New York Nights [Virex 01] by Eric Brown

his breath, leaning back in his seat and stretching. 
     
    ‘I know, I know. Like I said, I’m beginning to doubt it myself.’
     
    Jeff was shaking his head. ‘It isn’t that, Hal. I believe you.’
     
    ‘You do?’ Halliday glanced at Barney.
     
    ‘I wish I wasn’t hearing this,’ Jeff said.
     
    Barney reached out and adjusted the screen slightly, staring in at the cop. ‘What is it?’
     
    Jeff chewed his lip. ‘I thought they weren’t out there. I’d heard about them, of course.’
     
    For a crazy second, Halliday thought that the usually sane, dependable Jeff Simmons was about to come out with some spiel about evil shape-shifting spirits. He expected it from Kim: her past, the workings of her mind, was an exotic mystery to him. To hear the same talk from Simmons would have seriously undermined Halliday’s view of the universe as a rational and logical system.
     
    ‘Ever heard of shoes?’ Jeff asked now.
     
    ‘Sure,’ Barney got in before Halliday. ‘I even got a few pairs myself.’
     
    ‘Still the same old comedian,’ Jeff said. ‘No, you wear these shoes, but not on your feet. It’s an acronym, C-H-U.’
     
    ‘Will you please explain what the hell you’re talking about, Lieutenant?’ Barney said.
     
    ‘Chus, or Capillary Hologram Units. It’s a fine net of holographic fibre optics. I’d heard some of the big software companies were experimenting with them. Frankly, I was hoping they’d bomb. I was frightened of what might happen if they ever got out there.’
     
    ‘You mean,’ Halliday said. ‘This guy was wearing a chu, like a mask?’
     
    Jeff nodded. ‘It’s a kind of elasticated hood which fits over the head. It can be programmed to emit a number of separate identities, different faces. When you hit this guy, it caused a dysfunction in the programming, hence the quick change.’
     
    ‘Jesus Christ. So . . .’ Halliday followed the consequences of what Jeff was saying. ‘So even the guy’s original appearance as a Latino, even that might’ve been a disguise?’
     
    ‘That’s right. Just another projected persona. See why I hoped these things would never hit the streets?’
     
    ‘But they’re expensive, right?’ Barney said. ‘I mean, you can’t pick these things up at your local electrical goods store?’
     
    ‘They’re state of the art now, Barney. But you know how these things go. Within a year, two, every petty criminal in New York state’ll be packing one.’
     
    Barney was shaking his head. ‘It won’t make our job any easier. Imagine trying to trace someone who has a chu and doesn’t want to be found.’
     
    Halliday sat back on the chesterfield. The explanation was, despite the potential criminal consequences of the devices, personally reassuring. It stilled that tiny, superstitious voice that had nagged him with the possibility that what he’d experienced last night could not be rationally explained.
     
    Then he considered Kim, and how truly he did not know her. What must the world seem like to someone with an unshakeable belief in spirits and the occult?
     
    Not for the first time the contradictions that made up Kim Long amazed him. To all appearances she was a materialistic, twenty-first-century woman, with a veneer of sophistication and a sharp business brain. Under the surface, however, she had more in common with the long line of her ancestors stretching back into the mysterious mists of dynastic China and beyond.
     
    Jeff Simmons was saying, ‘I’ll step up the investigation. We’ll go through the building and question people acquainted with Nigeria and Villeux.’
     
    ‘It’d help if we could trace where the chu came from,’ Barney said.
     
    ‘You bet. I’ll work on it, see if any of the big companies know anything. I’ll contact the industrial espionage team. They might know of leaks.’ He nodded. ‘Barney, Hal. I’ll be in touch as soon as I learn anything.’
     
    The connection died.
     
    Barney smiled.