Ice Planet

by Nicole Stuart

  “You are, Phelan. Savi, Cora and I went to a meeting with Mian and Tressin at the University of Setlen this morning. They’ve offered Cora and Savi, and me and my team positions in research and lecturing at the University, Cora and Savi in Archaeology, with a heavy bias towards supporting the work in Time Science, and my team in the development of Time Science.” Aria smiled at the looks of surprise on the faces of the people around the table. “We’ll be working with the best scientists in the universe in both areas.”

  “My congratulations to all of you. I can see that this is the fulfillment of a dream.”

  “It is, Phelan. The work will give us access to the resources of the entire universe, and it will open many doors to us, and to others. I can foresee that the advances we made in our work, that brought us over ten thousand years to now, will be just the tip of the iceberg of what we will accomplish in the next ten years.”

  Phelan was about to respond when his attention was drawn to a disturbance at the door of the restaurant, followed by a rush of burly men into the crowded space. Cora looked at the men, recognized one of them.

  “It’s the StateSec man I sent to arrest the President! They must have broken the President out, and are arranging to assist him to retake power. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet, in this light, but they will soon.”

  Aria communicated silently with Geoffrey. He responded immediately.

  “Geoffrey, some StateSec men have broken into the restaurant where we’re all having a meal. I suspect that they’re looking for Cora, Savi and me. They must know us by sight after the meetings we’ve been holding. Is there anything you can do to help us?”

  “You three need to get out of their sight, Aria. Can you go somewhere quickly where we can place a transporter?”

  Aria looked around, seeing an alcove near them that was free of tables or chairs.

  “Come with me, but keep low. They haven’t seen us yet. Geoffrey is sending a transporter.”

  The three moved quickly towards the alcove, screened by Phelan and the men of Aria’s group, who had lifted themselves from their chairs to provide cover.

  “We’re there, Geoffrey.”

  Geoffrey did not reply, but the transporter cabinet appeared in the space. The three moved into it quickly. The force field came up and dropped, and they were in Jirgt’s home on Enderen. Jirgt came hurrying up to them.

  “Geoffrey told me that you were in danger. What can we do?”

  Aria communicated with Phelan.

  “What is the situation there, Phelan?”

  “It seems that they were looking for one or all of you, Aria. They’re looking around in a very confused way.”

  “Do you think you could talk them into using the transporter to follow us, Phelan? They may think that it is still set for the same destination.”

  “Let me try, Aria.”

  Aria smiled at Jirgt.

  “We’re trying to get them to use the transporter, Jirgt. Could you arrange to take them to some remote place, where they can’t do any harm? I think that there are about six of them.”

  Jirgt smiled thinly.

  “We can do that, Aria. Can you get them into the transporter?”

  Phelan heard the question and reacted quickly. The group listened to Phelan’s words as he talked to the StateSec leader.

  “Thank goodness you’re here! You’re StateSec agents, aren’t you? I remember you from when you arrested one of the troublemaker Professors. Netteos, I think it was. I saw Aria and some of her accomplices slipping out through that exit over there. If you move quickly, you can catch them.” There was a moment’s pause, and then Phelan communicated silently. “They fell for it. There are four of them in the transporter.”

  Jirgt smiled again as he gave the transporter a command.

  “It’s clear. The next three are crowding into the transporter. Alright, now it’s clear. Where did you send them?”

  “We found a place in the middle of a desert on Earth to send some criminals from Geneos. They were responsible for letting loose an artificial intelligence program that ran wild, making the entire planet unsafe for human occupation. I’ve sent them there. They will be safe there until we decide what to do with them.”

  Phelan’s laugh was echoed by the others in the conversation.

  “I’ll ask Simon, our security specialist, to monitor the area where you are, Phelan. You and your group will be safe to continue your meal, but I think we should leave the transporter there while you’re eating. You might need it again.”

  “Thank you, Geoffrey. It’s good to know that there are people like you in the Community, people we can trust to act quickly.”

  “It’s always a pleasure to help out when it comes to criminals like the StateSec people. I think we need to take urgent action to get rid of all of them, including the ex-President. I’m sure they'd all enjoy a vacation in the desert. Perhaps they will feel more at home there than in the company of good people.”

  Aria took Jirgt’s hand, then turned the contact into a hug.

  “Thank you, Jirgt, for all you have done for us.”

  Jirgt smiled.

  “It is my pleasure, Aria.”

  They transported back to the restaurant, where the guests were settling down to their meals after the brief excitement.

  “That was fun,” said Phelan. “You were saying that what you have accomplished so far is just the tip of the iceberg of what you will accomplish in the next ten years, Aria. I think I am correct in agreeing with you, but in a much wider context. The three of you and your group have, in fact, saved the entire population of the planet.”

  Chapter 22

  The two groups settled into their new work at the university, helped by the willing assistance of everyone there, who had all heard of their accomplishments. By the end of the first week, they had settled their plans for the next year, and they spent the following week visiting the many universities and research establishments that would be cooperating in their work. That time produced valuable results in ideas and contacts with people in diverse fields of activity. When they settled down to their program, they started to make progress quickly.

  “I’ve revisited the work we did on the particle probe,” Aria informed Savi during supper twenty days after they settled down to working in Setlen. “It is substantially similar to the system used throughout the Community. Although there are not many free-standing probes in use, there are sufficient for the technology to have been thoroughly tested. Grea helped me to focus my thoughts on ways to use the particle transport technology as she uses it in mining, and that has now resulted in us being able to develop a time probe. It is really not all that difficult. We hope to have the work done to make it fully operational within a week, and then we can test it.”

  “How will you test it?”

  “That’s what I wanted to ask you. It uses a lot of power to initiate, and I didn’t want to waste the exercise on something mundane. If you can think of something worthwhile, where we can really test the accuracy and flexibility of our direction, I'd like to hear it.”

  Savi thought for a moment, then he smiled.

  “Why not research the movements of the StateSec men backwards from when they burst into the restaurant. That is a fixed point in time and space, and it may well enable us to detect where they are hiding the President. We know that they broke him out of the cells on the day they came to the restaurant, but we don’t have any idea of where they took him. That’s our biggest problem at the moment.”

  “I like that, Savi. Finding that nest of vipers will have real value, and it will enable us to test the probe through the past into the future.” Aria smiled as she took another forkful of her meal. “I really like these vegetables from Rendl. They have a unique flavor.”

  *~*

  Several people were present at the first test of the time probe, connected to the view through their communicator bracelets. They included Savi, Cora, Benia and Genok, Mian and Tressin, Jirgt and Jeff and Suzy.
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br />   Aria powered up the device and used the joystick on her computer to steer the probe. To maximize the simplicity for this first test, they commenced the probe at the front door of the restaurant in the present, and Aria steered it back in time from then, watching the succession of customers and staff while the computer counted the time back to the desired point. Aria stopped it momentarily when she saw the group of men approaching the door, then she locked it onto Konsal before she moved slowly back in time. The computer retraced his movements back to where he left a house on a military base, and then Aria slowed it again. They saw the man walk backwards into the front door, passing two other StateSec men in the hallway, and then into the sitting room, where three men were sitting in the comfortable chairs.

  “Stop there, Aria. That’s the President. That overweight man in the blue sweater.”

  Aria locked the computer onto the President, leaving the lock on Konsal in place, then she followed the President forward in time, seeing him leave the house and enter a small car with the two other men. They drove a short distance through a flurry of snow, and then they exited the car and went into a larger house. The men sat in chairs in that living room and carried on a desultory conversation until the President looked at his watch in evident frustration.

  “What has happened to that fool?” he shouted. “Can’t I rely on your men to do anything?”

  The second man looked up, fear in his face, and Savi recognized him.

  “He’s the General in charge of StateSec.”

  “Konsal and the men I sent are the best that we have, Mr. President. Making an arrest doesn’t always go smoothly. If something has gone wrong, I would have expected to have heard from him by now. We must be patient.”

  “Patient! Why must I always be patient? I am the President! When I order something to be done, I expect it to be done without delay. How can I run the country with idiots like you around me?”

  The look on the StateSec man’s face spoke volumes. It was clear that he knew that this effort by the President to regain the initiative was the last throw of the dice. If they could not arrest the ringleaders of this insurrection and stamp their authority on the country, the election would take place in a couple of weeks, and the new government would be in place. He also knew that this move by the President was an act of desperation, yet the man refused to understand that his supposed authority was more illusion than reality. The outburst by the President had the General questioning the sanity of the man he had almost worshipped as an absolute leader.

  “I’ll go to a safe house and try to make contact with them and the men who informed us of the whereabouts of that group, Mr. President. I don’t want to do that from here, because they might be able to track us. It was hard enough to get you out of prison in the first place. I don’t know that we can do it again, with all the extra security they now have in place.” The General walked out of the house to the car. Aria set the computer to track the President, and switched to follow the General.

  The General drove out of the Base and entered a house in a modest suburb of the town. He entered it, and picked up the telephone, consulting a notebook before he dialed the number.

  “What’s going on?” The question was the snarl of anger of a superior, not the sycophantic voice that he used when talking to the President.

  “The team of men you sent followed the suspects into a doorway. They haven’t returned. That was an hour ago.”

  “Where does the door go?”

  “I don’t know. It wasn’t there before the team arrived. I mean, I didn’t see it before then. It must have been hidden by a drape. It’s still there, but no-one is using it.”

  The General thought for a minute, then slammed the phone down. He thought a little longer, then went out to the car, climbed in and drove to the StateSec offices. He parked the car in the street and walked the half block to the entrance. A few nervous glances seemed to assure him that the building was still safe, and he walked in, through the security gate and took the elevator to his office. He checked some things on his computer, then deleted all the personal files on it before he walked down the corridor to an office marked ‘Treasury’. He entered and went up to the elderly woman behind the counter.

  “How much cash do you have?”

  Surprised, the woman opened a book on the counter and consulted it, before turning it around so the General could see the figure. He was clearly disappointed with what he saw.

  “Give it to me. I’ll give you a receipt with an operation number. I need it now.”

  The woman opened a heavy safe door and took out three heavy canvas bags, which she handed to the General. He scrawled a receipt, not bothering to count the money, and walked out, then took the elevator back to his car. He drove out of the city to a small farm a short distance into the countryside. Here he made every appearance of settling in for a long time.

  Aria reduced that display to a thumbnail, and brought up the scene of the President, sitting impatiently in the house in the military base. She used the joystick to move the time forward, but there was no movement from either house right up to the present. Aria made a copy of the record, then closed the probe down.

  “That was useful. We now have a record of where the General and the President are, and what they did since he escaped. We’ll have to find an honest senior policeman and get him to take action.”

  “I doubt that you’ll find one of those, Aria. The entire police force is rotten to the core. We need to wait until the new government is in power, and has taken the steps necessary to sort them out. That will take months at least, probably much longer. I suspect that the new government will concentrate mainly on their new settlement.”

  “I believe that there is a justification for the Universal Community to intervene in this matter,” said Jirgt in his careful tone. He connected with Simon, the ex-Military Policeman who undertook the security work for the Community. “Hello Simon. I need your help in arresting some people. Could you transport to the University of Setlen?” Jirgt smiled at the response as he closed the connection. “Simon dislikes dishonest politicians more than most people do. He will be here soon. While we’re waiting for him, I'd like to know whether you consider this test to be a success, Aria.”

  “I believe I do, Jirgt. It was a simple test, but there didn’t seem to be any problems. Obviously, we need to check the data it generated and make other tests before we can rely on the technology, but I’m reasonably confident that it shows that our work has been correct.”

  “It will show that, Aria,” smiled Genok. “I congratulate you on an excellent result.”

  The rest of the small group who had watched the test showed their agreement with that assessment by their applause.

  *~*

  Simon Wainwright arrived a few minutes later, accompanied by his fellow MPs.

  “I understood that you would need some police action, Jirgt, so we all came. What do you need done?”

  “You are aware that the President of Kinair was arrested and imprisoned a few weeks ago, Simon? He was to be tried on several serious matters. The Chief of StateSec apparently arranged his release, and ordered the arrest, or possibly execution of Aria, Cora and Savi, the people who have been most prominent in the bloodless change of government on Kinair. That attempt failed as a result of some quick action by those involved, and by Geoffrey, who requested that a transporter be placed in the restaurant where they were having a celebratory dinner. The three targets escaped by transporting out before the StateSec men could see them, and then Phelan directed the StateSec men to the transporter, saying that the suspects had escaped through that ‘door’. Aria has now perfected a particle probe using time-travel technology, and she traced the movements of the StateSec men involved, following their actions back in time until we found the ex-President and the General who is the commander of StateSec. We then followed them forward in time until we were able to determine where they now are. We would appreciate your assistance, and that of your men, in arresting the e
x-President and those involved in his escape from custody. We already have the men who attempted to arrest Aria, Cora and Savi securely in the desert camp where we have confined the criminals from Geneos. The new government will investigate the activities of all of these persons once they have established themselves in power, but we believe that the interests of justice will be best served by taking them out of circulation before they can act again. There can be no guarantee that we can circumvent the damage they may cause in any other way.”

  “We’ll be more than happy to help, Jirgt. Just tell us where they all are.”

  “Aria, can you play the recording of your time probe for Simon?”

  Simon watched the recording, at first with fascination and then with delight. He knew that this instrument would simplify most Police detective investigations enormously. The hardest part of that work was reconciling the conflicting statements of honest citizens, none of whom seemed able to remember almost any detail correctly. Interviewing witnesses had made him doubt the books he had read on history. He then accessed the particle viewing system and checked on the suspects and their surroundings.

  “We’ll transport in tonight when they’re asleep, and zap them out of there before they know what’s happening. That will frighten the rest of their gang, when the bosses disappear without trace.”

  “You’ll let us know the result of your actions, Simon?”

  “You can rely on it, Aria. Thank you for giving us this chance to be useful, and thanks for inventing the best crime-fighting tool the universe has ever seen.”

  “It is our pleasure entirely, Simon.” Aria gave the smile that had earned her a place in the hearts of millions of people throughout the Universal Community, and given millions of young girls the motivation to become scientists, like her.