Bunker Ten, page 14
part #1 of Dark Scotland Series
“Nulcy Boy? Do you want to get shot?” But Dave had turned away, tapping his lip in consternation.
“Jimmy,” he said suddenly. “Did you no say that infectious materials are kept in a Titanium containment room?”
“That’s right.”
“Wouldn’t Titanium block any life signs showing up on the handcoms?”
“Yes it would. Now drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads.”
The others spun round at the sound of the voice. Nulce swore loudly and threw down his gun like a petulant child.
The door to the containment room was open and Doctor Monk stood in the entrance, pointing a rifle at them.
19.35
Monk strode over to May-Rose, rifle still trained on the group, and yanked loose the girl’s gag. He moved in a precise, determined way as if something else were directing his actions. He removed the ear pieces from Sherman’s team and ground them underfoot.
“Thank you Doctor,” the girl said. She struggled to her feet and drew herself up.
Then the voice came billowing out of her frail body, accompanied by that ominous yet melodious sound.
“The rest of you, will not harm me or Doctor Monk. You will not run from me. You will do whatever I say.” She gave a small smile. “Get into a line. Eyes front.”
Sherman’s team and the children shuffled into formation like soldiers on parade. They had no control whatsoever over their actions.
“Thank you,” May-Rose giggled.
Doctor Monk untied the child’s wrists. Absently rubbing them she strolled along the line as if she were a miniature general inspecting her troops.
“I’ve been waiting for you Jimmy,” she said agreeably. “I had faith that you’d get here. All right, you’ve cut it a bit fine, but you made it.”
“What the hell is she talking about, kid?” Nulce snapped.
“I don’t know. Not sure I want to.”
“You really think I couldn’t have outsmarted Dunwoody’s men and reached the surface?” May-Rose taunted. “Then what? I’d have lost most of my force getting past him and the rest would have fallen to the lasers at the perimeter fence. If I got through, I’d have to traverse miles of forest in minus temperatures and thick snow. Might not even make it past the blast perimeter before this place went up - and what I have inside me is too important to risk.”
“What do you have inside you, May-Rose?” Jimmy asked.
“The future,” she replied.
“I don’t understand.”
“Yes you do,” the girl smirked. “I’m carrying an entirely new genetic strain.” She moved down the line again looking closely at Dave and Simon.
“All living things are controlled by their genes. They hunt, kill, and compete so that the strongest will survive. That’s as it should be. The way it’s always been.”
She pursed her lips in a childish pout.
“But humanity keeps trying to rise above its programming. You fight your urges. Form societies where those with inferior genes are able to thrive.”
“So yer no a fan o wheelchair ramps,” Dave said defiantly. “Get tae the point.”
“Now you’ve tried to manipulate your own genetic material. Bend nature to your will.” A note of outrage had crept into the child’s voice. “Genes are not your playthings! They are your masters!”
“We didn’t know what we were dealing with,” Monk spoke in a faraway, monotone voice. “We created our own Frankenstein’s monster.”
“What are they talking about?” Nulce hissed to Madrid. But the blonde was listening intently to May-Rose and the Doctor.
“May-Rose is the host for a new DNA strain,” the Doctor said blankly. “One that can think for itself. One that has improved her”
“It’s one that controls her.” Jimmy spat. “She’s as much a puppet as you are.”
‘No. No. she’s a self-aware programme,” Sherman insisted. “Like the Colonel said. Don’t you see that?”
“Enough! I intend to transform all of you too.” May-Rose smiled broadly, revealing perfect white teeth. “We’ll all use the Machine to travel to a point in the future where Pinewood doesn’t exist. Infiltrate you into society. You’re already geniuses. Armed with what I carry inside, you’ll become an unstoppable force.”
“And we spread the disease?”
“You call it a disease. I call it a cure,” May-Rose moved along the line to Jimmy, stood on tiptoe and peered into the boy’s eyes. “Did you really think humanity could overcome millions of years of evolution?”
“I was hoping that, eventually, we would.”
“Your arrogance is breathtaking as usual, Jimmy.” May-Rose moved further along the line. “Once I’ve injected you with my DNA, then you, Simon, David, Barn and Leslie will use your voices to change the world, just like you always wanted.”
“Not Leslie.” Jimmy shook his head angrily. “Leslie escaped.”
“Don’t be silly,” May-Rose stopped in front of Madrid. The woman was still rigid, staring over the little girl’s head.
“This is Leslie.”
19.37
Jimmy tried to turn and look at Madrid, but his body refused to obey. The boy’s stomach was churning.
“She came back through time to save you, Jimmy,” May-Rose said. “Can’t think of any other explanation. Even though she knows the past can’t be changed. That’s the kind of stupidity I will see wiped out.”
“Just wait a Goddamned minute!” Nulce was struggling against the invisible bond that held him. “We didn’t come back through time! The year is 2027 and this is a damned computer simulation!”
“Is that what you were told?” May-Rose sneered. “You were double crossed, you moron. This is 2019, twenty years earlier than you think, and everything around you is very real.”
“And you are a self-delusional, insane little girl,” Nulce yelled. “No! You’re not even that! You’re a computer programme, who can’t accept the fact!”
He tried to fling himself forward and even moved a few inches.
Monk swung his gun to cover the raging man.
Sherman launched himself at the Doctor. He collided with Monk and both men sprawled across the floor, wrestling for the gun.
“Stop it! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” May-Rose roared at Sherman. But her terrible voice seemed to have no effect on him.
The others watched helplessly, unable to come to Sherman’s aid, as the men rolled backwards and forwards clawing at each other. Sherman threw his head forwards and butted Monk in the face. The Doctor slammed a fist into Sherman’s throat and he jerked backwards, gasping for breath. In that split second Monk swept the gun up from the floor and pulled the trigger, but Sherman twisted out of the line of fire and thumped the barrel away with the palm of his hand. Monk hit Sherman across the throat again..
“Stop doing that!” Sherman rasped, pulling Dave’s knife from inside his jacket. He slammed an elbow into Monk’s face and, as the Doctor recoiled, thrust the blade deep into his adversary’s chest.
With a slow, gurgling sound, Doctor Monk sank back and died.
Sherman jerked round, still holding the knife.
May-Rose was standing over him clutching at the bullet hole in her throat, a red flower of blood seeping down onto her yellow dress. Silently she sank to her knees, her mouth trembling.
The siren sound that seemed to envelop her slowly faded away and the others suddenly found themselves able to move again.
“Aw Jesus, I’m sorry, kid!” Sherman grabbed the girl round the waist and tried to pull her upright. Her head lolled to one side, eyes vacant. “I was just trying to get the gun. I didn’t mean….”
“She’s gone, Sherman.” Madrid came over, lifted May-Rose from her leader’s arms and laid her gently on the floor.
“How the hell were you able to fight?” Nulce demanded, unaffected by the girl’s death. “I couldn’t even move a muscle.”
“My earpiece isn’t just a communication device,” Sherman said wearily. “It’s also a hearing aid.” He thumped his ear with a fist. “I can lip read but, without it, I’m deaf as a post.”
Nulce snorted. “I knew there was a reason Colonel Cruikshank picked a loser like you to lead the team.”
“Did you say Colonel Cruikshank!” Jimmy gasped. But Nulce was looking at his watch.
“Hell! We only got twenty minutes to complete our mission,” he announced. He picked up a gun and strode towards the containment room. “The MR12 sample must be in here.”
“You have some explaining to do Madrid,” Sherman said bitterly.
The woman sat down on a bench and put her head in her hands. Jimmy walked over and stood in front of her.
“You’re Leslie?”
Madrid nodded, not looking up. Simon, Dave and Barn crowded round her
“You look different doll. Mair mature, know?”
“I stopped dying my hair,” she muttered
“Hey! Who the hell is this Leslie person?” Sherman was trying to wipe May-Rose’s blood from his hands. “Tell these kids who you are, Madrid.”
“May Rose was right,” the woman sighed miserably. “In 2019 I escaped from Pinewood Military Installation right before it blew up. So did a boy called Cruikshank. We were both fifteen, protégés like these kids. Eventually we were picked up and interrogated but I didn’t know what had happened here and Cruikshank claimed he didn’t either. So the army kept us on. Cruikshank grew up and eventually became a Colonel. Pinewood was rebuilt, and he was put in charge of it.”
“They rebuilt bloody Pinewood?” Simon moaned. “Wasn’t it unlucky enough the first time?”
“What happened to you?” Jimmy asked.
“I was billeted in England and thought I’d never see Cruikshank again.” Madrid finally looked up, transferring her gaze from floor to ceiling.
There were clinking sounds from inside the containment unit as Nulce moved samples around, looking for the one he had been sent to find. Sherman ignored him, listening in bewilderment.
“I worked my way up pretty high in counter terrorism. The kind of soldier who gets sent on… special missions.” She gave a thin laugh. “I actually hold a higher rank than Cruickshank.”
“So, is this a special mission?”
“Sort of. See, I got to hear about Cruickshank’s new ‘simulation’ and it suddenly clicked with me what he was really up to.”
“Of course,” Simon nodded. “You knew he’d stolen the time travel formula from me.”
“And had the capacity to memorise it. It still took him twenty years to build a Machine that worked.” She glanced at the larger version humming in the corner. “May-Rose managed to build one in six hours.”
“Cruikshank did all that just to get a sample of May-Rose’s genetic material and hide it in a well?” Sherman looked incredulous. “Why?”
“So he could dig it up twenty years later.” Dave volunteered. “It’s gonnae be worth a lot o dosh.”
“The guy had invented a working time machine!” Simon countered. “What could be worth more than that?”
“I don’t know his reason,” Madrid admitted. “Never got time to find out. All I managed to do was pull a few strings and get on his team. He didn’t recognise me, of course.” She looked down at herself. “I had a code name and I’ve changed a lot since I was a girl.”
“So this isn’t a virtual simulation?” Sherman was still trying to come to terms with these revelations. “You’re telling me we’ve actually been sent back in time?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“How are we supposed to get back?”
“We can’t, Sherman.” The woman turned her steely gaze towards him. “Cruickshank’s Machine can send things forward in time or it can send them back – but it’s a one way trip, whichever direction you go. That’s why he wanted you to put the DNA sample in the well, so he could retrieve it in the future. There’s no way we could bring it back ourselves.”
“What if we try and get off the base now?”
“We won’t make it. Pinewood blows up in 2019 and there are no survivors. If we got out then everything we did from that point on would change the future. Cruikshank would never invent a time machine and we wouldn’t be here. It’s called a time travel paradox.”
“Cruikshank knew we’d never escape?”
“Yes.”
“And so did you?”
Madrid nodded again. “You don’t join the army unless you’re prepared to sacrifice yourself.”
“I’m not in the army,” Sherman replied bitterly. “I test computer games.”
“Then pass this test for God’s sakes!” Nulce was in the doorway, a stoppered glass vial in his hand. MR-12 was scrawled across a label on the side. “I can’t believe you’re falling for these lies! Let’s complete our mission, and get the hell out of here.”
“Didn’t you just hear Madrid?”
“Yeah. And I’m not falling for it.”
“I think she’s telling the truth,” Sherman said. “Which means we’re doomed.”
“No wait!” Jimmy snapped his fingers. “Why can’t we use May-Rose’s Machine to send ourselves into the future, just like she intended? If we go more than 20 years forward in time, to a point after Cruikshank invents his Machine, there will be no paradox. Everyone will think we died in the explosion, because there will be no record of us escaping - but we’ll actually have gotten away!”
“Will you get a grip? There is no such thing as time travel!” Nulce waved his gun at the Machine. “That’s some contraption May-Rose was building to infect other computers with her virus!” He held out a despairing hand to Sherman. “Colonel Cruikshank told us not to believe anything the kids said. He warned us they’d try to outsmart us.”
He swung the gun menacingly towards the children. They shuffled nervously behind Madrid - all except Jimmy, who moved protectively in front of her. Madrid hesitated then gently put a hand on his shoulder.
“Madrid is one of us and she’s backing their story,” Sherman said slowly. “Put that gun up, mister.”
“We don’t know who she is!” Nulce’s voice now had an edge of panic to it. “What about the Colonel’s investors? For all we know she’s working for the competition. She could be a double agent.”
“Nulce. These kids are offering us a way out, despite all we’ve done.”
“They’re all trying to make us fail.” The gun was trembling in his hand, but his eyes glittered with an icy calm. “I never fail.”
And he pulled the trigger.
Sherman hurled himself forwards. The burst caught him square in the chest and threw him half way across the room. Madrid swung Jimmy away and scooped up her own gun in one fluid movement. She returned fire, but Nulce had vanished into the decontamination corridor. They heard the echoes of his running footsteps fading away as he headed back towards the surface.
The children ran and knelt beside Sherman. He lay on one side, a midnight patch spreading across his black jumper and oozing over the arm of his leather jacket. He coughed and a trickle of red bubbled out of his mouth.
“Sherman, you idiot.” Madrid said, gently wiping away the blood. “I told you this wasn’t a game.”
Sherman reached out and took Jimmy’s hand.
“If you get out would you find my kid?” A tear rolled down his cheek and he grimaced in pain. “We don’t talk any more but I’d like him to know how this went down.”
He coughed once more and closed his eyes.
“I’ll find him and I’ll tell him. I promise.” Jimmy squeezed the man’s calloused hand. “Please don’t die.”
“God, I hate technology.” Sherman whispered. He rolled slowly onto his back and breathed out once, as light as a bird’s wing fluttering.
“And I’m so tired of games.”
Then he was gone.
19.40
Madrid kissed the lifeless man softly on the cheek. Jimmy and Dave looked away. Barn was crying quietly. Holding back his own tears, Simon walked over to the Machine and began tapping at the dials.
Madrid looked up, shifting to her cold, calm persona with frightening ease.
“Think you can make that do what it’s supposed to?”
“It’s just a glorified version of the Machine in our dormitory, except this one works.” Simon picked up a pad and looked at a screed of formulae May-Rose had scribbled across it. “I can calculate how to set it, yeah.”
“You need to send us more than twenty years into the future,” Jimmy said. “According to history, we don’t show up anywhere in the next two decades, so if we try to turn up any earlier it’s a fair bet we don’t make it. We’d land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or something.”
“That’s the problem,” Simon said. “I can send us to whatever time I like, but where am I sending us? I mean, the whole planet is turning and travelling through space.”
“Talking of time, lads.” Dave tapped his big gold watch. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes left.”
“May-Rose had an intellect that deified belief,” Jimmy answered. “She would have factored spatial adjustments into her calculations. “I image we’ll end up somewhere remote. Somewhere unlikely to have a shopping centre built over it years from now.”
“God, she did a good job on this.” Simon entered some final numbers into a keyboard on the side of the Machine. “There. As far as I can tell, it’s now set to transport us to an unknown location in 2028 - twenty one years from now.”
“Let’s hope it’s Barbados, man. I’m sorely needin a week aff.”
Simon flipped a switch and, like an eye opening, a shimmering blue oval appeared in the centre of the room.
“I don’t know how long this thing will stay functional,” he urged. “Which lunatic’s going to be first?”
The children stared apprehensively at the pulsating fissure. Dave stuck out his pigeon chest.
“Jimmy, Simon. See yous on the ither side. I’ll get the tea on. C’mon Barn.” He grabbed the large boy abruptly by the collar and pulled him through the hole. It rippled like an upright pond and grew calm again.
“Holy hell.”
Madrid tapped Jimmy on the arm. “You ready kid?”
