While this was happening, staff in Arkadia’s Societal Administration division were hard at work ensuring that the general population would see the mission primarily as an exciting opportunity rather than as a hugely risky undertaking for its crew. Viola Ospanov was the unsung hero of the hour, having taken only a few hours of rest the previous night before rallying the necessary troops from one side of Arkadia to the other and doing all she could to make sure the day went as smoothly as possible.
Her father Robert, although nowhere to be seen at the Shipyard or in any other obviously relevant area, was fulfilling his duties by overseeing the beginning of a long-scheduled event that had momentarily slipped even Viola’s mind until he mentioned it.
With the population now somewhat settled after several nights on Arkadia, today was the beginning of a full-scale medical census. The undertaking was publicly described as a medical census, in any case, but in reality its purpose was to stress-test both Arkadian transport infrastructure and the Biomedical Centre’s ability to cope with a large and consistent influx of patients. The patients in question were expected and would each leave shortly after arriving, of course, but short of a real emergency this was the truest test the BMC and its staff could face. There was deliberately little room in the day’s schedule and bottlenecks would occur at certain times, attempting to catch off-guard and push to the limit the staff even though they knew about the census in general. Tomorrow would make today look like a gentle walk in the park, but the staff didn’t need to know that.
Robert’s mind was a million miles from the BMC as he superficially checked that everything was in order and greeted the day’s earliest arrivals. He knew that the next day would prove to be the BMC’s real test, but he also knew that even then there would be no real stakes. Unlike the imminent launches from the Shipyard, the medical census was a controlled test designed to expose weaknesses and highlight areas for improvement. No lives were on the line, and for that reason he didn’t want to think about any of it at least until the two Karriers currently waiting to depart Arkadia were well on their way towards their rendezvous with asteroid NGB-2.
Christian Jackson, via Chase, had presented yet another unwelcome distraction with the news that potentially allergenic plants had been detected in areas where they were quite simply not supposed to be, suggesting that measures put in place to avoid just that issue had evidently failed. There should be nothing to worry about in the short-term, Christian insisted, since very few people were susceptible to allergic reactions and since such reactions would be mild to moderate at worst.
Christian's primary fear was that this minor issue suggested a weakness somewhere in Arkadia’s chain which could cause far bigger problems in the future if it went unchecked and something more serious arose. He speculated that there might be a soil issue; specifically that some genetically modified plant species could react in unexpected ways to non-engineered soil that wasn’t designed to house them. This had never been an issue on Terradox, he explained, because the nature of that romosphere’s zonal divisions ensured that nothing could accidentally cross from one zone to the other when restrictions were in place. On Arkadia, however, where modifiable microspheres separated areas with differing ground conditions, those divisions did not run to the romosphere’s core and thus could theoretically allow root systems to establish deep underground and spread to unintended locations.
The tone in Christian’s voice when he shared this far-out sounding idea concerned Robert more than the words themselves, as did Christian’s ready admission that he had only considered the issue now. He maintained that it was a huge long-shot but urged Robert to bear it in mind, and Robert was sure to do just that — as soon as the launches to NGB-2 were taken care of.
Robert insisted that the Arkadian public were told no lies about the launches and the mission as a whole, although he certainly supported Viola’s unilateral recruitment of the Societal Administration team to make it all sound as palatable and positive as possible. He was tremendously glad to have Viola around, but was yet to extend an olive branch to Peter following the previous day’s bust-up. He knew Peter well enough to know that nothing would be coming in the other direction anytime soon — Peter had learned plenty of habits from his mentor Grav, and they weren’t all good — but he also knew they were both professional enough to get on with business in the meantime.
An hour was all the time Robert could handle in the BMC when so much had to be done elsewhere, so he said his polite goodbyes after an exhausting statesmanlike performance spent shaking hands and sometimes literally kissing babies. He left oversight in the hands of Pavel Mak, an excellent security officer and personal friend. Pavel, having risked life and limb alongside Grav in years gone by and having defied painful interrogation to protect his brethren more than once, had earned a complete trust that neither Grav nor Peter extended to many.
Robert arrived at the Shipyard to find members of the Events Management division in frantic communication with other staff regarding precise timings and optimal camera angles. It only took a few questions for him to get to the bottom of everything and learn that the same area which had hosted the anchor-raising ceremony just a day early would be packed with spectators once again before the current day was out. The grandstands were being readied for spectators at that very moment; the idea of a starlit launch party to maintain morale was just one more thing set in motion by Viola.
The mood among the Events staff was surprisingly upbeat; when Robert asked one young man if he actually understood what was happening, the warm reply came that the whole of Arkadia was eagerly awaiting Chase’s departure for the asteroid. Or, as the man put it, “the whole community is buzzing!”
Robert played it cool and hoped the man was right. He liked the use of the word ‘community’ to describe Arkadia’s recently thrown-together population, as that was exactly the kind of feeling he wanted to see develop under his leadership, but the suggestion that everyone was excited seemed like too much of a stretch.
It quickly became clear to Robert that the Events staff who were setting up for the launch were in fact following the blueprint they had planned to use for the launch of the asteroid probe, which was originally set for the same final launch window as Chase’s own gutsy launch. Because the probe’s launch had been expedited, the carefully designed plans for the viewing party had never been put into place. Robert could understand why the staff who had expected to be preparing for that launch were now happy to be preparing for this one, but he still didn’t believe that their positivity would prove universal.
It went without saying that the stakes were infinitely higher now than at the time of the probe’s launch, both in terms of risk and reward.
The risks had naturally been underplayed when the announcement had been made mere hours ago, but given that the majority of the Arkadian adult population had academic or professional backgrounds in one science or another, Robert expected that the only onlookers who would be giddily excited by the launch rather than wary about its outcome would be the children who knew too little to understand how much danger Chase and Bo were placing themselves in.
Rachel’s earlier launch passed with far less fanfare and indeed no major public announcement. Her goodbyes were equally low-key, just as she liked them, and she calmly insisted to her staff that she would see them again soon.
More emotionally, she also promised Nisha and Viola that she would do whatever was humanly possible to make sure Chase and Bo returned home safely. “They’re setting out to recover that probe no matter what,” she said. “My job is to make sure they come back — no matter what.”
Chase and Bo were standing at Rachel’s side when she said this, but both knew better than to reaffirm the order of their mission priorities.
Not one part of Viola wished she was going along for the ride with Rachel, despite her having been part of every major mission and incident since her group’s discovery of Terradox more than a decade earlier. On the face of it, even the dangerous
landing faced by Bo and Chase didn’t sound all that more inherently risky than the one she’d participated in on the surface of Netherdox, but motherhood had changed Viola’s perspective on elective risk absolutely. Katie was the most important thing in her life now, and being there to take care of her was all that mattered.
In the hours between the two launches, the enormity of the probe’s apparent discovery began to sink in across Arkadia. Attention had initially been focused on the drama of Chase’s daring attempt to recover the probe, but the reason for that recovery became a more prominent focus as the day wore on. Word naturally spread to the citizens of Earth, the occupants of the Venus station and the colonists of Terradox, all of whom were equally awed by the prospect of life being detected on an asteroid and of decisive confirmation being just a few days away.
The timing of the launch ensured that no Arkadians would miss out due to the scheduling of their medical census checks, with the stress-testing not extending into night hours for a variety of operational and procedural reasons. Robert was beginning to think that everything might end up working out okay, with Bo’s utter lack of fear playing a big part in this.
What Robert didn’t know was that Bo wasn’t nearly so confident of making it home as he was of recovering the probe and proving one way or the other whether it had indeed detected verifiable signs of life. Bo and Chase shared a truly discovery-driven personality type so rare that most people couldn’t even get their heads around their priorities, let alone share them.
Peter and Robert, their hatchet evidently set to one side if not quite buried, agreed to attend the launch party a good distance from the Shipyard while Viola and Katie remained there to see Bo off in person.
Romesh Kohli ventured to the launch party too, but not before pulling Chase to the side for a few moments to shake his hand and wish him well.
“I know you stuck up for me when Robert was saying some things,” Chase said appreciatively. “I respect that, and I want you to know there are no hard feelings about anything on my end.”
“Those were things Nisha didn’t need to hear yesterday,” Romesh said.
Chase nodded.
“And don’t worry about Nisha when you’re gone,” Romesh said with a warm smile. “I’ve been looking after her for 27 years, so I’m sure I’ll manage a few more days until you get back, cowboy.”
Nisha liked to see them laughing together, but this lifted her spirits for all of the few moments it took Chase to walk back over.
Bo’s goodbyes to Viola and Katie were as short as most of his others — it was more that he couldn’t take his time to say farewell than he wouldn’t — but Chase’s farewell to Nisha pushed the limit of the highly precise launch time until Viola had to reluctantly step in to pass on the urgent wishes of the Shipyard staff who didn’t want to be the ones to interrupt.
Viola then held Katie tightly over her shoulder with one hand and grasped Nisha’s trembling hand with her other as the Karrier’s ignition kicked in. The launch was happening in the Shipyard rather than at Arkadia Central Station purely because the specialist equipment and cargo needed for this most unconventional of all missions had been loaded on-site, with the final preparations being completed quite literally just in time for the launch.
“Be safe,” Nisha prayed through heavy breaths and slow tears.
Viola looked skyward at the slowly disappearing Karrier and thought of the launch party so many miles away on another part of the vast Arkadian landscape, where thousands of spectators would right then be cheering and toasting Chase and Bo’s safe departure. She didn’t resent anyone’s happiness over what was happening, but nor did she understand it.
They had indeed set off in search of a prize greater than any other she could think of — proof of life on an extra-planetary body — but she already wanted nothing more than for their Karrier to turn around and land back on Arkadia.
Viola Ospanov thought she would spend the next two days doing nothing but worrying about their safety.
And within a matter of hours, she would dearly wish she’d been right.
twenty-seven
During what felt very much like the middle of the night but was in fact early afternoon, Viola was rudely awakened by a siren-like notification sound emanating from her wristband. It was set to do not disturb which meant that only calls or messages marked as urgent and sent by individuals she had identified as VIPs would make it through.
The caller on this occasion was her father Robert, and even noticing the strong sunlight creeping past the edge of her bedroom curtains wasn’t enough to rouse her from a half-awake stupor.
“What?” she asked, physically and mentally shattered rather than grouchy.
The past week had been trying for everyone but no one more so than Viola, who had endured an exhausting initiation period alongside Chase as one of the primary members of the Arkadian welcoming party. Only Chase had survived on as little sleep as she had since arriving on Arkadia, and ever since he announced his plan to depart for asteroid NGB-2 she had been running around like a woman possessed making sure everything went smoothly for both Chase and Bo.
Kayla Hawthorne had stepped up in the hours after the previous night’s launch by offering to take Katie to her appointment at the BMC, allowing Viola the opportunity to catch up on some desperately needed sleep and insisting that it was no problem since Patch’s appointment was in the same time-block, anyway. Viola knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth and the children had been as delighted as ever by the prospect of spending some more time together, so everyone was a winner.
Until now, at least, when Robert was interrupting the rest that motivated the whole thing.
“Something has happened,” he said.
“Can you be a bit more vague?” Viola groaned. But she then sat bolt upright as her mind woke up and reality came back to her. “Bo?” she gasped, sudden and intense concern in her tone. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not them, it’s something at the medical centre. Viola, there’s been an outbreak.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dad, seriously, I’m tired. I know the census is a stress test, okay? I’ll come out later if you need me to make an appearance, but I’m not running over to play some—”
“Listen to me!” Robert snapped, uncharacteristically short. “Viola, this is real. There’s an outbreak inside the BMC and we think it has something to do with spores coming through the soil outside. Pathogens in the plants. I’m not fully up on the terminology, but Christian Jackson thinks it could have been triggered by the number of people in the area and the minor changes in air composition that come with that. Some people in there are seriously ill and getting worse, and we don’t know how to get them out.”
Viola was lost for words. “What… what do you mean spores in the soil? Spores? Soil? And why can’t you get them out? It’s not like the doors can be locked from the inside!”
“We’ve had to cordon off the surrounding area inside an impenetrable microsphere,” Robert explained. “I’ve been talking to Christian and he thinks that if the spores are airborne, they could infect the whole of Arkadia if we don’t keep the affected area locked down. Viola, no one can get in or out until we figure something out… and no one has presented a single way forward so far. This is all just happening now — I’m calling you as soon as I can because—”
“Katie!” Viola yelled, glancing at the time and seeing her worst fears confirmed. “Dad, when did you put up this microsphere? Please tell me it was more than forty-five minutes ago when her appointment started…”
“We had to do it as soon as the threat became clear. The barrier has—”
“Tell me where my daughter is!” Viola interjected.
With his head in his hands, Robert Harrington sighed out the horrible answer: “On the wrong side.”
Part III
twenty-eight
“I’ve sealed off the BMC’s perimeter and I’ve sealed off the internal rooms from each other,” Robert went on,
futility in his words and tone as he tried to calm Viola’s understandable panic. “We’re going to get Katie out of there, but I need you here so we can figure out what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.”
Viola remained silent. It couldn’t be true; her daughter couldn’t really be trapped on the wrong side of an impenetrable romotech barrier with some kind of pathogen that was already making people violently ill. “I’m going to get her,” she eventually said, unshakeably insistent.
“Viola, you won’t get near her. The situation isn’t that straightforward, she’s right in the middle of the BMC and the worst affected area is the outer ring. For now she’s in the eye of the storm but we can’t count on that staying true, so we can’t afford to waste a single minute on ideas that won’t go anywhere. Please, come out here to the Shipyard. We can manipulate the BMC’s conditions from here, but we need a coherent plan. I’ve already called Peter and Romesh and I’m in touch with Christian.”
“Okay,” she sighed, no verve in her voice. “But at least remove the comms block. I’m trying to add her to this call but my wristband says she’s in a restricted area.”
“Unfortunately that’s a necessary step. You can address Katie via the PA when you talk to everyone, but as hard as this is you have to try to understand that there are a lot of other parents trapped inside the BMC with their children, too. And if they sense that Katie is getting special treatment because she—”
“You better believe I’ll give her special treatment,” Viola snapped, “and so should you!”
“She’s my only grandchild and I’m going to get her out,” Robert replied stoically, “but I need you with me on this, Viola. I need you, I need Peter, and I need Romesh.”
“And Nisha.”
“Right. Get in a transport capsule and you can call Nisha on your way here. It’s probably better for her to hear it from you.”
Terradox Beyond Page 19
