Blair Wylie [Wylie - Covert Alliance

About the author

Blair Wylie is a retired Canadian oil and gas engineer and manager. He worked thirty-five years in a number of interesting places, including the Arctic, Western Siberia, the North Sea, Newfoundland, and Trinidad and Tobago. In his second career as a writer, he prefers to stay in the plausible world with respect to science, and character studies. His stories place everyday people in awkward if not outright terrifying situations, then have them discover hidden strengths while they rescue themselves. He hopes readers will come away feeling better about themselves, and about the future in general.

Covert Alliance

Blair Wylie

Covert Alliance

Vanguard Press

VANGUARD EBOOK

Copyright 2019

Blair Wylie

The right of Blair Wylie to be identified as author of

this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All Rights Reserved

No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal

prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is

available from the British Library.

ISBN (PAPERBACK) 978 1 784656 68 3

Vanguard Press is an imprint of

Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie Publishers Ltd.

www.pegasuspublishers.com

First Published in 2019

Vanguard Press

Sheraton House Castle Park

Cambridge England

Printed & Bound in Great Britain

When the moderator noted that the university auditorium had filled to capacity, she asked a technician at the back of the hall to slowly dim the lights. As she had hoped, the many loud and excited conversations in the two-hundred-person amphitheatre gradually tapered-off.

After a few minutes, when only the stage at the front and lower end of the hall were illuminated, only a few whispers could be heard. As the moderator slowly made her way down the darkened central aisle, and up the front stairs to the stage, even the whispering came to an end.

The moderator was an attractive, middle-aged woman, with olive-coloured skin, and short, curly hair that she had fashionably dyed a trendy shade of light purple.

When the moderator reached the podium, she took a few moments to look around. She smiled as she tried to survey the audience seated before her within the darkened amphitheatre. Then some people started clapping, and a few people even rose to their feet to clap loudly.

The moderator pointed and waved at a few people that were seated in the front row. She had recognised the Minister of Science and Technology, Doctor Abdul OShea. Then she gasped and clapped her hands above her head with a laugh when she also noted the presence of General Jorge Kepler. He was sitting with his arms crossed near Doctor OShea.

General Kepler had been an outspoken critic of the evenings topic of discussion, the Second Continent Pyramid Project. No one, including the moderator, had expected to see anyone from the security forces at this elite gathering of scientists.

The moderator was pleased that she could not make out any reporters in the audience. She concluded they must either be sitting towards the back of the hall, or they had been unable to finagle a way into the hall. Members of the media had not been formally invited of course, because the government had unfortunately attached a Top Secret classification to the universitys research project.

The moderator adjusted the height of the microphone on the podium in front of her. Then she smiled broadly, and said in a strong, clear, soprano voice, Welcome everyone! For those who may not know me, I am Doctor Sita Mugabe, Dean of Anthropology at Abubakar University, here in First Town, Prime Continent.

It is my honour this evening to introduce our featured speaker, and in fact our only speaker tonight, the distinguished and always controversial Professor Gunter Rabinowitz!

Doctor Rabinowitz has recently returned from four months of intensive archaeological research in the vast and dangerous interior wilderness of Second Continent. As everyone knows, Second Continent is far away in the southern hemisphere on the other side of New Earth. A few human settlements on Second Continent have been established around the coast, however the interior region remains a true wilderness area, which is still only accessible by aircraft, or more accurately, by helicopters.

Many of you might be surprised to hear that there was once a small native, or rather genetically- modified, hominid population on Second Continent! We believe that the infamous and alien Masters of our antiquity had probably established one or two coastal plantations on the continent thousands of years ago. And we know that the Masters used slave labour in their otherwise very advanced agricultural and industrial endeavours.

About one hundred and twelve years ago, with our assistance, the last remaining Second Continent hominids chose to resettle on Third Continent, that we also call North Continent. It is an arctic and sub-arctic place, but it is still very rich in wildlife. They moved there together with all of the other members of their noble species, from all over New Earth. Together, they now manage their own affairs. To protect their more primitive culture, our intercourse with them is restricted to rather infrequent, barter-based trade. But our relationship with them has always been peaceful, and we believe mutually beneficial.

Now, to return to the topic of tonights lecture and discussion, we expect what you will hear will generate a lot of questions. We will be fielding those questions at the end of Doctor Rabinowitzs presentation. So please , I ask you to let Doctor Rabinowitz speak without interruption until he tells us he is finished!

Then, as your moderator, I will manage the question and answer session. If you raise your hand, I will point at you. Then you will tell us who you are, and then you may ask your question. You may ask only one question, as we want to give everyone here tonight a chance to directly engage with Doctor Rabinowitz.

And now, with the introduction and administrative formalities now completed, please join me in welcoming this evenings very special guest speaker, the renowned and greatly esteemed, Professor Gunter Rabinowitz! The moderator then sat down on a wooden chair that was positioned about ten metres to the right of the podium, and she immediately focused her attention on the audience. During the long introduction, Doctor Rabinowitz had been impatiently pacing around in the left wing of the stage behind a curtain. As he suddenly appeared and quickly made his way over to the podium in the centre of the stage, everyone could see that he was small in stature, but obviously very fit. He looked a lot younger than his sixty-two years. He had a perpetually tanned face, a meticulously trimmed grey beard, and rather longish, very straight, grey hair that he only tied in a ponytail for formal gatherings like this one.

When the professor reached the podium, the audience responded with a mixture of polite clapping, a few cheers, a few boos and even a few obscene catcalls. Most people remained sitting, and most people were embarrassed to hear a few people high up at the back of the hall yelling their obscenities.

Doctor Rabinowitz took a moment to survey the audience just as the moderator had done. He recognised many people sitting close to the stage. He simply smiled back at everyone as the noise in the hall gradually subsided. Then he had a quick glance at his prepared notes that he had placed on the podium in front of him, and began his presentation. His voice was surprisingly deep and gravely for a relatively small man. It instantly commanded attention.