Cobalt Slave

by Walker, Jon

  Mark looks in amazement at his father, “This is why that man came the other day, right? I overheard you talking...”

  “Yes,” his father interrupts. “There are small groups of us, I can’t even guess how many, who have been very quietly waiting and preparing for an opportunity to change things.”

  Mark is confused by the overwhelming amount of new information. “And there is some kinda opportunity now? What is it?”

  “I honestly don’t know, and for good reason,” David answers with a small shrug. “The fewer people who know a secret, the easier it is to keep. What I know is that my father trusted his father, and I can trust him. It appears this is the first time ever there has possibly been an opportunity. Mr. Wu wouldn’t have risked coming out if it wasn’t serious.”

  Mark asks, “And this involves me somehow?”

  David walks over to put a hand on each of his son’s shoulders. “You are going to be a man soon. After you finish school and take the placement exam you are expected to start your own life, whether that means getting into the university, becoming an apprentice, or getting a job. It will be easy to get you into a place without suspicion. A middle aged man with four children can’t just up and move for no reason. The Public Safety agents would find that too suspicious.”

  Mark looks at his father, whose face shows a disconcerting mixture of pride, hope and fear. “But in a place for what?”

  David takes a step back and responds, “I don’t know. I can’t know, but it will be dangerous. There is a good chance if you decide to do this you might not come back, but if you succeed you will have done something great. Something our family has been hoping to do for over a century.” He pauses to take a deep breath, “I’ve tried to protect you from the worst of it. But as my father told me, the cobalt chains are lighter than silk but stronger than steel. I moved out to the frontier to be as far from the Public Health Department as possible, out where life often doesn’t seem so bad. But we are still in chains that can be pulled at any moment. What I know is people should have the right to life and to live without fear. Who lives and who dies shouldn’t be at the whim of a handful of people.”

  Mark struggles against a wave of different thoughts and emotions. It is all so counter to what he has been taught in school about the directors being the necessary guardians that saved humanity, but it rings true. The experience is so overwhelming it is almost nauseating. “I...I don’t know what to say. What should I do?”

  David gives his first born son a reassuring smile, “This is your decision alone to make, and it is not an easy one. Whatever you decide, though, I will still love you and be proud of you.”

  David then points with his thumb behind him towards where the bikes are, “I’m going to walk back to the bikes and eat my lunch. You should stay here and take as long as you need to think about it. This is the right place to consider what is at stake and what you would be risking.”

  An hour later David is sitting by the side of the road whittling a stick when he sees his son finally walking back over the hill. He gets up to meet him. When Mark reaches his father he simply says, “I need to do this.” David says nothing in reply, embracing his son in a firm hug.

  After a few seconds David lets go. With his eyes starting to water, he says, “We should start heading back.”

  CHAPTER 11

  The next few weeks for Mark are a strange combination of nerve wracking, anger inducing, and enlightening -- but mostly boring. The more Mark learns and thinks about the unjust status quo, the more he wants to be involved. He feels a growing, burning desire to do something to change the world, but he also feels powerless, with no tangible way to direct his energy. The feeling keeps him up at night, which in turn only makes him angrier, more frustrated, and impotent feeling. Besides quietly learning more about the real history of New Eden from his parents at night after his young siblings are asleep, there is nothing for him to do but wait for his father to make all the official and unofficial preparations for their trip to Ararat.

  Officially, as far as the Public Health Department is concerned, David Corvus is going to take his son to tour the university, and to explore potential job options and apprenticeships in Ararat, before he takes his placement exam. The general goal would seem to be to inspire his son to do his best. It is a slightly unusual move for the first son of a frontier farmer, since most choose to just become farmers themselves, but it is still a common enough practice among young adults that it shouldn’t raise any suspicion among the authorities. In reality, touring several facilities and businesses in the city would provide the ideal cover for David and Mark while they meet with David’s few contacts among "those who remember and wait."

  After two stressfully uneventful months that seemed like they would never end, the day finally arrives. That morning the family enjoys a large pancake breakfast with homemade berry syrup to send them off. After the meal David and Mark grab their large backpacks and say their goodbyes on the front porch. Jessica offers both of them just hugs before running off to play. After a firm prompting by his mother, Bobby wishes his brother a perfunctory and slightly reluctant “good luck,” still clearly jealous about not being able to go along. Bobby also gives his father a quick “Bye” and after a brief pause adds, “Can you maybe bring me back something?”

  Stephanie grabs her son in a big hug and she tells him, “Be careful. Promise me you will be careful. And remember I will always love you.” Mark hugs her back and promises, “I will, Mom. I will. We will be back in a few days.” The overly emotional display generates an eye roll from Bobby -- his brother is only going away for a few days, he thinks.

  Finally they end their embrace, and Mark and David start walking towards the main road. Stephanie stays on the porch watching them until after they are well out of view from the homestead.

  Mark and his father grab the local tram heading to Lincoln’s Crossing for the first leg of their journey. The tram is basically two large, glorified carts slowly pulled by a jerry-rigged truck. It is painted bright yellow to make it easily visible. There are wooden benches to sit on and tarps stretched over the top to provide some protection from the hot sun and occasional rain. The whole thing is powered by a small ancient ceramic engine. The engine is built to last practically forever and can be powered by basically any flammable liquid including gasoline, ethanol, and cooking oil. It is the only thing on the vehicle that is original. Basically everything else has been rebuilt, redesigned, or improvised a dozen times over the past century to keep the precious vehicle running.

  In Lincoln’s Crossing they end up waiting an hour before they are finally able to board the next light rail train. While the tram ride is a teeth rattling endeavor to Mark, it barely feels like they are moving on the train despite the vehicle's age. The smooth track the train effortlessly glides along roughly follows the general path of the Gihon River. Like Lincoln’s Bridge these train tracks are one of the so-called great works of the first generation -- critical pieces of infrastructure built by the original colonists with extreme longevity in mind, using the almost-magic materials they brought with them all the way from the solar system. Several of the great works, like this rail system, were left only half finished because the later colony ships failed to arrive with the final pieces.

  Father and son are mostly quiet as they ride to the city. From the window seat Mark watches the valley slowly pass by. Closer to the river are bright green fields full of grains, sugarcane or orchids, behind perfect rows of trees. The rich fields are broken up with the occasional house or small town. As the valley slopes up, there tend to be more grapevines, berry bushes, potatoes or golden pastures for local livestock.

  Much of the actual landscape is just as beautiful to Mark as it was during his school trip, but as they get closer to the actual city he begins to see many things in a new light. On his first trip to Ararat he was mostly just amazed by the grandeur and novelty. Now he judges every sight through the lens of what he has recently learned and comes to appreciate w
hy his father never travels this way unless he absolutely has to. With each minute they get closer to Ararat, the contrasting signs of despair and privilege increase dramatically.

  On the outskirts of the big city Mark starts to notice significantly more defiants working dirty and dangerous jobs just to survive. At each stop there are more and more cobalt beggars too weak to work, on their way to a slow death.

  On his last trip Mark was so excited to pass the Earth farm animal conservatory. He delighted at glimpsing through the high double walls the numerous pens holding cows, chickens, pigs, and goats. It was incredible to hear the cows moo as the train went by. These were the great animals from beyond the stars he had only seen in old movies. Now the sight of these creatures disgusted him. Each animal was getting B-12 that could have saved the lives of those beggars they passed by; instead, the Public Health Department was using the cobalt to make fancy snacks for the well connected.

  The mansions and great houses around Ararat had greatly impressed Mark two years ago. When he first saw them, all he thought about was how amazing the architecture was and how cool it would be to live inside one of them. Now the sight of one massive house on a hill with its terraced garden only filled him with rage. Realizing this mansion was built by stealing from regular people, and preserved by menials who live constantly in fear of being turned out, ruins anything Mark once found appealing about the artistry involved in its construction.

  Suddenly, Mark feels his father’s reassuring hand on his shoulder. David can clearly sense what his son is going through. He leans over to quietly whisper to Mark, “I know. But it is important to smile.” Mark looks at his dad and is impressed by his father’s controlled, emotionally neutral face. His mother recently warned him that it is a skill he must now learn himself, but it doesn’t come easy. Mark takes a deep breath to calm himself then nods to his dad, signaling he understands. For the rest of the ride Mark decides it is best to just stare at the well-worn seat back in front of him.

  It is late afternoon when they finally pull into Ararat Central Station. After stepping outside David gets himself and his son several skewers of different types of grilled local seafood from a street vendor. They eat as they slowly walk to meet David’s cousin Paul, whose house they will be staying at for the next few days. The strange looking meat on a stick is salty and has an unusual but not unpleasant flavor to Mark. The light dusting of basic spices and the squirt of lemon applied to them turns the seafood into a respectable snack. Seafood is a novelty for frontier farmers who tend to grow most of their own food. What the people in the valley produce tends to flow to Ararat, but not much flows back in return.

  Moving through the streets, the claustrophobic sensation of being surrounded by the crush of humanity is one thing that hasn’t changed for Mark. The sights, smells, and sounds of so many people is just as overwhelming as it was the last time. Nowhere else on the planet are there so many people practically living and working right on top of each other. While on an intellectual level Mark knows Ararat is a small city by the standards of old Earth, where tens of millions of people would all live in one place, he finds it nearly impossible to believe people used to live that way. Ararat already feels too crowded as it is.

  They meet Paul Corvus, a healthy 25-year-old with a mild family resemblance, at the shop he works at in the northern part of the city. It is part hardware store, part repair shop, part second hand electronics purveyor. Most of what they sell is new, but they have a few pieces of truly old equipment that are there either being repaired or acquired as part of elaborate trades. While most of the basic business transactions on New Eden are conducted in cash or blackmarket B-12, the precious relics from Earth are a uniquely complex economic layer of their own. Their value is not simply monetary or based on current usefulness. They are sought out as status symbols, and each relic's value depends on how soon people are betting New Eden's local manufacturing sector will be able to produce a decent replacement.

  After a quick exchange of greetings in the shop, Paul takes a 15-minute break to let them into his ground floor apartment four blocks away. The two bedroom place is small, but this older building has several nice luxuries since it was part of the second generation of construction. David’s cousin is as welcoming and cordial as is expected by the unique, unspoken code of family obligations that has developed on New Eden, but it is still clear he is a bit put out by the whole thing. Paul was never very close with his cousin David due to the age gap and David’s personal disdain for Ararat, which is partly why they chose to stay with him. As a young bachelor Paul will probably leave them mostly alone to do what they came to Ararat for. Once David presents him with a generous gift of several homemade jams, jellies, and two large jars of moonshine, it does noticeably improve Paul's mood about the whole inconvenience. Paul has a sweet tooth, and the overall package is more than what the custom would dictate is necessary.

  They only have time for some basic chit chat and thank yous before Paul needs to return to work, leaving David and Mark free to pursue their own plans for the afternoon. Their only appointment that really matters is the next day, but the pair still needs to keep up appearances. So after a brief rest they go to meet with one of Ararat’s few private mechanics who will soon have an opening for an apprentice.

  ------

  The next morning after an awkward and bland breakfast where the long silences are broken only by short answers to generic questions, Paul finally heads to work. At the same time David and Mark start walking in the opposite direction to the harbor. Mark has an appointment to learn about a possible future in the bulk cargo business.

  Mark closely examines the tightly packed buildings and the vibrating swarm of morning activities as he walks down the boulevard that leads directly to the blue waters of the harbor. Out of nowhere he starts hearing music. It is a strange tune, heavy with the sound of bells and bass that echo in the street. It quickly seems to get louder. All around Mark other people duck into alleys, go inside doorways or press themselves flat up against the walls while Mark stands confused on the side of the street.

  Suddenly, Mark is slammed into a brick wall with no warning, yanked forcefully by the back of his shirt. The large, burly fellow that just roughly manhandled Mark looks at him in disgust. The massive man in a pair of dirty work overalls chastises Mark, “Stay out of the way, you country idiot,” and then quickly looks slightly down and away from the street.

  Mark continues to look around in confusion until he sees the source of the music. Two electric motorcycles riding side by side emerge around the corner blasting the tone. Two helmeted Public Safety agents are riding them. Close behind them is a car. It is a sleek, beautifully sculpted piece of moving art. The smooth sloped back curves make it appear to be moving much faster than it really is. It is a convertible with the top down, painted a shade just slightly deeper than sky blue and heavily accented with real platinum. Riding in the back is a young man with long, slightly curly jet black hair. His face is partially covered by a large set of sunglasses. He is wearing a patterned, short sleeved shirt roughly the same color as the car. Mark can’t help but stare since it is the first time he has ever seen Director Terence Lee in person. This is the man who rules the planet, always wrapped in luxury while regular people turn away in fear. He seems to not have a care in the world. Mark can’t help quietly turning red with anger.

  It feels like the whole thing is happening in slow motion for Mark, but in just a few seconds the car goes by, trailed by a different pair of Public Safety agents on motorcycles. Once the motorcade goes past, the street quickly returns to its previous level of activity as if nothing happened, but Mark doesn’t move for several minutes, still transfixed. He just stands there watching until the director’s car reaches the edge of the harbor.

  CHAPTER 12

  Same day on the water

  With the warm wind flowing through his long hair, Director Terence Lee tries to center himself before the day’s tasting party. He closes his eyes and inhales th
e salt air, feeling its deeply calming effect. The valet's recommendation to take the convertible this morning was a good one. Being in the right mindset is critical for this “casual” get together. As his father always said, the actual business is rarely ever done at the actual business meetings.

  Director Lee opens his eyes when his motorcade stops outside the small gate fencing off the private marina reserved for high ranking department officials and their families. The are several sailing vessels, speed boats, cruising vessels and three large yachts all decked at the marina today. The ones that belong to the director are clearly distinguished by their touches of cobalt blue. He has always tried to make sure he owns the best in each category.

  The director smiles once he sees that his four companions today have clearly been waiting next to his smaller blue cruising vessel. His head of Public Safety and his head of Genetics are making small talk with Catherine and Jack Moore from the Aeronautics Department.

  When Catherine made the unexpected request for a small social gathering last week, Director Lee could rather easily guess the reason why and meticulously planned this private tasting with that in mind. The official excuse for the gathering was a ride around the harbor while sampling the new styles of cheese that had been produced by the Earth farm animal conservatory. The small setting provided reason to leave servants behind and ensured they could speak openly without being overheard by anyone. What Director Lee thought was most clever about this particular choice of his is that it allowed him to appear cordial while maintaining his dominance. Being out in the waters of the bay is physically and symbolically halfway between the Public Health Department’s headquarters located in Ararat proper and the Aeronautics Department's compound situated on the peninsula that created the natural harbor, making it seem as if he is trying to meet them on neutral ground. Yet they are still cruising on his boat and most importantly, Director Lee knows it will throw Catherine Moore off her game. Catherine’s one and only rotation in space 20 years ago was apparently an extremely unpleasant experience due to her predisposition for motion sickness. She could take medicine for it today, but they all slightly dull the mind.