Eden Burning (Fox Meridian Book 7)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘But we have had two people request some counselling. The sight of so many dead for no apparent reason. I simply don’t think it’s something people joining the watch expected to have to deal with.’

  ‘Good thing they weren’t in Tulsa then,’ Fox said. ‘The reports I got from Ray suggested a massive dose of sedatives. They went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Down in Tulsa, it was slit wrists, gunshot wounds… Messy. To be honest, I never saw much worse than that in the Army.’ She shook her head to clear the images of dead bodies from it. ‘So, Danny’s been getting a lot of face time on the IB channels, huh?’

  ‘Because he knew you, as far as we’ve heard,’ Jonathan said. ‘Got some sort of promotion and given leadership of this latest membership drive. They’re big behind that amendment that got put in to give bioroids and infomorphs full civil rights.’

  ‘We’ll be voting for that on Monday,’ Andrea added.

  ‘Thank you, Andrea,’ Kit said.

  Fox grinned. ‘It does affect Kit more than me. Though our projection is that it’ll take months to sort out the legal processes if it actually goes through. And then we’ll begin the process of ridding ourselves of the useless meatbags so we can run the world properly.’

  Kit gave a mock sigh. ‘Must I remind you again about discussing that in front of the meatbags?’

  ‘Oh, these two are going in the zoo, aren’t they?’

  Jonathan rubbed at his chin. ‘Well, I could probably live with that.’

  ‘See? Not a problem.’

  ‘That’s all right then,’ Kit said. ‘Your copy of me has been watching the interview Mister Berkewitz is giving. He has expressed an opinion, more of a belief, that the church members who died were attempting to ascend. They were connected to a religious-themed viron when they died. He said that some of the church’s parishioners had become impatient waiting for Project Akh to be made publicly available and this is why they did it.’

  ‘I think it’s more likely a combination of the recruitment campaign they’re running and the Eschaton meme,’ Fox said.

  ‘Eschaton?’ Andrea asked.

  ‘An apocalyptic meme,’ Kit supplied. ‘It essentially proposes that the coming of Halley’s Comet will result in some form of cataclysm. Believers in it mix it into their personal cognitive ecology and react accordingly. Those without hope for the future may kill themselves to avoid whatever happens. Others may attempt to fight. Some, it seems, chose to attempt an impossible shift into the internet.’

  ‘Comets bringing doom? I thought that kind of thing went out when we got up there with them.’

  Fox shook her head. ‘If there’s one thing I learned being a cop, Mom, it’s that, no matter how many fools wake up and smell the roses, there’s always more of them who prefer the dream.’

  30th July.

  ‘It’s damn creepy, if you ask me.’ Ray Rogers, or his avatar, stood in the middle aisle of an old church which was actually just a viron he was accessing by VR. ‘We kept it running because, well, the church people asked us not to disturb it too much. I’m honestly not sure what they’d say if they knew you were in here.’

  Fox shrugged. ‘I’m here on business. But you’re right, it’s creepy.’

  The church, or chapel seemed a better word for it, was an old-school kind of place. The kind of community church you’d expect to see in a drama about settlers and Conestoga wagons. If you could have looked out through the stained-glass windows, you would expect to see prairies, not that there was much left in America which could properly be called a prairie. There was a dark, wooden lectern up at the front, sitting under a huge, wooden cross. Fox could see a thick book, undoubtedly a Bible, open on the lectern. There were two rows of hard, wooden pews stretching down the length of the hall, the varicoloured light from the windows shining down on them and their occupants. Thirty-two avatars sat there, smiling, blank eyes staring at the cross on the wall.

  ‘They set the viron up so that it wouldn’t delete the avatars when their connections went flatline,’ Rogers said. ‘It’s like they expected to be able to get up and walk out of here when they died.’

  ‘I’d imagine that’s exactly what they expected,’ Fox replied. She walked up to the lectern and looked down at the book. ‘Huh. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”’

  ‘Corinthians,’ Rogers said. ‘My mom did a fair bit of Bible bashing when I was a kid.’

  Fox looked out at the congregation of the dead. ‘Well, they gave up the flesh and blood, and I guess they have a sort of incorruptibility. So long as no one turns off the server anyway.’

  Part Three: The Falling Sky

  New York Metro, 2nd August 2061.

  ‘You know,’ Ryan Jarvis said, ‘I’ve had months to get used to the idea that this was coming, and I still can’t believe they actually voted it through.’

  Fox peered across the table at him. ‘You think you’ve got problems? They voted through the nonhuman rights clause. Belle has been fielding calls from reporters since the results were announced.’

  ‘Yeah, but we all know they’re going to have to form committees and all sorts of crap for that. It could be the middle of next year before anything comes of it. This we have to deal with now.’

  ‘Then let’s get on with dealing with it,’ Garth Eaves said. ‘We know what our general proposals will be. We know there will need to be some customisation. They want to have legislation in place for contract negotiation through November and the start of those contracts in January. It’s a ridiculously short timescale, but the amendment to extend it failed, so this is what we have to deal with. We’ll need to start pushing our portfolio before we know the final state of the legislation, though there should be little difference from the existing laws.’

  ‘Except that NIX will have to submit to audit whenever they take action within the country following this,’ Fox said, a smirk nudging the corners of her lips. ‘They’ll come up with some operational reason to delay it coming into effect, but they’ll have to play ball to some extent.’

  ‘Won’t they just hide anything they do?’ Alice Vaughn asked.

  ‘Everyone knows they do things. They are actually obliged to carry out some internal security for counterespionage and antiterrorism work. If they say they’ve done nothing, they aren’t doing their job, so they’ll have to let the auditors in and show them what they’re doing. If anyone catches a hint that they’ve hidden other operations, all Hell will break loose.’

  ‘Oh, okay. Do we know how they’re dividing the regions up? I mean, it’s going to be hard to know who to sell to if we don’t know which regions need a contract.’

  ‘No,’ Eaves said, ‘we don’t know for sure, but it’ll be based on precincts, or groups of precincts. We expect to have the full list in about three weeks. It’s one of the first things on the legislative agenda. We’ll also need to take steps to handle our side of your solution to the national security issue, Fox.’

  ‘We’ll need to set up a training programme for authorised special tactics officers,’ Jarvis said. ‘I’m going to be looking in your direction for a plan. You’ve done that kind of training before.’

  ‘Yes,’ Fox admitted. ‘We can possibly market that training to some of the regional police units. The Topeka Watch, for example, are going to need to put a unit together.’ She frowned. ‘Actually, we might want to look into putting together some sort of permanent training facility and Topeka wouldn’t be a bad place to put it. The locals are friendly and kind of keen to work with Palladium and MarTech, and there are plenty of disused buildings in the area we could buy up and convert for urban training. We could do it here, but then we’d have issues with sprawlers and such which they don’t have out there.’

  ‘We’ll look into the costs and marketability,’ Eaves said, nodding.

  ‘We’re going to need to train people up with NAPA on the civil-defence liaison role too.’ Fox grinned. ‘At least
I can point to that and say I managed to help keep some jobs in NAPA.’

  ‘People preferred that option to having either the Army or NIX run the heavy weapons in the cities. It was a good call and, I think, the resulting combined operation will probably be more effective. Let’s get down to some figures. How many of the NAPA staff do you think we need, and how many can we get?’

  Fox leaned back in her chair and considered. There were people she knew she did not want moving over to Palladium, but they were going to need a lot of new staff by the start of the new year. Did she have space to be picky? Well, now was the time to figure that out.

  ~~~

  ‘You’re looking tired, Fox,’ Eve said. ‘That is an impressive feat for someone who is physically incapable of getting tired.’

  ‘Three hours in a planning meeting does this to me,’ Fox replied though, truth be told, she was feeling brighter just from the trip between her home and tower three, and the view from Eve’s apartment. ‘You got moved in okay?’

  The bioroid gave a small shrug. ‘I do not have much in the way of possessions to worry over. I ordered furniture such that I could sleep, sit down, and entertain guests if I needed to. My next-door neighbour informs me that I should decorate.’

  The room, one of many such rooms on one of the residential floors of tower three, was pretty bare. The walls were a basic cream: Fox thought they called it magnolia, that generic, pinkish white that seemed to be the default for new builds. There was a sofa and a chair, set such that those seated on them could look out through the huge window at the view, and both were covered in cream cloth. The view itself was not too bad, looking east and not at sufficient altitude that the ground was almost invisible. There were interior doors and no sign of a kitchen, so Fox figured that was through one door while a bedroom with attached bathroom was through the other. This was now Eve’s home, though it was not really a home just yet…

  ‘You should,’ Fox said. ‘The walls are all v-tagged. You can do it all as a decorative viron. At least get the walls looking a little less institutional. Make it your own, rather than something BioTek have assigned to you. You’re getting on with your neighbours? No problems?’

  Eve smiled. ‘I only have one, currently. There are only a few employees living in this tower. Miko works in the memetics department and was absolutely fascinated to discover that she was living next to a bioroid. She told me that she voted for the nonhuman rights amendment.’

  Fox returned the smile. ‘Glad to hear that’s working so far. How about the job? Are you okay with not going back to the station?’

  ‘I am…’ Eve frowned thoughtfully. ‘Would you like some coffee or anything? I believe that I would.’ Turning, she started for one of the interior doors and Fox followed.

  ‘I’ll drink to be sociable.’

  The door did lead into a kitchen, not too large, but fitted out with a breakfast nook at the far end. Eve filled two mugs and took them down to the small table with its bench seats, also covered in cream-coloured padding. ‘I am happy to have been given the opportunity to work in New York,’ Eve said. ‘I am less happy that I’m here while more or less everyone I’ve come to know since I emerged from the fabricator is thousands of miles away.’

  Fox took a seat opposite Eve. ‘Yes. I can understand that, but you’ve made one new friend already and you do know other people here. I can get you transport to come visit my house, if you want. I think you’d like my housemates and Kit’s there. We might even be able to swing a night out at a club or something. And, frankly, you were designed to be sociable. You’re going to make friends easily enough.’

  ‘I knew you would understand. I would imagine my discomfort is something like your reaction to Jason going back to his station.’

  ‘I… hadn’t thought about it, but probably. You have more of a problem since you can’t move around too freely. I can go anywhere I like, really. If you took a train into the city, someone might recognise you and not be too happy about you walking the streets. At least for the immediate future, we have to keep you secure.’

  ‘I know,’ Eve said, weariness apparent in her voice. She pushed her expression into a smile. ‘I would like to meet your housemates. Any time that would be convenient. I really don’t have much in the way of social engagements in my calendar.’

  ‘Then we’ll just have to do something about that, won’t we?’

  ~~~

  Under normal circumstances, Fox took the LI-line straight through to where it joined up with the BQ-line at Times Square. There was a short, joint run which ended on W 41st Street no more than half a kilometre from her home, though walking from Times Square would not have been a horrible inconvenience. Today, she swapped onto the BQ early, out where it crossed the LI in the region of Little Neck, and she headed south and then west.

  JFK, the region’s international airport, slid past on the left and then the train passed over a section of the Brooklyn Sprawl. Here, the buildings looked like what they were: the wreckage of a time before automation, before the climate shifts and the geological events. Before America had tried to cram more than half its population into less than a quarter of its territory, and then made the vast majority of those people unemployable. There was every possibility, since Fox did not really expect Palladium’s competitors to bid for areas like this, that she would soon be in charge of investigating crime down there.

  Swinging north again once it was past Brighton Beach, the train took her past the now almost entirely complete Hudson South Barrier. The huge construction of concrete and steel was designed to take the brunt of the storms, like Andrea, and worse which came in from the Atlantic. It was also there to keep the ocean back: mean Atlantic sea levels were thirty centimetres up on the start of the century and several projections suggested that those levels were rising at an accelerating pace. Regulations on building on the southern coastline of Long Island now included provisions for flood mitigation as a requirement.

  Fox got off at the Governors Island station. From there you could see the Hudson North Barrier, mostly finished, though a little behind its companion to the south, but Fox had stopped for another view. No more than a hundred metres away was the headquarters building of the 19th precinct, her old home-away-from-home when she had carried a badge.

  ‘Kit, have you got a copy spare to task with reviewing all my old notes on the cops I’ve met since coming here?’

  ‘Of course, Fox,’ Kit replied, appearing to look up at the tower with her.

  ‘That’ll be a start. Weed out the ones I definitely didn’t like.’

  ‘What about Inspector Cant? He showed a different side during the Grant case.’

  ‘Cant will stick with Canard and I doubt either would want to work for me. Get backgrounds run on anyone who looks favourable, and the people who delegated their votes to me. Oh, and remind me to put around a message to all of the latter group. I can thank them for their confidence, even if it didn’t work out the way we’d hoped.’

  ‘Unless there was some disaster due to the regional bill, it was always likely that the metro one would pass. As you pointed out in one of the board meetings, no one gave the regional police operations time to fail.’

  ‘Uh-huh. Smart move. If they’d waited until next year, I think they’d see what the problems are. As it is, they’re rushing into getting the metros under the same sort of contracts for the start of the year.’ Fox frowned and turned back toward the station. ‘It’s like someone’s pushing this through for some reason.’

  ‘It could be another sign of the end of the world,’ Kit said, apparently trying to lift the mood a little.

  ‘Huh. Well, we’re certainly looking at a period of tribulation. And that’s just from me going insane and running naked through Times Square with an assault rifle.’

  ‘I do not believe you will go– Though, after the last round of contract documents…’

  ‘Exactly. So, get your gynoid to lock up all my guns while you still have the chance.’

  4th
August.

  The autocab pulled up outside the three-storey, brick-walled building and Eve hesitated briefly with her hand on the door control.

  ‘This is your destination,’ the cab’s AI announced. ‘Thank you for choosing Presidential Automated Taxis for your transport needs.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Eve said, and then she unlatched the door and climbed out.

  The front door was up a couple of steps and it had a standard security intercom set beside it. Eve thumbed the button, opened her mouth, and was immediately interrupted by a female voice. ‘Miss Eve. We have been expecting you. Miss Meridian is on her way down, but please come in.’

  ‘Uh, thank you,’ Eve said, pushing on the door and then stepping through into the hall beyond. There was a door and a wide flight of stairs, and there was the virtual image of a woman with powder-blue hair, dressed in a blue skirt suit. ‘Hello,’ Eve said.

  ‘Hello, Miss Eve. I am Belle, the household’s AI.’ There was the sound of feet on stairs and Belle added, ‘And here comes Miss Meridian.’

  ‘Thanks, Belle,’ Fox said as she trotted down the stairs in a sweatshirt, denim shorts, and bare feet. Eve immediately felt a little overdressed in the tight tube of a minidress and heels she had put on. ‘Hey, Eve. No problems with the journey?’

  ‘None,’ Eve said, smiling as Fox dropped onto the hall carpet. ‘It was… I’m going to say it was exciting. It was the first time I’ve been out on my own. I know I can’t really use the trains, but this was almost like being a normal person. And yes, I know you had an armed cyberframe following me in the air, but I couldn’t see the security.’

  Fox grinned. ‘I understand where you’re coming from. Hopefully, in the future, you won’t need that. Come on upstairs and meet the rest of the household.’

  Eve blushed a little just from having Sam smile at her. Sam was even wearing a shirt, even if it was not exactly done up all the way, and still there was a blush as the charming man smiled and took Eve’s hand. Fox could understand it: Sam was the kind of man who brought on a blush in anyone with the right inclination. He had the Greek-god good looks, even though his features were Asian, the sensuous mouth which you just knew could do all kinds of wonderful things to you, the warm brown eyes which drew you in with a hint of promise…