The Lives of Tao

by Wesley Chu

  You were not that good looking to begin with. Think of it as growing more distinguished with age.

  With a sad little shake of his head, Roen finished cleaning up and went to bed.

  The next morning, Roen walked into the safe house and looked around. He thought there would be others to meet him. The room was dark and no one was around. Immediately, he sensed that something was wrong. Over the past year, he’d learned to appreciate his spider senses when they were tingling. Now they were sending shivers up and down his spine. Roen pawed for the light switch. He caught a faint scent of citrus before someone else turned on the lights. Then he felt a soft breeze tickle his ear.

  “Boo!”

  Roen tried to draw his pistol but found his holster empty. He spun around, ready to fight, but instead came face to face with a grinning Sonya, now spinning his pistol around her finger.

  “Sonya!” he cried, nearly fainting with relief.

  She shook her other index finger at him and returned his pistol. “Tsk, tsk, Roen. I had you there. You have to be more careful in the future.”

  “What’re you doing here?” he asked.

  She walked over to a chair and sat down, putting her feet up on the table. “I am the tactical lead for your new mission, Mr Roen Tan. For the next week, you’ll be reporting to me. Command has deemed you ready for international man-of-mystery work, instead of just trolling around the Midwest.”

  Roen looked skeptical. “Really? Command said that?”

  “Well, I had to vouch for you,” she admitted. “This one is delicate. The Keeper has asked for Yol’s release.”

  Out of the question. Tell her Yol’s release is not an option.

  Tao’s quick retort startled Roen. “What? What does Yol’s release mean?”

  “Tao can fill you in,” she said. “He’s been hiding a Quasing from us for years now, and it’s time Yol returns to us. I’m sorry, Tao, but recently, there’s been a rise in network attacks on our older legacy systems. There’s very few active Prophus who can manage those systems. Yol and Jeo designed most of them, and since Jeo’s playing for the other team, we need Yol.”

  “But I thought Quasing couldn’t leave hosts unless the host dies.” Roen frowned.

  “And who says you don’t have a sharp wit?” Sonya turned, walked to her bag, pulled out a manila packet, and handed it to him. “We leave for Dublin at 1500 hours.”

  “Why me? Can’t we use our agents in Europe?” he asked.

  Sonya shook her head. “We need you on this one. More specifically, we need Tao. Unfortunately for you, you’re him.”

  Tao was being strangely quiet about the situation. Usually, he would at least give Roen a few comforting words or berate him for whining. The silence was awkward as Roen waited for some guidance.

  “Tao, speak to me. What’s going on?”

  There was a long pause before Tao finally spoke. By now, Roen had been with him long enough to know something was wrong. The briefing will tell you everything you need to know. You might as well open it and find out. Sonya said something about legacy systems being compromised. If that is true, then it is serious.

  “What are these systems?”

  Like most large companies, the Prophus invested heavily for several decades in mainframe and older technology. Updating those systems is quite an expensive and time-consuming endeavor, so we never did.

  “What do you mean updating? Like we’re not Y2K compliant?”

  Please. We’re infinitely old. We number our system with six digit dates. Y2K was a joke.

  “How did we not protect ourselves from this sort of stuff?”

  We are fallible like everyone else. Besides, the first thing to go during cuts is always the IT budget. We had a defection some time back: a Quasing named Jeo, a technical operations specialist. You met his host, Marc, at the club. We tried to eliminate his clearance after his defection, but he must have been planning this for a long time.

  If there are still intrusions, then he has created a back door. Our network integrity could be compromised. If they can hit critical systems, it could be catastrophic. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. See if the documents in the packet shed any light on the situation.

  Roen opened the contents and began to sift through the papers. He picked up several stacks of bound foreign currencies and put them to the side. He rifled through a thick stack of papers and sorted them into different piles. There were two packets labeled Biographies and a map of Dublin with specific areas marked in red. A separate clear bag contained several passports, plane tickets, and several false identifications.

  Roen sat down and began reading through the biographies, hoping to glean the nature of his mission. Actually, he had no idea what he was looking for. The first biography recorded the background of a Gregory Blair, listing his education, accolades, and accomplishments. They were quite impressive: graduated from Oxford, three years as an officer and pilot in the Air Force, four as an Area 51 scientist, never married, honorably discharged, and a Prophus agent up until three years ago. His historical background ended abruptly with his current whereabouts unknown.

  “What happened to him?”

  Read on.

  Roen pulled out the next biography about a Prophus named Yol. The biography dated back thousands of years to the beginning of recorded history, when Yol first joined the Quasing collective. Then it skipped a period during the Babylonian Empire where he was a minor official in the imperial court, and proceeded to run through his various hosts. Roen didn’t recognize most of the names, though a few did stand out.

  “Wow, Yol was Galileo and Duke Ellington? That’s pretty cool. Why couldn’t you be anyone like that?”

  What? Are you serious? You do not think Genghis Khan or inventing t’ai chi is significant?

  “I guess so, but Galileo discovered that the Earth rotated around the sun. That was pretty revolutionary back in the day.”

  That is such a load of crap! Galileo discovered that the Earth rotated around the sun because Yol told him! We are a spacefaring race. It is not a discovery if someone tells you! Yol’s hosts are always taking credit where credit is not due. Did you know that he once claimed to discover spaghetti?

  “Well, did he?”

  Of course not. The Chinese did. It is called noodles.

  “Whatever. You sound jealous.”

  Skipping the sections he thought irrelevant, Roen learned that Yol was a technology operations specialist. He had some tactical experience as a general in Napoleon’s Russian campaigns and as a Japanese colonel during World War II, but otherwise he primarily occupied hosts who were artists, philosophers, and scientists.

  “Talk about always picking the losing side. No wonder he decided to stick to geeking. So what is this all about? Is this Gregory person Yol as well? What does all this mean?”

  Read the blue sheet.

  Roen picked up a blue document which bore an official-looking seal and a signature at the bottom. “By the order of Keeper of the Prophus Command, Tao is to provide the immediate release of Yol from his host Gregory Blair and to assist with the integration of Lieutenant Paula Kim and Yol.” Roen frowned and leaned back in his chair. The orders were straightforward enough. He didn’t quite understand why he or Tao had to be involved. Couldn’t any of their other agents overseas do it? Something didn’t smell right here.

  Sonya came up from behind, leaned on his back, and looked over his shoulder. “Any questions?”

  He handed the paper to her. “I don’t get it. Why do I have to be the one to kill this Gregory?”

  “Not you,” she said, “but Tao needs to free Yol.”

  “Because?” Roen was getting a headache.

  “Because we don’t know where he is,” she snapped. “Tao’s been hiding him from us for years now and with things this bad, we need him back. Edward and Tao have refused to disclose Yol’s location, and now the Keeper is forcing matters. Look, Tao, you’ve made your point, and we respect that. But more urgently, a systematic co
ntrolled lockdown was initiated on a quarter of our European safe houses. Half of our monitoring system went down, and we lost contact with at least a dozen field agents.”

  “So they want me to hack in? I don’t know anything about hacking.”

  “You’re not going to do it,” she said. “Neither is Tao. He’s passable, but not exactly a qualified expert. That’s why you’re going to Dublin first. We need Yol.”

  “And Yol’s in Dublin? Why can’t he just log in and take care of everything?” Roen threw his arms in the air. None of this made any sense. It had never even occurred to him that there were disagreements between the Prophus. “Well, how does Tao hide someone anyway?”

  He is in a mental institution.

  “What?!” Roen exclaimed aloud.

  Sonya picked up a red document. “Three years ago, Gregory was injured on a mission with Edward. Gregory was pronounced brain dead and disappeared soon after.”

  Roen frowned. “So Tao kidnapped a brain-damaged Gregory. Why would he do that?”

  I refuse to kill an injured host simply because his usefulness is at an end. Would you like us to kill you if I ever decided you were no longer of use?

  “Good point. Forget I asked.”

  Roen leaned back and scratched his head. “I still don’t get why he would hide Gregory from the other Prophus.”

  Look at Gregory’s last name again.

  Roen looked at Sonya, horrified. “That’s Edward’s brother, and you want to kill him! And you’re forcing Tao to do it!”

  “We need Yol.” Sonya sat down in front of him and clasped his hands. “Tao needs to understand that. Our ranks are thin, and Yol’s a high-value operative. Command isn’t oblivious to his situation. That’s why they didn’t force the issue earlier, but Tao, it needs to be done.”

  There was a long silence before Tao spoke. Roen could tell these were words he didn’t want to say. I will visit Gregory, but no promises.

  Roen relayed the message.

  “Thank you,” she said, and gave his hands a small squeeze. “Baji says she knows you’ll do the right thing.”

  “So, that’s the mission then?” Roen asked. “You want to take Gregory out?”

  “That’s the bulk of it,” Sonya continued. “There are two parts to this mission. After you establish contact, assuming we have no choice but to eliminate Gregory, we’ll need to move Yol to the new host. Paula Kim is already standing by in Dublin. We’ll get the details once Tao lets us in on them. It could be as simple as walking in and checking Gregory out, or it could require a complicated infiltrate and eliminate scenario.”

  “Infiltrate and eliminate?” Roen clicked his tongue.

  Infiltration is one of my specialties.

  “Is that a fancy word for breaking and entering?”

  Semantics, but if this mission is to go through, there are a few things we need to do. We have some loose ends to tie up.

  “When do we leave?” Roen asked.

  “When you get your butt to the airport,” Sonya replied. “The rest of the team is already on their way there.”

  Tell her I need some time to take care of an important matter.

  Sonya frowned and checked her watch when he told her Tao’s request. “Don’t bail on us, Tao. I know you’re thinking about it. 1500 hours at the airport. You better be there.”

  Roen nodded and turned to leave. “What do we have to do, Tao?”

  You will see. Prepare yourself, Roen. This is not going to be pleasant.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  LOOSE ENDS

  I made my way to Spain. By then, the Black Death had passed, and a rebirth, a Renaissance, was sweeping over Europe. I ran into an old Quasing friend, Chiyva, who I thought shared my ideals. Together, we searched the land and found Rianno and Francisco Cisneros, two brothers who would be suitable hosts. The four of us were close, and it was here that I connected with other dissident Quasing, disillusioned with the decisions of the Council. It was time for a change in our approach toward humans. We began to nurture the seeds of that change.

  Roen left the safe house shortly after and made the long walk back to his apartment to clear his thoughts about ending Gregory’s life. In a strange way, it felt like fratricide. His head ached and it was difficult to keep his emotions in control. He just didn’t know what to think.

  Neither Tao nor he exchanged words as he went home. Roen spent the rest of the morning taking care of personal business. He told Jill that he was being sent to training for work by his new job and would be back in two weeks, declining her offer to pick him up at the airport. He felt guilty for giving her such short notice. She herself was only back for a month before having to head back to Frankfurt in February. Now, the few precious weeks he had planned to spend with her were cut in half. As always, Jill was understanding and supportive. Roen called his parents that he was going on a last-minute vacation with a few friends. Once he had everything packed, he stopped by Antonio’s room to give him the rent check and to tell him to pick up the mail.

  Antonio raised an eyebrow at Roen’s explanation when Roen told him about traveling for work. “Again? You were just gone for almost two months. How can you be home only a few days before you have to leave again? These Bynum people seemed to be working you to the bone.”

  “It’s a new job,” Roen mumbled, his eyes wandering as he looked at everything but Antonio. “I want to start with a good impression.”

  Antonio scrunched his face as he studied Roen. Finally, he leaned back and shook his head. “You got a flush and you’re trying to sell me deuces. You’re bluffing about this trip.”

  Guy reads you like a book.

  Roen didn’t respond. He knew Antonio was onto him.

  Antonio grinned. “You’re trying to think of an excuse to lie to me right now, aren’t you? I can tell. You freeze up like that every time. So spit it out, what’s the deal? Where have you been traveling to?”

  “Oh hell Tao, I’m just going to tell him.”

  We do not have time for this.

  “It’s Tao and the Prophus,” Roen blurted out.

  That is it! You are never getting sent out as a covert operative. Your weak mental fortitude will crack under pressure the moment something happens. I can see it now. Border guard: Identification please, Mr Edwardson. Roen: All right! I am a spy! Arrest me now!

  “The... aliens again?” Antonio looked taken aback.

  Seriously, if you cannot lie your way past your roommate, what chance do you have outside?

  “I’m being sent on a mission,” Roen finished lamely. “I have to go.”

  “You’re trying to save the world because the aliens told you to?” The disbelief in Antonio’s voice was painful.

  I mean, can you stop telling the truth every time someone asks? Or at the very least, just tell him it is none of his business.

  “I can’t, Tao. He’s my best friend.”

  “Just tell anyone who asks that I’ll be back soon and that I’ll call them,” Roen replied aloud.

  Antonio shrugged. “It’s your life, buddy. But do me a favor and just be careful, wherever the hell you’re off to. And if it is some girl, I am not covering for you with Jill. I like her more than I like you.”

  “Traitor.” Roen shook his head and grinned. He turned to leave and then stopped. “Antonio, if for some reason, I don’t make it back...”

  Tao groaned, inwardly.

  “I can have your stuff?” Antonio said cheerfully.

  “Of course.” Roen grinned. “But if I don’t, tell everyone I’m sorry.”

  Antonio nodded. Roen left his apartment and felt very alone in the elevator as it sped down to the garage. The Prophus had replaced his car yet again with a busted-up black Hyundai. He wasn’t sure who was responsible for picking his rides, but he was sure they were getting a good laugh at his expense. He got into his car and pulled out of the garage.

  That was a little histrionic. Are you all right?

  “I’ll be fine, Tao. To the airp
ort now?”

  Not yet. We have an errand before we head out. Drive west toward the suburbs first. We have to make a stop in Naperville and talk to Edward’s wife.

  “What? Why?”

  Because I owe it to Edward. Better late than never.

  Roen said nothing more as he drove along Highway 88. He occupied his mind by weaving in and out of traffic. Driving in Chicago was bad all year round, and today was no exception.

  Tao spent most of the trip prepping Roen on what he needed to tell Kathy. It was still going to be a lie, but at the very least, it might give her closure. An hour later, Roen exited toward a suburban neighborhood, wrinkling his nose in disapproval at the single family homes with their freshly cut lawns.

  Not your kind of place?

  “I’m a city boy.”

  You will sing a different tune maybe when you have children one day.

  “If I live that long.”

  Such a pessimist. Turn in here and go up three houses.

  Roen pulled up next to a large blue house with an enormous yard. He got out and looked around, whistling at the large houses that dotted the block. It was a very nice neighborhood. Everywhere he looked were watered lawns, neatly trimmed bushes, and large trees not found in the city. A group of kids were playing across the street, and birds flitted among the trees. “This place is nice, if you like that kind of stuff,” he said reluctantly.

  One day, my friend, one day.

  Roen walked up to the door and rang the buzzer. He felt uneasy and anxious, though he wasn’t sure why. What did Tao need to talk to Mrs Blair for? Surely it had nothing to do with him? He heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

  “Who is it?” a voice said.

  “It’s um... Roen. Roen Tan,” he answered.