Falling Ark

by Leigh Snelson

  “Couldn’t we find a bigger car?” Hank exclaimed.

  “We left the bigger car at the facility, want to go and get it?” Derek suggested.

  Hank shot him a look that suggested if Derek continued to push Hanks buttons Derek would be walking home.

  I opened the rear door and found that there was very little room. Ava was sat behind Derek, but Hank had pushed his seat as far back as possible, leaving no room for me.

  After a bit of manoeuvring I found a comfortable position crouching on the seat. It wasn’t the easiest of positions, but it should get me back to the barn.

  “Buckle up.” Derek suggested. “It would be a shame if it all went wrong now!”

  Ava kicked the back of his seat.

  “Don’t say things like that, your just inviting trouble!” She scolded.

  The car revved into life and we made our way down the dark lane towards the bright lights of the town.

  “I cannot believe that I have just escaped from there two nights in a row!” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, but tonight you would have been cannon fodder if it weren’t for me.” Derek smirked in the mirror.

  “You mean because of that little disappearing act you did, leaving me alone to face the guards.” I reminded him.

  “Hey, I just followed Hank. After all, I was bored waiting for that computer thing to do its job.”

  Hank tried to turn in his seat to face me but soon gave up.

  “I thought you said you had dealt with Frank last night. He sure seemed fine just now.” Hank said.

  I thought about this for a moment. I thought Frank would be injured after last night and I couldn’t explain how he seemed fine tonight. He was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see the extent of the damage to his face. Thinking back, I remembered watching the CCTV in the barn. He seemed fine then too.

  “They have some crazy technology in that building. Perhaps they healed him or something?” I suggested.

  “Well that is quite remarkable based on what you told me.” Hank said. “I wonder if we can get hold of that technology too because the world sure could use that.”

  Ava tapped me on the shoulder and pointed her laptop screen at my face. The glare hurt my eyes for a moment before they adjusted and I could see again.

  “1.4 Petabytes of data. Thirty-seven different projects!” She exclaimed, the excitement growing in her eyes.

  “Really? that’s awesome.” I replied.

  “What kinds of things are they working on?” Derek asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. I just grabbed the files. A lot of them are encrypted, I am running it through my server now but it might take a while to decode all the information.” Ava explained.

  “How long are we talking?” Hank asked.

  “It’s difficult to say, could be minutes, could be months. The only way to crack it is through brute force.” Ava said. “Hold on…”

  All three of us took a loud, deep breath in and held it ironically.

  A car zoomed passed us on the road but even the roar of its engine couldn’t break our focus as we all waited to hear what Ava was going to say.

  “Well, what is it?” Sam’s voice on the radio broke the silence. “I can’t see what’s going on, you need to explain it to me.”

  Ava swivelled the laptop around so that Hank and I could see it.

  The screen displayed technical readouts, blueprints that looked like a strange, ball shaped plane.

  “It’s just a plane.” I said. The disappointment audible in my voice. “Nothing special.”

  “Nothing special!” Hank argued. “How many planes do you know about that don’t have engines?” He asked.

  I took another look and he was correct. The plane looked like a cross between a helicopter and a jet aircraft except there were no air intakes for the engines that you would normally expect to see. The whole interior looked like it was designed for people instead of fuel.

  The more I looked at the design, the more impractical the plane looked. It had short, stubby wings that didn’t look like they were for flying but instead for holding the vast array of weapons. Machine guns, missiles and a variety of pointy things that I didn’t understand, probably sensors of some kind.

  The front of the plane looked strange too. It wasn’t aerodynamic, it was large, bulbous and tall, two storeys. A giant piece of domed glass comprised the front of the plane and within there were five seating positions. A row of two individual seats on the bottom and above were three more seats.

  At the rear of the vehicle there was another seat, facing backwards in the tail with glass all around it. Sitting there was be a test of nerve as you could see straight down through a glass floor.

  The whole thing resembled a flying egg rather than a plane or helicopter.

  “It appears as though Lara already had plans for your device.” Hank said as he tapped the screen where a small spherical device was nestled in the centre of the vehicle. It was unmistakably my orb.

  Without warning Derek slammed on the breaks, the car came skidding to a stop and we all lurched forward. The laptop shot out of Ava’s hands and closed itself on the back of Derek’s chair causing the car to turn dark.

  I looked around trying to figure out what was going on. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness outside but then I saw him.

  A car was parked across the road, blocking our path. A large figure stood in front of it. Even in the dark I could tell the silhouette. It was Frank again.

  “That’s impossible.” Hank shouted as he saw the figure. “I might not have killed him, but I put enough bullets into his padding to keep him down for days.”

  “That guy just won’t stay down!” I replied.

  Frank walked slowly towards us. He was carrying something. Something big, long and presumably heavy. It looked like a bazooka. He lifted it onto his shoulder at it became clear that it was a bazooka. His intentions were now crystal clear.

  “Drive!” We all shouted at Derek in unison.

  “You think!” Derek screamed back.

  He slammed the car into reverse, and we heard the screeching of tires on the road.

  There was a large patch of grass and shrubs between our side of the road and a road that went in the other direction. Franks car was blocking the path in front of us and I wasn’t sure how successful driving the car through the overgrown grass verge to reach other carriageway would be. Derek felt the same way and he spun the car around, so we were facing the wrong way, into potential incoming traffic.

  It was late at night and fortunately there was nobody else around, of course I couldn’t currently see out of the window anyway. The spinning action, combined with me, crouching on the seat without a seatbelt on had flung me straight into Ava’s lap.

  “Hi, I don’t think we have been properly introduced.” I joked as I looked up at her. She smiled back then kicked the back of Derek’s chair.

  “Get us out of here!” She yelled. Her voice made me wince with how shrill it went.

  Derek put the car back into gear and put his foot hard down on the floor.

  “What are you doing!” Ava screamed. “You can’t escape a rocket by driving in a straight line! Dodge, swerve, do something!” The hysterics in her voice becoming more violent.

  Derek didn’t respond. He drove down the road as quick as the car could. His eyes were not looking for oncoming traffic but staring in the mirror, into the darkness behind. After a hundred yards he snatched the wheel and we took a sharp turn onto the grass verge.

  I was thrown off Ava’s lap and straight into the door on the other side of the car. I hit it with so much force I feared it might open and I would fly out.

  The explosion was deafening, even from inside the car I felt the heat wave. Derek had dodged the missile by mere yards and the whole car shuddered. Frank had just blown a large hole in the middle of the road but somehow, he had missed us.

  Climbing back into my seat I managed to glance back and saw him reloading the missile launcher, stuffi
ng something in the end of the long, round tube.

  Derek accelerated hard, over the grass, through the mud and towards Frank. We were on the other side of the road now and the path was clear if we could just get past the madman with the rocket launcher.

  Frank started to cross through the thick grass in front of us, making his way onto the road. He planted himself in the middle of the lane and took aim.

  This time Derek did start to swerve, left and right, throwing me all over the back seat. One moment I was sitting on my side of the car, then I was sitting on Ava, then I was upside down, then back lying sideways again. It was like being in a washing machine.

  Now, I am not a big guy, quite skinny in all honesty, spending time in the gym was not on my daily to-do list. Ava was even smaller than me and I wondered how much more of this punishment she could take. I kept landing on her, then flying away again and I could tell that she was getting annoyed by the whole event.

  As I spun around the back seat of the car, I heard her seatbelt unclip. Just as I was about to land back on her again she jumped upwards, I slid underneath her and she landed in my lap. In one smooth action she put the seatbelt back on, holding us both in place.

  After three more swerves I looked up to see Frank trying to predict our movements and shoot where he thought we were going to be. The distance was closing.

  Behind Frank the road curved quickly to left and the overgrown trees shined brightly in beams from our headlights. Except it wasn’t our headlights that was making them glow.

  A large truck appeared out of the darkness in front, heading straight towards us. The truck driver was clearly paying attention to our car swerving across the road in front of him because he didn’t see Frank at all.

  Being slammed from behind caused Frank to jerk the rocket launcher into the sky and fire. Moments later a fireball appeared high in the sky.

  Derek slammed on the breaks again and skidded onto the grass verge. As the truck passed us, we could clearly the scattered remains of Frank impaled on the front of the cab.

  “Keep going!” We all shouted, again, in unison.

  Derek drove across the verge and onto the correct side of the road, he then slowed to a sensible driving speed, navigated around Franks car that was blocking the path and continued to drive normally, trying not to draw attention to ourselves.

  “I think we need a bigger car.” Ava final said, breaking the silence. She was still on my lap, buckled in.

  Hank turned around and looked at the situation on the back seat.

  “You two just couldn’t wait could you!” He grinned at us just before Ava’s boot met his shoulder. It made very little impact, but it put a smile on her face.

  Chapter 10

  When we arrived back in the barns basement Sam had put on a nice spread of food and drink. Most of the food had been defrosted out of the huge walk in freezer but right now, seeing all the food waiting to be eaten, I didn’t care. The range was not exactly healthy, donuts, pastries and some questionable fruit but it was the thought that counted.

  “It’s going to take a few hours to decode any of these files.” Ava explained to the group while we all tucked into half frozen croissants.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but I am ready for some shut eye then. Wake me in the morning with some good news!” Hank said as he made his way over to the bedroom cubicles.

  “That sounds like a good idea.” Derek confirmed.

  After everything that had happened tonight, I was totally exhausted and the military grade bunkbeds with their inch-thick mattresses looked very inviting.

  “You guys go, get some rest, I’m working on a little project so if I’m asleep in my chair in the morning, don’t wake me!” Sam instructed.

  There were two little cubicles partitioned out, each containing a bunk bed and furniture. Derek and Hank took on of them, leaving the other for Ava and me.

  Derek jumped into the top bunk and laid back, letting out a sigh of relief.

  “Ahh, this feels good.” He said as he sunk into the thin pillow.

  “That’s good to know.” Hank commented as he walked into the bunks. Even though Derek was lying on the top bunk, six feet in the air, Hank still towered over him. “You know the top bunk is mine, right?”.

  With that comment, Hank lifted Derek up and placed him neatly on the bottom bed like he was a child. He then continued to climb into the top bunk. The thin, steel framework that held Hanks mattress in the air, stopping it from falling and crushing Derek started to tremble under the force.

  “Great.” Derek said. “I have just broken into one of the most secure places in the country, stolen highly classified documents and had a near death experience with a rocket launcher yet tonight I’ll die, crushed to death by my own friend.”

  “It’s sweet that you think we are friends.” Hank shouted down, “Now stop moaning, I need the top bunk to stretch out.”

  It was true. As Hank lay there with his head on the pillow, his legs, from the knees down, were hanging off the bottom of the bed, dangling over Derek.

  “Oh great! I get your sweaty feet. Fantastic!” Derek moaned.

  “It’s your own fault. You ordered these, now you have to live with your mistakes.” Hank said as he turned over, the whole bunk shaking in the process.

  Derek gave me ‘help me’ eyes as I walked past and then went back to staring at the mattress above him, waiting for the inevitable collapse.

  “Where do you guys normally sleep?” I asked.

  “Normally in a hotel somewhere, usually with a good breakfast to look forward to! You heard that Sam?” Hank shouted across the room.

  “I here you!” Sam replied.

  “What about you?” I asked Derek who was still praying that Hank didn’t suddenly land on him.

  “Well normally I would be with my wife in Scotland. But I happened to be in the area doing some business. Lucky me!” Derek said sarcastically.

  “If you want my bunk you can have it?” I offered.

  “Cheers, but at least this way, if it’s my time to go, it’ll be quick, plus I will get to haunt Hank which would make it worth it!”

  Walking into my own cubicle I saw Ava putting something in one of the drawers.

  “You can have the top bunk if you like.” I offered.

  “That’s right!” Ava laughed back at me, “You know your place, I like that!” She climbed up the ladder and into the top bunk.

  Ava, being short, took longer than most to climb the ladder, but she eventually got there. I climbed into lower bed and put my head down on the pillow, lying there, starring straight up at the mattress above me, trying to figure out what had just happened to my life.

  A pretty face then appeared in my view.

  “I knew I would catch you staring up at me!” Ava accused with a huge grin on her face.

  I didn’t know what to say. I was frozen like a deer caught in headlights.

  “Kidding!” She said, laughing at my expense. “I can’t wait! In the morning my decryption should have more stuff ready. All the secrets! All that stuff Lara has been hording, it’s going to be amazing!”

  “You’re like a kid in a candy shop.” I exclaimed. “If you’re so excited by all this, why don’t you do it for a living? You’ve clearly got the skills.”

  “How did you get your job at VisionTech?” Ava asked, condescension in her voice.

  “Well…” I started but was quickly interrupted.

  “Let me guess. Daddy paid for your education, only the best. Someone with a lot of influence wrote your letter of recommendation for a top-notch university. You graduated with honours, naturally, then daddy gets you a job at his company. Is that the general theme?” Ava questioned.

  She was spot on accurate, but no-one had ever made it sound so privileged before.

  “Kind of…” I started to explain but was once again cut off.

  “Well, let’s figure out why I didn’t get a job there then.” I could sense the anger growing in her voice. �
�My mum worked really hard to get me into a good school but while I was there, she found herself a new boyfriend and I wasn’t so important anymore. I had to get myself a job to help pay rent while mum supported the boyfriend. Using my skills, I got a job at a local electronics store. A quaint little place, family run. The son wouldn’t stop hitting on me as I served the customers the aging technology, that had stickers all over it claiming it was the best. If I didn’t sell the extended warranties, then I was written up for not following procedure, even though the warranties weren’t legal. In the end I had to leave that place, but not before I sent the police CCTV footage of the son trying to assault me one night after closing.”

  “He assaulted you?” I asked. “I hope he was arrested!”

  “The police did their job. They were very interested in the video, especially how I was able to access the CCTV footage that was on a private server.” Ava explained.

  “What? They didn’t arrest him and turned it around on you for hacking the CCTV.” I asked again.

  “I wouldn’t call it hacking. The pin code was their son’s birthdate, not exactly difficult.” Ava continued. “Lucky I only got a suspended sentence provided I didn’t do anything wrong again.”

  “That just sounds wrong.” I said, trying to emphasise the sympathy in my voice.

  “It was wrong, they clearly bribed the police so their little boy wouldn’t have a bad mark against his name.” Ava exclaimed as she brushed some of the pink hair out of her eyes.

  “This is what I hate about the world, you can get away with anything if you have enough money!” I remarked.

  “Naturally I needed it taking off my permanent record, so I accessed the police files and deleted the case, if he could get away with things then so could I!” Ava continued.

  “Good for you!”

  “Unfortunately, I forgot to delete it from the backups too, I was only a teenager after all. That summer the police department was audited and they found what I had done.”