Juno Rising (ISF-Allion)

by Patty Jansen

  Well, they had attempted to keep him at the base, but obviously didn’t know about his nickname. The “escape artist” had done his work. Yes, he was of slight build, and yes, windows really did need to be locked, even ones that only opened a crack. He’d boldly demanded a loan truck and had received one. He’d left the base before anyone had discovered that he was gone.

  Then he remembered sitting down in the tent-village on colourful rugs with brown people who sat cross-legged on the floor. A couple of children—all girls of course—brought bowls made from a resin mixed with red Mars soil.

  Priya sat next to him.

  She was lively and bubbly and kept talking as the night progressed. He’d shown her the trajectory of the asteroid, and she had ordered everyone in the settlement to pack up. He asked her if she didn’t need to pack and she said, “I travel light. Everything I have I can carry in a single bag.”

  “Me, too.”

  That was because he’d never been able to build up enough possessions.

  “You travel a lot?” she asked.

  He told her that he worked on an assignment in the asteroid belt and would probably work somewhere else afterwards.

  If he was still welcome to come back after having left his position without permission.

  And if he wouldn’t end up in some military jail.

  It got later and later. He ended up spending the night in her van, which was . . . interesting. He remembered the strange smell of the fabrics and oils and spices that she used.

  In the morning, while they lazed together and he traced his finger over the curve of her dark-skinned shoulder, she said,

  “If you travel to the Jupiter system, I have something that needs to be taken out there.”

  He remembered being puzzled why she asked. Didn’t she have her own people? But he said he would take her thing, and then became alarmed as she returned with a container of dark fluid attached to a tube.

  “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” she said as she stuck plaster over his skin and told him not to touch it—because the patch itched.

  The dark fluid dripped into his arm through the tube.

  “It’s a charged fluid that will interact with your nanometrics and will stay suspended in your blood for anywhere up to a year. Then it will flock together and form a biological capsule that will be invisible to scanners and will work its way up until it sits under your skin. It’s quite easy to extract it from there.”

  “What’s in it?”

  “You will find out.”

  And, as Fabio remembered, as his head banged against the metal strut once more, he hadn’t yet found out anything. He assumed that this had been more than a year ago and that the thing he’d extracted from under his skin—that still showed no signs of reappearing—was it.

  He’d been able to piece together that Mars was much longer ago, and that he had somehow managed to sail through all the medical procedures without the capsule once triggering a question. Because it was undetectable. And might have been lodged deeper inside his body at the time.

  But what did it contain?

  Something that was important, and something that Priya was willing to defend unto death.

  “Crap,” Katarina said in a way that made no bones about the fact that real trouble lay ahead.

  “What?” Paul had also been dozing in his seat behind her.

  She nodded at a screen in front of her and Paul looked over her shoulder.

  “Oh fuck,” he said.

  Sol got up from his seat to look at the screen, while bracing himself on the metal struts.

  “The chase has begun,” he said.

  Fabio leaned over. The screen displayed a grey landscape with the road clearly visible. The truck was a red dot in the middle. But another red dot moved just inside the edge of the screen.

  “We’re about fifteen minutes from the storage bunker,” Katarina said. “And the reason I wanted to go there is that the depot contains some serious weaponry. We may need it.”

  “Has the Council Of Four responded yet?” Thalia asked.

  “Just an acknowledgement, but I’m sure the wheels are spinning and the engine is running.”

  Jaykadia

  * * *

  THE MOMENT THE POWER went off in the maintenance sheds at the Ganymede Mining Company, Jaykadia’s screen lit up with messages.

  First there were the red flashing warnings.

  There was no power to the life support systems and air quality would start to deteriorate significantly within two hours. There was also no water, since there was no power to the pumps. Immediate action needed.

  Yup.

  She swiped the warnings aside and then counted down before she received a message from whoever was in command of the ISF troops in the sheds.

  But first another, unrelated message arrived: from her aunt. The COF assembly had received a message from the delegation to Io. They asked for assistance to leave Io. Apparently, ISF accused them of being spies.

  Her aunt said, We’ve issued a general alarm, and a vessel has responded.

  Jaykadia asked if there was any response from Base Commander Banparra, and her aunt told her there wasn’t, but that Preston had sent a message that he was “disappointed” in the low level of trust displayed by the civilian population.

  Had Preston done anything recently to inspire that trust?

  And now a message came from the man himself: to come to the maintenance sheds immediately because our operations are severely hampered by a power outage that is caused on your end of the supply.

  Right, let’s play this game.

  Jaykadia dressed in her overalls and went out, through the residential and commercial areas of the settlement, who were unaware of any power games being played out over their heads.

  She stopped at the entrance to the workers’ suiting and change room.

  She’d heard that people still came here, despite the fact that there was no work to be done, but she hadn’t expected the cheer from all those people, mostly men, mostly much older and bigger than her, who had been sitting in the room talking.

  When she came in, they all cheered and clapped.

  It almost choked her up. She had to be doing something right to justify their loyalty.

  “I’m here to ask two of you a favour,” she said. “It may not be entirely without danger, but I hope to at least get a reply on when we can have our maintenance rooms back.”

  At least fifty hands went up.

  She picked the two tallest and most well-muscled men.

  She told them to put on a set of the newest, clean company overalls with the company logo.

  “I need to speak to Vice Admiral Preston, but if I go alone, I’m likely to be dismissed as a ‘cute little girl’. You’re going to pretend you’re my bodyguards.”

  The men took that task with solemn faces, although one of them—his name was Wyatt—joked about whether they’d get guns.

  Guns would be good, but all domes had a strict no firearm policy, so just the men’s sheer size would have to do.

  Flanked by the two men, Jaykadia made her way through the company’s offices, where it was busier than normal. Bodyguards were not very common in the settlement, except maybe for visiting dignitaries, and she got a lot of strange looks.

  They walked through the tube to the entrance to the maintenance sheds.

  Since she had last come here, ISF personnel had placed a kind of tunnel inside the tube that visitors were meant to walk through one by one, presumably a safety scanner for weapons. Wyatt went in first. Lights blinked on the inside of the tunnel. Jaykadia went in after him. A voice told her to stand still for a few seconds and a blue light tracked over her skin. Then an array of lights flashed and went off again. That was it? She joined Wyatt on the other side of the machine.

  Two men in white uniforms were just coming out of the door, probably warned by the machine that people were coming, but Jaykadia didn’t like the look on their faces.

  “I’d like to spea
k to the officer in charge,” Jaykadia said.

  “You can’t come in, I’m sorry,” one of them said. “We are not allowed to let civilians into the facility.”

  “This happens to be my facility,” Jaykadia said. “I’m Jaykadia Law, the owner of Ganymede Mining. I’m here to speak to Vice Admiral Preston.”

  He gave her the usual dubious look, but nodded. “I’ll check.” Oh, no, he was not happy. She wondered what his orders were. Turn civilians away at the door? Pretend nothing is wrong?

  The man disappeared into the door, leaving Jaykadia and her two miners to stand uncomfortably at the entrance with the remaining guard, who stared doggedly at the end of the passage.

  From inside the door came sounds of talk and the whining of electronic equipment. It sounded like a drill. She was wondering what they were doing inside.

  After a while, the man came back. “Come with me please, ma’am.”

  Jaykadia followed the man into the hall, where, as she had half-expected, work went on as normal.

  Well, almost normal.

  They had clearly brought in generators for the lights, but many of the computer screens—while remaining on—displayed nothing except error messages.

  Even though only a couple of days had passed since she was last there, so much had changed. They had set up an entire communication centre with workbenches and screens. They’d even put down rugs over the concrete floor.

  Seriously, how long did they plan on staying? All without telling her? Did they mean to ruin the company?

  The office where the man took her was closer to the door than the one she had visited before. A man waited inside, with Major stripes on his uniform. Jaykadia knew this because Kat was a Major last time Jaykadia had seen her.

  “How can I help you, madam?”

  “I was told to come here to see Vice Admiral Preston.”

  “I’m sorry madam, but he is currently busy.”

  “Then I will wait here.”

  “I’m sorry madam, but you can’t. You will have to go outside.”

  “Wait a moment,” Jaykadia said. “You are here because I own this facility. I was told to come here to speak with him, and so I will see him.”

  “I can ask.” He didn’t sound happy.

  “Please, do.”

  He left. Office was a very big word for a bare room with just a desk, two chairs and a notebook, the real life variety, although the paper would be reusable plasti-paper. There was not a single piece of equipment inside. Jaykadia wondered if this room was built for the purpose of talking to people from outside ISF.

  Eventually a man’s voice sounded outside. “I will deal with it, Watson.”

  Jaykadia recognised the man who came in. Vice Admiral Preston.

  He made a formal greeting, but while he sounded friendly enough, his face showed extreme annoyance.

  Well this young upstart woman is finally getting under their skin.

  About time, too.

  She said, “You insisted on seeing me? Do be quick please, because I don’t have much time.”

  “We appear to have lost power, and any inquiries to your staff result only in ‘we’ll see what we can do’ replies.”

  “Yes, we’ll see what we can do. One of the main power generators went down, and when this happens, the residential areas receive priority, as you will understand. I also see that you have your own power generators. We really will address this problem as soon as possible.”

  “We have sensitive computer systems that need a steady supply of power to operate.”

  “I’m sorry, I truly am, but we’re working on it.”

  “I want you to give this utmost priority.”

  “My settlement and the company are my priorities.”

  He gave her a hard stare.

  “It’s an exercise, right? Unexpected situations arise during operations, and everyone needs to be prepared.”

  He opened his mouth, and shut it again. His face went dark.

  “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

  “Then don’t tell me how to do mine. I am questioning why I gave permission for you to use this hall when you do so under false premises and you detain our delegation.”

  His eyebrows went up. “I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding, because we are not detaining anyone.”

  “I might ask the delegation on Io if they agree.”

  Comprehension dawned on his face. “That has nothing to do with us, and is a matter for the local base commander.”

  “Who is under your command.”

  “Yes he is, but it is his judgement to protect his base.”

  “And clearly, a delegation of four unarmed people is a threat to his base.”

  “I’m not at liberty to go into the details of this case.”

  “But I am at liberty to withdraw my permission for you to use this hall.”

  Now the comprehension really dawned on his face. “You would not do that.”

  “Wouldn’t I?”

  He stared at her for a moment, nostrils flaring.

  “It’s an exercise. Maybe I’d enjoy seeing how you improvise as much as our company has been forced to.”

  “You would not do that.” He made it sound like a threat.

  “Or what? Would you raise arms against me?”

  He closed his eyes. “Heaven help me.”

  “I have no interest in upsetting you for the sake of being a pain, but I do request that our delegation be allowed to leave, or report in, or even do the agreed inspections.”

  “They are safe and will be allowed to contact you.”

  “Oh, and why am I getting strange messages about them? Why has there been no word about what’s going on?”

  “That’s not my respon—”

  “It is, though. I’m beginning to suspect that we’re not hearing the whole truth. Not about the delegation, about ISF’s plans, or indeed the reason for this unannounced military exercise, if it is indeed an exercise.”

  She met his eyes squarely. His lips pressed into a thin line.

  “Or is there some reason that I will need to warn the community of impending danger?”

  “No, no. I will make sure that the delegation is put on a return shuttle as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you.” She turned around and then changed her mind. She wasn’t going to let him off so easily.

  “What’s this then about an approaching object?”

  His eyes widened. “Where did you hear about that?”

  “A few places. Amateur astronomers talk about it.”

  “Amateurs.”

  “Is it all nonsense, then? Is there no object?”

  “Oh, there is, but it’s unlikely to be what they think it is.”

  “Then what is it? People who know about this seem to think that it can only be an artificially propelled object travelling at speeds that our ships can’t achieve.”

  “An you know everything about our technology?”

  That caught her on the back foot. Was he saying that ISF did have this technology and that the object was merely a test ship or something like that? Was that what this whole “military exercise” circus was all about?

  He nodded once and went to the door of the meeting room. “Now if you don’t mind, I am very busy, no thanks to you.”

  Chapter 17

  * * *

  FABIO HAD THOUGHT the truck couldn’t go any faster. He was clearly wrong.

  Katarina flatfooted the vehicle, and it accelerated to a speed he had thought impossible for something this size.

  The road wasn’t any less bumpy, and he had to hang on with both hands to avoid being thrown from his seat. Paul hung onto the back of Katarina’s seat with white-knuckled hands. Jun’s face looked pale.

  Thalia didn’t appear to have an issue with the speed or movements of the vehicle and neither did Sol.

  Fabio wished Katarina would keep her eyes on the road and she’d stop looking at the screen.

  It was unmistakable: the
red dot was coming closer. What would they do when it got close enough to fire at the truck? He was sure that the people in the other truck would know about the weapons in the depot and would do everything possible to stop them reaching it.

  The first rays of light crept over the jagged landscape as Io moved out of Jupiter’s dark shadow. A faint wisp of mist rose into the air as the thin atmosphere sublimated back into the air.

  “There,” Thalia said, pointing at the screen.

  Fabio couldn’t see anything worth noticing from his position, but they had to be getting closer to the depot.

  But they turned a corner and he could see it, too: a strangely blocky shape in an utterly hostile landscape of jagged rocky spikes poking out of loose sickly yellow sand.

  They truck had almost reached the small concreted area next to the blocky building when something exploded next to the vehicle. Katarina swore. The truck swerved and hit a patch of deep dust with the wheels on one side. It almost came to a standstill. The caterpillar wheels churned up a cloud of dust that created a cloud of dust even in this thin atmosphere. The dust particles glittered in the stark, lifeless light.

  “Come on, come on!” Katarina revved the engine, but it would not go any further.

  “Damn it, damn it.”

  She jumped up from her seat, ran across to the door, pulled on her pressure suit, jammed on her helmet and stepped into the airlock, all within moments. As soon as the lock cycled, she opened the outer door, jumped onto the sand and ran for the depot. She disappeared into the shadow of the building.

  Meanwhile, Thalia had climbed into the driver’s seat, but she couldn’t get the vehicle to move any more than Katarina had. It was well and truly stuck in the sand.

  Meanwhile, Sol went to the back and pulled on his suit. Fabio followed and helped Jun pull the helmet over his head.

  Only one person fitted in the airlock at a time. Sol went first, and then Jun.

  They ran along the road, following Katarina’s footsteps.

  Next it was Fabio’s turn.