Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera (32 page)

“So what are all those
black spots?”

“They’re uni-directional
inertial field generators.”

“And you complain about
my jargon!”

“Each generator creates a
field that pushes outward, away from the buggy, like a clean room maintaining a
higher atmospheric pressure than its surroundings. Any nanobot floating in the
vicinity will simply get shoved out of the way without touching.”

“Very smart, and we need
to be fast; the longer we stay the greater the chance of contamination.”

“Periscope launching in
three minutes” said the ship.

They hurried to the
control room.

“Oh my God!” they shouted
in unison as they floated in.

On the main display was
an image of Saturn. They were three million kilometers away and slightly above
the equatorial plane. From their vantage point the planet appeared as a
gigantic yellow crescent bifurcated by its ring system.

“The rings seem so
solid”
Aiyana said. “I feel I could just grab them and send them skimming across
space.”

“Yeah, pretty amazing, and
right our own back yard.”

“Where is it?” Aiyana
asked the ship.

“Where’s what?”

“You know”

The view panned away from
Saturn until the flare of the solar corona appeared at the edge of the display,
then it zoomed forward. A brown dot materialized out the void. Aiyana floated
forward and gently touched the screen. Carson followed her and laid his hand on
hers. The birthplace of the human race glowed between their fingers.

“Poor thing, it used to
be blue.”

“I’ve deployed the
interferometer; want to take a closer look?” The ship said.

The image on the display
was replaced by a fuzzy circle.

“Hold on a moment”

Both of them cried out as
the Earth snapped into focus. The image resembled a topographic map where
everything – oceans, atmosphere, rivers and forests – had been stripped away to
reveal the shape of the bare rock. The harsh outlines of mountains and
mid-ocean ridges scarred the surface. The picture moved in closer and panned
across a large continent.

“You can even see the
remains of a city” the ship said as the image paused at the eastern edge of the
landmass.

It was right: the faint
outlines of streets ran between shapeless mounds. Deprived of most of its
atmosphere, the world’s mummified face would stare into space for a billion
years.

Sobbing, Aiyana buried
her face in her hands.

“Turn it off” Carson
said.

They floated through the
darkened cabin in silence.

“Are the nanobots still
alive – I mean active?” Aiyana finally said.

“Damn good point – what
does a self-replicating system do when there’s nothing but copies of itself
around?”

“Cannibalism is my guess”
said the ship.

Carson pictured what
would happen to a naïve traveller landing on the surface. He would be consumed
within seconds. The horror of the Melt reached across eight thousand years.

“Come on” he said. “Let’s
find that Repository and go home.”

“It would help if we knew
what it looked like” said Aiyana.

They were examining an
image of Titan. Mimicking its parent, the satellite appeared as an orange
crescent glowing in the distant sunlight. Behind it, the impossible grooved
plain of Saturn’s rings curved to infinity.

“There can’t be much in
orbit around it – maybe the hulks of a few research satellites, possibly some
small asteroids – and I reckon they did something to make it stand out.”

“Well let’s get going!”

“Honey” Carson said,
“please don’t get upset but I’m going out alone.”

Aiyana tried to say something
but Carson pressed on.

“Darling, the ship
reckons we’re safe in here protected by the shell. But suppose the worst
happens out there and I get infected by the Melt. At least you and Tallis will
be able to take everything we’ve found to New Earth.”

“I thought we were in
this together…”

“We are darling, but it’s
senseless to risk both our lives.”

Before Aiyana could
object Carson hurried off to the docking bay, pulling on his environment suit
as he moved through the ship. Five minutes later he emerged from the shell’s
pole. To his right Saturn floated in surreal magnificence. Directly ahead Sol
was a tiny blinding disk.

“Let’s see how easy they
made this” Carson said as the buggy accelerated towards Titan. He leaned
forward as the image of the giant moon grew on the globular display. The Book
offered just a hint of what lay under the opaque atmosphere, saying that the
satellite was the only other body apart from Earth that had lakes and seas. But
seas of what? The temperatures of the outer solar system ruled out water;
perhaps it was methane.

He stared longingly
Saturn’s rings, a quarter of a million kilometers wide and no thicker than a
sheet of pack ice.
God, I wish I had time to explore it all properly
.

Carson opened a channel
to Aiyana. “Hey, I think I just worked out why they left the Repository here. If
you were a visitor to the solar system wouldn’t you want to check out Saturn? And
once you were in the vicinity you would say
‘What is that wacky moon?’
and
check out Titan. Then bam!”

“Very smart darling, so
is the radar picking anything up?”

“Not so far” said the
buggy.

Eventually it was a
visual identification. At first it appeared to be a twinkling star, but that
was an impossibility in the vacuum of space. As the buggy closed it began
picking up a faint radio signal.

“It’s a large string of
binary numbers, repeated every two seconds. Maybe the ship can puzzle it out”
the buggy said.

The ship had no trouble
decoding the message.

“It’s a two-dimensional
array. Here’s a schematic.”

A line drawing of the
Saturn system appeared on the buggy’s display. Titan was highlighted with a
surrounding circle.

“Pretty smart diagram,
although Tallis wouldn’t have made much sense of it”

Carson guessed that the
signal had originally been much stronger and designed to entice visitors into
the solar system. The fact that it was still transmitting after eight thousand
years was a tribute to the builders.

The buggy’s display
zoomed in on the twinkling object which was now only a few kilometers away. It could
have been a seed designed to float away on the breeze. At its center was a red
sphere from which sprouted a dozen long, thin solar arrays. Sunlight glanced
off the shining surfaces as it tumbled through space. As he drew closer Carson
could see that many of the arrays had deteriorated over the millennia, reducing
power to the transmitter.

He came to a halt fifty
meters away and sent an image to Aiyana. “That explains the weak signal. Do you
guys have any suggestions how to get at that red ball in the middle? That has
to be the Repository, but I don’t want to get clobbered by those sails.”

“Sorry, all we can think
of is that you’re going to have to go out there and cut them away.”

Carson swore to himself. Well
at least he had put on his environment suit. He rooted around in the buggy’s
tool kit and pulled out a suitable tool, then jamming on his helmet he told the
little vessel to open the hatch. For five seconds he poised like a diver
waiting for an opening in the spinning arrays, then he leapt. He slammed into
the red ball and desperately clung on while the universe whirled about him.

“Well I’m here” he said
once he regained his breath.

“Say again…” Aiyana’s
voice was buried in static.

“I said I’m on the ball”
Carson bellowed.

“Great! I think we’re
getting interference from a solar flare. I can hardly hear you.”

Her voice vanished into a
sea of white noise. Carson cursed and turned his attention to the solar arrays.
He positioned the tool at the base of the nearest triangle and began cutting. The
ancient material quickly dissolved and within moments the sail was floating
away into space. Excellent! He moved on to the next one.

Back in the ship Aiyana
threw up her hands in frustration. All communication with Carson had been
overwhelmed by the storm.

“Don’t worry” said the
ship. “All he has to do is cut away the solar cells and maneuver the Repository
onto the buggy. He’ll be fine.”

The ship was right but
she was still relieved when she finally heard his voice.

“Aiyana, I’m approaching
the ship now.”

“Wow, terrific! That was
a lot faster than we estimated. Have you finished the safety scan already?”

Tallis had built a horde
of minute robots to crawl over the Repository searching for dormant nano
devices. Aiyana assumed that after his excursion Carson had also submitted himself
for examination.

“Yes, of course I have. I’m
docking now.”

A minute later he floated
into the main cabin. Aiyana twisted round to greet him but before she could
speak Tallis’s voice came over a private channel.

“Aiyana, something does not smell right!”

The next moment the
center of Carson’s chest exploded as a plasma bolt drilled through his heart. Aiyana
screamed as his convulsed body slammed into the cabin wall. The world turned
red and she found herself paralyzed, drifting across the cabin. Through her blurred
vision she saw Tabarak with another figure floating besides him.

“Don’t worry my dear it
was a clone, but it served its purpose” said Juro.

Carson fretted as the Tallis’s robots crawled over
his environment suit. Each was fitted with a minute scanning electron
microscope; it was not foolproof, but if a dormant nanobot had attached itself
to him – or more likely the Repository – there was an excellent chance they
would be able to find and destroy it.

How long was this going
to take? It had been two hours since he had last heard from Aiyana. Solar
storms could last days but it surprised him that this one had blacked out
communication so far from the Sun. He stared at the red sphere that was now
attached to the buggy. Good God what a prize! In six days they would be
returning in triumph to New Earth.

“Surface examination
completed; zero foreign entities found” the robots finally announced. They
scampered to their miniature hangar as Carson clambered into the buggy. Thirty
minutes later he was approaching the ship.

Damn,
he thought.
How
the hell am I going to identify myself to the ship with all this interference?
The buggy edged towards the north pole of the shell. But the shimmering inertial
field that normally capped the entrance was absent. The ship must have
anticipated the problem and left the access open.
Thank God for intelligent
machines!
Carson peeled off his environment suit as the buggy slid down the
pole to its dock.

“I’ve got it!” he shouted
pulling his way through the entrance hatch. As he floated into the ship he
caught a glimpse of two figures, then there was a flash and he spiraled into
blackness.

“He’s regaining
consciousness”

Carson’s eyes jerked
open. He was tied to a supporting strut in the main cabin; two meters away
Aiyana was bound to another column. In front of them floated Juro and Tabarak,
both wearing helmetless environment suits. Crumpled in the corner was another
man, apparently dead. It took Carson several seconds to realize that it was
himself.

Juro drifted towards him.

“My dear boy, you may be a
wonderfully predictable fool but you are also a most resourceful fool. The
moment Tabarak informed me that Orpheus was covered in ice I knew that you
would come to the solar system with some way of locating the Repository. All I
had to do was await your arrival. And here you are with the treasure. Well done!”

Carson squinted at him; somehow
he looked different.

“You’re younger…”

The roots of Juro’s hair
were black and his skin had a healthier sheen. His voice too was firmer and he was
moving with more confidence.

“Correct, the role of
senior elder is no longer required and I will need my full vigor for what lies
ahead.”

“What a fascinating
collection you have.” He turned to Tabarak, his tone becoming sharper. “Turn
off the radio interference and check that no-one else is aboard.”

The big man consulted a
portable scanner. “I’m registering another biomass.” Pulling out a handgun he
shot off through the hatch. Juro floated over to admire the Gandrian tapestry.

“Are you okay honey?”
Carson asked Aiyana. She nodded but she appeared terrified.
That makes two
of us.

“Carson” said ship, “I am
so sorry. They had your genome, your voice…”

“Yes” said Juro over his
shoulder. “I thought the clone would be useful. And ship, I know you have been
fitted with higher functionality, but if you try anything clever be aware that
I will immediately kill your owner and his companion.”

Tabarak came into the
cabin.

“It’s nothing” he
sneered, “just some kind of ridiculous flower garden.”

“How delightful” Juro
chortled. He floated over to face Carson. “What a unique vessel! I wish I had
more time to enjoy it but it is time to get down to business. While you were
unconscious we examined the Repository. It contains a dense carbon array, no
doubt an ancient data storage mechanism. How exactly does it work?”

“I have no idea – I only
just found the damn thing.”

“True, but we also found
one of the Yongding’s storage lockers packed with an identical material. You
have gained prior knowledge. A most resourceful fool!”

“You don’t need me, your
technicians can work it out.”

“Of course, but time is…
pressing.”

That news cheered Carson.
“Someone’s on to you, aren’t they? Did Kalidas come to his senses?”

Juro waved a hand.

“They will be too late. Besides,
Kalidas is no longer with us. An unfortunate accident; he tripped and was
knocked out in his clean room. Sadly he suffocated in the helium atmosphere –
it was days before his body was discovered.”

“So you’re starting to
tidy up, and that means less commission to pay. Will it be enough to buy your
revolution against the Covenant?”

“My dear Carson are you
really so stupid? Do you still believe this is about money?”

Tabarak was beginning to
look agitated but Juro pressed on.

“Think about the contents
of the Repository. It contains the totality of Old Earth’s intellectual wealth
including every textbook, every research paper, patents, dissertations, records
of scientific conferences – the accumulated technical wisdom of the
twenty-second century. Most of it primitive by our standards, but what did
ancient man know that we do not?”

“Oh my God, you’re dabbling
with nanotechnology!”

“Precisely! The knowledge
in the Repository will give us a tremendous boost. Instead of decades of trial
and error, I am confident that we will be constructing self-replicating devices
within months.”

“You’re mad to risk it,
you’ve seen what the Melt did to the Earth.”

Juro sighed, the teacher
once again disappointed by his dimwitted student.

“Exactly, you idiot! Nanobots
are the ultimate
weapon.
That is why my rejection of the Covenant will succeed
when all others failed. We will establish a new order at Mita under my
leadership. Any system that tries to interfere will face annihilation. In case
anyone doubts me I shall use the Melt to set an example. New Earth is the
obvious candidate.”

“You would murder a
billion people to set an
example
?”

“Why not? There are a
millions of other planets in the galaxy.”

But it would not stop
there
thought Carson. If New Earth were infected it would create the
greatest stampede in history. Every starship in the system would flee, and
inevitably some would carry the Melt with them. Then other systems would
succumb and again everyone would run spreading the contagion still further. Eventually
the entire galaxy would be nothing but a dead mass of nanobots.

“Juro…” Tabarak began.

“I know, we must press
on. Carson, the details of the Repository’s storage mechanism.”

Carson glared. He would
rather die than aid this lunatic.

“I’m sure your vessel’s
intelligence has the information.”

“Go to hell” said the
ship.

Juro took out a small handgun.
“Listen to me you insolent machine. You will tell me now or I will blow your
owner’s head off.”

“Absolute override
silence!” Carson shouted. The ship could not speak again until he rescinded the
command.

“Did you have to?” Juro
sighed. “I hoped this would not be necessary”

He turned to Tabarak. The
big man passed him a disposable breathing mask. Inserted into the base were two
black cylinders. Carson’s stomach lurched. It was a synthetic serotonin
dispenser like the one the bar girl had demonstrated on Kaimana. She used it to
create sexual excitement but this one had another purpose – to turn ordinary
people into sadists.

“You’re not using?” Juro
asked Tabarak.

He laughed. “No need”

Juro held the mask to his
face, took three deep breaths, and tossed it aside.

“Ah, that’s better. You
found something suitable?”

Tabarak waved a small
cylinder – it was Carson’s antique soldering iron. The big man drifted towards
Aiyana.

“Start with him” said
Juro, “women are more resistant to pain.”

“You’re right” said
Tabarak with a smile, “that’s why she will be more fun!” With that he tore open
Aiyana’s flight suit.

“Fuck you!”
she
screamed.

Juro chuckled. “Your
command of Ancient English is exemplary my dear. Carry on Tabarak.”

“Stop it” Carson shouted.
“Call him off, you win.”

Juro held up his hand. The
big man gave him a sour look and retreated.

“If I tell you, do you
swear that you will spare her?”

“You have my word”

Carson had zero faith in the
promise but now he was playing for time. Behind Juro and Tabarak two black
ribbons had appeared on the cabin’s floor. Tallis was coming to do battle.

“It’s a ferrous
nanoparticle shuttle”

“And that means…”

Carson explained the technical
details as slowly as possible as the advancing army crept into the room. Driven
by the predatory instincts of the jungle the charge was led by scouts laying
down scent trails for the others to follow. The flanks of the war columns were
guarded by soldiers waving daggered mandibles while at the core countless
thousands of workers followed. They were the smallest members of the nest and
most could not expect to return, but on they marched. The nest would survive.

Juro was speaking again. “Thank
you, that will save me several weeks.”

“Incidentally, when I
find that insect friend of yours I have a special surprise. I have obtained a
specimen of
Myrmecophaga tridactyla
, commonly known as the giant ant
eater. I shall enjoy a glass of brandy while I watch her being eaten alive.”

Carson was barely
listening – by now the advancing phalanxes were in the center of the cabin. But
the little creatures remained firmly anchored to the floor; they had no way of
navigating zero gravity. He was frantically thinking of how he could help when miraculously
the ants began to rise into the air. He held his breath; the ship was lifting
them with an inertial field.

Juro turned to Tabarak.

“I believe we can spare
some time for amusement.” He nodded towards Aiyana. “Do what you like with the
woman.”

Grinning, the big man
pulled out the soldering iron and reached for her body.

“Despoilers of the nest!”

“What the –”

As the two men turned
round the ship hurled two balls of black fury in their faces. Screaming, they
frenziedly slapped at the swarm as it invaded mouths, eyes, ears, and nostrils,
stinging and biting everything it touched. Tabarak wrenched out his handgun as
if he could somehow shoot his attackers. A beam of plasma scorched blindly
across the cabin filling the air with the stench of ozone.

While the struggle
continued a thin column of ants climbed to where Carson was tied. Within thirty
seconds they had chewed through his bonds. Could Tallis finish them off? He had
to make sure. He braced against the strut then launched himself toward Tabarak.
As he charged the big man convulsed with pain, his flailing arm sending Carson
crashing into a wall. Something whizzed past; it was the soldering iron. He
plucked it out of the air, turned the setting to maximum, and again rushed
Tabarak.

But as he struck the big
man succumbed; no human being could withstand that amount of venom injected
into its system. He thrashed like a fish on a hook then with a last terrible
gurgle hung limply in the cabin. Unseeing eyes stared out of his swollen red
face.

Carson ricocheted off the
body screaming. During their collision dozens of Tallis’s soldiers had embedded
themselves in his hands, jaws biting in murderous frenzy. Still shouting with
pain he desperately looked around. Where the hell was Juro?

The old man was not dead
yet. Despite the agony he had managed to pull out a brandy flask. Now he was
squirting fluid over his skin killing hundreds of ants. Carson flung himself
off the wall. The two men smashed together and spun clawing through the cabin. As
they struck the bulkhead Carson grabbed Juro’s throat and smashed his head
against the diamond-hard composite.

Juro kneed him in the
groin.

“Tabarak!” he shouted. “Kill
the bastard.”

The next moment he saw his
inert henchman.

“Do I have to do
everything myself?”

He kicked off towards the
drifting body, reaching out for the handgun. For once the old man had
miscalculated. He had planned to snatch the weapon, spin round, and finish
Carson for good. Instead he rammed Tabarak full on. There was an explosion of
light as the weapon fired. Juro went limp, impaled on a spike of pure energy.

Carson finally stopped
retching and cautiously approached the grisly scene. Juro and Tabarak floated
in front of him, embraced in death.

“He should have spent
more time in zero gee” Aiyana said.

He spun round. “Oh my
God, are you okay?”