The hellas find, p.6
The Hellas Find, page 6
part #9 of Fox Meridian Series
The young man’s cheeks heated. ‘Uh, being a human infomorph, I guess.’
‘Someone had to ask,’ Justin said. ‘It figures it would be Bast.’
There was a small sigh. It was true, someone had to eventually ask Fox the million-dollar question. She was getting a little bored with answering it. ‘When I first came to and discovered I was just data, I freaked out. Quite a lot.’
‘That is a mild understatement,’ Kit put in. ‘There was a lot of virtual alcohol involved.’
‘And the biggest downside to this,’ Fox said, waving at her body, ‘is that alcohol has no effect on me. Terri Martins came up with some code which can emulate intoxication in a viron. Sometimes I just have to make use of that. Anyway, when I calmed down… Unless I specifically look for the differences, being in one of these frames is like having a human body. I can do stuff you can’t. I can turn off my sense of smell which is great for murder scenes. I can turn off my sense of touch if, for example, I’ve spent six hours on a stakeout in the rain and my clothes are soaked through. I only need to breathe to speak. I could walk out of this habitat and onto the surface in this dress if I wanted. My spine bends like a cat’s and that has interesting possibilities. But the way the interfaces work, I have to go around the normal stuff to see the cybernetic stuff. I feel like a human, like me.’
‘I think I’d like to go that way,’ Bast said. ‘Uh, eventually. I figure it’s going to cost plenty to get the process done.’
‘No idea,’ Fox replied. ‘Kit?’
‘To my knowledge, no one has decided on a commercial price for the Akh process,’ the AI replied.
‘It won’t be cheap,’ Bast said, ‘but I think it’d be great for someone like me.’
‘Don’t let any Luddites hear you say that,’ Fred suggested.
‘Luddites?’ Fox asked.
‘Another meme doing the rounds,’ Shayla replied. ‘You know who the Luddites were originally?’
‘Yes, but if I say it, Kit will correct me on half of what I think I know.’ Kit gave Fox a scowl, even if the assertion was probably right.
‘Basically, they were nineteenth-century textile workers who protested the changes in their industry caused by new weaving machines by smashing the machines. They thought, quite rightly, that their profession would be deskilled by the new machinery. They weren’t actually anti-technology as such. It was the change in working conditions they protested. There are obvious parallels with the rise of automation in factories and the meme saw a resurgence in some areas when the factories on Earth were moving over to purely robot workers.’ Shayla paused. ‘Sorry if I’m coming across as lecturing. I had to research all this when I was trying to figure out our Luddites.’
Fox grinned and glanced at Kit. ‘I’m used to it.’ Kit scowled again. With her face, scowling tended to come over as cute, so it was not that effective.
‘Right. Anyway, there’s been a move toward AI-driven cyberframes for mining. There have always been plenty of cyberframes, but they’ve been remotely operated, mostly. AIs don’t sleep or eat. They don’t need expensive life support and habitats to live in. A lot of the mining robots are big, so they can have pretty powerful computers, so running a class three or four in them isn’t a problem. The Luddites on Mars evolved to react to the trend of using AIs that way.’
‘They smash cyberframes hosting AIs,’ Justin said. ‘I know you’re not an AI, but you might want to be a little careful about them. Frankly, they sometimes just smash cyberframes, whoever is operating them, so I doubt they’d make a distinction between you and any other, um, electronic entity.’
‘Huh,’ Fox grunted. ‘If they wait a couple of months, that kind of thing is likely to become less economic anyway. The non-human rights legislation is likely to tend toward the same model as Luna City, and that was set up to protect human workers as much as give AIs human rights. If humans have to take breaks, AIs will have to take breaks. You probably won’t be able to work AIs twenty-four seven because you can’t do it with humans. There are still things about AIs that make them better under some circumstances, but they become more evenly matched when you have to treat them like humans.’
‘That would apply in Isis City,’ Shayla replied, ‘and in some of the mines which follow American law. A lot of what’s out there is out there precisely because they can get away with stuff here that they’d be locked up for on Earth.’
‘That’s going to have to be dealt with sooner or later,’ Fox said, frowning. ‘Anyway, I’ll keep an eye out for disgruntled miners. I was kind of expecting Mars to be like some sort of wild frontier anyway. Everyone armed. Miners swaggering into bars with a pistol on their hip after hitting the mother lode.’
‘We discourage the open carrying of weapons,’ Justin said, ‘but aside from that, that sounds about right.’
~~~
‘I haven’t heard back from you,’ Fox said to the camera, ‘so I figured I’d send another message. I’m coming over as a teenager sent to summer camp and missing her crush. That has to stop.’
She stepped back a little, making sure most of her body was in frame. ‘Okay, so I wanted your opinion on this dress. I think it’s kind of cool, but I’m not the most fashion-conscious woman on the planet. It’s from a local designer and I was thinking about sending some of his designs home.’
The dress was very short and what little of it there was hugged Fox’s figure. Most of it was made in a metallic purple fabric, but the upper bodice was black. It was sort of a halter neckline, but there were a few additional straps which helped to hold the garment in place, two over each shoulder and two around her sides, all of them joining at the back. They were about all there was to the back; the skirt covered more or less nothing. The neckline was so low that her nipples would have been exposed if the dress had not come with a teddy-like garment which sat under it as partially exposed underwear. A couple of straps went from the front of the skirt down to hold up a pair of stockings. Those had purple, shimmering tops and black fishnet below that. The shoes that went with the dress were the ones Fox had been dubious of: very high high heels, but without the actual heel. They were designed to look a little hoof-like, but the sole was rigid and extended back from the ball of the foot, which made balancing on them easier. Besides that, Fox had found that her frame was designed to adjust to varying gravity. She was not quite as nimble as usual, but she was able to cope better than expected.
Fox turned on the spot to give the full effect. ‘Anyway, let me know what you think. Oh, and let me know what you think of the hair. I asked them to do a different style on this frame. Sort of a try-out thing. If I like it, I’ll get it put on the one at home.’ Her new hairstyle was a lot fuller than her old one. It had the same basic colour scheme with a base of copper turning blonde as it moved down the strands. There was a bit more copper over the front and everything was a bit longer, fluffing out around her head in a mass of orange and white. It was still ‘foxy,’ but it was also different. ‘I think I like it, but you get a veto. I don’t think I’ll be too upset if you don’t like it. So let me know.’
Sitting down, Fox stared at the camera for a second and then shook her head. ‘I’m still missing you. Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.’
Sol 79.
Fox disconnected herself from the cradle she had spent the night in and headed for the bathroom. Showers were not actually a necessity since her Mielikki frame had a self-cleansing system, but it was a morning routine she did not feel like giving up.
‘Naomi has sent you a message,’ Kit announced.
Fox got into the shower and started the water flowing. To her perceptions, the slight decrease in speed of the water droplets was noticeable, though she doubted most humans picked up on it. It was far more noticeable on the Moon. ‘Let’s see it,’ Fox said, and a video frame appeared in her sensorium. She was immediately greeted by a topless Naomi.
‘Hello, my pet,’ Naomi said to the camera and Fox gave a little involuntary shudder. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t send something back after your first message. When I got it, I’d just been dealing with– Well, if I have to think about that client again, I’ll just be back in the same mood as yesterday, so I’ll just say that I didn’t want to subject you to that mood. Anyway, in recompense: boobs.’ Reaching down, Naomi cupped her own breasts and lifted them toward the camera.
‘I liked the dress,’ Naomi went on. ‘It’s a fresh look on fashion. Things on Earth seem to be shifting toward something of a cyberpunk feel, and that has a tendency toward grim. That appears bright and cheerful. Sexy, obviously. I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that look for business meetings.’ There was some smirking at that point. On both sides. ‘I like the hair, too. Yes, I like the hair. I’ve always thought you should go for something a little fuller. Obviously, you were quite appealing enough anyway, but that style suits you. As for this man who wants into your panties: if you want to, go for it. It’s not as though we can be entirely faithful to each other. My job precludes that. I’d be a terrible hypocrite if I got jealous over something like that. My only stipulation is that you record everything. Then I can enjoy him too, if he’s worth enjoying. Stay safe, Fox. I miss you. Bye for now.’
Hellas Planitia.
Staying safe was both on the cards and not. Fox had decided that she wanted to see the Hellas Planitia Science Station for herself. It had not been an especially popular decision, but Justin had finally agreed to take Fox out. He was not a great pilot, but he could fly a transport shuttle and NAPA had one which Palladium had bought when taking up the contract. It was the first time in a while that Fox had travelled in something not made by MarTech Stellar.
As Fox had been told, the storm had died down. The only wind was that of their passing. That did not stop the dust from getting in the way, however. Visibility was severely reduced. They navigated by the Martian version of GPS and the shuttle’s radar. Outside the windows, there was nothing much to see aside from a brown haze and it stayed that way once they were on the ground in Hellas Planitia.
‘Okay,’ Justin said as they prepared to walk the fifty metres or so between the landing pad – or flat area kept clear of rocks since there was no real pad – and the habitat. ‘We stick together. Don’t get out of sight of me. No stopping for photographs.’
Fox raised an eyebrow. ‘What would I be taking pictures of?’
‘No idea, but don’t. If you do somehow get lost, your suit can take you back to the shuttle.’
‘And if you get lost?’
‘Well, I don’t get lost,’ he replied, almost looking serious.
‘Strange. And here I thought I was the one with the satellite navigation system in my head.’
You could not really see the structure until you were pretty close. Fox guessed at five metres. It might have been further, but the team who had come in to check the station over had initiated a full shutdown on leaving, so there were no lights on. Well, except from a couple of small ones around the airlock. Fox heard Justin transmit an unlocking code and there were some muffled sounds as the outer door began to open. The atmosphere really did not transfer sound well, even if it was denser on the floor of Hellas Planitia than it had been up on Isidis Planitia.
Once they were through the airlock, Justin immediately went to a panel on the wall nearby and began flicking switches. A display lit up showing atmospheric data and the status of various systems around the habitat. Fox let him get on with it, unlocking her helmet and removing it. The suit she was wearing was entirely unnecessary, but it kept the dust out. A counterpressure suit, it was very figure-hugging. It had to be since it had to stop a vacuum trying to pop the occupant. In truth, that was not going to happen, but having your body at one atmosphere while the outside pressure was next to nothing was distinctly uncomfortable. Down at the bottom of one of the deepest basins on the planet, the outside air was actually sufficient to allow Justin to work without a suit, but he would still have needed oxygen, and there was the dust to consider.
With her eyes taking in a broader range of frequencies than the human eye could, Fox walked through from the station’s lobby and into what appeared to be a common area. There were tables, chairs, and a pair of sofas set around a fairly large screen. There were other screens all over the place; the place was well supplied with computer terminals which seemed a little odd given that pretty much everyone would have had implants. The only light came from dim emergency panels set on the walls and ceiling. They marked the positions of three exits, each of them with a light-but-airtight door.
‘Are we getting any wireless?’ Fox asked silently.
‘The network has just come back online,’ Kit replied. ‘I’m making connections to the habitat systems now.’
The main lights came to life and, pretty much immediately, Justin’s voice came from behind Fox and over the headset built into the balaclava-like thing which was there to keep the wearer’s hair out of the way. With Fox’s new hairstyle, that was actually needed. ‘Are you crazy?! How did you know the air was any good? You could’ve–’ He stopped as Fox turned around and stared at him. ‘Uh, you didn’t really need the suit anyway, did you?’
‘Of course I did. I’d have been cleaning dirt out of my hair and eyes for hours. I take it everything came back online okay?’
‘There should be an AI monitoring things, and that got trashed with the rest of the file system. Shame because it possibly could’ve given us a hint of what happened here.’
‘Kit?’ Fox asked silently. Aloud she said, ‘And that might be why it was killed.’
‘Huh?’ Justin asked, frowning.
‘Any AI licensed for public use would need to have honesty coding. We are authorised cops, technically, and it would have told us exactly what happened, no matter how much someone wanted it to stay silent.’
‘I have a copy in the server,’ Kit announced to Fox. ‘She is currently checking over what she can access.’
Oblivious to the comment, Justin nodded. ‘Of course, it could just have been that the Martians trashed the whole file system and got the AI that way.’
‘Possible, but I’d not call it plausible.’
‘Okay. Why?’
‘First, they didn’t get everything. They managed to wipe pretty much everything to a point where Bast couldn’t get it back, but not a few spooky clips from security cameras. Meanwhile, if the evidence from Carter’s backup device is to be believed, twenty Martians went to sleep four thousand million years ago, and when they woke up, they were expert hackers.’
‘Well, if their technology was more advanced than…’ Justin trailed off. ‘That doesn’t work, does it?’
‘I’d have believed it if they’d destroyed the computers. Back when electronic computers were first built, you had to input data in binary using switches on the case. Then you’d need to use punch cards or paper tape. Most people alive now would have no idea how to work that kind of system. Kids now get a basic education in using computers, but almost everyone relies on at least a class one to use whatever systems they need to. Give it fifty years and no one will be able to manually use a computer. Yet these aliens were able to hack a system they’ve never seen, using equipment they’ve had no exposure to, and bypass pretty major security to wipe the file system. It’s bullshit.’
Kit’s image, head and shoulders, appeared on the big wall screen. ‘I have taken control of the habitat’s computers,’ she announced. ‘I have access to all the security and monitoring cameras, and I can appear on any of the screens. Everything with firmware-based control systems appears to have remained intact, and that is more or less all the basic systems. Long-range communications are down, and it is very empty in here, as Officer Ayers indicated. Only the most basic operating system survived the attack.’
‘Keep an eye on the cameras, Kit,’ Fox said. ‘If there really are Martians around here, I’d like to know where they are before they make themselves known. And if there aren’t, then there are people I want to know are coming before they get here.’
‘I shall try, Fox, but the visibility is very poor. None of the cameras are multispectral.’
‘Cheapskate designers,’ Fox muttered. ‘Okay. I’m going to take a look around.’ She glanced Justin’s way as he reached for his helmet latches. ‘I’d leave that on. The atmosphere may be okay content wise, but it’s bloody cold. Wait for the temperature to get up to something over nut-shrinking levels.’
‘Right,’ Justin grumbled. ‘Remind me to get one of those bodies sometime.’
‘Huh. Sometime soon, that might actually be a viable option.’
~~~
‘Okay, to summarise.’ Fox paused, working out the summary in her head. They had been searching the accessible portions of the habitat for several hours, and now they were sitting back in the common room. Justin was eating.
‘Communications,’ Fox went on. ‘The station’s antenna has been bust up, hence the lack of external comms. It is not even remotely probable that the storm did that, so someone sabotaged the radio. My internal radio can’t reach the MarsNet satellites. I can hear them, but my signal isn’t strong enough to reach their orbit. We can suggest that any implant comms the people here had would be the same. However, the suit radios are quite capable of getting up there, if we go outside, so the lack of communications from the science team is not entirely explicable.’
‘They were too scared to go outside?’ Justin suggested.
‘If I thought I was being stalked by aliens, I might risk it to get an evac request out.’
‘These people were scientists.’
‘A valid point. Maybe they tasked Philips with sending off a message about the downed antenna, but he was killed before he could make contact. Maybe they didn’t try because they were all in on the joke. I’ve found no evidence of a fight anywhere in the habitat. There is the blown-out window, but there’s no evidence that anyone died in that room. Nothing. That said, asphyxiation doesn’t leave marks on the environment.’
‘There are eight EVA suits here,’ Justin said. ‘Two are missing, accounted for by Philips and Bulle. That being said, if they were all leaving, they would have needed someone to come here in a shuttle to take them out. That shuttle could easily have brought extra suits, or even just oxygen masks.’
