Ramez Naam - Nexus

That's what it came down to then. Would he be willing to let a few die to make the world a better place? A few dozen? A few thousand? A few million? Where would he draw the line?

Who would he kill for the freedom to improve his own mind? Who would he kill to rise to new heights? Who would he kill so that posthumans might be born?

Shu caught the thrust of his thoughts. This is directed evolution, she sent. How many generations would this take natural selection? Millions? The faster we uplift ourselves, the fewer who need die. Join me. Help move the work forward.

War. War over the human condition. War for the right to change oneself. War to create humanity's successor species. War to usher in a utopia. Had it begun already? Was the ERD an army, fighting to keep posthumans from coming into existence?

And evolution. Evolution was a bloody process indeed. War would mean epic numbers of dead.

It was too much for him. He was in over his head. He needed to step back, collect himself.

I need to think about this, Dr Shu.

He did his best to stay calm. This was too much, too much. It's a lot all at once, he sent.

She looked him in the eye. He could feel her evaluating him, feeling out his mind.

Of course,she replied.

Shu nodded, picked up the thread of their out-loud conversation. "Feng, what do you think of the weather?"

Feng lifted his eyes from his food to the horizon.

"Definitely coming this way," Feng said. "Rain here again in half an hour."

A thought struck Kade. Why don't you leave China? Why not come to the US?

Shu snorted mentally. I'd be even less free in your country. My government doesn't object to posthumans, so long as the first posthumans are Chinese. They want control. Fools. As if such beings will be bound by nationality.

So why not go somewhere else? Here in Thailand, maybe?

We're not all so free. He got a sense then, of an obligation, a mother's love. An image of a young girl, long black hair, dark eyes. Her daughter.

Her name is Ling,she sent him. It means "compassion."

She's your daughter.

Yes.

She's the leverage they have over you?he asked.

She's part of it,Shu replied.

Kade caught a glimpse of something else, then. An image of Shu, a younger Shu, a pregnant Shu, her belly huge, in a surgical theatre, her skull shaven, frightened, alone, in pain, about to go through something no one else had yet survived… And then something so huge it sent him reeling. A network of processors, vast computing power, vast storage. An incredible mind, epic in scope, something that subsumed Su-Yong Shu, stretched beyond her.

"Oh my god." He said it out loud, before he could control himself.

"Yes, it's beautiful." She was staring out at the sky, covering his gaffe.

Is that you?he asked her. You're an upload? You were sick… Is that it? You were forced to try. And you succeeded. You're the first digital being…

His mind was spinning. He was trying to make sense of the glimpse he'd seen.

She didn't answer for a moment. Kade felt the dread and awe climb up his spine, set the hairs on the back of his neck on end, chilling him even in the warm Bangkok night.

Please,she replied, I shouldn't have let you see that. The less you know, the safer for both of us.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the lightning illuminate the eastern sky.

"I think you should come visit my lab in Shanghai," Shu said aloud. "And perhaps your collaborator Rangan Shankari as well. You'll get to see the lab, meet the other postdocs and graduate students, some of the other faculty. We can get a better sense if there would be a good fit."

Say yes,she urged him. Your masters will believe you've done your part. We'll have time to discuss more later.

Thank you, Kade sent to her.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Thank you for the invitation."

The check came.

Feng went to fetch the car, left them watching the storm approaching on the horizon. Lightning struck again, closer. Thunder boomed seconds later. Raindrops touched the far side of the river.

"Come, Kade," Shu said a few minutes later. "Feng will have the car by now. We can drop you off at your next engagement." He felt her release him fully, then. His body and his mind were his once more. It felt good.

The Opal pulled around, glistening in the rain that was now beginning to fall. Feng held open the door for Shu, and then for Kade, and then they were on their way. They drove in silence for a few moments, before Shu reached out to him again.

You will need to choose soon, Kade. Organizations like the ERD exist to stop humans from taking the next step. Conflict is inevitable. She paused. You have to decide if you're on the side of progress… or on the side of stagnation.

Kade considered that.

I'm on the side of peace,he sent, and freedom.

Shu mentally chuckled. You are so naïve.

Kade didn't reply. Wet, neon-streaked streets slid by outside the car's windows.

Kade, Shu sounded more serious now, the ERD will probe your memories of our dinner. We must prepare you for that, with an alternate script. Open yourself to me.

Do I have a choice?he asked her.

I won't force you. But if our conversation is unearthed by the ERD, it will not go well for you or those you care about.

False memories. Again. Yet she was right.

Will I forget what just happened?he asked her.

Oh no. I am not so crude. You will remember. But I will give you a second set of memories you can share with others. You will only forget the truth if you are under duress.

Kade sighed. There was no way around this.

OK,he sent her. Let's get on with it.

He opened his mind to her. Her thoughts flowed into him, suffused him, pressed all else aside. Consciousness receded.

When he came to, he felt the same. Then she showed him, and he understood. He remembered the truth. And he remembered an alternate event, just a slight twist on what had actually happened.

It awed him. In minutes she'd made a change to his mind of a subtlety and sophistication he wouldn't have believed possible. His mind could be completely hers, Kade realized. Shu could do anything with him that she wanted. The scope of her ability to manipulate his mind was staggering.

She was posthuman already.

Wats watched through the scope of the rifle as the man with the all-too-familiar face left Shu and Kade and headed back to the car. Wats used the scope to capture images of that face and video of his gait. Who was this man who was driving Shu?

Could he be wrong on the face? He didn't think so. The last man to wear that face had made a powerful impression. He'd killed four heavily augmented special forces Marines with his bare hands before they'd taken him down. That wasn't something Wats was likely to forget.

Could this be the reason the ERD had sent Kade here? Did it have to do with this man? With Shu?

If so, why Kade?

And did this have anything to do with the monk who'd followed Kade and Cataranes to their hotel the night before?

The unknowns were piling up.

The car was coming around to the front of the restaurant now. Wats packed up his gear and prepared to follow.

21

WILD AT HEART

Shu studied Kade as the glossy black Opal pulled up in front of the Wild at Heart bar where the neuroscience students' mixer was to be held.