All Fall Down

by Astrotomato

  “There are no records for Sophie Argus, Operations Director, planet Fall. Would you like to alter your search query?”

  “No. Do you have biographies for any of Fall’s key personnel that I can access?”

  “There are four biographies available: Doctor Masjid Currie, Research Director; Grace Adebuye, Mining Operations Director; Preecha Nam-Sing, Health Director; Michael Hseung, Agriculture, Environment and Water Director.”

  “Prepare audio-visual reports on them please. Lock work station.”

  The holo folded, leaving a dark purple fuzz on her retinas. For a few moments she breathed through her nose, her lips comforting each other as she thought over her tactics for the briefing session. Clearly she needed to understand who she was dealing with. But to access Daoud’s biography she’d need to contact the Hab, through Daoud’s restricted access channel. Which would give him access to the comms log. And Sophie Argus: why was there no profile? Was she classified? Maybe she was a fugitive, who’d accepted Fall as her prison, in return for work and anonymity. Such things happened from time to time. Still, given she had to investigate Daoud and the coded message, Kate thought it better to find out.

  With the holo’s afterglow still in her eyes, Kate picked up her datapad, and made her way to Daoud’s briefing room.

  Kate turned out of her quarters, and followed the corridor’s curve towards the elevators, passing automatons; small maintenance robots. Djembe and Win’s quarters showed as unoccupied when she passed; they had probably left for the briefing room. Both had slept and bathed on the journey, while Kate had studied in more detail the consequence map, environmental reports and the holo clip of the scientist’s death.

  The thought of espionage unnerved her. All of her previous experience involved working with Colony governments to save them from disaster. Now she had to become spy to investigate... What? “illicit biological research”? She didn't even know what that meant. The Organic Edict had outlawed certain biological research. Cybernetic enhancements to humans and animals, principally. Could it be that? She'd committed the coded message to memory: “Fall. Human hybrid. Murder. Not human DNA. Help.” It seemed obvious that it related to the scientist's death in some way. “Murder.”

  She walked along the twelfth floor corridor towards the briefing room, taking in the efficient lighting and the sharp shadows it created where doors, access panels and other colony features passed out of the walls. Most of the corridors here were like this. Where, in other colonies, pipes would normally be hidden to leave flat, smooth walls, here they protruded through the biocrete and wall panels like recently unearthed fossils. Kate found the effect rather charming, almost as if the Colony had been designed to capture the feel of Old Earth’s first extra-Sol colonies. The corridors took the colour of Fall, a beige sand, shot through with browns and ochres. The floor was a a dull grey, and along it ran coloured lines for the automata to follow.

  Arriving at the debrief room, Kate found herself still distracted and unnerved. Was she really ready to be a spy? The doors opened, revealing Djembe poised over a floor holopit. Beyond him was Win, his arms thrown open, almost embracing the air.

  Kate walked into the room. “Win, Djembe. How are your quarters?”

  Djembe turned around, “Ah, Kate. Yes, good. Spacious and orderly.”

  Apart from the bowl-like holopit in the centre of the floor, the room was bare. The muted grey walls were lit from within, probably by embedded luminous bacteria. There were no tables, chairs or interaction points visible. The room was silent, suggesting that it was insulated. The silence was expanded by the room’s twenty metre width. To Kate, the silence, the size and the muted light, along with the bowl in the centre of the room, combined to give the space a religious feel. A place of contemplation. Its volume and lighting suggested quietude, an environment in which plans could be carefully formulated. She crossed the floor to join Djembe and Win, standing around the holopit.

  Win lowered his arms, “They have water bathing. I asked the computer about it and do you know what it said? ‘Good things come to those who wait.’ And then it said, ‘Plus, no one can sweet talk other AIs like me.’ I think it must be a PlanetStar AI.”

  “Really?” Kate was surprised, “Why would they have a PlanetStar? That’s a level three A.I. I would have thought a Colony this size would have a level five.”

  “It is strange.”

  “What makes you think it’s a PlanetStar?”

  “If you talk to a level four or five, they’re what I would term soberly sentient. The PlanetStars are, well, this isn’t scientific, but they’re a bit quirky. They like to separate themselves from the level four and fives. Too important to be limited to a planet or ship, not clever enough to be a Starquake.”

  “So?”

  “So, Fall’s mind seems, I don’t know; playful; arrogant? Like it knows something no one else does.”

  Djembe held out a hand, “I noticed dust in the corridors. I wonder if the mineral dust penetrates the AI's core?”

  The doors opened. Daoud, in silhouette against the corridor’s brighter light, walked in. Sophie followed quietly behind him. Their conversation ended as they became five around the holopit.

  Kate was about to open proceedings, but Daoud took the initiative first. “General Leland, Commanders. Welcome again to Fall. I trust you’ve made yourselves comfortable and the quarters are to your satisfaction. Good. To business, shall we?”

  “Thank you, Administrator Daoud. If we can...”

  “I will lead proceedings, thank you. I have had a death. You are here to perform the official investigation for me. Without offence, this is a box ticking exercise.”

  Kate's tiredness allowed her irritation to slip out, “Administrator, box ticking-”

  “Is what MI tends to do. Now if-”

  “Excuse me, I-” Kate's anger was coming to the surface.

  “I am not normally known to tolerate interruptions.” Daoud levelled his gaze at her.

  “Nor I, Administrator.” To Kate's side, Win cleared his throat. It was subtle, but it brought her back to some objectivity.

  Sophie folded her hands.

  Daoud locked eyes with Kate.

  Daoud spoke. “To business. This should be a simple investigation. I want my Colony to be settled and returned to normal as soon as possible. You will want to visit the incident scene. There is nothing to see there, the wind and the sand have scoured the place in the time since the incident occurred. However, this is Fall, that is our surface environment, and it is perhaps best that you understand the context to our situation. This is a harsh and unforgiving planet; follow Sophie’s safety protocols when you are surface-bound.”

  “We are aware of the sur-”

  “You will also want to monitor and interrogate our LocalSysNet,” Daoud carried on as if Kate hadn't said anything. She clenched her jaw muscles, “and extra-system comms. Our comms relays tell us you have already started this process. Comms are erratic here due to the binary star system and the dust clouds that shroud us. Our wormhole has strange interactions with the cloud. We have often asked MI to send us a research crew to explain it. Perhaps whilst you’re here you could spare some time to investigate. In any case, you have a few days before the colonists notice anything unusual with their comms.

  “Next, our Research section is on standby awaiting your visit. Doctor Masjid Currie is more than willing to talk with you. I believe you will find him a cooperative ally, though perhaps protective of his field of expertise. You are also free by MI’s terms of Colony management to talk with whomsoever you choose. Now, I believe that sets out everything, yes?”

  “There are some issues around access to transportation which-”

  “Which Sophie will sort out with you. Our resources are at your disposal, General.”

  Kate collected herself. She couldn't afford to be angry at this man's brusqueness. Daoud was the Colony’s administrator, and the Colony was a classified installation. Of course he would be a decisive and a
uthoritative person. But for someone who didn’t like being interrupted, he seemed to do an awful lot of it himself.

  Kate’s mind was racing. She felt expectation from Win and Djembe. She had to say something to assert her authority, MI's authority, and also remain diplomatic. Missions depended on establishing a productive planetside relationship. Eventually, after what seemed like an age of finding the right balance, she managed, “There are some specific issues that…”

  “Yes, there are always specific issues in military investigations. Sophie has full authority to work on…”

  Admiral Kim's face loomed in Kate's mind and instead she spoke to that image, “…specific issues, as I was saying, around using your secure comms channel back to MI, Administrator,” Kate numbed the feelings of conflict within her, “that Admiral Kim has ordered, so that I can report on the situation.” Was that a slight tightening around Daoud’s eyes? Of annoyance or something else?

  “You come with an excellent reputation, General Leland, and I expect, therefore, similarly excellent work. It surprises me, therefore, that you would feel the need to check specific issues around a communications policy that I wrote. Now, if that’s all? Good. Gentlemen. Sophie, I will leave you to discuss the specifics.”

  Kate watched Daoud turn and walk away from the holopit. He reached the doors and disappeared into the silhouettes of the hallway before the doors had closed behind him. Sophie politely cleared her throat. Kate turned to her and saw one of her eyes was widened slightly. “Perhaps we could start with your consequence map, and get into some operations planning?”

  Kate looked at Win, who gave the smallest of nods in return. She gathered her hair into a bun, holding it up with a stick which she took from her belt pouch. She would save her anger for later. There was a mission to run. “Yes, perhaps we should. We are to report back to Admiral Kim in three days. Djembe, Win, can you walk Sophie through the map, please?” Kate held her hand over the holopit, which flowered into life in response to an instruction from her wrist band.

  On either side of her, Win and Djembe began to talk. Kate kept her eyes straight ahead. Her annoyance at Daoud kept her quiet, and she knew it was unprofessional. All she'd wanted to do was go on R'n'R, go home, see her family.

  She focused on Sophie. Kate thought she had the beginnings of a rapport with Sophie, after their short conversation in the corridor. She broke her silence, “Your Colony Administrator likes to show his control.” The others fell quiet.

  Sophie glanced at the door then back to Kate, “He is comfortable with leadership, yes. This Colony was his idea. He oversaw the design, the research, and the establishment of this second Colony.” Sophie shrugged, “Sometimes he ventures from leadership to, well, ownership isn't the right word. Maybe parenthood would be more accurate?”

  Kate nodded. She thought that Daoud, too, must be benefiting from the Colony's bio-research. He also did not look old enough to have been involved with the Colony for the four decades humans had been on Fall, nor the decades before that to plan it, convince the Cadre and controlling AIs to grant the necessary resources, nor work his way from youth to a position of power to put such plans into motion. Kate was eager to meet this Doctor Currie who was in charge of the scientific research.

  Djembe interrupted her reverie, “Excuse me for asking, but I did not catch the Administrator's first name.”

  “He's simply called Daoud,” Sophie folded her hands at her waist, “that is the only name any of us have ever known him by.”

  Djembe looked at Win, who shrugged in return.

  “To business, perhaps?” Sophie turned back to Kate.

  “Of course.”

  Kate focused on Admiral Kim's face again, and used it to guide her back to a professional demeanour, to one befitting a General.

  Back in his office, Daoud sat at his desk and looked over the data from the wormhole.

  The MI ship's ion trail was apparent. The comms relay net had picked up its entrance. He scrutinised the data. As they'd reported, the ship had entered the system very quickly. And there were other discharges from the wormhole. Particles streaming out before MI had arrived. And still a faint trace.

  Something was trying to break through into the wormhole and come to Fall.

  “Good. Everything's going to plan.”

  He opened the Colony's remaining secure connection to the Cadre. While he waited for a secure connection, he attended to some routine Colony matters, and thought over his briefing with General Leland. He had calculated his approach. He wanted to annoy her, to push her, see what she was made of. At the very least, her thinking would be clouded by his brusqueness, and she would make mistakes keeping her away from the truth.

  From the base of the sculpture on his desk he pulled out an infochip. He sealed his room from AI oversight before he activated it. A basic holo formed in the air. It was of a dying soldier he'd found drifting in a wormhole. Daoud had dragged the soldier into his cargo hold. The soldier's space suit had been made of an exotic biological material. Something alive. Daoud's voice cut over the holo, “What's your name, soldier?”

  “Stendahl.”

  “And who are you, Stendahl?”

  “Marine, Special Operations. Where am I?”

  “On my ship in a wormhole near the Canis sector.”

  Stendahl shook his head, “Impossible. I'm on mission to the xenos' homeworld in the Perseus sector.”

  “Xenos?”

  The marine coughed up blood, “Yes, Sir. The war.”

  “War?”

  The marine had just looked at him as if it was Daoud who was talking strangely.

  “What year is it, Marine Stendahl?”

  “Thirty seventy two.” Again, the confused look. The marine coughed up more blood.

  In the holo, Daoud his older self whisper, “That's four hundred and fifty years in the future.” To the marine, he asked, “And the... xenos?”

  “Caught us by surprise. Everywhere.”

  “And you're at war with them?”

  “How can you not know about the war? We're losing. My ship was hit. Species Eighteen. Millions dead. The lemurs were coming, didn't you see? We're all dying. All of us. We're dying. We're losing the war.” And before he'd died, Daoud had managed to get some key information from him. How it had started. The date, the place. “After the Event. None of us knew. Secret for decades. Around the great eclipse. Planet Fall.” Those had been his last words.

  It had taken Daoud some time to check what the soldier was suggesting. The wormhole they'd both been travelling in had been subject to energy discharges. Perhaps from a huge explosion – the soldier's ship – or an exotic weapon. Whatever had happened, it had interacted with the strange wormhole physics. Either the soldier had come back from the future, or Daoud had flashed through it. His ship's log contained enough sensor readings to confirm the anomaly, although he'd never been able to recreate it.

  The encounter had precipitated his trip to the Sol System, to the Jupiter archive. His Cadre-level clearance had given him access to some very interesting information. It was where he'd formulated his first plan. If war was coming, it was better to be prepared.

  Back in the present, the holo came to an end. Daoud mused at it. To his side, the comms link to the Cadre flashed. He turned towards it and activated it.

  Admiral Kim's head formed in his hologram space.

  “Daoud.” Her tone was clipped. There was no greeting or formality of rank or protocol. Just his name, steaming with dry ice.

  “Admiral Kim. So nice to talk with you again.”

  “What do you want?”

  His tone changed to match hers. “I admit I had hoped for a little more... geniality.” Admiral Kim remained silent. “As you wish. Your investigation team is here. They are with my Operations Director setting out their approach and requirements.”

  “Good. Perhaps now we will find out what you've been up to these last decades.”

  “You still believe this Colony is a cover, then? The old arg
ument still survives?”

  “You are a man of singular purpose.”

  “I prefer the phrase 'compassionate vision'.”

  “I am not going to be drawn into your semantics, Daoud. What do you want?”

  “I'm interested in this little team you've sent me. What are you trying to do?”

  “General Leland shows great promise. I presume you've accessed her file already, so I will spare you her achievements. We've identified her as future Admiral material.”

  “So it's a test for her?”

  “An opportunity, Daoud. Such as you once had.”

  “You have greater access to my file than you once did, Kim.”

  “Much has changed since last you deigned the Settled Quarters with your presence. I note that some things haven't changed. You appear no older. Your biological research goes well, then?”

  “Better than I'd hoped. The research will be delivered to the Cadre on time, with some additional developments.”

  “The Cadre appreciates everything you do for it.”

  Was Admiral Kim softening after her initial frostiness? She had no idea what was stored on the planet, the secret research he was conducting. Or did she? This team she had sent, this General Leland in whom she placed so much faith, was it here to find out what he'd “been up to these last decades,” as she termed it? He knew she was fishing. The Cadre had no idea, he was sure. Only four of them knew, and those other three had been carefully chosen and prepared. He decided to play to her softened tone, “And I appreciate everything the Cadre has allowed me to do here. The supply of AI minerals is one thing, but the benefits of our medical research. Well, it is a great thing to be involved with.”

  “Was there anything else Daoud?” The frosty edge was back. Perhaps it had never gone. His friendship, perhaps camaraderie was a better word, with Kim had ended years before he had conceived of Fall. For a moment he had thought there may still be some of the professional respect left.

  “Simply that your team is here. I will give them every assistance.”