by Paul Teague
Nobody noticed that he was gone, except for Dae-Ho, who was dutifully attending to the task assigned to him. Keeping his head bowed, moving slowly but steadily, desperately trying not to provoke the man who’d terrorized him and his friends for so many years, and who had sent a good friend out to perish in the airlock.
Zadra Nurmeen left the ops area for only a few minutes, but Dae-Ho saw it all from his console. He was speaking to somebody and he didn’t want Pierce to know.
Dae-Ho was too far away to hear what was being said, but he got the sense of what was going on. Zadra Nurmeen was hatching a plan. And it didn’t appear to include Henry Pierce.
* * *
Overheard
* * *
Simon and Kate had been about to make a move when the alien had left the room unannounced, heading straight for them.
They’d flinched as Henry Pierce’s fist had slammed into his brother’s bloody head and they saw that the alien had taken this violence as his cue to make a sharp exit. They hung back in the shadows watching him as he started talking to somebody, but it was in his own tongue, they could only make out snippets. It was almost comedic, every now and then they’d hear a word they recognized – like ‘Pierce’ – for which there was no alternative word in his own language.
Simon and Kate didn’t need to translate to get the gist of what was going on. They only had to read the body language. The conversation was hushed and collusive. Something was being planned. The alien kept glancing at Pierce to make sure his absence had not been noticed. Whatever was being said was not meant to be heard by anybody else.
But it was the final two words that both Simon and Kate recognized and would transmit back to Magnus minutes later when the alien had returned to his seat, still unnoticed by a furious Henry Pierce. Those two words were ‘Lake Karachay’.
Chapter Sixteen
A Sinister Address
* * *
My mind was working furiously – Pierce seemed to have all the exits blocked and I couldn’t think what to do next. We wouldn’t be able get Davran, our birth mother, off the ISOCell because then it would self-destruct. We couldn’t replace her with somebody else. The chances were they’d never be found again – there was only one way to access it and that was via the single transporter link Henry Pierce and Zadra Nurmeen had set up.
The place was swarming with troopers. They were moving out of the bunkers and into the Nexus – meeting at this big, sinister nest in space. It was a hornet’s nest too. Virtually everything here could give a nasty sting.
I’d lost track of how long Nat and I had to live. We could disappear in a puff of smoke any minute. I didn’t know what would happen when our time was up. How long did we have left now?
I tried to focus. Everything I’d achieved since the bunker doors closed on me for the first time had been done through strategy and planning. I needed to look around at what was available, what I could use. I could see our comms tabs and weaponry placed on a work area to my side, but the troopers were all around us and there was no chance of getting to it. I’d also seen a makeshift contraption towards the back of the room. I had a hunch that I knew what it was for.
Harold Pierce was out cold again on the floor. Nat was unusually quiet. For once she seemed to be using her brain, trying to figure out a way to break this impasse. Henry Pierce was about to get back into full flow. I doubted there was anything he could tell us that would surprise us, but still I bet he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Zadra Nurmeen caught my eye. He’d slipped out somewhere while all the commotion was going on. I wondered what he’d been up to. Henry Pierce broke my train of thought. He’d got that look in his eyes again and I braced myself for whatever was about to come.
‘I have one last incentive to help you make up your minds about joining my little project on Zatheon,’ he began, with a horrible smirk that confirmed it wouldn’t be good news. ‘I need to make sure that I also have the full attention of our friends on Earth for this one.’ He was now addressing the holographic images of the world’s leaders whose projections circled this ops area. ‘We’ll also need our friends from the bunkers to be patched into this announcement.’
He nodded to his alien pal, who pressed a few switches on the console to his side.
‘Everybody hearing this?’
He got the confirmation he was after and took a deep breath, like an orator preparing to address the crowd. They didn’t seem to have anybody from the bunkers up on the screens, so I assumed he was doing what Harold did earlier when he addressed the bunkers via the main PA systems. Which means Mum, Dad, Magnus, Viktor … everybody should have been hearing this. Including Simon and Kate. What had happened to them? It was about time they showed their faces.
He started to speak.
‘I’d like to begin by announcing to Quadrant 3 that I have good news for you – and bad news. The good news is we are presently evacuating the three Quadrants on Earth that we control and within the next ten minutes all of our trooper friends will have joined us here in beautiful space, in the Global Consortium’s Nexus. The bad news is, we have everything you might want to save docked to this hub right now. The Consortium’s little ark plan worked very well.’
He smiled and surveyed the faces of the world’s leaders.
‘I’d like to thank you all for sanctioning Unification – it will make it a lot easier to blow up the Nexus all at once, so my eternal gratitude for that rather bad decision.’
Harold Pierce was waking up again now, and by the look on his face, he’d rather have stayed out cold. The voices of the world’s leaders were on mute, but I could guess what they were trying to say just by looking at the screens.
‘In fact, I’d like to thank the Custodians of the bunkers for their help too. Like our lovely leaders, you have given us some great support today.’
Zadra Nurmeen turned around and pressed some buttons on his console. A trooper took an E-Pad handed to him by Zadra Nurmeen and headed towards Nat. She attempted to struggle but another trooper came up behind her and restrained her. Between the two of them, they forced Nat’s hand onto the E-Pad and it gave a beep. The same then happened to me. I tried to resist, but I didn’t have the strength to stop them placing my hand on the E-Pad. Another beep. Pierce waited for them to finish, then resumed what he was saying.
‘Earlier today Xiang, Magnus and Viktor sanctioned the launch of the nuclear submarines and Dan and Nat kindly set that process in motion. We could not have done it without you, and I’d like to thank you for your help just now ...’
Here it came. What had we done?
‘Twins, you have just launched two hundred nuclear missiles to a series of destinations programmed in by me. Those nuclear missiles are targeted at all four bunkers, which is why our trooper friends no longer need to stick around. Magnus and Viktor, I apologize, but I have overridden the preliminary coordinates set in by you. How naughty of you to target the other Quadrants, did you think you’d have to blow us out of the ground to beat us?’
He threw his head back and laughed. I thought only baddies on cartoon shows did that.
‘We have also targeted some key installations around the globe, just to make extra sure that the planet is left with no viable form of government. The White House, the Houses of Parliament, the Kremlin, Zhongnanhai … they’ll all be gone within the hour. So if I were all of you, I’d start to do whatever it is you’d like to do, before it’s all over. The terraforming sequence has been programmed in. Even if we hadn’t launched the nukes, there would be no habitable planet left for you in fourteen days once Terra Level 3 was complete. And I’d like to thank the lovely Davran Saloor for that information. Dan and Nat, your mother kindly yielded the technical data we needed to mess up Terra Level 3 – so you’ve all been very helpful.’
He paused for effect, then broke out into that horrible smile of his.
‘So we’re doing you a kindness really.’
I didn’t like the way he used the word ‘yielded’. I could only gue
ss at what horrible things he did to extract that information from Davran. Our mother.
‘Oh, and Dan and Nat just set off the self-destruct sequence for the Nexus too – we’ll be departing shortly on a Helyion ship to leave you all to it. So really, this is just a message to say farewell and wish you well. The first nuclear weapon will hit its target in roughly thirty minutes’ time.’
For a second we were all completely stunned. Then all hell let loose. The ops area filled with smoke. Suddenly we were in Bedlam.
* * *
Fragmented
* * *
Simon and Kate had heard enough. They’d learned everything they needed to know to act. Pierce had sabotaged the nukes, everybody was on the final countdown and it didn’t matter now what form their resistance took, anything was better than nothing. It was the endgame for everybody, there was nothing to lose.
They set off the smoke canisters procured from the simulation area, then began to shoot randomly into the air. They wanted to create as much confusion as possible, they were busting out Dan and Nat. Kate knew that even if she was going to die on this day, the single thing she would need to achieve would be to get the twins out alive, they were the only way this situation could be reversed now. She needed to atone for her sins, she was struggling to get to grips with the things that she’d done while under the control of the monster, Pierce.
It all happened very quickly. She rushed in to where she knew Nat was located. She took her by the arm and shouted ‘Come with me!’
Simon ran towards where Dan had been, but he wasn’t there. Through the dense smoke, Simon caught a glimpse of him. He seemed to have a purpose. Simon called to him, but in the commotion of troopers, weapon fire and shouting, he lost him. Kate called over to ask for help with Harold Pierce who’d been caught in the crossfire. He was wounded, but just about able to walk.
It was like the most dangerous game of musical chairs ever had just taken place. When the smoke began to clear, everybody was in a different place. Dan had used the diversion to grab a comms tab and make for the makeshift platform at the back of the ops area. He had a plan of his own.
Kate, Simon, Nat and Doctor Pierce were making their way along the corridor in a confusion of laser fire. Loud alarms were sounding throughout the Nexus – they had been dropped into a terrible battle scene in just a matter of minutes. It didn’t matter though. They were fighting for their lives now. And for the lives of everybody on Earth.
Simon and Kate had the tracker. They were heading for the simulation area. On the way they were going to drop off Nat and Harold Pierce in the transporter, sending them back to Quadrant 3. Dan should have been with them – they would try to rectify that later, once they’d dealt with the troopers. They made their way through the corridors, using the remaining smoke bombs to confuse and separate the troopers at every intersection.
They successfully bundled Nat and Pierce into the transporter.
‘Be careful when you exit,’ warned Simon. I’ll send a message over the comms tab to let them know you’re coming.’
With Nat and Doctor Pierce safely dispatched, they set about executing the final part of their plan: to lure the troopers to the final battleground. This is where combat would take place, at a time and place of their choosing. This is where Simon and Kate would either win victory over the troopers or lose their lives trying.
* * *
Nuked
* * *
A chill ran through Viktor’s body. He knew this scenario well, he’d been here before. The final move on the chessboard, the one which won the game or ended in defeat. This was why he’d held back those fifty nukes. A quick look at his E-Pad confirmed that Pierce had only got the first two hundred, his backup plan was still undetected. Fifty nukes at his fingertips – but where would he send them?
Like everybody else in the four bunkers, he’d listened to Henry Pierce’s announcements in horror as they were broadcast throughout both levels of the bunker. Pierce was in space, what could he do? The fifty nukes were no use there.
But Viktor now knew one thing for sure. The codes that Mike had sent him for the Global Defence Matrix were going to be used for real for the first time. By Viktor Gorbunov. And on that day.
When he set that project in motion, President Ronald Reagan could never have imagined that it would be used in a scenario such as this one. Within the next fifteen minutes Viktor was going to have to learn how to use this matrix, target the nukes and blow them out of the skies before they started to hit their destinations. Fifteen minutes was the time it would take the first of those deadly weapons to launch and land on his own bunker in Crimea. It was all the time he had before his own people would start to perish under the reign of terror that was about to fall across the planet.
Viktor steeled himself and calmed his mind. He’d need complete focus and concentration as he moved the final pieces of this chess game into position.
* * *
Confusion
* * *
When the doors opened and Amy looked out onto the deck of the Nexus, she was immediately disorientated. She almost stepped out into a swarm of troopers, but she managed to sneak out of the transporter unseen and hide.
She’d heard the announcement over the loudspeaker system and realized they were now into the final minutes. Whatever happened, whoever won, it would all soon be resolved. Then came the shriek of the alarms, smoke was drifting everywhere and the troopers began to move in one direction. Something had happened to put this place on full alert. She knew this was her opportunity. She’d come here to find Dan and Nat. She followed behind the troopers. They weren’t aware of her – or bothered about her – whatever they were dealing with was taking precedence.
They quickly arrived in the central area of the spaceship. The smoke was dense and debilitating, but every now and then it would waft and clear and she’d get a glimpse of what was going on. In the haze, she thought she saw Dan. She was sure that she caught sight of Simon too.
‘Dan?’ she called, and he looked up. It was him, he was trying to get some contraption working, but he seemed to be struggling. She rushed over towards him, relieved to see him alive, desperate to get him out of this place.
As she grabbed his arm ready to embrace him, a stunning array of lights appeared around them and they were transported to a new destination. Location, unknown.
* * *
Mistaken
* * *
As the smoke began to clear in the ops area, the scene of carnage became clearer and clearer to those still there. There were several bodies on the floor, mostly Dae-Ho’s friends who’d been caught in the crossfire. A horrible end to their miserable lives as slaves of Henry Pierce, and doubly sad as they were so close to achieving their freedom. There were troopers wounded and killed too, not many, but lives had been lost on both sides.
Zadra Nurmeen was nowhere to be seen, he appeared to have played no part in this battle. Like the opportunist he was, he’d left the fighting to the troopers, he had everything he needed to take care of his own interests for now. He simply exited the area, dragging Harold Pierce along with him as he did so, and taking refuge in the airlock area along the corridor. Within the past hour this had been a source of terror, fear and threat, but for him it was now a place of safety and refuge.
Only, when the commotion died down and Zadra Nurmeen returned to the ops area with a dazed and bloodied Harold Pierce, they were not walking as colleagues or equals might do, side by side. Zadra Nurmeen threw Harold into the room, indicating to the troopers to contain him should he try to escape.
As Harold Pierce recovered from the fall and turned around to face Zadra Nurmeen, he revealed an unusual tie. A tie that had once been a gift from a very good friend who’d been born on another planet.
* * *
Glimmer
* * *
Xiang was all ready to go. She’d set up a transfusion area in the med lab – this was where Dan and Nat would be saved if they got their breakthrough, or at
least where she could extend their lives a little longer. But now she needed a hybrid, she couldn’t progress anything until she had a live subject to work on. She needed Dan or Nat – or one of the Pierce twins.
She’d modelled a solution on her E-Pad, but she was missing some essential data. There was some key genetic information that she hadn’t been able to piece together, a genetic code sequence which would enable her to deliver specially adapted nanotechnology via the spinal column. At the same time, she needed to carry out a blood transfusion and that would need to be with hybrid blood. Preferably uncontaminated blood.
Her E-Pad simulations indicated that although the hybrids’ bodies contained an element of human DNA and blood, it was the alien blood type that was dominant. She hadn’t even been able to think about what might happen if the hybrids had different blood types, as humans do – it would be ‘game over’ if that was the case. She was simply out of time.
She needed Dan and Nat in that med lab as soon as possible or she could settle for one of the Pierces. There was even a glimmer of hope now that the twins’ real mother Davran was accessible, but that seemed so unlikely. That one was a long shot.
Her thoughts were disturbed by an alert on her comms tab. It was Magnus. He’d had his teams analysing the trooper helmet Amy had retrieved. He wanted Xiang to run a test on the trooper who was presently restrained in the med lab. They’d got an ID on him. Mike had cross-referenced the data with the Global Consortium records that he’d been able to access so far. They needed Xiang to check his DNA against her own records.
As far as they could tell, they’d found Dan and Nat’s natural father.