Mitchelson laughed. "I think everyone round this table - including Peri - is familiar with the so-called Fermi Paradox. And certainly, the impossibility of faster than light travel is a persuasive factor, given the distances involved. But tell me, Peri. If travel time for the aliens was not a big obstacle, then what explanation would you put forward to answer Professor Fermi when he asks, 'Where is everybody?'"
"You are, in effect, eliminating a bunch of possible explanations with that question," replied Peri, thoughtfully. "I mean, the premise of the question sort of assumes that aliens exist, that they can detect us, that they can get here, and leads us toward speculation that they can hide themselves well, or that there's a global conspiracy by governments to -"
She stopped, and her jaw dropped. She stared at the people across the table and made some inarticulate sounds. Suddenly she started laughing. She laughed almost hysterically. She laughed so hard, that tears ran down her cheeks. Finally she managed to calm herself enough to get some words out. "That's it, isn't it? YOU are directing the global conspiracy to keep aliens secret! Well, fuck me, you're the Men in Black!" She laughed, then realised she was in danger of sounding hysterical.
"I'm sorry," Peri said as she calmed down. "I am really, really sorry. I should not have reacted in such an unprofessional and embarrassing way. I just didn't know how to deal with the idea that not only might crackpot conspiracies be true, but that you might be trying to involve me..."
"Relax, Peri," said Li. "We led the conversation in a certain direction, and I for one am impressed by how you analysed and extrapolated the information available to you to arrive at a hypothesis. And I know it is a rather startling hypothesis. Now let us move on. Evgeny?"
"Where do you stand on the subject of..." Here the Russian paused and studied her face carefully. He went on, "...the supernatural?"
Peri drew in a deep breath. Carefully picking her words, she said, "I firmly believe that we do not have all the answers to how the mind works, or how nature works in the round. There are phenomena that are poorly understood, or not understood at all. There is scope in my mind for topics to be labelled - no, let me start that again."
She was visibly shaken by the Russian's question, and they could see that she was struggling to compose herself. They waited in silence. Peri leant forward and asked, "Are you familiar with Clark's Third Law?"
Li smiled and nodded encouragingly.
Peri went on, "In an essay that he wrote in 1962 and revised in 1973, Arthur C Clark wrote, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' If we substitute 'the supernatural' for 'magic' in that statement, we get something close to my personal beliefs. I find it easy to believe that there are many phenomena that we struggle to explain in scientific terms, because our science is incomplete, and not because they are the results of magic. An alternative re-statement of Clark's Law that I have come across is, 'Any sufficiently advanced extra-terrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.' "
Peri looked at each of the committee members. "I think I see what your, ostensibly strange, line of discussion is suggesting. Is it the case that the UN is interested in phenomena that may best be described as 'preternatural', that is, abnormal and unexplainable by our understanding of nature?"
Mitchelson nodded and said, "Go on, Peri."
"Events that may - or may not - be attributable to a non-terrestrial source. At least, a source that we can't explain through our understanding of terrestrial mathematics, physics and chemistry. I think I see the tie to the UNTNC that you mentioned earlier. There are some events that we can conceive of, and that we need to plan for, even though we can't explain them except in preternatural terms."
Mitchelson leaned across the table and looked Peri right in the eye. "Listen, Peri, and listen carefully. This is not an abstract debate. We are not considering events that we can conceive of as thought experiments. We are in the business of dealing with reality. Humans have been forced to take extreme action against entities that can best be described as monsters, and more than once. We may not have scientific explanations of these things, but they are a clear danger to all of us."
Peri blinked at his intensity. "Extreme action? How do you hide that?"
Rostovich spoke. "Chernobyl. Something manifested in a nuclear power station and had to be eliminated. Explained away by bombing the reactor to fake a meltdown."
Montrache added, "Armero, Colombia, 1953. Something melted all the snow-caps and glaciers on a mountain, twenty thousand dead. Explained by a volcanic eruption."
Mitchelson contributed, "Nagasaki, 1945. After seeing the effect of the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese told us about something in Nagasaki that they begged us to take care of. I think we all know the result."
Wilkinson offered, "Lake Nyos, Cameroon. Something killed two thousand people. Explained by a limnic eruption."
Mitchelson again. "Mount Saint Helens, 1980. We had to blow up half the freakin' mountain to deal with the thing that was bottled up there."
Finally Li contributed. "Do you think we wanted to flood the Three Gorges?"
Peri gaped at them. "They were all … all … alien infestations of some kind?"
"We think so. At least some of them," said Mitchelson. "Remember Clark's Third Law? For all we know, they were magical creatures. We know a lot less than we would like to."
"Where did they come from?" asked Peri.
The answer from Rostovich was an eloquent shrug. "Who knows? There are speculative theories, but no science."
Peri slumped in her seat, and cradled her head in her hands. "This is mad." She looked up again. "You are seriously saying that Earth has been attacked by monstrous creatures, that may or not be extra-terrestrial, several times? And that the true causes have successfully been concealed, over and over?"
Wilkinson gave her a smile that was almost apologetic, and simply said, "Yes."
She nodded. "Yes, actually, when I think about it, I can see it working. Offer a simple but plausibly natural explanation, and people will leap at accepting that, over an alternative that is, essentially, 'Demons did it.' Am I right?"
Li nodded. "You have done very well, Peri. You clearly have a mind that is at once receptive, undogmatic, analytical and open." She looked at Wilkinson, and added, "She will do very well, Damon. I propose that we appoint her at once."
"Seconded," said Rostovich.
"Agreed," said Mitchelson.
"Carried unanimously, I think," said Montrache.
Wilkinson nodded. "I'll make it happen."
"Whoa!" Peri exclaimed. "What's the rush? Come to that, what's the sodding job? And you said I'd get a chance to decline..."
Mitchelson laughed. "Does she really want us to shoot her, Damon?"
Li shook her head, and said, "Really, Dwight. Peri, let me try to answer your questions. We are recruiting a new head of a small team that works under the auspices of the UNSC. The position is primarily about assessing and managing risks to the whole of humanity arising from preternatural sources. It will involve open source research, information management, analysis, risk identification and mitigation planning. There will be some classified information feeds from the intelligence services of our five nations, and some reporting to them, but that should be low volume and of minor importance. The team leader - you - will be responsible for overseeing the work of the team."
"How big is the team?" asked Peri.
"Today? Yourself and two researchers. But I expect early recommendations about the necessary size and composition of the team for the future, based on an assessment of threats and workload.
"There will also be international liaison work, which I expect will fall to the team leader and will of course be facilitated by this committee. Only a handful of countries have any organisation or plans in this area. Our five, plus select allies, are aware and are networked. Others are active but tend to operate independently of each other.
"As to the rush … the team leader post has just become open
. In fact, the first task I would like you undertake is to look into how he died."
"What? Died?" Peri was shocked. "When did this happen?"
"His body was recovered from the sea yesterday."
Wilkinson spoke up. "He was in North Wales, so we have you booked on a flight to Heathrow today..."
"Hold it, hold it!" Peri protested. "What do you mean you have me booked today? My knowledge of the subject matter and what the job entails is approximately the square root of fuck-all. Be reasonable! Give me the weekend to think it over and decide, then we can arrange whatever..."
"You want to think it over? You have ten seconds, Peri," said Wilkinson.
"What?"
"Nine."
"Ah, shit."
"Eight."
"When's the flight?"
"JFK, seven fifty-five. Seven."
"Don't be ridiculous! That's just not possible."
"Yes, it is. Six."
"All right! I'll do it, but not on a five to eight flight. Come on, I need to get to Brooklyn Heights to pack some things, get to JFK, check in, go through security..."
Wilkinson looked smug. "Your luggage is at the airport already, and NYPD will blue-light you right to the door of the plane."
Peri gaped at him. "That's why Ewan and Janice stayed behind?"
"I want you on your way by six forty-five at the latest, which means I have less than an hour for a briefing."
"You just told me to shut up and listen, didn't you?"
Wilkinson nodded.
"We will give you the room, Damon," said Li. "It was a great pleasure talking to you, Peri. I look forward to working with you."
***
Wilkinson did not utter another word until he had swept the room with a hand-held detector that had been in his briefcase. Peri could not sit still. She paced, and finally broke the silence. "Aren't we all friends here?"
He held up a raised finger for silence and carried on. Only when he was satisfied did he reply. "We are better described as 'frenemies'. We work together on certain areas, but our national philosophies differ, and in some cases, remain fundamentally at odds."
"Shame. I liked Colonel Li."
He scowled. "I could see that she liked you, and I can't say I'm altogether happy about that. Solidarity of the geeks, perhaps. You're GCHQ and she's..."
"Third Department of the PLA Joint Staff. China's SIGINT service. Why would you be unhappy that she liked me?"
"Later. Pay and rations first. You're on a temp promotion now, aren't you, so with this appointment you get made substantive plus you get a temp to the next grade up. Officially, you are no longer a liaison between Cheltenham and the UK Mission here, you are seconded to the UN Security Council as an adviser. Clear?"
"Clear. And thanks."
"Management and direction. In line management terms, you get me, I'm afraid. Your previous line manager is not cleared for this. You take up a post that reports to, and takes direction from, UNSC Ad-hoc Committee 23. That is an extremely important point. You must be careful to compartmentalise your roles, because you are both a British intelligence officer and an officer of a multi-national organisation, and these two roles will sometimes clash. In the event of a conflict of interests, come to me. Clear?
"You are, as of ten minutes ago, the head of a unit designated 'United Nations Transnational Incidents and Emergencies'. For better or worse, to the few who know of it, it's known as UNTIE. On paper it is a sub-department of UNTNC, but only on paper. The unit is physically based here in Annex 3, along with most of the UN's other secret squirrel units. Not as nice as Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, but much less in the public eye. You have two members of staff, but we don't have time to meet them today.
"Your predecessor. UNTIE leadership rotates around the five permanent members of the security council. The other members don't know it exists. Last time, China supplied the boss, and this time it's Britain's turn, hence you. Your predecessor was a certain Chen Yongjun, known to his Western contacts as John Chen."
Peri dared to interrupt. "Is that the same Chen Yongjun that is - or was - a major in the PLA Second Department? He was 'made' by the Canadians and then floated around as a military attaché in various English-speaking countries?"
"That's the one. Have you come across him before?"
"His name came up once. I was just showing off. Sorry, go on."
"Chen spent nearly two years in the job, and was about to retire, both from UNTIE and from the PLA. My personal opinion is that his heart wasn't in the job, and he was mostly going through the motions."
"So why was he in Wales?"
"Ah, now that's the big question, isn't it? We're hoping you can find out. Also, for what it's worth, Lisa Li didn't take to him either. She couldn't really say so, but I think she was disappointed by him, and slightly embarrassed that he's turned up dead on somebody else's turf. Namely, ours. She was the one who insisted that UNTIE should poke into it. I believe she's hoping that Chen's reputation comes out of this with some dignity."
"What happened to him?"
"All we know is that he was fished out of the drink on the Welsh coast. He may have fallen off a cliff, got busted up and floated away on the tide. The police, of course, are investigating. The curious thing is that he called in a buckthorn amber just before he died."
"Buckthorn amber? Now that just sounds like a cider to me."
"With a deft transition, we have now moved on to British protocols. As Lisa indicated earlier, Britain is one of several countries with preternatural investigation protocols. We hide ours behind the shield of an intelligence compartment named 'buckthorn'. As of right now, you consider yourself read into buckthorn. The buckthorn community is quite small. A handful of people in each of the intelligence agencies, a select few counter-terrorism specialists in the police - the Met, MOD Police and Police Scotland - and a few people in UK Special Forces. It's divided into three groups, cleared for various levels of intelligence. The three levels are designated green, amber and red. If you have buckthorn green clearance, then you are read into a cover story that is about investigating UFOs and similar incidents. If you have buckthorn red, then you are read into the real story, that buckthorn is about protecting humanity from monsters.
"And buckthorn amber? What's that cover?"
"Supernatural beings - demons, werewolves, vampires and the like."
Her eyes went wide. "Bloody hell! Do they really exist?"
"That would be a discussion for another occasion. Buckthorn event levels, now. Confusingly, they too are on a scale of green, amber and red. A buckthorn green event is something that bears investigation. An amber event is actively being investigated, and the investigators are escalating to obtain more resources. A red event is a confirmed preternatural occurrence, posing a risk to life, and requiring strong action."
She bit her lower lip as she listened, then tried to confirm that she was following everything he said. "In short, Major Chen called in to report a preternatural event under investigation, then turned up dead a few hours later."
Wilkinson smirked. "You have total recall of every word I said, so there's no need to make empathic noises."
Peri scowled at him. "I'm reflecting the conversation, not empathising. I want you to know I'm actively listening. Maybe that's one bullshit training course you managed to avoid?"
"Fine." He looked at his watch. "Tempus fugit." He pulled a ruggedized laptop out of his case and slid it across the table to her. He fished a device that looked like a key fob out of his pocket and slid that across to her too. "Everything you need is on the laptop, unlocked with the security token."
"Classification?" she asked.
"Maximum of TOP SECRET BUCKTHORN RED," he answered. Naturally it's protected and high-grade encrypted. Mislay it and … well you know what happens next. You'll find two partitions, one with UNSC EYES ONLY, the other with UK EYES ONLY. Do yourself a favour and don't ever confuse the two.
"The UNSC partition is a dump of all the relevant files from UNTI
E. Case protocols, administrivia, case histories, and all that good stuff. Read it on the plane, by all means, but under the circumstances it's more important to bone up on the UK material.
"The UK EYES material gives you everything you ever wanted to know about buckthorn protocols. It includes contact numbers, names and responsibilities. Handle with care."
"Of course."
He sighed, looked up at the ceiling for a moment, and then leaned forward across the table. "Right. Change of subject, some hard questions and then you need to get on the road."
"Yes?" She looked wary, which made him frown.
"Got anything to hide?" he demanded.
"What?"
"When Chen turned up dead, Li instantly insisted on a replacement, and it's Britain's turn. Li insisted on an immediate investigation. She forced the pace." He looked at Peri expectantly, and let the silence linger. When Peri made no move to fill the gap, he scowled. "Li asked for you by name, Peri. Why?"
Peri gaped. "She did what? How would she even have heard of me?"
"I want to know what you're up to, Peri," Wilkinson said, firmly.
She stared at him. "Nothing. I swear, it, Wilko, I am not 'up to' anything. I was surprised to get called in here - just ask Ewan and his people." She scowled at him. "No, I'll go further, I was bloody furious to get called in the middle of the night and have my life turned upside down. To be honest, I'm still really annoyed because what with your pathetic count-down crap, it feels like I was strong-armed into this, and now you're implying that I can't be trusted? Is that what you're implying, pal? Because if that's what you're thinking, mate, you have got it so bloody wrong! In fact how about this - take your fucking UNTIE job and shove it where the sun don't shine! Because I won't put up with this, I really will not."
Wilkinson made placatory air-pats with his hands. "No, no, don't go off the deep end. I have to ask. You will take up this post, and you will fly to London. This has all been approved at the highest level. But we need to understand what is going on with Lisa Li. You are sure you have never met her before?"
"Never to speak to. I recognised her face from old photos, and the China crew in Cheltenham tries to keep tabs on everyone in PLA intelligence from major up, so I knew she was in New York. That's all!"
Island of Fog and Death: A sci-fi horror adventure Page 10
