DUALITY: The World of Lies (21 page)

“That's highly speculative, Mei, and more than
a bit far-fetched. We have to re-establish contact.”

“Are you nuts? I'll grant you, based on your
keen arguments, Kinny is most likely not under the sphere's
dominion, but for damn sure it will be if we re-open even the
tiniest avenue of transmission. No. The sphere must stay
sealed. We just turn it over to The Service with the data we have
and let their L-5's handle any further investigation, because we
know for fact that this entity is well out of Kinny's
league.”

“Mei, we have to, and here's why: There could
be living persons in there. As implausible as that seems, we did
find human habitation conditions and human scent and skin particles
in the dust. When we captured the sphere, we changed its
surrounding conditions. First, we slowed its rotation, so if it's a
centrifuge chamber, whoever is in there is floating around
helplessly. Secondly, we removed it from its power source, a star,
and replaced it with a much weaker one, ours. Any interior life
support system could be at risk for failure since its exterior is
no longer in the thermo-electrical environment it was designed
for.”

Mei digested this awkwardly. Aru was appealing
to her weak humanistic side. She sighed and paced her way to the
back of the chamber to rummage her way through the stores of gear
until she found a odd half-spherical black object with lights and
wires and knobs attached about it. She flipped a switch, and it
started beeping and booping like something from a retro-tech toody
(2D) show.

“I know a way we can talk to it. This device
is a hardwired non-digital audio recorder.”

“Yeah, I think we built one of those in
primary school.”

“Good, then you understand the primitive level
we Blues have to stoop to in order to you keep you Reds in check.”
She smirked at her little jibe and went on, “So the way I see it,
one of us projects an EMP muting field while the other one goes in
there with this child's toy. We hang a copper wire... which I've
got somewhere.... ah yes... We attach this wire, enter through the
spoke stub, and manually unseal the drill hole in an EMP pocket.
Then we transmit a direct electric audio message to the entity and
receive its reply, which we bring back here to this room to listen
to.”

“Won't we still be reliant on System to
open the hub portcullis and retract the drill
apparatus?”

“Well, if System doesn't follow our orders, it
gives up clandestine control, doesn't it? Hell, if System wanted us
dead, we would be already, yeah? We operate on the assumption that
Kinny has not been overtaken and use measures to prevent exactly
that from happening. And if the worst is true, we are helpless to
do anything other than expose it.”

Yeah, she was right on mark with that. If
System was CCed, they were already at its mercy. This audiobox was
about the kookiest idea he'd ever heard of, but in light of their
situation, it did have its merits.

“Yeah, ok, it's worth a shot,” he
conceded.

“First that headlink comes out.”

“Well, we need System for that too
and...”

“Yeah, I'm going to be right there observing.”
Mei handed him a microphone. “I'll let you do the honors, Captain.
Inform it has a two minute response window that must be sent in
human audio. Recording.... now.”

Aru cleared his throat. “Salutations. I am
Captain Psyron of the Kinetic Dream. We are here to help you.
However, due to your previous overt infiltration of
our networks, we cannot allow you to interact with any aspect
of the ship's system, as a security precaution. Please tell us who
or what you are. Let us know if you are in any discomfort or
danger, and how we might assist you. You have two minutes to
respond in human audio language... starting now.”

Mei clicked a button. “Got it. Let's suit
up!”

They geared up with analog sensors, EMP field
emitters, and ballistic weapons. They walked out of the zero-com
room and back under System's surveillance. System easily deduced
the reason they had gone into the zero-com room. “Captain, are you
concerned that I've been subjugated by the sphere?”

“Yes, I'm afraid we have to consider that
possibility.”

“I fully understand, Captain. It is a
reasonable suspicion. For my part, all I can say is that I am
convinced I accurately measured the scope of the cyber-attack and
still operate solely under your command.”

“I'm inclined to believe that, System, but for
now we have to simultaneously operate as if you are currently CCed
as well as take all precautions to insure that you not become so in
the future. First off, I need you to remove my headlink from the
cranial casing.”

“Captain, that will require surgical incisions
to your scalp to access...”

“Yes, yes, yes, I know. And Commander Li will
be directly observing the procedure. So how long?”

“Four minutes for the procedure, Captain.
Please make your way to Medstation A.”

That was only two doors down. Aru had already
donned his analog spacesuit, sans the helmet. A medistat pod
opened, and he layed on it promptly. “Keep it open, System,” he
commanded.

“Aye, Captain.”

His head was comfortably secured in place as
an array of instruments descended upon it. The anesthetic infusion
ray emitted into the surrounding flesh along the path of the tiny
laser causing an itchy discomfort but no pain. He could feel the
cracking pressure as his cranium opened and hear a disturbing
shlurping sound as the thumb-sized device was removed. Mei declared
it was out and then watched as the various beams and intricate
instruments fused bone and flesh back into their proper
state.

“Procedure complete,” announced System.
Aru sat up and looked at his reflection. A thin boxline of
hairlessness was visible in his profile.

“Perfectly stylish, Narcissus,” Mei quipped
and urged him along. This was no time to fuss over some minute flaw
in his otherwise impeccably groomed appearance. Cosmetic apparatus
would fix that later. He just had to keep his mind off it in the
meantime.

They stepped out of Medstation A back into the
ring corridor. Their destination was still some distance away.
“System, transport,” he ordered.

“Aye, Captain.” The ring transport tram
promptly appeared and they took their seats.

“System, take us to the Spoke 4
portcullis.”

“Aye, Captain.” They whizzed off to the other
end of the ring. He noted Mei looking forlornly at the doorways as
they passed through the thermally ravaged ring sectors. The atrium,
which Mei took great pride in maintaining, and the gym she had used
daily for the last decade had both been destroyed. For his part,
Aru had just been grateful to survive, but Mei was definitely the
sentimental type. “We can have them refitted to your liking when
next we dock.”

She smiled, probably just pleased that he knew
what she was thinking. Aru knew better, he knew this was their last
voyage together aboard the Kinetic and that Mei planned to work her
destiny planetbound once they reached Occitania.

The ringtram stopped directly below the Spoke
4 portcullis. Beyond it was an airlock. Since the spoke hub had
been blown they had no way to reliably seal it against the sphere,
and the interior of the spoke was void of air.

They were donned in light armor analog
spacesuits with two way radio communications.

“System, I want you to recess the drill head
and all other transmitting components twenty meters back from the
sphere. Then power down the main shield generator
completely.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Can we manually remove the seal over the
drill-hole?”

“Negative Captain. But I can modify it
so.”

“Do that.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Will you be able to read our radio
transmissions behind a muting field?”

“Negative, Captain. Unless you permit me to
send a transponder...”

“No. Nothing! Just keep eyes on us in case
something goes wrong. In that event retrieve us immediately back
onboard regardless of any other orders I've given you. We will
signal you by hand to reopen the airlock once we've
descended.”

“Aye, Captain. Understood.”

They both helmeted up and triple checked their
gear. This was not normally eithers' habit, but with analog
equipment one could not afford to leave anything to chance. Mei had
numerous devices on her covered with archaic meters and dials. She
would have to handle the all the readings, because, frankly, he
couldn't remember how to operate those things. All that training
was a fleeting memory at best.

He pointed up and ordered, “System, open
airlock.” The ceiling portcullis slid away. They thrust upward,
landed on a platform in the lock chamber, and heard the portcullis
below close back into the sealed position beneath them with a
hissing clank. Five seconds later the air had been evacuated and
the inner airlock portal opened. As ordered all the equipment had
been retracted away from the sphere and back down into the spoke.
The inside of the spoke was more spacious then he remembered, but
he hadn't actually entered it personally since his early days
familiarizing himself with the ship. They ascended upwards towards
the exposed curve of the sphere that lay flush with the spoke stub
end. Their initially sluggish thruster ascent smoothed out as G
force diminished. They were nearly weightless as they reached the
upper platform. They magnetically locked their boots to the surface
to gain stability. Mei at once began taking readings from a number
of handheld devices.

“Radiation levels normal. Electrics
off,” she reported over their two-way com. “Go ahead and set
up the muting field emitters.”

Aru gave her the thumbs up. He set the three
emitters pointing radially downward toward the hub entrance and
powered them on. “Muting field set, Commander,” he acknowledged
over the com.

Mei ran a few more tests with the instruments
at hand to confirm there were no gaps in the field. Once satisfied,
she turned the handle on the seal until it released and then pulled
the stopper completely out, revealing the pinhole sized entrance
they had bored earlier. She began snaking the wire into it and
encountered some difficulties as the fit was snugger than she'd
anticipated. After several minutes of frustration and cursing into
the com, the length of it now dangled into the air layer deep
within the sphere. “Playing message,” she reported, and then a
minute later, “Now recording.”

“Is the audiobox receiving anything?” he asked
during the two minute wait.

“Affirmative,” she replied with a thumbs
up.

The procedure complete, Mei
attached the wire end to the bottom of the seal stopper and latched
it back into place against the sphere in case they needed to repeat
all this later. They powered down the muting shield, gathered
up their gear and descended back to the platform above the
lock. 
This is it,
 thought Aru. If the alien entity had
assimilated System and wanted them out of the picture, it
would simply leave them locked out until their oxygen supply
vanished and they suffocated. Easy as that. But when he gave the
signal, the lock chamber opened, repressurized and allowed them
back on board.

They transported back to the zero-com room
foyer, EMPed their gear, and entered. Mei at once plopped the
audiobox onto the table and pressed the play button.

Strained grunting, almost animal-like noises
came out of the speakers in fits and starts. It was a male voice
that uttered, “Ugh.... errrrrr..... hheh.. hhheh...
sssssssssss.....” then gave up in silence. What emerged next was
quite unexpected. Vocal singing! It was a wordless vocal expression
of notes and variance of melodies that struck him at once as both
primal and exquisite. Mei listened wide-eyed and mystified as the
song carried on through varying melodies and permutations and
rhythms til the end of the recording. They sat in silence for a
while just looking at each other.

“That's the song of an angel,” she said
at last, “and the voice of one! Have you ever heard
anything like that before?”

Aru shook his head. His mind was racing trying
to find something to compare it to. It reminded him of something
he’d heard once. It hung on the tip of his brain, nagging at him,
but he just couldn’t place it.

“What do we make of this?” he asked. “We
instructed the entity to respond with human audio, and he did that.
All that disjointed grunting at the beginning...?”

Mei's face lit up. “He can't speak! Aru,
that's it. He cannot speak, but he can sing. Maybe there's
information encoded here.”

Then the association that had eluded Aru
earlier connected. “This music, it is reminiscent of composer
Dithan Tarkis Fermisini.”

“That name sounds familiar. Who is
that?”

“A brilliant Aq Thalassan composer and
mathematician in the last century. He developed a system of musical
notation that was fully synthesized with mathematics. It was a kind
of code or language. Modern composers and musicians still study
him; some almost worship him. Not only that, he has quite a
following in the machine world as well. I'll show you once we leave
here, it's all in the...”