Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5) (34 page)

Kaguya sat in on Conrad’s orientation lecture and accepted
the green jumpsuit in her size. “Those who the ambassador invited have names
stitched into the clothes. For the rest of you, pick something from the
unmarked piles close in size.”

Over a dozen unclaimed jumpsuits
remained for missing invitees. Most names were stitched in black on a white
background. Stu had ordered hers in gold. The color indicated access level.
Such
a kind boy, but the angels may not let me enter your promised land just yet.

Since she was a trained astronaut,
Kaguya tuned out while the crew reviewed the essentials of space travel. Not
counting the two rejects or the three transcends,
Sanctuary
now had
fifty-seven crew members and fourteen invitees. She didn’t think the camera operators
were particularly qualified, but Conrad valued loyalty above skill. During the
lecture, he indicated that the biosphere could support up to seventy-five
people, and the saucer could hold another six. Reserving a spot for Johann
Dalhstrom left ten slots open. Eliminating the known lesbian couple, the
male-female ratio was evenly balanced.

Stewart would have no end of
mundane volunteers from the STEM school, but the ship had enough engineers and
settlers now. What they lacked were competent replacements for specialists like
Dr. Baatjies: plant biology, nanomedicine, and ranged fighting. She mentally
flipped through her NERO staff, writing a list of recommendations on the back
of her prescription for pain medication from the university. By the time she tuned
back in, she had nearly twenty possibilities.

Then Prathiba, the mayor of the
little town below, spoke about wages. “Workers in
Sanctuary
are paid in
minutes of nanofabricator time. Almost anything you need can be fabricated or
traded. Duties will be assigned by the planners based on ship needs and crew
talents. For harvests, everyone participates, just like the early Puritans.
During winters or planetfall, we all make sacrifices for the common mission.
Some talents will only be useful in niches, so all my people cross-train. For
example, the Indian tracker Stu invited may be extremely useful on scouting
missions, but we’re likely to put him on fishing and raft repair duty here.”

Joan interrupted the lecture over
the loudspeaker. “Sir, we intercepted a broadcast from the new CEO of Fortune,
Tetsuo Mori. He’s spreading lies thicker than manure on a vegetable field.”

His victory speech
. “His
gloating will inform you of his strategy going forward,” Kaguya advised.

“Play it for us, and notify the
others in Garden Hollow,” Conrad ordered his young bridge officer.

****

Theme music played from a popular talk show host. Millions
interacted online with the host, and he would ask the most pressing questions
presented by viewers. Testuo Mori’s image filled the golden door. He resembled
a presidential candidate sitting at the desk beside the host. “It is with a
heavy heart that I take the reins of my friend Elias Fortune’s company. I hope
to save it from the treachery of those closest to him … to both of us.” He paused
to breathe oxygen through his clear mask. “The US inquiry into the Llewellyn
boy determined that he was either authentic or the greatest hoax in history,
which could only have been perpetrated by my company. Sadly, this turned out to
be the case.”

He coughed, requiring him to take a
sip of water from the podium. “Seven years ago, the curator of the
Ascension
Museum, Kieran Llewellyn, spotted inconsistencies in the web of lies. Mary
Smith seduced him and removed him from access to further information about the
shuttle. Recently, as a respected university dean and philanthropist, Kieran
discovered more information about Smith’s fraud and came to me for help. Sadly,
I wasn’t able to intervene before Stewart Llewellyn killed his uncle to conceal
his crimes. Two dozen other witnesses died that night.” The old businessman
lowered his head in a moment of reverence.

A few moments later, the host
asked, “Sir, are you saying
Sanctuary
hasn’t returned?”

“According to documents in Mary
Smith’s files, the
Sanctuary
crew died in a reactor accident, similar to
that of the
Kundali
probe near Jupiter a few years after. We’re still
not sure whether Stewart is the sole survivor of the disaster or the
illegitimate child of Mary Smith herself. We believe Kai Llewellyn connected
with Mary at the wedding of Mira Hollis, a year before the war.” A photograph
appeared on the screen of the dashing Captain Llewellyn dancing with Mary.
“Just time enough to give birth to a child before she began her role as the
decoy for Mira Hollis. One more secret buried with the death of
Sanctuary
.
However, Ms. Smith has barricaded herself inside her hotel and refuses to
undergo genetic or psychological testing.”

“Psychological?”

Mori admitted, “Like my own deluded
daughter, Mary had long awaited the return of her own lover. The two have been
colluding since Kaguya’s release from the asylum. Our working theory is that
Mary detonated
Sanctuary’s
core remotely soon after her sister Mercy
married Captain Llewellyn. In addition to revenge, this act gave her ownership
of both the Smith Foundation and Fortune Enterprises.”

The chat room churned like feeding
piranhas.

“None of the ambassador’s stories
were true?” asked the host. “What about the technology?”

“My own granddaughter, Laura, was
seduced by these charlatans, pawning off decades of our most secret corporate
research as alien technology. The cure for male multi-talent syndrome came from
her division of Mori Biotech.” Then, Mori looked at the camera and uttered the
line that changed everything for the crew of
Sanctuary
. “The US has
presented supporting evidence to the UN assembly, causing them to cancel the
upcoming vote on the nation status of the spaceship. We are forced to accept
that the Zeisses and Llewellyns have robbed our world of any access to the
gifts of our alien visitors.”

****

“None of that was true!” Pratibha burst out before the
interview officially ended. “It’s absurd. How can they doubt our existence?”

“Enough people will believe the
lie,” said Kaguya. “The corporate turmoil caused by his smear campaign will
keep Father in charge for months. The question you should ask yourself is why
is he baiting
you
this way?”

“The best way to disprove him is
for a member of the original crew or ship to surface,” Conrad replied. He
locked eyes with her, and she knew her plans would work. “They need to draw us
out in order to assault
Sanctuary
. If they succeed in killing us all,
the story he’s spreading will allow them to claim the empty ship as salvage.”

“I think it’s more personal,”
Kaguya said. “Father wants the healing pods to save himself. Failing that,
he’ll take Stewart’s blood to learn how to double the lifespan of the rich.”

Conrad nodded. “We have to consider
this a no vote from the UN.”

“So what do we do?” asked Pratibha.

“Convene a war council with all the
senior staff and those with military experience among the recruits,” announced
the commander.

****

Having twenty-two people packed into the storage area, all
talking at once, made Kaguya’s ears hurt. She sat beside Risa Herkemer because
the engineer didn’t speak. She wasn’t sure why Conrad was stalling, and then
Stu arrived, barefoot and rubbing his hair with a towel. He looked confused.
She made a spot for him on her other side and motioned her son-in-law over.

Eventually, Conrad whistled for quiet.
“Mira is still downstairs in the arrival area. Joan will warn us if she comes
out prematurely. We have a special presenter today—Kaguya Mori. There’s been a
history of … competitive friction between them.”

Risa snorted derisively.

The commander eyed Herk’s wife and
asked, “Since you obviously have opinions, what did you think of Mori’s
announcement?”

“The source of the wedding photo
worries me,” Risa replied. “I’ve searched my memory, and Gabriela probably took
that with her phone.”

“Mary Smith’s assistant?” Zeiss
asked.

Stu said, “She was missing when we
reached the jet. We have to assume corporate security nabbed her when
everything went sideways.” He leaned over to tell Risa, “Sorry I lost Herk’s
shirt in the embassy attack.”

“It’s fine,” Risa replied. “You
assembled the best medical team on the planet.”

“Kaguya could add a few more trauma
experts from NERO,” said Stu.

Risa grimaced. “The Moris are our
enemies.”

“Mori Electronics, Lockwell, and
one other member of the big five murdered our friends,” the commander
summarized.

“Actually, all three weapons may
have been from Koku trying to eliminate Snowflake,” Stu explained. “Oleander is
still tracking the components used to build those particular synchrotron
generators.” Parts of the radiation laser were strewn all over the
decontamination area for analysis.

Zeiss addressed the group. “Our
bluff has been called. We threatened to withhold Magi secrets if the UN refused
to grant us protected status. What’s our next move?”

Stu stood to address the group. “Even
if we could trust the UN not to bury the evidence, we can’t present one of our
citizens as proof. They’ll claim cloning because none of you looks old enough
except Oleander.”

“Thanks. That’s the last time I’ll
spend thirteen years of my life helping to raise you,” the Nordic blonde said.
“But I see your point. Because of her Ethics Page, Yvette is the only one the
UN could believe, and she has big holes in her memory.”

Zeiss asked, “Should we give the
ship to them? Technically,
Sanctuary
belongs to the entire human race.”

“They’re not mature enough yet,”
Risa argued. “You don’t give an infant that sort of destructive power.”

“True. What we do with the ship may
be as much of a test as Labyrinth was. Who votes to give the UN the ship and
throw ourselves on their mercy?” Zeiss nodded when not a single hand was
raised. “Right. So we’ve appointed ourselves the keeper of secrets for our
race. Do we hide on the other side of the sun like some sort of Antichthon, the
Counter-Earth?”

Yvette raised her hand to speak. “I
think we all signed on to explore other planets and start a colony. If the UN
doesn’t wake up, we head there without them.”

Everyone but Zeiss indicated
agreement in some fashion. The commander said, “We justified stealing the
artifact temporarily for the greater good. That’s a slippery slope without
absolute rules and compassion for our fellow humans.”

“The bad guys won,” said Risa.
“They’re in charge.”

“Is there anything we should give
to select countries before we leave?” Zeiss asked.

Pratibha shook her head. “We can’t
just give tech to one side, or we risk global war.”

Then Zeiss asked, “Would there be
any harm in giving them the data about the Labyrinth pandas or the planets?”

“The ambassador already gave enough
away,” one of the newcomers argued.

Zeiss spread his hands. “What’s
done is done. He traded for your lives. I think he brought an excellent return
on our investment.”

“Stu just updated his will, and
that got me thinking,” Pratibha said. “Our ship has been marooned and come near
death several times. What happens to all our precious information if the
universe or another ambush wipes us out? I mean, humanity won’t get this gift
again.”

“I like the idea of leaving data
archives, but we have to be careful,” Stu said. “I planted several copies of my
UN speech on the university servers before we left and rigged it to broadcast
in the event of my disappearance. Nothing made it out, not even the plea for
women’s rights. The corporations squashed it all.”

“Maybe we give the tech to the
Amish for safekeeping?”

“The failsafe holder doesn’t have
to be against technology, merely have compassion and nothing to gain from early
distribution,” Risa said. “We could entrust it to some charity that gets an
annual stipend for
not
revealing the information.”

Zeiss scribbled notes. “For how
long?”

The group consensus settled on a
quiet period of eighty or a hundred years, until Actives were the majority.

Kaguya said, “NERO has legal
mechanisms for miners in the asteroid belts in the event of disasters. I’ll
look into leveraging one of those to bestow our legacy.”

“Earth won’t last that long without
us. Billions are starving,” Stu said. “Perhaps some of the refinements we made
to the ecology equations here could help.”

“So we give them enough to survive
and put conditions on the rest?” Zeiss suggested.

The group liked this idea. Several
shouted out ideas that would demonstrate progress, such as equal rights for
women and enforcement of existing human-rights laws. Risa added, “They should
also disband the companies responsible for attacking us.”

“A stroke of a pen, and they’re
back in business under another name,” Kaguya explained.

“So we reformat the entire board of
directors,” Risa said. “The bastards will learn eventually.”

Kaguya licked her lips. She
wouldn’t get a better opening. “Oleander, Yvette, Eowyn, and I have a plan that
will strike my father where it hurts him most, as well as provide cover for
your rescue of Miss Smith and the other invitees. We can even leverage Sif’s
contacts in Chinese Intelligence to handle the bulk of the risk.”

“Why would China assist us?” asked
Conrad. “For that matter, why would we ask? They’re the ones who called for the
atomic retaliation on Alcantara.”

“Because Koku sees China as the
biggest economic and military adversary on the planet, my father has been
blackmailing them for years with a series of scorched-earth measures called The
Seven Seals. This package includes bioweapons that specifically target ethnic
Han. They don’t dare act against Father directly, or the failsafe engages.”
Kaguya walked over to hand Conrad her ring and notes. “By ethically
reformatting Koku, we disrupt the heart of Father’s empire and remove the
threat to the Chinese. In my ring are access codes to Mori Electronics data
vaults, as well as the NERO resources you need to succeed with your mission.
All I ask is the chance to prove myself.”