Moya was not nicknamed the limpet solely as a derogatory gesture. He had earned it, and there was an element of grudging admiration in that judgement. “If that’s truly what you want me to do, then so be it. However, I don’t see too many other candidates on the horizon, and in my experience with Russian authorities, everything inevitably comes down to the price they require in order to quell their conscience. That’s why your budget finessing is needed. I’ll leave you a contact number; you can call me when you’ve had a chance to digest the reality of the situation. I’m authorised to terminate our interest if I hear nothing from you in fourteen days.”
The meeting was concluded despite Stepanov trying to restore some of his own brinkmanship. Moya’s return and briefing of Zara caused the latter to reflect on the structure of Cerberus Enterprises Corporation. It had sufficed so far, but the technical delay and the potential foray into the unscrupulous Russian regime, warranted change. The portfolio covered critically related activity, and he now considered this to be an invisible threat to Sidonia, unless it was made to appear simply as ownership of businesses operating in markets with minimal synergy. Digital Component Industries was the hardware arm, which was also a cover for the top secret research. Trans Global Connections was a provider of network access for mobile communicators. The third head of the Cerberus hound was hopefully going to be the burgeoning ranks of the Circle of Light, which had to be completely separate, yet run by members of the faith. In reality, Digital Component Industries supplied the constructors who assembled and sold mobile communicators – all of the major players. Trans Global Connections offered some of these communicators as a bundle with their various contract tariffs. This is where the link was to be disguised. The software which could be employed from their signal would only offer control with those communicators in which the secret technology had been installed. This would be rotated with different models to avoid the links being vulnerable to trend analysis. The companies to which the components were supplied would, if they asked, be told that certain hardware elements were built in for general future-proofing, and would remain unused if not required within a certain time frame. All of this influenced Zara’s thinking with respect to company ownership and traceable stockholders. He had already used proxy names, but now felt this wasn’t enough. He decided to set up a charity which would fund the genesis of the Circle of Light, with the funds coming from Digital Component Industries. This would be concurrent with that company becoming employee-owned. This would give phenomenal motivation to those employees. Other charitable beneficiaries would enjoy similar support to that of the Circle of Light, thus providing the ‘haystack in which to bury the needle’. Trans Global Connections was to be owned by Zara, Moya and his other trusted aide Miguel Angel. This demanded absolute loyalty to Zara from both of them. In terms of management structure, Zara would remain with DCI, Angel would head up TGC, and Moya would sow the seeds of the Circle of Light, which would gradually become predominantly self-funding.
Angel was pretty close to the antithesis of Moya. Blessed with good looks and an impressive physique he outwardly appeared to be free of imperfection until his bizarre vulnerability was exposed. His speech impediment surfaced whenever he felt he was under intense pressure. Fortunately, that only occurred frequently in the presence of Zara, who had harnessed this to his own advantage. The only characteristic Angel had in common with Moya was utter ruthlessness. Conducting the rivalry between these unlikely captains proved to be an experience verging on addiction for Zara.
Although Moya and Angel were delighted with the promise of such affluence, in the form of shares, Moya was distinctly unhappy at being ‘lumbered’ with the Circle. He was placated by Zara, who reassured him this was a temporary arrangement. “I need you to be the figurehead we recognise internally. To the outside world it will be a self-generating entity. I couldn’t ask Angel to get it up to speed, with the risk of his impediment surfacing while addressing ever-increasing gatherings of recruits. Public parks, football stadia, and famous auditoria wouldn’t make him comfortable – in fact it would undermine his confidence. When the time is right you and I will change positions.” This scenario flipped Moya from despondency to absolute delight. The new-found enthusiasm transmitted through to the meeting with Stepanov.
Chapter 4
The contact from Stepanov was quite predictably, after ten days, just long enough to encourage Moya to believe there was another sponsor in the wings, but well within the specified exclusion period of two weeks. He agreed to meet in Cairo and provide the additional detail requested. He was curious about the location, but finally accepted that his data would be assessed by an Egyptian expert in searching for artefacts, which had eluded others for millennia. He was assured that a decision would be forthcoming, if this expert was satisfied that there was sufficient correlation of data, to identify a credible starting point.
The venue was at the private residence of the expert, hotels would have attracted too much attention. Serif Mohammed welcomed the Iberian party first, in order to sketch in the guidelines and no-go areas for the discussion. Zara, Moya and Angel had arrived under the usual false names and passports. Stepanov entered an hour later, accompanied by another person. The introductions were awkward. It suited Zara, as Stepanov explained that his ‘friend’ was a government official who could rubber-stamp the permits, but had to remain anonymous. Zara introduced Mohammed and said, “We understand completely, in fact we also want to remain anonymous. It is the project which matters, not who is financing it or indeed carrying out the work.”
Stepanov looked at his travel companion who nodded and then whispered something in Russian. Stepanov cleared his throat. “My colleague believes this is the best way to proceed as it is going to be quite a sensitive situation. You already know that the government will not grant permission to any foreign explorer. Their rationale is quite straightforward. After all the previous attempts to come to a definite conclusion about the event, we still have no unifying theory. Most of the dissenters to the commonly held Russian view are experts from other lands within Iberia. This is part of their reasoning, that in the event of finding this agreeable, any discovery is to be attributable to a Russian national. There will be no glory-hunters or money-spinning rights to anyone except Russian explorers and the government. I know this means that any funding from you is basically a philanthropic gesture, but there’s no other way. The powers that be are fed up with amateurs scavenging in their midst, and in their view, representing a security risk which needs constant shepherding. The fact that nobody finds anything new simply spawns yet another theory.”
Mohammed was not the only one who expected Zara to close his notebook and walk out. Moya and Angel anticipated a rant at Stepanov for not making this clear before having everyone assembled in the desert. In fact they couldn’t comprehend his fascination with such a hobby when there was so much work to be done. Zara’s slow smile was followed by a question directed to the unknown Russian. “What is your facilitation fee in all of this?”
Stepanov continued as spokesman after conferring. “It is modest and self-financing. My colleague explains that you will save much more than his financial compensation by his provision of the use of state equipment and personnel to conduct the investigation. If you had to employ Russian nationals yourself it would be much more expensive. He’s correct, as I know myself in having tried to interest other sponsors.”
Zara then asked if Stepanov had brought all of the requested detail. “I have very comprehensive information which should cover the questions arising. I also have with me an account of why there has been difficulty in so-called experts finding agreement. With your permission I would suggest going through this first. It would help set your enquiries into the known context.”
This was agreed and Stepanov proceeded with his background stage-setting. “The event itself occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now known as Krasnoyarsk Krai, at 7.14am on 30th June 1908. It is believed to have been an air-
burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5-10 km above the Earth’s surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object’s size, with general agreement that it was tens of metres across. The number of papers and scholarly publications of the event are in excess of one thousand, mainly Russian, but many from other parts of the world. This is one aspect of the lack of agreement in the conclusions. Although the consensus was that the object burst in the air, it has still been classified as an impact. Energy release estimates fall between five hundred to eight hundred times that of currently known nuclear bombs. Trees were flattened over approximately 5,500 square km. As a consequence of the blast being capable of the total destruction of a large metropolitan area, the discussions moved more to future asteroid deflection strategies. Government financing was directed to this at the expense of further research into the precise mechanism of the event. There was a plethora of eye-witness accounts. I will only cite three to demonstrate why the argument still rages over the nature of the object, and how this may have channelled opinion into such a narrow debate. First, there is general picture emerging from a position northwest of Lake Baikal. A column of blue light moved across the sky. Ten minutes later a flash was immediately followed by a sound, something like artillery fire. Those repetitive sounds were accompanied by a shock wave which knocked people over, hundreds of kilometres away.
“The S. Semenov investigation, shortly after the incident quotes one account – I was sitting having breakfast at the Vanavara Trading Post, 40 km south of the explosion, and facing north. The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split grew larger and the entire north side was covered with fire. I became so hot that I could not bear it. Then the sky closed and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few yards.
“A later report in 1926, from Chuchan of the Shanyagir Tribe is somewhat different. We were sleeping and were awoken by whistling. We felt a strong wind and could see and hear trees crashing down. Thunder began and a strong wind knocked over our hut. There was something Russians call lightning, and immediately a second louder thunder occurred. The morning was sunny, there were no clouds, the sun was shining brightly as usual and suddenly there was a second one.
“There was a report from a Krasnoyaretz newspaper in 1908, from Kezhemskoe village. At 7.43 the noise akin to a strong wind was heard then a horrific thump sounded, followed by an earthquake. This first thump was followed by a second, then a third. The interval between the first and third thumps was accompanied by an unusual underground rattle, similar to a railway upon which many trains were travelling at the same time. Afterwards, for 5-6 minutes an exact likeness of artillery fire was heard. The sky at first appeared to be clear, no wind or clouds. However, upon closer inspection to the north, a kind of ashen cloud was seen near the horizon; it kept getting smaller and more transparent. By about 2-3pm it suddenly and completely disappeared.
“Gentlemen, you can appreciate that from these accounts, there is variation and similarity. This can partly be explained by what could be seen from the direction it was viewed. Light and sound travel at different speeds, even though it is fractional over these distances. It is also worth considering what state of panic the observer was in while trying to recall events and their sequence. I chose these three examples because they were considered as bona-fide. The tribal one which was not reported until 18 years after the cataclysm was from the same area as my great-grandfather’s account, yet his has been ignored. The appearance of the second sun by Chuchan, was his final observation, or to put it more accurately, his recollection of the order his observations. My great-grandfather’s assertion was downgraded as he was relating second hand information. His family’s Russian was very poor and when they were questioned directly, the authorities could not make too much sense of their claims. Although my great-grandfather was fluent in both languages, and he tried to point out that the second sun his family had seen was support to that of Chuchan, rather than contradiction of the other two accounts, it was still dismissed. The crucial point about the viewing location being partially responsible for this was given little weight. Because Chuchan’s account was published years later my great-grandfather tried again to be taken seriously. He maintained that the first blue light was the original marauding object, but the yellow second sun had splintered off this fragmenting body prior to the main explosion. He even tried to estimate the final resting place of the bright fragment by comparing notes with those of Chuchan. As you can appreciate, if this body could be found intact, it would surely give us definitive information which the air-burst parent has failed to do.”
Moya and Angel were finding it difficult to stifle a yawn, while Mohammed and Zara were hooked. The Egyptian was prepared to delay his questions until they had all seen the specific data Stepanov had handed out. His expertise was not in spacefaring objects, but he had lots of experience in evaluation of rock and soil strata. Zara was almost consumed with the prospect of such a clandestine mission. He was uncharacteristically behaving like an enthusiastic schoolboy. “I would like to progress to your data now Snr. Stepanov, could you and your colleague please give us an hour or so to peruse the report? We offer you lunch and a chance to relax in the beautiful garden of Serif Mohammed.”
The report was basically a factual embellishment of an extremely large and detailed map. This had been painstakingly been produced by Stepanov and had information on every known recorded observation. Colour-coding made it easy to distinguish exploration sites, eye-witness reports, extent and type of damage to the terrain, wind direction and the generally agreed trajectory of the object. An area shaded in red was about 9 square km. and was keyed with the designation ‘second sun’. After some fifty minutes of ploughing through reams of reference data and its relationship to the map, Zara asked Mohammed for his input. The Egyptian was impressed with the data, particularly its reluctance to draw speculative conclusions. “Tell me, Snr. Zara, what is it exactly you hope to unearth?”
The reply was almost beyond the comprehension of Moya and Angel. “The challenge is more important than the prize. I’ve always wanted to do what others considered impossible, or something the best had tried to achieve and failed. However, in this case there is something else. I need to ask Stepanov one more question if and when you are satisfied.” Mohammed asked a servant to show the Russians back into the meeting room. He issued a challenge to Stepanov. “You have not indicated any references to data inside the second sun area of impact. You don’t even state whether any geological profiling has been carried out. If it has, then it must have been negative otherwise we would not be having this discussion today. Would you care to elucidate?”
Stepanov looked at his associate, who squirmed and then suggested he would like a private moment with Alexei. After much gesticulating and shrugging of the shoulders they returned and Stepanov nervously began to explain. “There have been only a handful of attempts to excavate in a location which has no official recognition of being part of the Tunguska event. Most of those were at the time of the calamity. There have been two in recent times. The first was unproductive, and carried out by myself and friends. The more recent foray was simply a follow up of something I had observed on the first occasion. I had seen my compass go crazy then return to normal within seconds. I checked this out a few times again and it only recurred once in several days. I felt my co-workers would think me to be suffering from delusional obsession if I told them and couldn’t prove it was happening. I was afraid they would desert me. When I returned with my friend here a year later, we patiently searched for the phenomenon and on the eighth day we saw it again. Being able to monitor it continually we saw a pattern. Having returned home to try to decipher this anomaly, we became frustrated, but worse still we felt strangely nauseous. Checks showed we had been exposed to radiation. We have been following our health signs closely since then, and we believe we have somewhere between two and five years to live. This is not simply a calculation based on theoretical data
, but on the death of three friends from the first excavation. We have discussed this prognosis many times already between us and we don’t want to share this, for fear of the project being hijacked. We both want to see it through, and we have already expensed safe working protection for anyone who will be invited to join us. We want our names to be associated with whatever we discover.”
This revelation stunned the audience, even Moya and Angel perked up their interest. Mohammed resumed the dialogue. “So you don’t have more information on what may be down there, but you know where it is and that it is a magnetic anomaly which is emitting radiation.” Before they could reply Zara asked what they had made of the data they had tried to interpret.
Stepanov said, “Only that it was a repetitive pattern with irregular intervals. There was apparently no pattern with the intervals themselves, but when the spikes occurred they were similar if not identical in magnetic aberration.” Zara finally got to his own question, which had been partly answered by them knowing exactly where they had to look.
“How remote is this location, and how would we ensure we do not receive visitors?”
The smiles returned to the faces of the Russians, as Stepanov joked, “No one other than the insane would venture there. During the short window of acceptable weather for survival, the place is awash with flying insects, including some of the largest mosquitos I’ve ever seen. With respect to anyone following us, we believe we need our own helicopter to ferry in rations and supplies as required. Unless that is, you have a better idea. I would add that my friend has considerable official veto over people even wandering through this region. This edict is still underpinned by disagreement over the nature of the falling body itself. A comet would be expected to completely vaporise, leaving no traces. This theory suggests it would not have reached the lower atmosphere. In 2001 Farinella and Foschini proposed the object had curved from the direction of the asteroid belt. If however, it wasn’t a comet, why was there no crater? In the last decade of the millennium, scientists found resin in the trees in the impact area, which was impregnated with materials found in asteroids but not in comets. But then a later study in 2005 suggests that Comet 2005NB5C bounced off our atmosphere, and left a detached chunk heading Earthwards, while the rest went back into orbit around the sun. It’s anticipated that this comet will pass close to Earth again in 2045. It would contain evidence which would rule it in or out, but I’m afraid we won’t be here to see it.”