Realms of Light

Chapter Nineteen

The clean-up wasn’t really all that bad; the suddenshut-down had set off alarms all over American City, and emergencyservices had been on the way before we were out of the tunnel. Noone died, despite the power outage; the worst injury was aconcussion where a masseuse had tripped over a box in the dark andhit her head on the table. Ordinarily the table would have beensoft enough to avoid serious injury, but without power the flexionfields had vanished and the internal mechanisms had locked inplace, creating hard spots.

Ukiba became Grandfather Nakada’spersonal fortress; he refused to let anyone aboard except himself,me, and Captain Perkins. Even Singh was no longer welcome. I waspretty sure he didn’t want anyone to find Yoshio-kun.

It had been the old man’s upload that tookcharge when the power went out, using the link that had been set upso it could keep Shinichiro distracted; it had lit up the ship toserve as a sort of beacon, and had sent orders to the floaters toassume formation and await further instructions. We didn’t tellanyone that; when outside floaters and rescue workers startedarriving they were directed to ignore the ship and attend to thecompound buildings.

The city immediately offered to run temporarylines in to restore power, but Grandfather Nakada rejected theoffer. He also refused to say how the outage came about, but he didtell the authorities that it was his problem, on his property, andhe would take care of it.

We had the ship, but the rest of thehousehold would have to find temporary quarters elsewhere-the oldman said power wouldn’t be restored for days. He watched as thecompound’s inhabitants and guests were brought out of the lightlessbuildings one by one, into the glare of the big emergency lightsthe city had sent and set up on all sides. They were guided out byfloaters, and by rescue workers carrying small lights and coms. Theold man acknowledged each refugee and directed each of them tosafety, pointing some to a line of waiting cabs, sending others tothe medical station the city had set up, and leaving a few to theirown devices.

He let Singh go off to help with the rescues,but he kept me close at his side, and I stood there, feelinguseless, as the buildings were emptied of humanity and the skyoverhead faded to black. Eta Cass B rose in the east balefully red,changing the color of the shadows, and I was still keptwaiting.

I would have been happy to help get peopleout, or clean up damage, but Grandfather Nakada wouldn’t allow it,and I was fairly sure it was because he didn’t trust me to keep mymouth shut about his family secrets.

And then came the moment the old man had beenwaiting for-an old woman emerged from one of the family residences,a young man from the city holding one arm, a floater watching herclosely from above and behind her head. She was unsteady on herfeet, her expression a mix of terror and confusion.

“Kumiko,” the old man called. “Come here,daughter.”

She looked up and saw him, and trembledvisibly. She stopped in her tracks.

“Turn on your gun,” Yoshio told me quietly.Then he called to the man helping her, “Bring her here,please.”

I powered up the HG-2, but I wasn’t happyabout it. I’d never shot a human being. I’d threatened a few when Iwas angry enough, but I had never pulled the trigger, and I hadnever pointed a gun at one when I wasn’t awash with adrenalin.

I give the rescue worker credit; he askedKumiko if she wanted to come before he brought her over. Sheobviously didn’t want to, but she knew she couldn’t avoidit, and told him that she would speak to her father.

When she was a meter away he settled her ontoan equipment locker, and told the rescue worker to leave.

“You’re sure it’s okay?” he said, looking ather.

“He’s my father,” Kumiko said. “I’ll befine.”

The man gave Grandfather Nakada an unhappylook, then turned and headed back to see if he could find anyoneelse.

When he was safely out of unaugmentedearshot, the old man said, “I am disappointed in you,daughter.”

“I don’t understand, Father,” she said, eyesdowncast.

The old man gestured to me, and I raised mygun, aiming it in her general direction. I didn’t lock it on,verbally or otherwise.

“If you are going to conspire against me,”Yoshio told her, “you should commit to it, and not abandon yourpartner after a single failed assassination attempt.”

I watched, weapon ready, as she thought thatover, and considered various responses. I give her credit; shenever looked at the gun. Then she said, “I didn’t expect him to getas close as he did, Father; you were always smarter thanShinichiro. I agreed to help him to see what would develop. I couldsee commercial possibilities in his scheme to use dreamers toprovide new bodies for uploads. Killing you for control of thefamily-that was stupid, and I should have told him as much. Iassumed you would survive, and that we could then use the householdsecurity staff to find a scapegoat-Shinichiro’s control of thehousehold systems should have made that easy. I didn’t expect youto go outside, to hire this person, and send her to Nightside Cityto investigate Seventh Heaven.”

Grandfather Nakada considered that, andnodded thoughtfully. “You might be telling the truth,” he said.

She didn’t bother to insist on her story;they knew each other better than that. She glanced back at theresidence behind her. “What happened?” she asked.

“I used drastic measures to remove Shinichirofrom control,” Yoshio said. “I could not tell where he hadpenetrated and where he had not, so I shut down everything.”

“You did it? Not Shinichiro?”

“I did it.”

“Is Shinichiro…” She hesitated. The wordthat had obviously scrolled up first was “dead,” but she knew herbrother was long dead. “Did you erase him?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you going to?”

“No.”

Startled, I turned, and swung the gun around.“It tried to kill you,” I said.

“Nonetheless, it is all that remains of myson,” the old man replied calmly, ignoring the HG-2 that was nowpointed directly at his belly.

“What are you going to do?” Kumikoasked.

“Shinichiro had proposed to make uploads ofthe dreamers, and run them in their own fantasy worlds,” Yoshiosaid. “I think it would be fitting to allow my son’s memory to testthe feasibility of this idea. It should not be impossible forSeventh Heaven’s programmers to create a fantasy version ofPrometheus in which I died in the service tunnel beneath myresidence, and my son was restored to human form.”

Neither of us knew what to say to that; aftera few seconds of awkward silence, Grandfather Nakada addedwistfully, “I will be able to visit with him in his dream-world,playing the role of my own upload. I think it would be pleasant tospeak with my son in this fashion.”

I needed several seconds to absorb this. “Thedreamers know their dreams aren’t real,” I eventually pointed out.“Do you think Shinichiro won’t figure it out?”

“I honestly don’t know, Mis’ Hsing,” the oldman said. “I don’t believe anyone has ever sold an upload the dreambefore.” He waved a hand. “If he does realize the truth, I cansimply have him rebooted.”

Kumiko shuddered at that. Then she asked,“And me?”

Yoshio smiled. “I think, daughter, that Ihave not paid you enough attention of late. I hope we will be veryclose in the future.”

Kumiko hung her head and said nothing, but Iwas not satisfied. “That’s all? No memory wipe or anything?” Iasked.

“That’s all. I do not tamper with the mindsof members of my own family.”

“She conspired to kill you.”

“I do not believe she will do so again. Iwill be changing my will, of course, to remove future temptation,but I doubt it’s necessary.”

“You’re going to trust her?” I demanded.

The old man’s smile twisted wryly. “Oh, Ihaven’t trusted her since she reached puberty, Mis’ Hsing,” hesaid. “Why would I start now?”

I realized I was still pointing the gun athim. I raised it slightly higher. “You trusted me,” I said.“What if I’m not satisfied with letting her run loose?”

He shook his head, still smiling. “You won’tshoot me, Hsing. You won’t shoot Kumiko, either. You are in noimminent peril, and it is not in your nature to kill a fellow humanbeing in cold blood.”

“Are you sure of that?” I said, pressing thebutton that made the gun whine as if homing in on a target.

“In fact, I am. Before hiring you I checkedinto your background extensively, and had a full psychologicalanalysis done. You might kill in self-defense, or in moments ofanger or stress, but shooting an unarmed human under circumstanceslike these? No. I am sure.”

I wanted to call his bluff. I wanted to blowhis brains out. The damned superior old man treated me like a toolhe could use as he pleased, and I resented it.

But he treated everyone as mere toolsor game-pieces, and he was right. It wasn’t a bluff. I couldn’tpull the trigger. It wasn’t that shooting him would get me sentstraight to reconstruction and probably a total wipe; it’s that Iwasn’t a murderer, and refused to become one.

I lowered the gun. “Has the case beenresolved to your satisfaction, Mis’ Nakada?” I asked coldly.

“It has, Mis’ Hsing.”

“Then I would like my fee.”

“Your father and brother are on their way toone of the city hospitals, and a dream contract for Guohan Hsinghas been negotiated with Eternal Adventures. When you present anitemized bill, you will be paid the remainder of your fee and allexpenses.”

“Good,” I said. I started to turn away.

“However, Mis’ Hsing,” the old mancalled after me, “I would like to amend our agreement.”

I turned back. “A deal’s a deal,” I said.

“Indeed, and I will honor ours. However, Iwish to offer you another commission.”

I looked at Kumiko, standing there. “Notinterested,” I said.

“I really think you should reconsider.” Hisvoice turned cold. “I am not a good enemy to have.”

I hefted the gun. “Are you threateningme?”

“Yes, I am.”

I hadn’t expected even Grandfather Nakada tobe quite that blunt. “Why? What do you want?”

“Because you are in a position tothreaten me, Mis’ Hsing. You know too much about my family.You know what Kumiko and Shinichiro did, and what will become ofShinichiro. You know what was in my ITEOD files in Nightside City.You know what Shinichiro intended to do with Seventh HeavenNeurosurgery, and it’s entirely possible I may want to pursue someportion of his scheme. You have said you will not allow me tomodify your memory, and I am not going to force you-legally Ican’t, practically it would be extremely awkward to do so withoutrisking damage to your personality, and all in all, I would preferto keep our relationship one of mutual trust and respect.”

“I know how to keep secrets,” I said. Iglanced at Kumiko. He hadn’t mentioned the existence ofYoshio-kun, even though that was something he’d want to keepquiet, and I guessed it was because his murderous daughter waslistening.

“Even when you believe those secrets toendanger innocents?”

I didn’t answer that. He had my psychwork-up.

“May I tell you what commission I’moffering?”

“I’m listening,” I said.

“It’s a very simple one,” he said. “I willpay you one hundred million credits to leave the Eta Cassiopeiasystem and live elsewhere for the rest of your life.”

I didn’t take it in at first. “What?” I said.“I… what?”

He held up a finger. “No, wait-a better idea.I will pay you one hundred million credits to leave the EtaCassiopeia system and live elsewhere for the rest of mylife, or until such time as I ask you to return.”

“Live elsewhere?” I looked around a littlewildly. “Where?”

“Anywhere,” he said. “Anywhere but this starsystem.” He lifted the finger again. “No, wait again-upon furtherconsideration, anywhere but this system or Earth. NakadaEnterprises has enough interests on Earth that your presence theremight be inconvenient.”

“My sister Alison is on Earth,” I said. Ididn’t really mean to say it; I was free associating to avoidthinking about the actual offer.

A hundred million bucks. I would be rich. Oh,not by Nakada standards, but by mine.

But I would be in a strange city somewhere,on an unfamiliar planet, circling a different star.

“Perhaps we can find her for you,” he said.“She might want to join you in your new home, or if not, at leastyou can communicate with her.”

I didn’t know whether I liked thatpossibility or not; my relationship with Ali was… odd, I guess. Ihadn’t really intended to mention her. I changed the subject.

“The rest of your life?”

He nodded. “I am a very old man, and you area young woman. You should easily outlive me, and once I am gone Isee no reason to continue to restrict your movements.”

“And if Kumiko murders you ten minutes afterI leave Prometheus?”

“Then you are free to return and investigatemy death, should you so choose. It is of no concern to me what youdo after my death.”

“How do I know you won’t just have me spacedonce I’m off-planet?”

“I told you, Mis’ Hsing, I trust you. I thinkthis galaxy is a better place with you in it. And while my moralcode is far more flexible than your own, like you, I prefer not tocommit murder if I can accomplish my ends without it.”

“But… one hundred million credits?”

“It is nothing to me, Hsing; I am an old man,with far more money than I could ever hope to spend, more thanenough to leave all my descendants wealthy. It pleases me to makeyou wealthy, as well.”

I looked at Kumiko.

“This is between the two of you,” she saidstiffly. “I do not interfere with my father’s whims.”

“Do you hire assassins willing to travelinterstellar distances?” I asked.

She had the grace to look embarrassed. “Isuspect my father will make certain that I cannot do so withimpunity.”

The old man nodded.

I looked at them, and then I looked up at thesky.

It was full night now, and the compound’sscreens were all down, the buildings all dark. The portable lightswere focused elsewhere, and the glow from the city outside thecompound’s walls was not overpowering. The red glow from Eta Cass Bwasn’t enough to do more than add a little color. The air above uswas cool and clear, and I could see a handful of stars shiningagainst the blackness.

I had never particularly wanted to visitthem, but the idea wasn’t unpleasant, either.

“One hundred million,” I said. “In additionto the five million you already owe me.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll provide transportation wherever Iwant to go?”

“That was not part of the original offer, butI think I can throw it in, so long as you stay within human-settledspace.”

“Achernar? Fomalhaut? Eridania?”

“Wherever you please. Once there, you will beon your own.”

“I’ll want some time to choose.”

“And I need time to restore this place tonormal operation,” he said. “We will need to analyze every singlesystem before allowing it back online, to make sure Shinichiro’sinfluence has been removed.”

“Ten days, perhaps? That will give me time tosay my goodbyes and make sure Dad is settled in.”

“That sounds fair.”

I looked up at the stars again, at thosespots of light in the sky that were suns, with worlds circlingthem, and I wondered whether this was real. One hundred millioncredits-had I somehow wound up in a dreamtank without knowing it?Was I an upload being fed an elaborate fantasy? My father had saidI was living a life like one he might see in his induceddreams-was it all unreal?

Did it matter? If the images I saw came fromlight reaching my eyes, or projections onto my retinas, or directstimulation of my brain, did it matter? Did it make any differencewhether I was thinking with electrochemical reactions in a lump oforganic tissue, or with microcurrents through silicon and opticalfiber? I saw what I saw, and thought what I thought, and if itwasn’t real it was so perfect an imitation that it might as wellbe.

I had already left one world behind. Andreally, I didn’t even like Prometheus.

“You have a deal, Mis’ Nakada,” I said.