The Pandora Machine (The ABACUS Protocol Book 2) Page 4

  “Try it, you might like it,” Sven said.

  “Maybe I should. They say the galactic black hole is going to cause a radiation surge that will stop all electronics from working in the new millennium. Maybe Aurora is the only place that won’t be too bad off.”

  “Come on, nothing happened in the years 1000 and 2000, why would 3000 be any different?” Vivian asked.

  “This time it’s a black hole, nothing we can do about that,” the man said, as he resumed rambling about the Aurorans he’d met.

  Vivian prepared herself to experience an orbital taxi ride—it was billed to go straight from the ground to the orbital space port in under fifteen minutes, so long as the driver would stop talking about end-of-civilization conspiracy theories. She couldn’t wait to get on with the rest of her life, and leave the insane computers and crazy administrators far behind.

  Chapter Seven

  For once, that goofball Alec, the maintenance Engineer she’d met at the Extra-Galactic Observatory, hadn’t been exaggerating. Calypso Station was indeed a collection of welded together space junk. The private shuttle took Vivian and Sven towards the structure, whose twisted limbs arched out from the central core, themselves bisecting or trisecting into other wings. Small crafts, still under construction, were moored in crannies and supports. It was cast against the backdrop of a once-impressive asteroid field. It was a dismal representation of the spread of humanity throughout the galaxy. Phaeton and its orbital storage facility could be seen in the distance, conic and orderly in their presentation. Most of the mining operations had moved away from the shipyard, the only evidence of it being the occasional flash of light in the stellar background of the star system.

  “I own those three wings on the left, see, the ones that are darker than the others,” Sven said, pointing. “It was surprisingly cheap, though the user friendliness and computing equipment leave much to be desired.”

  “What do you need it all for?” Vivian asked, transfixed by the spider-like limbs of the station. She hoped it was an accidental design flaw, and not the intended aesthetic.

  “I’m building a fleet of cut-rate merchant ships that are capable of travelling in Auroran space. I can sell the ships, or use them for my own exports. I’m branching out. Artisan furniture, wines, even our paper books have a market out here. Everything we were bored of back home, people out here seem to want.”

  “You should start a travel agency while you’re at it,” Vivian suggested. As they moved closer to the behemoth, the shuttle rotated to dock. The hub could be seen in the distance, a cubic hulk orbited by hundreds of transit rings. One structure in the system was a testament to humanity’s ability to plan, and the other was the counterpoint, a grotesque mishmash of technology that hadn’t been thought through.

  “Maybe an annual poker tournament is in order,” he replied with a grin, as a brief lurch signaled their arrival at Calypso station. Vivian’s stomach turned into a knot—Alec would be there. For her, it had only been just over a week since they’d last seen each other. For him, almost six months had passed. He was immersed in a new leg of his career, and had settled in. By all accounts, her own aspirations of working on cutting edge quantum computers could be over.

  The rear door opened, and a ramp lead down to a scuffed metal floor. The docking port opened into a crowded and busy cargo bay—glaring lights and metal crates dominated her field of view. Steel ground against steel, anti-grav trolleys hummed, and people shouted. Ozone tainted the air. Vivian stepped out, and a robust man with thick black hair took a step backwards and did a double-take on her before he moved her bags to a floating trolley and rolled them out of the room. She bit her tongue, deciding that drawing attention to herself or her bags would only foster suspicion.

  “Don’t worry about your bags; Jules is one of my best. He values his security clearance more than your stuff,” Sven said, as if he were reading her mind.

  “Is this all yours?” Vivian asked, changing the subject, moving it back to the rows of canisters and crates.

  “No, the cargo bay is shared. Let me give you a tour,” Sven said, gesturing towards the open door.

  Vivian followed his lead, and walked through the portal. The hallway was empty and wide, its scuffed white walls only broken by sliding maroon doors. The lighting was bright, causing Vivian to squint. It was so different from the warm tones of the Extra-Galactic Observatory.

  “Basically, I got these three wings for a song—they were going to be closed down altogether in favor of the more advanced facilities on the other wings. They’re not much to look at, but you’re standing in the heart of Auroran expansion,” Sven said. They came to an elevator and he pushed the button before continuing: “I’ll make sure you get a map, don’t worry. You’ll need it until you get our computer working again.”

  “What’s the problem?” Vivian hoped it wasn’t more random malfunctions. Two misbehaving supercomputers in less than a year was more than enough to last her a lifetime.

  “Well, the quantum core seems to have destabilized. The station’s administrator managed to re-initialize it once, but now it seems to be dead. With only digital systems, we’re at a real disadvantage on the economic and logistics side of things,” he said, and sighed.

  “I’ll take a look at the computer, do you know what model it is?”

  “No, but it’s over one hundred years old, so it probably just died of old age.” The door opened, and they stepped out into a reception area. A redwood desk stood in front of a hallway, but nobody occupied the chair behind it. A vase with fresh blue lilacs was the only adornment. A wooden sign that read Borealis Corporation was mounted on the wall, above a low black bench. Sven swung his arm in a wide flourish. “Welcome to your new job! This is where our offices are. I’ll get your quarters set up, they’re in the central node. A bit far from us, but closer to the station’s computer.”

  “I think it’s time I got started.” A smile crept across Vivian’s face—maybe this career detour wouldn’t be such a huge setback after all.

  Chapter Eight

  Vivian’s new lab was a single windowless room with scuffed white walls lined with empty gray shelving units, whose maroon entry door was jammed at the half-open position. A round portal to the central computer core sat in the middle of the floor. Vivian made a mental note to arrange for a cover to be installed over the unmarked hole. Tools were strewn across the workbench that along the far wall, and boxes of spare parts were corroding in the open air. Dust clung to every surface, and a fan circulated the leftover dust of rotting equipment into the hallway. The cleaning robots were off-line until the computer was re-activated, and the human cleaners were pulling double shifts on essential areas. Vivian hunched over the work bench, making an inventory of the tools and spare parts that were lying around., and she sighed as she picked through broken tools and burned out parts. She would have to present a large invoice to Alec, and he hopefully still had his sense of humor. This room didn’t even have a holographic interface. She tossed another broken part at the waste bin beside the door, but it clattered to the ground instead. She cursed.

  The entire station was in a similar state of disrepair. Before the supercomputer ABACUS gained sentience, the Epsilon Eridani system and all of its various space stations and asteroids had fallen under Earth jurisdiction. After the fall of Earth, the system had been declared sovereign to prevent a galactic civil war. Unfortunately, Sven had explained, there was little time for planning or upgrades as explosive galactic growth completely overwhelmed the administration and their archaic computers. Now, the responsibility fell to the entrepreneurs who were capitalizing on the system’s infrastructure.

  It was a familiar story. Humanity had experienced a dark age following the loss of Earth, and its recovery had only recently begun to pick up momentum. Earth had housed most of humanity’s foremost scientists, development agencies, and most colonies were administrated from Earth. Now, New Damascus was emerging as the galaxy’s scientific powerhouse, and Nova Albi
on and Kanadia Prime had filled the void of innovation and technical prowess. Vivian’s home planet Aurora, had been sheltered from most of the fallout, as its population did not require food aid or technological consideration. Even the influx of hundreds of thousands of technological “refugees” hadn’t caused any problems, other than a boom for the construction industry and the rise of the Earthguard, a group of anti-immigration and technology luddites.

  Vivian groaned and wiped her hands on her pant legs. She had tidied up as much as she could, but apart from her stomach growling for real food, she had discovered that her stamina had been drained by the restorative coma. As she finished packing up a box of useable components, something knocked over the fan by the door. She jumped and dropped the box, its contents shattering and spilling over the floor.

  “Oh, lights!” she cursed.

  She turned, and there stood Alec, grinning. “I assume that means ‘come in Alec, it’s so nice to see you Alec, thanks for hassling that damned computer into releasing me, Alec’ …right Viv?”

  “Alec! You’re really here.” Vivian looked up from the box of once-valuable components, and kicked some parts under the workbench . Alec hadn’t changed much, he still wore the same goofy grin, and he was as lanky as ever. He had cut his hair—his formerly curly mop was now trimmed into something resembling a professional cut.

  “You were expecting quIRK maybe?” Alec set the fan upright as he strode into the room, and enveloped Vivian in a big hug. “I was so worried about you, I don’t know how you got here, but I’m glad,” he whispered.

  “You didn’t know?” she asked.

  “Not until I was going over the crew and quarters requests. I told that damned computer back on New Damascus to tell me when you were released. I’ll give that particle-brained megalomaniac a piece of my mind.” He ran his hand over the tight frizzy curls budding on his head.

  Vivian giggled. “I just got out this morning. Well, morning New Damascus continental time. It was still last night, here... galactic time zones are so confusing!”

  “I know what you mean. Want to get some food?” he asked.

  “Sure, but you’ll have to lead the way,” Vivian said.

  “I suspect that you’ll be running this place in no time, so this might be the only chance I get!” Alec grinned, motioning towards the door.

  “I didn’t know you worked for Borealis.” They walked out into the hall, towards the elevator to the central node.

  “Well, I don’t, but being the backup Station Administrator means I can go anywhere, even the privately-owned parts. My team takes care of the day-to-day stuff. I mostly swear at the computer.”

  “You, impatient with a computer, Alec? Say it isn’t so!”

  “The computer here makes me miss quIRK, if you can believe it. The damn thing has been offline for over a week,” Alec said as the elevator rattled around them. Vivian hoped that the lift was more stable that it appeared.

  “I have my work cut out for me.” Vivian wanted to ask for more details, but the door slid open, revealing a common area the size of a soccer field. A high ceiling opened above them, painted Earth sky-blue. A fake sun glowed at its apex, casting shadows at odd angles. Few people milled around the tables and chairs, and the space was lined with four small cafeteria-style restaurants offering anything from Auroran to traditional Earth-fusion dishes. The smell of food—real, cooking food—was a treat for Vivian’s senses. Greasy, spicy, tangy, fruity—all the singular delights rendered impossible by macronutrient replicators and hospital food. Her stomach growled. It wasn’t a hub restaurant, but it was a good start.

  “Yeah, I thought you’d like that. Your hand print is your meal card, go ahead and dig in. There’s a nice Auroran spot on the far right, if you’re wanting the taste of home. It’s all fresh!”

  “Fresh Auroran food? I’m sold!” Few people noticed them as they made their way through the cafeteria. The man who had taken her bags, Jules, trailed them to the counter.

  Vivian’s eyes danced around the offerings—steamed spears of bluspargus, greasy slabs of bluox, and frozen green lightberries. Vivian placed her hand on the identification pad and ordered her favorite—a bluespargus and bluox dinner, while Alec asked for a curry. Jules ordered a glass of lightberry juice and a smoked bluox sandwich. “Mind if I join you guys?” Jules asked, trying to avoid her eyes.

  “Of course not! Vivian, have you met Jules yet?” Alec smiled as he tested the heft of his tray before picking it up.

  “Just briefly, in the cargo bay,” she replied, taking her tray.

  “Would you believe that Jules is a Caesarean who doesn’t want to be the emperor? How wild is that?” Alec said.

  Vivian opened her mouth, but closed it right away. She opted to smile instead.

  “By Jupiter, Alec, I’m right here. I can hear you,” Jules said as he thanked the clerk and took his meal. He continued: “I renounced my citizenship almost a decade ago. I’ll be happy if I make shift supervisor in the next few years.”

  “Renounced your citizenship?” Vivian raised an eyebrow as they made their way to the closest seats. She admittedly knew little about real Caesarean culture and daily life.

  “It’s pretty common, for the people who are able to leave. I was from a relatively well-off family, first born son, all that good stuff. But I took the first job off-world I could get. I didn’t want to inherit the family and all the politics and intrigues that went with it. I renounced my citizenship so my titles would pass to on my brother, who actually wanted them.”

  “You left all that behind so you could work in a cargo hold?” Vivian asked, which prompted Alec to start laughing.

  “The stress, dignity, family honor bullshit, along with the high probability of assassination came with it. Out here I’m just like you guys, and nobody’s going to kill me to take my job, I hope.”

  “It makes a lot of sense when you put it like that. Is assassination legal on Caesarea?” Vivian asked. She set her tray down, and poked her slab of meat with her fork. A clear trail of grease trickled out. Perfection.

  “Yes and no, but mostly yes, if it’s the Imperatrix. It’s more of a problem for the nobility, but equestrians get knocked off too, sometimes.”

  “How is it not legal, but is?”

  “Well, if you gain from assassinating someone, it’s legal. If it’s because of a grudge, then it’s murder.

  “Suddenly the last few months of my life make sense.” Vivian took a bite. She leaned back and closed her eyes as she chewed. Real food, at last.

  “Alec told me some of what happened. It is unfortunate you were exposed to someone like that. That type usually doesn’t leave the planet, unless they’re trying to avoid assassination as they work on their credentials. The House of Zimmer was a rising star, but a sole heir meant it was very easy to snuff out.”

  “But, he was crazy too, right?” Vivian asked, wanting some form of closure.

  “Well, yeah. Going after non-Caesareans is not only taboo, but illegal, no matter what the motive was. It’s political suicide, and insane by even Casearean standards.” Jules shrugged.

  “So what happens to him?” Alec asked.

  “It’s hard to say, they want it to go away, so they’ll probably let New Damascus handle him and quietly dissolve his house and annul his citizenship. Some things just aren’t talked about, and rogue equestrians are one of them.” Jules spoke into his glass as he took a sip of the bright green juice. “Let’s change the subject,” he suggested.

  “All right, how about that damn computer? It doesn’t even have a name, how weird is that? You’re going to fix it, right Viv?” Alec gave Vivian a nudge.

  “What exactly happened to it?” Vivian asked.

  “Well, it started having a lot of errors soon after I got here, and eventually it just went down. I managed to use the manual to re-initialize it, but then its quantum states destabilized. I was a bit disappointed, there weren’t any smoke or colors or anything.”

  “At least the b
ackups were okay, it could have fried those, too,” Jules said.

  “You say that because you don’t have to spend all day working with them, Jules. One of those quantum monstrosities would free up enough time to play with my cats once in a while, or play a game of squash,” Alec said.

  “You have cats now?” Vivian opened her eyes. She shifted her gaze towards Alec. Jules was staring at her, and something about his gaze made the little hairs on the back of her head neck stand up on end.

  “Yeah, I adopted Muon and Lepton. They’re little jerks, but I couldn’t let them get separated from everyone they ever knew, right?”

  “Yeah, I get that,” Vivian said as she finished her plate. “So, where’s the squash court?”

  “I had it constructed out of an old shipyard, before the computer went offline. It’s in the recreation area on the way to the crew quarters where you’ll be staying. You can give Jules here a run for his money; he’s the reigning champion.” Alec pointed to a door on the far side of the room.

  “Reigning champion? I thought I was the damned gladiator last time I beat you,” Jules laughed.

  “That sounds intimidating,” Vivian said. She rolled her eyes at Alec.

  “He called you the unstoppable force, so I’m the one who should be worried, not you.” Jules smiled at her, his eyes meeting her over flushed cheeks.

  Vivian pushed her tray aside. “Well, let’s get this tour started, I’ve been desperate for a fair match for months!”

  Chapter Nine

  “Here’s your new home! Not quite as swank as your last one, and if you want Gal-net access, then you’ll need to fix the damn computer, already.” Alec made a sweeping gesture towards the door, and pointed to the door’s control pad: “You’ll need to program your access key first, and then it’s all yours. Forever, or until you manage to fix the computer. Whichever comes first.” Alec set his hands on his hips before he broke out laughing. “Did I mention that you need to fix the computer?”