Tomashevski returned with the printouts. “It is Zirconium Silicate.” The import of this to Porec was obvious. Research in the first decade of the century had indicated this material was amongst a number of potential candidates being considered as a neutron absorber for improved radiation containment. Those in the on-looking circus, which now included the members of the Stepanov expedition, were getting restless, and this percolated to Yelena Tourisheva. She was a scientist turned politician, and her ‘manual of survival’ clearly screamed – ‘deniability’. There was no means of passing this buck and so she enforced the virtues of caution.
The more efficient cooling system had taken three long days to rig up and they were still debating the next step. It was considered too dangerous to drill through any more Zirconium Silicate layers just to get to the middle layer. The argument shifted to the difference between the top and bottom sections. This threw up the question of why there was radioactive material in the object in the first place. It was Porec who for once removed his safety hat and reminded them all of the historical aspects of why it was here at all. “We have yet to prove conclusively that this thing arrived here at the same time as the destructive cosmic body in 1908. There is much circumstantial evidence to entertain this, but not absolute proof. So if we accept for now that it did arrive at that time and it landed softly, the observations of witnesses should be treated with both respect and caution. This second sun, which is a recurring claim, is important. This object is undeniably a sophisticated device, and its dismantling may yet reveal its true purpose. If the timeline we imagine is correct, the object – which is possibly the second sun, may have been a messenger. If it had soft landing capability it is therefore logical for it to have had a propulsion system. A nuclear system of some kind could be logical. Look at it as if the cap is the rear rather than the top, the other end is more aerodynamic and has the landing gear. It is then like a projectile. Please hear me out. If this projectile was tracking the cosmic body, this would fit with the witness accounts that it emerged rather than splintered from the destroyer. If it was monitoring the giant rock it may have slipped out of the vapour trail at the critical structural integrity breach, and chose to land in shallow water, close to the event, so it could easily be found.” The silence was an indicator of either logic or hallucination. Tourisheva shifted uncomfortably at the thought of endorsing this, but like a genie in a bottle, the uncorking had occurred, it could not be unsaid.
The air of excitement had been restored. It had also indirectly led to the suggestion that if the ‘nuclear part’ was detachable then maybe there was another such section which could be unhinged. They closed the hemispherical section once more and applied the technique further down while gripping the bottom half of the egg-timer. It was a Eureka moment. It came apart at the narrowest part of its ‘waist’. The two sections were independently sealed and the base of each pyramid could now be seen through clear material. The opposing sides of the pyramids had what looked like complimentary electronic partner devices. It was a real breakthrough and it enabled the two parts to be distanced from one another to determine if the radioactivity was confined to one, or present in both.
The good news was that it proved to be only the ‘aft’ section which was generating the problem, and it could now be transported to a safer distance. The main focus was now on the other part. It was assumed that although the ‘forward’ section was not generating radiation it may still need to be protected from it; and that there may be something in it which was powered by the fission process. They still had to proceed with care. This didn’t prevent Tourisheva from stepping forward and releasing the latest situation to the media, as if she had always been at the sharp end of the tense decision process.
A second drilling operation was conducted on an area near the pointed end. This time it was decided to go into the middle layer and extract a sample. It was a very unusual material. Left alone it flowed freely as any other liquid would, but whenever the slightest shear stress was applied it became a semi-solid with elastic properties. This was sophisticated di-latency as never seen before. The white liquid phase could be transformed to the pink, rubbery elastomer by merely poking a spatula into it. Numerous theories were advanced, but it always came back to this layer functioning as protective suspension for the inner components. Confidence was robust. They all agreed to progress further, and reveal the enclosed pyramid.
They allowed the white shock-absorbing component to slowly drain through the aperture. Then by further experimentation, found that they could apply similar ‘press and rock’ moves, which facilitated lifting the pyramid from its leaden sheath. The anticipation was palpable. It looked unremarkable except for the dark dot enclosed in a white circle. This had been observed earlier with the scanning equipment, but now they could see the insignia was reminiscent of a cartouche, as if it had been pressed into the metallic-looking face of the pyramid. It became a bit of an anti-climax when it didn’t respond to any stimuli. There was no option left open but to ‘reconnect’ it to the aft section. The pyramid material seemed impenetrable.
Fortunately the re-joining process was not too uncomfortable as the cooling mock-up had achieved its objective and the temperature was stabilising. The instant the connection was correctly oriented the ‘cartouche’ glowed. Totally out of character, Zara asked that some respect should be shown to the man who had ceaselessly believed in his great-grandfather’s claim. “Alexei Stepanov has been the sole driving force behind this discovery. His friend and all the rest of us in the expedition have merely assisted. Those whose expertise this has attracted are also in that category. I hope he will not mind me saying that his initial quest to follow his ancestor’s assertions left him with radiation exposure which will severely shorten his life. I think he should at least be the first to ‘push the button’.”
It was a moving scene, as one by one individuals nodded. It reached a crescendo when the press joined in. And so it was that Alexei Stepanov activated the remainder of that face of the pyramid. It was a display of numerals. At the sharp end was a red dot with a white circle; above this were two identical motifs. The third row had three and as logic demanded the fourth had four. The fifth however saw a departure – it had a yellow dot with a red circle. Mohammed leapt ahead to the ninth row and sure enough it displayed two yellow dots with red circles plus a squiggle of some complexity then a green dot with a yellow circle. “It is a rudimentary quaternary arithmetic progression – a counting system.” Before the others could challenge this Stepanov could not resist pressing the insignia again. Nothing happened.
Somebody shouted, “Press one of the glowing numerals.” He pressed the equivalent of number one. It worked, the glow of all numerals was extinguished and the corner insignia lit up again. He pressed this again and the pyramid rotated one face in an anti-clockwise direction. The same right-hand corner dot appeared and lit up. This picture did not provide a challenge. It was clearly and unmistakably a diagram of the solar system. The sequence was rotated through another dot, another face, another diagram. This was the real beginning of a debate between the scientists and the politicians. The ‘drawing’ illustrated a cosmic body emerging from the direction of the asteroid belt, and heading for Earth. It was being joined by another small object from a trajectory which would only just avoid capture by Mars. The implications were manifold and Tourisheva tried to close down further speculation by declaring that the object should not be examined further. She said she would make preparations to have it transported back to Moscow and exhibit it in the museum of natural history. “The people of Russia deserve to see this evidence, which at last would help bring to a conclusion the Tunguska mystery.”
The members of the expedition were supported by the scientists she had chosen, in resisting this edict. Porec pressed the next button. The fourth and last face produced a highly contentious suggestion. It was however something which would have to be independently checked out. Although there was no way of determining the date of the next
predicted event, there was no doubt that the cosmic body was the same parent as the one in the previous face, minus the fragment which actually hit Tunguska. What was more frightening was the critical effect given to the slight alteration in trajectory of this monster, which would turn a near miss into an impact. That dubious honour, it implied, fell to one of the moons of Mars – Phobos.
Chapter 10
Raul Ibanez had trawled the brochures and settled for Seoul. He asked Manuel to arrange a twelve-week visa holiday for him and assured him that he would never return. Manuel asked Ibanez when he was about to deliver his part of the bargain. “I can do it now if you wish, or when you have the travel documents and new passport for me. What I’m pretty certain of is that you won’t want me hanging around after I have disgorged the information. I trust you Manuel – do you trust me?” Manuel could not get others involved in this now; he would have to expense this exodus for Ibanez out of his own business.
“Of course, but if it’s as risky as you say it is to have this information, I may as well have it sooner rather than later.”
Ibanez asked him to take a walk with him. He was still paranoid about phones and properties being bugged. When they were seated by an artificial lake, inhabited by swans, and model boats, of both anoraks and children, he was about as comfortable as he was going to get. “Take your mind back to the days before Sanchez was elected. Your father was expected to win by a landslide. Have you ever wondered what went wrong? I don’t mean that Sidonia stuff - that came out later.”
Manuel shook his head. “No, I had a very strained relationship with my father. I was just glad he lost.”
This surprised Ibanez, but he continued, “Can you remember the previous election?”
Manuel was losing patience. “What is this? A quiz? Just get on with it.”
Ibanez did exactly that. “Ok, the previous election was won, according to the pundits, by very clever campaign management. This was headed up by a former Iberian ambassador to Brazil. His name was Nelson Ortega. Many insiders said he was a much better candidate than the President he got elected. You would have got a different story from the people I used to work with. His nickname in the underworld was ‘The Lid’. He came by this accolade because, during his time as ambassador, he would talk to anyone, or do anything if it kept the lid on difficult situations. Regardless of the crime – murder, drugs, fraud or tax evasion, he was prepared to deal under the radar, to keep his career on track.” Manuel looked at Ibanez quizzically. “But Ortega died trying to protect the President.”
A shake of his head was the precursor to the real substance. “No Manuel, he died because he had recruited the sniper to kill the President. He didn’t know about the bomb. He was trying to play the convincing hero when he saw his killer discard the gun. It was quick thinking, but as it turned out he would have died in the explosion anyway. ” There was a strained silence.
“You have proof of this?”
Ibanez laughed out loud. “I had dealings with a mark from a rival organisation when Ortega was ambassador. We were going to ‘off’ this mark, but were frustrated when he managed to skip the country. It took a while to find out he had turned up in Southern Africana, and had somehow brokered significant protection there. When our persuasive interviews were conducted with operatives in this guy’s organisation, we ended up at Ortega every time. Our ‘employees’ in the embassy coughed up the mechanics of the extradition, and the difficulty we might face in trying to get to him. We pressured Ortega, naturally, but we weren’t aware of his impending appointment to the campaign director’s post for the Presidential election. What we also unearthed was the consistent view of some of the big players that Ortega was never interested in being ‘King’, he craved real power by being ‘Kingmaker’. We know this to be true because after he got President Moreno elected, he contacted me to tell my superiors that he was prepared to deliver the rat who he had helped to elude us earlier. His price was a favour he was likely to need in future. That turned out to be Sanchez. Former President Moreno, and this current deputy Falcorini, were considered by him to be controllable. Sanchez was not and had to be dealt with. We agreed to send one of our contractors. He was told to take a Kalashnikov, discard it and surrender, then he was supposed to employ the grenade. His instruction was to take out Ortega; with the bomb, instead of the rifle, Sanchez was to have been the collateral bonus. I was blamed for not furnishing the Russian weapon personally, and he got a cheap imitation from Brazil; also the stupid bastard didn’t pay attention to the specific order to throw the bomb, probably because he had for some unknown reason decided to commit suicide rather than face incarceration in Madrid. We guaranteed to get him out; he was being paid a hell of a lot for this, and that money is still with his family. We couldn’t risk taking it back without attracting attention. We believe he wasn’t working exclusively for us as there is some intelligence which connects him to the rocket launch attacks. It’s credible because he had to know of this to be on the rooftop at the right time; we were astonished. Our people have no idea who these rocket men were. Maybe he was under death sentence from another organisation and this was the best way to free his family. All I can say is that it wasn’t my people who sponsored the RPGs. The outcome of all of this for me was that I knew I was taking the blame for the Brazilian rifle which was likely to lead the investigation to Southern Iberiana. I didn’t know that I was to be taken out as part of putting the house in order, and also why I was fed ‘loaded’ information from my snake of a girlfriend.”
Manuel tried to digest all of this, to separate verifiable and theoretical stuff, but as he knew from experience, these gangs only stayed in business by amputating loose ends. He did trust Ibanez. He had to think about it, but it did seem like a good idea to get him on his way to Korea, before he acquainted Pierze with the information. Ibanez reinforced this sequence when he told Manuel it was suspected, on the villains’ grapevine, that Ortega had moles in Central Security. This was all the confirmation Pierze needed; it would justify his secondment of Manuel and Duarte.
*
The situation in Tunguska was approaching flashpoint. Touresheva’s intentions had now materialised in the form of government military police to enforce her demand to remove the object to Moscow. The dissenters had not been able to access the faces of the aft pyramid, as it was still considered to be a radiation risk if they opened up that part of the egg-timer without isolating the source. They had worked through the night on a solution without finding any. Porec did recognise the sense in taking the whole object to Moscow or anywhere else which could provide a containment chamber, with remotely controlled instruments and robots to conduct the necessary surgery. What they suspected however, was that this was a political manoeuvre to avoid panic amongst the populous, and consequently turn the potential goldmine into a target of hate. The only option open to them was to incite the press and TV reporters to canvass for legal action to prevent this agenda. The media were only too willing, as it was the future of the entire world at stake. Russia couldn’t be allowed to suppress information which could be instrumental in devising a solution, if indeed this predicted agenda was accurate.
The military commander advised Tourisheva that the protest situation was getting out of hand as live TV pictures were attracting more demonstrators by the hour. Moscow intervened by striking a deal which would allow the two teams of personnel – from the expedition and those hand-picked by Tourisheva, to accompany the object and assist with rendering it safe. They would then be joined by other science gurus to evaluate whatever was revealed.
The transfer took place by a special train from Irkutsk to Moscow. The existing containment chamber in the capital had been hurriedly converted to include the specific requirements for the vivisection. The world was now up to speed on this event and cameras were to relay this to their living rooms. The first welcome surprise was that when the hemispherical end was removed, the radiation threat went with it. The inside of this was a myriad of wafer thin isotope
layers. The surface area of these constructs was much higher than fuel rods, and consequently they were a little easier to keep cool. The technology was not fully understood but they constituted an extremely compact mini-reactor which presumably powered the projectile and also connected to the two pyramids. Severing the hemisphere didn’t switch off power to the pyramids, again bringing speculation that they had some ability to store power, and like a battery, provide temporary functionality. This unexpected bonus allowed the pyramid to be taken to another conventional containment room. There was no time to lose.
Face One
The message portrayed in the complex diagram was not grasped immediately; it took a few minutes. It was one of the newly recruited government scientists who led the way. The parent of the fragment which hit Earth in 1908 was depicted as having caused other havoc by disturbing a number of asteroids on its trip. Some of these had their gravitational influence between Jupiter and Mars shifted. Some would eventually be consumed by the gas giant, but others would be slung outwards because of their new and exaggerated elliptical orbits. They would ultimately venture closer to Mars. This is where the leap of logic was missed by some of the scientists. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. The latter was not in the picture on the pyramid face. Concentration on Phobos had caused the cosmologist who first saw the outcome in his mind, to elucidate. “Phobos is an oblong body – 22 x 21 x 19 kilometres and it orbits Mars every 7.3 hours. It is understood to be 2 billion years old and is said to have a composition very similar to carbonaceous chondrites.”