Interzeit: A Space Opera (8 page)

She docked the Tiger West on the far end of the station. It faced the rocky surface of Vesta. It was grey and dark, dotted with clusters of erratic lights from the complex mining operations below. Although estranged from much of the system
,
Vesta
was a place of such abundant resources, water, nitrogen, helium, carbon, iron, gold, uranium et al, that it slowly was flourishing into a life giving oasis all its own.

From TST
Intel
,
Lei
knew that the first permanent cities were in the progress of being built on the surface. The terrestrial lust for the perfect atmosphere was not an ideal shared so widely past Martian space. TianShanTech and her sister organizations such as Vesta Minor, took their heaviest cues from the Lunar colonies, the most pertinent example of which being the city of
Kovskygrad
.

These giant self-contained domes were seen by the inner system dwellers as necessary evils. A transitionary stage between
death
to the replication of the green womb of mother Gaia.

They failed to see the elegance, and efficiency of such systems.
T
hey puttered with their gaseous mega projects,
and
g
iant
terraformary
engines,
the price of which could
bu
ild a settlement in
themselves
. They ran endlessly,
r
un
n
ing
and r
un
n
ing
in places like Mars.

While these projects failed to make significant progress, the peoples of the outer ring launched the first space colonies. Free standing platforms like Vesta Minor, who need not contend with the arduous cruelty of nature and her master space in the raw elements, but shielded by machinery. Technology after all, was mankind’s greatest asset.

The terraformary culture eventually swept even the moon, whose diminutive size
was
attractive to the wealthy engineering corporations of Mars. Although still not nearly habitable, it no
w
boasted a thin atmosphere capable of repelling deadly radiation.

From the Martian trenches and caves, the Moon served as a next step. A
transition
,
a
stepping stone in itself towards a
n
Eden
on Mars.
They wanted the moon as a
proof of concept, and a symbol of humanity’s mastery over the emptiness.

The station team finally found an appropriately shaped terminal airlock to attach to Tiger West. With the right connectors, it finally made a seal, pressurizing with a familiar hiss. She made it to the central
hangar,
she could see several other crafts stored behind redundant blast doors, airlocks, and safety glass.

None seemed to match the Martians’
ships
, a fact of growing concern to her. She talked with one of the dock managers, and he similarly had not seen any ships matching their description (
Lei
of course, leaving out their origins and intentions).

Leaving Basil behind, Lei entered into the Colony proper through one of a multitude of transit cabs. The small automated ship had no
accessible manual controls
, merely a set of pre-programmed destinations. It set out from the docking ring and flew vertically along the curvature of the glittering spiral.

The ship banks tightly, docking onto an input along the top rim. The docking completes, the ship
’
s engines kick off. Now tethered to Vesta Minor, Lei
feels the pull of gravity, she unbuckles the seat harness, the invisible momentum now adequate to hold her still.

The window to the outside
gives
context to the underlying spinning mechanism involved.
The ring and fleet outside seeming to spin around and around the colony in faithful orbit.

Lei leaves
the ship and finds herself in a large cab terminal. Clean spaces, angular with soft lighting, the
milieu
is a scattered assortment of workers and engineers. They were all heading back from, or to mining assignments of varying terms. To build a structure on the surface, or perhaps to blow open a rocky mountain for its trace metals.

It was hard to describe anyone in this place as a tourist. Some more de
cadently dressed persons roamed
about the terminus station, but not of a particularly foreign element to them. Appearances could be deceiving however. Lei herself had never been in this part of the belt, but with her pragmatic pilot suit, and Asiatic appearance, she looked no different then any of the endless
waves
of engineers, technologists
,
and miners.

Feeling a bit off, she removed her flight helmet, and latched it
to the belt on her side. She ran a gloved hand through her sweaty dark hair, and stepped outside.

If the true source of the gravity had been peripherally evident on the ship, and unknown to one who was merely in the building itself, then it was impossible to deny the obvious design and workings of it, once “outdoors”.

Large clouds of gas and moisture floated up above them. It clouded the horizon of the city, as it bent up and up disappearing into the small heavens. She walked down the steps to the street, finally jumping the last half. Her suit ripples in the light half G air as she lands.

She squints as the artificial light source in the sky briefly pierces through a cloud. The vastness of the colony becomes evident, blocks upon blocks of buildings, parks, lakes and
farms,
stretch o
ut along
the banking landscape. Although the Martian’s would
undoubtedly
not enjoy the same natural
con
formity with the major
ity of the
populace
like
she did,
Lei knew that they were specialists. They would use their craft and cunning to fit in
,
l
ikely donning disguises while they did their work.

Without much else to lead on, Lei f
inds a public terminal map, and deduces her next steps.
They were
after some programmers and AI technologists based here
, she knew that much
.

The technological so called, “free zone” in the colony was a city called Xiao Zhou. From her briefing report she knew the group went by the name “The Metal Star Collective” or Jingxin for short.

Supposedly limited to the free zone, they had raised multiple controversies in the past over the supposed design of human simulacrums
,
made
specifically to work around these arbitrary borders.

To Lei
,
the blurring between man and machine was a natural tendency, but to embrace it fanatically was reckless. Nonetheless she caught a bus to the city. The trip was quiet, the passengers mostly tending to their private ionic devices, interacting on a plane Lei was disconnected fro
m. It was half isolating, half freeing
to be alone
together
.

The bus crossed a large curving bridge. It took them over a
pristine
floral lake. It had water plants, and fish of all colors and sizes. Large
floating lotuses served as homes for small miniature cranes, and other animals that dared to co-exist beside their vicious talons.

The city
itself
was a large glamorous exhibition of uninhibited technology, human desire, and the free mixing of both. The streets were covered in a fog of neon li
ghts, holograms, and machinery, d
esigned to draw the eye and entice the vices.

Fleets of identical women and men
strolled
the avenues. Performing services of various kinds, with differing levels of human debauchery at the
i
r core
, t
he invitation to real money games, gambling, sport, and the epicurean desire for mental exoticism lay before Lei, outstretch
ed
, and wanting.

Even for someone as disciplined as
herself
, the magnetism of this place was undeniable. She had little interest in synthetic highs, or loves, but their sheer presence spoke to something else. Something deeper inside her, it said, “What do you desire?”

A
machinery
, a cognition was in this place, it calculated and planned to find this very answer. With its wide variety of tools and skills Lei knew that there was something for her here. Something would be calculated and calibrated. A something that she could love, and get lost in, something to cause the abandon
ment
of al
l higher mental constructs like
society, loyalty, family, and give it all up to the greater electronic
Elysium.

She exited the bus, and the air itself had this feeling as well. There was energy, intoxication, possibility, like artificial pheromones percolating through her lungs, gathering in a bloody concentration.

She looked upwards, and saw a place free of this haze. Above the maze of streets, lights, and pleasure (sometimes being displayed right in view of the common pedestrian), a second layer to the
madness floated. No such lights or desires,
but
strict logical paths and rails for transports. They zipped quietly overhead, going to this building from that. This web like superstructure surrounded every city block she ventured through. Like a safety
net
of some kind, the web was there as a logical sky, looking down at the humans lured inside
.
W
ith what kind of eye
did it watch
?

Lei did not know, she passed by several enterprises of great intrigue to her. Such as complicated holo-SIM cafes, where the patrons all sat in networked pods, the true café stowed away on some
meta
plane, the experience occulted to the digital world of one and zero.

Another place retro-f
itted anthrions of all manner and
design with human shells.
There were popular designs, transforming the helpful androids into perfect and stimulating images of human beauty. The most fascinating ones being mimics of real people, mostly dead, historical figures, coming with their own historical reference matrix to be side loaded into the unit.

The alluring tendrils of this soft
AI delayed her journey, but could not stop it entirely. Soon she found herself at the Jingxin office.
The maps showed it o
n the high
er
floors,
but
the campus had no outward
edifice or sign indicating
which
belonged to them. The only
signage was for the lower floors.

A courtyard garden, and two story fountain
pool
lay in the center of the buildings. A
n
endless party rolled here, hundreds engaged in the mindless euphori
a of music, dance, drinks, and everything else.

The lower floors bore all the same advertising words, “Pallas Palatine” in big red glitter bold shapes, mounted on walls, and adorning canopied entrances. Determined to locate the Jingxin offices
,
Lei ente
red
the lower floor.

Immediately after reception
,
there is a vast chamber of gaming units. People p
lugged into
sims
of all manner. L
ess commonly
,
the nostalgic pass time of physical gambling, tables and wheels of endless game varieties
were next
, a haze filled through room, it smelled of tulips yet made her light headed. Sweet floral honey, a tinge of euphoria bit on the back of her mind, a rushing urge to relax, and take the proper time in everything.

She resisted, pushing against the tide and rhythm around her to an elevator. To her dismay it only went up
to the fifth floor. Without any
alternatives she struck the button and arrived there. The party here was more
organized. Food and rest places
dotted the open floors, with offices dedicated to specialized degeneracies pocketing the area.

Her search for another way up
appeared
to be fruitless, the upper levels were self-contained by design, so it seemed anyway. She got a ring on her ionics, Basil.

“Hello Miss, I have completed a scan of all the public docking logs for the solar day. It seems no craft matching the MISA profile have reported in or docked today.”

“Quite strange Basil,” Lei answered, “Possible reasoning?
A change in ships?”

“I did consider that Master Liang, along with the possibility that they were intercepted at some point along the route, and that we have failed in our objective…”

“It is too early to accept defeat Basil,” She said sternly,

“I understand
Lei,
there is a short amount of crafts that have entered at varying times, which could be positive indication of their successful infiltration. I will upload them shortly.”

“What makes these crafts special?”
Lei asks
.

“They are cargo ships that would be large enoug
h to carry one or more of the Martian
ships inside them.”

“Hmm, possibly…still, why keep us out of the loop?”
Lei Liang thinks aloud.

“I cannot say, I’m afraid.
Perhaps they misjudge our resolve.”

Lei thanks
it for the report, Basil transmits the list, and they disconnect communications.
Almost as soon as it closes out, she receives another notification. It’s a small message from a blocked origin.

“Sit at the bar.”

She looks around, scanning for the person. Nothing distinct, there is indeed a bar, shaped in a long curve around a fat pillar. Lei has a seat, she rebuffs the bar’s programmed responses, probing her for an order.

It seemed pensive at her refusal to order a drink.

“It’s a business you know.” A voice calls from behind her.

She pivots quickly, a man in a black outfit and a hood stands behind her. He takes a seat, and orders a synthalc.

“They get touchy if you aren’t spending credit.”

“Who are you?”
Lei asks
.

The man lowers his hood, revealing smooth olive features.

“I’m with the MISA team. What are you doing here?” He says quietly,

“You disappeared, I came to find you.” Lei replied sternly.

“Now you have, you’ve fulfilled your task,
so
go. Your corporate masters will be pleased by your performance.”

Lei blows past the rebuff, “Have you found the
I
ntel you were looking for?”

The agent sighs, “Try to have a little subtlety.”

She sits there silently, finally deciding to order a drink herself.

“We should leave soon.” The agent says finally, “You especially. No, no this isn’t good.”

He reaches into his sleeve, and pulls out a piece of metal. With a flick of his wrist it telescopes outwards and lights a burning high pressure torch at one end. The room quickly reacts to
the loud fire jet. The agent jumps on the bar and sets the torch onto the ceiling. The metal hisses and melts against the high temperature flame.