The Secret Bunker Trilogy

by Paul Teague

  ‘Like that’s going to happen!’ came Amy’s dismissive reply.

  She was already activating the SymNode on her hand.

  ‘Before you go anywhere with that helmet Mike, you’re coming with me.’

  ‘I’m going back to find Dan and Nat.’

  ‘And I’m not coming back again until I’ve got both of them ...’

  She paused, her eyes grew moist, but she was not one to cry easily.

  ‘They’re coming back with me, dead or alive!’

  Cluster

  The Helyion ship concealed below the surface of Lake Karachay had been emitting a pulse for some time now. It was encrypted, undetected, no other O-Fed members would even suspect that the Helyions were capable of this yet.

  The inhabitants of Helyios 4 had been deceptive. What was the phrase they used on Earth? The Helyions loved this one: ‘Never judge a book by its cover’. It didn’t really translate that well into Helyion, but the gist of it was exactly right. Never be deceived by exterior appearances.

  To other, more socially advanced species, the Helyions were brutes, charmless, without manners and ungracious. They had to be, their existence was mineral based, you get what you’re given when it comes to your home planet, and you have to make the best of it.

  On Helyios 4 the rules were different – you can’t make judgements on another planet’s culture just because it does not align with your own. It’s like the highly educated snobs who’d stick their noses up at the multi-millionaire who started life as a market stallholder. Never be deceived by origins.

  The Helyions were an extremely advanced race, in spite of appearances. They’d laughed at the hilarity of being spotted by other members of The Off-World Federation. They’d actually tracked an old trash disposal ship when they first believed the Helyions capable of space travel. They’d thought that was the Helyions’ first foray into space travel.

  The truth was that the Helyions had been travelling in space for many, many years. Their cloaking was more advanced than anybody else presently had access to in The Off-World Federation. It turned out that the market stallholder knew a few tricks that the snobby entrepreneurs didn’t.

  So, when they were made members of O-Fed, as they’d shown themselves now capable of basic space travel, the whole thing had in fact been a massive mistake. Or a terrible deception, it depended on how you looked at it. They’d based their entire judgement on spotting a beat up old waste disposal ship.

  But it had offered the Helyions an excellent opportunity. They knew that their planet was dying, that very fact was what had forced them out into space in the first place.

  But The Off-World Federation had brought to their attention a rather nice planet by the name of Earth. A planet that was also dying. A planet which had, largely speaking, all of the requirements of the Helyion population.

  Here was a brilliant opportunity. Only the Helyions had no intention of going to war with The Off-World Federation, there was no chance they could win against eleven adversaries. Their planet was small, their population relatively low, they were in no fit state for an intergalactic battle.

  However, the man Pierce had given them an excellent chance to solve their own planet’s problems. Zadra Nurmeen would goad this man’s sociopathic madness. He’d administer a drugs cocktail similar to the one used on him as a child, the very drugs which had created his severe psychotic problems in the first place. They’d let this mad, evil genius destroy his own planet. Then they’d move in and take what was left, no warfare required.

  The final tests had been done in Lake Karachay – this place was perfect for the cluster, a radioactive wasteland, part of the wonderful, mineral-rich land mass known as Russia to the humans.

  The first, cloaked ship was joined, one at a time, by other Helyion ships. There were twenty-nine of them in all, forming a sinister hub over the polluted lake. Nobody in The Off-World Federation knew that they were there.

  Henry Pierce had no knowledge of their presence; who knows what erratic actions he might have carried out if he’d seen that his only friend, Zadra Nurmeen, had been deceiving him – poisoning him – for all of those years? There was one more ship still to arrive. That final ship still had an important job to do.

  It would be the cloaked ship that transported Zadra Nurmeen back to Earth after Pierce had set in motion the last, irreversible stage of the sabotaged terraforming process. This would be the final scorching of the Earth, TerraLevel 3.

  The Helyions were going to sit and wait until Pierce destroyed the planet. Then, under the terms of The Off-World Federation Covenant, they were going to claim the wreckage as their own.

  Break Out

  Simon and Kate had left a tracker on the door of the Simulation Area. Their plan was to draw the battle to that place, away from Dan and Nat, where they had the tactical advantage.

  They’d also located some useful props from that room, namely a few smoke canisters and a remote activation key for the simulations console. Handy equipment to be carrying, bearing in mind what they now had planned.

  They made their way through the corridors of The Nexus, dodging the Troopers who seemed to be growing in numbers all the time. Kate got an uneasy feeling about those things.

  She shuddered to think that they’d been under her sole command when this day had started, and a dull, sickening sensation in her stomach halted her progress for a few moments.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Simon, sensing her unease.

  ‘I just got this overwhelming feeling of guilt,’ she replied. ‘I can’t believe what I’ve done, I just don’t know how to make up for it.’

  ‘We’re at war Kate,’ he offered. ‘You were under somebody else’s control, we can make this right still.’

  Kate knew he was right, and she picked herself up and carried on moving. But she resolved that, before this battle was over, she’d make up for the damage that she’d done, she was determined to put things right. Even if that meant losing her own life doing it.

  Simon put up his hand to urge her to silence. They were outside the main Ops Area. He could see Doctor Pierce. And there were the twins – Dan and Nat – their faces were white, they looked like they’d just received some terrible news.

  There was a man next to Dan and Nat; Simon struggled to make him out. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. It was a second Doctor Pierce.

  At that moment, Simon got it. He didn’t know the detail – he didn’t need to – but it all made perfect sense.

  If there were two identical looking people – twins, clones, whatever they were – what happened that day, it must have been sabotage. The man he saw talking to the twins’ mum as his car swerved at the girl, it must have been one of these men.

  One of them must have had Global Consortium access, it just pieced together for him as he looked at the two of them.

  It had to have been how this whole deception was carried out; he’d always felt that there seemed to be an extra person involved, like it didn’t quite add up.

  It made sense if it was the same person. Not exactly the same person of course, but somebody who could pass themselves off as another. It was easy to tell who was in charge here. One of the men looked bruised, beaten and weary. The other looked charged, confident and powerful.

  And to the side him, sitting on a chair and smirking, somebody – or something – else. Kate had recognized him – or it – too. That was the thing that had been sitting at the control desk in the Simulation Area eighteen years ago. They’d been right, the thing that they’d seen on that day had not been human.

  Now they knew who the enemy was. And they now had a plan to break out their friends.

  Face To Face

  What do you do when the life that you thought was yours turns out to be completely different from what you thought it was? The sister who I thought was dead, is alive. We turn out to be aliens – or human/alien hybrids to be more accurate. The man who I thought had been sent to help me at school, turns out to be a brilliant scie
ntist in charge of one of the planet’s most important challenges in its history. And he has an identical twin who seems hell-bent on destroying Earth. And now, to top it all, I am being introduced to my birth mother.

  But this is no joyful reunion. She looks terrible, she is attached to wires and tubes, she’s muttering furiously and she looks wretched. It’s disturbing to look at, I turn away. But how can I turn away from the woman who’s supposed to be my mum?

  I get an overwhelming sense of revulsion from Nat, she feels the same as me; whatever they’ve done to her is horrible. But there’s a person under there, among all of those wires and tubes, and like most of the people in this room, she is not complicit in this, she needs our help.

  Henry Pierce seems to feel the need to explain himself, Harold is really upset by what we’re looking at on the screen.

  ‘Your mother is currently issuing our instructions to the Troopers, we hijacked her telepathic abilities.’

  Then he adds, ‘Thanks for helping us with that Nat, we’re very grateful for your help with our … experiments.’

  This telepathy thing is really strong in Nat and me now, and I feel the surge of rage that she experiences as he says this. I’m quick to urge her to caution. Nothing is to be gained by goading this man at the moment, she’ll only get herself hurt. More hurt.

  ‘To help focus your minds on my offer, you may like to know a few things,’ Henry continues.

  His brother looks really angry now. I could tell them apart easily before, but as the rage builds in Harold Pierce, he looks more and more like his evil twin brother.

  ‘We are about to set in motion the final stage of the terraforming process.

  ‘This will destroy the planet and make it uninhabitable for all of the humans who live on it.

  ‘They’ll never wake up, the planet will burn as they slumber.’

  At this, the holographic faces that surround this Ops Area start protesting, but we can’t hear them, Pierce has silenced their speakers, their protests can be seen, but not heard.

  ‘We will also destroy The Nexus and the Quadrants – it’s worked out pretty well this Unification process, it saves us having to destroy them on Earth ...’

  Then he adds, spitefully, ‘Thanks for your help with that Harold.’

  ‘Why would we want to know this you psycho?’ Nat almost spits at him.

  ‘Because, there is going to be nothing left for you to return to.

  ‘Earth will be destroyed, this ridiculous ark which was built by The Global Consortium will be destroyed, and The Off-World Federation will see this as a terrible accident, a pioneering project gone wrong.

  ‘My friend here, Zadra Nurmeen, will file a formal claim for custodianship under The Covenant and he and I will become legal owners of your dead planet.’

  I urge Nat to calm down again. Earlier I’d thought her more battle-ready than me, but now all I see is foolish impetuousness, she really needs to think things through more carefully. Having said that, looking at the faces of the world’s leaders on those screens, they look very agitated by all of this too.

  ‘And what about Davran?’ asks Harold Pierce. He’s finally rallied and wants answers about his friend – our mum.

  ‘We don’t really need her for much longer,’ Pierce answers. ‘We’re moving all of the Troopers up here now, into the outer sections of The Nexus.

  ‘We’ll destroy them when we blow up The Nexus.’

  The Troopers around us don’t flinch when he says this. He just announced that they’re all going to be blown up in space, but this doesn’t seem to have registered with any of them. I remind myself that they are not really part of this, they’re being controlled by Pierce and his alien friend.

  The face of the woman on the main screen – our mum – tells it all. She may be controlling these Troopers because of some atrocity that Pierce has committed, but her sense of what’s right and wrong must still be very much intact. She is commanding these Troopers in spite of herself; she is struggling to stop every evil instruction that is forced upon her, but she is losing that battle.

  Whatever these tubes and wires are doing, they are compelling her into actions which she does not want to execute. That’s probably why she looks so anguished, it must be a terrible thing to be carrying out these atrocities and unable to stop yourself. A living torture.

  Nat was right, Pierce is a monster.

  My mind has wandered off while he’s been speaking. I need to listen, we need to get this information back to Magnus.

  ‘What about Davran?’ Harold Pierce asks again. He must have loved our mum when he knew her, he’s desperately concerned about her. I really hope that I get to know her.

  ‘She’ll just burn out,’ laughs Pierce. ‘By the time the Troopers go offline, her mental capacities will be exhausted.’

  ‘She’ll just be a shell …. and of course you know the laws about Ostracism, Harold.’

  I don’t like sound of that

  ‘What does that mean?’ I speak directly to Harold, Nat turns to hear the answer.

  ‘When you’re Ostracized, you’re there forever,’ he begins. ‘The ISOCells are wired to make sure it’s permanent.

  ‘They’ve managed to locate her ISOCell, I don’t know how, and they’ve somehow got a Transporter onto it. Nothing surprises me about these two, they had enough access to Genesis 2 to be able to do these things.

  ‘There’s just one problem with the ISOCells ...’

  Here it comes, I’m getting used now to detecting when bad news is coming.

  ‘They were never supposed to be boarded, but that’s just Covenant law. Henry and Zadra Nurmeen won’t care about the risks of being Ostracized themselves.

  ‘The problem is though, when the prisoner dies, the ISOCell explodes, there’s no trace left, they live in isolation until that happens.’

  Okay, so far so good, that doesn’t sound pleasant, but it’s not too bad. It’s like a funeral in space.

  ‘But nobody is ever supposed to leave those things,’ he continues, seeing the urgency for more information on our faces. ‘When the last live person tries to exit the ISOCell, it will explode.

  ‘Davran is stuck there – if they destroy the Transporter, she’s lost and isolated in space, we’ll never find her.

  ‘If she tries to leave the ISOCell, it’ll explode, and that’ll be the end of it ...’

  Harold’s words just hang there as his angry brother charges up to him and pounds him in the head with his bloody knuckles.

  Chapter Two

  Signals

  Xiang looked at her screens. A fourth data stream had just appeared. From nowhere.

  This was all new to her, but she shuddered to think what was going on wherever Dan and Nat were right now.

  She’d received Dan’s text alert about there being two Pierce brothers, and she knew now what that third data stream had been. One of the Pierces. But if there was a new NanoVirus host now, what did that mean?

  This genetic destruction, whatever its source, was being passed on between hybrids. How though?

  She didn’t know yet but as the latest information feed had come online, she’d immediately seen the hazard levels for Dan, Nat and whichever Pierce hybrid had been affected first reduce immediately.

  They seemed to be dealing with it like a committee – as a new hybrid was infected with the NanoVirus, it seemed to help the others. It was as if this hybrid species was linked in some way, like they could actually help each other to survive longer.

  The scientist in her knew that this would be an incredible evolutionary concept.

  Xiang felt immediately guilty for even daring to be excited about the prospect of running more tests on Dan and Nat. If they got out of this thing alive.

  For now, they’d just bought themselves a little more time. But as far as she knew, there were no more hybrids.

  That meant that when this destructive, genetic killer attained viral levels of 100 percent, all four hybrids would be dead.

 
And by her reckoning, the most time any one of them had to survive was just over one hour.

  Transported

  Mike and Amy walked up to the lift on the first floor of the bunker; it was heavily armed and the explosives teams were getting very jittery. They knew that whatever move would be made to take over this structure must play out soon.

  When Amy walked towards them, they knew what she was up to, and they moved aside to let her get through.

  ‘I’ll need you to stay close with the helmet for the SymNode to work,’ Amy reminded him. ‘Just make sure it works before you leave the area please.’

  Mike grabbed her and hugged her.

  He was so proud of his wife, immensely impressed by what she was doing, and he feared that he might lose her in whatever was going to happen next.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she said, ‘we need to take care of our kids Mike.’

  ‘You do your thing with the tech, I’m going up there to kick some ass!’

  He smiled and released her from his embrace.

  She walked into the lift and pressed the new symbol that had appeared since The Nexus had come online. This was where Dan was heading – it was a wild chance, but hopefully this symbol would activate the Transporter and take her to him.

  The lift doors closed and she pressed the new touchpad. The lift jolted, but nothing happened. She tried again, but again nothing happened.

  ‘Damn it!’ she cursed, kicking the side of the lift, just missing one of the packs of explosive which stacked up there in case of Trooper attack.

  Amy decided to try the symbol one more time – it was useless for her to try to head anywhere else, she needed to follow Dan’s lead.

  It worked. The Transporter fired up, the lift interior lit up and she was immediately transported to the same place as Dan.

  Act Of Rebellion

  The small remaining conscious part of her mind could sense what was going on. She’d known immediately that the Trooper had been wounded and his helmet removed. She’d become aware of that as soon as the woman had placed the helmet on her own head.