Last Train from Zona Verde

 

Paul Theroux is best known for his accounts of train travel, and this book tries to cash in on that interest with a misleading title and dust jacket photo. The only travel he does by train occurs in two chapters, "The Train from Khayelitsha" and "Night Train from Swakopmund," and is described in just a few sentences. Late in the book he passes up the opportunity for another trip by rail. So what's going on?

The journey in this book was conceived as a followup to Dark Star Safari, when he travelled from Cairo to Capetown. This time his intention was to travel up the west side of Africa, heading north from Capetown. The idea had a pleasing symmetry to it and would be the capstone of his long association with Africa, where he spent some of his happiest years. As the trip begins he writes, "I was hurrying away from my routine and my responsibilities and my general disgust with fatuous talk, money talk, money stories, the donkey laughter at dinner parties.... It was travel as rejection, as though in leaving I was saying to those fatuous people, Take that."

At first he is happy to be back in Africa, and from Capetown he heads north by bus into Namibia, where he joins a group of people he was keen to meet, the !Kung who live at the western edge of the Kalahari. He visits the Hoba meteorite, a 60-ton hunk of iron that did not shatter when it impacted, and the Veterinary Fence (aka the Red Line) which stretches across the entire width of northern Namibia to stop the threat of rinderpest. He slips across the border into Botswana to visit a posh tourist resort called Abu, located close to the Okavanga delta. The cost is $4000 a night, and though he is often scornful of tourists and has a hatred of "the taming of wild animals, especially large ones," he finds riding an elephant "a transcendent experience and an unexpected thrill." The owner is a friend of his, and its ultimate purpose is to restore orphaned elephants to the wild. Later one of the trainers was crushed to death by his favourite elephant.

The trip turns bad at the border crossing into into Angola. Although he does not realize it at the time, his credit card is cloned and runs up a bill totalling US $40,000. It's just a foretaste of what's to come, for Angola is a country that was ravaged by civil war from 1975 to 2002. A former Portuguese penal colony, it thrived on the slave trade which later was transformed into "forced labour," a practice that continued into the 1960s. Now "Angolans lived among garbage heaps," and the government was "corrupt, predatory, tyrannical, unjust, and utterly uninterested in its people." In the capital, Luanda, xenophobia was "on an official scale, institutional alien-hating." The streets of the "joyless" city are filled with "thousands of homeless children" and "countless numbers of war amputees." The penultimate chapter is entitled "This is What the World Will Look Like When It Ends."

In the final chapter -- "What Am I Doing Here? -- Theroux, in his 70s and suffering from gout, justifies his decision to discontinue the trip, which had become a "toxic tour through the bowels of West Africa, along the Côte d'Ordure." To travel there needed the "skills and temperament of a proctologist." It was only then that I became aware of the full meaning behind the book's title. "Zona verde" refers the bush, and he turns down an opportunity to travel by train into the bush on the Benguela Railway. The word "ultimate" in the subtitle did not mean, as I had assumed, "the very best," but "the last." I have no doubt that Theroux, often a sly writer, was fully aware of the potential confusion. He's having a little joke at the reader's expense.

This is not to say I did not enjoy the book. As usual, I enjoyed Theroux's great curiosity, his focus on details, his vast reading, his caustic comments. For example, he dismisses Laurens van der Post as "a posturing fantasist and fake mystic" and "an unreliable witness." He says the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy was anachronistic and "made anthropologists apoplectic with rage." He compares the herds of tourists unfavourably with wild animals placidly drinking at a waterhole. "Don't get between a tourist and the buffet," observes a friend.

I'm looking forward to his newest book, Bwana Sahib, about another of my favourite writers, George Orwell.

Guide to The Peripheral by William Gibson

I first read this book in 1985, the year after it was published. The hardcover version clocks in at 485 pages. In 2022 it surfaced again on Amazon Prime as a mini-series, though the second season was cancelled due to a writers' strike, a disappointment as I thought the cast was great and there were parts that I found unforgettable -- the haptic band of brothers and their use of drones, and especially the eerie portrayal of a future London with tall buildings that are part ruin, part classical sculpture. So I picked up the book again this year, but had forgotten how reading Gibson can be like boarding a moving train. He speeds through chapters without fully explaining what's going on and backfills gaps later on. This streamlines the story but the scattered clues can be difficult to pick up. Many of the details, while interesting, are not germane to the plot. Add a few twists and stir in the mini-series, which does not hew closely to the book, and you'll be forgiven for feeling a bit dazed.

PLOT SYMMETRIES

The 124 chapters alternate between the future and the past, and between the POV of two main characters. The cast is large and there is much detail which, though entertaining, is unimportant to the plot. The overall effect is like a linear jigsaw puzzle. 

Far-reaching consequences set the story in motion in chapters 8 and 15. They involve murders in two locations (London and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). They appear unrelated at first, but later we find out that two sisters are involved, Aelita and Daedra. One is a victim, the other a perpetrator, although we do not find this out until later. The murders are bizarre and could only happen in the future.

Featured in the other half of the story, which takes place in the near-present, is another pair of siblings, this time a brother and sister named Burton and Flynne. An imaginative version of time travel brings the present and future together, separated by something called the Jackpot, a combination of war, disease, drought, and climate change that decimated 80% of humanity. Those who survived (mainly the wealthy) were able to rebuild thanks to a surge in technology, but it's mostly an empty world. Androids and nanobots do the heavy lifting, everything from menial tasks to killing.

In the near-present people drive cardboard cars made in China, and make money in two principal ways -- online gaming and the drug trade. Flynne and Burton are good enough at the former to attract the attention of a wealthy dilettante named Lev who dabbles in the past as a hobby. In other words, he too is a kind of gamer.

Burton is offered big bucks to role-play what he thinks is a game, but at a critical moment Flynne has to take his place, and she witnesses a murder. This immediately attracts the attention of unknown rivals who send a hit-squad to take out Burton and Flynne in the present. Burton however is an ex-Marine who was part of Haptic Recon unit. At first, he and his ex-military buddies are more than a match for the people pitted against them, but the conflict between present and future quickly escalates.

VIRTUAL TIME TRAVEL

No time machine necessary. Instead a mysterious server in China ("something to do with quantum tunnelling") enables an exchange of data between the present and the future. The consciousness of a person from the present can be uploaded into an android, aka "a peripheral." Such a person is called a polt (not a poult -- though that might be more fun), and is able to interact with others in the future. Peripherals have no digestive tract, and must be infused with a nutrient every 12 hours. People in the future use them as casually as people use characters in online games, both in their own timeline as well as in the past.

As soon as a connection with the past is made, an alternate timeline (or "stub") is created. Thus Flynne's present does not lead directly to Lev's future. Yet that does not prevent two of the characters from existing in both Flynne's present (which is only a few years beyond today) and Lev's future (which is 70 years distant from hers). Flynne's is the first stub created by Lev. Others exist, but we are not told anything about them and their presence is not widely known. It is soon discovered that someone else from the future has made a connection with Flynne's stub, and a deadly race ensues between the two groups for control of the past with Flynne and her family caught in the middle. How people from the future operate in the present is not explained in any detail, except to say they use their phones.

Wilf, when asked if he's from the future, says, "I'm in the future that would result from my not being here. But since I am, it isn't your future."

CHARACTERS & GLOSSARY

[Shaded entrees = Future]

Aelita West - Sister of Daedra, and a murky American figure whose murder is witnessed by Flynne.

Annie Courrèges - A Neoprimitive curator.

Assemblers - Nanobots that build things.

Ash - One of Lev's "technicals" who along with Ossian helps manage his hobbies. She has moving tattoos, doubled (figure eight) pupils, and a hat that resembles a black leather toad.

Aunties - Algorithms.

Badger - A social media platform. (A sarcastic jab by the author?)

Boss Patcher - A peripheral operated by Hamed. Has keratotic skin, no neck, features of a bullfrog, two penises. Lives on a plastic island in the Pacific.

Bullpup - "An Army rifle that looked like it had been telescoped back into itself, squashed front to back."

Burton Fisher - An ex-Marine getting disability from VA due to problems caused by his haptics. Uses the avatar "Easy Ice" when playing online games, and has won many drone competitions. When warned that a contract has been put out on him, he replies that he's not "a particularly easy target."

Coffee Jones - A coffee chain that also serves freshly printed cronuts. Flynne once worked there.

Conner Penske - The only other HaptRec vet. Missing an arm, leg, a foot, and several digits. Drives a special trike that burns cooking oil. Kills a 4-man hit team sent from Memphis to take out Burton and Flynne. In London his peripheral is a martial arts instructor aka the dancing master.

Corbell Pickett - Richest man in the county, involved in the drug trade. Burton pays him hush money after Conner kills a hit squad from Memphis. Corbell has Flynne kidnapped after getting an offer to kill her. Flynne is rescued by Burton and Corbell's home blown up. Corbell flees the country.

Carter - The youngest of Burton's posse, helps monitor the drones around the Fisher home.

Danny - Runs Jimmy's, a bar & grill.

Duval - Part of Burton's posse, helps monitor the drones around the Fisher home.

Carlos - A volunteer EMT, part of Burton's posse.

Clovis Fearing - A very old friend of Lowbeer who owns a shop in London dealing exclusively in Americana. Resembles "some crumbling relict saint," and is familiar with continua enthusiasts who will "buy anything from the twenty thirties, twenty forties." They "try to get as far back from the Jackpot proper as they can. About 2028, latest." She is "also a former British spy, as was Lowbeer, who ran her out of the embassy in DC."

Clovis Raeburn - An American in Flynne's time. In the future she is Clovis Fearing.

Daedra West- A celebrity exhibitionist, herself "the product" in an art form that is part reality television, politics, and performance art. After each media event she has herself flensed and sells the skin to art collectors. She breaks her agreement with the backers of her latest project (visiting the Patchers) by appearing naked and tattooed. It's a deliberate provocation of the Patchers, who had eaten the last two envoys. According to Ash, Daedra "or one of her associates is our competitor in the stub."

Dominika - Lev's wife.

Edward - Part of Burton's posse, works at Forever Fab.

Ella Fisher - Ailing mother of Flynne & Burton.

Fabbitt - A 3D printing chain.

Flynne Fisher - Burton's sister. Would have signed up for the Armed Forces when he joined the Marines, but stayed at home to look after their mother. Makes money by online gaming, and is better at it than Burton. Shoots Hamed at the end of the book.

Fitz-David Wu - Best Shakespearian actor of his day.

Forever Fab - A 3D print shop owned by Shaylene.

Gobiwagen - A Mercedes land-yacht "commissioned for a tour of Mongolian deserts" by Lev's grandfather.

Gonzales (Felicia) - President of the US. Her assassination "was pivotal, a tipping point into the deep Jackpot." 

Great Pacific Garbage Patch - A floating island made of recovered plastic, inhabited by fewer than 100 Neoprimitives.

Griff (Gryffyd Holdsworth) - Lowbeer when she was much younger. Flynne mistakes her for a man when they meet in the present. 

Hamed al-Habibi - "Minor Gulf klept...a fifth son. Quickly the black sheep." He killed Aelite, the woman he was involved with.

HaptRec Recon 1 - A unit of Marines outfitted with haptics that enable them to coordinate their movements on the battlefield.

Hefty Mart - A large chain of stores suggestive of Costco or Wall-Mart with headquarters in Delhi.

Homes - Homeland Security.

Hong - Owns Sushi Barn.

Jackman - A sheriff in the pay of Corbell.

Jackpot - Civilization "dying of its own discontents," according to Lowbeer. Androgenic and multicausal "with no particular beginning and no end." See the Heinlein short story, "The Year of the Jackpot."

Janet - Friend of Flynne, makes socklike things for Conner.

Janice - Friend of Flynne, helps look after Ella, married to Madison.

Jimmy's - A bar & grill.

Klein Cruz Vermette - A law firm out of Miami working to keep Flynne and Burton safe.

Klept - Russian oligarchs.

Leon - Cousin of Burton and Flynne. An Army vet, he aids Burton by accepting a $10 million prize via a state lottery rigged by the future.

Lev Zubov - The youngest of a powerful Russian family in London, and a dilettante who is "a sort of scout for the family." Looks for things they might invest in as well as "sources of novelty." Flynne's is his first stub. When it's discovered that someone else is accessing it via the polt that Wilf gave to Daedra's sister, he takes steps to block their efforts. Has two older brothers, Anton and Pavel, and two pet "thylacine analogs" named Gordon and Tyrenna. Lowbeer thinks he will pervert the economy of Flynne's world.

Lithonia - Friend of Flynne, spells Janice in looking after Ella.

Lorenzo - Rainey's cameraperson, he records Daedra's meeting with the Patchers.

Lowbeer - Detective Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer of the Metropolitan Police in London and a former spy with global intelligence feeds. Called in by Lev after he heard Flynne's story about the murder. Has broad shoulders, white hair, and wears clothes "as ambiguous as she was." A former spy. See Griff.

Luke 4:5 - A religious group "as much a business as a cult." Hated by Burton.

Macon - Gay friend of Burton and Flynne, good at math, excels at 3D fabbing.

Madison - Playing vintage sims like Sukhoi Flankers, a main money earner for him and Janice.

Maenads' Crush - a bar.

Matryoshka - Name given to those opposing Flynne and Burton. "Out of Nassau, so that's probably where they first came through from the future." Racing Milagros Coldiron for ownership of the world in the past.

Medici - A healing device, in appearance "something like a cross between a bull's balls and a jellyfish.".

Michikoids - Aka koids, AI-operated androids able to move like spiders when the need arises, and grow extra sets of spider eyes.

Milagros Coldiron - A shell company in Colombia set up by Lev to facilitate operations in the present.

Mobi - A blimp.

Neoprimitives - People who "either survived the Jackpot on their own or have opted out of the global system." Some embrace "heritage diseases" like the common cold.

Operation Northwind - A game played by Flynne before being contacted by the future.

Ossian Murphy - Aka the Irishman, named after a fictional Gaelic poet. He and Ash sometimes communicate with each other in a synthetic language that sounds like birdsong. They work for Lev and mind his hobbies for him. He wears a pigtail and sometimes acts as a butler.

Party Time - A chemical that turns people into homicidal sex maniacs.

Patchers - A small group of Neoprimitives who cleaned plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and used it to assemble a huge floating island. They are into grotesque body modifications. They ate the last two envoys.

Pharma Jon - A pharmacy chain.

Polt - Short for poltergeist. A person operating a peripheral.

Rainey - Lives in Toronto and works for the Canadian government. She hired Wilf for Daedra's project, and afterwards tells him that they had been used to facilitate the deaths, which were an assassination, a hit.

Remembrancer - Sir Henry Fishbourne. A crooked official of the City who collaborated with Hamed. Appears only at the end of the book and is killed by Burton.

Reece - An Army vet and part of Burton's posse, forced by Pickett to kidnap Flynne.

Shaylene - Friend of Flynne, owns Forever Fab where Flynne sometimes works. She went out with Burton in high school.

Squidsuit - A camouflage suit like "cluttlefish camo, like Burton and Conner used in the war."

Tarantula - Conner's trike.

Tommy Constantine - Deputy sheriff, an honest cop.

Tacoma Raeburn- Red-haired sister of Clovis Raeburn, also a notary and a CPA who works for Griff and for Klein Cruz Vermette. Claims she's better than Clovis with a gun. 

Vespasian - A continua enthusiast from Berlin and "a weapons fetishist, famously sadistic."

Viz - An eyepiece that provides views feeds from other sources. 

Wheelie Boy - A ball with a tractor tire on each side and a mini-tablet on a stick. Used by Wilf when he visits the present, as no peripherals are available there.

Wilf - A friend of Lev, with whom he went to school, now a glib publicist with a drinking problem. Worked briefly for Daedra, and with whom he'd had an affair. He tried to impress her by mentioning Lev's stub and offering the use of a polt (Burton), but she wasn't interested. At her suggestion the polt was given to her sister. He was fired after the fiasco at the Garbage Patch in chapter 8.

SUMMING UP

Rainey told Wilf they'd been used by someone to kill the Boss Patcher and his his entourage. That someone could only have been Daedra, with whom Wilf had had a brief affair. Daedra didn't want the polt that Wilf offered her, and suggested that it be give to Aelita. Presumably she was the one who contacted Burton to provide security, mainly to keep paparazzi drones away from a reception she was holding. Flynne took Burton's place and witnessed Aelita being killed by Hamed, who had learned about the stub from Aelita, as they had been together for quite a while. Immediately after Aelita was killed, Ash tells Lev that someone has been accessing their stub: "seems as though it has something to do with your polt." When Hamed learned there was a witness to the murder, he went after Flynne and Burton.

On page 354 Ash comments that "it's almost certain that Daedra, or one of her associates, is our competitor in the stub." Presumably one of the associates is the City Remembrancer (Sir Hentry Fishbourne), who was involved in the monetization of an island "that he created," (p. 458), presumably the one inhabited by the Patchers who, according to Hamed, have "endemic health issues...of which they aren't yet aware." On page 471 Lowbeer speculates that the Remembrancer "might have suffered some well-concealed setback in his affairs: a real estate and development scheme, with resource extraction?" This suggests the media stunt that Daedra orchestrated sank whatever financial aspirations the Remembrancer had for the island. As soon as he is killed, Lowbeer says to Flynne and Burton, "Sir Henry's death has deprived your competitor of the sort of advantage that Lev and I afford you now."

In the end Hamed gets away with murder, as "he's too well-connected to be bothered by any of this" (p. 474). Daedra is tormented by Conner for a while but isn't harmed, so she too gets away with murder, for she had obviously set up the confrontation with Hamed, who was pretending to be the Boss Patcher. (He wasn't killed but some of his followers were.) Daedra "was covered with a hypersonic weapons-delivery system...something orbital, ready to drop in" (p.32).

The final two chapters are saccharine, probably because Gibson figured we'd had enough nastiness with the revelations about Hamed, Daedra, and the Remembrancer, and with the worst of the Jackpot still to come (but then again, maybe not in this stub). 

UPLOAD 

William Gibson makes a very brief appearance in this humorous series on Amazon, in which people can be uploaded to a virtual afterlife. In Season 3, Episode 5, he appears as a hologram in a San Francisco library and offers a few words about "AI-generated characters."