Cynetic Wolf
COOKS AND BOOKS

Cooks And Books

We went to bed after dinner. I was exhausted and Lars left me alone, saying something about working on the situation. Whatever that meant. He closed his door and my head hit the pillow less than a minute later.

The delicious nutty aroma of fresh coffee woke me. I’d have swore he ground and roasted the beans himself, it smelled that fresh.

“Thought you could use a pick me up.” He handed me a steaming mug. “We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

I took the cup, rich flavors energizing me. “You read my mind.”

“I was thinking about what you said last night. There aren’t a lot of great options to be honest, but we’ll make something work.” A pause. “Way I see it, kid, you got four options. First, confront Lilia and the Council, plead your case, and try to get them to turn on her. While it’s suspicious Hrun died of a heart attack and Lyam disappeared a day later, there’s no proof. It’s your word against hers, and well, she’s their president…”

And a liar too. “I know.”

“Plus, for all they know, Lyam disappeared again. He did once, what’s to say he wouldn’t again? So that’s out, at least for now. Option two, stay with me and hide out in Caen.”

He gestured to the small apartment, tiny kitchen and carpeted living room.

“It’s workable, but to be honest, you’re on the news once a day and this is the most policed city in the world. I’d rather get you out of here. Option three, escape to a town somewhere. Locals might even protect you cause you’re one of them. Or they may go for the huge reward and turn you in. That’s a chance we’d have to take.”

Would they really do that, turn a fellow animote in?

Lars shook his head. “Those first three options are garbage, too dangerous, but I wanted to outline all the options. Things might change.”

He sipped his coffee before continuing. “Option four, roughing it, get out of the city and live in the woods for a bit. I could come with you if you want, that’d be up to you. From what you’ve said, you’re comfortable outdoors. May be our best option.”

I’d been thinking the same thing. “Then what?”

He shrugged. “It’s a temporary solution to buy us time and see what happens. With the GDR and the Initiative both rushing thanks to you, things are bound to change fast. And with what you told me about the Initiative’s willingness to go to war, we shouldn’t have to wait long.” He paused to let that sink in. “In a month or two, things could look different. If they push for war or the towns revolt, the Initiative could be dependent on you. You might be able to make demands, maybe even to lead.” His eyes twinkled. “You know the story of Jesus?”

The hairy religious guy? “Sort of.” What’s he got to do with anything?

“For thousands of years, people looked to the heavens for answers, prayed to gods—or god, depending on your era—for guidance, survival, sex… anything. Jesus is the father of Christianity, a religion that reigned for thousands of years. Story was, he was the son of God, the chosen one to lead humanity to salvation, and people united around that.” He shrugged. “Something inside draws us to charisma, to power, to hope. Today our people have nothing: no freedom, no future. You could be that hope.” He smiled.

“You think I should be a prophet? Pretend to be a gift from god or something?” Was he serious?

“No, no,” Lars said. “That was a metaphor. This isn’t about religion, it’s about unifying hope. If you channel that, and step in at the right moment, you could turn the tide of history.”

“That’s what the Initiative wanted, for me to inspire the people to rise up and revolt. Fitz said we weren’t ready.”

“Bet you he was right, too.” Lars shook his head, smiling. “Lyam—Fitz as you knew him—was the sharpest military mind I knew. He’s right, that’s what I’m saying. It isn’t only the message, it’s also timing. And you have to survive long enough. Get it?”

I nodded.

“How much combat training do you have? Lyam teach you anything?”

I wish. “We didn’t have time.”

“That’s priority one once we’re out of here,” he said. ’You need to learn to fight. You’re fast and strong, you’ve got enhancements. You need training to take advantage of that. The best in the world are in Zone Three. I have contacts over there, people who run combat academies and monasteries. We just need to get there.”

Zone Three? “That’s far.”

He grinned. “They won’t expect it, either of them. Besides, GDR’s weaker there. Their honor culture and long history make Asians some of my favorite people, and those least like to submit to foreign rule.” He pursed his lips. “Flying is out of the question, too much paperwork and security. Plus I don’t have that kind of legal money.” He shook his head. “A ship’s our best bet, either as stowaways or joining a crew. I’ll put out feelers and see what comes back.”

“You think I should run?” I asked.

A nod. “I need to go get stuff ready for the trip and talk to some people. I’ll be back. Need anything?”

“When do we leave? How can I help?”

“Depends what I replace. I’ll be back tonight.” He stood, grabbed his jacket, and strode to the door. As he was about to leave, he turned. “Stay here, kid. There’s food in the fridge, leftovers. Feel free to make something. I’ve got books in my room you might replace interesting. Take a look if you’re bored. I’ll be back before 19:00.”

He left, and once again, I was alone with my thoughts, which drifted to Fitz. He’d died protecting me. And as stupid as it was, he’d felt a bit like a father to me. I missed him.

And Mom, and Vynce, and Elly… I missed them all. But I had to make it through this. If I didn’t, their deaths would be for nothing.

I’d do what I had to, like Mom raised me.

Didn’t Lars mention books? Could be a nice distraction, anything to escape feeling and the reality of the situation. After finishing my coffee and cleaning like Mom drilled, I headed to the bedroom.

Lars was a bachelor all right: bed unmade, clothes and socks covering the carpeted floor, and a distinct sweaty musk permeating the place. The far corner had a small wooden desk and an impressive bookshelf. So many non-governmental books... there must have been twenty real, physical books. These weren’t outdated Ministry of Education ones either. No one read real books anymore, but Lars had books on history, science, space. Even fiction near the bottom. Where to begin?

Opening the cover of The Rise of Immortality, I scanned the faded table of contents. It looked good.

1. A History of Man

2. A History of Medicine

3. The Birth of Modern Agriculture

4. The Human Genome Project

5. Transhumanism

6. Biological Immortality

7. Mechanical Immortality

8. Virtual Immortality

9. The Birth of Emulates

10. Immortality at Last?

11. A New Chapter

It was written around 2060 or so, when scientists cracked the code on the human brain and virtually emulating consciousness.

While the chapters on biological and mechanical immortality were familiar, I was clueless about the emulate origin story. How brain-fields could be transferable to new semi-organic surrogate bodies was beyond me. Sounded like magic.

The early experiments sounded horrible: from plugging physical hard drives to invasive personality destroying scans, the earliest tests were done on political prisoners, like the first animote trials.

In 2051 some European scientist figured out probablistic mapping. Progress exploded after that, a huge surrogate market before it was banned and taken over by the government. Playing god was dangerous, as the world had seen.

Today, no one knew how many bodies there were, or where they were stored. The book mentioned “repositories”—the brain-fields storage facilities known only by the upper echelons of the emulate GDR where emulates rebooted. Like a respawn location.

My stomach grumbled.

It was fascinating, if a bit technical. For sure banned. I’d never heard any of this, at least not in any detail. The author must have published under a pen name, or be dead.

But one thing didn’t make sense. How’d the GDR function? If your coworkers lived forever and wouldn’t share the secret with you or your kids… there must be bad blood, right?

Too bad the book was outdated, no mention of more recent events or politics. Could have been helpful.

Food time. Grabbing a random book, I headed for the kitchen, poured another cup of fantastic coffee, and opened the fridge. Wow, he had food... Maybe Lars wasn’t your typical bachelor.

Yes, ribs! It had been ages since I’d eaten something wild. I found a pan in the cupboard, put it on the burner, and poured some synthoil.

This was all new to me, Elly usually cooked when Mom couldn’t. But how hard could it be?

As the pan was heating up, I grabbed a chair and opened the book, Man’s Fall From Heaven. Interesting. Was this like that Jesus stuff?

A burning stench hit me. What was that?

Crap, the burner. I must have lost track of time. Dropping the book, I sprang to my feet, coughing. The room was filled with noxious fumes and it was hard to breathe.

Shit. Running the pan under cold water didn’t help as burning black curdled through the apartment. This wasn’t working.

And the building would have smoke detectors. What if the fire department came? They’d be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Running to the detector, I ripped it from the wall but the numbers on the screen kept skyrocketing.

It screamed a high-pitched mechanical beep as I hurried to the window, struggling with the old fashioned lock. It shattered, but at least the street was empty.

Winding up, I heaved the beeping detector as far as I could. It fell with a metallic crash, exploding in a violent thud as thousands of tiny pieces scattered the pavement.

Phew. That was close.

The fire alarm sounded.