“Something wrong?” she asked.
“No, just that I wouldn’t have taken you for an astronomer.”
“I’m not.” She paused for a few seconds. “I’m a reporter. For CNNA.”
His face lit up and he snapped his fingers. “That’s it. An attractive woman like you, I knew I’d seen you before. You must be covering that alien story. All sounds like a load of hogwash to me.”
Janine felt a pang of irritation surface. “Believe me, it’s no hogwash, Jack. I have very reliable sources that this is the real deal. I’m not sure exactly how this is all going to play out, but this will no doubt be the story of the millennium, and I’m making damn sure I cover every minute of it as it breaks.”
“I can drop you at Stromlo before I swing by the office. You meeting someone there? I can tell you now though that there ain’t a chance in hell of you getting inside without security clearance.”
“Oh don’t worry about me, I have a plan,” she said, finally managing a large grin.
“I’m sure you do,” he said, just as they approached the city limits of Canberra.
CHAPTER FORTY
September 17, 21:45 Australian Eastern Standard Time
“How’re you doing, hon, and how’s Chloe?”
“I’m okay, Steve. Chloe is hanging in there, but she’s not quite herself. I think she’s finding it unsettling being away from home. What’s more, things have been a little tense around here since you guys left.”
“As in?”
“The general is like a bear with a sore head, but that didn’t stop him trying to come on to me in his office. But don’t worry, I think I handled it okay. He thinks he’s quite the ladies’ man.”
Steve felt his blood pressure rise as a surge of adrenaline overwhelmed him. “That bastard, what an asshole! Are you sure you’re okay? I could always come home.”
“Don’t be silly, I’m fine. We’re fine, and at least we’re safe from you know who.”
“That’s true.”
“Hey, what’s the deal with that Kennedy guy? You know, the major,” asked Sheri. “I saw him going into the general’s office looking like he had just seen a ghost. There’s something not quite right there.”
“Not sure, hadn’t noticed. Maybe he’s just stressed out about containing the leak.”
“Hmmm, probably,” she answered thoughtfully. “So, any breakthroughs with the mad professor yet?”
“Getting close. The man’s a genius. I don’t think it’ll be long now. There are four screens each with a specific topic or heading, only thing is we have no idea what those headings or topics are just yet.”
“At least that’s a start.”
She paused, then cautiously said, “Steve, with this magnetic problem, are you sure it’s got nothing to do with us and what we’re doing? It seems kind of big to be coincidental.”
“I’m not sure, hon, but I agree that it’s a huge coincidence that it happened just as we booted up EMB.”
“I’m worried. It’s causing havoc with communications and GPS systems.”
Steve fell silent. He wanted to reassure her, but he didn’t know how. Then he heard his name being called out. “Got to call you back, the professor’s just summoned me. I think he’s found something. Love you. Kiss to Chloe from me.”
“Love you, too. Bye, hon.”
* * * *
Steve raced over to the professor’s console.
“What is it?” he asked, excited. “Hey, what’ve you done with the laptop?” The old laptop was connected to the latest model computer terminal. The professor still had it running but was transferring all the information coming through it onto the more sophisticated machine.
The professor frowned at Steve. “Why use an ancient laptop’s processor when I can transfer the information onto a computer with processing power about a thousand times greater than what was available in 2020.”
Steve stared at the computer’s screen and couldn’t believe his eyes. On it was a holographic galactic map. The spiral arms of the barred galaxy were breathtakingly beautiful, and the computer zoomed in to display a binary star system with five planets of different sizes orbiting the twin suns.
The fourth planet from the system seemed to be the most interesting. It appeared to be a water world with oceans similar to Earth, at least from a distance in space. The bold symbol which was imprinted over the planet then broke up into about ten smaller, separate symbols.
“This is the first symbol,” said the professor. “After trying dozens of varying techniques that I’ve learned over the years, I finally managed to open up this page and bingo, look what we have here.”
“That symbol or character has split. What do you think that means, Prof?”
“I’m not certain yet, but you can rest assured I’ll be working that out. It looks like our internet colleagues come from a binary system with five planets, of which they’re residents of the fourth one, which looks remarkably similar, at least from space, to our very own terra firma.”
“Wow, this is incredible. It’s actually happening, contact finally.”
“Not quite, my boy, maybe ‘happened’ is more the accurate term to use. Remember time and space have been greatly distorted by EMB, and at this stage we have no idea how far back or forward we’re looking. For all we know, this entire planetary system hasn’t existed for billions of years.”
The professor stood up and stretched his legs.
Steve felt his excitement building. “Can we click on one of those symbols and see what happens?” he asked.
“I wish it were as simple as that, lad. It took me two hours just to open up this page, but I’ll see what we can do. You see the more we unravel, the quicker the unraveling will become.”
The professor tried various combinations of machine code until he finally hit on something. One of the ten smaller symbols, third from the left, sprung to life. Three-dimensional images began to open up in consecutive windows, until more than a dozen or so screens with new symbols and images were downloading. It was fascinating to watch, and just as the depictions began to materialize on the screen, Drew came strolling toward the desk, hands in pockets.
“Hey, fellas, what’s going on?”
His mouth dropped open as he saw the images begin to appear in three dimensions on the main monitor. They all seemed to be of various landscapes of the alien planet. Never could any of them have dreamed of how stunning another world might be. There were seascapes of oceans glittering with what appeared to be diamonds floating on a bed of luminous emerald-green liquid. The sky shimmered in a blend of yellows and greens, with what seemed to be fluorescent pink clouds drifting close to the horizon. There were two suns in the sky, one about the same size as Earth’s, the other a fraction larger and redder.
Another landscape revealed what appeared to be many enormous fern-like plants, with leaves that appeared to be alive, moving liquid on them like a conveyor belt down to their tips. Some of the plants were as tall as skyscrapers, while others were perhaps as small as a single blade of grass, yet exquisitely more interesting with fern-like fronds that seemed to be matted together in some kind of weave. What’s more, all the plants cast two shadows.
“Fascinating,” managed Steve.
Another image materialized on the screen. The professor was first to comment.
“I cannot believe it. Here it comes, lads, the first city from another world.”
The image was indeed remarkable. Instead of the expected metal, steel or glass, everything glistened in a luminous turquoise. Structures which could only be compared to skyscrapers due to a lack of a reference on Earth, looked to be similar in size to the ones in New York City, yet somehow the architecture was a lot more simplistic in design. Any Earth-based architect would have given his eye teeth to get the blueprints of those buildings, thought Steve.
In the sky flew what were probably dozens of aircraft, all triangular in shape and traveling in a rigid formation on what might have been invisible highways.
“I guess flying saucers aren’t as popular to aliens as we might have thought,” said Steve.
“I guess not,” Drew said.
Ten minutes later, after taking a mesmerizing virtual cook’s tour around a distant planet, the professor broke the silence.
“There they are, lads, symbols under the various images, the key to getting our Rosetta Stone.”
“Fantastic, Professor,” said Steve. “It looks like we’re finally underway to unraveling at least some of the universe’s best-kept secrets.” His hands were visibly shaking, perhaps more so than the professor’s, who looked up at Steve and solemnly shook his head.
“I just hope she’s willing to give them up, my boy. I just hope she’s willing to give them up, and at a price we can afford to pay.”
CHAPTER forty-ONE
September 17, 23:50 Australian Eastern Standard Time
“Looks like this is your stop,” said Jack, as he pulled into the car park at Stromlo. “This is as far as we go.”
Janine gazed tentatively forward. Ahead of them appeared to be an open gate. There were no guards, not even a fence.
“But it’s open?” she said, not quite certain what to make of this scene.
“Open it may be, but I can tell you that you don’t want to be driving through it!” He pointed. “See that sign in front of the gate?”
Janine strained her eyes in the dim light, eventually catching a glimpse of an orange warning notice. She struggled to read it, but as she did, she swallowed hard, realizing what she was up against.
“Yes, Ms. Fuller, if you don’t mind a lovely burst of 15000 volts to your body, I’m sure you’ll manage just fine walking through those gates.”
“Dammit, what is it about Aussies and electricity?” she said, remembering her experience at the airport cell. She jumped out of the car then went to work digging away inside her bag.
“What in heaven’s name are you looking for?” Jack asked, shaking his head.
“I had arranged to meet a crew here, and it appears as if they’ve deserted me. Damn imbeciles, there’s just no loyalty anymore. In my day, as a junior reporter, if the boss said jump, we’d say how high. Now you’re lucky if they even jump at all!”
Janine glanced at her watch. She had said midnight, and acknowledged that she was in fact a few minutes early. She pulled out her phone to make a call.
“Kevin, Janine Fuller here, I’m at Stromlo. Where the hell are you guys?”
“Miss Fuller, we were waiting to hear from you. We’ve all gone into the town for a quick bite to eat as we weren’t expecting you for at least another hour.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, surprise. Here I am,” she responded curtly, rolling her eyes. “Now can you please get your butts up here ASAP and get me into the damn complex.”
“Um, well—”
“Well what?”
“That might not be as easy as we first thought. Security has been tightened since …”
“Since what?”
“Since you were detained in Sydney. My inside contact no longer has the access code to the gate. It’s been changed. Word has it that someone really doesn’t want you inside that building.” He hesitated. “But don’t worry, I’ve managed to set up an interview with one of the senior scientists on staff in the morning, a Mr. Drew Murrey.”
“Who the hell is Drew Murrey? I’m after a Professor Hart or Winslow from the US. They hold the key to this whole thing.”
There was a brief silence, before she finally conceded defeat. “What time have you set it up for?”
“Nine am outside the gate. He said he’ll come down and give a statement to the press.”
“Excellent, I’ll be here.” If Mr. Murrey thought that all he would be doing was giving a statement, he would be most mistaken. She had something much more disquieting in mind. She disconnected and climbed back into the car.
“Something wrong?” asked Jack.
“Everything.”
“I have to just swing around the office for thirty minutes, and then I’d be happy to drop you at the hotel. Where are you staying?”
Her face colored.
“Janine? Hotel?” he asked again.
With all the drama that had gone on, she had forgotten to make a reservation. “Damn, I knew there was something I’d forgotten to do,” she managed, looking away in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
Jack smiled. “Well then you’ll just have to stay with me,” he said, raising his thick, dark eyebrows. “I’ll get you back up here in the morning. Is eight am okay?”
“Um. Thank you. I guess as long as you’re okay with that,” she said softly, half smiling at him. She thought about how long it had been since Adam and since she had spent the night at a man’s house. A primal part of her actually longed for some intimacy, but on many levels she knew that it would be a ridiculously bad idea.
“Absolutely! I have a spare room. I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman.”
She almost hoped he wouldn’t be. “Okay then … and … thanks,” she said, staring directly into his deep-set blue eyes.
“My pleasure, Janine, my pleasure.”
Jack smiled again, and Janine noticed for the first time a scar running across the base of his neck. Then the four-wheel drive pulled away into the dark night. In the distance, a faint green glow danced across the horizon.
* * * *
September 17, 18:00 GMT, London, England
Five days post-EMB launch
Hetty Slocum grinned broadly as she busied herself preparing the usual evening meal for Alfred, who would be due home from the pub within the hour. She prided herself on the delicious recipes she had invented over the years. There were almost a hundred of them, and although she had often toyed with the idea of publishing a recipe book over the last ten years or so, it just seemed like she never really had the time to get the project off the ground.
Being a morbidly obese, sturdy woman of sixty-five years, Hetty spent much of the day watching her soap operas on the couch, or gossiping on the phone with Mildred Young, her neighbor and only friend. Occasionally she would venture out to buy groceries, but it would always exhaust her, and so she planned her shopping expeditions as one would plan one’s wedding. The highlight of her day was preparing the delectable meal for Albert, her husband of forty years. Today, all the groceries had been purchased this morning fresh, and were in the fridge ready to be cut up, diced, spliced, roasted and grilled. Tonight was to be Alfred’s ultimate favorite dish, roast venison prepared with a tasty red-wine sauce, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil along with a side helping of wok-fried vegetables.
She looked up at the wall clock, which read precisely six pm. She always began at six. She didn’t want the meal getting cold, but on the other hand she didn’t want to keep Albert waiting. She had experimented over the years with different start times, but now she stuck with six.
She waddled over to the large state-of-the-art refrigerator, which she was immensely proud of. It was a newly designed Kelvinator that kept the produce at precisely thirty-seven degrees, and the freezer at minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Mmm, what do I need first? She was about to open the fridge when disaster struck. She remembered that she had forgotten to take the venison out of the freezer that morning. She would have to use the microwave to defrost the meat. It would not be as tasty, and Albert would notice.
She opened the door to the freezer and reached inside to retrieve the venison on the top shelf when the pain tore at her arms and she screamed in excruciating agony. She immediately snatched her hands away and dashed over to the sink, opening the faucet and bathing them under the cool water.
“What in hell’s name?” she managed, as she looked down at her bright-lobster-red hands, now blistering before her eyes. The heat coming off them was so intense that steam drifted upwards as her seething hands reacted with the cold water.
She glanced over to the freezer, which was now open. Warmth was radiating o
ut of it, and she tiptoed cautiously toward it and peered inside, to find that all her wonderful meats were cooking in front of her eyes, as if they were in the oven. After the pain in her hands had subsided enough to allow her to open the fridge door, she cautiously pulled it ajar and glanced inside. There was not the intensity of heat like she had experienced with the freezer, but something was most definitely wrong. Instead of being cold, the fridge was warm, and all her groceries felt warm to the touch.
She burst out crying and slammed the door shut.
CHAPTER forty-TWO
September 17, 13:15 Eastern Daylight Time
New York City, 255 Wall Street
Lionel Walker brushed the dust off his Ralph Lauren pinstriped suit, straightened his necktie and waited for the elevator to arrive at the twenty-seventh floor of the Trump Building. He glanced at his gold-plated Rolex watch. He was late for his meeting with Edward Bryant, the CEO of the company, and Ed was not one to be kept waiting. He looked at the floor numbers above the four elevators. Two of them were on the ground floor and stationary, one was on the fifteenth floor and going down, and only one was on the way down from the thirty-fifth floor toward them.
“Damn it!” he exclaimed, looking again at his watch, certain now that he would be even later than he had anticipated.
One would have thought that an office block as busy and important as the Trump Building would have had the elevators upgraded to the standard “dynamo express” technology, a much more efficient, safer and reliable system. Lionel knew he wouldn’t be standing here waiting if the upgrade had taken place. The building was like a museum, and required serious refurbishment.
He watched the numbers above the elevator decrease slowly until finally the bell chimed and the door opened. Two smartly dressed women were already inside and the younger, more attractive woman smiled at him. “Going down?” she asked politely. She was wearing a bright-red dress and had a large green broach pinned onto the shoulder. It looked ridiculous.
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