Panspermia Deorum (13 page)

“Sorry, but I
must have missed something. Why would these people confess and then
surrender the bribes?”

“Because we
will offer to pay the bribes back to them when the mission lands on
Mars. After all, they accepted the money on the basis of delivering
failure. But they will be offered a choice. If what I have outlined
is not to their liking they will suffer an untimely accident.”

“Wait…I can’t
sanction mafia-style behaviour in this company. There has to be
another way… otherwise it’s a deal-breaker.”

“May I address
you as Julien?”

“You didn’t
need to ask, I never understood why you always referred to me as
Delacroix.”

“Good. If for
some reason we forget to seal off the airlock in space, what
happens?”

“Everybody
dies.”

“Right. That’s
what is going to happen to the entire crew if we don’t make the
conspirators believe we won’t shrink from sending them to the same
fate. Trust me, I have dealt with such people in Russia all my
life. Lean hard enough and you get the confession, and they still
get paid by our enemy. We have a paper trail which allows us to
blackmail NERO whenever we have such a need. But it is actually
important for another reason. One of the crew is involved in this
conspiracy, but I have yet to find out the name. You do not know
what you are dealing with here, Julien, but you should at least
believe that I do. I am desperate to accept your offer, but unless
I can eradicate these people if it becomes necessary, I will have
to turn it down.”

Julien was
completely thrown by such moral quicksand as described by Kolorov.
He decided that the moment had come to switch on the screens.

“Jesus
Christos,” whispered Kolorov, “this simplifies things for us. We
still have to make NERO believe we cannot solve the riddle, but
this setup offers me the option of dispensing with independent
expertise and its attendant risk of leaks. I can use this
monitoring system to get you the proof of what is going on, and by
whom it is being orchestrated. However, my last remark stands, I
will not accept responsibility for the mission unless I am allowed
to convince the traitors that I would have them killed if they do
not comply. Julien, they are scum; they are quite happy to put a
suicide martyr on Kepler and put thousands of your people out of
work by murdering your company.”

Julien blinked
first and they both signed the contract.

T
he crew aboard Kepler had not been apprised of
Kolorov’s appointment, on insistence by the Russian himself. He
painted the picture for Julien.

“The NERO mole
on the vessel has to be someone who has been recruited and trained
with the rest, however, I don’t want that person to get a message
back to their controller that we are on to them. At least not until
it becomes an advantage to us for them to know. You can use Brandt
to investigate with my guidance. Once we do know the identity of
the mole, we can decide how to use the individual without them
knowing what is going on. Julien, just keep focus on the big
picture – always the big picture.”

“I’m trying,
Ivan, I really am. Let me know when you want me to contact Brandt.
I feel sure he will contact me soon because I haven’t given him the
full rundown of our ‘doctored’ propulsion variance, he just knows
that there isn’t a problem with Kepler. The current situation is
still a worry for the crew though, if they have no confidence in
our data.”

“True, but let
us just stay quiet for now.”

*

Eugene told his
family of his decision, he intended to accept his father’s offer,
and that he’d be moving to Guiana pretty soon. Sophie was overjoyed
that she would be re-united with her brother and began pressing
Elise to do the same.

Geraldine was
now aware of her sister’s relationship back in Lyon and excused
herself from the discussion, offering to make everyone a coffee.
Elise dropped the bombshell of her new ‘friend’ as gently as she
could. Eugene was relatively philosophical about it, but Sophie was
distraught.

“Mum, how can
you even think about doing something like that when I’m just
beginning to get on top of my problems? Does Dad know?”

“Yes, he does,
and he understands. I have needs too, the rest of you seem to have
forgotten that… if indeed you ever gave it a thought. Now listen,
I’m going to tell your father that I will join you here for long
spells, but I’m not going to just… just airbrush my friend in Lyon
out of my life. We have mutual interests and I want to preserve
that feeling as long as it lasts. You seem to think I’m nothing but
your mother, to be there whenever I’m needed. And I have been,
Sophie, ever since you were born. You and Eugene have made your…
your free choice to live in Guiana, so why can’t you just accept my
preference for France? If your father can put up with that, then
you are going to have to adjust in the same way.”

Sophie visibly
paled, and the tears began to flow. Yet she nodded acceptance of
Elise’s decision. They hugged and promised each other that they
would try to enjoy the extra time they would be able to spend
together, wherever that was.

Geraldine
returned with the coffee and was relieved that there was no serious
acrimony to overcome. Then she announced that she would only come
to Guiana on special occasions. Eugene made his farewells as he
headed off to see Julien, wondering what all the fuss was about. He
couldn’t quite synchronise the plight of his family with the
prospect of all their lives being truncated in 2039.

*

The asteroid
was making its way smoothly through space, until the cuckoo
embedded from crossing paths with the comet split into two almost
equal parts. Remarkably, they both clung on to their new mother,
and this critical struggle was totally unobserved from Earth.

*

The relief
brought about by not having to go EVA was replaced by impatience.
Mission control was being obstinate according to Captain Muller. He
wanted to hear that Julien Delacroix had not only found the false
propulsion data was of Earth origin, but that he had corrected the
fault. Brandt asked if he should intervene. Surprisingly, Muller
said, “I would appreciate that. Delacroix seems to be immune to my
messages, telling him that we have to consider aborting the mission
if he doesn’t have absolute confidence in the control system.”

“Very well, I
shall ask him to give me an update within the hour.”

Brandt went to
see Hans Back, reminding himself that any standard communication
could be seen by this man, so he decided against the protected zip
file approach. It wasn’t the kind of message in which he wanted the
content or the tone to be disguised.

It read,
‘Julien, there is a lot of apprehension on Kepler because you
haven’t been able to let us know you have eradicated the fault in
your system. Muller is even contemplating abandoning the mission. I
would have to defer to him if there is an ongoing safety issue.
Please send me an up-to-date analysis with the utmost urgency.
Apparently, if we find we have to burn a lot of fuel after we reach
the maximum value in the planned velocity curve, it could consume
any reserves we have. There may not then be sufficient to return to
Earth. Honesty is critical in this context. If you cannot be
certain that you have one hundred percent confidence in your
equipment you must say so. Brandt.’

He thanked Hans
Back and left to speak with Kenji. Brandt smiled as Hiro hadn’t
seen him approaching and was belting out a refrain, normally sung
by a ‘hero’ of his own, albeit with some changes to the lyrics.

“This is ground
control to Major Arse, we’re going to die in a tin can…oh sorry,
sir, I didn’t mean… it is just my…”

“Yes, I see.
But who is Major Arse?”

“I shouldn’t
have been so disrespectful. It meant nothing.”

“Well, the more
you protest, the more you seem to be hiding something. We are all
in this together, or at least that’s how I look at it. Just tell
me, it won’t go any further.”

“I never seem
to learn, I should apologise to the captain. It is just his
unpredictability. He is always changing his mind about what he
wants me to do, it gets me down because it never makes any
sense.”

“Right, well we
all have our little foibles, Hiro. So, what are you doing now that
frustrates you?”

“It is the life
support controls, he said it was oxygen rich three hours ago, now
he says he feels queasy. He wants it reset to where it was. I keep
telling him it should be left on auto, but he is the boss.”

“That is
strange, anyway, I just wanted to ask you what you make of the
delay in getting a full explanation from mission control for the
recent discrepancy in propulsion efficiency.”

“To be honest,
sir, I never believed our units were underperforming. I know these
babies, I even dream about them. Sad isn’t it? I always felt it was
a software problem, and it is a relief that I was right, you know,
it just happens to be down there. Captain Muller didn’t really have
the same confidence in Kepler as myself.”

“Well, let me
say, I do have the same faith as you do, and forget about your
indiscretion - Captain Arse.”

*

Eugene
contemplated exactly how far he could push the envelope in working
for his father. He secretly believed that the research could be an
umbrella for working on his sister’s problem. If progress was
significant, he was prepared to forego the notion that she was
merely unable to summon the tenacity required to fight periods of
depression. He hoped he would discover the means to treat her
schizophrenic tendency. He’d be delighted to admit he had been
dismissive of the condition formally being denoted as an illness.
He couldn’t wait to get started; fiddling around with the human
genome. He seemed to have found his first true calling.
Microbiology was a science, but this was more, a science with an
acutely specific aim. It also had the pressure of a timescale, yet
that in itself could be so irrelevant if his father couldn’t
deliver a knockout punch to the asteroid. He contacted his mother
by phone while he waited to see Julien, to make her aware of his
moment of epiphany.

“Hi, Mum, I
know how difficult it is for you and Dad, but we all have to do our
own thing, whatever it takes, so we can enjoy the next few years.
I’m confident in Dad’s ability to nullify the asteroid threat, but
nobody can be certain. His offer to me to work with him has really
motivated me to take a leap of faith and just get started. You know
how sceptical I am about blind faith in anything, however, I want
to help Sophie as much as I can. It’s a long shot I know, but I
need to do something other than fixate on my own career. She’s been
doing well recently, and this announcement you made about ‘a
friend’ back in Lyon could destabilise her again. I don’t know why,
but I have this compulsion to investigate a means of correcting her
vulnerability to depression, some of which is triggered by concern
for other people. I have to be honest, I’ve only seen this in her
since she came to Guiana. But I have the notion that it might
actually have its roots in her genetic makeup. I suppose I’ve also
been guilty of grossly underestimating the sacrifices you always
made for us, and Dad as well. So, it’s not too difficult to
understand why you might want to spend the rest of your life back
in France, I just hope you can visit the rest of us often enough to
maintain a real family connection, 2039 will be here before we know
it.”

Elise was
caught off guard, this was almost a complete U-turn in her son’s
ingrained scientific tendency to reduce every situation into
logical argument, sidestepping any emotional issues.

“That’s a
wonderful idea, son. I’m…I really am so pleased that you have the
ability to even look into helping Sophie in this way. It does sound
a bit scary to me, not being able to comprehend what is involved.
Listen, I haven’t said I won’t ever consider… that I wouldn’t want
to be with you all here in Guiana, I just need different things
right now. I can’t promise anything, but what you have just told me
is buzzing around in my head with all the other personal stuff I’m
trying to sort out. I think I might… I’ll probably stay here a
little while longer. I’ll speak to you soon. Love you,
darling.”

Elise was
unable hold back the tears. Her mind was in turmoil, she was
emotionally shipwrecked.

*

Julien’s
meeting with Kolorov wasn’t going well. He was beginning to regret
taking in the Russian.

“Ivan, just
back up a minute, will you? You’re telling me I don’t have to worry
about the internal leaks any more, but where are the details? I’ve
got Brandt and that hothead Muller demanding an explanation.”

“Julien, you
recruited me to sort out all of the Mars problems. There are some
things you are better off not knowing.”

“And you think
I’m going to buy that? I recall your previous statement that some
disgruntled ex-employees were responsible for the
cyber-manipulation of our data, but no names were mentioned. You
also said they were working with someone here in VB Aerospace, but
again, no names. Start telling me who they are.”

“This is
awkward for you, I know, but those who left the company and
betrayed us have already been taken care of. That will flush out
the internal traitor. It is how it works in Russia. Please don’t
ask for information it is unwise to have.”

“For hell’s
sake stop talking like we’re running the Mafia. By ‘taken care of’
you mean you have enough proof to begin legal proceedings?”

“No, come on,
get a grip on reality. That would have taken months, there is no
time for pissing about with lawyers.”

“Surely you
don’t mean…”

“It is the only
way in our situation. Look, there are people up there in Kepler,
whose lives are at stake. And don’t think for a second that these
bastards care a fig about our crew. Julien, these people are
fucking terrorists, you cannot negotiate with them. It is done,
there is no going back, and there is only one rat to flush out of
our little maze here in Guiana. He or she will make a mistake
pretty soon. It is more important to think about what to tell
Brandt. There is still a serious risk aboard Kepler.”