The Stream

by Mark White

  I wish there was something more than water to drink. These nutrition bars aren't exactly exciting either. They'd taste much better with a single malt whisky. A very large one, with a tiny splash of water. Oh well, I'll just try and convince myself that this water is just homeopathic whisky.

  Idiot, I'm not thinking straight. Safira said there was a virtual environment in the Sink that we'd be able to use. Let's give it a look, it might be better than this tiny room.

  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The room is a contradiction, both ornate and sterile at the same time, with a nagging sense of familiarity. I'll just…damn I can't. I was about to see if it matched any images in the Stream. I guess I'll get used to it one day.

  The room isn't that large, but there's a strange sense of distance from my position in the centre of the room. The walls, floor and ceiling are all white, taking on a hint of colour from the furnishings in the room. The architecture of the walls and ceiling are very classical, with oil paintings recessed within embedded frames, and statuettes nestled inside alcoves along one wall. Small items of ornate, cream-coloured furniture are scattered around; including chairs, tables and a bureau. I'm not an expert at this period of history, but I'd say it was French, dating to before their revolution. Against one wall there is a comfortable looking bed, with a padded red-orange cover. This colour matches the chair cushion covers and the back of the small alcoves behind the statuettes. All very tasteful, except for the incongruity of the floor. The floor is covered in white tiles, eight along one wall and ten along another, and they glow with an unearthly light. As far as I can see, this innate glow is the only lighting within the room, giving an eerie ambience. It's a sterile white glow giving a feeling of an operating theatre, but the light seems to pick up a tint from the furnishings and add a slight creamy orange tint to the walls.

  It's all very unsettling, but still much better than the tiny room in the spaceship, so I think I'll leave my mind hanging out in here while waiting for Safira. I consider lying down on the bed, but thought I'd be better upright - lying on the bed, waiting for the lady to appear probably isn't very gentlemanly. So I pulled one of the small chairs to the centre of the room, sat and waited. I'm racking my brain trying to work out what this room reminds me of though.

  'Hello Kofi, it's good to see you again,' said Safira, appearing a few feet in front of me. Yes, of course, I jumped. It was also the first time I'd see Safira appear in her native form.

  'Hello Safira, it's such a relief to see you. I was going stir crazy in here,' I said.

  'My grasp of your language is improving all the time, but I'm afraid you'll have to explain that one,' she replied.

  'Sorry, it just means that I was not enjoying being shut in this small vessel alone,' I replied.

  'Thank you for explaining. I can imagine that living in something as small as your brain must be distressing,' she said, smiling.

  'You're definitely getting the hang of humour and insults though,' I replied, smiling back. 'It's lovely to see you appearing in your native form, rather than using one of the races of the Confluvium as a proxy.'

  'Strictly, this is not my native form. This is the form of our partner symbionts, which you can call the Bora for simplicity', she said.

  'The Bora. Thank you for the correction,' I said. I'm sure I'll get it wrong again at some point, I've associated the appearance of the Bora with the Safirans for too long, mainly through the pictures from Geraldine. However I appreciate the cultural distinction, and wouldn't want to accidentally insult her. 'Is Geraldine OK?'

  'Yes, she reached her base successfully, without any incident,' she replied. 'She is settling in and adjusting to life without the Stream. I believe she has had more experience without it on the test flights of her last spaceship. How have you coped?'

  'I must admit, it's been a struggle, but I am learning to cope better. It will take me a while, but once I remembered that this virtual environment was here, it became easier. I'm sure I will adapt,' I replied.

  'Did you like this room?' she asked.

  'It's, well, unusual. I vaguely recognise it, but not sure why,' I replied. I have a feeling I've seen a picture of it somewhere. It's very distinctive. Jove, I miss access to the Stream to look things up.

  'When infiltrating the VR system in the Stream, we came across some old format stories that I believe were designed to be optically projected onto a flat surface,' she said. 'Apparently one was Raj Tamboli's favourite classic movie, concerning contact between humanity and a much more advanced alien society. We thought it would be amusing to use a representation of a room at the end of the story for this meeting place. I hope it meets with your approval?' she asked.

  'It's fine,' I said, a little gracelessly. I was annoyed that she knew something about my own culture that I didn't know. I must admit never to have been interested in the old style movies.

  'I think the correct term for your response is "damned with faint praise"?' she said, luckily still smiling.

  'Sorry, I was just taken aback that you picked something from my culture that I didn't know,' I replied, trying to sound more appreciative.

  'At least you didn't turn into a baby over it,' she said, sounding pleased with herself. I stared at her nonplussed. 'My turn to apologise. I should not make fun of the ignorant.'

  'It's going to be like that is it?' I said, breaking into a laugh. 'Thank you, that's the first time I've laughed for a while.'

  'My pleasure. I believe you, me and Geraldine make a good team,' she said.

  'Agreed. So is there anything back on Earth that I should be aware of?' I asked.

  'Well you and Geraldine are both dead, killed in a tragic car crash. The bodies were burnt beyond recognition. It looks like they stuck to their original plan. Damon is up and about and "investigating the cause" - we're not sure if it's the same android or a replacement, but that's largely irrelevant. The Elector is expected to choose a new Decemvir within the next few days,' she said.

  'Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,' I said, knowing I was misquoting for effect.

  'Indeed,' she replied. 'Geraldine's other agents have been very busy. She has organised and trained them very well, I am impressed with her resourcefulness and foresight. They've been trying to monitor Damon and the other Lictors to see if anything is being planned. Nothing obvious that's out of the ordinary yet, taking into account the turmoil caused by the loss of Geraldine. It's early days though.'

  'Geraldine and her team are also looking at ways of widespread deployment of the Tap-killer nanovirus to disconnect everyone from the Stream. This is looking incredibly tough to achieve. Making it able to be inhaled rather than injected should be straightforward, as it builds on Raj's original work. That's the only easy bit. Manufacturing enough nanovirus in the first place, secretly, would be an amazing achievement. Then sneaking it aboard the fleet of drones ready for deployment over months of maintenance work would be nigh on impossible. Even then we'd need to put a trigger mechanism in place. Up to now though, it's been our only option available, so we will do everything we can to make it work.'

  'However, there has been one recent change, just before I left Geraldine. One of her agents managed to obtain the records of the final moments of Mauro's life. The agent had been working for a while in Decemvir Sigal Calfuray's office, and managed to persuade Sigal to authorise access to the full records. So, we know exactly the command that caused Mauro's Tap to kill him. We also have a detailed neurological breakdown of each region of the Tap, what gets processed where, how the interconnections within the brain work. We also have the full scans that Mauro carried out on his HOME death patient showing how the Tap failure spread. I have passed this information to the Safiran team who are working on other options. With this, we hope to understand more about ways the Tap may fail. If we could trigger the kill command, but limit the result to the command processing centre, that may be enough to disconnect a person from the Stream, but do no further damage. It's just a hop
e at this stage, we don't know if it's possible. However, if it is, then that would be a more viable solution to deploy. It's very early days though, and may lead nowhere.'

  'That sounds really promising though,' I said, impressed with the idea. 'It's certainly worth investigating. Any progress with ideas to eject Raj from the Stream? That's the best option of all.'

  'Unfortunately, we've no idea where to start with that. Unless you fancy having a chat with him, and asking him nicely? Maybe have a talk about his favourite old movies, and invite him into this room, where we can trap him?' she said.

  'OK, you know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, don't you?' I sighed.

  'I can assure you, I can go lower. Give me time,' she said, with a jovially threatening look on her face.

  We spent several more hours just chatting and getting to know each other better. After my time alone, it was a relief just to talk. It was also good to know we weren't about to get cut off at any moment by Raj ejecting Safira. She may be an alien, and a race that in theory could end up having to take drastic action against humanity if we can't sort this out, but I liked her. I'm sure she's adapting her ways and her speech to make me feel relaxed and to ensure we got on, but I didn't care. I liked her company, and I missed her straight away when she went back to check on Geraldine. She left me feeling much more positive and able to cope. She said she'd try to get back to me every day on my journey, which should last another four days I believe. In the meantime, I need to catch up with more sleep, and read up on the Castor society to make sure I can fit in as quickly as I can. I'll need to find the Dry subculture and make inroads there. But first, sleep.

  Plog: Kofi Albus - 22nd Sextilis 227PD

  It's been an interesting few days preparing for my exile on Pollux. Well, if I'm honest, interesting interspersed with long periods of boredom and too brief periods chatting with Safira. However, at least I feel like I'm more prepared for Castor society.

  The Safirans had provided some background information on the Castor culture in the Sink, largely extracted from the Stream with Geraldine's help. I've been trying to read between the lines, particularly where it comes to how the Dry population are considered in their society.

  Before they became part of the Confluvium their society was already something to be admired and envied. Their society had grown very slowly, right back from their prehistory, compared to humanity. Over more than fifty thousand Earth years, they had progressed slowly and gradually in both technology and artistic endeavours. Their long life spans, typically up to five hundred years, and low birth rate seemed to feed into this - there was no need to rush. Life was to be savoured and enjoyed, but all should make small contributions to the progression of society. The size of the population never exceeded the ability of the society to support it. The Castors respected their environment, and were always careful to balance any expansion by positive action to support the ecosystem.

  Education was the driving force behind their society, covering not just what we would call the basics, but also focusing equally on technology, artistic expression and philosophy. Most Castors typically spent the first fifty years of their life in full time education, coupled with more manual labour helping out in agriculture and other industries. All could opt to stay in education as long as they wished, coupled with aspects of public service. Once a certain level of education was reached, it was mandatory that they served time in local government. There were no elections, it was a civic duty for sufficiently educated individuals. If this local government service was deemed successful, and further educational advancement was obtained, then an individual was required to serve time in the worldwide government. A fascinating concept that seemed to work well for their society and mental outlook.

  That's not to say they were perfect, there were plenty of arguments and disputes. However, these rarely had caused any form of physical dispute, they usually found creative ways to settle the issues. I guess humans would have found a lot of their lives boring, but perhaps that's down to our relatively short lived perspectives. Right now, I would love to have a boring life.

  I'm sure this history is a gross simplification, I can't believe it was ever that straightforward or easy. History is always written by the winners, even winners from Pollux. I guess I'll probably be able to find out a bit more once I arrive. What's not clear to me is exactly how the society has changed since they joined the Confluvium. There was a rush of change as both parties influenced each other, but I'm not clear whether this pace of change has now settled down.

  The fact that there's a significant number of their population that are still Dry must have had a divisive impact in some way. If it's like the other worlds, society adjusts to favour and require the use of the Stream. Until the trait was fixed in the newborn in humanity, the Dry formed a neglected underclass. Pitied, but not helped in any substantial way. They were just seen as an anachronism that would soon die out. I wonder if the same is happening on Pollux. Have we turned a united, peaceful society into a divided one?

  One positive thing about going to Pollux, rather than the other alien worlds of the Confluvium, is that physically it shouldn't be too hard to adapt. The atmosphere is perfectly breathable, if a little higher in oxygen content. The gravity is just below Earth's, and the day length is around 23 hours. As an added bonus, the Castors are roughly the same height as me, so I should be able fit through doorways and use their furniture without too much of a problem. It's often the small things that can cause difficulties fitting into an alien society.

  Tomorrow's the big day. I'll arrive in orbit around Pollux, and then start the descent. I can only hope that the landing is a bit gentler than the take off. As long as the last couple of metres are nice and controlled, I guess I shouldn't complain. Safira should be in touch shortly for the last time before I descend, so I'm waiting on my usual chair in what Safira calls my Kubrick room. Another reference I wish I could look up. Safira of course won't tell me, she likes to tease.

  Actually I think it's Safira's company that's kept me sane on this voyage. I'm astonished how astute she is, and how much she understands human psychology. She certainly seems to understand me and how to make me feel more relaxed. I guess they've been studying humanity for quite a while now, and have picked up a few tricks. Still, it makes me more determined to do the right thing for the Safirans as well as for the other races of the Confluvium.

  'Hello Kofi, how are you today?' Safira said, appearing in front of me. At last, I didn't jump. I've been practising meditation while cooped up here, and it seems to be helping. Something else Safira has helped me with.

  'I'm fine thank you Safira,' I said. 'A little nervous in anticipation of tomorrow. I know things are not likely to be this quiet again for quite a while. I think it's been good to have this break to recharge myself after the stress of the escape from Damon. So how are you? How is Geraldine?'

  'We are both fine. However we have suffered one casualty in the extended team. The agent who obtained the final moments of Mauro's life has died. We believe he was killed by a Lictor working in Decemvir Sigal Calfuray's office. After your and Geraldine's escape, we believe that the Lictors are taking a zero tolerance policy towards any action that they deem suspicious. There has been a significant spike of other HOME deaths, unrelated to Geraldine's team. It is our conjecture that your joint escape has increased the level of paranoia within Raj's incorporeal consciousness,' she said.

  'That's terrible,' I said, guilt washing over me. 'My life isn't worth more than theirs. If my escape has triggered a crackdown on others, it would have been better if I had died at Damon's hands.'

  'No Kofi. You have been critical to us all understanding what is happening. I believe that you will yet be critical in the events yet to come,' she replied. It didn't seem she was saying this just to reassure me, it was a statement of fact from her perspective. 'I can guarantee you one thing - more lives will be lost before this is resolved. Not just human or Safiran, but all races in the Confluvium. We will be directly res
ponsible for many more deaths. However, without your efforts in unmasking Raj, we would not be in a position to reach a solution that would not amount to genocide. Keep that perspective in mind.'

  Ah yes, genocide, how could I forget. 'OK,' I said, 'I'll try. It just seems that people are dying, and nothing seems to be happening.'

  'Things are progressing,' she said. 'For example, I have just heard that we are close to understanding how the kill command works and how it causes a catastrophic cascade within the Tap. At present we don't know how to stop the cascade, or how to progress any further, but it is a start.'

  'That's encouraging, I hope you manage to make progress quickly,' I said.

  'I believe we will but there may be difficult decisions for Geraldine to make in order for that to happen. For now though, we need to concentrate on you, your safety and your mission,' she said.

  'My mission doesn't sound that important, to be honest. I think Geraldine just got me out of the way to keep me safe,' I said, voicing my long felt suspicion for the first time.

  'No Kofi,' she said once more. 'What you say is partly true, she did get you off the Earth to increase your chance of being safe. However your role here could be vital in saving lives, especially of Castors. If we manage to work out a Tap-killer method that can be sent via a command, the second priority to Earth will be to do the same on Pollux, as the other most technologically advanced world. We need you to organise this. You'll obviously need a lot of local support here, and it will be up to you to organise it. I believe Geraldine has given you a contact name to start?'

  'Yes,' I said. 'Yerawien Lothassi Kaori. I needed to practise that a few times.'

  'You only need to use his name in full the first time you greet him; after that, you can just call him Kaori,' she said. 'Geraldine contacted him before she left the Stream. He is expecting you, and will meet you at the spaceport. Geraldine originally met him on a diplomatic mission to Pollux shortly after she became a Decemvir. Although there was some reluctance to allow it, she asked to meet a representative of the Dry population to understand the problems they faced. She was impressed by Kaori, but dissatisfied with the conversation they had, as he seemed constrained by the other Castors in the room. It is her belief that he can be trusted, although you should use your discretion once you've met him. He has agreed to keep your arrival hidden from the local authorities, and listen to what you have to say. You will need to take him into your confidence fully. Find out how Dry people are truly treated here. Tell him anything you think you need to in order to get him on our side. You also are the conduit between Geraldine and Kaori, via me. Exploit any plight of the Dry people, if you need to. Be supportive, but ruthless.'