Provenance I - Flee The Bonds

by V J Kavanagh

  ‘No.’

  Steve arched his eyebrows, ‘Try again.’

  ‘I promised.’

  ‘Not possible. Come on, Alex, time’s running out.’

  ‘They’re your parents. I was their assistant.’

  ‘Do you have the correction algorithm?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But they did program you didn’t they?’

  Alex lowered his head. ‘They gave me a special HPU.’

  ‘What’s special about it?’

  ‘It has a biofield lock. It can only be removed by you.’

  ‘And the dolphin?’

  Alex looked up. ‘I don’t know, your parents said you’d know what to do.’

  Steve inhaled deeply, ‘Did they say anything else?’

  ‘Only that they didn’t want you to look for them. I’m sorry.’

  ‘That’s okay. I haven’t seen them for years.’

  ‘What happened?’

  For the first time in his life, Steve opened the locker willingly. ‘I’m a twin, was a twin. There was an accident and my brother, Matt, died. I joined the Academy and mum and dad went to Provenance. I never saw them again.’

  ‘Didn’t you try to contact them?’

  ‘Lots of times. I gave up eventually.’

  Steve pointed at Alex’s chest. ‘That dolphin is one of an interlocking pair Matt and I were given at our Christening. I thought Matt’s had been buried with him. They’ve an inimitable laser cut, resonance frequency and composition. They will only ever match each other.’ In case of eavesdroppers, he decided not to mention their other attribute, the one that made them ideally suited to their task. ‘I think you do have the correction algorithm, you just don’t know it.’

  ‘I’m not really an SIS agent, am I?’

  Steve returned the transducer to his thigh pocket. ‘Not anymore.’

  Dee stirred. ‘Are we going up or down?’

  Steve shifted right. He’d removed a metal fragment from Dee’s left calf and administered two litres of crystalloid and a large dose of happiness. ‘Up. How’re you feeling?’

  Dee rolled his shoulders and bounced his knees, ‘Great.’ He raised an eyebrow, ‘Better than I should be.’

  ‘I wanted to leave you behind, but Francois ordered otherwise.’ Steve leant in, ‘Just make sure you’re standing next to him when it wears off.’

  Dee raised his head and looked around. ‘Guess we ain’t making a social call.’

  ‘The Council have requested a protection force. We’ve been assigned to the bridge deck.’

  ‘Why? It’s full of AHs and SIS.’

  Steve lowered his voice. ‘Francois’s going to attack it.’

  Dee rubbed his face with both hands. ‘Are we fighting the Resistance or SIS?’

  ‘SIS. They intend to use this so-called protection force to take control of Provenance. They probably also know that Francois has the same idea. If he does manage to take the bridge, we’ll take him and shut down the AHs. CONSEC will take care of the rest. However, before all that, I need to find Penny.’

  Dee turned in his seat. ‘What’s she doing up here?’

  ‘Kacee poisoned her.’ Steve ignored Dee’s flared nostrils; culpability lay with whoever issued the order. ‘SIS and Francois both need what’s inside Alex’s head and Penny’s the key to unlocking it. If this attack fails, and it probably will, I need a plan B.’

  Dee blew out. ‘Just point me in the right direction.’

  Steve tapped his MCD and made the connection to Admiral Smithson.

  ‘Hello, Steve. Problems?’

  ‘Not yet, sir. Can INC reinitialise the Marionette directive?’

  ‘They can, but I’m not sure it’s going to work. We had the same idea, until SIS broke the uplink.’

  ‘I think I can open a gateway into Provenance and re-establish it.’

  Admiral Smithson scratched his chin. ‘Okay. I’ll let you know when we’ve opened the channel. Smithson out.’

  Dee gripped Steve’s arm, his face etched with emotion. ‘I’m sorry, Steve, I got it all wrong. Everything.’

  Steve glanced at Alex’s affable expression before replying. ‘You didn’t get your priorities wrong.’

  They rocked forward. Clunks resounding through the cabin signified their arrival.

  01:48 SUN 05:11:2119

  Bureau 00-00-00, Provenance, LEO

  Kacee wanted to look away, but she could not, dare not. Fear of being exposed locked her gaze.

  The Interrogator’s stiff black and red uniform circled the nurse’s crumpled green one. ‘Where is the woman named Penny?’ His baleful tone lingered in the windowless room’s antiseptic air; a stifling, claustrophobic room, tiled in gleaming white.

  Ensign Nurse Dobriana Annissiara stared unblinkingly; she had no choice. The overhead lamp’s cruel beam glinted on her eye clamps, less so on the surgical chair they’d strapped her to. She was in the grip of SIS’s talons, helpless and alone.

  His voice softened, ‘We have located your parents. They send their regards from Servyansk.’

  Dobriana’s body quivered, tears rolled down puffy cheeks. Her round face was a testament to her Ural heritage, its paleness to her impending torment.

  The Interrogator stopped and leant in. ‘Where is she?’

  Dobriana sniffed in response.

  ‘You will regret that.’ He stepped sideways and reached out. A metal trolley left the darkened corner and jangled into the spotlight.

  Dobriana’s bloodshot eyes panicked, her neck straining against the plastic strap gouging her glistening forehead.

  Kacee inhaled deeply and stepped into the light, ‘Enough. You’ve failed.’

  The Interrogator’s snarl lashed out, ‘You are here to evaluate her answers. Not to interfere!’

  ‘You’re an artificial, so I guess that makes you an expert in female psychology.’ Kacee’s heart pounded beneath her purple tunic.

  The brittle polymer face cracked along the eyes. ‘They all talk in time.’

  ‘Yeah well, time is the one thing we haven’t got. Leave us.’

  His face twisted, ‘Be careful—’ A female voice sliced through the hostility, ‘You have three minutes, Lieutenant Merblayn.’

  The Interrogator bared his teeth and stormed out.

  Kacee looked down. Dobriana’s baby-blue irises stared from bulging globes of red streaked ivory. Human eyes fascinated the soulless AHs. Kacee removed the eye clamps and head restraint, set them on the trolley and pushed it into the corner.

  Dobriana blinked, her eyelids lost in swollen mounds of shiny raw pink. Kacee reached out and stroked matted hair from the strap-marked forehead. She’d received three requests to find Penny, only Steve’s offered nothing in return.

  She took hold of Dobriana’s clammy hand and leaned in close enough to smell sweaty cherry blossom. ‘We’re going to take Penny to Alex’s room. Just nod.’ Dobriana did as asked.

  Kacee unfastened the straps. ‘Nurse Annissiara has agreed to take me to the target. I’ve told her if she does this, her parents won’t be harmed.’

  The shadowy corners spoke. ‘Agreed.’ Kacee lowered her head, her compressed lips forming an optimistic smile to cover the lie. She suspected Dobriana’s parents were already dead. There was one surety with SIS. Retribution was total.

  ‘We will send an escort.’

  Kacee peered up into the corner. ‘No need. Nurse Annissiara can barely see and the target is going to be woken from cryostasis. I can manage.’

  ‘We will send an escort.’

  * * * *

  Kacee hooked her arm into Dobriana's and stepped from the deck-car into the dingy coolness of Depot 33. Two Defenders followed them to Rack 01.

  The Monitoring Unit beeped and the cryotube shimmered into life, its stark light exposing the jaundiced hue of Penny’s pale skin.

  Kacee turned to the Defenders. ‘Help me.’

  It took several minut
es to clothe the shivering Penny in an orange revival suit. Kacee ignored her stare. Wide-eyed bewilderment had given way to narrow-eyed suspicion.

  ‘I know you. Where am I?’

  Kacee fastened Penny’s collar. ‘We’re here to help you.’

  The taller Defender stepped back and drew his pistol. ‘Let’s go, Command are waiting.’

  Kacee straightened. ‘She needs medical attention first.’

  ‘Our orders are to take her directly to SIS Command — someone will be along to take care of you two.’ He stepped towards Penny.

  The shorter Defender’s pistol sliced down, catching the taller Defender behind the ear. He fell against a cryotube and slid down into a heap. His assailant holstered. ‘We’d better get going.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Not SIS. I was asked by a mutual friend to help you.’

  They bundled the unconscious Defender into the vacant cryotube and headed for the deck-car. By the time they’d reached it, Kacee had persuaded the Defender to exit by another route. Otherwise, she’d have had no choice but to neutralise him. Her faith in humanity had died long before her parents.

  He pressed the deck-car call button and turned around. ‘Are you sure you can manage?’

  Kacee had her arm around Penny, as did the surprisingly resilient Dobriana. ‘We’ll be fine, and thanks for . . .’ A vertical slit of light expanded to a doorway and a figural shadow fell upon the Defender. Kacee’s eyes widened. The Defender spun to face the deck-car, his right hand across his body searching for the pistol grip. The man in the deck-car retracted his fist.

  Kacee let go of Penny and stepped forward, her head snapping left under the warm vomit like spray. The headless Defender collapsed to the floor, a cardinal red spurt accompanied each spasmodic twitch.

  Through cloying splatter, Kacee blinked at the man immersed in the deck-car’s ghostly light; his tilted head seemingly mesmerised by his glistening red fist.

  ‘Go!’

  Behind her, the squeaking footfalls receded. Kacee flexed her arms, her readiness focused on the man’s nanocrystalline eyes.

  02:59 SUN 05:11:2119

  Corridor 15-04-02, Provenance, LEO

  Only SIS stood between Francois and control of Provenance. The assault through Core Command to the bridge would be the most difficult, the most dangerous. Someone had to lead it, someone who SIS would not want to harm.

  He raised his left wrist. ‘Steve, where are you?’

  ‘Where are you?’

  Francois glared at the blank MPS screen; Steve had masked his biofield again. ‘I am on deck fifteen, section four. That is where you should be.’

  ‘Sorry Francois, I misunderstood.’

  ‘I will meet with you on deck seven, maintenance section five. Be careful, Command report the Resistance are aboard.’

  ‘I know. I’ll see you up there.’

  Francois dialled the MPS selector. ‘Bring them to maintenance, deck seven, section five.’ He knew Steve’s location, because Morton had been tracking them. Francois could not take command without Steve and Alex. The trigger and the carrier.

  He nodded at the artificial standing by the sealed doorway. With a swish, the moulded white doors slid back to reveal another empty beige corridor. Francois stood and waved forward.

  As the protector suits filed past, Francois’s eyes narrowed on a large man held against the wall by a much slender man.

  He barged through the line of soldiers and stormed towards the confrontation.

  His gaze fell to the holster under the slender man’s left arm. It held a Cogent. ‘What is the problem?’

  The Advocate’s glare remained fixed on the larger man. ‘First Sergeant Nik Gorniak, sir. This idiot is wandering around with his safety off.’

  ‘Why are you here, First Sergeant? Advocates have been ordered to stay in the arrival hall and wait for orders.’

  Francois received a sharp sideways stare. ‘I’m looking for Steve Arrowsbury. I heard he was up here.’

  ‘Captain Arrowsbury is not here. Why do you want to see him?’

  Gorniak released his grip and stepped back. ‘I’ve a message from Admiral Smithson.’

  ‘Tell me. I will give it to him.’

  ‘Can’t do that, sir. It’s F-To-F.’

  ‘Captain Arrowsbury is on deck fifteen. I do not know his precise location.’

  ‘Thanks, I’ll find him.’

  Gorniak’s head swung back to the taller man. ‘What’s your CID?’

  Francois ignored his soldier’s pleading eyes, ‘This is my command, First Sergeant.’

  Gorniak made piercing eye contact. ‘Rumour has it; the Resistance have infiltrated CONSEC. One way to tell them apart is they don’t have valid CIDs.’ His glare shifted back up to the red-faced soldier clamped to the wall. ‘The other, is they don’t know how to carry a weapon properly.’

  Francois smiled. ‘I guarantee that this man is under my command.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘You have a message to deliver, yes?’

  Gorniak turned and walked away. ‘Don’t blame me if you get shot in the back.’

  Francois watched the Advocate disappear around the corner before glaring up. ‘Go to the front.’ He lifted his MPS. ‘Four-nine-three come to me.’

  When the artificial arrived, Francois leaned in and extended his thumb. ‘Follow that Advocate, and at the first opportune moment confine him to a secure location.’

  Francois had tried to coerce Admiral Smithson. Perhaps he had tried too hard.

  * * * *

  The expansive maintenance deck in section five swallowed their footfalls. A wasteland of polished metal gleamed under a stadium of lights. Francois’s nose twitched; the citrus taint of hyperlonic fuel spiked the tranquil air.

  Yellow lines on the floor fanned out to the eight gigantic maintenance bays, their colossal numbered entrances sealed by one-metre thick blast doors. Above each one, a curved observation platform projected out like an enormous glass croissant.

  Francois’s perusal halted at the door of bay 03. Behind it waited Cargo Vessel 05, and in segment three, his cheval de Troie. His Garde Impériale of two hundred AH-74s. They would obey only him, they had to. He had programmed them personally.

  03:31 SUN 05:11:2119

  Cryostasis Depot 17-11-33, Provenance, LEO

  Cogent at the ready, Steve stepped out of the deck-car into the euthanasic solemnity of Depot 33. Tucking into the shade of the bulkhead, he led Dee towards the rotating red light.

  ‘Just one rack?’

  Steve matched Dee’s hushed voice. ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Where’s Alex, we could use his eyes.’

  Steve glanced at his blank MPS, ‘I think he might have gone to find Dobriana.’ When they next met, Steve would explain to Alex the concept of sticking to a plan.

  He swung his Cogent right, stopped, and crouched. His periphery vision had detected something. His thumb rested on the Cogent’s serrated wheel. No, he couldn’t risk it. He gestured at Rack 64 and crept forward, the soles of his combat boots rolling out on the metal deck. It was clearer now, at the edge of the lowest tube, a hint of brown within the penumbra of the tube’s shadow.

  ‘CONSEC! Show yourself!’

  Steve blinked. From the achromatic undersides of the first three tubes came a scrabble of dark colour. Limbs of orange, purple, and green sprouted into the aisle.

  ‘Steve!’ The orange arms wrapped around his waist. Neither the poor light nor Penny’s smile could hide the pain in her bloodshot eyes. The nanobytes were still at work. He looked up; his focus switching from the Dobriana’s swollen eyelids to Kacee’s eyes. She broke contact.

  Steve held Penny’s shoulders, leant down, and kissed her forehead. ‘We have to go.’ His gaze lifted to Dobriana. ‘Can you see?’

  ‘Yes, but keep me away from mirror.’

  Kacee stepped towards him, her blonde hair and purple tunic flecked with globules of dark coagulum. ‘He�
��s over by the other deck-car.’

  The Cogent’s serrated wheel revolved under Steve’s thumb. He had no choice. He signalled for Dee to join them. ‘We’ll go back the way we came. You lead, I’ll cover.’

  He turned to Kacee, ‘Stay behind Dee. If Morton shows, grab the other two and stay put.’

  ‘It’s not Morton, it’s someone who looks like you.’

  Steve’s head swung to Dee. ‘Alex.’ His fist balled, MP 14, the Prefect. SIS had led him to one of the transducers, and he’d led them to Penny.

  Dee’s eyes blazed, ‘Behind!’

  Steve spun. Alex strolled out of the dark.

  ‘Hello, Steve.’

  Steve levelled the Cogent. ‘Stop there.’

  Alex complied, his facial actuators forming a puzzled expression in his tilted head, ‘I don’t understand, I saved them, a Defender was taking them to SIS.’

  Kacee stepped in front of Penny. ‘The Defender was helping us. Until Alex killed him.’

  Alex grinned. ‘Morton is coming.’

  ‘Dee, move!’ Steve walked backwards. Alex followed.

  When they reached Rack 70, Steve stopped. ‘Okay Alex, we’re moving into the deck-car. You stay there.’ There was no winning hand. If he killed Alex, SIS would drift through space, everyone on Earth would die.

  Steve lifted his foot, but before his sole touched the floor, the deck-car doors behind him opened. Light spread around his boots and a whip of adrenalin lashed his body. ‘Dee!’

  ‘It’s alright. I think.’

  ‘Steve Arrowsbury?’ The gruff voice sounded surprisingly calm considering the scenario.

  Dee replied with equal composure, ‘Who are you?’

  ‘First Sergeant Nik Gorniak. I’ve a message for Steve Arrowsbury from Admiral Smithson.’

  Steve took a step back, ‘Everyone move into the deck-car. Dee, take my Cogent and keep it on Alex.’

  After the Cogent exchange, Steve turned around and approached the deck-car. He sniffed, and relaxed. ‘Hello Nik.’