by J. J. Green
Ethan inspected the dent he’d made in the protruding rock, which had turned out to be extremely hard. Considering that he’d been chipping at it for about half an hour he hadn’t made much progress.
He didn’t mind the delay too much. The view over the ocean never ceased to enchant him. He didn’t think he would ever tire of it.
One of the other farmers, a man by the name of Seaberg, arrived. He’d lowered a box on the pulley system to the cave entrance, descended himself and retrieved the box from the platform. When he reached Ethan, he stopped and put it down. Appraising Ethan’s effort, he remarked, “It’s tough stuff, isn’t it?”
“The rock? Yeah. I’m going to be here a while yet.” He lifted his hammer and chisel to resume chipping.
“You know, we could just blow that piece off.”
“Huh?” Ethan lowered his tools.
“We could drill a hole, about here.” Seaberg pointed to a spot above the dent Ethan had made. “Pop in a little bit of explosive. Boom. It would blow most of that lump away, I’m guessing.”
“Really?”
“I’ve been talking to Garwin about opening up some of the passages at the rear of the caves in the same way,” Seaberg went on. “Widening the tunnels to make more room, you know? Before people begin to arrive in large numbers. It would be better to do it now. Safer.”
“You know how to do that?”
“Pretty much. So do you, don’t you? You studied farming too, right? We had a course on clearing vegetation with a subsection on blowing out tree stumps.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’d forgotten.”
“Well it’s all explosives, isn’t it? The same principles apply to rock. I was talking to an engineer about it and she agreed. She said they’d studied using explosives for demolitions, though they hadn’t gone into the subject in any depth. Demolitions aren’t a priority in a new colony. But anyway, we could begin with small projects like this.”
“You said you were talking to Garwin about it. What did he say?”
“He said to talk to you.”
“Right.” Ethan didn’t mind the extra responsibility, but he didn’t know much about explosives. He would have to do some research. But something else was bothering him. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for the suggestion.”
“No problem,” Seaberg said. He picked up his box and carried it into the back of the cave.
Ethan lifted his hammer and chisel and recommenced chipping at the rock.
Seaberg passed Ethan again on his way out. He gave a nod and disappeared out of the cave front. He would climb the ladder to the top of the cliff, from where he would lower another box. The transportation method was cumbersome but it conserved the finite power of the flitters and overcame the previously awkward attempts to transfer boxes into caves that were too small for the flitters to fit.
Ethan mulled over Seaberg’s words. He’d known the man all his life, though they had never been close friends. They’d been through school and then farmers’ training together. He’d never liked or disliked Seaberg, but he thought that he knew him pretty well. Now he wasn’t so sure.
He knew his suspicion was unfair, based on an apparently innocent conversation, but the actions of the Natural Movement had changed his attitudes to others. Someone from the movement had taken Lauren and Dr. Crowley from him via First Night Attack. And a Natural Movement follower had nearly killed Cariad, twice.
More than anything, Ethan wanted that person or those people caught and prevented from hurting anyone else. Seaberg’s casual mention of explosives had sparked alarm. The context and the conversation had been normal and natural, but Ethan couldn’t help making the connection. Was Seaberg the Natural Movement bomber?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cariad’s careful maneuvering to be the first Woken Aubriot spoke to as soon as he was revived had also brought her excessively under the man’s scrutiny. On balance, however, she didn’t regret her move. It meant that when he demanded to be taken planetside, she could go too. Anahi didn’t dare try to prevent Aubriot from doing exactly whatever he wanted, so when Cariad told her that Aubriot was traveling to the surface and she was going along, she didn’t protest.
Aubriot’s initial energetic recovery after his revival had been short-lived. Extreme weakness soon assailed him and had plagued the man for weeks. He had undergone intensive rehabilitation, as if he’d been in a serious accident. Re-learning gross and fine motor skills had taken up much of his time. Yet all the while, the man’s mind had been as active as ever. The two factors combined led to many outbursts of frustration and fury, mostly directed at Alasdair, who had helped the ungrateful patient through his treatment.
Eventually the day had come when Aubriot decided he was strong enough to go down to the planet that he had sacrificed his fortune to see. There was no question that Dr. Montfort would agree, mainly because Montfort’s opinion wasn’t sought, which didn’t mean the doctor would escape blame if the trip proved too tiring.
Aubriot believed himself to be a prime target for Natural Movement resentment. Cariad privately concurred, though for reasons that were probably different from Aubriot’s. He undoubtedly thought he was a target because he was so important, but Cariad thought that, as the primary financier of the Nova Fortuna Project, he could easily be seen as the one most to blame for diverting humankind from its “natural” destiny.
Woken who understood the complexities of explosives were screening a shuttle for bombs. They ran scanners over every inch of the vehicle before also visually inspecting it, and the crew were similarly scanned and body searched before being allowed aboard.
Under the informal title of Person Responsible For Getting the Nova Fortuna Project Back on Track, Cariad’s natural inclusion in Aubriot’s entourage meant that she should undergo the same procedure. At this, however, she drew a line. She yearned to go planetside. She wanted to see what was happening in the settlement, and she wanted to walk on soil and feel the sun on her face again. Most of all, she wanted to see Ethan, who had been silent for weeks. She hadn’t even been able to contact him to tell him she would probably be arriving soon.
But then again, maybe she wouldn’t be. She wasn’t going to let Aubriot treat her like his slave and undergo the indignity of a body search. When her turn came, she said loudly, “No. I’m not doing it.”
By this time, Aubriot was halfway up the shuttle ramp. “What?”
“I’m not going behind those screens to have people poke and prod me. I’ll be scanned if you insist on it, but I’m not undergoing a body search. It’s undignified and unnecessary.”
“The scanners don’t pick up every known explosive,” Aubriot said. “You have to be searched.”
“Look,” said Cariad, “do you really think I’m the bomber? You know how hard I worked on this project. Do you think I’d do all that and say goodbye to my family and Earth forever, just so I could come here and sabotage the colonization? I nearly died in the stadium bombing. Do you think I did that to myself?”
“Hmph,” Aubriot said, his lip curling beneath his aquiline nose. “I guess not. Whatever.” He waved dismissively. “Get aboard then.”
Cariad exhaled. Standing up to Aubriot was always risky but occasionally his capricious temperament allowed some wiggle room.
As the shuttle flew down to the surface, Aubriot nodded to himself every so often as if carrying out a private conversation in his head. The shuttle made its final approach and the settlement was plain to see—a neat block of civilization in a sea of wild vegetation. Aubriot’s nods became more vigorous, like he was giving his approval.
“Not bad,” he murmured. “Not bad.” He turned to Cariad. “Looks all right so far. I was expecting worse from what Anahi told me.”
“She’s exaggerated the problems we’ve been having with the Gens,” Cariad said. “For the most part, they’ve been following the Manual. It’s only been in a few areas that they wanted to do things their way. You can see that the houses and roads follow the o
riginal plan, and they’ve begun farming according to the schedule.”
“Yeah. Those are fields out there, right?”
“That’s right. And don’t forget, no Woken has been down to the surface for weeks. As far as I know, there haven’t been any disasters. Everything’s going as it should. In a few months they’ll start harvesting the first crops, and in time they’ll begin mining for iron and other minerals. Complete self-sufficiency should be achieved in around three years, just as we predicted. The only obstacle to that is the Natural Movement infiltrator, and that’s hardly the Gens’ fault. It was our security that failed back on Earth and allowed that to happen. Anahi’s overreacting when she says we can’t trust the Gens. Look at what they’ve managed to do, mostly by themselves. They were bred for it. We should let them get on with it. These are their lives. It’s their planet.”
Aubriot had been gazing out of the window while Cariad gave her speech, but at her final sentence he turned to her with a deep frown. “If anyone owns this planet it’s me. Fuck knows, I paid enough for it.”
Cariad regretted her bold statement. Now was not the time to antagonize the man. He’d already granted her one concession. She couldn’t expect another anytime soon. “Well, the ownership of the planet isn’t in question,” she said, hoping her ambivalent statement would mollify him.
It seemed to do the trick. Aubriot returned his gaze to the shuttle window as the vessel landed. “What did you name the place in the end?”
“We didn’t, actually. The previous Leader was about to announce the results of the voting when the stadium bomb went off. Since then, things have been in such disarray, the question of the planet’s name has been put aside. I think we may have another vote when we’ve finally put the Natural Movement problem to rest.”
“What about Aubriot’s World?” Aubriot said. “It has a ring to it, don’t you think?”
Cariad couldn’t tell if he was joking.
***
Cariad couldn’t help but notice, as she left the shuttle field and walked the streets of the settlement, that the place seemed unusually quiet. Though she hadn’t been planetside for weeks, she was sure that there used to be many more people out and about. She guessed the Gens were all busy at their jobs, working hard to get the colony on its feet. Ethan was probably at his farm. He had no reason to be in town during the daytime.
Alasdair, whom Aubriot had appropriated as his personal medic, formed part of his retinue. An agricultural scientist—not Anahi, who hadn’t wanted to come down—an ecologist and a meteorologist had also come along. Aubriot insisted on leading the way.
They first visited the machine works, where the kits for vehicles, agricultural machinery, and the massive roadmakers were assembled. Garwin was there, covered in grease, his smile wide, white and gleaming in his oil-besmirched face. “Pleased to meet you, sir,” he said as soon as Aubriot entered the workroom.
The news of the financier’s revival had spread planetside, and Garwin hadn’t taken more than a second to understand who was paying a visit. He rubbed his palm on his dirty overalls, looked at it and smiled again apologetically. “I would shake your hand, but… ”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aubriot said, expansive in his generosity. Uninvited, he went to look around the place. Garwin raised his eyebrows as Cariad then followed him. Aubriot went over to a half-finished solar-powered, wheeled electric vehicle, intended for traveling paved roads.
“You in charge around here?” Aubriot asked Garwin. Then without waiting for an answer, “Got any of these working yet?”
“Yes. We’ve finished five, but only in order to check that we could. These aren’t a priority at the moment. The settlement’s still small enough to walk from one side to the other. This one here is the final one for now. We’re concentrating on the harvesters, to get ahead of the demand, if you see what I mean.”
“I do. Makes sense.”
Garwin shrugged. “Just following the Manual.”
“Any problems?” Aubriot asked.
“Not anything major. Occasionally a kit will be missing a small part, or the tool will be the wrong size for the job. Not anything we can’t work around.”
“On schedule?”
“Ahead of it.”
Aubriot narrowed his eyes. “Garwin, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“I heard about you.”
Garwin looked as though he was about to make a flippant reply but checked himself. He had the measure of Aubriot already. “I try to speak for the Gens when I can.”
“Someone’s got to speak for them, right?” Aubriot joked.
Garwin laughed good-naturedly, though Cariad detected a hint of well-suppressed ire. “Is there anything else you’d like to see?” he asked Aubriot. “You’ve caught us a little unprepared. We haven’t had visitors from the ship in quite a while. If I’d known you were coming, I would have organized some demonstrations for you.”
“No,” Aubriot said. “I don’t want to see demonstrations. Bad idea. I want to see things as they really are. No point in giving notice. Might as well not bother going.”
Cariad remembered Aubriot’s impromptu visits to the genetics center well. Catching people unawares and attempting to wrong-foot them was his style.
“Is there anything in particular you’re interested in around the settlement then?” Garwin asked. “I’d be happy to show you around. The hospital’s nearly finished, the school’s already open, and we’ve started up the credits-for-labor exchange scheme. We’ve got people working on residential building projects at the edge of town. The construction program’s on track to supply everyone with a private dwelling by the end of next year.”
“Hmm,” Aubriot said. “I don’t often say this, but I’m impressed. I got a whole different idea of what was happening down here. I’m going to have a look around by myself. In fact… ” He turned to Cariad and the rest of his companions. “You can all wait here.”
He strode out of the building. After a short pause as everyone adjusted to his abrupt departure, Alasdair said, “Do you think he meant we have to stay here until he comes back?”
“Probably,” said the agricultural scientist sardonically. “Not that it means we have to. I mean, who does he think he is? What gives him the right to order us around? He might have been the richest man who’s ever lived, but that was on Earth. Here, he’s just another Woken, except he doesn’t have any useful skills. Unless we need the ability to wheel and deal in the colony’s economy.”
Cariad smiled. The scientist had only just met Aubriot. He’d been an external applicant for a cryo preservation spot and not part of the original team. The man would find out soon enough that Aubriot was a force to be reckoned with.
“Whatever he meant, I’m not staying here to wait for him,” Cariad said. “Do you know where Ethan is?” she asked Garwin.
“No, but he’s out on his farm, I expect. That’s where he is most of the time these days.” He said to the others, “I have to get back to work, but you’re all welcome to wait here for your new Leader to return.”
The agricultural scientist huffed. “Aubriot isn’t the new Leader. What gave you that idea?”
“Isn’t he?” Garwin asked, picking up a tool before bending over a machine.
Cariad left the machine shop, wondering if she could use a flitter to go out to Ethan’s farm and visit him there. Then she recalled that it wouldn’t be an “authorized use.” She was thinking like a Gen. Or was she only thinking as was natural and normal? Anahi loved to categorize the Gens’ behavior as deliberately defiant, but they were only doing what seemed to work best in the situation they’d been placed in. What if the Gens weren’t disobeying the Manual because they wanted to do things their way, but because they actually had the best idea of what was the appropriate way?
It was she and other Woken who had bred the Gens to be well-fitted to the task of establishing the colony, and they’d created their education to teach them all the skills they neede
d. Ethan had pointed that out to her one time. By not trusting the Gens, the Woken weren’t trusting their own ability to create the best people for the project.
The idea excited Cariad. Not only was her reasoning sound, it would appeal to the Woken’s way of thinking. She could argue if they didn’t believe in the Gens, they were doubting their own ability to create the best-suited colonists.
She went through the quiet streets to the flitter shed, hoping to find one not in use. The shed was empty, however. Even the person in charge of it wasn’t there. Cariad paused, looking around the quiet, cool space. It was odd that every single flitter was gone. She didn’t think the Gens needed them so badly. They were only useful for traveling outside the settlement, and Garwin hadn’t mentioned any particular events going on that would require flitters.
Cariad went out again. If she couldn’t take a flitter to Ethan’s farm, she would go to the farmers’ dorm on the slim chance that he might be there. The place was ten minutes’ walk from the flitter shed. All the way there, she didn’t see a single other person.
At the farmers’ dorm, no one was in the lobby area, so Cariad went through it to the living area, which was also empty. She poked her head into the communal sleeping room. Only one person was inside, and it wasn’t Ethan. Cariad was about to leave until she heard what the man was saying. His words made her halt. The man was in the middle of a conversation via the room’s interface and he hadn’t noticed Cariad at first. When he did finally see her, he abruptly stopped talking and turned red.
“I was looking for Ethan,” Cariad said. “I guess he isn’t here.”
“No, er,” the man stammered. “He’s working out on his farm today, I’m pretty sure.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Cariad left and went directly back to the machinery workroom.
