Chapter 81 Pillow talk

Monday 23rd August

‘Your mum’s very brave,’ said Sue to Ben as they lay in bed at Ben’s house in Boughton Aluph, Kent.

‘She likes a challenge. I explained to her that we were investigating a plot by the Western alliance to take over the world by controlling the minds of foreign leaders and populations. I added that we were also trying to avoid World War Three. As soon as she knew we were planning to kidnap a complete stranger to those ends, she suggested we use her basement to imprison him.’

‘Like you do. Did you really tell her any of that?’

‘No. The main current issue was the kidnap, and I couldn’t even come up with a credible excuse for why we were doing that. It was Sam who convinced her to get involved. I’m sure Sam wouldn’t have actually hypnotised her, but mum was very keen on helping after they’d talked. Maybe Mum had that sense of destiny which inspired us when all this was first discussed. I recall that I likened it at the time to being called by God.’

There was a long silence before Sue spoke again. ‘Are you frightened, Ben?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘At the beginning, this all seemed like a novel adventure. As you say, we somehow felt we’d been called to a special destiny. That was before we realised that Starchild was intended to change the nature of world politics and that the threat of it might genuinely start World War Three.

‘Now, one of those in charge of Starchild has been murdered, and we’ve just kidnapped another. Quite apart from those departures from my normal life, other things have shaken my confidence in my own grasp of reality – like dissociation of awareness and functional invisibility. When I encountered those phenomena at the Shingon monastery in Koyasan, I’d thought of them as magic tricks that were confined to a different and unreal world. Now, they’re almost an everyday occurrence.

‘Reality’s not like I thought it was. I keep thinking of that old song by Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now, when she sings: “It’s life’s illusions I recall. I really don’t know life at all”. Frankly, I’m unsettled by all of this, and I’m scared. I don’t even know what it is that I’m most scared about.’

‘I know what you mean, although I don’t find the reality that Sam describes to be unsettling. Quite the opposite, in fact. Since I attended her retreat on Lindisfarne, her teachings have developed an increasing reality for me. I sometimes have a sense that the world around us really is an illusion – nothing more than modulations of the Universal Awareness. With that feeling comes a sense of calm. I also get a sense that what we’re doing is important, but that underneath it all, nothing really matters.’

Sue thought about what Ben had just said. ‘Although I’ve been practicing meditation, I don’t think I’ve got as far as you – and certainly not as far as Sam or Sahadeva. If I’m honest, it’s actually been a fashionable lifestyle option. I would have liked to move on from that position, but I’ve never worked out how. It sounds like Starchild is taking you towards where you want to be. At the moment, it feels like it’s taking me away from where I feel most comfortable.’

Chapter 82 By any other name

Monday 23rd August

Sahadeva and Sam sat in the basement of Grace Clarke’s house.

The recently decorated, vaulted basement was divided into two sections that were separated by closely spaced, vertical bars, cemented into the floor and ceiling. This barrier effectively created a cell at the farther end of the room.

The building dated from the sixteenth century and had once been a courthouse. The cells had been located within the barred area. In the nineteenth century, after a period of dereliction, the old courthouse had been repurposed as an inn, and the secure area had been retained for storing the more valuable stock. The curiosity value in having a historic section of a basement bedroom that was barred and lockable had ensured this feature’s preservation when the inn had been divided into private dwellings.

The body of Peter Rogers lay unconscious on a bed within the most comfortably appointed prison cell in Ashford, while Sam and Sahadeva sat silently in armchairs on the other side of the bars – in the section of the bedroom nearest to the door.

Suddenly, Peter stirred. He then glanced quickly around him.

When his eyes reached Sam and Sahadeva, Sam spoke. ‘Hello, Peter. I’m sorry about all this. Do you know who we are?’

Peter slowly sat up and then swung his legs around to sit on the edge of the bed so that he was facing Sam and Sahadeva. He looked at them both for some moments before an expression of recognition appeared on his face. ‘Yes, I think I know you both from Fort Meade. Samantha Martin and Sahadeva Varma isn’t it? Neither of you look thirty years older. Is it you, Ms Martin, who has the connection with Ernest Ball?’

‘Please call me Sam. Yes, I know of Ernest Ball. Do you have the connection with Robert Watson?’

‘Yes, I do. That kidnap was a clever piece of planning, by the way.’ Peter looked around him. ‘Where are we?’

Sam stood and walked towards the cell. ‘I think we need some questions answered by you before we explain ourselves.’

Peter stood and walked towards her. ‘What do you want me to tell you?’

‘To begin with, who you are.’

‘I’m Lieutenant General Peter Rogers. You recognised me yourself.’

‘I’m certainly looking at Peter’s body, but his awareness, his soul, is not here with us today.’

The man in the cell nodded. ‘I recall the life of Robert Watson. I believe my awareness previously inhabited his body. Do you have similar past life recollections of Ernest Ball, Sam?’

‘No, I don’t, but Ernest’s encounters with Robert have occurred in my dreams during the past couple of years. The dreams have mostly related to meetings in London in eighteen ninety-eight – shortly before Robert Watson was killed.’

The man in the cell nodded and then spoke in a manner that Sam recognized from her dreams. ‘Maybe now, Ernest, we might have an opportunity to effect the Final Awakening.’

Sam and the man stood facing each other, just a few feet apart. They remained silent for a long time, looking into each other’s eyes. Finally, Sam spoke again. ‘You intended to use Starchild to induce a global sub-ego imperative that would open people’s minds to the Ultimate Reality.’

‘So, you know about Starchild. Don’t you approve of that plan? It’s what we’d always dreamed of.’

‘We hadn’t imagined its implementation in the way you’ve gone about it. We don’t have the right to impose new understandings on others – even correct understandings with the best of intentions.’

Sam paused, and Sahadeva looked at her face. Her expression seemed to him to be as close as he had ever seen her to anger.

Sam continued. ‘But, apart from that, you didn’t take account of what might happen if your plan went wrong – as it has.’

The man in the cell sighed. ‘It’s a fair criticism, Ernest … Sam. The Chinese finding out about Starchild changed everything. The chance to open people’s minds to eternal peace required Starchild to be used first – and decisively – in exactly the way the Western alliance had intended to use Starchild as a weapon. As things stand now, the world is on the brink of nuclear war.’

They stood in silence once again. Sam pondered on a critical, unanswered question. The solution suddenly came to her mind. ‘What happened to Barney?’ she asked casually.

‘He passed away, I’m afraid. He was getting …’ The man in the cell stopped speaking and paused for several moments. He then smiled.

During the silence, Sahadeva stood up and walked to where Sam was standing. ‘I followed the conversation to the point at which you asked about Barney. Who’s he?’

‘Barney was Max Paterson’s dog about seven or eight years ago.’ Sam looked at the man in the cell. ‘So, Max Paterson hosted the awareness that was once hosted by Robert Watson. I’d wondered who on earth could have been capable of designing something like Starchild. It could only have been Max.’

‘Very astute, Sam. You’re right, my most recent birth was as Max Paterson.’

‘Max Paterson?’ said Sahadeva in a questioning tone.

Sam glanced at Sahadeva and nodded. ‘I met Max a few times at conferences when I was teaching at Oxford. He pioneered the mathematics of quantum neural networks. He was a spiritual master too. He profoundly understood the nature of the Universal Awareness.’ Sam turned back to look at the man in the cell. ‘How did you map the Universal Consciousness to AI neural networks?’

‘The connections are all there in the E8 Lie group.’

‘Ah, yes. I’d wondered about that, but I didn’t have maths at the level needed to pursue the concept.’

‘E8 Lie group?’ Sahadeva repeated.

Sam looked at Shahada. ‘You and I both teach that people might experience the infinity and eternity of the Ultimate Reality by stepping outside their normal conceptual frameworks. In a different way, mathematics routinely steps outside normal conceptual frameworks. Mathematicians have been trying for a long time to describe a mathematical entity that could be considered as the equivalent of the Universal Consciousness.

‘Such a formulation could lead to breakthroughs in string theory and any number of other research areas. Indeed, it could easily be the holy grail of physics that’s been dubbed “The Theory of Everything”.’

Sahadeva nodded his head. ‘I’m not surprised that physics and spirituality have a common ancestor. Both explore what underlies the material world. They must inevitably converge towards the same entity. Tell me about your E8 Lie group.’

Sam paused to consider how to best phrase a brief explanation. ‘Mathematical models of reality can be developed using different sorts of mathematical techniques. Quantum mechanics, for example, uses linear algebra with complex numbers, and relativity is a geometric model. In part, that’s why they’ve been so hard to reconcile. The mathematics of quantum mechanics doesn’t lend itself to quantising gravity. However, there isn’t, or at least there wasn’t, a geometric model that provided an alternative to the standard model of particle physics.’

‘That brings us to the E8 Lie group,’ said the man in the cell. ‘The E8 Lie group is a perfectly symmetrical two hundred and forty-eight dimensional object, and it appears to be a geometric model of the structure that underlies our Universe. For example, the projection of E8 into three dimensions describes all the particles and forces we’ve discovered – plus a few we haven’t.

‘The body of Max Paterson possessed a quite exceptional computational brain. Using that brain, I could visualise how quantum computers could model E8 and do so in a manner that modelled Universal Consciousness prior to the manifestation of forms. I wrote algorithms to achieve that, which is what Starchild’s based upon.

‘The E8 quantum algorithms, when programmed into state-of-the-art quantum computers, are a mathematical model of the Universal Consciousness. They’re more than that, however. The quantum indeterminism that underpins the mathematics, when expressed by the algorithms, is the universal consciousness in a realm outside space-time.

‘I suspected that the Starchild system could influence the whole field of Universal Consciousness. I subsequently found it could have far more impact on the material world than I’d originally envisaged.’

Sam shook her head. ‘Dissociation of awareness, remote viewing, hostile transmigrations, implantation of individual sub-ego imperatives and channelling of multi-target sub-ego imperatives which function like post-hypnotic suggestions,’ she listed, drawing from the glossary of abbreviations on George’s memory stick.

‘It’s amazing how simple the underlying structure of reality actually is,’ Max reflected. ‘At first, though, I couldn’t overcome the problem of consistently interfacing the AI quantum neural networks with the Ultimate Consciousness in a manner similar to the way a spiritual master might integrate his or her awareness.’

‘Teterodat,’ said Sam.

‘I went to Haiti and spent many weeks learning about Voodoo traditions. I was then told of the most venerated oungan or Voodoo priest. When he finally agreed to meet with me, he explained the process by which he used Teterodat to dissociate souls in Voodoo rituals. Most people would have thought what he said was just superstitious mumbo jumbo, but the way he described the nature of consciousness and the effects of the drug on his subjects showed me that he understood exactly what he was talking about.’

‘Making zombies?’ questioned Sahadeva.

‘There’s far more to the tradition than Hollywood has selected to show. Based on what he said, I suspected that Teterodat could be combined with magnetic stimulation of the temporoparietal junctions to allow almost anyone to interface with the quantum neural nets generated by my algorithms – and then link those to the Ultimate Consciousness. Subsequent experiments confirmed I was correct.’

Sam shook her head. ‘Some of those experiments took place at Diss on subjects who were unaware of what they were involved in. Some seem to have lost their souls. In Haitian folklore, they would have been described as zombies. How did you think you could justify that, Robert?’

‘I understand what you’re saying, Sam. It wasn’t an easy decision, but if I hadn’t pursued Starchild, someone else would have developed the theory and the algorithms. As soon as I envisaged how it could be done, the concepts were encoded in the Universal Consciousness. The ideas would have arisen elsewhere, sooner rather than later. I believed that if I followed the current project through, then at least I would have some control over what happened.’

Sam looked back at the figure in the cell. ‘What you’ve discovered, Robert, is bigger than relativity and quantum physics put together. It reaches to the very core of reality. Why haven’t I read of anything close to it in the scientific press?’

‘As soon as the military realised the implications, the project became deep black, and I felt compelled to go undercover with it. Had I not agreed to work with the military, I could never have continued my research, and it’s highly likely that I would have met with an accident. The last thing the military would have wanted was someone who understood this stuff but wasn’t working with them.’

‘What happened to Max?’ asked Sahadeva.

‘The MOD didn’t trust him … me, and they were absolutely right about that. They thought I’d subvert Starchild to generate brain wave profiles that would induce sub-ego imperatives, SEIs, related to spiritual awakening – rather than those within their military agenda.’ He looked at Sam. ‘In Robert Watson’s words, they thought I might want to encourage the “Final Awakening”. The military wanted SEIs that transformed their perceived enemies into docile, compliant slaves.

‘The MOD’s plan was for George Mackenzie to manage my development of Starchild until the whole thing was complete and documented. Someone called Mike Han was assigned to work with me in the production of detailed manuals for Starchild. He came from MI5, but he also had a physics background.

‘Developing something for the first time is much harder than implementing it when there are clear operational manuals. I was to meet with an accident when Starchild was at the point at which any able technician could implement it. Quite apart from my risk of subverting their plans for Starchild, they saw me as an additional liability because they feared I could defect or be kidnapped by an enemy.’

‘How did you know what they were thinking?’ asked Sam.

‘I sat in on their meetings. Do you both know about functional invisibility?’

‘How do you think I crept up on you at the bungalow? I was also in the back of Peter’s car when he was attacked on the M25 on the Saturday before last.’

‘I’m impressed.’

Sam paused as the next stop on the journey of Robert Watson’s soul became apparent to her. She looked again at the man in the cell. ‘You effected a hostile transmigration from the body of Max Paterson to the body of George Mackenzie.’

‘When they thought Starchild could be implemented by others without my involvement, they ordered Peter Rogers to kill me. His SAS training and his knowledge of Starchild made him the perfect hitman. I effected a hostile transmigration to George just before Peter fired. Because of my experience in meditation, I was able to do that using just Teterodat, without need of the Starchild equipment.

‘Once again, I’m sorry I had to displace George’s awareness to God knows where, but he was the only person in a position to allow me to continue with the plan. He was in his flat, five miles away from where Max died.

‘Black ops disposed of the Max’s body, and the story was circulated that he’d had a sudden heart attack. The deep black Starchild Project had been active for three years by that time, and I obviously hadn’t published anything. I think the world soon forgot Max Paterson ever existed.’

‘Could they really have carried on without you?’ asked Sam.

‘Not at that time. They were wrong that I was dispensible. George Mackenzie was a nice guy, a competent manager and some way along the spiritual path, but he was never going the be able to implement the quantum algorithms for E8 without me.’

Sam surmised the next part of the story. ‘But you’ve become dispensible now Starchild is ready to be used. I guess someone discovered that George Mackenzie was really Max Paterson, and Peter’s skills as an assassin were called upon once more.’

‘There was a bug in one of the quantum algorithms that initiated the SEI implantation. It opened the door for random suggestions to influence some subjects. I realised there was a problem when two of the Diss subjects re-enacted Dawn of the Dead in Cambridge a fortnight ago. That could have been triggered by something as simple as watching a horror movie while under the influence of certain psychoactive substances.’

‘We know about that incident,’ added Sahadeva.

‘Anyway, I had to re-program, and Peter discovered I’d updated the files. He knew that George Mackenzie wouldn’t have been able to do that, and he put two and two together. Peter didn’t realise, however, that I knew that he knew who I really was. I’d been able to see from the file logs that he’d viewed my activities on the system.

‘It was clear when I briefed him on the project last Thursday that we’d finally reached a stage where the skills of Max Paterson were genuinely no longer required, so it was just a matter of time. I didn’t have many options. I’m not a trained assassin and I couldn’t run and hide because of Starchild.

‘I took a syringe of Teterodat from the lab. I put motion sensors in the rooms of my flat so I’d know if Peter had broken in. I assumed it was most likely to be him again. He actually used keys. On reflection, I think I know when he copied mine.

‘When he entered the flat, I injected myself with the Teterodat and relocated my awareness elsewhere in the bedroom while my body remained on the bed. He opened the bedroom door and quietly stepped into the room. I effected an HT just before Peter fired. His awareness was permanently displaced at the instant George died.’

Sam nodded and thought back to her conversation with John Henson. ‘Again, you were able to effect an HT using Teterodat alone, without the Starchild technology.’ She paused, reflecting on her visit to the crime scene two days previously. ‘The ginger cat?’

‘Now you mention it, I think so. Mogg’s the neighbour’s cat, but George used to give him food when he came by. He must have followed Peter into the flat.’ The man in the cell smiled. ‘The old Peter may be out on the prowl tonight, although he’s going to be limited to killing mice this time.’

Sam unlocked the door of the cell. ‘I’ve got some serious reservations about what you’ve been doing, Robert, but we’re going to have to work together to unravel this mess. The solution to the current problem will almost certainly involve Starchild.’

‘What should we call you?’ asked Sahadeva. ‘Your awareness was embodied in the Victorian, Robert Watson. That awareness now inhabits the body-form of Peter Rogers, and you possess the memories of Robert Watson, Max Paterson, George Mackenzie and Peter Rogers.’

‘My recall of Robert Watson is quite fragmented, as tends to be the case with transmigrations after death. I think of myself as Max Paterson. His was the body-form of my last birth. I think it would make more sense if you called me Max.’

Max left the cell, and they all began to walk towards the door of the room.

‘Did you write that anonymous letter to me warning about the experiments at the Bodhiisha unit?’ asked Sahadeva.

‘Yes.’

‘Why did you write to me specifically?’

‘The circumstances were very strange. I knew things had gone badly wrong when I learned about the Chinese. I had an intuition that I needed Ernest’s help.’ He looked at Sam. ‘But I didn’t know how to find you. Peter was a lay minister at his local Anglican Church, St. Jude’s in north London. He invited me to attend a service he was leading when the vicar was away. After the service, I was walking around the cemetery on my own when an old woman approached me. She suddenly stopped a couple of feet in front of me and then seemed to go into some kind of trance. She said, “Write to Sahadeva Varma about Starchild, Robert. He’ll help you find Ernest.” She then turned and walked away. I was so shocked that I didn’t initially follow her. I was thinking about how anyone could possibly have known about Robert, Ernest and Starchild. I’d never spoken to anyone about Robert Watson or Ernest Ball, and I’d never talked about the Starchild problem to anyone outside the umbrella of project security. I suddenly realised that no one on this Earth could have known enough to give me that advice. The old woman had reached the lychgate before I recovered my thoughts sufficiently to ask questions. I ran after her, but by the time I’d reached the gate, just seconds later, she’d disappeared. I subsequently described her to Peter – obviously without telling him what she’d said. He’d no recollection of such a person in St. Jude’s congregation.’

They all began to ascend the stairs from the basement.

‘I found you, Sahadeva, and your address at the Aashirya Temple near Waterford, with one Google search. I didn’t want to be too explicit about my identity in the letter, and I didn’t name Starchild as I couldn’t be completely certain who might read what I was writing, but I was confident I was being directed by deeper forces.’

‘What do you think we should do now?’ Sam asked Max as they reached the top of the stairs.

Max paused. He wasn’t at all sure of the answer to that question. ‘I wish I knew for certain. As you said, whatever needs to be done now to avoid a war over Starchild must surely involve Starchild, so I guess, for a start, I need to contact Shorncliffe before anyone assumes I’m missing.’

At the top of the stairs was a lobby area from which doors led to other rooms. Grace Clarke was coming from the lounge and heading for the kitchen. She looked a little surprised at seeing Max walking free.

‘Hello, Mrs Clarke,’ said Sahadeva. ‘Thank you for your help today. This is Max Paterson. We don’t think he poses the risk we’d originally assumed.’

‘Hello, Mrs Clarke,’ added Max, extending his hand.

Grace Clarke did not extend her hand but stood still and stared at Max with a vacant look in her eyes, as if she had just entered a trance. Sam recalled Ben’s description of the services at his mother’s church. He had mentioned that members of the congregation, including his mother, would sometimes appear to go into trances and then speak in tongues. Grace Clarke’s expression reminded Sam of Ben’s description of Grace when in that state.

Grace Clarke turned to look at Sam with the same glazed, unseeing look in her eyes. ‘Sam, Sahadeva and Max must all leave for the Chinese laboratory which houses their Starchild technology. It is near the ruins of the Balapuspika Monastery. They must do this as soon as Sam has made arrangements for transport with Colonel Li Xiu Ying.’

They all stood still in surprised silence. Sam, Sahadeva and Max looked at each other.

Sam was the first to speak. ‘Grace, you’ve just made reference to a lot of things you couldn’t possibly have known about. Even if Ben had mentioned Balapuspika, which I’m sure he hasn’t, it’s not possible for you to have known about Max, and I never refer to Zoe by her Chinese name. How …?’ Sam couldn’t quite frame the question about where the last sentence by Grace had come from.

Grace was silent for many moments. Then her facial expression reverted to normal. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said apologetically. ‘Was I speaking in tongues?’

‘In a manner of speaking,’ Sam replied. ‘Can you remember what you said?’

‘I never can. I’ve heard recordings made in church, but the words never make any sense to me. It’s an interpreter at the church who translates what I’ve said, but I know it’s the words of the Lord.’ Grace paused. ‘What did I say?’

‘We’re not quite sure,’ said Sam, moving away from the subject. ‘Don’t worry.’

Grace smiled in her usual welcoming manner. ‘Ben and Sue will be here in half an hour. Will you all be staying for dinner, Mr Paterson?’

‘I’d certainly like to stay for dinner if that’s OK with you, Mrs Clarke,’ Max replied. ‘Indeed, I may need to review my return to Shorncliffe, but I don’t want them to start searching for me just yet. Where’s the nearest public telephone?’

Chapter 83 Briefings

Monday 23rd August

‘Good evening, Mr President.’

‘Good evening, Prime Minister.’

‘Have you any further reports on the comet?’

‘No more than I told you yesterday evening. The parameters are such that it’s fifty-fifty whether it will go into Earth orbit or actually hit the planet.’

‘You were going to consult on whether a missile might deflect it.’

‘Oh yes. The experts here in the US say that a warhead could make the situation worse by fragmenting the comet. That could even cause impacts with Earth when there might have been none had we left it alone. If its final trajectory is confirmed to be a collision course with the Earth, we’ll launch because we’ll have nothing to lose.’

‘Who else knows?’

‘We’ve implemented the Asteroid Protocol. Leaders within the Protocol have been informed. It’ll be kept a secret from the public due to the risk of panic and social instability. Tell me about developments with Starchild.’

‘Starchild is ready to launch now, Mr President. As you know, timing is critical because the Chinese are aware. They’re monitoring brain wave profiles for hundreds of their key personnel, and that’s linked to an automated nuclear response.’

‘So, you’re ready to go with an attack in the SDCO window?’

‘Yes, but it remains an extremely risky option.’

‘If we don’t do it, the Chinese will launch their own attack when they get Teterodat. And then both the West and the Russians will be targeting them.’

‘Which is why we have the current stand-off and why we’ve no choice on the fourth of September.’

‘I guess the British Security Service still doesn’t know how the Chinese got all Paterson’s documentation for the project.’

‘No.’

‘What’ll be the effect of Mackenzie’s elimination?’

‘It doesn’t impact directly on Starchild. Rogers can oversee the implementation. We had a bit of a scare today when Rogers dropped off the radar for a few hours, but he finally called an hour ago. It turns out he’d forgotten to take his phone or security tracker. He’s had a lot to think about, so we’re not taking that further.’

‘What happens in Folkestone is clearly going to be critical. Any uncertainties worry me.’

‘I’ve sent one of our best agents, Michael Han, down there to keep an eye on things. He was involved in producing Paterson’s Starchild manuals, and so he understands the project. He’s probably the best person to deal with whatever arises.’

Chapter 84 Planning a trip abroad

Monday 23rd August

Sam and Max sat in Ben’s car in the car park of Folkestone railway station. Tor was all very well for the content of secret communications, but the fact of its use was another matter. An anonymous Wi-Fi connection was needed, such as that provided at the railway station.

A tired-looking Zoe appeared on the screen of Sam’s laptop. Sam avoided directing the laptop camera towards Max to avoid the need to explain the complications surrounding the apparent presence of Peter Rogers.

‘I’m sorry to get you up this early, Zoe. What time is it there?’

‘It’s two in the morning, but if it’s about the matters we were discussing three days ago, the time is not important.’

‘I have some ideas about what we should do, but I must ask you some questions, and I also need your help.’

‘Please tell me what you’re thinking.’

‘You told me when we spoke last Friday that China has its own version of Starchild. How did the Chinese develop that?’

There was a silence.

‘Look, Zoe, the world is facing Armageddon. There are a small group of people who might be on the right worldline trajectories to prevent it, and you and I are part of that group. We’ve got to cooperate, and it’s going to hinder us if you keep things from me.’

‘I’m sorry. It just feels very strange for the Chief of Intelligence at the Ministry of Public Security to be more frank with someone from another country than I am with the Party. Also, I’m wondering if there’s any hope left at all after the news about the comet.’

‘What news about the comet?’

‘The International Asteroid Protocol has been implemented. The facts are being kept from the public, but it appears there is a fifty-fifty chance of the comet hitting the Earth.’

Both Sam and Max took a breath. ‘OK,’ said Sam, ‘I hadn’t realised that, but we can’t do much on that front right now. Let’s get back to what we were discussing. Tell me about how the Chinese developed something very similar to Starchild.’

‘The person who helped produce your Starchild manuals, Michael Han, is a Chinese agent.’

‘Please also tell me where the Chinese hardware for Starchild has been set up. We know it’s somewhere near the destroyed manufacturing lab for the Teterodat at Balapuspika.’

Zoe smiled nervously. ‘I’m going to stop even asking myself how you work out the unknowable. The processing plant for the Teterodat was indeed at the Balapuspika monastery. The main base for Starchild is about ten kilometres south of Balapuspika on the Tibetan-Nepalese border. It’s in a Chinese underground military complex that was built after the annexation of Tibet in the nineteen-fifties. The complex was secure, but it hadn’t been used for many years. It needed a complete refit, and so we focussed on installing the technology for Starchild there while locating Teterodat processing at Balapuspika. Why is all this important?’

‘I think that I and two of my colleagues need to come to your complex on the Tibetan-Nepalese border. We need to access the facilities you replicated from the Starchild manuals.’

‘You’ve presumably got the same facilities in Folkestone.’

‘It would be impossible to get permission for open access here. Also, the location of your lab isn’t known. Ours has a Russian and a Chinese ship ready to fire on it, and it could also be hit by other attacks if someone lost their nerve and everything kicked off.’

‘I could arrange unrestricted access to the facility for you. It is currently unoccupied except for a handful of security personnel. How would you get there?’

‘That’s another thing with which we thought you might be able to help.’

‘OK, I’ve got some thoughts on that. I’ll be in touch again very soon. Is there anything else?’

‘I think those are the main things for now.’

Sam and Zoe said their goodbyes and the screen of Sam’s laptop went blank.

Chapter 85 Dinner after a long day

Monday 23rd August

‘This food is excellent, Mrs Clarke,’ said Max.

‘Thank you, and please call me Grace.’

Ben passed a tray of chicken jerk to Sahadeva.

‘I need to go back to work,’ said Sue. ‘I’ve been away from Lakenheath for a week. I can’t really stay any longer.’

Sam helped herself to some pepperpot. ‘Thank’s for coming here, Sue. Your help’s been invaluable. I think things are about to move into a different phase, and the involvement of you and Ben will not be so critical. Max, Sahadeva and I will be leaving early tomorrow morning.’

‘Where are you going, Sam?’ asked Ben with a note of surprise.

‘It’s probably safer for everyone if we don’t say where we’re going, but there’s no specific reason for anyone to remain in Folkestone.’

Ben pointed to a bowl of rice by way of a request for it to be passed to him. ‘I’m quite flexible, Sam. I don’t need to do any work for another month – until after Beth’s pass, in fact, so I could go anywhere.’

Sam thought for a moment and then looked at Ben. ‘I wonder if you, Sue and Grace should go to Norfolk – maybe all stay together at the Bodhiisha temple.’

Grace was curious. ‘Why would I move from here, Sam, and why would we want to stay together?’

‘We already know that Starchild has raised a serious risk of international conflict, and you’re living a few hundred yards from a primary target, Grace. Also, there’s another risk we hadn’t considered that you should all know about.’ Sam paused. ‘It’s to do with Beth …’