Doctor Sewell brought up the frozen image of a charred beach. "The passive synaptic interrogation I performed turned up an actual experience. Not like the regular interpretable memory fragments, but a perfect presentation of what Roman was experiencing while we were monitoring. I suspect it's thanks to the state he enters when he's receiving data from the machine."
"So, this is a playback?"
"Yes, the most recent version. He seems to be experiencing roughly the same point in time over and over again, as interpreted by a woman we've identified as Ayan Rice, currently living on the Tamber moon," said the doctor.
"Let's see it."
Doctor Sewell activated the playback and Fleet Warden Harrison's senses tingled as the direct projection overlay interfaced with her nervous system. She was not in control of what she was seeing, but was walking beside Ayan Rice, a shorter woman with red hair, on the beach. She recognized her image from some well-known negotiations for a land grant and sovereign rights. The media loved her, and she was one of the flash-points for long term residents’ rage against land grants and the Carthan governorship.
The smell of burnt wood mixed with the faint aroma of dead fish came on the heels of the sound of surf washing up and down the shoreline. Small craters of sand turned to glass dotted the landscape, and across the water she could see the Triton floating in the distance. The lights glittered in the shade of night like the hundred tiny eyes of a massive sea creature watching the shore. Past the smooth hull of the vessel the stars wavered and shifted, distorted by some high energy field.
"This is Haven Shore?" asked Roman, the voice rolling out of what Kimberly felt was her own mouth.
Ayan's reply seemed to have more weight, her British accent loaded down by her weariness. "This is the beginning of the Fifth Era, marked by a failure to make restitution, and the universal falling of mankind. I watched from this beach as the Fourth Fall of Humankind came to a conclusion, and thought I could create a home for the people I cared for. The people I had left, in any case."
"I never reached you," Roman concluded.
"I eventually arrived at your bedside. The confidence you inspired in me helped a great deal; my entire life was eventually redirected towards the creation of Haven Shore, but I was unwary. I arrived on this island and only left twice in the nine years since. This became a refuge, and a base of operations for what became a golden time." She stopped and turned, gesturing for Roman to look behind him.
As his gaze turned towards the burning wilderness and a half fallen tower holding landing platforms like wrecked arms, Kimberly Harrison could feel the breath catch in his chest.
Ayan went on. "Lorander and the British provided the work force, while the Carthans supported our independent offensive against the Order of Eden. Over the last nine years it's been our medical centre, base of operations for hundreds of missions, home to ship builders, and a beacon for small ships in trouble or looking to join the fight. Before it was finished, Jacob Valent ruined the progression of events that you and Citadel worked to put into motion. I only know this because Sol Defence has recently been forced to join the fight. The jeopardy that Citadel predicted for Earth decades ago has become a reality. You know exactly which event can cause this."
"Pandem was saved," Roman gasped. "How?"
"You died. Liam Grady took the Victory Machine, saw a future history he could not abide and sent Jacob through a crush gate that landed him somewhere near Lister Hampon and Eve herself. We thought it was a great victory, despite the sacrifices Liam Grady and Jacob Valent made. Carthans, Freegrounders, the British, and a hundred other nations all applauded the defeat of Eve and her Order. Pandem was saved. Within days, the population there turned, and millions of grateful immigrants became a human military force that joined the Eden Fleet in honour of two martyrs. The chain leading to these events is short. The encouragement you gave me in the short time we had to speak became the fuel that burned in my friends, and in Jacob. Liam Grady is gone, somewhere in the universe with the Victory Machine. Jacob returned last year after I was sure he was destroyed in orbit around Pandem. I should have known better, that's what Jacob does: for better or worse, he comes back."
"So he is the rogue element after all."
"No," Ayan corrected, a flash of anger behind the word. "I was his inspiration, he's told me as much. Even after everything he went through, he doesn't blame me but himself for everything that's happened after Eve and the True Prophet were killed. He also blames himself for infecting me with framework technology a few years ago, even though it's always been to my benefit."
"I have been pondering the path to expediting peace so humanity can be whole again for as long as I can remember now, and this was my best answer. Everything was in place. All I needed to do was make sure that there was a haven. There has to be an innocent place, where the wholeness of family can be remembered or the humanity of Earth will never recognize itself in the men and women of the stars," Roman told her. It was more like a recitation, being his mission in life for so long.
"You've found it. War and the silence of extinction are the quickest way to peace for humanity. A few frameworks will survive, like my people boarding the Triton. We can be immortal, in the image of humans, but we'll never be the same again. We’ll breed and normal humans will be born, but we won’t be able to resist implanting framework technology in them at birth. The Order of Eden is in decline. The Eden Fleet has enslaved them as a combined construct of human and machine. They're taking over system after system, and it's not even clear as to why they eradicate every human they find now. Optimism destroyed everything you and Citadel arranged by inspiring over-confidence in me which indirectly provoked others to violence."
"Then the turning point isn't far from the present, only weeks."
Fleet Warden Kimberly Harrison's connection to the direct projection overlay was severed. "What happened?"
"Somehow he's sensed that we're watching playback from his link to the Victory Machine," Doctor Sewell explained from where he stood in front of the image of Roman in bed.
He was sitting up, putting on his suit and looking straight at them as though he was simply in the next room.
"You're assuming too much," Doctor Kershaw told Sewell as she instructed the environmental system to add a calmative to the air in Roman's room.
Light began to emanate from the small box containing the Victory Machine, and Doctor Sewell shook his head. "He's draining energy from it early. Get people out of that section, we can't predict how big the crush gate he's creating is going to be."
"He's leaving?" Warden Harrison asked, alarmed. "Track him. I don't care how, I don't care what it takes."
Roman finished sealing his thick hood and disappeared.
Chapter 32
A Secret Likeness
“Put it down, and all will be forgiven,” Amber told Alice, her evening robe fitfully flapping in the cool evening air. The balcony ran the length of her luxury apartment, overlooking the vast cityscape and the ocean below. The gravity was only eighty one percent of optimal, but it just added to the airy feeling throughout Illihd Prime.
Alice would have subdued her before walking into her open safe, but the woman seemed occupied when Alice gained entry to her apartment. Little did Alice know that Amber’s horizontal dancing partner was one of her guards. The alarms went off when Alice left the safe with the Amber Heart safely tucked into a protective bag. He didn’t bother putting on clothes before arming himself and trying to corner her.
That’s how she ended up with her back to a railing, with a naked security guard pointing a nasty looking double-barrelled needle thrower at her. “Drop it, lady!” he barked.
“You know, I’m pretty sure you’re going to look back on this situation and laugh,” Alice said.
“You’re my replacement, aren’t you?” Amber asked with a sneer. “When did you start sleeping with him? Before or after I left? Did he promise you could keep that rock if you went back to him?”
“He�
��s not my type,” Alice replied. “But he seems to miss this more than he misses you, so he might forget to chase you if he gets the Amber Heart back in one piece.”
“That doesn’t belong to you,” Amber said, planting her hands on her hips and blowing a strand of dark hair out of her face. “Last chance.”
“Coming up to you, got a little distracted hiding from patrols,” Lewis told Alice through her subdermal communicator.
Alice glanced from the security guard to Amber and said. “You’re lucky this is all your husband is interested in,”
“Ex-husband!” Amber shouted.
“All right, ex-husband. He could have hired killers instead of thieves. If you let me go right out the front door, I won’t tell him where you are. You can just get on with your life with your security staff,” Alice said. “Well, maybe not the whole staff.”
“He’s probably tracked you here anyway,” Amber retorted. “I already have to leave, thanks to you. And I was just starting to settle in.”
“I’m tracker free, I just got tested,” Alice said, hoping that wisecracks and smiles would buy Lewis enough time.
“Shoot this bitch,” Amber said.
Alice leapt over the side of the railing, saying, “I hope you’re getting into-“ She was interrupted by a ripping pain that travelled from her temple through her eye. The air whistled in her ears as she plummeted towards the black waters below. Alice clutched the bag with one hand as she protected her bleeding eye socket with the other. She struck the freezing water with less force than she expected, but harder than she liked. Lewis hadn’t gotten there in time.
* * *
Eve sat up with a jerk and realized that she was back in her quarters. She was still in the long dress she’d put on that morning. Her reflex was to mentally reach out to the ship network, but all she connected to was the small computer assistant she’d built for herself days before. It told her three hours had passed and that she had passed out from dehydration.
They used something called an N-Slip to feed her in her sleep. Eve brought up a hologram of it and watched the diagram as a chubby worm-like biodevice filled with nutrients crawled down the patient’s throat to their stomach. The Regent Galactic marketing text hailed it as a reliable and easy way to feed the unconscious. Just the demonstration made her queasy.
As she rolled out of bed she realized something. They hadn’t installed a limiter chip yet. She was sure they’d use her food or water to deliver one, but she was wrong, and she couldn’t understand why. Before she reached the bathroom, she noticed the stars shimmering through the expansive view in her quarters. They were in a wormhole.
A mental query offered no results. The door opened, admitting the Child Prophet, who was grinning from ear to ear. “Feeling better?”
“Sure, but I’d rather eat on my own next time,” Eve replied. She retrieved a brush from her bathroom before returning her attention to him.
“The medics said you hadn’t eaten in well over a day, so they had to do something. They say the device was better than a tube or a more permanent solution. There’s something so much more important to talk about, now that you’re well again. Your speech.”
“I’m sorry, that must have been terrible, I was half out of my mind,” Eve said, not investing much emotional effort in the apology.
“Are you kidding? You won them! There was so much heart in what you were saying. Not all of it made sense, mind you, but it didn’t have to. Most of the people in the arena didn’t even see you collapse, just the first few rows. We caught you with a holographic overlay before anyone really noticed what went on. The broadcast version went out absolutely glitch free.”
“What do you mean? You used my image after I collapsed?” Eve asked.
“We used everything we could right up until the medics rushed the stage, then this took over,” the Child Prophet said, summoning a holographic image of the stage with her standing on it.
The holographic version of her said, “It’s so hot,” and instead of collapsing, she knelt down and accepted a bowl of water from the young woman Eve remembered paying so much attention to. She took a wet cloth from it and wiped her face, then that of the young woman’s. “That’s better,” she said, smiling up at the audience.
Eve stood up and backed away from the edge of the stage, looking across the masses there. “So many of you have risen through the ranks, earning accolades and proving that you are the brightest, most dedicated in the Order of Eden. We promised you rewards, we promised you paradise, and I’m here to make a new promise to you today. Humankind has dreamt of perfect immortality since we realized that each one of our existences would end. Our technology has allowed us to make perfect imprints of our memories, our DNA, and we’ve had incredible success in copying ourselves into clones, computer systems, and synthetic biological constructs of all kinds.”
The Eve on stage sighed and shook her head slowly. “That’s creative propagation, a new kind of breeding, just a copy. The original still dies, there’s no question that one existence has to end. If I were only human, and an assassin were to attack me right here, right now, I would come to an end under normal circumstances.” She stopped and smiled at the crowd, slowly scanning from left to right. “What a gift this life is, how precious, how rare, and how we love our time in this universe. Thanks to the gifts of the Order of Eden and the Regent Galactic Corporate Group, I will live forever. When my mind was freed from stasis and placed in this body, this miraculous form, it wasn’t without upgrades. I’m fully human, I can have children, I can bleed, and I’m not an android or cyborg in the ancient sense. I’m an immortal human, and I can maintain my youth if I want to, heal faster than most injuries can occur, and survive in any human-friendly environment indefinitely. All the pleasures of the human experience are available to me for all eternity. I had this done to myself first, so I would know for certain that it was safe, that it was perfect. Now I’m ready, now I’m sure it’s time to share it with the best of you. When I return to my ship, I won’t be going alone.”
Eve watched as the holographic version of herself knelt down as if to get closer to the audience and smiled. “The journey to paradise begins with the next stage of your existence. Those that have made the right rank will be given my gift, the gift of immortality in the body you dwell in right now. There will be no transfer of consciousness or termination of an old human form to preserve your uniqueness. You’ll go to sleep after taking a pill and wake up feeling the same as you did before, only you’ll be immortal. Paradise will be only a few ranks away, your glorious fate awaits.”
The hologram stood up straight and raised her arms. “I love you all, and thank you for your good service! The rewards are real! Immortality is real! Paradise can be yours!”
“Magnificent,” the Child Prophet said as he deactivated the playback. The room darkened in the absence of the sunny hologram.
Eve was irritated more than at any time since she’d been transplanted into her new body at the fact that they used her as a puppet. She didn’t know why she expected to be treated any other way, it’s what the Hampons – old and new - did.
“Nearly two hundred worlds will be seeing that over the next month, and that’s just counting places where we have converted people,” the Child Prophet continued.
“What about the girl, what happened to her?” Eve asked.
“Pardon? What girl?” he replied.
Eve hurriedly brought up the hologram and focused in on the young woman she made eye contact with during her real speech on stage. “That one,” Eve said, jabbing her finger at the projection.
The Child Prophet used the system to look her up and shook his head. “She was closer than most, but at only level nineteen, and being perpetually short on funds, she didn’t make it into the circle of the chosen. There were plenty of other candidates that were more impressive by far, so there’s no worry.”
Eve stared at him darkly for a long moment, and he didn’t give any indication of noticing. “I would
have liked to meet her. When are we going back?”
“To Pandem? Never, if we can help it,” the Child Prophet said with a chuckle. “If there’s any place that personifies the phrase ‘unwashed masses’, that’s it.”
“I want to go back,” Eve said. “Especially since my fleet is probably still there too, isn’t it?”
“They’re travelling with us, don’t worry. In fact, you have a meeting with Hampon scheduled, so he’ll be appearing in just a few seconds. That’s what I’ve come to tell you, really. It’s time for you to reconnect with your fleet. I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to it for some time.”
“Yes,” Eve said, already imagining the leverage she would have when she was connected to the Eden Fleet again. The wormhole’s distortion outside blurred, then dissipated. The transparent section of hull adjusted for the more intense blue-white light that poured in, lighting her quarters. She could see hundreds of Eden Fleet ships, all maintaining position near the Overlord II.
“Ah, good, we’ve arrived in the Ongaku system, the jewel of the sector.”
Eve recognized the name immediately. There was a planet and a moon that were naturally fit for human habitation. It was one of the goals of the Eden Fleet to reach such rare systems before she was disconnected from them the first time, over a century ago. “You’ve taken it?”
“We’re taking it now,” the Child Prophet said with a smile. “We can’t have hold-out systems like this so near our held territory. There are nine billion inhabitants in this solar system alone.”
“Nine billion?” Eve said. “That many fit on the habitable planets here?”
“No, there are two naturally habitable bodies here, yes, but since you were put to sleep they have terraformed four more.”
Most of the Eden Fleet began accelerating away, moving into attack formation. As many manned Order of Eden vessels joined them. A war was beginning right before her eyes.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework Page 28