Forged in Smoke (Red-Hot SEALs #3)(7)
But then, it didn’t matter why Coulson had joined them, because his methods were exceptionally effective when it came to getting the job done.
“If we’d moved on the lab earlier, right after the plane f*ckup, we’d be a hell of a lot further along,” Coulson pointed out.
“We agreed it would be a mistake to take the lab while Mackenzie and his crew were being hailed as heroes.” Link responded in his habitually quiet voice. “They knew the hijacking was a ruse to grab the seven scientists from first class. If we’d targeted Benton’s lab while Mackenzie’s cries of conspiracy were the lead story across the States, we’d have bolstered his credibility and collusion allegations.”
“You agreed to wait,” Coulson snapped back. “I called bullshit.”
Eric shrugged. “It’s done. No sense in reopening that discussion. How long before Benton can produce another new energy generator?”
“A couple of weeks,” Coulson offered readily enough, although from his scowl it was obvious he didn’t appreciate the change in subject.
“That soon?” Eric dipped his head in surprise. Maybe they wouldn’t have to adjust their time line after all. “It will be ready—tested and refined—by phase two?”
“Absolutely.” Coulson smiled, cold detachment in his gaze. “Benton has impetus to produce rapidly and well.”
“Is the design as easy to weaponize as reported?” Link asked.
Which was the trillion-dollar question. For phase two to succeed, they needed the device fully operational and capable of specific energy discharges.
“Indeed.” Coulson offered an honest-to-god sincere smile. “With a bit of rewiring and a component swap”—he spread his hands—“boom. Through the sonic distribution we’ll be able to clear millions of acres with negligible effect to soil, water, and vegetation.”
Silence ringed the table.
An equally stunned silence had struck the room the previous year when Link had filled them in on Leonard Embray’s pet project, along with the potential alternative use for the device.
Benton and Embray’s original intention for the prototype would have proved catastrophic for the entire world. With cheap renewable energy available to everyone—absolutely everyone—the human population would explode. Famine and disease would vanish, at least at first. Wars over oil or other natural resources would disappear. There would be far more people being born into the world than leaving it.
Benton and Embray, the ideological fools, hadn’t looked past the initial benefits. They hadn’t questioned the eventual ramifications. The earth couldn’t support its current load of parasites. Natural resources were vanishing at an alarming rate. The giant oxygen-producing rainforests of the Amazon were being cut down and plowed under at a rate of twenty-thousand square miles per year, and predicted to be completely gone by 2050—with disastrous consequences to earth’s climate. With the water table shrinking by the month, and the ice packs melting, and dozens of species forced into extinction thanks to mankind’s unabated appetites, someone needed to step up and make the hard decisions.
Eventually, when the aquifers went dry, and previously lush landscapes descended into arid deserts, and irrigation was no longer available, disease and starvation would step in again, and the human race would face a massive die-off. Only, by then it would be too late. The planet would be in its final death throes.
None of these imminent threats could be fixed by energy for all. Indeed, the new energy paradigm would accelerate planet earth’s decay.
People were simply too selfish and blind and disinclined to change their behavior. They were incapable of making hard choices and standing by them during difficult times. And governments were no better. Not when they had to answer to the lowest common denominator within their populations.
Something had to be done on behalf of the planet, someone had to make the tough choices and cull the human population—but nobody was interested in stepping up and shouldering the thankless task.
The New Ruling Order had been born of that realization. Born to make sure that earth survived and the human race prospered, albeit at massively reduced numbers and beneath benevolent guidance so the current crisis never happened again.
The council would have moved on the new energy paradigm anyway, as soon as reports of it hit their table—just as the parents and grandparents of various council members had moved on similar projects during the past seventy years. Only this time, stifling the new technology wasn’t about conserving their share of the energy pie. It was about saving the planet.
But then James Link had joined them and opened their eyes to an entirely new application for Embray’s pet project. One that offered a complete reboot of the planet, with minimal loss to vegetation, soil, or water. Embray, the idealistic fool, hadn’t seen the possibilities they’d offered him. The chance to mold the planet into a sustainable ecosystem.
“What of Embray?” Coulson asked, as though he’d read Eric’s mind. “Has his condition deteriorated?” He frowned and ran the Gurkha Black that Link had passed to him beneath his beak of a nose. “It’s a shame we can’t accelerate his condition. It’s dangerous to have such a threat looming over our heads.”
Link was quiet for a moment before offering a shrug. “He’s stable, at the moment, but the damage to his brain was extensive and permanent. He exists in a vegetative state, with no possibility of recovery.”