Marcus Sakey - Brilliance

LATELY MUCH HAS BEEN MADE of Dr. Eugene Bryce and his study of the so-called brilliants, that percentage of children born since 1980 with exceptional abilities. While the full scope of their gifts is unknown, its clear that something remarkable has happened: savants are being born not once in a generation, but every hour of every day.

Historically, the term savant was generally paired with another word, to form an unkind but not inaccurate phrase: idiot savant. Those rare individuals with superhuman gifts were generally crippled in some way. Broken geniuses, they were able to recreate the London skyline after only a moments glance, yet unable to order a cup of tea; able to intuit string theory or noncommutative geometry and yet be baffled by their mothers smile. It was as though evolution was maintaining equilibrium, giving here, taking there.

However, this is not the case with the brilliants. Dr. Bryce estimates that as many as one in a hundred children born since 1980 have these advantages, and that these children are otherwise statistically normal. They are smart, or not. Social, or not. Talented, or not. In other words, apart from their wondrous gifts, they are exactly as children have been since the dawn of man.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, public discussion has focused on cause. Where did these children come from? Why now? Will this continue on forever, or will it end as abruptly as it began?

But theres a more important issue. A question with shattering implications. A question that is on the tip of our collective tongues, and yet that we do not discussperhaps because we fear the answer.

What will happen when these children grow up?

The radio host had said there was a war coming, said it like he was looking forward to it, and Cooper, coatless and chilly in the desert evening, was thinking that the radio man was an asshole.

Hed chased Vasquez for nine days now. Someone had warned the programmer just before Cooper got to the Boston walk-up, a brick rectangle where the only light had been a window onto an airshaft and the glowing red eyes of power indicators on computers and routers and surge protectors. The desk chair had been against the far wall as if someone had leaped out of it, and steam still rose from an abandoned bowl of ramen.

Vasquez had run, and Cooper had followed.

Hed gotten a hit on a forged credit card in Cleveland. Two days later a security camera tagged Vasquez renting a car in Knoxville. Nothing for a while, then hed picked up the trail briefly in Missouri, then nothing again, then a near-miss this morning in a tiny Arkansas town called Hope.

The last twelve hours had been tense, everyone seeing the Mexican border looming large, and beyond it, the wide world into which someone like Vasquez could vanish. But with each move the abnorm made, Cooper got better at predicting the next. Like peeling away layers of tissue paper to reveal the object beneath, a vague form began to resolve into the pattern that defined his target.

Alex Vasquez, twenty-three, five eight, a face you wouldnt notice and a mind that could see the logic of computer programs unfolding in three dimensions, who didnt so much write code as transcribe it. Who had waltzed through MITs graduate program at age fifteen. Vasquez had a talent of wondrous power, the kind they used to say happened only once a generation.

They didnt say that anymore.

The bar was in the first floor of a small hotel on the outskirts of San Antonio. Cooper made himself a bet as he walked in. Neon signs for Shiner Bock, smoke-stained drop ceiling, jukebox in the corner, pool table with worn felt, chalkboard with specials. Female bartender, a blonde showing dark roots.

The specials turned out to be on a dry-erase board, and the bartendress was a redhead. Cooper smiled. About half the tables were occupied, mostly men but a few women too. The tabletops held plastic pitchers and cigarette packs and cell phones. The music was too loud, some country-rock act he didnt know:

Cooper pulled out a high-backed stool, sat down, tapped out the beat on the bar with his fingertips. Hed heard once that the essence of country music was three chords and the truth. Well, the three chords part still stands.

What can I get you, hon? The roots of her red hair were dark.

Just coffee. He glanced sideways. And get her another Bud, would you? Shes about done with that one.

The woman on the stool beside him was peeling the label off her longneck. The knuckles of her right hand brightened for a moment, and her T-shirt tightened at the shoulders. Thanks, but no.

Dont worry. Cooper flashed a wide smile. Im not hitting on you. Just had a good day, thought Id share the mood.

She hesitated, then nodded, the motion catching light on a slender gold necklace. Thanks.

No trouble.

They went back to looking straight ahead. A row of bottles lined the back of the bar, and behind them faded snapshots had been tacked up in a collage. A lot of smiling strangers hanging on each other, holding up beer bottles, all of them seeming to be having a great time. He wondered how old the photos were, how many of the people in them still drank here, how their lives had changed, which had died. Photographs were a funny thing. They were out of date the moment they were taken, and a single photograph rarely revealed much of anything. But put a series together and patterns emerged. Some were obvious: haircuts, weight gained or lost, fashion trends. Others required a particular kind of eyes to see. You staying here?

Sorry?

Your accent. You dont sound local.

Neither do you.

Nope, Cooper said. Just passing through. Be gone tonight, everything goes well.

The redhead returned with his coffee, then pulled a beer from a cooler, the bottle dripping ice water. She spun an opener from her back pocket with easy grace. Four dollars.

Cooper set a ten on the bar, watched the woman make change. She was a pro, returned six singles rather than a five and a one, made it easy for him to tip extra. Someone at the other end of the bar yelled, Sheila, sweetheart, Im dying here, and the bartendress headed away with a practiced smile.

Cooper took a sip of coffee. It was burned and watery. You hear there was another bombing? Philadelphia this time. I was listening to the radio on the way in. Talk radio, some redneck. He said a war was coming. Told us to open our eyes.

Whos us? The woman spoke to her hands.

Around here, Im pretty sure us means Texans, and them means the other seven billion on the planet.

Sure. Because there arent any brilliants in Texas.

Cooper shrugged, took another sip of his coffee. Fewer than some other places. The same percentage are born here, but they tend to move to more liberal areas with larger population density. Greater tolerance, and more chance to be with their own kind. There are gifted in Texas, but youll find more per capita in Los Angeles or New York. He paused. Or Boston.

Alex Vasquezs fingers went white around her bottle of Bud. Shed been slouching before, the lousy posture of a programmer who spent whole days plugged in, but now she straightened. For a long moment she stared straight ahead. Youre not a cop.