The Sixteen Galaxies Read online

  Parkhurst nodded. “I thought so. Well, you’ll be happy to hear we’ve taken two staff at the motor pool into custody over the bomb in your car. Turns out the Turner kid was part of a small group, just like you thought.” Parkhurst fiddled with a pen on his desk. “You know, Ron, you were the only one who didn’t think he was a lone wolf. Sometimes I wonder if you’re not psychic or something.”

  “Not a chance, Harry,” Baxter replied, “It was simple, really. The kid took coded calls all the time on his mobile. Everyone else thought they were just innocent calls between friends, but guys like that loser don’t have casual friends; they never do.”

  Parkhurst picked up the remote. “Fair enough. Okay, I got something to show you. As it turns out, you were lucky you didn’t shoot that little creep, because a street camera caught it all. You okay to watch the footage we got from it?”

  “Yeah, go for it.”

  Parkhurst played the footage, and Baxter leaned forward in concentration. The van was nearly out of shot when it stopped, right at the top of the screen. Though the resolution wasn’t great, there was no mistaking the youth that got out and approached their car, which was in the lower left corner of the screen. He pulled out the remote, and the car erupted in a fireball. Parkhurst froze it at that point and approached the TV. He pointed to where Baxter lay next to the van. “There you are. Now, watch.”

  Parkhurst rewound the footage in slow motion and played it forward slowly to the instant Baxter appeared at the side of the van. He wound it back and forth a few times. “You don’t run there, Ron. There’s no sight of you in this frame…” he rolled it to the next frame, “Then there you are.”

  Baxter bowed his head. “It’s not the first time, Harry. Remember Kravitch, the crack dealer? In the alley?”

  Parkhurst nodded. “I wondered how you managed to get the drop on him. He had you cold.”

  Baxter spread his hands. “I can’t explain it, Harry. It just…happens.”

  “Let me show you this, then.” Parkhurst switched to another clip. “This is the UN assembly, when that alien appeared and took off with Hiram Sertan.”

  Baxter watched Nuthros appear in the assembly hall. All of a sudden, he felt a cold shiver. “Of course.” He smiled at his boss. “Why didn’t you tell me you had an alien on the payroll?”

  Parkhurst sat down behind his desk. “I certainly wish I did. Our team is being re-assigned, Ron, effective right now. I have no idea why this alien is saving your butt all the time, but I think it’s time we tried to find out, don’t you?”

  *****

  Mandy Somers looked across to where Jack Short beavered away at his computer. “What you up to over there?”

  Jack didn’t take his eyes off his monitor. “Not much, and you?”

  Mandy sat back in her chair. “Trying my best to get into Hiram Sertan’s head. It’s not easy.”

  “I’ll bet,” Jack said with a smirk, “He’s in outer space.”

  Mandy threw the wrapper from her lunch at him. “Always a smartass. You know what I mean.” She leaned forward again. “Did you know he’s nearly blown his entire fortune on this campaign? Hundreds of millions. I can’t help but admire the guy.”

  When Jack didn’t reply, she peered round her monitor. Jack sat hunched forward, half a sandwich in his mouth, staring intently at his screen. “Somebody wrong on the internet again?”

  Jack only half heard her. “Huh? Oh, no. I was looking through the footage of the general assembly floor, straight after the alien and old Sertan did the disappear. Check this out.” He pointed to his screen and Mandy went around and stood behind him. Jack scrolled the clip back and hit play. He tapped the screen. “This guy, here. I’ve zoomed in on him. Watch what he does when he comes round.”

  The delegate Jack pointed out was hard to see, despite being zoomed in. The man sat still and stared at the floor with the rest of the assembly. Nuthros and Hiram Sertan vanished. The delegates all came to. However, while the rest of them looked around in confusion, this man didn’t even blink. He sat there a moment and then spoke, apparently to no one at all. He stopped speaking and got up and left just as the clip finished.

  Mandy frowned at the screen. “What was that all about? He didn’t look fazed at all. Wish I knew what he was saying.”

  “I think I can fix that,” Jack said. “Just gimme a sec.” He reached for his mobile and pulled up a contact. He sent a quick text message and received an immediate reply. “Awesome,” he said. “She’s on her way up now.”

  Mandy frowned. “Who’s on her way up, another girlfriend?”

  “Hey,” Jack retorted, “At least I take time out for such things.”

  “You take way too much time out for ‘such things’, if you ask me.”

  Jack just shrugged. “I didn’t ask you, did I?”

  “You never have.” She muttered under her breath.

  Jack fiddled with a video editor and zoomed the clip in more, cleaning up the resolution while he was at it. Eventually he looked around and banged his hands together, “Here she is now. Belinda, sweetheart, how’s my girl?”

  Mandy frowned at the way Jack spoke. He mouthed the words in an exaggerated fashion. Then she spotted the hearing aid in the slim girl’s ear as she approached. Of course, she thought, Belinda Clarke, the deaf girl from make-up. A lip reader. Mandy marvelled at Jack’s ability to come up with ingenious solutions to problems so fast. Mandy shifted her feet awkwardly as Jack gave Belinda a warm hug. The guy was a shocking womaniser, like so many in the television business.

  Jack stepped away from Belinda and showed her the clip. Belinda watched the clip intently, before she motioned for Jack to replay it. She shook her head. “I can only see about half of what he said. Zoom in closer, Jack.”

  “I’ll try, baby.” Jack struggled with the editor and managed to get the shot a little closer. Belinda got all but a few words, and wrote them on a pad Jack passed her. The man in the clip was trying to be quiet about it, so his lips hardly moved. Belinda wrote down what she could see, but there were a few gaps.

  Belinda shrugged. “That’s the best I can do.” She nodded and handed Jack the sheet she had written on. “I’ve underlined the words I can’t be sure of.”

  Belinda left after another hug and a promise of a call ‘soon’. Jack gave the slip of paper to Mandy.

  She frowned as she read it. I’ve …. been unbound. They’ve ……. to intervene. This is unexpected. We need to …….. the agenda. We must … things in place, this …… us very little time.

  *****

  Garth Taylor leaned against the brick wall of the school gym. He hummed a tune to himself while he waited. David Markham rode up on a pushbike and climbed off. He let the bike drop to the ground and wandered over. They nodded to one another. David took up position next to Garth. “Chris here yet?”

  Garth shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “You see the president’s press conference?” David asked.

  “Yeah, he said they’ll listen and accept help.” He gave a shrug. “That means they’ll steal whatever tech they can and then try to nuke the guys ship.”

  David laughed. “Come on Garth, don’t be so damned negative. You’re the one who hacked the NSA and copied the reports. You know as well as I do how desperate they must be.”

  Christine arrived. She gave a nod to Garth and a kiss to David. “The rest inside?”

  “Milo isn’t going to make it,” Garth said, “He’s got a paper to submit tomorrow. The rest are here.”

  “Milo’s not important,” David said. “As long as Noddy’s here, we can move along. Let’s go inside.”

  The gym was dark, except for one corner, where a hastily erected cardboard wall kept the light of half a dozen LED lamps contained to avoid detection. The school was scheduled for demolition the following month and was unguarded, but David’s group left nothing to chance. Theft of top secret files from the NSA brought with it obvious risk, so they kept security tight. The trio entered the makeshift room a
nd David did a quick head count. Eight out of nine, not bad at all.

  He stood in front of the group. “Right, then, let’s get started. I guess you all saw the president’s speech today?” Nods all round. “There’s a good chance they’ll listen to this Nuthros guy, and that can only help. He pre-empted us when he let the world know what we already knew, but this actually makes our job more important. We need to get the files out to the public. We can back up the alien’s story and pile on the pressure to get the government to move their asses.”

  Wattsy, the coder, gave his trademark sneer. “I seriously doubt the US government will accept help from some random green guy. They won’t want to be seen to accept help from anyone.”

  David quickly headed Wattsy off; it didn’t require much leeway for Wattsy to launch into a full-on rant. “Which is why we go public with the files now, Wattsy. We’ll give them another shove in the right direction, and get the public behind the call for action at the same time.”

  A few in the group exchanged nervous looks. David turned to a well-dressed young man in his twenties. Graham Nodrup was their best hacker. “What’s the drill for spreading the word, Noddy?”

  Noddy smiled. “Well, we want to send it out via as many people as possible, obviously. But, we need to do it from public computers to avoid detection.”

  Wattsy scoffed. “That’s a fail idea, and you know it. Public computers are so full of surveillance bots it’s not funny. Plus, they can get hold of us on surveillance video, if they back-track and match to the time-stamp on the send.”

  “Oh really?” Noddy responded. “You think they’ll worry about this?” He passed two sheets of paper to Wattsy.

  Wattsy looked at both sheets and frowned. “And what is this supposed to be?”

  Noddy reached across and tapped one of the sheets. “A screenshot of the mini-game we’ll send out. Everyone loves a mini-game.” He tapped the second sheet. “Inside the game is a virus. It contains all the NSA data. It’s my best virus ever, they won’t find it. Also, they won’t ID us if we use sunglasses, hoodies, baseball caps and so on. Don’t use your library cards, and if you use a café, pay with cash, not a card.”

  “And people are going to look at the documents how?” Wattsy sneered. “They won’t even know it’s there.”

  “Because, Wattsy my lad, when someone hits the play button, it unzips and installs itself as a folder on their desktop with all the files in it. Along with that, it hits their address book and emails itself to their entire list.”

  Wattsy had no reply to that. David jumped in. “Great work, Noddy. Now, everyone get a USB stick with a copy of the game from Noddy, then we hit the interwebs tomorrow. Social media, forums, whatever. Get these files out there and in the government’s face.” He looked around the little room. “This is it, guys. Finding that redacted article on the NSA’s confiscation of Hiram Sertan’s files was pure luck. It was also mostly luck that Garth actually got the damn files out of the NSA database. It’s probably as much luck as we’ll get. Once you’ve done your best, and definitely by lunchtime tomorrow, you go dark. I mean bury yourself. No contact between any of us. If you can get out of town, do it. It won’t take them long to find the source once the game goes live, and then they will tear this city apart to find us. We have to work on the assumption that, regardless of Noddy’s security precautions, they WILL find some of us if we don’t take extreme measures.”

  “What about Hiram Sertan and the alien guy?” Noddy asked.

  David shrugged. “The way I figure it, once that show starts, the feds will have bigger fish to fry than us. Hopefully we can get back together then. Wattsy has the server up on a proxy in the Netherlands, and once Hiram Sertan and the alien guy return, just log in every once in a while. We’ll stay dark until then.”

  4

  Hiram’s head spun from all he had learned in the last few hours. Nuthros leaned forward. “We must proceed quickly with this, Hiram. The longer we put off our return to Earth, the more speculation will grow. Public opinion will assist our cause, but a delay will increase suspicion and hostility.”

  “Indeed it will,” Hiram replied. “So, what’s our first move?”

  “Well,” Nuthros replied, “The next step is to approach Earth’s leaders. The time and place of my first appearance was chosen carefully for dramatic effect. It was required to get the public behind us, or at least some of them. Your political structures are bloated and cumbersome, and unsuited for the task ahead. However, they tend to move a lot quicker if the weight of public opinion is upon them.”

  Hiram laughed. “Quite.”

  “So, we need to attempt to meet with each of these world leaders.” Nuthros turned to the table between them and a screen appeared above it. There was a list of names and numbers on it. “That is the personal phone number for each of the leaders I have selected. I decided a call would work better than an appearance. Such an event could cause security to panic, and one of them might be injured. Over the next few hours, I shall facilitate a phone call for you to each one. We should work out what you are to say before each call. I have some ideas outlined, based on the economy, political structure and culture of each country.”

  Over the following seven and a half hours, Hiram and Nuthros spoke briefly to each of the political figures, or their personal assistants, on Nuthros’ list. In between each call, Nuthros briefed Hiram on the matters to be discussed with the next person. The countries Nuthros selected were based not on political importance, military power, or even sheer population. The United States, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, the UK, South Korea, Indonesia, and Brazil were the ten selected, and Nuthros explained his reasoning. “These countries are some of the biggest polluters on Earth, Hiram. There are others, but these are the ones who are not only the biggest, but the most likely to listen to us.”

  They managed to set up meetings with just three out of the ten: the United States, Japan, and Germany. For the most part, the other countries’ leaders simply weren’t available, or stonewalled long enough for Nuthros to signal Hiram to wrap it up.

  “We did very well, Hiram.” Nuthros said. “The most vital country is the United States, because their president can get things moving and the rest will be compelled to listen, or look foolish. That is why I scheduled that one first.”

  Hiram rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t believe how tired he felt. Nuthros stood up and beckoned for Hiram to follow. Nuthros led Hiram down a passageway to a door which slid open as they approached. The alien gestured for Hiram to enter. “Please allow yourself to rest and freshen up. If you wish to call anyone on Earth that may be concerned about your safety, you will find your cell phone works just fine.”

  Nuthros bowed and left Hiram to himself. Hiram surveyed the room. He heard a soft female voice come from all around him. “Please don’t be alarmed, Mr Sertan, I am merely the voice construct of the ship’s artificial intelligence. Anything you require, you have only to ask.”

  “Umm, okay,” Hiram replied. “You can start by calling me Hiram, please.”

  “Of course, Hiram.”

  He looked around him. There was a doorway to a very Earth-like bathroom, with all the usual facilities. There was what he presumed to be a bed, though it was just a flat platform with no form of cushioning he could see. “So, Miss Ship, do you have a name?”

  “Nuthros calls me Truly, in your language.”

  “Well, Truly, I guess I would like a bed, really.”

  “It is right in front of you, Hiram. A gravity inversion plate. Please, try it.”

  Hiram shrugged and did so. His body didn’t contact the platform, but hovered above it. He felt himself still affected by gravity, so the plate had some kind of repelling effect, he guessed. He found it incredibly comfortable. Although he was fully clothed, Hiram was asleep in minutes. Truly dimmed the lights.

  *****

  John Crabtree reached the bottom of the rusted spiral stairs into the converted missile silo and sighed with relief. He eased his achi
ng back and walked down the concrete tunnel. His two brothers, James and Robert, were hard at work on the main generator.

  “How’s she looking Bobby?”

  Bobby Crabtree wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. “Should be done in about an hour, I reckon. Anything on the news?”

  John spat on the floor. “Nah, they just keep going over the same footage of Sertan and the alien when they disappeared. Nobody’s heard nothing since.”

  Jimmy Crabtree, the youngest of the three, looked up from the generator. “That alien boy gonna be trouble, you ask me. Damn tree hugger Sertan was bad enough, now we got aliens poking their nose in and trying to stop progress.”

  John nodded solemnly. “Country is going to hell already and now they’re gonna stir up trouble and make it worse. Somebody has got to stop Sertan before it’s too late. I think I’ll get the boys together for a meet tonight; see what we can figure out to do. Meantime, let’s get this generator back on line. Reckon we may be living down here soon enough, if that alien ain’t stopped.”

  *****

  Christine Joyce closed her eyes for a brief moment and tried to relax. She blocked out the enormity of what she was about to do. Distribution of top secret government files on the internet was about as dangerous as it got with cybercrime. Still, she reminded herself, the world teetered on the brink and would topple over, unless Nuthros and Hiram Sertan’s actions changed the situation. She could just get on with her life, like everyone else. But, as David always said, if you think somebody should do something, why shouldn’t that somebody be you?

  Christine tried to look inconspicuous, but how did you do that? She resisted the urge to look around again, and slid the USB stick into the slot on the library computer. She uploaded the game onto the sites David had given her, and then onto a couple of others she knew of as well. She pulled out the USB stick and left the library at what she hoped was a relaxed pace.

  David was at the coffee shop when Christine arrived. He had already done his work with his USB stick. They were not supposed to be together, as far as the others knew. But, David said that as long as only they knew, it couldn’t do much harm. They finished their coffees and went for a walk by the river. They made sure they weren’t being watched, put their USB sticks into a small, weighted tin David had prepared, and dropped it into the water.