The Prometheus Effect (6 page)

“
You never expect it, you never think it could happen to you. I wish for one moment you could have been there and felt what I felt and saw what I saw. You would never be the same person again. Ever.”

Jimmy wheezed as he lay his head back, sniffing hard to relieve his airways. Joshua nodded as if acknowledging Jimmy's statement as a truth but he was still not convinced. A knock on the door briefly broke the tension and Joshua jumped up to accept his room service.

The porter entered the room holding a small brown tray and asked where the occupant would like him to deposit the small but pungent vessels of ground beans and water. Joshua pointed to the small table in front of Jimmy who was still slung low in his chair, his eyes reddened and watery. As the porter carefully placed the tray upon the table, Jimmy's eyes opened wide and he leapt bolt upright in his seat. He suddenly looked confused, panicked and alert. The porter noticed Jimmy's odd behaviour and looked over to Joshua for some kind of reassurance. Joshua could not offer any, his interviewee had suddenly taken on the appearance of a cowering, caged animal.

“
Are you OK Jimmy?” Joshua inquired with some concern.

Jimmy did not answer, he fixed his gaze at the porter and looked him up and down with a terrified expression upon his face. Joshua could see that something was very wrong.

“
Jimmy. Jimmy. What's the matter?”

Jimmy looked over to Joshua, his face scrunched up into a wrinkled mass and he breathed rapidly, obviously in some kind of shock.

“
Oh my God. Oh my God. He's one of them.”

Jimmy ranted in between shallow and fast breaths. The porter suddenly felt very uneasy and backed off, Joshua moved in between the two in case anything unexpected were to happen.

“
One of what? No he isn’t, he's just the porter bringing you some coffee. Look, it's coffee, he's the porter.”

“
No. They've come back for me!” Jimmy whined loudly enough to have caused passing guests to pin their ear to the door to figure out what was happening.

“
What makes you think that? Tell me so that I can understand!”

At this point, the porter was making his excuses to leave but to Jimmy's horror, Joshua demanded he stayed for a moment. It was this natural curiosity which separated the average man on the street from an award winning investigative journalist.

“
The
smell
.
That
smell. I know it, I know it.”

Joshua was perplexed, there was no particular aroma in the room, the porter had a slight fragrance, a musky aftershave at the most. He was not odorous in the slightest. The porter remained silent but visibly annoyed at the accusation. He was a young man in his twenties, very smartly attired, he obvious took a pride in his appearance.

“
I don't smell anything Jimmy.” Joshua reiterated much to the exasperation of the cabby who brought his hands to his head in frustration.

“
The smell. He stinks of them, I can smell it!”

Turning to the porter, Joshua used his hands to calm the young man who was visibly disturbed by the extraordinary performance of the old man.

“
Your aftershave, what is it?” He inquired.

“
Err, I don't know mate, something my mum bought me for Christmas.” The porter stuttered.

“
What brand is it?” Joshua continued, hoping to bring the whole spectacle to an end.

“
It's called err, 'Legion', it's some fancy stuff from Paris, my mum bought it for me from Paris! Dunno who it's made by. I don't even like it but my girlfriend thinks it nice. Can I go now?” The porter looked as if he was about to cry and Joshua put a hand in his pocket and pulled out a tenner then shoved it in the young man's palm.

“
Sorry. Have a good evening.”

Joshua ushered the lad out of the door and closed it firmly behind him. Looking back, Jimmy was weeping, his head buried in his hands.

“
You have a good sense of smell my friend, but I don't think you can sniff out an alien yet.” Joshua tried to lighten the mood.

“
No. NO! That smell is real. It was there, it brought it all back to me, every detail, the fear, it all came back to me in that instant.” Jimmy was insistent and Joshua could not help but be convinced by the unusual outpouring of emotion.

“
But Jimmy, can you not see what this might mean? Since when did alien life forms wear tacky Eau de toilette from some French department store. I have no doubts that fragrance could be connected to your experience somehow, but in many ways, it brings about a lot of questions regarding the incident itself.”

Jimmy inhaled deeply and snorted up some dripping mucous from his nose.

“
So you don't believe me...I can live with that.”

Joshua sighed and sat down in a tired slump.

“
I believe you had a traumatising experience. I can see that, the porter could see that. However, I can't rule out that this was some kind of sadistic prank by a group of medical students wearing alien costumes either. It is all very...confusing.”

“
It's OK, I understand. Just be thankful that you're not the one who has to live with it for the rest of your life... I think I’ll be going now.”

Jimmy rose and then fell back down, both the alcohol and emotional tiredness taking its toll.

“
Just sit tight my friend, I will arrange for a taxi.”

Joshua sat on the bed and picked up the phone. He looked back at Jimmy, he was a wreck. Despite all his reservations, there was something so disturbingly compelling about Jimmy and his story that he began to question his own scepticism. It was an experience that he would not forget for some time. It was an interview which would leave a thoroughly lasting impression.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kennedy Space Centre, Florida

November 13
^th
2020

Coffey sat in the lounge sipping a strong blend of Colombian beans. Unlike the other crew members, he was not married nor did he have children to greet him on his return. The only one who would yearn his return would be his English Bulldog 'Buzz' who would no doubt be beside himself with joy at his masters presence after a number of days way.

The lounge was empty. Forty of fifty chairs filled the large open space arranged in groups of four. A vast window overlooked an expanse of green grass, blue waters and in between, launch platforms 39A and B. The weather was fine but not too hot, it was a good day with which to come back to Earth.

“
Good job up there.” A voice came from behind Coffey, a familiar voice. It was the Director of Operations, Bill Janus. A small, grey suited man with a tuft of white hair and round spectacles, he sat as Roger Coffey acknowledged his presence. Bill Janus was not a close friend but a trusted and respected man within the NASA set up. Coffey instantly recognised that this was probably not going to be a chat about the weather.

“
Morning Bill.” Coffey said warmly.

“
It's the afternoon if you hadn't noticed. Good to see you. Enjoying the tranquillity?” Janus sat and picked up the coaster on the table and ran his fingers around it as if they were orbiting the object like a satellite.

“
Sure. You would think that in space you would get some peace and quiet, but it doesn't work that way.”

“
I wouldn't know.” Janus smiled. He had never been up and like many others, were envious.

“
Let me get to the point Roger.”

Coffey raised his eyebrows, he knew this was not a social call.

“
We appreciate you stepping in at such notice, that took some guts considering the fact that you knew Paul Niemechek well.”

“
That's true. How is Jill holding up?”

Coffey was referring to the late astronauts grieving wife with whom he not only knew well from his friendship with Niemechek but had also dated many years before hand.

“
Not so well if I’m to be honest. It came as a shock as did it to all of us. There seems no sense in it.”

Janus did his best to look concerned but Coffey knew that his boss only had a passing interest in her grief. Janus was a busy man and not one to become embroiled in the human side of things.

“
Do we know why yet? Any suicide note?” Coffey inquired.

“
No. It's unusual but not rare. One can only imagine what was going through his mind.”

“
Are the police involved? Are they treating it as suspicious?

“
No. I think that the truth will surface eventually. People have great mechanisms for covering up turmoil in their lives. We may find all manner of things as they surface. Perhaps his personal life was not as steady as they led us to believe.”

Coffey scoffed at the remark. He knew Paul's family and his life was as near as damn it a perfect one. It also seemed incredibly irregular that the police were not conducting more of an investigation.

“
I'll see Jill tomorrow, see what I can do.”

“
That would be good. Oh, there was something else I needed to have a chat to you about.”

“
Oh?” Coffey knew that this was going to be about the debacle aboard the Destiny. Coffey wanted answers too, perhaps he could be enlightened now that he was back on 'terra firma'.

“
I am aware that you were not fully briefed regarding the Prometheus project. I am sorry to have put you in that position. Paul was fully briefed and trained for this mission, it seemed senseless to complicate things by squeezing in too much information too quickly, we didn’t want to overload you.”

“
I appreciate that, although I must admit that I have huge reservations about what I saw up there. There was an atmosphere of secrecy and non -cooperation, not really conducive to smooth running operations. At times I felt that it could impinge on safety. Also, I have many questions regarding the deployment of the Prometheus satellite. I've never seen such irregular deployment, can you enlighten me as to why it was placed into a degrading orbit?”

Janus looked down at his feet and calculated a carefully constructed answer.

“
To be honest...no.”

Coffey laughed nervously.

“
Are you serious?” The tired astronaut asked with incredulity.

“
Let it go Roger. We have a situation here. I don't want to hear any more of it. Your career here could be placed in jeopardy if this conversation goes any further than these four walls. Do you hear what I’m saying to you?”

Coffey sat back and exhaled with disbelief.

“
Bill, are you playing hard ball with me? Since when did NASA get involved in secret military agendas?”

“
I didn't say anything about the military did I? I'm warning you Roger. This is the end of it. Take your pay cheque, your mission patch and forget you were up there.”

“
And what if I don't?” Coffey knew this was pushing his luck but he wanted to see how much it meant to his Director. Janus stared into space and then coolly and calmly replied.

“
Then I’ll be sorry your gone.”

Janus stood upright and without a glance towards the astounded astronaut, he strode out of the lounge purposefully.

For a moment, Coffey reflected on Janus' comment and considered a future where he was not part of the NASA organisation. It did not bear thinking about, NASA was his life. It then struck him that Janus may not have been talking about his career but something far more sinister. Coffey suddenly remembered his cheerful and determined friend Paul Niemechek and a cold shiver ran down his spine. He suddenly had the urge to be far away from Kennedy and with the greatest of haste.