The Winter War Read online

  The Winter War

  An Aneka Jansen Novel

  By Niall Teasdale

  Copyright 2014 Niall Teasdale

  Smashwords Edition

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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  Contents

  Part One: Yersinia Pestis

  Part Two: Home Is Where the Heart Is

  Part Three: Two Weddings and a Party

  Part Four: Tomb Raiders Wear Shorts

  Part Five: Winter

  Part Six: The Sleep of Renewal

  Part Seven: The Trial of Aneka Jansen

  Part One: Yersinia Pestis

  Prime City, Old Earth, 25.9.526 FSC, 11th August 3186.

  Aneka Jansen stood amidst her own past and did not quite know what she should think or do. She was in the small bedroom in what had been Yrimtan’s quarters in the Prime City, and Yrimtan was her, or rather a duplicate of her, and this room was an exact replica of the bedroom Aneka had had in her parents’ house in Aldershot. That was back when she had been Human, a millennium ago. Twelve centuries for the world and three years for her.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Ella asked from the doorway. Aneka turned and looked around at the beautiful redhead who was looking concerned for her lover. Ella’s smile could light up the room, but she was not smiling now and Aneka really wanted her to.

  ‘I didn’t really look at this room when I rescued you from it. It’s a bit of a shock to see everything here, but… Actually, yeah, I’m good. I mean, in a way this is great. All my stuff is here, even Lara and Bengy.’

  Ella grinned. Aneka’s heart lifted. Ella walked into the room and bent down beside the bookcase, which was one of the few pieces of furniture. ‘So you told me that the doll was Lara, though I never understood why…’ She picked up a Sindy doll dressed in home-modified Action Man military fatigues.

  ‘Lara Croft. She was a video game character with huge boobs. She was a brunette, I think, but still…’ Aneka grinned. ‘Actually, she was an archaeologist. Dye your hair and dress you in some little shorts and you’re in.’

  Ella giggled. She had had her breasts enhanced in a misguided attempt to ensure that Aneka never left her. It was misguided because Aneka was not going to, ever, and if storming an underground city to rescue her did not prove it then nothing was going to. ‘So Bengy is the bear?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Mum named him. I didn’t do much aside from gurgle when they bought him for me. I can remember her tucking me in with that bear when I was… two or something.’

  ‘Vashma, I can’t remember anything from when I was two.’

  ‘Well, you’re pushing eighty, love, so it’s over twice as long ago. Besides, I don’t think I could’ve remembered that before the Xinti digitised my memory. Now there are holes where it was damaged, but if it’s still there I can remember it perfectly. I’m a little glad I don’t seem to remember being born.’

  ‘Do you want to take any of this stuff back with you?’ Ella asked, straightening up.

  Aneka looked around the room and then plucked one framed photograph off the shelves. It showed three people, one young man, one older, and a woman who looked a little like an older version of Aneka, though she clearly shared traits with them all. They were her brother, Alan, and her parents. ‘This. It would be nice to have something to remind me of them.’

  ‘There’s one with all four of you on the nightstand,’ Ella supplied, indicating the small table beside the single bed.

  Aneka wandered over and picked up the picture. Sure enough, there she was, smiling at the camera beside her tall father. Her brother and mother were sitting in front; they were both a little shorter anyway. It was a posed shot, that was clear. In it Aneka’s short mop of hair was a dirty blonde, not the silver-white it was now, and her breasts were smaller and rounder. The Xinti had built her a new body after dismantling the old one for testing. Their intention had been to send her back to Earth to observe the Human race so they had made a few ‘improvements,’ basing them on the idea that the ideal of beauty on the internet was the norm. So her breasts had been enlarged and made firmer and the white hair was supposed to be a unique and startling feature. Maybe I should be glad I didn’t end up covered in tattoos.

  ‘No… I don’t particularly want to be reminded of how I was changed,’ she said aloud. ‘Besides, a family photo is one thing. I can just tell people they’re dead, which is true even if it’s something of an understatement. Someone might ask questions about the hair and boobs if they saw it.’

  Ella shrugged. ‘I cut my hair and let it go back to plain red, and my breasts are bigger than they were a year ago, but I can understand you not wanting to be reminded about why yours have changed.’

  Aneka put the picture back on the nightstand and started for the door, stopping once more at the bookcase. She ran a finger along the shelf of real, physical, paper books. ‘How she managed to keep these intact I don’t know. They probably count as historical documents. The only place I’ve seen printed books on New Earth is Abraham Wallace’s office.’

  ‘He likes paper,’ Ella agreed, ‘but then he is a little eccentric.’

  ‘It’s endearing. Huh, The Art of War. I quoted it once to Bash and then said he’d probably never get to read it.’

  ‘There is an electronic copy in Aggy’s library,’ Al supplied, his voice sounding within Aneka’s mind. Al was an artificial intelligence, her support AI residing on a second computer in her chest. The first one, in her skull, ran the software emulation of her mind.

  ‘I don’t think it’d be wise for him to read that one,’ Ella said, unaware of Al’s comment. ‘Unless she’s treated those books somehow, I’d imagine the paper is rather fragile.’

  ‘Al says Aggy has a copy of it.’

  ‘Huh, well it’s not like we’ve been through everything Aggy has stored from your time.’ Aggy was the computer on their ship. Technically she was the AI in the computer on their ship, and she had performed the same role on the ship which had kidnapped Aneka long ago. She had been transplanted as a repair measure, but she had proven to be extremely useful, and she had huge volumes of information on the world Aneka had come from. ‘It could take us years to go through it all. I don’t think we’ve even started on the books.’

  Setting off for the door again, Aneka said, ‘Let’s go back to the other bedroom. I’m feeling a little freaked out in here.’

  Ella grimaced. ‘Could we go to her lounge?’

  Aneka glanced back at her. ‘Feeling urges again?’

  The grimace turned into a grin that was very forced. ‘You know me, I always feel urges.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Okay, so now I’m always feeling urges and I don’t want to give in, and if we go to the bedroom it’ll be really hard not to.’ Yrimtan, who had been the ruler of the city they were in until Aneka had killed her, had tortured Ella and Bashford, their colleague, using a device which stimulated intense pain or pleasure. The pain hurt a hell of a lot, but the pleasure was worse in some ways. For one thing, extended use tended to result in the subject becoming addicted and they had both been exposed extensively. Ella was naturally a very sexual person; all the Jenlay were more or less, but Ella was on the more side. Sex was, at best, a palliative for the longing she had, but she was trying to use it as little as possible to get over the addiction faster. Aneka was, if a
nything, more worried about Bashford.

  Walking out of the bedroom let them out into a short corridor with a door at each end. The main bedroom was off to the right so Aneka turned left and walked through into a larger hallway which gave access to most of Yrimtan’s slightly more public rooms. Off on the left were the double doors to the audience chamber where she had died, and beyond that was the way out to the rest of the city. To the right there was one door Ella was keen to avoid because behind it was the room she had been questioned in. There was a large bathroom back that way too, but Aneka walked across and through a door into a quite comfortable lounge.

  As soon as Aneka walked into the room the huge screen, which took up one five-metre wall, lit up with various displays showing activity in this and the other two cities left on the planet. Aneka frowned at the wall and then went to slump into a large armchair. Another mildly annoying thing about this place was that the city’s vast computer system insisted on thinking that she was Yrimtan, or at least responding as though she was. That had not gone unnoticed by the residents, the Citizens, and they had started treating her like royalty almost immediately. That was the main reason she was here rather than in a conference room talking to the city’s Councillors; they kept deferring to her rather than making decisions for themselves.

  Ella did not give her a chance to be disgruntled for long. She immediately sat down in Aneka’s lap and laid her head down on the nearest shoulder.

  ‘You know,’ Aneka said, ‘this computer thing has to be Yrimtan’s doing.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Well, when I came in here before I killed her, nothing reacted like this. It started when we went down to the computer room. I think she instructed the computer to treat me as her if she didn’t survive.’

  ‘The more I think about it, the more I think she was hoping you’d kill her.’

  ‘Maybe. She put up a helluva fight for someone who wanted to die.’

  ‘She’d been alone for so long, and she had all these contingency plans in case she did die…’ Ella sat up straight and looked Aneka in the eyes. ‘When I die, you’ll move on, right? You’ll find someone else?’

  Aneka grinned. ‘When you die I’m going to fly a shuttle into the nearest star, love.’

  ‘I’m serious.’

  ‘So am I.’

  ‘I don’t want you to kill yourself over me. I’ve got maybe another two centuries in me, but when I go… promise me you’ll move on. That’s what went wrong with her. I think if she’d found someone else she could have got past the feeling of betrayal and we’d be sitting here having drinks with her.’

  Aneka reached up to stroke Ella’s cheek and Ella leaned into it, closing her eyes. ‘All right, love. I promise.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Ella smiled, eyes still closed, and Aneka felt like the sun had come out.

  ~~~

  Gillian Gilroy looked pissed off and very tired as she walked into the lounge and dropped into the seat opposite Aneka and Ella. Like almost all Jenlay, Gillian was a good-looking woman; Aneka had always thought she had a classical look, like a Greek statue, but less matronly. She had dark olive skin, brown eyes and hair, and her hair tended to hang in loose ringlets which just made the classical features look right. She was dressed in a fairly conservative, grey skirt suit she had fabricated on the Garnet Hyde for the occasion. She was intelligent, and she had what amounted to a lifetime of knowledge and experience to work with in the areas of archaeology, technological development, and history. She was patient, except when waiting to get onto a dig site, and wise, and Aneka thought of her a bit like an aunt; well, an aunt she sometimes went to bed with, but still. Gillian Gilroy almost never swore.

  ‘She may have given them some fucking reprogramming to get by on their own, but it wasn’t fucking close to enough. I swear she’s turned the Humans here into a fucking bunch of fucking sheentoe.’

  Ella burst into a fit of giggles in Aneka’s lap. Aneka laughed and said, ‘I’m assuming me not being there to make their decisions for them is not going so well?’

  Gillian grumbled and then got back up to walk over to the drinks cabinet in the corner of the room. ‘Partially, I’m annoyed that Bash isn’t here to help, but no, it’s not going well. I realise you’re uncomfortable with them treating you like their Manu Dei, but if this keeps up I’m going to get you in the meetings anyway. Maybe you can force them to choose an option.’

  ‘She has some gorgeous whiskey in there,’ Aneka commented. ‘Someone must be making it up in the Scottish islands. Bash would love it.’

  ‘Perhaps we can get him a bottle for when he decides he can be around women again,’ Gillian replied sourly.

  ‘I understand that he’s worried about how he might behave until the neurostim addiction wears off,’ Aneka replied, ‘but he seems to be being a bit hard-core about it. Isolating himself on the Hyde, keeping away from you. Ella seems to be happier around me even if she’s trying not to give in to her terrible animal urges too much…’

  ‘I don’t have terrible animal urges,’ Ella grumbled into Aneka’s neck. ‘I have wonderful animal urges.’

  ‘That’s the problem,’ Gillian told them as she walked back to her chair with a crystal-cut glass containing a brown liquid. ‘He seems to have convinced himself he gave in and raped me after they brought him back from his interrogation.’

  ‘He what?!’

  Gillian waved a dismissive hand. ‘He didn’t. I mean, I suppose if you’re being technical about it a case could be argued. I wasn’t really feeling like that kind of thing. We were basically in prison. I’m sure we were being observed and unlike Ella I’m not fond of an audience. And he did get very enthusiastic without letting me get… up to speed, so to speak. But still, it wasn’t rape. I love the man, he was hurting, and I got into it fairly quickly.’ She gave a timid grin. ‘It was like when we first got together, after I left Ape. We’d get really wild some nights…’ She shook her head and then sank half her glass of whiskey. ‘Anyway, he didn’t rape me,’ she wheezed when the coughing had subsided. ‘What are you getting me to drink, rocket fuel?’

  ‘Right now he’s probably horny all the time,’ Ella said. ‘I know I am. You know that thing about having an itch you can’t scratch? Well this is really like that. You want it all the time. Every waking moment you want to feel that good again. It’s… horrible.’ She looked around and smiled. ‘It’s purely a psychological addiction, however. Give it a couple of weeks and hopefully we’ll be over it.’

  ‘Hopefully?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘Psychology isn’t an exact science, even now. Everyone’s different. And I can’t say we won’t need some further work afterward. Some effects might linger.’

  ‘Yeah… So maybe the Citizens here are the same, and maybe they need a little push to get them off the blocks.’

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Gillian asked.

  ‘Oh, a little tough love.’

  12th August.

  Aneka marched into the Council Chamber ahead of Gillian and Ella. The ten men and women who made up the Council, all dressed in the usual city clothing of white, tunic-like dress, black leggings, and white boots, were already sitting around the large, circular table. Because they were Councillors their sleeves were decorated with twin blue stripes; the Citizens were still very regimented, even if they were trying to be more democratic. All of them stood up as soon as they saw Aneka.

  Aneka tried to keep the irritation off her face. ‘Sit down,’ she snapped. ‘I am not your Manu Dei. You do not defer to me.’

  They all sat down, chorusing, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ as they did so. It was like talking to Plascrete.

  Aneka took a deep, steadying breath. ‘All right, Gillian tells me that you’re still talking in circles about contacting the Federation.’

  One of the men, older and definitely more senior, his hair greying, which had to indicate he had been around for a couple of hundred years, got to his feet again. This was Jerome Harper, the leader of the Council. Aneka suspected
seniority had got him the position, but he was a little more decisive than most of his fellows. He also had quite a distinguished demeanour and, despite his apparent age, an imposing physique.

  ‘Miss Jansen, I’m afraid that is indeed the case. We understand that our existence is going to become public knowledge again, but we are at a loss to decide what form of relations we wish to initiate. Considering the distance involved, full integration is probably impossible and, frankly, undesirable, but beyond that we have opinions favouring everything from as much distance as we can get to as much sharing as we can get. We have been isolated for so long that we are unsure of how to proceed.’

  Aneka nodded. ‘Then I’m going to make a proposal. You’re going to build a tachyon beam communication system. Our ship’s computer has suitable plans, and she has the necessary protocols to send messages to the relay at Harriamon. She estimates that you can have that up and running in about two weeks, so you’ll have that long to come to a decision about how to start talking to the outside world. I suggest you create a subcommittee with a cross-section of opinion and draft a communique to be sent to the Federal Administration at New Earth. Nothing that commits you to anything. An introduction. We have reports we should send as well, and some personal letters to family since we’ll be here for a while.’

  Harper looked around the table. There were nods, some more enthusiastic than others, but they all seemed to see this as a fair compromise. He looked back at the three Federal Representatives. ‘That is a wise and prudent plan, Miss Jansen. We will get the fabrication work started immediately.’

  Deciding that telling him he was a real kiss-arse was probably not politically correct, Aneka said, ‘It’s not going to be easy and I think you’re wise to maintain some degree of distance from Jenlay culture. They take some getting used to, and you’ve got two entirely different cultures here on Earth as it is. I would definitely like to see some more integration between the cities and the surface. We’re all quite convinced that you can make life more pleasant for all of you if you intermix a little more.’