Kade said nothing. They sat in silence for a moment.
Come to my lab, she sent him. Accept the postdoc. Let the ERD think you're spying for them.
That hatred for the ERD. He could feel it at every thought of them.
Shu continued. We can feed them enough to keep them at bay. And in the meantime, we'll do some remarkable things of our own.
It washed over him. Images and plans from her mind. Mere glimpses. Paths towards boosted intelligence. Uploading minds from brains and into computers. Savant-like cognitive powers. Super memory. Pattern recognition that would put any data miner to shame. Knowledge banks shared mind to mind. True merger into group beings. Transformations of politics, economics, art… Intelligence and creativity that could pry apart the deepest mysteries of physics, of math, of every science known to man.
She would change the world. She would lift the human mind to new heights. He could be part of it. A posthuman, upgraded through her knowledge, empowered to help build this new world.
It was intoxicating. It was everything he wanted. How could he possibly say no?
Never swallow what they're selling whole. Ilya had said that. He had to fight to hang onto his skepticism, to push back against this seduction.
Would your government pervert my science as well? he asked her. Would they turn my discoveries into weapons?
Shu looked out at the horizon. He could feel the edges of her thoughts. She was thinking of something that had happened a long long time ago.
We hide the most important work, she said. But we have to give them some progress. For now.
And when does it stop? he asked.
Soon, she sent him. She sounded cold and distant in his mind. There is a war coming. A world war. Not between China and America. Between humans and posthumans. You see it all around you. The humans are doing everything they can to prevent the posthuman transition from occurring. While we are struggling to be free of their controls.
War. He turned the word over in his mind. A world war. People will die.
Look at the big picture, Kade. Imagine a world full of beings as far beyond humans as humans are beyond chimps. That is the future we could inhabit. That is a future we could help bring about. Doesn't that sound like a worthy goal?
It did. She knew it did.
Isn't that something worth making some sacrifices for? she asked him.
He struggled for the right words, the right way to explain it.
Other people's lives aren't yours to sacrifice, he sent.
Shu shrugged mentally. The world has more than eight billion people on it, she sent. Surely we can afford to lose a few.
That's what it came down to then. Would he be willing to let a few die to make the world a better place? A few dozen? A few thousand? A few million? Where would he draw the line?
Who would he kill for the freedom to improve his own mind? Who would he kill to rise to new heights? Who would he kill so that posthumans might be born?
Shu caught the thrust of his thoughts. This is directed evolution, she sent. How many generations would this take natural selection? Millions? The faster we uplift ourselves, the fewer who need die. Join me. Help move the work forward.
War. War over the human condition. War for the right to change oneself. War to create humanity's successor species. War to usher in a utopia. Had it begun already? Was the ERD an army, fighting to keep posthumans from coming into existence?
And evolution. Evolution was a bloody process indeed. War would mean epic numbers of dead.
It was too much for him. He was in over his head. He needed to step back, collect himself.
I need to think about this, Dr Shu.
He did his best to stay calm. This was too much, too much. It's a lot all at once, he sent.
She looked him in the eye. He could feel her evaluating him, feeling out his mind.
Of course, she replied.
Shu nodded, picked up the thread of their out-loud conversation. "Feng, what do you think of the weather?"
Feng lifted his eyes from his food to the horizon.
"Definitely coming this way," Feng said. "Rain here again in half an hour."
A thought struck Kade. Why don't you leave China? Why not come to the US?
Shu snorted mentally. I'd be even less free in your country. My government doesn't object to posthumans, so long as the first posthumans are Chinese. They want control. Fools. As if such beings will be bound by nationality.
So why not go somewhere else? Here in Thailand, maybe?
We're not all so free. He got a sense then, of an obligation, a mother's love. An image of a young girl, long black hair, dark eyes. Her daughter.
Her name is Ling, she sent him. It means "compassion."
She's your daughter.
Yes.
She's the leverage they have over you? he asked.
She's part of it, Shu replied.
Kade caught a glimpse of something else, then. An image of Shu, a younger Shu, a pregnant Shu, her belly huge, in a surgical theatre, her skull shaven, frightened, alone, in pain, about to go through something no one else had yet survived… And then something so huge it sent him reeling. A network of processors, vast computing power, vast storage. An incredible mind, epic in scope, something that subsumed Su-Yong Shu, stretched beyond her.
"Oh my god." He said it out loud, before he could control himself.
"Yes, it's beautiful." She was staring out at the sky, covering his gaffe.
Is that you? he asked her. You're an upload? You were sick… Is that it? You were forced to try. And you succeeded. You're the first digital being…
His mind was spinning. He was trying to make sense of the glimpse he'd seen.
She didn't answer for a moment. Kade felt the dread and awe climb up his spine, set the hairs on the back of his neck on end, chilling him even in the warm Bangkok night.
Please, she replied, I shouldn't have let you see that. The less you know, the safer for both of us.
They sat in silence for a while, watching the lightning illuminate the eastern sky.
"I think you should come visit my lab in Shanghai," Shu said aloud. "And perhaps your collaborator Rangan Shankari as well. You'll get to see the lab, meet the other postdocs and graduate students, some of the other faculty. We can get a better sense if there would be a good fit."
Say yes, she urged him. Your masters will believe you've done your part. We'll have time to discuss more later.
Thank you, Kade sent to her.
"I think that's a wonderful idea. Thank you for the invitation."
The check came.
Feng went to fetch the car, left them watching the storm approaching on the horizon. Lightning struck again, closer. Thunder boomed seconds later. Raindrops touched the far side of the river.