by Alex Lamb
‘Any idea why this floor was left empty, Ash? Is it just for us? It makes me nervous.’
‘Tower flu containment,’ said Ash. ‘They don’t want it to spread. Phage treatment’s expensive and they’ve got plenty of room, so management just shifted downstairs nine months ago and blocked it off. It looks like they brought you up here because they knew it was already secure.’
The emergency door opened with a loud clunk and a sudden wind practically sucked them into the stairwell beyond. Mark staggered through onto a freezing landing. A glass tube surrounded the narrow emergency stairwell that clung to the side of the tower, granting vertiginous views of the desert below.
‘Sealing’s not so good!’ he warned Ash as he struggled for air and Venetia leaned up against the wall, gasping.
‘You’ll have to hurry, then!’ said Ash. ‘Otherwise the pressure change will cause an alert.’
As soon as Zoe was through, the door sealed behind them, locking them inside the glass tube. Mark shivered. He could feel the cold leaking up through his boots. Venetia didn’t look too good.
‘Get moving,’ said Ash. ‘Unless you want altitude sickness.’
Mark supported Venetia as she wheezed for breath and led them down the stairwell. Thin atmosphere whistled past the glass.
‘Don’t touch the railing,’ Mark warned the others. ‘They didn’t pump this area properly – it’ll freeze the skin off your hand.’
Zoe lurched to a halt as she rounded the bend to the next level.
‘The windows on this side of the building look straight in,’ she breathed. ‘They’ll be able to see us.’
‘We don’t have a choice,’ said Mark. ‘Keep moving.’
‘The longer you take, the more likely it is they’ll spot my system blocks,’ Ash warned. ‘We’re not on the locked level any more. Every second counts.’
Mark pressed on, taking them past a floor where isolated office workers sprawled on oversized couches. He tried not to stare but couldn’t help checking that nobody was looking in their direction. He thought they were safe until he spotted a domestic robot stationed in the corner, its cameras pointing right at them.
‘Robot staring at us,’ he told Ash.
‘I’m on it.’
The robot abruptly turned away and trundled off on some imaginary errand.
‘This isn’t going to work,’ Mark growled into his sensorium. ‘We’re too obvious. We need some kind of distraction.’
‘I don’t have one,’ said Ash.
If he couldn’t see one, Mark was damn well going to try. He reached out through his interface to the local network.
‘Don’t!’ Ash snapped. ‘Sam had them put out web-triggers keyed to your interface ID, so keep your mind to yourself unless you want to get killed!’
‘Then do something!’ said Mark.
‘All right. Give me a minute.’
As they rounded the stairs to the next level, Mark noticed that everyone inside the office was looking the other way, off towards the pod rails.
‘Your work?’
‘Yes,’ said Ash. ‘Simulated rail problem. But this will just draw more attention to your only viable escape route, so get a fucking move on!’
They staggered down the remaining stairs to the first unoccupied level. Ash slid the door open as they approached. They tumbled gratefully into an empty office space that smelled of dust and plastic. Spare chairs and crates of unused tech sat in heaps.
‘Go straight across,’ said Ash. ‘The pod is on its way. Use the bay on the far right. You’ll need to be there as soon as it arrives – I’m trying to make this pod trip look like an automated test run, which means it won’t stop for long.’
They started jogging across the field of empty carpet.
‘I can’t,’ Venetia wheezed. She stumbled. ‘I’m sorry.’
The pod slid up to their floor and docked. The door opened, still forty metres away from them.
‘You have six seconds,’ said Ash. ‘Someone’s already running diagnostics.’
Mark picked Venetia up and carried her. He hurled himself into the pod and then reached back over the threshold to yank Zoe inside just as the door closed. The pod immediately started heading down.
‘Thank you,’ Venetia gasped. ‘Don’t do well with low pressure. Should have got better lung augs before the mission. Fleet offered me some but I didn’t want the extra surgery.’
‘No problem,’ said Mark. ‘It’s done.’
‘So we made it,’ said Zoe. ‘Want to tell us what the hell is going on?’
As the pod raced down the side of the tower, Mark quickly filled them in on the League’s agenda.
Zoe stared at him with wild eyes. ‘All this was just to shut down a war?’
Mark nodded. ‘And to slide the balance of power permanently to the Fleet. It makes them look like heroes while the sects take a political hit. Nobody’s ever going to try starting up an unlicensed colony again after this. They’ll be too scared of waking some alien terror.’
‘It’s clever,’ said Venetia.
Zoe threw her arms in the air. ‘No, it’s not! They have no fucking idea what they’re dealing with! They’re fucking nuts – this whole thing is going to blow up in their faces.’
‘Sit down!’ Ash’s voice boomed through the speakers in the pod walls. ‘We’re reaching the bottom of the tower. Unless you want to be noticed the moment you dock, chill out and try to look as bored as everyone else on this shit-hole planet.’
They sat.
‘I’m taking you on a low-priority rail,’ Ash told them. ‘We can’t afford to make your routing too obvious. I’ve already got one engineer up in the tower poking around. That means a detour through fabulous New Luxor, I’m afraid, so everyone needs to stay calm.’
Mark sagged against the pod wall as they reached the ground and trundled out through the city. A quiet moment would help him organise the terrible knowledge that had landed in his head. By Ash’s estimates, they only had a few days’ lead on the Photurian swarm. Then death came after them.
13.6: SAM
Sam Shah sat in the meeting room waiting for the colony leadership to appear. He shut his eyes and ran through a mindfulness exercise of his own design. He felt his body tense with anticipation, as if a rubber band had been twisted inside him almost to snapping point. He focused on that tension, instructing it to disperse, but the sensation persisted.
‘I should not be here,’ his child-mind told him.
Sam acknowledged the truth of that feeling and reflected on the choices that had brought him to this moment one by one. He hadn’t managed things perfectly, but he hadn’t done badly, either, given the constraints he’d been operating under. And besides, things were going his way at last. Wasn’t that reason enough for him to relax a little?
Soon, Earth would be an ugly memory and humanity could make a fresh start. He’d waited so long, but the journey was almost over. After that, there would be no more inane religions. No more shitty half-baked societies full of miserable, undereducated proles, imagining their cultures to be automatically worthy simply by dint of their existence. No more gloating plutocrats bickering over their billions. No more population explosions or ruined biospheres. And best of all, no more of the blind, mindless violence that had formed a backdrop to his life. Everyone could be honest and move forward – once the fuckers were dead.
Sam hated the fact that he’d had to twist the plan around so much to get this far. It saddened him that this entire world was going to take it in the neck. After the death of the Earth, he’d need every colony that was left. And if he couldn’t get the Carter colonists to play ball, he’d have to bomb their miserable planet himself. That prospect struck him as deeply regrettable, but he simply couldn’t afford for the Nems to capture any more human subjects to play with.
In the end, though, despite
the costs, it would all be worth it. The people he’d lied to would come to understand, given time. Humanity would turn over a new leaf. They would all heal.
Keir Vorn stepped through the door, ushering his colleagues in.
‘Everyone, I’d like you to meet Fleet Overcaptain Sam Shah,’ he said with pride. ‘Sam, this is President Bill Kim.’
Vorn pointed him at a stolid bullfrog of a man with the overbred look of an Andrewsian.
‘And Environment Minister Keiko Hasan.’ Hasan had a perfect Angeleno figure and an empty political smile.
‘Interior Minister Ilko …’
Sam calmly shook hands with each yokel bureaucrat in turn while the child inside him screamed for progress.
‘Sam and I have been in communication since he reached the Carter System,’ Vorn explained after the introductions. ‘He has some very serious news for us. Sam, I propose we all take a seat while you explain in your own words. Does that work for you?’
Sam nodded. The Carter government sat, their faces expectant. Sam paused for effect and steepled fingers against his chin.
‘What I have to tell you is both shocking and difficult,’ he said. ‘I beg your patience while I explain. First, you should know that I’ve arrived with a Fleet mandate. I’m here to sequester antimatter from your stores and to inform you of a direct threat to your world. Officially, I’m telling you there’s a risk that unidentified alien machinery may arrive in this system and inflict damage, and that you should be ready to mount a defence. Unofficially, I’m telling you it’s inevitable. Worse, that attack will strip your entire world of life unless we do something to stop it.’
A couple of the bureaucrats tried to butt in at that point. Sam held out his hands for calm.
‘Please, let me explain. I need your help. I also have inside information, and in return for your assistance I can provide some of my own.’
He surveyed their anxious, staring faces. He had them worried. Now they needed something to hold on to.
‘Defence Minister Vorn selected you to attend this meeting because you’re all members of the Frontier Protection Party,’ said Sam. ‘Many of you here have also participated in our informal Watcher Programme. You may therefore have heard that the FPP has access to a secret cleaning agent managed by sympathisers within Fleet ranks, and that this agent has been used to root out illegal Flag bases in some locations. What I have to tell you is that the cleaning agent has been discovered and inadvertently activated. The people responsible for that are Will Monet and his allies in Fleet high command.’
He had their attention now. Sam took quiet satisfaction in the belligerence kindling behind their eyes. To the minds of most FPP supporters, Will Monet had sold the farm to Earth in the wake of the war when he should have crushed their power instead – a perspective Sam empathised with.
‘In fact,’ he said, ‘you should know that with Minister Vorn’s help, some of that group have been incarcerated here in Government Tower. They’re upstairs right now.’
The president glanced at the ceiling, clearly unnerved by the fact that he hadn’t already been informed. Sam interrupted this germ of indignation with a surprise.
‘That group contains Will Monet’s protégé and adopted son,’ he said.
Eyes went wide. This was a good angle, Sam reflected. The idea that Monet had an adopted son was surprise enough for most people. The fact that he was right above them was a bonus.
‘In order to support the goals of the FPP, I need those Fleet representatives contained and kept safe. I also need weapons with which to equip my ship for some tidying-up I have to do. In return, I can offer two things. First, free passage aboard my ship to a very safe location for a small number of you. The maximum is ten – which happens to be the exact number of you sitting in this room with me now.’
He paused to let that sink in.
‘I can also offer technology that will enable you to render your ships invisible to the cleaning agent. Install it in Carter’s evac-arc and your population should be relatively safe. That technology has been extensively tested and has saved my own life numerous times. However, there won’t be a need for you to share that technology with the illegal squatters in your Flag settlements unless you decide that you want to. That’s your choice.’
He could see them calculating now, their fear vying with a sense of opportunity.
‘Now, this may sound like a very sweet deal, under the circumstances. Either you give me antimatter, or I take it via Fleet override. And all you have to do is help me look after a few political troublemakers while I help you evacuate your people. In return for your cooperation, I solve your Flag problem for you and give you a ride out of danger. If that deal sounds unreasonably good, it’s because the risks we’re looking at here are very, very real. Once the cleaning agent has arrived, there will be no way to stop it. None. That’s perhaps easier to understand when you consider that the agent is not a human piece of technology. Our hands will be tied and we only have days before that danger is realised. Consequently, we must act quickly. I’m hoping I can rely on your help.’
As he sat down, the ministers broke into muttering, swapping glances with each other.
‘Forgive us if we don’t have an immediate answer,’ said President Kim. ‘This is all rather abrupt.’
‘I apologise for that,’ said Sam, spreading his hands. ‘Unfortunately, I can’t make the situation any less urgent.’
‘Do you have any proof supporting your claims?’ said Kim. ‘I know it must be frustrating for you, but we’ll need more than just your word before we essentially overturn planetary law for you.’
‘Of course. I have a package I can show you. I’ll pull it down from my ship now.’
Sam reached for his tablet and hit the icon for access to the Gulliver. It came back denied. Keeping his expression casual, he gazed very intently into the screen. He tried again and got the same response. He looked up at the bureaucrats with an embarrassed smile.
‘Isn’t it always the way?’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Even with top-of-the-range Fleet kit, you can never eradicate technical glitches. Looks like I’ll have to have my techie flogged again.’
A couple of the ministers laughed nervously.
‘Something here needs fixing – a simple Fleet security issue involving access rights on your network. I need to use the net-station in the hall. I’ll be back in a moment.’
With fury twisting the cords of his back, Sam sauntered out of the room and headed straight for the first private space he could find – in this case, a robotic supply cupboard. He stood between the shelves of arms and sheets of tact-fur and fired up an audio link to Ash with his override attached.
‘Do you mind telling me what the fuck you’re doing?’ he growled.
‘Sure,’ said Ash. ‘I’m finished with this shit and so are you.’
Sam fought for breath. With desperate fingers he tabbed across to the tower’s security system to check on the room upstairs. It had already been compromised. Mark and the others were gone.
Sam hummed to himself, straining to find his calm centre. He should have seen this coming and solved it already. Ash had made it very clear that his loyalties were sliding. Sam had been deluding himself – imagining that when the game simplified itself Ash would remember whose side he was on. He had only himself to blame, really. He’d wanted to spare Ash this moment.
He thumbed the audio channel back open.
‘Ash?’ he said.
‘We have nothing to talk about,’ Ash informed him.
‘Hypnotic Anarchy,’ said Sam.
‘What?’ said Ash, confused.
But by then it was already too late. A circuit in Ash’s interface coded to Sam’s keyword had started downloading a secret program from the Gulliver’s core.
‘Wait!’ said Ash, probably noticing the sensory problems by now. ‘What are you doing?
’
Ash grunted in surprise. The grunt rose to a shriek of pain. Sam killed the link and strode out of the cupboard, his face composed.
He walked back into the meeting room where Carter’s leadership stood locked in urgent, huddled debate.
‘I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but it looks like I’ll need a little more time to get things squared away at my end. Minister Vorn, could I have a command hook for your transit system?’
Vorn looked confused at first, then worried. Then: ‘Of course!’ he said, cluing in. ‘Please, come with me. I’ll get you set up right away.’
14: REVERSAL
14.1: MARK
Just five kilometres out from New Luxor, Mark’s head exploded with pain. He gasped and slid boneless from his seat.
‘What happened?’ said Zoe.
Mark’s head spun. His interface suddenly felt horribly empty.
‘Ash,’ he said. ‘Something happened to my connection with Ash.’
He’d felt a pain-surge like that only once before – when he’d been holding a live link open to a roboteer who’d died in a training accident.
‘We’ve got a problem,’ he said.
The pod slowed to a halt and sat ticking in the middle of the Fecund tunnel, surrounded by silence. Mark fought past the discomfort in his skull to tap the pod’s data node but found the wireless comms offline. The circuit was unresponsive, and it was the only thing in range.
‘This is bad,’ he said. ‘I think Sam got to Ash. He’s cut us off.’ A grim sense of certainty settled over him. ‘I think Ash is dead.’
As he spoke, the pod started up again, reversing its direction and taking them back towards the city.
‘Try the emergency stop,’ said Mark.
Venetia slammed the stud next to the door. Nothing happened.
‘Hello, everyone,’ said Sam cheerfully over the pod’s speakers. ‘I’m sorry, but you won’t be getting much help from Ash any more. He’s … offline.’
‘Bastard!’ Mark shouted at the walls.
‘Now now,’ said Sam. ‘Keep your hair on. Settle down like good children and nobody will have to die.’
