Otherness by David Brin Read Free Book Online

the first one told the news. Reiko hurried across the street to the great row of commercial establishments facing the university—the phalanx of industrial giants whose benign partnership had helped Kaygo to thrive. The guard at the side gate of Fugisuku Enterprises recognized her as a former employee and frequent visitor. He smiled and bowed, asking her merely to impress her chop upon a clipboard before she passed through.

    Reiko took the quickest route toward the Company Garden of Contemplation, a path taking her along a great glass wall. Beyond that barrier she could view one of the laboratories where Fugisuku manufactured the bioengineered products it was famous for worldwide.

    Thousands of white cages lined the walls of the vast chamber, each containing three or four tiny, pale hamsters, all cloned to be exactly alike. Automatic machines picked up cages and delivered them at precise intervals to long benches, where masked technicians in white coats worked with needles and flashing scalpels, all to an unheard but insistent tempo.

    Even through the glass Reiko caught the familiar, musty rodent aroma. She had worked here for some years, up until the time of her first pregnancy. Gaijin "liberalism" had penetrated that far, at least. Women no longer had to retire upon getting married. Frankly, though, Reiko did not miss the job all that much.

    The rear doors opened upon a walled setting of peace and serenity in the middle of sprawling Tokyo. Out in the garden, beside carefully tended dwarf trees and neatly raked beds of sand, a ceremony was nearing completion under a delicately carved tori spirit gate. Reiko folded her hands and waited politely as the priest chanted and many of the women of Fugisuku bowed to an altar swathed in incense. Unconsciously, she joined in the prayer.

    O Kami of little mammals, forgive us. Do not take revenge upon our children for what we do to you .

    The monthly ritual was intended to appease the spirits of the slaughtered hamsters, who gave their lives in such numbers for the good of the company and their common prosperity. Once upon a time the prayer gatherings had amused Reiko, but now she did not feel so sure. Did not all life strike a balance? The gaijin argued endlessly about the morality of man-kind's exploitation of animals. "Save the whales!" they cried. "Save the krill!" But why would the Westerners be so obsessed with preserving inferior animals unless they, too, feared the implacable retribution of karma?

    If animals did indeed possess kami , Fugisuku would certainly be haunted without the right protections. Barely after their eyes opened, the young hamsters were injected with viruses to stimulate production of antibodies and interferons. They were sacrificed by the thousands in order to produce just a few milligrams of precious refined molecules.

    With new life now taking form within her, Reiko was not of a mind to ignore any possible danger. She fervently added her own voice to the chant of propitiation.

    O angry spirits, stay away from my child .

6.

    Later Reiko sat with Yumi in the garden, sharing lunch from a lacquered box she had brought along. Yumi reacted to her news with enthusiasm, speaking excitedly of all the preparations that must be made in order to welcome a new child into a home. At the same time, though, Reiko thought she felt an undercurrent of misgiving from her sister.

    Of course Yumi had suspected early on the true reason for the journey to Seoul. In many ways Reiko's younger sister was much more worldly. Still, Yumi would never rebuke her, or ever say anything to bring down her hopes. About Tetsuo she had only this to say:

    "When our family first met him, Father and the rest of us thought you might face problems from Tetsuo's unconventionality, his Western, liberal ideas. He has certainly been a surprise, then. Who ever would have expected, so few years later, that your husband would try so very hard to be perfectly Japanese?"

    Reiko blinked. Is that