by Jason Bourn
Calaes did not want to concede that she had a point – it was too awful to contemplate. It would mean that everything that he had striven for, for so long, had been in vain. He tried desperately to think of where her logic had a hole in it to exploit. But he could not think of any rebuttal that made any sense. Mars was further from this threat than the moon or on Earth itself, but it was still well within Earth’s sphere of influence. He couldn’t see how here on Mars they would ever be free from Earth and therefore from Earth’s self-serving influence. With a lame attempt at humor, he said, “Well, now back to the drawing board. Time for a new strategy.”
She smiled and said, “I think that is a very good idea. To that end, I think that I can help. Oh, and I know where you can find the missing cargo you have been looking for.”
Calaes was floored. “You know where the missing cargo is? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’m confused, please explain.” Shaking his head, Calaes just stood there not saying anything. Chaotic thoughts rocketed around inside his head, but he couldn’t get anything to make sense.
Instead of answering Calaes’ questions directly, Hope said, “Let me tell you a story that I think you might be very interested in. It all started out over ten years ago. My father and a small group of other rebels saw what VR could do to essentially subjugate mankind and how the government was facilitating the rollout of VR. The rebels were able to get a group of influential people to finance a secret revolt. I believe my father told you this much. The story goes on, but he didn’t share the rest with you.
“We were able to set up a group of the best engineers and scientists into a secret facility. Working with sympathizers in VR and our group outside of VR, we were able to develop plans for an interstellar craft. We were quite lucky in that the Flight Simulator VR project was set up to be as realistic as possible. In order to ensure accuracy, actual prototypes were built so that the look and feel would be accurate. We were able to take the designs, and in some cases the prototypes themselves, and over the last ten years create a functional interstellar craft. All of those unaccounted-for parts and equipment that you found out about have actually been diverted to this craft, which is being built on Phobos. Mars’ moon was the logical place, since it afforded ample secrecy and the material was already physically coming so close.
“Consider all the factors that come with building a craft away from Earth and keeping it secret. The ship was never intended to survive a planet’s gravity, so we had to build it far enough away from Mars, not on the Martian surface itself. Phobos was the perfect spot for several reasons. First, this moon is relatively small, one of the smallest in the solar system – about a million times less massive than Earth’s moon. This meant that the gravity was small enough that it wouldn’t destroy the craft. Second, Phobos is the closest moon to its planetary master in the solar system, so it is relatively easy to get to this moon from Mars. Third, Phobos’ huge ten km diameter Stickney crater was perfect to hide both the ship and the associated manufacturing facility, keeping them hidden from Earth and lunar telescopes. There is no way we could have built it in orbit around Mars since it would be too easy to spot. We utilized one of the fusion power plants for the production facility and three for the craft, for redundancy and plentiful power. I can’t wait until you can see it in person, it is quite impressive.
“We have been working on this project non-stop for the last ten years, all the while keeping out of view of the government. We were able to tap some of the greatest minds to design the ship through the use of VR while at the same time getting those you know as rebels here on the surface of Phobos actually building it. All of the operational exercises that everyone in VR did, yourself included, helped to prepare for the time when the ship will be launched. And it is almost ready. I can’t tell you how important it is that everyone who has broken out of VR has been fully trained in the exact configuration of this interstellar craft – this has saved us years’ worth of training time.”
With that she started showing Calaes some pictures on the vid screen of the craft. To Calaes it looked, of course, exactly like it had looked in VR. But this ship was real. Imagine the possibilities! He was speechless. As if through the parting of the Red sea, Calaes could see that this path could be the solution to all the problems with their previous plans. She continued, “As you can see, we are very far along. In fact, we are literally within days of being fully operational and ready to launch. This is one of the reasons my father and I chose now to tell you.
“Scientists have known about possible habitable worlds for over thirty years and drone ships have been sent out to the most promising candidates. We have received data back from several of them that there is a ninety percent likelihood of them supporting human life. We picked the best candidate, which is about nine light-years away. We chose that one since there is another candidate only three light years further, if the first destination proves unsuitable. We have determined that with this craft, we can safely get to about half the speed of light by continuously accelerating. It helps that everyone will be in suspended animation – we can have a sustained acceleration of 3Gs that way. Still, it will take close to twenty years of travel to the first destination. And because of the having to accelerate and decelerate twice, going to the second destination will take another fifteen years.”
Calaes said, “Those kinds of distances are both good and bad. It is an awfully long distance for us to travel with no real ability to rely on Earth, even if we wanted to. On the other hand, it is plenty far enough from Earth that we should be able to stay well outside their sphere of influence.”
Hope nodded approvingly, “Yes, I’m glad you catch on quickly. We have been living with this knowledge for as long as I can remember. I’m sure that this has caught you blindsided and I’m glad you are handling it so well. It really is quite impressive, don’t you think?”
She looked at him and a strange expression came over her face. It was an expression he had never seen on her face before – almost like indecision. Finally, she took a deep breath and said slowly, “Over the last ten years, every prospective candidate has been rigorously checked out and those that showed exceptional promise were identified early on. I bet you didn’t know that you were always flagged as having the most potential to be leadership material. I have been heavily involved in this process and have been following your progress for many years, ever since I was a little girl. I followed your career very closely and you were always my favorite. In fact, I am somewhat afraid to share this with you, but by following your progress both as a leader and as a person, I have kind of developed a crush on you.” She looked up bashfully and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to see what his reaction was. She had just let down her emotional guard and was anxiously waiting for his reaction.
She paused for a moment to let everything sink in. “So,” she continued, “what do you think of my little story?”
Calaes was stunned – his head was swirling with everything he had heard.
On the one hand, with his objective mind, he found it hard to accept what he had heard concerning the interstellar ship. Could this be real? He couldn’t think of any reason that she might be pulling his leg. What purpose would that serve? There was no doubt that the pictures looked quite impressive. This whole concept was so much bigger and more complex than he had thought was possible. But when he thought about it as a whole – it did make sense. Everything was set up with this in mind. It was masterful the way it all fit neatly together. This was the biggest project ever set up in the history of the human race – and all done in secret.
On the other hand, he was emotionally unprepared for her disclosure that she had feelings for him and this, in concert with the mission revelation, absolutely overwhelmed his mind. She had feelings for him – a crush no less! He decided to take this slowly, smiling and taking her hand saying, “I’m glad that I was the one you had a crush on. When we first met it felt like there was instant chemistry between us and I have been feeling closer a
nd closer to you the more we have been together. This is the first time I’ve really had a chance to say it.”
She looked up at him with a shy smile on her face. “Normally I am purely an intellectual – I have never let my feelings get in the way of what needed to be done. Now though, I have to admit that it has become decidedly harder. Luckily, so far both the emotional and the intellectual have been in sync – with you being the answer. I hope it is always this easy.”
He held her hand in silence for a short while, when finally she said, “I know this is bad timing, but we really need to talk about the pro-government messages. We need to determine how to respond. I’m not sure what is going to happen, but we have one saving grace. Specifically, even if Earth wanted to get involved now, since Earth and Mars are now moving farther and farther apart it will take more than one year to get here, even at the fastest acceleration allowable with unmanned ships. This should give us plenty of time to prepare.”
Calaes thought about this and said, “I agree. This gives us plenty of time. We’re going to have to be careful about disseminating this information. This will hit everyone like a bombshell. I’m not sure how everyone will take this.”
Just then a message started playing on every vid screen. A plainly artificial face said in a synthesized voice:
“Candidates, you have been fooled. The World Government of Earth wants you to know that Mars was never intended to be a settlement independent from Earth. We urge you to question your leadership here on Mars and we ask anyone that wants to join with the World Government to break away from the current settlement leadership. Resist, commit acts of vandalism, do whatever it takes until they tell you the truth. Don’t be duped. The World Government of Earth is looking out for your interests. We want you safely back on Earth where we’ve prepared a wonderful refuge just for you, where you can partake of all of the world’s treasures. You will literally live like kings and queens. Come back to Earth – you won’t regret it.”
The bottom of the screen showed information on how to securely contact the authors of this message.
With that, the vid screens all went blank. Calaes couldn’t believe it. The government was offering them all the riches of the world as a bribe. And there was just enough truth to the message. After all the settlement really hadn’t been intended for long-term independent living, just as their message said. Calaes now had to decide how to respond to this latest threat.
CHAPTER 37
Hope looked at Calaes with concern written plainly on her face. “I was afraid that something like this might happen. We need to come up with a response to this unsolicited message, and quickly. I also need to consult with my father. I hope the stress on him won’t set him back even farther. Have you ever had to tend to a sick parent?”
Calaes could feel for her, but he was also trying to grapple with the bigger problem. “No, I’ve never had to take care of my parents. They both eventually went into VR, and they haven’t had any issues of course. No more knee pain, no more tennis elbow, no more arthritis. With VR everything is taken care of. It is so easy to diagnose any problems, with the nanites. If necessary, the nanites will do whatever surgery is required and with the automatic drug delivery available in the virtual rooms, they are cured if it is possible. Otherwise, the pain management is quite good. Neither of them has suffered at all. I am really sorry about your father. I hope he is not in too much pain.”
Hope gave him a wry smile and said, “You sound just like a government-sponsored advertisement for VR. Are you sure that you’re not in it with them?”
Calaes smiled back saying, “Yes, I suppose it does sound that way. There are lots of benefits of VR – that is why it is so popular. If only it didn’t come with one hundred thousand pounds of baggage.”
“Yes,” Hope responded, “but you have to be careful that you don’t inadvertently say something that can be used against us.”
Calaes sighed and nodded in agreement. He stood back and said to Hope, “This has been a roller coaster of a day. You don’t know how much it means to me to know you care about me, just like I care about you. Yet I can’t sit here and enjoy it with this new threat hanging over our heads. I need to go now and meet up with a few of my team-leads to try to get a handle on the situation.”
Regretfully Calaes gave Hope’s hand one last squeeze and walked out of her office.
He immediately set up a meeting with Anya and Antony. He noted that his persa had already received messages from both of them, so it was easy to set up a meeting immediately.
“OK, let’s get started,” Calaes said as the two team-leads entered the meeting room. “First off, how could they send a message that was received by so many vid screens? And who are ‘they’? Anyone?”
Anya and Antony looked at each other and, with a slight nod from Antony, Anya started out, “They utilized a feature in the messaging system normally reserved for emergency messages. Theoretically anyone can send an emergency message which will be displayed on all vid screens in the entire settlement. Normally this is just a canned emergency message. Under certain circumstances a specific message can be sent. Normally no one does this. There is nothing more embarrassing than accidentally sending a message to everyone. So, the system allows it, but it tries to make sure you really want to do this and requires proper authorization.”
Anya paused and squirmed slightly in her seat. “The harder question is who sent this message. We can trace the source two ways: to a specific physical location of entry into the system and to the initiator’s ID. The entry into the system is pretty much a dead end. Everyone has wireless access anywhere in the settlement, so although it probably doesn’t help to know that it came from within the settlement – I can confirm that it did. Anyone can send anything from any connected public platform, whether it be a vacuum cleaner, a security drone or whatever. So, like I said, the specific point of entry is a dead end.”
Calaes was getting impatient. “I get that the source device is not going to be useful, since anyone could use any device, but surely the source’s ID must be recorded. And you said the use of the tailored emergency message required authorization. Who provided that authorization?”
Anya looked and Antony, then back to Calaes. “The source ID was recorded. That’s what the problem is. According to the source ID, the message was sent by you, Calaes, and you don’t need any higher authorization.”
Calaes just stared at him. Finally he said, “I don’t understand. What do you mean it was sent by me?”
Anya said, “The data logging shows that you sent the message.”
Calaes just stared at Anya for several long moments. Then he said, “What do you mean I sent it? I did not send it.”
Antony shook his head and said, “We know that. Here, let me explain. Every person has a unique ID that is used whenever they do anything. This is very simple and straightforward, so everyone knows the source when any messages are sent. This is foolproof as long as there is a unique source ID for every person. Well, it turns out that somehow you were assigned two IDs. No one detected this, since the other ID was never used. Normally we would have caught this with our normal checks we have in place, but it appears that as the leader you get some special treatment and there are some special conditions that pop up – and this was one. No one thought to check with you that you wouldn’t need two IDs for some reason. We kind of gave you the benefit of the doubt. But we know that you couldn’t have sent the message since you were locked up with Hope behind some kind of secure perimeter. Can you tell me what you two were discussing?”
Calaes was a bit embarrassed by the thought that they had been caught discussing their private lives, when he realized that at some point, he was going to have to share the information about the interstellar craft and the real mission. He didn’t know if now was the right time to share this information, but decided that he probably need the same kind of secure perimeter set up to protect the conversation. “I’m sorry, I can’t share that information with you as of right
now. I can say that it is important information, if that helps.”
Calaes smiled weakly as Antony and Anya stared at him. Anya finally said, “I have disabled your secondary ID, but I’m afraid that the damage has been done. Everyone has heard this message. What are you going to do about it?”
Calaes thought about it. He wasn’t sure what to do. “Do you think you will be able to find out who sent the message? I’m worried that if we don’t find out who and stop them, there may be a groundswell of support for the government.”
Anya quickly looked at the updated system information and nodded. “Yes, I can see that is happening already. The pro-government rebellion secure message board started with just a few names. Since that message, it has swelled to over sixty and is growing larger all the time. I can’t tell you who they are, but we have more than sixty rebellion sympathizers here in the settlement.”
Calaes asked, “Is there any way we can find out who they are from the secure contact information they left at the bottom of their message?”
Anya shook her head, “No, that is just a secure message board. That is the simplest way to hide everyone’s identity. Anyone can add anything and, intentionally, there is no record kept, except by anonymous ID, which is of no use to us.”
