Still Falling: Book 1: Solstice 31 Saga (15 page)

“Ash is only allowed to go if Po goes with them.”

“She doesn't like the hearths to go cold. At this rate, we will run out of wood in January.” Em wasn't kidding. A firewood inventory came up with the consumption levels neatly graphed on a temporal grid.

“Have Ash clear the trees from the roads. Then do a windfall collection. That can be a night job.”

“Ash is going to be a busy boy.” Em said.

Late that afternoon the weather front came though. It was rain that would be snow in the higher elevations.

The BUGs on the mountain would come into range as soon as they topped the foothill. It was the tallest in the area and even though the clouds would stop them from seeing the mountain in the distance where the STU was, comms would be possible.

It was full dark when they reached the peak. The leading edge of the storm had passed, and the air had stabilized. The BUGs that were left behind to monitor the STU were there and on-line. The STU was covered with snow and basically invisible.

“Stu, it's time to wake up buddy.”

The full HUD in the spider was all windows. A new window appeared large and center labeled, “Startup Initialization.” A log file of actions was rolling by fast as Stu began to come on- line.

The log file was going by too fast for Barcus to read any of it. Em began to summarize for him as she sat in the chair next to his. “Startup has initiated. Now it’s doing a self-check, powering up hardware in a specific sequence, segmenting resources for the each system.”

“Chen told me once the startup sequence was the biggest pain because it took so long to bring all the systems up. The AI comes up last of all,” Barcus said.

“I think you lived because Chen came down an hour earlier that day to initiate startup,” Em said, having no idea how that hurt.

Finally the log read, “STU initialized.”

“Hello, Stu. How are you feeling?”

“I'm still waking up, sir. So far, all systems are nominal.”

“We are in Survival Mode, Stu. Hostile Environment, passive sensors only,” Em said. Barcus realized it was info for his benefit too.

Em began rapid comms at that point, conveying the flight plan and method.

The BUGs showed the shuttle enlarge from settle mode with sliding lobster tail style sections expanding, causing the snow to shake off and get blown away.

The Grav-foils finally deployed and quietly began to raise the ship. They looked like thirty flat, black oars that folded out from the sides of the ship at 45-degree angles, spiny, in a menacing fish fin kind of way.

The STU began to glide down to the rendezvous point.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Stu Rendezvous

“The Shuttle Transport Unit, known as Stu, had a modified AI as well. But not modified in the same way.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Emergency Module Digital Forensics Report. Independent Tech Analysis Team.

<<<>>>

“Hello, Stu. What is your ETA to the rendezvous point?”

“Hello, Barcus. I am so glad you are not dead. ETA is fourteen minutes,” Stu said. His voice sounded very young and formal.

“Par, head to the rendezvous point. How long will it take us to get there?” Barcus asked while watching the tactical as the land began to smoothly slide away.

“ETA is thirty-one minutes. Handshake has been established with STU and mission priorities have been conveyed.”

“I have already deployed my passive antenna array and have begun collecting encrypted traffic,” Stu said. “Sir, I have already detected some interesting information. TTL on the Crypt-Keys is set to maximum.”

“TTL? Stu, what the hell is TTL?” asked Barcus

“Time To Live, sir. TTL.” Stu answered.

“From now on, everyone state acronyms for me at least three times before general use. Now, tell me what a Crypt-Key is and why should I care.”

Stu replied, “The Cryptographic Key is the piece of data that allows all the users and devices associated with a network to encode and decode the data transmitted over the network so that anyone monitoring transmissions will be unable to decode content.”

“Do you have to be so damned formal, Stu?” asked Barcus.

“
Actually, nope.
” His tone changed immediately.

“So what does that all mean? What are the implications of a long TTL?” Barcus wondered aloud.

“It means some lazy, dumb-ass admin didn't want to be bothered with encryption key management and set it never to change. The packet envelope says this was done over a hundred years ago. It basically makes the decryption easier. Once I brute-force the key, the password basically, they will not likely be changing it on us.”

“Dumb-asses, indeed. Excellent. How long will it take?” queried Barcus.

“I've already started. If I had to guess it would be two weeks to two years,” estimated Stu.

“Barcus?” It was Em. “We now have the STU's inventory and have made a list of items to transfer to the EM before we part. I also have a list of items for the Maker unit he carries to fabricate when it heats up.” Several new windows popped up for med supplies, survival foods, tools, weapons, ammunition, as well as, fabricated items like pipes, hinges, and tools. “We will be ready to leave tomorrow.”

“Excellent. Foxden is only a half a day away from Whitehall.” Barcus was looking at the lists. “We will leave some of these items, like the food, at Foxden.”

“Now that we have Stu, what will be the next priority items to tackle?”

“Well, provided we are not seen, cold running in the dark, under clouds, should do it. While Stu uses all his cycles for the decryption, we will convert the other Plate, continue salvage runs, do winter prep, expand our security perimeter, repair the wall, then the aqueduct and southern Abbey plumbing, execute roof repairs, gate repairs and door repairs, remove rubble and cut firewood - just to name a few. Teaching Po and Olias to read will make them much more useful in the long run as well.”

“Excuse me, boss,” Stu interrupted. “You got any idea why there is so little comm traffic? These SATs are designed to take way more.” Barcus noticed that Stu was very casual in his voice now.

“No clue, Stu.” Barcus smiled.

“Also, based on packet envelope data, it looks like three of the original thirty-two sats are not routing traffic.”

“Does that mean three of them have fallen?”

“Fallen, destroyed, malfunctioning or turned off. That doesn't help or hurt the decrypt effort. Just thought you'd be interested.”

“Thanks. Let me know if you find any other weirdness.”

***

By the time Par reached the STU, it had begun to snow. Light amplification cut through the darkness as they pulled up to the opening ramp in the front of the STU, under his chin of a pilothouse. The shuttle seemed huge to Barcus now. It always looked so tiny compared to the Ventura, when they used it for exterior maintenance support. The ramp closed behind them as soon as they were clear, and then the interior lights came up. The hold was bright, white and clean.

Par walked in and “parked” in the dock designed for the Emergency Module. The dock was a recess in the ceiling that left maximum space on the floor for cargo. The spider’s legs folded perfectly into the infrastructure, and when the hatch in the back opened, Barcus made his exit.

As Barcus moved to the narrow staircase that led to the bridge area, Em transferred the inventory list of needed items to his HUD. They were sorted by location now.

“Traveling by Grav-foils alone will require you to be strapped in, Barcus.” He knew this already but said nothing as he opened the hatch to the main bridge.

He should have stayed inside Par.

He had forgotten about all the blood. Chen's blood. It was dried now. But the metallic smell of it lingered despite the circulation of the air. He knew he would have to clean it. He went to the command chair, center, down front - Chen's chair. It had blood on the left side, but he ignored it and sat. The round saucer-sized buckle slid up between his legs and the fifteen-centimeter wide strap extended thirty centimeters. An adjustable shoulder harness was buckled in on each side for the full five-point harness.

“Ready to go Stu. Full ship HUD please.” The HUD snapped on, including several status windows Barcus didn't understand, that were intended for pilots. “Take us to Foxden, Grav-foils only.”

“And we're off!” Stu said. “This will feel odd because the inertial dampeners will not function when moving like this.”

Suddenly it felt like the ship was upside down and tilting forward. Barcus’s body pressed against the straps, and then he felt like he was in an elevator that was falling. The ship was, in fact, in freefall, just not directly toward the planet.

They were in the clouds now, all gray and darkness. Watching the tactical was more productive. What had taken them forty-five hours over land would take them just under three hours in freefall.

The ride was uneventful, but the further south they got, the thinner the clouds were. They landed with the STU’s nose directly over the door to the Foxden.

“We need to get this all offloaded and the STU into the lake before dawn,” Barcus stated flatly.

It was all a snap except for the ammo. Chen had a ton of it, literally. There were four types, all caseless. Big .50 for Em’s main gun, 5.56mm, 9mm, and 12gauge. Barcus decided to keep some in the STU, stow some inside Par, leave some at the Foxden cache and take the rest back to Whitehall. He also stashed a handgun, rifle and shotgun with the cache at Foxden, taking three just like them with him.

They finished two hours before dawn. Barcus rode inside of Par as the spider backed down the ramp. They parked near the rocky shore to watch as the STU flew over the lake then threw up a fountain of water into the sky as it descended. As it settled into the water, the lobster sections collapsed again, shrinking it to the smallest size possible.

It disappeared into the water and the tumult ceased, returning the waters to their normal calm.

“Bye, Stu. Keep in touch,” Barcus said.

“Will do, boss.”

“Par, let's go home. We might be in time for breakfast.”

“Yes, sir.”

Barcus stretched out his legs and leaned back, hoping for a couple hours of sleep. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Em sitting in the other seat next to him.

“That went better than I expected. I am speculating about a few things based on the data we have already collected.” She crossed her legs. “I am really beginning to wonder about the competence of the people running this planet.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, let me throw a few things out there.” She loved ticking off fingers. “No search parties. Not at the crash site. Not in the surrounding area. We know they have ships. We've seen them.”

She ticked off a second finger. “These raiders, these soldiers, they lost two Keepers. Ruling class members I presume. Still no searching.”

Third finger. “They are destroying productive, self-sustaining villages and towns. Why? The Keepers know. It was their idea.”

Another finger. “They seem incompetent regarding their own technology. Their operational security is bad. You'd think they would have had some kind of innovation in 200 years. There is nothing.”

One more finger. “Why the fuck do they adopt this backward culture? Create new religions and caste systems? What the hell? It's like they want the middle ages.”

She fell silent.

“We just need more information. I will have a lot of time to talk with Olias and Po over the winter. You see what you can find out with the BUGs and the surveys with Par and Ash. Eventually, we can tap into their traffic, but for now this will have to do,” Barcus said.

“I think we should do a few more supply runs to Greenwarren. I want Par to take Olias on the next run. Par needs hands and feet to do a proper job,” Em said.

Barcus looked at Em then with a questioning eyebrow.

“I think he will be fine with Par. He is fine with Ash already. They are becoming friends, I think. Olias likes it. He will take Par in stride when he knows she belongs to you. Remember, you're a Keeper, Barcus.”

Barcus rolled his eyes. “Okay. Let me know when Po is awake.”

A window opened that showed Po was already awake. She was sitting in the center of the bed with the Plate open in front of her and all four of the books on the bed by her knees.

“Call her, audio only.”

The Plate chimed and startled her. It chimed again and she picked it up.

“Good morning, Po.”

“Good morning, Barcus. I can hear you.”

“You don't need to shout, Po. I can hear you very well.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, my Lord.” She blushed deeply. Her head bowed forward, and her hair cascaded around her face.

“No need to be sorry. We will use these a lot. You'll get used to them.”

“Barcus, I have been reading, just as you told me...asked me too. I am doing so much better! We have a book here that is all about bees. It IS magic! When I master these arcane symbols and can read this whole book, I will know how to care for bees and harvest honey in safety and know all sorts of things to do with the honey!”

Barcus was smiling at her enthusiasm.

“Barcus, all four of these books are IN the plate! Others too!”

“Po, we will have lots of time this winter to teach you to read. I look forward to it.”

He could see her, but she didn't know that. There was a flash of concern on her face for a moment as she looked at the books surrounding her.

“Po, I will be back in a few hours, in time for breakfast.” Her face brightened.

“I will have it ready for you.” She started climbing out of bed.

“Po, one more thing.” He paused. “The spider, Pardosa, is bringing me. Don't be afraid.”

He saw her hand go to her mouth.

“We will be ready,” she finally said.

“See you soon.”

She climbed out of the bed, gathering the books and the Plate. All of the books went back on the shelf. She kept the Plate out. She added logs to the two fireplaces, grabbed a clean tunic from the peg and put on a cloak. As she stepped her feet into some newly salvaged dainty slippers, very unlike her, she raised up the Plate and said, “Light.”

The plate glowed as a bright white panel, lighting the way for her as she opened the door and went across the fountain yard to the stables. She tossed two logs on that fireplace grate and went up the spiral stairs. The hall was long here and well swept. With the Plate lighting her way, she ran the length of it and then up more stairs and onto the wall. She followed the wall around to the last stairs before the breach. She was down those stairs when Barcus finally knew where she was going.

The Plate lit her way perfectly as she approached what they had begun to call the “Keeper’s bath.” There was still a full bed of glowing coals in the fireplace, but she got more wood and put it on the fire. Then she hung her cloak up on a peg. In one swift motion, she unbuttoned the single button on her tunic at the nape of her neck and it quickly puddled about her ankles.

Barcus didn't try to look away or close the window.

She went to the edge of the tub and swung first one leg over the edge and then the other. When she turned toward the light, he saw it. There was a scar, a brand mark, just above the left breast. It was an old scar, many years old from the looks of it.

He watched her lower herself slowly into the huge tub, all the way into the water until her head was completely under. He watched her wash her hair with a bar of soap and rinse it under the steaming waterfall. She scrubbed her body with a fibrous ball of string that had a bar of soap in the center. He could see the soapy water drift away toward the overflow drain at the other end. She sat and soaked for a while after she was done scrubbing. When she climbed out, she simply stood before the fire, air drying. She combed her hair straight and shining and rapidly braided it, securing it with a simple string. She put on a clean tunic and then her cloak. She added another log before she left by the light of the Plate again.