Moving Mars (58 page)

Madam Vice President, Lieh said, if this is confirmation that Many Hills has been destroyed, then you must take command now.

Aelita reverted the picture to a wide view. She then magnified the region around Many Hills. The capital of the Republic was lost in dust.

My ribs ground together and I closed my eyes, gasping to regain my breath.

As the satellite continued its grim course from east to west, we saw more clearly the searching fingers of death moving in toward Kaibab. But that seemed expected, even trivial; what shocked was the extent of destruction elsewhere.

Charless hands twitched. Youre in charge, Casseia.

Madam President, Lieh said, stating the obvious.

Ti Sandra isnt coming back this time, Charles continued. She was at Many Hills. The district governors and representatives were there as well, most of them.

I stared at the sparkling effects of conversion, pits and slashes filled with molten rock: hundreds of thousands of hectares in Copernicus, Argyre, Hellas. Two of Marss biggest stations had been hit.

Cailetets main station is gone, and two outlying stations, as well, Aelita said.

Achmed Crown Niger had had his final answer from Earth.

Insanity, Leander muttered.

But I knew better. It all made horrible sense. It was a pattern as old as time: the display of baboons asses. If the ritual was not perfectly observed, and one did not back down, the baboons squared off and bared their fangs. If that did not do the trick, they fought to kill.

The satellite image blanked abruptly.

Loss of signal, Aelita said.

Charles stood beside the white cylinder that held the planetary tweaker. Stooped, long-fingered hands hanging by his side, his eyes burned below brows drawn together in eternal concentration. Around him, the support equipment for the largest of all our tweakers sat ready.

Tamara Kwang lay quietly on a couch nearby. She had been prepped for her backup role.

Thirty of the stations senior staff gathered in the auditorium beside the tweaker chamber, awaiting my instructions. Charles watched us with inhuman patience through the broad plastic window.

No one raised any objection when Leander referred to me as President.

My statement to the assembly was brief. We cant remain in the Solar System and survive. We have to do what we brought all of you here to do. The sooner the better. Charles tells me hes ready. Stephen confirms.

The thirty sat in stunned silence for several moments. Dr. Wachsler stood and glanced around, hands held out. We are making a decision for all of Mars, he said. In effect, we represent all of Mars. Surely we He choked and held his hands higher, voice rising. Surely there must be some confirmation, some

We will die if we do not act, I said. My hands shook with a perverse excitement. I wanted Wachsler to challenge me; I wanted any and all challenges now. My bones were knitting; I could feel them. Medical nano filled my bloodstream, rooting out problems, controlling my tendency to slip into shock. I felt strong as a lion, but knew I was still very weak.

Dr. Abdi hasnt finished his areological survey, Wachsler said.

Abdi stood, hands in pockets, shrugged, and sat again. I have not, indeed, he said.

We should vote, called out Jackson Hergesheimer, the astronomer. We know what happened on the last trip. What happened to Galena. If were going to choose suicide over murder, we should be allowed to vote.

No vote, I said wearily.

Why not? Hergesheimer called out. Were citizens of the Republicthe only citizens who can respond to you!

There will be no vote, I said.

Then you are no longer President of this Republic, even if you even if you might legally Words failed him.

I take this upon my own shoulders, I said.

You order our suicide! Wachsler cried.

Dandy Breaker, sitting at the back, had had enough. He rose, hand held high, and I gave him permission to speak with a nod. I might point out the strict legality, under the laws of the Republic, of President Majumdars position. This is an emergency. The only defensive course of action open to us is retreat. At her instruction, I have declared a state of martial law and broadcast it over Mars.

Nobody can hear or object! Wachsler said, tears of rage rolling down his cheeks. His hands moved like two birds, up and down, fingers fluttering. My God, this is the most horrifying kind of tyranny.

I take responsibility, I said. My voice sounded dull and hollow, even in my own ears.

Madam President, Leander said, perhaps we should take an informal vote. Just to be certain.

We should discuss the option of declaring war, Hergesheimer said. What theyre doing is an outrage, and we should defend ourselves, if not with a moon, then by using conversion on their cities, their lands!

No, I said. That is not an option, if we have any other choice. We do. I had long ago taken my own personal stand against striking back at Earth. If anyone wishes to depose me, or petition for my ouster at this time, or do whatever the law allows or doesnt allow let it be done now, and hurry, please.

I wondered whether we were going to lose all control, whether I had pushed too hard and spoken too strongly. Leander was about to speak when the floor of the auditorium shook. Aelita called up a series of images from the cameras atop the station. The horrid gray curtain unfurled over northern Kaibab, whirling debris clearly visible in the electric blue corona, dust churning at its feet.

Its on the plateau, about fifty kilometers away, Aelita said.

All in the auditorium watched, some weeping. Several jumped from their seats and fled.

The rest is simply fear, I said. We know. For us there are no corners to be backed into unless we give in to our fear. Then we will die. Let us do what we built Preamble to do.

Charles entered the auditorium from the main lab space, moving slowly and uncertainly. His presence seemed to spook the staff members in the first two rows of seats. They drew their knees up and away from him, staring like frightened children.

QL is ready, he said. The interpreter is ready. So am I.

The image of our coming doom hung over us at several points around the auditorium. The floor vibrated as if pounded by a herd of huge animals. Charles stared at the images, then said, barely audible, Its a one-in-a-trillion conversion. If they ramp it by a factor of ten, and they can, they could take the entire plateau at once.

Lets do it, I said. I could barely make myself heard above the horrendous rockborne howl of matter coming to pieces.

Dandy walked stiffly down the side aisle. Madam President, he boomed, his formality absurd under the circumstances, You must give a direct and unambiguous order.

By authority of the office of President, I order that we immediately move Mars to the chosen orbit around the New System.

It doesnt even have a name! Wachsler cried.

Order so recorded, Dandy shouted, holding up his slate. He glared at the audience, daring anyone to voice another challenge.

Wachsler shook his head, speechless. Hergesheimer collapsed in his seat, mumbling unheard.

Charles turned and left the auditorium. Leander and I followed. Most of the staffers in the auditorium stayed in their seats or moved closer to the separating glass wall, like observers at an old-fashioned execution.

Charles sat on the edge of a couch beside the main tweaker. Ill need some help with these, he said, lifting one hand to point to the larger array of optic cables. Stephen and I helped him attach the cables, and Charles lay back on the couch. Ill be the only one in the loop to the QL, he said. But others can observe. It would be easier if I can talk with people while its happening. Ill feel more real. And if those people are seeing some of whats happening, with me

Ill observe, I said.

Charles pointed to a smaller couch on the other side of the thinker platform. I hope youll be comfortable, he said.

I sat on the couch. Do I need ? I pointed to the cables attached to the base of his neck.

No. No feedback required. Standard image projection, or immersion. Immersion should really be something.

I swallowed. Immersion, then.

I appreciate this, Casseia, Charles said. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, Adams apple bobbing on his throat, jaw clenching, relaxing.

Least I can do, I said.

Its our only choice, Charles said. We have to leave. I know that. Youve made a courageous decision.

I followed Leander with my eyes as he prepared for my immersion. A few narrow bands around my head, projectors from a modified slate, a few slim optical connections between slate and interpreter, and I experienced a comfortable floating sensation, neural chitchat in the far background.

I glanced around, nervous at even these few constraints. The room smelled cold and metallic and seemed absurdly large for the apparatus; an echoing cavern with lights focused on the tweaker, force disorder pumps, refrigerators One director, one backupTamara Kwang, with her own nimbus of cables and connectorsand one observer.

Leander finished checking all connections and stood to one side, arms folded.

Mars is a big body, Charles said. We have to reference more orthonormal bases for each descriptor, exponentially more for descriptors that superposit. That means storing some results in the unused descriptors within the tweaker. Thats easier in a larger tweaker.

The danger is no greater than beforeless, probably, Leander said. But the directors job is more difficult. He has to be more congruent with the QL to keep those extra descriptors in tune with the overall goal.

And?

The interpreter still gets in the way. Charles will have to be more direct. Straight through to the QL.

Again the howl of converted matter shook the floor. Dandy left the auditorium and stood beside Stephen. Were going to lose the station through blast effects if we dont go now, he said.

Dandy avoided looking at Charles as if he were indecent or sacred and forbidden.

Well do it in three, Charles said. Just to be extra cautious. First, well advance along Marss orbital path fifty million kilometers. If theres any doubt about the next step, well leave it there.

Theyll find us again, finish the job, Tamara Kwang said softly, self-consciously touching her cables. Drops of sweat beaded her face even in the chill.

There wont be any doubt, Charles said. The next step will put us about three trillion kilometers from the New System. Well get our bearings and make the next jump.

We cant stay in deep space for more than a few minutes, Hergesheimer said. I had not seen him come into the lab, but he stood a few meters from the tweaker, hands in his pockets, hair thoroughly tousled. If we stay in deep space for more than a few minutes, Mars will experience extreme weather changes.

Faoud Abdi entered, followed by two assistants. I have checked the damage, Abdi said, and we have only ten percent of our Mars surface trackers linked through transponders. The rest are gone or we cant reach them. I believe we can still get a feel for what is happening to the planet, but of course there is no way to tell others what to expect. There will also be more severe areological effects if we do not enter a comparable solar tide situation quickly. And the same side must be turned toward the new sun. This is very important.

Understood, Charles said.

The tidal bulge, Abdi continued.

Its in the calculations, Stephen told him.

Wheres my station, my instrument hookup? Hergesheimer asked. I heard but could not see Leander directing him toward the far side of the lab, where all of the exterior instruments of Preamble would direct their flow of data.

Lets do it, Charles said.

I dropped my head back and stared into the projectors. Suddenly my neck hair rose and I nearly screamed. I felt some one standing beside me, opposite Leander and Dandy; I knew who he was, but did not want to accept that I was still so close to the edge.

I could not see him, but his presence was as real as anything else in the room, more real perhaps, more believable. His name was Todd, and he was about five years old, with fine brown hair and a ready smile, cheek smooth and downy and brown, fingers nimble, face flushed, as if he had just come back from exercise or play. He wanted to tell me something. I could not hear him.

He would have been my son. Ilya would have been his father.

I must have made a sound. Charles asked if something was bothering me.

Im fine, I said. Lets go. I wanted to reach out and hold my sons hand, but he was no longer there.

I would never feel his presence again.

Go, Stephen echoed.

Going, Charles said.

Staring into the projectors, my head wrapped in neutral sound from the immersion bands, I saw Mars mapped above me as a highly detailed sphere, elevations exaggerated, all of our remaining trackers marked by pinpricks of red. By turning my head, I could see Phobos and Deimos. The map had not been recently updated, for Many Hills and other stations I knew to be gone were plainly marked as well.

Well lose all our satellites, Dandy murmured. He seemed far away, as did the rumbling howl.

Charless voice spoke in the middle of my head, startling me. First frame shift in two minutes, he said. Hear me, Casseia?

Yes, I said. I see Mars.

Would you like to see what the QL is doing? he asked. When I go in, Ill be part of its processing. Youll be outside, watching.

Okay, I said.

I tried to relax my rock-tense muscles. Best to die relaxed, I thought; the universe seemed unpredictable enough that such a distinction might be important.

The image of Mars changed radically as I was drawn into the QLs perspective. What I saw was not a planet, but a multi-colored field of overlapping possibilities, the planet as a superposited array. The QLs assessment changed every few seconds, colors shifting, assignments of the Pierce region flashing at blinding speed: all of Mars scoped and measured using a logic no human could follow, a logic lying outside or beneath the rules of the universe.

I saw more clearly now the value of the QLs contribution. That it was in fact self-aware, despite these distortions, gave me a chill. What sort of self-awareness could function when consciousness had no shape, no specified purpose?