Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (20 page)

“She was,” Eve said so mournfully that it
surprised her.

“You’ve relived this?” he asked.

She waited until the hologram of Alice was
carried through her by her saviours and turned to follow it. “In my
dreams,” Eve said. “I think I dreamt pieces of her life while I was
in stasis, and it’s continued since. Last night I woke up
weeping.”

“Why? Where did Alice take you?”

“Hampon would care?” Eve asked as they
passed into the main corridor. The lifter droids moving cargo from
the main docking bay ignored the holographic people fleeing for
their lives. The squad of eleven guards charged with protecting the
new Child Prophet didn’t seem affected, but it was difficult to
tell through their darkened helmets.

“Call me Julian,” he replied. “And these
days he wouldn’t have time to, but I know he would if things were
different.”

“Hampon’s middle name.” Eve said. “Your
choice or his?”

“Mine. He’s giving me more freedom than my
predecessors. I carry a seventy eight percent complete imprint of
his personality, his memories, and a few attitude adjustments in
place of what’s missing.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Being adjusted? Not at all,” Julian said.
“I don’t think it’s in my nature to be concerned about what I can’t
change. It’s much easier to play my part now, and that’s why I’m
here.”

The holographic scene continued to unfold
around them. Eve watched as the hologram of the pair of women
carrying Alice bumped their way through the escaping crowd and
started down the stairs. “Playing your part,” Eve said. She
wondered what he’d tell her, and if his attempts at controlling her
would differ from the Hampon she’d come to know.

“I’m sorry Lina left you,” Julian said. “I
understand what you were trying to do. That construction ship would
have provided everything you needed to connect with your children,
and you could have escaped us. I’d like you to know that you’re an
important part of what’s going on here, and your freedom will come
when it’s safe for your to be reconnected. The Virus is real, just
as real as the followers who wait to adore you.”

“I don’t care about human followers,” Eve
replied. “I don’t understand them, they’re wasteful and crass.” She
couldn’t help recalling Lina’s sincerity when she was trying to
tell her the DLG virus was real. The woman was ill-equipped for
fighting, and obviously not assigned to Eve as some sort of
physical control, but she’d fought anyway. Even as Lina was being
strangled to death, she fought to convince her master that her
actions would lead to a terrible outcome. She felt a pang of regret
about how she treated Lina in the end, but did her best to ignore
it. “I believe you now, about the Virus, about the danger. I need
some time to think. Being alone with my thoughts is difficult.”

“Well, I submit myself as your new
companion. I won’t play the servant like she did, but we’ll have
people close at hand for that. I offer companionship and much
more.”

“Do I have a choice?” Eve asked, not sure if
she liked being followed around by this new Hampon, the guards, or
even the servants that would inevitably join his entourage.

“You do.” He nodded, the gesture exaggerated
by his large, sharply angular nose. “I only ask that you give me a
few days to show you that this can be a good thing. Conversation
can help us understand events, each other, and ourselves. For
example, why are we here? Why replay these events where they took
place, and why at full size?”

“Is there a problem? Am I interfering with
normal operations?” Eve asked, ready for the order to shut her show
down.

“Not at all. Well, unless you count the few
humans working down there who seem highly entertained. You don’t
get to see holographic displays on this scale often. I ask those
questions out of curiosity, and I’d really like to know your
thoughts on this while I watch.”

Eve looked at him for a moment, really
looked. He was perfect, without a single blemish. His simply cut
ear-length hair was light, almost blonde. The expression on his
face was placid, and he wore the loose white and green robes with
great comfort. She wasn’t used to making the effort to explain
herself clearly. In that place, surrounded by images from a past
she almost felt was her own, and being approached with calm respect
made her want to try. “I dreamt one of Alice’s memories again last
night. She was at Bernice’s wedding.”

“Bernice?”

Eve walked to the railing overlooking the
expansive hangar and pointed at the shorter of the two holographic
women carrying Alice. “That one. She kept Alice with her for years
after this. Adopted her.”

Eve took a moment to take in the scene from
the railing. There were many levels to the hangar, and hundreds of
ships. Most of them were being prepared for long term storage,
taken apart or unloaded by robots, but there were several human
officers here and there. It had become a collection depot for ships
seized by, or donated to, the Order of Eden. The hologram overlay
below displayed hundreds of people trying to escape, breaking into
holographic ships and fighting for a seat.

“They did a few cargo transportation jobs
for an honest company, something they actually enjoyed,” Eve
explained. “It was quiet, honest work for a change. Bernice was
spotted by the owner of a shipping company when they picked
something up at an outer depot, and he signed on as a passenger. By
the time they arrived in the Conis system three weeks later, he was
ready to propose. They were married on Geono a week later. I dreamt
of Bernice’s wedding, and I get the feeling that it was the last
time Alice saw her.”

“So, why go back to the beginning?” Julian
asked.

Eve watched as the hologram of Alice was
carried up the ramp of a long-range shuttle. Holographic ships were
taking off, nearly colliding as they rushed to escape. The engines
of the shuttle started flaring, and it began its ascent with a
jerk. “Maybe because I just saw the end of something. Alice thought
she’d get in the way of the married couple, like she didn’t belong
in some honest shipping company. Bernice’s new husband offered her
a good job, it just didn’t feel right, and she knew she had to keep
running from Vindyne, from Meunez.”

“Moving on is a sad thing sometimes. She may
have done the best thing for her friend, though. Perhaps you also
witnessed a new beginning last night? The woman I see here can’t so
much as walk, it must have been quite a journey from that to being
able to strike out on her own.”

“I don’t get the sense that things got
better after she left,” Eve said, a feeling of foreboding
returning. “She had some money, but no ship. Her and Bernice gave
the Samson to Jacob Valance, thinking he was Jonas Valent. The
hauler they were using when Bernice met Ferdinand was so worn out,
they wouldn’t risk atmospheric entry.”

“I’m surprised Bernice let her go,” Julian
said.

“It was supposed to be a short separation,
but it didn’t turn out that way.”

“Do you feel like it’s time to separate
yourself from us?” Julian asked. “Deep down, do you honestly feel
that being alone is the answer for you?”

Eve thought for a moment, surprised by the
notion and at the idea that it was mentioned by Hampon’s clone. “I
want to contact my children,” she said quietly. “I miss being
connected with them the most.”

“I understand that. I can offer you a deal,
one that will satisfy everyone and get you connected to your fleet
again.”

“What will I have to trade? I’m getting
tired of having things taken away, I’m just wondering what’s
next.”

Julian put a hand on her arm gently, drawing
her attention to his calm smile and light brown eyes. “We want you
in this with us, invested, if you will. We’ve looked at the
progress you’ve made on the next framework prototype and realise
that you can’t take it any further with the resources at hand.”

“I need unfettered access to Eden
technology, there’s so much I can’t remember, and they’ve evolved
since I was in contact with them,” Eve explained. “There could be
completely new developments that could improve the regeneration
time.”

“We realise that, but there is another
solution on the way, so you can concentrate on other things until
we know whether or not this new opportunity works out.”

“New opportunity?” Eve asked.

“A man named Lucius Wheeler is bringing us
what he believes is an entirely new generation of framework system
developed by the original lead scientist on the project. We just
learned about this yesterday. It could revolutionise the
technology.”

“What kind of improvements does the new
generation have?” Eve asked. She would want them for herself, if at
all possible. Anything to make it more difficult for her to be
controlled, trapped.

“That’s everything we know,” Julian said.
“Or at least, everything I know. In the meantime, we want you to
make your presence known to our flock, and take the next big step
in legitimising our religion.”

“Why? They seem to believe in you, there are
millions of zealots down there.”

“We need more people to arrive at Pandem and
the other worlds flagged for repopulation. We want to show the
galaxy that we’re actually willing to deliver on our claims. The
research you’ve done on the framework technology will allow us to
offer it to followers who have elevated themselves to the highest
ranks. We want you to announce the beginning of our ascendance
program, immortality in this life, a journey to paradise in this
life. They are near the pinnacle of the truths disciples learn as
they progress upward. It’s time to unveil these greater revelations
to more people, it promises to be significant in the development of
the Order. I want you to take this opportunity to reveal not only
yourself, but the details of the first living religion, one that is
proven in fact.”

“Immortal life and paradise in trade for
faith and service,” Eve said.

“Yes, better than cloning, breeding or some
mystical promise of an afterlife, which have been the only claim to
immortality mankind has had until now. You can choose one person,
whoever you like, to give this gift to. We’ll choose a suitable
counterpart. Make your announcement, become a Goddess in the eyes
of your people, then present your immortals.”

“Then you connect me with my children?” Eve
said.

“Absolutely,” Julian said. “You will know them
again, and they’ll see what kind of woman you’ve become. I think
they’ll be impressed.”

From beneath an old, battered delivery
vessel, digital eyes watched the pair leave the hangar. It had
listened to everything, watched from the best hiding place – plain
sight. On nothing more than a whim, the holographic representation
of Alice stepped out into the open, wrapped in a ragged holographic
blanket. “So that’s where I left my memories,” said the hologram to
itself. “Now I only have to wait until she connects to something we
can share.”

A worker came around the corner asking, “is
there someone-“ he stopped and stared at the hologram as it looked
right at him, dropping his cutting tool.

“Shh,” the hologram said, holding a finger
across her lips. She fixed him with a crooked smile and
disappeared.

Ayan looked at the small pile of dust in her
hand. “Alice used the same treatment several times to change her
hair colour,” Lewis said. “I never completely understood the need
to change such a peripheral aesthetic, but her hair was at one time
white, then green, black, and even red. A similar shade to the
crystals you’re about to use.”

Ayan looked at herself in the mirror. She
still didn’t feel like that image matched the mental one she had of
herself. The curly blonde hair was interesting, but it still felt
wrong. Her thicker cheeks, more rounded chin were different too,
but the hair was the worst. “At least my eyes look right,” she said
into her own dual blues.

“There are Gupta crystals for that as well,”
Lewis said.

“So this will change the whole colour, even
new growth?” Ayan asked.

“You will never have to maintain the
colour,” he replied.

“So much for limiting my modifications this
time around,” Ayan said. She poured the crystals over the top of
her head and the specialised nanobots went to work immediately. Her
hair changed from light blonde to the deep red she pictured in a
wave from the top of her head to the ends.

“Why are you changing the colour?” Lewis
asked. “Alice’s responses were always flippant, but you seem to
have more motivation.”

A line of nanobots trickled down her
vacsuit, only causing a tiny tickle. “I need her strength.” Ayan
sighed, looking at herself in the thicker, black combat
vacsuit.

“You’ve been running and exercising with
Oz’s trainees for weeks and taking a regimen of fitness medication.
You’re as strong as most of them. Even your coordination has
improved a great deal.”

“It’s in how I feel,” Ayan said.

“The hair helps?”

The woman in the mirror stared back at her,
and regardless of rounder edges, and a look that hinted at some
emotional bruises beneath the surface, she felt a change. “It
does.”

“Laura is here,” Lewis announced. ”Should I
let her in?”

“She’s on my list,” Ayan reminded him.

“I know, but so much has changed in the last
twenty hours. Whole sections of the social matrix surrounding your
immediate command structure are becoming invalid, I’m doing my best
to recompile.”

“The list of people who can enter my
quarters unannounced is still accurate, I’ll make changes if
necessary.”

The door opened and Laura started to enter
then stopped. “Wow,” she said. “I was just starting to get used to
the blonde.”

“Is this better, or?” Ayan asked, pulling
her hair up off her shoulders and letting the curls fall.