by Mark Walden
‘I have only one question that I would like to ask each of you. Where exactly did you think you were going? What promised land lay beyond the walls of this school that you were so desperate to escape to? Miss Trinity, you perhaps wanted to return to your life of pilfering gaudy baubles? An utter waste of your considerable talent, incidentally. Mr Fanchu, what exactly did you think your father would do when you returned? Greet you with open arms, perhaps? Or just send you straight back here, the place which he has apparently chosen for you?’
Shelby and Wing looked miserable. Otto supposed that neither of them had really given much thought to what the future held for them – they had all been too focused on the immediate challenges of their plan to escape.
‘My parents didn’t send me here,’ Laura snapped angrily. ‘You abducted me and you’re holding me here against my will. I guarantee you that they want me back.’
‘Really, Miss Brand?’ Nero looked her straight in the eye. ‘They seemed quite keen to send you here when they were faced with the alternative. Your intrusion into a military network did not go as unnoticed as you might believe. In fact, if you weren’t here you’d be spending the next twenty years in a high-security prison because of what you did. Indeed, law enforcement agents were on their way to arrest you when you were retrieved by my operatives. Faced with the choice of you suffering that unpleasant fate or being protected and educated at H.I.V.E., your parents seemed to make a decision quite quickly. We took you with their blessing.’
Laura looked shocked and then horrified as Nero spoke.
‘Perhaps,’ Nero continued, ‘you would like to spend the rest of your life on the run from military intelligence, always knowing that if they ever find you they’ll lock you up and throw away the key. On the other hand, of course, you can finish your education at H.I.V.E. and I will personally ensure that the search for Laura Brand is abandoned for good. The choice is yours.’
Nero walked on, leaving Laura now looking confused and upset. He stopped in front of Otto.
‘And you, Mr Malpense, the mastermind behind this little jaunt. What shall we do with you? You seem desperately keen to return to your previous life, but again I have to ask you why? You would give up everything that H.I.V.E. has to offer you for the chance to return to a dilapidated orphanage and, no doubt, a life of petty crime. In fact, I think I find your reluctance to embrace your new life here hardest to understand of all.’
Despite his anger and frustration Otto realised that Nero’s words echoed exactly the voices in the back of his own mind that he had been trying so hard to ignore. What exactly did he have to go back to?
‘Your plan was ingenious, though, I’ll give you that. You surprised me with your persistence, and I must admit that I had not foreseen your ability to persuade H.I.V.E.mind to go along with your scheme. Do not misunderstand me, I had no doubt that you would make it this far. We had, after all, given you just the right motivation. It was so careless of the Professor to leave the base’s blueprints on his desk like that, especially around a student with an uncannily accurate photographic memory. A shame, then, that those blueprints just happened to include a submarine docking facility that did not exist. How could such a glaring error be possible, I wonder?’
‘We could have crippled H.I.V.E. Why would you let us do that?’ Otto asked, looking Nero straight in the eye. Even now he refused to be intimidated by the man standing before him. ‘Oh, you mean your EMP device. Yes, that would have been quite catastrophic if you had triggered it. Or should I say, if you’d tried to trigger it. Professor Pike informs me that it would have worked extremely well, which is why I had it switched for a nonfunctional replica while you were in classes yesterday. So you see, there was never any real risk to this facility, despite what you might have believed.’
Otto had to face it. For the first time in his life someone had outwitted him, and it was not a pleasant feeling.
‘I allowed you to get this far for one reason – I want all of you to understand the futility of trying to leave H.I.V.E. without permission. I knew full well that it was pointless only to tell you that – you had to see it for yourselves. Every few years a group of students attempts to leave using one route or another, and every time the result is the same. I trust that this particular lesson has not been lost on any of you?’ Nero smiled again. ‘Raven, would you be so good as to escort Miss Trinity and Miss Brand back to their accommodation block? I shall follow with Mr Fanchu and Mr Malpense, but we shall need to go via the infirmary to get that wrist treated.’ He gestured towards Wing, who still clutched his injured wrist protectively. ‘I suggest that you all try to get used to the idea that you’re not going anywhere. H.I.V.E. is your home now, and the sooner you accept that, the better.’
Ms Gonzales peered nervously through the window of her office. All of the lights in the dome had gone out and the only camera that was still working was the one in the corner of the room in which she now stood. There were still occasional crashing noises from the darkness outside, and she could have sworn that she’d seen something moving in the dense foliage, but it was hard to make out any details in the gloom.
Suddenly there was a scratching noise from the door, making her jump. Slowly she backed away as the noise grew louder and the door began to inch open. Without warning a bright light flashed on, blinding her momentarily.
‘Ms Gonzales?’ It was a security guard with a torch, his sleeper unholstered and a nervous look on his face. ‘Ms Gonzales, sorry we took so long to get to you, but all the dome’s doors were jammed and forcing them all on the way in slowed us down.’
‘Don’t worry,’ she replied. ‘I’m just glad you’re here, there’s definitely someone out there.’ She gestured to the darkened window that looked out on to the dome’s interior. ‘More than one person actually, judging by the amount of noise they’ve been making.’
‘We’ll find them, miss, whoever they are,’ the guard replied. She noticed then that there were several more guards in the darkened corridor behind him.
‘Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave you to it and head back to my quarters.’
‘Certainly, miss, I’ll let you know what we turn up.’ The guard stepped aside to let her through the door. She nodded politely to the assembled guards and set off past them towards the dome exit. As she walked away she overheard the guards talking.
‘Definitely more than one hostile – motion tracker’s going haywire.’
‘Let me see that . . . gotta be a glitch, looks like a whole squad moving around in there. Come on, let’s go take a look.’
Ms Gonzales hurried towards the exit, glad that it was the security guards investigating these mysterious intruders and not her. She was only a few yards from the exit when the shooting began, the familiar zapping sound of the sleepers ringing out again and again. Then the screaming started, mixed in with the sounds of gunfire, the shots coming more and more infrequently until the dome fell eerily silent. She hurried to the door and reached for the handle, just as a blood-curdling, hissing roar came from the darkness behind her. She flung the door open and ran from the dome, not looking back.
‘Team six, report in.’ The chief of security sounded uncharacteristically worried. ‘Report in!’
‘I’ve checked again, sir. There’s no problem with the comm system, they should be receiving us loud and clear.’
The chief paced around the security control centre, looking at the array of monitors in front of him. He didn’t like this. First one of his teams had been sent on a wild goose chase after a phantom intruder in the Tech labs, and now he’d lost contact with the team he’d sent down to investigate the disturbance in the hydroponics dome. Just to add to his confusion they appeared to have completely lost contact with H.I.V.E.mind. The AI had not responded to any queries for the past ten minutes.
‘Where are team eight?’ the chief asked, still scanning the monitors.
‘They’re two minutes from the hydroponics facility, sir. They should be reporting in sh
ortly,’ the guard beside him replied.
‘I want a full report from them when they get there, and tell Monroe to proceed with caution until we know what’s happened to team six.’
He really didn’t like this.
Otto and Wing walked along the corridor towards the infirmary. Nero walked a few metres behind them, making it impossible for them to converse freely. Judging by the miserable look on his face Wing was not feeling particularly talkative anyway. Otto knew how he felt. There was a bleeping sound from behind them and the two boys stopped walking as Nero retrieved his Blackbox from the inside pocket of his jacket.
‘Yes, chief. What is it?’ Nero asked, looking at the screen.
‘There’s something funny going on in the hydroponics facility, sir. Ms Gonzales reported intruders and we’ve lost contact with the first security detail that I sent to investigate.’
‘Intruders? Has the external security grid been compromised?’ Nero asked, his brow furrowing.
‘No, sir, that’s the odd thing. There’s no sign that anyone has breached external security – whoever’s in there they came from inside H.I.V.E. I’ve tried to get more information from H.I.V.E.mind but he’s not responding.’
‘I’m afraid that H.I.V.E.mind’s higher functions are temporarily offline at the moment, chief.’ Nero shot a glance at Otto. ‘You wouldn’t by any chance have anything to do with this, would you, Mr Malpense?’
‘No,’ Otto replied honestly, curious to know what was going on.
‘Hmm. Very well, Chief, proceed with caution and keep me updated.’ Nero looked worried for the first time since Otto had come to H.I.V.E. He snapped the Black-box shut and looked at the two boys. ‘You two are coming with me to the hydroponics cavern, and if I find out that this had anything to do with you, I will not be happy, believe me.’
Security team eight hurried down the corridor towards the hydroponics cavern, with still no word from team six. Suddenly, from around a bend in the corridor, Ms Gonzales came running towards them, a terrified look on her face. It took a minute to calm her down and get the story of what had happened to team six out of her, but when she told them what she had seen and heard Monroe, the squad leader, immediately contacted the chief.
‘Slow down, Monroe. What exactly did she say?’ the chief asked, his shrunken face frowning on the screen of Monroe’s Blackbox.
‘She said that she heard firing, but that the firing stopped after a few seconds, and then she heard something roar.’ Monroe had trouble keeping the nervousness from his voice.
‘What, like an animal?’ the chief asked, sounding slightly exasperated.
‘She says it didn’t sound human sir,’ Monroe replied.
‘And there’s no sign of team six?’
‘No, sir . . . if we’re going in there, I’d like to request permission to crack open one of the conventional weapon lockers. It doesn’t sound like sleepers did much good.’
The chief thought for a moment and then nodded. ‘Very well, Monroe. I’ll open the locker at the end of the corridor you’re in now. Just make sure that your men don’t get trigger happy. If it is students messing around in there I don’t want anyone shooting first and asking questions later. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Crystal, sir. I’ll report back in when we get to the dome. Monroe out.’
Thirty metres further down the corridor a panel slid open in the wall. Inside the recess that was revealed, a dozen assault rifles sat neatly mounted in a rack. Monroe handed them to his men one by one.
‘OK, safeties on and fingers outside the trigger guards until I say otherwise. If you do have to fire, be sure of what you’re shooting at.’
Monroe’s men looked nervous – he knew how they felt.
Nero strode out on to the walkway suspended from the cavern wall and looked down on the darkened hydroponics dome far below. Otto and Wing moved to the railing at the edge of the platform and looked down too, just in time to see a dozen security guards jogging across the cavern floor towards the dome.
‘Those aren’t sleepers,’ Wing said, one eyebrow raised.
Otto looked more closely and immediately saw that Wing was right. The guards were carrying rifles, their sleepers holstered on their hips. Whatever was going on down there it was obviously serious. A few moments later the guards had reached the door of the dome and appeared to be readying their weapons before heading inside. Otto noted the look of concern on Nero’s face again – this was clearly not part of H.I.V.E.’s usual routine.
The guards disappeared through the door one by one, their flashlights visible through the glass of the dome. Suddenly the light that had been in the lead winked out and all hell broke loose. All of the guards started firing at once, the loud reports of their rifles echoing around the cavern. A guard ran back out of the door and across the cavern floor, dropping his rifle as he fled. Another guard soon followed and then two more, all running across the cavern floor as if their lives depended upon it. The cavern fell silent. No more shots rang out, nor was there any sign of the other members of the security team. Nero flipped his Blackbox open.
‘Chief, what the hell is going on down there?’ Nero demanded.
‘As soon as I know, you will, sir,’ the chief replied. In the background Otto could hear people yelling.
Suddenly there was an enormous bang and the whole hydroponics dome seemed to shudder. Otto strained to see anything inside the darkened dome, but while he thought he could see movement within he couldn’t make out any details. Again a thunderous bang echoed around the cavern and this time the glass at the top of the dome cracked in a spiderweb pattern. Otto’s eyes widened in surprise. The glass was an inch thick and supposedly unbreakable. Whatever was hitting it had to be striking with enormous force.
The cavern was filled with a screeching roar and the roof of the dome exploded in a shower of countless shards. Rising from the shattered dome was a monstrous head, which, while swollen and hideously mutated, was instantly recognisable. Wing and Otto looked at each other in astonishment, speaking a single word simultaneously.
‘Violet!’
There was little similarity to the tiny plant they had seen just a few hours earlier. Her head was the size of a truck, and her mouth was filled with jagged teeth the size of traffic cones, all supported on a long flexible neck thicker than a giant redwood tree. Green slime dripped from her gaping maw as she roared again, shaking the platform that they were standing on. The enormous head swayed from side to side, teeth gnashing at the air as two of the remaining guards opened fire on her with their rifles. They might as well have been using pea-shooters.
‘Chief! Get your men out of that cavern now. We have a serious problem,’ Nero snapped, turning his Blackbox and pointing the tiny camera at the monstrous creature below.
‘Good God!’ they heard the chief gasp. ‘All teams pull back now! Unlock all conventional weapon lockers around that cavern – I want flamethrowers and rocket launchers on that walkway now!’
Nero, Otto and Wing were safe on the walkway for now; they were at least fifty metres above the creature’s head. As Otto watched in horrified fascination he could actually see the monster growing. Long tendrils covered in vicious thorns and suckers snaked out of the ruins of the dome, spreading across the cavern floor at terrifying speed.
Nero turned to face Otto and Wing, his face furious.
‘What have you done, Malpense? What is that thing?’ he demanded.
Otto shook his head. ‘I know you probably won’t believe me, but we had nothing to do with this.’
‘Then perhaps you can explain why you both seem to recognise that monstrosity.’ Otto had never heard Nero raise his voice before.
‘Because Nigel showed it to us yesterday, but it was only six inches high then,’ Otto replied, hoping that he wasn’t condemning his green-fingered friend to a terrible fate at Nero’s hands.
‘Darkdoom? Darkdoom did this?’ Nero was visibly surprised. He placed a hand on his forehead, rubbing his temples. ‘Oh,
why is it always the bald ones?’
.
Chapter Fifteen
Raven watched the two girls walk into their room and the door shut behind them. Although she didn’t always agree with Nero on the way in which he dealt with these escape attempts, she’d learnt a long time ago that it was best not to question his motives too closely. She also regretted having to hurt the Fanchu boy, but she had seen what he was capable of during the confrontation with the two older boys in the corridor the day before, and she had known that she had to finish the fight before it even started. He would at least heal, which was more than she could say for most of the opponents she had faced.
Now she made her way across the atrium of the accommodation block and through the exit, heading for her own quarters. With Malpense safely in Nero’s hands she was intending to try and get some sleep. Thanks to the fact she had had to follow them through every step of their escape attempt she had not slept in nearly twenty-four hours and, while her reserves of stamina were nearly limitless when the situation called for it, she still needed to rest occasionally, just like everyone else.
Suddenly the Blackbox in the pouch on her belt started to vibrate; she pulled it out and flipped it open. Nero looked back at her from the screen. The look of genuine concern on his face immediately set alarm bells ringing in her skull.
‘Raven, I need you on the walkway overlooking the hydroponics cavern right away.’ He could not hide the note of anxiety in his voice. In the background she heard an eerie screeching roar.
‘What’s happening, Doctor?’ she asked urgently.
‘I think you need to see this for yourself,’ he replied, looking at something to his left, out of the camera’s field of view.