The Suicide Exhibition: The Never War (Never War 1) (45 page)

One set of the photographs that Davenport had taken inside the Vril base were pinned up on the conference room wall alongside the map of North Africa. A duplicate set was on the table in front of them. Miss Manners had supervised getting them developed by MI5, who had made a pretty good job of clarifying the vague, dark smudges. In some of them, the detail was discernible. A blurred lightshow constituted the only decent shot of the UDT.

‘We didn’t learn much,’ Guy confessed.

‘Except that the Desert Air Force can’t court martial a civilian for borrowing one of their planes, apparently,’ Davenport said, grinning at Sarah across the table.

‘I’d have named you as an accessory,’ she told him.

‘At least we got another bracelet,’ Guy said.

As he spoke, the door opened to admit Elizabeth Archer and Sergeant Green. Mrs Archer sat down and tossed something onto the table.

‘You mean this?’

The bracelet spun to a halt in front of Guy.

‘It’s useless,’ she said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Maybe it’s damaged. Or maybe it never worked. But it doesn’t react like the other one to radio impulses. In fact, the whole construction is rather less robust.’

‘Is that important?’ Brinkman asked.

Mrs Archer shrugged. ‘Possibly. Who knows.’

‘I’ve just taken a call from Dr Wiles, sir,’ Green said to Brinkman. ‘He’s still receiving UDT transmissions from the Y Stations. And Fighter Command tracked another one this morning.’

‘You said there are likely to be other bases,’ Sarah pointed out.

‘Yes, miss,’ Green said. ‘But according to Wiles, the traffic and sightings haven’t diminished. If anything, they’ve increased.’

‘So what was that place?’ Guy said. ‘If we haven’t set them back…’

Davenport cleared his throat. ‘I do have an observation,’ he said. ‘But you’re not going to like it.’

They all watched as he spread the duplicate set of photographs across the table.

‘It struck me at the time that there was something amiss, but we were rather too busy for me to dwell on it. I think Guy was worried too.’

‘Go on,’ Brinkman prompted.

‘Well, it just seemed rather neat, that’s all. Everything laid out ready for us to find. A central passageway. No traps or defences as such, not like in France or at the site in Suffolk.’

‘Until we got trapped in that final chamber and the whole place blew up, you mean,’ Guy pointed out.

‘True. But until then, it wasn’t set out like a military base, was it? The whole place seemed to be arranged for our benefit, not for the Vril. I mean, why was their chamber so far from the main entrance if they wanted to get out? Come to that, why come out at all – why not wait inside for us?’

‘That would make more military sense,’ Guy agreed.

‘They don’t think like we do,’ Miss Manners said. ‘Who knows what purpose they had.’

‘Bear with me,’ Davenport said. ‘But think about it, Guy – that whole place seemed to be leading us to the UDT. To the most impressive sight of all, right at the end. Behind a screen of hanging mesh, waiting to be revealed, and with no obvious
way for it to be flown out.’ He picked up the indistinct photo of the UDT. ‘I know some of you think I live my life like it’s a film anyway, but this really was like a film set, or a theatrical display. Not practical, but spectacular.’

‘But what would be the point?’ Sarah asked.

‘Ah, now there you have me.’

There was silence for several moments, then Miss Manners said: ‘Tell us again about when you were locked in, how you opened the door.’

Guy described what had happened and how they had escaped.

‘Is it just me, or does that sound rather like some sort of initiative test?’ Miss Manners asked.

‘As if the Vril were assessing you,’ Mrs Archer agreed. ‘Yes, that would make sense. In fact…’ She and Miss Manners were staring across the table at each other. ‘It all makes sense then, doesn’t it.’

‘Not to me,’ Brinkman said.

‘They were testing us all along,’ Miss Manners told him. ‘You said that Streicher and his men hadn’t disturbed anything. That’s because it was all ready for
you
to find. Then they wanted to know if having found it you could solve the puzzle and escape again. Even locating the base in North Africa and getting there was a test.’

Guy leaned forward, suddenly anxious. ‘Are you suggesting they were assessing their enemy’s strength?’

‘Or perhaps just deciding if we are worth fighting,’ Sarah said. ‘If we are intelligent and advanced enough to be worth their efforts.’

‘Then the whole place,’ Guy said slowly, ‘even down to the Vril creatures that were there, it was all expendable.’ He picked up the bracelet that Elizabeth Archer had brought back. ‘That’s why this doesn’t work. Maybe the UDT itself was a dummy, a copy, a diversion.’

‘Remind you of anything, Elizabeth?’ Davenport said.

‘Possibly two things,’ she replied. ‘But I think you’re right. It was their version of the Suicide Exhibition.’

‘Which means that everything they really value, everything that’s truly irreplaceable is concealed somewhere else,’ Brinkman said. ‘We’ve wasted our time and effort.’

‘To say nothing of those soldiers’ lives,’ Sarah murmured.

‘You said it could be two things,’ Miss Manners prompted.

Elizabeth Archer nodded. ‘They’ve been here a long time,’ she said. ‘Perhaps it was also an alarm clock.’

‘In which case we just set it off,’ Guy said.

‘And in some style, I’m ashamed to say,’ Davenport added.

‘If you’re right, then this isn’t the end of the Vril,’ Brinkman said grimly. ‘If you’re right, the real war is just about to start.’

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First published in the UK in 2013 by Del Rey, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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Copyright © 2013 by Justin Richards

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