The Zul Enigma (66 page)

‘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
critical 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.’

‘So… how did they know
when to piggyback the holovideo of Zul?’

‘From the surveillance
in place at his office. Remember your father contacted his secretary after we
reinstated his comms? She said she’d call him back later? That’s how they knew
they could get another holovideo in.

‘The next technological
intervention was interrupting the UN satellite broadcast and beaming out Zul’s
message in its place. Although this required some level of technical knowledge
and access to specific equipment, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to
execute.’

‘I have a question. What
was the point of having Zul appear?’

‘To unite people and
prepare them for what was to come. Firstly, everyone who heard Zul speak that
day wondered whether he and his message could be genuine. See, it reinforced
what many people had already been saying for years about evolution through
densities. And it comforted us. It gave us a definitive point we were heading
towards. It gave meaning to our lives and gave us something positive, if you
looked at it in the big scheme of things, to cling on to. It was an entreaty
for all humanity to come together for the greater good – to save the
planet and save the galaxy. It was an attractive theory to believe in. It
scored a very high “feel good” factor.

‘Secondly, the people
behind this would have caused mass panic had they announced they were going to
slaughter every poor person on the planet, but since that was exactly what they
intended
doing, having Zul tell us the majority of people would
“evolve”, was a subtle way to get us thinking about what it would be like to
wake up one day and find the population decimated. They left us to work out how
it would affect those of us left… to realise we’d need a comprehensive survival
plan that would look after the people who didn’t “evolve”, in case it really
did happen.

‘Zul exuded mystery and
compassion and trust, and the reality underlying his message percolated through
our consciousness rather than hitting us on the head like a sledgehammer. The
world itself “evolved” into accepting what Zul said and that it might be true
without panicking.’

Scott shifted his
position. ‘You know the more I think about it, the more I realise it was a
stroke of genius to have Zul appear right then. See, the problem… the message
about evolution
and
the method of dealing with it… the Global
Consciousness initiative, were delivered simultaneously. So even though Zul’s
message unsettled us, and the longer we thought about it even terrified some of
us, the meditation initiative gave us something to hold on to that not only
made us think we were helping our galaxy, if we chose to believe what Zul said,
but also helped us overcome our fear of the future. Him appearing like that
jolted us into supporting the meditation initiative. And when Zul made the
evolution message public, it forced the Secretary-General to come up with the
Clean Up Plan and the Industry Operations Package.

‘Anyhow, back to the
technology. The most sophisticated part of the whole plan was bio-engineering
and triggering the virus.’

‘They must have had a
lab and research team to do that.’