“I’ll take it from here, Henry,” he said.
The younger man frowned. “Are you sure?” he asked.
He glared back at the younger, more inexperienced colleague.
“Sure, Mike, I’ll give Dave a hand up front.”
As the baby-faced redheaded paramedic disappeared into the front of the ambulance, Mike drew up an ampoule of a drug he had pulled from his pocket and injected it into a port that was attached to the President’s arm.
“Mr. President. This should keep you well out of mischief for a while,” he muttered softly under his breath. Then, after quickly making sure the other two paramedics were not in listening range, he reached for his phone and made a secure call.
“General, it’s done. I’ve just given him a full dose of the drug. Our friend won’t be awake for at least, well … a few weeks.”
“Good, we need to move fast. Mobilize the others immediately. We move in a matter of hours. I’ve spoken with our contacts in both houses and we have them and our friends in Congress ready to go on my orders. We’re almost in control. There’s just one more person left to deal with.”
“Don’t worry about him. As we speak, he’ll be meeting with an unfortunate accident. He’s about to board a plane in Vegas, a 2003 Learjet. He and the pilot don’t know that a nasty surprise awaits them at twenty-one thousand feet.”
“Excellent, I knew I could count on you and some of your friends in the Secret Service. You’ve been most loyal, and I don’t forget loyalty.”
“Yes, sir. Glad to have been able to provide assistance to the cause.”
The paramedic ended the call, then checked for signs of tracking on the phone. It was clean. They were about to enter a brave new world, freed from left-wing radicalism and their ridiculous freedoms and laws that had systematically resulted in the destruction of the greatest country in the world. He thought about Jim, his late brother, who had been caught up in a siege in a downtown St Louis coffee shop three years ago, and then beheaded twelve hours later on national TV by a radical Islamic fundamentalist. If the government had been stronger and had more resolve, Jim might never have died. Thankfully, under the general’s leadership, America and the world as they knew it was about to change. He smiled at the thought that he was playing a significant role in accomplishing that.
* * * *
Denny sat back in his office chair and lit a cigar. He ignored the no-smoking policy at NASA as he thought about how close he was to ruling the most powerful nation on the planet. The first thing to go, of course, would be the Democrats. He had mustered enough support in Congress to see to that. It had been their flagrant incompetence and treachery that had resulted in his worst nightmare, and as if that weren’t enough, the cover-up that had followed. A government constantly making costly deals and giving in to foreign nations on a whim was not a legitimate government. It was weak and incompetent, but really, it was a disgrace. Such a government deserved to be ousted. The time for left-wing radicalism and treason was over, and it was now time for a real leader, one with true vision and courage. America had to be preserved at all costs.
He puffed on his cigar and then stood up, a dull ache catching him in his groin, and once again, that ghastly feeling catapulted him back to that outlandish place. The physical pain in his left leg and scrotum had eased over the past ten years, and a state-of-the-art prosthetic left testicle made him look normal, but the emotional scars cut deeper, much deeper, to a place in his mind filled with demons, fire and brimstone.
Yes, Denny Smith had indeed been to hell.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
After a brief visit to the lavatory, followed by a quick swig of Johnny Walker from the small container in his jacket pocket, Alastair returned to his console. Drew and Steve seemed to be anxiously awaiting him there.
“So, lads, let’s see where we are,” he said, tasting some of the whiskey still at the back of his throat. He waved his hands back and forth across the glass screen until the symbol of the upside-down palm leaf returned.
“Okay, here goes. I’m going to attempt to get the computer to locate their planet’s values for gravity, electron mass, speed of light, etcetera. I think there are about sixteen fundamental values all up that essentially make our universe what it is … or should I say that perhaps made our universe what it was.”
The computer went to work and was now much faster in its search, as the alien language and the interpretation of that language had kept growing at an exponential rate.
Within five minutes a string of peculiar symbols appeared in the third dimension, and then everything quickly stopped.
“There they are, lads, the sixteen fundamental values for their universe, still encoded, but give the computer a few seconds. Computer, interpret and decode,” he ordered.
The strange symbols instantly began to morph into familiar English notation and recognizable arithmetic. Alastair held his breath, feeling his heart once again begin to race as the value of each symbol was translated and transposed.
They stared at the screen for what must have been at least twenty seconds before Steve couldn’t bear it any longer. Alastair shut his eyes as Steve spoke. “We’re screwed,” he said, before grabbing a coffee mug and throwing it across the room, watching it shatter into a dozen or more small pieces. “We’re fucking screwed!”
Alastair looked at Drew, who seemed to be in some sort of a trance. Perhaps there was nothing to say, nothing that could be said to change this moment or make it any more bearable. All sixteen values were out by a decimal place.
Eventually Drew said, “At least they’re only tiny deviations from ours. Look, the speed of light is 299,792,455 meters per second, compared to 299,792,458 meters per second, and gravity is 10.2 as opposed to 9.81 meters per second … and …”
“Would you shut the fuck up!” screamed Steve, shaking his head from side to side. “You should know that even a fractional change to the values changes the universe completely. It’s so finely tuned that even the tiniest deviation will have huge consequences. Tell me, genius, did you skip that physics lesson?”
Drew’s face colored, but he chose not to respond.
Alastair scratched his forehead. “Hang on, hang on … if it can’t work, then why does it work for them?” he said, pointing to the planet on the console.
Steve threw his arms up into the air, his frustration boiling over. “I dunno. Maybe all the new values balance out somehow, but remember they might’ve had fourteen billion years to make it work for them. We’ve had barely a week! Also, there may be more or less than the four fundamental forces that we have here. Perhaps a fifth or a sixth force could equilibrate the physics. Make it workable, so to speak. There could be a million reasons.”
Drew cleared his throat. “Let’s recap, then. So far, what physical forces have actually been affected?”
Steve sat down. He was breathing heavily. “Magnetic polarity reversal. That caused the poles to flip, but initially didn’t affect electromagnetism, as electron flow fortuitously reversed with it. That changed when electron flow reversed back, affecting all things that work on the principle of electromagnetism, such as motors, fans generators, etcetera.”
The sound of a screaming child was heard, followed by echoing footsteps coming from the back of the auditorium.
Steve sat up. “I thought we had the entire area secured. No one else should be here except us four.” The screaming got louder, and the footsteps got closer until he heard a familiar voice call out, “Steve, Steve. Are you there, honey?”
It was Sheri. She was carrying Chloe, who had stopped screaming and was now sobbing. He ran up to them, giving them both a big hug.
“What? How …?” he asked, his eyes darting back and forth between mother and child.
“I decided that I was of no use to you guys on the other side of the world, and I wanted to be where the action was. Also, Simon tried contacting Chloe again, and even though we were locked up in a secure building, I decided we needed to get away from
the place. I managed to persuade the general that I’d be of much more use to everyone if I was at Stromlo. The problem I had was finding a plane with twentieth-century technology to get me over here.”
“That would’ve been no easy task,” Alastair said.
“Tell me about it. And they had to check every darn system before they allowed it into the air. Apparently even the air-conditioning system needed checking. It took a lot of favors and a ten-hour trip, but I thought I’d surprise you.”
Steve smiled. “You did.”
“Steve, I’m so sorry that we had that argument. I should’ve been more reasonable. Perhaps this whole thing is not as bad as we first thought, I mean …”
Steve placed his finger on her lips. “No need to apologize, it’s me who should be doing that. You were right, we’ve gotten in way too deep with this thing—”
A high-pitched scream emanated from Chloe.
“What’s with her?” asked Steve, stroking the girl’s thick blonde curls.
“Oh, we forgot to bring Mr. Teddy along and she’s just worked that out. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.” Sheri consoled Chloe, then turned back to Steve. “Okay, so what’s going on?”
Steve sighed. “We were just going over what we know so far. Out of the four fundamental physical forces in nature, it seems that only one of them has changed as of yet, that being electromagnetism, and—”
“We still have normal weak nuclear forces, gravity and strong forces,” Alastair finished.
Sheri’s face darkened. “I’m afraid that’s no longer true, guys. As of a few hours ago, reports have been coming in globally regarding changes to the nature of the forces that keep water molecules together.”
The men all stared at her, their eyes wide. Alastair’s throat went dry. He could do with more whiskey.
Steve said, “We’ve been so preoccupied that we haven’t checked the latest news broadcasts.”
“The van der Waals forces have changed,” she continued. “And we now have a new freezing and boiling point to water, not to mention changes in its viscosity. I had our scientists look into beta decay to see if that’s changed, too. I figured that where there’s smoke there’s often fire, and I was right. The weak force holding electrons to the nucleus has increased in magnitude.” She snapped her fingers. “There goes force number two, the weak nuclear force.”
The three men shook their heads in unison, shock and disbelief etched onto their faces. “God help us all!” said Steve.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
“What took you so long?” moaned Janine as she leapt into the four-wheel drive, managing to snag the bottom of her trousers on the roughness of the fender. “Oh for crying out loud.”
She looked at her watch, which read 01:08.
“Well, I guess that answers my question I was about to ask.”
“I’m not with you,” she said, slamming the car’s door shut.
“I was wondering if you were hurt, or badly shaken from what I’m guessing must have been a gunshot.”
Janine shrugged her shoulders. “I’m more upset about my damn phone.”
“Gee, thanks for asking me Jack,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m just a bit worked up at the moment and running on adrenaline. Things seem to be getting way out of control.” She forced herself to calm down, even managing a smile. “Any luck with cells?” she asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I managed to pick one up for you. All you need to do is pop in your SIM card, that’s if it wasn’t destroyed?”
“No, it’s good. I managed to retrieve it with help from Hans. I think it’s still okay.”
“How is the Kraut?”
Janine shook her head. “He’s like a puppy dog. He then insisted we have dinner together, and with no other way of getting out of here, it was difficult to refuse.”
Jack barely had the new phone out of the glove compartment, when Janine snatched it away like a hungry dog that hadn’t been fed in days.
“Easy there,” said Jack, raising his arm. “Do I need a rabies shot now?”
Janine ignored him, entirely focused on one thing, and one thing only. After fumbling around with the casing of the phone, she managed to pry it open and insert the SIM card. Her face lit up like a torch being switched on as she booted up the phone and it sprang to life.
She typed in various codes and passwords before sitting back and allowing herself to relax. “Phew, it works,” she said as she tapped into NASA HQ and fast-forwarded recorded video clips before stopping at something. She looked at the clip with suspicion. Could that really be him?
“What is it?” asked Jack, but she didn’t respond. He asked again, and then grabbed the phone from her and studied the screen.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing? Give that back,” she demanded, struggling with him.
It was too late. He had already viewed the clandestine footage.
“Have you lost your mind, Janine? Is that General Smith? Do you realize what you’ve done here? If Smith finds out about this, you’re as good as dead!”
Janine blushed. “Well he won’t find out. Will he?” she replied, snatching the phone back from him.
“It doesn’t matter if he finds out or not. What happened today is testament to the fact that they know you’re trouble and have to be stopped. The only thing that kept you alive was the thousands of witnesses around.” He glared at her, his deep-set green eyes probing hers. “You may not be so lucky next time.”
Janine turned her face toward the window and gazed out. As much as she didn’t want to think about it, Jack was right and she realized how much trouble she was in. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of letting him know that.
Jack grasped her chin and pulled her face toward his. “Hey, hey, I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ve kind of grown quite fond of you, god knows why.”
Janine closed her eyes as her throat tightened. It had been a long time since someone had looked out for her. “Okay look, Jack. I’m sorry I’ve been so abrupt with you, and dragged you into this. Things are crazy right now. The world is crazy and there’s more going on here than what they’re telling us. I just know it. They’re keeping something from us and I don’t know what exactly, but it’s big.”
“Okay, well let’s get you home and I’ll give you a hand at deciphering whatever it is you have on that thing. What’s more, I think you’re going to need some protection and—”
“I don’t need any protection.”
“Just hear me out,” he said. “Because of the situation, I’m unable to work, so I’ll have to take a few days off until things settle down a bit and that means you get yourself a complimentary bodyguard.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard!”
“Well you’re getting one whether you like it or not, at least until this story breaks.”
Janine shook her head, but she knew there was no point in arguing with the man. She stared at his ruggedly handsome face and intense blue eyes, and for a moment remembered how wonderful it had felt when she had first met Adam. He, too, had been charming, handsome and fun to be around. In fact, he had been so charming that she had foregone her career so that she could marry him and spend the rest of her life with him. That was, of course, until he broke her heart. No, she was not going to let her guard down again. Jack seemed like a nice guy, but he would have to stay just that, a nice guy.
* * * *
September 18, 08:05, Robinson Lunar Observatory, Bonner Springs, Kansas
“Hey, Matt, I see you actually managed to get here. Thought that all the mayhem out there may have made it impossible for you to make it in,” said Kate, a hefty woman in her late fifties, whose life-long passion and devotion was in astrophysics.
“I would’ve walked here if I needed to, but I’m lucky. My dad is a vintage-car collector, so I persuaded him to allow me to take the Chevy. He wasn’t happy about it. Promised to get him tickets for the World Series if he lent it to me.”
“There aren’t any taxis running and I figured I’d just bunk down here,” Kate said. “It’s not the Sheraton, and kind of uncomfortable, but there’s a place to put my head down and there’s tons of food in the pantry.” She busied herself with the computer, before leaning over the table, her khaki-clad buttocks now in full view. “Honestly, Matt, I don’t know about you, but this whole thing is so damn weird. I’ve seen some really crazy things happen before, but this electromagnetism shit has me dumbfounded. I don’t care what they say, but this has EMB written all over it.”
“Yep, I think you’re right. I could possibly buy the magnetic shift thing, but the other shit that’s going on. No freakin’ way!”
“So you’ve seen the schedule for today?” asked Kate, scratching her scalp under her short, military-style haircut. “It should’ve been emailed to you.”
“Yes, I got it yesterday.”
“You okay there with the Lunag software we got from NASA last week?” she continued.
“Yeah, I’m still feeling my way through the little nuances of the program, but it seems pretty good.”
“That’s good to hear because word on the street is that we’d better find our ‘landing site’ soon or this program’s going to be blown out of the water and the funding will be pulled and given to Palomar.”
Matt removed his jacket. He heard a slight hum as the computers began driving the telescope’s motor. “Jesus that annoys the shit out of me,” he said. “Research takes time, and good research takes a lot more time. If they want to be sure their lunar base is secure both geologically and at low risk from meteor impacts, in combination with the likelihood of finding that dolomite stuff, it’s going to take time.”
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