Scales of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  We had enough breathers left for everyone to breathe for three more hours. If we didn’t have a breathable atmosphere inside the dome before they ran out, we’d have to evacuate back to Shiumo’s ship. Safely returning a thousand of us ten at a time would be extremely time-consuming, and we were all aware of the time crunch. We couldn’t hurry the process, though; any small mistake we made now could lower our chances of survival in the future.

  The app indicated that we’d have the dome up and the generator installed with an hour to spare on the breathers. It updated to fifty minutes as I watched it.

  ‘Jian,’ someone said into my ear, and I jumped. I was at the head of the queue.

  I grabbed the bin full of emergency oxygen bottles, hauled it out of Shiumo’s pod, and spun it so I could wheel it across the dusty soil to the parking area a safe distance from the dome. Even with matting on top, the soil between the pod and the bin park had degraded as we wheeled the bins over it, and the wheels bogged as the mats became covered in dust and the ground beneath was increasingly uneven. I lowered my head and pushed hard, fighting the exhaustion of working forty-eight hours straight in the warmth of Europa’s carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere. Sweat ran down my back under my coverall, adding to the discomfort of my overfull nappy, which would soon begin to burn me despite the thick layer of barrier cream on my genitals. My water backsack had run out a couple of hours before, and I was in danger of dehydrating to the point that I’d be unable to work.

  Just less than an hour left, and I could stop, eat, drink and clean myself up.

  The bin stopped and tipped forward; it had bogged in the soft dirt. I physically lifted it free and heaved it forward again. It was only ten metres to the parking area, but the soft ground and slightly stronger gravity made it harder every time. The light of the Wolf star hit me and I winced. It had been pleasantly cool during the night, but the oppressive warmth of day was starting again.

  I placed my bin next to the others, and checked the schedule as I returned to the pod. I stood waiting in line for five minutes before I realised the pod was gone.

  ‘She’s getting a refill,’ my section leader, Anne, said. ‘Everybody move twenty metres south for the next load so you’re not dragging the bins over the ruts.’

  ‘Do you think we’ll get it done in time?’ Elise asked me as we moved one of the mats to the new route.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘I think we’ll be evacuated soon. We can’t risk taking too long. Lives are at stake.’

  ‘I keep expecting to hear Geoff’s voice over the comms,’ Alison said.

  I checked my tablet again once we’d dropped the mat at the new location. The dome was at eighty-three per cent capacity, and the generator was still stuck at seventy-two per cent. Breathers were at one hour and forty minutes.

  ‘Prepare for the evacuation order,’ I told my team. ‘The generator’s been delayed and we’ll probably need to return to Shiumo’s ship to recharge everything.’

  ‘Understood,’ the nine of them replied.

  ‘I’ve been panicking about the generator for a couple of hours now,’ Edwin said. ‘I wonder what the hold-up is.’

  ‘Clear the channel if you’re not on my team,’ I said, at the same time as Commander Vince said, ‘I’m giving the evacuation order. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate. Shiumo’s bringing the ship to the surface and landing two kilometres north of the dome. Assemble on the spot I’ve marked on your tablet. Great job, everybody, but the generator won’t be online in time.’

  ‘Leave whatever you’re doing and move to the evacuation point,’ I repeated. ‘Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.’

  We gathered into our teams of ten, and joined a slow-moving exodus north to the evacuation point. Once there, we leaned on each other, sharing our exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Elise looked like she’d fallen asleep draped over Helen.

  Shiumo’s ship, shining and majestic, appeared before us, with Shiumo sitting on its nose. The ship glittered in the red light of the Wolf star, and we could see our dust-covered bodies and the surface of the planet reflected in its side. It hovered ten metres above the ground, so large that its top and upper sides were out of view. A series of tunnels extended towards us and touched the ground.

  ‘In you go,’ Marque said into our comms. ‘There are racks for your breathers at the top. Get some rest.’

  I led my team up the crowded ramp, moving extremely slowly in the traffic jam of other groups. Then the queue stopped completely.

  ‘Don’t stop. There’s no airlock – I don’t need one. I used an energy barrier,’ Marque said over the comms. ‘The air is breathable once you’re inside the tunnel.’

  A few of the colonists around me still hesitated, so I removed my breather and grinned at them. ‘Advanced technology. Gotta love it.’ Without the breather’s filter, the air in the tunnel was rank with the stench of sweat and stale urine.

  Word passed up the line as others removed their breathers, and we started moving again. I placed my breather on the rack at the top, walked into the communal area, checked my team were all inside, then collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Others joined me, lying on the floor or sitting on the chairs, only moving to make room for others. The smell wasn’t as bad in this larger area, but we all desperately needed to clean up.

  ‘Section leaders and Lieutenant Choumali, report to the aft section,’ Commander Vince said into the comms.

  I groaned loudly, rolled onto my back, then hoisted myself to sitting. It took immense effort to pull myself to my feet, and then pick my way over the bodies of my fellow colonists to the aft of the ship.

  Commander Vince and the other section leaders were sitting around a table, all looking as wan and exhausted as I felt. Indi had her chin on her hands and seemed half-asleep. Only Monica Weaver, the chief botanist, was sitting upright and fidgeting with agitation. I sat, wincing as my nappy squelched beneath me, and hoped it hadn’t started to leak yet.

  Shiumo appeared next to us. ‘Goodness, you all smell awful. Go to your quarters and clean up and get some rest. Pick it up again in twelve hours.’

  ‘We can’t,’ Weaver said, full of urgency. ‘There isn’t enough oxygen in the dome. The atmosphere will kill the plants. We have to go back down, finish hooking up the generator and oxygenate the dome.’

  ‘How long do we have before the plants die?’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘They may be dead already!’

  ‘I have them in an energy bubble filled with air,’ Marque said from the ship’s wall. ‘They’re safe.’

  Weaver collapsed over the table and wiped her eyes.

  ‘How long can you maintain a bubble that big from outside the ship?’ Shiumo said.

  ‘Four hours,’ Marque said.

  Weaver shot upright. ‘We have to go back and finish it!’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘Marque, Shiumo, can you help us?’ Commander Vince said. ‘Your technology is so advanced it’s like magic. What are our options with your assistance?’

  ‘Can you create a generator for us?’ I said. ‘Or fill the dome with oxygenated air while we fix up the plants?’

  ‘No,’ Marque said. ‘I should have prepared for this and built some bigger construction spheres. I don’t have any right now, and they take hours to put together.’

  ‘We can’t use the emergency oxygen bottles,’ Commander Vince said. ‘So don’t ask. I won’t risk our lives by having no standby oxygen after Shiumo leaves.’

  ‘So what are our options?’ Weaver said.

  ‘What happens to you after four hours, Marque?’ I said. ‘You don’t run on batteries – how could you run out of juice?’

  Shiumo hissed with laughter.

  ‘Actually in a way I do,’ Marque said. ‘I store energy generated by Shiumo’s four-dimensional antics –’

  Shiumo’s head shot up. ‘Antics!’

  Marque ignored her. ‘– as we travel. Holding the ship above the surface uses a great deal of energy. Our resources are bountiful,
but not unlimited.’

  ‘Can’t you land the ship on the surface?’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘It would sink, and take the dome with it,’ Marque said. ‘The soil’s too soft.’

  ‘You should have been prepared for this, Marque,’ Shiumo said. ‘I trust you to handle the risk management.’

  ‘The humans were absolutely adamant that they had to do this themselves,’ Marque said. ‘I think Commander Vince told me himself to “butt out and let us do this to prove it can be done”. He only permitted me to grade the site and fill the water reservoirs after a very long argument.’

  Commander Vince rapped the table. ‘Time’s wasting. Options!’

  ‘If we let the plants die, can you replace them when we have the dome inflated?’ I said. ‘Synthesise new ones?’

  ‘What, create life?’ Marque said. ‘Now I’m really flattered. With the right environment and a few million years, maybe. But in your time frame? I don’t think so.’

  ‘How long would it take you to clone them?’ I said.

  Commander Vince listened intently, radiating curiosity. He was obviously glad to have me – and my knowledge of Shiumo’s and Marque’s capabilities – present.

  ‘As long as it would take them to grow from seed. Six to eight weeks.’

  ‘Might as well grow them from seed then,’ I said. ‘How do we manage the carbon dioxide while they’re growing?’

  ‘Time’s running out for the ones we already have,’ Weaver said sharply.

  ‘Let them die, and I’ll take you back to Earth to pick up replacement plants,’ Shiumo said. ‘Leave behind a skeleton crew to finish inflating the dome. Marque can synthesise breathers for you.’

  ‘We won’t be able to get enough plants – these were specially bred for us,’ Weaver said. She raised her hands in defeat. ‘We don’t have enough rations to feed ourselves while we wait for a complete set of new plants to grow from seed. Colony’s toast. We might as well go home in disgrace.’

  ‘Problem solved,’ Marque said. ‘I’ve built stacked nutrient pools for the plants in the hold.’ A breather floated down from the ceiling. ‘Weaver, wear this, and Shiumo will take you down to the dome. She can fold the plants into the ship and place them in the pools.’ A sphere emerged from the wall above us. ‘I’ll come along too. Put your mask on, Weaver, and let’s go.’

  ‘How fast can you bring them back to the ship?’ Weaver asked Shiumo.

  ‘Instantaneous. I’ll fold them.’

  ‘I want to go along and help,’ Weaver’s assistant said.

  ‘Head down into the hold,’ Marque said. ‘I just built stairs for you at the back of this room. You can place the plants in the bath when Shiumo and Weaver bring them up.’

  The assistant pushed up from the table and looked around. A glowing arrow appeared on the ceiling above her head. She nodded, speaking to her team on the comms as she followed the arrow. Four people rose from the exhausted crowd in the main area and followed her down the stairs.

  ‘How long will it take?’ I said. ‘Shiumo can only carry a few at a time.’

  ‘I’ll tell you once she’s done the first few,’ Marque said.

  ‘What’s the problem with the oxygen generator?’ one of the section leaders asked Commander Vince.

  ‘When they were wheeling the modules into the generator’s lean-to, they hit a floor seam and ripped it,’ Commander Vince said. ‘The dust floated up from the ground and got into everything. Every single seal in the generator had to be cleaned and replaced by hand. We had to glue the floor seam back together, and hold it as it sealed – and we lost a lot of atmosphere before we had it locked down.’

  ‘I pressed that dirt down,’ Marque said, protesting.

  ‘Obviously not well enough,’ I said wryly.

  Marque spoke to us through the ship. ‘Shiumo’s bringing the plants in faster than the guys can put them into the vats. If you’re awake and can help –’

  I didn’t hear the end of the message because I was already racing down the stairs to help save our crops, half the colony following me.

  22

  I woke in my temporary quarters with no recollection of how I’d got there. I couldn’t even remember removing the nappy, but it was definitely gone and I was clean. I checked my tablet: I’d slept for more than nine hours straight. I’d been so exhausted that my left ear hurt from lying on it without moving.

  I pulled on my jumpsuit, went into my bathroom to empty my aching bladder and freshen up my foul mouth, and went out.

  In the communal area, people sat at tables quietly talking. My tablet pinged and I checked it. We see you. Over on the side, Elise wrote. I looked up and saw her waving, and went to join her, Alison and Lawrence.

  Elise stopped me from sitting and gestured with her thumb towards the end of the room. ‘Vince wants you.’

  Commander Vince was sitting with the team leaders, eating solid rations. I joined them, and they passed me a cube and a glass of water. I dipped the cube in the water. It was dry and tasteless and would stick in my throat if I didn’t moisten it.

  ‘Here’s the status, Choumali,’ Commander Vince said. ‘We used twelve per cent of our emergency oxygen when the seam split and we had to refill the lean-to. We lost fifteen per cent of our plants when the generator didn’t go online. We lost a small proportion of the generator parts when they were damaged by starting the generator when there was still dust in it. We’re borderline on the carbon-dioxide scrubbers with that many plants out of action.’ He looked around. ‘Suggestions?’

  ‘Have you talked to Shiumo?’ Anne said.

  Commander Vince nodded. ‘She’s offered to replace everything we lost.’ He hesitated, his expression controlled, then said, ‘Do we agree to let her do this? It’s admitting that we failed and we can’t do it without their help.’

  ‘The scrubbers are borderline,’ Lisa said. ‘We factored these losses in. What if we go with what we have, and ask her for help if we can’t make it?’

  ‘That’s what I think,’ Commander Vince said. ‘I want us to do this by ourselves, dammit. We’ve already had too much help from her. We can’t afford to be dependent on her – I don’t want to become addicted like Commander Alto was. Our whole species has to learn to do things by ourselves.’

  ‘Hear, hear,’ Rennie said quietly.

  ‘So, Choumali, what will her reaction be if we go ahead without her help?’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘The most likely reaction is that she’ll be supportive and encourage us,’ I said. ‘She’ll stand by ready to help if we need it, and probably cheer us on.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Rennie said. ‘After what happened with you and Commander Alto?’

  ‘She claims she didn’t do it deliberately,’ I said. ‘She said we could leave any time, and didn’t try to stop us when we did.’

  ‘But it was killing him,’ Commander Vince said.

  ‘She had a cure.’

  ‘How do we know that cure isn’t more control?’ Rennie said.

  I shrugged. ‘Beside the point. We’re here now, and we’re in trouble. Do we accept her assistance, or risk the colony by going it alone?’

  Commander Vince frowned.

  ‘After we’ve accepted so much of her help already,’ I added, and his frown intensified.

  ‘You can call her any time with the scale she gave you,’ Lisa said. ‘Let’s do it ourselves. We need to make mistakes – other colonies will learn from them.’

  ‘I agree,’ Commander Vince said. ‘Any major objections?’

  Everybody shook their heads.

  ‘Very well,’ he said, and pushed away from the table. ‘Round up your crews and be ready to return to the dome in six hours.’

  We were setting up the dome’s interior twelve hours later. I pulled the transport locker into the security post, and placed it next to the wall. Leticia put her thumb on one lock, I put mine on the other, and the locker opened with a hiss from the change in pressure.

  I pulled the first w
eapon from its protective foam sheath and checked it. ‘E100, serial 85-E101,’ I said.

  ‘Check,’ Leticia said.

  I placed the weapon into the secure cabinet on the security post’s wall, and moved back to the transport locker. My comms pinged as I lifted the next handheld, and I returned it to the transport locker to listen.

  ‘General announcement: atmosphere’s breathable,’ Commander Vince said. ‘Take off your breather, and keep it nearby. We’ll update you on the atmosphere’s status. Be ready to return to your breather at short notice.’

  Leticia and I shared a look, and I removed my breather. I took a shallow breath and waited, then took another one.

  Leticia removed her breather and gagged. ‘Holy hell, it reeks of shit!’

  ‘That’ll be from the nappies,’ I said. ‘It’ll settle once the spirulina’s fully established. Then the dome will stink of rotten fish and decaying plants.’

  ‘Lovely,’ she said.

  I turned back to the weapons locker. ‘E-100, serial 86-E110.’

  ‘Check.’

  ‘E-100, serial 85-E535.’

  ‘Check.’

  After all the handhelds were out and checked, I pulled the foam layer from the next transport locker and grinned. It was like opening a box of chocolates.

  I checked the first one. ‘Ooh, rifles. Nice.’

  ‘Is it just me or is it hard to breathe?’ Leticia said.

  I took a breath in and thought about it. ‘I’m fine.’

  She panted. ‘It’s really hard to breathe!’

  I took her arm. ‘It’s not hard to breathe. The atmosphere is fine. It’s your imagination. Commander Vince would tell us if there was a problem.’

  She grabbed her breather and pulled it over her head again, and took some deep, panic-filled breaths. ‘Aren’t you dizzy?’

  ‘No. Lettie, it’s fine. It’s not –’

  My comms pinged. ‘Breathers back on, and check those around you,’ Commander Vince said. ‘The carbon-dioxide scrubbers can’t cope. I repeat: breathers on and check those around you. Security, run a sweep and make sure everybody has their breathers on.’