by M M Buckner
“Your choice, Ms. Sauvage. In order to obtain a verified identity certificate, you have to record the holos of your own free will.”
“You call this free will!”
“Let’s not quibble over definitions. Are we in accord? You’ll make the holos?”
I gritted my teeth. The pain had spread down my immaterial leg and up through my incorporeal shoulder. My hands and feet felt numb. “Let me think about it, Sprague.”
“You’re stalling.”
Naturellement I was stalling. What preter-bold leap would get me out of this mess?
“Another hour without therapy, and you’ll die,” he said.
More scare tactics, I told myself. But my head felt duck. Even the simplest train of thought eluded me. Something was happening to my body. Even in VR, those hellish bacteria were eating through my flesh.
The lawyer bailed up his snotty handkerchief and smirked at me. “We can make you well again. It’s your choice. I’ll see you in one hour, Ms. Sauvage. If you survive.”
Everybody wanted to make me well. How nice. But there were always conditions. I fell through virtual darkness like a sack of bricks and landed with a thump back in my cot in the little blue tent. A rage of coughing shook me to the spine, and those cracked ribs felt like spears prodding my guts. Vincente held my hand and dabbed gauze at my lips with a look of terrible concern. Tan sat with his back to me, monitoring the screens at his workstation.
Merida? I mouthed the word.
“She waits for your call,” Vincente told me. “Chica, I have given you more meds to stop the pain, but I can’t stop this sickness in your body. We must bargain with the witch. There is no other choice.”
“No!” I managed to wheeze. I would never trade Jin to Merida. Nor would I trade Tan and Vincente to Nome. But I would have to do something. One hour Sprague had given me. And who could guess what Merida might do. They had us caught between the devil and the deep brown sea. By the Laws of Physics, we needed a miracle.
“Luc?” I squeaked.
“We lost contact with the southerners. Tan is scanning for their signal.”
Mes dieux, that boy Miguel, he might have his fingers around Luc’s throat at this very moment. I tried to mouth a warning. Miguel. You must warn Luc about Miguel. Where was that stylus? I fumbled through the folds of my blanket. Where had I dropped the thing? I needed to write.
“Sí, muchacha, sí,” Vincente whispered, “you must rest.”
Rest? Was Vincente loco? With gut-wrenching effort, I shifted up on one elbow and gazed at Jin. He still slept peacefully in the cot next to mine. The blanket had fallen away a little, and my glance lingered on the stark, graceful angle of his shoulder blade. How splendid his hair looked, curling in damp strands across his pale skin. I longed to ask him what I should do. But chances were, if I woke him up now, he wouldn’t even recognize me. What’s this Commie actor to you anyway, Tan had asked.
Why do we make the choices that change our lives? How do we prepare for consequences we can’t see coming? It seemed like centuries ago I had flown north in my Durban Bee to find a movie star. That war in Euro didn’t belong to me anymore, so I had told myself.
Swifter than thought, I stammered, “Suradon.” The swelling in my tongue was going down a little, thanks to Vincente’s drugs. “Call Suradon,” I sputtered. The Pacific.Com CEO had never been my friend, but he was powerful. And he’d kept Nome from blasting us. Maybe he would surprise me once more and finally help his son. Maybe he would just laugh at me, I didn’t know. At least it was something to do.
19
Secrets of the Quanta Revealed
I AWOKE IN another place. Cool. Numb. Floating. The air smelted of citrus. My skin no longer burned. I opened my eyes on yellow and pink drapery flecked with tiny russet flags.
“She’s awake,” someone whispered.
“The lord must be told.”
I sat up quickly and reached for the curtains—and noticed with astonishment that my forearm had healed. I examined the back of my hand. Smooth white knuckles. I touched my face. Soft as down. I parted the pink chiffon kimono and stared at my naked body. No blisters. No ugly crusted skin. No pain. I felt whole again, new and clean and strong. I drew a deep breath and realized that both my eyes had cleared. I felt light and joyous and full of hope.
Then logic kicked in and reminded me this was a trick—Suradon’s holo-stage. Computer-generated illusion—not real at all. Tan had uploaded an old backup file of my holo-image, one I’d stored in my Net node years ago. He’d also unraveled his little orange sensor web and attached the threads to key points on my limbs and torso to give me at least a little motor control on the holo-stage. What’s more, he’d improvised an echo loop to disguise our transmission to Pacific.Com, so the Nome troopers couldn’t listen in. The kid was a meta-geek.
I drew back the bed curtains. In a shaft of golden light, three figures loomed. Judith Merida, Lord Suradon and Jin.
Jin? How had Jin come to be on the holo-stage? Mes dieux, had Tan uploaded Jin’s signal, too? In this preter-vicious VR, Jin had regained the illusion of health. His image must also have been an old backup. Maybe Suradon kept one in archive for just this sort of occasion. Jin’s body appeared tall and straight and vigorous, his skin a rich dark cinnamon, his hair thick and wavy and short—just like the first time we’d met in Rennie’s Airport Bar. It hurt me to see him this way again.
Suradon and Merida were so intent on their own conversation, they didn’t seem to notice when I crept up and sat cross-legged on the floor to watch—even though I moved with about as much grace as a sledgehammer.
“You lying bitch, this is not what we bargained for?” Suradon’s face turned crimson. His black Asian eyes glittered with rage, and he tugged at his silk collar so hard, a button flew off. “This is not a sale able product! This is a joke!”
“If you’ll only listen—”
“I don’t have time for this, Judith. The Triad’s in play. Those sharks want to tear my Com to pieces. I should be there, not here.”
“But my lord,” Merida said. I’d never heard her use that simpering tone before.
“You guaranteed this Hyperthought would sell like candy panties,” Suradon thundered. “You said your research would put Pacific.Com back on top. Judith, you know how badly I need cash flow right now—but look at him!”
Both of them turned to watch Jin. He was drawing his ciphers in the air, and a faint smite played at his lips as if he were listening to some sweet private melody no one else could hear.
“Jin, tell your father what you’ve achieved,” said Merida. “Tell him about the quantum vibrations. You heard them, I know you did. Tell him.”
“There once was a coastal kingdom, long ago in Java,” Jin chanted softly. “It could have been paradise.”
“He’s reciting a fairy tale.” Suradon’s sarcastic laughter split the air. “I’m fighting the battle of my life to save Pacific.Com, and my heir recites make-believe! I knew this would come to nothing.”
Jin focused his eyes on his father. He tilted his head with infinite melancholy, but he didn’t speak.
Suradon hammered his fist into his palm. “To think I had my ass-wipe ad agency work out the marketing plan!” He gestured, and a sheaf of holographic projections spilled through the air like pliant sheets of film. Each one displayed moving graphics. They were Net broadblast ads for Hyperthought. I caught one or two headlines: “Instant Intelligence.” “Bulk Up on Brain Power.” “Secrets of the Quanta Revealed.” When Suradon snapped his fingers, the ads crumpled into little wads and popped out of existence.
“My Lord Suradon, I’ve been running remote brain scans for the past half hour.” Merida lifted her chin, and her own sheaf of projected images fanned neatly through the air in a regular grid. They showed bright blue MRI slices of Jin’s brain, with scarlet dots blinking in every section. Merida pointed with her fingernail. “You see the red glyphs? Those are nanobot concentrations. First, the bots propagated an auxiliary
neural net throughout Jin’s cerebral cortex. Then they wove through the cerebellum and penetrated the limbic system. Approximately 15 hours ago, Jin’s brain activity soared to unprecedented levels.”
“Green trees waved in gentle breezes,” Jin’s voice drifted softly, “and the blue ocean broke on the white sand.”
I recognized those words. He was quoting that old Javanese poem about Prince Airlangga.
Suradon laughed. “You’ve made him a clown, Judith. This is not apotheosis. This is Vaudeville. Admit it, darlin’, you screwed up.”
“Listen to him, Lord Suradon, please!” Merida clutched Jin’s arm and drew him farther into the golden light. “He’s trying to tell you.”
Suradon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms with a great show of impatience. “All right, son. Now’s your chance. Tell me what you know about quanta.”
Jin shifted vaguely in my direction, and I saw a melancholy shadow deepen under his eye. Hesitantly he stuttered, “The p-prince couldn’t fight.”
“Bullshit,” Suradon huffed. “Brain enhancement, my ass. Judith, I can’t present this. The Triad would eat me alive.”
“But our agreement—” Merida whined.
“The boy can’t even speak properly. Your experiment is fucked, Judith. You lose the bet.”
“Bet! Is that all he is to you, old man?” I couldn’t hold back my anger any longer. I jumped up and marched into the light—listing a bit to the left like a top-heavy manikin. “Jin is your son!”
Suradon turned a scowl on me like a garnering of storm clouds. “He’s no worse than before. Too damned cocky for his own good.”
“La Sauvage,” Jin whispered, pointing in my direction. “Witness.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Merida’s scarlet mouth stretched into a smile. Her pretty black eyes flashed at me. “You were there when Jin’s brain activity peaked. You saw it all. Tell Lord Suradon what happened, Jolie.”
Suradon steepled his fingers and looked down his nose at me. “Jolie Blanche Sauvage, Angel of Euro. My son does make interesting choices. Greenland posted a reward for your death. You’re plenty gutsy to call me.”
Between Merida’s smile and Suradon’s ominous smirk, I was getting way more attention than I wanted. Plus, with Tan’s improvised motor controls, I was having a lot of trouble standing without falling over. Malgré tout, I had to speak. “Will you help your son or not?”
“Help him? I’m the one with the problems.” The old man lifted his hands theatrically. “The Triad wants to bust up my Com. That’s millions of people and half a continent of infrastructure, not to mention the retained capital. Generations of my family spent their lives building Pacific.Com. You’re asking me to play favorites, to put my son ahead of everyone else.”
Merida purred. “You’re in a pretty fix, pet. Tell Lord Suradon what happened to Jin, and we’ll save you as well as your friends. You’ll be well again. Nome won’t bother you anymore. And you can make that speech we were talking about earlier, to you know who.” She pretended to be talking behind her hand so Suradon wouldn’t hear. “Oh, and your little brother Luc will be fine. No more worries, pet.”
Mes dieux, but I hated Merida at that moment. She knew all my buttons, and she pushed hard. Although Jin had asked me to tell his father, I hesitated. Anything Merida wanted I automatically opposed.
“Speak, girl!” She grabbed my hair and jerked me off my feet. Even in the holograph, I felt her nails dig in. “Your comrades think you betrayed them. And they’re right, aren’t they? You ran off to pleasure yourself with an aristocrat. All those children suffocating in the tunnels. Did you forget them, pet?”
I tried to fight her, but I think Tan had cross-wired the sensors. My arms swung around loose, as if a marionette were pulling my strings. I yelled, “Let me go, you witch.”
“Running after a rich prince when your friends are dying in the war. That doesn’t look good, pet. People know you by the choices you make.” Merida released her grip on my hair, and I stumbled. The floor came up hard and hit me in the chest. I wasn’t getting any better at this motor control.
Merida said, “Make the right choice now, pet. Tell us, and save your friends.”
“Tempus fuckin’ fugit.” Suradon’s words exploded above me. “I have a meeting, ladies. Can you hold the catfights? Sauvage, do you have something to say?”
I lay sprawled on the virtual floor. When I looked up, Suradon and Merida glared down at me with shining, ravenous eyes. Their eagerness frightened me. I realized that for different reasons, they were both equally anxious to hear whether Jin had made a breakthrough. For a moment, I bit my lip and said nothing. Then I heard Jin speaking inside my head. A memory? Imagination? He said, “Jolie, keep your promise. Be my witness.”
“D’accord,” I said aloud. As calmly as possible, I sat up and crossed my legs, pretending a confidence I didn’t feel. I squinted up at the pair of them. They were hunching over me with their heads nearly touching, two black vultures silhouetted in the golden light. I spoke to Suradon. “Jin wants me to tell you, so I will. But I’m asking for your promise. Will you protect my friends?”
“Sí, pet, and we will make you well again.” Merida’s Spanic accent got thicker when she poured on the charm. “You can go back and do your duty in Euro.”
I ignored Merida and spoke only to Suradon. “There’s one other promise I want.”
Suradon’s eyes narrowed fiercely. “Do you think you can negotiate with ME?”
Excellent question. Who was I to make terms with the head of Pacific.Com? I wasn’t exactly bargaining from a position of power. Still, I carried on as usual, ignoring the obvious. “After I tell you what happened, you’ll let Jin leave with me. That’s what I want you to promise.”
Suradon hooted and clapped his hands.
Merida sneered. “We don’t need to make bargains with you.”
“Hmm, I don’t know, Judith.” Suradon grinned. “Perhaps my son would be better off with this girl. She claims to love him.” He ducked when Merida whirled to glare at him.
“That’s ridiculous. She’ll be dead in minutes.” Merida wiped her palms on the cloth of her suit and made a visible effort to regain control. Contorting her lips into a smile, she linked her elbow through Jin’s and continued more smoothly, “My Lord, I’ll redesign the nanobot. I already know what direction to take. Jin will be magnificent, and Pacific.Com will be rich. You’ll see. We don’t need this girl.”
Suradon was still wiping laugh tears from his eyes. “I wanna hear Sauvage’s story.”
“Jin asked me to tell you.” I pushed myself up from the floor and stood with my legs planted wide to keep from staggering. “He wants you to know, Suradon. Just promise to let me take Jin away from her.”
Merida marched toward me and bumped her chest against mine. She kept walking into me, forcing me to step backward. It was all I could do to stay on my feet.
“Stupid slut. I can take Jin to higher planes of consciousness. Can you? That’s what he wants. To learn more and more about the nature of the universe. Can you show him that? This last episode injured his thalamus. I can heal him. Can you make him well? No. If he stays with you, he’ll be a doddering imbecile for the rest of his life.”
I shoved Merida back. “Jin stays with me.”
Suradon chuckled. “Greedy, Sauvage. You wanna keep my son an invalid so he can’t leave you. And you call that love. That’s rich.”
Suradon’s words shot through me like a bolt. His mocking laughter drummed in my ears. Is that what I wanted? To keep Jin dependent on me? No, I wanted to keep Merida’s fingernails out of his brain. She had no intention of healing him. But…but… The old bastard’s accusation confused me.
“What do you call love?” I shouted back defensively.
Suradon’s laughter died as quickly as it had begun. “I don’t use the word.”
His hulking image towered over me, but I forced myself to face him. I was not going to let the old bugger stare me down. As we locked gl
ances, his accusation reverberated through my mind. Greedy, Sauvage?
Had I been wrong to drag Jin away from Merida? He wanted that nanosurgery. I knew how burdened he felt by all his wealth and talents. His compulsion to do the right thing hounded him, and he honestly believed Merida’s nanobot would help him make up his mind. Maybe the nanobot worked. Maybe Jin really had heard the universe singing in that blue chamber. Who was I to say? Jin had never once asked me to take him away from Merida. “Wish you were here,” those were his words. Maybe just an idle greeting from a movie star to a fan. Was I simply addicted to a screen idol? I started second-guessing.
Suradon’s stare burned into me like a searchlight, and I sensed that I should say something. He was wavering. He might actually give in and let Jin leave with me. A few well chosen words might tip the balance in my favor. But was I asking for the right thing? Scenes from the blue chamber reeled through my mind. My beautiful Jin. At the height of his vision, he’d seemed euphoric and all-seeing. If I took him away now, would he live out his life as a muddle-headed freak? Who was I to make that choice for him?
Faster even than the answer formed in my mind, I said, “Jin stays with me.”
D’accord, someone had to choose. And I’m not the girl to drag things out forever. It came down to this. Merida didn’t care if she killed him, whereas I would do everything to keep him alive. Call me greedy, arrogant, stupid. You would be right about all of that. Still, if Jin stayed alive, maybe someday another doctor could cure his brain damage. Maybe he wouldn’t be as muddle-headed as Merida claimed. Maybe someday he’d be well enough to make his own choices. For now, at this moment, I chose for him.
“I want him to live,” I said.
Gradually, Suradon’s burning stare dissolved into a tired, wrinkled smile. He remained silent only for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers like a magician. “Agreed, Sauvage. You may keep my son. Now tell us what happened.”
“Lord Suradon, you’re making a mistake.” Merida rose on the balls of her feet as if to attack.
“Quiet, Judith. Let the girl talk.”