Paradise Reclaimed

by Raymond Harris

  He and Alice flew to Geneva and they met Angelika at her favourite café, the Café Du Lys on Rue de l’Ecole de Médicine, a few blocks from the physics building on the Quai Ernest-Anserment. It was a sunny day but there was a bitterly cold wind blowing off the Alps. Angelika was alone, taking a short break from her studies. She looked like any ordinary student, pretty certainly, but otherwise plainly dressed in jeans and a navy down vest over a grey fleece hoodie. She was surprised to see Alice and leaned forward to give her a polite but cautious kiss on each cheek.

  “This is all rather mysterious,” she said in perfectly articulated English.

  “Ce est pourquoi nous sommes ici. Mais je préfère de beaucoup à parler français. Allons-nous commander du café?” Alice replied rapidly and confidently, as if French were her native tongue.

  He knew that she was doing it to show-off and he wondered if bringing her had been a mistake. Alice could be very competitive, especially now that there was a rival group of the enhanced.

  “Parlez-vous français, Akashji?” Angelika asked him with a small frown of concern. “We spoke English when you visited.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Un peu. Je ai, er, be… besoin, er… de la pratique.” He said slowly. “Practice… for when we move here… But this meeting is for you to meet Alice.”

  “As you wish,” she replied in French.

  They ordered their coffee and pastries and found a spot outside in the sun, away from people and from the wind.

  “So, the Laurels finally meet the Huxleys,” Angelika said as she blew into her steaming hot chocolate. “You wish to set up a meeting, take samples, compare genomes?”

  “That can wait. As you will find out soon enough I see no point in dissembling. We are here to assess if you are a security threat.”

  Angelika laughed nervously and reverted to her native German. “Scheiße, stumpf sind Sie… What do you mean, a security threat?” she asked (in French), looking at him for help.

  “Alice, you could…” he started to apologise.

  “If she is as clever as you say she is, she will catch up,” Alice said coldly.

  He sighed. This was going to be a test of wills.

  Alice reached into a satchel and retrieved a screen. She put it on the table in front of Angelika.

  “What is this?”

  “Do you remember asking Akash about Zhang Li Li?”

  Angelika nodded. “The Chinese prodigy from the Sorbonne.”

  “She is not on Earth,” Alice said softly, hoping to shock her.

  Angelika turned her attention to Akash with a quick snap of the neck. “But I thought this was just a theoretical possibility?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “You would have worked it out soon enough anyway. That is why you are a security threat. You ask too many of the right questions.”

  “We are giving you a choice. If you look at what is on the screen, you cross a bridge,” said Alice. “You see, the only reason I am still on Earth is because of you, because of the Laurels, because of the situation here.”

  Angelika fingered the edges of the screen, using the time to think. “And so it possible I could go too?” she asked rhetorically, just to confirm her suspicions.

  “Possibly,” said Akash. “The Sauvaterre children have gone.”

  “I see. Genetically enhanced colonists… A serendipitous convergence of new technologies… Inevitable I suppose… Obviously the military implications…”

  “Is only a small part of the problem…” said Alice, carefully watching Angelika for any sign of panic or resistance.

  “You think this could start a war?” she asked, although it was more a statement. “But the universe is such a large place. There must be room for everyone. Unless habitable planets are rare…”

  “Do you really believe people will share?” Alice snapped, hoping to expose Angelika’s naivety.

  Angelika narrowed her eyes. “If history is our guide then people will always seek an advantage… Whoever controls space, controls humanity. This will naturally command the attention of very powerful people. The resources alone…” Suddenly she laughed. “And so now it is my generation’s turn… Did you know I had an aunt; her name was Wilma. She fought against the Nazis. She was just a little older than me. I have her picture: a pretty girl, her blonde hair in traditional braids, wearing a summer dress. She was a vermittler – a go-between, ein kinder spion, a child spy, for the resistance. She made a mistake and they hung her naked body by the neck from a streetlamp as a warning to others. Many German children fought in the war, especially in the last days.”

  He was shocked by her grim revelation. “I’m not sure it will get to that…”

  “Nein, but you are concerned that it will,” she said with a smile that barely concealed a sigh of sadness. “She was tortured you know, and raped of course, brutalised and terrorised by the SS to make her talk. The fact that she was a child made no difference to them. But she never betrayed the resistance. She was brave, a heroine. She kept her silence. The Eisenbachs know how to keep secrets; it is after all, our business. You know this Akash.” She looked at Alice who had been stunned by her revelation and then turned back to him. “Does papa know?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t mentioned it yet, but there will be a point when he will have to know the fine detail.” He paused, took a breath and looked directly into her eyes.

  “And you want me to tell him?”

  “No Angel,” said Alice, assuming she could use her pet name. “We want you to tell us what he should know and when he should know it. It will be your decision.”

  “You want me to lie to my own father, to my family, to the other Laurels?”

  “Lie is perhaps too strong a term. No, we want you to manage the information. Decide who can be trusted to know what. As you say, it is your family business. You will probably be the only one who will understand the physics anyway,” said Alice, hoping to flatter her.

  Angelika laughed sarcastically. “So, you wish me to join your side and you appeal to my vanity to persuade me? And why should I hide anything from my family? It is loyalty that has kept us together all these centuries.”

  “We are not asking for your loyalty to us personally, but to the idea, the promise contained in that tablet,” said Alice forcefully. “It transcends all other loyalties. You will understand.” She reached for the tablet and said something in Korean, then she issued a simple command: “Recognise Angelika von Eisenbach.” She handed Angelika the screen. “Now say something you’ll remember word perfect, in German if you wish. I use a line of classical Korean poetry.”

  Angelika thought for a moment and then spoke in a very formal tone. “Ich lebe mein Leben in weitere Kreise, die aus der ganzen Welt zu erreichen.”

  “Uns auf sie, Angelika,” the screen replied.

  “You may find it useful to give her a name,” Alice advised.

  “Okay, Ich werde dich zu nennen, Wilma – in honour of my aunt.” She smiled to herself and then looked directly at him. “Clever: voice and facial recognition, advanced AI… I’ve heard of these specialist high-security tablets. Unhackable… I assume you already programmed some of my details. If it did not recognise my face?”

  He made a small gesture with both of his hands to suggest she already knew the answer. “It would not respond. If it hears voices or sees faces it doesn’t recognise, or that are flagged in security databases, or it detects fear or duress in your voice or in your expression, it will shut down. It is linked to our internal network, which as far as everyone else is concerned, doesn’t exist.”

  “At least not in this dimension?”

  He laughed. “In a manner of speaking… Now Wilma, show Angel our little presentation.” He sat back to enjoy her reaction. He knew that she would be seeing a series of dramatic drone shots of Eden’s rainforests and beaches ending with a live connection to one of the team.

  Her eyes grew wide with wonder and then narrowed with confusion.

  “Willkommen
in Eden, Angelika. Ich heiße Akoi…”

  “Was zum Teufel!” Angelika swore from the shock of seeing Akoi’s face, before blushing a deep red with embarrassment. He laughed.

  “I am speaking to you in real time. This is not a recording,” Akoi continued in German. “The screen gives you access to all you need to know, including the ability to talk directly to us. But might I suggest you do so at a more convenient, scheduled time. It is the middle of the night here. I’ve been filing reports whilst waiting for the connection. It’s been a long day and I’m a little tired, so if you don’t mind.”

  Angelika had gone pale. “Natürlich. Gute Nacht.” The screen went blank and she placed it back on the table as if it were radioactive. “Heilige Scheiße, you’ve broken the barrier of spacetime,” she mumbled, the full impact of their secret sending a chill right through her very being.

  “If I may ask, your password…?” asked Alice to bring her attention back. “A German poem? It sounded quite beautiful.”

  “Um, Wie bitte? Oh, um, ja. Rainer Marie-Rilke, a favourite of mine - I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.”

  “Or the stars, as the case may be,” he said, reaching for her hand to reassure her. “And so, now you know what we ask of you.”

  “Akash.”

  He turned to see Alice stepping out onto the balcony. She shivered.

  “You’ll get pneumonia,” he admonished her. She was only wearing light, indoor clothes.

  “I don’t feel the cold. You forget that Korea is quite far north husband.” She seemed offended by his rebuke. She hated being patronised.

  He opened his shawl and she walked up to snuggle into him. “Freja called. Li has just given birth to the first human born on another world.”

  He was stunned by the news and words failed him. Tears began to form in his eyes.

  “She is called Chu-Hua. It means chrysanthemum, the flower of nobility. Everything went well, a surprisingly short labour, seven hours, no complications. She took to Li’s tit without too much fuss.”

  He nodded. “So, it begins.”

  “We must do everything we can to protect this future,” she said with steely determination.

  “I know. Are Pema and Nour ready for bed?”

  She sighed. “They are excited. They will get little sleep.”

  He started to go inside.

  “One more thing husband…”

  “Yes.”

  “I have noticed my nipples starting to swell. I’ve entered the early stages of puberty.”

  “Then we should take precautions…”

  “No, it won’t be necessary. I’ve tested a blood sample for hormone levels. I have a few months left before my first oestrus.”

  “It’s risky…”

  “I’ve considered all the possibilities and I’ve spoken with Adey. We should continue. I’d be happy to carry a child as soon as physically possible. If it is timed well, I might conceive on Earth and give birth on Eden. I should be able to deliver it naturally, although we have the capacity to perform a caesarean if necessary. It should be a son, perhaps the first male born on Eden. Tsher has approved.”

  “You can’t be seen to be pregnant on Earth. It would cause a scandal.”

  “I have already considered that. If we time it well I’ll be in the first trimester when we leave. I won’t show.”

  He dared not contradict her. She was determined to fall pregnant as soon as possible and she knew a great deal more about these things than he did. “A mate for Chu-Hua and the others?”

  “Yes. The genetic pool will be very small to begin with and therefore it won’t really be a matter of choice. But you know this.” She took his hand and led him inside. He wasn’t sure when the Crickets had taken over, but it was now complete. She would have his child precisely when she wanted to and if he could not perform his duties, she would still have his child using artificial methods, and if not his child, then she’d use some other man’s sample. It really was out of his control.

  127

  The Pashtun

  The death of his father was welcome news. The messenger had travelled night and day, well aware of the urgency. He would be rewarded. He, Gorbat Daudzai, the eagle, the second eldest, was most definitely not his father. He was not cruel and stubborn, but neither was he a fool. His enemies would soon learn to fear him, but unlike his father, he understood he needed allies. This is why he had travelled to the land of the Kazaks, against his father’s wishes. They had access to sophisticated weapons left in massive underground warehouses by the Russ: artillery, flying machines and Kalashnikovs. His father had been deeply suspicious of foreigners, paranoid, but he understood that the wind always changed direction.

  Khan Timur Ibragimov had been hospitable and entertained him with good food, song, wine and the attentions of an exotic blond, green-eyed slave girl from the north, but the khan had remained unconvinced. “It is not easy to usurp a brother khan as feared as your father,” he had said, “you must be patient.”

  But this news changed everything.

  “Now tell me again,” he said to the youth (who was quite handsome), pointing to a cushion on the floor next to him. The youth looked startled, unsure. He had already told him everything, but he had been exhausted, hungry and dirty, perhaps he had left out some detail? He had been taken away and bathed by the blonde slave girl who had undressed and joined him in the bath. He thought she was ethereally beautiful, with white breasts and nipples the colour of pink roses. She seemed no older than he, perhaps just fourteen. When he embarrassed himself and became erect, she did not hesitate to expertly stimulate him to a satisfying release, praising his manhood, making him feel as if he were already in paradise. Then she had found him food, drink and clean clothes and returned him to Gorbat.

  He repeated the story of the jinn. How they had appeared out of the sky and taunted and slaughtered his father. There had been many witnesses. All said they were female - demons. They said they had come from the east.

  “And there has been no word from the men that my father sent?”

  “None my khan. They have disappeared.”

  “And what do the rumours say?”

  The youth bowed his head. “It is the scuttlebutt of thieves and traders…”

  He raised his voice to a gentle censure. “Tell me every rumour; do not leave anything out. I am the one who will decide if it is foolish nonsense.”

  He repeated the stories of dragons and of a young virgin who had unified the kingdom to the east. “They say she has powerful magic and an army of flying jinn.”

  He did not believe in superstition but he understood that such wild stories must contain some kernel of truth. When the youth’s eyes began to droop he stopped questioning him. “You have done well,” he said. “Olga will find you a bed. She will stay with you. You have my permission to use her for your pleasure. She is expert in all the techniques. In the morning we will discuss your future.”

  He stood and marched out. He could not afford to waste any time, Ibragimov must hear of this immediately.

  Ibragimov had already guessed. “It seems the wind has changed and now it blows from the north. You must return immediately to make sure your brother does not take control. When you have stabilised your rule, we will turn our attentions to the east.”

  It took them a few more days to organise. Whilst he was officially the khan, Ibragimov still needed the approval of the tribal council. After much debate and the persuasion of Ibragimov, the council agreed to a treaty. The council had understood that in order to survive they needed to expand and capture the fertile lands of Tibet and Mongolia. On the third day he marched out of the city with a contingent of one hundred and fifty heavily armed Kazaks, by his side was the messenger. He had taken a liking to the boy.

  “You seem to be quite taken by the slave girl?” he said conspiratorially. The youth blushed. “It is okay. I have no further need of her. I will free her. She seems to have taken a liking to you anyway. She
admitted that she thinks you are handsome, kind and well endowed. You may marry her if you wish.” The youth looked at him with utter disbelief and he laughed. “But first you must promise me your life in service. I have need of loyal men.”

  “It is yours my khan.”

  “Good.” He smiled to himself. He understood men. It was likely the youth would die and die soon, but at least he had experienced some pleasure in this life. The girl would remain grateful to him for her freedom and he could use her to gather information. This is the way it worked. Offer them what they think they want because few of them knew what was of real value. Power.

  Gulzar shook with fear at the news. He despised his father and he still bore a scar on his face from one of his father’s blows. He had tried to prepare for this moment but his older brother was usually one step ahead. When had heard that Gorbat had gone north to seek an alliance, he had gone south, to the land of the Sikh. They had mutual enemies amongst the Hindus and although they mistrusted each other they had maintained a kind of truce. The Sikhs were fierce fighters. It might be possible to employ some as mercenaries. It wouldn’t be the first time the Pashtun had relied on foreign fighters. It carried immense risk and cost and he would have to raid deeper into Buddhist territory to pay for them. But there was no other way. He had to show strength. If he showed even a moment of weakness or hesitation, they would attack him like a pack of rabid dogs. Failure was simply not an option.