The Albino Knife (17 page)

"You have results to report?" Wall's image said.

Jambi, a pale-skinned man with kinky hair and blue eyes, looked petulant behind his clear facemask. "I have made the initial infection and it is functioning properly," he said. "But I must protest once again the choice of subject. The test-beast is old and infirm; a younger animal would be much better."

The construct said, "Your objection is noted, doctor."

Noted and disregarded. The hybrid electrovirus and its host bacteria and nanomachineries now circulated within the body of Hizta. True, the mastodon was somewhat past his prime, but Wall had a fondness for the old beast,who had been used extensively in breeding experiments with young females for a number of years. During his peak, Hizta had possessed an astounding virility and a matching eagerness to copulate with anything that would hold still long enough to allow him to penetrate it. Elephants, mastodons, curlnoses, Hizta was not particular once stimulated.

"How long before the circuitry is complete?"

Jambi looked at his chronograph."With the new enzymes and cell linkers, another two days."

"Call me as soon as the tests show he's ready."

"Of course.But I wish you would reconsider the subject. It would be easy to infect a better specimen and it would only delay the project a week at most."

"Hizta will do."

Wall broke the connection by dissolving his ersatz image. Two days! In two days, he would have at his command an organic brain rewired to be much like the viral matrix of the computer that he had become.

In two more days, he could wear the flesh once again, albeit that flesh would be an animal's.

No matter. He would be able tofeel again, to touch and taste and smell. Two days.

He did not allow himself to dwell on the possibility that the experiment might fail.

Jersey Reason lived on an island in thePuget Sound , between Old Canada and what had once been the States United.

DeCampIsland was twenty-five klicks west of the Bellingham Metroplex, and was a tiny, squarish-shaped chunk of land barely large enough to show even on local maps. Due to the neighboring military installation in the plex, the airspace over the island was restricted. Due to a freakish combination of atmospheric and magnetic factors,DeCampIsland was in a dead zone, impenetrable by all but the most tightly focused of radio beams. The place could be reached by private watercraft, but there were no scheduled ferries coming and going. DeCampIsland was a small and insignificant spot in a cold, gray salt waterway, and a place one had to make an effort to find and reach.

Dirisha explained this to the others as they headed toward the island in a pearly mist kicked up by the fans of the ten-passenger hovercraft they had rented inBellingham . Bork piloted the vehicle, which must surely qualify as an antique even here. The day was gray, and though the temperature was mild, the air felt chilly.

"Man likes his privacy, hey?" Sleel said.

Dirisha said, "So it would seem."

Ahead, the island loomed, and from the look of it, it was hardly impressive. Barely large enough to support the structures Dirisha could see through the thin fog. There was a large house, flanked by a smaller building that could be some kind of vehicle housing or workshop. The house was old, a three-story-high box with plastic textured-sheet siding and a blue tile roof, built in a vaguely pre-space Spanish style, complete with tall, arched windows. The garage or workshop was in the same mold. A third structure, a squat plastcrete oval,rose only a couple of meters from the ground at its tallest. There was something of a yard around the buildings, with grass and low, trimmed bushes. There were no signs of a boat or any other vehicle.

"Doesn't look like he gets out much," Geneva offered.

"You think he knows we're coming?" Bork asked.

"I expect so," Dirisha said.

"I don't see how," Sleel said. "We didn't call; you pointed out that the place is shit for radio orvis reception. He got a crystal ball?"

"Well, he could just look out the window," Geneva said. "He could see anything for ten klicks and if he's got any kind of optics, he'd notice something this big to the horizon, you think?"

"I'd love to have this place in a defense scenario," Bork said.

Sleel chewed on that."Yeah, maybe so. If you can't come at the place by air without a couple of military hoppers bracketing you, that narrows it down.Got to move over the water or under it. And you'd have to come up when you got to the island. You could line the perimeter with proxy-mines or a trip-track gun and make things hot for unwanted company."

"Unless the company was official," Geneva said. "Then air would be okay."

"Still see it coming a long way off, though," Bork said. "Couple of missiles on the roof…"

Dirisha grinned. It was good to see her friends thinking tactically again. They'd all been away from it a long time.

"Yeah, that's all well and good," Sleel said, "but you got no place to run if the heat comes down. Same rules apply to you. You can see them, they can see you. You try to take off, you're just as visible."

"Maybe he's only worried about unofficial visitors," Dirisha said.

"Yeah?How good was this old geep?"

Dirisha chuckled at Sleel. "He was the best thief in the galaxy at one time. In the biz for forty-some odd years and never did a day of lock-time. The Confed never could pin anything on him and he mostly retired by the time the Republic came online."

Sleel nodded. "That's not bad."

Geneva laughed. "Damn, Sleel, that's almost a compliment. Better watch yourself."

"Yeah, well, if we can justcome tooling up to this guy this easy, he's maybe not so sharp anymore. We could just as easily be out to splash him as not; how's he to know?"

That was a good question.

Veate had to admit that Khadaji had so far been operating at a level a lot higher than she had expected.

Or had wanted to expect. As they left the frozen area around the bubble-town, she considered her thoughts about her father. True, they had not found Juete. Still, Khadaji's confidence did not seem dimmed. If he had any doubts, they were not apparent. And while their progress did not seem to have brought them any closer to her mother, Veate felt in a way she could not put into words that they were getting closer somehow. It was an eerie sensation, but no stranger than sitting next to a man she had grown up hating and finding that despite that, she was beginning tolike being around him.

No. She was not ready to give that particular anger up yet. It was a wound that she did not want to heal.

Still, Khadaji did not behave as she had pictured him behaving. There was none of the megalomania she had expected, no arrogance. He admitted to being afraid, he confessed that he felt doubts, he easily spoke of luck being a major factor in his triumph. No, he didn't pretend to a false modesty, he said he was good—but he never hinted at being great.

As the flitter zipped through the frigid air, Veate stole a quick glance at Khadaji. Despite all her years of anger, there had always been a tiny piece of her that took a certain pride in what he had done. She never voiced it to anyone, but hewas her father and hehad changed the galaxy in which people lived.And for the better, too. Maybe he had done it for more than just his own ego. He hadn't hesitated before agreeing to help her find her mother. Maybe he still did feel something for Juete as he had said.

Maybe he wasn't all bad.

In that moment, Veate realized she was going to have to work at it if she wanted to maintain her anger. It was a major thought. It made herwant to shut her eyes and pretend that it hadn't come to her. Damn!

Why couldn't he be as bad as she had wanted him to be?

"Where are we going?" she said.

"To the Bellingham Metroplex.To meet some old friends."

Wall maintained a calmness he certainly did not feel when he spoke to his hired medic. "The computer checks are all successful?"

"Of course.I did not expect it otherwise."

He was an arrogant bastard, but if he pulled this off, he had earned the right, Wall thought.

"Give me the relay codes."

"You are ready to begin the transfer?"

"Immediately."

"Very well.My monitors are in place," Jambi said. "There's an automatic abort and retrieve set at—"

"No," Wall said. "Don't pull the program unless you get a direct request from me."

"Unwise. The transfer is risky. The computer you intend to use is fragile in many ways. It could overload the organic brain. Such damage could rebound."

"The risk is minimal."

"Still, it is there. Another specimen can be infected and brought to term in ten days, should anything happen to the mastodon, but the rebound might damage your computer's circuits. Certainly it would scramble the program somewhat."

"Then I trust that you will make certain that there will be no problems."

"I can't guarantee that—"

"I thought you were supposed to be the best there is at this?"

"I am! But even the best cannot lay claim to omnipotence!"

I think perhaps you might be wrong, Wall thought. But he did not communicate this to the doctor.

"We will take the risk. Stand by for the transfer. I will upload my program into the comcircuit."

"It's your computer."

You don't know how right you are, Wall thought.

A hidden sensor must have seen Dirisha and Sleel as they approached the front entrance to Jersey Reason's house. While Bork and Geneva had also left the vehicle, they had separated and stayed well away from the others.

"Do I know you?"came a voice from the entrance. The voice was gruff, fairly deep, and age-roughened.

Dirisha recognized it from her last meeting with Reason, even though that had been ten years earlier.

"Dirisha Zuri. We did some personal biz once."

"Ah.Dirisha. Hold on a second, I'll open the door."

"This is my friend, Sleel. And I've got a couple other people with me."

The door swung open on noiseless hinges, operated by remote control, since no one was there. "Sure.

Bring 'em in."

Dirisha didn't need to relay that, since her dentcom was running. Bork and Geneva drifted into view.

"Down the hall and first door on the left," Reason's voice directed."The library."

Nice place, Dirisha thought. Thick carpets made to look like some animal pelt, a dark, rich blue-black.

Walls done in a complementary color, no pictures.

The library door opened, revealing an impressive room. Most of the walls were shelves, floor to ceiling, and stacked with antique tape cases, disk cartridges, and even bound hardcopy books. A wood fire or close approximation of one was burning cheerily in the gray stone fireplace to their left, and Reason himself sat in an overstuffed wingback chair— the thing had to be eight or nine hundred years old, if Dirisha was any judge of such things. He had a book on his lap, and he smiled at the four of them as they entered the room.

Jersey Reason was notso impressive as the room. He was a short, almost tiny man, with thick, white hair and a very short beard, also white. His face was wrinkled, especially with smile lines at the corners of his pale blue eyes, and his skin was sun-damaged and tanned. He wore a black-and-white patterned kimono belted at the waist, and slippers.

"Ah, my night-child Dirisha.How long has it been?A decade or more, eh?" He smiled, showing perfect teeth.

The size of the man belied the deep voice. Dirisha had thought that Reason talked a lot bigger than he was when she'd met him before, and the ten years had shrunk him even more, but the voice still boomed with power.

Sleel leaned over to whisper to Dirisha.

"Something's wrong here," he said. "If this geep is so good, why'd he let us just stroll in?"

"For all you know we're standing in a zap field or under a dozen gunsights."

"Maybe.But something's wrong with him, too."

"So, Dirisha, what brings you to Earth?You and your three friends?"

"Excuse my manners," Dirisha said. "This is Sleel, Bork and Geneva ."

"I've heard of them," Reason said."Nice to meet you."

"We need some help," Dirisha said. "We've run into something strange."

Reason raised one thick, white eyebrow."Yeah?"

At that point, Sleel raised his left hand, slowly and casually—and fired his spetsdod, aiming directly at Reason's forehead.

Dirisha snapped her gaze away from Reason."Sleel!"

"Told you something was wrong," Sleel said. "Look."

Dirisha glanced back at the old man. He smiled at them.

"What—?" she began.

"That dart should have hit him right between the eyes," Sleel said. "It didn't miss and it didn't bounce off; I was watching. Where is it?"

Reason stood, and while he did it slowly, all four of his visitors pointed at least one weapon each at him as he moved. The old man's grin increased. He turned and put one finger against the back of the overstuffed chair. "There's your dart, Sleel.Right where you aimed it."

There was a tiny hole in the fabric of the chair.

Dirisha understood almost immediately. Bork said it first: "He's a holoproj."

Reason walked toward them, until he was no more than two meters away.

"Incredible," Geneva said. "Even this close I can't see the scan lines."

Bork stepped forward and waved his hand back and forth. As his arm entered the image of Reason, it disappeared as if it had plunged into a solid.

"That's the best holographic projection I've ever seen," Dirisha said.

"It's the best anybody has ever seen," said the image of Jersey Reason. "And the chair is rigged with a pheromone and scent pump. At five meters, it can fool a dog because itsmells like me, too. How did you figure it out, Sleel?"

Sleel shrugged. "It didn't feel right."

"I'm in the blockhouse," Reason said. "Come on over and let's talk."

Dirisha looked at Sleel, who grinned and waggled his eyebrows. She shook her head.Gods. There'd be no living with him for at least a month.

Chapter Fifteen

IF WALL HAD tended toward believing in the metaphysical, he would have probably gone mad when first he had awakened to find himself reincarnated as a computer. Even though he had known the theory, the practice was another thing. The idea of transferring a portion of his self into the radically altered brain of a mastodon would have seemed equally crazed only a few short years past. And yet, here he was.