2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) (33 page)

Unable to help find the vulnerable woman who’d been taken from them while under his care, he had taken to roaming the Anakim city in search of answers, accompanied as ever by the dark skinned African, Major Offiah, who now led the Darklight forces in his leader’s absence.

‘How long has he been gone?’ Kara said, her South African accent strained.

The soldier consulted with a colleague. ‘He left with a team early yesterday morning. They’re scheduled to return in three days.’

‘Three days!’

‘That’s what we were told.’

‘And where’s the Major,’ she said, ‘still running around after him?’

The Darklight man looked uncomfortable. ‘The Major is in the field, ensuring our perimeter is secure.’

‘But he’ll be back with Richard as soon as he’s done?’

‘I believe his route will intersect with the Director’s at certain intervals, yes.’

Kara frowned. Since the Darklight leader Commander Hilt had left with his best soldiers in search of Susan and the thing that had taken her, the camp and everyone in it felt exposed. However, the absence of the warrior who’d been Richard’s right hand man during their time in Sanctuary Proper wasn’t the only reason for their perceived vulnerability. The knowledge that something else roamed the darkness alongside them, something terrible and capable of taking out heavily armed mercenaries was more than something to fear, it was a monster come to life, a terror in the deep that seemed capable of disappearing at will and formulating devious plans of attack. If there was a time when they should be sticking together it was now, but it seemed like she’d been left holding the reigns of power while people looked to others for guidance. In charge of the ecosystem back in Steadfast she had been responsible for a lot of people, but here things were entirely different. Not only were they fighting for survival in an alien world, it felt like they were fighting each other as they stumbled from one crisis to another.

‘Have the new sanitation trenches been dug?’ Kara asked another operative.

The woman glanced up and shook her head. ‘They’ll take another week.’

‘What about the water stocks, have we met the quotas?’

‘No, since the attack from the … entity, we’ve had to limit the number of teams leaving the campsite.’

‘There’s also been an incident at the lake,’ the first soldier said, ‘four people were attacked, all have multiple lacerations.’

Kara felt her stomach churn. ‘The light?’

‘No, it sounded like it was some kind of eel.’

She heaved a sigh, but her disquiet remained.

The Darklight operative cleared his throat to regain her attention. ‘There’s more ma’am, there’s been an outbreak of an unknown illness in the south eastern section of the camp.’

‘Illness?’

‘Vomiting and diarrhoea. It might be a batch of bad fish, or—’

‘Or what?’

‘Cholera.’

‘What about the purifiers?’

‘We only brought a few from the surface; we never thought we’d be down here this long and it takes teams of people working round the clock to keep everyone watered. Due to this some of the civilians have taken to boiling their water and we suspect, if it is Cholera, this could be the cause.’

‘Do we have any antibiotics left?’

‘No, none.’

Kara felt despair rising, nothing seemed to be going right, something needed to change. ‘Can you get a message to Richard for me?’

‘We’ll try, ma’am, but it may take a few hours if they’re out of direct transmission range.’

‘Okay, tell him we’ve lost someone else and he’s needed back at camp – I need him back at camp, and not in three days, but
now
.’

The soldier gave a nod and got on the radio.

Kara went back to pouring over the data but her focus remained on the problems at hand and their missing leader.
Where are you, Richard?
she thought.
I can’t do this without you
.

Chapter Thirty Nine

Richard Goodwin, the exiled civilian director of USSB Steadfast, ran his hands over the dry, dusty soil to reveal the faint outline of ancient inscriptions. He bent low to inspect it and then blew along stone channels to chase away the dirt. On his hands and knees, Goodwin picked up a brush and swept the area clean until the pattern he’d found emerged in its entirety.

‘It looks like the ones we found earlier.’

The voice made Goodwin start; immersed in his investigation he’d forgotten he was not alone. He looked up into the eyes of the woman who’d spoken. ‘I think you’re right.’ He got to his feet and stood by her side to view his latest discovery. ‘Do the symbols look familiar to you?’

Rebecca shook her head.

Goodwin was sure he’d seen something similar on the surface, although how that could be he wasn’t sure because – as far as he was aware – human and Anakim cultures were mutually exclusive. ‘I know someone who’d know.’

‘Kara?’ Rebecca said.

‘Sadly, no; his name is Professor Steiner.’

‘The man who told you to leave USSB Steadfast?’

‘The same. If he hadn’t done so we’d still be there, trapped underground.’

‘Like we are here?’

Goodwin grimaced. Rebecca had a point, but those left in Steadfast beneath the New Mexican and Colorado border faced – as hard as it was to believe – a much more immediate threat than they did in Sanctuary Proper. Now they at least had water and a food source, and while the mysterious light had transformed their dark tomb into a nightmare, those in Steadfast faced annihilation by an asteroid, one of four due to arrive in 2042.

As ever, Goodwin kept the information about these approaching destroyers of Earth’s surface to himself, that and the knowledge that two more much larger ones would follow in their wake in 2045. His decision to tell only the Darklight leader, Commander Hilt, about the coming apocalypse had been a difficult one, but he’d felt more bad news for anyone else would foster despair when they needed hope.

‘I have every faith the commander will find a way through to USSB Sanctuary,’ Goodwin said, making sure to avoid the sensitive subject of Susan, the mentally handicapped woman taken by the light from under their noses, the same woman Hilt had promised to Goodwin he would return to safety.

Rebecca didn’t reply; instead her gaze strayed to the figure of her ward, Joseph, who suffered from an acute learning disability. The young man, who had the intelligence and behaviour patterns of a toddler, was busy entertaining some of the Darklight troops who protected Goodwin’s party from the threat of the elusive light.

Major Offiah had insisted on no fewer than a hundred bodyguards for any excursions into the city, the soldiers all fully suited in their black armour and sporting an array of armaments suitable for war. So far, no further sightings of the creature that shimmered in the dark had been made, although that might have been because all reconnaissance teams had been recalled in order to protect those at the lake and camp. Their primary mission – escape from the enormous chamber they found themselves trapped in – had taken a back seat to the immediate safety of its reluctant citizens.

Ever since Hilt had left on his mission over a week before, Goodwin had resolved to do everything he could to unravel the riddle of the light, to find out what it was and what it wanted. Those in the camp had voiced their opposition to his new focus, and that included both Major Offiah and Goodwin’s partner, Kara. However, Goodwin knew his efforts took precedence, how could they not? He also knew that Kara thought him obsessed, and perhaps she was right. He needed something to occupy his mind and the day to day management of the camp wasn’t enough to fulfil that duty; he was used to managing a base of half a million people. But that wasn’t the only reason he lusted after a complex challenge; he needed a change of scene. Back in USSB Steadfast he’d employed a variety of measures to curtail the chronic and sometimes acute depression he experienced due to his sustained underground existence. A powerful 3D screen had been fitted to his office to recreate the surface and he’d also been able to visit the bio-chambers in order to soak up the rays from Steadfast’s sunlight generators. Compare that to the eternal dark of Sanctuary and he’d done well to fight off the desolation for as long as he had.

‘How is Joseph?’ Goodwin said, forgetting he was trying to avoid the subject of Susan.

Rebecca glanced over to where the young man played. ‘He’s okay.’

Joseph held a transparent bottle above his head and tilted it this way and that. Every now and then he showed it to his Darklight minders, before laughing in pure, unadulterated joy.

‘What’s he doing?’ Goodwin said. ‘He’s been messing about with that water for hours.’

‘He can’t understand how the fluid stays level inside the bottle when he moves it,’ Rebecca said. ‘He has no concept of what gravity is, for him it’s like magic or an impossible puzzle.’

‘He seems to be enjoying himself.’

‘Yes, I suppose. He’s fine during the day; it’s the sleeping that’s the problem.’

‘Nightmares?’

‘Sometimes he screams so loud it feels like he could wake the dead.’

‘I didn’t hear him last night.’

‘He seems much better here. I think you’re the cause.’

‘Me?’

Joseph saw them looking over at him and he waved in exuberant fashion, eliciting a smile from Rebecca and a return wave from Goodwin.

‘You know how he dotes on you,’ she said, ‘he always goes on about his Winnie.’

Goodwin smiled at his nickname, the feeling odd due to his current low mood, like the expression of humour was disconnected from his face somehow.

‘That’s why I wanted to be here,’ Rebecca continued, ‘with you. He seems to calm down when you’re around.’

‘I’m glad someone feels that way. Normally when I’m like this people want to get as far away from me as possible.’

Rebecca gave him an odd look. ‘I haven’t noticed any difference.’

‘Then you’re the only one.’

Rebecca stayed silent for a moment before removing something from her pocket and handing it to him.

Goodwin flicked through the thin sheaves of paper which had been scrawled upon with black charcoal. ‘Joseph’s handiwork?’

She smiled. ‘Yes, he wanted you to have them. He was quite insistent.’

He turned one of them round. ‘What are they of?’

‘I have no idea. He spent hours on them, though, and got quite angry when I tried to get him to stop for meals.’

Goodwin folded them up and slid them into his back pocket before an itchy tingle on his wrist made him scratch at it.

Rebecca saw the movement and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a red rash. ‘You should have that looked at.’

Goodwin glanced down at the angry mark. ‘It’s nothing.’

‘You’ve been scratching at it all day.’

‘Have I?’ He turned his focus back to the image on the floor. He was sure the symbols looked like something he’d seen before … or was it the lines that accompanied them that sparked the sense of familiarity? He withdrew his mobile computer and took a photo.
Perhaps Kara or someone else at the camp will know
.

‘You do know the dangers of being out here, don’t you?’ he said. ‘You’d be safer back at camp.’

‘Helping you keeps our mind off things.’ Rebecca looked around at the shadowy forms of their armed escort, who stood alert in the gloom. ‘And besides, if these soldiers can’t protect us then I doubt the camp would be much safer, do you?’

Goodwin gave a downturn of his mouth. He’d spoken out of habit rather than genuine concern, trying to keep up the pretence of a humanity he supposedly possessed. He moved to stand beneath a portable floodlight to bathe in its glow and closed his eyes to imagine its heat came from the sun.

‘Director, sir.’

Goodwin looked around to see the svelte figure of Lieutenant Gabriela Manaus, the Darklight officer in charge of his protection.

She hesitated as he gazed at her, perhaps unused to his dour demeanour and lack of manners –
like I care
, he thought.

‘Recon Alpha has located something of interest to the west,’ the lieutenant told him.

‘Such as?’

‘I’m not sure, an artefact, but you said you wanted them to look for anything unusual, something that might help us understand the entity, and the Anakim themselves.’

A deep rumble of noise drew everyone’s attention to the enormous tower that stood at the centre of the metropolis a mere hundred yards away.

‘Cover your eyes!’ Manaus shouted.

A roar of sound and a flash of light erupted into being. Goodwin closed his eyes before a powerful purple radiance tore up the side of the two mile high, crystalline edifice. Moments later, another wave of energy pulsed forth, sending Goodwin’s skin to tingling. He shielded his eyes and craned his neck to see the electricity fire up to the ceiling of the chamber a further mile above the spire’s summit, the branches of lightning fanning out in all directions before dying back to black.

It was this very phenomenon that had drawn Goodwin to the centre of the city. It was no coincidence that this process had started when the entity had revealed itself to them. Goodwin himself had been one of the first people to see the ethereal light creature. Unaware of what they pursued, he and Kara had followed it into the city on their own. Only when it had turned on them did they realise the threat it posed, and only after it had taken Susan and killed three Darklight soldiers did it become universally accepted that the shimmering light had to be stopped. Of course, the prodigious Darklight leader, Commander Hilt, had proven up to the task, setting off to hunt it down, or to die trying. This act of valour, while admirable, had condemned Goodwin to a condition of perpetual torment, his remaining calm eaten away by worry for the welfare of those around him, and for poor Susan, who’d been abducted by the monstrosity. Unable to bear the mundanity of running the camp – and to escape his impotency to ease their suffering – he’d set off in search of answers, any answers.

After Hilt left it had dawned on Goodwin how much he’d been relying on the Darklight leader. Just his brooding presence was enough to make it seem like the impossible was possible. He was also the only person who he felt he could speak openly to, free from the fear of disclosing the surface apocalypse to come. Major Offiah was a competent leader, but he wasn’t Hilt,
but then who is?
Goodwin reasoned. And then there was Kara, the South African beauty who’d made life in the black abyss almost bearable. He relied on her, too, but he’d failed to confide in her as he had with Hilt. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy the optimism that seemed to exude from her tanned skin like an invisible glow. Kara’s ability to lift his mood had been the one thing that had been keeping his depression at bay, to destroy that would be to destroy himself. He knew that such a secret could end their relationship, but he’d tried to deny such thoughts, concentrating on the far more urgent need to get everyone to the safety of Sanctuary’s elusive USSB.