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P align=centerChapter 6/P/B/FONT
P align=justifyGeoSync asteroidean station had once been a tumbling boulder,
wandering majestically between the orbits of planets five and six of the Cerisan
system. Enterprising developers blasted it out of the asteroid belt and then
carefully left it following in a neatly circular path around Cerise III. Its
purpose was to provide raw materials for the space industry and as such it had
served its masters well. The rock was composed mostly of nickel iron with large
quantities of frozen water embedded in its interior. As such it was a wonderful
source of metal, fusion fuel and atmospheric gases for humanities push into
terraforming and exploitation of the rest of the system. /P
P align=justifyFollowing its successful capture, growth in the space
industries had been exponential - leapfrogging over the asteroidal development
so quickly that GeoSync had never been mined out. Instead it became the way
station between the dome bound ground colonial development and the burgeoning
space based industries. Throughout those early developments, GeoSync had grown
steadily, with the accretion of space port structures and docking facilities,
habitat structures and transportation arteries. The original potato shaped mass
of nickel-iron still occupied the central volume, but now it was laced with
corridors of silicon and carbon fibre so that it looked more like an explosion
in a string factory. /P
P align=justifyAt times it was visible from the ground, lit from it's own
artificial sources so that it glowed like the only stationary star in the
heavens. And of course it was a hive of activity, all the time busy, all the
time bustling, never shutting down, never resting. /P
P align=justifyThere were still hopes of constructing a space elevator. Only
fifty years earlier, the space-elevator had seemed a pipe dream, but not any
more. Hopes were high for the latest research into means of locking subatomic
particles into a fixed quantum state. Processing power to control the shape of
the field was the real bug-bear, but of all the challenges to be overcome before
the technology became operable that was the most likely problem to be overcome.
The operators of GeoSync planned to install an elevator as soon as materials
science came up with the means. /P
P align=justifyWith that in mind, the builders of GeoSync located the
counter-rotating spaceport facing away from the planet with a view to one-day
tying the asteroid to the ground via a railway system. And then it would really
be the gateway to the stars that the planetary population had been screaming out
for./P
P align=justifyFunding that sort of development would never be achieved
through conventional financing practices. It took a lot more money to run
something like GeoSync than could be realistically charged for freight handling,
so much what occurred behind GeoSync's code-locked doors could be categorised as
illegal upon most settled worlds - except for Jackson's Whole which was almost a
model for it's development. GeoSync's legislative neutrality was guarded
jealously, often by bribery, and almost as often by more severe means. /P
P align=justifyStation management maintained a steady cash flow and that
maintained a high standard of living for many, but that same management
philosophy contributed to the worst kind of marginal existence for the
remainder. Not all of the people bred on GeoSync were considered human. Another,
far more marginal, means of human existence was common, termed slavery by many,
and Indentured Service by those with a vested interest in its continuity. People
could be manufactured to specification. Provided you could flout the generally
adopted anti-genetic engineering moratorium. They could manufacture anything you
could design on GeoSync - and they revelled in the notoriety that biological
manufacturing capacity generated./P
P align=justifyAnd then of course there were the constant incursions… /P
P align=justifyThe asteroid control and security forces were regularly on high
alert because one of their Indentured Service Providers was making strenuous
efforts to escape. Elli Quinn and Miles Naismith (nee Vorkosigan) were only the
latest to try it. They were certainly not the first or the last. But their
attempt was complicated by the revelation that a number of covert Cetagandan
resources had been exposed in the security scare that followed their action.
Whatever was going down on GeoSync, it was serious indeed./P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyElli Quinn read between the lines of a surreptitiously
downloaded broadcast and felt the world figuratively and literally sinking away
beneath her feet. None of her disquiet was due to the inertial effects of their
departure from GeoSync. No, this was something all the more ugly. /P
P align=justifyThey didn't have time to digest the implications. They only had
time to strap in, hang on and shut up./P
P align=justifyTheir docking ring gave an unaccustomed wobble before their
shuttle burst explosively out of dock, bypassing the normal release mechanism in
a blast of chemical power and destruction. Its flight was pursued by a flotsam
and jetsam swarm characteristic of explosive decompression, even in the
supposedly sterile environment of the free-fall docks. /P
P align=justifyThe shuttle was revealed to be a slender torpedo; a basic
ground to orbit vessel with its stubby delta wings permanently deployed as
though for aerodynamic operation. In space they were a needless decoration, as
was the plane's streamlining, but adding mechanisms for deployment and storage
of aerodynamic aids cost money, not to mention the interior space that might be
better served as cargo volume. Financial considerations meant that the
retraction mechanisms were left on the drawing board./P
P align=justifyThe shuttle fusion drive ignited, flaring like a miniature sun
lancing a trail of devastated subatomic particles across several eye-watering
kilometres. /P
P align=justifyIn the wake of the shuttles precipitous departure, automatic
decompression bulkheads launched explosively, released by the intervention of
the host processor struggling to prevent the total loss of sections of the
spaceport adjacent to where the shuttle had previously been docked. Emergency
sirens blared throughout the habitat. Emergency response teams went to work.
Water was pumped through huge pipes to stabilise the oscillations in the station
now that it was unbalanced./P
P align=justifyOn board the wildly tumbling shuttle, the corporate extraction
team lay incarcerated in acceleration couches. Alarms screamed about personnel
restraint only to go unacknowledged. The shuttle tumbled dizzyingly through a
hundred and fifty degrees before the drive ignited seriously, and they began
accelerating with a vengeance. /P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyCrushed beneath the weight of her chest, Elli Quinn read the
datastream pouring into her ear-eye, and grimaced in preparation. She shifted
her incoming feed from the data node to the visual processor and took her input
from the forward facing cameras. The exterior world came channelled to her
through laser imagery that was fed directly into her eye. She might as well have
been out there, strapped to the nose of the shuttle./P
P align=justifyMiles had the shuttle perform a violent pirouette and then
blasted precipitously downward, lining them up nose first at the orb that was
Cerise. /P
P align=justifyInside the life support cocoon, medical air supplies deployed
from the couch structure, fastened over their mouths like hungry predators
feeding./P
P align=justifyTheir acceleration climbed to four gees almost instantly,
crushing-ly and then amazingly it grew worse, finally reaching six gees with the
drive straining for more, while the ever-present vibration of the drive tubes
became a roar that threatened to engulf everyone. The world developed black
boundaries in Elli's view. Her labouring heart failed to provide enough
oxygenated blood for her brain to maintain peripheral vision. /P
P align=justifyMiles turned trajectory control over to a tactical response
routine in the autopilot AI. Acceleration became highly erratic, and as often as
not they were blasting laterally as much as longitudinally. Pre-programmed
randomised vector controlled the drive to prevent lock-on by a targeting laser.
/P
P align=justifyElli Quinn knew what they were attempting, understood it on an
intellectual level, but she still struggled to contain her panic. She hated
things like that, tactical situations that were out of her control. /P
P align=justifyBlind reliance on code combined with the lack of any sort of
sexual release in the aftermath of blow infusion meant she was an angry
frustrated and frightened girl, huddled in the cushioned confines of an
acceleration couch. She could have cried or wept, anything to get out of the
shitty mess that she found herself in. Except that opening her mouth would
probably dislocate her jaw./P
P align=justifyElli decided that it would be a real bastard if the tactical
and strategic routine on board the combat processor had the same random number
sequence programmed into a look up table somewhere. That was not a thought she
entertained with any enthusiasm. After that first startled laugh she felt the
need to cry or scream return redoubled. She wasn't sure which was worse. /PI
P align=justifyIt's all software from here on,/I she bemoaned. INo chance
for people to intervene./I And she was damned if that was a situation she
found tolerable./P
P align=justifyThe planetary grew visibly larger before her eyes; such was the
intensity of their powered plummet and rushed it at them alarmingly. Elli felt
the need to scream bubbling in her chest. And then the world was gone, smeared
to port before finally disappearing out of the view cone of the camera./P
P align=justifyWith the planet sort of behind them, acceleration dropped for a
while, removing some of the discomfort. IStill a bit above three gees all the
same/I, Elli figured/P
P align=justify"What's with all that noise back there?" Miles demanded, free
to make small talk at last. "I've got alarms all over the board, and only half
of them relate to our tactical situation?"/P
P align=justifyIf nothing else the question provided Elli with an opportunity
to do something other than contemplate her frailty. "Nano-technology alarm,"
Elli explained through their sub-vocal link. "The dolly turns out to be carrying
a heap of new gear, and we have nada data on it in storage."/P
P align=justifyThat got Miles' attention. "Not even a hint? Nothing
experimental?"/P
P align=justifyElli would have shaken her head except that was a good way to
accumulate a strained neck, curtesy of her own inertia. "Nothing."/P
P align=justify"It gets better and better, this job."/P
P align=justifyElli released a bitter laugh through clenched teeth. "Better
than what?" Her jaw muscles hurt with the effort./P
P align=justify"Beats being dead," Miles provided by way of editorial
commentary. "A job like this."/P
P align=justifyAcceleration climbed again. The world got a bit blacker around
the edges, black dots began obliterating Elli's view of the world. A bunch of
little numbers in the base of her view field read seven-and-some-change gees.
Her couch aligned on the new axis so she endured the weight from seven of her
breasts pressing down on her, forcing the air from her lungs so she thought she
might never breath again. She could feel her ribs bending under the weight,
could feel her cheeks trying to slide into her ears, and her stomach trying to
hide in her spine./P
P align=justifyFrom somewhere, off to one side of her she could hear someone
moaning./P
P align=justifyAnd then the acceleration ceased. Elli though she was going to
be thrown from the acceleration couch for one panicky moment./P
P align=justifyAcceleration alarms sounded again. Elli groaned aloud. The
acceleration crashed back, almost at right angles to the previous impost. Their
couches swung again, realigned. Elli would have continued to groan but to open
her mouth might have meant dislocation of her jaw. The shuttle stabilised
again./P
P align=justify"It's only a matter of time," she managed to gasp out, "before
that happens the way this lot is going."/P
P align=justify"Yeah but what a ride."/P
P align=justify"Permission to speak freely Admiral," she asked. /P
P align=justify"Denied."/P
P align=justify"I figured as much."/P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyTheir dizzying ride dragged on for almost half an hour,
pitching them through a sequence of random bumps and dives. The shuttle groaned
and protested, so much so that Elli was sure they were going to break something.
She fought nausea, fought the acceleration stresses, fought with Miles and most
of all she fought to restrain a growing gibbering panic that threatened to
bubble up and obliterate sense./P
P align=justifyFor distraction, Elli followed their vector using a holographic
representation lased into her retina through her ear-eye set. /P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyFrom the dock at GeoSync their shuttle dived planetward,
plummeting under power from almost forty thousand kilometres out. They passed
within a few hundred kilometres of the atmosphere before spearing out from the
daylight side of the planet and into it's shadow. /P
P align=justifyNight stole their view when they entered the penumbra. It was a
short-lived relief. The glare from the K-6 primary reappeared when they came
lurching back out of the planet's shadow, moving into a much higher orbital
path, now on the opposite side from where they began. /P
P align=justifyAnd then finally, their acceleration dropped to a steady one
gee, held there for more than half an hour so Miles could regain control of
their wild trajectory. /P
P align=justify"OK. We're out of range now," Miles transmitted finally. With
the manic antics of the drive back under control, the vibration that permeated
the ship dropped to the same levels that Elli had come to expect from their
little, outmoded ground to orbit ship. "We're clear on radar," Miles
announced./P
P align=justifyThe relaxation of the drive was nice, but…/P
P align=justify"I don't like that," Elli complained./P
P align=justify"What?" C.D said tersely./P
P align=justify"Why aren't they after us? Surely they had something on stand
by. Some sort of armed pursuit?"/P
P align=justify"They were probably fooled by that massive explosion we left
behind us. And after that, the drive flare was aimed at right angles to the
planet. What with the EMP and our drive being aimed outward, we were pretty hard
to see."/P
P align=justify"What?" this time it was Elli's turn to protest the lack of
information. "Explosion? …Admiral," she added belatedly./P
P align=justify"Detonated an antimatter bomb, just when we were at our closest
approach. They got a good shot, got us; that's what they think. Hopefully, any
way. At least for long enough for us to get to the ground."/P
P align=justify"Oh," was all the reply she managed./P
P align=justifyFinally, blessedly, an alarm sounded and then the drive effort
diminished. They were in orbit. Blessed free fall. Elli might have sung, or
howled for joy. Or just howled./P
P align=justifyIt was safe for her to move about, check up on things./P
P align=justifyIt dawned on her belatedly that the dolly was being awfully
quiet./P
P align=justifyElli released the restraints in her acceleration couch and
drifted; intent on checking each of her fellow travellers. While winging her way
to Bruno's slot, Elli checked the status of the dolly; read the acceleration
couch monitor station and found out that the girl was tranked out. All read-outs
were in the green though. Not that the dolly had a lot of say in the matter,
Elli was sure. Miles would have seen to that./P
P align=justifyElli wished she had the brains to do the same thing. Being
alive and lucid through that little conflagration had been altogether too much
to bear. She was still a while away from feeling she could keep lunch down, let
alone enjoy a mellow moment. /P
P align=justifyElli drifted over to the next acceleration couch, checked on
Bruno, frowned at the vital sign read-outs given off by the chair./P
P align=justify"Bruno's not in a good way back here," she transmitted through
to the cockpit, to Miles hoping for… IWhat, exactly?/P/I
P align=justify"I've got his vitals up live," Miles admitted. "And yeah, he's
not healthy, lost a lot of blood. His suit is calling for whole plasma." IThat
was a real bad sign./I "How are our other passengers?"/P
P align=justifyElli took a quick glance at the read-out from the geek's
acceleration couch control processor./P
P align=justify"The geek is out, but not shocky, probably be OK. The dolly is
under a trank. Did you do that?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah, spiked her air supply."/P
P align=justifyElli figured that. "We have things to discuss. You and me.
Important stuff. OK? Like; what's with all the gear in her? You have any
idea."/P
P align=justify"It's all news to me too. Probably a lot of need to know."/P
P align=justifyElli couldn't let that pass without challenge. "I think I want
to know," she said. "Think we need to know. I'm curious."/P
P align=justifyThe cockpit was separated from the passenger compartment by an
irising bulkhead. After Elli knocked, Miles released the interlock and enabled
the door between the compartments to be accessed from the outside. Elli pulled
herself through the iris and floated into the copilot's couch. She waited for it
to latch around her and anchor her in place before focussing on the real issues.
The important stuff, like… /P
P align=justifyThere he was… Miles Beside her again. Elli felt the same catch
in her gut, the same discomforting twinge that she always felt when she saw
Miles in the flesh. He was his usual beautiful self. Physically imperfect,
hunched and almost dwarfish, barely one and a half metres tall. He had the most
mobile face and the most aware eyes of any man she had even known, and when the
pressures of command were not upon him, she knew him very well, knew every
insignificant imperfection./P
P align=justify"You know what curiosity did," he said./P
P align=justify"There's no feline genes in me," Elli chided. The combination
of a blood stream full of blow and the memories of how they often together made
their current circumstances all the more painful./P
P align=justify"You want I should wake her?" Miles asked, bringing Elli back
to the present./P
P align=justifyShe nodded with inappropriate enthusiasm. "Please," she said.
Anything to change the subject. /P
P align=justify"I think it's time we had a discussion with our friends."/P
P align=justify"Oh yes please."/P
P align=justifyMiles nodded blandly. "New air coming."/P
P align=justifyA moment passed in awkward silence. Behind the cockpit
bulkhead, the dolly groaned. Elli pulled out of the co-pilots acceleration couch
and swam back into the passenger compartment, falling freely through the cabin
air./P
P align=justifyThe dolly heaved and drew one huge breath, sucking air as
though she thought she may never get another chance, and then coughed it back
out. Her breasts stretched the skin-tight confines of the ship's suit./P
P align=justifyElli finally drifted within arms reach of the dolly's couch.
She reached out and caught her flight, swung in an arc until her legs fetched up
against the couch supports./P
P align=justifyThe dolly's eyes flicked open. She looked around, eyes wide,
unsure of where she was. Elli made sure she was visible to the girl./P
P align=justify"We're out," Elli said laconically. "Delivered as requested.
Now do you want to explain what that was all about?"/P
P align=justifyThe dolly looked around in confusion, taking in the interior of
the shuttle, the unfamiliar face floating beside her. She seemed to sink in on
herself when she realised what had happened, remembering the flight and the
fight and the tumble into space./P
P align=justify"It's all so complicated," she said eventually. "I don't know
where to start."/P
P align=justifyFor some reason that came as no surprise to Elli. She pulled
herself into one of the accelerations couches arranged around the passenger
compartment and secured her self in. "Let's start with a name," she said. "Beats
the snot out of calling you dolly all the time. Mine's Elli."/P
P align=justify"Is that what I am?" the dolly asked. "A dolly?"/P
P align=justifyNow that was a question and a half. Elli blinked a couple of
times while she reset her mind around that concept. "You're a manufactured human
being," Elli speculated. "But not manufactured for that purpose then…? Perhaps.
I wonder what purpose you were built to serve," she mused only half out loud.
Physically she was a classic dolly clone, but she was brighter than the
requirements of the job, that was already established./P
P align=justifyThe dolly looked confused. "But I am a real human being," she
said, more to her self than to Elli. "I have a life."/P
P align=justifyElli reached out and used one elegant finger to break the seal
on the dolly's ship suit. She pointed to the identification tattoo, and beneath
it, an implant under the skin. It was the mark that the fourth flower had
covered. "That sort of gives it away," she said. "Vat grown."/P
P align=justify"If you look closely you will see the surgical scars," the
dolly explained after a moment./P
P align=justify"OK," Elli nodded, now sure that there was a story in there
that she wasn't being told. "I think we need to talk, you and I."/P
P align=center*/P
P align=justify"My name is Madison," the dolly's voice droned softly. Elli
nodded once for her to continue. The woman wouldn't meet Elli's gaze, which was
a touch beyond annoying. "Madison DeSoto," she added, "and I grew up on that
asteroid, part of a research combine. My," she hesitated, as though the word was
unfamiliar or there was something unusual about the connotations it held for
her, something new, "my father worked there. His research was important in some
way. He was bound by secrecy agreements and didn't speak about it much but I
heard things... There were nasty things going on. Threats. We weren't safe any
more. Dad wanted to get me out. And he found that he couldn't do that. Not
easily anyway. The only thing he could organise, with any chance of succeeding,
was you guys… Or someone just like you. As it was, the whole escape turned out
harder than we thought it would." She broke off and then continued in a much
smaller voice. "My father is usually better at organising things than that…"/P
P align=justifyElli caught the hesitation, made a guess. "He was your father
then? You didn't sound real convinced."/P
P align=justifyMadison was worse than uncertain; she looked terrified. "I
thought so, when I was little, and then when I got older, it was obvious that we
shared some genes, but…"/P
P align=justify"No second parent," Elli guessed./P
P align=justify"Not any one that I could identify."/P
P align=justify"There was one? You're sure? You aren't just a chromosome
modified clone?"/P
P align=justify"I suspect there was another parent." She lapsed into silence
for a while. Lost in memories./P
P align=justifyElli had to prompt her to continue. A lot of thought was going
on behind those perfect eyes and that china doll perfect face and the delay was
the sort of thing that might have been purpose designed to wind Elli up.. A lot
of the story was coming out haltingly, as though it was being made up on the run
or was being tested before being delivered. And that was the thing that most
irritated Elli, the fact that the whole story smelled like a wind up./P
P align=justify"You're probably right about me being a manufactured human,"
Madison admitted finally. "It takes a bit of getting used to. It's not an idea
that I ever considered before, but…"/PI
P align=justifyThis isn't going anywhere…/I "So what was your father's
work?" Elli asked trying to break the girl out of what threatened to become a
deepening introspection. What Elli needed was information, more of it and fast,
not a bonding session between a couple of girls./P
P align=justify"I don't know really," Madison said. "I had a few ideas from
stuff that I heard when he was speaking with his workmates, but not a clear
idea."/PI
P align=justifyIt had to be something to do with the father,/I Elli was
pretty sure of that. "A hint maybe…" she suggested. IWhat could the old guy
achieve by filling her head with that shit? The only way to tell might be to
identify what it did./P/I
P align=justify"No," Madison said slowly, "not enough to be sure."/P
P align=justifyElli decided to tackle the real issue, right up front, no
messing. "So what is all the nano interface gear in you for?" she asked. "What
does it do?"/P
P align=justifyMadison looked at Elli, thoroughly confused./P
P align=justify"Your head is full of gear," Elli waved her arm around to
indicate the shuttle's security system. "None of it on file, all of it a bit of
a mystery. So what is it?"/P
P align=justify"I don't know," Madison said and this time there was a hint of
anger in her voice, as though she resented the interrogation. As far as Elli was
concerned it was about time the girl bit. "I was sick a lot as a child, and they
had to operate a lot. It probably regulates my biochemistry."/P
P align=justifyElli looked the dolly body up and down. "I doubt that somehow,"
she said laconically. "You listening to this Admiral?"/P
P align=justifyHis voice came through the ear-eye link. "Yeah."/P
P align=justify"What do you make of it?" she asked out loud. Madison followed
those conversational fragment that she could hear and wore a worried frown./P
P align=justify"I think the story stinks, personally."/P
P align=justify"Yeah that was what I thought. You do gear. You got any ideas
what it's really for?"/P
P align=justify"Give me a little while to research. Let you know what turns
up."/P
P align=justify"How soon can you get to it?"/P
P align=justify"It important?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah. I don't like having something like that on board without
knowing exactly what it can do. You know? Not the sort of thing that leads to
happy sleeps."/P
P align=justify"Get onto it for you."/P
P align=justify"Ta. Earn brownie points."/P
P align=justify"Ten more and I get a fairy."/P
P align=justify"No, it's an elf." Elli smiled for the first time since the
excrement hit the ventilation impeller back in the bar. "We likely to stay in
free fall for a while?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah. Not going to need a burn for a while. Orbit's pretty
good."/P
P align=justify"It pretty quiet out there now?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah it'll be a few days before they work out that the debris
from the explosion didn't include enough bits to make up a whole shuttle and
certainly contained no organic bits. Then it'll get interesting again. We'll be
long gone and untraceable by then."/P
P align=justify"How soon can I have your assessment on her gear then?"/P
P align=justify"Couple of hours."/P
P align=justify"That'll be good. I'm going to see if I can do anything for
Bruno," Elli said, as much for Madison as for Miles/P
P align=justify"Check the med case," Miles transmitted. "There's a diagnostic
processor in there. I don't know how well supplied it is, maybe it's got
something for him."/P
P align=justify"Good thinking," Elli pushed off and floated across the
passenger compartment./P
P align=justifyThe geek stirred. Elli looked suspiciously at him for a moment
and wondered what to do about him. He was a complication to this whole mess that
she could well do without./PI
P align=justifyNot that it wasn't complicated enough already mind./P/I
P align=justify./P/BODY/HTML
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P align=justifyGeoSync asteroidean station had once been a tumbling boulder,
wandering majestically between the orbits of planets five and six of the Cerisan
system. Enterprising developers blasted it out of the asteroid belt and then
carefully left it following in a neatly circular path around Cerise III. Its
purpose was to provide raw materials for the space industry and as such it had
served its masters well. The rock was composed mostly of nickel iron with large
quantities of frozen water embedded in its interior. As such it was a wonderful
source of metal, fusion fuel and atmospheric gases for humanities push into
terraforming and exploitation of the rest of the system. /P
P align=justifyFollowing its successful capture, growth in the space
industries had been exponential - leapfrogging over the asteroidal development
so quickly that GeoSync had never been mined out. Instead it became the way
station between the dome bound ground colonial development and the burgeoning
space based industries. Throughout those early developments, GeoSync had grown
steadily, with the accretion of space port structures and docking facilities,
habitat structures and transportation arteries. The original potato shaped mass
of nickel-iron still occupied the central volume, but now it was laced with
corridors of silicon and carbon fibre so that it looked more like an explosion
in a string factory. /P
P align=justifyAt times it was visible from the ground, lit from it's own
artificial sources so that it glowed like the only stationary star in the
heavens. And of course it was a hive of activity, all the time busy, all the
time bustling, never shutting down, never resting. /P
P align=justifyThere were still hopes of constructing a space elevator. Only
fifty years earlier, the space-elevator had seemed a pipe dream, but not any
more. Hopes were high for the latest research into means of locking subatomic
particles into a fixed quantum state. Processing power to control the shape of
the field was the real bug-bear, but of all the challenges to be overcome before
the technology became operable that was the most likely problem to be overcome.
The operators of GeoSync planned to install an elevator as soon as materials
science came up with the means. /P
P align=justifyWith that in mind, the builders of GeoSync located the
counter-rotating spaceport facing away from the planet with a view to one-day
tying the asteroid to the ground via a railway system. And then it would really
be the gateway to the stars that the planetary population had been screaming out
for./P
P align=justifyFunding that sort of development would never be achieved
through conventional financing practices. It took a lot more money to run
something like GeoSync than could be realistically charged for freight handling,
so much what occurred behind GeoSync's code-locked doors could be categorised as
illegal upon most settled worlds - except for Jackson's Whole which was almost a
model for it's development. GeoSync's legislative neutrality was guarded
jealously, often by bribery, and almost as often by more severe means. /P
P align=justifyStation management maintained a steady cash flow and that
maintained a high standard of living for many, but that same management
philosophy contributed to the worst kind of marginal existence for the
remainder. Not all of the people bred on GeoSync were considered human. Another,
far more marginal, means of human existence was common, termed slavery by many,
and Indentured Service by those with a vested interest in its continuity. People
could be manufactured to specification. Provided you could flout the generally
adopted anti-genetic engineering moratorium. They could manufacture anything you
could design on GeoSync - and they revelled in the notoriety that biological
manufacturing capacity generated./P
P align=justifyAnd then of course there were the constant incursions… /P
P align=justifyThe asteroid control and security forces were regularly on high
alert because one of their Indentured Service Providers was making strenuous
efforts to escape. Elli Quinn and Miles Naismith (nee Vorkosigan) were only the
latest to try it. They were certainly not the first or the last. But their
attempt was complicated by the revelation that a number of covert Cetagandan
resources had been exposed in the security scare that followed their action.
Whatever was going down on GeoSync, it was serious indeed./P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyElli Quinn read between the lines of a surreptitiously
downloaded broadcast and felt the world figuratively and literally sinking away
beneath her feet. None of her disquiet was due to the inertial effects of their
departure from GeoSync. No, this was something all the more ugly. /P
P align=justifyThey didn't have time to digest the implications. They only had
time to strap in, hang on and shut up./P
P align=justifyTheir docking ring gave an unaccustomed wobble before their
shuttle burst explosively out of dock, bypassing the normal release mechanism in
a blast of chemical power and destruction. Its flight was pursued by a flotsam
and jetsam swarm characteristic of explosive decompression, even in the
supposedly sterile environment of the free-fall docks. /P
P align=justifyThe shuttle was revealed to be a slender torpedo; a basic
ground to orbit vessel with its stubby delta wings permanently deployed as
though for aerodynamic operation. In space they were a needless decoration, as
was the plane's streamlining, but adding mechanisms for deployment and storage
of aerodynamic aids cost money, not to mention the interior space that might be
better served as cargo volume. Financial considerations meant that the
retraction mechanisms were left on the drawing board./P
P align=justifyThe shuttle fusion drive ignited, flaring like a miniature sun
lancing a trail of devastated subatomic particles across several eye-watering
kilometres. /P
P align=justifyIn the wake of the shuttles precipitous departure, automatic
decompression bulkheads launched explosively, released by the intervention of
the host processor struggling to prevent the total loss of sections of the
spaceport adjacent to where the shuttle had previously been docked. Emergency
sirens blared throughout the habitat. Emergency response teams went to work.
Water was pumped through huge pipes to stabilise the oscillations in the station
now that it was unbalanced./P
P align=justifyOn board the wildly tumbling shuttle, the corporate extraction
team lay incarcerated in acceleration couches. Alarms screamed about personnel
restraint only to go unacknowledged. The shuttle tumbled dizzyingly through a
hundred and fifty degrees before the drive ignited seriously, and they began
accelerating with a vengeance. /P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyCrushed beneath the weight of her chest, Elli Quinn read the
datastream pouring into her ear-eye, and grimaced in preparation. She shifted
her incoming feed from the data node to the visual processor and took her input
from the forward facing cameras. The exterior world came channelled to her
through laser imagery that was fed directly into her eye. She might as well have
been out there, strapped to the nose of the shuttle./P
P align=justifyMiles had the shuttle perform a violent pirouette and then
blasted precipitously downward, lining them up nose first at the orb that was
Cerise. /P
P align=justifyInside the life support cocoon, medical air supplies deployed
from the couch structure, fastened over their mouths like hungry predators
feeding./P
P align=justifyTheir acceleration climbed to four gees almost instantly,
crushing-ly and then amazingly it grew worse, finally reaching six gees with the
drive straining for more, while the ever-present vibration of the drive tubes
became a roar that threatened to engulf everyone. The world developed black
boundaries in Elli's view. Her labouring heart failed to provide enough
oxygenated blood for her brain to maintain peripheral vision. /P
P align=justifyMiles turned trajectory control over to a tactical response
routine in the autopilot AI. Acceleration became highly erratic, and as often as
not they were blasting laterally as much as longitudinally. Pre-programmed
randomised vector controlled the drive to prevent lock-on by a targeting laser.
/P
P align=justifyElli Quinn knew what they were attempting, understood it on an
intellectual level, but she still struggled to contain her panic. She hated
things like that, tactical situations that were out of her control. /P
P align=justifyBlind reliance on code combined with the lack of any sort of
sexual release in the aftermath of blow infusion meant she was an angry
frustrated and frightened girl, huddled in the cushioned confines of an
acceleration couch. She could have cried or wept, anything to get out of the
shitty mess that she found herself in. Except that opening her mouth would
probably dislocate her jaw./P
P align=justifyElli decided that it would be a real bastard if the tactical
and strategic routine on board the combat processor had the same random number
sequence programmed into a look up table somewhere. That was not a thought she
entertained with any enthusiasm. After that first startled laugh she felt the
need to cry or scream return redoubled. She wasn't sure which was worse. /PI
P align=justifyIt's all software from here on,/I she bemoaned. INo chance
for people to intervene./I And she was damned if that was a situation she
found tolerable./P
P align=justifyThe planetary grew visibly larger before her eyes; such was the
intensity of their powered plummet and rushed it at them alarmingly. Elli felt
the need to scream bubbling in her chest. And then the world was gone, smeared
to port before finally disappearing out of the view cone of the camera./P
P align=justifyWith the planet sort of behind them, acceleration dropped for a
while, removing some of the discomfort. IStill a bit above three gees all the
same/I, Elli figured/P
P align=justify"What's with all that noise back there?" Miles demanded, free
to make small talk at last. "I've got alarms all over the board, and only half
of them relate to our tactical situation?"/P
P align=justifyIf nothing else the question provided Elli with an opportunity
to do something other than contemplate her frailty. "Nano-technology alarm,"
Elli explained through their sub-vocal link. "The dolly turns out to be carrying
a heap of new gear, and we have nada data on it in storage."/P
P align=justifyThat got Miles' attention. "Not even a hint? Nothing
experimental?"/P
P align=justifyElli would have shaken her head except that was a good way to
accumulate a strained neck, curtesy of her own inertia. "Nothing."/P
P align=justify"It gets better and better, this job."/P
P align=justifyElli released a bitter laugh through clenched teeth. "Better
than what?" Her jaw muscles hurt with the effort./P
P align=justify"Beats being dead," Miles provided by way of editorial
commentary. "A job like this."/P
P align=justifyAcceleration climbed again. The world got a bit blacker around
the edges, black dots began obliterating Elli's view of the world. A bunch of
little numbers in the base of her view field read seven-and-some-change gees.
Her couch aligned on the new axis so she endured the weight from seven of her
breasts pressing down on her, forcing the air from her lungs so she thought she
might never breath again. She could feel her ribs bending under the weight,
could feel her cheeks trying to slide into her ears, and her stomach trying to
hide in her spine./P
P align=justifyFrom somewhere, off to one side of her she could hear someone
moaning./P
P align=justifyAnd then the acceleration ceased. Elli though she was going to
be thrown from the acceleration couch for one panicky moment./P
P align=justifyAcceleration alarms sounded again. Elli groaned aloud. The
acceleration crashed back, almost at right angles to the previous impost. Their
couches swung again, realigned. Elli would have continued to groan but to open
her mouth might have meant dislocation of her jaw. The shuttle stabilised
again./P
P align=justify"It's only a matter of time," she managed to gasp out, "before
that happens the way this lot is going."/P
P align=justify"Yeah but what a ride."/P
P align=justify"Permission to speak freely Admiral," she asked. /P
P align=justify"Denied."/P
P align=justify"I figured as much."/P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyTheir dizzying ride dragged on for almost half an hour,
pitching them through a sequence of random bumps and dives. The shuttle groaned
and protested, so much so that Elli was sure they were going to break something.
She fought nausea, fought the acceleration stresses, fought with Miles and most
of all she fought to restrain a growing gibbering panic that threatened to
bubble up and obliterate sense./P
P align=justifyFor distraction, Elli followed their vector using a holographic
representation lased into her retina through her ear-eye set. /P
P align=center*/P
P align=justifyFrom the dock at GeoSync their shuttle dived planetward,
plummeting under power from almost forty thousand kilometres out. They passed
within a few hundred kilometres of the atmosphere before spearing out from the
daylight side of the planet and into it's shadow. /P
P align=justifyNight stole their view when they entered the penumbra. It was a
short-lived relief. The glare from the K-6 primary reappeared when they came
lurching back out of the planet's shadow, moving into a much higher orbital
path, now on the opposite side from where they began. /P
P align=justifyAnd then finally, their acceleration dropped to a steady one
gee, held there for more than half an hour so Miles could regain control of
their wild trajectory. /P
P align=justify"OK. We're out of range now," Miles transmitted finally. With
the manic antics of the drive back under control, the vibration that permeated
the ship dropped to the same levels that Elli had come to expect from their
little, outmoded ground to orbit ship. "We're clear on radar," Miles
announced./P
P align=justifyThe relaxation of the drive was nice, but…/P
P align=justify"I don't like that," Elli complained./P
P align=justify"What?" C.D said tersely./P
P align=justify"Why aren't they after us? Surely they had something on stand
by. Some sort of armed pursuit?"/P
P align=justify"They were probably fooled by that massive explosion we left
behind us. And after that, the drive flare was aimed at right angles to the
planet. What with the EMP and our drive being aimed outward, we were pretty hard
to see."/P
P align=justify"What?" this time it was Elli's turn to protest the lack of
information. "Explosion? …Admiral," she added belatedly./P
P align=justify"Detonated an antimatter bomb, just when we were at our closest
approach. They got a good shot, got us; that's what they think. Hopefully, any
way. At least for long enough for us to get to the ground."/P
P align=justify"Oh," was all the reply she managed./P
P align=justifyFinally, blessedly, an alarm sounded and then the drive effort
diminished. They were in orbit. Blessed free fall. Elli might have sung, or
howled for joy. Or just howled./P
P align=justifyIt was safe for her to move about, check up on things./P
P align=justifyIt dawned on her belatedly that the dolly was being awfully
quiet./P
P align=justifyElli released the restraints in her acceleration couch and
drifted; intent on checking each of her fellow travellers. While winging her way
to Bruno's slot, Elli checked the status of the dolly; read the acceleration
couch monitor station and found out that the girl was tranked out. All read-outs
were in the green though. Not that the dolly had a lot of say in the matter,
Elli was sure. Miles would have seen to that./P
P align=justifyElli wished she had the brains to do the same thing. Being
alive and lucid through that little conflagration had been altogether too much
to bear. She was still a while away from feeling she could keep lunch down, let
alone enjoy a mellow moment. /P
P align=justifyElli drifted over to the next acceleration couch, checked on
Bruno, frowned at the vital sign read-outs given off by the chair./P
P align=justify"Bruno's not in a good way back here," she transmitted through
to the cockpit, to Miles hoping for… IWhat, exactly?/P/I
P align=justify"I've got his vitals up live," Miles admitted. "And yeah, he's
not healthy, lost a lot of blood. His suit is calling for whole plasma." IThat
was a real bad sign./I "How are our other passengers?"/P
P align=justifyElli took a quick glance at the read-out from the geek's
acceleration couch control processor./P
P align=justify"The geek is out, but not shocky, probably be OK. The dolly is
under a trank. Did you do that?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah, spiked her air supply."/P
P align=justifyElli figured that. "We have things to discuss. You and me.
Important stuff. OK? Like; what's with all the gear in her? You have any
idea."/P
P align=justify"It's all news to me too. Probably a lot of need to know."/P
P align=justifyElli couldn't let that pass without challenge. "I think I want
to know," she said. "Think we need to know. I'm curious."/P
P align=justifyThe cockpit was separated from the passenger compartment by an
irising bulkhead. After Elli knocked, Miles released the interlock and enabled
the door between the compartments to be accessed from the outside. Elli pulled
herself through the iris and floated into the copilot's couch. She waited for it
to latch around her and anchor her in place before focussing on the real issues.
The important stuff, like… /P
P align=justifyThere he was… Miles Beside her again. Elli felt the same catch
in her gut, the same discomforting twinge that she always felt when she saw
Miles in the flesh. He was his usual beautiful self. Physically imperfect,
hunched and almost dwarfish, barely one and a half metres tall. He had the most
mobile face and the most aware eyes of any man she had even known, and when the
pressures of command were not upon him, she knew him very well, knew every
insignificant imperfection./P
P align=justify"You know what curiosity did," he said./P
P align=justify"There's no feline genes in me," Elli chided. The combination
of a blood stream full of blow and the memories of how they often together made
their current circumstances all the more painful./P
P align=justify"You want I should wake her?" Miles asked, bringing Elli back
to the present./P
P align=justifyShe nodded with inappropriate enthusiasm. "Please," she said.
Anything to change the subject. /P
P align=justify"I think it's time we had a discussion with our friends."/P
P align=justify"Oh yes please."/P
P align=justifyMiles nodded blandly. "New air coming."/P
P align=justifyA moment passed in awkward silence. Behind the cockpit
bulkhead, the dolly groaned. Elli pulled out of the co-pilots acceleration couch
and swam back into the passenger compartment, falling freely through the cabin
air./P
P align=justifyThe dolly heaved and drew one huge breath, sucking air as
though she thought she may never get another chance, and then coughed it back
out. Her breasts stretched the skin-tight confines of the ship's suit./P
P align=justifyElli finally drifted within arms reach of the dolly's couch.
She reached out and caught her flight, swung in an arc until her legs fetched up
against the couch supports./P
P align=justifyThe dolly's eyes flicked open. She looked around, eyes wide,
unsure of where she was. Elli made sure she was visible to the girl./P
P align=justify"We're out," Elli said laconically. "Delivered as requested.
Now do you want to explain what that was all about?"/P
P align=justifyThe dolly looked around in confusion, taking in the interior of
the shuttle, the unfamiliar face floating beside her. She seemed to sink in on
herself when she realised what had happened, remembering the flight and the
fight and the tumble into space./P
P align=justify"It's all so complicated," she said eventually. "I don't know
where to start."/P
P align=justifyFor some reason that came as no surprise to Elli. She pulled
herself into one of the accelerations couches arranged around the passenger
compartment and secured her self in. "Let's start with a name," she said. "Beats
the snot out of calling you dolly all the time. Mine's Elli."/P
P align=justify"Is that what I am?" the dolly asked. "A dolly?"/P
P align=justifyNow that was a question and a half. Elli blinked a couple of
times while she reset her mind around that concept. "You're a manufactured human
being," Elli speculated. "But not manufactured for that purpose then…? Perhaps.
I wonder what purpose you were built to serve," she mused only half out loud.
Physically she was a classic dolly clone, but she was brighter than the
requirements of the job, that was already established./P
P align=justifyThe dolly looked confused. "But I am a real human being," she
said, more to her self than to Elli. "I have a life."/P
P align=justifyElli reached out and used one elegant finger to break the seal
on the dolly's ship suit. She pointed to the identification tattoo, and beneath
it, an implant under the skin. It was the mark that the fourth flower had
covered. "That sort of gives it away," she said. "Vat grown."/P
P align=justify"If you look closely you will see the surgical scars," the
dolly explained after a moment./P
P align=justify"OK," Elli nodded, now sure that there was a story in there
that she wasn't being told. "I think we need to talk, you and I."/P
P align=center*/P
P align=justify"My name is Madison," the dolly's voice droned softly. Elli
nodded once for her to continue. The woman wouldn't meet Elli's gaze, which was
a touch beyond annoying. "Madison DeSoto," she added, "and I grew up on that
asteroid, part of a research combine. My," she hesitated, as though the word was
unfamiliar or there was something unusual about the connotations it held for
her, something new, "my father worked there. His research was important in some
way. He was bound by secrecy agreements and didn't speak about it much but I
heard things... There were nasty things going on. Threats. We weren't safe any
more. Dad wanted to get me out. And he found that he couldn't do that. Not
easily anyway. The only thing he could organise, with any chance of succeeding,
was you guys… Or someone just like you. As it was, the whole escape turned out
harder than we thought it would." She broke off and then continued in a much
smaller voice. "My father is usually better at organising things than that…"/P
P align=justifyElli caught the hesitation, made a guess. "He was your father
then? You didn't sound real convinced."/P
P align=justifyMadison was worse than uncertain; she looked terrified. "I
thought so, when I was little, and then when I got older, it was obvious that we
shared some genes, but…"/P
P align=justify"No second parent," Elli guessed./P
P align=justify"Not any one that I could identify."/P
P align=justify"There was one? You're sure? You aren't just a chromosome
modified clone?"/P
P align=justify"I suspect there was another parent." She lapsed into silence
for a while. Lost in memories./P
P align=justifyElli had to prompt her to continue. A lot of thought was going
on behind those perfect eyes and that china doll perfect face and the delay was
the sort of thing that might have been purpose designed to wind Elli up.. A lot
of the story was coming out haltingly, as though it was being made up on the run
or was being tested before being delivered. And that was the thing that most
irritated Elli, the fact that the whole story smelled like a wind up./P
P align=justify"You're probably right about me being a manufactured human,"
Madison admitted finally. "It takes a bit of getting used to. It's not an idea
that I ever considered before, but…"/PI
P align=justifyThis isn't going anywhere…/I "So what was your father's
work?" Elli asked trying to break the girl out of what threatened to become a
deepening introspection. What Elli needed was information, more of it and fast,
not a bonding session between a couple of girls./P
P align=justify"I don't know really," Madison said. "I had a few ideas from
stuff that I heard when he was speaking with his workmates, but not a clear
idea."/PI
P align=justifyIt had to be something to do with the father,/I Elli was
pretty sure of that. "A hint maybe…" she suggested. IWhat could the old guy
achieve by filling her head with that shit? The only way to tell might be to
identify what it did./P/I
P align=justify"No," Madison said slowly, "not enough to be sure."/P
P align=justifyElli decided to tackle the real issue, right up front, no
messing. "So what is all the nano interface gear in you for?" she asked. "What
does it do?"/P
P align=justifyMadison looked at Elli, thoroughly confused./P
P align=justify"Your head is full of gear," Elli waved her arm around to
indicate the shuttle's security system. "None of it on file, all of it a bit of
a mystery. So what is it?"/P
P align=justify"I don't know," Madison said and this time there was a hint of
anger in her voice, as though she resented the interrogation. As far as Elli was
concerned it was about time the girl bit. "I was sick a lot as a child, and they
had to operate a lot. It probably regulates my biochemistry."/P
P align=justifyElli looked the dolly body up and down. "I doubt that somehow,"
she said laconically. "You listening to this Admiral?"/P
P align=justifyHis voice came through the ear-eye link. "Yeah."/P
P align=justify"What do you make of it?" she asked out loud. Madison followed
those conversational fragment that she could hear and wore a worried frown./P
P align=justify"I think the story stinks, personally."/P
P align=justify"Yeah that was what I thought. You do gear. You got any ideas
what it's really for?"/P
P align=justify"Give me a little while to research. Let you know what turns
up."/P
P align=justify"How soon can you get to it?"/P
P align=justify"It important?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah. I don't like having something like that on board without
knowing exactly what it can do. You know? Not the sort of thing that leads to
happy sleeps."/P
P align=justify"Get onto it for you."/P
P align=justify"Ta. Earn brownie points."/P
P align=justify"Ten more and I get a fairy."/P
P align=justify"No, it's an elf." Elli smiled for the first time since the
excrement hit the ventilation impeller back in the bar. "We likely to stay in
free fall for a while?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah. Not going to need a burn for a while. Orbit's pretty
good."/P
P align=justify"It pretty quiet out there now?"/P
P align=justify"Yeah it'll be a few days before they work out that the debris
from the explosion didn't include enough bits to make up a whole shuttle and
certainly contained no organic bits. Then it'll get interesting again. We'll be
long gone and untraceable by then."/P
P align=justify"How soon can I have your assessment on her gear then?"/P
P align=justify"Couple of hours."/P
P align=justify"That'll be good. I'm going to see if I can do anything for
Bruno," Elli said, as much for Madison as for Miles/P
P align=justify"Check the med case," Miles transmitted. "There's a diagnostic
processor in there. I don't know how well supplied it is, maybe it's got
something for him."/P
P align=justify"Good thinking," Elli pushed off and floated across the
passenger compartment./P
P align=justifyThe geek stirred. Elli looked suspiciously at him for a moment
and wondered what to do about him. He was a complication to this whole mess that
she could well do without./PI
P align=justifyNot that it wasn't complicated enough already mind./P/I
P align=justify./P/BODY/HTML