by Paul Teague
As I head towards the lift I can hear movement beyond the doors. The lift is moving. If I’m not mistaken, that was heading upwards from Level 4. That means somebody else has access to these levels - it could be Dr Pierce. I call the lift and it arrives at Level 3 swiftly. As I press the button to Level 4, I notice that one of the two buttons that are unusually marked is illuminated. Just like it was when I had tried these mystery buttons earlier. That means somebody else with my access rights has to have been in this lift only moments previously - and they were heading to Level 4. I press the Level 4 button and the lift descends. The doors open. Once again I am confronted with the black corridor with the thick red stripes all along it.
It has an ominous feel about it. I make my way along the corridor and hear a door slide up ahead. Everything here is Black Zone, just like Dr Pierce’s work area in the level above. I ignore the other doors that I pass and make directly for the one which I believe has just been used by somebody else.
It’s about where the sound of the closing door came from. When I reach it I can see that it has just been opened, because the light on the entry pad is still illuminated. Whoever it is doesn’t seem to be aware that I’m following them. Either that or they’re trying to shake me off. I step into the room, this is unlike anything that I’ve seen so far. It’s the usual hi-tech, but it seems to be some kind of transportation area.
There are platforms on which boxed equipment is placed. But this area doesn’t seem to be just for transporting equipment. It looks like it’s used for transporting humans too. At the far end of the room, somebody is standing on one the smaller platforms. They are surrounded by a pulsating orange light, as if some process has already begun. They have their back to me, I can’t see if it is Dr Pierce. I run towards the area, shouting to get this person’s attention. I can see that whatever this device is, it is operated in the same way that everything else is here - by a hand pad. The hand pad is activated, whoever is standing in front of me has just started this process. The orange, shimmering light surrounds the person inside and their image is diffused.
I can’t tell what this machine - this contraption - is doing, but it seems to be harmless, the person inside it wanted to do this, they are not in pain or anxious about this in any way. It’s like they have done this before. I can see that they’re about to turn around - they must have heard me now, even though this thing makes an electronic sound, which seems to be getting more shrill as the process continues. I slam my hand on the panel in the hope that it will stop whatever is happening and I will be able to talk to whoever is in there. In the instant that I touch the panel the person inside turns around. Whatever I just did, it failed to stop the process. In fact, it seemed to complete it. The orange shimmering lights disappear along with the person inside them. But not so soon that I don’t get a definite glimpse of who was inside. I suspected it from the minute I had walked into that room. My sense of connection had been fully restored.
For the first time in seven years I feel ‘locked-in’ again, like the signal that I’ve been searching for all this time has finally been reestablished. There is absolutely no doubt about it now. Even through the illuminated orange shield, at the moment that they turned to face me I knew exactly who that person was. They were older, taller and their hair was different. The person who’s just used this device is my twin, Nat. It’s the sister who I’d seen dying in front of my own eyes seven years earlier.
Chapter Six
Reunion
She’d been alarmed by the words ‘Come with me!’ but in the instant that she heard them, she also recognised the voice that had delivered them. It was James. He guided her into a Green Zone room that had the appearance of a meeting room. There were no cameras in here, they could speak privately and undetected. They hugged as old friends do, but hung on a little tighter, because they’d been through such terrible events together in their past.
‘What’s going on James?’ Amy asked. She had so many questions that she needed to ask. ‘I signed up for this mission because I need the work, I was made redundant last year,’ James began. ‘It’s not like anything I’ve done since you and I last served together, but I didn’t think anything of it - until you arrived.’
‘Amy, I can’t explain what happened, but I don’t really recall going to the bunker entrance to let you in, I just suddenly became aware that you were there.’
‘It’s like I knew you were there all the time, I saw your face, but I didn’t make the connection.’ Amy recognised this. ‘James, I’ve just seen my daughter Nat. I can’t explain it, it had to be her … but she died, three years ago.’ She paused, the pain of those events surging back like a bullying emotion which refused to stop picking on her.
‘I lost her though, we barely had time to speak. But it was the same for me, I discovered her in the car when I went back to get the phone and the laptop, I saw her but I didn’t make that emotional connection. It just didn’t register.’
‘But the moment my eyes began to focus again after you’d let us into the bunker, I recognised her immediately.’ ‘She’s older and taller of course. But you don’t forget your own daughter.’
These words hung in the air. Neither of them could offer an explanation. As yet, they were unaware of the blue pulsating lights lying dormant beneath their skin. Resting for now, but ready to be activated again if required. ‘And my family are in here somewhere - Dan, Mike, Harriet and David I need to find them,’ she continued after a long silence.
‘Amy, your family is safe, but you won’t be able to see them I’m afraid,’ At least James was able to offer this reassurance. ‘All civilians who were caught inside the base have been placed in statis, for security and safety reasons.’ ‘They’re safe, but they’re asleep, just like everybody outside the bunker.’ ‘I don’t know who’s in there, but we can find out pretty easily. I’ll bet that’s where your family is.’ Amy was relieved to hear this, but still anxious.
‘I’m concerned about Dan,’ she continued, ‘He’d got separated from Mike when the bunker doors closed. He was calling out to me when we got shut outside.’
‘What does he look like?’ James asked. ‘Same height as Nat, jeans, t-shirt, dark hair ...’ Amy began. ‘I think I’ve seen him,’ James interrupted.
‘There was a kid in the Control Room earlier, talking to Kate - suits that description perfectly. Not sure why he was not in stasis like everybody else though?’ Another question that hung in the air. At that moment Amy’s eye was attracted by a faint pulse in James’ neck.
‘You okay James?’ she asked, I’m worried I might have hit you too hard with my laptop.
‘Sorry about that by the way, I take it you knew what I was doing?’ ‘Yeah, my head does!’ he replied. ‘I’m fine, why do you ask?’
‘You’ve got a weird vein in your neck, looks like you’re under extreme pressure!’ She looked more closely. ‘That’s no vein,’ she continued, ‘See if you can see it in the glass, it’s like a dim light under your skin.’
James couldn’t see in in his reflection in the glass, but by pressing on the skin in that area, he could definitely feel something below the surface. ‘You too!’ he replied. If she hadn’t mentioned it first, he would never have noticed. But there was a definite blue colouring beneath the skin on Amy’s neck. She could feel it too. Sometimes the mind can make massive, sudden leaps, piecing together random strands of information and cleverly fusing them together.
She remembered her earlier uneasiness about apparently having given blood. When she couldn’t even remember giving blood in recent years. And the absence of a mark on her arm. She suddenly had a strong feeling that these matters were connected in some way, but no idea why. Their conversation was interrupted. The announcement system throughout the bunker was summoning all personnel to the Control Room.
The Second Genesis
It is 20:00. An alert sounds throughout the bunker. All personnel are to gather in the Control Room or the canteen, depending on their role in these event
s. In each meeting area, there is a large screen displaying a fixed image and a logo derived from a design of Earth. The same logo that is displayed on the uniforms of every person in this bunker. It has the words ‘The Global Confederation’ beneath it.
The bunker staff gather in the designated areas, an air of expectation crackling like an electric current through the building. What happens next will define the mission in precise detail. The holding image fades out, and a man appears on the screen. It is Doctor Pierce. The chatter in the room dies to a hush. The same logo and wording is displayed on the plain background behind Doctor Pierce. He draws breath and begins to speak.
‘My name is Doctor Harold Pierce, I have met all of you already but due to the highly confidential nature of this mission, none of you will remember those meetings,’ he begins.
‘Firstly, let me start by reassuring you that your loved ones are all completely safe and secure.’ Nobody utters a word, but you can feel the collective sigh of relief across the room.
These people are voluntary participants in this mission, but their contracts stipulated that they could designate family and friends for dedicated support. Basically, The Global Confederation had made sure that they were all in a safe and secure place at the time the darkness had begun to fall. A letter here, a phone call there, the occasional email and it was easily orchestrated. Doctor Pierce continued to speak.
‘The terraforming process that is occurring outside is completely benign to living creatures, though to enable it to operate effectively, it is necessary to place everything into a state of stasis.’
‘This will last in total for a period of 14 days.’ ‘During this time oxygen, water and nutrients will be delivered via TerraLevel 1.’ ‘This is the process that is connected with the darkness beyond the bunker - that has just reached 100% of successful completion.’ Doctor Pierce has a riveted audience, hanging on to every word and scrap of information that he is offering. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, while the whole world sleeps outside, you are its guardian for the next fourteen days,’ he carries on. ‘This process will be fully automated, it is completely pre-defined.’
‘I must apologise for the initial delays in timing and restoration of lighting, we are investigating the cause of these at present, but we believe them to be routine issues.’
‘Your role in this is to keep watch over the planet. If your intervention is required at any stage, you will receive further instructions, as-per your training.’
He pauses, not for dramatic effect, but to gear up to what is possibly the most worrying part of his speech. ‘And so to the reason for this mission,’ he begins. ‘The entire planet and atmosphere which sustains it has long been in critical danger.’ ‘In short, our planet can sustain life in its existing form for no more than 10 years.’ ‘The Global Confederation has made a radical intervention.’
‘What will occur over the next fourteen days are the essential components required for the reanimation of our planet and its atmosphere.’
‘The process will continue well beyond the fourteen days, but it will remain undetectable by all available instrumentation.’ ‘After the project, your memories will be erased of these events.’
‘The Global Confederation will maintain that recent catastrophes were caused by a series of unexpected solar flares, and although there will be some inevitable casualties, the safety and security of the planet will be reassured for many millennia in the future … if we don’t continue and repeat the mistakes of the past.’
‘As military personnel, you will understand the risks involved in a mission of this scale and the overriding importance of achieving the final objective.’
‘Your individual briefings will be delivered directly to your personal EPads, in the meantime The Global Confederation thanks you for your service in the Genesis 2 project.’
With those final words his face disappears from the screen and the holding image returned. Genesis 2 was underway.
Encryption
Seated at James’ vacant workstation, he had quickly managed to navigate the terminal. This was a standard Consortium config, he had access of course via his own work.
Although only on the periphery of this project, he was party to the basics of the Genesis 2 operation. After all, it was he who had escorted many of these people to the training centre and returned them to their civilian lives, all memories erased. He had never met Pierce personally, but he received his instructions from him via his E-Pad and, of course, he was the very reason he had come to this place. To find out Pierce’s connection with the child. He had basic clearance on the mainframe.
His presence here wouldn’t be flagged either, so long as he didn’t draw attention to himself by trying to access unauthorised areas. He could see too that since the mission briefing, the entire operation had been stepped up a notch. Security, monitoring and surveillance were now significantly increased. TerraLevel 2 was about to begin. Although it was fully automated, it would be monitored around the clock. As Doctor Pierce had said, they were guardians of the entire planet, like parents watching over children as they sleep. He needed to locate Pierce and confront him about the girl. He also wanted to know how this family were connected. Years of work in this field gave him highly tuned senses for this type of operation.
And he smelled a rat. It was only because he was trying to locate the source of Doctor Pierce’s broadcast that he stumbled upon the information that nobody else had thought to check for. He was unable to locate the location of the broadcast but he was sure that it was delivered live and that it was not delivered from within this bunker. Certainly it wasn’t on the same mainframe that the Control Room team were using. It was while he was scanning the source that he noticed an unusual thing.
Two video streams were being served simultaneously, the one that they were all watching was shielding something else, which was heavily encrypted. It was a Trojan Horse system used rarely in Consortium circles, but highly undetectable - mainly because nobody ever looked for it. Hiding in plain sight. Somebody, within this bunker, had just received an encrypted message from Doctor Pierce. A message that they didn’t want anybody else to see.
Terraforming
The terraforming process is a slow one, these environmental ailments cannot be cured instantly. It will take fourteen days for Genesis 2 to breathe new life into the planet. It’s said that it took God seven days to create the earth. Such a work of art is not so easily recreated. First all life forms will be put to sleep.
This regeneration will take place around them and unknown to them. The darkness that surrounds the earth will provide everything that the planet will need to survive.
Over the next fourteen days and nights, that black, impenetrable blanket will change colour and begin to lighten as the complex atmospheric, chemical, geological and biological transformations take place.
Even God would be in awe of this process and might be forgiven for questioning how Man had become so advanced that he was capable of mimicking the power of The Creator.
The terraforming process is a complex one, and it can be used to breathe new life into extinguished planets or light the flame of first life in dead planets.
It can also be used for destructive and selfish outcomes. When God used those powers to create the Earth it was for benevolent purposes, to give Man the opportunity to live in His beautiful garden. Imagine then if those powers were used for evil and how much harm could be unleashed across the surface of the planet.
Contact
It was Nat that I’d seen with Mum! Now I am certain. I don’t know what to think or feel. We’d grieved for Nat for three years, I’d missed her every single day since then. And yet there she was, right in front of me. In the middle of whatever is going on in this bunker. I feel incredibly level-headed considering what’s just happened, and I know that Nat and I must be reunited as soon as possible. The fact that she’s alive has to be connected with the amazing technology in this place, we must be caught up in all this in some way.
But how? Nat seems to be able to move around this place just like I can. And if she’s inside the bunker now, Mum must be here somewhere too. I’ve got to figure out how to get her back from wherever this device took her. And I hope she’s trying to figure out how to get back to me, she had just enough time to see me. I hope she recognised me. Since she disappeared moments ago, I’ve lost that feeling of ‘connection’ again. It’s already dawned on me that this must be hooked into Nat, it must be a ‘twin thing’. Useful though, because I seem to be able to sense when she’s around.
I must have been picking up on her ever since she managed to get through the bunker doors, if she’s definitely below ground now, that timing seems about right. At that moment, an announcement and alert sounds through the transportation area and the corridors outside. It is 8 o’clock, the time of the mission briefing. I curse what’s just happened with Nat and the fact that I’ve got caught here, on Level 4, at the time of the briefing.
I need to run by the second Control Room on the floor above, I left my phone on the workstation there and I want to ask Kate how I can charge it. I want to see the end of Dad’s video too, it might tell me how I can reconnect with Nat.
I rush back to the lift, and return to the 3rd level. The announcement that the briefing is about to begin is sounding throughout both of these lower levels, which nobody else so far seems able to access. They must all be connected in some way if they share the same announcement system. I head back to the Level 3 Operations Centre and make straight for Doctor Pierce’s console. I pick up my phone and it lights up as my hand touches the screen. I check the battery life as it should be dead. It’s fully charged now. How did that happen?