The Ouroboros Wave (16 page)

The Moon had more than enough ore to satisfy Terran demand. The lunar mining colonies provided raw material for the early settlement of the solar system, including the colonization of Mars. But Earth’s focus on recycling didn’t change, and offworld mining
did not spread beyond the Moon.

Then the Artificial Accretion Disk Development association was founded. Within a few years AADD had changed the terms of the economic game for the entire solar system. Their first move was to start mining on three main-belt asteroids—nudged by AADD into orbits around Kali—for metals to construct Ouroboros and Chandrasekhar Station. This gave AADD access to vast amounts
of ore, allowing them to push ahead quickly with construction.

As soon as AADD began mining its own ore, the lunar mines lost income. The Terran mining conglomerates were hidebound and far less productive than AADD. They couldn’t compete on cost—yet they were not all that concerned. The asteroids contained ores for every important metal, but refining it was comparatively expensive. The quality of the asteroids’ deposits did not equal that of lunar ore. AADD still depended on Earth for copper and lead, and the mining companies could make decent profits from those metals alone. Even if AADD were self-sufficient in iron and nickel, they would still have to depend on Earth for nonferrous metals.
Or so the Terrans thought.

They were wrong. The Martian colonists were not stupid. They knew the prices for nonferrous metals had been rigged by Terran cartels and were far too high. Where there were water and volcanoes, there were mineral deposits. Mars had them both. The volcanoes of Tharsis Montes contained enormous deposits of iron and nonferrous metals. At first, the ore the colonists mined there went to supply local needs. They exported only limited amounts, enough to be handled by small mass drivers sending packets of refined ore into orbit. Larger payloads would have to wait for the construction of the orbital elevator, which would ensure the economic independence of Mars from Earth. Finally it was built and online.

Now Mars had high-quality mineral deposits, efficient mining operations, and a low-cost way to get the ore into space via the orbital elevator. These factors made the mines of Mars unbeatably competitive. The Terran conglomerates were completely outclassed, unable to match the low price of Martian ore. For certain metals Mars became the preferred source even for Terran buyers.

This change in the balance of economic power inevitably brought a change in the balance of political power. Earth was committed to protecting its vested interests. AADD wanted the right to pursue and prosecute citizens of Earth who committed crimes offworld. Negotiations over this issue took up a large amount of Chairman Ochiai’s time. Now he was on the cusp of reaching a deal that satisfied most of AADD’s demands.

But not everyone on Earth was happy with what was about to happen. Within each power center were factions holding different visions of Earth’s future in a solar system that was changing before their eyes.

There was no question that this situation had the potential to spawn murder.

MIKAL SHOOK HIS HEAD.
“If they were supposed to be decoys, then we’ve done nothing to stop Tetsu from being assassinated.”

“We might have even helped Rahmya get the job done,” said Shiran.

“When does he arrive on Deimos?”

“If he’s on schedule, he’ll be here in forty-eight hours.”

Minus 35 Hours 45 Minutes

The leasing agency isn’t tough to find. The entrance is period; don’t know where they got those old fittings. Making a statement, I guess. Inside’s nothing special. Chairs, tables, one leasing agent.

“My name is Kashiwazaki. I reserved a vehicle.”

“Oh yes. Ryoko.”

Here this bitch has just met me, and she calls me Ryoko. On
Mars, a person’s name is just an ID tag.

“You have a land cruiser for a week. Everything’s ready—water, food, oxygen, all the necessities.”

“That’s good.”

“Going into the outback? We don’t get much demand for our cruisers. Most visitors from Earth want one of our buggies. They’re
lighter and more nimble.”

“I’m going pretty far out. Why else would I need a land cruiser?”

“Are you a photographer?”

“Why do Martians ask so many questions?”

“I was just wondering.”

The transaction is half-automated, our webs processing most of the details. Once that’s out of the way she takes me through a tunnel to where they keep the vehicles. She’s acting kind of chilly all of a sudden, which suits me fine. The rear of the shop is down half a level, following the slope of the mountain. We go through a
few basic air locks into a garage.

“There’s your cruiser.”

Mars is right outside, through two more air locks. The cruiser’s parked in front of them, ready to go, provisions loaded and my cargo—the entire shopping list sent ahead—in a big pile on the floor. The cruiser’s just a box really, light alloy and plastic, five meters long with four sets of tracked feet instead of wheels. Looks a little like a snow tractor back on Earth. The tracks spread the weight over the ground better than wheels, but they’re steerable, so you still get good turning radius. Typical Martian vehicle for anything other than light-duty work. If you run into something unexpected it has a winch and a basic crane. The cab is pressurized, with an air lock and a place to stow your suit. The drive units are self-contained in each of the feet, so there’s a lot of room inside. You could live in
one of these things for weeks.

“How’s this perform in the outback?”

“She’s small, but you still have a lot of horsepower. The tracks
are extra wide. It comes with advanced suspension.”

“Sounds like just the ticket.” I start doing a careful walk-around.
The bitch frowns.

“I check the vehicles every day. It’s my job.”

“I have to do this myself. Sorry, just one of those things.” I’m starting to like this agency. The cruiser’s been well maintained. Good thing, too, since my life will depend on it. “Looks like it’s in
pretty good shape.”

“Of course. That’s my job.”

I open the hatch and start loading.

“You’ve got a lot of cargo there.” She points at the pile. I notice she’s not helping me load up. I get all the stuff into the cruiser—finally—and jump into the driver’s seat. She forwards me the document with the warnings and disclaimers. Security requirements. I hate this part—you actually have to
read
the damn file or the vehicle won’t start. So for the next ten minutes I play along with
their bullshit procedure.

With that out of the way I power up the cruiser and start inching forward. The first air lock door opens, closes—and then the outer lock opens and the red slope of Mt. Rokko stretches ahead of me. The downslope is pretty gentle, doesn’t feel like much. At least I’ve
got that ugly fucking tower behind me.

I go a few klicks down the mountain and stop to check my “photo equipment.” Good girl, she got everything I need. It’ll assemble into something that shoots, so I guess I didn’t really lie.

Phase Two: complete. Now for Phase Three.

It’s too early to relax. I can’t underestimate the Guardians. I point the cruiser in a new direction and pull the ID chip out of my web.
So long, Ryoko. You’re history.

I’m Gong-ru Yang now.

Minus 34 Hours 30 Minutes

According to the hijackers, Rahmya was on the Martian surface. But could they be trusted? Was this another diversion? It seemed more likely that Rahmya was somewhere on one of Tsutenkaku’s
stations.

Shiran decided to bet on the elevator. Every passenger landing on Deimos and exiting at Kobe City had to pass a cranial scan when getting on and off the elevator. Infrared imaging revealed underlying bone structures, so simple disguises wouldn’t work. Rahmya topped the Guardians’ wanted list. If she was planning to disappear in Kobe
City, she’d have to defeat two sets of scanners first.

But several hours after the hijacking, there was still no alert from security—which would suggest she was still somewhere on the elevator. And yet, hours of searching turned up nothing in any of the stations along the way. Then Shiran’s imaging officer called
her with some unsettling news.

“Professor, she slipped past us after all. She’s on the surface.”

“How is that possible?”

“I’ll show you.” An augmented-reality display board appeared in the space above Shiran’s desk just as Mikal walked into the office. The right side of the board began to play scanner footage. Shiran recognized the elevator exit gate on the surface.

“It’s her!” said Mikal.

“No doubt about it, that’s Rahmya.” The scanner showed a young woman wearing an orange AADD crew jumpsuit passing through the gate. Her ID number, read automatically from her web, appeared at the top of the screen.

“This number doesn’t match any of our personnel,” said the imaging officer. “We’re trying to trace it on Earth, but I doubt it’s genuine.”

“So she made it to the surface after all. But the cameras got her.
Why didn’t we notice? We all know this face.”

“So we do, Professor, but we’re relying on the IR scanners to catch what the human eye might miss. We only check the visible wavelength footage when a scanner gives us a heads-up. Otherwise this is all automated. You’re aware of that?”

“Of course,” Shiran snapped.

“Well, this time it was the reverse. We went back and reviewed the visible-wavelength footage just in case. That led us to the scanner
images. Now look at this.”

The same footage began to play on the left side of the board, this time from the infrared cranial scanners. The feed was enhanced to make it easier to see the structure of the face under makeup or
a disguise.

“What the hell?” gasped Shiran. Rahmya’s image under infrared
bore no resemblance at all to her actual appearance.

“She must be using some kind of IR reflector—and she knew
how to apply it to make herself look like a different person.”

“This must go further than we thought,” said Shiran. “If Rahmya has what it takes to defeat our scanners, she must have funding. She wouldn’t be able to develop a countermeasure like that on her own.”

“Our intelligence subteam thinks her client may be one of the Terran mining and metal refining conglomerates. If so, she’d have
practically unlimited support.”

“And the client keeps their hands clean. But there are at least two things wrong with this picture. One, Rahmya doesn’t have a weapon. We recovered everything from the hijackers. Why didn’t
one of her coconspirators just slip her a weapon?”

“Under interrogation the suspects admitted that she orchestrated the hijacking, but that’s all,” said Mikal. “Maybe they’re telling the
truth.”

“So everything they brought in was for the hijacking. The bigger question is, why head for the surface? Tetsu is staying on Deimos this trip, he’s not going down to Kobe. His itinerary is public information. If Rahmya’s planning to kill him, why is she moving in
the opposite direction?”

“Maybe she’s planning to come back,” said Mikal.

“Maybe. Or maybe she’s planning another diversion.”

Minus 29 Hours 20 Minutes

The land cruiser is pressurized. All I can hear, moving along, is a faint hum from the oxygen/methane engine. Otherwise, silence.

The cruiser has laser radar that feeds data to the active suspension system. The terrain here is littered with huge reddish boulders, maybe from floods eons ago. Active suspension is a must for high-speed driving. The radar sees the terrain coming up and talks to the actuators in the suspension system, tells them how to respond in advance. Makes for a smooth ride, for sure. Good thing, because I want to use as little energy as possible. I never work when I’m tired.

My vehicle knows where and how to go, all the coordinates are loaded. The terrain here isn’t that rough, so it’s reasonably safe to hand off to the autopilot. The guidance database knows the rough spots. If the cruiser needs to detour, it can navigate without my help. My route’s been carefully planned. The skies are full of satellites of all sizes, keeping an eye on the mining complexes. Staying out of sight is my major challenge right now. I’m avoiding terrain where the cruiser’s likely to leave imageable traces on the ground. I double back on evasive headings to confuse the satellites. The cruiser is covered with camo net to break up its outline against the surface.