Simone backed away from the new anomaly and joined Kevin at what he hoped was a safe distance. The metallic blob didn’t change its behaviour and simply remained where it was, oozing on the surface of what Kevin had begun to think of as their grey cube.
‘Do you think it will go inside?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure, but just in case: Box, shut the door.’
The hole closed as quickly as it had appeared.
‘I hope you can open it again,’ said Kevin.
Simone gave him a sideways glance. She was keeping her attention on the metallic blob. ‘Let’s find out. Box, open the door.’
The hole reappeared with a light tinging noise.
Kevin let out a sigh of relief. ‘Probably best to shut it again.’
Simone nodded and gave the command to shut the door again. As before, the hole closed.
The evenly spaced row of cubes opposite their grey cube stretched into the distance in both directions. Their box also stood in a row of its own. The two rows stayed perfectly parallel for as far as Kevin could see. It was hard to gauge distance because apart from the cubes, everything was the same, sterile, bright white.
‘Where’s the light coming from?’ asked Simone.
Kevin realised there did not appear to be anything which was a light source in the smooth white of the walls, ceiling and floor. In fact, it was hard to tell where one started and the other began.
‘Beats me. Must be because of aliens.’ Kevin used Simone’s explanation for something that looked like magic.
‘Touché,’ said Simone.
‘Hey, do you think you can open one of the other alien thingies?’
Simone shot her brother a withering look. ‘Thingies? Really? Can you please call them cubes or boxes. Actually, I like box, let’s go with that.’
‘Sorry. Simone, do you think you can open one of the other alien boxes?’
‘Better.’ Simone strode up to the nearest box. ‘Box, open the door.’
Nothing happened.
‘Box, open the door,’ repeated Simone. This time louder.
Nothing continued to happen.
‘That’ll be a no, then,’ said Kevin.
‘If we can’t have a look around another box, then we should see what’s at the end of the row,’ said Simone.
‘How will we find our box again? Are you just going to wander up and down the line shouting “open” at them?’
‘Good point.’ Simone opened the door again and retrieved their tank-belts from inside, dumping them on the floor in front of the box. ‘They’re empty anyway. May as well use them as a marker.’
Satisfied they’d be able to find their way to this particular box, the pair picked a direction at random and started walking between the rows of implacable grey cubes.
CHAPTER 8
Daniel held his coffee cup, letting it warm his hands. Jacob was sitting on a battered grey sofa nursing his own cup. The two men had found each other at the dig site and, after spending the rest of the day watching impotently as the scientists failed to make the artefact reappear, they had made the trip back to Daniel’s hab. Jacob couldn’t face going back to the communal hab so when Daniel had offered him the couch for the night, he had readily agreed.
Daniel numbly watched the steam curling out of his cup. They hadn’t said a word since getting back, except for Daniel instructing the hab AI to make coffee.
Jacob cleared his throat. Daniel looked up at his son-in-law.
‘There’s something you should know,’ said Jacob.
Daniel remained silent.
‘It’s just…’ Jacob stopped, straightened his shoulders, and started again. ‘Simone wanted to be the one to tell you, but—’
‘Tell me?’ Daniel echoed in incomprehension.
‘Tell you, yes. But she can’t now, so I have to.’
‘Tell me what?’
‘We—she’s pregnant.’
‘Pregnant?’
‘Yes. You know the council didn’t approve human trials?’
Daniel nodded his acknowledgement.
‘Well, we—’ Jacob ran his fingers through his hair. ‘We couldn’t wait any longer, so we edited our son.’
‘You edited your son?’ Daniel continued echoing what Jacob was saying.
‘Increased lung capacity, haemoglobin transfer, a little extra cognitive ability for good measure. The works.’
‘Holy shit,’ observed Daniel.
‘We implanted the embryo a week ago.’
‘I’m going to be a grandad,’ said Daniel.
Jacob smiled briefly. ‘Yes, she knew you’d like that.’
‘Oh, God.’ The reality of the situation suddenly hit home. His daughter. His beautiful, intelligent, talented daughter was going to give him a grandson. Except that she wasn’t. She’d gone. Vanished in an ancient martian artefact to god knows where. And his son, Kevin. All his family, gone. His eyes started to moisten with tears. He felt a thick lump forming in his throat. ‘They’ll figure out how to get them back, won’t they?’
Jacob looked away and said nothing.
* * *
It was the start of their shift. Reims and Conway were divesting themselves of their belts and therms when Reims got the call from the chief. She said they would be right there, sighed, and put her tank-belt back on the rack.
She patted her partner on the shoulder. ‘Chief wants to see us, Conway.’
Conway groaned and racked his tank-belt next to hers. ‘What about?’
‘Something at that dig site.’
‘Dig site?’
‘Jesus, Conway. Do you live in a goddamn cave?’
‘I’ve been busy,’ said Conway.
‘They found an alien artefact in the water mines. Now Webb and his mob are crawling all over it doing science shit.’
‘Oh.’ Conway looked genuinely surprised.
Reims didn’t know how he’d done it, but Conway had somehow managed to avoid the news story that had been dominating the colony news feed for the past few days.
‘Conway, you are truly one of a kind.’
‘Gee, thanks Reims,’ said Conway.
Chief Smith was waiting for them in his office. He was the only ColPol officer in the building with a private office. Everyone else was crammed into an open common space to leave more room for interview rooms and overnight holding cells.
Smith tapped the cover of a black folder on the desk in front of him. ‘Nice of you two to join me. Sit down.’ He indicated the two chairs on the other side of his desk.
Conway sat down and tried to hide his coffee cup.
Reims lifted her cup so Smith could clearly see it. ‘We had to stop for essential supplies.’
‘I expect you to drop everything when I call.’
Reims sat down and slurped noisily from her cup.
‘Sorry sir,’ said Conway.
Smith fixed Reims with a glare before continuing. ‘I’m sure you’ve both heard about the disappearance of the artefact yesterday.’
Reims nodded. Conway looked down at his coffee.
Smith opened the folder and looked at the first page. ‘Doctor Webb is convinced that Simone Aarons and Kevin Maddock deliberately absconded with it.’
That didn’t seem all that likely to Reims. ‘Really?’
‘Really. What I need you to do is bring in their family and known associates for questioning.’
Reims nodded slowly. ‘Standard shakedown. Got you.’
Smith hadn’t finished. ‘The good doctor has also reported that Mrs Aarons is also guilty of an unlicensed gene-edited pregnancy.’
‘Is that even a crime?’ asked Reims.
‘It is now.’ Smith closed the folder and tossed it over towards Reims and Conway.
Conway grabbed it before Reims had a chance to react. Figured, thought Reims. The guy was born for paperwork.
‘We’re on it sir,’ said Conway.
‘Good. This is top priority. As of now those two are the colony’s most wanted.�
��
CHAPTER 9
‘That is amazing,’ said Simone.
Kevin had to agree. They had walked for fifteen minutes between the rows of boxes before they could see where the multitude of grey cubes came to an end. Another fifteen minutes and they reached an end wall of what they realised was a massive chamber. Fortunately, this wall was not as featureless as the rest of the chamber, and as they approached it, they could see a large semicircular portal blocked by a shimmering blue light. Exactly how large had not been apparent until they got closer and could see it was twice as tall as one of the cubes and, due to its semicircular nature, twice as wide.
‘Amazing,’ said Kevin. ‘How do we get through?’
Simone didn’t answer as she paced the length of the curtain of blue light.
‘Sim?’
‘There’s something here,’ said Simone. She was at one end of the portal, pointing at something on the wall.
Kevin ambled over to take a look. It was a thirty-centimetre square panel. It was notable in that it was not the same clean uniform white as the rest of the chamber, but was the same grey as the cubes. As he got closer to the light, he could hear a low pitched, almost inaudible, hum.
‘What do you think that is?’ asked Kevin.
‘It’s must be to do with opening this.’ Simone gestured at the shimmering curtain of blue light.
She slapped her hand palm first onto the panel.
Nothing happened.
‘Not just a simple switch, then,’ said Simone.
Kevin realised she was talking to herself. He remembered her doing the same thing when figuring out puzzles when they were children. He used to tease her about it but wisely decided not to now.
‘I don’t suppose you have any tools on you?’ asked Simone.
‘Just the flashlight, and a panel access tool,’ said Kevin. He never went anywhere without the small tool he used to open access panels on the dig-units.
‘Door, open,’ said Simone.
Nothing happened.
‘Looks like your superpowers have failed you,’ said Kevin.
‘Give me your access tool.’ Simone held out her hand.
Kevin fished a small black rod that had a tiny hook on the end out of his pocket and placed it in Simone’s outstretched hand. The bespoke tool was only marginally easier to use than a screwdriver but had the added advantage of not damaging the casing on the robot’s access panels. He’d had this one since he’d started his job in the water mines. Simone threw it at the barrier.
‘Hey!’ said Kevin.
The tool hit the shimmering blue light and bounced back, clattering to the floor at Simone’s feet.
‘That’s my bloody access tool,’ said Kevin.
She bent down, picked the tool up, and turned it over in her hand, scrutinising it.
‘Do I come into your lab and start throwing test tubes about?’ grumbled Kevin, not expecting an answer or any contrition from his sister.
He wasn’t disappointed. Simone simply tossed the tool back to him. Kevin caught it and inspected it for any damage. ‘Lucky for you it’s ok.’
‘Stop being a baby. I wanted something to test the barrier with that wasn’t my hand, and we’re not exactly flush with equipment.’
Simone approached the barrier and slowly reached out her hand towards it.
‘Wait? What are you doing?’ Kevin lunged forward and grabbed his sister by the shoulder, pulling her arm back.
Simone rounded on him. ‘Look. I get that you want to protect me, and that is very sweet, little brother. But you saw the tool; it’s fine. I’ll be fine.’ She shrugged his hand off and pushed her hand onto the barrier.
When her hand didn’t explode, disintegrate, or catch fire, Kevin relaxed a bit. He was still tense with vague worry in general, but the barrier of blue light did not seem to be dangerous.
‘Sorry,’ said Kevin. ‘It’s been a bit of a weird day, and I’m having a little trouble adjusting.’
Simone made her hand into a fist and thumped the barrier a few times. ‘I don’t think we’re getting through that any time soon.’ She stood contemplating the barrier for a moment more before turning and marching back the way they had come. ‘Come on, let’s check out the other direction.’
Kevin, having nothing else to do and nowhere else to be, followed.
Their box hadn’t moved. The pair of tank-belts were still in the same untidy pile in front of it, but the metallic blob was gone, leaving the grey box looking identical to its companions. Kevin had noticed that there were a few gaps in the rows of regularly spaced boxes and wondered where the missing boxes were. He also wondered where they were.
‘Where do you think we are?’
‘You mean celestially, because we sure as hell aren’t on Mars,’ said Simone.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘The gravity is wrong. I can feel it, can’t you?’
Kevin nodded. She was right. He had been feeling slightly heavier than usual ever since they had stepped outside the box.
‘This isn’t Mars, and it isn’t Phobos or Deimos. This implies a couple of things. First, we are a long way from home. Second, that the box can move faster than the speed of light.’
‘Oh,’ said Kevin. Simone’s reasoning simultaneously filled him with a sense of wonder and terror.
After half an hour of walking, they came across a box that was almost entirely covered in patches of the metallic blob substance that had been on their box. Where they could see the surface of the box, they could see it was blackened and pitted. He wondered what could have damaged the surface like that as it had resisted all attempts to take even a small sample back on Mars.
‘Those blobs are probably some sort of automated repair system,’ said Simone.
Kevin agreed. It did seem more likely than his initial guess of ‘killer space slug’.
They continued walking for another half an hour until they came to another blue barrier at the other end of the chamber. This put the chamber at several kilometres long. It was immense.
After a few minutes of fruitless prodding and poking at the barrier and its attendant control panel, they decided to head back to their box and see if they could still get inside.
As they approached the untidy pile of tank-belts, Kevin’s nerves started to jangle with apprehension. This feeling suddenly converted to a wash of relief after Simone’s command ‘Box, open the door’ worked, and the round aperture pinged open allowing them inside.
The table and chairs were still where they’d left them, along with the remains of their breakfast.
‘What do we do with that lot?’ Kevin gestured at the dirty crockery, inexplicably overcome by the desire to tidy up. ‘I don’t see a handy dishwasher.’
‘No, there isn’t,’ said Simone. ‘But I bet there could be.’
‘Right. Superpowers.’
‘Box, a dishwasher if you please.’ She pointed at the wall.
‘You’re being polite to it? You get more like Dad every time I see you.’
Simone shot him a look that told him to shut his smart-ass mouth. Kevin was about to elaborate when the section of wall she had pointed to swirled and flowed into what looked remarkably like a dishwasher door. ‘I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Bloody hell.’
Simone lifted her index finger to her mouth and blew away some imaginary smoke.
Kevin opened the newly formed door and, sure enough, the inside was unmistakably the internals of a dishwasher. He stared at it a moment, shrugged, put the breakfast things into the rack, then shut the door.
CHAPTER 10
Daniel was roused from sleep by a commotion from the main living area. Groggily, he wondered what Jacob was up to, then he heard unfamiliar voices from next door and snapped awake.
‘Doris, who is in the hab?’ he asked while he hurriedly pulled on some clothes.
‘Current occupants of the hab are Daniel Maddock, Jacob Aarons, Colony Police Officer Lucy Reims, and Colony Police Officer
Adrian Conway.’
Daniel’s blood ran cold. Thoughts tumbled through his mind: Why were ColPol here? It must be bad news. Please don’t let it be bad news.
He zipped up his colonist’s coverall and pushed open the door into the main living area of the hab. Jacob was sitting on the sofa. A ColPol officer, wearing the distinctive navy blue coverall of the Colony Police, stood with his arms behind his back. Sitting in Daniel’s favourite chair was another member of ColPol. This one had her cap in her hand and was talking earnestly with Jacob.
Daniel imagined the worst. What was actually going on, while not informing the next of kin of Simone’s demise, was not good.
‘You understand that officer Conway and myself have to take you into custody, Jacob,’ said the officer who was sitting down. Daniel surmised that this must be Colony Police Officer Lucy Reims.
Jacob just nodded. He looked shell-shocked.
The door banged shut behind Daniel. Everyone looked his way.
‘Ah. Mister Maddock. Do join us, please.’ Officer Reims gestured to the sofa.
‘You’re in my chair,’ said Daniel. He wasn’t sure why he’d said that.
The ColPol officer’s brow furrowed. ‘What?’
‘You’re sitting in my chair.’
She looked down at the chair, then back at Daniel. ‘Yes, I am. Now, please take a seat next to your son-in-law. Don’t make me ask again.’
Daniel hastily complied. He was still a bit befuddled from being asleep and wasn’t really sure what was going on.
‘Mister Maddock, I would like to invite you to come with us and help us in our enquiries.’
Daniel looked at the ColPol officer in incomprehension. ‘What?’
‘Your son and daughter are both wanted in connection with unlawful appropriation of colony property.’
That didn’t make Daniel feel any less confused.
‘Your daughter is also wanted on a separate charge of unlicensed gene-edited pregnancy.’
Box Page 4