by M. D. Cooper
“We certainly will,” said Tanis.
They talked about Isa’s and Erin’s plans for a short while longer, until Martin emerged from the boathouse, his hair wet.
“Everything OK?” Erin called to him as he walked across the lawn. She gave Isa an amused look.
“Yeah,” Martin replied. When he’d returned to the deck, he added, “I wanted to check that Jude knew he mustn’t touch the fish hooks.”
“You could have asked one of the girls to tell him that from here,” said Erin.
“I know,” Martin said. “But I wanted to tell him myself.”
“That’s what being a parent is like,” said Tanis. “I wonder if we ever get to stop worrying?”
“I hope so,” Isa said. “But we only have one child to worry about. You have two on your mind.”
“We only have one for now,” Martin said. “We might have others soon.”
“Huh?” Erin said. “We might have other kids soon? Did I miss out on a discussion?”
“Then I did, too,” Isa laughed. “I think Martin’s been talking to himself. But if we do want to have more children, I want it to be remembered that last time, I was the one who took one for the team. If we do have another baby, it’ll be your turn to carry it.”
“What?” Erin squeaked. “Why? I don’t see why Martin shouldn’t do the honors, considering it’s his idea.”
“Me?” Martin asked. He mused for a moment and added, “Like male seahorses?” before returning his attention to the lake.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” said Isa.
“That would take some serious mods,” Erin joked.
“Isa mentioned you’ve already had some mods done,” said Tanis, clearly attempting to distract Martin from his worries.
Her ploy worked. Martin’s features relaxed as he replied, “I did.” He lifted one side of his shirt, displaying three slits at the base of his ribs. “I was never comfortable with the idea of body modification, so I’d been putting this off for a long time. But when I accepted the offer to consult on the marine safari project on Troy, I decided I had to take the plunge. Sorry for the pun. I thought if I was going to do it, I might as well go the whole hog. And it’s been fantastic. I never realized how inconvenient rebreathers and face masks were until I no longer had to use them. No more fear of getting the bends, either. I can go as deep as I like and resurface as quickly as I want. No more salt tongue, even. I wish I’d had it done years ago.”
“Glad you like them; I’ve had them in the past too. Did I ever tell you about the time I stopped the assassination of the Jovian oligarch on Europa?” Tanis asked with a wink.
“You what?” Martin asked, while Isa added, “The Jovian who?”
“Jovian Combine,” Tanis said to Isa. “They controlled most of OuterSol. They had an odd sort of oligarchy, and the head was simply known as ‘The Oligarch’. Anyway, I got caught up in an assassination plot against him that would have seen me framed for the deed. I ended up getting modded into a squidwoman for the job.”
“That sounds fascinating…a real squid, or some sort of fantasy creature?” Martin asked, the expression on his face a mixture of surprise and disbelief.
“I had my arms and legs removed, and then lots of tentacles added. Was the strangest undercover work I’ve ever done. But we saved him—though the asshat blackmailed me later. We managed to turn it on his head, though.”
“Waaaait a second….” Erin couldn’t keep the wonder out of her voice. “Was that when a pod of orcas captured the oligarch and demanded freedom for Europa in exchange for his return?”
“Yup, good ol’ Gerald,” Tanis replied. “He certainly turned that situation to his advantage. So anyway, I think the mods will serve you well, Martin. Back on Mars, I used to swim deep with the dolphins—always thought about getting gills just for that.”
Erin shook her head as she regarded the governor. “You’re just full of surprises.”
“That’s my MO,” said Tanis.
“OK, we should be getting along,” said Isa. “We don’t want to miss the shuttle.”
Martin’s forehead furrowed once more. “Is it time to leave already?”
“I’ll ask Cary to bring Jude over so you can say goodbye,” said Tanis. “He knows he’ll be staying here for a while, right?”
“Oh yeah,” said Isa. “He’s so excited. He hasn’t shut up about it for days. He’s brought nearly all his toys to show to Cary and Saanvi.”
“We’ll send you a packet every day to show him so he doesn’t miss us too much,” Erin said. “Won’t we, Martin?” She paused when he didn’t respond. “Martin?”
His eyes were focused on Jude as the little boat headed back to the boathouse. “Sorry, what?”
“I said we’ll…. What’s wrong?”
Martin had stopped watching Jude, but he wasn’t listening to Erin either. His head was down as he concentrated on a message arriving via the Link.
He looked up. “Sorry, that was Lindsey out at the marine park on Troy. A massive sinkhole has opened up in the seabed right in the center of the site. She’s asked if I can go straight there to help out. I think I should.”
“Oh no,” Isa said, her face falling.
“It doesn’t matter,” Martin said. “You and Erin can go to Athens without me.”
“But we don’t want to go without you,” Erin protested.
“That’s right,” Isa said. “It won’t be the same.”
“Well I don’t know what to do,” Martin said. “Lindsey really needs my help.”
“I guess you have to go in that case,” said Isa, disappointment deadening her tone.
“Yeah, you should go,” Erin said. “I know what we’ll do. Let’s postpone our Athens trip for a couple of months. This problem with the sinkhole will be fixed by then, and I’ll be well into the space station construction. It won’t hurt to take a week off. Could you close your gallery for a while, Isa? Or leave someone else to look after it?”
“I suppose so,” Isa replied. “All right. That’s what we’ll do. We’ll only be starting work a little earlier than we’d planned.”
“Sounds good,” Tanis said. “I’m sure we’ll be free to look after Jude then, too. Though the girls are going to be disappointed.”
“We’ll be back soon enough,” Martin said. “But for now, we’ll go straight to Troy and take Jude with us.” He looked happier than he had for the entire visit.
CHAPTER FIVE
STELLAR DATE: 04.08.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Heliopolis, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Anger and frustration gnawed at Myrrdan’s agent. Sitting in a hotel room balcony that overlooked Troy’s capital city, Heliopolis, the agent brooded on the challenges of stealing New Canaan’s prized technology and unique advantage in the struggle for galactic power: picotech.
In the years since the arrival of the Intrepid, picotech had been employed several times, but each of the agent’s attempts to steal the tech had failed. The failure that stuck out most painfully was that of the idiot Nathan Hart. Hart had enjoyed the luxury of two separate opportunities, yet twice he’d been unsuccessful.
The agent had even gone to the expense and trouble of supplying the man with superior body modifications to help him on his second attempt, but all to no avail. What was more, Hart’s endeavors had alerted the New Canaan government to the fact that their precious tech was under threat from within the colony. As a consequence, the security around the picotech’s employment had become and remained airlock-tight.
If Hart hadn’t died after his second failure, the agent would have killed him. The man’s incompetence had wasted their best chance. Such a favorable circumstance had never been repeated. The government only ever used the tech in well-hidden areas and under heavily armed protection. Myrrdan’s agent was confident that the security services had not detected any of the further attempts at theft, but that was small consolation.
As the y
ears had passed, the agent’s frustration had grown. Every day that went by was another opportunity for the Transcend or another hostile power to invade the system and seize the tech for their own. That could not happen. The picotech must be Myrrdan’s, and it would be his alone after he used it to destroy New Canaan.
The agent gazed absently at the cityscape, lost in thought. Heliopolis glared with reflected sunlight from the sea of white buildings, stark and clean against an azure sky. The city’s main thoroughfare lay below the balcony and it was filled with Trojans out in force. Hawkers had set up stalls on the sidewalk, selling freshly picked local fruit, sticky, sweet nut confections, meat pastries, cream-filled buns, and other street food, and they were inviting passing pedestrians to sample their wares.
An unusual sight caught the agent’s attention: a woman walking six pets on leashes. The animals were a new kind that was becoming fashionable in the colony. An inventive genetic engineer had mixed canine, simian, and another ‘secret’ organism’s genes to create pets that were very smart yet also highly loyal. The simian genes seemed to have provided the greatest influence on the animals’ appearances and behavior, from what the agent could see.
The six pets were walking obediently, yet they were also intensely curious about everything that was going on around them. They were watching the street food sellers with great interest and seemed to be paying special attention to the handing out of purchases. The agent stood up and peered over the balcony, watching the spectacle more closely. The woman appeared to ignore her animals’ nosiness, only holding tight to their leashes as they strained to inspect the food on offer more closely. Passersby stopped the owner to ask questions about the beasts. She began nodding and pressing a hand to her chest with fake humility as she appeared to accept compliments with great pride.
The agent grimaced. New Canaanites were irritating beyond belief. So smug and self-satisfied about their little worlds. The day the system was wiped from existence could not arrive soon enough.
Suddenly, one of the pets turned its attention away from the food stalls and, for no apparent reason, began to jump up at its owner. The animals already reached the woman’s thighs, so the force of the creature leaping up almost knocked her from her feet. Then, even more inexplicably, four more of the pets joined in, leaping up at their mistress from all sides. They were pushing her with their front hands-like paws before dropping to the ground and immediately jumping again. They didn’t appear to be doing her serious harm, though their actions were vigorous and intense.
The owner’s surprised wails and shrieks drifted up from the street, above the hubbub of street noise. Bystanders’ reactions were predictable. Those who were closest tried to help the woman, grabbing the animals’ leashes and trying to hold them under control, but the pets were strong and full of energy and they soon wriggled free, immediately resuming their seemingly odd and pointless behavior. Other pedestrians only gawped.
Myrrdan’s agent was becoming bored with the trivial incident, but then one of the animals did something interesting.
From the distance of the hotel balcony, the agent was able to observe the wider picture of what was really happening. The sixth pet, which had been standing still while the others misbehaved, unfastened its harness. It was as if the animal had been waiting for its moment. A quick check around told it that its actions hadn’t been noticed, and then it began to edge away from the group.
Myrrdan’s agent smiled wryly, assuming the animal was going to try to escape, but the smile faded when it became clear that escape was not the creature’s intention at all. After carefully checking out the nearest hawkers, the sneaky pet slipped across to a stand, climbed up onto the structure, and stuffed its cheeks with sticky clusters of nuts. No one except the agent noticed what the animal was doing. The creature then filled its hands with the confections before jumping down and scooting back to its owner.
The fact that the other pets were in on the trick was obvious from the way they stopped their wild leaping when their companion had returned to the group. The snack thief quickly passed out the stolen treats in the confusion as the animals calmed down.
The owner’s wailing finally ceased. She bent down to stroke the animals, perhaps thinking something must have scared them. It was only then she noticed that one of her pets had slipped its harness. The crowd of concerned or nosy onlookers began to break up. After re-securing her pet, the owner walked away, flustered, dishevelled and, like everyone else present, entirely unaware that she’d been fooled.
Myrddan’s agent was gripping the balcony rail tightly. The pets’ antics had sparked the germ of an idea. The agent continued to think about it, and the idea built into a clear plan, while below, the business of the street continued unobserved.
The picotech was to be used on Troy soon, and the agent now knew how to steal it. This time there would be no mistakes. The previous attempts had been amateurish. Relying on weak, incompetent subordinates like Hart had been unwise. This time, the agent would be the one to snatch the tech, and this time, the outcome would be successful.
The incident in the street had demonstrated that all that was needed was a powerful distraction. When the picotech was deployed, something spectacular had to happen to divert the attention of the security forces. Yet they must not suspect what was happening, which meant that the event also had to be entirely credible. No one must suspect a connection, or additional backup would be on alert, and the plan would fail.
It could be done. All that was required was a handful of armed, mind-controlled individuals and a careful orchestration of events leading up to the decisive moment.
Feeling calmer and quietly optimistic, Myrddan’s agent released the balcony rail, sat down, and poured tea into a cup. The street below the balcony was growing quiet as evening drew on.
Heliopolis was peaceful for now, but that would soon change. Everything was slotting together perfectly. At last, the picotech would be Myrddan’s, and the agent would finally get his reward.
The agent experienced a peculiar sense of peacefulness at the notion. Maintaining a façade that was at odds with an entirely different psychological reality had become a strain over the years. It would be a relief when the subterfuge was finally over.
CHAPTER SIX
STELLAR DATE: 04.11.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Family home, eastern shores of Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
By the time Martin, Isa, and Erin arrived at their new home on Troy, night had fallen. Martin had hoped to see the house in full daylight. He’d commissioned it to be built weeks previously, but he’d only ever seen plans, not the real thing. But the sight would have to wait until the morning. It was late, and he had a sleepy son to put to bed.
Jude flopped over Martin’s shoulder, as Martin carried him toward the door while clutching baggage in his other hand. Behind him, the autocab closed its doors and sped away. Isa and Erin followed behind, bringing the rest of their luggage. Apart from Jude’s things, they didn’t have much to carry. Very little in the way of clothing was needed when vacationing in Athens.
Isa caught up to Martin and touched his elbow, signalling him to wait a moment. He stopped. Isa was soaking up the sight of the house, with its dark windows and silent, untouched air. Erin had also paused on the path to absorb her first view of their Trojan home.
Troy’s three moons were full and high in the night sky: two spheres and a misshapen lump that the locals referred to as ‘the Potato’. A cool, salty breeze blew from the sea that lay on the far side of their home, though the water wasn’t visible in the darkness. The scent made Martin feel immediately at ease.
The new house was exactly as he had imagined it, from the tall windows at the front, to the pitched roof and gables. The building stood alone in the landscape, rising three stories high. It was also four times as wide as their little beach house by the Med.
Martin had chosen the spot to build the house due to its convenient location. The site was at the
top of a bluff that overlooked the sea where his old friend Lindsey was creating her marine safari park. The space elevator that would take Erin to her orbital worksite lay only twenty kilometers distant, and Heliopolis, the Trojan capital where Isa would open her gallery, was only a half-hour autocab ride away.
“What do you think?” Martin asked the two women, adjusting his grip on Jude, who was sliding off his shoulder.
“I love it,” Isa breathed.
“Me too,” said Erin. “I think we’re going to have a great time living here.”
“Good,” said Martin. “We should go inside.”
They walked up to the front door, opened it, and entered their new home.
The first sight to greet them was a pile of their household goods and belongings, which had arrived from Carthage a few hours ahead of them. The pile was in the middle of the hall. The room’s windows reached to the ceiling two stories above, and they were set to transparent. The light of three moons poured through the clear panes, bathing the interior in a soft blue-white glow.
A wide, polished floor spread out across the hall, and a staircase on the right swept up to the second story. Upstairs were four bedrooms with attached bathrooms. The third floor was one large, open space where Isa could work at home if needs be. The first floor comprised a kitchen, living and dining areas, and entertainment rooms.
Martin knew that Erin didn’t have much of an appreciation for expansive living spaces, after the decades she’d spent aboard ships and stations, but he’d known Isa would like their house. He also hoped it would be a nice environment for Jude and perhaps his sisters and brothers to grow up.
“This is a bit of a change from the beach house,” Erin said as she dumped her bags and looked around.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Isa asked. “It reminds me of the hotel we stayed at on Athens. Very traditional. Very Martin.”
“Wait,” Erin said with mock alarm. “Don’t tell me we have to turn on the lights with switches.”