Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (8 page)

Nine days later he was cleared for entry to
Saratoga’s space. Nine hours after that he chose his so-called
random entry point through the security net into space below the
net, he set course to enter the upper atmosphere. Finally, a
friendly air traffic controller cleared him to land. He patted the
front console. “There you are, Bullet.”

After the post-ranger checks, with double
checks for the sable engines since they were new, Jamie opened the
main cargo hatch, breathing in the fumed-filled air as the steps
slid out and settled on the ground. His own ranger-pad sat in a
clearing, just below his home. With every step closer to settling
down, excitement increased.

Jamie strode up to his wood cabin where he
had a view of the homestead to the east. Further, and closer to the
equatorial line, the cable to the orbital space station—that sat
below the meteorite acting as a counterweight—broke the view like a
line. He thought he could see a lift going up. “I should get some
binoculars.” Jamie turned around the room, pleased with himself.
His new home was a simple affair with open space kitchen, lounge
with no furnishings yet, and dining with large central fire. The
long logs that interlaced were also double thick with insulation.
Winters were below zero with long rises and falls before and after
and summers that were hot but short. Three rooms were beyond one
wall to the left after entry to the cabin, the bedroom first, the
bathroom, and the storage room that gave way to a network of caves.
He had an appointment with the queen but had some time to unpack.
Jamie was feeling strangely odd knowing this would be home for many
years now. And yet it was the first place, since leaving his mother
and father, that felt like a permanent home. Going home to Lyon 3
wouldn’t have been good for him, not with all Leanne’s relatives
there.

There was even a stable butting up against
the cabin so he could get a horse. Jamie stood in the tiny barn and
saw wood stacked high next to fresh hay and feed; he frowned. Where
had that all come from? He heard the clip clop of horses on the
main trail. Stepping out, he saw three riders, what looked like two
males and a female heavily cloaked against the drizzle and cold.
There was a massive, dark stallion and a smaller, lighter mare
trailing.

The three stopped and dismounted.

The smaller figure moved up to him and pushed
back her hood. He took in the dark auburn hair, the heart shaped
face, the lovely brown eyes and knelt. “My Queen!”

There was soft laughter and Jamie looked up
in confusion and he saw one male push back his hood.

“My … Kings.”

King Cyrus moved forward. “Stand up, man.
We’re here unofficially. Do you have any mead?”

“Um … no … I…” Good grief, was that
Delario?

“We brought some. Come, come,” a familiar,
deep voice said.

They drew their own horses into the barn.
Cyrus pointed to the stallion and mare. “A gift for you, Jamie.
Welcome to Saratoga.”

If Jamie could blab he was sure no one would believe
him anyway that the queen and two kings sat, on crates and boxes,
around his central fireplace drinking mead and telling tall tales.
Silvia was the Eighth Regional Queen, while Cyrus was the Eleventh
Province King. The other visiting king was not Delario of the Third
Province, but Max, the Seventeenth Province King, friend of Cyrus
and several warlords. Jamie had met Max once before.

Silvia was what Jamie would call an elegant
beauty. She was a good administrator, political player, and gentle
soul. She was wearing a dark blue top with tailored trousers, and
sturdy riding boots. Her cloak was black and thick.

Cyrus had sandy hair and blue eyes, offset by
olive skin. He was of medium build and looked unthreatening but
Jamie knew better. Max, however, looked the part of a fighter with
black hair, blue eyes, and a lean, tall build. The two males were
wearing standard winter riding clothes. The two had been friends
for a long time, and Jamie could see Silvia fit in well.

“We did invite Delario, Jamie. But he was
busy.” Cyrus had a blunt way of speaking and his words held more
than pleasantries judging by the tone.

As Max replied, Jamie heard Silvia’s voice in
his mind.

“
Jamie, please forgive my mental intrusion
but is your cabin secure?”

Jamie flushed. Rarely did those of the Eighth
Race connect mind to mind. Silvia’s mental voice was music to his
mind.

“
I will secure it now, my Queen.”

He stood, almost laughing at how formal he
sounded, moved to his corner table that he’d made himself, and
triggered his Bulwark Net. The new security device came from the
company with the name Sentinel Prime and not one to be taken
lightly. A low, thrumming broadcast until he couldn’t hear it at
all. Turning, he saw Cyrus and Max pouring more mead and Silvia
holding out her pewter mug. He refused another, still drinking his
first.

Silvia said, “We want to let you know we are
ready to support you. Just let us know directly what you need”—that
explained the visit. They wanted him to get to know them without
the pomp—“and we’ll see to it. How are you with staff? We can work
the administration if you like.”

Jamie bowed his head and outlined his fake
strategies.

Max studied him. “What of planetary security?
Will you be requiring any more than what is here?”

Jamie scratched his head, thinking he had a
solution to get through planetary security just not solar system
security. “I’ve just finished reading all the procedures and
studying the schematics and specifications but it looks sound. I
want … would like a way in and out though, without triggering every
toscin in space.”

“Cyrus will see to that side. Those beacons
can be tricky as they are set up in a special pattern. Are you
clear on how we operate, Jamie?”

He nodded, not taking offence at her gentle
tones. “You will deal with planet side administration and lower
atmospheric traffic control while Cyrus and Delario—”

Max and Cyrus snorted with amusement.

“—handle upper atmosphere and space around
Saratoga and the Toga system.”

“Good. There is a clear delineation. It was a
good idea to make entry and exits random—”

“Thank you, Silvia,” Cyrus said with
exaggerated tones and hand waving, cutting her off.

The queen laughed gaily, sounding like, and
glancing as, a young girl would at Jamie. “I can’t resist
sometimes. Now, what I can talk about is that you need to meet
Terance and Pen. Those are the babe’s new parents who are leaving
shortly for Perza Space Station to pick up the Pure-Gen. They are
returning via ranger, which needs to be checked, to the Saratoga
Orbital Station and taking a lift down. You’ll need to check that
too—”

Cyrus sighed and she paused for only a
moment.

“Just visit the homestead by nine. We’ve
already taken care of security protocols and intel for that trip
there and back. We’ll hand over after that if that’s
acceptable?”

Jamie nodded but knew already he’d be
stretching. He wanted the very best, not just adequate. “My Queen,
may I have a bit more help until mid-week?”

She smiled. “Of course. And unless you tell
me otherwise, where will your offices be?”

Jamie shook his head. “I confess; I’m still
operating like a follower.”

Cyrus nodded but Jamie detected a smirk.
“Easy to do. We have an office set up and it is fully equipped for
you in Saratoga City, and there’s a division in Sunset Village on
the coast of Cape Thalen, just ten minutes from the homestead, and
another in Toga City on the northern end of this continent. King
Slavian managed to move to this continent but you’ll find him even
less helpful than Delario.”

Jamie nodded but remained silent. He already
had portfolios on those two kings and thought it best to keep out
of the politics of the royal families. He had one job; protect the
Pure-Gen. “Will you be requiring time with the babe, my Queen?”

“No, Jamie. I believe we are to keep away and
allow the babe to grow without interference. We’ve had several
downloads and data bursts from Maya. Here, I would like you to read
this.”

Jamie accepted the EBrain and studied the
log.

Inside S|W Lacuna

Sub-Maya Unit 9 via CARDINAL Unit
(CU) and Logs for Iota Test Site

354048

Adult BIOSUIT mapped as Aryan
Pure-Gen, memories blocked

ACCESS ID log in: Chaos Unit
3

REJECT

Systems OVERRIDE CU3TS

RESOLVE required

Trigger for Chaos Being 4 Baby
BIOSUIT mapped as Aryan Pure-Gen, memories blocked

ACCEPT

Trigger for Mobile Unit 1 Baby
BIOSUIT re-mapped as Aryan Pure-Gen, anomaly added, memories
blocked

ACCEPT

Upload scan data to Oracle
Unit

End upload

Download data from Oracle
Unit

UPDATE CU sandbox

Prepare Mobile Unit

End download

INITIALIZE new programs

QUERY for Fabrication or
Reconstruction, Fabrication and Reconstruction
unresolved

ENCYRPTION initialized to secured
CU server

ALIEN ACHORAGE
initialized

ACCESS ID log out: Chaos Unit
3

End

Only Pure-Gens received direct transmissions
to their mind implants from Maya. Many preferred to transfer the
data to Ebrains; however, Silvia may have just done that for his
benefit. Jamie wondered what that was like even as the thought made
his skin crawl. It triggered off memories of Leanne. He gripped the
tablet tightly, willing himself to concentrate, and with a start he
remembered Marc saying something about four Chaos Beings. The log
had Chaos Units, were they the same thing? “Looks like someone has
messed with the biosuit—made it a baby rather than an adult—but the
fact that they are interfering with the Cardinal Unit and
overriding Maya somehow is a little concerning.” Jamie handed the
EBrain back and studied Cyrus. His mind was awhirl with his new
mission and he saw the worry in all their eyes. “And it seems to be
saying we are in a test site.”

Cyrus nodded and then smiled. “I like how you
understate the issue.”

Jamie decided to be blunt while hiding his
own shock. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Max glanced down at the tablet in Cyrus’s
hands and shrugged, saying simply, “This is beyond us. We’ll be
watching you, Jamie, and ready to support you.”

Cyrus drew Jamie’s attention next. “Saratoga
is closed to most tourist visitations and activities while Ara is
on planet. People can move away but any arrivals will be heavily
vetted and then monitored.”

Jamie tried not to appear too amazed over
that. Closing off a planet to visitors was almost unprecedented,
only the Planet of Law and some military planets had such tight
security. Enthusiasm swelled at the thought of what that might
mean.

They spoke a little more and then left but
not before admiring the cabin.

“I say, Jamie. Who built this?”

“Jamie did.” Silvia drew up her hood to avoid
the drizzle wetting her hair. “I am in charge of such things you
know.”

Max smiled. “Of course. But just remember the
space above it is all ours.”

She laughed and moved to her horse after
Jamie brought the mare out for her. They talked about the cabin and
woodworking until Silvia mounted, complaining it was getting dark.
“Had I known we’d be talking of sticks I would have come in an over
lander, with headlights and heating and not on a nag.”

The “nag” snorted in the cool air and Jamie
ran his hand down the head, reveling in the texture. The horse was
worth more than his ranger.

Cyrus and Max obediently mounted, waving as
they left.

Jamie moved his two horses to the empty
stalls and ran his hands over them both. Even to his untrained eye
they looked to be of good stock. Now he just had to learn how to
ride. With a smile he went inside to the overly warm cabin. He
opened an internal door to the stable to allow the heat to escape,
and let the fire burn down. “Don’t get used to it,” he called out
to the horses, feeling a little silly afterwards. He finished
making his bed and then went into the storage room, cycled through
his security hatches and entered another hatch to his right.
Equipment whirled away; five heads glanced up from their tasks
while two came out from the small kitchen set into a smaller
cave.

“We get offices as well?” Brett said with a
grin.

Jamie nodded. “We’ll need more staff.”

“Let’s make ’em diversionary.”

“Good idea, Kyle. We'll create layers upon
layers.”

The lanky male nodded. “Will do. Got the
perfect teams already.”

Kyle was one of the first Jamie recruited. He
was a networker who graduated the same year as Jamie in the cadets.
A female stood up and stretched. Diane was the second he recruited,
but was also his second in command, Ryama’s twin.

“I’m off for a break then some sleep. Scott’s
already in the command center; we completed the handover.”

“Good job. Are your quarters alright?”

“No complaints.” She flashed him a smile that
said they were awesome.

Jamie had contracted a tourist resort with
cabins dotted around canyons. They still ran it like a resort, but
half now housed his staff. Others were sleeping in the cave
networks with days off in seaside homes. Brett had a boat he lived
on mostly when not at work. Jamie had forty-three staff in place
already. No one but his inner team could know how he operated. If
others did know, he was failing in his job.