Nexus

29 MADNESS EVERYWHERE

A taxi driven by one of the armed Thai military types took Kade and Sam to the conference after lunch. Kade stood near his poster on mouse-to-mouse spatial memory sharing via machine-learning mediated nanoprobe connections. The growth factors had nearly healed the bruise on his face. What little remained was covered in concealer.

He could see Sam hovering around, pretending to view the other posters. She felt tense and alert through the link. Two more of the men from the safe house orbited around in shirts and blazers, god knew what tucked away underneath there. They made a show of looking at posters.

The crowd came and went. Students and professors made comments, asked questions. Kade fielded them as quickly as he could, repeating himself again and again, constantly thronged. It was clear his poster was making waves. He wished for a glimpse of Narong in the crowd. There wasn't.

Sajja came by, admired Kade's poster. Kade wished he had the note in his pocket. Wished he had some way to warn them.

"Have you seen Narong?" he asked Sajja.

"I think he's sick," the other student said. "Didn't show up with his poster today. It must be really bad for him to miss his poster session."

Kade nodded.

Not that I could have warned him, he thought.

More professors and students came and went. An hour passed.

And then another visitor arrived.

[sam] Heads up. Shu en route.

[sam] Don't do anything stupid.

Kade felt the Nexus bridge to Sam go down. He looked up at the crowd, and there she was, Su-Yong Shu. He could barely see her through the throng in front of his poster. Elegant and stately as ever, going from poster to poster, taking her time, smiling and saying encouraging things to the students.

Save me from the ERD, he wanted to tell her.

But then he would just be someone else's slave.

He was fielding a question when the crowd parted and Shu stepped through. Everyone went silent. Her eyes touched on the concealed bruise on his temple and her expression changed immediately.

"Kade," she said. "What happened?"

Are you hurt? Shu asked him.

He touched his temple, smiled ruefully. "I got mugged. Late last night. It was no big deal. They just took a little bit of cash."

He heard people react, whisper about it. A mugging.

We're being observed, he sent her. They know we communicated via Nexus last night.

Shu's eyes went faraway for a moment, then snapped back to reality.

"Walk with me."

"My session goes until 4 o'clock, Professor…"

"It will wait," she pronounced. Then to the crowd around them. "Please forgive me. I'll bring him back shortly."

And then she was leading him by the hand through the stunned throng. A murmur went through them. Su-Yong Shu had just snapped him away!

She led him away towards the cafeteria. He could see Sam and one of the military types watching out of the corner of their eyes. But what could they do? His assignment was to get close to SuYong Shu. They ordered tea, sat at a table near the window.

"So," she said. "Tell me about your schedule. When could you be free for a week or so to visit? And do you know Rangan's schedule as well?"

Kade started to walk her through the experiments they had planned for the rest of the year, when there might be a hole. A moment later, he felt her in his mind.

Open to me. Show me what happened, she sent.

He could feel her mind touching his in other ways, weaving a false set of memories to cover their conversation even as they spoke.

Are we being watched? he asked.

You are bugged, but they will not detect our real conversation. Not this time.

Kade waxed poetic about the need to book lab time months in advance, and how that would affect his calendar for the rest of the year.

I have a lot to learn, he sent her.

Yes, you do. Now show me.

He did. She absorbed it in an instant.

I did not do this thing, she told him.

He felt a cold, vast anger inside her. The attack on him offended her. It made her furious.

I know, he replied. You could have taken me any time you wanted.

Someone wants to make you a slave, Shu told him. Someone wants your secrets.

Do you know who? he asked her.

No, but I intend to find out.

Could it be Professor Ananda? Kade asked. He's one of their other suspects.

She mentally shook her head. Not Ananda.

Or Ted Prat-Nung? he asked.

Shu looked at him sidelong this time. He caught a sense of… something. Not Thanom.

They talked logistics out loud for a time. Flights. Lodging. Who to meet. Rangan's schedule.

Can you help me about Friday? he asked her. Help me warn them? Some way that the ERD doesn't find out?

Your government has made you a slave, Kade. If you want my help, come with me now to Shanghai. Break free of these chains.

The temptation was strong. To have a mentor he could trust, that he could turn to. To work towards real goals and not spend all his time hiding them…

But he would be a slave there too. He would be making weapons. There would be blood on his hands.

I'm sorry, he sent her. I can't accept the price you pay.

I won't pay that price forever, Kade. There will come a day when we will be free and the humans will no longer have us under their thumbs.

She had so much anger inside. She hated them. He caught a flash of her mentor, Yang Wei, burning to death…

She watched him die, he realized. How would that affect me?

He shook it off. It didn't matter.

I'm sorry, he sent her. This isn't just my life on the line. There are more than a hundred people whose futures are at stake. I can't let them down.

They're humans, she sent him. You're more valuable. You're wasting your potential.

I'm human too.

You're more, Kade. You're transhuman now. And you can be so much greater still.

Everyone could be greater, he sent. This is about choice and freedom, right? About everyone's potential.

The world needs leaders, Kade, she sent him. After we tear down the old order, there will be a vacuum. Who will rule? Giving full power to everyone would be like putting guns in the hands of children. In time we'll uplift some, but I need a core group of people like you to fill that initial void. You will always be one of the elite.

Ruling… he replied. One of the elite…

There is no other way, she sent.

Who decides who gets to be part of that elite? he asked her. Who decides which people get uplifted?

Whoever takes the initiative, Kade. Whoever wins the war to come. I intend that to be me. You can be on the winning side.

He saw it through her eyes. The old men that ruled her country and his, on their knees, giving way to the new order, or burning. Dying. Everywhere burning.

It was too much. Head reeling, he stumbled to his feet, backed away from her. He mumbled some word of farewell aloud. Her disappointment followed him. He turned and shambled in a daze back towards his poster. He felt her web of false memories knit itself shut around the conversation they'd just had. He hardly cared.

Her final thoughts followed him. One day you'll see the truth, Kade. The humans are the enemies of the future. They hate us. They hate our beauty and our potential. Either they hunt us down and kill and enslave us, or we rise above them and take our rightful place in this world. There are no other options.

Madness. Madness everywhere. The ERD would make him a slave. Shu would make him a tyrant and a killer. He had to find some other way.