Welcoming them was another hive of activity. Gym equipment and messy desks were scattered all over the place, as was an arsenal of weapons ranging from daggers and pistols to assault rifles and rocket launches, some lying on the floor, some racked on the walls and others resting on the desks amongst computers and paperwork. Unlike the other departments he’d visited so far there was only a handful of occupants, a bunch of strong looking men busy pushing weights or cleaning bullet chambers.
At the back of the room John spotted a woman, the only one as far as he could tell, and as she lifted her tall frame towards the chin up bar she paused and looked at him with curiosity. Even from where he was standing he could see the veins along the peak of her biceps glistening crimson red beneath the lights. Behind her, nestled against the wall, stood an enormous stereo system with towering speakers that were visibly shaking with every drum hit.
Rebecca couldn’t help but wince at the audio onslaught and even brought her hands to her ears. A shirtless figure with visible burn scarring down the length of his left arm lowered the weapon he was working on and marched towards them, and John quickly recognized the powerful frame as belonging to Aaron.
Klementina opened her mouth to talk but Aaron was quick to silence her with a lift of his hand. “Just a second,” he called out above the punishing din, “I need to hear this part.”
He stood there with eyes closed as the music stripped down to a pulsing mix of drum and bass, then with a swirling rise a duo of hard riffing rhythm guitar and lightening fast, piercing lead erupted with ferocity. Aaron couldn’t help moving his head to the apocalyptic beat, and when the guitar solo reached its final note he pulled a remote control from the pocket of his camouflage shorts and lowered the volume to a much more respectable level.
“Architecture Of Aggression is a dead set, bona fide classic,” Aaron announced with certainty. “When the beat breaks down and Marty Friedman comes roaring in with his solo I gotta say, it’s a spiritual fucking moment. I’m serious, that cat sets fire to the god damn strings!”
Klementina shook her head as Rebecca lowered her hands and made her way to the woman still doing pull ups, while Aaron slapped John’s shoulder with a sweaty hand and winked as though they had just shared a secret.
“I owe you a bit of an apology brother,” he offered. “The last two times we bumped into each other I wasn’t exactly what you’d call friendly.”
“Not a problem,” John answered.
“As you can probably tell,” Klementina laughed, “Aaron only has one setting on his dial, and that’s loud.”
“Bomb blasts damaged my hearing a little,” Aaron said as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Not quite what I was talking about,” Klementina corrected him.
“You look like a man who can handle a weapon, am I right?” he asked John.
“I know which way to point them I guess,” John answered.
“I guess it’s pretty obvious, but Aaron heads our security and combat logistics team.” Klementina waved a hand across the room. “Unfortunately the threat of an aggressive response to what we’re looking to achieve isn’t something we can ignore, and is almost certainly something we’ll need to counter. After all, human beings are part of the animal kingdom whether we choose to admit it or not, and in that kingdom there are predators that love nothing more than to tear us apart. The only difference, I guess, is that the predators I’m talking about are driven by forces a little more complicated than hunger.”
“A lot of us here have served at one point another,” Aaron stated in an urgent voice, “myself included. Nothing like dodging bullets, losing friends and coming home to find a bunch of sadistic rich fat cats who don’t give a flying fuck about you washing their hands in gold to trigger a new way of looking at things. Our piece of shit politicians won’t even get outta bed if it’s not gonna mean money for them, but they don’t mind letting us risk our necks for this country. Anyway, fuck them all. When the dragon eyes hit they’ll be scrambling to keep control, but we’re gonna have a thing or two to say about it.”
Judging by her playful smirk it was obvious Klementina had listened to his declaration before, and was quick to jump in and take control of the conversation.
“I believe what he means to suggest is that things are going to heat up really quickly, and the government is going to try to find ways to dismantle everything that we’re planning to do. As much as we can, we need to be ready for them. Our combat logistics team…”
“Metal Rebellion,” Aaron corrected her.
“Sorry, the Metal Rebellion has a number of strategic locations across the city and surrounding areas, but this is where most of the decisions are made. Don’t be fooled by Aaron’s poor taste in music or grating social skills, or the fact a fun day out for him is chasing down apex predators, because he’s one of the warmest humans beings I’ve ever met. He’s banned from going anywhere near my stereo, but I trust him with my life.”
“And as for her stereo, even I’m not brave enough to change it,” Aaron remarked.
“I’ll make sure to remember that,” John assured him while pointing at a couple of desks. “Some of those weapons don’t look like the kind you can just charge to your credit card.”
“You’d be right. A lot of them are military issue only, and some of the others you can see have been custom built. I don’t fly a flag anymore but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have ties with a lot of units.”
Rebecca returned from her visit at the back of the room and was visibly out of breath. Small traces of sweat brought a sheen to the top of her cheeks.
“Somehow I managed four this time,” she panted, “and I know I’m going to feel every one of them tomorrow morning.”
“Wasn’t it four last time?” Klementina asked with a lift of her eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure it was three.”
“Yeah… you might be wrong there, but lucky for you we have to keep moving. Aaron,” Klementina mocked with a salute, “as you were.”
Aaron pointed the remote control over his shoulder and the crunching heavy metal began to shake the speakers once again.
“Oh yeah,” he called out as they were making their exit. “This track is a god damn classic!”
The door slammed shut and the blistering duel guitar attack was silenced. Klementina shook her head as though trying to rid any music that might have still been left in her ears and shared a knowing look with Rebecca.
“We should never have let those speakers in,” she remarked before heading deeper into the corridor and continuing to talk over her shoulder. “Aaron was deployed to Iraq on and off for five years, and while he doesn’t talk about it much he’s lost more friends over there than there are months in a year. On his final tour their vehicle triggered a roadside bomb, and just for good measure they had snipers unloading as they tried to crawl from the wreck. Aaron was the only one who survived. He went back a few hours later with some fresh backup and slaughtered twenty three holed up insurgents.” She paused for a moment and looked at John. “When he finally made it back home they cut his medical benefits for acting without clearance. Believe it or not he was planning to drive his truck right through the walls of the Whitehouse when we first made contact, and believe me he would have too if we hadn’t invited him into our family.”
“Something tells me being on his wrong side would be a whole lotta bad luck,” John offered.
“Unfortunately I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a number of people that will insist on learning that the hard way.”
For the first time since he’d begun the journey into the depths of the bunker he could see the end of the corridor. Although it was bathed in dark shadows thanks to the lack of lights to flicker down he could see that a large door, bigger than any of the others, beckoned in the distance. As they reached closer John could see that, unlike the previous doors, this one had a security screen either side, but if he thought it was the door they were heading for he was wrong.
Instead Klementina and Rebecca came to a stop at a door to the right. There were no names or graphics on this one, but then he didn’t expect things to be spelled out. He had almost given up trying to make any kind of sense of the reveals choreographed by his tour guides.
“This,” Klementina said while pointing at the door, “is where we handle pre and post impact logistics. Our family is a big one, and now that the clock is ticking faster every day we have to try to keep us all together as best we can. The people in here are in charge of making that happen.”
The scanning ritual replayed and they stepped on through, and John was thankful to find normal lighting for a change as he stumbled into yet another hive of activity. Although he’d never had anything to with stock trading, he guess that what he was looking at wasn’t much different to a bustling trader’s boiler room. Scores of desks were scattered in no particular order and the dozens of occupants were either on the phone or tapping away urgently at a computer.
“The Hallucigenia Project has acquired three large hotel properties in the city,” Rebecca explained, “as well as an enormous amounts of land, a handful of hangars for aircraft storage and repairs and of course a number of boating vessels. A portfolio like that needs a lot of constant management, and this is where it happens.”
Klementina beckoned a man and woman across the room to come join them, both of whom were examining a printed report of some kind. The woman was young with a face that would bring traffic to a halt yet managed to project an air of authority as she paced across the room, while the guy beside her seemed a little older with a retreating shaved hairline and hunched shoulders as though his arms were too heavy for his body. Those not on a call stopped what they were doing and quietly watched the sudden meeting, and Klementina was quick with the introduction.
“John, I’d like to introduce you to Deborah and Todd, our husband and wife team that keeps this department running smoothly.” John looked down and saw they were in fact wearing wedding rings, but also noticed the letter “H” tattooed on their fingers. “You won’t be able to stay where you are for too much longer,” Klementina continued, “and when the time comes Debbie and Todd will be the ones to make you as comfortable as possible.”
“Think of us as tour guides for the trip of a lifetime,” Deborah suggested. “We help to arrange itineraries for the upcoming mission and we’re also in charge of accommodation for our brothers and sisters.”
“It’s important we all keep close now,” Todd added, “and one of the ways we can do that is moving everyone into our hotels. We don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side just yet, or what resources might still be available, so bunkering down together will help to make sure we don’t lose each other when our solidarity matters most.”
“Has all the paperwork been completed for the new high rise?” Klementina asked.
“The lawyer delivered them yesterday,” Deborah replied. “It will officially be ours in the next seventy two hours, and then we can start moving in.”
“Excellent. If nothing goes wrong we can start installing the extra generators and fuel supplies by the end of the week.”
Todd took a step closer to John. “So how’s the head?” he asked him. “Not exactly easy information to process.”
“As far as I can tell,” John replied quietly, “it hasn’t exploded yet so I might still make it through the night.”
“It’s a shock to the system, no doubt about that. Debbie and I had only been married for six months when we took the steps to be a part of the family. We had our whole future planned out, I’m talking investment properties, business goals… kids. You’d think we would’ve been gutted when we found out what was coming but, and it’s funny to say this, the opposite’s actually true.” Todd slowly nodded as though agreeing with some unspoken question. “Make no mistake, there’s a good chance we won’t be alive this time next year but thanks to the Hallucigenia Project our lives will have a far deeper meaning than we could have ever achieved in a normal day to day life. Doing what we do now? We’re helping the human race be all that it can be.”
“It’s amazing where you can find true happiness,” Deborah joined in. “My parents owned one of the biggest real estate portfolios in the city and, being an only child, from the day I could walk there wasn’t anything I ever had to want for. All that damn money and I can count on my hands the number of times I actually saw either of them laugh. Even when I told them I was getting married all they could do was worry about inviting the right people and making sure the catering wasn’t going to turn anyone’s noses up. They weren’t bad people, they were my parents and I loved them more than anything else in the world, but money tends to change people. Anyway, a few months before the big day a truck lost its brakes on one of the freeways and took out a bunch of cars. My parents didn’t survive.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” John offered.
“It is what it is. I guess what I’m trying to say is life makes no promises. My parents worked hard all their lives and didn’t even get to see their only child walk down the aisle. When the paperwork was signed and the portfolio became legally mine, not to mention all the money, I knew I didn’t want to let those things change me, but before I knew it I was planning bigger and better business strategies. If it wasn’t for this family and the opportunity it’s given to both of us I have no doubt our lives would have turned materialistic real quick. Money can be sinister that way. I don’t know your story or what path brought you here, but I can promise you it’s the greatest decision you could have made.”
“In case you can’t tell,” Rebecca said with a light hearted exaggeration of her Australian accent, “just like me John has travelled a long way to be with us, and now that he’s here I suspect you’ll plenty of opportunities to get to know him better.”
“Well we certainly look forward to it,” Deborah said while showing them to the door. “Todd and I always dreamed of visiting Australia. We wanted to explore some of your opal mines, maybe invest in some stones.” She lifted the chain hanging from her neck to show a dazzling black opal awash with a pin fire rainbow. “I guess this is the closest I’ll ever get for now.”
“As far as the end of the world’s concerned, those outback towns have a pretty good shot at pulling through I reckon,” John predicted.
“We know,” Klementina grinned, “that’s why we sent a scout your way earlier this year to buy up as much of the small mining towns as we could. An insurance policy I guess you could say, just in case.”
“Just in case?” John asked.
They stepped back into the corridor as Deborah and Todd waved goodbye and locked the metal door. Klementina looked at John as though the answer were obvious.
“We still don’t know for absolute certain what sort of devastation we’re looking at, but those opal towns are self sufficient and far enough inland to keep dry. When push comes to shove and the world is imploding, at least there’s a possible option to retreat and regroup.”
This time Rebecca led the charge, now heading back the way they had come. John kept still and pointed at the door at the end of the tunnel.
“What about in there?” he asked with genuine curiosity. “Is that another department?”
Klementina paused and appeared to be choosing her words carefully. “The tour doesn’t include that door I’m afraid, and in answer to your question no, it’s not any kind of department like the others. There may come a time when I can show you in there, but it won’t be tonight. I’m sorry about that.”
He could see that she really was sorry for not being able to satisfy his curiosity, so decided to leave things at that and began walking with them down the corridor. Nobody spoke as they passed the department doors and were soon back in what John now knew as Klementina’s office, Rebecca once again choosing to sit on the edge of the desk.
It was difficult to put a finger on it but he felt as though a massive shift was about to take place, a strange feeling that reminded him of the last few hours of the
night before he first went undercover. He was facing the unknown then, and was sure as shit facing the unknown now.
Rebecca stared down at him with anticipation. “So now you know a little bit more about us and some of the lies that brought you here, and I’m really hoping it means you’re starting to understand that you can trust us, and that you’re ready to be a part of our family.”
“The problem we have,” Klementina began, “is the fact that right now we don’t know if, or when, the government will begin to react to the situation at hand, or what sort of strategies will be implemented. As things stand only a small group of people know of what’s coming to light up the skies, but assuming things will stay that way is a fool’s game. Just one slip of the tongue and chaos will see city after city tumble like a train of dominoes.”
John raised his hand to slow her down. “This might come as a bit of a shock but, and not for the first time tonight, I’m a little confused. What’s the point in worrying about government strategies or riots in the streets if there’s no way of stopping these dragon eyes or whatever you want to call them from blasting everything into pieces anyway?”
“Because, if things turn south up there on those streets? The already impossible job waiting for us, the one we’re all ready to bleed and die to bring to fruition, will become a whole lot tougher.” Klementina shrugged her shoulders as though the burden wasn’t as heavy as it sounded. “When you’re preparing for a fight, it’s not enough to know your opponent, especially not a fight like this. You have to assume they’re going to scratch, bite and cheat like hell to get the upper hand unless you want to get your ass handed to you like a fucking chump.”
“With you and your skills on board,” Rebecca added excitedly, “our sword will be that much sharper for the battle. Being a cop you know the sort of steps the authority might take, the sort of strategies they’ll try when it comes to shutting down the city or controlling things like supplies and movement.”
The Hallucigenia Project Page 34