The Zul Enigma (42 page)

Greg sucked air in
between his teeth and screwed up his face. ‘No. I still think someone’s going
to speak out. But the more time goes by, the less likely it seems.’

‘It’s already been two
weeks. How about the Americans? What do they think?’

‘Barbara made it clear
she never believed you were responsible, not even at the beginning.’

Carlos nodded. ‘I spoke
to Joseph earlier. That’s pretty much what he said about NASA too. Hey, did you
know he worked out how the messages came in?’

‘Barbara mentioned it.
But I didn’t know it was thanks to Joseph.’

‘He didn’t give me any
details. What did Barbara say?’

‘Just that they’re
waiting for NASA’s report. But she did say they’re no nearer finding out who
sent them. Or where they came from.’

‘I hated her for what
she did to me – but you know? She never acted like she thought I was
guilty.’ Carlos shifted forward on his chair and jabbed his finger in the air.
‘When she accused me of playing Zul, she couldn’t even look me in the eye.’

Greg smiled. ‘And what
about you, Carlos? What do you think about it all now?’

‘You saw my conversation
with Zul… and I think I said the same thing to Astraea…
sí
,’ he made a
slow nod of his head. ‘I know I did, remember I kept asking Zul what he thought
I could do, knowing the Americans were putting me in hospital? He made me so
crazy with his answers, you know… the “believe in yourself” and the “when the
time comes you’ll know what to do”? Astraea was the same. It drove me crazy.
They were so evasive. But in hospital, I had time to think. What Zul said about
meditating and doing things for selfless reasons… I don’t know if you know… but
last week I had a big bust up with an old friend.’

Greg nodded, ‘Corrinne
did say something …’

‘And I can’t stop
thinking about what that person said to me. He made it very clear what kind of
a man he thinks I am. And it’s totally different to how I see myself. It made
me reassess my life – the way I was with Elena – and I swear I
never saw it before but… well…’ he looked down at his lap and shook his head,
‘I wasn’t always very nice to her.’ When he raised his head, Greg saw a watery
film covering his eyes, making them shine as if he had a fever.

‘I’ve been thinking
about it a lot and I don’t like the man I am, and for sure I don’t like how I
was with her. I want to change.’

‘But what’s all that got
to do with Zul?’

Carlos smiled.
‘Everything. Like I said before, whenever I questioned how I could do anything
once they put me in hospital, he kept telling me to “believe”. It made me doubt
him then. But now I know they were good answers.’ He leaned forward and shook
his hands in front of him. ‘Here I am. I’m not in Madrid, I’m not in hospital
and I’m not mad. I’m still Director of OOSA. Now let me ask you,’ he pointed
his finger at Greg, ‘would you have put money on that last Sunday?’

Greg laughed and shook
his head.

‘I’m learning I can use
my free will to do anything I want. And what I want is to become a better man.
You see, I honestly believe what Zul says and I want to help others believe it
too. So I’m going to do what he wants. I’m going to get Zul’s message about
meditation and service to others out to the world.’

‘You really believe he’s
an entity from a different density?’

‘I do. But that’s not
important.’

‘What do you mean?
Surely that’s the key issue?’

‘No,’ Carlos said
shaking his head, ‘in fact it doesn’t matter much at all, because his message
is valid regardless of what he claims. Forget what might happen next month or
next year… the important thing is for us to become better people
now
.
That’s something we
can
do.
That’s
what matters. In fact, Greg,
that’s
all
that matters.’

‘Hello Bob,’ Greg said. ‘Yes. Yes, Barbara did mention it. I don’t know. When?
Friday? Yeess…’ he said the word slowly, as if he was still thinking about it.
‘I
was
planning to fly home on Thursday, but I suppose I can come to DC
first. Yes. That’ll work for me as long as I’m in New York Friday night latest.
Yes. Fine. Yes. That should be no problem. Right you are. Ten o’clock? Good.
See you then.’

Greg hung up the phone.
‘Well, well. That was Bob. It’s official. They know how the messages came in.
He wants us to meet him Friday morning to discuss how we should proceed.’

‘Us?’

‘Yes. He wants you there
too. Are you up to it?’ Greg asked, and Carlos grinned.

‘Sure I’m up to it, but
there’s one condition.’

‘What’s that?’ asked
Greg.

‘You tell Corrinne.’

CHAPTER 4

There were distinct advantages when flying with the Secretary-General of the
UN. His assistant took care of all the formalities and in no time the senior
flight attendant, slick and efficient in her red Austrian Airlines uniform,
escorted Carlos and Greg onto the plane.

Carlos settled himself
in the window seat next to Greg and they sipped Domaine Laurent-Perrier Brut
champagne from cut-glass flutes as the aircraft taxied onto the runway. The
cold spell was breaking at last. Temperatures in Vienna had risen a few degrees
and a fine drizzle replaced the snow that had been falling for the last three
weeks.

After they finished the
five-course lunch and were relaxing with cognacs and double espressos, the
conversation turned to Astraea.

‘I’ve gone over it in my
mind a hundred times,’ Carlos said touching his forehead, ‘and I feel like I’m
missing something.’ He shrugged, ‘but I can’t work out what. I know I kept
getting angry. She’d calm me down then I’d get mad again. I guess it was the
amphetamines. The last thing I remember is feeling so angry… I was shouting at
her.’

‘She’s a stunning
woman.’

‘When I first saw her? I
didn’t know what to think. She was too sexy. And it wasn’t just the way she
looked. She was flirting with me.’

Greg raised his brows.
‘That much was clear from the little bit I saw.’

‘She made me uncomfortable.
That made me unsure about her. One moment she was joking around and the next
almost too serious. But I understood her better than Zul.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s because she’s only
at fourth density. It’s because the “gap” in understanding Zul was talking
about isn’t so wide.’

‘What about the
resettlement programme?’ Greg lifted his cup and saucer towards his lips. As he
gripped the handle between his thumb and forefinger the tiny espresso cup,
compared with the size of his large face, made him look comical – like a
giant at a children’s tea party.

‘It will really be
something,’ Carlos said, his eyes shining and Greg wasn’t sure if his
expression was fired with excitement or anxiety.

‘Although it will be
horrendous… unimaginable… at first, because the humans rooted in third density
will have to deal with the remains of the people who evolved to the fourth.’

Greg screwed up his
eyes. ‘There would be so many bodies. I don’t even want to imagine it,’ and he
shook his head making his jowls quiver.

‘But, Greg, like after
the Twin Towers collapsed in New York, Astraea said people will unite because
everyone will be sharing the same shock, the same grief. And in a way it’s
better that there will be something left behind for them to grieve.

‘And later… just think?’
Carlos gripped his boss’s arm, ‘the opportunity to do things right next time
and… with no opposition.’

‘How so?’

‘Because we’ll all
believe in the beneficial effects of embracing selflessness through meditation
and know quantum leaps in evolution to higher densities are for real, because
we’ll have witnessed it with our own eyes. No one will want their descendants
to fail the next time, so everyone will want to raise the vibration level of
their consciousness.

‘And
with such a depleted population, the world will have enough oil and enough
food. We won’t have to mass produce. We can return to free range farming, crop
rotation, biodegradable pesticides and fertilisers. We’ll reduce pollution. The
rivers and seas will get clean again and the fish levels will come back. There
won’t be wars, because there won’t be anything to fight over.

‘Life will be so much
healthier. There’ll be less stress, because there will be enough of everything
for everyone. The pace of life will slow down. And education can be made
available to all.’

‘We can develop a
planetary system of honourable leadership that will cut across race and
religion and give everyone equal opportunities. You see?’ Carlos shook his hand
at Greg, ‘that’s exactly what you and I want too.’

‘Sir Thomas More’s dream
realised – Utopia,’ Greg said.

‘Through consciously
healing our planet and ourselves, we and our future generations will raise our
vibrationary rate so the next time we have the chance to make the evolutionary
leap to fourth density,
everyone
will be successful.

‘I so wanted to believe
in this new planet, this new, beautiful way of life, but because at that point
I thought she was in my head, I got angry.

‘But now?’ Carlos said,
tapping himself on the chest, ‘now I know I didn’t imagine Astraea and
you
,’
he pointed at Greg, ‘and
they
,’ he cocked his thumb over his shoulder
indicating the Americans, ‘know the messages had nothing to do with me, now I
can
believe in the future she described and, well, I want to do everything to make
sure we don’t mess it up again.’

‘You believe everything
she and Zul said?’

‘Yes. But like I told
you yesterday, right now it’s not important if it’s true or not – if the
evolutionary leap happens or not – because promoting meditation across
the planet will help the population, regardless.

‘Later,
when the Earth
does
evolve to the fourth density, that will be the
proof. After that
everyone
left will
have
to believe. After that,
we’ll all know for sure. After that,
everyone
will want to make a better
world in the future.’

Greg cleared his throat.
‘Of course, what Astraea describes for the new Earth is my ideal too. It’s what
the UN represents and it’s what I’ve been working towards. But unlike you,
Carlos, I don’t believe in Zul and Astraea. I’m quite sure they’re human. I’m
sorry,’ he said, ‘but I just don’t believe it.’

‘I know. And I
understand. And Astraea told me to think hard before sharing the actual process
of evolution with the world. Unless people are truly committed, they’ll be
horrified. I was horrified myself when Astraea first explained. But to promote
meditation? We can do that.’

‘I… oh Carlos! I can’t
accept that you really think this evolution thing is actually going to happen.’

‘I know,’ he smiled, ‘it
sounds so crazy – so horrible – but it is very, very beautiful. It
just takes a while to see the beauty in the horror.’

‘And you don’t intend
telling anyone else about it?’

‘No… it won’t do any
good to make that public. But we
can
help people raise their vibration
without revealing what’s behind it.’

‘May I clear these,
sir?’

Greg looked round into
the smiling face of a flight attendant stooped over his shoulder.

After she had taken
their empty cups and glasses, Greg looked back towards Carlos.

‘So what do you have in
mind?’

Carlos lifted his hand
and made a fist, clenching it tight, close to his face. ‘I have a plan and it
can work. It
will
work. I can do what Zul wants. But I need your
support.’

***

Carlos jostled his way around a throng of women in their late twenties out on a
hen night. In spite of the fact it was not yet nine o’clock, it was clear
they’d been celebrating for some time and the bride-to-be, identifiable by the
headdress and white veil planted on top of her head, staggered backwards into
him as he tried to manoeuvre past the squealing mob.

‘Ooh. S’rry,’ she
slurred, giggling.

He reached the bar and
sat down next to Joseph. They were at the Screwball, the same cocktail lounge
in DC where Drew had met Carlos a couple of weeks before.

So much had happened in
that time. Carlos’s world had been turned upside down, right way up and then
back again. Or rather, the reverse. He was definitely right way up now, he
thought.

‘Drink?’ Joseph said.

‘Just offering, or are
you going pay for it as well?’

‘Very funny, Carlos. And
a little bird told me you don’t do jokes.’

‘Not such a little bird,
hey? And not of this world.’

‘Is that what you
believe?’

‘That’s what she said.’

‘Drinks gentlemen?’
inquired the barman and they both ordered vodka tonics.

‘So,’ Carlos said, ‘tell
me how they did it.’

‘There had to be a
logical explanation. Something simple. Then it came to me. Whoever sent them
used lasers.’