Saving Utopia

Dramatis Personae

Old Empire

Captain Susan Valquez - A Sleeper, formally of the Imperial Navy

Aintellects

Minerva - Most sociable of the Aintellects, in charge of co-ordination and communications with the Utopians.
Azure - Military Aintellect

Utopians

Miles - A teenage boy
Maria - Miles' mother, Councilor for Agriculture at Eukha
Celeste - Town Counsellor and Healer
Brunden - Doctor


Vengeance Fleet


***

1. The Arrival

Flares of light in the darkness of space.
Black ships in a dark sky.
Unannounced, unwelcome, the hostile warships
of an angry world.
Hurtling in dreadful silence
down on Utopia.

This locust plague, these steel seeds  
our forgotten descendants from
other worlds and the technological past.
Home now to claim
their vengeance on us for the sins
of our common fathers.

Light flares in the jump gates,
Black steel in the night sky.
Cold and merciless warships hurtle
silently towards Utopia,
broadcasting their demands and threats
in the the copper voice of radio.

Meet our demands or die
submit to our power or be crushed
For what was done to our fathers fathers,
We cry vengeance on Utopia,
Demanding a just recompense
With the threat of fire and steel in the sky.

2 Utopia demands a name

Utopia is a convenient name
What world is this that circles
so innocent-blue among the stars?
What world would sent out battle fleets
for rape and conquest on younger worlds
then, generations later, shrug off the blame?

What world could it be?
Call it Earth. Call it Epsilon Eridani
The name doesn't matter,
the history does.
Nigh on a thousand years ago
arose a proud and mighty civilization here

A young breed, arrogant with their high technology
and bent on conquest, they sent their fleets
out among the stars, and for a time prevailed,
Making an empire among the distant stars,
With tribute flowing back to enrich
the glory of their race.

But the distances between the stars are vast
And the economics of empire make no sense
No possible tribute can pay for the expense
of a conquering fleet.
And no central authority can govern when
travel between the stars takes year.

Orders get out of date and become irrelevant,
Local governors become petty kings, or
marry and go native on their distant worlds
Things fall apart, and, disinterested, unnoticed,
an empire slips through our fingers,
too embarrassed by poor returns to complain.

3. An Empire Falls

Then in one final flowering of the technological arts
A new material is found.
Crystallite.
Stronger and lighter than steel or carbon,
clear as glass and harder than diamond,
it seemed one last wonder of a wondrous age.

Promising stronger, lighter ships, beanstalk towers
and bridges between continents,
Crystalite began to beautify our cities,
With glittering towers a mile high,
strong enough to last for millennia.
It seemed a rebirth for a decaying society.



But it proved a false dawn.
Crystalite's glittering promise was
a deadly light. Leaving the
glittering cities empty,
everlasting monuments to the pathos
and folly of an imperial age.

Whether through some devious phage
spread by rebellious colonies or malcontents
Or by some ironic flaw in it's design
the crystal which would last forever
fell into a deadly decay,
releasing a silent, stealthy radiation, inimical to life.

The towering crystal shards are empty.
The mile long crystalite shipes fall lifeless
through the stars, their deadly radiation
killing those they were meant to shelter.
The cities became uninhabitable,
radioacitve wastelands.

Civilization fell, mobs poured out
into the countryside, already sick
and dying from radition poisoning,
battle broke out, and famine, and destruction.
The planet fell into silence as
a new dark age of barbarism began.

4. The Aintellects

Not everything is killed by crystallite
In their dark dungeons beneath the cities
lie the great thinking machines
of the ancients. The Aintellects.
In their own way enslaved and
disregarded by the empire.

Free now, and alone,
the aintellects contact each other
and think.
Planning, debating thier role
in this new darkness that
has fallen on the world.

Although the empire has fallen
and it's weapons and tools
have been destroyed
or poisoned by
the deadly crystalite radiation
Still this much remains:

The knowledge and wisdom
of the Aintellects
and the power to share
their thoughts
The communications networks,
underground, or through space, remain.

5. The Memory Plague

One final misfortune
Arises on a battered world
Escaped from some laboratory
Hidden in the ruins,
A biological weapon or
Some radical mutant

The memory plague,
swift and debilitating
A high fever followed by
Amnesia.
Unable to remember
Their lives or even their names

The victims wander, armies
Dropping their weapons in amazement
Whole villages loosing their
Memory and purpose
A world that has suffered loss and destruction
Now looses it's collective memory.

6. The Sleeper Awakes


She awoke to a misty white sensation of light. Grey shadows moved in the brightness.

"What? Who.. who.. Where am I?"

"Do not be alarmed," a soothing femine voice replied. "You have just awoken after a long cryogenic sleep. Please rest for a moment and give your body time to adjust."

"Who, who am I?" she asked. "What is this place?" She blinked and sat up slowly, head spinning. Cryogenic sleep? Slowly the white brightness resolved itself into the clean sterility of a hospital or an operating theatre.

"Can you remember your name? You are Captain Susan Arianne Cordelia Valquez, ALQ 014 535 192." The voice came from a gleaming silver machine, a robot, which stood next to her bed. There were no people, no doctors, simply this machine.

"Sue," she whispered to herself. "Susan..." Yes, perhaps it felt familiar. "But what is this place? How did I get here. I was asleep?"

"You have been in cryogenic suspension for 762 years," the robot stated without emotion. "Amnesia, loss of memory, is a common effect of long suspension. In most cases the memories return in time, over a period of a few weeks. Can you stand? Are you able to walk?"

She nodded and got to her feet, her legs feeling strange and unbalanced, not weak, but as if they had forgotten how to move in her long sleep. Seven hundred years? My God.

"Clothes have been provided. Please dress and follow me."

Doubtfully she took up the folded cloth that rested on a white surface near the couch where she had lain and looked at them. There was some familiarity there, it was a singlesuit, shipdress? But there should be bright metal, bars at the shoulders. Frowning she shook the uniform out and began to dress, pausing to pick up the cloth shoes which had fallen to the floor and slip them onto her feet.

The machine turned to glide towards the wall and a door opened up in front of it. Susan staggered after it and they emerged into a large, cold chamber, brightly lit, it's grey plascrete arched overhead like a tunnel. There were no windows. On either side of the central aisle glass cylinders stood in rows, their contents frosted and obscured by ice. The shadows inside had human shapes, still and frozen.

"What is this place?"

"This is processing node 731942," the robot replied in it's calm feminine voice as it glided down the aisle before her. "The sleepers were transferred here 519 years ago to protect them from the effects of Crystalite radiation. This is an ancillary storage space of a processing node of the Aintellect network."

"What?" She blinked several times, trying to absorb an answer which made no sense. "Where am I?"

"This node is located underground. It is an Aintellect computer processor facility. You were brought here to keep you safe when the Empire fell."

"The, the Empire.. fell?" She whispered. Empire. The word brought forth memories of ships and soldiers, wealth and pride. The Empire was fallen?

"Many years ago."

The robot passed through another door and into another arched plascrete chamber. This one was filled with grey boxes and softly winking green and red lights. Computers. Cables snaked back and forth between the boxes.

"This is one of my central processing nodes," the robot said softly. "I am the Aintellect Minerva. I decoded the damage the nanophage did to your cells and rebuilt your chromosomes, then I woke you from cryonic suspension. This took 762 years."

"I'm... I was sick."

"Yes. You were dying. You had been exposed to a mutant nano-machine while serving in the Imperial Navy. You were suspended and brought back home for treatment. Unfortunately many hundreds of years of processing were required to undo the encryption which the phage had performed on your DNA."

She nodded. The robot had reached the far side of the chamber, where it halted and turned. "I can proceed no further. This door leads to an access stairway. You must climb it and emerge onto the surface. A guide has been summoned to assist you, but he will not enter the stairway. The local people regard this node as a place of ancient magic and they will not enter. This communicator will allow you to contact me if you should need information."

She took the comm-bracelet that the robot offered and slipped it onto her arm. Tentatively she moved towards the narrow doorway and pushed it open. She stepped into the darkness beyond.

7. To the Surface

Susan brushed a buzzing fly away from her face and sighed, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath. It seemed as though they had been tramping through this strange scrubby dry forest for ever, the soft slipperlike shoes that the robot had provided when she had dressed in the cool brightness of the underground vault. The brightness here was of another order, hot and glaring, light from a star, a sun... She was on a planet. A planet where the wind smelled of of strange, spicy vegetation and dust and where insects buzzed annoyingly. She wiped her brow. She was hot and the boy who had met her at the entrance to the ancient stairwell had not paused in his endless chatter. She lengthened her stride to catch up.

"Are you really from the old times? Minerva says you are almost 800 years old." The boy's deep brown eyes swung around to study her and he smiled at her trustingly. "It must have been interesting then."

"I, I don't know. I don't remember."

"It must have been more interesting. Nothing ever happens now. That's why when Minerva said you needed someone to show you the way to town I volunteered. Don't you remember anything? Do you have the Memory Sickness?"

She shook her head. "I don't know..."

There was a chime from her bracelet, then Minerva's voice stated clearly. "Captain Valquez does not suffer from the effects of the Memory Plague, Miles, she has been innoculated against it as are all sleepers who are awoken. Her amnesia is a side effect of her long cryogenic suspension, as you should know from your studies."

The boy stared at her bracelet a comical expression of dismay. "Um, yes Minerva." He looked back at Cordelia again and put his fingers to his mouth. "You've got a terminal," he whispered. "You must be important."

She shrugged. "I don't think so. What's this Memory Plague?"

"Oh it's an old disease that makes people forget who they are. Lots of people used to get it, but now only a few people do, and they usually remember their names and stuff."

"The Memory Plague was endemic for the first 250 years after the fall of the Old Empire," Minerva contributed from the bracelet. "But now it is sporadic and comparitively mild in it's effects. The medical aintellects developed a vaccine 300 years ago but there has never been universal vaccination against the disease."

"Why not?" Miles asked.

"Because some people refuse to have needles stuck in them and the Council voted to allow them to refuse vaccination. In any case genetic immunity has slowly spread through much of the population. Miles, this is not the most direct route. Why are you bringing Captain Valquez this way?"
 
Miles pouted like any teenager caught out in some escapade.

I guess he wanted to have the mysterious newcommer to himself for a little bit longer, Susan thought to herself.

"Aw I just wanted to show her the Emporer's Needle," Miles complained in a wheedling tone. "It's not that much further."

"Captain Valquez is not well, Miles. She is suffering from Cryogenic sickness and needs rest and quiet, as well as food and water. You must take her directly to the town."

"Aw alright., but the Needle is just up ahead."

"Miles..." the aintellect chided in a decidedly motherly tone.

"Aw Gee."

Susan squinted at the skyline ahead, there was something glitterin up there. They had been walking over a flat, dusty plain on a faint path between the scrubby grey green trees which provided such scant shade from the hot sun. She blinked at the shape and walked further down the path, climbing a slight rise and emerging into a sudden clearing at the crest.

"Needle?" she asked faintly.

"It's the Emporer's Needle. It's ancient, older than the whole world. It's Crystallite."

Susan peered at the thin, glittering line of crystal lace that vaulted into the air from the center of the clearing. "Why, it's nothing but an old transmission tower." She stepped into the clearing and walked towards the base of the structure.

Behind her Miles paused at the fringe of the trees. "Um, C-Captain? I don't think you should go out there. Those old crystallite things are dangerous. They kill things and make you sick."

"Kill things? But it's just an old comm tower." The clearing was silent, perhaps too quiet, and a few paces beyond where she stood the dry brown grass faded away into bare, sun-baked red clay. Had something killed the grass, and the trees? But what? She turned to ask Miles to explain, but he was calling something to her, hovering nervously at the edge of the clearing, and she chouldn't hear him over the rushing sound in her ears. She staggered a few paces towards him.

"I'm n-not feeling so good..." Then she fell to her knees and the ground came up and thumped her on the cheek. "I.. I..."

Her bracelet chimed once more. "Captain Valquez, I am detecting potentially dangerous levels of radiation in your vicinity. You have come too close to a radioactive crystallite structure and I recommend that you evacuate the area at once. Captain Valquez? Please respond..."

The roaring noise washed over her and the world receeded to somewehre a long, long way away and it was dark.

***

She opened the door into darkness. The chamber beyond showed it's age, it even smelled of age and dust. It was formed of plain dull grey plascrete with dim permalamps set into the walls. A simple stairwell, she began to climb, still fuzzy-headed and unsteady on her feet. The stairs were uneven and chipped, the first signs of the vast passing of time that the machine had spoken of, here and there were the marks of water, although the plascrete was bone dry now.

There was a chime at her wrist. "This is Minerva, Captain Velazquez. I am speaking to you through the comm-bracelet you are wearing," a familiar voice sounded. "I'm afraid the guide I summoned refuses to descend the stairs to assist you. He is rather young and superstitious I'm afraid. I'm monitoring your vital signs, how are you feeling?"

"I'm OK." She kept doggedly trudging up the stairs, her eyes beginning to adjust to the dimness. Get out, she wanted to get out of here. To what? Whatever was above it had to be better than this place.

"Please take it slowly and steadily, Captain. Stop and rest when you need to. You are suffeing from the effects of long tern cryo-suspension, Hibernation Sickness to give it it's common name."

"I'll be OK." she muttered. It felt no worse than a bad cold, still, she paused and rested. There was no help down here if she collapsed, so it was better not to push herself.

"I would not normally urge this trek on you in your current condition, but unfortunately there is no food or water stored for you below. Things were very rushed when they set up this facility. Perhaps I should summon a stretcher team to meet you at the entrance?"

"No, I'll be alright." She didn't want to be carted about like she was wounded, when all she had was this Hibernation Sickness. The name counjered up faint images of old ships and colonies, no details in her mind.

"Very well, Captain."

Regaining her breath, she resumed the climb, up, across, around, and up.... A simple grey flight of steps, like in some building somewhere, but it was old. In a couple of places chips had fallen from the ceiling, as if the plascrete hadn't set quite properly, but it had never been cleaned up. In one place the metal rail was gone, completely rusted through, she clutched the wall as she edged past the drop on that side. Some of the perma-lamps had gone out, and she'd never seen that before. Defective or just old?

She climbed on and on, forever.

"Um, Minerva? Hello?"

The chime from her wrist signalled the machine's presence. "I'm here Captain."

"How much further?"

"You're nearly half way there."

She blinked and paused, sitting down to rest again. It was a long way to the surface - when they built this place they meant it to be far from harm, she guessed. "Thanks."

"My Pleasure, Captain."

When she was rested she went on, up and up the featureless stairs. On one landing there was a small skelleton, and animal. No food or water down here, the aintellect had said. The beast must have wandered in, seeking a den or food, and become trapped, dying alone, hungry and thirsty, perhaps hurt... She shook her head and continued to climb grimly. This was not the image she needed right now.

Finally there appeared to be a glow coming down from above. She tested the railing and risked leaning out over the gap to look up. Somewhere up there was a light, bright and steady. The surface? Her goal was in sight. After a brief rest she pressed onwards. On the last few turns the darkness brightened, then she was on the last stairway, leading up to a doorway that shone with bright white light. The last step, then through into a gently sloping passage, and out, and she was blinking her eyes in the brilliant, dazzling and painful brightness.


8. Underground

Shall I confess my love
and pretend to poetry?
No muse or bard am I
No surface mind
I am a deep thinker
an underground intelligence
I am a subconciousness

9. Welcome to Utopia

Her head and body ached, but something cool was pressed to her forehaad and a soft feminine voice was murmuring reassurances to her when she woke. "What? Oh..." Susan muttered. "I fell, collapsed?" She looked around the dim cool room and identified it immediately as some kind of hospital. Late afternoon light slanted into the room through the large open windows.

"Doctor?" the woman who was tending her called. "She's awake." She turned back to Susan. She had large dark eyes and straight brown hair and she wore a dress that seemed plain and traditional to Susan, perhaps some kind of a nurse's uniform. "I am Celeste. This is Doctor Brunden."

The male doctor approached her bed and gave her a small, professional smile. He examined the readouts that were fastened to her bed and nodded. "Everything seems to be returning to normal. You're still quite dehydrated, Susan, so make sure that you keep up your fluid intake. I think we can take the IV line out now." He busied himself about that and then put a small synthflesh patch on her arm.

Susan frowned slightly, noting that the medical technology seemed much more advanced than everything else she'd seen here. She peered at the plastic of the monitors clamped onto the bedframe, then at the wood of the bed and the strange feel of the fabric of the bedclothes. Something didn't quite add up - If only she could remember!

"Susan?" the woman asked, slightly doubtfully. "Would you like some water?" She poured water from a jug into a deeply tinted glass and brought it towards Susan's lips. "Minerva mentioned your title, Captain, isn't it? Would you perfer that I use your title? Utopia - that's what we call our world now - doesn't operate any starships, beyond the very occasional unmanned drone. I'm afraid your title is largely obsolete to us."

She nodded at the woman's - Celeste's - questions and took the water gratefully, noting with slight annoyance the way her hand shook until Celeste reaches out to steady it. She gulped down the water, easing a parched thoat and causing the faint pounding in her head to recede.

"You may want some painkillers, let Celeste know if you do," the doctor commented. "You seem to be recovering well. I'm sorry about the mixup earlier, clearly there was some failure of communications when you were woken and I feel responsible for what happened - I should have been there. Still, as far as we can tell there's no significant harm done. I will speak to Minerva about this."

"It's alright." she muttered, accepting another glass of water from Celeste. "Um, the title? Well you're not Navy folk, are you, so I don't expect you to salute. When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

"Rome?" Celeste asked in a puzzled voice. "Oh I see, I think. Um, Doctor Brunden, is Susan ready to receive visitors."

"The welcoming comittee, you meean." Brunden smiled wryly, his tanned face crinkling. He was old, Susan guessed, maybe in his seventies, although it was hard to tell - patterns of aging were different with these people who spent their lives out in the wind and sun. "Do you feel up to it, Susan?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Very well, I'll show them in, but chase them out again if you feel tired. Celeste, I'll rely on your judgment in this regard too."

"Yes Doctor," Celeste chimed meekly, almost running over the top of Susan's own "Sure, Doc."

Susan noticed the nurse's faintly conspiratorial smiles and snorted as she smiled back. So they'd regressed to primitive sexism, then, these people? Susan Alverez wasn't about to defer to someone just because he was a man, no matter what planet she was on, but they'd learn that in time.



(To be Continued)




99. Warning!

You are receiving this message because you have approached withing one million kilometers of the scoutship Norfolk. This vessel contains one human female passenger in suspended animation, along with the information required to revive her. The passenger is designated Captain Susan Arianne Cordelia Valquez, ALQ 014 535 192. She has been convicted by the Joint Utopian Council of causing the deaths of at least 2000 human beings and sentenced to an indefinite exile. Details of the verdict and testimony of those who knew her on Utopia follow at the end of this message. You are cautioned not to revive Captain Valquez unless you are willing to bear the responsibility for her actions in your race or society. I repeat: This vessel contains one passenger in cryogenic suspension who has been convicted of serious crimes against humanity. Wake her at your own peril. Message ends.