Rogue Command (The Kalahari Series)

by A J Marshall

  This book is dedicated to my sister-in-law

  Joan Suzanne Marshall

  1951–2010

  Joan was many exceptional things,

  a writer was just one of them

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Penning the manuscript to this novel was the fun part. Bringing this work to fruition, however, involved the efforts of other people. To mention their names and offer my sincere thanks is both a pleasure and a privilege. I take this opportunity to do so. Firstly though, to my family: Sandra, Laura and Aron, for their unconditional encouragement, and again Laura, for turning the first page. Also, to my mother Beryl, for being at the centre of things.

  Brenda Quick

  For an indispensable critique

  David Marr

  For an honest critique and being a good friend

  Core Creative: the team

  Awesome design, despite my determined interference

  Laura Booth

  For careful editing and valued opinions

  International friends and colleagues

  For linguistic translations

  Matt Maguire at Candescent Press

  Essential for the essentials

  David Brown

  Continuity check

  Carol Waters

  Proof-reader

  Gavin Thomas

  The final eye

  First Colony – Evolution

  Illustration by Tomislav Tulkin

  The characters, situations and opinions expressed in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

  Extract from the diary of Admiral Dirkot Urket – TRANSLATED from the flight log of The “Star of Hope”

  On the eve of this final journey, I scribe these thoughts. Mostly for thyself, as I know many in kinship do likewise, but also for diarists, as destiny may this voyage foretell its course for my kind. This quest, at the least doomed, at most, the destiny of our souls, is as wanting as the light of a coming dawn. I am, I yearn, with the heaviness of heart that weighs with bidding forever farewell to my brethren, but blessed too with the smile of hope and gaiety of spirit that we may yet bring salvation to our creed. The history of my kind, who abided on Homer a fair body in the heavens of Zodiac, arises from the dusk of our mother place, the curtain of its lifelessness falling many myriad distant. Of all those that joyed on that most beau of celestes, only four vessels set forth. Two from the land of Sapia, five score and ten from the north, fair of skin and fair of pride yet fierce that none would cross. So too a century less a dozen from the south, white of hair and blue for seeing. From Meh Hecoe fortune bestowed a full century and four score, their kind dark of skin with hair black as night. Graced the last to account their lives from the consuming fire, but two score and a dozen less one from Mohenjo, thin of eye and yellow their look. These four chariots of kind sought the heavens, only these from so many, their beginnings consumed. Many suns passed and as many bodies, monumental some, meagre others. Until, after a full celestial epoch, the fairest place was befound and it was bequest them. In time, great places arose and prospered. The Sapiens of the north in Eridu, of the south in Atlantis. In Te Agi Wakhan the Mayans and in Mohenjo Daro the Harappas. All fairly multiplied. Ordained for two millennia all prospered, their numbers spreading the land, until in much less time fortune changed. Great movements begot Eridu and later vast waters to eclipse Atlantis. Of Mohenjo Daro, a mountain of fire scorched so naught remained, but of Te Agi Wakhan the stone of light snuffed, its civil just to disperse. Of the stone that lit Eridu, two fragments were redeemed. One used thereafter to light Babylon, its great gardens a millennium to keep homage to those, the lost. The other, protected by a sacred casket looked upon by angels, until graced by understanding. Lo, over the annals of time the stone that gave Babylon life has too waned. So be it to those here gathered, entrusted by our brethren, the remaining to breathe life into this, our last hope, The Star, should we be able to seek our kind and others for salvation. May Astrolias be with us, for in faith we will find the course.

  PROLOGUE

  CYBER-PRESS – 05.01.2054

  The London Review

  Rousing send off at the Cape for crew of International Space Federation Ship Hera

  “Bound for Io, the fifth moon of the planet Jupiter, the seventeen men and women of the spaceship Hera had a heroes’ send-off last Saturday,” reports Nick Didier from Florida. NASA representative and Cape Canaveral Public Relations Officer Robert Stephens issued the following statement:

  To say that Io is an alien and extremely inhospitable place is something of an understatement. These astronauts are amongst our most experienced. There can be no questioning their commitment or their bravery.

  This is an extraordinary mission, fraught with danger, and at the limits of our space technology.

  The aim of the twenty-month mission is to retrieve samples from an isolated mineral deposit that is believed unique in our solar system – perhaps even our galaxy. Detected in the Northern Hemisphere of the volcanic moon, the deposit is believed to have the exact chemical composition as that of the life-sustaining Kalahari crystals. The International Space and Science Federation hopes the Hera will re-establish her high orbit around the Earth in August next year with samples totalling 18 kilograms and thereafter have part of the consignment in place before the current crystals are depleted. If successful, the little-understood energy source will continue to produce the vast majority of the world’s electricity – often reported by the International Energy Commission as being almost 90 per cent during periods of peak demand.

  “The implications for humankind are immense,” said Mr Stephens during a private interview. “This is a critical mission and should not be underestimated. All our hopes go with them. If accomplished, the energy will allow humankind to continue living in much the same way as now – by that I mean mainly on the planet surface.”

  When pressed as to the success of ongoing projects designed to rid the Earth of its debilitating cloud cover and near continuous rainfall, Mr Stephens said that it was unlikely that the sun would be seen again from the Earth’s surface by current generations.

  Research falls behind on Lunaridium element

  “The Moon-dust-derived element Lunaridium is still a decade away from providing the core constituent for a faster processing chip,” reports Mark Mills from the Advanced Science Convention in Strasbourg. Processing requirements are outstripping the capability of our current derrilium-based computer chips and the likelihood of a restrictive shortfall in processing potential is one of the disturbing conclusions being voiced at the annual science convention taking place in France this week. As with the silicon-based chip of forty years ago and the beryllium chip of the last two decades, derrilium is already near absolute as a superfast semiconductor. “This will have serious repercussions and will severely restrict the growth of future systems, particularly over the next five years,” one delegate was heard to say. “We are concerned also that it may force the continued but illegal integration of organic components in current computer technology,” the delegate concluded.

  World grid suffers power loss

  “Three of the four so called ‘Kalahari Crystals’ harnessed to supply power to the global electricity grid suffered a simultaneous breakdown yesterday,” reports Claire Pitt, our correspondent in New York.

  Discovered on Mars, the three crystals in question are installed in the Long Island reactor on the East Coast of the United States, in the Katsuura reactor near Tokyo in Japan and in the Beaufort East reactor near Cape Town, South Africa, respectively. Shortly after the incident was reported, a spokesperson for the International Energy Commission confirmed the breakdowns as being the result of unexplained fissures occurring in the surface structure of the crystals themselves. Although the three reactors are believed to have stopped working at the same time, this is in spite of the fact that they are of differing design. The spokesperson denied that the commission was misusing this unique r
esource for political purposes by drawing more power from them than has been recommended by the scientific community.

  With the abundant energy that flows from this stellar power source providing almost the entire world’s needs, the Commission was criticised last year for lulling humankind into a false sense of security over their longevity. The spokesperson went on to confirm that the Kalahari crystals are often overloaded when systems reliant on renewable energy, such as wind generators, fail to produce their allocation. When questioned further on this matter, he said that the projected life expectancy of the crystals powering the three satellite reactors was now in question; however, the public should not be overly concerned because the crystal in the primary Nogent-sur-Seine reactor in France remained unaffected and had the potential to make up for any immediate shortfalls. He concluded by saying that energy produced from renewable sources remains hopelessly inadequate and that an eighteen per cent power loss from each of the three satellite reactors is a major setback for the future stability of the world grid. Inevitably such shortcomings will put further pressure on world governments to find alternative power sources as soon as possible.

  Immigration restrictions lifted by Lunar Republic

  “The House of Senators of the lunar colony Andromeda has voted to relax its severe restrictions on visitors from Earth,” writes Carol Sherlock, our correspondent in Washington DC. Almost four years after the establishment of the independent Senate of Lunar Colonisation and the creation of its restrictive, isolationist constitution, House Representative Michael Caine confirmed that an agreement has been reached with the International Space and Science Federation whereby restrictive immigration policies will be reviewed. After a trial period of three months it is planned that a long-term accord will be signed.

  This opens the door to more constructive talks on resource-sharing and confirms that families caught out by the unforeseen closing of the Andromeda Space Port – in May 2050 – to all traffic from Earth, can now be reunited with their loved ones. “The mineral barge Colossus, presently mothballed in high Earth orbit, will soon be refurbished and the twice-weekly service flight reinstated,” an International Space and Science Federation council member said, allowing vital supplies that will include excess food stocks grown in the extensive lunar biodome network to be introduced into Earth’s hard-pressed food chain. “There will be mutual benefits,” the councillor went on to say, “as the lunar colony requires a larger professional workforce in order to sustain current development programmes.”

  Resettlement opportunities, particularly in the civil engineering sector, will be advertised in the coming weeks.

  Attempts to prosecute senior executives in the tri-conglomerate espionage case have failed due to missing evidence

  “Suspicious circumstances surround the recent disappearance of vital evidence that was to be used in a Supreme Court action against a number of senior executives who run the world’s largest industrial conglomerates,” reports Niklaus Leven. With the collapse of the prosecution case four days ago, the twelve executives, who have various nationalities, have since been released. The high court action was instigated in August 2050 and evidence, apparently sufficient for an irrefutable prosecution, took three years to compile and correlate. It is reported that five anti-magnetic boxes containing more than 700 documents and phone tap files have disappeared without trace. Supreme Court Prosecution Judge Charlotte Hager said that the situation is “more than difficult”. Extensive investigations in Strasbourg, Stockholm and other European cities have proved fruitless. There are no clues as to the whereabouts of the containers despite being electronically tagged with the most up-to-date devices. After a brief and somewhat embarrassing press conference, Judge Hager was caught off guard by saying: “Our wide-ranging enquiries have revealed nothing, even though the containers were stored under the highest security. There is no doubt in my mind that this action was coordinated from within our organisation.” Later, outside the courtroom building, Judge Hager, who was clearly infuriated by the situation, inadvertently stepped outside the building’s electronic communication protection zone whilst in conversation with a colleague and was recorded by a long-range microphone as saying that “the manipulative and threatening influence of the world’s three largest conglomerates seeps into every walk of our lives and that these men [the twelve executives] are effectively above international law”. Judge Hager, however, has since insisted that that statement was off the record and should not have been reported.

  The London Review has decided not to report further on the case or print specific details about the three conglomerates or the names of the defendants in question, after an anonymous e-diction threatening violent retribution was sent to the Press Confederation. The case has since been dropped and the twelve executives are now believed to be pursuing a counter claim against the International Federation in the same court. “One can only speculate as to the levels of compensation if they are successful,” a court official said yesterday evening.

  Home-help cyber-system causes death of an elderly couple

  A home-help robot supplied under a temporary contract by the Department of the Aged is thought to have caused the death of two elderly pensioners in Notting Hill. Previous reports about the robot’s behaviour had caused concern amongst care agency workers, it was confirmed last night. The interactive cyber-system, a Domestotronic model, was introduced a year ago to carry out a number of specific menial tasks in the home environment and the department has issued a statement saying that this is ‘an isolated case’ and that people who were allocated this particular system ‘should not be concerned’.

  “We cannot understand it,” a departmental spokesperson went on to say after a formal statement had been issued in Westminster yesterday, “because the Domestotronic model is only Level 4 on the Rockwell Illinois Plateau comparison scale and is designed to be entirely subservient. An adequate protection interface is incorporated in all programmed systems used by the department. It is an entirely isolated case,” the spokesperson reiterated.

  The robot is believed to have turned on the couple after one of them tried to deactivate it following a spate of clumsy accidents in their home. The elderly woman apparently suffered a heart attack as her husband scuffled with the machine and she tried to intervene. Post-mortems to establish the exact cause of death have been requested by the Crown Coroner.

  “Only systems incorporating Level 5 or higher were recalled by the authorities as being potentially dangerous,” the department official stated. “We do, however, operate a number of necessary Level 5 applications under special licence. These are never allocated to a home environment.”

  To remind our readers, only Level 7 and above – where machines become self-aware – are unequivocally banned by the New Geneva Convention, although it is believed that some military applications have been granted special dispensation over the last few years. “Specific assurances are always required in such circumstances,” confirmed the Minister of Defence this morning.

  Subterranean colonies reach new milestone

  “A Brazilian subterranean colony established only thirteen months ago has exceeded a head count of one hundred thousand,” reports Christian Hernandez from the San Salvador Press Association.

  The milestone was reached three days ago when a wealthy businessman from the north of the country paid the required and, as yet, undisclosed fee for his immediate family to join the burgeoning community. The businessman stated that he and his wife and their three children will live comfortably in a 200 square metres, seven-room, five-star suite, which is situated on subterranean Level 9. The fee includes unlimited fresh water from the colony’s more-than-adequate underground reservoir system and also 1000 litres per day of ‘very hot water’ from the geothermal borehole system. Apparently, hot water is plentiful in the colony and with more than adequate pressure; however, surcharges apply if the allocation is exceeded.

  The businessman also said that due to the depth of his new home – al
most a kilometre below the surface – the developer has guaranteed that the ambient temperature will remain at 19 degrees Celsius for at least the next twenty-five years; this being infinitely more comfortable than the 3 degrees he typically suffers these days in his hometown of Palmas.

  Electricity for the colony is presently drawn from the world grid following the demise of the local palm oil industry over the last few years and also the flooding, earlier this year, of the São Francisco Hydroelectric Power Station.

  There is a shopping complex on Level 2 that includes an extensive supermarket and an adaptive store that sells items designed for improving life below ground. Schooling and communal facilities are to be found on Level 1.

  Regarding entertainment, the developers explained that they have reverted to an advanced cable system for relaying television, radio and telephone signals, due to attenuation difficulties for wireless networks. Although the terrestrial system was designed in the twenties, and has long since been obsolete above ground, it is “perfect for this underground application,” a spokesperson for the development company explained.

  When asked if he and his family would miss living on the surface, the businessman responded by saying that he was looking forward to being warm and dry and not having to brush mould from his clothes every morning. The ‘natural beauty of the region’ has long since disappeared due to complete deforestation, he said, and the frequent frosts have put paid to his bio fuels business. He will be able to remember how it was before the climate changes from paintings and images, and his children will quickly adapt. Although there will be parts of his old life that he and his wife will miss, he confided.

  Each leasehold suite in the colony is believed to cost an average of 12,000,000 world dollars for twenty-five years. A continuous supply of electricity is not guaranteed, the developers confirmed yesterday, although a variety of different methods for providing light are available. These include adaptive lichen whose genetic makeup has been modified by DNA from glow-worms and fireflies that belong to the family of beetles called the Lampyridae. The lichen is able to grow freely on selected walls inside the home and provide a continuous but subtle light source.