“How soon?”
“Don’t know. They are being extra cautious. We are not dealing with stupid people. They assume they are being watched, even on secure networks. They’ve even reverted to the old techniques of espionage; newspapers left on park benches, notes passed on crowded subways. I’m sure you can imagine. It’s like the old days of the Cold War.”
“And the Chinese?”
“That’s been tense, ever since the Russians found natural gas in the disputed area.”
“Did I miss that one?”
“Who can keep up? It’s in Tajikistan. There was a border war in the late twentieth century. They eventually reached an agreement but now that the Russians have found gas some in the Hong Kong faction are mumbling about tearing up the agreement. China is desperate for natural gas, especially to fuel their plans in North Korea.”
“Fuck.”
“You have to consider the worst case scenario. We may have enough time to get the first two thousand up but I’m not confident about mounting any subsequent migrations. If war breaks out it will be difficult to move people and goods, not only between countries but also into orbit. They’ll be exceptionally trigger happy and our larger jumpers are vulnerable to missiles.”
“I know, once some of the cash begins to flow from the antigrav, we’ll boost our private militia. We’ll need to move to a more aggressive defensive position.”
“We could still deliver a blow to the Texans. We’ve built a profile of their meetings. They have an annual pow-wow at Boot Ranch in Fredricksburg…”
“Boot Ranch? Are you serious?”
“I know, a cliché, but it fits. It’s an exclusive golf club. They hire it for the weekend; invite congressmen, senators, governors, lobbyists, CEOs. It’s where they do the real business, off the agenda.”
“You want to send in a team?”
“No, it’s protected by the secret service and their private militia. We’d have to use void tech…”
“You know I don’t want…”
“I think you have to consider it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Texans eventually use nuclear, just a small device to scare the shit out of the Canadians.”
“They must have run a scenario…”
“Of course. They know the stakes are high. I’m just saying that you might not have the luxury of withholding your trump card.”
“Aviva, no. And that’s final. Is there anything else?”
“Yes, you’ll find a link to a research paper from a team based at the University of Tokyo…”
“Is this Hikaru?”
“Yes. He seems to be getting close. I don’t pretend to understand the mathematics, but you should take a look. We may have to bring him in.”
He was well aware of professor Hikaru Watanabe, the young physics prodigy. His team had been challenging the current cosmological orthodoxy regarding Einstein-Rosen bridges. They seemed to be getting close to proposing a theory similar to the void, but from a slightly different angle, suggesting that it might be possible to generate a bridge between any two points in space. If they were getting too close he would have to deal with it. Ideally he could bring Hikaru in and then persuade him to throw a red herring into his research in exchange for a role in his great adventure. But if Hikaru refused, the mere fact that Akash had contacted him would reveal his hand and it suggested the most dreadful choice. Could he kidnap Hikaru, even have him killed, just to buy some time? And would that do anything to stop others from making the theoretical breakthrough anyway? Perhaps it was now just a race against time?
“Okay Aviva, accessing the file now… Oh, and, are the next team ready to arrive for orientation?”
“Yes, that’s all in order. The first are due tomorrow, on schedule.”
Aviva’s image disappeared and he opened Hikaru’s paper. It was brilliant and uncomfortably close. He hadn’t understood the full implications of his discovery but it was close enough. He checked Hikaru’s biography: a child prodigy from a traditionalist Shinto family, a quiet student, no hint of political involvement. There was one note of caution. He had accepted a grant from the Uedo Corporation, a multi-industry conglomerate with divisions in nuclear energy, robotics and automotive. He searched the database for any reports on Uedo. There was nothing out of the ordinary. He would have to get Aviva to dig deeper. Could they have missed something?
88
Li Li and David
They had settled into a routine. The early morning was set aside for exercise and physical labour. Li Li had suggested they all do a rigorous series of wushu exercises to increase strength and flexibility. Then after breakfast they picked up tools to build shade areas made of local wood and broad leaves: a shower area, a toilet block and a crude kitchen and mess, as well as clearing vegetation in preparation for the arrival of the next team. Then they had a long lunch, often taking time to swim or have a siesta. The afternoon was spent in a leisurely exploration of the local area or the continual process of cataloguing and testing (in the shade). As the afternoon heat built they again relaxed and swam or napped until dinner. When the sun faded they returned to their studies or some private time. They had finally adjusted their body clocks to the long days and nights, with most of them getting a full eight to nine Earth hours sleep.
Two weeks in, David announced that he thought it was time they planned longer trips, possibly even camping overnight. He said he wanted to walk further up the river into the hills, perhaps a two or three day hike. The reaction was surprisingly subdued. Life had become comfortable at base, a little too much like a holiday. When he asked for volunteers, Li Li was the only one to react with any enthusiasm. They talked the issue through and finally agreed on a program. When David and Li Li returned, Prosperous and Constance would explore further along the eastern shore then Akoi and Anne would explore the western shore. Archimedes and Junji were the least enthusiastic, Junji arguing that he still had a lot to do cataloguing the local sea life. It was decided not to pressure them. By the time they had completed these more extensive surveys the next team would be due to arrive, just two weeks away.
Once the decision had been made Li Li and David did not hesitate. A few rainy days had just passed and the next few days would be fine, with afternoon cloud to soften the heat of the day. They packed light. A shirt to protect them from the midday sun if need be, light hiking sandals (although David was used to being barefoot), a light sleeping bag and emergency rations should they fail to find some of the edible nuts, fruits and tubers they had discovered close to camp. David was confident they would return in time, but a rescue plan was devised just in case (their location could be tracked by GPS - a probe was in geostationary orbit overhead).
They walked out after breakfast. A morning mist covered the campsite - two naked figures, packs on backs, a rifle slung over David’s shoulder, a knife on both their hips. Before they disappeared into the forest, they turned and waved. The others were silent as they returned the wave. They all understood that, despite appearances, Eden might still hold dangers.
They agreed to try and make as much distance as they could in the relative cool of the morning. David had wanted to walk silently so he could listen for wildlife. Li Li didn’t mind. They had already covered many topics in camp. The only pressing thing on her mind was the fact that she was late for her period. Just a few days, but it usually arrived like clockwork. Of course it was too early to be certain, but somehow she knew.
The more they walked the freer she felt. Rather than be afraid, walking into the wilderness was exhilarating. She could scream, play the fool, pretend to be a monkey, piss and shit exactly when she felt like it, fuck David when she felt like it. For thousands of years humans had been at war with their animal natures. She had long ago decided it was a false dichotomy: animal nature was supposed to be brutish, vulgar and filthy; human nature was supposed to be sublime, civilised, touched by the angel of reason. Oh, she understood the genesis of this idea well enough. It had been the Greeks who thought humans had a sou
l that was governed by cold reason. The brute passions were the enemy of reason. The Semitic people had developed a similar idea. God had made Adam in his image and Adam had walked the Garden of Eden in a state of innocence and purity, until Eve, who represented the base passions, introduced him to temptation. After that man was foerever corrupted by sin and banished to a brutish existence. These two ideas collided in Christianity (and to a certain extent, Islam). The body was to be denied, even mortified and starved of food and sex, and this would somehow purify the soul - and a purified soul was guaranteed a place in heaven, which some imagined, looked a lot like the original Garden of Eden (she never quite understood where the idea of white fluffy clouds and white robes and a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus had come from).
The reason of the Greeks and the soul of the Christians were simply mythologised abstractions – an extension of God as logos. This mythologised reason was a gift of the gods. The word genius was derived from the Latin genii, which had originally meant a guide or tutelary spirit, something that came from outside the individual. The same applied to the word inspiration, inspirare - to be filled with the spirit of wisdom.
When reason used logic and looked at itself, and looked at the origin of genius, it did not find any spirits. It found a complex of neurons in a meaty organ, a meaty organ that could only survive in a body that breathed oxygen, drank water, ate and then pissed and shat. And the way that these meaty organs reproduced was through fucking, the thing that terrified the Christians the most. And when the body had an orgasm the meaty organ was rewarded with a dose of beneficial neurochemicals.
This did not mean the meaty organ could not experience ecstasy and visions, or have sublime thoughts about the Good, the True and the Beautiful, but even Jesus, the Buddha and the great philosophers had to eat and drink and shit and piss; even they were born in the usual, messy way. The body was inescapable.
As more knowledge was acquired, reason began to understand that the distinction between humanity’s lower and higher natures was false. Indeed, the condemnation and denial of man’s animal nature could be downright harmful. The religious visions experienced by emaciated sages were the delusions of brains in severe trauma, and the mortifications, the self-flagellation and deprivations, were simply various forms of sado-masochistic psychopathology.
Rather than see the body as the enemy, true reason learned all it could about the body in order to befriend it, to ensure optimum health and efficiency so that reason might find its greatest expression.
She understood that every philosophy struggled with this dichotomy. In Greece, in India, in the Levant, even in China, philosophy split into two schools. One that argued that the body was the enemy of reason and that reason had to use discipline and denial to subdue the passions. The other argued that the body was the friend of reason and that by meeting the body’s natural needs, reason and the body would find a natural harmony. In China they called this Tao and Li Li knew all about Tao. She was determined that Eden build a civilisation that did not despise the body, but rather honoured it as the vehicle of reason.
Around about the distance they needed to turn back if they wanted to return to camp in time for dinner, they noted a distinct change in the flora. They were roughly ten kilometres out, following the riverbank. The trees were getting taller, changing species and offering more shade for the forest floor. This created new microclimates, which in turn, gave rise to ever more new species. Li Li had brought a small Shunyata scientific tablet (a little larger than a standard phone) and David had slowed the pace to allow her to take images (natural light and infrared), make notes, record the location and take small samples for gene analysis. As she squatted to take an image of a cluster of brilliant pink fungi, a nearby vine suddenly reached out and grabbed her around the ankle. She instinctively screamed for David and he rushed over immediately. She expected him to reach for his knife, instead he just laughed.
“You’re such a girl Li, just cut it. You could probably pull yourself free.” She sat on the ground and another vine reached for her arm. He laughed again. “A cannibal plant. Didn’t I see this in a movie somewhere?”
She jerked her arm and the vine snapped. She reached for her knife and cut the vine from her leg and it began to ooze sap.
“Thanks for being my fucking hero,” she said angrily, still shaken by the experience.
“So Dr Zhang, what do you deduce from this?”
She scowled at him. “It sensed our presence but we are not its prey. The vines aren’t strong enough.”
“If we look around we might find the remains of its prey. I’ve seen signs of small tracks.”
“Animals?”
“I’ll let you decide that, but whatever they are they might be good tucker.” He placed his hand close to the plant and another vine reached out and began to wrap itself around his hand.
“Don’t get your cock too close,” she said as she stood up.
“Never had a plant give me a hand job before,” he laughed as he carefully peeled the vine away. “It’s certainly not strong enough to cause a human any harm. My guess is it traps the animal and as it decays the plant feeds off the nutrients. There may be more carnivorous species.”
She brushed the detritus and dirt from her backside. “I’m going to piss now.”
He shrugged his shoulders and waited, not looking away, daring her.
When she had finished they followed the riverbank until they reached a rocky outcrop and a series of rapids and waterfalls.
“We should find a spot to make camp. I’m hungry. We can use the camp to make a base, leave some of our stuff, stay two nights, fan out and explore three-sixty tomorrow, head back a different route. That overhang will help provide shelter,” he said pointing to a ledge in the near distance.
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I noticed some promising fruits up in some of the trees.”
“Don’t fall,” she cautioned.
He laughed. “I been climbing trees since I was a young fella, hunting ants, honey, nuts. You could find firewood, forage for some tubers, herbage…”
“Women’s work you mean?” she said as a joke.
He frowned. “You want to climb the tree? You can if you want. Come, I’ll teach you.”
“You don’t need to teach me.”
They dropped their backpacks and searched the canopy. David pointed to large red, orange and yellow striated globes hanging from the branches.
“First one up,” said Li Li as she ran to the tree and leapt up to grab a low branch. She swung herself up effortlessly. “Maybe you forgot I did gymnastics?”
He followed her up just as quickly, turning it into a competition. Fortunately the bark was smooth (rough bark was a hazard when climbing trees naked) and the branches well placed. The climb was easy. David snapped a branch so he could reach and knock the fruit down. Li Li chose another method. She inched her way out precariously on a branch so she could reach for a prime specimen, roughly the size of a large grapefruit. David was nervous watching her, but her balance was steady and confident. When she returned to a sturdy enough branch she lowered herself and straddled it. They were at least three metres from the ground. She balanced the fruit against her body, reached for her knife and sliced the fruit in two. Inside its flesh was like a purple peach. She tore out a piece and rubbed it between her fingers.
“It smells sweet and fragrant. I don’t know, musty, floral. Should I?”
“Just a little, on the tip. Our taste and smell evolved as a kind of warning system.”
“It doesn’t always work,” she said as she put a small piece in her mouth.
“Not always, but that’s how my people found food when they first arrived. They relied on instinct - within an acceptable margin of error.”
“Hmm, interesting,” she said as she tasted it. “I wanted to believe that we’d find exotic life forms on Eden along with exotic smells and flavours. Then I realised we are limited by our taste buds. It’s a bit tart, probably not ripe. Halfway bet
ween blackberry and…” She tried another small piece. “Don’t know. Maybe lavender, something floral. You see, I can only describe it by referencing Earth flavours.”
“Toss me a piece.”
She cut him a slice and threw it to where he was perched. “See the small seeds,” she said. “My guess is that whatever eats this helps the plant with propagation. Many plants rely on birds, small animals, insects to spread the seeds. Some seeds are indigestible and survive in excrement. Such a fruit wants to be eaten.”
“I know,” he said. “Finding seeds in animal shit leads us to food. It’s an ancient technique.”
“Sorry, of course.”
He took a small bite. “Eve tempting Adam?” he asked as he tested the fruit using all the parts of his tongue.
She laughed. “That joke could get tired very quickly.”
She smiled at him and in that moment he thought she looked extraordinarily content. “You seem very happy,” he said.
“I am. When I was a child I had a fantasy about being a jungle girl, especially during winter in Paris. There was a French comic about a naked, wild girl who was raised by a bear. Her name was Pyrénée and I wanted to be just like her. Civilisation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s good to go wild every now and then. You seem happy too - in your element.”
“Yeah, like when I was a kid, learning about the bush from my grandfather, like my people used to do.”
“You can take our kids on walkabout,” she said as she climbed down.
“Our kids?”
“Yeah, the children of Eden. They should learn to hunt and gather too. Just no gender discrimination. Little Tarzans and Sheenas, kings and queens of the jungle.” She stood looking at him with her hands on her hips, one hand resting on the knife handle. He did not doubt she was a jungle girl.
The next day was idyllic. They explored small valleys and tributaries. It was a wonderland of exotic plants. David taught her hunting skills and when the mood took them they played teasing games and fucked. In the afternoon they walked up a tributary, climbed a rocky outcrop and came out onto a broad marshy area.
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