“And what do you think you will do with this resistance?”
“Uh, resist?”
“You can’t define a word with that word. What are you going to do?”
Daniel started to answer, then hesitated. Possible replies seemed to fly into his mind at light speed and exit just as fast. After almost a minute of this he finally said, “Protest, undermine Maxis’ rule, prepare for you. Y’know, that sort of thing.”
“I won’t be able to assist you in person for about three standard months, Mister Rosen. Now if your organizing and resisting gets you or your wife or the both of you arrested, I will have a very hard time contacting you. It will be even harder for us to transact business. Correct?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“For me to give you any help, you are going to have to be able to keep in touch with me.”
“But, what about...?”
“Listen, stop getting your ideas from ancient movies. You don’t organize a resistance when people are unhappy. You organize when they’re fed up and ready to act. If your people were that angry you wouldn’t need me to help get the ball rolling, right?”
“Well, I suppose,...”
“Trust me. For now all you and your wife need to do is feed me data. Put together information on your work routines, the layout of your domes, the names of your friends, any stray fact that might be of use to me. Even the parents of your security guards.”
“We don’t have guards. We have guard-bots.”
“Then send me their make and model numbers. Just gather the data and keep an eye on how people feel. Can you do that, and only that?”
“We can.”
“Good. Now, next time I will call you. Don’t call me unless it’s urgent. Are we all synced up, Daniel?”
“Sure.”
“Great. Start gathering, and I’ll call back in a few days, probably at this same time. Goodbye.”
Daniel’s face disappeared, and the concert transmission enlarged to fill the screen again. Jake tapped a few keypads on one of the bridge panels. He might have to watch Evvie at work, but that didn’t mean he had to listen to her as well. After some searching he was able to find an acceptable substitute, and the play-by-play of a RoboJoust game in the Earth Alliance League drifted through the cabin.
“Odin, if the Rosens ask you for any subversive literature, don’t indulge them without my approval.”
“All right. Why?”
“Because knowing those two, they’ll start talking to me in accents.”
***
Every morning as Jake passed by the holoroom on his way to the bridge he heard awful noises. Musical instruments screeched and crowds cheered. On one particular morning, a week into his escort job, the noise was especially unpleasant. He decided to go inside the holoroom and try to put a stop to the abuse of his superb facilities.
Evvie was again using the room to rehearse her live show. The second day on board she had been able to program a stage show, her backup players and dancers, and the special effects. The third day she learned how to program the audience. They never booed, but then neither did the real crowds.
Jake almost felt himself drawn to the spectacle. It was like passing by a starship disaster; you couldn’t help but watch while the sight repelled you.
He had decided some time ago that Evvie wouldn’t catch anyone’s eye if you saw her as a normal young woman on the street. Her on-stage dress combined good-girl trendy with bad-girl trash. She sang with no accent, her dance routines were, well, “routine,” and her concerts devoid of random acts of personality. It was this “averageness” that in reality was completely false and highly crafted, that put her in the long-established mold of a “teen pop singing sensation.”
Jake struggled not to throw up his breakfast.
“Program, pause!” he snapped.
Evvie gave him a wide frown. “Why’d ya stop it?”
“Could you at least not play that...that... drivel so loud?”
“This isn’t drizzle. This is good music!”
Jake felt his bile rise. “No, it is not. It’s commercial garbage, designed to make money. Why do all you pop ‘musicians’ have to sing about the same old things? Why don’t you sing about what happens in your life, instead of someone else’s?”
“Don’t take it so seriously,” she replied with a shrug. “It’s only music.”
“Only music?”
“Well, yeah, isn’t everything?”
“No! Is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony only music? Is the William Tell Overture only music? Is ‘Let It Be’ only music?”
Evvie blinked. “Was all that written by the same guy?”
“I can’t believe this! You are a musical idiot!” Jake spun and stormed out of the room.
“I am not!” She followed him onto the bridge. “You just don’t like that I’m popular.”
“No. Popularity has nothing to do with it. It’s about honesty, sincerity, having something new to say.”
“No, you’re just jealous.” She glanced around. “Say, is it time for my interview?”
“Thirty-one minutes, ten seconds,” Odin announced.
“Cool. Just enough time to get changed.”
“Changed?” Jake asked. “You appear to be dressed as it is.” For a pop star who sings crappy trash, he was desperate to add.
“This is one of my performance outfits,” Evvie replied. Her voice suggested that she was amazed that Jake hadn’t noticed this fact. “I can’t do an interview dressed like this. Especially since this one’s with an older woman.” She shook her head. “I’ll be back in time.” She turned and jogged off the bridge.
“It may interest you to know,” Odin said, “that the interviewer in question is all of thirty-two.”
“Odin, please. I am trying to keep down my breakfast.”
***
As Evvie waited patiently for her interview to begin, Jake watched from his place by the ship controls and readouts. His first thought had been to switch places with her: he would watch from the lower part of the bridge while she sat in this seat. More thinking led him to decide that he didn’t want Evvie near the controls; who knew what pad she might tap in boredom or excitement.
It was just as well. Evvie immediately aimed for the couch in the lower section. “It won’t look like I’m that isolated,” she told him, “while keeping the freaks from peeking into my room.”
Watching her now he was somewhat amazed that she didn’t seem to be fidgeting, humming, or displaying any signs of nervousness. Even if she had experience with being interviewed, he believed that she ought to display some signal that she was waiting. A closer look at her face revealed to him the faint expression of concentration.
So that’s it, he thought. She’s trying to remember what she wants to say. That explains everything.
The interviewer had been glancing away from Evvie for the last several moments. She seemed to get some sort of signal off-camera. She nodded, turned to Evvie, and said, “Ready?”
“I’m ready.”
The woman nodded again. “Hello, everyone,” she began in a more perky tone, “this is Jen Carsten with PopRocksNet, and joining us is Evvie Martini. Hi, Evvie.”
“Hi, Jen.”
“You’re out performing your songs live, I hear.”
“Yeah. I’ve got enough tunes to make for a good hour-long show, and I wanted to say ‘hi’ to all my fans, so I’m hittin’ space.”
“Anything we can expect from your show, Evvie?”
“Lots of cool songs and a really spiff image show. Y’know, Jen, we shot a couple alternate clips for some of the songs, and I think we might give everyone who turns out a disc with those clips.”
“Spiff songs and gifts for your fans? Evvie, that’s so great.”
“Yeah.”
“So, how long are you out, and where are you going next?”
“I’ll be on tour for three standard months yet. Tomorrow I’ll be on New Paris. Uh, the next day I’ll be on Caledonia,
and then we go to Osage, Al-Haje, and Youngstown. For the whole tour list, ticket orders, PPV orders, and other cool stuff you can click to my infosite. Just type or speak ‘Evvie.’ I hope your viewers can check out the show.”
“Let’s hope so, Evvie. Good luck with your tour.”
“Thanks!”
“We’ve been talking to Evvie Martini, a hot young star singing live for the next few months. I’ll be back with more pop news, so don’t click out.” The interviewer waited a moment, then nodded to someone off-camera. An instant later she turned back to the subject of her interview. “Evvie, the piece is saved.”
“Cool. When’s it gonna run?”
“We’ll run it on the quarter-hour for the next couple days, then every four hours for another three.”
“That it?”
“We’re done for now. Thanks for talking.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, that was deep,” Jake said after the image faded. He rose from his seat and walked towards Evvie.
“What?”
“I think your interview clocked in at under two minutes. Maybe even a minute and a half.”
“So?”
“It doesn’t bother you that she didn’t ask you about your songs. That the whole thing was hype and fluff.”
Evvie shook her head. “No.” She stood up and turned to leave.
“No?”
She turned to face him. “It was just a promo interview.”
“Gee, I didn’t know their job was to promote you.”
“Of course, silly. What’s the whole point of being interviewed if it doesn’t boost sales and turnout?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe to show people who you really are. Maybe to elicit actual information. A real answer might be nice.”
“Hey, I’m not in any scandal. I don’t need to deal with that. Look, I need to go rehearse.” Without waiting for Jake to respond, Evvie turned and walked off the bridge.
“Oh, the depths we have fallen to,” he said once she was gone.
“I don’t believe ‘depth’ is quite appropriate, Jake,” Odin observed.
***
“Odin, I think now would be good time to contact the Rosens.”
“If you say so.”
Evvie’s concert was at the halfway mark. There was a risk in attempting to make contact, mainly that Jake might be late in picking her up and she might then get suspicious. But four days had passed since Daniel had called. Jake thought more than enough time had passed for him to find out what Jake needed to know. He also didn’t want to get the Rosens nervous by being out of touch for too long. Who knows what trouble they could get into if Jake didn’t keep an eye on them.
Once again Daniel’s image took over much of the screen. “Yes?” he asked calmly.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Jake wasn’t certain, but Daniel appeared to be in pajamas.
“Oh, no. Our sleep cycle doesn’t start for about twenty minutes.”
“Sorry. We’ll try to keep your local time in mind when we call. Any luck gathering the information I requested?”
“No problems. Most of it is stuff everyone knows.”
“Well, time is short for both of us. Start with the basics.”
“Okay. Our main dome has six levels. Maxis and his cronies live up of the top level. Level two is where foremen and their families live. It’s also where we have the sickbay, the schools, and the main cafeteria.”
“Everyone eats there? At the same time?”
“Yes, but in shifts. I guess it’s cheaper than building additional domes near the mines,” he added with a slight sneer.
“Probably. Go on.”
“The rest of the workers live on levels three, four, and five. Six is the bottom level, where the vehicles are stored. Everyone boards hover-buses there to ride to their workplaces.”
“Okay, Daniel, that’s a nice travelogue. How about some hard facts?”
“Like?”
“You say Maxis uses guardbots. Where are they controlled from? Where are they repaired?”
“We haven’t yet found out where they’re controlled, but we know that there’s a maintenance shop on level six.”
“Down there? Surely that’s not the only shop. How well do you know the levels?”
“I know two through five pretty well. I don’t think there’s any more on six that we’ve missed. I’ve only been to the top level once. Clarissa has been there a few times.”
Clarissa edged her face next to her husband’s. “Hi, Mister Bonner.”
“Clarissa? Anything to add?” Jake asked.
“Not really. I think there’s a control room on the top level, but I don’t know what’s in there or how many people work there.”
Jake exhaled. “Okay, let’s take it from another angle. You’ve told me about the main dome. How many other domes are there?”
“One for the processing plant,” Daniel answered, “one for waste reclamation, one for supply storage, and maybe seven or eight mines.”
“The number of mines varies,” Clarissa said. “One closed down a year ago, but crews are working on building two new ones.”
“Okay.” Jake paused for a moment to think. He could see the Rosens had some serious gaps in their knowledge. They knew nothing about the security systems. Their layout of the dome left some unused space, if he was right about his estimate of the dome’s size.
Question is, he mused, are they in a position to find out?
“What do you two do?” he asked them. “What are your jobs?”
Brief expressions of shame crossed their faces before Daniel answered. “I’m the deputy foreman at the processing plant. Clarissa is crew chief at one of the mines.”
“I see.” I think I begin to understand why you want a revolution. “Daniel, I think you’re in a better position to ask questions than Clarissa. I’d like you to talk security with your boss. Now, you said you have a supply dome, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“That means all your food, water, major equipment, it all gets shipped in from off-world.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Try in a roundabout way to ask your boss how crews of those off-world ships are kept from getting at any gold or silver. If he asks why you’re asking, tell him there’s a rumor going around about an off-worlder trying to pull a heist. You want some facts to dispel the rumors.”
“I can do that.”
“I’d also like both of you to keep your eyes open. Look for doors that don’t seem to lead to anything. See where your supervisors go. Don’t do any snooping, or ask anyone else any other questions. Got that?”
“Sure.”
“One last thing. If you get some time, compile the history of your world as you know it, as well as a list of all the executives’ names.”
“Is that a file we have to store?” Clarissa asked. “Having something like that could get us in trouble.”
Jake pondered the problem for an instant. “Can you download games?”
“From an approved list.”
“Do you have very many?”
“No.”
“Send us that list. Now.” Jake waited for Clarissa to transmit the file. “Odin?”
“Yes? Oh, I see. Mister Rosen, I am sending you a file with one of those names on it. You will place your data in that file. When you first open the file, it will ask you to tap six keypads. That will be your password to get to your data files. Whenever the file is opened it will play the game unless you tap those six keypads during the load phase.”
“It’s a standard encryption method,” Jake explained. “Never raises eyebrows. Can’t be found unless you know what you’re looking for.”
Daniel and Clarissa looked down from the view screen. Clarissa frowned. “I don’t like those sorts of games,” she said.
“Well, Daniel does.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Don’t start with me, you two,” Jake warned.
“Oh, all right.”
“Fine. I’ll get back to you in two or three days. Out.”
The image of the Rosens faded and was replaced with the concert. Jake tapped a keypad to mute the sound. “Odin, their description didn’t quite add up,” he said. “Run the numbers and see if I’m right.”
“Assuming standard space requirements?”
“Everything standard. In fact, take those standards back to the first settlement of Antioch Two.”
The bridge was silent for just under two minutes when Odin reported the results of his calculations. “Your estimate appears correct, Jake. There seems to be space unaccounted for in Mister Rosen’s statement. That space appears minimal on the first level, substantial on level six. Do you need the actual estimated cubic meters?”
“No, but tell me, could there be enough missing space for a bot repair shop on that first level?”
“A rather large shop, to be factual. Unless other space has been devoted to other uses.”
“Such as?”
“A conference room, to state an obvious suggestion.”
“Oh, yeah, good point. Okay, so add that room. Enough space for ten to fifteen people to meet in comfort. Is there still enough space left over for a repair shop?”
“Certainly.”
“Good. Care to speculate on what’s hidden on level six?”
“Not without parameters. I suppose this means I shall have to conduct scans of the world when we arrive?”
“Of course.” Jake smiled. “Think of the exercise as a practical test of your ability to scan artificial creations.”
“I already passed that test.”
“Then you’ll just have to pass it again.”
Four
Behind the Curtain is Dust
“Sid, why do I have to go along with Evvie on this shoot? Can you give me one good reason?”
Jake was not terribly pleased when Evvie’s agent informed him that he had to accompany her to the recording of a promotional infomercial. He believed that he was not a bodyguard, but merely a gloried chauffeur. Getting an explanation was testing his patience, so he came right out and asked Sid directly.
“Okay, fine.” Sid’s normally ebullient manner was clearly strained. “A friend of Evvie’s is planet-side. A friend that her mother and I would just as soon not be a friend, if you catch the gist of my hint, Jake.”
Oh, swell, Jake thought. I bet this “friend” is of the male gender, and that her being seen with him wouldn’t enhance Evvie’s image.
“Send me a picture of this friend,” he said, “and I’ll keep my eyes open.”
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