Instinct (2010)

by Kay, Ben

  Can the wasps get in here?

  Webster raised his hand to Carter and headed for the intercom to tell Laura.

  ‘Well, we’re not going to get away with keeping it from them,’ she said.

  Webster nodded and took the receiver. ‘We don’t know for sure if the wasps can get to you. Take the panels off the south side of the lift, away from where the wasps are. If you find concrete, then we know that’s what the entire lift shaft is made from, and you’ll be safe. If it’s plastic, like the lab walls, we know we’ve got to get you out fast, OK?’

  Webster returned to the elevator to find Carter and Garrett already attacking the panels with their knives.

  Laura came at once and knelt down next to the glass. Looking into her son’s face, she saw only the features his father had given him, especially those searching blue eyes. Andrew tried not to look worried, but his attempt at a brave smile collapsed into a helpless frown. That was about all Laura could take, and she turned away to protect Andrew from her tears. The next time she felt able to look at her son, Carter had a big arm round his shoulder and was no doubt saying the words she wished she could. Andrew looked at his mum and nodded to let her know that he could get through this.

  For a moment, she believed he was going to be OK, that they would both get out of here and get back to England, but then the look on his face became one of utter terror.

  Following his eyes, she saw what he did: the wasps had torn through the wall at the back of the holding bay and were now butting up against its windows. It was the first room on the right ahead of the elevator, so they were now only a few feet from Andrew. Laura had not told him just how big the insects were, so his horror was multiplied by incomprehension.

  He was rooted to the spot, confronting the thought of what could lie ahead: giant insects beyond anything he ever thought existed. Now that he could see into their eyes, a terrible reality fleshed out what his imagination had created. They looked so angry, evil and powerful that he couldn’t see how they could be overcome. They had killed people much tougher and better armed than him. What chance did he have? What chance did his mum have?

  They had already stopped trying to force their way through the window. Instead, they were using whatever grip they could find to keep their claws attached, while their acidic saliva burned through the Perspex.

  Their jaws were wide open, and the spit they released was washing down the window, distorting the images of the yellow and black creatures behind it.

  Andrew could see Laura talking to Webster with obvious concern. That worried him even more, and he gave an involuntary shudder.

  Carter felt this and turned to Andrew, gripping his shoulders. ‘Kid, I’m not going to let them get me, and if I’m not going to let them get me, I’m not going to let them get you. Are you listening?’

  He said it louder: ‘Are you listening?’

  Andrew stopped staring at the wasps and met Carter’s fixed eyes. ‘Right, yes … Yes, sir.’

  ‘OK. Now you have to do exactly as I say, and we will get out of here alive.’

  Carter turned to the walls of the elevator on the opposite side to where the wasps were approaching.

  ‘First, we’re going to get these panels off. The intercom speakers will be the weak point. Work on them with Garrett.’

  Meanwhile, Laura and Webster were doing their best to distract the wasps, waving at them and tapping on the glass near where they flew and hovered.

  Bishop stood behind them, looking for the right moment to draw Webster away without arousing further alarm.

  ‘Uh, Major, we just received another communication from Paine,’ he said with an obvious wink. His attempt to sound genuine was poor, but Laura was paying too much attention to the wasps to notice. Webster turned and saw the deepening fear on Bishop’s face, and immediately followed him to his office.

  ‘The scientists have just pointed out an important design flaw with the Inshield. Sapphire glass is scratch resistant, but it’s not too good when it comes to impact.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘If the wasps get through the Perspex, they can get through the Inshield.’

  ‘And I just saw them. When they tried to get through the lab window the first thing they did was butt into it.’

  ‘They do that on the Inshield, it might come down in ten seconds or ten minutes. We can’t know for sure, and that’s the problem.’

  ‘OK. Let’s check on Harry, then we need to open this situation up to everybody. No shitting around. Facts on the table, has anyone got any answers, because we might be ten minutes from being wasp food.’

  In the elevator, Garrett was wrenching the speaker off the far wall.

  ‘Good,’ said Carter, and reached in to pull back the surrounding panel.

  Andrew and Garrett stood clear as he bent the metal away. It peeled off easily, with a tearing sound and a large clang, but before Carter could get to work on the next one, he saw Laura gesturing towards him and pointing at the wasps.

  They had heard the noise from the elevator and had grouped together at that end of the lab, hovering against the glass and climbing the wall.

  ‘OK, no need to panic,’ said Carter quietly, continuing to bend away the panels.

  As Laura watched, Bishop and Webster came out of the office, walking as fast as they could without running.

  ‘We’re going to check on Harry,’ Webster told Laura. ‘Then we need everybody in the barracks.’

  They turned and headed back to Lab 7. Laura joined them.

  When they got there, Harry was gone. There were now only a few wasps, which were exploring the equipment, searching for anything that might be food.

  Laura was confused, wondering if there might be some hidden safe haven. Webster looked at the gene sequencers and thought the same. Could Harry fit inside one of those? But no inner workings seemed to have been removed to allow him the space he needed.

  For Bishop, there was no such uncertainty. He remembered how he had found Heath and looked to the floor.

  There it lay: Harry’s skeleton.

  This time, the wasps had not stopped at the meat. Harry’s bones had been separated from each other and lay scattered across the floor of the lab as if by the force of a small explosion that had detonated from his pelvis. A few of the smaller bones, the ones from his fingers and toes, were missing. They were now inside the digestive tracts of the wasps which were searching for more food.

  Laura looked away and crouched down, her knees unable to support her.

  ‘Oh no, oh no,’ she moaned softly, over and over.

  With everything that had happened in the minutes since the Inshield had come down, she had almost forgotten about Harry. She thought he would have been able to last longer than this. There was an awful difference between how she had left him and what had happened since. It made her feel as if death was spreading through this place with an awful inevitability.

  Webster was crushed. He had known Harry seven years, and although their friendship had not been deep, they had been through a lot together. He looked at the bones and saw beyond them to the man curled up in terror experiencing the horrific end he must have known would come.

  Bishop was less affected. He had not seen the violence this time, and he was not to blame. For these reasons, this death had a smaller impact on him, and he was almost ashamed of the relief he felt. He also knew that they had to get back to barracks and decide what to do next.

  He listened to the raised voices at the other end of the corridor and wondered how he might keep this quiet. Harry had been the scientists’ first point of contact for anything important, and because they saw Heath so rarely, he was also a conduit for the respect in which they held the great man.

  His passing would certainly reduce Bishop’s authority over them, and drain away the remnants of what little morale they had left.

  ‘I don’t want the scientists told,’ he said
quietly.

  ‘We have to raise the shield,’ said Webster, not directing his words at Bishop. This was a statement and not for discussion.

  Bishop needed no persuading. ‘You find a way for us to do that without letting them out, and I’ll do whatever it takes.’

  ‘We need to try Taj. If there’s a way round the security system, he’ll know it.’ Bishop ran to his office and picked up the phone.

  49

  ‘Taj. Bishop.’

  Taj never used the phone receiver, preferring instead to switch on the speakerphone and leave himself free to walk around his reception area, eating food with both hands or firing paper darts at the ‘O’ of the MEROS sign that hung from the wall opposite his desk. Now he was waving his fat fingers around and expressing himself as if Bishop were in the room with him.

  ‘Mr Bishop. I’ve been trying to reach you, but your phone’s been tied up. There’s been some stuff happening up here you gotta know about. Garrett and Mills and Jacobs are getting set to hijack the plane, and I think they on their way down to you.’

  ‘You don’t say,’ Bishop replied.

  ‘Damn straight. Assholes gassed me. Shook me up pretty good. You ever been CS’d?’

  ‘Uh, no … look, I’ll see to that. It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll work something out.’

  ‘I’ve had to open the doors and air this place out. Someone still up here, though. I can hear them outside.’

  ‘Yes, OK, OK, Taj. Just keep quiet for a moment, I need you to listen very carefully. The Inshield is down and …’

  ‘The Inshield? What the hell happened?’

  ‘You don’t want to know, believe me. It’s down, and we’re still going to have to go through with the freezing, but before that, or during that, or I don’t know when, we’re going to have to raise the shield.’

  ‘Don’t tell me, the three who came down are stuck in the elevator.’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Well, let me tell you, Mr Bishop, them folks can go fuck ’emselves, ’scuse me for saying.’

  ‘Yes, Taj. One of them happens to be Andrew, Laura Trent’s son. Another one of them is Carter. Did they gas you?’

  ‘Not that … uh … I’m not sure, but the kid …’

  ‘Exactly: the kid. So we have to raise the shield.’

  ‘Yeah, I told them that would be a risk when they installed the security system, but nobody listens to Taj.’

  ‘Yes, great. Well, here we are. We could simply freeze, wait and leave, but of course we can’t just let them die. At the same time, we can’t lift the glass, otherwise we’ll all be dead. I know it looks impossible, but is there any way you can get the elevator back up there?’

  ‘The only way is if I have your key card up here, along with mine, to override anything, and I guess that ain’t going to happen.’

  ‘Is there really nothing?’

  ‘Well, sir, if you tell me what you want, I can do my best to make it so, but it looks like you’re in what they call a situation down there. I could do what I can to lift the glass, but it doesn’t sound like you want that, and if I try to get the elevator up here, the security system gets cancelled and the glass goes up.’

  ‘That’s kind of what I thought.’

  ‘OK, I’m going to see what I can do, so stay near the phone and I’ll call you back if I’m heading in the right direction.’

  ‘Done.’

  50

  In the rec room of the barracks, Webster was standing in the corner talking to Wainhouse and Laura about trying to raise the shield. On the couches by the opposite wall, the scientists were speculating about the number of dead.

  ‘Anyone seen Harry lately?’ asked Mike loudly. Laura and Webster turned round too obviously and found themselves staring at Mike and Lisa in a suddenly silent room.

  Mike raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Seriously? Harry’s dead?’

  No reply.

  ‘I’ll take that as a yes. Who else?’

  Wainhouse, Laura and Webster moved towards the others. With Bishop in his office, Webster could do what he felt was right, and that meant honesty.

  ‘Roach, Martin, Heath and Van Arenn all died trying to contain the new wasps.’

  George’s brow furrowed into a series of fat hillocks. ‘But if Heath and Harry are gone, who’s going to …’ He looked at Laura and his question was answered.

  ‘But you’re just a civilian. No offence, but if you haven’t been down here before, you’ve got a lot to learn.’

  ‘I’m taking a crash course,’ Laura said.

  This exchange was cut short by Bishop, who clipped into the rec room at a run. He failed to sense the mood and was speaking almost as fast as he was walking.‘People, we have a situation beyond the one we all thought we were in. As you may have seen, Carter, Garrett and Dr Trent’s son, Andrew, are trapped in the elevator, which is going to mean there is some difficulty in implementing the final parts of the security plan. That problem, coupled with what we suspect about the glass in the shield, means that we need ideas, suggestions that can get …’

  Mike jumped in. ‘Maybe Harry could help. Or Roach and Martin. Let’s get them to give us a hand.’ Bishop looked to Webster.

  ‘They guessed. I confirmed it,’ he explained.

  ‘Fine. I’ll assume you’re all up to speed then. As the person in charge, I do of course take full responsibility for what has happened here over the last couple of weeks. I accept that blame will be apportioned and certain processes will have to be put in motion. But, for now, we just need to make sure everyone who is still alive gets out of here in that state. I’d appreciate it if we could put other things aside for the immediate future and concentrate on what really needs our attention.’ He looked at them as a group, challenging them to stand up to him.

  No one did.

  51

  ‘OK, this is going to be easier. These panels are held in with screws, and I just happen to know that one of us has a screwdriver on them.’ Carter grinned at Andrew, who gave a puzzled look in return. ‘Your Swiss Army knife, please, Andrew.’ Andrew smiled as the penny dropped and reached into his pocket for the red hunk of metal. Pulling out the correct blade, he handed it over to Carter, who made a show of admiring it.

  ‘Well, maybe it’s lucky you came along after all,’ he said.

  As Carter attacked the steel squares, Garrett moved out of his way. She couldn’t help looking at the wasps that were still trying to get through the window to the right of the elevator.

  It was difficult to see clearly, but their efforts were definitely having some effect: the Perspex was now riven with streaks that made it look like some real damage was being done.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ she muttered. ‘They are some mean-looking fuckers.’

  Andrew followed her gaze. He found the insects hypnotic, especially the rhythmic way their mandibles came together as they scratched against the windows. Along with their acidic saliva, a fine spray of venom accompanied each tap of stinger on Perspex, warping the transparency. There was something disturbingly organized about what they were doing, as if they were certain of the ultimate consequence.

  Andrew was brought back to what was happening in the elevator by Carter’s voice.

  ‘OK, last screw and …’ The second panel fell to the bottom of the elevator shaft with a ripple of clangs, revealing white polycarbonide, the same material that all the MEROS walls were made from. He knocked on it with his screwdriver and got a dull tap in return. It seemed thicker than the lab walls but, with no concrete around it, the wasps’ arrival on the other side would be a matter of when, not if.

  The phone rang. As Bishop ran to his office and grabbed the receiver, Webster came out to check what was happening in the lift.

  Carter showed them the plastic wall.

  ‘Shit,’ said Webster, trying to keep his voice down so that Laura wouldn’t come out.


  He looked across to the window of the holding bay. A wasp was poking its antenna through the Perspex.

  52

  ‘Hey, Mr Bishop, sir. I’m just calling to say that I’ve checked out the security system, and it’s bad news. Whoever installed it made sure nothing goes in or out until it’s all squared away safe.’

  ‘Thanks, Taj. Don’t move one inch from that phone, understand?’ Bishop hung up and raced back to the rec room.

  All eyes turned to him. ‘OK, we can’t lift the elevator without lifting the glass, so we’re going to have to bite the bullet and freeze the other side.’

  ‘Mr Bishop, if you think I’m going to stand aside while you kill my son …’

  ‘Hey, hey, hey … just calm down, Dr Trent. Nobody said anything about that. We’re going to work out how to get them out of there without them or us coming to any harm.’

  ‘We’d better hurry,’ said Webster. ‘The walls of the elevator shaft are polycarbonide. We might have as little as twenty minutes before the wasps get in there. And they look like they’re making some progress on the window of the holding bay.’

  Lisa spoke first. ‘We must have all kinds of insecticides and weapons to disable or kill these wasps. Why do we have to freeze the whole place?’

  ‘Believe me, Miss Keller, if there was another way to deal with these wasps, then we would have found it by now,’ said Bishop. ‘Forget what you’ve been working on – these specimens are something else entirely, so any solution involving their control by conventional means is not useful. We intend to freeze them, because we know they are susceptible to the cold, and that’s more than we can definitely say about any other methods of control.’

  ‘If freezing works, why didn’t you freeze them before, when, I assume, they were in a more controlled environment?’ asked Takeshi.

  ‘They were frozen to a certain degree that we, uh, thought was sufficient to kill them, but it turned out we only stunned them. Then we were presented with a series of, uh, unforeseen difficulties which made the completion of the task through the use of cold impossible.’