Daniel’s confusion was replaced by sick dread. ‘I don’t know—’
‘We will find out what you do and don’t know back at the police unit, Mister Maddock.’
Officer Reims got to her feet and motioned for Daniel and Jacob to do the same. Daniel stood, suddenly lightheaded. The whole situation was surreal and there seemed to be nothing Daniel could do to avoid being swept along by the tide of events.
He remained in a daze as he donned his therms, left the hab and was shepherded into the back seat of the ColPol rover parked outside. The roads around the Mars colony were made of compacted rock which was perpetually covered in a thin layer of red dust. Attempting to clear the dust was futile as the regular dust storms refreshed this layer almost as soon as it was cleared. The rover threw up a plume of this dust as they drove to their destination.
Daniel was not entirely sure what enquiries he was going to assist with. He understood the charge of unlicensed gene-editing, but he didn’t know what he could say that ColPol did not already know or could get from Jacob. As for the other charge: ‘unlawful appropriation of colony property’, he had no idea what that could be about.
They arrived at the ColPol building after around fifteen minutes of driving. It was squat and made of steel and concrete. Like all older colony buildings, the exterior was pitted and scoured by the power of the storms that had raged across the planet’s surface during early terraforming. The storms that now swept across the surface of Mars, although as frequent, no longer had quite the same destructive power. The storm shutters were currently open, but the tinted black windows revealed nothing of the interior.
The airlock was of an older design to the one in Daniel’s hab and was much larger, able to accomodate an entire squad of ColPol officers if required. The hiss of gas exchange was loud. It sounded like the valve needed replacing, thought Daniel. Once the green light indicating a breathable atmosphere illuminated, they proceeded into the entry room.
Another officer was sitting behind a desk. He looked up from his screen, watching as they removed their masks, tank-belts and therms. Jacob and Daniel put their thumbprints to a reader to acknowledge transfer of their outdoor equipment before handing them over to the desk officer.
The interview room he was hustled into was small; more of a cupboard than a room, it barely had space for the table and two chairs inside. The furniture was old and dilapidated which matched what he had seen of the ColPol building so far. A beige folder was on the table.
Officer Reims took the chair opposite Daniel. ‘Pol-AI, record interview of Daniel Maddock.’
A ceiling speaker tucked into a corner of the room crackled into life. The voice was female and devoid of any emotional inflection. ‘Acknowledged, officer Reims. Recording interview of Daniel Maddock. Date and time-stamp applied.’
Officer Reims did not waste any time on pleasantries. ‘Did your son tell you he was going to steal the artefact?’
‘Steal? What are you talking about?’ This was a new slant on events.
She picked up the folder and leafed through the pages. ‘Your son is regularly in contact with you. There was a logged call from the Delaney communal hab the day before the theft.’
‘How can you call that a theft?’
‘Mister Maddock.’ Officer Reims put the folder down in front of her. ‘We have camera footage clearly showing Kevin Maddock and Simone Aarons taking control of the artefact.’
‘Taking control? They didn’t come back out!’
She returned to the folder, turning to a page which had a picture of Simone at the top. It had been taken a few years ago, back when she had shorter hair.
‘Simone Aarons is also wanted for unlicensed gene-editing, along with her husband and accomplice Jacob Aarons. And he was found at your hab.’ Reims leant back in her chair before fixing Daniel with an accusatory gaze. ‘Is he the ring-leader?’
‘Ring-leader? This is nonsense. Kevin and Simone would never do anything like that.’
‘So, Jacob would?’
‘No, I didn’t say that.’
‘The thing is, Mister Maddock, they did abscond with the artefact, and Simone Aarons is carrying an unlicensed gene-edited foetus. You are wasting your time if you are trying to convince me they aren’t guilty.’
‘The pregnancy. That’s real,’ admitted Daniel.
‘That’s better. We’re getting somewhere. How long have you known about the unlicensed gene-editing?’
‘I only found out yesterday, when Jacob told me.’
‘Of course.’ Officer Reims pulled out another sheet of paper from the folder and tapped it with her finger thoughtfully. ‘When did you find out about the plan to steal the artefact?’
‘I don’t know anything about any plan,’ said Daniel.
‘Repeating a lie does not make it so, Mister Maddock.’
‘You’ve got to believe me, there is no plan,’ said Daniel.
‘There is no plan or you don’t know anything about the plan. Which is it Mister Maddock?’
‘Neither. Uh. Both.’
‘Very well Mister Maddock. Pol-AI, terminate interview.’
The speaker crackled into life with the acknowledgement – ‘Interview terminated.’
Officer Reims stood and picked up the folder. ‘We will give you some more time to think about it in a detention cell.’
Another blue clad officer entered and escorted Daniel out of the interview room. He was being led to the cells when there was a raised voice from the direction of the main airlock.
‘Get your hands off me, I know the way.’ The voice was male and aggressive. Daniel thought he recognised it, but wasn’t sure until he saw the speaker. It was Dimitri, one of Kevin’s friends.
When Dimitri saw Daniel he called over – ‘Hey, Danny. What the hell’s going on?’
Daniel answered with a shrug as the big man was taken into the interview room.
‘Move it, Maddock,’ said a ColPol officer, putting a hand on his arm.
‘Sorry,’ said Daniel.
He allowed himself to be led away to the detention cells. These were small concrete boxes with doors that locked on the outside. His escort presented his cuff to the pad next to one of the cells. This disengaged the lock, allowing the officer to open the cell door and push Daniel inside. There was a solid clicking noise behind him as the lock engaged.
It didn’t take long for Daniel to take stock of his new quarters. A hard looking bed and a white plastic toilet were the only furnishings. A solitary light embedded in the ceiling illuminated the cell. He couldn’t see a light switch and, although there was a speaker grille above the door, he doubted the AI was listening for his commands; the light was probably on a timer. A single yellow line was painted on the floor bisecting the tiny room. There was no clue to its purpose.
His stomach growled and Daniel remembered that he hadn’t had any breakfast. He hadn’t even had a cup of coffee. Feeling more than a little sorry for himself, Daniel lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn’t long until he started to worry about Kevin and Simone. He was pretty sure that ColPol’s theory about a plot to steal the artefact was nonsense, but, in a way, he almost wanted it to be true. The alternative was that they had been abducted by something alien. And that thought gave him no comfort at all.
CHAPTER 11
Kevin and Simone were blissfully unaware of the events unfolding in the Mars colony. They had been experimenting with what the Box could do. The most important thing, as far as Kevin was concerned, was that Simone could ask the Box to follow somebody else’s verbal commands. Simone could make things happen by thinking hard enough about them, but it was easier when she vocalised the request as if she was talking to a colony AI. Kevin, although he couldn’t just make things happen by wishful thinking, could now use voice commands with the Box. Kevin was currently sitting with his feet up on a battered grey sofa which looked remarkably like the one in their father’s hab. Apparently he could only ask for food or drink that Simone had e
xperience of. He had tried for a bottle of Dimitri’s hooch, but the bottle that had appeared in what Simone had dubbed the creation compartment (Kevin’s suggestion of ‘magic cupboard’ had been overruled) was wine made from colony-grown grapes. Experimentation had also shown that Simone also needed to hear Kevins request unless it was something he had asked for before. Several bottles of wine on the floor beside the sofa were testament to Kevin’s attempts to procure something that wasn’t chardonnay.
‘You couldn’t have tried some hard liquor at least once in your life?’ asked Kevin. He took a swig from the bottle of wine that he was holding.
‘Some of us have a little bit of concern for our internal organs,’ said Simone.
‘Bet you’re fun at parties.’
Simone made no comment and sipped her water.
‘So, we have air, food, drink and a bathroom.’ Kevin pointed the wine bottle at a door on the far side of the room. Simone had asked the Box for a bathroom when they had got back from their exploratory walk, the morning’s coffee having made its way through their digestive systems. ‘Now the only danger is dying from terminal boredom.’
‘Perhaps. For the moment, more experiments will keep us busy.’
‘More? I thought we were done.’ Kevin hoisted his wine bottle towards Simone then took another slug.
‘We have a pretty good handle on the fabrication capabilities of the Box. For instance, your request for a rover failed. Probably a size issue.’
‘It made the bathroom,’ Kevin pointed out.
‘Extruded from the fabric of the Box. Not a discrete object. We don’t know how much raw material is available for construction.’
Kevin nodded towards the bathroom. ‘We don’t know where our waste is going either.’
‘Probably back into raw materials. This fabrication technology can construct molecules to order, it must have the ability to break them down into constituent elements too.’
‘So our food could be made from our waste?’ Kevin peered into his wine bottle suspiciously. ‘Lovely.’
‘Once it’s been broken down, it ceases being, uh, waste,’ said Simone.
Kevin swung his legs down from the sofa and leaned back, stretching his arms out across the back of the sofa. ‘Fascinating. You’re not planning experiments with our poo are you?’
‘No. We need to see if we can get the Box to travel.’
‘Travel? You mean go home?’ Kevin hadn’t thought of that.
‘Yes. The trick will be working out what to visualise.’
‘Just think of home, surely.’
Simone gave him a condescending look. ‘First thing I tried. Nothing.’
‘Oh.’ Kevin’s excitement faded. ‘Maybe it’s not possible.’
‘Maybe. But it’s not like I’ve got anything else to do is it?’
‘What do I do?’
‘I don’t know, catch up on your reading?’
‘Not a bad idea. Box, make me an e-reader.’
The door of the creation compartment slid open to reveal what looked like a standard issue colony e-reader. Kevin walked over, picked it up and depressed the on switch. The display came to life.
‘Oh,’ said Kevin.
‘What is it?’ asked Simone.
‘There’s no books on here.’ The e-reader’s inventory was empty.
Simone laughed. ‘I suppose there couldn’t be.’
‘You’re telling me that the Box can make a working e-reader, but can’t rustle up something to read?’
‘Technology obeys the universal laws of physics. Stories on the other hand’ ‒ Simone tapped her temple with a forefinger ‒ ‘they’re the domain of the imagination.’
‘Bugger,’ said Kevin. He threw the useless e-reader on to the sofa and sat down heavily next to it. ‘I’m guessing an entertainment unit would have no movies or games on it?’
‘Go ahead and try,’ said Simone.
Kevin spent the next ten minutes growing a pile of functional but content devoid electronic entertainment devices.
‘Have you quite finished?’ asked Simone as she watched Kevin throw a gamepad at the wall in frustration.
‘Yeah. Looks like the only entertainment around here is drinking and creating a pile of useless electronic crap.’ He kicked said pile of useless electronic crap, causing a minor avalanche of games consoles that spilled across the floor.
‘I hope you’re going to tidy that lot up,’ said Simone.
‘Where to?’ asked Kevin.
‘Box, give us waste disposal,’ said Simone.
A new door flowed into being next to the creation compartment. This one was labelled ‘Waste Disposal’. Kevin noticed the original compartment was now labelled with the name Simone had chosen for it.
‘Cute,’ said Kevin.
Opening the door revealed an empty grey compartment identical in appearance to its neighbour. He then proceeded to fill it with his pile of useless electronics. Once he had finished, he slid the door shut and there was a whooshing noise. Re-opening the door revealed the compartment was now empty with no evidence of anything ever being inside.
‘They’d kill for this recycling tech back home,’ said Kevin.
‘About that,’ said Simone.
Kevin raised an eyebrow and looked at his sister quizzically. ‘Recycling?’
‘Home.’
‘What about it?’
‘We should see if we can make the Box go places. Home for instance.’
‘We don’t know where we are,’ said Kevin.
‘I don’t think I need to.’
‘Right. Mind reading alien box.’
‘Box, travel home,’ ordered Simone.
As far as Kevin could tell, nothing happened.
‘Let’s see if that worked,’ said Simone. ‘Box, show an outside view.’
The screen flicked into life, showing the now familiar sight of a row of other alien cubes.
‘Bugger,’ said Kevin, with feeling.
Simone was quiet for a moment. Kevin could tell she was thinking by the faint frown wrinkling her forehead. ‘I was thinking of the concept of home. What if this is the Box’s home?’
‘Oh. I see. Maybe you need to be a bit more specific?’
‘Right. Box, travel to our home.’
The screen went momentarily dark, then a new picture was displayed. The sun must be behind them as a large square shadow was being thrown against a rocky cliff face.
‘Looks like it worked,’ said Kevin.
‘Wonder where we are?’
‘One way to find out,’ said Kevin. ‘Box, open the—’
‘Wait.’ Simone interrupted him.
‘What?’
‘We need our masks,’ said Simone.
Kevin gestured at the tank-belts which were lying by the sofa. ‘They’re empty, remember.’
‘No problem. Magic alien box, remember?’
Simone quickly ordered up a refill point next to the dishwasher and they spent a few minutes re-gassing their tanks. Once they were full, they donned their therms and masks and got ready to leave.
‘Box, open the door,’ said Kevin. This time Simone did not interrupt him and the round egress point opened in front of them.
They stepped out into sweltering heat. Kevin’s limbs felt leaden. He felt like he was walking through treacle, and could already feel sweat starting to prickle his skin in the heat.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Kevin as he quickly undid the front of his therms.
‘What?’ Simone looked as confused as he was.
He could see her shoulders visibly drooping. Simone was obviously feeling the same pull downwards that he was.
‘This is not Mars,’ said Kevin, stating the obvious. If they had been on Mars in the shade, they would have felt the chill through their therms. This temperature was ridiculous, it must be at least 25 degrees centigrade.
‘Back inside,’ said Simone.
Kevin nodded his assent, and they retreated back inside the Box, escaping the heat and
the weird pull downwards. While Kevin stripped off his therms, Simone called up a display of the atmospheric gas percentages outside the Box.
‘Kevin.’ Her voice was trembling.
‘What?’ He looked at the screen.
‘This is an Earth normal atmosphere. Look, 20.946% oxygen. That’s a match to three decimal places. So is the nitrogen. Even the noble gases.’
‘How do you remember that stuff?’ said Kevin.
Simone ignored the question, instead sharing her conclusion with him. ‘It’s Earth Kev. The Box has taken us to Earth.’
‘That’s Earth is it? Can’t say I like it much. Too hot and the gravity is a drag,’ said Kevin.
Simone’s voice was full of wonder. ‘How fast does this thing move?’
‘It took less than a second to get from the land of the boxes to here,’ said Kevin.
‘And we don’t even know where that was,’ said Simone. ‘I had assumed it was somewhere on Mars and the Box had moved while we were asleep.’
Kevin looked around at the interior of the Box. A table and chairs, sofa, a video screen, and a door to an adjoining bathroom. It didn’t look like the the interior of an incredibly fast spaceship. To be fair, the outside didn’t look like it could move at all, let alone faster than the speed of light.
Simone, who had joined him in quiet contemplation, broke the silence. ‘I was making sure my thoughts were about home for humans, not whatever alien’s built that other place.’
‘I guess that puts us in Africa somewhere,’ said Kevin.
‘Hang on.’ Simone straightened and lifted her head so she was looking slightly above his head. He had noticed she had started to do this when talking to the Box. ‘Box, show a local topographic map.’
The screen view changed from the cliff face to a top down map. There was a gently pulsing small blue square in the middle of the display. Kevin assumed this represented the Box. There was what appeared to be buildings near their position.
‘We should investigate those.’ Simone pointed at the buildings.
‘How far is it? There’s no scale.’
‘Box, display scale in kilometres.’
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