by Alec Taylor
21. REPERCUSSIONS
Within days, JOSEV implemented an onerous program of psychological assessment and risk management. They forced changes to rooming and implemented a new buddy system. Security was required to systematically assess and catalogue every object ever created on, or brought to Mars for potential use as a weapon; and we were ordered to summarily stamp out mushroom production and consumption.
Security was missing a team member after Glen’s death, so Karl reassigned Jan to our team on a semi-permanent basis. Our first task in the wake of Glen’s psychotic meltdown was to identify any potential weapons and recommend a risk-management approach: monitor, secure, eliminate. At first it seemed straightforward. We started by visiting Agriculture, where Glen had found the scythes.
The first greenhouse outside the main airlock had become a storeroom for all agricultural equipment. The moment that Jan and I walked in, we knew we had a problem—there were piles of dangerous tools that had been created over the years and they were simply stacked in one corner of the greenhouse.
“Right,” said Jan.
“Yep, I’ve never really thought about that as a pile of weapons before. We need to build a new storeroom for Agriculture, with a lockable door.”
“Um…yes.”
“But we know that biometric systems access can be hacked, so it will need an old-fashioned passcode system for the door. And Agriculture will have to periodically change the code.”
“I can ask JOSEV to start working on the passcode system,” said Jan.
“Back on Earth?” I replied. “Surely we can ask Liu to write it? You saw what he did in the storm; he could write this program in an hour, or maybe a day. We already have the spare screens and we can ask Manufacturing to build the locks. If we ask JOSEV, they’ll spend days debating our solution and then weeks building the storeroom. This way, we can get it done quickly.”
“Oh, okay, I suppose,” said Jan.
After Agriculture, we toured the outer colony. As Jan and I walked up to a buggy, I suddenly realised that every vehicle on the planet could be stripped for weapons.
“Jan, the buggies.”
“What about them?”
“Well, apart from the sharp and pointy things that could be unscrewed from them, they each have a Tobler engine. Remember that US prototype? We know it’s possible to make a proton gun out of an engine.”
Jan looked back at the buggy and realisation spread across his face.
“Wait,” I said. “That would take forever. Just to remove an engine from the chassis would probably take a day or two. Then converting it into a weapon—that would take much longer. All we need to do is have an inventory of all the engines on Mars and react quickly if one goes missing.”
“That sounds right,” said Jan. “But we’ll need someone to give us a list of every engine that has come here. I can ask JOSEV for that.”
“Fine.” I thought we could probably look it up ourselves, but I didn’t want to disagree with him again.
We drove around the colony and finally stopped in front of the power plants.
“You don’t think someone could convert a power plant, do you?” I asked Jan. “Or at least, tamper with one so it exploded or something.”
“Um…”
“Okay, so that is one that I definitely think JOSEV should think about. Why don’t you ask them if it’s possible?”
“Okay.”
As we drove back to the hangar, I started thinking through what was required to build a storeroom for agricultural tools. Then, as I was imagining the parts we might need Organic Manufacturing to create, I suddenly realised that there was a ready-made weapons factory already there on Mars.
“Jan—Organic Manufacturing.”
“What about them?”
“They have 3D-printing machines that make almost anything out of hardened plastic: tools with the hardness of steel, small moving parts, anything. We need to limit access to their space, probably with another lockable door.”
“Yes,” said Jan, “but we should also add an approval process to the operation of each machine so all production has to be endorsed by a manager.”
I nearly reminded him that Eli had been a General Manager, but I let it go.
“Sure,” I said.
When we got back to the Security Office, we gave Pete an update.
“So,” he said when we finished, “we can limit access to all agricultural tools and Organic Manufacturing. We’ll create an inventory of Tobler engines, and JOSEV will think about the power plants. What about everything else inside the colony?”
“We’ll look around and try to identify anything potentially dangerous,” I said.
“Okay,” said Jan, “but don’t we also need to worry about weapons that can be made from other things?”
Pete and I didn’t say anything. Combinations of ordinary household items started swirling around my mind and I was already starting to feel bored.
“We have to brainstorm the conversion and combinations of every physical object in the colony,” said Jan. He seemed to be looking forward to the laborious task.
Pete actually winced as if he was in pain.
“Hold on,” I said. “Let’s turn the problem upside down and search for examples of home-made weapons on Earth. We can list some generic examples and try to create them using only things that are available in the colony, without Organic Manufacturing.”
“Yeah, okay, let’s do that,” said Pete with a sigh of relief.
*
A few days later, I got a call from Liu. He asked me to come up to his office.
“Mike, I’ve discovered something. Disconnect your locator battery.
“Okay…”
“I wasn’t happy with network performance and was running some diagnostics when I found a ghost program using a ton of resources.”
“What do you mean by a ghost program? What is it? What does it do?” I asked.
“It’s collecting sensor data, including live video and audio from every suit in the colony, and pushing all the content back to JOSEV.”
“What? Are you sure?” I asked, frowning.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I found the program and decompiled the code. It was written in simple old-school Java. It’s dropping content and a log and gradually beaming it all back to Earth. I managed to update the log to conceal my actions, so they shouldn’t even know that I found it.”
I thanked him and suggested that he keep it to himself for now.
A few days later, Security received a request from JOSEV to ensure that all sensors on all suits were fully operational, but they didn’t mention the spying program. I personally sent a message to all colonists, without clearing it with Pete. It asked everyone to ensure their transmitters were functioning properly, because JOSEV was now monitoring all suit sensors. It also informed them that Security would be checking all suits for integrity.
After that, a lot of people started disconnecting the batteries on their suits after they finished work, then reconnecting them in the morning. Karl and Jan were cold toward me for a few days after my message, but they never raised it with me directly, and eventually everything seemed to return to normal.
During this time, Jan would periodically disappear and then reappear a while later without explanation. Pete didn’t seem to care where he was, but I was curious, so one time I followed him. He simply went next door, to the Executive Office. I could hear Jan’s voice inside, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I had to assume he was privately briefing Karl on everything happening in Security.
After a while, Jan made it clear that he wanted to transition into our team permanently and he had Karl’s strong support. Pete was tempted to simply formalise the transfer and be done with it. I wasn’t so sure.
Jan could do the administrative work and had an attention to detail that was useful for some activities, like the potential weapons review. But he had no security experience and I never felt that he was being completely honest with us. I was not comfort
able with his private briefings with Karl. But, most importantly, I still suspected that he had played a role in Eli’s suicide.
I decided to find out more about Jan, so I reread his bio and tried to get him to open up in conversation. I knew that he had roomed with Eli for a long time, and I discovered that he hadn’t found a new roommate until the recent rooming change requirement. He, like Glen, came from the JOSEV talent program, which was a little unsettling. However, while Glen had become unstable, Jan had remained very calm and in control. He seemed to be cleverly navigating the colony, like he was playing a slow and careful game of chess.
When I asked Jan about his interests and life outside of work, he gave mainstream answers. I tried talking about TV shows and the unsettling news from Earth; he briefly commented on every subject, with some knowledge and insight but no real interest. It was as if he spent his time preparing for trivial, casual conversations.
One day, I asked Jan about his views on the colony and its challenges around criminalisation and the law.
He said, “We’re here to harvest isotopes for the joint venture parties. We should do exactly what JOSEV wants us to do. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just like any other office job and we are required to do exactly what management wants, whenever they want it.”
I was starting to see some flaws in his philosophy.
Jan’s whole life was dedicated to his work. Perhaps that made him the perfect candidate for the Security role, but I felt that he was missing the open mind and objectivity required in our team. So I made a case to Pete to go through a formal hiring process, and he eventually agreed—I think he wanted to at least appear to be transparent and open.
Pete sent out a message to all existing colonists and the new recruits on the ship heading to Mars, asking for expressions of interest in working on our team. He received over 20 applications and asked for my help in the selection process. I put several of the applicants in a bucket that I called ‘nothing relevant’—they didn’t have any experience or education that directly related to security, and we would only tap into them if none of the rest were suitable. I would have put Jan in that bucket if he hadn’t been on loan in our team for a few weeks.
Of the remaining candidates, there were a couple of standouts. There was a strong candidate on the ship coming from Earth, named Ying. She had been in the Chinese army reserves and had studied some law at university. However, the other standout applicant was already in the colony and had even rotated through Security in her first year. Candice was working in Harvesting but had a law degree and had spent a month rotating in Security in the second Earth-year of the colony. She was good at her job, had a spotless record, and had received very positive performance appraisals. I guessed that she was bored in Operations.
We asked the three candidates to submit pre-recorded answers to interview questions, as Ying would be unable to perform an interview in real-time. Ying’s response was charismatic and funny, but a little naïve. Candice was surprisingly nervous on camera.
Jan’s response was flawless. Either he had received training in presentation skills or he was a natural. He might have been reading from an auto-cue behind the camera—I thought I saw his eyes track from side to side a few times. His answers were clear and well structured, emphasised his strengths, and neutralised his weaknesses. He even smiled at the camera a couple of times. It was polished, though it decidedly lacked authenticity.
Pete and I sat down to talk about the three candidates while Jan was out meeting with Karl again.
“So, what do you think?” I asked.
“I think I know what you’re gonna say,” said Pete, “and I really liked Candice and Ying, but I’m gonna have to give it to Jan.”
“Why?” I asked. “I mean, Ying is probably the weaker candidate, but don’t you think Candice is better qualified? Wouldn’t she be great?”
“Sure. In fact, I know she would—she worked here, remember. She was great, once she settled in. But you saw her video.”
“That was mostly nerves. If she’d written her answers, you’d have a different view.”
“Yeah, you might be right. But she wasn’t good on camera, and it won’t impress Karl. Actually, I need a damn good reason not to give it to Jan.”
“Hiring Ying would help with the Chinese investors.”
“Yeah,” said Pete, “and that matters, but it’s not a good enough reason for Karl. At least Jan is from Europe and isn’t American or independent.”
“Well, how about Jan’s lack of experience? I mean, apart from the last few weeks, he has no relevant experience at all. I know he’s been fine here, but he just doesn’t have any grounding in security and that was always a problem with Glen.”
“That’s why we’ve got you and me, though,” replied Pete. “We’ve got enough security experience between us that we can hire anyone and train them into the job.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I replied. “But Glen was coming from a completely different perspective; it wasn’t just training that he was lacking. I had to continually explain why we needed to be objective. I get a little of the same sense with Jan.”
“Yeah, I guess we’ll have to guide him a bit. But Glen was a nutcase; you can’t look for any similarities between them.”
“Do you trust Jan?” I asked impulsively.
Pete paused and I realised my question had been indelicate.
“Karl does,” he replied, “and that should be enough for anyone.”
I shrugged and let it go.
In the end, Pete didn’t even really consider Ying or Candice, only whether they would be strong enough for him to take to Karl over Jan. They both failed that test, so he offered the permanent role to Jan, who barely even smiled when Pete told him—he was not surprised. In a little twist of fate, Karl decided to hire Ying to replace Jan in his office. Unfortunately, and perhaps ungenerously, I suspected it was because she was good looking.
So Jan joined our team permanently and we continued to implement a string of directives from JOSEV. However, Security’s job was easy compared to Medical’s.
22. THERAPY
Chris and her team were told to administer a generic survey to all colonists (‘My future seems hopeless: Not at all, Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, Very much’), which most people had trouble taking seriously. Then JOSEV told Medical to use the survey to prioritise deep psychological assessments, including virtual reality behavioural simulations. Tony was called up for a psych assessment in the first round. That night, in our room, I asked him about it.
“She asked me about my family history,” said Tony, “a whole bunch of questions about my childhood, career, everything. I told her that I was briefly a professional downhill skier before switching to plumbing. And how I really love fusion jazz ’cause the crazy random sounds help me space out. I couldn’t keep going, though; she was looking a bit broken.”
“I’m proud of you,” I said. “Why were you in the first round, anyway?”
He bowed his head and gave me an embarrassed grin.
“Oh,” I said, shaking my head.
“I was just joking around and Chris knew it, but she had to submit our raw responses and it seems that nobody in JOSEV has a sense of humour. They chose the people in the first round, and I was one of them.”
“Well, you got what you deserved!” I said.
“I suppose. You’re screwed, too, you know. I had to nominate people for three-sixty-degree feedback. You’re gonna be interviewed about me.”
“Great, thanks. Shall I tell them the truth?”
“That I’m a sexual tyrannosaurus and you’re feeding off my scraps?”
“No, that you’re a narcissist bordering on sociopathy.”
“Yeah, okay. What are they gonna do, anyway? We’re a million miles away and nobody is better with a plunger on a blocked toilet than me.”
“Lucky for that.”
After that first round of psych tests and interviews, JOSEV allocated every colonist to a gr
oup for ‘team-building sessions’. The medical team were trained to implement the sessions, which were all recorded for review back on Earth. The sessions were an exercise in futility—asking people to share their deepest fears while a camera was recording for people back on Earth was never going to work. Each session was an hour of awkward silences.
I knew a few faces in my group session. Twelve colonists sat around in a circle in the infirmary, wearing nametags and nervously avoiding eye contact. Three cameras on tripods stood outside the circle, staring in at us.
“Hi, everyone,” said Chris with a smile. “Most of you know me already. I’m Chris and I’ll be facilitating this session today.”
There were a few half-hearted smiles and nodding heads around the circle.
“This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow colonists,” she continued, “share the experiences we’ve had here, and open up about the stresses in our lives.” She smiled again. “We’re asking everyone to share their worries and fears, and we’ll all see that we’re going through the same hardships together.” She paused again. “Does anyone have any questions before we get started? No…? Okay, well then, let’s get going. We’ll begin with introductions. I’d like each of you to tell us your name, where you work, and something interesting about yourself.”
We slowly cycled around the group, introducing ourselves. It was uncomfortable but strangely compelling—I wondered if this was how an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting would feel. The ‘interesting’ things were mostly quite uninteresting, except one woman said she had been born on a plane.
After everyone had introduced themselves, Chris said, “Okay. So now we know each other a little better, we can start to talk about the things that cause stress in our lives.”
Somebody said, “You mean, like the entire planet we’re living on?” and there were a few chuckles around the circle.
“Perhaps a little more specific than that,” said Chris with a small smile, which evaporated quickly. “Would someone like to share one of their worries with the group?”