Beijing paid top salaries for Asia’s scientists, bringing its sharpest minds into their heartland. They bought cheap labor in Thailand and Kampucheah. They won their border conflicts with Vietnam, then rotated their best generals, techs, and shock troops into orbit.
Old treaties mandated that space must stay free of nuclear weapons, but warheads were unnecessary to disturb the balance on Earth. From orbit, a dumb, simple chunk of iron could act as a missile. It needed to be meticulously aimed, but it could deliver the same yield as a nuke without radioactive fallout.
The debt-ridden Western nations couldn’t leave China alone in space. They screamed for more laws. They passed new sanctions and denouncements. In time, they ejected China from the United Nations — yet they had no choice except to follow the People’s Supreme Society up from Earth’s surface.
The race to claim Earth’s high ground included new developments in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, which led in turn to long-awaited breakthroughs in cold fusion. Green economies created surpluses in the West.
Meanwhile the world’s computer systems continued to grow and transform. Feinting at each other, stealing codes, infecting their enemies and being infected, they made each other smarter.
In space, Europe and America were pulling even with the People’s Supreme Society when Chinese SCPs stuttered through their defenses, turning off the lights and freezing their missiles in their silos. It was meant to be a death stroke: a one-minute war. Instead, American memes returned the favor, masking Chinese data/comm with false signals.
Both sides opened fire.
Too many missiles went for soft targets.
On Earth, seven hundred and fifty thousand people were vaporized because the AIs thwarted each other, muddling the coordinates for military installations with electronic umbrellas. They routed their weapons toward less-protected sites to chew away at each other’s capabilities.
On the outskirts of the cities, another two million people were blinded and maimed by the fireballs. Neither side won World War III. The armistice led to the creation of the new Allied Nations and the promise to keep war from Earth forever, but it was the West that had absorbed the most devastating losses. The People’s Supreme Society remained the leading force in the solar system, reining in allies like Iran and Brazil.
Vonnie supposed the current political climate was another reason Bauman had won her role as commander of their expedition. The Americans, like Europe, were desperate for any gain in status, whereas the Chinese probably felt that chasing bugs was beneath them. Until they’d discovered the carvings, China had graciously permitted lesser nations to lead the science team in exchange for a bit of international goodwill.
Ash would have been a baby during the missile strikes. She couldn’t possibly have personal memories of her lost family members, although from what she’d said, she’d grown up in their absence with a grieving mother.
In her soul, maybe she was looking for something she’d never known. Likely her formative emotions as a child had been survivor’s guilt and anger. That explained how Ash could be obsessed with politics instead of seeing what was right in front of her, and yet Vonnie refused to give up on their relationship.
The jeep parked. Vonnie clunked their helmets together. “We’re working for the same thing,” she said.
Ash was confrontational. “I don’t think so.”
“We both want to protect people.”
“Being buddies with the sunfish isn’t important. Not compared to national security.”
“They’re part of our future.”
Ash scoffed in Vonnie’s face. “You want to make them citizens? You really are crazy.”
“Don’t be stupid. The sunfish couldn’t handle Earth gravity. We’re not bringing them home. But you can’t ignore them. The sunfish won’t disappear because you’ve got your truce with Brazil, and you don’t want China to build allegiances with the tribes first — not if that puts China ahead of us in bioresearch.”
Ash paused. She frowned and said, “I’m listening.”
“We’re behind the curve on finding Europan lifeforms, not just sunfish, but everything else that should be in the ecosystem. China didn’t blow the hell out of their zone like Brazil did. That noise affected our territory, too. Now Brazil’s mecha are closing in. Our sunfish are on the move. If they don’t run, they’ll attack.”
“That means we’ll have our tissue samples.”
“But it’s a one-time gain. What if there are other, more useful species farther down in the ice? The sunfish could be our guides. They could defend our probes. Christ, if they were willing participants, they could teach us everything we want to know about their life cycle.”
“We…” Ash glanced at her lap, then looked up with new resolve. “You should see Dawson’s mem files. There are three aspects of sunfish physiology that are particularly viable.”
“I believe you. That doesn’t mean we should give up on communicating with them.”
“It’s too late to call off the FNEE mecha.”
“What if I find Lam?”
“Can you? I changed him, Von. If you wrote any back doors into his programming, those codes probably won’t function anymore.”
Shit, Vonnie thought. She’d intended to alter her kill codes to act as slavecasts, compelling Lam to quit hiding. They could track his signals, pick him up and extract him before he — or the Brazilians — went deeper into the ice.
“I want you on our side,” Ash said. “The FNEE incursion is going to happen, but maybe we can minimize the danger to the sunfish. They respect strength. You said so yourself. A few of them will get hurt, but the rest might stop and listen. You can help us.”
Us, Vonnie marveled. Ash, Koebsch, and Dawson were all on the same side now.
She couldn’t fight everyone. She thought Pärnits and Metzler were with her. They were the pure scientists, but the rest of the crew were likely more interested in developing their partnership with Brazil or in securing the genetic material of the sunfish. Those interests made for strange bedfellows.
If Vonnie didn’t want to find herself without any clout whatsoever, she needed to bargain with Ash, so she stiffened her voice with just the right blend of reluctance and disdain.
“I’ll help you if you help me,” she said. “I want to know what Dawson wants.”
“You can’t stop him.”
“I know.” Had she spoken too fast? To convince Ash, she added, “If there’s any chance of saving the sunfish, I need a better feel for what kind of tissue samples he wants, which sexes, how many different individuals, et cetera.”
“Okay.” Ash studied Vonnie’s eyes. Then she looked at her data pad and activated it, unlocking several files before her index finger traced backwards abruptly.
Did she delete one? Vonnie thought.
“I don’t have all of his files,” Ash said. “Some were too well encrypted even for me, but listen to what he says, Von. Really listen.”
“All right.”
“If you’re honest with yourself, I think you’ll realize Dawson’s heart is in the right place.”
“Dawson’s heart is a bank account.”
“He’ll be rich and famous, absolutely,” Ash said as she held up the data pad. “He’s also going to do a lot of good things for people. Our people.”
Then why do I feel like I’m dealing with the devil? Vonnie thought. I guess that makes Ash the devil.
40.
Vonnie took the data pad and Ash clapped her glove on Vonnie’s leg, an authoritative gesture like a judge banging her gavel to seal an agreement.