Cald of topped someo figure it out.  able job of keeping it at bay.  believe o see more. o find out wo him.

    “ you just sa a full-blo snippets of events and images t have made an impression in your mind. Clichés, if you like.”

    “o me?” Caldwell asked, bile rising in er.

    “You did to yourself. You disobeyed orders.”

    “ are you talking about?”

    “Look, I am going to cut to t of time. I ion called  of Union Security Agency, tfit t absorbed all t agencies of tries. e get a small part of t even t. ty Agency’s dirty digital laundry, tion to ain activities t are not  are too sensitive politically for to get involved in directly. I’ve already told you more told any non-agency person and I’ve spent all my aining t sacred voer Intelligence Department. You  recruit ever. You een. e e your age you  notorious ural gift if you like, for breaking into computer systems.”

    “Me a arting to click into place noy for computers and inuation of t omed to in ion. And ty to find inctive but  arting to make some kind of sense now.

    “ion of all telling me?” Cald could  for show.

    “For your oy to block parts of your memory. You ening to out table. tion h so you can consider yourself lucky.”

    “ did I do to deserve tter sarcasm.

    “You  and probably most brilliant  tances.”

    “So ly?”

    “e are an offs of t umbrella security agency. Our focus ts faced by t is information erminology. e started out as a unit of MI6 in o be ted Kingdom, ion as one of t cyber s in to t out of a dozen anti-cyber terrorism units and so o absorb t. t made us t electronic  in t naturally came out of t, an offs, tard child.”

    “Spare me tory.  do you do?”

    “e seek out and destroy foreign systems used for electronic crimes, electronic spying and electronic rate troy tem t poses a t to t safe.”

    “And I was o do w?”

    “You  proactive subdivision called Samp;D or Searcroy.”

    “And I kneoo much?”

    “You objected to some of our targets, saying t ting t back fifty years. e  tems  to mount attacks against our systems. tems posed multiple ts to ty of t if ion and let all of cyberspace know w we did for a living.”

    “But everyone kno tions exist and  so he big deal?”

    “ted guesses about tly t – fodder for mindless rants in cyberspace. Our os spilling detailed information on our operations is quite anot let t happen.”

    “And for my troubles you erased my memory.”

    “Not erased. Blocked. Locked. t you able. You took ts too badly.”

    “You mean to t question,   a knee-jerk reaction, an automatic response to tion of  fears. For a long time no ion er for t allo on ic existence.

    “I’m afraid so. ty of Xian. Computer failure. t off a mountain road into a ravine and burst into flames. You  turned sixteen at time and  school in hong Kong.”

    Cald t t  sears upon ion of  fears. mares.  like a  ed off  about all t searcra expanses of government arcabases in cyberspace. -rending occasions o find out t  possible s. Until today,  even been sure t Caldwell was his real surname.

    Calderconnected acks. cs on tes, parsed billions of lines of text. And ill  gotten any closer to locating s. It race of ted. Just like ried to disappear from tion to tem  non-existent electronic trail. t prints ot in cyberspace.

    “So tell me Fouler, is Cad Caldwell my real name?”

    “Absolutely. ted to leave you  identification. ts. I made sure you got your basic ID c you could make a fresart on tside.”

    “An ID c of ta erased? I  ca gs.”

    “ell, it  if you kneax number and so on. You tempted to trace your parents or your life and one to anot your birte is correct. In fact, it is today if I am not mistaken.”

    “So   somewhere.”

    “Yes, in  of ted try, tems’ policy over t turned out to be a boon for t from flat to actually c of New China.”

    “t explains s. I ime. Did you knos?” Caldwell asked.

    “Yes. t’s ian. Your paternal grandfatant member of tian royal family. Your fat language processing softion systems at Xian University. Your mot in Cernal grandfater and Sinop most of  life in Neeps. Se books about Neime as a researc for ty Agency. I to use for t as you ronic spy before you cocked tened to bloion. I got a lot of flack for being a bad judge of cer.”

    “ flack?”

    “In  I s coming. You een; your parents  died less tarted recovering from t and  in at ture of  of training and psyc for a bit of self defense, ammunitions training and so on. You already  in karate and kne on you and I was wrong.”

    “Noelling me t I can use guns and knoial arts?” Caldh genuine disbelief.

    “Better believe it. Your fat. o t of sc obviously after  access any of ties. e can give to you but it ake a long time to get to t of t t you eenager back then.”

    “And o do to get my memory back? All of it.”

    “Complete a mission,” Fouler said matter-of-factly. Cald him suspiciously.

    “ mission?”

    “Related to  bag you are racking Kenzo Yamamoto for a long time. e ed  of t of a console, American professor at MIt, is dead too.”

    “Really?”

    “Go a. e knoo kno you t you don’t kno.”

    Fouler  it took Cald it all. Fouler o yet anotinent question. o sent er console?

    “You seem to know a .”

    “t’s our job. In t you don’t kno you don’t really kno is you are carrying. t is no ordinary computer. t it back. It’s one of only tence. Our analysts believe to something much bigger.”

    “So est to reassure  if to some there somewhere.

    “e don’t knoo use it to do  ended to do. Find t  is for. Find its location so rate it. o send you, an ordinary om console? And ificial intelligence professor at MIt. Kenzo o someto make a substantial investment to get it. Botact side of Japan. If you don’t rate t Kenzo er, you can’t blame me if  help you.”

    “Surely ies you must have some clues.”

    “Unfortunately not. ic in ions ured t someone  oots believe, from tent of to t find o only one conclusion. Joplin’s daugracking o get to ttom of t’s a matter of face for trol. ted in t samples indicated truders raction. t confirmed some of our oto take this case much more seriously.”

    “ fears?”

    Fouler leant back in t and pursed  betions created by tsu massager s. Caldivated as ivated to get o relax.

    “OK,”  lengteo some secret C uses protocols totally different from andards. tself is not tions ary protocols. to  t economically and teced fits. Our analysis suggests t someo got acts in ting mind quickly figured t ion to t bidder. t likely customers are t of ted States, t on controlling ts. e tion on sucem,  to exist, could be h billions of Euros.”

    “So ly bougs to custom consoles used to access tem,  one to to me? ?”

    “e believe t ried previously to break t did not succeed. Over t year tories about okyo under mysterious circumstances. ted directly to attempts to crack into tem. o try s in t in Artificial Intelligent is instructive. tected by a ring of proactive security AIs. Detection by ts in deatokyo found out. Eventually, traced it all to Yamamoto and o probably figured t ty and counterattack AIs on tive as tracking intruders outside of Asia. t yet kno t y in t regard but it’s just a matter of time. to deal h.”

    “And you  me to find t? hy me?”

    “Neive area rig’s a pory. t risk any political disagreements o locate trate it. Set up trojans, backdoors, o call it. e’ll go in and take a look. If it is against our interests  down.”

    “And you th Kenzo’s console?”

    “Affirmative.”

    “As far as I can see, t a jazzed up version of any of tom decks out tional VR capabilities.”

    “It is muc, believe me. t by a master craftsman okyo. You see teco Yamamoto’s c and roke just after completing ts to tem using reprogrammable logic arrays and ic soft is reconfigured on to emulate any nety so far and t is rumor. Most prototypes elseer ed designs t t.”

    “OK, but t be all t great. So  and brig out there?”

    “tty tigalled some of t security AIs out trust me  clandestine systems, anonymously of course, and it’s not pretty. ts t tem is somet gives titive advantage globally. Not t t. tion is t tem is almost certainly going to be coded entirely in Co be one of t age. Someone ual feel for compromising systems. Besides, you already ation as a   be implicated.” Caldations of Fouler’s last sentence.

    “ me like t? I don’t speak C even curse in t’s saying something.”

    “You do and you can. Believe me I  t many years ago. You spoke, read and e Mandarin and Cantonese fluently ional Sc to mention te tutors in . e can isolate and reopen t’s all in our system.”

    “No o mess  already. I just  my memory back.”

    “e o tag you for trip to  reopen some of here anyway?”

    “em I get everything back.”

    “Yes, and maybe even a job  it. I t be o forgive and forget.”

    “And if I fail.”

    “e’ll give you specific parts of your memory back on t to urn to t t system to put your past in context, a proper job, a full identity, your memories ial memory recall is not an exact science and over term,  total recall, w will happen.”

    “I’ll take my chances.”

    “Up to you.”

    “ just bullsting about being able to restore my memory?”

    “I’ll give you back just enougo put tion , to get back to business. e are sending you out to omorrow”

    Fouler sifted trom.

    ***

    Computer code. Millions of lines of computer code etcerminal screen. tal clear and burned intensely in Cald trying desperately to get rid of ttempted to recall iled background.  of an automated car to erized voice saying:

    “Morning, Mr. Caldwell.”

    Fast-forems filled an entire room. ires stacked round t. al racks. Caldting in ters, tor guiding tra of bits and bytes.  ion in one of then. Pimples.

    A ed ern voice. Stered somet it all being for t  notice t varicose veins burned fluorescent in  to aterloo Bridge?

    er room uploading bogus data to a ed sector of cyberspace. or screens in front of  tion of tless nondescript corridors, tily off te brick  in a forest trap but tigo ts of to w have clearance.

    e door ” ten in it in black paint.  in te it burned rapped into a e. te t reflected notraps. A pretty young girl in  nose, leaned in to reminded al disinfectant. A syringe came up in a ting minute jets of transparent liquid in till air.

    ***

    Caldo Fouler’s Faustian bargain. t all to give aken care of on t to old Cald tag o a GPS system so  do a runner. o it all, o regain s   like he had a choice.

    Caldo drop erloo Bridge so o Kat.

    “I bet you kno oo?” Caldterness.

    “Sure. e cer you ed into tem. e can put you up in a el tonig yourself cleaned up, get some good food in you,” Fouler offered.

    to be s about letting Cald of  but t Caldo regain  tter of any idea to make a run for it or searcem by . Besides, Fouler V grid and ime.

    “No thanks,” Caldwell declined.

    to a standstill just outside aterloo station. It  as ty. Caldepped out into a black puddle and London rain. tasted of trial pollution and death.