The Trojan Horse Pandemic

by Veronica Preda

  “Yes, and?”

  “Well, you recall he was an excellent swimmer, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “After we arrived here, right before he fell down completely, he started feeling a bit better. I kept insisting on going for a swim. I thought physical activity would strengthen him. He refused all this time. At a certain point, I insisted, to find out why he didn't want to swim anymore.”

  “What did he tell you then?”

  “Something weird, about dangers in the water.”

  ”What exactly, mom? Try to remember, please!”

  “I do remember, because he looked me straight in the eyes, and his voice was kind of changed. He told me: Angela, the sea hides the greatest danger for people. The water is the beginning and the end; it is the answer to all questions, but also the source of all problems. Then he muttered something about how at the place where the dangers lie, there are answers as well, but the answers will not be enough, and will cause other tragedies.”

  ”Did he say it in those words?”

  “Yes, I remember pretty accurately. I haven't forgotten, because he repeated those words. Many times, actually. He kept repeating these things as long as we stayed in Skiathos. At some point, I became annoyed and stopped paying attention to him. But he continued to repeat these nonsense sentences whenever he had had the opportunity. They became engraved in my mind against my will. He had this strange fear of water...”

  ”But you've never told me these things...”

  “What would have been the point of that? You had your own problems, you had to finish your research. What would have been the point for you to worry about meaningless superstition? It would have been useless to bother you just because your father had started fearing floods or sea waves, right?”

  “Mum, if you remember anything else, please call me.”

  Marion frowned, crossing her arms, lowering her chin and looking at the three people: her friends, her team, her only helpers in case her great discovery would prove to be an incomprehensible danger for people.

  So, where the dangers were, there were the answers... Marion opened her arms and said:

  ”I have to get back to Calypso Deep. I have to search some more. After I took the Horse out, nothing else interested me. Probably I will find answers there. Buried at the bottom of the sea, as the statue was. I have made my mind up.”

  She explained her decision: she would succeed to convince the sponsors without any problems. They had to temporarily halt making money from the leisure trips with Ulysses, there was no other way. She wouldn’t need long to search the same place where the excavations had been made. Ulysses had the newest instruments and high-performance scanners, allowing it to probe the bottom of the sea at considerable depths. She said:

  ”Right after the statue had been taken out, it was placed in a special container, stored in a ship's belly and brought with no further stops to the museum to undergo the first examination. That's why we didn't have the time to search any further. And we didn't need to...”

  It was Timea's turn to cross her arms and frown:

  “But back then your father spoke of new dangers. He said the answers would bring new tragedies. What could that mean? Are we in a no-go situation?”

  ”I believe I understand what he meant.” Ryan said. “If your theory, according to which this statue is causing people's death, is true, then finding the answers will mean gaining control over this statue. This kind of control means power. Such power, in the wrong hands, could definitely bring new tragedies.”

  They nodded and sighed. If they found the answers, a new problem would arise: they would have to take extreme care in whose hands the information would arrive. But it was too early to worry about the future. Leaving things as they were... that was out of the question. Marion knew what she had to do and what team she would take with her. Furthermore, any object they found would be put in her hands first, for indexing and preliminary analysis. She wanted Timea, Ryan and Ronnie to go with her to the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea. Ronnie jumped up: “Yes!”. Timea looked at Ryan: no muscle twitched on his face. She kept her arms crossed. Marion's father's words had stuck in her mind. She realised that everyone was looking at her, waiting for her answer.

  “Well,” she said, “I think it's better to split up. A team should remain on the surface, to study whatever Karides would find deep down there. I and Ryan could analyze the information from a medical point of view, while Ronnie would help us with the historical perspective. Any possible proof or solution to the present situation should remain between us, in the first phase.”

  ”I know exactly how we could do that. Ulysses can encrypt some messages so they can reach only you for now. I will take care of all these aspects. I will arrange with the sponsors for you to become the surface team. You will have access to anything you will need. The sponsors have every interest in making sure the problems don’t escalate, and they trust me. I delivered what I promised them, and in so doing I earned them billions.”

  Soon after, Marion proved her words. The sponsors and the professional organisations approved the new expedition without much hesitation. They showed themselves ready to support “the most appreciated archaeologist of the moment” to find something new or a solution to the problems in the museums. They emphasised that no indications connecting the deaths with the exhibition had been found yet, but they agreed that things could not go on like this forever. They approved all Karides' requests without objections. They granted Timea and Ryan full access to information, as the medical members.of the surface team. They already knew Ronnie. Karides rushed the preparations.

  ***

  Ryan was muttering under his breath, furious at himself for promising his wife not to take part in the expedition. As long as the preparations were taking place, he had tried several times to change Timea's mind. He had argued with her, accused her of cowardice, indifference, lack of determination. He had told her that he no longer understood her, that he did not agree with her, that she was throwing away the opportunity to do something great. He had asked her to change her mind and then yelled at her. But she had not reacted to his words. She had not argued, she had not slammed doors, and the number of plates in their kitchen had remained unchanged. Instead she had begged him not to go with Karides.

  Now he was standing in front of the computer monitor, holding his chin with his left hand, gritting his teeth while following the encrypted messages sent by Marion. She was approaching the area of the discovery. It was evening and nothing had happened all day. As Ulysses would only arrive the next morning at Calypso Deep, they decided to go to sleep.

  Next morning, the phone started ringing without pausing, waking them up. Their presence was requested at the expedition headquarters.

  Part V

  Trench Pioneer

  Ryan, Timea and Ronnie entered a conference room. Representatives from the sponsors and members of UNESCO and the Royal Archaeological Institute were waiting for them. They were sitting there with sombre faces, stiff in their chairs, with plaques with their names and organisations written in front of them. No one smiled, and Timea thought to herself: Since Marion has involved us in all her research, you can't ignore us, huh? The discussion started slowly, on a low note. Everyone wanted to know if the two spouses or Ronnie had received any news from Marion during the night or that morning. What they knew was that the night before, the submarine had been approaching Calypso Deep. The two spouses and Ronnie said that they had not received any further news.

  “Sadly, we have.” One of the representatives started speaking. New Ulysses had been programmed to automatically send an SOS message in case of a problem. He had sent a message to announce an “imminent crash”. This was the last message they had received, so they were truly concerned. The three representatives of the main sponsoring company started wiped their eyes with handkerchiefs.

  Yeah... sure! Timea thought. You're crying for the people... As far as I know corporations, you're cryin
g because you've lost Ulysses! Beside the cost of the most advanced submarine in the world, you have lost those trips that wealthy tourists were paying considerable amounts for. The worst thing for you is that, as soon as you announce the loss you've suffered, your shares will collapse.

  ”You sent a rescue mission, right?” Ryan and Ronnie asked at the same time.

  “Of course. But you must understand that, at this moment, no submarine is nearly as technologically advanced as Ulysses. We'll send a few bathyscaphes and acoustic probes.”

  The technical explanations went on for many minutes, ending with the conclusion: if Ulysses' framework didn't hold, the expedition members’ odds were nil at that depth.

  ”I don't understand,” Ryan said. “Wasn't the submarine's shell designed to withstand the pressure at very high depths?”

  “It was.” - one of the sponsors responded. “In this matter, New Ulysses was the only submarine with such advanced capabilities. But unfortunately, it is possible that something went wrong. We'll find out more after the rescue mission comes back.”

  ”But I've read that some safety measures were included. Some special evacuation capsules for the people inside.”

  Timea nodded, trying to count mentally how many times Ryan had told her about those capsules, advocating for a “perfectly safe” trip with New Ulysses. The advanced submarine's systems had been designed to foresee the risks and to evacuate the passengers in autonomous capsules, to bring them to the surface alive.

  “We will definitely search for the capsules. But we have to prepare ourselves as well for the eventuality that a technical malfunction of the onboard computer occurred. In that case, it's possible that those inside were unable to use the capsules.”

  The sponsors promised to keep them up-to-date with the search results. Timea cleared her throat, coughed and asked:

  “But what about the research?”

  She saw surprised and accusatory glances flashing at her. I know, I know, this is a proof of cynicism from my side, showing myself more interested in underwater archaeological exploration than in this new possible loss of human lives. She continued:

  ”If the research is abandoned, we will never learn what is going on and why people are dying in hospitals all over the city.”

  ”Ma'am!” one of the main sponsor representatives said. “First of all, there is no objective evidence to connect these... hmm... unfortunate incidents to the Trojan Horse. If you keep making this kind of statements, I'm warning you there will be extremely unpleasant consequences!”

  ”Leonard, there is no need to be so tough.” - another sponsor, named Gabriel, intervened. “I'm sure Timea would never make statements that could induce panic.” Then he continued, addressing the whole room:

  ”Except for New Ulysses, no submarine has such advanced undersea archaeological exploration capabilities. We only have a few simple bathyscaphes, which could collect samples from the bottom of the sea. But Marion's explorations require prolonged excavations, at great depth, with highly trained personnel, plus a lot of complex equipment. We don't have anything that matches Ulysses.”

  “But you can build a new one, right?” Ronnie said.

  ”The construction of Ulysses took years. But you see... I'm afraid we'll suffer extensive losses on the stock market. Because there's no way we can hush up what happened. Everyone knows about this second expedition... and they will be waiting for news about the expedition. When we announce that... it has been a failure, we'll have losses... I don't think there will be any more funds.”

  Ryan, Timea and Ronnie exited the room in small steps. They went back to the Dulays' home, to wait for some information from the rescuing mission. Timea read the online news. There was nothing new about Karides' second expedition. Nothing about the dead people in the hospitals, either.

  “Does nobody realise what's happening?” she said to the other two.

  The two men expressed their beliefs: even if, through absurdity, there had been a possibility that a new submarine, equivalent to Ulysses, would be built, it would take too long. On the other hand, if they didn’t do anything, people would continue to die. Timea spoke about a different approach. After all, as long as they did not manage to prove anything, maybe a solution was the very idea uttered by the sponsors: to create a hunch among people, a suspicion strong enough to escalate into panic, thus forcing the organisers to give up exposing the Horse and to lock it up somewhere, in a warehouse.

  “It seems incredible to me that there has been no news about what happened in Greece and now it's happening in London. Has not at least some nurse ever commented on Facebook or somewhere? Has not a relative or a friend of a dead tourist ever spoken to a newspaper or written anywhere on the Internet?” she said, starting to browse, nervously. She didn't find anything, not a single word. If Ryan, who had been with her all the time and Ronnie, whom she had met right at the hospital, had not been two steps away from her, she would have started questioning the reality of all that she had been through. The men were sitting silenced, frowning, searching for information as well. She looked at Ryan, who had immersed himself in a technical article about New Ulysses. He was reading the data sheet, which Trench Pioneer, the main sponsoring corporation, had made public when they had announced that Ulysses had successfully completed the testing phases and was ready for the expedition.

  ”This submarine could not have a technical malfunction, and no level of water pressure in any sea or ocean on this planet could crush it!” he said, hitting his laptop keyboard with his fist. “All its systems were supported by backup systems that had more backup systems! Any failure, no matter how small or insignificant, would trigger a whole chain of measures in order to save the passengers.”

  ”The Titanic could never sink either, and it looks like it sank...” Timea answered.

  Ryan shook his head and continued:

  “We aren't talking about the same things. Ulysses' hull beat any record of dive depth. It was virtually indestructible. Something doesn’t fit. If there had been a crash, it would have been impossible for the safety system not to detect it. Furthermore, it should have communicated it immediately.”

  ”Maybe something obstructed the communications... At such a great depth, who knows how much interference can occur...” Timea said, putting together the knowledge she had grasped from movies over time.

  “There is something wrong with this whole story,” Ryan said.

  “Obviously!” Timea answered, her voice becoming hoarse. “We figured that out from the very beginning. But we have no solutions, we can't prove anything, we can do nothing! Not to mention that now we've lost the connection with Marion. I am desperate! No one at the Ministry of Health cares about you, despite your position and despite all the official letters and warnings you’ve written. The press doesn't say anything! Ronnie, have you found some news, anything?”

  “Nothing...” Ronnie sighed.

  ”Let's go to the newspapers!” Timea said, her eyes sparkling. “Let's go and tell them everything we know: what we experienced and saw in the hospital, how many people died, and how nobody does anything.”

  Ryan, who was continuing to read the information he had found, stopped and said:

  “I'm actually scared of doing something like that. Those companies that supported the expedition, and especially the main sponsor, as far as I've read, are financial giants. They are involved in many fields. Just think that they had the resources to build this sub. Until now, no deep-sea diving had been performed with such an autonomous and advanced submarine. In addition, I'm almost sure that somewhere, someone is consciously hushing it up.”

  “Why?”

  ”Because it was impossible, at least according to the data sheet they made public, to interrupt communication with Ulysses. In fact, the moment they presented the submarine's capabilities, their shares reached the stars. They were literally flooded by billions of dollars.”

  ”How come it was impossible to cut off communication?” Ronnie said. “After all,
any communication can be cut off.”

  “Not with Ulysses. It was the only sub that had the capability to communicate – look, it says so right here - through neutrino fluxes that can cross any environment and therefore cannot be affected by interference. This was not even affected by the depth of the sub. Ulysses could receive and transmit information under any circumstances and from any depth.”

  “Maybe something malfunctioned. But, then I haven't read even a fraction of what you have.” Timea said.

  “The theory of the sudden malfunction is bullshit!” - Ryan shouted, explaining himself: even if he was sure that the information, which had already been published, represented just a part of all the sub could do, he had convinced himself that the theory of the sudden malfunction lacked coherence. All the aspects he had learned by reading, correlated with what he had intuited from the discussion with the sponsors, from their tone, had convinced him that part of the truth was intended to be kept hidden. He did not exclude, not even a bit, the possibility that the sponsors really were controlling what had been published and what had been withheld. After sharing his suspicions, he continued:

  ”That's why I don't actually believe that you have a real chance of creating a front-page story. Furthermore, we don't know who we are facing and what these giants are capable of if their share price is threatened. I think they could be quite unscrupulous if even part of the truth were to come out.”

  “Sad to say, but even that truth you are referring to is too little and vague.” Timea said.

  After all, what could they report to a newspaper or a TV channel? That since The Trojan Horse exhibition started, people who had been around it had died. The authorities... what had they done? They had carried out analyses, tests, measures, and no connection had been found. Then, the archaeologist who had found the Horse had decided to remake the expedition, to search for further information. But the sub she was on was hit by a sudden malfunction, and since then nothing was known of either Ulysses or the crew. What more could she tell the journalists? That she suspected something was wrong, because that submarine could not suddenly malfunction?! Theoretically... That the crew members should have been protected by the advanced rescuing systems? That this was a case of hushing up or sabotage? How could she explain or prove that the sponsors had sabotaged their own submarine, which had brought them lots and lots of money? Or that they would cover up aspects of such a terrible accident? She shook her head. It would have been sufficient to create at least a suspicion among people, which would decrease the number of people exposed to the Horse. But how could she convince the Press to generate a fuss without exposing herself too much? Asking herself a thousand questions, she composed an email as convincing as possible and began searching for contacts at televisions and newspapers. Was Ryan right? Were they exposing themselves to a real danger? Would the sponsors go as far as to hurt them? The voice of Gabriel, who had attended the discussion... that voice had something in it... She continued to browse from one news website to another, scanning the titles of employees, her mind half absent. A news channel was announcing with highlighted fonts that a brand new satellite had broken down unexpectedly and crashed, completely burning while entering the atmosphere. Would you look at that... everywhere... nothing but malfunctions and accidents!