Ramez Naam - Nexus

Now Kade was nervous. "So you're asking me to spy on someone who could, conceivably, have me killed or something if she finds out?"

Becker smiled slightly. "Rest assured we'd pull you out immediately if we perceived you as being in any danger. And you'll have support with you at the conference. If something long-term emerges in Shanghai, you'd have support there as well."

I don't have much choice, do I? he thought. Maybe Ilya was right. We could have gone to the press, to the public…

No. It wouldn't have worked. How many stories like that had Kade heard about in the past? Had he done anything? He'd signed some online petitions. Had he rushed to people's defenses? Had scientists around the country risen up in protest? Fat chance. Everyone just kept their head down, massaged their research proposals, tried to skirt as close to the edge of what was allowed as they could without endangering their federal grant dollars. He felt sick, ashamed of himself, ashamed of his profession.

Becker closed the cover on his slate and looked at Kade.

"For the last topic, and for the technology briefing we'd like you to do for us, I turn to Dr Holtzmann. And now I must attend to other matters. Dr Holtzmann will see to your transport back to San Francisco. We'll send someone with you to confiscate any Nexus materials you have there. Aside from that, we'll be in touch shortly. We have two months until the ISFN meeting, and we'll be asking a fair bit of preparation from you, most of it to ensure your safety." With that, Becker got up, took his slate, and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

Kade's head was spinning. Technology briefing. Confiscate Nexus materials. He was having trouble breathing again. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. They were taking Nexus away from him. They were taking it for themselves. He was handing them this power, and giving up on it himself. He had to find a way to limit the damage they could do.

But how could he?

He was dimly aware of Holtzmann saying something to him.

He missed it for a moment. The idea came to him whole. Was it possible? Yes. Was there time? He had no idea.

Holtzmann said something again.

Kade snapped back to the room.

"Sorry? I missed that."

"I asked if you're well," the elder scientist replied.

No. I'm not well. But I'm not going to roll over, either. "Umm, yeah. Sorry. It's just a lot to take in."

Holtzmann nodded. "Do you need a break?"

Kade blinked. What was done was done. He could only move forward.

"No. I'm fine now. Let's go on."

Holtzmann nodded again, opened his own slate, tapped on it for a moment, and the wall screen transitioned to a new slide, showing a single graph, labeled "Su-Yong Shu: Impact Factor of New Publications."

Holtzmann spoke. "We have one last piece of background on your mission for today. It concerns Su-Yong Shu. She's an exceptional scientist. From the very beginning of her career that has been apparent. A number of years ago, however, something changed."

Kade absorbed the graph as Holtzmann spoke. Shu's impact factor rose rapidly, solidly through her early career. Then there was a break, three years gone from science, while she took time off to raise her daughter. When the line reappeared, it was markedly higher than it had been when it dropped off. And it had a new, steeper slope – rising faster and faster every year.

"As you can see, Kade, the career trajectories before 2029 and after 2032 appear quite different. Those three years represent a discontinuity. The early Su-Yong Shu showed every sign of a successful career. The Su-Yong Shu of 2032 and later goes beyond that. She shows signs of almost… superhuman brilliance."

Kade considered for a moment. "Maybe she did a lot of thinking while she was at home? Came up with new ideas?"

Holtzmann nodded. "That would produce a temporary boost upon her return. Instead, what we see is a long-term acceleration. Every year after 2032, she diverges further and further from her pre-2032 trajectory. This sort of change is unprecedented."

Kade tilted his head. "You think something changed about her. That she got smarter. Augmented."

"We have no proof…" Holtzmann said slowly. "But this is very suggestive."

Kade nodded. Her work was indeed very very good. Awe-inspiring even. "The kind of augmentation you're talking about… That's not just a little memory boost or concentration aid. It's better pattern recognition. Better creativity. You're talking about enhancements beyond anything known about in the field today…"

Holtzmann nodded. "Yes. She shows signs of being augmented in ways that surpass anything that we know of. That is something which concerns us." He paused, then continued. "And it's interesting that the first report of Nexus 1 came in 2033, just seven years ago… and one year after Dr Shu's return to science." Holtzmann let that hang in the air.

Kade frowned. "You're saying Su-Yong Shu may have created Nexus? She's not a nano-engineer."

"Do you know any nano-engineer who could have designed Nexus?"

No. Not even close . "A team of engineers…" Kade suggested.

"We've had teams of nano-engineers look at Nexus, try to reverse-engineer it," Holtzman said. "The Japanese, Germans, Brits, and Indians all have as well. No one has more than scratched the surface."

"So what are you saying?" Kade asked.

"I'm saying that Nexus may defy human understanding because it is not the product of normal human thought," Holtzman said. "It is the product of posthuman thought."

And you're sending me spy on her? Kade thought.

Holtzmann tapped his slate. The wall screen went dark and the room lights rose. "Now it is time for you to brief us on your Nexus 5 work, and transfer to us all materials you have on it – all design notes, experimental results, all of it."

Kade swallowed. "The materials are in SF."

Holtzmann raised one white bushy eyebrow.

"It's a precaution we took," Kade said. "The master code is on a system that's kept offline."

"Very well. We will do the first stage of the technology briefing now. And we'll send an officer with you back to your lab to retrieve this data. You'll hand all data and physical materials over to our officer, and he'll return them to us."

Kade bowed his head in assent. Here we go.

Warren Becker opened the door into the room where Sam stood, silently observing the briefing Kade was receiving through a viewscreen. Becker walked up to her, placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Sam. How's that injury?"

Sam nodded, put a hand on her side. "Healing, sir. The growth factors are doing their work. I should be fully fit for service in a week."

"Good," Becker said. "What did you think of the briefing?"

Sam shook her head. "There's a lot there. I wish I'd known the whole picture before the mission last night."

"Some of it was need-to-know, Sam. We didn't expect things to go the way they did last night."

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. I understand." She paused for a moment, then continued. "Sir… I'm not sure that I'm the right person for the next phase of this mission."

Becker snorted. "Sam, you're the perfect person for this mission. You have more experience with Nexus than any field agent. And you have a great alias that fits the mission needs."

"I know. It's just…"

Becker waited a moment and then prompted, "The failure of your memory implants was a valuable lesson, Sam. We'll improve the implantation process from that. You'll be better prepared for a Nexus 5 connection than any agent who hasn't experienced it."

"That's not it, sir. It's that… It's that I… I enjoyed it, sir. I question my objectivity."

Becker chuckled. "If drugs weren't enjoyable, people wouldn't abuse them. There's nothing new there."