Boundary (Field Book 3)

by Simon Winstanley

  “OK, let’s do this,” said Lana, looking out through the cupola, “Cathy, go.”

  Lana watched as Module Alpha’s EVA airlock, furthest from the Ring, opened and Cathy emerged using powered reaction thrusters attached to her spacesuit. Behind her, the ungainly looking Number4 was closely tethered; for the moment a passenger. Cathy began to make her way over to the Shuttle.

  “Mike, go.”

  “Main bus to manual start,” Mike reported and Lana saw the cockpit windows illuminate from within, “Setting condition green, on external access.”

  A menu on the screen in front of Lana became available and she opened the internal safety controls.

  “Confirmed, Mike,” she continued to activate several channels, “You are good to go.”

  “Roger,” Mike returned, “Proceeding.”

  Cathy was moving slowly along the length of the shuttle, and Lana could see her control thrusters making minute adjustments. When she approached the Shuttle’s open cargo bay, she slowed her speed and brought herself to a halt above the Shuttle.

  “Knock knock, I’m in position.”

  “Roger that, Cathy,” Mike responded, “I’m secure, bring it down.”

  Lana saw Cathy manoeuvring down past the cargo bay doors and out of sight.

  “Number4 aboard,” came Fai’s voice.

  “Anna, Field status?”

  “Core checks underway, departure status set to hold.”

  “Fai, external server status?”

  “Ready and awaiting transport.”

  “Understood,” Lana replied.

  Fai had read Archive’s files relating to the previous Field experiments, in particular how the more basic Mark 2 Field chamber had been used to develop Fai’s predecessors.

  Using a 60:1 Field, months of processor design had been prototyped inside the Mark 2 in mere days. It was Fai’s intention to use the 2400:1 Field currently at their disposal to advance her own programming by using five years of time outside the Field. The hope was that any processing speed improvements would directly benefit the overall plan.

  “Approaching the nineteen-hour mark,” Lana relayed to everyone.

  “Roger,” Cathy reported, “Returning to Alpha.”

  Lana could see her once again manoeuvring her way back from the Shuttle towards Module Alpha, this time trailing a long tether. Cathy entered the open airlock and Lana saw the tether go taught.

  “Zip line in place,” Cathy reported.

  “Roger,” Mike responded.

  “Fai, confirm sync,” Lana checked.

  “Data transfer synchronised, ready for transport.”

  “Go, Cathy.”

  There was a delay of a few seconds then Lana saw the bulky form of the ISS backup server ease out of the airlock attached to the tether on a motorised winch; in the zero-gravity environment, the server had no weight so the tether didn’t flex under the load.

  “Server away,” Cathy reported, then emerged from the airlock again and headed to where the Shuttle was still attached to the ISS. Meanwhile, the server was slowly dragged along the tether by the motorised winch.

  “Mike, heads up,” Lana warned him as the server disappeared behind the cargo bay doors.

  “I see it,” said Mike, “Man, that’s big.”

  Lana saw a long standing-wave ripple back and forth through the tether.

  “Mike, confirm delivery?”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Fai, what’s the status of Number4?”

  “Memory purge complete,” Fai reported, “Bios reconfiguration complete. Interface with Shuttle bay manipulator arm complete. Number4 reboot-sequence cycle in three, two, one…”

  “Mike, confirm shutdown,” said Lana.

  “Confirmed,” said Mike, “Pulling side panel. Mike to Fai.”

  “Go ahead, Mike.”

  “There are two identical ports for the server-fabricator cable, which do I use?”

  “The one closest to the centre of the Main Board.”

  “Understood.”

  “Support strut one detached from ISS,” Cathy announced, “Moving on to two.”

  Lana saw Cathy manoeuvring away from the first strut. The anchoring bolts that had been put in place only a few weeks ago had been removed, leaving the strut still attached to the Shuttle.

  “External server and fabricator link is in place,” said Mike.

  “Proceed, Mike,” said Lana.

  “Rebooting.”

  “Anna, status update.”

  “All hibernating and active crew member Biomags read active. Core primed. Field emitters on standby.”

  “Confirmed, Anna. Stand by.”

  “Boot bypass in place,” came Mike’s voice, “Proceeding to Module Alpha.”

  “Confirmed, Mike. Fai, upload your external server program.”

  “Complying,” she said.

  Lana watched her screen as, one by one, each menu became deactivated.

  “Transfer complete. Independent Shuttle control confirmed.”

  “Cathy, how are you doing there?”

  “A little longer,” her voice sounded a little strained.

  Lana saw Mike using the motorised winch to return to the open airlock. Within a few minutes, he was returning to the Shuttle cargo bay; a long line of fabricator supply boxes snaking out behind him as the winch dragged him across the open space.

  “OK, strut two detached,” Cathy called in, “Heading to axial airlock two.”

  “Understood, Cathy. Cycling airlock.”

  Framed by the ISS structures, against the backdrop of the Earth’s night side, Cathy made her way across Lana’s field of view. Occasionally, clouds would become momentarily illuminated by a random thunderstorm, but gone were the speckled spider-webs of illuminated cities that Lana remembered. The Earth was dark.

  “Fabricator supplies are in place,” Mike’s voice called her back to the present, “Detaching tether from Shuttle.”

  “Understood,” she replied.

  Mike cleared the Shuttle’s cargo bay doors holding onto the motorised winch. The loose end of the tether hung limply behind him but, in reaction to the fact he still had mass, the tether ahead of him was still taught.

  “Fai, you have Shuttle control. Detach.”

  “Confirmed,” Fai replied, and immediately a series of short reaction thruster bursts separated the Shuttle from the ISS, “Detached. Beginning reorientation.”

  “Understood. Anna, you’re up.”

  “Core is charging, beware of electromagnetic interference to communications,” she said, “Setting departure status to commit. Crew, please adopt orientation and report in.”

  While Lana manoeuvred herself to face the direction of the Field generator module, she saw Mike reach the airlock and stand in the doorway, facing the central axis.

  “Mike Sanders, Module Alpha airlock, external, ready.”

  “Cathy Gant, axial airlock two, internal, ready.”

  “Lana Yakovna, cupola, ready.”

  Lana felt a slight tremor pass through the cupola module.

  “Haken manifold horizon in progress,” Anna’s calm voice announced, “Fai, how long until the Shuttle is clear of the intended Field radius?”

  “Nine point two seconds, Dr. Bergstrom,” Fai replied.

  “Activating primary stage containment,” Anna reported.

  Lana felt another slight shudder and then heard Anna’s laughter.

  “Ja! Field eversion event! Sorry…” Anna seemed to regain some of her composure, “I didn’t get to see it the first time… Inversion geometry contained.”

  Lana looked out at the Earth below, the only clue to its presence being a circular absence of stars and a faint, silver glow over the horizon; dawn was about to break again. The vibration around her increased and she could hear the core’s hum change pitch and begin to rise.

  “Dr. Bergstrom, the Shuttle is clear,” Fai reported.

  “Goodbye, Discovery!” came Mike’s voice, bidding the Shuttle farew
ell.

  The vibration ceased momentarily, while motion phases within the core temporarily cancelled each other out, and then the vibration resumed, as the core started to enter a still higher range of pitch.

  Lana felt a powerful and persistent tug pulse throughout her entire body, followed by the sensation that every one of her molecules had just aligned itself with the core. Over the noise, she heard Anna’s elated voice.

  “Field inversion synchronised! Ha ha! Here we go!”

  Lana felt the core fire and then the Field passed fleetingly through her. The silver glimmer of dawn on Earth’s horizon leapt into full daylight, followed swiftly by night again. She recalled that the ISS used to take around ninety minutes to orbit the Earth, now that time was passing every few seconds. Despite the pulsating view through the window and a slight sense of nausea, she remembered what had to happen next.

  “All stations report in.”

  “Mike Sanders, Module Alpha airlock, now internal.”

  “Cathy Gant, axial airlock two, internal.”

  Anna did not report in.

  “Anna?”

  There followed several seconds of silence before a moaning sound reached Lana.

  “Anna, are you OK?”

  “I thought space-sickness was bad,” she groaned, “Space-time sickness… way worse…”

  RING

  13th April 2014

  Monica stared at the gun that Bradley had levelled at her. She had one last thing to say to Marcus over the address system, but she knew that once she’d spoken, it would be over. Holding the microphone steady, she spoke:

  “Wait for me.”

  She saw Bradley’s eyes widen and prepared for what must follow.

  He wrenched the microphone from her grip and she heard the gunshot before the pain reached her brain. She felt herself stumbling backwards and falling against the circular internal balcony of the Eye. Pain exploded from her left thigh and she found herself grasping at the bloody wound. She was aware of fast receding footsteps, Gordon had apparently chosen that moment to escape; something that was confirmed a few seconds later by the sound of the bucket-lift door slamming shut.

  The very fact that she was still having these thoughts meant something obvious. Despite being so close, he’d failed to hit anything major. She was still alive. The very thought sent a bizarre thrill of satisfaction through her.

  “You missed!” she managed a short laugh at him, “Only you could miss from this close!”

  Bradley completed Gordon’s work by pushing a single button, releasing every one of the Hive’s drones into the USV.

  “For somebody so smart,” he smiled coldly, “you are one dumb bitch! I weren’t trying to kill you, you’ll patch up just fine.”

  Monica felt her knees weaken and she collapsed to the floor.

  “This little drama,” he crouched at her side, waggling the discharged pistol, “This is just for me. Kind of a perk!”

  She watched as he put the pistol back in his pocket.

  “Oh, you know what?” he seemed to find something, “I been saving this for a special occasion.”

  From the same pocket as the pistol, he pulled out the engagement ring he’d confiscated from her months ago. He took hold of her left hand and wrenched it away from her wound.

  “My dearest Monica,” he grinned, “would you do me the honour of accepting this ring…”

  As he spoke the words, she felt him push the hard diamond ring deep into the dark blood welling up from her leg. Her head swam and instinctively she rolled onto her side to avoid fainting. He released his grip and her bloodied ring fell out onto the floor, where it bounced and skittered across the circular, glazed floor at the centre of the Eye.

  “Now look what you made me do!” he laughed and walked away, wiping his hands and pointing back at the flecks of blood on the glass, “Someone’s gonna have to clear up your mess. I tell ya something… it ain’t gonna be me. I figure the community needs a villain and you’re gonna make one real good example.”

  In that moment, Monica knew what he had in mind.

  During one of his detention cell visits, Bradley had shown her a video of Geraldine’s horrific execution. Monica knew he’d use her in the same way; a public execution designed to show the futility of opposing the social order, under the guise of protecting civil liberties. After he’d patched her up, she would be used to perpetuate the cycle of paranoia and fear already present in the USV.

  Pulling herself along with one arm, she crawled out onto the wide pane of circular glazing that overlooked the USV below. Her feet slid through the dark red trail she left behind on the glass, but through the pain she focussed on the ring just a few feet away.

  “Aw, Mon,” his voice sounded disappointed, “what are you doin’? You’re making a mess of the… Oh, you gotta be kidding. I blew a hole in your leg an’ you’re tryin’ to fetch old Dougie’s ring? I don’t know if I should laugh or cry!”

  “Cry,” Monica managed, as she reached the ring and began to make the return journey. She chose to focus on the blood-smeared surface of the glass, rather than the dizzying view below. As she continued to crawl, her hands became slick with blood as they scraped over the surface.

  “You gotta be shittin’ me! Threats?” he scoffed at her, “You’re making threats?”

  Monica changed direction again, crossing over her original path and now making no attempt to staunch the flow from the wound. Her blood began pooling on the glazing underneath her, but still she continued to scrape her hands across its wet surface as she made her way back towards him. Against the continuous, almost high-frequency pain, she could feel her head starting to cloud and a ringing had begun in her ears.

  “What the hell?” Bradley turned away from her.

  The ringing was not in her ears. It was a warning tone emitted from somewhere near the oscilloscope.

  Monica dragged herself to the edge of the glazed floor, reached up for the handrail and began to pull herself up. She’d have only one chance to get this right. She hooked her elbows over the handrail and hauled herself upright standing on the glazing.

  “You lose,” she gasped, holding up both of her blood-soaked hands for him to see.

  Bradley turned to face her again.

  “They why you got your hands up?” he laughed.

  She purposefully folded her thumb across her palm to tap at the diamond in the engagement ring. She wanted to show him that the diamond was on the palm side of her hand.

  “What?” he shrugged.

  She glanced to her left and, as expected, he followed her cue to look at the blood-smeared glazing below her. It took him a moment, but then she saw his expression change.

  Only now did he see the deep scratches criss-crossing the glass. Deep score-lines she’d put there using her hard diamond. Lines designed to weaken the thin glazing.

  Behind him, she saw the circular pattern on the oscilloscope suddenly grow in size and disappear off the edges of the display. Joining the original warning tone, a second more aggressive tone now rang out.

  She would not be used as a simple tool to extend his oppressive grip. To her last breath, she would have the freedom to choose.

  Here at the close of day, but with the sun still raging bright, the words came easily.

  “I will not go gently.”

  She spread her arms wide and let herself fall backwards. The weakened glass shattered instantly and followed her descent.

  TIMELESS

  ~

  Douglas traced his finger around in a small circle, while his daughter guided the level of electrostatic charge.

  The situation reminded him of a time he’d been constructing a wooden bookcase with his own father, except the roles were now reversed. The sensation under his finger now was like the surface of sandpaper; except the paper had no roughness, only a low level, buzzing vibration as his finger moved.

  “And we’re using my Eversion point diagram because…?”

  “Because…” Kate continu
ed to guide him, “for most people, the symbol is significant for another reason. For most people, this is the symbol of the Exordi Nova.”

  “And you think that’s wise?”

  “Thanks to Archive’s campaign of disinformation,” she replied, “these people have an ingrained sensitivity to the symbol. If we’re trying to send them a message then we want them to receive it. There.”

  Douglas removed his finger from the piece of paper.

  “Now,” she moved his hand into position, “try to duplicate the feeling and place the dot.”

  She let go of his hand.

  He imagined a small fingertip-sized circle of buzzing smoothness and pushed.

  “OK,” she said, “Let’s see…”

  “What if it didn’t work?”

  “That’s what makes this such an excellent exercise,” she smiled, “We get to do this symbol all day…”

  He felt the perspective shift, again under her control, then they were looking down on the cramped room. Time resumed its linear flow and Tristan Westhouse walked back into his small quarters aboard the Sea-Bass, carrying his coffee cup. Some of the coffee dribbled down the side and ran under its base, just before he placed the cup down on the piece of paper.

  For a few minutes they watched as he went about his affairs, then he left the room, collecting his cup along the way. In the areas where they’d altered the electrostatic charge, an Exordi Nova symbol coffee stain was left behind. The dot was clearly visible.

  His daughter smiled at him.

  “For the next one, you get to do the whole thing.”

  By the time Douglas had finished, he’d placed coffee stain marks in several other locations and created scuff-marks around rotary dials.

  When they were ready for something more large scale, Douglas had selected the venue and the time. Arriving above Salisbury Plain Army Base in the July of 1991, Douglas selected the appropriate location; not too close to where his younger self was busily conducting the original Field tests, but close enough that their efforts would blend in with the events that followed.

  Douglas recalled that the fledgling Field emitter in control of anchoring the depth coordinate had failed. The Field had drifted upward, intersected the roof of the underground base and emerged into the landscape above it, leaving a large circular mark a short distance from Stone Henge. The mistake had only been discovered when photos had already appeared in the national press.