Chapter 1

“Do you think the captain is wrong?” Ayako asked as I slipped into bed behind her.

I sighed. “I don’t think he’s right, but I can’t say he is wrong, either. I think he’s struggling with his own sense of guilt at what we did.”

“The machines would have come after us,” she replied. “It was the only way.”

“I agree. We all did, or at least most of us agreed. But ordering the destruction of our homeworld, and all those people still fighting and trying to live, it has to weigh on your spirit.”

“Only if we don’t strive for a greater future,” she said as she turned over to face me. “It is done, and behind us. We need to do better in our new world. Abandoning our knowledge and technology will only doom our descendants to repeating our ancestor’s mistakes. I want our children to grow and live in a better world.”

A mother’s instinct, I thought.

“So what should we do?” I questioned.

“The captain is in charge until we begin setting down on Dawn. Once we are on the planet, you are the designated colony leader. We must have a plan to save our people, knowledge and heritage, husband.”

Her tone was resolute. If only it were as simple as she made it sound.

“Some will call it rebelion,” I whispered.

“Perhaps,” she conceded. “Others will think it is justified. How many of the colonists signed on to abandon technology on a strange new world? How many assumed they would have the knowledge and support of the ship’s crew to get established and build a thriving future?”

“How many will change their minds after realizing how hard the life they think they want actually is?” I asked. “It’s easy to agree with the Captain now, but what will happen when there is bad weather, a crop failure, and famine?”

“Exactly. Kira in medical is worried about what will happen to all of the med-tech and bioscience if the captain gets his way.”

“I imagine your own passion projects would be at risk as well,” I said with only a little teasing escaping into my voice. My wife was a neuroscientist. Her entire life was spent learning about the complex electrical and chemical processes within the brain and how those fields affected the body and psyche of an individual.

“They are already at risk, husband. Many don’t understand the limitations of my models and believe I’m trying to recreate man’s mind in a machine. The pilots in particular seem fearful of my work.”

“They fought AI opponents during the evacuations. They know how bad it can be if we let AI spread. Our own biological imperatives were passed on to our creations, and they took preemptive action to protect themselves.” I fell silent, remembering the last trip up for mother Earth.

We had been tasked with retrieving the seed stores in Norway. The planet killers were already on their orbital path to impact. The machines wanted to capture the shuttles. The orbital fighters were less maneuverable than the machine controlled drones attempting to stop us, but our stand-alone area defense grid had leveled the playing field. We needed the seed banks. They wanted our ships to attempt to stop the asteroids coming their way. Our pilots and crews wanted to live. The machines did not seem to care. It had been a grueling, bloody mission.

“The fears of many on this ship are real, and warranted love. We need to try and remember that,” I said finally.

Ayako wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. “We will, husband, and I will stand by your side regardless of our decisions. We are bonded for now and all time.”

“I love you,” I said softly before kissing her.

“What can I do for you, Kira?” I asked as the head medical officer came into the small cubicle that was my office. Since I was not technically a member of the ship’s crew, I had to make do with a spare single stateroom that had been left vacant following that last mission to earth.

“Have you seen this order?” she asked, knowing I hadn’t since I was not in the ship’s chain of command.

I looked at the comm pad with the message on its display.

“It looks to be well thought out. Shouldn’t the colonists be given a health check and longevity booster before planetfall?” I asked.

“It has one extra word in it, Kgosi,” she said. “Why does it say ‘final’ health check? Is the captain going to drop them and abandon them? The plan has two medical centers and roving medical teams.”

“A lot of the colonists think that is for the best. They are tired of our technology and memory of what that technology wrought on Earth.”

“Then why the longevity boost? Is that to prolong their suffering on a new world. You know even the most primitive farmer we have in cold transport relies more on technology than the captain will admit. Is he ready to tell every woman and man that they no longer can control if they will conceive a child? Is he going to tell everyone of his crew that they will loose the simple tech they rely on to communicate with each other? Is he ready to tell everyone that they can’t use electrical based devices or technology? You know he has the mini-generators being inventoried?”

“What?” Colony landing supplies fell within my purview, not shipboard operations. “Who told you that?”

“Decker in shuttle operations. He’s worried about what it means. If the mini-generators are damaged, shuttles may become one-way trips to the surface.”

“We need a lot more than one way trips. Those generators are supposed to go down in the first wave to allow refueling.”

“That’s what I mean,” she said. “Someone at the top is changing the plans for the colony. I’m worried.”

“Let me look into it,” I said.

She nodded and left. I stood and went to find Decker to confirm what he was doing, and then to see the Captain directly.

Decker confirmed what Kira had told me. He also told me a few more odd orders. Off loading plans were being changed with more small dispersements rather then two main sites for redundancy. The fact that I was being kept out of the loop angered me as well. The colonists were my responsibility once they were landed. We had spent most of the journey preparing team assignments and organizing work to ensure we were able to establish a base and drive to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. There would be no resupply. There was no second ship coming with additional people or resources. We were the last, only hope for humanity.

I went to the executive officer before approaching the captain.

“I don’t have to agree with him, Kgosi,” the XO said. “But I can’t countermand his orders while we’re underway. I can support you in finding out what he is thinking, but at the end of the day, he is the Captain of this ship.”

“Is he the captain of you, as well? If this plan is what it looks like, you won’t have a city to be mayor of.”

Talia Dennison was my first choice to head up the secondary settlement. She had the ledership, administrative experience, empathy and charisma to help form a vibrant colony.

Her face, usually expressive and open, was tightly controlled.

“We have fourteen days to orbit,” she said softly. “I’ll ensure no irreversible actions are taken by the crew. We can’t confront him without a viable plan. If your guesses are correct, most of the crew won’t stand for it. The colonists, maybe, but the crew did not fight as hard as they did to condemn their children to savagery. Come up with a plan,” she said.

I nodded. I was good at planning.

“There are several die-hards that will not agree with this,” Kira cautioned as she and Ayako sat in our small cabin and read the hand written document. “We’ll be forced to fight as soon as we tell them.”

“Maybe,” Ayako said. “I may be able to influence them,” she added. “With your support, Kira, we can make them accept.”

“How?”

It was a part of the plan we dared not put in writing. It would be the conspiracy behind the conspiracy, behind the coup. I had come to realize the captain would consider this either mutiny or a coup, for that is what it would be.

“Your final checks,” Ayako said. “We add one factor to the mix, during the resuscitation. If we combine it with aural conditioning, it should make them amenable for long enough.”

“For the crew? I can see it helping with the colonists, but how will you get him to prioritize the crew?”

This was my part of the subversion. “You’re going to report degraded software in your daily readiness report tomorrow. Then, you can reference it to ask the captain to prioritize crew longevity boosts over colonist boosts, just in case you have to stop delivering them for safety reasons. You’ll copy me on that message, since it impacts colonial operations. After the crew is treated, I’ll have to force a conversation with him and the XO.”

Ayako was nodding. “The treatment won’t hurt them, but it will ensure their true feelings on the matter surface more easily, and with a secondary agent, it can reinforce loyalty once a path is forged.”

Kira looked at Ayako sharply. “Mind control?” We had been talking softly, but this was nearly a whisper.

Ayako shook her head. “More a commitment to a belief. It will be their own decision, but they will not likely change their mind once the second agent is delivered.”

“But if the Captain is already committed to his decision, how can this help us? It won’t sway him.”

“If he is committed to renouncing technology, he can join the colonists that agree with him. We, on the other hand, can choose to thrive and grow instead of simply existing and surviving.”

“A lot of the crew believe in democracy,” Kira said. “What if a majority vote with the Captain?”

“A greater percentage believe in independence and freedom to make their own choices. They will side with us, and their children not yet born,” I said.

“If we start our colony with a mutiny, how will we ever recover a rule of law?”

“That’s what that document is for. It lays our how the government of the colony will be run. It won’t be a monarchy or a pure democracy,” I said.

“Replace your ‘feudal republic’ with ‘empire’,” Kira said. “Don’t sugar coat what you plan. The crew that supports this will be the aristocrats of the colony, and elect a tyrant to rule them with limited control. The colonists that stick with the crew will be plebes with no voice in how the colony is run. Do you really think they will join us?”

“It’s easy to renounce technology when machines are killing your friends and families. It’s very hard to renounce it when it means all your daylight hours are spent trying to survive. We can paint the picture of both futures. I think many will seek our safer comfort than ideology when they think about it.”

Kira looked at us. “If we do this, we cannot be part of the ruling class,” she said finally. “We will be the only checks on the rulers becoming tyrants and enslaving us all.”

Ayako nodded. “You control the longevity and rejuvenation processes. I can control the mental conditioning to adhere to our plan. For Kgosi and I, ensuring the survival of mankind is enough reward. We don’t need power or control in the future. Do you?”

Kira sat silently for several minutes. “Me and mine will agree. If we are to do this, we will need to think longer term. I need zero-gee for the crafting of certain compounds required for longevity. Me and mine shall remain in orbit, only visiting the new world. You and yours will need to be among the colony to ensure there is no sign of rot or corruption amongst the crew.”