Jade Dragon (32 page)

“America’s President Estevez comes to blows in a White House press
conference with a reporter, after allegations of financial irregularity
turn ugly.”

“A diplomatic storm erupts as the Nippon Space Agency steps in to
rescue a crew of Chinese taikonauts after an accident in orbit.”

“Residents in the city of Cologne report the apparent spontaneous
formation of an insect group mind.”

“And the Neo-Aum Shinrikyo group officially announce their dissolution
and absorption into the growing international faith known as the Church
of Joseph.”

“But first, breaking news from the city-state of Hong Kong (please
touch the blue dot on your d-screen for direct neural input of the raw
info-feed. Infra-red and Greentooth settings are supported).”

“Today, this vibrant metropolis stands traumatized and silent after
what General Jet Li of the Army of the People’s Republic of China called
‘an unprovoked and ruthless attack on this peaceful city’. At a press
conference in Shenzhen, General Li, commander-in-chief of Hong Kong’s
Domestic Security Directorate and Police Battalion, described how an
anti-corporate faction launched a multi-pronged assault via internet
denial-of-service attacks, the detonation of several timed bombs and the
release of powerful hallucinogenic compounds into Hong Kong’s municipal
water supply. Victims of this psychological onslaught suffered traumatic
visions and mass hysteria, although the effects appear to be temporary.
Mobile APRC medical squads have been deployed throughout the area to
deal with the catastrophe, and crisis-management units from several
major corporations are en route, although Beijing has flatly refused to
allow United Nations MediForce teams to enter Hong Kong airspace. Among
the key targets for the terrorists was the headquarters of Yuk Lung
Heavy Industries, which was wiped off the map by a massive explosion.
Yuk Lung’s reclusive CEO is among the dead at this hour. While the
perpetrators of this terrible act have yet to be identified, some
intelligence analysts suggest that the America Alone Alliance Army may
have had a hand in the incident, after their failed attack on the
Cantonese idol singer Juno Qwan earlier this month. Qwan, along with
several thousand of her fans, perished at the Wyldsky free concert,
which was taking place on Victoria Peak at the time—yet more victims of
this terrible event. Other theories lay the blame upon anti-corporate
factions who may have used the concert as a cover for the attack.
Reports coming out of the city are sketchy; eyewitness blogs suggest
that the destruction of the Yuk Lung skyscraper occurred several hours
after the terrorist strike, some even claiming that the tower was
obliterated not by an internal detonation as the APRC statement
suggests, but by a missile fired from an unknown location. There are
also unconfirmed rumours that elements within the Yuk Lung Corporation
may have been fully aware of the attack and yet did nothing to prevent
it. We will bring you more on this story as it unfolds. Over to you,
Dot.”

“Troubling times, indeed, Web. Now, with more on that swarm of
superintelligent wasps in Cologne, here’s our German correspondent,
Sieben AufNeun.”

bip bippa bip bip bip scree beeep bippa hip zzzzt

“We’re sorry, but Sieben appears to be experiencing technical
difficulties. Back to you, Ray.”

They buried Juno at a hillside cemetery, not far from the place where
she had died. Sifu Bruce arranged a headstone, even in the traumatic
aftermath of things finding a way to get this small but important matter
arranged for the dead girl. The piece of granite was simple and without
scrollwork or detail. It bore only her name, no date of birth, no date
of passing. Lam, the wageslave—well, ex-wageslave now—had explained, in
a quiet and unsteady voice, just what she really was, where she had come
from. He had her files, memory cores full of DNA patterns and zygote
fabrication specs. Despite all that, the man didn’t seem to care any
less about her.

Ko looked on and listened to Fixx as he made signs over the fresh grave
and spoke about worlds beyond this one. The young man studied the turned
earth over Juno’s coffin and wondered about all the other Junos that had
come and gone before her, or the ones that had died still trapped inside
tanks of amniotic fluid as the YLHI building collapsed. They would never
be set to rest. In a way, this was a funeral for all of them as well.

Fixx looked under the weather, but he hid it well, insisting that he was
already on the mend. The operative spoke vaguely about somebody called
Lucy living over Kowloon side, who knew about medical stuff and the
business of healing. The dark-skinned man had a new companion, a cat;
the animal had the feral look of a stray about it, but one of its eyes
was a mechanical augmentation and it watched the proceedings with more
than just feline interest.

Ko said nothing as Fixx bent down and placed a single tarot card against
Juno’s tombstone. He didn’t need to look to know there was a priestess
with a beatific face upon it, head turned to the sky and smiling.

“Ko.” Lam approached him. He looked different out of the spidersilk
suit, in casual clothes. Ko saw the hollowness in his eyes, the sadness
and the loss, and felt a pang of sympathy for the man.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. “If I had got there quicker—”

Lam shook his head. “It’s not your fault. You dealt with that bastard
Tze. You have nothing to apologise about.” He nodded up to where the
road snaked through the graveyard. There were a string of vehicles up
there, among them Fixx’s black Korvette with Nikita dozing in the back
seat, her head resting against the window.

They were almost alone in the cemetery. The other cars belonged to a
group of shaven-headed Durdenists, chanting their death rites over a
lost member of their number a few plots down the hillside. Ko let his
gaze wander over the cityscape.

All across Hong Kong the streets were sparsely populated. The population
stayed at home and held close to those they loved, finding solace in
simple human company. There would be nightmares for a long time to come.
Church congregations of all kinds would swell, as would the lines at
psych clinics and Doktor-Shrink™ franchises across the city; in a few
years, someone would estimate that a full eighth of Hong Kong’s citizens
suffered permanent psychotic breaks in the wake of the catastrophic
“Wyldsky Incident”.

Lam indicated the Korvette. “How is Nikita?”

“No better,” admitted Ko, “but no worse either. I guess when the whole
thing fell apart, the pain stopped.” He tapped his head. “Up here. But
she’s gotta long way to go before she’s better.”

The other man nodded. “This might help her some.” Lam produced a thick
folder from a pocket in his jacket and opened it. It was a wad of share
certificates from minor league multinats like Buell Tool, Inverse Smile
and Titancorp. “Take these,” he said. “They’re as good as cash. You
never did get paid for bringing me the truth about my brother.”

Ko accepted the bundle. “This has gotta be, what, worth twice as much as
we agreed?”

Lam shrugged. “Something like that. When I bailed out from Yuk Lung, I
set some contingency plans in motion, which involved wide-banding
certain corporate secrets my brother had been gathering together. Before
I did that, though, I made sure I channelled a big chunk of yuan from
Tze’s discretionary funds into a sealed Swiss account.”

Ko chuckled. “That’s a fair enough revenge. Yuk Lung Heavy Industries
will be history before the end of the week.” He pocketed the folder and
produced something from his coat. “Got something for you too. Your
phone.” Ko handed it back and paused, thinking. “Remember what you said,
when we were on the expressway? That you used to be like me?”

“I remember.”

“I think I believe you now. Only someone Street would do what you did.
You might have lost your octane for a while, but you got it back, neh?
It’s in your blood, man, the need for speed.”

“Yeah,” said the other man distantly. “Listen, could you… give me a
moment?” He looked at the grave.

Ko nodded and followed Fixx toward the trees. “Sure, man. Say your
goodbyes. ”

“Thanks, Ko.”

“You’re welcome… Francis.”

He reached out a hand and let his fingers wander over the stone. It was
cool and solid, and the action made his eyes prickle with tears. Frankie
had hoped that his fingers would pass through the marker, ghost-like,
that perhaps he might suddenly realise that all this was in his head. He
wanted so much for it to be some horrible dream, a broken fragment left
over from Tze’s invasion of his thoughts.

But no. Juno was gone, the dancing, laughing sparkle in those haunted
eyes snuffed out. The tragedy of her life brought to the inexorable
closure that had been written into her DNA from the start.

Numbly, in the hours after he and Fixx escaped from the tower, Frankie
paged through the reams of data he had drained from Tze s computers.
There, bereft of the security lockouts that had blocked his path before,
was the scope of Project: Juno in all her synthetic glory. Yuk Lung and
RedWhiteBlue had manufactured her from raw flesh, manipulated and
changed her to make the perfect idol. With callous precision, they
adjusted her look and personality to touch a baseline of human
attraction across the broadest spectrum. She was made so everyone who
saw her, everyone who heard her voice would find something to like about
Juno. Something to love.

He recalled Tze’s words:
Quite something, isn’t she? It’s hard not fall
for a woman like that.

It wasn’t enough that they had used the girl, and not just her but a
whole rank of clone-sisters, treating the Junos as disposable assets
just to sell records; Tze had perverted her further, making her the face
of his scheme, using her to spread the use of Z3N.

Frankie took a shuddering breath. Tze was correct; Juno was created to
make people fall in love with her, and Frankie had, harder and deeper
than ever before. But did she love him too? Perhaps, he told himself,
perhaps she was so carefully machined that he only
thought
she cared
for him. It was obvious now that the Hi woman and Tze had brought the
two of them together to keep Frankie distracted from what was really
happening. So easy to see it now in hindsight.

His vision blurred a little, and for a second there was the ghost of her
face before him, smiling up from the silk sheets, meeting his lips in a
kiss.

In that moment, he knew it for sure. Frankie gave Juno the one thing she
had never found in her lonely, sad existence.
Truth,
and she loved him
for it.

Frankie bowed his head and wept silently.

Fixx put the cat on his shoulder and the animal made a short purr in its
throat. “Hush up, Pinkeye,” he told it.

“Cute pet,” said Ko, in a way that showed he didn’t mean it.

“Just walking him for a friend. ”The op pulled a small metal rod from
his pocket. “Here.”

Ko took it and his eyes widened. “The key to the ’Vette?”

“Yeah. It’s just a loaner, mind. Get you over the boundary into China,
to someplace where you can use those jet tickets and not get spiked.
She’s pre-programmed, just let her go when you’re done and she’ll find
her way back to me.”

The youth weighed the key in his hand, studying the little chrome skull
dangling off the ring. “What you gonna do without any wheels?”

“Ah, don’t worry ’bout me.” Fixx took a deep breath of the morning air.
“I kinda like this place. They do things different ’round here. Gonna
stay put for a while, rest up. See how the cards play.”

After a moment, Ko said, “I’ve never been out of Hong Kong, not really.
Trips to Bangkok, a week here or there. I don’t know anything else.”

“Yeah, you do,” said Fixx. “You got what you need to get by, slick.
Never doubt that.” He tickled the cat under the chin. “Me and Pinkeye,
we’re gonna take a stroll. You look after your sis, now.” He turned and
walked away down the gentle slope.

“Hey,” called Ko, “maybe I’ll, uh, see you around?”

Fixx spoke without looking back. “Never can tell.”

Feng sat cross-legged on the bonnet of the Korvette, watching the
skyline. Ko found a smile unfolding on his face at the sight of the
swordsman; after taking Tze’s head in the statue park, it had felt like
something had gone missing from his soul. He hadn’t seen the warrior
since.

“Hey,” he began, patting his pockets, “you wanna smoke? Think I got a
pack of Peacefuls here—”

“I quit,” said Feng. “Filthy habit.”

Ko blew out a breath. “You saved my life up there. ”

“Perhaps I did.” The soldier jumped off the car. “Or maybe you did it.
Maybe that festering turd Second Lei was right all along, that I don’t
exist. Perhaps, I’m all in your head.”

“No,” said the youth. He didn’t like where the conversation was going.

Feng smiled. He looked better than usual. No stubble, clear-eyed,
standing up straight, armour polished. Ko imagined this was how he would
have looked on some feudal parade ground, noble and proud. “Or maybe
not. It’s a strange world, Ko. I have as many questions about it as you
do.”

“The bones in the statue… That was you.”

“Indeed.” Feng pointed toward the peak. “Buried up there now with all
those other luckless fools. Not quite the funeral I wanted, but I’ve
learned not to be choosy. After all this time, an end is an end.”

Ko’s chest felt tight. “You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question.

“I’m free,” he said. “Free to go.” Suddenly, Ko couldn’t find any words.
Feng nodded down the road a way. “Look there!”

Ko saw Frankie at the door of a car belonging to the Durdenists. In a
moment, the man had bypassed the lock and slid inside. With deft
movements, he disabled the alarm, and as the irate owners came running,
Frankie gunned the engine and roared away in a snarl of smoke. The
shaven-headed men spat and swore, and the car vanished over the hill,
sounding its horn three times.