Realms of Light

Chapter Sixteen

For a moment Grandfather Nakada sat silently in hisbig chair, staring at me. Then he said, “You think one of myuploaded relatives wants to be human again?”

“At least one,” I said. “For all Iknow, all eight of them are conspiring in this.”

“I confess, Mis’ Hsing, I don’t even knowwhether it’s technically possible to download a mind from a networkinto a human body.”

“I don’t, either. And I wouldn’t be too surethey know. That doesn’t mean they won’t try it. If they buyup Seventh Heaven they’ll have plenty of bodies to experiment on,and if they wait until after sunrise there won’t be much of anyoneleft in Nightside City to notice or care.”

The old man considered that for a fewseconds, then said, “Very little evidence and a great deal ofsupposition, Mis’ Hsing. And it doesn’t explain the attempt on mylife, or the false reports of my death.”

“They wanted a copy of you,” I said. “To getthem into Seventh Heaven. They didn’t think you’d cooperate withthem in your present form, but if you died, and an upload of youwas booted up, they thought the upload would help them. In fact, itapparently has-when you survived the assassination attempt, theyrealized a false report of your death would release the ITEODfiles, and they could copy and activate the upload you had inthere.”

“They have a copy of me?” The old man lookedshocked. I hadn’t thought anything could shock someone who’d livedthrough the last two centuries, but it seemed I was wrong. Isuppose this was a bit more personal than all that history.

And while I hadn’t originally intended tobring this up, I wanted to see how he would react to another newsitem.

“So do I,” I said. “Aboard Ukiba.”

“Hsing, you…”

He stopped in mid-sentence, staring at me,speechless.

I felt a twinge of guilt about popping thatup on the old man. I didn’t want to kill off my client, after all,and at his age any sort of shock carried a risk. “I didn’t know whoit was,” I said. “If there’s a proper catalog in the ITEOD files, Imissed it.”

He stared at me for a moment, then said, “Soyou think-you think that someone in my own family tried tokill me, just to get control of a copy of my most recentupload, as part of this scheme to use dreamers as a source of newbodies?”

“Yes, I do,” I said, “if you consider uploadsto still be family members. Remember, to an upload, that copy maybe you. She wouldn’t really be killing you at all, justswitching you to her own form of life, and even that might only betemporary.”

“An incarnationist? You think one of myuploaded relatives is an incarnationist?”

I hadn’t heard the term “incarnationist”before, but I understood right away what it meant, and what thetone of voice Nakada was using meant, as well. I had never seen theold man so flustered-in fact, until now I had never seen himflustered at all. Now, though, he seemed thoroughly scrambled. Heclearly found the idea that a member of his own family couldbelieve in the transferability of identity repulsive.

“There might be other motives as well,” Isaid.

“And there are two active copies ofme?”

“I don’t know whether theirs is stillactive,” I said. A thought struck me at the mention of the copies.“I’ll bet that… well, I didn’t find any record of any humansuspects visiting Epimetheus lately, but I’ll bet one of youruploads transmitted a copy there, and that’s who’s been running theSeventh Heaven negotiations.”

“You think there’s a duplicate of one ofthem, too?”

“And you can probably find out which bychecking transmission records.”

He blinked, and his jaw sagged slightly, andI remembered that he was still jacked in. I could guess where inthe nets he was going.

Then he was back, his face hardening.“Shinichiro,” he said. “My son Shinichiro.”

I knew the name from the family records; hiswas the most recent of the three deaths among the old man’schildren, and he had been dead for about twenty Terran years. Ididn’t know much beyond that, so I didn’t say anything.

“A copy was transmitted, just as yousaid.”

“Then I think he’s your assassin,” I said.“Or at least the ringleader.”

“But you have no proof.”

“I have no proof,” I agreed.

“Then you have not completed the job to mysatisfaction.”

“I’ve identified the assassin.”

“You’ve named a likely suspect. That’s notgood enough. To accuse my own son, I need more than this web ofsuppositions and guesswork.”

“It’s not your son,” I said. “It’s an uploadthat thinks it’s your son.”

The old man’s face froze at that, and thentook on a new expression.

I don’t ever want to see anyone look at melike that again. Usually the old man hid his emotions, kepteverything under strict control, but I’d cracked that reserveearlier, and right then it broke completely. Despair and rage werewritten in his eyes and on every feature.

Maybe it was an act. Maybe he was reallystill as cold and controlled as ever, and pasted that look theredeliberately.

I don’t think so, though. I think I hadtouched something he really cared about, said something he didn’twant to hear-and something that he knew was true.

“I talked to the copy of you aboardUkiba,” I said. “It knew what it was. It knew it wasn’t you.It knew an upload isn’t human, no matter what it’s copied from, andthat means you know it. You know that’s the truth.That upload isn’t your son. It’s an imitation, a softwareemulation.”

“It’s all I have left of him,” the old mansaid.

“But it’s not him,” I insisted. “It’ssoftware, not wetware.”

“It’s all that’s left,” he repeated, “and ifyou’re going to accuse him of trying to murder me, I need moreproof than you’ve given me so far.”

I wasn’t really surprised. He had told me hethought it was a member of the family, and he had seemed to acceptthe idea, but that was when it was theoretical and non-specific.Now that it was a particular individual, one who he apparentlyloved, it was different.

“I need access to your family networks,then,” I said. “And I’d like to interview Chantilly Rhee, andKumiko Nakada, and the upload you call Shinichiro, in thatorder.”

“I’ll arrange it.” His voice was coldagain.

Something about the way he said it beeped forme. “You know Shinichiro did it,” I said. “You just wantproof.”

“I believe that’s what I said, Mis’Hsing.”

He had obviously recovered from his moment ofshock.

“Fine. I’ll get you your proof. Maybe notenough for the law, but enough for you to be sure.”

“That is all I ask.”

“How soon can I see Mis’ Rhee?”

“I believe she should be at her desk; wouldyou prefer to speak to her in private?”

“I’d prefer to speak to her somewhere I knowthe Shinichiro upload isn’t listening.”

Even as I said it, though, I realized it wasprobably too late to keep it from learning what was going on. WhileI was sure the old man had a dozen layers of security on the officewe were in, Yoshio-sempai had checked on the medicals and onthe transmission logs, and there were probably a dozen other beepsas well-the upload might not know we had narrowed it down to asingle entity, but it must know we were getting close. It hadalready tried to kill the old man once, and just as I said, itwouldn’t even see it as murder-as far as Shinichiro was concernedhis father was safely backed up in a couple of places, and shuttingdown his original meatware was just a maintenance issue; he’d berebooted as soon as possible.

As for me, I wasn’t family, I wasn’timportant, I wasn’t anyone. Killing me was just debugging thesituation. If I was lucky it might try to buy me off instead, butif it really had access to a running copy of the Yoshio upload asimple question would tell it that wasn’t going to work.

At least, I certainly hoped the old man’sback-up would have that much respect for me; Grandfather Nakada hadcertainly claimed to when he hired me.

That brought up an interesting question,though-was Shinichiro’s copy of Yoshio-kuncooperating? Did it agree with what Shinichiro was trying to do?From what I knew of the old man’s character, I didn’t think itwould, but it might play along until it had control of itssituation.

It didn’t really matter, though; that copy ofYoshio-kun was back on Epimetheus, and I was here in theNakada compound in American City.

A lot of things were fitting together. Itmust have been a copy of Shinichiro that sent those black floatersafter me in the Trap; the copy here on Prometheus probably hadfloaters, too. It must have access to a lot of things. Ididn’t know how much control it might have over the household’senvironment-could it override the normal protocols? It had gottenat the old man’s dream enhancer, so it had obviously hacked atleast some of the systems beyond what it was supposed to be capableof using. There was no way to be sure anywhere in AmericanCity was entirely safe-or anywhere on the entire planet, really.This office might be secure, but if the old man had beenassuming a human saboteur he might have missed a way in. Ordinarilysoftware was written so that it couldn’t harm people and didn’twant to, but uploads-well, that was part of why they wereillegal most places. Uploads could do things artificials couldn’t,could go places humans couldn’t. They didn’t need to eat or sleep,and could be invisible and silent. Most of them didn’t go hackinginto secure systems, but if they wanted to, they’d be hard tostop.

If Grandfather Nakada got through this alive,he was going to need to run some serious purges.

For now, though, I was supposed to beinterviewing suspects, to demonstrate to the old man thatShinichiro was responsible for the attempted murder.

“Could we talk in here?” I suggested. Thisroom was probably as safe as I was going to get. “I don’t think I’dbe comfortable questioning her in her own office.”

“Would you prefer me to be present orabsent?”

“I don’t think it matters. You’ll berecording it, I’m sure.”

“Of course.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

He nodded. “I’ve notified her to comeimmediately.”

I nodded, and settled back in my chair towait. The old man turned to his desktop and started working onsomething, ignoring me for the moment.

It was a good chair, very comfortable, andthe cloudscapes on the walls were soothing. I found myself startingto relax.

“Mis’ Hsing,” Yoshio said, startling me backto full alertness.

“Yeah?”

“I thought you would like to know that yourbrother has come through surgery well; the implant has beenremoved, and I have convinced IRC to accept a payment in lieu ofhis services. Do you know whether he has any employment prospectson Prometheus?”

“I don’t,” I said.

“He may find breaking his contract with IRCwill make him less appealing to potential employers.”

I shrugged. “He’s a grown man. He’llmanage.”

“Considering the effort you devoted togetting him out of Nightside City, you seem surprisinglyunconcerned.”

“He’s my brother, so I care about him, buthe’s not a baby.”

“I have arranged for Guohan Hsing to betanked at Eternal Adventures here in American City as soon as hiscondition is sufficiently stable; my medical systems estimate fortyhours will be more than adequate. Obtaining his personal libraryfrom Seventh Heaven may prove difficult, however. They haveaccepted my payment for breach of contract and damages, but seemdetermined to hold his accumulated dream experiences forransom.”

“Then he can start a new library.”

“You aren’t concerned?”

“I think I’ve fulfilled my filialresponsibilities, thank you.”

“Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t seemvery fond of your family.”

“My father dumped his three kids to buy adream; do you expect me to be grateful?”

“And your brother?”

I hesitated. “I love ’Chan,” I said. “Ireally do. But… do you love your niece Narumi?”

He smiled. “I understand. Moving on, this manSingh-who is he?”

“He’s a maintenance worker from SeventhHeaven who agreed to help me in exchange for a ride to Prometheus.End of script. I got him here, contract’s complete.”

“You don’t believe him to be involved in thealleged conspiracy?”

I shook my head. “If he is, he is one fine,fine actor.”

“Is he aware that I hired you?”

I had to think about that. I hadn’t actuallytold him, but he could have asked Perkins, or Ukiba…

“I don’t know,” I said.

“In your opinion, is he likely to object to apartial memory erasure?”

It seemed the old man was already thinkingabout the clean up. “I don’t know,” I repeated. “I think it woulddepend on the terms.”

“And your brother?”

“My brother,” I said, “agreed to thatimplant IRC put in him. I don’t think he’d mind a little mentalmeddling if there was some sort of compensation.”

“Compensation can be arranged.”

“Then he’s all yours. And Dad won’t sayanything while he’s in a tank, so even if he knew anything youwouldn’t need to worry.”

Yoshio nodded. “And you?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No one meddles with my memory if I haveanything to say about it. Personal integrity aside, I can’t affordthe risk in my line of work-what if you erased knowledge of anenemy I need to defend against?” I shook my head. “No.”

“I am not surprised.”

“I didn’t think you would be.”

“Nonetheless, I thought it worth asking.”

I shrugged. Then I sat up and looked around.The door hadn’t moved; the cloudscapes still drifted undisturbedacross the walls. “When will Rhee be here?”

The old man frowned. He glanced at thedesktop, then put a hand up to the back of his neck to adjust theconnection. “I’ve lost track of her,” he said.

“What?”

“Her location is not registering.”

I reached down to where my gun would havebeen if I’d been allowed to bring it. I hadn’t been, of course; I’dbarely bothered to ask. “Are there dead areas close to thisoffice?”

“No.”

“She’s making a run for it?”

“Possibly. There are other explanations.”

“She might have been intercepted, you mean?Or your instructions never reached her, or were countermanded?”

“You grasp the situation well.”

“So Shinichiro does…” I saw the oldman’s mouth tighten, and corrected myself. “It would appear thatwhoever is behind this is aware that we’re getting close.”

“So it would seem,” Yoshio agreed.

“I need to go after her, then.” I got out ofthe chair. “Can you direct me to her last known location?”

“I can have a floater guide you…” hebegan.

But then he stopped and looked surprised.

I had been starting toward the door, butlooking back over my shoulder toward the old man, so I saw hisface, saw his eyes widen. I stopped moving, and turned to lookwhere he was looking.

That wasn’t necessarily going to let me seewhatever he was seeing, since he was still jacked in, but it’s aninstinctive thing, probably goes back a million years. I foundmyself looking at the door to the corridor.

I didn’t see anything strange, just a closeddoor, so I started walking again.

The door didn’t open. I was almost closeenough to touch it, and it didn’t budge.

“I’ve been overridden,” Grandfather Nakadasaid from behind me.

“Overridden how?” I asked, turning back.

“I can’t open the door,” he replied.

“I thought this office was secure.”

“So did I.”

That was really not what I wanted to hearjust then. “How badly are we screwed?” I asked.

He didn’t try to smooth it. “I’m not sure,”he said. “I cannot say how badly compromised the data I’m receivingis.” He pulled the plug from his neck and let it retract, thenturned to the desktop.

I didn’t wait; I ran my hand down the wall,through the images of fluffy white clouds, and found the manualemergency release. I twisted the handle, and the door cranked opena few centimeters.

I saw motion in the passageway outside, andstopped. I peered through the crack.

The blue-and-silver floater was there,hovering directly in front of the crack but turned to face awayfrom us.

Beyond it were at least two other floaters,sleek black ones, that seemed to be keeping the blue one pinned inplace.

“Father,” an unfamiliar voice said.

I turned. The desktop had lit up with aface-a face I didn’t recognize, and one that wasn’t exactly 100%human.

“Shinichiro,” the old man said.

“Father,” the desktop repeated. “We need totalk.”