Chapter 12

Intrepid - 3756 C.E.

The first thing Captain Kerensky was aware of when she finally woke up was that she was lying naked on an unfamiliar bed. The next was that not only was the bed unfamiliar but so too was the entire bedroom. She had no memory of having been transported here and her first resolve was to return to her quarters. The captain was a busy woman and there was much she should be getting on with.

However, every attempt to return to a more normal state of affairs was frustrated. First of all there were no clothes for the captain to put on. There were wardrobes and drawers, but they held nothing that she could use to recover her modesty. Nadezhda would have to remain naked and this wasn't what a woman who valued her dignity would have chosen.

She then was frustrated by the simple effort of trying to return to the crew's quarters. She could easily walk out of the bedroom and wander about what she now recognised as one of the recently refurbished villas in the outermost level. She could even walk out of the villa, so she strode purposefully across the lawn in the direction that would take her away from the villa and towards an escalator to the inner levels. But she didn't manage to walk very far until she literally bumped into an invisible force field. It repelled her gently but it was a barrier through which she could not pass.

Captain Kerensky had come across many types of invisible force field before. There were several in common use throughout the Solar System and they came in two general models. One functioned like a glass wall without a reflection. Those who tried to pass through would bruise themselves against the surface and could even crack it if they applied sufficient force. The other type was like a rubber skin which repelled the force applied to it. As one pushed against it, the tension increased and its rebound was directly equivalent. This invisible field acted more like an opposite and equal force to whatever force was applied to. Gentle force was repelled by an equally gentle force. The more force applied the more the force field repelled it. But there was no apparent tension and evidence of a surface. Another strange feature was that although the force acted as an obstacle to Captain Kerensky's movements it offered no obstacle at all to fluttering insects or the leaves that blew in the breeze. There was no apparent deflection when Nadezhda picked up a stone and threw it through the force field. Its repellent properties were only effective on the captain.

The radius of the force field surrounding the villa was about ten metres. Nadezhda established this by following the force field around the perimeter in the hope that she might discover a door or some other exit. She was totally trapped, but with access to all the luxuries and facilities normally available to residents in a villa with the exception, it seemed, of a set of clothes.

The captain returned to the villa and scanned through the systems normally available to passengers, which were typically somewhat less complete than what she could normally access. She couldn't monitor the surveillance cameras, for instance, although she could view the empty space outside the Intrepid. There appeared to be nothing untoward. She could even scan the bridge where her senior officers were evidently on duty. It was a fairly dull sight but one which served to reassure the passengers should they ever feel inclined to watch the crew's mostly uneventful proceedings. There was Chief Petty Officer Singh examining a screen displaying the progress of the Intrepid through empty space. There was Second Officer Nkomo who was just as gorgeous as ever as she input data into a tablet. There was nothing unusual about the scene at all.

That was until Captain Kerensky recognised a figure more familiar to her than anyone else although she very rarely saw her in this context. It belonged to someone she mostly ever saw in the mirror. And that woman, of course, was Captain Kerensky.

This was very peculiar. How could she be looking at herself? Was the captain viewing a recording of past activity on the bridge? The date and time in the view was exactly synchronised with the real date and time that the captain could see displayed around her. And there was no doubt that the figure was Captain Kerensky. She knew what she looked like. She knew each and every one of her minor physical imperfections. She even knew how she moved.

What was going on?

"It is you," said a voice behind her.

It was scarcely surprising that the voice belonged to Beatrice or the woman the captain believed to be Beatrice. She'd wandered silently into the villa without attracting Nadezhda's attention. She was dressed in nothing more than a thong and a silk blouse that hid nothing of the contours and areolae of her bosom. She was sprawled on a leather armchair in the corner of the living room with a broad teasing smile on her face.

"How long have you been sitting there?" the captain asked.

"Long enough, Naddy," said Beatrice. "I watched you while you scanned what's happening on the bridge. It's a good view isn't it?"

"Who's the woman who looks like me?"

"In a sense, Naddy, she is you. She is an exact facsimile of you in every detail. She resembles you to the very last blade of hair. She talks like you. She moves like you. No one speaking to her would be aware that she wasn't you. No one. None of your lovers. Not your closest family and friends. To the world beyond this villa that woman is you."

"How can that be? I didn't know you had the technology to clone people in that way."

"There's a lot you don't know," said Beatrice.

"Why didn't you replace me by this clone before? Why have you waited until the Intrepid was very nearly at the Anomaly until you decided to do this? Why have you teased me in this way for so many months?"

"I have no wish to cause you or anyone else more distress than is necessary," said Beatrice. "You are a good captain and I was happy for you to continue to serve your duties. But you have answered your own question. The space ship is very close to its destination. From now on, the state of affairs will be very different. The status quo ante can no longer apply."

"Why's that, Beatrice?"

"Because I can no longer trust you to do as I wish," said Beatrice. "You will almost certainly do all you can to frustrate my plans and that cannot be allowed."

"And what plans are those?"

"The Intrepid is now on course to enter the Anomaly."

"That's suicide."

"Only if we don't survive."

"It goes beyond the mission's boundaries."

"It does, but for me that is where the mission begins. Do you really think that your feeble technology could possibly discover more about the Anomaly than we already know? What value could your findings possibly be to my civilisation?"

"If we enter the Anomaly, we can't relay any information to the outside world. It would be pointless as well as suicidal."

"That's a risk we'll have to take."

"You might be able to prevent me from thwarting this madness, but there are many others who'll fight to stop you. My senior officers won't follow the commands of a captain who's exceeded her authority. The military officers won't tolerate such a change of plan. The scientists and other passengers didn't sign up for a one-way journey. They'll do all they can to wrest back control of the ship."

"Military officers take orders, don't they?" asked Beatrice.

"As I understand it," said the captain.

"The mission's parameters were defined before the Intrepid departed the ecliptic plane. The senior military officers including our mutual lover, Colonel Vashti, have been briefed not to allow any deviation from the mission's original directives. The less senior officers and other ranks are all well-trained soldiers. A devotion to discipline and obeying orders is what distinguishes a soldier from other professions. They are trained to obey without question whatever their senior officers command and the most senior officers on the Intrepid have the rank of colonel, isn't that so?"

"Yes. There are three colonels. Each commands a single battalion."

"And if need be, should one or other die or be otherwise incapacitated they can relieve one another's command."

"Yes."

"I could show you each one of the colonels pursuing his or her duties just as I can show the bridge, but that would be a bit misleading. It would be as misleading as showing you the bridge where you are so evidently in command. Look! There you are chatting with your fellow officers. Isn't that sweet?"

"What are you getting at?" asked Captain Kerensky. "You've already told me that the woman on the bridge isn't me."

"Nor for that matter is this Colonel Musashi," said Beatrice who switched the focus to a view of the colonel striding along a corridor in the military quarters accompanied by Majors McEwen and Kiviniemi. He was exactly the same colonel as always with his characteristic harsh bark and stiff stride.

"That looks like the colonel to me," said the captain.

"I'll just change the view," said Beatrice. "This isn't something you'll be able to do yourself but you're welcome to try. You can no longer access the surveillance system yourself although I can of course. Here's another villa on the outermost level. And look here. Who's that naked and very confused looking man flinging rocks through the invisible force field surrounding his villa? Gosh. It's Colonel Musashi. He doesn't look very happy."

"Have you done to him what you've done to me?"

"Naturally," said Beatrice. "He can't be trusted to follow the orders I would give him. Nor for that matter would the other two colonels. They've both been detained and their presence substituted by exact facsimiles. However, unlike you, they don't believe that it's me who's authorised this highly unorthodox behaviour."

"Who do they think it is?"

"Why you, captain," said Beatrice. "Or at least they will when the Captain Nadezhda Kerensky who is currently on the bridge at the moment visits the colonels. Won't that be amusing?"

"For you, maybe," said the captain. "Why have you done this?"

"The command and control structure imposed by the military on itself is an ideal tool for me to exploit for my own purposes. It's better to take control of this structure than to impose control on every individual on the space ship by physical force. I can rely on this chain of command to maintain order at relative minimum cost. It's much preferable to the trouble of having to confine every individual aboard this ship as I have you."

"What about my senior officers? They aren't going to surrender to a change to the mission's objectives. The militia might enforce control by discipline and unquestioning obedience, but my officers will refuse to risk the lives of the crew and passengers in such a foolhardy way. You can be sure of that."

"Maybe. Maybe not," said Beatrice. "But you're right to raise the matter. If you look at the view that's now displayed on your screen you'll see your beloved Second Officer Sheila Nkomo. As you can see she doesn't look very happy either."

The holographic screen displayed the image of a naked black figure framed by the white sheets of her bed. It was the second officer sitting down with her head buried in the palms of her hands and audibly sobbing.

"What have you done to her, you monster?"

"It's more a question of what you've done, captain," said Beatrice. "Or more to the point what the facsimile of you has done. The poor second officer is understandably distraught because you've just informed her that for classified operational reasons she has been relieved of her duties and will now be confined to the villa for the duration of the mission."