“The same as everybody’s.”
“And you were at opposite ends of that room. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
By birth, Barnes was a small man, but his Rebirth had given him temporary layers of fat that would have eventually been transformed into new tissues and bones, and even two extra fingers on each of his long, lovely hands. The air inside that cubbyhole had smelled of biology, raw and distinctly strange. But it wasn’t an unpleasant odour. Barnes had been drifting beside his bed, and next to him was the image of the creature he wanted to become – a powerful, fur-draped entity with huge golden eyes and a predator’s toothy grin. The cabin walls were covered with his possessions, each lashed in place to keep them out of the way. And on the surface of what was arbitrarily considered to be the ceiling, Barnes had painted the motto of the Rebirth movement:
TO BE TRULY HUMAN IS TO BE DIFFERENT.
“Do you want to know what I told him?” asked Joe. “I didn’t put this in my report. But after he claimed I was sleeping with those women . . . do you know what I said that got him to start pounding on me . . . ?”
The psychiatrist offered a tiny, almost invisible nod.
“I said, ‘I’m just playing with those silly bitches. They’re toys to me. But you, you’re nothing like them. Or like me. You’re going to be a spectacular creature. A vision of the future, you lucky shit. And before I die, please, let me blow you. Just to get the taste of another species.’”
She sighed. “All right.”
“And that’s when I reached for him —”
“You’re heterosexual,” she complained.
“I was saving lives,” Joe responded.
“You were saving your own life.”
“And plenty of others too,” he pointed out. Then with a grin, he added, “You don’t appreciate what I was prepared to do, doctor. If it meant saving the rest of us, I was capable of anything.”
She once believed that she understood Joe Carroway. But in every possible way, she had underestimated the man sitting before her, including his innate capacity to measure everybody else’s nature.
“The crew was waiting in the passageway outside,” he mentioned. “With the captain and engineer, they were crowding in close, listening close, trying to hear what would happen. All these good decent souls, holding their breaths, wondering if I could pull this trick off.”
She nodded again.
“They heard the fight, but it took them a couple minutes to force the door. When they got inside, they found Barnes all over me and that lump of iron in his hand.” Joe paused before asking, “Do you know how blood looks in space? It forms a thick mist of bright red drops that drift everywhere, sticking to every surface.”
“Did Mr Barnes strike you?”
Joe hesitated, impressed enough to show her an appreciative smile. “What does it say in my report?”
“But it seems to me . . .” Her voice trailed away. “Maybe you were being honest with me, Joe. When you swore that you would have done anything to save yourself, I should have believed you. So I have to wonder now . . . what if you grabbed that piece of asteroid and turned it on yourself? Mr Barnes would have been surprised. For a minute or so, he might have been too stunned to do anything but watch you strike yourself in the face. Then he heard the others breaking in, and he naturally kicked over to you and pulled the weapon from your hand.”
“Now why would I admit to any of that?” Joe replied.
Then he shrugged, adding, “But really, when you get down to it, the logistics of what happened aren’t important. What matters is that I gave the captain a very good excuse to lock that man up, which was how she cleared her conscience before we could abandon ship.”
“The captain doesn’t look at this as an excuse,” the psychiatrist mentioned.
“No?”
“Barnes was violent, and her conscience rests easy.”
Joe asked, “Who ordered every corn-system destroyed before we abandoned the Demon Dandy? Who left poor Barnes with no way even to call home?”
“Except by then, your colleague was a prisoner, and according to our corporate laws, the captain was obligated to silence the criminal to any potential lawsuits.” The woman kept her gaze on Joe. “Somebody had to be left behind, and in the captain’s mind, you weren’t as guilty as Mr Barnes.”
“I hope not.”
“But nobody was half as cold or a tenth as ruthless as you were, Joe.”
His expression was untroubled, even serene.
“The captain understands what you are. But in the end, she had no choice but to leave the other man behind.”
Joe laughed. “Human or not, Barnes wasn’t a very good person. He was mean-spirited and distant, and even if nobody admits it, I promise you: nobody on the ship has lost two seconds sleep over what happened there.”
The psychiatrist nearly spoke, then hesitated.
Joe leaned forward. “Do you know how it is, doctor? When you’re a kid, there’s always something that you think you’re pretty good at. Maybe you’re the best on your street, or you’re the best at school. But you never know how good you really are. Not until you get out into the big world and see what other people can do. And in the end, we aren’t all that special. Not extra clever or pretty or strong. But for a few of us, a very few, there comes a special day when we realize that we aren’t just a little good at something. We are great.
“Better than anybody ever, maybe.
“Do you know how that feels, ma’am?”
She sighed deeply. Painfully. “What are you telling me, Joe?”
He leaned back in his chair, absently scratching at the biggest bandage on his iron-battered face. “I’m telling you that I am excellent at sizing people up. Even better than you, and I think you’re beginning to appreciate that. But what you call being a borderline psychopath is to me just another part of my bigger, more important talent.”
“You’re not borderline anything,” she said.
He took no offence from the implication. “Here’s what we can learn from this particular mess: Most people are secretly bad. Under the proper circumstances, they will gladly turn on one of their own and feel nothing but good about it afterwards. But when the stakes are high and world’s going to shit, I can see exactly what needs to be done. Unlike everybody else, I will do the dirtiest work. Which is a rare and rich and remarkable gift, I think.”
She took a breath. “Why are you telling me this, Joe?”
“Because I don’t want to be a mechanic riding clunky spaceships,” he confessed. “And I want your help, doctor. All right? Will you find me new work . . . something that’s closer to my talents. Closer to my heart.
“Would you do that for me, pretty lady?”
NATURAL KILLER
At four in the morning, the animals slept. Which was only reasonable since this was a zoo populated entirely by synthetic organisms. Patrons didn’t pay for glimpses of furry lumps, formerly wild and now slumbering in some shady corner. What they wanted were spectacular, one-of-a-kind organisms doing breathtaking feats, and doing them in daylight. But high metabolisms had their costs, and that’s why the creatures now lay in their cages and grottos, inside glass boxes and private ponds, beautiful eyes closed while young minds dreamed about who-could-say-what.
For the moment, privacy was guaranteed, and that was one fine reason why desperate men would agree to meet in that public place.
Slipping into the zoo unseen brought a certain ironic pleasure too.
But perhaps the most important, at least for Joe, were the possibilities inherent with that unique realm.
A loud, faintly musical voice said, “Stop, Mr Carroway. Stop where you are, sir. And now please . . . lift your arms for us and dance in a very slow circle . . .”
Joe was in his middle thirties. His big and strong and rigorously trained body was dressed in casual white slacks and a new grey shirt. His face had retained its boyish beauty, a prominent scar creasing the broad forehead and a several-
day growth of beard lending a rough, faintly threadbare quality to his otherwise immaculate appearance. Arms up, he looked rather tired. As he turned slowly, he took deep breaths, allowing several flavours of radiation to wash across his body, reaching into his bones.
“I see three weapons.” The voice came from no particular direction. “One at a time, please, lower the weapons and kick each of them toward the fountain. If you will, Mr Carroway.”
A passing shower had left the plaza wet and slick. Joe dropped the Ethiopian machine pistol first, followed the matching Glocks. Each time he kicked one of the guns, it would spin and skate across the red bricks, each one ending up within a hand’s length of the fountain – an astonishing feat, considering the stakes and his own level of exhaustion.
Unarmed, Joe stood alone in the empty plaza.
The fountain had a round black-granite base, buried pumps shoving water up against a perfect sphere of transparent crystal. The sphere was a monstrous, stylized egg. Inside the egg rode a never-to-be-born creature – some giant beast with wide black eyes and gill slits, its tail half-formed and the stubby little limbs looking as though they could turn into arms or legs, or even tentacles. Joe knew the creature was supposed to be blind, but he couldn’t shake the impression that the eyes were watching him. He watched the creature slowly roll over and over again, its egg suspended on nothing but a thin chilled layer of very busy water.
Eventually five shapes emerged from behind the fountain.
“Thank you, Mr Carroway,” said the voice. Then the sound system was deactivated, and with a hand to the mouth, one figure shouted, “A little closer, sir. If you will.”
That familiar voice was attached to the beckoning arm.
Two figures efficiently disabled Joe’s weapons. They were big men, probably Rebirth Neanderthals or some variation on that popular theme. A third man looked like a Brilliance-Boy, his skull tall and deep, stuffed full with a staggering amount of brain tissue. The fourth human was small and slight, held securely by the Brilliance-Boy; even at a distance, she looked decidedly female.
Joe took two steps and paused.
The fifth figure, the one that spoke, approached near enough to show his face. Joe wasn’t surprised, but he pretended to be. “Markel? What are you doing here?” He laughed as if nervous. “You’re not one of them, are you?”
The man looked as sapien as Joe.
With a decidedly human laugh, Markel remarked, “I’m glad to hear that you were fooled, Mr Carroway. Which of course means that you killed Stanton and Humphrey for no good reason.”
Joe said nothing.
“You did come here alone, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Because you took a little longer than I anticipated.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Perhaps not. I could be mistaken.”
Markel never admitted to errors. He was a tall fellow, as bald as an egg and not particularly handsome. Which made his disguise all the more effective. The new Homo species were always physically attractive, and they were superior athletes, more often than not. Joe had never before met a Rebirth who had gone through the pain and expense and then not bothered to grow some kind of luxurious head of hair as a consequence.
“You have my vial with you, Joseph. Yes?”
“Joe. That’s my name.” He made a show of patting his chest pocket.
“And the sealed recordings too?”
“Everything you asked for.” Joe looked past Markel. “Is that the girl?”
Something about the question amused Markel. “Do you honestly care if she is?”
“Of course I care.”
“Enough to trade away everything and earn her safety?”
Joe said nothing.
“I’ve studied your files, Joseph. I have read the personality evaluations, and I know all about your corporate security work, and even all those wicked sealed records covering the last three years. It is a most impressive career. But nothing about you, sir – nothing in your nature or your history – strikes me as being sentimental. And I cannot believe that this girl matters enough to convince you to make this exchange.”
Joe smiled. “Then why did I come here?”
“That’s my question too.”
Joe waited for a moment, then suggested, “Maybe it’s money?”
“Psychopaths always have a price,” Markel replied. “Yes, I guessed as it would be something on those lines.”
Joe reached into his shirt pocket. The vial was diamond, smaller than a pen and only halfway filled with what looked to be a plain white powder. But embossed along the vial’s length were the ominous words: NATURAL KILLER.
“How much do you want for my baby, Joseph?”
“Everything,” he said.
“And what does that mean?”
“All the money.”
“My wealth? Is that what you’re asking for?”
“I’m not asking,” Joe said. “Don’t be confused, Markel. This is not a negotiation. I am demanding that you and your backers give me every last cent in your coffers. And if not, I will ruin everything that you’ve worked to achieve. You sons-of-bitches.”
Markel had been born sapien and gifted, and his minimal and very secret steps to leave his species behind had served to increase both his mind and his capacity for arrogance. But he was stunned to hear the ultimatum. To make such outrageous demands, and in these circumstances! He couldn’t imagine anybody with that much gall. Standing quite still, his long arms at his side, Markel tried to understand why an unarmed man in these desperate circumstances would have any power over him. What wasn’t he seeing? No reinforcements were coming; he was certain of that. Outside this tiny circle, nobody knew anything. This sapien was bluffing, Markel decided. And with that, he began to breathe again, and he relaxed, announcing, “You’re right, this is not a negotiation. And I’m telling you no.”
Inside the same shirt pocket was a child’s toy – a completely harmless lump of luminescent putty stolen from the zoo’s museum. Joe shoved the vial into the bright red plaything, and before Markel could react, he flung both the putty and vial high into the air.
Every eye watched that ruddy patch of light twirl and soften, and then plunge back to the earth.
Beside the plaza was a deep acid-filled moat flanked by a pair of high fences, electrified and bristling with sensors. And on the far side were woods and darkness, plus the single example of a brand new species designed to bring huge crowds through the zoo’s front gate.
The Grendel.
“You should not have done that,” Markel said with low, furious voice. “I’ll just have you killed now and be done with you.”
Joe smiled, lifting his empty hands over his head. “Maybe you should kill me. If you’re so positive that you can get your precious KILLER back.”
That’s when Joe laughed at the brilliant bastard.
But it was the girl who reacted first, squirming out of the Brilliance-Boy’s hands to run straight for her lover.
No one bothered to chase her down.
She stopped short and slapped Joe.
“You idiot,” she spat.
He answered her with a tidy left hook.
Then one of the big soldiers shot a tacky round into Joe’s chest, pumping in enough current to drop him on the wet bricks, leaving him hovering between consciousness and white-hot misery.
“You idiot.”
The girl repeated herself several times, occasionally adding a dismissive, “Moron”, or “Fool”, to her invectives. Then as the electricity diminished, she leaned close to his face. “Don’t you understand? We were never going to use the bug. We don’t want to let it loose. It’s just one more way to help make sure you sapiens won’t declare war on us. Natural Killer is our insurance policy, and that’s it.”
The pain diminished to a lasting ache.
Wincing, Joe struggled to sit up. While he was down, smart-cuffs had wrapped themselves around his wrists and ankles. The two soldiers and the Bri
lliance-Boy were standing before the Grendel’s large enclosure. They had donned night-goggles and were studying the schematics of the zoo, tense voices discussing how best to slip into the cage and recover the prize.
“Joe,” she said, “how can you be this stupid?”
“Comes naturally, I guess.”
To the eye, the girl was beautiful and purely sapien. The long black hair and rich brown skin sparkled in the plaza’s light. The word “natural” was a mild insult among the Rebirths. She sat up, lips pouting. Like Markel, the young woman must have endured some minimal rearrangement of her genetics. Usually these new humans carried extra pairs of chromosomes. But despite rumours that some of the Rebirths were hiding among the naturals, this was the first time Joe had knowingly crossed paths with them.
“I am stupid,” he admitted. Then he looked at Markel, adding, “Both of you had me fooled. All along.”
That was a lie, but Markel had to smile. Of course he was clever, and of course no one suspected the truth. Behind that grim old face was enough self-esteem to keep him believing that he would survive the night.
The idiot.
Markel and his beautiful assistant glanced at each other.
Then the Brilliance-Boy called out. “We’ll use the service entrance to get in,” he announced. “Five minutes to circumvent locks and cameras, I should think.”
“Do it,” Markel told them.
“You’ll be all right here?”
The scientist lifted a pistol over his head. “We’re fine. Just go. Get my child out of that cage, now!”
That left three people on the plaza, plus the monster locked inside the slowly revolving crystal egg.
“The plague is just an insurance policy, huh?”
Joe threw out the question, and waited.
After a minute, the girl said, “To protect us from people like you, yes.”
He put on an injured expression. “Like me? What’s that mean?”
She glanced at Markel. Then with a cold voice, she said, “He showed me your history, Joe. After our first night together . . .”
“And what did it tell you?”
“When you were on the Demon Dandy, you saved yourself by leaving a Rebirth behind. And you did it in a cold, calculating way.”
The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction 22nd Annual Collection Page 39