Double Vision

by Tricia Sullivan

  Then Klaski said: 'I take it you know that MF have put out your destruct order on the modified Grid structures? They have the coordinates you gave them, and they'll use Fliers to hunt down the individual members of the set. Ironic, isn't it? You caused your own doom, and your kids'. Oh, I know about your daughter, by the way. Or should I say that in the plural? Arla told me.'

  'Arla – you guys are two of a kind. I wanna know how it is you could be so good at saving your own butt and roasting everyf%@ker else's.'

  'So, what? Now everything's my fault? Excuse me for living.'

  'Don't know if I can, Klaskoid. Let's try this out. Because of you, I got taken by the well. I couldn't capture Gonzalez, which I would have if I'd lived. That left her free to kill Hendricks and Lewis, and very nearly Gossamer, too. Because of you. Then you killed Gonzalez. And I'm supposed to believe you're some kind of helpless little victim? Gimme a break. I think someone in Personnel planted you on me. And I want to know why. What's it all about, Klaski?'

  'N-n-n-no!' Klaski gasped, stunned by the whole idea. She started babbling, fast and defensive. 'It's not like that at all. It was all by mistake. There was no plot. I never wanted any part of this. I came out here to study the Grid, not to camp out in it and fight golems. I don't know why MF assigned me to your team. I never asked for it! I mean, your reputation .. . why would I... I just want to go home, that's the truth.'

  'Yeah? And why should you get what you want when everybody else is f@&?ked?'

  Klaski didn't know what to say at first. She licked her lips.

  'Well, maybe I can help you. You can use me to negotiate with MF. Or were you planning on walking back to X and doing that yourself? I bet they can't pick you up on a scope. You're a golem.'

  'I am not a golem.'

  'You're a golem now as far as MF are concerned. You sent those orders by robot and they can't be rescinded.'

  Serge snorted. 'Let them come. The Grid eats MaxFacts - we've already seen that. The kids can unpack a MaxFact and recreate you-name-it from its guts. You'd be amazed if you saw what they're capable of.'

  'Hmm,' Klaski said. 'MaxFacts are Second Wave, though. Did you know the Third Wave Machine Front Eels are here? What if they're able to use the data they got from your daughter's dead body? Machine Front are going to target your kids, Serge. Major Galante said if you prime one of them with a logic bullet, it can trace anything in the Grid. Including golems. Once a Flier gets a lock on you, the MF Eels can hunt you down. One by one.'

  Serge dismissed this with a wave. 'We have the SynchroniCity now. We can hide here if we have to. And the logic bullets was destroyed in the N-Ridge raid. MF haven't recovered them.'

  Serge didn't know. She didn't know about the logic bullets.

  'Not yet,' Klaski said cautiously.

  Serge didn't like the sound of that, did she?

  'What's that supposed to mean?'

  Klaski shrugged.

  Serge looked and sounded like her jaw had been wired shut as she said, 'Answer me, sh*$head.'

  'Hey!' flared Klaski, climbing to her feet. 'Did I hear a snapping sound a while back? I think it was the chain of command. You need me more than I need you, Bonny, so how about a little courtesy?'

  Serge had herself on a punishingly tight rein. If she relaxed her hold on herself one millimeter, she'd probably eat Klaski. She took a long breath.

  'Yeah? Since when are you so important?'

  Klaski smiled. 'Since I found the logic bullets.'

  And Serge's hands were on Klaski, tearing away air hoses and filters, ripping protective clothing. Serge's perfume – the Grid's perfume – came into Klaski's limbic system and she went limp with pleasant relaxation. Tendrils of Grid influence crept into the tears in her suit like fingers, like insects, like sand on a day at the beach. And Serge's voice was in Klaski's ear, panting, come on, you piece of s@8et,as Serge's hands gripped her sex and the back of her neck and began to drag her like a sack. Klaski felt the concrete floor yield beneath her like rubber and she heard herself laughing because the fear was gone: it could not remain in the presence of her limp and hollow body; it did not exist independent of the physical state that supported it and gave rise to it, so the fear went but the knowledge that this was bad remained, and she could do nothing.

  Klaski's armor was coming off. Serge's golemized body slithered over her, its segmented armor parting and clenching on her exposed skin like lobster claws, gripping her flesh with weird little love bites.

  Serge found the logic bullets and Klaski realized how stupid she had been to brag about them. Serge ripped the bag away and looked inside. She released Klaski and sat back on her heels.

  She put her hands on the softly chiming logic bullets and seemed to commune with them for a long time. Klaski glanced surreptitiously around, wanting to make a break for it. The aerial would soon be here .. .

  But there were too many golems, and she couldn't see the way back to the mines. If there had been a door or passage, it was no longer visible.

  After a while Serge took a long breath and let it out, shaking her head like a disappointed schoolteacher.

  'Listen to me, Klaski. Machine Front was built out of a long history of military one-upmanship. You get a strong weapon, the enemy builds a strong defense. You get a stronger weapon – or he does – and it keeps going up and up and up. But the Grid messes around with that equation. The harder you come in, the softer it seems. And the more dangerous it gets. That's why most of the boys got sent home and we're here instead of doing our hair. But that's not working, either, so now they got this idea they can mechanize the whole thing and that'll solve it. I don't think so.'

  'So . . . if the logic bullets aren't going to destroy the Grid, you won't mind if I give them to MF so I can get out of here. Will you?' asked Klaski hopefully.

  'My daughters are living creatures. They can die. They're part of the Grid. They're fragile. If MF do this thing, if they pull out the humans and send the MFeels, my girls are gonna be in the crossfire. I don't know what's gonna happen to the Grid or to the MFeels, but I know what will happen to us. We'll be changed. Probably destroyed.'

  'OK, OK, I see your point. But, like, I still think the logic bullets could be really valuable. If we could understand how the Grid's intelligence works – isn't that why we're really here? The original purpose of the logic mines was to get a grip on what the Grid is. Bring something home that we could use. Everybody wants to learn from the Grid. That's how we'll move forward. That's really why we're here. The war is just something that happened because . .. well, probably because of a misunderstanding. So if we could understand you, and the children . .. knowing how your mind works . . .'

  'Huh. And do you know how your mind works, Klaskoid? Damn, the human mind doesn't really work the way humans like to think. It's much more crazed and folded. Backward, switehbacking, switchbladed. Freaked. You humans can't handle your own heads, and that's nothing personal, Klaski, although I would have to add that you are a good example.'

  But Klaski wasn't discouraged at all.

  'See, that's just what I mean. You have so much to teach us. If we could just cooperate, I'm sure I could convince Machine Front to step down the hostilities. Won't you try? Help me explain. Help me convince them to call off the attack. Machine Front is a collective, so maybe they can appreciate your being part of a Grid collective now.'

  'Screw them,' Serge barked. 'Humans created Machine Front to make them stronger and it has. At the same time, it's made humans weaker. Take yourself for example: you're lost in a world without the free salad bar. What are you gonna do?'

  'Why don't you lay off me, Captain Serge?' Klaski flared. 'I'm alive. I must be doing something right. And you can't just say, "Screw MF." That's not the Serge I know. You were a true believer, Captain. The well can't have erased that much of you.'

  Something moved in Serge's face, and Klaski pressed. 'Come on. Let's try it. Let's work together. Let me take the logic bullets and talk to MF.'

  Serge t
hrew back her head and laughed.

  'Save your breath, Private Benjamin. You can go hang out with the rest of the mines personnel. I got to figure out what to do with y'all, but for now you can roam the SynchroniCity. Who knows? You might learn something.'

  And she whipped Klaski around and kicked her in the small of the back to send her away.

  drano

  It was the weekend after the big tournament. Troy had won first place in sparring. Cori Knight had gotten two opponents disqualified for excessive contact and so won a third place in her category without throwing a punch. Gloria had come fourth in kata and Mr. Juarez had broken five boards on stage. The Okinawans were going home the next day and today, Sunday, all the American masters were getting together for a tribunal to discuss what had happened between Miss Cooper and Sensei Hideki. At Gloria's behest, Miss Cooper had put in a formal complaint, although she had refused to involve the police.

  I took her over to the dojo to sit on the tribunal. I had gone out to do my grocery shopping anyway; I was eating an almost-normal diet now in variety if not in quantity. I went downstairs with Miss Cooper and took what I meant to be a last look around the dojo. I knew that whatever happened here today, I wouldn't be coming back. I already had my Jack La Lane membership and I'd convinced Miles to join with me at half-price.

  The dojo was draped in the old Okinawan flag. Shihan Norman had taken a door and turned it on its side on four cinder blocks to make a Japanese-style table. All the senseis and shihans sat there on the floor in their gis and black belts, and at one end sat Miss Cooper with adhesive tape on her knuckles, her eyes downcast. I didn't want to leave her there like that, but I had to. I bowed, backed out of the training floor and went upstairs, leaving my grocery bags outside Shihan's office. I walked out the door and closed it behind me.

  Then I crept into the alley that led down to the riverbank and put my ear to the back door. The voices were muffled, but if I crouched down I could get my ear against a narrow crack between the double doors.

  'I guess it could have been my fault,' Miss Cooper was saying. 'I thought he wanted to give me extra lessons. That's what he said. Or that's what I thought he said.'

  'But you've already admitted you thought he was saying you had a face like a dog, and he was actually saying 'doll', right?' said Shihan Norman. 'So you could have misunderstood what he meant. Couldn't you?'

  I felt the breeze blowing on my exposed eyeballs as my eyes widened. Shihan was taking up a position against his own student!

  'Sensei Hideki gave me a lot of extra lessons, informally. He'd come up to me while he was drinking a cup of tea and start doing knocking hands. That's what I thought it was about.'

  'How could anyone be that naive?' said Shihan Ingenito. 'You stayed alone at a man's hotel room after midnight. He'd been drinking. He'd already told you that you had a face like a doll. He'd already been friendly with you. Did you seriously think he was going to teach you secret bunkai?'

  There was a silence. From the reaction of the men, I gathered that Miss Cooper had burst into tears.

  'I'm sorry,' said Shihan Ingenito. 'See, this is the problem with female students. They can turn on the waterworks at any time.'

  'It was all a misunderstanding, I'm sure,' said Shihan Norman.

  'I don't know,' said Sensei Price. 'Doesn't sound like a misunderstanding to me. It sounds like sexual assault, and if Miss Cooper was my student, I would be challenging Masunobu Hideki to a fight.'

  'Oh, please,' said Shihan Norman. 'This isn't The Three Musketeers!'

  'No, but I already heard from two of my students that when they left Miss Cooper at the hotel they had reservations about what was going to happen, but they didn't dare intervene because of Masunobu Hideki's status. And the fact that they were afraid of what he'd do to them in a fight.'

  'That's true,' Miss Cooper said. 'They kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to stay. I should have gone with them, but I just didn't think I was in any . . . danger. I mean, I still can't believe it. . .'

  'Well, there you go,' Shihan Norman cut in. 'Miss Cooper admits she made a mistake in judgment.'

  Price said, 'OK, John, so you're not going to call Masunobu out to fight and it's pretty obvious why.'

  'Yeah, "why" is because I'm a grown-up.'

  'I would fight him myself, but Miss Cooper isn't a member of my dojo and I'd be out of bounds.'

  'Yeah, you would,' said Sensei Ingenito. Then: 'Do you think you could take him?'

  'I really don't know.'

  'Some of these guys can rip open your gut and tear your liver out with their bare hands.'

  'I'll believe that when I see it,' said Sensei Price.

  'Yeah, well, huh-ho, I hope it isn't your liver, man.'

  Shihan Norman cleared his throat significantly.

  'Whatever the case,' said Sensei Price. 'I think we should think twice before we commit further to the Budokokutai organization. I also think Miss Cooper deserves an apology at the very least. When I spoke to Shihan Hideki on the phone this morning, he didn't sound like he or his brother had anything to be sorry about. I don't think that's a good sign in terms of getting an official apology. Are you going to press charges, Tanya?'

  Miss Cooper sniffed and gulped. 'I really don't know. I was hoping that everything could be cleared up today.'

  Then the Okinawans came walking down the alley with their translator, talking in Japanese. I ducked behind some garbage cans before they could spot me. They entered the dojo, and a minute or so later I had my ear at the door again as they entered the meeting.

  It didn't go on for very long. Through their translator the Okinawans announced that they would be handing out official grades and titles to all of the American teachers and their senior students, and that anybody who wanted to be on board would have to get with the program, by which I assumed they meant not only their way of training but their way of doing things. There was no question of a senior master's word being questioned by that of a young and impressionable female student. Miss Cooper showed promise, but she needed to know her place and keep her head down.

  Sensei Price and Sensei Ingenito had things to say about Americans being different from Okinawans, and Shihan Hideki answered to the effect that karate was an Okinawan discipline and if they wanted to be in the organization they would have to toe the line.

  Shihan Norman said, 'I want to take this opportunity to apologize for the uproar caused by one of my own students. Of course my dojo will implement all the changes. We'll expand our operations and we'll be sending a percentage of all our fees to the parent organization. We will also make sure that the masters have a sponsored trip to the US every year, and I was going to suggest that tonight I take you all out to Radio City Music Hall.'

  'Ah! Rockettes!' said Shihan Hideki.

  I leaned my cheek against the brickwork. It went on and on like that. After a while I couldn't listen anymore.

  Miss Cooper was the first to leave. I wanted to follow her down the alley and talk to her, but I held back. Then the American senseis came out. They got to the end of the alley and started talking furiously among themselves.

  The Okinawans were the last to go. Shihan Norman escorted them to the door.

  Shihan Hideki said in English, 'Nothing personal in demotion, John. You do what we say, five years you in charge whole US operation. OK?'

  'OK!' said Shihan Norman, beaming wetly and bowing a lot. 'Arigato gozaimus-ta!'

  The Okinawans trundled away and he shut the door.

  I waited a few minutes, then went in. I could hear John Norman downstairs, doing something in the sauna. My groceries were still sitting outside his office. I went down the stairs, whistling to announce myself.

  I could see my grocery bags sitting there. My Weight Watchers ice cream would have melted by now. Shihan Norman was putting more coal on the sauna fire. He had spread out the bricks across the benches of the sauna.

  'I guess that makes them harder, doesn't it?' I said.

  He jumped
and hit his head on the door frame.

  'Miss Orbach. I didn't hear you come in.'

  'I left some groceries here before.' I pointed to the bags, but didn't move to take them. 'So, baking the bricks makes them harder to break, right?'

  'Yeah, something like that.' The light reflected off his big glasses.

  'That's funny,' I said. 'I thought I read somewhere that heat makes brick more brittle. It takes out all the moisture that might have acted as a cushion. So the substance becomes more percussive. Yeah, I think I read that somewhere.'

  'It depends on the kind of brick,' he said, curving his lips into a pained smile. 'But we aren't using these at the demonstration tomorrow, anyway. These are some ones I'm going to use at home, in my yard.'

  'Ah,' I nodded exaggeratedly. 'I see.'

  'So, it looks like your ice cream is melting there, Miss Orbach. Oh, Miss Cooper already left, by the way'

  I almost said, 'I know,' and then caught myself.

  Instead, I said, 'I've been wanting to talk to you about something.'

  'I've been wanting to talk to you, too, Miss Orbach. Come into my office.'

  My palms were sweating as I sat down in the chair opposite his desk. He sat in his swivel chair, backed up by all his grades and titles in Japanese writing, and his photographs of himself shaking hands with Master Uechi and Master this and Master that and posing in front of the Shaolin Temple holding a pair of sai. . . and there he was doing Supairenpai kata in a lily pond with some other black belts. I mean, what on Earth was I going to say or do to this man in his own lair?

  I was totally out of my depth.

  'I've noticed you've been doing a lot of extra training lately. You're improving.'

  'Thank you.'

  'I'd like you to come in on Saturdays and help with the kids' classes. I'll give you some extra things to learn. It will be good for you.'

  So Miss Cooper quit, I thought. Or got kicked out. I hadn't lis-tened to the last part of the discussion. It was too upsetting.

  'I was coming in to tell you that I'm quitting,' I said.

  'Quitting?' His glasses flashed as his face registered surprise. 'May I ask why?'