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involved
in either state-sponsored corruption or epidemic
anarchy.
    Deflection strategy enjoyed pole position in Julien’s
list, not least of all because of the ‘fourth dimension’. If time
itself was considered as that variable, then it required only a
miniscule change in velocity of the asteroid to ‘allow’ Earth to
either escape or not arrive. This then brought up the question of
whether it was less complex to slow or accelerate the object. Then
there was the subtle definition of trajectory, and confusing it
with course. It had to be kept in mind that the term course applied
to a ‘plotted path’ through space. Trajectory was to be viewed as
being at a specific point at a specific time. The remaining factors
Julien had to keep in mind with this review was the point in time
of launch of any intercept, and the point in time of its strike.
Together with this data, determination of axial spin and straight
line speed was key, simply because the wrong interaction could
produce the opposite effect to the one desired.
    Detection from space was candidate number two. The
construction and launch of observational craft to cosmic way points
could offer more accurate tracking of the object while it is still
far away. Debate raged as to whether such expense should be
sanctioned without the capability of nudging the asteroid
immediately after sending back data.
    Riding the harbinger of death was the third and most
controversial proposal. Opinion was seriously divided with respect
to attaching ‘steering’ influence to the rock, or to employ a
process of degradation. Many felt that even the minimum payload
needed for counter-vector trimming was unrealistic, whilst the
opposite camp believed that attempts to fragment the asteroid could
not offer reliable cleavage results and could actually deliver
multiple, smaller sized threats which would produce many more
impact targets to track.
    All of these options had to consider the
sub-categories of the devices of influence to be applied. This
inevitably led to a last ditch bailout of nuclear strikes, in case the primary chosen method
failed. There simply wasn’t the finance available for progressing
multiple, elegant, distant operations. If it came down to taking on
the monster with banks of nuclear fission force, it had to be at a
distance which sat between the requirements of accuracy and
unpredictable fallout damage.
    Julien put away his dossier, yawned and fastened his
seat belt. He found it difficult to be unbiased in considering the
choices he faced. The stark reality was that he needed more
incoming information, but this report from Chile and South Africa
had certainly muddied the water. Waiting for more observational
values was frustrating; looking for close to infinitesimal changes
which took an i nordinately
long time to appear was not what the population at large wanted to
hear. More than that, it would most likely help to ferment the
ongoing slide into the plurality of mafia-style culture.
    He needed to speak to Elise as soon as possible. Her
messages in the last couple of weeks were hinting at divorce. She’d
stressed that they were already separated. He had to tell Volker
Brandt that extinction or no extinction, he needed to take a break
in France, as inconvenient as that may be. He couldn’t remember the
last time he’d had a decent night’s sleep. Julien Delacroix
wondered what it would be like to have a calling more like those of
his kids, passion without the pressure, then he thought of his time
with NERO. He’d brought this upon himself.

Chapter 6

    A fter an intensive trawl of the aberrant trajectory
data in Chile, the stark conclusion for all mankind was that the
calibration software had been hacked. The capability required for
this could be divided into two components; expertise in cracking
firewalls and multiple-layered password protection, plus the more
sinister knowledge of how to embed believable deviation in
trajectory shift, as observed from the lower