“But they’ve taken their paranoia too far, I think,” Victor went on, obviously sensing her growing distress but not fully understanding the reason behind it. “They hate vee-coms, vee-sets, and veemelds with a passion.” He looked her in the eyes briefly, then looked away as if her gaze back would melt his soul. “And they hate you, in particular. To them, you’re the Mother of All Evil. Your ability to veemeld without mechanical aids has made you a monster to them. Everyone knows you’re Prometheus, part of an experiment to create a new machine-person that went somewhat awry. They...well...blame you for...” he let the obvious trail away, gulped some air and continued, “and they consider you a dangerous thing. The first of a dangerous new species, a harbinger of technological terror. They’d have torn you apart if they’d have gotten hold of you.”
Julie swallowed hard, believing him.
Frank made a noise that sounded like a strangled laugh. Julie glared at him, realizing her face was heating with a mixture of competing emotions. She swiftly redirected her gaze at the far wall as tears scalded her eyes. Why had Daniel and Angel come? To find her, of course. Yes, that made sense. But the rest didn’t. Allying himself with the very group that had tried to kill her in the heath? The very same group she had come here to stop, and to protect her daughter from? The group that obviously wanted her dead now! Didn’t he know? He was tattooed and holding a gun, after all! She had a sudden thought. Perhaps he didn’t know. He hadn’t seen the assassins in the heath, after all. Perhaps he still thought he was rescuing her.
Their philosophy at least on its surface matched his own, she thought and rubbed her face with her hand. Perhaps they’d inveigled him with half-truths to get his help. It was just the sort of thing he’d have done too—join some group like that, based on apparent principals, without perceiving their hidden motives. While she’d guarded herself most of her life and had warily shunned community, including her own veemelds, Daniel had always laid himself open, wanting to belong and be everyone’s friend. Naïve and blustery, he was pretty much an open book, with a quick temper that diffused as swiftly; while hers smoldered and brooded in contrast.
Poor, deceived Daniel, she thought. He’d come to rescue her, obviously, but it was he who needed saving now, she decided. And Angel, wherever she was...but that would have to wait; there was an order in which things had to happen for everything to work out right. First off, she had to stop Proteus and Gaia. For that she’d need SAM. Then, once Victor was re-instated in his rightful place as Icaria-5’s mayor, she could get his help in freeing her family from the Vee-radicators.
Zane strutted in, his grin telling her he was pleased and excited all at once. His eyes brightened when he caught her gaze. “You’re incredible!”
She wasn’t in the mood for complements. “Meaning?”
Victor came forward to look over the vee-pad readouts Zane was holding and they all huddled over it. “Look,” Zane said in a squeaky voice, “this shows the average number of functional neurons in five major areas in the brain. Now here’s a set from a Darwin victim who died shortly after testing. See which regions were initially affected? Here, in the brain stem.” He pointed. “Significant damage also occurred in the hippocampus, where memory is processed and redirected.”
Julie barely had time to register the information when Zane hastily touched the vee-pad control and another set of data appeared. “Now here’s one of a Darwin victim who survived due to remission,” Zane said. Julie noted that the surviving Darwin victim had shown neuronal regeneration in the damaged areas, slightly surpassing the average. Her eyebrows rose and she nodded, eyes meeting Zane’s. He nodded back. “We—that is, Niko and Irena—found that the dentate gyrus, a thin dark layer roughly in the shape of…n the hippocampus, was stimulated. The brain repaired itself.” Zane grinned and excitedly clicked to another readout. Here, the neurons had increased significantly in all five areas.
“That’s you, Julie.”
Drawing in a sharp breath, Julie looked up and met Zane’s crazy look. He nodded wildly. “You’ve undergone massive neurogenesis in not only the hippocampus and the brainstem, where Darwin typically affected its victims, but also in places where neurogenesis isn’t known to take place, like the neocortex. Stem cells in the septum, involved in emotion and learning, have given rise to new neurons. The striatum involved in fine-tuning motor activity, has particularly increased.”
That made sense, Julie thought quickly, recalling her improved reflexes. “How’s that possible?” she murmured.
“I don’t know!” Zane exclaimed happily in a shrill voice and waved his hand. “You’re a walking network of neurons. I estimate your neuronal capacity has increased by over twenty percent!” His words shot out in rapid fire. “It partially accounts for your increased cognition, your improved reflexes, heightened senses, and your capacity to learn and retain information.”
Zane was beside himself with excitement. He bounded around the room, looking for things, snatching up data sheets and putting them down without looking at them. He walked past Frank, sullen in the corner, without glancing at him.
Julie grew uncomfortable. Half sitting, half leaning against a counter, she threw a glance at Victor who had been quiet so far. His eyes darted at her with a pained look on his face that she couldn’t read.
“Okay,” she said, trying to calm her shaky voice and eyes flicking between Victor and Zane, “I guess it’s safe to say that Proteus is somehow responsible for my enhanced neuronal capacity. What does that mean in terms of its motivation, what it wants from me and from Icaria?”
“I have no idea!” Zane shouted, losing control. “This is incredible,” he turned away, looking abstracted. “I wish Niko and Irena were here. They’d freak. They found out now where’s that data, ah, there.” He fished out a stack of vee-pads from a box. “Their tests on Darwin survivors, victims and controls suggest that damage by Proteus was partially caused by chemical means. Niko discovered high amounts of a strange substance like a glucocorticoid, which inhibits stem cell proliferation in the hippocampus and adult neurogenesis.”
Then he spun around to face Julie, his mind racing. “But, you were infected when you were a child. Plus you have the unique genetic make up of a veemeld. Your hormones and your chemistry would have been different. Proteus obviously didn’t make or activate this strange substance in you. And Proteus was meant to act the way it did in you; certainly not kill people.” He started pacing the room again. “Somehow this intelligent virus learned to correct itself on some Darwin victims; but for some reason, which might have to do with the victim’s age at infection, no significant increase in neural activity accompanied this remission in adult Darwin victims.” He rushed toward her. “I need to run more tests on you.”
She backed away and threw up her arms. “Hold on, buddy boy. Slow down. Remember why we’re here. Not to test me to death, but to figure out what Proteus wants and is capable of.” Then to deal with it and find her family and get out.
Zane blinked hard and seemed to come down to Earth. “You’ve got to tell me about your communication with this virus. It talks to you, doesn’t it?”
Julie squirmed and shot a nervous glance at Victor, who was listening intently. “Yes. In veemeld.” After a pause she admitted quietly, “And in my dreams.” She exhaled and added, “It also communicates in a non-verbal way. That happened as soon as I was infected with it when I was five. I’d describe it as the high-pitched sound of chirping insects. I think it’s how the virus communicates with itself. The chirps let me know when I’m in danger by increasing their intensity and pitch.”
Zane’s eyes widened. “Proteus hasn’t communicated in any way, as far as we know, with any other Darwin host. Although we are getting a few cases reported of some unintelligible sounds being picked up in a few veemeld children born from Darwin mothers.” He shrugged. “You’re still unique.”
“Yeah,” Julie sighed. “Unique.” She’d hear
d that before. From SAM. She didn’t tell them about Angel. She glanced briefly at Frank and saw that he was staring at her with dark enigmatic eyes.
“But Julie, you’re unique in a most delicious way,” Zane said with glee. “Those chirping sounds could be like the high-frequency tetanic pulses that activate a particular phase of theta rhythm during veemeld. It’s produced in the dentate gyrus, the part of the hippocampus most damaged in Darwin victims, but enhanced in you. Every part of the brain that was enhanced in you is involved in theta rhythm: the brain stem that transmits signals to the septum, which then activates TR in the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex.
“While normal people rely on REM sleep to activate theta rhythm, and veemelds need Interact-SYM to turn it on in waking hours during veemeld, you have it on all the time through Proteus! That’s why you could veemeld with SAM any time you wanted and heard all the other A.I.s of the city in your brain.” He shook his head in amazement. She could see evidence of his mind racing with the consequences she’d already come up with. “And that’s why your reflexes, cognition, and memory are so advanced. You’re not only generating new neurons but also processing as you go along. Infants need four times the REM sleep as adults, because that’s when they build new neurons, under theta rhythm. You do it all day and night!”
“Okay!” she said, hearing her voice go shrill. “Enough, Zane. We don’t have all day to do research.” She realized she was sliding over the edge of her patience. “We need a strategy. This virus is smart. It can think. What’s it thinking? Does it have deterministic thoughts? Motive? What? Why did it correct itself? Come on, Zane. Get back on track.”
“Your dreams, Julie. The answer’s got to be in your dreams.” He nodded to himself, eyes roaming the room thoughtfully.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” he responded, crossing his arms and gazing at her intensely. “Considering that these dreams most likely occur during your normal REM sleep periods, those visions probably represent your most lucid communications with Proteus.”
She was afraid he’d say that she’d deduced as much herself. She hauled in a long breath.
“Tell me about your dreams,” Zane urged.
“I think we should get out of here first,” Julie insisted. Was she avoiding the issue? “It’s only a question of time before security comes snooping in here despite the display.”
Zane nodded grimly. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. It’s late and we all need some sleep.”
“I know someplace we can go for the night,” Victor’s meek voice trilled.
37
Aard’s place was a small three-room hovel in MacArthur Mall in the outer-city fringe. Not far from where Julie’s uncle had lived—that was before Frank and his sadistic cronies had dragged him to the Pol Station where he’d committed the desperate act of suicide and her life here in Icaria had fallen apart.
Julie threw furtive glances behind them as Victor unsealed the door with his card then motioned for them to enter and went in. Zane shoved Frank, still bound, inside. Julie followed, shutting the door quietly behind her.
As Zane and Victor secured their prisoner, Julie wandered Aard’s leisure room. The place was a mess and stale with the smell of old drug and unwashed clothes. Scraps of clothing lay scattered over the worn cloth furniture, the floor and the frayed scatter rug. At least a dozen empty drug bottles stood on the synthetic wood coffee table and more littered the floor. Julie shivered and realized that nervous exhaustion was getting the better of her.
As if afraid of the silence, Zane muttered, more to himself than to Julie or Victor: “What are we going to do with the Head Pol? I still think we should ditch him tomorrow. This is too dangerous, lugging him around. I know you said that we can do it all through the lower levels but still...”
Julie filtered him out, realizing with wry humor that his rambling reminded her of SAM’s insufferable dissertations on any fertile topic she offered. She noticed several old holos over the fake fireplace and drew closer. The large one in the middle was Angel! Next to it hung several holos of the three of them. She remembered posing for the images. So this was where they ended up. They were his family, she concluded, feeling her throat constrict. They were all he had.
Victor came along side her and fixed his gaze on the holos. “You miss them a lot, don’t you?” he asked in a quiet voice that showed genuine caring.
“Terribly,” she responded, hearing her voice warble. She refused to think the unthinkable: that Daniel was here because Angel had been killed in the heath. Since that last garbled communication, she’d tried several times to reach Angel to no avail. Yet, somehow she felt sure she’d have sensed it if Angel had perished. She had to still be alive. Returning her thoughts to this place, she added, “I miss Aard too.”
“I know you think Aard was just spying on you for Icaria but he regarded you with the highest respect and he would never have hurt you or your family.”
“I know that.”
“He enjoyed being with you. You made him feel so welcome.”
Not always, she thought, recalling their confrontation and his departure from the camp. “He was a good man,” she offered.
“The best,” Victor said. Then after a pause, “I’m sure he’s dead.”
She turned to study his sober face. He obviously considered Aard a friend as well as a colleague. She wanted to comfort him with a hug, but recoiled, remembering Victor’s creepy habits. Instead she offered information, “You’re right. He is dead.” She touched his shoulder briefly. “I’m sorry.”
His gaze flickered over her face, carefully avoiding her eyes and she saw his face darken with grief but not surprise. “How?” he asked.
“A sniper shot him. He was protecting me, trying to keep me alive.”
“Yes, I know.”
After a moment of confusion, a hideous thought occurred to her and she hid her revulsion. Of course, Aard had an implant too. “Your device...” she whispered.
Victor’s hands flickered over his face. “One morning I tuned in and he was gone. I couldn’t be sure whether something had happened to his implant or to him.”
Julie gave Victor a puzzled look. “But why did he return to the heath? By then you were in the Pol Station and the Head Pol—” she shot a glance at Frank, “forbid him to go out again.”
“Aard was loyal to me, not the Head Pol.” After another pause, “Loyal to you,” he added meaningfully. “He’d have done anything for you and your family.”
She bowed her head. “He did.”
“Hey, guys,” Zane approached them. “We better get some sleep. We came here to get some rest, remember? There’s a bedroom with two beds and this couch.” He pointed to a musty cloth couch.
“You two go ahead and use the bedroom,” Julie insisted and flopped into one of the cheap foam chairs that smelled of mildew. She tucked her legs under her and huddled to keep in her waning warmth. “I’ll take the first guard.”
Zane and Victor exchanged glances. Victor’s brows furrowed. “You sure? You didn’t get much sleep. And you’ve been...through a lot.” His face tightened. “We need you well-rested for tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Zane agreed. He stepped forward. “I can take the first shift.”
“I said I’d do it,” she cut him off sharply. How could she tell them that she was afraid to go to sleep? She pulled her hair back from her face with both hands and gave them a reassuring smile, hoping they hadn’t noticed that her hands were shaking. “I’m okay. Honest. Go on. I’ll wake you for the second shift, Zane.”
He nodded then glanced at Frank, tied up in the corner. Frank glared back at him. “If the bastard does anything, and I mean anything, you call, okay?”
She nodded with a thankful smile and shifted into a more comfortable position in the chair.
Victor instructed his droid to go into the bedroom. Then, with
an awkward look that reminded her oddly of Daniel when they were first courting, he bid her a quiet good night. He threw several glances at Frank and shuffled his feet in hesitation toward the bedroom then stopped. He seemed to be mustering the courage to say something as his gaze flitted from her face to the floor.
Julie swallowed. She wanted to like Victor. He exhibited a sweet vulnerability that she cherished in men, but somehow it had twisted into something unsavory and revolting. Peeping into people’s intimate lives, especially hers, like that...she didn’t trust him. But he’d also just confronted the most powerful man in Icaria to help her. Victor was, at best, a paradox like her she concluded.
She gave him a lopsided smile. “Thanks, Victor, for coming to my rescue.”
His eyes still sparkled like a frightened rabbit’s, but he seemed to relax and with a self-conscious nod he turned to join Zane in the bedroom. At the bedroom door he looked back to face her with a complicated smile. It trembled on his face like sunlight flickering with the breeze through a forest. “Actually, you’re the one who did the rescuing. We just provided some distraction for you.” Then he closed the door with a soft nick and Julie found her eyes drifting to Frank.
His eyes met hers and she imagined him sneering under the cloth covering his mouth. She looked away and tried to hide the shiver that ran through her. What on Earth was she doing here? Sitting in a musty chair in a dead spy’s apartment, with the man who’d just raped her, leering at her. Separated from her family, from her daughter who, wherever she was, was in danger even now from the worst enemy she could conceive—from the assassins of Icaria-5 and Gaia to the conniving virus already inside her. Oh, Angel! How can I warn you? I don’t know where you are...
She raked back the hair that had fallen again over her face and leaned in the chair, biting down on her lip. Then she folded her arms around herself as memories of her beloved daughter surged up like a river flooding its banks. She heard Angel’s sweet laughter as they played chase among the bushes; watched her rapt face as Daniel told her a bedtime story; soothed Angel’s tears with a hug and kiss on a wet cheek when she scraped herself...
Darwin's Paradox Page 24