Chapter 116 Retrieval

Thursday 2nd September

Four figures wearing dry suits emerged from the sea. The Sandgate Beach Hotel was in darkness, and its location between the sea and the Esplanade provided perfect cover for the men.

They moved across the sand and shingle to the raised decking which formed the hotel patio. They removed their dry suits and concealed them beneath the decking. They were now dressed in casual clothes which would seem unremarkable to anyone they encountered.

With small rucksacks on their backs, they skirted the hotel, left the beach, and began to walk along the Esplanade. They ambled along, swaying and making some unnecessary noise so as to be taken for lads after a night’s drinking.

A pedestrian crossed the road to avoid them as they reached Military Road and headed inland towards Shorncliffe Army Camp.

In addition to memorizing their instructions, they also had earbuds which allowed them to hear their step-by-step instructions, relayed from the ship. Intensive study of maps and Google Earth during the past few hours meant they knew the area more comprehensively than many residents.

As they approached the perimeter fence of the base, they heard the instruction to cut the fence. They had already been told to ignore the security systems as if the cameras and other sensors were not there.

The team walked forward to the fence. One took wire cutters from his rucksack and began to cut through the netting.

On board the Admiral Ushakov, one communications officer had a clear view of their actions as relayed by the CCTV covering the perimeter of the base. The instructions decrypted by Captain Petrov had contained codes to access the automated night security system of the base. This surveillance system had proven so effective in the past that the MOD had deemed less efficient humans to be unnecessary in monitoring cameras and alarms. The communications officer had thus been able to remotely deactivate all sensors without detection.

The men passed through the hole in the fence and proceeded to the bunker entrance.

As they reached the outer door of the bunker, the communications officer on board the Admiral Ushakov remotely deactivated the lock and watched that door open. He then followed the progress of the special forces team along the corridors, opening doors and cancelling security alerts as required.

They stopped outside the medical room, a few metres short of the main laboratory. The door slid open. Once inside, the special forces team went directly to the refrigerator and removed the box of Teterodat.

None had spoken since entering the security zone. Now, the man holding the box of Teterodat spoke to the others in a whisper. ‘I hope I live long enough to tell my brother Mikhail about this. It was he who lost this shipment in Mexico City.’

The men retraced their steps and were moving quickly away from the perimeter fence eighteen minutes after they had first entered the security zone – exactly according to plan.

Ten minutes later, the underwater propulsion vehicles that had been left beneath the water, fifty meters from the beach, were pulling the team back towards their battlecruiser. Thirty minutes later, they were back on board and had delivered the Teterodat to the Captain.

Captain Petrov handed the box to Alexander Siderov. ‘Take this box, Lieutenant, and empty every syringe into the sea. Then weight down the box and drop it overboard.’

‘Does the Kremin not think they might make use of the drug?’ Alexander Siderov queried.

‘Apparently, it’s only the Western Alliance and the Chinese who could make use of it at present. The critical thing is that there is no chance whatsoever of the drug being recovered by them. Despite causing an international incident, the British would board the Admiral Ushakov if they believed we had it. We are ordered to proceed to Portsmouth as planned but to have no trace of this Teterodat on board.’ The Captain picked up a transmitter from his desk. ‘Communications, please radio the Coastguard to say that our propeller has been freed from a discarded fishing net and we are proceeding to Portsmouth.’ He turned once again towards his lieutenant. ‘When the Teterodat has gone, please also ensure that no digital or printed trace of our orders or the Shorncliffe access plan remains on board.’

Chapter 117 One less short-term problem

Thursday 2nd September

Max was in his quarters and speaking on the phone. ‘It was very likely a commando unit from the Admiral Ushakov, Prime Minister. They anchored off Folkestone in the small hours of this morning, allegedly due to an entangled propeller.’

‘How were they able to bypass security, Peter?’

‘They had the remote access codes for the security system.’

‘I thought that was impossible.’

‘So did everyone else. All codes have been changed, and any unit that totally relies on the automated system has now detailed a guard to the control room.’

‘Where’s the Admiral Ushakov now?’

‘It’s docked at Portsmouth as planned – just as if nothing had happened.’

‘It would cause a huge international incident if we boarded her.’

‘Their objective would have been to guarantee short-term stability. The Russians don’t have the Starchild technology to use Teterodat, and now no one else can. They will have destroyed the syringes and obliterated all trace of the consignment so there would be no chance of anyone recovering Teterodat under any circumstances.’

Justin Troughton sighed. ‘I suppose, Peter, there’s no way Starchild could be used without it.’

‘Not with a guaranteed level of success. Teterodat allowed channellers to form a perfect interface between the AI and Underlying Consciousness every time. It’s too hit and miss without.’

‘The Inner Circle isn’t going to like this. They were determined to take the risk of launching a Starchild attack. To be totally frank with you, I’m relieved. It’s solved one short-term problem. No one has any need to fear the period when the Chinese satellite is offline due to the Space Debris Collection Orbit. No one has any urgent reason to take further action until a new supply of Teterodat is available or a substitute can be found that’s quicker to synthesize. The Russians may just have prevented World War Three – for now at least. That just leaves the small matter of the comet impact at eight in the evening on Saturday.’

‘Is there any further information on that?’

‘As you know, ICBMs were launched this afternoon from the US, the UK, China, Russia, India, France and Israel. They’ll reach the comet at around eight in the evening tomorrow. That’s very close to the projected impact with the Earth, but it’ll give less time for people to become aware of the truth. The warheads won’t deflect a body of that size. The scientists say that the explosions may fragment it, but that the fragments are most likely to remain on the same course. It doesn’t look good.’

Chapter 118 A slightly different universe

Friday 3rd September

‘Any updates on the comet’s trajectory, Kathy?’ said Hal Bennett as Kathy Harris walked into his office. Both had agreed to remain at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to collate information about the comet and keep the President updated.

‘Projected impact time with Earth is ten in the morning, Eastern Standard Time, tomorrow. The ICBMs are due to hit it around three this afternoon, although there’s no reason to assume that will affect the impact even if the comet is fragmented. Gravity is predicted to overcome other forces to keep the fragments on much the same course.’

‘Nothing new then.’

‘There is one thing. We’ve had some odd reports from CERN in the last twenty-four hours. I don’t know what to make of them, but I don’t want to dismiss anomalies just because I don’t understand them.’

‘What’s CERN reporting?’

‘All their experiments have simultaneously required recalibration.’

‘Is that unusual?’

‘It’s impossible – at least that’s what they thought.’

‘Have they discovered why?’

‘What they’ve found is impossible too, but they’ve verified it with other labs in the world who are getting the same results.’

‘So, what is it?’

‘There seem to have been small changes in many, possibly all, of the fundamental physical constants. They’ve verified a change in the speed of light, the elementary charge and the fine-structure constant – among several others.’

‘Whilst that’s very weird, do you think it can have any connection with the comet?’

‘I don’t see how it can, but it’s a curious time for something like that to happen – just before the end of the world.’

‘What are the practical consequences of those changes to the physical constants?’

‘It would seem there aren’t any obvious effects on the world around us. We just seem to be living in a slightly different universe.’

Chapter 119 The times they are a changing

Friday 3rd September

Ben and Sue sat in the shelter, across the Esplanade from the end of Wilberforce Road. They were both looking out to sea. The comet in the sky above them appeared brighter than the sun. Neither spoke, but both were reflecting on the extraordinary events of recent days.

Finally, Sue spoke. ‘It seems impossible that Sam’s adjusting the fabric of reality to deal with the problems caused by Starchild?’

‘Sam used to talk about her own soul, all our souls in fact, being not just part of the Ultimate Reality but exactly the same thing as the Ultimate Reality. I never properly understood that, but maybe you could say that it’s God doing this. It’s hard to think of another explanation for what appears to be a series of calculated reality shifts aimed at diverting the Earth from disaster.’

Sue looked along the Esplanade in the direction of Grace’s bungalow. ‘It’s good that your mum’s just down the road on this worldline so we can be with her in the next twenty-four hours. I’ve a recollection from the original worldline of her coming back with us to Norfolk when Sam and the others left for Tibet, although there’s no evidence of that now. … What’s happening?’ she asked, almost to herself.

‘I don’t know. I don’t know what’s real anymore. It’s like moving from one dream to another.’

‘You’re right. In fact, we don’t even know the full extent of the reality we’re living now, nor how that relates to how things were even an hour ago.’ Ben looked sideways at Sue. ‘I love you. I don’t know how all this is going to turn out – what will happen tomorrow in whatever reality we’re in then – but I want you to know that you’re the most important thing that’s happened to me in the lifetimes I can remember.’

Sue leaned towards Ben and kissed him. ‘I feel that way about you too. Now, I think we ought to go to join your mum.’

Chapter 120 Party time

Friday 3rd September

It was four in the afternoon when Al Smith and Joe Walters approached the check-in desk at the Sandcliff Beach Hotel. The receptionist was looking out of the window to her left, watching the comet in the sky.

‘It should give a good show this evening when the missiles fragment it,’ noted Al – in part, to get the receptionist's attention.

‘Yes indeed,’ she replied, turning towards the new arrivals.

‘Al Smith and Joe Walters,’ said Al. ‘We’re here for the reunion.’

‘Ah, yes, Mr Smith, you’ve organised the event. A friend of yours, Mr Fenchurch, came here on Wednesday to check everything was OK.’

‘The name seems vaguely familiar,’ Al replied, ‘although he’s not one of the one-hundred and two guests this weekend.’ Al was briefly puzzled about Mr Fenchurch but then thought no more about it.

Al and Joe completed registration forms, which the receptionist then took from them and filed in a cubbyhole. She then glanced up at the men. ‘Here are the keys to your rooms. I think you arranged for a get together over drinks from seven, and then dinner is at eight-fifteen.’