by Paul Teague
Controlled by the device in her neck, as were all of those around her, she carried out the instructions that were transmitted directly to the receptors in her brain. She was furious about the debacle on the upper level. They had lost every civilian that had entered this bunker and several of her security staff had ended up in the MedLab as a result of their escape.
There were two deaths as well – and the woman who was supposed to have been shot dead in the BioFiltration Area was still alive. Deception and subterfuge, right under her nose, in her bunker.
What was troubling her more though was how they’d got away. She’d watched on the security cameras as the escape took place. She watched them all make their way into the lift. A few moments elapsed, the security guards opened the lift door and … it was empty. How did they do that? She was about to find out. From a secret location, via a source presently unknown to her, a new set of data arrived on her E-Pad. This data set would give her full access to the bunker, meaning that she and her teams would finally be able to reach the lower levels – the levels that only hours earlier she had believed didn’t even exist – the levels where she assumed that the civilian group would be hiding.
The data would outline the full scope of her mission and the purpose of her bunker in the Genesis 2 project. It would give her access to information which the Custodians were never supposed to know. Information that they were never even meant to need.
Above the bunker in Quadrant 1, through metres of concrete and soil, the terraforming process continued, the Earth’s hue now a dark blue. Inside the bunker she was about a receive a secure and encrypted message from the person orchestrating this present chaos – the person whose sabotage had resulted in the launching of scores of drones, each one fixated on its evil mission. The person whose destructive intentions extended far beyond the drone attack which was useful only in obliterating all opposition to the main objective.
The destruction of the other three bunkers was only the beginning. It would start with that, and the drones would begin their air strikes within minutes – a relentless and targeted assault on the bunkers hidden deep underground, and impregnable against nuclear attack. But not if you knew their exact location of course. And not if you knew their areas of weakness.
Kate moved to one of the meeting rooms, and adjusted the blinds so that she was alone and unobserved. Her E-Pad gave an electronic beep, and she entered a series of secure codes.
The screen immediately activated and a video feed of a man sitting at his desk appeared. She knew the face already, but the name-plate on his desk confirmed it if she’d had any doubt. It read ‘Dr H. Pierce’.
Part Two: Resistance
Chapter One
Hacker
It was 6.19 a.m. and the student was mindful of an essay that needed to be submitted at 9 a.m. later that morning. But he was onto something far more interesting here. He’d been working on it for over a week in his bedroom, snatching whatever time he could after school and at the weekend.
At that time very few people had personal computers in their homes, but he’d managed to create a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ of a contraption in his bedroom. His parents were none the wiser. They just assumed that this was a passing phase, a teenage hobby which involved building some contrivance that looked not unlike a robot. If only they had known.
They were fortunate enough to have an ISDN line installed at home for his dad’s work. ISDN stood for Integrated Services Digital Network, and at that time the few people who even knew that you could access the internet via your phone line would have given anything to achieve the speeds that could be obtained over this connection. ISDNs were in common use in the broadcasting industry in the 1990s, and his dad, a radio journalist, used the line to avoid him having to go into the office for early morning live radio hook-ups.
He’d sit at the breakfast table in his pyjamas, with a microphone in front of him, broadcasting to the entire country and taking mouthfuls of cornflakes in between interviews. At that time it was amazing stuff, but these days anybody could do exactly the same thing from the top of a mountain so long as they could get a few bars on their mobile device.
He’d soon realized that he could hijack his dad’s ISDN at night, when it was never used, giving him access to speeds that most early surfers could only dream of. He had to be off the line by 7 a.m. ready for whatever interview his dad would be giving that morning to radio stations all over the country.
He reckoned he could have his essay knocked off by 8.30 a.m. and be in school for 8.50 a.m., particularly as he’d written a program to assemble most of the information that he needed automatically whilst he was working on this far more interesting project.
It would be a few years yet before institutions of learning understood that plagiarism was going to provide a constant challenge for teachers, lecturers, and examination boards, all intent on confirming the originality of academic endeavour. So he tapped away at his keyboard, working diligently through levels of code and security until, finally, he was in.
It was not so early in the history of the internet that Parliament had not had time to pass The Computer Misuse Act. He’d heard his dad talking about that one on the radio and as a younger teenager it was what had really got him interested in delving deeper into computers and the possibilities of the internet.
After obtaining the infamous ‘Hacker’s Manifesto’ he’d been captivated, not because he wanted to do any damage or harm, but just because it was possible. It was like a battle between him and Them. ‘Them’ being any kind of authority: governments, banks, even his dad’s broadcasting corporation. They all set themselves up as secure and impregnable, but they weren’t – and they were misleading the public claiming that they were.
All he liked to do was to break in and just leave a little message. Like a message in a bottle. ‘Managed to crack your security while you weren’t looking. Take more care next time. I’m not here to do any damage – but the next person might be. Don’t be so relaxed and complacent! Love, The Undertaker’. He liked that one, and it was a nod to his wrestling hero at the time.
It was mostly the problem solving that he enjoyed. Poring over code was a pleasure to him, completely absorbing, and it was so logical and predictable. You just had to spot the patterns. And he was onto one now. This one was a devil to crack, but he could see what they’d done and he was now able to unravel it. Just a little more … and … he was in!
An unfamiliar logo appeared on the screen. The graphics card on his home computer rig was extremely dodgy, but he could see that the image had been created for much more sophisticated systems than the one that he was presently using. It read ‘The Global Consortium’.
Much of the documentation there looked fairly dull to his teenage self: paperwork about the formation of a worldwide group, mention of ‘potential global catastrophe’, and more paperwork dating back to 27 November 1983 when some important agreement was signed. He’d got the sense that this was really important, but that he’d need to delve much deeper into the additional levels of security which were protecting some of the more interesting looking documents. He’d left a wormhole into the system so that he could access it at any time, without being detected, and without having to go through the long hacking process which he’d just endured.
He could hear his dad’s alarm going off in the next room now and knew that he’d have to shut down the ISDN so that it was ready for him when it was needed. Hopefully, nobody would spot the bill on that line, or they’d just assume his dad had been very busy with interviews.
He printed out the research information so that he could use it offline, rattled off his essay and managed to reach his completion target and have it handed in at school just in the nick of time. It took more time for the dot matrix printer to chug out the notes and there were plenty of paper jams in there for good measure.
‘Should be an A or a B grade minimum,’ he thought. In fact he was day-dreaming at his desk, thinking about the strategy he’d need to
get into those other, more interesting, files, when there was an interruption from the Head Teacher in the middle of the lesson. There was a hushed conversation with the class teacher and a nod of assent, then the following request. ‘Mike Tracy, go with the Head Teacher to his office please.’ He’d been rumbled.
22:57 Quadrant 3: White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Magnus is a little bit out on his timings because we’ve ended up gaining a thirty minute advantage on the drones: thirty minutes in which to catch up with the latest information about what happened to Mum, Dad and the rest of the family and then to formulate a plan.
Mum can’t stop holding Nat’s hand, like she doesn’t believe that she’s really here and wants to make sure that she won’t disappear again. Fair enough really I suppose. For me, Nat’s reappearance is different. Of course I’m pleased, relieved, delighted, and all of the other things that I’m supposed to be. But I can tell that she feels it too. We’re meant to be together.
I can’t explain it, it’s something bigger than me and I certainly don’t understand it. When Nat and I are together, it enhances us – our thinking is clearer, our minds are sharper, our intelligence is greater. When I thought that Nat was dead, I was probably too young to explain it then, even though I was feeling that loss. I expressed it badly at school, by lashing out, by being hostile towards other kids, by having a short temper. Those were my ‘difficulties’ and I suppose it was just an inability to express that helplessness that I’d experienced after Nat went. Not the normal sense of grief and loss – it was more like a part of my own consciousness had died that day.
I can feel myself getting stronger and sharper all the time. It’s like a surge through my veins I feel energized, awake, alive and alert. Dare I even use the word ‘powerful’? Not in a dominant ‘rule the world’ kind of way. Just that, with Nat here, I feel that nothing can stop me. I’ve never experienced confidence and sureness like this before. I know that Nat is experiencing this too; she feels like she should be indulging Mum, but from the looks that she keeps giving me, I know that she’s getting this power thing too.
I’m beginning to see how this is piecing together now, though I still can’t explain it. There’s something different about Nat and me. I can’t even guess what it is, but it must be connected with us being twins and the changes that we’re experiencing, now that we’ve been reunited. I’m guessing too, and I think that this is more than a hunch, that Nat’s ‘death’ was engineered in some way. That incident – and the events in these bunkers – are linked. What we have to do now is to figure out how.
So here’s what I’ve just learned. Dad, David and Harriet are fine. Harriet had a few ribs broken – by Mum of all people – but the MedLab team reported that she actually saved Harriet by doing that. They’ve used some amazing machine on Harriet and the ribs have been healed. She’s now playing happily in the ‘RecRoom’. I assume that’s short for ‘recreation’. See, I said I’m feeling sharper.
David and Dad just needed some coming round time. The stasis process had put them very deep under, it slowed their vital signs and, add to that Kate’s attempt to slow them down to nothing, and that explains why Dad was so useless in that escape mission. Still, there’s plenty of time to make up for it.
The other staff from the bunker are fine too, they’re all going to be allowed to sit it out in what’s now been designated a ‘civilian area’. Basically, that means the RecRoom, the refectory and the dorms.
Mum had been quite badly wounded it would seem, but Simon has shown us this device he used to heal her and it emerges that Magnus is already familiar with this stuff. It’s standard technology in the bunkers apparently. Magnus says that it will have been used on me already when I was in the MedLab. It can heal and cure, but it can’t restore life. So it speeds up natural processes which would occur over time anyway. But it can’t fix you when you’re dead. Pity the Department of Health hasn’t picked up on it yet. It’s amazing technology, everybody in this room just seems to accept it without question. Except me. And Nat probably. I want to know where it comes from. Who makes stuff like this? This is amazing gadgetry and, as far as I know, we’re just not capable of making this kind of equipment yet.
James was in a bad way – I’m not sure how he kept going in our earlier shoot-out. It sounds like he had a tough time; the MedLab staff have managed to ascertain that he was questioned and beaten up by the bunker staff. He has cuts, bruises, some broken ribs, two broken fingers, and shattered bones in one foot. Nothing that MedLab can’t fix with their tech, even though he’ll still be sore for some time.
It turns out that he and Mum knew each other years ago. Mum was in the military for a short time. She never told us that! We all have a lot of catching up to do when all of this is over – if it ends happily of course.
It turns out, and we all concur, that Nat and I are central to whatever is going on. We are linked up to the events in the bunkers, but nobody can figure out how. We all agree that it seems to be DNA based.
Nat and I together could operate the Transporters. We’re trying not to call them lifts any more, not now we know what they can do, but they still look and work like lifts. Very powerful lifts. Having initially activated the Transporters together, it looks like we can then operate them on our own. We’re not sure of all this stuff yet, we’re just piecing together what we know, and what we’ve seen. We’re certain though that we can get to the other bunkers via the Transporters.
Magnus thinks he can figure out how to establish easy communications between the bunkers, and he’s going to prioritize that.
We talk about the neck devices. So far I’ve seen blue, red, and now yellow. Magnus is taken by surprise at this – he genuinely seems not to have noticed. They’re easy things to miss, but once you’ve seen them pulsating, they’re much simpler to spot. He assigns a team to analyse the neck devices as a matter of urgency.
And then there’s Simon who seems to remain very quiet when we’re talking about the neck implants. I think he’s being cagey, but he certainly seems to be on our side. There’s no doubt that he saved Mum’s life. He also helped get most of us safely into Quadrant 3. He’s admitted that he is Global Consortium staff, and said he was on a special mission in the area and got called in at the last minute to the bunker. Magnus has accepted that, particularly as he’s managed to call up his records and can see that Simon has basic access in the bunkers. But I’m not so sure.
With the exception of my family, everybody else was recruited and trained to be here. The cuckoos in the nest are Simon and the entire Tracy family. Well, at least we’ve made an impact.
Finally there’s Doctor Pierce. Nat could barely contain herself when he came up for debate. But the consensus of opinion is – as far as bunker staff are concerned – it was Doctor Pierce who was central to the recruitment and training process, he is their only source of information relating to Global Consortium plans and, for now at least, they must keep communications open with him. He is the common thread that links us all.
Nat is obviously put out about this, but she seems unwilling to tell us why. I’m getting a very acute sense of strong emotions there, but she’s not ready to share this information yet.
So, that’s where we are right now. And we have a plan. Mum isn’t happy, but she’s going to have to accept that Nat and I are up to our necks in this whether we all like it or not. Your main players have to step onto the battlefield. And, as unlikely as it sounds, it appears that Nat and I are the key players. Nobody is going anywhere without our help.
So here’s the plan. The drones are being launched from Quadrant 1. Kate doesn’t have access to the lower levels. Nat and I have not seen the drones yet, so I reckon that they must be in the area of Level 4 that I didn’t get to explore yet. We were distracted by the Transportation Area at the time.
We’re going to give Simon and Mum access to Level 3 so that they can take a look around at some of that weaponry. Magnus is going to try and make contact with the other
two bunkers – it’s important to establish a communication flow between the underground locations that Kate has not yet accessed.
We have the Comms-Tabs, we have some weapons now and we’re going to take some of Magnus’s security team to guard each entrance of the lift – the Transporter – while we’re all creeping around in Quadrant 1.
That’s the plan. Stop the drones, make contact with the other Quadrants, figure out what Kate is up to and how to stop her. Seems fair enough to me. Nothing moves forward without stopping the drones.
As if on cue, there is a distant, deep boom and a strong, persistent vibration rumbles through the bunker. The alert sirens sound in our meeting room and throughout the rest of the facility. The drones have begun to arrive at their destination, the first missile has found its target.
‘They’re here,’ says Magnus, standing up. ‘You all know what you have to do.
‘We’ll be able to withstand this for a short time, but if they get a direct hit on the main grid nodes, we’ll start to struggle.
‘Without a direct hit, I reckon we’ll have a few hours maximum before we start to see structural damage, it just depends how powerful those things are.
‘Let’s move!’ he says urgently.
As we get up from our seats, the doors to the Meeting Room slide open. It’s Dad and James. Dad is his normal self again, I see it immediately. James looks amazing, considering the state he was in only half an hour ago. It’s time I changed my doctor.
They’re here because they want to be involved in whatever’s going to happen next. James teams up with Mum, I guess that makes sense. These two have a back history.
I see a look on Dad’s face like he senses something that he wasn’t a part of. He parks it for now, he knows that, for the time being at least, this is all about business. Simon says he’ll work alone, but go to Level 3 with Mum and James.