Cobalt Slave

by Walker, Jon

  After his driver opens the door, the director steps out to greet his guests. Catherine Moore is the first to step forward and speak, sporting a disingenuous smile. “It is so nice to be able to spend a day together, cousin.” Even though they are only second cousins once removed, Catherine uses the family relation as an excuse for never referring to Terrence Lee as the director except in official settings. As far as Director Lee is concerned, it is her most annoying habit.

  “Oh Cat, it is always an experience spending time with you," the director answers with an identical level of sincerity before turning to the other guests more cheerfully. “I hope everyone wasn’t waiting too long and is excited to enjoy the water. I assume everything is ready to go?” With the last line Director Lee turns to Councilwoman Tracy Brown, head of the Genetics division.

  “Yes, Director. My people have already laid out several of the new cheeses, and the paired wines are in the decanters. We are all good to go,” Ms. Brown answers.

  “Very good, all aboard then,” the director says while motioning for them to all board ahead of him. Once he is the final one to step onto the small craft, the vessel is unmoored and they slowly pull out into the blue water.

  As the ship goes farther from the shore, Tracy unveils and lovingly explains the creations from her division. There are three new cheeses for them to sample. This is the first time any of the cheeses have ever existed on the planet. There is a soft and extremely buttery Camembert. The next is a firm Majorero style cheese made from goat milk. It has a rich nutty flavor. The last is a hard Grana Padano cheese with a pungent and slightly sweet flavor.

  Making cheese is an extremely difficult and costly endeavor on New Eden, but it is Tracy’s personal passion project and favorite challenge. Not only is the raw material precious since the dairy cows need to be given cobalt to survive, but the local microorganisms on New Eden add numerous complexities to deal with. While the creamery team at the Earth farm animal conservatory did their best to copy the traditional process for each of these cheese styles, they were often forced to make significant adjustments to compensate for the very different bacteria and fungi found everywhere on New Eden. Since no one alive on the planet had ever tried the real thing, it is impossible to say how successful any of these recreations are, but they do at least bear some vague physical resemblance to the ancient pictures, and the flavors sort of match the historic descriptions. The director personally doesn’t share Tracy’s obsession with accuracy. All he cares about is if the final product is interesting, fatty, delicious, and exclusive. After sampling the fantastic new selection, the director happily concludes that she has once again succeeded on all four counts. This is why he always supports every push she makes to expand her hobby regardless of the cost.

  The first fifteen minutes of the trip are spent exclusively talking about the cheese and wine to break the ice. The other guests politely inquire about the process behind each, discussing the wine pairings and possible recipes for them, and indirectly negotiate how much of each new cheese everyone on board would want. Something so rare and exclusive isn’t bought or sold. It is traded as part of the informal set of favors and obligations that hold together the members of the Council. Very quickly, though, Anthony Chan, the head of the division of Public Safety, grows tired of the small talk. He decides to cut to the chase by interjecting while looking right at Catherine, “While the cheese is delicious, it is not why we are really out here, is it? I can only assume this is about the next shuttle rotation?”

  The director gives his uncle in-law a mildly disapproving look but says nothing since he wants the pair from Aeronautics to answer the question. Anthony Chan has about as much grace and tact as a sledge hammer, although sometimes a big sledge hammer is what is needed. It is why Anthony was given his current job.

  Catherine sits up straight and carefully adjusts her black shirt with gold buttons before answering, “Yes. I must again thank you, Tracy, for a lovely new culinary experience, but the real reason I wanted this excursion was so I could speak with the director in a controlled setting due to some concerns we have with the current plan for the cobalt stockpile. The final shuttle is scheduled to launch in just over a month, and this means we have only a few weeks to provide the shuttle crew with any possible clarification of their official orders face to face.”

  Anthony quickly responds feigning shock, “Are you suggesting we violate the trust of the other council members by changing the plan on the matter of cobalt without their direct input?”

  Catherine brushes away the insinuation with a flick of her wrist. “Oh, nothing that dramatic. What I'm more concerned about is protecting operational security. The broad strokes will remain basically the same, but how many people can honestly be part of a secret before it is compromised? I think we should keep the actual details on a need-to-know basis and inform the rest of the Council once everything is finally secure. I’m sure that is something a man in your position can appreciate, Mr. Chan.”

  Anthony answers with only an approving nod as the director encourages Catherine to go on. “For the sake of argument, let's assume it would be reasonable to make some minor alterations in the name of operational security," the director says, putting heavy emphasis on those last two words. “But I'm pretty fond of the current plan. We land the shuttle at your compound, quickly secure the stockpile in the armored transport and drive it directly to the vault under the Palace. The simpler and more direct the plan, the fewer places there are for it to go wrong.”

  Catherine gives her underling and brother Jack Moore a quick look indicating it is safe for him to interject. Jack sounds slightly nervous as he gently counters the director's statement. “The most direct plan has clear advantages, director, but it also makes things very predictable for unscrupulous people who might…hmm...feel opportunistic. The current plan also puts all of our eggs in one basket. One accident would break them all.”

  Director Lee turns to look at Jack, “So your alternative would be?”

  “Well… for starters, we believe there might be some merit to landing the shuttle in a more remote location that fewer people will be aware of. We could quickly build a new landing field on Hou Maui or up north on Muir…”

  Anthony dismissively interrupts him. “My people at Public Safety already considered and rejected this idea. We could hardly expect to keep the construction of a set of landing strips secret, and it would just mean putting all our eggs in one basket but just carrying it much farther.”

  The director puts his hand up to silence his uncle in-law Anthony before speaking, “As you were saying, Jack?”

  “Thank you… yes… Well, that leads into our other main issue. We think we should maybe be using three proverbial baskets for safety. Our idea is to have 15 percent of the stockpile go to the Public Health Department, have 15 percent secretly hidden with the Aeronautics Department and leave the remaining 70 percent at the mine on Abel. That way if anyone tries to steal it, the damage will be limited.”

  The director leans backs, loudly smacks his lips after taking a sip of wine, and smiles. All eyes are on him, waiting. This is the other shoe he has been waiting to drop for the past two months. Without working shuttles, as soon as Aeronautics turns over the whole stockpile to him, they lose basically all of their leverage. The century-old careful balance of power between the two great titans of New Eden would be forever changed. Until the final shuttle landing, though, Catherine holds a trump card. Now she is finally playing it to try to secure a place for her and her department.

  Over the next ten seconds the only sound is the small waves crashing against the boat as the director and Catherine engage in an icy cold staring contest. Both are trying to read the other.

  Finally, Tracy breaks the silence with a question, “Why leave so much in space? I thought the whole point is there is a roughly one in three chance the shuttles can’t be repaired at all?”

  The question gives Catherine a reason to look away from the director as she politely answers, “Wel
l, that is not exactly the case. Councilmember Madison is too much of an engineer for his own good. He is too focused on long term usability. While there is only about a 60 percent chance we would be able to return to the current two-shuttle rotation, we are confident that with enough time we could at least rig one shuttle for one last successful mission to retrieve the rest of the stockpile if the worst happens and that proves absolutely necessary.”

  Pointing forcefully at Jack, the director asks, “Is this true?”

  “Yes… I’ve calculated the chance of being able to put together something for just a single retrieval at over 90 percent under our plan. You need to keep in mind that between our two supplies we would have enough cobalt for over two decades. That is a lot of time to get one shuttle working.”

  “I can’t supp…” Anthony starts to say before he is quickly cut off by a visibly angry director with a snappy, “I’m thinking here.”

  After a brief moment the director turns to Catherine, “And you think this modification to the plan can be kept secret?”

  “The only people who would know about it are on this boat and my three most trusted crew members carefully selected for this rotation,” Catherine answers. The term "trusted" on New Eden implicitly means very close family members.

  The director slowly chews over this moment. He has long resented that the Aeronautics Department has managed to remain separate and mostly outside his realm of control. The idea of finally bringing this element to heel and completely solidifying the power of his office is extremely enticing, and there is probably no better opportunity to do it than now. But ultimately he knows any attempt to exploit this situation would come with big risks and that as the appointed protector of humanity, Terence Lee has incredible obligations to uphold. Tall trees can’t grow on windy hillsides. Stability is needed for things to flourish, and it is the job the director to give New Eden that stability. It is the solemn task of the director to save humanity and to ensure the population doubles with each generation. While he might not like their longstanding arrangement, it has provided the planet with a century of stability. Giving Aeronautics this victory should secure at least another generation of stability. If he tries to exploit this moment to weaken the Aeronautics Department, he risks pushing Catherine to try to do something stupid while they still have their trump card. A caged vermin can be dangerous.

  Finally the director speaks with a tone that makes it clear his decision is final, “Moving the location of the landing is too much of a risk, but I will allow the stockpile to be divided in three like you have proposed. But I want to split it this way: 20 percent to Public Health, 10 percent to Aeronautics and the rest left up there. Is that understood?”

  Catherine smiles and raises her glass, “Perfectly. Maybe now we can get back to the cheese.”

  ------

  After finally disembarking the boat and saying their goodbyes, Jack and Catherine Moore retreat to their jet black car accented with an elegant gold trim. Jack is behind the wheel. On this occasion he purposely decided to leave the driver at home to make sure they would have time to debrief in complete privacy. Once out of the marina and clearly out of sight of anyone important, they both turn off their phones and place them inside the lined glove compartment just to be safe. Once done, he finally speaks to his sister candidly. Jack says, “I must admit you were right on one point. The talk with the director went almost exactly as you said it would.”

  In the passenger seat Catherine is massaging her temples to deal with her headache. Red wine and anti-motion sickness medication are not a good combination. She answers with a teasing tone, “When are you going to stop doubting me, little brother?”

  Jack responds in a much more serious tone, “I still think pushing this change in private was a mistake. We could have gotten the full council to agree. Now those three are going to be suspicious, and if they dig really hard, they just might find out what we are really planning.”

  Catherine closes her eyes, reclines her seat and answers playfully, “It is going to be the exact opposite, actually. You see, that is why mother wanted you only to deal with the technical matters and wanted me in charge of actually running the department. This is a big moment, and that means both danger and opportunity. Our distant cousin respects me enough to know I wouldn’t just roll over when events are not in our favor. The director would expect me to have some scheme to secure our family’s position. Now he is going to think he has not only found the secret plan but is in on it, so instead he can spend most of his time trying to figure out what game the other council members are playing. A small deception is often the best cover for a big one.”

  Jack sounds unconvinced, “We’ll see, I guess. Either way, I’m going to be on edge until this is over.”

  Catherine, sounding more serious this time, says, “We all are.”

  CHAPTER 13

  That same day, below ground

  The automatic lights of the tunnel wake Andrew, but he is still very tired. His back and neck ache from being forced to sleep on the floor with only a thin blanket and a balled up shirt to cushion him against the hard ground. After using the bathroom he crams into the crowded small kitchen area for a bland breakfast of crickets and oatmeal. He finishes the small bowl quickly, wishing he had more. Thanks to the new rationing, almost every moment of the day not spent eating now comes with a small pang of hunger. It is not an overwhelming sensation, just an ever-present annoyance in the back of his mind and his belly. Andrews licks his bowl and spoon clean before finding a spot to stretch for ten minutes. Numerous pops and cracks come from every part of his overused body. It is time to get back to the hot, smelly leaching pits room, to spend hours turning the shit and piss of the city into something useful. In the three years Andrew has spent in the tunnels, never has his life been objectively worse, and never has he been happier.

  In the past few months everything changed for Andrew and his companions. His small underground world became a crowded hive of activity. In just as many weeks seven new people were brought to the tunnels, of which five are still around. One succumbed to infections. The other couldn't mentally handle their new reality and needed to be dealt with. The increase in population pushed the support systems and food supply to their absolute limits. Andrew was even forced to give up his mattress for those being nursed back to health, which is why he sleeps on just a thin blanket covering the unforgiving stone floor in a hallway. There is no space, no privacy, too little to eat and far more unpleasant work to do. Frequently all of his companions are required to cram into the back-most rooms of the tunnel for hours at a time for seemingly no reason. But it all feels worth it.

  The mindset of quiet acceptance Andrew had once adopted to mentally survive his underground imprisonment was instantly destroyed the night John Snider told them the news. At the time, Andrew had thought of it as a warm blanket to protect him from his dark thoughts and the cold, curved walls around him. Since then, he has come to realize he was using that complacence to smooth over any hope of escape and hide from his reality.

  Now there is hope, and everything is different. He has been without real hope for so long he had forgotten how good actually having hope feels. For the first time in years there is a chance for a life, not just of survival. A chance for justice. A chance for a better future. So Andrew spends this morning like he has spent the past dozen mornings, happily turning, sorting, watering, and processing the warm sewage diverted into their hidden refuge.

  Andrew takes his first break of the day for lunch, choosing to eat his rations in the semi-privacy of one of the insect rooms. It gives him a chance to watch the butterflies he has been forced to neglect. While Andrew now has hope, watching the insects is still his greatest simple joy on a day-to-day basis.

  Sadly, this personal time with his tiny friends is cut short by two quick knocks followed by a brief pause then another two quick knocks on the one door to the outside. The sound echoes through the tunnels. It is the signal to move everyone and everything personal
to the back rooms for the next few hours. Andrew sighs before getting up and making sure everyone else heard the signal.

  ------

  At the same time above ground

  By mid morning, Mark and his father have finished their potential employment talk with the cargo company and begin the long walk out to the main processing center of the sanitation bureau for their real meeting.

  As they walk away from the harbor the buildings get more primitive and spaced out. Very close to the water are the smooth, gracefully curved prefab buildings brought on the great slowship from the solar system. They look both delicate and indestructible at the same time. The seemingly ageless structures still look basically new after a century of use. Surrounding them is the first generation of actual New Eden construction. While not as graceful, these structures are more diverse and physically imposing. Built almost completely by high tech machines that no longer function, these made up for the lack of advanced materials with redundancies, size, and thickness. These first generation buildings have minor superficial imperfections which hint at their age, but most of them will easily last another thousand years with basic maintenance. Beyond them sit the simpler and smaller buildings of later generations, constructed when concerns about longevity were sacrificed for faster, cheaper and easier solutions handled with limited technology. From above, the city’s basic layout resembles that of a tree segment. You can know the age of that part of the city by counting the distinctive rings of new construction that have developed outward over the decades.