by Richard Gohl
Inside the network, Ryan could sense the walls though he couldn’t see them. It was dark but light enough to see that the floor had a hexagonal shape. On each side of the hexagon there was a vague darkened patch big enough for him to walk through, just like the other doorway. There were five doorways in front of him.
Ryan described his surroundings to Alia and she said: “You’re in the ‘front room’ of IN
– it’s like the gateway to the all other areas, the five other areas. You entered through the ETP door.
“Is there any writing at all anywhere?” asked Wez. “No.”
“Damn,” said Wez. “He can access the space but nothing is signposted. All right, well, if he just came from ETP, look at the map.” Wez scrambled for the map.
“Here we go,” he said. “First one to the left is population…”
Alia added slowly, “Second one is news and the third one is medical. Four is recreation; five should be Telesync data. So Ryan, turn to your right and go through that door. It should contain all Service information and star system data.”
He repeated the same process as before. “I’m in there. There are still no signs.”
“Okay,” said Alia. “This is the order; there are another six doors, right, Ryan?”
“Yes.”
“To your left is medical, then questions… the third door should be Service. Go through that one.” Alia’s voice was calm and quiet.
Ryan walked across. Alia whispered to the others, “If he gets through this, we know we’re onto something—I couldn’t enter this section.”
“Ryan?”
“Yes?”
“Go through.”
“I am.” The women all looked at each other, wide-eyed. “What now?” he asked. “What does it look like?”
“There are no words; it’s like a brick wall, except it’s not hard, it’s very soft—there’s an outline of brick patterns, long thin bricks...”
“Data Caskets. We need to open them and read them.” Frustrated, Alia said to the others: “He should be able to read that stuff. Ryan, try and look inside one of the bricks.”
“How?”
“I don’t know; grab it, push it, twist it—each one of those small rectangles contains tons of information.”
“They’re not moving.” He sounded stressed.
“It’s okay, darling, don’t worry about it—it’s time to come out now, anyway.” Madi turned. “I think that will be enough for one day.”
Alia looked at them both and said, “It might be time to defrost the last lens. We’ve got to—looks like nothing’s labeled without it. That way he can go back in tomorrow. Put on the lens when he gets into the Service area—just in case.”
Chapter 29
The Peoples’ Service
ABOVE NEARLY EVERY Napean city was a space station. There were only ten Service officials operating the Australian Napean cities. Three controlled the Napean population in the Napean city of Lofty Mountain.
They had been there from the very beginning. Because of their extended lives, they had combined their understandings of the various essential areas of scientific study. Up until that point in history, in the twenty-first century, scientists gained expertise in only one specific field, such as physics or biology. But with the Napean revolution, one person now had the time to become the master of many crafts and, with this overview, develop new forms of ingenuity. Known only by their surnames—Magellan, Pato, and Jeffery—these overseers were experts in cellular biology, genetics, maths, physics, and astronomy.
Around the world there were some fifty of them, and since the advent of the environmental disasters—and in some cases before—each had amassed huge fortune and personal power.
Service officials were able to examine their own Napean population as one organism. Telesync demonstrated the population’s function, health and memory usage all at once. Results could be analyzed quickly and areas of underperformance or irregularity isolated for treatment. This of course meant individual people and their bodies. Most treatments were undertaken without the individual being aware that they even had a problem.
The Service had continued to use the Subs while at the same time publicly denigrating and even facilitating their demise. While the subs laboured in building and mining, they risked suffering blindness, exposure, radiation sickness; many also died from accidents caused by machinery malfunction or falls.
Service politics were crude and ruthless. Their official line was that Subs were stopping the progress of humanity. The Service put out regular updates showing the ways in which Subterraneans were jeopardizing the future. They published information on the excessive use of water and electricity, or their inability to manage their waste. They used phony characters on public ETP forums to add fuel to their polemic:
“Subterraneans only want immediate gratification and cannot see that for the good of all people we need to think long term. Subs are regressive, undeveloped and motivated by their own selfish needs. They want ‘food now,’ despite knowing that the planet cannot afford to produce food anymore. They want children despite the fact that we do not have the resources to increase the population. Subs want to live the ancient way yet come crawling to us for health care and protection.”
Yet another public statement on ETP from the Service on “the Subterranean Problem” ran:
“They hold a sentimental desire for all things “old world” in a time when none of us can afford to be looking backwards. This is not a democracy. The modern Napean city exists only because of the vision and expertise of a few great Napean minds and the willingness of a great many others to put aside their fears and nostalgia and think practically of the future. This is the success of the Napean state. The Subs are frankly lucky to have been tolerated at all. In some other Napean states, this is not the case. The concept that Napeans are now in some way morally responsible to ensure their survival is nonsense.”
The Napeans gave themselves permission to ridicule, abduct, torture, and generally abuse Subterraneans. Some Napeans even turned it into a sport. Yet the Service was surprised when the Subs fought back. The anxiety virus came as a shock—it had been completely unexpected.
Chapter 30
Napean Secrets
WEZ ARRIVED EARLY with the thawed lens, preparing all necessary equipment to record and process any of the information that may come to light. “How is he handling it do you think?” he asked Madi. “We’re just worried that as soon as he puts on the lens he’ll be seen.”
Wez was adamant: “No, identification comes through the point of access. We don’t even know his point of access. As far as I know it’s a first …”
“But it’s a big responsibility,” said Bes, “he’s so little.”
“I think he’s handling it,” said Madi.
“He’s so independent,” agreed Alia.
“Yeah well, I suppose he’s been locked up by himself for most of his life. No wonder he’s a little detached.” Alia and Bes shared a glance—they had other ideas as to who was a little detached.
Ryan got up late and was quiet as he prepared for another trip into the twilight world of the Napean information system.
Wez had his OCTO processor, a small computer improved over many years, through constant tinkering. It was the same machine he used to introduce the anxiety bug. It contained everything they knew about Napean network. He had removed the lenses from the eyes of the Napean guards placed them in frozen storage. One of them had now been defrosted for Ryan to use.
The lens was tested on a beam of light which projected the blue/green image onto the wall. The six navigation points were clearly visible. But without an active contact with the network it was merely a screen. If the lens was activated it provided a number of gateways to worlds within worlds. The lens didn’t seem to have sustained any damage in the thawing process but whether it would be any use to Ryan was still unknown.
Wez wasn’t the type to be driven by a political cause. Self-interest was his main motiva
ting trait. Intelligent and with an incredible capacity for logic and mathematics –when approached by a group of Amazonian beauties keen on wreaking havoc on the Napean population—“apolitical” Wez suddenly developed some political backbone. Of course he had a problem with the Napeans and the way they treated Real people.
He had never grown to be comfortable in his own skin and was defined only by what he did. He was fine in an environment where he wasn’t challenged by anyone, especially another male. Say he’d just been beaten in a chess game, he would feel a loser forever more until such time as he could win again, and be back on top in his universe.
Wez was an emotional ding-bat; who fell in love just about every day. He was a serial crusher. In the early days, it had been the upright and compelling Claire. She was so upright that she believed all other people to be as good as herself but often found that ‘People are so disappointing.’ Claire could be intimate, funny and presented an argument better than anyone. Men with any brains always fell for her and she always made it clear to them that it was just a friendship. To Wez, this distancing was irresistible. So he decided to let her know his feelings. But with a humorous remark and a smile, she shut him down so quickly, he hardly knew what happened. But somehow she allowed him to emerge with his pride intact and there was no harm done.
He had more recently developed a bigger infatuation with Alia. Big mistake. Everyone developed an infatuation with Alia. Males and females—it didn’t matter whether they were intelligent or not. She was tall, strong, beautiful and bright with a great sense of humor, yet had a way about her which was appealing without being arrogant. The ingenious thing about her was that she did not seem to arouse jealousy or envy in other women.
Wez had a number of problems in attempting to date Alia. Firstly they had been friends for some time. Everyone knew that going from long-term friends to lovers was practically impossible. The other problem was that Alia was so used to attention that she hardly noticed when someone was in love with her. He would therefore have to do something obvious or pull off something huge to make her notice—and then he’d look like an idiot or a desperado, or both. But to do nothing would guarantee his unrequited love. He couldn’t win. He had to stay focused on his work and it would just happen.
Wez described to Ryan what they were trying to achieve. “We’re also looking for planets which are okay for humans to live on. You know about Telesync, right?”
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “Napeans go on every night—Dad used to do it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s how they process all their information about the galaxy. We’re trying to find out about other Earth-like planets; that’s the information you’re looking for.”
“I don’t really know a lot about that,” said Ryan.
Alia said casually, “Darling, just have a look at what’s there—you’re the only one who can. If you see anything that might be helpful, then great; otherwise, no harm done! Okay?”
“This will fit perfectly onto your eye; might feel a bit dry at first…” said Wez. “What is that ?” asked the boy.
“It’s the lens, silly,” said Madi.
“Where did you get it?” asked Ryan. Suspicion seemed to come naturally. “Never you mind. Now do as Wez says…” she said.
He sat upright, folding his arms. “I don’t want to have someone else’s eye in my eye.” Wez responded, “Hey, it’s not their eye. It’s just a bit of plastic that’s been completely cleaned—been in the freezer for months.”
“He’s right,” said Madi.
“But it’s going to hurt,” said Ryan.
“Listen,” said Alia. “If it hurts, we stop. It’s that simple—I’ve done it lots of times.”
“It’s easy,” said Wez. “You relax, open both eyes wide, and just keep them open. I’m going to slip it on for you.” After much protesting and wriggling, the lens went in and Ryan was encouraged to find his telepathic portal.
Bes, Madi, and Alia had a data book each to record anything Ryan said that they thought significant.
It took only a minute for the boy to find his way into the network. Once “IN” he found his way back to the “Telesync data” area.
“He’s there. Open your eyes, Ryan. Use the lens. What can you see?” Wez was being more pushy than Alia, but Ryan seemed to be responding to him.
“Different areas, headings, words…”
Madi and Bes smiled at each other. Alia was busy scribbling. “What are they, the words?” asked Alia. “Telesync… ETP...” the rebels looked at each other, ecstatic.
“Go to ‘Service.’…” Wez waited a few seconds, and then said, “Go through.” He was referring to a map they’d used previously.
Ryan walked through the dark doorway, feeling the strange shove from behind as he did so.
“There are more doors in here… okay, I’m there. It says ‘medical, questions, news, renew, astro’… ”
“Go in there.”
“Stars, lifestyle, Service...”
“Go in there.”
“It’s that brick wall again. It’s all orange in here. I can read the headings now. It says ‘Sagittarius’ at the top of the left column with a less-than sign, thirty degrees…”
All four of them wrote down what Ryan had said. No one seemed to know what it meant. “What now?” asked Ryan. “Am I in the right place?”
“One second,” said Wez.
“What does it mean?” asked Madi, quietly.
“Must be a zone,” said Wez , drawing something on the page. Then, to Ryan he said, “Try and open it somehow.” Ryan’s head moved slightly in different directions as if looking around the room. He felt all around one of the bricks. It wasn’t a solid structure; it moved slightly, this way and that. He gave it a push and watched in astonishment as the brick slowly came out from the wall, about a meter, and dropped down at a forty-five-degree angle. Trailing behind it were a multitude of titles running horizontally across the spine of the extension.
“The brick popped out and there are more headings,” said Ryan, sounding less than amused.
“Wow!” The others in the room gasped with excitement. “What do they say, the headings?” asked Wez.
“It says ‘star system’ at the top. Then a list of letters: HD10180, HD70899, HD77352, numbers, letters…” Instinctively Ryan tapped a title and a glimmering white page sprang upwards.
Ryan described what had happened. “I don’t know what it means.”
“Ryan, that white page is an analysis of a star, and under that title a list and analysis of the planets orbiting that star—if there are any. Scan for sentences.”
“I am! Just thousands of letters and numbers.” Ryan seemed to go blank. They watched him waiting for some other sign of change.
“Ryan?” Still, he didn’t move. They waited. “Ryan!”
“I’m looking!”
“He’s getting tired,” said Bes.
“Keep him going, Wez. You’re doing well.”
“How many rows of bricks are there, Ryan?” asked Wez. Ryan began counting. As he lay on the couch they could see his mouth moving and his fingers going up and down as he checked each brick.
“There are twelve across and thirty down on this wall.”
“Okay,” said Wez, writing it down.
“How is it significant?” asked Alia.
Wez was thinking. He looked at Madi, and then at Alia, then back to Madi. Then she started writing again.
“It’s a grid,” said Alia.
“Yes,” agreed Wez. “They’ve split the galaxy up into twelve longitudinal sections across, and each row represents a degree—which is probably something like ten lightyears across. It’s like a three-sixty-degree scan of one level of the Milky Way.”
“That’s a lot of ground to cover in an afternoon!” said Madi.
“Yes, exactly,” said Alia. “And we were just asking him to give us the results!”
“Poor kid!” said Bes.
“They must have analyzed this material somewhe
re, though…” said Wez. “There’s no harm in looking… Ryan, you’re looking for words like conclusions, results, findings…”
“There’s nothing like that here,” said Ryan.
“Search the other walls,” said Alia.
“I am,” said Ryan. After walking slowly around the room, checking each column, Ryan noticed a separate column on the fifth wall was different. Then he started reading: “Final directives.”
“That’s it,” said Wez. “Ryan, it’s important that you read this out. Take your time. Just do it slowly.”
Ryan opened the casket and began reading what he saw.
“It says ‘summary notes: our fifth nearest planet… ary system… features a number of possibilities… firstly the planet HD29458B… bio sig… nature… has CO2, water, methane, and O2, and to date … is one of the possible nine settlement targets selected for 2273…”
“Next year!” said Bes.
“That can’t be right,” said Madi. “No,” said Alia. “Shhh.”
Ryan continued: “… Current estimated travel time 4.5 years. ’ ”
“That’s it he found it,” hissed Alia. The women grabbed each other excitedly, then shushed each other. Ryan continued his reading of the casket rolls.
“There are other lists…lots of lists.”
“What do they say?” asked Alia.
“Names, numbers…Letters and numbers, like the other ones, all have same headings under them. There are miles of them! Same same same, it says…”
“We need the names of the other planets.” said Alia “Read the names darling!” echoed Madi.
Ryan read slowly, “spec-trum of ele-ments and compounds, numbers, numbers, numbers… at..at.. atmosphere…” Wez helped him out “atmospheric?”
The boy continued reading: “Star HD48915, Canis Majoris, astro…metry? Radius, mass, lumino..sity, atmospheric pressure, numbers , numbers, numbers… mortifism: same, gravity: more numbers. Then it says : orbiting planets, IB 77614 D and E planets are habitable and almost identical in make up: (lists of numbers again) under the heading of bio—spectrum of elements (more numbers) then it says: two of the 8 habitable planets are within 2 year maxtransit time and the others are max 5. Each planet moves on the same orbital path and possesses similar chemistry.” That’s all it says in findings for that casket…”
