CATACLYSMAL Page 2

  “Ivane,” the formal dressed man says as he reaches out his hand to shake Professor Tori's hand.

  “Nile Stephenson, it has been awhile,” the Professor shakes the man's hand.

  “Five years...”

  “And one of my finest students, now working for the military,” Tori replies looking at the uniformed man standing next to him

  “This is Captain Grunner.”

  “Sir,” the military man says also holding out his hand.

  “This is not a Cold War issue?” Professor Tori asks whilst shaking the Captain's hand

  Captain Grunner smiles. “No”

  “I mean the way Russia and America are acting at the moment...We have a new Cold War, yet no one wants to admit it.”

  “But you still have family in Georgia?”

  “Yes my family and I are from Georgia. My brother still lives there. We're not Russians. I suspect that information is on the CIA database,” Professor Tori replies sarcastically. Captain Grunner nods politely.

  “So how can I help my former student and his friend?” Tori asks

  “Can we talk privately?”

  “Of course, I have an office here at this faculty...Is this urgent?” Tori replies quickly looking at his wristwatch.

  Stephenson's expression reflects an urgency. “Yes...and confidential. I apologize for this sudden intrusion.”

  “Ok, this way...” Tori leads them both through the back part of the auditorium towards the staff areas, with both men being lead in the direction of the Professor's private office. Reaching the office, Tori takes out his keys opening the door.

  “Please come through, sorry about the mess...” Referring to the pages of notes and books that are spread across his desk, closing the door behind him he then pulls up two chairs placing them either side of the desk. Professor Tori clears away research papers and folders, sitting down at his desk. Stephenson and Captain Grunner both sit down opposite the Professor.

  “Now I am very curious,” Professor Tori says leaning forward.

  “As you know Ivane, I now work for the military, more specifically Air Force Space Command, of late a new division...” Stephenson looks briefly at Captain Grunner, who sits quietly, he then looks back at the Professor. “...Three years ago the military donated two satellites, in perfect condition, vastly superior than the Hubble telescope. They were going to be used for spying and reconnaissance. Since then, the military budget with it's Space programs has increased ten fold.”

  “While NASA and peaceful Space and research programs are cut.” Professor Tori interjects, his tone is one of cynicism of the new government's Space policies.

  “That's the way it is...NASA were able to make a deal with the Military Space program and receive two brand new telescopes for free. Like I said better than the current Hubble telescope...” Stephenson pauses remember his days as student under the Professor's teaching. “...The point is we now have a new telescope, which is a classified military project. It's being launched in stages and put together in Space by robotic systems. Highly advanced detector, vastly superior optics than Hubble, Kepler and the newer space telescopes. It can detect gamma radiation from Supernovas, Pulsars and Black Holes in their early states of manifestation. Infrared detection of all the known electron magnetic spectrum. Captain, would you like to explain to the Professor military applications.”

  Captain Grunner leans back into his chair, a military man, stern and direct.

  “The Russians have developed advanced Neutron bombs and Electromagnetic pulse weapons, these weapons were created to offset our Hypersonic missile systems which are precise tactical nuke armaments. Our computer simulations indicate that if there was to be a first strike, we would be able to knock out and destroy eighty percent of the Russian nuclear arsenal in less than thirty minutes. If the Russians were able to calibrate and launch a counter strike, or they were able to initiate a first strike, their aim would be to have EMP weapons in place and also Neutron weapons ready to use against us and our allies. From intelligence reports we believe that some of these systems are already in place.”

  “As satellites?” Professor Tori asks shaking his head.

  “Yes, possibly they have already tested ESBs against non-military satellite systems in orbit, junk, left over form the last fifty years.”

  “You know Mr Grunner, the Russian Georgian war in two thousand eight most of my family live on the southern boarder of Georgia and Armenia. When Russia invaded Georgia using South Ossetia and Abkhazia as their main fronts, the Russian backed militia, namely in Ossetia, committed war crimes against the local population. Georgians, my people. We knew family members, men, young men and boys that disappeared, nowhere to be seen. After this war, America and NATO trained Georgian forces, created special response battalions. To counter Russian backed militia aggression. And of late we now have a large contingent of American and NATO troops now based in Georgia, with the Russian army amassed on the Southern side of the Georgian and Russian boarder. My fear is if there will be a next war, it will not be a full scale invasion but something far worst.

  Stephenson turns looking at the uniformed man sitting next to him. He then looks back at the Professor.

  “What we are about to disclose is highly classified.” Stephenson opens up a small document satchel that he is carrying, he takes out a single piece of paper handing it to Professor Tori, who in turn takes the paper, he then places on a pair of spectacles. Looking down at the text and images in front of him.

  “A gamma ray burst...” The Professor looks closely at the calculations within the text and also the accompanying charts that shows spikes in Electromagnetic and Neutron detection. “...Simultaneously at both polar regions.” He then looks back up at the two men sitting opposite him.

  “These are large spikes in Neutrino and Neutron activity, it would seem that it has occurred from a filament solar flare...Incredible, the spike of electrons and protons all occurring at the same time. When did this happen?” The Professor asks as Stephenson turns and looks at Captain Grunner.

  “Two years ago,” Stephenson replies.

  “Why wasn't it picked up on civilian detectors? Spikes in Neutron and Electron particles of this magnitude would have most definitely been also recorded...So you are not saying this is a weapon test?...” The Professor looks at the paper again and it's calculations. He lifts off his glasses and leans back in his chair still holding the single sheet of paper. “...And it didn't originate from the Sun.”

  The two men in-front of him sit staring at the Professor, one a former student now working for the Military Space program, the other a military man assigned as a Chief Officer of the Air Force Space Command.

  Tori looks at the paper again. “Nor a Magnetar or Quasar...This intensity and it's short duration, concentrating around the Earth's poles. Doesn't make sense...Can I take this?” Tori asks referring to the information given to him by Stephenson.

  “I'm sorry Ivane, this is highly classified information.” Stephenson leans over Tori's desk his hand open, as the Professor hands him back the information sheet.

  “Well, if you want my help, I'll need the full data feed and readouts from the military detectors to understand this better...If it is...” Tori removes his glasses and leans forward. “...a weapons test...at first glance it maybe just that, concentrated releases of photons and Electromagnetic radiation. But simultaneously..” He shakes his head. “...The military surveillance satellites surely would have picked up the movements of any nuclear or fusion tests.”

  “It is not from Earth,” Stephenson says bluntly.

  “Well, then it appears that it is from a exploding Magnetar or Neutron star...”

  Both men stand the Professor remains seated.

  “This is under military control and jurisdiction, also a National Security issue.” Stephenson says.

  “In a weeks time I will be going to Georgia.”

  “We know, while you are there I will be appointing one of our physicists, based in Euro
pe, she will contact you directly. Her name is Karen Ginette.”

  “Yes, I know of her, she works at the Borexino Neutrino and Supernova detection facility in the Gran Sasso mountains, Italy.”

  Stephenson and Captain Grunner prepared to leave Professor Tori's office.

  “She is now assigned as a military physicist. Nice seeing you again Ivane,” Stephenson says opening the door. The military man nods respectfully as both men leave Tori's office.

  Professor Tori thinks over what he saw on the paper that his former student allowed him to view. The calculations, charts and information relating to the spike in EMB, Neutron and Neutrino activity simultaneously occurring at both of the Earth's poles. Leaning back in his chair he turns it around looking up at the overcast sky.

  ***

  Natakhtari, Georgia.

  “Here we are...Hmm quaint,” Karen Ginette whispers to herself while she drives up towards the small villa driveway. As she stops the car, a man walks toward her from the front porch. Opening the car door Ginette steps out onto the driveway.

  “Professor Tori, very nice to meet you.” She extends her hand, as he reaches forward and greets the young physicist, shaking her hand.

  “Likewise, please come in.”

  “Thank you...sorry for not calling ahead, GPS is down as are the cellphone networks,” Ginette says.

  The Professor points up at the sky, he tilts his head, turning to Ginette. “I suspect it has to do with the military.”

  “Yes...” She also looks up at the sky as Tori walks into his house, she follows behind. The Professor closes the door behind her. “... phone and GPS jamming.”

  “I hope level-heads prevail,” he replies

  “Me too”

  “Ok well, I was briefed, in a casual meeting whilst I was in New York, and I was told that you would be attending to see me here in Georgia...Presumably due to secrecy...Please take a seat,” Professor Tori says, sitting down as does Ginette.

  “Yes, this is the new Cold War style now, GPS will sporadically go down over certain areas of Europe, even the US particularly the West Coast. Internet outages, email...It is better that we meet face to face,” she replies.

  “Some tea?” The Professor says handing Ginette a cup.

  “Thank you.”

  “I remember the first Cold War, it feels the same, although back then it was tangible, the Berlin Wall, a divided Europe, the Russians retracting back into the Eastern bloc. The Cuban Missile crisis...Now with the Internet, digitized communication, cyberspace it's a new dimension. That in someways will eventually lead back to what it felt like the first time. So may I ask. What is all this about?”

  Ginette sits back into the Professor's modest couch, a woman in her mid thirties, mid-length brown hair, an attractive woman with green eyes.

  “Niles did show you the report?”

  “Yes, an unusual Gamma Ray and Neutrino reading from the North and South Poles...He didn't elaborate nor allow me to take a copy of the paper. Still, there is chatter in the physics and astronomy community. It is understood that this is a military investigation. Detectors, non military, have followed up on the civilian received data. That these readings are not related to anything on Earth, as in man made.”

  “That is correct.” Ginette replies.

  “The assumptions are of an exploding Neutron star or...” Tori reaches down a picks up a cup of tea. “...the Milky-Way's super-massive black hole emitting a significantly large x-ray flare. Of course this still needs to be calculated and verified.”

  “We have a plane awaiting for us at Vaziani Military Base in three hours. It will fly both us to L'Aquila Preturo airport, from there I will then take you to a classified research area.”

  “The Neutrino detector in L'Aquila?”

  “Very close to it...”

  “I understand due to the tensions with Russia and America and also China...but as physicists, can we not talk rationally about the findings, without the politics?”

  Ginette places her cup of tea down and exhales. “I know...I have so much respect for you, not just as a colleague but as a person that is admired greatly in the physics community. I, like others are under military jurisdiction now...I promise everything that we know will be disclosed to you at the L'Aquila facility. What I will say Ivane...We have detected something big, beyond anything we have seen or speculated to even exist.”

  Professor Tori also puts down his tea, he looks to his right at his rear open kitchen door, he sees the olive tree, that sits within a small backyard which was planted five years ago, beneath it rests a small granite memorial. He turns and faces Ginette.

  “As in a threat?”

  “Depends how we define a threat that is without an intention.”

  “Ok, I have my bag ready. I'll just lock everything up, place note here for the cleaning lady...I'll need to check something. One moment please.”

  “Of course, I'll wait outside.” Ginette stands. As Tori walks out from the kitchen area door to the small garden at the rear of his property. Walking over to the olive tree. She watches him as he bows his head, removing his spectacles, Tori closes his eyes. Ginette leaves Professor's house, placing her sunglasses on, she then checks her wrist watch.

  The Professor looks at the memorial stone which lies at the foot of the small tree, it is inscribed with the name Alethea Tori with her birth date and date of death. Placing his spectacles on, he walks back into his house, locking and closing the door behind him, he reaches down and lifts a bag that contains his clothes and recent papers relating to particle physics. Closing the front door behind him, Ginette stands waiting leaning against her hire car. Above them an American military helicopter flies overhead, quickly glancing up she then looks at the Professor and smiles.

  “The door is open.”

  He politely smiles back. Tori thinks back to what this ambitious young physicist had just said to him earlier in relation to the unusual detention of Gamma Rays and Neutrinos. A threat without intention.

  ***

  Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

  America

  “Hey dad, look!” A young boy says looking at a small boulder near where the family have set up their camp site.

  “Thorny lizard,” the man replies bending down, looking at a small lizard attached to the stone. He smiles looking at his son. “They use camouflage...” He then looks up at the fading light of the evening. “...they can blend in with their surroundings.”

  “Why?” The boy asks inquisitively.

  The man stares closer at the lizard, in it's frozen position, it then quickly scuttles away.

  “From predators, birds mostly, they struggle seeing it blend in with other rocks from above. Best look lifeless so that the lizard doesn't become a meal for another animal.”

  The boy smiles, while standing he looks up at the night sky and the masses of stars that begin to illuminate. The family are camped at the High Rock Canyon Trails, one of the prime areas of America to view the night sky and it's Stella expanse.

  “Sheryl, David!” A woman's voice is heard from the camp site, she is standing near the family camper van, with a small fire in the middle of the camping ground.

  “Coming!” The father yells out as he then looks over at his daughter Sheryl who is standing looking through a tripod telescope at the now darkening sky.

  “I can see Jupiter!” The young girl excitably remarks as her brother David and her father walk towards where she is peering through the telescope.

  The man looks up at the mass of stars forming in the night sky.

  “The bright one, southeast...” He points, she looks away from the telescope's eyepiece.

  “Yeah, that one...And don't cheat!” She replies smiling as he is about to lift his cell phone with it's star chart app.

  “Hmm, I think it's Mars, it's too low...from memory. Can I check now?”

  His younger daughter stands close to her father as he lifts the cellphone, while his son walks over to the telescope looking through
the eyepiece.

  “Ok, lets see.. Saturn, Mars...It's Spica,” he says showing his daughter the star chart.

  “What's that?” She asks.

  He looks at the chart again. “A binary star, two stars in close orbit.”

  “Looks like one,” she says still staring at the star chart app.

  “And Jupiter is further up there...” Pointing to a bright star Southwest. “...Alright you two, dinner, lets go,” The father orders as he lifts up the telescope, while his two children run towards where his wife is preparing dinner.

  An hour later the family finish their camp fire meal, sitting in two deck chairs Chris Anderson and his wife Felicity Anderson stare upward at the night sky viewing the Milky Way's incredible expanse, viewed in a perfect environment. A clear night for an ideal setting to look into the cosmos from the High Rock Canyon - a unique part of the Nevada desert.

  “There's another,” Felicity says as a shooting star flashes past over head.

  “And another...” Her husband Chris also remarks on the bright streak as he points to the right of the night skyline. “...That compressed cloud over there. It's...” He says, still pointing where the meteorite had just passed by before disintegrating in the Earth's upper atmosphere, pointing to the inside Galaxy rings that the Earth and it's Solar System reside in.

  “That's part of the Milky Way ring,” His wife replies looking at him with a smile. “I passed science y'know.”

  He smiles back at his wife. Their two children continue looking through their telescope at the sky. “Makes you think, we are just this speck in all this...like we’re nothing.”

  “Gotta be other lifeforms out there,” she says staring up into the night sky.

  “For sure, but what sort of life?”

  “Like us?”

  “Who knows...” He looks at his watch. “...Alright you two, bed in ten minutes. His wife rolls to her side looking at him. “Possible...tonight?”