Eden Burning (Fox Meridian Book 7)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘I can contact the UNTPP,’ Kit suggested. ‘They may have further details. That would mean that the crew was still alive when the ship hit the station, I would imagine. But why would they set up the collision and then try to avoid it?’

  Fox gave a shrug. ‘Ghost ships? Make the call to the UNTPP. Find out what the shuttle’s flight path was as well as whether the thrusters were fired. This case just gets stranger and stranger.’

  ~~~

  Casper Kadisan was a slim man, with hair trimmed into a slim, business-like cut, and a slim moustache set under a long, slim nose. He was not especially tall, but if you looked at him from a distance, you got the distinct impression he was taller, simply because that would somehow make him more to scale. His dark suit did nothing to eliminate the feeling Fox had that he should be running a funeral home.

  What Kadisan actually did was head up the countermemetics section of MarTech’s PR department. His job was countering memes designed to damage MarTech, but he was exceptionally good at identifying and analysing any memes which entered the cognitive ecosystem.

  ‘I’ve had people looking into your space crash, ghost ship memeplex since Kit requested it,’ Kadisan said, ‘and you’d be talking to their team leader if it wasn’t for some other requests which came through this morning.’

  ‘Mariel has you upping the priority because of the public-confidence issue?’ Fox asked.

  ‘Precisely.’

  They were in Kadisan’s office, about six hundred metres up the north side of tower one. From here, you could look out through the solar-screened window to Smithtown Bay, though there was some low cloud today and the view was not so clear. There were, in fact, indications of another storm on its way up from the Atlantic, though it had yet to receive the accolade of a name. Outside, it was hot and humid; inside, it was cool and carefully moderated to a comfortable working environment, though Fox was no longer really bothered about that kind of thing. Kadisan favoured a modern, glass-and-chrome look for his working environment, uncluttered by real interface technologies: everything, it seemed, was handled in the virtual world for Casper.

  ‘So, have you had much chance to examine the situation?’ Fox asked.

  ‘I’ve been over the work-in-progress reports and the current analysis. It’s enough to say that these vessels are not crashing due to a few memes.’

  ‘Definitely?’

  ‘The probabilities are meaningless. The chance that the memes have caused this many “accidents” is so small you’d be looking at quantum physics to justify it. Essentially, there are a few different memetic groups doing the rounds. The Eschaton one nine six meme is the baseline “the world is going to end” one. It sets the background. Then you have the additions. Ragnarok ninety-seven suggests that bioroids are somehow involved in this destruction, Anarchy three nine six was designed to support the private policing vote.’

  ‘That’s one I haven’t heard of yet.’

  Kadisan gave a small shrug. ‘We know it was spread by United Anarchy and, as I said, was designed to promote the idea that privatisation of policing would bring freedom. It was heavily directed toward sprawlers, pushing them to vote at all, never mind for the bill.’ Fox recalled the mass meetings they had found evidence for in the Jersey Sprawl and nodded. ‘However, it interacted with the Eschaton meme and helped to push the more violent actions we saw in this country. The Ragnarok variant, likewise, interacted to produce those who saw bioroids as the cause of mankind’s demise, or our saviours.’ He paused to sip coffee and gather his thoughts. ‘Ghost Ship seven is something else entirely. It goes back to earlier in the year and had largely petered out before it seems to have resurfaced as a reaction to the crashes. The interaction suggesting that these “ghost ships” are aliens from the comet appears to stem entirely from the leaked email after the first incident. The original meme appeared to suggest that United Anarchy had ships capable of attacking without being seen.’

  ‘Yeah… I don’t think I ever bought that. UA don’t have the right kind of organisation to build ships like that. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but… To be honest, I’m not sure UA is actually responsible for about half the things they’ve been credited with. I think other agencies use them as cover and, since UA cells tend to operate independently, none of them are able to say, “Hey! That wasn’t us!” Assuming they ever would.’

  ‘I’m not sufficiently versed in their structure to pass judgement. That’s more your purview. Suffice to say, though there has been suicidal behaviour caused by the extant apocalyptic ecology, I find it virtually impossible to believe that these memes could result in the crashes we have seen in the last few weeks.’

  ‘Good,’ Fox said, nodding. ‘That was pretty much the conclusion I’d come to, but you guys know how these things interact with each other and with people. Maybe I’d missed something.’

  ‘No. Uh, well, yes, but not about that. While we’re on the subject, a new, more complex meme has been tentatively identified as Eschaton one nine eight. We don’t have a full image of the payload yet, just a few of the vectors. It’s another end-of-the-world meme, obviously, and it has to do with Halley’s Comet. Beyond that, there have been intimations of a coming fight. It’s possible that the people you arrested in Saratoga–Ballston were some of the first afflicted by it. The material captured there fits the vector scheme. I’ll make sure you’re kept up to date with anything new which comes in about it.’

  ‘Thanks, Casper.’ Fox leaned back in her seat and stared out at the cloudy sky. ‘I feel like making some sort of “there’s a storm coming” comment.’

  Kadisan took another sip of coffee and followed Fox’s gaze. ‘Yes. I don’t believe it would be inappropriate.’

  13th August.

  There were few details out of Beijing when Fox got to her morning paper, but more was starting to come out as midday approached: there had been a fairly major disaster at China’s biggest spaceport.

  The first reports came through official channels and spoke only of a ‘terrorist incident’ and ‘heavy casualties.’ It had happened at midday, local time, which was midnight in New York, and people were assuming some sort of bombing. Almost twelve hours later, when Kit and Belle were updating Fox on the matter, there was more information from both official and unofficial sources.

  ‘The official death toll has risen to two hundred and seventeen,’ Belle stated. ‘That is expected to rise since many of the one hundred and ninety injured are in serious condition. Also officially confirmed is that flight SEB seventeen sixty-three crashed on landing, impacting the main departures facility at Beijing Spaceport a few seconds after midday China Standard Time.’

  ‘The Chinese government is still claiming that this was a terrorist incident,’ Kit said, ‘but there are increasing indications that it was another “accident.” An email has leaked from the Chinese internet purporting to be from one of the pilots to his mother and suggesting a link to the Eschaton one nine six meme.’

  ‘Several news channels are stating that the UNTPP has no comment to make, other than their sympathies for those who have lost loved ones in the incident. They are “investigating all such incidents utilising all available resources.”’

  ‘You made that almost sound sincere, Belle,’ Fox said. ‘You are really spending too much time around Kit.’

  ‘I don’t believe my cynicism over the phrasing is anything to do with Kit. I do spend significant time evaluating news reports from a wide range of sources. I believe anyone doing that job would rapidly develop a jaundiced view of official phraseology.’

  ‘You have a valid point. Anyway, while the Chinese scream about terrorists whenever anything bad happens, for once I think they’re right.’

  ‘But not United Anarchy,’ Kit said. ‘You said to Mister Kadisan that you did not think they had the coordination for this.’

  Fox nodded. ‘Unless they’ve got some new leader without anyone knowing, they–’

  ‘Pardon the interruption, Fox,’ Belle said, �
�but reports are coming through of some form of incident at Newark Spaceport.’

  ‘Palladium control in tower one is reporting a possible explosion from that direction,’ Kit added.

  ‘Great,’ Fox said, groaning. ‘I bet I know what that is. Okay… Kit, start up one of your murder rooms and start runs on everyone who we can verify was aboard any of these crashed ships. I know it’s a long shot and it’ll probably get us nowhere, but we should see if there really is any connection hidden away in there. Belle, call me a cab. I’m going to Newark.’

  ‘Fox,’ Belle said, ‘you are a cab. An autocab will be outside to pick you up in ten minutes.’

  Fox got to her feet and started for the bedroom to get changed. ‘You really have to stop spending so much time with Kit.’

  ~~~

  There was smoke rising over the spaceport, but the passenger terminal was still open. The departure board indicated a number of delayed flights, a couple of cancelled ones too. So, whatever had hit the place had not hit any of the terminals.

  As she walked through Terminal C, Fox pulled up a map of the area and checked where she thought the smoke had been coming from. At a guess, something had landed on the spacecraft parking area to the north of the runways.

  ‘That could result in a significant radiation hazard,’ Kit said, appearing beside Fox. The fact that someone immediately walked right through the avatar seemed to indicate that Kit was not broadcasting her data. ‘Most commercial shuttles utilise a thermal ram rocket engine with a fission reactor at the core. They also–’

  ‘Use hydrogen as reaction mass? This I know. I’m surprised they haven’t closed down the port. The main fire service building is up that way and may be damaged.’

  ‘There are reports of fire service deployments from a number of regions nearby.’

  ‘Hydrogen fires are no fun. Just ask the Hindenburg. If there’s a possibility of burning fissile material as well…’

  There was a security station on the ground floor of the terminal, tucked away in a corner where it did not trouble the passengers. It was manned by NAPA officers out of precinct 25 and Fox had, to her knowledge, never met anyone from that precinct. There were also a couple of UNTPP officers on hand in case of international issues and, as Fox walked toward the glass-fronted office, she could tell that there was some argument going on between the two groups. There were fingers pointing and the suggestion of raised voices, though the glass muted the sounds to incomprehensibility, but there was another clue that something was up: Belinda Bellingham was there, doing her best to look like a reasonable and diplomatic woman.

  The last time Fox had seen Bellingham, she was a lieutenant, one of three under Jason’s command at the New York office of the UNTPP. Since then, Jason had been promoted and, at Jason’s recommendation, Bellingham had also gone up a rank to take Jason’s place. She was a compact woman, about five foot six, but long in the leg and solidly muscled. Fox was not sure how long she had spent running a desk rather than a field operation, but she clearly kept herself in shape. She was pretty with a lean body, short-cropped blonde hair, and blue eyes which currently had all the warmth of an Antarctic glacier in them.

  Fox stopped outside the security room window and waited for Bellingham to look in that direction, perfectly willing to be patient. Various NAPA officers noticed her, but did and said nothing. When one of the two UNTPP people saw her, he turned and said something which had Bellingham looking around. She said something else to the man she had been arguing with and then stepped out of the room.

  Apparently due to a habit she had not yet broken, the blonde commander snapped off a salute as she stepped up to Fox. ‘Captain Meridian, nice to see you again. Can we be of some service?’

  Fox smiled. ‘I haven’t been a captain in a few years, Commander.’

  Bellingham shrugged and then managed a slight smile. ‘Old habits die hard. You, uh, you’re still seeing Captain Deveraux, right?’

  ‘Every chance I get. I was up on Prokhorov for his birthday at the end of May. We talk, but it’s not like being there. We’ve talked about these… unusual accidents.’

  ‘Yeah, we were briefed about them and when the initial reports came through on this I came down. NAPA are being a bit pissy about it. National security bullshit. Basically, an incoming shuttle decided to land on the parking area instead of the runway. It looks a lot like the incident in Beijing except that, thankfully, there are fewer casualties.’

  ‘But there are some.’

  ‘None confirmed, but we’ve got seven staff unaccounted for. We have some injured. Burns mostly. Some of those may not make it, but it’s really too early to be sure.’

  Fox nodded. ‘I’m going to assume that this shuttle lost communication at some point prior to it falling out of the sky.’

  ‘Dropped off active comms about midway through re-entry. But it didn’t fall out of the sky. It landed, just not where it was supposed to. From what we’ve got out of China, it was the same there. They’ve instituted a policy of shooting down anything in their airspace that doesn’t respond when challenged.’

  ‘That’s not going to result in any horrible accidents at all. Have to say, I’m not surprised Jason’s on this. The rumours coming out sound like someone covering up some form of terrorism. This smells like terrorism. Linked incidents, not random effects of memetic influence.’

  Bellingham nodded slowly. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your interest?’

  ‘You heard about the scavenger ship our biotech research station had to blast?’ Bellingham nodded. ‘That, and the recent sequence of incidents has put a crimp in company shares. MarTech has business in space, and someone is attacking the business of space.’ Fox glanced through the window, where she could see the NAPA guy in charge of the office going red around the gills the more the two women talked. ‘Let me see if I can help you with that guy. It’s in all our best interests to cooperate and I speak NAPA politico.’

  Bellingham shrugged and turned back to the door. ‘I’m certainly not going to say no.’

  ~~~

  Fox spotted the spook as soon as she walked out of the security office. It was the suit and the shades. He wasn’t high-ranking, because they could afford better suits and to update from last season’s high-collar designs, but he had the corporate image down securely. Mirrored shades inside the building, slate-grey suit with a white shirt and black tie. Short-cropped, carefully groomed blonde hair, handsome features with a rugged edge, strong nose with a Roman bridge that did not manage to make him look like an eagle. Of course, his eyes could have been any colour behind those shades. His suit failed to disguise the shape of the pistol he was carrying under his armpit.

  He stepped forward as Fox started for the exits. ‘Miss Meridian, could I have a word?’ He pulled his glasses off; blue eyes with tiny flecks of brown around the irises. ‘Senior Operative Blake Candler, NIX.’

  ‘Verified,’ Kit said inside Fox’s head and an identification panel opened in Fox’s sensorium, complete with unflattering ID photo.

  ‘What can I do for you, Senior Operative?’ Fox asked.

  ‘You’re investigating the incident here?’

  ‘I’m investigating a number of instances of… shall we say “unusual accidents” involving spacecraft. MarTech has a corporate interest and Palladium is MarTech Group’s security and investigation arm. I assume NIX is responsible for the national security lockdown NAPA is trying to work under.’

  Candler smiled. ‘You don’t trust NIX.’ He raised a hand. ‘Understandable, given your history and our reputation. The Chinese are convinced that this is a terrorist plot. They’ve specifically implicated United Anarchy. I’m allowed to say we don’t have the same level of conviction, but we’re determined to get to the bottom of this.’

  ‘Good to know.’ NIX operatives were not to be trusted. That was a given, but it was hard to believe that everyone in the organisation was actively corrupt. ‘Keeping the UNTPP out of things isn’t going to help. If there’s
some terrorist conspiracy, it extends well beyond North America.’

  A flicker of mild annoyance passed over Candler’s face before his eyes lowered. ‘Not my call.’ Either he was a good actor or he was not pleased about the decision either. He looked back up; he was an inch or so shorter than Fox but did not seem to let that bother him. ‘I’m here to request that you pass on anything useful you may come across. You have my contact details. Any time. We don’t get weekends off for good behaviour.’

  Fox’s lips pressed together. ‘If I get anything solid, I’ll let you know. I have a meeting.’

  ‘Sure,’ Candler said, nodding. She was starting away when he added, ‘I think it’s a shame your company has better relations with international policing than with your own national security organisation.’

  ‘MarTech is an international company, Special Operative Candler,’ Fox replied, ‘and the UNTPP has never tried to kill me.’

  ~~~

  ‘You believe NIX are involved in this?’ Ryan Jarvis was looking annoyed. Fox could not blame him: when NIX had a hand in something, it was not usually a good thing.

  ‘I believe,’ Fox replied, ‘that NIX is actually doing its job for once. It just happens to be doing it in an annoying, obstructive manner.’

  ‘They are treating this as a serious national security issue,’ Mariel Hoarsen said, nodding. The meeting, virtual of course, had an eclectic membership. Jarvis was there as the head of Palladium’s security division; Helen Dillan was there to catch up because she was Fox’s second in command; Hoarsen was there as CEO of MarTech Group; and Jackson Martins was there because he was interested.

  Kit was there, as much as anything, because she ran the investigations division just as much as Fox did, but she also had information and her own opinions. ‘The National Intelligence Executive appears to have issued an edict that any information uncovered regarding these incidents on American soil, so to speak, is to be considered confidential. The UNTPP are requesting a more cooperative attitude and a reason for the current one, citing the international, even interplanetary, nature of the situation. I believe they are reacting to the Chinese secrecy on the matter, but the Chinese are actually cooperating with the UNTPP.’