Zero K Read Online Free Page A

it.”
    â€œWe defer to it,” he said.
    It was my turn to slump in the chair. I wanted a cigarette. I’d stopped smoking twice and wanted to start and stop again. I envisioned it as a lifelong cycle.
    â€œDo I ask the question or do I accept the situation passively? I want to know the rules.”
    â€œWhat’s the question?”
    â€œWhere are we?” I said.
    He nodded slowly, examining the matter. Then he laughed.
    â€œThe nearest city of any size is across the border, called Bishkek. It’s the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Then there’s Almaty, bigger, more distant, in Kazakhstan. But Almaty is not the capital. It used to be the capital. The capital is now Astana, which has gold skyscrapers and indoor shopping malls where people lounge on sand beaches before plunging into wave pools. Once you know the local names and how to spell them, you’ll feel less detached.”
    â€œI won’t be here that long.”
    â€œTrue,” he said. “But there’s a change in the estimate concerning Artis. They expect it to happen one day later.”
    â€œI thought the timing was extremely precise.”
    â€œYou don’t have to stay. She’ll understand.”
    â€œI’ll stay. Of course I’ll stay.”
    â€œEven under the most detailed guidance, the body tends to influence certain decisions.”
    â€œIs she dying naturally or is the last breath being induced?”
    â€œYou understand there’s something beyond the last breath. You understand this is only the preface to something larger, to what is next.”
    â€œIt seems very businesslike.”
    â€œIt will be very gentle in fact.”
    â€œGentle.”
    â€œIt will be quick, safe and painless.”
    â€œSafe,” I said.
    â€œThey need it to happen in complete synchronization with the methods they’ve been fine-tuning. Best suited to her body, her illness. She could live weeks longer, yes, but to what end?”
    He was leaning forward now, elbows on the desk.
    I said, “Why here?”
    â€œThere are laboratories and tech centers in two other countries. This is the base, central command.”
    â€œBut why so isolated? Why not Switzerland? Why not a suburb of Houston?”
    â€œThis is what we want, this separation. We have what is needed. Durable energy sources and strong mechanized systems. Blast walls and fortified floors. Structural redundancy. Fire safety. Security patrols, land and air. Elaborate cyberdefense. And so on.”
    Structural redundancy. He liked saying that. He opened a drawer in the desk, then held up a bottle of Irish whiskey. He pointed to a tray that held two glasses and I went across the room to get it. Back at the desk I inspected the glasses, looking for infiltrations of sand and grit.
    â€œPeople in offices here. Hidden away. What are they doing?”
    â€œThey’re making the future. A new idea of the future. Different from the others.”
    â€œAnd it has to be here.”
    â€œThis is land traveled by nomads for thousands of years. Sheepherders in open country. It’s not battered and compacted by history. History is buried here. Thirty years ago Artis worked on a dig somewhere north and east of here, near China. History in burial mounds. We’re outside the limits. We’re forgetting everything we knew.”
    â€œYou can forget your name in this place.”
    He raised his glass and drank. The whiskey was a rare blend, triple distilled, production strictly limited. He’d given me the details years ago.
    â€œWhat about the money?”
    â€œWhose?”
    â€œYours. You’re in big, obviously.”
    â€œI used to think I was a serious man. The work I did, the effort and dedication. Then, later, the time I was able to devote to other matters, to art, educating myself to the ideas and traditions and innovations. Came to love it,” he said. “The work itself, a picture on a wall. Then I got