Archon 31

“Shouting”-Continued from page 47One of the service drones. Charny cursed and took a steptoward it. The drone was doing its job. The bomb did notbelong there, the machine intended to remove it, perhaps takeit apart, see how it worked.He lunged for it. The flash surprised him. The shockwavesounded like distant thunder through the suit. Charny wasthrown backward by the blast, slammed against a bulkhead,then fell through the access hole to the deck.48#He awoke briefly to a nightmare of steel armsdisemboweling him, knives in unliving hands slicing him open.He screamed before he realized it was only a med-unit cuttingoff the suit to get to his injuries. His chest ached and his anklewas numb. The machine injected him with anaesthetic and ashe faded to sleep he thought it would be good that they wouldrepair him and reinsert him into deepsleep. He was tired of thecontest. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to begin fresh on anew world.He was surprised when he came to alone.He limped back to the bridge and sat down at one of thestations. The alien object was still on the screen. Charnywiped sweat from his face and shivered. He called up Marian'ssarcophagus and initiated revival.The command was refused. The screen cleared and wasreplaced with the red letters of Program Shepherd. Charnyrequested a description of the limits set by Shepherd.He was shut out of the sleepers. The med-units could notreinsert him, either.He did not care for the idea of wandering Prometheusalone for years, a failure. And he was terrified of the alien."Sloppy, Marian," he said. "This is wasteful. What if Ichanged my mind?"He stared at the screen coldly and raised his middle fingerto the ship.Over the next few days he went through a variety of files.Access to the cybernetic hardware was blocked; he did notpossess the command codes to open the panels. His bombhad done no damage to the coils through the heavy housing.He could not sleep well. He was cold, at least during thosetimes when he was not having hot flashes. Charny laughed athimself for being so childishly afraid. He thought that he hadbeen injured worse than the med-units had realized.He stumbled on a file of projected designs for the cityplanned for the new world. The probes had sent back detailedmaps and ecocharts. Based on that, architects and engineershad designed several possible city types. Most seemed toblend with the environment for which they were planned. A fewprojections displaced local ecologies completely. There weretoo many variables still unknown.On the fourth day the lesions appeared on his hands.Charny left the bridge and went to his cabin. He checkedthe menus and scowled. There seemed to be no alcohol onboard. He went to a hospital.He could still override the med-units. The machineswatched him and tried to act as he took a scalpel to his thigh.He allowed a local anaesthetic to be sprayed on the incision,then shut them down while he operated on himself. He was notsurprised to find that the tube was gone. There were stitchesin the muscle tissue where the med-units had repaired the cutflesh. The bomb had shattered the tube.He went back to the bridge and stared at the alien."You did this to me," he said. He shuddered. "The voicesare gone...why is that?" His eyes widened. "You did that, too,didn't you? The voices...all you...and now I'm dead, dying,whatever, you don't need me anymore...you've got Prometheus...hm." He sighed. "I'm delirious. Still...it's a lovely conspiracytheory."After awhile he frowned and cleared the screen. He typedin a path to Program Shepherd, then wrote "I am Ian Charny."The screen went blank for a time. Then:Hello, Ian.Charny swallowed hard and drew a deep breath. Heentered "Hello, Marian."If you are reading this then you are on board. I hope youare still on Earth and have not tried to stop us. If you are here,I am sorry. I designed Shepherd with you in mind. I think thatsays it all. The interesting fact is I was invited onto the projectbecause of my acquaintance with you. It seems They knew allalong.The other fact--which I am sure you have discovered bynow--is that you cannot stop Prometheus. If anything all youcan do is make things uncomfortable for us. And what pointwould there be in that?If you are on board and you are reading this I have madeprovisions for you to reinsert into deepsleep. Appended to thisis the command sequence to unlock only that part of Shepherd.I would like to see you again at the end of the voyage. I thinkwe could build together on the new world. I think you have thetalent for that if you only let yourself see it.The message scrolled up and the sequence appeared.Charny laughed."So you would like to see me?" he said to the screen. Hepressed CANCEL and cleared the message. "What pointwould there be in it?"He went back to the hospital and checked a list ofchemicals. There was everything he needed. He put togethera poison that would kill him like sleep falling over him, gentlysuffocating consciousness, then dreams.He found Marian's sarcophagus. He could not see herthrough the lid. Its surface was cold. He could see his breathin the air.He could not remember many specifics of their relationshipother than the arguments. She was more a hazy warmth thathad colored everything, for a short while had taken his mind offthe world and his causes. Now she was a distilled memory, aface, body, smells, vague feelings associated with certainplaces, certain things, certain words, a dull strip of painsomewhere, residues decayed from kinder emotions.He injected himself and smiled at the sarcophagus. "Isuppose if I'm to fail, this is the way to do it. Ahab on the backof the whale, eh?" He laid his palms flat against the metalsurface. "But you'll know. You'll see me when you wake up.You'll know I came close." He smiled nastily. "And the alienscan explained the rest."He sealed the accesses and sat down across from her. Itwas peaceful and very quiet in his head.“Shouting”-Continued on page 49