Nexus

20 ONLY HUMAN

Consciousness returned slowly, in fragments. He was alive. His name was Kade. Kaden Lane.

Vision faded back in, slowly, disorientingly. Shu was looking at him. How long had he been gone? How long had he been back? He tried to speak, found that he could not. His heart pounded in his chest. He tried to throw his mind at hers, found that it was just as restrained. He willed his hand to move towards the phone in his pocket, and it would not obey him. The Nexus disrupter was no longer running. He tried to start it again. The Nexus OS ignored him.

A chill went up his spine. Just like that, he'd lost. Su-Yong Shu controlled him.

This is what we did to Sam, he realized.

He could feel Shu rifling through his mind, his memories. The creation of Nexus OS. The party. The bust. The briefing about her. The mission they'd sent him on.

You're a fool, Kaden Lane.

I didn't want to be here, he sent. I was blackmailed.

He felt no pity from her, no sympathy. You could have come to me, she sent. You could have told me. I would have protected you. You and I, we're alike. We're on the same side.

Are we? he wondered.

They accused you of things, Kade sent back to her. They showed me evidence. You used Nexus to kill people an to coerce them. You took over their minds like you're taking over mine.

She struck him then, with her mind. It hurt like hell. He could feel the stinging across his face, as if she'd reached out with her right hand and slapped him. Harder. Like she'd broken bones in his face, left him bleeding and bruised. He couldn't even flinch. He blinked, breathed in through his nose. His face ached. Tears welled up in his eyes.

You arrogant child, Shu sent to him. How dare you lecure me on morality. Do you know the things those monsters you serve have done? Here. See them!

He saw images from Shu's mind. A Chinese scientist found dead in a Saigon brothel; a Range Rover, found at the foot of a cliff in the Australian outback, bodies charred beyond recognition; a famous Indian AI researcher, no identifiable pieces of her remaining after a car bomb in Delhi; an American geneticist, found in an apparent suicide in his home; more.

The worst. Yang Wei, her mentor, the Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist who'd trained her, one of the greatest minds she'd ever known, burning to death, trapped in his limousine after the Americans had attacked it, dying in agony as Shu watched helplessly.

Her mind was full of rage, full of hate. She despised them.

They kill to stop progress, she sent, to stop science that frightens them. To stop our evolution. How could you work with them?

Kade trembled. They called you a killer. They said you helped your government assassinate people. You built the tools.

Su-Yong Shu sighed mentally. She emanated regret. They used the tools I built, yes. My government is little better than yours. They take science, and they pervert it.

So it was true, then. They'd used her tools to kill.

They'll do the same to you, Shu sent to him. They'll use your tools in ways you never intended.

I won't let them, he replied.

Shu mentally scoffed at him. They won't ask your permission.

I'll stop them, he told her. I will.

Another image bubbled up in Kade's thoughts. Su-Yong Shu in front of rows of identical Confucian Fist soldiers, arms spread widely as if to say "ta-da!" They said you helped China make soldiers. Clone soldiers. Human robots.

Her mind hardened in anger.

There's one right behind you. Why don't you ask him what he thinks? She sounded cold, dangerous.

The hand on his shoulder.

Feng's voice echoed laughter in Kade's mind. Robot! I like it. Robot's strong, made of titanium and carbon fiber. Bulletproof!

"Feng," Shu said aloud, "why don't you sit and help us with this food? We seem to have more than we need."

Feng sat next to Kade, heaped a plate up with food, radiating appetite and amusement.

You're a clone, Kade sent him, a slave. They showed me.

Feng laughed in Kade's mind again, his mouth full of noodles. Clone, yeah. Like I told you, big family! Lots of brothers. Slave? That's what they wanted. But I'm free. My brothers too. Thanks to her.

"Mmm, good noodles!"

Shu cut in. I could not tolerate the thought of posthumans as slaves to mere humans.

Dr Shu, I give up, Kade sent. I'm sorry any of this happened. How can I persuade you to let me go?

Shu sipped her tea, her face turned towards the lightning coming down east of Bangkok. "I think the storm's coming closer," she said. "Don't you?"

Kade felt some control of his body return. He turned to look. Maybe the lightning was a little closer. It was hard to say.

You're a very dangerous man, Kaden Lane. Your government is right to fear you. This technology we have is explosive in its potential. How could baseline humans compete with us?

I don't mean to harm anyone, he told her. I never did.

You're only barely in control of your own mind, she scoffed. Your intentions mean next to nothing right now.

Kade said nothing. They sat in silence for a moment.

Come to my lab, she sent him. Accept the postdoc. Let the ERD think you're spying for them.

That hatred for the ERD. He could feel it at every thought of them.

Shu continued. We can feed them enough to keep them at bay. And in the meantime, we'll do some remarkable things of our own.

It washed over him. Images and plans from her mind. Mere glimpses. Paths towards boosted intelligence. Uploading minds from brains and into computers. Savant-like cognitive powers. Super memory. Pattern recognition that would put any data miner to shame. Knowledge banks shared mind to mind. True merger into group beings. Transformations of politics, economics, art… Intelligence and creativity that could pry apart the deepest mysteries of physics, of math, of every science known to man.

She would change the world. She would lift the human mind to new heights. He could be part of it. A posthuman, upgraded through her knowledge, empowered to help build this new world.

It was intoxicating. It was everything he wanted. How could he possibly say no?

Never swallow what they're selling whole. Ilya had said that. He had to fight to hang onto his skepticism, to push back against this seduction.

Would your government pervert my science as well? he asked her. Would they turn my discoveries into weapons?

Shu looked out at the horizon. He could feel the edges of her thoughts. She was thinking of something that had happened a long long time ago.

We hide the most important work, she said. But we have to give them some progress. For now.

And when does it stop? he asked.

Soon, she sent him. She sounded cold and distant in his mind. There is a war coming. A world war. Not between China and America. Between humans and posthumans. You see it all around you. The humans are doing everything they can to prevent the posthuman transition from occurring. While we are struggling to be free of their controls.

War. He turned the word over in his mind. A world war. People will die.

Look at the big picture, Kade. Imagine a world full of beings as far beyond humans as humans are beyond chimps. That is the future we could inhabit. That is a future we could help bring about. Doesn't that sound like a worthy goal?

It did. She knew it did.

Isn't that something worth making some sacrifices for? she asked him.

He struggled for the right words, the right way to explain it.

Other people's lives aren't yours to sacrifice, he sent.

Shu shrugged mentally. The world has more than eight billion people on it, she sent. Surely we can afford to lose a few.

That's what it came down to then. Would he be willing to let a few die to make the world a better place? A few dozen? A few thousand? A few million? Where would he draw the line?

Who would he kill for the freedom to improve his own mind? Who would he kill to rise to new heights? Who would he kill so that posthumans might be born?

Shu caught the thrust of his thoughts. This is directed evolution, she sent. How many generations would this take natural selection? Millions? The faster we uplift ourselves, the fewer who need die. Join me. Help move the work forward.

War. War over the human condition. War for the right to change oneself. War to create humanity's successor species. War to usher in a utopia. Had it begun already? Was the ERD an army, fighting to keep posthumans from coming into existence?

And evolution. Evolution was a bloody process indeed. War would mean epic numbers of dead.

It was too much for him. He was in over his head. He needed to step back, collect himself.

I need to think about this, Dr Shu.

He did his best to stay calm. This was too much, too much. It's a lot all at once, he sent.

She looked him in the eye. He could feel her evaluating him, feeling out his mind.

Of course, she replied.

Shu nodded, picked up the thread of their out-loud conversation. "Feng, what do you think of the weather?"

Feng lifted his eyes from his food to the horizon.

"Definitely coming this way," Feng said. "Rain here again in half an hour."

A thought struck Kade. Why don't you leave China? Why not come to the US?

Shu snorted mentally. I'd be even less free in your country. My government doesn't object to posthumans, so long as the first posthumans are Chinese. They want control. Fools. As if such beings will be bound by nationality.

So why not go somewhere else? Here in Thailand, maybe?

We're not all so free. He got a sense then, of an obligation, a mother's love. An image of a young girl, long black hair, dark eyes. Her daughter.

Her name is Ling, she sent him. It means "compassion."

She's your daughter.

Yes.

She's the leverage they have over you? he asked.

She's part of it, Shu replied.

Kade caught a glimpse of something else, then. An image of Shu, a younger Shu, a pregnant Shu, her belly huge, in a surgical theatre, her skull shaven, frightened, alone, in pain, about to go through something no one else had yet survived… And then something so huge it sent him reeling. A network of processors, vast computing power, vast storage. An incredible mind, epic in scope, something that subsumed Su-Yong Shu, stretched beyond her.

"Oh my god." He said it out loud, before he could control himself.

"Yes, it's beautiful." She was staring out at the sky, covering his gaffe.

Is that you? he asked her. You're an upload? You were sick… Is that it? You were forced to try. And you succeeded. You're the first digital being…

His mind was spinning. He was trying to make sense of the glimpse he'd seen.

She didn't answer for a moment. Kade felt the dread and awe climb up his spine, set the hairs on the back of his neck on end, chilling him even in the warm Bangkok night.

Please, she replied, I shouldn't have let you see that. The less you know, the safer for both of us.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the lightning illuminate the eastern sky.

"I think you should come visit my lab in Shanghai," Shu said aloud. "And perhaps your collaborator Rangan Shankari as well. You'll get to see the lab, meet the other postdocs and graduate students, some of the other faculty. We can get a better sense if there would be a good fit."

Say yes, she urged him. Your masters will believe you've done your part. We'll have time to discuss more later.

Thank you, Kade sent to her.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Thank you for the invitation."

The check came.

Feng went to fetch the car, left them watching the storm approaching on the horizon. Lightning struck again, closer. Thunder boomed seconds later. Raindrops touched the far side of the river.

"Come, Kade," Shu said a few minutes later. "Feng will have the car by now. We can drop you off at your next engagement." He felt her release him fully, then. His body and his mind were his once more. It felt good.

The Opal pulled around, glistening in the rain that was now beginning to fall. Feng held open the door for Shu, and then for Kade, and then they were on their way. They drove in silence for a few moments, before Shu reached out to him again.

You will need to choose soon, Kade. Organizations like the ERD exist to stop humans from taking the next step. Conflict is inevitable. She paused. You have to decide if you're on the side of progress… or on the side of stagnation.

Kade considered that.

I'm on the side of peace, he sent, and freedom.

Shu mentally chuckled. You are so naïve.

Kade didn't reply. Wet, neon-streaked streets slid by outside the car's windows.

Kade, Shu sounded more serious now, the ERD will probe your memories of our dinner. We must prepare you for that, with an alternate script. Open yourself to me.

Do I have a choice? he asked her.

I won't force you. But if our conversation is unearthed by the ERD, it will not go well for you or those you care about.

False memories. Again. Yet she was right.

Will I forget what just happened? he asked her.

Oh no. I am not so crude. You will remember. But I will give you a second set of memories you can share with others. You will only forget the truth if you are under duress.

Kade sighed. There was no way around this.

OK, he sent her. Let's get on with it.

He opened his mind to her. Her thoughts flowed into him, suffused him, pressed all else aside. Consciousness receded.

When he came to, he felt the same. Then she showed him, and he understood. He remembered the truth. And he remembered an alternate event, just a slight twist on what had actually happened.

It awed him. In minutes she'd made a change to his mind of a subtlety and sophistication he wouldn't have believed possible. His mind could be completely hers, Kade realized. Shu could do anything with him that she wanted. The scope of her ability to manipulate his mind was staggering.

She was posthuman already.

Wats watched through the scope of the rifle as the man with the all-too-familiar face left Shu and Kade and headed back to the car. Wats used the scope to capture images of that face and video of his gait. Who was this man who was driving Shu?

Could he be wrong on the face? He didn't think so. The last man to wear that face had made a powerful impression. He'd killed four heavily augmented special forces Marines with his bare hands before they'd taken him down. That wasn't something Wats was likely to forget.

Could this be the reason the ERD had sent Kade here? Did it have to do with this man? With Shu?

If so, why Kade?

And did this have anything to do with the monk who'd followed Kade and Cataranes to their hotel the night before?

The unknowns were piling up.

The car was coming around to the front of the restaurant now. Wats packed up his gear and prepared to follow.