"Look, kid…" The picture twisted and jerked. Gu was fidgeting with the page. When it settled, the other's face filled the screen again. "What you were talking about last week. I think I could help out with your writing."
Yes ! "That would be tragic, Professor Gu."
Gu gave him a blank look.
"I mean, that would be way cool. And I'd be happy to show you how to wear." He was already thinking how he would explain this to his ma.
"Right." Gu's face retreated, and he gave a shrug. "I suppose that would be fine too. If they let me back in school, I'll see you there."
09
Carrot Greens
Make no mistake about it, this job of saving the world was no bed of roses.
Alfred glared at Günberk Braun's latest report: "Covert Search for Grand Terror in San Diego." Things had been hard enough before Günberk spotted Alfred's YGBM project, but since the Barcelona meeting, Alfred's duplicity had become steadily more difficult to maintain. He had never expected that Braun could keep such a careful watch on the San Diego labs. Alfred had had to shut down almost all his activity there, even canceling his regular specimen outshipments; this affair had set his schedule back by months.
The only bright spot was that Günberk and Keiko were going ahead with Plan Rabbit. In fact, Rabbit had resurfaced a week ago, along with his initial survey and his payment demands. The demands had been laughable, basically a wholesale shopping list of enhancement drugs, just what you might think South American drug lords could supply to a bright young businessman. As for his survey — Rabbit had come up with a list of contacts in San Diego and a complicated plan for getting direct surveillance equipment into the labs. Günberk and Keiko had been respectively irritated and amused by the scheme, but all three of them agreed they could make it work. The Americans would know they had been probed, but unless things went very wrong, the operation would be deniable.
Of course, what Günberk and Keiko saw was the easy part. The hard part was what Alfred was hiding beneath Plan Rabbit. When this magnificent intrusion/inspection was complete, there would be no evidence of his research program. Working as the trusted leader of the operation, Alfred was confident that he could accomplish that much. The triumph would be to leave credible evidence that would point bird-dog Günberk somewhere far across the world — and leave Alfred's operation intact in San Diego. Failing that, Alfred would have to rebuild his research setup — and his security — at second-rate sites. He could lose a year or two of development time.
Would such a delay really matter? He had completed the hard part. The honeyed-nougat test had demonstrated that he had a delivery system. In fact, his Pseudomimi viral was far more robust that Günberk realized. If Grand Terror had been Alfred's goal, he was already in the winner's circle; he could trigger devastating psychosis, even customize for particular targets. The way to develop higher mental controls was clear. But meantime, the human race was still careening down a mountain road, with no one at the wheel. The Saturday-night specials, the cheap delivery systems, the plagues — there was always the next precipice, the Next Very Bad Thing. What if the Next Very Bad Thing was the final, fatal Bad Thing, and what if they ran into it before he could take control?
So yes, anything he could do to save a few months was worthwhile. He pushed away Günberk's report and returned to planning just what he would do during the brief hours when this operation put Günberk and Keiko and himself in control of the San Diego labs.
He was so absorbed in his scheming that he almost didn't hear the sound behind him. There was a small popping noise and a little whoosh of air, typical game sound effects. They were sounds that absolutely did not belong here. Alfred flinched and turned.
Rabbit had grown. "Hi there!" it said. "I thought I'd pop up and give you a special progress report, maybe ask for your help with some details." Rabbit gave Alfred a bucktoothed grin and sat back to enjoy a carrot. Sat back in the big leather visitor's chair across from Alfred's desk. In Alfred's office. His inner office, the one here in the bombproof catacombs under Mumbai, at the heart of India's External Intelligence Agency.
Alfred had managed covert operations for almost seventy years. It had been decades since he had been so rudely upset. It was like being young again — not a good feeling. He stared at Rabbit for a moment, absorbing the terrible implications of the creature's presence. Perhaps it would be best to ignore those for now . And so his reply was a random flaiclass="underline" "A progress report? We've seen your progress. I personally was somewhat disappointed. You've accomplished little — "
"That you can see."
" — beyond creating a fog of foolishness, self-defeating as often as not. The 'local agents' you've recruited are incompetent. For example — " Alfred made a show of fetching records. Meantime, the people in the EIA analyst pool were tracing Rabbit's intrusion. They opened a graphics window above the creature's head. Rabbit was coming through routers on three continents.
"For example," Alfred continued, picking a name almost at random, "take this 'Winston Blount.' Years ago, he was a top administrator at UCSD. But he never had any personal connection with the founders of the bio labs, and today…" He waved his hand in dismissal. "These people have so little connection with the San Diego labs that I might validly ask what we are getting for our money."
The Rabbit leaned across Alfred's mahogany desk. Its reflection in the deep varnish moved in perfect synchrony. "You might ask. And what great ignorance that would reveal. You know what to look for and still this is all you have discovered. Think how invisible this must be to the Americans. I am a phantom that shows as brownian noise until — viola! — the jaws of my operation spring shut."
A smile stretched across Rabbit's face. It gave its ears a wiggle, and gestured around Alfred's inner sanctum. "In a very small way — just a proof of principle, really — those jaws closed on you today. You, the Japanese, the Europeans, you all thought you had me fooled. What of your anonymity now, eh? Eh?"
Alfred glowered at the animal. No need to disguise his upset. But pray God this is all he has discovered .
Rabbit settled its elbows on Alfred's desk and continued chattily, "Don't worry, I'm not being so open with your pals in Japanese and EU Intelligence. I figure it might panic them — and this is a project I've come to enjoy, meeting new people, learning new skills. You understand."
It cocked its head as if expecting some confidence in return.
Alfred pretended to consider the matter and finally gave Rabbit a judicious nod. "Yes. Knowing our cover was blown — even to an insider such as yourself — they would likely abort the mission. You did the right thing."
The numbers above Rabbit's ears were changing. The available routing information was mostly bogus, but the network latencies — the delays — made his analysts eighty percent confident that Rabbit was coming from North America. Without help from the European signals intelligence people, he wasn't going to get any better estimate. But telling Günberk about this visit was the last thing Alfred wanted to do.
So I must treat this son of a hitch as a respected colleague . Alfred sat back and essayed a mild demeanor. "Between us then. What has been your progress?"
The rabbit tossed the butt end of his carrot onto Vaz's desk and crossed his paws behind his head. "Heh. I've almost completed assembling the operational team. That file you're looking at probably lists some of them, including the esteemed Dean Blount. I can pay off most of these people with my own resources. One of them may play ball in a spirit of good-natured adventure. The others need inducements that the wealth of nations can satisfy. And the one thing the Indo-European Alliance has is the wealth of nations."