Confluence Point (2 page)

"What about Marin, you said he was there with his father."

"My father too . . ." he corrected. "Yes, Marin was there, but it was such a struggle to get Father back to the Pod and then the ship
-
Marin was only a young boy really, and in shock. I told him a ship had come and taken the crew to another system, on some important mission. He didn't argue. I guess it's probably buried somewhere, deep in his Dahlian psyche."

"So you lied to him." She jotted down some other random thought.

Ham twisted his head and looked at her coldly. "Yes
-
I lied! What else could I do? And we needed to work together, Marin and I, to get Mariner's body home." He swung his legs off the couch and sat up in one swift motion, only a shimmer in the air revealing he was anything other than tangible.

Despite herself Dianne couldn't help another tremor. "Ham," she continued boldly, "I might be out of line here but I feel you're avoiding saying something, and it's at the heart of the angst you feel. It's what you've been avoiding acknowledging even to yourself, and I think you need to say it, with no obfuscation."

"What's that . . . what am I not saying?" He looked blank.

"Ham . . . what happened to the crew?" She looked him in the eye.

His face suddenly darkened and she shifted back in her chair defensively.

"As I said," Ham answered, "the crew didn't come back with us."

"Ham," she spoke firmly, demanding his attention. "What happened to the crew?"

"They
-
didn't survive the trip." Now it was he who shifted uncomfortably.

"Ham, you chose to talk to me about this and I can understand you being uncomfortable, but this is important
-
what happened to the crew?"

He drew in a large breath while seeming to shrink at the same time, his head dropping toward the floor and she could hear him mumble something.

"What was that Ham, I couldn't hear?"

He took a breath . . . "I killed them," he answered in a whisper.

"How many of them were there?"

"Six . . . four men, two women
-
I killed them all."

"How did you kill them?" she asked.

"Is it important how? They're dead, and I killed them, if I'd waited it might have been me." He was appealing now, deeply embarrassed and he spun away.

"How did they die, Ham?" She pressed on, calmer, feeling the earlier tension lessening.

"They suffocated, I removed all the air."

"Did they suffer?" she asked.

Ham turned his head back in a slow motion movement to focus on the seated woman.

"Are you serious?" He asked incredulously. "They had no air; it's not a problem I've ever experienced but I gather from all the thrashing it wasn't pleasant. I guess those that screamed less lasted longer but I'm not sure that was an advantage for them. Yes . . . I think they suffered. The two women were lovers and they died desperately in each other's arms; it's not a memory I choose to dwell on." Once again his voice tailed off before he continued quietly.

"When they were finally dead I used servitors to drag them to a Pod and took them away from the ship;
then
I spaced them."

Dianne sat quietly, letting the information sink in. Finally she put her notepad and pen aside. She shuffled forward on the seat, leaning to rest her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands tightly together.

"Ham," she spoke gently, "you said you were young . . ."

"I was aware," he interrupted, "I knew what I was doing."

"You were frightened," she continued, "and perhaps with good cause. Your protector was gone and they were moving against you. Perhaps today you might have acted differently." She sounded hopeful.

"Do you think so?" He shuffled back to face her looking doubtful. "I really don't think I would . . . act differently I mean. Those bastards were out to lobotomize me!" Then he paused, thoughtful. "But, perhaps I might have been more selective . . . I did take rather a broad brush approach." He considered that thought then looked at her, smiling gratefully. "Thank you, I think you're right, I have grown somewhat, and I can hardly be blamed for preemptively defending myself."

Dianne decided to quit while she was ahead and changed the subject. "Let's go back to your comment about this affecting your relationships, and your ability to trust. Clearly you have a relationship with Regan, one that is close and rewarding to you."

"Yes," and he visibly relaxed at the thought. "I trust her completely although she would say I shouldn't." He shook his head, smiling. "That is where she has so much wisdom Dianne . . . she understands you see . . . about the heart of man. She often says when it comes to people, you should be prepared to be disappointed but you should never be surprised. She expects high standards, but she also forgives."

"You think a lot of her, don't you Ham; and she seems to have a lot of influence with you
-
how far does that go?"

"I would do
anything
for her."

"Would you kill . . ?" Dianne clamped down on the words but they were out of her mouth so quickly the meaning was still clear. He looked her firmly in the eye.

"Asked and answered," he replied and then stood suddenly. "Thank you Dianne, this has been good, better than you can imagine and I'd like to do this again if I may, perhaps we might meet regularly for a while?"

She didn't reply, her mind already drifting back to the earlier warning about confidentiality.

He bowed to her. "And you might like to check your 401(k) retirement plan; I understand it has been performing much better for you in recent days." He smiled and turned as if heading for the door.

Taking only a few steps he then stopped, turning back to her slowly. "I really
do
feel much better
-
this has helped me feel much more . . . up." and he winked at her pointedly
-
then disappeared.

Chapter One

Hillary Station

"This is simply stunning!" Craning her neck high, Regan looked out across the inner pipe. With a slow turn of her head she followed the last section of diamond glass as crew carefully placed and secured it, finally sealing off vacuum at the earthward end of the pipe. The dispersed sunlight she could see streaming in through the new and massive meter thick window sections reminded her of stained glass cathedral artworks she saw as a child
-
maybe we should have considered that?
And immediately she corrected the thought
-
once fully developed the Orbital Central Park would have magnificent views through to Earth at one end and the moon at the other;
best not to spoil it with permanent color.

She squinted at the bright end to end light source she could see shining like a giant fluorescent tube and illuminating the entire inner pipe face. Dubbed Central Sun by the construction team it effectively created a new ceiling to the inner pipe and would forever now shine 'down' on to visitors to the park. Hundreds of workers could be seen on the new ground surface as they made the final adjustments to the gravity plate placement. It was clear from their progress the process of filling the lake could begin soon
-
I wish I'd made it bigger.

An inside diameter of just one kilometer meant the pipe only allowed for an inner circumference of three thousand one hundred meters. It would always have been an uncomfortably curved surface had they tried to utilize all of the pipe’s inside face. Hilary's solution was to instead build a three million square meter Gravity Platform across one chord of the inner pipe, thus creating a large flat area for a ground park. Placing the new Central Sun Tube on the opposite inner face allowed light to stream directly down from above, forever now giving the pipe a top and bottom orientation, if only from the inside. They had called the new area Central Park, a nod to New York and the beautiful space there.

The new park area measured three thousand meters long and nine hundred meters wide with a ceiling height at Central Sun of seven hundred meters.  It would now be a huge open space with a lake, a twenty five meter swimming pool, grassed sports fields and extensive bush walks. Regan smiled, thinking of Hilary, the station AI. This was all to her master plan and while brilliant in conception, it would be even better when fully realized. Plus Hilary's changes had effectively created space for six new levels underground to expand into.

"We couldn't have made it this fast without two things, Regan." Hayden Joyce, the Hillary Station Commissioner had given up craning to look at the work. His aging neck couldn't handle it and he quietly looked forward to the time when people forgot the strangeness of looking through these ceiling windows across the gap to tiny figures walking upside down in the distance. For one thing it would mean fewer injuries on station and less pressure on the hospital as a result.

Regan was still looking up, taking in the forest of trees and shrubs which from this perspective jutted from the opposite wall.  Most had been ferried in by Sherpa prior to closing the ends, a massive operation. The trees were the maximum height manageable by transport at around fifteen meters and once planted would create a veritable instant forest. They would be supplemented by the hundred and twenty meter monsters that Ham had freighted in one by one, crammed in the STEIN Traveler. The varieties included both exotics and New Zealand natives, Beech, Oaks, Pohutakawa, Rata, Tawa, to name just a few. There would even be a Redwood forest rapid grown over the next two years and the result would be a beautiful bush environment to calm the soul.

Regan shook her head and looked back at Hayden, stretching her neck from side to side to work out the kinks.

"Sorry Hayden, you were saying?"

He smiled, "It's hard to take in isn't it? I was saying we couldn't have made this progress so quickly without two things, an AI of Hilary's capability of course, but also the people from Cora, credit where credit is due I say."

She nodded, "They have been great value haven't they? Correct me if I'm wrong but there do seem to be more of them around than I remember."

"You're not wrong; I don't think life in Siberia was a particularly attractive prospect to them, not when they started to hear how happy their friends were up here. We've had around one hundred of the group that originally chose to go home to Gliese instead apply to come up and work with us. Ham accepted seventy of them and I must say they've been great. They're all experienced working in weightless environments and with the machinery we use. It might not be their usual work mining asteroids but I can't fault them for their skill in space construction."

"How long before we can be in the park, Hilary?" she asked, looking back up into the space and already thinking about running through the Redwoods.

The reply emanated as if Hilary were standing beside them. "It will be two months all going well. As you can see, they're closing off the ends now and the inside flight deck screens are already down and sealed off. So from here we pressurize the inside, and then establish Earth normal atmosphere and gravity. Following that landscaping and planting can begin; it's going to be fun." She sounded excited.

"Well, I'm delighted. Thank you both, you Hilary for your excellent project management and ideas, you Hayden for winning over the Corans so well. They trust you, and that's important."

Hayden looked strangely at her. "I don't know how you do it Regan; you're always selling yourself short. Thank you for recognizing us but I have to say, the Corans think you're the bee's knees, is that the correct Kiwi expression?" He laughed.

"I can't think why," she looked genuinely surprised.

"Simple, they expected to be executed or locked up, and why wouldn't they, they were about to nuke our planet. Instead, you offered them an opportunity. More than that you recognized their needs as a people and offered them hope; it's not something their tribe had experienced for decades."

"Regan," Hilary joined the discussion, "The people of Cora are not so different to you, and they've heard that you started from nothing; that's something they respect. As young people they face the same issues as your young. Scarce resources, too much negativism and pessimism about the future, and leadership that preaches one thing while doing another. They know they were sent here to take something that wasn't theirs and they were beaten fair and square. Then, instead of being rightly judged they find you giving them offers of partnership. Your language is all about working together, leveraging skills, providing for families and new beginnings
.
None of them have forgotten the moment when you spoke to them on the flight deck of the Behemoth; in the middle of their terror you brought hope. To them you're a savior."

Regan just shook her head. "It's too much. Look, I'm just grateful
-
communicate that to them, will you."

She left them to it, walking back down the pipe corridor toward the Stein compound.
Nothing like some time with Jared to bring me down to Earth!

[How are they going over there Ham?] She subbed, thinking about the team working over on the Behemoth.

[They're doing well; young Aaron is on to it. That warship will be sprinting interstellar before you know it.]

[Regan . . . Leah and Marin are on their way back now with the Senior Coran Officer and he wants to talk with you personally, no one else. Leah thinks it might be important.]

[Have you checked him out?]

There was a pause before he responded and even subbing she could tell he was annoyed at the question, [No
-
I thought it would be more interesting to ignore the knife . . . of
course
I've checked him out, seriously, would I let anyone near my backup?]

She smiled, [How long before they get here?]