No Direction Home (14 page)

‘Like I said, they added in some improvements to Vinter Mark One, which wouldn't have been difficult.' A wry grin on his face, instantly removed. ‘So you're a more advanced version of me. Physically, you're younger and stronger than I was when I was able bodied and the ageing process has been slowed down considerably – they're talking about at least a two hundred year lifespan, probably a good deal more. Mentally, you're a whole lot brighter – your IQ is probably going to be off the scale, apparently. God knows how they've managed that, given the raw material they're working with, but there you go. I think the expression is making a silk purse out of a sow's ear… Sorry, I'm wandering off the subject. Maybe it's because it's a bit strange talking to myself like this… I can always edit this out later, I suppose.

‘Anyway, if you're getting this message, then you've got to what we're calling Phase Two, “we” being the people who are setting all this up. Phase One was where you thought the Delta Pavonis colony was a UN project consisting solely of refugees fleeing from Earth and, in particular from the real bad guys, EarthCorp. You may even have been told that the good guys, New Dawn, helped in the construction and/or launch of
Terra Nova
because they were really saintly, altruistic people who were forced into conflict with the nasty people of EarthCorp because they were defending freedom and democracy against the Evil Empire. Sounds familiar? I suspect you know better now, because the colony will now be under the control of New Dawn troops and political leaders who were smuggled aboard
Terra Nova
before the launch.'

Vinter clicked on
Pause
, grimacing.
He's speaking as if we're already on Delta Pavonis. Shit… how much use is this going to be – it's already outdated, for God's sake.
He drew in a deep breath, then clicked on
Play
again.
OK, let's see what he's got to say, anyway…

‘The point is that you won't go into Phase Two until your augmentation hardwiring is activated – which means that the colony has run into the sort of trouble where your augmentation is going to be needed. Possibly alien monsters, but, more likely, conflict arising over New Dawn seizing power at PlanetFall – am I right? Like I'm going to get an answer…

‘So now you've found out the truth – New Dawn is just as bad as EarthCorp and they want to run the colony their way. The problem is that their presence on the
Terra Nova
is down to corruption and greed on the part of certain UN officials. Oh, a lot of it is pragmatism – there is no way that the
Terra Nova
could have been built or launched without the help of New Dawn, so political deals were struck behind the scenes – and some were even more behind the scenes than that. We've uncovered a lot of them, but not all. There's more detailed information in the enclosed documents that should be appearing on your comp any time now, but what you need to know is that New Dawn has managed to place troops and a political cadre aboard the
Terra Nova.
They'll be revived along with all the others on arrival at PlanetFall and, once they've evaluated the situation, they'll make their move – stage a coup.'

OK, so he's got the timing wrong, but he's still on the button so far, apart from that.

‘We've found out they're going to make it easier for themselves by feeding doctored memories to key personnel – like you – where New Dawn is shown as the good guys, so that they'll be more inclined to accept the coup. We're trying to counter-act that brainwashing in your case. Basically, listening to good old Pink Floyd
should
restore your original memories – or as many as the UN scientists are going to give you. We chose
Wish You Were Here
because the lyrics fit in with your situation and will give you subconscious nudges even before you play this vid. You also know the bloody thing backwards – or at least, I do. Makes it easier to trigger memories, because the music will be familiar, even at a subconscious level.

‘So where do you come in? Hopefully, you'll oppose this coup, or do your best to subvert it – if you've really got my personality, then I don't think you'll dismiss this prospect out of hand, even if it's only through sheer bloody-mindedness – I'm told that's one of my traits, so maybe it will be one of yours as well. So your next question will be how can you do that when New Dawn knows the trigger phrase that will send you into super-warrior mode, so can control you whenever they want? So…' He paused, then said, very precisely, ‘In Held 'Twas In I.'

It was as if a window had been opened into his memory:
Procol Harum – the long track on ‘Shine On Brightly' with the nonsense title – what the hell?

‘Feel any different?'

Bloody hell, I do – I know what the trigger phrase is now – Sycorax Pyramus Endymion. Another nonsensical grouping of words, that would never be uttered by accident – can't have me going into killing mode at the wrong time, can we?

After another pause, the screen Vinter continued, almost as if he knew how long he would take to absorb the information, ‘The trigger phrase won't work any more – that Procol Harum title has over-ridden it. The thing is that you can now self-activate the mode whenever
you
want, simply by subvocalising
this
message–'

Come on you Spurs
appeared on the screen; Vinter grinned to himself as another tranche of memories, only vaguely recalled so far, began to come into focus. He had been a Tottenham Hotspur supporter for as long as he could remember –
Jesus, it feels good to say that
– like his father and grandfather before him; he pushed those related memories aside so that he could concentrate on the message.

‘
–
that's me and my childish sense of humour, I'm afraid. The point is that it won't work if anyone else says it – it only works with your voice, which is why I didn't actually say it aloud, because my voice pattern should be identical to yours. To get out of the mode, you simply repeat the phrase – again, in the unlikely event of anyone else using the same phrase, it won't work. Even the remote control paralysis thingy won't work, either. You
should
now be in total control of that mode. I wish I could be more definite about that, but there hasn't been an opportunity to field test it, unfortunately.

‘How you use it, or even if you do, is up to you. We're asking a lot of you, setting up what might be a one man resistance movement and nobody would blame you if you decided not to, least of all me – I'm not the one who's going to have to face all this, after all. I've no idea how much you will be able to achieve, but at least you'll know the truth – and maybe you can score a few points, because New Dawn will be outnumbered amongst the colonists. It's all we can do now, because
Terra Nova
left Earth a year ago – we've only just found out what's going on with New Dawn and the infiltration. We're sending this message, encrypted so that it will go directly into your space on
Terra Nova
's computer network and will be sent to you when you access
Wish You Were Here
. But that's about it, I'm afraid, mate. There's not much more any of us can do on Earth, because you're at about a hundred and fifty times the orbit of Neptune right now – and, by the time you read this, assuming you've reached Terra Nova, I'll be long dead. Now there's a cheerful thought to be going on with, but the sad fact is that I'll never know how it works out for you. Hell, I'll never even know whether you ever got this message.

‘There's something else. You probably don't know that, in addition to the colonists in cryosleep,
Terra Nova
is carrying DNA templates and digitised memory records of ten thousand individuals who didn't make the cut, but whose skills would be useful to the colony further down the line. The idea is that, once the colony is sufficiently well established to develop the technology, the cloning procedure can be used with these individuals. OK, we're probably talking about several generations down the line, but that's the master plan – a colony of twelve thousand plus is going to be more viable than one with only two thousand as a starting point. That's what Project Demeter – the cloning project that produced you – is really all about. To put it bluntly, you're something of a prototype or test bed.

‘The thing that bothers me – and probably you, if you really
are
me – is how this technology will actually be used. That's why, if you get the time, watch
Blade Runner.
It's basically how artificial humans – replicants they're called in the film, but androids will serve just as well – how they might be treated in the future. Will they be slaves, or treated as equals? Will the clones on Terra Nova simply end up as slaves, or, at best, second class citizens with very few rights? Or, given that you've been augmented to the extent that you can probably outfight any soldier who's ever lived, will they simply breed a warrior class programmed to obey orders without question? Or is the technology going to be used to ensure much longer life-spans for a chosen few who simply download their memories into a younger body – and keep on doing it? I'm sorry, Chris, but you're simply the beginning of a story that could get very ugly, but the genie's out of the bottle now and there ain't any putting it back.'

Vinter paused and seemed to let out his breath in a sigh. ‘To be honest, I can see where the UN's coming from – this way, they get the largest possible genetic diversity for their colony, make it more viable, that sort of thing – but will whoever's running the show in the future be as idealistic, or will they simply exploit the clone technology? I wouldn't even be too sure about the UN remaining true to their principles when it comes to it, but if New Dawn takes over… You can be sure that they'll know the full potential of the Project – and how to use it for their own ends. Again, I don't know what the hell you can do about it, but I just thought you ought to know what's at stake.

‘Just one or two odds and ends left now. Like I said, watch
Blade Runner
, although you'll probably remember it as well as I do now. You won't find a copy of it in the ship's library, funnily enough – they didn't want you to find out what you are before they were ready, but it's in the file marked PKD. It's not essential now that you've listened to the Floyd, because it was the alternate route for this message, but it'll let you know where the memory flashes were coming from. Basically, we've put them in to try to get you to question your memory, one way or another. And when I say “they”, I'm talking about the UN as well. I hate to say it, but they're probably manipulating you as much as New Dawn. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about it beyond reminding you of that fact. Which you've probably already realised, if you're as intelligent as they say you're going to be… Shit, should have written out a script for this first, the way I'm rambling…

‘So – that's about it, really. On second thoughts, I'm not going to edit this – you're going to get this, fluffs and all, because, that way, it's more like a real conversation and – well, I'd rather listen to an unedited piece, so I'm assuming you will as well. Best of luck, mate – or should I call you son? Difficult, as we're the same person, or at least we share the same genetic material, as well as whatever memories they've chosen to pass on to you. I'm hoping they'll pass all of them on – well, except for the memories of the explosion and the subsequent treatment because I wouldn't wish them on anyone – but I'll never know how much of me they'll actually programme into you, so I don't know how much you'll be like me in the end. But then, you'll never know that either, will you?

‘However, if you
are
anything like me, I think you'll be causing a few problems for those bastards, one way or another. I damn well hope so… And I wish I could be there to help you, but… well, I wouldn't be much use to you, would I?' He glanced downwards, towards the wheelchair, then gave a wry smile as he faced the camera again.

‘One last thing… Anji and Emma send their love. They opted to stay on Earth with me – sorry about that, because they'll be in your memories, but they won't be with you… I tried to get them to go, because I'm not at all optimistic about what is going to happen here on Earth, but they wouldn't. Like I said, I'm sorry about that, because I know how I'd feel if they weren't with me…'

He looked away from the camera for a moment, then the image jumped again, probably for the same reason as before; he had needed time to compose himself. ‘As for me, I just wish we'd had a chance to meet face to face, just once. It would have been a strange experience, but… Never mind. Just give them hell, Chris, OK?'

Vinter seemed to take a deep breath, then said quietly, ‘I think that's about it. I doubt if I'm going to be able to send any more messages, so all the very best of luck, because you're going to need it…
Nil illegitimi carborundum
, son.'

Don't let the bastards grind you down…

The image faded and Vinter knew it would not return; there was something indefinably final about it.

He had been listening to a dead man…

And Anji and Emma were long gone as well, even if they'd somehow survived the nuclear war. OK, so Emma might just still be alive, in her nineties, but what difference did that make now? They were both lost forever to him, whatever had happened back on Earth. An hour ago, he hadn't even known of their existence and now they were burned into his memory… why the hell had they made him remember? Better not to have known about them at all… Anji, with her laughing eyes – blue, not brown – her wicked sense of humour, the way she could cheer him up when he was feeling down, the only woman he had ever loved and now she was gone…