Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (49 page)

That night, she stared at herself in the
mirror, reluctant to leave her opulent rooms and walk on one of the
many tracks. There were entertainment shows, cards, board games for
one. Her guard just moved through the rooms like an apparition, not
speaking, just giving her room but showing her he was around.

There was a massive traditional library but
the books weren’t made of papir. She just had to touch the outside
spine of one and it would light up on the desk. She could move it
to an e-reader, read it on the carpet or wall. Touching more books
stacked them to where she wanted them. She found that, by different
touches, she could move the individual books to a comfortable chair
or stay at the desk. She triggered the fire and sat on the chair.
Over the course of three days, she drowned herself in useless
information. Her mind refused to settle on anything except romance
stories that eased her mind and heart, mostly just silly stories
that buffered her. She didn’t have to think, just read and laugh
and enjoy.

Ghost like staff served her meals and snacks
in a room filled with fine, handcrafted furniture made from a rare,
white wood. Landscape paintings filled the walls; the views were
across forty or so domes. No one in the house spoke to her and a
naughty idea formed. It distracted her for all of three hours.
After that, how many times had she cried? And vomited? Her eyes
were bloodshot, her mouth drawn down, her movements slow and mind
far too clear. She’d read in bed, long into the night, trying to
make herself so tired she would just drop unconscious.

She had read all the necessary documents but
none of it made any sense to her.

“Maya, why don’t you fog me up now?”

She was fretting. Why was it taking so long?
How hard was it to vote against genocide? But from what she could
tell, it was like blackmail. If they voted “no” Maya would carry
out genocide across the board. She should vote “yes” and then work
to influence how it was done. There was a clause that allowed some
input on a majority vote for “yes”.

For some reason she kept worrying about work.
She could go back to work with the animals but who would she work
with and who would visit? Ninety percent of workers and visitors
were in the category for obliteration. She vomited again thinking
of her work colleagues who would die. It wasn’t right. This had to
be a sick joke or mistake.

She noticed the same clause didn’t exist for
the “no” vote.

Who programmed the Cardinal Unit? It seemed
like an AI, if you added in Maya, but evidence was against that
concept. Was it simply programmed by the Ancient Aryans? History
had no answers; she may have disliked it, but the things that had
interested her were not available. Did the Saringtons know? Did
Tekko?

Ara closed her eyes one day after trying to
throw her book away. It didn’t go far or make a satisfying thud.
She tried to connect to the Cardinal Unit as she did to heal
Gralten, Dusty, and that cub. But she couldn’t. That connection
must have been from Maya and Maya wasn’t letting her connect that
way anymore. And now Ara knew she could have stopped the vote. As
the Mobile Unit, with Maya, she could have taken control over the
Cardinal Unit. All those dreams of her walking through the massive
CU made more sense. But it was too late! All it would have taken
was a simple counter program via Maya. She even saw the program in
her mind. But who had full access to the CU programs? The Cardinal
Unit was Maya’s tool but it wasn’t secure enough. Would Maya just
decide after the vote, or whoever was messing with her, to connect
to Ara again and start fudging with her mind? Ara screamed out and
threw some items around.

“Maya?” she screamed. “You fucking bitch!
Protect yourself!” It wasn’t she who needed guards, it was
Maya.

That mist—yes.

She paced around.

How to do it?

She saw her guard, still cloaked, hovering
outside the library. Smiling a little, she went and closed the
doors. “I just need a little privacy.”

There was a barely discernible nod.

Ara returned to the middle of the room and
closed her eyes.

She tried mediating.

She tried calling out.

She tried entering a dream state and
triggering a nifty sleep cycle. Suddenly, she was yelling. “I know
you are still connected otherwise we’d all be dead. If Pure-Gens
are the start points to everything else then you are our start
point.” There was still no answer. “You touched me!” She cried a
lot instead of finding answers. She even tried to lift a chair and
throw it, but it was bolted to the floor. Something in her back
tweaked.

“Yikes!”

Her guard came rushing in. “What—”

“Nothing,” she said, quickly cutting him off.
“I was trying to throw a tantrum but the furniture wouldn’t
cooperate.”

Her guard walked over to the chair and
pointed a finger at it. “Cooperate or you will end up in there.” He
pointed to the fireplace.

Ara stood there and choked out a laugh.
Desolation filled her and he moved closer and folded her in his
arms. His body was amazingly hard but so very comforting. He
smelled like leather and lemons.

“Are you alright now to continue your
tantrum?”

At her nod and thanks, he released her and
left the room, closing the door quietly. Hands on hips, Ara sat on
the ground and started waving her hands in front of her face seeing
she could move the ELs. “Wow, haven’t done this before.” Her
fingers connected with the ELs and there were vague recollections
of doing this as a baby. “Where are you?”

Her fingers kept up their twitching until her
mind lit up. She had somehow tapped into the energy streams using
her little Strike filament. She had managed to separate all the
energy streams.

“There you are. Hiding in that funny stream.
Now, how do I connect or follow? Ah, my mind and fingers, tricky
Maya, don’t our teachings say the body doesn’t count?”

Jamie watched, via a monitor, as Ara
struggled with the connection. He sent a command to ensure she
wasn’t interrupted. Whatever she was doing now, well, it might make
a difference. He kept watch and it took Ara an hour before he saw
she was almost finished. He received a message from Korbet, who
seemed happy, and strode to the library and opened the door to see
Ara flipping her finger in the air. He almost laughed aloud as she
had been on detention many times over the years for doing that,
especially to her older brother and sisters.

Ara sighed. There were millions of questions
to ask the user interface. It annoyed her that the wispy plasma had
copied her face too. It wasn’t like looking into a mirror but it
was disconcerting all the same.

“Ara, officiates are on their way.”

“You triggered the early vote!”

“You must not allow that to be known.”

“Well then.” Ara felt like flipping her
fingers at it.

“If it eases your mind I cannot answer any
more questions. Any more data would create new lines of code and
paradox and—”

“I know. Deletion.” How many times had the
interface said that in the last—she checked the time—hour?

“And Ara?”

“Yes?”

“I have no answers to the problem.”

Great.

“This means you can invent, if you are clever
enough.”

The connection ended.

She did give it the finger, mentally and
physically. Basically, she just kept doing what she was doing. What
a waste of time. Ara found her bum numb too. She stood up,
stretching as her guard entered. Behind him was an official.

“Ara Katron, are you ready to proceed with
your vote?”

“Yes.” Not really.

Couldn’t they just contact her on the comms?
What if she said “no”? But she had no desire to test them or drag
out this out. “I’ll shower and then have a meal.”

They nodded and she prepared herself. She
followed them out and slid into the vehicle, her guard silent next
to her. Ara’s mind stewed and her head ached; her final analysis
was that everything was being manipulated. “Good grief.” When had
she become so cynical and calculating? She didn’t notice the
scenery on the drive down. She barely noticed the sea of faces. Her
stomach grumbled. She only ate so she’d have something to throw
up.

Ara waited her turn for a coffee.

It took time to call everyone together into
their stadiums.

She ordered three stimulants from the
interior café.

“Big day, love?” He put one cup down in front
of her.

His chirpy voice, as he served her, seemed
out of place and distant. She wondered if those who worked here
would slip into the main courthouse or have to drive to one of the
stadiums.

“Yes, big day.” Her voice was dull. She drank
while she waited for the other two.

“There’s only kerretta today, we saved the
last coffee for you—”

Ara stared at the empty cup thinking she had
barely tasted it. “Oh, thank you.”

He smiled, his round face red from working.
“Our consignment of coffee is stuck at the first perimeter check
point.”

“Kerretta then, please.”

He slid the two cups closer to her and she
didn’t even blush. He knew why she was stressed. She wandered away,
and noted the many furtive looks in her direction.

“Ara!”

She turned, seeing Korbet walking quickly
towards her. Normally she liked to look at the brown-haired and
eyed, handsome male. Today, he was just another face.

“I’ve made some arrangements so you don’t
have to sit on your own. We can share an—”

“No, it’s alright. You shouldn’t have gone to
that trouble.” She felt a little lightheaded.

He looked at her with some concern. “Ara,
it’s alright. It was no trouble, and you shouldn’t be on your own
for this. I was furious finding out you’d been closeted without
support.”

A female in a black suit called them in. Ara
spotted the coffee man as he headed into the main room. Korbet
begged her with his eyes but she turned and went to her area. She
made it to her seat and sipped at the strong keretta. Her guard,
hooded, sat next to her. She handed him a drink.

“Sorry, out of coffee. They gave me the last
cup but I drank it already.”

She felt less abandoned when he was close by.
Something about his mind and heartbeat soothed her. Running her
hands along her throat, she felt the bony protuberances of her
collarbone and the looseness of her dress.

The user interface had given her access to
Kavela’s personal diary. It didn’t tell her why he had used the CU
as a place to store the data, so Ara wondered if it was just
another game someone was playing. Maybe it wasn’t Kavela’s diary.
Maybe it was some test to see if she would access them. Maybe it
was to make her hate Kavela or use it as a threat. Whatever, she’d
accessed some of Kavela’s diary while tripping down from her perch.
He’d be mortified. But it was like a disease, she couldn’t stop
herself. She didn’t know what was worse, what was coming or what
had happened to him. She quickly wiped her eyes. She just couldn’t
imagine being locked up in a cage for her early life in a stark
lab. Why had the Establishment done that? Why hadn’t anyone helped
him?

Ara cradled her cup, begging the warmth to
warm her soul. She heard a commotion and saw two red-robed
officials, the stewards, roll in the Superlunary, the Energy
Artifact. She activated her monitor, drew it closer and read the
announcement. Even her guard leaned forward; she sensed his
excitement. It looked like a miniature black hole hovering over the
dark metallic plate. The mist flowed around. Next, two black robes
wheeled in the Nexus, for the mind, it was a web like globe.
Finally, blue robed officials wheeled in the swirling whirlpool,
more like a mini tornado, the Sawol, for the soul. The Superlunary,
Nexus and Sawol were most sacred biological artifacts to the Aryan
forming a Triad but here they were actual things. Ara squinted at
them trying to see, and then moaned at herself and brought her
floating holo closer again. Maybe they were just representations
but there was something mechanical looking about them. For some
reason they were linked to the Maya, and revered and feared.

Jamie eyed off the three Artifacts.

He’d warned Simon about the possibility of
the Snake, Krait, stealing them. He couldn’t actually remember the
details and wanted to access his NaPP notes on his leg but it might
not be appropriate to drop his pants in the courthouse while in
session. Ara might get a giggle out of it, but he’d probably be
dragged out the locked door. He unconsciously rubbed his thigh,
wishing he could link to the nanites, when the image of his list
appeared as if burned on his retinas. A mental image would be
better but this would do. Yes, the Snakes had talked about stealing
the Artifacts but didn’t specify if it was all of them or just one.
Jamie didn’t think they’d choose now and he wondered how Krait, AKA
Tarus, would get the things out. They were much bigger than he
thought.

Jamie was hoping Tarus would consider working
with them and watched him closely over the years. He was sure Tarus
knew they identified him in the department store and resort
restaurant. Every time he visited Ara they tried to track him,
and/or the other Snake, Viper. But if Trickster couldn’t track
them, Jamie wasn’t sure they could. Jamie was also sure Tarus was
dangling himself close at hand to give them a chance to find the
others. His teams reported back regularly on the progress of the
Function Tests, but they were steady and still at the same level as
when Peter first found the control room.

His body ached in places he’d rather not
think about and already he felt the struggle as his body tried to
equalize with the extra matter and energy. It was never going to
happen; he just wasn’t made that way. He felt he’d made the right
choice now but worried about what happened after the vote. He had
to go straight to the Cardinal Unit to reverse the treatment. That
might be the most dangerous time for Ara, but Diane was as skilled
and experienced as he was, so, he had to learn to rely on his
team.