Date: 2020-09-15T22:00:00+00:00
Description: Zhenyi Hypatia Drakos had two astrophysicists as parents, one Greek and one Chinese. They gave her a love of space and the intellect to study it. Her name, glasses and independent spirit made her the target of bullies from her first day of school. To survive Zen adapted by becoming self-sufficient and capable of fighting back. When the pulsar she discovered at age thirteen begins changing, she discovers that humans are not alone in the universe. Draconis is the story of how Zen shares this news with the world and prepares herself and the planet for what is headed their way. NOTE: This is only

Found

To be discovered, to establish, to equip, to mold, to forge.

Ethan Stand

Copyright © 2020 by Ethan Stand

Ethan Stand owns the content in this book and reserves all his legal rights of ownership. ‘Found’ is published for your personal enjoyment. He allows quotations in book reviews and social media posts. In fact, if they are positive reviews, he encourages their use. If you want to use it for some other purpose, then email him and get his written permission, if you don't then you may not reproduce or use it.

ISBN 13: 978-1-922336-13-2 (E-book)

‘Found’ is fiction, Ethan isn’t writing about real people and doesn’t intend in any way to point the finger at anyone. If there is a similarity, then it’s unintentional and a coincidence. Some of the places, nations, corporations, institutions, public figures, books, movies and songs Ethan mentions are real. Ethan has used them in a made-up story (fiction), i.e., IT ISN’T REAL.

Ethan designed the cover using Photoshop. Vellum was used to prepare the e-book.

Published by Ethan Stand in 2020

You can find out more at www.ethanstand.com or write to Ethan at ethan@ethanstand.com.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 1

There was a Bombardier Challenger 604 waiting on the tarmac as the Prime Minister’s plane landed. Zen’s luggage was quickly transferred as well as the luggage for her team. Within thirty minutes she was back in the air and headed for the RAAF base at Amberley, just forty kilometres southwest of Brisbane and half an hour from where Zen’s house was. There were several large black SUV’s waiting when the aircraft came to a stop. Zen said, “Can’t we skip the not-so-subtle cars and just arrive incognito?”

Miriam shook her head and said, “Nope. There are journalists camped outside your house day and night. I’ve tried to get your folks to move, but they are as stubborn as you.”

“Me? I’m flexible. But honestly, how safe are they?”

“Pretty safe. We paid the neighbours on both sides and the rear to take a holiday and we rented their houses. We did the same for the three houses opposite, and we have agents and snipers watching every entry and exit. It’ll be harder with you being there, but we know you want, even need, to see them.”

“Can’t I sneak in somehow so no one knows?”

“I doubt it. There were reports of you arriving with the PM, and then this plane taking off. Already journalists are waiting outside the base here, hoping for a story.”

“Drop me at Sahara’s.”

“Every kid in your classes has been hounded by reporters. Sahara stuck to the ‘no comment’ routine, but she still has people outside her house. Her father’s taken out restraining orders, but it’s a losing battle. The truth is it’s safer to move with the SUVs, they are bullet-resistant, and there are police waiting at the airfield entrance. If we try the sneak approach, the professionals will know. At this very moment the US, Russia, China and India, to name four, will have satellites overhead keeping track of you. Finding you isolated will be a huge temptation. It’s best to keep safe, so I suggest you stay in the house until we leave. We can sneak Sahara in if you want.”

That made Zen smile, and she had no more objections. Half an hour later and the middle SUV pulled into her driveway, and the garage opened. Once the SUV was inside Zen hopped out and was almost bowled over by Hal who had been waiting excitedly since he woke-up. She picked him up and kissed him, then carried him through to the central part of the house where her parents were waiting. Miriam had the agents leave them alone inside the house. Still, there were agents outside every window, all of which had been replaced with bullet-resistant glass.

After lunch, Hal had a nap while Zen sat with her parents and described everything that had happened. When Hal woke, Zen gave him some of the presents, and they played until dinner. BB and Ed had arranged for Sahara to spend the night and Miriam snuck her in just before the family sat down to eat. The rest of the night was spent talking and catching up with news. The only non-family time was when they sat to listen to the Prime Minister address the nation. With him was the Governor-General and the Leader of the Opposition.

He spoke for half an hour and outlined the situation and the need for the country to come together if they were to survive. He acknowledged that it would be hard but said the government was working on a range of initiatives which he would announce on Monday after final briefings and discussions.

As he finished, he said, “We have a hard road ahead of us, and the truth is that some of us won’t finish the journey and that most will find it hard and almost unbearable. The PR people cut this part out of my speech several times, their reason was that as a leader, I’m not supposed to use words like ‘won’t’, ‘hard’ or ‘unbearable’. Still, it is the simple truth, and if some of us are to survive, then it is a simple truth that we will have to face every day between now and whenever this journey ends.

“Most of you will find that your dreams will remain just that—dreams. In this new reality, those dreams have no real chance of being realised, and they will always be out of reach. There will be no house in the suburbs or a holiday shack near the beach. Your children and grandchildren will grow up in a world vastly different and immeasurably more confronting than you would ever have thought possible. Still, I believe that if we work together, if we work hard and are prepared to do whatever it takes, then they will grow up. They will also have the tools and resources to make their own dreams come true. Dreams that in their reality will be obtainable.

“If we do not falter, then they can still know love, friendship, joy and they can realise their potential, even if it is in ways we cannot imagine. For that to happen, we must have courage, and we must not forget to hope. I have called for a Day of Prayer tomorrow. I would encourage you that even if you do not have faith in God, that you spend the day in reflection. Starting Monday morning, we will be starting the race toward safety, and we will start off running. Thank you.”

Ed turned the TV off, and BB said, “He is, I think, a good man. He makes me consider that there might be a God who is in control of things.”

Ed just looked at her and said, “What? He makes you think there might be a god. What does that mean? There are a lot of good men who don’t believe in god. People like me.”

BB was serious though and said, “No, that isn’t what I meant. I was just considering the probabilities of us, Zen, her pulsar, me knowing Phil, you knowing what Phil did. It’s something I’ve been thinking about all week.”

Before she could continue, Ed blew a raspberry and said, “For heaven’s sake, BB, we are scientists.”

BB said, “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

Ed thought through what he said then said, “No, of course not. It is just a saying.”

“So, as a scientist, you reject my hypothesis without even listening to my evidence or propositions? You reject it only because you don’t like my conclusion. Has physics become a social science all of a sudden?”

“Don’t be a scientific snob. Social sciences are real sciences.”

“Name one that uses empirical evidence that can be repeated time and time again. Name one!”

At this point, Zen just tapped Sahara on her shoulder, and they disappeared up to her room. When they reached the top of the stairs, Zen said, “They’ll discuss this for half-an-hour or so, then get cranky and stop talking for a few minutes before my dad apologises. It’s a discussion they have every year or so. Mum’s a thoughtful agnostic and Dad’s a staunch atheist?”

Sahara had felt uncomfortable with the conversation because her experience was that religion caused pain and hardship. Her family was very committed to the idea that they were secular. Her father had come from a Syrian Orthodox family while her mother’s family had been Islamic for generations. Neither of them ever discussed religion in the house. With some trepidation, she asked, “What about you?”

“Me? I’m a very reluctant and rather pathetic agnostic.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’d like to be an atheist because life would be so much easier if I was certain there wasn’t someone or something outside the constraints of the physical universe who has some sort of ownership rights. The problem is that I don’t know. I think my dad is being intellectually lazy when a lack of proof, either way, means he uncritically chooses what he wants to be true.

“On the other hand, I’m pathetic because if I honestly think it’s possible that a god exists, then I should be trying to find the answer and I’m not. I simply ignore the conundrum. I think it’s because if there is a god, and if I knew that, or even if I thought it was highly probable after investigation, I’d be constrained by honesty to change my life to fit whatever precepts such a god would desire. I expect if there is sort of judgement then at this stage, my plea would be innocent on account of ignorance, and that’s just pathetic.”

“But what if this god asks you to do something that you don’t want to, or you don’t agree with?”

“Then I’d have to decide if I’m going to follow their rules or stay a rebel because at the moment I’m a rebel by default. If I actively decided to be a rebel, then I’ll have to be content to live with the consequences, whatever they are. Mum’s the one doing the research. She’s read lots about god and even the possibility of there being a multitude of gods. She’s been on the fence for a few years now. She’s almost convinced that there is a god, but there is no ‘proof’, and in the end, she’s admitted that the word ‘faith’ has meaning in this situation. Not in the sense of a leap into the unknown but more a reasoned acceptance of an unprovable truth. The biggest thing for her is she’d have to go ‘all-in’, and she’s a bit afraid of what that would mean for her, especially with Dad being so obnoxious about it.”

“You do realise that your family is weird. You constantly criticise and argue with each other, but you also love unconditionally.”

Zen laughed. “That’s us, weird, and kinda proud of it.”

BB had set up a fold-up bed for Sahara in Zen’s room, and the two stayed up until two talking and discussing everything that had happened. When Sahara woke around eight, she wasn’t surprised to see Zen on her computer looking at data from the various satellites with several spreadsheets open. Sighing, she said, “It’s real, isn’t it. Not some giant Zen prank to get back at the system.”

Zen turned and said, “Yeah. Sorry. I wish it wasn’t because it means I have to grow up. It’s much more fun pretending to be grown-up than actually having all the responsibility. Three weeks from now we’ll be training with weapons and preparing for a war we don’t want but can’t avoid. Hal’s going to grow up underground, or in space and everything we did for fun he’ll miss out on.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how my mum will cope with me training to kill something. They came here to escape that.”

“I think there’s a difference between killing and protecting. Being ready to defend yourself, your family or your planet is, I think, ethically different. It’s different than wanting to kill someone or something to just take what isn’t yours, or to change someone’s behaviour or beliefs, or to ‘make-a-point’. I think hiding, or running, is a reasonable action to take and that’s what the bunkers are for. The problem is that at the moment we have nowhere else to hide and nowhere to run to. I think your parents will realise that if they were backed into a corner and nowhere to go that they’d do what they could to protect you. Personally, I’m kind of pissed off at these aliens for their total disregard of our planet and species, and I’d find a way to rationalise dropping a bomb on their construct even if they turn out to be merely ignorant tourists.”

Zen and Sahara talked until Hal came to get them for breakfast. The rest of Zen’s day was spent playing with Hal, talking with her parents and Sahara, and catching up with some of her personal tasks that had been forced into the background. This included finishing off the last few fiverr.com jobs and making some changes to her investments.

Just after four on Monday morning, Miriam was waiting as Zen got into the SUV for the trip back to the RAAF base. Zen said, “I really needed that. Thanks for giving us some space.”

“No problem. To be fair, I think Phil is the one to thank. He arranged the trip back and insisted on letting you touch base with your family.”

Two and a half hours later the Bombardier landed in Canberra and Zen was waiting outside Phil’s office at ASIO just before half-past-seven.

Chapter 2

At seven-thirty Phil arrived followed by his PA, Michelle. He said, “How is the family?”

“They’re good. My parents are annoyed by all the security but enjoying integrating the new theories into their understanding of the universe.”

“Did you get to talk with either of them on how their expertise might interact practically to help facilitate a way forward?”

“More with Mum than Dad. She explained her latest research on dark matter. She gave me a good overview of what’s been happening across her interest area in the last few years. With what’s happening in the US and the stalling of international talks, how open are you to me facilitating some networking?”

“Explain.”

“There is a theoretical physicist in Japan working on localised dark matter effects and a woman at CERN who made some tenuous theoretical connection between gravity and leptonic flavour. I think their work interacts but as far as I know others haven’t made the connection. Probably because the link is tenuous and it is possibly a misunderstanding of the issues on my part. If I could get them talking and get more details, then I’ll have a better idea. Both of them are low on the academic totem pole and may already have been redirected to other research.”

Phil nodded and said, “It sounds like it fits the job description that the PM agreed to, so why ask?”

“The guy in Japan has been working towards a PhD, and his ideas will be controlled to some extent by the University. The woman in Switzerland works for a research task group owned by an international capital investment group with its headquarters in Bern. I’ll need to pull the Ambassador card just to talk with them, and at the moment I imagine, with all the press, that it will mean a formal contract with an NDA.

“If the link can be substantiated, then people will want to control the information as it has technological implications. Personally, I think it’s stupid when we have so much to do. Still, I suspect the corporations are fundamentally more isolationist than the countries. I’d like to think we could agree that there is full disclosure on all discoveries, but all I bring to the table is facilitation, and there is no real way to force compliance.”

Phil sat in thought for over a minute, then asked, “If you had full disclosure, what do you see as the potential outcomes from this link?”

“With enough energy, say from a fusion reactor, it may be possible to use the various leptonic flavours to use dark matter to manipulate the local gravity of any given region.”

Phil shook his head as he stared at Zen, then said, “If they shared what they’d done, could you put it together?”

“No. I could help connect the dots, but I’d need three or four months at least to get up to speed on the physics and how best to implement the theory and we don’t have that time.”

“Are there people in Australia who have that knowledge?”

“Probably, but finding them would mean a deep search of the entire science community, and we’d need the data from Japan and Switzerland first just to know who we needed.”

“Then what we need is for you to arrange the international cooperation with the outcome being we each get full disclosure on the theoretical aspects of each person’s expertise. I’ll pull together a list of assistants for you who can do the search for personnel and you will need to choose a couple. Don’t forget you also need to work with Ted and help set up our research into fusion. I’ve appointed Ted to work with the CSIRO to oversee our research priorities. Leon Murray is the CEO, and he’s set aside space at Lucas Heights for the team. He asked to sit in when you fill Ted in with your other assumptions on fusion.”

“Where will I set up?”

“The Minister for Foreign Affairs cancelled the lease arrangement we had with the United States regarding their embassy here. He paid them the going rate for reacquisition so they couldn’t officially complain too much. Over the weekend, we had security go through it to remove or repurpose all the surveillance devices. My offices will be moved there later this week. You’ve been assigned office space and living quarters at the embassy which has tentatively been renamed Draconis House. Miriam’s been kept up to date and has part of your team already preparing your quarters.”

“Won’t the US kick up a fuss?”

“For sure, but they’ve too much to deal with at the moment with their internal problems. If they ever get those sorted out, we expect the new reality will actually have started to sink in. If that happens, then they’ll realise there are more important things to worry about.”

“OK. I’ll get to work then.”

“Good. They’re still setting up your office but promised to be finished by late morning. I had Michelle send you the dossiers of ten people we think might make a good PA for you. Look at them, and if you can’t find someone you think you can work with, then Michelle has given you access to the ASIO personnel files. You need to find someone soon, or your workload will get out of hand.”

“Phil, just send the person over who you think will do the best job for me. I’ve no idea what to look for in a PA. As long as they know they work for me, not you, then everything will go well.”

“I can do that. They’ll be at your office before nine. Is there anything else you need?”

“What’s the computer situation like over there?”

“They’re being installed as we talk. I asked Ted what you needed, then trebled it, so it should be enough.”

Zen nodded then after thanking Phil, she headed out the door where Miriam was waiting. Zen said, “Off to the new office, I guess. Is the team OK with the location?”

“Absolutely. The security infrastructure is still in place, and it is top of the range.”

* * *

The US embassy was less than a kilometre from Australia’s Parliament House, and Zen was in her office before eight. She’d been expecting something like what the teachers at school had. She was surprised to find she’d been allocated the entire upper floor of the south-eastern wing of the main embassy building. Nakul was overseeing an additional level of security into her area, and a series of servers were being installed for her use in one of the rooms. The room allocated for her office had been a mid-sized conference room and had been emptied. A large wooden executive sized deck was waiting to be assembled.

One group of technicians were assembling an array of sixteen 5K borderless and curved monitors on one of the walls while others installed a bank of transparent magnetic glass whiteboards which could be moved throughout the room on a series of rails that had been installed on the ceiling. Not wanting to disturb them Zen moved to the adjoining room, which was going to be for her PA, and sat cross-legged in the corner and started working on her laptop.

Just before nine, one of her team showed an older, somewhat severe-looking woman about her grandmother’s age into the room. Zen looked up, then put down the laptop and came to her feet. She stepped forward and said, “Good morning. How can I help?”

“Good morning, Ambassador Drakos. My name is Margaret Cosgrove, and Dr Bateman suggested I might be suitable for the position as your Personal Assistant.”

“Great. As you can see, Ms Cosgrove, everything isn’t quite ready yet, but they’ve promised to have things finished in the other room by lunch, so then I suspect they’ll get started in here. Please feel free to call me Zhenyi or Zen if you don’t mind.”

Turning to Andrew, one of her security team, who was standing in one corner, Zen asked, “Andrew, is there anywhere safe that we can talk which has seats?”

Before Andrew could answer Margaret said, “Ambassador Zhenyi, most of those I worked for called me either Mrs Cosgrove or Margaret and I have no preference. I suspect your security would prefer to maintain an appropriate security screen so let me arrange somewhere we can talk while you keep working.”

Zen nodded and said, “Thank you, Mrs Cosgrove.”

Fifteen minutes later, Margaret returned and said, “Ambassador Zhenyi, when you are free, I have arranged a secure area in which we can talk.”

Zen closed the laptop and stood before following Margaret from the room. Andrew and Johanna, one of the other members of her team, followed her out of the room. Just down the hall was a small room that now had two armchairs with a small table beside each. In between was a small coffee table with a pot of tea, several small Asian-style teacups and some scones with jam and cream.

As Zen sat, Margaret poured two cups of tea. She said, “I know that normally green tea isn’t served with jam and scones but from what I read in the newspapers I suspect the mixing of the two cuisines is allowable.”

“Absolutely.”

Once they were both sitting and had taken a sip of their teas, Zen said, “Mrs Cosgrove, I’m not sure exactly what a Personal Assistant does. My research didn’t help much as it seemed to include almost everything I could think of. I pretty much asked Phil to pick who he thought would be best for me. The only stipulation I had was that whoever he picked worked for me, not him.

“He thinks you are the best fit. I assume, therefore, that your skill set matches what he thinks my needs are. Time will be the best judge, but I’ve sort of come to respect him. You’ve done this before, and I haven’t. Is it best to start with what I need, or with what you can do?”

Margaret took a sip of her tea before answering. “I’ve worked for dozens of people through the years including CEOs of major companies, several government ministers and before I retired, for the head of ASIO. Over that time, I have indeed done everything from walking the dog to organising a series of international trade talks. Dr Bateman rang me at eight and said, ‘Mrs Cosgrove, I need you to come back to work. I want you to help someone.’ I explained I was happily retired, but he was very insistent.

“When I asked ‘who’, he said he couldn’t say over the phone, but all that mattered was to be here before nine, and that he’d already sent the car. It was only when I was shown into the room that I realised who you were. With that as the context, I suggest you tell me what you need, and I’ll tell you what I can do.”

“OK, I need someone to help get my schedule in order. I know what I need to get done but don’t have the time for all the back-and-forths. At the moment that includes arranging a time to talk with Ted Drayson and Leon Murray about nuclear fusion and I’d prefer it was face to face, so that means here or at Lucas heights. I want to talk with a lawyer about NDAs for a technology sharing consultation between me, a researcher in Japan and one in Switzerland. Miriam, that’s the head of my detail, she’s been doing a lot of the scheduling, but it isn’t really her job.

“I have about one hundred and seventy-five thousand email that I’ve siphoned into a folder that needs sorting and answering. They are from a whole range of people, and about half are from people whose names and contact can’t be shared with anyone, but I’d like them in a spreadsheet with location data and some notes. I tried using a program to do it, but the language clues are too diverse for accuracy. I’ve binned all the stupid ones like proposals of marriage, but there are still thousands of requests for interviews and five times that number of threats. I haven’t given these to Miriam yet but guess she’d like them.

“The official government email already has several hundred internal messages asking for an appointment or asking questions, and I’d like someone to whittle that down until it’s manageable. I need to get a staff in place for all of this but need the list of possibles shortened to one or two for each job. Top needs are some scientifically proficient data entry people. I’m also supposed to get a website happening and a PR person. I could do the website, but I’m supposed to learn how to delegate. Like I said to Phil, I want these people to understand they work for me, and while I don’t want drones, I will react poorly if people do stuff behind my back.

“I’m collating a lot of data, and some of it interacts with other people Phil has working on things. I keep copies, but I need someone to file that stuff officially. On top of this, I start my National Service in three weeks but will be back here at least two days a week and need someone to keep things on the boil.”

Margaret took another sip of her tea, then said, “I can handle those things. Let me get working on getting everything set up then when the server comes online you can start sending the email. Are you free to see Dr Drayson and Dr Murray this afternoon?”

“I can, but I’ve no idea what Miriam would think.”

“Let me deal with those things. You go do what you do.”

Zen finished her tea then after saying goodbye went back to see how things were progressing in her office.

Chapter 3

After Zen left, Margaret started to pack up the morning tea but couldn’t find Zen’s cup or plate. Eventually, she found it in the small kitchen facility in the upper wing of the building. Margaret nodded appreciatively as she considered that Zen had taken the time to wash her own cup and plate. She then took out her phone and rang Phil. When she was put through, she said, “Dr Bateman, I’ll take the job. What is the budget? I’ve no doubt the Ambassador could find out, but she’s got far too much on her plate. You really need to lighten her load.”

“Thank you, Margaret. I am sorry for pulling you out of retirement, but you’d have been pulled away sooner rather than later anyway, and Zen needs someone with your skills. We’re still trying to get a handle on what money will mean in this new reality. Zen would probably say that a budget at this stage is meaningless.

“Spend what you need to get things done. Hire the best but be upfront and say that they’ve less than two years to spend it and inflation is likely to blow out as people realise they need to spend what they have on small items they can carry with them. The housing market is simply going to implode. When the aliens arrive, they’ll be like everyone else and have only what they can fit in a couple of cubic meters. That’s what we’re planning to let people bring into the bunkers at this stage.

“If you need supplies, then Zen has priority, but only our people can know who things are for and you need to have my office help with arrangements. Please, let me know if you need anything and are being stonewalled. By that, I mean me personally, not just my office. Zen’s the number one priority at the moment—across the board.”

* * *

Zen’s office was set up by midday, and she spent about half an hour reconfiguring the server and the huge wall of screens to suit her style. When that was done, she stood at the height-adjustable console that had been set up facing the monitors. She was reviewing the places chosen for the megacities when Margaret entered. When Zen noticed Margaret waiting, she finished the note she was writing and said, “Sorry, I hope you weren’t waiting long. Feel comfortable to just interrupt.”

“No problem. Dr Drayson and Dr Murray are free after two and would like you to visit them. Agent Friedler is arranging transportation. I have contacted several people I have worked with previously and believe would be suited for the work you outlined. They will be free for you to interview first thing in the morning. My government access has been revived. If you send me the details of the people you wish to consult with overseas. I will arrange for an NDA to be drawn up and then start on the email. One of the agents has been assigned to work on the various threats.”

“Thanks. I’ll send you the login to where I’ve stored the email. I did look at some templates for what the government uses as NDAs and think it’s mostly wasted words. I’d prefer something about a page long at the most. I drew one up and will send it to you. If the lawyer person says it needs more, then feel free to push back a bit if all they’re doing is adding words to be pernickety. We’re never going to take this through the courts if they break it and to be honest I’ll deal with it myself if they break the spirit of the agreement.”

Just before one, Miriam arrived to lead Zen to the helicopter that was landing on the lawn. Zen grabbed her laptop and several storage devices which she put in her backpack before following Miriam outside. As the RAAF helicopter used for VIPs took off, Zen was surprised to see three additional navy helicopters take up positions in front and behind.

She looked Miriam, who said, “You should have shown me the threats. Even a brief glance shows some are from seriously twisted people. Phil’s asked for two patrols of SAS personnel to be deployed at Draconis House. There’s a growing reaction against the first wave of new laws by both the left and right. They think it’s either an over-reaction to what is a wonderful opportunity to meet our neighbours, or it is a massive hoax to corral and subjugate the masses under a single world government. What’s happening in the US isn’t helping at all.”

Zen just shook her head and watched as the countryside flew past underneath them. Ted was waiting at the Lucas Heights site and led the way into the central office building where he introduced Zen to the CEO of the CSIRO, Dr Leon Murray and several of the lead scientists who worked with the OPAL reactor. Once everyone was seated, Ted asked Zen to go through the science she’d discussed briefly with him. After each of her assumptions had been discussed, the team talked until eight looking through Zen’s suggestions. They revolved around manipulating the gravitational forces in the chamber to decrease the amount of energy required to reach the breakeven point and to deal with disruptions in the plasma flow.

Her gravity equations described the relationship between the electromagnetic fields and gravity. When she showed a four-dimensional visual of the interactions and a stereographic projection, it became clear how the basic D-shaped torus and the spherical tokamak designs used sub-pathways of the equations. Zen showed a variety of possible other paths that could be used. She said, “I don’t have the theory yet, but I mapped dozens of pathways and did a data search looking for something that might take into account most of them. What I found was that a regular hexacosichoron is almost perfect to describe every single path described in the equations.”

Both Ted and Leon agreed the technology existed to make such reactor but said it would take years to construct. In reply, Zen said they didn’t have years. She explained how the plasma path described in the regular 4-polytope could be achieved using rotating fields designed to mimic the Schläfli–Hess 4-polytopes. Not only would the heat produced be able to be siphoned off at fixed points using the newer super thermal conductors, but the internal electric current produced would be over ninety-five per cent of that needed to maintain fusion.

As Ted walked Zen back to the helicopter, he said, “Thank you. I expect they’ll be up all night discussing this.”

“No worries. I talked with Phil, and there is more in the works. If it comes together, it points to a way to use the different flavoured leptons and dark matter to manipulate the local gravity. This will simplify the reactor, allow significant miniaturisation and help manipulate the energy transfer.”

Ted stopped and said, “What? How?”

“I chatted with my mum, and there have been a few vague hints in some recent papers. None of them gained much traction but what they show is indicated by what we discussed today as well as in the main gravity theory. I’m trying to initiate a consultation with the two researchers involved, but I suspect we’d need people here to look to engineer the theory into something we can use.”

“Can you explain how it works?”

“No. I’m reasonably confident the dots connect, but I’d need to do some serious study before I’d be comfortable explaining the mechanisms. Let’s face it, I have equations to describe what happened with the alien construct, but the actual mechanisms needed to achieve that is so far beyond me it’s not funny.”

Ted laughed and said, “Don’t sell yourself short, Zen. You just schooled four of Australia’s top scientists, two of them our top nuclear physicists. I know what you mean, but I suspect you’ll put it together as quick as anyone. Still, send me the papers, and I’ll begin looking for people to help. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“I’m not sure. I’d just started looking through the different sites planned for the bunkers and found a lot of the macro details are being worked on but still haven’t found much on the smaller ones.”

“Such as?”

“Well, what is the thinking on accommodation? Is it dormitories or individual pods? If it’s pods, what shapes are you considering? So for example, if you used some of the stackable polygonal shapes, you could fill something like the Jenolan Cave system. The system is roughly one hundred million cubic metres, and you could fit five-million people inside. The instability of the limestone system would be countered by the strength of the stacked pods.

“If you filled the pit near Kalgoorlie with pods, you’d have almost a billion cubic metres. You could cover the surface with fifty metres of rock and concrete, and the geometrical structure would hold the weight pretty easily. I know there are other constraints, but people need to think outside the box.”

“You did mention pod systems in the discussion you had with Phil and the PM, but it’s probably slipped under the radar with what you call the macro details. I’ll send something through to Phil as soon as you leave and double-check.”

Zen was back at Draconis House just before ten and Miriam showed her to the small suite that had been put aside for her in the accommodation building.

* * *

The next morning Miriam delivered breakfast to Zen at seven then showed her into her office at seven-thirty. Margaret arrived at eight, and they sat and discussed how to deal with email until eight-thirty. For the next half hour, Margaret discussed each of the people who she’d arranged to arrive at ten for interviews. At nine-thirty Margaret went to prepare for the interviews, and Zen dove into the internet and did some quick searches on each of the interviewees. When she’d finished, she sent some of the research to Miriam then Johanna accompanied her to the room where the interviews were being conducted.

It took almost two hours to interview the ten people. When they were finished, Zen sat with Margaret and said, “Mrs Cosgrove, I’m happy with all of them except Kelly Hobbs and Derek Huang. If possible, it would be great to have the rest start as soon as possible.”

“Of course. If I might be bold, Ambassador, why did you reject those two?”

“I did a background on each of them and found they’d been approached by interested groups to pass on information. The same was true for several of the others, but in each instance, they’d reported the approach to the authorities. Kelly and Derek didn’t report it.”

“That doesn’t mean they accepted the offers.”

“True, but I did some more checking, and I’m satisfied they agreed to pass on information.”

“I see. I apologise for suggesting them, I’ve known them for years, and I didn’t think they’d do something like that.”

“It’s not your fault. Kelly folded when they threatened to kill her child, and Derek is being blackmailed for an indiscretion he made on a recent trip interstate. Kelly, I can forgive and would possibly accept her once the issue is cleared up, but Derek’s out for good. I already told Miriam, and I’m sure she’ll declare them both out of the running.”

“I see. Thank you for explaining. Next, I’ve discussed your NDA proposal with one of the in-house lawyers, and he’s not prepared to sign off on anything less than the full NDA they usually use.”

“Tough. Let’s use mine anyway. I’d like to have that meeting as soon as possible.”

“As you wish. I’ll have the new staff ready to begin after lunch.”

* * *

The next three days passed in a blur as Zen worked late and only took breaks for meals and to spar. Phil request for two SAS patrols had resulted in an entire troop being assigned with two patrols guarding Draconis House and two watching Zen. She’d hoped to get home on the weekend but the only day that Margaret was able to get both of the scientists together was on Saturday. In the end, the virtual conference included five people from each country and three additional observers from the capital investment group. From Australia, besides Zen, both Ted and Leon attended as did the two scientists Ted had found who he thought were most likely to understand the science.

The initial meeting lasted three hours and after a short break was reconvened. A third session was held early Sunday morning, and a follow-up session was scheduled for the following Wednesday. After the third session had come to a close Leon sat back and said, “With what we discussed the other day about fusion I’d suggest this might well add the missing piece.”

Zen said, “Good. I’d suggest there are other areas where this needs to be applied besides fusion. I’m not sure what the energy limits will be to turn the neutrons through three-sixty. Still, if it can be engineered so they spiral along a set axis, then I’d think it’ll have a similar effect in forming what I’ll call a dark matter gravitational field as electricity does with magnetism. This could be used to fire projectiles like we would in a rail-gun. If the figures they gave were right then we could possibly engineer a handheld device with a muzzle velocity of four or five thousand meters per second.”

Both Leon and Ted just stared at her for a minute then started adding things that could be attempted. After another hour, they ended the meeting and Zen stretched as she turned from the screen back toward her desk. She’d been standing during the meeting and after looking at the few things left on her desk, turned to Nakul who was on duty and said, “I need a run or to go climbing. Anything but more of this right now.”

Nakul said, “Everything is pretty crowded because it’s early afternoon and its a weekend. Even with the changes that are coming, it hasn’t yet hit most people that their lives need to change. How about something indoors. Most of the climbing places will be full, but I could arrange something at the indoor sports centre at the Defence Force Academy.”

“That sounds great. How long to get it set up?”

“Give us thirty minutes.”

“OK, I’ll go get changed. Anything I need to know?”

“There is an obstacle course over the pool and most people training there wear full military gear.”

“Thanks.”

Twenty-five minutes later Zen’s small cavalcade left Draconis House for the seven-kilometre trip.

Chapter 4

When they arrived at the Defence Force Academy, Zen could see Miriam or Nakul had arranged for a patrol of the SAS to secure the facility. Inside she found Miriam and the head of the patrol, Sergeant Mark Furneaux. Miriam said, “I asked Sergeant Furneaux to be here not only to keep watch but to explain the obstacle course.”

The sergeant was in his early thirties, and so far all he’d done was watch Zen go back and forth from her office and occasionally use the gym on-site while his men stayed outside. He’d been briefed on her theories and watched her capoeira ‘dance’ but so far considered the posting nothing but glorified babysitting despite having read the threats. He’d had little to do with Zen face-to-face, so he smiled and said, “Hello Ambassador, Agent Friedler asked me to show you the obstacle course. It was designed to prepare students physically for the stress of battle.”

Zen interrupted and said, “Um, thank you, but I’ll be OK. Besides, I googled it and watched it on the way here. Just point me to the start, and I’ll have some fun.”

“You googled it! I’m sorry, Ambassador, but watching a video doesn’t prepare you for this.”

“Call me Zen. The way you say Ambassador makes me want to beat the crap out of you. I figure as Zen’s so much shorter, we can have three times more conversation before I actually take a swing, Sergeant.”

Miriam hadn’t expected the sergeant’s attitude, but she’d heard Zen use that tone before so she stepped forward and said, “Time out. Thank you, Sergeant. I apologise for wasting your time. Zen and I will be fine in here alone, thank you.”

Mark was trying hard not to react to what he considered not only stupid teenage behaviour but an attitude that showed no respect for him or the military. He said, “No problem, Agent. I’ll be outside with my men and waste more of our time on this babysitting duty.”

Miriam expected Zen to explode, but she just turned away and said, “A-hole.”

Mark turned back and said, “What did you call me?”

Miriam stepped between them as Zen assumed some attitude and said, “I said, ‘A-hole’. That you think I meant you means it’s been said before, and that I’m not far off the mark. Pun intended, Sergeant, although I’m not sure you’d have picked it up without me pointing it out. By the way, if you still don’t know what A-hole is, which wouldn’t surprise me, you can either google it or look in a mirror.”

Mark forced himself to calm down, then said, “I think I’ll wait outside as you suggested, Agent.”

As he turned around, Zen opened her mouth to say something, but Miriam held up a hand then said “Zen, that was uncalled for. You can’t talk to him like that.”

“Could, and did. My attitude? What about his? Treating me like an idiot. I’ve put up with that all my life, and when I finally think it’s behind me, it starts all over again.”

“Zen, he’s been given a job, and he’ll do it. He’s prepared to put his life on the line to protect you. He deserves your respect.”

“Respect’s a two-way street, Miriam. He had my respect until he spat on it. Now, trust me, it sucks to be him. I’m out of here.”

With that, Zen left the building and got in the car. Nakul listened to the report from Miriam on his radio then got in the vehicle and directed it back to Draconis House. Zen stormed into her suite and slammed the door behind her. When Miriam arrived an hour later, Nakul was standing outside the door and said, “She locked it from the inside. Where’s the sergeant?”

“Damned if I know. I just spent the last half an hour trying to convince his captain that he needed to be replaced and being told that wasn’t my call to make and to keep my charge in line. I need to write up a report and send it to Dr Bateman. Honestly, I almost decked the man myself. Zen was out of line, but not by much. He really was acting like an A-hole. Dr Bateman told me her mother said she’d often thought of killing whoever pissed Zen off and I can believe it.”

Shaking her head, she knocked on the door and said, “Zen, open the door.”

“No! Go away!”

“Zen, we need to talk.”

“Don’t want to. Leave me alone.”

“What about dinner?”

“I’m not hungry.”

Miriam turned away from the door until Nakul said, “Something isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something’s wrong with her voice. There’s too much bass.”

Miriam looked back at the door and said, “Break it down.”

It took a few minutes to get through the door. Zen’s phone was on the floor, just inside. Miriam picked it up and said, “Zen, where are you?”

Zen’s voice came out of the stereo system. “I need a time out, just like you said. See you when I’ve cooled down. Bye.”

Miriam turned to Nakul and said, “Shit! Shit! Shit! She has an hour head start. Check every inch of the property and get people to check every possible mode of transport. Go!”

As Nakul hurried away, Miriam lifted her phone and called Phil. When he answered, she said, “Dr Bateman, this is Miriam Friedler, Zen is in the wind.”

“What happened?”

Miriam explained what had happened then Phil said, “I’ll deal with the army, you find Zen.”

“Nakul’s already started on public transport.”

“He won’t find her. Don’t look for her, look for where she isn’t. She’s too smart to leave a trail so find where there should be a trail, but it’s been wiped clean. What was the sergeant’s name?”

“Mark Furneaux.”

“Then look for him where he normally wouldn’t be. She might make use of that.”

“Sir, she’ll come back on her own. She described it as ‘time out’.”

“Yes, I know. She’s committed to her plan. I’m more worried about whoever else is out there hunting. We need to find her before they do. Go.”

* * *

Zen had paid for first-class and was in the first few off the airplane. She’d hacked ASIO’s facial recognition program and had it pixelate her face on all records as well as people matching her body type. She knew they’d be able to find her through other systems, but by then they’d be too late. She was still angry and on one level knew she was being unreasonable. She’d agreed to be watched, but it was implied that she wouldn’t be mistreated. She saw what the sergeant had done as breaking that and although she knew it wasn’t Miriam, Phil or the PM’s fault she needed a break from all the scrutiny.

She caught the train into Central Station then changed platforms and caught a different train to Circular Quay. She could have stayed on the first train, but she was keeping watch using the ASIO server, and it had picked up several people who’d followed her from the airport. As she sat down, she opened her laptop and saw that some of those following her were in the next carriage while others were in the carriage beside that. She’d checked the records and all of them had been in the airport in Canberra.

She plugged in her earphones and called Miriam. When Miriam answered, Zen said, “Hi, sorry to bug out, I was a bit angry.”

Miriam was quiet for a bit as she waved the others in the room to silence, she then said, “I understand, Zen. I was angry as well. Where are you?”

“In Sydney. I’m on a train heading to the Quay, but I’m being followed by two different groups.”

“Who is following you?”

“I’ve no idea. I’ll send you their pictures.”

Zen hit send and waited. Miriam said, “OK, I have them, and we’re checking.”

“They aren’t in the ASIO files.”

“Good to know, I’ll expand the search parameters. Why didn’t you do that?”

“I have but I haven’t got any results yet. I called because I figured you’d know what to do.”

“You need to stay in public places. They’ll want to kidnap, not kill.”

“Unless they’re one of those psycho groups.”

“That’s unlikely, but even then they’ll go for a kidnap. They want recognition, and a silent kill won’t do that. The Quay is crowded at the moment with all the party people. I don’t like all the open space.”

Zen interrupted and said, “Two of the people are moving to my carriage.”

“What’s the next station?”

“Circular Quay.”

“It’ll have to do. Get off and head toward the Opera House. There will be hundreds of people. I’m watching this real real-time so please get rid of the pixels.”

Zen hit a button then changed a few settings to highlight the people she’d identified. Miriam said, “I didn’t know it could do that.”

“It doesn’t normally, but I had to rewrite some of the code to make the pixelation work in real-time. It’s a simple adaptation.”

“We need to sit down sometime and discuss what the word ‘simple’ actually means. I see the train is pulling in, get up and head for the door. If they get close then run because they may have something to inject you with.”

Zen closed the laptop after changing the settings, so it didn’t go to sleep. She kept the earbud in her ear. She slipped on her backpack and walked to the door. As she stepped onto the platform, Miriam said, “OK, the people behind you are mercenaries who work for the CIA but up until now have stayed in South America. The ones behind them are SVR.”

“Why weren’t they in the ASIO database?”

“They are, you just didn’t hack deep enough. Dr Bateman is here, and somewhat inappropriately he’s smirking that you missed them.”

“Tell him I was rushed.”

“He just waved his hand and said, ‘Whatever!’”

“What next?”

“We’ve police on the way, and there’s also a team forming about a hundred metres ahead of you at the end of the line of restaurants. It looks like the police have been spotted, run!”

Zen started running toward the end and could hear footsteps pounding behind her. Just ahead was a group of partiers and as she ran past them, one stepped back without looking and sent Zen sprawling. She started to push herself up when she heard a scream, so she rolled quickly to one side just as a bullet ploughed into the concrete where she’d been.

As more people began to scream and run away, Zen came back onto her front and spun using her hands to fling herself in the air and bring her feet around in a sweeping motion. Her head was looking behind, and in a capoeira move that would have thrilled her Mestre, she changed the orientation of her foot slightly and kicked the pistol out of the man’s hand. As he spun back toward her, she’d turned full circle as she lowered herself toward the cement and swept his feet from under him. As he fell, she rolled away and flipped herself upright.

A second man was lifting a pistol. Zen let herself fall sideways into a roll which brought her hand within range of the gun she’d knocked loose. Bullets splattered the ground behind her. She brought herself upright in a one-armed handstand. She fired at the second man hitting him in the chest even as he finally creased her with a bullet that ran along the inside of her calf. If she’d been standing upright, it would have hit her centre chest.

She flipped upright as she brought her head around to look for the first attacker. He’d come upright and pulled a knife. Zen knew she should be scared, but instead, she smiled. She’d wanted to beat the sergeant to a pulp, but this was so much better. As he stepped toward her and swinging the knife from down low and up towards her. She dropped the pistol as she brought her left hand around to grab his inner forearm even as her right hit the rear of his hand.

The aikido move worked as she’d practised and she finished with a follow-through that had him face down on the ground. Her trainer would have expected her to do so with enough control that her assailant would be basically unharmed but with her in a position to control his every move. Instead, she decided a little bit of hurt wasn’t a bad thing, she used enough force to break his nose as his face slammed into the cement path. As she came upright, she let her arms move away from her body, putting her open hands on display as she saw a group of police approaching with firearms raised.

Two police went to each of the downed attackers while four surrounded her and faced outwards. Back toward the Quay, she could see that the three others who’d been following were also in custody. The sun was setting, and a policewoman came over. She said, “Ambassador Drakos, we have been requested to bring you to Government House, which is just less than a hundred metres from here but five hundred by car. Your helicopter and security team are en route. I was instructed to say that this was a request and that you are free to go where you want after giving your statement.”

Zen was still coming down from the adrenaline rush, so she shook herself before saying. “I best go with you. I bet I’m already in trouble for disappearing, so I better play nice.”

“Then if you’ll follow me.”

Dozens of police cars had arrived, and eight more officers joined those around Zen as she followed the woman to a waiting car. Police were closing off the road, and they had to wait for a few minutes but soon moved along an empty road to Government House. Zen said, “I couldn’t see properly but was anyone else hurt?”

The officer who was sitting in the front turned and said, “No, thankfully. A few people were slightly crushed in the stampede to leave the area, but everything was minor. The man you shot will probably live but is in a critical condition and on the way to the hospital. The other man has a broken nose and fractured jaw and cheek. He’s also on the way to the hospital and will need reconstruction done.”

“Probably shouldn’t have given him the extra push into the cement. Glad my instructor didn’t see that.”

“I suspect he will. People are weird, and while some ran, others were videoing it with their phones.”

When they arrived, there were police standing around the entire perimeter. As Zen got out of the car, she said, “Sorry about the blood.”

The officer turned and said, “What blood?”

“Um, my calf is still bleeding. I thought it had stopped but guess it just went sort of numb.”

The woman looked down, then turned and called for an ambulance. Zen said, “It’s OK, really. It just grazed me, I think.”

The woman shook her head and said, “Come sit down so we can check it out.”

The bullet had torn a two-inch furrow in Zen’s inner calf. As her adrenaline levels dropped, it had begun to bleed more freely and hurt. The EMT who arrived with the ambulance suggested Zen would probably need stitches and after cleaning the wound used adhesive strips to close it then bandaged it tightly. By the time this was done, Zen could hear more helicopters approaching. Overhead there were already two police helicopters, and three or four news helicopters were flying several kilometres further out.

Chapter 5

The police copters moved away as the three navy helicopters set up a barrier overhead and the RAAF helicopter came to rest on the lawn in front of the main building. Miriam and Nakul stepped out and hurried across to where Zen was sitting. Zen looked up, sheepishly, and said, “Hi Miriam.”

“I want to tell you how dumb that was, but Dr Bateman said I had to play nice.”

“It was dumb, but I didn’t realise that until we were landing in Sydney. Sometimes I over-react when I get really mad.”

“No kidding. Dr Bateman also wanted me to ask you to pull what you put online about Sergeant Furneaux. Google has no idea how you manipulated their programming so effectively, and every time they think they’ve got it under control the information resurfaces.”

Zen smirked as she thought of what she’d done. Every time someone did a search of ‘A-hole’ or similar words, they got thousands of images of the sergeant with his mouth exchanged with the image of an anus, either human and animal. If they searched for Mark, Furneaux, or sergeant or any combination of those words, they got the same images from hundreds of websites. She’d even managed to have thousands of news articles inserted in the archives of most major news sites around the world, all of which showed up in the searches. She said, “Uh uh, I’m still mad at him.”

“I do understand, but perhaps it would be best to work it out in private rather than in front of the world.”

“Probably but I did sort of promise him he’d find the meaning on google.”

“Zen, pull it down!”

This was the first time Miriam had spoken forcefully to Zen, and Zen looked up and said, “OK, OK. No need to get in my face.”

Miriam looked down as Zen took her laptop out of her bag and could see the droop of her shoulders. She knelt down and said, “I’m sorry Zen, it’s just that you frightened me. I was frightened by how easily you got away and then how quickly they responded. I understand why you disappeared and why you were angry, but I don’t want to lose you. Not because I think you’re maybe our best chance to survive but because you’re my friend. You told me I was supposed to be like a big sister, and I took that to heart.”

Zen looked up and had tears. Miriam leaned in and gave her a hug. As she did, Zen started crying, so Miriam held her until she stopped then Zen leaned back and said, “Sorry, I think I’ve been holding that in for a while.”

Miriam smiled and said, “I’m not surprised. Now, are you ready to go?”

“Absolutely.”

Miriam stood and reached down to help Zen up when the EMT stepped close and said, “I’d suggest she stay off the leg for a few days. I have a wheelchair ready.”

It was only then that Miriam saw that Zen was wearing a different set of track pants. She said, “What happened?”

Before Zen could respond, the EMT said, “A bullet grazed the inside of her calf and tore a shallow groove. She lost some of the muscle, but it should heal given some time. I’ve closed it with strips but would suggest she might need stitches. I’d like it looked at by a doctor before she puts her weight on it.”

Miriam stared at Zen for a moment, then said, “We’ll use the wheelchair. Thank you for saying something as I think her Excellency may have forgotten to mention it.”

“Well, duh. Being shot sort of emphasises how dumb it was to run away.”

“No kidding. Finish taking the stuff off the net and then we’ll go.”

Five minutes later the helicopter took off for the return to Canberra. Once they were at cruising altitude, Miriam handed Zen her phone and said, “I think you should ring your parents. They’re probably worried out of their heads.”

Zen nodded, and after talking with her parents for about ten minutes and chatting with Hal, she handed the phone to Miriam and said, “My mum wants to talk with you.”

A few minutes later, she ended the call and handed the phone back. “Well, that was interesting. It gives me an idea of why you are like you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“It sounded like your parents weren’t all that mad with you. They do want me to keep you away from idiots who piss you off—their words not mine.”

“Well, whatever impression they gave you they made it pretty clear to me that they weren’t all that happy with my lack of self-control.”

* * *

Phil was waiting as the helicopter landed. Next to him was Johanna with a wheelchair. Once they were all inside Zen’s suite, he said, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Thanks. Sorry for running.”

“Apology accepted. We have a doctor on the way to check the leg. The SAS troop is being reassigned, and another will take their place.”

“Why? He was just mouthing off.”

“We talked with him, and the other patrol leaders and none of them had any real idea of what we were facing. They were growing complacent and weren’t giving it their full attention.”

“Are the new ones going to be any better?”

“We’ll brief them better, and this will highlight the threat level. They didn’t see you leave, but the enemy did, that’s a failure in everybody’s book.”

“Why not re-brief the ones we have. Look, what happened was as much my fault as his. I should have let his attitude wash over me.”

“Yes, and no. It would have been more mature, but on the other hand, their attitude was obviously carried over into how they did their job. We still haven’t worked out how you escaped, but if they’d done their job, then it should have been impossible. They failed.”

“Do they realise that?”

“At the moment they’re thinking of nothing else but that. Both the PM and the Chief of the Defence Force spent some time with them highlighting their failure. The news that you were shot hammered the lesson home.”

“Then let them learn it on the job. I made a mistake, and so did they. If I get a pass, why not give them one.”

“You have a job no one else can do.”

“So do they. Look, we don’t have time to train more people with their skills. Leaving them with a failure on their record won’t help in the years to come. They need their heads on straight, not removed.”

Phil looked up at Miriam who raised her eyebrows, then nodded. “We both know she’s right.”

Phil nodded and said, “OK, I’ll talk to Alistair and try and change the orders. You are to stay in the suite, and you will explain to Miriam how you got out of here. When the doctor’s finished, I want you resting.”

Phil waited until the doctor arrived, then disappeared. Zen was given a local anaesthetic and the wound stitched. After taking pain killers, she headed for bed. Miriam posted guards on each side of the building. She then went to talk with the head of security to plug some holes in their defences where they’d relied on electronic surveillance instead of having people on the ground.

* * *

Zen was woken the next morning by Hal jumping on the bed next to her head. He wriggled his way under the sheets and said, “En, En, I was in a helicopter.”

It took a moment for Zen to understand then she brought him close for a cuddle and said, “Wow, was it fun?”

“Yes. Mummy didn’t like it, but Daddy and me yelled coz it was so much fun.”

“Where are they?”

“Mummy’s getting beckfast and Daddy is yelling at a man outside.”

Zen shook her head and looked around. Miriam was standing in the door. Zen said, “Who is my dad yelling at?”

“Sergeant Furneaux was on duty outside. Your dad recognised him from the number one meme and twitter post that’s circling the planet. #A-HOLE.”

“Whose idea was it to bring them here?”

“They were booking a flight themselves, so we sent a plane to save all the security hassles. Accept the gesture and be gentle. Their girl was shot yesterday.”

Hal pulled back and looked up and said, “Who shot En?”

Miriam blushed as she remembered he was there and said, “Bad people.”

Hal gave Zen a hug and burrowed into her chest. She scowled at Miriam then said, “Hey kiddo, it’s fine. Why don’t we get up and you can tell me all about the helicopter ride?”

Hal just burrowed deeper, and Zen put her hand out for Miriam to help her come upright. She winced as she shifted her feet off the bed and needed Miriam to help her stand. She was going to walk, but Miriam shook her head and helped her onto the wheelchair. Zen said, “Hey Hal, turn around and watch where we’re going. We get to ride on a wheelchair.”

By the time they reached the kitchen area in Zen’s suite, Hal had turned around although he was holding Zen tight. When BB came into sight, Zen said, “Hi mum, sorry.”

“Already forgiven. What do you normally eat? You have no food here.”

“They bring breakfast.”

“Don’t get lazy. If you eat too much junk food, you’ll get fat and get pimples.”

“It isn’t junk food. They make it in the bigger kitchen that’s here.”

“Still, it seems lazy.”

Zen knew her mum was worried when she started pontificating about small things, so she said, “Mum, I’m alright. Seriously. It was my fault, and I’ve learned my lesson. Please, let it go.”

BB came around and knelt down by the chair and said, “I know, it’s just that it became personal. Grandpa was personal but I sort of expected China to do that. This is different. This is here, in our home, where we live. You’re OK this time, but I now understand there will be another, then another, then another, and it won’t end for years. Hal will grow up with this being normal, and he’ll just shrug his shoulders when someone is shot, or hurt and move on because he’s used to death and dying. I don’t want him to grow up like that, or you.”

“Then help make sure he doesn’t. Keep showing him that love, strength, kindness, bravery and compassion go together. Help him learn resilience, so his spirit isn’t crushed by what happens. He won’t be alone because if we’re smart and do what’s necessary he’ll have you, Dad and me through all those years.”

BB came to her feet and kissed Zen on her forehead and then Hal. She turned to Miriam and said, “How do I order some food?”

Miriam smiled and said, “I’ll ask Mrs Gosgrove to arrange something, she’s Zen’s PA, and she came in early to check on Zen.”

Zen said, “Can you get Dad? I can’t believe he’s been yelling for this long.”

BB smirked and said, “He must be. I promised he could go first, but he has to come to get me when he’s finished.”

Zen looked highly embarrassed but knew better than tell her folks how they should parent. She’d done that for years, but it never changed their minds or attitudes. If anything, it gave them the incentive to keep doing the things that aggravated her. About three minutes later, her dad walked in and before he could speak BB left. Ed kissed both his children then said, “Μάτια μου, how are you feeling this morning?”

Before she could answer he continued, “Me, I feel much better after. I now understand how sparring helps relieve stress. I wish he’d been less agreeable, then I could have really told him how I feel.”

“It was my fault as well.”

“How? I said that because your mother was hovering around and because she scares me. You can go where you like. His job was to watch you. He failed, not you.”

Miriam said, “Dr Drakos, then you must yell at me because Zen’s safety is my responsibility.”

“You saved her. Don’t expect me to be rational in this. He made her angry, and she ran, that’s his fault. She ran, and you helped her survive, you are a hero. Now, what is for breakfast?”

Margaret appeared in the doorway, and she said, “Dr Drakos, my name is Mrs Margaret Cosgrove, and I help Zen with details like breakfast. What would you and family like?”

Ed smiled broadly and said, “Mrs Cosgrove, I would love one of those big breakfasts with everything. BB, that’s Zen’s mother, she will have the healthy hard to eat option which tastes uncooked. Both will have coffee. I like mine dark and strong while BB has started drinking the soy milk in a latte.”

Zen said, “Good morning, Mrs Cosgrove, I’m sorry you had to come in early. I’d love what my father is having and if there are any left, Hal loves pancakes and waffles with strawberries and maple sauce. He’ll have apple juice if there is some. I’d love my usual coffee.”

Margaret smiled and said, “Don’t worry about me arriving early. Breakfast won’t be long. Agent Friedler, will you want something?”

“No thank you, Mrs Cosgrove. I’ll have something when I take my next break.”

Margaret turned back to Zen and said, “Just so you know, when your mother is finished with that young man, they’ll have just softened him up for me.”

With that, she turned and left the room much to Zen’s embarrassment.

BB came back in after about five minutes, and Phil arrived with the breakfast. After greeting everyone, he said, “Zen, how are you feeling?”

“My leg hurts, but I haven’t looked at it yet. I need a shower, but otherwise, I’m fine.”

“Good. I have stuff I need to share but understand you might want Hal not to hear it.”

Zen said, “Can it wait until after he eats. Then I’m sure he’d love a tour of the grounds with one of the soldiers.”

Hal looked up and said, “Really? A real soldier? With guns?”

“Yes, a real soldier.”

Zen looked over at BB and said, “Mum, he needs to be comfortable around them, or when he needs to do something he’ll flinch and pull back. What he needs is us to help him think through why there are soldiers and what that means for him and us. He needs information so he can learn to make good choices.”

BB nodded and said, “I know, it’s just coming too quickly.”

Phil reached over and patted BB’s hand and said, “It is, it’s happing much too quickly. I just got the news they’re predicting a gravitational sheer to cause an earthquake along the alpine fault line on New Zealand’s South Island. We’ve been finding it hard to find traction over there for the need to move quickly but even if they’d been moving faster than us they’d still not be ready. At least they’ve done a lot of work over the years preparing for something along this fault line.”

Zen had sat up straight and said, “How long?”

“Eight hours from now and the team Ted put together is pretty confident. They’ve been coordinating with IRIS, and they’re in total agreement.”

Hal was looking between people, wondering what was going on. Zen said, “Dr Bateman was saying there is going to be an earthquake in New Zealand. What’s good is now we can warn people so that less people are hurt.”

“What’s an earthquake?”

Zen used Hal’s breakfast of waffles, strawberries and syrup to explain tectonic plate movement and how it affects coastlines and can cause volcanic activity. As she did this, she kept feeding him. When she’d finished Miriam said, “That was cool and a better explanation than I got at school. Maybe if I had a teacher who used food, I’ve been a better student. Everyone laughed except Zen, who said, “You were a great student.”

Miriam looked shocked and said, “How do you know that?”

“No comment.”

“Zen, one of these days, we will need to seriously discuss privacy.”

Ed chuckled and said, “Good luck with that, Miriam. Zen’s got a real penchant for getting into places she’s not supposed to be. Fair warning, she’s already started teaching Hal to code.”

Hal had finished, and Miriam called in one of the soldiers who stood at the door and after nodding at Zen stood at attention. Miriam said, “Corporal, this young man is Hal Drakos, the Ambassador’s brother. He was hoping that a real soldier might give him a tour of Draconis House, all the fun bits. His security will tag along, but I’m putting him in your care. Please watch over him.”

“Yes Ma’am, we’ll keep him safe.”

Looking down at Hal, he said, “OK, Hal is it. Come, and I’ll show you where your sister lives at the moment.”

Hal looked over at BB who nodded, then at Zen who nodded. He then turned and followed the corporal out of the room. Ed snorted and said, “What am I? He checks it is safe with the mother, then the sister and he ignores whatever I might have to say. Ha.”

When everyone had had their laugh, Zen turned to Phil and said, “What’s up?”

Chapter 6

Phil sat up straighter and said, “The two who attacked you were CIA who’ve worked almost exclusively in South America, which is why they slipped through our security. We’ve often turned a blind eye to people who need a holiday as long as they’ve never actively worked in this region of the world. The one you shot died on the operating table but the other one survived. He was found dead in his hospital room this morning. Both agents who were in the room were also killed.

“The other three are SVR. Their story’s a bit farfetched, but so far it all checks out. They are part of a cell working in Argentina who also keep an eye on what the CIA is doing in the south. When the US team all packed up and caught a flight to Paris, they had people ready to report back what was happening. From Paris, they flew to Frankfurt and then bought tickets to Sydney. The SVR let the team in Argentina know what was happening, and they received orders to make their way to Australia and watch them. If they attempted a move on you, they were to be terminated.

“I know it sounds far fetched until one of them explained that the brotherhood made the decision, not the government. The SVR team had four members. I made a deal then contacted the other one. She confirmed the story and gave information on the remaining three members of the CIA team. We picked them up as they were boarding a flight to Melbourne. All that to say I think you should send a message to the Devil. If it checks out, we’ll let the SVR team go in the spirit of goodwill.”

BB said, “The Devil?”

“A Russian mobster Zen had some interactions with.”

“What Russian mobster? Why did I not hear of this?”

“Way to go, g-man. What was the CIA brief?”

“They did not have a capture option. They’d managed to get surveillance in place around the perimeter, but all of that failed to pick you up. One of them saw you get in an Uber near where they’re staked out and followed on instinct. Didn’t actually ID you positively until you got to the airport. The rest you know.”

BB was still staring at Zen, “What Russian mobster?”

“I arranged for some protection in New York. There was a bounty for my kidnap, which I did mention. In return for some information, one of the Russian Mafia bosses agreed to me being under-his-protection while in New York.”

“He is called the Devil?”

“No, he’s just a really bad man. Phil and Miriam aren’t happy I made the deal even though they agreed to it so I’d be safe.”

BB looked at Phil, and Miriam, then said, “Did he keep you safe?”

“Yes, he kept his word.”

“Then I have hope for this man. I will pray for him.”

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but BB raised her hand and said, “Not now, not here. We agreed I was free to make this decision, and you would respect that. Now, are you a man of your word, or not?”

“I am. I could say I was just going to tell Zen I was glad she was safe, but that would be a lie. OK, I won’t say anything. Happy?”

“No. I will be happy when I don’t have to remind you to keep your word.”

Phil looked back and forth between the two, but Zen shook her head and said, “I take it you want me to check if it is true?”

“Please.”

Zen said, “Let me get my laptop.”

Miriam said, “I’ll get it. No moving till the doctor checks you.”

Zen poked her tongue out but stayed where she was. After Miriam returned with the laptop Zen pulled images of the SVR team from the night before and attached them to an e-mail that said, “These yours?”

Less than three minutes later, she got a reply. “Yes. On the house.”

She said, “Their story checks out. He said it was on the house.”

Phil stood and said, “Then I’m doubly glad for the deal you made. I’ll see they’re released. We just have to work out what to do with the CIA team. We could imprison them, but I’m convinced, as is the PM, that the longest we can hold them will be two years and then what do we do? We could send them back to the States, but what message does that send? Suppose we execute them, as you suggested. In that case, we’ve too many citizens still in the US to make that decision safely, especially with what’s happening.”

There was an extended silence, then Ed said, “Send them home.”

Phil looked up sharply and said, “Let them off? That’s what it amounts to.”

“No. Put them in a rowboat and drop them in international waters and tell them to go home. Give them a compass and enough water and food for a few weeks and make sure they stay out of our waters. If the US wants them, it can come to get them, thereby admitting they belong to them. If they aren’t picked up, it sends a message to all other agents that if they’re caught, they’re on their own. If they die, then honestly, good riddance.”

Miriam chuckled, and Phil nodded. “I’ll suggest it, but doubt we’ll do anything that drastic just yet.”

Zen said, “Back to the earthquake. Are we prepared for a tsunami?”

“We’ve got a warning going out in half an hour for the entire east coast, including Tasmania and southern Victoria. All beaches and harbours are closed, and residents have been told to move inland. We’re hoping it’s not necessary, but they’ve been expecting the big one for years. Ted’s suggesting at least eight or eight-and-a-half, and he isn’t prepared to give an upper limit. The PM’s put the army on notice to be ready for an extreme rescue operation.”

Soon after this, Phil left, and the doctor arrived. As she applied a new bandage, she said, “You can walk on it if you use a crutch. No running, jumping, kicking or fighting for at least two weeks, maybe more.”

After Hal returned and told them everything he’d seen, Zen led the family up to her office. She thanked Margaret for breakfast then headed for the office. After putting a movie on the mosaic of monitors for Hal and giving him a headset for the sound, she showed her parents some of what she’d been doing. Both Ed and BB loved the clear boards and the rail system. Zen offered to show them the rest of the rooms and Ed said he’d watch Hal while Zen showed BB, he was more interested in moving the boards around on their rails using the remote.

Leaving Ed to play, Zen walked BB through the five other rooms and introduced her to the staff and explained what each was doing. Each time Zen had to deal with the worry on her team’s faces and reassure them she was OK. When they returned, Ed was in the middle of four boards which he’d arranged in a square around him. BB ducked under to get the remote as Ed seems to totally ignore them. Leaving the two he was staring at alone, BB opened a path for Zen then turned to see what had Ed so fascinated.

When Zen reached the middle Ed said, “Where did you get these equations from?”

Zen looked at some doodles she’d been working on after the first two meetings on Saturday and said, “Just a few doodles trying to understand something from a meeting. Why?”

“They look similar to something I’ve been working on. Can you explain them?”

Zen double-checked the NDA in her head and said, “Maybe. What I mean is, I can explain what I was thinking, but I’d need some clarification about who you’ll share it with before I can discuss it. It’s under an NDA.”

BB smiled ruefully and said, “It’s come full circle. Now you can’t share with us because of an NDA.”

“Yeah, but this one is only a page long. Do you agree not to write a paper or submit a thesis on the background material I share with you? You are permitted to write and work on anything that flows out of that background material as long as you promise not to publish within twelve months.”

Ed turned from the equations to stare at her and said, “That’s not an NDA, that’s just common courtesy.”

“I know, right. That’s what I said. So, you agree?”

Ed and BB nodded. Zen said, “I need a verbal response. The NDA allows for a verified video to be used when sharing with others. So, do you agree with those terms and conditions?”

Both BB and Ed said, “I agree.”

“Cool. OK, let me bring out some empty boards and give the background.”

When the movie finished an hour later, Hal turned to find all three scribbling on the boards and talking back and forth. Nakul was in the room and saw Hal had taken off the headphones. He stepped close and said, “Hi Hal, I’m Nakul. Can I get you something to eat, or do you want me to disturb them?”

“I need to pee, and I’m hungry.”

“Well, I can show you where the toilet is, and Mrs Cosgrove knows where all the cookies are.”

Hal took another look at his parents and Zen, then followed Nakul out of the room. When they returned almost half an hour later, Nakul thanked the agent who’d taken his place then looked down at Hal and said, “I think they need a break, how about you?”

“Yes. En’s tired.”

Nakul looked over at Zen who was writing on the board and noticed she was standing on her good foot and leaning on the crutch. He could see a patch of blood on the inside part of her track pants. He shook his head and stepped outside and said, “Mrs Cosgrove, it looks like Zen’s torn her stitches or something. Could you arrange a doctor or nurse, please?”

“The SAS have a medic.”

“That’ll do for starters.”

Nakul let Miriam know what was happening then stepped back into the room. Zen and BB were almost arguing as they tried to get Ed to see why one value had been used instead of the one he wanted. Nakul waited until Miriam arrived with the medic and said, “Do I leave them or stop them? They look like something important is being discussed, or it might be an argument of who writes the neatest. I don’t know because I don’t understand three-quarters of the words they’re using. When Zen talks exclusively with her mother, they use Mandarin, with her father, it’s Greek, and the rest I still don’t get, but it’s supposedly English.”

Miriam reached over and turned off the lights. When she’d heard three exclamations, she turned them back on and said, “Doctors Biàn and Drakos, Zhenyi, it’s time for a break. Zen, you’ve pulled a stitch or something. Come and get it checked out. This might sound rude, but at the moment, I’m convinced that Hal is the only sensible one in the whole family.”

BB looked down at Zen’s leg and said, “Don’t blame Ed or me for that. She’s an emancipated adult.”

“I am not. That doesn’t come into full effect until Saturday. I already have the freedoms, but with regard to parental responsibilities, I’m still technically a minor. What this is, this is parental neglect—pure and simple. If it wasn’t for my security team and my brother, you’d probably have kept me here till I bled out.”

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but Miriam interrupted and said, “Zen, I don’t care whose fault. Come get it fixed before someone wants to blame me.”

None of the stitches were torn, and the blood was seepage which the medic said was to be expected because of Zen not taking due care and standing on it for several hours. The bandage was changed, and Zen told to use the wheelchair for the rest of the day. Phil, who now worked in the opposite wing of Draconis House had been notified and came to check everything was alright. He said, “What got you three so distracted?”

Zen looked at Ed, and said, “I read them in on the collaboration because Dad saw some similarities with the work he’s been involved in with macro fluid movement at the galactic scale. It was similar with some doodles I’d been working on after the meetings on Saturday. While I’m not sure if the physics interacts he’d been working with a theoretical mathematician at UQ. They’ve been developing some new models to explain the way the equation affects stellar motion.

“We were trying to rework some of those to see what the implications of the models might be for our collaboration. I’d like to have Dad talk with Ted and Leon. Suppose the models can be linked to the equations we’ve been putting together. In that case, it could really increase the likelihood of a useable technology within a reasonable timeframe.”

Phil looked up at Ed who said, “I’m good to talk with them, but my friend’s done most of the heavy lifting, and she’s a better grasp of how things interact with the models.”

Turning to Zen, Phil said, “It’s your pet project, it’s your call.”

Zen looked at her dad and said, “How long are you here for?”

“A few days. We took some leave when we heard you’d been shot.”

“You up for a trip to Lucas Heights? I think it’s something best-discussed face to face.”

“Should you be travelling?”

“It’ll be OK. I’ll be sitting the whole time. Mum?”

“I’ll stay here with Hal.”

Ed nodded his agreement, and Zen asked Nakul to get Mrs Cosgrove. When she appeared, Zen said, “Sorry to bother you, Mrs Cosgrove, could you arrange for my Dad and me to visit Lucas Heights this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I’d like him to share some insights with Dr Drayson and Dr Murray.”

“No problem at all. It’s almost lunchtime, and I’ve arranged for it to be served back in your suite, I hope that’s OK.”

“That’s great. Thank you.”

After lunch, Zen and Ed headed to Lucas Heights while BB and Hal rested in Zen’s suite. The meeting started at two but was interrupted by some mild tremors around three, which lasted for almost ten minutes. While Ted and Leon went to check on the reactor’s structural integrity, Zen and her dad checked the news. There had been slippage along the entire alpine fault from the southern end of the New Zealand’s South Island extending up through the southern part of the North Island. The quake had been measured at nine-point-one on the Richter scale and caused slippage of twenty meters and an uplift of almost eight meters.

There was a tsunami warning for the entire Eastern Coast of Australia and every country that bordered the Pacific Ocean. They watched for an hour as the news kept flowing in of the almost complete devastation of the South Island’s infrastructure and estimates of casualties upwards of one hundred thousand. The earthquake destroyed buildings throughout the Northern Island. In Wellington, the entire business district had been destroyed with no building taller than ten stories still standing. Casualties on the North Island rivalled that of the South.

Despite the destruction and the almost a quarter of a million presumed dead, most experts agreed that without the eight hours warning the loss of life would have been five times as great. Ed and Leon returned an hour later, and Zen turned off the TV and said, “OK, where were we?”

Leon stared at her in shock. She said, “Leon, with the little bit of science we’ve decoded about earthquakes we may have just saved two-million people. We can’t help the others at the moment, but we can work to uncover something that might save another two-million or more. I’m not being callous, and inside I’m feeling lost and frightened. That’s not going to help people so I’m locking it away until I’m in bed tonight and then I’ll cry myself to sleep. This is only one of the opening shots in a war that will last for years and kill billions of people. Put on your big boy pants and help, or go watch the TV somewhere else.”

Leon rubbed his eyes which were overflowing with tears and said, “You’re right, Ambassador. Now, Ed, you were explaining …”

Zen didn’t notice the look the two soldiers standing guard gave each other at her statement. The meeting lasted until six that evening and Ed stayed in Lucas Heights to work with Ted and Leon while Zen flew back for a late dinner with BB and Hal.

Chapter 7

After dinner, Zen and BB watched the news which almost exclusively focussed on the earthquake and the tsunami which had killed close to a hundred thousand throughout the pacific islands. The tsunami had washed over the Pitcairn Islands and killed eighty percent of the population. Tonga had suffered terribly in the earthquake and aftershocks and dozens of other islands and coastal communities who’d either not been able to get to higher ground or had ignored the warnings were devastated. Several hundred people had died along the Australian coastline, mostly thrill-seekers and those who refused to follow the official advice.

For the second time in two days, Zen was woken the next morning by Hal as he jumped up on her bed. He said, “I’m hungry, and Mummy’s sleeping.”

Zen grabbed him and spent a few minutes tickling him. Then after using the bathroom and getting dressed, she headed to the main accommodation building where breakfast was served for the soldiers, guards and other staff that lived on site. Both ways she had an escort and as she’d always done, she smiled good morning and then ignored them. She was a little surprised because, for the first time since they’d arrived, both soldiers returned the smile. Johanna was walking beside her, and Zen said, “Anything new happen overnight?”

“The PM arranged for several cruise ships to head to New Zealand to help gather refugees. The Rotorua Regional Airport is the most southern runway that isn’t damaged, and flights have been landing all night with medical, search and rescue, firefighters and army personnel. Other flights reached Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, and New Caledonia. Most of the return flights are packed with injured, and most have been taken to hospitals in Melbourne although a few flights landed here or in Sydney. There were a number smaller aftershocks and steam is escaping in places along the entire southern alpine region.”

Zen took out her phone and started typing. Joanna said, “Everything OK?”

“Yeah, just making a note to check we’re ramping up our production of emergency gear. Something like this will happen almost every week between now and when the aliens arrive. With almost half a million injured, there goes our supply of bandages, splints, blood, IV fluids, just to name a few. I almost positive they have plans in place but it won’t hurt to check.”

Halfway through breakfast, BB arrived, and after grabbing a coffee, yoghurt and fruit, she sat near Hal, who was having pancakes and syrup. She said, “Zen, he also needs healthy food. He can’t just have the sugar.”

“Done already. He started with toast and some fruit. This is just a breakfast dessert.”

“What’s the plan for today?”

“Back to work, I guess. What about you?”

“I need to reconsider what I’m doing. I’m not sure my current research program is warranted with everything that’s happening. In the long term it’s important, for the next few years, not so much. I was thinking through some of the stuff we were discussing yesterday and wondering whether I had anything to add.”

“That only got off the ground because of you. You know what’s happening in the wider community from all your networking. If I hadn’t talked with you, I wouldn’t have been able to pull it together.”

“I understand that, but after yesterday I need to be more proactive and not just sitting around waiting for you to pick my brains.”

* * *

After getting her wound checked, Zen went to the office. As she did every morning, she skimmed the reports of what was happening to prepare in Australia, then came the reports of what was happening around the world. Finally, she spent an hour looking through the data from the last twenty-four hours collected by the dozens of telescopes now facing the approaching aliens. She was still staring at her laptop when Margaret brought in her morning tea.

“Thank you, Mrs Cosgrove. Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“What’s the best way to arrange some private meetings and coordinate them with you?”

“Why don’t I arrange the meetings?”

“Well, its sort of a private matter that doesn’t really have anything to do with my job here. I’ve some personal investments and want to set up a small business. How would I justify that when you are paid to help do this job. I’m just a bit confused with the whole conflict of interest thing, that’s all.”

“Will the business succeed because of things you know from doing this job?”

“Yes but it would succeed anyway, I imagine.”

“In some ways that’s beside the point. There is already a perceived conflict of interest.”

“How? I won’t use the job to grant myself or others any favours. I could find out all the information anyways, and I’m not getting an unfair advantage because no one else is doing what I want to do at the moment. They may when they see what I do, but I can’t help that.”

“Ambassador, the public only need to think something is unfair for them to take action. Objective truth plays a very small part in public perception.”

“I still want to do it.”

“I suggest you present an overview to Dr Bateman or the Prime Minister. Disclosure of intent then passes the responsibility to them.”

“That’s not fair on them.”

“Fair is another concept that plays a very small part in public perception. Now, having heard my advice, do you still intend to progress your idea?”

“Yes.”

“Then send me the names, and I will arrange the meetings for you.”

Zen thought about that for a moment then said, “Thank you. I’ll think about sending Phil a short summary, and he can do what he wants with it. I’m OK with video meetings. First is an industrial chemist by the name of Erin Newbridge, she works at the University of Sydney. Next is Wes Lewinsky he’s a mechatronics engineer and has a small consultancy firm in Melbourne. Lindsey Walsh, she’s a respiratory physician with a private practice in Brisbane. Last is a fashion designer by the name of Jamila West, she has stores around the country, but I think she lives in Byron Bay.”

“I’ll get on that right away, Ambassador. Lewis wanted a moment of your time. The press is asking for a statement on the shooting yesterday and on the earthquake. He really needs something more than ‘no comment’.”

“Bah humbug.”

Margaret raised her eyebrows and Zen smiled and said, “Please send him in. I’ll talk for a few minutes, and he can pick what he wants.”

“Thank you, Ambassador. Lunch will be in the residence. I believe Hal needs some reassurance.”

“He does. Hopefully, Dad will be back before too long.”

“I’ve arranged a helicopter to bring him back at three.”

* * *

Zen’s parents stayed until Thursday although her father spent much of Wednesday in a conference call between Lucas Heights and his colleague from Brisbane. In that time the first twenty flights of refugees had arrived in Australia from New Zealand with a plan for five flights a day for at least the next year. Even if they could keep that up, it was only just over a million people, and most would still need to come by boat.

It wasn’t until Friday morning that Zen saw Sergeant Furneaux again. He was on duty outside her office when she arrived in the morning. Zen paused for a moment then said, “Good morning, Sergeant.”

“Good morning, Ambassador. I’d hoped to see you earlier so I could apologise. Do you have a moment?”

Zen pursed her lips briefly, then said, “Of course.”

“Thank you. I need to apologise for my behaviour. I was out of line and hadn’t realised either the full impact of what you were doing nor the magnitude of the threat. I also want to thank you for asking that we not be reassigned. Dr Bateman explained your reasoning and the truth is the failure would have affected us all, and it would have stuck with us. I know that my career was over and I’m not sure how I would have dealt with that as the world goes through the next few years knowing I’d basically sidelined myself.”

Zen thought through what he’d said before replying, “Apology accepted. I’m also glad Alistar reconsidered. I over-reacted myself and should have let stuff roll over me. Honestly, I’ve put last week away and am moving on with this one. Neither of us has the luxury of dwelling on what happened, so let’s just forget it.”

With a smile, the sergeant nodded and said, “I’d like to, but my callsign has been officially changed to ‘A-hole’.”

Zen had to laugh then after a few more comments headed inside as the sergeant took up his position outside her door. Inside the room, Zen removed the last of the information she’d put on the internet about the sergeant and pulled thousands of threads from the major social media sites.

* * *

Once that was done, Zen reviewed her thoughts on the private project before connecting with the chemist in Sydney. Margaret had arranged for the meetings to be held one after the other with the possibility for a joint discussion later in the afternoon. The chemist had been working on new substances which could be used both as washable and electrostatic filters. Next was the respiratory physician who had done a lot of work with people in the mines. She and had written several research papers on respiratory illness and the longterm interaction with the type of face masks being used.

Jamila West designed luxury accessories for both men and women that were both functional as well as beautiful. She immediately understood Zen’s project and agreed to work on it. The mechatronics engineer was last, and Zen had to extend the meeting for another half hour as they talked through options. Zen had chosen him because of his interest in designing masks for various sports. He’d helped develop the mechanisms for some of the newest paintball and extreme sports headgear which had automatic mechanisms to open and close somewhat like the Ironman face mask.

Everyone had agreed to the extra meeting. By the end of it, they’d decided to form a small company to make full cranial face masks which would protect the eyes, ears and respiratory system from particulates. The original design was to include attachments for upgrades such as additional oxygen, a head-up display and connection to body armour. Zen took fifty-two percent of the company and the others twelve percent each. Wes and Camilla promised to have a draft proposal put together within two weeks. They all knew they had to get this on the market before the government mandated respirator use. Zen then spent another two hours working with some transparent and flexible OLED screens she’d sourced.

* * *

Zen’s wound had kept her from her usual methods of exercise so she’d mostly worked on weights in the gym on the grounds of Draconic House during the week. She was allowed to go for an extended walk after seeing the doctor Saturday morning, and Miriam arranged for a walk along the walking tracks on and around Mount Ainslie. This time the soldiers did everything by the book and except for those ahead and behind she didn’t see any of them.

* * *

Monday morning when Margaret arrived, Zen had already been working for several hours and already left a list of things to be organised. Margaret looked over at Zen’s guard for the day and said, “How long has she been here?”

“Two hours this morning but she worked all weekend.”

“She’ll burn out at this rate.”

“Yeah, she knows that but told Miriam she’s only got this week before going to play soldier.”

Twenty minutes later, Margaret interrupted Zen and said, “Ambassador, Dr Bateman asked if you were free for a meeting in ten minutes?”

“I can do it, but fifteen would be better if that is possible.”

“That will be fine.”

Chapter 8

Fifteen minutes later, Johanna waited outside while Zen made her way into Phil’s office. He said, “Sorry to bother you, but I’ve a meeting lined up with the people designing the pod concept and wanted to discuss some of it beforehand.”

“That’s fine. I just wanted to send an abstract out before a meeting this afternoon.”

“You sound like an old hand at this.”

“Not really, it’s just the President keeps turning up to meetings unannounced. This way he knows what we’re talking about and interrupts less often.”

“Um, maybe I haven’t been reading my briefings properly, but what meetings do you have where a president shows up?”

“A small think tank I set up to get moving on the space program. The US is out of things internationally, and it looks like they’re ramping up things at Cape Canaveral. We’re so busy getting other things done our space program people contacted me to help connect them with others. Mostly I think because they were getting no traction and I’d met some of the people involved. I’m sorry, I didn’t mention it because I thought Mary would have been sending updates.

“The Russian President isn’t officially invited, but he keeps turning up because he loves the whole space thing. Anyway, I’m hoping the meeting this afternoon will iron out the last few issues. If it does, then we can finalise the working brief and begin officially approaching the different countries we believe have a major part to play.”

“Who’s in the think tank?”

“Us, Russia, China, the ESA, India, and Japan are the main ones although there are a few experts I pulled in from places like Israel. I managed to find several NASA guys who are off-the-grid at the moment in the US. They attend pixelated even though everyone knows who they are. They’ve agreed to help in person if we can get them to one of the bases we’re planning and can house their families.”

“Zen, Mary hasn’t said anything yet, and both the PM and I were looking to find someone else for that role.”

“Mary’s been great. I guess I’ll let her know I messed up about who was going to communicate with you guys. She’s done a lot of leg work, and if the meeting goes well this afternoon, we’ll have the draft ready for you or the PM by tonight.”

Phil just sat there for a moment, then after rubbing his temples said, “Can you give me a précis?”

“We’ll host the main administration area and cede land for one of the spaceports. Russia will host one, as will China, they’ll both cede the land to the new agency. China baulked at that but have backed down. We’re still working on the name, but my suggestions are all being shot down in flames as ‘childish’, which is unfair because ‘Space Command’ or ‘Space Rangers’ would be cool. We’ll run the main servers and cybersecurity. Each country that’s been in the discussions has agreed there will be a free flow of information to the agency but not necessarily the other way except for technology. We’ve got to do more on that this afternoon.

“We’ve discussed the organisational structure, and there is firm agreement on the agency’s independence, but we’re still working on how to organise an independent review board. Internally there will be a CEO person who meets the set objectives. We have those pretty much outlined and will be asking each country to provide at least a tithe of their top pilots and special forces operatives to join the new agency for training in space operations.”

Zen started typing on her phone as she continued. “Russia, China and India have agreed, and Japan wants to but hasn’t got that many. Several European countries are on board, we have Germany, France, Spain and Poland. The UK will participate, as will Israel. From the list of people I contacted when we left the US, I have just over two hundred ex-special-forces personnel who are willing to be a part of it. To do that we’ll need to get them and their immediate family out of the states. That’s the barest bones, and I’ve just sent you the minutes of the meetings.”

Phil was biting his top lip, and after sighing said, “Thank you, that’s appreciated. What about Space X?”

“They want in with full reciprocity of all technology but with a mandate to building infrastructure rather than security or defence. We’re very keen, but the big sticking point is their location and the uncertainty of the political situation. We’ve tentatively agreed if they move operations away from the US.

“They’re drawing up draft plans for the move. If they can get their act together, we’ve already tentatively agreed they can launch from here and have room on or near the spaceport. Elon suggested they launch the rockets that are ready and land them in the ocean near here, or even at the new port. The timing has to be worked out so none of the employees or their families are caught.”

“Um, before we get to the pods, I’m now wondering if you’d arranged any other small think tanks or groups I should be aware of?”

“Um, I’ve gathered a small group of top linguists. They’re talking with some highly skilled data analysts, to work on a more developed theory to learn the alien’s language. Lots of them have experience working with new languages and deciphering unknown languages. Still, the whole field of extra-terrestrial languages was not mainstream enough for most. They’ve already begun pulling apart every small bit of data we have on the Draconians and trying to pre-prepare some algorithms.”

“Draconians?”

“I’m trying out names. That’s got the most positive reviews so far. I suspect it’ll change if they end up looking like squids for example.”

“OK. Anything else?”

“A few smaller things here and there. One group is working on textiles including carbon nanotubes and reduced graphene oxide for use in armour and flexible linkages from some research out of Korea. Another is dealing with the issue of making reusable bandages out of newer materials instead of simply going back to the old cloth reusables. That sounds boring, but it’s super cool what they’re doing.

“With the various designs out there for pods, I have a small group looking at using plastics instead of steel. The technology is there, but it was cost-prohibitive before. With the possibility of either supply shortages or fusion, they’re pulling all the research together and hope to have something for trial in a few weeks.”

“These groups are all international?”

“Yes, I’ve tried to stay out of domestic issues.”

“Tried?”

“In my role as Ambassador.”

“What other role do you have?”

“Free citizen and entrepreneur.”

“OK, what have you done as a free citizen and entrepreneur?”

“This and that.”

“Zen!”

“Well, I may have started a few businesses to take advantage of the situation.”

“Usually the word ‘may’ is used to lack certainty.”

“That’s the sense in which it is being used. It all depends on what the word ‘few’ means, and I for one am not convinced there is a definitive answer on that issue.”

“What businesses?”

“Well, one is designing face masks for air purity and solar protection.”

“We will have those ready for everyone when the time comes. We’re already putting the production orders in place.”

“I know. Do you remember how hard it was to get people to wear a simple face mask? The plan is to sell these well in advance and make people pay top dollar. They’ll be the trendsetters, by the time it’s mandatory people will be already demanding access and the right to wear one. Everyone wins, and we don’t have to go through the whole protesting and riots scenario.”

“You really think people are that stupid?”

“I know they are.”

“I’ll hold off on the order because I bet yours will have added functionality. Anything else?”

“Yeah, but nothing life-changing. One makes personal lockable storage lockers that have retractable wheels with motors. They’ll link together and follow after. They come in three sizes and lock together. That way, a family can bring everything they need without having hundreds of pieces of luggage. There was a report on a public site that you were thinking of two cubic meters, and these conform to that with numerous options. They may or may not sell, but already we have three-million from Kickstarter to start manufacturing. Things like that.”

“How many ‘things like that’?”

“More than ten and less than twenty.”

“More than ten is already beyond what’s acceptable for the word ‘few’.”

“That’s good to know. My use of ‘may’ was justified then. Now I’ve been educated I’ll know what to say next time.”

“Zen, you do know that you are the most exasperating person in my life, don’t you?”

“Maybe. Let’s face it though, I do have a gift in that area.”

“No kidding. But let’s stop there while my headache is manageable. Turning to the issue of pods, I saw what you sent through and talked with the team working on it. They were going to send some questions through, but I asked them to do the hard work themselves. I do want your input though so I’ll let you do my hard work for me and I’ll sound like I know what I’m talking about.”

Zen smirked then started answering the questions. An hour later, when Zen left his office, Phil called in his PA and said, “Michelle, see if you can get me a meeting with Alistar? I need to talk through the program he has for the national service. Also, arrange for me to talk with Mary Carter when it suits her, and see if I can get a meeting with the PM after that. Thanks.”

* * *

On Tuesday morning at breakfast, when Zen saw Miriam, she said, “Um, I need to do some shopping.”

“Can you just give me a list?”

“I could, but that isn’t fun at all.”

“What do you need?”

“Stuff for next week. I got the information last night. I have some of it at home which I’d rather use, but I’m not sure it would get here on time.”

“If your mum had it ready by tomorrow night I’d be able to arrange it.”

“OK, I’ll see if Sahara can help. I still need to get some personal stuff and would like a haircut.”

“I thought the regulations on that sort of thing were going to be more flexible.”

“They are, but you and I know it’ll be better if everyone has shorter hair. I thought, and if you laugh I swear I’ll scream, I thought if someone leaked a photo of me getting a very short but kinda stylish pixie cut in a regular-type salon, then maybe it would be easier for others.”

Miriam had to purse her lips together to stop laughing and said, “We don’t want people to know you’re doing the training.”

“Seriously, no one believes that’ll last past the first few hours.”

“True, and we have discussed what we’ll do about that. Let me run it past Dr Bateman, but we’ll plan on it for later today. That’ll give me enough time to organise but not enough for anyone else. What else do you need to buy?”

“Personal stuff.”

“Hygiene?”

“No, I’d just ask straight up for that. I need some new pyjamas that I can wear in front of lots of people. Some new underwear, a new laptop and phone for everyday stuff because there is no way I’m leaving these ones lying around while I’m off running and jumping. Some new glasses if there is the time because the ones I have for sports are starting to perish. I’m also allowed to bring my own weapons if I want to learn on them, so I thought I’d get some knives and stuff.”

“I see. I’ll OK the pyjamas and underwear because they’re hard to size online. The rest you can get online.”

“I need to try glasses on to see if they look OK.”

“OK, and glasses.”

“Knives?”

“No, but only because it brings up a surprise I was keeping for later. I guess that’s now, OK, we have the weapons covered.”

“Really! How? What? When Where?”

“Seriously! Stop jumping around, you’re like a kid in a toy shop, even Hal wasn’t that bad. OK, after the first fiasco with the US the Prime Minister told the President he had to make things right with you personally. When we were asked what you might want, John and I suggested a range of weapons for the future. They delivered a crate to the plane the next day. I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you.”

“So, where are they?”

“Most of them are locked away because even now they’re illegal here. Before you say anything, I do know that will change in the next six months but they can wait until then. There are some knives, handguns and a semi-automatic you could take with you.”

“Are they good quality?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Too good for training?”

“Firearms, yes. Knives, no.”

“Then I need to get a handgun and a rifle.”

“I’d wait on the rifle until you actually start using them which will be a few months. As to handguns, we have the ones we took off the CIA. We thought you might want them sort of like trophies.”

“Really, that is so cool. Were they ever picked up?”

“Not yet. I still can’t believe the AG actually agreed with your dad’s suggestion. The truth is it may have started a bit of a precedent.”

“How so?”

“Several countries are looking to have deportations like that enshrined in law. Several places are also in the process of choosing uninhabited islands as places to drop their dangerous prisoners rather than simply kill them.”

“OK, so I’ll let Sahara know and let Mrs Cosgrove know to talk with you about shopping and haircut.”

“You talk to Sahara, and I’ll talk with Mrs Cosgrove.”

“Deal!”

Chapter 9

The rest of the week was much the same except that Zen was able to start using her leg more. The doctor had given the OK as long as she didn’t overdo it. Zen also had several additional meetings with Mary, Phil and the PM as they worked through the material on forming a new space agency.

* * *

The biggest news of the week was a gravitational sheer on the Wednesday which ran north-east along the line of volcanoes in Columbia from Galeras in the south-western corner of Columbia to Nevado del Ruiz in central Columbia. All six significant volcanoes erupted throwing up almost twenty-five cubic kilometres of tephra. Besides the loss of life, the ash cloud blew westward and cancelled the flights out of New Zealand with ash falling on all the eastern states in Australia and as far north as southern China.

* * *

Zen’s small company worked overtime all week, and the first drafts of the new face masks were discussed in a meeting late Thursday. The second draft was discussed very early Saturday morning with hopes of the first prototype being ready the following week. Already it was clear there would be a range of price options because of the materials used. Three of the ten Kickstarter projects she’d initiated had sufficient funds to begin work. Zen farmed these out to engineers and chemists recommended by those in her company, and the projects were added to the company’s portfolio.

* * *

Protestors started a sit-in outside Draconis House on Wednesday which turned violent when police tried to move people who were getting too close to the fence. Several hundred were arrested, but the protesters regathered the following two days until it started to rain. At first, the rain didn’t do anything to stop the protestors until they realised it was mixed with ash from the volcanoes. The police politely informed them that the ash-laden rain was slightly corrosive and the protest died.

* * *

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Miriam arranged a session at the ASIO shooting range for Zen to practice with the handguns. After three hours there they headed to a rural farm outside Canberra where Phil’s wife lived. Zen had been invited to a BBQ to relax, as Phil said, as well as to mark the end of an era. Both his fifteen-year-old daughter, Julie, and seventeen-year-old son, John, had been chosen to begin training in the first intake and their schooling was now over. The Prime Minister and his family were also going to be there although his two daughters were too young for the first intake.

Zen was the only one who made the trip by helicopter which really embarrassed her, but there had been some serious threats made in the previous few days from several fringe religious groups and two neo-fascist groups, and Miriam was extra cautious. After exiting the helicopter, Zen turned to Miriam and said, “What’s the protocol? When do I give them the gifts? My mum will be so embarrassed if I get it wrong.”

Miriam was reminded of how unusual and young her charge really was. She could argue with a president without shame but was confused or embarrassed by the smallest things in a social context with her peers. Miriam said, “There is no protocol. Giving a gift to a teenager going to learn how to fight in an intersystem space war has probably never been done before.”

“Then why did you say it was a good idea when I suggested it?”

“Because it is a good idea. You started a trend with your hair, and this is another trend that I suspect will grow, if not get out of hand. Let’s face it. This will most likely eclipse birthdays and graduation as one of the most significant milestones in a person’s life.”

“Not helping!”

“Just take a deep breath and relax. This is supposed to help them transition. Your gift will help with that. Do you remember their names?”

“Yeah, Mum drummed it into us that names have power and forgetting them is giving away that power.”

“Well, off you go. I’m hanging back as I wasn’t invited, you were.”

“I am so nervous.”

“Why? It’s just like a birthday party.”

“Yeah, I’ve only been to five of those outside the family, and four of those were for Sahara. The other was in preschool, and the parents called the police on me.”

“What on earth for?”

“I gave the kid a green python I’d found. I mean, I would have loved that as a present.”

“Didn’t your mum veto that.”

“Why? She thought it was cool.”

“That’s not enough to call the police.”

“Yeah, but the dad tried to kill it, and I sort of had to protected it with the cake knife.”

“OK, that would do it. Don’t worry, this is nothing like that, and it’ll be fine.”

Zen nodded and then holding the bag with the presents she headed up to the open area where people were talking and kids playing. Phil and a woman Zen didn’t know saw her approaching and stepped away in her direction. She took that a clue and headed their way. As she approached, Phil said, “Zen, I’m glad you could make it. This is my ex-wife, Diane Kensington. She’s letting us use her home for this get-together.”

Zen put out her hand, and said, “Hello Ms Kensington, Kensington’s a much cooler name than Bateman. Did you change it when you were married to Phil? That must have been so depressing.”

Diane snorted in surprise then covered her mouth in embarrassment as she started laughing. Finally, she got it under control and said, “I did, I did change it, and you are so right. It took me years to get used to Bateman and I never really knew why till just then. Kensington is much cooler. If you’re going to call Dr Bateman, Phil, then please call me Diane.”

“Oh, I mostly call older folk by their polite names, but Phil pissed me off so much when we first met that I call him Phil or g-man. I’m OK with either Diane or Ms Kensington. Please call me Zen.”

“Then, Diane is fine. Let me introduce you to Mrs Morris and the older folk then I’ll introduce you to my kids.”

“Thank you. I have a gift for each of them if that’s OK? I figure this is a pretty big step for them.”

“That’s very thoughtful. Can we save that till after we eat?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Diane introduced Zen to the Prime Minister’s wife, and while they were talking, she turned to Phil and said, “I have no idea what you were talking about. She’s sweet.”

“She is pretending to be sweet. In reality, she’s one of the devil’s handmaidens in disguise. She’s given me more migraines than all our kids have combined. If I didn’t know I was going to get five days each week free of her, I’m pretty sure I’d turn to drink.”

Diane glanced over at Zen, then whispered, “You like her!”

“Yeah, I do. She’s the smartest person I’ve ever met, and that is saying something. It’s not just me, look at Steven. He’s changed the course of history based on her word, and we both know she’s got much more to offer. What you can’t see is the twenty SAS surrounding the area that we insisted be here to watch over her. Not him, not me, her. She’s no idea, but they have orders to evacuate her above everybody else. Those five days when she’s without her guards are going to stress us both out.”

“Can’t she train separately?”

“She wouldn’t agree, and we know she’s right. If we are ever going to have a chance to stop turning these bunkers into a sci-fi cliché, then in the new world we’re making people can’t have special privileges based on their social status. They’re her words, not mine. Status can’t let people get better homes, better health care, better security, better food. They can make their homes better by how they set it out, how they decorate, what they own. They can have better health by how they live.

“Better security might come with a job, but for most, it’s based on their strength of arms. Of course, kids get protected and all that, but the leaders’ kids no more than the kids of anyone else. Each person must be valued. We all know it is idealistic, but if we don’t start trying to work with those ideals, then we’ll doom our kids to failure. She pretty much said the same thing to Duchess Catherine about Princess Charlotte.”

“So once training starts, John and Julie will be the same as all the other kids?”

“Yes, no special privileges.”

“Have you told them?”

“I tried. I really did. I think John understands, but Julie is so used to being the queen bee she just can’t understand what I’m talking about. She’s going to be surrounded with several thousand kids her age, and they all start without privilege. She’s athletic and smart, so that will help but not as much as it did at school. The army people running this aren’t going to smile and change their minds if she bats her eyelids and tells them her parents are important.”

“Zen’s almost finished here. I’m going to take her in to meet the kids.”

“Where are they?”

“John’s playing some computer game. Julie’s on the phone to friends. Lizzie is with Steven’s girls and Kyle’s reading.”

Diane introduced Zen to Kyle first, and Zen chatted with him about his book and suggested several more in the same genre he might like. The younger girls were playing one of the Just Dance games on a PS4 and asked Zen to join for a song. She did so and thrilled the girls with her movements, and they all ended up in a heap on the floor giggling when it ended. When Diane knocked on Julie’s room door, she was told to go away. After a second knock and an explanation, Julie came out, said “Hi” and went back into her room expecting Zen to follow.

Zen smiled and looked at Diane and said, “You also have a son, John.”

“I do, come and I’ll introduce you.”

Zen waved goodbye to Julie then headed to a second playroom where John was playing Destiny 2 on a PS4. He looked up and said “Hello” then offered to let Zen watch him play. Zen tried not to smirk so she bit her lip and said, “Thanks, but I’m getting hungry, so I might head back out for some food and check some things on my phone.”

As Diane appeared back outside with Zen, Phil raised his eyebrows. Zen made for the table with snacks and then sat and looked at her phone. Diane came over and said, “She was great with the younger ones. Julie did the queen bee, ‘if you’re good you can come to visit me in my room’. John offered to let her watch him play.”

“That poor misguided young man. I suspect he will rue that for a long time.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Zen’s hard to get a grip on, but there are some things you can bet on. She’ll ignore Julie as shallow, but she’ll be pissed with John for putting her down. Go see what he’s doing, and you’ll understand.”

Five minutes later Diane came back, and it was clear she was trying not to laugh. She said, “Your son was saying some very bad words when I arrived, and he’s really losing it now. A new player somehow joined their game, which is apparently supposed to be impossible, and instead of 6v6, it was 6v6v1. The new player killed both teams over and over again. He exited, and they got a new game started, but the same thing happened. Is that Zen?”

“No doubt. What was the new player’s name?”

“SX2BU∞. Which John says isn’t a valid name.”

“Yep, that’s Zen.”

Diane looked over and saw Zen had put her phone away and was looking out over the fields. She wandered over and said, “What happened? Did he stop playing?”

Zen looked up somewhat embarrassed, and said, “No, I just realised I was being rude. This is the last chance he’ll have for a long time to just be a kid. Same with Julie, from Monday she’ll be too tired and too sore to sit and talk with friends. I figured that if I was them I’d try and hold onto this life for as long as I could.”

“Aren’t you like them?”

“Not really, well, not any more. I want to talk with my friend Sahara, but she needs time with her family, they’re really important in her life. I was just thinking how most kids are going to be lost on Monday morning and what they’re doing now will be their memory. I’d sit with my parents and my little brother and just talk, we’d talk all night and laugh and play games. I can’t judge your kids except they’d be better off talking with you guys and making sure the last things they have to hold onto are really precious.”

“That sounds very final.”

“Yeah, it is. Just last week half a million people died in a single catastrophe. This week two hundred thousand died, and several million are homeless. Next week it will be something else. One of these weeks we could end up with several hundred million dead, or more. I’d hate the last thing that I did with my mum was to have been in a fight with her, and so we didn’t, instead we laughed and played ‘I spy’ with my little brother. I can live with that as a last memory if that’s what it turns out to be.”

Diane had tears in her eyes, and she said, “I’m sorry, but I just realised I don’t want my last memory to be them sitting in their rooms doing their own thing.”

Zen just nodded. Finally, Diane’s tears stopped, and she said, “‘So we didn’t’, that’s what you said isn’t it? ‘So we didn’t!’ It’s a choice and one I need to help them make. Can you crash their phones and the games?”

“I could, but you’re the one who has to own the choice.”

Diane reached over and gave Zen a long hug and said, “I do. Thank you.”

Zen just nodded then ambled over to Phil. He said, “Did you make my ex-wife cry?”

“Yeah, sorry. Sad, not hurt.”

“It sunk in, huh?”

“Kind of. I think you’re up though. Family memories need everyone involved, and both parents have to buy into them.”

“You’re telling me how to parent now?”

“Just thinking out loud, g-man.”

“What did you get my kids?”

“Don’t you want to be surprised?”

“No! That’s something spies hate, we hate surprises. What did you get them?”

“A set of tactical knives each, with underarm and belt sheaths.”

Phil had to bite his lip to stop himself laughing, but he turned to Zen and said, “Thank you. They might not understand, but I do. I appreciate it.”

Zen just nodded then went to talk with the PM as Phil went to gather his family.

The rest of the party mainly involved eating and general talking. Zen left as soon as the gifts were opened saying she had to get back to chat with her family before her brother’s bedtime. She would have hated it if she knew her minders listened to her crying herself to sleep.

Chapter 10

Zen spent the first half of Sunday on working through some of her personal projects. After lunch, she went through each of the things she’d been working on and caught up then left suggestions, questions or instructions. Finally, just before five, she left a slew of directions for Margaret and her staff. When that was finished, she packed the bag she’d had sent down from Brisbane, then after Face-timing Hal, she went to the small gym to get some exercise. Her leg was still stiff and sore, but as long as she took care, she was able to do most things.

After dinner, she logged in, hoping to spend a few hours looking through the telescope toward the incoming construct. Her equations explained why they could see the pulsing wave even at what had been calculated to be almost one and a half light year’s distance. For the last two weeks, she’d only had the chance to read what others had reported, and she enjoyed looking at the raw data.

At midnight Nakul started his shift as the agent-in-charge and wasn’t surprised to hear that Zen was still in the office but thought she’d be better off with a good rest before she started training. After talking with the agent outside her office, he stepped in and found her typing away with her eyes glued to the screens. He stood waiting for a pause but after ten minutes stepped forward and cleared his throat only to be ignored. He moved until he was in her field of vision, but the only response was a grunted, “Go away.”

Nakul had seen this focus before and moved back then sent a message to Miriam, who arrived ten minutes later. He discussed what was happening outside the room, and she stepped inside and watched for ten minutes then said, “I won’t disturb her but need some help. Wake Dr Drayson and get me a camera so he can see what’s on the screens.”

Half an hour later, everything was set up, and after Ted saw the first few screens, he said, “Interrupt her and get her to mirror those screens here.”

Miriam stepped into Zen’s view and said “Zen?”

“Not now.”

“Ted wants the screens mirrored.”

“I can’t, or I’ll lose access. I’ve almost been kicked out twice as it is. Go away, I need to concentrate.”

Miriam went to talk with Ted, who said, “Then don’t disturb her. Get some more cameras in there and record what’s happening, then get me a helicopter so I can come help. Get Phil there as well.”

“Dr Drayson, what is she doing that you need this? I need to know.”

“How long has she been online?”

“Just over five hours.”

“She’s hacked into NASA, and it looks like she’s not only stealing data, but she’s got control of their latest Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune probes. She may have control over others, but those ones are the ones I saw. Data from them would reach here anywhere from just under an hour to four hours.”

Twenty minutes later, a bleary-eyed Phil arrived and after watching for a few minutes stepped into Zen’s view. He said, “Give me control of the encryption module, I can do that.”

“You sure? They’re pretty good and getting faster.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“OK, use the laptop and monitor on my desk, I’ll hand over control after the next change. I’ll send a list of what I’ve used so far.”

Six minutes later, Zen said, “You have control in three, two, one, now.”

Miriam watched as Phil started typing and watching the screen. Looking at Zen, Miriam couldn’t see how it had slowed her down at all, but she could see Zen’s shoulder’s straighten slightly. When Ted walked in an hour and a half later, he watched Zen for a few minutes then went to talk with Phil. Finally, he turned to Miriam and said, “We need food. She’s going to break contact in about fifteen minutes then we’ll need time to talk this through.”

“She’s due at the assembly point in five hours.”

“Is she packed?”

“Yes.”

“Then I suspect we’ll talk for four-hours-and-forty-five-minutes. We’ll all need some coffee.”

Ten minutes later, Zen said, “Phil, I’m going to send this final data burst then we’ll give back some control. The data needs two minutes to hide.”

“OK! I got it.”

Zen stepped away from the keyboards she’d been using a minute later, then looked over Phil’s for the last two before stepping away and slowly dropping to the floor where she lay on her back. After a few minutes silence, she said, “Thanks, I really needed the help there at the end.”

Phil looked over and said, “Did you leave breadcrumbs?”

“Not this time. If they ever found out for sure, they’d probably drop a bomb.”

“No kidding! What did that last bit of code do?”

“Locked them out so they can’t redirect the signals. Even if we can’t get access, and that just isn’t going to happen, then they’ll get it and eventually they’ll pass it on. I can’t believe they haven’t used these to get side signals from the construct.”

“There’s not very much difference in angle.”

Ted interrupted and said, “There’s enough. Even from what I saw, there are small changes which will help focus our understanding.”

Zen lifted her head and said, “Hopefully, more data will come through in a few days, which will give an even better angle. We need to be prepared for the message. Ted, I’ll send you the link, but you may need a white hat to help retrieve everything. If you need to, then go grey.”

“Where’s the data coming from?”

“Hopefully from Voyager 2. I had to restart several functions, and that won’t happen for another thirteen or so hours and will take a day or two to work its way through what’s still working. I’ve locked NASA completely out of Voyager 2 and while they’ll get the signals so will anyone else with the link.”

Phil stood and said, “OK, let’s eat and discuss what you found, but first, why do it tonight?”

“It’s the first chance I’ve really had to play with the data first hand. I had a route into NASA via Homeland. I wanted to see what they’d found from their probes and was really annoyed to find they hadn’t changed the mission parameters for those projects. I mean, just think what new stuff we can learn of what’s coming. Anyway, I probably acted a bit hastily but took control of the probes and turned them to look at the construct. That’s when they started looking to shut me down.”

Phil said, “What if they were waiting for a better time to turn the probes to save fuel and stuff like that?”

“I did a quick calculation and decided the savings weren’t worth it in the long term. Even with what I did, they’ll still have fuel left two years from now, and after that, we have more important things to think about.”

Ted said, “I saw you looking through some of the data, any first reactions?”

“Yeah, I knew you guys would have pulled it apart before I had a break at the end of the week and wanted to look at the raw data. My first impression is that it isn’t a spherical construct. I also think it’s rotating along the axis. If it is, then the seven might be from the construct’s design, not the aliens’ physiology.”

Miriam brought in some hot food with coffee and Phil said, “Are you up for an all-nighter? You have a big day tomorrow, but even a few hints for us to help point people in the right direction would be good.”

“I’m not sure I could sleep just yet anyway.”

Zen reorganised her transparent boards, and then she, Ted and Phil went through the raw data until just before seven. Miriam stopped them and said, “Zen needs some downtime and a shower before she goes to the assembly point.”

Ted massaged his neck and said, “We all need a break. How do we get this information out to the wider community? If we just release it they’ll know for certain it was us, or Zen, who hacked them.”

Phil said, “I’ll send it from an anonymous source that won’t link back to here. I’ll wait a few days and hide the data in some regular traffic. I’ll include a secondary link to the data from Voyager 2.”

Ted said, “If that supports what little we’ve discussed, then it might help with the projects at Lucas Heights.”

Zen started to say something, but Miriam interrupted and said, “Dr Drayson, please stop starting new topics when my charge has to get ready for a big day.”

Phil started chuckling then said, “Point taken. I need to go as well if I’m going to see my kids before they head off.”

After Phil and Ted had gone, Zen shut the room down and then walked with Miriam back to her rooms. Zen said, “Sorry to ruin your night.”

“That’s fine. I’ll get a rest in the next few days. Will you be OK?”

“Yeah, I’ve pulled all-nighters pretty regularly about once a month for the last few years. It’s usually a way to clear everything off my list before something new starts. I did get a bit carried away, though.”

“I’ll say.”

“I just need a shower, and then I’m ready.”

Half an hour later, and Zen was dressed with her backpack ready. She’d left the weapons in the pack, but Miriam said, “Wear them. I know it’s going to make you stick out, but they have a function, and they can’t do that in your bag. The team and I will not be there if something happens and you’ll need to be vigilant. I doubt anyone has plans, but we both know they’ll eventually realise this is the easiest place to get at you if that’s what they want to do.”

“I’m wearing the vest you gave me.”

“Did you put the Level Four plates in it?”

“Yes, front and back. They’re heavy.”

“That’s good, and you need to keep that on unless you’re inside and even then I’d prefer you to wear it. Even when you’re back here, you need to start wearing it. Put on the outside vest, belt and holster.”

Zen nodded and took out the lightweight tactical mesh vest, belt and thigh holster Miriam had bought. Once that was on she put one pistol in the hip holster and the other in the holster on the vest. She added an ankle sheath for the Israeli special forces knife Miriam had given her and added one of the Strider SMF knives she’d got in the US to the sheath on the thigh holster, and another in a sheath on the vest. She added two magazines to the vest then closed her backpack.

Miriam nodded in approval and said, “Good. You are legally allowed to carry all that at all times. The only times you should not have it is during actual training sessions for hand-to-hand and then only if the instructor actually requests it. You need to get used to wearing that in almost every other situation from long training runs to doing the obstacle course. Two years from now and everyone who’s outside a bunker will be wearing that, and more.”

“People will think I’m crazy.”

“Zen, just a week ago you only survived by chance when you were tripped. If people want to think your crazy, then let them. I just want you to be alive.”

Zen gave Miriam a hug then picked up her pack and said, “I am getting dropped off at the assembly point incognito, aren’t I?”

“Yes. Nakul and I will drop you off in his private vehicle.”

Zen carried her pack, and after putting it in the boot of Nakul’s car, she got in the back seat. The assembly point for Zen’s cohort was at Canberra’s Manuka Oval, and Zen was in the group supposed to arrive between eight and half-past eight. Some groups weren’t arriving till after nine. One group had been told to arrive between half-past-seven and eight. Traffic was heavy when Nakul pulled up at the drop off point at eight. Zen took a few deep breaths then got out. She took her bag from the boot and after a last wave, turned and headed towards the row of tables where she could see people lining up to sign in.

- End of Episode 4 -