide him with peak
overlooking a holographic ocean with storm
f itness, had exercised substantial sarcasm
clouds gathering on the horizon, breathing in
when choosing their respective appearances.
a f irst-rate chemical reconstitution of salty
For herself she chose from the ancestral
brine; not Greeve’s specif ic mixture of ele-
African palette, giving herself deep brown
ments, but it was close. She spends the night
eyes and a complexion so dark that it seems to
locked in the head, though whether from sea-
absorb available light, a sharp contrast with the
sickness or one of her black moods is not
complexion she gives him, one so milky-pale it
something he’s able to figure out.
crosses the borders of albinism. She gave her-
The next morning, they visit a little cottage
self a f ierce gaze and him watery eyes. She
beneath a curving sky, the checkerboard pas-
looks regal, like a goddess; he, more like an
tures of the habitat’s agricultural quadrant
162
ADAM-TROY CASTRO
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
forming a lattice far above his head. The
Silver grins. “I am more fortunate. I die be-
wheel’s been built to rotate without a central
cause it’s something I’ve decided to experi-
hub, and so the altitude layer between the
ence.”
lands where the occupant of the cottage lives
Thorne’s hatred for the old man is like a sea
and that distant farmland is empty but for the
threatening to overf low the walls erected to
specks of fun-seekers in winged suits doing ac-
contain it. “I would have been happy to
robatics in the zone of low-g.
arrange it for you at any time.”
Thorne has led them to the man they’ve
“A slit throat,” the old man twinkles. “A pro-
come to visit, Silver. He is not much older than
jectile through the skull. Some bot armed with
they are, but for reasons of his own has decid-
blades reducing this corpus to cubes of neatly
ed to show his years. Unrejuvenated, he’s thus
stacked meat. Even explosive decompression
lived past the point where his body might have
or incineration. These are all things I could
been better off listening to entropy’s demands
have had, a million times over, all by the single
that it just fail and die already. He sits hunched
expedient of eschewing any attempt at surviv-
in a hoverchair, licking his withered lips while
ing the fates my enemies would have chosen
peering at his visitors through clouded eyes
for me. That kind of death I have approached
lined with blood-red rims. The eyes have sur-
any number of times, and once or twice, de-
rendered to their inevitable decay, becoming
pending on your precise def inition, even ex-
biologically blind, but he still sees perfectly,
perienced. I’ve been brought back from the
through nano-cameras that manifest as red dots
brink any number of times, not always willing-
f loating a millimeter above his unseeing
ly. But the inexorable, marching decrepitude
pupils. He speaks perfectly too. His body has
that once all men and women faced as a possi-
no voice other than a pathetic wheeze, but the
ble future? That I have never faced—and I con-
simulated baritone of his vocal prosthetic rings
fess that the more I evaded all other
with a presence more appropriate for the live
possibilities, the more fascinating I found it. Do
stage.
you know what happens to time, when a man
Knowing their mission, Silver has refused to
can feel his life-force flake away and peel off ?
meet them except in the presence of an at-
Amazing things. Downright intoxicating
tending bodyguard, who he’s introduced, with
things.”
some humor, as Edif ice. Between them,
Draiken asks, “What about the pain?”
Draiken and Thorne would normally be confi-
“Pain was offered as an option. I took on a
dent about being able to take out any merce-
single day’s worth, just to see what it was like.
nary, but Edif ice gives them pause: she’s a
The answer was of course ghastly. I said that I
towering monolith of a woman, well over sev-
would choose to wither and die without it. No,
en feet tall, with arms that cross over the chest
my friend; I assure you I’m quite comfortable.”
like pythons locked in a battle to the death.
“That’s too bad,” says Thorne.
Her default expression establishes that it mat-
Her hostility makes perfect sense. She’s ex-
ters little to her whether she continues to
plained to Draiken that Silver was, many years
stand by her charge’s side, saying nothing, or
ago, her jailer and torturer. Once upon a time,
lurches into action to break the bones of any-
alliances had shifted and she had found herself
one foolish enough to threaten him.
abandoned on ground where she’d counted on
Draiken has encountered and occasionally
being protected; what had ensued for her was
even beaten thugs her size, not without taking
months of incarceration under Silver’s control,
damage himself. He would, if necessary, at-
enduring attempts to shift her loyalties by
tempt it again, but who knows what enhance-
every means of
psychological torment at his
ments this behemoth has? It’s wiser to refrain,
disposal. What she experienced was very simi-
so he does.
lar to what Draiken had once endured in an-
Silver explains his condition with a simple,
other facility, but he’s always sensed, from the
“I’ve decided to try dying.”
broken being she is, that she came much clos-
“Interesting,” says Draiken. “Most people
er to personal destruction than he ever did.
don’t treat that as a lifestyle choice. Most of the
What’s most ironic is this: though they spent
people whose lives you’ve destroyed weren’t
much of their careers working for what they’d
offered other options.”
imagined different sides, the politics of the era
BLURRED LIVES
163
ANALOG
had been so f luid that they still have no idea
cated to go into, it became necessary to turn a
whether their respective imprisonments repre-
dedicated mother of three, wife of a man who
sented the malice of two opposing blocs, or
opposed our political agenda, against their
just one.
young children. She entered our treatment
Silver must have the answer. But though he’s
center a sweet woman devoted to their happi-
agreed to see them, after the bartering of
ness, indulgent of their whims, and f iercely
much proof that they are the people they pro-
protective of any perceived threat to their well-
fess to be, this is not among the intelligence
being. A few weeks of dedicated therapy later,
that he’s agreed to share.
a little adjustment to her perceptions and
“Your problem, my friends, is that you seek
moral referents, and she left us dedicated to
the wrong thing. You want the specific people
the proposition that they were hateful vermin
who once opened up your heads and attempt-
and that every ounce of joy and self-respect in
ed to tinker with what they found inside,
their little lives was a contagion to be eradicat-
when in fact many of them have died or
ed with unrestrained mental cruelty, never to
moved on to the other things. For the most
be inflicted where their father could witness it.
part, they are beyond your justice. In most cas-
He never learned of this sabotage. But his life,
es, you cannot even have the specific organi-
as he’d known it, had been subtly destroyed.
zations, when so much time has passed that
“Ah, what wreckage had manifested by the
the governments they represented have either
time they were grown!”
fallen or been subsumed into others. Their
Draiken comes damned close to breaking
heirs operate within an entirely separate set of
the man’s withered neck with a single blow.
borders now. You can damage them, I sup-
Only the knowledge that this is likely the reac-
pose; perhaps even stop one or two. But per-
tion Silver wants stays Draiken’s hand, and like-
sonal satisfaction, of a lasting kind, is not in
ly Thorne’s. They need more from this man.
your future and not worth seeking. It’s also ir-
“Alas,” Silver continues, “our power was not
relevant.”
wholly reliable. It was limited by factors that in-
“Fine,” says Draiken, over Thorne’s visible, if
cluded the talent certain subjects possessed for
silent, objections. “What is relevant?”
resistance. You two, for instance. You both left
“Well, let us put it this way: The history of
your respective periods of imprisonment,
Mankind has long been an exercise in power-
changed only to the degree you allowed your-
ful people exploiting the malleable nature of
selves to be.
human perception to manipulate the teeming
“But now, ah, now. The state of the art, as
masses into acting against their own interests.
pursued by multiple savants, has advanced to
It’s always been possible to get individuals or
the point where it might as well be a star drive
entire populations to perceive the world in a
compared to our old first-generation internal-
manner that defies the direct evidence of their
combustion engine.”
own senses, in a manner rewarding those who
Thorne’s reply is low and dangerous. “Such
control the agenda: mind-control, for lack of a
as.”
better phrase, though for much of the exis-
“Well, it takes differing forms, depending on
tence of our species it has always been accom-
the starting premises of the research. I’ll name
plished through inexact tools like childhood
one. On Xana, homeworld of the Bettelhine
indoctrination, religion, peer pressure, adver-
Munitions Corporation, there’s a woman cur-
tising, military training, and, as in your respec-
rently calling herself Dina Pearlman who has
tive cases, the specif ic use of psychological
developed a method of altering the pleasure
torture.
centers in the human brain, to instill upon crit-
“Suff iciently advanced use of such tech-
ical employees a fierce loyalty that utterly sub-
niques is capable of molding people into en-
merges any countering impulses like dignity,
tirely new beings, capable of cheerfully
personal ambitions, aesthetic preferences, or
betraying what once they would have defend-
what have you. The result, fiercely guarded by
ed with every ounce of will.
the Bettelhines, is a means of creating slaves
“When it works, it’s really quite marvelous
who find delight in obeying orders, no matter
to witness. I remember, for instance, a case
how demeaning. This is, incidentally, where I
where, for reasons that would be too compli-
found and, for lack of a better word, purchased
164
ADAM-TROY CASTRO
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
my dear Edifice; on that world she was once a
they engage in frenzied debate over how best
celebrated athlete, competing for her own glo-
to follow through. Part of the journey takes
ry, but she made the mistake of acquiring
place on local public transportation and none
debts that she could not pay, and now she hon-
of the riders with them see that they know
estly has no concerns in life other than my
each other, let alone that they’re conversing.
well-being, and no source of satisfaction other
They speak in what is not quite telepathy, not
than my kind approval. If I told her to start
quite subverbal communication via hytex:
chewing on her fingertips and work her way
rather, via a series of highly subtle microex-
as far up her right arm as she could, before
pressions carryi
ng compressed information
passing out from blood loss, I assure you in full
that they each decode by means of an algo-
conf idence that she would. Is this not right,
rithm running on real-time neural implant. It is
Edifice?”
a painful and unnatural exchange that they en-
“You’ve got it, boss,” says Edifice.
dure only because they know they are in the
“You would comply if I asked you to do that,
stronghold of their enemy and must be under
would you not?”
constant surveillance.
“It’s my place,” Edifice replies.
Translated, she asks him: “Do you know the
Thorne shakes her head, sickened. “Charm-
difference between us?”
ing.”
Translated, he replies: “I count several.”
“There are other approaches,” Silver contin-
“The key difference, then. I left all this be-
ues. Now he commences ticking off examples
hind. I knew that human civilization was run
on his f ingers. “We have learned through an-
by corrupt shits. I had no further need to serve
other source, highly classified, of a technique
them but also no faith in ever being able to
known to a minor and now quarantined race
find justice. I was happy to live out my years
called the Caithiriin; another, only used among
isolated in my pod. You’ve dragged me back to
their own, to the Riirgaans. Rumors have come
the world and to the wars, and out of perversi-
to my ears of even more advanced techniques
ty I followed you, but I find that I can do with-
among the AIsource, and of other, lesser pro-
out closure.”
jects being pursued, here and there.
“You can leave if you’d like. You’ve done
“The genie is out of the bottle, my friends.
more than enough, just getting me this far.”
The powers that work on perfecting the trick
Her eyes flare with hurt and rage. “And you
are too numerous for even a couple of deter-
don’t have to try this hard to be a bastard.”
mined old killers like yourselves to ever incon-
“I never misled you about how far I wanted
venience. It’s like being a pacifist and striving
to take this.”
to end all war; a commendable cause, but one
“You’ve also never had anything to pay me
too large for the most well-meaning efforts of
with except money—and that I only accepted
even the most accomplished pacif ist. You
before you revealed who you were. And yet,
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