The Whisper of Stars (28 page)

Mikhail, his partner, was at the door, his face pressed against the window frantically gesturing to the third guard. Jen accessed him too. Mikhail, against his knowledge, revealed that the door could only be opened using a combination of an external keypad override and a reversal of the droid’s original instruction. Jen sent her mind through the door, taking control of the remaining guard, chaining them all together in a powerful neural network. It was the third guard’s job to press the buttons and sort out that droid.

Minutes later the security mechanism clattered back to life. Jen stood, eerily still as the bluish light from the server room traveled up her body. The shutters rose and banged to a halt and the door clicked open. She jogged past the guards and then walked the third man into the tunnel to join his comrades. The droid had been reset and sensing fresh movement above flashed its blue laser across the nearby console. Again, the shutters began to descend, trapping the confused guards. They huddled together, shivering, their backs against each other, not speaking. They were just relieved the devil was leaving them.

‘I’m out,’ Jen said.

‘Straight ahead, then left,’ Nathan shouted, his voice clearer again.

‘Lock all the doors behind me,’ Jen replied.

‘Already doing it.’

Jen traveled the white corridors, retracing her steps. She was sprinting now and it felt good, her boots gripping well, pounding the smooth floor.

‘I’ve got guards massing on the level above,’ Nathan informed her. ‘Take the next left. That door is open.’

Ahead of her, in the distance, she could see movement. She stopped and slipped through the doorway on her left as instructed. It was a stairwell, steel steps surrounded by white block walls.

‘Where now?’ she asked, her breath laboured.

‘Okay. Got it!’ he shouted. ‘We need to get to… yes, the original excavation tunnel. Up three flights. I’ll work on getting the doors open.’

‘Original tunnel? What about the heat vent?’ Jen didn’t wait, launching herself at the flight of stairs, jumping two steps at a time.

‘We lost that. I can’t get you there. Nearly all exits are locked. I’m going to try and get you out via the visitor centre. There’s an access tunnel… I think we can get to it.’

‘Are you sure it’s still there?’ Jen asked.

‘This is where the older version of the maps might actually be a good thing.’ Jen heard the distant clatter and crashing of people and doors. ‘They’re closing in on me,’ she panted, bounding up the steps.

‘Listen to this,’ Nathan said and patched her into the base’s communication chatter. She heard multiple voices.

‘What is this, some kind of drill? Stand down? Is that correct? Confirm order.’

Another voice. ‘
Can someone tell me what’s going on? Is this safe?’

Nathan explained. ‘I’m sending out random secure messages via their comms centre. Some think it’s a drill, others a chemical leak. All of them, confused.’

It was clever. In fact, it was genius. Jen resisted the urge to tell him. She wasn’t out yet. One more flight of stairs.

Nathan shouted encouragement, but as the words left his mouth, he felt his heart sink. He closed his eyes, sat back in his chair and swore loudly.

‘What is it?’ Jen shouted, the sound of her boots hitting the steel stair treads banging in his ears.

He stared blankly at the message filling his screen. It was winking. Mocking him.

//System offline //

‘They’ve locked me out,’ he admitted with a heavy sigh. ‘I’m sorry.’

Chapter 50

Jen sprinted ahead, her mind spinning, adrenalin through the roof. She could hear shouting and footfalls but couldn’t tell where the sounds originated. At least she was warm now, the air on her face the only reminder of the actual temperature. Nathan might be locked out of the system, but thankfully they could still talk. She didn’t want to be alone down here.

‘Did we get the files?’ she panted. ‘Are they any use?’

The drive was stuffed inside her rucksack.

‘I’ve checked the inventory.’ Nathan replied, ‘We got enough.’

The white limestone corridors were behind her now, replaced by dull grey concrete walls with rusted light fittings. There were bulbs out and the air seemed stale, suggesting it wasn’t used very often.

‘You should be in the older section of the vault,’ Nathan said, as if reading her thoughts. ‘I managed to get most of the doors ahead open. These are the original service tunnels – tricky route, but you can still get out.’

Through the gloom she saw movement. The end of the long corridor joined a circular access tunnel, and in the centre was a large blast door, hinged and open. Jen guessed the door was around twenty feet in width. A row of ten steel rods protruded from its open edge. They matched ten cylindrical holes in the wall next to it. It was a nuclear-grade blast door, and it was closing.

‘Right. Follow the corridor until you come to a door, probably old-looking,’ Nathan calmly instructed. ‘Looks like an old bunker – ’

‘Too late – I’m here and it’s closing!’ she screamed. ‘What do I do?’ She had already made the mental calculation; she might make it, but it would be tight.

‘Run!’ Nathan shouted. ‘If that closes…’

She put her head down and heard the man’s voice before she saw him. He was shouting at her to stop. Jen accessed the Histeridae and pushed him awkwardly aside. He lurched to the right and fell back, hitting his head on the jagged limestone wall. Jen ran and launched herself into the narrow gap between the huge door and the studded circular frame that would seal shut in a matter of seconds. The thought of the door crushing her like a melon entered her mind just as she felt her rucksack snag on one of door’s stubby locking pins. The bags strap looped, tugged and then slipped from the steel, spinning her a little in the air. She just managed to stay on her feet as the huge door banged shut behind her. It shook the mountain and resonated up through her boots, sending a vibration down the cavernous chamber and away.

‘Jen?’ Nathan cried out.

‘Too close,’ she bellowed, sliding to a stop, resting her hands on her knees. ‘Too fucking close. More notice next time.’

Jen accessed the guard on the other side of the door. He was out cold.

Nathan apologised and she heard him whispering multiple calculations under his breath. Eventually he said, ‘Up ahead, follow the tunnel to your left.’

‘The files,’ Jen said, running again, shaking off the vision of being crushed alive. ‘You’re sure they’re useful to us?’

‘I don’t know yet. All I have are file names. The secure data is on the drive. It will take time to trawl through them, but first we need to get you and that drive out of there.’

She didn’t reply. She knew if she was captured they would get the Histeridae and the drive. It was all down to her.

What’s new.

The tunnel, which had become circular and smooth, came to an abrupt end. The walls seemed to just stop and open out into a dark void, like an exhaust into space. The only indication that the world ended here on purpose were two painted yellow lines on the floor ahead. She crept towards the edge, eyes adapting to the absence of light. In the darkness, and all around, she saw the jagged texture of rock. As her eyes adjusted fully she saw another bigger tunnel running parallel to the smaller one she was leaving. She peered over the edge to see a small drop onto a tarmac road. To her right, complete darkness, to her left a faint glow in the distance.

‘Left?’ she suggested hopefully, her words echoing away.

‘Yes. About half a mile. The visitor centre. We can get you out there.’

She dropped down onto the road. Every hundred yards or so a dim green security light set her bearings. The distant glow was becoming brighter with each step. She jogged, wondering about the contents of the drive. For years she had thought about her father, imagined his work, his research. Since finding the hidden memory, her need to understand him had become more heightened. After everything – Mac’s betrayal, Hibernation, Baden – it seemed even more crucial to understand and remember him correctly. As an adult. She wanted to know the
real
him, what he believed, to understand why he’d taken the Histeridae.

Ahead, a building emerged from the muddy grey darkness: a prefabricated steel structure built into the rock that stretched far into the distance. There was a single window, long and without panels – a viewing room perhaps – and a door. She ran to it and pulled the handle down. The door creaked open loudly.

Nathan’s voice. ‘Okay, you should be in sublevel one. Make your way through and up the stairwell to your left. We can get you out on the ground floor.’

Jen stepped inside, squinting. The corridor ahead seemed to be lit from all sides, its white brilliance burning her eyes. Framed pictures of the vault during various stages of construction hung on the walls, and above a sign reminded her that this area was for AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY. She crept forward, passing a corkboard decorated with team member names and rota-duties. It was quiet. Deserted.

‘Where is everyone?’ Jen asked.

‘It’s 7pm,’ Nathan replied. ‘It closed over an hour ago. There might be stragglers, so be careful. I opened the main doors, before I got kicked out of the system; hopefully they stayed open.’

Jen took a deep breath. ‘You did well, Nathan. It wasn’t your fault.’

She felt controlled air again, warm and not unpleasant, but she craved the real thing, wanted out of this hole, this underground coffin. She wanted to feel real warmth and safety and most of all to see Nathan again.

She passed through a set of double doors and out into a hallway. There she saw the stairs, exactly as Nathan had described. She stuck to the edges, staying low, her boots squeaking against the recently cleaned steps. As her eye-line reached the ground floor, she paused, scanning the lobby. In the centre was a huge spiral drill bit like an arrowhead reaching almost the full height of the large open space. Placed evenly throughout the lobby were glass cabinets and exhibits. She crept forward, hugging the edges, darting between the cabinets. In the corner a holographic film displayed a dimensional model of the facility. There were cameras everywhere.

‘Won’t they spot me?’ she whispered.

‘Maybe. But they are focused on the vault right now. They won’t be expecting you here – we might get away with it. Let me check their radio transmissions, get a better idea where they’re heading. Hang on.’

Jen entered the foyer and gift shop. Still no one. The place was empty. She peered carefully out through the main glass doors to see snow flickering yellow against the glow of raised floodlights, and below that, car parks and roads. It looked familiar, but she was struggling to get her bearings. In the distance she heard a sound, a repetitive droning, whistling noise interspersed with a kind of whipping sound.

Shlack, shlack, shlack.

She hunched down behind a display of toy metal diggers. The sound was getting louder, becoming more and more familiar. She cocked her head, trying to form a mental image. The answer came quickly and triumphantly, like a person’s name that had been close to mind but painfully elusive. Her relief turned to fear as she watched the snow curling up from the ground like milk being poured into an invisible wine glass and felt the whip of air pass beneath the doors and rush over her.

‘Jen,’ Nathan shouted suddenly. ‘I’m picking up transmissions, they’ve got two choppers…’

‘They’re here,’ she said, her voice cracking. ‘I can see them.’

Only combat choppers made that specific sound. They hovered perfectly still as two teams of six repelled onto the tarmac below. Jen noted their attire. White snow fatigues, balaclavas and assault rifles.

Special Forces.

Chapter 51

Jen watched, helpless, as the strike team crossed the car park. They were in tight formation, organised, their rifles scanning left and right, moving gracefully.

‘I can see a team of twelve heading towards the Vault’s entrance.’ She crept along the shop display and poked her head out, craning her neck to see the men before they disappeared from view.

With an unseen signal, they stopped. One of them – Jen presumed he was the point man – gestured towards her position. Two broke away from the group and jogged towards the visitors centre, towards her. She could see their eyes glowing green – night vision – and they would have heat sensors too.

‘I’m screwed,’ Jen whispered, backing into the shop, clambering, searching for cover and ideas, running through her options. The Histeridae was central to most of them, but she knew that if she used it, it wouldn’t be long before the rest of their team showed up. These guys were serious. They would have a backup plan. Whatever it took until she was captured or dead. There was no quiet exit now. She would need to control multiple guards in order to escape, but twelve?
Really?

The two men crossed the road, about two hundred yards from her, and a plan formed in her mind.

Control the approaching men, turn them against their own and in the confusion, make a run for it.

Nathan was frantic, blind to all of this. All he could hear was the empty hiss of unused radio channels. The arrival of the helicopters had brought radio silence. These men were here to do a job and get out with minimal fuss and disruption. He felt utterly helpless. He glanced out the window, knowing that just over that range of hills Jen was trapped, and there was nothing he could do. His chest felt tight and he swallowed hard against the sticky lump that had formed in his throat. He couldn’t help feeling he had failed her, that this was his fault.

Working against everything her body was telling her, Jen calmed herself and accessed the Histeridae. The thought tendrils rushed greedily outward, searching for prey, attaching easily to the vibrant, alert minds of the approaching men. She had a good connection and could see through their eyes immediately: the visitor centre just ahead. She was about to stop them, to turn them around and begin firing back at their own squad, when she felt the most extraordinary sensation. It felt as if the world were suddenly quiet and peaceful. As if time had stopped. It was calm.