2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (34 page)

‘And are you?’ Hilt said.

‘What?’

‘Insane?’

Goodwin hesitated and looked at his wrist. The red rash from the crystal bracelet had faded.
Does that mean I’m free of whatever was controlling me?
Or was it all in my mind all along?
The answers remained as elusive as ever.
But I was right about the lake
, he reminded himself,
and there was a way to the surface.

‘Sir?’ Hilt said in concern.

‘I wasn’t myself,’ Goodwin said, ‘I put people’s lives at risk, and …’ – he looked at Captain Winter – ‘people died.’

‘They weren’t the first,’ Hilt said, ‘and they won’t be the last. Leadership comes with many burdens, you know that – we
both
know that.’

‘But what if my actions weren’t my own?’

Hilt considered him with impassive eyes.

The silence dragged on and Goodwin felt compelled to speak. ‘Joseph was being controlled by the lights, the entity. He attacked me and then Rebecca. The blue crystals didn’t attract the lights, the lights – the Pharos – used the crystals to control us, to control Joseph, Susan … me.’

‘You?’ Hilt said.

‘Maybe.’ Goodwin shook his head. ‘I don’t know, perhaps. I saw things, visions, things that couldn’t be explained. Coincidences, amazing coincidences.’ Goodwin wanted to tell Hilt about the things he’d seen in the Anakim Sphinx, about the biblical passages that linked this most ancient of races with one of humanity’s most precious texts, the Judeo-Christian Bible. But even as he thought it, his crippling doubts returned.
Have I imagined it all? Have I lost my mind? Am I still me?

‘He was quoting scripture,’ said a woman’s voice.

They all turned round to see Dr. Kara Vandervoort moving through the Darklight ranks with a number of civilians in tow.

Goodwin looked at Kara. She looked as beautiful as ever, relaxed even, the weight of command taken in her stride.

She walked forward and stopped in front of him.

Their last meeting had been intense, with harsh words spoken and trust lost on both sides. He still loved her, of course – he couldn’t turn off such emotions easily – but his thoughts turned to Rebecca and he knew his heart had been divided. Kara had known it, too, perhaps before Goodwin himself. And yet while Rebecca was gone, the problem remained.

He gazed into Kara’s eyes, searching for that lost connection, wondering if their union could – or should – be resurrected.

‘Rebecca and Joseph,’ Kara said in her South African drawl, ‘did they …?’

Goodwin shook his head, the heartbreak hitting home anew.

‘Oh, Richard,’ – she touched his cheek – ‘you’ve been so lost.’ She pulled him to her.

He held her in a lingering embrace and the tension between them melted away.

When the moment had passed, Kara pulled away and bent down to speak in low soothing tones to Susan. She called a medic to her and they tried to lead the mentally-handicapped woman away, but Susan refused to leave Goodwin’s side.

‘You were quoting scripture?’ Hilt said, keeping his tone neutral.

Goodwin couldn’t tell what the Darklight leader was thinking, but he could hazard a guess.

‘I heard what you said to Sarah’s friends,’ Hilt continued, when Goodwin failed to answer. ‘I saw your message. Genesis; what does it mean?’

Goodwin held Hilt’s gaze for a moment before turning to Kara. ‘Do you know how long it is since the tower last activated?’

‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘Monitors at the camp said over the last twenty-four hours it was discharging energy every thirty minutes.

Goodwin nodded. ‘It won’t be long then.’

‘For what?’

‘To see if I was right.’

‘Right about what?’

‘About the Pharos – the lights – what they wanted.’

‘You figured it out?’ Kara said, shocked. ‘How?’

Goodwin looked towards the city. ‘Does it matter?’

‘Of course it matters!’

‘You’d think; but if I’m right, none of it matters anymore. I thought I’d found a way back to the surface – for all of us – but it wasn’t what I thought it was. But when I saw it … I knew.’

‘Richard,’ Kara said, exasperated, ‘knew what? What did you see?’

‘You’ll think I’m crazy.’

‘You won’t know until you tell us,’ Captain Winter said.

Goodwin looked at Hilt, who gave him a nod of encouragement.

‘There was another frieze in the sphinx,’ Goodwin said, relenting, ‘similar to the one we found in the city. It showed the night sky, full of constellations. And beneath that was the Earth.’ He paused to gather his thoughts. When he looked at it now, afresh, the links seemed more tenuous.

‘Go on,’ Kara said.

‘It was an image of the heavens and earth. But when Sarah activated the Anakim device—’

‘The woman from the base?’ Kara said.

‘Yes, when she activated it, I could see something at its centre … a void.’

Hilt nodded. ‘I saw it, too.’

‘It was like molten metal, shimmering like water, and I could see the Anakim’s silver statue, their God, reflecting in its surface.’

A rumble of thunder echoed through the chamber and everyone turned to the city, which still glowed bright with power.

The winds grew stronger and rippled their clothing with invisible fingers, and lightning flickered over the city’s central, and tallest, spire. Clouds gathered, forming into a giant storm cell that circled the Anakim metropolis.

‘It’s happening,’ Goodwin said.

‘What’s happening?’ Kara looked at him. ‘What have you seen, Richard? Tell us.’

‘Genesis,’ Goodwin said, as a build-up of purple energy swirled around the tower’s base. ‘Chapter one, verse one. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”’

Bolts of lightning hammered down into the city.

‘Verse two,’ Goodwin said, raising his voice as the tempest increased in volume. ‘“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep—”’

Goodwin moved forward into roaring winds and pointed towards the city. A swirl of energy spiralled up the tallest tower and a single orb of pure, radiant light appeared at its peak and floated through the air towards the chamber’s highest vaults. The sphere of energy disappeared into the clouds before it impacted the ceiling and flowed outwards like a sea of sparkling jewels.

‘“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters!”’ Goodwin said.

The air in the chamber was sucked into the city with a great whoosh of noise. The ground shook beneath their feet and more lightning lanced down.

‘Verse three!’ Goodwin raised his hands to the heavens. ‘“AND GOD SAID!!”’

A shockwave exploded from the city and an endless blast of power erupted up from every spire. The stored energy roared forth, igniting the ceiling with a mass of seething electricity. With a tremendous flash, Sanctuary’s dormant ceiling blazed into life. Light streamed out and a wall of energy swept through the chamber and down into the tunnels beneath. Down and down the electricity spread, increasing in speed as it flooded the pitch-black depths with a blazing radiance. Ancient monuments and buildings, hidden for untold millennia, emerged from the gloom beneath the racing brilliance.

Darklight and Terra Force soldiers alike paused to gaze up as the phenomenon streaked past like the essence of life. Tunnels, chambers and long forgotten caves, none were immune to the ceiling’s power. Light filled Sanctuary’s endless halls like time immemorial in an unstoppable, expanding wave.

Goodwin shielded his eyes as the city flared brighter before the towers’ luminance faded and the final stream of energy released into the heavens.

Hilt and Captain Winter moved to his side to look up at the storm of electricity that continued to unfold above. Thunder rumbled and the howling gale died back to a strong breeze as dark clouds flowed out into a white blanket.

Goodwin couldn’t quite believe his eyes. He’d been proven right once more.
And yet
, he thought,
did I really figure out the entity’s motive, its end game, or did it implant the idea in my mind, leaving clues for me to find?

As he struggled with the concept, Kara came to stand by his side and her fingers slid between his as they clasped hands.

He looked down at her before looking back at the chamber’s ceiling and the clearing clouds. Blue skies peeked out through the haze and the glare of a yellow sphere bathed them in its warm, shimmering glow.

‘Genesis,’ Kara said, awestruck.

Goodwin couldn’t prevent a smile from breaking through his depressive mask. ‘“And God said”,’ he whispered, drinking in the sight of the Anakim sun, ‘“let there … be light.”’

Chapter Sixty Two

Blinding light and the rush of air died away to a pitch-black calm. The silence was deafening, but out of the quiet the sound of dripping water could be heard plip-plopping with an audible echo through a concealed space.

Sarah opened her eyes and groaned. The heat from her pendant faded to a dull ache and she reached out a hand in search of her friends. Pain-filled moments passed, but her fingers found nothing except a cold, flat surface.

Time had no meaning in the dark and Sarah’s consciousness slipped in … and then out … of existence. In with pain … and then back out with relief.

In this twilight state, strange images returned to haunt her and she drifted inside the clutches of delirium.

♦

The sound of drip … drip … dripping water told Sarah she’d returned to her waking dream. She opened her sand-dry mouth to speak, but she could only manage to emit a faint croak of noise.
I’m alive
, was the first thought that worked its way into her battered psyche. By all rights, she shouldn’t have been. Before they’d activated the transportation device she’d been knocking, perhaps hammering, at death’s door. If even a hint of her body’s bioelectricity had been removed she would have died.
So how, then
, she thought,
did I survive?

Perhaps you didn’t,
said
another voice inside her head.
Perhaps you’re dead.

Sarah closed her eyes against the all-consuming dark.
How can I be dead? I’m in too much pain.

Perhaps you’re in hell
, said the voice,
perhaps you’re destined to live an eternity alone in endless suffering
.

The thought sent a shock of panic racing through her mind.

Where am I?
The thought echoed through her head.
WHERE AM I?!

The trickle of falling water continued to conduct its monotonous rhythm and Sarah felt herself slipping back into darkness.

Chapter Sixty Three

‘Trish!’ Jason said. ‘Sarah! Where are you!?’

‘Where are you?’ said the distant echo. ‘Are you … you … you … you … ou … ou?’

Moving his head, Jason angled the torches on his Deep Reach helmet around the cave system he now occupied. He glanced back down at the stone platform on which he’d been deposited by the Anakim transportation device.

That the rectangular stone was not ceramic told him something was different. And that Sarah and Trish were nowhere to be seen, told him something had gone very, very wrong.

You’re alive, aren’t you?
he asked himself.
Surely that’s better than where you were?
His response was swift:
Not if I’m alone and trapped!

Bombarded by unwanted thoughts, Jason adjusted the visor on his helmet and approached the edge of the large square structure on which the platform sat. It was ten feet to the ground, so he lowered himself over the edge to hang down and let go.

He landed on his injured ankle and cried out in pain as he collapsed to the floor. In agony, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the cave’s gloomy ceiling. ‘FUCK!’

‘Fuck … fuck … uck … uck … ck,’ said the echo.

‘Jason?’ a voice said.

He peered up from his prone position to see the upside down figure of Trish emerge from the dark.

He sat up and turned towards her in relief.

She rushed to his side and embraced him. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ she said, anxious.

‘She wasn’t with you?’

Trish shook her head. ‘I woke up on a stone plinth a hundred yards that way.’ She pointed back the way she’d come.

Neither voiced their deepest fear that Sarah might not have survived the journey.

‘The device must have separated us for some reason,’ Jason said. ‘If we’re both here, she must be close. Come on.’ He struggled up and hobbled forward to go in search of their lost companion.

After a few minutes of walking they rounded another bend in the rock formation to enter a narrow passage. Up ahead the ceiling had collapsed, but a small opening at the top of a steep mound of dusty earth gave them the opportunity to keep moving forward. Jason scrambled up and wormed his way through. He slid down the other side and Trish joined him moments later.

A metallic dampness permeated the air and Jason licked his dry lips as they surveyed the scene by the light of their helmet torches.

Trish pointed to the left. ‘There!’ she said, and sprinted forward.

Jason chased after her as best he could and soon found himself kneeling down beside a glistening ceramic platform and its single occupant.

Sarah lay on the pale surface of the transportation device, unmoving. Her chest remained scarred with congealed blood and her palms were a bloody mess.

Trish leaned in to listen for a sign of life.

‘Is she …’ Jason felt his stomach clench tight and he reached out to feel for a pulse, ‘alive?’

♦

Sarah opened her eyes to blinding light. She blinked against the glare. The intensity of the radiance shimmered and pulsed like an ethereal being. Gradually the outline of a blurred figure emerged from the white and she reached out to it.

‘Mother,’ she whispered.

‘Sarah, can you hear me?’

The voice sparked recollection and Sarah fought for clarity. ‘Trish?’ she said, through cracked lips.