Panspermia Deorum (14 page)

Julien sat,
head in hands, unable to take in the mess he had created by dealing
with people like Kolorov, and even Brandt himself.

“What do you
suggest, Ivan? I’m nothing but a blind man in this world of
espionage.”

“I have given
it a lot of thought and we still benefit from the advantage of the
mole on Kepler being limited in communication options. This will
not remain so for long, so we have to introduce some new redirect
protocols immediately, to avoid the culprits becoming suspicious
that their plot is unravelling. We have to keep Kepler safe for the
present, and quickly find the traitor in Guiana. That will help in
neutralising any rogue action by someone aboard the vessel.
We
have to take over the ‘deep throat’ role with Kepler
until we know the identity of their contact person in our midst.
That is the order of things, Julien. As far as Brandt is concerned,
I recruited an expert to advise me on how we would deal with all
kinds of hypothetical cyber-attacks. He was very helpful, and
produced a report with details even I could not understand. So, if
I have trouble with the jargon, I do not expect Muller or Brandt to
question the report – especially as the section I modified is over
twenty thousand words. They wanted detail, they will have it coming
out of their arse.”

W
hile Muller and Kenji were poring through the
plethora of complex data sent by Kolorov, they agreed that they
were both technically deficient in structural software coding, and
decided to ask Hans Back for his input.

Meanwhile,
Kolorov had plumbed further into the depths of his contacts in
Russia. He invited Alexei Bondarenko to visit Guiana and study the
archives of the flight deck video screens. Julien hadn’t put up any
resistance, although morally critical of such methods, he simply
wanted the mission restored to default status, leaving the Cosmos
itself as the only threat.

It took an
overnight session for Bondarenko to finally recognise someone on
Brandt’s screens. The woman in question appeared multiple times in
several locations over a period of time. Bondarenko fastened on to
this, it just didn’t fit with the fact that some of the locations
were in organisations which were bitter competitors. He and Kolorov
ran through the footage several times, and eventually they found
the explanation. All of the suspicious sightings were subjected to
facial recognition tests and the answer became clear. There were
two different women who looked like twins, but not necessarily
identical twins. It was a step too far to believe this was merely
coincidence.

“Good news,”
said Kolorov, to Julien, “a stroke of luck. We have identified one
of the persons we are looking for. Surprisingly, the first one
Bondarenko recognised was captured on film in both NERO and Soyuz
footage. But the facial recognition checks threw up a real
curveball. This individual is a sibling, she has a twin who just
happens to be on board Kepler. This makes our task much simpler,
but still tricky, Julien. We can now neutralise the threat to the
vessel pretty much immediately, and of course that is our main
concern. When that happens, the traitor here in VB Aerospace has
less leverage to wield. We can then confront this person, even if
it reveals that we are not only aware of the threat, but on top of
it. It also affords us the opportunity to beef up security on our
control system as we deal with the traitor. Do you want to explain
all of this to Brandt or would you like me to do it?”

“Ivan, I think
you’ve earned the right to let Volker know you’re with us now. It
might even make him more comfortable for the rest of the journey to
Mars.”

“Ok, will do.
It is always the little details which make up the full picture. And
before you ask, Bondarenko will handle the other sibling, we will
concentrate on the one aboard Kepler.”

*

Brandt remained
calm when he received a communication from Julien. The message
simply stated that all was well at last and the proof was in the
details which were now being scrutinised by Hans Back. His closing
remark however, produced a slight surge in Brandt’s heart rate.

‘I’ve been a
bit cagey about this, but I can now reveal that the credit for
finding the cause and correcting it, must go to Ivan Kolorov, and
he will contact you shortly via our password protected zip file. He
has a lot of technical stuff he needs to share with you. Safe
onward journey,

Julien.’

*

Feeling a lot
more relaxed, Julien informed Kolorov that the way was clear for
him to contact Brandt.

“Now it’s all
set up, tell me who this ‘terrorist’ is, and show me the
proof.”

A couple of
stills from the flight deck were placed on the desk. Julien found
it hard to believe. He recognised Nina Knudsen. He glanced at each
image several times before he spoke.

“Ivan, this
can’t be…”

“Turn them
over.”

One had the
name, location, time, and personal details of Nina Knudsen, and the
background was the astronaut training centre right there in Guiana.
The other was in Soyuz HQ, and the name was displayed as Greta
Beria, maiden name Knudsen. More images were thrown on to the desk.
Beria was depicted in NERO HQ, and again in Soyuz, but this time
together with Nina. Julien slumped into a chair. Kolorov spoke
calmly.

“There is a
reasonable possibility that Brandt missed this connection, after
all he was travelling all over the planet during these times, but
we can’t yet rule out that he’d seen the women together. He would
have had all of the crew seriously vetted, and it should have
thrown up family stuff which would normally have attracted a red
warning star.”

They sat in
silence for a few minutes. The door flew open and the
Communications Director apologised for the intrusion. He addressed
Julien directly.

“Sir, we’ve
lost our link with Kepler. All interfaces are flat-lining. The
fault isn’t at our end and…well, they must be in serious
difficulty. It wasn’t a stuttering loss of contact, everything went
dead in an instant. Can you authorise shifting one of the big radio
telescopes to see if we can pick them up visually or by
interpretation of noise from their last position?”

Both Julien and
Kolorov leapt to their feet and accompanied the Communications
Director to the asteroid monitoring wing. It took a few hours for
the re-focussing to deliver the indisputable verdict. There was
nothing but debris where Kepler should have been. The circus of
dealing with the disaster would have to kick in soon, and at least
temporarily supplant the personal grief of both Julien Delacroix
and Ivan Kolorov. It was simply not possible to hold back on
releasing the news, and then later having to submit to the
onslaught of a media witch hunt.

Kolorov watched
Julien mentally disintegrate in front of him.

“Hey, pull
yourself together, man, I know this has happened on your watch but
none of it was your fault. We have to get our announcement ready.
It has to acknowledge the attempt to corrupt VB Aerospace operating
protocols. Too many people here know and have worked on trying to
find answers or to pretend it didn’t happen. But, Julien, whatever
destroyed Kepler could be totally unconnected. An ion storm or a
hail of small rocks, a fire, anything. It happened so quickly after
you sent your last message to inform Brandt that I was going to
contact him. There was no time for anyone on board Kepler to have
sussed we had nailed the suspect. Well, maybe one. This guy Back,
it is possible he has been able to open your zip files, but then
again, there has been no mention to the crew of a possible suspect
on the vessel. For now at least we should not make accusations
which cannot be substantiated. Conclusions are pending further
investigation. Come with me, my friend, we can do this
together.”

Julien got
slowly to his feet and trailed after Kolorov, shaking his head
continuously. He was in no condition to make a cogent analysis of
what Kolorov had just said. He suggested that he should outline the
available evidence for the tragedy, and asked the Russian to cover
the attempted cyber-attack.

*

The news was
perceived differently in the apartheid world into which society had
drifted. The judgement of VB Aerospace by the ‘haves’ was nothing
less than scathing. Volker Brandt was seen as the posthumous
artisan of the disaster, blatantly cutting corners to escape a
world in the throes of social collapse; one which people like him
had helped to create. From saviour to villain in the blinking of an
eye, even portrayed by some journalists as a self-serving
extremist, and cynically compared to odious dictators of the
previous century.

Julien,
although seen as a mere architect of Brandt’s obsession with
setting foot on Mars, was pilloried for not standing up to the
German on the decision to launch Kepler prematurely, and
particularly compromising on issues of safety. The same vultures
who eulogised VB Aerospace for their proactive drive to rescue the
species from certain extinction were now blessed with the sagacity
of hindsight. The company reputation was portrayed as being in
ruins, and confidence in the asteroid deflection project was
predicted to suffer as a result.

By contrast,
the ‘have nots’ weren’t rushing to judgement. They remembered the
honesty of Julien Delacroix when he let the entire population know
of the duplicitous negligence generated by the Osaka conference.
They smelled a rat in the water pipe; it was, in their mind, also
clogged with sewage peddled by those who had most to gain from such
a disaster. A steady increase in demand ensued for Julien to be
given time to be more explicit on the entire situation. The fact
that Kolorov alone had handled the allegations of cyber-conspiracy,
and Julien had confined his remarks to the disaster in space, added
fuel to the existing suspicion of some kind of cover up, but by
whom? One which would simply refuse to go away.

*

Kolorov
suggested that they put some urgency into making the flight deck
disappear.

“As wonderful
as it is, Volker Brandt created a monster if viewed from the
present circumstances. It could actually become the means of our
downfall. Are you hearing me, Julien?”

“Yes, I am, but
I still haven’t come to terms with the loss of Kepler. I need a
couple of hours before engaging with even more destructive
activity. You’re right, the flight deck must go before anyone knows
about it, I’ll see to it later today. I just want to be alone now,
Ivan. Please give me some privacy, as I need to speak with my
family, I want them to come here so we can talk this through, in
particular what comes next.”

“You are not
thinking of quitting are you?”

“Maybe, I don’t
feel anything but numbness right now. How about you? Sorry, I
forgot, you’ve been through stuff like this before.”

“Actually, I
wasn’t sure exactly how to approach you about it, and yes, I have
observed horror like this on several occasions, and that is why we
must keep our references about conspiracy to remain vague. It is
also why I only told the media there could have been a
cyber-attack, and we checked it out to be certain, but found no
hard evidence yet. I know you weren’t happy about the way I put
this across, but as I said previously, if Kepler was destroyed by
an accident in space, shouting our mouths off about conspiracy
would ensure that we would become targeted by the hit men for no
good cause. It would be different if we had proof of real sabotage
actions, but all we had was circumstantial evidence of possible
collusion of the Knudsen sisters. This kind of shit never gets any
easier to take, but I am not going to die for nothing, Julien.
However, as you have raised the subject, and now that the mission
is kaput, my expertise isn’t going to be of much value to you now.
Like you said, it all seems a bit surreal, and yet we were so
close. Look, I don’t want you to agonise over this anymore, I’ll
just quit, and as the press always need a scapegoat, because it is
their lifeblood, at least I can take a fair slice of the blame with
me. It is a real shame, but nobody would take us seriously if we
tried to begin again, you know, to take another shot at Mars. So,
please be warned, if you insist on fuelling the conspiracy theory,
I will have to deny it. We both have to survive the attacks which
will come our way, even though they will be delivered from
different sources.”

“That’s hardly
fair to you, Ivan, I’d rather front up to the media again when we
know more, so, if…”

“No, Julien,
You are wearing those rose-tinted glasses again. Just get back to
trashing this damned asteroid. My career was blown already. Let us
shake hands and accept that we did our best. My C.V. is toxic now,
and that won’t help you, so a total change is a must. I am done
talking about this. Au revoir, my friend, I think you should go to
your family, instead of bringing them here.”

“You’re right
once again, Ivan, it’s just that I don’t want to appear to be
running away from my responsibilities. Anyway, if I can’t talk you
out of leaving, you must take care of yourself in your own way, and
I truly hope we can stay in touch.”

They embraced
and Kolorov closed the door quietly as he left.

*

The Delacroix
clan gathered in one of the less conspicuous, family-run
restaurants. Julien had become world famous for the second time,
and a lot of people interrupted the family discussion to pass on
condolences and wish him well. He wanted to assure Eugene that the
offer on the table for him to work on genetic research still
stood.

“I’ll be
concentrating on asteroid hunting from now, but somewhere,
sometime, there will be another organisation trying to claim Mars,
and they will need the kind of benefits your research will bring,
Eugene. Now then, Sophie, I won’t be as busy with just one project
on my hands, and I would appreciate your involvement in designing
my new house, in fact I’d like to get on designing it for us as
from today. Your artistic gift will be crucial in creating a place
for you, Eugene and me to enjoy. Neither of you needs to live
there, but you will always have a place to stay with me whenever
you want. The same goes for you, Elise. I’d understand if this
tragedy changes your mind about spending more time in Guiana, but
I’d love you to come here any time you feel the urge. If you wanted
to bring your friend or Geraldine, don’t hesitate. This awful event
shows just how fragile and short life can be. There’s no time for
petty quarrels. I also need to tell you all exactly how much I have
always valued your support, especially in this dark time. But, I
won’t be beaten, even if I’m down right now, there is still a
battle to be won if I’m going to live longer than my father.”