((Chapter heading from The Lights of Our Street by Deine Lakaien.))

Chapter 2
In This Peaceful Street of Mine

To say that Adam hadn't enjoyed Prague would be an understatement. The city had tried to murder him in more ways than he could count, he had never felt so out of place or so unwanted. Golem City could, in another world, have become a refuge, but that wasn't the reality of the place. It was a cancer in a broken body and he had felt glad to be back in Prague's city proper when he finally got out of there. That was saying something. After Adam had relocated to Scotland, it had taken him a few months to stop looking over his shoulders at every turn.

The two days before his and Francis's meeting with David Sarif had passed much more hectically than they'd have liked. The day they'd got the call, they'd planned to visit Sergio Bedoya. He was in the Union Prison Edinburgh, formerly known as the Her Majesty's Prison. It had changed its name about a decade ago when Scotland had finally broken from the UK along with Northern Ireland and Gibraltar and re-joined the European Union. Not that this made much of a difference for the inmates. What made things worse was that Sergio had practically no ties to anyone outside. He took it in stride and said it was better than the homeless shelter, but there was no doubt that he was glad at least someone cared enough to travel all the way to Edinburgh for him once in a while.

Despite their brief time-frame, they had taken the trip. Neither Adam nor Francis trusted the guards to deliver a message to Sergio, and they didn't want to leave him waiting. They had time enough to pack the next day. Adam was on leave for the next three weeks anyway. Not that either of them intended to stay in Rabi'ah that long. The plan was to hand over the hardware and be back on the way. They both knew that wasn't going to happen, but Adam thought they couldn't be blamed for hoping.

The short time for preparations meant that Adam had little time to wonder what exactly Rabi'ah would be like. He knew it wasn't like Golem City. From what could be seen on the TV, it looked pretty enough, but outward appearance wasn't worth a lot when it came to cities or people. He had to admit that he was curious. They had wondered aloud about taking a personal look before, so it wasn't as inconvenient as Francis was trying to make it seem. Sure, they had other things to do, but these three weeks they had planned to have for themselves. David Sarif wasn't going to get in the way of that.

'World to Adam Jensen.' He jumped and looked at Francis. The hacker clicked his tongue. 'Where were you?'

Adam licked his lips. 'Sure you want to know that? Maybe it's not a place you want to discuss in public.'

Francis snorted. 'Nah. I know that expression. This was more of a "Did I turn off the oven?"-look.'

'Close enough. I wonder. About Rabi'ah. And what he wants.'

Francis sobered. 'You and me both. I've got the invitation, by the way. Your call if we give it to him.'

'Why mine?'

'Because you're the one with a grudge.'

'Grudge? Me? Never.' He shook his head. 'You're right. I hated what he did to me. But the thing is, if all this hadn't happened, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And I don't just mean being alive. This mess was what brought us close. I wouldn't change any of it if I could, because any change would mean you and I wouldn't be a thing. Now call me soppy or selfish, but that's not a price I'd pay even for peace.'

Francis looked at him. 'You've been thinking about that, haven't you? You … I don't know what to say to that.'

Adam grinned. 'I'll mark the day you were speechless in my calendar, Pritchard.'

The other man opened his mouth, but the pilot's voice cut across him. 'We are now approaching the Muscat International Airport. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.'

Francis made a face. 'I'm telling you, we're not going to like this.'

'You're a pessimist, Pritchard.'

'I know David, Jensen, and you do, too. He … there's more to this. Mark my words. This is like watching an accident in slow motion and being unable to stop it from happening.'

'I didn't know you're clairvoyant on top of glum.'

'Honestly, Jensen …'

'Look. Maybe he's just lonely. Has that occurred to you?'

'Of course he's lonely. He likes it that way. Want to bet? There's a huge mess waiting for us, and he wants us to sort it out for him.'

'I'll bite. What's the wager?'

'Hell, no idea. Ah … I've got it. The winner gets to pick a band.'

'Oh my, you're really sure. Fine. But don't complain when you inevitably lose.'

Ϡ

David was waiting for them at the exit. Adam was conspicuous enough to be the first person everyone spotted, so finding them in the gaggle of travellers wasn't hard. Frank liked it fine that way. Being looked at made him want to vanish in the shadows. For a few seconds their former employer kept his gaze on Adam, then it shifted to Frank. Thoughts were visibly chasing each other in his mind, then he shook his head minutely. 'Adam, what a surprise,' his voice boomed when they approached him. 'What brings you here? Want to move to Rabi'ah?'

Frank's lips twitched. 'Yeah. What a coincidence to be on the same plane.'

'Indeed! But I thought you'd …' He fell silent, looked at each of them in turn, and finally comprehension dawned on his face. 'You and Adam? But you hate each other.' His eyes narrowed. 'Ah. You wanted to keep your relationship secret and made everyone think so.'

Frank snorted. Adam saved him from having to answer that. 'Not exactly. This is recent.'

'Yeah. No one's more surprised than us.'

David looked stunned for one more moment before he collected himself. 'Well, I'll be. Come on, we're taking a helicopter to Rabi'ah. Getting there from here's a pain without.'

Frank bit down on a retort. Sarif had never known what a normal person lived like. He'd always been rich, and he always would be. His one, huge saving grace was that he'd often hired people who needed a hand rather than the ones head-hunters were usually after. That included him and Adam.

David kept chatting about Rabi'ah on the way to his helicopter. Then he chuckled. 'You probably know all that, seeing how for a while it looked as if we'd all have to come here.'

'Those of us with the necessary money,' Frank said. 'I could have done it, and Adam too, but we'd both have been broke. How many people here have nothing left because getting into Rabi'ah was so expensive?'

David looked at him. 'A lot less than there would have been if the Human Restoration Act had passed. But yes, it isn't cheap. You'll know why when you see the place. Design, development, and construction have all cost a fortune, and until that's been paid back that isn't going to change. It's like that with everything. So. Did you have any troubles getting the hardware here? Or is there anything I can't use?'

'No and no,' Frank said. 'Rabi'ah has no laws against security AIs, and none of the things I'm bringing with me are dutiable. Now if I were bringing them out of Rabi'ah, things would be different.'

David chuckled. 'Yes, well, I'm in luck then.'

'Is there a high crime rate here? This is a serious question.'

'No. I'm just getting paranoid, if that's what you want to hear.' He gestured to the helicopter. 'There's our ride. Enjoy the view.'

As soon as they were above the city, Frank had to admit that the place was beautiful. Judging from Adam's expression, he felt the same way about it. The colours white and green dominated the place. There were vast parks, trees lining the streets offered shadow, and the buildings themselves were almost white, but not blinding. Both streets and buildings were curved, curling around each other in a beautiful if slightly impractical weave, but it was a right side better than any other city designed on a drafting table was. The enormous 3D printer that had created the city wasn't visible, but Frank assumed it was in the centre, hidden underneath an enormous circular central square that supposedly could be opened to bring the thing out for repairs.

Despite his intention to remain wary, Frank let himself relax. Maybe Adam was right.

Their helicopter took them higher, high enough to have a good view of pretty much the entire city. David, seated across from them, leaned forwards. 'The city proper is the large circular structure here in the middle. There to the south is a lot of our infrastructure. Gardens, shopping malls, cafés, restaurants. The hospital is near the centre of the main city, though. Closer to where people live. The district to the north is schools and a university, and what is pretty much L.I.M.B. clinic, even though they don't call it that, obviously. That clinic, the hospital, and a smaller one in the southern district are connected by underground tunnels. Emergencies are flown, of course.

'Housing areas are from about half the radius of the city outwards, in the centres you have some smaller shops, grocery stores and what not. Also a few adult education centres. They teach you everything you may want to learn. Cooking, photography, languages, how to use augs to the best effect. There are also a few research facilities that do not belong to the Rabi'ah university but are kind of subsidiaries of foreign universities. Scotland's got one, too. They are mostly cultural studies institutes that want to observe the world's biggest melting pot up close. Oh, and speaking of that, the embassies are also there. Most buildings there are embassies.'

'Explains their design,' Adam said. Indeed, they were built in very different styles, obviously according to their countries' representatives' cultures.

'It's a marvel. You have to go to the inner city with me, and to the southern district. You haven't seen Rabi'ah until you've been there. Which brings me to the next question. How long can you stay?'

'We're on vacation, but we have plans for most of the time,' Frank said. That wasn't exactly a lie. They did have a plan not to do anything at all. 'We can stay a couple of days, though, to get a feeling of the place.'

'Good. I can't wait to show you around.'

Ϡ

Their time in Rabi'ah was surprisingly relaxing. Francis installed the MANES in David's home the evening they arrived, explained in detail how to work it the next morning, and let him show them around the city in the afternoon. They were sitting in a nice restaurant in the evening, talking about … nothing of consequence, really. How life was like in Scotland, what ties they'd had to the country to start with, Francis's work as a writer for Picus and as the developer of an AI that was rapidly gaining popularity. By now, Adam was half convinced that there was no other reason why they were there, but everything from Francis's tone to his posture said that he was on high alert. To David it probably wasn't visible. Back in Detroit, Francis had always been wired. But Adam had seen him relaxed, at ease with himself and the world, and there was a vast difference between the two.

'So, are you still in contact with anyone else of the company?' Francis asked. 'In particular, I wonder if you know where I could reach Faridah.'

David nodded. 'I know, yes. She just … doesn't generally want much to do with the people from back then. When everything collapsed, she had a hard time.'

'Everyone had, especially augs.'

'You knew she had an augment? Huh. She didn't really tell a lot of people that.'

Francis shrugged. 'She was one of the few people I was close with. I have something for her, though. If you won't give us her contact, please pass it on.'

'Sure, no problem. What would that be?'

'You get one, too. There.'

David took the proffered envelope and looked inside. A slow smile formed on his face. 'I must say, I'm more surprised about the invitation than about the fact that you're getting married.'

Francis laughed. 'It's a very small affair, too, so feel free to feel honoured. You can count the guests on two hands. Our plan A was actually that just my sister would be there as our witness, but then it got out of hand.'

'By out of hand he means that his sister put her foot down and said we cannot uninvite her husband,' Adam added. 'So we thought that there are actually a few people we would want to be there, and we decided to invite them after all. Still, we'd appreciate if this doesn't end up on the news.'

'Why, of course not. But I have to ask. Are you inviting me out of politeness and hope I'll decline?'

Adam looked at Francis. 'Why does everyone I've worked for and invite ask that?'

David laughed. 'Ah, you haven't changed, son. I'll take that as a no. Now I'll be happy to come, and I do think Faridah can't resist that kind of message, either.' David stowed the invitation in the inside pocket of his jacket. 'Now here's another question. Or a request.' Adam saw Francis's expression become guarded, and this time, David didn't miss it. 'You have, of course, no obligation to agree. But I honestly don't know who else I could ask. Also, it's a wonderful surprise that you're here, too, Adam, I wouldn't have sent Francis alone. And finding someone he can work with … well.'

'Maybe you shouldn't insult me if you need something from me,' Francis said in a forced light tone.

'Huh. Indeed. I ask you to take a flight to Vienna. There you will board a ship that takes you down the Danube to a little town called Apatin. On the ship, you will meet a certain Johanna Häberle. She lives in Kiel, her ancestors are from Apatin. Johanna's mother is a very good friend of mine. She spent a lot of time in Detroit, and she moved back home to Apatin a few years ago to take care of their family business. She offered me a 25 % share of the company in exchange for certain information, which I have provided. Her daughter intends to join her but has hinted that her mother, in their talks, sounds weird. The Häberle online presence vanished about a year ago. It's all gone. Apparently, a family friend advised them to take it down when the sword of Damocles that was Human Restoration Act was still hovering above us all, and he must have been thorough.

'Now, all they have is a small intranet that supposedly isn't at all connected to the internet. That's why you can't do this from home. What I want to know is this: Is anything illegal going on there, or are they just careful? Did whoever erased their online presence abandon them and are they clueless how to actually create a new one? Or was that person sloppy enough to make whatever homepage they had findable for someone like you, Frank?'

'That last isn't a problem. The rest … What sort of company is this? This is still the augmentation industry, isn't it?'

David nodded. 'Yes. Serbia's never been a big player, the only company is, as I said, a family business. They were too small for Tai Yong. I bet you they didn't even know they existed, since they never tried to expand past their little stretch of country.'

'How do you run a company like that as a family business?'

'It wasn't their main business. They were an import/export company. They started importing augmentations, some members of the family went into the medical sector, and within it, into augmentation. Then they bought licenses and equipment, had a few ideas of their own, and that was all it took.'

'So the plan is to disguise us as tourists?'

'Pretty much. Yes. Only Johanna will know the truth. She knows that I'm sending help. Now your payment will be 20.000 credits each, no matter what result you bring to me. If this company is clean, you will receive a 1 percent share in addition.'

'And you don't think that that's a reason to make it look better than it is?'

'Maybe for someone else. Not you. Now all I need is for you to agree to do this.'

'David, I didn't take three weeks of vacation to work for someone else in that time,' Adam said.

'It's like this. The trip starts the day after tomorrow. It takes ten days. You will be in Apatin for two of those. Before and after that, you'll be visiting Budapest, Bratislava, some forsaken place in the puszta … This is a vacation, save for two days where I'd need you to look into this business. 20.000 credits for two days of work, and the rest of the time is a nice little journey you get for free. That is hardly an unfair offer.'

'You've never been an unfair employer,' Francis said. 'We'll talk about this. I know we don't have much time, but we need to discuss this in private.'

David nodded. 'Of course. But please, do answer me soon. If you should decide to go, I have to buy two people out of the trip so you can take their places.'

'And if we don't?'

David raised his arms. 'Then at least I had a chance to see for myself that you're both well. If you believe nothing else, believe that I am glad about that.'