2040 Revelations (9 page)

Dr. Vandervoort shrugged. ‘Yes, I suppose,’ she said, a little downcast. ‘I thought I had prepared myself for letting go, but I hadn’t realised how hard it was going to be. Knowing the places you grew up, went to school, the national landmarks, everything, is soon going to disappear is …’ – she stared off into space – ‘difficult.’

Goodwin laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. There wasn’t much he could say, South Africa was to take the brunt of the impact and nothing would be left after AG5’s arrival.

‘These will be difficult times for us all,’ Steiner said, turning serious. ‘Your nation will be mourned, my dear, but it will not be forgotten.’

‘And the country can be rebuilt when everything has settled down again in the future, isn’t that right, Professor?’ Goodwin said, catching a brief flicker of angst – or was it fear? – on the professor’s face, before the warm smile came back as though it had never been away.

‘Most definitely, all will be well.’

Goodwin felt a little uneasy after witnessing that micro expression. Did the professor think South Africa couldn’t be rebuilt in the future? And if so, why? Unable to think of an answer, he shrugged it off while the doctor demonstrated for them the real-time monitoring systems and presented historical results and forecasts, all of which Goodwin had seen many times before. The professor, however, took it all in, asking numerous pertinent questions.

After leaving Kara to continue with her work, they spent a few hours taking in many of the other major systems and facilities throughout the base. Finally they took a cab back to the main Command Centre located in the middle of Steadfast. The building, a massive structure fifty floors high, cut through three chamber levels and housed the majority of Steadfast’s high ranking civilian and operational personnel.
Goodwin led the professor to the core observation deck located in the heavily reinforced interior. The large room comfortably held seventy systems operators, technicians and analysts. Each person had their own semi-wrapped crescent screen and operators flicked and gestured at their monitors, shifting information from location to location remotely. Complicated graphics, charts and telemetry cascaded down onto one large command screen which dominated the room.

‘Would you like to take control, sir?’ said a lead control centre analyst as an alarm sounded off to one side indicating some target or level had been reached on a particular system.

‘I would, thank you, Rob.’ Goodwin swiped his card over the analyst’s handheld computer phone and then attaching a control circlet to his index finger. With a couple of quick movements, he brought up current trajectory data for the asteroid known as 2011 AG5.

‘It looks as though it’s increased in speed slightly,’ Goodwin said, ‘however, it hasn’t affected predicted impact zones or forecast fallout data.’

‘The increase in speed will be due to gravitational forces as AG5 passed close to Mars,’ the professor told him. ‘As you say, it’s a negligible factor.’

Goodwin nodded; he might have known the professor would be up on such information. Goodwin brought up real-time footage of AG5’s passage through space. A few workers looked up at it for a moment and then carried on with their duties. Goodwin marvelled at the object they had waited for so long to arrive. Colossal and sinister, and, according to a spectral composition analysis, it had almost the same mass as had been displaced from the entire base. Parts of its surface glistened with ice as light from the sun reflected off its great bulk as it drew ever nearer to Earth.

‘She’s quite a sight, isn’t she?’ Steiner said.

Goodwin looked at him. ‘She?’

‘The media, Richard, they named her Big Bertha years ago.’

‘Did they? Oh yes, I vaguely remember, it’s had so many names I lose track.’

‘I like Big Bertha, it takes the sting out of it; it is, after all, only a bit of rock.’

Goodwin made a face. ‘A very big bit of rock.’

‘That she is,’ Steiner said solemnly, ‘that she is.’

Goodwin checked the countdown timer. ‘Looks like we’re going into the final stage.’

The professor nodded as they both watched the seconds tick away. A loud alarm sounded and a red flashing light indicated time until impact had passed the fourteen day threshold. Many more people took the opportunity to peer up from their desks this time, chattering to one another in mild animation. The flashing stopped, work resumed, and the timer continued its inevitable decline to zero.

♦

The next day Goodwin had the unfortunate task of introducing Professor Steiner to the military liaison for a tour of the military installations of the base. Unfortunate, because the usual designated liaison had taken ill and the only on-site available ranking officer turned out to be the very one that Goodwin had recently clashed with, Colonel Samson.

Apparently Professor Steiner didn’t seem to mind the man’s curt and sometimes aggressive demeanour. Goodwin knew military people; a few were close friends, and none of them displayed that type of behaviour, not towards civilians, anyway. Goodwin did not care for such rudeness. He’d heard the man was ruthless in war and, if not to be respected, certainly to be feared. Goodwin didn’t fear the man, although he definitely wouldn’t fancy his chances against him in a physical contest. A veteran in the Special Forces, Samson had numerous honours and had received many accolades from senior ranks. ‘He gets the job done,’ Goodwin was told.

‘That’s not in dispute,’ Goodwin had argued, ‘it’s how he gets it done that I don’t care for.’ Goodwin had seen first-hand how Samson ruled his command; fear and intimidation were paramount in the Samson guide to leadership, everything that Goodwin abhorred and the complete opposite to how he managed those below him.

Amazingly, Steiner didn’t seem to be affronted by Samson, seemingly oblivious to his abrasiveness;
although that probably isn’t surprising
, Goodwin thought,
considering the professor must deal with these sort of people, and perhaps worse, on a continuous basis
. His respect for the man, already considerable, increased even further.

‘And where are the missiles stored, Colonel?’ Steiner was asking.

‘Right through there,’ Samson said in his gruff manner, pointing to one side.

Steiner’s placid demeanour remained unchanged as he waited for Samson to continue, his eyes asking the colonel a question.

Samson ground his teeth in frustration. ‘Did you want to look?’ he said, now clearly aggravated.

‘Yes, thank you,’ Steiner replied with flawless sincerity.

Samson swiped an access reader with a card and went through the bio scans. The outer doors whisked open while much thicker and larger inner doors parted slowly inwards. Lights flickered on inside the vast room where various types of military hardware had been crated up.

‘There don’t appear to be any missiles here, Colonel,’ Steiner said.

Samson stifled an angry growl. ‘That’s because they’re in the next room.’

Goodwin concealed a smile as the fuming colonel swept past him back into the hall and down the corridor leading to the missile room. Goodwin gave Steiner an apologetic look.

‘I thought you’d have known the missiles were located down the hall, Richard?’ Steiner said innocently, as the blast doors closed behind them.

Goodwin didn’t reply, he had known, but he didn’t know if the professor was jesting with him or reprimanding him. He believed it was the former, but he wasn’t totally sure.

Later on, after the tour had ended, the professor bade them goodbye and left for a nearby hotel with a few of his aides who had been trailing after them during Samson’s dire performance as military liaison. As Goodwin turned to leave after Steiner’s departure, Samson said something to him; Goodwin, his mind elsewhere, didn’t catch the remark.

‘I’m sorry, Colonel, what did you say?’

Samson stepped in close, his face a mere inch from Goodwin’s own.

Startled, Goodwin stepped back a pace.

‘I said,’ – Samson moved even closer than before, his breath on Goodwin’s face and eyes bulging with rage – ‘if you ever try to humiliate me like that again, I’ll gut you like a pig.’

Goodwin froze in shock, unsure how to respond. The colonel meanwhile had already stormed away. Goodwin felt a little shaken, more than a little. Samson had intent in his eyes when he’d said it and Goodwin didn’t doubt the man, given his reputation. What should he do? As leader of Steadfast he couldn’t have a military officer threatening to kill him. But then, such an accusation, if submitted to the base’s General, must have supporting evidence; a witness, which he didn’t have. Clearly the man was unhinged. Perhaps he’d speak to the professor about it for some advice or assistance.
He didn’t want that kind of man on his base, more for the safety of those under his care than out of concern for himself. If anyone had the power to do something without needing a reason it was the professor, he was always the man in control.

Chapter Six

Professor Steiner paced around his office, his concern mounting and frustration tangible. He’d been trying to obtain details about a large piece of Japanese equipment destined for Steadfast, a task he’d taken on prior to his arrival at the base; however his requisition orders kept getting delayed. This hadn’t happened to him before – ever. Normally what he wanted, he got. It wasn’t as if the machinery in question was still under manufacture, according to the usually one hundred per cent reliable GMRC global procurement database it waited in a warehouse just outside of Tokyo.

Sitting down he rhythmically tapped his fingers on the desk and then snapped up his phone and dialled the GMRC’s U.S. Department in South Korea; they were the primary point of contact for all international freight forwarding in Asia.

‘Yes, hello, can I speak to Nathan Bryant, please,’ he said, and then waited as an operator put him through.

‘Nathan Bryant,’ said a familiar voice.

‘Nathan, I need your assistance.’

‘Professor! Nice to hear from you, it’s been a while. I’m going doolally over here, I’m sure Joiner stuck me in this office out of spite,’ he said, half joking, half voicing serious complaint.

‘Indeed,’ Steiner replied, recognising Nathan’s plight, but currently not in a position to tackle it; he had more important matters at hand. ‘Nathan, I need your help. I’m trying to get some important equipment through to Steadfast, but it keeps getting put back. Can you bang some heads together and sort it out for me as soon as possible, please? The order ref is Q R S nine nine one dash zero eight five six four dash A B.’

‘Sure,’ Nathan said, ‘no problem, hold on and I’ll check it right now for you.’

A tapping of keys echoed down the phone and then he came back on. ‘Looks like that’s been diverted to another base, Professor.’

‘Which one?’

‘U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’

‘What? How did that happen? Nathan, sort this out now. I want that equipment here yesterday.’

‘Very good, Professor, I’ll keep you updated.’

‘Thank you, Nathan, it’s appreciated.’ Steiner hung up the phone, now in a furious mood. It wasn’t often things went awry, but this was a large and very important piece of kit for the water purification system. He got up out of his chair and started pacing. He needed to keep his mind occupied while he waited, as he knew it might take Nathan a few hours to sort it all out. After a few minutes he had settled back down at his desk and was going through his itinerary when the phone rang.

‘Yes?’ he said.

‘Professor, it’s Nathan.’ He sounded unusually nervous. ‘It seems we have a problem, it seems—’

‘Come on, out with it,’ Steiner said, in no mood for indirectness.

‘It seems your order was overridden.’

Steiner didn’t say anything, his mind racing to digest the almost unbelievable information he’d just heard.

‘Professor, are you still there?’

‘What? Yes – yes of course. Who the hell overrode me?’

‘It looks like the Secretary General of the UN—’

‘He doesn’t have the authority to overrule me,’ Steiner said, cutting in.

‘If you’d let me finish, Professor,’ Nathan said, his tone placating. ‘The Sec Gen’s order was combined with one from the Joint Chiefs.’

‘Which General or Admiral gave the order?’

‘It was a full issue procedure, they all cleared it.’

Again, Steiner said nothing.

‘It’s odd though,’ Nathan continued when there was no reply. ‘It looks, as far as I can tell, like your request was intentionally buried in the system along with the override itself. This couldn’t have happened by accident, it was deliberate. So not only did they override the order you gave, they tried to make sure it looked like a system or logistics error.’

Steiner frowned. ‘You found it quickly enough.’

‘Only because of my clearance level,’ Nathan said, ‘and due to the skills I picked up working alongside you on GMRC computer system architecture; anyone else would’ve have missed it.’

Grim-faced, Steiner kept an iron hold on his emotions, which raged beneath the surface. ‘Who has administrative access to that system?’

‘There are a few people here, but I checked the logs in detail and it appears it was an outside source. I’d say high level military intervention; they’re the only ones with the means and access codes.’

‘So the Joint Chiefs are blocking me; for what reason?’

‘I have no idea, Professor.’

Steiner thought for moment. ‘Nathan, I want you back here immediately. I’m going to make some calls.’

‘I’m on my way,’ Nathan said and promptly hung up.

Steiner expected him to arrive within a few hours as he’d be utilising a Sabre propelled passenger plane for transport. In the meantime he had some markers to call in.

Some time later he was no longer angry or even frustrated, but very worried; every close contact he’d nurtured within the U.S. military had clammed up. They either told him they wouldn’t be able to help or came up with some excuse not to. With his sources dried up, he had one last throw of the dice left. Picking up the phone, he re-routed the software protocol by altering the actual code, preventing any tracing or tapping of his call. He’d become that paranoid since, in all the years he’d been in command, not one time had he encountered anything like this type of resistance; something was seriously wrong. The phone rang for some time before being answered.