"Come, Kade," Shu said a few minutes later. "Feng will have the car by now. We can drop you off at your next engagement." He felt her release him fully, then. His body and his mind were his once more. It felt good.
The Opal pulled around, glistening in the rain that was now beginning to fall. Feng held open the door for Shu, and then for Kade, and then they were on their way. They drove in silence for a few moments, before Shu reached out to him again.
You will need to choose soon, Kade. Organizations like the ERD exist to stop humans from taking the next step. Conflict is inevitable. She paused. You have to decide if you're on the side of progress… or on the side of stagnation.
Kade considered that.
I'm on the side of peace, he sent, and freedom.
Shu mentally chuckled. You are so naïve.
Kade didn't reply. Wet, neon-streaked streets slid by outside the car's windows.
Kade, Shu sounded more serious now, the ERD will probe your memories of our dinner. We must prepare you for that, with an alternate script. Open yourself to me.
Do I have a choice? he asked her.
I won't force you. But if our conversation is unearthed by the ERD, it will not go well for you or those you care about.
False memories. Again. Yet she was right.
Will I forget what just happened? he asked her.
Oh no. I am not so crude. You will remember. But I will give you a second set of memories you can share with others. You will only forget the truth if you are under duress.
Kade sighed. There was no way around this.
OK, he sent her. Let's get on with it.
He opened his mind to her. Her thoughts flowed into him, suffused him, pressed all else aside. Consciousness receded.
When he came to, he felt the same. Then she showed him, and he understood. He remembered the truth. And he remembered an alternate event, just a slight twist on what had actually happened.
It awed him. In minutes she'd made a change to his mind of a subtlety and sophistication he wouldn't have believed possible. His mind could be completely hers, Kade realized. Shu could do anything with him that she wanted. The scope of her ability to manipulate his mind was staggering.
She was posthuman already.
Wats watched through the scope of the rifle as the man with the all-too-familiar face left Shu and Kade and headed back to the car. Wats used the scope to capture images of that face and video of his gait. Who was this man who was driving Shu?
Could he be wrong on the face? He didn't think so. The last man to wear that face had made a powerful impression. He'd killed four heavily augmented special forces Marines with his bare hands before they'd taken him down. That wasn't something Wats was likely to forget.
Could this be the reason the ERD had sent Kade here? Did it have to do with this man? With Shu?
If so, why Kade?
And did this have anything to do with the monk who'd followed Kade and Cataranes to their hotel the night before?
The unknowns were piling up.
The car was coming around to the front of the restaurant now. Wats packed up his gear and prepared to follow.
21
WILD AT HEART
Shu studied Kade as the glossy black Opal pulled up in front of the Wild at Heart bar where the neuroscience students' mixer was to be held.
"Here you go," Feng said as he opened the door for the boy to exit. "Door to door service!"
"That was very stimulating, Kade," Shu told him. "Let's talk soon."
"It was, Dr Shu. Thank you for dinner. I'll be in touch on the dates for the Shanghai visit." He shook her hand and turned. "And it was good to meet you, Feng. I'm glad we talked." Kade nodded, held up his hand in salutation, and was gone.
Feng got back into the driver's seat.
Thoughts? Shu asked him.
Feng put the car in gear, looked both ways, cautiously eased back into the riotous traffic of Bangkok. Shu knew he was taking the time to collect himself, to be sure he knew his own mind before he answered her. Always so careful, after all this time.
I made them that way, she reminded herself.
The boy is dangerous, Feng sent to her. He poses a great risk.
He could be a great asset, Shu replied. He's done impressive work to have come so far so fast.
Not as impressive as your accomplishments, Feng told her.
Feng, the humans outnumber us by orders of magnitude, she sent back. No matter how capable I am, I can't do it alone. I can't do it with just the team in Shanghai. If we're going to prevail, we need more on our side. More who can move the frontiers forward. Those individuals are rare. Kade is one of them.
Is that the only reason? Feng asked.
He knew her too well. The old anger rose up. The painful memories. Yang Wei, her mentor, burning to death in that limo, a victim of the CIA. Along with…
Nausea struck her. Her hand went unbidden to her belly. She forced herself to pull it away. This body was a traitor. Anger was better than sorrow.
I hate them, Feng. The CIA, the ERD, they are the same. I despise them for the beautiful minds they've destroyed. I hate them for the pain they've inflicted. And yes, I resent the ERD for using him as a weapon against me. How dare they? The ignorant, venomous fools. I'm not a machine, Feng. I feel emotions as strongly as ever. And what I feel towards the Americans is rage.
Feng was silent for a moment, then spoke into her mind. You could compel him.
Shu chuckled. Was Feng testing her?
You know my view on that, she replied. If I took control of him, what would that say to anyone else? Would I need to control them all? How much would they accomplish as my puppets? I would become no better than our masters, and no more effective. No. We're most capable as autonomous beings who choose to come together. Our as sociations must be voluntary.
She felt Feng's satisfaction with her answer. If it was a test, she'd passed. The line between loyalty and compulsion remained clear.
I remain concerned, Feng sent. The Americans respect you. They will not settle for surface answers. They may burrow deep, even destructively so. The memories and block you implanted may not hold.
They won't harm him, Shu insisted. They want to use him to spy on me. And short of quite destructive methods, what I've done will hold.
Perhaps, Feng replied.
The Americans can't hurt me, at any rate.
Perhaps.
Feng refused to accept just how unassailable she'd become.
They can inconvenience you, he sent. Greatly.
Yes, she replied. That they can.