Return to 1997 SUMMER Index
by Jonathon Day
Lambert had never seen a interrogator before. There were no more than five of them on the planet. There was no need. Every decade or so on the rare occasion when a crime was committed an interrogator would appear to investigate. Always the person responsible was caught. Always they returned, apparently unaltered but with aspects of their personality somehow emphasised and no memory of the interrogators. Tales abounded between school age boys of who they were and what they did to people who committed crimes. Lambert struggled to remember the tales but could not. He had not paid much attention at the time, after all he had never expected to meet one.
"Traces of your blood were found at the site."
"I told you," replied Lambert, "I had an accident there. I cut my head."
"Perhaps, that does equate with the known facts."
The voice of his interviewer was almost robotic. Lambert expected the man was an android, although there was no outward appearance that it was the case.
Lambert tried to catch him out. "Were the dragons at the site asleep? Didn't they see anything?" Lambert watched with interest for the reaction to his remark.
"You are trying to establish whether I am an android or not. Slow reaction to context situations was eliminated as a problem with android design almost five years ago. Do you not view the robotic journals?"
"It's not something I've seen in the journals." Replied Lambert. He did look at the journals every now and then but could not remember any news about this development.
"There is a man missing. His name is Hoven. Do you not know him?" Lambert was surprised because neither Hoven's forename nor his I.D had been quoted at him. The man had also used a double negative. Only a man would be that lapse, not an android. Lambert was a little relieved. He could plead with a man.
"I met him twice, briefly. When did he disappear?"
"His absence was reported this morning but he has not been seen since yesterday evening. He is our prime..." The man paused as if looking for a suitable word "...suspect. I am not happy to release you though. You will accompany me on my investigation."
"Do I have a choice?" Asked Lambert, whose relief at the man's last statement had been immediate.
"You have no choice."
On their way to the site Lambert asked the man "How do I address you?"
"My name is Jarro."
"Just Jarro?" pursued Lambert.
"My name is Jarro."
Lambert left it a that. Jarro was about six foot tall with a medium if not slight build. His face was thin and triangular in shape. Lambert could not guess at his true age but the man's outward appearance was about thirty to forty. His eyes were a misty green colour with something a little strange about them. Lambert could not tell what. He dressed in the usual attire, if not a little darker in colour. Lambert's inspection was interrupted by Jarro. "We have arrived."
The site seemed to be just as Lambert had left it some hours earlier. The autoentrance was still out of action. They entered G grid via the same staircase Lambert had discovered earlier. Dr.Forsyth's body was no longer there. Lambert looked questioningly at Jarro. "The body has been removed for examination. An attempt will be made to identify why she is dead."
"There is no obvious reason?"
"Mr.Lambert although you are no longer a main suspect neither have you been appointed interrogator. Questions are to be asked by me, not answered."
Lambert felt subdued. Jarro was right, he should have been content with being cleared of the murder charge.
Jarro leant over and picked something up. He rubbed it to clear of some dirt. "What is it?" Asked Lambert, regretting his question almost at once.
"I have no idea."
Jarro passed the object over to Lambert. It was a small spherical object made out of a metal of some kind. It was warm to touch which surprised Lambert. The sphere had a rough side. "It looks as if it has been broken of something."
"Perhaps." Said Jarro.
"I want to talk to some of the people who work here." Lambert looked around. There was no-one in G-grid but there might be someone in another area. The grids were joined by short corridors. Normally the corridors were lit by an unseen light source but today they remained in the shadows. Jarro did not comment as they walked through to the central grid but Lambert once again felt uneasy.
"What is your position here?" Jarro was addressing the man who had taken Lambert to the first aid room the previous day.
"I am a physicist, second class. My job is to analyze anything we find. This site used to be a thirtieth century research lab. I guess you could call me a historian."
Lambert smiled. If he had got the post he was interviewed for he would have been this man's
superior.
"What actual work is carried on here?" Asked Jarro.
The man looked at him a little confused. "Well." he began, "research and an attempt to discover the scientific knowledge of the time."
"Is that all?"
The man looked at Jarro with a strange expression on his face. He did not understand what Jarro was getting at. Neither did Lambert. Eventually he said "We try to better ourselves. Isn't that all any of us do?"
Jarro's expression didn't change. "Of course you are right. Has the team here found anything interesting?"
"Well Dr Forsyth has been producing a hololecture to give next month. Everything will be in there."
"Where can I find that?"
"It should be in the library workroom."
After asking for directions Jarro and Lambert left the central grid.
"What point were you trying to make?" Asked Lambert.
"I wanted to know what this project is all about."
"It's just a dig. Of no interest to anyone but a historian."
Jarro said nothing.
The library was two levels down. The power was still out and the two men had to take the stairs, which were unlit. Eventually they came across a sign for the library and on entering quickly realised it had a separate power source. There were very few books in the room. That there were any at all surprised Lambert. He hadn't heard of any institution outside of Alexandria having any books. He quickly realised the books must be artifacts found at the dig.
Jarro was over at a datapad and Lambert joined him."I'll use it. " He said. "I've had a lot of practice recently."
"Look for any information on thirtieth century society." Said Jarro.
"Don't we want Dr Forsyth's hololecture?"
"Later."
The target search was almost immediate and there was over 3 gigabytes of information.
"Will you download it?"
"Sure," said Lambert, "you'll have to link up."
"Will you download it to yourself?"
Lambert paused. He accepted Jarro's request because he knew the majority of the population were not suitable candidates for downloading. On occasion he had heard of permanent brain damage caused by unsupervised attempts. He himself was qualified.
Once linked it only took a second. It actually took less time than that. The information was now on tap to Lambert but was not part of his mainstream knowledge. It was like carrying an encyclopedia around. Lambert had access to the information but he still needed the intelligence to understand it and the ability to locate it.
"I'd like some questions answered."
"Sure thing." Replied Lambert.
They took seats, facing each other across a desk and for a moment Lambert felt himself to be a victim of an interrogator. It did not last and Lambert realised that he had stopped thinking of Jarro as one of the dreaded ghouls of his youth. He was just a man like any other.
"World population." Said Jarro.
It was an easy piece of data to find. "Thirty billion."
"Biggest cause of death."
"Old age."
"Explain."
"Medicine had reached an advanced level by this stage and most ailments were treatable. The biggest natural cause of death, the cancers, had been fully eradicated fifty years perviously. People still died from old age. At some stage the human body just gives up. In the thirtieth century that varied between seventy and a hundred and twenty years."
"What about violent causes of death?"
"There was a lot of violence, mainly linked to over population. In about 3040 though gene therapy was applied to eradicate violent behaviour. By the end of the century that was common practice but..."
"But it took a war to establish those procedures."
"That was the last military confrontation and destroyed nearly half of the planets surface and almost three quarters of the population. Recovery was slow and permanent use of V-Gene eradication therapy was approved by the world government towards the end of the century." Lambert remembered some of his history lectures and the barbaric photographs he had seen of the thirtieth century confrontations. The only good that had come of it was that it was the last such conflict for nearly a millennium. The Natrite affair dwelt in his mind momentarily but that had been different.
"Who headed the world government?"
"The world government was established after the conference at Yakamon. Leadership was bilateral for nearly a decade. Then in 3072 Niko Lafrey was made general co-ordinator."
"I remember reading about him." Nodded Jarro.
Lambert was a little taken aback. No-one read anymore. downloading was far more efficient and if that wasn't possible there were various other techniques available to accumulate knowledge, none of which required optical stimulation and translation of signs and symbols. The nearest thing left to reading was controlling the datapads and that could be voice controlled. The only reason Lambert knew about reading was because he had made it his business to know.
"I am puzzled." Said Lambert.
"As am I." Said Jarro, but he was talking about another puzzle. "If V-gene therapy was established a thousand years ago, then how did someone get angry enough to kill Dr.Forsyth?"
A little time passed while Lambert searched for Dr.Forsyth's hololecture. The datapad was having some trouble with the search request and Lambert leant back, leaving the computer to it's task.
"It might take a while." He said to Jarro. He received no answer. "You know", he continued "there are several examples when people do get violent. No-one knows why."
"The last recorded murder took place 72 years ago. Crimes committed tend to be non violent, due more to corrupt morals."
"You seem to know quite a lot about it." The statement was innocent but somehow it seemed to hang in the air.
Jarro turned to look at Lambert. "With crime becoming less common and violent crime near eradicated there is no need for interrogators. Our number is dwindling. That is why I know,
Lambert Daniel."
The computer interrupted them with a low humming, indicating it had concluded it's search. There were five hololectures in all. The first was a general look at the thirtieth century and reiterated what Lambert had learnt from the down loading. The second hololecture covered archaeological practises, the use of recording equipment and the process of cataloguing. It was on attempting to access the third lecture that Lambert hit a problem. The datapad required a password and authorization code. Lambert had neither. He tried 'Forsyth' but had no luck. Jarro watched quietly as Lambert tried a few other likely passwords. Eventually he said "I suppose I could try and bypass the security code or negate the files attributes."
"How long will that take?" Asked Jarro.
"I've no idea. I'm not a specialist. Perhaps a couple of hours. Maybe more."
"Try orb." Said Jarro quietly.
Lambert was confused. Why would Jarro try and guess at the password, unless he had some other knowledge about the situation. Nevertheless Lambert tried orb. He spoke the word quietly with little enthusiasm as if he expected it not to work. The datapad responded with a request for an authorization code.
" 346532AA," said Jarro.
It didn't work.
"409564AB"
This time the datapad swirled into action and began projecting the hololecture. Lambert had little time to realise that it had been his own I.D code that had been the access code to the hololecture because within moments the datapad shut down and with it the lighting system. Precluding sabotage the other usual reason for a power failure was fire.
his fear was soon confirmed by a smell of smoke that crept slowly into the workroom. Lambert began to feel uneasy. They were two levels down in an unlit room with fire only minutes away.
He watched the fire engulf the building from a little over a kilometre away. The walls would still be standing he knew, but what was important was that everything inside would be burnt to a crisp. Everything.
It had been Lambert's idea. He could not remember where he had learnt it but the knowledge had been correct. Every building had ventilation shafts built into there lower levels which in most cases came out on the surface somewhere. In case the air conditioning ever went down. With the demise of the power system the flurocolor of the ventilator shaft had glowed dimly in the dark. And Lambert had remembered. Jarro had fitted his slim body into the shaft easily. Lambert had found it more difficult. His was a bigger build. As they crept in the dark the smoke crept with them. He tired quickly but Jarro did not slow down. Eventually there was some light. It was the outside. But by then Lambert had blacked out.
When he woke he was lying with his back against a rock, facing the burning remains of what had once been the archaeological dig. This is the second time that disaster has befallen this place he thought. Jarro stood a little way ahead of him watching. "We were lucky." Said Lambert.
"We were not meant to be." Said Jarro. The implication was clear but Lambert could not believe the fire had been a deliberate deed.
"What now?" Asked Lambert.
"We cannot return to the I Centre."
Lambert guessed Jarro was referring to the interrogating cells were he had first been taken.
"Why not?"
"Our...opponent thinks we are dead. We must not prove him wrong."
"Where to then?"
"We find some shelter out here."
"Out here." Lambert said the words slowly. He was mystified. He couldn't work out what had happened to put him in this situation. To sleep outside. It was unheard of. And to think they were in danger. Jarro had said it himself. The last murder had taken place over seventy years ago.
Lambert made up his mind. " I'm going home." He said.
"It would not be good to do that." There it went again. The unusual language trait.
Lambert didn't answer. He simply walked away.
Jarro called after him. "Don't you have any questions any more Lambert Daniel?"
Lambert kept walking.
"And in the shafts of Monidune
They found an orb still bright
And the darkness they had known
Was at once filled with light."
Lambert stopped and listened. Jarro's voice was not it's usual robotic monotone. There was something else."The orb made a pact
of Metaxas' design
And forever mankind changed
It's dowdry was all of time."
Lambert could not help himself. "What is that?" He asked.
"It's part of an old text, written about 1200 years ago."
"I've had enough of this." Said Lambert, genuinely angry. He turned to leave again but his commitment was not total. He did want to know the answer to the mystery he had unwittingly become involved in. In front of him he could see the sun begin to set. It was a daily routine he had not really considered before. Then he felt it and was for several moments confused. But he worked it out quickly.
Rain.
The weather stabilisers ensured that for practical reasons it never rained in the daylight hours. But
the sun was now setting and the rain quota had begun. Lambert hadn't been out in the open this
late before. There was no need.
He turned to look at Jarro. "Well we cant stay out here now." He said.
Jarro didn't answer for a moment. "There is a place. In case.""In case of what?" Asked Lambert.
"Just in case."
The view had been portrayed on countless holo shows and before that on the small portable viewers that had once been the mainstay of entertainment. Few people had seen the view for themselves and still fewer at this angle. The Northern countries were just coming into line, their surface emphasised by the suns powerful rays, every now and then reflecting of some man made establishment. There had been a time when the only man made object visible from space had been a wall, made to defend an entire country. Given the right conditions more evidence of man's presence on the planet was now visible, though obviously only in the Northern hemisphere. The orbit of the satellite was minimum as clearer readout was proportional to distances involved. All terra source radio waves were recorded and catalogued according to origination, destination, duration, time and bandwidth. This had been the satellite's sole occupation for a long time, but of course the computer had no self awareness and could not become bored. It was programmed to deviate from its routine only if the circumstances arose. In a thousand years they hadn't. But today was different. The radio wave was primitive in it's nature and only lasted microseconds but It had been registered. The relays in the satellite set about the task they were made for and began to send a pre written communication. It had happened. Like millions of others before it a radio wave had been detected. It was unique only in that it originated in the Southern Hemisphere.
Lambert was feeling surprised. They had walked for many hours, for longer than he had walked before. Even when a boy and full of the energies of youth he had not strayed so far from the places he had known. Of course he knew that the world was made up of many different types of terrain and geological characteristics. Only he had never actually seen any. Walking up the hills had been hard work and Lambert felt it difficult to believe they could get any steeper.
How far now?' He asked Jarro.
'Just below the next rise. There we should be met. Then it will be only a matter of dectimetres.'
Already Lambert had tried to quiz Jarro on the events of the previous few days but his questions had only been met by silence. Eventually Jarro had given him a promise to explain all he knew but only when they reached the camp. It was an odd word. Camp. Lambert had not heard it used before although he understood what it meant. It was just one of those words that people rarely,if ever, used. There was simply no need.
The next ridge proved steeper than anything they had climbed before and on descending the other side Lambert needed to concentrate hard. His body was tired and he was prone to stumbling. On one occasion he actually fell but Jarro, twenty metres ahead of him did not notice. He saw the two men waiting for them a long while before he reached them. He wondered briefly how Jarro had arranged this meeting as he had not been aware of Jarro using any communication device. It could be done discreetly he knew. It was just as with many other things lately. His knowledge was theoretical only. As he got closer to the men his curiosity was aroused. He had never seen anyone dressed as they. Instead of the garments that all people wore, which only varied in colour these men wore layers of clothes. And not of the same material either. Lambert guessed the layers of clothes were needed to keep the men warm which suggested there composition was not a modern one. The first man was tall, almost a foot taller than himself. He had long hair and wore hair upon his face. These were styles that Lambert could not recall having read about, although he had seen various photos of 'bearded' men. It had been natural for all of his life to take the retro drugs that prevented body and facial hair growth. He could not understand why this man didn't, unless he came from a different place. And what place could that be?
Lambert had studied hard in his youth and he knew that there had been a time when men utilised their natural surroundings as shelter, before they progressed to using natural building materials, such as wood and stone, then eventually progressing to the use of specialised synthetic materials. But this was the first time he had actually seen nature utilised. They entered what Lambert knew to be a cavern. The lighting inside the cave's mouth was anachronistic, out of place. Technology and nature joined. The lights were welcoming as it had grown dark outside, as was the shelter because of the heavy rain that was just beginning. Lambert knew that there must be a fire somewhere deeper in the cave because he was met by a pungent cloud of smoke. He was amazed to discover that the smoke's source was not a fire but a L-shaped piece of wood which another man, not yet introduced, seemed to be inhaling from. Lambert almost questioned Jarro about it but felt subdued by his surroundings. It was not just the lighting that was out of place. He was too.
The man with the beard spoke first. "Welcome Jarro of Mexicio. It is good to see you again." The man took Jarro's hand in a gesture that Lambert had not seen before and shook it up and down with vigour.
"It is good to be here." Replied Jarro. "We need to talk. Things seem to be progressing at their own speed. Hoven is gone and with him I fear the orb."