Fixer 13, Page 3

  Chapter 3: The New Quarters and the Star

  The human race wasn’t about to go down without a fight. There were a lot of ideas bouncing around during the first 10 years after the meteor storm was discovered. Everyone thought of those rocks hurtling through space, not as inanimate objects like a hail storm, but as a swarm of hateful living things, like a group of crop-killing flying insects or blood-sucking bats. You could hate living things. You couldn’t hate rocks. So the meteors became malevolent monsters bent on the destruction of the human race.

  When the PUT deactivated, Jayne found herself standing in a strangely curved hallway that snaked away, blocking her view after about ten metres. She imagined observing the hallway from above and seeing an S-curve. There were doors spaced three metres apart on her side of the hall. The other wall shone with smooth, unbroken metal, following the bend.

  Jayne walked down the hall, away from the spot where she had materialized. She wanted to get a better view of where she was going to live for the next two years. As she approached the opposite wall and was about to turn around, something happened to a one-metre circular section of the wall in front of her.

  She stared. It was as if a hole formed in the wall. She reached out, expecting her hand to go right through, but it felt just like a metal wall should feel—cool and smooth. The hole-that-wasn’t-a-hole provided a live view of the huge tech floor below. There were hundreds of workers milling about. It was the largest tech floor she had ever seen. She stared and as she walked to her left the viewing area followed. It was an electronic window—new tech she had only read about until now. The entire wall was painted with nanoparticles programmed to show an image just as if the viewer was looking through a window. Electronic windows were activated by the presence of the viewer and followed as the viewer moved.

  Jayne smiled and ran quickly to her right. The viewer kept perfect pace. When she jumped, it jumped. She tried jogging along the wall and was pleased to see the screen keeping pace beside her. Finally, she returned to her starting point.

  She then walked down the hall and stopped in front of the metal door to her new quarters. The door had no discernible knobs or locks, just an outline where the door would retract into the wall. The number 2197 was etched into the frame above the door. She thumbed her VID while pointing it at the door. The door to her new quarters opened silently and she stepped inside.

  The room wasn’t big but it was a million times better than the cubicles at the nursery. All the surfaces were curved in the corners. No sharp corners were evident anywhere. Everything was white.

  The bed was formed by a horizontal alcove set in the right wall with shelves and drawers inset both above and below the sleeping platform. Jayne assumed these were meant to store her belongings.

  On the left side of the room, the floor ballooned upward to form a table and chair. The back wall featured a small bathroom with her own vacuum toilet and misting UV shower. That was it. But after years in the cramped nursery, Jayne thought it was a mansion. She had never had her own bathroom before.

  She giggled and turned in a circle. She stopped on the third spin when a panel inset in the wall beside the door caught her eye. She moved closer, intending to reach out to touch it when a soft voice spoke. “Good afternoon, Wu F 302875106592253. If you prefer, you can be addressed as Jayne Wu or simply as Jayne, please state your preference now.”

  Jayne stared first at the wall and then at the ceiling. The voice seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere at once.

  “Wu F 302875106592253, we can continue this introduction to your new residence at a future time if you so wish,” crooned the voice.

  “No. You may address me as Jayne or, when you get to know me, as ‘Thirteen.’ That’s kinda like my nickname,” said Jayne.

  “Alright. Do you prefer ‘Jayne Thirteen’ or ‘Thirteen Jayne’?” asked the voice.

  “Just ‘Jayne’ or ‘Thirteen,’ not both together,” Jayne said.

  “Alright, Thirteen, would you like me to continue with the introduction to the many functions of the residence?” asked the voice.

  “Sure,” said Jayne, shrugging even though there was no one to see her.

  The voice continued, “You are standing in front of the control panel for residence 2197. I will be your guide until you are familiar with all of the functions of your residence. You may shut off any audio output from the AIU—Artificial Intelligence Unit—once you have customized the residence to your liking. I do discourage this as I can often be very helpful.”

  The voice paused for a moment and Jayne took the opportunity to ask some of the questions that were running through her head.

  “How long will this take? And what do I call you?” asked Jayne.

  “It will take approximately 20 minutes. What would you like to call me?” asked the voice.

  “What did the last resident call you?” asked Jayne.

  “Thirteen, I have never worked with any other resident. I came into being the moment you entered this residence. I will be 13 minutes old in 3, 2…” the voice paused, “now.”

  “That’s funny. Well, 13 is my lucky number, so I guess I’ll call you Lucky,” giggled Jayne.

  “Thank you for my name. If you wish to speak with me in the future, just say my name,” Lucky said. “Now, do you wish to continue, Thirteen?”

  “Sure,” said Jayne.

  Lucky continued with the short tutorial. Jayne learned how to change the temperature, the lighting, and the humidity in the room to suit her liking. She could play music or watch the netvids on an instavid. Any of the walls would open with instavid programming of her choice at her command. She could even change the color of her walls or the firmness of the mattress. Finally Lucky stopped.

  “This is the end of the basic tutorial. If you wish to receive more information about the specifications of the residence controls, I will be more than willing to help,” said Lucky.

  Jayne looked around at the room’s white walls. “Can you make the walls a little less white?” she asked.

  “Yes. I took the liberty to study your medical file and I see you are a tetrachromat,” stated Lucky.

  “I’m a what?” she asked, a little confused.

  “Oh, it is a very rare genetic variation in vision that is only found in females. Tetrachromats have an additional type of cone on the retina of their eyes. Cones are color photoreceptive retinal cells that are located in the back of the eye. Most humans have three kinds of cones, hence they are considered to be trichromats. Those with four types of cones are known a tetrachromats. They are able to differentiate far greater variations of color than those found in the typical trichromatic range. I mentioned your tetrachromaticism because I have the ability to transform the wall to display any color you can perceive and you can perceive of millions of different colors.”

  “Any off-white with a hint of pink will do,” said Jayne.

  “Is this satisfactory?” asked Lucky and Jayne noticed that the walls had changed slightly, seeming far less bright.

  “Perfect,” said Jayne as she sat down on a molded chair that was really just an extension of the floor. She finally had a space she could call home. She breathed deep and smiled when a chime filled the room.

  “Shall I open the door, Thirteen?” asked Lucky.

  “Who is it? Can you tell?” asked Jayne in retort.

  “Yes, I can tell. No one is there,” replied Lucky. “There are, however, some containers. I suggest that your belongings may have arrived.”

  “I’ve got nothing else to do. I guess I might as well unpack,” she said. “Open the door.”

  The doors slid silently apart. On the threshold were three containers with scanlocks in the center of the lids. Jayne carried them inside and set them down in the middle of the room. She placed her hand on the scanlock and she felt a slight scratch on her palm as the scanlock confirmed her identity. You never knew where the scanlock was going to scratch you, but it never took more than a few skin cells. It took just enou
gh to run a DNA comparison to her last formal scan. If the cells matched, the computer would open the lock. Now the lock popped open and the lid slid into the side of the packing case. Since the cases were part of one shipment all the locks disengaged once her identity was confirmed.

  Jayne started to unpack the cases. It only took a few minutes to take out her clothes and put them in one of the sealed drawers by her bed. She wouldn’t have the opportunity to wear any of them again except when she was in her own quarters. All ‘out of quarters’ clothing was supplied and required by the HUB. Personal clothes were not allowed to be worn in any working area of the HUB. HUB clothing was highly specialized. Contamination of materials and equipment destined for the biomes was of primary concern.

  After unpacking the remainder of her things, Jayne put the empty packing crates outside her door, sat on the edge of her bed and picked up her most valuable possession—a small music box. She opened it and her favorite piece of music began to play. A tinny version of Pachelbel’s Canon chimed from the box.

  “I have many versions of this music. Would you like me to play a better quality version? I promise you, the sound will be of a much higher fidelity,” said Lucky.

  “No. I like this version. This music box belonged to my birth mother. It is the only thing I have left from her,” she said, as she closed the box. The music did not stop. Jayne looked at the box, slightly puzzled. She opened it again and looked inside. Usually, closing the lid stopped the music. She spotted something caught on the small closing lever. She picked at the obstruction with her fingernail and it caught on what appeared to be a fine chain. She worked it from the lever and started to pull it out of the box, discovering that the chain threaded from a small hole in the corner of the tray sitting on the bottom of the box. She lifted out the tray that covered the inner workings of the box and then lifted out the chain, discovering that it had a pendant dangling from one end. She had never seen it before. It was silver in color and had an unusual star-shape. Connected to the star’s center hexagon were six spokes, each approximately one cm in length. These spokes rose to a center point, forming a six-sided pyramid. The pendant had thirteen vertices. Thirteen was her lucky number. Her nickname was Thirteen.

  Jayne touched her finger to the sharp point of the thirteenth vertex. She sucked in her breath and instinctively brought her finger to her mouth. The vertex had suddenly become very sharp and had pierced the end of her finger. She looked closely at the end of her finger. A small bead of blood bubbled up. She felt an unexplained wave of nausea rise and fall.

  She absently sucked the blood from her finger, looking at the pendant again. She was surprised to find that it was growing warm in her hand and, as she watched, the sides of the hexagonal pyramid slowly shortened, folding down to the same level as the rest of the star. It now appeared as a simple flat piece of silver jewelry on a chain. The sharp point had disappeared.

  “Is everything alright, Thirteen?” asked Lucky.

  “Fine,” she responded, as she slipped the pendant back into the music box. “I think someone gave me a birthday present.”

  “That’s nice. Happy birthday,” Lucky cooed.

  Before she closed the box, Jayne latched the play lever so the music would not play the next time she opened it. She placed the box on her bed. “Play some music, Lucky,” she said.

  “What would you like to hear?” asked Lucky.

  “You choose,” said Jayne.

  Jayne spent the remainder of the day scanning the instavid HUB overview, its purpose and layout, in preparation for her new life. Tomorrow was an important day—the first day of her apprenticeship. She smiled as she prepared for bed and slipped happily under the covers. She quietly opened the music box under her blanket, slipping the silver star necklace out from within and sliding it over her head and around her neck. It felt warm against her skin. She instinctively popped the star-pricked finger into her mouth and sucked away the pain. She wondered who could have given her such an odd present. As her consciousness slowly faded, so did the soft music Lucky had been playing. She drifted off to sleep.