by Paul Teague
Outside
Satellites are relaying these images back to Earth, but there is nobody to see them - yet.
They are appearing on PC screens, but nobody is looking at them.
If they could see, they would wonder how this could have happened. An entire planet plunged into darkness.
The light of the sun is making no impact on that blackness whatsoever, like the entire planet was encrusted in a solid, black rock.
The light just shines behind it, like an eclipse. It looks so still and calm from space but on the planet surface it is like Hell has just been let loose.
Chapter Five
Familiarity
I get a really strange sensation as I walk through the bunker. I can recall enough of my tour just over 24 hours earlier to know that the basic shape and layout has been preserved.
For instance, when I exit the medical area, I can tell that it is in the same position as it was earlier, because the Chapel is directly opposite as I step outside.
Everything is exactly where it should be. But it’s like a scene change in a play. As if somebody came on stage while we weren’t looking and made the place look completely different. It’s so modern and high-tech now.
If you’d taken the basic concept of the original Cold War bunker, redesigned it for 200 years in the future, that’s what I was looking at now. It’s light and bright, the air is fresh and dry, and all of the old fashioned equipment, posters, wiring, pipework and paintwork has gone.
Whatever happened here, it is like no technology that I recognise. And believe me, I know my tech! It has literally transformed the inside of the bunker, but it did so without a single builder, plumber or electrician. Which is probably a good thing if the ones we use at home are anything to go by.
Unless I have been out cold or unconscious of course. Kate and I are now sitting in what was previously - 24 hours or so earlier - a pretty drab cafe. It was where we were supposed to have met our hosts. Only we never made it in the end. Neither did they come to think about it. We’d been on our way, when David and I remembered the laptop deal that we’d done with Mum and Dad earlier. Five minutes each on Mum’s laptop using the free wireless connection in the cafe.
So instead of heading directly for the cafe, Mum had left us all near the entrance with Dad, while she headed back to the car to grab the laptop. And my phone, I’d left that in the back of the car too. If we were near the entrance, we’d see our hosts when they entered the bunker, so that seemed like a pretty good strategy at the time.
She’d only been gone a few minutes when the sirens sounded. At first we thought it was just something to do with the secret bunker. A bit of novelty for the tourists perhaps. But it was very obvious that this was for real. The sirens were outside for starters. Previously we’d just heard them on the Cold War films that were showing in the cinema area. Red lights were flashing throughout the corridors too. And the announcement system gave it away as well. ‘All personnel operational. This is not a drill.’ That’s when Dad knew it was for real.
At about the same time as the bunker doors began to close. It’s when he tried to take us deeper into the building. It must have been instinctive, whatever was going on outside, this bunker could offer protection. And that’s when I last saw Mum. And that terrible blackness outside. What was that? I knew the Scottish weather could be bad at times, but this was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
There were a lot of things happening like that at the moment. So sitting with Kate now was an opportunity to get things straight. The cafe 24 hours ago had been pretty basic. This was still pretty functional - it wasn’t a fancy restaurant of anything like that - but it was a lot fresher and much more modern. And the food looked great. So I sat down with Kate, tucked into my food and waited for her to begin.
Forgotten
The process, whatever it is, seems to be over. The Doctor has made a few final, brisk swishes of his hands across the screen and they shut down. His manner tells her that this is now time to be asking questions. Particularly questions like ‘What happens next?’ or ‘How will I know when it’s time?’ Besides, she won’t remember any of this until the device is reactivated.
The Doctor moves to another console on his desk, taps a few areas as if he has done this many times before, and there is a slight, glowing pulse from the device buried in her neck. Instantly, painlessly and without warning her mind goes blank. She will have no recollection of these events. She will be transported to a local hospital where she will be placed overnight in a ward. Hospital staff will look confused by her arrival until the man accompanying her shows them some identification. Their acceptance of his obvious authority will be instant, there will be no questions, no arguments, just a complete and thorough execution of his instructions.
Once placed in the bed, the device in her neck will pulse gently, unnoticed by the hospital staff. As suddenly as her memories disappeared, they will return again only they will not be complete, now they are selective memories. Virtually everything remains intact - she can recall everything about her life, her childhood, her family - everything is still there. Only details of the arrangement with the Doctor and his organisation have been suppressed. They are not needed right now. They will be recalled later, but for now, all that she knows is that she has woken up in a hospital after fainting whilst giving blood.
Her husband is on his way. For the man who accompanied her to the hospital, this is over for now. Without speaking to the woman or the hospital staff he leaves the building. He has been in this hospital before, with this woman, three years before. Nobody even notices him driving off in the black car.
Outside
Earth looks calm from space, but within the darkness, there is inevitable devastation. This was unavoidable.
Planes start to drop from the skies, their pilots so surprised that they barely have time to register what is going on before they are overcome by the blackness.
Vehicles hurtle off roads, trains fail to stop when they reach their destinations, ships sail on aimlessly at sea. All over the planet there is death, destruction, carnage.
It had to be this way. Thousands, maybe even millions of lives will be lost today.
Conditions were set up as well as they could be to avoid as much of this as was possible.
There’s really only one thing that could have made this the preferable option. And that’s the annihilation of all human life.
On Screen
He’s thinking about Trudie again.
Unseen by him, there is a faint, pulsing glow from a device that has been placed in his neck. As if recalling a memory that was locked deep down in his mind, he suddenly knows what to do. Like he has received instructions from another place. He has been trained for this, this equipment, this entire workstation is familiar to him.
He is not aware of what just happened - it is not painful, there is no sensation at all. It is just the seamless fusion of thoughts that are not his own with his own consciousness. He can’t even tell that it’s happening. He knows however that he must activate his screen and check the outside perimeter of the bunker. This is simply a routine activity, at this stage of the operation all life on the surface will have been placed into stasis. He doesn’t question or challenge this, he just knows it to be so. He must now perform this routine security operation. Standard military procedures. Secure the perimeter. He doesn’t expect there to be anything on the screen of course. After all, how could there be?
The only life on the planet is in this bunker. This is the base from which the entire operation will be managed.
It is impossible to avoid the effects of the darkness, all life has been subsumed by its force. So why is it that there are two human life forms showing up on the screen and they’re just outside the main blast doors?
Chapter Six
New Home
I’m not sure if the food really was amazing or whether I was just so ready to eat that I would have devoured anything at that time. I was just as ready to devo
ur the information that Kate was about to give me. I decided to eat and listen.
Sometimes, there’s just so much that you want to know, that the only way to satisfy your thirst for the knowledge would be to just dump that information into your brain. That’s not possible just yet - though I’m sure somebody in Silicon Valley will figure it out one day! So I let Kate talk, enjoyed my food, and resisted the urge to interrupt and take her off at a tangent. And let me assure you, that was a real breakthrough for me. ‘I know you’re desperate to know what’s going on Dan,’ began Kate, ‘And the best thing I can do is to work down the list in order of priorities and try to reassure you as much as possible.
She was good at this. She took control, but not in a bossy way. She was kind and reassuring, and that’s exactly what I needed. I remembered Dad talking in similar terms about somebody in HR who he was dealing with when he left his job. Only his description ended with the words ‘Except he turned out to be a viper!’ Still, at this moment in time, Kate was the best chance I had of moving forward. I’d reserve judgement on the ‘viper’ bit.
‘The first thing I need to let you know is that your dad, brother and sister are absolutely fine,’ she continued, ‘Nobody was hurt when the sirens went off, they were with us all the time in complete safety.’ I breathed an internal sigh of relief. Three down, Mum to go, and then we’re all accounted for.
‘I know you must be really worried about your mum Dan,’ she said with a concerned look on her face, ‘We didn’t know there was another member of your family, and at this moment in time, I’m very sorry, but we do not have enough information to be able to tell you what happened to her.’
The feeling of hope that I’d had moments earlier suddenly subsided.
‘In fact, we were really lucky to have found you Dan, you’re a very lucky young man,’ she went on, ‘It’s a good job your dad was able to let us know your exact whereabouts after the lights came on.’
Somehow, I wasn’t feeling very lucky. Lucky is when a visiting relative draws a tenner out of their pocket and gives it to you as a gift, no strings attached. Lucky is finding that your brother and sister - and mum and dad come to that - have managed to leave that last chocolate biscuit in the fridge for you. Lucky is not getting to spend 24 hours alone in complete darkness in the long, cold entrance to a Cold War bunker. And having to pee in the corner too. Thank goodness it was dark at the time, I hope they didn’t have night vision on the security cameras. Lucky is not having to watch your mum disappear as sirens wail for some crisis outside and the only doors that might offer her sanctuary are going to close tight before she can reach them. I kept my thoughts to myself, but I certainly wasn’t feeling very lucky.
‘Now, I’m sure you’ll want to know what’s going on Dan?’ Kate asked.
I nodded and attempted an answer with a mouth full of burger. Not a good move. Kate noticed the mess I was making and thankfully carried on.
‘Dan, I have to tell you that you and your family got caught up in something very high level.’ ‘This is not even a national situation, I can confirm that this is an international situation.’
I swallowed the lump of burger, but having heard what I’d just heard, it was not an easy swallow to make.
‘Dan, all of the people working in this bunker were specially trained and recruited for this mission - but even we do not know exactly what is going on yet.’
This was not sounding very reassuring.
‘We know three things,’ she continued, ‘Firstly, the situation beyond the bunker is not life threatening to the people outside.’ More relief. I could tell already that my emotions were going to get a real workout in this place. At least this sounded like positive news for Mum.
‘Secondly, as I said earlier, we have all been specially selected and recruited for this mission, but we have been trained individually to maintain the integrity and the security of the task. We do not yet know what’s going on and we will not receive a full briefing for another 8 hours.’
Okay, so far so good, she still hasn’t mentioned anything like ‘imminent peril’ or ‘global annihilation’.
‘Thirdly and finally Dan,’ she said, as I noticed that the technique of using my name a lot in sentences had a strangely reassuring effect on me.
‘You and your family were not supposed to be here when the sirens went off, only essential personnel had been tasked to be present at the time the sirens sounded, and even we didn’t know that everybody else in the bunker at that time was going to be part of the mission team.’ ‘Here’s the strange thing that we’re trying to figure out though,’ she said, sounding much more serious now.
‘We checked your biometrics when you were in the MedLab, and although your family aren’t supposed to be here, you have full access rights on the database. In short, you were meant to be here.’
Within The Darkness
Although many, many lives have been lost, this is not the worst it could be. Just as many lives have been saved by the actions of governments throughout the world. It’s not usual for the global community to work together in this way. But the consequences of not doing so would have been unthinkable.
Even places like North Korea, where the leaders and politics are caricatured every day in the Western press, and ostracised from the international community, even they are complicit in this. Yes, this global action has already saved thousands of lives, possibly even millions. And most importantly it will save more lives. Not only now, but in generations to come. Every military leader understands the term ‘collateral damage’. Deaths, injuries, destruction … lives lost, lives ruined. It is all acceptable, so long as the final objective is attained. When that objective is the survival of humanity itself, any military leader would understand that any ‘collateral damage’ is going to be pretty high.
Beyond The Doors
She was supposed to have been gone for just a few minutes. She had to be quick for Harriet’s sake, she was still a bit clingy for her mum. But better to go alone, she didn’t want a scene from Harriet as they passed the sweets and souvenirs in the ticket area. For goodness sake, the car was only parked just beyond the innocent looking cottage where they’d entered the bunker from the surface just an hour earlier. 5 minutes tops.
She’d promised the kids that they could have ‘tech time’ in the bunker cafe. Thank goodness they had free wi-fi in the bunker. Imagine, a holiday cottage with no wi-fi, who even does that these days? She was supposed to be one of the ‘responsible adults,’ but even she was getting grouchy without the constant broadband speeds that they all enjoyed at home. And to get a phone signal from the holiday cottage, you had to go upstairs onto the landing and stand by the window. Sometimes even she had to do a double check to make sure that she hadn’t been transported back to pre-Jacobite Scotland. She had to remember Dan’s phone too, he’d specifically asked her.
At her age, and she was only in her late thirties, if she didn’t write it down or keep chanting it to herself, she forgot it. ‘Laptop, Harriet’s juice and Dan’s phone,’ she kept saying to herself. ‘Laptop, Harriet’s juice and Dan’s phone,’ she repeated as she stepped out of the cottage door into the car park. The first thing that struck her was how overcast it had become. More than overcast, the sky looked thunderous. She’d never seen anything like this before, the weather had been pretty bad anyway in the last few days, but this was really something. Still, it must just be the Scottish weather. As fierce as the midges.
She made for the car, which wasn’t too far away from the entrance and fumbled for the remote in her pocket. As she looked up towards the car, ready to point the keys at the door like she was some sort of harmless gun-slinger, she thought she saw … no, she was positive, there was a kid in the car. About the same height as Dan, same age or thereabouts she thought.
Had she had slightly more time she might have experienced a glimmer of recognition as she moved up closer to the car to investigate what was going on. But at that precise moment, where indignant anger had kicked i
n and she’d begun to march towards this youngster like a bad tempered bull, a blue light, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, had begun to glow beneath the skin of her neck, and that momentary spark of recognition was extinguished in the gathering darkness overhead.
Training
For a task of this size and importance, absolute security was a ‘must’. That’s why those chosen had to pass over one hundred psychometric tests before they even became a contender. And they didn’t even know they were doing these tests. We so casually accept the role of the web and the internet in everyday life … A Facebook ad here, a Google promo there, a ‘please tell us how we did’ survey popping up out of nowhere … online lives could so easily be hijacked and nobody was any the wiser. Most people got excited about data sharing and privacy issues. If they only knew what his organisation was doing - with full global consent - the occasional highly targeted advert from Amazon would be the least of their worries.
So it was that he’d managed to invisibly deliver thousands of psychometric evaluations and thus target his specialist team. These people had to be very carefully chosen. They weren’t the strongest, the fastest, the cleverest or the wisest. All of the things that society generally applauded or celebrated had no currency when assembling this team. And there certainly weren’t any celebrities in there either. Test after test had shown that the most remarkable people were often the most ordinary people. Sports stars excel at sport, film stars excel at acting, Professors excel at being clever and heroes excel at heroism. But in the grave matter of saving the whole of humanity, it was a very carefully selected group of ordinary people who were going to make the final cut.
Two Figures
If it weren’t for the pulsing device buried beneath the skin on his neck, he’d normally be inquisitive about these two lifeforms just outside the blast doors. But instead, he calmly runs through a series of routines, just as he was taught to do in training. He is not an automaton in this task. While he’s carrying it out, he still thinks about Trudie and the kids.