by Elliott Kay
“Hey, Gina! Antonio!” a voice called. Naomi walked over from a waiting area nearby. Nobody else from the class was there. “Are you done? Is everything okay?”
“Soon as we grab our stuff, we’re good to go,” said Gina.
“Where is everyone else?” asked Antonio. “They said we were the last.”
“We’ve all been out for a couple hours. Vandenberg took the others to pick up our wheels and load our gear from the ship. He figured the best thing to do was to get everyone moving and working. They took off in the rovers and one of our haulers a little while ago. I’ve got the other hauler parked nearby to take us out to the campsite.”
“How is everyone? You seem okay,” said Tanner.
“Putting my mind on work seems to help. A little.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. The last person who’s gonna give you any grief over this mess is me.”
“Okay, I’ve got your holocoms,” the clerk said as he returned to the window. “One standard K-series wristwatch style, along with a multitool, medication, and a pen; one Lai Wa Model Nine sports model, and one fancy earring job.” He slid them under the gap in the window.
All three claimants opened up menu screens on their holocoms as soon as they had them in hand. Tanner’s first thought was to check his certified cash balance to make sure nothing had been lifted. Thankfully, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
It was Gina who found problems. “Hey, what happened to my security programs?” she asked. “I had a KC-X File Shield on here and it’s gone. You guys hacked my holocom and deleted programs?”
“Aw, shit,” Tanner muttered, promptly keying up his own settings. Antonio and Naomi did the same.
“That program is illegal on Minos,” said the clerk. “Everyone arrested on Minos gets their holocom scanned. It’s not a hack, it’s a check for contraband software. If we can’t get into the holocom without bypassing security, there’s a problem.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? We weren’t under arrest! We were only held for questioning!”
“Oh, really? Gosh. Our mistake.” The smirk on the man’s face was anything but apologetic.
“What’s illegal about her file shield? Or my stuff?” asked Tanner. “Lemme guess, it wasn’t made by a Minos Enterprises subsidiary?”
“Nah, you can get security programs from other vendors. As long as they fall under an approved list. You can find that on our planetary net.”
“While you were taking stuff off my holocom, did you put anything on there?” asked Gina.
“Sorry, we don’t do freebies. If you want to file a complaint, you’ll have to route it to another desk. That’s not my job.”
“I paid a lot of money for that file shield, asshole.”
“Yeah? What did you have to hide?”
She answered with her middle finger before storming off. The others followed. It wasn’t as if arguing with the clerk would get them anywhere.
“We’re taking the second hauler out to the campsite,” explained Naomi. “Nobody else wanted to hang around waiting, so it made sense for everyone else to take the other hauler and the two rovers. I’ve got it parked in a garage a few blocks away. Didn’t want to pay the fee for the police garage after the way they treated us.”
“Hopefully nothing was stolen out of the hauler—by the cops,” grumbled Tanner. He kept his eyes open as they walked, both to take in their surroundings and to watch for interested parties. After all this, the idea of being followed didn’t seem far-fetched.
Gina swiped through holocom icons. “If these fuckers loaded up a spy program, it’s probably gonna subvert the scanning tools so my holocom completely ignores it. I’m gonna wind up doing all this manually. Damn it.”
“I didn’t know you had those kinds of skills,” said Naomi.
“I’m not a programmer or anything. Picked up a few tricks here and there,” said Gina. “This might not be the worst planet I’ve been to, but it’s already in the running. I’m only wondering if they’ve set our holocoms to send regular copies of all files. Or if they’re set to eavesdrop on us right now.”
“It’s not like we can trust any holocom we can buy here on Minos, either,” muttered Tanner. “Not with the bullshit restrictions they have in place on software.”
The parking structure stood several stories high, built from dark grey slabs of solid stone easily found all over Minos. A great many other buildings in the area bore the same façade and the same style. Glass, steel, and other common materials made their mark, but the planet’s geology provided plenty of ready-to-build stone. This was only the well-developed corridor between the spaceport and the corporate core, but so far the predominance of dark masonry was the only difference from any other city.
They came to the hauler parked not far from the garage entrance. Its sturdy front cab had enough room to comfortably seat four, with an open cargo bed stretching back along six self-repairing wheels that came up to Tanner’s shoulders. Equipment and supplies brought all the way out from Fremantle filled the cargo bed, covered by a collapsible hard-shell canopy that could be adjusted to size.
“Anybody feel like driving?” asked Naomi. “It’s a couple hours out to the dig site from here.”
“I should finish checking my holocom first,” said Gina. “Anything they did to mine, they probably did to somebody else’s. Or everybody else’s.”
“I’ll drive if we can stop somewhere for food and a bathroom break,” said Tanner.
Gina looked up. “Hey, didn’t I hear a story about you crashing a tank into a school?”
“Okay, that was deliberate,” Tanner countered.
“And something about a lifeboat? Don’t those things run on autopilot?”
Tanner sighed. “This thing has wheels! It rolls on the ground! I’ll be fine.”
“I can drive,” said Antonio.
“You sure?” Tanner asked, trying not to sound too concerned.
“Yeah. Don’t worry,” Antonio muttered. “I haven’t had much to say. I’ll be fine.”
Tanner shared a look with Naomi, and a shrug. “Let me take a look at the cargo bed before we go. I wanna make sure everything looks okay. Can you hit the button?” He rounded the back end of the hauler, listening for the beep that signaled access to the canopy fasteners. Though he wasn’t there for the load-up and didn’t know what was supposed to be on this hauler, he figured he would at least know a broken lock if he saw one.
He didn’t expect to see someone standing nearby. The tall Asian man kept his hands out in the open, approaching with a friendly smile. “Excuse me. Are you Tanner Malone?”
Aw shit, Tanner grumbled silently. “Yes.”
“Sorry to approach you like this. I didn’t know when or if I’d have another opportunity. I’m Chen.” He held out his hand.
Tanner accepted the handshake, though he half expected anything from a slipped secret note to some crazy contact poison. “Nice to meet you,” he said reflexively, then regretted it. He didn’t know if it was nice to meet this guy at all. It was a polite thing to say, but it wasn’t exactly honest. Maybe this was a good guy. Maybe he was a random person who recognized Tanner from the news. Or maybe it was something worse.
“I wonder if we might talk. You’re here with a university group, as I understand it? Is that all that brings you here?”
“That’s all that brings me here, yeah. Archaeology trip. We’re gonna go dig in the dirt for a while and go home again.”
“You’ll be here for a few months, then? That should be long enough to get a feel for Minos. Maybe an understanding of what’s going on here. I’m sure you’ve already seen and heard enough to get a first impression. What do you think so far?”
Tanner knew it wasn’t an innocent question. It’s something worse. Of course it’s worse. “I’m here for the past. Buried things. Not current events. Sorry. Listen, I don’t want to be rude, but I’ve got work to do.”
“The past isn’t starving or bleeding, M
r. Malone,” said Chen. “That’s the present.”
“Okay,” Tanner sighed. “Now I’m fine with being rude.”
“As I said, I’m sorry for the approach—”
“Your ‘approach’ is five blocks from the police headquarters, right after we got interrogated for four hours over a clear-cut case of self-defense. Oh, and my holocom is probably bugged and relaying every word of this back to the police, so there’s that, too. Either you’re a cop looking to entrap me or you’re actually one of the local insurgents. Both of these end with you going home disappointed. I’m not interested.”
“I’m not a spy or a security agent. I’m not an undercover cop. And you don’t have to worry about being tailed or surveilled here. I wouldn’t have made contact like this if I couldn’t assure a little privacy.
“People are suffering here, Mr. Malone. People are dying. They’re being crushed under the same sort of corporate machine that did so much harm to your home planet. You don’t have any time for their plight? Are you truly indifferent?”
Chen plainly didn’t believe that. Tanner still didn’t appreciate the guilt trip. “You’re talking about an insurgency I don’t understand. One that I can’t understand. I just blew into town and I’m already on my way out.”
“We could explain it. That’s all I want to do. A little of your time.”
“With the hopes that I’ll give more than that time when it’s over, right? Sorry, but you’ve got the wrong guy.”
“You’re a hero. You’re a leader.”
“Oh, I am absolutely not that,” Tanner laughed.
“You know right from wrong.”
“Sure. Minos Enterprises is fucked up. But your insurgency is probably fucked up, too, in ways I don’t know about. I don’t want to be part of any of this. I fought one war already, buddy. There’s always gonna be another. Even if it’s a good cause, there’s always gonna be another war, whether I fight it or not. Count me out.”
“This isn’t going to go away, Mr. Malone. You’re going to see it as long as you’re here.”
“Really? Out in the desert with my head in the sand?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Tanner?” Naomi came around the other side of the hauler. “Who’s this?”
“He’s looking for directions,” said Tanner. “The exit is that way, sir. Sorry I can’t help.”
“So am I, Mr. Malone. I hope you’ll change your mind once you’ve had a chance to consider your surroundings.” Chen nodded to Naomi before stepping away. “I’m sorry for the interruption, Miss.”
Tanner watched him go. He watched for other movement, too: vehicles, people, shadows. Anything that might reveal Chen’s back-up. Nothing suspicious crossed his view.
“Okay, what was that about?” asked Naomi. “Can I get a straight answer this time?”
“He wanted to talk about exactly the kind of trouble we don’t need,” said Tanner. “I told him I’ve already got a job.”
“Good. I don’t know if I can replace you.”
* * *
They drove through roads across dark grey sands and even darker rocks exposed by desert winds. He’d grown up in a desert climate, living out his childhood in a city surrounded by long stretches of scrub plants and brown dust. Life in the city of Geronimo involved desert survival lessons from an early age and occasional sandstorms that blanketed the city. Here he saw a harsher desert with little or no plant life. The only breaks between the hauler and the horizon came from the rise of dunes and whatever rocks had been laid bare over time.
Even the roads were thoroughly dusted with ash. Only the regular sweep of aerial drones with powerful rotors along the highway kept the pavement clear enough for passage. The hauler was fitted with filters and self-cleaning systems for such an environment, but Tanner wondered how often he and the others would need protection while outdoors here.
They left the road with almost an hour until their destination. The terrain allowed the hauler to reveal its real capabilities, handling deep sands without difficulty. For the rest of their journey, everything looked much the same until they saw the other vehicles parked at the crest of a gentle rise.
“Doesn’t look like any of the shelters are up,” said Gina. Given her concerns for her holocom, it was the first thing she’d said in some time.
“Nope,” said Naomi. “That’s either a good sign or a bad one. Guess we’re about to find out.” She called up a communications link. “Professor, we’re here. Where are you?”
“Excellent. We’re down in the canyon,” came Vandenberg’s voice. “You’ll have to walk. The rovers might make it down but getting up again would be a challenge. We have a safe walking path marked out.”
It wasn’t until they pulled up beside the other vehicles that they could see the canyon. The rise ended in an overhanging cliff, partially concealing the steep drop. A handful of thick, rocky spires reached up from the canyon floor. Further ahead, across the canyon, the dunes rose steadily up toward the mountains in the distance. Those mountains provided the source of the canyon’s depth: an underground river that sprang up here in a sheltered oasis.
The bottom of the canyon presented a markedly different scene from the dry, barren landscape above it. Where the desert had stubbornly resisted the soil treatments and seed bombardments of earlier terraforming, the canyon oasis held a lush spread of greenery. Tall grass stood out from the shallower edges of the streams. Ferns and tiny trees dotted the shores.
The notes from Vandenberg’s last visit to the site spoke only of limited plant growth. He had only stumbled on this site at the end of the previous expedition. As he’d hoped, plant growth had spread in the last three years. After the long and dreary drive across grey wastes, the canyon oasis seemed almost a match for the coastal paradises of Fremantle.
Marker poles with blinking lights guided the newcomers onto a path along the edges of the canyon down toward the bottom. Vandenberg’s evaluation of bringing the vehicles down made sense.
Tanner remembered the big secrets Naomi had shared back on Fremantle that prompted him to come all the way out here. For all they knew, this path was deliberately carved out long ago, with five centuries or more of erosion to give it a deceptively natural look.
Settling at the base of the canyon had been the optimal hope for the expedition, though by no means a certainty. It was only the sight of their classmates sorting out gear and finishing up with the shelters that confirmed they’d be staying here. Ultra-light panels and adjustable frames provided sturdier shelters than tents.
“Glad you could join us,” Professor Vandenberg called. He gestured to the channel of water separating them. “The water is never more than hip-deep, but there are rocks you can walk across over here. Step carefully. Nigel, bring everyone over here, would you? Let’s have a little team meeting now that we’re all here.”
Students finished up their work and gathered around. Tanner took in the view from the bottom of the canyon, spotting more than one possible pathway up. More curious was the great pile of dirt and rubble that covered the far end of the canyon oasis. He thought it might be three stories tall. Looking up along the wall and the ridge above, he figured it must have been the result of some landslide.
“The site is in better condition than I could have hoped,” he heard Vandenberg say to Naomi. The professor kept his voice low, caught in a tension between confidentiality and excitement. “There’s no sign of anyone coming through. I think this place is untouched. Three years of biting my nails and we’re finally here.”
“Hopefully this place lives up to your expectations,” said Naomi.
“How did things go with the police?” he asked, letting his voice rise to a more natural level.
“Well, everybody was cut loose, obviously. But it could’ve gone better. We noticed a few, uh…complications.”
As she spoke, the rest of the class turned up for the impromptu meeting. Tanner made a quick headcount, accounting for almost everyone before he realized
he’d picked this habit up during the war. It wasn’t something he’d done since leaving the Navy. Reflexes and behaviors for dealing with stress and danger were apparently only a stray thought away.
His classmates were quick to touch base with Naomi and Gina, but most of all with Antonio. Olivia, Emma, and Jishen threw successive hugs around him. Where Antonio had barely said anything around Tanner since the fight, he seemed to open up a little to them. Tanner watched with some relief. The silence since the fight was understandable, but at least he was talking to somebody.
“We had a rough arrival, but we’re here now,” said Professor Vandenberg. “I know things got frightening and stressful there at the end, but we’re here, we’re all together and we’re okay. Other than our arrival, we had a safe and productive voyage. Now we can do what we came to do. You’ve all done a marvelous job of getting us set up. If we focus on our work and keep looking forward, we’ll put this morning behind us before we know it.”
“So, to recap so we’re all on the same page: we’ve done a cursory survey of our campsite here on this shore. This is mostly bedrock and we’ve walked the area to make sure we aren’t walking or building over anything important. As soon as we finish setting up, we’ll conduct a thorough landscape survey to see what we might find close to the surface. We still have plenty to unload first. Any questions?”
“Naomi?” Gina spoke up. She didn’t need to say the rest. A simple look conveyed it.
“Yeah. Professor, there’s something you and everyone should hear,” said Naomi. “Gina made a discovery after they released us from police headquarters. The police stripped her data security programs from her holocom. We all had to hand over our holocoms during the first ‘interview’ when we landed, so they probably did it to everyone. The only explanation they gave was that Gina’s program was illegal here. Apparently there’s a list of approved file shields and such, but you have to buy them here. There’s no telling what that means.”
Her story drew immediate reactions. Some students looked on with shocked faces. Others promptly keyed up their personal menu screens.