Marcie thought back to the official opening ceremony in Tehran only three months ago, which she had attended as Programme Director of the super-storage roll-out, and Suleiman had been invited along to cut the ceremonial ribbon. Suleiman had also arranged a private meeting at the Presidential Palace between himself and Marcie two hours before the opening ceremony. Marcie was very apprehensive as she was led into the Mullah’s opulently decorated private office. Suleiman was extremely courteous and magnanimous in his reception.
“Doctor Venters, please accept my most humble greetings and to express how gratified that you have been so kind in coming to meet with me. I realise that meeting here must be very difficult for you?”
Marcie swallowed hard, but spoke slowly and with conviction.
“Your Excellency, you of all people will fully appreciate that the long painful history of the Jewish race – and, of course, the Arab race – has taught us that we must face adversity without hatred and that final judgment will be left in the hand of our shared and one true God – Jehovah and Allah. In my heart I grieve daily for my beloved Rolf, but truly I blame no man for his untimely death. I certainly hold no grudge against you personally, Your Excellency.”
“I would be pleased if you would call me Abdullah – at least in private? May I call you Marcie?”
“Of course, Your Ex– I mean, Abdullah.”
“Marcie, please accept my deepest and most humble apologies. If I could turn back time and do more than I did to stop the dreadful and unnecessary bombing in Harvard, which I erroneously sanctioned, I promise you I would do so. I can only hope that Allah will forgive this old Mullah for a sin that deeply burdens my soul.”
“I believe in destiny, Abdullah, and with Rolf dying and me surviving, it was fated to happen. Our true destiny – God has written in the stars for us.”
Marcie was puzzled by Suleiman’s response, which he did not elaborate on as he shook his head slowly and Marcie thought that he looked a little teary-eyed.
“Marcie, more than you know – more than you know.”
Marcie had brought a full and detailed report to the UN HQ for the senior members of the World Health Organisation and she was sure that they would be very impressed with her programme’s progress. Marcie presented herself at reception.
“Dr Marcie Venters to meet the board members of the WHO at 10:30.”
The receptionist searched for the meeting on her computer and looked puzzled. She looked up at Marcie.
“Sorry, Dr Venters, did you say WHO?”
Marcie fumbled with her mobile phone to try and call up her diary.
“Yes, the WHO. Don’t tell me that I’ve got the wrong day?”
“No, it’s not that at all. But I’ve got you down for a 10:30 with the Secretary General.”
“The Secretary General! There must be some mistake?”
The receptionist made an internal call to double check the meeting. As she spoke she waved over a UN security guard.
“No mistake, Dr Venters. Karl could you please take Dr Venters up to the Sec-Gen’s conference room. She is expected. Doctor if you follow Karl he will take you up to your meeting.”
Marcie blindly followed the security guard named Karl and he took her up on the private lift to the top floor of the UN building. As they stepped out into the corridor the glass windows afforded them a great view out over Brooklyn, where Marcie was born. However, Marcie was in too much of a daze to admire the view over the Hudson. Her mind was racing too much trying to think why the meeting plan might have changed. Maybe Gupta-Chaudry was interested in hearing her report and he was chairing the meeting with the WHO Board? Yes, that must be it, she thought.
“Here ya are, Doctor Venters.”
Karl ushered Marcie into the conference room. Marcie looked around the table scanning for any WHO faces that she might recognise. There were none. Some of the faces she did recognise - but mainly from their TV appearances, because she had never met any of them bar one before in a personal or professional capacity. Secretary-General Ravinder Gupta-Chaudry ushered Marcie towards an empty seat.
“Dr Venters. Thank you for joining us today for this meeting. First of all may I apologise most profusely for bringing you to New York on the expectation that you were going to provide your update report to the board of the World Health Organisation.”
“Well, Mr Secretary General, to say that I’m confused would be an understatement.”
“I’m afraid Doctor that you had to be brought here with a measure of subterfuge on the basis that this meeting had to be kept secret. But, please, Dr Venters let me introduce you to the other attendees.”
As Gupta-Chaudry introduced the others around the table Marcie tried desperately to work out why she needed to be at some secret meeting in the UN HQ building. Then the thought occurred to her that maybe the authorities had uncovered some new bombing plot against her super-storage programme by another extremist cell. Quickly she scribbled the names of the attendees as the Secretary-General spoke. The ones she knew from TV were John Ralston and Moshi Shalomon and, of course, Mullah Abdullah Suleiman, who she had met recently. The others all from NASA were introduced as Aaron Eckler, Beth O’Donnell, Ari Schenkler, Ewan Sinclair and Gary Mackintosh, none of whom Marcie knew. She looked down at the word ‘NASA’ that she had written on her notepad and thought, why NASA?
“I also extend apologies from President Josh Trueman who would have been here but he is otherwise engaged in Washington.”
“P-President Trueman is apologising to m-me?”
Gupta-Chaudry smiled at Marcie’s incredulous façade before calling the meeting to order.
“Dr Venters, you have been summoned here today in relation to your innovative work on human DNA and human procreation. However, before we get to that part we need to fill you in on a few blanks and it was for that reason that this meeting was convened in secret. However, very soon the secretive nature of this meeting will be quickly superseded by events.”
“I am sorry, Mr Secretary-General, but I am completely in the dark here.“
“Again I apologise most sincerely, Dr Venters. I am going to hand you over to the NASA team to give you the background details. Aaron?”
Eckler introduced himself but quickly handed the presentation into Ari and Ewan’s hands. Ari started.
“Dr Venters, have you been watching on the news about the new comet Schenkler HMM2?”
“Hmm, only a little. I have been so tied up with my super-storage programme that I don’t have much time for TV. I believe it is due to come close by Earth in a couple of years’ time. Is that correct?”
“Certainly that is what has been reported, Doctor. The comet was first discovered entering our solar system by my colleague Ewan Sinclair here, however, I was the first person to inadvertently catch it on film, so somehow the name Schenkler got appended, of which I am not that particularly proud of. The HMM2 part came from the fact that the INSACC in Israel and NASA in Houston had separately given it acronyms. Dr Venters, I believe that you are Jewish like myself?”
“Yes, I’m Jewish.”
“Well the HMM2 is a sort of Jewish / Christian conglomeration. HM is Har Meggido and M2 stands for Messiah 2.”
Marcie’s eyes widened based on an unknown fear rising within her.
“A-Armageddon!”
“If I explain further we will get to that. Ewan and I have been monitoring the progress of the comet practically on a minute by minute basis as it orbits around the Sun. A key point in its trajectory took place in the last few days as it passed within a 100 million miles of Jupiter and it was our calculation that it would be influenced by Jupiter’s enormous gravitational pull. The trajectory of the comet would only be altered slightly, but that slight adjustment put it on a direct collision course with Earth. The comet is of a magnitude that when it impacts in about a year and a half, Earth will be totally destro
yed. Doctor, after May 2084 there will be no Earth.”
Marcie stared wildly around the table, her hand nervously rubbing at her mouth and chin. She was close to tears as she spoke.
“My God, this is terrible, awful. In God’s name, why were we not told about this?”
Aaron Eckler answered.
“The scientists needed to be 100 per cent sure about this, Dr Venters. If we had told the world this awful thing and chaos and anarchy ensued. Had we found out we were wrong the consequences would have been unimaginable. Unfortunately Ari and Ewan confirmed their findings in the last two days and we are now 100 per cent sure of a total impact. Is that correct guys?”
“100 per cent.”
“Totally.”
Marcie remained perplexed and rubbed her head agitatedly in her hand.
“But why bring me here to tell me this? I thought that I was coming to report my work to the WHO. But now it appears that all my work will be destroyed in what – Ari said a year and a half?”
John Ralston, the British Prime Minister, spoke for the first time.
“Dr Venters, unbeknown to you I have been to see some of your ground-breaking work at St Bart’s and also at Harvard. I have been extremely impressed by what I saw. The point of you being here is that our hope is that not all of your work will be destroyed. Please allow Beth O’Donnell to explain.”
Beth looked down at her notes and then addressed Marcie.
“Dr Venters, since NASA first became aware of the Schenkler comet we have been planning for all contingencies concerning the survival of the human race –“
Marcie blurted out in confusion.
“Survival! But I thought we were talking about the total destruction of Earth -?”
Gupta-Chaudry raised his hand gently.
“We are indeed, Dr Venters. But please allow Beth to explain our plans in some detail.”
Beth carried on speaking.
“As I stated, Doctor, NASA has been planning for all contingencies regarding the survival of the human race. The key plank of our plan is the mass transportation of as many humans, livestock and food crops as humanly possible to new bases being constructed on Mars as we speak. However, as you are probably aware, Doctor, Mars is an extremely hostile environment and our best outside estimate is for the emigration of only twenty five thousand men and women at best to Mars. We don’t even know for sure what the long-term survivability probability of those twenty five thousand souls on Mars will be. History tells us that human colonisation in hostile environments even here on Earth have ended disastrously –“
Gary Mackintosh interjected light-heartedly.
“We Scots’ll vouch for that! The Darien Project was a tragedy for Scotland. Worst of all - we ended up having to join with England!“
Beth smiled politely and continued.
“Indeed, Gary, therefore, we need a supplementary plan to back up the colonisation of Mars. Simply put, we need you to come up with a plan for the transportation of as much human DNA, in terms of, male sperm, female eggs and human embryos as we can possibly ship to Mars to a single super-storage fertility unit to be constructed there. Obviously, the hope is that the twenty five thousand will procreate and increase in population naturally on Mars, but if there is a catastrophic failure then we need the backup of the fertility unit to increase the chances of survival.”
Beth paused to let this sink in with Marcie. During the impasse Gupta-Chaudry took the lead.
“Doctor Venters, I realise that this is terribly difficult for you to comprehend. I can assure you that each and every one of us around this table finds that trying to make sense of all this is mind-boggling and we have been working on this for many months now. Knowledge over time does not make it any easier to deal with it. However, for the survival of our species, deal with it we must. Doctor, on that basis, are you willing to head up the planning side for the selection and transportation of fertile human DNA components to be shipped to Mars.”
Marcie wrestled with her conscience and her gaze rested with Suleiman, who proffered her a kindly nod. Her thoughts returned to her recent meeting with the Mullah, where she had told him: Our true Destiny – God has written in the stars for us. She remembered Suleiman’s reply, ‘more than you know – more than you know’. She now knew that he had known at that time what Marcie and the world’s destiny was to be.
“Mister Secretary-General, it is indeed mind-boggling. However, I have to believe that God spared my life at Harvard in order to take on this onerous task. I can say nothing else, but that I will do what is asked of me.”
Beth O’Donnell spoke next.
“Doctor, we thank you for your co-operation with this awful mission. There are two further components to the planning process that we would require you to lead –“
“Two more components?”
“Yes, Doctor. Firstly, and on a much smaller scale and where scientifically viable, we also want to collect, select and transport as much frozen non-human DNA from flora and fauna to Mars in order that they may be procreated at some point in the future –“
“But, Miss O’Donnell, my specialisation is in human DNA, this is not my field of science?”
“We realise that, Doctor Venters, however, you are the recognised world expert in super-storage techniques and processes. We will put you in touch with all the leading genetic experts in the field of flora and fauna and all we ask is that you lead this team from the point of view that you are the lead expert and also that human DNA takes precedent when it comes down to limited resources as it is bound to do.”
“Well, it is a big ask, but I’ll do my best. I feel as if I’m treading water with two fingers in the air. I hope the third component doesn’t swamp me entirely.”
Beth looked across to Gupta-Chaudry and he felt as Chair that he should continue.
“Doctor Venters – Marcie – the third stage is, as you call it, a really big ask. You see, there are multiple criterion that we have had to lay down concerning the selection of the twenty five thousand, supplemented by first and second reserve lists, the details of which will be supplied to you. The key criterion are that men and women will be selected in equal measure between the ages of 16 and 45 and that they have also been screened for fertility. Some of the – can we call them applicants – will already have their DNA results on your super-storage database, but not all of them. We need you to lead the programme to select the most fertile and healthy humans on the planet. All electronic data required to be kept on all three stages will be co-ordinated by Gary Mackintosh who is leading the team to transfer computerised data to Mars –“
Gary raised his hand.
“It’s called NOAHSARK, Marcie, but I can see by the look on your face that it’s no’ the time to explain that acronym!”
Marcie forced herself to speak.
“Mister Secretary-General, genetics is not some kind of a game. What you are asking me to do is play some kind of experiment akin to what the Nazis did during World War Two in the death camps. I don’t know if I can do what you are asking.”
“Marcie, we know it is a terrible responsibility. However, unlike the Nazis, the selection process will, as far as possible, ensure the survival of every race, colour and creed on the planet on a proportional basis with no fear or favour of political interference. This is purely down to one thing, Doctor Venters – giving the human race its best chance of survival. Will you do it on that basis?”
In her minds’ eye Marcie saw herself raising that dreaded third finger as her head sunk beneath the waves of confusion and consternation metaphorically drowning her.
*
Earthdate: 18:45 Monday November 2, 2082 EST
In the en-suite washroom he was as sick as a dog. In fifteen minutes President Josh Trueman had to address his nation and the world nations on 3DTV and to make the most dreadful announcement that any world leader has ev
er had to give. He thought to himself that due to the secrecy surrounding the impending event, that even his wife Dalia and his two grown up children Jak and Karolina would also be hearing it for the first time. Boy, was he going to hear it tonight from Dalia, his greatest confidante, for keeping this one from her! He looked at his watch and thought it was time that he made his way through and after a quick mouthwash to get rid of the bilious taste, Trueman stepped through into the Oval Office, where he was immediately greeted by the White House broadcast director Tony Coccio.
“Are you feeling okay, Mister President? You look a little pale?”
“Ah’m feelin’ fine.”
“Maybe I’ll get make-up to put a little colour back in your cheeks, Mister President?”
“Just you tell make-up to go take a hike. Trust me - this speech won’t need any special effects!”
The speech indeed worried the broadcast director, mainly because he had not seen it and because it would not be played on the normal autocue. It was being transmitted to a specially constructed autocue on the President’s desk from a secret CIA office in Langley, Virginia.
“But you see Mister President, the lack of autocue on our side of the camera presents a problem, regarding panning in and out on your face at appropriate moments.”
“Look Tony, ah am stuck behind the Oval Office desk. Ah aint gonna be jumpin’ about the room. Just play it by ear an’ everthin’ will be fine.”
Trueman took his seat at the Presidential desk and fiddled about with the dummy notes on the desk in front of him, straightening them up to compose himself. They were only there for effect and he would be using the transparent autocue sitting at the front of the desk, which would be out of the camera shot. He thought about all the other world leaders around the planet who would be making similar simultaneous speeches and tried to think how they were feeling. A few minutes passed and then Trueman saw the red ‘On Air’ light flicker on and he watched Tony Coccio count down the last few seconds with his fingers and then point at the President to go.
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