They were well south of the library now, out of the trees and coming down a steep slope. Just ahead was Gilman Drive. Carlos walked heedlessly into the street. The cars slowed or speeded up or changed lanes so there was always a wide bubble of empty space around him. Robert hesitated, looking for a crosswalk. Damn . Finally he scooted after Carlos, out into traffic.
Miri stopped ON the north side of Gilman Drive.
"So where are they going?" said Juan.
"They're coming down to Gilman Drive." Viewpoints in the eucalyptus showed Robert and the librarian, Carlos Rivera, walking through deep brush. The pictures were fragmentary, since there weren't many cameras there, but Miri was sure no one was pulling a swap on her. The two would reach the roadway in a couple of minutes.
"But that's true of anyone coming south."
Miri stopped her bike, put a foot on the ground. "Look! You want me to say I don't know where they're going, is that it?"
The Orozco kid stopped his wikiBay bike beside her. "Honest, I'm just wondering."
Xiu Xiang popped into existence, and a moment later, so did a young version of Lena Gu. Their images were Barbie-doll stiff, but every day they got better. For instance, Lena had mastered facial expressions — and right now her look was stern. "Juan isn't the only one with this question, young lady. If you don't know , you should say so."
Xiu just sounded anxious. "Lena and I are driving around the north side of campus. Maybe my research was all wrong. How can we help if the action is on the south?"
Miri struggled to make her own voice serene. "I think you got it right, Dr. Xiang. Juan and I have been following Robert closely, but now… I guess I don't know where he's going. That makes it even more important that we stay spread out. Please Dr. Xiang, if you and Lena can stay on the north side, that would be best." Over the last few days, Xiu had done some good detective work; she could be really smart when she wasn't doubting herself. They knew that Huertas kept the Librareome shredda in his labs on the north side. If Robert's friends planned a "direct protest," that would be the sensible place for them to break in. So why aren't Robert and the others heading that way ? Big boogers of uncertainty were beginning to form.
But Dr. Xiang nodded, and not even Juan Orozco asked the obvious embarrassing questions. This was still the Miri Gang. For better or worse.
The treetop cams had lost sight of Robert and Mr. Rivera. Miri dropped those viewpoints and glanced up the hillside, almost with a naked-eye perspective. The other two were still out of sight. They could come out on Gilman Drive almost anywhere.
Miri licked her lips. "The main thing is to keep these — "
" — crazy fools — " said Lena.
" — from doing anything too destructive."
"Yeah," said Juan, nodding. "Who do you think that remote guy is, the one who's walking with them?"
"What?" Juan was a mostly clueless kid, but sometimes he was accidentally very sharp. Miri played back her last images of Robert and Mr. Rivera. Those pics were fragmentary, but Juan was right. The two were looking at a consistent location that drifted along with them — and granting it a certain amount of open space. So. A private presence.
Juan said, "I'll bet they're seeing Zulfi Sharif."
"I'll bet you're right." Not for the first time tonight, she tried to bring up her Sharif control. Still no response.
So do something ! "C'mon, Juan." She walked her bike out onto Gilman Drive, crossing the lanes slowly enough not to get a ticket.
Xiu and Lena drifted along. "Traffic is heavy," said Lena.
"It's the belief-circles clash. People are attending in person." The gaming buzz had come out of the blue, but Miri could not imagine that it was coincidence. Setting this up must have involved deep coordination. Even though the clash was still just rumor, there was a huge turnout. The cars around them were dropping off passengers. People were laughing and shouting and talking, and walking toward the library. The sidewalks on the other side of Gilman Drive were all but empty.
She reached the far curb and looked back. "Come on , Juan!"
Now the sky above the library was twisting violet, a very nice fractal effect from some art co-op in northern China. She glanced at network status… It wasn't just automobile traffic that was heavy. She could see network trunks lighting up all over California. There were millions of viewpoints being exported from UCSD's campus. There were hundreds of thousands of virtual participants. As Juan caught up with her, she said, "It's a whirlwind. Like a big game first-day."
The boy nodded, but he wasn't paying attention. "Look what I found in the street."
The gadget was half crushed. Metal fibers hung from one side.
She waved for him to drop it. "Roadkill. So?" If a node lost connectivity and then got into the street — well, something that small would get run over.
"I think it's still online, but I can't get a catalog match."
Miri looked closer. There was spiky flickering, but no response. "It's pingless wreckage, Juan."
Juan shrugged, then dropped the gadget into his bike bag. He had a blank look. He was still searching. "It looks like a Cisco 33, but — "
Fortunately, Orozco had not distracted everyone. Lena said, "Miri. I've found Robert and the Rivera fellow." There was a pause while Lena got the camera ID. There! Robert and Rivera were crossing the roadway a quarter mile west of them.
"We're on it, Lena!"
In Robert's time, this side of Gilman Drive had been Quonset huts. In later years, classic University of California concrete had housed the medical school. Now there was Pilchner Hall, which like almost everything else on campus looked as temporary as the old Quonsets.
The Mysterious Stranger led Robert and Carlos into the building. Real light followed them in concentrated pools, while farther down the hall the view was virtual. There might have been other people in the building, but the Stranger avoided them. He headed down a stairway, into a warren of tiny rooms. In places the floor was dusty. Elsewhere it was polished clean, or covered with streaky scrape marks. "Heh," said the Stranger, pointing at the scrapes. "Tommie has been at work. This whole floor has been rearranged for tonight. And there are parts that just won't show on the university's security plan."
Their path was now a trek through the maze. Finally, the Mysterious Stranger stopped at a closed door. He paused and spoke soberly. "As you may know, Professor Parker is not fully on board. For the sake of your various goals, I suggest you be careful not to enlighten him."
Robert and Carlos nodded.
The Mysterious Stranger turned and mimed knocking on the plastic door. His hand sounded like a hammer pounding heavy wood. After a moment, the door opened and Winston Blount peered out. "Hello, Carlos." His gaze passed less favorably over Robert and the Stranger. He waved them in.
The room was a triangular wedge trapped between slanting walls. A concrete caisson took up most of the floor space. Tommie Parker sat on the floor beside a handcart that was filled with plastic bags and backpacks. "Hiya, guys. You're right on time." He glanced at his laptop. "You'll be pleased to know that press and police did not notice your arrival. At the moment we're standing in a room that doesn't even exist. This — " he slapped the caisson " — is still visible to the university, but it will happily lie about what we're doing."
Robert edged round the blocky structure. "I remember this." In the 1970s, the caisson had been out-of-doors, covered with a wooden lid. He looked over the edge. Yes, just as before: iron ladder rungs marched downward into darkness.
Tommie stood up. He had his laptop in a sling that left the keyboard and display accessible, but also freed him to move about. In his own way, Tommie Parker had arrived at wearable computing.