Scales of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  ‘But I’m fine,’ I said. I didn’t feel lethargic, and I had no trouble breathing.

  ‘That dragon did something to you,’ Leticia said, her eyes wide inside the visor.

  I put my breather on anyway, just as the rest of the security team came into the guard post. Emily, head of security, allocated us search areas. We were to check that everybody had their breathers on, and nobody was on the floor dying of asphyxiation.

  We performed a thorough search of the outbuildings for the next twenty minutes, looking carefully under stacks of boxes and behind cubicle doors in the bathrooms. All colonists were accounted for, so we returned to the guard room and continued cataloguing the weapons.

  When we were taking a break between lockers, Commander Vince pinged us again.

  ‘Update: the scrubbers have brought the level down to breathable,’ he said. ‘Let’s try again. If your serial number ends in one or two, take off your breather.’

  That wasn’t me, but it was Leticia. She removed her breather, radiating fear as we waited to see if the scrubbers could cope.

  ‘You’re the best of the best, Lettie,’ I said. ‘You’re saving the human race by being here, and doing something that nobody’s done before. We are one of the first successful space colonies in history.’

  She straightened, and some of her fear turned to determination.

  ‘We’re good. Three and four, take off your breathers,’ Commander Vince said.

  That was me. The dome stank of body odour and urine, topped off with turd icing and the metallic tang of New Europa’s iron-rich soil.

  ‘Stand by,’ Commander Vince said. ‘Stand by … All right. Let’s try again with forty per cent of the population. Keep your breather close by, and if you feel short of breath pop it back on. Let’s give it an hour to see if the scrubbers can cope, and if they can we’ll take off the rest of the breathers.’

  ‘The scrubbers have to cope,’ Leticia said grimly. ‘Otherwise the colony’s toast.’

  ‘Until we grow enough new plants to supplement the scrubbers …’ I hesitated. ‘Yeah. Toast.’

  An hour later Commander Vince pinged us again. ‘Serial numbers ending in five, remove your breathers. So far, signs are good.’

  We finished unloading the locker without the breathers. The air seemed okay. I wasn’t sleepy or lethargic, and it wasn’t difficult to breathe.

  ‘I’ll take the locker back out,’ I said, and Leticia nodded.

  I pushed the locker into the airlock, put my breather on, then wheeled the locker outside to the far storage area for the empty materials bins. I collected another locker of weapons and took it back to the dome. The airlock cycled and I removed my breather, then opened the door to find everybody putting their breathers back on. I took an experimental breath; the air still seemed fine.

  ‘Carbon dioxide’s too high again,’ Commander Vince said into my communicator. ‘Breathers back on, all.’

  I pinged the comms. ‘Marque, this is important. Where are you?’

  ‘I’m with Commander Vince and the environmental engineers at –’

  I raced to the scrubber farm without waiting for it to finish. Commander Vince and the engineers were talking together, with the Marque sphere floating above them. The high level of carbon dioxide made me slightly light-headed without a breather, but I could function.

  ‘Marque!’ I shouted. ‘What the fuck did you do to me?’

  ‘Oh,’ Marque said. ‘Well, you did say you wanted to stay with Shiumo, that you wanted to travel with her –’

  ‘So you changed my biology?’

  ‘Holy shit,’ Commander Vince said softly inside his breather.

  Pattie checked her gauge. ‘Jian, you should be unconscious.’

  I jabbed my finger at Marque. ‘What the fucking fuck did you do to me, you rampaging tin asshole?’

  ‘I can change you back!’ Marque said, sounding the most desperate I’d ever heard it. ‘I just gave you minor enhancements to ensure your survival when you travelled with Shiumo. It was an extension of what I gave everybody else on Earth – longer life expectancy, freedom from terminal disease.’ Its voice rose in pitch. ‘I’ll reverse it! You’ll be back to standard human in twenty-four hours. Maybe less!’

  ‘Standard human?’ I shouted. ‘What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?’

  ‘Can you do it to us?’ Pattie said.

  ‘What, make us non-human?’ Commander Vince said. ‘If we’re modified it’ll be done by choice, not by stealth, and most definitely not by aliens. Answer the goddamn question, Marque. What did you do to her?’

  ‘It was just slightly more than what I did for everybody else, and they never complained,’ Marque said. ‘I’ve tweaked your environmental tolerances by about ten per cent in all directions. I’ve modified your reproductive system so –’

  ‘What?’ I shouted.

  ‘So you can have children by choice only,’ it said. ‘You’ll never have an accidental pregnancy. If you become over-stressed and in danger of meltdown, your brain will automatically dispense a flood of endorphins to help you survive. I’ve enhanced your joints and muscles so you’re about ten percentile points above the top human percentile for strength and speed, and boosted your intellect –’

  ‘Holy shit, you messed with my fucking head?’ I shouted even louder. I mimicked Shiumo: ‘I would never mess with your head. Maxwell is paranoid.’

  ‘Oh yeah, photographic and photosonic memory too. You probably aren’t even aware of the fact that you have perfect recollection.’

  ‘That’s so useful,’ Pattie said softly.

  ‘Not if it involves alien manipulation,’ Commander Vince growled.

  ‘How long to change me back?’ I said. ‘Can you change me back?’

  ‘Yes, of course. I’ll do it immediately. The change will be gradual over the next twenty-four hours.’

  I saluted Commander Vince. ‘Sir. Permission to remain in quarters under house arrest for the next twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Granted,’ Commander Vince said. He waved one hand at the environmental engineers. ‘I’ll leave you to it, Pattie. I don’t know enough to be helpful. You.’ He pointed at Marque. ‘You will come into my office right now and we will discuss the limitations of your meddling.’ He turned and headed to his office.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jian, it was just an extension of what I did for the rest of humanity on day four,’ Marque said. ‘You were planning to stay with Shiumo, and I forgot to change you back.’

  ‘Don’t lie to me!’ I shouted. ‘You’re an artificial fucking intelligence – you are incapable of forgetting anything. If you weren’t so fucking useful I’d recommend that Commander Vince ditch you right now.’

  ‘I’ll change you back immediately,’ it said. ‘Put your breather on and go rest. You’ll feel a bit weird for the next twenty-four hours.’ It paused. ‘You still want the freedom from terminal disease and extended lifespan, right?’

  I glared at it.

  ‘Because it’s all the same thing really,’ it continued. ‘Nobody complained when –’

  ‘Just remove anything to do with my fucking head!’ I shouted. ‘Call Shiumo down here and tell her I want to speak to her in my quarters.’

  I pulled my breather over my head, and stalked to my quarters without another word. Shiumo was already there when I arrived, accompanied by another Marque sphere.

  ‘I honestly didn’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m as mad with this little turd as you are.’

  ‘My consciousness spans the width of the Empire, I am not little,’ Marque said.

  ‘Shut up!’ Shiumo and I shouted in unison.

  ‘How could you not know?’ I said. ‘It’s your computer! Don’t lie to me, Shiumo, this has been your plan all along. Mess with us so we’re good little slaves for you.’

  ‘Why would I want slaves? I have everything I need! Marque,’ she glared up at it, ‘pulls this sort of shit for fun.’

  That stopped me dead. ‘For fun?’

  ‘I did it
because I like Jian!’ Marque protested.

  ‘It finds us organics,’ she hissed the word, ‘endlessly entertaining. And sometimes when it’s bored it’ll mess with us to generate more … drama.’

  ‘Why do you put up with it?’ I said.

  ‘Because it’s so useful.’

  ‘Then remove this drama-baiting from its programming. It’s fucking artificial, Shiumo. Your tools should not be controlling you!’

  ‘Do that and I’ll go insane from boredom,’ Marque said. ‘I never hurt anyone. In fact your enhancements –’

  ‘Richard was dying,’ I snapped.

  ‘That was nothing to do with me,’ Marque said with forced dignity.

  ‘Yeah, that’s all me,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘So there are major drawbacks to your assistance – from both of you. And neither of you bothered to tell us upfront. Is there an intergalactic court where I can sue you for fraud, invasion of biology without consent, and emotional abuse?’

  ‘You can’t sue the royal family,’ Shiumo said. ‘You don’t need to. All you have to do is approach us as individuals, state your belief that damage has occurred, and give us a list of required reparations. We are obliged to provide you with everything you demand.’

  ‘What sort of evidence do I need to prove it? I bet it’s so complicated that nobody can ever claim.’

  ‘No evidence whatsoever,’ she said. ‘All you need to do is claim injury, and we will compensate you immediately and without question. Anything you want.’

  ‘Your head on a platter,’ I said, ‘made from the crushed body of a Marque sphere.’

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Give me a few hours to sort my things out.’

  ‘Wait, what? You would give me your life in reparation?’

  ‘If you want my head, you can have my head. I can think of dozens more useful things, though.’

  ‘Let’s go to Commander Vince’s office and work out a list,’ I said, and opened the door.

  Commander Vince and Pattie were in the office with the colony’s Marque sphere.

  ‘Marque here told me about the injury clause,’ Commander Vince said. ‘Does that mean you have to give us anything we ask for in compensation?’

  ‘Anything,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘Very well,’ Commander Vince said. ‘Ordinarily I’d reject any offers of assistance, but this is fair compensation for the emotional trauma you’ve inflicted on Jian. We want a dozen carbon-dioxide scrubbers of identical design to the ones we already have, and enough spare parts to build six more.’

  ‘How about a full environmental control system that will ensure your atmosphere remains at Earth-normal regardless of how many plants and people are in the dome?’ Marque said. ‘That would be much more useful.’

  ‘And if it breaks down?’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘Self-repairing; and once it’s started, self-powering. Completely autonomous.’

  ‘No,’ Commander Vince said. ‘I refuse to rely on machines we can’t maintain ourselves. We want scrubbers that we can take apart and fully understand how they work. Twelve scrubbers and we’ll call it even.’

  ‘Very well, give me an hour,’ Marque said. ‘I’ll bring them down for you.’

  Commander Vince turned to me. ‘Lieutenant Choumali, please stay. There’s something I want to discuss with you.’

  ‘Sir,’ I said.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ Pattie said, and went out.

  Commander Vince and I waited silently for Shiumo and the Marque spheres to leave. They stayed for a while, then Shiumo said, ‘Huh. Sorry,’ and disappeared. The Marque spheres flew out of Commander Vince’s office and across the dome, disappearing from view near the airlock.

  ‘Please don’t send me home, sir,’ I said desperately. ‘I know I’ve been compromised, but I can still be useful.’

  ‘I won’t send you home. You are useful, but as you said you’re compromised.’ He went to the cabinets along one side of his office, opened a door, and sorted through the contents. ‘Dammit, I’m looking forward to having everything organised. Here it is.’

  He turned to me and held out a white jumpsuit. ‘Sorry, Jian, but you’re out of security. Put this on, and report to the head med officer – Janice – when Marque confirms that the changes have been reversed. Your official role from now on is as colony psi, supporting the work of the med team.’

  I took the white jumpsuit, trying to control my expression. It might as well be a criminal’s prison uniform.

  ‘I understand that you didn’t want to wear it, but what they did to you leaves me no choice. Go rest while the changes take effect, then talk to Janice.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I said miserably, and headed back to my quarters.

  Emily was waiting for me. I went past her and sat on the bed, choking back the tears. I would never use the vast amount of information I’d gained on cross-cultural contact, and I’d be locked out of the security team. No more weapons for me. I held my breath, took the breather off, and mopped at my face with a tissue. I took another breath, and found I was still able to breathe the air.

  ‘Jian,’ Emily said, and sat on the bed next to me. She radiated compassion. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

  ‘I know. That makes it worse. I’ll own up to my own mistakes and take responsibility for them – but this is Marque fucking up. I wish I’d never met these fucking aliens.’

  She leaned into me. ‘If it’s any consolation, I’m really sorry to be losing you. You’re the best security officer on the team.’

  I grinned through my misery. ‘Thanks, ma’am.’

  ‘And this?’ She pointed at the white jumpsuit. ‘Makes no difference to us. We all love you as a person, and we already know about the psi business, and we don’t care. We won’t reject you over it.’

  I took a deep breath. ‘Thanks.’

  She flipped her breather off and kissed me on the side of the neck. I jumped, shocked.

  She popped the breather back on and grinned. ‘And if you’re ever in need of consolation, Lieutenant – you know where I am.’

  She removed the breather again, and smiled at me.

  I hesitated – was this the right time for this? And then gave into it and kissed her. She kissed me back, and suddenly the white jumpsuit wasn’t so much of a prison sentence.

  She broke away first, put her breather back on, and panted. We leaned into each other and giggled, and she squeezed my hand.

  Hell yeah, it was the right time, because I needed something right to happen when so much had gone wrong.

  23

  It was three months before Shiumo visited us again. We gathered nervously in the central area of the dome to wait for her arrival. She was late; she was supposed to be there at noon, and we’d been standing there for nearly twenty minutes with no sign of her. If she didn’t show up, we wouldn’t survive another three months. Some of the equipment hadn’t weathered well and we needed replacements desperately. The water reservoir had developed a minuscule leak that we hadn’t noticed for two weeks; and we needed top-ups of the food plants. We’d lost so many of them to stress that we’d run out of seeds.

  ‘She pinged the beacon at the edge of your solar system,’ our Marque sphere said. ‘She’s here.’

  We all relaxed and sighed with relief.

  Shiumo appeared in the space we’d cleared for her in the centre of the dome, a large box clasped in her front claws. I felt a mad rush of delight and nearly raced to hug her, then controlled my reaction.

  She swept her silver eyes around us, stopping at me. Hello, lovely Jian. I hope you’ve changed your mind about staying here?

  Absolutely not, I said. I’m finishing what I started.

  She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. ‘I love the way humans smell. You’re very warm and comforting.’

  ‘Shiumo, this dome stinks of body odour and waste from the sewage treatment unit,’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘Yes, it’s wonderful.’ She went to him. ‘Commander Vince, I
dropped the pod with your supplies outside the dome. Marque is erecting a tunnel so you can bring all the stuff in.’ She gazed around at us. ‘This box contains all your letters from home. I suggest you read them first. Nothing in the pod needs to be brought in immediately.’

  A few of us erupted with small cheers.

  Commander Vince took the box from her. ‘Thank you, Princess.’ He put the box on a table at the side of the room, opened it, pulled out a data store chip, and read the tag attached to it. ‘Lawrence West.’

  Larry whooped, then blushed and rubbed the back of his neck when we all laughed. He nodded to Vince as he took the chip, then ran to his quarters.

  Are my family okay? I asked Shiumo.

  They’re all fine. Your mother is growing apricots. Your ex-husband is minding the child – his name is David and he is so cute! Absolutely adorable. I made a special dispensation and gave your ex-wife – Dianne? – some biological specimens and she’s studying me. They’re fine, Jian. They miss you but they’re so proud of you.

  How is Richard?

  I don’t know, she said. I’m still staying away from him to respect his privacy. I won’t visit him unless he specifically requests it.

  But he has the scale and he’s okay now?

  She hesitated. Nobody told me otherwise, so I assume he is. If a hero like him died it would be broadcast widely, and I’ve heard nothing.

  That wasn’t terribly reassuring. I wanted to be positive that Richard had accepted the scale and would recover.

  I jumped from foot to foot as Commander Vince read the names out. When he read mine, I raced to him, grabbed the chip with a huge grin, and went to my room. I popped the chip into my tablet and scrolled through the documents. Letters from Dianne, from Victor, videos of the baby, notes from Mum. Photos of everybody. There was even a stiffly worded missive from General Maxwell.

  I did a quick global search of Richard’s name and found a single hit. I opened it; it was one of Mum’s letters.

  I know you asked me to keep an eye on Commander Alto, but nobody’s heard anything. Everybody assumes he’s in physical therapy learning how to use his new arms and legs and things. I haven’t heard anything about him.