With his enquiries at a dead end, Olson had returned to the Ayon Research Facility and to the Vault below it. On arrival, O’Brien filled him in on the data that had been collected and what he had learned so far, which was not much. He ran through the list of people who had been interviewed and those who had yet to provide an account.
O’Brien took Olson aside and imparted verbatim the theory ROOT had relayed, that HEX was likely somewhere in Ayon. O’Brien had a prodigious memory and Olson accepted his account word for word. Olson stood back aghast at the bizarre, unfounded assertions of ROOT’s narrative. As a final footnote, and for completeness, O’Brien ran over a few unrelated issues that had been brought to his attention from other parts of Skala.
Eventually, having discharged his duties, Olson entered the Cannula and took it up to the fifth floor, on which he understood Katherine’s office resided. It took him a few turns to find but presently he stood tapping on the frosted glass of a door, which was opened faster than he anticipated, not by a secretary but by Katherine herself.
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ he said, in a friendly, if uncertain tone. ‘I was in the building and thought I’d check on you.’
‘I don’t mind at all,’ she said, ushering him in. She gestured to a sharply styled leather sofa and he settled himself with obvious appreciation for its comfort. She perched herself on the edge of a smaller sofa, facing him across a low, glass coffee table.
‘I imagine you’ve heard about the Council meeting?’ she asked with an air of inevitability.
‘I’ve heard something,’ he said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. ‘It sounds like it wasn’t a lot of fun.’
‘It wasn’t, I should have kept my mouth shut,’ she agreed.
‘I’m sure you did what you thought was best and in good faith.’
‘Good faith,’ she repeated to herself in a weary tone. ‘Good faith can be misplaced.’
‘I heard your father came to your aid?’ asked Olson.
Katherine sighed, tipping her head and gently arching a considered eyebrow. ‘That was a surprise, I have to say. It was welcome though.’ She looked up and regarded him with an open honesty he recognised.
‘You two aren’t so close?’ he said, more as a statement than a question.
‘It’s not that we aren’t close, it’s more that our relationship is a professional one. It’s been that way for a long time.’
‘Because he remarried?’
‘No,’ said Katherine, slightly shocked by this unexpected insight. ‘Because we’re both councillors and have to interact that way.’
‘But in private?’
‘In private it’s…’ she looked to the ceiling, searching for an answer. Finding none she sighed, ‘It’s just awkward.’
‘I was the same with my dad,’ said Olson and Katherine realised with a jolt that he felt ashamed.
‘He ran this big company, here on the east side of the city. It was unusual for a man to be so successful back then. He got me the best schooling, gave me every advantage, but he sure was a hard person to please. I worked for him for a while but then he got sick and wanted me to run the company for him. It just wasn’t what I wanted and I didn’t think I’d be any good at it.’
He looked up and straight into Katherine’s eyes.
‘Well, I did it anyway. Trying to please him I guess, but it all went wrong. Business went bad. Outside influences, circumstances, you know?’
Katherine, whose life had been shaped by many unexpected events, nodded her complete understanding.
‘He blamed me. I don’t think it was my fault but maybe I could have done more – changed direction or something, I don’t know. He lived just long enough to lose everything, so I understand “awkward”.’
Through this brief account, Katherine began to feel an intense sense that this man was a kindred spirit. She recognised in him things that she felt herself: a need to please a parent that could never be fulfilled; frustration at the influence of unforeseen events; and a deep-seated shame at advantage unasked for.
‘What did you do? After he died, I mean?’ she asked quietly and with heartfelt sympathy.
‘I did what I had to. Paid off the workers, closed the company and started again. It put a strain on my marriage, which came to an end.’ He looked sharply back up again and smiled. It was another gesture Katherine instinctively understood. Pulling the mask back on. ‘You don’t want to hear about all that now. We’ve got other, more pressing, things to talk about.’
‘We do,’ she agreed, more for his sake than because she wanted to change the subject.
‘I was wondering,’ he began. ‘We still have no idea how the IDC was removed from the building. Vincent is making progress no doubt but I wondered if a little history might shed some light on events.’
‘What sort of history?’ asked Katherine in surprise.
‘Well, not history exactly, more historical architecture. How long has the Vault been down there? This is an old building after all.’
‘Okay,’ said Katherine, searching her memory. ‘It was originally some sort of cellar, but had been converted to a safe place to conduct high-voltage research when I moved down there with ROOT. We didn’t know what he was then of course, it was just a convenient place no one really went to keep us out of the way. There really wasn’t much down there, just the high-voltage cages and a few test benches which were rarely used.’
‘It sounds bleak.’
‘It’s wasn’t bad actually,’ she replied, with a reflective smile. ‘I spent a lot of time down there trying to figure ROOT out. It was a good place to get away from things.’ She felt she should explain a little as Olson had so openly talked about his own troubles. ‘Obviously my father remarried, but not because my parents split up. My mother was a biologist and died somewhere out in Hellinar. Only one person from that expedition made it back alive. Finding ROOT had given me something to focus on and I spent as much time as I could trying to analyse him. I was hiding, I suppose.’
Olson took this in but chose to direct the conversation back to the Vault itself. ‘So when was it converted to what it is now?’
‘Shortly after I activated ROOT,’ she said, returning to surer ground. ‘The conversion took a while and I really had little to do with it. I think I would have been taken completely out of the equation had it not been for ROOT’s insistence he communicate through me, or at least with me present. More recently he’s happy to talk to anyone but early on, he wanted me with him.’
‘Why do you think that was?’
‘I never really got to the bottom of it,’ said Katherine in a tone that implied she was still considering it even now. ‘It benefited me enormously but I never understood why he was so insistent. Having said that, some of his reasoning can be quite impenetrable, as Mr O’Brien so recently discovered.’
‘He told me about that. When HEX arrived, the Vault was upgraded?’
‘Yes that’s right. The second chamber was built such that it wouldn’t interfere with the workings of the first. ROOT was moved to the new chamber and HEX installed in the original.’
‘So are there plans of the Vault somewhere? Blueprints that show the ventilation systems, that sort of thing?’
Katherine considered this for a moment. ‘There are, certainly for the newer part of the Vault. There were some of the older part as well. I remember seeing them as it was converted but that was some time ago. They may still exist. If they do they will be in the Central Library opposite the Council.’
‘Never been in there myself, but I’ve admired the building from a distance. Would I be able to look at what plans there might be?’ Olson asked.
‘Absolutely. You will need authorisation, which I can give you.’
‘Thank you. I’ll go take a look. I guess there is an architecture department or something?’
‘Ask for city planning,’ she advised. ‘Actually,’ she said, changing her mind, ‘don’t do that. Ask for Megan Devin, my sister. She will show yo
u where to look. She’s training to be a librarian and if you need a research assistant she’d be ideal.’
‘I’ll be sure to do that. She’s helpful?’
‘Trust me,’ said Katherine. ‘She’s diligent and very bright, if a little unorthodox at times. Not as wild as Kyra, my other sister, but she’ll surprise you.’ Withdrawing a pocket notepad she scribbled and tore out the sheet of paper, which she then folded and handed to Olson. ‘Give her this and I’ll sort out your authorisation from here.’
Olson nodded and reached across the table to take the note held out to him. He took it and tucked it into the top pocket of his shirt. Pausing a moment, he asked, ‘You mentioned Kyra? That’s something else you might be able to help us with. I know Vincent is keen to talk to her. I understand she was in the Vault the shift of the disappearance. We’ve been trying to locate her but Vincent tells me so far with no luck. Any idea where we might find her?’
Katherine sighed, her expression suddenly weary. ‘She’ll likely be holed up in a tavern somewhere. The seedier the better as far as she’s concerned. Look for somewhere in the Western District that does strong drink and high-stakes gambling. You’ll likely find her somewhere like that.’
Olson gave a short laugh and got to his feet. ‘Sound like my kind of places. We’ll go looking.’
Katherine uttered a quick, nasal grunt as if making her mind up about something. She straightened and said, ‘Look for somewhere with a poet or minstrel, whatever you call them.’
‘One of those storyteller, bard types?’ he suggested.
‘Yes, exactly. Kyra might be hard as nails but she’s got a soft spot for history and stories about the old cities. At hearts she’s an incurable romantic when it comes to that sort of thing. It’s ironic but it might help you find her before she’s…’ Her voice trailed off and she looked down at the floor.
‘Thank you,’ said Olson, feeling he understood her meaning. He straightened his shirt and tugged a rolled-up cuff back over his elbow.
He made his way to the door, paused and momentarily looked back at Katherine. She was still perched on the edge of her sofa, introspective. Her eyes flicked up to meet his and he saw a deep concern in them. ‘I’ll get Vincent to go looking sooner rather than later,’ he said and caught the acknowledgement of a brief, sad smile before he closed the door.
010: Nara Falla
Ayon Research, Eastern District, Skala City
After Olson left, Katherine took a little while to collect her thoughts and eventually gave in to the overwhelming feeling she had to do something. Having no better ideas, she decided to follow her father’s advice and speak to Nara Falla.
Like Katherine, Nara spent most of her time in Ayon Research, her office being situated at the other end of the building on the ground floor. Although both ostensibly had much in common they rarely met one-on-one. Their discussions, when they did occur, centred on budget requirements and distribution, which, with Aya being of principal concern, were largely decided by Katherine. Nara accepted this position with good grace and had never sought to undermine her. Katherine, in turn, was grateful but still felt uncomfortable. In a rare off-guard moment, Joss Ratha had once made a comment suggesting Kyle Devin, then Kane, had in the distant past entertained a brief romantic entanglement with Nara, who was at least a decade his elder. Katherine, aghast at this revelation, tried to probe further, but Ratha would say no more.
The corridors of the first floor were dark and formal compared to the newer part of the building with its modern architecture of glass and steel. Mosaic lined the many windowless corridors, lit only by the occasional electric light hanging haphazardly from the ceiling. The offices allocated to the exploration and research departments were seldom occupied, owing to their custodians being out in the field more often than not. The whole floor and those below it had an old, solitary feel that bordered on neglect.
Reaching the door to Nara’s office, Katherine hesitated, then knocked. A moment later she heard the drag of a chair across thin, worn carpet and light, assured footsteps. With the dry squeak of the handle, the door opened to reveal the short figure of Nara Falla, dressed, as always, in a grey jumpsuit. It was easy to forget Nara was now retired from the field, as she still looked the part: her long, plaited white hair draped over one shoulder and the lines of a lifetime’s exposure to the elements writ clear upon her face. Regarding her across the threshold, Katherine came to the sudden realisation that Nara must once have been very beautiful. She didn’t know why she’d not realised this before, nor why it suddenly came to her now. It was as if, now she was in her early forties, the world was starting to reveal itself in ways that should have been obvious but had before gone unnoticed.
‘Katherine,’ said Nara with a warm, forthright smile that carried the faintest hint of mischief. ‘I thought you would come.’ She took a step back and indicated for Katherine to enter. The office, much like the corridor, was darker than Katherine would have preferred in a workspace. But then Nara had spent decades working in the eternal dark of the ice fields and probably found this a more natural environment.
They sat, Nara behind her desk, Katherine directly opposite. Although the room was filled with artefacts, tools and equipment, it somehow didn’t seem untidy or chaotic in the same way that Ratha’s office did. Maybe, Katherine thought, this was because Nara’s uncomplicated nature made it somehow more comfortable. Realising the ageing explorer was waiting for her to begin, she began fumbling for words.
‘Nara, I don’t know what you make of what I said in the Council meeting, but I promise you it’s what ROOT told us.’
‘I’m sure that it is,’ said Nara. ‘Sometimes the big things are so very big they sound implausible, especially to the person that’s speaking.’
Katherine could not have agreed more and nodded seriously. ‘Councillor Devin suggested I come to see you. I’m not sure how to ask you this, or even if I should be asking…’ Nara picked up the thread to put her out of her discomfort.
‘You want to know about John Orchard’s Ground Vehicle Ten project? Whether it would be able to penetrate as deep into Ayon as necessary to recover HEX, if indeed that is where she is?’
Katherine was left momentarily speechless but also a little relieved that she didn’t have to spell it out.
‘That’s about the long and short of it, yes.’
‘Do you know much about the project?’ asked Nara.
‘I’m familiar with the basic concept, it’s a mobile research station.’
‘Well, that’s right,’ said Nara seriously. ‘But it’s more than just a research tool. It’s a testbed for new technology; hybrid power plants and a hydraulic drive line among other things. It’s hoped it will be the start of a new approach to exploring and studying Ayon. Despite the expense, the intention is that it will cut future exploration costs dramatically by eliminating the need for permanent research stations.’
‘You said something along those lines when we agreed the funding,’ said Katherine, recalling a meeting nearly half a decade before. ‘Where in the build schedule is it now? The last time I saw it in SVA it was just a skeleton.’
‘Close to completion but it hasn’t been commissioned yet. We expect that to happen within fifteen, maybe twenty shifts.’
‘That’s close,’ said Katherine. It was difficult to judge whether it would be too late without knowing how HEX was being transported. She took the worst-case scenario – an MK8 ‘Ice Runner’ rapid transport vehicle – and based her comparison on that. ‘How fast do you think it will travel?’
‘John feels that 70 kilometres per rotation is about the best compromise at cruise speed over level ground. It will do much more but the fuel economy goes out of the window very quickly.’
On the face of it this was not fast enough, although Katherine had to admit she was impressed. It was also worth considering that a biofuel-run Ice Runner would be slowed by the need to refill its ‘mulching tanks’ regularly. Travelling onto the ice where bio-matter si
mply didn’t exist would surely be impossible.
‘You’re wondering how quickly GVX would catch up with HEX, however she’s travelling?’ asked Nara. Before Katherine could comment, Nara said something that threw the whole foundation of her assumptions into question.
‘How sure are you that HEX is travelling through Ayon? I accept that ROOT told you Ayon was the most likely place to look, but are there not other possibilities?’
This was something that Katherine had been agonising over. ROOT’s unexplained assertion threw up all sorts of questions. She hesitated, trying to decide how to respond.
‘I don’t know, it’s all hypothetical at this point, depending on how you view ROOT’s theory.’
‘It is extremely perverse,’ agreed Nara thoughtfully. ‘But the dilemma is that he has made inexplicable claims in the past and been correct. I suppose for the time being, we have to take him at his word and hope he will provide more insight.’
‘What do you think, assuming he’s right? Could GVX catch, say, an Ice Runner?’
‘Yes, I think all things considered it probably could, over a period of, say, two lunar cycles.’
‘Sixty full shifts? That’s a long time,’ Katherine frowned.
‘Well, GVX’s size and weight will be a great benefit early in the journey, where the terrain will be rocky. As you know yourself, that’s where something like an Ice Runner struggles the most. After that I would expect GVX to catch up progressively.’
Katherine accepted this assessment for what it was, an educated guess. There were many unknowns, but she was grateful there was at least one outside possibility.
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