Synthesis, p.16
Synthesis, page 16
“2 months. Minimum.” Muradin responded gruffly.
There was a nervous shuffling in the crowd as the different cliques eyed each other nervously. Kayden decided to continue before there was any violence. “You all heard them. At our current rate, we will run out of food for everyone before we can leave. Now, I don’t want that to happen, and I think we’ve all been through enough to agree that we don’t want any violence. So we need to generate some more food. Luckily, there are farms already set up for us – we just need people to work them.”
“How are we going to decide who works the farms?” A woman said. “I don’t want to work when some of the men just laze around all day.”
“Shut up Agatha! Nobody asked you!” A voice further back in the crowd shouted.
“Both of you, stop.” Kayden interrupted, and they fell silent. “Here’s what I propose: we choose a ruling council, tonight. Everyone gets a vote. That council will decide who works the fields, and when. They’ll also need to decide on guard duty schedules, kitchen duty…everything we need to actually make a community here.”
He paused for a moment, looking several people in the eye to make sure they were listening. “Folks, if we’re all going to survive we need to work together. All those in favor of this plan, raise your hands.”
Dawn’s hand shot up, followed by Cassie’s. Muradin’s followed hers, though it was hard to see through the crowd given how short he was. Gradually, people began to raise their hands until the entire room was in agreement. Kayden nodded, smiling as they put their hands back down.
With the first major decision made, Dawn stepped next to Kayden. She then turned to the crowd and raised her voice. “All those in favor of Kayden as the first council member, raise your hands again.”
“Dawn, what are you-” He began to say.
“Are you saying no?” She asked him, one eyebrow raised.
He furrowed his brow, then shook his head finally. Cassie’s hand shot up in support again, followed by many others quickly. He felt a strange mixture of pride and anxiety as the room overwhelmingly supported him as one of their leaders. He nodded in thanks, and raised his voice. “I’ll do my best to make you proud. Now, who else wants to nominate someone to be on the council?”
***
10:13, April 27th, 2134
The next morning Kayden woke up in the ship to the feeling of Dawn’s naked body wrapped tightly around him. She was already stirring, and as much as both of them wanted to indulge in each other’s bodies they knew they had work to do. In the meeting the previous night people had indicated that it would be several more weeks before the crops they had planted were ready to harvest, meaning that they would have to gather food from the local flora and fauna. Having already volunteered himself and Dawn to scout the surrounding area, the two of them decided that they’d better start looking for food sources sooner rather than later. They’d decided to get up and start searching before it became too unbearably hot.
“If I’m being honest, I’d rather be hiking through this jungle than in more council meetings.” Kayden said jokingly. “They seemed to stretch on forever.”
“You’re doing a good job though. The council made a lot of really important decisions yesterday.” Dawn responded.
She was right - the meeting had been surprisingly productive even though it went late into the previous night. In the end, they’d elected 5 council members: Kayden, Cassie, a former teacher named Mei Ling Chen, a farmer named Jim Matheson, and an electrician named Priya Patel. The five of them made what felt like hundreds of decisions that night, determining everything from what tasks needed to be done to how work would be distributed. The spark of hope Kayden had ignited in them began to grow into a small flame, and by the time they’d returned to their beds they had started to form a shared vision for the colony.
“I feel like I don’t really want to be an elected leader though. It’s so…different from leading a squadron.” He said, finally being able to put his feelings about the whole thing into words.
“That’s the whole paradox of leadership. Most of the time, people who want that kind of power are the last people who should receive it. People who don’t want that power are usually more likely to use it wisely, and give it up as soon as they’ve done what they needed to do.”
Kayden thought about it for awhile longer. What she said made sense, but he still had concerns. “Will people listen to our decisions though?”
“They seemed to be listening this morning. Everyone got up and got to work on their assigned tasks.”
“What about a week from now? Or two weeks?”
“As long as things get better, they’ll listen. They’ll listen to you at the very least – you offered them a shower and a toilet.” She said with a snort of a laugh.
The two of them reached the top of the small mountain they’d been hiking up as he considered her words. His thoughts began to drift as he looked out at the valley below them, appreciating the scene in front of them. After a few moments, Dawn began taking pictures of the surrounding area with a tablet. Gradually, the pictures were analyzed by a program Dawn had downloaded and combined with some sensor readings they’d taken from the ship to create a map of the surrounding area. She studied it for a few moments, pinching and zooming in on various areas.
“Hm. That’s weird.” She said, furrowing her brow.
“What’s that?”
“That pond over there is…steaming.” She trailed off, looking to her left before grinning.
“What?” Kayden asked.
Taking his hand, she pulled him towards the pool of water. There was steam slowly wafting off the top of it, and she kneeled to put her hand in before Kayden pulled her back.
“Hang on. We don’t know if the water’s safe.”
[“Praetor Kayden. Your nanobots can be used to scan and analyze objects.”]
“Huh. Let’s try that then.”
“What?” Dawn asked, not having heard the conversation in his head.
The nanobots began to swarm into the water, then returned to his arm with a sample. A holographic display showed the results of the analysis.
“Sample Contents: H2O, NaCl, other trace compounds.
Temperature: 40.3OC.
Safe for human submersion.”
“That’s useful.” Kayden said. “We could really use this technique to figure out what kind of plants and animals we can eat. We could even…” He trailed off as he watched Dawn peel off her skintight clothes.
“…Sure. We could also get naked in the hot springs.” She said, grinning mischievously. “Come on, we didn’t get as much time together as I wanted to this morning. We’ve got the whole day to look for food. Hop in with me?”
Needing no other invitation, Kayden began to strip down as fast as he could to join her. She tentatively dipped one toe in the water to test it, then her leg, and a few moments later slipped all the way in. He quickly climbed in after her, finding a spot where the water only came up to his chest. Dawn wasted no time in wrapping her legs around his waist, holding him and kissing him as they enjoyed the relaxing effects of the warm water together.
They stayed like that for a long few moments, the tension in both of them melting away. Dawn was the first to break the kiss with a relaxed sigh. “This place is perfect. We’re definitely coming back here later.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely. It’s the perfect temperature to just relax in. We had to pay a crazy amount of money for baths like this back in Port Vega, it nearly bankrupted my family. Here it’s just…free.”
Kayden looked at her inquisitively. “I didn’t know you liked baths so much.”
“Not me personally. My dad. The steam helped his lung infection, and the heat was good for his muscles. Combined with all the fresh air here, he’d probably recover in a few weeks.”
“Tell me about him.” Kayden said.
“He reminds me of you in a lot of ways. They say women are attracted to men that are similar to their fathers, so I guess that makes sense. He hasn’t been the same since Port Vega outsourced policing to the Black Company though. Being the chief of police was his calling, you know? His purpose. To have that ripped away because Malachi Black bribed some politicians in a shady backroom deal…”
“Is that why you don’t like the Black Company?” He asked.
“One of the reasons, yeah. They’re gradually taking over Port Vega by convincing the government to ‘privatize’ service after service. Eventually one day people are going to wake up and realize that they control so much that they effectively are the government.”
“Why don’t people speak out against it more?”
“My mom did. They threatened her into retirement.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. To be honest, I was hoping that when we find the shipyard I could use the money to buy a place somewhere nice for them, and move them out of Port Vega before that happens. Now that I see this world though…maybe they’d be open to coming here?”
“Really?”
“Sure, why not? If we can get a colony created here, I can see this being a really nice place for them to live. My brother is a doctor, so he could open a clinic. Having a former chief of police and a former diplomat around probably wouldn’t hurt the colony either. I think there’s also an opportunity to make something really special here.”
“What do you mean?” Kayden asked.
“Well, every human colony has basically been established the same way: some wealthy people fund an expedition, then they establish a government that heavily favors their interests. Eventually, after they’ve established themselves they start bringing us regular ‘poor’ folks to the new colony to work for them for cheap. The rich get to stay rich and powerful on their new colony, and nothing really changes. Everyone is locked into their social class at birth, and there’s never really any opportunity to move up. It’s been that way since the first colonies – it’s just another form of control. These people have been through so much, they deserve a better life than that, if they want.”
“Okay.” Kayden replied. “Help me understand how this is different.”
“This would be the first time a colony was established without outside influence. You could set up systems that actually promote social mobility, ones that help the people who need it most and let everyone choose their own destiny. You said you wanted the freedom to choose their own destiny – don’t these people deserve the same?”
Kayden thought about it for a few more moments. “Yeah, they do.” She kissed him, and they went silent. Kayden spoke up again. “You care about this an awful lot Dawn.”
“I do.” She replied. “I saw what the Black Company did to my home. I’ve seen what oppressive governments can do to working-class people. I’ve studied enough to know that there’s a better way. Not just for them either – I want to help create the kind of society that I’d want to live in, long term.”
“Do I factor into those plans?” Kayden asked teasingly.
“Mmm. It’s a little early to be making marriage plans, but…yeah, I can envision a house for us here someday. Our little home base, on a colony we helped build.” She said dreamily before kissing him. “Is that too much for you though? Too far into the future, too fast?”
“No.” Kayden responded immediately. “I want that too. I just don’t know how to make it happen.”
“You’re a leader here now Kayden. You could make it happen.”
“I mean… if I’m being honest I took the leadership role to make sure Port Vega would keep helping me.” Kayden said.
“Sure, but is there any reason you can’t help yourself and help these people at the same time?” She countered.
“No.” Kayden said. “I guess there isn’t.”
Dawn squealed with delight and kissed him. “Good, because I-wait, what the hell is that thing?”
Kayden turned around, scanning the treeline around the hot springs. A meter-tall bipedal creature emerged from the forest, baring its teeth. It had smooth red skin, 10-cm long curved black horns on its head, and long fingers and toes which ended in claws. A meter-long thin tail extended from its back, and based on its sharp teeth it was obviously some sort of predator.
Kayden placed himself between the creature and Dawn. “Dawn, get the guns. Now.”
She frantically paddled through the hot spring and grabbed one of the pistols. The creature screeched and leapt through the air at Kayden as she did, its claws and teeth bared.
Kayden formed a shield of nanobots in front of him to stop the attack. He felt a satisfying thunk as the creature hit the shield and was about to shove it backwards when he saw the creatures arm move through the swirling mass. It was differently colored than just a moment ago – its skin had gone translucent. The rest of its body soon followed, and Kayden quickly backed off.
“Dawn! Shoot it!” He said, swimming backwards as fast as he could.
Dawn fired three projectile rounds at the creatures head. The rounds passed clean through, just like its arm had gone through Kayden’s shield. Teeth bared, it continued to advance on Kayden as he backpedaled.
“What the fuck.” He said, reaching the edge of the pool.
Without thinking, Dawn switched to energy rounds and began firing again. Her first shot missed, but her second shot connected and seemed to daze the creature. Its body seemed to ripple as the translucency faded, its red skin returning. On instinct Kayden formed a long blade out of his nanobots and thrust it forward.
The blade thankfully connected. It pierced directly through the creature’s chest, skewering a lung. Kayden pulled it out and repeated the motion several more times, stabbing it through the neck and heart until it stopped moving. As he hauled the body out of the hot spring Dawn shot it in the head twice more for good measure. Examining it closer, he realized its skin was actually a very fine layer of soft scales.
“What the fuck is that thing?” Dawn asked.
“It looks like an imp.” Kayden responded.
“An imp?”
“Yeah, you know. Like the mythical little demons?”
Dawn shrugged in response. “No idea. It’s ugly though.”
With a thought, Kayden scanned the creature using his nanobots. The holographic information appeared a moment later.
“Classification: reptile, predator.
Warning: claws and teeth appear sharp.
Other Abilities: this creature can activate a trans-dimensional shift at will, allowing it to pass through solid matter. In this state projectile weapons will be ineffective. Energy weapons will bring it out of this state.
Safe for human consumption.”
“Trans-dimensional shift?” Dawn said incredulously. “What kind of bullshit ability is that?”
“Never heard of it.” Kayden responded. “But apparently it’s edible, so… do you want light meat? Or dark?”
Chapter 15
09:41, April 30th, 2134
“No more imp meat.” Dawn said as they climbed the stairs to the landing pad. “It’s tough and tastes like shoe leather.”
Kayden laughed as he nodded. They’d had several successful hunts for the imps which helped stretch their food supplies, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant to eat. Still, combined with the several edible native plants they found their food situation was looking considerably better than a few days ago. They could afford to take a little more time to find something better to eat.
“Agreed.” Kayden responded. “I was thinking later we could go to that lake we found yesterday? There might be some edible aquatic life in there.”
“I would kill for some salmon right about now.” She said as they reached the top of the stairs.
Muradin was still hard at work on the shuttle. He’d shouted to them from the top of the tower as soon as he saw them that morning, asking for them to come up. Deciding it was probably important, both of them made the trip up the tower to see him.
“Finally. Vhile you khuem grushi okolachivat, I took out your comms module. I cannot finish zhe vork though.”
“Okay.” Kayden responded. “What’s the issue?”
“I need to solder several wires inside the module. Unfortunately, I can’t open it here – it’s not clean, and dust vill get inside. If dust gets inside it could cause a short, frying zhe circuits.”
Kayden furrowed his brow, thinking for a moment. Dawn examined the comms module, focusing on one of the wires leading out of it. “Muradin.” She said finally. “What does this wire do?”
He took a cursory glance at it then responded. “It connects zhe comms module to zhe backup battery on the shuttle. Vhy?”
“Does the final design for the communications satellite need it?”
“Niet. Ze final design said you can disconnect it. Vhy?”
“I have an idea. How much space do you think there is between the wire and the plastic housing around it?”
“100 nanometers, maximum.”
Then she turned to Kayden. “How big do you think your nanobots are.”
“Vait. You have nanobots?” Muradin asked.
“Heh. Yeah. Long story. I don’t actually-”
As if summoned, the holographic display appeared in front of Kayden.
“Nanobot information:
Length: 10nm
Height: 5nm
Width: 20nm”
“Huh. Okay.” Kayden said, dismissing the information. Ignoring Muradin’s shocked face for a moment, he looked at Dawn. “I don’t see where you’re going with this.”
“This wire connects to the inside of the comms module. You could send your nanobots down the wire, have them eat through the plastic casing on the other side, and solder the correct wires – all without having to open the comms module up to the open air.”
Would that even work? Kayden wondered.
[“Yes Praetor Kayden. What she is describing is indeed possible. It would take a great deal of focus on your part though – you would have to manually control individual nanobots by visualizing the specific actions.”]
