SKY CITY (The Pattern Universe Book 6)

by Tobias Roote

  He could see she was in an argumentative mood, and her look at him was positively venomous. He wondered what it was in him that got her so vexed.

  “So, that's it?.. that’s IT? she screamed, turning to the crowd who were mesmerised by her act of defiance. “Would you listen to this man? He has himself and his cronies all tucked up here nice and comfortable then turns around to us and says we’re alright - sod the rest of the world - Is this the kind of man who should be leading us all into a brave new world?”

  Turning back to him, she rushed on. “Why can’t we put more people on here? There is plenty of space. They can pitch tents on the land, we can build all of the necessary utilities. We could take another ten thousand people, and double your precious chance of reseeding humanity.” She turned to include her audience, some of whom were nodding approvingly. There were always the few who just didn’t get it, he thought. Despite the full-on explanation of the idea, concept and objectives explained in the prospectus, they never seemed to take it all in - as if they only saw one side of the page, and didn’t see the value of shifting their perspective so they could read the other.

  He had no time for all this, so decided to shut the woman up and get on with what he came down here to do.

  “Ms Alcott, if we do as you suggest, the food requirement will mean we will all starve in months, if not weeks. In addition, if we have to hide under the sea, a very real possibility, then air will become an issue. And what will we do with all of the extra waste, throw it overboard?” Mike was annoyed. He had thought this resolved weeks ago. Why was she still harping on about it.

  The woman scoffed at him arrogantly.“By that time the invaders will have gone, and it will be possible to land and get supplies, or if the conditions are safe enough, then people could leave and live off the land,” she responded defiantly, fully believing her own shortsighted opinion. The woman clearly wasn’t thinking things through. She was becoming more deranged every time they spoke. He considered calling security, but held off, deciding to give her one last chance.

  He thought about how to handle her. She was still missing the big picture. It was time to clarify that. She had been told many times, but for some reason whenever he was around, she reverted to thoughtless rants and making points that were irrelevant as if her intention was just to cause friction around him. Certainly, he was a favourite target of hers.

  Taking a more personal approach he tried again. “Jennifer, you believe this will be over in a few weeks, months?”

  “Well, yes! Of course it will - the last attack was over in a day!”

  He shook his head. “These Nubl destroy biological sentience wherever they find it. As this appears to represent total eradication of anything living, it can only be done if they sterilise the planet. The information we have is, that there will be nothing left, not a leaf, not a blade of grass, not a living thing, after the Nubl have visited a biological world. Nothing!”

  She snorted with glee thinking she had him. “That’s precisely my point, and means the people down there won’t survive at all unless we help them...”

  “Yes, that also MEANS there will be nothing left to feed any sized population with. Even the small population we have here could not survive down there, and the means with which they complete the eradication may linger for decades, perhaps hundreds of years. This ARK is designed to sustain us regardless of how long it takes.” He paused for a second before continuing to reinforce the message, not just to her but the nodders in the group behind her.

  “I thought you knew all this - did you not read all of the pre-scenarios before joining the group?” Mike asked her, already knowing she hadn’t, or was refusing to accept the facts, or this wouldn’t be a conversation they were still having.

  She shook her head. He thought she looked bemused at the sudden realisation that she had signed on for a cruise that might last... her whole lifetime.

  But no, she was still refusing to accept the facts. “This just isn’t right - you’re bullying and controlling us for your own ends... My father.....” She broke off and bit her lip, perhaps realising she was saying too much and stamped her foot, angry that she couldn’t seem to make him understand. While she was warring with her own demons, Mike took the opportunity to close the meeting down.

  He gestured for the Mayor to break up the grouping and turned back to her to make his final point.

  “Ms Alcott - I suggest you return to your quarters and re-familiarise yourself with the specifications of this ARK project - that’s an order. This is not a forty days and forty nights scenario, it’s likely forty years and probably longer, that’s even if we manage to survive the Nubl invasion over the next few days.” He walked away, dismissing her from his attention.

  He now faced the crowd that still hadn’t moved off.

  “You need to understand clearly that what’s happening out there is nothing compared to what still may come. If we had the means with which to provide long-term care for the people down there we would be doing something. This was always going to be what would set us apart from the rest of humanity. It IS absolutely necessary and not negotiable.

  There are other operations in place to help the people that remained on the surface. The government and military is taking care of those people. Our mission - and make no mistake - that’s what we have here, a mission, is to protect a seed bank of humanity and enough animals, or their DNA so we can reproduce them, to kick-start the return of civilisation at some point in the future - we don’t know how far out in time that will be.

  All the other ARKs around the world are similarly charged with an identical mission. You know all this - it was included in your briefings before you accepted your positions - don’t forget the ARK’s objectives. They outweigh anything you will see or hear on the vidcasts.

  Lastly, we’re in good shape, all of the supplies and equipment we ordered came in over the last few days and we are ready for a prolonged stay in the atmosphere. The Tower is currently taking us over the Pacific where we will locate the ARK at a point where, if we have to fully submerge we can do so without hitting the bottom.” He finished up. “You will be kept informed.”

  Mike looked around to see a lot of the crowd had settled, they had merely needed someone to reassure them that their guilt was unfounded. and that it was their mission to achieve what was intended. Ms Alcott had still not left to go to her quarters. He was going to have to get that matter resolved properly and decided to start now.

  He had one final word for the crowd. “Penny here will act as coordinator for any problems that arise while we adjust to the new set-up. We are no longer bound by the rules and regulations of Earth. As soon as we lifted off the planet we became an autonomous entity. ARK1 is now a fully independent nation. That’s the way it was designed to operate and that’s the way we will survive. Please, if any of you are in any doubt, re-read the prospectus. Everything is there and it’s not even in the small print section.” That was aimed pointedly at Ms Alcott who was now glaring at him again for some obscure reason.

  Mike took Penny’s arm and guided her into the cafe. The doors opened onto a typical American diner, intended as a means for people to relate their situations to the old ways back home. The place was run by Karl Byrne, an ex-marine sergeant, who had been a part of the Space Island security team and had actually been there when they took the Fortress, although by mutual agreement the information hadn’t been made known to the residents of ARK1.

  Karl smiled knowingly as they walked in. There were no other customers as they were all outside watching the vidscreen.

  “Gotta taste of our resident rebel, didya?” he smirked.

  “Uh! Yes, I guess we did, although I’m even surprised she is here at all with that attitude,” Mike responded.

  “I might just go see Dr Walters later and get the inside information on who she is and why she is here, I mean, besides to do her job,” Penny said, nudging him.

  “Talking of job, what is her position here? She doesn’t stri
ke me as one of the science types,” Mike asked.

  “She’s a security team leader on Day Watch,” Karl informed him.

  “Crap, let’s hope she doesn’t take up any serious issues and cause us problems in that area.” He turned to Penny, “When you go see the Doc, pop into the SecD, and ask Bob to grab me for a chat sometime soon. I would like to get the heads-up on anything brewing there, if I can.”

  Penny who was making mental notes while he spoke, nodded in affirmation.

  “If this woman’s going to be stirring up stuff, I want to know before it happens,” he muttered gruffly.

  “Karl, I’ll see you for a card game on Friday night as usual, OK?” Mike called out as they turned back to go outside.

  “Yes, so long as you remember to bring enough tokens to see you through to the end of your hand,” Karl ribbed him as he left, referring to a night when they had to call off the game because he had left his wallet behind. Their agreement was no credit and you played only to the limit of your stake.

  As they walked back to the AG, Mike called a friend of his for a favour.

  “Zack, pop up and see Karl and get the low-down on a Ms Alcott in Security, then find out more about her movements before she joined us.”

  He paused while Zack responded.

  “No, I don’t know why. I’m getting the feeling we might have a problem brewing, and I want to know the nature of the beast we’re dealing with,” Mike answered.

  “OK, thanks.” He signed off and shut the flip-top on his comms unit.

  “You really think we have a problem with her? I agree she’s a bit of a moaner, but she wasn’t looking to create a riot, or an uprising,” Penny asked.

  “It’s just a feeling I got, back there when she was looking at me. I think there is more to her than we know, and I don’t like surprises. It won’t do any harm to check her out,” he replied. He had new responsibilities since they cleared landfall and he recognised the change in mood, not just in the others, but himself. They were on their own and if they failed it was down to him. There was no way this project was going to be derailed by an individual with an issue. He honestly didn’t know why he judged her harshly, only that something in her look, or manner put him on edge.

  Putting her out of his mind, he swung the sled in the direction of the industrial cubes. He called them the cubes because that’s exactly how they were shaped. They could be selected in singles, two’s, or four’s to make bigger units and they all sank below the ground when they needed to protect them. They would be doing that soon enough, he thought as he slowed to a crawl past the bot construction unit. Looking inside he saw them looking through the inner window at the vidscreen watching the enemy conflagration on the ground. He moved on, not wishing to get into any more discussions.

  ***

  Mike wasn’t just out for a nose, he had a specific destination and they were headed there now. Five minutes later the AG came to rest outside a squat grey building on the outskirts of town. This was his headquarters, the Tower was just the cockpit of this vast hulk flying through the air. The building was fortified and sealed from the outer atmosphere with an airlock, self-contained and full of equipment that was powered separately from the rest of the complex.

  Johann was the only other person, besides those who actually worked in here, that could gain access and very few could do so from this unit above ground, the other staff all came in via a secret magtrain they called the ‘rep-loop’ that fed underneath the town.

  Placing his finger in the hole built into the door plate, a scanner took his bio-signature and compared it to the database. At the same time he put in his fourteen digit code. Judging him to be alive and not under duress, the door clicked once, sliding open to reveal a room with a lift capable of holding three to four people. Entering it they both turned as the door closed. There were no controls and no sense of speed as the elevator took them down to the centre of the globe, a good kilometre deep.

  The door opened silently onto a main concourse, the diamond-webbed, mezzanine steel floor ran across to a set of railings that looked down on a control room larger than the one in the tower. They called this the ‘Hub’ because that’s what it was. It controlled all of the satellite ARKs and provided intel from wherever they all were into a central computer, which in turn was hitched to the AI they called ‘The Curator’.

  The decision to build the ARKs was Frank Garner’s, the Space Island president. He had recognised early on that the Earth was at serious risk, if not from the Nubl, then from other marauding alien races that he read about in the logs of the tiny escape ship the alien, Zirkos, had arrived on. He had the foresight to discuss the issue with Osbourne, Callaghan and Pod, the funny little alien AI that followed Callaghan around everywhere. The plans from Ferris' failed takeover that were recovered from the Fortress archives were perfectly suited to the task.

  The result was they brought Mike in to oversee the ARK project, and so began a major clandestine operation to find twenty sites of equal importance with sufficient stability in the strata beneath to handle being uplifted inside a permanent forcefield. Once located, the job of designing everything from beneath the ground up fell on Osbourne with a few nudges from Pod, which seemed to know everything that needed to be done.

  At times Mike felt that Pod could have built the whole project on its own. It was only much, much later, when Zeke Callaghan had taken him up to Alpha Station and shown him the size and complexity of Earth’s first defence platform, and admitted it had been built exclusively by the tiny AI coccooned in the small ship’s escape pod, he realised he was right. If Mike had any doubt of the value of Pod’s involvement up to then, he didn’t thereafter.

  The room was a buzz of activity. There were curved screens on the walls as well as a more sophisticated holographic representation of the world globe in the centre showing local space, the asteroids and little green dots moving around indicating friendly craft. The large one in the asteroid belt was Alpha Station. The worrying sight was the mass of red dots. It was almost like a sea, or a spilt tin of red paint tipping down the wall towards Earth. Advance fleets of red speared directly through Earth’s defences and headed for strategic locations intending to reduce the effectiveness from the outset. They had lifted off not a moment too soon. Had the enemy gained pre-knowledge of their locations, then they would all be targets. In the air, cloaked and shielded, the ARKs stood a very good chance of evading detection.

  At their stations were his bridge team for space operations. He was their captain and Schroeder was his first officer. It was agreed that once in space the Tower would be run by a skeleton staff monitoring the shields and the AG pylons that were built into the sixteen pillars. Nobody from there would know about this bridge and in the event of an attack, all enemies would immediately aim for the Tower thinking it was the control centre. The team up there had an escape tube to use, if required, which took them into the depths of the complex, and safety.

  “Captain?” Penny, handed him a comms earpiece which only worked in here. He plugged it in slipping out the Tower one out and letting it hang off his collar. “I’m off through the rep-loop. I have the final release paperwork to finish - I’ll catch up with you later,” she smiled as she walked off to the exit. As he watched her trim figure disappear he thought to himself ‘perhaps, in another world - maybe’.

  He was brought back to the present sharply with the voice in his ear.

  “Ah! Captain, you’re connected at last. Welcome to the Hub,” said the AI. “We are just entering operational phase and all consoles are on-line.”

  “Put me on fleet broadcast to all ARKs,” Mike instructed the AI.

  “You are connected, captain. All ARKs except ARK4 are operational and awaiting your orders.”

  “Gentlemen and ladies, officers and crew.” At his announcement the crew all stopped what they were doing and paid attention while maintaining a discreet watch on their stations. He wasn’t addressing them, but they were automatically included when the ca
ptain spoke publicly. Mike knew the other crews would be hearing him as well. Johann would be piped in by the AI automatically as part of the bridge team.

  “We are at a point where we soon have to make the choices that were placed with us at the beginning of this mission, before we even began building the ARKs.

  It was always intended to split the habitats into new colony bio-spheres and retro-colony habitats. All of you signed up for both, or either and each of you has an important job ahead of you to ensure humanity’s survival.” Mike paused to look at his crew to see how well they were holding up. It was time, and they, like him, could feel the flutter in their stomachs of the unknown pulling at them.

  “Unfortunately, we believe that we lost our friend Rob Pinner today, he was captain of ARK4, we will miss him and all of of his crew as well as the ten thousand VIPs they were carrying in their habitation modules.

  We intend to carry a service for them later today when we know more of what has befallen their habitat.

  Unfortunately, this leaves us one bio-sphere short for the retro-colony mission, so I’m inviting those crews that have a preference to speak to their captains, whose final choice it will remain, and a decision will be made later today as to which of the ARKs will stay, and which will go.

  Whoever stays can be assured they will be required to hide in space until the war with the Nubl is over and until it is safe to return to Earth. We have initial information from the scientists at Space Island and have been advised that the form of eradication being applied by the Nubl will turn the surface of Earth into a glassy wilderness. Whoever stays will have to survive in air, or space for a considerable time while the scientists work out methods of breaking up the ground to support vegetation.” He paused, letting it sink in.