All The Frail Futures: A Science Fiction Box Set

by J Battle

  When she had studied all three she stepped back, a little saddened, but hardly surprised.

  They were all empty.

  **********

  As he stood at the top of the steps, waiting for the door to open, Jack felt a little nervous.

  The last four people to attempt this had failed to return.

  He knew, from messages sent by those earlier representatives, that he would be met in a large oval chamber, filled with a cloudy corrosive liquid that would eat through his additional outer protective layers within a couple of hours. How long his own plasti-metal skin would hold out, was a matter of conjecture.

  He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. He already carried internally the small amount of oxygen required by what was left of his brain, so he was planning to stay well within the two hour limit.

  The door slid soundlessly open and he stepped into the chamber. There was no opportunity to wave to the expectant crowd as the alien ship had been covered by a large white tent weeks earlier, to cover up any further embarrassment.

  The chamber began to fill with light green liquid that appeared a little more viscous than water and frothed at his feet. He had no sense of smell, which he guessed was probably quite a good thing at the moment.

  When the chamber was full he stepped towards the inner door, feeling quite buoyant in the treacle-like liquid. With the inner door open, he was able to step into the large open area he had seen in previous recordings.

  Unfortunately this was when those recordings had stopped, as the camera lenses failed, so he had no warning of what he was about to be presented with.

  Gliding towards him was a great white creature, with a large round body easily twice as high as he was, and a selection of tentacles of various lengths and thicknesses.

  The creature possessed two plate-sized eyes in the centre of its body, with two much smaller eyes located between them, just above and below. There was some sort of mouth below the eyes, protected by a fringe of mini tentacles.

  Its body was pale and bloodless but covered in a network of thick, ropy veins. There was no noticeable head.

  As it moved towards him, it stretched out two of its largest tentacles.

  Jack resisted the urge to flinch as they clung to him, the great suckers holding him in an unbreakable grip. He heard a voice in his head, whispering.

  ’Greetings,’ it said, the voice both guttural and sibilant. ‘We are so pleased to meet you.’

  By way of emphasis, the pressure on his body jumped at ‘so’ and ‘you’.

  Jack didn’t think his body could withstand much more of a welcome.

  ‘Thank you for your kind welcome,’ he said, his electronic voice loud in the thick liquid. He didn’t know where the inspiration came from but he gave the tentacles a big squeeze at ‘you’ and ‘welcome’.

  ‘You are the fifth human to attempt negotiation, but only the first who did not cause insult when they were greeted.’

  ‘Insult?’ Jack wasn’t sure of the squeezing protocol for single word questions so he hugged the tentacles just in case.

  ‘They expired.’ There was a ripple along one tentacle. Regret? Annoyance?

  ‘Your English is very good.’

  ‘English? I believed we were speaking American.’ That ripple again.

  ‘They are almost the same.’ Jack noted that the creature was in fact speaking with something of a southern drawl.

  ‘I see that English was the original of the two, so we should adopt that as our chosen method of discourse.’ Jack wasn’t sure, but he thought he detected something of the Geordie now.

  The ensuing conversation was quite drawn out and seemed to take an age to get anywhere but, as he approached his two hour limit, Jack was fairly confident that he knew what the Jeuroespylobnonyen wanted. The name had taken 20 minutes in itself to determine.

  The goodbyes were even more extreme than the welcomes and Jack was sure he’d incurred serious damage to his supporting framework. A quick visit to Hominids R Us was in order.

  Before that he had to be debriefed, after he had been thoroughly hosed down.

  It was the same guy who had interviewed him earlier. Accompanied by two others who wore uniforms festooned with ribbons of every possible colour.

  ‘What do they want?’ Nicely to the point, no need for niceties.

  ‘It’s quite strange, really. Where they come from, and I’m not going to try to pronounce the name, they don’t have music in the way we do. The music they do have is generally atonal, lasts for several hours and doesn’t have words. They never invented the combination of lyrics with music.’

  ‘That’s all very fine but, what do they actually want?’

  ‘Well, have you heard of Debbie Winters?’

  There were blank looks from the civilian and one of the soldiers; the other looked as if he might know, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

  ‘Well, the Jeuroespylobnonyen have. She’s the latest Australian singing sensation. They want her to record vocals over a series of tracks they have of their own music. They think they’ll make a fortune when they get home.’

  ‘So they are not a military force, or even representatives of their government?’

  ‘No, they are traders, exploring the universe to make a buck.’

  ‘But that’s ridiculous!’

  ‘It’s how the west was won.’

  ‘And what do they offer in return for these songs?’

  ‘Well, that’s a problem, I think. They have a little statue they think is quite valuable back home, and some rocks.’

  ‘What about their advanced technology? Surely they can teach us so much that will be of great value to us.’

  ‘You’d think so, but no. As I said, they are just traders. They don’t understand the technology they are using, any more than a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman really understands the internal combustion engine that drives his car.’

  ‘Can’t we retro..oh, what’s the word? Retro-engineer.’

  ‘I don’t think they will allow us to interfere with their ship, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  ‘Can they stop us?’ This was one of the soldiers.

  Jack turned to him. ‘They may not understand their advanced technologies, but they certainly know how to use them. So, yes is the answer to your question.’ Jack paused for a second, then finished with a dismissive, ‘Sir.’

  ‘What about more cultural gifts. Is there anything they can offer in that respect?’ said the civilian, his posture suggesting that he was eager to get somewhere today.

  ‘Not really, it’s not actually their thing. They have offered to help with the Mars Project if that’s of any use. They seem to know that the project has been beset by delays over the years.’

  ‘In what way will they help us?’

  ‘They’ll give us a lift. They are quite happy to drop us off on their way home.’

  ‘Well, that seems something worthwhile at least. Does anyone know how to contact this Debbie…?’

  ‘Winters,’ said the soldier who had not previously spoken. ‘She’s in Washington this weekend as part of her world tour, Eucalyptus Leaves. Her agent is Dan Matthews.’

  The other soldier was looking at him with puzzlement on his face.

  ‘My daughter is a big fan. We have all of her 3DDs.’

  ‘In that case, can I leave it to you to make contact? I’m not sure what sort of budget we’d have for any of this, so you will have to persuade her that it is her duty as an American to do this for free.’

  The civilian was already sitting back in his chair, gathering his paperwork together.

  ‘She’s not American,‘ interjected Jack. ‘She’s Australian.’

  The civilian frowned.

  ‘Of course. You did mention that. After that Great Barrier Reef incident, she’s not going to want to help us Americans, though it wasn’t really our fault. Perhaps you should ask her?’

  ‘She won’t listen to me, I’m English. We backed you up on the GBR f
iasco.’

  ‘It wasn’t a fiasco, it was an incident. Anyway I see what you mean. In that case, does anyone know any Canadians?’

  Chapter 28

  Jack waited patiently for the door to open. He was feeling quite relaxed and everything seemed to be going to plan.

  In his shoulder bag were the discs containing Miss Winter’s contribution to interstellar harmony, though, having endured the hours long performances, Jack was not sure if that was the correct word to use.

  It would have been nice to turn at the top of the steps and take his last look at the World, but they were still inside a tent, so all there was to see was dirty white canvass and a bunch of inadequately armed soldiers.

  Jack had few regrets about leaving a world that didn’t really want him. He had his work at Hominids R Us, but no-one there wanted anything other than a professional relationship with him. Outside of work, he was shunned even by the socially inadequate scientists and engineers that worked with him. And of course, romance was always going to be a bit of an issue for him.

  Since his release, he’d felt that he was on something of a tangent; always 3 degrees off where everyone else was. It wasn’t hell, but he might live for another 100 years, even more if he believed what he was told by Hominids R Us. If that was the case, he simply had to leave.

  Desert islands are few and far between these days so, when the idea began to grow in his minds as he talked to the J-Yen, it wasn’t a hard decision to make.

  He didn’t look back as the door opened, he simply stepped through and faced the inner door.

  He was greeted with a welcoming, bone crushing hug as he entered the large chamber. It could have been the same J-Yen as before but, equally it could have been a different one.

  The creature led him through the chamber and along a wide corridor, to a small airlock. When he’d cycled through, Jack found himself in a small room, filled with air and with a distinct lack of nasty green liquid to eat through his body.

  In addition to the room, they had also prepared for him a brand new, green resistant body in a fetching shade of dull black.

  Jack smiled inwardly at the lies he’d told to the civilian and his military friends. The trade was just so simple; Debbie Winter’s dulcet tones in exchange for free passage for him to anywhere in the local universe he might want to visit.

  He would have been a fool to pass up such an opportunity.

  **********

  When he saw the ship, Number Five was more than a little disappointed. It was a fairly basic transporter, with very little in the way of advanced features, designed only for the short hop between Earth and the Moon. It wouldn’t do at all.

  So he had to have Lewis and his friends, all so co-operative, scour the remains of the once thriving lunar community for the raw material he would need to complete his two projects.

  Firstly, he had to have a ship with a performance envelope that far exceeded the craft he was starting out with. And of course it would need a TPI drive.

  Secondly, if he was going to face up to Jack, he couldn’t do it in person. He was hardwired to be at Jack’s mercy; with a single thought, Jack could switch him to remote mode and control him in very much the same way he himself was controlling Lewis and the others. So he needed to create a new model, one without the override function; he had to make Number Five: Mk II.

  Chapter 29

  ‘Where to next?’ Debois was lounging in a chaise long he had persuaded the ship to extrude. He was wearing a bright red tunic and black tights that emphasised his surprisingly trim legs. All courtesy of the ship.

  ‘You’ll be pleased to know our next visit will be to Number Two. He’s the closest to us.’

  ‘At last! And what will you do with him? Will you bring him on board, or do you have some other devilish plan?’

  ‘No, nothing devilish. He’ll come on board just as Number Seven did.’

  ‘What about the replicants? You can’t leave them there.’

  ‘They’re not my problem. The agreement was to remove any threat from the seven replicants; the seven original replicants. That is what I am doing.’

  ‘But surely the spirit of the agreement prevails here. Not to leave copies of yourself at large to disrupt the smooth running of the human universe.’

  ‘I prefer to abide by the letter of the agreement; it was your idea after all. Anyway, they will be fairly harmless from now on. When I’ve instructed them, they’ll do no more harm. Trust me.’

  ‘I have no intention of trusting you on this, Jack. And neither will Earth’s AI. They won’t allow you to return to Earth if you don’t deal with this problem.’

  ‘What do you expect me to do? There are billions of them. I couldn’t destroy them all if I tried.’

  ‘Fortunately we’ve thought of that. If you check your AI’s inbox, you’ll find a little present I left there earlier. It’s a quite delightful virus you can infect them with. Their bodies will overheat in seconds and the part of them that is really you will simply cook.’

  ‘You can’t expect me to do that, and Number Two wouldn’t let me.’

  ‘Which is why he must be your first victim.’

  In the unnerving way he had adopted recently, Jack flipped to another topic.

  ‘We need to bleed speed before we start our next flicker. The solar system we will arrive in is quite crowded and I don’t want to arrive at this speed.’

  ‘That means the stasis chamber again, I suppose.’

  ‘Of course. Get the kids will you?’

  ‘I think they are having an intimate moment.’ Debois slid off the chaise long in what could have passed as an elegant move only in complete darkness. ‘I’ll fetch them some tissues.’

  Jack watched him go. Slowly he shook his head; he wasn’t going to allow Debois anywhere near Number Two. Not now that his plan was beginning to develop.

  Chapter 30

  ‘Change of plan,’ announced Jack as he opened Debois’s stasis chamber. ‘We are going to find Number One.’

  ‘Oh. I see. Why the change?’

  ‘It just seems a better idea at the moment.’

  ‘But what about Number Two? You really can’t keep putting off dealing with him. You know that Jack.’

  ‘Still, it’s Number One next.’

  ‘And where is Number One?’

  Jack brought up a 3D display showing a blue and white world. There was one massive continent visible, straddling the equator. The poles were tiny caps of ice and the rest of the world was a dark green mass of water.

  ‘He’s down there,’ said Jack, simply.

  Several hours later, Jack herded his passengers on to the flight deck.

  ‘We’re going to have to shrink the ship before we can adjust to our atmospheric flight configuration. It’s going to get a little cramped with so many unexpected passengers.’

  Two additional acceleration couches were extruded from the deck, beside the one already occupied by Debois.

  ‘They are very comfortable.’ Debois smiled as Sarah and Max joined him.

  Jack took up his place at the forward bulkhead. Number Seven positioned himself at the rear bulkhead; silent as ever.

  As the ship transferred its unnecessary mass to the 17th Prime, everyone got much closer than they were entirely comfortable with. Jack kept the video display open, so they were able to watch their approach to the watery world below them.

  ‘Does it have a name?’ asked Sarah as she reached out one hand to touch Max.

  ‘It doesn’t have a human name, as no-one else has been here. There are intelligent creatures here but I didn’t bother to ask them the last time I was here.’

  ‘Let’s think of a name,’ said Debois. ‘I’ve never named a world before.’

  ‘It hardly seems necessary. We’re not going to be there very long, if things work out as they should.’

  ‘Don’t be a spoilsport. I’m going to call it Turquoise.’

  ‘Surely it’s more blue,’ said Jack, getting involved despite hims
elf.

  ‘Or green,’ said Sarah.

  ‘No, it’s turquoise. Trust me; I have a good eye for colour. So, welcome to Turquoise every one.’

  There was silence then on deck as the little ship began to jerk and jump, buffeted by the onrushing atmosphere.

  **********

  The night Ben was born, Sarah called Jack away from work early, thinking she was due to start.

  By the time he reached home, however, things had calmed down and it looked as though it was a false alarm. Ben wasn’t due for a couple of days yet, but they were so ready for him. His name, his bedroom, his first outfits, his cute little mobile; they were all waiting for the little fellow to arrive.

  The first contractions started just as Sarah’s favourite soap began.

  ‘It’s only 30 minutes,’ she winced. ‘I want to see how Jeff and Simone get on, and you know Brian won’t be happy.’

  ‘I could tape it,’ said Jack, already half into his coat.

  ‘No. These things take hours. It probably won’t be ‘til tomorrow, anyway. There’s no need to rush.’

  An hour later, they were in a side room off the maternity ward. Jack had barely sat down when the midwife came in to have a look at Sarah.

  ‘I think she’s about ready,’ she said, after a quick intimate inspection. ‘I’ll call a porter. We don’t have much time.’

  Jack grabbed the frame of the bed. ‘Where do you want us?’

  Within minutes they were in the delivery room and Jack stood back and watched as his son rushed to be born. There were screams and bodily fluids, red faces and calm professionalism, white knuckles and queasy stomachs. And the final point was a single lusty cry as Ben announced his arrival to an expectant world.

  The midwife handed him to Sarah, then began to fiddle below. Jack moved away from the business end and looked down at his son’s face for the first time. There were no wrinkles, just smooth reddened skin, topped by a mass of wet dark air. And the eyes; small, dark all seeing; beautiful.