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  ‘Dougy, do you know the name of the key guy who disappeared?’

  ‘At the time there were no real names used, just codes. But in this case there was quite a public splash by the wife in subsequent years and so I put two and two together. Her name was Mary Jones. The man was her husband Bill Jones. Her son, Tom, had disappeared as well.’

  James sat back. ‘Thanks, Dougy, this is really useful. Do you have anything more?’

  ‘I don’t think so, but if you ask a few more questions you may jog something out of me that I don’t currently know is in there.’

  ‘Well…‌why was the name Hedgehog? Was it just a prickly subject?’

  Dougy chuckled. ‘Well, not all the people involved in G60 or Hedgehog were as charming and friendly as me. There was a senior MOD guy who was given the job to kick off the project. He told one of the secretaries in the typing pool to write it up as Project Erinyes. Well this jumped-up shit of a general had pinched one too many bottoms and the secretary misheard and called it Project Erinaceus.’

  James looked bemused.

  ‘It was funny to us anyway. But then again, we were all ex-Oxbridge classicists. It’s where G60 recruited from in those days. No longer, I take it?’

  ‘Sorry, no, I read information system management at Brunel.’

  ‘Shame…‌Erinaceus is the Latin for hedgehog. Erinyes was one of the furies.’

  James smiled in what he took to be a polite manner, but he felt it was coming across as all teeth so he stopped.

  The silence stretched and James stood. ‘I really appreciate you making time for me Dougy. I will let you get back to your crossword.’

  ‘Well it’s been very nice to meet you, James.’ Dougy got up a little unsteadily and walked James as far as his door. ‘Good luck.’

  ‘Thank you, Dougy. I’ll let you know how things develop.’

  Dougy winked. ‘If you’re around to tell the story.’

  After saying goodbye, James walked out to his car and called Bob. ‘I can’t speak, but we need to meet now.’ They agreed to meet at the university campus later in the afternoon.

  A little later on Justio frowned as he read the transcript of James Chambers’ meeting; any strengthening of alien rumours was unhelpful. But given that it was still limited, and uncorroborated, there was no need to get worked up. After all, there were thousands of humans who were already convinced they’d been seen, spoken to or probed. The big issue would be if humans found alien artefacts, or if Jack was to give credibility to the notion while also displaying Triple Alpha powers.

  However, Gadium dogma was absolutely clear, any pre-Emergence civilisation cannot know about aliens before a Full Emergence. Events on Trogia had underlined how widespread knowledge of aliens before the Emergence had led to disaster.

  Justio reflected on how this could change his own approach. The GF view was that, as Gadium individuals shouldn’t be away from the Gadium home planet, it really didn’t matter what anyone else thought. But for his mission, at this moment, he needed to keep alien existence a secret. Given that he was currently trying to make the process look like a failed Emergence, he would need to follow the formal Gadium approach.

  In any case, without a common alien foe, they’ll fight each other more willingly.

  Chapter 42

  Early on Thursday at the Harding house, Mike arrived to find the place a mess. There was a sea of dirty plates in the kitchen and papers scattered all over the sitting room. Louise was in the kitchen hacking away at her laptop, while Jeff lay on the sofa with a tea towel across his face.

  ‘Hey, Boss, where should I set up my laptop?’ Mike wandered over to Jeff, and gave him a nudge. ‘I said, where should I set up the laptop?’

  Jeff pulled the tea towel off his face and sat up. ‘Boss? I assumed you were speaking to Louise.’

  Louise called through from the kitchen. ‘When you two clowns have stopped the double act—which incidentally I totally saw coming—I’ve made tea.’ Jeff and Mike filed through and sat down at the kitchen table. Louise continued. ‘If you think I look ropey it’s because I haven’t slept. If you think Jeff looks great it’s because he’s had ten hours of peaceful slumber.’ Louise gave Jeff a withering look. ‘So, Mike, did you look at the data?’

  Mike nodded. ‘Before I talk about the data, Willis came back to the garage last night and we stayed up half the night, consciously trying to make the coins come down heads or tails…‌We were successful too…’

  Louise gasped. ‘No!’

  ‘We tossed over a thousand coins and…‌all of them came down heads or tails.’

  Louise rolled her eyes. ‘Idiot…‌so you got nothing.’

  ‘I analysed the data and found no unusual patterns at all, sorry. What about you, Jeff?’

  Louise interrupted. ‘The only interesting patterns Jeff saw were on the inside of his eyelids. As for me…‌well, my night, surfing the web, was useless. Nothing new on FibonacciEddie or Hedgehog.’

  It was Jeff’s turn to interrupt. ‘She did stay up all night, though. Superstition.’

  Louise looked a little sheepish. ‘I’m not proud of this but I take the view if I sacrifice my personal comfort then the god of reporters may take pity on me and give me some more clues. I found nothing.’

  Chuckling, Mike took a sip of his tea. ‘Well, as long as we’re all being thoroughly rational and scientific, I can’t see how we’re going to fail.’

  Louise stood up and started pacing around the kitchen. ‘But with no hint of encouragement from the data analysis, do you think we should give up?’ Her gaze swept from Mike to Jeff. ‘Well?’

  Silence.

  Louise continued to pace. ‘None of us is compromised yet. But if this got out…’

  Jeff shrugged. ‘It’s looking a little futile, unless you want to try with other survivors—widen the testing pool. You know Ashley and Willis are just one-off survivors.’

  ‘So who do you suggest?’

  ‘Bullage? He survived the court case, the brick and the M40.’

  Louise shook her head. ‘He’d never come, he hates me and, anyway, I’d never ask him for help.’

  Jeff chuckled. ‘Normally I’d say you were overacting, but in this case…’

  The phone call from James Chambers had annoyed Bob more than intrigued him. James’ unwillingness to share any information about Hedgehog went against the principles of the scientific community. Then there was the realisation that James was not a mover and shaker within the MOD.

  So Bob found himself waiting with ill-concealed impatience as James Chambers walked into the university reception.

  James smiled as he approached and held out his hand. ‘Can we go somewhere private, please?’

  Bob shook James’ hand quickly and turned, leaving James to follow. As they moved down the corridors towards his office, Bob asked, ‘How private do you mean?’

  James mumbled. ‘Very private, secure from electronic prying.’

  NLUST being a scientific university, there were a few different options. Bob led James into one of the high-energy experimental laboratories. Once inside, he shut the door. ‘These laboratories are used for energy particle experiments. They’re shielded, Full Spectrum Faraday’s Cage, many layers of copper and steel, and electrified when required.’ Bob turned the switch to activate the shielding. Then he took out his phone, showing James the display that indicated zero coverage.

  James looked at Bob’s phone. ‘Just like being in the countryside.’

  ‘So we’re secure. What’s new?’

  Bob listened to a summary of the information James had got from Dougy Raddlestone. Extreme fear? Aliens? ‘It sounds implausible. Are you sure that Dougy wasn’t just getting on a bit?’

  ‘Possibly, but I looked the guy in the eyes, he seemed straight up.’ James paused.

  ‘So do we have proof of the alien angle?’

  James shrugged. ‘There’s been a whole lot of uncorroborated alien
information over the last fifty years: the 1947 Roswell, the 1977 WOW signal, and many others. I find it believable…‌But I have to admit I want to believe it, so I may not be the most objective of observers.’

  Bob remained quiet. I want to believe it as well, but…

  James continued to talk. ‘We have to carry on investigating Louise Harding.’

  As the amazement subsided, Bob found his frustration returning. ‘I’m not sure, really, James. I investigated the leak for you, national security. Fine. But you haven’t exactly been on the level with me. You clearly knew much more about Hedgehog than you let on.’

  ‘I was bound by my perceptions of national security as well. I apologise. I will be more open from now on.’

  It would be the scientific discovery of the century. Bob leant in. ‘So what now?’

  ‘We act as if Dougy is correct; that we are under alien observation. Then we try to get evidence, assuming that if they had wanted to talk, they would have.’

  Bob nodded. ‘And the disappearances?’ Not so good.

  ‘We have to assume they were real as well. We can’t pick and choose.’ James continued. ‘Step one is to assume all conversations are compromised and all emails are intercepted and decoded. We also assume any communication we get, voice call, email, or letter, could be a fake.’

  Bob grimaced. ‘That makes life difficult…‌What about step two?’

  ‘Step two is to escalate internally within the civil service…‌but with such little evidence I’m holding off just now. And before you go all Battlestar on me, we assume there is no prevalence of doppelgangers on Earth, face-to-face is bona fide.’

  Bob had no idea what Battlestar meant but let it go. ‘Step three? Surely something about the tests?’

  ‘I’m not sure. However, if Louise Harding is close to the right track then we can benefit from what she finds without initially implicating the government too much. It would be good to get everything she discovers, just to keep us on the front foot.’

  What about personal security? ‘And back to the disappearances Dougy mentioned? You know, thinking back Mike may have intimated something when I spoke to him.’

  James found a chair and sat down. ‘I got a few names, Bill and Tom Jones were two of them. I haven’t got anything more from G60 records on Project Hedgehog. Dougy gave me some more ideas where I could get some data. I have requisitioned the full set of Molly Saunders’ diaries in the name of national security.’

  ‘So our best bet is to stick with Louise? Tell her about extreme fear and aliens?’

  James paused for a moment. ‘Yep, provide them with the support.’

  ‘And what about the concept of alien surveillance? Do we take precautions or not?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think the answer is we take precautions like this. Try to make things a little harder where we can.’

  Bob escorted James out of the building and then waited at the entrance until James had left the car park. Then he turned back towards his office.

  I don’t believe him.

  But the entrance hall was lined with posters, paintings and photos. Not only of NLUST alumni, albeit there was a picture of Mike (much to Bob’s annoyance), but also from history. A history that had not always been kind to new ways of thinking.

  Surely I don’t believe him?

  As he walked, Bob also passed a display from the Royal Society and the 17th century birth of experimental rigour. And, finally, one from the Hubble telescope; 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars.

  They can’t all be dead.

  Involuntarily Bob sped up as he walked back to his office. Scientific discovery of the century!

  Chapter 43

  As James had left the electromagnetic shielded room, the mini-bots on his clothes had locked on to the university Wi-Fi and transmitted. It had only been a matter of minutes before Aytch had the full transcript.

  Sitting in the crew room, watching the transcript unfold on the wall, Aytch had quickly realised it was not good news. Although the initial Harding tests had been a failure, G60, with critical new experiment information, was actively lining up to support Louise.

  Aytch put a call through to Justio’s cabin. ‘Justio, would you mind meeting? I can come to you.’

  The voice came back over the speaker. ‘I’ll be there in ten seconds.’

  A few moments later, Justio walked into the crew room. He looked at the transcript. ‘Okay, that’s not so good.’

  Not so good. It’s a disaster. ‘I knew we should have closed down G60.’

  ‘We agreed to keep it active to corral the conspiracy theorists. There were always going to be risks. We’ve had fifty years of good behaviour.’

  Aytch took a breath. ‘This has to be reported real–time to the GEC. It’s a potential material breach of anonymity.’

  ‘What? No. They just happen to be right. But they have no evidence. Nothing.’

  ‘I must insist.’ Aytch could not stop his gaze flicking to the crew room ceiling. No, this is not about scoring points. ‘We have to report.’

  ‘And say what exactly?’ Justio had been standing in the doorway. Now he walked into the room and sat down. ‘They have no evidence. No Jack, no mini-bots, nothing. We should get Jack, then, in a few days, we’ll send a message saying everything is under control.’

  Maybe.

  Justio continued to pile on the pressure. ‘A message now will look like panic.’

  Aytch started to pace around the room. ‘You’re genuinely ready for the Jack invites?’

  ‘Of course, we discussed this already, standard misinformation, we’ll send him emails and fake phone calls tomorrow to get him to a meeting point up near Newgate on Sunday. Then, in the darkness, we lure him into a secluded spot…‌and you grab him.’

  ‘And if he doesn’t agree to come?’

  ‘We’ll use limited police involvement. Have him arrested and taken somewhere secluded for special interrogation…‌and you grab him.’

  ‘Sunday evening?’

  ‘Agreed, just a few days.’

  Aytch nodded, and felt his anxiety lessen. Justio did seem to know what he was doing. He had a very calm head; still, that was to be expected after so much experience.

  Okay.

  On Thursday afternoon, Louise marched into the university reception with Mike and Jeff trailing in her wake. Perhaps the god of reporters did exist after all; Mike had received a call from Bob Reaple asking to meet them in his office, ‘a matter of gravest urgency.’ Louise was unclear if Mike had been directly quoting Bob or not. She suspected not.

  As they moved through the corridors, Jeff forced them to do a little detour to pick up coffee from the canteen. Then it was all business. Marching full-speed.

  Louise was forced to slow down a few times to get directions from Mike, or Jeff, with regard to the location of Bob’s office. But soon enough they were outside his door, and Louise walked straight in.

  Bob jumped up from his desk in shock.

  Without preamble, Louise took a seat. ‘So, you’re on our side now?’

  Bob looked intently at Louise. ‘Everything we say is probably being listened to by a third party.’

  He does look serious. Louise nodded an acknowledgement, and then allowed herself to be led, by Bob, to a nearby laboratory.

  They all waited while Bob shut the door, and activated a switch on a control panel nearby to the door. Then he took out a black box from his pocket and appeared to take a reading from it. After a few moments he turned to the group. ‘Just scanning for unusual emissions of electromagnetic radiation. There are none.’

  Mike tapped the wall. ‘No EM at all, I hope, given the cost of the shielding we put in here.’

  Bob shrugged. ‘Thanks for coming. Firstly, the government knows almost nothing…‌Project Hedgehog did run in the 1960s. It was focused on investigating mind-powers. The material is all lost, destroyed, gone.’

  Louise was unimpress
ed. ‘We knew most of that.’

  Bob nodded. ‘Some people genuinely believe that there were successes. Additionally, some people genuinely believe there were mysterious disappearances.’

  Louise frowned. ‘Successes?’

  ‘The few surviving records mention successful tests, but not what the tests were.’ Bob paused. ‘But the key is that intense, almost uncontrolled, fear is a mandatory condition.’

  Jeff nodded. ‘Our set-up is certainly a little weak there. And the disappearances?’

  ‘From what I’ve been told, at least one participant, probably two, plus a few scientists who were too vocal. Bill Jones was mentioned—and taken.’ Bob looked at Louise, their eyes locked and he spoke again. ‘Taken.’

  Louise gasped. Taken? Surely Mary was not right about the other bit. She felt the blood start to drain from her face. Her skin tingled. Christ, she could feel tears welling up. ‘No…‌God, no!’ Her knees went weak.

  Jeff took a step forward, a look of amazement and fear on his face. ‘Louise?’

  But Bob was already there, leading her gently to a chair.

  Louise put her hand over her mouth, trying to stop the squeaks that were embarrassing her, and also trying to slow her breathing down. This is it, my way back: redemption, Harry’s office…

  She looked over to Mike, who was white as a sheet. He’s made the connection.

  Bob turned to face them all. ‘We have no proof. It may all lead back to the same mistaken source. But there are very strong rumours regarding the shutdown of Project Hedgehog in the 1960s.’ He looked down at Louise. ‘You believe it.’

  Louise looked over, and Mike was whispering to Jeff, who, in turn, was looking less surprised than she felt he should be. She felt slightly foolish over the strength of her initial reaction so, taking a few moments, she gathered her thoughts. ‘I spoke to Mary Jones, Bill’s wife. She believed both her husband and son had been abducted by aliens. Do you believe it, Bob?’