CHAPTER 17

 

After the announcement from Stone, Director Pfeffer had given a lengthy and overly reassuring speech outlining the “refocusing of resources on Diana.”

The UN, and therefore Spiranos, had officially, if not in practice, been in charge for the first years but CDSE now managed all aspects of Dianian life and operations.

Spiranos was apparently still on Diana, but nobody ever saw him. As far as anybody knew he lived in a complex out the back of the military compound on the banks of the Great Lake that bordered on the Life2 complex. Around dinner tables, Dianians speculated that he lived in the lap of luxury and that it was probably a reward for his conquering of Diana.

Jager was now the face of the UN and wherever events of importance occurred he was sure to be lurking in the background like a shadow of doom.

Director Pfeffer announced the CDSE plans two days after Stone’s ill-conceived speech. The plan was to decommission and stow the EARTH-NET program over a period of nine years. The nets would be furled back into their canisters which would remain in orbit, as insurance, in case Earth cocked up their atmosphere again. A few sub nets would remain to be used for communication between Earth and Diana. Space assets, such as the remote tugs, would either be re-purposed or abandoned to drift off into space. Ground based assets would be re-purposed for internal communications or salvaged for parts.

In place of EARTH-NET the Life2 program would be ramped up enormously. Over one thousand homes had already been built on the banks of the Great Lake and further developments were planned.

The big question on everybody's fingertips was, “What then? What did CDSE intend to do with over four thousand unemployed Dianians?”

CDSE’s answer came a week later. CDSE operators would take over and maintain the dormant assets of the EARTH-NET program. They would also take over all comms and signals. Every opportunity for transferring Dianians to employment for Life2 would be explored. There would be many positions initially in construction and later in horticulture, growing food for the Life2 inhabitants, and service jobs like housekeeping and maintenance.

On the day of the announcement Ray returned to her barracks to find that the ComPort she had built for herself had been removed. Talking to others around the complex it became clear this was a global situation. All the ComPorts that Ray had built had been confiscated by CDSE private security, along with all the other private units Ray knew of. Ray was strangely glad that the UN marines did not appear to be involved in the operation. The line that CDSE was selling was that “during this difficult and complex transition period it is critical that communications between Diana and Earth be as secure as possible to ameliorate the risk of asset losses. “

To Ray, this seemed ridiculous. The furling of the nets would be no more difficult than normal net operations. It always worked fine while Dianian kids surfed ComNet or watched movies. One young Dianian youth was caught trying to hide his ComPort and was dragged off to the military compound by CDSE security.

This was clearly a calculated ploy to remove any means by which Dianians could communicate with Earth or interfere with CDSE operations. The Dianians knew it and angry whispers started to circulate. Having never been confronted by such direct aggressive tactics, the Dianians were mentally and physically unprepared to resist. Instead, they whispered in the dark and complied, almost universally; many feeling sick with themselves for not having the courage to act. Stone and Clear were nowhere to be seen.

In the days that followed, Pfeffer’s smiling announcements continued to flow. Universal Haemo-Tabs were an expense that CDSE were unfortunately unable to justify going forward. Dianians whose jobs required physical endurance could apply for a prescription. Naturally CDSE were moving all pharmaceutical G-Ports to a central facility staffed by CDSE personnel.

Pfeffer’s staff began sorting the community into work details based apparently on age and physical appearance. Expertise in a particular field appeared to have no bearing on placement. A fit young Dianian was equally likely to be placed in construction or Horticulture. Attractive Dianians, in particular the young women, were placed in housekeeping.

By the time the community had all been reassigned, anger was already simmering. CDSE still needed some Dianian tug pilots and Nettle was one of the lucky ones and kept her job. The other exception was the remote engineers. The CDSE personnel were unfamiliar with the antiquated Dianian remote signals equipment and needed trainers to go with them during a transition period.

Naturally, the team leaders of the existing maintenance crews being the most experienced were requisitioned, Ray among them. All trainers were called to a special meeting hosted personally by Pfeffer.

Ray felt terrified at the prospect of being in the same room as her. The only time she had seen her in person, other than at a distance, was during the speeches on the day the humans first arrived. She had seemed benign and friendly then, but it had become abundantly clear that her wide smile and friendly eyes were a veneer painted over a calculating, pitiless creature, completely devoid of empathy.

Recently her reputation among Dianians was bordering on Satanic. A cold, intractable demon crunching over the bones of the Dianians with all the empathy of the great earth movers carving gashes into the forest to make way for Life2 habitats.

Ray and the dozen other Dianian experts sat in a small meeting room wide-eyed, confused, and fearful. After a time, Pfeffer strode primly up to the front. Her smile instantly lowering the temperature in the room by several degrees. Jager, Aymes and another marine that Ray didn’t recognize, followed several steps behind scanning the room in their practiced manner. Jager was looking for something to eat as usual. Ray noticed Jager separate himself from Aymes so that he was slightly in front of Pfeffer, leaning against the side wall. Ray realized that this was the first time she been this close to Jager, another sobering and terrifying thought.

Unlike other recent meetings, nobody carried weapons which made Ray at least a little hopeful that they were not about to get very bad news. Pfeffer conversed briefly with Aymes and then turned to face the motley assembly of just over a dozen Dianian remote signals specialists. As she looked up her eyes encountered Ray’s as she sat in the front row.

Pfeffer froze. Ray felt her stomach lurch at the direct eye contact. A spike of terror consumed her as if she had been singled out for execution. Pfeffer’s eyes flicked involuntarily towards Jager, Rays eyes following. Ray imagined she saw Jager shake his head once, his eyes intense with warning. Pfeffer returned her attention to the room, visibly forcing her gaze away from Ray. She had to look back down at her screen to gather herself before she spoke.

The prickle of warning that spread up Ray’s spine and into the skin of her face was almost overwhelming. Ray had to physically hold on to the seat of her chair to stop herself from getting up and running out of the room. Pfeffer had clearly recognized her. Pfeffer knew who she was, and it appeared Jager did too. Immediately Ray’s mind turned back to the incident at the lake. Had the guards described her red hair? Or worse, had there been cameras mounted around the compound as she ran past?

All of Ray’s fears about the incident resurfaced. Her heart was pounding, and she could feel the skin prickle turning into a telltale rash on her face. She struggled to focus on what Pfeffer was saying, thinking only about how she could run escape. Pfeffer was now casting her gaze around and talking directly to each of the Dianians in the room. Her eyes, however, never returned to Ray’s which served only to compound her fear.

Ray forced herself to focus on Pfeffer’s words. She was saying that the group in this room were elite among the Dianians and were to perform in a special roll in CDSE signals operations. Pfeffer’s smile had returned but her eyes still looked haunted.

With their unique knowledge of local equipment and conditions they were to be retained in signals for the foreseeable future. There would be one Dianian specialist per CDSE crew. Each crew paired with a two-man UN security detail to be assigned by Master Sergeant Aymes.

At Pfeffer’s mention of Aymes, many eyes in the room turned towards her, including Ray’s. Aymes looked right back at Ray, her face unreadable. Pfeffer read through her list of names pairing Ray and the other Dianians with several CDSE specialists. Ray recognized none of the names in her crew. Pfeffer finished with instructions to assemble ready for a two-week tour, Thursday 0800 sharp.

As Pfeffer and Jager left the room Ray sat staring straight ahead. Everything in her body told her this was bad Jager paused inside the door and took a last look at Ray’s profile before turning to leave. Ray clearly saw Aymes extrapolate Jager’s eye-line and turn her head to look. Ray thought she detected a barely perceptible twitch of Aymes eyebrow in her otherwise impassive face. It had to be Aymes. Maybe she could have taken an ordinary marine. Maybe delivered one decent hit to distract him before she bolted. But Aymes? No chance.

Ray closed her eyes, expecting Aymes huge hands to close on her arm any second. She waited for what seemed like an eternity. When the touch on her arm did finally come she lowered her face in defeat and waited for the instruction she knew was coming. “Come with me miss, Lieutenant Commander Jager needs to speak with you.”

But those instructions never came. Eventually, Ray looked up confused. Boots, one of the other Dianian specialists, was holding her arm looking concerned. As Ray opened her eyes he signed,

“Are you OK?”

Ray looked around. There was no sign of Pfeffer, Jager or Aymes and the rest of the Dianians had either already left or were filing out of the small meeting room. Ray looked back at Boots frowning.

“I thought…,” she began.

“You thought what?”

“…I thought Jager was…,” Ray looked back at the door fully expecting Jager and Aymes to be there again or coming towards her. No…they were definitely gone.

Boots frowned at Ray.

“Are you sure you’re OK?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” Ray grimaced an apologetic smile, “that man just gives me the creeps.”

“You’re not alone there,” Boots concurred.

Ray stood and made her way out of the room casually, fighting the urge to run.