Zero History

“ ‘Engrish,’ ” said Heidi, with a shrug. “ ‘Beast,’ maybe? Or sometimes they just like the
shape of the letters. It’s a beginner’s kit.” This last addressed to Ajay, accusingly. “I ask
him to get me a kit by Bandai, something in their Gundam series, expert-grade. Gold
standard of figure kits. He brings me fucking Breast Chaser Galvion. Thinks it’s funny.
Not Bandai, not Gundam. A kid’s kit.”
“Sorry,” said Ajay, who’d obviously heard about this before.
“You build them?” Hollis asked.
“Helps me focus. Calms me down. Fujiwara says it’s the only thing that works, for
some people. Only thing that works for him.”
“He does it himself?”
“He’s a master. Incredible airbrush technique. Scratch-built modifications.”
“Do you want me to open this?” Ajay jiggled the tip of the razor knife.
“Yes,” said Hollis.
“If it’s full of anthrax, we’ll all be sorry.” He winked.
Heidi got up from the bed and came over. “Hey. Don’t blunt that.”
“It’s vinyl,” said Ajay, laying the ant down, on its back, and deftly wielding the razor
knife. Hollis watched the tip of the blade slide smoothly into the side of the round base.
“Yes. Been cut, glued. Easy. There.” The bottom of the base lay flat on the newsprint, a
round of blue a few millimeters thick. “Well,” said Ajay, peering into the twin small
tunnels of the ant’s hollow legs, “what’s this, then?” He put down the knife, picked up a
long, slender pair of tweezers, with canted tips, and inserted them into one leg. He looked
up at Hollis. “Watch. I’m going to pull out … a rabbit!” He produced, gradually, a spongy
sheet of thin yellow foam. Displayed it dangling limply from the tweezers’ sharp jaws,
five inches square. “Rabbit,” he said, dropping it. “And for my next trick …” He inserted
the tweezers again. Felt around with them. And slowly, carefully, drew out a two-inch
length of narrow, transparent flexible tubing, plugged at either end with a tiny red cork.
“Looks like very professional funny business to me.” There were various differently
cylindrical bits of metal and plastic inside the tube, like a section of a hippie-techno
necklace. He looked at it more closely, then looked up at Hollis, raising his eyebrows.
“Huh,” said Heidi, “ant’s been LoJacked. Bigend.”
“I’m not sure,” said Hollis. “Can they hear us?” she asked Ajay, suddenly afraid.
“No,” he said. “It was sealed in the doll. The foam was to keep it from rattling. You’d
never set up an audio bug that way. You’d want a little needle mike, through the vinyl,
for that. This is a transponder and a battery. What do you want to do with it?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can replace it. Reglue the base. I’ll bet Heidi can fix it so you’d never know we
opened it.”
“I’m much more concerned with Garreth at the moment,” said Hollis.
“We’ve discussed that,” said Heidi. “You have to call that number. That’s all. If that
doesn’t get him, plan B.”