Restoration

by Daniel C McWhorter

  The Captain pulled a data cube from his jacket pocket and placed it on the desk in front of Dianne.

  “GFN Command has been watching both Gbadamosi and Telogene’s operations on Mars for some time now. After you took me out of the loop on the Luna operation, I made a few calls.”

  “Calls to whom?”

  “Not important but you are not the only one with friends in high places. I may just be a captain but that’s by choice.”

  “I am fully aware of your distinguished service record, Captain.”

  “Well, then you know that I have refused promotion to admiral on several occasions because I like what I do and, quite frankly, I am very damn good at.”

  “Fine, I’m happy for you. Now, what’s on the cube Captain?”

  Heinrich sat on the edge of Dianne’s desk and gently slid the cube across the expansive top until it rested close enough for Dianne to take it.

  “These are the plans for a colony ship that The Gallileo Group and Telogene have been building, and it also contains classified intelligence that the GFN has collected on both organizations over the last five years.”

  Dianne picked up the cube and slid it into the reader interface on her desk. The holodisplay prompted her to identify herself, which required both an AI authentication sequence and a DNA scan. A few seconds later, a three-dimensional diagram of a massive ship appeared in the air in front of her.

  “Damn,” Dianne said, “that’s a big ship. Why am I just now seeing this?”

  “This is need-to-know material and neither of us needed to know.”

  “Alright, then tell me everything. What’s their plan?”

  “They have scheduled a full briefing for us and I am to escort you to Command headquarters now.”

  “Come on Captain, you said you know what they are planning and why they brought Feldman back.”

  “My friends and I have concluded that Feldman, Harris and Hao are little more than rats trying to get off of a sinking ship.”

  “In plain language, Captain.”

  “What I mean to say, Madame Secretary, is that, according to those intelligence files, the Earth is dying much faster than anyone knows. In fact, my friends believe we'll all be dead within a decade.”

  “By what cause?” Dianne asked incredulously.

  “Genetic mutation, apparently. It is far more widespread than generally reported. Whatever is causing random mutations in children has manifested itself in the adult population. Based on current projections we can expect to see widespread outbreaks within a matter of months—a year or two at most.”

  Dianne received daily reports from the GSSA Overwatch team and there was an entire section devoted to genetic anomalies in the population, so she already knew the mutations were spreading. She kept this information to herself, however and let Bachmann think he was bringing her new information.

  “Assuming your…friends are right,” she said haltingly as she considered her words, “we’re all screwed anyway so what’s the point? Leaving the planet isn’t likely to stop whatever is happening to us at the genetic level.”

  “That’s probably true, it won’t. But I don’t think Aubrey Harris and her co-conspirators are worried about that. In fact, I think their entire plan is contingent on not bringing any contaminated DNA with them. Their goal is to colonize a new planet that is free from genetic contamination, and I suspect that Miss Harris suffers from the misguided belief that she can ensure that whatever went wrong here won’t happen again.”

  “And Feldman?”

  “Feldman is a test case—an experiment to prove that they can survive the journey to another world as archived engrams.”

  “You mean…”

  “I mean that they aren’t planning on transporting thousands of potentially defective human bodies to this new world of theirs.”

  “So, they have built this giant ship to transport their engrams across space? Then what?”

  “Look at the design plans. That ship has very little interior space allocated to living quarters, maybe enough to house a couple of dozen people at most. It’s mostly organic storage, redundant power systems and cargo space.”

  “And what’s special about Feldman that makes him the perfect test subject?” Dianne asked.

  “It’s simple, really. One, his engrams were in storage for more than fifty years; two, he was one of the most brilliant geneticists of his time and three, he’s family.”

  “That’s right, I remember Lily Harris telling me about that. His was the first successful engramic transfer from a deceased brain. There probably aren’t any engrams that have been in storage longer than his.”

  “Which is why the elaborate plan and extreme lengths to keep us from getting our hands on him. They need to know how long they can keep themselves in storage and still remain viable.”

  “But that doesn’t answer why Aubrey let us catch her? Why didn’t she just escape with Feldman and Hao?”

  “She obviously suspected that she was being watched and created a diversionary plan so that Feldman could escape.”

  Dianne smirked. “They wouldn’t just leave her behind, and you said it yourself, she wants…no she needs to be there—wherever there is—to make sure that the colony doesn’t repeat the same mistakes she’s made.”

  “Isn’t it obvious, Madame Secretary? They don’t need her body, just her mind. I’m sure you remember that pre-HDDA this shit happened all the time. Wealthy executive gets sick, taken hostage, whatever, it didn’t matter. The company would simply restore the exec using a recent engramic archive and go on like nothing happened.”

  Bachmann stood up.

  “Hell,” he said. “I remember when an exec was taken hostage and released something like two years later after the company refused to pay up. The terminated him when he showed up because they couldn’t very well have two versions of the same person running the damn company!”

  “That's why we created the HDDA in the first place.”

  “Exactly, these people look at their bodies as disposable and I promise you that Aubrey Harris is no different. You can keep this version of her locked away for the rest of her life but she will never give you anything because knows that a copy of her is living out there on some other planet fulfilling whatever Goddamn mission she thinks she’s on.”

  “I’m following you up to a point but we're still missing something. Where will they find clean DNA? And how did they choose the colonists?”

  “Which is why we need to get to that briefing,” Bachmann replied. “I have a hovercar waiting downstairs.”

  “Alright but Aubrey’s hearing is at three and I may need to step out.”

  “I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” he assured her.

  “Very well,” Dianne activated her communicator. “Christian, please clear my calendar of everything except the Harris hearing.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Would you like me to go with you?” Christian asked.

  “No, I will call you if I need you.”

  The Secretary grabbed the data cube from the reader as she headed toward the door.

  “Let’s review this on the ride over,” she said.

  Captain Bachmann said nothing as the two of them entered the Secretary’s private elevator. After a short ride to the parking garage level, the elevator doors hissed open to reveal a GFN-marked hovercar sitting a short distance away.

  “You know, that assistant of yours is exceptional…probably the most lifelike autonomous AI I’ve seen yet.”

  “Thanks, latest model. I got him a few months ago. He’s got a military grade frame with the biggest and best organic storage available.”

  “Telogene?”

  “No, Situ Robotics. Why?” Dianne asked.

  “Just curious…I wonder what would happen if you uploaded human engrams into that body.”

  “I don’t think organic storage densities are quite there yet.”

  Bachmann gestured for the Secretary to enter the vehicle first. “No, but his processing and
storage capabilities far exceed ours when he’s connected to the network.”

  “Yes, that’s true. What’s your point?”

  Bachmann slid into the seat next to her. “Nothing. I’m just trying to figure out who will be occupying the habitat space on the colony ship.”

  The hovercar lifted off as soon as he closed the door.

  “Where are we going?” the Secretary asked.

  “A secure operations center across town, it's 15 minutes away.”

  Dianne slid the data cube into the vehicle’s reader. “So, you think they will use synths to run the ship? Or do you think they want to transfer themselves into synthetic bodies?”

  “Not sure but it would seem that the technology is advanced enough to allow for either possibility.”

  Dianne thought for a moment.

  “Yes,” she said, “but only if they have solved the autonomous storage problem.”

  “AIs operate across storage mediums, why not human engrams?” Bachmann responded.

  “Has anyone tried it?”

  “I don’t know but what if Feldman isn’t a clone? What if he is a state-of-the-art synth like Christian? Hell, if that’s the case, then Aubrey and company haven’t even broken any laws, right?”

  “My god, I haven’t even thought of this possibility. If Feldman is a synth, then the HDDA doesn't apply.”

  “Right, that’s the problem with laws—people rarely think to pass laws prohibiting something considered impossible.”

  “Or they are just slow to react once it becomes possible, which is why the HDDA wasn't passed until 20 years after the first human clone.” Dianne acknowledged.

  “Exactly!”

  “Is this speculation, or based on something in these files, Captain?”

  “Neither. Let’s just say that my friends get paid to think about these kinds of scenarios and plan for them.”

  “So, they’ve known this could happen?”

  “Well, known may be a little strong. More like suspected I should think.” Bachmann smirked, “Just read the files, Madame Secretary, we’ll be there soon.”

  * * *

  The briefing left Dianne with more questions than answers. Besides herself and Captain Bachmann, there had been a vice admiral (Bachmann’s boss), the Executive Director of the Bureau of Global Security and Intelligence and two BGSI analysts in the room, with two GFN geneticists joining by secure holocall.

  The analysts had done most of the talking and it was clear that they were intimately familiar with their subjects, namely the Galileo Group and Telogene. The Galileo analyst, an attractive young woman named Constance, started with an overview of Adekunle Gbadamosi’s activities over the past five years.

  She glossed over most of his business dealings on Luna and Mars but she highlighted that, although production had exploded at the Galileo mines on Luna, Mars and in the Asteroid Belt (the latter often called “Adee’s Golden Ring” because of his vast mining operations there), sales of both raw and refined materials to Earth had decreased significantly. After making the point that Gbadamosi had been hoarding massive amounts of raw materials that were mined but never delivered to market, the analyst showed where all that material was going.

  The colony ship was called Kutanga, which meant “to begin” in the Shona language (an apparent homage to Gbadamosi’s African heritage). It was being constructed in orbit above Ceres, a dwarf planet orbiting on the Mars side of the Asteroid Belt and, based on recent intelligence and imagery from GFN satellites, the ship would be ready to launch within a matter of days. The spaceship was huge, nearly 1500 meters long and 600 meters wide at its widest part. Four massive triangular fins jutted out from the top, bottom and both sides of the craft, giving it the overall appearance of a giant lawn dart.

  They knew little about the exact composition, internal dimensions or engine specifications beyond the rough plans Captain Bachmann had shared with Dianne. Although the GFN had several operatives embedded within Gbadamosi’s organization, none had been allowed access to sensitive work areas or personnel, which the analyst had implied meant that they were all probably compromised and potentially being fed disinformation. It was believed, however, that the Kutanga carried an advanced gravity pulse drive system that could theoretically allow it to achieve speeds of ten percent of the speed of light or more.

  The analyst believed that, with enough fuel, Kutanga’s top speed could even be greater than twenty percent of light-speed. By comparison, the GFN’s most advanced spacecraft could attain a little over five percent of light-speed. If true, this meant that Gbadamosi’s scientists and engineers had achieved a significant advancement over current technology, and it was Constance’s professional opinion this advancement posed a significant security risk to the GFN.

  The Telogene analyst, an equally attractive man named Arturo, gave a similar presentation. He started with Lily Harris’s connection to Gbadamosi, which seemed to begin forty-odd years ago when Lily had hired the Galileo Group to help Telogene establish a permanent base of operations on Mars.

  Then he highlighted the plane crash that killed Lily and left Aubrey in charge, noting with suspicion the circumstances of the crash and later destruction of the bodies. Although no evidence existed to contradict the official report, Arturo noted that the probability of a catastrophic failure that simultaneously incapacitated the pilot and the onboard AI were hundreds of millions to one.

  At first, Dianne was confused about how Lily’s death could apply to the current situation but she understood once the analyst pointed out that Kutanga’s construction involved a number of key Telogene personnel. There were hundreds of scientists, engineers and researchers on the list but the analyst focused most of his time on one in particular. Arturo’s research had identified “Josana Saunders” as the person responsible for coordinating the sale and transfer of Telogene’s organic storage technology to the Galileo Group.

  Miss Saunders started at Telogene right out of college and over the last ten years had worked her way up to Director of Operations within the organic storage subsidiary. By all accounts, she was an exceptional student, a stellar employee and a rising star at Telogene. Her GFN identity was authentic, her data file complete from birth until the present and there was nothing in any of her records that would cause anyone to suspect she wasn’t who she claimed to be. But Arturo had pointed out there was a problem, a big one because Miss Saunders somehow had the ability to be on Earth and Mars simultaneously.

  The analyst showed several visuals showing Josana showing up for work every day at her office in Weinan, China, followed by several images of her meeting with people at various sites across Mars. The date and time stamps made it impossible for both to be the same person. When Dianne asked who Arturo thought the second Josana could be, he responded with a video showing Josana clearing customs on Mars. The date, adjusted to Global Standard Time, was January 20, 2074—just two weeks after the plane crash that killed Lily Harris.

  Although not conclusive, the analyst had run dozens of AI simulations and each resulted in at least a seventy percent chance that the Josana Saunders on Mars was, in fact, Lily Harris. The simulations had also concluded that, if Lily Harris had survived the plane crash, there was a high probability that Scott Jennings and Bruce Wagner had as well—especially Bruce given his close relationship with Lily.

  The President dismissed the analysts and handed the meeting over to the GFN geneticists. Their topic was the rate at which genetic mutations were manifesting in the populations of Earth, Luna and Mars. The vast majority of cases involved people developing forms of cancer believed eliminated decades ago. These cancers were hyper-aggressive and unresponsive to all known treatments. The mortality rate was above ninety percent and lifespan from the time of the first detection was less than a year. So far, they had discovered no common environmental factors or genetic markers and it appeared that the cancers developed at random in otherwise healthy people.

  Then there were the physical mutations. Some people, mos
tly children and young adults, had developed cosmetic and physiological anomalies that often resembled traits found in other life forms on Earth. These ranged from relatively minor variations of hair, eye and skin color to more significant manifestations of things like gills, scales, feathers, claws and tails. These anomalies were rarely fatal of themselves but once these traits appeared there was a high probability that the affected person would develop an aggressive cancer, usually within three to five years but sometimes within months.

  The geneticists disconnected after a brief question-and-answer session, leaving the final discussion to those left in the room. Vice Admiral Marco Langenburg stated that he would not contest Dianne's invocation of Directive Seven with the condition that all future orders went through Captain Bachmann. He also made it clear that deployment of the teams to Mars, its moons or its territories in the Asteroid Belt without prior approval of the Martian President violated the Mars Neutrality Treaty of 2057.

  After Dianne acknowledged the Vice Admiral’s concerns and had accepted his terms, BGSI Executive Director Veronika Horvat concluded by admonishing the participants to not divulge the topics discussed with anyone not present. She also requested full transparency and open sharing of information between the GSSA and the BGSI for the duration of the operation to recover Feldman and Hao. Dianne agreed to this request, and the meeting was adjourned.

  Captain Bachmann, who had remained quiet for most of the meeting, followed Dianne out of the meeting room and into the elevators.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked. “Quite the shit-show isn’t it?”

  “You could say that. Those bastards are planning to hang this around my neck if we fail.”

  “How so?”

  “Are you so naïve as to think that Vice Admiral Langenburg will let my Directive Seven order go uncontested if we don’t get Feldman and Hao back? Hell no, he won’t! He was just giving me all the rope I need to hang myself...and then some!”

  “I think you are being overly cynical, Madame Secretary. The Admiral and I discussed this matter at length and we both agreed to give you a pass this time.”