Being of the Field Read online

  The MSS would not leave anyone alive who had had any contact with the sample they had stolen—if nobody knew about it, then it never existed. That meant her life was probably in danger, and the thought of going to Maladaan was a little daunting. She could only hope that they’d rooted out all the MSS sleeper agents on board AMIE.

  ‘The hovercar Mr Gervaise was driving exploded in the car park outside of pod bay—’ The woman collapsed into tears and one of her male colleagues was forced to take over the transmission.

  ‘The authorities are investigating,’ the man advised, ‘but to tell you the truth, Professor, there is not a whole lot left to investigate.’

  The news was awful and Taren wanted to place a friendly hand on Lucian’s shoulder, but she felt the gesture would be of little comfort to him if he still suspected that she was in some way involved.

  ‘They are also looking into why Kestler’s pod misfired soon after it had docked…before the occupant was even extracted!’ ‘A recovery vessel is being launched to fetch the pod, as it has barely enough fuel left to clear the atmosphere.’

  Another dead agent with no stories to tell. Taren’s heart swelled with sorrow at the thought of such a great scientific mind as Kestler’s being allowed to slip into obscurity at the whim of some government agency with a money-making agenda. Her eyes drifted from the monitor link-up with Maladaan, to the one monitoring Oceane and her heart skipped a beat.

  ‘Captain.’ Taren warily directed his attention to the monitor displaying images from Oceane. ‘We’re running out of time.’

  The sphere of rainbow electric light had now shed all its colour. Only the bright electrical blue-white activity remained and intensified. In a brilliant flash the sphere of energy vanished from sight completely and their satellite image went static.

  Lucian was becoming more disillusioned by the minute, and looked back to the fellow on Maladaan. ‘Can you patch me through to the investigating officer?’

  ‘I sure—’ The screen went static and then blank.

  ‘Not now!’ Lucian whined, as he pushed Aurora’s intercom number. ‘The line has dropped out. Can you get them back?’

  ‘One moment,’ Aurora said.

  Lucian looked at Taren, concerned.

  ‘A coincidence?’ he asked rhetorically and in a sarcastic tone. ‘You think Swithin failed to release the sample in time?’ He attempted to think it through to keep from falling to pieces, but it seemed Taren had beaten him to the mark, for she wiped a tear from her cheek and took a seat. ‘I am surprised my brother’s death would upset you like this?’

  ‘Not your brother,’ she explained. ‘Kestler.’ She forced a grin to stop herself from bursting into tears. ‘The man was a legend.’

  ‘He still is,’ Lucian was surprised by her needless concern. ‘They will retrieve his pod—’

  Taren shook her head, just as certain. ‘No, they won’t.’

  Lucian didn’t seem to know how to respond, so Taren helped out.

  ‘I am very sorry for your loss, captain. Would you prefer that I leave?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucian answered honestly. ‘What am I supposed to feel right now?’ he appealed to her. ‘Was my brother loyal to me? Should I grieve his loss, or be thanking the heavens to have another traitor exposed and expunged?’

  Taren felt a little awkward as she was not a telepath, nor did she know much of the history of the project beyond what had been documented by the institute. ‘I believe Kassa is really the only person who may be able to give you those answers.’

  Lucian nodded. ‘That has occurred to me. I guess I have been avoiding that conversation…if you don’t want to know the answer, then…’

  ‘…don’t ask the question,’ Taren concluded, understanding completely.

  Aurora knocked and entered. ‘Sorry to barge in, but all the feeds to Maladaan are completely dead.’

  ‘Is it our equipment?’ Lucian was wondering if they’d been sabotaged from the inside.

  ‘I can get a line through to the Maratosh colonies, and those on Sermetica, Frujia too. It’s just Maladaan,’ she advised. ‘It’s like the entire communications network down there has just been shut down.’

  ‘An event of such magnitude could only have been caused by an unprecedented electromagnetic occurrence.’ Lucian looked at Taren.

  ‘Did I mention I don’t believe in coincidence? If it was the sample that has caused the telecommunications breakdown, I doubt the sample was also the cause of Swithin’s death, as he was reported dead before our entity had altered its state of being.’

  ‘Swithin is dead!’ Aurora had never known anyone who had died, and now two colleagues had died in the same month! ‘How?’

  ‘A freak accident,’ Lucian explained in an attempt to calm her, but Taren scoffed, and the captain didn’t need to be a mind-reader to know her mind. ‘You think the MSS had him killed, don’t you?’

  ‘I don’t think they did.’ Taren made it perfectly clear. ‘I know they did.’

  After an hour of trying and failing to re-establish communication with their home planet, Lucian truly felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. For the sake of everyone on Maladaan he had to know the extent of the covert operation inside his project and he needed answers by the time they arrived home at the institute in Esponisa.

  Aurora advised through the intercom that Kassa was waiting to see him, and Lucian asked Aurora to send her in.

  The doctor didn’t need telepathy to sense the ominous mood that hung heavily around the captain. ‘Lucian?’ She took a seat, knowing this was going to be the conversation that she’d hoped they would never have.

  ‘You have been telepathic all your life, yes?’ Lucian asked and Kassa nodded warily. ‘And you have been on this project practically from its inception…’

  Kassa drew a deep breath for strength, knowing where this line of questioning was leading.

  ‘Were you aware then, or at any time, of my brother having ties to the MSS?’ Lucian asked her outright.

  ‘I believe that you should ask Swithin that question. I can only spec—’

  ‘Swithin is dead, Kassa.’ Lucian’s jaw tensed. ‘The car he was driving blew up!’

  Kassa gasped, her eyes filling with tears.

  ‘We have lost all communication with Maladaan and the colonies have reported the same problem. Dr Lennox and I suspect our sample had something to do with it, and as I trusted Swithin to ensure the release of the substance and he is now dead, it has been left to me to find out what the hell might have happened to him and the sample.’ Lucian felt compelled to stand. He was angry, and worried that their negligence might have caused a major disaster at home. The mysterious being had warned him that there would be repercussions on a global level if they failed to release it on time, and Lucian didn’t even want to imagine what that meant. ‘So, now more than ever, I need you to come clean with me, Kassa, were Swithin and Amie working together for the MSS?’

  Kassa closed her eyes, and nodded to confirm…‘Before you even met her.’

  Lucian’s jaw set hard as he struggled to control his emotions.

  ‘Without your reputation and influence at the institute, they would never have got this project off the ground, Lucian,’ Kassa said, her guilt choking her. ‘In retrospect, I know that I should have confessed all this to you sooner, but up until recently there had only been a few leaks and there had been no major harm done.’

  Lucian collapsed back into his chair, completely devastated by the news.

  ‘You have to realise that it was a few leaks in your project, or my entire career!’ Kassa attempted to rationalise her lack of action. ‘I felt I had no choice but to keep silent. I am fast realising how selfish I have been. I am so sorry, Lucian.’ It hurt her to see her dear friend so completely shattered, and she felt some responsibility. She had helped to break the spirit of one of the greatest men she’d ever known. ‘Now I see that I am just as much to blame for the tragedy that has befallen this project. I resig
n my post as Chief Medical Officer. You can find a replacement for me when we reach Maladaan.’

  Lucian could only nod. They had been friends a long time and he felt betrayed by Kassa’s secrecy. He knew she had done what she thought was best for all, but he was afraid that if he went any further into any of this sordid history at present, he’d just break down completely. ‘Are there any other nasty little secrets that I should know about before you go?’ He managed to squeeze out the question before Kassa left the room, and she paused before opening the door.

  ‘These people are dead now, Lucian.’ Kassa turned back to look him in the face. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather let sleeping dogs lie?’

  It was beginning to seem that the last ten years of his life had been a lie, and he shook his head. ‘The truth might be a refreshing change.’

  Kassa supposed it was better that Lucian hear the truth from her than from the MSS or some other investigating authority back on Maladaan. ‘Swithin and Amie were lovers, Lucian.’

  Of all the bombshells that had dropped on him recently, this perfidy hit the hardest. ‘Before I wed her?’ Lucian was loath to believe it.

  ‘All along,’ Kassa managed to reply, and as Lucian buried his face in his hands, she escaped into reception. Closing the door behind her, she burst into tears.

  ‘Dr Madri, are you all right?’ Aurora assumed that it was the news of Swithin’s untimely death that had her so upset. ‘It is a tragic loss, I know.’ She moved to assist the doctor. ‘Can I get you some water, or—’

  ‘No, nothing.’ Kassa regained her sensibilities, and managed to rouse a weak smile for the girl. ‘I am fine. You see to the captain.’ She patted Aurora’s hand in reassurance, and gathered her wits long enough to retreat to her chambers.

  Aurora ventured a knock on the captain’s door.

  ‘I’m not in for the rest of today,’ he advised via the intercom on her workstation.

  She moved to her desk to respond, overwhelmed with sympathy for the captain. ‘Is there anything I can do?’

  ‘Close the office. Take the day off. Thanks, Aurora.’

  The captain had had more grief and pressure piled upon him in the past few days than any human being should handle alone—she didn’t feel that leaving him was the responsible thing to do.

  ‘I’ll be fine, Aurora,’ he added, sensing her hesitation. ‘I just need some time to myself.’

  ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I’ll be on call should you need me.’ She left it at that. He seemed rational and needed time to grieve, as did everyone. With so much controversy surrounding AMIE now, she could only hope that the entire project was not about to collapse.

  Taren was concerned when Kassa wouldn’t answer her pager and hadn’t returned her calls. She really needed that examination for her research. She dropped by Kassa’s office, but was informed she’d been summoned to see the captain. Taren felt a little guilty having suggested that the captain interrogate Kassa regarding his brother, but what else could she do? She certainly had no answers for the man.

  As it seemed she was at liberty, Taren decided that she would head over and see what had Ringbalin so excited. She knew her way to Module C. She’d often passed signage for it on her way in and out the cafeteria. She’d never ventured down to the greenhouse, however, as all the rooms she usually frequented lay in the opposite direction.

  On her way past the eatery, a whistle forestalled her trek into the unknown and Zeven came running up to meet her.

  ‘Is it true?’ He glanced back to his source, Aurora, who was sitting at a table collecting herself over a cup of coffee. There were also a couple of engineers and divers from the marine department about, so he kept his voice low. ‘Was Swithin murdered by the MSS?’

  ‘We don’t know what happened.’ Taren declined to comment, as many of the crew were casting suspicious glances her way. ‘The communication lines are down, as you probably know.’

  ‘A fact that is even scarier than the first premise.’ He joined her in the corridor, walking with her until they were away from prying eyes. ‘Only a full-scale attack on Maladaan could have taken out all the communication systems on the entire planet!’

  ‘I know,’ Taren was also concerned, ‘but I don’t have any great truths to share with you right now. I am as much in the dark as you are.’ She began to move away to be about her business.

  ‘Keep me informed?’ he asked nicely.

  ‘What are friends for?’ Taren didn’t feel he mistrusted her, but rather he had intuited that if there was trouble brewing, she was likely to be right in the middle of it.

  Taren followed the signage to Module C and upon entering the biodome she was awestruck. The ceiling of the module was a high curved screen that displayed an image of the sun slowly moving across the daytime sky; but that image also projected rays of heat and light onto the garden, along the sun’s trajectory. Beneath this was a cloud layer that cast a shadow onto the expansive gardens below. It was like a huge version of one of Ringbalin’s bonsai incubators. Taren truly felt as if she had just stepped outside into a garden, which was the last thing she expected to encounter in space. The sound of filters, bubbling water and poultry animals were apparent as she began to stroll down the central path. The smell of wet earth, herbs and compost intermingled and made her homesick to the core for the first time since she’d arrived on AMIE.

  Amid the din of nature and equipment, Taren heard voices, and turned off the main pathway onto a smaller one in order to track the source.

  At the end of this pathway was a lab and inside, a beautiful, tall woman, dressed in a wet suit, was leaning over a bench, speaking with Ringbalin. They were both fascinated with some sealed beakers on the bench, so the scene was quite professional but the body language of the woman suggested that she was quite well disposed towards the young botanist.

  When Taren knocked, they were startled and straightened up to put a more respectable working distance between them.

  ‘Dr Lennox,’ Ringbalin seemed a little flushed, ‘your timing is impeccable.’

  ‘Are you being sarcastic?’ Taren chided as she entered.

  ‘Not at all.’ He picked up his glasses from the bench and put them on. ‘Dr Portus has discovered a tiny algae in one of the water samples she collected from just outside the anomaly zone on Oceane.’

  ‘A single-cell organism! Life is developing fast down there then.’ Taren was stunned, but held out her hand to introduce herself to the marine botanist. ‘Hi, I’m Taren Lennox.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Ringbalin suddenly realised he was being rude. ‘Dr Lennox…meet Dr Ayliscia Portus, from our marine department.’

  ‘My honour is great to finally meet the woman who has inspired Ringbalin’s work very much.’ She smiled warmly.

  Dr Portus had a very strong accent, which was almost as striking as her stunning good looks, poise and tall stature. Taren was guessing that she was Phemorian. In ancient times the women of Phemoria had rebelled against eons of repression at the hands of their menfolk and, in one of human history’s most famed rebellions, the women seized control of the entire planet and forbade any man citizenship. Since that time, Phemoria had been a haven for women, especially those who sought sanctuary from male brutality.

  Taren was more interested in Dr Portus’ discovery at present. ‘So, tell me about your algae.’

  All eyes turned back to the beaker as Ringbalin took up a small torch. ‘Check this out.’ He shone the torch into the beaker of murky water, which seemed to be filled with deep green plant shavings. He then switched the light source off, whereupon all the tiny free-floating algae began to pulse with bright green light in perfect unison.

  ‘Delayed luminescence!’ Taren was delighted by the display.

  ‘I have studied light emissions between luminescent algae in the seawater on Frujia, because although on the evolutionary scale they are classified as a plant, they move like a primitive animal. What I discovered was that the movement of each dinoflagellate perfectly synchronised
with that of its neighbours—’

  ‘The algae are using the light to communicate.’ Taren jumped two steps ahead in the conversation.

  ‘Exactly. But that is not what is most interesting.’ Ringbalin was pleasantly surprised to be able to skip ahead in his tutorial. ‘We know from your past research in biophotonics that all living things are antennas and transmitters of light. The more complex a living organism is in the evolutionary scheme of things the less biophotons it emits—’

  ‘That is not a widely accepted fact,’ Taren felt she should point out.

  ‘It will be soon, I feel, as my research corroborates your findings,’ Ringbalin assured her with a smile.

  ‘Why? What is the biophoton count on this algae?’

  ‘About fifty photons per second at a wavelength of two hundred nanometers,’ Ringbalin advised.

  Taren was shocked. ‘That is well under half the rate of any rudimentary plant or animal I have studied,’ she said, and Ringbalin nodded to agree that the results were exceptional.

  ‘Indicating that this is a very advanced strand of algae,’ Dr Portus added.

  ‘The biophoton count of our tundrell is also way below what one would expect,’ Ringbalin said. ‘It also pulses in the dark when the lights are turned off, and although I am yet to confirm this, I will bet my life that the tundrell and these algae pulse in time.’

  ‘A visual means to confirm communication between species via photon emissions!’ Taren was absolutely beside herself, and could well appreciate her colleagues’ excitement. ‘This could go a long way to proving that light photons are the great translators and communicators of creation.’

  ‘I believe the intense atmosphere within the anomaly region on Oceane has a lot to do with why these plants are more evolved than any we have encountered before. Lights off,’ Ringbalin instructed and the lab fell into darkness.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Taren wondered why he’d plunged them into darkness until her eyes adjusted and it became apparent that her body was also pulsing with faint bursts of green light and in perfect time with the algae. ‘Oh, my stars…’