The Stars That Beckon

by Kevin J Simington

  “And you only infected us after Arjan Rashish died?”

  “Yes. I am sorry you have had to endure a cold winter in your zip-huts. Hopefully you will now be more comfortable in the houses.”

  “So that explains why we were infected but Settlement City wasn’t.”

  “Correct. And they must not learn of our existence or the existence of the Uplift DNA until the traitor is neutralised. She must not learn that there exists a means of acquiring access to the technology on this planet. Nor can she be allowed to travel to Seahaven, where she could contract the virus herself.”

  “Are we contagious if we travel there?”

  “No. But live strains of the virus may still be present in the Seahaven biological environment.”

  “What happened to Melody when she entered the dome?” asked Zac, changing the subject. “She was missing for nearly a day!”

  “Yes. I apologise for that. She was not harmed in any way. She had a peaceful sleep. We needed to map her DNA to ensure that your primitive system was coping with the Uplift DNA and that the use of the new technology would not harm you.”

  “We were worried sick!”

  “Once again, I am sorry. But, as guardians, we are committed to protecting humans from harm, and that necessitated a thorough evaluation of your DNA before granting access to the wider community.”

  “I have a question,” said Keo.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why did you stay here on this planet when the human population left?”

  “Some of the Collective did leave, but some of us were appointed to stay and rebuild, in the hope that the imminent cosmic events that I previously mentioned would render the planet safe again. We are the Guardians.”

  “So, these other humans may one day return?” asked Keo.

  “That was the original plan. But that may not be possible now, because of other complications that you are not yet ready to understand.”

  “Why aren’t we ready?”

  “Because you’re not.”

  “Are you sure you’re not my mother?” asked Zac, facetiously. “OK, maybe you can answer this one: Where are you? I mean, you’re talking to us in our heads, but where are you and your fellow Guardians actually located?”

  “We are everywhere—embedded in the technology and infrastructure all over the planet, including deep underground and on the two moons.”

  “But there must be a central processor somewhere, surely. Some kind of giant computer.”

  “Not in the sense that you understand computers. Humans long ago moved beyond the primitive limitations of physical processors and microchips. Our biocircuitry is thousands of years more advanced than your primitive computers. We are even embedded in the biology of the planet. A lot has happened while you were asleep, Zac.”

  “What’s the deal with the hoop?” asked Zac. “You know, that giant doughnut thing circling the planet.”

  “This conversation is terminated.”

  Angie disappeared, leaving Keo and Zac nonplussed.

  “Wow, bro! She sure didn’t like that question!”

  “No, she didn’t. We’ll have to put that one on the back burner. Right now we’ve got a more pressing issue to deal with. We need to talk to the others.”

  60

  An afternoon meeting of the Seahaven City Council was called to allow the various teams of explorers to report their findings. Zac and Keo had not yet divulged anything of their experience, preferring to wait until the meeting of the full council.

  Carla went first. The dome she and Lance had explored was another transport terminal, but this time not for individuals or small groups of people. The dome contained two huge transfer rooms or bays, one with a green light over its huge open door and one with a red light over its closed door.

  “The transfer bay is big enough to take three of our caterpillars—if we had that many,” said Carla.

  “So, it’s possible to go for a quick drive to the other side of the planet?” asked Kit.

  “It appears so,” answered Carla.

  “Damn! I really am out of a job!”

  “Not at all,” said Lance. “We still need air transport locally and for access to areas not covered by transfer booths.”

  “Yeh, well, speaking of air transport, Martinez and I hit the jackpot!” said Kit.

  The large hangar at the airfield contained a treasure trove of technologically advanced flying machines, ranging from a glass-bubbled two-seater “helicopter” without rotors or any visible means of propulsion to a large transport aircraft, not dissimilar to the shuttle design, but clearly millennia ahead in its technology.

  “We had a look inside the aircraft but, to be honest, I think it’s going to be a while before we work out how to fly the things.”

  Regina reported that the large agricultural hangar, west of the settlement, contained an array of advanced farming and agricultural equipment: tractors, ploughs, harvesters and more. Unlike Kit’s experience, however, she and Willy had managed to start some of the machines and had already begun to master their operation.

  “This is going to revolutionise our farming!” she said, practically quivering with excitement.

  The group who had dubbed themselves the House Hunters were even more excited. The houses had opened instantly to them, revealing surprisingly familiar interiors. Each house had an identical layout. Downstairs consisted of a lounge room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Upstairs consisted of three bedrooms and another bathroom. The layout was very simple, but the technology it contained was not. It would take some serious trial and error to become familiar with the kitchen gadgets and gizmos. The environmental controls seemed very simple by comparison, with the internal temperature and air flow controlled by simple mechanical dials. Presumably this was to avoid the yo-yo effect of different occupants of the house constantly wishing the temperature up and down. The classic family temperature wars would have to take place via the old-fashioned temperature dial. The laundry contained what appeared to be a combined washer/dryer and also had a storage cupboard that housed three mechanical transport devices, which appeared to be technologically advanced bicycles.

  The bedrooms all contained large double beds and classic built-in wardrobes—sadly devoid of clothing. The beds themselves consisted of an extremely comfortable mattress with a thin sleeping bag type of covering, made of a smart fabric that could presumably be set to the occupant’s preferred temperature.

  “The beds are SO comfy!” exclaimed Melody, who had been allowed to be part of the group report to the Council. “Can we sleep in the houses tonight? Please, please, pretty please?”

  “We’ll see,” said Lance, scratching his head through his ever-present Space Odyssey baseball cap. “We will need to have a whole community meeting to bring everyone up to speed with all of this. Then people will need to select which house they want. It could get a bit crazy, with people rushing all over the town, trying to choose houses next to each other.”

  “How will we know which houses are already taken and which are empty?” asked Kit.

  “We’ve been wondering that ourselves,” said Prisha. “We’ve got a theory. We think that once the beds have been slept in overnight, the house becomes ‘dialled in’ to the individuals who slept there. After that, only they will have ‘telepathic’ access to the dwelling. Everyone else will have to knock in the old-fashioned way.”

  “What about windows?” asked Regina.

  “Most of the walls have one-way transparency, with a simple wall dial in every room to dial the transparency up or down.” said Jaz.

  “Communication?” asked Carla.

  “The lounge room has a built-in screen in one wall,” said Jaz, “presumably for video calls or something similar. We didn’t work out how to activate it, though. Maybe it will link to other dwellings once they have permanent occupants. It’s possible that we might only need to speak a person’s name and think of them to activate a call to their dwelling. But I’m only guessing.”


  Some further discussion took place about the fine details of housing allocation, until Lance finally said, “We can work out the rest of the details as we go. Let’s move on. Keo and Zac, what did you guys discover?”

  Keo and Zac looked at each other, and Zac finally spoke up.

  “Not ‘what’, but ‘who’.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Lance.

  “Her name is Angie. And we have a big problem ...”

  61

  The Seahaven City Council sat in stunned silence. Zac had spoken for nearly 20 minutes uninterrupted, while everyone responded with various expressions of surprise, incredulity, and, finally, deep concern.

  Kit broke the silence. “So, what you’re saying is that we’re probably all going to burn to a crisp in a few hundred years, unless a terrorist blows us up first.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Oh, well, that’s OK then. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.”

  “Any thoughts on our best course of action with the immediate problem?” asked Zac.

  “I say we fly over to Settlement City, grab this woman and drop her in the middle of the ocean,” said Martinez. “Technically it wouldn’t be murder, and I’d rather not waste a bullet or a laser blast on a terrorist.”

  “OK ... thanks for sharing,” said Zac. “Anyone else?”

  “Clearly we have to warn Wisecroft,” said Prisha. “This is something he needs to deal with, as she is one of his citizens.”

  “Agreed,” said Lance. “But then how do we explain how we came by this knowledge—without spilling the beans about the existence of these EIs or the virus and our enhanced capabilities?” He looked around at the others.

  Regina said, “Maybe we could just say that we’ve been given some confidential information from someone who doesn’t want to be identified. That is the truth, after all.”

  “Yes, I agree,” said Zac. “That’s all we can do at this stage. And the sooner we do that, the better.”

  The council meeting ended soon afterwards, with Zac and Lance commissioned to contact Wisecroft later that afternoon, when the day would just be starting on the other side of the world. It was thought that Lance’s presence in the conversation would help to convince Wisecroft of the reliability of their information. In the meantime, the word was passed around that the community was to assemble outside the large dome in 30 minutes.

  By the time most of the 288 citizens were gathered on the concourse outside the dome, now being called City Hall, the rumours were already spreading. The previous opening of the dome doors had not gone completely unnoticed, and there was mounting excitement and curiosity. At the appointed time, Lance, as logistics coordinator, stepped forward and simply announced that they had discovered how to open the dome doors. As he spoke, he turned towards the dome, opened the doors and invited the community to enter and find a seat. As everyone filed into the “conversation pit,” as Kit called it, she said to Martinez, “These poor sods are about to get their minds blown!”

  Their minds were, indeed, blown. The meeting took 90 minutes, with many questions from the general populace. They had not been told about the future threat posed by the star, Trident, nor, of course, about the existence of a potential saboteur. Even without those pieces of information, however, there was more than enough for the colonists to digest. The nature and extent of their genetic alteration was cause for much concern, as was the presence of unseen, but obviously very powerful, EIs. Gradually, however, pragmatism took over. When can we choose our new homes? When can we move in? In the end the Council members recognised that trying to suggest that everyone wait until tomorrow was a completely lost cause. It was only 1500 and there were still nearly three hours of daylight left for people to move into their new dwellings. After a few moments’ consultation, the Council simply asked that people only occupy houses on the eastern side of the town, as it was better that the settlement was not spread too thin. Finally, Zac dismissed the crowd, urging everyone to not rush and assuring them that there were more than enough houses for everyone.

  He might as well have saved his breath. There was a veritable stampede out of the dome, the moment the crowd was dismissed. People were running in every direction and yelling excitedly to each other.

  “Try and get one on the inner street near the stream!”

  “You go and claim one and I’ll get our things!”

  “Let’s try and get three together over there, so we can all be next to each other!”

  The City Council members stood together on the concourse, gazing out at the barely controlled chaos as people sprinted to and fro across the park.

  “They haven’t done the math, have they?” said Melody, standing beside Kit and Jaz.

  “No, they haven’t,” said Jaz. “Even sticking to the eastern side of the town, there are more than twice as many houses as there are families.”

  “Dumb sheep,” said Kit. “Still, with all this running around, some of the lazy ones are getting more exercise than they’ve had in weeks.”

  It took a solid hour before the chaos subsided. Some people had changed houses twice or even three times already, settling on a location, only to move closer to friends a few minutes later. Once the dust had settled, however, the Council members and their partners gathered their few meagre possessions together and selected houses for themselves. Keo and Zac found two unoccupied houses next to each other on the outer ring, closest to the beach. Kit and Martinez shared one house two doors up the street, and the others all found homes close by as well.

  At 1700, Zac and Lance made contact with Settlement City, using the comms in Shuttle One. There was a slight delay after asking to be patched through to Wisecroft, and they surmised that he was probably taking the call in his bedroom, as it was 0500 in the morning over there.

  “This better be good, Dr Perryman,” said Wisecroft, still obviously waking up. A sleepy female voice murmured in the background, “Who is it?” in reply to which Wisecroft could be heard whispering, “Go back to sleep, my darling.”

  “Dr Wisecroft, I’ve got Lance Catrell here with me here. We have an extremely important and sensitive message to give you. I think you need to take it in private, if you don’t mind me saying.”

  “I do mind you saying, actually. I’ll receive my calls however the hell I like!”

  “Dr Wisecroft,” said Lance, “I can assure you that you do not want anyone else listening to this conversation.”

  They heard Wisecroft sigh in the background, and then heard the rustle of bedclothes being pulled back. “Like I said, this better be good! Wait a minute while I transfer to the board room next door.”

  “He must be sleeping in the Captain’s cabin,” said Lance as they waited.

  There was a click and then Wisecroft announced, “I’ll give you exactly one minute and then I’m disconnecting and going back to bed.”

  “In that case I’ll get straight to the point,” said Lance. They had previously decided that Lance would do most of the talking, as the message would be better coming from him rather than from Zac. “There is an undercover Caliphate agent in Settlement City who is very likely planning to sabotage your fusion reactor.”

  There was a good five seconds of silence, and then Wisecroft said, “How could you possibly know that?”

  “We have an extremely reliable source who has come across that information.”

  “Who is your source?”

  “We can’t tell you that. The source wishes to remain anonymous.”

  “How convenient! Surely you can’t expect me to act on information if I can’t verify the reliability of the source.”

  “I’m sorry, but we’ve given our word.”

  There was another long pause.

  “Does your so-called source have any idea who the saboteur might be?”

  “Yes. We have a name.”

  “Go on.”

  “Lecia Sylvanos.”

  “What?!! That’s utterly ridiculous! Lecia is one of our
most highly respected scientists.”

  “But she wasn’t on your team at Luna City, was she? She was picked up by one of the rescue shuttles in the aftermath of the nuclear exchange.”

  “What is your point, Lance?”

  “My point is that you haven’t been able to vet her. You have no way of knowing her background.”

  “And you do, I suppose?”

  “We have reliable information that she was a Caliphate agent operating in the Pacific, passing on crucial information in the lead-up to the nuclear exchange.”

  “You can’t possibly know that!”

  “Our source has provided us with irrefutable proof.”

  “Marvellous. Then, by all means, share it with me, dear fellow. I’m all ears.”

  “Unfortunately we can’t, as it would reveal the identity of our source.”

  “I’ve had enough of this! I refuse to listen to any more of this pitiful attempt to undermine our stability. Did you really expect me to fall for this? You must think I am particularly dense, do you? What was your next suggestion going to be? A public execution, perhaps? Line up all my key personnel and torture them until they divulge further secrets? No. I think we’re done here.”

  “Please, Dr Wisecroft,” said Zac, “you must listen to us! Your settlement is in danger!”

  “Dr Perryman, I expected better from you than this thin ploy to undermine my support. But let me play along with you for one more moment. If Dr Sylvanos is a Caliphate agent, why did she not blow up Genesis while we were in transit? Surely she could have killed us all then?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “Of course you don’t! You didn’t think that part of your story through, did you? No. We really are done now. Goodbye!”

  Lance and Zac sat in silence for a moment.

  “Now what?” asked Lance

  “I honestly don’t know.”