‘You miss my point, Professor. What time bombs may be hidden in these codes? What sort of monster will they yield?’
Edgeworth said, ‘These are weighty issues, President Ogorodnikov. They’re matters for extensive discussions by the whole international community, perhaps extending over many years. It needs input from philosophers, scientists, even religious leaders. How can you and I decide these things in a few hours in a log cabin?’
Ogorodnikov’s brow wrinkled. ‘If the genie is to be kept in the bottle — and I said if — then we dare not access the wisdom of our philosophers. Someone would talk.’
‘Are you seriously suggesting that you and I reach an instant decision on a matter which needs to be thrashed out by—’
Ogorodnikov interrupted the translator forcefully, spreading his arms wide as he spoke. ‘Prime Minister, don’t you see? That is the tragedy of our situation. We have no choice. The scientists in the mountain will soon be dispersing and when they do, they will open Pandora’s box.’
Edgeworth dabbed at the sweat on his brow. He wondered if some subtle psychology was at play; at any rate Ogorodnikov seemed unperturbed by the heat. The PM looked over at Velikhov. ‘Suppose the home planet of the signallers was public knowledge. And suppose someone wanted to send a reply. Could it be done?’
‘If the extraterrestrials have receivers no better than ours, a ten-kilowatt signal from us could reach anything out to a hundred light years from here. There must be hundreds of radar stations capable of firing off a reply. Yes, it could be done. It’s not even difficult.’
‘You see?’ Ogorodnikov glared at Edgeworth. ‘Once the knowledge is out, the situation is beyond our control. Someone in Cuba or South Africa or Baffin Island could decide to reply. There would be a race for the honour of being the first human to make contact with extraterrestrials.’
Velikhov said, ‘In 1974 the Americans used the Arecibo telescope to send a message to a star cluster with over a hundred thousand members. If one of the stars happens to have a planet, and if someone on that planet happens to be pointing a powerful receiver at us for a few critical minutes in the future, they will know that we are here.’
Ogorodnikov spoke angrily. ‘What right did these Americans have to do that on behalf of all mankind, without first consulting mankind about the possible consequences?’
‘Mikhail Isayevich, the globular cluster is about twenty-five thousand light years away and it will be fifty thousand years before we receive a reply, if we do. They have handed the problem not to us but to our distant descendants.’
‘And are these new signallers fifty thousand years away? Fifty years? Or five?’
Velikhov said, ‘As of Wednesday the scientists in the castle did not know the location of the home planet. But you can be sure they are moving mountains to find out.’
‘And what then?’ Edgeworth asked.
‘I believe that as soon as they know, they will shout their discovery from the rooftops. The news will be round the globe by e-mail in minutes. The public will see it on CNN within an hour. Every telescope in existence will point at whatever star system this signal comes from.’
Edgeworth said, ‘You are telling us, Professor Velikhov, that the scientists in the castle will not willingly be muzzled.’
‘Prime Minister, I guarantee it.’
Edgeworth said, ‘And so, as you say, Mikhail, opening Pandora’s box.’
The two leaders looked into each other’s eyes across the table. Ogorodnikov voiced their thoughts quietly. ‘This presents us with an interesting problem.’
‘You mean…’
The Russian President said, ‘What are we going to do about them?’
Edgeworth broke the shocked silence. He turned to his PPS. ‘Joe, I’d like you to leave us for a few minutes.’
Pembroke, looking stunned, collected his hat without a word. There was a gust of icy air as he left. Edgeworth noted that the darkness outside had been replaced by a dull grey light; through the open door he had seen every detail of the trees and the lake.
Ogorodnikov, at last acknowledging the heat in the cabin, pulled off his heavy sweater. ‘Prime Minister, I have a confession to make. Two days ago I asked our Slovakian friends to place a ring of steel around the castle where these scientists are working. They are not yet aware of this. I realise that I have illegally encroached on the rights of two British citizens.’
Edgeworth acknowledged the confession with a nod.
Ogorodnikov added, ‘And I have a team of specialists standing by. They can fly there, without fear of detection, at a moment’s notice.’
‘Specialists?’
‘Should we decide to suppress the secret permanently.’
Edgeworth sighed. ‘They’re not necessary. I’ve had a man inside the castle since yesterday. He will carry out any special tasks we decide on.’
‘Whatever we decide, Prime Minister, we must at all costs keep the Americans out of this. That will not be easy.’
Edgeworth took a deep breath. ‘Meantime, you and I have to make some hard decisions.’
25
CIA
For this one, Sullivan himself was carrying out the morning briefing. The CIA Director was flanked by McLarty and Melanie Moore, and the trio faced President Bull across a coffee-table. A Marine unpadlocked the briefcase on the table and left smartly. Sullivan pulled out a buff folder.
Sullivan had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept. ‘Mr President, I want to make you aware of some very unusual movements by Prime Minister Edgeworth over the last day or so. It may be relevant to the other matter which I brought to your attention yesterday evening.’
The other matter. Melanie wondered about that.
‘Ms Moore here is one of my bright young analysts and I think I should just let her tell the story.’
Melanie Moore had never been inside the White House, let alone sat in the Oval Office in the company of such powerful men.
After the embarrassing memory of her tennis outfit, she had dressed in a well-cut, dark-grey suit, touched her eyelashes with mascara, used a little bronze eye-shadow and a muted plum lipstick which went well, she believed, with her black skin. Her hair was straightened and sleek. She finished the effect with small, plain pearl earrings and she was wearing spectacles with the heaviest frames she could find.
But still none of it was quite obliterating that embarrassing memory.
Melanie Moore
Should be demure.
The stupid rhyme, having popped into her head in the Lincoln on the way over, would not go away. She opened the folder Sullivan had laid on the coffee-table. ‘Mr President, Prime Minister Edgeworth left Chequers on Thursday evening on a domestic flight, having abruptly cancelled his appearance at the Kohl funeral in Germany and a weekend social engagement. There’s no comment on it by the British press. We know, or think we know, he was driven to RAF Northolt which isn’t too far from Chequers. Now Edgeworth normally uses a VC-10 on domestic flights and one took off from Northolt soon after his ETA there. This was at twenty-two hundred hours Greenwich Mean Time.’
‘So far so good,’ Bull said encouragingly.
‘Now we don’t monitor Royal Air Force communications.’
‘Okay.’
‘But there are people who do that sort of thing for a hobby. Enthusiastic amateurs.’
‘Like trainspotters?’ Bull suggested.
‘Exactly like trainspotters, except that these people use VHF and UHF scanners, HF radio and so on which are able to pick up military communications. They cover Western Europe and they swap “sightings” on the Net. It’s murder on military security, especially if there’s, say, a Middle East operation on the boil, but there’s nothing any of us can do about it. Anyway, all we had to do was log into their records to find where the Prime Minister’s aircraft landed. Here’s their record of arrivals at RAF Lossiemouth on the evening in question.’ Melanie passed over a sheet of paper with a shaky hand.