Aneka Jansen 3: Steel Heart

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘You haven’t been sitting there since you came back, have you?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘Just the last fifteen minutes or so.’

  ‘They’re dead, Ella. All of them. My family. Even Alan’s children must be long gone. I never even got to meet them.’

  ‘You know he had kids. There could be relatives of yours still alive.’

  Aneka smiled, a little bleakly. ‘Do you think they’d want to meet the robot version of their great-great-great-ad infinitum-aunt? I’d imagine that would weird them out a little.’

  ‘If it were me, I’d be so excited I’d faint.’

  That coaxed a laugh out. ‘Yes, but that’s you. I think… I think I needed that. The world I grew up in is really gone.’

  ‘And now you believe it?’

  ‘Yeah, I knew it, but now I believe it. The Xinti made me more adaptable, so I’ll accept it and adapt.’

  ‘Just like that?’

  ‘Probably not.’

  Ella smiled. ‘Good. Hiding behind your conditioning is still just hiding.’

  ‘No more hiding. Not even from myself.’

  18.9.526 FSC.

  Aneka sat in the cockpit watching the darkness outside. Everyone else was asleep in the back. There was almost no moonlight, but the stars were bright overhead, very visible in a clear sky with no light pollution at all. That was almost the biggest change on this new Old Earth: she was sitting on the outskirts of London and she could see millions of bright specks of light above her.

  She could also see shapes moving among the buildings and occasionally trotting across the open spaces around the shuttle. At first she had thought they were wild dogs, large ones. None of them seemed smaller than an Alsatian, most were a little larger. She could only see them by infrared initially, but when a small group of three stopped ahead of the shuttle, she turned the ship’s sensors on them and got a full multispectral and lidar image along with a lot of other detail. They were not dogs.

  Morphologically they looked like rats. There was no tail and the legs appeared longer than usual. The incisors were even longer in proportion than normal, emerging from the front of their mouths, and appeared very sharp; these creatures might have been rats once, but now they were some sort of carnivorous version. She knew predators generally had forward-facing eyes, which these things did not, but they were giving off ultrasound signals, according to the sensors; they had replaced precise vision with sonar.

  ‘Wolfrats,’ she said to no one. ‘I think we’ll call them wolfrats.’

  ‘Likely a result of the radiation,’ Al commented. ‘Natural evolution would be unlikely to produce those from normal rats in only a thousand years. I suspect that they will show the same genetic modifications as the sheep and Humans. Someone made radiation-resistant rats which allowed them to survive mutations that would have killed them.’

  ‘Which kind of suggests someone came up with a way of altering pretty much every form of life on the planet.’

  ‘Indeed. Quite a remarkable feat of technology.’

  ‘A nanovirus. Something like the one that infected the people on Eshebbon. It’s the only thing I can think of which could basically spread a specific set of genetic modifications to more or less every species.’

  ‘And someone created this virus over a thousand years ago.’

  ‘Yeah. I think Yrimtan made it back to Earth. She could have designed it. She’s the only person I can think of who could have.’

  ‘A reasonable theory, though she was not designed to withstand the range of environmental conditions you were. A high-radiation environment may also have damaged her skeleton, as it would yours.’

  Aneka nodded, watching as the wolfrats padded off into the darkness. Well, if her sibling’s last act had been ensuring the Human race survived here, that was not a bad way to go.

  ~~~

  ‘Wolfrats?’ Ella said, looking at the image on the science console.

  ‘Well,’ Aneka replied, ‘they’re rats the size of wolves, and they’re predators, so wolfrats.’

  ‘And they’re nocturnal?’ Bashford asked.

  ‘I saw a few movements out there once the sun went down, but they didn’t appear in numbers, or move out of the buildings, until full dark.’

  ‘We’d best be careful going back into the museum. Some may have snuck in.’

  Aneka nodded. ‘I’ll take Monkey and Delta in there. You keep an eye on our charges out here until we’ve checked the near area.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan.’ He turned and looked at Gillian and Ella. ‘However, you make sure you have two people with guns with you at all times.’

  Ella gave a little grimace. ‘No arguments here. Have you seen the size of those teeth?’

  ~~~

  Up near the roof of the museum was a room full of planets. Not really planets, of course, but there were spheres strung from the ceiling, each printed with the image of a world Humanity had colonised in the time it had had warp drives. There were not huge numbers of them, but to Aneka it seemed like a lot to achieve in a hundred years.

  Near the door were models of the Moon, Mars, and Titan. Information boards on the floor beneath each explained what kind of facilities had been put there. Mars and the Moon, it seemed, were as much locations for recreation as anything else. The Moon produced solar energy exported back to Earth through microwave beams, and large amounts of Helium-3, which was used in fusion reactors. Mars produced various ores. But there were also lots of resort hotels on both worlds; Humanity had taken to easy space travel with a will.

  Next out was not actually a world, but a very large space station of some description which was apparently in orbit around Alpha Centauri. It was a staging site, a hub for warp-capable transport ships and, of course, tourist vessels.

  And then there were the other worlds, garden worlds mostly, which had been used as expansion room by the Human race. The Chinese and Americans, in particular, had expanded outward and upward into space. They had given their new homes names like Haven, New Hope, and Eden, and it took Gillian and Ella a while to find one they actually recognised.

  ‘Nova Amazonia,’ Gillian said, looking up at a large world with large oceans and landmasses coloured entirely in green. ‘It’s hot and wet, and covered in a vast rain forest. The colony there is supposed to go back to long before the Xinti War. Apparently that is not simply boasting.’

  ‘Where is it?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘It’s a core world,’ Ella replied, ‘but it’s pretty far out. I guess you’d say culturally core, physically it’s on the Rim.’

  ‘This side of the galaxy,’ Bashford added. ‘It’s not too far away from here, relatively speaking.’

  ‘That’s the only one you recognise?’ Aneka looked around at the twenty or so worlds displayed in the room, and then noticed the boards on the wall. She started towards them.

  ‘That’s the only one that still exists,’ Gillian replied. ‘At least, the only one within the Federation.’

  ‘So… Can we assume that the others were either wiped out or they were in other areas of space?’

  ‘I believe so, yes.’

  ‘Ah,’ Aneka said, starting to read the wall, ‘and those are only colonies. There are lists here of smaller outposts. Looks like mining operations, science stations, that kind of thing… Alpha Mensae is here.’

  ‘Tilton?’ Ella asked flatly.

  ‘No. Amazingly the super-secret bio-chemical weapons research facility isn’t listed on the wall in a museum. To be honest, there’s very little detail here. I think it’s just meant to look impressive. “Look at all our commercial and scientific interests in the galaxy,” sort of thing.’

  ‘There is more information on the colony worlds,’ Gillian said. ‘Including information on their locations, if we can translate them into modern coordinates.’

  ‘We have one we know,’ Bashford pointed out. ‘It should be possible to work out the maths.’

  ‘You’re thinking we may be able to find other lost colonies?’ Ane
ka said.

  ‘I’m sure we can,’ Gillian replied. ‘I think it may be for other people to rediscover them, however. We can supply the locations and see what can be found.’

  ‘You sound disappointed.’

  ‘Well I am, but realistically these could be spread across vast areas of space far outside the Federation. Jenlay are long-lived, but it could take many decades to reach all of these locations.’

  Ella giggled. ‘And you’re getting too old for all that cold sleep.’

  Gillian laughed. ‘Exactly. The thought is enough to alleviate my displeasure at missing the discoveries. Come on, we need pictures of everything in here for later analysis.’

  ~~~

  Aneka watched the wolfrats moving among the buildings and frowned. They seemed to be avoiding certain areas this evening, where they had been everywhere the night before. It was not until the sun went down entirely and the sky darkened to speckled black that she figured out why. A few humanoid heat signatures became visible briefly, moving out from within the buildings and then deeper into the surrounding town.

  ‘Bash?’ she called out, waiting for the man to walk into the cockpit before adding, ‘I think there are ogres out there, but they’re acting oddly.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘I didn’t notice them last night, but they came out of the buildings over there…’ She pointed towards the broken tower the shapes had come from. ‘…and then went out into the streets beyond. It’s almost like they were watching us and then left when we packed up for the night.’

  Bashford frowned, obviously considering. ‘It’s too dangerous with those rat things…’

  ‘Wolfrats.’

  ‘If you insist.’ He grinned at her. ‘With the wolfrats out there it’s not safe to go look. Or at least unnecessarily dangerous. We’ll check it out tomorrow. You take Monkey over there. The tape we put on the doors of the museum should have kept the wolfrats out, but Delta can check in there before Gillian and Ella go in.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll keep an eye out for them coming back in the morning. Right now I’m going to offline so I can be up when you guys turn in.’

  Bashford nodded, patting her on the shoulder as he turned to go back into the main cabin. ‘Sleep well.’

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  ‘So there was no sign of these things last night?’ Monkey asked as he and Aneka walked across the plaza to the tower block she had seen the ogres moving out from.

  ‘I didn’t see any of them, but there could be wolfrats hiding out from the light, so let’s be careful.’

  Monkey looked down at the laser carbine cradled in his arms. ‘This is about as ready as I get.’

  ‘You’ve got the infrared overlay on your visor turned on?’

  ‘Uh… Have now.’

  Aneka smiled, said nothing, and carried on walking towards the building. She had seen the ogres leaving via an entrance on the side of the structure. There was a gap between the tower blocks there which turned out to be a pedestrian walkway. Lumps of crushed, decaying Plascrete in the middle of it suggested that there had once been planters.

  ‘This place probably looked nice once,’ she commented. There was what looked like a fire exit, or would have if the door had still been attached to its hinges, in the wall. She moved closer.

  ‘I figure they needed to build the housing,’ Monkey said, ‘but they were trying to make it into a monument. So, planters, pretty plazas, a museum…’

  Aneka nodded and crouched down to examine the frame. ‘This door was broken in recently. There’s no corrosion where the hinges were ripped out.’ She frowned. ‘You know, even if they were ogres I’m a little surprised they could smash a door off its hinges like this. This door was supposed to open outwards for one thing.’

  ‘Maybe they’re stronger than they look.’

  ‘Maybe, but I got hit on the head by one. With a sledgehammer. If they could do this I think my ears would still be ringing.’ She looked up into the space beyond: an emergency stairwell, the staircase rising up to the next floor. ‘It looks safe. Stay behind me.’

  ‘I won’t be much use if I’m behind you and something happens.’

  ‘Maybe, but if you get hurt Delta will cut off my limbs with a rusty hacksaw.’

  ‘Would that actually work?’

  Aneka pulled her pistols and moved into the stairwell. ‘I’m unwilling to find out whether it would or not.’

  The access doors on the first two floors were still closed, but the third-floor door had been smashed through in a similar manner to the outside door. There was one long corridor from that door to the far side of the building, and no windows, but there was light showing about halfway down from an open door on the side nearest the museum. Moving as quietly as she could, Aneka edged forward, unsure of her footing. She stopped at the side of the doorway, listening. Hearing nothing, she turned into the open door, guns rising to cover the room within.

  She found herself looking into an empty room: a lounge, probably. There was a large window in the wall opposite the door and the remains of furniture, a couch, and a flat-screen TV, sitting on a rotten carpet. There were two doors, one to the left and one to the right. Aneka moved into the room, edging to the left around the couch. She waved Monkey towards the right-hand door.

  On the left was a bedroom. The bed was still almost intact, though the sheets had long-since decayed into nothing. There was an attached bathroom, which was as empty of ogres as the bedroom and lounge. Aneka turned back to the lounge, looking out across the room to where Monkey was exiting the other door and walking towards her.

  ‘It’s a kitchen,’ he said. ‘There’s no ogres…’

  There was a dull thud and Aneka saw the air ripple in front of her. Whatever the pulse was, it slammed into Monkey’s left arm, picked him up off the ground, and slammed him into the window. Glass exploded out of the room from where he impacted it, and he was gone.

  Aneka turned towards the door, her guns rising up and firing as soon as she saw the figure in black combat armour. Hyper-dense needles, each flashing into a searing burst of plasma as it hit the man’s armour, burned through his body and he fell. Then the second of them rounded the doorway, lifted his rifle, and fired.

  It felt a lot like being kicked in the chest by a bull. Aneka stumbled backwards into the room she had just walked out of, braced herself to keep from falling, and started back towards the lounge. She saw something bounce across the floor in front of her and the world exploded into white light.

  ~~~

  Bashford watched Delta as she removed the tape they had used to seal the museum door and then moved inside. He was not expecting trouble from that direction, but it was safest to check. Looking to his right he could see Monkey and Aneka. They seemed to have found a way into the tower block and, sure enough, a second later they were gone.

  ‘I wonder what the ogres were doing in there,’ Ella mused.

  ‘Probably just looking for a place to sleep,’ Bashford replied. It made a degree of sense, but he did not like the way they had behaved according to Aneka’s description. There was something not quite right going on and he had half a mind to call it a day and leave the area. On the other hand the Garnet Hyde was not due back in orbit for a few days, so if they did leave they would be stuck in cramped quarters for that long. The shuttle only had four bunks and he was not sleeping that well in one of the chairs…

  Something made him turn his head towards the other side of the plaza. It was a sound, a soft roar that seemed to be growing in volume. He frowned. There was something there, two somethings. Two objects moving towards them…

  ‘Get down!’

  The warning came too late as two small missiles impacted the ground near their feet. For the briefest instant Bashford thought he was dead, but the warheads exploded into a cloud of vapour which enveloped them quickly and almost immediately began to solidify into strands of clinging plastic. He tried to struggle, but the fibres just tightened until he was completely immobile.

  �
�Aneka!’ he yelled into the microphone in his helmet. ‘Monkey, Delta? Do you read? We’re under attack!’ There was no reply, and he realised that he should probably be able to hear Gillian and Ella yelling over the radio too, but all he could actually hear was static. Someone was jamming their signals.

  ~~~

  Delta scanned the interior of the museum, visually and with a sensor tuned to detect the electrical impulses living organisms tended to produce. As far as she could tell there was no one there. It had not exactly been likely.

  ‘Delta to Bashford. Nothing here, Boss. You can bring them in.’ She waited for a reply, starting back towards the doors. ‘Bash? Are you receiving?’ Her pace quickened when there was still no reply. What she did hear was what sounded like an explosion muffled by distance and the museum doors. She started running.

  Bursting through the doors she saw four men in black armour standing over what looked like three cocoons of spider webbing lying beside the shuttle’s airlock. Whoever they were, they were up to no good. Raising her carbine, she sighted carefully, and fired. It was as if the incandescent beam of light had hit nothing. All four of the men turned, two raising rifles, the others raising short tubes which they placed on their shoulders. She felt twin impacts on her chest which slammed her backwards into and then through the door, and then the world exploded around her.

  ~~~

  Diagnostic messages danced in front of Aneka’s eyes. Her right leg had lost motor function, she had extensive bruising of her dermal tissue and some internal systems damage, but she was mostly functional. For a second her systems had been sufficiently upset that she had, effectively, blacked out. She was lying against the wall, beside the bed, and her pistols were nowhere to be seen. Monkey…

  She started to try to stand, and then let out a gasp as her head was slammed back against the rotten plaster and concrete. One of the men in black armour was standing in the doorway, his rifle levelled at her. He fired again and she felt the shock of the force beam slamming into her face through the suit’s visor. She felt fake blood running down from her nose over her lip.