Miranda's Demons Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  © Copyright, 2015. Ian Miller

  PROLOGUE

  PART ONE

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Part Two

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Part Three

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 6

  Part Four

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Part Five

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Part Six

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22.

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Author's Note.

  Miranda's Demons

  Ian J Miller

  © Copyright, 2015. Ian Miller

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for fair use, such as the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  This is a work of fiction, and all characters, corporations and other organizations are quite fictional and bear no relationship to anyone.

  PROLOGUE

  While there were many sore heads on January 1st, 2285, none were due to celebrating what history books would term the end to the Age of Stability, also known as the Age of Balance. January 1st, 2285 was the same as all other New Year Days in living memory. That was the very essence of stability, and the rightful consequence of balance.

  The politicians within the countries of the Federation continued to make their same platitudinous speeches in the same ineffectual fora, to the same level of inattention. When there is no need for change, and indeed a desperate need for no change, the material available to politicians is strangely limited, especially when they can take no credit at all for the comfortable standard of living all enjoyed. Economic control resided in the eighty giant corporations, and in return for the good things in life staff would continue to give their unqualified servitude. Never before in the history of the planet had so little effort been required to support such lifestyles. Full cooperation with the providers of such benevolence seemed the least the staff could return.

  Life on the Moon and the great space stations was a marvel of constancy. Only on Mars did two slightly unusual events take place on December 31, 2284. Perhaps the first gave a clue to the underlying failure of stability, for although corporations were expressly forbidden to leave Earth, December 31, 2284 was the first time representatives of different corporations met socially, if secretly, off-Earth. The second was not the stuff of a change of Age. At Hellas, a worker's delegation led by a Mr Groza published an appeal to abandon the Terran calendar on Mars, although it was emphasized that two sets of statutory holidays be placed in the new Martian calendar.

  Relations remained constant between the Federation and the Southern Bloc, which consisted of South America and much of Africa. The Federation continued to demand that the Southern Bloc open up its resources and businesses for takeover by the Corporations, and the Southern Bloc duly refused. Direct trade between the two blocs remained at zero value for 2284, and no change was predicted for 2285; the Corporations continued to demand debt repayment in kind, while the southern countries ignored the threats. The island states of the South Pacific belonged to neither Federation nor Southern Bloc. Nominally independent, they also acted as free trade areas, and it was here, almost on a barter basis, that goods flowed between the two great blocs. Despite the statements from the Federation about how they did not need the south, materials as diverse as cobalt and coffee were always in keen demand.

  The independents saw no escape from their ghettos that were scattered throughout the Federation. Although their services were essential for the running of the Federation, by refusing to work for any corporation they suffered constant persecution. The position of the new Jews remained unchanged in January 2285.

  The corporate bosses spent the 1st of January 2285 in exactly the same way as any other New Year's Day. Statutory reports from the previous year had been reprocessed, with the dates and a few trivial details altered so they could be announced on this day. Once again all corporations received their resource allocations, which were exactly the same as those of the previous year, and they made the same deals as previously with the other corporations. No power forced them to comply, however, the remaining corporations would move against any that, through greed, ambition, whatever, refused. This was the very nature of Balance. Debts between the corporations were written off, and prices readjusted to ensure that no sector took advantage of another. The debt load and a list of the new entitlements were then reallocated to the corporate staff and the service demands made. These were virtually the same as the previous year, perforce. The balance sheets between corporations and within corporations remained constant.

  Those on the Executive Council of the Federation saw nothing out of the ordinary. Lawrence Kleppe, Commissioner for Finance, perused the end-of-year statements with satisfaction, for all sectors were in balance. Imre Halas, Commissioner for the Environment, had too sore a head to make a complete assessment of his data, but it did not matter. The environment was in exactly the same state as predicted, and pollution levels were down 2% from the previous January. Elizabeth Garrett, Commissioner for Justice, could have been forgiven for feeling pleased with herself; while surveillance spending was up eleven per cent from the previous year, there had been a corresponding increase in the apprehension of criminals and a much greater level of success at conviction. Justice was running at a record profit.

  Natasha Kotchetkova, Commissioner for Defenc
e, never celebrated, although she would have been satisfied for strangely charmed matter had now been successfully stored for over one year. This matter was the most effective means of generating energy known, and in principle the potential for a motor powerful enough to take ships to the stars was at hand. She had two goals besides seeing this motor built: the first was to bring the southern bloc into the Federation by peaceful means; the second was to see her thirty-third birthday.

  Although the Brazilians had not rejected her overtures out of hand, there were many problems to overcome. The votes of the southern bloc would enable measures to be passed to stamp down hard on the corruption associated with the corporate system; unfortunately the corporate votes were needed to get the necessary votes to admit the Southern bloc.

  Because she despised corruption she was isolated professionally; because she let nobody see her body she was isolated personally. Her body had never recovered from the space accident, and while the cancers had been defeated, the cost had been too high. She knew she would never see her fortieth birthday; to see her thirty-third was her current goal. She had been made Commissioner partly on a wave of public sympathy for her bravery, partly as a compromise because everybody knew her occupancy of the position would be very temporary, and partly to keep that incompetent and corrupt fop Streckov at bay. Streckov had been the highest-ranking Defence officer, and only Natasha's public standing offered a realistic choice. Too many feared that Streckov would join Defence to one of the major corporations, a move that would undo the Balance, and the consequences of that were too terrible to contemplate. Natasha Kotchetkova was a temporary solution to a difficult problem.

  Each of these facts contributed to events of 2285 and 2286, but of these facts, only the existence of the strangely charmed matter was ever mentioned in subsequent history books. Meanwhile on this January 1st neither Natasha Kotchetkova nor any other citizen on Earth had any reason to believe that the Balance would not persist indefinitely.

  PART ONE

  SYDNEY, NEW YORK, SAO PAOLO, ARSIA MONS

  March - May, 2285

  Chapter 1

  Seek and ye shall find! Whoever had put that at the head of the space cadet's manual, thought Harold Lansfeld, was clearly an incurable optimist, a complete fool, or an exponent of some ancient art of torture. He had sought, he had not found, he held a key that would give him access this night to the most sophisticated equipment in the Federation, and he had failed to find anything promising to use it on.

  Harry had completed all but one of the requirements to gain entry to an advanced space academy. The one remaining task was simple: he had to describe an object in the solar system that was previously unknown, unclear, or insufficiently well characterised that the new information would be useful, or at least be potentially useful. This would not usually be considered a challenging task, and the reports from the other applicants were rolling in. The usual project was to calculate the orbital characteristics of a so-far uncharted asteroid, or to rediscover a piece of lost space junk. As a consequence of this painstaking work by countless students over the past one hundred and fifty years, space flight was now relatively safe. This was not exactly profound science, but for the other contenders this did not matter. Their objective was simply to complete the requirements for entry. It was not so simple for Harry: he had ambition.

  Once again he sat in the now familiar chair before the now familiar console. He turned the switches on, went through the warm-up procedures, then he turned to the keyboard and began typing rapidly. Symbols flew across the screen in front of him, but he barely took the time to register their existence. This was Australia's largest optical telescope, more than enough for this task, yet it was the least important tool this night. On the other hand, now was the time to deploy it. He glanced at the clock. In another seventeen minutes he could use his key to open the otherwise forbidden console, then use his password to gain access to the Federation deep space telescope array. This meant the full spectral range: long wavelength radio through to ultrashort gamma, not that these extremes were expected to be of assistance for his project. They went with the honour.

  If it were an honour. No other applicant for the space academy had ever had access to these resources, and Harry was aware that he was not that exceptional. Without the backing of FoodBund this could not have happened. Yet Harry was aware that a Munro had previously entered a space academy, and nothing like this had been given to the nephew of one of the most powerful men on Earth.

  He was the top Australian contender for a space academy; he had a first in physics from Sydney University, he had full jet flying experience as a Defence reservist, the highest certificate in electro-optical engineering, certificates in marine and astral navigation, and far more than the required sporting and physical requirements. He had even represented New South Wales in a martial art.

  He was even popular with his fellow students. The capable students respected his ability; the less capable were clearly envious, but the less their ability, the greater was their sycophancy. For Harry was known to possess a diamond card, one of those very rare items with the necessary details embedded in a matrix of crystalline carbon. The card allowed almost unlimited credit with the payments being met by a corporation. Harry had clearly been born with more than the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.

  If only they knew! Harry was well aware that when Snyder first offered him the card he was expected to refuse. Harry burned with hate; he wanted revenge for his father's death. The corporation knew this and it would crush him, but before it could do this, it had to offer Justice a plausible demonstration that Harry was truly a threat worthy of pre-emptive action. The offer of a diamond card was an extraordinarily generous offer of compensation, and the expected refusal from Harry would be clear proof of the hate he held.

  It always amused Harry to remember the look on Snyder's face when he calmly accepted. It was even more amusing to watch Snyder's face when it became apparent that his use of the card was so modest. For Snyder had seen the card as a Greek gift; the cost would be worth it if Harry accepted and then self-destructed, and with such unlimited resources, who could fail to self-destruct? But apart from an initial spending spree, in which Harry guaranteed himself some financial security should the card be removed, followed by that extreme rarity, a beach house for entertaining, his spending was very modest. It increased again when he needed university fees and the ownership of a nearby apartment, but such charges were trivial for the holder of a diamond card. Snyder was amused to see Harry go to university, and was almost impressed to see that Harry was so successful.

  Initially Snyder began to think that Harry had accepted the way things were, and that Harry would emerge as a useful citizen, possibly even working in FoodBund. That could be difficult: where did you put the holder of a diamond card? Then Snyder became aware of Harry's goal. Space! Suddenly Snyder began to respect Harry. Whether Harry knew it or not, he was obtaining revenge, for the corporations, despite all their power, were restricted to Earth. Yet here was Harry, now no longer seen as a student but perhaps as an element in the off-world goal, about to go where no corporation had officially gone before. Snyder's problem was simple: how could he know whether he could trust Harry? Snyder knew that if he accepted Harry he could be cultivating the seeds of a monumental problem for his corporation, but on the other hand he could also be throwing away a key to space if he rejected Harry. The eventual solution was based on practicalities; with what Harry had achieved he seemed certain to become a spacer, in which case there was little point in trying to stop him. FoodBund would throw what it could behind Harry; the decision as to whether to use him or simply accept the costs could be deferred until he reached space. If nothing else, the exercise gave surprisingly cheap and favourable publicity for the corporation.

  Admission to the basic training centres was now assured, but Harry had a greater ambition; if he could make direct entry to one of the advanced academies, in one year he could attempt to transfer to the elite mil
itary academy near Tashkent. Although all aspects of the military should be relics of the past, the fact remained that this academy produced the most highly paid and influential space pilots and space scientists. But of even greater relevance was that Defence, coupled with the Commissioner's other responsibility for science and technology, was responsible for the development of space exploration and settlement. There was even a rumour of an impending attempt at interstellar exploration. The dream of dreams, beyond anything of interest to Snyder, and Snyder would have to pay the price. Always assuming, of course, that Harry could get anywhere near the space project, which required Tashkent, which required prior admission to an advanced academy.

  Which brought him to his current problem. Entry to the advanced academy required a practical project in direct observation, and this project had to be related to the solar system. Actually, Harry mused, the manual did not say which solar system! That, of course, would be irrelevant for space cadets, because there were no telescopes on Earth capable of seeing anything of significance in another solar system. However, the deep space telescopes could. They had already established that most of the close main sequence stars had planetary systems, and if their star had had an early T Tauri cleanout, when the star began ejecting the dust and gas of the accretion disk, then the planetary systems would resemble the Sol solar system. If the star was of comparable size to the sun, there should be a rocky planet like Earth in the habitable zone. Now, suppose he were to check out a system with low metallicity? He could examine the planets in the Tau ceti system! Now that would throw the academy judges.

  He could even look at what was forbidden by the Commission for Defence: Epsilon eridani. Only eleven light years away, but after the initial flutter of papers, nothing! Two ancient papers that were published in Icarus during the twenty-second century seemed particularly significant, at least to those few who had heard of them; few had because they were electronically deleted very soon after publication. Amongst Harry's proudest possessions were tatty old hard copies given to him for safe keeping by old Professor Ashton. They were given to him partly because Harry had impressed the professor, but another part of the reason was that Harry was one of the very few who could keep the copies alive. Even Defence could not open the special safe deposits keyed only by diamond cards.