The compact scale of the architecture increased the density of color and movement, making everything seem more intense and teeming, more alive—like some of the Asian cities he had been to. Or was he registering subliminally the restless new breed of humanity that seemed to go about everything it did with such urgency and purpose? There was serious talk already of launching the first missions out to the stars to follow the unmanned probes.
Many said that the human race was perking up again. As with just about every other form of human endeavor contained in the turmoil bursting outward from the home world, science was no longer an establishment-administered conformity as had decreed Truth on Earth, but a rugged diversity of competing, frequently squabbling, beliefs. A vigorous school of growing currency held that the line taught for generations, of humankind evolving sedately over hundreds of thousands of years through progressively higher stages of development from primitive, ape-related ancestors, was wrong. The past had been much more convoluted and complex. An advanced civilization of a still-disputed nature, possessing amazing knowledge of geography, astronomy, mathematics, and other skills which in many ways were still a mystery, had existed long before the previously-supposed cradles of civilization in Egypt and Sumer. Referred to nonspecifically as the “Technolithic” culture on account of the huge stone structures erected in various parts of the world—now generally accepted as the work of the same, or closely related, builders—they had been wiped out in a planet-wide cataclysm that had devastated the Earth some time around 10,000 B.C. According to the proponents, current human civilization was not the result of a steady improvement from barbarism; it was recovering toward a grandeur that had once existed, and which in some ways might even have surpassed anything seen since. As he looked around, Kieran could feel himself as being a part of it. After millennia of confusion and strife, the human race was coming alive again and getting its potential back after something had come close to destroying it.
He saw Sarda’s shaggy yellow mane appear up a stairwell from a lower level. Sarda saw him, came over, and sat down. A waitress came across from the counter to take Sarda’s order. Yet again, Kieran was awed that the person he was looking at—talking, gesturing, acting normally in every way—could have been just a collection of recipe-book ingredients four days previously. But the sun-scorched face behind the straggly mustache was looking grave this time; the eyes beneath the bushy brows, troubled. Kieran’s thought again was that some delayed problem with the experiment might have surfaced. But if so, why would Sarda bring it to him?
“Kieran . . . Is that okay?” Sarda began.
“Sure.”
Sarda hesitated, making a vague gesture, as if not quite knowing how to begin. “At lunch yesterday, June said that one of the things you do is investigate strange and mysterious things. What did she mean? To me, that sounded like someone who looks into paranormal things—ghosts and psychics, stuff like that . . . Is that what she meant?”
Kieran made a so-so face. “Not really—although sometimes the difference can get debatable. All kinds of things are going on these days that a lot of people might consider strange. They often involve extravagant claims that others are tempted to put a lot of money into—your own work at Quantonix is a case in point. Some claims are genuine; some are frauds, or maybe cases of sincere but deluded people fooling themselves. The would-be investors would very much like to know which are which. And sometimes, yes, they pay me to find out for them.”
“I hope that isn’t what brought you to Quantonix,” Sarda said, looking alarmed. “I promise you that we’re genuine.”
Kieran held up a hand. “No, if that were why I’m here, I’d hardly have told you what I just did. But if you want my opinion anyway, I think TX is genuine.” He sipped from his wineglass and raised his icy blue eyes back to Sarda to treat him to a look that was both candid and challenging. “But now that you’ve brought it up, out of curiosity, if I were of a suspicious nature, and say I was considering putting a big wad of money into it, how could I be certain that the you who walked out of the chamber in the R-Lab wasn’t the same unprocessed you who was supposed to have been put into suspension downstairs? I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen something like that, would it? Conjurors with boxes do it all the time. You see my point?”