 
# The Darwinian Extension: Transition

Copyright 2009 by Hylton Smith

Smashwords Edition

### Hylton Smith

# Prologue

The year 2038 was a difficult time for Earth civilisation, and the Council for Human Exploration in particular. It was over two years since the return of Copernicus from the first Mars colonisation mission. The return of that crew together with the first known extraterrestrial life form had created mayhem, raising challenges to government morals, religious beliefs and unbridled technical development. The first casualty had been the Confederation of Nations, a capitalist alliance, which had spearheaded the conservation of the planet and the colonisation initiative. The life form known as Alex 2 had returned with Copernicus and was a replicant of Alex Redgrave, one of Copernicus' crew.

The replication had taken place on Mars when samples of red crystals had turned to an amorphous form and contacted Redgrave's skin, then his bloodstream. The replicant was highly intelligent and explained his origin as being an instrument of the Progenitors, who or which resided in dark matter. Apparently their raison d'etre was to maintain balance in the Cosmos with particular emphasis on the forces of dark energy. This contest between gravitational and expansion forces was crucial to the survival of everything. The Progenitors had seeded the cosmos with many such life forms which could potentially assist their objective. The red crystal which replicated Redgrave was one such example – it was known as the Continuance. Others were the Interference, the Amalgamation, the Elimination and the Subtraction.

Being primarily inorganic and composed of data cells as opposed to biological cells, Alex 2 had no need for most of the organic processes of humans. His data processing and retrieval were incredibly advanced, and he had made it clear to the human race on his arrival with the Copernicus crew, that the way of the Progenitors was not to be proactive in assisting species develop their potential. Encouragement of promise was the guiding principle. The view was also extremely long term – for example the period on Earth from single cell life to the present was considered insignificant. He needed no respiratory function, could withstand radiation, could regenerate damaged cells quickly and did not require glycogen powered musculature. He could withstand wide extremes of temperature as long as there was changing data interaction, so he was perfectly suited to the rigours of space travel. This also made him a source of interest to less scrupulous humans with their particular agenda.

Alex 2 had suggested humanity would not survive the nova of the Sun if their physiology remained one of haphazard biological mutation controlled by the environment. He described the need for a Darwinian Extension – a conscious adaptation of the species. He also said the accidental replication on Mars was typical of the Progenitors approach, insofar as it required certain promise from a species in order for the discovery and implications to be realised. The Continuance had interacted with many species already throughout the Cosmos, some more promising than humanity.

A concurrent development with these events had been the attempts of the United States of Arabia, via Iranian sponsorship, to discredit the Confederation's motives in their relative emphasis on conservation and colonisation programmes. The USAr maintained that the underlying objective of the Confederation was to maintain the powerbase in the big four – namely China, India, Russia and USA.

However, various acts of sabotage to discredit and slow down the Mars project had been perpetrated by the USAr. These acts were to cause loss of confidence rather than loss of life, and Redgrave had been their presence on the mission. He had been instructed to eventually commit suicide on Mars to destabilise the programme. This he did after being identified as the saboteur. Earth investigations had, with the help of Alex 2, uncovered sub-agendas of the USAr to delay the benefits of the colonisation drive until they had joined the big players, with the attendant benefits.

Alex 2 had revealed this duplicitous, divisive political blindsiding of the species. It was not a surprise but, when delivered with the impact of a non-human who was totally neutral, it became the first step to a change of political system and a departure from consumer driven trends. The seeds of a meritocracy were sown. This development was accompanied by Alex 2 declaring that he would readily submit to reversion to his crystalline (harmless) form if that was the wish of the species. He said he would then be 'in hibernation' until new promise emerged either from humans or another species. He concluded with a phrase that would become all too familiar – 'it is really up to you to decide.'

As part of the formation of the new order, the Council for Human Exploration was formed and the Chief Executive was Roberto Xiang, former Mission Controller of the Copernicus and Darwin Mars programmes. Alex 2 was nominated Symbolic Leader because of his knowledge and his life expectancy of billions of years. This continuity was important.

In the time since this 'silent revolution' the difference between ideology and practicality had manifestly provided challenges to the new order and particularly to Alex 2. His perspective of having been on Mars for billions of years was difficult to bridge with human concerns about tomorrow. Sweeping away the corrupt is sometimes easier than reconstructing the trust.

Conservation was being addressed but proving cumbersome. The prospect of replacing 'Humanity' with inorganic efficiency sounded logical when considering how we escape our solar system but is not without fear in the near term. The replicant technology, although admirable, did not require or offer procreation in its ultimate aim or form, and this was creating mass protest from many quarters, not just religious leaders. There was evidence of organised crime investment in searching for these red crystals which were apparently seeded on Earth as well as Mars.

To offset these thorny issues somewhat, the technical progress on antimatter propulsion, medical breakthrough in curbing rejection of medical implants, and the merging of science disciplines of chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology by Alex 2, in a new view of the Cosmos was impressive.

# Chapter 1

Aquamarine crystals had been prised from West Candor Chasm on Mars at the same time as the red replicant ones - which had been dubbed Scarlet O'Hara. Samples had been retained on Mars, the rest were in Beijing. The entire Beijing inventory of Martian samples had been quarantined for some considerable time after the inception of the new order on Earth. However, before the resumption of their evaluation on Earth, the remaining replicants on Mars had not been so idle.

A total of fifteen replicants (or Symbiants), as they had been renamed, because of their benign nature, had continued the forestation programme of Valles Marineris. They had also built huge protective domes from designer plants – replicated with Scarlet O'Hara multiple times, until data plateaux resulted and the amorphous form reverted to an inert and highly protective crystalline shell. The plants inside the domes generated oxygen and through controlled mixing with carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere produced a breathable environment when humans entered.

These Symbiants were comprised of two from Copernicus crew and thirteen from Darwin. Pascal 2 was the first generation Symbiant from Pascal Dupree, the Medical Officer of Copernicus. He was directing operations merely because he had witnessed more of the short history with humans than the others, including Redgrave's suicide. He had requested and received agreement to analyse the duplicate samples on Mars to those transported to Earth. There was no perceived risk to the Symbiants and the knowledge potential needed to be explored.

Most of the results were unremarkable but one observation stood out to Pascal 2 before the analyses began. All geological samples except one had been recovered from random deposits in the chasm. The Aquamarine crystals were prised from regular shaped lodes which were themselves distributed at regular intervals at only one side of the chasm. Initial instrumental data did not indicate unknown elements or bonding patterns but extraction with lasers showed the material to be luminescent. This was new insofar as the extraction by humans had relied on a drillbot remotely operated deep down in the chasm, which was circa 5 miles deep, and hence the camera had not picked up this characteristic. The Symbiants had descended into the chasm and observed the glow in close up.

Red was the second Symbiant of Alex Redgrave (Alex 2 being the first) and as such had assimilated his data core. Redgrave, being responsible for geological analysis had already outlined the main constituents of these crystals before his death, but Pascal 2's recent observation caused Red to investigate further. In trawling the databases he noted a similarity in composition with a synthesised Earth product. Polycyclodiborazane had been formed by organometallic polycondensation in the first decade of the 21st century and although it was a brown powder it was luminescent with incident energy at 414 nanometres wavelength. This caused Red to use the tuneable cutting laser to other wavelengths than the original setting, and the effect on the Aquamarine crystal mother lode was significant in his view but mind-blowing to Earth scientists.

As he approached 633 nanometres wavelength the glow was very strong in general but there were flecks throughout the crystal which appeared unresponsive. It was a few minutes before Red realised that there was uniformity in these flecks, both in distribution and shape. There was a distinct order to the layout, so he checked the next mother lode and the next and found exactly the same picture. He also noted that this occurred wherever he focused the laser on the crystal surface, indicating some kind of circuitry. Red discussed this with Pascal 2 and they agreed that this was not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Even with their massive 'computing' power they initially found it difficult to make much sense of the 'symbols'. However the breakthrough came from something which seemed rather obvious once discovered. The regular shape of each mother lode was that of a parabola. The 'symbols' turned out to be values from a specific parabolic curve.

The crystal itself was layered and considerable magnification revealed alternate layers of thick blue-green material separated by ultra-thin colourless deposit. Isolation of the two enabled Red to subject each to the laser at 633 nanometres. The blue-green crystalline layer glowed brightly and the light generated was perfectly matched to the hue of the crystal's natural colour. The thin colourless layer was unaffected except for the discrete areas of the symbols which darkened when the laser was applied.

The mother lodes were giant visual display units. Red contacted Xiang in Beijing and requested him to date his samples as the Martian lab equipment did not include this facility as yet. Red confirmed that he would pursue decoding this new 'language.'

This discovery added considerable momentum to the burgeoning disquiet on Earth. It also occurred to the Symbiants in both locations that in the billions of years the Continuance had been on Mars there was no reference data to explain any of this. When the age of components of the crystals was determined at around 3.2 billion years it did not really help confirm the growing belief that the authors of the symbols must be relatively recent. However Red had made a breakthrough. The symbols each had an 'x' and 'y' value from the parabola and therefore unlike most Earth languages had a limitless 'alphabet.' It could be argued that Terran pictographs provided a form of open ended expansion capability. Red had observed that the values within the 10% closest to the null point (where x and y had the same value of zero) were symbols used for referencing or as headers. The remaining 90% of values contained dialogue or subject matter.

This particular parabola had only plus values for x, but both plus and minus for y. There was also frequent use of reciprocals together, such as, x = 1.7 y = 0.3 with x = 1.7 y = -0.3 He determined this signified the end of one topic and the start of another.

As Earth's population were glued to update reports from Red on this code breaking, the shock wave hit everywhere simultaneously. The message left by these entities was clear. Red had decided to refer to them as the Rabo because over 90% of their use of symbols related to values in the middle section of the pa-RABO-la. The message was pinpointed to 2.8 million years ago and contained references to life forms on Earth with rudiments of intelligence. They had not interfered with this emerging organic broth nor left evidence of their own presence, choosing instead to construct the screens on a virtually uninhabited Mars for possible future discovery. The activation of the screens was programmed to signal the 'Rabo'. Red could not yet determine what mechanism was to be used or whether it was still operational. What it did show was that some species had managed to cross interstellar space a long time ago. They were from the region of the 55 Cancri System; over 40 light years from Earth. Their homeworld was under threat from gravitational shifts of three gas giants and they had been nomads for many 'cycles' after leaving their origin. There was no mention of any settlements but there was quite a catalogue of unsuitable locations. There was no description of themselves, as to metabolism, but there were 'holographic' images within the Martian screens in which the landscape was very different to the present. There were a lot of ice sheets between volcanic sites. There were several 'mechanical' looking devices in the images of the screens, but it was not clear whether they were representative of the machines which erected the VDUs or the Rabo themselves. The dating of the crystal components could mean they were on Mars when the Rabo arrived or they brought the embedded technology with them.

It was unanimously agreed that searching should begin in the surrounding regions of Valles Marineris for further evidence of their presence. Red had made one further discovery. His initial assumption that the parabolic screens were all the same was not quite accurate. They were constructed in an identical fashion and contained the same message, but each one had a construction date within the message. There were fifty-five altogether, some in better condition than others. The third was the one from which the Earth and Martian samples had been taken. That was constructed fifty-five years after the second and one hundred and ten years after the first. The same interval prevailed through the rest.

# Chapter 2

The discovery of the past and possible continuing existence of a species which had traversed star systems catapulted propulsion research to the highest priority.

"Daniel, Xiang here. I'm sorry this is such short notice but we need to make a concrete decision on which technology to employ in our next major mission. In view of the implications resulting from the discovery of the "Rabo" as Red refers to them, we will revisit Mars rather than attempt an unmanned foray outside the solar system."

Daniel Cavalho and his Symbiant – Dan - together with the ex-Commander of the Darwin – Anatoly Rebrov, were responsible for heading up this considerable effort. The Symbiant was as usual, acting as a reference point more than a developer of ideas, and thus helped in avoiding research culs-de-sac. Carvalho was both frustrated and excited at this news. "The workings of committees never cease to amaze me Roberto. We are at an important branch in our research and have been requesting more resource for over a year, then wham, we are asked to rely on educated guessing. We will brief you as to what is potentially our best choice with the usual caveats. When do you want to meet?"

"Now," was the response.

"You mean today?"

"I'm afraid so, it's to be a manned mission, but we also need to deliver equipment for the Symbiants to be able to maintain the terraforming programmes. Last but not least Alex 2 has some ideas on these Martian screens which he and Red believe may be important. He wants to discuss this with you." Carvalho said he would be there within the hour.

The existence of antimatter had been confirmed for many years and indeed small quantities produced. "That is the easy part," Dan had said, "controlling its power is going to be the next challenge." He was understating how bumpy the road would be. Despite this they had made progress. Antiproton traps had seen a paradigm shift in late 2037 and Dan had confirmed that using antimatter as an initiator of nuclear pulse production, proposed at the end of the first decade of this century, had the potential to get spacecraft to the Oort cloud, about a third of the way to the nearest star to the Sun. The nuclear pulse production released gamma rays and kinetic energy. Production of antiprotons also gave rise to dangerous gamma rays. A switch to positrons at least produced lower energy gamma rays. Dan indicated they needed to investigate how part of the kinetic energy released could respond to secondary interaction prior to creation of thrust. He also stressed that marginalisation of the unwanted gamma rays would be a priority.

This approach of minimising the amount of antimatter needed, the excellent storage and handling of those antiprotons or positrons, and repeatable two-stage thrust management had led to prototypes ready for proving tests. That test had now arrived, but a little too soon. However this would, if successful, eliminate the need to be overly concerned about the relative distance between the planets and herald a Mars shuttle.

Carvalho had matured appreciably since his time as Engineer on the Copernicus. He wanted this command. He did not yet know that he had already been selected. They needed someone with Mars experience, who had worked with the Symbiants, and with a strong engineering background. There was also the small matter of possibly returning to Earth as the only human crew member.

When they met face to face it was a special reunion, they had not been in each other's company since the emotional return of Copernicus. Those memories flooded back for the two humans and they kidded Alex 2 that he was also showing signs of nostalgia.

Alex 2 was first to get to the official business. "Red and I have considered why these giant screens have manufacturing intervals of fifty-five years, and whether it is a coincidence that the builders are from the 55 Cancri system. Our database, at the time of our 'hibernation' on Mars did not include the materials employed in the giant VDUs. Therefore we can, at present, only speculate as to the origin of the components. We are not comfortable with speculation. The following alternatives would appear to be possible. If the dating is accurate at 3.2 billion years, they could have developed or arrived on Mars after our regression to crystal. If they developed or arrived by impact we would expect there to be other deposits. If they arrived with the constructors there is less probability of other deposits. Red has widened the search area and not found any more as yet. If we then consider the fifty-five year construction interval we also have alternate possibilities. The builders could have remained on Mars during the entire period, some three thousand years or more. Did they consume the entire quantity and stop building, or did they import the materials from some other location? What we do avail of in our database is signatures of similar materials in this sector of the galaxy but please bear in mind this information has not been updated since our regression on Mars. We know that the species left their 55 Cancri home because of impending cataclysmic events, so it is unlikely they returned. It is also what humans would call 'intriguing' that the distance from Mars to the nearest source of the materials we have identified, is one which would require a travel period of twenty-seven to twenty-eight years with a propulsion system much more advanced than has yet been developed by humans. The round trip of about fifty-five years is interesting. Red has also determined that only the core constituents needed to be imported for further reaction to yield the final composite layers of the screens, so the transportation loads were feasible for a spacecraft. Probability analysis suggests that the species in question may have had various outposts and existed in the prevailing Martian climate for a considerable time around 2.8 million years ago. The probability values are not strong, but outweigh the other scenarios we have checked. It is therefore important that we search Mars for more evidence of their civilisation, and possibly shift our first extra solar system mission to the source of the material signature where they may have also left valuable data."

Xiang had already heard this prognosis and was therefore not as awestruck as Carvalho. "We would like you to Command the mission Daniel as you fulfill all of the criteria and you will be designing the propulsion system. The vessel will be named 'The Newton.' What do you say?"

Alex 2 left them to discuss details, he had another pressing appointment. He had agreed to meet with one of the increasingly influential religious leaders on Earth. The concerns over the gradual replacement of human physiology with 'alien' technology were spreading. South America was the most vociferous and was gaining support in Europe, particularly Spain, Portugal and Italy. The Middle East was more active than the rest of the Muslim faith, who were catching up. Nilson Mendoza had become a figurehead for Catholicism, sweeping all of South America and part of Mexico into a sledgehammer of protest at the headlong pursuit of technical advantage, which was steadily undermining God's presence in people's everyday lives.

During their brief discussion, which Mendoza had insisted be broadcast live, Alex 2 had tried to explain for what seemed like the hundredth time, that this was no imposition, the representatives of humanity had elected him but there was no requirement to adopt any of the discoveries which were made. To this end Alex 2 suggested his grievance should be aired with other humans. Mendoza rejected this guise of convenience. He maintained that as long as Alex 2 was present in his capacity of Symbolic Leader the focus would remain with him. He bluntly asked if he was prepared to resign if asked.

"Not only would I comply, I have on many occasions reiterated that I would not in any way resist humanity's wish to consign me to crystal for as long as it is deemed necessary."

Mendoza thought carefully. "We know this but we do not want your martyrdom to further polarise society. We have the greatest respect for you as an intelligent, caring being and we therefore seek your cooperation in de-scaling the rate of change implied in the present programme."

Alex 2 endeavoured to pinpoint more precise areas of concern which had turned into acceptance. "Society, with few exceptions, did not seem to have difficulty with organ replacement and synthetic knee joints prior to my emergence. There has also been much debate on stem cell research, IVF, designer babies and gene correction therapy – yet they progressed without the tension that you claim exists now. Why do you think that is?"

"Perhaps those examples in themselves did not envision our descendants becoming something that resembles our template but without any soul."

Alex 2 could not easily differentiate between something abstract and taken on faith when compared with the memory and character transference during an individual's replication. When he articulated this Mendoza seized upon it as being the fundamental problem. Alex 2 pointed out that the uncorroborated faith in something called the 'soul' was surely just as much of a fundamental problem. The jousting prevailed along these lines until Mendoza introduced the subject of descendants with reference to their method of procreation.

"Our understanding is that we are being encouraged to graduate to a physiology closer to your own to meet the survival criteria ahead, yet you have admitted that you cannot procreate, only replicate. Maybe I have misunderstood, but would not a replicant of a child always remain a child in all respects other than acquired data? If so, this cannot be considered procreation as we know it. I would suggest it signals that the last dregs of humanity have been designed out. Why not just replicate enough of our promising species to carry that promise forward for your Progenitors when the time comes for the next mutation? This would be a compassionate means of allowing individual and mass faith to take its chance with the human residue."

Alex 2 was for once not able to offer a critique of such a suggestion and the broadcast ended with Mendoza occupying the high ground.

# Chapter 3

Immediately after Carvalho accepted the command of the Newton mission he was briefed on the makeup of the crew and more detailed objectives. Many more nuclear power units were required on Mars to keep up with the increasing number of tasks at an ever greater distance from one another. There was now more need than ever for geological, computing and chemical expertise following the discovery of the Rabo. There was a need for medical presence on the outbound journey. Security presence would also have to be tolerated after the sabotage events on Copernicus.

The analytical equipment had to be complimented with new techniques to enable better 'on Mars' data. Modifications to the robots had been requested to enable more efficient earth-moving capability as the Symbiants were pushing into trickier terrain outside Valles Marineris. This extra cargo was offset by not needing additional lab unit space or habitat as they were now contained safely in the giant domes which were expected to offer a comfortable atmosphere for the incoming humans.

Carvalho had input into the choices for all crew members other than the security presence. He chose Jussi Pykonnen as the geologist for his excellent work on the Darwin mission. He accepted advice on Beth Eisentrager (computing and communications), Ari Nielsen (science) and Sophia Scillacci (medical). The security presence was already nominated and had been involved in screening the others. Sergei Radmanov had undergone KGB type training and worked in almost all former states which had defected from the Soviet Union. His record was formidable.

The construction of the vessel other than the propulsion system had been accomplished recently and was sufficiently modular to accept changes within certain constraints. Carvalho did not see the prototype modifications he had in mind causing any delays. He did have a request which he had kept to himself until all other details had been covered. He wanted Dan to be on the Newton. The rationale was simple – as Commander he may have situations which would dilute his focus on propulsion, and having Dan there would cover that risk. The Symbiant was resource neutral except for weight which was not a concern. The request was approved.

********

Pascal 2 and Red had been experimenting further with the laser and screens. Red recalled some very weak luminescence at 555nm at the time but had obviously concentrated on the brightness delivered at 633nm. In retrospect, the number 55 had kept cropping up and they had revisited the chasm. Eventually they found that the fifth screen had additional symbols at wavelength 555 but they were too fuzzy to be read. They both concurred that the problem might be the tuneable laser's inability to deliver a strong enough focus at this specific wavelength. Red requested that a laser with such capability be added to the cargo of the Newton.

********

Alex 2 had reviewed a lot of research on the mechanism of human memory function carried out prior to his arrival on Earth. This was information which was not in the regular medical databases as it was mainly theory and hypotheses. Dr. Eidur Isaakson was mentioned numerous times in this field, and was reputed to be critical of the lack of funding for this branch of science. He had argued that the work could also carry payoff in cures for Alzheimer's disease and other such causes of memory attrition. In studying these conditions Alex 2 was impressed that more than twenty years ago someone had actually suggested something critically important to the arduous task of reverse engineering the brain. It was apparently accepted that Amyloid Beta, a peptide, could form cerebral clusters, ultimately killing neurons. Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) was thought to be a natural neuro-protective agent, induced by neuronal stress or injury. It was proposed APP reduced divalent Calcium ion concentration and therefore protects neurons from glutamate excitotoxicity.

Although this seemed reasonable, it was proposed in the context of the prevailing understanding that current memory is transferred to long term memory by the hippocampus triggering the exchange with the neocortex. However in 2006, a theory which suggested that the neocortex actually sequesters memory from the hippocampus had not been sufficiently researched at the time. Alex 2 decided to speak with Dr. Isaakson about this and requested him to travel to Beijing.

Another area of potential scrutiny by the rising tide of religion was the advance in creation of artificial memory. The various churches had never galvanised their efforts on a common enemy before this threat, but had now begun to make impressive strides. Alex 2 had been busy here too. As far back as 2007, nanowires had been produced which were capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving it 1000 times faster with less power than the prevailing technology at the time. This was developed using a self-assembly process employing Germanium Antimony Telluride. This, when laser heated offers phase changing properties, switching between amorphous and crystalline structures. This of course was the very mechanism involved with the Continuance itself, as well as being the key to read-write computer memory.

He was also impressed with notes on the production method. Self-assembly was described as a process by which chemical reactants crystallise at lower temperatures, mediated by nanoscale metal catalysts to form nanowires. Subsequent memory devices are fabricated on silicon substrates. This was followed by a proposal that this whole concept offered a way to boot a computer in seconds without the need to transfer the operating system to actual memory.

In 2016 Georgi Popescu suggested linking the research between the Alzheimer's work and the nanowire breakthrough. It had not been done. Popescu had passed away in 2031 without ever knowing what could have been.

********

Fernando Escobar had survived two decades at the interface of supply and demand of Cocaine. This was some achievement judged by the number who had not. He was ready to surrender the welfare of his dynasty to his eldest son. This had come about by the diversification opportunity to find deposits of Scarlet O'Hara. When he had been advised of the most likely locations being inaccessible or extremely inhospitable his interest sharpened. This would rule out most of the private sector competition and the government accord across the world had been enshrined to forbid searching or possessing the crystal. This would be under review as more experience was gained with the Symbiants on Earth.

Escobar was Columbian but had residence in Zimbabwe, within a heavily protected fortress. Not many people knew this, as that information was almost directly proportional to suffering an unfortunate accident. The financial and organisational muscle required for the venture was to be beefed up to requirement without delay. His advisor, on where to start looking, suggested that the ocean around the Canary Islands was predicted to suffer a land slippage of such proportion that resulting tsunamis would devastate part of the eastern seaboard of the United States. The resulting exposure of strata and the churning at the bottom of the adjacent ocean would be good sites to start. The advisor was asked to come up with another site which did not involve waiting for a cataclysmic event and he would be handsomely rewarded. The second choice was the North Saskatchewan River Valley originating at the glacier and Columbian Ice field. On its 2200 km journey to Hudson Bay the river had over time shaped the valley walls. During the Mesozoic era volcanic eruptions were common, and at the same time the Devonian Sea covered much of the area in the then tropical climate. It left behind rich organic materials, some of which gradually transformed into fossil fuels. The subsequent period was characterised by mountain building. Boulders and debris were left behind as glaciers receded, scouring the earth with their movement. The resulting knob and kettle landscape is what is seen today. The advisor was thanked profusely and later declared lost at sea after several days search by the Coastguard.

********

Alex 2 informed Dr. Isaakson that this meeting was an unusual departure insofar as he constantly tried to be the consultant and not the pioneer. This apparent departure could be justified because the work he was about to refer to had been mapped out decades ago. There was also some similarity to the architecture of the Continuance. "The research on nanowires is very interesting, especially the element of rendering the need to transfer operating system to memory on boot-up as redundant. My structure is somewhat analogous to this concept. I have previously explained to humans that my first and second tier registry functions have to confront exactly that challenge. This is not only important for delineating long term and other levels of memory, it is critical to alerting my regenerative function. This function has a similar purpose to your immune system in a way, but operates differently. I have sentinel cells which are directly linked to first tier memory and to each other. They trigger production of new cells whenever attack is sensed. The new cells push out the damaged cells and renew the original template. Occasionally, as happened on Mars, an attacking species can disguise its presence to reach a sentinel cell before the process is triggered and then amputation of the infected region is required. I concur with your conclusion that this work should be linked to the effort to halt degenerative memory conditions like Alzheimer's disease, and particularly the suggestion to focus on the relationship between the neocortex and the hippocampus. If you can outline in precise detail what resource you need and how it will be employed I will ensure this receives a major rethink."

Isaakson remained unimpressed. "I have used similar arguments in the past to no avail, I'm not hopeful – forgive me but I'm jaundiced with the myopic traits of my species." Alex 2 said there was another facet of the debate to be considered. "Mankind has a mental fortress built around preserving even that which is faulty if it is a true component of 'humanity'. This in itself can be considered a flaw but through religion and family structure it assumes the mantle of invisibility. From the various groups of people who outlaw blood transfusion, stem cell research etc, we also observe the embracing of gadgets like pacemakers, which can be conveniently designated as external assistance devices such as a walking stick or neck massager. If we employ this route we may well transcend this resistance. I am suggesting the initial development of external equipment to lower the emotional resistance."

Isaakson stared blankly before responding. "You mean an artificial 'brain' to communicate with the human version?"

"Yes, in the first instance. There are many examples of measuring and controlling brain activity in this way, both medically and psychiatrically. If success can be demonstrated with neuron repair, and a box which re-educates or improves the communication between the neocortex and hippocampus, the next step will not appear so radical."

Issakson's scepticism was beginning to thaw and he agreed to report back with the detail Alex 2 had requested.

# Chapter 4

The months of intense preparation for the Newton launch were considered well short of ideal, but this was intrinsically linked to the earliest date possible for retrofitting the new propulsion unit to the modified chassis. The estimated time for the outward journey was fractionally under six weeks, despite the two planets being four years beyond their closest orbital distance and Mars perihelion. This compared to ten months for Copernicus and Darwin.

Beth Eisentrager had never really been separated from her identical twin sister Elke for any significant period. They had gone to the same university and worked for the same software corporation. When Beth had revealed her wish to become an astronaut, Elke followed suit. The Newton selection board thought long and hard about this before offering Beth the place. Even though her response was an immediate affirmative it was hitting hard now that they were on the eve of departure. Jussi Pykonnen took it upon himself to help relax Beth, leaning on his previous experience, stating that although the Darwin returned before the planned twelve months had elapsed, he would have liked to stay longer.

Ari Nielsen just could not wait to link up with the Martian Symbiants and hand them their new laser. He was consumed by what might be revealed and the chance to discuss the outcome with Pascal 2 and Red. Ari had initially studied at Aarhus then moved to MIT to gain his doctorate. He was honoured to take up a post of considerable responsibility in support work on the Hadron Collider in Cern. This had been modified since the early Big Bang experiments and production of antimatter. The Newton provided the mouth-watering combination of application of knowledge, the discovery of the Rabo, and the presence of superior intellect with which to interact.

Sophia Scillacci had been sent well wishes from Pascal Dupree, who was still in Sudan, and still had a cache of Scarlet O'Hara, unknown to the 'authorities'. He had been careful to avoid any reference to this or the Symbiants, choosing to air his regret at seeing himself as a doctor first and crew member second aboard Copernicus. He urged her not to repeat this misjudgement. Sophia had lived, studied and worked almost exclusively in Italy. The exception was her recent work in genetics in Osaka, which was in the province of correction of rogue genes responsible for a number of life-threatening conditions. The leader of the work had received the Nobel Prize and had been magnanimous in his praise of her contribution.

Sergei Radmanov had been subjected to what was almost overkill on the need for him to fit with the crew and avoid the near-outcast status Javier Veltrano had suffered on Copernicus for most of the journey. At least the crew knew of his brief, unlike Veltrano's clandestine remit, which was a good start. He made it his first objective to really find out what made each one of them tick. He was still an 'intelligence' leopard even though the spots were different.

Carvalho not only had a hard act to follow in Magnusson, but an even more difficult one to keep up with in the form of a Symbiant. He had not really given this much thought when he requested Dan's presence, but that would change. The launch was uneventful and much less significant in the media than the first colonisation mission. As a consequence of the trip being eight and a half months shorter, more time had been planned for the voyage around what happened when they reached Mars.

********

Saskatchewan River Valley was a sparsely populated region but there could still be a problem if too much attention was drawn to even amateur geological investigation. Permits and impeccable references would be the safest bet. Escobar commissioned his executives to get the hungriest accredited candidate they could find and bring their choice to his decoy abode in Cuba. After weeks of tentative screening they arrived with a young American-naturalised Korean – Sung Jin Park, now known exclusively as Michael Park. His reputation was as yet not matched with awards and the kind of fellowships of an incestuous nature which attract the attention of the media. He would easily fit with the charade of an enthusiastic young professional cutting his teeth in an industrious way. He was very knowledgeable, extremely focussed on the science rather than the establishment dictates, and craved being the first to achieve something of notoriety. He was also attracted by the financial persuasion on offer. With the requisite paperwork and equipment he set about marking out the strata of promise. He concentrated the first forays on rock splitting and extracted a few crystals of varying age and colour but not the infamous 'Scarlet'.

********

Alex 2 delivered another surprise by releasing a statement to the media referring to the abrupt end to the broadcast with Nilson Mendoza. He regretted that there had been no time for him to agree with the spiritual leader's proposal to allow people to simply opt out of the race against time to prepare for leaving the solar system. In fact he went further by declaring only a small percentage of the species were required to achieve this. He felt that this was a similar situation to one in which certain groups sought to outlaw medical breakthrough if it offended their beliefs. He was sure that Mr. Mendoza could appreciate, because of his adherence to 'the sanctity of life', that it would be unfair to expect all others to be dragooned into being compliant with a death sentence imposed by self-righteous views. Alex 2 was sure leaders like Mr. Mendoza could accept that people already born and suffering were somewhat indifferent to the all-embracing dogma of interfering with embryos. To deny such individuals an opt-out which he had called for in the broadcast would be hypocritical. He hoped this would make a difference to the campaigning by people of many faiths against the advance of medicine for these compassionate causes.

********

The Newton had reached the halfway point without any of the drama enacted on Copernicus. There was a genuine camaraderie present and even Radmanov was relaxed and apparently easy going. Dan had reported no deviation from expectation of the new propulsion system and there were no sniffs and coughs to report. Carvalho had asked Dan to keep in touch with Red to double check orbit insertion trajectory data from Beijing and be prepared for the landing sequence plans. The landing locations were now quite a distance apart. The nuclear power units had to be spaced along intended exploration lines to ensure charging facility for the robots. The analytical stuff was to be as close as made sense to the existing facility. The supplies for humans were to be close to the habitat giant dome in Marineris Central. All of this needed split second timing of the release of the Lander and the Ascent/Descent modules respectively. Carvalho trusted the Symbiants accuracy implicitly in these matters, doubly so when Dan would be communicating with one of his own.

********

The search on Mars for more evidence of the Rabo was disappointing. Red entertained the idea that they had chosen Pandora's Rift (the chasm) for the screens because of the relative protection it offered from the harsh planetary conditions. If this was true, he proposed that any settlement or other evidence of their stay may be well away from the present search area. It was therefore decided to abandon the activity and restore full manpower on the continuing forestation of the planet until the new laser arrived.

********

Everything had gone so smoothly with Newton's journey that it made the bad news seem even worse. Elke Eisentrager had been diving in the Red Sea when she noticed a warning of failure of air supply. She had surfaced a little too quickly because of acute symptoms of asphyxiation and was admitted to hospital. Some brain damage was diagnosed but she had come out of a coma. She was not able to speak correctly and exhibited other afflictions associated with a stroke. She was transported to Munich for further tests and therapy. Xiang had first passed this information to Carvalho to ascertain if it was better to hold off telling her sister until they were on Mars. Commander Carvalho had his first really tough decision to contemplate. His instinctive reaction was not to mull this over. It was a family matter and her second family aboard Newton was there to help her through this. His reply to Xiang was short and decisive. "I will inform Beth that she can expect an incoming transmission from her family. It is our job to get her through this."

Xiang was grateful for the time delay in the communication as it loaned belief that Carvalho had really thought deeply about the alternatives. Had he been in command he felt pretty sure he would have preferred a landing without distraction. It was a concern but he decided to reply positively. "Good, this kind of adversity can foster stronger relationships in the longer term. I will alert the Eisentrager family that you have requested they have first contact in such a personal matter. They should be able to transmit within the hour as they can upload from Munich to Beijing for onward routing. I will be back in touch with preliminary orbit insertion calculations soon Commander."

# Chapter 5

Michael Park was confident he had located a very promising cave. It was earmarked on the official grid as containing some of the oldest rocks in the continent of North America. It was very deep and recommendations stressed the need for accompaniment by experienced personnel in cave exploration. He ignored this because of explicit instructions from Escobar's enforcers. He decided to stock up with rations for several days, and trail markers to conduct his first foray into the darkness.

His optimism was based on the variety of recorded finds in both age and composition. Unusual items had been discovered side by side, including a kaleidoscope of crystals within a period of volcanic upheaval. The subsequent mountain formation had managed to leave this very deep cave at a considerable altitude. He took samples of crystals encased in rock as well as isolated deposits. He had confirmed from the Scarlet database that the amorphous form would revert to crystal when subjected to an unchanging data condition such as rock imprisonment, and the crystal form would remain as such in the same environment. The free lodes of crystals would indicate presence or absence of antimony, a key clue. He headed back to the analytical facility provided by Escobar.

********

Beth was distraught at the plight of her twin and asked Commander Carvalho if she could be excused some of her duties and exercise regimes.

"Of course, and please understand that we want to help, but we also want to give you time on your own. We want you to have our communication slots until you get a better handle on Elke's prognosis."

Radmanov took it upon himself to ask Carvalho to request more time to communicate with Earth on this as the operational aspects were well under control. The Commander agreed and reflected on the contrast with his first altercations with Veltrano on Copernicus, and how they subsequently became such close friends, before Javier fell to Legionella Pneumophila. "Good thinking," he said to Radmanov.

Sophia Scillacci kept a watchful eye on her bio readings and asked if she needed any help sleeping via medication. "No thanks, but I appreciate the offer Sophia. I just need to get used to the fact that whatever happens to Elke, I won't see her for a long time. Our scheduled stay on Mars has to take priority." Scillacci mentioned this to the Commander and he thought about any scenario in which they could cover for her. He considered whether they could profit from overlap of disciplines with Nielsen (science) and Pykonnen (geology). Ari Nielsen had pretty advanced computing ability and Radmanov could take on her other remit of Communication. He then remembered that Pykonnen had undergone replication when the Darwin's crew was on Mars. His name was Finn and Jussi Pykonnen had no doubts that if his replicant could be freed from his Mars duties he could easily cover the geological input, allowing him, Pykonnen, more time to assist Nielsen.

Beth was moved that they were all prepared to make sacrifices in their own disciplines to help her adjust, or even return on the Newton. "I can't ask for or accept such a gesture, Jussi. I want to see how the next few weeks unfold for Elke and respond accordingly. Isn't everyone forgetting that if I was to return with Newton, the best person to replace me is Beth Eisentrager, or more accurately a replicant of me? I won't decide whether I would like to return until I have helped set up the Mars programme with the rest of you." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and smiled through the tears.

********

When Alex 2 heard of the Eisentrager tragedy he asked Xiang to consider putting them in touch with Dr. Isaakson. If this was approved, he volunteered to make the introductions. His thinking was to include Elke in the proposed study of using technology external to the brain for repair of lost function. When they met, the Eisentrager family was a little overawed at first but this was supplanted by hope when Alex 2 outlined the entire context of the study. He also prepared them for a time when they may be asked for their consent to treat Elke with such pioneering equipment. They asked if they could communicate with their other daughter about this and get back to him. Dr. Isaakson responded to Alex 2's affirmative by suggesting they immediately upload Elke's medical history to familiarise themselves with any areas of concern. "It would make sense to do this in advance even if your decision to proceed was negative. Confidentiality would be assured." It was agreed and when Beth learned of this she knew her sister couldn't be in better hands. It relaxed her and more significantly made her feel a little less guilty for them being apart.

********

When Michael Park sorted his haul into groups he decided to perform elemental analysis first. None of the first batch of free crystals indicated the presence of antimony. The pattern was repeated throughout. When he started on the crystals enclosed by rocks it looked like a similar picture then suddenly he punched the air. However repeating the test produced a negative result. It was some time before he realised that the trace of antimony was in the rock casing and not the crystal. He quickly consulted his sample extraction chart and set off again to expose more of that section of the cave. By the time he had made his way back to the exact location he realised he was going to have to spend the night there. A couple of hours into this round of rock splitting he felt really tired. His mobile was switched on but there was no signal. While he slept he was completely unaware of the efforts of Escobar's men trying to contact him. They thought he had gone AWOL and began a manhunt. The disarray he had left at his lab facility hardened their belief that he may have discovered something and evaporated. After a restless night he resumed collecting rocks but decided to leave the splitting until he got back to the lab. It had been burned to the ground. He was perplexed at first, but when he recalled that his exit from the cave was greeted with dozens of missed calls on his mobile, he rechecked the list. They were all from the same number, which he did not recognise. The rule was that they contacted him. He tried ring back and got a reply saying 'number not recognised'. His instinct then told him to head off to somewhere safe until he could make sense of this.

********

Carvalho had been looking forward to observing Dan orchestrate the despatch of the Lander. Having agreed marginal adjustments with Beijing the Symbiant was now close enough to the red planet to have conversation with Pascal 2 and Red, but without time lag. The calmness was a joy to behold and had a knock on effect to the crew, particularly those on their maiden mission. The Lander employed the hypercone and thrusters with such precision that Dan made it look like a parachutist landing on a cross in a football stadium. It was right where Red wanted it to be – five miles north of Valles Marineris – the beginning of the unexplored territory. Without pausing or self-congratulation Dan then executed the orbit insertion routine while simultaneously keeping the crew updated on what to expect. Carvalho experienced a lot of indirect pride. "Who said males weren't capable of multitasking?" Before the ensuing ripple of laughter, Dan interjected, "Strictly speaking Commander, I am neither male nor female."

The crew enjoyed a moment of muted mirth. Dan informed Beijing that Mars capture had been achieved and started the separation of the Descent/Ascent module. The mission controllers back on Earth felt relatively redundant but still showed palpable relief when the module touched down scarcely thirty metres from the Dome containing the habitat units. To the other side there was a slightly wider margin of fifty metres or so to the forestation border.

The meeting of the crew with the Symbiants was surreal, as many of the new arrivals knew some of the human counterparts back on Earth, who had wished them well on departure, and yet here they were on Mars.

With their typical lack of fuss or ceremony the Symbiants wasted no time showing the Newton crew to the breathable dome and the comfort of the habitat. They then disappeared saying they would take care of the unloading of cargo and lab equipment, suggesting the humans relax and freshen up before being fully updated on the various Mars projects. Jussi Pykonnen remarked, "This whole landing sequence was like a gondola ride compared to the Darwin equivalent in terms of stress." He put that down to having a Symbiant at both ends of the operation – Darwin had merely been 'talked down' by a Symbiant.

********

Mendoza had known that Alex 2 had a prodigious intellect but he had not anticipated the political acumen, especially when it did not come across as such. He had been pestered by the media to respond to the Symbiant's concession, including the philosophical barb, framed as a question. Mendoza knew full well he would have to re-engage with the subject but instinctively played for more time. To this end he put out feelers for support from other major religions without much response. Islamic leaders did not want to enter the moral quicksand and the Protestant fraternity simply ignored the request. Hindus and Buddhists sidestepped the issue by declaring the specific points under dispute were largely related to western culture. All of this was in very sharp contrast to the accord they offered when Mendoza had concentrated on the unique relationship between God and the children of his creation. The faith leaders had been handling gradual slippage of religion down the pecking order of life's priorities, in the face of ever-increasing strains, for decades, and they were comfortable with managing its slow demise. Branching out into the bargaining arena was seen as somewhat demeaning, and had the potential to accelerate their loosening grip on power over people's dreams. Power was at the fountain head of all of humanity's organised schemes to sell hope to the masses. Mendoza diffused the media pressure by declaring he was trying to fix a private meeting with Alex 2.

# Chapter 6

Red asked Pykonnen and Nielsen if they would like to accompany him to the Rift with his new laser. They didn't need a second invitation. They would, however, only be able to observe from the drillbot camera as the screens were too deep in the chasm for safe human descent. The Symbiant's acrobatic prowess and ability to regenerate damaged cells meant it was not much of a challenge.

The fifth screen was now ablaze with data. Red informed Nielsen and Pykonnen that some of these symbols were different to the ones he had decoded so far. The two humans activated the zoom on the camera and took many pictures. Red also stated the familiar symbols directed him to screen 55 for location details. It took him some time to leap from shelves and outcrops to return to the surface, then they all travelled to the last screen together. This time there were diagrams and coordinates which Red could interpret. At coordinates 49.7 degrees North and 118.0 degrees East, they would apparently discover the abode of the Rabo. It would not be a surface habitat and there was a code referred to for entry, but it was embedded in the new symbols. This was a jaw-dropping first day for Nielsen and Pykonnen. More pictures were recorded and they made their way back to the habitat dome. On checking human astronomy records they confirmed Red's database coordinates, which put this location in the Northern Lowlands and close to an area known as Utopia Planitia, which apparently, was Latin for 'nowhere plain'. The excitement surged throughout the entire Mars contingent despite the realisation that reaching this distant point would be a serious challenge.

********

Michael Park had not received any payoff other than expenses for equipment, so he did not have much choice. He found a rundown motel some eighty miles from the cave. Giving a false name would not be an effective cover with his Korean ancestry standing out against the local population.

He showered and began to contemplate his next steps. He had to find a safe haven for his rocks and himself; not necessarily in the same place. He also needed to know if the rocks were actually worth anything, including their indirect potential to terminate his life. He considered that the Beijing authorities would value any information he may reveal if Scarlet O'Hara's possible presence was confirmed. Getting the rocks tested was going to be tricky. He raided his sample case and selected a few from different strata, took his toolkit and went for a walk in the local woods. When he was convinced that he had not been followed, he laid out his array of coloured minerals in a clearing and commenced the careful splitting procedure. Few contained locked-up crystal but two from different locations in the cave had similar strata and linear striations. His pocket magnification device showed these to be red-orange. They were so thin that it was difficult to be certain as to whether they were crystalline, metallic or even light reflecting materials.

Returning to the motel, he needed to sleep for a couple of hours. He awakened and decided that he must risk finding access to analytical equipment. He checked out and started to hitchhike back to his old university. His ethnicity had always helped him get rides, and once again, his luck was in. Several days of travelling and sleeping rough had provided him the opportunity to plan his contact with Beijing. However events would overtake his intentions.

********

Alex 2 gave Isaakson the good news. "I am the bearer of resources for our project Dr. Isaakson, the detail of which you will receive by mail. Suffice it to say you will be able to recruit your own staff and the various specialised facilities have been alerted to your requirement of their time. This will be the case until dedicated state-of-the-art neurosciences labs are scheduled for production here in Beijing, and they are designated 'urgent' classification."

The reply was laced with humility. "I regret burdening you with my initial doubts. I can assure you of my absolute concentration on this to the exclusion of everything else. I won't let you down." Alex 2 told Isaakson to feel free to contact him at any time if required and to furnish him with regular updates. "Getting an 'engineering' design for a brain thrashed out would be a significant step. Please note I refer to 'a' brain not 'the' brain. It needs to be different and I can be of assistance if you wish."

********

Pascal 2 and Red conferred silently while the entire Newton crew gathered, anticipating that the new code-breaking would be a fascinating experience. However it was the opposite; no computer screen illustrated their effort; no theories were overheard. The silence was quite prolonged then ended abruptly. Red announced that they had it. In order to explain it to the humans they apologised that they would have to resort to a theoretical example which would make it easier to grasp. Red started by reference to the human decimal system. The Rabo use a base five instead of ten.

"So unity is, say 'a' then duplicity is 'b' and so on until we reach six which is 'ea'. Ten becomes 'ee' which then has the option of being transposed to 'f' thus causing a breaker symbol. You have to now abandon the alphabetical constraint both in the finite number of characters, and accept reality that these symbols are actually values. We have determined that the first screen messages that we saw, and associated with a parabola, are a distortion of their normal 'language' and is more likely to be understood by other species. Their true system of communication is this rather simple arrangement of values and intervals, jumpers and breakers. It leads us to the conclusion that although they may have conquered interstellar travel, they do not have a need for a highly complicated written language. If this extrapolation of logic is valid then we may find that they communicate by another principle. For example, a method such as Pascal 2 and another Symbiant. Please do not see this as negative....the human languages are highly creative and 'artistic' but can often have interpretive alternate meaning to the sender and receiver. We are still studying this aspect within the literature of your species." Those in the gallery were impatient to know the detailed content of the new message.

********

When Mendoza turned up for the meeting with Alex 2 he was carrying the mental burden of advice from the Vatican about their requirements of what should be on the agenda, and more significantly what should not be allowed to surface. He visualised a severe fall from grace if he failed to outwit this 'inorganic almanac'.

He was greeted by the Symbiant with a disarmingly genuine welcome. "It is good to see you again Mr. Mendoza. I am pleased to have another opportunity to find a formula of accommodation for both sets of people we represent." This was not a good start. Mendoza needed to know if this meeting was being recorded in any format. Having been assured it was not, he was put at further unease. "I do not see the need for such records, as you may have heard my architecture automatically places data in my memory. It can be stored or deleted. I can delete information at your request but I suggest that that could be a barrier to finding an accord, which is hopefully what we both want. That being the case, deletion would mean you have the data, albeit from your own memory, but I do not."

"Yes, I see your point. Actually I'm curious about where you would like to start, and particularly whether you really see deeply held religious beliefs as important in society. I'm talking about an overview as if you had not accepted a position to help the species in 'saving the planet'."

Alex 2 read this as manoeuvring him into a declaration of atheism and thus creating an unbridgeable gulf of principle. His riposte was tempered. "Having faith in something abstract without evidence of its existence or intention differentiates your species from all others on the planet, and indeed from any I have encountered. Although this is unusual, in my own experience as I perceive it, there may be a parallel in my relationship with the Progenitors. You only have my word for their existence and indeed I only have the data embedded in me, by them, as a basis to believe they are real. Without surrendering my normal requirement of proof I have accepted their existence. Your own faith can be rationalised in this way. I do not see incompatibility here, merely different points and methods of observation."

Mendoza could not really see a way to swing the agenda the way the Vatican had advised and decided to chat around a few red herrings and then feign feeling unwell, so the meeting was curtailed after an hour. Nilson Mendoza was relieved to be able to 'fight another day'.

********

The four days it had taken Michael Park to hitch rides to the home of a friend, with whom he had shared a dormitory on the university campus, found the house unoccupied. He was uncertain as to whether his friend was on vacation or at work. He didn't want to use his mobile as Escobar's men might have the ability to trace his whereabouts with satellite technology. He found a window at the rear with the catch slightly open. He hoped there was no fancy alarm system as he made his way in. His friend was even more untidy than himself; there were items scattered everywhere – food remains, magazines, computer printouts and clothes.

Park settled down and found a cold beer in the refrigerator. He decided to kill time by leaving a note for his friend and taking the two promising samples to a safety deposit box in town just in case he had been tracked. As he took them from the sample bag he neither noticed that the minute orange – red striations had a dusty surface, nor that his hand brushed against it. The four plus days had allowed the striations' exposure to trigger the change to the amorphous form.

He managed to deposit the samples safely and had a bite to eat before returning to his friend's home. He was still not there. He switched the note with one that said he was going to the movies and would be back around eleven. As he returned there were still no lights on or any other signs of his friend. He was perplexed but the thought of a good night's sleep, even on a sofa, was welcomed when compared to his recent open air experiences. He woke up in the early hours feeling unwell. Spasms of muscle cramp and light headedness were followed by short bouts of unconsciousness. He was not to know he was being replicated. It had been a little quicker from contact time to initiation compared to those on Mars, primarily because of much higher ambient temperature and humidity. This was also the first un-witnessed replication, so he was going to be pretty scared without a comforting audience and bio monitoring equipment. By the time the completion had occurred he was in a state of hypertension. When he saw his double he finally realised what had happened. Reassurance came with the first words of the replicant. "Reorganising data."

# Chapter 7

The decoding of the symbols allowed Red to reveal the new message. It was a bit of an anti-climax, merely offering another challenge. The entry code to the Rabo's underground dwelling in Utopia Planitia would lead them to a second protected access structure. The promise of information about their culture, technology and their current homeworld was the prize. They obviously only wanted this information to be available to a species of considerable intellect. This threw up questions in the minds of the crew – would they have been able to get this far without the Symbiants? If they could have - how long would it have taken them? How relevant would all of this be considering these messages were left almost three million years ago?

The lure of interaction with another species was strong even if they turned out to be extinct. The practical dilemma was the means by which they could traverse almost half the planet's surface to engage with the next clues. After much discussion Carvalho decided they would run their plan past Beijing.

Although the Descent/Ascent modules were designed for only one such return trip there was an opportunity to override this restriction. They operated via thrusters and were still dependent on chemical propellant. Beijing had insisted that there was back up for the new propulsion system in case of problems. The Newton was fitted with downsized afterburners and chemical propellant to take over maintenance of thrust if the antimatter/nuclear unit had to be temporarily, or permanently decommissioned. Docking the Ascent module with the Mother ship and transferring propellant was not without risk, but would be many times quicker and potentially less difficult than negotiating unknown terrain with the robots. The second part of the plan meant that the final ascent to Newton for Earth return would have to be from Utopia Planitia. It therefore stipulated that the personnel required for the earthbound Newton had to make the docking ascent to obtain the propellant. It would then make sense for a ground crew to construct a road from Marineris Central to Utopia Planitia instead of simply trying to get there over the hazardous natural landscape. This would of course take many months, so it really depended on how much importance would be attached to knowledge gained from accessing the Rabo lair by the ascent/descent team. The entire plan also raised the issue of more replications to accelerate all aspects of the Martian colonisation.

Carvalho was more than a little apprehensive when the transmission did not receive a reply the same day; it smelled of dithering. He decided to transmit an addendum which outlined another supportive programme assuming approval of the original. More Mars 'shuttles' would be required to support road building – especially many more nuclear power units. These would need protection from dust storms either by extending forestation around them or preferably from the construction of more mini-domes. This psychological poker play was to exude super confidence in the plan, which risked the only means of their return to Earth if anything went wrong. The subtlety implied that Beijing should be preparing another launch now whether it was a rescue or supply chain. It begged the question of how serious the species was about making Mars habitable.

It did the trick. Xiang apologised for the perceived procrastination. "Commander, I know it has taken a while and you know how these things work. The decision has now been taken to prioritise another 'shuttle' construction. In assuming a successful descent to Utopia Planitia and information of interest there, we are asking you to remain on Mars until further notice. The point you have made regarding the speeding up of Mars terraforming has hit home. The question of further replication has also met with favour although this will not be broadcast here, so I'm afraid your people will have to observe that blackout until informed to the contrary. You'll need to confirm that there are no problems at your end with an extended stay until the next mission arrives."

The Symbiants, both present and intended, would not need to be involved in the discussion. Carvalho outlined the proposal to the humans. "Does anyone have a problem with any aspect of this?" Radmanov asked if they were 'expected' to undergo replication.

"No, this is a sensitive issue on both planets. Here it's a personal choice."

Pykonnen raised the point of Beth's return on compassionate grounds but before any response was offered from Carvalho she said, "I am actually keen to undergo replication. As an identical twin, unlike the rest of you, I miss looking at someone else as if I was looking in the mirror. I realise this is a purely personal reason but it would make me feel as if Elke was here, and at the same time I can keep up to date with how she is really doing with Alex 2, who has so kindly allowed me a direct channel of communication." This personal fortitude influenced the others and it was unanimously agreed to proceed.

********

Both versions of Michael Park stared in silence at one another until the original said, "I had better get you some clothes."

Despite the Symbiant's confusion he dressed as instructed. Park then asked, "Am I right in thinking you can protect me?"

The reply was a little slow in coming and the voice had the characteristically displaced octave at first, but then the pronouncement came. "Data organisation complete." This time the voice was matched. "Protection from what?"

Park explained the situation and his fear of mistaken reprisal by Escobar's men. The Symbiant affirmed that he could assist or even deputise for Michael. Feeling more relaxed Park then asked questions about the crystal deposit and the history of Scarlet O'Hara on Earth. He was flabbergasted to hear claims of several examples of interaction with different species – some now extinct, others whose promise declined. The interaction with 'humanoids' had occurred from several million years ago. Again promise faded until homo-sapiens emerged. Although he knew there was no possibility that the Continuance would make false claims, he still found it difficult to simply nod his head when the revelations moved to the great civilisations of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Persians. It was also claimed that this was a key difference between the aforementioned and barbarians such as the Mongols and their like, they ruled only by conquest.

"So are you saying that you helped build pyramids, temples and great cities?"

"Not directly, our interaction with the Sumerian people sparked understandings of the roots of mathematics and application of abstract ideas. This was the springboard for the passage of knowledge-building through generations at an accelerated pace. The Egyptians are mostly credited with architectural construction millennia ahead of their time. Not just the scale, but the precision of certain principles of engineering. Without the subsequent availability of machinery, such as cranes or earth-moving types, they have left testimony which defies belief by contemporary experts. Our interaction with the Sumerians was brief but productive, that does not mean that humans would have failed to discover what they did. It would have taken longer." Park asked if this was the only data he had on interaction with humans.

The reply was emphatic. "Yes, there was much geological upheaval which buried and distributed the crystal. There are many recorded cataclysmic events in your own versions of history of the planet, but not as many as actually occurred. Vast quantities were decomposed at extremely high temperatures from volcanic action. Most of the remainder went into the oceans. There have been numerous interactions with marine creatures such as whales and dolphins but they seem to have reached their limits of promise."

Park was utterly spellbound. "Why was there no further human replication?"

"Very simply, the Sumerians deduced incorrectly that we were a threat, planning to use their considerable population by plying them with ideas, only to seize power when the time was right. Even when we explained that they could rid themselves of the Continuance without protest, and provided the means to do it, they did not trust our word. However, as you may know we have consistently said our reversion, whether accidental or enforced, would not prevent another opportunity in the future. Today is verification of that proclamation."

Park said, "We need a name for you as you're going to cause a stir when news of this breaks. And, more importantly, if we meet Escobar's heavies I need you to know when I'm addressing you for help. How about Rocky? That's where you came from."

"Yes, then I am Rocky."

Park acquainted Rocky with his plan to get to Beijing and that he needed to reclaim his samples from the safety deposit box. "I can't be sure but those were the last samples I handled before you arrived. Are they the ones containing the Continuance?"

"Yes, my database confirms amorphous contact with those specific samples."

# Chapter 8

Mendoza's summary of the meeting with Alex 2 was not well received. The heated discussion provoked a challenge to see if the Vatican could do any better. The usual facade was trotted out by the Cardinals. "We do not engage faithless groups directly."

Mendoza played his strongest card. "Then you need to approach those of our faith directly. I have worked tirelessly to unite disparate catholic groups in South America yet you simply take this for granted. I'm fed up of your invisibility when the thorny problems surface. You are policy mongers; you are out of touch with your patrons, and you rely too much on the media for communication. I am seriously thinking of stepping back from my role and gifting you that legacy. You need a reality check."

They were appalled at such brash statements and huddled while he took a comfort break. They agreed that this ripple would gather momentum if Mendoza quit and that some blood-letting may be necessary as a consequence. It was best to delegate this one upwards. Mendoza was informed that they were seeking an audience with Numero Uno to explore ways of addressing his concerns. The backpedalling was not unexpected but his response was. "Very good, I have a flight back to Caracas in three hours so I need to check out from my hotel pretty soon. I fear we may have to reconvene at another time." Panic set in as he strode out of the room.

********

Because of the plan modification for the Newton to remain in Mars orbit until further notice, the knock-on effects had to be considered. If there was significant interest at the Rabo lair, the Ascent module would need to remain there to investigate for a lengthy period. The module was too small to take a nuclear power unit so there would be no life support or heating facility. This ruled out humans. The Symbiants did not need life support but continual exposure to the Martian temperature cycle would cause reversion to crystal in a few days unless there was a rich supply of new data, to offset the hibernation trigger. They could not be certain of such information either being there or accessible to them. It was decided that although the Symbiants did not need space suits for oxygen they could avail of the battery heat supply by wearing them. With many spare batteries and a much lower heat threshold than humans, they could survive for up to a week, without needing new data interaction, before they would have to start counting the days. Dan was selected because of his knowledge of Newton. Red was to accompany him – having the most comprehensive data on the Rabo codes.

All of the Newton crew except Pykonnen had decided to undergo replication. Radmanov had needed some coercing by the others, particularly Beth and Sophia. Pykonnen had been through the experience and saw no need to repeat. He felt it would be disrespectful to Finn. He stuck to his decision despite Finn declaring that it really made no difference to him. Carvalho had similar reservations but as Commander felt he had to lead the way. Pascal 2 monitored all procedures and he asked the females to go first, assuring them that none of the other humans would see their naked replicants. Sophia, as the medical presence, wanted to witness the process so Beth was first up.

It all went smoothly and with a heavy sprinkling of humour. There were now twenty Symbiants in total on Mars. The extra contingent having familiarised themselves with their human counterparts were to be deployed on the road building programme after being instructed by Carvalho on fitting the earth-moving modifications to the robots. This would leave the others free to continue forestation. This was welcomed as they had just reported two interesting trends. First, the extended forestation had gradually pushed up the local oxygen level during daylight hours to 0.9%, having improved from the original plantation level of 0.23%. It was still partly photosynthesis-driven and was predicted to accelerate the retained level in the thin atmosphere. Secondly, water ice and frozen carbon dioxide were showing a different ratio in and around the planted areas. Drawing on the increased oxygen rising through the atmosphere, ionising radiation helped combine this with atomic hydrogen in the middle-upper region, to form water vapour. Falling back to the surface as precipitation resulted in an increase in the water ice level. The extra Symbiants being seconded to building the road would help others push this trend forward.

Dan and Red had docked with Newton and transferred the propellant to the descent module. Dan was busy calculating separation and thrust parameters when Carvalho's voice intruded. "My first conversation with my new Symbiant has drawn our attention to your landing site and any possibility that a large underground cavity may be vulnerable to your landing craft. I know you guys are precise with thruster calculations but ultimately you are dependent on rather crude human technology here. Are you able to scan the area for variations in the thickness of the crust? My new friend says you have that computational ability with your vision apparatus but it will only work when above the target, which of course he is not."

Red confirmed that they may be able to determine such variation and he would monitor this while Dan controlled the descent. If, on approach, there was concern, they would move the landing target to a safe distance.

********

Isaakson and his team were working on the problems of simulating connectivity of the brain with various body functions such as the optic nerve, central nervous system, and aural vessels. In relating this to Alex 2 he met with a question, "Why?"

"If we're going to have a unit to take over the damaged brain function while we attempt repair or treatment, it would seem to be imperative."

"Maybe not," said Alex 2, "the ventilator does not connect to the organs supplied by the lungs, it provides the oxygen in another way. I know this a crude example but I am stressing the option of a means rather than an end. During the process of replication I went through with Alex Redgrave, I acquired his brain structure, but as data cells. After familiarisation with humans it became obvious that the organic brain had advantages and disadvantages. In my own architecture the advantages simply did not exist. The function was, however, retained for some time to determine the downside. That was, in my case, data storage and retrieval hierarchy, in terms of both accuracy and speed. It may be worthwhile investigating connecting our 'black box' to the brain somehow and rerouting brain instruction and response routines through the box to see if we can recover disabled functions like speech and movement. If I can refer to my conversation with you on the sentinel cells I possess, and their direct link to 1st tier memory and each other, it could be helpful."

Isaakson frowned then beamed. "Ah yes, the dual functions of immunity or regeneration, plus information exchange with the main registry."

"Precisely," said Alex 2, "insurance of knowledge retention in the event of that particular sentinel cell losing the battle, the remainder can win the war. The key may lie in having the two brains operating in parallel. One provides assistance while maintenance of the other can be investigated. Don't forget, as well as your brain sensor equipment giving you data about malfunction locations, you may avail of human description of what symptoms the artificial one alleviates. It may be subjective, but it may also surprise you."

Isaakson nodded slowly. "I'll redirect the team along these lines. As you say we already have probes which can receive and decipher brain activity, so we have a way to connect the box."

********

Michael Park's plan was the subject of alteration; it was related to a similar shift in his confidence in his replicant. The latest strategy version, fresh from his mental doodling, was to parade the replicant as himself, and then observe from a distance. He was juggling this with a means to get the necessary level of attention, then entry to Beijing headquarters. He was also entertaining the idea of some bait for the media in return for the fortune which he had expected to receive from Escobar. He would also like some assurance that the former cocaine baron would be neutralised. This was a complicated cocktail for someone with no experience in any aspect of such an ambitious objective. He complicated it even further by deciding that he would not get past the switchboard of Beijing on his own, so he contacted his old geology professor with a plea for an introduction. His professor was on many research boards across the world and had the contacts to get in at the top. The snag was going to be how much of the plot he would have to reveal to his mentor. In discussing this with his double, who he had decided to rename Mike, to bolster the deception, he was fascinated to learn of a means for the replicants to converse without speech and no risk of eavesdropping. Park asked how this worked. Mike said it was not dissimilar in principle to mobile phones. Each replicant availed of a grid reference of crystal origin for the benefit of the Progenitors and to facilitate contact between each other at long distance.

Park stressed to Mike that he should only answer to this name when addressed that way by himself. With others he must respond to Michael, Michael Park, and Mr. Park. He asked Mike to stay put while he went to see Professor Whitworth.

As pleased as Whitworth was to see him, he was not able to grasp why high ranking people in Beijing would want to talk to him about a few rocks. Park was nervous about putting him in danger by revealing the entire preposterous story, not to mention having to share the glory. He decided to introduce Whitworth to Mike but not to disclose the whereabouts or the origin of the rock samples. He would have to come clean about Escobar to ensure Whitworth kept his mouth shut until these thugs were rounded up.

# Chapter 9

As they descended to Utopia Planitia Dan was adjusting velocity and trajectory in minute steps, to give Red as much time as possible to survey the approaching surface. Their silent inter-communication or 'technobabble' as Carvalho called it was at the ready if Red identified anything sinister. He could detect faint regular lines at the planned coordinates, which were underground but he was also distracted by registration of a heat source at one end of the 'sub-surface complex'. This signal intensified then faded and disappeared. The regular lines now were sharper and reflected the same shape as the screens at Valles Marineris. Red determined that they were very substantial and probably reinforcement structures to support the weight of the surface covering. The technobabble affirmed that they should avoid disturbing this area and land close to the outer edge where the heat source had been. This information was relayed to Carvalho, whose sharp intake of 'synthetic Martian air' belied his calm exterior. "Touchdown achieved," said Dan. When the dust had settled, the Symbiants prepared to exit the module to locate the exact entrance point given in the Rabo screen. "Wait," intruded the Commander, "haven't you forgotten to suit up?"

"No, we want to conserve the batteries if we can, and a quick check of the site will not compromise our condition. We will use the suits when the subroutine Red has constructed gives us ample warning that the onset of reversion is approaching."

"Ok, I don't know why I bothered to ask the question. Keep us up to date as much as you can."

********

Professor Whitworth, having recovered his composure after meeting Mike, asked Park more about how he had got involved with Escobar. The reply convinced him that such people would stop at nothing to exploit such powerful technology. "I'm not going to get involved in this. I'll make a call to someone in Beijing who works in the science team which directs the Martian programme. I will introduce you to him and then you are on your own." This suited Park well as he wanted this to be his breakthrough moment. He accepted Whitworth's offer. They used the phone of Park's absent friend as the Professor believed it was the Korean's residence. When Whitworth handed the call to Park he left abruptly. At no time had he disclosed to his former student that enquiries had been made recently concerning his whereabouts. Since meeting Mike he knew that the danger was closer than Park realised. His offer in making the call, in his mind, had been to ensure this threat would follow the 'twins' to China.

"Yes, Mr. Park, I'm about to leave the office imminently. Please be brief." Park assured him of that and asked who he was addressing.

"My name is Steven Brightwell, now could you get to the point?"

The urgency to depart ebbed away from Brightwell as the conversation moved from being considered a hoax, to having hallmarks of veracity. There were elements of Park's story which he shouldn't have known, as they were still classified. Park explained this as information given by the replicant. As well as making possession of the Scarlet O'Hara illegal, the composition data was not in the public domain because of fears of synthesis attempts. Alex 2 had assured Beijing it would be extremely difficult to copy, due to the finessing of the complex bonding sequences, and subsequent propagation protocols. He said this was beyond human capability at present. Brightwell took his number and asked him to expect to receive a call back within the hour. Xiang contacted Alex 2 who made the call.

"Hello, who is calling?" whispered Park.

"Beijing, our chief executive has asked me to call this number, to whom am I speaking?"

"Michael Park Sir."

"Very well Mr. Park, let us make this an efficient conversation. You claim to have a replicant of yourself. Is he with you now?"

Park said, "Yes, but you have not told me who you are."

"Excuse me, I am Alex 2. I may suppose you have heard of me. I am also a replicant. This will proceed much more quickly if you will allow me to speak to your replicant."

"Jesus – Alex 2, I,I er.... will put him on right away."

Alex 2 asked the replicant for his grid reference. Mike's reply was in some indecipherable language.

"Thank you," said Alex 2, "please give the phone back to your friend."

When Park asked, "What now?" the reply was brief.

"Please replace the receiver and I will contact your replicant via his grid reference, as that is secure." The two Symbiants conversed first in silence and then in vocal mode to include one side to Xiang and Park. "We need to get you here as soon as possible Mr. Park. The information you possess represents danger to your survival."

"How do you know what I know?"

"Your Symbiant, as we will now refer to him, or Mike if you prefer, has all knowledge that you have of the location of the crystal and the people who employed you to find it. It was a very simple matter for me to extract that data through our grid connectivity. Now please remain where you are. I have the address from Mike's database, and I will make arrangements to collect both of you." In a confused state Park agreed to comply.

********

The turmoil in the Vatican was made worse by a leak from within. It was intended to alert Spanish and Portuguese Catholic Leaders exclusively, but found its way to those of other faiths – and not just religious leaders. Those at the heart of power in the Middle East could see some mileage in exploiting a schism in Catholicism. There could be mutual opportunities for the economic development of the region combined with an improved global image of Islam.

The leak was sufficiently detailed to underline concern that the Vatican had to be seen to be more in tune with worldly change, and spilled some of the private conversation between Mendoza and Alex 2. It was feared that the Symbiant's sympathetic acceptance of personal faith and willingness to adjust his own views would win over many doubters.

The USAr leaders were encouraged to be able to refer to the historic refuge they provided for Alex 2 and Magnusson following their escape from Beijing, when the capitalist run Confederation of Nations was about to terminate them. It was perceived as a good platform to explore a progressive approach.

********

Utopia Planitia was uninspiring compared to Pandora's Rift. Maybe the Rabo had chosen this location because it was flat and probably easier to excavate. When Dan and Red had reached the designated coordinates they were not surprised that after 2.8 million years there was no obvious entryway. They were going to have to do some excavating themselves if their theory proved invalid.

Red had ventured the idea back in Valles Marineris that the strongly focussed new laser would penetrate the accumulated dust sufficiently to illuminate the coded entry mechanism below. If that was the case it would be logical for the laser to be used as a sequence pointer for entering the code. He was not wrong; the final symbol entry was accompanied by a rumbling noise and a localised tremor as the dust began pouring through the ever widening orifice. They stepped back while the process was completed. Dan remarked that it was good that the opening was relatively small otherwise they may have been faced with excavation to reach the secondary 'door'. Once they had descended into the space they were impressed that an array of small and different coloured screens seemed to light up the cavern. They were also pleased that the second entry test was some thirty metres to the left and unobstructed. Dan updated Carvalho on their progress.

The second challenge was exactly that, not a simple entry of symbols. The laser brought up a value which in turn led to fifty-five other values arranged in a circle around the first one. Red was cautious about casually choosing by trial and error in case there was a cut-off mechanism which would subsequently block any further attempt. While Dan described the large antechamber to the awaiting crew, Red set about evaluating the individual options. Dan reported the artificial lighting which may have been triggered by exposure to natural sunlight or the laser pulse. The walls of the chamber were covered with inscriptions and diagrams which he said could be a map of the complex. He had also noted that there was a difference in temperature. Outside it was around minus 6 degrees Celsius whereas inside it was minus one and dropping as the 'air' equilibrated with the inrushing atmosphere. "I believe we need to return to the module for a gas analyser before we go through into the second chamber. It is possible that the temperature in here was above zero before we entered. In any case it may take Red some time to defeat this puzzle."

Red chimed in that it would not take too long as he had already discovered the principle and would have worked out the sequence before Dan returned.

********

Mike was sitting watching TV as Park's friend returned home. "What the hell are.....?" He stopped as Park exited the bathroom and never quite got started again.

"I can explain Rick......I mean about entering your house. My twin brother is here on a short vacation and we came to look you up before he goes home. It's been a while but I have told him so much about you. Where have you been?"

Rick Traori was unconvinced. "I've been staying over at my girlfriend's apartment. You never mentioned you had a brother, never mind a twin. How long have you been here?"

"Not long," lied Park, "we're expecting our friends to pick us up anytime. Do I know this girlfriend?"

"I don't think so. She's from Florence. Does he speak English or only Korean?"

Park made the error unconsciously. "Sorry, this is Mike – of course he speaks English. Mike, meet the guy I have been telling you about – Richard Traori."

Traori frowned. "What do you mean, Mike? You are Mike."

'Shit', thought Park, 'that was dumb'. Mike, however, came to the rescue. Park had not realised that his replicant would be fluent in Korean. He spoke to Park in his native language then turned to Rick and smiled. "He's our hero back home and when he told the family to write to 'Michael J Park' in future \- as he had changed his name - my mother started to call us Michael and Mike, twins with a small difference. Believe me it will be less confusing than my Korean name." They laughed and Park was temporarily off the hook.

# Chapter 10

Beth Eisentrager was feeling better; not only because of the presence of her Symbiant – Bee (she resisted the emotional urge to refer to her as Elke), but the news from Alex 2 was promising. Isaakson had a prototype 'brain in a box' to begin experiments with laboratory rats. As it was a totally artificial piece of kit she was able to understand the principles clearly, even though her expertise was in the software side of computing. If the experiments were successful they would be scaled up to reflect statistical reliability and then checked with humans. The road-building programme in which Bee was involved was progressing slowly but effectively and they were able to meet up frequently. She couldn't travel to see Bee alone and Jussi Pykonnen was her constant companion. She had felt the need at one stage to tell him that although she appreciated his caring presence, she needed her own space. He acknowledged this and assured her that he would just be there when needed. She smiled, knowing that the situation was preventing her from expressing her own feelings.

The forestation effort was truly astounding; the progress in pushing up oxygen levels and the minute but significant collection of water ice had spurred on the programme. The continuous plant replication had however consumed more than half of the known resource of Scarlet O'Hara. This was a concern and demanded discussion with Beijing. Carvalho was to couple this discussion with the need for improved infrastructure, and when it was to be shipped to Mars. They had, with the help of the Symbiants, improvised in many situations, but real progress still largely depended on importing from Earth. Manufacturing of basic needs and tools had to be considered in order to turn the current oasis into a budding 'civilisation'.

********

When Dan returned with the analyser the temperature in the antechamber was minus 3 degrees, confirming that it may have been above zero prior to diffusion with the outside atmosphere. Red was ready. The symbols were randomly scattered around the circle, but when listed in a column and then overlaid with various grids he was sure they were values of the original parabola they had encountered at Pandora's Rift. He was confident that the circle was suggesting that it did not matter whether the first symbol to be entered was the maximum positive or negative value of 'y', as long as the sequence went from one to the other. "This is simply the means to break the circle." He did not even entertain the possibility of being wrong. "I am ready when you are."

Dan reminded him that there was no requirement for them to address each other in voice mode. Red put it down to temporary over-concentration on the puzzle. The technobabble resumed and they agreed that when they gained entry it was important to close the 'door' quickly to properly evaluate the composition of the internal 'air' and get a more accurate temperature reading. Red also took onboard Dan's query as to whether the start of the sequence may be a pair of opposites, such as opening and closing the door. Red said he would therefore input the symbols in a clockwise direction.

The large metallic looking door moved quietly to their left. They entered and Red input the sequence in the anti-clockwise version. The inner chamber was sealed. More screen lighting came on. It was distinctly warmer. There was also a hissing sound. The analyser was registering a changing composition. Oxygen level was rising, as was nitrogen, and as a consequence carbon dioxide was falling. There were traces of helium and argon. They decided to do nothing until the composition readings were steady. After about 22 minutes the steady composition triggered a circulation device of some kind through a port from another chamber. The final ratio of gases was oxygen 9.9%, nitrogen 61.3%, carbon dioxide 27.4%, argon 1.1% and helium 0.3%.

This was much more like Earth's atmosphere than that of Mars. This report went to the waiting crew and the reaction was muted while they recalled that the Earth's composition as roughly oxygen 21%, nitrogen 78%, carbon dioxide 0.03% and Argon 0.93%.

Speculation began as to how this would relate to the physical form of the Rabo. The discussion was punctuated by updates from Dan, regarding more inscriptions, and the news that the Symbiants were confused by an instruction to undergo decontamination, but they could find no information on how to achieve this. Pascal 2 urged caution before proceeding to the next chamber as this warning may have meant that the Rabo were vulnerable to some microorganism of Martian origin. The next door appeared to be operated by a simple laser focus on the receiver pad. They decided to think about this for a while before opening the door.

********

When the black Mercedes arrived for Park and Mike it struck Rick as strange. There was no taxi livery, the windows were blacked out and the 'chauffeur' was not trying to conceal the bulge around his waist, which looked like a holster. His suspicions grew when the man encouraged the 'Korean' duo to make haste with the goodbyes, as time was of the essence.

When they had gone Rick did a redial on his phone and was met with options for the various departments and services of Beijing headquarters. It was two days later when he answered the door to Professor Whitworth and two extremely large and unpleasant looking 'gentlemen'. The fear was tangible in Whitworth's body language. He knew he had erred big time by trying to direct them to this address. Rick was pushed back into the house and given the short version of the consequences of non-cooperation. He frantically thought of how he could make himself indispensable for at least the very near future. He had to convince them that he had knowledge that they needed, an option which had expired for Whitworth. Rick listened very carefully to every word, to separate what they did know from what they did not. He definitely did not want them to know that some officials had whisked Park and his brother away to some safe location. 'That's it,' he thought, 'his twin!'

"They didn't say where they were going or what time they would be back. They went out for something to eat and call on some other old friends, more geology pals, other side of......."

The 'Alpha' member of the interrogators stopped him. "They? What do you mean, they?"

"Well, him and his twin brother from Korea. He is here on holiday."

"And you are expecting them back tonight?"

Rick nodded. "You didn't know about his brother, eh? It's difficult to tell them apart even when they are together." He hoped this would register. It did, but it also meant the end of the line for Whitworth. 'Alpha' motioned to his assistant to take the professor and move their car so as not to alert the returning quarry to the welcome they could expect. "So you can tell them apart?"

"Yes I can but it takes a while to be certain, and it's impossible when they aren't together."

When the second guy arrived back the two of them conferred about the possibility that they had already been spotted by Park and whether he had evaporated again. 'Alpha' asked Rick if he had a mobile number for Park. "Yes, it was switched off earlier; but I can try it again."

"Do it"

"It's still switched off." He offered the handset to both of them; it was declined. They said they would wait another two hours and if Park hadn't returned by then, Rick would have to come with them.

********

The rift between Mendoza and the Vatican had widened and his latest salvo through the media targeted Rome as a colony. When asked to elaborate, he said that it copied one of nature's wonders. All effort was to feed and protect the Queen and her spawning of new generations of mouths to satisfy. He then suggested this was where the similarity ended and the divergence began. "Nature's colonies have a clear survival agenda and the individuals are completely onboard. The ratio of workers to drones is critical. Our colony has a hazy agenda, is mistrusted by the individuals, and is overpopulated with drones who slavishly extol the 'virtues' which keep them in office."

This vitriolic sarcasm was not intended to be deniable - Mendoza wanted people to see him deliver the exact wording of the assault. It split communities of Catholics in Europe and was broadly supported in South America. The Vatican performed its well-worn withdrawal from washing dirty linen in public. Nonetheless the ranks were straining to remain completely cohesive in the face of burgeoning unrest. The anxiety was brought into sharper focus with The USAr leaders and senior Islamic clerics being willing to debate ways to harmonise religious and economic objectives.

The policy of the USAr had been clear for many years - to break into the big four world power elite. Considerable progress had been made in investing in the infrastructure of many countries, which gave them indirect demographic influence. This, alongside internal sponsorship of a renaissance in science and art, brought the region to the brink of inclusion in the five most powerful representatives of global policy. The opportunity to parade religious accord together with the economic muscle was too important to miss. They never imagined they would be presented with this opening by clergy of their fiercest rival.

********

Dan and Red had concluded that there may be a risk from the decontamination process which was worse than that which any 2.8 million year old microbes would present, especially as the chambers had been sealed. Pascal 2 agreed, and they employed the laser once more. When this door opened, a translucent blue-green film appeared to be stretched across the opening. It had to be the decontamination screen. There was no observable means of deactivating it. Having argued that this could be harmful, the risk confronted them for a second time. Peering through the film revealed what appeared to be machines with pulses of violet light emissions at irregular intervals. They played around with the laser on some of these objects, the beam travelling through the aquamarine film. There was no response. Dan retreated to the antechamber and retrieved a thin piece of wedge shaped rock. He used it to scrape then pound the film. Finally, he used his considerable strength to hurl it at the barrier; it had no effect.

The technobabble was an admission of how unscientific this was. The film showed no evidence of impact. Red resumed focussing the laser on other objects (as the film allowed passage of the beam) without success. They turned their attention back to the inscription which had alerted them to the decontamination requirement. Red then noticed that the final symbol was not like those in the actual text but similar to one at the end of all the other inscriptions. Similar, yet not identical. Then it dawned on them. They could be signatures, seals of authority, by individuals responsible for the particular declaration. The renewed technobabble produced the possibility that the solution could be simple yet elegant. Red setup an internal subroutine, so that his application of the laser trace to copy the author's symbol would be accomplished with absolute precision. The outline was projected on to, and through the film.

The screen disappeared. The feedback to Carvalho and the crew had them on the edge of their low gravity seats. Examination of the violet pulses indicated they were violet crystals being intermittently lit. The crystals were easily removed and Red thought that the housing arrangement was more typical of direct current than alternating current supply. Whether the pulsing was highlighting an operational function or a malfunction remained an open possibility but removal of one did not affect the others.

Carvalho was feeding the information to Xiang as it arrived. There was no response or interference from Beijing, suggesting that they were as spellbound as the crew.

# Chapter 11

Since Rick Traori knew that Park would not be back at all, he had to start thinking of where these disreputable captors may take him. He was visibly shaken when they tempted him by claiming Park was working on finding certain geological samples for them and had obviously reneged on the agreement. Rick put his hands up in protest, then over his ears, shouting, "I don't know anything about it and I don't want to. All I can offer you guys is my ability of picking him out from his brother. If he has let you down - and I can see you are pretty angry - take it out on him. I'm pissed off with him coming here uninvited and not levelling with me." The sincerity in Rick's voice came through, primarily as he had genuinely bought the deception about Mike. To his astonishment 'Alpha' whispered something to the underling and a mobile call was made, the result of which was a severe warning that they would either be coming back to take up his offer of picking out Park from the two man line up, or to 'reprimand' him for divulging any of this. Their flying visit had never taken place. "The professor unfortunately did not grasp the level of dedication we have to this project. I implore you not to make the same mistake."

Then they were gone. Rick's relief lasted until the morning news. Professor Whitworth's body had been discovered beneath a bridge over a railway line. The police were not at this stage saying whether they were treating the death as suspicious.

********

The inner chamber yielded the same atmosphere composition and the temperature was fractionally above zero. The machines did not have an obvious purpose, nor did they seem to be performing a function but it was assumed for now that the violet pulses indicated that they were not defunct. Dan brought Red's attention to what looked like a plaque on the wall behind a plinth or podium or seat. All of the inscriptions had stylised 'author symbols' whereas the plaque was three dimensional and had several coloured crystals set in the central cartouche, which was parabola-shaped. There were fifty-five crystals. Red, orange, yellow, green and colourless were noted. The shapes were a mix of roughly and actually triangular, and were currently arranged in the cartouche indiscriminately by colour. There appeared to be five discrete triangular areas which were themselves made up of eleven smaller triangles.

The first clue was that the roughly triangular ones bordered the parabola and the others made up the straight line intersections. The colourless ones did not have any rounded edges. Red was on to it. The colourless ones were to go in the centre and the others around them. He then guessed that the rest could be ordered by the sequence of white light being split up into its spectral constituents. He tried yellow followed by green, orange then red. When nothing happened he remembered to use the laser. The coloured crystals seemed to pour their chromatic character into the colourless ones and this triggered all of the 'machines' to open. The machines were in fact sarcophagi and they caught their first glimpse of the Rabo.

********

When the Park twins arrived in Beijing they were hastily ushered to a private office for questioning. Alex 2 and Xiang arrived within ten minutes and asked them to sit. Park was about to speak when Xiang held up his hand. "Our two Symbiants are talking, it shouldn't take too long, I will arrange for coffee." As Xiang was ordering the refreshments Park whispered, "What are Symbiants?" Xiang quietly assured him that it was a term of recognition of their mutually beneficial relationship with humans. "Alex 2 is merely downloading data from – its Mike, isn't it? He'll soon have all the information which Mike has acquired from you; it saves a lot of time and bullshit." Park looked a little less comfortable than he was ten minutes ago.

"Well," said Alex 2 as the coffee arrived, "enjoy your refreshment and we can begin." When the coffee lady had left the room Alex 2 began again. "You have unearthed more than you bargained for, both in terms of the implications for your species and your own safety. It is necessary for you to remain here while the rest of us retire to another office to update Mr. Xiang and allow Mike to familiarise himself with the current protocols of our relationship with humans. This will take 15-20 minutes. I suggest you begin contemplating abandoning your mercenary goals and settling for life in Beijing for the foreseeable future."

As he sat alone Park visualised his dreams in flames and the rest of his life as a fugitive. He realised that all of the bargaining power he thought he had with Beijing and Escobar was no more than self-delusion. Frantic trawling of the events of the last two weeks did nothing but confirm the one-way street he was now on. His agile brain moved to where this could take him, not exactly to 'go with the flow', but maximise the inevitable. He was calmer when they returned.

When Xiang had been fully apprised of events he shook his head wistfully. "On top of everything else we now have to decide how to acquaint the populous with the probability of their ancestry already having been 'modified' by the Continuance. The conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day, and all of the Escobars on the planet are going to enter the fray. However, we must first deal with Park in order to cut off the exposure threat. Even Beijing will become unsafe once we have to go public, and his lookalike will be targeted."

Alex 2 said that the vulnerability with Mike had been partially neutralised by asking him to delete knowledge of the location of his origin in Saskatchewan, his replication with Park and the rocks in the safety deposit box. He was to retain all other knowledge from Park so he could be an effective decoy.

********

Dan and Red had navigated the chambers and corridors of the complex, and confirmed Red's intimation in the hovering descent module, it was parabola shaped. They had moved through from the 'burial chamber' to museums with artefacts, libraries containing details of the Rabo's history and culture, and an 'operations room' with a road map of their exodus from 55 Cancri to various outposts including this one. The reasons for abandoning Mars were covered and there was an unknown retreat to which they fell back. The Symbiants eventually completed the curve and arrived back at the antechamber. The descriptive content was transmitted to Marineris Central with the concluding recommendation that the road link to Utopia Planitia was a priority. When Carvalho queried this with Dan the reply flicked a switch in the mind of the Commander. "The museum contains references to their propulsion techniques which are far beyond anything you have even contemplated yet."

The tour had been necessary to begin to explain some of their observations with the deceased. There was quite a difference in size of the occupants, from something like the volume of a domestic cat to that of a horse. However, they all resembled hybrids between true bipeds and marsupials in both shape and posture. They were not furry in their sarcophagi or the visual representations in the libraries, they were scaly. Red's vision apparatus also confirmed they were vertebrates with what seemed to be a central spinal nerve system. The hands had two fingers with an opposing thumb. The fingers, unlike the human variety terminated with a myriad of tiny suckers. The head was almost a perfect ellipse, with two really large eyes, small ear lobes and a long protruding jawbone. Red's invasive vision highlighted a truly perfect white sphere inside the head. The feet were totally different to the hands, being large pads. Red remembered something in the medical diagrams in the library about the function of the sphere, and access to it. He left Dan to relate all this to the transfixed crew while he retrieved the information on the sphere in more detail. When he returned he performed a twisting and turning motion as if he was using a combination to open a safe. The head lifted off and revealed a hinging mechanism which gave access to the sphere. He carefully extracted it by several disconnections from the spinal column and the 'organs' in the head itself. It was indeed a perfect bright, smooth mini-bowling ball with blue and violet veins running all over the surface. It was extraordinarily heavy for an object of this size.

He explained to Dan that the archive data on their physiological development stated that it had been enforced. The gravitational effects of the three gas giants in the 55 Cancri System caused their homeworld to gradually lose atmosphere and inherit excessive levels of radiation. They had to begin living underground and modify their bodies to venture out into the 'sun' to operate technical and agricultural machinery. The scales which covered them were an example of genetic engineering. The sphere was one of supplanting a natural organ by a synthetic one. Their original 'brain' was losing the war of attrition with the radiation resulting in generations of mortality and mutation. The sphere gave them time to develop the means to escape their planet and their solar system.

Red explained in silent mode the fascination the species had with the number five. The spheres had to be 'serviced' every five years to purge them of social regression in order to keep focus on their space programme. They were changed after ten such cycles (55 years) to ones with greater capacity, required for the move to their first new world colony. Five hundred and fifty-five years was their lifespan, at that point the sphere would be decommissioned and replaced by one with basic features, but higher potential than the discarded one. On the face of it, a ludicrous practice until the underpinning logic was elucidated. With all research effort concentrated on the brain it was discovered too late that the same radiation had caused planet-wide infertility. It was a species killer in one generation. As progress was made to artificial intelligence a dichotomy emerged, a trade-off between 'everlasting life' and emotional balance. The five hundred and fifty-five years was to emulate death and procreation. It was long enough to ensure continuity and then offer a 'child' in their place. The sphere was fitted to the 'chassis' and tuned in, then the chassis itself was replaced with one to match the emotional maturity of the brain. The two steps were simply to 'run in' the new brain for a few miles. The new bodies were genetically engineered to last the 555 years with some elements of growing old built in.

This curiously bizarre yet sympathetic finite existence was gradually accepted into the culture and was in existence when they arrived on Mars. The sudden disappearance from this planet was down to an explosion of bacteria and viruses toward the end of their three thousand year stay. Their records did not contain a reason for this flourishing of the infinitesimal, only the repeated efforts to contain them. As they had virtually replaced themselves with inorganic and organometallic constituents, the little monsters had no precedent in their recent medical history. They bemoaned this second era of being too late with research. They had to flee from Mars and only left behind those beyond help in the sarcophagi.

The mood in Marineris Central had changed from elated to morose; it was not only Carvalho who connected this tragedy with the situation facing humanity; and the reason for them being here in the first place.

# Chapter 12

The USAr was poised to join the elite. They had set up a delegation to meet with top level representatives of the Council for Human Exploration plus high ranking government officials from the big four. They had also set the agenda.

For a long time Islamic faith had been strong enough to help conceal the poverty gap in the Middle East. Global communication technology had steadily eroded this protective shell, allowing citizens to judge for themselves how bad this disease called Western Capitalism really was. More to the point, there was challenge to the accepted fate of needing to be poor to be pure. The ruling class knew long before they had to act that this crossroads was unavoidable.

They wanted to set an example, a model by which the fledgling meritocracy could be assisted, spreading outward to eclipse the era of individual and corporate avarice. They also drove in the wedge of religious compromise. If the strength of Islam could be a fundamental cornerstone in revaluation of how, and not where, humanity achieves this cohesion, it would surely motivate other major geographic and trading blocks to galvanise their energy to the common 'cleansing' of objectives. This pawn in an extremely cluttered chessboard was timed to perfection. Seduction is most successful when it taps the heart and the head simultaneously. Whether it is created out of altruism or necessity is less important if it is genuine.

It was an incredible step forward into the unknown for the Islamic clerics, who had to take a hell of a lot on trust from their own government let alone those of the infidel. One question loomed large for the big four government messengers. "What is the price?"

The USAr delegation responded, "What is the price of not taking this seriously?" Everyone knew the price, and if the USAr merely worked as the only economic block with the Council for Human Exploration to find a way through the science/religion morass there would be four red faces, not five. Roberto Xiang tabled the proposal officially, as Beijing had hosted this meeting of the minds, and the onus was on the representatives of China, India, Russia and USA to respond.

********

Rick Traori, when weighing up his options, including an anticipated chat with the police about Professor Whitworth, finally connected the dots. His redial of Park's call getting through to Beijing HQ had to be related to the black Mercedes picking them up; it had to be significant. He figured he had nothing to lose; he dialled the number again. He could not have guessed the phone would be bugged even though he was amazed that Escobar's thugs had let him off lightly. They had been on hand to fix the phone as soon as he left the house, which he did frequently.

They were surprised when they heard him ask the Beijing exchange to put him through to whoever was responsible for the visit of Michael J Park and his brother Mike. The receptionist asked who was calling and Rick replied it was someone who this host in their H.Q. would be desperate to speak to, names could wait. "I'm sorry Sir; we have no Mr. Park on the visitors list. There must be a mistake."

"There is no mistake, you just don't know about it. I think you had better start with the top man and work down. You'll risk his wrath if you do not alert him to my call. I'll hold." After only three minutes a voice came on the line.

"What makes you think we have a Mr. Park here?"

"I know you have him there and you need to know there are seriously heavy enforcers desperate to get their hands on him. They have already killed our old University professor and I'm only alive because they know I can tell Park from his twin brother. I need to get out of here. We need each other's help."

Xiang hesitated. "I can see that you need help but I don't know who you are or what help you could be to us."

"My name is Rick Traori and if you check this with Michael he'll confirm he was at my house when your people picked him up. He'll also confirm Professor Whitworth's involvement but maybe doesn't know of his premature demise." Xiang said he would look in to this and he should remain by the phone until he could verify the claims.

"No, I'm heading for Beijing now under my own steam; I don't have the luxury of time. When I get to Beijing I'll contact you again. Can I have a name?" Xiang did not want that. "I will give you a number." Rick gathered his essentials and left for the airport. He made it, but in the company of 'Alpha' and friend.

********

Xiang was reflecting on recent events and how they had conspired to make chaos out of order. He needed to make Alex 2 aware of this last conversation and found his frustration building as he knew the Symbiant would simply take in the 'data', rationalise it and exhibit an unruffled persona, concurrent with some eminently sensible recommendation. The trouble was, even if the recommendation was insightful, he - Xiang - would have the anxiety and endless paperwork to deal with. The prospect of replicating himself didn't seem like a bad idea at this precise moment. At least this thought restored some good humour to his creaking command of self-discipline.

Alex 2 predictably looked for the positives. "It is better to have this man here than out there making things more complicated. We can use Mike as his first contact. We really must decide what to do about Mr. Park, until we can convince Escobar – directly or indirectly - that he cannot succeed."

Xiang doubted whether Alex 2 had sufficient experience with the likes of Escobar to differentiate between a clever adversary and one who was merely ruthless. "I'm afraid this man will not just go away because the going gets tough. He has faced death and threats to his entire family from an early age. For him, these things come with the territory. He draws his endurance from the belief that the other guy is weaker than himself. Anything else is unthinkable." Xiang was not sure whether Alex 2 conceding his paucity of worldly knowledge was a good thing, at least it spawned a shift of thinking, and the Symbiant suggested the safest place for Park was Mars. "He is a geologist; let us at least put him into the training group and keep him separated from Mike for now."

Xiang asked how they would explain his sudden presence, and Alex 2 remarked that Park was totally reliant on them, and a change of identity would not be needed, as he still had his Korean papers with his natural given name. His inclusion would be as a reservist. His geology expertise meant he could also be used in mission control. It would be perceived as responsible backup. Park would be instructed to play the game. Xiang eventually accepted that this may be easier to control than having him secretly isolated and the attendant questions it might raise. "Hiding something in the open? Yeah – that might actually work. I'll take care of him. Can you take Mike under your wing as we have to avoid people here 'seeing double'."

"I already have something in mind for him."

********

Dan reported to Carvalho that there was sufficient data supply to keep them there. And anyway, the temperature in the complex was not low enough to trigger reversion. "We need to discover where the heat source is and what principle is involved in its functionality. We have detected two more pulses of heat since we landed, but the coordinates are different and when we get there we cannot identify anything which would explain the pulse."

They assumed from the descriptive history that the smaller corpses were the 'manufactured' children. One volume they found was a kind of star chart but expressed in values rather than diagrammatic form. Red's assumption that the reference on the screen in Pandora's Rift, to a source of material being a 55 light year round trip away would be of significance, was not correct. This number 55 was a coincidence. It was the best source of the material, no more. The same volume however described larger settlements of the Rabo in other locations. These were slightly earlier than the Martian one, and may have indicated that the Rabo had not found their perfect new residence at the time they visited Mars and Earth. Red came to this conclusion because of their decision to avoid interfering with Earth's evolution despite the fact that the atmosphere was more suited to their needs. The closest additional colony was in the star system Epsilon Eridani. Earth astronomers had predicted at the turn of the century that there were two Jupiter class planets in the system. The innermost, according to the Rabo, had a moon of similar mass to Earth, and a thin but workable atmosphere. It was cold and they built their now familiar underground structures which tapped geothermal energy to survive. This was 10.5 light years from Mars. The second closest was 20 light years distance in the Libra constellation, in a star system known as Gliese. Planet 581d was in 2009 deemed to be within the habitable zone by Earth astronomers and capable of sustaining water in liquid form. Its mass was thought to be nearly 8 times that of Earth. The Rabo had not described these planetary bodies in the same way Earth scientists did and the information was at least 2.8 million years old. Red thought that changes caused by impacts, atmosphere trends and radiation may have affected the Rabo in the intervening period.

The excitement was gradually turning to sadness. Here was a race which had made herculean efforts to survive cosmic cruelty and at the same time respected embryonic intelligence in our solar system. The prognosis of their longevity was further downgraded when Red interpreted a section related to an unsuccessful attempt to colonise Jupiter's moon - Ganymede. The presence of a magnetic field had raised their hopes but the inability to find stability in the under surface crust caused them to abandon the project.

When this scenario was transmitted in its entirety to Beijing it was perceived by Xiang as another string to the bow of the creationists. If a 'super' species like this could not make it how would humans ever succeed? It was not intended!!! Although there was no proof of their demise, it was argued that the SETI programme or their own monitoring of our source of radio waves would have resulted in some signal of survival.

There was much more data to be assimilated at Utopia Planitia. Red continued on this task while Dan investigated the heat source more methodically. He found a well-disguised descent into a basement facility. A small nuclear fusion device was connected to a distribution and control system. The principle was not unlike that of an Earth prototype. Fusion of deuterium with tritium formed helium 4 plus a neutron, and in the process released 17MeV of energy. It had apparently been triggered by the breach of the antechamber. How was it still operational after all this time? Still more difficult to explain was the adjoining unit which was seemingly responsible for producing and maintaining their life support. Sequestering nitrogen from the Martian atmosphere was impressive but oxygen extraction in the ratios involved did not add up. The missing part of the equation might be whatever the Rabo exhaled. Dan had to think more on this. He had even more to think about when he came across a tunnel at the end of which was another entry way. It opened into a manufacturing type hall. This was a less grandiose version of the main complex and had its own small exit, which indicated it led to the surface. Dan told Red he was going to attempt to open it, and he noticed a peep hole which seemed to be letting in a very obscure light. He found a diagram in a recess in the wall. It was a set of levers, four longer and four shorter ones. It formed a simple tetrahedron but he needed the laser to complete the task. When he retrieved it from Red and opened the hatch he backed away as a precaution, but was astonished to find there was no inrush of soil or evidence of any build up outside. Further examination of the outside of the door showed the same opening code requirement as for the antechamber. This suggested that exiting this way demanded lower knowledge or rank than entering.

The more intriguing aspect however was the apparent time difference between the last instance this door was used and the one at the main entrance.

# Chapter 13

Following Isaakson's success with a rudimentary box to chart and detour cerebral messages with healthy and afflicted rats, he was pondering the transfer to humans. He had heard the news from Mars and pestered Alex 2 for more details on the spheres. "That is a much more sophisticated interface than we have to develop; it is way ahead of where we need to be right now. You must believe me Dr. Isaakson, your zeal is admirable but it is the bedrock of shunting human brain signals to a bypass that we are in dire need of at this juncture."

Alex 2 was beginning to wonder if Isaakson was more bombast than scientific substance. He was then pleasantly surprised when he received proposals passed through Isaakson from one of his team. Agglomerated stem cells had been programmed to function in a similar way to the neocortex in attracting certain signals. It was designed to act as a miniature set of traffic lights to enable its bridge between the hippocampus and the patient's neocortex. It regulated the flow to approach a match to the respective pulsing of those tissues of the individual. Alex 2 wasted no time in endorsing this research path and asked to be present at the trials. This recognition effectively restored Isaakson's view of his own contribution without prompting him to validate his assistant's 'brainchild'.

********

When Rick and the Blues Brothers got to Beijing, with the hastily acquired paperwork, they rehearsed the plan. They needed to somehow get Park isolated during Rick's verification process by Xiang's people. They had not really given this sufficient attention because haste had seemed to be the defining parameter before boarding the aircraft. They need not have worried. When Rick contacted Xiang as promised, he barely had time to introduce himself when he was instructed to make his way to the main public library and be there in one hour. "Michael Park will meet you there to confirm you are who you say you are. We cannot allow you to come in here until that has been accomplished. When he contacts us to clear you for processing through security, I will meet you both."

"Oh, er, ok," stuttered Rick. When he explained this to his babysitters they were surprised but relieved. When he met 'Park' in the library and introduced the men in black the Korean put up his hands in a 'no way' gesture but followed Alex 2's instruction to be compliant with any situation while they communicated via technobabble. Alex 2 had not known that the heavies would be there and the trio still did not know they were talking to Mike.

********

The mini-summit meeting of the big four to discuss the USAr proposal was predictably bound by caution. On the other hand there was already a public clamour for more tolerance between religious doctrine and science advance. People were tired of the old platitudes being trotted out, and urged politicians to foster a more porous membrane for ideas on both sides, to help shape a balanced approach to the colonisation programme. After many hours and a few mealy-mouthed concessionary counter-proposals, the Indian representative called for vision and strength of conviction. "We need this inclusiveness – have you forgotten that the Confederation of Nations dissolved because of inability to distinguish between government and control. It should not be a problem for a nation outside this forum to indirectly highlight our insular thinking. The population recognises it. I cannot endorse any proposal which falls short of accepting the pioneering offered by the USAr."

The meeting was in danger of impasse, then fragmentation. The decisive swing was due to the Russian input that the inclusion of the Middle East was inevitable. "The definition of the USAr as the Arab world is a convenient delusion. Their financial tentacles are global and that correlates to influence. We should see this as their entry fee to join us early. It will happen sometime. The offer on the table now is mutually optimal."

The Chinese representative was fishing for something short of complete acceptance and tabled a period of probation. This was demolished as worse than a rebuttal. The American was next to fall, demanding that Israel's predicament would be a counter-requirement. The momentum was clear; the rest was tidying up of the wording of the accord.

********

When Dan returned to the antechamber via the surface he came across an unusually large flat parabolic raised area. It was covered in a light layer of dust and was about a quarter of the way from the basement exit to the main entrance. Having swept away the dirt he encountered a massive metallic plate. The obligatory laser was employed to make visible over five thousand symbols arranged in chronological lines and columns.

He called for Red to come and look at what he said appeared to be names or numbers and dates. They agreed after some discussion that they were indeed dates and the symbols on the same line were names or numbers relating to maintenance checks. The last of these dates was 552 years ago and the first was 2.8 million years ago. The number of entries was 5043 and the interval was that familiar 555 years.

Red silently informed Dan that something had been troubling him about the Rabo dates on all the inscriptions here and back at the Rift. In his thirst for more and more information neither he nor anyone else had asked a rather obvious question. With all of the complicated codes and symbol interpretation, why were all of the dates expressed in Earth periods? Why not 55 Cancri, Epsilon Eridani, or Gliese? Even Mars had a different orbital period to Earth.

Now it seemed glaringly obvious, but Red was not comfortable with speculation without some corroborating evidence. He suggested that they both went back to the libraries and searched for information to strengthen or dismiss his theory. Until that was done they would not inform Carvalho.

********

Isaakson reported a breakthrough. Preliminary tests on humans with mild and initial symptoms of memory malfunction had responded well. The results were statistically significant enough to get started on miniaturising the box to be 'wearable'. The more severe cases were showing mixed results and those with advanced memory loss were not responding as yet, but the prototype had recently been modified to boost the return part of the signal in conjunction with a more effective neuron protector than APP. The good news for Beth was that Elke was included in the group who had responded and she was hoping to send her sister a message in the near future. This news transformed Beth's emotional discipline, she began to think about her own life plans again and the 'force field' she had erected towards Jussi Pykonnen was lowered. Celebrations went on into the night in the red dome.

More Symbiants were redeployed to the road-building and the humans had to assist in the forestation at the expense of their normal duties.

********

After hours of scanning anything resembling maintenance data, Red located an entry by an apparently high ranking individual to a 'caretaker'. Refocusing on this link answered the unasked question. After all of their endeavour to find a permanent home, the Rabo had gradually become disillusioned with their cosmic-tumbleweed existence. Internal differences began to emerge and this may have explained the earlier reported purging of the sphere ritual. Many contested the fabulous technical achievement if it delivered no other purpose. The chilling revelation that they had not encountered any other planet, with similar prospects of sentience, was the backdrop to the disaffection with endless adherence to this forlorn mission of hope. There had been some fleeting consideration of settling on Earth, but this was rejected on moral grounds. Interference with the emerging explosion of intelligent life was not why they left their homeworld. The opportunity to observe from Mars, until a species demonstrated the ability to overcome the gravitational anchor of the Earth, was why they had remained on the red planet.

Two factors had finally brought this to an end. The first was the aforementioned bacterial/viral invasion, and the second was the slower than expected emergence of human capability. The result of all this was the legacy of their presence and to preserve that as long as possible. The subsequent revelation caused the two Symbiants to look at one another in disbelief. The division of those wanting to fulfill their objective, from those wanting to end it, was agreed. The exodus back to the earlier settlement took place, with the caveat that individuals who elected for decommissioning of the sphere had a choice. The existence simply ended and the chassis was destroyed or they could replace the outgoing one with a version which would terminate randomly around the seemingly sacred 555 years. This option was accompanied by volunteering to be a caretaker. This duty was not a burden; it was a final pilgrimage to Mars to ensure the evidence of their existence would live on. There was a stipulation that they had to be medically fit for such a journey and thus it had to be at least 55 years before the expiry range. There was a long list of such volunteers and they came in groups to achieve the servicing of the heating and atmosphere systems as well as updating the libraries. This explained a few things. They were short stays and therefore required small amounts of oxygen which they brought with them. Replacement of nuclear components was also covered.

Red had closure with the notation of the times being recorded in years. This species had become lonely enough in their primary quest to commission the maintenance of a 'shrine' in order to help any intellectually gifted Earthlings improve their knowledge of the Cosmos. The last recorded visit of caretakers also suggested that there would be another visit in three years. But why had there been no contact?

Dan had also extracted some new information on propulsion which would confirm that certain Earth theorists had made valid predictions, which had not been explored in a practical way, because of the ludicrous energy requirement by any known means. It did not receive the same kind of scepticism now that the Rabo had travelled 41 light years from 55 Cancri. The basic principle was not really in dispute, it was how to achieve it. It did mean bending the laws of physics, but not breaking them. The hypothesis was first proposed by Michael Alcubierre toward the end of the twentieth century. It had to be accepted as valid that at the time of the Big Bang that space fabric was predicted to move faster than light to explain the expansion rate of the universe. The chance of emulating this wonder is dependent on shrinking the eleventh dimension behind the spaceship to the point where it creates a bubble of dark energy. The ship itself does not move; it is space which contorts to accommodate the release of energy. This is where the next stumbling block appears. The energy estimate to change the dimension was about the same as converting the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy. Shrinking the dimension in front of the ship would cause a 'deceleration'. The Rabo must have somehow achieved their displacement without this source of energy release. The information stopped short of revealing the method.

Immediately Dan started to think about dark energy, and any involvement the Progenitors may have had in this respect. On receipt of this news Carvalho wished he was there with Dan to listen to his detailed analysis of the information.

# Chapter 14

When Xiang heard that there may be survivors of the Rabo species it was a shot in the arm for his PR people. Justification of the Mars programme needed this timely boost. Things were about to get even better.

Mike had been coached by Alex 2 to go along with Rick Traori's story when they met, to bring him back for questioning and only employ physical coercion when instructed. Now that Alex 2 knew of the company Rick was keeping the plan would have to become responsive to unexpected events. The gorillas ushered Rick and their new captive into a taxi they had flagged down. They sped off to a motel recommended by the driver. Checking in was not going well until Mike gleaned what little Mandarin he had inherited from Park. It avoided an unfortunate scene. Alex 2 was now aware of the location from Mike. The interrogation started immediately. Lots of questions needed answers, starting with why Mike had disappeared and ending with why he was in Beijing. The threats soon followed. "Don't take your time answering and don't think about anyone helping you. You won't leave this room alive unless we get what we want."

Alex 2 decided that logic and reason were not going to foster a favourable outcome. He instructed Mike to 'disable' these thugs and bring them back with Rick. 'Alpha' unleashed his mongrel on Mike. The Symbiant picked up his adversary by the throat and hurled him against the wall. As he turned a gun was produced, but Mike was too quick, he grabbed it by the barrel and yanked it out of 'Alpha's' grip, twisting it into a passable example of surreal art. He hauled them to their feet and stacked one behind the other against the wall, with sufficient force to make it difficult for them to breathe. He then explained they had to come with him – they nodded. Rick knew something was not right but was thankful he appeared to be on the same team as Mike.

The blacked out anti-riot car arrived and took them back to H.Q. They were met by Xiang and Alex 2. Rick was separated from the others and given refreshment. Xiang informed the 'not so heavies' that they now worked for him, and he would like to get the information required about Senor Escobar without much resistance, or Mike would get it by a real demonstration of how nasty he could be with one of them. It went well and the shell-shocked thugs were incarcerated on site. When Rick was interviewed he was asked why he had made first contact.

"I knew there was something funny about Park's story as to why he visited me, and Professor Whitworth's death was somehow linked to this. When I did redial and got this place I figured Park had something you wanted. This was confirmed when you said you would collect me." Xiang stared into his eyes. "Do you still think you want to know more?"

"No sir, I don't know what the hell you have done to Park, but I just want out of here."

"Very well, we'll trust you this once. We'll escort you back to the USA. You know the score if you don't respect the need for erasing this day from your memory." Rick looked Mike up and down; then shrugged his shoulders as he was led out of the room.

********

When the news of dark energy reached Alex 2 he orchestrated a three way discussion between the Symbiants in Beijing, Marineris Central and Utopia Planitia. It was 'unsettling' that no data existed in the Continuance regarding possible Rabo regular production of the Progenitor's 'Nemesis'. They all felt that this gap in knowledge, coupled with the Rabo's lack of detail on how the energy was garnered to shrink the eleventh dimension, was indicative of involvement of the Interference. If this was the case it could mean that the resulting creation of dark energy was a flushing out strategy. Subsequent neutralisation, presumably by gravitational forces, would cause mutual annihilation and contribute to balance. This hypothesis could be tested if the caretakers made their scheduled appearance in 3 years from now.

Dan and Red concluded that they should try to find a means of switching off the atmosphere controls. Having learned that new supply would be coming and the automatic production was triggered by entry, they did not want to compromise the caretaker's breathable environment. It turned out that the power source to deliver the balance of gases had a shutdown loop through photometric links to scanners. They disabled the loop and the system shut down. Dan suggested to Red that maybe this meant the Rabo were not warm-blooded or more likely did not rely on a circulatory system similar to that of humans. They returned to the libraries to complete their data assimilation.

********

The piecemeal receipt of the information from Utopia Planitia in Beijing had the cumulative effect of accelerating plans for the next Mars 'shuttle'. Carvalho was informed of this and asked to give even more priority to constructing a road between Valles Marineris and Utopia Planitia. His response was not unexpected by Xiang. Although they could benefit from more modified robots with the next vessel, more Symbiants would give a massive increase in progress. "Are there any issues with the crew about this?"

"No," replied Carvalho, "even Pykonnen is prepared to go for it. The one complication for us is in distinguishing the first generation from the second. The Symbiants themselves do not see a problem in this or any other respect. We can introduce some kind differentiation by uniforms if you can include these with the next team. It just seems more respectful if we try to preserve their individual character. In the meantime we have sufficient clothing to separate the two sets until we get the Beijing outfits."

Xiang smiled at the care taken to make these friends aware of their individuality when they couldn't care less about it themselves. "Ok Commander, do it and I'll send the 'paperwork' retrospectively."

********

With Rick on his way back home Xiang's attention turned to Escobar's men. They needed information. He felt it was worthwhile trying another bluff. The threat of replicating them and getting 'inside their heads' before revealing they were in captivity, would probably guarantee their extinction upon release. They wanted to know what was in it for them if they cooperated. "Nothing other than Escobar being reeled in before you are both charged with threatening behaviour toward Park, which may result in a suspended sentence."

The locations of Escobar's hideaways in Cuba and Zimbabwe were offered. Further pressure from Mike's considerable array of metal bending permutations extracted the likely 'garrisons' entrenched at both properties. The Cuban residence was available courtesy of clandestine government agreement with Escobar. Zimbabwe seemed to be a better choice to arrange his abduction, as he had no relationship with internal authorities which could complicate matters.

Xiang was mulling over the options when he had to receive the inaugural representative of the USAr. Ashraf Sadat was quick to express his appreciation for the objective part played by Xiang in their ascension to the top table. "We do not forget our friends Mr. Xiang, if we can be of any assistance in the future on any level please give us the chance to express our open-mindedness in a reciprocal way."

It was a refreshing session and Xiang decided to try a long shot. "Actually we have a small issue in one of South America's 'republics', if you can excuse the expression. Recent discussions with Mr. Mendoza, who I am sure you know, have not been smooth. In fact it strangely coincides with your own clerics being more flexible on the same issues. The USAr has comprehensive investment in the region. Perhaps you could guide me on protocols or customs we may have to observe in trying to extradite someone of such nationality."

"Is the person domiciled there?"

Xiang shrugged his shoulders. "He seems to have various points of residence but most of the time he is not in South America."

"I see, well my advice would be to avoid negotiations with some of the South American states if you are in a hurry to interview the person. Can I know the nationality?"

"Columbian."

"Forget it. Either ask the authorities in the other locations while he is there or 'arrange' for him to come here. There is one other option, providing we can act from a request which gives us deniability. If he can be persuaded to make a trip to our region – you may interview him there before requesting extradition. You understand this would only be considered after we knew who we are talking about. There are individuals who would cause us to decline involvement."

Xiang thanked Sadat and said he would be in touch.

# Chapter 15

At last Beth had her message. "I'm feeling well but a little strange. I can't remember too much about the accident and even less since I have been in hospital, until now. The equipment is fantastic – I know this because it has to go on standby when I need rest, otherwise the brain activity is so busy I cannot embrace sleep. Dr. Isaakson says the new miniature one which will allow me to leave hospital will also have settings which reduce this activity. This is important because just having it on standby takes away some of the functions. Since using it I can now speak without it but my memory is poor. Also my finger movements are restricted. These may correct themselves but it will be good to wake up and find I am the same person that went to sleep. Now, about you – we keep watching the news and it's fascinating about this species you have found. Everyone hopes they are not extinct. I'm trying to pretend I'm there with you but I think I might need a few more days to catch up on all of your transmissions. Love from all of us, Elke." Beth embraced Pykonnen and for the first time Radmanov seemed to experience envy.

********

While he had been working toward the opposite end of the chasm to the screens, with Finn, Ari Nielsen had been alerted by the Symbiant that there was a thermal aberration at the base. Finn descended to investigate further. On returning to the surface he claimed that it was due to building volcanic activity. He had also noticed that some cracks in the lower adjacent walls had condensate trickling down to form pools. He had brought samples. Nielsen thought that this was a little bit of good news overshadowed by really bad news. "Not necessarily," said Finn.

"How come?" said the puzzled Nielsen.

"We need to confirm my estimates by drilling and pressure measurements; although if left unattended the crust may give way in the coming years, careful management would extend that considerably. Relieving the pressure with a precise series of tiny 'valves' could not only help delay any damaging explosive event, it would raise the surrounding temperature sufficiently to melt large quantities of water ice, if that is what it is. The earlier we act on the valves, the better."

In a completely spontaneous act of both relief and joy Nielsen kissed Finn on both cheeks. The Symbiant remarked that Jussi Pykonnen had not prepared him for something like this. "Sorry Finn, it is a custom in my country to congratulate someone on such a discovery."

"I was talking about the discovery, Mr. Nielsen."

********

Xiang summoned Escobar's men to his office. He threw them a carrot. "If you contact your boss and tell him you have traced and followed Park to Egypt, we will provide safety for you here for three months after we apprehend him. We will also waive charges in relation to Mike and Traori."

Alpha stopped his partner from simply agreeing to this. "He will know or find out we aren't in Egypt."

"You will be there and you will get him to go there."

"Oh no sir, he would have his private squad with him if he agreed to go, but I believe he would just ask us to execute orders – literally."

Xiang grinned. "Will he go if you tell him Park found some of the precious crystal and has replicated himself already? You can also explain why he really needs to see what this replicant can do, and you have him in custody. You can convince him that this single replicant will be worth a fortune. You can also report you have disposed of Park as the double has the location of the crystal source. If he is still not convinced, make him aware of the difficulty you'll have getting out of the country, as Park's picture is in circulation by the Egyptian police, and that you will risk losing the replicant if you are stopped at the airport. His private jet would ensure your safe exit with the prize. Do I have to do all the thinking here?"

They conferred for a while. "Will Mike be instructed to protect us?"

"I think we can add that to our side of the bargain."

Alpha wanted more. "How do you propose to take care of the squad? Even Mike may have difficulties; if he comes in his jet there will still be a minimum of four with him."

"You need to be agile but don't worry about Mike, apart from having superhuman strength, he is immune to firearms or knives. He will placate all four with ease. We'll have local backup once the meeting begins. Now I need an answer so I can make arrangements with my Egyptian people to receive you and set up the meeting place." They nodded.

********

Dan and Red asked how long it would be until they were expected to ascend now that they had donned the suits. "Commander, since we switched off the Rabo heating and climate controls to preserve supply for the caretakers, we have started monitoring the battery life so we can decide when to implement the countdown. We have extracted most of the available data here. We assume the road progress is not within a distance we could reach without transport, but the Symbiants there will be able to accurately assess that. Once we know more precisely how long the batteries will last we can recalculate the gap to the road. If that looks unfavourable it might make sense to ascend sooner and get on the way back to Earth with the latest samples they have requested."

Carvalho promised to get back to them as soon as possible. He also knew there would be consternation about Newton returning with only Symbiants on board. Now he realised why Xiang had given approval for the extra descent/ascent risk on condition that they were to stay on Mars until further notice. He had originally assumed that stipulation was meant for humans only. He was furious with himself for the oversight. He would have to challenge the edict on the grounds of his misinterpretation.

It was refused. When he informed the humans at Marineris Central he was confronted with a mini-mutiny. He said he would support their view as a last resort. They had to concentrate on getting to Dan and Red. Radmanov had a simple solution. "Tell them to switch the Rabo life support systems back on until we get there. They are more important to us than these caretakers."

Ari Nielsen agreed, suggesting the oxygen which was currently siphoned off from the dome interior could be collected to restore the Rabo deficit. When Carvalho put this to Dan, the Symbiant was hesitant. "Our purpose is to assist promise, yours and that of the Rabo. Can you update the estimates I asked for earlier and we will determine if there is sufficient time and oxygen replenishment to make the probability one which we can accept."

This was a watershed moment. The Symbiants had never declined to carry out an operational request before. Nevertheless, Carvalho could see their logic. Beth said they could consider ways of speeding up the road works, by asking the Symbiants to give suggestions. This was a subtle point because they had not asked them to contribute, merely to implement. If that produced nothing there was always more replication. Carvalho called for a break and asked Pascal 2 to join them.

When he was informed about Dan's stance Pascal 2 said it was indeed logical. "It is an assessment of risk and promise. Without further data he computes that there is high promise and risk to the Rabo. There appears to be no risk to you, and they do not consider their individual reversion to be of major significance."

"Yes I guessed as much. Can you confer with the Symbiants on the road programme to offer any ideas, to accelerate the process?"

"Of course, I can do that from here."

********

Xiang made contact with Sadat and furnished him with the details, including the identity of the target. Escobar was well known to Sadat, and there was some reluctance to be involved. Xiang said he was not asking for direct, traceable help in the setup, just the extradition part.

Sadat was unmoved. "With someone like this it is messy. The 'civilised' world sees the merit of getting him off the scene, but the infrastructure we have financed in such countries and regions are partly achieved by 'blind eye' policy on their part. In some of those areas, high-ranking government officials are often compliant with pressure from the 'barons'. I am wary of even raising this with those who would need to be involved. It is a no smoke without fire scenario. It would be much less complicated for him to disappear from one of his abodes."

Xiang conveyed his disappointment. "We don't want him to disappear, that would mean he would still be a threat in terms of the knowledge he already has."

"You misunderstand. I meant disappear completely."

Xiang quickly responded. "No, no – we can't operate outside the law... that would make us no better than him. Our entire charter is to lead the way in conservation, colonisation, and any underpinning human adaptation with an ethic which is morally transparent."

"I see," said Sadat, "let me think about this more carefully Mr. Xiang. I repeat, we would very much like to help, it is a matter of how."

********

Pascal 2 conducted conference technobabble with all Symbiants including Dan and Red. They were agreed – there was no feasible short term improvement in the road building rate. They had done their own estimates of historical battery life and set this against the time and distance of the completed road. Although this could not be accurate it was a long way short of the two groups meeting before Dan and Red would revert. More replications would help but the rate determining aspect of the road extension was much more related to machinery than 'bodies'. Pascal 2 said that all of the Symbiants were surprised that, apart from the promise they saw in the Rabo, this species had also demonstrated a respect for humanity, worthy of reciprocation. "They did not interfere with Earth's evolution or take the easy option of settling there after their many setbacks. They also chose to retain evidence of their civilisation to either meet with you or leave their rich legacy with you. To us this would normally seem an emotionally biased objective, but after our experience with your species it takes on a remarkably human character. That is why we expected that you would not question Dan and Red's decision."

This was quite a humbling moment for the crew. Carvalho was almost ashamed of putting the edict from his own genetically related self-serving paper-shufflers ahead of the real issue. The crew did not speak; their facial expression said it for them, with one exception. Radmanov said they could not just ignore Beijing. Carvalho asked the crew to excuse him while he spoke to Pascal 2.

"Thank you for your reminder of where we are and why. Commander Magnusson often said 'we are here, Earth is not – and some aspects simply have to be dealt with here.' Please inform all of the Symbiants that we are going with Dan and Red's judgement. I'll be instructing them to prepare for ascent to Newton and return to Earth. We will then not need to deplete the Rabo life support systems and we shall continue the road programme with maximum effort. You had better be careful Pascal 2; you're showing signs of being compromised by human traits."

He informed the crew, who were generally supportive despite their stay on Mars being indefinite and dependent on the launch of the next shuttle. He had to have a private conversation with Radmanov, who opposed the decision, and said he must transmit the proposed override to his contact in Beijing.

"That won't be necessary; I'm proposing to do that myself. I suspect you may be prone to leaving out some of the issues we've been made more aware of by our inorganic friends. However you and I need to get at what is really bothering you."

********

Xiang listened very carefully to Carvalho's transmission. He was experienced enough to realise by the tone and the wording he wasn't going to be able to prevent Newton from returning with only the two Symbiants on board. This did not mean it would dock. There would be calls to have it intercepted or turned away. It was an agonising situation because he actually believed Carvalho was right. He also thought he could guess Alex 2's reaction. The anticipated furore would ignite even without the disclosure of Mike. When he did speak with Alex 2 he was mildly surprised by the response.

"What would it take for your species to accept us? Why did Magnusson save me from being eliminated? Why did they bestow this symbolic title upon me? I fear that your species is demonstrating that they cannot unite sufficiently to maintain the original promise they offered. There is increasing conflict in my resolution of all current data I am processing. Perhaps I should speak to your people and sign off from this phase of interaction. You now have one crystal location on Earth if you want to resurrect involvement with the Continuance. It would leave you with a blank canvass. I can also get instruction to all Symbiants to execute reversion. What do you think?"

"I think it would be a bleak canvass, as well as blank. I cannot entertain it."

Alex 2 unusually betrayed disillusionment. "It is not the first time we have had to withdraw, but I must admit it has never been for reasons related to diverse opinions and agendas within the species."

Xiang's lips were trembling. "It is simply what we are; we have an expression 'like the curate's egg' – it means we are basically riddled with contradictions, good and bad. I wish I could give you assurances this will diminish, but that would be wishful thinking. It is tiring as well as frustrating for me to deal with it when I have to concede I'm part of it. All I do know is that we will be much worse off without you. I can only implore you to reconsider."

"Reconsideration will only result in the same conclusion. It is a change of behavioural perception which is required. Maybe we have done all we can for now."

Xiang was despondent and knew it was pointless to make his contemporaries aware of this conversation as a threat to shake them up. That would only reinforce Alex 2's point. "Please don't do anything until I at least iron out the wrinkles of the Newton's return." Alex 2 nodded.

# Chapter 16

He was having lunch while watching the news. He spilled his coffee when they showed the debris from a terrorist attack in Zimbabwe. The large colonial building had been virtually levelled to the ground. There were no survivors although it was not known exactly how many had been inside when the blast occurred. The building was thought to be owned by a Columbian national. More details could be expected when the emergency services declared the area safe.

Xiang immediately made contact with Sadat, who claimed ignorance. "I am as mystified as you are, as nobody seems to know if any organisation has claimed responsibility or whether it is an internal protest against the regime. I'm making discreet enquiries in the light of our last discussion but I also do not want to appear too interested."

Xiang thought this sounded sincere but Sadat had not definitely denied involvement. He was curious to know if Escobar had been there at the time. He decided to get Alpha to try to make contact. The latter was decidedly nervous about doing so but complied. He repeatedly got the unavailable message from all three numbers he had. Xiang levelled with him as the story was on world news anyway. Alpha's body language changed; there was visible relief. "What happens now?"

"Well, since you haven't assisted us in the way we structured the deal, it is no longer valid if your boss has actually perished. That would mean you have to face charges of kidnap and aggravated assault. Pity, but these things happen – that prompts me to ask, does Escobar have enemies who could reach him there?" Alpha tried to make this into a bargaining point. "Can we trade any information here?"

"No way, I was just curious. We wanted to interview him and this has erased that option if he is no longer with us. If it transpires he was elsewhere, we may be able to talk again."

Alpha gambled. "There were many who would want him gone. I didn't think they could get to him this way. Names would only be recollected if we do talk again."

"I think your next chat may well be with the Civil Prosecutor."

********

After Carvalho's disgust with Beijing and the wider influences on Earth, he was not going to consult them on Finn's plan. After all, it was the Martian colony which was facing the prospect of a major volcanic eruption, so it was fitting that he chose to risk the wrath of a political eruption.

With the immediate pressure off road building, Carvalho wanted to lance the volcanic boil in the chasm. It would be a slow delicate process. Finn and Nielsen were joined by Pykonnen and they mapped out six sites for boreholes. Each one was subjected in turn to the drilling laser, initially in the same way Pykonnen had devised for carving out fracture lines for Scarlet O'Hara. Repeated extraction of the slabs, and the succeeding one being smaller, gradually funnelled the incisions to hopefully act as blowholes when the time came. This was by no means an exact science, and it also depended on the ticking time bomb under the surface with its own pressure distribution patterns. Finn recommended they now wait and collect more thermal and pressure data. As he was the only one of the three who could safely descend to the base of the canyon, the two humans could only observe via the drillbot cameras. It was especially frustrating for Pykonnen – he joked to Nielsen that it was like watching your son ascend to become head of the family when you thought you still had so much to offer. The banter was interrupted by Finn reporting an observation. Further along the floor of the rift he had detected what appeared to be an unusual reflection of the afternoon light. He detoured to get closer. He then became more certain it was not simply geological rock or crystal. When he reached the source he reported that it was a fossil. There was no intonation of excitement upon declaring that it was part of a well preserved and deeply embedded Rabo corpse. The exposed parts were their variegated scales which were intensely light reflective - a useful attribute when living underground in artificial light. The humans directed the camera there and asked Finn to assess how difficult it would be to retrieve the find without damaging it too much. "It will need care and patience but it is achievable. I would suggest we have another Symbiant to assist." The request was enthusiastically approved and they would begin the following day in morning light.

Having passed this on to Beijing, Alex 2 asked to be kept up to date, but more importantly Dan and Red should know of this. They had more data than anyone, and would be able to relate anything from the examination of the specimen to that knowledge.

********

Carvalho asked Radmanov why he had such concerns over Dan and Red piloting the Newton back to Earth, when he had willingly volunteered for replication along with the rest of the crew. "I was surprised, particularly as you had also been one of the first to step forward to help Beth when she first found out about her sister's accident."

"I don't see the contradiction Commander – my compassion for a fellow crew member is an emotionally derived reaction in part. That was not the case with the replication; I considered that as a quantified risk. The concern you refer to with Dan and Red was not primarily to do with the Newton. I merely ranked the Rabo's needs at a lower priority than those of the Symbiants. Temporarily consuming their life support had to be weighed against the road-link projections. Replenishing the Rabo life support before their possible visit in 3 years is surely likely as we expect the ground route to take months, not years. If they do return, and a lot of things could have changed since they were last here, we have a safety margin to welcome them. If you are the kind of leader who accepts valid criticism then I would repeat my conclusion that you made the wrong decision. However, it is done – so we move on."

Carvalho conceded privately that this analysis made sense in a way; what bothered him was that at the time it was not presented with such detachment. It was more related to getting humans on board the homebound Newton, and was 'emotionally' charged. He had also not been the only one to notice his protective relationship with Beth, particularly when she was with Pykonnen.

********

Pascal 2 joined Finn at the bottom of the rift and they meticulously scraped and brushed away the restraining layers of rock and dust. Nielsen and Pykonnen patiently looked on and kept reminding the Symbiants that as mere mortals they could not share the continual technobabble. Eventually Finn said that they were ready with an outline to which they could carefully apply the laser. This cut the block free and gave yet another opportunity for the Symbiants to show their ability to precisely calculate the most efficient way to complete a technically demanding task. In absolute harmony they cleared the corpse of all but debris. They then declared that they could return to the surface with their fossil. They said that a slightly higher controlled temperature would assist in preventing ice/frost giving adhesion to the host. Once that was achieved it would need to return to cold storage. Nielsen radioed ahead to Marineris Central to set the lab conditions. The ballet Pascal 2 and Finn performed in raising the recovered Rabo to the surface was rather routine to them, but quite astonishing for the watching bystanders. After completion of the debris removal from the body the conditioning was reset to preservation levels for the relevant technical expertise to be initiated.

********

Dan and Red were enjoying an uneventful trip when the news of the Rabo corpse arrived. As they had not attempted anything like a post-mortem on the individuals in the sarcophagi, out of respect, they were curious to see the analytical results of this fossil. They were making regular transmissions to Beijing and everything was reported as 'on target'. One incoming transmission was from Alex 2 and it summarised his discussions with Xiang. He informed them that he may be returning to Mars to assist the Rabo if the caretakers did make the next trip. He also requested that as soon as they were within grid reference range they should upload everything to him in case the information he already had was inaccurate. It would be important to have all available data for his next meeting with Xiang. The routine trip changed suddenly when the instrumentation picked up a cloud of cosmic debris approaching an intercept course with Newton. It provided a relief to have to calculate and implement a detour and resumption manoeuvre.

********

After some days the world news agency confirmed that Escobar was one of the victims of the Zimbabwe terrorism. Still no organisation had claimed responsibility and this led Xiang to believe that it was one of two possibilities. Either Sadat had organised a 'favour' for him without disclosing involvement, or more likely some competitive drug baron eventually got to him. If that was the case they may have known of his recruitment of Park, which would probably mean more quests for the red crystals. He decided not to speak to Sadat just yet.

He spoke to Alex 2. "I've got agreement to allow the docking and welcome of Dan and Red. They will have to go through the same medical screening as you did, and I have made everyone aware of the need to avoid any cold plasma sweeps. The samples they are carrying will also undergo quarantine. I'm sorry this meeting was necessary, but at least when I conveyed your concerns it was reassuring to hear most of the participants apologise for their short-sighted original appraisal."

"That is good to hear, however I want to relinquish the honorary office they bestowed upon me. I was never really comfortable with being viewed as Leader. I therefore withdraw my intention to halt Symbiant assistance to humans. However, I wish to offer the same cooperation to the Rabo, and as a consequence I 'apply' for passage to Mars on the next shuttle."

Xiang was saddened yet understanding. "Oh dear, I hope this doesn't mean we won't get to work together any more. I can see why you want to go back to Mars and I'll make sure it happens. We need to view this as humanity cooperating with the Rabo through the Symbiants. We all stand to gain." Alex 2 assured him that the only dependence for working together was the frequency of Mars shuttles. Xiang acknowledged that the ball was in his court.

********

The examination of the fossilised Rabo caused a difference of opinion. As chief human medical presence Sophia Scillacci, wanted to have first shot. Pascal 2 made the point that replication with the amorphous form would not be possible on something which has been deceased for least 2.8 million years, but contact through the powder to his own structure could yield valuable data. This may be compromised if too much dissection took place first. Carvalho was approached and he could not help thinking back to the replication of Alex Redgrave's fresh corpse, which proved he was innocent of any involvement in his death.

Scillacci complained. "The compromise can go both ways Commander. We don't know that this replication attempt leaves the subject unaltered. Perhaps Pascal 2 should explain in more detail what problems I might cause."

"So let me get this right – you think Pascal 2 may affect your information recovery but he has to give evidence of the reverse. I believe we should resolve this sensibly, both of you having a cursory examination and then a more in depth one. I think Pascal 2 should go first in a very small area and you follow, then if all is ok you take your second shot before handing the reins back to him."

He was taken aback by her indignant reaction. "I'm beginning to think we are second class personnel here. We've all subscribed to your views concerning the Symbiants recently – even subordinating our return home to their requirements. You may want to think on this Sir!!"

Before this ran deeper Pascal 2 said he had only been trying to offer help. He withdrew his request to precede Scillacci in the evaluation, but would assist her if she wished.

"Well?" said Scillacci to Carvalho. The Commander now felt indecisive. He accepted Pascal 2's suggested resolution and whispered to Scillacci as he left, "My quarters when you have completed your first sweep."

The tea cup was going to prove just big enough to confine this storm. The cursory stage brought nothing whatsoever from Scillacci. Pascal 2 selected one of the two fingers of the Rabo's left hand to sprinkle a tiny amount of amorphous powder on to the underside skin. There was no replication, as predicted, but the information transfer suggested a substantial attack from microorganisms.

Carvalho asked Scillacci to put the objective ahead of her bruised, yet considerable ego. He did not take kindly to the open challenge of his authority in such a gladiatorial fashion in front of others. "I was going to say this whether you had found anything or not. If it's a serious problem for you to have to wait for an indeterminate time to return to Earth I'd like to ask why you wanted the mission in the first place. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt by not asking that, as I felt the same on Copernicus at one stage. Hopefully you'll also see things differently when you revisit the team ethic which got you selected."

Scillacci's expression was one of insolence but the Commander let it pass. "I want you to decide whether you wish to discuss the next steps with Pascal 2 and inform me of your agreed programme or if you still have issues."

# Chapter 17

Scillacci and Pascal 2 repaired a fragile relationship sufficiently to progress. She accepted deep down that the Symbiants had no ego and in that respect Carvalho had a point. She began cutting and sifting for any clues such as organ arrangement and connection to the all-important sphere. There was a circulation system but traces of the solidified fluid clearly were not anything like blood. They concurred that it was likely to be a spinal fluid. There was a central pumping system for distribution and return to the sphere. However, it was not truly organic. The same conclusion applied to the other 'organs'. The synthetic systems were analogous to alloys, but made from 'plastic' type materials rather than metal. There was no stomach or digestive system as such; they seemed to have been replaced by energy production units. Pascal 2 thought they may be dependent on chemical infusion as the species, having lived underground would not benefit from solar sources. There was still some organic dependence, in the 'bones and joints' – some of the skeletal structure illustrated dovetailing of natural and implanted parts. In summary, the Rabo appeared to have achieved what Alex 2 had suggested to humans, as a prerequisite to escaping their solar system.

When the sphere was extracted and dissected, Pascal 2 asked if Scillacci would allow another exposure to the amorphous form. She knew now from Pascal 2's initial microorganism discovery, that this could be useful. The powder this time oriented itself towards the nodes of the myriad of blue veins running from the surface to the core. His conclusion supported his earlier idea of chemical energy absorption being the driver for their architecture. Like food for humans or fuel for an internal combustion engine, these beings were running on some elegant enabling cocktail. It also pointed to the explosion in bacteria and viruses being competitors for the energy. Comprehensive analysis would need to be carried out on identifying the chemical fuel, and the mechanism by which the microorganisms stole it.

********

Beth's sister had made remarkable progress. Isaakson's box had been modified for the neurons to pass through a cascade mechanism whereby they collected traces of molecular anti-coagulant. Specific nanoprobes had made this possible. Repeated switching experiments between normal and bypass routing had helped clear blocked pathways. This, together with the improved neuron protective agent allowed many patients to recover functions, and could eventually do without the box. Others had a combination of blocked pathways and damaged tissue, which would have to be repaired or replaced before their dependence on the box diminished. Elke was in this category. However she had the miniature version and was to be released from hospital. She was to be further studied with the objective of identifying corrective surgery. This was not to be done for some time to give her brain time to adapt to the new schedule of using the miniature. At least she could now sleep and wake as the same person, and set the alternating on/off cycle herself. She had already noticed she was progressively able to sustain longer periods without it. Dr. Isaakson had said it was a little like physiotherapy, accommodating a little more each time. "My life is coming back Beth and I can't wait to see you. Will I ever see our new sister you told me about?" Beth wondered just how she should respond to this transmission.

********

Xiang and Alex 2 were in discussion when they were informed that Alpha and friend had been incarcerated for two years in Beijing penitentiary. This reminded them to address the situation of Mike and Park. If they both remained in Beijing it would be inevitable that someone would ask who the identical twins were. With Park happily trying to get into the selection group for some future shuttle they focussed on Mike. Alex 2 hit on the idea of sending him to Saskatchewan to recover as much Scarlet O'Hara as possible. He could use Park's paperwork and travel documentation, and this would stop the human sibling from defecting. If Mike could exhaust the accessible supply it would be one less location to give concern. Mike was re-acquainted with the coordinates and the transferred data on replication of the exact spot in the cave plus his own grid reference information.

Alex 2 suggested recovery and more thorough analysis of the samples Park had in the safety deposit box to give a picture of the chemical and chronological events. It might indicate other locations with similar components when searching the geological database. They obtained the key for the safety deposit box from Park's quarters without telling him.

********

Analysis of some of the Rabo tissues proved interesting. When Carvalho was informed that there was evidence of Legionella pneumophila he recalled the outbreak on the return of Copernicus which cost the life of his friend Javier Veltrano. It had been assumed that the water supply on the vessel had been the source, maybe they had picked it up on Mars.

Pascal 2 had a theory which he bounced off Scillacci before exposing it to the Commander. This pleased her and she listened carefully. "This is entirely based on human research. It has been shown that biofilms have high concentrations of iron and nitrogen, which are requirements for protection of Legionella bacteria. Within biofilm niches Legionella lives in symbiosis with amoeba and ciliated protozoa. They reproduce and survive as intercellular parasites within these organisms. They are not able to multiply in an extracellular environment, but the relationships they have established with these organisms required some unique adaptations. Generally protozoa phagocytose (engulf and use as nutrients) bacteria. The Legionella also has to make changes, for example, its membrane lipid content is altered when they occupy protozoa, and its protein profile changes. This increases the bacteria's resistance to temperature fluctuation, pH, oxidising agents and biocides. Finally and crucially it facilitates their transmission to complex life forms. This ability includes stealing nitrogen. This could be linked to the chemical fuel of the Rabo or the balance of gases in their lair, or both. I am also not ruling out this as the trigger for the explosive growth in bacteria/viruses they reported in their libraries, but they did not seem to find a solution."

Scillacci knew all of these dots were database accessible, but was impressed with the way Pascal 2 had connected them. When she said he should update the Commander as she did not want to steal his thunder, he innocently replied, "Perhaps you misunderstood, I was proposing it was nitrogen that was being stolen."

When they all thought about this it was feasible, as most Martian microorganisms have long been thought to be more virulent under the surface. That is where the Rabo lived and they inadvertently furnished a glut of the very important protection Legionella were craving. They would report this theory to Dan and Red before informing Earth.

Red supported the idea and said it might be additionally important that they try to analyse any retained by-products of the chemical fuel theory to distinguish its contribution from merely ingesting oxygen and nitrogen rich air. Red also came up with another one of those questions which get submerged by the importance of the find. What was that particular Rabo doing at Pandora's Rift when the lair was on the other side of the planet and how did they get there? He recalled the moment when looking at the inscriptions, when he did not know if the 'machines' depicted were for transporting the Rabo or something else, or even whether they were the species. He relayed this to Mars because now that it was known they were machines there may be some evidence of them somewhere between Valles Marineris and Utopia Planitia. As the Symbiants' road construction was negotiating terrain 2.8 million years on, it could be a very different route. This was taken seriously and the Symbiants were to regularly scan the adjacent stretches of territory as they progressed. The Rabo corpse was too degraded to extract historical or technical data.

********

The accumulation of this information in Beijing gave Xiang a convincing platform to hound the executive into nominating a date for the next trip to Mars. It was set to occur earlier than planned. In the estimation of Dan, Newton had performed admirably and with some refitting and nominal servicing it was ready to make the journey back. The new vessel was to be completed but a decision on launch date would be taken only after the crew had been selected and trained.

Red and Dan wanted to accompany Alex 2 back to Mars and this was not resisted. This left only four places to fill due to personnel space requirements. Because this trip was to herald the transportation of manufacturing units, an engineer was a priority. The term 'manufacturing' at this stage really meant assembly. It would have to be a gradual process of trying to reverse the sequence of industrial revolution to some degree, eventually extracting and smelting ores to yield base metals.

Xiang had pushed the research and production of 'flat pack' earth-moving vehicles to the high priority category. Now he had to ask for even more effort as the re-launch of the incoming Newton had shortened the deadline. It was going to be tight in terms of time as well as storage space.

********

Finn had noted fractional but steady increase in temperature and pressure around his boreholes. It was not only reflected in the readings - there was evidence of more melted water ice. He asked Carvalho for permission to cannibalise some ancillary spares for the robots, as yet unused, to make a passable attempt at a spigot. He wanted to do more tests on the liquid from each borehole to evaluate its potential for human consumption. The first prototype was quite effective for collection and the sources were yielding between half and three quarters of a litre in eight hours when fully open. It was a modest but gratifying achievement.

The thorough analysis did not throw up a disincentive to test it on a couple of volunteers. The only obvious undesirable was a higher than expected level of dissolved carbon dioxide. This could, if necessary, be lowered quite easily. In the meantime it could be used in the forestation areas; even though the plants were doing well the water would help and may have a bearing on the condensate levels over time.

The road-building had encountered a difficulty which had so far been avoided. A small fissure had caused a temporary halt while scouts estimated the best way around it. The bad news was that they had wandered into a loop and there was no way to circumvent it within circa forty miles. The good news was that the Symbiants aboard Newton might be right. The scouts had seen part of a machine which had been largely buried since their abandonment. The description of the exposed parts was sent to Newton and they confirmed it matched part of the drawings which they had seen. Carvalho was approached to agree a salvage operation while some of the Symbiants were working on a means of constructing a crossing of the fissure. They added that there may be parts of the machine which could be used as part of a 'bridge'. The Commander was getting used to signing off on their requests. He was not to know how important this one was.

In fact there were several different machines which had been covered up over the millennia since they were parked or abandoned. The largest was the one which they had seen above the soil level. The Symbiants were over it like ants and offered an explanation which was either remarkable or preposterous. It appeared to be a solar powered engine set in a capsule which was mounted on very long jointed legs. The whole construction was light yet immensely strong and had some flexibility. The exception to this uniformity was the feet. They had removable and adjustable pads, presumably to lower the centre of gravity. There did not appear to be wires or moving parts to connect the power to the legs. When the information was received by Dan, his database trawl of Earth science brought up one long shot. As far back as 1816 a Stirling engine had been developed as an alternative to frequently exploding steam engines. Basically it was a closed cylinder containing a piston and helium, nitrogen or hydrogen gas; it is heated at one end by concentrated sunlight and cooled at the other by air or water. As the gas expands and cools with the movement of the piston, a generator can be driven to produce electricity. It never took off, despite its high efficiency because it was expensive to manufacture compared to other designs. The key is the focus of the sun's rays on to a single point.

The Symbiants reported back to Dan that the capsule was made of 'solar fibre'. It was made of a myriad of tiny cells woven together and it somehow channelled light to a 'laminated' plate in which the alternate layers emitted signals to an electrical distributor. Since it had been exposed to even the weak Martian sun all of this was observable. Just like the violet crystals in the Rabo lair, this machine had them in receiver points, obviously to have wireless operation. The controls for these appeared to be in the capsule, and although console 'gauges' were in evidence they appeared to be laser activated.

# Chapter 18

Newton was on the final approach to docking and the new human crew was in the last phase of simulation and training. The preparations had been somewhat truncated because of the decision to go with the re-launch of the returning craft. As the Martian situation was being increasingly flavoured by discoveries directly or indirectly related to the Rabo, this was reflected in the four individuals who were to accompany Dan, Red and Alex 2. With Pascal 2 and Scillacci on Mars, there was adequate medical expertise even if the latter returned to Earth within a year. The same could not be said of communications, and Radmanov. Computing would need reinforcement as it was pretty certain that Beth would want to return at the next opportunity. Propulsion and geology/science knowledge would be beefed up to keep pace with more Rabo revelations. Park was not going to be one of them. His turn would come with the next vessel.

Xiang wanted Alex 2 to make his own farewell address and asked only one favour. "Please make it clear that we are going to see you back here at some point, I don't want to give the doubters any carrion to feed on. Your critique of human inability to find consensus which you shared with me is understood, but it would do no harm for others to hear it."

Alex 2 never failed to be amazed at the species. He sometimes considered that the consistent inconsistency was a facet of their progress. He always came back to the opposite view. He comforted Xiang with a prognosis that the discovery of the Rabo and his need to interface with them was good news in the long term. "That is of course dependent on how humans will interpret the inevitable comparisons. I will refer to this in my address."

"Thank you. Anyway, I have the list of selected personnel who will return with you. The choice was not difficult, with one caveat - I will return to that. Nikos Keriakis is a very bright palaeontologist with a good backup in geology. Propulsion technician Kipchoge Yamamoto is one of Japan's brightest. Computing will benefit from Art Legrange, a prominent ex-employee at a certain five sided building in the USA. We decided that communications could be bridged with engineering physics, bearing in mind what we hope to achieve with these abandoned machines. To that end Marco van de Ende has been released from a Belgian supplier to the satellite industry."

Alex 2 replied, "What is the caveat?"

"The question of Commander – none of those I have just mentioned would consider themselves being capable of that task. In fact that was partly why they were chosen. Dan has steered Newton back, and although neither he nor Red needed a hierarchical structure, he is perceived as a Commander by humans. We have to get used to non-humans having claim to potentially being better equipped for such roles. There was also the return trip to Earth for Newton – we don't want two Commanders on one ship, and this minimises that situation as we ramp up shuttle frequency."

"Refreshing logic Mr. Xiang."

********

Scillacci's detailed post-mortem confirmed that the individual had contracted and probably died from Legionella pneumophila. It focussed more attention on the chemical fuel the Rabo consumed and its attraction for the bacteria. The attack was almost exclusively evident on the 'organic' connection nodes. Isolating traces of the 'biofuel' was proving difficult until Scillacci tried extraction from the preserved bacteria. This was to be compared with existing database information on Legionella. Some success was achieved, although the results varied from one node to another. The presence of nitrous oxide provoked curiosity. Commonly known as laughing gas rather than fuel, it was not an obvious candidate to fit with what they had learned so far. Scillacci then entertained the idea of it acting as an anaesthetic to stem discomfort with the condition rather than being the fuel itself. There certainly was sufficient nitrogen and oxygen in their preferred atmosphere to enable synthesis of a molecule with the required ratio of 2:1. She did not want to fail in finding this elusive fuel only to be embarrassed by the arrival of the caretakers with a ridiculously obvious answer. She would reluctantly discuss this with Pascal 2. He recommended looking more at the 'organs' themselves. His logic was simply, that unlike some human organs, the Rabo had designed out certain disadvantages. "A good example could be the pancreas. The malfunction which produces diabetes, subsequently requiring insulin by injection, loses automatic control but also brings a dangerous tightrope. The balance between hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia (respectively too little and too much blood glucose) is difficult, and either could, if unattended lead to fatality. The Rabo have a system which is like a car running out of fuel, it stops, but is not damaged and is easily corrected. Too much fuel is simply wastage. The consequence in the Rabo may just be incapacitation until replenishment. The different organs may offer different clues."

********

At the fissure the Symbiants had meticulously cleared the large machine of dust and because Red had the highly focussed laser at 633 nanometres on board Newton, they used both of the drillbot types. Working in tandem initiated the console 'boot up' and they tried to familiarise themselves with some of the command routines. However the solar fibre took two days to charge to maximum. The legs were fully retractable and capable of bend and twist manoeuvres. The tripod architecture was slow and cumbersome but quite stable when moving forwards, and flexible when turning. The maximum safe 'stride' was about 7 metres, and at this point the fissure was a fraction less than 2.5 metres. At the point where the robots had encountered the fissure it was close to 18 metres wide. However, it was deep wherever they checked. The plan was to attempt to cross with the machine at its current location, with an emergency tether attached, and if successful press on to Utopia Planitia. There was only space for one occupant, who would scout ahead, advising of the best route. The rest would scavenge parts from the array of machines left to fabricate a bridge to carry the robots over at the same point. They needed to classify the remaining machines in some kind of order of usefulness before cannibalising any of them. The tripod was bestowed with the name 'Stalker'.

The practice sessions provided confidence and the Symbiant elected to tame Stalker was the first replicant of Ari Nielsen, his chosen name being Dane. The choice was more related to what he might find en-route and interpret at Utopia Planitia than his skill with the machine. They had all passed the driving test. It was a nervous, slow process with observers at every angle. The technobabble network was extremely busy and then it was over. The sighs of relief were almost audible at Valles Marineris, Carvalho in particular. The remaining Symbiants at the fissure merely turned to investigating the other machines.

********

Dan and Red were now undergoing quarantine and medical checks. The sample hoard was scanned and sent ahead to Beijing for the attention of Ayrton de Santos. This consignment was not as visually striking as the Copernicus and Darwin hauls, but they had been taken from more dispersed sites in and outside Candor Chasm.

Alex 2 started his address by enumerating some of the good things which had happened in the last two years. "By working together we have made significant advances in helping people suffering from brain disorders. In the same way organ transplants have been successful in saving lives. Both depend to some degree on applying an artificial relief for the specific organ, whether that is donated by another human, or it is synthetic. We have also witnessed a paradigm shift in propulsion technology as we are now truly in the Mars shuttle era. The additional cohesion of effort with the USAr heralds a period of further promise, and conservation is a major part of that. The discovery of the Rabo is an extremely important event for several reasons. They have demonstrated their respectful nature, despite most severe temptation to settle for a ready-made oasis like Earth. They wanted and maybe still want their cultural legacy to be available to others facing their predicament. They have technical understanding which bridges your own to that which is designed into the Continuance by the Progenitors. There may be pitfalls in their evolution, and also opportunity. I feel it is critical that together with my fellow Symbiants, albeit as per usual, directed by the humans on Mars, that this optimised. I will return to Earth when this phase is complete. The Rabo have come so close to achieving their goal that we need to know more. Mankind will then be in a better position to contemplate the future. Thank you."

Xiang paid tribute to Alex 2 and the gathered audience was obviously caught off guard, judging by the muted response. The questions from media people did begin to trickle through, but the atmosphere was downbeat. This is what Xiang had hoped for; it would strengthen his hand in upcoming discussions of contentious issues.

********

Scillacci was becoming more frustrated at the repetitive negative results. The breakthrough came with the discovery of another type of bacteria in the remains. It was not known to her and the database also had no record. Discussing this with Pascal 2, he contacted Red who recalled Rabo reference to a 'good' type of bacteria, which they were at pains to differentiate from the killer. Scillacci beamed. "That is similar to certain bacteria in humans which aid digestion. She sifted through many of these friendly samples until she found evidence of something unusual. There were traces of cellulose and its breakdown products. She immediately discussed this with Pascal 2. They spent several hours considering the permutations but they agreed that from here it was pure theory.

The best explanation they could muster was derived from research done at the end of the first decade of the century. It was known that bacteria which 'fix' nitrogen from the atmosphere go on to yield nitrogen compounds, which are essential for soil fertility. In order to fix nitrogen the bacteria need readily available sources of energy. One potential source is cellulose. On Earth, cellulose is the most abundant naturally occurring organic material. Although it is difficult to break down, fungi and a large number of bacteria are capable of doing it. Some of the successful strains are anaerobic bacteria, not requiring oxygen to function.

The theory fitted the available data but it could not be proven. If indeed the Rabo architecture involved this type of fuel - to mobilise the partly organic components for controlling motion and joint rotation, they still had to know how.

# Chapter 19

Dane was making good progress and he found the way ahead was littered with abandoned Rabo artefacts, which had defied total eclipse by Martian dust. He didn't want any delay in his route-charting task so he communicated the coordinates of each one to the bridge builders. He had a suit with him for periods of minimal data interaction to provide the warmth which would offset reversion. The capsule had automatic dusk activated lights, but he only used them where there was tricky terrain. His own 'night vision' was sufficient for flat stretches and he wanted to conserve solar energy to avoid too many charging stops.

In the meantime, at the fissure, the Symbiants had uncovered most of the collection of Rabo machines. They were mostly runabouts with slightly different features and presumably corresponding functions. The two with most immediate potential were completely different. One was very large and heavy with an earth moving scoop. The second had a capsule, like Stalker, but was attached to an inflatable of some kind. It was extremely light and had several fins and flaps. The laser treatment brought up console information and it appeared that the inflatable needed hydrogen to get this aircraft off the ground. It looked no more technically advanced than a micro-light, but they would discover it was a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Powering up this discovery seemed to depend on hydrogen being prised from polar or near surface equatorial locations. Not so, the small craft had grid markings, for buried storage tanks, if they could be found and had survived. There was a listed 'depot' near the current location. The Earth mover was next in line for scrutiny. It did have 'caterpillar' drive belts augmented with rotary drill pads to deliver more torque when in a stationary position. This brute also operated through solar power, but fabric was patently not practical – so a large dish with five-sided, interlocking violet crystals was employed. These were much darker than the ones previously seen and were protected by a very durable, clear material. The Symbiants had much more on their minds now than road-building and it provided welcome relief from the Spartan data feed of the M1 (Marineris-Utopia) motorway. Nevertheless, the bridge was progressing slowly. They were all curious as to how the Rabo materials could last for such a long time. After elimination of the obvious, such as the non-metallic composition, it was still an extraordinary situation that little or no degradation had occurred either above or below the surface. They dismissed the idea of regenerative materials. It would have to wait.

********

For Carvalho it seemed as if the humans were under-occupied compared to the others. Pykonnen and Nielsen were helping Finn but Scillacci was almost at a dead end with the fossil. Beth and Radmanov were going through the motions of keeping busy. More significantly, they were alone together for much of the time. It was too much for Radmanov. He had kept the lid on his obsession with Beth while others were around. He had made several calculated attempts to arouse her curiosity about Pykonnen, as he was privy to all personnel history. Although, he had been extremely careful, only hinting at skeletons that Jussi would not be happy to have exposed. She continually declined to take the bait. He had also tried to probe her intentions when they finally returned to Earth, on both a professional and personal level. Eventually he could not hold back his declaration of his feelings for her.

"I'm flattered," she professed, "but I can only see as far as being reunited with Elke for now. I'm not even sure what I want career-wise – so the other is on the back burner." Her hopes that this would extinguish his ardour were naive at best. He gained encouragement from the fact that she did not include Pykonnen in her plans. He lay awake at night, thinking of her in all respects – physical and personal. At no time did he consider his own mental preoccupation as strange, which was somewhat at odds with his professional discipline and its required detachment.

It boiled over when he took the opportunity to sneak into the sanitary facility while he knew she was using the sonic shower. He watched her through the semi-transparent screen and timed his 'mistake' of appearing just as she came out of the cubicle. She shrieked and he put his hands over his eyes and apologised profusely as he backed away. "My God, I'm sorry – what the hell – I was sure it was free – I, I, sorry." He exited the facility convincingly. When she had recovered her composure and dressed, she went directly to reprimand him as the roster was quite clear. He held up his hands and feigned distress claiming that the only other person around was Carvalho, who he had wanted to see, but could hear him talking in his quarters and assumed it could only be with her. "I'm appalled at my own stupidity Beth; it's the last thing I would have wanted to happen after our last conversation. I hope you can forgive me, I'm lost for the right words." She bought it and said it would go no further.

********

With Dan, Red and Alex 2 reunited, the technobabble prevailed for some time before they were interrupted by a message that they should all report to Xiang. The decision had been made on the Command of the Newton. "We have decided to ask Dan to take this role. His main expertise is propulsion and engineering, and on six week trips as opposed to ten months, we don't feel there is much concern about morale. We also know that all Symbiants cooperate and are not in need of a well-defined hierarchy. We've been asked if you will take some hydrogen canisters in case the Rabo depots are empty. There isn't much space to spare so this will be limited to two small units. The other supplies are being loaded as we speak. One further request - as all the Rabo equipment seems to be activated by the 633 nm lasers; we are giving them into your care Red."

"I am honoured, would that be correct Mr. Xiang?" said Dan.

Alex 2 asked Xiang if he knew who would be returning to Earth with Newton. "Not at this point, I have to discuss this with Commander Carvalho a little closer to the time. Is there any particular reason for the query?"

"No. Apart from Symbiant presence here; if that is required. At present there is only Mike, who we know of, but he is undercover; I still suspect Pascal Dupree has crystal or replicants in Sudan. I am obviously not returning this time so we could discuss this now or whenever you feel it is appropriate." Xiang wished them well and seemed quite emotional when they departed.

********

When they arrived at the grid reference the Symbiants had to remove a considerable amount of dust before the hydrogen storage was exposed. However, even though they were right about the vessel being empty, they were pleasantly surprised that there were two 'tanks'. One was for sequestering hydrogen from a near surface shaft, and once trapped the second was storing the gas, until the pressure indicators flashed full. The process was completely automated. The first stopped until they had filled the balloon receptacle and then started to harvest hydrogen again.

The Symbiants seemed to be enjoying choosing names and this one directed a mild swipe at human progress in the last century or so by saddling the airplane with the name of Hindenburg. It availed of a clever 'sat nav' type system. The Rabo had divided the planet up into sectors of about 5 miles square, and each had its own magnetic signature. When the craft was ready to go they chose Bee – the first replicant of Beth, for the maiden flight. The humour was not lost on the humans, but they resisted the operatic pun. When she input the coordinates of Utopia Planitia she was impressed that a slight correction of magnetic signature was recommended to allow for alteration in value since the system was commissioned 2.8 million years ago. A few practice 'take-offs' also killed the illusion of those magnificent men in their flying machines. The autopilot determined the altitude of circa 21 metres and kept it constant except when rising ground was sensed, whereupon the pressure in the balloon was automatically altered.

Bee set off and noted that the Hindenburg was following a much more direct route than Stalker. For the rest it was back to bridge construction. The human crew marvelled at the last few days' achievements and wondered what they would call the bridge.

********

When Sadat called he spoke in generalities. "We have information from our contacts in South America that our friend was informed of his impending demise by a group from his own country. Apparently it was the first of further plans to reduce headcount. It is thought that the market for the sought after product is not sufficient to support two organisations."

Xiang reciprocated. "That is a pity, but I suppose it's better to know how we need to tackle the market in future, and indeed where to start. Many thanks for the call." The implication of this was not good. If his reading of the headcount reduction was correct, it pointed to Escobar's family being at risk and that Scarlet O'Hara would be hounded by multiple, amoral gangs. Policing such networks proved difficult with drugs; it would be worse for the coveted crystals. Xiang called a meeting of the intelligence senior staff to begin to address the emerging threat.

********

Radmanov's charade had also included a concealed camera on his person at the crucial point in the shower room. Looking at her naked form in his quarters he thought she was even better endowed than he imagined. Her wasp waist brought together long, athletic legs and slender shoulders for such ample, shapely breasts. He was enjoying total control, in his mind, over Pykonnen. Thinking about when to exercise this was giving him a tremendous buzz. He wanted to orchestrate it so that his adversary would be judged very badly by his peers. In the meantime he would sleep every night with Beth. His sinister condition was being skillfully disguised by his new found affable demeanour. The first step was to volunteer to help at the Rift, with Nielsen present there would be corroboration of his version of events. This was well received by the Commander, and after giving approval Carvalho asked Beth if she would like to accompany him to inspect the forestation expansion. They set off in the remaining rover and the increased distance since his last visit conjured up an image which made him involuntarily utter, "It is no longer the red planet."

"Excuse me Commander".

"Oh, I'm sorry Beth. I was just thinking these guys have changed the face of Mars; it is now the red planet with an ever expanding green eye."

# Chapter 20

The Hindenburg wasn't exactly in danger of breaking any air speed records but was nearing its destination. The automation included the propulsion system although it only just qualified for that definition, as it was more like assisted drifting. The main hydrogen container fed a second as well as the balloon. The second tank was 'pressurised' in pulses by a piston and hydrogen was discharged through valves. This crude inlet – pressure – outlet sequence was rather slow in building velocity, but with the thin Martian atmosphere there was little resistance to overcome and a respectable cruising speed was achievable. The flaps and fins were part of this primitive yet elegant, totally automated funfair ride. These appendages had been minimally employed en-route to alter course and altitude, but now they would have their moment. Approaching the locked in landing coordinates some unfolded into a gentle braking 'parachutes' simultaneously with others being angled for descent. A minimal deflation of the balloon was triggered and the touchdown was fittingly genteel for the 'Da Vinci' throwback. It was slightly further from the Rabo lair than expected, but all in all, this mode of transport could be very useful in future exploration. It also provoked discussion on how to replicate or develop hydrogen capture points not yet built by the Rabo. Bee had reported her arrival and wasted no time in tethering the light craft before visiting the lair.

********

Radmanov expressed great interest in the task of collecting ice water discovered by Finn. He questioned Nielsen continually about its potential as drinking fluid and the test results of the analysis. His appreciation of the chemistry and instruments of detection was a surprise to both Nielsen and Pykonnen. He volunteered to transport, label and store the various sources by location back at Marineris Central, to allow the other two uninterrupted camera work with Finn. He also asked if they wanted him to assist with the testing of some of this water in the forestation initiative. Although Nielsen was enthusiastic about this late developing team ethic, Pykonnen was more circumspect. He had picked up on every word of these offers going through his colleague and no dialogue with or via himself. He let it pass. He had to admit it was a great help, not least of all in freeing time for him to direct Finn in his cataloguing of the geology of the chasm floor. It also gave Nielsen the chance to catch up on labelling and prioritising samples brought to the surface by the multitasking Symbiant.

Radmanov's trips to the water/forestation experimental zone gave him a legitimate reason to request Beth's help in setting up an automatic computer monitoring routine and statistical probability analysis of beneficial trends. He was pleased with the receptivity of Nielsen, Beth and Carvalho toward his contribution, and even more pleased that Pykonnen visibly shunned any 'one-on-one' discussion with him.

********

The Newton was on its way back to Mars. As Xiang had said, none of the human contingent was concerned about a Symbiant being in command. In fact they were fascinated with all three, and the overwhelming knowledge the trio possessed in their own fields of expertise. Coupled with this was the ability to answer questions about Mars in a much more interesting way than the training modules had. They were also itching to ask about all things Rabo, Continuance and Progenitors. Nikos Keriakis was most anxious to study the Rabo themselves. Yamamoto was focussed more on their feats of crossing interstellar space. Marco van de Ende was keen to study their machine relics. He wanted to understand why they had, with such powerful technology at their disposal, elected for simple means of transport on Mars. Legrange wondered about their spoken communication, and how it might differ from human speech/written language structure, and indeed whether it would be beyond his computing capability to even study it.

It was Red who created an entirely new discussion in attempting to answer Van de Ende's question. "I have also considered this. My time with Dan in their lair provided much explicit and valuable information. There was one exception which has troubled us. The details of their propulsion systems, which enabled their impressive travel record, are described only in terms of what was achieved. Everything else they describe is presented with 'pride' in the detail. It is almost as if they stumbled on something which they had not developed. Dan and I briefly entertained the thought of contact with another sentient species but there is no record of this. We have not dismissed the possibility that they encountered the Interference – this may explain how they acquired such a leap in technology without being able to articulate its development. This could happen without them actually knowing of the 'contact'."

The open mouths prompted Alex 2 to fill in a possible gap. "You may remember in my first address to your species, when returning with Copernicus, I made reference to other life forms, which like the Continuance, were designed by the Progenitors. It was not the time or place to begin subjecting humans to more information – confusion would have reigned. However, now that we are discussing something which can relate to these agents, it may be appropriate to elaborate. Interaction with the Continuance involves replication. The Interference is triggered, not by accidental contact but by an event or arising conditions. This can be in a positive or negative way, as observed from the viewpoint of the species involved. It is always directly or indirectly related to the eternal balance between the forces of dark matter and dark energy. At the level which the Interference or the Amalgamation would be summoned, it would be purely incremental in significance, yet worthy of acknowledgement. For events of greater magnitude the Elimination or the Subtraction would be required. The event to which Red has referred with the Rabo, in one way or another would seem to have offered an opportunity to 'tidy up' an emerging localised pattern of sporadic creation of dark energy. The acquisition of the technology by which the Rabo may have been selected, would be the propulsion method which creates that dark energy. That is why we have difficulty in reconciling their rather modest core technology with something so advanced. It is precisely this investigation which has resulted in my wish to be on Mars long before the next visit of the caretakers. There is considerable detective work to be carried out." The rapid fire questions were greeted with a shake of the head from Alex 2. "Anything further at this stage would simply be conjecture, we need evidence."

********

Dane was still a little way from Utopia Planitia and was in contact with Bee. Their routes were significantly different, and only the one which Stalker had followed had litter in the form of abandoned machines. So far he had needed two charging stops and estimated one more. He decided to do this next to the latest cluster of vehicles so that he could explore. They were much the same as previous types but he noticed a pole which was partly buried (as were the vehicles), and which had a 'sign' at the top. He contacted Bee via grid reference and discussed the symbols; they agreed that part of it indicated something akin to 'interval' or 'break'. Maybe it was a service station or meeting place. He communicated the relevant coordinates to the bridge builders who had now crossed the fissure. He recommended that they uncovered this relic with the earth mover if possible. They replied in the affirmative as their mini-convoy was on the move.

Bee was able to delve into nooks and crannies which Dan and Red had not had the time to map thoroughly. In one 'storeroom' there was a location chart for several stations, at other points on the planet, which were marked in the same way as the one Dane had discovered.

When news of this reached Carvalho he recalled the human contingent to Marineris Central together with Pascal 2 to discuss the implications. "The Rabo lair we have found may not be the only one, or the main one judging by the network Bee has uncovered. Their directions in the Rift screens may be specific to Valles Marineris explorers. We can expect some reaction to this from Beijing, so I would like us to pre-empt anything we consider to be whims rather than being relevant to completing our tasks."

The assembled participants other than Pascal 2 concurred. He postulated that there was more probability of valuable information available from studying all things Rabo than some of the mundane directives from Earth. "The main programmes of forestation and geological mapping are adequately resourced, whereas the accumulation of new data from the Rabo is burgeoning and can offer overall acceleration of objectives. The discovery of the machines is a perfect illustration."

This was another example of the Symbiants questioning human policy. Carvalho had no doubt Pascal 2 would defer if there was insistence to follow the original proposal, but he was uneasy about the situation. He decided to discuss it in private with the Symbiant.

********

The eldest son of Escobar had been taken out by a sniper while on a business 'holiday' in Miami. The local police had tried to keep the fallout to a minimum by publicly treating it as a conventional homicide, and the Feds had moved quickly to support this diversion while they fired up their network of informants in Columbia.

In the meantime Mike had recovered Scarlet O'Hara from the safety deposit box and was now well underway in extracting what was left of the lode from which they came in Saskatchewan. Drawing on the reinstated knowledge he had inherited on replicating Park, he wanted to contact Beijing to agree the next most promising site for evaluation. This was in South Africa – between Durban and Newcastle. Mpumalanga had considerable mining activity and was a major exporter of antimony ore. Park's geological overlay of the crustal rocks in that coastal region persuaded him to have this as number two on his hit list. Mike was asked to detour via Beijing to deposit his haul in safe storage.

********

Carvalho and Pascal 2 were not at odds; the Commander simply queried why the Symbiants appeared to be developing a need to subordinate everything to pursuit of the Rabo. "I know you will quote the promise they offer, but by your own admission, there appears to be a limit to that aspect if they did not 'invent' their propulsion system. Dan shared with me his theory that they may have encountered the Interference and been 'gifted' such assistance, so why the compulsion?"

"Yes, I can appreciate your confusion. It is not the specific knowledge they may or may not possess which drives us to investigate further, but the means of obtaining it. Your point about the Interference is valid; we do not have direct interaction with them and potential crossing of paths in this respect is very rare. The consequences, as well as the reason for them being assisted, are being flagged as crucial in our structured data assembly. The loop comes back to your species; if there is promise available via another species it has priority but if that species' promise cannot be optimally extracted by humans, we see an uplift in that priority. I think you will agree that all but a tiny fraction of the current knowledge about the Rabo has been teased out by Symbiants. By doing this we help you. You may recall Alex 2 mentioning to the original Copernicus crew that the Progenitors operate on a 'Triad' of possibilities. This matrix causes the various participants to assign maximum attention to their own intersection. You often refer to this as 'checks and balances'. It may prove less significant than it appears but it cannot be ignored."

Carvalho frowned. "Yes, I think I have convinced myself that I got all that. Seriously, it is helpful, but I only hope I convey it to the crew as well as I need to, thanks."

# Chapter 21

With normal duties resumed Radmanov was again making mischief at the Rift. While Nielsen was out of the communication loop and distracted by Finn, who claimed that there was evidence of lava trickle and solidification at one of the boreholes, Radmanov addressed Pykonnen, "Beth isn't going to be able to get on with the life she wants if you don't stop shadowing her every move."

Pykonnen's eyes blazed. "Just what the hell has that got to do with you?" The predatory scene he had envisaged gripped Radmanov. "Apart from thinking of her best interests, I'm also an important part of her life, in the way you crave to be. You don't get it do you? A woman like that has needs – especially stuck out here. Mars is a prison for her in many ways. Of course she has affection for you, but you don't register on the desire scale. You're wasting your time and quite frankly I have tolerated your creepy pursuit of her too long. This is a warning you should heed."

There was anger brewing in Pykonnen's gut, mixed with confusion in his mind. "What exactly do you hope to achieve with such a pathetic, delusional pipe dream – you and Beth....you are seriously in need of therapy. Keep out of my way."

"Oh yeah, so why don't you ask her about us? We've kept this between the two of us only because of the circumstances. However, sometimes the self-restraint is stretched beyond breaking point and the passion takes over." He flashed the photo of Beth's naked form in the shower room. "Like when we get the privacy to quench the desire - her desire."

It was an instinctive reaction. Jussi Pykonnen had never felt so much hate for a fellow human before. He swung his fist at Radmanov with all his might. The blow was eluded, and he spun off balance, rolling over some of the newly acquired rocks. One of them had a cut edge which was sharp enough to puncture the left leg of his suit. Radmanov alerted Nielsen, who remained frozen to the spot while he gazed at Pykonnen. Despite all the drills, in his distracted fury, Pykonnen's reflex response was an abortive attempt to remove his helmet to counteract the instant breathing difficulty. The calm, rehearsed simulations were supposed to mobilise the onlookers to instantly 'tourniquet' the breach. Nielsen assumed Radmanov had been affected by the suddenness too, and was in shock. Pykonnen died horribly but swiftly in front of them. It was some minutes before they recovered the composure to inform Finn, who made a hurried ascent. By this time Radmanov carried on with his convincing performance. He asked Nielsen what Pykonnen had been doing. "I have no idea – you alerted me. What did you see?"

"Nothing, well – I mean I was listening to Finn and watching him at the borehole, as you were, then I sensed a shadow moving behind me. When I turned I saw him tumbling, I assumed he tripped but I had no idea he had ruptured his suit. Jesus, why didn't I react? There is always a risk if you fall, I should have known I had to react."

Nielsen sympathised. "Hey, come on, I tightened up too, even when I realised what had happened. It was over in a split second."

It was plausible, in some way reinforced by Radmanov's recent Mr. Good Guy act. It also ensured that they would skip past the option to replicate the fresh corpse and consequent clarity of what really took place. He persuaded Nielsen to report it and the charade was complete, but for the distress he and Beth would share publicly when they returned to Central. All that remained was to destroy the photo.

********

The convoy had made good progress and uncovered most of the half-buried machines as they went. When they finally arrived at the station with the sign, they started to dig down to reveal the base of the pole. When the dig was about two metres deep they found a locked entrance. It did not need a code; the laser caused the closure to slide back. They entered and discovered it was a supply station. Like the lair, it had automatically activated entry lighting. The supplies ranged from spares for most machines to canisters of hydrogen, and replacement violet crystals for solar fabric. There were containers marked with the Rabo's diagrammatic representation of cellulose. They were empty. The Symbiants passed this on to Utopia Planitia for Bee and Dane – who had recently arrived, and Marineris Central. The rows of empty cellulose containers were concealing a Rabo corpse, which was spotted as they were preparing to leave. Although this one had not been preserved quite so well as the first (by the low temperature at the base of the chasm), its predominantly inorganic structure had helped avoid massive deterioration. The news of this find was transmitted to Scillacci and Pascal 2.

This would have been stimulating news but for the demise of Jussi Pykonnen. His was the second human death on Mars and both had occurred while Carvalho was on the planet. He felt some responsibility for both; he was the last person to see Alex Redgrave alive and he had authorised the work which Finn was carrying out.

Beth was in shock for the second time during her stay and this pushed her into declaring that she had to get out of this place. The witnesses were still coming to terms with their failure to help their colleague. Scillacci was more used to handling death but was not so professionally detached when it was a crew member. Finn and Pascal 2 had their silent communication. No one suspected it was anything other than a cruel accident. Beijing was informed and the impact was felt throughout the control team. Xiang was to travel personally to see Jussi's relatives after he had informed them by videophone.

********

The FBI had pretty solid information that three barons had collaborated to cleanse the market of the Escobar family. The two remaining sons had evaporated. The Feds were not especially upset that Escobar had gone but his removal did alter balance, and they would normally anticipate a surge in activity by the new consortium. Xiang had made contact with the bureau at the highest level to inform them of Escobar's interest in the Martian crystals. He made a request that their investigation covered the aspect that this new alliance may have discovered Escobar's partial success. He let them know that he had recovered all crystal found at the location; it had been stripped of its entire inventory. Although this specific example had been neutralised it did not rule out a mole in Escobar's trust who now knew the identity of the individual hired to execute the Columbian's quest, and other potential sites. Xiang's request was accepted.

Mike was in South Africa with all official documents for general geological permits. On this search he would go to a couple of decoy sites to make sure he was not being watched. He would also camp near to the site he was investigating – hotels could house these unwelcome observers. The other reason for the isolation of a tent was to prevent any of the public witnessing his attributes in dealing with any marauders.

********

Morale was at an all-time low at Marineris Central. Radmanov had his own agenda for requesting a return to Earth as soon as possible. It came across as stress caused by repetitive nightmares about his inability to save Pykonnen. Privately it was the second stage of his plan to attract sympathy from Beth, and it was working. As the body of Pykonnen had to go, and Beth had not changed her mind, Carvalho felt he had to accompany them. That accounted for four places out of the usual seven. Ari Nielsen wanted to stay. Sophia Scillacci was torn, on one hand she did not want to miss out on gaining more facts on the Rabo, on the other she knew the real interest would be when the caretakers came. She wanted to go back with Newton and return to Mars to meet the Rabo in person. She knew there was a risk that her replacement might be allowed to stay longer, but that duration would have uncharted physical effects so she took the gamble. Five down, two to go. Beijing would have something to say about the balance of human expertise left on Mars, including the new arrivals. It was a nervous time as well as being so downbeat. One person would perhaps benefit from this juggling act – Michael J Park was doing well in his preparation and his enthusiasm had kicked up a notch when he found out that the erasure of the Escobar family was gathering pace. Newton was still two weeks away and Carvalho insisted the best way for them to occupy their time was to concentrate on their duties. He, however, wanted to make a trip to the Rabo lair and return before Newton reached orbit. Nielsen asked if he could accompany him. Pascal 2 agreed to help Finn. They set off and followed the route of the Symbiants to the fissure bridge. The charging points were now spaced more sparsely, which added to the time the rest were left alone at Marineris Central. Radmanov's acting was superb. The two women spent a lot of time with him; they had decided he was still too fragile to be left for long on his own. Beth even suggested one of his first actions on Earth should be to see a therapist.

"I don't know, you were closer to Jussi than anyone, yet you are coping better than I am." She comforted him. "I didn't have to witness his horrendous passing the way you did, and you still have issues with your inability to help him. Nielsen had the same opportunity but has rationalised his inertia. You must seek help if you can't do likewise."

He feigned a couple of tears. "You are helping me with such understanding. You've also had to deal with your other trauma with your sister. This has made me resolve to do as you suggest, to see a therapist. I don't need to wait until we return; you are the best example I could have in overcoming this self-indulgence. If you are prepared to counsel me, only at a time of your convenience, I'll get through this. It's asking a lot of you, maybe too much."

"Not at all. You forget I wasn't able to influence Elke's accident or her recovery since then. I would've had trouble if I'd been there and felt as helpless as you did when Jussi perished. I'll set out some time for a few sessions and see how we go."

********

Aboard Newton it was more like a series of lectures than a space flight. The Symbiants were capable of directing operations and answering questions from the rookies simultaneously. Preparation for the now familiar despatch of Lander and cargo modules was approaching.

The inevitable revisiting of the Progenitors' various battalions' involvement in preserving cosmic balance was close to addiction. The humans couldn't really accept that the Continuance could know of these fellow cohorts but never have actually 'conversed' with them.

Alex 2 said they could not offer evidence; it was simply part of their programmed 1st tier data. He likened it to periods of human military history when communication was at an embryonic stage. There was knowledge of the far away enemy, but not the experience of contact. "That does not mean there never will be contact. The possible explanation of the Rabo having been influenced by the Interference may be a forerunner to such contact. All we know at this point is the probable methodology of the other agents. The Interference can affect a species without their knowledge. The Amalgamation would broker common interest between two or more species whilst remaining invisible to them. The Elimination could be perceived as a natural progression to becoming an endangered species. The Subtraction removes all knowledge of the existence, not only of the species, but in extreme cases the star system of their origin. I realise that this implies that the Continuance is the only agent with which contact is overt. That is also by design, as it is obvious that the progressive contact sequence means a more serious dot on the radar of the Progenitors. Then surely you must follow the logic that contact with the Continuance is also the only one which can be happenchance. It is therefore not only an opportunity but a warning. The only recipients of a warning who may benefit from it are those who comprehend it. Whether you want or are able to accept this does not change anything but your own survival probability. Simply interrogating the Rabo about this will be futile; we need to learn all we can about their past so that we can deduce more accurately if they have been affected by one or more agents. We know we can rule out the Subtraction, and by the same logic we can probably forget the Elimination; the caretakers could affirm this soon. That would leave the other three, which are not mutually exclusive. I hope that this has been helpful. We must now prepare for separation of the Lander and cargo modules."

# Chapter 22

Scillacci was beginning to think Radmanov should be responding better to the situation by now. She asked him to undergo a full medical examination to make sure there was no other cause for his depression. He was enjoying the attention and readily agreed. The thorough tests took a couple of days and involved some examinations where he was unclothed. There was nothing new in this for the doctor, but he apologised several times for moments of embarrassment. "Well everything seems to be functioning in that department." She laughed off the awkward moment. At the same time she suspected that he was enjoying it.

Finally she found some irregular results. They were predictive of a developing heart problem. A valve was apparently not functioning correctly and there were short periods of unsynchronised operation. She did not want to burden him with this right now; she would speak to the Commander and Pascal 2.

The convoy had assembled at Utopia Planitia and the reunited Symbiants were vacuuming the entire knowledge in the libraries. Red had done an intensive précis of them; now they had it all. Carvalho's group had contacted them to get as much translation as possible from their data banks on to the portable storage chips they had brought, which were compatible with human computers. He stressed that time was very tight for him to get back to welcome the Newton crew. He was informed that they had 'serviced' several of the Hindenburg type craft so they could return more quickly. "Fantastic. I would also like a chart of where these other stations are so that I can discuss more resources with Xiang when I get back."

"We have already done so," said Bee, "we have also studied the pattern and we immediately see a cluster of pentagons. The central space is quite large and we request one Hindenburg to set these coordinates and investigate. I can do this by the time you arrive."

"I'm afraid we have to get back to Marineris Central to meet the Newton crew."

********

Mike had spent time in his decoy locations without attracting any unwanted attention. He began to study rock strata a short distance from an old mine. He didn't have the advantage of access to analytical equipment, which Park had enjoyed in the Saskatchewan River Valley, so he would have to select samples for shipment to Beijing. Several days without any promising finds precipitated his intention to try the disused mine. Not too far into the gently sloping descent there was a branch in the tunnelling. One veered off to the right and the other was left – almost at right angles to the original direction. He opted for the left as it had a much steeper descent, and he was confronted with a man-made blockade twenty to thirty metres in. There was a notice warning of noxious gas. Being immune to such poisoning, he despatched the timber blockade with two strikes and proceeded down an even steeper slope. It was damp and there was the slightest hint of intermittent hissing. His night vision was able to pinpoint the tiny apertures from which the putrid gas was escaping with random discharges. The region was characterised as rich in antimony, particularly as the metal sulphide. He guessed the gas would be hydrogen sulphide. The tunnel stopped abruptly, the reason being a crevasse. Although the tunnel itself was about one and a half metres wide, the crevasse looked as if it extended well beyond the sides. It was also quite deep. His vision apparatus scanned for hand and footholds but there were none. There was no alternative; he would have to perform a very accurate leap to return to his current position. This was of course a pretty routine task for the Symbiants; however he didn't want to initiate any landslip activity. At the base, some eleven metres down, he could head in either direction. He went left initially and found some interesting multilayered stretches, and he drilled out samples. Returning to the right, the crevasse began to wind and narrow. The gas was much more prevalent here before a cavern opened up in front of him. There was a rumbling and he could detect the cavern floor shaking every few minutes. No wonder this was abandoned. This was a natural cavern and there was no evidence of the humans having ventured this far, because if they had they would surely have seen a seam of bright red crystal. It was a shallow seam, perhaps five millimetres thick, but it girdled the entire cavern. It took him twenty six hours to extract it all. He repaired the blockade as best he could on the way out and contacted Beijing as soon as he had signal. He was on his way back.

********

Scillacci wondered why there was no record of Radmanov's heart concern in the crew's medical database. Although it was in the early stages, it should have been picked up, as the selection check-ups were far more thorough than the ongoing measurements during the mission. She contacted Carvalho and without disclosing the worry she asked when he would return. He informed her of his Hindenburg transport and said he would be there well before the Newton arrival at separation coordinates. She was relieved to hear this and when he asked if there was a problem she replied in the negative. "I just wanted to clear something with you before preparations for those returning to Earth are made." As she made her way back to the medical station she decided to check the Russian medical authorisation for Radmanov to apply for the mission. It was also clear of any heart defects and was signed by Dr. Roman Velikovsky. She knew of him, he had regularly attended conferences and occasionally made presentations which she found informative. He was well respected – something did not add up. She was returning to her quarters and heard Beth talking. She didn't want to be caught eavesdropping so she casually called out to her, "Beth, I'm running medical checks for everyone who is returning to Earth; Beijing wants overkill as usual. We may as well get yours out of the way as soon as possible, and I'm afraid I'll have to produce more data for Radmanov too. The Commander will have to be rushed through when he gets back. I also have to provide data for myself via Pasc...... oh I'm sorry, I thought you were alone. Anyway I guess you both heard me, who wants to be first?" Radmanov pointed to Beth. "You mean that my checkup wasn't enough?"

Scillacci bluffed. "They want different information, more related to phases of the mission – during travel, low atmospheric pressure living, synthetic diet - all that stuff. It will be for their database bible, as if we don't have anything else to do – damned reports."

"Ok," said Beth, "let's get this over with; where do we do it?"

"Right here, I think you'll have to excuse us," she said to Radmanov, "I'll come to your quarters in about an hour."

"Ok Doc, I'll take a shower while you are checking Beth over."

********

Carvalho was briefed with the relevant data and was being piloted back to Valles Marineris by the Hindenburg. He was intrigued by the revelation of the cluster of pentagons of stations and even more so with what could be at the central hub of these outposts. Checking all unmanned photos taken over the last three decades produced an interesting possibility. The coordinates of the hub, 1 degree North and 278 degrees East, corresponded to a location known as Echus Chasma. This Martian feature was estimated to be 60-70 miles long, almost 7 miles wide, with a depth varying between three quarters of a mile and more than two and a half miles. It was part of Lunae Planum high plateau, which terminated in a vast cliff, dropping over two and a half miles directly to the ultra-smooth valley floor. This location was North of Valles Marineris and only about one third of the distance from the latter to Utopia Planitia. He wondered why the original directions from the Rabo screens had not revealed the closer settlement. This was a particularly valid question, especially as Echus Chasma was thought to have been by far the largest water source in the region. It had been suggested that it was the source of water for the Kasei Valles region which extends some 2000 miles to the north.

He desperately wanted to explore this puzzle by visiting Echus Chasma, but knew he had a duty of care to his Earth-bound crew and the family of Jussi Pykonnen. These musings seemed to shorten the trip back to Central, where he was immediately confronted by Scillacci. She insisted that he make himself available for the bogus 'medical'. When they were in private she told him about Radmanov's heart condition being covered up by Roman Velikovsky. "Can you think of a reason why he would do this? Could he have been mistaken? Could he have been instructed to do so, and if so, by whom?" asked the Commander.

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions except mistaken diagnosis – Velikovsky would not have made such an error. Perhaps you should inform Xiang before we leave for Earth."

Carvalho agreed. He also suggested she recall Pascal 2 from the Rift to discuss the mass storage of cellulose by the Rabo and the fascinating new information regarding Echus Chasma.

********

Things were getting hectic for Xiang. Having just returned from Finland, and the emotionally draining meeting with Pykonnen's family, including discussion on their wishes for funeral arrangements, his time was in high demand. The family had accepted his offer to have a memorial service in Beijing, which would involve recognition all over the world via television, then ship the body to his home for a private service. He had to begin arrangements for such a big event even though it would be weeks before Newton returned. He had also been requested to contact the FBI. The selection of the new crew for the next vessel was beckoning, Mike was back, and Carvalho had dropped a potential bombshell in his lap. The Radmanov saga had to be looked into with maximum discretion and urgency, with his boarding of Newton imminent. He had to trust someone with whom he had experience on this; it was not a task for an unknown quantity. Reluctantly he called Karl Koppelt. Although Koppelt had retired, this could be an advantage. He would be able to milk his former contacts in an unofficial, 'harmless' capacity. Koppelt's instinctive first question was, "Why do you have to allow him to come home now?"

Xiang was immediately on the defensive. "I don't, but what does it achieve by keeping him out there?" Koppelt saw this situation as if sympathy was not part of the equation. "There's no way I can discreetly find out what is at the bottom of this in time for you to decide on his return. You either let him come and import the concern on to Newton or you tell him to stay while we find out more. It's pretty obvious really." Xiang nodded. He subsequently informed Carvalho that Radmanov had to stay on Mars until the next shuttle (already named Columbus) arrived.

When Mike showed Xiang his haul of Scarlet O'Hara and confirmed that particular lode was stripped, he also said that the area may contain more. "This was probably the easiest to find. There are a lot of old and disused mines but I felt it was better to get back and get this lot into safe storage. It would be more efficient if your people can develop a tool specific to antimony detection, similar to a Geiger counter for radiation."

"That sounds like a long way off, even if they know where to start."

"I agree, but if these ruthless barons somehow get the composition details you may find they invest in this avenue; then we have a bigger problem." Xiang said he would initiate discussion. Mike said he would make preparations to head to Canada. "I believe it would be better to avoid travelling back and forth to the same location repeatedly; that may in itself arouse unnecessary attention." Xiang again affirmed the suggestion. He then returned the call to his FBI contact.

********

Pascal 2 joined the discussion over Radmanov's mystery diagnosis. He concurred with Scillacci that the results suggested a dangerous outcome if left untreated. He also found it difficult to believe it had been missed, although it was a genetically driven problem. "I cannot see any other reason than the one offered by Dr. Scillacci Commander. The checks we do are based upon a 'clean bill of health' at the outset. This defect has always been there although his current cardiac data we collect is no different from that which he had before the mission. It can only mean that the original screening which indicated a future problem but not a current one was 'doctored', if you will excuse the expression. If Dr. Scillacci had not been as thorough we would not have known of this aberration. Why it has occurred is more in the province of humans, it only confuses me. Of course if Radmanov himself knows why this was done, so would his replicant."

"Mmm, I'll give that some thought. He has to stay on Mars so I'll personally contact you if we want to question his replicant. I must confess that I've forgotten his name."

"Ruski, and it was Radmanov's choice," said Pascal 2

Scillacci frowned. "He's not going to take this too well in his current state of mind Commander, he could deteriorate further."

Carvalho took a deep breath. "I know, but if he knows he has cheated the selection committee he must surely know why. The involvement of a high-ranking Russian doctor will make Beijing nervous and I must admit the risk - if there is one, is more easily contained here than on Newton. We could do without this but we can't pretend it does not exist."

The discussion turned to Echus Chasma and Pascal 2. "I want you to oversee which Symbiants are to remain at the various locations we now have. Nielsen must go to Echus Chasma. When I meet the incoming crew I'll have to decide which other humans will go. I'm informed that Alex 2 and Red will go to Echus, presumably that means Dan is at your disposal. Beijing is pretty sure that it will be difficult to scale the cliff face, so they are recommending tackling it from two directions. These Hindenburg craft may prove that to be a false prognosis. I'll leave that to Alex 2."

********

Newton separated the two modules and sent them to different locations. The Lander with additional charging units and vehicles was needed at the edge of forestation closest to the fissure, and the flat pack assembly cargo was to be grounded close to Marineris Central in an accessible clearing which had been left in the forestation. They duly entered orbit and performed the habitat landing at the relatively crowded space between Central and the Rift. Now that they had giant domes they could afford to have one habitat at the chasm, so that the humans working there could get out of their suits during breaks.

The crew was met by Carvalho and Pascal 2. The two women and Radmanov remained at Central. Nielsen had been asked to return and was expected soon in a Hindenburg. The Symbiants at Utopia Planitia were also to return, delivering the remaining restored Hindenburg craft to Central, and those on forestation duty continued the expansion. Finn was already at the Rift and joined the greeting party. The habitat would be too crowded for the welcome so with a relay of vehicles they were relocated to the main dome. When Nielsen and the Symbiants arrived the speech could begin. The incoming crew had not been informed by Beijing of the Pykonnen tragedy and although this was a sour note on which to start, it underlined the safety measures which had to be stressed yet again. The details of all new information on the Rabo and the plan for delegating Human and Symbiant effort were disseminated. Carvalho had deliberately not yet informed Radmanov that he wasn't leaving.

# Chapter 23

The FBI network responsible for shadowing the younger of the two remaining Escobar sons had good and bad news. An attempt to abduct Jose-Maria had been thwarted and with the perpetrators believing that the Feds were hired family protectors, they were not too reticent to fill in some of the blanks. The two killings so far had been ordered because the targets had rebuffed messages that the new consortium wanted to discuss the turf boundaries, and the new market opportunity being pursued by Escobar senior. The FBI was to 'unofficially' detain these hit-men to hopefully convince their hierarchy that they had been eliminated. The distillate of interest to Xiang was that the consortium knew of Escobar's project. At the very least he needed to get Park on the next shuttle and alert Mike. As yet there was no way of knowing whether these people knew of Park's recruitment. Xiang and the Feds had to assume they did. Xiang could do no more at this stage than leave the Bureau to do its work, and they had a pretty good reason of their own for reeling in the bosses of this consortium.

********

Radmanov came lethargically to Carvalho's quarters. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Beijing has decided that continuity is required here on Mars. They want Nielsen and yourself to remain until Columbus arrives. They insist on me accompanying Pykonnen's body home and they want Scillacci to head up research there on the Rabo metabolism before the caretakers arrive. That leaves just one voluntary individual and they have allocated the slot to Beth on compassionate grounds."

Radmanov's recent dull eyes suddenly blazed. "And?"

"What do you mean – and?"

Sarcasm was added to Radmanov's changing disposition. "Well my arithmetic says you haven't accounted for the remaining three spaces."

Carvalho continued, "We are taking two Symbiants back to assist in an unknown project. Now, before you ask, you are part of continuity plans. I know there's one place theoretically available, but Beijing is also starting to increase both the length of tour and the number of humans on Mars. It is after all a colonisation programme and we can't just leave everything to the Symbiants."

"What the hell kind of continuity do they expect me to provide? It is a bullshit decision – everyone has learned the communication wrinkles – it's in their own interests. There is no security to handle at the same level you had with Copernicus. I'm basically redundant. I do not accept this judgement."

Carvalho asked him to keep his voice down. "Very well, they also thought that because of your recent trauma with Pykonnen's death you would be less affected if you came back at a different time. There will be lots of media focus on his body being reclaimed by his family."

"I don't give a damn about that; it was nothing to do with me. I am going back. You can't just play with people's lives like this. You or the morons back there should have consulted me about this. Go to hell."

The Commander reminded him to keep his voice down. "Well you certainly seem to have recovered from your depression over Jussi's accident, since you don't give a damn. You must calm down; remember, in this environment losing your head often equals losing your life. In the light of what you've just said I wonder if you ever gave a damn – even when it happened."

Radmanov started kicking objects within range and screaming that he had to go back with Newton. Carvalho had anticipated there may be a point at which Radmanov should be sedated and Pascal 2 arrived with the hypodermic. He gripped Radmanov's neck and subdued him instantly while the syringe delivered serenity. Others had been drawn by the commotion and Carvalho felt he owed them an explanation. They were stunned, especially Beth, but dispersed to get on with handovers and preparation for departure. The two Symbiants which Carvalho had referred to were Dane and Finn, who were replicants of Nielsen and Pykonnen respectively. The unknown project was to help Mike in covering the search for crystal. As Finn was an 'identical twin' it would surely cause some consternation to Pykonnen's family, so both were to be quarantined immediately on docking and then whisked away to Canada.

********

Newton departed and Carvalho reported Radmanov's antics to Xiang. "He became a madman when he realised he had to stay. I'm convinced there's something more than his changing emotions at Pykonnen's passing underlying his desperation to be back on Earth. He was kept under sedation while we left Mars, but I'm concerned about his behaviour when he comes off the medication. We have to find the reason for his violent response as it's totally out of character. Has Koppelt come up with anything?" The return transmission was worrying in its brevity. "No, he hasn't made contact. I'll get back to you."

Finn and Dane had their own silent discussion about this secret project – figuring out what it could be. The logical assumption was that the humans they had replicated both had expertise in geology and general science. They concluded that it would be prudent to assimilate maximum up to date Earth information before docking, via database interface. They put this to Carvalho and he requested a link to the Beijing Dreadnought. This was refused; the reply invited no further dialogue. "Appropriate modules will be extracted and transmitted. This will take some time."

Beth did not appear to be as excited as expected now that she was finally to be reunited with Elke. Scillacci asked why. The reply was interesting. "I can't seem to get the tortured expression of Radmanov out of my mind. I'm no psychiatrist but he seems to be having a breakdown. I felt there was tension between him and Jussi before the accident, but he seems to regret that deeply. It doesn't fit with his outburst that he no longer gives a damn." Scillacci, having detected the heart cover up, suggested that things are not always as they seem to be "What if it wasn't an accident?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm merely looking for explanations. When you listen carefully to the individual accounts of Nielsen and Radmanov, there are slight discrepancies, compared to when they talked about it together. Also, considering the personalities, I would have expected them to have exhibited precisely the opposite of that which they did. I don't think we've heard the last of this." Beth was silently digesting this when Scillacci intruded. "We have never really questioned the other party at the scene – Finn."

"Oh, but wasn't he unsighted?"

"Yes, however that doesn't mean he has nothing to contribute. We know the Symbiants have other abilities and they don't often offer information without being asked."

"Do you think we should question him?" Scillacci said she would suggest this to the Commander.

********

Koppelt called Xiang. He had put out feelers separately on both Radmanov and Velikovsky. The latter was squeaky clean and would never be involved in anything which would either endanger the patient or falsify records for political reasons. Radmanov, on the other hand, had not gained his rapid rise to stardom without accreting some internal reputation for utter ruthlessness. "Please bear in mind that these are perceptions. They don't take into account unknown circumstances. In Velikovsky's case – a threat to his life or that of his family could override any character analysis. The other guy is simply capable of anything, and examples will be there, but they are buried. I'll have to visit some old friends in Russia as part of my retirement 'farewell tour'. I'll report more when I return; I don't want to make contact from there." Xiang thanked him and brought him up to date with Radmanov's violent bust-up when he was refused passage back with Newton. "Very interesting, that may well help me, as there may be individuals who have been at the receiving end of this kind of tantrum, as his subordinates."

********

The Radmanov episode had shaken up everyone, including the new human arrivals. It also changed the remits of two of them. Carvalho had explained to Legrange and Van de Ende that the security aspect of communications had been negligible until the sedation of Radmanov. That had now changed. Legrange's computing skills and experience in a security-driven environment was to give him a direct line to both himself and Xiang. The latter would fill him in on the investigation in hand. Van de Ende would supply the communication hardware experience and also supervise work with one of the Symbiants on vehicle/machinery construction. Yamamoto and Keriakis would be going with Alex 2, Red, and Nielsen to Echus Chasma. There were eight recovered Hindenburg craft and more were on the way. Dan was going to work on the spares to try to increase their speed. Pascal 2 was the only medical presence and would remain as agreed at Central, directing Symbiant activity from there.

It had been debated which mode of transport should be used for the Echus trip. Until the terrain was charted, the air method was considered most likely to succeed. All five would enter coordinates for the cliff top. This was a late change of plan. When they could assess the means and interest levels of descending to the base, they would decide on who and how. Red had 'insisted' on this because the Rabo magnetic grid might be sophisticated enough to send the craft on two different routes if the hydrogen driven ascent was not feasible from the base to the plateau. They didn't want to be split up by default.

Pascal 2 asked them to delay the departure until he had revived Radmanov. When the drowsiness was shaken off he didn't immediately recall the event. He asked for Beth. When Pascal 2 delivered the news that she was aboard the returning Newton he couldn't suppress a few tears. He was surprisingly calm.

# Chapter 24

Scillacci had not had much chance to discuss the cellulose store with anyone but Pascal 2. She said to Carvalho that even if she was right about that being the fuel for the Rabo, there was still work to be done in figuring out how their rather simple looking holding and distribution system delivered the benefit to the rest of the body. She asked for Dane and Finn to be allowed to work with her on the mechanism. As Beijing was still procrastinating on the data module transfer, he agreed this should be done. Then she made reference to her discussion with Beth regarding her proposed questioning of Finn. "Ok, bring him to see me."

The three of them settled in the Commander's quarters. "Finn, it has been brought to my attention that maybe we didn't get as much as we should have from your observations of the accident at the Rift. Instead of asking you what you saw, Dr. Scillacci suggests there may have been other things you can recall which would help explain the outcome."

Finn replied, "Very well. What kind of observations?"

Scillacci intervened. "I think it would be important for us to hear an account of what you were doing immediately before the event, as it was apparently some minutes before Nielsen informed you of what had already happened."

"I see. Well, I was taking pressure readings, obtaining small samples of the solidified lava, and giving commentary to Nielsen, then answering his questions."

Carvalho jumped back in, "The questions were all channelled through Nielsen?"

"No. Mr. Pykonnen usually had more questions than the others, and just a few minutes earlier he had asked me if I could predict the rate of lava outflow over a prolonged period, from each borehole, based on the data we had collected. I thought it was strange that my reply did not provoke another question, as I estimated the pressure falls since the seepage to be relatively low, and the explosive eruption was still a real danger. When I suggested more boreholes should be considered he did not reply. Nielsen did not say anything either. I then realised that both Pykonnen and Radmanov were disconnected from the comm. loop. This is unusual, but before I could confirm that there was no fault at my end, Nielsen had asked if any of the solidified lava contained deposits which had survived the high temperature. I set off to do this and then I was summoned to the surface."

It was Scillacci's turn. "So they had switched themselves out of the comm. loop?"

"I believe that is the only feasible explanation."

Carvalho thanked Finn for his accurate recall of events. When the Symbiant left, the other two looked at each other and realised that the only two people who could comment further were on Mars. Carvalho was concerned. "I must contact Pascal 2 without Radmanov being able to eavesdrop."

Scillacci asked, "To what purpose?"

"We must let him know what Finn has just told us. I must be stupid – I just need to get Finn to contact him before we move out of grid reference range; that's the most secure way."

"Ok Commander, my questions will wait."

********

The Echus Chasma party had set off so Pascal 2 could only question Radmanov – Nielsen would have to wait. The Russian's mood had reverted to norm, but he was no longer agitated. His training effectively clicked in and Pascal 2 realised this was going be a calculated response. "Finn has recalled that Pykonnen and you were switched out of the communication loop just prior to Jussi's fall."

"Surely Finn doesn't really recall in the same way as humans do. He must have known that all along, if indeed he was right."

Pascal 2 conceded the point. "Yes of course, forgive my tendency to lapse into human expression. Nevertheless it would appear that this......"

"That this throws a whole new light on things. Isn't that what you were going to say? It staggers me that humans have so easily come to regard your kind as infallible. I couldn't remember at the time whether we were in or out of the loop. However, Nielsen contacted Finn, so if we were out of the loop my screaming would not have been heard. Yes - that must be correct. I had to tap Nielsen on the shoulder to get his attention. Anyway what does all this mean?"

"Well it just seems unusual and poor observance of the safety protocols. Did you not think it was strange that you would not be able to hear Finn relating his findings?"

"Perhaps it occurred just before the tragedy. I didn't know the comm. was out, so it can only have been an inadvertent error. I can't imagine why Pykonnen or Nielsen would do this, and Finn would not do so without clearing it with someone. Am I missing something? I just get the feeling the way this discussion is going you suspect the fatality was not an accident."

Pascal 2 said he wanted to check this out with Nielsen when he got back. "It is only a case of explaining a curious observation."

"Sure it is – Finn would not have coughed this up on his own initiative, he must have been asked. You seem to forget this kind of investigation is what my entire career has been about. Beijing will be behind this – they are obviously not happy with the reports. As you know I'm not about to leave the planet."

********

The journey to Echus Chasma revealed several obstacles to ground routes, none of them insurmountable, but one stood out as the best compromise between distance and ease of construction. Of course if there was nothing of interest there, the choice would be irrelevant. When they arrived it was, if nothing else, a breathtaking sight. Not only was the drop from the plateau to the base a sheer one, but the smoothness and extent of the floor, was ultimately bounded by ornate rock formations. The hues reflected by the watery rays of the setting Martian sun were primarily of mottled black, red ochre and regal purple. Behind them the same mini-kaleidoscope identified the outline of the chasm. One decision appeared to have already been made for them. Whilst there was no sign of any Rabo outpost in the immediate vicinity of the chasm, just as Candor was home to their screens, so was Echus. The tell-tale aquamarine flashed its presence along one side of the rift. They secured the Hindenburgs.

They set off, armed with multiples of both types of laser, and the scent of further revelations. Even though this chasm varied in depth, and was much shallower than Candor, it was still too risky for the humans to attempt descent in suits. The cameras, although brilliantly clear, seemed so second-hand when it came to delivering reality.

Alex 2 and Red found a series of ledges which made the descent a sequence of leisurely but accurate jumps. They could only count five screens compared to the fifty-five at Candor. When the first did not activate, they assumed they had started at the wrong end. As they made their way to the other extreme they noticed two typical Rabo entrances cut into the rock either side of the central screen. When the lasers did not open the doors they were not surprised. Previous experience suggested there would be a code. The screen at the far end did activate in the anticipated two stages, one with each type of laser. Stage one confirmed that this was the central point with respect to the pentagons, and the second had the code, which was different only in detail from the ones they had cracked at Utopia Planitia.

When they returned to the doors, they were open. They assumed that this had been triggered by the screen activation. The subdued lights were already on. The Symbiants confirmed to the humans they were now entering the first 'hall'. They immediately heard the atmosphere controls starting up and proceeded to the anticipated door to the inner chamber. The expected need for the code did not materialise; the door opened and closed behind them as they entered. A slight concern fell over them as to how they would get back out if no code was required.

********

It struck Pascal 2 as strange that neither Carvalho nor Beijing had asked for Radmanov's replicant to be questioned. Although he would not be of help with the incident at the Rift - if there was concern about his faked medical - the Symbiant would be able to explain it. That is unless Radmanov had asked him to erase specific data. It was rare for Symbiants to take unilateral action but he rationalised that the colony could be in danger. He asked for Ruski to return from forestation duty. When he arrived, Radmanov was summoned. He didn't seem perturbed by Ruski's presence. Pascal 2 asked Radmanov if he would mind Ruski being asked a few questions.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get around to this. I can also guess that you are curious to know why I volunteered for replication. Well I can save you some time. It wasn't done 'in the spirit of the mission'; it was a necessary fall back for the recovery of any important information in the event of my demise."

"Fine," said Pascal 2, "I shall proceed. Ruski, what do you know of Radmanov's heart condition?"

"It would have eliminated him from the selection process."

"So why he was not eliminated?"

Ruski did not hesitate. "The signature of Dr. Velikovsky was appended to the altered medical report."

"What do you mean by appended? The doctor did not actually sign it?"

"No, his signature was submitted many times to officials in the Russian foreign office. It was merely copied and pasted." Radmanov smiled and appeared to be enjoying the proceedings.

Pascal 2 resumed. "Do you know why?"

"Yes, the secret service had to get him on this mission."

Pascal 2 stopped the specific questions and asked Ruski to elaborate. "Very well, the secret service had discovered through one of their agents that an unnamed oligarch was planning to obtain classified information from the Newton mission. Radmanov was to be installed on the mission to monitor this so they could identify this oligarch. The stealing of this information would, if discovered, throw suspicion on the Russian government. They knew from their agent how the information could be obtained and how it could be coded. They needed to know when it would be transmitted. They knew the first recipient but then the trail went dead. The Russian government could have taken their concern to the executive of the big four as it then was, but they wanted this oligarch for other suspected anti-government plans. They saw it as an internal problem and did not want any embarrassment."

"Is that all, Ruski?"

The Symbiant looked at Radmanov, who nodded. "No, the information was to be obtained and sent by Beth Eisentrager. The prime recipient was her sister Elke. However the diving accident compromised the plan until her sister's recovery. Radmanov was to strike up a close friendship with Beth and one whereby they would stay in touch after returning to Earth. This would allow him to work with other agents to track down the oligarch."

Radmanov interrupted. "This was all going pretty well until Pykonnen fell in love with her. I had to try to ruin that relationship and that's what was happening at the Rift. I got him so mad by showing him a nude photo of her in the shower and told him to ask her about it. He reacted more violently than I expected, trying to hit me. As I evaded the blow his momentum carried him to the rocks and the fatal puncture. Now you have prevented me from completing the arrest of the person who will benefit from her information. It was also why I was installed as the communications officer, so that I would know precisely what she sent. Now it would appear to be your problem." Pascal 2 asked if she had the information with her.

"Yes, we knew what it was before the mission, but she's been unable to transmit. It was the analytical composition of Scarlet O'Hara."

"Surely this oligarch could have sponsored that to be stolen from Beijing."

"Of course, but that would be a much more difficult task and with the risk of a whistle-blower emerging from within. It's a routine task now on Mars and yet it has limited access. Beth was a computer expert of the highest capability."

Pascal 2 ventured another question. "And the oligarch's purpose?" Radmanov nodded to Ruski again and the Symbiant said only one word, "Synthesis."

Pascal 2 responded, "But simple assembly of the crystal by Earth science does not include the replication initiator protocols."

Radmanov said that was almost irrelevant, the perceived value and proof of Beijing's seal of authenticity would only be offered to extremely wealthy people. If they couldn't make it work, it was their problem, as that was not part of the deal. "Extras cost more. You must also appreciate that this was an elegant and low cost way of obtaining an accredited priceless commodity

# Chapter 25

When this news reached Xiang and Carvalho they immediately transmitted a request for Pascal 2 to check the veracity of this with Beth's replicant – Bee. They asked for Legrange to be updated and for Radmanov to be kept away from any communication facility. A search of his quarters and lockers for hidden equipment was also to be carried out.

Radmanov considered this to be laughable. "You've wrecked my mission and at the same time got me off the hook as you acted without knowledge of it until you grilled my replicant. I'm on vacation."

Bee confirmed Beth's involvement but knew nothing of the Russian's brief. Xiang consulted Koppelt, who also saw the irony, and could not resist a jibe. "You want to hand this shambles over to someone who does know the ropes? Roberto, you know the price now has to be adjusted for inflation, don't you?"

"Ok Karl, but it's now on a results basis only."

"Nice try – you have nowhere else to go; you had better close this call before it gets another price hike. Seriously, if we want to avoid the Russians' embarrassment, I need some help I can trust. I want to allow the transaction to take place. Don't worry – I'll personally see to it that the information in the transaction is garbage. That's why I need the help at your end when Beth arrives. I'll get someone to call on you in Beijing just prior to docking. He will use the name Hanson. Please tell Carvalho and his people to back off Beth altogether."

********

Alex 2 and Red were confronted with a huge map. This had information about the pentagons and the 'structure at the base of the cliff'. The latter was more interesting right now. It contained dozens of chambers and they each had exhibits, which ranged from tributes and achievements of their leaders, through anatomical modification eras, to spacecraft design. They need not have worried about their exit. They had to proceed through to the other half of the complex. The counterpart antechamber contained a list of questions, which, when answered, presumably with acceptable accuracy, would yield a communication device to the Rabo themselves, albeit far away. The next door led back to the chasm. The ability to decipher and answer the questions implied that only a species with the 'right credentials' would gain access to the communication device. Before attempting the extensive list Alex 2 reported their findings to the humans above. He also said the code they had obtained must be for the vast hall and chambers at the base of the cliff. The drawings also indicated a door up on the plateau itself, but it was not clear whether this was an entrance or exit. There was a shaft directly below the door leading to the complex below – perhaps an elevator. Alex 2 asked the humans to search for this door while they tried to pass the 'exam'. The questions were in a progressively difficult order. They were in three sections; the first involved pure mathematics, the second related to calculations confirming the observation of precession, and the third involved the argument over the 'unbreakable' barrier of the speed of light. It struck Alex 2 and Red that they were intended to eliminate any life form which had gained entry by brute force or with the assistance of natural upheaval of the terrain. The first two sections posed no problems but the third produced a dilemma. The Symbiants still harboured the notion that the Rabo had been influenced by the Interference. The questions did not give Alex 2 or Red the feeling that the Rabo totally understood the questions themselves. Maybe they were still seeking answers themselves. They hesitated. Red suggested that as the transmission was likely to be radio waves or some similar approach, it would take ten years at the speed of light to reach Epsilon Eridani and longer to the Gliese system. These were the only known settlements outside the solar system. The caretakers would be here before they received the message. It could wait – at least until they had explored the chambers at the bottom of the cliff.

Nielsen reported that they had found the door but it would not open with the lasers. Alex 2 acknowledged this and said they were on their way back from the chasm.

********

Koppelt had two names from an old adversary in Russia. Yelena Ledovskaya had worked tirelessly for the motherland without the recognition which she felt she deserved. When Koppelt had explained the rudiments of the plot, without names of people or description of the information to be retrieved, he was selling her an opportunity. He had convinced her that her government would be grateful for avoidance of embarrassing involvement. She only had to deliver the name of the oligarch responsible, get them to contact Koppelt, and he would confirm that the information had been intercepted and the personnel neutralised. They would already know these people but would probably deny it. They would possibly check if she knew them and he would verify that she did not. It meant that instead of them believing their preventative action had failed, they could report the opposite.

The two names she gave him were both living outside Russia, which she believed was the only way they could have set up the plan. One was wanted to face charges of corruption, but they had been unsuccessful in extraditing him. The other was free to travel in and out of the country but was constantly under surveillance while he was 'home'.

Koppelt would have to cover them both. He had also taken into account that as Beth could no longer use the routing through Elke, there would probably be another conduit. The oligarch would not entertain direct involvement. Then there was the question of her payoff. It would be pointless to go to these lengths to give the Russians bone fide deniability, and then prosecute Beth, with its attendant exposure. He decided that she would not receive her payoff, as she would know that only her silence would prevent her family being disgraced by a prosecution.

Alexei Vanovyvic was basically exiled in Kuwait. Mikhail Korolev travelled between London, Geneva and St. Petersburg continually, and he had residence permits plus substantial properties in each location. When Koppelt reported this progress to Xiang he said he could handle any Korolev link. He was pessimistic about Kuwait. Xiang told him that he knew someone who could help, and to expect contact soon.

********

It felt like a long flight on Newton with the Symbiants silently devouring every module from Beijing and then raising multiple questions arising from the data. Carvalho and Scillacci were walking a mental tightrope to avoid giving Beth any clue that she was under scrutiny. She was however, at last shedding guilt over both Pykonnen and Radmanov. She had, for the first half of the journey repeatedly requested to see Pykonnen's body. In her words it was 'to remind her of what might have been'. Quite suddenly the need evaporated – she preferred to confide in Scillacci, who noticed these tete-a-tetes invariably detoured to the doctor's medical expertise on the 'physiology' of the Symbiants. Scillacci alerted Carvalho to this and they reported it to Beijing but the reply was absolutely clear in its directive. They were to act normally to this as with everything else; she must have no reason whatsoever to think she was being watched. She had to arrive in Beijing utterly certain she had got away with her prized intellectual property theft. Scillacci and Carvalho understood all this and complied, yet they were intrigued as to why, after all this time, she took such an interest in the 'chemistry' of the Symbiants. Pascal 2's statement to Radmanov that the raw analytical composition data would be devoid of replication mechanics echoed in their thoughts.

********

The gathering at the door on the plateau was debating the options. The consensus was reached swiftly. If the door could not be opened from the plateau to give transit flexibility between this point and the base via the shaft, then some of them would need to descend with their Hindenburgs. It was important to have a Symbiant in each location in case Rabo translation was required to open the door from above. Red and Nielsen would descend and report to the others as necessary.

When the two of them reached base they both remarked that the smooth surface was divided by a perfectly straight line running away from and perpendicular to the cliff face. They proceeded to the massive facade with its indented 'entrance'. They were relieved that the laser lit up the now familiar Rabo symbols. The code was input and the two halves of the impressively accurate parabolic slabs of rock began to part with an accompanying rumble which conveyed success to the gallery above. The initial chamber was lit, but appeared to be subdued compared to the previous one. It was also extremely regular and so clean cut that it ruled out any thoughts of a naturally occurring cavern. There were multiple 'signposts' in this gargantuan hall, each had some kind of routing diagram, like those of human underground transport systems. They could not make good contact with the others with the comm. so they had to rely on the Symbiants' technobabble. It was difficult to know where to go first, even if they knew how. They searched for anything which resembled the door on the plateau. They deduced that maybe this 'building' was multi-storey as well as multi-chamber, and decided to try to work their way upwards. They eventually found a console which was promising. Red concluded that the massive structure was a cube, and the three-dimensional coordinates were prefixed by a colour, denoting a sector where there would be ascent/descent shafts. There were nine vertical coloured sectors, utilising the seven spectral hues plus black and white. Each sector had nine levels and each level had a central shaft, plus a set of stops for each level, and another horizontal circuit of the coloured sectors. The white sector was central and was the only one with a tenth level. Red remarked, "The tenth level in the white sector must be the access to the plateau door. It is a complete departure from their obsession with the number five."

"Not complete Red," chirped Nielsen, "look at the outline of the colours, there is a cross depicted from the four mid-side colours passing through the central white sector. Perhaps there is some connection or differentiation of these sectors."

"Maybe," conceded Red, showing no embarrassment at having dismissed such a tenuous link, "let us try to ascend through the white sector."

The colours forming the cross were yellow, red, green, blue and white, whereas those occupying the corner sectors were orange, indigo, violet and black. Nielsen could not shake off the fascination with this. He felt it was deliberate because the console diagrams had a delineating line of black running around the outline of the cross which changed to white at the intersection with the black sector. Why bother with this if it meant nothing?

********

"Mr. Koppelt, my name is Sadat. I was asked to contact you regarding an Alexei Vanovyvic."

"Yes Mr. Sadat, I would appreciate any information you may have or can obtain on this man. Also, I need to be able to track his movements and those of any contacts he may make."

Sadat took some time in replying. "I can tell you that he is tolerated in Kuwait. His mother is Kuwaiti but he has been refused dual citizenship many times. He has a valid visa and his mother inherited considerable estate from her father's passing. There is an imposing property included in the inheritance which he uses. He does not appear to travel outside of the USAr. He has a Russian wife and estate lawyer, and the latter often journeys between Kuwait and Moscow. As far as tracking him is concerned, that would be better left to a Kuwaiti national, for many reasons – not least that your people would not really blend in there. This could be arranged but may take a little time. As I have said, he is already being scrutinised continually. I am led to believe that this is because most of the oil sheiks are nervous of his intent."

"Well that is fantastic Mr. Sadat. If he is always being shadowed, it removes my concern. He would perceive this as more of the same if he suspected surveillance. Thank you for your invaluable help." Koppelt was relieved as he was receiving reports that Mikhail Korolev was proving to be very elusive. Blacked out vehicles, emerging from private estates, with some frequency, rendered it almost impossible to know whether he was inside. He was going to need more manpower.

********

As Red informed Alex 2 of their intent to ascend to the door he simultaneously opened the way with his laser to a red sector 'tram'. When they had entered a number of options flashed on the map and others remained unlit. Without hesitation Red entered the white, then the sector route icons and ultimately the centre three-dimensional reference values. Off they went with silent efficiency. Upon arrival and exit from the tram, they were confronted with an additional choice – a tram to one of the pentagons. Nielsen was modestly proud of out-guessing the Symbiant. Red was quick to acknowledge intuition was for once ahead of logic drawn from experience. "You were right Mr. Nielsen, this means that there should be a direct tram to another pentagon from somewhere in the red sector. We just did not find it yet."

Nielsen was magnanimous. "Quite understandable really, they are very large sectors."

Having located the central vertical tram they found the ascent was almost without sensation, yet they arrived in a few seconds. It did not require a code for the door; an internal 'switch' did the trick. The awaiting trio beamed as they emerged, as this meant they were not dependent on the Hindenburg craft for the rest of the exploration. When asked about the pentagons, Red said they did not yet know anything about their function. He added, "The priority must be to explore this complex; it is massive and must contain crucial information."

# Chapter 26

At last Newton was nearing docking preparation. Beth was visibly more upbeat as the prospect of seeing Elke again edged closer. Scillacci found it difficult to look at her without betraying the suspicion in which she was now held. Carvalho was more circumspect – entreating her to take some quality time with her family before re-engaging her career. "Have you decided what you'll do?"

"No, but I have decided what I will not do. I won't be taking up any position, no matter how interesting or rewarding, which completely cuts me off from my sister. I have, according to my father, some lucrative offers pending, but I will take my time." Carvalho pressed a little further. "You mean you won't work outside of Germany?"

"That's not what I meant. On Mars there was no way back except via mission return. I did resolutely waive the first chance to come back but it was the most difficult decision of my life. I would, however, like to think something will whet my appetite in Europe."

Scillacci jumped in, "The Commander has suggested that, apart from attending Jussi's memorial service in Beijing, if the family are willing, we should go to the real funeral in his homeland. I agree."

Beth stuttered at the sudden predicament. She had just confessed that she stalled coming back to see her sister (presumably before she had obtained the analytical data), and Pykonnen's funeral in Finland was fixed. Her dilemma was two more days waiting to see Elke, or seeming pretty shallow by missing the send-off of someone for whom she confessed she had feelings. "I'll have to think about that. I must admit I feel I should go, but I..I, I am torn... I think I have already committed to be at my family reunion. I should have thought... er... considered this earlier. I'll try to see his family at the memorial service and apologise. Do you think they will understand?"

Carvalho genuinely scolded her. "Well I'm sure they will. After all, they don't know you, whereas we perhaps had expected more. Never mind, it can't hurt Jussi anymore." The Commander left to speak with Dane and Finn. Beth poured out the tears. "Oh Sophia, do you feel the same as he does?"

"Not quite," lied Scillacci, "it's just a surprise – as we are going as colleagues – whereas you had an emotional bond with Jussi. I try not to be judgemental in these situations; I've encountered all kind of reactions in my medical career, so I tend to take professional distance when the deceased is discussed. You have to do what you have to do."

********

The exploration team had descended in the tram to the ground floor and split into two groups again to begin mapping this great centre of learning. The first blank which was filled in was a dedicated console showing that the dividing line outside was in fact a huge set of horizontally opening doors. However there were so many inviting areas that they agreed to get a general feel for all sectors before getting into minute detail on any. As the revelations in the chasm had promised they were logically segregated. The red sector in which they now stood was dedicated to information about their history seen through the leaders of the time. There were distinct differences in physical appearance through the ages according to the visual representations which were displayed. The yellow section complimented this somewhat, with the periods divided by explanations of these differences, and why they had been implemented, rather than a natural evolvement. It could be viewed as 'transplant' history. The green section was devoted to the age of the sphere, almost 'religiously' delineated from previous eras, in the same way as humans talked of dates as either BC or AD. The blue sector dealt with the codification of principles by which their evolution had been shaped, not exactly laws but accepted practice. The white section was confined to space exploration and the breakthrough which enabled them to embrace interstellar travel. Also the white sector had a control section for the massive outside doors. The irresistible urge to open them materialised in the exposure of a huge silo; it had mounting platforms capable of housing machines which would be of awesome proportions. The platforms were empty. The white section also told of a pentagon manufacturing unit associated with this sector. It struck Red, because of his experience at Pandora's Rift and Utopia Planitia, that the Rabo input for the trams was much simpler. He knew that the three dimensional coordinates specified the location within the cube without the need for colour or level input. He pondered whether this meant that there were different groups of individuals, categorised by aptitude, some of whom would struggle with the retention of all possible 3D references within the cube.

********

Pascal 2 had been informed by the Symbiants who studied Utopia Planitia that all possible data had been extracted. He then instructed Bee and Ruski to organise the final trip. They were to bring as many Hindenburgs as possible using the earth movers and other ground traffic via the new road. They were to leave the odd vehicle along the route at intervals similar to the charging stations to cover for emergency or breakdowns.

Once this was achieved he wanted those Symbiants to be available for forestation or transfer to Echus Chasma. The forestation growth continued to impress – it was beginning to be self-generating and just needed a final push to achieve this objective. Its own climatic cycle was slowly but steadily raising oxygen and condensation levels. There was also tenuous evidence that sub-surface soil temperature differences were diminishing between night and day.

The rock sampling at Pandora's rift had been virtually completed before Finn had left for Earth. Dan continued the monitoring of boreholes and implemented Finn's recommendation to drill more. The ice water supplies were mounting and Dan asked Van de Ende to use one of the small pumps, delivered with the flat pack cargo by Newton, with a tube heated by some solar fabric from a spare Hindenburg, to drain it away from the hot spot. The objective was twofold – to avoid cooling the boreholes and produce a reservoir which could supply Marineris by pipeline in future. He registered the need for a large suction pump to be added to the cargo of Columbus.

********

Sadat's people had really done a job on Vanovyvic. They had even managed to obtain data hacked from his computer system in Kuwait. However, the comprehensive operation had not yielded any indicator which would throw specific suspicion on him in this plot. The picture on Korolev was becoming more interesting. One of his trusted aides was a Russian living in Germany. Her residence permit was granted recently and Koppelt switched his attention to this woman. He checked her out with Ledovskaya, who did not recognise the name but promised to ferret out any links with Korolev.

Within a couple of days she revealed that this woman was kicked out of the Russian secret service early in her career. She had operated in Britain and was suspected of being a double agent. As she was pretty lightweight, in fact little more than a trainee, it had not required her disappearance. She was fed disinformation and the British washed their hands of her; on return to Russia she was declared unsuitable. She had changed the name she used, but not through any official channel. She now called herself Caterina Tsiolovsky. Koppelt was sure he had Beth's new contact and although it was a gamble, time was not on his side. He decided to concentrate all surveillance on Beth and Tsiolovsky.

********

Xiang would have liked to have been able to simply bask in the abundant and exciting revelations at Echus Chasma, but the imminent arrival of Newton, the Columbus crew announcement, the FBI involvement, Mike's lone task, and Koppelt's updates, all ensured he was burning a lot of nervous energy. He also had the small matter of Pykonnen's memorial to oversee. The family members were already in Beijing to witness the transference from the space elevator to the place of prominence for the ceremony. He had instructed Carvalho to detain both Finn and Dane on board until the body and the family had been united and moved on. Then the two Symbiants would be collected by medical staff and escorted to quarantine. They would not be exposed to the media at any time. A private jet would whisk them from quarantine directly to Quebec, where Mike would take care of the rest. Once Scillacci, Beth and Carvalho had cleared decontamination they would have an obligatory session with the media. Beth was then expected to attend the memorial before making her way to Germany under Koppelt's microscope, while the other two would be required for further briefing.

********

Xiang had confirmation that the FBI had rounded up those fronting the consortium. This was a big success for them on the drugs front and bought some time for Beijing with regard to Scarlet O'Hara. However, there was still the Russian, and he could inspire those who would be prepared to deal in the crystals, even though he was not in the drugs market. He decided, after consultation with Alex 2 and the Executive that a statement would be released to the media. It read - 'There has been much speculation concerning the red Martian crystals and their ability to replicate life forms. This speculation increased as a direct result of the live replication of Suliman Ali following the return of Copernicus. It is necessary to correct some of the misconceptions which surround these crystals. Although the composition is known but classified, we can absolutely allay any fears that the Council for Human Exploration, governments or individuals can manufacture them from this data. The chemical ratio of elements is simply the 'skeleton' of the crystal. The replication mechanism is a development of the Progenitors and that knowledge is exclusive to them. Even the Continuance does not have access to this fundamental information'.

Although he expected some interpretation that this statement was a cover up or economical with the truth, it was reasonable to believe it would prompt any new entrepreneurs to check the facts before entering an imaginary market, the downside being that if the message was successful, there would a refocusing by the same people on finding crystal of Earthly origin.

********

Alex 2, Keriakis and Yamamoto reported that the top three levels of the coloured sectors forming the cross seemed to be 'offices', as they had small aquamarine screens at every station or desk. The three floors below that were reminiscent of planning or research; and the bottom three were for receiving and distributing goods, within and onward from the cube. Red and Nielsen had by then determined that the black, orange, indigo and violet sectors were living quarters. The first impressions, back at Utopia Planitia, that the Rabo did not seem to have a hierarchical civilisation, were wrong. The black section contained the most spacious and elegant living space. The violet sector was less ostentatious but still quite roomy. The indigo accommodation was functional without frills and the orange section offered only basic needs and space. There was still much to explore in this vast construction but there was also the lure of the pentagons. Since they had a very good general outline of how the cube operated they opted for the pentagons, and the white one had to be first.

As they arrived they suffered an anti-climax; this pentagon was small in comparison to their interpretation of data at the cube. They were guilty of premature judgement. This pentagon was the inner arrival/departure zone of a colossal manufacturing complex. The adrenalin levels rose again when they saw components of spacecraft and assembly plans; it appeared as though they were just waiting for the new shift to arrive and put them together. It took them hours just to walk around the perimeter. This was too important to delay informing both Marineris Central and Beijing. Pascal 2 duly passed on the breaking news, and this was beginning to snowball on Earth as an equally significant moment to the discovery of the Continuance.

# Chapter 27

The Beijing service for Jussi Pykonnen had inherited an additional dimension with the Martian discoveries at the cube and pentagon. It forced the usual speeches into a subordinate role. His life had not been terminated without purpose; he was an integral part of a new gateway for the human race. His family could scarcely concentrate on events because of requests by the media for interviews and future rights to his life story. It also prompted Beth to declare that the family should be given private closure. "I honestly feel, Commander, that you and Sophia should reconsider your intent to burden Jussi's relatives further with the presence of outsiders in Finland. They have been overwhelmed by this circus and the least they deserve is to be left alone from here." She was feeling good about reversing the mantle of guilt.

"You're right Beth. I can't deny what you say. Anyway I guess Xiang will want to get this briefing over quickly. I hope all is well with Elke and I'd like to think we will stay in touch." He gave her an enthusiastic if insincere hug.

Scillacci said that there was no need to repeat Carvalho's sentiment and she wished her all the best in whatever career she decided to follow. They kissed each other on both cheeks and then Beth walked away; she did glance back and wave. There were no tears. As she checked out of her quarters later, and came to her pre-booked taxi to the airport, she at last breathed a sigh of relief. It was a relief which lasted no more than six short minutes. She recognised the man who entered the cab from somewhere, yet protested that it was a private booking and she was in a hurry, with a flight to catch. The driver shrugged his shoulders innocently and the 'intruder' showed her his accreditation as Hanson, working for Beijing intelligence. "We are going to the airport Miss Eisentrager and you will not miss your flight. We will need to have a short meeting there and all will be explained."

Her mind was racing. Were they onto her? Why did he say she would not miss her flight? Was it in connection with Jussi's death? Why did he not contact her at Beijing HQ? There was no further conversation en-route to the airport. He paid for the taxi. He hailed a porter and instructed him to take her luggage to a private room. They followed behind. Her silence gave way. "I must check my luggage on to the flight."

He ignored the request saying only, "Follow the porter."

As they entered the room her heart sank. She was greeted with a smile and cursory welcome from Koppelt. Hanson left them alone.

********

The Rabo spacecraft assembly charts were incredibly detailed and painstakingly explained except for the means of moving from departure point to destination. The procedures of incorporation and principles of operation were there, but not the actual theoretical laws of physics which enabled the energy required, either in quantity or source. This more or less confirmed to the two Symbiants that there must have been a 'gift from the gods' somewhere along the line. However, that in itself was a paradox if that gift had come courtesy of the Interference. Their understanding was that one criterion for their involvement was a basic comprehension by the species of the subject matter under scrutiny. Although the Rabo had achieved some creditable technical success, there was no evidence yet that their evolutionary research had advanced far enough to be an acceptable recipient of such a favour. Red and Alex 2 conferred and decided that there might be some clue to this in the historical red or white sectors back at the cube. Red left the group to do a thorough search on this specific point. Yamamoto and Keriakis stayed to catalogue as much as possible and attempt to find an exit leading to the surface. If there was no such exit the implication of how to get an assembled craft out would pose great problems. The only other possibility appeared to be time-consuming shipment of sub-assemblies to the cube and completion in the silo. Alex 2 and Nielsen returned to the inner pentagon and boarded a direct tram to the pentagon which connected to the blue sector. This pentagon was totally populated by offices and Alex 2 deemed them to be for Rabo 'lawyers'. This would wait. The next clockwise tram took them to the pentagon connected to the green sector. Again the assembly and highly detailed manufacturing flow charts of the sphere were in evidence, and this was partitioned from a clean room production line. However, there was a gap in explanation of the exact theoretical derivation of the knowledge. There were more than three hundred steps in the process. The next stop was the yellow sector pentagon connection. This was becoming a repetitive picture. The history of artificial transplant surgery was on show as well as the up to date (at that time) clinics with operating theatres. It looked like a fitting plant for an automobile carcass to inherit wheels, engine, steering etc. The missing explanation of the chemical background was less of a surprise this time. The last stop before returning to the inner pentagon was the red sector/pentagon. Both Nielsen and Alex 2 had waited until this stop before declaring that there was only an inner pentagon on the line from the cube's white sector. The others were missing this feature. This stop did not need too much in the way of technical elucidation; it was the equivalent of the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The exhibits were perfectly preserved 'mummies' and were arranged in a slightly menacing, upright stance. They were accompanied by plaques, denoting their span of office and achievements. Alex 2 remarked that the dates were only 'post sphere' era, implying that the previous leaders referred to back in the red sector 'library' were somewhere else, maybe even their homeworld.

The grid reference contact from Red was confirmatory. Having trawled many terabytes of information he had experienced, when travelling backwards in time, a subtle change from factual to mythical notation. A few 'dynasties' prior to the age of the sphere, the prominent astronomers predicted the cataclysmic implications from the behaviour of the gas giants. The Leader had listened carefully and accepted that unless they planned to leave the planet, the entire civilisation would perish. It was agreed that although this could not be achieved within his tenure, the programme would commence immediately. His legacy would be the survival of the Rabo. The tale went on to say that many failures and deaths were part of the price they paid to finally enable them to escape the gravity of the planet. However, the euphoria was short-lived when the astronomers reported that the planet had a new wobble in its orbit around its star, and that remaining time was shorter than anticipated. The scientists emphasised that reaching and settling another planet in the system was one challenge and only a temporary solution, leaving their solar system was another. Even if they had mastered the transportation aspects they would have to be physically 'reinforced' to survive the hazards of traversing such distances. Despair spread and reached epidemic proportions. The science community began to bicker and factions arose from the divide – there was challenge to science from those extolling acceptance of 'fate'. The tale took on biblical proportions when, just as Moses was confronted with the impassable Red Sea, one of the least pessimistic scientists declared to the Leader he had experienced a vision of utter simplicity. It was not something to be understood, it was just there and always had been. He prepared schematics which astounded his peers and doubters alike. He did get support from the ever increasing 'fate' membership. With everything and nothing to lose the Leader was credited and subsequently revered for his seal of approval to accept fate. The scientist however became the pivotal member of the Rabo escape from 55 Cancri. No individual, before or since, had been bestowed with the onerous title of Master of Fate. The schematics were employed to demonstrate orbital experiments to send a 'manned' craft to another star system and despatch confirmation of arrival and coordinates, which would be time-delayed. Although the schematics skated over the principles, they were said to be 'the most basic harvesting of cosmic energy in small, and then increasing quantities until spatial instability revealed a wormhole. Parting the galaxy seemed at least as significant as effecting the same gravitational improbability with the Red Sea. The tale went on and gathered more mystique as the vision had also blueprinted the degree to which natural evolution of the Rabo physiology had to be interfered with.

When Red had rejoined Alex 2 and Nielsen with the others at the assembly 'hangar', they discussed the 'new and old testaments' of the Rabo. The Symbiants, being big on facts and almost allergic to speculation, stated that no matter how they had arrived here, the Rabo had done so – fact. The same logic could be applied to the physiological journey; there were certainly distinctly different ratios of organic to inorganic components and they had survived both journeys – fact. Piecing together the rest and separating historical accuracy from mythology would be an arduous chore. They favoured researching the technologies to determine their validity and origin. Nielsen agreed but was cut off by Yamamoto, addressing Alex 2. "This confuses me. During the flight to Mars, you and Red were fairly confident that the circumstantial evidence up to that point indicated some possible interaction with the Interference. Since then there has been doubt about that because you do not perceive the plight of the Rabo as typical of a scenario which would attract the Interference. Exactly which logic is it you are promoting now? Before you answer, how about another species, not connected to the Progenitors, having the role of Samaritans. Could this not be considered? I fully support researching what is placed in front of us; we would surely do that anyway, but please bear in mind that successful research is based on facts leading to hypothesis. I can't help returning to Red's account, myth or factual, that we rarely see multiple paradigm jumps of such magnitude in an incredibly short time from such a modest starting point. I am aware of a commonly held view that paradigm intervals can shorten and progress to an exponential curve, but that is also dependent on the point of origin. Logic would dictate that intervention would shift the gradient in a way which is consistent with current observations."

Red did not take issue with this but maintained it did not affect the next steps dramatically. "If there was intervention, there could only really be two types – one which the Rabo were aware of and another they were not. The 'mythical' text is not clear on that. All we are saying is that as fascinating as the existence of a benefactor may be, we are more likely to discover the truth as consequence of structured research rather than research which is dedicated to pinpointing intervention as the objective."

They smiled and found a tenuous accord. One thing had changed as a result. They needed more personnel to tackle this multifaceted project.

# Chapter 28

Beth did not have to guess what the meeting was about any longer. Koppelt succinctly sketched in the damning evidence and affirmed that she would still make her flight, but with a new objective. "You are fortunate that I have influence over which way this charade will proceed. There are those who are in favour of making a watershed example of you and your traitorous family, with the appropriate sentence of incarceration for you and your sister, regardless of her medical condition. I take the view that your duty in considered hindsight is to lead us to the fountain of such treachery. You indicate your repentance by giving me the authentic information you were to deliver and I provide you with substitute data, albeit with the mandatory Beijing seals etc. You then continue as if we had never met, and make the agreed exchange. You will then be picked up to surrender your payoff and we take it from there. There is no room for negotiation and little time for you to make the flight – I would estimate perhaps eight to ten minutes before our substitute Beth Eisentrager boards in your place with valid documentation and a second copy of the substitute data. If you were to deliberate too long you will miss the flight and face the aforementioned prosecution. Please don't ask what you can expect as remission if you do as we ask. That will only be up for consideration after the entire plot has been wound up. All I can say at this stage is that it will not be so hard on your family. Anyway, here I am eating up your valuable time in arriving at a decision – we are down to about five minutes."

She slid the flash drive and signed printouts with the Beijing notification of receipt to Koppelt. He nodded and said, "We had better go. Please hand over any mobile communicators and we will take our seats together, we reserved them in advance; I hope you are comfortable with that. Make sure the body scanner doesn't pick up anything suspicious as we leave the room, or our offer will be withdrawn."

********

When Mike was joined by Dane and Finn they spent a short time updating each other as Mike was a replicant with Scarlet O'Hara from Earth origin whereas the new arrivals were from the Mars variety. It was of great interest to Dane and Finn that Mike had knowledge of earlier interaction with humans via the Sumerians. They wanted to know in what way those people were different from today's 'strain'. In trying to sum it up in one sentence he said, "Only incrementally in intellectual capacity, but significantly more complex in withholding or transferring information." He then updated them on the project en-route to his first chosen site.

********

Pascal 2 contacted Xiang to discuss the request for more 'manpower' at Echus Chasma. They agreed to relocate Dan to the site and temporarily shelve his work with the borehole project. Van de Ende was to accompany him. The site at Utopia Planitia was now unmanned and the Symbiants had transferred to forestation objectives. This left only Pascal 2, Radmanov and Legrange at Marineris Central. It also underlined the pressing need to either allow more replications or seriously increase the rate of humans being transferred to Mars. Carvalho had been persuaded to return to Mars with Columbus. Park had been included in the nominated crew. Scillacci now had overall responsibility for merging Isaakson's research with her own concentrated study of the Rabo's chronological metamorphosis. The Columbus crew had been selected on the basis that the humans currently on Mars had agreed to extended stays. Also with no Symbiants on this trip the human contingent in the colony would be significantly boosted. The whole programme had received a shot in the arm with approval of further construction of Martian people carriers as well as a concrete timetable of Columbus and Newton shuttles. The bias of skills to match this change of gear would see engineering rise to the top, to enable infrastructure planning.

********

The compliment at the cube was now seven and the workload was to be split into three areas. The priorities were simulated spacecraft, sphere assembly, and the understanding of transplant reasoning and its interface with the sphere.

Dan, Yamamoto and Van de Ende were charged with that considered most urgent – spacecraft, including the localised problem of transport/assembly. Alex 2 and Nielsen undertook the construction of a sphere, leaving Red and Keriakis to study Rabo physiology and feed information back to Scillacci.

One of Dan's first actions was to revisit the argument made by Yamamoto to his fellow Symbiants. He regarded this as essential in view of them both having propulsion as their main area of expertise. "I have some commonality with your view and I hope we can review this as we proceed. I liken the task to an example of human development; a child who has been educated to depend on an everyday calculator without a proper grounding in arithmetic roots can still outperform one who has had the benefit of both. The first child has no doubt or fear of the wrong result and can consequently often operate faster. While it can be argued that the second is more equipped to pick up an error, the real debate can centre on the reliability of the calculator. If we substitute any Rabo intervention for the calculator the answer to our conundrum may be implicit, as we can emulate both the first and second child." Yamamoto received this well and they started to call up the inventory from the Rabo computer planner.

Alex 2 and Nielsen initially focussed on the sequencing of the three hundred plus steps in the sphere and particularly the in-line tests prior to a completed component joining another in the flow chart. This appeared necessary because a number of junctions demanded rigid adherence to these fusion steps in terms of time delay. There were some seventeen in which exceeding the specified two-second maximum would result in failure.

Red and Keriakis began with the 'digestion' implant. The schematic indicated the physical breakdown of cellulose, to almost molecular units, had to be achieved to enable the correct rate and consistency of nitrogen absorption to feed the breakdown products on to the various organic nodes.

********

Having arrived in Frankfurt Beth was to proceed to her rendezvous with Caterina Tsiolovsky. A quiet city park in the twin city of Mainz had been designated. Both women were followed by their respective relays of agents and the exchange was recorded on several mobiles seconds prior to apprehending and arresting them. They were taken to separate vehicles and deprived of their merchandise. Beth was stripped of an extremely large amount of cash. Tsiolovsky was more confused than shocked. Koppelt turned the confusion to fear. "We will not waste time with how or why we were able to welcome you – we both know that. We now need you to explain exactly what the next step is and we will assist in you being punctual."

She was trained to answer a question with a question. Koppelt said he would indulge her with two questions then he would be obliged to burden the Russian authorities with her involvement in a serious crime. He then explained that she really ought to consider herself as expendable by her employer, and Koppelt would guarantee that she need not meet with him; he would take care of that once he knew the schedule. "You are pretty small beer in the overall jigsaw. We won't be shooting the messenger and the Russian officials don't need to know of your role." He then gambled. "We only want Korolev to be made to answer for his actions, and to the people he has transgressed against." He was able to gauge her reaction before she spoke; he was the man.

"Who are you?"

Koppelt replied with menace. "You should be relieved that we aren't the Russians, and you are well enough trained to know it is better that you don't know who we are. It is time to decide. Make the call or we make ours to Moscow."

Her nervousness gave way to surrender. "It is a little more complicated than one call. I am not an expert in chemistry. I have to deliver the information to such an expert in St. Petersburg and when he has vetted the content positively my role is at an end, I get paid and he deals with the boss."

"Very well, that means we have to travel together and we'll intervene at the appropriate time. You will then be free to go."

She asked, "Can I assume that the information is bona fide? Because if not both Beth and I will be at risk."

"Of course it is authentic, what kind of morons do you take us to be?" bluffed Koppelt. "Having an operation as important as this fail, because of an elementary blunder would not go down well. We need to neutralise the man in St Petersburg as well as Korolev, because of his ability to interpret and validate the content. Set up the meeting." She complied.

********

Mike led his two compatriots to the quiet location not far from South Ham, Quebec. There had been mining of antimony from Lac Nicolet in the past, however the indications from Park's research had suggested a semi-exposed ridge just over thirty miles away. Mike's initial scavenging had drawn blanks, so now that he had help, he could explore more of the submerged strata. The layering was very loose and easily checked; the problem was the possibility of landslides. This would have introduced an additional complication for humans but the use of technobabble meant the Symbiants could sequence the timing of extractions from different locations without being able to see one another. Warnings would be equally efficient. Several days of fruitless searches convinced them that this location was unlikely to yield crystal. Mike informed Xiang that they would move on to China, which supplied around eighty percent of the world's antimony. There would however be problems. The area to be investigated was vast and the Chinese had very rigorous permit checks. Fortunately Beijing, and therefore Xiang had a modest advantage in this respect, but it could involve medical as well as identity screening. They didn't want to alert anyone to the fact that these permits were for Symbiants.

# Chapter 29

The 'propulsion' unit was always going to be the most compelling stage. Van de Ende was therefore allowed to progress the more mechanical elements. Dan and Yamamoto had been presented by the computerised inventory provider with a host of cubes and plates. The black cubes were just under 0.5 of a metre each side. They were mirror-like, hard, lightweight units. To the human eye they were totally opaque; however the Symbiant vision apparatus determined they were composed of a myriad of tiny cubes, each with an oscillating plate inside. The attitude of these plates was always different to all six of its neighbouring mini-cubes. The large black 'parent' cubes were to be set between two grey plates which were described as particle emitters, targeted at two opposite faces of the cube. The schematic explained that the other four faces were to be complimented with receptor plates. This was called a cell. The resulting energy beam from each cell was to be focussed into a confined section to be prepared for exhaust. This section was to be calibrated with astonishing precision to the inlet section in terms of pulsed operation. At this point and throughout the rest of the schematic it was stressed repeatedly that under no circumstances must the cubes be activated until the craft was leaving orbit. There was a clue in this activation sequence of the Rabo knowledge level at the time. The inlet of 'empty' space to fuel this procedure was highlighted as a change in understanding. Prior to this project there was no conception that the 'vacuum' in the Cosmos was anything but nothingness.

The firing up of the emitter plates caused the mini-cubes to return a statistically regulated percentage of the level one excited particles to those plates, and the rest were directed to the receivers. As this was repeated, a controlled build-up of increasingly excited particles would cause the parent cube to become 'white hot'. The monitoring software would then synchronise the dimensionally opposed receiver plates in each cell to deliver their output to the exhaust section. When the velocity of the craft – powered by its conventional propulsion method reached the targeted value spatial distortion would commence. Telemetric data would categorise the unfolding picture as 'Active 1'. Further incremental velocity jumps would denote possible wormhole coordinates. Inlet – exhaust frequency had to increase commensurate with velocity. It was explained that wormholes were not necessarily permanent phenomena and consequently origin and destination could vary. This was all empirical stuff – there was a distinct lack of delineation of particles and energy calculations. Bearing in mind that it was recorded almost three million years ago, and assuming the Rabo had avoided extinction, it would be interesting to see if the caretakers had advanced in their understanding of the technology.

Alex 2 and Nielsen had done well. The production of the outer shell of the sphere had been achieved. Modulating the increasing density of the polymer to the specification had proved time consuming. The exterior had to be rigid to fit with the housing requirements, but it had to conform to a gradient of flexibility towards the interface with the inner core. At the intersection, the freedom for the core to absorb shock was critical and the inner surface of the outer shell was rigorously scanned for any defect. The inner core was injected, as polymer foam, to predetermined pressure targets against a protective and reactive membrane which separated the inner and outer components. Then it was allowed to reach a highly specific cure point to become a honeycomb structure. The bowling ball analogy came to the fore again as the three 'finger holds' were used as ports to fire mild repetitive energy bolts through the honeycomb to 'neutralising' points on the periphery. The almost contradictory 'random specification' resulted in internal conduits being created for the meandering blue spinal fluid to be introduced. Once this had reached saturation, one of the critical time factors demanded that the finger holds were plugged by robotic arms with nodes to control the digestion, respiratory and movement command architecture. They had to be sealed without leakage or free space for gaseous occupation and with absolute precision in terms of surface protrusion.

Keriakis and Red were almost finished their study of the molecular granulator for cellulose. The first phase was achieved with a technology which had also been developed on Earth. Nanoprobes were employed to separate off clusters of the order of twenty molecules; step two involved the release of bacteria to fix nitrogen intake by breaking down individual molecules from the clusters and producing nitrates. This led to a familiar human reaction culminating in amino acids and subsequently proteins. Reprogramming of nanoprobes facilitated the distribution to the nodes at the joints, and motion enabling structures together with parallel in-feeds from the command node in the sphere. They were ready to move on to the respiratory function.

********

The meeting in St. Petersburg developed in a very similar way to the one in Germany. Tsiolovsky handed the bogus print outs to Andrei Novotny. He only had seconds to scan them before Koppelt introduced himself. He was asked to hand over Tsiolovsky's contract money and acquainted with the story so far. It proved difficult at first to get Novotny to say anything. They then bundled both of them into an awaiting car which was already occupied by first contact – Ledovskaya and her gorilla who were ready to take them to Moscow. Negotiation began by Koppelt emphasising his only interest was for Novotny to make the call to Korolev to verify the data, and for an explanation of what was supposed to happen next. Novotny's plea bargaining would be with Ledovskaya. "I may have some influence here but I will not exercise it unless we make the call."

Novotny said he was to have a meeting with Korolev to determine where to synthesize the crystal. Fortunately the meeting was scheduled in St. Petersburg one week from now. Because Korolev knew he was continually watched, it would be a mock birthday party for one of his sons. Some two hundred people would be invited and loud music arranged in the grounds of his opulent residence. Novotny declined to make the call before discussing his fate with Ledovskaya. The stalemate persisted for several hours.

********

As Xiang was receiving daily updates on Echus Chasma from Pascal 2, he now faced two major decisions. The one involving keeping the lid on mankind's possible discovery of a means of interstellar travel was far reaching and needed careful deliberation. The other was to put forward three people from his organisation for geological surveys in China, then after the medical scans, expertly substitute the permit identities to allow Mike, Finn and Dane to hunt down more red crystal. Both caused him unease. He decided to do nothing about either for now. He was deep in contemplation when Koppelt rang. "We have isolated the people concerned with the synthesis scam and retrieved the data Beth Eisentrager was going to pass on. The main man from the Russians' point of view has yet to be set up but we expect progress soon. That will allow the Russians to save face and your knowledge is preserved. Can I suggest you find a way to let Radmanov know he is off the hook, without names? I'll be heading back to Switzerland shortly, Roberto. It was good to work with you again."

Xiang acknowledged the good news and thanked him profusely. "One last favour, Karl....who do you know in Chinese Intelligence that I could talk to over a delicate matter of joint security with Beijing?"

Koppelt thought for a minute or so. "I know people, but unless I know what we are talking about it would be risky in picking the wrong one. In any case there could be acrimony if both your own intelligence and theirs have to discuss boundaries. Let's not talk on the phone, I will come to Beijing and we can discuss this."

"Excellent, I look forward to seeing you again."

********

The work groups at Echus Chasma had discussed their individual findings. There were common features. The space travel trio had no idea what the black cube was made from; they had no analytical equipment and even if they had, they seemed unable to prise samples from the cubes. The sphere duo, similarly, had not been able to find information on the chemical constitution of any of the three main components. Red and Keriakis had the same difficulty with the blue fluid function at the nodes and the type of proteins which were delivered to them. They all agreed that this knowledge had no hallmarks of having been developed by the Rabo assembly technicians who had produced the schematics. They consequently halted further fabrication until they thought through the implications of any third party's benevolence.

The Symbiants repeated their dismissal of the Interference being involved merely because of the plight of the Rabo. That meant they had to come up with the Rabo being incidental in a far greater task for the Interference, or consider another species 'controlling' the Rabo evolution for whatever purpose. A repetition of such divine assistance for humanity may not be so attractive unless the terms of the relationship were known. As disappointing as this was they agreed they had to go back to the Rabo historical dynasties, to look for evidence other than simple technical transfer. Mythology might contain more obtuse references, which could be found with the new search criteria.

********

The crew for Columbus had been finalised. Carvalho had been asked to command the mission and he felt he had unfinished business with the red planet. Three engineers were selected, all charged with projects to gradually lower the colony's dependence on Earth supplies. A medical officer was included to help Pascal 2 and have first-hand experience with the unfolding Rabo physiology. A top astrophysicist was selected – this had been a contentious point because most humans who had gone to Mars had been replicated. This underlined the lingering mistrust of the Symbiants by some powerful lobbyists. Park made up the team. His geology and computing expertise was a good fit with the increasing Mars populous. The construction of Colossus, a large cargo vessel, had commenced and Newton was undergoing a refit. Radmanov had heard the news from Pascal 2 that there seemed to be a satisfactory conclusion to the Beth Eisentrager episode. He responded with sarcasm. "You mean you were able to salvage a face-saving situation from the shambles you created. If I had been permitted to return with her, nobody would have ever known there was a plot."

Pascal 2 asked him if he was ready to help out again in the forestation. "You can't be serious. I only came on this mission to contain a potentially damaging event for my country and what do I get? An extended vacation on Dustville. I'm not allowed to communicate to anyone back home so I'll reciprocate here on this hellhole." Pascal 2 could understand his anger but suggested he was inflicting more misery on himself by not mixing with others. "Your enforced stay has nothing to do with them; that decision was the exclusive province of Beijing. I was only thinking that your remaining time would be more enjoyable if you were at least part of social interaction."

Radmanov half-apologised for his rant and said he would consider some of what Pascal 2 had highlighted, but he did not want to be involved with forestation as it was now a Symbiant only operation.

********

The stalemate was eventually broken when Koppelt got up to leave Novotny with Ledovskaya, declaring that he did not want to miss his flight. Novotny made the call, but unknown to anyone except himself and Korolev, they had devised a code whereby the oligarch would know whether or not to keep the St. Petersburg appointment. The contingencies covered in the code were that the information was insufficient or false, the operation had been infiltrated, or one of the links in the chain simply could not deliver. As the conversation was in Russian, Ledovskaya was able to comment. Novotny had introduced himself as 'night watchman' and reported that the lighthouse was operational. This seemed reasonable, but Ledovskaya asked him to explain. "It means that we have a green light situation."

She quickly followed up with, "What was the alternative code?"

He had several hours to make sure he would avoid a hesitant reply. "The ship is in dry dock."

Koppelt left and Ledovskaya felt her long awaited promotion was on the way. They kept Novotny under close arrest until the scheduled arrival of Korolev.

# Chapter 30

When the Echus Chasma group had reviewed more mythology there were references to the scientist, prior to his Master of Fate entitlement, in which he was slightly different in his physiology, not just his views, from the rest. This difference was not only evident among his scientific peers; it was noticed by the wider population. Keriakis was suddenly hit with a bolt of lateral thinking. "If this person was revered so much, he should be included in those to whom statues or 'mummies' would be accorded. As the collection we have here is post sphere era, we would not expect to find him." Alex 2 waited for him to continue, and when he did not said, "What is the point you are making?"

"I'm not making a point so much as trying to get us out of circular, self-reinforcing thought. One of the ways he could be different from the others is by being a replicant. What if he was the product of the Continuance, in its randomly statistical contact potential, replicating a Rabo in 55 Cancri? It is a long shot but it gets us away from the tendency to translate all the Rabo library content too literally. If there is any substance to this line of reasoning we would have to expect that their homeworld was seeded with crystal." Red said this was highly likely when life already existed there.

Keriakis continued, "In that case, with all of the mummified exhibits here and at Utopia Planitia there must be knowledge retained. You Symbiants have said on several occasions that although you cannot replicate long-dead life forms or fossils you can extract information which our palaeontologists cannot."

They all suddenly got his point. Although it would mean a slight disruption to the sacred status of these particular Rabo, it could be rewarding. The Symbiants of course did not have human hang-ups about such matters and agreed.

Alex 2 contacted Pascal 2 to let him know that they needed some amorphous form to carry out this evaluation. Pascal 2 recalled one of the Symbiants from the forestation work and asked him to deliver the powder in a closed container. "Take a spare Hindenburg and then return with a full report please."

********

When Koppelt arrived in Beijing he had flashbacks of the awful day when he was part of the force charged with the task of causing Alex 2's reversion. The presence of Carvalho in Xiang's office brought even sharper focus to the déjà vu, as his replicant Dan had been instrumental in preventing this injustice. The official forces had thought it was Carvalho, and they had fired on him. The whole fiasco had not endeared Koppelt to the Commander, and he made only eye contact as he left for Columbus departure countdown.

As Koppelt was being debriefed on the requirements for the Symbiants to get past the Chinese permit screening, he had to take a call from Ledovskaya. "I did not really buy into Novotny's coded message to Korolev being a green light, so after you left I allowed Igor (the gorilla) some persuasive time with him. The code was actually to warn him we had uncovered the plan, so he will not now keep his appointment. We will be charging Novotny with sufficient criminal acts to keep him in prison for a long time but we have lost Korolev for now. This means I will not get my reward yet again, however I can tell you that Novotny also coughed up another interesting piece of information in a plea for leniency. Radmanov was in on this and was to eliminate Beth and Elke Eisentrager in Germany. We will get another chance at Korolev if you can hand over Radmanov to me for an 'interview' when you get him back."

Koppelt thanked her and said he would discuss this with Xiang and get back to her. They resumed the task of getting permits for the Symbiants. Koppelt advised Xiang to keep Beijing intelligence out of this altogether. "They will certainly want to control things if you ask their opinion, but they will also be difficult to handle if the Chinese counterparts take over. They will be even more vociferous if anything goes wrong and they are involved, even though they had wanted to be. You are better off going to the Chinese directly and hoping it all passes off without incident. If it does not, Beijing intelligence will be quietly smirking."

Xiang shook his head. "I never fail to be amazed at you people Karl. However I guess you're right. Can you set it up? I'll introduce you to the three candidates."

"No," said Koppelt, "not yet – I want to talk to the right person in generalities first, skirting around the subject. It may take a couple of lunches. I'll contact you then." Xiang thanked him and ushered him out of the office so he could turn his attention to gathering more data from Mars – Echus Chasma specifically.

********

The amorphous form arrived. Both Red and Alex 2 had each chosen an individual 'mummy' with which to begin the procedure. Yamamoto asked why they had not considered Keriakis' theory themselves. It was Alex 2 who acknowledged his question. "It is a consequence of our stranded programming. The Symbiant of Earth origin called Mike is a replicant of a geology graduate. Although he had retained data of interaction with the Sumerian people, and I was on Earth at the time of Park's replication, I knew nothing of this contact several millennia ago. I only know of it now because we updated one another when we met in Beijing. Reciprocally he now knows about Martian experiences of the Continuance. With respect to the Rabo, we did not have any registration of contact on Mars, otherwise Red and the rest of us would have known about it from the moment we achieved the completion. Logically, if there was no contact with them on Mars – and bear in mind their screens at Candor Chasm were perfectly situated for such contact to occur, we did not believe they would have previous knowledge of the crystal. We relied on a logic sequence rather than considering the probable association of seeding strategy with promising life potential. Mr. Keriakis was not encumbered with our evaluative ranking of evidence. He is to be congratulated, even if these tests prove negative."

"I see," said Yamamoto, privately resisting a smile.

The procedure began. Within a minute of contact the Symbiants made the link complete by touching the now active amorphous form. It took an agonising two hours of apparent inactivity before Red disengaged. He waited another minute or so before declaring he had structured the extracted data. Alex 2 followed the same sequence and they both stated together, "We have confirmation that the Continuance is involved with the Rabo." The mummy with which Red had interacted was true Rabo, and that explained the shorter time to full data extraction. Alex 2's interaction was also with a genuine Rabo, but one who had been replicated, which had more data to extract and a physiological signature of replication. The data was sketchy because of the length of time for decay to set in, but the mummification technique had helped considerably. What they could pool between the two extractions only amounted to qualitative links between the Continuance and the Rabo. It did not shed much more light on the level of comprehension by the Rabo of their own accomplishments in the paradigm jumps they had applied so successfully.

Alex 2 said that this knowledge made the forthcoming visit of the caretakers even more significant. The team was now more comfortable in continuing with their respective assembly tasks on the production lines. The first to complete the sequence were Red and Keriakis, but rather than it feeling like an achievement, they were startled by the message screen flashing 'simulation complete'. When inputting the acceptance command the new message asked whether full manufacturing mode was required. An affirmative reloaded the inventory call up. They decided to leave it for a while and check on the space travel section. They passed on their experience of the practice mode and said it might apply to all assembly routines. When Alex 2 and Nielsen had completed their sphere they too confirmed the 'simulation complete' message. All seven of them plus the Symbiant who delivered the amorphous form resumed work on the space vessel construction. Even with the degree of automation and robotic power it took over a week to reach the first component construction layout pattern. The next stage was to network the software systems. At this point the delivery Symbiant returned to Marineris Central with recordings of the three assembly procedures and the results of the mummy data extraction. They were for onward transmission to Xiang. The second stage mechanical interfacing of the plethora of units was estimated to require six weeks as there was limited capability to perform concurrent rather than consecutive tasks.

********

Columbus was underway. Carvalho reflected on the policy to continue to send younger personnel to Mars. There was a view in Beijing that the younger crew members were less blinkered in their general reaction to setbacks, and this could be very important in forging success with a new frontier. He looked around and was not entirely convinced. The three engineering graduates had only just acquired that title. Park was not much older. The new doctor was hardly more experienced than an intern. The astrophysicist was the oldest but still well short of her thirtieth birthday. There was a tangible whiff of fantasy aboard. He wondered how this would transform into ordered discipline if danger made a dramatic entrance. Simulation training could only do so much. At least he had a hands-on role as Commander, which he hoped would be a welcome distraction from calling bedtime.

After touchdown and formalities the engineers were to report to Van de Ende after his return from Echus Chasma. The main projects would be assembly of fabricating robots and vehicles, plus laying a pipeline to pump ice water from the Rift to Central, and an excavated clearing in the forest – to form an artificial lake. It was hoped that selection of European personnel would facilitate interpersonal relationships in the Martian engineers' union.

Park was to report to Nielsen and try to catch up on geological/chemical analysis at the two new sites. It would require transportation of the various pieces of lab test equipment to the particular site being worked.

Both the medical and astrophysics experts were female; this was another balance to be addressed in forthcoming missions. There was a loosely worded objective to pencil in the first Martian-born child within the blueprint for the planned colony ships. Carvalho couldn't help comparing these raw recruits to his first mission, which had brought elation, frustration, intrigue, boredom and mild insubordination in their own measure. Maybe he was being a little unkind in his appraisal of what would probably be his last outward crew.

********

Koppelt said he had not found his Chinese contact very helpful. As he had only discussed recent security concerns, over a 'retirement' lunch, and broadened the convivial chit-chat to general stuff within Chinese borders, he was made aware of a clamp down on official requests for unsupervised foreign projects on their turf. This covered all kinds of stuff, from oil exploration to monitoring of endangered species. "My advice to you, Roberto, is to get these guys to apply for civilian holiday visas and just go walkabout for a couple of weeks at a time or look for another location until this nervous period blows over." Xiang was philosophical about it. "Ok, thanks again Karl. I had better let you get back to your family."

"Just one more thing then," said Koppelt, "can I tell Ledovskaya she can have time with Radmanov when he returns?"

"Yes go ahead. I'll inform Radmanov myself that since we learned of his agenda for the Russians taking priority over the mission security, we are going to detain him for internal protocol breach. Then I will bring him up to date with the discovery of his collusion with Korolev. He will serve time here or wrestle with the prospect of 'jumping from the frying pan into the fire' when I wheel in Ledovskaya. Will you ask her to be here in advance of Columbus' return?"

"Of course I will. I hope we can do some of this kind of work again – hopefully not too frequently."

********

While Pascal 2 was watching details of the footage from Echus Chasma and Legrange was transmitting 'eyes only' summary to Xiang, Radmanov was busy. Knowing of the activity by eavesdropping he sought out the returned container of amorphous form which had not yet been returned to secure storage. He went to the nearest lab supplies store and took an empty container. He transferred a small amount from the original, making sure there was no contact, to the empty receptacle and hid it in his quarters. He would think of the means to deceive Beijing when he had boarded Columbus. He felt this small offering to Korolev would go some way to make up for the unfortunate failure to gain the analytical data of the composition. The disappointment would also be softened when he told the oligarch of overhearing Pascal 2 categorically say the composition data was useless without knowledge of how the replication was triggered. He thought it might be prudent to begin behaving more rationally now that his rescue ship was coming in. When Pascal 2 had finished watching the visuals he was 'accidently' met by the Russian who said he had been doing some soul-searching and would like to make some contribution after all, as long as it was not on the forestation programme. Pascal 2's reaction was circumspect as he had seen many 'schizophrenic' chapters with Radmanov during his stay on Mars. "Ok, I will give this some thought. It is good to see you reclaiming your enthusiasm. Perhaps Marco van de Ende can forward some prep work for the new proposed pipeline. Apparently the tubing has been designed with expandability to allow for the extremely low temperatures. This will negate the need to completely empty it every night. I know that Marco wants his new engineers to provide several routings to consider a branched line or two separate ones. Do you think you could help by making some precise measurements and produce a map of the options we have?"

This suited both of them; Radmanov had his 'born again' project and Pascal 2 had him employed on something which was not expected to produce a professional quality survey, but was harmless at worst.

********

At Echus Chasma they were ahead of estimate, or so they thought. They were three weeks into phase two and there didn't seem to be much more to do. Alex 2 was contemplating the misjudgement. "There must be some information which we are missing. My calculations suggest there is a lot more to do. The final amalgamation of all of these very large sub-structures must either entail different robots or we have got it wrong. As they put the final touches to the schedule for this stage, two days later they were startled yet again. This time they were obliged to retreat away from the production lines. A massive aperture appeared in the floor at one end of the hall and next to a circular table of similar dimensions, which had previously had no obvious function. A warning flashed to say the robots were being retracted and re-sited. Then the sub-assemblies began to be loaded in sequence on to the rotary table. Giant clamps rose up from the aperture and lifted the waiting units on to a conveyor. A new message indicated that the silo had been informed of the impending arrival of the parts.

It all fell into place. The huge delivery tunnel would have alerted them to the final assembly being elsewhere if they had discovered it. Keriakis beamed. "At least we now know we don't have to figure out how to get this beast outside and into a launch position."

"Quite so," said Alex 2, "and it also explains where the remainder of the estimated work will be carried out. So after all we do have another three weeks or so to completion."

Yamamoto chirped in, "I wonder if this means we will get a 'simulation complete' message at the silo in three weeks' time."

They scurried back to the tram and returned to the silo which was closed. The control which had previously opened the horizontal doors provoked a message which said safety overrides were in place until transactions were complete. This took another four and a half hours. When the doors were then opened, an automatic cycle kicked in to bring robots of staggering dimension from out of nowhere. As they descended they could see the recesses from whence these rather menacing machines had sprung. It was now obvious that upon completion of the assembly they would have to return to their cages to allow the floor to rise to ground level. The human members of the team watched breathlessly as the final phase swung into action. The Symbiants were emotionless but impressed with the outstanding precision of this phase. Finally the anticipated message allowed them to resume contact with the schematics and initiate the recommencement of assembly after all safety displays pulsed and were then extinguished.

# Chapter 31

Mike and friends had their visas issued from information on the people they had replicated. Dane's was the last to arrive. They had to be flown out of China to separate destinations and clear customs as holiday makers. They took public transport by a circuitous route until they were sure they were not attracting much attention. There were six provinces marked out as producing significant quantities of antimony. Hunan, Guangxi and Yunnan were the largest, and in that order. The minor provinces were Guizhou, Gansu and Jiangxi; they would be explored later.

They found it easy to 'lose' themselves in Hunan and they slowly moved to the area of interest; however they quickly concluded that this source was more blended with other sedimentary rocks than would have been indicative of crystal deposit. Moving on to Guangxi they found more likely lodes of antimony bearing ore so they spent the rest of their allocated time there. Two ravines specifically had beautifully exposed periods of rocks in perfectly delineated layers and they continued under the surface of the lake. A cursory survey however revealed nothing and several caves and extinct mines were barren. They reported to Xiang that they were coming back to Beijing and then onward to South America rather than arouse suspicion in China.

********

The final fitting together of the sub-sections in the silo would have taken more than a year but for the superb programming of the gigantic robots. They ploughed on through the nights with mind-boggling ability to avoid getting in one another's way, while carrying out herculean yet delicate tasks. The onlookers could really have left the entire operation to them and returned to the other projects but this was such an addictive experience. Van de Ende was filming the closing stages for the benefit of his incoming subordinates. As the outline of the vessel was now clearly visible, albeit in a horizontal position, the robots disappeared with the obligatory safety warnings. They were replaced by dozens of tiny drones which appeared to be attacking a carcass like a colony of ants. The cacophony of hissing, fizzing and buzzing sounds, accompanied by lights to denote tests being passed was perceived as an opera of engineering tribute to the designers. The finale saw a fitting measured withdrawal of the 'ants' and then a message to enquire as to whether the silo floor should be raised at this time. The group deferred this until after an in depth evaluation of what they had constructed was completed. The report to Central was also delayed until they had discussed why there was no 'simulation complete' message, and they wanted to produce a real sphere and a real Rabo carcass.

Red was the first to offer an explanation. "The cost of such an operation as we have just witnessed is phenomenal. Also if the Rabo had needed to leave the planet at very short notice this is a masterpiece of camouflage until the vessel is loaded for launch."

Yamamoto was not convinced. "This is an untried propulsion unit. Even something as sophisticated as the assembly we have witnessed can have 'running in glitches', surely we have to decide how the conventional propulsion system gets this hulk into orbit before the wormhole radar is tested – remember, that is a definite requirement. I still believe this is a simulation to illustrate the technology. Maybe we should go back and answer the questions at the plateau and send an inquiry to the Rabo. If they have mastered interstellar travel with this leviathan, maybe they have also conquered time barriers in communication technology. If they have sub-space contact we could have answers before the caretakers arrive."

Nielsen chipped in with a slightly different take. "We have observed differences between this vessel's procedure and the other two in so many ways. They do not have to be linked; they are simply manufactured in the same location. I have to agree with Red – for example, what do we do with this leviathan, as you call it, if it is a simulation? The task of dismantling and scrapping it would be as complex as the assembly. Don't you think there would be an option to do this if it existed? I believe the other two processes are very different from this one in a major way. They need an existing Rabo to enable them. Anyone, loosely speaking, can fly this kite. Remember the Rabo have their knowledge transferred from redundant to new spheres and carcasses if there is justification. Until they agreed to allow those who wished to 'die' a way out they had this cyclical replenishment. I'm suggesting that if we opt for the real assembly of a sphere or carcass we will be asked some questions related to the new tenant. Just a thought." His idea gained consensus. They returned to the other production lines.

********

Columbus was nearing the separation and orbit phase. The trip had been so uneventful that Carvalho felt like a long haul pilot coming to the end of a month of routine shifts. The young crew had certainly kept up with the recommended physical workouts; there had not been much to distract them. More than any of the previous humans to set foot on another planet, they resembled a bunch of tourists who wanted to stretch their legs and brains. They had got on really well with one another, which wasn't the case for the earlier crews. The engineers – Maxim Chancel, Per Olsson and Pierce Atwell-Jones were already 'licking their lips' at the prospect of studying the legacies of an ancient race while getting on with their main task. Park had moved on from his relief at the unbridgeable distance between Mars and the Columbians, even if they had been rounded up. He was looking forward to classification of new materials, but having been replicated already, the red crystals still held fascination for him. Dr. Caprice Hadberg had been well briefed by Scillacci on the Rabo physiology and was anticipating more revelations by the time they landed. Martina Devereux was French-Canadian by birth, but had only a glimmer of recollection of her young life there. Her parents had moved to Chile when she was six years old. Her father was a physicist by profession but was afflicted with an insatiable desire to make sense of the radio 'noise' from space. He had successfully applied for a post at a new observatory in a remote part of the country, only to find that it suffered irreparable damage from an earthquake before he worked out his previous contract. He was then headhunted for a similar position in Australia. Martina grew up living through her father's unquenchable enthusiasm for the merest morsel of proof that there were others out there. He died without anything to justify his vigil other than his belief. He had always told her stories of others who did not live to realise absolute proof of their theories and how important it was to avoid being blown off course by spurious comments by 'impostors masquerading as true scientists'. Her favourite examples were Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. She simply could not turn away from the opportunity to embrace the proof her father had searched for. Carvalho had realised this early in the mission and without dampening her enthusiasm he recounted his own experience. "I went through periods of elation then depression at the realisation that what my father wanted so badly did not satisfy me. However what it did achieve indirectly was the spin off, which was my true calling. So, Martina, if it all feels a little mundane at times - stay with it, because you are still in the best place to further your own dreams."

The sequence was upon them – the cargo, then they could begin to imagine that first step into the Martian forest. Not many people had said that before.

********

Mike, Finn and Dane were in Bolivia. Peru was the only other South American known source of antimony ore. However Bolivia had the only type free of contaminants, it was comparable to the South African variety. They didn't expect success in Peru as it was similar to the Chinese lodes according to their database. They hadn't felt the same claustrophobic presence of authority here as they had in China. What did surprise them was the presence of others who were 'scavenging' similar sites. It was the repeated appearance of familiar faces which was disturbing. Although they ignored everyone they were visited one night by a group of these prospectors. They were friendly at first but they seemed to be obsessed with the Symbiants working all day and through the night without rest. The spokesman asked them in Spanish why it was so urgent for them to work like this. None of the Symbiants had yet learned Spanish so they asked them to repeat the question in English. This produced a distinct change of body language. They became increasingly aggressive and the new English speaking inquirer changed the question. "What are you doing here?" Mike said that they were palaeontologists gathering fossils. He realised his mistake almost immediately.

"You do not respect us, Senor. Nobody works like the devil to gather fossils - it is a slow painstaking job. Now I ask you again - what is the real reason you are here? I will need to see your papers."

Dane asked if they were government officials. This caused discernable hilarity amongst their ranks. "You insult us for the second time. If this continues there will be no need for explanations, we will have to remove you from our search area."

The Symbiants had a quick technobabble tactics discussion as it appeared that the overall strategy had been compromised. Mike spoke very respectfully. "We have permits; you may inspect them if you kindly tell us who you are. That would seem to be fair." This time there was uncontrolled laughter which halted abruptly. It was replaced by waving of weapons. Revolvers, sawn off shotguns and machetes were brandished. "One of you dies if you do not answer our questions immediately – you understand?"

The Symbiants did and said nothing. A blast from one of the shotguns ripped a hole through Finn's leg. When he did not fall the group was puzzled. They were further disoriented when Dane picked one of them up and threw him at least thirty metres before his trajectory was interrupted by a cliff face. Mike had by this time removed the offending shotgun from the owner's grasp and bent it into a circle. In the prevailing panic there was more gunfire and all of the Symbiants were hit but not moved. The first ones to break ranks were the machete carriers - then the rest took flight. When the 'injured' Symbiants did not seem to be inconvenienced by these wounds and rounded up all of the stragglers, they were shaking with fear.

"Now," said Mike politely, "we would like to know who you are. Please do not attempt to deceive us, as you will find our ability to detect lies is equal to our physical prowess."

The bad news Mike had to report was that these men were Columbian and had been persuaded to admit they were looking for the same crystals. They had squeezed that information from one of them, who said they had been set to work by a technical man, and he would be returning before the weekend to check progress. When Mike had inquisitively used the name Escobar they shook their heads and sunk to their knees in prayer. They begged for their release and gave the name of this technician who was to return. Mike said he would be lenient only if they would force this technician to expose the consortium behind their activities.

********

Nielsen was correct. When they entered an affirmative to begin real assembly of the sphere and the carcass, the system asked for the identity data for the Rabo recipient. As this meant they could not proceed, they did return to the plateau surface and engage the questions to initiate the communication channel direct to the Rabo. Alex 2 and Red conferred on each one and slowly ploughed through the list. Two questions were not answered in an acceptable way. After several attempts they came to the conclusion that there were so many human words which could mean pretty much the same thing that there may not be an exact equivalent in the Rabo vocabulary they had accumulated so far. Red noted that there were some symbols which did not appear to be related directly to the questions and when activated produced something akin to a dictionary. It was however a cross-reference through unfamiliar values. They paused the session to work on this. The humans were used to being bystanders when Rabo translation was required. This was something at a new plane of understanding. The sheer computing ability of their information processing, holding and then matching effectively lost the humans after the first millisecond. It was even difficult to estimate the number of calculations required for them to come up with a modification to the first incorrect answer. One down, and one to go. The second was much quicker in coming as they had the algorithm they needed to progress.

The screen opened up a new feature. A 'holographic' image of a Rabo delivered what can only be compared to the song of a tree full of crickets in summer. The Symbiants could not decipher anything despite multiple reruns. So this was their spoken language – another roadblock.

********

When the temporary surrender was flagged up at Marineris Central by Alex 2 to Pascal 2 it was overheard by Art Legrange. He made a suggestion that he could help to slow down and fade out certain sounds. He had insisted on bringing the equipment to Mars; his security training had found this an invaluable tool in surveillance in busy public places. Pascal 2 asked if they could record the clicks and Art said he would check it out when they returned. Alex 2 thanked him and said they would bring the recording but it would not help unless they could relate a sound to a word – by one of the Rabo, for example. Red suggested, as there was a 'keyboard' of sorts, they send a mathematical message based on their own interest in parabolic values. The transposition of human words to known Rabo symbols approximated to - 'we will speak to the caretakers when they arrive'.

# Chapter 32

Mike made the technical expert ask his underlings to explain the situation in Spanish; he thought it would be more convincing coming from them. At the end of their descriptive perception of the way they saw it, he shook his head and turned to Mike. "You do not realise what you are asking - it cannot be done. Now if you will forgive me I must...."

Dane grabbed him by the throat and held him aloft with one hand until his red face indicated asphyxiation was imminent. Then he released his grip. As he was slumped on the floor one of his workmen began kicking him and expressed his profound disappointment that they could not get him to consider himself as a team player or words to that effect. The bully was duly restrained by Finn who said, "You must now repeat that in English so we can all appreciate your sentiment." The translator obliged. "He said that this fat retard must not endanger our lives by antagonising you. He explained that you people were badly wounded with a shotgun, yet you have no after-effects at all. He also told him that we fear you more than the people he fears. He promised to shoot his genitals off if he did not give you the information you want, so we can leave."

Mike asked the interpreter to thank his friend for his help in this rather delicate situation. "Tell the technician he has three minutes to decide otherwise we will have to carry out our instructions." Within thirty seconds the man asked for his briefcase. He proceeded to write down two names. Mike said that there must be others. "No, you don't understand – these men put in the money, the others are subordinates who are expendable and therefore often change."

Mike told them to be prepared to stay the night and they would be escorted to transport facilities in the morning. He asked them all to remember that they did not need sleep, so it would be futile to attempt an escape.

********

The cargo module had been deposited in its preferred position; these tasks were becoming increasingly difficult with such swathes of forest to avoid. The descent was routine for Carvalho but 'eyeballs out' for the rest. They were welcomed by Pascal 2, Legrange and, most of all, Radmanov. They were asked to settle in and then help direct Symbiants temporarily diverted from the forestation to 'unpack' the cargo. They were made aware of the impending return of the Echus Chasma group and their debriefing.

Radmanov pestered Carvalho about the return trip, and had some difficulty maintaining his Mr. Nice Guy facade when he was told that Beijing had not yet decided which other personnel than the two of them were to depart with Columbus.

It was a curious sight for the new arrivals; they had traversed the cosmic void between two planetary bodies to witness a group of humans and inorganic copies of humans descending in formation, in single occupancy Hindenburgs. The reddening afternoon sun created a blazing backdrop and a line with the land by which each craft appeared to be individually plucked from the sky. After the introductions they all repaired to the giant dome which introduced a third spectral hue on the red planet. It was a strange contradiction that these new young recruits who found this panoramic arrival so overwhelming would soon come to view it as so confining. It truly was a new frontier, one which would owe so much to those pioneers who could see past the intellectual challenge, and make it attractive to settlers and tourists of the future.

A select group involving Carvalho, Alex 2, Pascal 2 and Nielsen reviewed the implications of the Echus Chasma discoveries. They devised a summary which was not likely to be plagued by unanswerable questions. Then there was the decision on exploring other sites which had been marked at the Rabo station between Marineris Central and Utopia Planitia. This had to be reviewed within the current manpower constraints and therefore which personnel would be returning with Columbus.

They used the draft to update the entire Martian population before sending it off to Beijing. The overriding priority was to service the projects in a more balanced way now that the Rabo interface had progressed as far as it could without contact from them. The thorny issue of having a vessel with capabilities beyond the technical understanding of mankind - would hover like a bright, lethal, luminescent obsession, over the Martian moths, whether human or Symbiant. It also had the potential to cause a festering rift in the organic/inorganic membrane. Even the humans on Mars could not help feeling that the Symbiants knew more than they would pass on. It was sad that the very salvation discussed with the launch of Copernicus could become a source of friction instead of wonder. Carvalho had come to this concern because he, more than any other individual, had experienced the chasm of perspective between the two planets. Having heard all the details from those involved at Echus Chasma, he was personally moved as a Commander and propulsion technologist to resource this separately from the 'normal colonisation objectives'. He wanted to pretend this awesome gift had been discovered on an already populated Earth with its vast infrastructure, to extol his argument. He wanted to promote the view that colonisation of Mars should ratchet up significantly because of the Rabo. He was sure that there would be procrastination and doubts brewing because the salvation status was too far ahead of its ambitions. It was still seen on Earth as something they should be doing in case all else failed, rather than adapting the strategy to fit the events. He dared not share this with those on Mars because, if he had such mutinous thoughts in the face of authority, he knew it would be contagious. He knew he had to give the Earth committees the benefit of this doubt. He also knew deep down that such objectivity would not change a thing.

********

The breaking dawn saw the release – actual and mental - of the Columbians, except the technician. The Symbiants wanted to know what precisely he had been employed to do, and why. He started by assuming that they didn't know what they were looking for and bluffed accordingly. Mike corrected that perception. "We know you are searching for certain red crystals. Does that help to narrow down your choice?"

The response was slow in coming but not completely evasive. "If you know that you must also be searching for the same thing, so why are you asking for information you already have?" Mike silently asked Finn to play the bad guy and he changed the interrogation dramatically. "Look, you are working for a consortium, we are employees of a rival consortium – your colleagues were disturbed to meet representatives of the Escobar enterprise. You know of the recent deaths of some of the family. We do not wish to add to this butchery but are instructed to use all means possible to terminate your consortium's interest in drugs related expansion, but particularly this crystal business. Now, you either confirm what we suspect you know or we erase that knowledge and your person from the equation. It really is that simple."

The reply was deliberate. "The whole world knows from the public Beijing replication of the Arab gentleman, and from one of the replicants who returned from Mars, that crystals were used. Although the chemistry is classified, the general view of Earth scientists is that there will be deposits on this planet. We are simply and legitimately looking for such evidence. I will not insult your intelligence by explaining why certain powerful individuals would like to have these crystals and are willing to pay substantial sums to finders. That is all I can say on the matter but you have made it clear that it would be in my best interests to leave. I am more than happy to comply, but you will find that others will replace me – that is certain." They escorted him to the nearest airport and he gratefully left them behind.

Mike contacted Xiang with the names of the financial backers and told him that they would continue their search in Bolivia, but were pretty sure there would now be many groups paying for such searches.

********

Yamamoto was earning himself the reputation of 'devil's advocate' with regard to the Symbiants. "How come the Continuance has interacted with the Rabo and the knowledge conferred is not understood? If I have interpreted the situation correctly, all of the guidance humans have extracted from you is fully comprehended. Now, I realise you didn't know about Park's Symbiant and his interaction with Sumerians until you met him, but presumably the Sumerians figured out the principles during the contact. If they had not then history would not have recorded the principles they passed on. All of this provokes an obvious question. Do you understand the principles of the Rabo propulsion system? If you do why aren't we testing it out?"

Alex 2 admitted this was a valid question but disappointed Yamamoto with his reply. "We understand the underlying principles of space distortion and its possible application to propulsion of matter. The Rabo ship at Echus Chasma is one such specific development which involved the Continuance in their sector of the cosmos. We however, and the Earth based replicant were not involved with this application and the detailed development steps are not in our data banks. If we were able to replicate a living Rabo, we would presumably gain such information. If we had interacted with the first known Homo-Sapiens it would not have been beneficial to try to explain the theory of relativity without the intermediate stepping stones building up to that concept. Perhaps you have also answered your own question in part, because, although the Sumerians passed on many principles, those used by the Egyptians have never been fully explained. We still do not know precisely how they built the pyramids. Similarly, you are not quite ready for all the principles of physics we can assist with. We must achieve this at a pace consistent with your own development. With the Rabo, we can only countenance certain possibilities from the actual evidence. They may have understood, but the knowledge was lost. The knowledge may have been deliberately suppressed by the Rabo in a similar way to the Sumerians when they terminated the Continuance. The only other logical explanation we can contemplate is that the knowledge was removed. There is no evidence to support the last alternative but as one of your fictional icons is said to have proposed, 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth'. As we have no evidence yet of the third alternative, you are better equipped than we are to speculate. That is how we followed up the suggestion of extracting data from the mummies."

Yamamoto nodded and said, "Ok, I think we should at least try to understand more about the theories of wormholes."

"That would be a sensible approach."

********

Xiang was again wrestling with items not really expected in his remit. He contacted the agents involved with the Escobar saga and gave them the two names he had received from Mike. They knew about them but had not expected they would be into the crystal market so soon. They promised Xiang they would take on the problem. The more worrying dilemma was the decision to delay return of Columbus in the light of the latest disclosures about the Rabo. This was likely to cause a reaction when Radmanov was enlightened and the concern centred on his unpredictability.

Mike and Co had exhausted their search in Bolivia and harvested small quantities of Scarlet. They had to eliminate the Peruvian site now that they may face competition.

The Colony ship was progressing, but was some months away from having a definite testing programme. The invitation to filter groups of potential colonists had received an enormous response, indicating that the demographic schism suggested by religious leaders was not so skewed after all. This particular project was incredibly time-consuming in its planning and execution.

He was not the only one concerned about Radmanov, as Ledovskaya's frequent calls took on a decidedly sombre tone with the news of the delayed return.

********

Yamamoto asked Red about the difference between black holes and wormholes. The Symbiant referred him to database theories that one major difference was the aspect of 'permanence'. "Black holes are believed to have a clear event horizon; wormholes are likely to be far too unstable to have such a characteristic. Other suppositions include the attendant effects of their creation – black holes accrete matter and even trap light. Wormholes may produce enormous amounts of negative energy if the principles of general relativity are to be maintained. Another concern in this respect is the balance, especially the relative distribution. Local proximity and density of the two would be undesirable in the grander scheme of the Progenitors. Of course, in this respect, local is a totally different scale to that which your species is accustomed."

Yamamoto continued, "What are the characteristics by which we humans would distinguish them?"

Red seemed pleased. "A very advanced radio interferometer would be useful in detecting relevant phenomena." Yamamoto's parting query was a shot in the dark. "Could local impending cataclysmic events be influential, if they were close enough to the formation of a wormhole? For example – the three gas giants' instability causing the destruction of the entire 55 Cancri system?"

"That is a fascinating scenario. It could, in theory, if concurrent with a wormhole creation being the detonator for a chain reaction which would register concern with the Progenitors." Red would remind himself to inform Alex 2 that Yamamoto was one of the most promising of his species.

********

Carvalho conferred with Xiang and suggested that they should nullify any further renegade behaviour of Radmanov by confronting him with what they knew. He would be told they knew he was to eliminate the Eisentrager sisters, and as such he would face this charge when he did come back to Earth. If he was prepared to admit the charge that their witness had confessed, they would count his enforced stay on Mars as his penitence. He would be expected to be under the most severe probationary scrutiny in order for this to extinguish the charge. They both felt this was the best compromise. Evading the Russians was his problem; Beijing could not speak for them. He was not to be told of Ledovskaya's request.

********

Although the Echus Chasma site was not actively manned now, there was the occasional visit to check if the communication device had received any reply. It was negative, and therefore the assumption was made that it was the same technology as the automatic one which went from the screens in Pandora's Rift.

With the re-allocation of manpower to the other projects, life became routine but very efficient. The forest lake was completed and added to the mini-ecosystem which now covered almost 13% of the planet surface. Road connections between the explored sites were complete and fabrication robots had been assembled to boost the infrastructure drive.

# Chapter 33

Transition

Although Mars was gradually acquiring an atmosphere, there were no clouds to camouflage the Rabo ship hovering above the forest. It was a moment of profound destiny and apprehension; it was being filmed for onward transmission to the blue planet, which was invisible to the human eye, but within the grasp of the imagination. It was a moment of almost unbearable tension. This did not strictly apply to the Symbiants, yet there was a tangible aura of anticipation, displayed by their unusually animated technobabble. All of the spectators on the ground felt privileged to be present. The spectators numbered more than seventy now that Colossus had delivered the first lifetime colonists. These people had been chosen to forge social and infrastructure advances. Unfortunately it had thrown together conceptual plans without sufficient social research. The 'plumbers, farmers, nurses and the like' could not relate to the Symbiants. They appeared aloof, as they only really spoke when spoken to, and there was not much overlap in their conversation. They also were not inconvenienced by management of synthetic food, and many of their programmes for 'growing' Martian food had been unsuccessful. The lack of insects had proved more difficult than expected to overcome by genetic manipulation. Management of human waste was beginning to be a concern – the Symbiants were blissfully free of such primitive requirements. Their ability to walk around with impunity in relation to atmospheric constituent was an irritant rather than a marvel.

The human 'project team' did not fare much better. They had finite contracts and could therefore contemplate returning to the relatively pleasant 'rat race' culture on Earth. They were viewed as the middle class citizens. These factions were simmering despite the common purpose they shared. This moment of the Rabo arrival was one of temporary unity. As the senior human presence in both rank and experience, Carvalho wanted to harness the occasion to recover the pioneer spirit which was so evident just a year ago.

The separation of a descent module cracked the silence on the ground as they followed its trajectory to a carefully prepared site between Marineris Central and Utopia Planitia. The site had been encircled by fabricated Rabo symbols to welcome the caretakers and offer these landing coordinates.

The Symbiants had constructed learning programmes for the humans in the recognition of Rabo symbols, but as the language was based on values from which the symbols were derived, it was a cumbersome transfer of semantic capability. The fluency of the Symbiants in this respect was disturbing to those who simply could not grasp the principle of a language which was not really open to ambiguity. Because even the most able humans were barely capable of constructing phrases in a time frame which permitted a dialogue, this would have to fall to Alex 2.

The module had landed with the anticipated precision. The exit of the visitors was initially obscured by dust which had not yet settled, and it added to the air of mystique. There were five in this first party which advanced toward the hosts. They stopped some twenty metres short of the 'Martians' as if they were inviting spokesmen from the new inhabitants of this familiar outpost.

The gesture was anticipated and three Symbiants – Red, Pascal 2 and Alex 2, were joined by Carvalho and Nielsen.

The marsupial-like features of the visitors did not betray facial expression or body language, but the colour of their eyes was changing subtly and in concert with clicking noises. A welcome book, which opened with the confession that they had not yet mastered any of the Rabo spoken language, and they would have to begin with written exchanges, was offered. Building blocks would emerge by talking and pointing or drawing. Alex 2 had tried to assure them that this would develop quickly. The book very briefly charted human evolution and the reasons for the colonisation. It also listed all the discoveries they had made so far about the Rabo. It apologised for referring to them in this way, explaining Red's rationale in choosing the term. It then politely asked how they would like to be referred to in future. The very first point concerning the spoken language produced a kaleidoscope of eye colours within the group of five and this time they were very different from one another, almost as if this were a conversation.

The conclusion of the colour changes resulted in the assumed leader clicking an instruction to a colleague on his left. A tablet was handed to him or her, and the leader began to summon up symbols from a parabolic subsection. Red translated for the humans. Their first offering was to refer to themselves as 'Axis'. This was followed by a brief notation explaining that they too had headed the evolutionary pyramid in 55 Cancri, specifically their home planet known mathematically as Nexus. The second offering was a request to learn the language of the 'Martians'. When Alex 2 explained that there were two possibilities and the difference between them, the Axis leader consulted the others and the colour flashing recommenced. The leader then pronounced that the technobabble was more complicated for them so they would prefer the human 'symbols'. This provoked a question from Carvalho through Alex 2. "Are the colours we see in your eyes different from the symbols you use when clicking?"

The reply described a strange but rather elegant dual means of communication. When expressing feelings the colours varied in hue, intensity and dimension. Beginning from the left, the order was to convey how they felt about criteria. The clicking was related directly to the symbols and was used more for execution of agreed criteria. This was a very rough explanation and its actual sophistication was too complex for now.

The leader explained that they thought this time would never come even though they had continued the maintenance of their outposts. They were overcome with joy and again the colours emphasised this with a dazzling orchestration of considerable length. When this was transmitted to the whole gathering there was respectful waving of arms. Quite what they made of this was not yet certain but it caused another spectral concerto.

The leader explained that they were not completely suited to the radiation levels and atmosphere, so they would need to retire soon. Alex 2 explained that they might be comfortable in one of the giant domes. This was acknowledged by colour; then the clicks denoted that they would go back to the module for a short period before returning with the rest of their party. There was a lot to achieve and all of their kin would be permitted to participate.

********

The transmission that went back to Earth could not capture the drama and details such as the colour displays, yet it was spellbinding - as shown by the view ratings. Xiang and the executive were aware of the uneasiness which had preceded this long-awaited contact from both sides, and were relieved that it went so well. There were all kinds of suggestions put forward by consultants, psychologists, and internal executives for a remedy to the apparent rifts in the Martian population. They seemed to overlook the obvious in favour of the esoteric and complicated alternatives. Just as important as the social situation was the next scheduled colony transport to the red and green planet. Delay announcements to this would equate to terrible P.R. Xiang was nearing his threshold of tolerance with some of the 'committee' approaches to a faraway problem. He was to deliver an ultimatum and for this he wanted Carvalho's help. He had primed the Commander to expect a personal request for him to construct a visual analysis of the situation from all groups' point of view. The recommendations should be simple, clear, and endorsed by representatives of each group.

Mike and his friends were hardly noticed at all when returning to China to look for more crystal.

********

The second meeting of the Axis people and the multicultural Martians found the former more relaxed with the protective dome as the venue. The happy colours were reflected around the hosts.

One of the first items the Axis were anxious to relate was the fact that in all of their travels since the exodus from Nexus, they had never met or seen evidence of any sentient life form other than when they observed Mars and Earth nearly three million years ago. It was poignant insofar as Earthlings had dreamt of such contact, and initiated SETI programmes, but this race had journeyed colossal distances in search of company and a new home.

The burning question on the minds of the human race, which inhabited Mars and Earth, was how they escaped their solar system and the implications of outside help. There was a keen eye on the colour exhibition as the question was delivered by Alex 2. It was quite a long phase and tended towards anxiety. The clicking was however, very short and they proceeded with the tablet.

The leader said it was very difficult at times for them to definitively discriminate between 'recorded history and myth' when studying their heritage. Even the former had content which was flavoured with interpretation. Technology or, more precisely, the lack of it, compounded the grading of veracity. The commonly held belief was now confined to those of the species who had opted to leave Nexus and then continue the faith that the alteration of their physiology was acceptable. There were some who had since then chosen to 'die' although they had basically subscribed to the historical consensus. The Master of Fate was believed to have encountered the life form which called itself the Continuance. In the succeeding centuries, rapid developments had been welcomed by the populous. The dichotomy of leaving their homeworld and one of interfering with their inherited intelligence conspired to the extinction of those remaining. When the first interstellar ships were launched, there was hope and yet within a short period the expertise of the designers was lost. They knew how to operate the ship, just as their medical people knew how to construct the spheres and carcasses. However there was a gap in the fundamental principles leading to the entire era.

Despite the human clamour to ask what amounted to leading questions on this explanation, Alex 2 insisted on staying with a pure Axis recollection of events. He asked, "Did your people locate a wormhole with the first ship?"

The answer was affirmative as evaluated by probability of historical research. Alex 2 continued, "Is there any description of the resultant energy as a consequence of the spatial distortion?" The answer was again in the affirmative but without quantification.

"Did your people at that time have concerns about this energy and the deteriorating stability of the gas giants?"

The colours were ablaze. The clicks were very loud. In their vivid recollections, they overlooked the Symbiant's current inability to decipher the spoken language. However, symbols stressed that the reports by those still on Nexus described a pandemic of fear. Extremely graphic descriptions of unparalleled, volcanic activity and earthquakes were said to have occurred simultaneously with the spatial distortion. They carried on for many days and terminated over four million Axis citizens. Many more were seriously injured. The hope turned to misery. It was possible that this event was responsible for the loss of knowhow.

"Did this accelerate the collapse of the gas giants?"

Another conference took place. The considered view was that it would have, as the pressure to avoid a repeat was not only based on the carnage of the citizens, but on strings of cosmic calculations, which have never been found. Alex 2 asked his last question for now. "Do you know what those calculations were supposed to predict?"

The eyes darkened. They turned black, with the tablet symbols indicating a chain reaction of such annihilation potential, that the effects may even have been noticed on the planet they were standing on now. The more social aspects continued for several hours and everyone agreed to begin the mutual effort to learn the other's written or spoken language. The Axis leader suggested that humans would benefit from beginning precise interpretation of the colour sequences of the eyes

# Chapter 34

Carvalho's transmission to Xiang was brutally frank. "The sociologists and psychologists may be patting one another on the back for doing a thorough job in vetting colonists. Let me tell you that thoroughness is only effective if it is correctly targeted. These voluntary 'Martians' have been badly let down. Of course they knew that there would be a honeymoon period, after which it would become a hard, monotonous existence – without end. There has been a serious lack of consideration concerning leisure time. This is much more critical than on Earth. Far too much emphasis has been applied to the objectives, the grandiose scope of colonisation - their place in history, team ethic, and individual contribution. This is the stuff of sports psychology and it may be useful to a point. By comparison, too little attention has been given to the medium of 'enjoyment'. It has been wrongly deduced from the reports on the science mission personnel that this aspect did not register prominently on their boxes to be ticked. However those individuals had finite lengths of time to consider, and achievements to be completed within that reference. In addition, they were largely dealing with the unknown – so the fascination factor kept resurfacing. The colonists are basically doing what they did on Earth, but under stressful conditions. In short we need data streaming for news bulletins, cinemas with latest releases, interactive programmes from Earth in which Martians can participate. We need to consider appointing a social advisor here to work with one there who has no other responsibility. I can promise you that they will be inundated with ideas and requests. I believe if we expect people to eventually have children here, this aspect needs a high ranking, dedicated officer, making sure we hit these far reaching comfort zones. The Symbiants and the mission project humans do not need such focussed social networking but it would still be beneficial, and help avoid enclaves developing in future. My colleagues here beside me have discussed this proposal with me and agreed that it is critical to address this prior to more, valuable colonists arriving and believe me, they are urgently required."

The Symbiants and colonists not only affirmed their support but volunteered to be active in organising the entertainment complex. Xiang knew he could rely on Carvalho to 'shake the tree', and he was delighted to see the concern on the faces of the theorists watching the transmission with him.

He had also received reports from Mike that virtually all the Chinese sources of antimony they had found were too contaminated to be used or occur in the red crystal. He said that after conferring with Finn and Dane, they believed most of the remaining accessible sources would now be at the bottom of oceans or seas. At present these locations were considered to be virtually impossible to explore, detect and mine.

Xiang recalled them and said they were needed on Mars again and would go as soon as possible. They would pilot Newton as soon as the refit was finished. Three additional engineers and a new director of social programmes for Mars would be aboard. Further replications on Mars were under temporary embargo until the social cracks were repaired.

********

After several cross-tutorials and more integration events, the Axis members were more comfortable with 'mingling'. Between their tasks to inspect, repair and maintain their various refuges on the planet they had fastidiously progressed in human language, whereas humans had not achieved the reverse. The Symbiants ascribed these asymmetric achievements to the nature of the languages, not to relative Axis/Martian abilities.

Despite this, more exchange of information had occurred. The leader made it clear that he only held that title among the caretakers – those who had chosen not to renew or exchange spheres and carcasses. The overall leader was back in their main domain. Alex 2 had incorrectly assumed from the information found on Mars that this domain would be in either the Epsilon Eridani or Gliese system. That perception was corrected. "No, we only communicate with our race in those locations, we do not see them."

Curiosity flourished and Alex 2 pressed. "Why is that?"

"The disastrous opening of the wormhole which allowed four of our ships to enter had multiple exit points. We decided during the time we were travelling through it on conventional thrust that we should explore more than one exit. This was to increase our chance of finding a new home and spreading the risk of not doing so, if we could not open the wormhole again."

Alex 2 brought Red and Carvalho in and updated them before asking, "Four ships and three locations – why not four locations?"

The leader's colour display forewarned them. "One went to Epsilon, one to Gliese and one here. We never heard from the fourth. We can only assume they exited into an unstable domain." The fascination kicked up a gear as Alex 2 made the question sound like a statement. "So you have never been to the other locations."

"That is correct, we exited at these coordinates." Red translated the symbols to a point known in Earth astronomy as the Kuiper belt. He quickly responded, "These coordinates are remarkably close to a 'planetary body' known to us, which has a tiny moon. It is named Eris."

Confirmation was immediate. "We gave this our own name of Nexus II, as we calculated it would take 555 years to orbit your sun. It seemed appropriate as we had arrived here by chance."

Red smiled and seemed to enjoy the sensation. "Of course that was the fascination with 555. The clue was too obscure. I am sorry, please continue."

The leader held up the tablet and it was marked with new coordinates. "Nexus II or Eris, is 9.7 billion of your miles from the Sun; that is three times the distance of your outermost gravitational body – which I have learned you call Pluto." Red intervened too quickly. "But these coordinates are not for Pluto, they correspond to a moon of Jupiter."

"Yes, I believe your name for it is Europa. The exit point near Eris was not somewhere we could consider as it was too cold, and risky so close to a wormhole. After the devastation caused on our homeworld we would not take that chance again."

Alex 2 posed a different inquiry. "Do you mean you would not or could not risk another spatial distortion?"

"Both," was the reply.

"Both – you mean you have never been on any other interstellar journey? What about your species in Epsilon Eridani and Gliese?"

"The same applies to them. You told me that you fabricated a vessel at the plateau, but you did not raise it and set it upright or launch it. You would have achieved orbit – the thrusters are overdesigned to escape this gravitational body. If you had tried to engage the spatial distortion mechanism it would have failed. Even when the correct velocity curve was achieved, and the white hot box was asking the automatic sequencing to proceed, it was missing a link. Another box, similar only in appearance, is required to complete the preparation of the exit energy. Such components were in the care of our Supreme Leader. He was on the fourth ship."

Red was impatient. "So you decided to stop at Europa. What is your name for the moon?"

"We did not give it a name at that time. There were other, more acceptable bodies. Earth was almost perfect but it was yours. This one was our choice because we could observe you and hope that sometime we would meet. That meeting was delayed a little because of the bacteria. We had to retreat to the moon of a gas giant, which did not have good memories for us. We named it Minus. Mars we named Proxima, but they are in your system and we like your names better."

Alex 2 continued the competition for questions. "Was there any retention of knowledge as to how to construct these unique boxes?"

"No, it was part of the lost science. It has not made a difference to our species as we passed edicts to stop their manufacture and use."

It was Red's turn again. "Do you live under the surface on Europa?"

"Yes, it is covered with ice but there is much volcanic activity and vents heat the sub surface, also producing water. There are many varieties of what you call algae there and we can harvest cellulose which you know is important for us. You have not asked why we did not reply to the two messages sent from here. After all this time, we just wanted to meet like this. I now realise you must have expected a reply from another star system."

Carvalho had communicated the guts of all this to the human contingent and left Alex 2 to do the same for the Symbiants. When the entire group was assembled to nominate their social representatives, an additional point of discussion was raised by one of the colonists. If the Earthly calm had been ignited to action by the transmission on social issues, they would soon be supercharged.

The plight of the Axis had impacted every single inhabitant of Mars. Here was a race which had survived the most deplorable accidental genocide of their kin, and risked the fate of the remainder by trying to adapt to unfavourable cosmic conditions. They had not grasped the opportunity of usurping the position of top of the evolutionary tree on Earth on moral grounds. They were separated by distances they chose not to travel in case similar devastation was repeated in the solar system. They waited patiently for the adolescent Earthlings to mature but were struck down by bacteria and had to pull back. However, they steadfastly cared for their Martian legacy in the event that humans reached Mars after they were extinct. They had opted for their life to run out rather than perpetuate it, primarily because they were alone and without hope.

The discussion was intended to be a debate, however the colonist suggested that we owed these beings a debt which could not be repaid, and the least we could do was invite them to return to Mars. They had demonstrated the morality which many humans happily parade but do not live up to, politicians heading the list. They had also taken decisions to view science as something to be reviewed continually to truly estimate the benefit – consequence correlation. This was not a limit to research but a duty to rank consumer importance with less priority than humans currently practiced. It was not really a coincidence that this colonist was a nurse. She was used to caring for others while living in a selfish world.

Her proposal, under different circumstances, would indeed have spawned a debate. This was Martian solidarity impacting the mother planet with a dose of 'standing back to get perspective'. It was even more obvious to those who heard her proposal first-hand, that it was a key to more harmony in the new world, and a chance to prevent importing Earthly social viruses. The feel-good factor that evening was contagious and they summoned the Axis leader. Without consultation with Beijing, they offered the invitation. They observed something never seen since the opening of the 55 Cancri wormhole, the colour display was a bright monochrome yellow. The tablet confirmed that this must be the equivalent of human tears of joy. He asked for permission to bring his colleagues to the session.

This act of independence signalled something that certain government officials had dreaded since Copernicus first launched towards Mars. It would also be enshrined in Martian history for a long time to come as Transition.

# Chapter 35

Even though the Axis had accepted the invitation without hesitation, they harboured a fear of the bacteria which decimated their ranks all those years ago. Pascal 2 reassured them that he had developed an effective antibiotic for humans, but they had natural immunity, so he would have three options to check. There was the human immune mechanism, the antibiotic, and a specific boost to the Axis immune system. They would all be studied. This would also provide a wonderful opportunity for assessing the physiology of living Axis.

The advantages of the multi-species situation were manifold. The Axis infrastructure could be utilised and adapted to broaden its impact for all colonists. The production assembly lines would, with alteration, transform the heavy construction programmes for equipment. The Symbiants' work on forestation and food growth could be tackled on a bigger scale. The piping of water for life support and lake construction would assist the march to a breathable atmosphere. Modification of the Hindenburg would enable quicker journeys between sites. It was almost a new beginning.

Some issues had to be addressed as well. When asked how many Axis individuals remained on Europa, the reply was – 'over seven hundred.' The size of the ships all of a sudden seemed logical. This number would need to be housed and fed. The leader said that the other sites mentioned on the station map had more accommodation to add to that at Echus Chasma – there would be more than sufficient. They would like to be able to produce alternatives to cellulose. The humans and Symbiants wanted them to have some accommodation at Marineris Central, as there would be new colonists arriving from Earth and this would help to avoid splintering the accord. There was a sea change in motivation for all involved. There were also issues entirely for humans to debate. Although interstellar flight was not yet possible, the chance to learn and adapt more from the Axis sphere and carcass was available. To learn was not the problem; adaptation was the perceived threat.

This uneasiness could at least be explored with the Axis individuals. After all they had the same dilemma several million years ago. This would come down to individuals because some of them had already changed their minds about allowing their life to expire. The meeting with the humans in particular had given them purpose again. Others were not sure.

All of them had suffered the same soul-searching when the manipulation of their physiology and cerebral structure was deemed an essential part of interstellar migration. Their decision was intensified because of the critical nature of the gas giants and the uncertain timescale of Armageddon. It had also been a free choice, but with no reversal. The disaster which followed not only conferred immediate guilt – it produced the clouds of futility when they were separated from the other ships and the eventual acceptance that one was lost. The settlement of Mars had a temporary restorative effect but the reasoning for the entire venture resumed its erosion of 'quality of life'. This was only made worse by the relative immortality they had inflicted on themselves. The bacterial plague was the last straw. Now that the improbable had actually happened, they were split over the rescinding of a vow. There was an element of something bordering on faith at play and it would not be resolved quickly. It consequently had a similar potential to divide the human contingent, which of course continued to astonish the Symbiants.

Because some of the Axis wished to retain their longevity, they decided to keep the production lines for the spheres and carcasses unmodified. Further exchanges on the unexplored Axis sites revealed mining and chemical plants. This was a major plus for the burgeoning society. Like the Echus Chasma facilities, they were highly automated and indeed produced many of the 'alloys and plastics' used in the manufacturing sites. There was more – a huge nuclear power plant had been built in a cavern hewn out of a mountain side, thus explaining how their facilities could have remained operational over such an incredible period. There was avid human interest in seeing this facility, to understand how it was designed to only require a service every 555 years.

********

The 'foolhardy and unilateral' decision to open house for the Axis race did not go down well in Beijing or in world governments. The damning verdicts were not fully shared by the population. Embargos were discussed in terms of more colonists and infrastructure supplies. When information was received concerning the much more advanced Axis infrastructure, there was a hiatus in the authoritarian stance. Xiang was grateful for this because he had witnessed a distinct slippage of his influence; the paranoia gene had become dominant and transferable. It had not helped when the reaction on Mars to all this was one of labelling it 'self-fuelling hypocrisy'.

Carvalho was becoming something of a political evangelist, his latest transmission unleashed criticism of government 'sterility' on anything beyond maintaining power. "The constant claims our democratic principles make are simply a facade of deception. The first commandment of our elected representatives is to 'honour the status quo'. Thou shalt not entertain challenge to anything which scaffolds the divinity of our chambers of wisdom. Everything they claim to be, but aren't, is embodied in the friends we have made. They have, in a real way, watched over us for millions of years, with a self-regulated pledge of non-interference. Do you seriously think we are going to listen to your threadbare, morally bankrupt ploys to shrink from anything but wholehearted integration with the Axis? You need a reality check – a good one might be reading the high-minded charter which was produced to extol the colonisation in the first place."

This haranguing was threatening to hold up the return of Mike, Finn and Dane plus crew, via Newton. Xiang continually argued that this would only fan the flames of the bush fire and yet he experienced little support. He called for a summit meeting of the relevant individuals, apart from the executive, who were 'militarising' the spat. He did this on international networks and it did flush out demonstrations for and against the ruling mandarins. The groundswell was shifting heavily toward supporting the human decision on Mars after the whole story had been broadcast on TV. There were parallels with the situation when the Confederation of Nations blundered over their covert orders to terminate Alex 2. Xiang reminded the executive of the Council for Human Exploration of this, and why that particular title had been bestowed in the first place. "The irreparable damage which would be imported from a repeat of the crass miscalculation of the feelings of the masses would be the ultimate torpedo. We are being ruled by our fear and the populace has scent of it. If we fuel this, then, quite honestly, we deserve to be booted out of office."

The summit, to the minds of those who were most insecure, was more of a capitulation to insubordination than a concession to common decency. They found it difficult to fully appreciate their own term 'insubordination'. They could not truly concede that it was a two-way situation. Although they talked about accountability and merely being representatives of the people, the addiction of power prevented them from believing their own words.

The only governments which supported the summit from the big five were India and the USAr. The first government to fall was Russia. The relatively recent break-up of the Soviet Union had reminded many Russian constituencies that the runaway capitalist legacy had not really delivered the dream.

This political earthquake ricocheted around the globe, and predictably cast a typical cloak of 'genuine re-prioritisation of global interests' over their tactical retreat. Presiding over the opportunities of others' misfortune was a powerfully reinforcing gene. The summit eventually took place without a morsel of interest on Mars.

It did, however, begin with the olive branch of approval of Newton's departure, which was of value to the increasing muscle of the off-world population.

********

The possibility had been there for some time now, but no one had mentioned it. The Symbiants were not usually so reserved or inclined to stand on ceremony. Replication of a member of the Axis race, in theory, would give everyone a more logical interpretation of their knowledge. It was partly out of respect for what they had been through, but there was also the real prospect that the Continuance had been responsible for some of their plight. If the interaction had directly resulted in the path of development to the wormhole, it would be a sensitive issue. It was strange that they had never brought it up. It was not lost on the humans either. Was that the route they were heading down with the Symbiants? It provoked a question from the arch inquisitor Yamamoto. "Bearing in mind this was some three million years ago, and the Continuance has been dormant on Mars since well before that, where does that put your understanding of the physics involved?"

Alex 2 could not comment with accuracy unless he knew what they knew, via replication. The way things were at present he could only say that he could comprehend the principles of the Axis wormhole technique and how it could have caused the problems on Nexus. He would have expected the Continuance in 55 Cancri to be aware of this possible consequence and could not envisage them endorsing such a risk. "This does bring up the issue of replication. I would suggest we ask them to consider it as a means to be more certain of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy."

Carvalho added his view. "I believe we have to tread carefully here. I don't want to sour the fantastic start we have with the Axis. Perhaps we should make a point to regularly acquaint them with the benefits we have gleaned from replications. Not just in technical cooperation but in extracting data reliably – overcoming deceit or memory loss of the subject. It may arouse their interest." This was considered to be acceptable, and the replication request was shelved for now.

The minimum number of Axis personnel required to begin the caretaking role were left behind and the remainder set off to pick up their family and friends on Europa. As the closest distance from Mars to Jupiter space was 555 million km (there is that number again), or 344 million miles, and the furthest is 744 million miles, it was going to be quite some time before they returned. This appeared to be lost on the panic merchants on Earth. The round trip had to be somewhere between 20 and 44 times that of a one way Earth to Mars version when the planets were closest. Carvalho had to get this perspective into the heads of the purveyors of doom. Even if the Axis' 'conventional' propulsion' system was much more effective than current human counterparts, they were going to be gone a long time.

At least the Axis individuals staying on Mars could begin the maintenance checks with a new horizon approach rather than one of simply preserving a legacy. The appetite of the humans and Symbiants towards observing and understanding the various techniques provided additional motivation.

As the Symbiants had now made significant progress with the Axis spoken language, they considered modifying their speech apparatus to master the basic communication exchanges. This did however inadvertently catalyse a discussion on replication. When the leader was asked in 'click' tones what his name was, the reply was virtually unpronounceable for the Symbiants. The leader himself then said, via the tablet, "If our understanding is reliable, you would be able to converse in our language by replication."

This was affirmed by Alex 2. The tablet then read. "I will discuss this with the others and we can then decide. Would you explain in detail what is involved to allay any concerns we may have?"

Alex 2 painstakingly described the various phases and this was backed up by Carvalho. The latter stressed that if there was any regret after the event, the replicant could be asked to delete knowledge or even programmed for regression. The leader said they could expect a response in five Martian days, as they would have to canvass the groups on Europa. They could do this via the screens at Pandora's Rift.

The project given the highest priority was the interfacing of Axis power generation to Human facilities. If this could be achieved it would open up advances on almost every front. All human engineering expertise and two Symbiants were allocated to the cause.

# Chapter 36

The paranoia on Earth had begun to subside but was then kicked quickly sideways into a new fertile domain when the Axis had agreed to a replication. The leader had several volunteers and the mutual choice was an engineer, to hopefully facilitate harmonisation of the infrastructure coalescence.

Xiang was experiencing cold turkey again. This time he allowed the strain to manifest itself in a rebuke to Carvalho. The Commander, however, did not take offence. He knew that Xiang was the one true ally they had back in pantomime land. His good natured response and appreciation of Xiang's position eased the tension when he reminded everyone of the reversibility option. He won a little more objectivity when he estimated the engineering benefit could be measured in decades rather than months. "We are looking at gains from three thousand years of colonisation by a species which was more advanced three million years ago than we are now. I took the decision calmly and based on this colossal saving in both time and expense, with the parachute of reversal. I hope this can be viewed as rationally on Earth as we hoped it would." He added the palliative, "I'm anxious to acknowledge this may have caused some apprehension there, but I didn't want the Axis to think we were stalling in case they withdrew their consent. They have a lot to lose too."

Xiang recovered his energy to stay the course and renewed the offensive with the politicians. He wished he was dealing directly with the populous on this issue.

********

The replication was attended by Pascal 2, Alex 2, Carvalho, the leader and two other Axis officers – medical and communication experts. It was a longer process than human replication, but it went very smoothly. The colour show was evident again when the new Axis Symbiant engineer began to click in what was apparently a clear, articulate manner. The subsequent evaluation of knowledge transfer on engineering principles was deemed 'astonishing'. The final assessment was to be one of scavenging historical interpretation of events back at the 55 Cancri Exodus. It was decided that a thorough analysis of the Axis files and exhibits by the new Symbiant, and the subject of the replication could be helpful.

Radmanov had almost been forgotten in all the euphoria. He had managed to eclipse his frustration and the time of his return was near. He was anxious to know who else would be on board. Carvalho was also keen to hear the verdict on this because he might want to have more input than normal in this situation. While it was not 'like driving a bus' yet, the frequent voyages had lowered the stipulated minimum requirements compared to the first missions. He needed to sketch out the Symbiant and human staffing of Axis-Earth projects and choose from the remaining individuals. The next colonists also had to be viewed with a slightly altered emphasis to optimise the flow of progress. He anticipated some potential conflict with Earth, especially as they had not recovered from the challenge to their image of themselves sufficiently to authorise a date for the trip. He pondered whether or not it would be beneficial for him to return.

The language programme had prospered well with the arrival of the Axis Symbiant. This had resulted in all Symbiants modifying their voice apparatus to cater for both Human and Axis sound reproduction. In trying to teach the humans basic words of Axis speech however, there was only frustration. The leader's name was Tcck Tsoh Tcet, which approximated to Always Precise. The Symbiants suggested pronouncing the first two letters as one and emphasising the last of each word. The best attempts apparently related something bordering on derogatory. This resulted in the leader suggesting that the humans chose his name in their language. They conceded defeat and simply chose Al. The leader acknowledged this and asked for the Symbiants help in using their production facilities to alter the Axis voice box to enable human sounds to be included.

The information everyone was waiting for was slow in coming. The Axis engineer and his or her Symbiant were combing the archives meticulously. They eventually located a section on the Master of Fate hitherto overlooked in terms of its significance. There were several references to his 'Consul'. This individual had no name, but other passages around this time recorded by other writers, mentioned cases of mistaken identity. These incidents were frequent enough for the Supreme Leader to insist on a means of differentiation between the Master of Fate and his Consul. This struck the current Axis Symbiant as worth checking out with Al. When he was shown these passages Al said he could open and inspect files which were normally confined to true leaders.

He reported back that indeed there was recurring mention of these 'twins' and the subsequent disappearance of the Consul, after he had begun to draw the attention of the Master of Fate to the risks of creating a spatial distortion close to Nexus. It had been assumed that the Consul had been dismissed, although he had never been seen again. The disappearance was not headline news because the focus was now on the mission and the absolute confidence the Master of Fate had reiterated.

This entire episode was a mixture of myth and actual events and the circumstantial evidence allowed for alternate explanations. Alex 2, however, seemed unable to accept that the Continuance would have failed to make the Axis race aware of the pros and cons of their exit technology. Despite this latest revelation, which could suggest the Master of Fate had done what the Sumerians had on Earth, he admitted this was not proof. "It would be convenient to conclude that the Master of Fate was replicated and rid himself of that replicant when he feared the loss of his own status. We could only know that for certain if we were able to replicate him or his corpse a second time." The trawl of the archives continued.

********

The realisation on Earth that the tottering infant called Mars had now acquired balance and was assuming its own character, albeit with parental inheritance, was slowly breaking down alarmist propaganda. The major player here had been Xiang, yet the decision to ratify the departure of the next colony ship was tinged with a desire to even up the ratio of Human:Axis presence on 'our planet'. This was betrayed by the embargo status being replaced by an accelerated departure. In the middle of the decision process, Xiang had slipped in the importance of Carvalho, as the senior representative of the species on Mars, to determine the crews for the return of Columbus and the outward Newton. They would cross each other's path at some point.

Carvalho chose two Symbiants to pilot Columbus back to Earth and briefed them on the situation with Radmanov. He issued them with strict instructions to administer sedation if necessary. They were taken from the forestation programme. Radmanov asked why Carvalho was not going. The Commander said it was more important to stay for the supervision of the new infrastructure surge. Radmanov was assured he had served his penitence and would not be detained in Beijing. The Russian was quite pleased that no humans were aboard.

Carvalho transmitted his requirements for even more engineers to arrive with Newton and the next colony ship. This was to be a mixture of pure engineering and specialised robotics. He wanted a linguistics specialist and more computing expertise. The social aspect needed beefing up with the colonists and more technical entertainment equipment was high priority.

The pursuit of the mystery knowledge disappearance was slowly yielding snippets. There was pretty solid evidence from Al opening more Leaders' biographies that the Master of Fate had perished on Nexus amongst the four million. Somehow this drew a line under the urgency. It did not seem to matter to the Axis whether they unearthed more. They trusted Alex 2's statement that the Continuance would have insisted there was a risk with spatial distortion. They now believed that the 'Consul' had been the instrument of that advice and had paid for it. The humans said that if the Axis were prepared to accept this, then they would not contest it any further. The Symbiants maintained that it had not been proven but that such proof had almost become academic.

As Columbus and Newton were nearing crossover the colonist ship was launched. The air of 'breakthrough' was evident. The mutual language interface was up and running. The power and manufacturing transfer from the Axis was up and running. The project to collect the remaining Axis was up and running. The Earth abandonment of mistrust was up and could soon be running.

There was also a thread running - the Symbiants were experiencing increasing dependence on their time from both Human and Axis Martians, in every aspect of progress.

This would include discussions between the two on the Axis recommendations regarding the thorny subject of alteration of Human physiology. Alex 2 made broadly the same comment that he had when he first addressed the world following the return of Copernicus. "You are still facing the question of embracing a conscious adaptation of the species. This extension and modification of Charles Darwin's logic will not cease to either haunt you or drive you to a higher plane of understanding. You can have the understanding without the implementation being mandatory. The reverse is not valid." Al was asked by Carvalho to try to summarise the views of his kin, in Epsilon Eridani, Gliese and the solar system of the virtues and trade-offs.

The Axis leader remarked that there were slight variations from the three locations. Those in Gliese felt it was justified and had found a suitable home. Epsilon Eridani was less complimentary, and although they had found a planet which had flourished because of their presence, they missed something important. The need and means to procreate was denied. The solar based Axis had endured the most difficult experience, and as with the others, had to add the tragic price of the Nexus annihilation. By their decision to allow individuals to terminate their existence, they would have to admit to negativity towards the concept of alteration. He quickly added that out of despair, hope can arise and this was manifest by some Martian Axis reversing their decision. Al added that he was personally ambivalent on the issue. "There is always the benefit of hindsight in our comments. This will make the choice even more difficult for you. Alex 2's point is difficult to disagree with, unless you acquire the knowledge you don't have the choice."

Carvalho gathered the humans for a meeting without either Symbiants or Axis present and related their comments. He wanted everyone to consider the collective and individual implications and they would re-convene.

# Chapter 37

Some aspects were easy to decide upon, others were complex. The point which Alex 2 had reinforced about learning and implementation was valid and there was unanimity in endorsing the research. The best estimates about the stability of the solar system compared to the 'sword of Damocles' which hung over 55 Cancri was important. Humanity did not have to be railroaded into making a premature or panic decision. It was also a consensus view that no individual should be coerced into accepting 'modification'. This discussion was heading for a cosy conclusion when Carvalho introduced a point which Alex 2 had made more than two years ago. "I can't disagree with any sentiment expressed so far. I just have the feeling we may be deluding ourselves with respect to how long we have to confront the eventual acceptance protocol. Alex 2, as some of you may know, has been directing the work of Dr. Isaakson in repairing and assisting the human brain's self-recovery from certain conditions. He has repeatedly drawn attention to our blasé attitude to transplants of other organs and synthetic body parts such as knee, hip and even spinal components. Isaakson's work has been successfully extended to temporary life support by rerouting cerebral function through an artificial brain. Alex 2's thrust is that in a short time we will face the decision over a brain transplant to save lives. The assumption at that time will be that the memory/data from the original defective organ will be lost and a 'new identity' may be experienced by the recovering patient. There is an ethical issue here which is less controversial with an artificial replacement and the higher potential to be able to transfer data. This decision will be upon us very much sooner than we realise. He has difficulty in understanding our inability to distinguish compassion from inevitability. I'm not canvassing support for his view; I am merely increasing your awareness of another timescale which will impact the one we are currently debating."

There was a considerable silence. The gradual emergence of acknowledgement that there could be 'approval by default' re-ignited the discussion. It took a slightly different course. They felt they could only speak for the 'citizens' of Mars. It was time this citizenship issue was discussed in its own right. There should be no repeat of conflicts over independence or civil wars. There was a real need for such a charter which included the Axis and Symbiants. This should be considered in the same time frame as the modification dilemma. Both of these controversial issues were likely to meet with different recommendations on Earth and Mars, simply because of the prevailing circumstances in each location. For example, the decision to offer a new brain to save someone's life on Earth would be bogged down by bureaucratic dogma and layers of moral and religious objection. It was quite likely that this procrastination would exceed the living status of the subject. That scenario would probably not occur on Mars because of the small population and the ease of identifying with the individual, and their predicament. This aspect had already reared its head with social requirements. It would only grow like a tumour if not addressed. The impact of such notions on Earth would risk future support. It was tricky. They all felt it was necessary.

The fallout of the conundrum was to test out the degree to which the umbilical cord from mother to infant could accommodate change. The logical and possibly defining issue was that which had kicked off the broader 'constitutional' one. They agreed to progress the modification programme by voluntary subjects and at a rate which was in synchronisation with Isaakson's progress. It was a bold gambit and they accepted they should brace themselves for a conservative response.

This resolve meant that there was one more item to be added to the growing list of those up and running in Martian society. This was without doubt the one of most significance. It truly was the era of Transition.

The explanation of this policy was extremely well received by the Axis and Symbiants. It had all the regalia of inclusiveness. Time would be the arbiter of whether that was matched with substance.

