Poseidon's Wake (43 page)
‘I didn’t even know they were sending a ship. I’d have come anyway.’
‘News of the signal had to reach Earth before you could begin your journey. How did you arrive sooner than them?’
‘We started our journey later than they did but had less distance to travel, and their ship can’t be much faster than mine. Have you responded to it?’
‘No, and nor do I intend to. I see it as a nuisance, not an opportunity. Still, it must be addressed. You have had a chance to review the repair work since you awoke – I trust there are no setbacks?’
‘No, it’s all going smoothly,’ Nissa said sullenly.
‘You do not sound encouraged.’
‘Part of me would rather report bad news, provided it wasn’t too serious. You’d accept the delay and the status quo would continue. Kanu and I would still be of use to you, and there’d be no reason for you to hurt the sleepers.’
‘Very candid of you to admit as much.’
‘I find honesty helps,’ she said.
‘Do not mistake me – either of you. My word is good. I have no intention of hurting you or of harming the Friends. If I did not think well of them, would I have kept them cold through all the years before your arrival?’
‘Perhaps you thought they’d come in handy as a form of blackmail,’ Kanu answered.
‘You are much too cynical lately. Tell me the truth concerning the repairs, regardless of whether the news is good or bad, and nothing untoward will happen.’
‘“Untoward”,’ he said. ‘That encompasses a multitude of meanings.’
‘I see you are both beyond reasoned discussion. Never mind – we will restrict ourselves to the strict practicalities. I do not want this new ship interfering with the good work we have already done. Your ship is nearly ready for testing, is it not?’
Kanu glanced at Nissa, wondering if she shared his disquiet. ‘We’re weeks away from that.’
‘Then make it days. I do not need the interstellar capability of your Chibesa drive, merely the means to reach Poseidon. If the
Noah
had been capable of doing so on its own, I would already have taken it, but its range and agility are not sufficient. This other ship must not be allowed to complicate my arrangements.’
‘Then ask the Watchkeepers to destroy it. They’re capable of that, aren’t they?’
‘Callous of you, Kanu.’
‘Just looking at this from your perspective. Why not have them destroy it?’
‘I’m sure they would if they felt the act was necessary. But they are watchers, recorders, gatherers of knowledge rather than butchers. More than that, though, they’re not mine to command. Did you think otherwise?’
‘I’m not sure what to think. Do you know what you are to them, Dakota? Do you really understand?’
‘What is there not to understand?’
‘The Terror,’ he answered.
‘You could not know of such a thing.’
‘And if I did?’
She regarded him with cool superiority. ‘Terrors must be faced. I will have my ship, Kanu, and you will accompany me in the gathering of knowledge. We will not flinch in the face of the unknown. Move
Icebreaker
beyond
Zanzibar
once more. Make ready to test the Chibesa engine.’
He sat on the edge of the made bed, bent over with his hands joined in his lap, considering the ways in which he might feasibly end his own life.
‘I know what you are thinking,’ Swift said.
‘Then give me an answer.’
‘You have never been suicidal. Even in your darkest moments – and there have been several –
that
was never something you considered.’
‘Nothing’s changed,’ Kanu answered.
‘You do not appear to be depressed. If you were, I would see it in your brain chemistry.’
‘I’m not depressed and I’m not suicidal. What I am is trapped. There’s a distinction. Can you see it?’
‘I am trying.’
‘I’m in a hopeless position, Swift. There’s no good course of action open to me.’
‘And killing yourself – that would be the solution? Have you forgotten the Friends, the fate of those poor frozen people?’
‘Think it through,’ Kanu said, hating himself for wondering just how far Swift’s empathy really extended. ‘They’re just a bargaining tool to her – they give her some measure of control over me. If I’m out of the equation, she gains nothing by harming them.’
Swift tapped his pince-nez against his chin. ‘Mm. But she might do it anyway, out of anger – or to reinforce her determination to Nissa, who I need hardly add will still be alive. There is human
DNA
in that elephant, Kanu – do you think she’s incapable of spite?’
‘Nissa can’t finish the work on her own. I’ve had you in my head to guide me through every difficult part of the repair process. She won’t have that luxury.’
‘Dakota will nonetheless force her to try, and she may resort to extreme measures in her attempts to persuade. She’ll break Nissa like the proverbial butterfly on a wheel. Do you really want that on your conscience?’
‘I wouldn’t have one.’
Swift strode around to stand before him, clenching his hands. ‘Please don’t speak that way, Kanu. I gave you back your life when you should have died. Do not insult me by speaking of a human life as something disposable.’
‘Then don’t speak as if you understand a single thing about being alive.’
‘I understand life more than you realise, Kanu. At least, I have begun to. How could it be otherwise after being inside you all this time? After the dead years of skipover, when I gained a little sense of what it would mean
not
to exist? Do you honestly think this hasn’t given me some miserable insight into the human condition?’
‘It’s not a “condition”, Swift. It’s being alive.’
‘I know, and I feel it, and I will not permit you to squander such a gift. Especially when the circumstances are nowhere near as dire as you imagine.’ Swift adjusted his sleeves and cracked his knuckles. ‘Chess. A game of chess. That will put things into perspective.’
‘I’m not in the mood.’
‘Immaterial. I am.’
Kanu pinched at the skin around his eyes, trying to shrug off the sense of hopelessness he now felt. Swift was perfectly correct: he had no desire to end his life. But when he set out his options, when he stepped back and analysed them dispassionately, suicide looked by far the most logical course of action.
‘You mean well, Swift, but you can’t see how bad things have become.’
‘On the contrary. I have as ready a grasp of our predicament as you or Nissa. But I do not think we have exhausted all our options yet. Nor should you. There is always hope, Kanu – provided you remain alive.’
‘Platitudes.’
‘We shall see.’ Swift conjured the chessboard into existence and set it between them. He lowered himself onto an invisible stool, adjusting his frock coat in the process. ‘Your mood is black, therefore I shall open proceedings.’
‘How thoughtful of you.’
They commenced the game.
‘Things are not as dire as you imagine,’ Swift declared, a few moves in.
Kanu responded automatically, barely caring who won or lost. ‘In which way are they not dire? We know about the Terror. We know that Chiku and Eunice were both against the idea of going any nearer to Poseidon.’
‘For which they surely had their reasons. But we are not them. Did we come here to wither at the first test, Kanu, or to challenge ourselves?’
‘Even if we make it to Poseidon, we’ve no guarantee that we’ll get the ship back afterwards. Or that Dakota will honour her promise concerning the sleepers. For that matter, we have no idea what she or the Watchkeepers will do next – or how we fit into that.’
‘The situation is not entirely ideal.’
‘I’m glad you agree with me on something.’
Swift move his piece with a decisive clack. ‘But neither is it hopeless. To begin with, we do need our ship repaired – and since assisting Dakota in her expedition helps achieve that, I do not think the cost is too great. Secondly, our aims are not entirely at odds with hers.’
Kanu responded with a weak countermove. ‘Aren’t they?’
‘We came here seeking knowledge, did we not? We know nothing of the M-builders and are scarcely better informed about the Watchkeepers. Dakota’s interests neatly intersect with both areas of our ignorance. By serving her, if you will, we serve our own ends. I do not see that as catastrophic.’
‘You see her as a bridge to the Watchkeepers. Your interest in the M-builders is secondary.’
‘I have an intellectual curiosity regarding the M-builders, but you are right about the Watchkeepers. I would like to know them better, and if Dakota offers a path to them, then she becomes useful to me. To us, I should say.’
‘No, I think you were right the first time.’
‘We both have a stake in this, Kanu. I am a machine intelligence and you are a man. Our two lineages have been on the brink of hostility for generations. We’ve papered over our enmity with embassies and treaties and fine words, but why deny the underlying distrust? The only thing preventing the complete sterilisation and reclamation of Mars is the fear of Watchkeeper reprisal. Otherwise you would have wiped us out if the chance had presented itself.’
Kanu looked at Swift, remembering better times, easier conversations. ‘I’m glad we’re finally getting our true feelings out into the open.’
Swift made his next move. ‘I make no bones about it. We were a threat to human dominion, and human oppression was a threat to us. Had the means existed, many of my fellow machines would have gladly taken the war beyond the atmosphere of Mars – smashed your orbital fortresses, retaken the moons, pushed our influence further out.’
Kanu hesitated over his response. ‘It looks like you were already doing a pretty good job of extending your influence.’
‘In the most trivial of ways – the mere gathering of intelligence. Nothing compared to what some of us desire.’
‘And you wonder why humans have a hard time trusting robots.’
‘But you and I saw a better path, Kanu! Reconciliation, cooperation – the sharing of resources and knowledge. We are here precisely because we believe in something better, something bolder. An answer to the oldest question – how do I get along with my neighbours, even if they are not the same as me?’
At last Kanu made his move. It was a poor one, opening him up to at least one obvious attack.
‘And look where that quest has brought us.’
‘To the brink of possibility. All doors are open now, Kanu – nothing is beyond our reach! The future stands before us. If we can just see our way past these present challenges—’
‘If. That’s a pretty big “if”, Swift.’
Swift responded to Kanu’s weak defence with merciless indifference. ‘We have done rather well so far. Survived Mars, survived Europa – even managed to crawl away from Poseidon with only our noses bloodied. I have faith in us. Not just in you and me, but in Nissa, too. There’s a point to carrying on, Kanu – and even if you can’t see it now, I think you will eventually.’
‘Easy for you to say.’
‘Yes – but you forget that I have known you for a very, very long time. You are a good and honourable man, a friend and an advocate of peace. At heart, you are an optimist even at the least optimistic of times. Right now you see only darkness ahead of you – a locked room with no way out. No one would blame you for that. But this is the moment when the world needs you most. Find the strength, Kanu – find the open door.’
It was Kanu’s move, but his grasp of the game was sufficient to tell him that he had already lost. Swift knew it, too – it was only a matter of how many moves would be required to complete the killing.
Kanu swept his hand through the pieces.
Eunice said her farewells to the four surviving Tantors, and after some agonies managed to convince herself that Gandhari Vasin’s skeleton staff was sufficient to maintain the encampment until her return. Goma understood her dilemma: she urgently wished to be on her way, to confront or negotiate with Dakota, but it meant leaving the only home she had known since her exile from
Zanzibar
. No part of this decision was easily made, and the Tantors’ lives depended on the soundness of her judgement.
Nonetheless, the moment was upon them. The party returned to the lander, its descent jets still glowing from its most recent return trip from
Travertine
, and Eunice purposefully avoided giving her home more than a backward glance. Soon they were aboard the lander, Vasin in the command chair, Eunice looking on with an examiner’s impassive scrutiny. They took off, taking care to keep their blast away from the old and new cairns, and were soon approaching
Travertine
.
Eunice stirred from her seat, undid the restraints and floated to the nearest suitable window.
‘A starship,’ she said. ‘An actual, proper starship – not some excuse for one like
Winter Queen
, or the holoships. I always wondered if I’d live long enough to see one of those.’
‘Are you impressed?’ Goma dared ask.
‘I don’t really do “impressed”. But consider yourselves the recipients of grudging approval.’
‘Praise indeed,’ Ru muttered.
‘That said, you’ve had long enough to build it. And if I’m going to labour the point, you really ought to have understood the mechanics of the Mandala translation by now. Why build a starship when you have an alien transportation device sitting right there on your planet, waiting to be used?’
‘You should have stopped at “approval”,’ Goma said.
‘With me, dear, you take what you can get.’
For Eunice’s benefit, they executed an inspection pass around the much larger craft, Vasin offering a commentary on points of interest like a tour guide.
‘It will do,’ was Eunice’s final judgement. ‘Can you break orbit as soon as we’re docked?’
‘You’re under a misapprehension,’ Vasin said. ‘I have no intention of committing
Travertine
to a situation we already know to be dangerous. Coming here was one thing – dabbling in a human
–
Tantor stand-off is quite another, especially as you’ve confirmed that the Watchkeepers have an interest in all this as well. Besides, the lander has just as much in-system capability as the mothership.’
‘Then we don’t even need to dock. Set course for
Zanzibar
immediately.’
‘We need fuel and a few component swaps ahead of that,’ said Vasin. ‘Say, a day or two to make ready and assemble the final crew selection. Besides, there’s the small matter of quarantine.’
‘You are all responding well to the antivirals.’
‘I’m not talking about us.’
If it was not a quarantine in the strict sense of the word, it was still an extremely thorough medical examination, far more exhaustive than anything possible in the camp. There were two medical bays on
Travertine
– one with gravity for normal procedures and a second where weightlessness was beneficial. They were in the second bay now, which was located in the central spine, just beyond the rear pole of the forward sphere. There was no centrifugal spin in this part of the ship, and since
Travertine
was not presently under thrust, the bay was totally weightless.
Dr Nhamedjo’s immediate subordinate, Dr Mona Andisa, was now in charge of all medical activities on Travertine. The weightless suite, she said, was a great benefit for performing full-body scans since there was no distortion of interior organs due to gravity or the pressure of supporting surfaces.
Andisa’s patient had already been prepared for her examination. Eunice floated free, stripped to her undergarments, arms at her sides, while scanning systems orbited her like a host of tiny whirring satellites. Goma watched as the scanners slowly assembled a three-dimensional image of Eunice with sub-cellular resolution on a variety of flat and solid display media.
‘I did not doubt what I heard from the surface,’ Andisa said, tapping a finger against a cross section of Eunice’s skull, a coral atoll of bone enclosing a softer patterning of lagoon-blue structures, ‘but this settles the argument. If you presented to me as an ordinary patient, I would have no cause to doubt your authenticity.’
‘It’s always reassuring to be authenticated.’
‘Her
DNA
,’ Goma said, ‘assuming she
has
DNA
– have you sequenced it?’
‘She would not last long without it,’ Andisa answered, a touch of testiness to her tone.
Goma could forgive her that. She knew how shocked and upset the soft-spoken Andisa had been by the death of Saturnin Nhamedjo – her discomfort as much to do with the fact of his demise as the manner in which he had disguised his true priorities, even from his diligent co-workers. They felt betrayed, and now they were expected to shift effortlessly into running the ship’s medical activities. Worse than that, there remained the lingering suspicion, albeit unvoiced, that perhaps one or more of them had been co-conspirators. Goma was certain this was not the case, but she could imagine the toll it was having on Andisa and the other medics. She wished there was a way to show them that they were still respected, still trusted.
‘Certainly her
DNA
has been doctored,’ Andisa continued. ‘Rather comprehensively, in ways that are not reflected in your own genetic history.’
‘But you can see that we’re related?’
‘Yes, but much less obviously than if I were looking at a simple, uncluttered mitochondrial line. The books have been cooked too many times for that – in both of you. You are the daughter of Ndege, and Ndege was the daughter of someone who underwent radical genetic and phenotypic restructuring for the purposes of triplication. There has never been an orderly genetic lineage for Akinyas. Eunice doubts that the Watchkeepers had access to the actual
DNA
of the original Eunice Akinya – she certainly didn’t bring any such thing with her on the holoship. But they’d had ample opportunity to sample Chiku Green’s genetic structure, and from that they could have reverse-engineered the
DNA
they used to synthesise this living exemplar of Eunice. There are still some sequences I have yet to identify. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they turn out to contain elephant
DNA
.’
‘So she’s telling the truth – she’s really alive? Alive and
living
, just like the rest of us?’
It was still hard to take in, and Goma was perfectly aware that Eunice was lying there listening in on this conversation.
‘How deep a philosophical definition of “living” would you like?’ Andisa asked.
‘She eats and breathes – we know that. She does something that approximates sleeping – we saw that in the camp. Does she dream?’
‘She does,’ Eunice said.
‘I wasn’t asking you. Can you put a number on her age, Mona?’
‘Not easily. By her own account, we know she has been in this “human” form for more than two hundred years, completely cut off from any orthodox rejuvenative medicine. She tells me she has aged during that time, but if she were ageing at a normal human rate, in the absence of prolongation therapy she would have been dead many decades ago. Have you spent time in skipover, Eunice?’
‘Not in this body.’
‘So something has vastly decelerated the normal ageing mechanisms. Slowed but not stopped them. Hayflick limits, telomere attrition – these factors must have been modified by the Watchkeepers. Perhaps we would be better off calling them Watch
makers
, Goma, since they have taken the basic ticking mechanism of human biology and made it really sing. Every cog polished, every spring tightened – every tiny piece of dirt, every imperfection removed from the process. With Eunice’s permission, I plan to introduce a small wound – nothing serious – in order to study her healing processes. As to her ultimate lifespan, in the absence of further intervention? I have no idea. Another couple of hundred years does not sound outlandish. And as for children – a whole new flowering of descendants – why not? She has a womb, and eggs. I see no obvious reproductive impediment.’
‘One lineage will do us for the time being,’ Goma said. ‘It’s caused more than enough trouble as it is.’
The alterations to the lander had started almost immediately upon the authorisation of the expedition, with the vehicle being kept outside
Travertine
for ease of access. Despite appearances, Vasin assured Goma that everything was going smoothly and on schedule.
It still looked like chaos, the ship surrounded by vacuum-suited workers, tangled access lines, modular parts and free-floating tool tenders. Nonetheless, there was clearly some sort of order to it all, and Goma herself had reviewed the list of specification upgrades. The lander had been designed for an expansion of its long-range capabilities, with many detachable or swappable components which could be shared with other vehicles. Cargo racks were removed and replaced with additional fuel and thruster assemblies. Life-support systems were modified to keep a smaller crew alive for a longer period of time. Skipover equipment was provided in case of emergency, as well as a small medical suite furnished according to Dr Andisa’s exacting specifications. There were additional vacuum suits, two single-person runabouts for in-space repair and reconnaissance, and an augmented communications array.
Was this overkill or just barely sufficient? Goma wondered. It was hard to say. Five days to reach
Zanzibar
, five days to make the return trip – but an unguessable interval in between. They could not be held hostage, Goma kept telling herself – not while
Travertine
remained here, its engine a very palpable instrument of negotiation.
But if the Tantors had a ship, then they also had access to Chibesa technology of their own. Would they submit to argument by force or simply presume that the humans would never stoop to mass murder?
How well did they understand people, anyway?
‘Peter?’
For the first time since returning to consciousness, the man opened his eyes and began to show recognition of his environment. He looked around slowly with an expression of perfectly neutral acceptance, as if this was no more or less than he had been expecting.
‘So, are you going to hang me now?’
Dr Andisa had alerted Goma and Vasin that he would shortly be fully awake after his emergence from skipover, and now the three of them were at his side.
‘The first thing you get,’ Vasin said, ‘is an apology. We treated you poorly, Peter, and I take personal responsibility for that.’
He looked unmoved by this news. ‘I’ve no idea how long I’ve been under. Have we returned to Crucible?’
‘No,’ Goma said. ‘We’re in the other system, at our destination. There’ve been . . . developments. It’ll take a while to explain everything to you, but we now know who killed my uncle.’
‘And what has it taken to establish my innocence?’
‘More deaths,’ Vasin answered. ‘Did you have any idea who the actual saboteur was?’
‘You appeared so certain of my guilt that I started to doubt myself.’ He raised himself slightly, a spark of engagement showing in his eyes for the first time. ‘Who was it?’
‘Doctor Nhamedjo,’ Vasin said.
Grave gave a slow nod. ‘I considered him a possibility, but he was only one of several candidates.’
‘But if you had doubts about him—’ Goma began.
‘I couldn’t risk casting suspicion on an innocent member of the crew, especially not on a vital figure like Doctor Nhamedjo. Our voyage had barely begun – that business with the Watchkeeper had already led some of us to advocate turning around.’
‘You were one of them!’ Goma said.
‘I suggested we should at least consider that option. Don’t tell me you didn’t have similar thoughts?’
Goma was tight-lipped. She could not deny that she had been afraid in the face of the alien machine.
‘But when the threat of the Watchkeeper evaporated,’ Grave continued, meeting her eye with a nod of understanding ‘I was content for us to continue. Remember, I’d committed my life to this expedition, too – I hadn’t left Crucible expecting us to turn around. Fundamentally, I wanted us to succeed – but not if that meant taking unacceptable risks.’
‘But someone wanted to destroy the expedition!’ Goma said.
‘I told you there was the possibility of a secondary threat. Beyond that, I had nothing to offer. My only hope was that Mposi’s murderer would be exposed through a combination of heightened vigilance and human error on the saboteur’s part. Is that what happened?’
‘Not before two Tantors died,’ Goma said.
‘Tantors?’ he asked, between wariness and excitement. ‘You’ve contacted them?’
She nodded. ‘A few. But there are others – many others – and we hope to meet them as well. But it’s not that straightforward. Mposi trusted you, Peter – can I trust you, too?’
‘That is an odd thing to ask a man who has been accused of murder and put on ice for the rest of the trip.’
‘It is, but you knew my uncle. If he thought well of you, that makes you valuable to me. Gandhari says she’s happy to reinstate you as a member of the crew, with a full apology and pardon. But I want more than that.’
For the first time, some of the old amusement creased his lips. ‘Do you, now?’
‘We’re sending a small ship out to meet the other Tantors – just the lander, but with enough fuel and supplies to see us through every contingency we can forsee. The crew will include Maslin Karayan. I would be grateful for your presence, too. But I need to ask – are you really a Second Chancer?’
‘What I believe and what I think can’t be expressed in a sentence. But do I believe dreadful mistakes have been made in the past, and that we’d be very unwise not to learn from them? Most certainly. I count the Tantors among these mistakes – they should not have come into being. But now they are here, we must accept the fact of them with grace.’