Chapter 50 - New World New Home

Lü Zhi, Imogen and Daniel arrived at Forvik Island. This had been so well planned it seemed almost routine. Everything was functioning like clockwork and nothing had been spared in the planning. As promised Stuart "Captain Calamity" Hill had a place reserved in the underground bunker. He received the notification while recuperating from pneumonia in Caithness General Hospital. It was 2 in the morning and the nurses on the nightshift, having administered the medications for the night had taken a nap themselves.

He quietly got dressed and slowly made his way close to reception. He rested for a few minutes while he caught his breath, taking the opportunity to use his ventolin. Then, making the supreme effort he gave a spritely casual walk past reception and bid the receptionist good night. The plan was to get to the New World Explorations bunker where he could get the best of medical treatment. He still had a few court cases left in him!

Having packed he caught the first ferry to Papa Stour, the island where he kept his small boat to make the final crossing to Forvik island. A storm was closing in with the wind picking up speed, a fact not missed by the waves as they aggressively lapped against his craft. Deep down he knew he shouldn't set sail but his health didn't allow him the time to wait it out. The engine buzzed into life, starting instantly and drove the small boat bobbing up and down in the violent ocean.

In order to get to the entrance of the bunker Captain Hill had to sail up a channel which nearly cut the island in two. However his good luck had left him, this was one voyage too many. He heard the splintering of the hull as the boat was rammed into some rocks. A young man with God on his side could possibly have made it to shore, but not him. His crippled craft was taking in water fast and just had minutes to abandon ship. He looked up at the unforgiving sky and made peace with his maker, praying for one last thing. To be able to touch his island one more time before dying.

His prayer was answered with a wave that smashed his boat in two. The Captain was sent flying through the air, belly flopping into the ocean, his outstretched right hand falling on a rock. He was dying with his dream. Not in hospital. Not as a tamed and broken animal in a gilded cage owned by the British fucking Government, but as a man. The next wave smashed his head into another rock, caving his skull in. His fight had ended.

With preparations not needing their attention Daniel and Imogen were tasked with re-establishing contact with the Boudicea 3. "Well that shouldn't be too hard", he said. He clicked the relevant icon on his laptop, keyed in the password and had full contact. Everything running perfectly.

Imogen caught Daniels intense stare at the dash panel. "Anything we should know about", she asked.

Daniel answered slowly, "As we have mentioned what the octopus is eating is single cell protein, although single cell nutrition would probably be a better description. The bacteria in turn feeds off hydrogen and uses minerals from the waste of the octopus as biomass building blocks. Are you with me?"

"At this 'black box' level things seem pretty straight forward.", she confirmed.

"We put a whole load of very sensitive equipment on board. Firstly to pick up on any biological anomalies within the craft and also to see how indigenous martian microbes interacted with the earth microbes. Ok, that and the octopus' life support is working. Waste is not building up and the octopus has all the nutrients it needs indefinitely..."

"But ..." Imogen interjected.

"Its known that in space that bacteria become more aggressive. What we haven't anticipated is the level of electrical protein filament signaling between the bacteria both within the bacterial colony and the octopus."

"How can there be signaling between the bacteria and the octopus?"

"Because the octopus has one arm in the bacterial biomass, which by the way is 10 times as large as the octopus itself. Now look here, there is only background signaling within the biomass where the octopus eats. Otherwise it would be eating part of its own soul just to survive".

"Maybe I'm missing something here but how can you tell the difference between unusual signalling and an expansion of mind beyond the organism?"

"You always had a knack for the tough questions. I cannot give you certainty. Well we know its mind is already beyond the organism because part of it is in its dedicated computer. Here is a live visualisation of the activity within that computer and here is a live visualisation of the activity in the bacterial biomass."

"I have to admit, it's got a convincing look about it. How smart do you think it is, at a guess."

"The Entity as a whole, being about half way between you and me."

"And you're about as smart as a human can get Daniel, so it has post human intelligence. I'll just give you a recap of where I'm coming from here. I am a soul that had been created by Mother Earth Gaia to occupy the creatures that the dinosaurs were going to evolve into had they not been destroyed by the asteroid 65 million years ago. My kind are the titans that got subconsciously recalled in your Greek mythology. My instinct is to get life off Earth and on to a safe home, being Mars for the moment.

Now your strong instinct is to preserve the body you inhabit. It's not your strongest instinct, which is why men give their lives for their country or to rescue their family from a threat. But while you value human life you care little for the blood cells that die during a shaving nick. You care much for your skin as a whole but not too much for a small piece of skin to be sacrificed in order for a goal to be achieved.

Likewise I care much for life as a whole. If an individual species has to be sacrificed in getting life off this planet, well that's just too bad. In my view humans are also expendable. But I would cry for the loss of a class of organisms. I would be shattered for the loss of a phylum and devastated at the loss of a domain. As for that thing up there, I don't think it cares one iota. That's not a good way to start the colonisation of a planet. There have been things done to it that shouldn't have been done. Don't do anything until I tell you as its a valuable source of scientific data and will be for sometime. But do we have a kill switch for it?"

"Yes, I built one in, just in case it received a permanent painful injury - given its long lifespan.", said Daniel.

Something on the screen flashed yellow on black. Daniel was on to it straight away. The spacecraft is about to pass through a dust cloud. While always a possibility this was unexpected. "Anything large enough to see can rip a hole in the space craft. Shit!" They both held their breath as the Boudicea 3 passed through the cloud seemingly unharmed. The motion of the craft caused a static build up on the outside of the spacecraft causing a low level discharge.

Very quickly the octopus turned red and then white and was perfectly motionless. "That jolt should have been enough to make it angry, but not enough to knock it out.", exclaimed Daniel. With both their attentions locked firmly on the octopus they didn't notice another effect from the static. There was a small glitch in the spacecraft's main computer, which caused a memory overflow error. This allowed for the execution of arbitrary code, a fact not unnoticed by the Entity.

So the octopus was not out cold. In fact it was no longer angry. It had gone through enough pain to feel angry but had seen a good enough opportunity to snap back out of it. The octopus was only part of the Entity, albeit the most important part. However its dedicated computer was another part and that was the part that could act very quickly. Within a few seconds the compromised spacecraft computer was under the full control of the Entity.

Not that a lot was noticed at first. After all the spacecraft had to get to touch down on Mars and everything was going as well as it could be. Why announce your control when the enemy has more time to wrest it away from you. Until touch down the same set of decisions would be made. The Entity would bide its time.

Although Andy and Tracy were close and friends and colleagues there was no chemistry between them from either side. In the long term he needed a lover and so did she. He checked the time. 51 hours 12 minutes to impact. Tracy got a call. "Right, sure, no worries mate. Two hours away."

"What was that about?"

"Delivery of second grade mulch, 17 cubic metres was all they could spare. For the bugs to eat, we can't grow everything just yet.", she answered.

"What's second grade mulch?"

"You know all those nature trails for the tourists. They need machine pruning and its the outer branches of mixed species that get trimmed. Various seeds are part of the mix and so its less valuable commercially. It also has a higher nutrient content than regular mulch. Once we get the rest of the crew here we will all need to pitch in and help get it spread out."

"Got you." Andy called Brent. He seemed to be Tracy's type, smart, healthy, tall, ambitious and not the sort that would be afraid of getting his hands dirty.

"Brent here"

"Have you sunk yet?"

"I haven't no. Not sure about the client though. You've got a hell of a team here though Andy. Deirdre has come out of her shell and is showing definite signs of intelligence. Seriously if she stays that way she'll be an asset to the firm."

"Good to hear. Are you sitting down?"

"Yesss..."

"I want you to drop everything and meet me at the Jerramungup Health Centre with all the spare clothes you've got, including your non work clothes and underwear. If you can fit any canned food in the car, bring that as well."

"You know that lecture you gave me about necessary sacrifices, it's coming back to me in spades. If I don't focus on this client they're history."

"Warning duly noted. Yes I agree by the way, they will be history. Tell everyone the client has called you over for a meeting and simply leave. Confidentiality is essential."

"Am I right to conclude you've been enjoying your good health as of late".

"Yes. I'll fill you in with the details when you get here."

Andy dialed Deidre. "Brent tells me you give him better support than what you give me. How are things working out."

"Well. Brent is good to work with. We're getting cutting through the mountain so to speak. But being a student and all that I figured my advice would help him. But you know everything."

"So since you were afraid of acting foolish you acted the fool."

"Put it like that I guess I can see how foolish I've been,", she chuckled.

And I've been foolish as well, thought Andy. Brent's power came from those around him feeling that he needed more power and more knowledge. So they gave it to him. Lesson learned, get on with the game of life. He told her the same as what he had told Brent, who had just left.

A few hours later Brent arrived to see Andy waiting for him. They shook hands. "Lets take a walk and have a quiet chat."

"What's this about boss?"

"We've got about two days before the world as you know it is about to end. An asteroid is on its way. I can't offer you anything in the way of evidence. You can choose to believe me or not. If you don't want to believe me you can return to Albany, complete your stellar performance, collect your wages and be guaranteed employment after you graduate. However you will have to take your chances with this catastrophe unprepared. If you believe me you can come with me and have the best chance possible of surviving this."

Brent thought for a moment. His own belief was not 'required', therefore the boss was probably sane. "And if it transpires that the crystal ball was foggy?"

Andy gave a wry smile. "Then I guess I return to a legal firm which will stay small for quite a few years to come."

What to do, what to do. Well they hadn't exactly left civilisation together. He was still under his boss' instruction. There wasn't that much for him to lose. Its just that initial progress would be a little slower, as if Andy had never left his post at all. He owed Andy his support for the next few days. "Ok, you've got me for 72 hours. If nothing much has happened, like there's still an Albany to go back to and then I encourage you to come back with me."

"72 Hours", Andy agreed.