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Chapter Six: The Flying Mountains of Magenta Sorrow

  Mission Time: +392.3 Earth-years

  After the spinning tori slid back into their receptacle, Ryder stood still on the dais, staring into the dark medical bay.

  "Doctor Tai? Are you there?" he called out. "My scan is done."

  A silhouetted figure appeared in the doorway to the laboratory. "Yes, I'm here." Tai entered the bay and walked hurriedly to Ryder. He glanced at the read-out displayed for the scanner. "Yeah, good. You're healthy. You can go." His brows were pinched inwards, and his hair was messy.

  Ryder stepped down. "How is the radiation resistance drug going?"

  Tai crossed his arms. "I think it should work now. But there's an issue, which I should have known from the beginning. I guess I did know, but I was optimistic about getting around it."

  "What is it?"

  "Each person must be outside stasis for about seven years before the treatment can reach full efficacy. During stasis, the effects of the medicine would be suspended."

  "... But, the ship doesn't have enough food and water to last seven years," Ryder said. "And that's just for the operational crew, let alone everyone else in stasis."

  Tai nodded slowly. "Exactly. Right now I'm working on speeding up the course of the treatment, but honestly, right now I don't know how to do that." He looked at the floor a moment. "Well, I should get back to work." Tai returned to the lab.

  Ryder left the medical bay and walked quickly along the circumferential corridor, eyes darting to the side whenever he passed the large windows open to busy labs. Command Sector was not yet fully staffed; he glanced at the backs of people facing their consoles, then moved on to the crew cabins. He passed his own door, and then stopped outside Tekoha's. He looked around but saw no one else. He backed quickly into Tekoha's cabin and sealed the door again.

  The room was empty. Ryder sat in Tekoha's desk chair and put his hands on his knees. Minutes passed. Then the door was slammed open, and Tekoha entered.

  "Kask. Did anyone see you come in here?"

  "No, I was careful."

  "Good. You never know who else out there could be another Hemi." The door opened again, and this time Ihaia and Ariki entered.

  Ryder jumped to his feet. "What the--"

  "Relax, Kask. Relax." Tekoha spread his fingers and pushed his hands in a calming motion. "They are upset about what's going on too."

  Ryder clenched his jaw and crossed his arms. "And just what do they think is going on?"

  "There are things we are not being told," Ihaia said, "which we have a right to know."

  "The chain of command seems to be malfunctioning, forcing inappropriate secrecy," Ariki said.

  "Yes, and the best evidence we have of that now is something we uncovered at the very end of the previous mission segment," Tekoha said to the two of them, taking a dramatic pause. "There were menhirs on Rock Garden, and possibly other worlds we visited as well. Fai-tsiri must have known this."

  "That's outrageous," Ariki said. "Are you certain?"

  Tekoha nodded. "Quite." He was silent a moment, letting them mull the implications. "Mr. Kask also found a set of encrypted files which Fai-tsiri would have access to. We don't know if she or someone else created them, but I am working on a crack. Though it will take me some time."

  "Then perhaps those files, along with the menhirs, can answer a long upstanding question," Ariki said. "Which is, why were we brought to Rock Garden in the first place? We were lured there under false pretenses--there's no doubt in my mind about that."

  "Are you referring to the Flamecast telemetry?" Ihaia asked.

  "Of course," Ariki said. "We know that data must have been faked. And since all probe telemetry goes through Fai-tsiri, she must have known. So I have to conclude Fai-tsiri deceived us and cannot be trusted--I may even go so far as to suggest she should be disconnected at some point."

  "That's ridiculous. Only humans are capable of deception. Fai-tsiri is anthropomorphized, but she is just a machine," Ihaia said.

  "Actually, many animals, and even plants, practice deception," Tekoha said.

  "Okay, but those are mainly unintentional deceptions, so my point is still valid," Ihaia replied. "Machines are just tools. If they are involved in such intentional deception, humans are directing them to do it. And I was witness to Mbali's summary execution of Hemi. That action alone is enough to demonstrate she is unfit to be ship's executive."

  "Even if you're right, and Mbali is behind everything, we should still disconnect Fai-tsiri to be safe," Ariki said. "Who knows what she has been programmed to do."

  "Just hold on," Ryder interjected. "You know only Mission Control has access to Fai-tsiri's programming. Mbali would have to hack into Fai-tsiri's code base for that, which I think is a little far-fetched. And let me tell you this: I have spoken with Mbali, and she wants to figure out these irregularities just as much as we do."

  "Yeah, that's what she wants you to think," Ihaia said. "She's obviously manipulating you."

  "I don't believe that's true," Ryder said. "She is legitimately upset by the whole Nikau-Hemi incident, and she's desperate to get at the root cause. And I think Fai-tsiri has some part in it. We should shut her down, just to be on the safe side. The problem is, one of Fai-tsiri's specialties is predicting the future, so she might anticipate what we'll try to do. To which ship's systems does she have access?"

  "It depends on what you mean by 'access,'" Ariki said. "Read/write permission or read-only? She can monitor many systems but can't send commands to them, except for the engines."

  "I have to agree with Ihaia," Tekoha said. "First of all, Fai-tsiri doesn't have a model of human psychology--she predicts physical events and has a decision optimization engine, but she can't predict human behavior. But more to the point, I think you guys are being biased against artificial persons, like the reactionaries in previous centuries who harbored deep distrust of AI. They were always worried AI would take over the world and enslave humanity. But of course, history has shown them to be wrong. Most of the bad things that have happened in the last century before we left Earth were a result of human error, not machine malice. And we have enjoyed seven decades of peace since the affairs of state were handed over to GU supercomputers."

  "Alright, I think everyone made some good points all around, but we should hold off on deciding what action to take until you finish decrypting those files," Ariki said.

  Tekoha nodded. "Agreed. We need more information before we act."

  "In the meantime, I think it's best if everyone in this room does two things: keep a close eye on both Mbali and Fai-tsiri, and don't tell anyone else what we discussed here," Ariki said.

  "Very well. Then we're done for now. Let me look outside first to make sure no one is around," Tekoha said.

  "Does Fai-tsiri have access to the corridor cameras?" Ryder asked.

  Tekoha glared back at him. "Of course not. There's no reason why she would need it." He slid the door open and stepped out, then ushered the others past him. "Don't all go into Command Sector at once. Space out your arrivals."

  Ryder was the last to go out. Tekoha stayed in his cabin, slamming the door behind him. Ryder frowned at the closed door for a moment, then slowly made his way to Command Sector. After walking five meters, Tekoha's door was already hidden in darkness as the harsh lights above dimmed in his wake. In a few minutes, he came to a constricted section of the corridor. Ahead, a thin strip glowed red around the outline of a passage. It dimmed as the overheads brightened when he approached. He pushed the thick door inwards and entered Command Sector.

  Most senior staff were at their stations, and Mbali paced behind them, looking over their shoulders. Tekoha stood at a nearby station, glancing frequently at Ryder. He eased his way along the narrow chamber into Mbali's vicinity. She glanced at him, then went back to monitoring data displays.

  "Where are we?" he asked her.

  "Orbiting a brown dwarf," Mbali said, facing the row of stations and putting her hands on h
er hips. "It's a class T6." She handed him a VR visor. "I'm using my bionic implants to stream ship sensor data--you might need these."

  He took them. "So there is a habitable moon orbiting the brown dwarf?"

  "No. But there is an extensive rocky ring system and asteroidal moons which could be mined for minerals."

  "So, resource acquisition was the factor which made Fai-tsiri decide to stop here?"

  "Yes Kask, that's what I'm saying. It was the sole deciding factor. We need new materials for ship repair."

  "I understand that." Ryder put the visor on. The entire ship seemed to disappear, except for the small floor panel on which he stood. Brightly colored labels and vector arrows popped into his vision, overlaid onto the real photographic image surrounding him. The arcing planes of a dusty ring system flowed only a few kilometers below his feet, glowing softly in the light from a red dwarf thirty-five light-minutes away. In bright blue text, the sun's designation label read SCR 1845-6357.

  "We'll start with two Kea," he heard Mbali say to someone else. "Tangaroa, Ariki, you'll command one each. Get going."

  Ryder heard footsteps and various people shuffling around him, but he continued to stare into space. Turning around on his floor panel, most of his view was dominated by the T-class dwarf, a cloudy super-planet glowing with its own heat and partially illuminating the rings in pink light. He pulled the visor up onto his forehead.

  Ryder was alone on deck, except for a few technicians bustling in the recesses of their alcoves, and Tekoha, who remained at his station. Ryder walked to Mbali's office and entered, closing the door behind him. The air was pulsing with heavily harmonized, melodic music. Mbali stood staring out the false window, her back turned to him. He came up beside her, glanced at her intent expression, and then looked out at the view himself.

  "What's this?" Ryder asked, pointing to the ceiling.

  "Rautavaara."

  "What's that?"

  Mbali turned down the volume using her arm-calc. "You mean, 'who.' You never heard of Einojuhani Rautavaara?"

  "Nope. And I can understand why. How could you dance to this?"

  "It is not dance music."

  "Then what's the point of music if you can't dance to it?"

  "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

  Ryder looked at her with a raised brow for moment and waited, but she said nothing more. He looked out the window again. The brown dwarf, fat and luminescent, spun at the center of its complex ring system. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Ryder said.

  "Yes, it is."

  "I've always pictured brown dwarfs as brown--never as looking like that, with all the swirling blues and reds, and that weird purplish pink color."

  "Magenta. That's because of the metals in its atmosphere. I've named this planet 'Magenta Sorrow.'"

  "Sorrow? It looks quite cheerful to me." When Mbali didn't respond, Ryder said "Can you even call this a planet?"

  "It's not a star, because there is no nuclear fusion happening at its core. At least not now. Anyway, not everything in the Cosmos fits neatly into conventional categories named by humans. Is there something you needed?"

  "Yes, I need to tell you I had just had a very interesting conversation. It appears some of the crew are considering moving against you."

  "'Moving against'? What exactly do you mean?"

  "I'm not sure what form it might take, but clearly there are those who think you should step down from your position as executive."

  "And how many people want this?"

  "Well, only three that I know of."

  "Who?"

  Ryder hesitated. "I'm not sure if it's such a good idea for me to say, at this point. They don't have a plan of action yet, and I may be able to persuade them you are still quite fit to be executive."

  "That's all very good, but I still need to know their names. I don't want to be blindsided."

  "You won't be."

  "I don't know that because you don't know that," Mbali said. She turned to face him. "Tell me who it is."

  Ryder rested his hands on the bulkhead below the window and slumped forward slightly. "I intend to watch them very closely--and I give you my word, over my historian's honor, that if they ever decide to undermine your authority, I shall give you fair warning."

  She turned outwards again. "Hm. You are ship's clerk, not a historian. But I appreciate your loyalty--I really do. You could have kept all this to yourself. What, may I ask, was their concern over me?"

  "They're distressed about what happened to Hemi. How his death was ... handled."

  "I see. I should think they would be more concerned about Nikau."

  "They are worried about that too--about what is happening aboard this ship generally, and they're not trusting types."

  Mbali nodded. "I'd like to invite you to monitor all my activities for the remaining duration of this mission segment. You can record your observations in your official logs for transmission."

  "Thanks--I'll take you up on that. Now let me ask you something. Did you know there was a menhir on Rock Garden?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  He showed her a file copy on his arm-calc. "Look at these readings, and compare them to what we observed on Menhir Waters. They are the same. And you know all sensor data and probe telemetry are filtered through Fai-tsiri."

  "Which means she must have known about this."

  "Yes. But did she tell you? Or not?"

  "No Kask, I assure you this is the first time I'm hearing of this."

  "Then don't you think we might have a problem with Fai-tsiri?"

  Mbali looked away from Ryder's arm-calc and drew closer to the window. "No, not really. One of her jobs is to filter irrelevant data for us, to bring us out of stasis only when needed, and to have us focus our attention only on tasks salient to the mission."

  "Yes Mbali, I understand our main focus is finding a habitat for settlement. Everyone here understands that. But something like this, learning about life in the Cosmos, is a secondary objective, and we should at least be made aware of data related to it. There is no reason for her to hide a menhir on Rock Garden. It really doesn't make sense--unless there is something else going on."

  "Like what?"

  "I don't know! But I think we need to find out. Don't you?"

  Mbali thought for a while. "I'll think of something. In the meantime, I'd like to be supervising the mining operation. You're welcome to join me."

  Ryder nodded, and they went back out on deck. Mbali stood at her post midway along the curve of the sector, and Ryder stood next to her; he lowered the visor over his eyes. Unbounded, apparently having executed a transfer to a lower orbit, was much closer to Magenta Sorrow, hovering over a narrow gap in its rings. Ryder lowered his gaze and saw something large in the gap, almost directly below his feet. "An asteroid?" he asked.

  "Shepherd moon," Mbali said. "Its gravitational influence keeps the gap edges very sharp and distinct. There are actually several of them in this same gap. And it so happens these moons are rich in heavy metals we need."

  Ryder saw other dark lumps in the distance, following the curve of the ring gap. Huge waves wrinkled the rings near the gap--the moons' gravity distortion. He zoomed in to the nearest moon below and saw two specks of light he had not noticed before: the skiffs, rapidly approaching the cratered surface. Like gnats to a spinning potato, they circled several times and alighted on opposite sides. "They're little more than flying mountains. But these rings are mostly rock dust rather than ice, right? So wouldn't it be easier to gather the dust than wrestle with the moons' gravity?"

  "But the ring composition is mostly siliceous. The minerals are more concentrated in the moons, so we can mine less material."

  "I see. But isn't the--"

  "Mbali!" someone from a terminal alcove called out. "Radar has detected some unusual movement vectors--but stopped now."

  "Scan the volume with lidar," Mbali ordered.

  "Yes ma'am." There was a moment of silence. Then: "Non-stoc
hastic topology detected."

  "Pipe the coordinates to my visual field," Mbali said. She stood looking intently through her membranous output implants. Then she breathed in sharply and seemed to freeze in place. "Comms," she said, barely above a whisper. "Order the skiffs back."

  "What's going on?" Ryder asked her.

  "Take a look at these coordinates." She sent them to Ryder's visual output. He rotated his view and zoomed in. At first he saw nothing but a group of rocks tumbling through the ring field. Then one of them moved laterally in an unexpected way. He zoomed further and saw it was not a rock like its nearby companions--rather, it was a snowflake-like object with radial symmetry. Except this snowflake was almost ten meters in diameter.

  "What is that?" Ryder said. "Could it be some kind of water crystal?" But then he read the spectrogram tracked against the object. "Oh, it's metallic--like a shuriken throwing knife ...." Then as the object moved, it caught the sunlight from different angles, and he saw small mechanical details pop out--and there were the ephemeral wraiths of frozen gases from reaction control thrusters. "It's a spacecraft!" He shoved his visor up and looked at Mbali.

  "It looks like we're not the only miners in town," she said.

  "What are we going to do?"

  "Get as far away from it as we can, as soon as possible."

  "You're not going to at least attempt radio contact?"

  "The outcome is much too unpredictable. You know by now I shall not put this ship or the mission at risk. Anaru, break orbit as soon as the skiffs are back inside."

  Ryder spun on his heels and left Command Sector. As he stalked down the corridor, someone ran up behind him and grabbed his arm. He turned and pulled away. "What?"

  It was Tekoha. He was breathing hard and pointing to his arm-calc. "I've cracked the encrypted files."

  "And?"

  Tekoha tapped the screen. "This is Unbounded sensor data from when we first arrived at Wolf 1061. Actually, according to the timestamp, we were a few light-minutes away from Rock Garden, still in stasis."

  Ryder stared at the image on Tekoha's arm. It was a photograph from one of the spinship's high-speed external cameras. He could see part of Unbounded's stern in the foreground. And hovering not far beyond was the dark-gray frigidity of the shuriken ship.