by Luke Norris
Renshaw put his hand up to stop Lenat mid-sentence. “Save it for the camera,” he said tiredly taking a sip of his hot… Shar tea. The man was already profusely sweating. This happened every interview. The sad thing was, Krin was even worse at talking on camera than Lenat if that were even possible.
“Don’t you even want to know what we’ve discovered?” Lenat asked. “This affects everybody, Renshaw.”
“I’ll hear it all soon enough,” he turned to Koedi. “You ready to go live?”
“Ready,” the youth confirmed.
Okay, let’s have this final humiliation over and done with. Renshaw closed his eyes and sighed.
*
Oliver could hear the team laughing in the next room, while he looked over the plans for their most ambitious launch yet. This would actually take a small payload into orbit if all went to plan. Shael’s musical laugh sailed over the others. It made him smile. Her intellect was razor sharp, but that didn’t dull her social intelligence. She seemed to have a natural affinity with the ground crew, and rocket propulsion scientists.
So far, the space race with Shem had done wonders for advancing the space program. Not only regarding financial investment but also emotional investment from the Naharainee citizens. He received letters from children, with drawings of rockets and moons on a weekly basis.
Some loose mouthed government official had dropped the term ‘ballistic missile capabilities’ instead of space rocket, and that had suddenly fueled extra pressure from the government, and an outpouring of resources and recruitment. The team had grown to at least three times what it had originally been.
She was laughing again with the others. It piqued Oliver’s curiosity. Shael was constantly reminding him to try and make more of an effort to be jovial with the others and enjoy himself. He knew they perceived him as some hyper-driven, single focused entrepreneur that never slept.
The driver conditioning was partly to blame, he knew it made him unemotional and look beyond what was possible. It was hard to remember how he was back on Earth, his mind had been interfered with. But he was sure his ability to have such a singular focus, to achieve a goal by any means, was a trait that had been planted in his psyche.
He’d already looked over this basic schematic a hundred times. It could wait. Oliver stood up and took a final look at the payload area of the rocket, where he would eventually sit. He sighed and walked into the next room where a group of scientists were gathered and focused on the screen. It was news or some interview.
“Oliver!” Shael called him over happily. She was standing near the back of the room with Targon. The old man was really loving the change of scenery from the city. He seemed delighted to spend endless hours in Arif’s artifact room, examining and cataloging the pieces that had been out of the public eye for so long. Oliver was glad Targon had found a new home here.
Oliver joined them. “What’s all the commotion in here?” he asked jokingly.
“It’s the conspiracy twins report on channel seventeen,” Shael said. “These guys are so great, Oliver. Every year they’re on with a new conspiracy, and I swear it's not scripted. They’ve kind of become local celebrities. The great thing is, every time they’re on it’s something new, some outrageous claim. Government cover-ups, the president is an impersonator. Just wait.” She was already chuckling.
“Is he one of them?” Oliver asked, looking at some haggard looking man on the screen, who clearly was a few coffees short of being properly awake. “Does he have a black eye?”
“That’s actually one of their news reporters,” Shael confirmed. “I have seen him on serious news reports, I’m surprised he’s doing this one.
Renshaw’s report began:
‘I’m here on the Tashka West Bank, with our friends the conspiracy twins’, he closed his eyes and sighed upon saying the words, ‘because they have come upon evidence of a new threat.
Lenat, before we begin would you like to explain to the viewers your choice of attire today?’
As the camera panned across to the two young men, the room around Oliver erupted with laughter. A sweaty overweight man wearing no shirt, an embroidered vest, and some novelty looking blade on his hip. A skinny man stood just behind him.
‘We have been intensively studying manuscripts on close combat techniques and battle tactics especially designed to fight this new threat.’ Lenat said. ‘It includes how to wield a weapon of power.’
Again chuckling and laughter in the room. Even Oliver couldn’t help chuckling.
Shael took his arm. “I told you they are hilarious.”
‘Ah ha, ah ha.’ The reporter, Renshaw, was clearly on autopilot and not listening to Lenat. ‘And are we talking secret government agencies again, or perhaps a tribe of lizardmen?’
‘Government manipulation is an ongoing threat,’ Lenat said, ‘I urge people to continue to source water from places, not on the main grid, the risk of tampering and chemical lacing is too high. The Naharainee government’s plot to control the population is still serious.’
Oliver leaned into Shael, “Man, this guy is intense.”
Shael instinctively pressed back against Oliver so she could hear him over the laughing from the other scientists in the room. Her fragrance was homely, like a familiar memory from Earth. “Yes, they’re always like this,” she replied, “that’s why we love to watch them.”
‘But Krin and I have been carefully analyzing the sightings and evidence of something new,’ Lenat continued, ‘and potentially more fateful to the entire continent of Arakan.’
‘Okay, this sounds really interesting, Lenat.’ Renshaw made a purposeful aside to the camera, raising an eyebrow. ‘What have you discovered this time?’
‘It first came to our attention after several sightings of strange phenomenon, coupled with the disappearance of some people. We are convinced there is technology in our midst that is beyond our comprehension. As we mentioned in the last report, Neith, one of our friends went missing. We proposed at the time that he had been abducted by government agents because of his intellect. Although we still hold the government to be a threat, we now believe that he was taken by something else. All the evidence lines up with the documentation we have on the subject matter.’
Renshaw raised his eyebrows tiredly as if to say ‘out with it already’. ‘And, what does your documentation tell you?’
Oliver could feel the tension in the room as all the scientists looked forward to the conspiracy twins’ next outrageous claim.
‘Extraterrestrials.’
The room erupted with laughter. Shael was laughing with them. Even Targon wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
Oliver went suddenly stiff. His brain started working in overtime. That claim maybe funny on its own, but the fact they were saying one of their friends was taken, struck a chord very close to home for Oliver.
‘We are offering specialized combat training for those who wish to battle the extraterrestrials.’ Lenat continued, ‘we have weapons designed for this purpose.’ He indicated to the sword on his hip.
This comment prompted extra hard laughter from the scientists in the room, it was almost hysterical. A few even began chanting ‘conspiracy twins’.
Shael looked up laughing at Oliver. Her smile quickly wavered when she saw Oliver’s stony expression. “Oliver… what’s wrong?” her expression became worried. “Hey, you. Don’t you find these guys funny?” Slowly realization dawned on her face. “Oliver, these two crazy nerds do this twice a year. They have tried to convince us of lizard men.” She chuckled encouragingly but stopped when Oliver didn’t bite.
“They said one of their friends was taken.” Oliver thought for a moment. “How long has Laitam been sending signals out into space I wonder? It’s not as advanced as Earth was…” Oliver trailed off his brow furrowed in thought. “I want to investigate these claims. I want every scrap of evidence these two profess to have.” It was slightly terrifying to Oliver that his driver instincts were put on high alert.
Logic said it was just two eccentric geeks with an overzealous imagination. But he couldn’t let it lie. There was too much at stake here.
“Shael, you may think I’m being paranoid, but I want to put a small team together to investigate this?” She went to object, but he cut her short. “Have I ever lied to you?” he asked. “Have my instincts been wrong? I’m not sure about this, and I hope you’re right, and it’s nothing, but I experienced something on Earth where things began subtly like this. People went missing,” he paused thinking about Fin, “or went willingly.”
The report was still going, Renshaw was talking. ‘There you have it, folks. If you would like specialized training, from experts, who have studied the art of fighting extraterrestrials. You can contact channel seventeen, and be connected with Lenat and Krin.’ He turned back to the two men. ‘I’m sure the com bands will be going crazy.’
“Actually,” Oliver took Shael’s hand, “this is too important. I will go myself. I will not be satisfied to hear these reports secondhand. I hope you are right. Dear god, I hope you are right, and I’m being paranoid.”
“I’ll come with you,” she resolved, squeezing his hand. “What about the operation here though…”
“The team have it in hand. It’s been a long time since I was able to contribute any kind of real expertise anyway. There are project coordinators who have the roadmap. But either way, this is something I have to do. The whole project won’t matter if there really were second-stagers.” He shuddered involuntarily.
“I can’t believe I am doing this,” Shel said, raising her comm-band. She spoke quietly into it so the others in the room could not hear.
“Yes, that’s what I said, Lenat and Krin,” Shael repeated. “You just had them on. The conspiracy twins,” she whispered the last part.
25
BLANKETING
Seth watched Li walking purposefully towards him. She had a stern look on her face—the same one she had after the Herthan planet run. That was not a good sign. Had something happened since he’d been gone? He did get lost in his work sometimes and tended to miss what was happening around him.
Driver conditioning was an extremely gratifying calling. He’d made several revolutionary breakthroughs when it came to psycho imbuement of new driver candidates. Going the extra mile was very demanding. Tampering with the subject’s brains in such an invasive manner meant losing many samples in the experiments. In turn, this meant he had to go through the restocking process far more often, finding suitable first-stage men with the required physical and mental attributes, the whole rigmarole.
Li had learned to trust him because his work made their drivers far more effective than the competition’s. What he was doing was important science, cutting edge. As far as Seth knew, nobody else in the galaxy was doing this. His research would be worth a fortune if he could pitch it to other early-traders. Li would never allow it of course. She saw it as her intellectual property. The fool. But the problem was, his work was only known to Li and a select few of the crew. Seth deserved recognition for his genius, it could be the ticket to his own early-trading ship. He would make enquiries at the next trading station… without her knowledge.
Getting lost in his work meant he had a tendency to miss things that were going on around him, and the way Li was walking toward him right now told him he’d missed something.
“How are our driver crews looking?” Li asked.
“We are at full capacity,” Seth replied. “However, there are some experiments I’d like to run. Which could mean restocking with replacement first-stage subjects.”
“Experiments will have to wait,” Li ordered. “We need all driver crews on standby.”
“Other E.T.s in the neighborhood?” Seth raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve detected minute gravitational differences around one of the moons,” Li confirmed, “there’s a small chance it’s ripples from another E.T.”
“What a shame,” Seth lamented, “I am close to manipulating the megalomaniac gene without it affecting subordination reflex.”
“Ha.” Li laughed, “you’ve been talking about this for the last two planet runs. Nevertheless, it will have to wait. I want them ready for deployment at a moments notice. We will need a skeleton crew on the planet to initiate blanketing.”
“You sure you want to start blanketing before we have solid evidence of other E.T.s?” Seth was disappointed but knew he was not being reasonable. “Once blanketing begins the whole place becomes hotter than a blue giant, and spoils are normally compromised.”
“We’ve had a good run here,” Li said. “What the others get will be the dregs. We can at least make sure of that of course.”
“Is Medom in charge of blanketing?” Seth asked.
“Yes, you can coordinate with her for locations of the first driver-crew deployments,” Li said. “We have identified two major drinking water sources for Naharain just outside of the city. I think that’s where she will do the first chemical drop.”
“Other cities too?”
“I want to have Naharain under absolute control first. It’s the biggest economic hub in Arakan. We simply don’t have the driver numbers and resources of other early traders, so it’s better to keep our focus concentrated, localized.”
“I’m wondering, is it even worth engaging the other E.T.s in a planet war?” Seth asked. “Think about it, we’ve been here for a year and a half, there’s not much more we can really carry. Why don’t we just leave the driver battles to the other E.T.s, and we find another untouched ripe fruit?”
“Oh, we aren’t staying to collect anymore culture,” Li said, looking smug. “We are staying to protect the market value of the goods we have.”
“The stuff we’ve been collecting is already safe, stowed on the mothership. They can’t touch it.”
“Exactly!” Li confirmed. “And right now that stuff is worth a fortune because we are the only ones in the entire galaxy with a ship’s hold full of culture from planet Lataim. What do think will happen to the market value if every E.T. inside two points hits the Terrasian market with the same junk at the same time. Those Terrasian softies will pay top dollar for one-of-a-kind.”
“You want to stay just to stop the other crews from making any kind of haul.”
“Exactly,” Li said. “They’ll get something, but their spoils of war will be compromised. And if they’re not then we have to make sure they are.”
Seth thought about it. He’d never really been involved with the battle tactics and war strategies. He just managed the drivers, made sure they were deployed where they were supposed to be, ensured they had been conditioned correctly and had the latest implant technology available on the underground market. What he would do to get his hands to the United Worlds Federation tech, the coveted jewel of every early-trader.
Some of the scorched planet tactics were becoming more clear. Burn everything to protect the value of the goods they’d already collected. Made perfect sense.
“Why don’t we just take off and level city?” Seth asked. “It would save time and a whole lot energy invested in fighting.”
“Can’t do it,” Li said. “There’s a good chance other second stagers are already amongst the populous. If we flatten a city, we could accidentally kill second-stagers as collateral damage. We can’t go killing each other, we are not first-stage barbarians. Besides,” she placed a patronizing hand on Seth’s shoulder, “that would mean no drivers.”
No drivers? The thought was disquieting. That’s my life’s work.
She was scrutinizing his contorted expression and burst out laughing. “We wouldn’t want to miss all the fun.”
Damn her, she knew him too well. She was right, there was something about the planet wars that they all looked forward to. It was the climax of a planet run. He had been on one run where no other early traders had shown up. It had been profitable, yet left them all feeling decidedly hollow, and unfulfilled when they left the system.
“I’ll have the crews
ready.” Seth said stolidly, “typically it makes sense to deploy drivers three days after water contamination. That’s normally enough time to have a critical mass of narcotized first-stagers.”
“Coordinate that with Medom,” Li said. “I’m not too concerned how it happens, as long as we inhibit other E.T.s. They are to get as little as possible.”
“Actually there is something I’d like to talk with Medom about. I may have identified another binding compound.” He hadn’t foreseen the utility for this chemical until now, Seth paused for effect, “I call ‘maternal binding’.”
“Speak Terrasian to your simple-minded captain, Seth,” Li said. “I’m not a chemist.”
“The chemicals Medom is lacing the water with only has a weak bond to our drivers,” Seth explained. “The drugged first-stagers can be manipulated by drivers from other crews. I have identified, what I call, the mother agent. It’s a visual recognition pattern, where the serfs will latch on to the first driver that takes command of them, just like a baby animal. I hadn’t really found a use-case for it in the past because on previous planets drivers from other ships were already deployed. But…” Seth’s eyes were wide with eccentric glee. “If we can get our drivers deployed throughout the city first the inhabitants will be loyal to only them, then when the others arrive they’ll have very few serfs to work with.”
“Are you suggesting that the entire city’s inhabitants would be subjugated to our drivers only?” Li asked, sounding very interested. “If that is what you are saying, this would only work on rare occasions, but this might be one of those…”
“As long as they come into contact with our drivers first,” Seth confirmed, “then yes.”
“We would have seen signs if there were other drivers already deployed,” Li decided. “We will need our drivers in the city as soon as possible to ensure this works. They need to be in direct contact with the first-stage serfs. Can you have all driver crews woken and deployed at once?”