The Unearthing (49 page)

“The tram to the habitat is on the lowest level of the station,” he said as their car began dropping. As they debarked from the lift Peter once again consulted the directory before leading them across the level to the right platform. They peered down the tunnel for the tram; it spiralled gradually downwards and out the lower bulkhead.

“We’re actually not that far from the habitat, relatively speaking,” Paulson said as they stepped aboard.

“The Ship has adjusted the atmosphere of the habitat to more closely match our own,” He said, “Although it’s taken the liberty of removing the toxins from the inner atmosphere; it says the habitat has been adapted to be suitable to life on this world.”

“Holy God,” Bloom rasped, staring ahead of them. She’d caught a glimpse of something down the end of the pipe ahead.

“What is it?” Benedict asked.

“That,” Bloom said. They crossed the bulkhead into the transparency of the tram tube and were shocked into silence by the scene below them. The tramway was spiralling down towards a landing platform at the top of a massive sphere; the sphere of the habitat. A floating island several kilometres in diameter, the habitat was ensconced in a sky of the purest blue and covered in lush green foliage from one end to another. It rotated slowly on its own axis below them, the equatorial ring of the small globe lined with edifices of alien construct.

“According to the Ship, it was populated long ago,” Peter said, reading from a panel in the tram car, “With flora and small fauna native to primordial Earth.” Kodo stopped short and turned to Paulson.

“What?” Paulson asked.

“The plants and animals here...they’ve been isolated aboard the Ship for millions of years!” Kodo rasped, excitedly, “That means they’ve followed an evolutionary line completely independent of
anything
...” The tramcar stopped at the polar station. They stepped off onto the gently rotating surface of the sphere. Bloom steadied her balance a moment.

“It’s like the garden of Eden,” Kodo exclaimed reverently, “This…this has been here,
waiting
for millions of years. The air is so fresh…so clean…”

“And we’re the first people to see it,” Bloom said, “The first Humans to set foot in here.”

They could hear chirping from the fern canopy above, rustling in the branches. Bloom smelled the damp, earthy smell of the forest and looked up to the artificial blue sky and illusory sun radiating heat and light overhead.

“It’s a giant biosphere,” she said, “A completely self-sustained miniature world.”

“Everything Darwin theorized during his trip to the Galapagos is true; this place
proves
it.” Kodo said, “And this is only the outermost level,” Peter said, “Living quarters are spread out along the equator. Then inside the sphere itself there are hundreds of sublevels. The Ship can adjust areas of the surface to suit our needs or the needs of anything we choose to populate the habitat.”

“Let’s get back,” Bloom said, “We should tell the others. We should tell the Summit.”

“We should explore this,” Kodo said, panning his head around so his headset cam recorded as much as possible, “Explore the whole habitat.”

“All in good time,” Bloom said, “We have to stick to procedure. There are rules…” She looked around the splendour before her, smelled the air and listened to the rushing of water, somewhere nearby.

“Mind you,” she said, “I can’t see anything wrong with spending a
few
minutes looking around. Major, would that be a problem for security?” Benedict could barely register her question. The perfume of the exotic plants, the air, the sounds and sights before him were completely enrapturing.

“I don’t see why it should be, Colonel,” He said at last, “As long as we don’t touch or eat anything. Christ knows if any of this is toxic, or not.”

“Good point.” Bloom said, “So, let’s look, but not touch. Got that, doctor Kodo?”

“Yes, ma’am,” He said, “But I do want to collect samples.”

“All in good time,” Bloom said, “Right now, let’s just go for a walk.”

EIGHTEEN

REVELATIONS

Now that the Subjects had sufficiently demonstrated their intelligence, the Ship had granted them nearly unlimited access. It hardly expected that every one of these beings would want to or be able to learn the subtleties and complexities of its language so it was more than happy to communicate with them in their native languages. The one known as
Soniaaiziz
continued to converse with the Ship in its own language and was fast becoming fluent. The others would speak to The Ship in the common language of this world, a language known as English and the Ship obliged them by communicating with them in kind.

♦♦♦

“Minister,” MI-6 said, shaking the Minister’s hand, “It is so very nice to meet you in person at last.”

The Minister smiled. “With the conference in London and a meeting scheduled I thought it might be an interesting opportunity to sit in on the Committee with my British colleagues.”

“Our sources on the World Ship Summit have confirmed that the Summit will be making a press announcement,” The British Minister said, “They are revealing almost everything that has occurred since the delegates from the Vatican Council first spoke with the Ship.”

“And what has the World Ship Summit decided regarding the Ship’s offer?” the Solicitor General of Canada asked.

“The World Council is accepting the Ship’s offer,” The Curator said, “And the Summit is now working out the logistics of the technology exchange and how to proceed with finding people for the…cultural exchange.”

“Isn’t there some way to delay the announcement?” Natural Resources asked, “Allow us time to gather intelligence from within the Ship? Once the announcement is made the Summit will begin sending in teams to extract information and technology from the various archives in the Ship. Once the tech mining begins our chance at the Ship ends.”

“Then perhaps it’s time we closed the book on the Ship,” the Minister said, “It certainly no longer falls under our mandate to keep secret alien artifacts.”

“I agree, Minister,” MI-6 said, “The Ship is public domain now and once the Summit makes its announcement it will be all the more so. Frankly, at the next General Council session of the Committee and our advisors we should discuss a new mandate. However, at the moment we have a narrowing opportunity to access the Ship and Colonel Bloom has presented us with the very means to do it.”

“Namely?” the Curator asked.

“Mister Chairman,” MI-6 asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, “Would you be so kind as to run the video from Colonel Bloom’s report to General Harrod?” Seconds later each member of the Committee beheld images from Bloom’s headset cam. Bloom narrated:

“We’ve just returned to Fort Arapaho from our initial drop deeper into the Ship,” She said, “There’s a transitway system within the Ship; a network of high-speed pods analogous to a subway that accesses every part of the Ship. Through it we’ve been able to access the habitat; a biosphere set up to be the living quarters for the Ship’s passengers and crew.”

The image changed, showing visuals of the approach made to the habitat and their walk through the dense foliage of the habitat itself and of the series of buildings that ringed the biosphere’s equator.

“The habitat is an artificial planetoid suspended in the core of the Ship,” Bloom’s voice continued, “The Ship’s measurements put it at around five point two-three kilometres in diameter. Plants and animals are directly descended from samples taken by the Ship when it first landed here, eighty million years ago. There’s a large freshwater lake located along the southern pole of the Habitat. The entire biosphere seems to be fed by its own micro-environment, with regular rainfall plant growth and a heated core. The ring of buildings along the equator that extends to a small network of support systems, storage and empty constructs beneath the Habitat’s surface. The tram station at the northern hemisphere is accessed from several foot paths and mini-car lines that run from the equator to the North Pole. There’s an incredibly well simulated sky; the air is fresh…it’s the ideal environment to support human life.” The images changed continuously as Bloom spoke. This time it was showing detail maps from the Ship’s display.

“These are maps to the other points of interest in the Ship,” Bloom’s voice-over continued, “And the next areas we’ll be exploring. I’m anxious to look for the Bugs. We have more than enough information suggest that the Ship is the point of origin for them. I’d like to request that the engineers I worked with at the Facility be transferred to my command as part of the Ship Survey Expedition’s engineering team. Their expertise will help us once we do find the Bugs.” The recording ended and the lights came up. Outside the windows of the London headquarters of the Committee, snow was falling in the late evening sky.

“I don’t see much cause to refuse the Colonel’s request,” MI-6 said.

“Nor do I,” The Chairman said, “Especially considering it now affords us the opportunity to extract a Bug from the Ship.”

“More than that, mister Chairman,” the Minister said, “Bloom’s opening the door for us to infiltrate the tech teams with our own people; we’ll still have first pick of everything – our own operatives will be down there.”

♦♦♦

TRANSCRIPT

INTERACTIVE NEWS NETWORK NEWSCAST

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INN<> HEADLINES >>THE SHIP >>SPECIAL REPORT >>WORLD SHIP SUMMIT MEDIA RELEASE ><

ANCHOR

Good morning and welcome to the Interactive News Network. We are moments away from a press conference in Geneva, where the World Ship Summit is expected to discuss ongoing communications it has been having with the Ship. Although details of the announcement are sketchy, INN has learned that part of the announcement will detail plans for an exchange of cultural information and technology between the Ship and humanity.

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WORLD SHIP SUMMIT <>W
ORLD SHIP SUMMIT MEDIA RELEASE >>LATEST ><

TRANSCRIPT

WORLD SHIP SUMMIT MEDIA RELEASE

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Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We’d like to first thank all of you for coming out here so early. We know that in the case of those standing by in the Americas many of you still haven’t been to bed yet. However the news that we’re bringing you will more than make up for the early hour of this announcement, I promise.

In the last several days a series of dialogues have been undertaken between the Ship, members of the Ship Survey Expedition, the World Ship Summit and the Interfaith Fourth Vatican Council. What we have learned from the Ship is to say the least, remarkable.

The Ship has given us almost full access to its systems, databases and technology. We will be very soon sending in teams to extract data and technology from the Ship, including biological, astronomical, physical and cultural information. We expect to gain a new understanding of our physical universe and quite possibly the metaphysical as well.

The Ship has also made an unprecedented offer to Humanity. The Ship is a vessel of exploration and diplomacy that belongs to a vast League of affiliated worlds. When it arrived here millions of years ago The Ship came in hopes of finding intelligence and to introduce that intelligence to the League.

The Ship is now proposing to take a representative sample of humanity with it on a return voyage to that League. The World Ship Summit has deliberated on this issue and we have decided to accept the Ship’s offer. Plans are now underway for a worldwide lottery to determine who will be part of the Ship’s passenger manifest. The Ship has left it to us to set the timetable for this event so there is no rush, no panic. Several Grid spars with dedicated support have been established to provide information to everyone. We will make regular announcements as more information becomes available and the Grid spars will be updated daily.

♦♦♦

Things were moving quickly, now. The Ship Survey Expedition had grown to employ thousands: researchers and scientists from every field imaginable had rushed to volunteer for the Great Exchange, and Bloom’s executive office now encompassed a staff of fifty, just to coordinate it all.

The archives were all housed in the same complex within the Ship. However, the complex itself was spread over ten kilometres and several hundred decks. Mark Kodo and his shift-team of thirty took the tram from Central Station through the massive sciences complex. Kodo watched their progress through the transitway tunnels on the display at the back of the tramcar. In its thunderous Shipsong voice the Ship gave Kodo the details on the archives:

“THERE ARE FIVE HUNDRED LEVELS TO THE BIOLOGY ARCHIVES; TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY ABOVE THE TRANSIT STATION LEVEL, TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE BELOW. ARCHIVE LEVELS ARE NUMBERED FROM THE HIGHEST FLOOR, DOWN; ONE IS THE HIGHEST FLOOR, FIVE HUNDRED THE LOWEST. THE ARCHIVES FOR YOUR WORLD ARE ON THE LAST OCCUPIED LEVEL, WHICH IS LEVEL THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE.”

“What’s the layout look like?” Kodo asked.

“EACH LEVEL IS DIVIDED INTO TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED SECTIONS,” The Ship replied, “EACH SECTION HAS AN APPROXIMATE DIMENSION OF ELEVEN POINT THREE-ONE SQUARE METERS. SECTIONS ARE ARRANGED IN A GRID PATTERN OF FIFTY SECTIONS BY FIFTY SECTIONS. TRAVEL BETWEEN SECTIONS CAN BE DONE BY MEANS OF MOBILE PLATFORMS WHICH RUN ON TRACKS BETWEEN EVERY FIVE SECTIONS. SECTIONS TYPICALLY CONTAIN BETWEEN FIVE THOUSAND AND TEN THOUSAND SAMPLES. BETWEEN EVERY FIVE SECTIONS ARE TWO STATIONS FROM WHICH SAMPLES CAN BE VIEWED. SAMPLES OF LIFE FROM YOUR WORLD BEGIN AT SECTION THIRTEEN AND END AT SECTION EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE.”