The War of Immensities (78 page)

“No I didn’t. I
didn’t know what would happen.”

“And you kept
me on the fringe, as close to the edge of the zone that you could
manage.”

“The experiment
would have been rendered useless if a tree fell on you.”

“But you knew
that the pilgrims would have to be in the middle of the zone if
they are going to kill the black hole. And as many of them at that
point as possible. And that, if they succeeded, they would probably
all die—not from the depletion of the Shastri Effect but from the
effects of the impact.”

“I knew that
was possible.”

“And you’ve
carried this devastating knowledge alone, all along.”

“I didn’t know
any of it for sure. I still don’t.”

“Oh Harley, you
could at least have shared it with me.”

“Oh sure, and
have two of us worry themselves to death.”

“I’m stronger
than you.”

“Why? Because
you’re younger? Because you’re a woman? You just don’t grasp how
unbearable it was…”

“It was my
right to be a part of it.”

“You had, and
have, more important things to do. And how could I share what I was
never sure of. I’ve bullshitted my way through this all alone,
Lorna. I’ve never at any time been sure I was right. If someone
comes up with a better theory, I’ll jump on their bandwagon and
dump mine immediately.”

“But no one has
because no one has, because you’re the best, Harley.”

“No, Lorna. I
didn’t get it right because I was a good scientist, but because I
was such a very bad one. I guessed. I can’t prove a thing. I have
no choice but to agree with all those colleagues that call me a
fake and a charlatan. I’m full of shit and I always was. I got out
there and bullied people, bluffed my way through. I never did good
science.”

“Once this
comes off, Harley, no one is ever going to believe that.”

“But I’m so
frightened, Lorna. I may be killing millions, just to prop up my
own ego.”

“The millions
will die anyway. But you give millions more the chance to
live.”

“If I’m
right.”

“You don’t need
to be right, Harley. All we needed was a chance. All we wanted was
some hope. What was unbearable was the helplessness. We were up
against forces that were so enormous, too huge to fight. You cut it
down to size so we could see it and get a handle on it. We needed
to have at least the illusion that we could fight back. And you
have given us that. And all humanity, every your worst opponents,
thank you deeply for that.”

“You’re very
kind to say so. I wonder if history will be so kind.”

“Without you,
there won’t be any history.”

“Still, it
would all have been easier to face if I was dead.”

Lorna
hesitated. She really didn’t want to push him, things being the way
they were, but she was desperate to persuade him.

“Will there be
enough of them?” she asked quietly.

“Enough
what?”

“Pilgrims. At
Lake Chad. Enough to kill the singularity?”

“I have no
idea, really. The figures are too approximate.”

“They always
were, Harley. But you always made them work. And that’s why we need
you.”

“I’m afraid
that sum is so simple, even you could do it, if you tried. 2.2
million pilgrims deflected the singularity in Brazil, but they also
diminished its impact by 20%. 5 times 2.2 is 11 million pilgrims
needed to complete the job, in theory. There are 13 million
available—if we can get them all there it ought to be enough. But
there are so many imponderables, variables, unknowns,
approximations and downright guesses to tie into those numbers that
no one could seriously suggest it’s in any way accurate. But they
are all the figures and pilgrims available so we have to go with it
and be damned.”

“And if you’re
right and it’s enough?”

“We have no
knowledge at all as to what will occur when a black hole is
eliminated. If there aren’t enough pilgrims, there will be a
massive earthquake at the site and they will all die. But if there
are enough and the plan works, there still might be an even greater
explosion. There has never been a time in human experience when
something was totally annihilated. Maybe nothing will happen, or
maybe it will take the whole planet, or even our very existence,
with it. There’s no way of knowing.”

“But surely, my
love,” Lorna said, having found the bit of that that she wanted to
latch onto, “if something goes out of existence, then it just
ceases to exist. Nothing else happens. Not with a bang, but a
whimper.”

Thyssen
laughed. It seemed to give him some pain, but he did it anyway.
“Lorna, you sweet child, you really shouldn’t take quotations out
of context like that. In the circumstances, it’s very
inappropriate. But anyhow, it’s me whose going out with a whimper.
As you see, now the sums have become really simple, the theories
are all theorised, the guesses have all been made, it’s all done
and I’m not needed anymore.”

That did it.
Suddenly Lorna decided to do what she had promised herself she
would not do. All the way to Hawaii and even as she came through
the doors of the hospital, she kept telling herself not to trouble
him with the day-to-day problems that the project was experiencing.
But now she knew it was the only way forward. She said. “But you
are needed now, Harley. I’m afraid your little ol’ master-plan is
going off the rails.”

“They all
do.”

“Wagner’s gone
completely whack-o. He’s telling the pilgrims that they are the
next great stage of evolution and they should avoid the cure and
the focal point.”

“I know. I’ve
seen it on the news. How many are swallowing it?”

“Hard to say.
In California and Brazil, about half. Less in other places. I’m
working my butt off trying to win them back.”

“Yes. And
that’s what you should be doing now, instead of worrying about an
old fogey like me.”

“And Andromeda
wants to take her flock to Sierra Leone instead of Lake Chad.”

“It can’t be
done.”

“She’s the
goddess Gaia. She can do anything she likes.”

Thyssen nodded
ruefully. “When you elevate someone to a position like that, you
must expect delusions of grandeur.”

“Is that all
you’ve got to say about it?”

“What makes you
think I have some power to persuade her otherwise.”

“You invented
her.”

“And now we
reap what we have sown, Lorna. You’ve got to get her to go the
right way. You’d have to do so, whether I was around or not.”

“And the Yanks
are holding back.”

“But at least
they’re involved now.”

“Sure, the
Seventh fleet and a huge flotilla of ships is standing by waiting
to see what happens here.”

“Very wise of
them.”

“But if they
wait too long…”

“I get it. You
want to have a heart attack too to put us back on an even
footing.”

“This isn’t a
joke, Harley.”

“Lorna, just do
what you can. Give it your best shot and see how it goes. No one
ever expected more of anyone than that.”

“And meanwhile
you stay here and get blown away.”

“For me, it all
hangs on what happens here, Lorna. There isn’t any place else I
should be.”

A tall man in a
cape of many coloured feathers and with a small cap on his bald
black head, stood before a group of his fellows on the tarmac.
Behind the heat haze made the mountains shimmered. This place was
exactly on the equator, and Wagner sweated freely.

They met in
open country—a broad plain with trees seen only distantly. The lake
was so near you could see the silver mirage rippling. Wagner’s
three helicopters stood shimmering in the heat haze. His twenty men
and the twenty Barak had brought with him stood facing each other
with mutual suspicion and weapons levelled. Both groups were in
military fatigues and the only real difference was that Wagner’s
men had M16s and the Fulani soldiers AK47s.

The man of many
feathers was tall and black and graceful, wearing a floral
frock-like garment with the feathers attached everywhere, but
mostly in his hair. The outfit was ceremonial, formal, and meant he
was ready to talk.

The man was a
Fulani, an emir in fact, and Islamic in the most fundamental way.
His greeting to Wagner was to spit at his feet. Wagner spat
back.

“I degrade
myself to speak to you, American,” he said bitterly, but in fine
English.

“I don’t seek
your friendship,” Wagner said boldly. “I bring a warning.”

“That you
Americans are here is a warning to all peace-loving men.”

“I do not speak
for America. I speak for peace.”

“You are
American. To you, peace means American dominance.”

“Yes. And I
warn you that the Americans are coming.”

“Are they not
already here?”

“As I say, I do
not speak for them. But they have done a deal with your enemies,
the Hausa, and are coming to occupy this place.”

“Why would the
Americans wish to occupy this place?”

“For the
mineral wealth of the land by the lake.”

“Many have come
and sought the wealth. None have found it.”

“Americans have
satellites that can see through the surface of the earth, and they
have seen, and like what they saw. And now they will come and join
forces with your enemy the Hausa and drive you into the lake.”

“There has been
peace between the Hausa and the Fulani for fifty years.”

“You have heard
my warning. Ignore it if you chose.”

“What do you
want of us?”

“Only that you
watch the skies and prepare for war.”

“But why do
you, who speaks with an American voice, betray America’s plans to
us.”

“I was once an
American. Now I have a higher allegiance.”

“Are you a son
of Allah?”

“No. But I am a
friend of his.”

There was a
young nurse who was there every day—she seemed to have made Thyssen
her personal responsibility. She was only twenty maybe, with blonde
tied back and a face full of freckles, but she had the most
delightful smile and wasn’t afraid to use it, no matter how badly
he behaved. She stood now by the window on this topmost floor of
the hospital. The view was fantastic but the nurse seemed to forget
that she had other patients.

“You ought to
be able to see it all from here,” she smiled. Plainly she knew
exactly who he was.

“It is a fine
view, thank you,” he said.

He could see
all the way from Kono Head to the mountains west of Pearl. Yep, the
best view to be had in all Honolulu.

“Is the world
really going to end, Professor?”

“I don’t know.
But I reckon this place will get a big shake-up. Have you made
arrangements to leave?”

“No. We had a
meeting. All the staff agreed to stay on. They’ve evacuated as many
people as they could but half the population is still here. They
may need us.”

“Yes. It’s very
brave of you.”

“I don’t think
that’s what I wanted to hear. What will happen, Professor?”

“Everything
that can erupt will. There’ll be a tsunami, maybe the biggest ever,
but that will hit the north side of the island. It’s hard to say
just how extensive the damage will be here.”

“And everyone
here who survives will be one of your… sleepers. Is that what
they’re called?”

“Yes. We ought
to be inside the zone.”

“Then we all
get to go to Nigeria and kill the monster, isn’t that right?”

“Is that what
they told you?”

“Well, sort of…
The ant-matter or singularity or whatever it is. Anyhow, I
volunteered. So did all the other girls.”

“Really? It’s a
terrible risk.”

“Sure. But it’s
my big chance to save the world, Professor. And I don’t want to
miss it.”

“Amazing.”

“It’s not just
me, Professor. All the planes and ships evacuating people to the
mainland are coming back full of volunteers wanting to be in on it
too.”

“Crazy
bastards. What if I’m wrong?”

“Then nothing
will happen here. Isn’t that so?”

“Yes. That’s
so.”

“But we all
believe in you, Professor. So it will happen.”

“Yes. I think
it will.”

“So, they
wanted me to ask you, where will the safest places be?”

“No place is
guaranteed. But the tsunami will loop around the island and there
will probably be a secondary wave here. So stay out of basements,
and get above ground level. And make sure there’s something very
solid over your head.”

“The usual
procedure, huh?”

“Yes. The
usual.”

When the time
came, she returned and he found he welcomed it. He had no regrets
when they had been forced to drag Lorna away and send her off to
her duties. Plainly she had been convinced that she would never see
him again. Maybe she would not.

The nurse sat
with him, trying not to make a countdown of it.

“Help me over
to the window,” Thyssen asked.

“You really
aren’t allow out of bed yet, Professor.”

“What’s your
name?”

“Debbie.”

“Debbie, it
hardly matters at this stage. Get this thing out of my arm and help
me or I’ll do it myself.”

She compromised
by finding a wheelchair, but he needed to stand to get the view he
wanted. She stood by him, holding his hand, and then he put his arm
around her.

“Coming on for
nightfall,” he murmured. “It’s late.”

But, far out,
he could see the glow to the north and knew the big island had
roared to life. The building began to shake, and he saw the spurts
of flame from Kono Head and at a dozen spots along the eastern side
of the island. He even saw the shockwave coming—he grabbed Debbie
and dragged her down below the line of the window ledge.

The glass from
the windows exploded across the room and the wind, a fiery breath
from hell itself, scorched into the room. Thyssen, on the floor,
hugged the girl close, in those final seconds, as he felt the
sudden nausea, and his vision slip away. He held her as he might
have Lorna, had she been there, but who he really thought of was
Jami.