The Jovian Manifesto (The Formist Series Book 2)

by Matthew S Williams

  “What I’m about to tell you was far too sensitive to convey in a transmission, or to trust to some biomechanical approximation of myself. And when I’m finished, I think you’ll understand that clearly.”

  Adler looked at Chaput, back to Emile. He shifted in his seat and sighed. “Your colleague here was a little scant on details, but I got the impression that this task you need us to do is somehow related to the last job we pulled. Is this true?”

  Emile placed the steeple he had made with his fingers to his mouth. Adler took this as confirmation.

  “So, what is it now? Was there something that was overlooked? You need additional sanitizing?”

  “In a sense, yes,” replied Emile. “But it’s much more complicated than that.”

  “Somehow, it always is.”

  Emile reached over the table with one hand and waved it horizontally, palm down. This activated the room’s holodisplay, producing a three-dimensional image. Between him and Adler, the face of Elenko’s special friend, as well as her relevant stats, now hung.

  “Is this someone I should recognize?” asked Adler.

  “Not yet,” replied Emile. “But get a good look at her. Because soon enough, she and whoever she’s traveling with are going to become your entire universe.”

  Adler eyed Emile, then Chaput again. His frown disappeared, and his face returned to its previously steely state. “All right, you got my attention. So, what is this? Another hit? Or a simple snatch and grab?”

  “Nothing so simple.”

  Adler directed a frown at Emile, who simply smiled in return. He let Chaput assume this portion of the briefing, letting Adler’s confusion fester.

  “Her name is Veronika Gallego. She’s a freelance engineer and technical specialist. Years ago, she was a member of the Cytherean Council and worked directly for Councilor Xenia Elenko, specializing in intelligence-gathering. A few days ago, she attended a meeting of the Solar Council, which was being hosted by Elenko on Ishtar.”

  “News to me,” said Adler. Chaput emitted a barely audible huff and continued.

  “The subject of this meeting was the recent attack that took place on Ganymede. The Council also expressed some belief that it may be connected to the release of the Jovian Manifesto.”

  The last item caught Adler’s attention. His eyes darted back and forth between Chaput and Emile. No words needed to be said. Among conspirators, a simple look conveyed enough meaning to fill an entire conversation. Despite being away from Ares for some time, and effectively off the Survey, Adler clearly knew exactly what the Manifesto was about.

  “The Council decided to appoint a special counsel to investigate the attack, and selected Ms. Gallego to head it up. We anticipate she’ll be traveling to Ganymede with at least one person in escort, to provide security.”

  It was at this point that Emile took over. “The purpose of this counsel is twofold. On one hand, they’re to investigate the attack to determine who the likely perpetrators were. On the other, they intend to find out who the publishers of the Manifesto were.”

  Adler took a moment to process everything he had been told. He ran his hand across his forehead, then addressed the salient point. “This possible connection, what is it?”

  Emile looked at Chaput, who took control of the briefing again. “It looks like the release of the Manifesto prompted a rather violent response. Whoever perpetrated it was trying to implicate the local radicals, but the Council has other suspicions. They think that an Extro faction might have been responsible.”

  Adler looked at Emile, initially confused. It took a few seconds before the revelation dawned on him and he broke into a broad smile. A few seconds later, and he was chortling.

  “Now I know that you didn’t contract to some other team. So, I’m guessing one of your colleagues decided to get involved? Maybe stir up a hornet’s nest?”

  Emile didn’t respond right away. Taking a breath, he replied honestly, but was sparing with the details.

  “It appears that certain elements within the Inner Worlds have chosen to respond to the release of this Manifesto by taking direct action. For the record, this was done without our prior knowledge or consent.”

  “It wouldn’t have anything to do with that job we pulled on Titan, would it?” Adler didn’t get an answer. He took that as confirmation. “I’m guessing you didn’t account for the blowback that would bring. And I’m guessing that this attack on Ganymede has focused some attention on you guys?” Adler directed a finger at Emile and Chaput. His chortles soon became outright laughter. “It’s always a friend who screws you hardest, isn’t it? And I had you pegged for someone who was prepared for these sorts of eventualities.”

  Chaput’s hands tightened against the armrests of his chair. The fact that Adler was speaking so insolently to Emile was a definite source of irritation. Emile appreciated the reaction: it was a clear display of respect and loyalty. But he let the comment slide.

  He’s upset, and he knows I need him now more than ever, Emile concluded. But he was relatively certain that the mercenary and his people weren’t able to abandon their patron currently. However, Emile knew to expect some haggling when it came to terms.

  “I’m sure my chief of security has mentioned that due to the sensitive nature of this job, it comes with substantial compensation.”

  “He did,” Adler said with a nod. “But I want more.”

  “How much more?”

  Adler leaned forward in his chair. “Twice the going rate.”

  Chaput had had enough. Standing up from his seat, he started hurling angry words at the audacious mercenary.

  “I’ve heard enough from this low-life! You think you can -?”

  Emile intervened with a raised hand. Chaput clipped off his words and sat back down. Emile gave him a second to catch his breath and calm his nerves, then resumed.

  “Very well. But in exchange for your compensation, I need you to understand that the primary purpose of this mission is to track the special counsel and anyone traveling with her. We believe the same people who orchestrated the attack on Ganymede are going to make a play for her. We need her to stay alive, at least until she finds the source of the Manifesto.”

  Adler hummed thoughtfully. “So, these other people want to stop her before she can reveal who was really behind the hit. I understand that. But you think that keeping her alive will not only reveal the identity of the perpetrators but will flush out the Manifesto’s authors too.”

  Emile gave him a trite smile. “Exactly.”

  “And what happens to her when she doesn’t find the authors?”

  Emile leaned back in his chair and spread his hands wide. No words were needed at this point, but he issued some choice ones anyway.

  “At that point, I expect you to sanitize the situation. After all, we must be prepared for any eventualities, yes?”

  Emile’s words had the desired effect. Adler’s face lost all traces of humor and he became deadly serious. Placing his hands together, Adler addressed the one salient point that hadn’t yet been discussed.

  “These other individuals, the ones who carried out the attack on Ganymede. I take it they’re to be sanitized as well?”

  It was Chaput who responded, emphasizing the positives. “Yes. Since we know they’ll be looking for Ms. Gallego here, they ought to be easy to find and track. You’ll have the advantage in that respect.”

  “Nevertheless,” Emile interjected. “You’re no doubt aware that they conducted a brutal and surgical attack and left behind enough evidence to implicate others. Clearly, they’re highly skilled and well-equipped.”

  The look on Adler’s face was perfect - a mix of hesitation and curiosity, distress and excitement. The thought of engaging a team that was comparable to his own, people who were capable of giving them a good fight. How else could he be expected to react to that?

  “Damn,” he said. “I should have asked for more!”

  PART TWO: AQUILEAN

  IO, EUROPA, GANIMED
ES puer, atque Calisto, lascivo nimium perplacuere Iovi.

  (Io, Europa, the boy Ganymede, and Callisto greatly pleased lustful Jupiter).

  -Simon Marius, Mundus Iovialis (1614)

  FOURTEEN

  FROM HER SUIT’S DISPENSER, hot coffee - generously laced with restorative nanomachines - flowed into Saana’s mouth. The spreading warmth this created in her stomach was a welcome relief. Though her bio monitors were all in the green and her medimachines had done a good job of restoring her body to full wakefulness and function, she still felt somewhat cold and clammy. Undergoing cryosleep twice in a relatively short period of time was known to have such side-effects.

  She looked at the others who were standing behind her on the surface of the asteroid. All were mesmerized by the smoldering disk of the Sun that hung before them. Their visors added filters to keep out the majority of harmful rays. The effect it created lent the disk a deep orange glow. The imperfections in the corona were also clear thanks to their visors, and they could even make out flaring appendages at the edges.

  The view shifted before long as the body on which they stood continued to rotate. If they stood still for another five standard hours, they would be treated to the same view again. Saana planned to be done with their business before them and were on their way back home. Before that could happen, there was the matter of their debriefing.

  So, they all stood and waited for their patron to signal. Given the distance that separated them, it would take five and a half minutes for any message to reach them. But they had been punctual and knew they would be hearing from them at any moment.

  They stood and waited. No conversation passed between them. After being neurally merged for so long, speech had become a trifle. If any of them wanted to communicate, they could instantly make their thoughts available to the rest. At the moment, none of them felt the need to. To Saana, the coordination between them was as close to harmony as any humans could get while still retaining their individual minds.

  Saana straightened to attention as an image formed in her visual field. All the others were seeing the same thing, the face of their patron appearing ahead. The image was disguised, so when it was fully resolved, they were confronted with a featureless head.

  The voice that accompanied it was bland and featureless as well. The person behind it also used their call signs.

  “Hello again, Leda. I address you and your colleagues as victorious warriors returning from a fight.”

  Saana smirked inside her suit. Their patron was known to wax poetic. But she didn’t want to interrupt them before they got to the matter of their payment, and the time delay would make any back and forth incredibly frustrating. She therefore kept any comments to herself.

  “You have performed well beyond my expectations. You managed to not only execute the strike without incident, but you successfully managed to implicate the Children of Jove. The response has also been precisely what we hoped for. As promised, the second half of your compensation has been transferred to your accounts.”

  Saana and the others called up a separate window in their overlays to check their accounts. As their patron indicated, the funds had been deposited in their respective accounts. Saana smiled and suspected the others were doing the same. While they couldn’t share emotions via their neural link, she sensed the general mood of contentment that was permeating their group.

  “However, I regret to inform you that there has been a development. It appears that your previous assignment had unforeseen consequences and I still need your services.”

  Saana felt the others reach out to her with their thoughts. She rebuffed these, knowing that more would surely follow. She didn’t want the distraction of side-conversations.

  “I would prefer not to explain that at this time,” their patron continued. “Despite the precautions I’m taking to keep this conversation private, I have reason to believe that others could be attempting to listen in. I’m sending you a package with the details. It has a rotating quantum encryption, please adjust your comms to keep up.”

  Saana issued an order to her group to set their comms accordingly. The package followed and immediately uploaded to their neural looms. Within seconds, the process was complete, and her entire squad was treated to the details of their new mission.

  Their patron allowed for a short pause, and then the message concluded.

  “Take a moment to think it over. I’m sure you’ll find the compensation for this operation is more than fair. And it goes without saying that my generosity is commensurate with the importance of this mission. When you have a reply, please issue it along this same path.”

  The image fizzled out. Saana’s visual field was now taken up by the immensity of open space. Their minds, by contrast, were filled with a flurry of details, all of which raised some rather interesting questions.

  ONCE AGAIN, THEIR DESTINATION was the Jovian system. The target, or targets, would be found on Ganymede. And if possible, the local radicals were to be implicated again. Only this time, it had to be done in private. No public displays of force, no massive draw of attention. This time around, the mission was all about subtlety.

  The package also contained some detailed information on the primary and secondary targets.

  Veronika Gallego and Adelaide Cheboi.

  At this juncture, the voices of her colleagues couldn’t be rebuffed. All of them had opinions on the information they had now digested, and she let them flood in.

  [Who are these people?] asked Okran.

  [Is he implying we’re somehow responsible for this?] ventured Henrissant. [Our operation was clean. We accomplished the objective and didn’t leave a trace.]

  [Of course we did,] Konsou offered. [If there were unforeseen developments, it was because they failed to foresee it. Our task was doing the job. Their task was to assess all the angles.]

  Saana interrupted. Their discussion was getting to the point of undisciplined banter.

  [This is all meaningless conjecture. The important thing is we have been offered a new assignment and a considerable return. And it’s hardly beyond our efforts. We would be fools to refuse it.]

  This wasn’t met with any disagreement or dispute. While it was possible to draw a certain insinuation from this most recent offer - that perhaps the Ganymede job hadn’t gone entirely as planned - it wasn’t one they could reasonably refuse. The patron had been correct as well: the compensation was more than fair.

  [Begin assimilating all the information. I’ll begin drafting a reply in the affirmative.]

  [Understood,] her team replied in unison.

  Saana turned away from them and looked back into space. The star field appeared dimmer now, thanks to the rotation of the asteroid. Within a few minutes, the Sun would be cresting on the far horizon again. As it drew nearer, the light of the distant stars grew fainter.

  It wasn’t necessary for her to be looking in the direction of the Sun to send the message. But it only felt appropriate, since their patron lay in that direction. Opening her comm, she composed and sent their reply.

  [We accept.]

  FIFTEEN

  SHE WAS IN THE BOWELS of the beast. The matter of which one almost didn’t matter. At this level within the Gyros great Habs, all looked largely the same. Components as large as city blocks. Parts moving ponderously but with tremendous power. And all throughout, the hum of servomotors and induction rails, loud enough to drown out the noise of every thought.

  And yet, Gallego was aware of her own voice, the words dripping from her tongue.

  “Fierce-throated beauty! Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music, thy swinging lamps at night, thy madly-whistled laughter, echoing, rumbling like an earthquake, rousing all, Law of thyself complete, thine old track firmly holding...”

  She chuckled to herself. Without fail, the words always emerged, always greeting her surroundings with the appropriate expression.

  The scene changed, featuring a skyline that looked like something out of a distant mem
ory. Above her, the Sun shone brightly against an azure sky. Beneath, clouds so dense they were opaque and yellow-brown. And before her, several floating carriages whose fine silver skins glinted in the light of day. She knew where this had to be, but she no memory of it. Her old planet hadn’t been so undeveloped for over a century.

  She looked down and almost panicked, knowing that there was nothing beneath her. And yet, she was floating as freely and comfortably as the massive airships she saw before her. She also noted that she was breathing comfortably, and her skin wasn’t being menaced by any droplets of sulfuric acid, which were common at this elevation.

  One impossibility after another...

  And just like that, it was gone, as if her mind had shunned it into non-existence. Now she was standing somewhere, in a tethered facility, she thought. The star field hung before her through an observation window, and the shining blue marble beneath was visible as soon as she stepped to the edge. There was no mistaking it. She was standing on Gaia now, looking down at Earth, and observing the great Thread which connected them.

  She was alone. And then, she wasn’t.

  [Veronika,] said a voice. It was barely a whisper and was only audible inside her head. She immediately tried to pull up an overlay, to find the source of the signal so she could reply. But nothing happened. The standard neural commands yielded no results.

  [Veronika, can you hear us?]

  The voice was louder this time. It was slightly accented - she was guessing Terran, from the sound of it - but too muddled to be of any specific origin.

  “Okay... what the hell is going on?”

  [It’s quite all right. We assure you, we mean you no harm.]

  Gallego looked all around her. The gallery was empty, best as she could tell. But there was no denying that someone, or perhaps a conglomeration of someone’s, was talking to her, given that it sounded like a single voice but was speaking in the royal “we”.