[ 2.6 ]
“The war is over. Communication systems are broadcasting freely. All restrictions on travel have been lifted. The people of Copernica, whatever their ideology or creed, are now free to find their way through our vast cosmos once again. For some, it is a time to rejoice; for others, a time to mourn.
“In our recent broadcasts, we’ve been exploring the solar system to see the profound impact our war against the Iblis has had on our humble solar system. We have seen the exuberant celebrations in the cavernous lunar colonies, and we have born witness to the continuing collapse of the NEOs, and the desperate, ongoing struggle to re-establish order there. We have traveled to Mars, where we’ve seen the cost of the devastating cost that the Universal Soviet has born to stop our mutual adversary, and the unprecedented relief efforts of the UFA in the aftermath which continue to this day.
“But while we have managed to secure a future for humanity, the fundamental question remains: who will write that future? With the fall of the machines and their masters, only two forces remain: two peoples, two ideologies, each certain that theirs is the only way forward.
“But is this the only lens through which we should view modern events? I think not. Last week I spoke with the governor of the free lunar colonies, and what did he tell me? The same thing every leader has told me since we’ve embarked on our voyage, a singular issue which should be of concern to every free man and woman.
“There are some who claim the name with pride; others who use it as a slur. Some would prefer another word: freedom fighter. Revolutionary. Partisans.
“I am speaking, of course, about the uprisers.
“Recently, a recording has been released. It is a recording of a man. This man appears badly beaten, likely tortured. He says his name is Jim Serafin. He says he works for the Solar Intelligence Service. At the prodding of his interrogators, he proceeds to make a series of shocking and disturbing confessions.
“The provenance of this recording is unknown, but it has been viewed by millions. SIS has issued a full and unequivocal denial. In the Majlis, Legislator Hammond has called for a full inquiry. The russkiye have reportedly attempted to use this recording as leverage during the negotiations at Marius Hills.
“Who is Jim Serafin? Who is holding him captive in these recordings? Who is interrogating him? What is his connection, if any, to the Solar Intelligence Service? Is there any truth to the confessions he’s offered? While we’ve managed to obtain a copy of this recording with an authenticated verity, a great deal of important questions remain. This program has led the charge in the search for answers, because we believe any government directed by the will of the people cannot function unless its people know the truth.
“Tonight, we hope to learn more about this mystery. I’m pleased to announce the first interview with the subject of that recording, Jim Serafin, in a Hardlight exclusive. Jim, thank you for joining us.”
“Thank you for having me.”
“That is your name, right? Jim Serafin?”
“Yes.”
“Not James Becker?”
“No.”
“And what do you do, Mister Serafin?”
“I’m a security facilitator for Paean Medical Services.”
“You’re not a consultant with IMTG?”
“No.”
“You say otherwise, in the first clip. At least at first.”
“Yes.”
“You give a different name, and a different occupation.”
“That’s right.”
“Let’s get this out of the way, then. How do you explain this discrepancy?”
“Well, Mister Lane, I’m glad you asked. As a security facilitator, my job is to ensure Paean employees can work as safely as possible in conflict spaces. As one of the largest companies engaged in disaster relief, Paean has access to a wide variety of valuable — and in some cases, essential — resources. Unfortunately, this access makes us a target for various hostile actors.
“In late July of last year, we received a report that our employees on Churchill were the likely targets of an attack. In order to mitigate risk, certain corporators — myself included — were given clearance to travel under assumed identities. With the explicit knowledge and consent of all relevant governances, I should add.”
“I see. I would note that this comports with recent statements we’ve received from the Corporative about this topic. Forgive my bluntness, Mister Serafin, but this is a question which comes directly from our viewers, at the absolute top of the queue: are you a member of the Solar Intelligence Service?”
“No.”
“So you’re not a spy of any sort, then?”
“No. I wish I was! It’s a nice fantasy, isn’t it, jetting around the system in luxury ships and romancing beautiful women? But I don’t think that would make my wife very happy! Honestly, my job with Paean keeps me busy enough; I don’t know where I’d find the time.”
“Very good. Asked and answered, then.
“You were abducted on September 8th of last year — taken from a transport, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds like your concerns were justified. Let’s talk a little about that. Now, this is absolutely critical, this is one of the biggest reasons we wanted to talk to you today. Tell me, Mister Serafin, do you know who abducted you?”
“My understanding is that it was a radical faction affiliated with the Fusionist movement—”
“Uprisers, then.”
“Yes.”
“Churchill has been having a lot of difficulties with uprisers, as I understand it. Fusionists in particular. Have you had many interactions with them?”
“Until they grabbed me, ah, not really. Not much. But the Rexes have had the run of Patrick Station since it was abandoned in the Third Overwhelm, so some coordination has been necessary to ensure our relief shipments get where they need to go. Not ideal, of course, but these sorts of alliances are an unfortunate reality in this line of work.”
“Unfortunate indeed. Do you believe the current administration is doing enough to contain the uprisers? To limit their influence?”
“… well, ah, I really couldn’t say….”
“Just give us your impression of the situation.”
“There’s a lot of factors at play there. That’s probably above my pay grade.”
“Are you sure?”
“To be completely honest, Mister Lane, I’m a little out of touch. I’ve spent the better part of the last year in a cage or a hospital bed. I’m not sure I’d have much worthwhile to contribute.”
“I wouldn’t sell yourself too short, Mister Serafin. You’ve been in close quarters with these shabbies; that sort of experience can’t be beat. And it’s far more than most of those folk back in Capital One have ever had.”
“I suppose.”
“But as long as we’re on the topic, let me just take a moment to express my deepest sympathies, not only for myself, but for the entire team here at Hardlight, for what you’ve endured. Let’s dig into that a little more, if you don’t mind. Tell me, Mister Serafin, how long you were held in captivity?”
“Sixty-seven days.”
“Were you frightened?”
“Yes. Very much so.”
“And your captors — did they try to play nice at first? Or was it the rough stuff from first go?”
“Oh, it started rough, but it definitely got rougher. The first day I was in, they hit me with a sapper.”
“A sapper?”
“It’s a little gizmo about the size of a fad, like so. They pop it onto the back of your head and it fires off EMI bursts in order to disrupt your implants. Quite painful, although I was lucky, I suppose… some of the other prisoners found them completely debilitating, couldn’t even walk or talk.”
“In the recording, you appear to be disoriented. That’s because of the sapper?”
“That was certainly part of it. We were also subjected us to the occasional good old-fashioned beating every now and then — you can see some of their handywork in the last clip, actually.”
“Harrowing. And what did they want from you?”
“Information. They’d ask me about security, shipment schedules, other employees. I tried not to tell them anything, but… it was a rough time. They wore me down.”
“Mister Serafin, this is a delicate issue, but it must be discussed. I notice you’re wearing a prosthetic arm.”
“Yes.”
“Suffice to say that they didn’t stop at beatings.”
“No, they did not.”
“Vile, simply vile. It’s difficult to even comprehend. And this wasn’t an Iblis, this wasn’t some terror machine, was it? This was a living, breathing human being that did this to you.”
“I’m afraid so.”
One thing we should address is, you do admit to complicity in the massacre at Centerport. Let’s touch on that. Again, just for the record: over one thousand colonists missing, only a handful of bodies found. There’s been a great deal of finger pointing. We have a recorded confession from you, Mister Serafin, but is it safe to say that these recordings were made under duress?”
“That’d be putting it mildly. To be honest, I don’t remember half of what I said; I might have admitted to being ad-Dajjal by the end of it.”
“Well, that’s not in our copy. But just to be clear: you would deny any involvement? Just for the record.”
“Yes sir. In fact, not only was I not there and not involved in any way, I can offer documentation that I wasn’t even in the cluster when it happened, with full verity. I was attending an industry conference on Luna that month. Bit sloppy of them, really.”
“Perhaps they were just desperate for a win at that point. Actually, that dovetails nicely with my next question. As is always the case with a story like this, there’s been a tremendous amount of speculation. You say you’re not an agent of SIS, I believe you, I believe the viewers can decide for themselves. But if that’s the case, I think a reasonable question to ask is, why do you think they took you? What did they hope to accomplish?”
“I really couldn’t say.”
“Were you alone?”
“No, I was traveling with Frank Morson — he was our tech specialist, and Angel Piapil, who was providing physical security.”
“Not a lot of people.”
“There weren’t a lot of us left at that point.”
“And Mister Piapil was killed during the incursion, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Tell us about him.”
“I… I liked him.”
“You weren’t close, I take it?”
“We were friendly, but not close, no. Securitors don’t generally fraternize with their charges. We only worked together a handful of times. He was… conscientious, is the word that springs to mind. Always early, always ready to go.”
“Would you say he was a private man?”
“I’d say he was careful. You have to watch what you say when you’re in a space with significant Red presence — they’re always looking for an opportunity for kompro. ”
“That’s very interesting, Mister Serafin, very interesting indeed. You see, Hardlight has been working on the story for some time, and we’ve been speaking with highly placed sources in the intelligence community trying to get to the bottom of what happened on that fateful September day. And just this week, we’ve been presented with some very compelling documentation. Tell me, Mister Serafin, would it surprise you to learn that Mister Piapil was an agent of SIS?”
“Piapil? I… Good Lord. Are you sure?”
“Oh yes, quite sure. Not only have we managed to obtain a copy of his SIS file, we’ve also received confirmation from multiple sources that his employment work at Yeniceri was merely a cover story for his intelligence work.”
“I’m shocked. I never would have guessed.”
“I suppose that means he was good at his job.”
“I… suppose so.”
“Mister Serafin, I want to return to the question of the uprisers. Did you know, Mister Serafin, that Churchill DCS has been requesting additional funding to address the rise in upriser activity for years? And they’ve been turned down by the UFA each time?”
“I didn’t, no. But I suppose after our losses in the Belt, there have been a lot of difficult decisions—”
“No no, this goes back well before then. Before the start of the war, even. You’re an expert in security. You’re well versed in conflict spaces. You’ve been an unwilling guest of one of the most vicious upriser gangs in the solar system. What would you say to our leaders about this problem?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not… you know, as far as politics goes, I let my auto-voter take care of all that….”
“Come come, Mister Serafin! Here we are: uprisers in every cluster, riots in more colonies every year. And a handful — like Patrick, as you mentioned, and Grissom, have fallen into complete anarchy. Where are the peacekeepers? Why has colony security completely failed to stop the spread? You’re on Copernica 24, the most widely distributed broadcast in the entire system. This is your big chance. If Executive Abergel were here right now, what would you say to him?”
“What a noxious question.”
“Now, Mister Serafin, really, I’m only trying—”
“No no no, really, that’s quite enough. I came on to talk about what happened, and to clear up this nonsense about my supposed confession. I mean, you really — I don’t appreciate you taking what I went through and using at some sort of… political cudgel, to score cheap points! I was raised on Collins, in the deep dark side. Are we the biggest fans of the Dividenders out there? Certainly not. But Abergel doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to me. It’s just like you said, uprisers have been a problem, for as long as there have been governments to uprise against.”
“But Mister Serafin, you must surely—”
“No no, let me finish! It’s easy for you to sit here and sneer at the all these people, the legislators and peacekeepers and the securitors and all the rest. But I spent sixty-seven days in Hell, or something damn close to it, and you know what saved me? It wasn’t some journo, projecting from his little studio — it was an ASF Tiger Team, working off information gathered by the same intelligence communities you seem to find it so easy to deride. If it wasn’t for them — all of them, working together — I wouldn’t be here being subjected to your blather!”
“Well. I appreciate your candor, Mister Serafin, and I think your passion on this issue says everything we need to hear. But I’m afraid that’s where we’re going to have to conclude our segment. We’ll be back, right after this commercial break….”