[Wang] We are ready. Please proceed.
[Commerce1] We have been collaborating with Agent Lakshmi-Lee of CI, who is embedded on the LUVN. This communication is related to LUVN, but we are not currently concerned with that project directly. Are we speaking with the Banshee who was on the Lansdorf?
[Me] Yes.
[Commerce1] Agent Lakshmi-Lee received, indirectly, a document that outlined the commercial structure of a subset of the major companies registered on the Martian and Belter Exchanges. She passed it to us as the people best placed to complete the document. Of course, there are far more companies than appeared in that document and far more is known about their financial and family relations. Those companies are easily cross-linked with companies registered on the Earth. In fact, we do that every year in Commerce as a standard tool for economic forecasting. ExA, unfortunately, required that we classify the reports beyond public access and our data was never presented as it was in that document.
We have reproduced the diagram in that document with the full data set. Viewing it directly is not as useful as one might hope because it has too much detail. We no longer feel bound by ExA’s absurd classification and wonder if you would be interested in our analysis of the diagram?
Katerina and Evgenia nodded vigorously but said nothing.
[Me] Yes, that would be of great interest.
[Commerce1] We thought it might. We have several derived products. Agent Lakshmi-Lee mentioned that the pirates belonged to Clan Duboshin, a very small clan that mines a single asteroid in the outer Belt. It will not surprise you that the classical name of the asteroid is 2312 Duboshin. It is a D-type, rich in organics, silicates, and water, but poor in easily refined metals. That is important because their ship was covered with thin silver plates. It is very unlikely that they could refine that much silver from their own stock.
[Commerce2] The isotopic composition of the silver plating has been measured. From its irregular quality, we suspect it was refined in the Belt. We know with a high degree of certainty the silver was mined from one of a dozen M-type asteroids. Those mines are owned by Clan Vallis, an upstart that appeared about eight years ago. It has been buying out smaller rivals quite aggressively.
[Me] I remember seeing a report that purported to give isotopic analyses of metals from the main refineries in L1 and L2. How do you know that the silver came from Clan Vallis? I have never heard about them before the last two weeks.
[Commerce2] The isotopic composition of the silver and its contaminants does not match any refinery in L1 or L2. The contaminants can easily be refined and sold for a profit. We know the isotopic composition of each of those metals supplied by each asteroid mine because they are all valuable.
The report you mentioned is updated every six months. Dull reading unless you need a specific grade of metal. More interesting is that recently there have been dozens of such reports circulating, only one of which is real for each half-year. The others contain gibberish in the middle pages and nonsense in the data tables. We had been alerted to the possibility that the middle pages might contain a coded message that ACC could crack, so we sent them one version that we thought had a particularly odd set of recipients. ACC had seen the document before and cracked it, but could not make sense of the results. We could.
[Commerce1] The message it contained is why we have made this call and how we know about Clan Vallis.
The encrypted message contained a table with three columns. The first gave the classical asteroid number, the second was a clan name and the third was a number. Because several different clans might inhabit the larger asteroids, the asteroid number often appears multiple times. We recognized a few of the clan names because they matched parts of the corporate names registered on Mars or in the Belt. Then we noticed the similarity of the numbers in the third column to those in a census of the population living on large asteroids in the Belt from about one hundred years ago, the last years when we feel reliable numbers appeared in the official census. This table was prepared three years ago if the date is in Martian Global Time. We believe we have found a reliable census of the Belt from three years ago.
[Me] That is astounding! I am going to ask something foolish, given the immense importance of what you have just said. How many people were living in the Belt at that time?
[Commerce2] There were 26,538,263 people at that moment if we trust the numbers.
[Me] But you said that it also listed the classical asteroid number and the clan name or names on that object?
[Commerce1] Yes, which is what makes this table so important. Combined with our document that lists all the corporate names, this gives a handle on the names, locations and economic importance of every clan in the Belt as of three years ago. It was in an encrypted document that they were trying to keep secret. Perhaps they stole the information from someone else or were trying to prevent rivals from exploiting the knowledge. We are guessing that the rival they feared most was the Earth.
What do we do with this information? If we send it to the Admiralty, Forward Command will learn about it within the next few weeks as the TDF is absorbed into the Imperial Fleet. They will assume we have been spying.
[Wang] You just said that ACC already has that document. Do you still have the ACC identification? Please send it directly to the Admiral’s office using a single-use encryption key that I will create for you. Attach your documents to the same message. I will ensure that the whole set of documents is classified, encrypted, and stored securely where only those who currently hold TDF authorizations can access it.
To Wang, Singh, Evgenia, Katerina/private, “I have some clan names of immediate interest. Could you look up the locations of asteroids used by the clans Kunene, Skidegate, and Vallis? Clan Skidegate was involved in the Hanuman Incident. There is a direct genocidal threat against Clan Kunene by Clan Vallis. I doubt we can do anything about it except pass the warning to Forward Command or to the Viceroy.”
I saw Evgenia and Katerina pestering Wang, so I thought all three of us had the same idea. However, he continued with:
[Wang] I have had three completely different suggestions on how to use that information from three different Banshees, so I believe you have discovered a diamond mine. Agent Ashura suggests you look up Clan Skidegate as Clan Sghiidagits since the clan name seems to have been derived from the name of a Noram Haida leader who lived five hundred years ago.
One of the silent people from Extraterrestrial Affairs also seemed to be sending a private message to Wang. He nodded but said nothing to Commerce.
[Me] I am now deeply concerned for the safety of the citizens in Clan Duboshin. They have been incriminated in the pirate attack, and some of their leadership undoubtedly needs to face justice, but I fear that Belter Justice is as draconian as Martian Justice. Is there anything we can do to protect the innocent people in that clan?
[Commerce1] Thank you. I was worried we might be talking to a different Banshee.
I do not know. The pirates do not seem to have killed anyone, so kidnapping and theft are the worst charges most of them will face on the Moon. However, this is a multi-jurisdictional issue. We have no idea how the Imperium will handle the affair or what might happen beyond that.
Evgenia/converse, “I’m working on the cases for the pirates and for Rouseth because they are the most like what you will face. Please, please don’t make me face that issue in any more depth right now. Just tell her the cases are under active consideration.”
[Me] The cases against the pirates and against Superintendent Rouseth strike to the heart of several issues of intense and immediate interest as we work with the Viceroy. They are under consideration as we speak. How the results of that discussion might apply to the clan is currently unknown.
Regardless of what happens on the Moon, I think we need to send a message directly to the clan. I would like to suggest that a derelict freighter with a load of preserved food might be sent to them on auto-pilot if we have any old hulks lying around. Martian freighte
rs have stronger drives than ours and would get the package to them sooner. One of their former warships would be even better. It might include a note recommending that the guilty individuals who planned the attack should surrender themselves to the Imperium at their earliest convenience if we can get the Imperium to commit to sparing the lives of the rest of their people.
If Clan Vallis supplied their silver plating, they may be protecting them from reprisals. It will take time for a drone freighter to get there, but they may consider themselves safe if Vallis is supporting them. The Imperium would need to know everything we are doing and why, of course.
Wang/converse, “I am left gasping again. Hulks we now have in an abundance from the ships that Cap Thieu disabled, but I have no idea how to fit derelict Martian warships with auto-pilots. Getting permission to send that kind of aid to our enemies with such an open-ended legal commitment might be the hardest part, both from the Imperium and from the Lunar Council.”
Me/converse, “Do you remember the false Hanuman? We still don’t know why it was sent, but Mindy suggested that Clan Syrtis would have done something just like that. If Syrtis is really the core of the Imperium, they might accept the idea more easily than we expect. It could be worth a try.
“Also, the Chief Eng on the Columbia gave the pirate vessel a close look-over. We may know more about their systems than you think.”
[Commerce2] Is that even conceivable? What kind of message would we be sending?
[Wang] We would be saying that we are aware of their plight and concerned about their welfare, while at the same time demanding justice to be served against those personally responsible for the attack. This kind of insight is why we keep asking this troublemaker for advice.
Singh/converse, “The idea is so crazy it might work, especially with a follow-up from the Imperial forces. Give that project to me, perhaps with an Admiralty staffer to front the negotiation until we have a better legal system in place. From what Evgenia and Katerina have told me, the Emperor might go for that kind of gesture. I think I even know where we might be able to find a load of preserved foodstuff and the money to pay for it. It will give me something to distract myself from worrying about my son.”
[Wang] I have no idea if it will work, but we have a volunteer to try the project. Is there anything else we need to discuss?
[Me] Only that we need to wonder who compiled a census of the Belt and then kept it secret. The government of the Belt might be more advanced than we ever imagined but might also be justifiably paranoid, given the amount of internal violence we have seen within the fleet.
[Commerce1] My head is spinning like the Earth, but I cannot think of anything else right now. We have a lot to think about. We are very grateful for your time and interest.
Wang/private, “You do understand that this is going to kick shit in every conceivable direction? Forward Command and the Viceregal administrators already think we are crazy. This will confirm their deepest suspicions.
“We will be back as soon as we can connect to the next group, who are already waiting to speak.”
Then he killed the connection before I could say anything more.
2357-03-22 00:00
Emigrants
Wang/private, “This group just calls itself the Emigrants. I would very much like to know how they found out about the Banshees.”
[Emigrant1] Are we speaking to the head of the Fairy Dust Investigation Team? Is that the same as the Banshees?
[Me] Yes, and we have a representative of the TDF present as well.
[Emigrant1] That would be Admiral Wang, of course. Congratulations, Sir.
Lord Banshee, we have a problem that just keeps getting worse and we have run out of other sources of help. We fear that you may be our last hope. Let me start by saying that we want to emigrate to the Belt and have completed the entire legal process, except for actually moving there. Most of us had tickets on the liner Viking, but all flights are cancelled for the indefinite future. Some of us intended to ship out through L1, but our transport fled the earth stations and left us stranded. A few of us intended to travel directly on Belter ships as paid passengers. Some succeeded, some left on different ships, but most were again left stranded on the earth stations. Most of those who were stranded ended up here on the Moon. In principle, we could wait here almost indefinitely. None of us are poor and we have contingency funding until we find alternative employment. But there is a problem.
[Emigrant2] We cannot return to the Earth. We have been fired from our former positions and now are wanted criminals. The Earth is demanding our immediate arrest. The Viceroy Wolong has taken up the cause and is sending warships to enforce his demands.
[Wang] I know of the warships. Forward Command and the Lunar Viceregal Fleet have ordered them to return to their stations.
[Emigrant1] But they have not turned back, have they? Because Wolong claims authority over all near-Earth space.
[Emigrant2] If Fenghuang defends us, it will split the fleet and start a war. This is exactly what we were trying to escape.
[Emigrant1] I think we need to go back a few steps. We were all attendees at the Conference on Space Pharmaceuticals.
Half the attendees were just coming to a conference at an expensive location, seeing the practical application of their work, as it were. The sessions on LUVN were very encouraging, especially now that they can demonstrate the effectiveness of their three flagship products after being frozen for a month. Their new protocols should be even better, if they have a facility left to do the work and if they live long enough to manufacture those products.
The other half of the attendees, us, spent most of our time completing our arrangements to emigrate to the Belt.
[Emigrant2] Arrangements that all fell to pieces with a bang when the Fairy Dust exploded.
[Emigrant1] Or did not explode, to be more accurate. The bomb was a critical warning to escape at all speed. But we are getting far ahead of ourselves again. Look, the core of our contingent is a group of geneticists who specialize in human disease. Many very serious diseases have a genetic component. We have developed treatments over the last two centuries that alleviate at least some of the symptoms of those diseases.
[Emigrant2] With animals, we have well-developed techniques that eliminate the diseases completely. Some are quite simple. The easiest is to discard during in vitro fertilization any egg or sperm that carry defective genes. If advantageous genes reside on a chromosome carrying serious defects, we can change the methylation of selected segments of the chromosome to mask out the defective bits and activate the good bits. Or, we can replace it with a better chromosome from another donor. There are a dozen effective approaches.
All of these techniques work equally well for people, but there is a legal catch. The Constitution requires that we ‘preserve the full variety of the human species,’ and in the very next clause pledges ‘the full resources of the medical community to prevent and treat mutations that would degrade the human genome.’ Personally, I do not think the lawyers who wrote the Constitution intended those two clauses to contradict each other, but they do.
If a genetic defect appeared after the Final War, the full armoury of modern medicine can be used to treat the disease and prevent the victim’s children from inheriting the defect.
If the identical defect was inherited from before the Final War, it is part of the ‘variety of the human species.’ We can treat the symptoms but are forbidden to do anything that would remove the gene from the population.
We regard it as criminal that we are legally obliged to let people be born who will live their lives in pain and die young for the sake of this vague, abstract principle. It is even more troubling that most parents leave their defective genes in a repository long before the disease manifests in their children.
There is a database of over one hundred thousand defects that are known to have been present before the Final War. The only permitted use of that database is to forbid effective treatments to families s
uffering from a genetic disease.
We are forbidden to test prospective parents for those defects until after the associated disease manifests in their children. Even after the test is complete, we are forbidden to inform them of the defect.
They often learn the truth anyways. Even worse is the suspicion that their child’s disease might be caused by a defective gene. Domestic violence is common in those families. There are divorces and even suicides. Parents of children with genetic diseases often refuse to bear further children. Compounding their misery, they and their pediatricians are often charged with genetic selection.
Most often, the carrier feels too ashamed of this most intimate disgrace to tell their relatives, who insist on their right to use their genetic deposits. The defects are spreading steadily through the population.
We are forbidden to examine the Genetic Repositories to see which eggs and sperm carry the defects. It would take no more than a few years to test every set of deposits. If we could discard the defective deposits, the problem would vanish in a few generations.
Lord Banshee Lunatic (Nightmare Wars Book 3) Page 6