The Cage of Zeus (25 page)

“I’m going to find some recruits, starting with the parents.”

Kline and Preda were engaged in a long discussion in the control room when Wagi walked in and sank down on the sofa. The look on Wagi’s face had turned completely desolate over the past day. Kline asked if he wanted something to drink; Wagi asked for coffee with a nip of brandy.

“Dammit, if our hands aren’t tied,” Wagi groaned, holding his head in his hands. “It’s unbearable enough for the Rounds to see their own die in front of them, but to have to see their children die first…”

“How are the adults faring?” asked Kline.

“Every one of them is infected, of course, but none of them critically. They’re better off than the children.”

“Could it be the effect of the treatments?”

“Hard to say. Their temperatures have leveled off, so I suspect this period of remission will continue. What bothers me is the next stage Karina was hinting at—some other impairment following the fever, I suppose.” Wagi turned to Preda and asked, “Anything useful from Wolfren?”

“Arino’s been interrogating him, but Wolfren hasn’t said anything about the contaminant.”

“Why not put Harding on his case?”

“He was there during the interrogations. I hear Harding gave him a good licking, but nothing. Then Wolfren suffered asphyxiation.”

“What the hell did Harding do to him? We get nothing if he dies.”

“It wasn’t Harding’s fault,” Preda said. “Wolfren ingested some poison he had hidden on him.”

“He tried to kill himself?”

“He self-induced a coma so he couldn’t talk. Some kind of drug that disrupts the blood-brain barrier and cranial nerves. We injected a molecular machine into the vein to dissolve the drug’s effects. If it works, we might be able to wake him, but that might take some time.”

Wagi cursed.

“According to Dr. Tei, Karina is stalling for time,” Preda continued, “until the contaminant achieves its full effect, thereby giving her the advantage. She probably planned to elude the security teams a bit longer but was unexpectedly captured because the teams moved so quickly.”

“So does that mean there’s a cure for this thing even after the symptoms progress?”

“Apparently, Karina was shaken when the doctor told her about the infant deaths. Could it be their deaths were an unintended consequence?”

“We can’t be sure unless we ask Karina.”

Kline set down a coffee pack in front of Wagi. Wagi thanked her and took a sip. “Anyone among the station staff presenting with any symptoms?” Kline asked.

“No one thus far. How are you feeling?” Wagi asked of Kline and Preda.

“We’re fine,” Kline answered.

“Either the contaminant has been contained or it’s ineffectual against us. It’s hard to say,” said Wagi, shaking his head. “Dammit, if we only had the diagnostic equipment.”

“What if the Rounds should all die?” muttered Preda. After a pregnant pause, he continued, “Who would be held responsible?”

Kline scowled. “Stop it.”

“I’m just asking. The security teams were deployed at their stations, and all security systems were operational—nothing we need to be held accountable for. If it came to a question of who’s responsible, I suppose the commanders in charge of security—”

“Commander Shirosaki has done a commendable job,” Kline interjected. “Harding too.”

“If someone goes down, I’d rather have Harding take the fall over Shirosaki.”

Kline glowered at Preda. “You don’t mean to make Harding the scapegoat.”

“The commander of the stationed team has operational command. Shirosaki’s team merely joined the security detail already in place.”

“You know Harding won’t take it sitting down. He may even talk to the higher-ups about the incident.”

“No, he won’t. He’d only be disgracing himself.”

“He may try to take us all down with him.”

“I wonder,” Preda said, dubious.

“Stop looking for a way out,” said Kline with a severe look. “We’ve all been through so much together on this station. We need to stand firm.”

Preda pursed his lips. “Perhaps this was a mistake—to bioengineer a bigender subspecies in this way. We needn’t have done it just because we have the technology. The conservative majority on the planets have to be cheering in the streets about now. About how the overzealous scientists had it coming to them.”

“The desire to innovate is an essential part of human nature. Suppressing that desire is far more sinful than gender experiments,” Kline said.

“I know that. The experiments here had the approval of the Planetary Bioethics Association. I understand it was a path we had to go down once, but knowing when we’ve strayed down the wrong path and knowing when to turn back is the better part of wisdom.”

“If you want to turn back now, you go right ahead. I’m not leaving this place.”

Kline felt responsible for not having recognized Von Chaillot’s true nature. Neither had she been able to anticipate Wolfren’s betrayal. Those two failures might very well lead to her dismissal. She didn’t want to imagine having to leave Jupiter-I or having to end her twenty-year career in this way.

“Well, I never said I was abandoning you,” Preda equivocated. He flashed a cynical smile. “You’ve enjoyed a very long tenure here. I just don’t want to see you have to step down dishonorably. If we act now, we can still pin this on Harding.”

“If someone has to take the fall, then we all do. It’s the only way I can live with myself.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“Look, there’s no sense in arguing over responsibility while the crisis continues. I don’t believe our experiments here are wrong, and I have no intention of ending them because we’ve failed. Think of how tragic that would be for all the Rounds born here. Think of the children that died in vain. As much as for myself as for the Rounds, I refuse to believe these experiments on Jupiter were meaningless.”

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt,” said Wagi. “What should we do with the bodies of the children? The Rounds refused my request to cryopreserve them so we might be able to find a cure. I’d like your opinion on the matter.”

“Let’s respect the Rounds’ wishes,” Kline responded instantly. “We don’t rule over the Rounds. Although I realize that isn’t the answer you wanted to hear.”

“Completely understandable,” said Wagi. “We should be able to extrapolate some data from the blood samples we collected from the children. Although I would have liked to record the general condition of the bodies.” Wagi swept one hand through his disheveled hair and slowly got up from the sofa. “Well, it’s time this quack went back to the special district to be the Rounds’ whipping boy.”

2

JUST AS HARDING
was putting on his hazmat suit, he had received a call from Shirosaki on his implant.

“We need to talk,” said Shirosaki.

“Later. I’m on break. I’m sure you’ve heard of it,” Harding answered, pulling up the padded gloves around his wrists.

“How much later?”

“Give me half an hour.”

Harding ended the transmission and headed for the special district. After ordering the security guard to open the access door, Harding drew the hood of the hazmat suit over his head.

When the door slid open, the air blew inward toward the negative-pressure environment of the special district.

Harding stepped inside. This was his first visit in quite some time. How many months had passed since he’d stopped coming here?

Walking down the familiar path he’d used many times before, Harding made his way toward the assembly hall.

He peered inside to see the medical staff, dressed in the same protective gear Harding wore, busy unloading various supplies. How much of Jupiter-I’s store of intravenous fluids, fever reducers, anti-inflammatories, and antiviral drugs had been depleted? Would they be able to hold out until the cargo vessel brought in new supplies?

The cots filling the hall looked to be reserved for the most serious cases. Harding could not help but grimace. The patients lying on the cots were all children, ranging in age from toddler to adolescent. Feverish and dehydrated, they were hooked up to fluid pumps and receiving oxygen through masks.

The adult Rounds looking after them looked more stricken than the children—not because they felt sick, but because they felt guilty for being better off than the children. Some of them wept for want of taking the children’s place and were being consoled by the medical staff.

Harding looked for Veritas and eir child. He spotted em with the child—the infant lying on a cot in the back of the assembly hall—and weaved his way past the others toward them.

Noticing someone approaching, Veritas looked up at the familiar face shrouded beneath the hood of the environmental suit and immediately became flushed with anger. “What are you doing here? You and I can’t see each other anymore.”

“I wanted to see if you were all right. The medical reports don’t tell me anything.”

“You’ve been shunned by the Round community. Whatever your reasons, you can’t come here.”

“If you don’t like that I’m here, fine. Hit me—kill me. Round up a lynch mob if you want, I don’t care.”

“Why now?”

“I was worried about how you were doing,” Harding said.

“How do you think I’m doing? I’ve been taking fever reducers and antiviral medicine.”

“I know that. I just wanted to know how sick you were.” Then he looked down at the tiny figure lying in bed. “How is ey?”

“Eir condition isn’t as bad as the others. Ey must get eir toughness from eir other parent. Eir fever was high for a while, but it began to go down about an hour ago. The doctor says it’s a sign that whatever this thing is will go into remission.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

“Ey’s not your child. I wish you wouldn’t talk as if you know em. Gives me the creeps.”

Harding stared gravely at the child.

“Now if you’re done here, I’d like you to leave,” Veritas said, raising eir voice irritably. “Everyone here is on edge after the infant deaths. If they find you, a lynching isn’t out of the question.”

“I’d like to stay a little longer.”

“Why?” Veritas said.

“I just need a minute. Being in the residential district is making me crazy. When I see Karina, I want to break her neck.”

“Why don’t you? You
should
kill her. Nothing would make us happier.”

“We can’t. Karina is holding the information about the agent that’s infected all of you and is using it as a bargaining chip. Until we find out what she’s hiding, my hands are tied.”

“Why don’t you make her talk? That’s what you’re good at.”

“She refuses to talk,” said Harding, shaking his head. “She’s been playing for time, and putting her body through a whole lot of hurt at the same time.”

“Still, you can’t just show up here. While you may be looking for a place to unwind, your presence here is distressing.”

“I won’t stay long. I just want to take a walk in the bioengineered forest. I won’t get in anyone’s way. No one will recognize me in this suit.”

“Five minutes—not a minute longer.”

“Hey, I’ll decide how long my walk will be.”

Harding reached out to the child on the bed only to have Veritas slap his hand away. Harding looked at em grimly but then quietly left the hall.

Harding made his way to the forest and began to thrash his way through the brush in search of a place to meditate.

When he had first stepped foot inside the special district, Harding felt a deep attraction to the forest. The sight of bulbous red fruit peering out from beneath the leaves had been enough to tickle his appetite. Although that feeling waned somewhat after learning they were bioengineered, what only existed as images in the residential district was real in the special district. Even as he knew they were inedible, the crimson fruit was beautiful nevertheless. In the same way, even though Harding knew the Rounds were bioengineered, they appeared unmistakably, naturally human.

The forest was unnaturally quiet. Though it was usually a place where children played in the day and lovers confessed their devotion to one another at night, none of the Rounds were in any shape to do either at the moment. They were all receiving treatment in the assembly hall or resting in their homes.

Unlike the forests of the planets, this one had no birds or insects flying about, nor even a breeze to rustle the treetops. Without the Rounds, the place had descended into a kind of dead stillness.

Harding continued to walk the forest, smelling what might have been the subtle stench of death. He imagined the mysterious particles of the dispersed contaminant penetrating the tiny seams in his protective suit, and suddenly started to sweat.

Harding believed Shirosaki to be a cunning man, but not in a way that made Shirosaki untrustworthy. Shirosaki’s every move thus far had been precise and expedient. Had Shirosaki been under his command, Harding would have grown to rely on him in much the same way he did Miles.

But at present, Shirosaki was acting commander of the relief team. Whenever he anticipated a tactical conflict with Harding, he had proposed a number of countermeasures with the exacting clarity of a team leader. Shirosaki had deftly guided this operation to his will while respecting the chain of command and without arguing against Harding in front of the others. That was what bothered Harding. He wanted Shirosaki to either obey or resist. “Keep Karina alive.” “Get her to talk.” Neither option had been part of Harding’s plans. Yet before Harding realized it, Shirosaki had managed to convince Harding and to prioritize the Rounds’ rescue before anything else.
That son of a bitch.

The Rounds are a strange and godless people,
Harding thought.
Despite living entirely apart from the planets and without sexual distinctions, they’re too much like us. Even as they’re given the privilege of a special community, they’re curious to know us, and we can’t seem to refuse them. We are just as much drawn to them as we are threatened by their foreignness.

And why is that? Because they’re human, or because they have ceased to be? Why do we just sit and observe them quietly cultivating a new culture inside the confines of their presdestined world, just to fall prey to the illusion that we might somehow become a part of that world?