Field One by Simon Winstanley

Author:Simon Winstanley [Winstanley, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Futurewords
Published: 2015-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

CONVERGENCE

11th March 2013

“At ease. Please sit,” General Napier walked to the front of the Node’s small assembly hall. In theory it was just large enough to brief all the personnel present at the Node, but this morning only a select few had been invited. Those present broke from their discussions and moved to sit in fold-up chairs, facing a makeshift podium. He was about to begin his briefing but saw two empty seats. As if on cue the doors at the back of the hall opened and Douglas Walker bustled in, carrying his ever-present stack of paper folders under one arm, followed a few seconds later by Anna Bergstrom carrying a blue balloon.

“General I need to -” began Douglas making strides towards him.

“It will have to wait,” he held up his palm.

“No you don’t understand -”

“I’m sorry, Doctor. This takes priority,” he said holding up a small briefing card. Not that he needed notes, he’d known this day would arrive and knew the consequences and actions that would follow, but he found it helpful today to have a prop to hold.

He cleared his throat while Douglas and Anna shuffled into their seats.

“Thank you,” he began, “We have been issued with formal notification that as of zero four hundred hours today, Fallen Veil conditions are now in effect.”

As he predicted, questions erupted from around the hall. He waited for a few seconds before raising his hand again to stop them.

“Please. I can answer all questions, one to one, but first I must brief you all.”

The amount of background noise diminished, with the exception of an impatient jiggling foot belonging to Douglas. After Napier looked in their direction, Anna placed a hand on his knee and, following the surprise of the physical intervention, Douglas stopped.

“Over the past few weeks,” Napier began, “we have managed to conceal the connection between the Chelyabinsk meteorite and the Tenca splinter. In particular we were able to suppress the reverse-calculation of Tenca’s origin at Siva. However, at twenty-one hundred hours yesterday, Siva was independently sighted by the Ankara University Observatory in Turkey. It didn’t take long for students worldwide to correlate Siva’s trajectory with that of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. The images and trajectory data went viral, and Archive lost containment globally by twenty-three hundred hours. In accordance with Fallen Veil protocol, the Heads of States will be briefing their nations independently and simultaneously later today at eleven hundred hours GMT.”

Colonel Beck had arrived quietly at the back of the hall, so Napier took the opportunity to deflect what he assumed would be one of the next questions.

“If you wish to view the briefing for your specific country,” he said, pointing loosely towards the rear of the hall, “please let Colonel Beck know and he will open up an incoming channel for you.”

Several heads turned to acknowledge his arrival. Beck was a solid six feet tall, but did not have the same larger-than-life aspect as Napier. He had been introduced to the Node a year ago to coordinate

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