Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012)

by Diego Rodriguez

  Another topic which Al Gore touched on, and which gave James food for thought, was the impact carbon dioxide had on the thawing of the continents. According to him, the increase in CO2 was the main reason why the icecaps and gigantic glaciers were disappearing. Forty percent of the world’s population get their drinking water from rivers or springs which receive over half of their load from the thawing of those huge masses of frozen water. What would happen if there were no more glaciers? Would there be enough water for the needs of a population which is increasing every day? Thanks to the latest developments in technology, we are able to measure the level of carbon dioxide on the planet over the years. We can obtain this information simply by studying the ice in Antarctica. The idea is to drill holes in the ground and extract a cylinder of many feet of ice. The atmosphere bubbles trapped in the ice would reflect the level of CO2 and even the temperature of that year in particular. We are then able to extrapolate that data back to over 650000 years ago and discover the environmental conditions with startling accuracy, and it is fair to say that the same relationship has always been in place; the greater the level of carbon dioxide, the higher the temperature. It is important to mention that carbon dioxide levels have never been as high as they are today, and whenever they have been excessive, it has always resulted in glaciation which would balance out the situation over time. Does that mean that we about to enter a new ice age? Carbon dioxide clearly heats up the Earth’s surface, absorbing humidity and making it even drier and more arid. It also causes water to evaporate from the oceans and go up to form clouds, which subsequently leads to hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons which become unstoppable as they pass over warm waters, bringing about unimaginable damage.

  Even more shocking were his claims about the polar icecaps melting, given that their thickness has decreased by forty percent over the last forty years. The more pessimistic scientists warn of a devastating future, stating that the Arctic icecap will have melted completely in a little over fifty years. Why does this happen? The truth is that a good amount of the sun’s rays, over ninety percent in fact, come into contact with icy surfaces. They are therefore reflected back into space as if they had hit a mirror. However, it must be remembered that over ninety percent of those which hit the ocean are absorbed, heating up the water, and it is this increase in water temperature around the polar icecaps which accelerates the thawing process. Huge puddles of water are currently forming on the ice in Antarctica and Greenland. This water moves down the cracks in the surface, lubricating the area where the ice comes into contact with the seabed, which in turn causes it to break up, with great quantities breaking off little by little into the sea. This ice, which was once floating, drops into the ocean and causes the sea level to increase to the point where whole cities could be flooded in the not too distant future. We would have to redraw our maps of the world to reflect the changing coastline!

  At various points throughout the meeting, the public’s applause interrupted the methodical and well-researched documentation of Al Gore, but that was nothing compared to the silence brought on by his last claims.

  “Overall, species loss is now occurring at a rate 1,000 times greater than the natural background rate.”

  “Some thirty so-called new diseases have emerged in the last quarter century… There has been a re-emergence of some diseases that were under control.”

  “There are more and more of us in the world who need more energy, and we obtain that energy through techniques which pollute. That growth in population puts pressure on vulnerable natural resources.”

  “Almost 30% of the CO2 that goes up into the atmosphere each year comes is from forest burning…”

  “The scientific and technological revolution is a great blessing… but this new power that we have also brings a responsibility to think about its consequences.”

  And finally:

  “It’s difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

  James had already seen lots of environmental documentaries and some of those statements rang a bell, but something was missing throughout the documentary, just as important as climate change, if not more so - our behavior towards each other. Twenty percent of the world’s population consumes eighty percent of the wealth. The amount of money spent on worldwide military matters is twelve times that given as aid to developing countries. Billions of human beings are living in hunger without access to drinking water, and five thousand people die every day due to drinking contaminated water. Every year, thirteen million hectares of woodland disappear, many of it burned down. One mammal in every four, one bird in every eight and one amphibian in every three is at risk of extinction. We tear through marine fauna at a devastating rate, fishing stocks have been exhausted.

  Al Gore brought the meeting to a close by talking about some solutions with which James agreed wholeheartedly - renewable energy and technology, more efficient means of transport and fewer pollutants, as well as the daily use of devices which consume less energy, capturing and storing carbon dioxide, a change of attitude so that everybody is aware of our position in the world and respect it.

  Charly’s voice suddenly brought James back down to earth, to that underground office in Area 51.

  “Thanks to your friend, we haven’t been able to get the source. It belongs to the United States of America right now, but you are going to solve that problem. You are going to steal it for me!”

  “You’re crazy! I’ll never help you. You’re sick in the head!”

  Charly hit him across the face with the butt of his gun. “You’ll do what I tell you!”

  “No! Kill me! I’ll never help you!”

  Despite having a weapon pointed straight at his head, James walked towards the door intending to leave the office as quickly as possible. He knew that he would kill him sooner or later and he would never escape, but he wanted to know if his daughter was alive and this was the only way to do so. He was showing him that he didn’t care if he died and that he would have to find another way of coercing him to help.

  It worked.

  Charly’s eyes turned red with rage and he clenched his jaw, radiating hatred. He grinded his teeth hard, trying to keep himself in check so as not to shoot him and he quickly went to the other side of the room. James stopped and followed his movements with his eyes. Next to bathroom door was a small control panel which was at first often unnoticed, because it was hidden behind the painting of the two planes about to take off. After typing in the security code, the mirror at the side pulled back like a curtain and disappeared into an alcove inside the adjacent wall.

  The image was chilling. James reacted in less than a millisecond and ran towards the screen which separated the office from the small room which had appeared out of nowhere, but Charly got in his way and aimed at his head again.

  “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.” He watched James bite his lower lip until it bled, how he kept his fist clenched and how his breathing had become much more erratic than before. “Have no doubt that if you die, your daughter will as well, but she will suffer immensely. I will make sure of it, you mark my words.”

  Behind the glass was a rectangular room around hundred square feet. There were two chairs in the middle of the room, the ones which had disappeared from the room, and two bodies tied to them. They were his ex-wife and his daughter and they appeared to have been drugged. On one of the inside walls was a gigantic digital clock with red numbers. It read 18:23.

  “You’re sick.” His face did not show rage, just disgust. “What have you done to them?”

  “Nothing for the moment. Whether they live or die depends on you. I’ve already told you what I want you to do for me.”

  “How can I steal it if I don’t have access to any part of the site?! It’s crazy!”

  Charly smiled. “Before I tell you anything, I want you to see something. Look at their bodies.”

  At first glance, he couldn’t see anything strange except for the fact that th
eir legs were also tied to the legs of the chair. However, when he looked again he realized what he meant. The two of them were wearing dark vests bearing the insignia of the U.S. Air Force and a pile of cables running through them, which he had at first mistaken for rope.

  “Around their chests are explosives powerful enough to blast the body so hard that not a trace will remain. The explosion will be so violent that they won’t feel any pain at all, their bodies will be ripped apart much quicker than the time it takes for the nerve impulses to reach the brain.”

  “You bastard! Son of a bitch! You’re crazy!”

  “Yes, but look,” he replied as he took out a small rectangular object which had four different colored buttons - red, green, gray and black. He then pressed the green one and the digital clock on one of the walls reset itself and suddenly showed a definite amount of time - sixty minutes. A beep coming from James’ wrist caught his attention. It was his watch, the watch given to him by Mary as a token of how much affection she had for him. By the expression on James’ face, it looked as if he had had a bucket of icy water thrown over his back. He couldn’t stop looking in astonishment at how the hands had lined up at twelve on the dot, as if by magic. Without prior warning, the clock on the wall began to count down as James’ watch began to work.

  Chapter 83

  “The mechanism I have just activated will detonate the bomb after one hour. Your ex-wife and your daughter will be blown to bits so quickly that they won’t even feel any pain.”

  “They’ll hear the explosion!” he yelled as he looked at his wristwatch in disgust, blaming himself for not having realized earlier. It must have been equipped with some bug or other global positioning system which allowed them to know where he was. They had kept a close eye on him. He went to remove it but Charly stopped him.

  “That’s impossible,” he said eventually. “The room you’re looking at is two feet thick and made from concrete, reinforced steel and strengthened glass. Believe me, I’ve detonated explosives ten times more dangerous than this one.”

  The distance between them was over ten feet and when James tried to close in, Charly quickly reminded him that he was the one who called the shots.

  “What do you want me to do?!”

  “I told you. Steal the Trifariam for me.”

  “You’re crazy! How can I do that?! How do you expect me to get into the laboratory, steal the Trifariam and get out without being seen?!”

  Charly ignored him and looked at the digital clock already showing fifty-seven minutes and fourteen seconds, thirteen, twelve… It was then that the office telephone started to ring, temporarily breaking the tension that was in the air. Charly walked to the desk without taking his eyes off him or putting down the gun.

  “Hello?” He just smiled when he heard the reply from the other end of the phone. “Perfect, Justin. Come to my office right away. Don’t speak to anybody, or stop for anybody. This is a secret national security matter. Is that clear?” He heard Justin agree and hung up. He smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

  James didn’t understand a thing. Maybe Justin had been involved in this ruse as well?

  “This is what you will do. You will make your way to the private elevator and use Agatha to get to the scientific laboratories. You will walk along the corridor until you reach the last door, the laboratory you visited this morning, which is where they are keeping it. You will go in, pick it up and take it away without anybody seeing you. Avoid contact with everyone and don’t speak to anyone, otherwise your daughter will die.”

  “How do I know that you won’t kill us when I give you the source?”

  He put the gun down. There was enough distance between them for him to aim at James again if he tried to pull anything. “You don’t know that, but you will still do it because it is the only chance you have of saving your daughter.”

  James looked back at the dark chamber where Lily was. She was sleeping, or that was what he hoped, because if not, he wouldn’t rest until Charly paid for what he had done. The clock on the wall showed less than fifty-five minutes. He had to go. “Okay. How do I fool security?”

  Charly opened a drawer in the desk and took out a gray metal box the size of a matchbox. He threw it hard into the air and the university professor caught it perfectly. Inside was a kind of wireless intercom with an earpiece and a golden key.

  “Put in the earpiece and take the key. When the time is right, I’ll let you know.” James didn’t waste a second in doing so and listened as the device switched itself on. “As you already know, the security in Area 51 is absolutely incredible. Nothing escapes our cameras and there is no blind spot in the whole complex; this is the only place where filming is prohibited. Fifteen minutes ago, I ordered that all the security systems be switched off to allow for a last minute reconfiguration. From what Justin told me, this process will involve the security systems being inactive for exactly sixty minutes. However, there are certain security features which never stop working, such as Agatha. She will be the only one who will record your actions. Despite not being able to see you, I can hear everything you say and know your whereabouts in the complex at any given moment. For your daughter’s sake, I hope you don’t try to play games with me or you will live to regret it. You have fifty-two minutes left.”

  He sprinted through the office doorway and stared off into the distance of the long corridor with just one thought in his mind. He had to do everything he could to save his daughter.

  Although he hadn’t been out for run in over a year, he managed to cover the first five hundred yards in under two minutes. He was lucky, nobody was wandering about the corridors.

  Before he reached the first corner, Charly whispered something via the intercom. “Turn right and go straight ahead!”

  Charly had given him more of a warning than a suggestion, reminding him that he knew where he was at all times. James stopped, looked at his watch with great disdain and found that his initial theories had been confirmed. He paid heed to Charly but not before cursing under his breath, and he continued along the corridor to the right. He turned right again because the elevator was located in that corridor, but as he did so he bumped into a very thin young man whose hair was slightly unkempt. James was able to keep his balance, unlike Justin who fell over and skidded around seven feet along the ground.

  “Don’t tell him anything! Carry on!” shouted the Director of Area 51 just as James was apologizing to him.

  Justin got to his feet without saying a word, shot him an intimidating look and continued on his way. Meanwhile, James wondered if the scientist was involved in this or whether he had simply followed his boss’ instructions. He knew that Justin was going to Charly’s office, but… did he actually know the true identity of his boss or was he just a puppet to be manipulated? He didn’t have time to find out more. When he looked for the scientist, he had already disappeared around the corner.

  The elevator was at the end of the corridor. The doors were open, clearly Justin had just used it. He looked at his watch, it was 12:15; he had exactly forty-five minutes.

  He entered, feeling strange and ridiculous at being there alone. The inside seemed even larger in size than the last time he had used it.

  He put the key into the lock and eagerly turned it. The control panel he had seen that morning immediately reappeared before him. It wasn’t long before he heard Charly’s voice whispering in his ear, as if he was standing right next to him.

  “Type in this code - 5LY8D0NP.” James punched in the characters as he read them out. He repeated them by way of confirmation.

  The verification of the code was accompanied by that worrying sound of hinges that made the inner compartment turn in order to carry out the next test - the fingerprint.

  “Bring your index finger up to the reader,” ordered Charly.

  Although he didn’t know quite what to expect, he was astonished when the rotor made the compartment turn again after he had satisfactorily passed the test.

  Th
at’s odd!

  When the retinal scanner made an appearance, James brought his eye close to it before Charly could even tell him to do so over the intercom. A beam of light swept the whole surface of his eye until it had created an intricate map of his retina. It was the precursor to the final identity test and, of course, he passed again.

  Amazing! How the hell am I getting through these checks?!

  With a renewed sense of confidence, James brought his index finger up to the kind of lancet he had seen that morning. He couldn’t help but jump when the tiny needle pierced his skin and extracted a drop of blood which dripped straight onto the glass swab. Although he had no idea how or why, he had the feeling that he had been satisfactorily identified, something that Agatha confirmed when she spoke through the speakers.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Oldrich. How can I help you?”

  James was hardly surprised to see that Agatha had recognized him; the most shocking thing had been how Charly had managed to get him to pass the identity checks. He must have gotten some programmer to change the internal code of the application in order for him to have access at that particular moment, but that would mean that he had accomplices working in the Area 51 complex. He couldn’t think how else it could have happened, but… he suddenly remembered that he had been unconscious in hospital for several days. He had probably taken advantage of that to take a blood sample and his fingerprints. But… what about the retinal analysis? How did he get that? He tried to remember everything he had done from the moment he woke up in the room to when he came back from Stonehenge, even his visit to the scientific laboratories, the meeting with the Secretary of State, his visit to the Director’s office… He remained thoughtful for a few seconds. He tried to recreate an image in his mind of the office, the desk, the digital gallery, the sofas, the table in the middle… and he eventually realized what it was.