DR. SOFIA PETRESCU
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hand.
DR. SOFIA PETRESCU RUBBED HER TEMPLES, removed the folder from her briefcase, and opened it with a sigh. She was only to be in Geneva at the United Nations Headquarters, Palais des Nations, for a week, and she had plenty of work to do for her role with UNOOSA. But, she had made her commitment to Professor De Vos to review his work, so she begrudgingly reopened his file.
Spreading the materials out again over the small conference-room table she’d reserved, she fumbled once more through the densely packed reports, graphs, and studies.
Looking over Professor De Vos’s report in detail, she’d been surprised to find that it was well researched and clearly presented. The data seemed to support his conclusion that reductions in solar activity resulted in increased cloud cover and thus increased cooling; according to his premise, the earth was ending a period of global warming and just beginning to move into another protracted cooling period—potentially a mini Ice Age. Professor De Vos would be arriving any minute. She reviewed a few more aspects of the report and jotted down some notes.
The sensibility of the report made her even more anxious. Sofia had grave misgivings about helping Professor De Vos; she had struggled so long and hard to get to where she was in her career, digging herself out from under the barriers that life had erected before her, that she could not justify risking her career by participating in the professor’s less-than-popular research. Was she going to bite the hand that fed her by openly challenging the U.N.? She couldn’t. It would be academic suicide. She sighed heavily to herself. She had been singularly focused on her career, and on escaping the past. She was just getting to a point in her life that she felt like she had a future and maybe even time for a relationship.
There was a knock at the door. “Sofia?” the professor’s voice called.
She sighed. “Yes, Professor, please come in,” she said.
“Thank you.” Professor De Vos entered, an anxious look on his face. “Well?” he asked.
“I’ve read through the report and your data,” Sofia said. “It seems very compelling to me. But honestly, I’m still unclear as to where I can help you,” she added, hoping to limit her involvement.
“Ah, yes,” the professor said, his face sinking a little. “Well, first, of course, you could help me review these previous studies of solar sunspot activity and ensure you agree with their findings, as I’m basing my research on the terrestrial effects on cloud cover and temperature on their veracity.”
“That I can do.”
“But there are a few additional reports that are a bit concerning, and I’d like your thoughts,” the professor pressed. He handed her a paper. “Here is a chart of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases over the last two thousand years. You will note the very recent and marked rise in greenhouse gases. This is from an Assessment Report in 2007 issued by Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change.”
“Now, please take a look at these.” He handed her another file labeled “Sofia,” and she flipped through to a report with a Post-It note on it reading Correlated Data. The first was a United States Geological Survey Agency graph of worldwide destructive earthquakes of magnitude 6 and above, recorded over the last hundred years. Sofia looked at the graph and shot the professor a strange look.
“What’s this all about?” she asked.
“Please, just look at the graph,” the professor insisted. “Does it look similar to the CO2 escalation?”
“Well…it does,” she agreed. “This graph clearly evidences a very recent and rapid rise in the number of earthquakes on Earth. Clearly, since 2000, there has been a marked increase. Very strange, but I’m not sure it’s a correlation.”
“True. But I have found no geologists who have been able to explain this.”
“But couldn’t it be from fracking, or better measurement equipment, or something like that?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he said, “but there’s more.” He passed along another paper. “This is a graph of the massive increase in volcanism over the same period. Again, there are no other existing scientific explanations for this—or none that I can find.”
Sofia frowned. “That…is striking,” she admitted. “But maybe the CO2 increase is a causal effect of the increased volcanism? We know that volcanoes produce vast quantities of CO2.”
“It’s possible. But man is not creating this. Here is a graph of CO2 levels as measured in Antarctic ice-core samples. Going back eight hundred thousand years, we have had many periods of increased CO2 levels.”
“So you think this is cyclical?”
“Yes. Why are we seeing, in all this data, all of these sudden spikes and anomalies at the same time—now? Explain to me this next graph,” he added, sliding another page across the table toward her. “This is from the NOAA National Geographical Data Center, which maintains a data set of annual magnetic North Pole coordinates that go back to the year 1590. It shows over 420 years of movement of the magnetic poles on Earth.”
“I—hmm,” Sofia said, rubbing her forehead. What this graph showed was clearly more concerning. Sofia knew that the earth, like all planets, underwent regular changes in the location of its magnetic poles; these movements varied from year to year, generally constituting just a few miles of movement each time. But what Professor De Vos’s graph showed was much more grave. “This is an incredible increase in the movement of the poles,” Sofia said, “and yes, I see the correlation with the other graphs. I’m not sure it’s statistically significant, but—” She faltered at the words, forcing herself to remain calm. “I admit, there is something interesting here.”
The professor nodded excitedly. “The poles are no longer moving a few miles a year; they are moving fifty to one hundred miles a year,” he said. “The pole migration has exploded. I stumbled across this research when studying the effects of magnetism on temperature at the poles. The magnetic poles are now racing across the earth. The magnetic North Pole is moving across the Arctic toward Siberia. Look here,” he said, handing her an image from the World Data Center for Geomagnetism at Kyoto University. We know that the magnetic poles flip from north to south with a periodicity of around 650,000 years,” he said mimicking the motion with his hands “We understand that the fields weaken and then flip. But—”
“This is different,” Sofia finished for him.
“Yes,” he said. “It appears that something, most likely the sun, is electromagnetically interacting with the earth—and is causing the movement of the magnetic pole across the earth. This, I hypothesize, is what’s causing the recent climate-change phenomena, as well as the increased earthquakes and volcanism.”
Sofia considered the implications for a minute. “Professor, I need to do a bit of research,” she said carefully. “If these facts are causally related, and this pole-migration data is accurate, there are some who theorize that the rapid movement of the location of the magnetic poles could cause a geographic shift in the axis and rapid crustal displacement. And that could be cataclysmic in and of itself,” she concluded.
“Wait a minute; what do you mean?” interrupted the professor. “Why is that cataclysmic?”
“It means,” Sofia said, “that we could be heading for a change in the location of the geographical north and south poles, as well as the location of the equator. What we consider to be the top of the earth and bottom of the earth would change physically—not just magnetically. The U.S. might move directly onto the equator, and say, China might become the new Arctic north.”
“Is that possible?” the professor challenged.
“Professor, I need to take a deeper look into this,” she said finally. “But—well, imagine the earth spinning like a top in space. Its magnetic poles are like a bar magnet straight through the center, on which the top rotates. At the equator, the earth must spin faster to keep up with the poles. Centripetal acceleration causes the diameter of the earth to be forty miles wider around the equator than from pole to pole. If the locations of those magnetic poles changed, the axis of spin of the earth could change too—when it moves, so does the equatorial bulge. Lands would rise and fall immediately, based upon the new equator’s location.”
“Unbelievable,” the professor urged, clearly excited that she was finally following him. “And that would mean…”
“That would mean massive tidal waves, floods, and earthquakes. Fifty percent of the world’s population lives on the coasts. It would be—”
“Armageddon?” the professor asked.
“Armageddon,” Sofia agreed.
FLASHBACK: JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, APRIL 15, 2010
Stinson was preparing a report for the president on Project Aquarius. The long hours were getting to him. His stomach was in a tight knot with all the stress. He again reflected on the past, attempting to recall all the details of his early meetings with the president.
It had taken some pressing, but the president had agreed to change his speech, and he was not happy about it. Stinson watched him walk toward the podium at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island. With NASA Administrator Hastings and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin beside him, he placed his hands on either side of the lectern, thanked the many in attendance, and began.
“Citizens, I am here today to inform you that NASA and the dreams it represents will not be allowed to die simply because I have some opponents trying to make unnecessary cuts to our budget during times of great economic distress,” he said. “I am not only dedicated to the continued exploration and the progression of technological innovation that has historically burgeoned out of the program, but I am one hundred percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future.”
The president paused to allow the audience to applaud his statement.
NSA Chief Perkings stood tensely on the side of the stage.
“It is according to a uniquely American characteristic that our society has always demanded we push forward, explore the unknown, and challenge human intellect, resolve and resilience. We have always striven to satisfy that innate American desire to explore, and to reach new horizons. Now, once more, history is calling upon us to inspire a younger generation, provide a spark to technological innovation and creativity. In this moment, if we fail to press forward and search out the unknown, we are betraying what it means to be an American.
“In keeping with that vital trait, it is my plan to increase funding to our program by six billion dollars. Although this is a small percentage of the amount we truly need to fund the various projects we wish to pursue, it will allow us to move forward with robotic exploration of the solar system, including a probe of the sun’s corona. It will allow us to begin new scouting missions to Mars, Saturn, near-Earth objects, and other destinations within our solar system. And it will allow us to create a new and even more advanced telescope than the Hubble, with which we have already accomplished so much.
“It is time for us to hold up a magnifying glass to the worlds beyond us, and peer deeper into the universe than ever before. Now, I understand that some believe that we should attempt a return to the surface of the moon. That is a laudable goal, and someday we will pursue it with the dedication it deserves. But we have been there before.” He nodded respectfully to the aged astronaut beside him. “Buzz has been there. There’s a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn from it. That’s why, right now, I believe it’s more important to ramp up our capabilities to reach for increasingly demanding targets while advancing our technological capabilities with each step forward. It is time for America to take space travel to the next level. We need new innovation, and that requires us to address new challenges and unprecedented goals. That is how we will ensure that our leadership in space is even stronger in this new century than it was in the last.”
Stinson saw the president glance over at Thomas Kramer, who nodded in approval.
When the speech concluded, there was great applause. But it was only afterward that things truly became interesting.
“Mr. President, please follow me,” Thomas Kramer said.
Stinson, Perkings, and Kramer walked the president across the hall to a small conference room, where another man already stood waiting at the large central table. He was dressed in a gray suit with a burgundy-checked bow tie. His wire-rimmed glasses offset a thin face and hawkish nose, over which presided a dark, bushy pair of eyebrows and short graying hair. His entire demeanor was one of intense seriousness. Stinson nodded to him as he moved around the table, distributing a briefing document in front of each chair.
“Mr. President,” Stinson said, “I’d like to introduce you to Nicholas Innsbruck, with the British Ministry of Defense.”
The president cocked his head, puzzled. “Wait. I’m at NASA talking with the NSA about what I thought was an American problem, and the British Ministry of Defense is going to speak?” he said, his eyes narrowing.
“We have been working hand in hand with the British on Project Aquarius, Mr. President,” Stinson said. “Mr. Innsbruck has expertise in the topics we wish to address today. He flew in yesterday in anticipation of this meeting.”
“Good morning, Mr. President,” said Innsbruck as he took a seat. His voice was thickly accented. “At this point, it may make sense to give you a bit of history about Project Aquarius.” He glanced at an open notebook in front of him. “In essence, Project Aquarius is the latest incarnation of a research program that has had many names over the course of several decades, it originated in 1946 through the British-U.S. Communications Intelligence Agreement, known to the public as BRUSA. Its publicly expressed intention was to channel secret communication intercepts between Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters and the National Security Agency for better uniformity of intelligence gathering between the Allies, but like all public governmental agreements, it also had another purpose. In this case, the hidden purpose was its primary one: to compile any and all information associated with unidentified flying objects.”
Stinson glanced at the president to gauge his reaction. It was clear he didn’t know how to react to this. His relaxed demeanor visibly began to evaporate.
“The effort gained more steam in 1952 from an executive order signed by President Truman, following seven days of unidentified-flying-object activity that occurred directly over the White House and Washington, DC,” Innsbruck continued, unfazed. “These objects were tracked on radar and followed by military aircraft. Similar but less publicized events occurred in London.” He looked down at his notebook and folder introspectively. “We find it rather amusing that the U.S. public has all but forgotten this event. The federal government was never able to explain the events adequately but the people were calmed by several press releases stating there was nothing to worry about—that it was merely a temperature inversion that had caused a mirage,” Innsbruck said grimly.
Stinson nodded his head, then added to the history. “Although we had been around for several years before this under a different name, the NSA officially came into existence on November 4, 1952,” he said. “We were always charged to interpret and decode signals, from not only foreign countries, but, if the opportunity presented itself, from extraterrestrial sources. The events of July 1952 were the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The NSA directive became a top priority—after all, we couldn’t have alien craft hovering over the capital of the most powerful nation in the world.
“John Stamford was promoted to Director of the NSA in 1956 by President Eisenhower. Since that time, the Director of the NSA has been briefed on all the activities involving the special projects dedicated to alien contact. It is also the Director of the NSA who generally has the responsibility to drop this bombshell on each new incoming president,” Stinson concluded with a smile, looking over at Director Perkings.
Innsbruck chimed in again. “Due to changes in the administration over the following years and the necessity of maintaining the secrecy of the program, and in an effort to maintain plausible deniability, there have been many iterations of Project Aquarius—most notably under the names Project Blue Book and Majic-12. These programs, and those of our partners in other countries, have focused primarily upon compilation and analysis of UFO-based sightings. As of this moment, Aquarius is comprised of a small working group that reports directly to the security administrations of each member government and the United Nations Security Council.”
“You should have seen the look on G.W. Bush’s face when he was briefed on the program and given our recommendation to formalize the project under the NSA and the U.N.,” Stinson interjected.
“The weight of this information is tremendous,” Innsbruck went on, “and far more so than this damn financial crisis everyone’s focused on right now. With viable businesses, appropriate taxes, and intelligent investment bankers, we can work out solutions to such financial problems. The particular quandary facing Project Aquarius has no known solution.” He paused a moment before continuing. “Our member governments have agreed that a formal collaboration was necessary at this time for many reasons. Primarily, we need to collaborate and look in our shared data for consistencies, similarities, or the lack thereof, and for any identifiable patterns of behavior associated with the latest sightings. Secondarily, all member nations agree that both military and civilian sightings have reached what can only be called an epidemic level. Over the last five years, activity has increased by a factor of ten. Frankly, Mr. President, we do not know why. Aside from these sightings, we have had no confirmed communicative contact at this time.”
“I—I see,” the president managed.
“And what is even more troubling,” Stinson added, “is our complete lack of understanding as to whether these are physical craft and beings, or something more…transdimensional in nature.”
“Transdimensional?” the president stammered. “I’m trying to follow you here, gentlemen, but you’re going to have to meet me halfway. What exactly does that mean—ghosts or something?”
“Not necessarily,” Stinson said, leaning forward on the table, “but we may well be dealing with existences originating in another dimension. They certainly manifest themselves in strange ways, according to our three-dimensional perspective. For example, craft are often seen appearing and disappearing, only to reappear almost instantaneously hundreds of miles away. They sometimes make 90-degree turns, while in the Earth’s atmosphere, at speeds exceeding a thousand miles per hour. I hardly need to tell you that these movements don’t fit with our current understanding of the laws of physics. But more confusing are the vast number and types of crafts observed. There have literally been thousands of variants. Based on this data, we are either being observed by a tremendous number of different types of beings with thousands of different types of craft, or there is some dimensional factor here that we do not yet understand.” Stinson took a deep breath. “Frankly, I personally wonder if these are not more spiritual in nature.”