The Zul Enigma (15 page)

‘Oh now, by e-mail with
attached audio and video files.’

‘And why didn’t he get
his own UN Network Security Department on to it?’ James asked.

‘He did. That’s their
report right there,’ Bob nodded to the table. ‘They came up with a big fat zero
and passed it on to ITU-T who’s still looking into it, but their preliminary
investigation also reported no findings.’

‘Sir, in all honesty I’m
not sure the Pentagon can guarantee the level of investigation this situation
warrants.’

‘In other words you’re
telling me that you don’t wanna touch this with the proverbial nine foot pole,
eh James?’

Anita and Amanda both
stared at the floor anticipating a confrontation. There usually was when James
and Bob got together.

‘You’re darn right I
don’t,’ James replied with a laugh, his uneasy demeanour belying the smile on
his face. ‘My advice is to take it to NASA. They’re way better equipped to deal
with it.’

Bob appraised James, his
cold blue eyes betraying no emotion. ‘And what, precisely, do you mean by that
General?’

 
‘NASA may not yet have experience in
communicating with beings from outer space but it has experience communicating
with vessels in outer space. Compared with what’s available at the Pentagon, I
believe it has access to technology that will be more useful in this
situation.’

Bob frowned. ‘Are you
intimating they might find evidence of an alien visitation?’

‘For your sake, I hope
not Bob,’ James said, ‘not with your views about space exploration on the front
page of every newspaper… given your intention to slash NASA’s budget it would
be a tad ironic.’ He suppressed a smile as Anita and Amanda exchanged furtive
glances.

 
Bob sat motionless. ‘The American
people,’ he said with a pang of remorse. ‘Who would have thought they’d back
NASA after watching them waste so many billions of their tax dollars on failed
missions over the years.’

‘Nevertheless,’ James
continued, ‘it won’t harm to use the expertise that best fits the situation
– while it’s still around.’

‘Don’t push it, James,’
Bob said and the General bowed his head, ‘but I do so happen to agree. A NASA
investigation appeals – as long as nothing gets into the press until
we’re good and ready. You see, Dr Maiz used to work for that monolith and there’ll
be a fine irony in this publicly revered institution blowing his story about
being contacted by aliens out the water.’

Bob picked up the folder
and looked at Amanda. ‘Make copies of this for James, Anita, and yourself.
James? Find the right directorate and get it to NASA quick. Don’t let on it’s
coming from me, mind. I don’t have to tell you why. Inform them it takes
priority over every and anything else – barring an imminent alien
invasion.’ They all laughed. ‘And I wanna full preliminary report within the
next two hours. I don’t know what Dr Maiz said to Greg to make him back this
crazy story, but I wanna get to the bottom of it ASAP.’

He handed the folder to
Amanda. ‘One more thing. Briefings are on a strictly “need to know” basis.
Apart from with NASA, all alien talk stays in this room. I don’t wanna hint of
gossip getting out. Clear? I sure as hell don’t wanna be dealing with
accusations of alien cover-ups on top of everything else. The press would bury
me after what I said the other day.’ Everyone nodded. ‘Right. Let’s get back to
work.’

Bob made as if to get up
and then hesitated. ‘I nearly forgot. Dr Maiz also maintains that he had a
personal visit with a newborn baby that appeared at his office as a hologram. I
want you to check that out as well. He claims the baby regressed back through
foetalhood into nothing. This event evidently made such an impression on Dr
Maiz that he took it as proof that the so-called aliens really do exist.’ The
others exchanged amused glances as he continued, ‘I’m wondering if OOSA’s
finest may possibly be a coupla cards short of a full deck, if you get my
meaning.’

***

Carlos lay sprawled on his bed staring at the ceiling. His dismissal from the
White House had been executed with a slickness that left him powerless to
query, let alone challenge.

When he and Greg had
walked out of the Oval Office, Amanda had conducted them back to the same
ante-room in which they had met earlier. Half an hour later a young lady
collected Carlos and escorted him to the lobby where she asked him to wait
again. A man, who introduced himself simply as Tom, materialised with Carlos’s
coat and scarf and led him courteously but firmly outside to scrunch through
freshly fallen snow towards a waiting limousine where his luggage was being loaded
into the boot. Tom ducked into the driver’s seat and kept up an easy steady
stream of polite conversation throughout the journey.

He chauffeured Carlos to
a red brick house on a quiet residential boulevard a short drive away.

When the automatic
electric gate opened Tom drove in and parked on the sweeping drive. Then the
two men trudged up wide snow-covered steps towards the porch and Tom rang the
bell. They stomped their feet as they waited.

‘Good afternoon.’ A
dumpy jovial middle-aged woman opened the door. ‘I’m Mary, the housekeeper.’
She gave them a cheery smile and welcomed Carlos inside. ‘Let me take your
coat.’ She hung it up in a cupboard as Tom nodded goodbye and jogged back down
the stairs towards the car, whistling.

Inside the house it was
snug and warm.

‘Follow me and I’ll show
you to your room. Once you’ve unpacked and freshened up, come down to the
dining room and have something to eat.’ Carlos was relieved to hear that. He’d
barely taken one bite of his sandwich at the Oval Office before he’d been
escorted out.

Mary led him upstairs to
the first floor. His room had a king-size bed, an en-suite bathroom and facing
out of the bay window that looked onto the back garden two comfy-looking
armchairs either side of a coffee table. In front of the regular desktop
computer, a free-standing holographic screen stood on the desk and although
Carlos couldn’t spot it, a projector must have been concealed somewhere in the
room that enabled holovideo conferencing facilities.

His shoes left a trail
of prints on the oyster coloured carpet as he walked across the room to slide
open the slatted wardrobe doors. There were several sturdy wooden hangers on
the rail, one with a white towelling bathrobe on it, and a small chest of
drawers. Next to the wardrobe was a built-in drinks fridge with an ice bucket,
bottle opener and corkscrew. He looked in the bathroom. It was large, marbled
and mirrored.

Carlos hung up his suits
and shirts, placed his undershorts and socks in a drawer and fifteen minutes
later was in the dining room where Mary had laid out a steaming tureen of
hearty minestrone soup, a loaf of crusty country bread and a generous slab of
yellow creamy butter. When he finished his meal Mary showed him to a bright
chintzy sitting room where he sank into a soft armchair and waited for her to
bring coffee.

The house was cozy and
comfortable and the atmosphere, reinforced by Mary’s hospitality, allowed him
to unwind.

He thought back to his
conversation with Greg after the meeting. After discussing the Russia situation
and what might happen if they verbalised their implied threat to stop the
natural gas supply to Europe, Greg had cleared his throat. Carlos knew what was
coming and he was dreading it. ‘Carlos. The meeting. We need to hold a
post-mortem.’

Carlos grunted. He’d
done exactly what Drew had warned him against. He’d fucked up.

‘Why didn’t you stick to
our strategy?’ Greg asked, shaking his big head. ‘You nearly blew the whole
damn thing.’ His tone wasn’t accusing, it was a statement of fact.

‘I couldn’t help it. He
got me mad. His attitude…’

‘We knew it would be
tough and we knew he’d be sensitive about the subject matter, especially
considering the bun fight that’s going on in the media. That’s why we agreed on
a strategy. I was to present the facts succinctly using a candid approach and
you were there to field any technical questions.’

Carlos dropped his eyes.
Clearly he’d violated their agreement. He hoisted his arms in the air nearly
knocking over a vase of flowers. He made a lunge to steady it, causing some water
to spill. ‘Jesus!’ He mopped up the damage with his handkerchief. ‘Didn’t you
see the way he looked at me? From the time we sat down he made me feel like a
second-class citizen. What was that about? You tell me because I’m sure I don’t
know.’

‘Carlos, I…’

‘If we followed the
approach I used with you, he’d have understood better what we’re dealing with…’

Greg shook his head,
sending a ripple through his chins. ‘He’d have thrown us out on our ears. He
may seem relaxed but he’s an impatient man. He doesn’t tolerate anyone wasting
his time. As it was we bypassed the conventional State Department route to
include you in the meeting at such short notice – we needed to respect
that concession and monopolise as little of his time as possible.’

‘I…’

‘Then you said your
piece and nearly sabotaged everything. We were there for one reason: to ask for
technical assistance. Why did you interfere? I warned you not to say anything
unless addressed. I know Bob, I know what he’s like.’

Carlos sat forward on
his chair gesticulating. ‘I couldn’t stand his arrogant, complacent attitude.
What does he know about physics, hey? Or astrobiology, or cosmology? What does
he care? Nothing! That’s why he wants to destroy NASA. I guess he must have
some level of intelligence: he is President for Christ’s sake. But has he ever
thought about these things? I don’t think so. I see no imagination, no passion
in that man. He’s blinkered. Insular. And how dare he treat me as if I’m some
kind of madman?’

‘Because that’s exactly
how you presented yourself! That story about the baby – for goodness sake
Carlos – what were you thinking?’

Carlos stared at the
flowers. ‘
Sí
, that was a mistake. I shouldn’t have told him about that,
but he made me so angry. I wanted to shock him. To shake him out of his smug
little world.’

‘Didn’t you have a
measure of the man by then? Did you really think you could “shock” him into
believing by telling him that? I know exactly what happened in there, Carlos.
Bob rubbed you up the wrong way from the start and instead of riding it through
you reacted. You lashed out. End of story. You let personalities interfere with
getting what we wanted. You made yourself look a fool and you embarrassed me.
You embarrassed me in front of the President of the United States.’ Greg shook his
head again.

Carlos had to turn his
face away. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’

‘Enough said. There’s no
point in dwelling on it. After all, we met our objective, just. I only hope we
get quick feedback. I’m scheduled to fly to Bogota on Wednesday to look at the
earthquake damage.’ Greg sighed. ‘I feel like a naughty schoolboy waiting to be
called to the principal’s office,’ he chuckled. ‘Hm, I can remember that
feeling well enough!’

Carlos smiled, grateful
to Greg for breaking the tension. ‘It didn’t take our people long,’ he said,
‘and it won’t take them more than a few hours. But then how, Greg? What’s going
to happen when they find nothing too?’

‘You are so very sure,
aren’t you?’

Carlos shrugged. ‘
Sí
,
I am.’

‘It was the baby, wasn’t
it? Tell me about it.’

‘I just finished a
holovideo call with a friend when another image appeared. A cardboard box in
the haptic display area on the conference table…’ and Carlos related the whole
story, only stopping when Greg interrupted to ask the occasional question.

 
‘I wish you’d told me all this before.’

‘I know. But it’s so
random!’ Carlos shrugged. ‘And I was scared you’d think I’d gone crazy.’

‘I assumed your
conviction was based on something – but this?’ Greg heaved his shoulders
up and down in a shrug. ‘I can understand it was a supremely powerful
experience for you but
you
must understand it’s very hard for me to
believe. After all, you
were
the only person in your office at the
time.’

‘Are you saying I
imagined it?’ Carlos fired back.

‘Don’t wave your arms at
me son. I’m not calling you a liar. I’m stating the obvious, not passing
judgement. So how long do you think Zul will wait before he contacts you
again?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘If he is what he
claims, why are you so sure he’s benign?’

‘It’s just my feeling.
What my guts tell me.’

‘And if you’re wrong?’

‘Mankind can’t be much
threat to more evolved beings. I don’t see any point wasting time worrying
about it. It’s an impossible scenario to project without more data.’

Then the young woman had
poked her head round the door to tell Carlos it was time for him to go.

In spite of the coffee, Carlos’s eyelids kept drooping but when he went
upstairs to lie down he couldn’t sleep.

Of
course Greg was right. He had behaved impulsively and unprofessionally. He was
ashamed. But Bob had riled him that much. He couldn’t have looked down on
Carlos more had he been a piece of dog excrement Bob had picked up on the sole
of his shoe. But that’s okay, thought Carlos, I’ll have my time. When Zul
finally does materialise. And who’s going to look stupid then?