by Hylton Smith
Cheverry liked the idea. He wanted Kinsey himself to make the offer, to be seen as exactly that. It would be perceived as an ‘order’ if Vogel had the same question from himself. “She would not feel comfortable refusing me but doesn’t have that constraint with you. That is a really good idea Marvin.”
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It was time for getting the heavier personal belongings into their place within Phoenix. The last of the domestic robots were also ready for orbit and assignment to the accommodation units. It was a hectic task and one without the elegant programming capabilities of the main robots. Individuals do not have a clear overview in these situations and the humans were much worse than the Axis. It was just as well there were many more of the latter. It amazingly didn’t involve an accident. There only remained the checklists and testing of all facilities other than the QSD array. That would only be tried completely once they could leave. The individual parameters were checked in isolation from one another and all passed the stringent specifications. The orbital population density was now decreasing as many made their final descent to make preparations for the moment.
Fav had received more bad news concerning Epsilon departure. Bearing in mind the time lag in receiving this, it was pure guesswork as to whether they could recover the lost time to meet even the revised schedule. As neither they nor Gliese had Symbiant help, the process was longer and more dangerous. Fav’s message indicated that the various steps in getting the radioactive QSDs to the required Epsilon Eridani orbit had caused an increasing number of individuals to be exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation. These were accidental breaches of the protective clothing in the main. They had called for a halt until they could produce more robust protection. It had produced a dip in enthusiasm for the project. Gliese had not suffered such failure and had sent details of their suits. Hopefully this would get the confidence back before the Epsilon Axis got too far behind the others. They had a slight advantage insofar as they were building a smaller vessel; they had only Axis personnel and their settlement had shrunk over the millennia to four hundred and seventeen individuals. They were considering lowering the refinement of the interior to make up time. Fav sent his support transmission stating that they would receive it after his departure. He sympathised and advised them not to compromise the comforts of a very long journey for a few months delay to their own departure.
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Alexandra Vogel was positive about Kinsey’s trip. She also responded in the affirmative to his request to be picked up by the small QSD craft which had been to Europa and back. He wanted, if possible, to say farewell to Carvalho and this craft was the only way he could get there in time. He knew he could trust this one person who would also be able to help. Once Phoenix was gone, nobody on it, including Carvalho, could blow the plan. He was now aware of the orbiting crystal but didn’t want that because it would require all kinds of convoluted justification. He hoped to persuade Alex 2, through Carvalho, to deploy one Symbiant for a return to Earth with him as reverted crystal. Self-replication would occur once he was safely alone at his home. This would give him the perfect situation and access to remote technobabble. He knew of Dupe because of his involvement with the Evander kidnap, but again it would involve spilling the beans prematurely. This was the safest way. He would promise the Symbiant could return to Mars not knowing Alex 2 would advise against that. The craft was despatched to collect him.
Stella had noticed little things about Anna-Severine which, in isolation did not mean too much, but when combined began to draw a picture. The higher level of data processing capability, even in a small child, was showing earlier ascent to many functions. Crawling, walking and talking were the easiest to assess. There were also hints of colour recognition and identification of shapes of household items with similar shapes in her children’s books. She kept it to herself for now, as she did not want the little girl to be perceived as ‘different’ just yet.
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As Earth and Mars elliptical orbits could place the planets anywhere between thirty and two hundred and fifty million miles apart, it was fortuitous that they were presently only separated by forty-nine million miles. It was not a big distance for the QSD craft. Without stops it was estimated to take under four and a half minutes. Now Kinsey really saw what the American-Venezuelan investment was about. The need for another space elevator on the other side of the world had commercial implications of quicker docking and turnaround. If the Beijing one was interested in the revenue potentially on the table, it could be mutually beneficial. Cutting down the time on thrusters to dock from QSD dropout was commercially crucial. It also suggested that there may be more elevators in the pipeline. This would need to be matched on Mars in the fullness of time.
This particular trip would see QSD dropout targeted away from a direct line to Earth atmosphere. Disturbance of the ionosphere was to be avoided and the time taken to reach the space elevator was going to be considerably longer than that to traverse the void between the two planets. Rather like domestic inter-city Earth flights which are effectively doubled by waiting for luggage.
When he did arrive on Mars Kinsey apologised to Vogel by saying he wanted to say goodbye to Carvalho first, and then devote as much time as she felt appropriate to the tour of her communities. He got quite a surprise at Carvalho’s response to his request. “I can’t subscribe to such off-hand, demeaning employment of Symbiants. To me they are friends and deserve respect. I can’t stop you from asking Alex 2 but I will certainly let him know my feelings. I do however want to help; perhaps we should talk to him together.”
When Alex 2 arrived he was not as negative to the proposal and in fact thought the American-Venezuelan plan showed forward thinking. He accepted that it should not be so dependent on Symbiant presence. “I will speak to Pascal 2. Only the Continuance individuals and Carvalho know that he has one container of amorphous powder which can be used for emergency treatment of traumas to our sentinel network. The Ex-Commander has obviously forgotten about his approval of this for ‘impending experiments’ and its secret burial at the base of Pandora’s Rift. We readily endorsed this subterfuge some time ago.” Carvalho acknowledged his oversight. “This purpose can be seen as analogous to your immune system. It is for unforeseen events only. If you require only your own replication we can let you have the tiny amount to achieve it. I would suggest we encapsulate it into the frame of your spectacles so that no inadvertent trigger initiates the process. This will also get it through Beijing customs and avoid the cold plasma decontamination sweep which would be detrimental to the amorphous form. They will ask you to remove your spectacles, so you will not arouse suspicion. I believe this alternative method will fit with Daniel’s moral stance.” They shook hands and Kinsey left.
Chapter 37
Completion
With the final ascent to Phoenix scheduled the next day, Carvalho walked alone amongst the various buildings and forests which had been constructed and nurtured since 2033. He was thinking that this would be the last sunset he would see for a very long time, maybe the last ever.
He contrasted it with the very first. Back then, with no atmosphere and only red dust, it was a sinister yet inspiring sight. The orange glow of the watery sun seemed to suck the red chromatic content from the surface as the land blackened. The current landscape was one of fading light dispersed by wisps of cloud, and green swathes punctuated by red highways. The silhouettes of buildings were the sole reminder of civilisation. It was the stuff of schoolboy comics, and promised so much in terms of a new frontier. The memories now flooded back. The bizarre replication of Alex Redgrave and resulting lifelong friendship which developed with Alex 2 were right at the forefront of almost everything which had been achieved since then. The arrival of the Axis had also been a high point. The mission objectives were taken over and enhanced by these events. He felt a sudden sadness at the prospect of the imminent departure of the entire contingents of two from three species. Mars would revert to a
human colony when it could become so much more than that. He was having second thoughts and this (he admitted to himself) was quite natural. However, looking forward had always been his way, and his contemplation re-focussed on his family, who injected precisely such excitement about the new phase for their little clan. The other humans who were departing were similarly preoccupied with saying farewell to friends. Many words were spoken, but everyone consciously avoided ‘forever’.
The other two species were busy and as expected the Symbiants were in a purely business-like mode, whereas the Axis contingent was in emotional overdrive. Although the Cosmos may not have any purpose whatsoever, they had somehow extracted such abstract mental fortitude from millions of years of abject misery. Some may have argued that this was indeed proof of divine intervention; others would dismiss such claims as proof of self-delusion.
Alexandra Vogel had consulted with the people and it had been agreed that the ascent and disappearance of Phoenix into collapsed ‘ether’ would be observed by all. It would become a day to reflect upon and celebrate well into the future. It took on the mantle of something more significant than the end of an era, but what?
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Kinsey’s replication enabled him to instruct his double to take a vacation in Venezuela and communicate silently with an increasing number of the Continuance on the project. Regular updates confirmed everything he had suspected. The Venezuelan replicants were not privy to who was pulling all the strings but they did know where they had been replicated. The problem was that different replicants had data pinpointing different locations. It could only mean that the main horde was continually on the move. The dots on the map and the times of replication had no pattern or predictive trend. Containing this was not going to be easy if he kept the evidence to himself. If he was to reveal some or all of it, who could he trust? He decided to stay in monitoring mode.
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The habitat commissioning tests were complete and systems had been fired up one by one and were now completely online. It was a slightly dewy dawn and the ascent shuttle was ready to signal the exodus. As expected, the Axis penchant for precision had familiarised every individual with their time slot and maximum ‘luggage’ allowance. Nervousness had begun to supplant other emotions. The completion of the boarding of the Axis left a stranded clutch of brave humans huddled on the ascent pad. They waved to thousands of spectators, and the rest of the population was transfixed by the TV cameras. It was surreal – they were going to somewhere which had no context of imagination. It was difficult even with the Pascal 2 procedure, to relate hundreds of thousands of millions of miles to recognisable numbers of light years. It had to be ‘measured’ in percentages of one’s life.
Embarkation was complete. Inside the barrel new accommodation was being hurriedly organised into homes. Dan was preoccupied with finally disconnecting himself from the parameter interface. He was to be replaced by a Symbiant installation designed by Rose and Yamamoto. This did not lend itself to proving except in the moments leading up to QSD start up. Dan would then take up a parallel connection to give the final green light and hopefully he would be happy to disconnect and let the so called ‘Hub’ fly solo.
The robots were deployed to make their final sweep for removal of unwanted scraps of materials and assembly tools. They made the final descent in the warehouse unit and left Phoenix as the lone orbital object.
The landside audience knew what to expect – a countdown followed by nothing. The normal gradual shrinking of a conventional departing vessel gave the eye the illusion of an extended farewell. This was to be one of ‘here – blink – gone’.
Rather than convey verbal sentiments Carvalho had, with the help of Symbiants, arranged for a monument to be carved with an inscription and erected at Pandora’s Rift.
It read:- The first human colony on this planet was founded in 2033. We came to realise within a short time of such a proclamation that we were not the first. The Continuance had been here for over four billion of our years. This discovery allowed our hopes of making the new domain habitable, to be realised. Their influence accelerated the taming of the hostile conditions, and we could begin to expand our fragile foothold, to an environment which appealed to colonists. The social cohesion necessary for making habitats into homes came quicker than expected. The same can be said of evidence of a second species which had inhabited the planet three million years before. The Axis left many iconic examples of their tenure and yet it would have taken much longer for appreciation of their heritage to be available without the guiding hand of the Continuance. When we finally met their caretakers, who unstintingly maintained their many legacies, they agreed to return from Europa to compliment the transforming of Mars into a desirable residence.
The technology developed by unprecedented cooperation of three species allowed hitherto unthinkable challenges to be contemplated.
The Quantum Space Distortion discovery has enabled near light speed displacement. The progress of medical invention has made it possible to transplant or modify the last remaining human organ to be included in the aims of extending life expectancy. The work on gene correction and stem cell influence on the sterile Axis reproductive organs has set the path to restoration of procreation.
This has been a major constituent of hope that Phoenix will rise again on their home planet of Nexus. It has also factored in the decision by a small band of humanoid colonists, who shall be known from now as the Sapients, joining in their pilgrimage. This connotation represents not only a desire to remain in the triad of species but a voluntary acceptance of modified cerebral enhancement which is expected to produce over time a branch in our species. Humans remaining in the solar system have been left the means by which they can choose to follow this path if desired. The branch between Humans and Sapients began but does not have to end here. It is consistent with criteria which confer the definition of a Darwinian Extension – A Conscious Adaptation of the Species. The existence and departure of the Phoenix is to be known as Completion. This nomenclature was chosen to mark the heralding of a new epoch.
The unveiling of the monument had been scheduled to occur just before the last external hatch on the giant vessel was closed. Observance of this historical précis was hoped to serve as a social bridle for those remaining. Painful lessons learned had been deliberately omitted; the inscription was to be a lasting emphasis of triumph over adversity.
The event itself was indeed a non-event. The substantial halo around Phoenix assumed a refractive quality and even the briefest blink would cause the onlooker to miss the exact millisecond of retinal deception.
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The real atmosphere inside Phoenix was now in the control of the Hub. The emotional atmosphere was one of muted respect by each species toward the other. The Completion seemed to apply more to inhabitants of the solar system than to these pioneers. The Completion for the travellers had already transposed into an Initiation.
Epilogue
It would prove to be a journey comparable to creating a mediaeval cathedral for the Sapients. It would consume a major part of their life, to the exclusion of any other purpose or occupation. It would be played out within a discrete community, and like the cathedral craftsmen they would be a minority in their social enclave.
Divorcing purpose from hope, the Axis would regain a long-corroded interest in sexual behaviour and a gradual shift from laboratory controlled offspring to natural conception. The star in their horizon of hope, by contrast, was to walk again among those from the trunk of their evolutionary tree. They considered themselves to be a branch of that trunk.
The Symbiants appeared to be immune to all of this non-productive, abstract deliberation. That was to last only part of the way. Via the secure technobabble they had admitted to one another that a surge occurred in first tier data registry. Discussion for once could not be described as orderly and totally free of speculation. The word Progenitors was repeatedly mentioned. Unlike a hive mind, it was a c
ase of being relieved that others had experienced identical symptoms with the surge.
The discussion was interrupted by a second less uncomfortable disorientation. Data now existed concerning the Master of Fate and his Consul. They could only deduce that it had occurred because they were heading to the source, the residue of the 55 Cancri cataclysm and the energy signatures which had left evidence of such undesirability.
This was information they did not need to share at present. That could change.
