Putting the glass back down on the table, Joseph’s eyes softened a bit. Yet to Trev they still held the same dangerous daggers that threatened to stab him right through his core. “I kept my business sense about me. I made my revenge against the Commonwealth into a business. Some people pay a lot for what I do. The religious extremists are especially the best.”
Joseph smiled again at Trev. “Do you understand the lesson here?”
Trev kept silent. Waiting for Joseph to tell him rather than give an answer that was wrong. He felt a wrong answer would be deadly.
“The lesson is don’t screw up,” Joseph said in a very leveled voice. “Or else you might not live long enough to realize it.” Joseph pointed to the door leading out of his room. “Now leave.”
Chapter 9
The Jupiter Rings were designed to be about fourteen miles wide at its outer diameter and twelve miles wide at its inner diameter. A large non-rotating docking platform was built in the center of the Ring so ships could easily dock and offload their cargo. This platform was connected to the Ring by tethers. Elevator systems rode the tethers just like the Stalks back on Earth. The Rings were initially designed to have the same capacity as the Arcologies on Earth. They were designed with hydroponics facilities for food with water supplied from the ice mines on Europa. The fusion generator systems were supplied with helium-3 mined from the clouds of Jupiter. Mines on the moon Callisto sent basic and precious metals to the Rings through the use of rail gun launch systems. The Rings occupied the space in the same orbit and moved at the same speed as Callisto. This allowed the Rings to have a lesser amount of shielding to protect itself from the severe radiation that occurred closer to Jupiter. Because of this the cloud mining facilities had to have a greater amount of shielding because they were much closer to the planet while the workers were restricted on how much time they spent working there. The Rings are on average two miles thick and is shaped like a curving cylinder, which is easier to pressurize. The inner residential area of the Ring, the part where there was a large amount of space that mimicked the open sky of Earth to a degree that satisfied the psyche of those living inside, is a mile and a half in width and a mile in height and shaped like a box. The factories, smelters, pipes, generators, hydroponics facilities, and all of the other systems necessary to support life in space were packed into the parts of the Ring that surrounded the inner area. The Rings were designed to house three hundred thousand each in population, however only two hundred and fifty thousand live in each one currently. The Rings were designed to produce a surplus of metal and fusion fuels, greater than what was possible to be mined on the surface of the Moon of Earth, to be sent back to Earth by the way of drone operated freighters.
-The History of the Earth Commonwealth
“Sir, Sydney command center says major riots have occurred in domes twenty three to twenty six and sporadic ones in sublevels four to five,” Beht said to Williams as Beht’s icon suddenly popped up into his Exovision.
Williams was leaning back in his favorite cloth lined recliner in front of his fireplace and his large viewscreen. He had on one of the Grav games that were taking place in the Asteroid Belt. It was Jupiter Ring Two versus Mon Olympus for the semi-finals of the System Cup. The score was eight to nine and it was in the last few minutes when Beht’s image appeared in the middle of his Exovision. The beer that was at Williams face suddenly went all over his shirt as he was startled by the sudden appearance. Williams pulse increased and adrenaline pumped into his blood stream as he began to soak in what Beht said. “Show me a visual, connect me to George,” Williams said to Beht.
Williams’ Exovision split into a double screen covering the middle part of his eyesight. On his left it showed one camera’s viewing dome twenty four of sublevel four. It was the lowest residential district with the rest of the four sublevels below it being the factories and below that the generators, water, and waste processing plants. It showed some people running through the streets and wearing pieces of cloth to cover their faces. Molotov cocktails filled with whiskey distilled from algae and yeast were being shown thrown into some of the buildings down there. Each sublevel had six domes ten kilometers wide and three hundred meters tall arrayed equidistant from a central spire that was at the center. That Central Spire contained all of the transportation methods going up and down the sublevels along with pipes that served other needs. At the apex of the dome was a light at the center giving light to the district and the ceiling cycled through showing light cloud covers. It was made to calm the psyche of humans living at large depths underground. However, it seemed there was no calming this crowd quickly.
The right screen in his Exovision showed George, his commander at Sydney’s command and logistics center (CLC) that was built alongside of Williams’ small personal Arcology. The CLC contained the departments that handled all of the logistics, trade, civil unrest, public transportation, and other areas relating a self-sufficient Arcology. However, a larger population in an Arcology still needs food and medicine produced from Earth’s Ring. “George here, sir,” George said as his image appeared. He was a retired colonel from the military and his skin showed his African ancestry.
“Tell me what is happening,” Williams said as he noticed a few fires beginning to spread from the views of the surveillance cameras, or at least from those that were working down there. The smoke was of a concern when an underground dome that was twelve hundred meters deep and had a ventilation system that was a bit over a hundred years old and was in the process of being upgraded, a massive project both necessary and at the moment over budget and very late. He also noticed that it was not an avatar of George’s face in his Exovision. George was using a microcam from his armchair but he did not look at it. Instead he was directing the CLC as he was talking to Williams. The man always wanted to make sure Williams knew how hard he worked.
“Sir, we are facing a riot on four domes, two of them residential. Approximately fifty thousand protestors have taken to the streets. I have had police barricade the four domes from their respective elevators and rails. No one is getting in or out,” George said.
“Where did it start?” Williams asked. He got up from his chair and started to head towards his virtual reality room that was dedicated for Senate use but could also be used for personal hologram calls. The room also was the access point to his most powerful quantum computer that was stored right above his personal fusion generator. It was the same computer that powered and enabled the CLC.
“The riot started in dome twenty four.”
“What’s the status of the ventilation project in these domes?”
George paused as he brought up the statistics from the Recycling Department. “Dome twenty three was just finished. Dome twenty four has half its vents closed and routed into dome twenty one. Domes twenty five and twenty six have not been started and are scheduled for next month to begin.”
“Great,” Williams said and sighed. It could not be worst. The cameras were showing the worst fires in dome twenty four. He had just lowered taxes on incomes and taxes on residential living areas in the sublevels. He thought that he had the majority of the population agreeing in his favor. He brought up the last poll that was taken yesterday. He saw that over eighty percent of the population was happy with him. Then why did they start this? “Are the special task forces going down yet?”
“The riot has only been going on for a few hours and it spread to four domes total. I have only taken preventive measures first to stop it from growing.”
“When do you plan sending them down?”
“In about one more hour.”
“Any idea who they are or who they represent?”
“We only have an idea so far. However our videos down there, as you know, are sporadic.”
“Just give it to me.”
“We think they are related to some underground Islamic friendly movements.”
Williams thought about that for a moment. He had entered into the virtual reality room and was pa
cing right behind the sole chair and desk that made up the room, a Spartan look that he preferred when it came to making decisions and to business. He remembered his meeting with his old prodigy, Senator Kino. “George, have any other of my Arcologies been affected by similar riots?” Williams asked.
“One moment please, sir,” George said. Williams watched as he furiously typed into the console in front of him and relayed some orders to those around him. “Sir, two more of your Arcologies are facing similar riots. Both in the same sublevels.”
“What about the other Senator’s Arcologies?”
“Sir, I would turn on the news,” George said as he looked directly into the microcam.
“Alright, stay in contact with me. Contact the other CLC commanders of the other Arcologies of mine. Support each other and let us see through this without too many people dying,” Williams said as he remembered that each dome held two and a half million people. George’s image winked out from his Exovision. He checked the time since it was still the morning before noon. Most of the day shift would be at their jobs in the factories below or the businesses above.
“Beht, cancel the video feed. Patch me into the Commonwealth News Channel,” Williams said to his personal RI.
“Working…” Beht said as the video screen on the left side winked out. Williams sat down in the chair as the Commonwealth News Channel popped up into the upper right hand corner of his Exovision. He used his Mindcursor to enlarge it so it took up all of his Exovision. Williams watched as the news channel started with the traditional two anchors sitting behind the desk in modern suits.
“Hello everyone, thank you for tuning in to the Commonwealth News Channel. I am Daniel Timmins,” said the male anchor.
“And I am Jane Torin,” said the female anchor.
“Today we have a breaking news story taking place in Arcologies world-wide.”
The video panned towards the female anchor. “Riots have taken place throughout Arcologies around the world. Let’s go to the front lines as we find out why this is happening.”
The video switched over to the male anchor. “Yes, let’s go to Shwani McRoy inside dome twenty one of the Paris Arcology.”
The video switched over to an attractive dark skinned female reporter wearing a modern business casual dress. She looked into the camera, which was implanted into her assistant’s eye. She had one as well, but people still preferred to watch someone speaking rather than hearing an omnipresent voice talking over a video scene. “Thank you Dan and Jane. I come to you here at the lower depths of the Paris Arcology. It is here where the riots started on the fourth sublevel, in dome twenty one.
“As you can see some of the residents here have taken to the streets. However, this type of scene is being repeated world-wide. We have confirmed that out of the five hundred and forty eight Arcologies, about three hundred have been infected with these riots. The Arcologies mostly not affected are those on the North American and South American continents. However, all Arcologies in Europe, North Africa, Asia, and Australia have been reporting these riots. Most Arcologies have seemed to seek to contain the riots in their selected domes.”
Shwani paused for a second and gestured out towards the scene behind her. “Some though have taken measures to ensure a strict crack down on these riots using specialized sections of the police forces dedicated to the domes. And even others like the Paris Arcology have called in the Commonwealth Army Reserves for reinforcements.”
In the background behind the reporter the two sides clashed one of the wide main streets. Small personal cars and taxi cabs were overturned and burning randomly throughout the street. Around a hundred police officers, dressed in mechanized riot gear, walked in a standard phalanx formation as they approached the ragged group of protesters. Their shields had a soft interlocking nano-mechanism that caused them to stitch together to seem like it was one huge shield. All it took was a single button near the officer’s fingers to disengage it. In their other hand they held onto an old fashion baton that had an electroshock feature.
The crowd of a few hundred people ran towards to police line, crashing into the shields without fear from the officers or the four Mark III Police Robots, older versions of the Mark IVs used in the Jupiter Rings, right behind them. The rioters bounced off of the police line as other rioters behind them began to throw Molotov cocktails at the officers themselves. The police were impacted by several of the fire bombs, igniting their armor. However they were sealed off from the outside world. The fires did little damage to the suits, but officers could only stay in flames for fifteen minutes or they would risk asphyxiation because of a low supply of internal air.
The fires did not do little damage to the unprotected rioters. Dressed in rags and drenched in sweat, their clothing only took a few seconds before it ignited when they collided against the few officers that were covered in flames. Some officers behind the police line carried extinguishers to stop the fires, but still some officer’s perished from the flames engulfing them. Second and third degree burns were easy for nanomeds to fix. Death, though, was permanent.
The battle raged on in the background as the Shwani stepped backed into the view of the camera. She continued her speech as rioters continued to try to break the police line. “This scene here is being repeated worldwide. After speaking with a few of the rioters here and talking to a self-named leader of a large group of them, I can shed some light on why these events are transpiring.” The video zoomed in onto Shwani as she paused for a few seconds. “They say they are part of an underground Islamic movement that is against the Commonwealth’s repression of the Islamic Republic that itself has been in civil war for the last two centuries between Shi’ites and Sunnis. This is Shwani McRoy, reporting on scene.”
Williams cancelled out the news feed from his Exovision before it could go back to the newsroom. He called up George again onto his Exovision. Controlling a not so small rage building up inside of him, he managed to give George an order before he would have to join the Senate meeting that would inevitably follow an event such as this. He told George, “Find out how the hell my intelligence network costing me a hundred million Energens did not know of this happening before the damn news channels did and see if you can grab some of them alive for interrogation.”
Chapter 10
Each dome of an Arcology can be considered a city in its own right. However, the domes above were meant to be living areas for the workers of the factory domes below. After nearly a century of humans living in Arcologies, classes began to form specifically dependent on where the person lived. If the person lived below the surface than they were considered to be of a lower class while those living above the surface were considered to be of a higher class. For most Arcologies the surface dome was a kilometer high, twenty kilometers wide, and supported by the three distinct levels of buildings built inside. The closer one person lived to the ceiling of the Arcology the more wealthy they were considered to be. The ability to see the sun through the semi-transparent shield of the dome was considered to be a luxury. Because of this, land values of the third surface level were so high that only a few could afford it. Most Senators had their living quarters in this area for themselves and for their typically large clans. This is not to say that the people living below the surface were in poverty. It was only those in the lowest of the residential domes, those closest to the factories, which were considered to be below the poverty line and were typically victimized by gangs. Most Senators found it to be economically unfeasible to stamp down on the gangs until they reached a certain level. This has also caused most of the highest gang leaders in Arcologies to come together to control their growth and their territories without attracting too much surface attention. The worst job to have in the lowest residential domes is said to be that of a Police Officer due to low pay, high corruption, and the highest concentrations of crime.
-The History of the Earth Commonwealth
Exsid ended his jog as soon as he reached the hospital entrance on the plane
t side of the Ring. Breathing a bit harder than he thought he would, he brought up his heart rate onto his Exovision display. Seeing a number that was embarrassing for someone with as many artificial blood cells and other nanotech improvements as he had, he reminded himself to hit the gym again and to never tell Darvin about this little bit of information. Exsid also swore he would stop drinking during watching his Grav games, then he reminded himself that that was a promise he could just not keep.
Entering into the hospital, Exsid had the computer at the entrance scanned his Biocomp for his identification number to check him in. He logged onto the hospital’s private server and accessed the directory information and patched it onto his Exovision. Looking up the little girl’s name Betty, he found about eighteen different hits. He narrowed it down to children under the age of ten and found only three hits available. The doctor never told him Betty’s last name, so Exsid figured he would have to do it the old fashion way and go to each one in turn until he found her.
Exsid walked down the hallway to the elevator system. The hallway was crowded with wounded from the Rebel attack that started just over twelve hours before now. Every now and then he saw a Commonwealth Marine in their standard Powered Exoskeleton Armor. It was similar to the black power exosuits the Rebels were wearing, except the Marine’s version was bigger and seemed to be stronger and better armored. But the Marine’s gauss rifles seemed to be the same size and caliber as that of the rifles that the Rebels were using. Were they using the rifles stolen from the Armories that quickly? Exsid thought about that, but it couldn’t have been true. The Armories were supposedly ransacked during the same time as the explosions on the Police Stations. That would mean the Rebels were supplied before the Armories were attacked by someone or something with access to high technological weapon systems. He had only heard reports of some pirates and raiders operating in the Asteroid Belt with that type of technology. But even then, how did they get over to the Jupiter System and how did they get inside the Rings?
Rebels of Jupiter Page 13