Dark Matter

by John Rollason

  'It’s good to finally meet you Ms. Dexter.' Jay said politely, unsure as to what to make of this hulking figure of a woman.

  'Please, call me Helen.'

  William knocked and entered carrying a tea tray with two cups. Jay's mind started to wander; she shook the thought away and continued the conversation. I have an appointment with Hel...en, the thought insisted itself on her mind, she shook it away again. We are having two cups, one for me and one for Hel...en. She couldn't stop her mind from wondering.

  Jay strained with all her might to concentrate on her meeting, it helped when she was given a copy of the five-year staffing and budget projections. These were not good, costs were going up and they still had contributions outstanding from member countries, most notably the United States. How can the richest nation on Earth be so tardy in paying its bills? She made a mental note to have a word with the US Ambassador, again.

  The meeting had only been going for just over a quarter of an hour when it was interrupted by a knock on the door. William entered promptly closing the door behind him he waited for his existence to be acknowledged. Jay paused her conversation with Helen and turned to him.

  'What is it William?'

  'It's the Sunarr. They have an important announcement to make. Apparently they are not aware that these things have to be scheduled well in advance.' He added by way of apology.

  'This afternoon?' Asked Jay, catching the urgency of his voice and his interruption.

  'Yes. Two thirty.' He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

  'Very well. Inform protocol and have something appropriate written. There's no time to rehearse so I'll just have to wing it.' She normally insisted on going through her speeches, both for content and pace. This time should would just have to trust her speechwriters.

  'Of course.' William replied, excusing himself to see to the details.

  'These Sunarr will be the death of me yet.'

  Helen left just before two, allowing Jay a couple of minutes to prepare for her next meeting with Jane and George. She had no report to review, however. There would be no minutes either. These meetings were being done on a verbal basis only. Jay took a sheet of paper and placed it on her confidential pad. The pad was an ingenious invention. A simple, thin piece of foam was chemically bonded to a small sheet of Titanium. This meant that whatever was written on the sheet of paper would not be able to be deciphered from the impressions it left, which on the foam were few and over written. The Titanium backing ensured that nothing penetrated through. Jay wrote a few notes, not so much an agenda, as a structure to ensure that all the points she wanted to cover were captured. William knocked at the door again and entered.

  'Your two o'clock is here.' He said.

  'Show them in please William, thank you.'

  Jane and George entered the office unsure of how to proceed. They didn't have the answers that they had wanted to get. They had no idea why the Sunarr want so much gold, nor what they would do with it once they have it. It was at the heart of things though, they both knew that. Jay invited them to sit down and, refusing any drinks, William left. An awkward silence fell upon the room.

  'Well?' Jay asked.

  'I'm not sure where to begin.' Jane replied.

  'I have photos.' George said brightly.

  'OK' Jay replied, 'let's start with those.'

  George hooked his camera up to Jay's personal display. The first image was of a half-opened entrance to the dome.

  'As you can see,’ George said, zooming in, 'there appears to be no natural entrance. The wall of the dome just seemed to dissolve and then reappear after we passed through.'

  He shifted to another photo of the interior. The conversation started to flow now, Jay questioning them about each and every photo. She stopped them on a particular photo. It was one George had taken of the change in the conveyor belt, where the convicts had been working.

  'Who are they?' Jay insisted.

  'Those are convicts who are breaking up some of the rocks missed by the crusher.' George replied. He hadn't really intended on them being in the frame, but they usefully provided scale.

  'No those two.' Jay insisted again, pointing to two of the convicts.

  'That's Saeb and Benjamin. Why?'

  'Did you get their surnames?' Jay was quite animated now.

  'Yes, they are Saeb Tibi and Benjamin Yogev.' Jane replied, curious with all they had to report, Jay seemed so interested in two convicts.

  'Did you speak to them?' Jay asked.

  'Yes, of course.' Jane replied, slightly insulted that her journalistic capability was being questioned.

  'Tell me everything about the conversation.'

  Jane recounted it to Jay, who seemed to be getting more and more excited. Finally finished, she looked to Jay for her response.

  'So let me get this straight.' Jay said, trying to keep calm about it. 'You have setup the ability to trade messages with Saeb Tibi and Benjamin Yogev who are prisoners in one of the Mexican Sunarr domes?'

  'Yes.' Jane replied simply, still in the dark as to why these two were so interesting to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

  Jay sat there, impassive, thinking. If I don't trust these two, then whom do I trust?

  'Saeb Tibi and Benjamin Yogev are senior representatives of the Palestinians and the Israelis. They were conducting secret, long-term negotiations towards a permanent peaceful settlement for that region. The Mexican authorities raided the talks, which were being sponsored by the Americans, on the pretext of a drugs bust. No one heard of them after that. It appears they are still keeping silent. This is very significant. Look,' Jay continued, noting the time approaching two thirty, 'I want to continue this later. Can you stick around?'

  'Of course.' Jane replied for them both.

  'Good. I'll have William schedule some time with you later this afternoon. Now however I have a speech to deliver. You are welcome to come and watch if you like.'

  'Thanks.'

  They both left as William entered.

  'Can you find some time in my diary for Jane and George this afternoon?' Jay asked.

  'Of course.' William replied, annoyed that his carefully detailed and planned schedule was being shredded today. Of course, he thought to himself, whomever I have to bump is going to be even more annoyed. That thought pleased him immensely.

  Jay and William left her office together. The lift seemed to take an unusually long time to reach their floor, but eventually the doors opened. Jay was deep in thought about the Mexican mining camp; with luck, we will make contact with two highly experienced military officers inside one of these Sunarr domes.

  The lift jerked to a halt stuck between two floors. Jay's heart skipped a beat.

  'What's the problem?'

  'I don't know.' William replied. What? Do I look like a lift engineer? William lifted the emergency phone. It was answered promptly and he gave his name, position and work location. The voice on the other end asked if anyone else was trapped in the lift with him.

  'I have the Secretary-General with me.' The tone and quality of the voice changed noticeably. He nodded as he listened and turned to Jay. 'They'll have an engineer up here straight away.' Jay seemed unusually worried. She is normally so calm and even tempered. Claustrophobia, he guessed.

  Jay tried to steady her breathing, taking deep breaths and releasing them slowly. It was only a few minutes before rescue came, the emergency phone beeped. William answered then replaced the phone.

  'The engineer is with us. We should be out in a jiffy.'

  'Good.' Was all Jay could manage.

  There was a rumble as the lift doors were winched open, light from the lift engineer’s inspection lamp flooded in. Jay gulped deeply, an involuntary response, acid in her stomach churning, ready to expel her lunch.

  The engineer called out to them. 'Is anybody hurt?'

  'No' William replied.

  'OK.' The engineer said 'I'm going to winch you down to the next floor. Keep clear of the doors plea
se.'

  The lift slowly moved as the engineer operated the manual winch. Soon they could see the top of the next floor appear at the bottom of the lift floor. It eventually drew level and they both exited. William could now make out the beads of sweat that had collected on Jay's forehead. She really was nervous, he noted, again surprised that she was rattled by such a minor inconvenience.

  Jay was not a superstitious person; however, she did earnestly believe that there is a guiding force in life if we are prepared to accept it. On any other day, she would have shrugged off the event as being one of those things. Today however she felt different. Now she was nervous about the speech. They took another lift, this one fortunately delivering them without further delay.

  The floor of the United Nations was crowded, even at this short notice there was a great deal of interest in the upcoming announcement by the Sunarr. The media networks were carrying it live around the world. Jay took another few deep breaths whilst allowing her makeup artist to fix her appearance. She pulled back her shoulders and strolled confidently up to the lectern.

  The speech was good, she noted to herself. I must compliment the writer, especially on such short notice, she thought to herself whilst continuing to deliver it. Confident in the use of an autocue, she was in the habit of scanning a couple of lines ahead, the better to ensure that she gave proper emphasis to each sentence. The vertical line on the autocue indicating that she was nearing the end of the speech. She continued to scan ahead, then came the sentence that changed everything. It rattled through her mind and therefore it gives me great pleasure to welcome and introduce Shiwanevar of the Sunarr.

  She was just finishing the paragraph before this; she turned her head to her left and saw one of the protection officers. She looked deep into his eyes. Jay pushed herself away from the lectern, half-sprinting half-jumping backwards and to her right. A shot rang out. A voice shouting 'Free Earth'. Jay rugby tackled Shiwanevar to the floor. Another shot, then another. The gunman was trying to hit a moving target. Now she had stopped moving, lying on top of the Sunarr ambassador. He took proper aim as three shots rang out, his bullet leaving the gun's chamber as he was hit, the barrel moving slightly as he lost his balance. The bullet ripped through the air, hitting Jayanti.

  The gunman slumped to the floor, already dead from three separate shots to his chest from three protection officers on the other side of the room. Panic gripped the room, ambassadors rushing for the exits, more protection officers running forward. Jayanti's eyes closed.

  19:10 16 December [00:10 17 December GMT]

  Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA.

  'She is in a stable but serious condition.' The surgeon said, 'we have removed the bullet, but it did a lot of damage. We have managed to re-inflate the left lung, repaired the two arteries and set her broken arm. She is very lucky to be alive.' She added unnecessarily.

  'Can I see her?' William asked nervously.

  'She is awake, but on a morphine drip for the pain. But yes, in fact she has been asking for you.'

  It had taken William a full thirty minutes to get through the police and security cordons. Ordinarily he would have been escorted through by the head of Jayanti's security detail. He and all his men were now answering some very difficult questions. They however, as angry as anyone that one of their own had done this, were also completely baffled by it.

  William entered the private room. The entire wing had been evacuated taken over for the treatment of this one patient. Security was the thing, there was no time to do background checks on the other patients so they had to be moved. Jayanti was propped up in bed, unclothed but covered in bandages, her left arm in plaster. There was a lot of bruising to the top of her chest William noted.

  'You look like hell.' He said brightly.

  'Thanks.' Jay replied. 'How are things?'

  William's face fell. He drew a chair close to her bed and sat down.

  'Bad. There have been similar attacks all around the world. Several leaders are dead, as are some of the Sunarr ambassadors.'

  'Anyone important?' Jay asked, still groggy from the medication.

  'They are all important.' William replied flatly.

  'You know what I mean.' Jay snapped, annoyed at her aide's attitude. She took a breath, heaved herself up slightly, and leaned towards him. 'I'm sorry Will; I'm still pretty shaken up. You are quite right, they are all important, everyone is. I meant have there been any assassinations of leaders which will affect the world geo-political structure.'

  William sighed too, he could see his boss was in a bad way, pain and medication were affecting her judgement and his rebuke had only been to help her see this. She can't go in front of the press right now, one wrong word and...He broke off from his trail of thought, smiled at Jay and replied to her question.

  'The US Vice-President is dead. As are the leaders of Palestine and Israel, each is blaming the other. The British Prime Minister is critical but stable. The Russian Prime Minister's status is unknown; however, it is believed that he is alive. Everyone is nervous. All of the financial markets are closed, probably for the rest of the week until things calm down a bit.'

  'I need to get out in front of this.' Jay said.

  'What you need is rest.' William replied, 'I'll have a statement put out confirming that you are well and that you will hold a press conference tomorrow.' He hoped this would have the right effect.

  'Thank you Will. That should do for now. You will need to get a statement out to all of the UN Ambassadors assuring them,’ Jay paused searching for words 'that we stand united together.'

  'Of course. Madam Secretary-General. I will check in on you later, you need to rest for now.' William replied standing to leave.

  With William gone, Jay lay there thinking. She hadn't lied in her press statement neither had she speculated as to who was responsible, their motives or anything of substance. What worried her the most however was the combination of the sheer scale involved, mounting attacks almost simultaneously around the world and the fact that the individuals responsible were all security checked professionals and supposedly loyal to their leaders. There had to be an immense organisation behind this. The question is who and why?

  10:15 17 December [15:15 17 December GMT]

  Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, USA.

  Jay sat awkwardly at her desk. The broken ribs, the punctured lung, the shattered arm and the bruising were all giving her cause to complain. She didn't however; she remained tight lipped about the discomfort she was feeling. The one concession she had made was to agree to small press interviews here in her office rather than a larger one elsewhere where she would have to stand. She knew that she should be lying down, but this was too important to postpone. The world needed to see her, and she needed them to see her. Not all of the press were going to be able to see her, but they were trying to accommodate the majority by having them interview in small groups.

  The questions beyond how she was feeling and who else had been shot all centred on Who was behind it and Why. The shout of Free Earth given at each shooting gave the media enough to be able to build a reasonable Why. Some people didn't like the arrival of aliens and the leaders who dealt with them. The Who was more difficult. They knew the names of each individual; they had their backgrounds, but no clue as to how or why they coordinated their attacks. The only know link was that they were all bodyguards to leaders dealing with the Sunarr. How could they have organised themselves so quickly and without raising any suspicions? Jay did her best to field all the questions, however having no clue herself she could rule nothing in or out.

  William ushered out the last group of journalists. Jay's personal bodyguard, Pete, wanted to see her. Will insisted that anything she needed to know he could pass on. The bodyguard declined and pushed to see her. Will stood his ground, but seeing that the bodyguard wasn't going to back down, he tried a different tack.

  'You will leave your weapon out here. I will accompany you into her office. It i
s either that or I will have you reassigned.' The bodyguard was considerably larger than Will, fitter too and with extensive training in unarmed combat. The bodyguard looked down at Will, looked at his watch, and then removed his handgun, placing it in the drawer William had opened for him.

  'Let's go.' He growled.

  William, shaking slightly, led Pete into Jay's office. Jay looked up from her desk and slightly recoiled in her seat. Some of the fear she felt crept into her voice as she spoke.

  'What… what is it William?'

  'Pete has a message for you, which he wouldn't give to me. It’s OK he is unarmed.'

  This brought a rather unpleasant smile to Pete's lips, I could probably kill you with one blow, maybe two, you jumped up little fraction of a man. Despite thinking this, he was actually quite impressed by William's protection of his boss.

  'Can I speak in front of....' Pete began, searching for the right phrase '...this individual?'

  'You can.' Jay replied simply.

  'In that case I have been instructed to take you to a meeting, due,' Pete checked his watch, 'in three minutes.'

  'What meeting? Where? I haven't anything on your calendar for now.' William said, annoyed that scheduling might involve someone other than himself.

  'I' began Jay, but she lost the thrust, 'damn it. Look, just come with me and I'll explain along the way.'

  Leaving her office behind she lead the three of them down the corridor to the lift. Inside Pete slid his key into the mechanism and punched the ground floor button twice. The lift started to ascend. Jay did her best to explain in a short a time as possible. William, for his part, didn't question her. Time enough for that later, he thought.

  Jay exited the lift on her own and took her place in front of the screen, which, after a few seconds, illuminated showing the group sat at the large conference table. Most of the faces she recognised, a few she didn't and some others were missing. So, the group must be larger than this, with members attending when they can. One of the members spoke directly to her.