by Paul Teague
The simulation pixelated and vanished in front of them. Only the green grid was left, marking out the areas where the simulations would take place.
In the corner, the main control console was in flames.
Of course, The Queen knew everything about The Nexus. It didn’t take her long to issue new instructions to her Troopers.
Disable the simulation. Destroy the controls. Eliminate the intruders.
Simon looked up to see thirty weapons trained directly on him and Kate. When those things fired it would be no simulation.
He steeled himself for the end. And then the Troopers just stopped.
Docking
Harold Pierce looked out of the airlock windows towards the approaching Helyion ship. It had come to collect Zadra Nurmeen and complete this deadly mission.
The entire Nexus was in a state of confusion. There didn’t appear to be anybody in command. The Troopers seemed to be lost and confused, as if they had no orders; he needed to do what he could before they were spotted.
‘Your brother, he went with Nat in the Transporter,’ said Dae-Ho, an urgent look in his eyes. He didn’t know how to react, he’d craved freedom for many years now, but when he had glimpsed it, he discovered that he’d been a slave too long, he needed someone to tell him what to do.
Maybe this situation could be to their advantage.
Henry and Harold Pierce still looked very similar. In the confusion after the smoke bomb ambush, Harold thought that he may be able to gain access to the Ops Area. From there he could reverse the terraforming sequence … but he’d need the hijack codes, he couldn’t do it without them. He’d need his brother for those – or Zadra Nurmeen – and he didn’t think that help would be coming soon.
And The Nexus, it was going to be destroyed, he didn’t know how long they had, but he’d need his brother – or the twins – to help with that too. Everything used Zatheon technology, all the systems in the bunkers and The Nexus were protected by the Zatheon failsafe after Genesis 2 had begun. They’d agreed it from the start – if Earth got into any difficulties, the Zatheons would help to put it right.
Zatheon government worked on a pairing basis, sibling pairs would have to endorse decisions and that meant that no one person could do anything to harm the species. If it was needed, the Zatheons would have full access to the lower levels of the bunkers, they’d be able to initiate Unification. They were the Plan B backup if it ever got that far.
Harold had the alert codes for the Zatheons. He’d never got a chance to even use them before his brother boarded The Nexus and began his brutal assault. He’d thought they could handle it on Earth, without the help of the Zatheons. Besides, they were reluctant to get involved, they’d only initiate Unification if the terraforming process had failed.
In that eventuality, it would be just him on The Nexus, surrounded by the virtual forms of the world’s leaders, as the Earth began to burn below. By that stage it would have been a situation of terrible gravity, the Zatheons would extract the physical forms of The Global Consortium leaders, bring them to The Nexus, and Unification would have begun. A new start for Earth and an ambitious project gone terribly wrong.
How laughable those plans now seemed. Nobody had factored in the hybrid element. His brother was thought to be long out of the picture, but he’d sabotaged the entire process.
Harold had had a last minute hunch before they’d set the final process in motion – he’d realized their exposure a little too late. It was why he’d decided to get Dan involved in this whole thing at the last moment. Luring the Tracy family with that spoof competition, taking Amy away under yet another deception, injecting the Neuronic Device into her neck just days before the darkness fell, doing the same to her old friend James, creating allies and possibilities within the bunker. Just in case he needed them. And he had needed them as it turned out.
It made sense to have a hybrid involved like himself, hybrids were the only ones who’d be able to access everything in the bunkers.
He cursed himself again for getting it so wrong. He knew what Henry and Zadra were capable of. Yet they’d kept their deception so well hidden, he never suspected this sabotage.
Now he needed his brother, he was not going to use the twins for this, the risk was too great. Dae-Ho had said that Henry was back in Quadrant 3 with Nat, he’d need to fix that.
‘Come with me,’ he said to Dae-Ho, taking charge now. ‘Pretend to be working with me.’
Harold Pierce returned to the Ops Area. It was mainly quiet, there were some Troopers, but they seemed dazed and confused, they weren’t putting up a fight in any way. Nobody looked at him as if he was out of place.
There was no sign of Zadra Nurmeen either – that wasn’t good. Harold got straight to work, he had no idea how long he had left to put this right. But he knew exactly what had to be done.
‘What happened to Dan?’ he asked
Dae-Ho pointed at the Transporter. ‘Zadra Nurmeen went too, so did the lady.’
Harold wondered who Dae-Ho meant by ‘the lady’. He guessed it might be Kate, surely not Amy? He got his answer seconds afterwards, as the makeshift Transporter began to light up and two figures materialized in front of them.
He saw straight away why the Troopers seemed so dazed. It was Amy with Davran. Davran was alive, they’d saved her. He rushed over to Amy.
‘What’s happened?’
She eyed him warily, wanting to be certain that this was the right Doctor Pierce to be speaking to. He seemed to be fine.
‘Dan’s still there, Zadra is with him, I need to go back!’
‘No, go with this man, take Davran back to Quadrant 3, she can save the twins.’
‘There won’t be anybody to save!’ shouted Amy.
‘Take her!’ said Harold. ‘Get her to Xiang, let Dan take care of himself, we don’t have the time for this.’ Amy hesitated.
‘The Troopers are disconnected now Davran is offline, they’re no threat to us.
‘The Helyions are about to dock, you’ve got to get her off The Nexus!’
Amy saw he was right. She needed to get Davran in the Transporter and back to Xiang. She had to trust Dan, she had to believe that he could outwit that monster on the ISOCell. Only one of them was getting off that ship alive. It had better be Dan.
‘I’ll take her,’ Amy decided. ‘You just make sure that if Dan is the next person to appear on this platform that you get him in that Transporter and back to Quadrant 3.
‘I’ll have a medical team waiting if … when he gets to Quadrant 3. ’
Dae-Ho helped her to support Davran who was limp, confused and bloody from being torn off the machines and tubes. They made it to the Transporter and Dae-Ho stood aside as the doors closed and Amy returned to Quadrant 3.
In the Ops Area, Harold took control once again. He put The Global Consortium leaders back online, their holographic images surrounding him as he orchestrated events on The Nexus. They were unsure which Pierce brother they were looking at first, but relief showed in their faces as they realized that it was the right one.
He opened up a comms channel to Quadrant 3 – this was going bunker-wide. And he patched in the Helyion ship via the docking area too.
‘This is Harold Pierce on board The Nexus.
‘The Nexus is counting down to self-destruction, it will explode in eleven minutes.
‘I will need authorization to initiate De-Unification, do I have it?’
All of the world’s leaders sanctioned his request and Harold pressed some buttons on his console.
There was a deep rumble throughout The Nexus. The Quadrants were disengaging.
‘Magnus, I need my brother back. Only he and I can now reverse the self-destruct process on this ship.
‘I also need the code sequence that Henry and Zadra used to hijack the terraforming. Does anybody have any leads on that? Does Henry have any documentation on him?’
There was silence from Quadrant 3.
‘Doctor Pierce, this is Mag
nus speaking, is this on all channels?’
‘Yes, everybody can hear you Magnus.’
‘We’re sending your brother over now. He’s in a bad way.
‘We wiped out the nukes, but we’ve launched fifty of our own.’
Faces dropped on the holographic screens – there were visible signs of concern.
World leaders are not used to having their power usurped, particularly not by civilians.
‘We’ve targeted Lake Karachay. There’s a force of some sort gathered there. They can either get off our planet or we’ll take them with us!’
Harold Pierce smiled to himself. Magnus had a plan, he could hear it in his voice, he was sending a very firm message without giving the game away to anybody else who might be listening. The Helyions would be monitoring this message, that’s just the sort of thing that he wanted them to hear.
‘It’s Simon and Kate,’ came a familiar voice. ‘What happened to the Troopers? We’ve got thirty of them with us here – they seem confused and disturbed, I don’t think anything is controlling them now.’
‘With no Queen, they must be disconnected,’ Harold picked up. ‘Who knows what effect it will have on them, but you need to get them off this ship fast. Simon, take them back to one of the bunkers.’
‘How long?’ asked Simon.
‘About ten minutes now,’ came the reply.
‘We’re on it!’ said Simon, and he left the broadcast stream.
‘What about Dan?’ came Mike’s voice. ‘Where is he?’
‘Be ready at the Transporter for him. Xiang, you have their mother, prepare your MedLab for her arrival.’
‘He has only nine minutes left,’ said Xiang. ‘Doctor Pierce, you and your brother are the same, you are dying too, just like Dan and Nat.
‘It must have been passed on through blood contact, you both have the NanoVirus.’
She was trying to sound calm, but her sense of urgency was easy to detect. Harold Pierce was used to dealing with bad news, it just made his mind sharper. He was tired now, he needed to find the last reserves to finally end this.
Just nine minutes for Xiang to get Davran hooked up to more machines and be ready to get working on Dan the minute he got back to the Quadrant.
‘Keep all comms open now,’ said Harold, knowing that as the final minutes played out they would need to remove all obstacles and delays.
Harold Pierce looked out of the windows of The Nexus and into space. The satellite matrix looked beautiful, he wished he’d taken more time to appreciate it. De-Unification was activated, the four Quadrants were undocking from The Nexus, their precious cargo would be spared the force of the destructive explosion when it came. The Helyion ship was connected now. He could see it straight ahead, they’d be boarding very soon, he had to rush.
Harold sealed off the Ops Area, leaving only the entrance to the Transporter clear. He disabled the airlock to the Helyion ship, but knew it would only delay them for a short while – they’d blast their way through if they had to.
His brother had just arrived. Two security staff were bringing him on board, he was handcuffed and restrained in a wheelchair. He’d been sedated, but he was at least conscious now.
Henry’s DNA must have given access via the Transporter – at least he’d been useful for something.
‘Put him in the airlock for now,’ said Harold. ‘Let him see what it feels like.’
He had just four things to do and less than nine minutes to do it all.
Change the terraforming codes and reverse the sabotage process.
Shut down the self-destruct sequence on The Nexus.
Get Dan from one Transporter to the next the minute he materialized.
And blast his brother Henry out of the airlock.
Hunted
I’m in danger of passing out, this leg hurts so much. I can hear the blood dripping on the floor. I’m doing everything I can to keep moving forwards.
Without warning, the lights go out. We’re pitched into darkness. All I can see are the stars outside. And two green eyes which are closing in on me fast.
Those eyes look terrifying – I hadn’t particularly noticed them before, but in the dark, they’re horrible. It gives me an advantage though. He may look scary, but he can’t track me as easily in this darkness.
I can see a flashing light up ahead – it’s like somebody has a fire lit, it glows intermittently.
I walk into an open area. The flashing lights are coming from some electrical circuitry which was connected to a load of devices in this area. I recognize it immediately – it’s where Davran was based when we saw her on Doctor Pierce’s screen.
I must have come full circle. Mum just fired up the Transporter; she’s got out of here, she must have Davran with her.
I need to take Zadra away from this place so he doesn’t see. If he realizes that Davran has gone, he’ll know that the last one off the ISOCell gets stranded here. I have to lead him as deep into this ship as I can, I need to get him away from this area … but I have to pass him and circle around him to do that. And I’ll have to do it with a leg that’s bleeding badly now.
Because I can see his eyes, I can locate him precisely in this darkness.
I need to bear this pain. I just want to cry out, but I daren’t make a sound – if he hears me, he’ll throw that sword thing again.
I’ve got my phone in my pocket from earlier, and it’s charged still. I’ve got an idea. I duck into the side of the corridor so that Zadra won’t see me.
He’s been slowed by the darkness, but he seems more confident of it than I am.
I hold the phone to my chest so that the screen doesn’t show my location when it lights up. I navigate swiftly to the video that Dad sent me. It’s there already on the screen from where I was watching it before. I turn the volume up, press play and slide it across the floor, past Zadra’s feet and behind him.
Dad’s voice comes out of the speaker, and it immediately distracts Zadra. He turns, his green eyes disappear for a moment and he throws the sword again. I rush by him, pushing him as I do so, and he stumbles. That sword is flying in the darkness somewhere. I don’t want it to hit me again.
I’m past Zadra now, running the long way around back to the Transporter. I need to get to it before he does, or before he realizes that I’m intending to make him the last person left on this ISOCell. He’ll be trapped.
Shoving him worked. He’s disorientated in the darkness and he misses the sword as it returns to him. I hear it drop on the floor – he curses as he’s forced to lose vital seconds retrieving it. He grabs the sword and turns on me again, following me along the corridor.
He’s angry with me now, which doesn’t improve my chances of survival.
I keep looking back, I know it’s pointless, but I do it anyway.
I can see his green eyes closing in on me. I must have lost so much blood, I’m feeling really light headed now. The eyes get closer and closer. As I try to move faster I can feel my cut flesh rubbing and pulling – I think it’s actually tearing the flesh as I run.
I can see the Transporter up ahead now. The activation lights let me pick it out in the darkness.
He’s getting breathless – me too, and it feels all the more threatening having him just behind me.
He knows where I’m heading, he senses it, and he must know that this is now a race to be first off this prison in space.
I finally reach the Transporter. I slam my hand on the button – I feel like I just touched base. The Transporter fires into life, the coloured lights begin to activate, this is it, the final moments.
Whatever happens here will determine if I survive this thing.
I can feel myself slowing down. I’ve lost a lot of blood from my leg wound. I can see it now in the light thrown off by the Transporter.
I’ve never seen so much blood before. There was some when Nat was hit by the car, but nothing like this. All the time I can think and move, there’s a way out this, there’s a chance I can make i
t.
I’m not scared any more. I accept that this either ends with my death or there’s a remote chance I might make it out alive.
The best I can do is to stop this alien dead in his tracks. At least that will be one of the crazies out of the way.
He’s caught up now, and is standing on the Transporter, ready to attack.
The Transporter lights are surrounding us both. There can’t be long until transportation begins. It must be seconds.
I can see that Zadra is as desperate as I am not to be the last on this ISOCell, and it occurs to me in that moment that there’s another way.
We can’t both leave at the same time, we’ll both be caught in the final explosion, but at least that will help the others to win this battle.
I’m feeling drained, the life is running out of me, I can’t take another blow now, I’ll sink to my knees if I do.
Zadra raises his sword. He’s going to try to take my head off, he’s getting ready to make one massive, powerful swipe.
I’ve had a good run at least. We saved Davran, Mum is safe I hope. And if not? Well, we’re all dead anyway.
I see that Zadra has begun to make his final movement. The lights are all around us now – either the sword will meet its target or we’ll both be goners when the explosion goes off.
One person must stay, we’re not leaving this cell together.
I’m okay with it now, I feel calm and ready to accept what’s just about to happen.
It’ll be over in an instant anyway.
Destroyed
Nobody knew where the ISOCell was located in space. It could have been in any one of The Off-World Federation universes. It had only been located in the first place because of a tracking device secretly injected into Davran Saloor before her punishment of Ostracism was carried out.
These cells were littered throughout space, abandoned and forgotten, the final resting places of whoever had been condemned in them.