The Buried Ark

by James Bradley

  For the thousandth time I wished the Change had never come, that the world had been able to continue on, find its own way. It was possible that might have been a path to extinction anyway – after all, the human race often seemed hellbent on its own destruction – but whether there were people there or not, the world would have persisted, changing, evolving, finding new ways to flourish. Perhaps one day some other creature might have come down here, found my skeleton opalised like that of the marsupial lion; perhaps some future creature might have found this water and marvelled at its silent depth.

  Of course the Change meant none of that would happen. Even if we found some way of stopping it, the Earth had already been transformed, altered beyond recognition. Yet that didn’t make Dr Omelas’ plan right. Perhaps it really was impossible to stop the Change without destroying everything and starting again. But that wasn’t his choice to make. The people, the animals, the planet itself, they all deserved to be allowed to keep fighting, to be given the chance to save themselves. It wasn’t our right to wipe everything out, any more than it was the right of the Change to come here and colonise us. And once it was done, was there any guarantee it would work? And what about all the animals they couldn’t save, the fish, the whales, the birds, the insects and plankton and seashells and all the rest? Was a world without them worth keeping?

  I knew the answer, of course, just as I knew I couldn’t allow them to do it. There had to be another way, my father’s vaccine proved that.

  I heard a noise behind me and, turning, found Meena standing there.

  ‘I thought I might find you here,’ she said. Her fury of a few hours before had passed and she looked pale and thin, her eyes puffy with tears.

  ‘You told your father,’ I spat.

  ‘I didn’t have to. He guessed.’

  I made a noise of contempt and turned away.

  ‘He spoke to you?’

  I nodded. ‘He did.’

  ‘Did he say you had to leave?’

  ‘Not if I’m a good girl,’ I said, my voice hard.

  Meena was silent for a minute. It occurred to me that however angry she was with Dr Omelas, he was still her father.

  ‘What will you do?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. But we have to tell somebody, anybody. This can’t be allowed to happen.’

  ‘You think I haven’t thought of that? There are snooper systems set up to detect any mention of the project online and delete them before they can spread.’

  ‘Then we’ll find somebody who can get it on television, or the radio. There has to be a way.’

  ‘There isn’t time.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He didn’t tell you?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘The countdown has already begun. The dispersal will take place in just over forty-eight hours.’

  I stared at her in horror. ‘That’s too soon.’

  Meena looked down. All of a sudden she looked much younger than fourteen.

  ‘Callie, I –’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We have to stop this. There has to be a way. The weapon, it’s called Firestorm, but what is it? A bomb? Some kind of gas?’

  ‘It’s missiles. Ground-based. They launch them into the atmosphere and then the agent is dispersed by air bursts.’

  ‘Where do they fire them from?’

  ‘There are installations in various places around the world. They’re networked together so they can coordinate the dispersal.’

  I hesitated, remembering Ben’s mention of an installation, a weapon that might be able to defeat the Change. That was how they’d hidden it: in plain sight.

  ‘Is there some way we can prevent the launch?’

  Meena shook her head. ‘I know my father and the people he’s working with. They won’t have left anything to chance. And besides, there are too many installations: we can’t stop them all.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Think. There must be some way we can stop them.’

  Meena hesitated. ‘Unless . . .’

  ‘Unless what?’

  ‘The Firestorm installations are networked. That means if we could take out one it might be enough to disrupt the entire process, convince the system into shutting itself down. That might give us time to tell people.’

  ‘Then that’s what we have to do.’

  ‘But how? The nearest installation is two hundred kilometres away and heavily guarded. And anyway, they’ll never let you leave, not now you know.’

  ‘Are you telling me you don’t know a way out?’ I asked.

  There was a moment of silence. And then in the half-light I saw Meena smile.

  23

  Escaping the Ark was one thing, but it was no help if I found myself alone in the middle of nowhere. When I had arrived I had been told communications with the outside world were restricted, but I knew Dr Omelas had to be connected to external networks and that communications from his office were less likely to be monitored. But getting into Dr Omelas’ office would be difficult because the labs were kept locked at night.

  As usual Meena was two steps ahead of me.

  ‘I can get us in,’ she said. ‘Although I won’t be able to help you if we get caught.’

  I nodded, remembering Dr Omelas’ threat. ‘If I get caught it’s all over anyway,’ I said grimly.

  Knowing I couldn’t risk any suspicion, I made sure I turned up on time for my shift in the nursery. To my relief Hannah didn’t try to speak to me, but midway through the afternoon I looked up from one of the garden beds and caught her standing at the window, watching me. For a second or two our eyes met, and I forced myself to hold her gaze so she would have no reason to suspect I was planning anything.

  Once my shift was done I ate, then went back to the dormitory. Several of the others were lying around, talking and laughing, but I ignored them and, turning my face to the wall, pretended to sleep. After lights out the voices continued for a while before finally dying away. Only when I was sure they were all asleep did I slip out of bed and tiptoe to the door.

  Meena and I both knew there was a good chance security would be watching the cameras, alert for any sign we were not where we were meant to be, and so we had agreed to bypass the main tunnels and use the caves and passages I had been exploring with Meena. Because there was little question security would be monitoring our movements we needed to get into the tunnel system without being spotted. Thankfully there were only two cameras in the dormitory cavern, one trained on the main door, the other on the entrance to the prefab housing the dormitory. If I moved quickly I should be able dart around the back of the building and make my way to where the crack opened in the wall.

  Standing in the shadows by the door to the dormitory I could see the red light of the camera overhead. I knew they couldn’t monitor every camera every minute, but was somebody watching at this very moment? Would an alarm sound as soon as I stepped out? And what would happen if it did? Taking a deep breath, I darted out of the shadows and around the corner, my heart hammering as I flattened myself against the wall, alert for any suggestion of an alarm. But there was only the low hum of the airconditioning, so moving as quickly and as quietly as I could, I raced along the back wall of the cavern.

  The opening lay at the far end, a low dark space beneath a great slipped hunk of rock. Kneeling down I felt a stab of despair: it was barely thirty centimetres high at its highest point; so low and narrow I would not even have noticed it if Meena had not told me about it.

  I flicked on my lamp and peered in. Even in the stark white light the tunnel stretched on, out of sight. But as I knelt there I felt a gentle movement of air against my face, proof that however low and narrow it was the tunnel led somewhere. Lying down on my stomach I wriggled in, headfirst.

  It was hard work: the ceiling was so low I had to drag myself forward with my hands and scrabble with my toe
s. But after ten or fifteen metres the ceiling began to rise and I saw light ahead, and a moment later I slid out into a narrow cavern to find Meena waiting. In the light of the headlamp she looked pale but determined.

  ‘You made it,’ she said, and I nodded.

  We followed a string of caverns and tunnels, slipping and crawling where we had to, walking where we could. Although there was no way from the uncleared tunnels into the cavern where Dr Omelas’ lab stood, Meena had worked out that if we got to the cave where the air filtration unit was located then it should be possible to access a maintenance shaft that terminated near the lab. Yet as we slipped into the cave containing the filtration unit I caught sight of a technician standing with her back to us. I stopped dead and reached out an arm to stop Meena as well.

  ‘What is it?’ she mouthed silently. I pointed, then reached up and flicked off my headlamp. Meena did the same.

  The technician was standing by one of the consoles, holding a screen.

  ‘What’s she doing here?’ I whispered.

  Meena shook her head. ‘I don’t know. But the maintenance shaft is behind her.’

  ‘We’ll never get to it,’ I said.

  Meena didn’t reply. We had emerged behind a pile of boulders so we were unlikely to be spotted if we stayed where we were, but as soon as we left their shelter we would be in plain view if the technician turned around. Meena leaned past me and stared around, clearly searching for some other option. I watched the technician carefully, nervous she might turn and spot her.

  ‘We have to go back,’ I whispered.

  ‘No,’ Meena said. ‘There’s no time. And there’s no other way in.’

  I stared at the technician. ‘Perhaps we can distract her somehow,’ I said. But as I spoke the technician glanced in our direction. We both froze. For several seconds she stood, staring. Then she stepped away from the unit and began to walk toward us. I lay as still as I could, almost afraid to breathe, but at the last moment she turned aside, and crossed to another machine a little to our right.

  I looked at Meena. Her eyes were huge, wild.

  ‘We have to go,’ she said.

  ‘What if she hears us?’ I asked.

  Meena looked around. The low hum of the filtration units filled the space.

  ‘She won’t,’ she said.

  I looked at the technician one more time. It was a risk but we had no choice.

  ‘Okay,’ I said.

  We stood up. The technician was only a few metres from us, but her attention was focused on the screen. Meena nodded and we shot off toward the filtration unit closest to the shaft, both of us moving low and fast. But just as we reached the unit I knocked a stone with my shoe, sending it skittering across the floor, the sound loud in the enclosed space. With one last burst of speed I dove in behind the unit, Meena beside me.

  There was a moment of silence. Then the technician spoke, her voice uncertain. ‘Hello?’

  I screwed up my face, furious at myself.

  ‘Is someone there?’

  Neither of us moved. The entry to the maintenance shaft was only metres away.

  ‘If that’s you, Todd, this isn’t funny.’

  We sat motionless, pressed against the back of the unit as her footsteps approached.

  ‘Todd?’

  The footsteps paused just on the other side of the unit. A second passed, and then another. And then the footsteps began to recede again.

  ‘Now,’ I hissed, and together we bolted for the entrance to the shaft. It was covered with a grille; slipping it open we clambered in and pulled it shut behind us.

  The shaft was low, so we had to crawl, but because it had been created with some kind of borer its smooth surface was easier on our knees and hands than the broken stones of the natural passages I had been exploring with Meena. After a couple of minutes we came to another grille. This one was locked. Meena reached up to a panel in the wall and flipping it up keyed in a code. There was a click as the lock on the grille released, and we slid out.

  We had emerged under the platform on which the lab prefabs stood. Although some light leaked down it was dark, the stone beneath us cold and damp. Meena crawled to the end of the platform. Sliding out she pointed up, careful to stay close to the side of the structure. The red light of a camera shone overhead, its lens angled back toward the main entrance.

  ‘We have to go up the side,’ she said.

  I nodded. Grasping the side of the platform we shimmied up the metal struts that supported it. At the top Meena swung over the railings and moved quickly along the front of the lab. By the door she punched a code into the access panel. I tensed, ready for an alarm to sound, but instead the door slid open and, gesturing to me to follow, Meena darted inside. With one last glance around I swung over the low rail and followed her.

  I didn’t know how much time we had. If one of the guards had been watching the feed from the camera they would be here in a few minutes. The lab was dark, the only light from the cooling fridges and computer monitors. At the door to Dr Omelas’ office I stood with my back to the door while Meena punched in another code. Nothing happened. She swore softly, then tried again. There was another pause, and then just when I was sure the code wasn’t going to work, the door slid open.

  ‘Come on,’ Meena said.

  Together we raced across to the desk and woke up Dr Omelas’ screen. A password prompt appeared and Meena leaned and quickly typed in a series of letters. The prompt shook irritably, rejecting the password.

  ‘What happened?’ I asked. ‘Did you make a mistake?’

  Meena shook her head. ‘No. I think he’s changed his password.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s okay,’ said Meena. ‘I can work it out. He usually uses the same combinations of words and letters.’ Moving quickly, she typed another string of letters. The prompt shook again.

  ‘Shit,’ Meena said. ‘We only get one more attempt, then the system will lock us out and sound an alarm.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Is there another way?’

  Meena lifted a hand to silence me, her attention fully focused on the screen. Then, with a sudden rush, she typed a string of letters, her fingers hitting the keys with hard little clicks. As she hit the return key the login screen dissolved and Dr Omelas’ desktop appeared. I let out a breath.

  With a series of quick, economical gestures Meena called up a search engine.

  ‘Here,’ she said. ‘The security protocols built into the firewall mean we can’t send files without clearance from one of the other senior personnel, but I can use my father’s authorisation to get a secure line out so you can call your friend. Just remember that as soon as you do they’ll be looking for him.’

  I nodded. Part of me knew what I was about to do was a mistake, but I couldn’t think what else I could do. Typing in Ben’s name I scrolled through a series of numbers until I glimpsed a photo of his face beside one. I selected it and stabbed call with my finger.

  There was a long silence, then a click. The phone rang once, twice, half-a-dozen times without an answer. I felt myself begin to shake, terrified he wouldn’t answer. Then, just as I had given up hope, there was a beep. For a second or two the video quivered, shapes moving in the dimness, unrecognisable. Then finally a voice, blurry with sleep.

  ‘Hello?’

  I felt something give inside me at the sound of his voice. ‘Ben? It’s me!’

  There was a moment’s hesitation. When he spoke again he tipped the phone so I could see his face, pale in the darkness.

  ‘Callie? Is that you? Thank God. Where are you? Are you all right? Nobody would tell me where they took you.’

  ‘There’s no time for that now. I’m fine. But you have to help me.’

  ‘Help you? What do you mean?’

  ‘I don’t have time to explain. But I’m going to send you some coordina
tes. I need you to meet me there. Can you do that?’

  ‘What do you mean? Coordinates where?’

  ‘I’m about to send them to you.’ I looked at Meena, who leaned forward and typed them in.

  There was a moment’s silence. ‘I think there’s a mistake,’ said Ben. ‘These are in the Transitional.’

  ‘No mistake,’ I said. ‘Just get there.’

  ‘I can’t, Callie. I could be arrested. Even shot. And anyway, I’m on base. I can’t just leave.’

  ‘I understand all that, and I understand what I’m asking of you. But I don’t know who else to ask.’

  ‘But why? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Please, Ben. You know I wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t important. You have to trust me.’

  There was a long pause. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll come.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Thank you.’ I paused. ‘And Ben?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t tell anybody where you’re going, or that you’ve had contact with me. If they know I’ve been speaking to you, they will try to stop you.’

  As the screen clicked off Meena pushed me out of the way and inserted a tiny drive into the screen. Pulling up a file directory she dragged the files onto the drive. A blue status bar appeared. We watched it inch sideways. As it finished Meena grabbed the drive then tensed.

  ‘Somebody’s coming,’ she said.

  I froze. At first it was silent but then the door in the cavern below clanged shut.

  ‘We have to get out of here,’ Meena said.

  I shook my head. ‘No. Not yet.’

  As I spoke I scrolled through the files Meena had found, opening one after the other. Outside somebody ascended the stairs with a heavy tread. A moment later the door to the lab slid open.

  ‘What are you looking for?’ Meena hissed.

  I didn’t reply, just kept scrolling through the files. Finally an image of the installation on the border of the Zone Ben had told me about appeared.