Reunion

by Greg Mutton

  He initialised his connection to the ship’s computer. ‘George,’ he asked, ‘what’s your take on today?’ Earlier he had asked the computer to analyse the information that Dokad had given to try and verify some of it.

  The artificial voice replied. If you take each piece in isolation, it seems just too circumstantial and there is not enough hard evidence to support his hypothesis. But if we analyse it, as he has done, then his conclusion, though seeming far-fetched, is very plausible. If correct, we could be looking at a new war scenario, but who will be at war with whom is still unclear. It is possible that it’s all just Krell politics being played out on a larger field.

  ‘What I don’t get,’ Aaron surmised, ‘is the oblique references to rebellions, supposedly on some coalition colonies and the possibility it’s all organised by one person. There is no indication of who Dokad suspects, which is all very farfetched’.

  Possibly, but the potential for disaster is too great to ignore.

  ‘I concur… now I need some sleep. Can you wake me in four hours?’

  Four hours it is, George replied, as Aaron lay down on the bed.

  7

  JT woke early, dressed and headed down to the kitchen where he made himself a mug of coffee; then he headed out to the lake house.

  It was only 4:30 am — sunrise would be another half hour, and this was his favourite time of day here. With few clouds above he felt certain the sunrise would be spectacular.

  He turned one of the deck chairs to the east and sat down to wait — his thoughts wandering back to last night and dinner. It had been an unusually quiet affair with his father not engaging in much conversation. After Salina excused herself early, his mother had suggested the four men have a port in the library while she supervised the clean-up. They obeyed and were soon ensconced in the large old leather chairs with a good snifter of vintage port.

  John opened the conversation. ‘Mum told me about Aaron’s visit, Dad,’ those words seemed to breach Jeff’s defence. For the rest of the evening they talked around the pending visit.

  ‘Seems like a lifetime since he was here… I wonder, why now?’ Jeff mused. ‘I know we parted badly and all over nothing, as it turned out. I just hope we can sort this out once and for all… I’ve missed having him around and I know his absence has affected you.’

  It had been a huge blow to JT when his uncle left without any explanation. He had just finished his third year at the Academy and came home to the news. It had been especially hard as it was Uncle Aaron who taught young JT most things: how to fish, instilling a fascination for exploring and sparking his interest in ancient automobiles —something he was still passionate about. So great had been his fascination with these ancient things that his father had converted the bedroom next to John’s into a hobby room. In here, the young boy had stored and displayed his passion with cabinets full of models, drawers full of ancient drawings, photos and technical data. But most important of all, there were fully restored videos from that era showing everything from sales advertising to complete racing series. In time it became his sanctum when the world got too difficult for a young boy. Even today, as a grown man, he still maintained the relics whenever he was home.

  The conversation carried on for the next hour before they all decided to retire —still no reason for the years lost — but with hope remaining that all could be put right this weekend.

  JT’s reverie was interrupted as the first rays of the sun broke through the light cloud base. The colours here were fabulous: purple; and pink; through to brilliant red exploded across the canvas of the sky, as the sun rose above the horizon.

  ‘Thought I would find you here,’ his mother’s voice startled him. ‘Ever since you were a little boy you would sneak out here to watch the sunrise.’ She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder, enjoying the morning vista with her son. They both stood in silence.

  ‘I’m glad you’re here this weekend, Johnathan’ Sonia said at last. ‘Your father will need our full support and you being here will help.’ She paused, looking small and vulnerable. ‘Your father has never told me what happened between them but it was so sudden… one minute Aaron was here, the next gone, with no reason or any indication as to why or where. It took me years to track him down but… I think your father knew where he was.’ She straitened and tilted her head to one side, there was something else on her mind.

  ‘And you, Johnathan Thomas Abraham… what excuse do you have for not coming home for so long, and I’m not counting the brief visit a year ago. Also what right did you have to scare twenty years of life out of your mother with that Zyralin Four thing?’ Sonia was back to her full strength. ‘Don’t answer… you will only try to placate me. Just remember, no matter how old you are or how much brass you have hanging off your uniform; I am still your mother!

  JT smiled; he kissed her on the forehead. ‘I’ll try… next time someone attacks us, I’ll tell them that they will have my mother to contend with if any harm comes to me,’ he chuckled. ‘That’ll stop them.’

  ‘Be serious. What sort of mother would I be if I didn’t worry about my children… especially the one who deliberately look’s for trouble?’ She held on to her son, not wanting to lose the contact.

  ‘Ok, mum, I promise to be more careful’. There was no point in arguing, JT knew he would always loose.

  She patted him on the back and turned towards the house, ‘Make sure you do. When you’re ready, we are going to have breakfast at Salina’s this morning… she says she has something special for us.’ JT groaned. Special to his sister usually meant raw seaweed or something equally green and unpalatable.

  Salina’s house was a total contrast to the grandeur of the main house. Some would have called it minimalist, but to JT it was empty. Furnishings were sparse, and strictly functional, no artworks or frivolous decorations, only practical stuff or images of fish and her work to re-populate the oceans.

  Breakfast proved to be delicious with fruit juice, scrambled eggs, bacon and some edible green stuff followed by an excellent pot of coffee.

  ‘Well done Sal. A great improvement on what you usually serve. Have you finally decided to join the human race?’ JT could never pass up a chance to niggle his sister.

  ‘Not really,’ she retorted, ‘I did this for Solomon… at least he’s a gentleman! If it was just you, I could always rustle up some hay.’ The banter went back and forth for a while as they finished their coffee. Salina could be a huge flirt and it seemed that Sol had a target painted on his forehead when she turned to him. ‘So, Solomon,’ she purred ‘what do you want to do today?’

  ‘Well, I was hoping that I could have a look around the compound,’ Sol answered. ‘Looks like the place has changed a lot since I was last here, and in all the times I have been here, I haven’t really seen that much of it. I bet there’s some interesting history to tell, maybe even a skeleton or two.’

  JT groaned. Sol had walked straight into the trap. Talk about a spider and the fly, he thought.

  ‘Solomon, you’re correct. There is a great deal of history.’ One of Sal’s other passions was family history and she never passed up an opportunity to talk about it. She moved her chair closer to him. JT and David were both smirking, but not moving to Sol’s aid.

  Sal continued. ‘Our ancestor, John Thomas the second, acquired this property over six hundred years ago, during the ecological disasters of the early twenty fourth century. The droughts of the late twenty third century finally finished western NSW, and land was virtually worthless. He saw an opportunity and purchased huge parcels of land for almost nothing; acquiring this one because of the old gold mine that occupied the site. If you remember your school history, you will know that times were extreme back then. With famine and violence ruling the world he wanted to provide security for his family and employees.

  ‘During excavations, they found two major things: a very large vein of gold, which eventually paid for all the construction; and an underground aquifer, which is still a source o
f water for the compound today. After these discoveries, he enlarged the underground complex to be capable of housing all of the company’s executive and administrative operations.’ Salina paused and refilled her tea cup.

  JT couldn’t contain himself any longer. ‘Come on, Sal, that’s a bit thin, you should actually read his journals instead of looking at them as some sort of religious relic.’

  ‘And I suppose you have?’ she retorted.

  It was her father who answered. ‘Give your brother some credit, Sal, he has. In fact, I think John is the only person, other than Aaron, who actually has read them.’ Jeff turned to his son, ‘why don’t you elaborate on what your sister has said so far.’

  ‘No worries. The Second, as we know him, was no altruistic philanthropist but rather an astute and ruthless opportunist; in some ways a real skeleton in the closet. Why would he buy land here if he didn’t have some evidence that it would pay off? At that stage, the company didn’t have any agricultural interests or capability but to his credit, he did have the welfare of his employees and family utmost in his heart; but he didn’t want to foot all the bills.

  ‘As Sal said, things were different back then. Taxation was a massive impost, levied at over fifty percent on corporate earnings, plus companies were tasked with providing safe communities for their employees. Given how bad things were back then, this was a massive undertaking. As an aside, this was the same time that the Coalition Council relinquished control of Earth to the local authorities; further aggravating the situation. But, the Second was shrewd: by buying all the land and constructing the bunker, he received huge tax concessions from the new Earth Terrestrial Government; and the gold find wasn’t reported until many years later.’

  ‘OK, so he wasn’t perfect,’ interjected Salina, ‘but he did look after anyone he employed. The bunker was an example of that, where everything they would need… fuel, food and other logistics… was all there. The only problem, by the time it was completed, things had settled down.’ Salina paused, looking to her brother for any more interruptions. He said nothing, so she continued.

  ‘That’s not to say everything was ok… far from it. Five billion people had died in the ecological disasters and the Earth had changed. Most of the northern hemisphere was either covered by several metres of ice and snow or was sub-arctic, so something needed to be done. Fortunately, the exodus project was already under way. The only real obstacle was all the space junk making it almost impossible for the exodus ships to navigate out of the atmosphere. As they say though, one man’s garbage is another’s gold and the space junk was just that. The Second seized the opportunity and Abracorp Salvage began, charging a token fee per item removed.’ She paused and looked at her brothers, as if challenging them to contradict her.

  Again JT interrupted. ‘Close, but not entirely accurate; yes, the fee was a token, but the real profit was in the salvage. The company kept the garbage and recycled it; do you have any idea of the value of the rare metals used in those old satellites? The story goes, there was some resistance from the military… secrets and all that… but it was short lived as the survival of the human race depended on completing this task with a degree of urgency. But it gets better. It was Abracorp Construction who was building the exodus ships, as they were called, and all the while The Second knew that they wouldn’t get past the debris field. He said nothing until it was almost too late, then, true to form, he had the solution and Abracorp Salvage was born. With that one contract it became the most profitable arm of the company for many years.’

  JT turned back to his sister, ‘You got any more?’

  She paused to take another sip of tea, glaring at her brother. ‘I’ll just fill in the last bits. Unfortunately, with the exodus under way the problems faced on Earth became less important. The violence stopped and a period of peace began. The huge underground bunker he had just completed was suddenly a bit of a white elephant. Nobody really wanted to live and work underground unless it was absolutely necessary. The bunker, or The Second’s Folly, as we call it, was abandoned and the first part of the existing house was built. He did, however, incorporate the entrances to the bunker into the construction, just in case!’ Sal paused to take a sip from her tea cup.

  ‘The main house has been built over subsequent generations, each one adding something new. Part of the original construction, the ground floor, is now company offices, housing most of the on-world personnel. Our great grandfather, John Thomas the third, reopened the bunker and after more than two hundred years, people again trod its passageways. Our Grandfather started a restoration program so that history could be preserved and Dad has continued the process. The long term goal is to integrate some of these areas back into the company operations above and turn the rest into a museum.’

  “Thanks for the history lesson, teach,’ JT chuckled ‘but I think Sol would rather see it for himself.’ The three young men rose, Sol giving JT a look of gratitude at the reprieve from his sister.

  Jeff stopped them, for a moment. ‘OK, but remember, there’s construction happening on the first two levels and we still have to certify below level six — the site manager will meet you and ensure you don’t go off exploring. I’m serious about this, we can’t risk anyone haring about on their own — do you hear me? Stay above level six.’

  JT knew that his father must have his reasons, so reluctantly he agreed.

  Just then the face of Ajay, Jeff’s PA, appeared on the comm screen on the far wall, Mr Abraham… you have a call on your personal line.

  ‘Ok. I’ll be about five minutes.’ Jeff replied and rose from the table. ‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he said as he left the room.

  ***

  The first stop for David, Sol and JT was the safety office. They needed hard hats, eye protection and overalls to enter the construction site. Once they had these, they entered the old elevator located in the centre of the administration office on the ground floor of the house. This had been here as long as the building but had been painstakingly restored and was now fully operational. As the doors closed, JT pointed to the panel of buttons on the wall.

  ‘Notice the markings,’ he said. The panel had two rows of buttons on one side and an emergency stop button and intercom on the other. The buttons on the two rows were marked B1, B2 and SB1 to SB12 in sequence.

  ‘B1 and B2 are the basement levels just below us. The SB stands for Security Bunker and the level number, as I understand.’ David explained, ‘The normal basement levels are company administration, and an ever decreasing area for us. Things like the wine cellar and storage are on B2 while B1 is now totally over to administration. The SB levels start thirty metres below B2, but you can’t access them without one of these,' he paused while producing an old key. ‘In the old days, there would also be other security measures and even armed guards… I can’t imagine what it was like to live back then.’

  He turned the key and pressed the button marked SB1 and the lift started to descend.

  ‘We’ve retained the keys, for historic reasons… Dad wants to open this up to allow students to see, first-hand, what things were like back then — sort of like a Time Capsule.

  It took the old lift nearly a minute to reach the first bunker level where they donned their eye protection and helmets before exiting. What was before them was a large foyer that was in the throes of some major refurbishment — the goal being to reconstruct exactly what was originally there.

  A figure approached them. ‘Gentlemen, Graham Rogers, site supervisor. Mr Abraham senior called down and asked if I could show you around.’ They shook hands and Rogers pointed to the wall behind them. ‘There are another five lifts like the one you came in. Unfortunately not all are working as yet, but we will get them back. If you follow me, I’ll start the tour.’

  He led the way to the far end of the room. Before them was a long ramp heading to the surface. ‘We drove this drift so we could bring in equipment and material more easily; the original had caved in, but we will eventually reinstate it and fi
ll this one in when we finish. Now, a quick view of what we know and what we think is here. Levels one and two are essentially common and assembly areas, levels three and four are marked as administration on the old maps we have. Levels five and six are living quarters and, up to this time, as far as we have certified.

  ‘We have had some exploration of lower levels, but we can’t be certain if the schematics are correct; eventually we will generate a complete plan. We think levels seven and eight were set up as a garage and hangar to store ground vehicles and aircraft; we haven’t got to opening anything that far down, so we can’t be certain. One major issue is level nine. Designated as armaments and ammunition, the schematic shows details of blast doors and a complex vent system. We assume this would operate in the event of an explosion, to minimise any damage, but we still don’t know for sure. Unfortunately, we don’t have any real detail of what is stored in there or what security measures are in place, it’s totally off limits for now.’

  JT spoke up. ‘I might be able to help! I have all of the Second’s journals and I’m sure I read some references to what you need. I’ll have a look when we get back.’

  Rogers smiled. ‘That’d be great; we need any help we can get. If you think about it, the mansion above could be sitting on a huge time bomb, especially as we believe there’s an old fusion reactor on level ten or eleven.’

  The next three hours passed very quickly. Even David, who spent a lot of time on the project finances, was impressed the scale of the complex, and he now fully grasped the work needed.

  ‘There’s nowhere on Earth that has all this, at least nowhere we can access. There would be some in the north but it is still under many metres of ice. We owe it to our children and their children to preserve it as it was.’