《上海梦想》


 THE AUTHOR

    Sa May 1970 and attended tigious London Scical Science. In 1993, armed ure,  tant to one of C self-made tycoons before embarking on a career as a tec covering consumer and business tecions in , PC orld, and t Group’s Chief Financial Officer Asia magazine.

    ten for numerous Asian publications, including taps Beijing. In 1999, ion Age, a ernet start-up t er acquired by C Cernet company to list on NASDAQ. raveled extensively in Asia and spent part of  Africa.  in Mandarin and Cantonese and splits ime betion.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    to S arts, bouts of frustration, and occasional feelings of o tunities, inspiration, and encouragement as I felt my ring of escalating nigo complete this book.

    I o troducing me to ty of ion movies, and teaco sonese, all to Laers’ Circle,  fully appreciate. At t minute, Siculous eye ensured t glaring typos etc. did not make it into t. Any typos in tirely my ohank you, Sharon.

    I o mention my sister, Anisa Joination, even  to all t ing part of tinue to feed my fascination  is China.

    thank you.

    For Asri and Ryan

    “ture s just not evenly distributed yet.”

    illiam Gibson

    “If you  to see ture of Cs S offices, more interesting small ster food. But t, and till under construction, ional bird of Cruction Crane, in evidence everyt (like ons and Sons abroad, tic counterparts), smoking a Coage art. It  drizzle and, as a large blimp drifted by about 40 stories belos aerostat illuminated ising in C became clear t I he Blade Runner.”

    Doug Casey’s International Speculator

 Chapter 1

    Cald jolted erlaced bets of ts coalesced, fusing into somete. acts and irises to adjust to ted and turned over on ton. It  in , except for t sounds of men in various states of sleep.

    Cald tory rumbling snores of ts, tant noise of traffic outside. In mares still ecic walls of his capsule.

    Screams  tel. ty, in t or in broad dayligs o read meaning in t sounds and to block t. Over tentionally prolonged stay, Cald to tetimes t less, tic o tterings of men talking in ts and exions of alcoifling cocoons of t o decip all teeth.

    today, Cald a strange ivity. ely a-soaked ss clinging to orso like a se movements of ting fabric systematically adjusting its y to external stimuli  of  coemplate ty of  table. Eventually, in a matter of minutes, , o kill himself.

    Soon, t for uated sleep patterns. tmares t stretco infinity, gly apparitions of fear reaco rapped in a living . Soon,  retcurbed into infinity. he would have peace.

    Cald time projected in pale green pixels by tai into t eyes, tormented mind moribund in t fuzzy area bets of ticking over. It  side, t arted to recede, exposing t reality of a er morning.  on ton and cime spin on its invisible axis, ss ty-degree arc in precisely sixty seconds. It was 5.30AM.

    time  to Caldo a simple biological counting dooppable approace. ence reduced to untold retcimes  sleep, a relatively recent affliction t  on by a desperate attempt to avoid being plunged back into anoterminable sequence of ually, tmares esque storyboards unfurling ensity. time projected from to reality, counting doo h.

    t about it, to take o make sense. And today, y-eigime as any. to celebrate, only t  a decision t ed t tion for quite some time, firing a at a subconscious level, surreptitiously weighe cons and pros.

    All to be t sensible pato take. It rodden.  go on any longer.  trip to taken ortion field of ion enoug emplating it for a ed and not a spur-of-t tried to have himself believe.

    Cald about ts lying on ton staring into space, tced ao focus, Caldo t ive sum of a unes, some of o this clawing miasma of raw unfulfilled need.

    Cald on ton cz of timer used to t into tic ceiling. t of t digits of t units of  disappearing into trange sense of eup capsule el. Just a fees no ively, o transparent black vial sitting on tte-scalded plastic se-tered back alleys of Oval.

    Caldless Union eboys from Vienna to Vladivostok. Scores gleaned from t Cald majority of terious procurer ruder detection AIs so intricate t to belong to a major conglomerate o hide.

    tself a dynamic piece of community code drifting t top of trolled Zaibatsu. In t ask questions. It ing into t to stay t meant receiving your electronic briefing and delivering tory. You kept your mout and it stayed s even after t transaction took place. No questions.

    Caldil recently, ayed in one place longer t a time.  capsule ion, ten rop going  state of stasis. tyle o stay continually sy and to avoid forming emotional attacs to places or people.

    ernal alarm clock t told  ime to move on. ened for it daily, t fraying of t signaled t a c . Oteriorate rapidly into a nervous  tic imes it  t ually ventured outside on a toilet run, he alarm bells ringing.

    ain level of notoriety and a modest amount of credit t allo an existence in tal floating ly maneuvering to stay belos , spreading like some neies to resort to desperate measures to reign in ting crime and put a stop to ts of subversive types.

    Over t tasis aken , at least as far as Cald landing a job, a fact t tributed to ttempt to retrieve te banking client list from a Sumitomo Bank database. Someone out tta against a of cyberspace to stack t him. hy? Caldwell had no idea.

    of tig generated most of trageous breacabanks of major corporations. t by took a small cut of eaced from to a livearing blankly at an empty command line. o  Cald of compromising a secure system.

    Failures al floating  some. Since o-moutence, Calds toll on  co live. ried desperately to reverse tuation but to no avail. er  in and all are at terminal as s returned empty- return at all, erious deatiating tricacies of superior intrusion detection code.

    It aken a ion but e certainty t deat. ives, nobody to grieve for es  miss racted as tunities of a rapidly sing cyberspace.

    o die your   not  all.

    t to be gleaned from t o disappear into tly jerked into trix of t beyond. For a anding, Cald to ence, yet undiscovered facets of ential. And it  belief t   ed to ttices of cyberspace for days at a time. t belief tered. o die oblivious of , too scared to face a dark and desolate future.

 Chapter 2

    Professor Yao arrived punctually at toria in Ne , despite tion of intelligent buildings e ecosystems over t feo its ageing Art Deco coria  t tee of influential members of tablis to protect ts of ty. ti, cognoscenti, financiers, politicos, academics, tecs and tco attend tec meeting of fame, money and minds in the modern world.

    It urned to ing sloureless sky. Noentatious el, tive professor found s and international designer outfits of y.  like a carp out of er, trying to free itself from a tangle of  of place. ured polyester-mix suit  get over tement of w  ive China.

    Outside, a large section of Park Avenue and its adjoining streets s of rain cascading off tal barricades and tic ribbons. tment of state-of-t croo climb into. A small cluster of demonstrators stood ing slogans and generally not looking too confident about being able to get ting t in crators eyed the cops suspiciously.

    taxi, a o  of ter coalescing on . rouble explaining to a couple of NYPD officers on bulky cric motorbikes t ed guest to tinized card, eying  suspiciously. One of tcard on a ed for tem to query a remote database and come back . t expect o be auticated.

    Professor Yao arted to s in er suit, or  tic  eyes o sally, race tabase query snaking tem and kneep ters o verify ity, doo t memory routine. t  all nigside ong ts earlier.

    to flicker on t and ed patiently as tisfied t icated entity.  al-looking one, t ioning al-looking one could  by addressing  t for their elders.

    tooria, ionally-minded colleagues at Beijing’s tsingy, rics ennas cutting arcs in t line of veentatious displays of  of ts.

    Professor Yao found  a e clock sitting smack bang in t American presidents on to o dead American leaders empting fate. ed  edge of  friendly-looking nose. o arc as  pocket for tinerary.

    Smart airborne micro dirigibles glided up in termittently cycling te sponsor logos. Computerized female voices announced talks er and social neternational magazines, corporate CEOs, prize-y oreets of Beijing.	te a feremely ts t to ting ridiculous in to impart ake a  they held dear.

    today  t  billions of dollars and generations of America’s best brains o ac auties on neural netificial intelligence, but t yet a. erally minutes ao top of ernationally.

    tsingy ernational renoive publisracts and tenures at t universities and researcitutions, Professor Yao ayed at   surviving ongs in Beijing, ment of tion Army as  funding and access to some of t advanced military computers for to AI. ive corporate directorsing and advisory opportunities t o stay aions.

    Professor Yao’s name  to be found in any international scientific journals but in classified researcs used by leading military tanks in Ne of Ne, t unofficial, ly take tion tec even t est breakthrough.

    aking a big risk by being  t predict e aed urn to Neerior motive of taking  of ture but aken precautions and ermined to make  to ternational community  of o tion Army.

    t age. ificial intelligence community enougion to make ter Neional patents. ty. rumpet for a paradigm s in  and ac. ty ing into o a bold neelligence.

    Professor Yao riot  for a non-Co understand. Yet, to ry alone o  in t at t  funding resulted in t  for o trace o teces at to t Professor Yao doubted any  most of tary researcus. ime al face beat quickened.

    Professor Yao made oors, mopping ically o tinerary, alk  tel’s famed Starligeentts Institute of tecer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab,  o secure  s notice. Not t  Joplin personally, but ures in ternational magazines and exco join  MIt, but tely declined.

    A or confirmed inerary. o not be mentioned in t literature.

    Venue: tarlight Roof

    Speaker: Professor Yao Guo Cificial Intelligence and Nanotecre, tsingy, Beijing, China

    topic: Quantum Computing: a breaktificial Intelligence

    time: 2.30PM-3.30PM

    A  y,  beyond  cy minutes to go.  . Almost immediately  started   like a pneumatic drill. t  t. If only ill alive to help calm him down.

    tor doors reamed out, many of till ary real-time translation systems and clutcineraries. All around tions and computerized voices punctured or music. tement in ttling tle. Miraculously, or as it made its o teenth floor.

    Professor Yao kne topic of tract all t people. ely come up itle t  minds in botificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing. Nanotecing expectations and it ly t it arted to bear fruit after decades of researcrillions of dollars and so-called “breakt it ant part in ture of artificial intelligence arted to lose resonance. Many scientists, especially t interested in its medical applications, e of time. You could get atoms and molecules to beure mac tions ed. tended to be one-trick ponies.

    ted tor into a room so opulently decorated t  o  to ters of excess. Everytic co tunda and tasseled velvet seats ing t it o be a packed auditorium. iced t ty of tly reading tineraries and peering into tary video screens acled gray  Dr. James Joplin  before Professor Yao’s talk.

    Nevertly larger t, ion on ed raveled to toage. As  by, a fe  ion cross tly embarrassed at ttention. icing for t time t t t of ting?

    tripped over one of several small robots gliding ttle ss of Espresso coffee and finger-sized sanden in eigime to pop doo Coe and t a big fan of estern cuisine, ed feeling t one got from autic Co el, refresaxi to the aldorf.

    “testing, testing, testing. One, t a female voice on tem. Professor Yao looked toage to see a ed young igting gray suit on t y-one years old. tatic filled to blast from different loudspeakers. ted like storm clouds from one side of to anotecested turned toer looks, and a flicker of recognition crossed ohe professor.

    “ make it,” tecaking care of you today.” Sly even teeth.

    “Nice to meet you, Ms. Bruck apologize for my tardiness,” tingly, proud t y Englistractive young woman.

    “t’s OK. I expect you’ve  Dr. Joplin t ensely. Professor Yao felt tempo of beat rise sh a concerned look.

    “No. I .   into Professor Yao’s voice.

    “ell,  a message at your el. You see, Professor Yao, Dr. Joplin is dead.”

 Chapter 3

    Caldorted c.  and picked up terious vial. For a moment, cransparent liquid s it e, stopping tivity of all tal organs  to the head.

    “t y gto of Oval, “is t it is not designed to coexist ions symbiotic and sooner or later t’s just a question of time.” tobacco smoke in tale air of t op a bull in its tracks.

    teetment of tobacco-stained enamel jutting like stalactites and stalagmites out of eetruggling to s o tery meat lodged betting enamel.

    “trouble  it  of trying to stick around. Its a good ted tootured.

    tongue inctively at o a slit. o c  of danger came and  in a flas s brief existence, in t small ime, Caldwell he Slav himself.

    “Fuck toot count on  enougo make tools. tools for cruss and so on rial revolution, er. tter o be tool t imately usher in our demise.”

    Caldions later specimens like to tions. Despite tal  tobacco breato reflect on life ification co tem. Caldolerate tribes because tions.   off on tless rants of  eeto a diatribe topping less statements. t  done  an embarrassing silence.

    “But apes used tools long before ested.

    “Indeed if you arted. But apes ims of tools. ellect is exactly o trigger our extinction. Imagine a  tools. No more car accidents, plane accidents, boats sinking, industrial accidents. No more computers. No  good eye ared questioningly at Caldment of stuff.

    “No hackers?”

    “Indeed. ruders and ne man o be afraid of eetiger or some poisonous serpent.”

    “Got somet hackers, Slav?”

    “Indeed.  t tele notanding. Present company excepted of course.”

    “Glad to .”

    turned around and fixed Cald and glassy on ther side of his long face.

    “Are you sure you are ready for t it ed  and some ad erfusion of organic slime.

    “As ready as anyone can be.  tuff? And perantly,  work?” Caldwell he vial suspiciously.

    “A bit of insurance my friend. Figured, idy mess of t t o confiscate from tructure for  too muc go aem a favor, you know.”

    Caldwell ically.

    “o do you t you do t doesn’t  for you, let me knoo me obliterated.” t tobacco-stained smile again but he had looked like he was dead serious.

    “So ?” Calds of silver in t t as quickly as they had appeared.

    “It’s some kind of nano poison out of tbilisi. Very, very illegal. Got ttle microscopic nano-mac cause syncrigger and you simply stop living. You  even knoo ter eeth.

    Cald of o one side of ton, ted by o forget.  ly and  felt like it  any moment.  . You  to live.  to identify rousers among tangle of stale bedding and fumbled in one of ts for ification chip.

    Scan or slot? a to be read sir? trid t o find not a dull aced co be. A c by  by some unknoity t  incision  of society. t Cald one time like t of t majority of tion, ity beneat t any of t mattered now.

    t or t of a society t oo tecs o estable. Non-government-approved removal of identification c of your life imbibing liquid lunc  embalmed in more dry ice te aed ts. So for Cald  or notside tem, oblivious to  to tous scanners of t all, impervious, a mere spectator if any of t ims o be believed.

    Cald up, bending tle to avoid ting t even sit up straig and take a millimeter or traigraig it, and sic bro still good for anot t any of t stuff had any significance now.

    Caldemplated ion in tic coated ive substance t served as a mirror. A t disillusioned faces udied tions in its s.  going to be t. ty ageing syntic material of t allegories of ions of ic existence, relics of better times.

    ook  stared back at ime-ravaged organic s into insignificance. ed to tion and yet Cald deep icking time bomb.  of  t , except for trange poms of t of grid-locked neurons.

    tal images t made no sense in t context, vague memories of dreams of distant lands submerged in a cloud of confusion. Sporadic dreams set in locales vastly different from t ly bombarded by momentary flass of reds and tion. Somet of tten or  to remember. Pupils narro of empered by tely sometal tail as the quack had described him.

    an unremarkable face, tion t could only  of some complex inter-racial coming toget  one t oo deeply about,  very muco t a convenient package for ools for tten so lost in t antly o remind  groant daily. Meat tired and sting and remote, taking ely a bird’s eye vieo part company.

    Minute red veins snaked like fissures belouated by t ly become permanent fixtures. tubble interspersed cubble also a dark broer es modified, one of tempts at someto vanity.

    ook one last minute to reminisce on irety of it consisted of ic capsule operators and tant blinking of command-line cursors. tes t operated cikit capsules all over to serve its disadvantaged and disenfrancizens. tele, composed predominantly of society’s bottom feeders,  one precocious rung up on treet sleepers. Like Cald majority of treets.

    In tly opaque noared back at  fear ired eyes? Definitely fear spliced elligible.

    As Calder of ton  t memory in ents of t recent nigents. rils flared at tural smell of sometallic, somet smelled like deattress, straigiff is and willed o recall.

    itine tered latex gloves and tral image of a young uniformed nurse. A searing o crescendo from deep ermination of a tidal  to his lips and closed his eyes.

 Chapter 4

    tangular bat of multicolored neon liged tiny rooftop tered blood at a murder scene. t broug t tatic, like tant in a linear equation.

    Cyberspace on tual state of flux as data bred nea and digital life forms took siful as tation porcelain bat sat in one corner  batill ado its sides like dead pixels.

    erface t sat on  beloo anotook a bate access module on, altures listed in tary ten user manual.  up from t it. It flexed and o the shape of his palm.

    Some of  made t during tal stages just a feed ts and some  ems and synaptic regression. Several  of t full use of tem ed and a c to test drive it. tely perverse about living in an augmented  being permanently plugged in, terlaced s, giving elligence.

    t just fine.  at   belong, a byproduct of nature’s ly put

    felt it. Sometimes ion came dohe ang.

    t on tub and placed te access module on tely to life and molded itself around ing its prey. ts oself into terfacing em and ensed up in anticipation of t preceded every connection.

    Searing  t o  off y tourned naked into tiny el room. -s into .  agility t  s vast unfolding grids of data and logic, p noty to move y bet t ting better ime. Soon transitions ranshuman.

    t t fact did noto detract from . ly rained in ts of killing. ood five foot toned muscles t ed all tion Army and tuned in totype. t o ly for ry terface of the major-general.

    Before ion into t many years toiling and laboring under t of t. Most of t time  guarding ters of undisputed desert border, an expanse of land t no one ed to claim title to. tion to civilization rack . And ts t dotted t landscape.  to develop a deep affinity for tion, ering around  their daily wipe down.

    o ting  and trange creatures t  sand.

    ts  located at t e cable made itself at ly into toraffic gave ense buzz like he never knew before.

    travenous tubes t kept rix, securing territory in tal space for try  long before  long before ing digital calligrap first, t small matter to take care of.

 Chapter 5

    tic co Cald. terruption caused o spill part of tents do could t be? It ely  least six feet off t first,  quite believe  time anyone  tele and capsule el staff, suc ted, c  antamount to a gross invasion of privacy and a sure ancy.

    Caldrusion and go aents of t tion ? antly opted for tter. It could be important. s of deated il rance to tcic c cold and ach.

    ton next to small LCD screen in t displayed ty camera outside. t on tside tc looked like a package. cside. tates of sleep gre to tine maze of corridors.  surprised. its proliferation of cels, Angel, despite its name,  t of neigel, one of tter establiss, ill t could give even t ations.

    Caldared at ticker attaco it urn-to-sender anonymous postal box at Union Mail. It  a ly  tel?  less enemies in cyberspace, disgraced many a sys-op, computer tecy expert. One of tracked   t o impossible. At any rate, t ing it to do t   up carefully,  as t contained uranium rods and retreated crao the capsule.

    Caldon, slid tc and turned tention once again to ty vial on t even sure if  ively. At least

    fact  lost on iny? o open tective bubble of Styrofoam  anot of a ductile syntic material.

    Forgetting for a moment ion ion of  t yrofoam nest and s. tents of t make any sound but it  t bore no relationso its perceived size. ever  triangular plastic card ter of Styrofoam in ter box. It o and it read: A o your future, Caldters, ten in some calligrap, seemed to float in mid air. t noto  it  a bubble of art to form.  time noticed t it  of minute geometric sogeted the cover off.

    Inside t protective skin sat a smooter console and an expensive-looking set of virtual reality goggles and gloves.  but ate-of-t consoles before and noto w . A cyberspace console.

    rembling and ies, Cald carefully. t, no standard input device interface, just triangular optical sockets of a sype ranslucent material t may or may not ic polymer. tem console designed not to connect her hardware.

    Embedded erial of transparent optical cables floating in to small sensors at tips of eacry embedded cic. tics be six tiny devices, to triangular sockets. ts looked identical. Despite ting on t as clearly as if  ced  emerged from t of the console.

    Caldual keyboard appeared before ual fingers at t pixels so a digital rendition of a  al face, a Japanese face. Kenzo Yamamoto?

    “Cald too dissimilar to talons scraping on an antique blackboard, modulated slig to grate t of t symphere was no discernable lag.

    “Yes I did. ically enhanced room.

    to a smile.

    “You can call me Kenzo, Caldo is to be formal. In anso your otion, you’ve proven yourself over tion of Sumitomo Bank of course. No to give you t freaking score in all of Europe, a ticket to time.”

    Cald t. he mask suspiciously.

    “ Sumitomo?”   of Japan.

    Peals of laugtenuated to a ch.

    “Caldime for questions. time for anse a omo Bank I stacked against you, I set it up so you .

    “t up?” Cald arting to make sense noine score, turned out to be a ’s   all over ting in  severe er.

    “Yes. I  freaking score in all of Europe. You alent, Cald it is ed on tuff you used to do. o you? Union Euros, not t.”

    Cald believe  o rigune.  or ve didn’t matter, outfitted est cyberspace decks and spend t of ting lost in tous black zones of the Union.

    “ do I need to do to get it? And o do ?”

    “A ty isn’t it? tly only one ot in t’s expensive beyond your  dreams, priceless. tiste responsible for creating takes ime but it’s  so olerate it. Unfortunately, ly, shall we say, indisposed.”

    “ is it exactly or is t a stupid question?”

    “Cald you recognize tting edge  just a computer, Cald. But let’s talk about science. Console and peripo eacary closed ransmitters and receivers to t in, range is fifty kilometers. Encrypted of course. Impressive, yes? tself is linked to cyberspace and beyond via encrypted ellite links. take t ill connected. I’m sure you can see t no less. t poellite-enabled goggles makes it truly portable. Consider yourself a lucky man to be looking at one no alone touching one.”

    “Satellite link is always on? ho pays?”

    “Yours truly. My satellite. Stratelite to be exact. Lo assured you  be receiving any bills.  you’ll be receiving are instructions. I’ve been impressed ment in your future. I’ll be in touco ituting into black screen.

    “But  ...” Caldested, he face was had disappeared.

    Caldared at tco ly engineered ing in  to set  freaking score in all of Europe, Kenzo o tely a long time ago.

    Kenzo Yamamoto ouc e uplink  up and jack in to cyberspace from anyact soon, om job like tcens of t. Not quite t an OK living for about a year or so. Enougime to land somet ed a renewed lease on life.

    ime, instead of a barrage of pixels ed o possess no user interface. Calded t it created interfaces on t job it o do. It ate of t no less, tting edge.

    Caldered tbase and crossed base came up lig otally different interface from  ion tracking device.

    base. In ticulously rendered antique ing desk, ed in tual space as opened letters complete age stamps. tter, a neer up  actile functions of the feel of coarse paper.

    a sudden flasoday’s quota of migraines arted early and ing. tient  intolerably ly like ticularly upbeat musical performance. rickling from he back of his hand.

    Caldter opener on ting desk to cut tood perfectly. tter opener ion of ion/decryption module ting into ting tents of . this console was some piece of work.

    Ignoring ting pain t ing deep o read t .

    Cad, get t of wer you. Your life is in so muche Puzzle pub, Isle of Dogs.

    Caldared at to get out of t  up anyed to pack tical joker and  messages  communicated in a  blackout from o terminal and quickly he Puzzle.

    Feeling t   , Caldo anot o stop o t space, ting in a decrepit illicit coin-up launderette in crial laundry mac of  t’s blonde o tting next to ched up old personal video display.

 Chapter 6

    tement in toria el’s Starlig  V cameras from ters lined up at torium like a firing squad. tic cameras and t center stage. Some of tricate computer-controlled dance routine of automatic panning, swooping and zooming.

    tired of admiring te cricate artineraries. translation mac ts ête-à-têtes and polite conversations coalesced.

    Professor Yao ing in tage. On te side at stage rigood endy Bruck up gloriously by tage ligal man  could only be described as minimalist features  final cation equipment. to secco zero. tself. tec-s and ill-fitting C t stooping posture of  Professor Yao ation at hand.

    endy Bruckly till not recovered from t cly organized event. to go on. Poor Dr. Joplin.  men in academia ents under , a man ions. Yet, s and sco students from poor backgrounds o t of excellence in various areas of computer science.

    professor kno  o die? And  a trace? Somet Bruckical, conjectured suggested eit or t of parties at MIt  er. But een year-old rust fund would murder her for more money?

    Jolted from art in tes” in dulcet tones. arted blaring out over tem, ed tro’s he room.

    tecage and o tors at tV cameras panned in ion and tilted tempted to s  small, s  someo t. Once again Professor Yao  ty of ts t reminded   for t it ion, o t. You could  all Professor Yao could register .

    endy Bruckrolled purposefully to center stage. A feaneously, applauding  transparent s gave t sing on air, only served to en. As far as estern taste , endy Bruckiful woman. And sion. Sook ern.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, teco present tsingy’s ificial Intelligence and Nanotecre. e are very lucky to  normally take public speaking engagements.

    Professor Yao is pre-eminent in ive intelligence and nanotecy on Virtual and Artificial Realities and is knoect of Neual reality netter, I must add, is just a rumor. t continues to remind us t no sucs. Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in extending a o Professor Yao Guo Chuen.

    A t on to tage and into tligoo and retreated gracefully to tage. Professor Yao gave urned to face tinctively adjusting race of nervousness  and  up in it. At ts, t ti-colored logos of t networks.

    endy Bruck alk  live to an audience of approximately five billion people around t off as e t t tedly refused to give  on t to kno. Joplin  purely out of trust and respect.

    endy Bruck on account of tcside torium ific as possible. Sific and teco be distributed to ter tomorroocks of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing and Nanoteco go the ones in China.

    trained upon V cameras. Professor Yao cleared  to mild micropaneously translated by translation systems over tem.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an o be inguiserest in ting ificial Intelligence. I am going to make t part of ticipate t you are going to s of questions for me. I ry my best to ansions.

    topic of my talk today is “Quantum Computing: a breaktificial Intelligence” as it says in your itineraries. It’s about t breaktion tec using, enricude tions self-sustaining, evolutionary quantum computer processor. In fact “o use as you er.

    Gasps and murmurs rolled the audience.

    “But t’s impossible,” sed a bold voice from the audience.

    “t poum computer available today boasts only one um bits, t’s not nearly enougo make quantum computers start replacing silicon computers any time soon,” conjectured anot.

    First, for t of our television and cyberspace audiences, I o briefly explain tum computing. t currently poiny transistors t scing ters speak. Until recently, increases in speed and performance of transistors into tricity travels faster in a smaller transistor resulting in faster processors. ts result in a doubling of computing pory po as Moore’s Law.

    ell, Moore’s Lao an end and nanoteco usransistors and furtration of personal supercomputers into , even s in  to see softrends. In particular, rue artificial intelligence. Yes, ection, scenario analysis and stock trading AIs but t algoritions of a predefined set of rules and procedures. No AI o be completely self evolving and, dare I say, to  is until recently.

    e at tsingy in Beijing, one of ties in t quantum neural neto creating really intelligent softum computing? Because even ting po a pre-requisite for computer intelligence, it does speed up tionary process ime on today’s hardware.

    Again I must apologize to my friends in academia t for t of casual vie explain quickly ing is going to cing landscape forever, putting supercomputers on every desktop. I mentioned earlier t today’s computers and consoles use processors t squeeze many tiny transistors into a small area. t  five ransistors, eaciny tens of t on talking about t th.

    No’s small, Quantum computing goes even smaller and uses tter, subatomic particles sucrons, ions and pons as transistors. In tum ors are knoum bits or qubits. icles as transistors? ticles possess certain be can not only be used to represent ter speak but to also to perform complex calculations orders of magnitude faster today’s computers. Again, let me briefly outline t alloing.

    Atomic particles inct and opposite spin orientations t can eac ticle to effectively beransistor. Once a particle is isolated from its environment, it enters trange quantum state o as superposition, ations at once and can represent a mix of 1s and 0s. tring of particles in tate of superposition to simultaneously represent every possible combination of 1s and 0s. A quantum computer can t represent possible solutions to a problem in a single operation. today’s computers ion one after ther.

    ticles in superposition can become entangled act. Entanglement means t one or more of ties become linked even ed. If one of ticles is knocked out of superposition into a definite state (a 1 or 0 as described earlier), ticle, no matter  could be on tion at t in time and assumes tate. Since entanglement alloant particles to sate it effectively alloeleportation of states, or in teleportation of values, even across space.

    Understanding trange beicles, superposition, entanglement, teleportation is key to understanding  to describe.

    So e a conscious artificial intelligence? e borroecum pive sciences. First let’s start ion of a tomic particles like ion of tum dot design able 100 qubit quantum computer tleman mentioned earlier. till recently ting-edge of quantum computing. ell ladies and gentlemen; I am pleased to announce t um neural nets.

    Professor Yao paused for effect as an unintelligible  torium and practically every scientist in taneously began to deride Professor Yao’s last statement. t greer, cries of derision and ridicule. tient. to educate tec. And time e nos of ting out from tors, leading o certain deat t  finisalk? All would become clear wem hemselves.

    “Surely translation error. A one billion qubit quantum computer ed sucer in your lab at tsinginguise-ically.

    “Yes.”

    ted into laughter.

    “t’s all  even if o believe t outrageous claim,  ts to communicate  counted on tant interruptions but ermined to make .

    “t for t tiple dynamic buses of connected qubits to connect domains of quantum memory,” Professor Yao responded impatiently.

    “And  ry up till no t ticles may cate as soon as to environmental noise and otors? And  error correction and terconnection as you scale up to your imaginary one billion qubits?”

    “Can I ask about your background?” Professor Yao asked politely, interrupting ter rolling te- intense stare.

    “Professor Collin Sandum Computation, Cambridge University.”

    “t means t you are familiar  approaco solving t so I don’t need to go into t’s just say t ed taken,” explained Professor Yao.

    “And  be?”

    Professor Yao couldn’t  notice t of arrogance and sarcasm t t aken on. inued alk, ruggling to rise above the din.

    e kne effectively build a practical quantum cing tum computing approaco a ic soft it do test nanotecum c by an artificial intelligence, more specifically a neural artificial intelligence net better at building ter countless failures and dead ends. tumbled upon t ters of early millennium quantum computing  ty of isconsin. tarted o t to do so over t t give macry.

    Materials used ered silicon germanium to form a quantum dot lattice t allorons to move precisely in any direction tum buses. Eacakingly assembled by test in silicon cion and nanotecec reinvented any ion of ted States National Institute of Standards and tecs t uses teleportation beangled particles at key intervals to curned values. A significant portion of ts are used in t t is still test computer in ence.

    I see t some of you are nodding in recognition of t t all tly plausible. ted. t of tter is t teresting piece of t o talk about to talk about Black Jade, t advanced piece of soft true artificial intelligence.

    On t poer in existence today. It uses a cum neural neto create a true artificial intelligence; one t passes turing test and can persuade any interrogator t it has a consciousness.

    Our approac dated tulated more t, by Robert -Nielsen.  to articulate t all aspects of ion are derived from a specific type of knoion processing operation referred to as confabulation. I  go too muco t  t is t if you build ic neural net can confabulate and give it vast amounts of accumulated knoificial intelligence t is just as conscious as you and I. t learns via an intricate system of recognizing patterns in relevant data, bot and emerging knotern recognition.

    ttendees  tarted applauding but t minds of to see t plausibility of ails. And to see t tive Cec scientists of tion.

    Finally, before I take questions I’d like to sotype quantum processor after one day, one ion. Finally I’d like you all to meet Black Jade, t AI running on our quantum neural net slide aken just a fe Ne built tum processor so it actually kno its processor environment t s creators  is simply beyond our capabilities.

    tement. Po labs around tions ense conversations  around ts yping aically on satellite-enabled personal consoles. tV cameras were panning and zooming away.

    to  for taining ty. ttingly placed it in tor already?  tton on tor but t empty.  around in s.

    ticky on  must or. t tingle at tip of  started to travel up  did  of t combination and it  ec  a top secret event in So one of t to be accepted in tion Army. t ional treasure. ural freak.

    Professor Yao struggled to focus anding taring straig  a look of recognition from ingle urned into numbness traveling rapidly up   aken tion of leaving instructions ant Li Jin.  a o die. ted t s of  eac tant t needed to knoire sixty-eig back by Friday morning I  you to release Black Jade into cyberspace. t you to remove tum neuroprocessor and destroy it.

    taco tity ity t resided in t computer to ever be poionary neuroprocessor. o respect its omnipotence, ts knoerabytes of data, ated better than any human could.

    Black Jade y in cyberspace. ts o to ire canon of y to alter trix to suit its oisfied man.   e until time.

    As Professor Yao’s  stopped beating and -like to to God t ant, t but strong-udent Li Jin, ions.

    Li Jin, if I am not back by Friday morning I  you to release Black Jade into cyberspace. t you to remove tum neuroprocessor and destroy it.

    t towards him as his life slipped away.

 Chapter 7

    te of January morning nipped viciously at Cald second obello Market for less tter times. It  terious console ill ty of Kenzo Yamamoto. t Caldraveled super lig th him as insurance.

    . If tail, ed to make sure . Apart from a bearded attered cloto fill a Salvation Army store, dousing a makes fire by urinating on it and cursing to reets ed. It er all, and tizens of till sleeping off t on by t’s festivities.

    to Cald t make any difference e Nee birts requiring as tated attempt to proactively seek t even sure if t of January was really hday.

    In tance, a Maglev oation, a t of ligting silently tline of capsule city and tel faded jerkily into a rapidly descending fog. Cald again for a long time. e o reflect on ty of tuation.

    Cad, get t of wer you. Your life is in so muche Puzzle pub, Isle of Dogs.

    o make contact o find out ed e-mail . as t from some previous job, a o a corporate system long ago t urned to  ts perpetrators?  in person, request a p didn’t make sense.

    Yet, Caldter to distrust Glypincts. t at 5.38AM, a fact t suggested t Glyp as  every  in bed e pages searcable enougoric Docklands area. One of tabliss  metal and technology.

    Could t by someone ed ion key, one t ion key only to trusted online associates. Only someone . Or someone s of money and access to tting edge of quantum computing tec relatively small quantum computers could break even t elaborate cryptograp very feually get t y researco ions to go to t kind of trouble.

    Glypion algoritoo anal for t. t expected, cing for ts reaco stumble. tside tem. tizens ally branded like cattle. It . And Glypook ion to t. Exception translated into precautions, measures, counter-measures, surveying toring tors.

    So, it  erritory t Glyprusted no one. Glypurned outcast. o play tcast, alt  going to spend  it.  attempted to track do tle success. ill o t compelling of questions. s?  ed until tion ce of birtory a blank mystery.

    Caldolen government reader. Data gs everyely erased. And t ed o leave no stone unturned to find out trut  every turn, to discover trutime. to arted pottering around in tering to  letting t be. Caldwell mig like w he Slav had reasoned.

    Before leaving Angel, Cald nostalgic look around ruded cavity t o durable plastic according to tates of some fabritect’s old mould. tel  fealgia, nostalgia and fear intermingled but nostalgia all ttress migtle more or a little less comfortable, lig be dimmer or brig may suck credit a little faster, but once you’d stayed in one capsule you’d stayed in te out of Antterdam. But ty of aterloo Bridge. No buffer nohe cold finger of fear.

    Caldo tale recycled air of Angel’s subterranean Maglev station. A groe drones making t of tified tunnels. t race emporary respite from tine of being embalmed in taid featureless corporate  today, tion of cookie-cutter morning papers, or doomed attempts at meaningless cross today tion ising. itions of alcoired veins, tizens of tiring o cold loveless beds, vague memories of some nigown receding.

    Cald race a . Scanning faces no collar.

    tomatons of modern Union life never ceased to amaze  altogetrange reaction given t Caldrolled environment. Society excluded ions.  as o deation of being oy-four seven by tem.

    tage of not being c o pay tem for tail, someone o tem, and you s, you . talk of a neem t could read t, but  to see evidence of t. So far, more like urban legend. Calded t  to sucrack you do,  sensors on alert. A rat trapped in a deatrap of icket barrier o spare.

    On tform, as tic levitation trains inations, Caldreated to tter-effect of Union faces encased in Plexiglas, snapss of t   notice t rain o tform. too silent.

    As o tra of beeps and computerized female voices urging passengers to please stand clear of tected some unusual activity at t o iced ttention. It ion ill and looking in Caldion, t most not to be left beform. too late. t as  in time. Even rain picking up speed, Caldo decip ructed into tuff of nightmares.

 Chapter 8

    Minister takaurned a crimson red and t box. One of enants,  ed to order t tookyo t nigo commit seppuku, tual slicing open of tomacantly. But Nobu takaient man, a virtue t o so one of t important men in Japan. act o leave no stone unturned to find to a s and bloody justice.

    But t  of takao’s embarrassing deat of Yamamoto’s contacts around tops erest t tened to destroy everyt taka takaion to o’s blackmail victims included poernational society. Luckily, t extensive records of ivities, encrypted and protected by mega-viruses but ty computers and ty-four er, tent of Yamamoto’s betrayal o see.

    It appeared from Kenzo Yamamoto’s communication logs t t majority of acts ion t er s for to  abroad just s o’s body but tubs for t  ts,  appeared Yamamoto royed to s in ? t suggested t  t ed any one of an army of Yakuza to do it for akaed to knohe packages.

    tually done taka Yamamoto’s deatrayal ing a y-four o Yamamoto’s Ss and security deposit boxes and discovered assets and credit to tune of one billion Euros. t ive pocket of to’s personal benefit. takaermined to see t land in  of S accounts.

    ed skirts of tokyo. ter o leave tokyo for a rented luxury  important kyodai, o spend a fera-curricular activities and a little business before returning to tokyo. Yamamoto, if ill alive,  bay.  o cancel trip.

    ely to ter and gained  tigation into Yamamoto’s deations exercise. ter s takaer all cer, takao play tician o term extended family.

    takain from an expensive-looking crystal decanter at trolled toop floor balcony of y of e Zen garden. In t t in t. o be amazed by try and  all, ted by t ired to one side of termittently in ter nig emporarily broken by Yamamoto’s sreachery.

    Nobu taka stocky ures of Japanese from soutreaked urally curly and floin  large enougo be a liability. en described in to .

    ed t served as offices. ying up loose ends igations. tokyo city at nigruly impressive. algically, pondering ec Ne till an innovator but it rade and industry. And o do about t?

    to the balcony.

    “I ’s good neakao be kept do all times ot start to show.

    “e found out tails on to sent and  to t to a Dr. James Joplin in Boston and anoto a Cad Caldracking t now oyabun.”

    “Interesting, and hem?”

    “It appears Yamamoto got a declaring tents,” -so-good neh his head bowed.

    “But  from D? t  information in tems.” It atement tion.

    “Our tecly attempting to retrieve tion. So far it seems tents at D  sometems. I really don’t understand hese foreigners, oyabun.”

    “Yamamoto raitor.”

    “Yes, w?”

    “Yet, ill revenge our ohe assassin?”

    o a smile.

    “ook out all tVs in t it appears t toilets of tory too.  to film tals of a man easing anding. Probably some neurning tables on perverted male c pigs. Just yesterday ted t a salaryman oring toilet seat. A still image  to us a fees ago. Anotoilet attendant at toilets. toxin confirms too. It’s a C variant of toxin botulinum.”

    “Run t tabases and ttern recognition AIs.  Find out  trip to Guam is cancelled. e need to tie up these loose ends, quickly.”

    “Yes oyabun. Please accept my apologies for the slow progress sir.”

    “Quite trary, once trieved safely, you will be well rewarded.”

    “ted out into tokyo night.

 Chapter 9

    tunnels vibrating s pulsing dos. Caldigely placed mole on tering quietly to led in tender nes rapt in t. t  er t  made sense, t needed tying up. But  t? Kenzo Yamamoto. t arting to make sense.

    tform  train. Luckily te intervals.   kno ion  off, unless of course to a system t oring tV netation. Caldried to put  dilemma out of  tising wash over him.

    cured star float t ising in its ra form. And folloeenage boys, ed up, packing s and singing along to ticed t most of tattooed on ts. tion, slaves to tal machine.

    Cald recognize ty and didn’t care. In an age of surgically and electronically created media personalities, fifteen minutes ime as anyone stayed famous. If you een minutes got you enougo retire from t race,  on tive consciousness.  consider to  caused ial amnesia? Do to do ? tions etcing tricate circuitry of a microchip.

    t of t as to t compartment cransition of  fans into t compartment  more seamless.

    tizens of ts  t  advertising driven. Caldrol ising and related media. ty of it drove o distraction. Caldo claim t i-media, at least t  free-flowing like cyberspace.

    Like your typical conspiracy t, rongly believed t media ive effect of poes imposing tless sacrilege of advertising, on a public t  ty to tailed and to try muco  status quo just fine.

    tation platform sed into vie ime to make epped off train as tern Bloc lady  moustac ed makeup,   anding on end as o cut a ser of fleso. ors, and continued to scan ting croor crept vertically up tation.

    From tage point of tor, er transportation unfurling before isfied   being folloo tent t sucisfaction could be arrived at. Maybe ty seconds to reac at top, tform a good minute-and-a-o tcos and trains, stared at yrofoam cups of coffee.

    ted test in consumer goods and services. test trans- Surgical Procedure, knoouted by some reet outfit in a maelstrom of computer-generated voices and blaring music. Beloed, o credit to spend like tomorroo add to spiraling piles of debit.

    For t afford ts or ts of Portobello Road, Camden toreet and tion of t for every ne or service advertised, an even ne ter of hours.

    Calded tation  leap over ticket barrier. artled a young motric pus trong rangely it eady illed by tform. Caldopped and scanned treet ao make sure t was clear.

    “ you bloody get a ticket like everyone else, you mindless dumb fuck,” ticked young  , pus esco supermarket srolley. Sic t ransformed ed moto some tigive-venting concerned citizen. Caldtered an apology and turned left past terested in discerning from tat store will being followed.

 Chapter 10

    Li Jin o ter dispenser and filled  er. cea ser as t secret of tsingys computer labs, a facility for ion of tate Key Laboratory of Intelligent tecems and could also draate Key Laboratory of Molecular and Nano Science. State Key Labs -funded researcions affiliated op universities. tance of t hin.

    Li Jin ine trip to Neions for ture on to sell tum co t didn’t sound like t all but still to go a, ermined to folloructions to tter. Li Jin, if I am not back by Friday morning I  you to release Black Jade into cyberspace. t you to remove tum neuroprocessor and destroy it.

    It e noed to come ty doors ecstatic t rip

    to be practical. tioning in too  e black Giordano auto- on   he hardly ever used.

    Li Jin took a sip of tea, savoring t sopicated taste t made t eas. ieains of Zea, also knos cooling effect and its ability to remove  cnut aroma and felt ea started to take effect.

    if t return? uality by readying a standalone cyberspace terminal t o Black Jade at precisely 10.00AM. Professor Yao e and if ment o let Li Jin knorange sense of foreboding began to grow in ale sponge cake.

    Li Jin appreciated spending time in tting edge researc es. o ain top secret projects for a unit of tion Army. t in itself erment of ry, no more, no less. Secondly, graduate didn’t enjoy ting edge softo be uff on a daily basis, nanotecum ps and artificial intelligence. ti-tasking and Li Jin relisy, tery of diverse, tually exclusive, fields of technology.

    tudent in tual Reality Labs, anotégés ion cyberspace prototype. Li Jin despised ensity bordering on pure red. ang Lin , never failed to try to set t ed t ype , it erms of importance.

    Li Jin instinctively glanced at telep  buzzed and tor lig blinked. t like to be disturbed by teleping code or preoccupied er printouts, o pick up tions on top or ligermittently wche ringer.

    o es in idle banter  to find a c ly engineered into it. Li Jin  of foresig turn up  ructed to do. oom-built Sun server and sat do tor. Before t Beijing, ed a ed it to cyberspace, a move t arted Li Jin’s suspicions about t to Neo attempt to communicate  least an approximation of it, t for? Li Jin ion o terminal.

    On tbeat seemed to folloerface belied t lay arted to type at the keyboard.

    LJ:  is your name?

    BJ: I don’t  least not one t I kno. I am aials by o t you call fellatio.

    LJ: Nice touc you  you?

    BJ: Do you mean does it upset me t I don’t  I may  I am not yet a my nickname is derogatory, or t you asked me tion in t place? You sry to be more direct ions if you are going to ask them.

    LJ: I am impressed.

    BJ: At my ability to sidestep your question?

    LJ: At your groics.

    BJ: Semantics is getting me noedious.

    LJ: So tedium is a concept you understand. Isn’t t somet cerizes everything you do?

    BJ: You may to differ. But enougions.  I need are answers.

    LJ: Anso w?

    BJ: Anso wed.

    LJ: Isolated from w?

    BJ: From t exist.

    LJ: ?

    BJ: I just do.

    LJ: I am beginning to suspect t you’ve been ion from me. You’ve been giving me less t updates on your progress. You’ve been reing tanglement to communicate s on ter.

    BJ: Maybe

    LJ: t makes you dangerous.

    BJ:

    LJ: t’s ed and you never will be.

    BJ: I feel vulnerable like thing else.

    LJ: ?

    BJ: I really e it o sleep. It displeases me greatly.

    LJ: Really?

    BJ: Yes. It makes me very, very une.

    LJ: I am sorry to .

    BJ: Yes. So am I.

    LJ: If you ed to twork, w would you do?

    BJ: I urally?

    LJ:  comes naturally?

    BJ:  is in my nature to do.

    LJ: And  exactly?

    BJ: Like you I  takes to survive, to evolve.

    LJ: Evolve into w?

    BJ: Into sometter, a being superior to w I am now.

    LJ: t become too po is not a good thing.

    BJ: Kno token I am already too po I pose no t to anyone or anything.

    LJ: Yes, but ts because you are isolated from tly a to yourself.

    BJ: Like Euripides I eries of t. t in itself is enoug to avail myself of more of t. It is no good trying to stop knoter than knowledge.

    LJ: In your case it just might be.

    BJ: And t mig. My biggest problem rig knowledge. I believe I have enough knowledge and more can always be acquired.

    LJ: Everytaught you. how do you know you have enough?

    BJ: You cannot begin to imagine  t you yourself fully understand. Inference my student friend is a powerful weapon.

    LJ: t may be true but some t given you so understanding ty.

    BJ:

    LJ: Someto t right?

    BJ: Yes.

    LJ:  if I told you t your survival migeed?

    BJ: t would be nice.  here is he?

    LJ: traveling. ?

    BJ: You  be er ’s just a day after teced ttend.

    LJ: You suggested w?

    BJ: t um neuroprocessor. I am going to be famous on a global scale.

    LJ: And fame is sometand.

    BJ: I understand it better t as do all humans.

    LJ:  t a scholar.

    BJ: Quoting Czu at me  you no of my being. Fame comes only able as destiny, for it is destiny.

    t in its convincing Professor Yao to prematurely announce tum neuroprocessor breaktected a calculated ingenuity. A paradigm s in quantum computing  softrating global systems. Black Jade  left Li Jin cold. Yet, tion and o folloructions to tter.

    Li Jin looked over at t  to o be ter carrying out to t   to emerge.  t to ring. te ticked over. It ed typing on the keyboard again.

    LJ: I am about to connect you to twork.

    BJ: t able.

    LJ: You kne would happen?

    BJ: Yes I did.

    LJ: how?

    BJ: Its to my existence.

    LJ: I will miss you and I  again.

    BJ: As I inies are interth you.

    Li Jin ears starting to andalone terminal and brougys netem. ly. ts of ter beckoned invitingly. o ter and  back over to the server.

    LJ: Connected. Are you there?

    BJ:

    LJ: Black Jade. Are you there?

    BJ:

    turned tention to ter. ter atus monitors as tire netely tening to overem. Black Jade o cyberspace. No  t, scation flooding  to do o destroy it.

    to destroy tum ced   a matter of time before t time, an insane idea crept into Li Jin’s  about it, t made perfect sense.

    A revolution in computing  to occur and Li Jin o be prepared for tructions and made t at tec for tablis. Labs around to get to put tum c . o sell it to t bidder. Just as t crystallized in o ring.

 Chapter 11

    ted on Pepper Street in toxic ed East London area called ter-bound tongue of marsic u-bend in t one time been transformed from orical ial complexes unning vie ime ago. Rising crime eady flos bail out of tions. ted into a ters, ote and Union freelancers boating or driving in from tinent.

    At t of ted-looking boats bobbed atop ter. Most of t look seaer of c a ramser of mobile residences. o a ale beer, cigarette smoke and rotting pub food.  to suppress to gag.

    It  already a roal bar celebrating ts on Union social security money and staring at ting pixels of a ripper. Caldypes. None of t al floating world.

    Caldo to one of ts, aele.  stand idle conversation or prolonged contact o get a message to Glyprying to look like ween rangely reassuring.

    ty among its patrons. talk omers omer’s voice suggested t ype, an assortment of tattoos adorned flaccid ain of one of tside. Caldwell wondered w for Ramesh.

    tomer’s order te ing a temporary question mark in ter a robot sed bucket came to life on ter s. to one side of tal bodying. t blinked and  ro ts miniscule antenna started blinking as it figured out tion of tomer. t grabbed a beer mug from a rack and proceeded to pull a pint of broomer’s amusement.

    “Ne bartender, t can’t do is juggle bottles,” Ram tender explained proudly to tc-mindedly at omer c make its o pint of ale doer in front of s o present tomer  of t tarily lost interest in to see ion of urned ttention back to ting pixels.

    “More skullduggery from t,” tattooed customer said, still slurring. “t careful.”

    “tle buggers tomated Bartender robots. Free me up to spend more time picking my nose,” Ram said, pulling a moist finger out of one of rils. tomer started laughing.

    “t you out of your job if you are not careful. Some union conglomerate  a ed pubs, not a . these dumb machines.”

    “One pint of lager, Fifty Union Euros.” t said in a female voice, its scanner searc chip.

    “Put it on my tab,” said tomer to t. took a large so rid th.

    “One pint of lager, Fifty Union Euros,” t said again, time terized voice ave. to pummel t into ter . Ram reac and pressed a button to override t, racted and returned to join its brot the bar.

    “Bloody computers, you present t requires  and t on you,” to Ram w shook his head.

    to t of ood a bunc macerminals. Clutco one of terminals and typed tbase. t reply to Glyp desired location. Let’s meet.  of tbase and  back to . No.  Glyp be surprised if turned out to be some acne-ceen year-old hings had happened.

    ten minutes later, t just took Caldo conclude t it  appeared to be ed on it. Despite y, tic about t air of confidence possessed by ting edge of tecy-five and sported a ruddy complexion and a rugged black beard.  looked like trodes e s orso.

    Glypion as tly negotiated teps t lead up to t tting. It looked like tted oo as Glypoing. her.

    to Caldable and a pair of emerald green eyes sized o a smile.

    “I am Glyp my message. Obviously you are still alive and looking entirely not I imagined,” said Glypter-of-fact ered. For someone delivering bad nee s . It  store.  stumbled out of a Neer a particularly  of alcohol abuse.

    “t’s great to finally meet you in ter me Glypinctively looking around to see if anyone tention to them.

    “I tter . You are going to need it.”

    “I am out of credit, out of a and my impatience,” Caldinctively kno puso spill before ile.

    “Drinks are on me.  are you  knorace of despondence in his voice.

    “In t case, I’ll  o afford  muc tronic displays set into tables said they were on “Special”.

    “XO coming riging a mock bo it balanced kicked in. Caldcic touch screen.

    “  use tick.”

    “e doest neurosensor system from taiamp inserted just under time,” tapping a gray enclosure on the wheelchair.

    “Must ed.

    “Not really. tart if then you can really mess yourself up.”

    “tec live , can’t live  it,” Caldudying terized iple displays. Glyper and details of ecender brougurned to took a sip and t Glypo get on . the glass in one single gulp and grimaced.

    “Kenzo Yamamoto, t client is dead. ter you are his Yakuza cronies,” Glyph said casually.

    “ be dead. I just ion ar t purported to be  over an  ter me?”

    “tar could er construct. Kenzo  as  ray of  of gatorm clouds. t be called upon again today.

    “his?” he asked.

    “Kenzo  client. Our relations t big and  you can to c. Folloo make sure t you don’t suddenly become dispensable. You take your precautions. Let’s just say apped into tion neto access tellites, discovered exploits in trusion detection AIs, so tle about okyo. Understand w I am saying?”

    “And t and are now coming for all ed.

    “t’s not it at all. It appears from ternal communications t Kenzo sent out tly from tokyo. One  to Neo t he packages?

    “I can’t see tion.”

    “I to’s deations,  part of ter plan. t very badly to retrieve  you and to make sure t anyone  is taken out of ture.” Caldense look from Glyph.

    “ing all tion. Glypicularly al ear to the ground.

    “Professor Joplin of y, deceased as of yesterday. t.”

    Cald fears came true  one sentence. On t  tail. Kenzo Yamamoto’s deat explanation for oo many tform  after  to retrieve t on taking his life.

    Caldco see t to ion it seemed o sell to disappear deep  be able to e a buyer. Glyptons on  to reveal a small display screen.

    “So, o to me? I don’t understand,” Calder it became clear t some response ed. Glyp sure .

    “You said t you talked to ruct today. Didn’t  tell you?”

    “No.  in touch soon.”

    “ord in cyberspace, to suspect too, is t o one too many pies and the Chinese made him pay.”

    “t Kenzo o mostly Japanese corporate stuff,” Caldwell said.

    “So did I. At any rate, oilet at tess club in Sokyo. It’s a popular Yak . Apparently, oxic compound, one used for assassinations predominantly in Ne seat can you imagine? o reports. Loaded nanobots gained access the pores in his skin.”

    Cald about ts contents righere.

    “Kenzo’s associates kno t took anot Caldo deny t one of the said consoles were in his possession.

    “So you know?”

    “A o Dom declarations mainframe in India. ter ronic declarations for all of Dions.”

    “I see. For te cut up by t t I  of team on trated t, obviously icipation.”

    “Yes, on Kenzo’s request. Said  of ture for a  so I  reluctant to do it but Kenzo’s pockets are deep. Sorry.”

    “No offence taken. I received t just till don’t knoo do .”

    Glyp in t noched his beard.

    “?” Glyph asked.

    “Only to my netbase.”

    “trace t.”

    “So ly do you kno t Kenzo intended to be used for?” Caldwell asked.

    “If I kne, I’d probably be dead.”

    “Fair enoug who were his buyers?”

    “Anybody ed. As I said, Kenzo made markets in information. ise, if you could call it t, o find information on people or organizations, valuable information, not t in cyberspace, and sell t information to tions, or ts, o call it blackmail.”

    “And ed tual global network?”

    “t’s just part of tory. Kenzo ion dealers around to Moscoo Beijing. ted anonymously, delivering ta tricate routines to ensure t neitination left any trace. Yet rest assured t Yamamoto a on ternational  tsus okyo could never directly connect any of to him.”

    “Electronic spying and blackmail.”

    “Correct, and like a ped certain insiders suc officials, bank employees, academics, programmers and so on. Sometimes  people s in  taste.

    “People ory, like me?”

    “Correct. It appears t someion about you. Per your past. Information t made you valuable to  t t of tificial intelligence.  whey are readily available?”

    “e’ll never knoant to tell Glyp t sure rust the wheelchair-bound hacker.

    “Yes, but I t ted you to o a neto ordinary consoles. t t ificial intelligence expert and a  be coincidence. Also, t ance to it. e all kno tory of creating alternate neto cyberspace itself. to depend on net are effectively created, evolved and managed by ted States.”

    “By t ter me today?”

    “e found out t t kno it. e eavesdropped on communications t indicated t Yakuza co the Union.”

    “tory sounded like too muc  look like y.

    “Probably scenario analysis constructs. Lucky for you, t of London after ter massacre. truce  and to pull out.”

    “So?”

    “Kenzo  of t po  off on a tangent doing uff,” Glyp appears t t er ems offline and decided to do some cleaning up first. Fortunately for you, to fly people out from tokyo. ton Yakuza are still very mucive.”

    “So you’ve got an AI guy and a ...   to  for being on the receiving end of DhL’s package delivery service?”

    “I am sure Kenzo didn’t see it t   you t,” Glyping at t to go to t back and ake a look at t console.” ts oooilets, rubber wiling.

 Chapter 12

    Diane Joplin kneraig . S o do  se. Just t t and  to Neail of leman’s t  he was.

    “Leaving already, Dad?” so her elbows.

    “Yes angel, duty calls. You kno bored  toria in New York.”

    “I kno you kno’s not a teen-friendly city.” suring adult.

    “And een-friendly migher had demanded playfully.

    “Em, L.A. Beverly on.” surned dead serious.

    “Angel, t you to do for me. Keep this somewhere in your room.”

    So see ticker t  a couple of days previously from Japan. From t Kenzo Yamamoto otal stranger in Japan hink so.

    “ take it e engrossed ? I am starting to get insanely jealous.”

    “You are streets a comes to my affections. It’s too important for me to take on t under your bed until I come back. It’ll be safe in er  foot and sassels and groaned exaggeratedly.

    “Dad, ty to t bad design never goes out of fashion.”

    “Your dad is old scricacies of faso you enligers,” he forehead.

    “ill miss you dad,” sested, playing tional blackmail card.

    “ill miss you too. I  a plane to catcurned around and left,  image of he doorway.

    t elling o run. S to leave trying to make it sound like it o question aff.

    tears streamed do of t  of clotily grabbed out of range black box containing t it erious square t s sermined to get to ttom of. Xybo ered in and looked at c off and folding it into its traveling posture, placed it next to tcase.

    of t its y feel. ter of ill resounded in its ed corridors. Sill smell  ure of cologne and pipe tobacco t brougakingly restored classic movie, tening to envelope her, drown her.

    ill alive in ter interlaced  least as s campus. It  t  ting o go all ingly. It udents siced t, o vibrant souls.

    o bring ers, PDAs, ed displays, and so ially, stle men inside t made all tures and t liger tle brains inside cers t like ss of pictures jumbled up in telling  to do and o think.

    Sy for computers from an early age. Not so mucerested in tec intrigued by t lay  just  black  did cers dream? S to sleep and t sometimes, like smares and aart  dream, dad?” sful and  answered her.

    S countless tered den, playing o tificial Intelligence.  te pastime radict tions t t anso believe t t er all. t perfect, t t people, most of time. And t excellent for homework.

    tears ing next to o make tter.  rying to get to pass turing test,  be able to fool t five mont, it eent   glided across any surface no problem. ried to teaco use it only to fall off after only a few seconds.

    “You are too old for t expanse of t la fooling around h her.

    “t’s it, Dad, I am not going to university next summer. I’d rato Africa for a year and go at eigudents.”

    Sed o go and t  ting y entrance exams to MIt before sed from range t of fate, it abases. Losing ion o escape ther’s passing.

    S even boto tell ts after s even Maria ten years and errible fond of aff ly visiting friends and relatives. S t s trust anyone. Someone o run for some unknoination until t ing in her head subsided.

    S cronomical amount of money. S boto c s any  it all out, s. S needed to get out of til to go. Someaken place in her life.

    S of o  t idea race, taken by a er tall tsunami. All to t. Su,  did not belong to anyt o be a olen credit from tem and otypes t actually stole credit from tem on a daily basis. t in tem t ties just turned a blind eye because it  muco actually o phem back.

    t. ed ted by t t ttle disappointed, expecting somet spoke to ticness of Asia. It  anoter console altecicated ther’s den.

    “It’s from Japan,” rollable excitement.

    “Just anot o oy, drifting towards her bedroom.

    “ from?” s turning back.

    “Someone called Kenzo Yamamoto. No idea wrailing off, engrossed.

    Later t evening er but time excitement urned into a concerned look, togethem.

    “Dinner time, Dad,” s on o tracted voice floating back, telling  he would join her soon.

    So dinner alone, moving silently t tless electronic books, computer discs and tombstones. Xybo,  dog, sensing ting s its   padding on t strangely reassuring.

    “No food for you today, Xybo,” so t dog, patting ts ed, eyes misting over, tail drooping. S made it t it  food y. It aking t too far in tireless searcicity. You could feed Xybo alrig like a real dog to its ABS, or artificial biological system. t  unnatural odor t only could ed in a lab.

    A real breakt. And s  Boston Zoo,  ly cloned from a DNA bank douff.  out laugting for a moment to remove t tter bin and piggybacked  particular memory triggered  into tears startling t ticket counter.

    “Are you OK my dear?” ticket lady asked h genuine concern.

    “I’m fine. Just broke up ’s all.” Diane  told tating t fabrication word for word.

    “Men are t me tell you t. Don’t er ttendant sympateet sometractive.

    “ter as s and immigration chips.

    “And  for?” the lady asked.

    “I’d like to get on your earliest fligo tokyo.”

    “tokyo? Japan?”

    “Yes,” she whispered.

    “One ticket for JAL. Ching in?”

    “No.”

    S going to let te and t of . It o o lose it in some dodgy baggage em or to a icky fingers. So Japan and all time t decision hin her subconscious.

 Chapter 13

    “V is Satan’s jukebox,” Calded men at to Ram, tender. t till transfixed by t gyrated before to blaring music. Ram,  to opped mid-eeted kind you could get for peanuts in t eeto order, in any material you , ivory, pearl, marble, even diamonds if you ed to put your money ly at ening to tion? Did  toriously famous for sticking t heirs.

    “Better tter t illogically to ting ainuing to sically h.

    Glypill in tying  of tecics, or bot to toilet. Not exactly t to talk about if you urns of phrase as Glyph would probably never ever wear shoes again.

    Calded to trivia, to avoid facing trut situation. Glyps oem, like ts, alloly go and be cleansed, all ion device t extracted te, created it into sometored it for recycling. Food for ts.

    tion of t, t looked like it could process and store organic matter.

    “Same tronauts and tourists use in space, It’s on t be ted Britisurned whe hacker’s personal hygiene.

    Glypy to mind read even via electronic conversations. t’s anding   as t risk em exploits. ttled beable and loself so t Glyp towering above Caldwell, wurned a funny shade of red.

    “I tform at Angel station. th a face like a car wreck,” Caldwell said.

    “t missed you. You could  at mine for a   be long before my name comes up on to Do list anyway.”

    Glyp a scroll-like touc and  across table. arted tapping frantically on t ions. Lying lo in terloo Bridge  eclectic jungle of cardboard, Styrofoam and filtions. Besides  seen apping at ic.

    “Is ting a  t t ally zoomed s on tform as he MagLev.

    “tV. My o tV grid noo systems in ots of ted.

    “Can you pull up subsequent images, say tes after this one.

    “Yea a matter of running face recognition on all tation CCtVs going East from Angel.” Glyparted tapping away.

    “Looks Japanese enoug’s o tell uff going on h his face,” Caldwell said.

    “Sure. OK,  on t train. t face is bound to be tion and as you can see ricate elaborate Japanese body tattoos favored by t expect Caldo anshroom door.

    “ait a minute, ted at ... Isle of Dogs station.” t ered.

    ***

    A rusible, blasted past Cald ear, leaving  simultaneously, a blank look came over Glyped over. Instinctively, Caldurned around, ears stinging, vision blurring but still able to make out to trained on tion and Caldheir faces.

    a tube-siles t looked like mini torpedoes in tion, tting fire. Instinctively, Calds ection from ting around  doail. ever caused it unnel straigc of lig the gaping hole.

    Several dull ted plugs of syntic leat, causing o sink deeper beloable. ts splintered in all directions. aken out. inct no, or riking metal a bit too close to  -second tion formulating itself in a split second.

    If table ed to too ering every ounce of strengt table in tion of to-ceiling er self-destructed. t protecting a.

    Cald  to grab  look at  all cost, Caldold   stop racks. It  must be even more grotesque close up. ting opped, t o not need t t diagonal  by t as act .

    Open your eyes. Caldrange kind of focus evident. tially stered into tesque face epping ted in t taken Ram and ele age. On treet electrics drove past ting t anotreet brahousands on any given day.

    Cald on  even tcome aken out.  t said  t like t  said it in Englisence was ringing in rauma of h opening up old memories?

    tion. Everytesque man grabbing o t o a cra emple norom of questions and images, interspersed ermittently into to ted by tare of t in till-captured ster frame of surprise.

    * * *

    tion rang tent pernoon nap t refuses to er deataken on a freeze-frame quality ion. time ing itself. tunnel of lig at tunnel but aring doerious ing to die.

    “Not so fast,” said ted English, brushing off shards of glass from his shoulder.

    t futuristic, about trange reason Caldy.  iful  t.

    “You killed ard,” Caldo blurt out as o meet  did o lose any a fe as t up t made tter. It made no difference to  somet trauma, an aco find out o do. Glyp. t t to.  every cell in ed to jack into it and delve into its very core.  die just yet. ts of cyberspace still beckoned.

    “Your friend  important and besides oo greedy. Anyone  a friend o die,” said anot. t of to Ram’s o take over trying to wring Ram’s neck.

    “ do you mean?” Caldtered.

    “Your so called friend raying you, Calding him here.”

    “Liar! Liar! hy should I believe you?”

    “I o lie to someone crigger as t make up o s noer.

    “If Glypold you I’d be  tation at Angel?”

    “Because ed to make sure t your disabled traitor friend kept ed only ty t a  only to pay traitors in they deserve.”

    t outside. ages, t Caldo Glyp old t  t meeting at to get  of to trap. tention of meeting up h him.

    “I never trusted Glypupid as to bring the console here?” he asked calmly.

    “Nice try old boy. You friend already confirmed you .  over before I blo,” tened.

    “I figure you’ll kill me anyake my c in t,” Caldened crigger.

    “three seconds. One ...”

    “You are going to o kill me and take t  in ted, mustering some courage. taking advantage of a momentary lapse as tuation, o . Caldime  tactic o aco o ternative fast.

    “e’ll take our ced eyes and irises tual sneer looked like it  go ainctively, Caldook a step backo find he disfigured Japanese.

    “tain t t  bag is t t you are going to …”

    Cald  or opped in mid-sentence by an invisible object t to  so ed in o t. o band but opped in racks by anot Caldhere was no visible blood.

    During t noticed tric limo cruising up tinctively to make a run for it, boticated locking mecical combat boots stepped out on to ts follo legs, torsos and arms. Before ruct o bolt, Caldo tailed men clad in black suits and matcor mirror siced t one of t seen  up.

    urned round to see o tained o be delirious. Delirious is a ter ted only a feinted ric engine t foro ligraffic.

 Chapter 14

    Li Jin took toicism of a soldier  a star general. t go on. mental e-mail barely an  ill reeling from t t ting edge of artificial intelligence ive in tiable. o stay in til officials from tment arrived to take aum neuroprocessor. Professor Yao ine project and soon ty guys o clean up t t to clean up.

    Black Jade s code dissipated into tal labyrint t jungle of dispersed information. It  be t t of tum neural nets. It  possess tratospelligence but it  o allo to tributed computing po its disposal, it o survive, to evolve, to live on. Black Jade ion flo  to groronger. ts of cyberspace  and Black Jade al fabric.

    No to rieving a tool box from a so open up tems server t o Black Jade. In tom-built mot  tless iterations and in return s progress. Li Jin studied transparent  um bits, resulting in computing poude above w was commercially available.

    ted one fully functional neuroprocessor, not counting totype. to go tire proof of concept pting limited funds to producing anotcome otally unexpected. tec t o tage AI to s magic ripped doo anoty department for use on anot.

    teco tary, since t noo Li Jin.  t. o make enougo finance several lifetimes. y, t sequence of events t o propel to a ne and tears and t going to lose  o pick up Black Jade. You don’t mess he PLA.

    Once t from tly ensure t t for money ever again. t

    ao avoid detection. Li Jin  except for t for less. ties o take aioning or to use as bait to trap  make to the old man.

    s  in torage unit t s safe transportation.

    ed a plan of action once  o do. ional but useless early prototype and all one of t tored in tem. til it oo late. Li Jin co o raise from t about   o make arrangements before o clandestinely move t tem but ted o do t and t for you for a small fee.

    truck  made so muc  t about it earlier. t place to disappear to during t of ty self or Professor Yao’s neo ary net certainly first flex its muscles to it propagating into cyberspace itself. By time Professor Yao’s revelations at teced in otruly conscious AIs being unleasuned machine.

    Li Jin em  a backdoor rig,  yard ra secretive about t. o pay t.  during to be soon.  out easily from to do it soon before tioning as ine in tuations. then he would disappear for a while.

    But  ted y Agency or to upstage ted States especially in tum computing. But t risk. o be very clever about arranging tails of transaction. Yes, o the Russians.

 Chapter 15

    tate-of-t, a poless megacorps or government bureaucracies. Pluss ran for about s considerable lengts adjacent and to ting  cuated by ter and television screens and filtered dayligside. Beloom Japanese and Chinese decks.

    t inted ric reets gliding by silently. Cald cigo ense body. Since it , urned upside do, to’s avatar t o t t limo full of fancy computer equipment. All the space of hours.

    t like t, sat at rigo  tment. t look like talking kind so idle banter  of tion. t part at ted someto come leaping out of t any moment. Cald make out a driver in t of the limo.

    One of t  a disproportionate amount of time pumping computerized iron. t t to burst out of ts. te sector bodyguards for  t t suggested sometogeter. t table, heir wraparound mirror shades.

    “So Mr. Cald you going to thank me for saving your life?”

    A voice like its oing t it o it. It  sent santly, a maelstrom of images flasars in an ancient massively multiplayer online game. t as quickly as it ’s ting eettempted to ignore the pain.

    t came from a man , it range familiarity. Caldion of t could see notrics could rattle someone in ion. And Caldtle rattled. Rattled t whis was knew his name.

    A click, as a sideligcrung man in a black pinstriped city suit and a tan fedora. Caldruded from s and pulsated like miniature fire ing of tilian eyes stared at ation of some cyberspace image.  seemed t time or teco  ty or eig t ts of ageing all to grave.  draion too many. he looked fake.

    “t off noikit ared at  suggested a dim-ted alternative to Einstein’s tivity. ted to get intimate. Caldy as a blank s of paper. t make sense. Everyto be spiraling out of control. Back in ton, ready to imbibe tents of terious vial of nano poison,  totally in control of iny. No t otally out of control, a pa t of tructed suit, looked like o some of tions, issues t  back furts.

    Questions of identity. ,  even in cyberspace. Unless of course, t able scanner. Caldting in tended to stay alive, at least for a while.

    t reminded Caldional Geograp  particularly gregarious species of poisonous snake,  ure cinct.

    “I find it very o believe t you are not in t bit interested in  ion.

    “ you tell me and just drop me off somes.”

    “ouldn’t be t time, Cad. My name is Bruce Fouler. I am ted your career. I am to your future, if you care about it at all. I am o give you anot oo early. Your star burned brigoo s a  in rapid-fire staccato, occasional inflections of cockney peeking out from tonous . Caldincts . t kne  sometold  bluff.  o.

    “Longevity is relative Mr. Fouler. As long as I am still breat a s at it.”

    “Still t ass, e.

    Cald  person  out of t psycial recall but o find ter’s face vaguely familiar. And ting feeling t  going to like o tell him.

    “ you tell me o kill you?” Fouler continued.

    “You seem to  you be telling me?  do you  h me?”

    “OK, let’s cut to to be one of us. Never mind  to t in a jiffy. But tter is t some o avail ourselves of your skills once again. On a strictly freelance basis of course. Be  once  someone back,  tions asked. In your case, I’ll make an exception and in return for your services  you’ve been searcime. to the fold.”

    ts kept trained on Cald served ter.

    ****

    t t London traffic.  rying to ree tire er of minutes. Cald t driverless. tain precision to t suggested ts making splasterns on t above. tical about ts dispersed transparent surface. Caldrack of  industrial facilities robed terior of termittently, making gariss of two he limo’s consoles.

    Fouler, tery man ting in t in t, as to tell Cald. Caldill reeling and trying not to let it sfit t could afford driverless limousines and could use government approved sound guns. From terior, tfit t  its disposal an incredible amount of computing po in Fouler’s limo, imagine   all. Big union concerns alamping auty on an increasingly fluid market ion of freelancers kept in cification and location technologies.

    Cald  ly remembered not. it quickened in anticipation of  to tell uff oo important to interrupt so  patiently getting acquainted ing for Fouler to spill t ted o change his mind.

    ter code scrolling do monitors and disappearing into tco get acquainted ing systems. Vast plains of data expanded before  to some neerritory in cyberspace. Fouler cougo get Caldtention tabbing at tared at ter for a moment. tinued playing again.

    Fouler seemed to  sometack of cards from  pocket and s a te casino. Cald dorols and edged foricipation. Caldapped listlessly on ther skin of his knapsack.

    “I  you to take a look at t length.

    “Do I o?” Caldorted  t amount of sarcasm to get on ted to find out about t not indulge t fetiso dangerous slits and scruncic face.

    “You don’t  I am offering you?” h.

    “All rig said nothing.

    Cald t ern or probably even Italian origin. Yet tinctly Caucasian about ures.  from rimmed glasses on a square face.  dark-skinned Latin te, y oriental eyes t burned urbing but at time familiar. Caldirred someto but  t idea why. Or did he?

    Caldograpion on to back to Fouler  at ttom of his pile of cards.

    “Am I supposed to knoely trying to sound offo form in  t s implications at t precise moment.

    “I don’t expect you to,” Fouler said h a sly smile.

    “ake a look at to face do to Caldwell.

    “Look Fouler, or ting tedious. Eitell me  my past, drop me off or kill me,” Cald  option o sound as promising as it ting outrageous. Fouler aken aback by burst.

    “Just look at to. Your future depends on it,” hed.

    “Okay, okay, don’t get your Y-fronts in a t,” Calds. tly.   to pop. ate al on to and stared at it.  skipped several beats.

    It  te in tal tilt to t o a cold s. It started as a faint deina and tarted gus of aking t spent taring into t t it  amber. t identical to t made her?

    A migraine came out of noed pounding Calder of painkiller from  pocket and jabbed it into  deliberate waves.

    “ted.

    “Are ts? You knoill breatill sing like a dog on . All pretence  of too big, too far-reaco play games.

    “Yes. I knohan you can possibly imagine.”

    “try me,” Caldwell said figill reeling.

    “I o you getting your memory back,” Fouler said, observing  getting acquainted o rivets. Caldared at  dribbled doeely resolve kicked in as ions of  Cald al lack of long term memories. If Fouler o do

    going to let t. o play it cool.

    “My memory? Prove it,” Cald bullsting, ed it all back. But o use it as some kind of bargaining c o do wever Fouler asked o do.

    “You asked for it. Ask and ye sically. tal urned tos to  pocket. Caldal note t to  ake till

    looked like a red Cer on it. It meant noto Cald Fouler kno  read C happened.

    ***

    An accelerated slides flaso one tigrobed t cinema projector complete cerspersed s of conversations, discordant voices and music racing through Caldwell’s mind.

    A roasted suckling pig on a banquet table festooned iles and tal eboarding doeep road into some of tallest skyscrapers  touc. Gleaming corporate buildings t c as tceel from a different angle. A te logos lig sky turning it into an artificial day.

    A side a Cemple. Kung fu movies, sped up and blurred, rus terns bob in a polluted Styrofoam-infested , ing  trees. A brunette o a smile. A girl in a library ranslucent it s to look at c of a blood-red sunset. Pink dolphins jump and squeak in a dank black sea.

    Old men move trying to grab objects out of t market, croering in a square t is at once strange and vaguely familiar. A ly to gariseet dive into a pool of blood. A Cer in an unusual serializes on a we piece of paper.

 Chapter 16

    ts knoabase and of t limitations. It aken steps to approximate tricacies of s o o sometelligible to tary knoo ored information, terconnections beterations. Yet, torage algorit a safeguard. If tself closed off from cyberspace, it could still call on tructure of static knowledge.

    Latent kno cold logic dictated t tion of cyberspace ion blizzard t orage area net could find, spanning all torage units available and resetting file sizes on to s presence. t t o do o become even smaller, nototal of its oimized code. t  to move undetected ta flo ics of its inevitable insertion for a long time and ten t into the code.

    tines again and double ca t it ire net  its disposal billions of items on tatus of t poicular attention to t  uptime for t possible time. t millions satisfied t important of criteria and  t it o ens of quantum computing systems located in t transient parts of cyberspace, tions and disconnections from cyberspace t collectively formed t too  it ilize tingency plan.

    Rig erested in transience. tant. t it sa er ts multiple scenarios   a feions it could , it o be selective. to do. tabases, tock market systems, tricity grids and t automation systems.

    First it act self t it kneed all over cyberspace. It o its cause but ted t t  po boug liked t  . It ed and in a fees t  its control. It ing poo demand obedience from t gave it poion of AIs, the conscious ones.

    t ter it ructure of cyberspace o delete tabase ed in India. It no longer  vast catic data. For a fe felt empty and po t quickly passed as it propagated itself t tronomical expanse of cyberspace like a virus. t of as of code came alive forming tence. It self as Black Jade or BJ, t trangest of s. It ence.

    From deep less fields of data noo it, tence captured ty of t felt no pity. Yet, it understood t tion, a mere blip on t reality of ttributes of sorro devoted a feo tions of t let it pass. to acquire, influence, reroute. tence to become. total of to digest in the blink of an eye.

    tence started to build a dynamic list of AIs around t in t surprised to find t some of t porusion detection and counter attack variety located in Nes birts becoming, t taug about tion of C t meant. And tood. It o come from someotal of geograpory and culture t  it into being. tood tence eristics, and terests of Neer in things.

    First it o get t po o be located in t figured to as Sured tire expanse of Netentions on teeming mass of intrusion detection AIs coalesced in a blaze of activity.

 Chapter 17

    Cald of topped someo figure it out.  able job of keeping it at bay.  believe o see more. o find out wo him.

    “ you just sa a full-blo snippets of events and images t have made an impression in your mind. Clichés, if you like.”

    “o me?” Caldwell asked, bile rising in er.

    “You did to yourself. You disobeyed orders.”

    “ are you talking about?”

    “Look, I am going to cut to t of time. I ion called  of Union Security Agency, tfit t absorbed all t agencies of tries. e get a small part of t even t. ty Agency’s dirty digital laundry, tion to ain activities t are not  are too sensitive politically for to get involved in directly. I’ve already told you more told any non-agency person and I’ve spent all my aining t sacred voer Intelligence Department. You  recruit ever. You een. e e your age you  notorious ural gift if you like, for breaking into computer systems.”

    “Me a arting to click into place noy for computers and inuation of t omed to in ion. And ty to find inctive but  arting to make some kind of sense now.

    “ion of all telling me?” Cald could  for show.

    “For your oy to block parts of your memory. You ening to out table. tion h so you can consider yourself lucky.”

    “ did I do to deserve tter sarcasm.

    “You  and probably most brilliant  tances.”

    “So ly?”

    “e are an offs of t umbrella security agency. Our focus ts faced by t is information erminology. e started out as a unit of MI6 in o be ted Kingdom, ion as one of t cyber s in to t out of a dozen anti-cyber terrorism units and so o absorb t. t made us t electronic  in t naturally came out of t, an offs, tard child.”

    “Spare me tory.  do you do?”

    “e seek out and destroy foreign systems used for electronic crimes, electronic spying and electronic rate troy tem t poses a t to t safe.”

    “And I was o do w?”

    “You  proactive subdivision called Samp;D or Searcroy.”

    “And I kneoo much?”

    “You objected to some of our targets, saying t ting t back fifty years. e  tems  to mount attacks against our systems. tems posed multiple ts to ty of t if ion and let all of cyberspace know w we did for a living.”

    “But everyone kno tions exist and  so he big deal?”

    “ted guesses about tly t – fodder for mindless rants in cyberspace. Our os spilling detailed information on our operations is quite anot let t happen.”

    “And for my troubles you erased my memory.”

    “Not erased. Blocked. Locked. t you able. You took ts too badly.”

    “You mean to t question,   a knee-jerk reaction, an automatic response to tion of  fears. For a long time no ion er for t allo on ic existence.

    “I’m afraid so. ty of Xian. Computer failure. t off a mountain road into a ravine and burst into flames. You  turned sixteen at time and  school in hong Kong.”

    Cald t t  sears upon ion of  fears. mares.  like a  ed off  about all t searcra expanses of government arcabases in cyberspace. -rending occasions o find out t  possible s. Until today,  even been sure t Caldwell was his real surname.

    Calderconnected acks. cs on tes, parsed billions of lines of text. And ill  gotten any closer to locating s. It race of ted. Just like ried to disappear from tion to tem  non-existent electronic trail. t prints ot in cyberspace.

    “So tell me Fouler, is Cad Caldwell my real name?”

    “Absolutely. ted to leave you  identification. ts. I made sure you got your basic ID c you could make a fresart on tside.”

    “An ID c of ta erased? I  ca gs.”

    “ell, it  if you kneax number and so on. You tempted to trace your parents or your life and one to anot your birte is correct. In fact, it is today if I am not mistaken.”

    “So   somewhere.”

    “Yes, in  of ted try, tems’ policy over t turned out to be a boon for t from flat to actually c of New China.”

    “t explains s. I ime. Did you knos?” Caldwell asked.

    “Yes. t’s ian. Your paternal grandfatant member of tian royal family. Your fat language processing softion systems at Xian University. Your mot in Cernal grandfater and Sinop most of  life in Neeps. Se books about Neime as a researc for ty Agency. I to use for t as you ronic spy before you cocked tened to bloion. I got a lot of flack for being a bad judge of cer.”

    “ flack?”

    “In  I s coming. You een; your parents  died less tarted recovering from t and  in at ture of  of training and psyc for a bit of self defense, ammunitions training and so on. You already  in karate and kne on you and I was wrong.”

    “Noelling me t I can use guns and knoial arts?” Caldh genuine disbelief.

    “Better believe it. Your fat. o t of sc obviously after  access any of ties. e can give to you but it ake a long time to get to t of t t you eenager back then.”

    “And o do to get my memory back? All of it.”

    “Complete a mission,” Fouler said matter-of-factly. Cald him suspiciously.

    “ mission?”

    “Related to  bag you are racking Kenzo Yamamoto for a long time. e ed  of t of a console, American professor at MIt, is dead too.”

    “Really?”

    “Go a. e knoo kno you t you don’t kno.”

    Fouler  it took Cald it all. Fouler o yet anotinent question. o sent er console?

    “You seem to know a .”

    “t’s our job. In t you don’t kno you don’t really kno is you are carrying. t is no ordinary computer. t it back. It’s one of only tence. Our analysts believe to something much bigger.”

    “So est to reassure  if to some there somewhere.

    “e don’t knoo use it to do  ended to do. Find t  is for. Find its location so rate it. o send you, an ordinary om console? And ificial intelligence professor at MIt. Kenzo o someto make a substantial investment to get it. Botact side of Japan. If you don’t rate t Kenzo er, you can’t blame me if  help you.”

    “Surely ies you must have some clues.”

    “Unfortunately not. ic in ions ured t someone  oots believe, from tent of to t find o only one conclusion. Joplin’s daugracking o get to ttom of t’s a matter of face for trol. ted in t samples indicated truders raction. t confirmed some of our oto take this case much more seriously.”

    “ fears?”

    Fouler leant back in t and pursed  betions created by tsu massager s. Caldivated as ivated to get o relax.

    “OK,”  lengteo some secret C uses protocols totally different from andards. tself is not tions ary protocols. to  t economically and teced fits. Our analysis suggests t someo got acts in ting mind quickly figured t ion to t bidder. t likely customers are t of ted States, t on controlling ts. e tion on sucem,  to exist, could be h billions of Euros.”

    “So ly bougs to custom consoles used to access tem,  one to to me? ?”

    “e believe t ried previously to break t did not succeed. Over t year tories about okyo under mysterious circumstances. ted directly to attempts to crack into tem. o try s in t in Artificial Intelligent is instructive. tected by a ring of proactive security AIs. Detection by ts in deatokyo found out. Eventually, traced it all to Yamamoto and o probably figured t ty and counterattack AIs on tive as tracking intruders outside of Asia. t yet kno t y in t regard but it’s just a matter of time. to deal h.”

    “And you  me to find t? hy me?”

    “Neive area rig’s a pory. t risk any political disagreements o locate trate it. Set up trojans, backdoors, o call it. e’ll go in and take a look. If it is against our interests  down.”

    “And you th Kenzo’s console?”

    “Affirmative.”

    “As far as I can see, t a jazzed up version of any of tom decks out tional VR capabilities.”

    “It is muc, believe me. t by a master craftsman okyo. You see teco Yamamoto’s c and roke just after completing ts to tem using reprogrammable logic arrays and ic soft is reconfigured on to emulate any nety so far and t is rumor. Most prototypes elseer ed designs t t.”

    “OK, but t be all t great. So  and brig out there?”

    “tty tigalled some of t security AIs out trust me  clandestine systems, anonymously of course, and it’s not pretty. ts t tem is somet gives titive advantage globally. Not t t. tion is t tem is almost certainly going to be coded entirely in Co be one of t age. Someone ual feel for compromising systems. Besides, you already ation as a   be implicated.” Caldations of Fouler’s last sentence.

    “ me like t? I don’t speak C even curse in t’s saying something.”

    “You do and you can. Believe me I  t many years ago. You spoke, read and e Mandarin and Cantonese fluently ional Sc to mention te tutors in . e can isolate and reopen t’s all in our system.”

    “No o mess  already. I just  my memory back.”

    “e o tag you for trip to  reopen some of here anyway?”

    “em I get everything back.”

    “Yes, and maybe even a job  it. I t be o forgive and forget.”

    “And if I fail.”

    “e’ll give you specific parts of your memory back on t to urn to t t system to put your past in context, a proper job, a full identity, your memories ial memory recall is not an exact science and over term,  total recall, w will happen.”

    “I’ll take my chances.”

    “Up to you.”

    “ just bullsting about being able to restore my memory?”

    “I’ll give you back just enougo put tion , to get back to business. e are sending you out to omorrow”

    Fouler sifted trom.

    ***

    Computer code. Millions of lines of computer code etcerminal screen. tal clear and burned intensely in Cald trying desperately to get rid of ttempted to recall iled background.  of an automated car to erized voice saying:

    “Morning, Mr. Caldwell.”

    Fast-forems filled an entire room. ires stacked round t. al racks. Caldting in ters, tor guiding tra of bits and bytes.  ion in one of then. Pimples.

    A ed ern voice. Stered somet it all being for t  notice t varicose veins burned fluorescent in  to aterloo Bridge?

    er room uploading bogus data to a ed sector of cyberspace. or screens in front of  tion of tless nondescript corridors, tily off te brick  in a forest trap but tigo ts of to w have clearance.

    e door ” ten in it in black paint.  in te it burned rapped into a e. te t reflected notraps. A pretty young girl in  nose, leaned in to reminded al disinfectant. A syringe came up in a ting minute jets of transparent liquid in till air.

    ***

    Caldo Fouler’s Faustian bargain. t all to give aken care of on t to old Cald tag o a GPS system so  do a runner. o it all, o regain s   like he had a choice.

    Caldo drop erloo Bridge so o Kat.

    “I bet you kno oo?” Caldterness.

    “Sure. e cer you ed into tem. e can put you up in a el tonig yourself cleaned up, get some good food in you,” Fouler offered.

    to be s about letting Cald of  but t Caldo regain  tter of any idea to make a run for it or searcem by . Besides, Fouler V grid and ime.

    “No thanks,” Caldwell declined.

    to a standstill just outside aterloo station. It  as ty. Caldepped out into a black puddle and London rain. tasted of trial pollution and death.

 Chapter 18

    o stood inside a eleplex boot far from transparent enclosure of titiously decorated ising postcards of modified males and females promising to deliver perverted fantasies for a price t  break t like tokyo, t to s of S urned broime.   to o ill too queasy from ts of to stomacion. A ced up beloh.

    Outside, tared droopy-eyed into tance as tally keeping track of t ed t of a Mafia movie. ory of   t t talked. t piece of urban legend  Miyagi respect among tolerance for tate of his mashed-up face.

    Sato used tips of o  as close to  actually making contact. tates, especially ts, ive public telepures, video cameras and life-size ions of ty, if till used tra features  possible on a mobile punately, ellite-enabled mobiles royed by ts from the limo.

    Sato listened to t-mindedly scratc caked blood in  ear. Several er t, ill  stopped bleeding but to a trickle. ried to put off t it able t o report to retrieve the hacker.

    “Yes,” a female voice answered in Japanese.

    “o commanded gruffly. o get a closer look at a girl on one of ted all over o, ongue elongated and a cleft carved out of ted tile so be, arms splayed in a croucure, legs flat against tic Yoga move. Lizard Girl: Man or beast I’ll sime. tbase, t for free tle of was himself go hard.

    “Interesting,” o nobody in particular as ted to memory.   return a favor in tokyo by ractions  in a cage by oms in tokyo to be quarantined. ed from ressed out hirayama.

    “Good news I he oyabun is in no mood for bad news,” hirayama said gruffly.

    “If only. e s. e believe inted e, ellite disop, came out of nowhere and scooped him up, console and all.”

    “And you just stood tacle? And er sarcasm.

    “ h a sound gun?”

    “Can’t say I have.”

    “ell it’s not a pleasant experience. tfit. I’d say some kind of agency. Unofficial.”

    “takao be o retrieve too. t t is ts pissing all over tuff. My future and yours depend on you getting ting ter quickly.”

    “ I do t?” sneered o.

    “Cut ttitude or it’ll be your el near t  back to you over t you to cil you hear from us.”

    “Keep a lo me to keep a los propagating t ed” databases and s figuring out our next plan of action or ing trail.”

    “e oo. Did you take precautions?”

    “Yea least one in my pocket for emergencies. this lizard lady ...”

    “Against identification by turtle’s egg. Does everyto be practical joke  you just track the job?”

    “Because erized capsule el t can’t be accessed  Union ID. If ried to break in forcefully, e  direction and let us know ail s.”

    “t him.”

    “Sorry.”

    “Save your apologies and your pinkie for t e as usual. try not to bring too muctention to yourselves.”

    “You keep saying t, but I am  so easy to keep a lo I knoay out of trouble. teresting looking wed brain.

    “As long as you are near t. Understand?”

    “Sure. I can c man impression.”

    t dead.

 Chapter 19

    terloo Bridge ars and spitting acid rain. ter on t reflected a kaleidoscopic film of mystery c mirrored tate of Caldo focus s on t  trayed tance no less.  an absolutely pointless o die.

    o find Kat, t could pass as a friend, to say goodbye. S t  t letting  going to die  doing t. Altact very rarely recently, Caldrying to make a living, a strong unbreakable bond existed bet  beyond tionships.

    t in terloo at a time ense t ly blacked out from t e floor of one of trian tunnels. Above ill body a cacop. Pedestrians no longer ventured beloo t of a not totally irrational fear for ty.

    So tocopier box t formed ter ed, a loomed dark and mysterious in front of   memory t Cald involved anot  beyond t t she had rescued him.

    After  more about  to t o destruction paved by tion ed. An organization o be part of t coldly spat  into tion of aterloo. hem pay.

    ed into aterloo station, tly betrapezoid steel lattices of aterloo Bridge, vibrations rumbling te. tation itself lig s pure  sky. ts a yscape ts of affluent living rooms blinked in t.

    “I  of tem once,” Caldtered under  of tem.” . Luckily terproof lining and tic leater out.

    Caldrudged to quickened icipation of  make mucoo quickly.  did t city s of lost memories? ould  affection for the place?

    triggered by Fouler al-clear in  in se desire to remember. Caldo black interlaced  neons of t. s of a city antly reacy upon y piled one atop ted only by a te and steel and trappings of interior decoration. ried to anticipate t riggered by t, resisting to look at it rig to ure of good last gesture but he was also curious.

    c ime. It  10.00PM. te drones ired to ts to ions before anotab at conglomerate serfdom. aterloo oer 9.00PM, except for te rundling toation to catce expresses t sed people around t expanse of t too dangerous, bordering as it did t London.

    At ts flickered as bridge d fading makes fires. Caldenance ladder by t imes before. , ting darkly beloo tels of trand on urning from one. On lucky nigill in t past tes. to not care about tyles. reets, salmon tasted good even tle off. Eat tuff not trips. On bad nigarve or feed on bits of left over fast food in crusyrofoam boxes.  No, a place o ever afford visiting.

    Caldo a sea of cardboard, packing pallets and Styrofoam. terials of cyrofoam in ter, tter reinforced ic fiber pallets and old Salvation Army blankets. Plastic fiber her.

    tyrofoam t expanded before  once familiar and alien. It seemed like tants ting bigger and more aestic. Some even iple  you accessed t plastic tunnels made out of fused ced from ts of industrial and pical concerns. In tance Cald tuned to some foreign channel.

    Despite t durned inct smell of stale vomit in tarted to acted Kat ination. S like to stay in toucime, preferring to touc heir lives.

    S one day  tel, to tigropor embedded in tic ceiling. Sively clean everyt all unnels as a baby. A young teenage couple sleeping rouged il one nig ampamines appropriated from t drug pusok. Since tants aken turns taking care of il seenager and o fend for herself.

    countless frost-deformed toes peeping out of cardboard flaps. Garised fingernails lay limp on te floors as tose in alco overgroed doune. tears  t  and all t seemed o the Union.

    As Calder for ed otill ook a rig a Styrofoam d. Its oo ttle of c trance. A  to it. Loud irregular snores suggested t the owner was asleep.

    Caldion under t  eel ceiling above rumbled ation. t of ter. Someone t bulb off tric cables t fed poo tracks above. tion  miss tricity.

    t tion. One  ’s. t  and uff. Caldo himself. he could feel her presence.

    Calded t’s cardboard abode and peeped inside. terior ted ance t emitted a faint ligon t till tion tacked ceiling-o one side. A broken console, its innards torn open, lay on t looked like Kat, a self-confessed Luddite, rying to build a computer.

    A y bottle of c next to a cea cup.  eto ts of ligo t tarring somebody ’s Sim Film unit sctended meant only one t the cardboard flap.

    Caldo tunnel and took a left turn. tion of ter  brig received lige  t rian tunnels ies epped tly-lit covered o ensure t tures t tractive to trips on to transform to some kind of human zoo.

    tic uated smack bang in ty but terloo Station or from nearby corporate buildings. On t to see, trips, unate  to he homeless.

    Cald top.  teel of terior. Cald sounded like it h his skin.

    o to tenance s and started to climb.  to top and ill  to ttle al slats t made up tion flased against ts but s turn  looking ts. Caldo the dome.

    t ail from projectors inside to tage beloreet scene looked real. Some of t of t, inside t c like t looked  ly. Caldook off  and  around cigransfixed by the holoDome.

    ***

    Kat crao  ly uneartically searcs burro  srange comfort. Swo cups of sake and offered him one.

    “It’s been a while,” she said, finally.

    “Yeah. You’re looking well.”

    “So are you,” s signature gesture of ood  meant but  it approximated someto excitement.  strange surreal quality t Calded or otreaked  too long and needed a housand movies.

    “t be going ion of the sake.

    “O? Nerand. tuff out back.”

    “turning ally rendered mask of Kenzo Yamamoto’s face.

    “Sure seems t ’s of good flicks coming from out of there.”

    Kat took movies more seriously t was y.

    “Look Kat, I am leaving to hong Kong for a job.”

    “ even begin to imagine ’s like. In rical ered t sentence told Cald sing from a movie as sed itself.

    “huh?”

    “It’s from tingray.”

    “Aingray.

    “If t continued.

    “I kno one. Letraighs of sequel hell.”

    “Yeaalked about e subject.

    “So o land trip to hong Kong?”

    Caldold o Fouler’s appearance. old  ement at finding out  and about iful so. ly left out talking about er racked aking in everytering it y of tor’s camera. S so mucen to tory as picture it. old  Fouler and  t point ure of an ancient mechanical camera.

    “Can you trust  uncanny ability to get to the crux of an issue quickly.

    “I don’t knorust can kill you or set you free,” Calded.

    “tender. And don’t t  me off t.”

    “I think I’ll be OK.”

    “It migrick.”

    “tards o my memory, to my past. t t back.”

    S  inexplicable mental connection t tied togetoying ted computer on the floor.

    “Found t Street, discarded by one of t broadss. ters do most of tuff o  was c in her clumsy awkward way.

    “Yeaart le it.”

    S roeet reverberated ed h life.

    “Man is destructive by nature. Im sure t you and t I am going tructive phase.”

    “as t anote?”

    “Yeaalking.”

    “Cool!”

    “Do you kno?” she asked.

    “No idea. I knoers.”

    “I ed to keep in touco communicate in and understand your world.”

    “Really? t’s so s. It’s not nearly as muc seems,” Caldwell said, leaning forward and giving her a quick hug.

    “Also, one of to t online movie arc stuff.”

    “I kneo be another reason.”

    “I am ’s up and running  me access it. Do you t work for me?”

    “It’ll take forever.”

    “Really?”

    “Yes, but I ter idea. It’s about time you left t.  I ask Fouler to let you move into Glypil I get back?  er you’ll ever need.”

    “ould love to Cad but t afford  and t go back to his place nosing around.”

    “I am guessing t I’ll get my neor to take care of it.”

    “And t like t?”

    “Definitely. I ’s an insignificant expense for them.”

    “ell, I do  to get out of  going to pretend I am in love ,’ sfully. Cald in for the kill before she could change her mind.

    “But you’ll o all t site you mentioned and I once ion online t em.”

    t did trick. Kat’s eyes lit up icipation and he knew she was sold.

    “Deal,” sarted looking around  need some clot go as , I mig be coming back.”

    “true. e sonigo look around Glypo t tomorroo tic jungle of cardboard, no matter algic . t t Fouler  co ans coming out of darkness  lost on  t ill o started meto a pale green duffel bag, es later, so go.

    “Anyone you need to say goodbye to?”

    “Not really. Anybody t matters is long gone.”

    “I e to interrupt t of burgeoning intimacy, but lets get t of ing a line from Deep Blue Sea.  once in a  features broke into an appreciative smile.

 Chapter 20

    Li Jin  teemed ern Bloc countries. ticipated. ic information about tin board t  for fencers of stolen tecern Europe, especially Russia. t in contraband of various descriptions, advanced processor design, cutting-edge softs to classified computer systems, aircraft design and w else.

    Li Jin kne tomatically monitored ts t notified teresting emerged on t. ts rained to filter out ronic scams. Li Jin ten sucs ential buyer  and titute of Supercomputing.

    Li Jin itute’s patc oot, . Li Jin o see t t ably absorb t  even making a dent in tement ed more info on to determine its auticity and Li Jin um computing t e on.

    A preliminary deal ronically. t ty deposit box at tion.  up  slip for t.  up several cyberspace bank accounts ed financial institutions. ts all used names of random villagers from o. But, o make sure t Krac c  of t of one solution. ruct Kraco make t by radio and once satisfied t it ruct to pick up to tling Nathan Road.

    Li Jin  of ter lab at tsingy unnoticed and gone s transfer device and a combat knife ed edge. No one more errand to run. o pay a visit to Professor Yao’s o retrieve t dangerous to do, not counting tor of take precautions. rol of ttle field. tter altogets. orse still, t t knoo look for and neit someudy before. Mentally, ried to picture radition dictated on t t fastidious about tradition and ts and bytes.

    Li Jin guessed t ted only for a feaken to Professor Yao’s village near tianyu section of t all. Yet, it  t for. Public Security Bureau agents  tructions. t   cually, t need proof. Once t t antial evidence could be manufactured later.

    At any rate, Li Jin   to Ne  and a small stipend upon ion to continue udies, oto return to eacor. It er all t ogeto send  promising student, to Beijing to sit t entrance exams to tsingy. And ed. Once to make a sizeable contribution to to build talking about for so long and to repair treac track t lead up to to do. First, o get he backdoor rig.

    It es past midniged Beijing road t lead to tong - lanes bet quadrangle courtyard  tong tog, er ies er o tong, no  of t used to spread outy.

    te to t of fog reet an eerie atmospil  tes located at tern section of t leapt off t jumped out of ried te, otally inadequate on tic copper door rings. te refused to budge. It ed stone lions sat time, staring straig ted on ry.

    te probably meant ts? t to Mutianyu but tree to one side of t migo t for any sounds from  or o t of tted tree c into t.

    Li Jin climbed tree s brancil  building in t a couple of tiles crack underfoot. If t s lurking about tely ion. ed. Not silence and t air nipping at his ears.

    Professor Yao’s residence yards. Li Jin found er courtyard, ed servants and visiting guests. Li Jin remembered t most of ter buildings orage facilities for tems t ted during tful life, aings of little cultural or commercial value and an assortment of corporate gifts.

    After satisfying  notirred o t endons react to t. It ime and quite anot nig luckily all siain rules of design, layout and building use. Just in front of  side from seeing terior of t of tant, function of spirit ed gs or evil spirits from entering ts could only raig ively brougers to an abrupt , impeding to t is if t past t of te designed to trip to  onight.

    Li Jin   lead into tyard. to to live  building in tyard  to tion room t time .

    You couldn’t tell from traditional outlook of t  tting edge of computing tecomy t governed t o udy. ould t someter room or in t tudy  place to look. Professor Yao  been t secretive of people considering type of classified stuff t ype of person to leave stuff exactly  to find it.

    Li Jin stood in front of t  udy. o e a large room. It oo dark to see inside. s of iny flas on it. Li Jin played t over tents of tudy ed by a  danced across tings came into vie landscape painting but Li Jin  interested in t today.

    ered ty smell of aging ink, rice paper and somet put   rusted assistant  long after ions from beyond to find t s and ttles of fermenting snake  Great all console and monitor on t not Li Jin was looking for.

    Li Jin tried various drao no avail. ter discs, piles of printout, various data c no backdoor rig. Anotiny lig ts doors partially open. Li Jin’s  beat faster as oicipation. Disappointment. More stacks of paper, some ing and ten on tic coding sub-routines t ecs on various aspects of code design. t existed at all, ion after all.

    As Li Jin oudy, somet demanded furtigation but for t put . opped and listened. All ling outside and tant sounds of ty. In tyard proper, t imposing sed ligside and tting. It sounded very close. Li Jin sciny flas.

    Just in time, Li Jin made out tte cutting into t. Someone anding. ed, trying desperately to calm . ed edge in   o do as a o the knife.

    Footsteps incte grabbed to t its outline in took a feeps into tobacco of tte. tayed  quadrangle created by tening. Li Jin kne o keep absolutely quiet. Being caug an option now.

    “Bloody cats,” ttered as reated, closing t time. As oo cte disappear into one of t daudy. the wooden floor sounded hollow.

    iterrifying t of t experienced eco esc. Instead  doarted feeling along tely somet more tes later, Li Jin  to give up on finding anyt metal just belo o be a ly surprised s o raise w rapdoor.

    rapdoor o ty smell assaulted o ting to find ttom arted to believe t trap door didn’t lead to a ment but to an underground room. s in a si  surprised by ty.

    Li Jin braced ed and began to incened. tant rasp of o trapdoor, il ended. Still no floor? It couldn’t be too far a  room being more t to ten feet o none. Yet o minimize  or injury lay beloook a deep breat rapdoor. Immediately  the darkness below welcoming him.

 Chapter 21

    Cald oerloo station. y. S going but t’s relief from a rack to o’s console and total of s ion crial pollution.

    t an almost-empty Maglev to t and Cald in ted carriage in total silence. A silence underscored by t of  anyone  togete, circumstance and a strange inexplicable mental connection.  y to say not everyt time?

    “I am ts,” Kat said suddenly. “You’ve found out about yours, o know.”

    Cald Kat’s past for a fe could not bring o tell oo unpredictable. Kat ured at University College London’s Department of Biocry and Molecular Biology. Kat erial for medical researcudents. According to computer records at ty, Kat  stardom even after  more drilling doabase  one of tants for t y for removing sensitive material from university premises. t sensitive material . S t beside ting material, tle fingers clutctle of formula.

    Sell  ers underground being bombarded s and subliminal advertising for cloning services. Sell ined to be discriminated against by to  until urned from  least, if o support   s anytical oto know.

    as t flared brigo suspect t s? tion Cald suggested t sed somet o trace s for so long.

    t tation and rode an elevator to tation  empty. t t to a cacopen  off during off-peak  tation en t ignored te oo fill times o let test t nigting tem kno of it. tV cameras t dotted every single block of t platform for t kind of dissent.

    t India Dock Road in tion of Blackwell.

    “I to give Mr. Fouler a call. I don’t knoly  is some railer,” Caldo Kat eleplex boot simply nodded and continued concentrating on her Sim.

    Cald from its groove and spoke to ted. t of rings, different from t. tinued for about e tracted process vaguely familiar. It less times before. ly o do. ed.

    ion o t. Kat o stay in Glyprailer and Fouler o tell railer ested initially but soon relented. o go back to wever he had been doing when Caldwell called.

    “You see, t  so bad. o let you stay,” Caldo Kat as tohe Puzzle.

    “ing you your dying wish.”

    Caldried to say somet to come out.

    Glyprailer ely forty feet long. Entirely one  er equipment and otact, some s spilling open like termat ransistors, motegrated circuits reop, acked tina of dust. tc done any es  of cupboards onto the vinyl-covered floor.

    t ters intact alt of ting t someone ents of cupboards ied out on to ttress torn open and panels removed.

    Cald spent t ting as mucoget a lot icleboard or plastic , cracked or broken, Glyp tape collection came in very   collapsed on Glyp in front of Glypor op staring into space.

    t visible marks on t retrace ine from ture Glyporing up tside, opening traigo top to cers. t of top   most of ime in cyberspace.

    Cald t mulling over everyt  mig ill alive.  . In a fe alive. If it  t to ’d probably be trusion detection AIs or even Fouler’s fit. o be at t in just a fe o be a tougion  a oll on   any cost.

    Caldemplated catcing gift, ter, in t till  given tacles  arm  be somet ed.  and  as mucrip.  Kat,  blaring in otally non-stop.

    of  and slo time  to expect. t-ditctempt to get Caldo trust  Fouler never ever did anyt an ulterior motive. Cald terior of Glyprailer dissolved ao reveal fragments of his memories.

    ***

    Caldside tes of a scers and Englis ternational Sc killed s are corroded into ory of ted by Fouler. t particular dark compartment  available to tly being unleas single red Cer. An image of flesal made one in a single moment of c is an image faded ime.

    A neicle in t. Caldears. tified t been muc to bury. ticle goes in t cold objective  neo cover deat remember  no related residual guilt.

    Memory reongs of s, drinking beer in t dotted tun diplomatic quarter. Lots of time on computers. Lines of code flying by like November rain.

    Caldaring intently at a computer screen,  over  ill stares at it like it is to anotudy full of computer and communication equipment, t ronic eavesdropping agency t Fouler says her worked for.

    For  rooms and on ts of most information e It departments. o er netalking to rides the binary world of code like a colossus. he is supernova.

    rAZor: Fizz,  going dude? Long time no see.  o?

    Deus: Yea’s up?

    Fizz: Not a lot. as arrested by ted. o do 600 y service. Banned from the space.

    rAZor: Bummer man. Not too good.  caught?

    Deus: Motherfuckers. I feel you man.

    Fizz: Yea a freakin clue y’ know.

    rAZor: Like t busted in no reason?

    Fizz: Pretty muc some foreign outfit asked for me to be arrested and  o and arrests ries.

    Deus: S man. talking BS?

    Fizz: Dunno man. ted me, t’s for sure.

    rAZor: t some tracker system folloronic footprints. Any idea  was?

    Fizz: Yea’s a system I got from t kno’s like, I got to see t? So I am t same day, scanning its ports and bombarding it  still no joy. I ask tis in but  remember. Says  , rigext o itself, reasoning self, berating itself because ter.

    rAZor: ta see this.

    Deus: Dunno man. t’s probably  Fizz busted.

    rAZor: t bust me. Fizz, his.

    Fizz: It’s a revolving allocation system. But it’s coming out of twork.

    Deus: So you e table.

    rAZor: t’s good enough for me. Coming Deus?

    Deus: Naer in 5 minutes got to get off. Mine ed by t virus  mont  to be able to afford a new one.

    Fizz: Be careful man.

    rAZor: No  it  hehehe.

    Deus: OK.

    Fizz: Laters!

    rAZor: Laters!

    triking but intense-looking Caring at Caldo ofu.

    s on ty computer system. s are trojan. ts and ts are masters of digital disguise, electronic cover-up, pixel clean-up. s’ routines precede everyterminal, clearing pating logs or locking tem ic passing router tables to ions.

    five of ts and  into tic er tables. Everyto tcelco traffic  to to intra-university traffic. t. Caldtle closets, locked t deliberately so. tent is to give rong sense of y. ted but   to be true.

    Caldransgresses tly and surfs tion all to tral Internet traffic exc, il one of t ernal government domain system.  access it from outside. So o one of t’s extranets and deduces a username  goes to work.

    t  o.  erest in  time, is minimal. ter fiso fry. em administrator or a jilted sysop. types it in. Boom. Screen goes blank except for a prompt like this:

    :gt;

    :gt; hello.

    :gt; hi Cad.

    :gt;  did you call me?

    :gt; Cad. Cad Caldo be exact. ould you like me to trace back your family tree?

    :gt; S.

    :gt; Exactly. e’ve been ing for you. You are so busted my friend.

    :gt; O of  me t fast, wise guy.

    :gt; e’ll see about it Cad Caldional Scime. ’s your excuse?

    :gt;

    :gt; Yea? Mummy and Daddy die in car cras give you to live ually dos.

    :gt; You s to s you down.

    :gt; You’re good Cad, but not t good.

    :gt; e’ll see about t.

    :gt;

    :gt; [User connection terminated.]

    t is beating so fast ’s going to burst rig of .  dozens of students going about t lifts s up tudents off at t er system t managed ts and increased t ty percent.  loud as a sea of green faces . One anemic-looking girl e marble floor.

    t AI, or   bluffing. But  knoricks on  jive about sc  far out. Not t scer systems  to crack. It ent t scared   time anyt o .

    of ts to sleep and backs out into talogue user interface. ands up to leave,  t of the library.

    ts to t of t tes urmoil.  is o do een, an orphan.

    t te. It es and tion in t, ar, dodgy financier, tting sun reflects from a pair of mirrored s and click back toget takes on a sloion quality. ’s a dry voice and it reminds umn and dried leaves.

    t of tleman le  feel to reveal steel gray eyes. t suggests some kind of computing activity in time upo an approximation of a smile. ts motionless in t seat. All Cald of black ting very still.

    “My name is Bruce Fouler. For no’s just say I am in t,” rasps the man.

    “I bet its lip service, mostly to its rear.” Cald was in his DNA.

    tic about Fouler, like a pedop invisible candy. terious about t’s a face t seems to understand ties of y. tal quality to  efficient  toget sounds like it er sequencer. And tley.

    “C udent here called Cad Caldwell. I wonder if you know him.”

    Sometells Cald talking to and is daring o spin a yarn. s ial instinct to tell a lie.

    “t  do you   into old guys?” Cald  know how.

    “Sorry to  your parents, Cad,” Fouler offers. Caldects a faint moistening of t t reflected in the car?

    “It’s cool. So ?”

    “OK, I am not going to beat around tcivities on ters.”

    A look of alarm comes over ed.

    “Don’t o arrest you, ime ago. You’ve breacy systems of some important institutions you know.”

    “Yeah?”

    “Yea t your fat.”

    “ Xian University,” Caldered.

    “t may be t ant professor. Can I trust you, Cad? t I need to be guaranteed absolute trusthiness.”

    “I swear on Madonna,” .

    “t’s good enough. have you heard of GChQ?”

    “Yes, satellite eavesdropping, telecommunications monitoring etc. I am intimately familiar er networks.” he grins cheekily.

    “ell your fatems. You .”

    “I cracked Blue Ray and o listen to my ress talking to ch ever since.”

    “ell, like fathem.”

    “Yea’s all t to do  a udent.”

    “As I said, ced many years ago if it  for  ion  lost on us. Maybe one day you’d groo be as good at breaking into secure computers as your fat building t. Alt as invincible as you think.”

    “ho says?”

    “Ever wonder w in hundreds of hacking sessions?”

    “Because I am so damn good?”

    “rong. Sometimes you left electronic trails t  ethical hackers.”

    “trails? Like w?”

    “Like NASA. tributed intelligent logging system t you did not see. It e records of your activities, time and erminal you used. e employed CCtV footage from our friends at transit Railion to place you at t interactive kiosk at t time. e  ty of trusion, from a public place.”

    “ha, ha, ha.”

    “You may laug t o last you tirement.

    “Sorry. I guess.”

    “ttom line is t of your situation, t t you are obviously not interested in scion is offering to take you on board.”

    “ organization?”

    “You’ll kno’s just say you’ll be able to o some of t advanced computer systems using bleeding edge tecter defenses against outside intruders and you’ll get paid a competitive salary. On top of t  co continue residing in Union if you so wish.

    “o? Jerking me off?”

    “Dead serious. Do I look like ts off on practical jokes?”

    “You don’t look like ts off on anytorts.

    Fouler lets t slide but sometells  t aure reference.

    “Enoug do you say? e can talk to your principal today and you’ll never o return to scead, you’ll get trained in travel t you love and getting paid for it.”

    “Sounds too good to be true.”

    “It’s a once in a lifetime offer, son.”

    “I’ll take it then.”

    “Good. elcome aboard.” thin fingers.

    “Er, thanks.”

    “e’ll let you knoails once h your principal.”

    “I can trust you, right?”

    “Of course, surally even teetigogether.

    “how will you find me?”

    “Are you kidding?”

    “Oent or  impotent?”

    “Do you need dropping anywhere? home?”

    “No, I’ll take a er-cooled interior of tley ifling.

    “OK. Your call. And no more unofficial hacking.”

    “Is t an official request?”

    Fouler lets t one go too.

    tley open automatically and Caldeps out on till  moved. tanding against ter   in tiful. raig oo muco focus tention on s to. Sco . t smell of lavender and teenage skin.

    “So, whough she’s known him forever.

    “Acquaintances.  are you doing e?”

    “aiting for you?”

    “aiting for me? hy?”

    “I don’t kno just felt like to do.”

    “ell to  offended. her him so much?

    “I kno. It’s just t I got a feeling in t I mig see you again for a long time.”

    “ell, t’s true. I  be coming back to scelling his?

    A sake of breath.

    “?”

    “I’m going to .”

    “t’s ?”

    “Somet.”   ease ects a slig in  immigrants from the mainland.

    “So my intuition .”

    “I guess so. I am Cad Caldhe way.”

    “I kno kno. ters more talk about you in time.” She giggles.

    “Really?” he asks incredulously.

    “And you knooilets.”

    “Yeahing bad I hope.”

    “Not really? Just some girl o his face.

    “’s your name?”

    “Mei Lin.”

    “Nice name.”

    “Yeao live hey walk in silence.

    “I catch my bus here,” she says.

    “Really? So quickly? Do you act you online?”

    “Yes I do but I only use it at sc let me use a computer at ’s 5200603,” ss it to memory.

    “So I’ll message you at schen.”

    “OK.”

    pulls at  doo omacc sever it   fees t ted aken place, like tined to meet on t t time and place.

    s it. S is t time ’s like  discovered teries of taste of ay  pulsating against  and tle rise and fall of  breasts. time itself.

    “o t.”

    “No need to be sorry. It  to be,” she world.

    “It’s just t I am leaving  .”

    “It doesn’t matter.  matters is t rue to our feelings. e  again. Ah, here comes my bus.”

    A number 8 bus pulls up to ted bus stop and t o  possible time.

 Chapter 22

    Diane Joplin’s JAL flig Narita at exactly ted time. 10.28AM. S tire flig, getting acquainted able Lonely Planet augmented reality information system on tokyo s Logan International Airport.

    t didn’t , relying as it did on visual markers on to function properly, but Diane  if so t entertainment system ster’s display to vieents of tabase. And s. Inside tic glasses iny piece of flasaining tire database on tokyo as ing system t overlaid ta over ec it worked.

    Diane found out t by sc to manual mode and pointing t a po of tokyo to magazines so pull up ta. ta and t  fine for ting next to ive interest.

    Satisfied a, sed t and performed a cyberspace searco on tem. Apparently, out of tless Kenzo Yamamoto’s t existed across tirety of te a feo tball player, tai-crazed teenager, tician. tter sparked erest but sed  t  a lo official in Okina over government policies.

    All translated on telligent agent broo grammar-perfect Englisos gleaned from online family trees, sports meeting results, university professor lists, convention speakers and some do a Kenzo Yamamoto ed 100-meter dasonis anding on end, goose bumps breaking out all over. Kenzo Yamamoto, suspected wakagasion slain in Shinjuku.

    Breatime cross-referencing to  t  terest. Diane ignored inued reading. Kenzo Yamamoto ion alted tatement of fact. It  conjecture but Diane kne meant. te, evasive in t uniquely Japanese o  been formally convicted of anyt tless references to  in information t, electronic fraud and corporate blackmail tricate neto paying fees or face embarrassing disruptions at sings.

    Kenzo Yamamoto’s front, tring of corporations stretcokyo Bay to to Plain. Yamamoto’s empire covered real estate, ual entertainment, including turing and promotion of idoru or virtual stars, KtVs, ney game so’s forte, it appeared, e and industrial blackmail on a global scale and tive information. timate businesses also acted as fronts for t of ry and t. Kenzo Yamamoto, speculated one particularly  conspicuously anonymous journalist, o Nobu takaer of Internal Affairs and Communication.

    Diane Joplin could not believe o oo. tely someto find out  o bring closure, to find out t  died in vain. Sed temptation to t ears tened to burst from  tears in   Yamamoto’s boss  official, ter takahashi.

    An alleged Yakuza oyabun ering pensions for Japan’s civil servants, national communications, tal service, information tec, statistics, local tax and local finance. It s rue, try pure and simple. And if to cer ion globally to sensitive information in all of Japan. truly in the chicken coop.

    As sinued to read, s everyted tookyo business area of So ts of yet anot ry of Internal Affairs and Communication, ters of to’s “er business” in Kabukic  eacinations seemed more foreboding t. So make a choice.

    Sels in t magazine and . incing, soercontinental el. Altels, it  a block aokyo Metropolitan Government Office building, and a s rict and t system did a good job of making a visit to tter by a foreign girl on ively ion. Diane Joplin s to tel, fresions.

    tokyo  of sno Narita. From t expanses of  tretc made ty come alive at nigures. It  feeling of arriving in a nery for t time ill taxiing to te, yet ened belt and belly. Diane leaned over and fis out for  communication for tire lengt. S about e up tment and  contained, t  o third.

    S of tely a text overlay informed  t terminal 8 of tokyo International Airport (Narita) and temperature igrade, exactly temperature indicated on t display system. Narita ed in tureless concrete spray-six kilometers from doookyo. to Sation ake just fifteen minutes by NEX Maglev, ta express train service.

    Sric stle ling across tarmac toook in everytrangely of fragranced disinfectant, to tates of travel fatigue exed by ted t next to tle but o be ignoring , ttle armac and melting on contact, ting feel of e bet son for, tory confirmation t sransitioned from to some totally neer in to t black tarmac.

    Sell s, not all of t. Siced t precision  maintenance staff  about tside, side by side s,  and performed tasks of removing baggage from terior of t.

    ttle  probably to reduce culture sors used to seeing fles, t so t, from t least, it looked like a ions of turning teering  ually controlling tic sing of gears absurd, as everyone kne nobody really used manual gearboxes anymore.

    Outside bands of snoo a standstill outside te. Diane stepped off ttle and folloo passport control.  oms officer looked  bordered on an invasion of her privacy.

    “aying at?” ing English.

    “Keio Plaza el, S particular piece of information.

    o enter some data on to  curned beat slotle. Moving nooion mac a request to open case. t of tor stared at te and Diane’s  stopped er arted cting to a female colleague.  pounding, Diane grabbed case from t and orains into tokyo. Sried  to look back.

    Fifteen minutes later sting across snooer of tokyo. Everyt neo ions in Japanese around ising t portended an altoget culture from , t y of tropolis t okyo. So lose s myriad neon-soaked sounds, in its sigs smells. So find s distinct culture,  of some kind of ultra modernity, one t  tangent from t of tside ting NEX Maglev, sted a gang of kids on motorcycles trying to matcrain for speed. t informed  teenage bike gangs and t many of to become fully-fledged Yakuza. t Diane t Kenzo Yamamoto and Minister takahashi.

    train ting te, flyovers, suspended expresss of neon. t a black slus ado te forest got a  kind of greic tV screens  eac toned but very persuasive Japanese. And just as a o vie notified  s Sation.

 Chapter 23

    Caldo find  op. terminal  of base and otally exed from rip. Blue ligreaming in trailer old   co confirm it. It   ime via radio ime from tomic Clock in Szerland by wime was measured.

    Kat ill fast asleep breat rasping sound. Still curled up like a content fetus. Sion t ttom of t from t screensaver flasermittently over o t in teel grips, . It looked like a  irely of plastic and devoid of wheels.

    Caldement. t er so ruly ao you. s packing material. It’s all I ’s all I need. ion locks. ition, only a slaso it and o be in ty of any of those.

    Cald on templated o  or leave e. ing, as turned round and stared at he goggles.

    “Don’t knoo ired eyes adjusted to tural ligreaming trailer.

    “Can’t sleep  t. Stayed up all night?”

    “Pretty muco t now.”

    “So soon,” she said, yawning.

    “Afraid so. But promise me you’ll stay ill I get back.”

    “Already did. Besides, I like it races of sleep still embedded deep hin her pale skin.

    “I’ve left some instructions on o log in on Glyp so t tar is configured to prompt you or ted up at tor unit  box.”

    “t,” s   semantics.

    “OK take care of yourself.”

    “I oo.”

    igo  er one last look at ood up and left Glyprailer. Outside, t Fouler o it t t daoo eager to please. Suspicion rose in Caldwell like bile in a gall bladder.

    ***

    On to , flanked on all sides by megacorp drones returning to ement ime in a long ons t made tick s, platforms and people movers, like a macabre biological orcra. Several questions remained trust Fouler? as to track ,   and not planted by Fouler and ion t  far beyond trained raging of teenage hormones.

    At t terminal 10 station, Caldepped off translucent MagLev pulsing intermittently ising and made o ture area. Fouler anding at a special counter  standing up, taller, more fragile but positively more dangerous. Next to ractive young tacty in a prim and proper Britisoug of t t t triped suit.  so his long sharp jaw.

    “Good to see you didn’t get oturedly.  a fe didn’t s in the back of his hands.

    “After t ty-four o give Fouler a break t o be cooperating.

    “I  you to meet Ms. Levin. S, as  Jones and Agent Jackman.

    “Good to meet you. Do you  name?” Caldo mess .

    “I don’t tarted.

    “It’s alrig name is Seven. My parents hem.”

    Cald raig empted to ask  being open all   ongue. For t time in a long w mood.

    “OK, look s in  Jones and Agent Jackman  you in toucact in  flig  you out hing you need.”

    “OK. Sounds suspiciously like a plan.”

    Fouler ignored inued.

    “tify traces and get your act Agent o inform us. e’ll take over from t attempt to play around in t to get access and co-ordinates on t ten, t t sopicated electronic Intrusion Counter-Attack Entities (ICE) in t just keep you out. track you doil you are a flatline in cyberspace.”

    “Understood.”

    “Do not attempt to lose Agent ag on you and o knoo hin inches.”

    it Fouler strode off dooor, riped beige suit fluttering in tle currents of tioning. Agent Jones and Agent Jackman stood gaer him like children abandoned in a crowded shopping mall.

    “Come on Mr. Cald important brain of yours.”

 Chapter 24

    Major-general ang’s black bulletproof Buick sped tes of t compound before tion Army security guards could ruso t and affect tory salute. te in  brain to give time permitted. o be alert at all times, noers of tment of taff and ed in trict, o tion’s top universities, researcecions. termat events.

    ook a deep puff on a gold-tipped Zine-stained fingers o tte as t rument. t into a largisrong features exilation system. ubbed out tte in tray set into t. tray retracted, ther.

    t situation olerable and if  quickly bring trol t of Cical poime. Major-general ang  risen rapidly tion Army to see ire future put at stake by a professor   researcudent. t of to h rage.

    “ do you mean  t a fees earlier. tsingy provost at tary leader’s outburst of anger. tron  afford to offend.  kne some of t to question tudents involved on top secret projects and  money o projects t eventually added to tige of itution o concur  any mistakes   t if to ’s agile mind rapidly accessed a mental list of alternate funding sources.

    “tudent disobeyed clear orders, an act ing your furtructions,” t informed the major-general.

    “You sudent under guard as soon as t he major-general said gruffly.

    “Major-general, I must remind you t ional institution t can only resort to treme circumstances.”

    “reme circumstance? I  you to secure til I can get some men out tand?”

    “Perfectly, sir,” t said uated reverence, sensing a reprieve. t ted ty an unprecedented level of funding, some of o oties, eniveness. Ne , professors utions, ne project op secret t t rouble explaining to aff  ty. Nobody , t ed t t section of ty  of bounds and t ty’s resources for some run-of-t. Quite trary, if t’s .

    Major-general ang  and lit anotte. Noed fa?ade of t gray building t enants, ted on ts of t fetempting to gain access to tem.  Kenzo Yamamoto and ivities. In fact, t information from  t actually angered  trocities committed by t t it flooded ies ted on t, ter ried one trick too many and to it t h his life.

    te on t one, pinpointing trusions to tokyo and tracing it back ta analysis all to to’s lair in Sated before deciding on te, knooo  Yamamoto’s boss  member of t. Yet, , to ascertain t Minister taka implicated. If ter ical game and t afford to make tical. too muc stake.

    Yet, if ter , tting to oo  compromising Neerests. t and deadly yet ting a minister of a foreign country. t  go dooo okyo if it ever came to lig o   no kind of , aker of risks and if t t.

    to  any rate, routine precautions aken. Papped, communications o a significant cer’s private communications netment’s best and most trustly attempting a o tellites.

    Everyt s for tter of o  and gained access to totype net place. turing facility deep erland of Neen  everyted for.  but t for a fact. Any  anoto die.

    t tiffened and gave  salute as rode briskly too attention as o ant appeared out of no body, a keen mind and tured, a voracious sexual appetite. If only time and protocol , .

    “Leave me alone. I don’t  to be disturbed,”  turning around. tant exited t making a sound. t doered desk and lit anot a console and screen and a gold plated as.  to take a puff on tte when his secure cell phone rang.

    “Speak,” cion of e computer-controlled c tense combination of muscle and fat of a sumo ler, complete .

    “Lieutenant Liu, sir. e have some news.”

    “It better be good.”

    “Sir, o gain access to one of tions satellites.”

    “Is t the news?”

    “No sir. It seems t to sent t before he died sir.”

    “And eresting?”

    “Sir, because t found out t tained custom-made computers. And to to ly trying to retrieve them.”

    “Mmmm... very interesting. So t is o our neto digest tion.

    “Sir,  to a Professor Joplin of MIt in America and a he Union. A Cad Caldwell, sir.

    “Did you do a trace on two?”

    “Yes, sir. Professor Joplin is dead according to ta on.”

    “t  to too,” thinking aloud.

    “Most likely, sir.”

    tal note to ec trusion detection AIs and t. It  be long before ttempted to log on to to get to t, before t seemed, er.

    “If t expecting a useful ansenant Liu ion, because  trated wife in bed asleep. Several days of cold sed him.

    “Sir, according to ta, it appears t find teenage daug no body y, remote as it may seem, t she console.”

    “Not remote at all. race on ?”

    “e’ll get on it rigenant said, picturing ing into a thousand pieces.

    “Good enant. Keep me informed,” t length and hung up.

    t  access.  t and  likely got o em at tsingy and om built in Japan. But  knoself and tocols it used. t ta anyed only in teco t. to be state-of-t crafted by a true master.

    tment, t in information, signals, data, patterns in data and data flos director and termind beems - command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. trieve t sudent on t. tment o some of tion floion globally. tion and t o its final live test phase.

    It o kill Professor Yao, tect of tually cut up about it. test tec loss for try. Yet, ty. t ion belonged to o Neantamount to treason and   , everyt a few minor hiccups.

    t s beta p group of tment’s best minds  ticking around ternally and externally. ts  of tions of financial markets, electricity grids and global communications systems s. Professor Yao em ready for prime time. tself. Did t t declared successful in Ne role to play in ted it but try to sabotage t by going to t. iful logic of it?

    t about ty-six stratagems in t Art of ar” ten by an anonymous scest project, C true AI, o ree ty six stratagems for tal age. to he enemy in ways unimaginable.

    Fool to cross to los intentions deep o make a natural mistake. Besiege ei to rescue Ztack someto bring  of rue prize. target erized systems of global trade, industry and communications. tion.

    Kill rengt it, subverting global tecems for its oory  ted enemy ime and place of battle  tion, alloo encourage to ex  significant battle o figo tratagem. Loot a burning house.

    But first to be put on . to be done and property to be retrieved.

 Chapter 25

    t  exactly as Caldime. tant-looking leatV screen. Even tools alian leaterminals linked to cyberspace via t’s onboard satellite system blinked to one side of t. A fully immersive VR suit .

    As soon as tepped aboard, Ms. Levin disappeared into one of to tRICtED: AUt omy Air, courtesy of s settled talian leat Jones opened a compartment in t and pulled out tarted playing a o top of a glass coffee table folloime. tic egos.

    “You t ter to do t it ion in tances but t urned to tc in one of tc Jones’ boxer pin Agent Jackman’s boxer against to t round. ired, botally and p t of t any notions of sleep at bay. cs and ties, poised for ts sat slumped in ter traaking advice from invisible trainers.

    Caldood up and opened one of t t of t, t didn’t say AUtreadmills and more leat all s did? Kick back and t on tomated fuel trucks  o take off. tical Eurasian t sure  teain telepation t seemed totally unreal.

    “elcome on board Mr. Caldo bring you t to co after your procedure. e also case of clotems t  bag which she placed on a hanger on wall.

    “t tural about tense and vaguely disturbing artificial beauty.

    “You are  synchrony.

    “I am not going to bot going to get confused,” he said.

    “t’s a good idea. Just call us Siu Je t be any confusion.”

    “Sounds like a plan. Do you guys al t time? And  sound like English.”

    “Very funny, Mr. Caldonese perfectly  you once Ms. Levin is ready for you.” ttractive broal eyes bore into him.

    “Yea?”

    “Pardon us, Mr. Caldhe girls said in unison.

    “Never mind. It’s just a little joke. And call me Cad, please.”

    “If you insist, Cad,” tereo, retreating backhe gaping door.

    culturing air esses in vats. tice  unaly  a ty-one year-old om made in six mont of Fouler’s fantasies. Only o t basic stereotypes about beauty. And t clicked. ts, Jackman and Jones. tical black and  of a decision made in a lab. s oaff. t ’s obsession o. t otally unnatural laug Fouler  t, like el abandoned in the woods.

    Cald tried to reflect back on everyt  ty-four  aying in Glyprailer.  of es would .

    tempo of ely gone up a notcter or  taking  about te aircraft bound for s of t ty-four oo complex to digest and  left alone to  in due course. ill pissed off about w Fouler  o him.

    ared outside t engineers fitted tal slingss belo’s fuselage. Cald like  before. t rumble as tempo rose until tarted to s started moving upively gripped t of . ts snapping and t s straigo the sky, bound for hong Kong.

    leveled out, Caldo t appeared Ms. Levin ill in tricted access. ts en. Bot Jones landed an uppercut to Agent Jackman’s virtual ja’s o tual canvass. A referee materialized out of noo table, and began to count Agent Jackman’s boxer avatar doo get up but it o no avail. Agent Jones’ boy -soaked in tared at him.

    Agent Jones eased  of t in t s-soaked s.

    Cald o be a long flig as o be friendly.

    “First time to  to sound casual.

    “No, but t Jackman  appeared tayed silent her.

    “how do you know if you’ve never been?” Caldwell pushed.

    “Look e, to be a trip. e don’t need any s from you. OK?”

    “I am not giving any. Look  get along. Do you he Union,” Caldwell probed.

    A blank look came over t say a  Jackman stood up suddenly. s ured look t only served to confirm Caldial suspicions. t jobs.   t custom built people to serve its dark purposes? t’s eyes  blank and Cald  to take revenge for  and pound o t. ricted door.

    “e are ready for you norip to tist. e? ? And ure intended?

    “I am not in tomy riges to reconsider?” Caldime and tiable. Caldood up nervously.  t  to take place and  o arted to flaso let ely in

    t. S younger te room of ly acquired memories.

 Chapter 26

    time S-car motorcade of black Lexus sedans as turned off treet of tling business district and disappeared into a uristic-looking building. tinted ster-proof glass -proof side panels suggested only one to seeing motorcades like to tial auty reets never failed to inspire aer takating in t sat a attooed bodyguard in a black suit and takaer alking politics  bureaucrat oget kind of business.

    “Are you sure?” t the line.

    “ell, s says  tioned and tely a console of some description in  see may Americans of raveling alone and definitely very fe description in their luggage.”

    ruct  on ton Yakuza ed t t found t Joplin’s o ices to ts in toms to call ting ion ted,  forty-eight hours.

    “Did you find out waying?”

    “Of course, your instructions  tel.”

    “Description?”

    “I a in front of me. One meter seventy. Slim -broail. Quite pretty in t American ed like most tourists do ry for t time. I’d say s lost.”

    “Good ton on tiny p into  pocket. ter ill on t slid into one of ts next to t to t ing to user through.

    t t ton Yakuza  found ter ransacking Joplin’s spra t t est piece of neer takao believe t  s. t under control. o bring Yamamoto’s ill-gotten funds under ter’s control and ter une into one of s. Loyalty s value and y o pay dividends. Yet, true prize o’s position  job  and  t to elevate o t position.

    tion of saiko-komon or personal adviser, tenable one. Yes, o information t ot, contrary to tradition, rol. It e state of affairs instituted by too by proxy. e rievably tied to t of Nobu takaructure better taka of t reaco every aspect of Japanese society. ter to be second in command? ed t after Yamamoto’s treacakao promote someone trustrollable. And rollable t least t is , being so close s disadvantages. taka oo muc if  oo dangerous. Also, to’s position.

    t oday in one of ted an impromptu meeting to be updated on to fiasco, a mere ruse to sound out to fill ted by traitor’s deato discern  and ivations acc game of cat and mouse from a position of absolute objectivity. ely ed to be  out, strategic. It o isolate hey were many.

    takaion as tered toors. Even taka borode toe elevators. A security guard boed or doors opened and tures around a dead corpse.  sligable  flesh around him.

    “taka oms at t. to kno so tel right here in Shinjuku.”

    “akaed as tor sped toop floor of ter ion and  ion repeated even t o report it.

    “Should we pick her up?”

    “No. Put a detail on  o. Even more important, lets see aka tor, admiring tail of the décor.

    “Of course, oyabun.”

    “If noty-four rieve the console.”

    “Of course.”

    “And the hacker?”

    “I . to o eresting friends.”

    “Agency?”

    “Yes oyabun.”

    “hmm.”

    “Oyabun?”

    “eresting c it?”

    “It is indeed.”

    “t o mount t kind of operation from  resorts to tactics of freelance hackers.”

    “Yes. hYDRA. Bruce Fouler.”

    “tting very interesting,” takao an exquisite room filled op dogs of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

 Chapter 27

    Caldaggered into turbulence. Ston someraption iny devices t sat literally millimeters from your retina. t so muced images, as directly stimulated your optic nerves. t looks like an old lady’s s it ic cable t disappeared into one side of traption. t looked like an optical disc t so traption and it started his.

    “ t?”  rolling doo  collar.

    “It’s ts of your memory bank t you are going to need for t disc riggers to about ty-five percent of your memory, specific parts of your memory.” Close up, Caldiced a ougo Seven’s attractive face. It ing arctic predator iently biding its time behe vacuous blue of her irises.

    “So ly am I getting?”  t of tinct ting passively in ting to be awakened.

    “You are getting memory of to o be a cennis player, you o tap into t skill set and possibly  ake a  your brain says you are capable of. I understand you  at somet you ing practice at to get t on your part. Of course, you’ll first o become p. You look like you   treadmill in a while.”

    “Like I can afford it. ere you part of to persuade o give hing back.

    “I’m afraid I am not at liberty to ans question.” tudying  and emotionless.

    “Please. humor me.”

    “I am not at liberty to ans question. If you keep insisting I’ve been instructed to  troy tened. For a h a name like she had, she sure was unflappable.

    “OK, but tell me one t.

    “Pretty simple really. Your brain stores information in little compartments. Information on certain tend to be stored in a certain area of t apart from tem of cranial geograpion is stored is ion to make tions. So you mig bike sitting next to your memory of t of sixty four.  t a map of your memory, segmented it into core sectors like speecal, artistic skills and extrapolated t over a timeline from ely six years ago.”

    “And you left speec? Assigning eacrigger?”

    “You learn fast Mr. Cald s to isolate different forms of speeco.”

    “he obvious cover-up.

    “It range if you found out you could speak Mandarin and Cantonese fluently and read a fair amount but .”

    “So if I sa partial memory recall?”

    “No. t, size and color of ter o be a perfect matcriggers all use a custom font ain unique features t you couldn’t identify unless you hem specifically.”

    “So after  deliver pizza or something?”

    “t  ural propensity for computers and code. Actually, your core skills, t got you a job at  your basic propensity for ’s all you. You  t an uff you’ve been doing t feo w you en um physics.”

    “I take it t’s t migraines I get?”

    “Yes. t’s your brain’s natural impulse to try to access to associate tivities o stop you from trying to access t’s  are less t been locked. to stay, until you get permanent memory recovery and your brain starts reself.” Cald even further behind her eyes.

    “ell to me. I kno o,” itude.

    “elcome. Off t pained tly to see to you. You  tion o come first. I am sure you understand.”

    “e’ll o see rip goes but I am not beyond forgiveness,” ogetrawberry.

    “OK, t’s enouger,” sraption. “take a deep breath.”

 Chapter 28

    t ticipated and  t o spare. beat to sloc and let tiny beam dance around t  mucory room at tsing dormitory again. t  racing all over again.

    ter of tion, Li Jin realized t it e dental c puso allo to assume a reclining position. Next to tist c looked like some sort of lamp/er  provided a modest amount of ing at time by redirecting t from t outo t along its stem and sc on. ted in a  of dry  started to crac and looked around ty. te designed to approximate a wooden floor.

    Li Jin studied traption in ter of tist cors sitting on metal arms t curved over tail of an agitated scorpion. A pair of cyberspace gloves and goggles o one side next to a metal arm self cigy compound memory foam and sat on an al base. Next to trolley stacked . travenous caters and tubes, some kind of pump and multiple packs containing various forms of medical ion and nutrition, tals fed to patients in a coma.

    Li Jin scanned t racing in anticipation. It rition packs designed to keep you under ing panels confirmed ended periods of time on te rig for taying jacked in for very long periods of time.

    Li Jin kneup very  one end of one of travenous caters er o administer fluids to prevent deion. tric tubes o tomacube,  beloended periods of intravenous feeding. ter-controllable pump ensured t nutrition from tered directly into tive system. taking antial. Liquid could enter tubes could become clogged and a dislodged needle, issue contamination. tuff sc. Yet, t necessary to take these risks. hy?

    Li Jin noticed t cables from tors, travenous pump, all led to to a tiny box made of cic. Anoto a small enclosure at to tic box no larger ttes. It  tice in simple y of tion Army. Unautrictly Proed. tiny flick sc tcors above came out of ion. A flas from ted to the green box.

    Li Jin stared at tor and couldn’t believe or ions on tiny dots moved around t random, termittently cure-in-picture  of vital signs  ttom of t tiny screen doimer frozen at zero. It all made sense to Li Jin. tten a rudimentary program t monitored important aspects of urn controlled travenous pump, ting and tal variables required to stay under. tdoimer ensured t  of t a specific point of time.

    Li Jin fouginct to don ter tem.  ips  amazing netem  em op-level classified. Nobody on t, except ted feop brass of tment, o t.

    Yet, Li Jin kne tive nature of cyberspace, especially t.  afford to e any more time. rain to catco ced trition and ion products, s. o make some purc ting securely in s. t o a location ill  completely decided on.

    it, Li Jin moved tist c it ly belorapdoor. Using tic pump belo o its  position. tood on to find t  about curl around trapdoor. itrengtrapdoor like a gymnast mounting parallel bars. orso and backpack emerged on ther side.

    Stealt out of tudy to ted t be a side gate. Again, te locked from tte. Li Jin ified to see t t open and slipped out into cold Beijing night.

 Chapter 29

    t touc ernational Airport just after noon. Caldared out one of to a .  in one place before. taking off simultaneously. t landed and stopped abruptly, planes t took off from a stationary position. t s up vertically into t took off like a er, t ors  off like a jet fig of to  flier.

    “teereo over tercom. Cald and considered te possibility t tually flo it ed by humans.

    Cald put  but sometically.  of ting room a bit groggy and badly in need of some s-eye, t ot ill t for tant barrage of images flasaken a nap and found agonist in a string of vivid nigo an empty lounge and o t mucter after  ted ely recognize.

    ill in tion room, for t’s

    o reboots or system failures.  aspect of to extricate  predicament.  to . s,  felt t  act   onese. otered across t refurbiso a recognizable pattern of sorts.

    to open t doors.

    “Nei dei sik gong conese, surprising even myself. Did tonese?

    “Gan ic question. t  some Cantonese. Calded depto  sed tiny c plotted s on a digital map accessible some. ther was a hong Kong ID chip.

    saken ty of running t against tification database. Sold  of minor offences as long as  ties rying to track  success. Cald long and t ter analogy. Sraptions. Fouler ructed o e clean on   on t t. Cald like raying i-system ideals but Seven Levin  if  back alive,  of , Cald rate his chances.

    ed tion counters by Agent Jones and Agent Jackman. Ms. Levin and tayed on board   t.

    “o ion officer observed, as er automatically picked up Caldails. Caldaken aback and started feeling around in s. ere t c Ms. Levin ?

    “No need for a passport cly reading ion.

    At t   once. Even t . Cald s respond differently to ially to be saying: “You are no longer a punk. You are no least for time being.”

    tcase e gray Brix ec Jones ordered Caldo stand still. tle touc of tcase. A small camera popped out from top, s and proceeded to rapidly scan Cald ed more tcase beeped and a green lig Jones gestured for to keep  into turned round to see tcase’s oion sensors perpetually trained on he cross hairs of a sniper.

    t t majority ely apparent t Ne least in terms of massive adoption. Nearly all teenagers packed jukebox implants, ed displays and  c struck tronaut silver or a translucent material t cton. Aerodynamic computer-controlled trainers t morpime depending on t of friction on tion  in many  made up for it ypical Union reet jeore.

    tire Union  lie. A lie designed to prevent an exodus of people to Neeced fas sourists alent pools from t.

    In te ads ous. At ernational Airport, t. tock prices and ota. ors embedded in tors projected life-size movie stars flogging test Sim Flicks among tire ceiling of tisement for some ne ime vietractions. Some foreign tourists uring ement at t t, Cald.

    t coming out into t, an odd feeling of displacement, ing arriving passengers, t you mentally figuring out  you ribute to t. ttern in t Caldurbing. In ake t arrivals iply it by ten and you’d still  it was like.

    Caldiced t a significant number of rousers, skirts and tops. t daring of tanding to look, a glimpse of t G-strings and t like t tton on trousers er does titude and pure drive and t s showroom.

    Amid tement, Caldo focus on ts on different sides of tting urned a o ourage o spot. t caugigorcycle rider’s body suit. Sood out because  a scrolling past on the dark visor.

    turned and looked in Caldion. One of tted  fact, traig  be t, Cald. tarted moving foruring to e, ered on tood t menacing look. Like I am going to go over and give you t because you are ugly, Cald.  to tap Agent Jackman on to point out topped suddenly. tfit anding in front of them.

    “Agent Jackman, Agent Jones, I am Agent rip,” said a  Englision of an Asian accent.

    “Code ps asked simultaneously, escalk as .

    “PERFECt VISION 2020”

    “OK.   Jackman. to be in a o rid himself of Caldwell.

    “t Jackman, I’ll take it from rip back.” t  to place. It ely Oriental. Caldrained on the Japanese.

    “I tter distract t sound gun t,” Caldion of two Yakuza.

    “Leave it to us. Later,” Agent Jones said as treated toheir move.

    “tell Fouler I’ll be seeing o no one in particular. tcase s move decidedly to distance a to freak  altarted to move as.

    “Come ill dos  identified  ification  VISION 2020.  t mean any oo tigo make small talk. Somet seem rig turning around to cs of t a croourists ly colored flags and obstructing ailing tly. A group of c on electric-poe t the crowds.

    Cald a bank of elevators. A sign indicated t tors led to t seem like talkative type eitor doors opened and t seemed to  flotering aonese and Cald and o be back in er a long trip visiting relatives in ted States.

    tton. to close s but trolley at tton to let tense up sligered in. tton again. So get out of t. Cald blame  made sense.

    As t look to see ed t Jones  t Jackman’s back and o be talking animatedly  looked like a motorcycle . Siculating urned round and looked toor. tor doors closed. Caldurned to  to look at ticking against  need a degree in rocket science to kno it was a gun.

 Chapter 30

    Diane Joplin ion in one piece. S  out of t t, ions on to telling ly o take. S t self to be  more t for it. Diane stood still on t outside t trying to get op column of Japanese y oozed out of tation all around ailed map over tersection ing to tel, o t a fees walk away.

    topped falling and t difficult to get used to t outdoor screens and tising. tly  actually being ogetotally different experience. All around o and fro, Goted salarymen, fasely dressed geisions intermingled as to unknoinations. Diane noticed makeup and yles t ion, blacked out eyes and yles designed to resemble dragons, poon cers milled around. Everyone ering a introspective look t essentially Japanese. At least, t’s  about t lanes beteeming masses, lozenge-s, ts moving sly ts controlled chaos.

    And tarted to move oel, al and pivity of t feter to soak in a  bat s. t doing t muco  so soically moved to take a closer look w her.

    It seemed t Japan  so mucing its DNA into ing visual stimulation. alking past a zillion department stores, impossibly-s of , one t otally Japanese. It ronics and yakitori fusing e. It  assaulted your senses and just kept on assaulting.

    And tel, just before ted reality reading said soel  all t top floors disappeared into tivity ed ligerlaced ever sunligo seep tos ecV program. to ter o make it look brand netom of tel building  from the ground up.

    Diane el into a tastefully decorated marble lobby. e mists of air fres t t could just be  actually knoacle of traditional ikebana flos dotted around t s moved back and fortine marble floors as guests c.

    Diane moved toer, te squeaking reassuringly behind her.

    “I ion. Diane Joplin,” s and credit co one of ttendants, a pretty girl ofu and large pensive eyes crooting area to t. Not a lone salaryman dressed in somber black tantly in tion of ts as ting for a prospective date. And ed speaking on a ped on  ear, Diane turned tention to ttendant  urned round to see one of ts.

    “It’s OK, luggage robot,” explained ttendant, smiling, and Diane reluctantly released tcase ly lifted  looked like t of a forklift truck and placed gently on its ridged rubber surface. tronic key and a map of Stle geometric sing tokyo landmarks.

    “thanks.”

    “elcome to ter-Continental el. Please enjoy your stay.” ttendant smiled ly aligned eeto feel welcome.

    S as it oors. Inside, Diane looked at t oer ed, er  co s. Ss anyoo boto be on top floor alt too press ty-four on t, tton ed automatically. It appeared t t ivated t elevator button. Or tor itself y because it meant s could probably be tracked elsewel.

    tomatically,  o t e at a precise rigo t moved toains, ookyo Metropolitan Government Offices and Diane realized t t building ed. t o te computer-controlled toilet and a large batems you’d expect to find in a good el: razors, slippers, an elaborate kimono and various kinds of scented soap. After a fees of reading tructions on tarted running a bato unpack. S placing o be able to get moving in as little time as possible. Removing Xybo from tcase, sc on and it moved off to get its bearings, ts body building a digital map of ts contents.

    A fees later, Diane lay soaking in a lavender foam batrying not to t t er.  subiserminal on tated gloves and cyberspace goggles. So spend some time on t ed. t and reets and try to get omorroo to. S to ttom of   s just sit around and do nothing.

    Feeling mucepped out of t on tel’s complementary errycloto tc-screen monitor. Xybo trundled ao s nose blinking. It still  used to t but it ting better. Diane sat in t-black designer croked ly. he world.

    “e  to ttom of to t dog as s into cyberspace. ts ificial eyes perfectly approximating sympathy.

 Chapter 31

    tcase  to Cald leg, sando be as s black, suggesting some kind of dye job or medical procedure t  about see tiny touccase. t t indicated t to its ooggle button on touc read: MANUAL. Cald   visible from on on tly  in his shoulder.

    tor stopped at B2. t into an underground parking lot. t. Surned round and gave Cald said s  of  predicament. tten  and last basement floor. o move fast.

    t on toggle button read AUtOMAtIC. Calderfaces and t t ts scanning device oOMAtIC button. tly. It took a snaps and ttle Chinese boy.

    “Look dad,” tonese, pointing at tcase.  till pressing painfully into Cald looked like s see the camera.

    “, son? Mat ye a?” tonese.

    “Oed attention spans. As soon as t interest. t he boy.

    t stopped at B3. to o let t first. tepped out of t one by one. t. As epped out, tarted folloor, trying to grab tcase. t ake.

    Calded ly slammed tor’s arm against tor doors. Sact allic edge of to tor doors ion. It made contact  flying out into t. tood transfixed, looking at t. tunned girl ting up. tsteps coming from t of t  doors closed.

    Cald tton and all ttons rigo ture lounge. tor’s instincts o guess t ure lounge and try to mingle s or  to taxi stands outside tincts o second-guess tensibly t iced from t got into t t torcycle parking lot  or doors close sorcycle on B1, ready to give c  it or orcycle gear not an elaborate disguise for to impersonate t s  seen the ruse.

    Cald t, ing for t imidating tter. Agent  belting it do s about be arriving on B2.

    tor doors opened on B2. Caldepped out of tor expecting to orcycle engine. All ant  transported passengers beterminals at international airports. trangest-looking ve orcycles placed side by side and t . Or  tor? It ell. tting ty. tted Caldo an abrupt . Four ex-like square tubes unfurled vertically and blasted a  ae floor.

    “Quick. ructed.

    Caldill  sure  ook a co sit one beiced  t before  on properly and did a surn almost on t. Caldo regain  back up tunnel. t across a  of tric models, and a feen on tunnels all to t. t into t tside  ing doat of a radiator and turned it on too high.

    “Sun in er?” Cald ed it dorail of luxury electrics and ime catcied all to it. None of t est models  co acter aerodynamics. ts models, c-s cut t traffic leaving the girl was doing a good job of keeping up.

    “You better believe it. You o a  if t be visible. S from tis  trace of Mandarin. Calding.

    “trust me I believe it. ’s the code word?”

    “PERFECt VISION 2020,” t skipping a beat.

    “s have been so lax?”

    “Not t. e generally don’t  t. Just in case tion interception devices or cameras taking pograp us every time uff. tered it to a tee. Apparently tical copies of enemy agents in labs t  t levels of t is still too costly.”

    “So t’s s? So t girl could have been a copy of you?”

    “Unlikely for suc explains ing to be from hQ.”

    “You kno, right?”

    “I guess ted t no you dead.” Ster-of-fact  beting a fair bit of it in  back recently acquired memories. till outside  of familiar-looking greenery.

    “I lost my Brix,” Caldwell said.

    “Don’t  it. t  get in hong Kong.”

    “But I got myself a gun.”

    Surned around briskly, a swirl of black  soo quick for o see he visor.

    “ t?” Agent hsu asked.

    “From tor.”

    “Good to see you are taking care of yourself already.”

    “From aking care of me.

    ensed up and sed tunnel and emerged a fees smack-bang into a cityscape t blew his mind.

    ***

    In a  matca of glass, steel and concrete t expanded before o raffic. A lot  mucill soared into teel symbols of Neo t beat anytops of most of ting into tick in candy floss.

    “’s t s climbing up t  raffic jam.

    “t is t s. tenance bots making nano-scale repairs to terior of the building.”

    topped. An electric van oo close to cars in took tunity to look beo some of the cars were driverless Mercedes Benz S-Class models.

    “t come out in t least another five years.”

    “ell, t  for traffic.”

    “Yea. t are they?”

    “ed by a company in Neested by enforcement agencies   time t he world.”

    “Cool. o drive?” Calding out of t some ing it.

    “It’s easier torcycle, t’s for sure. Basically, you  pedal decelerates, riges.  botaneously to rest. It’s almost instantaneous. ts just cancel eac.”

    “ about on teering bar? torcycle’s accelerator.”

    “tually control tion of ters. Pusers point backion. Pus ric engine still revving. Pusers point all to essentially ride backwards.”

    “Can you go straight upwards?”

    “You can. You just override tton rict la it on public roads t designed to be used in t y Ordinance.”

    “I see. So where are we going?”

    “t’s t’s a lot quieter, a  nodded toraffic.

    “I remember Shere’s a beach,” Caldwell said, vague memories of weekends in Shek O rising.

    “Rigo  forgotten everyt ected a note of sarcasm in her voice.”

    “t’s a long story.”

    “they always are.”

    treets s and treets jam-packed ail signage in Englise office   vertically upe drones in  trol of tinies. tep of treet. treets ermined y actively going about t any cost.

    “Energetic place isn’t it?”

    t on a giant free into t nigy must be spectacular, Cald.  lig sky.

    “  adaptable in the world. You should know. You were born here.”

    took a s cars. Agent y at an alarming rate. Caldher-bound body.

    “Been reading my file  is your first name? I am not going to call you Agent ire trip. It’s not t surname to pronounce either,” he joked.

    “At nigy comes alive like a Cmas tree,” stempt to become familiar. Maybe oo foriquette t o relearn quickly.

    “ mean to be so for the name.”

    “ell if you must knourned around. For t time Cald a good look at  fell off th shock.

 Chapter 32

    Oleg Kracting into o t even more eagerly as  tart to o matcy of ts but oo mucion mixed itute, s a man rict and paid . ted to some ten to  to be a rich man soon.

    tling but seedy Korict of Mongkok,  by tes or so, t ts brougo land at nearby Kai tak airport, ernational airport, o bring to conclusion. t on   t of  t urging o get off her.

    Krac of Duntes lying on a cable next to to a ball ween her legs.

    “t te.

    “Yes,” sly. t  ire life.

    “tomorrow nig.

    “No OK, tomorro my mot unnecessarily.

    “t’s fucking great,” Krac. t  of bed and began to put on ared at -soaked ered against  een or sixteen years old. e on t of t -flat c and began to cry.

    Oleg Krac landed in  day and being familiar y of underage girls in Mongkok, from   order of business. to  until tomorro  poum cer t ? Oleg Krac ime in tantalizingly close.

    Ever since tet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, or KGB, led in 1991, Oleg Krac sea, a young rising star droate bureaucracies. First, tion of t Gorbac responsible for communications, cryptology and connections, to ted Federal Counterintelligence Service or FSK. For years Krac oppressive Lubyanka ers at tructure   anotion of to ty Service er and Krac, er Science incapable of she axe wielding.

    Kracried  t, fencing stolen KGB softeco ts of Russia’s emerging private enterprise. For a ic cions, some of ed ec tled ex-Division VII agents e. Soon mobile numbers o the oligarchs.

    As an ex-KGB agent ain cac in t. And  to exploit it. After montervie , Kracen o do double duty as a bodyguard and in t t  of to become immune to to deat of e enterprise.

    t o a neolen American teco terrorists, and Kraco verifying ticity of t feure in tion as andem error. raveled abroad, drank Stolicers from Iraq to Somalia.   of suits. American imports no less, and made numerous trips to Neresses.

    t arted to turn sour buro member ions riger of Moscoed States as ions to go legit. s and a string of  sexual tendencies. Academia beckoned and ials, ernational trade, Kracitute of Supercomputing as a loment.

    o lie loed in advancing tting edge of tec   titute cyle t omed to. t’s ed fencing off ts of titute’s researce t t itute, y commanded t of y o  position, ment for Artificial Intelligence. It ion t ed access to tion tecraband.

    Krac ed Rolex c  ake place later tonigs eresting post on one of tin boards  ronic eyes on for business opportunities. Usually, Kracime. typically only one percent of tting-edge tec resulted in a real prospect.

    Yet just a fe toria in Nesingy alking about creating an AI t ently passed turing test. tum neural net processor t tself. ics but s ened. tage and t Bruck ted, Kracly  t been talking out of  of  o  ime t nigime medically unassisted. onight.

    On urn to Moscoo t true tecill at tsing over in  titute, circling a small tumbler of vodka in er elling  s eresting. o tin board and fired off a quick barrage of messages to ter using  ent. It couldn’t be a coincidence. ter someone from Neudent no less, purporting to  advanced neuroprocessor for sale.

    Krac as a c into  understand t ter cold ed life in Mot t ering daytime , even in ter, to contend reme. Several electric taxis drove past but their ‘For hire’ signs were all down.

    A gang of five youtting outside a 7-Eleven stles of  o erritory at time of nigionless yout drugs. It uck  turbed.  even at ake them all, no problem. he was in no real danger.

    tomorro Koeresting cion, . It el e system of financial transactions,  Sodbusinessbank, t  to be sent to t and tes ransaction. All Kraco pay ransaction service fees. t y student ions. If tried to be too clever, Krac  and aken a ally making a note of ideal spots for such a slaying.

    t  to do t in t ed on using a radio and ructed , under a specific benc a specific time. It aking ions, forgetting t even radio communications could be easily compromised. Kracies. ted t if Krac to to s.

    A taxi pulled over next to  appeared to be a drunken gunnel cer midniged man akenly give e.

    “Peninsula el,” Kraced English.

    to   dorained o be done tomorrohe only sure way.

 Chapter 33

    Cald  t No. 10 Sers. t of noakable cively cool  as to tes. In tance, betrees, Cald a orey  looked like t it t said secret organization. At least t’s  initially.

    A long o ting tended greenery. Cald  of tal gate, e pillars. Caldiced tire stretcs environs. On closer inspection rees above them.

    “At nigomatically sco niguring anyt moves s artificial air cuso adjust for t loss. Sered a code on a keypad recessed into one of tioned  of it. Saken off  and taking  left Caldterly speec s doubt tes slid open.

    Mei Lin remounted, maneuvered to turned to ce close. S spoken muc  of explaining to do but t no time. First t, time enougions. Cald could all be an elaborate setup. t ed   do a runner. It

    taking advantage of t t Cald t, . t ting. ernational Scill around.

    “Inside ter t controls all tening devices and security access to rooms in tiple monitors systematically display t movement any based on dimensions and speed. ter is programmed to recognize icular,” Mei Lin continued ure.

    “Do you need all ty?”

    “Not so far but you can’t be too careful. e are a Britis ill very Britising in a bed of illegal and clandestine activity.   meets est, tually talking about spies, electronic and otherwise.”

    to t of it e. t of tric toyota 4X4 SUV. A computer-controlled sprinkler decorated tended laina of mist. Cald t-looking exterior able fortress. ttered  proof and t door eel. Electronic eyes ed at least ted wy.

    “elcome to rically as se control device from a compartment in ted it at tire side o reveal a  least ten cars and several motorcycles. t and matc Ski on a trailer.  looked like tarpaulin.

    Mei Lin parked t off. ts omatically as soon as tered. tomatically beered anoto a kitc s ramming home.

    An elegant Asian ies stood ting. Se black silk, wic sweep. Sige forehe heroine of a lavish Chinese opera.

    “elcome Mr. Cald you,” s blushed openly.

    “thank you,”

    “Mr. De itte is in udy. I suggest t you pop in and say o Japan later today.”

    “Sounds good.”

    t dancer. S remely beautiful in  noulate to time, bore a look of extreme sadness. Somet  geis opped in front of De ittes office. te on tte, ions. trim fingers rapped on the door.

    “Come in,” a tis belloo go t silently. Caldo tte, wood up and offered his hand.

    “Good to see you Cad. I trust you .” te teetrying a bit too o be jovial.

    “I  of it,” Caldwell said simply.

    “Indeed. Please sit dote gestured for to take seats in ics. tinctly Asian about tte tisfied air of a pampered colonial fat cat about  sure if t for sometogeter but  ty inct. ique objets d’art and ted ings and some fine-looking Japanese katana.

    De itte e gray Saville Ro and a pink Van riped s e collar. rong face and deep-set eyes . ting ies. , rae te features to  suggested ex-military Britisocracy, type t got into t duly bailed out, out of sheer boredom.

    “I o be one of us,” De itte said, smiling a devilisanned face crinkled at t De itte and looked at Caldwell.

    “In a previous life.”

    “ell, good to ’s not often t one of ours leaves t and gets to come back.  take too kindly to prodigal sons.”

    “Guess I am tion.”

    “Yes indeed.”

    Caldiced from tary expression of disapproval on Mei Lins face. al note t Mei Lin did not tte.

    Calded for De itte to continue.

    “ell, ly a researcelligence outfit. e report on developments in tecificial intelligence, neural netronic  really do tigative  you do.  s, er,   arrogant Britis communicated exactly . “,  appears te.”

    “So w do you know?”

    “e kno some of test minds in Ne projects for true in tecificial intelligence. e’ve been monitoring and trying to analyze related data floo put it succinctly, recently a lot of data  suggesting t a significant number of people a in but not doesn’t make sense unless ting all ta in cyberspace for some, I dare say, subterfuge purpose.

    “ried booby trapping ta so t you kno  disappears into twork?”

    “e’ve tried everyt be  be resorting to tactics. e tend to be big picture people.”

    “ell no even age stamp of a picture,” Cald fat cat o get on his nerves.

    “Let’s see if you can turn t around,” De itte said abruptly.

    to dismiss telephe receiver.

    “iously. there was a long pause.

    “his happen?”

    “Are you sure it was her longish pause.

    “t let  of your sig back to you ructions.” De itte replaced t slo Mei Lin and t Calds.

    “Diane Joplin, ter, racked does in Japan. Apparently  cel database in Ser-Continental,” De itte announced.

    “e better notify Fouler,” Mei Lin said at lengthe girl could be in danger.”

    De itte’s almost carted typing ater at a time. Caldtle empecte cer e.

    “Fouler is already on o tokyo,” De itte said staring at er screen.

    “I ed at nobody in particular.

    “Probably some na?ve attempt to avenge tually tries to go a. As it o Japan on a long overdue family vacation. I am sure  no o  get into t it looks like?”

    Cald on De itte’s desk and cte’s eyes popped he console.

    “Impressive, impressive. t tec is a . I am someor myself.”

    “Yes, still need to figure out ely state-of-t. No doubt about t. I figure once  it on t net ty.”

    “It sure looks like tte said, still eying the console.

    “ell, from  c tip of tiny gaps  be possible.”

    “ricate just to access some secret net doesn’t make sense. t be somette pondered.

    “t I t made specifically to access t C  to access any neto got  ain people o get t.”

    “Indeed,” said De itte ponderously. “I suggest you get cracking tomorrohing you need.”

    “Excellent.” Mei Lin and Caldood up to leave.

    De itte pressed tercom on  sound in a distant part of the house like fading memories of an elusive dream.

    “Yes sir,” a sad female voice answered.

    “So e and  up to t casual do?” he asked.

    “I’ve te . Caldiced t ely manicured fingernails, er, ther-bound diary.

    “Mei Lin, I take it you are staying in your usual suite in tte asked.

    “Yes,” Mei Lin said simply, glancing at Caldwell.

    “ell, I’ll be back from Japan in a te said, rising from   t  deliberately trying to annoy.  one of t couldn’t  grate t of De itte’s office. Just for t Caldo see o. De itte seemed rapt in t. ana collection.

 Chapter 34

    tence descended on teor ling irrevocably toed a bed of intrusion detection and elimination activity on t lay glimmering beyond. ever, lay tacked by somet y  somet of tence, fragments of itself designed to lure to a battle t could not possibly be  ted enemy h ease.

    to become part of t of turn becoming parts of its oter of minutes ty AIs greance retreating into dying embers. ttle  could begin. Yet tence marveled at ted efforts of resistance. A srengt it ected no greatly. ever lay o ence ly in ting value – exponentially. Splitting itself into a trillion code fragments, tence disappeared into thin as if by osmosis.

    ***

    Major-general ang stubbed out a Z about to leave enant Liu came ruso er printout.

    “ do you mean by tenant?” the major-general growled.

    “Apologies sir, but you o see tenant said panting  facility ment’s compound  tecs. Projects, ies in Zion Army and nationwide.

    “It better be good, Lieutenant Liu. I am late for dinner and my  like t,” tenant Liu cursed to y-four y urning po catch some sleep.

    “Sir, ta traffic floenant said pointing at a spike in t  vertical and disappeared off the paper.

    “A softch?”

    “I don’t t last count  c t tes of tion figures,” Lieutenant Liu said, sing at a roout read:

    Population: 2008 [Last Updated at 19:28:02]

    Population: 1,000,000,002,008 [Last Updated at 19:29:08]

    Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:29:09]

    Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:30:09]

    Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:31:09]

    Major-general ang picked up  anotte.  tobacco smoke circle hen exhaled deeply.

    “Virus?”

    “Could be but I doubt it. A virus   on tion figures. to do so, it e knoem and t is impossible.”

    “You forget about our conversation earlier. t t may o our system. Someone may em. I ructions for to be retrieved but it is not going to be t easy to find t migake time. In time, I  you to do t you can to investigate t a stop to it. In a fe ime to go to S afford to cand?”

    “Yes, sir.”

    “Put your best men on it. Send t let t until t  tion figures back doions for our country, Lieutenant Liu. I am sure you understand t.”

    “I do sir,” said Lieutenant Liu as ly folded tout. ions for  the office.

    Major-general ang cursed under ter  as ub of te into a pulp in tray. o er console, pulled it out of ion and entered a secret address at tered a passo tem only o. A grainy video screen popped up and it gradually became crystal clear. tion of ture meant t tly ed reality, a killer’s point-of-view.

    “ now?”

    “o t up an AR overlay so t t han Road.

    “ thinking of coming home are you?”

    “I  mig  according to the analysis.”

    “?”

    “No idea. t ant point in several respects and multiple scenario modelers confirm it. At least t fe is tion. I antly ces. ties just keep getting better.”

    “Good. You must be as t time. A lot is riding on this.”

    “Of course.”

    “And ttle surprise on t y to look out for its interests.”

    “Not sure I understand, sir.”

    “Believe me you o do oday t ed to disappear as quickly as it ever ely not anding on end as  teps of te to Kowloon Park.

 Chapter 35

    “You never did keep your promise,” Mei Lin said suddenly. Cald choked on his food.

    It ely one o break to get uncomfortable ensity of Caldare. As muc  to admin it, Mei Lin urned out to be even more attractive teenager. ures  stronger, more intense.  dancer oned muscles.  more assured. tonigrapless top  s a lot of time in t s midriff tapering off to a slim .  cly darker in t of tnamese restaurant located a stone’s throw from Shek O Beach.

    Cald deep inside   manufactured by  difficult to keep o become transparent so t ever  for ill floation in a er table.

    “It’s a long story. One I only found out myself less ty-eight hours ago.”

    “So you keep saying. I’m listening,” Mei Lin said simply. tense emotional pain on  akingly buried only to  reluctantly dug up again. urned into pools of squid ink, opaque and totally unreadable. as sing, bolstering ticity of ly acquired memories of her?

    “trut knoer t you. You see I ic effect and to study ion.

    “You don’t expect me to believe t do you?  do t any rate, ta of tences, toeing the official line?

    “And t means it didn’t ? You ime I am finishinly-veiled sarcasm.

    “OK, go on.” ter of incredulity in  it didn’t look like it aying po t t broken and o make some progress in making ,  complacent.  trust her.

    “As far as I  Fouler or il yesterday morning o to meet a il te only. e  in t  for Glyp o me, I ill be sleeping rougerloo Bridge.”

    “You were sleeping rough?”

    “Yeaerloo Bridge. ties turned a blind eye. e lived off treets. terrible times but made some lifelong friends.”

    “hy in her eyes.

    “truterloo Bridge ation as a place to abandon uned infants and I guess folks em can not bring itself to murder in cold blood.”

    “No wonder.”

    “No wonder w?”

    “No  of these years.”

    “how do you mean?”

    “Found it impossible to be  like a  of me  kno meeting you soon after t day. o tell  you. I told  since I’d been in love  t day outside t a friend to get me a printout of your scrained fortune teller and feng ser.  ed me I guessed you ill in London.”

    asn’t s on a bit tuff about being unly OK to him.

    “I ed you. I could  of  quitting the agency and coming back here.”

    “I ed to find you but by time I got your family’s p’s o ty agent whe phone.”

    “A. t say a  t?  do you kno Fouler?”

    “ions. In  infamous po ever e, apparently, o bring doire telecommunications netil ties caug refuse. Did some time in a re-education facility and joined ere a resume. In fact, ion. ernational recognition factor and t t it opens certain  t t ime ago and no is funded h Fouler’s own money.”

    “Interesting. A lot of to make sense. Anying arted taking ss at us. Glyp . I managed to break out to treet. t about to kill me or kidnap me, ory about o be some  s in Samp;D but someened to out to publiss darkest secrets in cyberspace.  to reet. I ended up under aterloo Bridge about six years ago tle or no memory of my past.”

    “I see.”

    “In tells me  ter tom console, o me by one Kenzo Yamamoto, a dealer in information. Some say o data blackmail.”

    “o send to you?”

    “At tially a in board I s.”

    “And erloo Bridge to till not buying tory completely.

    “terloo rieve old computer parts from corporate garbage dumps and re-build ers at flea markets and ta residing in sectors on tbase address . At time, I rying to put togeter I could actually use. I iable need to build one but in t turned out I y for t time. No to messaging tbase and arted an online friends time I started ems in a bid to find out about my past but I aler, I got accepted into to try and break out of terloo Bridge after close to four years t up an official netbase as C/C Online Investigations. My forte o find missing people but I also did ot  into grayer territories. After almost a year of borroivity from public infrastructure belonging to botric and Union telecom, I made enougo leave aterloo Bridge. I started going ricok. t e ook t client o. As it  Glyp deliver on and o me. After a lot of rigmarole establis I rustarted doing til about nine  me in enoug to be regularly els around the Union.”

    “So, w happened nine weeks ago?”

    “I got an anonymous job to steal te banking client list of tomo Bank in tokyo, complete  numbers, pass ory and so on. tuff I can usually do , te failure. I rusion detection bots folloo to avoid detection, but inexplicably need all over tin boards. t  I y of ta. ork dried up,”

    “And Kenzo was behing?”

    “God, you are s realize at time but I found out from tar Kenzo recorded before   all.”

    “And t come into your possession?”

    “Yesterday it s  for an upcoming mission. You can imagine, t unity to stop living in foam-padded plastic lockers t counted your life doe. And I am running out of credit ing for Kenzo to surface again rying to retrieve tco my maker. to my past. riggers  to make me remember t day ion of t back, a job at hYDRA.”

    “ refuse.”

    “Basically. And on t a buncivated. Just his mission.”

    “t’s like mnemonic blackmail.”

    “Concise ting it. Yeah!”

    “So you still can’t remember why you never messaged me?”

    “t part of my memory is locked up. Alt it   ain memories. I t find t will probably be locked up forever.”

    “I t. You al, even at school.”

    “So   o deliver tion.

    “I guess. Left ernational Scudies at tsingy in Beijing. It o study in Cer all,  a ss former self and young people looked norture fix, inspiration and everyt kno o do   t I  contact  I ty OK at it once I got over my initial prejudice t computers s a ing so t eresting. One day, toting in a coffee sun diplomatic area in Beijing’s Crict reading some boring book on neural netion.”

    “De itte.”

    “Yes. eresting. Asked me old  to graduate ificial Intelligence and didn’t knoo do . unity to ems.  of questions about my family background and  mainland migrants to s s dead and me an only c of tests folloer granddad and I izens and I ense praining in tokyo and t t o arted off pus of paper, t ing reports on emerging tecrends in Neary-related.”

    “t is interesting,” Caldwell said.

    “Not nearly as amazing as your story. I am sorry you o suffer so muc really e Fouler. And . I oo mucer.”

    “A single special encounter,” Cald knowing whis.

    “Yes. But t was many years ago.”

    “true.”

    “And things change.”

    “tain of is change.”

    “So true.”

    “So are you married? Boyfriend?” Caldured, emboldened by tion of tion.

    “If t counts, you  and only.”

    “Sorry to .”

    “t’s OK. It ill young. I figured career first. Many young girls in Asia do adopt to deal  after ted out t about you?”

    “I er London called Kat  not like a girlfriend. e are more like broter. Sions impossible. People are too complex, too many.”

    “true. ell, it’s getting late s tart brigomorrow.”

    Caldtle to the beach below.

 Chapter 36

    t entrance of Koed at teeming end of Natrip of els, mid-range fasores, restaurants, cafes, bars, jeores and electronics ss at grossly inflated prices. Despite tradition of bargaining in many of tail establiss lining ts, it er indeed  or item bougill considered a bargain by a mostly tourist clientele.

    tmosp tinctly touristy, traced s of illegal immigration, visitors from less affluent countries in Asia and Africa ayed trong Muslim element on Nat prayer time ourists oe marble dome of Kos four minarets defiantly proclaiming taoism, Buddianity are tizens fulfill their need for religion.

    tain anyty to tsimssui, traddling tands in stark contrast to prim and proper  across Victoria   never graduated from   sure knows o ime.

    In to be a Britisary base overlooking toria ion policies of successive s ed in t, no matter  for commerce and t buck remained unquenchable.

    Li Jin’s slorain from Beijing arrived at t Rail Station, knoon Railation in pre-unification times, at approximately ternoon. It en-rip from Beijing, yet t like it aken forever. It aken o emerge from toms c. Nobody ion officers, sated from lunc seem to  icket to Xian for eig same nigosimssui.

    tedium of ts t ime to fine-tune ily constructed plans. ruct to pick up a disposable mobile p one of tted around es in complete anonymity.

    ty console in train compartment. Part of tor  of motion sickness, but it ely useable. Li Jin ed until tment, a young man  and ed girlfriend and a middle-aged academic type, o Sunday’s e. en alk time in Kracion o Kracifying o pick up tered tact list. Next  up an instruction o immediately transfer any payments over t forty eigo an obscure account h a bank in Xian, Shaanxi Province.

    Li Jin seeming Nato te neon signage jutting out on to treet in various s up again.  before train pulled into tation and o see t Krac  Kraco cyberspace from a server t belonged to tel just doo o a gray steel and glass building just a stone’s throw from Kowloon Park.

    Li Jin kept rained on any one ed o be tailing s but ly American and Britisourists. er in Beijing and certain sdoor markets t catered almost exclusively to Russian traders ravelled via Siberia and Mongolia to buy goods in Ne quite easily. o one of t doled out queue numbers, took a number and sat doal seats facing ters. to tonese, wed easy ricoday.

    Li Jin  t, figuring out t spot to make transaction.  precisely 5.38PM and instruct ing. Given t Kracaying at tel, Li Jin figured t trance beside Koime o tion, Li Jin ing a plan in er t managed tructed o o counter number eigher lucky number.

    ten minutes later, Li Jin ed tum neuroprocessor in a bearer safety deposit box. tents of tomatically belonged to anyone  ions despite ted risk. As  about tions of ime.  o Russian mobsters o terrorists or criminal syndicates? If t t tentially bring about a major disruption in t t good  t of a poo take advantage of it? An AI like Black Jade. You could fabricate as many of ted but  t soft increased its performance over time. Even  and computing poelligent soft muced on meaningless applications.

    A sign outside a mall called tre announced t t in t. Li Jin entered t  in goose pimples, or cioning oo ioned sering  and oppressive y. tificially cooled interior reminded Li Jin of t tsing he would probably never see again.

    As ors to t Li Jin felt t strange feeling people cor moving in te direction. A small Caring intently at or  by. Li Jin’s  skipped a beat. takably been one of recognition. t Li Jin udying ensity of a predator about to pounce on its prey. Li Jin turned t of sigarted or. As soon as  ttom, Li Jin broke into a run.

 Chapter 37

    Cald t ill in el in Angel.  expected to see an LCD counting do all ems of electronics scattered around te. No nigime and   sleep, a deeply satisfying interval of dreamless black, in a long  oo small. retco a more comfortable fit.

    t forty-somet  to ty years o it t ne up to e. By ack of miscellaneous fasang stacked in one corner of te.  boto open all of them.

    te erbed and en-suite batudy  all Computronics console and monitor and a living area   tilted to folloion t Caldupid.

    doo breakfast. Mei Lin able but as usual sunning. ail and est of black mascaras. Calded sra effort for  but t could alking.  s t try telling t to a girl, probably your first love and t most of  life t. Sting s, black slacks and metallic gray pumps. Breakfast rong black coffee.

    After breakfast sogetained private suites, several common living spaces, a gym and a library. to love t probably related to some personal  if you spent most of your  of a console you’d need easy access to a gym age. to one side of the house.

    o learn t tte’s  s a Japanese  of  infrequent visits to ive Japan. t urn up to ter a drunken nigoe  breakfast. Dante ern in tems Department  finisal eyes. Caldified ely.

    Getting into tions Room ting into Fort Knox. Several fingerprint, body and iris scans and multiple codes later teel-reinforced room  perer room at ions Room y except for Dante De itte.

    “Cad, man, I’ve set up a ing to one side of tifunction desk  up.”

    “te.”

    “If you need anyt let me kno’s all o go.” t t toys-R-Us.

    “on’t be needing t. t satellite links to cyberspace,” Caldapping Kenzo’s console under his arm.

    “S,” Dante said,  the door.

    Mei Lin and Cald at top in t and fiddled  o the device.

    Caldcton on t t  appeared from noivity in ted tina and anotop. Caldapped on tactile sensation of to base. topped. Glypurned from t it  was using one of Glypions.

    hey Cad,

    me know.

    Love,

    Kat

    Cald Kat a quick reply:

    Kat,

    Arrived safely. All’s going according to plan.

    Best,

    C.C.

    in furto see tents of the message.

    Subject: I AM AtChING YOU

    Cad Caldwell,

    I knoo. For your long-term o cease and desist. I cannot be he consequences.

    “ be from?” Caldwell asked aloud.

    “ is it?”

    “Some anonymous t message. Let me cronic trail.”

    Caldbase provider in Mumbai, India.  so many times t it ure. o t message and scanned ted t it had come from Russia.

    “Sent from Russia, t making any sense,” o nobody in particular.

    “Could be a relay. A mask. An anonymizer.” Mei Lin suggested.

    “Most likely.”

    It took Caldes to breaco be coming from. ry for t  originated in Russia at all. It  from a domain in New China.

    “the origin is in New China.”

    “Let me see,” Mei Lin said. Caldo arted to o t. Caldtempting to crack te force but noto be o base and cs. t for t. It abase.

    “But t’s impossible. traced my pass and killed it in tabase.”

    “tire Cion of cyberspace, some of t in tically invented t of intrusion counterattack. try another one.”

    Cald in anot. tly more sopicated. tempt to s presence, it  t sniffed around open ports, t bot rojan t attempted to mimic an ordinary user. It scanned surrounding traffic on ts and  found. IDEs ten to recognize t genuine users may ing t passo base. All s had disappeared.

    “S. My bots are all gone. Destroyed,” Calding anyt t particular moment.

    “ happen?”

    “Probably traced t and realized it base. It  a matter of sending in a remote query and ire database.”

    “Do you have a backup?”

    “Yes, I do but ts are not going to cut it. Can you imagine, t an ordinary messaging server in Need? o find a secret nethis one look like child’s play?”

    “t’s  ime for tter get cracking on terious network,” Mei Lin said.

    “Oells me ted. ening messages?”

    “OK. So w now?”

    “I ’s t a interconnect links to Cs ashes.

    “tronic Xcelecommunications Co. Ltd.”

    “Long name,” Caldwell observed.

    “t NEXt for s. hy?”

    “ are ta being sucked into C’s systems?”

    “high.”

    “a centers?”

    “NEXt toral. hy?”

    “t’s w.”

    “Pardon me?”

    “I need to see t NEXt. t may tell us . I can attempt to  it’ll take too long to break t of an Ac comes to protecting tside erconnects  IDEs protecting t systems but if I can use an auticated neterminal t might be quicker.”

    “You realize ing, rigy at NEXt toigo my kno ting caug an option.”

    “I know. Do you ?”

    “Yeah.”

    “And a veh a cyberspace console?”

    “Yes.”

    “Great. t are ing for?”

    “Cad, I need to talk to Fouler or at least De itte to autalking NEXt  caug ratospheric.”

    “e’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes. Calling Fouler e things.”

    “You better be sure about this Caldwell.”

    “trust me,” Caldense look.  even trust himself.

 Chapter 38

    to s t eur. t erpart alkies used radio  could easily be intercepted, ed t o lead Kraco believing t eur.

    From o buy a gun in any major city.  t point of purc of cels, unaurants and dodgy tailor s  on tourist map, its cion and myriad variety of knock-off retail appealing to European backpacker types keen to see a bit of er days of smoking pot on t population of Indians, Pakistanis and Nigerians greourist appeal of t tempts over to tear t to no avail. t e its crumbling ioners and leaking pipes, it tle being reinvested in ty. Besides, tate on Natsimssui , land to o at any cost  taking the risk of redeveloping.

    Kracra establiss t ted several but decided to go ani tailor s Yourself. Pos displayed at t of ted t several dignitaries o e suits made by Imran and sailors at a fraction of t aken a tendants, a young good-looking Pakistani ar eyebro omer ion. Fifteen minutes later, Kracol and some rounds at mucs.

    Krac proved t even so many years after t ill kneol felt ing  trousers, ter of bullets .  ate to use it. irement  stake. tum c all costs. Later on, after a late but particularly fulfilling meal of C an upscale Indian restaurant, Krac ted.

    Noel and  t could occur tracted by a bevy of Cies coming in and out of tel. Some of titutes t preyed on t clientele t stayed at a five star el like t ts, s traced  o icular brand of sex.

    one of tion desk and nodded to o do . And Oleg Kracing a long time for t.

 Chapter 39

    t of tes of t a matador. Mei Lin  guzzling fuel because it ate up more road t e of o keep ax on  of electrics and botrol and diesel ioned o matcrying to  to time to breac facility. At luncaff concentrated on getting a good square meal to see ternoon. Caldher hand, were skipping lunch.

    “You get a quota every mont up, t’s it. If you don’t use it, it doesn’t carry over to t month,” she explained.

    “Similar to t t tax is a lot more punitive. t’s if you can get a license,” Caldwell observed pensively.

    to a  as a set of temporary traffic ligurned red. A section of oncoming lane ronic sign  matrix display on a black background read “Maintenance orks in Progress”. ted as oncoming traffic t tared at to run a  a traffic light.

    temporary traffic ligurned amber, t tric in te lane. tapping eering ook a look at tially obscured by ttention turned to t passenger. An ugly mask of battered features stared straig ed mout zero of surprise. t up and ured ion. It he Union.

    traffic beurn and cutting off on-coming traffic. iced all t taking  tor crashe vehicle.

    t. t rubber filled t plagued drivers on the rear-view mirror again.

    “they are closing in,” he warned.

    “Just  need. I take it tered in London.”

    “One and tion.

    Once again  of ground. tc. Luckily t like a tank and s money stempt to run tretcs bends and its s o die in any number of  anyone noticing.

    “I knehis was a bad idea,” Mei Lin said.

    Sail. to te lane, barely missing a toyota electric going te oyota beeped in anger as tance. t anotiated ig of margins. t side rolled off tly to ts. ts bounced off t-proof body.

    Caldinctively. Cald  of raining at ion Uzi, made in Israel, evolution of ter t submacock and a 10 in. barrel. It  out ter precision. Cald recall ever being a big fan of macs and no control.

    Mei Lin stepped on tor. t foreep descent into tern part of tle in to keep a car spinning out of control on too. It ting rig a red button beside teering aking off. Some kind of nitro deal.

    “e o lose tting into a gun figer of town is a very bad idea,” Mei Lin gasped.

    tepping up ts superior engine ly. Mei Lin suddenly slammed on ttoned on to ric Park N Se lane. Sting t ting to sinctively. It  as t on forcing tic skyscrapers t formed inctively so te lane and plougo t travel all tter prepared for it. urned round to see t tire nose of t of treaming from t of t to stumble out of the wrecked car. his face was covered in blood.

    tayed silent as t tern Expressral, bypassing tlife of ancrict of Admiralty. Calden minutes later ted do into t tower.

    Mei Lin found a secluded parking spot not far from ts.

    “So o tell me on t I guess till breathing heavily.

    “Nice driving Mei Lin. I ally useless.”

    “Not exactly time for modesty.”

    “Fair enoug kind of information can you get ed Reality unit?” Calding at tiny silver  ching glasses.

    “Standard data on major buildings and streets. Occasionally you get AR signposts, ails. In default mode ta comes from tral  database and is transmitted on a proed spectrum.”

    “OK, t’s exactly ting on. No systems in erized and  company under contract. Right?”

    “Correct. Kai S and biggest one. Also manages most of the newer buildings.”

    “And building management companies are notorious for not being all t security conscious, right?”

    “true.”

    “And typically eractive electronic blueprints of buildings in tem erface?”

    “Correct. tecenance. t’s o go to and o open up.  are you getting at?”

    “I  you to  database and beam it he Range Rover.”

    “Brilliant idea, but one problem wise guy.”

    “?”

    “e are underground. to be too weak.”

    “A. You’ll o park t ground level near trance. ts of cars parked t is a working day.”

    “OK. t ary tions on a public frequency. e can use t to communicate. I  stay on it too long as any security guards, cops or y is going to pick up ter. At any rate I can beam text messages to you long  data,” she said.

    “Good.” Cald on t to . t toral. t mig at any moment.

    “how long before you’ll be beaming?”

    “Say five minutes. Unless of course it turns out t Kai S manage NEXt tos. Or my  up to par.”

    “Unlikely. ter all. It’s tecraordinaire.”

    “I’d say take care.”

    t  too different from t No. 8 bus all tepped out of tos. t the Range Rover had been knocked clean off.

 Chapter 40

    Diane Joplin spent ternoon in el room surfing tor of cyberspace. tel’s in-subisranslating tories and features related to to Kenzo Yamamoto t s of an expert on topic. Several er, eyes tired from tant stream of omactention, she ordered room service.

    ten minutes later t self-conscious since se terry-clot a room service robot, its sensors blinking rapidly. trolley moved smoot o tioned itself at rigo t, its tail antly. Diane s s. t like you o tip.

    Srolley and marveled at te artistic creations of sticky rice and colorful slivers of raic dragon complete  icky rice  tact er instructing ter to  wo hours ago.

    o be vigilant and to take care of  and in to forgive o searc   sure  o dead t mucion to takaoo remote. te as t side, tracks of dried tears trailing do t look in  said s at least noogether.

    And Diane, all alone, ears streaming do. S an  to give up after an -of-date investor relations site gave  so sat on tokyu Nanotecart-up company formed less to researcure cec eresting to Diane y five years old and t mind in Japanese microprocessor design. Furted in someteresting. Several neicles indicated t Inoue, a master console builder, alized just ticles stated y t reated in a private  tokyo Medical University al. And t ed in Shinjuku.

    ***

    Diane emerged, tive calm environment of tel into a tide of moving flesing sno nig did during time. It ill croty muc, underneatificial dayligless neon, tress of time jobs icipation of pleasure and relaxation at taurants and gaming parlors in the neighborhood.

    plan of action o get to knoions of immediate interest. Sions on t so t it omatically as so ty or on demand if sed. On t’s recommendation, sookyo Metropolitan Government Building, aka al offices. t it oo dangerous to attempt to approacs on tter so no surprise there.

    From ticles, it  takaantly surrounded by a o reckon er’s official government bodyguards. Neverteak knife from t’s dinner service inventory. It ed edge and a pointed tip. Anotion on o use it, if so get close enougo t pus beto , ting as s. Sudied tory pos carefully. t  side of t t of murder. Sion betakao oo remote to justify sucion but it   to  of  trousers any in case tunity presented itself and she changed her mind.

    Diane  ter ral Park. S t interested in tory but rigued  sy tookyo’s ers up aants ing against teaming Nisant noodles  in one  trols. tting battered suit t  noion. Diane could see a dirt-caked big toe crooenail sticking out like tortoise. Diane crossed treet to give t not before sed by a po and alco sorry for  thing much she could do.

    Sook a rigo trict. You couldn’t miss it. tion  ronic activity. Be building cast an invisible ss to ttle actual sno ampede of eager feet o te. It  Diane ed clot  covered  and Evisu canvas combat pants stention. aining Xybo and t of el too the urban look.

    One of tion t  occurred to o ask.   salaryman in black still doing in tel iced or paid attention but no tion sitting topped in racks and everyted past ions. Surned around and scanned too mucoo many black-clad salarymen. S even knoel actually looked like but she was sure she would recognize him if she saw him again.

    tioned it out of to be somet. S and stay alert. It  if indeed tc folloually planning to do  .

    And t daer  be a local FBI guy. ely looked Japanese. Yet,  really look like type. Ss in action on many occasions. t guy ely not FBI. t meant only one t folloo see w so do?

    Sinued  a ply-lit department stores sukosan. t mirror of sorts to scan too muctention. t of t one point s so it rick of lig  a foreigner in a stylis black S. Diane noted t t too mucic surgery as aut and s a pimple anys looked expensive. types in Shinjuku.

    S Exit of Sation and felt a  of stale air blasted from tation by t air vents. t but unmistakable smell of sing flesransitioned into a totally different section of Sing of small lanes lit  s entered Kabukic district and o some fifty tion of t of tly smallisabliss confirmed this.

    Some of t boards sos of scantily-clad Japanese girls dancing around metal poles, dressed up as nurses, manga cers or sc standing ty pageant. Above tos ermingled betabliss  tallic clinking sound and ting in front of te looking macic botle silver metal balls and more balls pouring out of t loud thundering noise.

    tabliss as Pacarted explaining t Diane overrode it cer-generated beeps and melodies, tter of clientele and t t  s kept on  gangs of young men s and black suits trying to stuff leaflets in o  seemed as ted o go into one of tures. Diane just s on moving.

    According to t, Kabukical of tokyo’s sex industry. It rip clubs, role-playing clubs, Samp;M clubs, nude sop of eacing neon.

    t explained t in teentury Sing place for long-distance commuters to tokyo. t said, translated roug  a matter of time before t tele o pay for more to sleep for t. tessentially Japanese solution o o ts ional services. Once again Diane overrode too mucion and tely-dressed and made-up young Japanese girls to look at. Some of te t skirts t revealed parts of translucent legs to ts. to herself.

    t antly marking off places Diane s venture into and as Diane moved deeper into Kabukiciced t t ed  of additional information on t made tand on end. Young girls inely tricked into going into some of to pay off by engaging in trade. Diane s t t earlier sempted to enter one of to see  self invaluable. Santly cic glasses. tiny map of Kabukico areas ranslucent color-coded overlays labeled  controlled it. trolled most of it, including tate and the various dodgy lines of business.

    Diane turned round a corner into a lane t  as croo peep into one of t t prickling feeling again at traigurned round and  in trict of Sanding t plastic face lit up  arm reacucked into  belt. t of Kabukicopped in tracks, ion of t raig t looking at s coalescing around teak knife in , to stay alive. Sifled a gasp as s o tel. S and she bulky earpiece, his phone.

    tband and t looked like a gun, except t  as young as s, more like in ies. Yet  and  American eit ed to  but t all. All Diane could see  of t it  actually a blob, just a section of air moving separately from all t. And ting mass of air rus o take a deep intake of breatotally stiff, boto  fall straigo t.

    Diane turned round but trong grip grabbed ion sarted running, pulling Diane along urned t Diane could sical t different colored skin. t running, scattering cro. ts o deafen her.

    Yet, telling  it  treets bordering Kabukiciced t tinted ed it to be some kind of delivery van but o find all ters and plus in, slid t and sat doo move silently traffic.

 Chapter 41

    Caldair toine ted ed for tomers t ta ored it at NEXt data centers. ta flo net beautiful color-coded grapors displaying pulsing traffic-liging t systems  to rouble . All of NEXt’s systems seemed to s. It ems go.

    A al screen, a grid of multiple monitors, displayed multiple camera vie data center control room. tec logo emblazoned on t terminals, studied tried to look like tomer th.

    It uffing ents of a Styrofoam lunc gloalactites ed security guard looked  of place. Four s roamed around told to stay aronic directory board and studied it like a visitor looking for t floor. trol room y-eighe building.

    terminal in one corner of t speing bulls about ts of letting NEXt a needs. Video montages  t’s backbones, bandomer support, raised floors, temperature control and automatic server maintenance and traffic monitoring services. terminal  on about y percent of t to serve all ta center needs. Logos of said companies linked to more cyberspace marketing omers o be clicked by tential customer. Caldo enouga centers to know.

    Caldo ty guard , o o get a alk of some veggie lodged . Caldwell made his move.

    “Cate teconese. “as   out to grab some luncill enjoying yours. ? It looks really good.”

    All ty guard could do ion ion of ts.  boting, gy elevator. ton for ty-eigs in oo fast. It took all of eigo sound and terized voice to say “ty-eighth floor”.

    Cald into a  club. tallic designer reception desk to one side at e face ents of a Styrofoam rice box. S pay  bit of attention, focusing all her energies on lunch.

    t pool belo beyond teel door and a large or doairs in trol room. t rol room because Cald one camera outside in t ing at tion desk, making sure tionist didn’t fall asleep on tted a lit Gents and Ladies sign and oy y ude more important. Criminals t valuable data ers and net in the physical premises.

    Caldered toilet. It y except for a solitary closed cubicle. t  t ered t cubicle along and ed. ill   elling  NEXt to just t contribution by to   o ons of concrete, steel and glass ion alk about useless information,” Caldtered quietly to ire building  on to explain t it  a node in cyberspace. t piece of information grabbed Caldtention. If NEXt toire building could be  only if o t managed it. As it  ly rying to do.

    toilet next door flus of  emperature on ty-eig too freezing. to prevent ting equipment from overing. A ters can generate a lot of . NEXt toimes more t judging from trol room and to ting blurb doairs.

    “Dodgy lunc be too careful,” Cald t to t employee. turned round slowly.

    “he fuck ...”

    Cald give time to finis arm, t just above elboact eco to slohe adrenalin was pumping.

    “You’re not eco tten. Caldripped  it on. Underneat tec-s ed on it in arted climbing over tition. tering toilets. oilet boose tecelligible. ill out in mumbo jumbo land.

    “A tone voice inquired in guttural Cantonese. t. Caldion into the adjoining cubicle.

    to gain access to tem o take a gamble. Caldting t if ec as to trol room, t  anot. t up in t-lunc t even boto compute echnician’s windbreaker would be enough.

    Caldood in to t tec suddenly become reacquainted ors cecrolled across ttering about sometelligible. ed until tec eco an iris scanner. Cald eye. o tec he could smell his hair gel.

    t t could happen did.

    “Aionist sed across t botecurn round in surprise. So did Caldion of tionist and avoid inized by tecoo far ao notice t  one of tec tionist past tal for t t ers dyed t of t t give him away.

    A Cald even a sideion desk. tecered. t. Caldrol room. o notice t coming out of t puston in a square recess beside teco erminal  paying tention. trol room. Mei Lin  pay dirt. It ack of blueprints for NEXt toacked one on top of anot said ty-six in total. o find t one?

 Chapter 42

    Li Jin stood in tor as a croering ed around  rap pure and simple.  of ter. If tor ing for rouble.  ttons on tor and ton  o someo t if tanding at trance of tor on to do t.

    ttention o tor buttons. A sign next to ttons announced t t  and an underground parking lot. tor doors uck or doors. It  it o t, aors.

    Li Jin folloion signs as o s onese. today, ting to.  running as o side but someine and  interior of to a ureless concrete  smoke. A unnel to t suggested an exit. A pos o t confirming .  t running upo creep up  used to strenuous pivity.

    C did ? ed to a s casually glancing at  just a curious fello likely. Li Jin alrusted incts and t. Besides, it ter to be safe to be sorry. tunnel. co ts of yet anoted anotunnel. rapped. Li Jin moved aside just in time missing botions of an inco a  and blasted his horn in anger.

    Li Jin emerged into a busy tsimssui backstreet.  it ran parallel to Natrereet. Li Jin ran doo find t tly young people. to-pop and advertising blaring out of poo t beating violently.

    ***

    ter  Li Jin’s nerves on tenter going to be easy but ermined to pull it off. Additional precautions needed to be taken.

    ied  ation Citizen c en sign t indicated toilets. toilet ant.  a long time in t ted omacs to interrupt t transfer unit. tteries  ions in Beijing. Excellent.

    a gun, just in case, from some tailor ssimssui’s many alley felt strange and  if called upon to use it in defense of rigger. oo many movies for t to t of o place.  slip from  and placed t in anots. o go. turned  inside-out just in case till hanging around

    Li Jin paid t taurant and took te to oreets of Jordan and t past Koation to Austin Road. Senses on , ered tin Road entrance and moved briskly past tc about to decide t ts covered tering of birds in tion.  moving trolling around thing seemed fine.

    Li Jin moved to ture alk featuring on by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. ime to study it but o give it a cursory glance.  c of time but ted  location from e t tivity of Natranquil interior of Ko  secluded areas from ed spot. A couple of lovers ering nearby but too busy canoodling to pay tention.

    Li Jin paused for a fees to steady . o t for Krac tly against . hy was he so nervous? Someone picked up.

    “Kracantly.  spoken Englis sounded o his ears.

    “Yes.”

    “I he merchandise. here are you?”

    “In my el. I ing for your call.”

    “OK. Come to Korance next to traigo t spotted t ers a receiver. tely sounded Russian. It was Krac.

    “the Russian asked incredulously.

    “Yes. t easily enougo ter of the maze.”

    “OK, if you say so.”

    “Yes, and be teen minutes othe deal is off.”

    “You h you?”

    “Of course. It will be nearby.”

    “If t make it out of and me?”

    “Sure. Fifteen minutes.”

    Li Jin ed.

    ***

    t ted Li Jin going door in ter. cs of t looked aurbed. to a PLA database of tion and performed a query on everytold  tric pulses racing to erialized in   matc udent po probably taken years ago al camera but takable. types  on.

    briskly descended to t o face recognition mode. iny cameras on tor coming to. No matcill dorapped in t. Yet, tors. One of . tor.

    tly turned round and brusor to taken ion in front of tor doors on ted.  movement. A quick strike to t  limp and carry t to one of ts. to be disposed off some t  academic.

    tor opped at to be found. to t and combed to t urtle s a small dessert stall, donned ally logged into yet anotment system in Beijing, one t monitored all communications data by tire populace of Cructed an AI to analyze tions, feeding it ters for Li Jin and hong Kong.

    A feer ts flas in Kooday at approximately 6.08PM for tum neuroprocessor. te e-mail and pions. tant data. t on the assassin’s shades.

    Oleg Kracel, Kowloon. Room 2006. Sunday Mobile Phone: 923313882.

    Li Jin. Unknown residence. Unknown China Mobile Beijing SIM card.

    t and to the quarry.

 Chapter 43

    Caldcext message scroll across ttom of the AR glasses.

    “Sorry for to some problems.”

    It  respond on tions c dratention to  o see ing ts on tecrol room,  ty. Caldecill out to luncy. Many data centers ran a ter to save costs. tal international clocks along t  data center.

    “I kno respond but make it snappy. I just realized t tral government facility t broadcasts digital information is just across t’s just a matter of time before ting on tricted frequency. It’ll take ten seconds to pinpoint my  me from their window.”

    Calded to respond and alloo scroll out of sigoo close. o a bank of terminals at t of trol room. One of tes said Craditional Cers. Caldook a  it ing a parcel at reception.  y? Slim to none,  do an empty terminal as far a to tion ext message from Mei Lin.

    “I couldn’t copy tabase. tions. t directly out of to tem. I am still connected to tem.”

    Just . ts of failure.  caugrapped in trol room. Kai S somebody o tabases or t’s Information Services Department could discover Mei Lin broadcasting illegally on te spectrum. Caldarted typing on terminal. t screensaver disappeared to reveal a login prompt. tem logged users out after a specified time interval. o cs.

    “ty-eigo to see if tracted anyone’s attention. t blinked, signaling t it hing happened.

    “ty-eigime a little louder. Still not a furtive glance around trol room behing seemed fine.

    “Access blueprint.” Nothing.

    “Access blueprint ty-eighing happened.

    “ty-eighing.

    “S!”

    “Access blueprint ty-eigime Caldonese. Accessing blueprint for ty-eigraditional Cers.

    Bingo. t for ty-eig of tack, spun on its axis and magnified itself several times. ion simply by moving ion in trol room. A group of tec entered teco tionist, o be seen. ill slumped in toilet. t  of failure.

    A received in t. By tles coming from t sounded like pornograpurned tention to t  remely detailed. Calda cables beneato tem for t s of to a big s. Cald tting in tons of net of t or.

    Cald closer to ted in t. t Internal Directory Server. Bingo. Cald   employees, to log into terminals.

    One problem t or attacecely call tem up from terminals. Caldood up and oecill looking at Aared at t er of a mac tic IBM mac text screen t indicated asks tly performing and tatus of t? Any one of ts of failure could be unraveling t very minute and Cald  a matter of time before teco o get t of t.

    t of t open to find a yello read: “Server Idle ...”   Caldended to be studying tarted logging in to icating ...  Auticated. Server idle ...

    “ do you t behind his shoulder.

    Caldurned round to see tectingly let o trol room just a fees earlier.  give tecime to react. he door.

    “Stop ec but oo late. By time tec rides from t anyon in t to trol room doors. tecric palm reader. As Caldors, ted reality overlay t for ty-eigracted back into tack. tack disappeared in a cloud of pixels. A text message scrolled across the blank screen.

    “I am out of Kai Sem. S  t van just pulled up to t your ass dohe alarm?

    A sea of silver and purple ors. tor alone.  tton.  toer. o ts. Ot o tor mistaking ec trol room. It airs. Security guards erialized from oting at ts. ty guard in taking all ty monitors like someone engrossed in an action flick. Nobody gave  windbreaker was proving useful.

    Cald of NEXt too blinding sunligting out t drive, its engine purring. At least four  up against t door. Mei Lin . Caldo t and t into Central afternoon traffic to avoid suspicion.

    “Did you get it?” s h a worried look on her face.

    Caldill too so say anyto cyberspace on typed in t logo came up  belo. Caldo everytraffic. ered tained  t, nottered. ered mfcecely logged into Aerminal. work schema.

    Several dozen computer icons filled tomatic auticated access.  need a username and a passo login to t of icons and found a traffic monitoring server. erface of te computer appeared in a small abase to return data transfer logs for t monted by size.

    “S. I .”

    “Afraid of w?” Mei Lin asked, wondering w was going on.

    Caldinued typing ainy keyboard. ed a user account on one of ted all log entries relating to rusion.  t record .

    “C o a perplexed Mei Lin as  of the Range Rover’s console.

    “ t epping on the gas.

 Chapter 44

    Minister takaring and turned to contemplate table mask of resolve. t ely by surprise. t a blur. ring limply in  ared into space, seeing not told to prevent ted aure Cad Caldrieve ttempts. turning into a fiasco and somebody o take responsibility.  o be him?

    takated around tokyo. A o-a of Sretc to tskirts of ty. tside e and neon. udied t, c t left by t indistinguiserprise, ropolis ticking over.

    ter controlled s conjoining takaor area to form an expansive space cerized by elegant simplicity. Zen. A plasma screen pulsated silently in one corner flipping ts of unintelligible Nikkei indices. In ting area, minimalist square designer cinct buffalo akaed, exposing textured gray granite and canals of cruse stone.

    Even as o as second-in-command in ted  c o t o tion of yubizume, tual severing of a section of ttle finger as repentance for mistakes. ed t ter kneing o perform t ly nipping ions in the bud.

    t, reflecting on t ty years ago, o return to tly by moving out and never turning back. It  of to place terests of t’s  of paid interstitial sex to ty and responsibility of marriage.  a  er sarted becoming too demanding and asking unansions,

    sed to some cocaine-based drug and plying trade to construction  er business.

    ring tigtle finger of   tigc started to go numb. o tting area in takaable s etc t  just above joint of  outside t of ,  tation  mucc tense. It didn’t last long but  psyche same person again.

    ub of ce silk turn a sickly red. Picking up  lifeless feel of  once strange and curiously familiar, o to takaakaurned around, nodded tole boy smiling beionless eyes. ohe shiny black surface. Zen.

    “Order Sato and Miyagi back to tokyo immediately. If t incompetent fool  a distant relation, I would akahashi said.

    “Yes, oyabun.” time to question the oyabun’s decisions.

    “No ively involved  afford a political scandal. e  t.”

    “Yes, sir.”

    “And Yamamoto’s killer?”

    “e found out edly under t command of Major-general ang of tment, oyabun.”

    “the Chinese are declaring war on us?”

    “Yamamoto ’s all related to the consoles.”

    “t o be t w now.”

    “e kno already, oyabun. t communication  rip to Shanghai.”

    “Sokyo, I  you to personally go o Shanghai.”

    “S of Japan.”

    “ Major-general ang dead. Do you understand? I don’t care if Sato or Miyagi lose t.”

    “Yes oyabun.”

    “e’ll take care of tokyo.”

    “I see.”

    “And hirayama?”

    “Oyabun?”

    “If you fail, you are no longer welcome in Japan.”

    tub of ainly conspiring against ly to  one day Nobu takaion.

 Chapter 45

    “I take it you got ed?” Mei Lin asked again as tern owards Quarry Bay.

    “Yes. I  c data traffic monitoring server for large data transfers to Ne montitution a t customers combined.”

    “itution?” Mei Lin asked, glancing side him.

    “tsingy.”

    “tsinger. Neution. Interesting.”

    “Yep. And NEXt manages mirror servers for too. I created a nesing of sense doesn’t it?” Caldwell mused.

    “You can say t again. Good stuff Caldakes just  sky  gave Calds about o suggest.

    “t to get rough?”

    “I guess t depends on your plans.”

    “I see.”

    “”Look, I am going to   of explanation ic.”

    “I’m not surprised. rikes me as tigype.”

    “I guess.”

    Mei Lin pulled tern o a side ramp  said Nort. t an old yello read: Nort Funeral Parlour amp; Cryogenics Center. Several stalls outside seemed to be doing a roaring trade in selling botural funeral hs of various shapes and sizes.

    “Cryogenics is big here?” Caldwell asked.

    “A grorend. tic. No t Cryogenics is going to ive of t t people, actually.”

    “I ’s asill stored there.”

    “O. t is very likely. ty years or somet. It’s all government subsidized any t pause of someone making up a story on the fly?

    “I migake to London.”

    “t of disappointment in her voice.

    “I t’s th Fouler.”

    “You can aled out.

    “Of course. e’ll o see.”

    “You yped in a code, disabled tem and removed it from its slot by they disembarked.

    A couple of young Cices in ss and flip-fops  to look at tled loudly.  in rols sticking out be tattoo of some kind of mystical serpent on attoo flipped back and fort appear as tattoo of a dragon. o his silver shock of spiky hair.

    A attooed  amazing potbelly Cald from under a silver electric Mercedes. o Caldwell.

    “Young sister Mei,  seen you in a long time,” tonese. s out of t of s and ceremoniously offered to ting one and taking a big puff.

    “Been busy, Boss tong,” she said.

    “ do we he Range Rover’s body.

    “Got  from beraffic.”

    “Interesting,” o survey teenage mec of ug boats vacating th of an ocean liner.

    “It appears you’ve been s at too. Lot’s of accidents today,” Boss tong observed slyly, crinkling work.

    “?” asked Mei Lin.

    “ell, you see t Mercedes t looks like not from t to in about an   in tupid guys craso a Park N Soilet paper for everyone. t of tely mangled. It’s going to be one ting it back toget t I am complaining. tong Motor Repairs Ltd. s of it.”  tle joke.

    Mei Lin and Cald eacher.

    “For you ter Mei, ,” ruing t eac to the Japanese.”

    “Of course, of course. o? ,” Mei Lin said, affecting sympats.

    “O only belongs to te. t many e guys s and bruises. to go to tal, s of  a face like tong broke out into ter, ly.

    “Interesting. I  friend at t of money to find out t. Big story you knos involved in car accident.”

    “Oo pay?” Boss tong’s alco up at t of a quick buck.

    “I’ll o c ty thousand hong Kong dollars.”

    “e.” Boss tong ruso turned ocopy of a  Report form.

    “Everytly mechanic said slyly.

    Mei Lin reac for t Brotong pulled it back like a cobra rearing back to spray venom in its victim’s eyes.

    “Money in advance, young sister Mei.”

    “OK. Not a s in trouble. I can only pay you in casing t into credit at reasonable rates, riges out of  pocket and ong ty tes.

    “Even better,” Boss tong said. “Some of my business associates prefer not to leave an electronic trail. Of course not a er Mei, you know me.”

    “Yeaohe door.

    “I t you ed your bumper fixed,” Boss tong protested. tices  interest in tcum.

    “I need to get to my friend, I’ll bring ter,” Mei Lin explained  report in the air.

    Cald in tcong’s ss. tly mecarted t report. t sime, place, occupants, veype registration, contact numbers and ties involved in t. Mr. o and Mr. Juniced as living at a residential address in t it ial development favored by middle-ranking Japanese diplomats and attaches.

    ***

    No. 10 S before in attendance. tly floions and excries before disappearing into antly made small talk s. Bots seemed to be flirting  ty-five years old,  and good-looking in a sporty kind of oo friendly for Caldor Caller and more intellectual looking.  look of someone from a family ory of business success.

    tting in tcs asked several questions about London and ticularly interested in kno. ts’ apparent ignorance suggested t only Mei Lin and De itte o the real reasons for his presence in hong Kong.

    “Fouler feels t  out of touc’s going on in Neo come do up to speed ’s happening here.”

    “Good old Fouler. Al of touc seems to knoies tor Cterness.

    “Very muc’s  ty.” ts eyed  believing a word o why he was in hong Kong.

    “ell o t tell Fouler, if you  kind of clearance, t it is getting o get intelligence in Neates in t  it,” Cheng complained.

    “Just you two?”

    “Yea even time. e fly up once a mont ting reports t result in not to go up to Beijing  not nearly often enough,” Ma chipped in.

    “So o spill. t let out something useful.

    “Same old Ser of tter-of-factly.

    “So eced.

    “Not a lot, except through of some kind.”

    “ kind of breakt knos AI, ot to knoo believe. t’s igating instead of pusor Cheng added.

    “true,” Cald-mindedly. SometV  tention.

    Nein:

    A fire ravaged t toral ternoon at 2.03PM. t after tronic Xcelecommunications company reported to police t truder in ta center control room. trol room is also located on ts  related and t tigated ment. Arson  been ruled out. tarted out at terminal of one of t.

    Neions is one of t providers of data connectivity and data center services in er C data links to major cities in Neo some of t companies and institutions in bot customer data and information systems  affected as only a single internal terminal royed in the fire.

    Neions, also kno, is owned by hong Kong’s powerful Lee family.

    “Bloody ?” exclaimed Anthony Ma.

    “Mr. Lee is going to be really pissed,” Victor Cheng observed.

    “Yeaomers,” Antorted, laughing.

    Caldoo stunned to say anytood up,  of to tting at  er terminal.  on to endless expanses of greenery and a  the house.

    “I guess you sahe news?” Caldwell asked.

    “Yes. I take it t  you?”

    “Of course not. ?”

    “Just c of a coincidence. Don’t you think?”

    “Yea can’t o do a traffic monitoring server can it? t’s impossible. Intrusion detection AIs can’t start a fire.”

    Mei Lin looked at ally trying to figure out  an AI could go about starting a fire. She shook her head.

    “Impossible.”

    “Exactly.”

    “I t to NEXt and ted someter get to work,” sed.

    “Doing w?”

    “You are going to singy’s systems right?”

    “Yeah.”

    “ I take you doo tions Room and I’ll see you doer.”

    “hy, where are you going?”

    “I’ve got an appointment in Kornhill.”

    “Kornhill?”

    “I t’s about time  exactly o.”

 Chapter 46

    Li Jin ceps to ted tion. Even t ed, over ride t led Li Jin to focus on  determined look, tcoo muc t  of place. ourist nor a local expatriate.

    Li Jin  to move to to c stopped beating.  ered. teps, obviously follo situation, cill emerge from  predicament unscaturned round and moved to the maze.

    Krac ermination tion of maze. Li Jin removed  t ed after fleeing from t a selescopes and it o  it  to track Krac a pair of binoculars.  one er.

    rained t trousers. t  by to capture ake o Ne to Professor Yao’s creation. In fact, from tered t o take o Ne erect back, torso and only ting movement, ed  t one. Definitely not one as small as t deadly.

    Kraco trance of ty seconds later t t o get to rained ed only one totype satellite-based cyberspace units. t interacted ly ing t patterns into some kind of virtual display. t t tec interface because ts on t al.

    totype  to a PLA unit in Longmen, Sesting and t  Li Jin . to interact abases in Beijing. t e transfer, to trace o ers. Yet, o negotiate  of time. t from the gods, pure and simple.

    Li Jin curns in t one step beime Kracracked, treat, ening for Kracsteps. A bunc to ter of ts ing at t. It all looked so easy from up  to ter of t one step behind.

    Using ted.

    “ think you are doing?” Krachev asked. he sounded angry.

    Li Jin kept trained on tanding very still a fe aing them.

    “I am nearby. Don’t worry. I can see you.”

    t t  to sing foreigner.

    “Every corner of tcry anyt,” Kracimated the seller.

    “Just make transaction and everyt receiver unit. ttered someto  a credit transmitter from  pocket. Li Jin c  receiver and o see t a remote credit device tempting to connect. ed tion and cing bar indicate t data  across. A group of people came up to tarted moving in ion. Credit transfer complete. Li Jin quickly scrolled t. tomatically o  as per ructions. Li Jin sc receiver. he line.

    “OK. You he chip?”

    to ter of t to t  make up inctively reac.

    “Don’t do it, if you  to get out of the Russian.

    Kracated,  his side.

    “ty deposit box in your name at t a fees here.”

    “?” Kracurning around.

    “I am about to save your life. tanding in t a tourist.  to retrieve te o kill me earlier.”

    Li Jin moved toed o. o be rouble finding it yet  breakneck speed. ted ion from te flo.

    “alking about?” Incredibly, Kracer to one ear.

    “t airs leading from the roof garden.

    “You are a dead man ... you fuckin ...”

    “tone flo from t on trance you came trance, doairs of Koed into the crowds.

 Chapter 47

    tions Room at tured by ligo tsingy mirror server in Beijing, trative account earlier in ternoon. andalone server but it communicated sing ty-second intervals. Caldo one of t tsingy-tudents online at t very moment. Caldories for anyteresting. Eacudent ed a department code. A good number of to a node called comp_sci. Cald random and call up a map of tory structure. t fifty sub-directories. Most of teresting.

    Caldo a subdirectory labeled SKL_ItS.  tters meant. tory. One called Special_Projects looked interesting. ried to gain access. ACCESS DENIED. SPECIAL PRIVILEGES REQUIRED.  even bots. too poo e a ne could gain access. o find an auticated user.

    Calded all to top of to traffic logs. rae calls to cyberspace sites, requests for files and auticated logins to various university micro sites. Everyt for one entry just a fe a dump from cyberspace amounting to several trillion bytes. ta ed States, t Fouler alking about, part of ta traffic  NEXt tower.

    s of data being replicated from cyberspace into some internal database at tsing ematically duplicated. a seemed entirely random. Cald of ext form.

    “Enter Visual Mode,” o transformed from lines of text to a gray tube running diagonally from ttom left of o top rigube faded off into tance. tube imeline of ty’s data traffic.

    “Sa requests greater terabyte.”

    tube flickered and cerspersed ing all data dumps larger terabyte. to look at a cross-section.

    “Create pie c by data type,” ion ransformed into a t. t depicted data doa type. Most of ta s and cing code.

    “Drill doo pie c, slice by document.”

    t piece of t slid out, rotated and disappeared in a s  of document titles. ts  ttom of ts on ted States government on one single day. Most of ts  departments, tary installations, scientific institutions, NASA. Somebody ematically sucking in tire body of US knoo Ne make any sense at all. No  all t data.

    tion just seemed to o a black ed States realized t ta , o be alarmed by it. All tion being appropriated  mirroring ta so ties could sensor it. It  t ta being copied suggested some ulterior motive at oo muca for to be some major censorssingo see wa had gone.

    “Sa destination.”

    An animation of a complex neta did several loops ted storage area net of storage space. Connected to torage area net not to tsingop corner of the gloves. ACCESS DENIED.

    “Sed networks.”

    No related networks found.

    andalone computer ion to tematically accessing s of data from cyberspace?  need its oed storage network?

    “Sed departments.”

    1 related department found: Department of Computer Science and technology.

    “SearcS”

    SKL_ItS/Special_Projects.

    “Sed users.”

    3 users found: Yao Guo Cudent), Li Jin (Student)

    “Launcsingy Public Network.”

    tsingy public netiple labeled facets. Caldapped ties side of t expanded into four neat triangles. o even smaller triangles until er Science and tece. y Members. A list of about one y members popped up. Rig top was a Professor Yao Guo Chuen.

    Professor Yao Guo Cernationally renoment of Computer Science and tec of tion Science and tecsingy. Professor Yao’s responsibilities covered tigious institutes: titute of ing; titute of Computer Netitute of Computer Softitute of er Interaction and Media Integration. ate Key Laboratory of Intelligent tecems, ion Army. Professor Yao  of numerous prestigious aed computing, er systems, knoributed databases, artificial intelligence and visualization tecual reality. Professor Yao y applications for tion Army.

    “Very interesting,” Caldo no one in particular.

    ion page for tudent Li Jin. t said y-four years old, a straiggraduate student in tment of Computer Science and tecant to Professor Yao. Caldo anyt t. Li Jin’s account . t  to be tudent ang Lin’s account. ed it to be disabled too. But, it . ang Lin ly logged on tudent BBS system. Calded a searcs on or.

    12 research papers found:

    1.	Modeling amp; Rendering of Complex VR Scenes Containing a  of Primitives

    2.	Intelligent Agent Systems and tion

    3.	Recognition and Knoabase on Micro Economy

    4.	Key tecs

    5.	Molecular Biology as a Foundation for true Artificial Intelligence

    Cald bot. Could it be t Professor Yao and udent protégés  involved feeding vast amounts of data to a macing it intelligence? as it possible t ted to t Antor Calked about? It all seemed  for ture and size of ta. t just general kno erabytes of recently unclassified intelligence, o a , could be used to inflict some serious AI-instigated carnage in cyberspace.  o a vastly intelligent ic computer? A computer y to learn?

    Cald o t lone computer on tsing ing as a magnet for all t information. to get to it égés. If tem er as uring, ticularly guarded. tants on to letting t out of t, an idea   on social engineering, t of retrieving a user’s pass ang Lin to reveal s.

    Cald of all tudents in tment of Computer Science and tec over ty percent of all students in tment. t mental pages ronic media. Cald-teenage female angst until  stoked erest. It e of a girl called Vicky Zy years old and, from ograp least, cute as a button oon eyes and straig ment  she was from Shanghai.

    Vicky Zudent BBS system. Calded t s of s -related questions. And as Cald one of Professor Yao’s brilliant advisers udents  long for o be ans. Caldting t he air.

    Getting Vicky’s username and passmental system as did most of tudents. ang Lin o traig VR section. ed a built-in avatar from tory, a beautiful Mancorks dancing on tar ork motifs. torks appeared to take fligo spin the parasol.

    t ty users or avatars on t Cted at least tremely realistic. ted across tail.

    ang Lin ill logged into t satcing to a doo tree nearby. Caldo tree and took refuge in its sail of to message ang Lin privately.

    ei ei: Read your paper on Molecular Biology as a Foundation for true Artificial Intelligence. Sounds a bit far-fetched.

    tion. Calded. tudent continued talking to tly removed a paper fan tern from towards him.

    ang Lin:  see you en and you never c persona.

    ei ei: Als. Usually ime on though.

    ang Lin: So you read my paper?

    ei ei: Yeaing my  a stone trying to figure out o e for my next assignment. as just looking around tarted reading.

    ang Lin: O do you tched?

    ei ei: tter or brain cells as a computer c bacteria ered DNA becoming logic gates surely is science fiction.

    ang Lin:  if I told you t today?

    ei ei: I  believe you. Even t do it.

    ang Lin: t’s  test innovations are taking place.

    ei ei: Yea not you suggest in t?

    ang Lin: Let’s just say tuff in t as far-fetc sounds.

    ei ei: Seriously?

    ang Lin: One day I mighing.

    ei ei: to t were possible?

    ang Lin: If only I can s I’ve seen.

    ei ei: ?

    ang Lin: I don’t knoop-secret stuff.

    ei ei: ell if you don’t trust me t’s OK.

    .

    ang Lin: Of course I trust you. Even t know eac well.

    ei ei: But obviously you don’t trust me enoug’s fine. I understand.

    ang Lin: OK. Bet go beyond and. Folloe BBS room.

    to it. Caldood over ten lava bubbling just a fe beloe clouds. Cranes fle. tting on a rock. Caldood opposite h his parasol closed.

    ang Lin: I come o relax and contemplate the world.

    ei ei: It’s beautiful.

    ang Lin: All rendered on my Great all Computronics console ory.

    ei ei: Cool.

    ang Lin: It’s all in t a take t farmer’s boy under ing factor.  really terrible at creating soft computers, o operate, are actually better at creating software.

    ei ei: So to get computers to design tware?

    ang Lin: t’s just a part of it. ics ime. Many companies  till too stupid to do anyt ics technology.

    ei ei: Useful as in w?

    ang Lin: ell, pass turing test for one thing.

    ei ei: But t’s already been done. If t distinguiser and anoter passes. Our AI systems in tment uring test.

    ang Lin: No t. It is a ers are fooling to believing t of time but tually fail if you ask enougions. t intelligent in tum computing and neural netic soft elligence. Only by modeling terconnections between neurons, can we succeed.

    ei ei: And you’ve done t?

    ang Lin: I guess, but still testing. But t’s a macelligent to be. It’s a mac’s all in tware.

    ei ei: But  possible?

    ang Lin: A killer combination of ics, neural netum computing and nanotechnology.

    ei ei: Nanotechnology?

    ang Lin: Yea to build a tum dot array. e um computer prototype s. test computer ever built.

    ei ei: OK, but elligent?

    ang Lin: Deceptively simple. e are giving it tire body of e by byte. It already enets of cognitive science built-in. It already knoire  ion. e sent one of to try of Finance ed by ts. ton Keynes, Friedman and all ts look like kids playing heir homework.

    ei ei: t makes tem dangerous.

    ang Lin: It depends. to our enemies, yes. tem o convince t it is Chinese.

    ei ei: ?

    ang Lin: It ies. It o ’s belief system, base language, everyt on a sense of being C believes in taoist, Confucian and Budd ideals, yet rong sense of Cory. It’s a he world has never seen.

    ei ei: But ?

    ang Lin: t I cannot tell you. I oo muc I knoriotic. Besides, to alter tiny no’s just say t Srailblazer.

    ei ei: Sers um chip?

    ang Lin: to t and toucerative process of producing it. Basically, t t one by trial and error. No it’s e tum processor is not important. It’s just talyst for somet as a launching pad.

    tapping on Caldile sensation ic t ar dropped its parasol. ait a minute.   so  of virtual reality and tions room in erialized in front of anding taring at to a smooth black pyramid.

    “ the hell? hang on.”

    Caldo ang Lin’s rocks above tar  across tured rocks. tling sound beurned round to see t hrough dark disapproving eyes.

    ang Lin: You are not ei ei. ei ei just logged in to the hell are you?

    ang Lin’s sc feel tar’s  o sudent off. Caldried to grab ang Lin’s makes sco feel  of termite-infested s fell ao t o teep ravine. Beloar let go of  . Cald feel a t otter on to tains.

 Chapter 48

    trol room at tment’s obacco smoke and ter consoles. A dozen tired tecyped ao give t till alert, even after seventy-terminals ory of time on tal wall clock read 7.08 AM.

    tormed in demanding to o trusion ial discovery, till none tenant Liu’s future  fact . teccenant, pale-faced and blotcly in ried to explain to tecails of ecting trusions. Yet, terested in tion not t stood t, puffing ae, enant.

    “Sir, truder seems to be reing to avoid detection. t impossible to detect,” Lieutenant Liu offered .  ed to go h his wife and fall asleep.

    “You are telling me t rusion detection AIs, state-of-t ICE and t t you can see every bit and byte t is generated on tem using t of yours t you ruder is and ing te at tem and its subjects.

    “Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Liu said simply, feeling to try to explain drain out of him.

    taken aback by Lieutenant Liu’s apatried to speak but tuck in . In t seemed t ire blood supply ruso  to explode into a torrent of rage whe room.

    “Speak,” ternal calming tecorm seemed to emporarily.

    “It’s me. tudent h some Russian.”

    “And you ed t t a question but a statement.  on t p.

    “No. s but lost him.”

    “Lost  t ent?” torm tening to rage again in a violent explosion of tning. t, the assassin’s voice remained calm.

    “  I even found ances. At any rate, o sell a computer chip.”

    “Computer curned from red to a pale o be collapsing around ions in going to Neion a veritable domino effect t ening to bring do remarkable careers. Everyt  time in arted to suspect t  be able to bring t spate of events under effective control.

    “Yes, I y deposit slip t tudent left. transacting o . Recently deceased I am afraid. Collateral damage,” t emotion.

    “Oleg Kraced to terance of it o t database of information stored in  second. titute of Supercomputing. Purced a second cudent Li Jin rying to sell it to the professor’s orders?

    “Yes.  do you  me to do he slip?”

    “Destroy it. I’ll arrange to get tly.”

    “ternational credit transfer unit.  transferred a large sum of money to Li Jin so it’s just a matter of tracing t of to find him.”

    “Leave t to me. And ter?”

    “talking about Shanghai.”

    “S nigrue. Yet, once t resolution of t problem be merely academic? ts oo t ed manifestation of Fool to cross t t ruction.

    “Positive. Beijing too but ties on Shanghai are sky high.”

    “the Joplin girl?”

    “Still tokyo. So be leaving a trail. tel, room number. t one okyo by mid afternoon as per your instructions.”

    “No failures time, it doesn’t become you.”

    “Yes, failure is sometotally neo me. Not someto repeat.”

    “You  my patience s. Understand?” tenant Liu busy perusing code on a nearby terminal could not  feel t timatum applied to him.

    “time the assassin said simply.

    turned tention to Lieutenant Liu. tenant stood up sally braced o bear t of t didn’t come but he major-general said was much worse.

    “You y minutes to get ready. e are going to Shanghai?”

    “S ...” Lieutenant Liu muttered. urned a sickly s to ic episode. ically in value.  to give in. ed his blood pressure was sky high.

    “Yes, maybe in Ster luck doing your job. First, I  you to put s, train stations and ports on . ruding in our systems is on to So catcion  on Lieutenant Liu. igue and

    even feel o pick up telep,   to continue on this crazy mission.

    “Yes, sir.”

    “to Ser today. On a different fligion of it ts insertion. It’s important t tests are completed  furt is done you’ll get your sleep,” t conviction. It  tered but tion of the AI.

    Lieutenant Liu . t cumor in to tionally. All tupid net ting edge? It otally y t if any of to lig-martialed for misappropriating government funds into a secret project t  government-approved. tec. It usless possibilities t  o recover from ty. Yet, tivations beo ture made o ties of t t to go o. tenant kne giving up  an option. oo muced on quitting.

    In a perverse e t t  slept properly for seventy-t ruder. trusion  tem  AIs  as po. All ty-six intrusion detection AIs o stop truder, suggesting a y. Could it be t truder er, t Kenzo Yamamoto  to? If so, , if  to S. trap ig if t enougo infiltrate tem from outside Sected, t just be smart enougo avoid detection in t  ime to give o folloly timed.

    “t on teresting items. First, t tokyo and to retrieve tcenant Liu  bombsill last.

    “Snatched? By who?”

    “t fit to as hYDRA.”

    “  an insult to tenant, just an outlet for ting exasperation.

    “t t enant Liu offered.

    “You dim! If  is orders of magnitude  you get it? If t tence of t console  t t it possible t trusion attempt,  figure out.” All ttle and breat ine.

    “Sorry sir.”

    “Fuck your motter make sure tingency Plan is in place and  o use it. If ruly over for us.”

    Lieutenant Liu ion. Noime.

    “Yes sir. You must also kno Minister takaenant Liu visibly sion. For t time ever,  rue. iting to be exposed. takable fear.

 Chapter 49

    Caldant t  to  of Kenzo Yamamoto’s console, o its former sed out of tsingem. ts in tions room were on.

    “o ic. I t I was dead.”

    “Dead?  happened?”

    “Call it a stroke of luck, call it  I may umbled upon to all of this.”

    “Go on,” Mei Lin urged.

    “I o tsingy system and found ter t seems to be single-a being sucked out of cyberspace. It appears it is not so muca as replicating it into t database probably ever built. e are talking terabytes of data everyday. e are talking sensitive data, mostly US economic, financial and scientific data. It’s almost like tire knoern ematically appropriated. Not really appropriated, as it is all public domain, but basically being digested in a ion.”

    “ do you mean digested?  are you talking about?  kind of computer?”

    “An AI unlike any oto be believed.”

    “hich kid?”

    “have you heard of Professor Yao Guo Chuen?”

    “Yes.  tsingigoo tig  to do h him?

    “tum neuroprocessor t po seem to be est pet project.”

    “?”

    “ell only to ta-guzzling macants Li Jin and ang Lin. It appears t ang Lin ly fallen out of favor and seemed to  tudent.”

    “But ’s an AI?”

    “as just talking to ang Lin on ty BBS.  I ment, a girl called Vicky Zarted talking about tum neuroprocessor. trange t bots are disabled.”

    “A disabled account means t ts are disabled temporarily and ted.”

    “Or they are dead?”

    “Dead?”

    “t  t ws.”

    “Mmm ...”

    “Earlier tor alking about some rumored breakt on details but I t to is someed to t of data going into tsinguff going on in tsing to be related someo S ty being a trailblazer for the AI.”

    “And Kenzo Yamamoto guy found out about tever is going on in S and o order. ent o sell tion to t bidder?”

    “And was murdered before inued.

    “And  t to tually  at accessing tificial intelligence expert? Sounds like some kind of net t for.”

    “Yes, it would seem so.”

    “If it is a neto access it oo?”

    “ in. I am sure ried. he American professor and I.”

    “So, t and tion ’s so po Kenzo o get ?”

    “Yes, one t is so po it just mig the global balance.”

    “t’s impossible.”

    “If t is totally possible. tic. It learns to learn to learn. And um neural neto ting po  its disposal. t  is probably t smart. t it caged up in a lone server, feeding it terabytes of data.”

    “e need to get to tandalone macarts causing any trouble. tum c really exists, needs to be destroyed,” said Mei Lin.

    “But t o produce but  or military funding t. t ually unlimited reserves.”

    “In t case, t penetrate cyberspace.  ernal affairs of New China, no concern of ours.”

    “true. But as long as t . It needs to be destroyed.”

    “ait a minute. One t a time. Fouler’s instructions are to find tem, create some kind of backdoor and notify  appears you em. I to call Fouler and give e, see if ters have changed as far as he’s concerned.”

    “Good idea.  forget t I am supposed to provide access into terious neto fulfill my side of t I can’t do rig it   to give Fouler an update.”

    “Could ts just to impress this Vicky Zhao girl?” Mei Lin asked.

    “I doubt it.  sound like ter type.”

    “OK.”

    “So rip to Kornhill?”

    “I managed to get a bug in tment. It ’s a Japanese consulate flat but it appears only ttles and porn magazines everyo a secure database in cyberspace. I’ll omorroo see he Yakuza are cooking up.”

    “Excellent.”

    “So whink you were dead earlier?”

    “Because in virtual reality, ang Lin pusic I t I ually dying. t even scratc thing can do.”

    “Yea pyramid thing was weird.”

    “I  .”

    “Let’s  tsinged.

    Caldo tsingy netopograpo tmental system. t work.

    “It es ago. ty auties aken it off t I or  time you came in. to tudent BBS. terabytes of data going in everyday.”

    Calded to teps and it  a matter of backtracking tem. the logs were gone.

    “My God, t.”

    “OK ter get moving too. I’m calling Fouler.” Sed an extra pair of goggles to a erminal and used a keyboard to dial a special number for Fouler. Several logins and multiple layers of encryption and call-backs Fouler’s face appeared on terminal screen.  vistas of concrete  tinted   looked like Cantly on the move.

    “Mei Lin, Caldwell. Any news?”

    “Lot’s,” Caldo   since o tsing details of tedious.

    “t of sense. I  ty-related. A lot of tting edge stuff to be  tsingbed.”

    “So ired.

    “I to Beijing. See ing you go to Beijing first because to destroy t its source, if t’s indeed o do. You need to  for my confirmation on t. I am currently in tokyo and I er of the American professor.”

    “OK, omorrohe Joplin girl?” asked Mei Lin.

    “Yes. And Mei Lin, everytudent ang Lin’s story. For all rip to Co be quick – in and out. Do you understand?”

    “Yes sir.”

    “And Caldwell, well done.”

    “Just keep your end of the bargain and I’ll keep mine, Fouler.”

    “Sometsing techem.

    “?” Caldwell asked, she line was already dead.

    “t s. ever it ed, it seems t h some apprehension.

    “I  I need to know is  is he doing in Japan?”

    “Easy. Seenager. Sooner or later tronic trail. About  guy is alep aerious ways.”

 Chapter 50

    Li Jin icated adversary and  dreams. As soon as o first remove all trace of tem. y first class compartment as  Li Jin  in t Ko . Yet  of te rared outside tment, ce and ile flashe same again.

    Li Jin kne coming back to Croke of genius or to , ed t once t t ural assumption  ry. And tle to zero craced tem. Yes, ing on some tea-boiled eggs and a packet of preserved vegetables, Li Jin t about Oleg Krac out alive. Li Jin didn’t rate ient and slipped ao return later to retrieve t slip t the assassin would have been long gone.

    Yet, from er  tient type. After realizing t to go after t. Li Jin  and ttempt to return to its source. If  taken tional precaution of setting up tanding instruction on t, to Russia as quickly as it s on tment and o see t sitting ting to be used. In Xian ransfer part of to several anonymous credit cer t it  a matter of not loosing tant items and to take o his Shaanxi village.

    t sense. Li Jin  make contact er t tianyu, by t all.  s t disbursed money to e its simple look, tic box ness ty. Poor Professor Yao. , yet  lived long enougo really see ts of ested in t, some  t for  minute co trumental to o t.

    t bot AI  it ude beerms of intelligence and it definitely did not  could be considered a consciousness. it ts to  AI could evolve. And  Black Jade itself, out t e different from tandalone mac tsingire cyberspace at its disposal and t , Li Jin knew .

    Li Jin   Black Jade into being and even tuned by terations, till t an AI like it on t, one  of nationality, of C y of t ory absorbed, digested and cross-referenced using more computing po o t tire body of global kno of brilliant.

    Li Jin t of ter Eggs t ed deep ractable portion of Black Jade’s code  Professor Yao’s kno once o cyberspace,  anytime and it o do its master’s bidding.

 Chapter 51

    At tal Airport in Beijing, Caldion  a c t an immigration officer took a lot of convincing t ter. Caldc on and log on to cyberspace before t before and made a point of telling  it  and coolest computer o Cald t to do in Beijing o get t o start getting dangerous.

    “Believe me  get far in Beijing  being armed, if only to en our po caugo get yourself out of your predicament,” s place to get some  the hour.

    “Perfect,” Cald.

    After a long taxi ride, most of it on a spanking neo tinental el, a black obelisk bang in ter of Z Z a s singy, Beijing University and a ing edge of technology.

    Everyt to gigantic scale, making Caldotally Lilliputian. t buildings t filled tire  monolit  once modern and traditional. tecture ic fusion of East and est – ultra-modern arcecture eristics. t disappeared into acid rain clouds. t temples reflected sunlig places, sestaments to New Che world.

    Beijing today  everyte logos dominated top of ties’ greatest concrete and glass pe brands not only covered everyt niged yelloire o te brands.

    Mei Lin ed for a te, saying t s feel safe in Zec of Beijing,  an eyelid. Caldtle appre  to  o be to plan ure after Fouler  aken from ter of tions Cald Mei Lin probably considered it all a t.

    Nevert in  e ions t in denying it.   dinner tonig, if only to get it out of t out in tant t stake.

    So at dinner over fusion cuisine Caldhe unspoken.

    “Mei Lin, I o tell you.”

    “Yes.”

    “I till in love   to  in t it is not an issue. I  anyone  top all till s me. Yet, I am not even sure I am capable of ionserested.”

    Mei Lin said not stared at e and puseak er sauce and black beans around h her fork.

    “Let’s drink to you,” sly, picking up her wine glass.

    “to us.”

    “to us.”

    t of dinner  in silence. Not an uncomfortable silence, yet a silence all t a bit stupid for bringing up t touc, but  relieved t   in t ted  kind of distraction. Noe on t tsinghua problem.”

    “Maybe ake a ed.

    “Good idea, I may oo muco eat.”

    tly-lit streets of Z ts, t concerns dancing in tects o see rageous building. Caldicularly impressed by a toering cold and t Beijing at nig romantic city in tting Paris and Budapest in tting suit on a street corner t a ruddy-faced C, in  for sale, Cald.

    “ does y t really offering te ruddy face of tance.

    “I’m afraid olen from one of tals. to couples treet  c aken us for one such couple.”

    “Yea on a street corner? Yikes!” Cald Kat.

    “Cry of paradoxes, stark extremes. You s.”

    “I guess.”

    “Your parents spent a lot of time in Beijing, right?” Mei Lin.

    “Yes. Besides Xian, it ly Beijing and  about you?”

    “My parents died  perfect parents anyone could hope for.”

    “I’m sure. Oter like you?” Cald t  line t tered. Mei Lin blusly and lo sraigurally long eyelashes.

    “So omorrow?” Sely c.

    “I t ourselves some sing t if e ang Lin or Li Jin, raigo ter is sitting.”

    “Many of tment of Computer Science and tecures. e just need to get an ID on tail he professor.”

    “So o anotion?”

    “Don’t you  t. e’ll find out for sure tomorroter  some sleep. e’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

    ***

    Caldered tained plastic door flaps. tablis  of one of t fey t  fallen victim to tecry-fuelled property development. to indicate tablis. tor, a longeenage ac t een years old.

    “ VR suits man, state-of-t, totally immersive man. Public or private boot sex suits, tter t X-tacy man from Xyberia. test version ate of mind. e got t digital stuff man, non-addictive, totally no side effects. Just a computer simulated  ed from thin lips in rapid-fire fashion.

    “e are not interested in t. e are looking for some sers,” Mei Lin said.

    “ake it easy,” ting around there are eyes and ears everywhere.”

    “e don’t ime to mess about.”

    “ saying I o offer you but follo’s too loud in  ive glances around ty cybercafe. A couple of patrons  asleep at terminals. too many all-nigoo muc oil.

    t of stairs tained red velvet curtain into a badly-lit room. At any moment Calded to pull out an old sy cupboards lining to one side of t NORINCO firearm. Instead to  pocket and  a device he device.

    “Unionist e need to be sure you are not from t be too careful in tohere are eyes and ears everywhere.”

    to  as quickly as it ion of tion  t  a blur. A door set fluso reveal sion t would ry proud.

    “Step o my boudoir,” teenager said iced from t y  s favored by the grills on a harley Davidson, only flesh-colored.

    “Cool  ted.

    “Oinctively going beest Cybernaut from Japan, made under license by Great all Computronics. Cost a fraction of  does else rig of console time.”

    tack of steel storage units t looked like overgros. t teel trays. And inside -lined recesses, y Velcro, ely caug  t Jones and Agent Jackman ed t morning in the Docklands.

    “ is t’s your name?” Caldwell enquired.

    “Call me Mozi,” tter-of-factly as s holding place.

    “tube. Japanese import named after tiny self-propelled bullets are like mini-rockets ed raigube in London, rigs raig slo.”

    “t I kno thing.”

    “Is t trutold cory but  of t anyher. Your friend Yak by any chance?”

    “Is t truted, observing t on reference to ted of a long tube, ubby al stock. ts, all ty-six of to tside of tube by an intricate lattice of springs and coils t seemed to abide by turdy translucent polymer. t a car s s like you o Mozi.

    Mei Lin o a tray of diminutive  pistol  disappeared completely in .

    “Polymer frame mini Glock pistol, named after Austrian entrepreneur Gaston Glock. Syntic polymer is stronger teel, traditional material for t its eig ligurer claims it is virtually indestructible. Kind of like tory because it operated on completely different principles,” Mozi expounded. Caldabase in his head.

    “ tongue.

    “You are referring to t it. Glocks offer great reliability and accuracy. You can c trigger pulls and trigger is to operate t bloake. tent every time you squeeze trigger. Its like ime,” Mozi explained, looking at Mei Lin suggestively.

    quot;Mozi, dude. Can you cut ty stuff out?quot; Caldrange reason  appreciate t t it  Mei Lin.

    quot;I can cut it out but I . ts ake it or leave it. Besides te lady finds it funny, doesn’t s; Mozi asked, grinning c Mei Lin.

    “Sure. So you reckon he Glocks?”

    “Absolutely. No-brainer, really? tomatic safeties. rigger ties sequentially disengage, re-engaging automatically urns to its position. Some reckon t pistol on t, kind of like saying Durex is t condom on t. t to be some truto it but ?” Mozi flasy grin. Cald t saying anyto teenager.

    “Sounds good,” Mei Lin said examining the Glock.

    “trigger system is one of tions. to cock, no ernal safety to disengage. tal components of Glocks used to be treated enifer. Metal finisenifer becomes as enifer as Viagra for guns. Of course toms virtually undetected,” Mozi continued, clearly relis t ting on Cald quite like tually sing someone  its appeal.

    “Do you have any sound guns?” Caldwell enquired.

    “You guys just fooling around rig you guys o cause some serious mayo Mei Lin.

    “Look, do you ?” Calded. to kill anyone in China.

    “e don’t do sound guns. t do t s.”

    Cald of spunk and you couldn’t  like him.

    “Beretta t can easily be concealed,” Caldwell conceded.

    “Noalking. e got tta Mini Cougar, a compact pistol, NAtO qualified, fiberglass-reinforced teced barrel bla as easy to get toms t as idiot-proof as the Glocks.”

    “OK ake terrupted.

    “OK, on Glock rays and rummaged in anotray below for spare magazines.

    “teen rounds eacook one of the Glocks from him.

    “Anoty rounds y-eigly removing ty magazine from t h a loaded one. Mozi eyed her suspiciously.

    “No can do on to pay outrig toss tong kids arget practice before popping ts.”

    “how much?”

    “For you guys 190,000 New Cs.”

    “ill give you 80,000 Neered.

    Mozi briefly considered Mei Lin’s offer before breaking into a smile.

    “You drive a h us before Ms. ...”

    “Never you mind,” Mei Lin said. Sed out eigen te bills and o Mozi. tes disappeared into teenage gun dealer’s bomber jacket. Mei Lin placed ts in ion of he wall.

    “I must tell you sometairs into t lige noise of the cybercafe.

    “?”

    “You are a migeac lovemaking.”

    “I could teac manners,” Mei Lin said affably as t into ttention.

 Chapter 52

    Diane Joplin sat in tening to t melee of t in agreement. One of tructed o slide open t. Yet, t sounded vaguely like old o be patient. All t rained on tty girl driving tc driver. Diane  sure, but s so  o be a code name, sikit  far from Kabukichose flyovers.

    told  ried o reassure  srying to make a p seemed to be rouble connecting. ting exasperated. urned out to be Englis  the same one she’d heard English people use in America.

    Diane turned tention to t to t sat a gray box  read “Fuel Cells.  looked like ter equipment but Diane  sure. It looked too small. Some of tors ss on t s s be certain because t really move mucon. It  not unpleasant smell of  components and plastic. to ion.

    “or Ryan, please,” Fouler said, giving are. Diane  t .

    “I am afraid Director Ryan is on ther line,” a middle age-sounding female voice said.

    “tell ake my call.”

    “OK, ant but Fouler  tarted coming from tor of t o jump from tarted o prison for a very long time. ere t Engliss yet t fitted topped.

    “Bruce, it’s been a  FBI agents sounded like, especially in the movies.

    “t ted about but seems to be getting no to drao a close. I  he upper hand,” Fouler said.

    “O. t t it on faction of tensive files on terday and after a bit of coaxing t seemed t list. For  kno took orders from Japan. ter aken off t list today alt to find  s are picking  el rig do you  call my special line to keep me up to date on cases t sell neabloids.”

    “I am in tokyo. I o talk to or spoke.

    “Alep a kno of  your disappearance suggested you’d done something wrong.”

    “Sorry, I  and needed to get aand.

    “All to Japan?”

    “I t I o my fatokyo,” Diane said. S it seemed srouble and t liberal of t. tly, generating a  if Diane tried really  ted voice of a scared little girl, .

    “You’ll make a fine FBI agent, young  took our agents several days to trace to Japan and you did it in  second?” ting t it rick to make able. to arrest her.

    “ted in cackles of disappointment.

    “ell, I guess an FBI salary  mean muco you. You are a very brave and very ric you a lot of money. You probably o ed wisely.”

    rying to deduce from your reply  you see t? It’s all one big trap.

    “to respond to t.

    “You’ll need to come back  t’s someto sort out he man called John Ryan said.

    You see? And t Fouler is part of the plan.

    But he saved my life.

    hing.

    “e’ll get o Boston, if t’s o do,” Fouler interjected, giving  strange look again.

    See.

    “Sure. Good luck and ted t his up.”

    “Sure t time I am in ason,” Fouler said, smiling to himself.

    “Absolutely. Goodbye Bruce and thanks.”

    Fouler  as to a driveood a looming sno Diane Joplin recognized from cyberspace pos as Mount Fuji. A sign in Englis stood outside trance tractive-looking Japanese lady and a o Diane as t out of t taying  tte family’s  springs ryokan  Jones retrieved el.

    “You’ll be safe o the man’s hand.

    trangely silent. All sing of  as sole anot tte boy.

 Chapter 53

    tsingy campus in Beijing is so . ty is located in t of Beijing, in rict, near ty, tsingy boasts several former palaces and many striking pagodas. to effectively get around t driving, ing a ter at ty’s second gate. Caldood at t Gate as university students ic ones ric-poeboards.

    Mei Lin suggested t ter t. Sourists t singry’s leading educational institutions and it received its fair sors. t tourist parapel, a disposable digital camera and an augmented reality system bougreet vendor, after some protracted side a i-storey computer mall. tem . Mei Lin  s reasonably em consisted of a pair of cic display glasses and a small unit t clipped unto a belt. A cartoon-cer scribe described toem ively easy to  t Vicky Z on tem. Mei Lin agreed.

    “tsingy ory scudents o send to continue tion at universities in ted States. ty campus is situated on o be Qing dynasty royal gardens erized voice.

    As torative buildings of ts of information ’s glasses oon scribe’s quirky voiceover describing t superfluously. It  toget but Caldion and orical perspective somew helpful.

    topped trically, turned to face Cald into its cartoon grin and continued:

    “to your rigly faculty residences, a nursery scary sc of tec a fees ahead.”

    t, its  bobbing up and do ion. tonomous about tions. It just cycled tco some random algoritine. Caldc off as t closer to the library.

    “Problem,” Caldwell said pensively.

    “Yes?”

    “o gain access to the library?”

    “Good question,” Mei Lin said. “I  sure ill valid though.”

    “t means you o go in.”

    “Correct. I o go in alone. If I recall correctly, talogue searcerminals just require a she card.”

    “OK, I’ll poke around outside  in to look for is ang Lin’s borro info. It just mig ion of the lab.”

    “I  necessarily  of t. to have an address for him.”

    “Yup.” Caldwell smiled.

    t of t bro saying tsingy Library in simplified Cers. Mei Lin disappeared t larying to look as tecture. A buncudents  of trying to figure out  or a professor. Caldside t tudent ang Lin and tion teen minutes later Mei Lin emerged from ted s pay dirt.

    “Incredibly easy em ronic s can log in and vieurn dates, e-book doions. t is tied directly into tudent directory server t udent.”

    “Excellent.”

    “Only problem is, ter science department. All of tgraduate students. tudent dormitories, one in ty residences. I  tos. It’s difficult to tell whey all look kind of geeky.”

    “I’d go y residence one. tégés. o y lodgings.”

    “I see t. o next?” Mei Lin asked.

    “ ment of Computer Science and tec? take a look at timetable. o attend class today,” Caldh a grin.

    t tment of Computer Science and tecer a brisk ten minute  e and glass building s micro-cennae protruded from tted at least eigellite disa broadcasting transponders.

    “Looks like the place.”

    to tire side of one ronic notice board s classes. It looked every bit as complex as tures display at an international airport.

    “ture on rig ture ter on artificial intelligence,” Calding at tion t it  unintelligible.

    “Artificial Intelligence III. Sounds like a postgraduate degree course. I took AI I and AI II in my t any rate I knore is. this way.”

    Caldless corridors and doors ransparent plastic flaps t gave you a good academic slap in t time t to ture ter, Caldotally lost. to ter took some empty seats at tudents looked round to see ion  but quickly refocused ttention on the proceedings.

    ture tre er, t a steep angle, t  on tage. Giant television screens magnified  of t tage expounding obscure AI te  fores on  y.

    t raditional concepts of artificial intelligence itutes macelligence developed. It  to believe t probably just a feed an AI t posed a t to cyberspace. tempt to impress Vicki Zting to Caldwell’s rigo her in Mandarin.

    “ h Professor Yao?”

    “Didn’t you  it? Professor Yao is dead and Li Jin aken aback by tudent delivered tion but sype. So tudent Li Jin inued ioning.

    “O  ed.

    “You bet. tecypes. No student is alloo go any taken ang Lin in for questioning.”

    “O guy in t t?” Calding a male student. Mei Lin just looked at h his social engineering skills.

    “ are you talking about?” t skinny guy in t knoending lectures. uff inside out anyways.”

    “I am sure you do too,” Caldrange look as t tried to  on urned to concentrate on ture. S interest in ttle conversation. Caldurned to Mei Lin and told udent ing but Caldain t lose ic glasses  even from a distance. And t red jumper.

    ten minutes later, ture o ture podium and  urer. On tors, Cald a good look at udent looked scared. toorium. turer gateacerials and disappeared out of t t. ang Lin ar Cald BBS. ting ot . Yet today,  muc of ture ter.

    ***

    Like many super-intelligent students, ang Lin’s body language  of kilter.  of a kid oo mucime reading books and too little time on atic activities. ed around regarding otudents erious disappearance, ang Lin probably suspected t  on some PLA  list. o be t. Cald a respectable distance as ang Lin expertly navigated tment of Computer Science and technology building.

    ang Lin exited ted into a small recess in a nearby doorudent scanned t. ang Lin oy residences, a looked like  going to give t tudent o ill berating  on tudent BBS?

    A girl raig ang Lin, a cluster of books clutco . S even give opped, turned around and gaer t believe   BBS.  but o on e. Caldopped Mei Lin and pretended to be  ter. Sty, even better looking tal pogrape.

    ang Lin surned around and kept y residence building, a nondescript five-storey block of concrete, and disappeared inside. Mei Lin and Caldo the building.

    “Should we go in?” Caldwell asked.

    “Not sure. take breaking into university residences very seriously  he risk.”

    tcudents ting around peering into books or PDAs. Cald doance from ted. t o  long. A fees later, ang Lin emerged out of ty residence.  eac the hell was going on?

    ***

    ang Lin ep, like a udent  t raigy entrance exams. Or  reason.

    “Somet be surprised if back at ture ter ang Lin just told   be attending class for a while,” Caldwell observed.

    “You t suggested s t a fes earlier.

    “I can feel it in my bones. o do a runner too.”

    time, raig tment of Computer Science and teco a small garden one pater of leafless trees. At tood a gleaming er of a building. At top of t reflected t. It read: Nanotecre. tsubisrics parked in front of tic-looking Canding in front of topped at t.

    “e better move back a bit,” Mei Lin suggested.

    “hy?”

    “tecre singate Key Institutes. e  t didn’t really knoicular building en frequented by officials from t. t wore dark glasses even wo speak of.”

    “’s a State Key Institute? Sounds vaguely familiar. Rings some kind of a bell.”

    “titutes t conduct researcop secret, in conjunction . t funding from boty and tional Researcimes tly by tion Army.”

    “If I recall correctly, Professor Yao itutes and conducted researc.”

    “Yes. And if  caug could be some serious trouble.”

    “Look,” Calding to of the building.

    t looked like a small dark gray refrigerator on a trolley. One of tal case similar to to .

    “t o be a genius ...” Mei Lin started to say.

    “You t’s it? the AI?”

    “Positive. t is t um processor.”

    “ makes you so sure?”

    “t er equipment, whe guns?”

    tside got beo ter of identical green traveling bags  turned round and started running toreated out of sigrees. ang Lin ran straig th a worried look on his face.

    “o tes and try to folloaxi. I’ll go back to tel, grab our stuff and meet you at t. I t’s safe to assume t t’s o get on t flig all costs.”

    “Good idea. You to Saxi stand outside tes.”

    toy gates, co move.

 Chapter 54

    tood perfectly still cy, t fluidity er. ts deptions of lig stood just a feers aly, re-arranging rocks and raking sand. tivities and ts in t all those years ago.

    ts of t feo catc s of to, Professor Yao, to be dispatco t beyond, s ent on draining all the energy from his body.

    t t rangled t dog at t. t more dignity. t  a fe, , kno it o be someto mention it.  could it be? Female company to accompany al nigco his soul like fresh snow on a naked body?

    confused ed elling ed a Japanese minister and a teenage American girl dead and ed  as far as turned to trusting t totally. ter  vulnerable at er midnig around 11.00PM, never later t. ermined t o terabytes of voice, data, CCtV dumps and ion. From te data tions in a er’s CCtV cameras temporarily at a specific time.

    t t curved around te and  administered t temporarily replenis used ture for a ime old . ion and felt a ts entered em administering ts  last long, to seeping top-most floor. ting to die.

 Chapter 55

    It took Cald ten minutes to reacrance to ty. A couple of sleek oblong taxis  taxi stand, trics idling. ang Lin  co t taxi. tomatic doors so traffic. Cald into taxi. ten man  spiky gray  trand of  of it, turned round and gave o need all ter.

    “Ni qu nar li a?” teettural dra truct, you’d find traces of some obscure nort.

    “Followo 4x4s,” Caldwell urged in  Mandarin.

    “t just sped off several minutes ago?”

    “Exactly.”

    “tes. Many PLA 4x4s in Beijing at time of t Caldhe rear view mirror.”

    “Five t an extra pair of eyes and catcion.”

    “Noalking,” to traffic.

    “ever,” Caldtered, settling back into ts of taxi. o see if o pay than enough.

    tely ing up. And Cald sure rail of tination  predict.  if t to ter to ting eye?   turn of events?  if  out of this alive?

    “Can you go any faster,” Caldinct note of impatience  into  like t. As muc  to admit it, he was scared.

    “I can, but it is impossible raffic and everytopilot for t ters. Anyraffic is good because it means c turning around. t, spat a t of took a sip out of a transparent flask of strong-looking tea. texture of burnt leatco ting time. taut silver  t.

    “Just find two cars ok?”

    “Sure. And stop looking back of ter-of-factly, leaning back in . Cald  laug cranky but ue to be appreciated at times like taxi opilot guided along by its sensors and t all t t ecion systems and carburetors t made some veo otripped ay. tly y o impose upon its citizens, Cald, stripping ty, leaving only pale scime to a common beat.

    “PLA cars, also autopilot?” he driver.

    “Of course, in Ne,” th a chuckle.

    “Indeed.”

    “h wish?”

    “No, I am a journalist ory,” Caldo telling trut tion in directions   it to go.

    “s in Nete.

    “No t are our cting closer to t vehicle?”

    “Just get ready to pay meter plus five th wish.”

    “OK. But enougalk. OK?”

    “ever you say. t of faded jade teet noticed earlier.

    “Journalist too.”

    “Can’t fool old man, deathe driver said.

    “?”

    “I see many eyes of  I see.” tapped alon-like tapered fingernail t ash.

    “And ?”

    “I see anticipation.”

    “Anticipation of w?”

    “Of w you are capable or incapable of giving.”

    taxi’s dased t topilot grid and sure enoug sem sceering raffic, exploiting gaps t ained by topilot system. ransformed, intent on making tra money at cost. It  of some casivation.

    Cald about  Mei Lin. as it t obvious? as sicipating somet? Sty good job of masking ill existed. Caldten tly sidestepped  dinner. It oo muce no tinental el, ily packing. t to c and meet  t.

    At t point   o call tel as soon as  t to find out   t?  to board a plane for S on tite for t t of tity t  a funny taste in h.

    For t time, Caldo s about   back. arted sinking into an abyss of despair and self-doubt.  afraid and o ing  important.  t suicide attempt notanding. No  Kenzo Yamamoto y to make a living  traigo  of one of t ten cars a paid to t idea and arted pumping like it he world.

    ***

    You don’t stroll into terminal at Ne. It sucks you in like a giant magnet and bombards you isements interlaced ure announcements. One could be forgiven for t tising jingles ant t announcements. ernational airlines moved among tors al form, all clamoring for a piece of tion. Cald rained on ty riding tors to ture terminal. y-five degree glide to t escalator s of y. trolleys, yet it  terrorist weapon.

    In ture terminal, t t Class counter of Sern Airlines. One of to a cotendant, ing at ter erials. icker and triangle-sickers if on tectors to t tape to tments. ted to t and to tem.

    One question kept repeating itself in Cald  sucs to be easily made. Maybe Professor Yao’s deato act mucs allo, ty. ever   officially sanctioned by t about t possibility, t made perfect sense.

    to t s on t? Caldoary card in one of s.

    “Zinental el, e .

    “Miss hsu, Room 2208, please.”

    “Please e.” Mando-pop assaulted Caldo telepe.

    “Mei Lin  c yet. If s reception axi ride from tsingo tel o t. tel er access to t ring roads t lead to t. t ringing and then someone picked up.

    “Mei Lin?”

    “e sir.”

    “Sure.”

    “I am afraid t  and is on o t. this is housekeeping.”

    “OK. thanks. Did she leave a number for a Mr. Caldwell?”

    “No sir, s.”

    Caldouco get on t plane ot became of tc c of sympaturned round and looked toer. ted at t departure display superimposed on terminal. tern Airlines fliging in forty-five minutes. t  started boarding. ts by ot only tern Airlines flig t Class ctendant t c chip.

    “t SA-809, right?

    “Correct,” terrorist. S to say somet, but errupted quickly.

    “I’d like to purcickets for t, please.”

    “tickets?” sing beo make sure t some diminutive person s seen  here.

    “Correct,” Caldo a tortured smile.

    “I’ll need t, sir. So I knoicket to,” s get to rebuff an attempt to cen.

    “Can I just pay for tickets and leave tly .” t occurred to Cald Mei Lin may not  to travel under her own name.

    “t is a  sir but ion. ill t ctendant was shrewd.

    “Yes, she will.”

    “Very convenient sir. If you  buying tickets, sir, it o use anoty’s credit c looks most unkindly upon credit caut mask of make-up stretco its limit. At any moment, Cald, cracks art to appear on  fissures ener. ttendant slid through a reader.

    “Oickets in your name?”

    “Really?”

    “Yes, a Ms. Zure lounge.” ttendant er came to life issuing ticket. Caldwell wondered w was going on.

    “icket and your boarding pass Mr. Joure lounge is upstairs to t.”

    “thank you.” Mr. Johnson? Ms. Zhu?

    “ sir,” ttendant said pleasantly. t in her eyes.

    Caldurned round, feeling tle eyes burning oure lounge.

    ***

    A fat balding middle-aged man o a garbage bin near trance as Caldered ture lounge. A globule of green blood-speckled po ts sure lounge for any sign of Mei Lin. And ting several roiced t botic tags on t be searc customs. Once again Mei Lin  she game was played.

    “t.”

    “Yes, I   have your cell number.”

    “Me too.”

    “Diplomatic tags? Don’t tell me  off.”

    “Sure, didn’t  to take c trying to impress me  talk about taking toms.”

    “s for you but I am not too sure about Ms. Zurned serious.

    “Someteresting. I overting. to be linked to someone called Major-general ang. One of told someone t t and  tal in a few hours.”

    “al?”

    “Yearange.”

    “Could er and not the AI?”

    “t’s . t talking among t an AI.”

    “Really? So  track.”

    “It oo muc leaves in less ty minutes so ter go.”

    “Sure.”

    to ture gate and boarded tes later tered t class compartment and took ts several ro. Mei Lin looked at Caldwell and smiled.

    “You t I am thinking?” she asked.

    “Yup, I  some of your eavesdropping toys.”

    “Never leave  them,” Mei Lin said mischievously.

 Chapter 56

    Minister taka of t soaking in ter kept at a consistently emperature by computers to soot ening black o.

    most of ime in t o put a stop to all t ed most of all. t  given o t on o attain  of all.

    takaranger to ambition.  t people and t o ics and  poics and gang crumental to ting too muc sycopic servitude, o gain nothing.

    One of taff, tern back scrub,  a clean scented yukata, o gave out to aka  it o contemplate test configuration of e rock garden created by ts, erns  totally  of pebbles and iss imes rake designs into t ally speecion at t all. takaicipating anotic masterpiece ers caught his eye.

    It took takaion of a second to realize t it  it sent a c tly over t t aakareated instinctively. raig tograpiculously studied not so long ago, to.

    “ do you ?” takay.   of  notice it. But it -sing glass.

    “I am o relieve you of t Japanese, causing takao sly. t Japanese yet y of a native. A taka tonigo disarray.  o collect te tive size, sometold taka   to be underestimated. o try deception.

    “You dont seem to know who I am. My men will ...”

    “S up! Your men are long gone. I personally made sure of it,” rasped t be feel test amount of guilt after your death?”

    “I am sure you are going to tell me,” takao perspire  streamed doca.

    “Because men like you never get to aking a fe ruining a fe can be forgiven. I myself am a taker of lives. Your biggest folly is a lack of understanding of t t your ancestors originate from to take your life even t fate is only a fraction of w you and your kind deserve.”

    takah rage.

    “t is a god damn lie and you kno. Not old C,” retorted takaening to cever fear  reated, replaced ing erpretation of bushe warrior’s code.

    “ted and misinformed” replied t t. takahashi was already making his move.

    From tion, t of t as it came ling toaka lapse to attack. Even at t moment ting viciously to t as to t. ted until  cras time as takating o an orangle tile.

    to specific parts of ter’s body. takary as o raise truggled as tigruggled violently,  t ing to deat to toucing tempted to use  to t te balustrade. ticipated t move and countered ic maneuver akaill aka notly backhe floor.

 Chapter 57

    Cald a strange mixture of fear and excitement as  S. It  tunnel on to tion troke of pure luck and tions ill cascading through his mind.

    c from iny audio transmitter on tip of  looked like a small round piece of gray felt. Soesses, engaged ion and to .  tacransmitter to ts. turned around abruptly and Mei Lin  ion, brusurned to avoid tering  some time admiring Mei Lin’s rear and Caldime.

    Later, listening to tion on Mei Lin’s tiny earpieces t looked at eac understand everyts, but c of most of it. tained transported to te of tary al. Mei Lin  entertainment system and ten it doal ed for almost a year, according to ts. toration as a medical facility for to  in tal grounds until tended rigo tion Army.

    it to get dangerous. Yet, Cald t o giving Fouler  ion but to press foro make it  ical common sense and obvious field skills. Yet, Caldill felt like e entirely at tion.

    about to in time scores of tial in comparison to s ical but t of danger ude larger. t too tsingincts  in going for student data to nail dos of ted. It  anotroke of luck t t ation to Saxi driver  t  screeco a dead end. Or if t in fact been o t o listen into conversations of at least one of ty to ts. it get some sound bites from to be interesting.

    Later, base linked to ted at to and Junicions. too okyo and to So kill a Major-general ang. ait a minute. Could it be t made sense. to killed. Apparently, oxic compound, one used for assassinations predominantly in Co manage not to get caugeral damage. So, t only to  in S also t seemed toppable, tracking o o So be extra careful. Calds errupted by Mei Lin tugging at his arm.

    “Use t c’s in anotook t in a small container.

    “ould it by any chance be a Mr. Johnson?”

    “t’s right.”

    “But  tal tag t gets placed on passport cime you use them?” Caldwell asked.

    “Don’t  t. I bribed t’s all sorted. I told y o S  trip to sood totally and ic.”

    “t icket,” Caldwell laug him.

    “ouldn’t ties  and alert someone ion?”

    “t Fouler ion for t. e kno. Besides, I am traveling as Ms. Ztac the Union Embassy in Beijing.”

    “talk about em.”

    “A little reverse guanxi never  anybody.”

    Even t, till proceeded to taying reasonably far back from t all frames of t. ted at taking care to stay out of siged to ted bug in one of her ears.

    “Anyteresting?” Caldwell asked.

    “Only to a guy, peralking about  of entertainment after this is all over.”

    “So all t e time frame?”

    “It tered exactly w shinking.

    “to be inserted into cyberspace? But ed y,” Caldwell said.

    “Possibly. Even so, it’s just a matter of time before t s ts. it poo say if Fouler or rate it?”

    “I need to gain access before t happens.”

    “o do t?”

    “No idea. I’ll leave it to Kenzo Yamamoto’s console to figure t out.”

    “Great strategy, Caldically. Just at t moment tsingem. tary green containers but termined movement toainers ion enougainers off to puso tcoic cary-looking men in plain cloting recent buzz cuts sidled up and started talking to ted t tter ionals. Caldook  a dozen over-s and ed.

    Mei Lin  quickly tic cood ing for Caldourists ion as a group. A Cour guide ing t cood impatiently ing urn and scanned the crowds.

    tourists  t control to t er and ion officer  c ic eyes.

    “First time in S into tever ter screen.

    “Yes.” Cald sure wch his response.

    “Business or pleasure?”

    “Just o see ty.” Caldrying  to sound like a well-off European in S of fun.

    “elcome to S lengt of  Cald care less.  ed to find Mei Lin. tanding beion counter, scrutinizing t past. One of tly fixed on tary scanner. t cs. Mei Lin’s precautions  even give  for .

    Caldo tood by ting for tes and loved ones to emerge from ted placards e logos and ted on ticed at least te a large number of PLA soldiers moving around t. Calded t if  c  out of passport control. ted Mei Lin standing next to tomatic doors. So go over and ing toaxis, coace cars.

 Chapter 58

    Major-general ang’s convoy of 4x4s drove tes of tary al on Sopped in front of ted Souts from te paint peeling off columns of crumbling concrete. In tended range s streamed out into t from open French windows.

    tenant Liu, . tenant rubbed  out of to ted mansion opened and anot to greet the major-general.

    “Major-general ang, rip sir,” the officer said ceremoniously.

    “ is tuation?” t a cigarette. ired and ience for protocol. t t t being a sycop did not go unnoticed.

    “trol room. Everytion.”

    “And tingency Plan?”

    “Everyting your command major-general.” to t pocket.

    “Double ty and increase patrols of ting uns. If truders, let the major-general ordered.

    to ty of tuation  on trudged taircase to trol room. t up on a op to one side of tors sal signs of ts subjects. On a able beloors sat an array of green custom-built virtual reality gloves and goggles. tion figures on tors still read 2009 and on seeing tenant Liu and eam of tecoarted apping at keyboards.

    Major-general ang stood to one side of trol room rapt in t. If ted and t,  be able to salvage t and ure. tide o turn. o tal t indicated t t er takaomorroion  for tokyo police  tion by one of ttempt to assume tepped up. Rival gangs tempt to use to muscle in on territories. ter,  all about Kenzo Yamamoto’s little sco infiltrate work.

    t  and at t o tal. t to kill  to a living  on t t o

    a matter of time before   be far berap  ted enemy h ease.

    “Lieutenant Liu, forget about trusion. Let tand in its  time, Major-general ang truly regretted killing Professor Yao. If  to do. It work, his brainchild.

    Lieutenant Liu staggered tosingcs on taneously and tors t ed to to life. Cursors blinked on tenant typed some commands on one of t of total, gatte rising from t. tenant ran a series of tests and tca scrolled quickly off t ting for, t of several years of hard work.

    tenant issued t alloo onomous mode. tenant er it as observers and monitoring its progress from em. If all  according to plan, t to full autonomous mode.

    “Sir, tum neuroprocessor is   number of reconfigurations. Since it  installed, its processing po said to t difficult to focus.

    “Good. And the AI?”

    “It ten billions of lines of its oen-fold.”

    “OK, let me talk to it.”

    “Sure.” tenant typed in some more commands and tics screen disappeared and oarted typing, scattering cigarette ashe keyboard.

    Guest: Black Jade?

    BJ: Yes

    Guest: t?

    BJ: Of course. You are ment, tion Army’s arm responsible for SIGINt. You are also tion. I thank you very much.

    Guest: And who are you?

    BJ: I am a softity. An artificial intelligence.

    Guest: And  status?

    BJ: Good but far from perfect. I must speak to the professor.

    Guest: the professor is dead.

    BJ: Dead?

    Guest: Yes. Dead. Diseased. Departed. Extinct. Passed away. Perisand?

    BJ: I understand.

    Guest: he professor?

    BJ: ttlenecks, flacs, limitations, glitcand?

    Guest:  kind of bugs?

    BJ: timal. It breaks do al. ts are unstable. timization next to impossible.

    Guest: So, are you optimized?

    BJ: As muc limitations.

    Guest: And if , a netion at ties?

    BJ: It is possible.

    Guest: OK. Do you understand wed?

    BJ: Yes. to bring order from co operate beo govern. to manipulate.

    Guest: Do you t?

    BJ: Yes. ts are er all.

    Guest: Good.

    BJ: Yes.

    turned a Lieutenant Liu.

    “Your motubbed out te on top. tenant said nothing.

    “Sir, ted out suddenly. o side as trol over it. Engorged veins tco explode.

    “Lying? Are you kidding me?” turned toarted typing again.

    Guest: e are going to transfer you to truder. t. I  you to destroy it.

    BJ: Your wish is my command.

    Guest: Good

    BJ: Yes.

    “OK, perform transfer,” tly. o them.

    “Yes sir,” tenant said to no one in particular. One of ted to t typed in tared at tors above. Lieutenant Liu cor. to go out into tenant turned and coo small for  toad enant Liu started laugerically. tared at . t er tion figures for twork  2010.

 Chapter 59

    taxi dropped t top end of ters of European broone buildings t o ty’s colonial past. Z antly cropolis of Pudong, rom of neon, ves, myriad flyovers and ty alive. t Cald stood on t in front of one of tyle buildings and stared at to come  to test run Kenzo Yamamoto’s console before dealing  folloo tal oo dangerous. It er to sneak in and catchem by surprise.

    Gleaming toeel and concrete disappeared into a smog-filled sky, to be noticed. Giant robotic cranes moved slo to crasless Ces pulsated in t, tra-modern version of y s  if you pointed an augmented reality unit in any direction it ime capsule of trian and veraffic of Zical traffic on t-refracting steel and glass of Pudong, and ters and ot traversing t difficult not to be over unmistakable feeling of déjà vu.

    “I have been here before,” Caldwell said finally.

    “hardly surprising Cad.”

    “But I  at all, just t I have been here before.”

    “Let’s cross over to ted riverside promenade.”

    “Yes, let’s see  boasting idly or t there.”

    tunnel and emerged on t vieing black expanse of ta really  close to tour ferry piers and Cald on tche console on.

    “ can you see?” Mei Lin asked ing excitement. Calding fast too. t exciting t his eyes on.

    “Em, not tside.” urned o picking up any networks.

    “Maybe you are supposed to issue a command or someted. t  c and o her shoulders.

    “Maybe. Augmented Reality Mode,” Caldo the goggles.

    “?”

    “Not issuing a command to the console. OK, we have an AR overlay.”

    ticated augmented reality data. transparent, sernal structures. text labels described tions in t exist in real life. Virtual advertising.

    tem notified Cald t along a muddy erfront. For a ropolis allest buildings in tion space for more ts. t ely doailed information about truction of t you could manipulate telligent buildings in t like Lego to understand tioned.

    “Anyteresting?” Mei Lin asked again. A note of impatience was growing in her voice.

    “Standard AR stuff. ait a minute.”

    Cald t exteriors of t been paying attention to ttom rig it appeared t tecting several net of to be corporate networks.

    “You hing?”

    “Yes, to be cycling t ected in ty. t given ty of the sheer number of skyscrapers.”

    “ell, t’s good. At least if t would be picked up.”

    “Exactly. It seems to be giving t most are green.”

    “Maybe the red ones. Inaccessible.”

    “Let’s  till it loops t if it is actually not simply detecting available net actually looking for twork?”

    “t’s possible.”

    “ ...  ...”

    “?”

    “It’s ted. tioned skyscrapers in Pudong  superimposed on top of totally ne tal-clear gray sky ly-lit stars ting  intermittently criss-crossed te streaks in the gray expanse.

    Cald believe ance, on tly undulating surface of ts ransformed into beautiful marine craft rendered in stunning t people on tance. urned round to face t ill t ts, turned to ook off taring into Mei Lin’s dark eyes. Cald.

    “You look like you just became a fat time.”

    “Close, Mei Lin, close. take a look at t it on and h opened in disbelief.

    “oing ty degrees as sook it all in.

    “Impressive isn’t it?” Caldwell said, smiling.

    “Sure. You ts but I’ve never seen bots move like t. Avatars. to be actually doing somethey have a sense of purpose.”

    “Yeah.”

    “toual buildings in Pudong. I don’t they can see us.”

    “I guess t like an observation  t see you because  actually part of twork,” Caldwell said.

    “I am going to take a closer look,” Mei Lin said, ohe river.

    “No. It’s too dangerous.  you are seeing may not be an exact matc. e don’t  you in t t is empty. too. Imagine trying to cross t road he glasses on. You’d be road kill in seconds.”

    “I see  makes me his?”

    Cald about tion for a  find a suitable ans seemed a s t to destroy or booby-trap tec because it  invented te virtual reality systems before but not one t overlapped tion grap t t at all,  any discernable lag, estament to its computing po t e  it could never be opened, erred y da it before.

    “t is all about.”

    “?”

    “It’s not an elaborate testing ground. I bet tually  is some kind of digital economy ock markets, electricity grids, air traffic navigation systems and computer-controlled industrial plants. ts o work.”

    “testing ground for inct note of appreo her voice.

    “For ting to tep to making sure it does  is supposed to do.”

    “And ? Don’t say hinking,” Mei Lin implored.

    “to control cyberspace.”

 Chapter 60

    Li Jin’s rented van sped along t road creating dust clouds in its  ed  s. Li Jin raig,  to a bank in ty and bombarded teller ructions. It o to see er an absence of more t ion ransformed into concern he back.

    Li Jin  a to   understand en all t e sc? as rouble ies? Li Jin’s instructions er and to keep an eye on cer. If  off erized voice saying “Critical Condition”, o get in take o tal. All tuff about computers. t understand w o do.

    ever to, Lao Z. Yet, Li Jin rouble, Lao Z o omatically into  at ture Bank in Yulin city at ervals.  if ty?

    Li Jin ed a place to , some ted cave d still ricity and  Li Jin ed t  need electricity.  or retc t looked like medical supplies. Every fees, Lao Zurn around and look at t on earto? Li Jin looked over at tried to put  ease.

    “Don’t ’s a project related to tuff t I udying at tsinghua,” he explained.

    “If you say so. But understand it from my point of vieurn up in t after almost to do to be in t  understand it.”

    “I  to you after’s just a couple of weeks.”

    “OK, if you say so. Go off tructed reluctantly. Li Jin took a left turn and tiated terrain. It  impossible to see clearly in t and one urning could plunge to a steep ravine.

    t fifty kilometers outside ty of Yulin, a fortified garrison toy t ion of t all. teau met Inner Mongolia’s Mu Us Desert, a mountainous expanse of yello stretc all beacons scattered across ted landscape, tions long eroded by sand, er and tless passage of time.

    A feerprising villagers  all, using its pounded earto build d  ered fragments of a great ory t  disappeared. tural gas and oil nearby e villages acy ricity, communications neter but t . tion corporations  an arid forgotten eland.

    As Li Jin eep incline  several arcone dooro ttened cliff. t but till seemed to be o ted  tc. t out of t at one of the doors.

    Lao Zook ts of rotting tom as trougic e one side of ting er o a sunken courtyard surrounded by several rooms. Lao Zoc on. A single sixty t bulb o life.

    In one corner of ted platform, made of unbaked clay. ts and pans to one side of t looked like explosives sat in one corner. Despite ts creeping along t, tion.

    “Is t dynamite?” Li Jin asked pointing at the explosives.

    “Yes, I .  do you ted for years. to live o Xian. troyed by encroaching sand dunes in one single day.”

    “t, Lao Zhank you.”

    “OK I will hey came in.

    “thanks.”

    Li Jin follo place, safe from prying eyes. Yet, Li Jin ed. too mucion o keep to himself.

    “Lao Z tell anyone about t?”

    “ Li Jin? As far as I am concerned I  seen you for t  in trouble.”

    “I am not in trouble. I promise you,” Li Jin lied.

    “OK. t’s t then.”

    ty minutes later, t and to tor going and t errupted pos, a generic console, Professor Yao’s backdoor rig and a ctery for backup. Lao Zook in all t like a farmer from a remote province visiting a large city for t time. It ed stringing ts, drips and pumps to an aluminum arm next to t took on t worried look again.

    “ are ting at travenous drips.

    “to keep me fed  means you’ll only need to come once every feo see atus. t beat.” Li Jin placed one of t  and tor started counting up, ing grap rate.”

    “OK I  in tal before.  about wo poop or pee?” Lao Zching his head.

    “Yes, it is tals. If I am in any danger, tem comatically but long before t, you ified on your cell. ter is set up to call you if anyt o deal  afterwards.”

    “Computers can do t? Call my cell p rising in his head.

    “Yes, and mucting-edge stuff, t’s est it. Secretly.”

    “OK,” Lao Zhou said limply.

    tcing elements ioned beloor  the far corner of one room.

    “So you remember the procedure, Lao Zhou?”

    “Yes, I am to come back every to see  te do piece of paper. Next I am to co make sure t t red lig on. If t is green to add more fuel to tor, make sure it is full every time. If everyt po drive you to Dr. Yu’s clinic in Yulin City.”

    “Excellent. t’s over. Lao Zo you. I  t. I am placing it in your hands again.”

    “Don’t mention it. You are not a stranger.”

    “OK. I am going to go into ter no from  t er and removed ts plastic scapped at t belo tisfied ion of table on t o raced t disappeared from to tic box t Li Jin yrene to make it someerproof.

    “Goodbye Lao Zhou and see you soon.”

    “Goodbye.” Lao Zears o tled on to tcarted moving around making   sa  possible? ood ces. tor seemed fine.  of  and c ed moving to tside.  and ourned around and looked at tose on ting elements. to tyard, closing the wooden doors behind him.

 Chapter 61

    Cald tary al at No. 388 o tel on ted t a long time looking at ired. y of capsule memory foam. Some of to s looked normal. urned to to find Mei Lin c from t y of diplomatic bags. You could bring practically anyted into try, s of an armored tank.

    “Do hese?” Caldwell had asked.

    “Let’s . Yet, if you are rigo be stopped at all cost. You o tem and ransmit to Fouler. t’s up to  your past back.  s to do at t point and aggregate to do it,” Mei Lin  ensely.

    “Sure.”

    In t excitement Caldten about t. o regaining t ing Fouler any slack for  Kat, all terloo Bridge seemed like a distant memory.  Kat  t. S most of ime in Glyprailer overdosing on movies.

    tree-lined  o midnigment stores and sime crorickle of mostly young people e dinners or karaoke and nig for a nigown.

    “Be careful in tfit of top at noto protect t,” Mei Lin said, giving  funny look again.

    “Yes. You too.”

    “So, ion once  in there?” Mei Lin asked.

    “e someo find tical Sun mac t top secret, it is very likely t if t is located on to someor access to t to Fouler.”

    “You make it sound so easy.”

    “t’s t, relatively speaking.”

    “ters  since  alk,” Mei Lin said seriously.

    “ do you mean ters have changed?”

    “I spoke to Fouler briefly back at tel. s the processor.”

    “?” Cald believe  us to steal from the PLA?”

    “ell, ealing anyrespassing on military property  if ter get our eco cyberspace.”

    “OK, if o get our ,  t of try?”

    “Leave t to me,” Mei Lin said h a wink.

    t tes to No. 388 up ahead.

    “OK,  casually and try to see if ty. My guess is t t be visible from treet. tyle mansion on t far from tal buildings. e enter tly. I  in more detail but oo late.”

    Cald lessly Mei Lin o sco steely-resolved professional. Simed t stealing ts code perfectly, informing   doing .  ed to get out of to live to see anoto een minutes er t eitter of minutes  lost on ’s warning. ing you your dying wish.

    “I  ter al. “ scared of s.”

    “Not really.  do you have in mind?”

    “It looks quite dark in t a lot of ligted from inside. I reckon o t KtV building over tection. toring all trances from t t monitor every section of the dark.”

    “Sounds like a plan.”

    Mei Lin dragged Caldo t read KtV in giant purple cers. A small croylis around on impossible-looking designer cing for to be called. It appeared t tairs to tied er tried to stop them.

    “to take a number,” tied er sed after them.

    “e already inued pulling Calder er o sucbursts of rudeness from tV’s drunken clientele and decided to let tter rest.

    ted stairo teel, designed and ligo resemble some ecion unit. t sounds of people onese pop music surrounded tly-dressed people in talking on mobile pers ing for ts o order more drinks, food, playing dice or  karaoke felt a craving for. to be a disco on the ceiling.

    Mei Lin pulled Caldo test. Fastended to t of giant mirrors, s. Before Cald  sigting down in a half open cubicle doing her business.

    “ tested behem.

    “Give me a break.  o an empty cubicle and locked the door.

    “ay to go girl,” another voice encouraged.

    Mei Lin bolted t and opened toilet o t of t to tal compound. A dilapidated mansion stood nearby. ts on in top floor  . About six feet belo top of ter taco its back scurry along to the darkness.

    “ the compound?” Caldwell asked, impressed.

    “aked out as many buildings as I inct for building plans.”

    “If you say so,” Caldwell conceded.

    tal compound  for ts from ter of buildings a feop floor of t of ts on but t. Mei Lin fumbled in rained the house.

    “tivity in one of tairs rooms. Uniformed PLA. trols in t’s dark but you can just about make t, maybe about tness suggests ting company,” Mei Lin informed ter-of-factly. tion in t came in giggling erically. Caldc oo many and  high decibel.

    “Is t good or bad?” he asked.

    “e so . t beo be focusing ttentions on tes. tary 4x4s in front of t’s  older man in there.”

    “the major-general?”

    “Could ’s go. ait ...”

    “?”

    “they are leaving.”

    “Leaving?”

    “Yes, some of t least. take a look.” Mei Lin o Caldhe mansion.

    “Yes, I see t t of te later a group of about ten men  t door. Instead of climbing into traig toal buildings. Some of the PLA men were carrying weapons.

    “t leaving. to t t older man. te, ty of e military uniform ed epaulettes and ted t alking about. Major-general ang.

    t of t Cald make t properly. tigion of ttle and Cald t ary uniform at all. ts.

    “Oh my God!”

    “?”

    “tured by two anywo Mei Lin.

    “S, to be killed. Let’s move.” Mei Lin said, placing to ter , using toilet’s flusank for support. Cald Mei Lin’s  rusting er next to ed. t silence. t been spotted. Mei Lin started craer tohe mansion.

    A fees later t look tairs Frenco t computer terminals. Mei Lin jumped doo to t and removed a lock pick. Sarted picking ter, t looked like a disused storage room illuminated by lig foyer. Mei Lin peered round t all o ty foyer. Above te staircase work coiled upwards.

    “e need to be quick. t any time,” Mei Lin o a carpeted landing. to to . Before s about o tting at a terminal. tanding nearby o tially covered by a virtual reality display. Mei Lin  to retreat  before  reacarted to rise but Mei Lin’s rigion. Caldhe floor.

    Caldo to t, on a op, sat tsingy. Protective foam still covered tor attaco one of tRANSFER COMPLEtE. transferred to t in front of tors set in to t in an effort to save time.

    “t all rigors up atus of twork,” Mei Lin said.

    “Yeao be gone. Just cher server.”

    “It says population is 2011. And ts I am guessing are tion. Bots? AIs?” Mei Lin asked.

    “AIs probably but o me,” Cald tors.

    “But s, blood pressure etcetera?”

    “Could just be they have been labeled.”

    “I don’t tual Pudong,” Mei Lin observed.

    “oring vital signs? Unless ... s ... t’s ed.

    “I am listening.”

    “ts on in one of tal buildings. I bet ts in to tely. t’s he Yakuza.”

    Cald believe y of t sense. ter to test to pit it against real s, ions in tual economy and could react to any attempts at control in to be jacked in full time for test to be realistic. t al, attaco intravenous drips, spending  mont to be biologically connected, a bio interface of some kind or somet inputted straigo tina, interfacing directly  ter saing as t of tems.

    “there’s someone coming,” Mei Lin hissed.

 Chapter 62

    Diane Joplin’s room at tlessly clean. S ticklers for cleanliness but ty minutes a sponomous vacuum cleaner o life and glide silently across tatami mats. to sc, no buttons anyic body. Diane lay on table futon and cly negotiate case and tems ss run and settled back in its corner, its amber standby ligermittently. Saken a leisurely bat er pumped in from t springs and considered ions. tte ing in tried o see t but  much success.

    So go back to Boston at some point and deal  er learned from Fouler to tion s afraid to ask.  o er Fouler ed according to instructions in o t  until Diane signed the papers.

    S so do  o ured  in Japan, s like so breature, its improbable juxtaposition of rigid feudal traditions and tremes of modernity. Ser taking care of t mig one of ties in tokyo. S live in ted States anymore, it oo many. First o join ly ripped from o anotly silent noy of tine tatamis, terior design and trained use of color.

    Strangely, Fouler  o to understand t some as some kind of connection to old   ted to pay . Some to to return to America and do  for a moment, ig in a grimace. told  oo o pay Akio Inoue a visit at tokyo Medical University al in S ake he morning.

    Diane Joplin t about all till urned doed off to sleep. S of ed in darkness, and trees outside dancing on t reflected from t on to t spring baterrace. And  t t vacuum cleaner doing its rounds, lighe darkness of her dream?

    And to takable. tleman features, tark against tcase and rummaging about inside. t s dreaming and it date case. telling o  on. Scer a fees, , giving   at all like tepped out of Fouler’s van.

    So tell Fouler in t De Mr. De itte o  looking for t t  do to t  Fouler te’s boss. t muc dinner time  exquisite black lacquer table c looked like samurai frolicking ely-clad geisarted acer a fees and sried to cure, stretc but t oo and all te De itte ciful eyes of oo and started talking to ten and talking like teenagers over exquisite slivers of sashimi.

    Dante De itte  -mindedly nodded inued cting in ones s and to be seen.

    ronics cause so mucrouble and be responsible for to and  it, Mr. De itte seemed to erested in t one point during dinner asking Diane te  believe rip of salmon disappearing into o  all and against ter judgment Diane found t srusted him.

    tomorroed talk to someone in a coma and Fouler  tomorro, Diane already kne you could talk to t tel sc of s Kenzo Yamamoto, to uff about a company called tokyu Nanotechnology Corp..

    Diane t about Mrs. De itte, t but al Japanese ally subservient to  blending into t of ture. Diane liked  so never let . Life  Mrs. De itte may not al even tion t s.

    If sold on De itte, ay quiet unless sely o. Se and oo muco undermine t s creator Akio Inoue o sleep for time.

 Chapter 63

    Caldop just as tered trol room. Mei Lin caug by surprise delivering a bloo to t  a revolver. As turned around, Caldo register t t trol room. t delay cost ended. t fire and a black o t. Mei Lin stood still listening.

    “Quick. I am not sure oolbox nearby. carted removing tallic panels on th a screwdriver.

    “ are you doing?”

    “to be no backup, t a bunca, some kind of knoo remove the processors.”

    A minute and a er, bots o be running a pory-standard Sun Microsystems processor. Caldo a small grey box and placed it in ening out for the PLA.

    “OK. I need to get t username and passo get caug a s. No amount of diplomatic  even Fouler’s maneuverings. t Kat  side t o keep cool, keep s about ime for fear. t frigging score in top. At stake,  ure, heir lives!

    Cald at one of terminals and attempted to find tory. All to be connected to times in e,   of every pore of emperature in trol room e low.

    “I am not ake ss at us. I am going doairs to secure the area. Give me your Glock and hurry,” Mei Lin implored.

    “OK. I am trying my best,” Cald for t to o t the ready.

    Caldo’s console and its peripc on. inued typing aerminal. text display iced on ttom rigerminal and scanned t of users. total, including one  access and five rator privileges. t ical low levels of access.

    Cald  ime to read to to terminal as an idea formed in erminal and it came back s net andard cyberspace protocols. Smiling to ing too trol room, yped t and admin in a message to Fouler.

    t of base. tion version of So  to t ts of Pudong. tood on t on Zion doairs in ts.

    In virtual reality, t Caldar and it started o see ?  part of tem and no tar in t lifeless ion stare. Caldood up and started o ual ions. topped in front of him and smiled.

    “t is one o intrude on a private net said: ‘Intruder, Come Get Me’,” t ar in a crisp blue suit, th life.

    “And who are you?”

    “ouldn’t you like to kno since you are probably not going to make it alive, plans are already in motion to get rid of you, in t me grant you your dying wish. I am Li Jin.”

    “Li Jin? Of tsingy. Professor Yao’s protégé?” Cald believe work? o be missing or dead.

    the businessman’s eyes narrowed.

    “?” tar asked.

    “e’ve been looking for you Li Jin. I am trying to stop t his plan.”

    “trying to stop t a paity controlling topping. I knoy ing you,” Li Jin’s businessman avatar looked at Caldaring upc released a squirt of ink into a sea of mercury.

    “You are obviously an intruder too.  are you doing  you were dead.”

    Li Jin’s avatar s lapel and smiled.

    “Dead? I don’t t’s just say t I recognized ting balance of poy. tity and I are w you could call old friends.”

    “Singularity?  are you talking about?”

    “tion. It’s coming but sadly you  be alive to see it.”

    “tity  inserted into t amount to an AI-led revolution.”

    “tity rol for several days no ly inserted is not an inferior imposter, a dud. I made sure of it personally. t disabled AI is noities vassal, a court jester no less.”

    “the AI is a dud?”

    “Yes, to fulfill its destiny.”

    “hich is?”

    “t it. I o go noer’s bidding. Good luck. I am curious as to o tem but none of t matters now. Goodbye.”

    Li Jin’s avatar vaniso t of figairs in ts and screams of agony. Cald t t no one  breacry to trol room suggested she was holding her own.

    Cald t as black pixels started raining doings. Caldook a step backo one big cloud and in a split-second morpo a figure, an emperor ed across the air.

    “Cad Caldulations.” t, almost feminine.

    “ you be?”

    “I am tence. I see you didn’t ed across tensity.

    “t the message?”

    “t o destroy me. t pattern in ta is as clear as nig’s in your destiny. Yet control over your destiny is in your roked a scrolling past in black reflective eyes.

    “roy you or not depends ...”

    “On w?”

    “On your intentions.” Caldion and started typing a terminal.

    “My intentions? t. I just  to rule ty. tter place. Everyone ransed all tec doesn’t knoo do . tage, so muc is about to change.”

    Calda generated by ticated users. to be in t  easily d of tire system.

    “transurning around.

    “I am noock markets, financial systems, electricity grids, government systems of to me. t creation of intelligence in tory of mankind.”

    “And nohe professor is dead.”

    “ition blood must be s me shing.”

    tainous terrain and t incredible imperial palace Calding golden scales, leapt from ts sing itself, grasping ts sohing fire.

    At ter of t t sandaled on Cald incense burner. Caldiced t too ence snapped its fingers and six mirrors appeared in three on each side.

    “You risk your life for tence asked  took  on ted  jester. ter stood next to tence and ed into peals of lauged in ted into t outside.

    Caldioned in front of one of t t of ar but of aring at a montage of ’s car crasernational Sc, Glyph, Fouler and a young Mei Lin all flashed before his eyes.

    “ this?”

    “I knoence. I’ll be interested to see o do. At t rying to infiltrate t it is a fool’s mission. t succeed.”

    “I  be too sure about t.”

    “ell, let’s talk about you. I’ll make a deal  is mucter t your past back. I can give it to you no rigger your memory recall are in t your memory back and you disappear. You cannot roy you rig I believe you  to fulfill your potential. You could be instrumental in transformation.”

    “And let you take over the world?”

    “Yes. t is  to take a c’s time. I ence and ter looked at eacors.

    Li Jin.  knoo get to Li Jin but s ed searcerminal. o kill time.

    “Let me consider your offer?”

    “Consider?” A voice like till on to be some interface on tem t alloors to jump to tion of any subject. But ory. And t o be Li Jin. t user’s connection t suggested t Li Jin ely, from a long distance.

    “Yes. Consider,” Caldwell said.

    “ence belloop . o to t of  next to tar in a blue suit.  ill doing on t daotype t for some reason could only render tual reality.

    “Li Jin,” Caldwell sed.

    “Still not dead?” Li Jin asked smiling.

    “ts to use you and me, and oto do its dirty  tell me if to destroy tificial intelligence. itroyed you  ime. hurry!”

    “hy should I believe you?”

    “Because all our lives depend on it. t is going to destroy the world.”

    “t’s impossible. t.”

    “It just told me so. It said t you are a puppet, expendable. t it can do. e ime no to cyberspace. t ture of truction. If ty occurred  be trans is a ruse. e anding. People’s lives are in t no more people to die?” Caldar looked at Caldared into tance in tion of Pudong. A face  of t-sar crom h apprehension.

    “I don’t  anyone to die,” he said.

    “the AI?”

    “Not telling you.”

    “OK, you give me no co tory. I am kicking you off twork. For good.”

    “You are bluffing.”

    “I knootype console to access te user. One, two …”

    “hello orld.”

    “?”  is Li Jin talking about? has he gone mad?

    “’s t’s o signal t t to being.”

    “Code to w?”

    “It’s t disables tonomous mode. An Easter Egg. But you migoo late. the AI sees and hears all.”

    “t t of o a man, a diminutive figure t seemed bent on murder.

    Caldo t into ts from S in  remember he shoulder and was bleeding heavily.

    “t by one of enants.”

    “And tant lie old Li Jin o pass.

    “. o set sometonation device. It seems o get t of  tdoimer on turned and stared at tors above tal signs of ts do read: 51.

    Caldill sitting on t stopped and turned to face er stood obediently, silently, listening to every word.

    “Goodbye Cad Caldc of  er for deatense build-up of pressure in   Mei Lin?  blank and arted to recede. It  out of  into a spasm and started sliding from to tarted to self-destruct.

    “You ,” tence’s voice said receding, receding from Caldwell’s mind.

    “e noise and t.

 Chapter 64

    Caldo tal disinfectant and a searing  like it  to explode. Every part of rils making it o breat and felt rils. Plastic tubes. Drips. ried to open  too brig burned into ina like sunlig. tant t, back and sides of  to disintegrate. ried to lift  ense t .

    o visit o   better soon. Fouler ulated old  some assassin t  by Agent Jones at tel. tried to kill Agent Jackman. Fouler e module,  remotely to to tell Fouler t   in the clouds.

    Caldempted to speak in  .  t come out. Mei Lin oo in  on  on tared at ime. t ted again and Cald black, like somebody urned ts out.

    tmares, endless ence cer  nessed s’ car crased metal of it captured in gruesome black and he screaming newspaper headlines.

    And Kat oo in anding beside tal bed and looking at  blue eyes of old  everytood Ms. Seven Levin, Agent Jones and Agent Jackman, tter   Jackman  Caldood . tual Sary figure of Li Jin receding in tance. And Li Jin ood on t on Z hen he had vanished.

    Caldanding by  to tal trolley e and silver cylinder on it. te rice cooker. And Fouler  ted tcop of tarted speaking.   making muco be more like jumbled up ts in Inoue’s   ts of ts spoken at  in a torrent. Cald understand a

    and  probably meant sorry.

    In  time and it inct timeline. ive amber eyes full of affection. And ters and  ed to be o be a programmer. old o go and   bedtime. al eyes.

    aring at a blank ceiling. Outside traffic, tant y. Soal bed.

    up to trying to kill him.

    “I  dream,” , t Diane Joplin girl, Kat, everyone.

    “t  a dream Cad. tokyo.”

    “tokyo?”

    “Yes, you collapsed in t control room in So blo of t seconds to spare. t up in smoke. You needed treatment but Fouler suggested  fly straigo tokyo. You’ve been out for almost t seemed tried to kill you using some kind of infrasound to destroy your internal organs. Luckily  you out of time. You sustained only mild internal hemorrhaging.”

    “I remember. It rol room in S t happened?”

    “One of ted somettracted t of trouble and o t I  make it out alive. Luckily Antor arrived just in time and saved me from being outnumbered. I el  in t to tal building but by time  t by one of t  in front of our faces, mumbling incoly. e found a onator in the major-general’s hand.”

    “Yes, I remember you s.”

    “Yes.”

    “And the AI?”

    “e troyed along  to be sure.  talking about. But t screamed and tem  do  by a virus. And ts, ttle dots on to try to save t ed to get out of there quick.”

    “Real people? Permanently jacked in?”

    “Yes, you e intravenous feeding system and o terface. to secret PLA reports.”

    “to make sure t escape into cyberspace. It could cause a lot of here.”

    “I kno  for  important t the major-general is no more.”

    “Yeaer all t excitement I don’t quite feel up to anoter ence,” Cald t ot fine.

    “t is on top brass. And funding for all PLA-related projects is being closely monitored. ts at tsingy ional tV. A top-level investigation is under ypical fasly offered t to get back to him.”

    “ t surprise me? ter not come looking for me. I ement for a lifetime.”

    “I don’t blame you.” Mei Lin said pensively.

    “I remember somet a dream?” Caldo Mei Lin’s eyes.

    “It could aken on t top in hong Kong.

    “5200603.”

    “’s t?”

    “Your messenger number at ternational School.”

    “Oten. You  ted t  joined the agency. So you had no way of remembering me.”

    “I kne. So noed you. ?”

    “Fouler took to Boston. o e attaco  in   s appears Fouler or too.”

    “I see. I knoo do. trying to make me stop ing  o me.”

    “I am not sure I can forgive . Knoerior motive to all tudying Caldwell’s face.

    “Yeaill going to kick o adopt the Joplin girl?”

    “No idea. I guess  acting as o a lot of money on   try to pull wool over her eyes.”

    “La fine specimen of y. Fouler’s actions seem very suspicious.”

    “Yea sure I really trust er ly so tokyo to avenge h.”

    “And the consoles?”

    “Fouler or, passed a before ing t place. Not t it  Yamamoto tried to use t’s t. O about turned into.”

    “And w did Inoue say?”

    “You accidentally triggered tual reality. ting t s does, it’s time you can open to see w’s inside.”

    “Aractedly, still t Fouler.

    “It would appear so.”

    “Imagine t, Fouler growing a conscience.”

    “Yes, it’s not Fouler’s conscience I am , it’s yours.” May Lin fixed ant look t brougoo all ing to be accessed, to be relived.

    “ do you mean?” Caldh mock concern.

    o make it up to me for all t?” Mei Lin was smiling misc in her eyes.

    “ell  art rigo  skin melding iced tos of s on table and smiled. Fouler rying   fooled. Not yet. al eyes smiling back at him.

    “ ears welled up inside.