“This is sector four of the forest. There is one gate and after we enter neither of us has the authorization to leave without permission from Commander Marshall.” He stared at me as he spoke, “I don’t know how much you have been told about the project, but this is your last chance to go home if you don’t want to be involved. They won’t let you leave so easily after you get started.”
I was startled by his words, but I nodded. “I understand. Thank you for the warning.”
His expression was serious, his grey eyes piercing, but he did not seem upset. “I hope you do.” He looked at me for another moment before unlocking the small gate. His tone lifted and he said, “We’ll be getting to know each other pretty well over the next few weeks, so just let me know if you need anything.”
“Alright,” I responded still feeling uneasy, but with a pleasant thrumming of my pulse, “I’ll be sure to do that.” While I probably should have been nervous considering his warning, I was starting to get excited. This project was wilder than anything I could’ve imagined even just a week ago.
We waited at the gate and Adam pulled out a phone. It was black and heavy, resembling something from a different era. After a moment he said, “We’re at the Gate. I have Lane Everly with me.” He waited for a response and then hung up.
Only moments later, the gate which was apparently locked from the inside, swung open.
Chapter 5
Behind the gate into Sector 4 was more of the same. The forest formed a protective shelter over the entire project site. The gate opened into another section of fencing which was much smaller. The entirety of the area was probably 50 yards. There were small portable buildings and a flat metal structure in the middle. Adam led me to the metal structure and I peered down to study it.
“Welcome to your new home,” He said the words carefully as if he was still trying to give me a way out. If he thought I was going to quit before I’d even started, he was going to be sorely disappointed.
“What is it?” I said.
“Why don’t you go on in, and see for yourself?” He went around to the other side of it. It a few inches from the ground and was constructed of some shiny alloy. It didn’t have any discernible seams, so it must have been molded out of a single piece. He used his fingers to probe the raised edge and in moments, the metal lifted out of the ground and formed a raised structure. It was only around 5 feet tall. Anyone of an average stature would have to stoop to go inside. There was a handle on one side with a large pressure locking mechanism. Adam stepped aside, smiling as though he was letting me in on a secret joke. I hefted the door open. It was nearly a foot thick and there was no window to speak of, just solid metal. Inside was a small dark room, probably five foot by five foot, with a single light bulb and an array of monitoring screens and keypads. On the ground was another door, this one flush with the ground and with a heavy wheel for a handle. I turned back to look at him, and he waved me forward after placing his hand in front of the keypad for a moment. I felt my stomach drop momentarily, as the large metal box we were in seemed to lower into the ground.
The trapdoor opened easily and there was a flight of grated stairs leading downward. They were narrow, only wide enough to walk single file and there was no guard rail. It was probably some type of mechanical access stairway. I could already feel the difference in the air. I had almost forgotten how hot it was outside. The corridor was already narrow but it appeared to shrink as I descended further. It opened into a massive windowless atrium with two sets of doors and several sets of heavy stairs framing the room. It was dark and cold with only harsh fluorescent lighting. It was empty except for the echoing of mine and Adam’s footsteps. The ceiling was curved and had overlapping sections, like the parts of an exoskeleton. He was climbing down the stairs to join me. I shivered. It was almost too cold in here now, after spending all day in the hot, muggy forest. My tight black uniform pants clung to my legs and I felt suddenly self-conscious.
What sort of bunker was this? I surveyed the walls. It was solid metal all the way through. Perhaps a bomb shelter from the earlier years, but how would it be this large. No, surely this was new, built to withstand the Threshold Disasters. In the middle of sAM-4, in the rainforest no less. There were so many things that made no sense and I cataloged them all carefully in my mind.
Adam pointed at the large set of doors on the right-hand side.
“It’s this way.” Still flashing a boyish smile, he held the door for me.
The atrium was completely void of people, but as we shifted past the thick industrial door, I could finally hear the bubbling noise of conversation. At last, we were not alone, though I still felt a strange tension between myself and my dark-haired, suspiciously attractive teammate. There were rows and rows of tables only half filled with soldiers in blue uniforms.
“What is this place?” I asked, still trying to absorb all the details of the bunker’s construction.
“It’s an IPA Training Facility and Shelter, also known as the Shell.” So, it was new then. What kind of operation was this? As we entered, soldiers began to stare. Our black outfits marked us as outsiders, and the echo of gossip began to grow. My cheeks flushed and I swore quietly. It made Adam laugh and that made me more embarrassed.
“Head held high, Lane.” Was he being sarcastic?
“I’ll do what I like with my head thankyouverymuch,” I grunted, trying to keep the embarrassment from my face.
Don’t these people know that I am nobody? I’m certainly not interesting enough to warrant all the eyes in the room. They must have me confused for someone else. I was almost ready to turn around and walk right back out into the jungle, but Adam grabbed my arm. He led me to a table with thankfully few people. At this point, the commotion had died down and the rich smell of food was filling the air. A soldier at the end of the table with a military buzz-cut, hollow cheeks, and bulging green eyes scooted down to my end.
“Hey Adam, this is it then? I figured there’d be more of us, top-secret project and all that.” I was only a little surprised when the voice that came out was high pitched.
“Seems that way,” Adam was scanning the room as she spoke. “By the way, as you know this is Lane Everly.” I could see the patch on her uniform, but Adam was introducing her. “Lane, this is --” She cut him off before he could finish.
“I’m Ellis. I have a first name, but everyone just calls me Ellis.” She had the strong musical accent of the Northern Isles and a flash in her eyes that told me not to ask.
“Alright Ellis, it’s nice to meet you.” I held out my hand to her, taking the proactive approach. She couldn’t be older than 16 or 17. She had a firm grip and a mischievous grin. “Adam, did someone get our new resident Scientist a badge, because she’s going to need one if she wants to eat.”
“Well, come to think of it,” He trailed off before eyeing me, “It doesn’t matter. You just wait here,” He pointed at the table, “and I’ll be back with some dinner for the both of us.” It was just in time because I was starving.
Ellis picked up her tray from where she had been sitting and slid into the seat across from me. It looked like some kind of meat stew. Good thing I wasn’t a picky eater.
“So, what kind of things do you study?” She was examining of a forkful of something as she asked.
She wasn’t that much older than me. It was hard to say how long she might have been with the International Peace Army. They were recruiting young these days since there were so many kids with nowhere else to go.
I tried to quell the boiling sensation in my gut. “I study wildlife mostly. My degree was in BioSystems Analysis. I study how the parts of different ecosystems are working together and affecting each other.” I wanted to say that I could have just as well ended up where she was or somewhere worse… if things had gone differently. It wouldn’t do any good anyway, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Ah. Is that a competitive field?” It was hard to tell if she was bored by my explanation or just hungry. She didn’
t look away from her food.
“Sort of. I mean it’s not the most useful of the things they teach in training I suppose, but there aren’t a lot of spots in the program.” I watched as the strange girl shoveled stew into her mouth.
“So why do you think you’re here?” It was all I could do to keep my mouth from falling open.
“Well, I- “
I was going to say I didn’t really know, but before I could finish, Adam returned to the table. He had two trays balanced precariously in his arms. I grabbed one before he could drop it.
Ellis turned to him, her eyes now raised from her meal. “I was just asking Lane if she knows why they brought her here.”
He grinned back at her, moving his eyebrows in ironic surprise, “Did you now? And what kind of dark secrets did she reveal?” He winked at me before turning to her. It was a strange old-fashioned gesture. Everyone these days was too tense to make jokes. It made me a little bit uneasy.
“Oh not much, just that she’s a mad scientist and she’s going to implant chips in all our brains-” Ellis snorted with laughter before she could even finish her sentence.
I wasn’t quite sure what to say, but the food in front of me was enticing. I lifted a spoonful of stew to my mouth so that I wouldn’t have to answer. It wasn’t terrible, but that’s about all I could say in its favor. It was tomato-y and full of small chunks of an unknown meat along with some kind root vegetable, maybe Manioc gathered from the forest. I ate it quite willingly, and my stomach growled in assent.
“We both know why she’s here.” Adam was now serious. “It’s because Commander Marshall wants to look like we’re making progress.” They both burst into peals of laughter. This was clearly a running joke among them, but neither of them seemed bitter.
“So, just to be clear,” I waited until they had composed themselves. “Why am I here, exactly?”
“Beats me,” Ellis replied, she was clearly trying hard not to laugh.
“Commander Marshall thought I needed to be reigned in, I think,” Adam answered. Puzzling, since I had overheard the Commander say that Adam himself had wanted me to be here. What was he trying to hide?
“But why me? Nobody has even told me what I’m supposed to be studying exactly.” I was beginning to get frustrated so I moved on the fruit on my tray: juicy slices of papaya.
“Look, none of us really know what we are doing here, how we fit into this mess. After dinner I’ll take you to the lab and tell you what I know, but I’ll warn you, It’s not much.” He and Ellis were still sharing some sort of joke. This conversation didn’t seem to dampen their spirits at all.
We seemed to have come to dinner late because people were already filtering out of the large dining hall. I watched them leave through the doors we came in.
“Where do all these people sleep?” I thought of the sparse tents that I had seen up top.
“In the Shell, of course.” Ellis replied, adding quickly “ It goes hundreds of stories deep, but we only use about the first fifteen or so.”
The sprawling atrium, with its huge hollow dome, was only the beginning. It was fitting that it was called the Shell, given its insect-like appearance.
“Hundreds?” I asked quietly. That was unsettling.
“Yeah, it was built pretty recently too. Like all the shelters all over the world, it was made to harbor civilians during …. any catastrophes that might occur. This one hasn’t been used yet though… well, except by us.”
“Oh. I see.” Though it had felt tense from the start, it was dawning on me how serious the situation really was. Ellis was doing the same thing we all were, not talking about the Threshold. I finished my meal in contemplation. Ellis eventually got up and followed a group of soldiers into the atrium.
“Are you ready to see the lab?” Adam seemed excited, but his eyes were finally showing signs of fatigue. It had been unquestionably one of the longest days of my life.
“Yes, I would love to see it.” I tried to match his excitement because I realized now that his kindness really was genuine. That was a rare quality.
There were soldiers traveling down a huge metal stairway, but we turned before we reached them and he opened a door inset to the wall. It had a placard where a label might be inscribed, but it was blank. There was a short hallway with a single door at the end. He led the way, opening the door for me to step through.
Inside, there was a fairly large room that had a number of long metal tables covered in lab equipment. There were several computers and enough microscopes to keep an entire university of microbiologists happy. I ran my hands over the cool surface of an unopened box of test tubes. This was excessive, decadent even. Several years ago when earthquakes had hit the regions where so much of this type of equipment had been produced, shortages became common and we learned to do without. When the storms kept coming there was no way to rebuild. Where was all this stuff from?
“It’s a lab.” Every word that came of my mouth around him was uninspiring. “Its…” I clearly couldn’t form intelligent sentences. “It’s really impressive.”
“It’s our Project’s headquarters,” he said, gesturing around the room. “You haven’t even seen the best part yet,” he was ushering me forward. His dark eyes were reflective as he opened the door behind the lab table on the far wall. I hadn’t even begun to process everything in the lab, but I watched as he spoke hurriedly.
The words escaped his lips before I even saw the room, “Welcome to your new sleeping quarters.” It was a spacious suite with a small couch, a desk and another small division with a cozy looking bed. There was also a bookshelf and another door to the small bathroom. The whole thing was immaculate but decorated in a sort of odd rag-tag fashion with mismatching rugs and framed images of the Rainforest. It was perfect.
“Wow, it’s wonderful! This is all for me?” After getting a set of identical military-style clothing and seeing the cavernous and sterile halls of the shell, I had not expected my quarters to feel so cozy. This was even nicer than my apartment back in my old district. Though I did note the conspicuous absence of any windows. At least I was only a single story under the earth, the depth of the shell seemed unfathomable.
“Yes,” he paused, “I know things are strange right now, but I hope that you will feel at home here. We are really excited that you are part of the team.” How could I tell him that I had never felt at home anywhere?
“Thank you,” His face softened as I spoke. The long day had lowered my guard, and I felt exposed. I could almost feel myself begin to tear up so I turned away quickly. “I’m sure it will be perfectly adequate. Now tell me, what is it that I’m going to be doing?” I changed the subject.
I composed myself, dropping my bag by the door and entered the lab once more. Adam followed me, running his hand through his hair. He walked over to the desk in the corner and pulled a file folder out of the drawer.
“This is everything we have,” he said as he handed me the folder. “The main goal of Project Black Cat is to determine whether Sector 4 is safe for human inhabitation. We need to figure out what is going on in Sector 4 that makes it different than the rest of the forest. You are free to go anywhere on our side of the fence. If you plan to go more than a mile or so, I would recommend you take a companion with you. There are many things in the jungle that can hurt you besides storms and fires.” He was very calm as he said this, but his tone implied that there was something very urgent in his words.
“What do you mean different than the rest of the forest?” I asked.
“Well, we don’t know exactly yet, but the soldiers stationed here have reported a lot of …. Well honestly some pretty weird stuff - Mutated Animals, Ghosts, disembodied voices…. That sort of thing.” Was he trying to mess with me? Aside from the small jokes I had seen him make when we were with Ellis, I got the impression that Adam was a pretty serious guy.
“So we are trying to figure out what is causing these … aberrations?” I wasn’t sure whether to call it hallucinations or s
ome other kind of psychiatric disturbance.
“Not exactly,” he hesitated before continuing. “Officially our only purpose is to decide whether or not Sector 4 is safe. The Alliance is not interested in pursuing inefficient lines of research… However, unofficially we might have to follow up on some of the rumors in order to verify our decision.” He gave me the same look he had given me while we were on the boat. Some things, potentially some pretty important things, would have to be left unspoken.
“That’s it?” I already knew that the section of forest had no storms, but that could mean anything. There was nothing to go on.
“That’s it.” He smiled, and I could really see that he was tired now. “My quarters are right across the lab.” He gestured to the only other doorway across the room. “Though I’m not down here that often during the day. If you need anything tomorrow, or anytime, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”
Emergence: Threshold Series Book I Page 4