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Jack by contrast was slumped in an armchair trying to support his head, which suddenly seemed incredibly heavy, with his hands. But it was Jack who, after a few endless minutes of silence, decided to take matters in hand. He abruptly stood up and facing the two aliens, said in a firm voice "If you chose us for this task you must have had a reason. All I can say is you won't be disappointed." Then he looked Azakis directly in the eyes and resolutely asked, "Could you show us a simulation, with that little bit of wizardry of yours," and he pointed at the virtual image of the Earth that was still slowly spinning in the centre of the room, "of your planet's approach?"
"With pleasure," answered Azakis immediately. He retrieved all the Elders' calculations through his N^COM implant and conjured up a graphical representation, right there, in front of them.
"This is Nibiru," he said indicating the largest planet. "And these are its satellites that we were talking about."
Seven, considerably smaller, celestial bodies, were spinning around the majestic planet at very different distances and speeds to one another. Azakis placed his index finger on the one orbiting the farthest away of them all and enlarged it until it was almost as big as himself. Then very solemnly he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Kodon to you; this imposing rocky mass has decided to create a lot of trouble for your beloved planet."
"But how big is it?" asked Elisa, intrigued, as she observed the lumpy dark grey globe.
"Let's say that it is slightly smaller in size than your moon, but its mass is almost double." Azakis made a rapid gesture with his hand and the entire solar system appeared before them, with the planets slowly moving in their respective orbits. The trajectories of each one represented by thin, different coloured lines.
"This," continued Azakis, indicating a dark red line "is the trajectory that Nibiru will follow in its approach to the sun." Then he accelerated the planet's movement until it was close to the Earth and added "and this is the point where the orbits of the two planets will intersect."
The two terrestrials watched the explanation Azakis was giving them of the event which, in just a few days' time, would upset their lives and those of all the other inhabitants on the planet, in astonishment, but with great attention.
"How close will Nibiru come to us?" asked the Colonel quietly.
"As I was saying earlier," replied Azakis "Nibiru won't bother you excessively. Itâs Kodon that will almost touch the Earth and create quite a lot of problems." He brought the image a little closer and showed a simulation of the satellite when it would be at its closest point to the terrestrial orbit. "This will be the moment of maximum gravitational pull between the two celestial bodies. Kodon will only be 200,000 kilometres from your planet."
"Heck!" exclaimed Elisa. "That's a pittance."
"The last time," replied Azakis "exactly two cycles ago, it went by at about 500,000 kilometresâ distance and we all know what it managed to do then."
"Yes, the famous Great Flood."
Jack was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, rocking slowly back and forth, rising slightly first on his toes then on his heels. Suddenly, in a very serious tone, he broke the silence, saying, "I'm certainly not one of the greatest experts on this subject, but I'm afraid that no terrestrial technology would be able to do anything to counteract an event like that."
"Perhaps we could launch missiles with nuclear warheads against it," hazarded Elisa.
"That only happens in science fiction films," replied Jack smiling. "And anyway, assuming we could land vectors of that type on Kodon, we would risk shattering the satellite into thousands of pieces, causing a deadly shower of meteorites. That really would be the end of everything."
"I beg your pardon," said Elisa addressing the two aliens. "But didn't you say earlier that, in exchange for our âvery preciousâ plastic, you would help us solve this absurd situation? I hope you really do have some good ideas to help us out here, otherwise we're done for."
Petri, who had been standing quietly on the sidelines, smiled slightly and took a step towards the three-dimensional scenario represented in the middle of the bridge. With a rapid movement of his right hand he conjured up a kind of silver-coloured doughnut. He pointed at it with his index finger and moved it until it was exactly between the Earth and Kodon, then he said, "This might be the solution.â
Tell el-Mukayyar â The escape
In the laboratory tent, the two fake Bedouins who had tried to steal the shuttleâs âprecious contentâ from the two aliens, were gagged and securely tied to a large drum of fuel. They were sitting on the ground with their backs against the heavy metal container, facing in opposite directions. One of the doctor's helpers stood guard outside the tent and looked inside, every so often, to check on them.
The thinner of the two, who definitely had a couple of broken ribs from the Colonel's blow to his side, despite the pain which was almost preventing him from breathing, had not stopped, even for one moment, looking around in search of something that might come in handy to free himself.
The light of the afternoon sun timidly penetrated inside the tent through a small hole in the wall, throwing a thin beam of light into the hot dusty air. That sword-like ray of light painted a small white ellipse on the ground, that was moving very slowly in the direction of the two prisoners. The thin guy was watching the slow progress of the bright patch, almost hypnotised, when a sudden flash of light brought him back to reality. Half buried in the sand, about a metre away, something metallic reflected the sunlight straight into his right eye. He moved his head slightly and tried to figure out just what it was, but in vain. So, he tried stretching a leg in that direction, but a terrible stab of pain in his side reminded him of the state of his ribs and he decided to desist. He thought he probably wouldn't reach it anyway and, trying to talk through his gag, whispered "Hey, are you still alive?"
The fat guy was no better off. After Petri had sent him flying, a large bruise had appeared on his right knee, he had a nice bump on his forehead, his right shoulder was killing him and his right wrist was swollen like a balloon.
"I think so," he answered in a small voice, mumbling through his gag.
"Thank goodness! I've been calling you for some time now. I was getting worried."
"I must have blacked out. My head is splitting."
"We've absolutely got to get away from here," said the thin guy with determination.
"But, how are you? Nothing broken?"
"I think I may have a few broken ribs but I can manage."
"How come we let them take us by surprise like this?"
"Never mind now. What happened, happened. Let's try and free ourselves. Look to your left, where that ray of sunshine falls."
"I can't see anything," replied the fat guy.
"There's something half buried there. It looks like a metal object. See if you can reach it with your leg."
The sudden noise of the tent's zip opening, interrupted the operation. The guard appeared and looked inside. The fat guy went back to pretending to be unconscious while the other one remained absolutely still. The man glanced at them, then cursorily checked all the equipment scattered around and, with a satisfied air, withdrew and closed the entrance again.
The two remained still for a while, then the bigger guy spoke first, "that was close."
"So, can you see it? Can you reach it?"
"Yes, now I can. Wait, I'll try."
The burly fake Bedouin began to rock back and forth trying to loosen the ropes that held him a little, then he began to stretch out his left leg as far as he could in the direction of the object. He could just reach it. He began digging with his heel until he managed to uncover a bit of it.
"It seems to be a trowel."
"It must be a Marshalltown Trowel. That's the tool of choice for archaeologists to scratch the ground looking for old crocks. Can you get it?"
"I can't reach."
"If you'd just stop stuffing yourself with all that junk food, you might be a little more agile, you fat ugly thing."
"Now what has my powerful physique got to do with it?"
"Come on then 'powerful physique', let's see if you can get hold of that trowel or they'll find a way to make you lose weight in jail."
Images of unsavoury and malodorous pimps suddenly appeared before the fat man's eyes. That terrible vision released a strength in him that he no longer thought he had. He arched his back as far as he could. A stab of pain shot straight from his sore shoulder to his brain, but he ignored it. With a decisive lunge, he managed to get his heel behind the trowel and, quickly bending his leg, drew it towards himself.
"Done it" he shouted from behind the gag.
"Will you just shut up, you ugly idiot? What are you screaming for? Do you want those two thugs to come back in and punch us up again?"
"Sorry," the big guy replied softly. "But I did manage to get it."
"See? If you put your mind to it, even you can manage to do something useful. It should be sharp. See if you can cut these damn ropes."
With his good hand, the big guy grabbed the handle of the trowel and began to rub the sharper edge on the ropes behind his back.
"Assuming we can free ourselves," the fat guy murmured "how are we going to get away from here? That site is full of people and it's still daylight. I hope you've got a plan."
"Of course I have! Aren't I the ingenious mind of the two of us?" exclaimed the thin guy proudly. "While you were having your cosy little nap, I analysed the situation and I think I've found a way to beat it."
"I'm all ears," replied the other one continuing to run the trowel up and down.
"That chap standing guard looks in here approximately every ten minutes and this tent is the outer one on the east side of the site."
"So?"
"How on earth did I get you as a partner for this job? You've got the imagination and the intelligence of an amoeba; hoping the amoebae don't take offence at the comparison."
"Actually," retorted the fat guy slightly piqued, "it was me who choose you, since the job was given to me."
"Have you managed to free yourself?" cut short the thin guy; the discussion was taking a turn for the worse and his accomplice was absolutely right.
"Just give me another moment. I think it's about to give."
Sure enough, shortly afterwards, the rope used to tie the pair to the drum broke and the big guy's belly, finally free of its constraints, resumed its normal size.
"There, done it!" exclaimed the fat guy satisfied.
"Great. But now let's keep this up until the guard comes back. We have to make everything look the same as before."
âOkay partner. I'll go back to pretending to be asleep."
The two didn't have long to wait. A few minutes later, the doctor's assistant was back to peep inside the tent. He gave his usual cursory glance around taking in the situation and, not noticing anything strange, closed the zip, then repositioned himself in the shade of the veranda and calmly lit a hand-rolled cigarette.
"Now," said the thin guy. "Let's get moving.
With all their aches and pains, this turned out to be rather more complicated than expected but, after letting out a few dull groans of pain and several curses, they found themselves standing in front of one another.
"Give me the trowel," ordered the thin guy removing his gag. The pains in his right side prevented him from moving very easily but, by laying his open hand on his side, he managed to alleviate some of the pain. He reached the side opposite the entrance to the tent in a couple of steps, knelt and slowly pushed the Marshalltown Trowel into it. The trowel's sharp blade cut through the soft fabric of the east-facing side like butter, creating a small slit of about ten centimetres. The thin man put his right eye close to it and peered through the slit for a few moments. As he had expected there was nobody there. Only the ruins of the ancient city could be seen, about a hundred metres away, where, beforehand, they had hidden the Jeep that was going to be used for their get-away with all the loot.
"All clear," he said, using the blade of the trowel to lengthen the small cut he'd just made down to the floor. "Let's go!" And he crawled through the slit.
"You could have made this hole a little bigger, couldn't you?" muttered the fat man, between one groan and another, while he tried with difficulty to slip outside.
"Come on! We need to get away as quickly as possible."
"Easier said than done. I can hardly walk."
"Give over, hurry up and stop complaining. Remember, if we don't manage to get away, nobody's going to stop us spending a good few years in jail."
The word "jail" always managed to instil extra strength in the fat guy. He didn't say anything else and, suffering in silence, followed his companion who crept stealthily away towards the ruins.
It was the rumble of an engine in the distance that aroused the suspicions of the man on guard. He looked at the now finished cigarette for an instant, then flicked it away with a quick gesture. He slipped inside the tent with decision, but could barely believe his eyes: the two prisoners were gone. The rope lay abandoned untidily next to the drum of fuel, a little farther on there were the two pieces of fabric they had used as gags and on the end wall of the tent a large gash that went right down to the ground.
"Hisham, guys," yelled the man with all the breath he had in his lungs. "The prisoners have escaped!"
Theos spacecraft - The superfluid
The image of the object that Petri had placed in the space between Kodon and earth had left both terrestrials flabbergasted.
"And what's that thing?" asked Elisa curiously, as she went nearer to try and see better.
"We still have not given it an official name." Petri brought the strange object back into the foreground again and watching the doctor, he added "Perhaps you could choose one."
"If you could at least explain what it is, I might perhaps try."
"Our best scientists have been dedicated to this project for some time now." Petri clasped his hands behind his back and began to slowly walk around the room. "This equipment is the result of a series of studies that, partly, go even beyond my scientific skills."
"And I can assure you they're remarkable," Azakis added, giving his friend an affectionate pat on the back.
"In a nutshell, it's a sort of anti-gravity system. It's based on a principle which, as I said, is still being studied but which I can try to summarise in a few simple words."
"I think that would be much better," commented Elisa. "Don't forget we belong to a species which, compared to yours, could easily be defined as underdeveloped."
Petri nodded slightly. Then he approached the three-dimensional representation of the strange object and calmly continued his explanation. "This - what you called a âdoughnutâ earlier - is geometrically defined as a toroid. The tubular ring is hollow, while what we might simply call the âcentral holeâ contains the propulsion and control system."
"Up to here it's all clear," said Elisa, ever more excited.
"Very good. Now let's see the system's principle of operation." Petri spun the image of the toroid around and showed its inner section. "The ring is filled with a gas, usually an isotope of helium which, cooled to a temperature close to absolute zero, changes state and turns into a liquid with very particular characteristics. In practice, its viscosity becomes almost null and it can flow without generating any friction. We call this characteristic 'superfluidity'."
"Now I'm getting a little lost," said Elisa sadly.
"To put it simply, this gas in its liquid state, appropriately stimulated by the ring's structure, will be able to travel inside it, without any difficulty, at a speed close to the speed of light, and manage to maintain it for a theoretically infinite time."
"Amazing," was all Jack could comment, who hadn't missed even a syllable of the whole explanation.
"Okay, now I think I've understood," added Elisa. "But how will this gadget counteract the effects of the gravitational pull between the two planets?"
"This is where things become much more complicated," replied Petri. "Let's say that the rotation of the superfluid at speeds close to those of light, generates a space-time continuum curvature around it, causing an anti-gravity effect."
"Good grief!" exclaimed Elisa. "My old physics professor will be turning in his grave."
"And not only him, my dear," added the Colonel. "If I have rightly understood what these two gentlemen are trying to explain to us, here we are talking about toppling a good many theories and concepts that several of our scientists have spent their entire lives trying to analyse and study. The principle of anti-gravity has been theorised more than once before but nobody has ever been able to prove it completely. Now we finally have the proof, here in front of us," and he pointed at the strange object "that it really is possible."
"I'd be a little more cautious," said Azakis, dampening the Colonel's excitement a little. "I feel obliged to inform you that this thing has never been tested on large objects like planets, or rather, we tried it two cycles ago but it didn't turn out exactly as we expected. Moreover, events might occur that we have not anticipated and..."
"There you go, bringing bad luck as usual," said Petri interrupting his companion. "The mechanism has been demonstrated more than once. Our own spacecraft uses part of this principle for its propulsion. Let's be optimistic for once!"
"Because there don't really seem to be many alternatives anyway, or am I mistaken?" asked Elisa in a disappointed voice.
"Unfortunately, I don't think so," said Petri disconsolately, with his head hanging down slightly. "In fact, the only thing I really fear is that, given the reduced size of our toroid, we will not be able to completely absorb all the effects of the gravitational pull and a part of the gravitons will manage to do their work all the same."
"Are you saying that this thing might not be sufficient to prevent a catastrophe in any case?" asked Elisa approaching the alien threateningly.
"Perhaps not completely," replied Petri taking a small step backwards. "From my own calculations, I would say that about ten percent of the gravitons could escape this kind of ploy."
