‘Penny has been attacked?’ Hedrick said, ‘Is she unharmed?’
‘Everybody is safe while Creation is locked down, Director, and as we told you, the angel Abraxas is dealing with the poltergeists.’
Hedrick noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye. The body parts had started to reassemble, moving together like a recorded television program being rewound frame by frame. He turned away as Jessian’s head reformed from the pile of pulp by his feet. He closed his eyes as the terrified face passed the end of his snout to re-join the torso on the meeting room table. The body’s entrails were slowly sucked back into its abdomen, which then re-joined, frame by frame, the legs lying under the workstation desk.
When Hedrick opened his eyes again, sanity had returned, and Jessian was now sat motionless in her chair, frozen in time. On the table were the reunited piles of printouts along with the data cartridge. Hedrick returned to Amy who was slowly getting to her feet. She steadied herself against him. ‘There is nothing to be frightened of, Amy, the angel Haamiah has made everything better, come and see.’ Amy hesitantly peered around the doorframe. She sighed deeply when she saw Jessian sitting at the workstation, unharmed.
Haamiah released Jessian and she jumped like somebody waking from a dream. For several seconds she stared into the angel’s face and then, seeing Amy standing by the door, she ran towards her, burying her face into Amy’s shoulder. She peered back at the angel, ‘Who’s that? What’s going on?’
‘I’ll explain later, where’s Daniel?’ Amy asked.
‘He went to get a box from the stationery store.’
‘Technician Daniel is no longer in the building,’ Haamiah announced.
Amy turned to Hedrick, ‘Where is he?’
‘I’m not sure, Amy, maybe he went to get help. But remember, Creation is locked down, he cannot come to any harm.’
Jessian, wasn’t convinced, ‘No, he wouldn’t have just left me, he’ll still be in the stationery store. I’ll go get him.’ She left the room only to return a few minutes later carrying the empty cardboard box that Daniel had unpacked. ‘He’s not there, he’s gone.’
Hedrick had been thumbing through the pile of printouts. He looked up and saw the concern on Jessian’s face, ‘I am sure Daniel will turn up soon, Miss Jessian. But for now, we have to concentrate on Amy’s presentation; I have a feeling we may be joined by a few uninvited guests.’
‘How can I help, Director?’
‘We need to get this paperwork packed up and taken back to the office. Maybe you could start with that?’
Jessian walked to Hedrick’s side and started packing the printouts into the box, ‘Shall I take this back to your office, Director?’
‘Yes, that would be very helpful, Miss Jessian.’
Haamiah interrupted, ‘Director, we think it would be expedient for Miss Jessian to locate Technician Mohammed.’
‘Will that be a problem?’ Hedrick asked Jessian.
‘No. I’ll go straight away, Director.’
As they stepped out of the building, Jessian froze at the sight of the mannequins scattered across the plaza. In the elevator Amy had explained lockdown, but the reality was hard to comprehend. She slumped against the wall, sliding down to crouch against it, ‘It must be a dream, it’s got to be a dream,’ she whispered, covering her head in her arms.
Grabbing her mane, Amy pulled Jessian to her feet, ‘Snap out of it, Jess! We don’t have time for this. Now, stop acting like a pup, and go get Mohammed. Daniel’s depending on us.’
For a moment, Amy thought Jessian was going to bite as her jaws opened into a wide yawn, her head and mane shaking to regain control. She gave Amy an embarrassed glance and then jogged down the steps and onto the Plaza.
As Amy walked through the Audit office, Haamiah’s voice suddenly filled her head, Amy, please come here. Instinctively, she turned to see the angel floating in one of the work cubicles. Cowering under the desk, were a group of creationists. Amy crouched down to get a better view. The huddle of bodies was like a pose uncovered from the ashes of Pompeii, the figures clutching each other for protection and comfort, in what they thought were their last moments. To one side, almost obscured by a large male who had obviously ushered the others to safety, was Penny’s face. Amy glanced up at Haamiah, ‘It’s Penny.’ By the time she looked back Penny had been released and was slowly crawling out from between the petrified bodies. Standing up, she embraced Amy. ‘It’s over now, Penny, you’re safe, we’re all safe now.’ Amy kissed her on the side of the head, then turned to look for Haamiah, who was now at the far end of the office, floating amidst the wreckage of what had been meeting room two.
Mo’s building was at the far end of the plaza, and it took Jessian several minutes to reach the main entrance. Entering, she walked through the lobby to the elevator and pushed the call button. Normally the control panel would have acknowledged the request, announcing which floor the elevator was on and how long it would take to arrive. But this time there was silence, in fact, as Jessian realized for the first time, there was silence everywhere. The more she thought about it, the more overwhelming it became; the sound of her own breathing was deafening, the thump of her heart as loud as a pile-driver.
The staircase door on level six reacted as though it were submerged in molasses. Jessian heaved against it, eventually forcing it wide enough to squeeze through.
Dodging around the frozen figures, she paused outside the Environmental Testing Laboratory, recalling her first secondment from the Academy. Her mentor had been an elderly engineer, Jessian tried to remember his name. In her mind she could see his face so clearly; his yellowing fangs, his grey snout and that drooping left eye, hidden behind ancient spectacles that had been repaired countless times with whatever was to hand. Looking through the glass partition at the workbench that had been her home for those happy months, she relived her first day when Bert, yes, that was his name, Bert, had sat alongside her while they fitted accelerometers to a drone subassembly. They then spent the rest of the day shaking it to destruction on one of the laboratory’s massive vibration tables. She remembered the tap on her shoulder that night and his gentle voice saying, Jess, it’s home time, everyone else has gone. She had been so engrossed writing up her daily lab report that she had lost all sense of time. It was that first exciting day that convinced her to be an engineer and she hadn’t regretted her decision for a moment.
Jessian left her memories and headed for the Dude’s lab at the far end of the floor. She weaved, left and right through the maze of laboratories and workshops until, almost running, she came to the short corridor that led to Mo’s lab. She slowed her pace from a run, to a jog, to a stroll, and then to a dead stop. There was something peculiar about the glass partitioning surrounding the Dude’s laboratory; the normally clear panes were now opaque, covered in a fine red mist.
Jessian approached the lab door one step at a time, unconsciously raising her hand to cover the end of her snout. Her legs started to tremble, her knees felt as though they were about to buckle as her heart pounded in her chest. She slowly peered around the doorframe. Everything inside the room had been sprayed red. But it wasn’t paint. The room was in chaos, with hardly anything recognisable. Then she caught sight of legs protruding from behind the desk. They were wearing the standard safety boots issued to all technicians, but only Mo would have replaced the bootlaces with odd lengths of electrical wire.
As Penny walked into the wreckage of meeting room two she exploded with rage, ‘That fucking bastard tried to kill me!’ She turned to look at the others, standing in the missing doorway, ‘Ravi, he tried to kill me… ME!’ She turned back, her eyes skipping through the debris, muttering to herself, ‘One minute he’s my best mate and the next he’s a fucking psychopath. Bastard! Fucking bastard!’ Wiping a tear from her eye, she looked across at Hedrick, ‘I’m sorry, Director, but I just don’t understand why he did it?’
Hedrick was about to reply as Haamiah spoke, ‘You should not be too
hasty to blame your friend Ravi, Miss Penny. There are other forces at work here, forces that only Those-On-High can understand.’ She turned to Hedrick, ‘Director, the technicians Mohammed and Jessian will soon be with us. Miss Amy should prepare her presentation.’
Amy immediately went to the adjacent meeting room and started unpacking the printouts, placing a copy in front of each chair. She cleaned the whiteboard and placed a selection of markers and the eraser in the holder beneath it. Confident that everything was ready, Amy walked to the meeting room door to invite the others to join her. As she opened it she found herself standing face to face with Ravi. She slammed the door shut, quickly grabbing one of the chairs and jamming it under the door handle before running to the far end of the room to hide under the table. She waited for Ravi to smash his way into the room, but nothing happened. Then came a light knocking at the door, ‘Amy, it’s Penny.’ The door handle turned and the chair moved slightly as the door was pushed against it. ‘Amy, it’s Penny. Let me in.’ This time the door was pushed harder and the legs of the chair started to slip against the carpet. Amy pulled herself from under the table and ran to the door. Sitting on the floor with her back against one of the table legs, she held the chair fast with her feet. Slowly the door handle was released.
Amy strained to hear what was happening but the voices were too faint. Suddenly there was a loud, demanding knock on the door and the unmistakable voice of Director Hedrick, ‘Miss Amy, this is Director Hedrick. Please open the door. There is nothing to be concerned about.’ Amy wasn’t going to be fooled by some poltergeist imitating Hedrick and pushed even harder against the chair.
Even though Jessian couldn’t bring herself to look, she was certain that the body lying behind the desk was Mohammed’s. A rush of nausea swept over her, so she concentrated on the wall clock, driving her claws into the palms of her hands until the sensation passed. You can do this, she said to herself, and filling her lungs with the tainted air, she turned to leave the room.
The scream was so loud that at first Jessian didn’t realize that she was the one screaming, her feet skidding and slipping on the blood-covered floor as she tried to back away from the door. She turned, lost her balance, and fell, sliding through the mush to end up behind the desk, staring into Mo’s mutilated face. His eye-sockets were empty, the rear of his decapitated head having exploded, like a tomato overcooked in a microwave oven. Rolling over, she scrambled under the workbench, her hands and knees sliding through the congealing blood.
The angel Abraxas hovered in the doorway, bemused at Jessian’s reaction. Whilst this might not have been a perfect incarnation of a creationist, he felt she had somewhat overreacted. As he went about the task of reassembling Mo’s body parts, the interior of the laboratory slowly emerged from its blood-red, monochrome covering. Abraxas amused himself by stepping time back and forth so that the entrails and shards of bone danced through the air on their path to be reunited. It became obvious that Mo’s head had exploded first, sending his eye-balls across the laboratory like bullets. Jessian started to scream again as she felt the blood that had soaked into her fur, being sucked away.
Abraxas was now hovering beside Mo’s reconstructed body, ticking the time bubble back and forth, frame by frame, until Mo’s eyes, once more in their sockets, glanced up to witness the arrival of his killer. When the Dude was released from lockdown it was as though he was waking from a nightmare. One second a poltergeist was standing in the doorway about to tear him apart, the next, Abraxas was hovering in front of him with the sound of Jessian’s screams filling the room. He found himself transfixed by the angel’s stare, unable to look away. His vision tunnelled to a single point as hundreds of simultaneous images started to play in his head. In an instant he saw everything; the dismembering of Jessian’s body, the destruction of the auditing office, the locking down of Creation, and his own reincarnation. The sounds and images became overwhelming. It was like being in a crowded room and trying to pick out a single conversation. After a few seconds he shut his eyes and, grabbing his head with both hands, shouted, ‘Stop… It’s too much!!’ Instantly the images were gone and his mind was empty again. He turned to see Jessian cowering under the workbench, her head hidden beneath her arms. He quickly crossed the room and, kneeling down, wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth like a baby, ‘Shhh, Shhh,’ he whispered gently into her ear.
Jessian looked up into Mo’s eyes, ‘You’re alive?’
‘I hope so. It’s either that or we’re both in Eternity.’ he replied, with a nervous smile. Standing up, he offered Jessian his hand and pulled her to her feet, then, walking over to his desk, he removed the memory cartridge from the workstation’s reader and holding out his hand, said, ‘Come on, Amy will be waiting for us.’
Amy cupped her muzzle in her hands and started to sob, but after a few seconds, fuelled by the pain of cramp in her thighs, rage took over. ‘LEAVE ME ALONE!’ she screamed at the door, stamping against the legs of the chair. She was about to scream out again when the silence in the room was broken by the calm voice of her father, Amy my love, open the door. She refused to be distracted and pushed even harder against the chair, ‘LEAVE ME ALONE!’ This time her mother spoke, Amy, your father has asked you to open the door, now be a good daughter and do as he has asked. Without taking her feet off the chair she peered over her shoulder. At the far end of the room, in front of the whiteboard, floated the presence of the angel Haamiah, her face a translucent combination of Amy's mother, father, sister and Daniel, each one drifting in and out of focus at random; she released the chair and got to her knees. It was the angel Haamiah alone who addressed her now, ‘Amy, please open the door.’ With tears running down her snout, she stood up and removed the chair from under the door handle, and then with some embarrassment, opened the door.
Standing in a line were Director Hedrick, Penny and Ravi; ‘You really scared me, Ravi.’ Amy said, with an air of bravado. Over Penny’s shoulder, Amy caught sight of movement at the far end of the office. Her body tensed, and then she sighed with relief as Jessian and Mo came into view, walking down the central aisle, hand-in-hand.
16
No Poltergeists
As the Dude approached Amy he was grinning from ear to ear, ‘I’ve got it! I’ve got everything you need right here,’ he said, waving the memory cartridge.
‘Mo, I’m really worried about Daniel. I was hoping he was with you,’ Amy interrupted.
The wide grin turned to a frown, ‘The last time I saw him was in my lab last night.’
Amy turned to Penny, ‘I’m sure something terrible’s happened, I can just feel it.’
Director Hedrick broke off his conversation with Haamiah and walked to Amy’s side. He put his arm around her shoulder and, speaking in a low voice that only she could hear, said, ‘Amy, I am certain Daniel is going to be all right, you have got to be focused and strong. Now come on, we have work to do.’ He gave her the hint of a smile and turned to address the others, ‘Could you all follow me please, I would like Amy to start her presentation.'
Hedrick led the group into the meeting room and took his place at the head of the table, gesturing for them to sit to his left. The angels, Haamiah and Rampel drifted into the room and took their place to the right of Hedrick. Without warning, the ghosts whom Rampel had intimidated at the Directors’ Club appeared, occupying vacant seats as far from the angels as possible.
Amy was flipping through the pages of her printout, discussing the contents with Mo and Jessian. They were huddled together, their heads almost touching when Hedrick rapped the table to gain everybody's attention. ‘Are we all here?’ he said, drawing the meeting together.
He picked up his copy of the printout and was about to speak when Haamiah interrupted him, ‘Director Hedrick, we await the arrival of other guests, they will be here directly.’ A vacant chair between the ghosts and the angels moved away from the table and then repositioned itself as through it now had an occupant. Rampel’s presence exploded,
his hysterical, deafening voice, filling everyone’s head, ‘NO POLTERGEISTS!’ Haamiah sprang from her seat, engulfing Rampel and merging into a single amorphous entity. They spun and whirled around the room, Mo and Penny ducking instinctively as they passed overhead. Unperturbed, Hedrick sat, calmly waiting for the angels to resolve their dispute. Then, as quickly as the argument had started it stopped, with Haamiah and Rampel descending into their seats.
‘Can I assume that all parties are now present?’ Hedrick said, pausing for a reply. The pause became an awkward silence and Amy looked up from her notes to see Director Hedrick staring intently at the far end of the table. She turned and followed his gaze. Sat, facing the director was a black, featureless void, visible yet invisible. It was visible, in that it was opaque, preventing you from seeing what was behind it, but also invisible; a three dimensional shadow of nothing, an infinitely deep hollowness. The outline seemed to be that of a creature with head and arms, but with no discernible features.
Hedrick rose from his chair and nodding respectfully towards the figure, began to speak. ‘Before I ask Miss Amy 64 to give her presentation, I would like to thank you all for being here. I appreciate that historic events make this meeting somewhat difficult. But personal feelings are irrelevant! As I stand before you our whole purpose is being threatened, the future production of Dark Matter is being threatened, and unless we act collectively this day, our very existence is threatened!’ Hedrick paused, scanning his audience one by one, 'The presence of Those-On-High at this table indicates how critical this situation has become.’ He was now looking directly at the featureless form opposite him. 'What we are witnessing is akin to a virus entering the body, minute, insignificant, undetectable, and yet ultimately, lethal!' He stood and let his opening statement sink in before continuing, ‘It was eight years ago when the decline in Dark Matter production was first noticed by one of my auditors, a reduction of almost one trillion tonnes a day. Monitor drone data showed that the problem was restricted to a single universe contaminated by a single galaxy. But, over time, the contagion spread, galaxy to galaxy, like a virus multiplying inside its host. It became clear that unless action was taken, there was the alarming prospect that the contamination could jump to other universes. So, with the approval of Those-On-High, it was decided to extract the offending universe before the problem could escalate.’
Creation- The Auditor’s Apprentice Page 13
