Филип Керр - The Second Angel

There are two lapses of time to take account of here, although of course we now know that there has been no real change in time itself, merely the entirely understandable perception that this is what has occurred. When we meet Dallas, Gates, Ronica, and Lenina again — when they do indeed meet Kaplan — only a few days shall have elapsed.

After the meeting with Kaplan, the second lapse of time that occurs is rather longer, being of several months in duration — winter shall have become summer.

I dare to mention these not for the purpose of once more drawing myself to the reader’s attention but to say something about the nature of time — in part, I have already done so — and life itself This is something that will help to prepare the general reader for that which follows. It need not be understood, merely recognized (in the same sense that while most people recognize the existence of gravity, they do not necessarily understand how it works in a way that would enable them to explain it to someone else) that the quantum nature of the universe affects everything — physics, evolution, what can be computed, and what can be known.

The notion of time is basic for physics, and quantum theory, which was originally developed to explain the properties of atoms and molecules, quickly rendered Newton’s concept of an absolute ideal of time obsolete. Time is now recognized to be a quantum concept. Important, yes, but of much greater significance is the smaller matter of life itself — something else that classical Newtonian physics could never quite accommodate. Because life is not something governed by the laws of physics. The fact is that life is one of the laws of physics, as fundamental to the universe as time and space are themselves; and just as the inherent power of physics may be harnessed and unleashed in the shape of a nuclear weapon, the same is true of life. This is the key to understanding. Given another epoch why shouldn’t everything be understood? After all, and to speak figuratively, there is so much more of the future than there is of the past.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, and in a big way. The second lapse of time will find our characters in space, orbiting Earth, and on their way to the Moon for the purpose of robbing the First National Blood Bank, and to find the new life that awaits them there. Before that, as I said earlier, we have to introduce them all to Kaplan.

He was an unnerving man to look at because he looked so very like a spider. It has already been mentioned that he was the victim of a bone-wasting disease that left him confined to a walking machine. What has not yet been explained is that Kaplan’s walking machine was an arachnidroid, [87] The Mygalomorph 8, designed by General Dynamics. an intelligent control system equipped with eight legs, each with its own artificial nervous system. A spiderlike robot had the advantage of always having four legs on the ground at the same time, thus forming a very stable platform for a human passenger, without any loss of speed or mobility. Each hydraulic leg was five feet long with four independent motorized joints that helped the droid both to surmount the most difficult obstacles and to achieve a top speed of almost thirty miles an hour. Kaplan occupied a gimbaled harness on top of the droid’s abdomen. It was hardly surprising then that Kaplan should be known as the Spider, nor that he was almost as interested in these common terrestrial creatures as he was in controlling the supply of illegally obtained human blood.

Gates and Dallas met Kaplan in the disused mosque where he had his headquarters. Built during the last years of the twentieth century, before the anti-Muslim pogroms that accompanied the Great Middle Eastern War, [88] 2013–2015. the building was essentially an open space, roofed over, with a minaret used by Kaplan’s men as a communications tower and lookout post. Inside the mosque itself thermoelectric Persian carpets covered the marble floor, helping to heat the lofty, echoing interior against the winter cold. At one end of the floor, and pointing in what had once been the direction of Mecca, was a tall semicircular niche [89] Mihrab. once reserved for the prayer leader, [90] Imam. and now the spot where Kaplan had what he called his web. The interior of the niche was covered in relief tile-work with a classic three-dimensional cobweb design, replacing the Qur’anic inscriptions placed there by the original architects as a reminder of the faith. To the right of the niche was a set of stone steps that led up to the pulpit once used by a preacher [91] Khatib. but which now functioned as the vantage point for two heavily armed bodyguards.

‘Nice place you have here,’ remarked Gates.

‘I sincerely hope you’re not going to try and be amusing,’ said Kaplan, tapping the floor impatiently with one of his eight legs. ‘Because you’d be wasting your time, and more importantly, you’d be wasting mine. There’s very little I find amusing that doesn’t involve some kind of bipedal suffering. If I do have a sense of humor, it’s the cardinal kind, as devised by Galen, [92] Galen of Pergamum, born A.D. 129, died circa 199. Distinguished Turkish Anatolian physician whose influence dominated European medical thought throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. specifically blood. Until he came along people believed that the arteries carried air, not blood, and that when someone was cut the blood rushed in to fill the gaps, as it were. His interest was academic, of course. Mine’s purely financial. So don’t waste my time. Where is it — this large supply of blood that Reinbek told me you have access to?’

‘I wouldn’t say that access is exactly the right word,’ said Gates. ‘Let me explain.’

‘Yes, I think you had better.’

‘My partner and I are intent upon securing a market for our supply before we go and get it. And of course you are the major—’

‘Do you mean to tell me that you don’t actually have this red sea you spoke of?’

‘Not as such, no.’

‘Where is it?’

‘In a bank.’ It was Dallas who answered, with an insouciance that Gates found more than a little unnerving. ‘To be exact, the First National Blood Bank, on the Moon.’

‘Yes, I know where that is,’ Kaplan said testily. ‘Is this a joke? If so, then it’s even less amusing than the first one.’

‘It’s no joke,’ said Dallas, looking around the mosque’s interior like a curious tourist.

‘Then do I understand you correctly? You’re planning to rob the First National?’

‘Yes.’

‘Any particular reason you picked that bank?’ asked Kaplan.

‘Yes,’ Dallas said again. ‘It has by far the largest supply of blood. Over twenty million liters: forty million units. It’s the first choice in component storage,’ he added, parroting the advertising slogan that appeared in every magazine and on neon signs throughout the Zone.

‘With good reason,’ said Kaplan. ‘It’s impregnable. The high-security environment that protects the place is the very best. The state of the science.’

‘Thank you.’

‘If I sound like I’m stating the obvious, it’s because the obvious seems to need repetition,’ said Kaplan. ‘The place is impregnable. You do know that.’

‘I should know,’ said Dallas. ‘I did design the place.’

Kaplan was silent for a long minute. He rocked up and down on all eight legs and then, slowly, walked out of the niche until he stood only a few inches from Dallas. ‘Did you say what I thought you said?’

‘Yes. I said I designed the bank. And many others like it. Until a few days ago I was chief designer at Terotechnology. I assume you’ve heard of that company.’