Craig Russell - A fear of dark water

‘Again, Herr Fabel, you’ve only succeeded in revealing your ignorance. Immortality does exist. It exists right here and now in your real world. The holographic image in the atrium is of Turritopsis Nutricula. It is beautiful, but the projection in the atrium is several thousand times the size of the real creature: in reality, they are only four or five millimetres in size. But do you know why Mister Korn chose Turritopsis Nutricula as a symbol?’

Fabel shrugged. ‘I have a feeling you’re going to enlighten me.’

‘It is, truly, really immortal. It is the only living creature on the planet that is immortal.’

‘How can that be?’ said Fabel, intrigued despite himself.

‘All jellyfish are born, mature and mate. Normally, immediately after mating, the jellyfish dies. The Immortal Jellyfish, as Turritopsis Nutricula is also known, doesn’t. It goes through a process called transdifferentiation, where it literally transforms the structure of its cells. And what it transforms those cells into is its juvenile state. It bypasses senescence and cheats death by becoming a polyp again. Then it matures, mates, transdifferentiates, becomes a polyp again. And it can do this for ever. So immortality does exist, Herr Fabel. And the hologram in the atrium represents the combination of digitisation and immortality. It also has an environmental message: Turritopsis Nutricula was once found only in the Caribbean, but it has been transported all around the world in the ballast tanks of ships. Our activities have caused a population explosion of this creature. A population explosion of a creature that breeds and multiplies but never dies.’

‘You know something, Herr Wiegand? I know that you’re the second most powerful figure in this organisation, and I’m sure the bulk of your members buy this cyberlife-eternal crap, mainly because they’re brainwashed into it. But you? Somehow I doubt very much that you believe a word of it. I think that this is all a way of controlling people and generating wealth. What else you get up to is what particularly interests me. You’re hiding something.’

Wiegand smiled his billionaire’s smile, affable but slightly condescending. ‘You’ll have seen we use glass extensively throughout our buildings,’ he said. ‘We do this for two reasons: firstly, it reduces our dependence on artificial light and heating. All of our windows use energy-capture glass and the roof is basically one giant solar panel. Secondly, it communicates to our members and to visitors such as yourself that the Pharos Project is, literally, transparent. We have nothing to hide, Herr Fabel. Nothing.’

‘Maybe that’s the view from here looking out,’ said Fabel. ‘But I’m not so sure big windows do much for those on the outside who see you as secretive and manipulative; who see you exploiting your members and intimidating anyone else who might dare to criticise you.’

‘I’m glad you took me up on my invitation, Herr Chief Commissar.’ Wiegand ignored Fabel’s comment. ‘Perhaps you will find it an enlightening experience and you’ll see that there’s nothing malevolent or cultish about the Pharos Project. Although I would have preferred it if you had phoned first, as I requested. I tend to be a very busy man and between my duties as vice-president of the Korn-Pharos Corporation, visits to the Americas Pharos in Maine, and involvement with various environmental programmes around the world, I am seldom here.’

‘But you’ve spent most of your time here over the last few months, Herr Wiegand. You must have something of particular concern here at the moment.’

‘Particular concern? No, I wouldn’t say that. Oh… you mean the GlobalConcern Hamburg Summit? Of course that’s taking up a lot of time.’

‘No, I didn’t mean that. I wondered if it perhaps had something more to do with Meliha Yazar.’

‘Who? Oh yes, you mentioned her before. Someone poor Berthold was supposed to be involved with. No, I’m afraid I don’t understand your question. I don’t know of any Meliha Yazar.’

‘Let me refresh your memory. She was the woman who breached your security here and made a startling discovery about the Pharos Project. So startling that it would be extremely harmful to you. Perhaps even personally.’

Wiegand leaned back in his chair and watched Fabel, smiling. It was not the usual affable salesman’s smile that Fabel had so far experienced at every encounter with the billionaire. This was something much darker. Malevolent. ‘I have to admit, Herr Fabel, you chose a good spot for a fishing expedition.’ He vaguely indicated the river beyond the windows.

‘You do admit that you are almost paranoid about security? I mean, the Hamburg State has prisons with more relaxed gatemen than the guy you’ve got doing meet-and-greet. It suggests that there is something you don’t want the outside world to know. Every person you recruit into the Project isn’t just brainwashed, they’re checked out in advance. But somehow Meliha Yazar got round your security. She got to the heart of your big secret, didn’t she?’

‘I’ve already made it perfectly clear that I have no idea who you’re talking about. And there’s no “big secret” here. Naturally, we have to be mindful of security. There are a great many people and organisations who have a severe prejudice against us. It has to be said that the BfV is one of those organisations. Listen, you can accuse us of being crooks and freaks and a malicious cult, but the fact remains that the world is heading for a cataclysm. The Pharos Project is subject to all kinds of rumour and suspicion and investigation, but no one subjects companies that continue to seek out new oil reserves to bleed, to pollute and poison others while enriching themselves, to the same kind of scrutiny. I don’t see the BfV devoting the same time and manpower to investigating multinationals who allow hectare after hectare of rainforest to be slashed and burned to provide grazing for cattle so that some fat teenager in Minnesota can stuff himself with a cheaper burger.’

‘Is that why you work with the Guardians of Gaia?’ asked Fabel. ‘Or is it more that they work for the Pharos Project? It strikes me that you have set yourself up almost as a state. And all states have a military wing. An army. Is that the deal with the Guardians?’

Another smile; even colder than the last. ‘Herr Fabel, I shouldn’t have to point out to you what is happening in the world today. The fiercely held political beliefs of the past are no longer relevant. The forces that control our lives are no longer political; they are corporate. Nation states really don’t hold sway as they used to. It is the multinational companies, the corporate states that shape the lives of every man, woman and child on the planet. The Pharos Project is the brainchild of Dominik Korn who is, first and foremost, a far-sighted, genius businessman. We have taken the same shape as our enemies, the global corporations. Our fighting is done in boardrooms and committees, not on any other type of battlefield. Dominik Korn is also a pacifist, as am I and everyone else involved in the Project. So no, if the Guardians of Gaia are involved in violent acts — no matter how much we understand the provocation — we condemn those acts. We have no place for violence. Everything we represent is about stopping violence, the violence being done to our ecosystem.’

‘Then, if all that is true, you will have no objection to doing me a small favour. Could you ask the gentleman who conducted me here to step back in for a moment?’

Wiegand sighed, as if indulging a child. ‘As you wish…’ He hit a button and said a few words in English. The young man who had conducted Fabel from the main entrance to Wiegand’s office came in.

‘I take it you have a storeroom full of these suits?’ asked Fabel. ‘I mean, you clearly issue them to your members…’