Milo Moon: It Never Happened (32 page)

‘Maybe we could have a picnic.’

‘Oh Milo. You are so smart. Maybe we could ask a nurse if there is a basket we could use.’

‘I’ll ask straight after breakfast. Mmm. The pancakes smell good.’

*****

‘What are you doing up so early?’

‘Cooking crêpes for you.’

‘You don’t have to do….’

‘You didn’t have to cook Coq au Vin either.’

‘So are we entering a cooking contest phase?’

‘I could think of worse ideas.’

‘Have I got time for a shower?’

‘Of course.’

‘Oh, I forgot to tell you. I’ve got to go to Brunnen on Sunday.’

‘Family?’

‘No. Old friends.’

‘Well, probably a good day for me to clean out my old place.’

‘I’m off on Monday too, so I could help you.’

‘Deal.’

‘And then I start my early shift on Tuesday.’

‘What do you call early?’

‘Six.’

‘Ouch.’

‘But you don’t have to cook crêpes before I go.’

‘Oh thank you my dear. I think I’ll have that shower before you have any more good news, ‘ Jean-Paul said with a smile.

‘Good idea JP.’

*****

Ernst Gehrig started his day by reading the updates on the Seaton and Moon files and was pleased to find that both had been settled and were in reasonable condition considering their medical histories. Then he added a note to send a request to Alfred Letsch for allocation of Defence Department funding for their continued treatment and care, as well as permission to confirm Dr. Luc Fleury and Dr. Sylvie Rousseau as the designated medical practitioners for Moon and Seaton.

At almost the same time Klaus Henniger was calling the defence councillor, Alfred Letsch, asking him to gather all the files pertaining the CERN matter. In particular the files kept by Ernst Gehrig, and have them ready for collection by Friday at five. He then called Marc Guyer and Antoinette Haller to check if they had any files regarding the matter and was pleased to hear they had been careful to make sure there was nothing in their respective departments.

His mobile phone beeped with a new text message.

‘The C problem is sorted. J.’

Now all he had to worry about was the security of fifty-five heads of state in Bern for a funeral. On his way to check the sites and locations for the funeral service and procession, he called his agent in charge of Mueller’s interrogation.

‘All under control?’

‘Yes sir. Just getting him comfortable now and we’ll get started in about ten minutes.’

‘Good. When you finish up, change his location and double check his security arrangements.’

‘Problems?’

‘No. I just don’t want any that’s all.’

‘Will do sir.’

‘Oh, and make sure your handwriting is legible.’

‘Understood,’ his agent said with a little levity.

The day’s events were televised, and while the nation’s media attention was focused on the funeral of a president and the assembled heads of state, a story on the news wires about a senior CERN employee being found dead in her apartment that morning attracted little attention. A short entry on a television news website noting that the police were treating the death as suspicious was about all the media coverage the story received.

Françoise Klausner returned to her office at eleven-thirty after a long day and boring dinner. Patrick Eggen went with her and they both quickly checked their daily correspondence and email. After twenty minutes Françoise called Patrick.

‘Yes?’

‘Do you drink single malt, Patrick?’

‘From time to time, yes.’

‘Good. Sit down and join me for a nightcap. You look like you need one.’

‘Thank you Françoise, I think we both do.’

Françoise took a bottle and two glasses from a filing cabinet and poured two nips.

‘Santé, Patrick!’

‘Yes. Santé, Françoise!’

Chapter 30 - Erasure

At a little after seven, Henniger received the phone call he had been waiting for.

‘The site is clear, Klaus.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Good morning Dr. Mueller,’ Henniger said, with just a fraction of a smile.

‘Hello. I still don’t know your name.’

‘Yes well, we all have our little problems. But I hear you were very cooperative yesterday.’

‘Did I have a choice?’

‘Well said, and I’m sure you’ll have more to tell us later, but now I’d like to take you for a little drive.’

‘Oh yes. Do I stand a chance of returning?’

‘I hope so doctor. I hope so.’

Mueller didn’t reply.

‘I’ll get our team ready and we’ll leave in an hour or so.’

‘Mueller only nodded in agreement.

‘What are we doing here?’ Mueller asked, as the car drove through the rear gates of CERN’s grounds an hour or so later, and continued on to the rear of the building that accessed Sootere.

‘To help us with a little burial, doctor.’

‘Sootere?’

‘Yes.’

Henniger had two specialist agents with him. One mechanical engineer, and the other an electrical engineer. Their task was to isolate and deactivate the gas distribution system and ensure that only the expanding foam filler was triggered. Mueller was handcuffed before leaving the car, and then the four men started the last descent to Sootere.

‘It’s not as simple as you think,’ Mueller said, as they neared the end of their descent. No one answered him.

‘So, where’s the emergency activation Dr. Mueller?’ Henniger asked, as they arrived at the viewing room.

‘This way,’ Mueller said, as he lead the three men down a narrow corridor to a small door that lead to a metal staircase and down to a cramped electrical control room.

‘There it is. Those three levers need to be set to the charge position, and then the four red buttons need to pressed at the same time.’

‘So two are for the foam and two for the gas?’ Henniger asked.

‘No. The two systems are integrated. You can’t have one without the other. The system is designed to eliminate everything down here and all the way back up to level two of the entry points.’

‘So, whoever pushes the buttons stays down here?’

‘Exactly. No trace.’

‘Thank you, doctor. You and I’ll go back to the viewing room while my agents look at this.’

More than an hour passed while Henniger and Mueller waited. Henniger noted that Mueller seemed relaxed and was quite open in discussing his justification for the facility and the research and experiments that were undertaken.

‘I know you don’t understand and probably never will,’ Mueller said.

‘Understand what?’

‘How many wonderful discoveries came from this.’

‘But it was illegal and immoral.’

‘Only from your point of view. I and many others have a different understanding.’

‘The means justifies the ends, you think?’

‘More than that. A much more progressive way of thinking and finding solutions for seemingly impossible problems.’

‘Impossible?’

‘Only impossible because of the constrains placed on researchers.’

‘Moral, ethical and legal constraints, you mean?’

‘You may think like that, but here there were no such issues to hold back genuine study and experimentation. And you’d have to be naive to believe that we acted alone in this. You know full well who was financially supporting and benefitting from our work.’

‘I’m not here to argue with you, Dr. Mueller. Your beliefs and justification are for you. I just have my duty to perform.’

‘Well, at least we have some kind of understanding then.’

The door opened and one of the agents beckoned Henniger.

‘We’ve checked, and can’t find a way to separate the two operations. There are so many connections within the system that it’s impossible to isolate a single trigger. They seemed to be intermeshed throughout the whole system.’

‘So you’d need to isolate every connection?’

‘There could be thousands sir. We could isolate some, but that wouldn’t affect other points. Each point is individually connected.’

‘Can you isolate the gas connections in the entry points?’

‘We could try to find as many as we can.’

‘If the gas was only distributed in the main facility area, the foam should trap the gas. I’m just concerned about gas going up the entry tunnels and into the complexes above.’

‘It depends how fast or slow the foam fills the cavities, sir.’

‘And we have no way of contacting anyone above to order an evacuation.’

‘That’s correct sir.’

‘All right. Check if you can clear the return points so we can get back up without being gassed ourselves, and also if you consider it safe to allow the gas to fill the main cavity of the facility.’

‘It’ll take some time sir. Maybe three hours to check……’

‘Quick! Grab him!’ Henniger yelled, as Mueller took advantage of their concentration on the problems of the system and ran towards the door to the control room. He slammed the door behind himself, and Henniger and his agents could clearly hear the sound of the door locking, as they arrived a split second too late.

‘Mueller!’ Henniger shouted, as he pushed in vain against the metal door. Then he heard three clunking noises and knew they were the sound of Mueller moving the levers to the charge position. It was at that moment the Henniger wished he had cuffed Mueller’s hands behind his back and not in front. He could press the buttons.

‘Run! Now!’ Henniger ordered his agents. ‘Now!’ he yelled again, as they hesitated until finally they moved.

‘Mueller! Don’t do it!’ he yelled, and still tried pushing the door. It didn’t move. ‘Mueller! Mueller!’

A nozzle above Henniger started to ooze a thick yellowish liquid.

‘Mueller! Mueller!’

‘It’s done!’ Mueller shouted back. ‘Good-bye. Whatever you name is!’

Henniger decided there was nothing more he could do. The thick yellowish liquid was oozing from multiple points above him and starting to coat the walls. He ran down the corridor and started on the first set of stairs leading back up to the surface. Taking the steps as fast as his heavy frame could manage, with the handicap of now covering his mouth and nose with his handkerchief in the hope it may restrict his inhalation of gas.

His breathing was laboured and his legs were suffering under his weight and the effort of moving continually upwards. All the while, nozzles were oozing yellow foam onto the walls of the ascending tunnels and stairwells. After fifteen minutes, he had to rest. His legs could hardly move and he was panting heavily and having difficulty breathing. He looked down and saw the foam, now rapidly filling the space below him, and knew he had to go on, while trying to calculate how much further he had to go. The last time he ascended it took an hour or so, but it was at a leisurely pace. Another fifteen minutes he thought. He moved off again trying to ignore the pain in his legs, as he took two steps at time and tried as best he could to jog, or at least walk as fast as he could on the level areas.

After five minutes, he had to stop to try and get some oxygen back in his lungs. Glancing down and seeing the foam now filling the space only a few meters below him. It was moving faster. He pushed his body up the next set of stairs and felt his chest tightening and squashing his lungs. Pain was shooting down his left side, as he tried to put a heart attack out of his mind. Turning from a level tunnel to the next set of stairs, he caught the sight of the feet of his agents just ahead of him.

‘Run!’ he tried to shout, but his lungs would only allow a whimper. He dropped his handkerchief as it was restricting his breathing too much.

The next set of stairs saw him at the heels of his two agents and they pushed themselves harder once they saw Henniger behind. Both of them panting hard, with sweat pouring from their reddened faces. Pushed on by Henniger, who was panting harder and sweating more. Henniger started to feel a little dizzy and his sight was becoming foggy.

‘We’re close sir. I’m getting a signal on my phone.’

‘Call for paramedics,’ Henniger managed to get out of his mouth, before starting to feel feint. His two agents noticing he was struggling went back the few steps and grabbed their boss. Dragging him bodily up the last few stairs and then along a corridor leading towards the last incline. Kicking open the last door that led to the building above, they dragged Henniger’s now limp body through the building and out into fresh air near their car.

Three bodies lying on the ground, struggling for air. One holding a phone near his ear.

‘Paramedics. Urgent. CERN!………Fas……....’ he said, before losing conciseness.

Ernst Gehrig called Françoise Klausner from HUG.

‘So, what’s their condition?’

‘Two serious and Henniger critical.’