Concurrent Actions and Mindless Debates II

Having incurred a massive debt to the Corporation Colenzo Majuba now found himself working for the Corporation and travelling the galaxy. Together with the Sergeant, Luciel and Edgar Rice, he now headed out on a new project to the mysterious asteroid habitat Shalamari 4.

Twenty minutes later as the commissioned ship was docking with Shalamari 4, Sprac was reawakened. His defensive systems would have had him spring to safety but they were overridden as a monkey was using him as a perch. He gave a shudder and the monkey sprang clear and an instant later its perch was gone – leaving no trail.
Safely a kilometre away Sprac settled. Squatting on the jungle floor he surveyed his surroundings. The high jungle trees swayed gently in an afternoon breeze. The sun was slanting through at a low angle and a faint chill was in the air. He needed to eat. His nanoswarm could have assimilated from his surroundings but one condition of his contract was that he was allowed to hunt for his protein and forage for his food if he felt the necessity to do so.
For no reason other than a whim he used his precision rail gun to severe a fruit some hundred meters away and dashed to catch it. He moved like an animal, his back legs being double jointed and able to bend backwards. His muscles were supplemented with machinery allowing him to dash on all fours and spring like an insect. He caught the fruit a meter off the floor rolling on his shoulder and skidding to a halt, before engaging an evasive manoeuvre. By the time the leaves from his skid had resettled on the jungle floor he was a further one hundred meters away, invisible and being mimicked by two holographic selves a further fifty meters distant.
His personal sensors kept him fully informed of the surrounding country. They provided detailed information for at least one kilometre and low detail even further away. They also noted a bushbuck drinking by a stream within in a three-pounce range. He moved almost instantaneously. His first pounce took him up and allowed him to springboard off one of the larger trees near him. This pounce took him through a complex network of branches, which he avoided through clever bodily contortions before he connected with another tree. He bounced off this tree, using its thick trunk as another springboard and lower down did the same off an adjacent tree.
This brought him down on the bushbuck from a forty-degree angle. Using his momentum, weight and plated forearm he smashed the bushbucks neck and windpipe. Another swift manoeuvre and he had slit the buck’s throat and blown its neural system with a directed energy beam. Death was near instant (the delay being the time between the neck being broken and the neural system being blown) – another condition of the contract.
With his left hand holding the body he made a swift departure heading for the cliffs. At the last instant he split into a real invisible self and a visible holographic self. The holographic self pounced onto the cliffs and settled to feast. The real self disappeared into a dark overhang.
His eating was ceremonious. Always done in the same patterns with the same small selection of prey (a sample dictated by ecological upkeep systems and the holographic systems sample). Like an insect he externally digested his food, imbibing it through a sucker covered in taste buds. He ate everything, even the bones and the stomach. The liquid did not enter his stomach but rather settled into a chamber where it was used and convert into the products he needed and then pumped into his stomach.
Ten minutes later the real and invisible Sprac emerged from his cave and walked off notably slowly. Sticking to the harder and less impressionable surfaces and leaving his holographic self perched on the cliffs. A near invisible holographic self, produced by a small flying device, emerged from the cave a few minutes later leaving a clear scent trail heading in another direction. The jungle carried on largely unaware.

Colenzo experienced the explosion. The ship, which was now docked with Shalamari 4, rippled under pressure waves that were transmitted across the entire bulk of the spaceport. For a few seconds his neural net also did some crazy things as the electromagnetic pulse from the explosion played havoc with transmitters and receivers all over the asteroids. The damage was insignificant and once the shock wave had passed everything returned to normal. A few warning lights flicked on in Colenzo’s room but they put the danger level at “Near Insignificant.”
He logged on and accessed the (Local Area) Breaking News, which was showing live images from the far side of the collection of asteroids. He clicked on to Virtual Reality mode and was immersed into the scene. The service charge increased slightly, but the Corporation systems intervened and the increase was diminished. High priority local news was considered part of any Corporation job and experiencing it was as important as knowing it was happening.
The scene that unfolded before Colenzo’s eyes was one of unusual chaos. From his vantage he could see quite clearly one of the “upstream” asteroids that housed a set of mountains from which a river ran. A piece of the outside of this asteroid had been peeled away and Colenzo found himself looking into the world below. He could see mountains peeking up under an artificial late afternoon sun. There was also a clear stream of escaping atmosphere. Colenzo zoomed in and it was obvious that this gas included debris from inside the world. The hole was relatively not much bigger than a thumbhole in a large orange but the rate of escape of the internal gases was quite pronounced. Even as he watched an energy field extended itself around the cavity looking like a large bubble. Some of the larger and higher velocity pieces of debris burst through the bubble but the rest seemed to stick to it, soon beginning to make it hazy. Then the bubble began to shrink inwards.
A reporter’s voice started. “Well yes live from the scene here and as I am sure you are all watching – if you aren’t I can highly recommend you do.” A quiet voice in the background stated something along the lines of “All viewing is charged at…” The reporter’s voice continued over it as Colenzo’s radio settings specified. “And ‘what is going on?’ is what you’re all asking? Well Shalamari Crisis Management has a couple of hypotheses. From the structures in the area at the time of the explosion they have developed three plausible hypotheses. Firstly, and given a 32% probability, is the idea that one of the high-powered sub-atomic nanoassemblers malfunctioned. There was a particle generator in the higher powered sub-atomic nanoassembler located almost exactly at the epicentre of the explosion. Second possibility is that there was some terrorist activity that resulted in the first hypothesis. This is currently given an 18% probability by the authorities. Lastly there is a possibility that a terrorist group detonated some form of atomic weapon in the area perhaps hoping to incite further explosions from the nanoassembler. This hypothesis is given a 5.4% probability at present. Currently no other hypothesis breaks the 5% barrier. Log on to our website and vote. What do you think cause the Detonation of 24?” As an after thought a voice stated, “Deathtoll currently sits at 234 persons. Medical estimates suggest that another 13 may die. For a detailed breakdown of who died and how, including live footage of 138 deaths log onto our site.”
Colenzo logged off. He had never had much interest in the macabre elements of life that seemed to so satisfy the general public. Somehow it made him think of Roman gladiators. As a youngster he had found the more gruesome events available online quite exciting. With one of his more computer literate friends he even hacked a fake identity to log onto one of the more violent news shows showing scenes from a high-speed collision. Sitting there in his room he reflected upon the irony of the fact that hundreds, maybe even thousands of people had probably watched his near death experience. They had probably seen the shard of reinforced, molecularly built material that had ripped out his throat and killed Niall. Morbidity and depression began to creep upon him when a call came through from the sergeant. Colenzo answered.
“Colenzo, you ready to depart?” The sergeant was communicating telephonically (it was cheaper and quite unnecessary to send visual images to a subordinate).
“Yes sir. I’ll meet you at the exit.” He was going to ask something about the explosion when the sergeant cut him off.
“Great. I’ll see you there.” The sergeant said with finality and cut the connection.

Colenzo grabbed his stuff and ordered an on board cubicle to take him the four hundred meters. His stuff was a sparse collection of random items. He had his work uniform on: a set of rework shoes (heavy duty); rework smart pants; a rework jacket with a detachable shirt underneath; a pacify ring; a shock ring; and a medium range stun bracelet (made of copper that was also supposed to help your spiritual flow). In his floating travel bag he had a casual set of rework clothes and a basic set of cleansing equipment and medical scanning equipment.
As he hopped on the cubicle a notice on his retina informed him that he was in a state of anxiety – he realized he was excited and decided not to control the state but let it run. On his Corporation file a note was made about this.
The cubicle dropped him and his luggage at the exit. The sergeant, Edgar and Luciel were waiting. Almost simultaneously Thomas arrived to bid them farewell. The doors onto the Shalamari 4 concourse were open and the area across from them was notably unkempt. It was basically a rather large hexagon with docked ships on most areas. There was grass protruding between areas of rock and tree in the middle of the area. The roof was large and domed. It was transparent and let in the sunlight. The concourse gave the impression of a depression in tropical Africa; it even had birds in the trees. At the far end of the concourse were another set of open doors, leading to a transport system. After farewells from Thomas, which included a six-pack of beer for Edgar, a bottle of cheaper whiskey for Colenzo, more pricey whiskey for the sergeant and a bottle of wine for Luciel, the group made their way across the concourse.
As they walked they were scanned for their Clear Soul Visas. Had they been lacking the doors to the Shalamari transport systems would have barred their way. As it was a security officer hailed Luciel on the net and spoke with hear unheard and telepathically. He enquired about the behaviour of Edgar and Colenzo during the trip. She was complimentary about both and they were cleared for entry.
As they approached the far doors and the passage leading to the transport Luciel explained something to them. “As we pass through this passage you’ll experience some strange symptoms. Just push on. It should feel something like anxiety and high gravity. It’s just a precaution to keep non human persons away from the cubicles.”
The passage itself got more sterile the further the walked down it. The feeling of anxiety started almost immediately and got notably stronger the further they walked. About half way the gravity also seemed to increase and energy systems interrupted their voluntary muscles. They felt weak and even breathing seemed slightly affected. The sergeant had been through it many times as had Luciel and they pushed on, much like people fighting a strong wind. Colenzo was not used to it and slowed down, feeling a degree of excitement at the new sensation. Edgar simply got annoyed. He felt violated and once again wondered at the levels of stupidity the Cohabitationists had reached. All of this to save a fucking rat, he thought as he passed through the last “wall” of force and almost stumbled under the return to normality.
“That must be unhealthy.” Edgar stated as they regrouped. Luciel just looked at him.
The platforms were sterile. They were made of slabs of unloving material, hard and unyielding. Colenzo felt a pang of regret at having been removed from the previous environment, although he hadn’t realised it at the time, the soft earth underfoot and the occasional caress of a bush added something indefinable to life. He turned and looked back at the concourse with a degree of longing. Luciel noticed it.
As a cubicle pulled up the sergeant connected with Colenzo via a secure line. “That explosion seemed oddly coincidental.”
“Yes it did sir.”
“Let me tell you why we are here. We are extracting a being named Sprac from within the wilderness inside these asteroids.”
“But I thought nobody was allowed inside.”
“Well nobody else is. He is a kind of guardian. Anyway, this will make our mission a bit more difficult. I’m pretty sure he would have been sceptical about us prior to that explosion. Now…” The sergeant drifted off. “Anyway we mustn’t talk about this or stay on a secure line. I am sure some media busybody is watching us and aware of this secure connection. Later.” With that he cut the connection.

As they made their way in a four-seater high-speed cubicle the sergeant and Luciel chatted.
“What value do you think a place like this adds?” The sergeant asked.
“To the general human community not much I suppose. In fact a lot of activists are annoyed about the light pollution from the Pepsi advert. But the higher order communities living within it are certainly benefiting and it is a private endeavour anyway.”
“As in the random whim of an individual?”
“Well close enough. The Powell Trust created it back in the day as a haven for higher order individuals – buck, wild cats and so on. This was before Cohabitationism was a real force and the life of those people wasn’t given the kind of credit it is nowadays. Although even then people were more caring here than on the inner planets or the asteroid belt or earth for that fact.”
“And the Powell Trust. Who are they?”
She laughed a bit. “Oh, they, well it was created by a bunch of rich politicians from Goodall. They had also got themselves involved in diamond mining on Goodall, which was extremely lucrative. Using the money they created a series of trusts.”
“Why the laugh?” The sergeant asked sincerely, looking into her eyes.
“Well we all learn about the Powell Trust and Powell, Quin and other highly influential families when we are young. It is almost natural, part of our heritage. It is interesting that some other people know nothing about them.”
“What else did they do?” Colenzo asked.
“Well they created various wildlife trusts and sanctuaries and used their money and influence to further the notions of Cohabitationism. Of course it wasn’t called that at the time. Here look at this.” She sent them across a picture of a dignified man watching a mosquito drink his blood. “That is Smith one of the politicians.” She explained, with a happy look on her face, almost childlike in it obvious adoration of the man.
“And the other trusts and wildlife parks?”
“Well, most of them are on Goodall. They are different in that they are open to the public. Some are free others are income generating. They act as reserves for wildlife and testing grounds for studies.”
“Studies?” The sergeant enquired.
“Well yes. At GK2 for example, they are feeding the carnivores synthetic products and attempting to see if it is possible for all higher order creatures to live in harmony. Or if carnivores have an inbred need to kill that runs deeper than the simple drive for self-preservation. My girlfriend is working on this, so I know all about it if you are interested.”
The sergeant seemed interested so she carried on. Colenzo sat in a sort of state of shock. For some reason it hadn’t occurred to him that she would be involved with someone. She continued, “Well, the first point is that domesticated animals such as cats do seem to sometimes kill simply for the pleasure of killing. They might not even eat what they have killed. But studies do seem to suggest that their killing is much more infrequent than wild cats. So by feeding tigers, for example, or creating some system of synthesising nanoswarm we could cut down the amount of killing of higher order persons that occurs across the board.”
“That is pretty ambitious.” The sergeant noted.
“Yes ambitious and not without opposition. Some people have suggested that this would remove the basic meaning and purpose of these people’s lives.”
“You mean the tigers and lions lives.”
“Yes. They are bred to hunt and kill. If you remove the reason you may remove their reason for living.”
“Well what about domestic cats or dogs?” The sergeant offered.
“That is the usual riposte. The hardliners think that domesticated animals are basically oppressed, so we’ll leave that there. Other opposition includes the basic monetary cost of such an operation which many feel would be better put into spreading Cohabitationist ideology or perfecting current systems. Another problem is the consequences in the long run for the ecosystems involved.”
“Hence the testing?”
“Yes.”
“And what have they found?”
“Not much yet. It is so big and complex it will take quiet some time. Administrative issues abound and…” She trailed off. They had arrived at one of the interior control desks. After waking Edgar the group disembarked.

They were left standing outside an old style east African door. It appeared wooden and was studded with metal protrusions. It looked something like a torture device. The area they stood in was like a glass elevator and turning around Colenzo could see the sun setting over the distant horizon of the asteroid they were currently on. Directly above his head the blackness of space extended off unfathomably to the stars. He could have pulled up a display that would show relevant constellations and detail the stars – he didn’t. The doors swung open and let them into a room much like an airlock between the outside. They waited whilst the doors closed and the room was scanned for new and unintended arrivals. Then the doors on the far side opened.
The control room was quite unimpressive, if one was looking for technical gizmos. It resembled more closely a house than some technical control room. They were in an antechamber. It was decorated in a middle-eastern style with beautiful rugs upon the floor. Stairs rose on each side of the room and through a door in the middle they could see a lounge on the far side. A man in flowing green and gold robes greeted them. He carried a cat. She had her head back in ecstasy as he stroked her chin.
“Sergeant Tokugawa.” He gave a slight bow as was common amongst Corporation employees. “Junior Council Johnson.” He gave another bow to Luciel. He gave a gesture as he said, “Come in.” As he led them through to the lounge he bent and deposited the cat. She slunk away down a side passage. “You’ll have to forgive my companions,” he said as they entered the lounge, “With the explosion a lot of work has to be done. It is a real tragedy. Untold deaths and a climatic fuckup.” Around the room about ten people lay on couches smoking Hookahs. They all had the glazed expression of people working online. A servant milled between them bringing drinks and clearing away dishes. As they made their way through the large lounge Colenzo noted that they all had direct connections into the base of their sculls and many wore caps designed to enhance neural speed and signals. The direct connection allowed a much more rapid and intense transfer of information. They wound their way through what turned out to be much more of a mansion than a house. Their journey ended on a veranda.
The veranda was quite large and domed in glass. It had a breathtaking view out onto the magnificent interior of the asteroid. The piece of land they looked over stretched away into the distance. They could faintly see the wall on the far side. Their position was elevated high above the landscape, at least two hundred meters up. Looking back it was obvious that most of the mansion hung out over the landscape. “This is awesome.” Colenzo said. The others looked around at him and all nodded. Their host indicated some chairs and they all sat down.
A human servant appeared with a selection of non-alcoholic drinks that he served out to the guests. The choice was typically based upon their files and seemed to everyone’s satisfaction.
After a mildly uncomfortable pause their host spoke, “I am Razaa Sagretti, manager of this branch of the internal control systems office. I am both a Cohabitationist,” he nodded to Luciel, “and an employee of the Corporation.” He nodded to the sergeant. “It is my understanding that you are on a special mission which requires access to the interior. The reasons for which have been withheld.” He paused and the sergeant confirmed.
“Well as you can well imagine the explosion has caused some serious confusion in the interior. Could you perhaps give me some indication of the urgency of the situation?”
“Well,” the sergeant began and then paused to think, “we can wait a day if you need.” Colenzo noticed that Razaa relaxed, his shoulders slumping slightly as though he had been preparing for a fight and was let off the hook.
“Thank you.” Razaa replied.
“What exactly needs doing?” The sergeant asked.
“Well from our side it is mainly about climatic stabilization and minimizing the impact. We only deal with this asteroid but a degree of our warmth and air was expelled before emergency systems kicked in. We are doing an impact assessment and assessing how much of our resources we can bleed away to the affected areas. Eventually we can replace all the resources but it is mainly about doing it now.” Involuntarily Razaa bit his nail. Considering the fact that such behaviours were usually neurologically removed this was an indicator of the stress that was lurking beneath the surface.
“Can I talk with you privately?” The sergeant stated out loud, Razaa gave him a quizzical look but said nothing. “Colenzo, Edgar make yourselves scarce. Luciel,” he looked directly at her, “would you mind?” She looked mildly affronted but couldn’t really think of a relevant response so she rose and departed with the others.
Colenzo took one look back and noticed the sergeant pulling out two cigars. “Genuine Cubans.” He offered one to Razaa’s obvious delight. “And a little something from your superiors at the Corporation.” He reached over to his suitcase and flicking a switch on the side opened a storage compartment.
The last thing Colenzo saw as he left the room was the dull white glow of a decaying MicroSun. It cast brilliant shadows of the sergeant and Razaa on to the walls. What Colenzo was quite unaware of was the electromagnetic interference that pulsed out from the spherical ball of activity, allowing un-intercepted short-range communication.