Insequor

by Richard Murphy

  Jones shook his head, “Can’t say I do. What is this evidence?”

  “We’ll get to that,” said Brooks. “For now, I have another question; what is Daniel doing in the Kraznik valley in Abraznia?”

  “No idea,” said Jones.

  “Professor Benedict Grey; ever heard of him?”

  “Nope,” said Jones.

  “What about these research papers? Seen them before?”

  Jones looked at the files on a tablet Brooks had produced. One was Accessing the Multiverse. “No, Mr Brooks, and I think this conversation is over.

  “But what about my evidence?”

  “I don’t believe you have any.”

  “Oh really? Take a look.” Brooks slid his finger across the tablet. There was a picture of Jones entering the bar by the airport and leaving, shortly before Lowe.

  “A friend of mine is paparazzi,” said Brooks, “he’d been casing Lowe out as there were rumours he was gay. When he saw you…” Brooks made a clicking noise and mimed an imaginary camera. “Now the good news is he told me about the pictures and knew I was interested in you and Daniel, so he sold them to me, original digitals and all. So I have the only copies. He’s also very forgetful and won’t remember taking them, if you know what I mean.”

  Jones looked at the barman and, with a raise of his eyebrow, ordered another drink. It arrived and he gulped it down. “What do you want?”

  “I need to get the story. I need to get to Daniel. This is the end; I can feel it. What’s he doing? The whole world wants to know.”

  Jones waved his finger in the air, not even looking at the barman this time. “In case you haven’t heard, I no longer work for him.”

  Brooks took out a packet of cigarettes and then offered them. “Care to join me outside?”

  “Sure,” said Jones. It had been a long time since he smoked, but this seemed the perfect opportunity to start again. As Brooks opened a side-door the city glare seemed to heighten the effects of the whiskey and he had to breathe deeply until his eyes adjusted. They went around the back were there were a couple of chairs and a table with an ashtray.

  Brooks lit his up first before offering Jones the light. “Bob, can I call you ‘Bob?’”

  “No,” said Jones, sucking in deeply with a crackling voice. “Look, just tell me what you want.”

  Brooks nodded then blew smoke across the table. It swirled upwards to join the L.A smog. “Alright,” he said, Jones noting how he sounded a little like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. “How do I get into the complex?”

  “You don’t,” said Jones.

  “Come on,” said Brooks, “you were his Head of Security.”

  He shook his head. “Even if you could get a visa, which you won’t, you’d have to get someone to take you to the valley. There’s no road so you’d need to charter a plane. The plane would need clearance from the airport we built which you won’t get. He didn’t just choose this location because it was remote; it’s inaccessible.”

  He sat back and took another drag from the cigarette; he hadn’t realised how much he’d missed them. “Daniel spent years working on this plan. You really think he’d pick somewhere he could be disturbed? Hell, I’d never even heard of Abraznia before he mentioned it.”

  “There must be a way?”

  “No,” said Jones, “so I can’t help you.”

  “That’s too bad. If you’re no use to me…” Brooks shrugged. He got up and turned around.

  “Wait,” said Jones, “I know this game.”

  “Game?”

  “You got something to help me; you feign interest, make a deal and then walk away. I was a cop, remember? I used to do plea bargains all the time.”

  Brooks’ nose crumpled, “Mr Jones, did you think I was trying to blackmail you?”

  “Just tell me where I go from here.”

  The reporter turned and stared back up the side of the bar toward the road. A fire truck thundered past, it’ siren echoing off the walls of the alley.

  “If you can’t help me, maybe you can help someone else.”

  “Who?”

  Chapter 45

  When Daniel got back to Kraznik he literally thought he’d got off at the wrong place. It was unrecognisable. He’d spent six months away but it looked like he’d been gone six years. The whole complex was almost the size of a town and could be seen from some distance away. There was even a Starbucks. Upon landing, one of his assistants greeted him with a ‘cup of joe’ in the familiar paper cup; it even had his name on it. He looked at her sideways but she just shrugged.

  They hopped into a car and she dumped a pile of paperwork on his lap. It was mostly procurement approval requests, big ones; the smaller ones he had given Grey authority to process himself but when it was over a million he wanted to know. He was amazed at how many of them there were; some were marked ‘Urgent’ in red or ‘Required Immediately’ in the Professor’s scrawl.

  “Take me to Professor Grey,” he said, to the driver in front.

  When they got to the complex he was escorted to the top floor of the main office building, there was also a finance office, operations and IT department. Through the glass walls of his workplace Daniel could see Grey was in a video conference with someone. He made his way in without knocking, and neither Grey nor the person on the call acknowledged him. They were speaking in Russian.

  He sat at the back and let them continue talking. Grey was working through a PowerPoint of some calculations and diagrams; Daniel couldn’t tell what they were. He occasionally heard the odd English word though; ‘magneto-optical,’ ‘antimatter,’ ‘multiverse,’ and Davis’s name cropped up too.

  Eventually, the Professor began to wind up and he killed the call before gathering his notes and standing up to leave; he started when he saw Daniel.

  “I didn’t realise you were back.”

  “I needed some time to gather my thoughts. Who was that?”

  “That was Professor Kinshchak, from Moscow State University. He’s a good friend of mine and has been helping me with some of my preparations. The work we’re doing here has attracted quite some attention. The papers I’ll be able to write after this…”

  Daniel nodded, “I’m glad you’re getting something out of it.”

  Grey paused. “I apologise, that was ill-thought. This is, after all, about you. Would you like a status update?”

  “Please,” said Daniel, rising from his chair.

  “Why don’t we take a drive?” Grey called out for his assistant and they left the building and jumped into a buggy. The assistant drove and Grey indicated they should do a lap of the complex. First they arrived at the generator house.

  “The generators came on line last week, all four of them. We’ve still got the diesel backups but these are geothermal and, theoretically, have a life of four years until maintenance would require a shutdown. However, as we have three that means we can alternate shutdowns if we have to and, crucially, always have a backup.”

  “Sounds more than enough.”

  “We cannot take chances, Daniel. That is what the United States government did; and look where it got you.”

  He found himself wondering what Toby was up to; he’d sure get a kick out of all this. True, he’d put on some pretty good shows himself, but nothing ever this grand. Maybe that’s where Toby had failed – he thought too small. It was always an idea or a pitch. Never a plan. Plans have beginnings, middles and ends. The buggy cruised past the goliath like generator house, took a left and then then sped up past some more tall warehouses.

  “On our right we have the stores; enough to get the entire crew of two hundred through winter if need be. Next a small hospital, network centre, loading depot and over just behind that you can make out the media centre. Everything’s here and ready.”

  And that’s when Daniel saw it; the unmistakeable wide open space, out of place and akin to nothing.

  “That’s the collider, isn’t it?”

  “Very perceptive. Yes, under
neath this area is the collider. I was going to get it marked with some floor paint or something, cones even, but that would have alerted the various government satellites watching what we do. No, better our collider is indiscreet and concealed. We dug in from the sides using the purposeless buildings 41a and 41b.

  “As the geological surveys confirmed we had a vast underground cavern, one that would mean we didn’t have to disrupt large amounts of earth so to the spying birds above there was no activity apart from a lot of people and machinery going in and out of these buildings. But, all the buildings here have a lot of people and machinery going in and out of them, right?”

  “Right,” said Daniel. He got out of the buggy and stood in the dusty square. It was about the size of a football pitch and as he walked out to the middle he felt the false floor echo louder.

  “Exactly how deep is the chamber underneath me?”

  “About two hundred metres.”

  Daniel looked down, the soft dirt was a few inches deep; his footprints were the only thing around him, connecting him to the edge.

  “Doesn’t there need to be a focal point or lens?”

  Grey shook his head. “No, we will be firing the particles across a very wide berth. We have used what is called a ‘scattergun’ approach.”

  “So how accurate do we need to be with the robot?”

  “Within a few metres. We’ve made new calculations which mean we can dispense with the hanging basket I know you were so fond of.”

  “That’s a relief. Where will I be?”

  “Behind a moveable lead screen; the precise landing point of our friend is pre-determined so all the calculations seem to suggest this is not going to be a problem.”

  Daniel nodded. “So, what else is there to see?”

  Grey rubbed his hands together and pointed back to near where they had started by the main offices. “The magneto-optical trap.”

  The Professor bounded back to the buggy and Daniel followed him, taking one last look at the distant skyline to the east. Somewhere out there the robot was heading toward this spot, the sun setting in front of it.

  Within a minute they were back near the offices but this time outside what looked like a multi-story car park. It had levels but no windows or doors and was a skeletal box-like structure, perhaps three stories high.

  “So this is where we’re going to store the antimatter?” he said.

  “Yes,” said Grey, “it’s been operational now for a week. We’re still running preliminary tests but everything looks good so far. The ant-matter production research has gone well and I’ve already increased our production rate by over 400 percent.”

  “It all seems pretty fantastical. I feel I’m being given an overview of an evil despot’s lair like in a James Bond movie. Any minute now you’re going to show me your weak spot and how it can all be stopped if I can get to a particular ‘red button.’” Daniel turned to note Grey was watching him with a crumpled nose and squinted eyes.

  “No offence,” said Daniel.

  “None taken,” said Grey, “And no ‘red button.’”

  Chapter 46

  Stagg looked with contempt at the panel of politicians sat across the floor from him. Some committee! An ex-Teacher who’d probably never done a day’s work in his life; a professional politician who only got where he was because his father was a rich Senator; and a black – hell, no! – An African-American, dipshit who was always looking to blame someone for something.

  He felt his teeth get sticky and cold as his lips peeled back. His fingers were almost snapping the pen in his hands and either side of him his officers were desperately trying to make the panel see sense.

  “We cannot legally enter Abraznian airspace, let alone deploy any units on the ground with good reason. From what you’re telling us your intelligence relies solely on a few disgruntled employees and a journalist,” said the ex-teacher, Congressman Keech.

  “Furthermore,” said Nilsson, and the Senator’s son leaned forward, “Your plan is not sound. You have no idea what technology is being deployed so an aerial bombardment makes no sense. You have absolutely no justification in ordering any kind of assault and this committee forbids it.”

  The officers started spluttering amongst themselves. Stagg stared dead ahead at Douglas, the only congressman who hadn’t spoken yet.

  “What about you, Congressman?” he said, to Douglas. “Where do you stand?”

  Douglas stared down at him, his dark brown eyes giving nothing away.

  “General Stagg,” he said, “I have followed your career with interest. You’re a proud man, a brave man, a true American. I’ll bet you’d be willing to lay your life down time and time again to defend that there flag we see standing behind this panel.”

  “Yes, sir, I would.”

  “However, regarding this operation, I am afraid I have yet to see any compelling intelligence; and I mean that in both senses of the word.”

  Stagg picked up a folder and held it aloft. “I have full statements from ex-LAPD Detective Robert Jones. An affidavit which confirms the presence of antimatter production and containment in previously unheard of quantities. The former Head of Security in Abraznia has given us layouts of the complex, security details and as much intelligence you’d care to shake a stick at.”

  Stagg’s cheeks burnt and he felt his breathing stop. His bottom jaw started quivering; something he couldn’t control when he was angry and the pen in his hand finally snapped.

  “Gentlemen,” he said, “You don’t know shit!” Douglas raised his eyebrows whilst the other two stared at each other.

  “When this dangerous young man brings in a new age of destruction you will personally be responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans. You have no idea what he’s about to try. We’re just supposed to stand by and watch?”

  His officers were restraining him now. “Assholes!”

  “General Stagg,” said Douglas, “I will have no hesitation in finding you in contempt of this committee if you do not shut the hell up.”

  Stagg glared back, his fists on the desk, shoulders squared.

  “I have here a letter,” said Douglas, putting on his spectacles, “from the President. It has been sent to Mr Loman in Abraznia via our Ambassador. In it he proposes support for his research into antimatter energy sources and offers not only resources, but access to the American market. He finishes, ‘whilst we are both aware of the dangers this technology represents if misused, our own planet is now at a turning point where we can truly reverse the damage we have done before it is too late.’”

  Stagg sat back, shaking his head. “You knew?”

  “Yes,” said Keech, “we also know of your interests in the lucrative oil and gas markets. Something yourself and Senator Tulley will have to answer questions before Congress about.”

  Stagg got up, the chair screeching backwards. His mouth fumbled for words, his eyes darting around the room. Finally, he composed himself, picked up his hat and placed it under his arm before marching out of the room; his officers following.

  Outside, in the corridors of power, his men gathered around him like a herd animals protecting a fallen member.

  “What now, sir?” said one.

  He put his hat on his head, straightened it and adjusted his tie. “Put a combat team together and get hold of that ex-cop. He’s coming with us.”

  Chapter 47

  After six long weeks, with everything blurring past, Daniel at last sat across the table from Professor Grey for the final signoff.

  Everything was in place. The equipment, the resources even the robot itself had been cleverly orchestrated to arrive at the Abraznian coast within a two-hour window. Daniel had taken various flights out over the ocean, running circles around it whilst Professor Grey timed the velocity. When they were finally happy that it would arrive at the pre-ordained time he flew back. That had been yesterday.

  Before that had been the operational checks; a tour of the final completions with a demonstration of
the magneto-optical trap, quantum teleporter and where the collision point would be. ‘Collision point’ was probably the wrong phrase though. The theory was that as soon as the robot made any kind of contact with its antimatter version they would both be destroyed.

  Daniel looked down at the Gantt chart and saw there was just one final job to do; turn everything on and stand in the designated spot. He looked out through the window across the site. He would be quite some distance from the collision point, but directly in line with the robot and the magneto-optical trap. The robot would walk straight toward it and it was there an antimatter version would be introduced. The required antimatter, the largest amount ever collected together in history, was already there and waiting.

  And then? Well, there the Professor had been rather vague. Yes, there would be a tremendous release of energy, but it would be largely photons. Light waves which, although dangerous to look at, would be relatively harmless. There was some potential for background radiation but the Professor had taken precautions. Daniel would be stood behind six inches of lead near the base of the control tower. The actual site itself may not be useful again for hundreds of years but that was a small price to pay.

  He leaned back and rubbed his shoulder blade. The Professor stared patiently across the table. “Can I assume you are happy?”

  He nodded. “We’re good to go. How long have I got?”

  “Six hours. We can reschedule if you need more time but it will mean a trip out in the helicopter to bring the robot about.”

  “No, that’s not necessary. Let’s do this.”

  The Professor stood up, nodded and then left; there was a military air about him that seemed to present itself whenever a decision had been made. In some ways he was like an obedient dog; but one with the potential to rip your arm off in a frenzy.

  He took a swig from his coffee and stared out again at the space-age view from the window. It reminded him of the megacities in futuristic comics he had read as a kid. The buzzer went and the voice of an assistant asked for him.

  “Sir?”