Dark Rising

NINE

Ahmad Al Janaddi tried hard to keep the nervousness from his voice. It was the first time he had been called to appear personally before the president and his future could very well hang on his performance. It didn’t help that the men in charge of the Iranian military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the intelligence and security services were also present, along with the leader of the Islamic Guardian Council, a group of elders charged with ensuring that all the Republic’s decisions adhered to the path of Islam.

Al Janaddi was the newly promoted leading scientist at the Jamshid II site, and it was his task to inform the group about the recent ‘anomaly’ at the Jamshid I site at Persepolis. He drew in a short breath and looked briefly at the faces staring back at him. President Moshaddam appeared to be listening patiently, but may just as easily have been bored by all the technical details.

The only face that was truly engaged was that of Parvid Davoodi, the vice-president. The complete opposite of the president, Davoodi was well educated and an economist by training – and his liberal perspective, based on his studies of modern economic theory and the free market often brought him into conflict with his more hard-line colleagues and his president. Unlike Moshaddam, Davoodi was for open dialogue with the West. He’d spent some of his early life in America and held a PhD in Economics from Iowa State University; like a lot of moderate Iranians, he didn’t see the West as evil, just different.

Al Janaddi continued with his report. ‘All the Persepolis material that was transferred to our Jamshid II complex has been reviewed many times and we believe we have an understanding of what caused the destruction of the primary site. In essence, the modifications to the laser-enrichment sphere made by the German scientist Hoeckler had an unexpected side effect. Due to his radical design and choice of laser, the high-speed molecule collisions were a lot faster and contained a lot more energy. In effect, his design did more than just split the atoms from their molecules; he actually caused them to crash into each other at the speed of light. Hoeckler’s sphere became a miniature particle collider.’ Al Janaddi paused, but no one except for Davoodi seemed interested. He tried again. ‘We believe we created a miniature black hole within the sphere.’

Davoodi sat forward. ‘You think that was the source of the gamma rays, not just a fissionable accident?’ he asked.

Al Janaddi knew the vice-president had an amateur interest in astronomy. ‘Yes, Agha-ye, Vice-President, we believe the data is undeniable here. If it were a leakage there would be continuing radiation in the mega-sievert range. But there was no heat, no explosion – just a form of… implosion. The gamma anomaly held its form for point-zero-two nanoseconds before evaporating and collapsing back into itself, taking with it everything within a 500 foot radius. Allah be praised that this was so, as it drew its own gamma radiation flash back in. There is barely any residual radiation left; the facility’s structural design contained most of the deadly particle emissions and the implosion digested the rest.’

The scientist chose his words carefully. Though the Jamshid I site at Persepolis had been under the governance of his former colleague Mahmud Shihab, it was still quite possible that he could be arrested for being associated with the destruction of the property of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which carried an immediate death sentence. He felt the dead eyes of Mohammed Bhakazarri, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, slide across him. He swallowed and continued.

‘Let me show you the data feeds of the last few minutes prior to the anomaly in the facility.’ Al Janaddi opened a large flat laptop computer and called up the movie display software, selected the appropriate time slice and pressed play. ‘What you are seeing now is the laboratory floor – the uranium-enrichment sphere is the globe in the centre of the room.’

The screen showed many scientists and engineers in the lab. As the lights dimmed, they pulled visors down over their eyes and turned to face the sphere. The sphere seemed to glow as the room darkened around it, and then, for just a few seconds, the room filled with white streaks before everything went black. A dreadful howling sound made even the viewers widen their eyes and grip their chair rails. Al Janaddi slowed the footage to a frame-by-frame perspective. Even so, the speed of events was rapid and it was difficult to understand what they were actually seeing. All of the personnel in the lab seemed to blur and warp, stretching towards the sphere as if they were made of elastic. The slowed-down howl sounded almost musical now, like a large brass horn.

Al Janaddi halted the display and enlarged a small section, showing the faces of the scientists in detail. Most showed expressions of surprise, but among them there were also fear and agony. Then they were gone.

‘Gamma radiation within the facility spiked at eight thousand sieverts,’ Al Janaddi explained quietly. ‘That’s almost incineration wavelength. Further away from the sphere, the concrete and lead panelling shielded the pulse shock wave somewhat, but we know it travelled beyond the facility. There is no significant radiation at the site now; in fact, nothing much above normal. It was there, and now it’s gone.’

Davoodi spoke again, slowly. ‘Are there any survivors? Have the bodies been retrieved and blessed?’

‘There are no survivors, but…’ Al Janaddi licked his lips as he gathered his thoughts. ‘We believe we have recovered the remains of Mahmud Shihab, the lead scientist of the facility. But at this point we’re not one hundred per cent sure if -’

The president unfolded his arms and narrowed his eyes at the scientist. ‘Tell us what you have, Professor. Everything – quickly.’ Though the tone was even, Al Janaddi could feel the underlying warning to be absolutely candid.

‘Yes, my President. Please appreciate there is much we still do not fully comprehend, and we need many more tests for final confirmation, but a body… er, a partial body, was shipped to us this morning. We believe it is Dr Shihab, but identification was possible only from the security tag found on a pocket and a partial thumbprint from the left hand.’

Al Janaddi sensed Parvid Davoodi watching him closely. ‘Severe burning?’ the vice-president asked.

Al Janaddi’s lips moved as if testing his words before he spoke them aloud. He shook his head and looked down at the ground before continuing. ‘Yes, there was gamma insult to the physiology, and some of the personnel recovering the body suffered quite severe secondary radiation poisoning, but that was not what confused us.’

The scientist drew in a deep shuddering breath and opened another file on the laptop – a single colour photograph that filled the screen. Though he had seen it before, he winced at the image. The top half of the body was almost unrecognisable as human. The head and face were the worst – they seemed to have stretched and widened. An eye a foot long stared out of the image, while the mouth – held open by the swollen, distended tongue – seemed to be screaming from the very pit of hell.

Even the veteran soldiers, who had seen all manner of mutilations on the battlefield, sat with mouths open in either disgust or shock. After a few moments, most of the group looked away, all except Mahmoud Moshaddam. The president’s gaze burned into the scientist; Al Janaddi felt as if it penetrated to his very core.

‘What else?’ Moshaddam said softly. ‘There is something more – I can feel it. I will not ask you a third time, Professor. Tell us everything.’

The scientist wrung his hands and nodded. ‘The Persepolis anomaly occurred just forty hours ago and over 400 miles from where we are now. However, when the body was recovered it was severely decomposed, as if Dr Shihab had been dead for many months. Somehow, between his disappearance under four days ago and reappearance, his body has undergone nearly half a year’s decomposition. We believe that when he disappeared, he didn’t just go somewhere else – he went some when else.’

Mohammed Bhakazarri was shaking his head. ‘Professor, are you aware how many billions of rials that site cost the Islamic Republic of Iran? Are you aware of the camouflage and misinformation that we needed to facilitate to mask it? And for what? What have we got for our billions and all that work other than a deformed, dead scientist?’

Al Janaddi had expected this from the military. They resented the fact that scientific personnel were in charge of the Jamshid projects. But his defensive strategy wasn’t aimed at the military; it was for the benefit of the president. It was common knowledge that Mahmoud Moshaddam was a deeply religious man who saw the hand of Allah in every event that occurred. This knowledge had shaped Al Janaddi’s argument.

‘Yes, I am aware of the cost, Chief Commander Bhakazarri – both in terms of the loss of personnel and rials. But I think we may have expended our money very wisely. This may be the greatest gift Allah, may his name be praised, has bestowed on our great land for a thousand years.’

The president’s brow knitted and he sat forward. Silence hung in the room and all eyes were now firmly on the scientist.

‘Black holes are the deadliest and most powerful entities in our universe,’ Al Janaddi continued. ‘And Iran just created one in a laboratory. The Europeans and the Americans are still theorising about the ability to achieve this with their giant particle accelerators. They know that creating and securing a black hole would deliver an energy source unparalleled on this planet. Gamma-ray bursts from outside our galaxy have enormous power that could supply the entire world’s energy needs for a billion, billion years. Rather than bury the Jamshid project, we must try to reproduce the work that was done at Persepolis and see if we can harness these mighty entities and their almost limitless power.’

Davoodi raised an eyebrow and half-smiled at the scientist. ‘I am not an expert, but I understand, Professor, that a single gamma burst can release more energy in ten seconds than our sun will emit in ten billion years. How do you propose to contain this monstrous force once created? Also, what would stop these unstable entities from escaping your facility and devouring Jamshid II, Iran, or the entire planet for that matter? We just lost Jamshid I in the blink of an eye, and probably alerted the West that we are working with fissionable material. The next accident could be the last for everyone in Iran.’

The vice-president leaned forward and steepled his fingers. ‘I suggest we shut down all testing until we have a better understanding of the risks of trying to tamper with these monstrous freak occurrences.’

Al Janaddi closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, opening his arms as if in resignation. ‘Perhaps you are right. There is much we don’t know at this point, Vice-President Davoodi. But maybe that is why we must undertake further study to understand and perhaps harness this power. If we don’t, the West will.’

There was complete silence. All eyes turned to the president. He seemed deep in prayer: his eyes were closed, his hands were clasped and he was murmuring softly to himself. At last he opened his eyes and spoke.

‘It is clear to me that this is Allah’s gift to the Iranian people. He has shown us the path forward and it would be blasphemy to ignore his message. No more will our enemies be able to threaten embargoes on our petroleum or the destruction of our oil fields. When we have an energy source that does not need to be sucked from the ground, that we can pluck from the very stars themselves, that has been given to us by Allah, blessed be his name, then we can lead the entire Muslim world to a new age of superiority. We will be able to stop our oil production and watch the West return to chaos when the source of the black blood that their machines gorge themselves upon is suddenly turned off.’

Then the president’s brow furrowed as if he had just had an unpleasant thought. He reached out to Chief Commander Bhakazarri and took hold of his upper arm. ‘They will come – either the pigs of Zion or the Americans. If enough of the radiation escaped, they will have seen it.’

Bhakazarri made a fist and brought it slowly down on the table in a subconscious act of crushing his enemies. ‘You are right. Either by air or by stealth, they will come. We must be ready.’

‘And what of Persepolis – what remains of the facility?’ The president turned from Bhakazarri back to the scientist, his eyes narrowing in contemplation.

‘Nothing, my President. Nothing except the tunnels leading to the complex. There was no heat, no noise and no ground tremors – the facility was either totally absorbed… or sent somewhere else.’

The president nodded slowly. ‘Truly a gift – Allah and all the prophets be praised.’ He turned to Bhakazarri, his eyes now alight with the fire of excitement. ‘We must be ready – with words and a plan, and some steel as well, my friend. We will tell the bureaucrats at the United Nations that we wish to discuss closing down the Natanz facilities, with their assistance, in return for their lifting of all sanctions. They already know about the Natanz operation, and that will keep them satisfied. It will also be enough to keep the Americans in check, at least diplomatically.’

He spoke to Al Janaddi again. ‘Professor, you are authorised to bring the Jamshid II facility up to full production capability immediately. You are personally responsible for the success of this project.’

The president closed his eyes and leaned his head back, as though listening to some distant voice. ‘We need to keep the unbelievers away from Jamshid II at all costs. They may know about the Persepolis site, but there is nothing there for them now. Perhaps we should have a reception waiting for them nevertheless. To draw them out, sap their strength.’

Bhakazarri gave a flat smile. ‘I will ready the Takavaran immediately, my President, and cast a net around Persepolis. I will also ensure that our professor and Jamshid II are doubly safe. Around them I will place a noose.’

Al Janaddi suppressed a groan. The Takavaran were the most brutal fighting force in the entire Middle East. All fanatics, they likened themselves to the Persian Immortals and their death squads had a habit of crushing enemies and locals alike. Their chain of command included Bhakazarri and God – in that order. The Jamshid II facility at Arak was about to undergo a very unpleasant experience.

The president had asked Mostafa Hossein, the leader of the Islamic Guardian Council, to remain behind when the others left. He motioned for the old cleric to be seated next to him and took him by the hand.

‘I heard it,’ he said. ‘I heard Israfil’s horn. The hour has come.’ The president began to quote from the Qur’an: ‘At a time unknown to man, but preordained, when people least expect it, Allah will give permission for the Qiyamah, the Day of Judgment, to begin. The archangel Israfil will sound a horn sending out a blast of truth. The Earth, Moon and Sun will be joined together and swallowed by darkness.’ Tears ran freely down his face, but his eyes were shining and rapturous. ‘The scientist Shihab was returned to us a disgusting beast. I believe he stood at the crossroad of Jannah and Jahannam, of heaven and hell, and was judged by Allah to be sinful. He was sent back to us in that foul, deformed shell as punishment.

‘The angels themselves have revealed to me that soon the Hidden One, the Mahdi, will reveal himself. Allah has led us to discover this great power so we may prepare the world for the arrival of the Enlightened One.’ The president recited again: ‘The ground will move and the skies will blacken. All men and women will be made to cross over the black abyss, whence the flames of Jahannam will leap up. The believers will cross safely to Jannah; the others will be cast down as beasts. Afterwards, the Mahdi, the Hidden One, will lead the truly faithful to a land that is returned to the empire of Allah and cleansed of all idols, non-believers and sinners.’

The leader of the Islamic Guardian Council was a deeply religious man, but he was wary of the way the young president drew on an unfounded personal spiritual authority. He knew the president believed that the teachings of the Prophet signalled a resurgent Islamic caliphate and the coming apocalypse. His fiery rhetoric when it came to the might of Iran or his dealings with the West were both exciting and intimidating, but it seemed everyone but the president himself knew Iran could never survive a head-to-head conflict with the West, especially with the American forces. Iran’s weapon was the threat of withholding oil production, not firepower. Now Mostafa Hossein was concerned that Moshaddam was positioning himself to draw on an ancient prophecy to proclaim himself as some kind of prophet, perhaps even a descendant of the greatest prophet of all. Moshaddam was obsessed with the Mahdi, or Hidden Imam, a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed, whose return would herald the Islamic Day of Judgment and the end of the world.

The president closed his eyes and gave a small backhanded wave, signifying the meeting was at an end. ‘I can hear the horn still,’ he whispered. ‘Israfil speaks to me even now, my friend. He tells me: ready yourself for the return of the prophet.’

Mostafa Hossein leaned over to kiss both of the president’s cheeks then moved to the door. He needed to talk to the Supreme Leader.