The Zul Enigma Read Online Free PDF Page B

go that far…’
    ‘Who won’t? Russia? The
US? Europe? The Middle East? The world’s still not recovered from the latest
economic crisis. A war would be convenient. People make a lot of money out of
war. But what if it goes nuclear? We could end up destroying ourselves and
everything on the planet.’
    ‘Are you inferring some
twisted version of natural selection’s going on?’
    ‘Hey, we humans haven’t
done a good job looking after each other or our planet so far, have we?’
    ‘But to wipe ourselves
out…’
    ‘Ninety-nine point nine
per cent of all species that ever existed have gone extinct. That’s a fact. And
for complex organisms, according to Ernst Mayr, the average life expectancy of
a species is one hundred thousand years. That’s how long we so-called civilised
humans have been on the planet. So tell me, why should we go on when
ninety-nine point nine per cent of species die out? I don’t see it’s a question
of “if” but “when”.’
    ‘And if we don’t? Kill
ourselves in a nuclear war, I mean.’
    ‘A super volcanic
eruption would work. You know as well as I do, seismic activity’s been
escalating at a fantastic rate.’
    ‘What’s up with you
mate?’
    Carlos leaned forward,
‘Don’t you feel it? Thing’s are unbalanced. I just know something big and bad
is going to happen. Soon.’
    ‘Come on, you never used
to be all gloom and doom. Here we are having dinner for the first time in
bloody years and I feel like hacking at my wrists with the steak knife.’
    Carlos examined his
glass. He wiped a little section of salt off the rim with his forefinger and
licked it. It wasn’t just a case of what he believed was wrong with the world,
although that was bad enough. It was the e-mails. They’d added to his unease
and he couldn’t stop thinking about them. He’d have liked to talk to Drew
– he could do with his friend’s cut the crap style feedback – but
there was the confidentiality issue.
    Of course the first
e-mail had alarmed Carlos, although it had been more of an irritation than a
worry. Had someone else, Drew for instance, told him they’d received such a
thing, he would have found it amusing. Then, after getting the second e-mail and
watching the video, the significance was starting to register, and Carlos knew
it wasn’t funny at all. UN security had been compromised and there was no clue
who was responsible or what their motive was. But Carlos’s discomfort went way
deeper than that. The message echoed his own fears for the future of the Earth.
It resonated on way too personal a note.
    ‘You’re right,’ he said
leaning back in his chair, ‘this isn’t the time.’
    ‘So, hallowed Director
of OOSA, what’s this shit-hot job of yours really like?’
    ‘Hey,’ Carlos raised his
brows, ‘it sounds good. But now I got the Office organised, I’m just an
over-paid clerk. My admin assistant could do the job – at least that’s
what she thinks – and she’s probably right. I love our mission to bring
space within the grasp of every country on the planet, but I have to be so
careful. It’s like treading on eggs. The members are clacking women. Give more
to one than another and the complaints start flying around my head like
bullets. Those guys are uncontrollable! Come on…’ Carlos looked up waving his
arms in the air, ‘… does it sound like me?’ He nearly knocked his Margarita
flying but managed to grasp the stem. Draining the glass he banged it back down
on the table, hard.
    ‘Hold on a minute there
Charlie boy, there was a time you’d have killed for that job.’
    ‘ Sí , I know. And
it was fantastic to start with. But now? I don’t enjoy it any more. I miss the
old NASA days when we used to make things happen and had fun
doing it. We were at the cutting edge. You still are. For me it’s the same
thing every day. I’m surrounded by bureaucrats. I am a bureaucrat. I
read report after report. I head endless meetings. The members are