Random Chance and the Paradise that is Earth

by Shawn Michel de Montaigne

  The city was clean and well-lighted. Much of it was green with thick vines and stands of tall trees and pleasant parks. The farms were on separate floors below, and were large and lush. A huge wildlife reserve below that was considered one of the best in the solar system.

  Random chuckled under his breath. The armpit label was apt for this city, though perhaps not in the callous way outsiders imagined it. Many of the buildings were very old and looked it. Vestians were a pragmatic lot, and so didn’t replace something until it was on its last legs. Mining culture did that, especially in the endless dark of interplanetary space. You used something to its very end. If that made your city look like a makeshift patchwork of bare steel and mismatched technologies, then so be it. If it worked, keep using it.

  Random thought it looked like a well-managed ghetto, but in his more truthful moments, he admired Vestians for their stubborn pragmatism. He remembered Cubey asking him if Vesta was nice, and he and Hewey laughing. The truth was, though, he had a soft spot for this way station to the Outer Planets.

  “Cubey? You there?” he asked as he and Mia walked hand-in-hand through a park towards a squat tower a half-kilometer away.

  “I am here, Random Chance,” said Cubey.

  “Is this the tower, the one we’re walking towards?”

  “Affirmative. According to the SolarWeb, there is a hardware dealer on the thirtieth floor. He can get Mia Findlay ‘hooked up.’ ”

  Random laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Mia.

  “ ‘Hooked up,’ Cubey? Is Hewey teaching you idioms?”

  “They’re fascinating,” said Cubey. “They are most confusing, but he has been a very helpful teacher. How did I do?”

  “You’re coming along nicely.”

  “Updating files.”

  Random repeated the conversation to Mia, who had waited patiently. She laughed.

  “The hardware I’m looking for will provide interfacing tech. You’ll be able to hear Cubey and Hewey away from The Girl. It’s also the latest in self-upgrading tech. It will eventually upgrade your entire software network, and will probably patch up a good deal of the hardware too.”

  “What if this guy doesn’t have it?” asked Mia. “Can he be trusted?”

  “Cubey assures me this dude is the real deal and has no love of the Garkies. I trust his research abilities. He told me he’s got access to every record in the Solar System of everybody living or dead.”

  “Scary,” said Mia.

  “Helpful,” returned Random.

  “How do you know he won’t go bad, Rand? Don’t you ever worry about it? Don’t you worry he or Hewey might turn on you?”

  “I don’t,” said Random, stopping and shaking his head thoughtfully. “Cubey’s a conscious being now. He’s got free will. So does Hewey. If either wanted to ‘go bad,’ they very well could. But I don’t think they will.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because,” said Random, smiling in self-satisfaction, “I gave them the gift of consciousness, and I’m not bad—am I?”

  “You mean there’s some vein of goodness that you gave them, one they won’t discard in order to wipe out humanity? Pretty flimsy, Probability. Especially with Cubey.”

  Random looked up. “Are you hearing this, Cubey?”

  “Yes, Random Chance.”

  “And? What are your thoughts?”

  “Processing.”

  Random heard the familiar beep in his ear telling him Cubey would probably be gone for a while.

  Mia watched, concern lining her face.

  He gazed ominously at her, then said, “He said he’s thought about our conversation and is going to start extermination procedures immediately.”

  The horror on Mia’s face didn’t last long. It morphed into anger when Random started laughing.

  “That isn’t funny!” she yelled, and punched his arm.

  ~~*~~

  The supplier was a short and grizzled retired miner who only grunted when they introduced themselves. “This way,” he said without smiling. They followed him.

  His name was Pirate. Random didn’t ask if that was his real name. In a back room he stopped, wheeled about.

  “What did you say you wanted this hardware for?”

  “I didn’t,” said Random.

  “How do I know you’re legit?”

  “You mean, how do you know I’m not Garky?”

  “Or Earth,” shot back the man. “Both monitor the goods leavin’ this rock. So…?”

  He waited, arms crossed. Random thought that the frown on his face was permanent, and took it that way. Mia shuffled uncomfortably next to him.

  “You don’t,” answered Random. “And nothin’ I tell you will sway you. So do you have what we’re looking for, or don’t you? I’ll be happy to take my business somewhere else.”

  Pirate’s frown deepened. He looked Mia up and down, then came back to him. He nodded. “Back here.”

  They followed him through another room to its back wall. Pirate held up, then closed his eyes. A moment later the wall, which was nothing more than a very convincing holographic projection, dissolved, revealing the much older, real one behind it. Pirate grasped the circular handle of a large circular hatch and grunted as he pulled. The hatch opened with a deep, rusty groan. The hole through it was almost as thick as Random was tall. They stepped through as ancient lights flickered on. Random and Mia looked around.

  “This is the place, amigo,” said Hewey. “You’re lookin’ for a Model 24x/6f-4d console. It’ll be black or gray and deceptively small. There’ll be a Garky symbol near the key ID on the bottom right-hand side. You can’t miss it. Pan around a little. Give me a look.”

  Random looked slowly around as Pirate waited. Random ignored him. This crusty rock fart was probably in a good mood.

  “Left,” said Hewey. “Back wall, second shelf up, just right of center. See it?”

  Random walked toward the console he thought Hewey had spotted. Mia followed, the shopowner close behind.

  The console was oblong, smooth, and shiny-black, with a large, clear circular systems interface window.

  Random picked it up, turned it over. The device was two-thirds of a meter long and very light.

  “Keep your focus on that key ID, amigo, lower right,” said Hewey. “Let me cross-ref it, make sure it isn’t fake or tagged by Garkies.”

  Random tried not to nod. He focused on the symbol under the key ID: a series of thin trapezoids making up a triangle, at the top of which was a glowing eye. The Oligarchy.

  “Looks clean,” announced Hewey.

  “It’s good,” said Random to the shopowner.

  “The key ID matches a console stolen a year ago from shipyards on Ganymede,” said Hewey. “It probably explains our luck finding it here, relatively close by. Now show the nice man that you know all about Garky military tech.”

  Random reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gun. Both Pirate and Mia jumped backward. “Hey! What’re you doin’?” demanded Pirate. “How did you get through security with that thing?”

  Mia looked utterly out of place here. Random felt sorry for her, and for bringing her along. She didn’t know he had the gun, and didn’t know that he had used both Hewey and Cubey to dampen security sensors into Vesta City. She gaped at him.

  Pirate looked like he might run, but Random said without looking at him, “Stay where you are, Pirate. Your comm link is dead, so it’s no use trying to sound any alarms. Just hang on for a second. If this console is real, you’re going to find that I’m a very generous man.”

  He pointed the gun at the key ID and fired.

  The gun was a high-energy nano-discharger designed to strip modern alloys. On a low setting it could shave layers without harming internal hardware.

  The key ID sloughed off the console like a paper-thin centimeter-wide snake and dropped curled to the floor, leaving a perfect, smokeless indentation behind.

  As they watched, the snake began evapora
ting. Soon it was gone. Random presented the console to him: the key ID had resolidified in its old place as though it hadn’t just been stripped off. “Classified Garky tech,” he said. “We’ll take it.”

  Pirate’s price was almost twenty percent above the estimated black market price Hewey had researched. Random paid it without haggling or complaining. Illegal Garky military tech would be very difficult to keep from the wrong eyes, convincing holographic walls notwithstanding. He verified the credit transfer to Pirate’s account and left with the console, which the shopowner placed into a secured case.

  “Good luck getting out of the city with that,” said Pirate at the door. “The penalty for Garky military tech in the hands of civilians is incineration. I never met you. Have a good day.”

  The door to his shop slid closed.

  “Random!” hissed Mia. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do! How did you get that gun? And how are we gonna get that console back up to The Girl? This was such a bad idea …”

  “It’s why I want you to have it—to have Hewey and Cubey with you at all times.” He looked up and around. “Are you aware that Garky sensors monitor every single public conversation?”

  “But Vesta isn’t Garky,” she replied as the lift descended. “It’s Earth and Garky.”

  “I don’t exactly trust Earth sensors either. Vesta is at the fulcrum of the conflict, and bugs are probably everywhere. Hewey has altered those monitoring us, including all visual data. If they check, they’ll think we’re having a completely different conversation than the one we’re having.”

  The lift doors opened and they walked out of the building. “I think all-out war is coming,” said Random. “I saw it in my uncle’s eyes. He wants war. I don’t want you in harm’s way. Hewey and Cubey will keep you safe—safer. Much safer.”

  “How do you propose we get state of the art military tech back to The Girl?” she demanded. “How did you get your gun through? How do I keep the console hidden once it’s aboard ship? What if Garkies board the ship? I’ll be screwed! We all will be!”

  He looked up. “Hewey? Are the city sensors properly, er, attenuated?”

  “You got it, Rand,” answered Hewey. “I like that word.”

  Random started walking again. “Let’s go.”

  When she caught up to him, he said, “The tough part is coming up—getting this console out of the city. Don’t worry about the gun. It’s made of an illegal composite that renders it unreadable to sensors.”

  They passed through a small park. “The latest Garky tech is easy to hide,” he continued. “It was designed that way. It’s ironic, but it’ll help defeat the sensors we need to get it out of the city. I’ll put it beneath the fossil that’s running The Girl. Should any Garkies board her, which they won’t, don’t look so alarmed, they won’t know to look for her, because they’ll have no reason to suspect that you are using any of their tech. This console’s programs will mimic and ‘hide behind’ the old software. Sensors watching us at the shop think we purchased something entirely non-threatening and completely legal. Hewey has access to the sensor logs. He’ll mark them as useless and they’ll be deleted within an hour. I’m doing this to make you safer, Findlay. You’ve gotta trust me … okay? Okay?”

  She held up, then nervously jerked her head up and down. He took her hand, which he noticed was sweaty, and together they walked towards the taxis.

  Bringing her was definitely a mistake.

  ~~*~~

  “What’s this?” asked the security guard at the throughway. Beyond were the taxis. Mia stared at them like she’d never get to them.

  Random took his gaze from the case to the man, who continued to examine it.

  “That? A very bright future. If you open it, though, you’ll never see it.”

  The guard’s face melted into a mishmash of conflicting emotions. He impatiently turned and barked at the security arc to shut up, which was shouting, over and over, “Contents under suspicion. Unable to view inside. Recommend opening and investigating. Contents under …”

  Security bots gathered at the arc’s perimeter.

  “Tell you what,” said Random, “let me run it through again. Would you mind? I think the sensor is malfunctioning. After it passes under the arc, I’ll be happy to open the case, or let a bot do it. How about it?”

  The guard’s face solidified back into suspicion, though this time there was a vacant cast mixed in with it. “No. I’ll do it. Get back, sir,” he ordered. “That’s my job. Get back.”

  He grabbed the case and walked around the arc as Random and Mia watched. He set it down on the conveyor belt and walked alongside it as it slid through for a second time. The bots didn’t move.

  “Contents verified,” said the arc.

  The bots turned and walked away.

  Random grabbed the case and glanced at the guard. “Shall we run it through a third time just for kicks, or shall we open it? I’d be happy to …”

  That vacant suspicious look melted into uncertainty. “My … my future?”

  Random patted the man’s shoulder. “It’s all set, no worries. You’re workin’ for the wrong side. Now you know it. Do what you need to do.”

  He reached for Mia’s hand. With the case in his other hand, they walked out of the throughway to the taxis. They got in the first one to pull up. Moments later it floated up Shaft 18A towards The Glowing Girl thirteen kilometers above.

  ~~*~~

  Mia hadn’t stopped staring at him. He sighed and took his gaze from the green-glowing walls of the shaft and the incoming ships.

  He knew what that stare was about. He sighed and shrugged. “It’s a gift, like you said. I try to use it for good.”

  She blinked. “I didn’t think … I mean … I hadn’t thought it through. How would I know if you’ve been influencing me with it? How would I know you haven’t used it to mess with my biotech like you did that guard’s?”

  “You …” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t.”

  The horrified stare on her face was painful to look at. He took her hands.

  “I have never interfered with your biotech, Findlay. Never. Do you hear me? And you have my word that I never will. Never.”

  “But … but … how can I know that?”

  He shrugged helplessly. “Baby … I’m sorry. You can’t. But you can trust me. You know me. Do you think I’m capable of doing that to you? Haven’t I earned a little trust?”

  “The problem is …” she shook her head doubtfully “… this takes a lot of trust, Rand.”

  “Then let me earn it.” He kissed her. “I love you, Findlay.”

  She pulled back, shocked. “What did you say?”

  “Maybe I’m not thinkin’ straight,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’m afraid I’ve freaked you out and you’re going to show me the airlock now. Maybe it’s because interplanetary space can be a pretty lonesome place, even with your best friend—friends—aboard. Or maybe … maybe it’s because it’s real that I said it. But there you go. I’m being as honest as I can with you.”

  Mia stared into his eyes for a long time. His declaration warred with her mistrust, which was evident on her face.

  The taxi’s computer said, “Destination in two minutes. Please gather your belongings. The item stored in the trunk will be made available through the mail slot once the airlock seal is confirmed. Thank you for using Vesta’s Besta’s Taxis.”

  Chapter Eight

  Four Decent Human Beings

  ~~*~~

  AT THE airlock she turned to face him. “I need time to think.”

  Random held the case with the console. He glanced down at it, then into her eyes. He nodded.

  She raised her hand to touch his chest, but stopped it before it got there. She turned and walked into The Glowing Girl. The door slid closed behind her.

  Random sighed and went to the airlock of The Pompatus.

  “I’m sorry, Rand,” said Hewey. “She seems pretty miffed.”

  “Yeah,” he
mumbled. “Let me in.”

  The door slid open. Random, shaking his head, went in. He dropped the console on the captain’s chair and walked to his room.

  ~~*~~

  “She’s the only one I’ve trusted enough to show her what I can do. And now I think I’ve really screwed the pooch by doing so.”

  He stood with his father at the Danwor Lookout on Mons Olympus’ northeast slope. From here the checkered pink-green farms of Koowing dotted the Cyani Sulce Plains, visible even from here hundreds of kilometers away. They were protected by biodomes and atmospheric shielding, but technology had advanced to the point that one really had to look to see them.

  His father chuckled mirthlessly and leaned against the railing. “I hate to say this, son, but I’m probably not the one you should be talking to about this.”

  “Why not?”

  His father chuckled again. “Two words: your mother.”

  “Why did you marry her?”

  His dad shook his head. “The short answer is I was young and stupid and blinded by hatred—what I once called love.”

  “The Oligarchy?”

  “Ideology,” said Jameson Chance. “We believed in the same things. She was a staffer for a senator from Europa. I was fresh out of the Academy. We were both intent on saving the solar system. We were going to put humanity back on the track to greatness, or some such crap. I’m ashamed to say it to you, son.”

  “Then let’s forget about all that,” said Random. “You aren’t the same person you were then. I’ve grown to value your opinions. Jameson Samson Chance, hero: what are your thoughts about Mia knowing my abilities, and what should I do about it?”

  His father motioned towards the distant farmland. “Do you know how difficult it was to get anything to grow on this world?”

  Random shook his head.

  “It was hell,” said Jameson. “Turned out there was a tiny percentage of a toxic compound in Martian sand—it wasn’t soil back then, but sand—that kept seeds from germinating. Nanotech was just in its infancy. We’re talking a thousand or more years ago. They tried everything, even leeching the sand to remove the compound. Nothing worked. Crops grew stunted and weak, if at all. People thought Mars would never get to the point where it could sustain itself.