by Kate Kyle
SingMa buckled up in a seat on Rutger's left.
Rutger took a deep breath. It didn't help the sense of stuffiness. Maybe it had something to do with the quality of air in the shuttle. In which case, it should improve once the support systems were up and running. Assuming they were fully functioning.
"No, not without having to hack the safety lock," SingMa said. "It's blocked for… all RR residents."
The countdown began. Rutger secured his bag and grabbed the armrests.
Why was SingMa so indirect? Everything had to be dragged out of him. Like pulling hens' teeth. All the differences between the western and the eastern cultures were such a nuisance. After all this time, people should have found a better way to communicate, more directly and just say what they bloody meant.
Who would have thought Rutger would find someone so indirect in RR? Here, they were supposed to be all clear and direct speakers. Maybe the famous Rebels' recruitment process wasn't totally functioning yet. Or maybe SingMa's other skills were worth more than his communicational style.
The noise around him indicated that the big mechanical arms had started to work. The shuttle wobbled.
A few seconds later the craft hummed - the thrusters powered up- the unmistakable sign they were leaving the port.
"Is the block implant-type specific?" Rutger asked.
"I'm not sure but it's highly possible," SingMa replied.
"Then I may be able to access it," Rutger said.
He'd need his glasses, which were in his bag, secured under his seat.
"Don't worry, my implants are not really connected to my brain. I'll use an external interface that I don't need for anything anyway. Even if it does get infected."
He waited until the shuttle had left the station and was flying on its main engine before pulling the glasses out of the bag.
Despite all the practice he had, accessing the implants interface remained tricky – maybe because his implants weren't properly integrated. The glasses were awkward to use, he still found eye-scrolling and click-blinking rather hit and miss. But he'd prefer them to the contact lenses that required retraining of the inner muscles of the eye.
Bring on Gen 2.0!
Rutger put the glasses on and started the process. From the corner of his eye could see Jax glancing at him from above the pilot's console. No doubt keen to know the coordinates asap. SingMa was shifting restlessly in his seat.
It was Rutger's turn to rise to the occasion.
A few blinks later, lines of information flashed on the surface of his glasses. He read them out loud, and Jax tapped the coordinates into her control panel. SingMa quietly moved his lips, likely subvocalizing and registering the data in his system.
Back on Earth, they would have probably tried to write it down on a piece of paper. If they could find any paper.
It was interesting to note how over a span of a century people had become so dependent on the electronic means of communication and data/information storage.
"Is that enough to get us there?" Rutger asked, once he'd finished reading off the glasses.
"Sort of," Jax replied. "I'm not sure if the info provided is up to date. Didn't you say the station is shut down?"
"The station is off, which means it's non-rotating, but still in orbit," SingMa said. "It'll be cold and dark. It may be still pressurized, but we may need to use the suits to keep us from floating away since there is no gravity."
"I’m glad we have these suits, then," Jax replied.
She turned to face SingMa.
"You know a lot about the station," she observed. There was a note of… curiosity, or maybe even suspicion in her voice. How come?
"My friend… " SingMa replied, his voice sounded tired. "She is… was the tech person there."
Rutger removed his glasses, placed them in the case and slipped it back into the pack. He secured the pack under the seat.
"Interesting. So, what else do you know about the station?" Jax asked. "How many people were aboard when the problems started?"
"Six all together. My friend – Julie. She looked after the machinery and computers. She was also a pilot, just in case they wanted to move the station to a new location. A lot of the station machinery is automated. It's primarily used for research. They shifted it into the new orbit, when that piece of rock ended up being caught."
"Six months ago?" Jax asked.
Rutger was about to ask the same question, but Jax was faster than him. Not surprising. He always felt strange immediately after using the implants. That was one of the reasons he tried to avoid deploying it. Plus, he'd been advised to not to use them in Segedunum. The Seekers' technology guru suspected they might not be compatible with the RR's systems.
"No, longer than that," SingMa replied and paused. "That was back in Earthian September, so nine months ago. I remember it well, because Julie said it was… a great birthday present for her. Potentially the discovery of a lifetime." SingMa's voiced seemed to have perked up.
"Why so?" Jax asked.
"There was something unusual about the way the rock was built, so they suspected that maybe it was by design."
"The work of aliens?" Jax asked lightly.
Rutger leant back in his seat. The acceleration was barely noticeable, but his eyelids felt heavy. He listened to the conversation between the other crewmembers.
"Something like that," SingMa replied.
"How much did they manage to find out?" Jax continued.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think they got much before they started getting sick."
"And who suggested the rock might actually be an alien artifact?"
"I think it might have been the geologist."
"I thought geologists dealt with rocks."
"They do."
"Didn't they have an alien biologist on the station?"
"Astrobiologist," Rutger joined in. "Or a xenobiologist," he added, slowly pronouncing the word. His tongue felt sluggish.
"Yes, they had an astrobiologist. That was what was strange about it. They didn't find anything until the geologist shifted to a more aggressive approach," SingMa replied.
"So, if an expert in alien biology and in tiny biology didn't find anything, how come the geologist did?" Jax asked.
"Good… question…" Rutger said. The words came out quiet and slurred. He closed his eyes. He needed a nap.
His brain wobbled.
Was Jax accelerating? Extra Gs?
A wave of nausea flushed over his chest. He gagged.
"Hey, Rutger, are you okay?" Jax's voice seemed to have reached him through a layer of thick padding.
"Uhm…" he mumbled. "I… need to … have a nap." The words barely pushed out of his mouth.
He felt himself slipping into semi-consciousness. In a last push, he forced himself to open his eyes.
A familiar image flashed in front of his eyes. Dark shadow only, no color. Just like the lingering visual impression of a bright object you'd just seen… What was it called?
Artifact?
No.
Afterimage?
Yes… Afterimage…
Red Balloon.
Everything went blank.
17
Jax
Jax only half listened to what SingMa was saying. It was all to cover up her own panic. Flying a shuttle without autopilot and using coordinates and support data punched in manually. Ha, she was exceeding her wildest dreams.
She was expanding her skills beyond anything she'd ever thought possible.
Well, maybe not that bad. She'd done a lot of flying in the game. There was even a shuttle like this one. She'd flown it a couple of times on a reconnaissance mission.
Hopefully, whatever SingMa was saying was of use to Rutger.
"Rutger, what do you think of this all?" she asked.
Silence.
With the help of SingMa's hacking skills, she'd been able to start the shuttle’s environmental control systems, including air recycling and temperature. They were all sitt
ing in their suits, but with the helmets off. At least they could hear each other.
"Rutger?" she asked louder, forcing her voice over the humming of the engine and the recyclers.
"Hey, Rutger," SingMa called out. "Are you asleep?"
Jax jerked in her seat.
Asleep? In the middle of the mission he'd been fighting with her about for so long.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Rutger's body was half sitting-half lying in the seat. His long legs had shifted to one side in an uncomfortable position.
" Rutger, can you hear us?" she yelled.
SingMa undid his harness and sprang toward Rutger's seat.
Jax tried to keep an eye on the control panel but her head kept jerking to her left to check what was going on.
SingMa knelt by Rutger's side.
"Is he alive?" Jax croaked.
"Yes. He's breathing and I can feel his pulse all right. The suit would have kicked in with life support."
SingMa's voice returned to its previous hesitation.
That annoying hesitation…
"Are you sure?" she asked. Blooming shuttle, she couldn't leave the steering panel.
"Sure of what?" he asked.
Of course… hesitating again!
"That the suit would have-"
"Yes. I was part of the team reviewing the built-in life support systems. Long time ago, that is, but I recognize the design. He's… all right, I suppose. Just asleep."
Nah, Jax couldn't trust what SingMa was saying.
"Can you come over here and keep an eye on the instruments?"
"But aren't we nearly there? Don't you need to land it soon?" SingMa's voice jumped an octave higher. "I cannot possibly… No way that I… It has to be you. And I don't-"
"Okay, okay," Jax said as calmly as she could. Gee, this one was anxious as hell. "We're barely halfway through the journey," she added mumbling under her breath. The tension of the past few hours had added to her internal stress and her head felt heavy. Normally, she'd keep most of such comments to herself.
She probably should do it now.
What the hell had happened to Rutger?
She concentrated on piloting the shuttle, letting SingMa keep an eye on Rutger.
But she still kept her ears tuned for any sounds other than the humming and gurgling of the shuttle.
A low grumbling caught her attention.
"What's up, guys?" she said glancing over her shoulder. She tried to sound as light as she could muster.
"Hey, Rutger, waking up, buddy?" SingMa said.
"Uhm… mhm…"
"Wanna drink? Do we have a drink on board?" SingMa asked.
How would she know? She'd been ecstatic just to find all the control buttons.
"Hmhm…"
She glanced over her shoulder again. At least Rutger was sitting up now, with SingMa's help, his eyes were open. His right hand jerked, as if pointing under the seat.
"You're okay, buddy. I'll get you water."
Yeah… get it from the water cooler in the kitchen…
An image from the little garden by the clinic popped in Jax's mind.
"He's got a drink bottle in his pack. Under the seat, I think," she yelled.
"Yes…" Rutger finally managed to get a whole word out.
"Sure. Just a second," SingMa replied. After what seemed to Jax a very long second, if not a hundred and twenty, she heard the clinking of a metal bottle hitting the floor.
Oh…
"Sorry, sorry… Me again." SingMa apologized. "I get a bit… clumsy at times."
When you are stressed, probably. But what'd made you so stressed? You're not flying a hacked, infected shuttle to a station that was dead because of a virus…
Why on earth did she think the shuttle was infected?
Come on, Rutger, wake up, buddy! I need your brain power…
"Yes, it's all right now. Here it is, drink…"
Jax glanced over her shoulder. Rutger was sipping from his bottle.
What a relief!
The main screen filled with the image of the station: a 'y' formation with a chunkier, barrel-like middle part and three modules sticking out of the barrel, like three matches sticking out of a cucumber. Two parts rotated slowly.
"I think she's got the station back online," Jax said. Somehow, she wasn't surprised by that. "Which part is for docking, SingMa?" Jax asked.
"The big, central section. Are we docking yet? Do I need to return to my seat?"
"No and no. I'll tell you when it's needed."
"How are you, Rutger?" Jax asked.
"Better now," his voice was muffled, but it was clearly his.
"What's happened?"
"N-not sure."
"Are you infected?' SingMa cut in.
"Infected?" Rutger asked, confused.
"With the virus? You know, the one with the image of a girl."
"Ah… That… I did see it," Rutger said with an effort.
"And what happened? Were you using your implants at the time? I think you shouldn't be using your implants. I think-"
"Hush, SingMa," Rutger groaned. "My head's thumping. I wasn't using my implants when I saw the image, if that's what you meant. And I'm not using them now. I … just … feel tired and… confused. I must rest."
"Rest as much as you need," Jax replied.
I'll have to do without you. I'll have to get this done with this bundle of anxiety…
Crap! Just as she'd started trusting someone.
"I don't know if I can…. Get to the station…" Rutger's voice was trailing off… a clear sign that he wasn't able to join her in this mission.
His mission.
No, their mission. It was her mission, and Rutger's and SingMa's.
All of them.
On behalf of… maybe not the rest of humanity, but at least some people. To check on what Lulu was doing.
Jax also had a feeling that Lulu Zhou was up to no good. And it wasn't only because she'd stolen Jax's tablet.
"Get ready guys," Jax said. "We'll be docking soon."
The procedure was simple. She'd done it so many times, in simulators, in the game. And it was good because it involved a hundred percent total focus on what was right in front of her. She'd almost forgot about what had happened behind her, in the very same cabin of this strange shuttle.
She docked the shuttle, and then, quickly checked on Rutger. He was fast asleep again, breathing fast, but maybe it related to the lower oxygen concentration in the shuttle? Maybe the recycler had very limited capacity? Maybe something was broken? It probably hadn’t been serviced properly since it had returned from Vindolanda?
Anyhow, it was good that she and SingMa were vacating the shuttle for a while. It would leave more oxygen for Rutger. Judging by the readings in the corner of the screen, the recyclers seemed to be working very slowly. The shuttle was not suited for longer trips. The faster they get this crazy mission over and done with, the better.
Before they exited, she made sure Rutger was safe and had his bottle with water by his side.
It was much harder getting SingMa to stop fussing over Rutger.
She relaxed the moment SingMa's helmet clicked shut. Now, the main way of communicating were gestures, until it was safe to take off the helmets again.
They disembarked the shuttle and walked through the lock and into a small monorail capsule; like the one running in Segedunum. An open gate, leading to another docking bay caught Jax's eye on the way. No doubt it was where Lulu Zhou had landed the other shuttle.
Her suit flashed info that they were in a pressurized space with breathable atmosphere.
Jax unclipped her helmet. SingMa did the same. The air smelled of dust, understandable, assuming the systems must have just came back online, but at least there was enough oxygen in it.
"Where's the monorail taking us?" Jax asked.
"To the labs," SingMa said pointing at the screen that came to life as soon as the door closed behind them.
"Lab Zero G?" Jax read off the first point on the line.
"No, I think she'll be in the rotating section," SingMa replied.
"How do you know that?"
SingMa approached the screen in one long, low-G jump.
"See the dot here," he tapped the top of the screen. "It's lit. I'm guessing it means the equipment is on. This dot," he said and tapped the one marked Lab Zero G. "Is dark. This whole section is dark, as you can see."
"Do you think that the dot is her?"
"No. This is RR's design and will only show RR's PIDs."
"What?"
"Our own Personal IDs. It's how you can find Rebels around the city or anywhere with the network set up to connect to our implants."
Fortunately, his voice slowed and calmed down as he spoke of these things. No doubt, feeling much more in his own element.
"Isn't Personal ID a bit of a… what's that called, when a word is unnecessary?" Jax asked. Rutger would know the word.
"Don't know the word you're after, but it's not the case in RR. Personal IDs are for people. We also have RID, for robots and DID, for drones. And maybe some others."
"You all have implants?" Jax asked. She'd heard about it at the academy, but it had seemed more of a sensational piece of gossip. While the New China ones… oh… those were just creepy.
"Yes. And always the newest version. That's part of the deal," he added, as if reading her thoughts. "And yes, we all agree to it."
Jax shook her head.
"I find it difficult to understand that so many people don't mind such an invasion of privacy. It's like New China and their constant monitoring."
"Our implants don't score points for good and bad behavior, like the Chinese ones do. And we don't have the Chinese social policing system."
"Apparently not," she said cautiously. That was the comment frequently added in similar conversations on Earth. Oh, her mistrust extended to governments, alright!
"Maybe you'll be able to try it for yourself one day. I think we should head for the Control deck," he said, changing the subject, his hand hovering over the panel.
"Let's go then," Jax said and hopped forward towards the panel. "How does this work? You just press the point where you want to go?" she pressed the lit dot, and the capsule vibrated into life.
