Aneka Jansen 7: Hope (7 page)

So it was a shock tactic. In fact, the entire proceeding seemed to have been set up that way. Slavery had been put out there as a possibility. Then it had been yanked away from her and she had been left to worry over that for days before the ‘lesser’ sentence was invoked due to the ‘mercy’ of their ultimate leader. She was meant to feel grateful. She was supposed to feel happy about being enslaved since she had
thought
she was going to die.

Ariadne was a perfect world to be on while dressed in a lightweight shift of a dress. The atmosphere was humid and warm, tropical warm. The spaceport building had been air-conditioned, but the heat hit Ella as soon as she stepped out through the doors. The guards seemed to be unconcerned, likely used to it. On the other hand, the ground car she was bundled into was similarly air-conditioned so they clearly found the warm, damp air less than pleasing. At least the drive gave her a view of the planet.

Someone, it seemed, was up on their classical mythology. As they moved out of the built-up area around the port, the surrounding area turned to scrubby bushes which showed signs of having been denser forest cut down relatively recently. Stretching across the bushes were filaments, strands of silvery material which looked like webbing. If the odd growth, which was presumably some sort of plant, was endemic, then it had likely given the world its name.

‘See that silver stuff?’ one of her guards said from the front seat. Having him speak was something of a surprise.

‘Yes. Fascinating.’

‘Dangerous. We burn it back from the towns. If you see any, report it. Get too close and it gives out an electric pulse. It’s been known to stop a man’s heart.’

‘Thank you. I’ll be careful.’

‘That’s the standard warning. Everyone sent here gets it, even the slaves.’

‘Thank you anyway.’

He did not reply and they travelled the rest of the way in silence. Ella estimated ten kilometres out from the port complex and then through a gate into a walled community which looked like it was relatively recently built and quite pleasant. She noted, however, that the ground around the wall showed signs of burning and there were small turrets mounted on it, presumably there to keep the web back.

The house they stopped outside was low, a single storey, but still quite large. The area around it was solid, poured concrete from the look of it. Somehow she had expected gardens. The place looked like it should have gardens.

She was taken through the front door and then left and down a corridor into an office. It looked utilitarian rather than part of a home and it contained a man. He was tall and powerfully built, which seemed to be typical of Pinnacle men. The haircut could be generously described as fashionable, it fitted his face nicely, and he was aging well but he was aging. Used to people not doing that unless they wanted to, Ella found it fascinating that a society would embrace the process.

‘Ella Narrows,’ the man said, not getting up from his desk.

‘That’s me,’ Ella replied. The man smiled and pain lanced through her skull.

‘You’ll speak when answering a question,’ he said when the pain had stopped. ‘I am Commander Arundal and I am now your owner. Take the collar off her.’

One of the guards produced a control box and tapped some sort of code into it. The collar disentangled itself from around Ella’s throat and she thought about thanking them, but she doubted it would be a permanent arrangement and Arundal had told her not to speak. Sure enough, her new owner produced a second collar from his desk and handed it to a guard. It looked more or less the same as the first one, but with different coloured gems mounted in it. Arundal produced a box which he used to lock the collar in place.

‘She’s mine now, men, you may go.’ The two guards turned and left without a word, leaving Ella alone with Arundal. He looked at her briefly as though examining a newly bought car. ‘As I said, you now belong to me. You will be one of my house slaves so my wife will be dealing with you most of the time. If I need to speak to you, it will hurt. Are we clear?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Ella replied.

‘Excellent, you’re a fast learner. Behave, don’t give me cause for concern, and you’ll find this a pleasant assignment. I know why you’re here, so have no doubt I will execute you myself if I even
think
you’re going to be a problem.’

Ella nodded. She had not actually been asked anything so staying silent seemed like a good idea. Meanwhile, she set her implant working on the radio signals she had recorded from the collar controls. They were encrypted and the protocol would take some time to work out, but she was fairly sure that she would have access to the unlock code within a day or two. Now all she needed was a plan to get off the planet.

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The day started early in the Arundal household. There was little light in the sky when the slaves were roused from their beds by the house computer and set about their tasks. The family got up about thirty minutes later, expecting the breakfast to be laid out. Commander Arundal was ten minutes later than his wife, son, and daughter since he was being dressed by his personal servant, a rather dour, older man who, despite wearing the same collar as all the other slaves, still seemed to consider himself somehow better than them.

Ella was on breakfast duty and she made sure everything was ready and waiting when the first of the family arrived. Mrs Arundal peered at the table briefly and then gave her a nod indicating that everything was to her satisfaction. Ella said nothing but allowed a pleased smile to show. She wanted them thinking she was happy to serve after all.

Mrs Arundal was quite the beauty. Very slim, not at all tall, very feminine, and Ella got the impression that this was a basic Pinnacle feature just as the men were big and strong. Priding itself on being ‘genetically pure,’ the Pinnacle had still engineered in a few variations and the differentiation in sexual roles appeared to be primary in that engineering.

Certainly the daughter, Nadine, was only eight, but taking after her mother. Small, slim, with a cute sort of face and blonde hair. Her mother wore hers long, while Nadine had a short bob. The son, Adam, was taking after his father and was developing just as one might expect. He was sixteen, firmly muscled, fit, and he was an arrogant little prick. Ella had only known him for a few hours and already she wanted to deck him.

There was random chatter over breakfast while Ella stood by to serve coffee or juice as needed. The head of the house would be off to his office at the naval base once it was done, while his son would be going to the academy beside it. Nadine was told to make sure she did well with her school work, while it seemed to be assumed that Adam would. Ella was not entirely sure whether that was a reflection of the nature of the children or some implicit misogyny.

Any efforts to discover which might be the case were forestalled by a shopping trip. Nadine was left to study under the supervision of the education system while Mrs Arundal took Ella out to the nearby shopping district. Ella was entirely unsure why she was needed, until she realised that she was not; the entire point of having your slave along was to demonstrate that you had one, and the Arundals had a new one who had to be shown off.

‘A new slave, Maureen?’ The speaker was a pretty blonde who looked older than Mrs Arundal, perhaps the wife of a senior officer.

‘Hmm? Oh, yes.’ Of course, pretending that you did not really care that anyone noticed the new girl was all part of the ritual. ‘A work in progress, obviously.’

‘They all need a little training when you first get them. Don’t be afraid of using the collar.’

‘I’ve trained a few now. I’m not.’

Ella wondered whether that was for her benefit, but she got the impression that this was the elder wife suggesting that the younger one might not be up to the job, and the expected rebuttal.

‘She doesn’t look strong. Will she last?’

‘I’m told she’s stronger than she looks, but you can never tell with these inferior species.’

Ella said nothing, standing nearby with a placid look on her face. It was actually rather fascinating and, had she not been in something of a hurry to get back home to Aneka, she might have considered continuing on for a month or so just to observe. The kind of social one-upmanship she was seeing was just not a particularly big component of Jenlay society. Oh, you had the usual plays for seniority and power among the Jenlay, but this was far more like the society Aneka had described among suburban households back in her original time. Aneka had been unimpressed, but Ella thought it was very interesting. Her owner would likely have been unimpressed to discover that she was taking notes for a paper.

In fact, Mrs Arundal was more observant than Ella had given her credit for. ‘You appear to have questions, Ella.’ It was a statement, but there was an implicit question and Ella decided to risk it.

‘I have, ma’am.’

‘Then ask. You are in training. My job is to ensure that you become a useful slave. To this end, I will grant you leave to ask such questions as will further your education. Only when we are alone and I have granted permission, however.’

‘Of course, ma’am. Thank you. The woman you were speaking to about me, the one so determined to advise you on my training, you don’t like her. Why associate with her?’

‘She is the wife of one of my husband’s senior officers. Not very senior so I don’t have to take her useless advice with a smile now, but senior enough. Rank is status here. I’ll give you a quick lesson on the rank structure later this week. You’re a comely girl and we’re having a dinner party. You’ll be waiting table.’

‘Thank you, ma’am.’ Ella actually meant it; she would actually get to observe the Pinnacle at a social function! It was ages since she had got to do any real anthropological study and this was just perfect, aside from the threat of agonising pain if she screwed up.

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Two days in and Ella felt she was getting into the swing of Pinnacle society, at least from the bottom of it. She had given no one a reason to use the collar control on her in that time and the decryption software had finally cracked the code during the night. It allowed her to start using the package on the house’s wireless network, which was significantly easier to decrypt given that it was commercial grade and not even especially secure. Data transmitted across it was in the clear, but there were encrypted authentication tags which she would need to work out if she wished to use it.

The dinner party Mrs Arundal had mentioned was to be the following evening and Ella had already decided that, barring emergency, she was not leaving before then. The chance to observe the Pinnacle up close was not likely to be one she would ever get again. If she escaped, she would not be allowed back very easily, and if she failed, she would be dead. Or that seemed likely, though she was beginning to have doubts.

For one thing, Mrs Arundal was too nice. She had explained her behaviour as educating a new slave, but Ella was not entirely buying it. There seemed to be a distinct effort to appear friendly. There was severity and authority, and there was always the big stick that was Commander Arundal who seemed quick with his punishment of anyone performing below his expectations. Maureen Arundal, however, was doing her best to appear firm but fair, severe but compassionate.

‘What were you before you became a biological terrorist?’ Mrs Arundal asked as she watched Ella dusting the lounge, a task which could easily have been left to automated systems.

‘I worked at a university,’ Ella replied, ignoring the insult in the question.

‘Secretary?’

‘Head of social sciences.’

‘Oh really?’ The question came with a scoffing laugh and Ella decided to stay silent. ‘Social sciences?’

‘Anthropology, archaeology, psychology, a few more esoteric subjects.’

‘I studied psychology. Haven’t practised in years, of course.’

Of course. But then that made perfect sense of Ella’s placement in this house. The man of the house was military intelligence and his wife was a psychologist. Yes, that made sense. ‘I don’t get to do much field work these days,’ Ella said. ‘Didn’t. A lot of administration.’ Which was not that much of a lie; she
had
been doing more and more admin and less real science.

‘Then how did you end up creating a bioweapon?’

Ella considered for a second, and then she said, ‘Would ma’am prefer an answer which is unlikely to result in her activating my collar, or the truth?’

‘An impertinent answer.’

‘My apologies, ma’am. I was convicted of a crime I denied. I would prefer not to be in pain and, given my circumstances, I see no point in making my case to you. You are unlikely to believe me anyway and nothing I say will change my fate. Administrators are required on any complex mission, are they not? Obviously, the production of a complex bioweapon would merit the attention of a senior administrator.’

‘And the truth?’

‘We found the virus. It’s a very advanced form of biological nanomachine. Quite ancient and quite deadly. We found some evidence to suggest that it caused the Xinti to move from their natural bodies to synthetic ones. Variations of it have turned up at various points in history. The most recent of those was about thirty years ago when someone
did
try to use it as a bioweapon.’

‘And what happened to that person?’

‘A friend of mine killed him and we nuked the viral production facility.’

~~~

‘My wife informs me that you had prior experience of the viral weapon on Lacora?’

Ella stood beside Commander Arundal’s desk while he sat on the far side doing his best impression of a superior, Pinnacle officer. She looked at him for a second, considering her words. ‘I encountered a viral weapon which shared some characteristics with it. My microbiologist indicated that the structures were too similar for it to be coincidence. One was derived from the other and Lacora appeared to be the original source.’

‘So the previous encounter was with a less virulent form?’

‘More and further engineered. It performed restructuring on the victim’s body, turning them into mindless, cannibalistic, disease vectors.’