Nexus (18 page)

  Greater connectedness that we'll develop? thought Kade. Is he talking about brain-to-brain communication? About Nexus?

  "For now, I thank you for listening to the thoughts of a layperson. As both a Thai and a Buddhist, I welcome you to Thailand, and I open these proceedings." He momentarily bowed his head.

  The orange-robed monks in the audience were on their feet in a moment, followed a split second later by the other Thai attendees, applauding thunderously. Kade found himself on his feet as well, genuinely surprised and impressed.

  Rama X again waved the crowd into their seats. "Now, I have the privilege to introduce Professor Somdet Phra Ananda. He is both one of the most learned Buddhist monks in our country and simultaneously the chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Chulalongkorn University. He is also my friend. Professor Ananda!"

  There was applause again, seated this time, as a sixty-something man in orange robes walked on stage, bowed deeply to the king, and took the lectern.

  Somdet Phra Ananda filled in some of the details underlying the King's vision of a new paradigm in neuroscience. He showed study after study demonstrating the ways that cognition occurred in groups, that ideas could leap between minds, that individuals affected each other in deep and surprising ways. But it was his closing comments that were most provocative for Kade.

  "Today the technology exists to directly connect the neural activity of one brain to the neural activity of another. As this happens, the need for a neuroscience of groups of minds will become more and more urgent.

  "The evolution of language marked a great leap forward for our species. It boosted our cognitive abilities by webbing us together into larger, more powerful group minds. I believe that another quantum step in human cognition awaits us on the other side of direct linkage of our brains and minds to one another. Those linkages are here and are rapidly spreading. To understand and peacefully direct the transformation they represent, we must try to recreate neuroscience through the paradigm of groups of connected brains, and we must do so immediately. Thank you."

  There was applause again, this time originating from scientists and monks as one. Kade found himself absentmindedly drumming his fingers on his slate.

  Ananda was definitely talking about Nexus, Kade thought, or something like it. Are people in Thailand working with it? Does the king support it?

  He had a lot to think about. People were filing out of the hall. He stood up to find his way out, still lost in thought. A tall Thai student with red spiky hair bumped into him in the crowded press for the doors.

  "Oh, sorry, man."

  "No prob," Kade replied.

  "Hey, nice T-shirt!"

  Kade looked down at his chest. He was wearing his favorite DJ Axon shirt, the one with Rangan's face and alternating sine waves superimposed over a brilliantly blue glowing neuronal protrusion, obviously about to pulse forth enormous energies, presumably in the form of sick beats.

  He chuckled. "Yeah, thanks. He's a friend."

  "No way!" the student replied. "You know DJ Axon?"

  Kade grinned. "Yep. He's a lab mate. We're both in the Sanchez Lab, UCSF."

  "That is so cool, man! He makes awesome music! We listen to his mixes all the time." The student held out his hand. "I'm Narong."

  Kade took it. "Kade," he replied.

  "You coming to the neuroscience students' mixer tomorrow night?"

  "Umm, I hadn't really made any plans."

  "You should come," Narong said. He handed Kade a flyer. "We're putting it on. Thai Neuroscience Students Association. I'm the secretary."

  "I'll think about it," Kade said.

  "Yeah, man. It'll be fun. It's at a bar downtown. It'll be the most awesome thing happening in the 'Kok tomorrow night! And no professors allowed!" Narong laughed.

  Kade laughed despite himself. What about American spies? he thought. "I'll think about it."

  They'd reached the doors.

  "Right on, man. See you tomorrow night." Narong patted Kade on the arm and was off.

  Sam was waiting outside the doors, studying the program on her slate. She looked up as Kade approached.

  "How'd you like the plenary?"

  "I think Ilya would have loved it," he said.

  Sam nodded. "Yeah. You're probably right."

  "What did you think of it?" Kade asked.

  Sam seemed to think about that for a moment. "Idealistic," she replied. "A little scary." She paused for a moment longer. "A lot naïve."

  Kade shrugged. Why did I ask?

  "What now?" Kade asked.

  Sam shrugged. "I'm going to check out some of the talks on the augmentation track. Good to keep up on that sort of stuff. We don't have to see the same talks."

  Kade was a little surprised. He'd expected Sam to keep a closer eye on him.

  "Sure. And, umm, I got invited to this thing tomorrow tonight." Kade handed her the flyer. "What do you think?"

  Sam looked it over, front and back, shrugged. "Looks like fun to me."

  They parted ways. Kade saw talk after talk, most of them quite fascinating. He chatted with scientists from across the globe, tried to keep track of their names and what they were working on. By 5pm, Kade's head was full and jet lag was making his eyelids heavy. He told Sam he was heading back to the hotel for a nap and would meet her at the opening reception tonight.

  He took the Bangkok subway instead of a tuk-tuk on the way back. It meant he had to walk a few blocks in the muggy heat, but it was less nerve-wracking than an open-sided vehicle in the suicidal Bangkok traffic.

  The hotel lobby was a blessed oasis of cool air. Kade could feel the sweat under his shirt and on his brow begin to condense immediately. He took the elevator up and carded himself into his room. He tossed his new conference tote bag into one corner and kicked off his shoes. The bed was freshly made, with a pair of mints and a folded card sitting on the pillow. Kade popped one of the mints into his mouth, and opened the card. It was a comment card where he could rate the service. Kade was about to toss it when something odd happened. The text on the card disappeared and new text appeared line by line.

 

  Kade. Act natural. This message will appear and then disappear in thirty seconds.

  I have the means to extract you from your current situation. I can provide a new identity and a clean getaway. Other paths will end with you in an ERD prison or dead, regardless of what they may have told you. You are too dangerous for them to allow to wander freely.

  If you are ready to get out, choose "very unsatisfied" on the "overall experience" line of this comment card. I will then provide additional instructions.

  Assume your phone and all net access is monitored and that your clothes and self are bugged. Make no mention of this via any medium.

  This text will now disappear. Fill out the comment card to avoid suspicion.
  Wats

 

  Wats.
Wats
. Wats! He was alive. He was here.

  Kade went back and read the note a second time, the words disappearing as he did so, the original hotel evaluation appearing once again on the page. His heart was pounding. He activated the serenity package to calm himself, hoping that Sam hadn't noticed his sudden burst of excitement, and took the card over to the small writing desk.

  He found a pen on the desk, filled in other parts of the evaluation as he thought furiously.

  Is the ERD really going to jail or kill me no matter what?

  Room – Price/Value: He chose "Satisfied".

  How do I know this is really from Wats?

  Room – Comfort: Very Satisfied

  Could this be a trick? An ERD test? But then why say that I'll be killed or jailed either way?

  Room – Cleanliness: Satisfied

  If the note is real, can Wats really get me away?

  Room – Appearance: Very Satisfied

  But… Nothing's changed. If I run, it's jail for Ilya and Rangan and dozens of other people. They're all counting on me.

  Room – Bathrooms: Satisfied

  Shit. Fucked if I do, fucked if I don't.

  Staff – Friendliness: Satisfied

  No… It's other people who get fucked if I run. People I care about.

  Staff – Efficiency: Satisfied

  Well, shit.

  Overall Service: _________

  Kade's pen hovered over the line. It was really no choice at all. Maybe he would end up in jail or dead if he stuck with this mission. But if he bailed, friends of his would end up in jail for certain. He had to take the chance. The ERD held all the cards right now.

  Overall Service: Satisfied

  Kade sighed. It was the right choice.

  He stripped off the rest of his clothes, swallowed the other mint, and collapsed into bed.

  Wats. How do I reach him? Is he here just for me?

  Shit, shit, shit.

  He rolled over and closed his eyes.

  Kade knew what Wats had gone through, how the experiences he'd had, experiences made possible by Nexus, had changed him. He knew his friend believed that Nexus could change people, that it could end wars, that it could be a technology to make the world a better place. But not everyone was like Wats. Not everyone would respond that way. Most wouldn't be willing.

  And Nexus 5 just wasn't ready. It was too dangerous to put into most people's hands. It would be too easy to use it to control people, to abuse them.
A scientist is responsible for the consequences of his work
, as his dad had told him over and over again. Kade wasn't going to have some of the possible consequences on his head.

  Wats, if that was Wats, shouldn't have come. He was just putting his own life at risk.

  Sleep came at last, briefly, but his dreams brought him no comfort.

 
 

The opening night reception was held in the ballroom of the Queen Sirikit Convention Center. Scientists milled about in shirt sleeves and the occasional tie, mixing with orange-robed monks and formally dressed serving staff. Kade could feel Sam down the Nexus link across their phones. She was here somewhere, sharp and alert.

  Kade got a beer with one of his drink tickets and wandered about. He chatted with half a dozen scientists on a range of topics. Neural plasticity. The effects of religion on the brain. The similarity in neural impacts of music, drugs, and meditation. The theoretical limits of human intelligence.

  Someone walked past him, and he got a view of Sam. She was chatting with Narong, wine glass in hand, big smiles on their faces. Narong said something and she laughed. She put a hand on his arm, said something back, and then turned towards the restrooms. Narong watched her go, eyes glued to her ass. 

  [kade] You have an admirer. 

  [sam] Don't scare him off.

  [kade] Don't you have work to do?

  [sam] That's work, Kade. Your new buddy Narong is a known associate of Suk Prat-Nung. That name ring a bell?

  [kade] As in Ted Prat-Nung?

  [sam] Suk Prat-Nung is Thanom Prat-Nung's nephew. He's also involved in Nexus distribution himself, we think.

  Thanom "Ted" Prat-Nung. The Thai drug dealer. The one they'd said was possibly the largest dealer of Nexus on the planet. The one pictured in the photo with Su-Yong Shu in Thailand. Narong was connected to his nephew.

  [kade] You couldn't have mentioned this earlier? 

  [sam] I didn't know until just now. 

  [kade] ?

  [sam] Narong just matched an unidentified voiceprint that we have tagged as belonging to an associate of Suk's.

  [kade] Are you seriously voice-printing everyone you talk to?

  [sam] Yes. Matching all the faces if we can too. 

  [kade] You people scare me.

  [sam] The people at this conference scare me a lot more.

  Kade wandered on. And then there was Su-Yong Shu, tall and elegant, surrounded by a gaggle of other neuroscientists, holding court, a large smile on her face and a glass of wine in her hand. Someone in the crowd said something and she arched an eyebrow. Her charisma was evident even from across the room. There was something about her. An intensity. A ferocity in the eyes and the smile and the laugh. It sent a chill up his spine.

  Kade was about to turn and walk away when Shu's eyes passed over him, and she raised a hand to wave him over. Kade felt his chest tighten. He'd practiced this half a hundred times. He could do this.

  Kade activated the serenity package, tuned it up halfway. He strolled towards the crowd around her, a relaxed smile on his face. As he walked he sent a single message to Sam, then suppressed all Nexus transmit functions within his brain. Mind-to-mind contact was to be avoided if at all possible.

  Kade got within earshot in time to hear Shu finish a thought in British-inflected English.

  "…opening plenary was refreshingly farsighted. The Thai are very lucky to have this leadership."

  The crowd had formed a ring around her and someone else. A well-dressed male. Kade knew that face. Arlen Franks. Director of the American National Institute of Mental Health. The source of the bulk of Kade's funding.

  "The opening speakers were talking about technology that's illegal," Franks said. "Posthuman technology, Professor Shu. They were embracing it."

  "They were talking about a very real transformation, Dr. Franks," Shu replied. "An inevitable one. Ignore that all you want. I, for one, applaud them."

  Definitely, Kade thought. That was the most interesting talk all day.

  "Scientists have to show respect for the law, Professor," Franks replied.