Ramez Naam - Nexus

Kade had the urge to warn him, even with Sam there. He didn't. He found the logic inescapable. If he warned Narong, friends back home would be harmed for certain. If he didn't warn Narong or the others, they might all still come through this unscathed.

I have to think strategically, now, he thought. I have to wait for my chance. It'll come.

Cataranes came out of the bathroom. She had make-up on. They'd have extensive support, she'd assured him, but he could tell that something about this mission didn't sit well with her. She claimed it was just normal pre-mission adrenaline.

Soon, he wouldn't remember or care. He'd be a different Kade altogether.

"Time to go," Sam said.

BRIEFING

We find that the Constitution guarantees protections only to human persons. Non-human persons such as those created by the combination of non-human genes with human genes, by the integration of technology that affords non-human abilities, or by any significant deviation from the existing spectrum of human characteristics, are afforded no special protections. As such, Congress and the states may legislate the status of nonhuman persons without regard to the Constitutional protections afforded to humans.

Dyson v Department of Homeland Security,

Supreme Court of the United States, 2036

This court has committed a great crime today. To assert that a living thinking being, of any sort, is deserving of no rights is to ignore the lessons of two hundred and sixty years of democracy. We invite tyranny, atrocity, and slavery with this judgment.

Justice Elena Martinez,

Dissent in Dyson v Department of Homeland Security , 2036

33

SYNCHRONICITY

The cab dropped Kade and Robyn off near Soi Sama Han. Narong and Sajja met them, walked with them to the Buddha's Kiss. Everyone was in a good mood. He could feel Robyn's mind buzzing, excited. He couldn't wait for the Synchronicity trip to begin.

Sajja led them up a flight of stairs to a heavy door. Bolts unlocked. Chuan grinned and waved them in.

They filed into a spacious living room. Low furniture surrounded an open center space. A patterned carpet in gold and browns covered most of the floor. A half-dozen men and women from the previous night at the club sat on small cushions arranged in a circle. A low altar occupied the center of one wall, under a gorgeously ornate window. One side of the room connected to an open kitchen and a hallway. Buddha paintings took up another two walls.

A wizened Thai woman came in from the hall, a warm smile on her face.

"Aunt Chariya," Narong said. Their hostess. He introduced them. There were hugs all around. A ritual would start the trip. They were waiting for just one more person. Chariya suggested they take seats in the ring of cushions on the floor.

They found two open cushions between Narong and Lalana. They sat with Robyn on the left, by Narong, and Kade on the right, next to Lalana. Lalana giggled and said hello to them both. Her hand lingered as she clasped Kade's. There were eleven of them in the circle now, including Kade and Robyn, five young men and six young women. Kade recognized them all from the party at the Buddha Kiss on Monday night. Chuan, Sajja, Narong, and Loesan were the males. Lalana, Rajni, Sarai, Ning, and Areva were the females. One spot in the circle was empty. In the center of the circle there were two cushions. An old man sat on one, in lotus position, facing the altar, away from Kade and Robyn. Chariya came and sat in the other, back to back with the old man, facing towards Kade and Robyn.

"Come closer, everyone," she beckoned. "Bring the circle in as close as we can."

They shuffled forward until the circle was snug and close. Kade's knees touched Robyn's, touched Lalana's. It was delicious, distracting.

He could feel Chariya's mind, just barely. A whisper of peace and calm. And just beyond her…? Niran. Her husband. Strong, proud, tranquil.

"Empty your mind of all things," Chariya intoned. "Close your eyes. Feel your breath as it enters your body. Feel your breath as it leaves your body. Seek not to change it, simply observe."

Kade breathed with her, felt and heard the room breathe also.

A sound came. The door opened. He kept his eyes closed.

"Suk," he heard Chariya say. "How nice of you to join us."

"Hello, Auntie," said the new voice. "It's nice to see you too."

Kade felt a flutter of displeasure from Chariya.

"Since you haven't taken a seat yet," she said, "you can serve the rest of us."

"Yes, Auntie."

He heard footfalls. Someone walked past him. There was a tinkling. More footfalls. Someone made a swallowing sound. The tinkling was just in front of him. "Here," someone whispered. The new voice.

Kade opened his eyes. The newcomer was crouched in front of him, offering him a small glass filled with a silvery metallic liquid.

Kade nodded his thanks, took the glass, and drained it. More Nexus, mixed with Empathek.

He closed his eyes again, went back to focusing on his breath.

"Watch your breath leave your body," Chariya intoned slowly. "Watch it enter again. Let your breath fill your attention, let it expand to take up all of your mind. When thoughts arise, simply smile, and bring your attention back to your breath."

Kade let the breath fill him. The sound of it filled his ears. He felt his body contract as he inhaled, expand as he exhaled. The darkness behind his eyes stretched to the sides as breath flowed in to him, narrowed as the breath flowed out of him.

He became aware of a sound. A soft chanting, a gentle drumbeat. He watched the rhythm of his breath adjust itself to the soft beat of the drum. The entire room breathed as one. Their inhalations and exhalations synchronized.

"Open your palms," Chariya instructed, "and gently take the hands of those to either side of you."

Kade reached out slowly to his left and right. He felt Robyn's strong hand close around his left, Lalana's small soft hand slip into his right. There was something electric about the contact. He felt a circuit close, a circuit of thought. It was faint still, but a ripple of sensation flowed through him, an awareness of the minds of the others in the room, an awareness of their breathing, an awareness of their awareness of him and each other, an echo, a resonance, a vibration of breath and mind.

"We are students of the Buddha," Chariya intoned.

A dozen voices echoed her, "We are students of the Buddha." Kade joined them.

"Ours is the middle path," she slowly said.

"We seek enlightenment for all beings,

"To help all beings free themselves of suffering."

The room echoed her with each utterance.

"Tonight we penetrate the veil of Maya.

"We pierce the illusion of separation between self and other,

"We apprehend our unity with one another."

Kade repeated every phrase in time with the others. It was hypnotic, euphoric. The veil of Maya, god of illusion and false isolation, was falling from his eyes. He was Kade. He was Robyn. He was Lalana. He was Mother Chariya. He was Father Niran. He was male. He was female. He was all of them, all things and all people.

Buddha looked down on him with a half-smile, serene, content, a man, a role model, who'd apprehended that no god or angel, no demon or devil, could bring heaven or hell to man. Only Right Thought, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, only the actions of a person, only the striving they made, only the insights they gleaned could ever lead to their enlightenment.

He knew this room well. He'd meditated here dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times. He was all these people, all their experiences.

He had been a monk, a nun, a prostitute, a student. He'd first encountered Nexus four years ago, six years ago, three years ago. He'd devoted his life to service, to compassion, to enlightenment. He'd sold his body again and again. He'd studied the mind in the abstract, wanted to feel it tangibly. He'd found a way.