by David Byrd
Tobias heard a chime in his head. His personal implant was ready to display an important message. Every person had implants. These were tiny devices inserted behind the ear. Micro filaments “tendrils” automatically routed and connected to different areas of the brain and provided instant information. The technology had been invented before the chaos and upheavals, but in the last 40 years had become indispensable. The “Link” as it was commonly called, provided communication, data access, education and also functioned as a personal assistant. He “read” the message which was seemingly displaying like hologram in front of his face but in reality was just in his mind. He decided he needed to send someone with special talents to Trellis II. A person who had performed special assignments before...
Chapter 4
“Piece of crap!” Noel cursed as he attempted to start the rover using his palm. The palm plate recognized him but for some reason was taking ages or so it seemed to complete verification. Lately, many of the habitat activation pads were behaving slowly. Noel had been out working on the rover all morning. The sun was bright at mid-day and the light reflecting from the gas giant which loomed over half of the horizon, cast everything in a golden dreamy look…even the plants and dirt when the sun was just right.
The rover activated with a low humming sound.
“Hey are you still tinkering with that thing,” Faye said smiling while leaning against the frame of the main hatch. “You probably could have rebuilt it by now.”
“Why yes Ma’am. I’m just about to head out and check the sensors and give you some time alone to fuss with all that corn you were playing with,” he said as he hopped into the rover and took off with dirt flying. He waved to avoid any rebuttal that he was sure was coming his way.
As she made her way back into the habitat she palmed the door plate closed and nothing happened. She palmed it again longer and the hatch slid shut. “Perfect, just what I need…more repairs for Noel when he gets back home,” she said to herself as she made her way to the lab.
Noel traveled to the lip of the ravine. At least that’s what they were all calling it. The ravine was about 10 meters deep and ran in a somewhat straight line for about 50 meters. KT ore deposits had been found in the bottom of the ravine. All three colony habitats were arranged in a triangle pattern about 1 kilometer apart with the ravine more or less centered in the triangle. Sensors around the perimeter of the ravine had been placed by the habitat building crews and were there to monitor a host of reactions to the unique radiation of the system. One of these was offline and Noel needed to check that section. The day was clear and pleasant. The rings composed of dust particles from Trellis I were clearly seen in the lower western sky.
Noel made his way to the location of the sensor. It looked as though it had possibly blown over in the last storm and fallen down further into the ravine. This is going to be a little more work than I planned for Noel thought. He walked to the edge and peered down and could see the sensor about halfway down. The sides were more or less sloped at an easy angle and he should have no trouble getting to the sensor. He made his way down about halfway and grabbed the sensor. It looked to be still in good working order it just needed to be placed back on the power pack. As he started back up the slope he slipped on loose soil and fell hard on his right knee. “Damn it!” he exclaimed as he examined the wound. It was a minor cut…just a bit of blood and a superficial cut. Something shiny glinting a few meters away caught his eye. He moved to the area and brushed away the soil. As he turned it over in his hand it appeared to be a piece of jagged PlazSteel but it had a smooth coating on one side. I guess the crews that built the habitats probably scrapped some junk in this ravine during construction he thought. Noel pocketed the bit of metal and headed back up to the top of the ravine and went about fixing the sensor.
Back in the habitat, Faye Hasten was in her element. She sat in her laboratory compiling data from her latest generation of corn. The results seemed promising in this batch. The previous strain was hardy and was growing very well in two of the habitats. This new strain however, was modified with a native Trellis II plant gene. The spindly native plant seemed to grow in harsh conditions and had no toxic substances that could be found. Faye isolated a gene she believed would add the hardiness of the native species to the Earth corn plant and was hopeful it would increase yields. So far the results were quite promising. The first batch was healthy, the height and ear circumference increased by 30%. With more data on these yields we could feed the population on the most barren soil she thought. This is exactly why she became a Botanist. She grew up in the overcrowded, half-starved world where food was a precious commodity. With her aptitudes in science, she was recruited into the company at an early age and placed in the science subsidiaries. Faye learned quickly that her dogged approach was the key to getting results and allowing her to choose the areas of interest others were simply forced to work.
She heard the rover pull up outside and the outer hatch opening.
“Hon…I’m home!” shouted Noel from the main module. Faye yelled back “I’m in the lab…come here I have to show you this.”
Noel walked into the lab module which was adjacent to the large greenhouse and gave Faye a hug. The lab was the second largest structure and contained an assortment of equipment for almost any need.
“Miss me?” he asked with a cheeky grin.
“Not in the slightest,” she said and was then startled by the blood on his pant leg. “Oh…Noel…What did you do to your leg?” she asked concerned.
“It’s nothing. Just a scrape…I’ll slap a med patch on it later,” he said. “Now what’s this amazing giant corn you have on your scanner here?”
“It’s the new batch crossed with that spiny weed…it’s 30% larger…I can’t wait to upload my results back to Earth,” she said excitedly. “This could help so many people Noel.”
“That is really great hon. I knew you could do it and I’m proud of you,” he said as he hugged his wife. “So now we can have…popcorn, corn on the cob, tortillas, corn chowder, corn flour…”
“Alright…Alright,” she said throwing up her hands. “I’ll save the planet with potatoes next time how’s that? Now go away and let me work.” Faye smiled inwardly at the thought of trying to find 50 ways to make corn.
“Well I’m going to go call Max and Jean right now and let them know you have another project for them.”
Noel left the lab and on the way to the comm. console grabbed a med kit for his knee. Odd though…it wasn’t even sore now. Noel activated the console and contacted Max and Jean. After a few chimes Max with his bushy black beard appeared in the display.
“Noel what’s up with you my friend?” Max asked. “It’s been two weeks since we heard from you. I’ve got a whole quart of Trellis II’s finest moonshine with your name on it from that wonderful corn your lovely wife crafted for us.”
Max and Jean Barlow were the Hastens closest and nearly only friends on Trellis II. Max was 42 and a big bear of a man with bushy black hair and beard. Boisterous and happy go lucky he specialized in fabrication and frequently made replacement parts for many of the systems in between supply visits. Jean was about the same age with red hair and a physical counter point to Max. She was earthy, or you could say an Earth Mother type from way back in the past century. For all her back to nature personality, Jean was a highly trained Chemist and her work on Trellis II was to investigate new potential drugs from local flora.
“Sounds great Max, why don’t you and Jean come over on Saturday and let’s toast Faye’s new corn strain,” Noel said.
Trellis II was the first of the earthlike planets for the Spear project missions with sun rotations approximating earth normal +3 hours so the colonists more or less kept to the Earth system of week days to mark time.
“Absolutely we’ll be there!” Max said. “And Noel…you did get that flash message from the company about that little visit did you not?”
“Yep…I think we need to all talk about that whe
n you’re here in person,” Noel said not adding that anything discussed over the comm. channels were subject to recording and dispatch back through the TGate network.
“Understood buddy…see you then,” Max said.
Noel closed the channel and palmed off the comm. system. He pulled up his pants leg past the knee and opened the med patch container. He grabbed the sterile wipe sponge and started wiping off the dirt and blood from the knee. When he was done there was only a thin line of new skin where the cut should have been. It seemed to be closed…but there was blood on the sponge he used. He could see it. Puzzled but not concerned, he discarded the sponge without a second thought and put back the med kit back into the locker.
Chapter 5
Naldo Zel was a company man but he was annoyed. No, much more than annoyed he was angry. Here I am stuck in a claustrophobic supply ship to check up on some worthless researchers Naldo thought. Naldo had been plucked from obscurity at an early age from multitudes of children based on his test results they said, but primarily for his aptitude to be completely loyal to the company.
Children such as he, were routinely recruited and moved from the general population into company housing and brought up with the values the company deemed appropriate and were eventually given low level company jobs.
Naldo was 28, 2 meters in height but only 140 pounds. He was very pale, tall and unnaturally thin…almost skeletal owing to the fact that he was born and grew up to age 15 (when company recruitment testing was administered) on the Mars space station flotilla. The low gravity of the stations contributed to his elongated muscles and bones. He had a somewhat perpetual sour look on his face and behind his back; because no one would dare risk their job to say it to his face he was called the walking stick.
The company had thousands of job levels and many were obtained through backstabbing and avarice. Naldo was proficient in moving up the ranks and had recently been promoted to Tier 46. He was both appalled and also a tiny bit awestruck at the same time when he received a Flash message from Spear Control to immediately report to supply ship 36 for a classified mission. Orders would be sent in-route and it was signed by Tobias Kinsdale chairman of the Kinsdale Corporation. Signed by the chairman no less, thought Naldo. This could be my big break.
After several days in transit to Trellis II an incoming flash message chimed on the comm. panel. Naldo activated the panel and then taped in his authority level code and reviewed the message. He wondered briefly why his implant had not received the orders instead of this archaic method of manual communication but his implant had been disabled as soon as he arrived at the spaceport.
Priority 1 – Obtain complete medical scans from all researchers.
Priority 2 – Obtain all experimental data from each research project.
Priority 3 – Send all data through the comm. relay network encrypted with alpha level 10 securities. Message ends…
Naldo palmed off the system and sat pondering his orders. On the one hand the researchers could have some kind of unknown medical condition that he certainly had no desire to catch. On the other hand, why would the chairman be personally concerned with the welfare of these 6 people? He would have to consider carefully if there was anything that could be used to leverage his position.
Several days later, Naldo had been researching his subjects. He thought of them as nothing more than a stepping stone to a higher level. Indeed, since the chairman was interested in this little wagon train, he would do his utmost to make sure his orders were fulfilled to the letter.
“Computer display data for Trellis II.” Naldo commanded. The computer responded with several menu items and Naldo chose Trellis II. The display filled with data as he began reading.
Trellis II was one of three so called “Goldilocks” planetary systems (not too hot, not too cold) that had been found in the range to support human life. The Trellis system is composed of a yellow sun similar to earth, a large gas giant with rings similar in some ways to Saturn, several small planets and a smaller moon (Trellis II) roughly half the size of Earth. Trellis II was perpetually within the rings of the gas giant. Those rings unlike Saturn’s were composed of stellar dust particles. The Trellis II moon was habitable with an earthlike atmosphere composed of slightly higher nitrogen content than earth. Gravity at five percent greater than earth norm owing to the close proximity of the gas giant the moon is captured within. Abundant underground water with much higher concentrations of dissolved minerals including heavy metals would need to be treated for human habitation. Temperature ranges within human tolerances especially in the mid equatorial region. Overall Habitability scale 85%. Kinsdale Survey 3 report ends 7th June 2125.
Naldo was none too pleased with the report showing higher gravity as it always caused stress to his system being born in a lower gravity environment. He selected another menu item, Spear project and the display brought forth data from that selection.
The Kinsdale Spear Project consists of several phases. Phase 1-Site selection. Through years of research by teams of celestial mechanics, astrophysicists and hosts of other teams, three likely systems were targeted for colonization. Phase 2- Survey. At great expense, survey ships were constructed and dispatched to the systems with all the resources the corporation could provide to accurately survey the systems for habitation. Phase 3- Selection and Processing. Several hundred company employees were requested to volunteer based on thousands of data points compiled by company mathematicians. These volunteers then underwent three years of training and conditioning for the project. The planet would contain 3 pairs of researchers in separate habitats. Phase 4-Habitat construction would run concurrently with phase 3 during the three years of participant training. Once the final participants had been selected they underwent the REDACTED REDACTED at the Kinsdale Spear research facility.
A mystery Naldo thought. Oh how he loved to pull and pry information for just the right time to use it. “Computer, voice response,” he said. “Give me all known information about the Spear research facility.”
There is no information for this request the computer responded.
“Then give me all information about the researchers,” he demanded angrily.
Proctor 10 level clearance required. Continued inquiries of this subject line will initiate Kinsdale Security initiative 17.
“Cancel request,” Naldo said quickly. So there is much more to this mission and I intend to find out what it is he thought.
Chapter 6
“Faye they’re here,” Noel said as he made his way to the outer hatch and palmed open the lock. They kept personal visits with each other to a few months at a time but when they did get together it was a like a homecoming. The hatch opened after the second attempt and they greeted their old friends Max and Jean and welcomed them into the module.
“Noel…You look like crap,” Max said cheerily as he and Noel shook hands. “But you my dear Faye look as beautiful as ever.”
“Oh don’t mind him,” Jean said. “He’s been as happy as a clam since he started synthesizing that corn alcohol he’s so proud of. It’s been far too long since we all got together. “
“Let’s all go in to the kitchen and have lunch,” Faye said. “I’ve been saving this last synthetic protein roast until the next supply ship arrives which should be any day. I’ve also managed a bit of Kale salad from our garden that Noel is very fond of,” she said with a slight smile at Noel.
Noel groaned inwardly at the thought of having to eat that disgusting green but all was good since Max had a good quantity of liquid refreshment along. They ate and chatted with each other as old friends do and then turned to the conversation that brought them together.
“So what do you make of the company visit?” Noel asked as they sat together in the kitchen module.
“Well I for one think it’s just routine and about darn time,” Jean said earnestly. “They are just looking after our wellbeing since our work is so important to earth. We are the first pioneers on this world and all the discove
ries we make will help everyone at home.”
“There…you see the eternal optimist…my wife,” bellowed Max. Max caught Noel’s eye and a silent message of understanding passed between them.
“Jean why don’t we go into the lab and I’ll show you those new crops,” Faye said. “We have quite a few seeds ready for you to plant in your greenhouse. We’ll let the boys do their deep conversation over another round.”
Both Jean and Faye were tough strong women and they knew their husbands had reservations about the visit. They also knew that their husbands would tell them everything eventually but for now they were doing that male protective thing…unnecessary but kind of endearing.
When the wives had gone to the lab the mood turned somber. Both men had deep reservations about the visit. Noel was a trained geologist but had been in the company security forces for several years and he knew full well what the company was capable of. It was that very reason he looked for a way out of the security service. Max was also familiar and had more personal reservations as his own parents had been caught up in company politics years before and relegated to jobs that barely provided for the family. Both had died because company medical treatment was in short supply for the lowest end of the company scale.
“So what do you really think?” asked Noel.
“I think my friend that there is something the company wants,” Max said. “And we both know that to get in the way of whatever that may be…is very dangerous.”
“Those are my thoughts as well,” Noel said as he glanced over to the storage locker where his security forces force rifle was stored. The assault rifle was a powerful automatic energy weapon capable of sending bursts of plasma at high velocities. It contained a miniature power source produced for the company security forces. Although no animal life had been discovered on Trellis II that did not mean there was none. It was for that reason he had been allowed to take the rifle.
