Paul closed his eyes and leaned to the side.
—Listen, Paul said, shaking his head with his eyes still closed. They guy’s wife was buried on Asimios. He was tired and sad and it may be hard to understand, but he didn’t want to leave the damn planet. It was his home.
Paul Ness brought his fingers up and massaged his eyes. Dr. Graf was like a father to me, Paul went on. He was always making sure I was doing ok. He treated me like an equal, and that’s honorable to do for an outsider like myself. I liked him and I’ll miss him.
—So that’s why you helped him?
—You could say that.
—Did you help him in any way, other than simply designing an offline VI for him?
—What do you mean?
—Did you help him plan his final moments? Were you included in any way in helping him figure out how to elude us?
Paul’s eyes met with Halpern’s. Come again? Paul said.
—Did he plan to escape the station? It’s possible that he made it out before we destroyed it?
—If he did, he’s either frozen now or dead from hunger.
Halpern stared at Paul for a moment.
—We lost one of our security bots down there, you know.
Paul shrugged.
—It just disappeared. Gone. How does that happen?
—Could be anything. Transmissions drop all the time. There was a lot going on during the pullout.
—Unlikely.
Paul shrugged again.
—You had nothing to do with this?
Paul knew that his biometrics were under a microscope during their talk. Right now, somewhere, some AI knew exactly what was going on in his head and was sending alert chimes directly to Halpern’s VI.
—Well, I designed the goddamned prototype for those bots, didn’t I?
—Calm down, Paul.
—I wanted to take a look at what you guys had done to them. I wanted to see what your brilliant engineering division had done to alter the design, is all. Is there anything wrong with that?
Paul was breathing heavily. He was sweating and his pulse was elevated.
—That’s fine, Paul. I just wanted the truth. Now what did you do with the bot?
—It’s on Asimios.
—That was an expensive piece of equipment.
—I assigned it to Dr. Graf, Paul said as he looked down at the floor. I gave it new instructions, told it to help Graf…till the end, you know. The least I could do.
Halpern leaned back in his chair and chewed on this for a moment. Interesting, he said.
—I also upgraded the bot. Slightly, Paul said.
—You upgraded the bot.
—Yeah.
—What kind of upgrade are we talking about?
—I removed some defensive tools and increased its sensory capacity. I also installed a small cognition core.
—A cognition core and sensory mod…
—A sensory upgrade. It’s basically a research tool now. If you ever get the thing back, you’ll have a good idea about what it’s been up to.
—And a cognition core, you say?
—It can think now. Thing’s as smart as a seven-year-old.
Halpern stared at Paul.
—A guy’s got to have someone to talk with in his final hour, Paul said.
At this point Halpern was rotating his neck as if it had suddenly become stiff.
—You know that you can be put away for a long time for an illegal modification of an ESCOM security bot?
Paul was still in his seat. He brought up his sleeve and wiped his nose.
—So, is there anything you want to include in this debriefing? Is there anything else that you can think of that might be important or relevant to our conversation?
Paul shook his head.
—Then, for the record, this interview is terminated. Thank you Mr. Ness.
—You’re welcome.
Austin Halpern then folded his hands in front of him.
—Now I need to ask you for a favor, he said. On a professional level…
Paul blinked and stared at Halpern.
—We would like your consultation. We have a situation we would like to discuss with you.
—What kind of situation?
—I’ll explain later. Do what you need to do to check out of here and then meet me in Drunlo Axis in two hours. From there, we’ll take a shuttle to Central Security and I’ll give you the project files.
Paul stood up at the same time that Halpern did. The engineer shrugged his shoulders and bit at his lip.
—I guess I’ll see you in a little while? Paul said.
Halpern nodded and he left through the door as one of the security guards came in to take his place.
Austin Halpern went back through Skyresh Axis and back to his office where he returned his rail pistol to his desk drawer and recorded a few notes on his V-pad before going over his messages. Again, the packet from Esther floated in his feed. He thought of what he might say to her, but he was having difficulty finding the right tone. As he leaned back in his chair he looked out his window and watched as Mars began to emerge from darkness and take on its haunting brick hue. Phobos would soon emerge on Mars’s western horizon as the satellite plunged into the Martian day.
As Halpern reflected on Nava, he remembered that she had severed ties with him after a fight involving discordant political views, the exact theme of which eluded him at present, and they had not spoken since. Halpern’s wife, Esther, had stayed in touch with Nava, of course, as any caring mother would, but Austin was stuck, as was Nava, in a cycle of recrimination and prideful silence. Six years ago, the break took place. She had emerged from university as a young, bright and energetic student, and now she was an international criminal.
It had only been a matter of time, Halpern thought. Nava had been seduced by the romantic delusion of the revolutionaries, and when one comes under extremist influence, it’s difficult to separate the individual from the disease. How could she have betrayed him in such a way? Halpern wondered. Everything had been provided for her. She had the best schooling and access to leading institutions in everything from government, the arts and to business. She had connections to social elites and an excellent and fulfilling life lay ahead of her…and now she was an insurgent, a degenerate and ungrateful worm.
Halpern cleared his throat and spoke: Thank you Esther for the message. Sorry about Nava, but in some ways, I’m not surprised to hear this kind of news. I know you care about her, and that is what’s most important. Be sure to let me know if you learn anything more. There are developments here that I can’t get into at the moment, but my presence may be required on Earth in the near future. No specifics as of yet, but I’ll let you know as things develop. I hope you’re well, stay in touch.
Austin stopped the recording and then cleared his VI to gaze out over Mars’s silent rotation. He drew back his sleeve and checked his watch. The second hand was rounding the dial’s apex. Another minute had passed, he thought. Another minute vanished on Phobos and another minute of his life spent as a dutiful thrall to ESCOM and its Vision for Tomorrow’s Future. Halpern informed Vikkie that he was going down to Central Security soon and he would return later that evening. He also asked her to get him the name and messaging address, if she could, of the new exercise instructor at the B level Skyresh fitness center.
—It’s strange being off Asimios, Paul said over to Halpern as they settled into their shuttle seats. The sleek, elongated car smelled of epoxy and plastic alloy as it cradled its two passengers in pink, powder blue and minty green—colors in fashion when the shuttle system was built. It’s been over fifteen years, Paul added. I never left the station, you know.
—I realize that, Halpern said. I know exactly what you’ve been doing. You had your opportunity to leave, though, Halpern continued as he riffled through his message feed and made a few notations on his V-pad. There were several chances for you to spend some time on Mars if you’d wanted to, he said. You also could
have returned to Earth. You were never a prisoner. You were on Asimios by choice.
—I wasn’t unhappy on Asimios, Paul said as his eyes found somewhere distant to focus. I guess I enjoyed being so far away from everything, being nowhere.
—That’s what a lot of people said about Asimios. Not knowing where one was…that was the most powerful, and perhaps beautiful, thing about it.
Paul turned to look out of the window at the lights that pulsed by as the car rushed through its tunnel. His breath fogged the glass and he placed his fingers on the pane and cut them across the film of condensation.
—But that was in the past, Paul. There are new challenges now. I hope you’ll continue to work for us.
—Does this have anything to do with the classified Asimios project?
—It does, Halpern said as his lowered his voice and loosened his collar. Our security team has been on this for a while, and now that you’re here, we’d like your opinion.
—You going to send me those files?
—I’ll send them to you now. Look them over. When we get to Central we’ll review some images and you can give us your feedback.
Paul craned his neck and rubbed his mustache. The files had come through to his VI.
—I’ll need some time.
—Be my guest.
Halpern turned away from Paul and spread out his V-pad. He checked his messages. Vikkie had forwarded him the info on the fitness instructor. Her security headshot came up, and there she was, staring right at him in a glow of attractive assuredness. Her name was Lynx Eridania and she was living in a single occupancy flat in one of the lower tier housing blocks. Her VI address appeared below her name, and below that the details of her security screening. She was clean—no brushes with authorities. She was born on Mars, twenty-four years old, and an aspiring personal trainer and life energy coach. Her passions were long walks around Elysium Mons, eating well, being healthy and travel. This was her first time on Phobos and she had been here only four weeks. How lovely, thought, Halpern. He sent her a text message with his high-ranking ESCOM security seal and a reminder that they had exchanged looks during her training class earlier that day, then he leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment and let the motion of the shuttle rock him into a gentle trance.
When they arrived at Central Security, the place was bustling. This was normal, for not only was ESCOM monitoring the developments at the wormhole, but it was also keeping a close eye on political conditions on Mars, Earth’s factional bickering and insurgent movements, and ESCOM’s three major competitors: Excelsior Capital, Transglobal Corp. and Axiom Lotus. ESCOM felt itself most closely aligned with Excelsior Cap., both culturally and philosophically, but even though relations between the two transnationals was amicable on the surface, at heart they were bloodthirsty competitors.
After security scans cleared Halpern and Ness, they entered the offices and were greeted by Frank Dendede who immediately led them to a conference room. The three of them sat down and attention turned to Paul.
—Well, what were you able to ascertain from the files? Halpern said as he filled a cup half way with coffee from a pot that stood in the middle of the table. What kind of questions do you have, and is there anything that needs clarification?
—As I understand it, Paul said as he filled his cup with steaming brew, you believe somebody sabotaged your wormhole field tech, and you have evidence to prove it, correct?
Halpern looked over to Dendede who looked back at Halpern.
—As you know, Dendede said to Paul, all our communications with Asimios Station are, er…were, carried over laser link nodes on either side of the wormhole.
Paul nodded.
—Well, Dendede continued, it turns out that about fourteen months ago our link went down along with everything else around the wormhole: all the sensors and research gear, both third party and our own. It all went, like a wave hit it. We were concerned, but not panicked. Our best guess was that it might be coronal mass ejecta from one of the Asimios stars, a pulse that swept over the wormhole and made soup out of the electronics. The thing was, even the systems on our side of the wormhole were taken out, and that got us scratching our heads. Could a flare have wrapped itself around the torus somehow, so that this wave could take out the systems on both sides of the wormhole? If so, there was still a lot to learn about wormhole physics.
—I remember this, Paul said. We had to install an old satellite system to relay com with Phobos HQ while the nodes were down.
—That’s right, Dendede continued. And it was very resourceful of you. Yes, we installed a new link some weeks later. And then, not a three weeks later, everything went down again. We were at a loss. Everyone was blaming everyone else and nobody had any clue what was going on. If this was the result of ejecta, why hadn’t there been any corroboration of flare activity on Asimios Station? If it was due to instability of the wormhole, then we should be seriously rethinking the reliability of our communications with the station. These were huge concerns.
—I could see that.
—Well, just as we were about to launch our second node repair mission, out of the blue came a request from the University of East Anglia to get assistance with one of their wormhole experiments. Their transmitter had gone offline some time before the nodes crashed and they were wondering if their camera was still operational. They’d installed their camera a healthy distance from the portal for spectral analysis and visual loop capture. Well, we found out that the instrument had been working during the node crashes and once we had their transmitter back online we asked if we could look at any of their imaging data. They were happy to help, and this is what we saw.
Dendede dimmed the lights and the three of them turned to the wall that served as a screen. A wide rectangular image of the dark sky emerged. Stars glittered here and there in different orders of intensity. Low, on the right, was some sort of man-made structure. It was small and had arrays that fanned out into the black of space. Then Dendede pulled out his pointer and circled the structure.
—This is ESCOM’s Mercury hub, he said. It collects the data from the laser link and shoots it home. The laser nodes are too small to be seen here, and the wormhole, of course, is invisible. Now let’s do a long focus zoom and go to the time stamp of the first interruption.
Dendede zoomed the image and then played the footage. After a short time, something moved from right to left across the screen.
—I’ll zoom in a bit more and replay this, Dendede said.
The image was enlarged, then Dendede played it again. The movement right to left. Dendede played it once again, this time at a slower speed, and it became obvious that the moving image was, in fact, some kind of craft. If you included the second shape, that made two. Paul squinted with interest at the screen.
—Well, I’ll be a son of a gun, Paul said as he took a sip from his coffee.
—So you can see them? Dendede said.
—Whose are they?
—Don’t know, Halpern put in. They’re not Excelsior Cap. They don’t have that kind of tech. And they’re certainly not Axiom or Transglobal.
—If they’re not Excelsior, then…
—Exactly, Halpern said. That’s why we’re concerned.
—These objects, Dendede added, are at least one hundred meters long. They came through the wormhole just after the systems crash.
—The crash wasn’t an accident, Paul said.
—Exactly our assumption, Halpern said. We think it was intentional.
Paul sat and scrutinized the images. He shook his head.
—And what did you see during the second crash? Paul asked as he patted his mustache.
—It appears that the same craft exited through the wormhole right after the subsequent systems crash.
—So, two came in, Paul said.
—And two went out, Dendede added.
Paul was stone-faced. So this is why you shut down Asimios Station, he said.
—Assertive Disengagement, Halpern
said.
—And you haven’t seen any more of this kind of activity at the wormhole since then?
Dendede shook his head.
—No more node crashes, Halpern said. No more interruptions.
Dendede blew up the images where they were frozen across the background of the solar arrays. There was a dull shimmer along the craft’s outer edges. The rest of the ships’s bodies were shadows…menacing forms, like the vague outlines of sharks seen gliding in the murky depths of the sea.
—So why Phobos? Austin Halpern said over to Lynx Eridania as he tipped the bottom of his glass skyward and finished his wine. They had just eaten dinner at a small Italian bistro in Skyresh Axis. The lights were low and a musician was strumming an acoustic guitar on a small stage. What brings a nice young Martian girl like you to this desolate rock? Halpern asked.
Lynx smiled bashfully and lowered her eyes as the candlelight danced across her pretty face. Her loose hair fell over her shoulders and she touched the ends with her fingers as she talked. She was even more attractive up close, Halpern thought as the wine coursed through his blood and her foot brushed against his leg. She had a certain provincial innocence, and yet there was something slightly threatening about her. An excellent combination, Halpern decided.
—I’m from a small commune, she said. There’s nothing there for me. I want to experience things, you know. I want to go somewhere new. I want to meet interesting people. I want to see a real city.
—You want to go to Earth, he said. Halpern had a barely noticeable scar above the corner of his mouth and it was twitching. The scar had a mind of its own, he knew. It would need to be pacified.
Her eyes lit up as she took a sip from her glass.
—I would love to go to Earth, she said. It’s my dream. You’re from Earth, you said. Have you ever been to Paris?
—Many times.
—Is it true that it’s as beautiful as they say? Is it as beautiful as it looks in the movies?
—Oh, yes. It’s beautiful. I’d love to tell you about Paris. We have all night…
Halpern poured some wine into Lynx’s glass before he filled his own. He winked at her and then took a moment to lean back and make a quick scan of the other diners. A few faces were familiar, as one would expect when one resided in such a cloistered and remote community. What would they be thinking? he wondered. Some were certainly whispering that he was old enough to be Lynx’s father. Others might be saying that he was old enough to be her grandfather. Either way, he wasn’t concerned. He was sixty-nine, after all. He’d taken care of himself. He had been physically active and went through all the gene therapies and synthblood treatments. He was in his prime and there was no reason why he shouldn’t enjoy the spoils of his power. As he looked across the room his eyes fell on the familiar face of a woman at the bar. It was Susanna Berdinka, and she was alone.
Beyond Asimios: Book One Page 14