Alex nodded. Nathan and Piper had always had a solid, brother and sister type relationship, and the general was right. Piper could use Nathan’s even hand while they built Empyrean’ first extra-planetary colony. “I see your point. I’ll sign off on that. Let’s take humanity to the stars, shall we?”
The two military men both nodded, eager to tackle the challenges ahead.
Chapter 16
Time: July 18, 2036
Location: Unknown Location in the Alps / cyberspace
An electronic whir stirred, pulling air from the already freezing room into the shell of the server it housed. Shortly thereafter, lights began to blink, sending life through its electronic veins, pulsing and moving with purpose. Around it, there were hundreds of its brethren that moved and worked through their own tasks, but this one rarely stirred, called into service for one very specific task.
Deep in its bowels, it reached out, touching the quantum nodes that connected it to seven specific areas of the world. The gatekeeper that it was began to pull the data streams together, but first, it needed a place for these seven streams to interact. Within its cyber brain, a dimly-lit virtual room formed.
Despite its lavish décor, the digital room clearly served the purposes of a place to meet for its masters. A replica of Napoleon’s campaign table sat in the middle, dominating most of the room while in each corner were four statues that had formerly been found at one of the oldest Chinese temples in existence. Along one wall, a large slab of sand-colored stone was displayed along one length of the room. In its carved depths, it showed a jackal-headed man flinging scarab beetles over a crowd of kneeling kings, watching as the dark bugs feasted on their flesh. The floor was graced with a lush, burgundy carpet that matched the walls and was bordered with striking black and gold.
Six squat pedestals, situated three to a side along the table’s length, replaced the chairs that one might expect to see. Each was done in dark hardwood and padded with leather while a slightly larger one stood at one end of the table. It was onto this one that the first attendee appeared. It was a massive, black snake which emerged out of thin air, representing the first of the seven data streams. It coiled for a moment, taking its bearing and surveying the room to see if any of its brethren had appeared. When it learned it was the first; it lowered itself slightly to wait.
The rest of the serpents materialized within the next half-minute, each settling in after acknowledging its fellows with either a cold gaze or at the most a gentle head bob. Along with the black, there now coiled a variety of brighter colors that gave the room an element of false festivity.
“Welcome,” said the head serpent, his eyes scanning the room as he spoke. “I trust each of you has reviewed the information from both of our recent…setbacks?”
The rest of the six nodded, their unblinking eyes looking toward the head of the table though two of the six stirred uneasily. They knew there was little room for error within their organization, and the incidents in question had occurred within their territory and on their watch.
“I have disciplined those within my organization for allowing Empyrean forces to intercept our transmission,” said the deep orange snake, his coils glistening in the fading light. He opened his mouth to continue but stopped as Black turned to him, fixing him with its deadly gaze.
“Excuses?” Black asked in a sibilant whisper
Orange recoiled slightly, the avatar reacting to the threat that was palpable in the room. A moment later, he rallied and calmed, facing the head of the table. “We were in the process of replacing that satellite when the order to fire came. It was deemed an acceptable risk and one which we lost. I make no excuses. The replacement should have been done sooner by my predecessor, but that is why he is no longer on this council, is it not?”
Black tilted its head, studying Orange for a moment. As time dragged on, the dark red snake tensed. Though she would do nothing in this room that really mattered, the avatar reflected its owner's readiness to carry out the head of the council’s orders as needed. She, apart from the others, had no territory to control. Instead, she served as the enforcer, and more often than not, executioner of the council’s wishes. Truly, her color reflected the blood that she often spilled in pursuit of those goals.
“You are correct,” Black relented. “It was fortunate our security controls were effective, but it was too close. The one or ones who hacked into the base were quite skilled.”
Orange bowed his head, accepting his rebuke yet realizing he was safe. Still, he glanced at Red and repressed a shudder. “We are attempting to dissect the traces of foreign code we found still residing within the system. It was sophisticated and backed by systems even more powerful than ours. I cannot recommend strongly enough to upgrade all of our systems to the new entangled communication protocols, but that may not defeat them entirely.”
“Why not?” Green asked.
Orange turned to his superior. “They used some method to tap into the hard lines linked to the security systems. We can reduce the threat, but not eliminate it entirely.”
Green coiled in agitation, his scales sliding against each other as he moved. “I am sick of their technology! We’ve managed to hoard scientific advances, keeping them from the soiled masses, and this… upstart comes along and reduces centuries of work to a waste of time! Where does it come from? We should have full access to all of their databases by now, but we are nowhere close!”
“Calm yourself,” Black responded, fixing the North American councilmember with a look, though he was not as intense as it could be. Secretly, Black shared his companion’s frustration. Their secret society had worked behind the scenes, directing the powers of the world like a dark puppeteer to great effect, and all of it was jeopardized by Empyrean. What was even worse was that while they were keeping Empyrean at bay, he could feel their edge slowly slipping away. It was a challenge to their power they could not abide.
Green continued to move in agitation for a few more moments, but finally calmed himself and nodded. “It is still a concern,” he said. “We moved too quickly against them, and now they know who we are.”
“They know little,” the Indigo snake said, interrupting his green counterpart.
“They would know nothing if you had not rushed your operation,” the Blue snake hissed, her female voice chilling the room. “You might have well invited them to our meeting today, for all the mistakes that were made.”
Indigo rose, hissing at the third most powerful councilmember and the challenge her statement poised. It was a reaction borne partly from anger, but also from the fear of the truth. The black ship they had dispatched to retrieve some of the Empyrean technology had not only failed miserably; it had shown their hand as ineffectual when the Japanese military aircraft proved helpless against the monster of a ship that Empyrean had fielded against them. Their analysts were still reviewing the footage from the battle, and the capabilities the craft sported were intimidating.
Black was having none of it, bearing his fangs at Indigo and quieting the room immediately. Despite the small displays of anger, true combativeness was not tolerated by the elder snake, and everyone knew it. “Quiet! You are fortunate you are my second, but Blue is correct that this fiasco has caused us worry. Discord will only compound your failing. If it happens again, you can be assured your replacement will see the results of your removal.”
Indigo paused, anger evident in his trembling form but did not speak further. He knew he was on thin ice, and it would take a long time to recover. He counted himself fortunate he hadn’t lost his position on the council, or his life.
“Mr. Fushima has been dealt with,” came a sultry, even voice from the farthest end of the table. Blood Red gently swayed back and forth, her amusement evident at the bickering since it moved those that thought them her better one step closer to being a subject of her tender mercies.
Black turned to her, fixing her with his eyes and acknowledging her comment. She was doing her job, letting each councilmem
ber know, even him, that their actions would be judged. “Report,” he said, encouraging her.
She bowed slowly, though her movement appeared not so much a sign of submission as an acknowledgment. Though her avatar did not move, a scene appeared hovering over the table and visible to all of the councilmembers. It showed a naked and dirty Japanese man strapped to a concrete floor. Tubes snaked out of his mouth and disappeared up toward the ceiling while his upper body appeared to be smeared with some sort of greenish goo. Even as they watched, his eyes fluttered and blinked before opening wide. His look of terror showed he understood where he was, and panic began to set in though it didn’t appear as if he could move his muscles effectively.
If a snake could smile, Blood Red did and leaned forward as if savoring a meal. “For his sins, Mr. Fushima will participate in the Feast. An honor that has not been enacted in several decades. It will serve to warn others that failure is not accepted, and mistakes will be sorely punished.”
“What does it entail?” Orange asked a faint note of distaste in his voice. There were many punishments that the Society could enact, and Orange had not been alive when the last time the Feast was performed. Truthfully, he found them archaic and doubted their effectiveness.
“Ah? A virgin, then,” Blood Red purred, turning her eyes on Orange. Despite his strength of will, he couldn’t help but shudder. Blood Red enjoyed her work too much. “His upper body is covered with a salve that will protect him from the revelers, but his limbs will remain free. In addition, he will only be allowed to feel the barest amount of pain. Otherwise, the shock would run our enjoyment and end the lesson early.”
“I assume something will be allowed to eat him?” Orange asked, captivated by Blood Red’s description, despite his unease.
“Oh, yes,” she said, swaying hypnotically. “Many somethings. A colony of ants will be allowed to enter the room. With Mr. Fushima the only source of nutrition, they will begin to burrow, slowly devouring the man from his limbs in toward his organs. He will feel every tiny footstep. By the time he is allowed to die, he will have descended into delicious madness.”
Orange took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts before simply acknowledging the information. He had done his fair share of torturous deaths with various underlings in his life, but Blood Red’s description was clearly a warning.
“Enough,” Black said, turning to Indigo. “The message should provide sufficient impetus, I trust. In the meantime, tell your people in Japan to call off the ineffectual saber-rattling of their navy.”
“The depth charges should have worked-” Indigo started, but was cut off by the head of their order.
“And yet, they did nothing but show them our hand,” Black hissed. “Their technology has outstripped us and continues to do so. We need to operate against them as the power they are, not one of these squabbling nations that we’ve grown complacent manipulating. We will go back to the shadows, and begin our true efforts against them there. That is our strength, and it will see us victorious, no matter how long it takes.” He stopped, locking his eyes on each of the six other councilmembers for a long moment. “Now, let us regain our empire.”
With that, the Black snake winked out, leaving his lessers to sit in silence for a moment or two. Eventually, they also followed their lord, winking out of existence and back to the world of reality. Several minutes later, the server began to power down, locking itself until it was called upon to be used again.
Chapter 17
Time: November 7, 2040
Location: John Carter Station, Mars
“How is the alignment looking on the latest set of mirrors,” Piper asked, walking into the terraforming control room at a brisk clip. Her perky smile and close-cropped blond hair complimented her stylish outfit. Close behind her came her gold and orange DPA, floating forward and examining the room.
A younger man jerked in surprise, blinking owlishly at Tad as if he’d just woken up instead of being deep in some coding problem. A moment later, he turned toward Piper before nodding at her question. Fidgeting nervously, he reached over and moved a minimized icon to the center of his screen. It expanded, showing a picture of mars with numerous orbital tracts that were circling in what appeared to be an odd spiral, but were in fact just their stationary placements with the red planet moving under them.
“Sections one four two alpha through zeta,” the young man said in a nasal, overly exacting tone as he examined the specified data set. “All are operating at an optimal inclination and angled for maximum effect. They are increasing sunlight in their respective zones by one point eight percent higher than we anticipated!”
“Paul,” Tad said, turning away from the young man and facing the readouts even as Piper came up behind them both. “When are you going to learn to relax and talk like a human. You sound more like a robot than I do. Sheesh.”
Piper gave Tad a Gibbs slap to the back of his chassis, sending him spinning for a moment. “Stop picking on Paul. He’s doing just fine, and I understood everything he said. Just because you are a jerk doesn’t mean everyone else has to be.”
After he’d gained control of his spin, Tad gave what sounded like a rude electronic noise before floating out of range. “I’m just saying he needs to relax. Every time you come in the room, his heart rate elevates, and his face gets all red. He also stares at your ass when you’re not looking.”
Paul sunk into his chair, trying desperately to make himself disappear while his face tried to set itself on fire. The young scientists had arrived on Mars only a year earlier, intent on helping to build the red planet into the active, rich environment he knew it could be with the right care. He had written his doctorate on the idea that using mirrors to warm the surface, rather than explosives and asteroids that so many other people had envisioned, was the proper way to go and apparently Empyrean had agreed. They had reached out to him, and despite the ongoing dispute they seemed to have with the world governments, he’d jumped at the chance to travel to Mars and carry out his dream.
By the time he’d arrived, Empyrean had already launched the first in several series of fifteen-mile diameter mirrored satellites. Called Project Halo, when it was complete, Mars would be surrounded in a brilliant, multi-tiered ring of the massive mirrors stretching out hundreds of miles into space. They would focus a significantly more intense portion of the fainter sunlight onto the surface, providing more warmth and energy that would otherwise be possible while collecting and beaming a fantastic amount of energy down to the planet itself.
Escorting water-bearing comets and asteroids towards the planet on a specific schedule, and then supplying the water to the surface in a much gentler method than letting them plummet through the atmosphere would be ongoing. Thickening the atmosphere would continue, and even the gravity could be increased as desired. Within several centuries, the red planet might be the second green and blue marble to grace the solar system.
Thankfully, Piper didn’t seem to pay attention to what the irritating drone said and sat next to the trembling young man, pointing toward some of the readings. “It looks like they’re meshing with the rest of the halo well, though sector six looks like it’s still experiencing a bit of bleed.”
Paul took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hating his pale skin at the moment, but thankful that Piper was pushing the conversation back to business. A moment later, he rallied, and then sat a little straighter as he examined the indicated chart. “Yes, but that’s only because the magnetic field they’re generating is still adapting to the rest of the field. It should settle down in a few days. The same thing happened with sections seventy-four and one-hundred-twelve though we’ll keep a close eye on it until it does.”
Piper grinned, staring at the slowly building halo. “Can you believe we’re building something so grand? It might not be as spectacular as the rings of Saturn, but it will be something we created that will give us another green planet.”
“It is quite efficient,” Paul said, then cursed himself for s
ounding like such a geek. He wished he could talk as smoothly as others, but he’d never learned the skill. Besides, being inaccurate made his skin crawl.
As usual, Tad leaped in to magnify Paul’s discomfort. “Efficient? Pfft. It’s more than that, kid. Mars will have its own magnetic field due to that old bat’s expansive intellect. Coupling the mirrors with the magnetic generators was a stroke of genius!”
“Tad! Stop calling grandma an old bat!” Piper snapped at the arrogant little drone. “I’ll tell her, and you know what will happen then!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, she’ll turn me into a washing machine for an orphanage.”
“Without voice capability,” Piper reminded her DPA.
“Without voice capability,” Tad mimicked, rolling his electronic eyes behind Piper as he did so.
She didn’t catch the look, but Paul had. He suspected Tad didn’t care and knew Paul wouldn’t have the guts to say anything. To be honest, Paul had trouble saying anything around the beautiful woman though he still hadn’t confirmed the rumors. Some said she was supposed to be forty years old, but she certainly didn’t look like it to him. If he were to guess, she was only a year or two older than his own twenty-two.
“Hey,” Piper said, interrupting Paul’s thought process. An inordinate amount of which was focused on Piper herself. “Did you hear about the latest probe results?”
Paul perked up. It wasn’t his focus, but mining the asteroid belt was a significant part of their expansion plans to develop the solar system. Pulling apart the near weightless rocks was much easier than moving things up from a gravity well even with anti-gravity, and four years ago, they’d begun doing an exhaustive survey of the massive celestial location. To date, they were only about one-hundredth of the way through, but they’d already mapped significant resources, including sporadic deposits of the very high mass elements like draconium and some close isotopes.
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