by J Battle
Debois sighed internally. Was he going to have to give them a lesson in plate tectonics?
‘It’s not a small reservoir,’ he continued, his tone completely relaxed. ‘Jack has performed an exhaustive series of scans, so there is no doubt. No doubt at all.’
Surprising everyone, including herself, Sarah stood up and spoke.
‘You have to do this. You have to trust Jack. He saved us, he saved you before, and he will save you now. That’s all I have to say. Trust Jack. This is what he does.’
Max clapped as she sat down. Debois brushed his palms soundlessly together, uncertain what had astounded him most. Sarah’s public-speaking or her audience’s reaction to her words. There was some muttering, but there were also nods, and even three people clapping.
Jeremiah looked disgruntled, turning his head from side to side as he watched the crowd’s reactions, obviously worried that he’d lost their support. A born politician, he wasn’t going to let his own beliefs get in the way.
‘Despite my personal fears for the safety of our great Skytree, I feel that it is in the interests of my fellow tree dwellers that we agree to let Jack save us.’ There was a nod, and some favourable sounding muttering.
Debois glanced at Sarah, who was trying not to smile too broadly.
Had her simple, heartfelt words really swayed the crowd? Or was it just her styled hair and perky breasts?
Chapter 47
The day finally arrived.
The water surrounding the small island boiled as usual, the steam hiding the bulk of the cutters. As the sun was still low in the pale blue sky, Skytree’s shadow stretched to the horizon.
Jack and Debois were on board the ship, preparing to watch the show from a safe distance. Max and Sarah were also there. They wouldn’t transfer to their permanent new home on Skytree until after the process was completed. If things didn’t go to plan, they might not transfer at all.
Jack received the signal from Arrow that the tree dwellers were ready with everyone strapped into place. There was no need for further delay so he instructed his AI to start proceedings.
High above, the asteroid’s mass drivers were activated and it began slowly to accelerate, drawing the Tethers tighter and tighter.
Down below, the cutters sliced through the base of Skytree in one clean cut. The support fields were switched on, to prevent the great tree from being torn apart by the opposing forces pulling at it. The fields gave the trunk a strange blue glow that made it all seem unreal.
For a second, nothing seemed to happen. The forces were in perfect balance; the Tether pulling one way, gravity the other. Then the tree began to rise, centimetres at a time; then it was metres; then 10’s of metres. The blue glow was dulled as the containment field was activated and Skytree flew into the sky.
The ship followed behind and soon the pale blue sky was no longer pale. And then it was no longer blue; just the utter blackness of space.
The tree was dragged along behind the asteroid as it raced around the planet, the Tethers stretching kilometres ahead of it. Then they began to shorten and the tree was slowly drawn towards the asteroid, its human inhabitants protected by their strappings and the atmosphere held in by the containment field. The animal tree dwellers were probably not having such a good time.
After only a few hours, Skytree was close to the asteroid and the containment field was narrowed to carefully bend its branches closer to the trunk, to enable the tree to pass inside the asteroid, to its new home.
With the tree safely inside, the entrance was covered and sealed. Then the wormhole fabricators went into action, forming two wormholes on the planet, one a little above sea level, one just below, and corresponding wormholes in the asteroid.
With the direct link between the wormholes formed, water and air began to pour into the asteroid. In less than two days, the transfers were complete and all four wormholes were deactivated.
The asteroid was now a habitat, filled with air, water, earth that had been transferred earlier from the sea bed, and a bright artificial sun.
There were however no dells. Well, not yet anyway.
It was soon time for tearful departures.
There was considerable hugging involved. Mostly between Debois and Sarah, and then between Debois and Max. Sarah even hugged Number Four, who’s opinion of this degree of intimacy was never clearly expressed.
Then she came to Jack. She paused for a second, unsure. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave a brief, intense squeeze.
‘Thanks for saving us, and the tree, and the tree people.’
Jack placed one hand on her shoulder.
‘Have a good life Sarah. And you, Max.’
‘There’s something …,’ she began to say, but her words were drowned out by Debois.
‘It’s going to be so drab here, just me and the metal men. We are going to miss you so much, with your funny little ways and your rather noisy love making. And your cute little smile, Max.’
The moment was lost and Sarah felt bad that she hadn’t been able to tell Jack the truth.
But she stepped into the airlock with Max, hand in hand. As they cycled through, she looked up at Max and gave his hand a squeeze. They had started their adventure in a habitat and now, unbelievably, they were going to finish it in one.
As the ship pulled away from the habitat, Debois glanced at Jack.
‘Say you’re sad, Jack. Go on. Admit that you’ll miss the little mites.’
There was no response from Jack.
Chapter 48
Number Five: Mk II didn’t know it, but he was just 20 hours behind Jack, when he arrived at Springhaven.
He stood on the small island for only a short time, feeling the heat rise through the rock. He could sense that the containment field would soon fail and allow the boiling magma to burst into the air.
But, shouldn’t there be a tree here?
**********
‘So, Jack. We’ve made three attempts, and struck out twice. Just the one success.’ He glanced at Number Four standing by the back bulkhead, as Number Seven had done.
‘I hope you have plans in place to improve your strike rate. Are we going to pay Number Two a visit next? I think that is still the most urgent situation.’
‘There is no need to pay him a visit. That situation has been resolved.’
‘I don’t see him here. And you haven’t used the virus on him. I’d know.’
‘The virus has been removed, and destroyed.’
‘I see. And when did you resolve the situation? Presumably at some stage when I was in stasis.’
‘Before we went to Turquoise, we stopped off on the way.’
‘Oh my. You do like your little secrets, don’t you?’
Debois was lounging on his chaise long, wearing a bright blue outfit, so tight that you could almost see his lunch.
‘And in what way, exactly, has the situation been resolved?’
‘Number Two will hold his position, but no longer continue the replications. He will remain passive as long as he receives confirmation signals from me. When I am safely arrived on Earth, with my family, and have lived out my full allotted years, Number Two will receive the instruction to stand down and dismantle the replicants.’
‘So this is your long term insurance option. And presumably Number Four here is your short term one; him and whoever else you succeed in collecting. Am I right so far?’
‘Spot on.’
‘So, your medium term plan is the habitat, Five Little Fish. You haven’t told me what you’ve done with it, have you?’
‘No. But I’m sure you can work it out.’
‘Okay, let’s see if I can decipher your Machiavellian scheme. Number Four here will deal with any immediate problems with your placement on Earth. Number Two is long term, but it might be quite some time before his actions impact on Earth. And Earth’s AI might take a chance and not fulfil its part of the agreement. So you need a guaranteed sanction; something that it can be sure will
come Earth’s way, with disastrous consequences, unless you, or at least a version of you, are there to stop it.’
Debois was no longer lounging.
‘You are threatening to destroy Earth with Five Little Fish! That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve set it on a course, a collision course, to impact somewhere near the end of your expected life on Earth. Is that it? Is that what you’ve done, Jack?’
‘Just about spot on.’
‘But, that is so extreme!’
‘What can I say? I’m an extreme kind of guy.’
‘You can’t do this, Jack. You really can’t put Earth at risk this way.’
‘Earth will only be at risk if its AI doesn’t play ball.’
Debois could do nothing but shake his head.
Chapter 49
Jack felt the ice crunch beneath his foot as he climbed out of the car. It was two days before Christmas and the papers were offering odds of only 2/1 against a white Christmas.
He’d been away for three weeks, most of that time spent in Germany and he’d taken the opportunity to visit a Christmas market, where he’d bought the compulsory bauble for the tree. The tree had started out with a gold and maroon colour scheme, but, wherever they travelled, together or separately, they brought back baubles in whatever colour appealed to them. So the colour scheme was diluted somewhat. Jack was delighted that he’d found a gold bauble trimmed with maroon ribbons; it was perfect.
When he reached the front door of their homely cottage, he realised that he had mislaid his house keys, so he sighed and knocked on the door. He was a little surprised that Ben hadn’t rushed out to see him when he pulled up, after all, it wasn’t very late.
There was no answer to his knocking, so he moved to one side and peered through the window. He could see the couch and part of the mantel piece; nothing else. He rang Julie’s mobile; again there was no answer. Beginning to feel a little anxious, he walked around the side of the cottage to the back, where he’d be able to see more clearly through the French windows.
But there was still no-one there.
He tried the door and was surprised to find that it opened. Julie was always much more security conscious than he was, she would never have left the door unlocked.
Inside, the ground floor was empty. He checked the kettle but there was no trace of heat. His heart was hammering as he climbed the stairs.
The bedroom he shared with Julie was silent and lifeless. He opened the wardrobe; it was full, but it only contained his clothes. There wasn’t a feminine item to be found.
When he went to Ben’s room, he froze in the doorway. There was no bedroom furniture at all; just an old exercise bike and a computer desk.
His family were gone, as if they had never existed in the first place.
**********
The planet was named Occlusion and was situated more than six hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Crux.
Their journey had been a little frosty, with Debois more than a little upset at Jack’s plans and not giving up on his attempts to dissuade him.
‘Get over it,’ snapped Jack, as they began their approach.
‘Earth’s AI played hardball with me, you can hardly be surprised if I reciprocate in the same way.’
‘You’re risking the whole planet, so you can have your way. Don’t you think that’s a little more than hardball? Don’t you think it’s a bit megalomaniacal? You’ve done some ridiculously terrible things in your long life, Jack. But I’ve always thought they were unintended consequences. This time you know exactly what you are doing.’
‘Yes, I know what I’m doing. And when I return to Earth, all they have to do is let me land, and everything will be alright. I know what I’m doing, Michelle.’
‘Do you, Jack. Do you really?’
Debois studied Jack’s enigmatic face. Was now the time to tell him? To stop this madness here and now? Just finish it and accept the consequences.
But there was a job still to be done. There were other replicants still out there and each one they gathered in was another threat prevented. So the charade would have to continue to its bitter end.
The ship began to judder as they entered the edges of Occlusion’s atmosphere, and the time for conversation was over.
Chapter 50
The ship dipped below the thick white cloud layer and the earth below was revealed to them as they raced along the jagged coastline.
The dark grey sea lapped against the stony beach, hardly raising a froth against the shallow incline. The heading they were on took them north, where the beach rose to low cliffs, white on their exposed faces, studded with stunted trees on their landward side.
They left the coast and flew inland, over low rounded hills, coated with a course grass and dotted with more unhealthy looking trees. The land rose and the hills became mountains, cold and rocky and white capped.
They came to rest on a high plateau resting between three looming peaks.
‘Is this where we’ll find Number Three?’ asked Debois, ending the extended period of silence.
‘Not here,’ replied Jack. ‘We’ll meet him later. But first I want you to see something. We’ve arrived at the perfect time of the year for it. It’s a once in a life time experience. You have to see it. ’
‘When you sell it like that, how can I possibly refuse?’
They left the ship and glided up to the base of the nearest peak, Jack leading the way.
Debois fought a shiver as they began to rise up the sharp steep rock face. His suit kept his body warm but the idea of all that ice and cold rock and the height itself, was affecting him.
They reached a flat area, a little below the highest point of the peak with the sun resting on the distant eastern horizon, burning the sky a dusty orange. Within a matter of minutes, the sun was gone, leaving just the glow behind it.
‘Look,’ said Jack, turning due west.
Debois followed his instruction and stared up at the dull sky. It wasn’t really dark as, this close to the galactic centre, there were so many more stars than were normally visible from Earth.
‘Well. It’s all very nice, I’m sure.‘ He turned to Jack. ‘But I don’t think it’s that special.’
‘You need to wait a bit longer. You haven’t seen it yet. It’ll probably be another hour or so.’
So they waited on the cold mountain top, a vicious icy wind threatening to disturb the topography of Debois’s hair. The hour passed without much in the way of conversation. Both were lost in their own thoughts; their own plans.
At first Debois noticed nothing; the sky didn’t seem changed at all. Then Jack nudged him.
‘There,’ he said, pointing westward.
Debois followed the direction of his finger. There was a line of complete darkness edging eastwards, blocking out his view of the stars. As they watched, the area of blackness increased until 75% of the sky was taken up. The black area was narrower close to the horizon, and grew wider as you looked up. There were now stars visible on both sides, but the centre seemed completely empty.
‘It’s the Coalsack,’ said Jack. ‘A dark nebula. There are actually stars inside, but their light is deflected by the dust, so we can’t see them, even though we’re less than a 100 light years from the nearest.’
Silently they stared at the sky as the nebula slowly rolled across it.
‘There’s more,’ said Jack, as Debois began to get a little restless.
With the Coalsack occupying the eastern edge of the sky, the western edge began to grow brighter. Debois checked his watch. That was a short night, he thought; only 4 hours or so.
But it wasn’t quite morning yet.
More and more stars appeared until the whole of the western half of the sky was filled with light from a square area of stars. At the top of the square, were three incredibly bright blue white stars. Just below centre, was another, equally bright. Pride of place was taken by a great orange star in the centre.
‘That my friend, is the Jewel Box Star
Cluster, or Kappis Crusis, to give it its proper name. Pretty impressive.’
‘It’s wonderful,’ whispered Debois, His eyes drifting back and forward across the sky, from the Coalsack to the Jewel Box.
‘What sort of people would live under such a sky? What would it do to their minds to see this every night? How could they even think about the mundane, the day to day details of their existence? When they have this before them.’
Jack let his eyes dawdle across the sky.
‘They probably don’t even look up,’ he said at last, turning back to reality.
Chapter 51
Back in the ship, they flew away from the mountain range and into the centre of the continent, flying low over the countryside.
They could see highways below, with cities and towns dotted along them.
But the highways were empty and, even when they flew lower, there was no sign of life on the streets of the cities. Outside and around the cities, they could see farm land that was plainly not being cultivated.
‘Where is he?’ asked Debois.
‘There is a large city up ahead. He’s there.’
‘Is there something stopping him from coming to us?’
‘The situation is a little unclear at the moment.’
‘Oh dear. I don’t like the sound of that.’
‘I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.’
After only a few moments more flight, they approached a much larger city, on the gentle slopes on either side of a slow wide river. They landed on a patch of grass, beside the river’s eastern bank.
Before they had even had a chance to open the door, a crowd had gathered around the ship.