Chapter 34: In the Beginning
It took decades to prepare the biomes for human habitation. The asteroids that served as the base of the biomes provided 150 to 200 square kilometres of habitable area. This size was deemed big enough to support a population in the thousands. A valley was carved out of the stone. High sidewalls were erected around the perimeter. An opaque dome was built and supported on these walls. Thus a biome ship was born.
Gravity systems were integrated into the protective dome. These systems were able to sense and deflect any possible collisions with space debris, and reflect much of the solar and interstellar radiation. At first, there were problems with the gravity generators. They had a habit of cutting out completely, reducing the gravity to almost zero. A number of the domes were damaged when this happened. A lot of research went into this critical system before any inhabitants were moved to the biomes. Once it was totally secure, with many fail-safes, the terraforming began.
“First of all, I want you to relax. We were pretty sure this woman was involved in some rather nefarious activities. Her name is Winter Bancroft. Dr. Winter Bancroft. She is one of the few originators of the biome program. She must be over 100 by now. I can’t believe she is still alive,” said Poppy Greenway. They were now securely connected by VID and Jayne could see the frown form on Poppy’s face.
“She sure didn’t look that old when I saw her. More like a young 80. What does she do?” asked Jayne.
“She is a neurobiologist focusing on nanogenetic engineering. What she knows about the inner workings of the human body, at the molecular level, would astound you. It never occurred to me that she would be using omies to maintain her own body. You say her eyes looked like a very young person’s eyes. She could have discovered a way to use nanobots to correct and improve her own eyes,” he said pensively, “but, as I remember, her eyes were brown.”
“What else do you suspect her of doing?” asked Jayne.
“I think she is a member of the Forevers. In fact, I think she is a founding member. I brushed up on my history before I contacted you. I have some old publications—paper publications,” he said.
“Like an old book?” Jayne asked again.
“Yeah, sort of like a book but usually smaller. The weird thing about these papers is that it seems that I have the only copies in existence. I can’t find any electronic references to this series anywhere. It is like someone has purged them,” he said thoughtfully.
“What are they about?” ask Jayne.
“Well, that is the strange part. I originally thought Bancroft and her group were the initiators of the biome project and they were in some respects, but only much later in its conceptualization. In the beginning they were anti-biome. They had some other ideas about saving the human race. They were worried that all the required genetic modifications would alter the human genome so much that we would no longer be human. They were against sending human hybrids off to other worlds and calling that the salvation of the human race. They thought that, by improving the human brain, they would improve the abilities of the human mind and, through these new-found abilities, discover a way to avoid the Swarm and to save the planet. In the end, the concept of the biomes prevailed. People saw progress. They were an important part of building a future for the species. The people had a vested interest. Although, in the beginning, both projects had about as much chance of success as a blind man trying to hit a star with a BB gun. At least the biomes were something all people could understand and embrace,” Poppy lectured. “Creating a few super humans, intellectually speaking, had much less flair. The concept was dropped, at least that is what I thought until now.”
“But the Forevers. You must have known that they were behind all of this,” said Jayne.
“I always thought the Forevers were just a bunch of rich politicians trying to extend their lives by using the omies as their private meat locker, to put it crassly. They have money and can buy whatever they want or even resort to murder to extend their useless lives. I was going to stop them by exposing their deeds to the public. Now I am not sure it is that simple. Yes, the black market in body parts is going strong and it must be stopped, but something more is happening here,” he said cryptically.
“Like what?” Jayne asked. “You must have an idea.”
“Like you! You are what is happening. They really want you. There are a lot of people looking for you and, if my intelligence is correct, they want you soon and in good condition. The big question is why?” he said.
Jayne shivered. “If they want me so badly, why did you allow Big Foot to be assigned to the same biome as me?”
Poppy shrugged. “That was an oversight. It has been corrected.”
“How has it been corrected? Is he gone? Has his memory been wiped?” she asked enthusiastically.
“No. You know we don’t do that sort of thing. We are the good guys. At least, I think we are,” he said with a grin. “He has been reassigned.”
“To where? Doing what? Why don’t you send him to a Spavator Far Point for a two-year stint?” she said seriously. She was not the least bit ashamed of her nasty side, at least where Joseph Kane was concerned.
“No,” he chuckled. “He has been reassigned as your personal assistant.”
The scream that sounded from his VID was so loud he had to pull it away from his ear to avoid being deafened.
“Seriously? Seriously, Poppy, I can’t do that. Please tell me this is just a big bad joke,” she begged.
Professor Greenway became very serious. “Jayne, you need to grow up now. You are 18 years old, at least on paper, so behave like you are. Kane was a problem, but now he is a solution. He solves two problems. Making him your assistant means that we no longer have to worry about him exposing you and you now have an assistant. I did not assign you one before because there was no one I could trust in Biome 7. I knew one was required and, sooner or later, someone would have asked you why you didn’t have one. And, believe it or not, Joseph Kane is one hell of a fixer. He will make you a great assistant, so treat him as such. Do you understand me, Jayne Esther Wu?”
“Yes. I am sorry. I was being childish. Does he know or am I required to tell him? Because if I am, he is going to go a little crazy,” she said apologetically.
“He knows and he did not go crazy. He listened to how important it is and reacted accordingly,” Greenway said.
Jayne was silent.
“Are you OK?”
Jayne shrugged. “What the heck is so special about me?”
Poppy sighed. “I tried to tell you before, that you have some very special abilities and that is why the Forevers want you. But I now think that I am only half right. If Dr. Winter Bancroft knew about you before you even got to HUB 169, then she probably knew of you while you were still in the nursery. I suspect something else as well, but that is for another time. Right now, I need to tell you what I would like you and your new assistant to do for the Sentinels. Please find all you can about the timing of the deaths. As LO, you have access to anyone and anything that steps foot on the biome. Look back in the omie records and see if there are any arrivals and departures that coincide with the murders. Oh, and one last thing….”
“I know, brush my teeth every night before I go to bed,” said Jayne sarcastically.
“I am going to recommend that you do not stray out into the wilds of the biome. If you need something, just send your assistant to check it out. He is used to that environment and more importantly, no one wants to kidnap him. Do you understand me? Work in your office, play in the gym and sleep in your quarters. Stay safe,” he commanded.
Jayne saluted at her VID. “Yes, most revered aged one,” she said with a grin. As parting words, she muttered, “I’ll try.”
She closed her VID with a snap.
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