The Bridge

by Simon Winstanley

  “Don’t push it Meg,” he pointed at her, “You made your choice, and I made mine!”

  “Yeah, and while you’ve been stim-sleeping your way through the years,” she then jabbed at her chest, “some of us have been working our asses off, getting out there and making a diff-”

  Ian hammered the table.

  “I made a promise!” he shouted, “I told my family I’d keep them safe!”

  In an instant, Marcus saw the root of the defensive stance. Ian had lived through daily life at the USV under Pittman’s control. He’d lived with the threats and witnessed the executions. He’d risked his life to hide a smartphone, waiting for the right opportunity to bring Pittman to justice. When Wild’s hibernation program had begun, Ian had chosen to cocoon himself and his family from reality; waking occasionally from a perfect dream to check that the harsher outside world still existed. All he’d ever wanted was to protect those he loved.

  It was a feeling that Marcus knew very well.

  An uneasy silence had fallen around the table, presumably as each of them thought about their own family decisions.

  “I couldn’t do the whole stim-sleep thing,” Marcus spoke quietly, “I took the long way round…”

  He thought about his trips on the Britannia over the years.

  “I’ve seen the kids grow up…” he glanced at Nathan Westhouse at the other end of the table.

  Like his father, Nathan possessed a level of maturity and technical expertise that always seemed at odds with his young age. Although it had been twenty years, to Marcus it felt like only yesterday that he’d heard the announcement of a new Westhouse delivery.

  “And I’ve seen their parents grow old too,” he thought of the times he’d spent with Tristan and Izzy. Like him, they’d lived through a generation of change, experiencing the best and worst of humanity as it coped with extreme difficulties.

  “There’ll always be somethin’ dangerous to get past,” he said, “The trick’s knowing the difference between outrunning a threat, and choosing to live your life in fear.”

  He turned and smiled at Ian.

  “Archive gave us the fear of change, but that died twenty years ago. For the good of everybody we care for, everybody who follows after us… we have to live life, not hide from it under the sea.”

  He quietly rose from his chair and made his way out of the dim ready room. Lost in his own thoughts, he turned on his mini flashlight and walked toward the closed exit door of the common area.

  THE CARETAKER

  Sabine waited in front of the common area door, holding Ebony tightly by the hand.

  Mat had insisted that they stop to secure their bags and medical kits, just in case they needed to escape quickly after opening the door, but she was eager to move forward.

  “OK,” he said and poised his finger over the button.

  He gave a brief countdown and Sabine drew in a deep breath.

  The door jolted as the plates unlocked, then the mechanism spiralled open. Suspended in the darkness was a flashlight that immediately turned and pointed at them.

  “Mat!” Pavna’s voice echoed out.

  The flashlight beam swept chaotically around the common room as she ran towards them. From the brief glimpses of the surrounding walls, it appeared that the room was empty.

  Pavna’s fast-moving flashlight arrived at speed and she collided with Mat in a tight hug.

  “Hey,” his muffled voice escaped from the folds of Pavna’s coat.

  “Wait,” Tessa cast her flashlight around the dark interior, “There’s nobody here either?”

  “What do you mean ‘either’?” Noah’s voice came from one side of the room.

  Tessa angled her beam towards him.

  “When we came up through the lower lev- whoa!” Tessa broke off, “What the hell happened to your head?”

  As Noah began explaining, Sabine picked Ebony up and walked into the common area’s dark interior. No matter which direction she pointed her flashlight, it didn’t alter the fact that the room was utterly empty.

  Behind her, Pavna was confirming the same thing, “There’s no-one here.”

  “I know it looks pretty cleared out,” Mat was saying, “but we’ve not explored everywhere yet.”

  “No, I know there’s no-one.”

  “How?”

  “The caretaker told us,” said Pavna.

  Sabine whirled around, suddenly hopeful that Marcus may still have found a way to be here.

  “What?” Sabine retraced her steps to stand next to them both, “Where is he?”

  “It’s not a he,” said Pavna, “It’s a program.”

  “I don’t understand,” she hitched Ebony a little higher in her arms.

  “Fai interfaced with it and,” she hesitated, “well, you should see for yourself.”

  While continuing to talk with Mat, Pavna led the way through the common area towards the central control room at the other side. Standing near the open doorway, Noah and Tessa were deep in conversation about the discovery of the hibernation units and the flooding event in the upper sphere.

  “… with a piece of tape,” he pointed to his head then turned to Sabine, “Ebony OK?”

  “Yes, she’s fine,” she said, “How are you?”

  “I think I’ll live,” he dismissed his injury.

  “Pav said you’ve been breaking things,” Mat smirked, “You know that an ARC’s not supposed to flood, right?”

  When no-one even groaned at his wordplay, Mat’s expression became serious and Sabine could see him trying to read their faces.

  “Come on,” Pavna turned and walked on.

  The central control room was a smaller sphere than the common area and Sabine could see this would once have been a busy space. All that remained now were empty work surfaces that appeared to face an equally empty curved wall. From the various brackets and fixing points that were still in place, it seemed that a large visual display would once have been the focus for those who worked here.

  On one of the many empty surfaces, she could see the dim glow of a computer screen. As she got closer, she realised it was one of the Fai tablets. It was connected to an old-looking laptop.

  “Fai says there’s a load of data on it,” said Noah, “but we can only access a small portion. The rest is locked up in an isolated memory space.”

  “Why?” Sabine stooped to look at the screen.

  “It’s in some sort of ultra power saving mode,” said Pavna, “Won’t even use its own screen, that’s why Fai’s connected to it.”

  To Sabine, the military spec laptop looked like a newer version of the one that Marcus had once stolen from the back of a USV supply truck. With the exception of the keys that had been pressed to attempt logging in, the keyboard was covered with a thin film of dust.

  “What’s it doing?” asked Mat.

  “Fai found a single active subroutine called the Caretaker,” said Pavna, “Basically, it was put in charge of operating a controlled shutdown of the ARC.”

  “Obvious question,” said Mat, “How long’s it been shut down?”

  “The shutdown isn’t finished yet,” said Noah, “What we’ve been seeing are symptoms.”

  “Of what?” said Sabine.

  “A program that started running eighty-two years ago,” Noah showed them a list of events that Fai had displayed on the screen.

  “Twenty thirty-four,” said Pavna, “The hydrothermal vents start drying up as a power source.”

  Mat scrolled on down the list.

  “Twenty thirty-five,” he read on, “Operation Exodus concludes, ARC placed in standby. Shit.”

  Sabine saw other event logs scroll by, but then several lines of red appeared.

  “Twenty ninety-one,” Mat pointed to the events, “Radio antenna array failure. Warning beacon failure… damn.”

  “It’s why we didn’t get any response when we first made contact with the ARC,” said Noah.

  “It also couldn’t warn us what to expect,” Pavna add
ed.

  “Wouldn’t it have been safer to just lock us out altogether?” said Tessa.

  “I thought the same thing, but keep scrolling down,” said Pavna, “There, stop.”

  A few entries later, Sabine could see a break in the event reporting; a horizontal line that ran across the width of the screen. She saw the words that followed it and immediately felt her heart rate double.

  “Blackbox Mode,” she said as Mat continued to slowly scroll down through the record.

  “Main Airlock, flood,” Tessa read on, “Module eighteen, flood. Elec divert. Module seventeen, flood. Elec reroute. Galley, flood. What the hell’s it doing?”

  “Noah hit on the idea,” said Pavna, “As the available power fell, it’s been shutting down non-essential areas.”

  “It’s been trying to protect the heart,” said Noah, “Or more specifically, this room. Trying to maintain a viable route from the secondary airlock to here.”

  “You think the system’s compensating?” Mat pointed at the long list on the screen, “Adapting to the power loss?”

  Noah nodded, “When we arrived, I think we screwed up its algorithm by splitting up and taking two different routes.”

  Sabine saw that, for some reason, Mat had shot a reproving look at Pavna.

  “We were just unlucky,” Pavna responded, “It was forced to flood the section near me and Noah, so that it could divert power.”

  “Seriously?” said Mat.

  Pavna pointed to an entry within the list.

  “The event’s right here. Glaucus Ring nine,” she read, “Delay, flood. Elec divert. This Blackbox Mode was just trying to get us to reach this room.”

  Given the title of the subroutine, Sabine began to strongly suspect who’d written it, and also recalled what a real-world black box was normally designed to do.

  “It wanted to be found,” she stared at the laptop, “by anyone who could rescue it.”

  Sabine carefully placed Ebony down on the work surface next to the laptop. Immediately her daughter’s childish instinct to explore drove her to inspect the shadowy, boxed-in shelf area that ran behind the computer. At one time the built-in framework would have stored folders or supported monitors, but now Ebony was sitting on it; legs dangling next to the laptop’s darkened screen.

  “Noah,” a thought suddenly struck Sabine, “The laptop was open, er, when you found it?”

  “Yeah, what are you thinking?”

  She was thinking that, with the shelf unit in the way, no-one could have seen the other side of the laptop’s lid; there may be a set of instructions waiting for them. Gently, she lowered the lid until it was nearly closed, then carefully angled her flashlight to illuminate its surface.

  “Une minute,” she read the words that were etched into the lid.

  In sheer joy she began laughing at the memories the phrase had just triggered.

  “C’est Marcus!” she laughed and looked at the others, “Il a écrit le -”

  “Sabine,” Pavna interrupted her, a look of deep concern on her face, “are you alright?”

  “It’s Marcus,” she explained, still smiling at the words, “He wrote this! He made the, er, Caretaker.”

  “Wait, what?” Mat looked at the others, “Marcus, as in your Marcus Blake?”

  Sabine nodded, still unable to stop smiling, “He got out of the USV!”

  Mat’s frown instantly lifted and he turned to Pavna, “If Marcus got out –”

  “Tristan might have too!” Pavna completed.

  Sabine’s first thoughts had been for Marcus, but it was also possible that Izzy Kitrick and Nathan Bishop had managed to leave the USV too.

  The initial joy that they’d been able to escape started to fade as an obvious and unpleasant thought arrived: the events under Dover had taken place over a century ago.

  Although there was evidence that Marcus had been here, he wasn’t now. Thoughts of the empty hibernation chambers they’d found earlier further dampened her spirits. The one route he might have used to reach the year 2116 hadn’t been taken. Almost immediately she corrected her thoughts. All she knew for certain was that the ARC was incapable of supporting a hibernation program at this location.

  She now thought she understood why the single remaining computer here was so important.

  “I think this,” she looked at the laptop, “will tell us where they all went.”

  “We need to take it with us,” said Mat, “Find out what’s in the other memory space.”

  “Agreed,” said Noah, “Small problem though.”

  “It’s keeping the ARC active,” Tessa pointed her flashlight around the dark space, “We don’t know what’ll happen if we unplug it, and I seriously doubt we could make a dash for the sub.”

  “Too many levels,” Noah rubbed at his head and winced, “Is there any way we can contact Lucy?”

  “Radios are no use,” said Pavna, “Our handsets can’t penetrate the walls, and the ARC comms failed years ago.”

  Sabine looked at the tablet that was connected to the laptop.

  “Fai, could you run the Caretaker program?”

  “Yes, Sabine, it is not a complicated code.”

  Sabine smiled at the others, but she saw Pavna sigh.

  “Clarification, Fai,” she said, “Sabine meant could you run the program instead of the laptop, and give us clear passage back to the Sea-Bass?”

  “No,” Fai replied, “I can duplicate the program, but control of the remaining ARC functions requires a direct physical connection via an interface that I do not have.”

  Sabine felt the same sensation she’d had when she’d first entered the ARC. The smooth walls that surrounded her now made her feel completely impotent. Unlike some situations she’d found herself in, she wouldn’t be able to climb her way out of danger here.

  “So what do we do?’ Noah looked at their dark surroundings, “Hold our breath and swim for it?”

  “At this depth?” Mat shook his head.

  The thought of the crushing water above them now played on her mind. Instinctively she wanted to protect her child, so she held her arms open for her daughter. As before, Ebony responded without question. She eased herself down off the low shelving and took a step forward, accidentally stepping on the laptop lid.

  It clicked fully closed.

  Ebony took her foot off the lid immediately, her expression full of apology. As Sabine scooped her up, a sudden and deep shudder filled the room.

  The others pointed their flashlights around the dark space, trying to work out where the noise was coming from.

  “Oh shit…” Mat was staring at Fai’s tablet screen.

  Sabine saw that the event log had begun adding new entries.

  [Une Minute: autorun activated]

  [59sec]

  [GR8 Elec-divert. Module 14: flood]

  Another heavy shudder came from beneath their feet.

  [GR12 fail. Elec-reroute]

  [GR11 disable. Module 6: flood]

  A short vibration stuttered through the walls around them.

  [51sec]

  [50sec]

  Clearly the laptop lid closure had triggered something. Sabine could now almost feel the ocean’s chill wanting to push its way into her skin.

  “Lucy, come in!” Noah was now shouting into his radio.

  [GR10-14 bridge. Elec-bypass]

  [GR14 disable. Hydroponics: flood]

  [42sec]

  “It won’t work in here!” Mat shouted but then grabbed his own radio, “Lucy come in! Get the sub clear! Do you read?”

  As a thunderous, reverberating pulse shook the dark room, Ebony screamed.

  [GR7-8 close. Elec-bypass]

  [39sec]

  “Lucy!” Mat shouted, “Get clear!”

  Through the open door of the central control room, Sabine heard doors closing on the far side of the common area, then she felt the whole room sway.

  [GR6 close]

  [GR5 close]

  In the crossed beams of th
eir flashlights, they all saw the central control room exit door close.

  There was nowhere left to run.

  Pavna and Mat were now exchanging a hopeless stare. Sabine held Ebony close, lying to her that everything was going to be alright.

  [35sec]

  [Elec-reroute: success]

  [GR2 open]

  A sudden beam of light cut through the darkness.

  The beam widened as the door to a neighbouring sphere spiralled open and filled the space with blinding light.

  [Set speaker vol:100]

  [Audioprint: ‘Disconnect laptop. Get to Ready Room!’]

  [30sec]

  [29sec]

  “Run!” Noah yelled and ran toward the light.

  Sabine wanted to run but for the first time in her life she felt paralysed, as though her feet were part of the deck.

  “Wait!” Tessa shouted after him, glancing back at Fai’s screen, “Mat help me!”

  Tessa began unscrewing the cable connectors that tethered the laptop to the ARC controls.

  Mat grabbed the tablet and gathered up Fai’s connecting cable, “Pav, get in there!”

  “I’m not going without -”

  “Love you too but we need to know what the hell we’re running into!”

  Pavna hesitated for an instant.

  “Go!” he shouted, “I’m right behind you!”

  She felt Pavna hauling at her and Ebony, desperately trying to get her to move. Suddenly she was right in front of her face, yelling at her.

  “Save her!” Pavna shook at Ebony.

  Sabine saw the brightly lit ready room ahead of her. A flat, unimpeded route was all that lay between her and its circle of light. She had once leapt across building tops; minor distances that had been terrifying to Marcus but had been trivial for her. To save her daughter, all she had to do was make that first step.

  She felt her back foot tense and then the ground released her.

  All noise disappeared from the room.

  She found herself already sprinting; the sound of her heartbeat filling her ears. Ahead of her, she could see Pavna running, her silhouette fixed against the bright circle of the ready room’s interior. With every muted footstep, the circle of light grew larger and the peripheral darkness was pushed further out of view.