The Null Prophecy

by Michael Guillen

  KP: “It was a Western Wood-Peewee, which is impossible because it’s a western bird and this is New Jersey. All we see out here are Eastern Wood-Peewees. And they go pee-a-wee? Pee-a-wee? This one was going Fee-reet! Fee-reet! Big difference, right?”

  AA: “Absolutely. So you ended up being right—it was a Western Peewee?”

  KP: “Big as life.”

  AA: “And you took a picture of it, I understand.”

  On the screen appeared the photo of a medium-sized bird with a grey-olive upper body and a pale yellow underbelly, perched in a small birch tree.

  KP: “Yes, and it wasn’t just me. When we got to the finish line, everybody was trading stories about birds they’d seen that didn’t belong here. Like I said, in all my years of doing this competition, this is a first. Very weird.”

  SUNDAY, APRIL 30 (2:38 P.M. PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME)

  ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT: 36 HOURS 10 MINUTES

  Allie stepped inside Calder’s lab and yoo-hooed loudly. When no one answered, she began searching the facility.

  She was struck anew by its spaciousness, orderliness, and hospital-like cleanliness. Against spotless white walls stood massive tables cluttered with expensive-looking mechanical and electrical equipment. At the very center was the hydraulic lift, encircled by a winding platform—vacant at the moment because Hero was still moored to the pier.

  When Allie reached the lab’s far, northeast corner, she found Calder standing before a control panel covered with buttons, switches, and multicolored lights. It was attached to a large, box-like structure with small windows that looked like a walk-in freezer.

  She rushed to his side. “I was hoping I’d find you here. I was just at your condo and you weren’t there.”

  “Worried I might’ve flown the coop?” He spoke to her without taking his eyes off his work.

  “Not at all.”

  “Anyway, perfect timing—stranger.”

  “I know, I know. Stu just wouldn’t let me go.” She snarled through closed teeth. “But I’m here now and we don’t have a whole lot of time. Did you look at my calculations?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He said it nonchalantly and still didn’t look at her. “That’s why I’m here.”

  “Which means?”

  He continued minding the console and didn’t answer.

  “Calder! Stop! Look at me and tell me what’s going on.”

  At last he faced her. He was smiling.

  She placed her hands akimbo. “I’m serious. Tell me. Now.”

  “Okay, okay. When I started going over your figures I was sure I’d find something wrong. But I didn’t. And that’s when I knew you were right. Actually, I knew it all along. I just didn’t want to admit it.”

  There’s a newsflash.

  “And . . .” Impatiently, she spun her hand in circles to prompt him.

  “Well, I was ready to throw in the towel, to be honest. But then I thought of something.”

  “What?!”

  “That if Hero really does have an effect on the magnetic field, it’s not a complete negative—the way you made it out to be. We can turn it into a positive. You said Hero caused the holes. I’m saying she can fix the holes.”

  She threw up her hands. “Calder, hallelujah! That’s exactly what I was going to tell you before Eva showed up.”

  He blinked at her. “Oh?”

  “Yes! Look, it’s like fighting fire with fire. The ripple effect started everything, created the magnetic holes. But I think if we’re clever enough, we can use the same vibrational mechanism to quell them. I’m not exactly sure how yet, but that was my plan.”

  Calder, turning back to the control panel, said, “Well, that’s my plan too. Let me show you something.”

  She watched him push buttons and flip switches, as he spoke.

  “Like you said, it’s all about resonance. But resonances can be destroyed as easily as they’re created, right? Actually, more easily, because a resonance by its very nature is fragile. It arises only under very precise conditions and at a particular frequency.”

  She smiled.

  Yay! This is the Calder I know and love.

  “Yes,” she said. “And unless the required conditions are maintained, the resonance eventually dies on the vine.”

  “Right! But we don’t have time to wait around for that to happen naturally, do we?”

  According to her calculations, it would take weeks for the resonance pattern driving the magnetic holes to dissipate on its own—way too late to protect Earth from the CME. The pattern had to be destroyed by some well-directed, intervening force—like a hand coming in and wiping the sand pattern clean off a Chladni plate.

  “Absolutely not,” she said. “So what’s your idea?”

  “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” He pointed to the walk-in freezer. “This is a reverb chamber. I made it several years ago, to test out an invention—a modification of Hero’s propulsion system that would make her supersonic.”

  “Supersonic?! You mean—?”

  “Yes. It would allow Hero to travel faster than sound. I was going to tell you about it at the right time.”

  “How much faster?”

  “Way faster. Theoretically, she . . . hold on. Do you know about Haisch’s theory of inertia?”

  She nodded. “Sure—the one he published with Puthoff and Rueda, right? Back in the 90s?”

  “Yeah.”

  Bernhard Haisch, Alfonso Rueda, and Hal Puthoff believed inertia was caused by an invisible energy field in the quantum vacuum. Any accelerating object was slowed by the field, their calculations appeared to indicate, the way a swimmer was slowed by water. That inescapable resistance to movement—caused by the vacuum’s omnipresent, ghostlike energy field—was what science called inertia.

  “Why do you ask?” she said.

  “Because Hero’s supersonic booster is based on their hypothesis—that inertia is an extrinsic trait caused by the quantum vacuum.”

  She frowned. “Really? A lot of physicists don’t take the Haisch theory seriously, you know. Glashow has argued against it. It’s really way out there.”

  “Just like Hero, right?”

  “Calder, I’m just saying—”

  “Never mind, just watch” he said, looking disgusted. “Seeing is believing.” He gestured in the direction of the window in front of them, just above the panel. “See that tank of water in there?”

  She peeked in and saw something that looked like a round, above-ground swimming pool. “Yeah.”

  “The water in the tank represents the virtual fields in the quantum vacuum, okay?” He pointed at a TV monitor that showed the underwater image of a toy sub. “That toy sub there represents Hero traveling through the vacuum fields.”

  He switched off the chamber’s interior lights. The water in the tank glowed with a steady neon green.

  “I put phosphorescent dye into the water to make things easier to see.” He flipped another switch and bright white lights inside the dark chamber began to strobe, like in a vintage disco bar.

  Allie frowned.

  What in the world?

  “Ready?” he said.

  “Totally.”

  “No, I mean you. Are you ready?”

  She questioned him with her eyes.

  Let’s go, already!

  We’re wasting time!

  “You get the honors. Just press the yellow button here when I tell you. Okay?”

  “But—”

  “No buts.”

  She pressed the button at his prompt.

  “Keep your eyes on the sub.”

  The tiny sub, immersed in glowing green water, drifted slowly forward.

  “Is that it?”

  “No, keep watching.”

  She kept one eye on the little sub and the other on Calder working the control panel. Abruptly, she heard a chest-thumping bass hum coming from within the chamber. Tiny ripples appeared around the edges of the sub, like those surrounding a fluttering goldfish fin. The hum
grew louder and louder—then a split-second later the toy sub shot across the water and smashed into the opposite side of the tank.

  She gave a shout and Calder’s hand hit a large red button. The hum immediately stopped and so did the ripples.

  “What was that?” she said.

  Calder’s bright face broke into a smart-alecky grin. “That, my dear Allie, was the solution to our problem.”

  SUNDAY, APRIL 30 (4:07 P.M. PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME)

  ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT: 34 HOURS 41 MINUTES

  Jared, ducking behind a large bush, scanned the area in front of him before making a run for it.

  He’d intended to spend the whole day with Haley. But with the G-20 suddenly on base and the nosey tutor asking so many questions, he chose to ditch the girl and execute his plan of escape.

  Certain the coast was clear, he dashed to the next convenient hiding spot, a dumpster. For the next fifteen minutes he darted from cover to cover, getting closer and closer to the water.

  The G-20 commotion was actually working in his favor. With security concentrated around the main admin building, this part of the base was unusually deserted.

  Finally, he got as far as the back of the building he’d first slept in. From there he could see the boat; it was still in the water, unattended.

  Yes!

  It crossed his mind that Maggie would disapprove of what he was doing, yell at him to grow up and behave.

  But she’s dead.

  When at last he arrived at the sleek, red vehicle, he quickly set about putting to use all the intelligence he acquired by hacking into Sinclair’s lab computer at the rec center today. If all went according to script, this crazy-fast ship would take him not just away from the base, but out from under the magnetic hole that loomed like the Grim Reaper over Southern California.

  CHAPTER 36

  STOLEN VEHICLE

  SUNDAY, APRIL 30 (4:26 P.M. PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME)

  NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA; SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

  ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT: 34 HOURS 22 MINUTES

  With the two of them in total agreement over the plan, Calder and Allie quickly went their separate ways: she to inform the president, he to bring Hero into the lab to make the necessary modifications.

  Jumping into the tow truck, he started up the engine and steered for the pier.

  Jared pounded the ship’s dashboard and then tried again to get it started.

  Nothing.

  He pushed the green ignition button again and again, but without success.

  Then . . .

  It was just a small noise, a high-pitched whirring sound, but promising nonetheless. He quieted himself and held his breath. A moment later the rocket boat was purring like a well-tuned Maserati.

  Quickly, Jared doubled-checked the body harness. But just as he went to throttle up, his ears picked up another sound. This one coming from the outside.

  Calder approached the pier and caught sight of Hero moving away from her moorings.

  Am I seeing things?

  Drifting?

  He stared hard.

  Oh, god, no—someone is stealing her!

  Instantly, he stopped the truck, jumped out, and dashed toward the water. “Hey!” he yelled. “Hey!”

  After passing through layers of security, Allie finally made it into the main admin building. MPs directed her to a large conference room, where she found a milling crowd of high-level government bureaucrats waiting to be called on for this or that task by their respective leaders.

  They also serve, who sit and wait.

  She spotted Marty Glauber in the middle of the room and waved at him. He responded like a child laying eyes on Santa Claus.

  “Allie, Allie—oh, my god,” he said rushing to her side. “I’ve been trying every which way to reach you by phone. The president’s waiting. What do you have for him? I hope it’s good. They’re eating him alive in there. Blaming your Hero guy—Sinclair, the United States—for what’s happening.”

  “What?”

  “I know, it’s lunacy. But that’s politics. What do you have?”

  Allie smiled. “Let’s go somewhere quiet. Bring your laptop.”

  At first Calder was paralyzed with indecision. To whom do you report a stolen vacuum-powered speedboat? But soon enough he settled on driving to the base police department.

  The chief was a beefy MP who wore a blue camouflage-patterned uniform and cap, ankle-length black boots, and a black leather utility belt supporting a holstered weapon and various storage pouches.

  “And you didn’t authorize anyone to take her out for any exercises?”

  “No! Absolutely not.”

  “Did you actually see anyone inside?”

  “No. But chief, she was going way too fast to be on her own. Besides, I could hear the roar of her engine. And she made a one-eighty before heading out to sea. There had to be someone inside steering her.”

  The chief looked at him as if to ask another question, but then relented. “Okay, look, we’ve never had a situation like this before, understand? We’ll have the Coast Guard dispatch all their patrol boats right away.” He added, “But if you’re right and someone’s deliberately stolen her, I remember reading in the newspaper—she goes about what? Four, five hundred knots?”

  “About that, yes.”

  “Sir, at that rate—well, let’s just put it this way. At that rate, I don’t know of any boat on the planet that could chase her down. But we’ll try.”

  CHAPTER 37

  FALSE START

  SUNDAY, APRIL 30 (7:00 P.M. PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME)

  NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA; SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

  ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT: 31 HOURS 48 MINUTES

  Eva was kibitzing with her on the IFB.

  “You’ve hit the big time, girlfriend. The president of the United States! Just don’t forget me when you’re First Lady.”

  “Chica! He’s married.” Allie glanced at her watch.

  What’s taking Aragon so long?

  “Yeah, yeah,” Eva said, “but I’ve seen how you and Mr. Hero act around each other. You can’t fool Mama Freiberg.” She bellowed, “Ten seconds!”

  Allie felt clammy. She’d never introduced the leader of the free world before.

  “Go!” Eva said.

  Allie welcomed viewers, told them where she was—in front of the main administration building at Naval Base Point Loma—and explained that in a short while the president would be addressing the nation.

  She’d been told the president’s message was being broadcast via the Emergency Alert System. The EAS, she knew, was a select network of broadcast, cable, and hard-wired pathways that included, when necessary, military communications satellites. The satellites had outer shells and computer chips (called rad-chips; she’d done a report about them once) specially hardened to protect against high-level radiation.

  But she also knew the EAS was relatively new. Its most recent nationwide trial resulted in technical malfunctions, including test messages that were muted, duplicated, and reverberant.

  “Vamp!” Eva said in her ear. “He’s running late.”

  “We’re told the G-20 meetings originally scheduled were mostly scrapped today because of the mounting crises threatening the world. In just a few minutes the president is expected to announce a plan for sparing us from the worst of the threats. Of course I’m speaking of—”

  “He’s ready! Toss to him in five . . . four . . .”

  “Excuse me. I’m being told—ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.”

  Allie could see on the monitor the president was dressed in a dark suit and red tie, sitting at a desk surrounded by the other G-20 leaders. Their somber expressions said it all.

  “Good evening,” the president began. “Tonight the world faces two natural enemies threatening our planet at the same time. All day today these leaders and I have been exploring every imaginable option for protecting ourselves. We discussed and debated them, all the while bear
ing in mind the very limited time we have to deploy any kind of meaningful defense. Along the way we looked to our best scientific minds for guidance, for their best ideas about what we can do. About what we should do.

  “And now, as a result of those careful deliberations, I’m pleased to announce we have reached a consensus. Tomorrow morning Dr. Calder Sinclair of the United States Navy will launch an initiative we hope will quickly repair the magnetic holes hovering over major portions of the planet. We are calling this brave initiative Project Joshua because Dr. Sinclair’s plan is to destroy the magnetic holes with nothing more than vibrations.

  “I’m not a scientist so I won’t attempt to explain it to you. I’ve instructed my press secretary to prepare and distribute to the media a document that will explain the essential parameters of Project Joshua in terms we laypersons can understand. We will attempt to post it on the White House and United Nations websites, but for now the World Wide Web is not functioning reliably. Furthermore, my science advisor, Dr. Martin Glauber, will be holding a press briefing right after this.

  “My fellow Americans, my fellow humans around the world, I call on each of you to remain calm. Right now, after the CME, fear and hysteria are our worst enemies. Keep listening to your local authorities. They will be issuing instructions on the best ways for you and your loved ones to stay safe.

  “If you’re a person of faith, I ask you to initiate prayer vigils. Ask your church, synagogue, temple, or mosque to pray for Dr. Sinclair’s mission. For our country. For the earth. For everyone and anyone, wherever they might be this night, who stand in harm’s way.

  “Thank you. May God bless America. And may God bless our planet.”

  Allie decided to skip Marty’s press briefing in favor of getting in her car and rejoining Calder. She was satisfied with how the president had communicated the plan, except for the part about Calder being affiliated with the Navy. She knew that wouldn’t make Calder happy.