Exits to the left and right of the platform led to a large, excavated space containing the remainder of the habitat for the GS, including their domiciles. Simon watched from the screens while Tanya’s two assistants helped her off stage and through one of the exits.
He glanced back past the screens to the only entrance to the cave. One way in, several ways out.
The omicron rock vibrated; it felt like a buzzing in his mind.
One screen showed Laura and Bill returning to the boundary line to an area the cameras didn’t cover. What areas the cameras couldn’t see the Conditioned took turns to patrol. He moved closer to the screen and the buzzing intensified enough for him to fight off the intrusion. As a Conditioned, omicron sucked.
Simon had sensed Bill scepticism over Tanya’s explanation for the use for the power. Laura had been harder to read. She’d been an Indigene once, if only for a brief time, long enough for her to retain Indigene abilities. But if she had any skills, he couldn’t tell.
Take me back. He heard Tanya’s order moments before she returned to the observation room in her hover chair. Her two assistants followed but Tanya still had enough strength to commandeer the vehicle. The Elite had yet to test the power from the machine to see if it could reverse some of their ageing. Simon had only been gathering it for a few days. If Simon could get the machine to work, Tanya might drop plans to beg the Indigenes for access to their Nexus—a more complicated solution.
Tanya’s gaze, still sharp despite her frailty, met his.
‘What do you make of those two?’ she said. ‘I’m unable to read either of them. Damn side effect of superiority, I suppose.’
‘Bill is sceptical, but that’s no surprise. He’s always been hard to convince of anything. He was a difficult employee when he worked under me.’
‘And Laura?’ Simon shook his head, to which Tanya nodded. ‘No matter. We don’t need to convince her, only him. If the power we have isn’t enough, we will take more power from the grid.’
‘If you assist with the peace treaty, Bill may be more amenable. That’s why he came here.’
‘The Elite has no interest in that agreement.’ Tanya waved her withered hand. ‘To be honest, I’m surprised it lasted this long. We only agreed to it to keep the Indigenes off our backs when we moved to this planet.’
And it had worked well. But Tanya missed the point.
‘You don’t understand, Elite One. By keeping the treaty alive, you gain his trust and access to more power. If you don’t show an interest, Bill Taggart and the ITF will cut you—us—loose.’
Tanya nodded. Her neck bent too much for it to support her head.
‘I’m sure I can invent something else to keep Bill Taggart interested,’ she said. ‘In the meantime, the minimal draw of power will not stop us from proceeding with our plans. Dr Jameson will soon tell me what I already know—that my body won’t last much longer. And I’ve got nine bedridden Elites. Our shells won’t support the next phase of transcendence.’
‘The machine is as ready as can be,’ said Simon. He hoped the machine would use the gamma amplification to attract the Nexus to the stored grid power. ‘The Indigenes said the Nexus is organic, so it doesn’t have the same constraints as a manmade machine. We may be able to coax it away from its confines.’
Tanya shifted in her chair and her head lolled to the side. ‘It has to work. The Elite are out of options.’
They were also out of time.
‘I’ve no idea how much power we’ll need to make this work,’ said Simon. ‘But be prepared that what we have might not be enough. We may need the Nexus after all.’
Tanya laughed but it came out as a growl. ‘I’d rather die than ask the Indigene vermin for a favour. They killed one of my bodyguards without any thought. But my survival trumps my pride on this occasion.’
Simon had read the report from eight years ago about the time when Tanya and several board members had travelled to Exilon 5 to meet with the Indigene leaders. Simon had secured Bill an audience with Tanya which led to both Bill and a sick Laura travelling with the party. The battle on Exilon 5 had come close to shifting the balance permanently in the Indigene’s favour.
She continued. ‘Before I lost my ability to read minds, I could sense the Indigenes would rather die than to speak with us. And some wish we were dead now. While I don’t enjoy doing anything for that race, I agree it’s prudent to keep Bill Taggart on side. The Elite will pretend to support the treaty. No matter anyway; it will fail on its own. By that time, the Elite will no longer exist in corporeal form.’
Simon wondered what would happen to the Conditioned when the Elite transcended; Tanya had promised him longer life but he had no cast-iron proof that his altered code honoured any such promise. When he’d asked to see the research, speak to the doctors, Tanya had refused him access. Simon was beginning to think his purpose stretched only to protecting the Elite until they reached transcendence.
Tanya slipped down in her chair. When she couldn’t adjust her posture, her assistants helped her.
She groaned when they pulled her up in her chair. ‘This is humiliating. The sooner we use the machine the faster I can reclaim my dignity.’
Her body was frail, not her mind.
‘Have the doctors considered a new body for you, just until the process is complete?’ said Simon.
Tanya shook her head. ‘I’m stuck with this body until the end. They don’t know how to integrate a live consciousness in another’s mind.’
‘But it was done before by Charles Deighton, when he invaded Anton’s mind.’
‘That was an imprint. We’re talking about swapping out an actual consciousness and making it work with another brain, not sticking a bland copy into a mind that’s already occupied.’ Tanya pushed on a lever and her chair moved past the screens, closer to the front door. Her two assistants followed. ‘I want to try the machine now. The others are too weak to try this so I must be the guinea pig. We have no choice.’
Simon agreed with a nod. ‘Let’s go.’
☼
Simon sprinted ahead of Tanya to the environ while Tanya’s assistants accompanied her in her chair. He unlocked the door and held it open while Tanya steered her chair inside the space. Her assistants entered with her.
A restrained ball of energy crackled at the centre of the black machine and illuminated the space in a soft, orange glow. Simon’s temporary mind mapping gave him the knowledge of an electrician to work the machine and that of a geotechnical engineer to understand how the machine related to the earth. But the harder his mind worked to retain both sets of information, the more he felt it slip from his mind. Regardless, he still knew enough to see that the stored grid power might not be enough to attract the Nexus to restore Tanya.
Tanya shifted in her chair but only produced minor movements. ‘How is this going to work? Do I need to stand for this?’
‘The machine will activate the stolen power and the gamma rock will amplify its reach. I hope it will be enough to communicate with the Nexus.’
Tanya frowned. ‘Communicate how, by talking to it?’
Simon understood her scepticism. She’d never experienced the raw potential of the Nexus. Neither had Simon, but he had felt the raw and excitable hum beneath his feet when he’d stood in the tranquillity cave that one time.
‘The Nexus is organic in nature and does not follow parameters and structure. It is constantly evolving. I had my team drill several conduits in the rock to pierce one of their tranquillity caves. I’m hoping the amplified power will coax it along one conduit, like a moth to a flame, so to speak.’
‘If you say so. Let’s see this thing in action.’
‘You’ll need to get close enough to the machine to touch the protective field around the stored energy,’ said Simon.
Tanya barely moved until her two assistants hooked their arms underneath hers and lifted her up to stand. They extended her hands out until her fingers almost touched the field.
Tanya pulled back a little. ‘How dangerous is this?’
‘The energy may loop back around and provide a kick back through the field.’
Tanya drew in a breath.
‘Don’t worry; you’ll be fine,’ said Simon. ‘The field acts as a dampener around the energy. It won’t hurt, but you might feel a jolt of power when the Nexus discovers it.’
Tanya released a slow breath and rested her fingers on the outer field.
Simon turned the machine on and it visibly vibrated Tanya’s arms.
‘How long do I need to wait?’ she said.
Her dark eyes, barely visible beneath skin folds, watched the machine.
‘Not long, I hope. The vibration the machine is emitting will act like a beacon. If the Nexus is listening, it should pick up the sound.’
Tanya closed her eyes just as the ball of stored energy grew brighter. The brightness sparked and shot to where Tanya touched the field. Tanya yelped and tried to break contact.
‘No, don’t let go.’
Simon lunged for her and steadied her arms to keep them rigid.
A thin rope of bright, white energy poked out from the conduit and appeared to look around. It snaked through the stored energy and pierced the field without trouble. Simon froze when the tendril wrapped around one of Tanya’s arms and licked at his hands. The bright rope delivered a sharp shock to him. He gritted his teeth against the pain and held on to Tanya.
Tanya’s head jerked and she yowled when the rope slithered farther down to encompass her body and legs. Simon released her. The tendril held her in place. Tanya’s muscles spasmed where the rope appeared to squeeze her. She grimaced and panted. Then, after a few minutes, the rope retreated through the stored energy and disappeared inside the conduit. The stolen energy that had glowed bright at the start had lessened to a minuscule amount and barely glowed.
‘What the hell was that?’ said one of Tanya’s assistants.
Tanya slumped forward in Simon’s arms, exhausted. He helped her to her chair.
‘I don’t know. The closest I got to the Nexus was when I toured one of the tranquillity caves.’ One assistant helped Simon lower Tanya back down. ‘I believe that when they connect to the Nexus, tendrils similar to that one pull them inside. But it’s all in their mind. It happens on a different plain to the physical one.’ He stared at the machine. ‘I may have accidentally designed a machine that gives the Nexus form in this world.’
‘Did it fix Elite One?’ said the second assistant.
‘I don’t know,’ said Simon. And he didn’t. He looked at Tanya, who had her eyes closed. ‘Elite One, how do you feel?’
Tanya’s appearance was serene, peaceful. Her eyes flashed open and she stood up without help. Her skin, so wrinkled it had almost swallowed up her appearance, looked tighter and smoother.
‘I feel... good.’
She swayed a little. Simon supported her.
‘That was... powerful. I feel like my old self again. I mean before all the changes, not the decrepit sack of skin I am now.’
She walked unaided out of the environ, leaving Simon to marvel at the machine. He had had no idea it would even work.
Tanya gained strength with each new step. She waved off the chair and her assistant’s help as she walked back.
‘I’m excited by this,’ she said. ‘Let’s heal the other Elite before the Indigenes notice we’ve got access to their precious Nexus.’