First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  **********

  “This thing is slow,” Steve said to himself as he viewed another spacecraft movement hologram. He could see the other ship rapidly closing the distance as the numbers continuously changed. He was still five days out from Mars, where although still inside tin cans, according to his reckoning, at least they would be bigger and there would be no little office and Agent Eight…for a time. He had received further advice on how to escort the Agent, and to where. They had designated Asteroid Seven Seven Nine as his destination. It was a small outpost with a small asteroid cluster about it.

  The mining operations there were only in their early stages and so Agent Eight had been assigned to guard this place, which they figured would also not be too difficult due to its size. The cluster had a population of twenty-one – mostly mining personal and some support personnel. He would be one of two guards stationed at the control section for the cluster.

  Asteroid clusters were tethered to a larger asteroid using carbon nano tubes – the larger asteroid then hosting a control center for the inhabitants who worked inside machines and space suits extracting metals, scattered across the smaller rocks positioned nearby. The combination of the tethers and the lights from the various mining operations, made each asteroid cluster appear like a spider web of activity floating in space.

  Steve turned off the display and just sat there for a few moments in the small office. He could see Agent Eight if he bothered – as uninteresting as he was, so he did. He noticed he was watching the broadcast of the asteroid event on Earth over and over and took it as the Agent being his obsessive self again. ‘Probably enjoying watching the looks of fear on people’s faces,’ he thought seeing the Agent lean in to the holographic image to get a closer look.

  But Agent Eight was not actually doing this – he was thinking of the ship that had brought him to meet with this transport vessel. He was sure it had been used to steer the asteroid towards Earth, and he knew it was on a heading to its home base on Mars.

  Steve did not know Agent Eight had done what he had done. Steve could not see what Agent Eight had done. And Steve did not see what Agent Eight did during those hours when he was away. The Agent had taken a little, just a little from the projector and configured a sensor device. He figured the ship’s captain would not bother with a positioning scanner signal being so small it would be of no concern to him. But it was Agent Eight’s signal, and to him it was becoming everything. He could see what was going on, but Steve just thought he was babbling on again as usual – instead it was the Agent’s cover. He would do this at the times when he thought Steve would be most fatigued from boredom, and he was often right. Steve would momentarily give him attention see his babbling state, and then drift away, looking through the sensors monitoring the Agent, and not at them. And when Steve was absent, he would pretend to be asleep at times and watching the broadcast at other times in periods throughout the twelve-hours with those monitoring him, being generally dis-interested.

  Agent Eight knew what Mars Sector One base was like. He had researched it thoroughly – such information was privileged to Agents. There was a cluster of connected buildings for military research, spaceship building, mining operations, accommodation, and recreation. The cluster surrounded the central control building, which stood at five stories high. By far the largest though, was the spacecraft assembly building, towering to over ten stories, and some five hundred meters square. Located at the southern end, was the launch airlock. This was the largest airlock ever created at just over two hundred feet in diameter. Completed ships were first placed into the airlock with the inner door automatically closing behind them, and then the outer door opened so it could proceed out onto the planet’s surface. From there, it was just a short flight across the base to the landing pads – eight in all, connected by long tunnels directly to the central control building. By this time, there had been three such launches of completed space ships.

  Two other ships the same as the one on a heading back to base, stood silent on the pads. Only the red lighting was showing any status, otherwise they blended into the dark rust of the Martian hills to the distance behind them. The sun was low in the sky casting long shadows across the landscape, as it did for weeks at a time without much visible change.

  **********

  Any communication between John and the others to the world outside had still not occurred. They were waiting in the cell, longing to get out, but wanted to be as sure as possible they took the right opportunity at the right time. So they continued to wait and at times watch some holographic broadcasts. They had seen all of the news about the asteroid but not much else other than more propaganda and advertising, “There is new issue standards in clothing for anyone who would like to purchase. Our new designs provide the best to you for wearing comfort and for efficiently keeping your body at optimal temperature. So get rid of your old and get the new. Try any style. Try any type. Feel sexy! The new Geiga Wear is waiting.”

  “Looks nice hey Lorraine?”

  “Nice to entice…but I wonder what they might put into those clothes – you know, chip wise?”

  “I will find out,” John added. “They are going to issue it too all prisoners. Apparently it is more efficient to run this place with efficient bodies inside.”

  “How did you…?”

  “Hacked the Broadcomm system using the projector. I have their conversations now. It’s a bonus. I’ve been working on it while we wait.”

  Chapter 46

  Carmel Madeleine was buying the latest in Geiga Wear from the local distributor in the small town one hour north of San Francisco. She loved the look, the feel, and the sensation it gave. She knew that it would likely be sending data back to the authorities but she didn’t care. It was Vandervals enabled meaning she could go places she hadn’t been before. “I’ll have this one,” she said jumping down off the wall. She had released the force enabling her to grip onto the smooth surface, simply by commanding it. The feature of the suit was a voice recognition processor trained by individual owners in only a few seconds to recognize only their distinct voice pattern. Upon request, Vandervals force could be engaged and disabled. It was marketed as a thrilling new dimension for clothing and was becoming very popular.

  Carmel was happy today, happier than yesterday, and the day before. She was becoming happier and happier all of the time as she discovered the features of the town she was now living in. The people were about the streets and there was so much to do, despite it being away from the big city. So much of it, almost all was entirely new to her and she loved the smells, the sounds… music to her ears. She was like she had never been – aside from those very early years of childhood one can barely remember. Now she was free again as each thing was new and present, entirely in the moment. There was no familiarity and she was convinced each day was new like this and would go on forever. It exulted her to be tempted into making childish noises – the ones of the free spirit without care, without want, and at one in authentic presence.

  Her walk along the main road to her house just over a mile away, was full of bounce and full of vigor. She noticed the flowers, the trees, the life around her, all busy and moving. She stopped for a moment looking high to the clouds above, watching them slowly drift towards the east. She could feel the faint breeze as it caressed the sweat on her cheek, and the taste was of nothing yet everything. She took deeper and deeper breaths…until she became a bit dizzy and calmed down a little.

  As she walked on, her head still swimming, she felt like dancing and swirling on her way. It was all she had wanted, all she had dreamed, and all she felt she needed. The bees swarmed around her as she approached the flower laden front gate. Its’ hinges were rusty and so they squeaked a little as she went through. She went along the pathway and under the arch, strewn with grape vine and full yet green fruit. She loved the grape vine and the near ripe fruit would soon be good to eat. Then she went past the pond with a cricket sounding nearby, and further along the pathway to the door o
f her house. She went inside, and the sun came in through the windows capturing some of her few ornaments in a contrasting light. She only had a few ornaments and they had been dear to her. She had never wanted many ‘things’. She went to the kitchen for refreshment, stopping to play some music from the holographic player on the way. And as she sipped a glass of fruit juice, she had never been happier to have forever put behind her – her days as Superior Officer One.

  “Coming soon, the new Geiga Virtual Couple! Longing for that embrace but away from your partner? Then long no more, with the latest in comfort wear. You can have the pleasure and the desires of being in the arms of your loved one with the new Virtual Couple software from Geiga. Take to the next dimension in compatibility and be together wherever you choose as your bodies respond to your partner’s distinct bodily patterns. Your suit will help you feel the love! Get this anytime you choose with our newest innovation software download available at any update station. For a small price, you can have the comfort of being together whenever you like. The best in future wear, from Geiga.”

  “What an advert! Do you think people will actually buy this stuff?” Lorraine said as they watched holographic vision out of boredom. They were still in the cell and John was still fighting off the device inside his head.

  “Some will. Then it will probably catch on as a trend. More unwanted technology we can do without,” John replied as he sat with his arm around Lorraine. “Or need.”

  Tobias turned off the projector as yet another advertisement began, “How would they do that? In those suits?”

  “Relatively basic. They would be using the nano technology to stimulate nerves and sensory organs based on body patterns and scents they can synthesize with an algorithm, and then download into the nano tech. They fail to mention in the ad, that tech implants are required…a hidden necessity.”

  “Wouldn’t most people in the big cities have them by now?”

  “Hard to say. There has been a lot of take up since they were introduced a few years back. But if you consider the world at large, then you are probably only looking at twenty percent. They will get more in with these suits – people will want them and soon realize the only way to have them is to get the implants. It is the chip which is the main concern. That can go out in massive numbers and is a simple injection. You just don’t know what it is capable of…yet. There is going to be more behind it than just security and convenience.”

  “And payment.”

  “Yeah, that too. I am worried about that aspect. That could force a lot of hardship, but I guess there will be an underground economy.”

  **********

  They were meeting to discuss how they could steal the spaceship. It had become a priority, though not as high as the Torus. Their beast, a vortex amplifier, stood at the top of their holographic array still on standby, and they were growing impatient. No definite lead had been made since the sightings in Germany, but little did they know the Torus was indeed, so close. Without any solid plans, they grew even more restless – some took to sending out computer viruses to invade people’s DNA maintaining nano technology as a means to vent their growing anger. Others in the sect began to chant in the way they all would do, and the desperation in the voices was apparent. A few just stayed silent, conjuring in their minds, trying to feel the Torus, sense its power, but they could not. Such things were figments - their imaginations carrying their desires no further than their minds.

  What could they do? They even turned to their beast - it was an inner thing but its darkness shed no light. When at last they almost gave in, they turned to their electric beast and it was in plain sight. They saw it happen, as the horns flickered with electricity, the suggestion was all they would need, and soon they would have the Torus and the people would begin to bleed.

  Their leader entered a pre-operations sequence, sending a signal to the beast. He realigned the algorithm to summon in the feast. “Tor espial,” he said as he sent it on its way, and so the beast did come to life to drain the life away.

  Along the horns it traveled as a visible intention, the two horns each aside the place, for the Torus in suspension. It flickered forth and thither too, releasing what it might, to attract the Torus unto it, for the coldest winter’s night. The signal sent across the plane unseen and all around. To find the response it would need, a signal to rebound. The place, the state the presence of where the Torus did reside, for with the machine calibrated as such, there was nowhere it could hide.

  The signal came back to greet them, it was astounding to them all. They began to dance and to celebrate at the misery they would install. Without question, without instruction, they all knew just what to do, and they set upon themselves to make their dreams come true. It was a moment of reckoning in their own macabre way, of bringing pain to the Earth, onward from this day.

  Their sense of joy was not that at all, they could never feel such things. The bells of the beast are the only ones that for them ever tolls or rings. Despising as they were of the world that did surround, so soon it would be coming to them and soon it would be found.

  Their drive to muster in their hunger was ever oh so wild. They would take them all with them, every man, every woman, and every child. To the place beset inside their minds, confused and so apart. Their vision so much in opposition to the giving place, inside a human heart. It was hate to see them feed upon the messes they did make. It was anger that saw them bleed, so blessed yet appearing so fake.

  For sacrifice was caressed in blood, the only way it should. And now they massed in every way, the only way they could. To bring it here and take it there, all over they would play, with souls, with humans, and with destinies, each and every day.

  Their beast had located the Torus to within a twenty-mile radius, so they departed in teams, in vehicles, to find their prize, to satiate the hunger behind their eyes, and to bring on methods to despise.

  ***************

  Carmel was busy about the house. Her new sense of life gave her things to do she could not have imagined before during the mundane repetition of service life. She wore the Geiga suit, as were many others about town. She had purchased seven of them and she had decided it was all she would wear. Others did the similar, the alluring clothing feeling sensual and so they were happy the authorities had given them this.

  She had no nano tech implants herself having decided not to have them ever despite formerly being a superior officer, yet her health was excellent for a thirty five year old. Now she felt good in a real sense for the first real time. She even admired the way the Geiga wear made her look as well as feel. It suited her – her new lease on life, her new buoyed enthusiasm for the discovery of so many simple things, and for her outward expression of herself emerging. She had spent so long alone and in the service making her suspicious and inward, but now she was feeling the opposite without care for concerns such as those were.

  The sun had meaning far beyond its’ filtering through the city buildings, she had been used to. It was now warm on her skin, it was giving life to everything around her, and it simply was. Too often she had worked underground at the Facility with its cold grey light, and now she realized how much she had been missing. Gone were her needs of status – she simply did not care. She had herself and she had her life. And despite the part of her that knew of the horrors ahead, she was determined to defeat them. Nothing in her heart would let this be taken away. She may not always be in the best places in her body, but in her heart she was now forever amongst these elements of life, amongst the progression, and she could never be anyone else.

  “Hi,” she said as a stranger walked by past the front of the house where she was tending to the garden.

  “Hi yourself. I’m, The Fix…um, Timothy Collins.” He had lost his head for a moment at her appearance, almost giving his cover name away.

  “Hi Tim. Can I call you Tim?”

  “Sure.”

  “Hi, I’m Carmel. Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you to
o. Very nice.”

  “Going into town?”

  “Um, yeah. I am on my way through to San Francisco. Just been taking a break here overnight. Your place?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Nice. OK, I’d better go. I am hungry and feeling like some breakfast.”

  “OK goodbye then. Maybe I’ll see you in town?”

  “Maybe. I’m leaving in a few hours though.”

  “OK then, it’s a maybe. Bye.”

  “Bye.” The Fixture felt he could perhaps stay and talk to Carmel a bit longer – something in his gut feeling was trying to tell him to stop, but he went on…hesitantly, looking back once to see Carmel had returned to gardening. By the time he had walked the near mile into the center of town, he was keen to eat and took to the first café he saw. As he sat waiting for his meal, he looked out through the windows to the street beyond. ‘Places like this seemed normal’, he thought, ‘but what’s coming?’ The appearance of the robot on the street in Vancouver was still playing on his mind. After numerous attempts at contacting John, he decided to go to San Francisco and see if he could find him. It was a bit of a blind mission, but the chance was worth taking – he knew more technology would be needed in times to come.

  “So what do you do Tim?” he looked around to see Carmel had come into the cafe. She had seen him staring out the window appearing to be in a daze, so he had not noticed her approach and enter.

  “Um…” he stood up. “Sit down, I do electronics.”

  “What was that?”

  “Electronics.”

  “Oh. Where? Just curious…I not an official,” she saw a look of concern pass over his face.