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