by Astrotomato
“Hurry up,” Djembe sounded on the edge of panic. The ship bounced and shook, and a worrying creaking sound reverberated through the ship.
“Engage.” The pale blue field around the ship turned brilliant white. The In The Palm Of Your Hand lurched. The wormhole colours streaked and faded to black. A green circle approached and as quickly as they'd accelerated, the ship plunged through the green circle and re-entered normal space.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief. “What the hell was that? Win?”
While the pilot brought the ship under control and checked they were in the Fall system, Win analysed the data from the wormhole intrusion. He looked at Kate, shaking his head, “No idea. Not a standard transport. Doesn't match any of the military ships on record.”
“Something classified, then.” Djembe's normally dark skin looked ashen, “Fall is classified. They will be using the wormhole to test new ships, new navigation controls.”
“Well, we're in the Fall system as planned. Ship's on course for the planet.” The pilot sank back in her seat. “If you don't mind, General, I'd like to make an official complaint about whoever's testing in a wormhole.”
“Don't worry, pilot, I think we'll all be signing off on that one.” Kate looked through the cockpit at the smudge of ochre in front of her. Beyond lay Fall, hidden in the night.
Chapter 5 – In The Eye Of The Storm
“Commander, MI ships are now in the system. ETA is oh seven fifteen. A little over three hours.”
“Thank you, Sophie, please alert all commands.”
Daoud was again on the upper deck of the central air shaft, looking down through the Colony’s sleeping heart. His wrist pad quietened. The air shaft was dark. The Colony operated on a standard day length, free as it was from a surface solar cycle. It was night, several hours before most of the Colony would rise. Daoud felt the quiet chorus from the sleeping minds around him. Dreams flowed through the Colony.
He thought about the colonists’ responses to Huriko Maki’s death. The miners had barely blinked. Deaths from mining accidents were rare now, but miners had a long memory. They knew Fall was a harsh place, above ground and below. Death was inevitable.
The Research Facility staff were not reacting so well. Although training for surface work was thorough, the Facility scientists spent most of their life in the lab: in sterile environments, working with holos or immersed in AI environments. Everything about their world was constructed, controlled and made safe. There was abject shock at the incident. Would one of their own really have allowed themselves to be delayed so long, knowing the storm and double sunrise was approaching? For appearances’ sake, Daoud had asked Masjid to conduct a formal enquiry and to hold a service of remembrance. Things had to be done properly. Emotions managed while they could be.
Daoud left the platform and went to the Research Facility on the third floor. A few researchers on shift work walked past him with their heads down, some glancing up and nodding at him as they passed by. Here everyone reported to Masjid. Daoud was a distant person for them. He understood this. His time in MI had once blinded him, too, to civilian life.
He stopped at a door, differentiated from the others only by the identifying number 3-11-8, floor three, section eleven, door eight. Masjid looked up as he entered, welcoming him.
“Good morning, Administrator. Our guests are giving us an early start today.”
“Doctor. How are our specimens?”
“Quiet. I have them on visual surveillance. Eight are now showing activity: subtle levitation at first, a few millimetres; then gradually higher. The more advanced are moving around in the air. Then there's the energy discharges, which are increasing in frequency and power. Specimen twenty three, the first to show behaviour, the one you saw earlier, has lost mass. Only about eight grams, but it’s the first time we’ve seen anything approaching metabolism. At this rate, I expect all twenty three to be active within the next few days.”
Daoud walked around Masjid’s office. On one wall was an artwork. Loops of what looked to be organic matter were held together at junctions by orange crystals, like softened kidney stones. “I’ve always found this an interesting piece. Tell me about it.” Daoud remained by the artwork, with his back turned.
“It’s from the historical period known as The Freedom. The loops are acrylic, paper and dust: human skin. The orange crystals are cyberware.”
Daoud turned his head slightly so his right ear pointed more toward Masjid. He kept his back turned, tracing the loops with a finger. “Cyberware? It’s a re-creation, then?”
“No, actually. The piece was made shortly after the Organic Edict. A few museums and artists were allowed to keep key items of cyberware for cultural context. Species memory if you like. Those crystals were once part of somebody. I understand they’re quite advanced devices, though their true function is lost of course. The artists were allowed to use them in the piece on the understanding that all functional knowledge was destroyed. I believe they have some connection to physical ability, rather than neural capacity. Beyond that, who knows? Official medical history is somewhat silent on the subject.”
“Crystalline. They’re not self replicating then.”
“No. The organic technology is what brought about the Edict. That was all destroyed. Besides, it’s several hundred years ago. I don’t see how any of the organic cyberware could have survived this long.”
Daoud continued to look at the art work.
“You’re wondering if our specimens might start to replicate, aren’t you?”
Now Daoud turned his head, and fixed his gaze on Masjid. “Yes, Doctor, something like that. Something very much like that.” He turned fully and walked to Masjid’s desk. “Can we go over the preparations for bio-safety, the facility tour schedule, your enquiry and the remembrance service, before your esteemed colleagues from MI arrive?”
The In The Palm Of Your Hand passed through the dust clouds that shrouded Fall from the system’s outer edges for most of its passage around the two suns.
Djembe's voice came over the intercom to Kate's quarters. “I’m monitoring comms traffic, Kate. Apart from the regular time pulses passing between the wormhole’s comms station and the inner system, it’s all quiet.”
“Good. They should have cut down on comms as soon as they reported the death.”
“I've put Fall on the monitor. That bright spot near the centre.”
As the ship passed out of the dust clouds, it trailed behind it filaments and long sheets of dust like tatters of cobweb ruffled by a breeze.
Win, strapped in to a padded seat for atmospheric entry, peered out of the window next to him. Through the flickering red haze, Fall’s desert expanse came into view. “Look, some of the surface detail is visible.”
“Does that mean we’ll be avoiding the planet's storm system?” Djembe stared straight ahead, his face ashen again, “I really don’t want more turbulence. Not after the wormhole.”
“Our flight path looks clear to me. Perhaps the storm has already passed.”
A series of deep judders passed through the ship as it entered a layer of atmosphere with denser air. Djembe closed his eyes and gripped his seat. Kate reached out her hand to his shoulder, “Come on Djembe, it’s only turbulence. You must have done atmospheric re-entry a thousand times.”
“None of which changes the fact that we are sixty kilometres up, hurtling toward the planet’s surface.”
Kate looked round Win’s head, trying to catch sight of the surface herself. “I quite like it. Reminds me of the amusement parks at home.”
Win was oblivious to the turbulence. He was running scenarios in his head and taking in the surface details. There was the old Colony which had begun construction almost fifty years ago. It had been evacuated twenty five years ago when a ship had crashed into it. And he was puzzled about the dead scientist. Why had she been on the surface when the planet had such a hostile environment, with the twin sun radiation and the great storm system? He needed to talk wi
th the planet's AI.
As the ship started bucking from re-entry, Kate raised her voice, “I wonder what the colonists do for fun.”
Win looked at the burning vista, “Keep secrets, by the sounds of things.”
Daoud walked into the hangar, followed by Sophie. Small robots wheeled around the floor preparing for the ship's arrival. Above him an iris of daylight was slowly contracting, closing its eye to the surface. A ship was descending on a mixture of anti-grav fields and thrusters. The four sturdy landing feet of the Transport-class craft stepped delicately onto the hangar floor almost as one, belying the mass of the craft they supported. Its hull started pinking as it lost heat in the hangar’s cooler air. The ship settled on the floor, and started venting heat upwards in small bursts of steam compressed air.
A flashing yellow light fell from under the hull as a gap widened between ship and a descending ramp. A number of the small robots came to a halt; resting, waiting for further instructions. Three pairs of feet became visible in the yellow light, remaining still whilst the ramp lowered to the hangar floor. When it had, a green light replaced the yellow. The feet moved forward, and Daoud had his first view of the MI team sent to investigate the encounter, the death.
“Commander Leland, welcome to Fall.”
“It’s General Leland.”
Confident. Not many people corrected him, less still within seconds of encounter.
Kate took Daoud’s out-stretched hand. “Administrator Daoud this is my team, Commanders Ho-Yung and Cygnate. Thank you for your welcome.” Their voices echoed in hollow whispers around the hangar.
Around them the small robots scurried, gripping hoses, extending sensors, plugging in. The Hand moved with them to a rear bay, a low thrum of tensor fields blurring its landing pads.
“Commanders.” Daoud looked at Win and Djembe in turn. “General, congratulations on your promotion. May I introduce Sophie Argus, my Operations Director. Sophie will take you to your quarters. You are welcome to Fall. A good flight, I presume?”
“Bumpy. Something tried to emerge into the wormhole on top of us. Do you run test flights of new craft in this quarter?”
This was unexpected. Daoud decided to pass it off, in case it was connected to the herald. Probably it was. “I'll have my people look into it, General. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some matters to see to. We will hold a briefing session in one hour, if that's suitable? Good. Sophie?”
Daoud dipped his head slightly to Kate, excused himself and walked out of the hangar.
He had no reason for a one hour delay. It simply suited him to make them wait, to put them at his disposal, rather than he at theirs. But while he had the opportunity, he decided to monitor Sophie's interaction with these people, to see if they affected her thinking any. The fewer things he had to worry about at the moment, the better. And he wanted to monitor the wormhole. If they were coming, this MI posed little risk to him and the war could start.
While Daoud walked away, Sophie appraised the MI operatives. “Welcome to Fall. Let me take you to your quarters.”
Kate shifted the shoulder bag she was carrying, “Shall we?”
“Follow me.”
While they walked to their quarters, the team asked Sophie about the Colony's operations. She described the mineral production and output. The minerals were mined from the bare rock, which ran thick with seams of crystals and a sandstone-like substance. She told them how it wasn't quantity that was important, although the planet was abundant in the minerals, but the extraction technique. No one had been able to replicate the mineral structures in the lab, and it broke down easily under stress. The miners were high technology users. Rather than mechanical drills, saws and industrial laser cutters, they had to ease the minerals out by slow and gentle grinding. They created dust. Win asked about accidents, and Sophie told him how the early days had seen more of them, when minerals exploded or tunnels collapsed due to unusual rock movements during mining. The minerals spread the load of the crust above them in unusual patterns, which weren't always obvious. The load of the inselberg nearby affected the mining, its gravity putting extra stress on the area.
“But the minerals are most abundant around the inselberg, so that's where we mine.”
“And how are they transported off Fall?” Djembe was keying his wristpad even as he asked. She looked at him: the Consequence Planner. He'd be trying to find out if cargo ships had been recently. If they were a weak point.
“We have our own military cargo vessels. They visit once every three months, and they're cloaked. We have three pilots trained to take the material up to near orbit, and transfer there. The ships are piloted by AIs, no human crew. They leave immediately. Our last,” she talked over his question before it was more than a word, “visit was over a month ago. Security holos are available.”
Kate turned the conversation to more personal matters, “And how long have you been here?”
“Since the Colony's inception at its original site. I was involved in the planning and design. MI thought I would best serve them as its Operations Director once the old Colony was built.”
Kate looked over at Sophie, “If you don't mind me saying, you don't look old enough to have been here that long.”
Sophie gave a tight smile, “That's very kind of you. The biological research function here has made some breakthroughs in cell regeneration and ageing from which we benefit.”
Win leaned forward into his walk so that his mouth was level with Sophie's ear, “Excuse me, but wasn't such technology proscribed by the Organic Edict four hundred years ago?”
Stopping at a door, Sophie held her hand over its access panel, “This isn't cybernetic or nanotech. It's entirely organic and based on the body's own biology. Now, here we are at your quarters, Commander Ho-Yung.”
The door opened. Win thanked her and went inside.
“Commander Cygnate, your quarters are here.” She pointed at a door on the opposite wall. “And General Leland, I'll take you to your quarters further along the corridor.”
Sophie and Kate walked along the corridor, the doors to Win and Djembe's quarters disappearing behind them around the corridor's curve.
Kate picked up the thread of Sophie's last point, “There isn't much detail about the bio-research in the planet's files.”
“No. The research was transferred here twenty five years ago, when this colony site was created. Doctor Currie will explain it. It is classified, Onyx-class. You will probably understand why the Cadre doesn't want people to start gossiping. AIs and immortality aren't something we advertise. Fall is a classified installation, yet still people find out about it.” Standing in front of Kate's quarters, Sophie smiled and opened the door, “Many of our researchers are here because they pursued rumours and brought themselves to MI's attention.”
“I look forward to hearing more about it.” Kate nodded a thanks to Sophie, and stepped into her quarters. The door closed quietly at her back, closing off Sophie into the corridor, who stood looking at it for a few seconds, her face implacable.
She had the distinct feeling that she had wanted to say something more about Fall. But whenever the words started to form in her mind, they disappeared, like dreams on waking.
Maybe it was just nerves about the next few days, she thought. She was bound to be distracted while they awaited the Event.
Kate walked out of her quarter’s bathroom, water vapour billowing in front of her. Water showers were rare on desert planets. She wondered if the expense of transporting it here was to repay Fall’s colonists for their isolation. She sat at the workstation, looking around the room, which was comfortable if functional in appearance. A double bed occupied the far left corner of the room. In the opposite right corner was the door to the room’s bathroom. Arranged in the rest of the space was a small dining table with chairs, two storage lockers set into the wall, and a food and drink unit.
Kate mulled over her arrival less than an hour ago. Daoud’s reception puzzled her. Like her quarters, it had
been accommodating, but functional. Almost curt. It had thrown her a little. She wondered if she had been rude in correcting the Administrator when he’d called her “Commander”. But then, how else could he have known of her field promotion? She wasn’t sure what to make of his brief appearance. On other colonies her team was met by bureaucrats, dignitaries. On the rare occasion that the Colony’s most senior official met them it was for one of two reasons: profound relief that MI had finally arrived to help or extreme anger at MI’s meddling and interference. Daoud, on the other hand, was… What? Efficient? That was the word that came to mind. But how could you meet someone efficiently? An acknowledgement of their arrival and their importance, an acknowledgement that he was responsible for their presence there. And in the briefest possible time, with the bare minimum of words exchanged.
Kate turned to the workstation. “Computer, access the database on my ship please. Authorisation Kate Feyder One One.” A small holo sphere folded into illuminated life above the work station, whilst the computer quietly voiced, “Access granted.”
“Access biography files for Administrator Daoud.” A small icon appeared, showing a five centimetre high holo of Daoud, with arms folded and shaking his head. The computer added, “Access restricted. Top secret. Cadre-level clearance necessary.”
Kate stared at the holo, “What?”
Again, “Access restricted. Top secret. Cadre-level clearance necessary.”
“Computer, explain access restrictions on Administrator Daoud’s biography.”
“Administrators of classified colonies have classified biographies. Cadre-level clearance necessary.”
“Well, I suppose that makes sense. Can you tell me anything about Administrator Daoud? Is there anything in the public domain? From the nets maybe? Research papers? School records?”
“Access restricted. Top secret. Cadre-level clearance necessary.”
“How can there be nothing in the public domain, or even MI domain? OK, let’s try his Ops Director. Access biography files for Sophie Argus, Operations Director, planet Fall.”