The Alpha Choice (43 page)

‘Mr President,’ he began, ‘I believe the technology is available, but I don't have access to it, at present.’ The small group, save for Liz and Gerry Wye, whose countenances were unreadable, looked visibly relieved.
 

This was something Hugo had wanted to avoid. He looked at a point where he was sure they would not be overheard, then glanced at Liz and the President, before walking away. After a dozen or so paces, he stopped and they followed him.
 

Gerry Wye started to walk over, but the President halted him with a hand raised just high enough to signal, he was not invited. This was not a territorial issue, something needed to be said that was too important, or too dangerous to be shared.
 

The President positioned himself close enough to his friend so as to be overheard by no one other than Liz. He never questioned her presence; Hugo needed her to be there, and that was good enough.

Hugo Black looked directly into the eyes of the President. ‘What have you surmised, concerning TeCorp, and the provenance of its technology?’

The man facing him responded, without hesitation. ‘We don’t believe its provenance to be terrestrial,’ he did not expand on the identity of
we
, but the presence of the screens filled in the blanks. Hugo would have been disappointed by any other answer, and the fact that none of those present, or virtually present had raised questions in the last three years, merely reflected the true plight of the world when TeCorp appeared from nowhere.
 

‘Then, Mr President, you need to know that my associates have made it clear to me, they will not become involved in our affairs, beyond what they have already done. Since becoming aware of our situation, I’ve tried contacting them, but they seem to be avoiding me. I’m not even sure if they’re still here.’
 

This merely prompted a simple nod of the head. ‘Then, we must keep this to ourselves, until we can find your
associates
,’ he looked over to the screens. ‘We,’ he corrected himself, ‘I’ll give reassurances, which will filter around the world while I speak to the others, in private. I want you to be seen, but not heard. Your attendance alone, is all that’s needed, for the present.’ He added, almost as an afterthought. ‘Stay until I’ve finished speaking to the others, I need you to fully brief me on our situation.’ Hugo nodded his agreement.

Returning to the group, the President approached the camera zone with the air of a man who had everything under control and, within moments, the conference began. The usual circumlocutions being avoided, the dialogue lasted only fifteen minutes. Hugo had anticipated a difficulty; if the other leaders pressed for details of how everyone was to be saved, how would the President satisfy their curiosity? In the event, no one asked the question.
 

Hugo was sure his later discussion with the President would include a full and detailed TeCorp history. He was satisfied the information would, for the time being, remain restricted; initially to one man in this room and then, at a moment of Michael Conway’s choosing, to those on screen, at which point, the group would assiduously keep it from the rest of the world. None of them were about to let the world order collapse, until there was absolutely no alternative. If TeCorp was unable, or unwilling to come up with a solution, everything was over, and nothing would be gained by disclosing the provenance of all the wonders they had enjoyed for the last three years.
 

Liz had not been called upon to say or do anything, but that was not why Hugo brought her. He wanted her to do what she did best, watch, listen and tell him of anything that troubled her or, to be more precise, anything that should trouble him. As the audience with the other leaders progressed, she discreetly observed each of the men in the room, while ignoring the two-dimensional images on the LCD screens, they had no direct bearing on her employer.

It was easy to discount the scientist and soldier, they had no agenda, hidden or otherwise. True to their calling, they displayed nothing but genuine concern and support for the President. Gerry Wye, on the other hand, was something altogether different. She expected a flicker of resentment to register on his face, when he was excluded from the head to head with Hugo, but he displayed no emotion, at all. Now, as they all sat in a semi circle she could see him clearly. Throughout the fifteen minutes they listened to the President converse with his equals, the face of Gerry Wye betrayed not an iota of feeling. He put her in mind of a lizard basking on a sun-scorched rock. This was a man to be very wary of.
 

Ninety minutes after entering the White House, Hugo and Liz were walking towards their flyer. The President’s instructions to Hugo were clear: arrange a meeting with Tala, immediately. Conway would be speaking for the world when he pleaded for help from the Te, and Hugo was relieved he was not being asked to make the representations, personally.
 

Liz decided to keep her thoughts concerning Gerry Wye to herself, at least for the moment; she needed to obtain evidence before broaching the subject.
 

As the small craft lifted, smoothly and silently from the ground, Hugo looked out of the window, his eyes drawn skywards, only one thought on his mind.
 

Where are they
?

Ω

Just as Hugo Black was leaving the White House, Tala finished a meeting of her own, to which Beron was not invited. As soon as the image of Garnoth blinked out of existence, she pondered the situation. The populace had readily taken to the new changes with surprisingly little resistance.
 

Arranging the extinction event had proven quite straightforward:
a suitable asteroid was found, brought through the Weft, and diverted into the path of the unfortunate planet, far enough away to avoid Tellurian suspicions. It was concealed by the simple expedient of placing unmanned probes both in front, and behind the rock, bending particles of light so as to make the object all but invisible, to any observers using crude observation technologies.
 

Matters having now taken their intended turn, the entreaties would begin and eventually, she would permit herself to be swayed. Black had performed admirably, thus far, and as the public face of TeCorp he would have to be seen to facilitate the fledgling relationship between two distant worlds. Everything was in position, and Garnoth was pleased, but as she was only too aware, the last six years had been the easy part. What was about to unfold would require a far more precise, and delicate touch.

Δ

Staring out of his window, gave Hugo no comfort, the gently rolling turquoise sea was oblivious to his needs. He was standing atop the headquarters of the most powerful organisation on the planet and was, for the first time in his adult life, lost and floundering,
all of this, and I’m powerless
. Since his meeting with the President three hours before, he had made no attempt to contact Tala, there was little point. She would know of his earlier calls, and make herself available when or, if she chose.

As if on cue, the intercom sounded and Liz announced the arrival of Tala and Beron.

There was nothing to be gained by keeping them waiting, they knew they were in the driving seat. He turned away from the uncaring waters, and returned to his desk.
 

The Te’an agents entered his office, Tala looking, for all the world, as though nothing had happened over the last twenty-four hours. Beron, he was just Beron.

Hugo stood up until they had taken their seats, then pressed the intercom. ‘I want no disturbances, Liz.’

‘Of course, Mr Black.’

He refocused his attention on his two visitors or to be more precise, one of his visitors; as ever, Beron’s face was impassive. Tala, on the other hand, now looked serious. She inclined her head in the direction of her companion, who rose and, with a curt nod of his head, left the office.

Tala spoke. ‘I can understand why you might be angry with me, abandoning you in your hour of need,’ Hugo had no intention of placing everything at risk through petulance, and said nothing.

Seemingly, grateful for the respite, she continued. ‘We became aware of the threat only shortly before you, concentrating as we were on matters here. Once I knew of the danger, and precipitating a request for assistance, I elicited a response from our Supreme Council.’

Of course
, he thought,
that would explain everything
. If Tala thought there was mileage in speaking to her people, matters might not be as cut-and-dried as he feared. Her face, however, remained grave, and he felt an emptiness that began to stretch with the growth of Tala’s silence. The realisation of what was about to happen, slowly dawned. Until now, the fears of the others at the meeting seemed groundless, the irrational night terrors of children, for despite the forewarning of Tala, he still believed the Te’ans would save the day.
 

The look on her face told him all he needed to know; there was to be no reprieve.

For the first time since their initial meeting, three years ago, she averted her gaze, barely able to hold his eyes for more than a few moments. The silence between them seemed to last an age, yet could have been no more than fifteen-seconds, before it was broken by the Tellurian and not the, usually confident, visitor. ‘You must have the resources to help?’
 

She brought her eyes back in line with his. ‘Not readily to hand,’ she replied, with a slight shake of the head. ‘The nearest ship with the capability of removing the threat to Earth, is some weeks from here. Even then, by the time they arrived it would be doubtful whether they could help.’
 

She was not referring to his home planet in her usual impersonal manner, and Hugo wondered why he had failed to notice the change from ‘
your planet’
before now; maybe it was the first time, in which case this had become more than an assignment to her.
But,
he thought,
there’s something she’s left out, something critical
. ‘What about the ship you have positioned behind the Moon?’

‘It isn’t, and can't be equipped with the means to deflect, or destroy the asteroid.’

This last statement came as an unwelcome surprise, but without the luxury of wallowing in self-pity, he put the disappointment out of his mind. He had experienced, first hand, how persuasive she could be, and he was no pushover. There had to be some way the two of them, with the added weight of the President, could convince her Council.

She continued. ‘The issue, isn’t whether we possess the means to assist. If we had never come here, the threat to you would still be present. There are those among us, as you know, who were against our involvement from the outset. They warned of the possibility of a greater need arising and were assured that the limit of our assistance would be spelt out. I and others, appreciate the current situation was never envisioned but, nevertheless, the parameters of our arrangement must remain intact.’

Hugo was not about to give up. ‘What will you do?’

‘Make arrangements.’

‘Arrangements, to do what?’ he asked.

She looked at him, quizzically. ‘To leave, of course.’

With that, she stood up.

‘Wait,’ he had also got to his feet. She paused, and looked at him. The empathy he thought he saw, just moments before, was gone. What he now looked at, despite looking human, was totally alien. He felt matters slipping from his gasp. ‘The President would like to speak to your superiors.’

‘I’m sorry, Hugo, that won’t be possible. As I’ve told you, the decision has been made. I wish it were otherwise believe me, but it isn’t.’

She turned and walked towards the door, but he hurried past, and stood between her and the exit. She stopped. ‘Listen to me for just a moment, that’s all I ask?’

‘Very well, but I can’t promise anything.’

‘Understood.’
 

He suddenly found his throat to be very dry, constricted even, he had never felt this nervous in all his professional life. He was attempting to negotiate the future of the human race, and had nothing to offer in return. ‘I understand everything you’ve said. Your people owe us nothing, but you told me the reason you decided to help us in the first place was because of our potential, our uniqueness. When we collide with that asteroid, all that promise comes to nothing. If we are as special and rare as you say, shouldn't we be given the chance to plead our cause?’

She made as if to pass him, but he stepped to one side, again blocking her path. ‘If you let us do this you won't blame yourself when it’s all over. You won't wake at night, reproaching yourself for not doing all you could to save an entire race.’

Tala stopped and looked at him, with anger flashing in her eyes. ‘How dare you accuse me of failing you,’ there was a moment’s hesitation as she tried, unsuccessfully, to collect herself. ‘I did all I could to persuade them. I placed my career on the line to change their minds, I cajoled them, even threatened them, all for nothing!’

He pressed home his advantage. ‘What if I brought about a meeting between you and the President? At that meeting you could open up a communication link to one of your superiors…’

‘Council members,’ she corrected him.

‘I’m sorry, Council members. Once they’re in dialogue, you drop out of it. If we fail…if the President fails, you won't be in any more trouble, but if he succeeds the matter could be escalated to the next level, and you will have been proved right.’
 

He stood back, permitting her to leave, if she wanted. She made no attempt to move, and he could tell she was wrestling with some internal conflict. Eventually, she replied. ‘Very well, I’ll do as you ask. Arrangements will have to be made. You need to ensure your President can be here within an hour of me contacting you.’ Hugo nodded, hardly able to believe he had secured a lifeline.