The Zul Enigma

by J M Leitch

  Carlos opened his arms wide. ‘So that’s how they did it.’

  ‘They intercepted the sessions at your apartment the same way. The beauty of this method is there’s no need for any sophisticated hacking or decryption of local network protocols – just a knowledge of the signals accepted by the virtual keyboard input device.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ Carlos said clapping him on the shoulder, making him spill his drink.

  ‘But,’ Joseph went on, ‘there was one possible flaw.’

  ‘Which was?’

  ‘Zul’s first two e-mails came in at night and you can’t beam a laser through window coverings.’

  ‘Hey!’ Carlos said, ‘that’s not a problem because I never close the blinds in my office. Ask anyone.’

  ‘And at your apartment?’

  ‘Same.’

  ‘That confirms what your assistant said.’

  ‘How about the holovideo calls? Did they send them in the same way?’

  ‘Not exactly. The bandwidth of the input device, the virtual keyboard, is too low. It couldn’t inject the high bandwidth data required by a holovideo.’

  ‘So…?’

  ‘All the unlogged calls came in directly after you finished holovideo calls with someone else, right? And that’s the key. In all three cases, holovideo conference sessions were already running, so whoever did this intercepted the network packets with their external device as the calls were being closed down and took over the sessions.

  ‘In this way they could affect the interception either at the source where the calls were initiated, as with the case of Zul, or at the destination where they were received, as with the baby and the woman. That’s why the logs show the time the original calls ended and there’s no record of the second calls coming in.’

  ‘It’s genius!’

  ‘And that’s not all. Because the bandwidth didn’t change when the existing sessions were hijacked, the bandwidth management systems didn’t detect it as an anomaly and red flag it, which is yet another reason how the calls were snuck in without anyone noticing.’

  ‘But you still don’t know where they came from?’ Carlos took a sip of his drink and held it in his mouth for a second before swallowing.

  ‘No. The only way to find that out is to catch it happening. And even if we did, it would only lead to the device that contains the laser, not to the operator.’

  Carlos stared at his glass. ‘And what do you think, Joseph?’

  ‘To set this up and execute it requires specialist resources, equipment and expertise – and why would anyone go to all that trouble unless there was a big prize at the end? No one’s claimed responsibility and we have no idea what motive the person who masterminded it has. Someone’s invested all this effort and expense – but why? What are they going to get out of it?’

  ‘The same questions – and still no answers. So?’

  ‘So… to my mind, logic says we should at least consider the possibility that the contact originated from a non-human.’

  ‘That’s what I thought too, until the Americans convinced me I was responsible.’

  Joseph looked at Carlos. ‘Well, they don’t believe that any more. And the Dryden boys aren’t ruling out the possibility that the contact’s genuine, nor are some of the guys from the Ministry of Defense.’

  ‘What’ll Anderson do now?’ Carlos laughed.

  ‘He’s still trying to keep a lid on it but the word usually has a habit of slipping out and if it does, he’ll become a laughing stock.’ Joseph shook his head, ‘but nobody can persuade Bob Anderson other higher intelligence beings exist. He thinks he’s the only one.’

  Carlos smiled. ‘Thing is, it doesn’t really matter. All we have to do is…’ and Carlos leaned in closer to Joseph’s ear to tell him about the idea he’d discussed with Greg on the plane.

  ‘Another drink, gentlemen?’ the barman asked.

  Joseph raised his brows and Carlos nodded.

  ‘You know I admire you for what you’re about to do, Carlos.’

  ‘Hey, don’t talk like I’m a saint.’

  ‘I wouldn’t go that far. But the hard part will be selling it to Anderson. Let me know how the meeting goes tomorrow morning. How about lunch after?’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Call me when you’re through.’

  Carlos nodded and drained his glass.

  ‘Carlos, there’s something else,’ Joseph said, ‘something I want to ask. If Zul and Astraea aren’t human, what if they’re not as benign as they claim? What if they told you a pack of lies? What if they’re planning to take over our planet?’

  ‘I thought about that too,’ Carlos said. ‘Thing is,’ he shrugged, ‘there’s no way to know. So we might as well raise our consciousness. It can’t do us any harm.’

  ‘And how are you?’ Joseph asked, appraising Carlos. ‘You look well.’

  ‘I am well. I feel great. Now I realise how bad I was before.’

  ‘You were so withdrawn in Vienna. Not like I remember you at all.’

  ‘Then when the Americans accused me of making the Zul story up? It was the last straw. It nearly destroyed me. You said it when you called, I lost my passion for life – my passion for everything. And I want to apologise about what I said.’

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘About never liking you. It’s not that I never liked you – thing is I never really knew you.’

  ‘Come on… don’t even think about it.’

  ‘You were very opinionated and aggressive back then,’ Carlos said, nudging Joseph’s arm, ‘but you’ve changed. You’re different now.’

  Joseph stared at the fresh drink in front of him. ‘I’d only just got out of the army. I had to learn to lighten up.’

  Carlos swivelled himself around on the stool. ‘Anyhow, what you did? Getting me away from the Americans? I can’t thank you enough.’

  ‘You already did, Carlos. On the phone.’

  ‘But I want to say it in person.’

  ‘I couldn’t stand by and watch you being shat on and do nothing about it. In any case, it wasn’t just me. Drew was in on it too. He was the one who told me what was going on.’ Carlos’s face tensed at the mention of that name. ‘It was his idea to get you away. And did you know he called Greg Howard? To get him to persuade the Americans to bring you to Vienna?’

  Carlos grunted and turned away.

  ‘Look, I know it’s none of my business, but all that bad stuff happened a long time ago. He doesn’t want to lose you as a friend. He’s…’

  Carlos raised his hands. ‘I… it… I can’t believe she did it. Not with him of all people. Some friend, hey?’

  ‘Carlos, he thought your marriage was over.’

  ‘Sí. That’s what he said. Even so… he couldn’t wait a week? A month?’

  Joseph shook his head. ‘You’re right. But you and Drew were always so close. Can’t you try… try and forgive?’

  ‘I’m… I’m not wallowing in it, you know? I’m trying to deal with it. Put all the negative things in my life behind me. Take Elena out of the equation and – it’s true – I don’t want to lose the friendship. It goes back a long way – long before she ever came into my life. But… truth is… I’m a man and I’m Spanish. We don’t forgive that kind of thing and we certainly don’t forget. So even after listening to Zul and making the decision to be less selfish, I’m not ready to apply it to sharing my wife. Okay?’

  Carlos looked over his shoulder and saw that the hen party was moving on. The women, swaying like seaweed in a current, were huddled over the bill. After sharing emotional embraces, they scooped up the bride from where she’d slid down the wall dislodging her veil, and like a single organism with multiple legs, stumbled out across the puddled pavement dragging after them what looked like a grubby net rag skewered on one of the bride’s stiletto heels.

  CHAPTER 5

  Bob, in the Oval Office with his back to the fire, was seated on his favourite mahogany carver chair while Anita, notebook placed on
her lap as usual, perched on the couch to his left with Barbara next to her.

  ‘Barbara,’ he said, staring straight past her face and out through the window behind his desk at the opposite end of the office, apparently fixated by the rain pouring down from the heavy black clouds that looked close enough to touch, ‘what do you have to report?’

  Ever since Barbara got back from Vienna, Bob had been terse and unable to look her in the eye. She’d witnessed how he’d behaved with other staff members who had upset him in the past, so his detached manner was nothing new. She knew given time the icy irritation would melt away to be replaced by his customary composed veneer. At least she hoped it would.

  ‘I’ve terminated surveillance on Maiz now we no longer have anything on him.’

  ‘But are you positive?’ Bob asked.

  ‘I am. He’s had ample time to go to the press, if that’s what he intended. Why wait till he’s back in DC, on our turf?’

  ‘Because it will make a bigger splash if he does it here, right under my nose.’ Bob growled, firing a blistering look out of the corner of his eye as vicious as the lash of a whip.

  ‘You have a point, sir, but if that was his plan, he’d also be taking a bigger risk of our apprehending him. In any case, it’s a non-issue because the circumstantial evidence we had before is no longer valid.’

  Bob grunted, looking at the rose garden. It was the first day in weeks that the leafless bushes weren’t covered in snow. Instead there were puddles on the lawn, a result of the thaw and endless drizzle that had been falling non-stop since the previous day.

  ‘You’d better be right or I’ll have your ass in a sling.’ Barbara didn’t flinch, but Anita ducked her head and stared at the pen she was twiddling between her fingers.

  ‘Knowing how the messages got through,’ Bob continued, ‘is a breakthrough, but as far as shedding any light on who’s responsible, it’s no damn use at all and we’re no better off than we were a week ago. In fact, we’re worse off. At least then we had a suspect in our hands.’ His gaze swept over Barbara. She knew he hadn’t forgiven her for letting Carlos get away, regardless of how innocent he was.

  ‘Sir,’ Barbara said, ‘I don’t see you need me to stay for the meeting. Until we collect evidence pointing at who’s responsible for these communications, there’s nothing more my agency can do.’

  ‘You implying you already did something?’ Bob shot back and laughed. ‘No. You stay here. After all, someone has to apologise to Dr Maiz.’

  By the time Greg and Carlos arrived, General James Schwabe, Director of the National Security Agency, had taken a seat next to Bob on the other carver chair.

  ‘Barbara,’ Bob commanded.

  ‘Dr Maiz, let me start by saying we owe you an apology.’ Barbara shifted forward on the couch and folded her hands in her lap. ‘Having seen the holovideo recordings and now NASA’s explained how they came in, we no longer believe you imagined them or sent the e-mails.’ She gave a small smile while inclining her head to one side, ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Apology accepted,’ Carlos replied, suppressing the urge to make her grovel. Greg had warned him not to do or say anything to upset anyone this time round but, although he’d promised to comply, he couldn’t resist looking at Bob and adding, ‘Thank you, sir,’ to push him into admitting some form of accountability. In response, the President gave a curt nod.

  ‘That’s most generous of you, Dr Maiz,’ Barbara continued. ‘I know how upsetting the past days must have been for you and I am truly sorry for the distress we caused you.’

  ‘Hey, de nada,’ he conceded, waving his hand in the air.

  ‘General?’ Bob said. ‘If you wouldn’t mind?’

  ‘Gentlemen and ladies,’ James Schwabe began, ‘although NASA has explained how the mystery communications got in, unfortunately it’s led us no closer to discovering who’s responsible. But even if we could catch the laser in action and trace it back to its source, it would only lead us to the device that contained it. Although that may give us a clue who’s behind it all, truth is right now we have no idea.’

  Barbara stared at her hands and Anita drew daisies. Nobody spoke.

  ‘Dr Maiz,’ the General continued, ‘do you think either this “Zul” character or the woman will contact you again?’

  Carlos shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I think they already told me all they wanted to say.’

  ‘I see,’ he replied, ‘and from watching the recordings that’s the impression we have too – if we assume “Zul” is an alien. But if not, then the perpetrators could beam in their demands at any time and we’d be fools not to be prepared. Since you’re their contact point, Dr Maiz, we want to set up a global positioning system and an auto-tracking digital laser theodolite in your office and at your home.’

  ‘A what?’ Greg said.

  ‘It will capture the coordinates of the signal’s source should another message come in. With your permission, we’ll make the arrangements direct with your Network Security Manager.’

  ‘How does it work?’ Greg asked.

  ‘The GPS positions the theodolite in global 3D space so that the 3D space coordinates of the device containing the sending laser, or lasers, can be derived.’

  Carlos shrugged again. ‘Okay, I don’t have a problem with that. I’ll tell our people to comply with your requirements.’

  Greg wriggled his large bulk forward on the couch. ‘And if the communications are coming from beings of higher consciousness, what then?’ All the heads in the room turned in his direction, ‘or have you absolutely ruled out that possibility?’ he asked.

  Well aware of the President’s views and his opinion of Carlos, during their pre-meeting strategy talk Carlos had suggested the up-coming discussion would be kept less inflammatory if he and Greg switched roles. Therefore Greg was to bring up the likelihood of Zul’s contact being genuine and to field any questions on that subject, while Carlos was to keep well clear of the topic as long as he could without appearing rude or obstructive, or unless Greg needed help on some technical issue.

  ‘No, NASA hasn’t absolutely ruled out that possibility yet,’ the General admitted.

  ‘Come on,’ Bob butted in, ‘surely the fact we know how they did it proves it was humans?’

  ‘How do you reach that conclusion?’ Greg asked.

  Gripping the armrests with his hands, Bob lifted himself a smidgeon off the seat of his chair. ‘Because if it’s aliens,’ he made the word sound like an obscenity, ‘they’d’ve used some new invention to get the messages in? Huh? Some hitherto unknown alien-type technology.’

  ‘I disagree.’ Greg said. ‘To communicate with us they need to use technology that’s compatible with our own.’

  ‘So where’s it coming from?’ Bob laughed. ‘You think they’re beaming this shit in from a spacecraft? If that’s the case, we’d’ve had hundreds of reports of UFO sightings from NASA by now, isn’t that correct Dr Maiz?’ and he glanced at Carlos.

  ‘Sir,’ Greg replied, ‘with due respect, Zul’s assurance that the Galactic Federation has a true understanding of how our universe works doesn’t preclude the possibility that extraterrestrial beings exist in the physical third density. However, Zul’s description of the evolutionary process goes far beyond the physical. He’s claiming the existence of an even broader concept… multi-universes… and the seamless movement of consciousness between their boundaries when specific conditions are met.

  ‘So I agree with you, sir,’ Greg continued. ‘I don’t think they’re beaming lasers in from a spacecraft either, because Zul never claimed to be from outer space. What he does claim is the Galactic Federation comprises entities from a higher density, one that is not of our material world. He says they don’t exist in a physical form on our planet, or on any other planet, or even in outer space, but exist as pure consciousness. What Zul does claim, however, is they can manipulate the level of their vibrating energy to form matter and that’s how they’d create the laser bea
ms to get the messages in.’

  Everyone was still staring at Greg when Carlos’s eyebrow made an involuntary twitch. He smiled to himself. Greg was playing his part very well.

  ‘If that’s so,’ Bob said leaning forward, ‘forget manifesting laser beams – why don’t they just appear in front of us right here?’ and he pointed at the floor in front of his feet.

  ‘Because it would contravene the Law of One,’ Greg replied.

  ‘What the hell’s that? Some alien handbook?’

  ‘According to Zul, it’s the Law that governs the universe.’

  ‘Crap,’ Bob said. ‘I don’t believe a word of it.’

  ‘If humans are responsible,’ Carlos said, ‘they’d need access to the facilities and equipment to pull it off.’

  ‘Not only that,’ the General added, ‘to take over the holovideo calls the way they did, they’d need to know exactly what was going on in the original sessions. NASA discusses this at length in their report. They’d either have to be observing directly through a window from an external location; or have a microphone planted in the room or on the other side of a wall in the room where the receiving end of the conference call was being conducted; or be sniffing the data packets on the local internal network to time the intercept. It would be no mean feat, sir.’

  ‘Who has access to this kinda technology?’ Bob asked.

  ‘Oh my,’ Barbara said, ‘any technologically advanced power you care to name: the Europeans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Pakistanis, the Russians – the list goes on.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Bob tapped the arms of his chair with the flats of his hands. ‘There are hundreds of people out there who could’ve done it.’

  ‘Sir,’ James said, ‘it’s not that the technology required is uncommon or needs specialist training to operate, it’s about the planning and effort needed to set it up. Not to mention the expense. Who’d bother? Or perhaps a better question is, why bother?’

  ‘That is absolutely the million dollar question,’ Greg cut in, ‘and until we know the answer, there’s not a hope in hell of solving this mystery.’