by Hylton Smith
*
In the face of missing a trick, Julien took the agonising decision to move over fifty percent of his technical staff to the think tank. His reasoning was as simple as the problem was complex. The constraint of time was absolutely dominant. He would not flinch from the continual monitoring and the resulting endless calculations of the big picture. Any minute changes in the asteroid’s path was still crucial in choosing the launch time of his vanguard of deflection missiles. However, he accepted that could be all undone by the rock cracking up of its own accord. There would be a cut-off point in terms of time if alternative feasible means of mounting a counter-strategy to such bad fortune did not materialise. He also took the unprecedented step of informing all observatories and governments of the refocus of resource without touching on political overlays. He was championing for togetherness in sharing all observations all of the time. He closed this request with a promise to spell out his intentions for Soyuz at a later date.
Meanwhile, Bondarenko had to resort to sacrificial blackmail to get Kolorov to cough up the location of the emergency assembly of the second Soyuz asteroid killer force. He threatened to fly to Moscow and confess to the murder of Malenkov, and having been forced to shoot Kolorov during the same incident to give him an alibi. It had leverage, if only in the sense that Bondarenko had already proven to be much more ruthless than Julien.
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.
Chapter 32
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 before considering any 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 n
ervous 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.
Chapter 33
Bondarenko 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 is 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?”
“Actually, Sophie, I think it’s a fantastic idea. I’m totally lost for words. I could never have predicted you would be prepared to forego your return to your passion in the arts world to take on such a selfless challenge. When you pitch your idea to dad, you can tell him I’m one hundred percent behind you. I’ve always loved you, sis, but I haven’t always liked you, if that makes sense. Anyway, it looks like those days are gone, just go for it. Look, I’m sorry that I have to leave now, I would like to hear more of how you see this recovery wing being set up. Maybe I can when you and Reuben have cleared this with dad.”
She shed a few tears of joy as her brother was leaving, and the poignant moment prevailed for some time. She had never experienced such tangible closeness w
ith her brother before.
*
Kolorov was still unconscious, but the scans had not detected any bleeding in his brain. There was some concern over the slight swelling within the cavity and this was being addressed with some urgency.
“Alexei, I don’t know what got into me, well that’s not entirely true, I reacted to the feeling that he was screwing with me yet again. So, what can we expect next?”
“It is hard to say, because the consultant never gives too much away. You should speak with him, after all, he bloody well works for you. I have got to admit I have mixed feelings. Ivan has always had a tendency to shit on people, sometimes just because he can. Until I took the blame for his latest misdemeanour, I fooled myself into thinking I would never be on the receiving end of his deceit, simply because I cleaned up his shit for years. I can understand why you lost it with him, Julien, he was biting the helping hand which you offered him. If I am honest, I wonder if it would not be better for him to just drift away.”
“That’s exactly how I felt. However, Sergei Kaputin did have a difficult job explaining his secret remit, but it has forced me to change my mind. Sergei is nothing short of a nervous wreck working for Kolorov, but he is honest about the pressure he was under and consequently revealed a serious problem. It would still have been a problem if Kolorov was conscious, but it becomes a real game-changer if he doesn’t recover.”