Eden Burning (Fox Meridian Book 7)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘It would certainly do that to me,’ Fox agreed. The place was clean, certainly. It was, in fact, sterile, but also cramped and unpleasant. Assuming the group’s plans went precisely as indicated on the website, the occupants here were looking at a decade or more in these conditions.

  ‘So, they are treated to constant reminders of the conflict beginning on Earth,’ Kit went on. ‘The sinners defiling the planet, the corrupt governments, the warring states, the violence.’

  ‘Most of it made up.’

  ‘In such a closed environment, the population has no other information to contradict the lies.’

  ‘Yeah. Though, if you think about it, World War Three could have started in the last few hours and we’d have no idea.’

  ‘What a comforting thought.’

  ‘I’m all about the comfort,’ Fox replied. ‘Now where the Hell are Jackson and Mariel?’

  ~~~

  ‘Our memetics suite,’ Branch said, waving a hand across the large room with its array of consoles, all of them manned and very busy. It was significantly more modern than the church they had been in before, better outfitted than the refectory and the exercise facilities. This was where the organisation’s money was going.

  ‘Impressive,’ Jackson said. His eyes scanned over displays mounted on the walls showing what he recognised as population graphs, but that was about as good as it got. ‘Memetics is not exactly my forte.’

  Mariel was doing the same scan. ‘You’re responsible for the recent memetic campaigns,’ she said. ‘These are population maps for the two recent Eschaton memes, Ragnarok ninety-seven… But this one is different.’ She pointed up at a section of wall which seemed to have a very small population but was very complex. ‘This is your own internal campaign.’

  Branch blinked at her, apparently surprised by her appreciation of the data on display. ‘Memetics is not my forte either. I was not aware that it was yours.’

  ‘Business is my forte, Ezekiel. Part of any good business is marketing, propaganda, and memetics. Even someone in upper management should be versed in ensuring that the best face of a company is always facing forward.’ She gave him a smile. ‘You have a constantly reinforcing memetic programme designed to keep your chosen few… pure of thought.’

  ‘Yes, of–’

  ‘Or should that be “under your thumb?”’

  ‘I think we should continue,’ Branch said.

  ‘If you’d indulge me,’ Jackson said, smiling. ‘Those five boxlike structures at the far end of the room. They’re sensory-deprivation chambers?’

  ‘Deep-meditation enclosures. Sometimes one of our flock requires time to consider the ways of the Promised Land in a deeply structured manner.’

  ‘Of course. Brainwashing is such a crude term. Shall we proceed to the next… thing you wish us to see?’

  Branch’s smile was looking strained, but he led the way out and down a corridor. They walked past a door which was labelled ‘Biotechnology’ and continued to another which had ‘Robotics’ printed over it.

  ‘You have biotechnology labs?’ Jackson asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Branch said and opened the door, walking through without elaborating. ‘Brother Edwin, I believe you wished to address our newcomers at this point.’

  Montcairn was standing near the door, smiling though the expression never got anywhere near his icy eyes, but Jackson was too busy taking in the room itself to care overmuch about the man. It was nowhere near the size of the memetics suite, but the robotics lab had something to really draw the eye: a fifteen-foot-tall, heavily armoured robot. It looked a little like something out of a Japanese movie, except for the lack of legs; tracks were far more effective for cross-country mobility. It did have a torso and a sensor array that formed something of a head, and an array of limbs, designed for the attachment of weapons, which formed a pair of wing-like structures spreading out from its back.

  ‘The Seraphim,’ Montcairn said. ‘This is the reason you’re here, Jackson. We’ve some skilled engineers working on it, but there have been… difficulties. We need someone to defeat our engineering demons and breathe life into the software.’

  ‘You want me to build you a war robot,’ Jackson said.

  ‘We want you to complete our avenging angels. The Seraphims will be the final arbiters of justice on a broken, war-torn world. They will seek out and destroy the sinners who survive the Tribulation.’

  Cooperation could be damned at this point. ‘To be clear, you wish me to help you construct combat cyberframes, intelligent tanks, which you intend to use to execute the survivors of a war and famine which you have manufactured?’

  ‘The Tribulation is inevitable,’ Montcairn said, still smiling. ‘Joshua is here. The Second Coming will happen once the world has been cleansed of those unfit to see the remade world. This was all inevitable as soon as Joshua was brought into this world by the grace of God.’

  Jackson opened his mouth, but closed it again. There was something in Montcairn’s cold eyes, something Jackson did not like the look of. ‘I believe I’ll need to think on this.’

  ‘Please, take a period of reflection to consider the truth of the situation. Ezekiel, please return our brother and sister to their rooms.’

  ~~~

  ‘And this is how the other half lives,’ Fox commented as she walked through the station’s mall. Mall was probably the wrong word, but it featured a number of shopfronts designed to show off various things which the personnel could order or pick up. Food of various sorts predominated, but there were a few places presenting clothing. The food was more varied than the clothing was, but Fox had seen nowhere in the capsule deck where anyone could do extensive cooking. It was likely that the thousands of Chosen in there were stuck with pre-prepared meals which could be put through an autochef. The fresh produce was for those in the larger suites Fox had located after making her way through into the next section where, according to the station plans, the control room could be found.

  ‘Given the general volumes of the two residential areas,’ Kit said, ‘it’s the other nine percent. Give or take a small fraction, obviously.’

  ‘Thank you for the clarification. Some of that “Garden” area must be producing some of these vegetables. Maybe they have hydroponic farms. The meat has to be vat-grown. They don’t have the space for animals.’

  ‘They could manage some, but not the touted variety, so I’d tend to agree. Given the name, however, I’d suggest that the area is given over to some sort of pleasure garden.’

  ‘The Garden of Eden… Station,’ Fox said. ‘I should put this lot down just for that.’

  ‘Perhaps, but I feel there are far more important reasons.’

  Jason’s face flashed through Fox’s mind and she paused, closing her eyes briefly. Then she pushed the memories aside and moved on. ‘Yeah, I have other reasons.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Kit? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?’

  ‘Assuming you mean Jackson and Mariel being escorted by two armed men and another, then yes, I am seeing it. I must admit that Jackson looks quite normal in that outfit, but I never thought to see Mariel dressed that way.’

  ‘Doesn’t look like it’s fazing her any. I think she looks kind of hot. God, if Jackson doesn’t make a play for her now, there’s no hope for him.’

  ‘Hmm. You know you thought your shirt was too small?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘I think they’re intended to be. There’s nothing like a little misogyny mixed in with your religious zealotry.’

  ‘Huh.’ Fox set off, looping around so that she could intercept the party. She watched as Mariel stopped, speaking to their unarmed escort before she moved to one of the produce stands. ‘Can Mariel cook?’

  ‘I have no idea. She’s an accomplished woman. Why not?’

  ‘Let’s hope we’re all accomplished,’ Fox said as she hurried her step, head down as though distracted, and bumped right into Jackson. She jumped back, keeping her head down. ‘Apologies. Apologies, brother.’ There
had been a lot of ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ down on the capsule deck, and Fox doubted everyone was related.

  Jackson reached out, catching her shoulders and appearing to steady her. ‘That’s okay, uh, sister. That’s a heavy bag they’ve got you carrying.’

  ‘I’ve a strong back,’ Fox said before hurrying on as though embarrassed and in a rush. ‘Now we know where they are, roughly,’ she added silently.

  ‘Indeed,’ Kit replied, ‘and they seem safe, for now.’

  ‘Yeah. Let’s see if we can figure out where they came from.’

  ~~~

  ‘We’re going to have something to eat,’ Mariel said, examining a head of lettuce she had procured among the stalls, ‘and then we’re going to relax for a while before bed. I believe we need to sleep on Montcairn’s… proposal. And if you agree to it, you’ll be no use without some sleep. We’ve both been up too long.’

  ‘Yes… Yes, you’re right,’ Jackson said, and moved into the kitchen area with her. ‘I didn’t know you could cook.’

  ‘There are many things you don’t know about me, Jackson. However, this won’t be cooking. A salad, some fruit. Something light to keep us going and settle things down. Some wine would’ve been nice, but…’

  ‘Somehow, I think wine might be available if I agree.’ He stepped closer, lowering his voice. ‘You saw her?’

  ‘I saw her. She’s doing recon, I suspect.’

  ‘Yes. We’re going to need to be ready when she stops that and starts taking more overt actions.’

  Mariel nodded, pulled a knife from a drawer, and began carving the lettuce with some skill. ‘Montcairn doesn’t believe a word of that claptrap he was spouting.’

  ‘Montcairn is, I believe, a raving lunatic. Which is why I believe I’m going to have to agree to do what he wants. He’s making nice now, but…’

  ‘But his next step will be threatening me. I’m superfluous to his needs. I’m leverage.’

  Jackson sighed. ‘Yes, but he doesn’t know about the ace up our sleeve.’

  Mariel allowed herself a small smile. ‘She’s going to take him apart. It’s almost worth being kidnapped by religious fanatics to be here for that.’

  ‘You are full of surprises. I didn’t think you had that kind of sentiment in you.’

  ‘There are some things I feel passionately about, Jackson. If someone threatens them… Well, then I can be quite vindictive about it. And in this case, I feel very vindictive.’

  Jenner Research Station.

  ‘The evidence is far from circumstantial,’ Kit said. ‘A UNTPP ship was dispatched to investigate the loss of communications with various L-five facilities. It vanished without trace. The UNTPP have plans to investigate the area more thoroughly, but we have the evidence we got from the Jin Shu suggesting a connection to L-five and the information from the Seattle camp to push them to do so.’

  ‘With Jackson and Fox missing,’ Fei said, ‘especially Jackson, I would say that the evidence strongly suggests they have been taken to this “Eden” location. And that that location is based around the fifth Lagrangian point. I am no detective, but my analysis gives an eighty-nine point three percent probability that Jackson and Fox are being held there. I believe Jackson is important enough to warrant prompt action.’

  ‘And Mariel,’ Terri said a little absently. ‘You haven’t met her yet, but she’s important.’ She gave a thin smile. ‘You two have been working hard while I slept.’

  ‘It was largely a matter of collating the available information,’ Kit said. ‘I presented it to Fei as I went, and then added her analysis in. Uh, that’s attributed to an anonymous analyst. I’ve copied the data to a stick. You can present it to the UNTPP staff and–’

  ‘We will present it. I’m rather sorry I can’t take you along, Fei. I think you could probably present your conclusions better than I can, but…’

  ‘Sadly, it would be impractical for me to accompany you,’ Fei said. ‘Besides which, the case is clear. The issue will be persuading this UNTPP organisation that they should do something now, not whether they should do something.’

  Terri nodded. ‘You’re right. If we had Mariel here, there would be absolutely no problem, but I’ll have to do the best I can. Come on, Kit. We’ll go over to Luna City and present the data in person. I’ll read your report on the way over. We are going to go find my father and our friends.’

  Eden Station.

  Really, the church was more like a large chapel. Seating for around two hundred people on pews which appeared to be wood until you got close enough to see the pattern was printed and there was no grain. That was fronted by a pulpit backed with raised seating for a small choir. There was no cross, or any other traditional religious symbol, but there was a banner.

  ‘Joshua,’ Kit said, her avatar appearing beside Fox. ‘This is the same image of him as the one on the website. The symbology is interesting.’

  ‘I guess it is,’ Fox replied.

  It was a full-figure painting on some sort of heavy silk and the imagery was, to Fox’s untutored eye, basically Christian. Certainly, the artist had made Joshua as much like a Christ figure as possible: shoulder-length, dark hair and a tidy beard, eyes of lapis, a beatific expression. He wore robes, though they were golden rather than white, and he stepped out of the painting, toward the viewer, with his arms slightly raised from his sides, palms facing forward. Behind him, there was a landscape of rocky hills and over his left shoulder there was a cross visible on one of the peaks.

  ‘Christ reborn,’ Fox said. ‘Stepping down from the cross to re-join the faithful and bring them to the Promised Land.’

  ‘That would be my reading. The question is, I suppose, whether he believes it.’

  ‘No, the only question I want an answer to is “How do we stop him?”’

  ‘I don’t think we’ll find an answer here. There is an area beyond here labelled only as “Authorised Access Only.” I believe the access points to the main control room are there since I’ve noticed nothing elsewhere.’

  ‘That makes life difficult.’

  ‘It does. Air ducts?’

  Fox sagged a little: dragging her bag through the service ducts had been bad enough and the air conduits were likely to be narrower. ‘Let’s see what we can find.’

  ~~~

  ‘Jackson?’

  Mariel’s voice was a whisper, but Jackson was far from being asleep. ‘You can’t sleep either?’

  ‘Too much on my mind.’

  He turned over to face her. The room was not entirely dark and he could see her face with the light duvet pulled up to her chin. She had never before looked so vulnerable. He was used to Mariel Hoarsen, CEO, the woman of power and self-assurance, and this was just Mariel, the woman out of her element. There was no fear in her eyes, but there was a lack of surety.

  ‘I’d say that’s the problem for both of us,’ he said. ‘But we have our guardian angel working to set things right. She’ll–’

  ‘I know she will. And, in all probability, Terri and Kit will be working to do whatever they can to get us out of here. I also know there’s no absolute assurance we’ll both come through this in one piece. I’ve been thinking about something Fox said to me. She’s hurting. About Captain Deveraux. She’s hurting and wondering…’ There was a short pause while Mariel gathered her courage. ‘She told me that you shouldn’t waste time over expressing your feelings. If you feel something, you should say it and take the consequences, because you never know when you might not get another chance. So… I’m in love with you, Jackson. I know I can’t… can’t replace Lysandra. I wouldn’t try to, but I wanted you to know. In case anything happens.’

  ‘Oh,’ Jackson said, which did not help anything at all. There was a second or so of silence which, to Mariel, felt like twenty minutes, and she was about to say something – apologise, ask him to forget it – when Jackson spoke. ‘When Lysandra died… When she was dying, she spoke to Teresa and me. I believe she told Teresa to look after me. I know she t
old me to look after our daughter, but she said to me… She said, “Don’t be alone.” Just that. No elaboration. Don’t be alone. I think, rather selfishly, that I decided that she was talking about Teresa and friendship. I should have friends so that I would not be alone. You are one of them, Mariel. You’ve been one of my closest friends.’

  ‘Oh,’ Mariel said, drawing back a little. ‘Well, I’ve enjoyed–’

  ‘Perhaps I was wrong.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘Perhaps…’ Jackson sighed softly. ‘Perhaps I should take an interest in, um, dating. Teresa has dropped a couple of unsubtle hints. It’s been twelve years… Perhaps it is the thought of imminent death and when we get out of this, I’ll wonder what I was thinking. Still… I can’t return your sentiment just now. I do love you, Mariel, but not in the same way, I think. On the other hand, I think it might be interesting to see whether my mind can be changed on that. I’m sorry, I’m overanalysing what should be a rather romantic moment.’

  Mariel sniffed back on a tear, or several, and giggled softly. ‘That’s the way you are. That’s who Lysandra fell in love with and I’m sure neither of us would change you for the world. You know, if we do get out of this alive, we’re probably going to be horribly embarrassed about this.’

  ‘From what I remember of my time courting Lysandra, that won’t be the end of the embarrassment, just the beginning.’

  ‘Possibly. Let’s hope for a long embarrassment then.’

  ‘I’m already blushing.’

  ~~~

  ‘You see, service conduits are much better than air ducts,’ Fox said, even though she had to duck under some sort of cable bundle which had been strung across the tunnel she was following.

  ‘That’s not what you said when you had to squeeze into it,’ Kit replied.

  ‘Yeah, but the air ducts are tiny. I’d have been bitching the entire time.’

  ‘It’s a valid point. What’s that up ahead?’

  That was a large block of machinery which, it seemed, the tunnel they were in looped around. There were a number of labelled panels, so the access way was probably there to allow someone to service the machine. Fox walked around it, checking it over, and then looked further down the tunnel to where another machine could be seen.