Panspermia Deorum (20 page)

“Listen
carefully, Grigori. I am in here and alive because your father was
shot first and I had only a split second to dive on to the floor
and roll under the table. The gunman still shot me, but I was
lucky. Who the hell in their right mind will buy those shares?
Speak to the lawyer who read Oleg’s will.”

“I did already,
but he doesn’t want to help me either. I know that the value of
these shares is very big, but hell, just give me five million. You
work for this company, you are not going to quit are you.”

“Not
immediately, but I have thought about it. Look, the best I can do
is to ask for you to bring your lawyer here to talk to me, but you
must be present. We can try and sort out your problem. Go, and be
quick about it, I won’t be staying here any longer than I have
to.”

*

Before Kolorov
could grab some badly needed sleep, he had yet another visitor.
Alexei Bondarenko was the man who’d helped him to identify the mole
on Kepler, while inspecting archive footage on Brandt’s flight
deck.

“Close the door
behind you, for god’s sake.”

“You ok, Ivan?
You look relieved.”

“Do not speak
about me, you arsehole. I told you to shoot me in the arm, not my
damned shoulder. I will be stuck in here for a few days now. I
wanted a simple flesh wound to convince the cops that I could not
possibly be a suspect. You made sure of that with your sloppy
second shot.”

“Sorry, but you
dived, I am not bloody Wyatt Earp, I am an I.T. guy. I tried to
tell you this but you would not listen. Anyway, has anybody given
the cops a description of the shooter?”

“Sure, I did, I
also gave them your address and phone number, what do you think?
Even the waiters ran away, and nobody could see your face under
that stupid hat. Now listen carefully, I asked you to do this
because if we had used our usual contacts to get rid of Malenkov,
somebody would have squealed sooner or later. It would have been
the end for both of us. However, we now have a new situation to
deal with. Malenkov changed his will and left all his Soyuz shares
to his eldest son. The kid has just been to see me and he is scared
shitless about being next in line for termination. I told him to
relax, but he just wants out. He will bring his lawyer to see me
soon to offer me the shares at a crazy stupid low price. I want you
to play the role of my lawyer so that we can do what the kid wants.
We need only five million to take over the company. Talk to the
bank and get them to set aside this amount.”

“Wait a minute,
Ivan. This is ridiculous, and the tax people will be on it like a
bunch of sharks. I want nothing to do with this.”

“Just shut up
and hear me out, will you? After we get hold of the shares, we can
contact what is left of our honourable government vultures and
explain the unusual circumstances we face. They are more corrupt
than Malenkov himself, and they will benefit substantially when we
responsibly offer to pass the shares on to them for a very
reasonable mark up. Think about it, the world might end in five
years’ time and Soyuz is in prime position to change that
prognosis, or get a few of our species to colonise Mars. We humbly
offer to keep working for the company, but truly believe it should
be state-owned once again. It is a selfless act on our part and
also gets us out from under the threat of these damned personal
anarchist attacks. The greedy bastards in the tax department will
jump at this because it seems to put them in control of the Mars
situation, particularly those who would be selected to go there if
we fail to knock out the asteroid. This can be a win-win situation
for us if we play the greater good card. And, we earn an apparently
inconsequential fee, we will be seen to have declined obscene
personal gain. This is a one-time chance for us to get ourselves
out of the abyss, Alexei. Don’t overthink it, just go and set up
the bank transfer, ready for me to authorise. I also need to know
what is going on with Kuznetsov, she’s not to be underestimated, my
friend. Bring me the latest coordinates for Laika and the missile
fleet. Get them back to me within the hour.”

I
n reality, the conundrum facing Kolorov was extremely
complex. The launch time of the nuclear warheads was the one
constant in his cosmic riddle. The position, trajectory and speed
of the asteroid was known, but could change. Now that Malenkov had
been deleted from the equation, tracking the fleet of missiles was
optional, and of little concrete value in the greater scheme of
events, in his mind. He was concerned by Kuznetsov’s actions; even
if her alteration of course did make sense of some kind, in
reality, it had only been precipitated by Malenkov’s ill-considered
edict. Her initial flat refusal to follow orders had only been
overturned by threats to the families of the crew. He needed to
communicate with her, bring her up to date with the new situation,
and determine the real reason for her suggesting course alteration
rather than simply allowing the implied threats to make her
comply.

He couldn’t
risk delegating the maze of calculations to the people normally
charged with such tasks, because some were mathematically
quantifiable but others were more in the realms of political
psychology. The visit of Grigori Malenkov had changed the entire
landscape, at least for the present. He had to accept, albeit
reluctantly, that only Bondarenko could be trusted implicitly at
this moment in time. That could also change, as and when he was
sure of Kuznetsov’s intent.

His thinking
was also encumbered by being confined to hospital, with its
attendant lack of privacy, constant need for medical tests, and no
secure means of communication. Such a chaotic environment was
conducive to making mistakes and hasty judgement. Unfortunately, it
may have to get worse before it could get better. In a few hours he
would be conducting a charade with Grigori Malenkov, his lawyer,
and a pretend lawyer of his own. His thoughts flicked back to the
fleet of missiles.

He’d been
railroaded by Oleg Malenkov into launching them much earlier than
his old friend Julien Delacroix intended to dispatch those of VB
Aerospace. With less than five years to go until the asteroid could
actually reach Earth, he had always felt that the more simplistic
strategy of pinpointing where the fleet could intercept the
asteroid by adhering to a single point in space-time was grossly
flawed. Even if his current fleet required less sophisticated
propulsion technology, it would take much longer to reach the
asteroid, and consequently offered a poorer coefficient of
accuracy. Malenkov’s insistence that it was better to know one’s
fate than to wallow in uncertainty, now seemed so wrong. History
had shown clearly that transfer orbits were a much better way of
making such a rendezvous. Initially having decided that the best
place to strike the asteroid was between the asteroid belt and
Mars, Kolorov had drawn on the experience of the October 1989
launch of Galileo, which arrived in Jupiter space six years later,
in December 1995. This was his first reference point, one of single
orbit propulsion. In comparison, in January 2006, New Horizons was
launched with its more efficient propulsion system. More
importantly, it employed the Hohmann transfer orbit approach. This
method required much more complex calculations to enlist the help
of slingshot principles from other gravitational bodies. The
staggering truth was that New Horizons reached Jupiter space in
thirteen months. Considering that the
average
distance
between Earth and Jupiter orbits is approximately 483 million
miles, the payoff with transfer orbit rendezvous was obvious in
both time to destination and accuracy, provided that the asteroid
maintained it course at forty thousand miles per hour. This
strategy would have allowed for a much later launch, especially as
the fleet only had to travel to within ‘sight’ of the asteroid
belt.

He cursed
himself for bowing to Malenkov’s pressure, to be seen to be
actually doing something now, rather than procrastinating for
another few years, merely mimicking VB Aerospace. Malenkov had also
insisted that simply waiting would risk losing the confidence of
the public, as well as fuelling the fires of the anarchists.

In fact,
Kolorov recalled Malenkov’s challenge to the accepted wisdom of
interference with the monster’s journey before it encountered
possible pinball in the heavily populated asteroid belt between
Jupiter and Mars. Most respected cosmologists warned the oligarch
that this could have dire consequences. Although Malenkov conceded
to this view he was never going to back down on the launch date.
Having any kind of salvation on its way would keep the proles
happy. Deep down, Kolorov knew this had been driven by a
combination of greed and fear. What a mess he had helped to create.
He briefly contemplated speaking with Julien Delacroix, but decided
against the notion, at least until he knew whether his scheme to
acquire and sell on Soyuz to the state was indeed feasible.

*

Kolorov was
becoming agitated because it was almost time for Grigori and his
lawyer to make an appearance, yet Bondarenko had failed to arrive
and wasn’t answering his phone. The patient had been reprimanded by
the nursing staff several times and was repeatedly told to calm
down. He was busy threatening to discharge himself when his fake
lawyer burst into the room, red-faced and breathless.

“Where the hell
have you been? I have tried to contact you all afternoon. Close the
door and sit down. Now, before Grigori arrives, did you get
confirmation of Kuznetsov’s coordinates?”

“No, well, not
really, but that is of no importance now.”

“No importance!
I asked you to do a simple job for me, one which I consider to be
ultra-important. What the hell have you been doing? Why do you not
follow my damned orders?”

“Ivan, just
calm down. Kuznetsov’s coordinates are no longer important with
respect to tracking the missiles. She sent a message to you, simply
stating that Laika was returning to Earth. She obviously had no
intention of complying with Malenkov’s instructions.”

“Shit. I
suspected she wasn’t really being up-front when she suggested her
new course alteration, she was just buying time. Well, I suppose it
could be worse, for a while I thought she might be going to crash
into the fleet in an act of martyrdom. At least we have no need to
explain some disaster like that. Ok, now listen to me and do
exactly as I say this time. When Grigori’s lawyer begins his
bullshit about the problems with our scheme, I want you to whisper
your advice in my ear. I want to do the talking, but make it appear
that I am taking your advice. It makes no difference what you
whisper to me, as long as only I hear it. The football scores or
the weather forecast will do. Do you get the picture?”

“Yes, and I am
relieved to hear I do not have to talk like a lawyer. Are you sure
you can pull this off?”

“Of course, as
long as you don’t ruin things by opening your mouth.”

The door opened
and the nurse informed Kolorov that his visitors had arrived.
Grigori’s lawyer declined to sit and began lecturing Kolorov, who
nudged Bondarenko under the table. The whispering began and there
was nodding of the head prior to any reply.

“I hear your
objections Mr..?”

“Federov,
Anatoly Federov.”

“Right.
Anatoly, my legal friend here has reminded me that this is not a
normal situation, and therefore normal regulations are less
important than they used to be. In well under five years we may all
be history, including the tax people. It would take at least that
long for them to bring a case of fraudulent action, even if there
was no threat to humanity on the horizon. Look at it this way, I
have responded to a request from your client, a young man who wants
to get the best out of what may be a very short life. I would do
the same. I am suggesting using Soyuz funds to buy shares in
itself, there is a lot of precedent to this kind of trading. The
benefit to the government, including the tax lizards, is the gift
of such a prestigious organisation to the people we are trying to
save. It makes sense in terms of accountability, survival is simply
not guaranteed, but it might just help to placate these damned
anarchists as well. Grigori is right, if he hangs on to the
ownership he could suffer the same fate as his father. I am only
prepared to act as an intermediary. Of course I would like a small
fee for surrendering my own stockholding in such a gesture. Grigori
wants only five million for the company, and I would not want more
than a paltry million as a facilitator. This total of six million
wouldn’t even cover a couple of pieces of specialised analytical
equipment in one of our laboratories, never mind the state of the
art assembly lines and everything else. Look, nobody is interested
in anything but whether we will succeed in stopping this
planet-killer, so what is the big deal in Grigori making such a
selfless gesture to mankind? I think you have to see the current
situation in a wider context, Anatoly. Of course, I can understand
it will require the appropriate choice of words in the transfer
document, but I recognise your responsibility as Grigori’s legal
‘guardian’ and your fee should be appropriately set to reflect any
risk to your reputation. Am I making sense of this in such a time
of crumbling law enforcement?”

“Well, when you
put it like that, I should at least discuss this again with my
client in private. I can let you know what we decide in the coming
days.”

After Grigori
and his lawyer left and closed the door, Bondarenko visibly
relaxed. He turned to Kolorov and managed a constrained smile.

“What is it
that bothers you now, Alexei? We have had a good day. I may even
forgive you for messing up the shooting. We can be confident that
Grigori’s lawyer will not be able to resist a healthy kickback for
doing almost nothing. We are then able to use this benevolent act
to nationalise Soyuz once more as a means of overriding the late
Oleg Malenkov’s death sentence on the crew of Laika, and order
Kuznetzov back to Earth immediately. The nuclear fleet still has
its part to play, but in truth, I am not making too many ten year
plans until we have solid evidence that the asteroid has been
neutralised. Of course we have a second chance with VB Aerospace
still to decide on when their follow up strike is to be launched.
They would be well-advised to wait until they know how our fleet
fared. That should not be difficult considering Julien Delacroix is
genetically over-cautious.”