"And Bryn . . . tell Mary that I'll see her when I can."
"So what happened?"
Kim had been standing at the far end of the bare detention room, facing away from where Michael Lever was sitting on a narrow, pull-
down bench, but at Michael's words he turned and came across, kneeling beside the taller man.
"It was my bookkeeper, Nong Yan," he said, looking up into Michael's face. "It had to be."
"How do you know?"
Kim shrugged. "No one else saw it. No one else had even the vaguest idea what I was working on. Even so, I don't know how he did it. He could only have had the briefest glimpse of it. I. . ."
Again his eyes drifted off, as they had once or twice already; as if this were a scientific puzzle, to be analyzed and solved. Not that it really mattered now.
In less than three hours it had all come apart. The patent was gone—stolen—and with it any chance of securing terms from the Hang Yu Credit Agency. Indeed, news had reached the bankers fast, for a handwritten message had reached Kim an hour back, expressing the regretful apologies of the Brothers Hang. But that was not all. Acting on the news, Kim's present bankers had recalled their development loan and taken immediate action to recover the debt, stripping the facility of all its equipment. At the same time, news had come that a third party had bought up all of the surrounding units—units Kim had made offers for only days before—at four times the normal rental, effectively preventing any physical expansion of Kim's operation. Not that it made any difference now.
"I should have realized. . ." he said, after a moment. "Realized what I was up against."
"My father, you mean?"
Kim nodded. "He's toyed with us both, neh? And for what? In my case, so that he might use me to pursue some addlebrained notion of postponing the inevitable. Even though I couldn't do it."
"He thinks you could. He thinks you could find a way of prolonging life. Of extending it, three, four hundred years. Maybe indefinitely."
Kim took a long breath, then looked up again, his expression suddenly intense, his eyes burning.
"Technically, perhaps. But that's not what I mean. I couldn't do it because I couldn't do it. I wouldn't let myself. The consequences are unthinkable. Once in my life already IVe meddled in things that should have been left well alone, but this time I have a choice. So no.
The dream of living forever must remain just that. A dream. I mean, just think of it! Unlink the great chain of being, and what would follow? It would be a curse, Michael. Nothing but a curse!"
Michael shuddered, then looked away, disturbed by this sudden glimpse of the young man's potency; by the dark, intense power locked away in his taut, diminutive form.
"So what will you do now?"
Kim smiled. "It depends on what your friend Kennedy can arrange. I was going to go to Europe next week, but what's the point? Whatever I do, your father blocks me. He's obsessed."
"You should go," Michael said quietly. "Really, Kim. You can't let him beat you. This . . ."He shivered, then stood, beginning to pace the room. "He's been like this all his life. If he wanted something, he'd get it, no matter what. If someone stood in his way, he'd crush them. And no thought for the consequences. Once . . . not long ago, really ... I thought that that was how things were. That it was normal to behave that way. But now . . ."
He stopped, turning to look back at Kim. "Look, Kim. If I could help you, I would. You know that. Whatever you needed. But he's fucked me too. Boxed me in. It's how he works. Destroy and control. There's no subtlety to him. No compromise, either. But he doesn't have to win. Not unless we let him."
Kim smiled. "Okay. I'll go to Europe. Just as soon as all the legal stuff's sorted out. But I'm finished here. Look . . ."
He took the four handwritten letters from his pocket and handed them across. Michael studied them a moment, then looked up again, his eyes pained. The stamped timings on the resignation letters showed they had come within an hour of his arrest. Kim took them back from Michael, staring at them a moment, as if they were a mystery he couldn't solve, then pocketed them again.
"I keep trying to tell myself that it's understandable. That I'd do the same. But it's not true. I..." He looked away, close, suddenly, to breaking down. "What's happening, Michael? What in the gods' names is happening?"
"It's this world," Michael answered softly. "That's why we have to change it. You in your way, me in mine. WeVe got to fight the old men who want to keep things as they are. Every step of the way. Because if we don't. . ."
There was a knocking on the door. A moment later a lock drew back and the door swung inward. It was Kennedy. Behind him two men stood to attention, like an honor guard.
"Michael . . . Kim . . ." Kennedy stepped into the room, tall and imperious, offering his hand for Kim to take. "Okay. It's all dealt with. I've filed bail for fifty thousand yuan, so you're free to go. However, the hearing has been brought forward, to eleven tomorrow morning. Which means we'll have to get our act together, fast."
"So what do we do?"
Kennedy smiled broadly. "We produce files. Experimental notes and the like. Things that'll prove beyond all doubt that the patent's your development."
Kim shook his head. "They don't exist. It was all up here, in my head."
"All. . ." Kennedy gave a small laugh, then looked to Michael. "I guess you were right, Michael. He is different."
"Even so," Kim said, as Kennedy returned his attention to him. "I doubt that theyVe got anything either. In fact, I'd guarantee that they don't even understand yet what theyVe got, let alone how it works."
"I see. But how do we use that? The burden of proof is on us, not them. They registered first. We're the ones in default."
"Unless we counterclaim? Sue them for false registration?"
Kennedy smiled, the smile growing broader by the moment. "Hey, now that's a good idea. A very, very good idea."
But Michael was shaking his head. "It's not on, Joe. I mean, Kim's broke. How can he sue when he's broke?"
"Maybe," Kennedy answered. "But I'm not. And I'm sure as hell not letting your father get away with this one, Michael. Unless youVe any personal objections?"
Michael looked down, then looked back at the two men, smiling. "No. None at all, as it happens."
"Good. Then let's go and get something to eat and talk this through. Somewhere where your father will get to hear of it. The Kitchen, maybe."
Kim stared at Kennedy a moment, then nodded. "Yes," he said quietly, remembering the first time he had visited Archimedes Kitchen, and Old Man Lever's joke about the shark meat they had eaten. Well, now he knew. Finally he understood what the Old Man had meant that evening. They had stripped him bare. Down to the bone. Even so, he had lost nothing. Nothing of substance, anyway. So maybe this was a good thing. To be taught this lesson. To progress from it and build anew. And maybe having the wiring implant put in—maybe that too was serendipitous. Maybe that too was meant.
He gave a little shudder. Just for now he was beaten. Things here were finished for him. But now was not forever. He turned, looking about him at the bareness of the room, remembering all the times he'd been incarcerated, then, smiling, put out a hand, touching Michael's arm.
"Okay. Let's go and be seen."
SOUCEK STOOD in the mouth of the cave, watching while Lehmann moved among the deep shadows within, gathering together his belongings. Out here he was afraid—possibly more afraid than he had ever been—but he showed nothing, conscious that Lehmann was watching him. To his back was the slope, that awful uneven surface, shrouded in treacherous whiteness, that in places fell sheer a thousand ch'i to the rocks and icy water below. He would not look there, not now, lest his courage fail him. No, the warm darkness of the cave was more to his liking—to the habit of his being. He had never, until two hours back, set forth beyond the City's walls. Had never suspected that such a place as this existed. But now he knew. This was where Lehmann had come from. This place of cold and ice and fearful openness.