Panspermia Deorum (27 page)

The underground
complex was deep into Siberian wastelands. He was given the name of
the Plant Director and how to contact him on a secure line. Armed
with this, he duly informed Julien. They pondered over how to hook
into what was actually going on at the location. They came down on
the side of getting the top man over to meet the new owners of
Soyuz, at their HQ in Guiana, under the guise of a long-awaited and
hard-earned reward for his outstanding service in Siberia - a
vacation in the Caribbean, where he would be collected and
enlightened with the new strategic direction of the company.

Part Four:
Pendulum

2038

A
crumb of comfort, or the beginning of a slide to
impotence? The Chilean observatory had redirected one of its probes
which had been monitoring the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. It
became a salutary lesson in a divided world. An oasis of trust in a
desert of secrecy.

The probe was
unable to land on or even reach the asteroid, nevertheless it had
managed to find coordinates with a perfect view of its ‘tail’. The
grainy images had to be enhanced and analysed carefully. The
comfort quickly ebbed away. One cometary fragment had clearly
detached itself already. At the time the image was transmitted, it
was only a short distance from the parent body. Yet it was
following on, as a new-born would trail its mother. The nest which
it had occupied was leaking matter in the form of a gaseous or dust
trail. Twelve days after this discovery it was reported that the
cracks in the empty nest were widening, marginally but
inexorably.

Ironically,
Ivan Kolorov felt he had been vindicated, by his foresight leading
up to the decision to allow the asteroid to march unhindered past
the debris of his nuclear fleet. This was seen by both Julien and
Bondarenko as a premature and scandalous claim.

“You were only
thinking of protecting your own arse,” barked Bondarenko, “even now
you are in denial. You disgust me.”

“Ok, Alexei,”
said Julien, “I understand your feelings, but the task ahead of us
has now altered and we just have to start all over again. The next
few weeks will be absolutely crucial. We only have this information
because others were prepared to set aside their personal
objectives. We have to do the same. I want to run over Ivan’s
calculations again, those he did after you left Russia. Perhaps we
can take one of the variables out – the possibility that the
asteroid would arrive at our door with both cometary chunks in
place and then confront the atmosphere with no developing or gaping
cracks in the parent. I want to concentrate on this new scenario:
it’s factual and with more incoming information, we will have more
data on mass and homogeneity of all components.”

The possible
outcomes proved to be manifold and the majority were pessimistic.
Some were considered to be unthinkable, and even filtering out
these unacceptable candidates produced a short list of
unpredictable options. The three of them eventually agreed that
they had to deploy both the VB Aerospace and secret Soyuz nuclear
fleet to strike the rock between Mars orbit around the sun and the
inner boundary of the asteroid belt. The two fleets would need to
be ready at the same time, but one would launch a week in advance
of the other. They hoped rather than expected that they would have
more hard data to evaluate and consider modification of this
intercept plan. They wanted to know whether the rock had shed more
components, if and when the cracks in the parent were likely to
fail, and crucially, precisely when the first fleet had to be
deployed. Holding the second fleet back until there was more
information on these issues was thought to be essential.

A corollary to
this plan was to upgrade the urgency of getting the Siberian
supremo to Guiana.

*

Sophie was
making great strides, being more self-aware of how demanding she
could be. She could feel her ability to apply a brake to her mood
swings, without having a clue as to how she could do this,
especially as it was happening with virtually no effort or
indecision. Like riding a bike, she could go for days on end
without the onset of a tantrum, and when the slippery slope
presented itself, she knew how to ‘ride’ it out by instinct rather
than memory recall or advice from others.

She did,
however, retain her penchant for inflicting surprise on those
around her. The latest shock for the family was her casual
announcement that she was now married to Reuben.

“I had to
explain to him that we didn’t need a religious ceremony or any
other kind of blessing. We just exchanged vows of our own, and so
there we are, we’ve done it. We will be having a simple party to
acknowledge our union. Reuben has never been able to trace any of
his siblings and detests his uncle, so he is happy to make do with
our family. Why are you all gaping like goldfish?”

Tears of joy
trickled down the cheeks of Elise and Geraldine, Julien felt a rush
of pride mixed with relief that he could see himself spending less
time worrying about his daughter. He liked Reuben and admired the
young man’s stabilising effect on her condition. The wistful look
on Eugene’s face disguised the immense pride that enveloped him
when his sister thanked him for ‘fiddling’ with her temperamental
‘voltage regulator’ and vowed to support his work by helping others
with such issues. The evening concluded with Reuben joining the
rest of them. All in all, it was quite an emotional gathering, and
for a few hours there was no talk or thought about the impending
outcome of the asteroid killer programme.

*

The two
Russians were nervous about the proposed visit of the Siberian
missile supremo. Bondarenko said he wasn’t needed for such
discussions as his expertise lay elsewhere, and anyway he wanted to
remain under the radar. Kolorov expressed the same concern about a
face-to-face meeting with someone who could tip off the Russian
Mafia with regard to his whereabouts. He pointed out to Julien that
part of the deal was for both of them to become invisible. Totally
out of character, Julien grabbed Kolorov by the throat, purely out
of frustration that this man was at it yet again. He then suddenly
calmed down, breathed slowly and deeply, while glancing at
Bondarenko. All he saw was genuine fear. He pushed Kolorov so hard
that he staggered backwards and as he lost his balance his head
struck the corner of the solid wooden table. Bondarenko rushed to
his aid but his countryman was already unconscious.

“Sorry about
that, Alexei. You’d better call our medical man. Just tell your
compatriot when he recovers consciousness that you’re both off the
hook. I’ll speak with Sergei Kaputin alone. I’ve been told he is
already on his way. Just get this Rasputin out of my face.

*

The man from
Siberia was not exactly what Julien Delacroix had imagined him to
be. Very tall, skeletally thin with an extremely severe twentieth
century American GI crew cut. The man was visibly uncomfortable,
his constant blinking was accompanied by a nervous twitch in his
upper lip. The yellow-brown fingers of his right hand seemed to
suggest a chain smoker. Even this first impression didn’t prepare
his host for what was to come.

“Welcome to
Guiana, Sergei. Please take a seat. Would you like coffee or
tea?”

“Coffee please,
black.”

Julien’s PA
acknowledged and left the office.

“You’ve had a
long journey so I’ll try to keep things short and sweet on your
first day here. I had to ask you to come all this way because there
are the issues of change of ownership and future plans to discuss.
I take it that the Soyuz Head Lawyer has briefed you about my
takeover of the company?”

An apprehensive
nod and a dry cough was the only response.

“Ok, good. Now
I want to reassure you that your position is safe for now. By that
I mean in the same way we are all worried about what is to come in
2039. That is in fact the only reason I had to speak with you
urgently. I need a comprehensive update on the status of the
nuclear fleet you were asked to build by the former owner of
Soyuz.”

Another nod and
a twitch of the lip.

“We can get to
the detail later, but I would like to hear when the missiles will
be ready. I have to fit their availability with the ones we are
preparing. I realise the software installation and its programming
must be considered separately because we still have to decide on
certain sequences of the operation.”

Kaputin’s
reaction was one of total confusion.

“I am sorry,
sir. I do not understand what you ask. The missiles have been ready
for some months now. I thought you must know this.”

“I see. Well,
let’s just back up a little. Are you saying that the former owner,
Ivan Kolorov, has known this for weeks?”

“Of course. He
instructed me to work to his plans. I have no contact with other
departments in Soyuz. Mr Kolorov even made all arrangements for
deliveries to our factory. The location and purpose had to remain
secret. Everything was controlled by him. The suppliers were never
allowed to know about each other and every item had to go through a
warehouse in Irkutsk. Onward transport to the assembly line was by
road trucks. The paperwork indicated they were for aircraft
construction.”

“Sorry, just a
minute, are you telling me that these missiles could be launched
now?”

“Yes. When Mr
Kolorov first appointed me, I told him that it was not possible to
make these missiles in the time he gave me. But you must know he is
a propulsion expert, and he said it could be done if we built them
to his new design.”

“New design?
What exactly is this new design?”

“He said that
without the needs of a manned craft, it was possible to simplify
the construction. Without having to consider life support,
artificial gravity, all kinds of consumables, sanitation, habitat,
and many more things, we could concentrate simply on the task to
get warheads to the required point of detonation. The key is in the
propulsion system. I hope you will not ask me to explain how it
works. He personally supervised the installation of that phase. I
was responsible for having the carcases and the warheads ready. I
was not allowed to ask too many questions and his people fitted the
integration software. So, they are ready. If they will ever get out
of Earth gravity? I could not tell you. He is a brilliant man, and
a very confident one, but I am not sure if this system of his has
been fully tested in practice. How could you do that without anyone
knowing?”

Julien looked
to the heavens and uttered several expletives.

“Where is Mr
Kolorov now?” asked Julien.

“I have no
idea. Nobody else seems to know. I have been concerned because only
he has the launch and detonation codes for these missiles. We are
sitting in Siberia without having any control over these things.
Personally, I have thought about putting them into a state of
temporary decommissioning.”

“Ok, Sergei.
Let’s not jump too far ahead. I suggest you stay at my house rather
than a hotel. We have lots of spare space, so you can have privacy.
I can see you are suffering from jet lag and you should get some
sleep. The rest of our talks can wait until tomorrow.”

Sergei Kaputin
felt sudden relief, without really knowing why. They left the
office together.

B
ondarenko answered his mobile. “Julien, I have been
trying to reach you, we have a serious situation. Ivan has been
taken to the company medical facility. The specialist there said
that apart from acute concussion, he has to perform a scan for
signs of any bleeding from the brain. I asked when he expected Ivan
to become conscious again, but he either could not or would not
say. We can expect the results of the scan anytime soon.”

“Shit. What a
bloody mess. You mean he has been unconscious all this time?”

“No, he seemed
to have recovered not long after you left to meet Kaputin, but then
he suffered some kind of aftershock while the first doctor was
examining him. It was not exactly a full-blown seizure according to
the Doc, he said it was some kind of mild reaction to the trauma, I
cannot remember the word. That’s when Ivan was transferred to this
medical ward. He has been completely unresponsive, you know, out of
it for several hours now. About the only good news is that they
have checked his reflexes with needles and electrical stuff, and it
seems like he still reacts to such stimuli. The brain specialist
seems hopeful but will not say more until he is sure there has been
no cerebral bleed. Are you coming here? I think you should. This
could mean your plans have to be revised.”

“Yes, ok, I’m
on my way, Alexei. We can talk when I get there. My plans might
have had to be altered anyway. See you in a few minutes.”

*

Day by day,
Sophie’s confidence grew. She was able to see things, rather than
feel them. Things which had always made her uncertain about how to
deal with them. It was as though the visualisation process could be
engaged to rationalise the prior physical and emotional link, thus
enabling indirect control. Eugene was overjoyed.

“Sophie, I’m so
impressed that I now feel I can spend all of my available time to
take the implications of this research into the next phase –
increasing the robustness of human physiology to harmful
environmental forces such as radiation, toxic gases, bacterial and
viral mutation, and not least - lower prevailing temperatures. It’s
testimony to your transition, you’ve amazed all of us with the
courage you’ve shown through all of this, with a lot of support
from Reuben. So, what’s next for you?”

“We’ve both
talked this through, but I’d still like to hear what you think of
my new idea. You know I’ve been helping other people in a small way
by talking them through my own battles against depression. It has
been similar to the way Dr Villeneuve originally set up sessions
for me when I first arrived in Guiana. Well, I want to do more. And
I’d like to help with your dedication, Eugene. I was going to ask
dad if he would consider building an extension to the medical
facility for any people needing post-procedural care after you’ve
treated them. Not just for my type of ‘alteration’, but some of the
experimental ones you’ve just mentioned, you know, physiological
changes. Reuben would like us to do this together, and maybe
recruit more experienced staff to keep us on the right track. We
can’t divide our time and effort too much if we’re going to make a
real difference, especially in the short time we have before we
know the score with the asteroid. Do you think I’m crazy?”