Into the Unknowable Ch. 12

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Captain Kerensky learns of her fate and of everyone else.
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Part 12 of the 22 part series

Updated 10/08/2022
Created 02/20/2014
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Chapter Twelve
Intrepid - 3756 C.E.

The first thing Captain Kerensky was aware of when she finally woke up was that she was lying naked on an unfamiliar bed. The next was that not only was the bed unfamiliar but so too was the entire bedroom. She had no memory of having been transported here and her first resolve was to return to her quarters. The captain was a busy woman and there was much she should be getting on with.

However, every attempt to return to a more normal state of affairs was frustrated. First of all there were no clothes for the captain to put on. There were wardrobes and drawers, but they held nothing that she could use to recover her modesty. Nadezhda would have to remain naked and this wasn't what a woman who valued her dignity would have chosen.

She then was frustrated by the simple effort of trying to return to the crew's quarters. She could easily walk out of the bedroom and wander about what she now recognised as one of the recently refurbished villas in the outermost level. She could even walk out of the villa, so she strode purposefully across the lawn in the direction that would take her away from the villa and towards an escalator to the inner levels. But she didn't manage to walk very far until she literally bumped into an invisible force field. It repelled her gently but it was a barrier through which she could not pass.

Captain Kerensky had come across many types of invisible force field before. There were several in common use throughout the Solar System and they came in two general models. One functioned like a glass wall without a reflection. Those who tried to pass through would bruise themselves against the surface and could even crack it if they applied sufficient force. The other type was like a rubber skin which repelled the force applied to it. As one pushed against it, the tension increased and its rebound was directly equivalent. This invisible field acted more like an opposite and equal force to whatever force was applied to. Gentle force was repelled by an equally gentle force. The more force applied the more the force field repelled it. But there was no apparent tension and evidence of a surface. Another strange feature was that although the force acted as an obstacle to Captain Kerensky's movements it offered no obstacle at all to fluttering insects or the leaves that blew in the breeze. There was no apparent deflection when Nadezhda picked up a stone and threw it through the force field. Its repellent properties were only effective on the captain.

The radius of the force field surrounding the villa was about ten metres. Nadezhda established this by following the force field around the perimeter in the hope that she might discover a door or some other exit. She was totally trapped, but with access to all the luxuries and facilities normally available to residents in a villa with the exception, it seemed, of a set of clothes.

The captain returned to the villa and scanned through the systems normally available to passengers, which were typically somewhat less complete than what she could normally access. She couldn't monitor the surveillance cameras, for instance, although she could view the empty space outside the Intrepid. There appeared to be nothing untoward. She could even scan the bridge where her senior officers were evidently on duty. It was a fairly dull sight but one which served to reassure the passengers should they ever feel inclined to watch the crew's mostly uneventful proceedings. There was Chief Petty Officer Singh examining a screen displaying the progress of the Intrepid through empty space. There was Second Officer Nkomo who was just as gorgeous as ever as she input data into a tablet. There was nothing unusual about the scene at all.

That was until Captain Kerensky recognised a figure more familiar to her than anyone else although she very rarely saw her in this context. It belonged to someone she mostly ever saw in the mirror. And that woman, of course, was Captain Kerensky.

This was very peculiar. How could she be looking at herself? Was the captain viewing a recording of past activity on the bridge? The date and time in the view was exactly synchronised with the real date and time that the captain could see displayed around her. And there was no doubt that the figure was Captain Kerensky. She knew what she looked like. She knew each and every one of her minor physical imperfections. She even knew how she moved.

What was going on?

"It is you," said a voice behind her.

It was scarcely surprising that the voice belonged to Beatrice or the woman the captain believed to be Beatrice. She'd wandered silently into the villa without attracting Nadezhda's attention. She was dressed in nothing more than a thong and a silk blouse that hid nothing of the contours and areolae of her bosom. She was sprawled on a leather armchair in the corner of the living room with a broad teasing smile on her face.

"How long have you been sitting there?" the captain asked.

"Long enough, Naddy," said Beatrice. "I watched you while you scanned what's happening on the bridge. It's a good view isn't it?"

"Who's the woman who looks like me?"

"In a sense, Naddy, she is you. She is an exact facsimile of you in every detail. She resembles you to the very last blade of hair. She talks like you. She moves like you. No one speaking to her would be aware that she wasn't you. No one. None of your lovers. Not your closest family and friends. To the world beyond this villa that woman is you."

"How can that be? I didn't know you had the technology to clone people in that way."

"There's a lot you don't know," said Beatrice.

"Why didn't you replace me by this clone before? Why have you waited until the Intrepid was very nearly at the Anomaly until you decided to do this? Why have you teased me in this way for so many months?"

"I have no wish to cause you or anyone else more distress than is necessary," said Beatrice. "You are a good captain and I was happy for you to continue to serve your duties. But you have answered your own question. The space ship is very close to its destination. From now on, the state of affairs will be very different. The status quo ante can no longer apply."

"Why's that, Beatrice?"

"Because I can no longer trust you to do as I wish," said Beatrice. "You will almost certainly do all you can to frustrate my plans and that cannot be allowed."

"And what plans are those?"

"The Intrepid is now on course to enter the Anomaly."

"That's suicide."

"Only if we don't survive."

"It goes beyond the mission's boundaries."

"It does, but for me that is where the mission begins. Do you really think that your feeble technology could possibly discover more about the Anomaly than we already know? What value could your findings possibly be to my civilisation?"

"If we enter the Anomaly, we can't relay any information to the outside world. It would be pointless as well as suicidal."

"That's a risk we'll have to take."

"You might be able to prevent me from thwarting this madness, but there are many others who'll fight to stop you. My senior officers won't follow the commands of a captain who's exceeded her authority. The military officers won't tolerate such a change of plan. The scientists and other passengers didn't sign up for a one-way journey. They'll do all they can to wrest back control of the ship."

"Military officers take orders, don't they?" asked Beatrice.

"As I understand it," said the captain.

"The mission's parameters were defined before the Intrepid departed the ecliptic plane. The senior military officers including our mutual lover, Colonel Vashti, have been briefed not to allow any deviation from the mission's original directives. The less senior officers and other ranks are all well-trained soldiers. A devotion to discipline and obeying orders is what distinguishes a soldier from other professions. They are trained to obey without question whatever their senior officers command and the most senior officers on the Intrepid have the rank of colonel, isn't that so?"

"Yes. There are three colonels. Each commands a single battalion."

"And if need be, should one or other die or be otherwise incapacitated they can relieve one another's command."

"Yes."

"I could show you each one of the colonels pursuing his or her duties just as I can show the bridge, but that would be a bit misleading. It would be as misleading as showing you the bridge where you are so evidently in command. Look! There you are chatting with your fellow officers. Isn't that sweet?"

"What are you getting at?" asked Captain Kerensky. "You've already told me that the woman on the bridge isn't me."

"Nor for that matter is this Colonel Musashi," said Beatrice who switched the focus to a view of the colonel striding along a corridor in the military quarters accompanied by Majors McEwen and Kiviniemi. He was exactly the same colonel as always with his characteristic harsh bark and stiff stride.

"That looks like the colonel to me," said the captain.

"I'll just change the view," said Beatrice. "This isn't something you'll be able to do yourself but you're welcome to try. You can no longer access the surveillance system yourself although I can of course. Here's another villa on the outermost level. And look here. Who's that naked and very confused looking man flinging rocks through the invisible force field surrounding his villa? Gosh. It's Colonel Musashi. He doesn't look very happy."

"Have you done to him what you've done to me?"

"Naturally," said Beatrice. "He can't be trusted to follow the orders I would give him. Nor for that matter would the other two colonels. They've both been detained and their presence substituted by exact facsimiles. However, unlike you, they don't believe that it's me who's authorised this highly unorthodox behaviour."

"Who do they think it is?"

"Why you, captain," said Beatrice. "Or at least they will when the Captain Nadezhda Kerensky who is currently on the bridge at the moment visits the colonels. Won't that be amusing?"

"For you, maybe," said the captain. "Why have you done this?"

"The command and control structure imposed by the military on itself is an ideal tool for me to exploit for my own purposes. It's better to take control of this structure than to impose control on every individual on the space ship by physical force. I can rely on this chain of command to maintain order at relative minimum cost. It's much preferable to the trouble of having to confine every individual aboard this ship as I have you."

"What about my senior officers? They aren't going to surrender to a change to the mission's objectives. The militia might enforce control by discipline and unquestioning obedience, but my officers will refuse to risk the lives of the crew and passengers in such a foolhardy way. You can be sure of that."

"Maybe. Maybe not," said Beatrice. "But you're right to raise the matter. If you look at the view that's now displayed on your screen you'll see your beloved Second Officer Sheila Nkomo. As you can see she doesn't look very happy either."

The holographic screen displayed the image of a naked black figure framed by the white sheets of her bed. It was the second officer sitting down with her head buried in the palms of her hands and audibly sobbing.

"What have you done to her, you monster?"

"It's more a question of what you've done, captain," said Beatrice. "Or more to the point what the facsimile of you has done. The poor second officer is understandably distraught because you've just informed her that for classified operational reasons she has been relieved of her duties and will now be confined to the villa for the duration of the mission."

"It's not only her duties that she's been relieved of," Captain Kerensky commented.

"No, she hasn't," said Beatrice. "Like you and the colonel, she's also been relieved of her clothing. For humans like you, modesty is a very important psychological trait. It is so easy to rob you of your dignity simply by robbing you of your clothes. Such a small thing undermines your self-confidence and makes you more compliant. It's simple and very effective."

"It's also contrary to standard practice as employed by the Interplanetary Union," said the captain sternly.

"I'm not sure that was the practise adopted in your treatment of the sadly deceased members of the Holy Coalition," said Beatrice. "Furthermore, there's a great deal of what I've been doing that contravenes any convention adhered to by the Interplanetary Union. For a start, the facsimile of you that spoke to the second officer has deliberately misled her. Not only has she told the second officer that, following orders from Mission Control, it is you who has determined that she should be detained, which is not true, she hasn't been informed of many other factors which might either mitigate her distress or make it much worse, depending on your point of view."

"What do you mean? How do I know that you're not misleading me as well?"

"Fair question," said the woman who the captain believed to be Beatrice. "You'll just have to trust me with regards to that. But you aren't nearly as misled as Sheila Nkomo. For instance, she believes that she is the only senior officer who has been relieved of her duty. So naturally she also believes that she's being punished for something she has done. That's probably why she's so distraught. She doesn't know that there are others who've been similarly detained."

"You mean that there are many others that you've imprisoned in this way?"

"Of course. Besides you, the colonels and darling Sheila, the highest ranking military officers and all your senior staff are now incarcerated. The beauty of it is that none of them is aware that theirs is a shared misfortune. Each and every one of them believes that they've been singled out for special attention."

"Surely they could easily find out for themselves by viewing the Intrepid's systems," said the captain. "They could easily see what's going on."

"That would be rather troubling for them, don't you think? What was your reaction when you realised that you'd been replaced by an exact copy? Not exactly delight, but at least as a result of knowing that I'm a representative of an immeasurably advanced civilisation you were able to make sense of what's happening. The others aren't psychologically prepared at all for the revelation that they have been replaced by an exact facsimile of themselves. They don't even suspect this might even be possible. As soon as they scanned the Intrepid's monitoring system, what do you think their reactions would be? Do you think it would be fair on poor Sheila if she observed the activity on the bridge and saw not only you but also herself? Surely it's better to protect her and all the others from such a distressing surprise."

"Have you gone to the effort of amending the data that the second officer and other captives are able to see through the Intrepid's systems?"

"Do you seriously believe that a trivial exercise like that would cause me more effort than the far more difficult task of copying the exact appearance, behaviour and personal traits of dozens of humans? I've done all I can to minimise the distress that they would suffer if they knew the full extent of what is happening."

"I take it you've not told them that you intend to send the Intrepid plunging into the Anomaly?"

"Of course not."

"What have you told them?"

"As I say: it's not what I've told them but what they believe you have told them," Beatrice reminded the captain.

"Whatever. What have they been told?"

"They've been told very little," said Beatrice. "Naturally, you're the one they blame for that. They've been told that they are to be interned for the good of the mission and that a full explanation will be given in due course. That's it. They aren't aware of the projected course of the space ship. They don't know that they will soon be unwitting partners in what you call a suicide mission. They don't know that each detainee has an exact facsimile of themselves that is carrying out their duties without interruption. No other human apart from you is aware that they have been incarcerated. They don't know for how long they'll be held or even why."

"That applies to me as much as them," said the captain.

"Not quite. At least you know why."

"I can't begin to count how many interplanetary conventions you've contravened."

"I can find out for you, if you like," said Beatrice. "I doubt though that your Interplanetary Union had ever anticipated that the command of one of its ships would ever be usurped by an android from beyond the Solar System."

"So, what happens now? Or is that something I'm only going to find out in due course?"

"You'll know far sooner than your fellow officers," said Beatrice. "They won't even know when the Intrepid enters the Anomaly. In that regard they will be the least well informed humans on the entire space ship. In answer to your question: the copy of you will be very active before and during the estimated time of entry into the Anomaly. As far as the crew and passengers of the Intrepid are concerned it will be you that will inform them in a measured and calming public announcement that it is now possible to reveal the true objective of the mission. You will hint that there is believed to be an escape route from the Anomaly although some scientists will no doubt and quite publicly disagree with you. After all, they are the experts on this matter and I don't believe they're at all mistaken. You will be flanked by your senior officers, or at least facsimiles of them. Naturally, they'll agree with everything you say. The passengers and crew will be both alarmed and reassured by your address. They will be alarmed because it is as good as certain that they'll never return home to the ecliptic plane. They will be reassured because your speech will be so reassuring and so too will be the speeches from your fellow officers."

"I don't believe it'll be as easy as all that," said the captain. "You can't expect a passenger list of scientists to be taken in by assurances made by space ship officers."

"You're absolutely right," said Beatrice. "I expect there to be some voluble and potentially disruptive dissent. The military personnel should be able to handle that with little difficulty. If need be, I can use other more effective methods to suppress residual dissent. In any case, the end result will be the same. The Intrepid will enter the Anomaly. That is the object of my mission and no one will be able to thwart me."

"What's to stop me telling other people about your plans?" asked the captain.

"Rather a lot, I'm afraid," said Beatrice. "It was difficult enough for you when I employed an intelligent implant to suppress your ability to communicate. That is still operational, but I doubt whether there'll be an occasion in which it'll be needed. You aren't able to escape from the villa. You can't establish outbound communication of any kind through the Intrepid's systems. Youl have greater access to information than your fellow officers, but you are as restricted as them in your ability to broadcast messages in any form whatsoever to anyone at all."

"What if someone walks by?" said the captain. "Can't I just attract their attention? Won't they be rather surprised to see me when there's another fully clothed Captain Kerensky at duty on the bridge?"

"They would be very surprised," said Beatrice. "Fortunately there's no likelihood of that happening."

"Why's that?"

"Firstly, the outermost level where you and your fellow officers are detained is still out of bounds to the general public," said Beatrice. "It has been ever since the breach in the hull and although that's been completely repaired, the outermost level remains secure. Nobody is going to be just walking by. Nobody is ever likely to be on this level for any reason whatsoever without express permission from the self same senior officers who are unlikely to grant it. Secondly, the force field that restrains you and your fellow officers has an operational intelligence. You are invisible to any external observers. Nothing you do will be detectable unless the force field deems it necessary and that isn't very likely to happen. You are not going to be able to escape, Nadezhda. You might as well just get used to the idea."

12