Gene Mapper (18 page)

“That’s it. Nice. Make the call. And be discreet.”

Kurokawa pulled an address book from his breast pocket and riffled the pages.

“Hello? Ms. Thep? We need to meet right away. No, I’ll explain when you log on.”

He closed the address book. “She says she’ll be a few minutes.”

“I wonder if we have that much time … Well, that’s all right. We can composite her in later.”

“Composite her? You can’t call that reporting— All right, all right!” Yagodo shrank from the gun muzzle jammed in the back of his head. The masked man had worked his way around behind the sofa. I hadn’t even seen him moving.

Sascha clapped sharply. “Ready? We don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this simple.” She opened a palm workspace and extracted a bookmark. “I’m going to put this real-time TerraVu feed on the table. We’re set to zoom in when the satellite is over Mother Mekong, so you’ll see all the details. You’ll be looking at the feed with a serious expression.”

Sascha tossed the bookmark on the table. It expanded to show the view from the satellite. A translucent pin labeled “Mother Mekong” peeked up just over the horizon.

“This whole thing is a put-up job. What a load— Stop jabbing me! The end of that thing is harder than my head.” Yagodo grabbed the muzzle and glared at the masked man.

Sascha waved the gunman back. “A put-up job? You’re just jealous. I’m sure you were planning to watch the TerraVu show anyway. I’m also sure you were going to look serious when you did it. That’s reality. That’s what I report on.” Sascha wagged a finger at Yagodo. “Let’s get back on track. I’ll start at the door and walk slowly around the room. Every now and then I’ll touch something. I know you’re new at this, but don’t look at me until I speak to you. Of course you can answer my questions any way you like. It’s nonfiction— Welcome! You got here in time.”

Thep’s avatar stood next to Kurokawa. “Who are these people? What’s—”

Kurokawa cut her off. “Don’t say anything! Please sit down.”

Thep frowned and looked down at him. She jammed her hands into the pockets of her Mother Mekong jacket but made no move to sit down.

“Love the logo.” Sascha smiled. “We’ll have to be sure and get that. Jean! Take a reading for her back. Do I have to tell you everything?” Sascha yelled at him.

The cameraman mumbled “Roger that.” He shifted the array from the monopod to his belt and started working his way around the sofa.

Sascha turned to Thep. “You’re from Mother Mekong, right? Nice to meet you. Now sit down.”

Thep looked around the office. Her eyes stopped between me and Yagodo. She had noticed what the masked man was holding.

“That’s an old-fashioned weapon. I saw a lot of those during the revolution. Do you know how to use it?”

The gunman snorted with amusement.

“Care for a demonstration?” asked Sascha. “Don’t get any silly ideas just because he can’t hurt your avatar. If you don’t cooperate, you know what will happen.”

Thep scowled and sat next to Kurokawa.

“Good girl. Keep being good, otherwise you’ll never see these two again, not even in AR.”

These two. Yagodo and me. That meant Kurokawa was one of the terrorists. I’d already noticed that the gunman paid no attention to him.

Kurokawa had a right to hate L&B and genetic engineering. His parents had been emotionally devastated. His health was permanently damaged. If that weren’t enough, he’d been trapped in a timeless limbo, treated like a guinea pig, and branded with a bar code. I’d seen the fresh welts on his shoulder, proof that his anger was still very much alive.

“Five minutes. Ready to roll, Jean? Eyes on the table, everybo— What are you grinning at?”

I stood up.
I’m sorry, Takashi,
I thought to myself.
I wanted to fight by your side.

“Sascha, if we’re going to put on a show, let’s do it right.”

“Didn’t you hear me? Sit down!”

I ignored her and grabbed the TerraVu feed. I threw my arms outward with a flick of the wrists. The image filled the entire office. At this huge magnification, the 3D image had a strange power. The floor was now an ocean. The image interpenetrated the desks and the furniture. The Mother Mekong pin was advancing over the horizon from the wall behind Kurokawa.

“What are you doing?”

“What do we have, four and a half minutes?” I pointed to the north side of the image, in Kurokawa’s direction. The islands of Indonesia were directly below the satellite.

“Want to make your program even more gripping? How about a live feed? Nguyen, come over here and get in the frame. You should get Gough to join us.”

Sascha gestured with her chin. I followed her line of sight to the masked man, who nodded once.

The right side of my head exploded and the back of it slammed against the wall. Something hard was shoved against my face, pinning me. My head felt hot above my right eye. A warmth was flowing down and pooling between my face and the gloved hand over my mouth.

I hadn’t even seen him move. He had attacked me with Physical Mixed Activity.

“Hayashida-san!” Thep cried out, but her response was delayed. She must have seen me slammed against the wall before she saw who did it.

“Open your mouth,” the gunman snapped. He could speak. His voice was oddly sweet and clear. He held up a clear capsule with his free hand. I could see the circuitry inside it. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I had to keep him from feeding it to me. I clenched my jaw.

“Nothing doing. I’ll break your teeth for you.” He pressed the heel of his hand on the tip of my jaw. I opened my mouth.

“Don’t give him a jammer!” shouted Sascha. “He’s the star of the show. He can’t answer questions if he’s immobilized.”

Now I knew what the capsule was. I felt a chill run up my spine. With my feedback chips jammed, I’d be paralyzed.

“Listen, Mamoru. Avatars don’t show injuries. Your bloody face won’t affect our shoot. Before I ask him to hit you again, would you mind telling me what you’re up to?”

The gunman took his hand away from my mouth. I glared at Sascha. The blood from my forehead ran into my eye and down my cheek.

“You know what I’m up to. The satellite will prove the Guardians of the Land are a bunch of unscrupulous terrorists.”

“Hayashida-san, you’re wrong.” Nguyen got out of her chair. “You people are the ones with no ethics. Drawing a giant logo across the surface of the planet is perverted. Genetic engineering is inherently harmful. Why is it so difficult for you to accept that? You saw all those people in wheelchairs and crutches in the park. So many people are suffering. Agent Orange was developed by a genetic engineering company. Vietnam was used as a testing ground for chemical weapons!”

“Bullshit. What about the biological weapon you’re using in Cambodia?”

“If it keeps corporations from doing even more damage to nature, who cares? It’s the only way!”

“The only way? You unleashed those creatures without a plan to stop them. You don’t even know what you’re dealing with.”

“That’s enough!” Sascha clapped her hands. “It’s almost time to roll camera. Nguyen, sit down and shut up. You’re a broken record. Vietnam, the Americans, defoliants. It was more than sixty years ago. No one remembers it, but it’s all
you
talk about.”

“But, Sascha, I …” Nguyen’s mouth trembled.

“I said shut up! Call Gough.” Nguyen sat down and assumed the default pose. She was calling Gough in Private Mode.

Sascha sighed. “Working with civilians is such a pain in the ass. Mamoru, would you please just sit down?”

“Sorry, I’m not your fall guy.”

“Neither am I. Why do I have to participate in your idiotic program?”

It was Kurokawa. His voice was quiet but firm. Sascha looked at him in astonishment.

“Wait a minute. Didn’t Gough explain all this to you?”

Kurokawa shook his head. Suddenly I had forgotten the ache above my eye.

“
What
? Are you shitting me?” Sascha gaped for a second before jabbing a long index finger at Nguyen. She was opening her mouth to speak when Gough’s avatar popped in, wearing a black safari jacket.

“Ready to roll, Sascha?”

“You!” Sascha took a step toward him. “I thought you recruited him. You said you’d deliver one of L&B’s victims. That’s the only reason I’m here. Who the hell do you think is paying you to camp out in Cambodia?”

Gough shrugged but didn’t seem too perturbed. “I contacted him, okay? So what if I never got an answer?”

“Don’t fuck with me!” Sascha brought a heel down on the floor. There was a snapping sound as it punched through the wood again. Yagodo put a hand over his face and sighed.

“Convince him. Now!” The masked man leveled his gun at Kurokawa.

“I don’t think that’s going to work, Sascha,” said Gough. He and Sascha looked down at Kurokawa. “I sent you a message, Mr. Kurokawa. I invited you to join Guardians of the Land and help us make our case by appearing on World Reporting. Are you saying you didn’t read it?”

“I get requests like that all the time, from all over the world—to be interviewed as a victim of genetic engineering, or about the dangers of physical augmentation. They’re all pretty much the same, and no, I don’t read them in detail. If you sent me a message … Is it this one? From July fifteenth?”

Kurokawa pulled a video message from his jacket pocket and tossed it on the table. Yagodo picked it up and scanned it. “This is it. Amateurish.”

“Is it? I thought it would be the perfect chance for you to get some justice,” said Gough.

“I don’t need your help,” said Kurokawa. He leaned back and crossed his legs. Gough turned to Sascha with upturned palms.

“Gough, you can’t wiggle out—” He cut her off and pointed to Kurokawa.

“Sascha, he’s not like these other idiots. He has a mind of his own, that’s all. Just do what you came to do. I’m handing you the scoop. A natural mutation proves the latest distilled crops are under no one’s control. Nature is fighting back against the best that genetic engineers can throw at it. It’s a story about nature’s fury and vengeance against the arrogance of technology. It’s perfect.”

He snapped his fingers and pointed at the pin that marked Mother Mekong’s location. It had topped the horizon and was advancing toward the center of the room.

“It’s showtime. I’ll give you an even better ringside seat. This should square things.” Gough suspended a bookmark over the table. A section of the satellite image snapped into crystal-clear detail. A line joined the image to the pin, which kept advancing. The 3D view was probably from a kite-mounted camera. We could almost make out individual stalks of SR06 and Purple Dusk. It was a degree of magnitude more detailed than the satellite image.

Good,
I thought.
We’ll see the whole thing.

“Yes, it’s showtime.” Everyone turned toward me. “But it won’t be about a mysterious crop mutation. You’re going to see Guardians of the Land claim responsibility for an act of terror.”

“I’d watch your tongue,” said Gough. I shook my head and motioned to the high-def image. Everyone leaned closer and peered at it.

Tiny pinpoints of light were appearing all along the divide between SR06 and Purple Dusk. “What is that?” Gough murmured.

Thep, who had been silent until now, gave a long sigh and sat back. “Beautiful.”

Nguyen was indignant. “What’s that supposed to be?”

Flashing points of light were spreading across the site. The mission’s Call Phase was starting. Sascha glared at me. “Huang, make him.”

Another blow to the face. My knees buckled and hit the table. I heard a popping sound. One of my contacts had been knocked free.

“Mamoru!” Thep and Kurokawa cried out after a slight delay. I touched my right eye and extracted the contact lens. The tiny chip embedded in the clear polymer was undamaged.

“Plant your ass on the sofa and stay there,” Sascha barked in English. She reached out and gave me a sharp poke in the head with a long fingernail. The translation engine had cut out. I heard her unprocessed English. The satellite image, Gough’s kite feed, and Thep’s and Gough’s avatars were gone. Huang grabbed me by the hair and dropped me like a sack on the sofa.

“You’re going to jail for this, Sascha,” said Yagodo.

“Should I worry about the police? Who’s going to call them?” I could see her shrugging through my blurred vision.

I looked at my lap and tried to focus. Out of a corner of my eye I could see Yagodo wagging a finger. He opened his mouth and pointed to it. Was he telling me to put the lens in my mouth?

“No hand signals, old man. Keep your eyes on the map.” Huang poked Yagodo in the back of the head again. He shrugged and concentrated on the center of the table.

I put the lens in my mouth and immediately felt feedback from the chips in my ears and throat. I was back in AR through my left eye. My right eye was practically swollen shut anyway.

Suddenly I heard Yagodo’s voice in my ears. It was a private message. “Both lenses have to be in wet contact with your body. This isn’t over yet. Don’t do anything rash.”

The man wasn’t afraid of anything. He was right, it was time to watch and wait. I sat back and kept my left eye on the feed from the site. Mother Mekong was wrapped in softly glowing, flashing points of light. Tens of millions of grasshoppers were working through the Call Phase, searching for the mission code. Soon one of them would hit the jackpot.

Almost there.

Now the 3D satellite image spread across the floor showed Mother Mekong too. The fluorescent green of SR06 was stained by a duller hue at the north edge of the site and in the surrounding jungle. The whole site was enveloped in soft clusters of light, like luminous froth. The clusters pulsed slowly, like some gigantic creature breathing.

The communication between tens of millions of grasshoppers searching for the mission code was visible from the satellite too. Gough leaned over the feed for a better view. He looked up at me.

“What is that glowing down there? Is that the grasshoppers? What have you done?”

“I told you. You’re going to tell the world what
you
did.”

“Yes, damn it, but how—” He was about to grab me by the shoulders but stopped. A sharper light was flashing in the zoom view, a white light different from the rest. The brilliant point rose and flew over the site, flashing as it went. It dipped and rose again and again. Everyone held their breath.