Crux

by Ramez Naam

  Then Feng’s mind closed around him. He could feel his friend’s resolve, feel his calm. They were getting out of here.

  Feng pushed Kade out of his way. Then he reached up and grabbed a speaker the size of a trash bin off the stack beside them. Feng swung the speaker back, then drove it forward into the wall like a battering ram, embedding a third of its length in the plaster and wood of the structure.

  Another canister shot into through the window, struck the bar, ricocheted into the illuminated wall of bottles behind it, sent alcohol and broken glass shrapnel everywhere. Kade heard more panicked screams as the glass lacerated people. More than half the crowd was down now. The rest were coughing. Kade was coughing. He could feel whatever was in the gas working on him. He reached into his mind to boost acetylcholine, boost adrenaline, try to keep himself awake…

  Feng yanked the speaker free of the wall, swung it back again with both hands, drove it forward.

  Then the wall exploded and something huge burst in. Kade saw it in slow motion through Feng’s eyes but it was too late, too slow. The armored jeep’s massive front end struck the speaker and then Feng, and then he disappeared as the vehicle roared into the club.

  41

  BATTLE ROYALE

  Saturday October 27th

  Shiva clenched his fists as the first view of the scene appeared. Overhead, their quartet of drones reached the site. Each was a meter-wide flying wing, radar absorbent, color shifting, propelled by twin fuel-cell-powered engines, loaded with cameras and small, lethal weapons.

  On screen their cameras showed an armored jeep surging down the street, scattering people, striking some head on, and then crashing in through the wall of the club. From the other direction a second armored jeep was coming. Young men and women jumped out of its way, not all of them fast enough.

  Hayes yelled into his microphone, “Fire on incoming vehicle. Fire on snipers.”

  Over the city, the drones launched cigar-thick micromissiles – small carbon-and-titanium javelins – that ignited their solid rocket boosters, canted their control fins, and bolted out towards their targets on streaks of white-hot flame.

  Explosions lit up the screens, boomed through the audio pickups. Bright flashes flared on the rooftops across from both entrances to the club. He saw a burning man-sized shape tumbling from one to the street below. The front of the second jeep burst into flames as two darts struck it. The armored vehicle careened down the street, out of control, veered left, away from the club, rammed into the crowd at high speed, and embedded itself into the building across the street.

  Shouts and cries rose from the crowd.

  The bounty hunters’ channel burst into chaos, voices stepping all over each other.

  “Missiles. Hit… Snipers down. Fire.”

  But there was still the jeep inside the building. They couldn’t fire on it. They didn’t know what was going on.

  “Get us in there,” Shiva snapped at Hayes.

  Kade flinched as the armored jeep crashed through the wall just inches from him. It roared forward and Feng disappeared with a burst of mental pain. The jeep skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust and rubble. Water shot out from a severed wall pipe. The jeep’s doors opened and four men leapt out. They wore full body suits with hard plates, reinforced joints, and black armored masks that fully concealed their faces. In their hands were submachine guns. Strapped to their sides were more weapons. On their backs were air supplies.

  Kade shrank back behind the speakers, tried not to breathe, tried not to cough. He could feel Feng out there still. Every other mind was fading out now, as the gas reached every corner of the club. He could feel pain and fear from those still clinging to consciousness.

  He cranked up his adrenaline and acetylcholine levels higher, trying to counteract the wooziness he felt from the gas. He could feel Feng gritting his teeth, clamping down on the pain and focusing. The four troopers were searching, turning over bodies with their feet. Searching for him.

  Feng spoke in his mind. He sounded tired, in pain. Run. I’ll fight them.

  NO, Kade replied. He activated Bruce Lee. Targeting circles appeared in his vision. I’m not going without you.

  He felt Feng shake his head mentally. You’re the dumbest friend I have.

  I’m the only friend you have, Feng, Kade replied.

  Yeah. Like I said, Feng chuckled in reply.

  Then Feng was up, and the world froze. A long piece of steel pipe was in his hand. He was behind an armored trooper, bringing the pipe around in a viciously fast swing at the man’s helmeted head. The bounty hunter jerked, alerted by something, started to turn. Then Feng’s pipe hit him at incredible speed.

  The blow rocked the man to the side, sent a spiderweb of cracks out through his visor, knocked him off balance. Feng swung back at the man’s knees, lighting fast, swept the soldier’s feet out from under him. For an instant Kade saw the man suspended in midair, hanging there supine, his feet off the ground, caught frozen in the midst of his backwards topple, immobile in Feng’s accelerated perceptions.

  Then time resumed. The man crashed to the floor, flat on his back, his gun firing, muzzle flare erupting from it, bullets spraying into the ceiling, their paths zipping rays of red light in Feng’s battle vision.

  Then Feng was on one knee, the pipe driven into the man’s throat and embedded into the floor beyond like a spear, blood fountaining everywhere.

  Feng rolled as he finished the blow, taking the man’s submachine gun with him. The other troopers were yelling now, turning. One opened fire as Feng rolled behind the bar.

  The other two turned as well. All three fired into the bar. Kade picked one, clicked to designate him as a target, and jammed on the full attack button.

  Bruce Lee hurled Kade’s body into a flying kick, weak and off-balance from the gas. The bounty hunter turned and smacked Kade out of the air. The blow sent him reeling.

  [Bruce_Lee: Attack Failed L]

  Then the man had Kade by the arm, was dragging him towards the armored jeep, shoving him in the open door.

  Then there was static, everywhere, spheres of static, Nexus static.

  And the head of the bounty hunter who had him exploded.

  Nakamura milled through the club called Mango, his backpacker costume in place, upgraded slightly for a Saturday night. Nexus was everywhere here. This was the kind of place Lane would feel at home in. If he’d let his guard down sufficiently…

  [Shots fired, 819 Bùi Viện Street]

  The alert was pulled from the Vietnamese People’s Police network. That address was at the other end of the Bến Thành district. Another club with a concentration of Nexus.

  Nakamura turned and pushed his way against the crowd, swam like a fish against the current, until he was through the doors and out into the night. His jeep was back at his apartment, impractical in the maze of streets here. The club where the alert had come from was just over a mile away. Nakamura broke into a run. He’d be there in three minutes.

  Shiva watched the feeds as his soldiers stormed the building, took down the two remaining bounty hunters. The club was a shambles. One wall had been destroyed, the windows blown out. Revelers were strewn about, many injured, some bleeding or broken or dead from the impact of the jeep or the crossfire of bullets. The rest were unconscious.

  “There,” he said and tapped on the screen. “Lane.”

  Hayes nodded, and the medic rushed forward.

  Someone grabbed Kade, a new man, in a respirator but no armor.

  The man was fitting a respirator over Kade’s head, then patting him down, yelling something through the mask and over the sound of the ringing alarm.

  “What?”

  What’s happening?

  The sound of the alarm ended abruptly.

  “Are you hurt?” the man yelled again.

  “Feng,” Kade said, muffled through the mask over his head. Then Feng was up, a submachine gun in his hand. There was blood splattered on his face, blood on his shirt, blood o
n his pants.

  “Get back,” Feng said.

  Kade struggled to take in the situation. There were seven of the new force. Six with guns, plus the one leaning over him. They wore masks and sleek black fighting armor, less bulky than the bounty hunters, but even more deadly-looking. They had silenced automatic weapons in their hands, but none were pointed at him.

  Every one of them had a sphere of static around him. Distortion on the Nexus frequencies. Jamming, but on a local scale.

  Shielding, he realized. They’re running Nexus, but they’re shielding themselves.

  “Get back,” Feng repeated, pointing his gun at the man over Kade.

  “We’re here to help,” the medic said.

  Kade? Feng sent.

  “Who are you?” Kade asked.

  “Activate my avatar,” Shiva said. “I want to talk to him.”

  The medic stepped back from him.

  Then a hologram appeared in the middle of the room, projected by a fist-sized spider-like robot beneath it.

  The figure was old, Indian, long white hair, dressed in a simple white garment.

  “Kade,” said a projected voice. “We’re not your enemies. We’re friends.”

  “What do you want?” Kade asked.

  “I want you to come with me,” the hologram said.

  “Who are you?” Kade asked.

  “I’m someone who needs your help,” it replied.

  “My help?”

  “Yes,” the hologram said. “To save the world.”

  “Not interested,” Feng spoke from the side of the room.

  The hologram turned in his direction. “Are you sure?” The image of the man raised an eyebrow. Then he turned back to Kade. “It seems like you’ve been trying quite hard to do that already. I applaud what you’re doing. We can do it together.”

  Kade felt his hackles rise. He knew why someone would want his help. There was only one reason he could think of.

  “I’m not interested,” he said.

  The holographic figure smiled. “But you don’t deny it, do you? You’ve been hacking into brains, haven’t you? Saving the world one criminal at a time? There are more than a million people running Nexus now, did you know? All because of you. There are thousands more each day. And you have a back door into each of those minds. That’s a great power for good, Kade. I can help you use that power.”

  Ilya rumbled somewhere in the back of Kade’s mind. Where does it end, Kade? No one should have that kind of power.

  Not now, Ilya! he yelled back at the voice inside him.

  He swallowed, spoke calmly to the hologram, his mind spinning, searching for a way out of this. He probed the shielding around these soldiers. Too strong. He could tell. Too strong for even his mind to burrow through.

  “I’m not interested in help,” he told the hologram. “I’ll let you know if that changes.”

  As he spoke he reached out, searching for a mind. A mind that would have what he needed. Lotus. Where was she?

  The Indian figure shook its head. “Young man, you have the key to more than a million minds. Everyone is looking for you. What if the Americans get you? What if the Chinese get you? You’re dangerous. Let me help you. Let me keep you safe.”

  There. He found the NJ, the woman who called herself Lotus. She was semiconscious. He opened her to his touch, pulsed adrenaline through her, bringing her mind back from the brink of unconsciousness, searching for the knowledge he needed. He felt her wonder at his contact, and shouted his need at her even as he searched. Where? How? Show me!

  Out loud he spoke. “No. Thank you. Really. But I’m not interested.”

  There. She didn’t understand, but she trusted him. She helped him. Showed him.

  Kade understood. He saw the link. He burrowed through her mind to it, felt her awe as he did. He opened a pipe to the hardware via Nexus OS, proxied it through Lotus’s Nexus OS to his own, executed the command she showed him. The hardware’s user interface controls appeared in his mind’s eye – virtual knobs and sliders and equalizer graphs.

  The Indian man’s holographic figure sighed. “I’m afraid it’s not your choice, Kade. That key is a threat to the entire planet. I can’t let you and it fall into untrustworthy hands. You’re going to have to come with me.”

  The soldiers in sleek black combat armor raised their weapons.

  Feng tensed, his finger on the trigger of his gun.

  Kade mentally slid the gain controls on the system he’d tapped into all the way up to maximum. He felt adrenaline pump through him, anticipation, that sense of power, that sense of satisfaction.

  “No,” Kade told the hologram. “I’m not.”

  Then he multiplexed his signal out through the club’s Nexus amplifiers at maximum power. His transmission burned through the jamming, opened the backdoors in the soldier’s minds over encrypted connections, and instructed the Nexus nodes in a specific region of each brain to fire at maximum strength.

  All seven men spasmed, went rigid, and then fell to the floor, unconscious.

  The Indian figure inclined his head. “Impressive.”

  Kade smiled coldly.

  Then Feng slammed his booted foot down on the avatar bot with an audible crunch. The hologram crackled into nothingness.

  Who are you? Kade felt Lotus’s question in his mind. But he only shook his head. He turned, took in the wreckage all around him, revelers fallen to the ground – some unconscious, some wounded, some dead. The brunette Kade had seen so often was crumpled on the floor, her chest softly rising and falling. The Vietnamese boy who’d been ridden from London was next to her, his neck bent at an unnatural angle, motionless. Kade shook his head. He was so very very tired of this.

  “Jeep,” Feng said as he ripped weapons off the fallen men. Pain ground through him from a bullet in his arm, from the massive impact of the vehicle when it had burst through the wall and struck him head on. “I drive.”

  The woman named Lotus lay prone on the stage, her mind reaching out to Kade’s, and watched with open eyes as they fled.

  42

  CONVERGENCE

  Saturday October 27th

  Breece and the Nigerian followed Ava back to the garage. They left the cars outside. Ava led Miranda Shepherd in through the door, and Breece and the Nigerian followed.

  Hiroshi closed the door behind them, began to reconnect the mesh panels, resealing the Faraday cage.

  “Status?” Breece asked, as Ava led Miranda Shepherd to the chair in the middle of the room.

  “Nominal,” Ava answered. “I administered the scopolamine in the car. Memory formation’s blocked. She’s been cooperative.”

  Miranda Shepherd sat down in the chair, docilely.

  “Hiroshi,” Breece said. “It’s your show.”

  They had an hour to turn Miranda Shepherd into their mule. They’d practiced the process, stripped it down to its bare essentials.

  Hiroshi slid the syringe into a vein between her toes, then slowly depressed the plunger. The silvery fluid pumped, bit by bit, into the woman’s bloodstream. They left her sitting there while the modified Nexus 5 took hold.

  “The phone?” Hiroshi asked.

  Breece handed it over in its Faraday cage bag. Hiroshi took it out with gloved hands, plugged it into the slate that would load it with new software.

  By then Miranda Shepherd was coming up. Hiroshi left the phone, pulled up a seat next to Miranda’s, closed his eyes, and went Inside. Ava pulled the styling hood down over Miranda’s hair, and let it do its work.

  Feng threw the jeep into reverse as Kade buckled in. He sent them careening back over rubble and through the hole in the wall it had left on the way in. Then they were out into the night. The crowds had gone, dispersed by explosions and gunfire and wild vehicles. Another jeep was embedded in the building across the street, flames licking up from it.

  Feng spun the jeep around, then threw it in forward and accelerated.

  “You’re hurt,” Kade said. There was blood everywhe
re.

  “I’ll live,” Feng said.

  Kade looked around him, searched for anything that might be a first aid kit. The dash of the jeep was a riot of displays. The interior of the doors and ceiling were covered with weapons: rifles, pistols, knives, grenades.

  “Map,” Feng said. “How do we get out of town? Back streets.”

  Kade looked at his friend – bleeding and in pain – and nodded.

  Kade found the map control, zoomed it up onto his side of the windshield, and began to shout directions. “Left. Straight. Next right. Here, here!”

  The alert came moments later.

  [Alert: Coercion Code Alpha AUTHOR Detected. Confidence: 93%]

  Details scrolled after.

  [Match: Nexus 0.72 binary]

  [Match: Nexus 0.72 source]

  [Match: Coercion Source Code. ]

  [Match: PLF Self-identification.]

  […]

  It struck him dumb. He stopped talking, stopped navigating.

  “Kade?” Feng asked. “Kade!”

  “Feng. It’s them. I’ve found them.”

  He clicked on the link to the mind in the alert.

  “Kade!” Feng said. “This not a good time!”

  “I might not get another chance, Feng! I have to.”

  Kade entered the passcode.

  The jeep turned hard, pushing him against the door. Dimly he was aware of the sound of bangs, of something clanging against the armor, of adrenaline coursing through Feng.

  “Really not good time!” Feng said.

  And then Kade was in.

  It took forty-five minutes to turn Miranda Shepherd. At the end of that time, the woman was theirs.

  The modified version of Nexus lodged in her brain, waiting to come online at the right signal from the phone, to turn her into a living weapon against her husband and Daniel Chandler. The memory script was deeply embedded, ready for Miranda’s own imagination to embellish it, to create a false recollection of a hair appointment as real as any other.