“There has to be some way of moving the occupants. I mean, how do they get them in here in the first place? You heard it yourself that they move specimens between facilities from time to time.”
“We blitz the cell with sleeping gas,” Rimmer said, entering the room. “Then we head in as quickly as we can and secure the prisoner inside a titanium cargo crate. In this case we may be able to use simple handcuffs and drag the inmate down the corridor.”
Andy frowned at Rimmer. “You heard what we were talking about?”
Rimmer pointed to the intercom. “I was listening on the intercom. I can access it remotely.”
“You should be working for the NSA,” Andy said. “You’re wasted here.”
Rimmer deadpanned. “The NSA can’t afford me.”
“So,” Sun said. “You think it can be done? Moving Lucas and the batling together?”
Rimmer pulled at his raggedy beard. “Seems like a stupid idea to me, but you’re the eggheads. I’m obliged to facilitate whatever you think is best—within reason.”
“Is there a way to divide one of the cells?” Andy asked.
“Maybe. They aren’t very big on this level, but we may be able to rig something up. Give me a few hours and I’ll work something out. One thing I’ve learned, being down here, is that these creatures will take any chance they can to escape. You better clear things with Dr. Gornman. She’ll make a fuss if you don’t.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Great. I’ve been looking forward to working with her. She seems like such a charmer.”
Rimmer deadpanned again, but the corners of his mouth twitched as if fighting a smile. “Dr. Gornman is a brilliant scientist. I imagine having her level of intellect can be a burden at times.”
Andy nodded. He was aware that being a genius could be at the detriment to other mental functions—most notably, social skills. He himself had struggled to maintain relationships in his formative years due to his intelligence, and had seen first-hand, with the likes of his former colleague, Dr. Belgium, that the smartest people were usually the most awkward.
“I’ll meet up with you folks later,” Rimmer said, and then left the room.
Andy looked at Sun and gave her a forlorn smile. “Shall we go deal with Gornman now or later?”
“Let’s get it over with.”
They headed away from the conference table towards the back of the room, over to the door that read: LABS 1-4. Andy pushed open the door and held it for his wife. Sun stepped through and looked around.
“Sure puts Samhain to shame,” she said.
Andy stepped inside and took it all in. They were standing in a clinical white corridor that had several glass cubicles on either side: small examination rooms and offices mostly. Up ahead was a vast laboratory. All four of its walls were glass and the equipment inside was cutting-edge. Andy could not even imagine what most of it was for. Standing inside the lab, wearing her lab coat was Dr. Gornman. When she saw them approaching, the aggravation was clear on her face.
But then she smiled and waved at them.
Andy and Sun exchanged confused glances. “Perhaps she’s accepted us being here,” Sun suggested.
Gornman gave them a hand signal that suggested she would be ‘two minutes’ and then started to pull off her latex gloves, depositing them in a waste-disposal tub. Thirty seconds later she was opening the door to the lab and stepping out.
“Mr. and Ms, Dennison-Jones. Welcome to the labs. This is our level-1 lab. You can perform the more benign experiments here such as cultures and DNA sequencing. The other labs are more secure. That’s where we do our more sensitive experiments.”
“I’d be lost in any of them,” Andy said. “I’m not science-savvy.”
Gornman smiled. “I could say the same about myself and foreign languages, Mr. Dennison-Jones.”
“So what are you doing?” Sun asked.
Gornman frowned. “As you no doubt found with Bub, the batling seems to share DNA with just about every other species on earth. I performed an x-ray on a tissue sample we got from the batling and observed degradation under even the mildest doses of radiation, so that seems to be a weakness. In other words, I haven’t yet discovered anything that you didn’t already know when you got here.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find something,” Sun said. “Let us know if we can help.”
Dr. Gornman looked down at her shoes like a scolded child. “I’m afraid I was a little brusque before. You must understand that, working down here, so far from civilization, one tends to become stuck in their ways.”
“It’s okay,” Sun said. “I was once in the same environment. I understand cabin fever all too well.”
“Well, I apologize sincerely. Anything you need, just let me know.”
“Now that you mention it,” Andy said. “We were hoping to get your help with something.”
“Yes?”
“We want to move Lucas and the batling into the same cell.”
Gornman’s eyes went unnaturally wide. “You want to place two different creatures in the same space? Are you insane?”
Andy sighed. Didn’t take long for the brusque to return.
“We think it’s the best way to find out if Lucas is here because of the batling or vice-versa. We need to know if they are here for related reasons.”
Gornman rubbed at her forehead and let out a long breath. When she looked at them again, she was calmer, but it seemed forced. “Okay, okay. I hope you can excuse my surprise. It’s just that we’ve never attempted such a thing down here before—least of all with the guests of subbasement 5. But if that’s what you want to do, then it is my duty to accommodate you. Now, when were you hoping to achieve this feat of insane peril?”
“We were hoping to get it done this afternoon,” said Andy. “Sooner the better.”
“Of course, why wait and plan when you can rush right in. Let us get started then.”
“So you approve?” Andy asked, somewhat suspiciously.
Gornman stared at him and raised both her eyebrows. “Of course. I’m happy to help, Mr. Dennison-Jones.”
Dr. Gornman walked between Sun and Andy and left the labs. Sun was frowning at Andy and he asked her what was wrong.
“You know I’m not superstitious, right?”
“You’re the opposite of superstitious, hon. You’re a skeptic.”
“I know.” Sun hugged herself and shivered. “So why do I feel like someone just walked over my grave?”
Chapter Seventeen
“They want to do what?” Kane wasn’t sure that he had heard correctly.
Rimmer folded his arms across his wide chest and checked his watch. “It’s not necessarily a bad idea. Neither the Manx man or the batling are talking. But if we put them together, maybe we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Of all people, I wouldn’t expect you to agree with this. It’s an unnecessary risk to security.”
Rimmer chewed the side of his cheek, appeared to think about it, and then said, “Sometimes a risk is the only option left. In Iraq we would have been dead in the water without eavesdropping on prisoners for Intel. I remember shoving a couple of Iraqi soldiers in a cell together once and watching them go at it. They were long-time enemies, but both loyally served Saddam. As one spat accusations and insults at the other, the other one would spit them right back. By the end of the day we had gotten enough information to know the names of their entire families and half their friends. We also knew that one of the men was responsible for a botched attack on a US base. His enemy straight-out insulted him for his incompetence in failing in his mission.”
Kane ran his palms over the surface of his desk, enjoying the feel of the wood grain against his calloused hands. “You think this is what this is? Putting two enemies together to see what we can overhear?”
“Among other benefits,” Rimmer added.
“Such as?”
“They might tear each other apart. Two less monsters for us to deal with.”
Ka
ne’s frown became a tight smirk. He appreciated Rimmer’s straight forward approach to things. “It’s our job to house these creatures safely, Sergeant. While I don’t disagree with your sentiment, I swore an oath to do them no harm.”
Rimmer nodded, he unfolded his arms and put them at his sides. “All I’m saying, sir, is that if we go into things with the best of intentions—to gain Intel—and something unforeseen happens, well, then nobody has anything to feel guilty about. Shit happens, as they say.”
Kane leaned back in his chair and nodded. “You know that there are more of those things? The faustlings, I mean. We have over a dozen of them at our other facilities.”
Rimmer nodded. “I know.”
“You do? How?”
“I have my sources. It pays to know people working at other facilities. It can give a heads up on any potential issues that may arise.”
Kane was getting a little irritated by his staff knowing things above their pay grade, but he supposed in Rimmer’s case it was acceptable. It was the man’s job to know things. “Then you understand that we need to learn more about these things. They’re planning something.”
“With all due respect, sir. I think the most important thing to learn about the faustling things is how to kill them. Perhaps putting the Manx man in with our own faustling will shine some light on how to achieve said termination.”
Kane thought about it and nodded his head at Rimmer. “Get it done. But get it done safely.”
“Of course.”
“And keep an eye on the Dennison-Joneses, and that English pest.”
“I’m on top of it, General. When was the last time we had a problem?”
General Kane frowned. “We haven’t had one in a long time. That’s what concerns me. I think we’re overdue.”
Chapter Eighteen
Andy was standing with Sun and Dr. Gornman as two of Rimmer’s men appeared in the hallway of subbasement 5 with a thick roll of steel mesh. Rimmer was with them, and broke away to talk to Andy.
“This is the best I could come up with at short notice. We’ll get the mesh secured through the center of the cell, but if either of them has more strength than they’re letting on, they may get through.”
Andy looked in at Lucas in his cell. The man didn’t seem particularly strong, but it was impossible to know for certain. “Okay, we’ll just have to hope for the best.”
“This cannot go wrong,” Dr. Gornman said. “General Kane won’t tolerate us making a mess of this. More to the point, neither will I.”
“Doing a wee spot of decorating, are we?” Lucas said, sitting inside his cell. “I wouldn’t mind a splash of cerise on these walls. Breathes a bit of life to a room, so it does.”
Andy went up to the glass. “You’re going to get a roommate. Can we trust you to behave while we get things ready?”
Lucas glanced around his tiny cell and huffed. “Hope this new fella isn’t going to take up a lot of room. Can nay swing a cat as it is.”
“The space you have is perfectly sufficient,” Gornman said. “And let me remind you that you placed yourself in there.”
“Aye, that I did, lass. ‘Twas your bright smile that lured me here.”
Gornman’s face remained stony.
“See?” Lucas said. “How could any man resist you?”
Rimmer nodded at Andy. “You ready?”
Andy nodded back.
Rimmer went over to the LED touchscreen beside Lucas’s cell and placed his thumb against it. He prodded through the menus and then typed in a passcode on the screen.
Suddenly there was a sharp hissing sound.
Andy turned to look into Lucas’s cell and saw that an amber substance was being pumped into the air from the ceiling. It quickly dissipated and mixed with the room’s existing atmosphere.
Lucas glanced upwards and frowned. “Did someone just let a cheeky fart loose in here?”
Then he began to cough and splutter, clutching at his throat.
“He’s fighting it,” said Rimmer. “Just give it a minute.”
They gave it a minute. Lucas dropped down to his knees, spat a wad of phlegm on the floor and started heaving.
Then he glanced up at them all and began chuckling. He straightened up and got back to his feet. “You’ll need something a wee bit stronger than gnat’s piss to put me down. I once smoked reefer with Bob Marley. Not a fat lot else has been able to touch me since.”
Andy’s shoulders slumped. Sun, who had remained silent throughout the last several minutes, came up beside him and shook her head. “We might have expected as much. His anatomy is a mystery, so why should we assume that he’s going to have a nervous system we can exploit with basic chemistry?”
Andy sighed. “So what should we do?”
“We should call it off,” Gornman said. “If we don’t have an effective plan of action then we need to go away until we come up with one. Mistakes are made by acting without proper thought or appropriate reflection.”
Lucas pressed his hands up against the glass and started mumbling something. His eyes rolled back in his head.
“What is he doing?” Sun asked her husband.
“I don’t know.”
Lucas’s words became louder. “…pen sesame. Open sesame… OPEN SESAME.”
The glass wall sprung aside on its rails, leaving Lucas’s cell wide open. The Manx man stood in the newly opened gap and grinned at them all. “Neat trick, huh? Of course, nothing beats a good bit of card magic, but a bit of variety never hurt anybody.”
Rimmer immediately signalled his men, who pointed their assault rifles at Lucas. Rimmer was only carrying a sidearm—what looked like a Glock—but he quickly pulled it from its holster and aimed. “Don’t move!”
Lucas held his hands up. “Come now, I’m just being helpful. You folks wanted to come inside, so now I’ve opened the door for you.”
“Get down on the floor,” Rimmer demanded.
“Such bad manners. These are my digs, not yours. I suggest you stop with the threats, fella. That heroic beard of yours ain’t fooling nobody.”
Rimmer took a step forward and gripped his handgun tighter, his knuckles growing white. “I don’t make threats, fella.”
Lucas chuckled. “Look out! We got ourselves a badass over here. I wonder how much of a badass you were when you were bleeding out into the sand of the Iraqi desert. You know that Lewis’s mother killed herself after she got the news that her son had died? You must feel really bad about that.”
Rimmer snarled and seemed very ready to shoot.
“Okay…” Andy spread his hands. “Let’s everybody calm down.”
“That sounds like a wise idea,” Lucas said, keeping his eyes on Rimmer and grinning slightly.
“Lucas? Will you let Rimmer and his men install a fence inside your cell? Will you try anything?”
“Not if he stops glaring at me with those beady little peepers of his.”
Andy turned to face Rimmer. “Rimmer?”
Rimmer kept his pistol up but glanced sideways at Andy. “I’m not about to trust this guy for a minute.”
“Then we have a problem,” Andy said. “Because he doesn’t seem to be all that bothered by your gun, and I would very much prefer that you didn’t shoot him.”
Rimmer lowered his gun by an inch, held it a second longer, and then lowered it all the way. “Fine, but if this guy even scratches his nose funny he’s getting a bullet right in the skull.”
“You can try it,” Lucas said. “Better men than you have. Then, when you fail, I’ll come out there and tie your limbs in knots and use you as a skipping rope. That isn’t a threat, neither.”
“You make it sound like you’ve done something like that before, Lucas,” Sun said.
He glanced at Sun. “That, and much worse, lass. We all have pasts. Living with oneself is a full time job. You have to learn to forgive your mistakes, and work hard not to make the same ones.” Then Lucas levelled his eyes at Rimmer. “But nobody is perfect. Anyone
can backslide, even with the best of intentions. That be what the road to hell is paved with, they say. Now kindly order your men to stand down, before my intentions darken.”
They had a brief staring contest, then Rimmer gave a nod and the automatic weapons were lowered.
Andy blew out a breath. “Okay, now that the pissing contest is over, can we get started?”
Lucas nodded politely, and stepped to the side, bidding them entrance. Rimmer instructed his men, who quickly got moving with the thick roll of steel mesh. Another couple of guys appeared with some steel rods and a power drill. By the time five minutes had passed they had drilled and bolted the steel rods to the left and right walls of the cell and secured the mesh fence to them both. Lucas leaned against the back wall and was now trapped behind the mesh while the front of the cell was left open.
“Will the glass wall go back into place?” Sun asked.
Rimmer nodded. “It’s attached to runners. It will slide back into place once I log out of the cell’s control panel. We’re all set to move the other prisoner. You ready?”
Andy felt a lump form in his throat as he contemplated moving the batling out of its cell. The nightmare of Samhain came rushing back to him, and for a moment he was frozen to the spot.
Sun placed a hand on Andy’s back and rubbed.
Andy swallowed a lump in his throat and then spoke. “We’re ready, Rimmer. Get it done fast. Lucas may have been cooperative, but I assure you that the batling won’t be.”
Rimmer nodded and got to work. “Handler, log in and gas the cell.”
The security guard, Handler, nodded obediently before logging into the system as commanded.
Rather than holster his pistol, Rimmer kept it at his side, pointed at the floor. “We’ve all done this before,” he said. “It’s a routine crate job. Soon as the target is out, we move in and secure it.”
The men who had installed the steel mesh fence left momentarily and then returned with a large metal cage on casters.
“Okay, we’re a go,” said Rimmer.
Handler released the sleeping gas into the batling’s cell.
Holes in the Ground Page 10