Box

by Richard J Lowe

  ‘Where exactly?’

  ‘It would be easier to show you,’ said Simone.

  Ray smiled slightly. ‘Very well. You will take us to see this box for ourselves.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Simone.

  The trip back to the Box was quicker as they took a more direct route. Kevin and Simone were leading the way, a vigilant Connie keeping her rifle at the ready behind them. Ray and two other men were behind Connie and talked together in low voices for much of the trip. They were also armed. Kevin wondered if they’d been lucky not to encounter whatever their hosts were wary of.

  ‘Holy shit,’ said Connie as the Box came into view.

  ‘I have to admit, I had my doubts.’ Ray slapped Kevin on the back. ‘But it is as impressive as you described.’

  Ray walked past them and walked a circuit of the Box, ending up back where he started in front of Kevin and Simone. ‘How do we get in?’

  ‘Only I can open it.’

  Ray nodded slowly. ‘Very well. You will go inside with Connie.’

  ‘Ok,’ said Simone.

  She moved towards the box and Kevin started to follow.

  ‘Not you,’ said Ray, putting a hand on Kevin's shoulder.

  Simone stopped looked over her shoulder at Kevin. He nodded at her. He’d be alright.

  She turned back to face the Box. ‘Box, open the door.’

  The circular opening popped into existence.

  Connie took a step back, raising her rifle.

  Simone stepped inside and disappeared from Kevin’s view. Connie hesitantly followed, and the opening closed behind her as suddenly as it had appeared.

  Ray's grip tightened on Kevin's shoulder. ‘I hope for your sake that she isn’t going to do anything stupid.’

  So do I, thought Kevin. So do I.

  Five tense minutes later, Simone and Connie exited the Box.

  ‘Well?’ said Ray.

  ‘It’s amazing Ray,’ said Connie. ‘They’re on the level.’

  Ray was smiling. It looked decidedly disconcerting to Kevin.

  ‘We will come back tomorrow, and the lovely Simone can show us how it works.’

  CHAPTER 16

  Lula hooked a chair out from under the table, sat down and opened her laptop.

  ‘Drink, Danny?’ asked Dimitri. He had pulled another drink carton from beside the still.

  Daniel shook his head and sat down. ‘So, what now?’

  Dimitri shrugged and joined them at the table. He took a slug from the carton.

  Lula softly shook her head and shifted her attention to her computer's screen. Daniel watched as her fingers flew over the keyboard in a blur, the light tapping of the keys overlaying the background noise of the softly gurgling water pipes.

  ‘What are you doing now?’ he asked.

  ‘As much as sitting around and drinking appeals’ – she shot her husband a sharp look – ‘I thought I’d see what is going on with your daughters husband.’

  Daniel frowned. ‘Jacob?’

  ‘You said he’d been picked up by ColPol,’ said Lula.

  ‘Yes, with me.’

  ‘About the same time as Dimitri, right?’

  ‘I guess so,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Aren’t you wondering why they didn’t let him go? And more importantly, what they are doing with him?’

  ‘Oh.’ Daniel felt a wave of guilt as he realised he hadn’t been thinking about his son-in-law at all.

  Lula spun her laptop around. It was displaying a ColPol status screen for Jacob Aarons. Under his picture were the words: ‘In Custody’ and there was a red ‘none’ next to release date.

  Daniel did not like the look of that. ‘None?’

  ‘I guess they’ve decided to hang on to him for a bit.’ Lula spun the laptop around to face her and resumed typing. ‘I’ll try and find out some more.’

  ‘They can’t just hold someone like that can they?’

  Lula peered at the screen. ‘Apparently they can if the prisoner is suspected of “willfully endangering the safety of the colony”.’

  ‘What bullshit is that?’ asked Dimitri.

  ‘It allows indefinite emergency detention,’ said Lula.

  ‘Can’t you do anything?’ asked Daniel.

  Lula shook her head. ‘These detention instructions have come from a council AI. If I tamper with them, they’ll know.’

  ‘Well, shit,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘So we can’t help him?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Unless you want to take on a hab full of ColPol and bust him out, no.’

  ‘Not even I think that’s a good idea,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘For once, my husband is the voice of reason. However...’ Lula began to type furiously, sustaining a smooth flow of keystrokes before ending with a flourish on the return key.

  ‘There. I’ve set up a monitor. I’ll get an alert if his status changes,’ said Lula.

  ‘Better than nothing,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘I’ve just inserted a bit of code under the electronic noses of the ColPol AIs and all you can say is “Better than nothing”?’

  Dimitri held his hands up. ‘Sorry! Sorry. What I meant to say was: thank you, my most talented wife. I do not deserve you.’ His smile was mischievous.

  ‘For that, you can go and find us some dinner.’

  Dimitri kept his hands raised in surrender as he stood up. ‘Fine. I’ll go raid the dome, I’ll be back soon.’

  Daniel watched Dimitri’s retreating back before turning to find Lula watching him over the top of her laptop. He felt bad about forgetting Jacob and even though they couldn’t help him at the moment, he was glad that Lula had managed to do something.

  ‘So, Daniel,’ began Lula. ‘Or do you prefer Danny?’

  ‘I prefer Daniel actually. It’s only Dimitri who calls me Danny.’

  ‘Typical.’ Lula snorted a short laugh. ‘Anyway. Jacob’s rap sheet reads like a great work of fiction. Unauthorised gene-editing, conspiracy to appropriate colony property and, not forgetting, endangering the safety of the colony.’

  ‘This whole situation is crazy,’ said Daniel.

  ‘I’ve only met Jacob a couple of times, but he doesn’t strike me as someone to rock the colonial boat. Unlike my idiot husband.’

  ‘He isn’t. At least he wasn’t.’

  ‘Explain?’

  ‘The council. They’ve been blocking human trials of gene-editing and cutting the funding of the Program.’

  ‘I remember it was being pushed as the way forward a few years ago,’ said Lula.

  ‘Yes, before Doris—’. Daniel lapsed into silence.

  ‘Sorry, Daniel.’ Lula leant forwards and put a hand on his shoulder.

  Daniel nodded. He could feel his eyes beginning to prick with tears. ‘That’s alright.’ He heard his own voice, trembling and thick with emotion. ‘God, it’s stupid. Getting like this when I try and talk about—’. He stopped again.

  Lula stood and walked around the table. She stood behind him and wordlessly wrapped her arms around him.

  Daniel broke; he leant his head on Lula’s arm and sobbed, all the feelings from the day of the accident surging back over him in a crashing wave.

  ‘Hey. Let it out,’ said Lula.

  Daniel sniffed and lifted his head. ‘Thanks. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be. I can’t imagine losing Dimitri like that.’

  ‘It just seems so unfair. Do you know how unlikely a multiple tank failure is on a belt?’

  ‘Was that what it was?’ asked Lula.

  ‘That’s what they told me. Imagining her final moments, running out of air—’

  Daniel could feel the sobs coming back and stopped talking. He felt Lula’s arms move away and opened his eyes to see her move back to sit behind her laptop and start typing, an intense look on her face.

  He sniffed. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Checking the ColPol records on the accident.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘And – that’s s
trange.’

  ‘What?’ asked Daniel, again.

  ‘The text on file does describe a tank failure and the dates check out, but the embedded timestamps are wrong.’

  ‘What?’ Daniel couldn’t help noticing he was repeating himself.

  ‘The report has been modified since it was first logged.’

  ‘What are you saying?’ asked Daniel. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Someone has changed the content of this report.’

  ‘So, they added some extra detail or fixed some spelling?’

  ‘More pervasive than that. A superficial inspection of the report wouldn’t see anything wrong.’ Lula peered over the top of her laptop at Daniel. ‘But I don’t do superficial inspection.’

  ‘So, what’s different?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Pretty much all of it after the initial incident report.’

  ‘What did it say before?’

  Lula’s fingers flew over the keyboard in another burst of typing. ‘Damn it.’

  ‘What?’ Daniel figured he might as well go all in with his new catchphrase.

  Lula leaned back in her chair and wiped her face with her hands. ‘Nothing. I can only tell what’s new, not what was there before.’

  ‘What do they have to hide?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘No idea. I also wonder who “they” are,’ said Lula.

  ‘Can you find anything more out?’

  ‘Maybe. I’m going to need to get admin access to one of the ColPol AI’s to do it.’

  Dimitri chose this point to make a reappearance. He was carrying a box marked with the green tree logo of the agri-domes. Lula hurriedly moved her laptop out of the way as Dimitri banged the box onto the table and flipped open the lid.

  ‘To do what?’ asked Dimitri.

  Lula caught the apple that Dimitri tossed at her. ‘Find out what’s been faked and by who, in the report on Doris’s accident.’

  ‘Lula has found evidence of the report being tampered with,’ said Daniel.

  ‘A conspiracy,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘Obviously,’ agreed Lula. ‘And I aim to find out who is behind it.’

  ‘Of course. I would expect nothing else.’ Dimitri took a large crunching bite out of his apple and chewed.

  ‘Thankyou,’ said Daniel. The possibility of Doris’s death not being an accident was just starting to sink in. He felt a small kernel of anger, which had been directed at the universe in general when his wife died, sharpen and acquire a new focus. If someone had killed her, they would pay. He would make sure of it.

  CHAPTER 17

  Kevin was woken by a loud banging on the door to their room. Yesterday, they had been shown to what looked like a hospital room with two beds. Any illusions they had harboured about any freedom they would be allowed was dispelled when the door had been locked behind them. Kevin did not remember much after that having slipped into an exhausted slumber almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  The door opened and Connie stepped inside. ‘Rise and shine. Eat some breakfast then it’s time to go.’ She lobbed something onto each of the beds, then left the room, locking the door behind her.

  Kevin sat up and picked up what appeared to be some sort of large biscuit. He peeled back the paper wrapper and bit into it. It had a cardboard like texture and a bland taste.

  ‘Yuck,’ said Simone.

  Kevin swallowed his mouthful of bland breakfast before responding. ‘I agree, and there I was thinking food would be better on Earth.’

  ‘I was expecting more people,’ said Simone.

  Sometime during the night, their clothes had been disinfected and left in a neatly folded pile on a chair. They had finished their breakfast and Kevin was putting on his boots when the door opened to admit Connie. She was carrying her rifle.

  Connie nodded her head towards Simone. ‘Alright, on your feet, time to go.’ Her rifle swung round to point at Kevin. ‘Not you. You’re to stay here as a guarantee of Simone’s good behaviour.’

  ‘I don’t want to go anywhere without my brother,’ said Simone.

  ‘Ray’s orders. I’m sorry, you don’t get the choice,’ said Connie.

  Kevin looked nervously at the barrel of the gun. ‘Go on Sim. I’m sure it will be alright.’

  ‘Like hell I will,’ said Simone.

  ‘You should listen to your brother,’ said Connie.

  Simone visibly hesitated, her gaze shifting from Kevin to the gun-toting Connie and back again.

  Kevin nodded at her and tried to smile reassuringly. ‘I’ll stay here and sample some more of the fine cuisine.’ He held up the empty biscuit wrapper.

  This drew a laugh from Connie. ‘See? He’ll be fine.’

  Simone still looked unsure.

  ‘You go on and take them to the Box. You can come back for me later.’ He saw Connie’s attention shift to see Simone’s response and quickly winked at his sister in what he hoped was a meaningful fashion.

  ‘Right. Yes. I guess I can.’ Simone slowly nodded as she said this.

  ‘Great. Can we go now? Ray isn’t known for his patience,’ said Connie.

  Once Simone and Connie had gone Kevin sighed and sank back onto the bed, letting the springs take the weight of his body. He wondered if he would ever get used to the gravity here. His muscles would strengthen over time, but he didn’t intend on staying here that long. Kevin just had to hope that Simone could pull off some Box-based trickery, escape Ray’s clutches and come and rescue him.

  * * *

  Simone was tired. Ray had not allowed her to use her assist servos and the extra weight she now carried was telling. She had led Ray, Connie and three other men, who had not been introduced, back to the Box. It was still where they had left it, looking large and immovable.

  ‘Right, in we go,’ said Ray.

  Simone nodded wearily. ‘Box, open the door.’

  A circular opening suddenly appeared in the side of the Box and Simone started towards it.

  ‘Ah, ah. Connie first,’ said Ray.

  Connie nodded and stepped over the threshold in front of Simone.

  ‘Now you.’ Ray waved his revolver at her.

  Simone stepped inside and stopped, letting her eyes adjust to the gloom. Connie was standing in front of her, still getting used to the reduced gravity inside the Box.

  She heard Ray’s voice behind her, ‘Move.’

  This was it. If she didn’t act now, Ray and the others would be with her inside the box.

  She moved her lips, silently mouthing the words ‘Box, close the door’ and launched herself at Connie.

  Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Connie brought the rifle up and Simone crashed into her, knocking the barrel back down towards the floor. The harsh retort of the gun being discharged filled the inside of the Box, then Connie toppled backwards, lost her grip on the gun and had the breath knocked out of her when she took the full force of Simone’s fall.

  Simone scrambled to her feet. She knew she had to act quickly, she’d never win in a straight fight with the more muscled Earth woman. Connie was still struggling to her feet, the low gravity throwing her balance off, which gave Simone just enough time to get to the rifle first and swing it round to point at her.

  Connie stopped in a half crouch and slowly raised her hands. ‘Let’s not be hasty.’

  ‘Hasty? You’re the one who kidnapped us and plans to steal the box.’

  ‘Look, that was Ray.’ Connie glanced at the blank featureless wall where the opening to the outside had been. ‘And he is probably really pissed about now.’

  ‘So? He can’t get in.’

  ‘But he can go back and take it out on your brother,’ said Connie.

  Simone smiled slyly. ‘Not if I get there first.’

  ‘How? There’s no way you’ll beat him back. I saw how exhausted you were moving around in our gravity.’

  ‘Box, duct tape please.’

  The creation compartment opened to reveal a new roll of duct tape.

  �
�Wait, just think about this for a minute,’ said Connie.

  Simone tossed the tape so it landed by Connie. ‘Tape your legs together.’

  She kept the gun trained on Connie until she had finished wrapping several winds of tape around her legs. Then, she put the rifle to one side and taped Connie’s hands together.

  Simone stepped back to admire her handiwork. ‘Now you’re secured, time to get Kevin.’

  ‘You’ll never get back in time. Ray will be halfway there by now.’

  Simone smiled at Connie. ‘Box, go to Kevin’s prison.’

  There was no indication that anything had happened.

  ‘Seriously. Free me and I won’t tell Ray,’ said Connie. ‘He can get mean when he’s disobeyed.’

  ‘Box, open the door.’

  The circular opening snapped open to reveal a grinning Kevin standing in what appeared to be a pile of rubble. Simone returned her brothers smile.

  ‘Nice entrance,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Don’t just stand there, come aboard,’ said Simone.

  Kevin stepped through the opening and stopped, bouncing on his toes. ‘God, that’s better.’

  Simone laughed. ‘I know, right?’

  The door to the room Kevin had just vacated rattled and was flung open by a man armed with a semi-automatic pistol. Instead of shooting, he stood there his mouth open and a look of pure astonishment on his face.

  ‘Box, close the door!’ shouted Simone.

  The view of the ruined room and the surprised man disappeared as the wall behind Kevin became blank and featureless.

  ‘Box, go home,’ said Simone.

  ‘What just happened?’ asked Connie.

  ‘What’s she doing here?’ asked Kevin, noticing the woman for the first time.

  ‘Trust me, this wasn’t my idea,’ said Connie.

  Kevin spent a moment considering the trussed up woman lying on the floor, then looked at Simone. ‘Duct tape?’

  Simone shrugged. ‘It was that or keep the gun on her all the time.’

  ‘What are we going to do with her now?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘I hadn’t thought that far ahead,’ admitted Simone.

  ‘I suppose we could take her back to Earth and dump her,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Hey, I’m right here,’ said Connie.