Pax Robotica: Genesis (Part 5)

The young woman gave Bane an unmistakably threatening look. She reached out and touched him again. His body’s reaction was immediate: it jerked so violently that the chair tipped over and fell backward, sending his body crashing onto the floor.

Before anybody was able to react, Bane got up, pulled up the chair, sat down, and continued as if nothing had happened.

“‘What have you found?’ I asked half-interestedly, still feeling contented from love making, ‘Send me what you’ve got.’

“‘No, not over the internet. How quickly can you get to my office? It’s something that your theory predicted.’

“‘I should be back within three hours.’ I knew something serious was brewing by the sound of Billy Wayne’s voice.

“I immediately packed, hailed a taxi, and get to the airport. I boarded a Boston-bound flight within an hour.

“I came straight to Billy Wayne’s office when I landed in Boston. He informed me that Dong Shen had been blackmailed into using his fund’s money to manipulate financial markets against the US. Apparently Dong Shen’s father was the Butcher of Beijing and the current Chinese president’s father was one of his victims.

“‘Dong Shen left for Hong Kong a couple of hours ago and I’ve taken the liberty of booking you a first-class ticket to Hong Kong as well as the Mandarin Suite at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. Please be careful and good luck, Professor Bane. You’re all America’s got.’

“I wouldn’t say that I was displeased with Billy Wayne’s choice of hotel even though staying in the extravagant Mandarin Suite was a tad too embarrassing for me. I would rather stay in a mid-range suite. It was no time to fuss over my accommodation, however. So I took a taxi back to my apartment, took a cold shower, and then headed to the airport.

“The Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is located at 5 Connaught Road Central. The original hotel opened its doors in 1963 when Hong Kong was still a small, backwater town. The hotel, known for its superb service, quickly became a local institution. Over the years the Mandarin, as it is still called by the locals and its patrons, has hosted who’s who in the world of business, finance, politics, diplomacy, and entertainment. Henry Kissinger had stayed there, as had Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, as had countless Hollywood celebrities.

“As expected, I got the VIP treatment the moment I walked into the hotel’s lobby. There I saw the usual mix of rich looking men, beautiful women, ladies-who-lunch, and obnoxious loudmouths in gaudy brand name clothing with lots of jewellery and expensive handbags. The last species could not have been more than a couple of decades removed from the rice paddy, or the flee market, or the factory floor, but it acted as if money was the only thing in the world and it had plenty of it. Now I understood why Afua was so enraged.

“I promptly got to my suite, showered, and changed. It was not until after my shower that I paid any attention to my accommodation. The suite’s décor was a tasteful mix of the old and the new, and it was furnished with antiquities, restored furniture, and hand-made pieces. It had double height ceilings, a wall of glass in the living room, and views of the surrounding skyline and Victoria Harbour. There was also private butler to cater to all my needs.

“Feeling hungry, I went up to Man Wah, the hotel’s traditional Cantonese restaurant located on the twenty-fifth floor, for dinner. It offered panoramic views of Victoria Harbour and the skyline, which was widely considered the most beautiful setting for high end dinning in Hong Kong. If I remember correctly, my dinner was a specialty of Man Wah, it consisted of stir fried lobster, egg white, caviar, and scallop mousse, and a bottle of Riesling.

“With the panoramic views I couldn’t help but contemplate the history of Hong Kong and its significance to the current geopolitical climate. Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to the UK after the first Opium War, at the beginning of what the Chinese considered their ‘Century of Humiliation,’ a period during which China was so weak that it lost every war it fought and was forced to cede territories and accept unequal treaties. It is this humiliation that fuelled the current Chinese nationalism and global assertiveness. That nationalism was severely challenged by the President’s willingness to declare war on China. I knew it would be a matter of time before Chinese ultra-nationalists demanded that the Chinese government to respond in kind or risk another century of humiliation. And that was when I realized my foolhardiness: I came to China, by myself, unarmed, amidst rising tension and boiling nationalism, to threaten one of its most powerful men.

“I paid my bill and exited the restaurant. As I walked past a group of well dressed Asian men on my way back to my room, one of them said, in a voice loud enough for me to hear, ‘Of course the Americans had to threaten war, it was the last gasp of breath of the dying hegemon.’

“I couldn’t resist my frat boy mischief. I turned around, swaggered back, and whispered, ‘No, wrong answer. We just know you guys don’t have balls.’ The group was flabbergasted at my crude vulgarity.

“But it was a perfect insult, on both national and individual level. The biggest man in the group, probably the leader, threw a wild punch at my face. Had I not drunk the entire bottle of Riesling, I would have just blocked or dodged the punch and walked away, and that would have been the end of it. But I was not in complete control of my body and so my instinct took over. I blocked the punch with my left hand, grabbed the wrist, and yanked it forward and down. As the man tumbled I stepped forward and slammed my right elbow into his left jaw. He was knocked out cold before he hit the floor.

“A mêlée ensued and in no time I was fighting with half of the Chinese nationals at the Mandarin Oriental. Even slightly drunk, I had no problem fighting my way out of the hotel.

“Once safely outside, I contemplated my newly found predicament. No hotel in Hong Kong would take me and my picture would soon be all over the media, new and old. Once again, my reckless impulse seemed to have had caused me a lot of troubles.

“While I was pondering what to do, Billy Wayne called and said, ‘Professor Bane, stay where you are. David Song, Sophia’s brother, will pick you up in fifteen minutes.’

“It became apparent to me that Billy Wayne had hacked into the hotel’s security system, seen what had happened, and came to my rescue. Again, I suffered no real personal consequences as a result my latest reckless behavior. I did, however, lose my only opportunity to have amicable talk with Dong Shen and with it the hope to resolve the emerging crisis peacefully. I didn’t think it was a great loss, though.

“Billy Wayne had given David the where-about of the Butcher of Beijing and assured him that I would help him in his quest of vengeance. Even under pressure, I was able to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with David.