The Zul Enigma

by J M Leitch

  ‘The time it took to drink ten pots of coffee,’ Rachael replied, and they laughed.

  ‘Do you enjoy playing bloodhound?’

  ‘I trained as a journalist, but my nose is very rusty.’

  ‘Take a break then. Let me do some digging. Tell me about yourself,’ Scott said.

  ‘I started out working on a magazine. I must get the love of writing from my mother. And having read her book, I know I get the addiction to coffee from my father.’ She smiled at Scott. ‘Today was the first time I’ve drunk tea in years.’

  He laughed. ‘Some Brit you turned out to be.’

  Rachael shrugged. ‘Well I’m not any more, am I? I’m half Spanish.’

  ‘But you grew up in England?’

  ‘Yes. Near Oxford. Although Mum and Dad – my adoptive parents – were originally from Bristol.’

  ‘I guess they moved to get away from the news hounds.’

  ‘It must have been tough for them, although they never let on to me. But ever since I can remember, we always had this strong attachment to Spain. Every year we’d visit an elderly couple, friends, who lived on a farm outside Estepa in Andalucía. I adored them and their family. They treated me like a princess. They used to kiss me and pinch my cheeks. Their daughter had two sons a bit older than me. I’m still in touch with them. They taught me Spanish. I speak it fluently. Now I know they were my father’s parents, their daughter his sister and her kids his nephews.’ She smiled.

  ‘Have you told them about your mother’s book?’

  ‘Not yet. I want to see what more I can find out first.’

  ‘It’s good your adoptive parents kept the connection with your Spanish family.’

  ‘They were good people. I loved them very much. After my maternal grandparents died, we moved to Málaga. Estepa’s only a hundred kilometres to the northwest – just over an hour by car in those days. That was in 2026 when I was thirteen. Mum and Dad said they moved for the warmer weather, but now I know it was to keep me close to my father’s family.’

  ‘Did you like it?’

  ‘Spain? Oh I loved it! And I love Málaga. I still live there.’

  ‘What did you do when you left school?’

  Rachael took a sip of her drink. ‘I went to Bristol University and studied journalism. After I graduated I came back to Spain and got a job working on a magazine in Málaga. A few years later, when I broke up with my long-term boyfriend, I went travelling. I got writing jobs along the way to support myself. English was the Global Language and it was a good way to earn money.’

  ‘That was adventurous.’

  ‘It was an incredible experience. I had the best time. Then when I was in Brazil, I started working for GRS, the Global Reclamation Society.’

  Scott nodded. ‘I remember when it was established in 2020.' He clinked the ice in his glass. ‘And how did you enjoy it there?’

  ‘It was amazing,’ Rachael said. ‘The group I worked with located equatorial cities that had been evacuated due to health reasons after the massacre. We’d go in to assess the possibility of transforming them into functioning habitats for people being driven out of other areas due to climate change. The long-term plan was to develop an interconnected ribbon of existence girding the planet, stretching from the tropic of Cancer to the tropic of Capricorn, which could support humans during future years of cooling. Also, since the Space Elevators are tethered at the equator, it made sense to move the population as close to them as possible.’

  ‘Isn’t GRS involved in some cultural heritage stuff too?’

  ‘Yes. It catalogues and preserves everything the groups uncover.’

  ‘What year did you join them?’

  ‘2040. My job was to write the reports. It was exciting and sad. And frightening. Most of the places I went to hadn’t been visited for nearly thirty years. Usually the remains of urban existence had been all but obliterated by jungle, making data and artefact collection hazardous to say the least.’

  ‘I can imagine.’

  ‘But the thing that kept me going, all of us going really, was that occasionally, very occasionally, we’d come across a tiny pocket of civilisation that had lost touch with the rest of the world. These people thought they were the only ones on the planet and the relief and joy that shone out of their eyes when they realised they weren’t alone was… well… it was indescribable. It more than made up for the harsh conditions we had to put up with.’

  ‘Didn’t you get burned out?’

  ‘Yes. After ten years in the field, I joined the executive group. I was responsible for the sponsorship and implementation of reclamation projects. I lobbied countries to sponsor the redevelopment of cities that had viable reclamation scores and sourced the extra funding required to finish the job. But I left six months ago to look after Mum when she fell ill.’

  Scott sighed. ‘The past few weeks must have been very emotional for you.’

  ‘They’ve been exhausting. First Mum dying, then finding out who my real parents were. Then reading the book and the diary? That really brought it home to me… the paralysing shock that enveloped everyone at the time. It was bad enough learning about it as a child, but for everyone who lived through it… well… it must have been horrific.’

  Scott drained his glass. ‘It defied description.’

  He swung his legs off the chair and rubbed his knees. ‘Another Scotch?’

  Rachael smiled pushing her dark curls off her face. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Did your mother have any idea who was behind Zul?’

  ‘She had a theory about motive, but as to the individuals involved… she had no idea… although…’

  ‘Tell me about her theory.’

  ‘She thought NASA had a secret that predicted such a radical change in climate, it threatened human life on Earth.’

  ‘You may not know this,’ he said as he poured the drinks, ‘but from the late ‘80s up to 2012 people feared global warming. That was the buzz back then, even though by the turn of the century more and more scientists argued that warming predictions were based on flawed and insufficient data. The problem was that a lot of people had jumped on the global warming bandwagon, some sincere, but many who were downright opportunistic and just out to make a buck.’

  Rachael shrugged. ‘All I remember is global cooling. They announced that in the early ‘20s, right?’

  ‘Yeah. But if your mother was right and NASA did know we were entering a rapid cooling phase back in 2012, making it public then would have caused an absolute uproar.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Those making money out of global warming would have wanted to keep creaming the myth for as long as they could. But also, just think about it, had scientists and world leaders been forced to admit they were wrong in promoting global warming, how seriously would anyone take them when they started telling us we were in fact entering a global cooling cycle? They had to move slowly and artfully to keep a grip on the public’s confidence, while they manoeuvred themselves to take a diametrically opposing view.

  ‘It was around that time the media started talking about climate change instead of global warming… I bet you that was the first conscious step those in the know took to recondition the man in the street.’

  Scott gripped the arms of his chair. ‘Now I think about it, I remember an interview with an old NASA hand after global cooling was announced. He mentioned a Russian study, back in 2006 I think it was, monitoring solar cycles that forecast the world was on the verge of another Ice Age. He claimed the Russian technology was installed on the International Space Station a couple of years later and started its own research in 2009. So by 2012 NASA could well have gathered enough evidence to convince them the Russian prediction was correct.’

  ‘Looks like my mother was right,’ Rachael said.

  ‘Tell me more.’

  ‘She thought if the American military knew about global cooling it would change their imperative from owning space as a military strategy to owning space for survival. S
o they invented Zul and the theory of evolution to prepare the planet for a culling to ensure America would survive as the major super power and guarantee mankind’s safe evacuation to space when the time came.’

  ‘And to do this they wiped out all the poor people on the planet? Which, incidentally, included millions of their own?’

  ‘I know it’s… well… of course, it’s an extreme…’

  ‘Extreme? Do you honestly realise what you’re saying?’

  ‘Just think about it Scott,’ Rachael said, leaning forward, ‘if NASA did know another Ice Age was imminent back then, then they’d also know using Space Elevators to build space stations and evacuate the planet was the only way we could survive. But it was OOSA’s job to make sure no one monopolised them. The US Military was unhappy with that… my father had a meeting with them the day he first met Bob Anderson. They wanted to negotiate owner/developer privileges, but he blocked them. You see?’

  ‘I understand what you’re saying but…’

  ‘And how would OOSA have ensured fair use of the Space Elevators? How could the world have built enough stations to accommodate the entire population? And as the word got out that another Ice Age was coming there’d have been tremendous panic. Conflict would have broken out all over the world.

  ‘Can you imagine it? Who would have decided who should, and who should not be saved? How could anyone decide? The whole planet would have gone to war.’

  ‘So you’re saying the US military solved the problem… before it became a problem… by slaughtering eighty-five per cent of the population? But, Rachael…’

  ‘Over the past weeks I’ve done a lot of research. I know what was going on in the world back then. Russia had again threatened to turn off the natural gas supply to Europe – that could have turned into a world war – there was religious, economical and political unrest. Then there were all those poor people dying of diseases and starvation. There was terrible overpopulation with no global law to restrict parents to two children like we have now. Everything was so different. Everything was so volatile. But of course… you know what I’m talking about,’ she said, ‘you were alive back then.’

  ‘Sure,’ he said nodding, ‘and you’re absolutely right… it wasn’t good.’

  ‘I read that the West was terrified for its future because emerging nations such as China, India and Pakistan were becoming more powerful and more populous… China and Japan owned over forty per cent of US Treasury securities, in other words nearly half the US national debt. Then after the crash of 2008, China began stockpiling natural resources… minerals and ores. All the oil, a major source of power back then, was controlled by a handful of small countries in the Middle East. The West felt threatened. Very threatened.

  ‘And people were scared the States would go into Iran. Many saw that as a final straw that would mark the end of random acts of radical Muslim violence. They were scared it would provoke the Islamic world into uniting against non-Muslims. Meanwhile, the Zionist factions and their champions were provoking hatred against Muslims in the West to increase support for the wars.

  ‘I even read that many of the Islamic extremist bombings and terrorist attacks were actually sponsored by the West,’ Rachael said. ‘Is that true?’

  Scott nodded. ‘At first the CIA siphoned money into extremist groups in the “stans” and sponsored quasi-government groups in Pakistan hoping it would destabilise their neighbours, India and Afghanistan. But the attacks continued, with each new incident inciting the western media and escalating conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims.’

  ‘I read reports that some Muslim leaders quoted statistics showing that in a few decades they would out-breed non-Muslims in the West. Even so, it seems ironic to me that after all the lip service the West paid to political correctness, equality and anti-racism in the latter part of the twentieth century, it was actively promoting fear and hatred of Muslims in the beginning of the twenty-first.’

  Scott sighed.

  ‘And something else that shocked me,’ Rachael said, ‘the way the Americans and some European countries, the UK too, camouflaged their motives of protectionism, control and greed, the real reasons for going to war, by trying to justify attacks as humane actions to oust a cruel dictator or bring down an undemocratic government.’

  ‘“Winning the hearts and minds of the people.” But if you’re talking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they were strategically necessary…’

  Rachael held up her hands. ‘I’m not here to argue the politics of half a century ago. I’m just making a point that the whole world was in a mess. So given the problem of a real and imminent rapid climate change event that threatened the whole population, rather than rely on costly, messy wars to decide world supremacy, the US military decided on a safer bet.’

  Scott shook his head. ‘No, Rachael. No…’

  ‘Think about it,’ Rachael opened her arms in front of her, ‘educated people knew what the root of the problem was. Like my father always said, there were too many people on the planet.’

  ‘But it’s monstrous to suggest the American military was behind it.’

  ‘Well, someone was,’ she said.

  Scott stared at his drink.

  ‘My mother couldn’t believe it either. But, as she said, there were only two explanations and both were equally far-fetched: planned genocide or Zul was a sixth density entity.’

  ‘It was pure speculation, right? Or did your mother have proof? You said earlier she’d found something that might have helped your father?’

  ‘Yes, that’s what she told my father the day before she left England, but she never said what it was. Then later that day when they spoke again she told him she’d been wrong. But I’m sure she only said that because she was scared. By then she was sure the Tribunal was compromised and probably thought she was under surveillance. Based on an earlier conversation she had with my father, I think she’d worked out where the laser beams originated and somehow linked it to who had sent them. Problem is, we’ll never know.’

  ‘You both still chatting about the past?’ It was Diane. ‘It’s time for your supper, Scott.’ She turned to Rachael, ‘I’m sorry to break it up.’

  ‘I had no idea how late it is,’ Rachael said standing up. ‘But Scott, there’s so much more I want to talk to you about. May I come back another time? If it’s okay with you both?’

  Scott smiled. ‘Sure, I’d like that too. How about the same time tomorrow?’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, smiling.

  ‘Listen Rachael,’ Scott rubbed his elbow as he straightened his arm, ‘I don’t want to impose – I know it’s very personal – but I’d very much like to read what your mother wrote.’

  Rachael shrugged. ‘Of course.’

  ‘I’m sure you won’t want to lend me the original documents but I do have an old-fashioned scanner… it’s a machine that reads print from paper and converts it into digital format. I could…’

  Rachael shook her head. ‘Not necessary. My ex-office at GRS has all the equipment needed for cataloging old artefacts. I already borrowed their scanner to make an electronic copy. If you give me your virtual mail address, I’ll send it through to you.’

  That evening after finishing supper Scott settled in his body sculpting chair with a bottle of Scotch, a jug of water and an ice bucket. He put on his dead-head and within moments his chosen voice began reading to him. The book he’d selected was “The Zul Enigma”.

  CHAPTER 5

  Their meetings began to adopt a pattern. Afternoon tea followed by talk about “The Zul Enigma” accompanied by a whisky or two until Diane came in to call Scott for supper. Rachael was growing fond of the old couple and she helped them with the heavier chores they were beginning to find difficult now Scott was suffering with his joints.

  ‘So,’ Rachael said, accepting a tumbler of Scotch on the rocks, ‘what do you think now you’ve finished it?’

  Scott settled into his chair.

  ‘Let’s conduct a c
ritical analysis.’ Even at eighty-eight years old he instilled confidence and it wasn’t hard for Rachael to believe he’d been a front runner in the intelligence business in his day.

  ‘That appeals to the journalist in me,’ she replied, smiling.

  ‘As far as the background story about Zul is concerned, I don’t think whoever was behind this made it up from scratch. Seeing that the theory of evolution through densities was freely available on the Internet back in 2012, I think they took it, adopted it and adapted it to suit their purposes.’

  Rachael nodded.

  ‘Next we need to consider the technology involved. They needed comms knowledge to spoof the e-mail messages, know-how and equipment to beam the lasers into Dr Maiz’s office and apartment, access to holovideo equipment and the expertise to create the baby hologram.

  ‘They also needed expertise in surveillance. They would have had to bug Ms Stone, Dr Fisher, Dr Roberts, your father’s office and his apartment because, although it’s possible they sent the e-mails in at random, they needed split-second timing to piggyback the holovideos. Also, by listening in on your father at home and in the office, not only would they have got to know his movements, but would have found out what his colleagues and friends were up to as well.’

  ‘Wouldn’t UN security have routinely checked his office for bugs?’

  ‘Yeah. But perhaps the UN equipment was less sophisticated. Or perhaps the bugs weren’t stationary. As Dr Maiz said himself, they could have used ones that were microscopic and remote-controlled.’

  ‘What about at the safe house?’

  ‘Our safe houses were impenetrable.’

  ‘Not by holovideo, they weren’t!’ Rachael said, making Scott laugh. ‘Could they have had someone on the inside?’

  ‘Highly unlikely. Plus we hadn’t planned to take your father to a safe house. No one could have got an operative into position that quickly… and there’s another reason I don’t think they had anyone in there, but I’ll address that later.’