Part 2 (1/2)

He shrugged. ” lkll right then. Have you ever heard of -something called 'syncritical path a.n.a.lysis'?”

No. ”Flow about the Boss Voice theory?” Never, ” Ba rney said. ”Well, neither had I until Keith explained them to me.” He stniled. ”it helps if you imagine the brain to b e a collection of many parts working in concert rather than a coherent whole; more like the organs in a body .',,or the species of an ecosystem than the components of a machine. Some parts keep you breathing, others ,monitor your use of language or memory recall; there might be thousands of individual parts in your head, each evolved to perform a particular function, and they all interact: a portion of one will play a role in the function of another, and vice versa. With me so far?”

Barney nodded. ”I think so.” She had taken a term of basic psychology back in high school, and the general principle rang a bell. ”The whole thing is moving, right? Even when we're asleep?” ”As I understand it, yes. Everything in the brain is cyclic and chaotic. You have oscillations that appearregular, but arise Purely by chance; if the parts - tthjye pattern generators - were rearranged in even a sligh different way, the end result would be quite different. So the closest you get to stillness is when you meditate and reveal the standing wave, the holding pattern, beneath the mess. But the sum of this 'mess', not the holdin pattern, is what we call consciousness; if you add all theg processes together, in other words, what you get is 'P, the Boss Voice in our heads.”

Roads glanced at Barney to confirm she was still keeping up. She nodded, although less certainly than before.

He went on: ”Researchers back in Morrow's day apparently knew how the brain uses chaos to encode and transmit information along neurons; that's how they built the implants used in berserkers. Decoding the parts of the brain and the way they interact involved similar principles. It was the sum of the interactions between the parts - the syncritical path, as they called it - that Morrow's pet scientists set out to measure.” ”Like brainwaves?” ”No, although there is a relation. Electrical and magnetic activity of the individual parts could be measured, and their relation to the whole could be approximated. Apparently. ” ”So - - - ” Barney prompted. ”They copied the parts?” ”They copied the chaotic way Keith's parts behaved the functions governing their behaviour, at least - onto an enormous neural net, an electrical a.n.a.log of a human brain. This was much easier than building a virtual model of his entire brain, neuron for neuron. Even though they often didn't know what the individual parts did, they in effect made a copy of his consciousness in the process. As long as the parts were there, with their strange artractors and their links to each other, the whole thing worked. And is still working today.”

32.

what about his memory?” Barney broke in. not a process, is it?” me memories were, mainly the ones that related sory perception. Those that didn't were supted by notes he made before he died. Otherwise, actly the same as he ever was - except that he's 11.1”'. ally immortal, and far better off than he ever P, @ so he says.” incy shook her head. ”I think I'm going to have to @- your word for it.” on't. Look it up one day. I may not have it right M- telf, or Keith might've been bulls.h.i.+tting me.” Roads f-smiled. ”But whatever they did, I'm betting not any people tried It. It was an expensive and revoluionary experiment, and only someone rich and .,84esperate would have tried it. Keith may be the first and @.Nist of his kind, anywhere in the world - a unique relic In the old days.”

arney understood what Roads was saying there, at V., ast but didn't think that was a good enough reason to a known criminal remain free. Relics had proved to be highly dangerous before.

Although she was too young by twenty years to the Dissolution, Kennedy's schooling system had made certain she knew the reasons why it had Occurred. In individual conflicts, the reasons for going to war had been territorial, but overall the cause was 'people: eight billion of them by 2040, and only a Minority satisfied with their lot.

A burgeoning population may have caused the War, but it was a new minority that contributed to the severity of the Dissolution. Although the nuclear phase of the War had lasted only a few days, it set a dangerous precedent of ma.s.s-murder that overshadowed less visible and more efficient means of killing. One of the greatestthreats was to be found on the ground, where soldiers armed with the latest mechanical and biological weapons created havoc on the battlefields.

Berserkers - the most ruthless caste of the many biomodified combat soldiers created by the US Army - killed at random for decades after the War. just one could decimate a small city in a matter of weeks. They were unstoppable, implacable and utterly unwilling to negotiate. Their motives were hard to fathom; although some were genuinely insane, it appeared that others had been given explicit orders to kill civilians - which they did with all their genetically-honed combat skills. This parting gesture from the military lingered for forty years until the last known survivor was hunted down and killed in Kennedy.

The United States might have pulled itself together after the War, had it not been for the berserkers and other creatures like them. That was the lesson Barney had learned - both in high school and from her father's death - and the reasoning behind the city's Humanity Laws: biomodification had resulted in the suffering of millions, and would no longer be tolerated at any level of a sane society.

It was no wonder, then, that Keith Morrow made her nervous. He was obviously different from the berserkers, 1 but that didn't stop him being more than human - and if he had broken the Humanity Laws, then it was her duty to turn him in. That they needed his help to gain information about the Mole only made her more uneasy.

And then there was Raoul, with his artificial eyes - tangible, clear evidence of biomodification. Who knew how deep his inhumanity ran, or what dark motives his appearance concealed? ”I don't think Keith felt threatened by us, so we can probably take everything he said to be the truth.”

y looked up at Roads. ”But what about what he eah, I don't know.”

tapped the heel of one boot to the toes of the She hated that she had no choice but to go along the situation. It was wrong in principle, if not in -details as well. Maybe later, when things were back she could reconsider and take appropriate rmal, ion.

he eventualare you going to tell Margaret?” s asked.

e yet.” Roads grimaced.'”An anonymous ”I'm not sur .,vtp-off, obably.” pr ”Well let me know so our stories'll match.”

21 I will. The radio crackled and Roads pulled his receiver from his pocket.

'Roads.” ”SiO” It was Komalski. ”Something just went by us, but we're not sure what. It looked like it was heading Your way.” A Roads was instantly alert. ”Where was it?” ”Corner of North-East and Murdoch Lane.

Barker z @',,@”artd Sti son saw somet A,t hing pa.s.s over their heads. They ,think it might have been someone on the rooftops.”

anks for the ”Okay, we'll keep an eye out. Th -warning.

Giving, the receiver to Barney, Roads signalled to the three officers in the van a nd relayed the information. The five of them spread out in an expanding circle from the car.

Barney touched the rea.s.suring weight of her sidearm and studied the darkened street. Windows stared blindly back at her; narrow alleyways gaped like open pits.

34Behind her and to her left, Roads turned slowly in a full circle, peering into every shadow. The seconds ticked by, until Roads suddenly froze. ”There!” he hissed, pointing.

Barney caught a flicker of movement in an alley twenty metres away. Roads took off toward it, and she followed him, the other officers not far behind.

Fumbling for the radio, Barney shouted orders while she ran.

Roads was halfway up the alley before she even reached it. ”s.h.i.+t.” Nuggets of fallen concrete threatened to trip her. ”Phil -wait!”

But Roads had already turned left at the end of the alley and disappeared.

When she reached the intersection, he was gone altogether. Even the sound of his footsteps had faded.

The three officers burst from the alley behind her. ”Split up,” she told them, and picked a side street at random. She could see no-one, nor anything to suggest that Roads had been that way recently. The streets, still damp after the rain, were empty.

Reinforcement arrived, in the form of Komalski and two other men, and the search widened. Barney chose another side street and followed it to its end.

Apart from a feral cat looking for food sc.r.a.ps in the gutters, she found nothing. Stony-faced houses stared solemnly back at her, any one of them potential harbour for a fugitive. The clicking of her soles echoed on cracked pavement as she followed another lane back to Old North Street. The flas.h.i.+ng light of a second RSD van strobed the area in blue: more back-up had arrived.

She thought of Raoul's cold eyes reflecting the blue from the safety of 114, and repressed a s.h.i.+ver.

Heading back into the maze, she recalled the officers a.s.sisting her.

36-.

ped. thing?” she asked when they had regrou i; a trace,” said Komalski. The heavy-set cop was ng. [email protected] Of Roads, or anyone. Any idea who he was 0, 1 only caught a glimpse.” She glanced nervously watch. ”Where the h.e.l.l is h0” ”Should we buzz HQ, get another squad? If we er the area 0, let9s give him a little longer. He'll have to come this way. Four of you, go back to the house and an eye out. Komalski, Vince, stay here with me.”

[email protected] si Yes, ';@,'The minutes crawled by. Komalski eyed the, dark dings that surrounded them- ”Do you think he's No. He'll be okay,” she said as much to rea.s.sure rself as him. -The other officer c.o.c.ked his head. ”Listen.”

Footsteps approached. Barney tensed as the sound W,Srew nearer. The steps were unevenly paced, not Roads'

r pistol at the ready. ady plod. she held he IT' A shadowy figure stepped out from behind a fence ,jaot far from them. She almost took a shot at it, then, turning the reflex into a wave, flashed the torch to -attract its attention.

Waving back, Roads limped to join them. His breath came heavily, as though he had only recently stopped running. His trousers were torn, and a small amount of blood showed through the opening. ”Are you okay?” asked Barney. ”Been better.” He came to a halt with an audible sigh. Barney offered him the receiver, which he put into a pocket with a sheepish expression. ”Sorry to keep you all waiting. I'll take this with me, next time.” ”Good idea. Where did you get to?””I lost him four blocks down. He went up a ladder and onto the roof. I tried to follow, but the ladder collapsed when I was halfway up.- He winced, flexing his leg. ”I don't think it was an accident. ”Should we try and go after him?,, ”No. He'll be miles away by now. He's one fast sonofab.i.t.c.h, that's for sure, ”Was it the Mole?” ”[email protected] someone else. Bigger.” He tapped a b.u.t.ton on his overcoat. ”It's lucky I had this. Didn't get a good look at his face, but I managed to tag his profile a couple of times. If the shots turn Out, we might be able to work out who it was, and if [email protected] relevant.”

Barney nodded. Roads had maintained a longstanding dispute with RSD supplies for the disguised camera. Miniaturised equipment was at a premium, of course, but he had argued that on occasions the right tools were a necessity, not a luxury. If he did get a good picture of the man he had chased, then the effort would have Proved worthwhile. ”Could be a coincidence, You think?” she asked, following on from his last comment. ”Maybe.” He glanced up and down the street, as though making sure they were alone. ”Komalski, go back and help secure the cordon. Vince, go with him. I don't want anyone else getting in.

Barney and I'll be at the house in a few minutes. 11 ”Yessir.” The two men iogged up the street and turned a corner.

When they were gone, Roads sighed again, this time in annoyance. ”I was this close, Barney. I can't believe he got away so easily. @ She studied him closely, noting the bunched crow'sfeet and sweat on his brow.

@You can quit playing the tough guy now. It hurts, doesn't it?”