All Fall Down (8 page)

           
“It’s from the historical period known as The Freedom. The loops are acrylic, paper and dust: human skin. The orange crystals are cyberware.”

           
Daoud turned his head slightly so his right ear pointed more toward Masjid. He kept his back turned, tracing the loops with a finger. “Cyberware? It’s a re-creation, then?”

           
“No, actually. The piece was made shortly after the Organic Edict.
 
A few museums and artists were allowed to keep key items of cyberware for cultural context. Species memory if you like. Those crystals were once part of somebody. I understand they’re quite advanced devices, though their true function is lost of course. The artists were allowed to use them in the piece on the understanding that all functional knowledge was destroyed. I believe they have some connection to physical ability, rather than neural capacity. Beyond that, who knows? Official medical history is somewhat silent on the subject.”

           
“Crystalline. They’re not self replicating then.”

           
“No. The organic technology is what brought about the Edict. That was all destroyed. Besides, it’s several hundred years ago. I don’t see how any of the organic cyberware could have survived this long.”

           
Daoud continued to look at the art work.

           
“You’re wondering if our specimens might start to replicate, aren’t you?”

           
Now Daoud turned his head, and fixed his gaze on Masjid. “Yes, Doctor, something like that. Something very much like that.” He turned fully and walked to Masjid’s desk. “Can we go over the preparations for bio-safety, the facility tour schedule, your enquiry and the remembrance service, before your esteemed colleagues from MI arrive?”

The
In The Palm Of Your Hand
passed through the dust clouds that shrouded Fall from the system’s outer edges for most of its passage around the two suns.

Djembe's voice came over the intercom to Kate's quarters. “I’m monitoring comms traffic, Kate. Apart from the regular time pulses passing between the wormhole’s comms station and the inner system, it’s all quiet.”

“Good. They should have cut down on comms as soon as they reported the death.”

“I've put Fall on the monitor. That bright spot near the centre.”

As the ship passed out of the dust clouds, it trailed behind it filaments and long sheets of dust like tatters of cobweb ruffled by a breeze.

Win, strapped in to a padded seat for atmospheric entry, peered out of the window next to him. Through the flickering red haze, Fall’s desert expanse came into view. “Look, some of the surface detail is visible.”

           
“Does that mean we’ll be avoiding the planet's storm system?” Djembe stared straight ahead, his face ashen again, “I really don’t want more turbulence. Not after the wormhole.”

           
“Our flight path looks clear to me. Perhaps the storm has already passed.”

           
A series of deep judders passed through the ship as it entered a layer of atmosphere with denser air. Djembe closed his eyes and gripped his seat. Kate reached out her hand to his shoulder, “Come on Djembe, it’s only turbulence. You must have done atmospheric re-entry a thousand times.”

           
“None of which changes the fact that we are sixty kilometres up, hurtling toward the planet’s surface.”

           
Kate looked round Win’s head, trying to catch sight of the surface herself. “I quite like it. Reminds me of the amusement parks at home.”

           
Win was oblivious to the turbulence. He was running scenarios in his head and taking in the surface details. There was the old Colony which had begun construction almost fifty years ago. It had been evacuated twenty five years ago when a ship had crashed into it. And he was puzzled about the dead scientist. Why had she been on the surface when the planet had such a hostile environment, with the twin sun radiation and the great storm system? He needed to talk with the planet's AI.

           
As the ship started bucking from re-entry, Kate raised her voice, “I wonder what the colonists do for fun.”

           
Win looked at the burning vista, “Keep secrets, by the sounds of things.”

Daoud walked into the hangar, followed by Sophie. Small robots wheeled around the floor preparing for the ship's arrival. Above him an iris of daylight was slowly contracting, closing its eye to the surface. A ship was descending on a mixture of anti-grav fields and thrusters. The four sturdy landing feet of the Transport-class craft stepped delicately onto the hangar floor almost as one, belying the mass of the craft they supported. Its hull started pinking as it lost heat in the hangar’s cooler air. The ship settled on the floor, and started venting heat upwards in small bursts of steam compressed air.

           
A flashing yellow light fell from under the hull as a gap widened between ship and a descending ramp. A number of the small robots came to a halt; resting, waiting for further instructions. Three pairs of feet became visible in the yellow light, remaining still whilst the ramp lowered to the hangar floor. When it had, a green light replaced the yellow. The feet moved forward, and Daoud had his first view of the MI team sent to investigate the encounter, the death.

           
“Commander Leland, welcome to Fall.”

           
“It’s General Leland.”

           
Confident. Not many people corrected him, less still within seconds of encounter.

           
Kate took Daoud’s out-stretched hand. “Administrator Daoud this is my team, Commanders Ho-Yung and Cygnate. Thank you for your welcome.” Their voices echoed in hollow whispers around the hangar.

           
Around them the small robots scurried, gripping hoses, extending sensors, plugging in. The
Hand
moved with them to a rear bay, a low thrum of tensor fields blurring its landing pads.

           
“Commanders.” Daoud looked at Win and Djembe in turn. “General, congratulations on your promotion. May I introduce Sophie Argus, my Operations Director. Sophie will take you to your quarters. You are welcome to Fall. A good flight, I presume?”

           
“Bumpy. Something tried to emerge into the wormhole on top of us. Do you run test flights of new craft in this quarter?”

           
This was unexpected. Daoud decided to pass it off, in case it was connected to the herald. Probably it was. “I'll have my people look into it, General. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some matters to see to. We will hold a briefing session in one hour, if that's suitable? Good. Sophie?”

           
Daoud dipped his head slightly to Kate, excused himself and walked out of the hangar.

           
He had no reason for a one hour delay. It simply suited him to make them wait, to put them at his disposal, rather than he at theirs. But while he had the opportunity, he decided to monitor Sophie's interaction with these people, to see if they affected her thinking any. The fewer things he had to worry about at the moment, the better. And he wanted to monitor the wormhole. If they were coming, this MI posed little risk to him and the war could start.

While Daoud walked away, Sophie appraised the MI operatives. “Welcome to Fall. Let me take you to your quarters.”

           
Kate shifted the shoulder bag she was carrying, “Shall we?”

           
“Follow me.”

           
While they walked to their quarters, the team asked Sophie about the Colony's operations. She described the mineral production and output. The minerals were mined from the bare rock, which ran thick with seams of crystals and a sandstone-like substance. She told them how it wasn't quantity that was important, although the planet was abundant in the minerals, but the extraction technique. No one had been able to replicate the mineral structures in the lab, and it broke down easily under stress. The miners were high technology users. Rather than mechanical drills, saws and industrial laser cutters, they had to ease the minerals out by slow and gentle grinding. They created dust. Win asked about accidents, and Sophie told him how the early days had seen more of them, when minerals exploded or tunnels collapsed due to unusual rock movements during mining. The minerals spread the load of the crust above them in unusual patterns, which weren't always obvious. The load of the inselberg nearby affected the mining, its gravity putting extra stress on the area.

           
“But the minerals are most abundant around the inselberg, so that's where we mine.”

           
“And how are they transported off Fall?” Djembe was keying his wristpad even as he asked. She looked at him: the Consequence Planner. He'd be trying to find out if cargo ships had been recently. If they were a weak point.

           
“We have our own military cargo vessels. They visit once every three months, and they're cloaked. We have three pilots trained to take the material up to near orbit, and transfer there. The ships are piloted by AIs, no human crew. They leave immediately. Our last,” she talked over his question before it was more than a word, “visit was over a month ago. Security holos are available.”

           
Kate turned the conversation to more personal matters, “And how long have you been here?”

           
“Since the Colony's inception at its original site. I was involved in the planning and design. MI thought I would best serve them as its Operations Director once the old Colony was built.”

           
Kate looked over at Sophie, “If you don't mind me saying, you don't look old enough to have been here that long.”

           
Sophie gave a tight smile, “That's very kind of you. The biological research function here has made some breakthroughs in cell regeneration and ageing from which we benefit.”

           
Win leaned forward into his walk so that his mouth was level with Sophie's ear, “Excuse me, but wasn't such technology proscribed by the Organic Edict four hundred years ago?”

           
Stopping at a door, Sophie held her hand over its access panel, “This isn't cybernetic or nanotech. It's entirely organic and based on the body's own biology. Now, here we are at your quarters, Commander Ho-Yung.”

           
The door opened. Win thanked her and went inside.

           
“Commander Cygnate, your quarters are here.” She pointed at a door on the opposite wall. “And General Leland, I'll take you to your quarters further along the corridor.”

           
Sophie and Kate walked along the corridor, the doors to Win and Djembe's quarters disappearing behind them around the corridor's curve.

           
Kate picked up the thread of Sophie's last point, “There isn't much detail about the bio-research in the planet's files.”

           
“No. The research was transferred here twenty five years ago, when this colony site was created. Doctor Currie will explain it. It is classified, Onyx-class. You will probably understand why the Cadre doesn't want people to start gossiping. AIs and immortality aren't something we advertise. Fall is a classified installation, yet still people find out about it.” Standing in front of Kate's quarters, Sophie smiled and opened the door, “Many of our researchers are here because they pursued rumours and brought themselves to MI's attention.”

           
“I look forward to hearing more about it.” Kate nodded a thanks to Sophie, and stepped into her quarters. The door closed quietly at her back, closing off Sophie into the corridor, who stood looking at it for a few seconds, her face implacable.