Panspermia Deorum (15 page)

The kids
tearfully nodded affirmation that they would get on with their
respective tasks, and Elise announced that she was staying another
month, and added, “Will that be long enough for me to tell you
exactly how I want my room designed, Sophie?”

The huddle
became four instead of three.

A New
Fulcrum

Ten Days
Later

Julien was
contemplating the best way to ‘wipe’ Brandt’s flight deck from the
premises. One of the screens which followed current events flashed
a ‘breaking news’ alert.

‘Ivan Kolorov
has been installed as Vice President of Soyuz. It is understood he
will bring new impetus to the company in terms of putting the first
of our species on Mars. Soyuz acknowledge that in his previous
spell with us, he spoke out against compromise in safety procedures
just ‘to win a race’. As a mark of respect to those who perished on
the VB Aerospace vessel, Kepler, this announcement was rescheduled
to allow memorial services to take place and help the families of
the crew to have closure. Kolorov’s first interview will be
broadcast later today, but we understand he has already stated that
there is no chance of the planned launch date being brought
forward’.

Julien
repeatedly processed the events of the last few weeks and became a
man possessed. The announcement was confirmation of him being
victim to a highly elaborate sting.

A strange
calmness engulfed him, beginning with the need to preserve the
archive he’d promised to destroy. There would be another time.

Part Two:
Plateau

T
he dreadful loss of the Kepler crew was still raw,
and completely dominated the thoughts of Julien Delacroix in
preparing his response to the media. He’d considered not responding
at all, in his mind many of them were pitiful trolls. However, this
wasn’t about his personal situation, the crew had either been taken
by some unexplained cosmic accident, or they had been murdered.

The request of
Ivan Kolorov to get rid of all evidence in the flight deck felt
like it was a key part of the sting. Eradication was out of the
question. Sitting in Brandt’s period dark red leather swivel chair,
he twirled the business card of Cyclops between his fingers.
Recalling Brandt’s words – ‘Now, take this card, he is the only
other person who knows about our espionage activity. He set up the
system and smooths out glitches every once in a while. He is only
known by this reference – ‘Cyclops’. It’s the only way he works,
and I’ve asked him to contact you after the launch’.

But Cyclops
hadn’t contacted him at all. He dialled the number on the card and
heard the unobtainable tone. Why had this man not called? And why
could he not be contacted now? Volker Brandt never used the words
maybe or possibly if he could avoid them. Julien could only
conclude this ran deeper than Ivan Kolorov. He decided to bring his
son into the flight deck.

“Eugene, only a
few people have had the privilege or the misfortune to see this
place. I can only vouch for the ones I know about. Obviously
Brandt, as he had it installed, myself, a Russian named Ivan
Kolorov, a man who installed the kit, known only as Cyclops, and my
Communications Director. The last mentioned burst in without
approval, to tell Kolorov and myself about the blackout of contact
with Kepler. It didn’t seem unreasonable at such a time of
emergency, but now it may have more significance than I thought it
did on that fateful day. You should know that Kolorov was here to
help me uncover a conspiracy. He left immediately after the
disaster, and within a short time he was made Vice President of our
main rivals to get to Mars, now known as NERO/Soyuz. Volker Brandt
left me this card in the event that something went wrong with this
snooping hub, a veritable window into the confidential stuff of all
our competitors. It still works, except for NERO/Soyuz. And now,
this Cyclops cannot be contacted. Just as Kolorov was leaving, he
asked me to destroy the snooping hub from which he claimed to have
identified a mole aboard Kepler. I don’t want to involve you in
this conundrum, Eugene, because it’s patently a dangerous plot to
wrestle with, but I do need someone I can trust to help me out. I
remember you telling me about a friend you had at university, a
young man with amazing abilities in the I.T. world. I have no idea
how to go about making all of this hardware disappear to another
location yet still retain its capability. I particularly want to
preserve the data already stored on the system.

“So, I wondered
if you think this pal could perform such a task, and whether he is
absolutely reliable? He would have to be prepared to look the other
way and then forget he ever spoke to me. I’m saying this because I
fear Cyclops may have been eliminated. It’s a lot to ask of you, I
know, and I’d understand if you decline. I could just get on with
the asteroid programme and forget about further investigation of
the loss of life aboard Kepler. However, I feel that I owe them
some kind of justice if they were subject to a reprisal act of
terrorism against Brandt. I would like to think it wasn’t, that
they died accidentally, but I have no evidence to support that as
yet.”

Eugene’s face
was blank and Julien took this to mean his son was overwhelmed.
Eventually, he reacted.

“I don’t think
it’s wise to involve another person. I’m pretty I.T. literate
myself. Listening to your plan, I can see a few flaws. Do you need
ongoing access to the system?”

“Not right now,
my priority is to keep the archive safe until I need it.”

“Ok, physically
moving this stuff out of here to some other location will be like
advertising a Halloween party, even if you did it at night. It
would be better to brick up this office and let it be known that it
is defunct, and to be preserved as a ‘mausoleum’, dedicated to the
memory of Brandt. Get it alarmed with the best gear available and
then I can put it to sleep, pull the existing IP address, and we
just mothball it until you need access to the drives. You said
there were only a handful of people who knew about why this room
was really built, and we should keep it that way. I sense that you
want to check out your Communications Director. Well, if he is tied
up with this Kolorov, it could be a neat way of getting him to
report that the system has been neutralised, telling the guy what
he wants to hear. Just a thought.”

“I’m happy to
confess I’m utterly naïve when it comes to dealing with these kind
of people, Eugene, but I do think it’s a workable idea. Can I leave
it to you to organise it? And let’s not bore your mother or your
sister with what you’re doing. They’d have me sectioned, or
worse.”

“Yeah, tell me
about it, Sophie is already designing my room in your new house.
Telling me what I want and what I don’t want. Don’t worry, not a
word will be passed on to her or Mum. Listen, I just want to help
in keeping you out of trouble. You said it yourself, these people
are extremely dangerous, and the whole family could become a
target. That’s how they work, by creating fear. I won’t go any
further than what I’ve already suggested, because if that doesn’t
make them back off, we really are out of our depth. I know you want
to find out what happened to your friends on the vessel, Dad, but
it isn’t going to bring them back. It is what it is, and the media
know you’ll be expected to try and find out what caused Kepler to
disintegrate, but personally I’d ease off with the conspiracy
stuff. I’m guessing they’ll leave you alone if the perpetrators
believe this snooping hub is defunct, leaving them in the clear.
That will allow us to get on with preventing the asteroid from
making this whole conversation pointless. Let’s leave it at that,
unless there comes a time when you need these archives. I want you
to promise me you can let the conspiracy angle go. Dad…Dad, are you
listening?”

“What? Oh, uh…
yes. I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but I do have to
genuinely start an independent investigation into the sudden break
up of Kepler.”

“Sure you do,
so just call it that – a thorough study of precisely what kind of
natural phenomenon could have caused the disaster. You have to get
these people off our backs, Dad. I’m still not sure you’re getting
the message. Start by involving this Communications Director in
every step of the investigation. He was responsible for keeping
tabs on the situation, but you only have his testimony regarding
the time of the instant cessation of the link to Kepler. Leave it
like that, tell the people of the world whatever he tells you. Come
on, tell me I’m getting through to you, Dad. You really are as
naïve as you said earlier, so take a step back, trust me or I’m
out.”

“Ok, ok we’ll
do it your way. You have my word.”

*

He had arranged
to face the media rather than simply put out statements, and this
time Julien was alone in the hot seat. What had shifted since he
stood together with Kolorov to make the announcement regarding
Kepler’s demise, was the reaction of the people rather than the
press. World demographics showed clearly that less than forty
percent were sympathetic to establishment-governed institutions,
and that figure was still declining. The distrust of this faltering
elitist structure, and its abuse of power did in itself threaten
virtually every aspect of ordered society. The one notable
exception was the asteroid programme. There simply weren’t enough
qualified anarchists to take it on. Julien not only wanted to
preserve Brandt’s reputation, but use it as a clarion call to
protect VB Aerospace. He was in the process of instructing the
telecommunications company inherited from his mentor to broadcast a
monthly bulletin on what was happening. It was to cover the Kepler
investigation, the trajectory and position of chocolate orange, and
the progress on all fronts of the programme to deflect it. He
wanted to convey transparency in return for trust. His
sub-objective was, however, to create a truly visible desire in
more than sixty percent of the population to protect the programme
of avoiding extinction. He would appeal to leaders amongst the
‘anarchists’ to join this cause. He knew it risked being isolated
from the rest of the establishment culture, in fact he hoped it
would. Despite what he’d promised his son, Julien feared further
interference from those who did thrive in the art of the hand
deceiving the eye. Eugene’s plan was a first step, but not enough
in itself.

Armed with this
dual strategy, he presented his case to the media, but clearly
aimed it at the ‘have nots’ of the populous. He had taken a leaf
from Brandt’s book. He distanced VB Aerospace from any further
attempt to reach Mars, at least until the cause of Kepler’s demise
was proven beyond all doubt. Patience in reaping what was sown.

2034

U
nder the stewardship of Kolorov, Soyuz had wrestled
some of its former autonomy from the claws of NERO. With VB
Aerospace out of the space race, he’d insisted that the launch of
their Mars project vessel, Laika, was restored to its original
date. He only needed to mention the word safety multiple times in
the same sentence to quell any resistance.

The crew of six
were all Russian citizens, although the first officer was born in
Poland. The objectives were not clear and never discussed openly.
The spectre of 2039 had taken on significantly more divisive
characteristics. In the previous eighteen months, the shift to
muted anarchy intensified significantly. It was also accompanied by
a breakdown in the capability to produce accurate demographics. The
launch of Laika was quite logically perceived as constructing a
cynical escape route for the privileged few. Protests denigrating
the mission as a waste of resource became ugly, and the worry, as
published by the press, indicated that a total collapse of order
would ensue. City centres were being inexorably transformed into
burning ghettos. It was predicted to be only a matter of time
before NERO and Soyuz themselves were subjected to siege warfare
with the anarchists.

*

Julien
Delacroix had kept his word to the general public. The broadcasts
he’d promised were still running. The mausoleum was still gathering
dust, having served its purpose of keeping the sharks at bay. He
had spent a lot of time explaining precisely why the fate of Kepler
was still a mystery, and that without new evidence, the science of
probability indicated force majeure. He stopped short of closing
the case, saying that someday advances in the technology for
observing the Cosmos could possibly find and identify individual
pieces of debris from the vessel. It was more hope than
probability, but if the vessel’s chronology box could be located, a
recovery mission could be considered. Without being able to examine
remnants of Kepler, or the box itself, an explanation of its
disintegration would remain elusive. He likened it to the raising
of the Titanic. The impossible could conceivably become feasible
with the passage of time.

With respect to
the trajectory of the asteroid, there had been no further deviation
to report as yet. However, they had detected a fall in homogeneity
in the structure of the beast. It was minimal but definite. Without
raising expectations too much, it was seen as weakness in the
cohesive nature of the rock. At the very least it could assist any
last resort nuclear strike to destroy it. And this fleet of
asteroid killers was on course in manufacturing terms.

*

A more
‘tactile’ prospect was brewing as a result of Eugene’s work. He had
identified a means of altering DNA to repair birth defects which
caused vulnerability to a number of serious, untreatable
conditions. The work was in its infancy, but the potential for
fortifying the human genome in general was to receive more
intensive funding. This was the kind of research the people could
identify with, and Julien kept reinforcing the point by declaring
he was prepared to spend a significant proportion of the money
Brandt had bequeathed to him on this research. His catchphrase
became – ‘Money is only a resource, nothing more. Like oxygen, all
Earth resources belong to all of us’.