The Last Enemy - A history of the present future - 1934-2084

by Luca Luchesini

  Farlimas then looked at the clock, the time allotted for the meeting was over, there was the last point of the agenda that had not been discussed yet.

  “We will talk about the organization of the September Equinox festivities during the next Council meeting in two weeks. We will still have one week of time before the Equinox,” Farlimas said, surprising the audience, which feared that time was way too short. “If you do the math properly, we will have enough time.” Farlimas said, concluding the meeting.

  The Council members started to leave the room. After Farlimas exited, Tarek approached Ali.

  “Now I understand why you were so happy to bring loads of carbon dioxide and methane back and forth from outer space,” Tarek told him, “It is necessary for the bigger mission…I am dead curious to know what type of new awareness it will bring, but I know you cannot tell me, so I won’t ask.”

  “You are starting to pick up on how things work,” Ali smiled, “Giving up immortality has made you wiser, you see, grandpa. One thing I will tell you, though. It will be sooner than expected.”

  “Sooner?” Tarek replied, “What exactly does sooner mean? Will I be able to see it? I would like not to miss the show.”

  “Well, you took version B of the anti-Telomerax, antidote, like me,” Ali answered, “so your aging is now following the normal course, without any acceleration like Valerio’s, so yes, you will definitely be able to enjoy the show, and all its consequences. Possibly, you will see the day of our final triumph, when all of mankind will be unified under our faith.”

  Chapter 25

  “Yes, a modified MND-2 might indeed work in outer space,” Dinesh said from behind the screen, “ though it has never been tested in those conditions, at least by our company. Why are you asking me this?”

  Dinesh knew he would get no answer. Yaakov thanked him once again for his time and then ended the call.

  “Well, at least now we have a somewhat clear idea of the target…a damn clever choice, I have to say.” Helena commented, playing once again the simulation Louis had built over the last two days, so that the apocalypse started unfolding again under their eyes.

  On the holoscreen, an orbital elevator module was approaching the final station at geostationary orbit, when, undetected by space radars, a small cloud of drones, each one no bigger than a chocolate candy, jettisoned away from the module. Every drone headed to a different cable elevator, pushed by its small rocket engine it took a maximum of seven minutes to reach the farthest cable. The drone anchored to it and released the modified MND-2 attack module, which immediately started eating at the graphene nanotube structure of the elevator cable. Imagining the rest required an exercise in terror fantasy: the cable break would immediately throw off the weight of the Orbital Elevator into open space, while the rest of the cable would start falling down to Earth, accelerated by gravity and the planet rotation. Crumbling to Earth, the cables would take down with them all the intermediate orbital stations, but they would not burn out in the atmosphere, as their carbon nanotube structure is resistant to heat enough to survive the final part of the trip through the Earth’s atmosphere. Every cable would inflict a 22-thousand-mile-long asteroid-shaped scar on the Earth surface, annihilating everything within one-hundred yards of the impact site and sending nuclear-bomb like shockwaves for more than two miles. This would be multiplied at least forty times, one for every cable that is now in service.

  “The ugliest part of all this, according to the simulation, is that if you properly synchronize the breaking sequence you can actually quite precisely choose your targets on the surface..” explained Louis.

  “..and yet pretend it all happened by accident, due only to the random breaking of the first cable,” Yaakov finished. “Then, it will be very easy to blame it on the deviant trends of this brave new world, and reap all the advantages, if the Whip of God got rid of all your competitors, by erasing, for instance, Rome and Makkah.”

  “But security measures have increased after we shared this with secret services, right?” Helena asked, staying realistic, “Elevator payloads and modules are being scrutinized more closely, right?”

  “Of course, Helena, of course,” Yaakov replied, “Yet the devices are relatively easy to conceal. It all fits into a backpack that you can throw into space via the standard outer space communication bay of the elevator module. Something that from time to time is being used when, for example, there are carbon dioxide leaks from the payload.”

  “Also, are we sure this is not something to distract us?” Helena fought with all her might against the possibility of this happening, “After all, we are getting this information from Tarek. Can we trust him? True, he sent us some good information over the last few months. Yet, he is fully involved with Farlimas. He might still play double game. What if, while we focus on this, they strike elsewhere.”

  “Well, that could be,” Yaakov conceded, “yet, to achieve the same level of devastation, they would need to detonate at least twenty nuclear bombs, which for sure they do not have. Most importantly, nuclear bombs can be blamed on someone, like the Great Leak at the beginning of the year.”

  “Shit,” Louis stated, summing up the feelings of the team, “When is this likely going to take place? And what can we do to prevent it, once we know it has started?”

  “We have some ideas,” Yaakov said, confidently. “When, quite soon. How to prevent it, I think we have to focus on the missions run by the Navibahai-controlled organizations, which are more often than not manned by Ali Tantawy, Tarek’s nephew. He has eleven departure slots planned in this last quarter, the first already took place three days ago, on October 7th, then exactly one every week. It’s carbon dioxide and methane payloads all the time, except for next trip of October 14th.”

  “What is he scheduled to carry on that trip?”

  “Scientific probes, incidentally,” Yaakov said, “They will be released in geostationary orbit. It’s part of the Great Contemplation initiative that Farlimas has recently launched.”

  “The one meant against the Conquest of Saturn sponsored by Irina Kanchelskaya?” Helena asked.

  “Exactly,” Louis answered at the place of Yaakov, “As much as Irina’s proposal has a clear goal to create political consensus to favor her election to the Euro-Russian presidency next year, it is nonetheless a fact that her initiative calls for people to change step, to adapt and grow to a new, much bigger world, no longer bound by the limits of an average 80-or-so-years’ life or the dimensions of our planet,” Louis continued, “which is exactly what Farlimas has been ranting against in those past twenty years.”

  “Completely destroying one of the four orbital elevators, plus all the associated damage and emotional shockwave, would cripple Irina’s initiative forever,” Helena continued, “Not to mention increase the Navibahai clout and influence beyond imagination…I doubt we will have a place in that world. Do you think they will strike on that day, Yaakov?”

  “Before I answer that, there is one last thing we know,” Yaakov replied, “during the last trip that Ali took three days ago, something has been detected by the micro-meteoric sensors of the Elevator, the system that makes sure the cables do not get broken by the collision with any objects drifting in open space. The data is publicly available on the Elevator website, so I had a close look at what happened during Ali’s trip.”

  “What could it be?” Louis asked, “Something we can use as evidence?”

  “Not really, it was a small event, classified by the system as a micro-meteoroid occurence, that is detected for the first time around the module a few minutes before it reaches the final station, and is then tracked moving toward the next cable.”

  “So, you think they were rehearsing the attack?” Helena asked, jumping to a conclusion.

  “Exactly,” Yaakov said, “Remember what Dinesh said at the beginning? No one had ever tested the MND-2 in outer space, so they have to make sure it works. Second, they have to set the drone speeds and size in a way that does not trigge
r the meteoric surveillance system like last week. The event triggered a cable inspection.”

  “And what was the outcome of the inspection?” Louis asked.

  “Absolutely nothing,” Helena replied for Yaakov, “the drone was probabaly programmed to self-distruct, and the meteoric surveillance must have concluded that the debris had missed the cables.”

  “Exactly,” Yaakov said, “but the gun is loaded, and it won’t be long before it shoots.”

  “Do you think they will attack during the probe launch, ten days from now?” Louis asked, “Looks like all the tests have been passed.”

  “It’s very likely,” Yaakov replied. “The probe launches from the outer orbit would provide an ideal shield to the drone activation. However, we have to be one hundred percent sure that this will be the case. The only way to stop them will be to leak the information so that the elevator module is searched by the Orbital Elevator security, missing the launch window and canceling the mission. Now, imagine if the search reveals nothing. Just to limit the consequences for us, our credibility would be shattered, along with those who have supported us so far.”

  “All this,” Helena summed up, sighing, “depends on a single signal from Tarek.”

  “Yes.” Yaakov answered, fixing his eyes on the table and staring.

  Chapter 26

  Ali, Farlimas and Tarek found themselves in the same room on the rooftop of the Meditation building in which Tarek had met Farlimas, almost one year before.

  “The only difference,” Tarek thought, “is that today I am not the promising new guest to convert. Today I am the traitor.”

  Ali and Farlimas were sitting in front of him, his nephew was at once exhausted and triumphant for having passed the extensive security search that had blocked the mission, while Farlimas’ expression was one of absolute indifference.

  “You played your game well, grandpa,” Ali began, “You also accepted to come here before my mission started, and did not stay in your safe haven in Egypt.”

  “You have to do all you can to ensure success,” Tarek commented, “A refusal could have looked suspicious.”

  “Did you have a plan to leave, in case we had decided to move ahead and you had succeeded in blocking us?” Ali continued, without losing temper.

  “Does that make any difference now?” Tarek answered back, “I can tell you, I can’t count on anyone else around here. Don’t waste time to look for new connections.”

  “This we know,” Farlimas said, plainly. “You were the only one besides Ali to whom we communicated the deadline. It was a good idea, to simulate the action.”

  He then laid his back against the wall, looked up at the ceiling, and continued talking.

  “Thanks to the Almighty, I listened to you, Ali,” Farlimas said, “at times I reproached you for your lack of faith in your grandfather, but you were right to mistrust him, and I was wrong.”

  “The mistrust was mutual,” Tarek jumped in, before Ali could comment, “on my side, it started when, shortly after I joined the Council, I found out my nephew was trying to kill my old friends.”

  Farlimas turned to Ali, yet it was not clear if he was looking for an explanation or for help. Tarek decided that, as all was lost, at least he would sow as much doubt and mistrust he could between the two.

  “You know what?” Tarek continued, preventing Ali from speaking, “I might even have agreed to such a plan, if it had come from you, Farlimas, with the right…how can I put it…the right perspective. I just could not accept to find in my new home the same botched mistrust and betrayals I have known for so long in my life.”

  “So that’s when you lost your faith, Tarek?” Farlimas asked, genuinely interested in the answer, “It’s the betrayal and falseness among us that led you to desert us?”

  Tarek looked at Ali, who was growing uncomfortable and tried to talk, but Farlimas raised his left hand and blocked his words before they could reach his tongue.

  “That was the trigger,” Tarek continued, paying attention to make sure he did not address Farlimas again with the ‘my leader’ title he had been accustomed to in the last several months, “the trigger that opened my eyes on bigger issues than some clumsy plot attempt from a rotten apple, that you can always deal with by disposing of.”

  “My leader, I know it was your will,” Ali exploded, fearing where the discussion could head, “You spoke several times about the need to eradicate the immortal craze from the very beginning..”

  So there had not been an explicit order from Farlimas, Tarek thought, which was not so valuable to know. Farlimas rage was now visible, as he shut up Ali once again.

  “I did not ask you to explain anything, Ali, let Tarek finish,” he hissed, “There are several ways to end the craze, think of Valerio, for example.”

  As if bitten, Ali jumped back on his cushion.

  “Thanks for bringing Valerio up, Farlimas,” Tarek said, “I thought a lot about his last days, about all that touched me one year ago. It was absolutely apparent that he had found his way, and yet, when I opened my eyes after the discovery of my own conspiracy, I also realized that you had done a worse job than Ali.”

  Farlimas kept looking at Tarek, his glance becoming more curious and baffled.

  “You hijacked Valerio’s, and God only knows how many other people’s goodwill, to put them at the service of your own will of power,” Tarek continued, “you keep recalling people to the Almighty, because you like the tribute that the crowds give you, deliberately mistaking the messenger with the message. As you are acting on His behalf, you feel you have a blank check of what you can allow yourself, like all religious war leaders we have seen so far. I wish Valerio were here to see you right now, I knew him well enough to know he would support me.”

  “This is blasphemy, Tarek,” Ali whispered from the corner in which he had retreated, “Farlimas always made the difference clear between him, the Messenger, and the Almighty.”

  “Blasphemy!” Tarek burst into laughter, “Thanks for making my last moments funny, my nephew! Every time the inconvenient truth emerges, you set off the sirens of blasphemy!”

  “Look, I am no theologian,” Tarek continued, “all I can tell you, is that you and your beloved leader are just like me - like my friends Louis, and Helena, and Valerio, and all the others. We embarked on this journey because we thought we had found a way to defeat death, so yes, I admit I envy the gods and I want to be a bit more like them. You are more treacherous. You say you want to be humble, but you follow the same desire for power and eternity like we do. At least, I am honest. You know what? We were willing to share our finding with the rest of mankind, and it went horribly wrong. Here, I see you want to keep those outside the Council, and even a good part of the Council itself, in the ranks of the worshipping crowd, while you take care of the dirty workings of power behind it all. Obviously, because you want to sacrifice yourself, not because you like it.”

  Farlimas expression did not change, he just hinted to Ali, who seemed more reinvigorated after hearing Tarek’s speech. The entry door opened, framing two guards who had been clearly waiting a while for this moment.

  Tarek looked at them shortly, and then turned back to Farlimas.

  “One last thing, Mr. Farlimas,” Tarek said, emphasizing the mister, “Unlike Valerio, I had the opportunity to fully appreciate your…true intentions. Unlike Valerio, I won’t let you make a show of my end, and finally,..” Tarek couldn’t help but speak fast, feeling he risked running out of time to deliver his message, “..just like him, I have somehow been given the privilege of knowing the time of my freedom. Goodbye, Mr. Farlimas.”

  Tarek clenched his jaws tightly, then suddenly fell lifeless to the ground. The guards rushed over to him, trying to revive him, to no prevail. He was dead.

  “Cyanide,” the elder one eventually commented after a few minutes of examining the body, “he probably had a pill placed between his teeth, that he chewed to release the poison.”

  Farlimas looked at Ali, who
was completely dumbfounded, and muttered some unintelligible words before coming up with the explanation he felt obliged to share.

  “He used to serve in the Egyptian Air Force. When I was a boy, he told me several times that they used to go to war with the cyanide pills, to be used in case they fell prisoners to the Israelis. He must have kept some, there is no other possibility. Such an old-fashioned way to die.”

  Chapter 27

  Erika Fryjansdottir appeared on the holoprojector in the middle of the studio of Louis Picard in Salina, Sicily. Helena started the conversation by congratulating her in Swedish for her recent promotion to Head of the Police. She smiled politely, and asked Helena where had managed to learn Swedish so well.

  “Oh, well,” Helena said, “you know, Louis and I had quite a long stay up there last spring, and superintelligence helps you a lot. But now we’d better switch to English, since Yaakov and Louis have not worked on learning the language too much.”

  Yaakov jumped in, summing up the situation.

  “Chief Inspector,” he said, using the old title of Erika, “we believe that Tarek Tantawy committed suicide following the failed attempt to stop the attack last October 14th. He used to send a daily signal, which has been missing for three days, and all we have is the message he planned to give in the meeting with Farlimas after the mission failure, accusing him of the attacks on Dorian and Helena.”

  “The fact that Tarek didn’t send a signal is at most a weak clue that his allegations are right,” Erika commented, “You know I cannot take any action against Farlimas just based off this.”

  “Indeed, Erika, indeed,” Yaakov felt it was going to be difficult, “let me complete the puzzle. Tomorrow at dawn, that is, nine hours from now, Ali Tantawy is scheduled to start another planned elevator mission. It is the standard carbon dioxide payload delivery. However, if our thinking is correct, and keep in mind that Tarek has been missing for three days, it is very likely that Ali will carry out the attack tomorrow.”