Anomaly (9 page)

Mason went to speak, but the Russian continued.

“The anomaly appeared here, before the gates of the United Nations, not in Washington DC. It is a message of hope directed at the world, not just at the United States of America.”

He turned, addressing the assembly.

“No, we cannot trust the Americans. They will abuse this trust, just as they have abused their world power time and again over the past century. The anomaly must come under the control of the United Nations.”

The assembly broke into an uproar.

Mason tried to respond, as did the President, but the noise within the grand hall was overwhelming. The Secretary-General calmed the delegates, allowing Dr Mason to respond.

“This,” Mason began, pointing at the gaping hole in the side of the Assembly building. “This is not about the United States of America. This is not about the United Nations. This is bigger than politics, bigger than any of our petty disputes or the mistakes of the past. This is about science. The anomaly speaks the language of science.”

Mason was sweating, struggling to counter the ferocity of the arguments put forward by the Russians. But the President and his advisers had warned Mason, Anderson, Bates and Teller that this would probably happen. They were expecting a backlash and had warned Mason that under no circumstances would the United States surrender its access to the anomaly or in any way compromise the integrity of the research. Mason was walking a tightrope.

The President would not weigh into this debate and Teller knew it. Mason was on his own. The President couldn't step in. His authority was absolute, the pride of a nation demanded that his comments were binding. Negotiations were for those with some room to maneuver, to posture and debate. The President had no such luxury and Mason understood that better than most. If it came to it, the President would veto any further discussion and walk out.

“You represent a democracy,” countered the Russian, “where the majority establishes the rules and yet you say you champion science where the majority has no rights at all, where the number of people that believe in something is immaterial to reality. So which is it? You cannot have it both ways, Dr Mason. If it is science you represent, then you cannot be answerable to an American President.”

Mason was losing the assembly. Teller sat there biting his tongue. He wanted to yell out a couple of points to help Mason, but it would have only made things worse. Mason had to wrestle the argument away from the Russian. He couldn't go on reacting to the Russian's logic. He needed to drive his own agenda forward.

“Mr Ambassador,” he began, deliberately slowing down his response as a means of forcing the Russian to listen. “Neither the US, nor the Russians, nor any other country has a clean history when it comes to matters of state, so we should not get bogged down in such recriminations. Although you are correct when you say this is a matter of trust.”

The President moved uneasily in his seat, as did Teller. A frank admission of American shortcomings wasn't going to help things. Mason needed to move to a different angle. Teller found himself fidgeting nervously with his pen as he listened to Mason's reply.

“Allow me to put forward an example, if you will.”

Mason was stalling. It was obvious to all, but it was working, taking the heat out of the Russian's argument.

“Canned food was first invented in France, by the armies of Napoleon, but do you trust the French or the science? Powered flight was first invented in the US, but do you trust the Americans or the science?

“Whether we like it or not, whether we are conscious of it or not, whether it supports our beliefs or grates against them, the reality is we trust science regardless of where it originates. We drive safely in cars, fly tens of thousands of feet above the Earth in airplanes, turn on light switches, eat fresh caviar imported directly from Russia, we can do all this because of advances in science.

“This is not about America. America is merely the vessel carrying the load. This is about the science. If the most capable scientists in this regard all originated from Somalia, we would welcome them with open arms. Our goal here is not one of priority but transparency.”

A rumble of discussion echoed around the room as the delegates talked among each other. The President seized the opportunity to close things out while they were ahead. He stood, taking his cue from Mason's words as he spoke up without a microphone, projecting his voice from the stage.

“We are here today because we welcome debate. We are here because we are transparent, because we will not hide behind diplomatic overtures, because the anomaly is something that is to be shared by us all. The practicalities of implementing this are no small task, and so we ask for your patience and understanding, but it is our commitment to the world. Thank you for your time this afternoon. That is all.”

And with that short statement the discussion was over.

The assembly broke in uproar, but the President turned and walked off stage followed by the Vice-President. Dr Mason, Teller and the others followed suit as the delegates erupted in protest. Teller felt sorry for the State Department. They had their work cut out for them with both the Russians and the Germans.

Although it was only a couple of hundred yards from the General Assembly building, it took Mason, Teller and the others almost three hours to make their way back to the NASA research trailer beside the anomaly. The sight of the anomaly, with several stories from the US State Department and several other buildings moving freely through the air made for a spectacular backdrop to the diplomatic discussions, and everyone wanted to talk to those involved in the discovery of an alien intelligence. Security was tight, but no one seemed to notice. The allure of the anomaly was overwhelming.

The dozen or so amputated flags and their severed flagpoles, along with the fractured corner of the UN building were at their zenith as the sun began to set, floating high above the crater that was once a busy intersection. By rights, the flags should have been hanging down, but they fell sideways toward the concrete slab, over toward the river in the distance, as they fluttered in the gentle breeze. Their draped fabrics betrayed the peculiar gravity within the anomaly.

Insisting that the assembly meet on the UN grounds, well inside the security zone, in full sight of the anomaly, was a stroke of genius on the part of the President. It refuted the notion that the US was somehow deliberately restricting access to the phenomenon, undermining the position of their detractors. Following the meeting, no one had been in a rush to leave. Mason joked with Teller saying the most remarkable thing about the anomaly was that hundreds of UN delegates all felt the pull of its gravity without actually going inside it.

The military presence hadn't lasted long. The State Department had got wind of what Mason was doing and had demanded the troops withdraw, replacing them with police on the inner perimeter and the National Guard out beyond them. Appearances were more important than paranoia. Mason had gone up against the Vice President on that one and had lost. He had managed to keep a contingent of Marines stationed in the park on hot standby and had a team of Navy SEALs working with the engineers inside the security perimeter, but the State Department had insisted the SEALs remain unarmed while working with civilians.

Mason walked up to the main NASA research trailer and saw a familiar face beaming back at him.

“What are you still doing here?” asked Mason, seeing Susan sitting in one of the deck chairs eating a hot dog and drinking a coke. “Why haven't they taken you home yet?”

Susan looked up with a smile, saying, “I asked them if I could stay.”

Cathy spoke up. “Her mother called, saying she'd been called in to work an extra hospital shift, so I said we'd look after her. I thought Susan could have dinner with us.”

Finch was recording the conversation of a couple of scientists setting up some equipment over next to the slow moving slab. His camera was mounted on a tripod, allowing him to swivel around and catch shots of the remaining few diplomats leaving the United Nations.

“Well,” replied Mason, with a smile, “as much as I'd love to have you stick around I think you need to go home. I'm surprised your Mom didn't send your Father in to pick you up.”

“I talked to her on the phone,” replied Susan. “She said it's OK.”

“I'm sure she did,” replied Mason with a wink.

“Can I just watch the show first?” asked Susan.

“The show?”

“Yeah, it's on in a few minutes,” said Cathy, sitting down next to Susan. “Oh, you haven't heard, have you?”

“Heard what?” asked Mason, somewhat wearily. Teller was listening in, wondering what Cathy was talking about.

Finch swung around, making sure the camera was on Mason's face so he caught his reaction to what Cathy was saying, and Teller suspected the director was about to get sucker-punched by something, but he wasn't sure what.

“Ah, hasn't any one told you?” asked Cathy.

Teller was surprised Cathy had the jump on Mason, as he seemed to always be one step ahead of things. Cathy was dancing around the issue, which Teller thought was making things worse.

“Told me what?” demanded Mason impatiently.

“Didn't the State Department tell you?” asked Cathy, but from the grimace on her face, it was clear she knew they hadn't and she was stalling, trying to get out of the firing line.

Mason stared at her with his beady eyes. Words weren't necessary to convey the anger brewing inside. She was making things worse by not coming out with it.

“Ah. You know they've set up a live feed with CERN?”

“Yes,” replied Mason.

That was pretty innocuous, thought Teller. He couldn't see what the big deal was until Cathy dropped the next bombshell.

“They've got four continuous feeds. One of them is from Finch's camera.”

Finch waved from behind his camera.

“The others are a wide angle shot of the anomaly, the inside of the research trailer, and the last one is a close up of the slab, I think.”

“And?” asked Mason, leading her on.

“And they're royalty free. Broadcast with sound. Finch has been told that, under no circumstances is he to stop broadcasting. It's 24x7 coverage, so I guess when we turn in for the night we leave his camera on and point it at the anomaly or something. But they're serious about this whole transparency thing. Finch has to keep his camera on at all times.”

“And?” repeated Mason. Teller could see where this was going and felt sorry for Cathy being the one to deliver this to Mason. It had to have originated with the Vice President. From what Teller could determine, Mason and the VP didn't see eye to eye on much at all.

“And the networks have picked up on it,” Cathy admitted. “They're calling it the reality show of the century. ABC and NBC have both announced hour long reviews of the anomaly footage every night.”

Mason was silent.

“They've been running commercials all afternoon. Showing clips from tonight's show.”

Mason's lips tightened.

Finch zoomed in.

“Teller and I are polling all right, as is Susan. But they're fielding a lot of complaints about you.”

“What the?” Mason stopped himself. “This is outrageous. This is a serious scientific investigation, not a goddamn episode of Survivor.”

“It's the networks,” Cathy confessed. “You give them a video feed with no qualification and they're going to repackage it into anything that will attract viewers and sell advertising.”

“FUCK!”

And that was the shot Finch was waiting for. Teller could see him grinning from behind the lens.

“I do not believe this,” said Mason, all of a sudden becoming acutely aware of Finch.

“It's not just the international community you need to worry about,” added Cathy, “it's the American people.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Teller, trying to hose things down. “I mean, ultimately, we're here to represent the people of this world, so it is only fair that they should see exactly how we are representing them.”

“Don't,” said Mason raising his finger, the sense of rage building within him. He'd been KO’d from behind, and he knew it.

“Hey, it's on,” said Anderson, pointing at one of the computer screens. A couple of the scientists had NBC streaming through their Internet browsers.

They all gathered around, turning up the sound. All of them except Mason who stood quietly at the back.

“Hey, this is so recursive,” said Finch, videoing the scientists watching themselves on television. “Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a shot of us watching a shot of us watching ourselves.”

Cathy laughed.

Mason was on the phone to the President. He pointed out that it was demeaning to the research team to have their efforts trivialized into some bizarre form of Big Brother or Survivor or whatever. Although the President sympathized, he was firm on two points. There would be transparency. There would be no censorship or political limitations placed on how the footage was used. And their job was to investigate the alien presence without respect to any other considerations, and without being distracted. But it was a distraction, Mason protested. To which the President suggested he switch off the television.

“At least there are no evictions,” Finch joked as Mason ended the phone call.

If looks could kill, Finch would have been a dead man. Although Teller hadn't caught everything the President had said, he had caught enough of Mason's side of the conversation to have a pretty good idea the big man had been scolded. The Internet chat rooms must be going off, he thought. They'd be loving it.

Mason watched quietly as footage of the major events was spliced together with a running commentary. At times, it was simply their comments replayed and broadcast without heavy editing. At other points, a panel of experts sat in critique of their actions. The unspoken assumption was that the experts knew better. Mason came across like a bully. It wasn't hard to isolate footage, remove it from its context and portray him as a megalomaniac.