The Secret Bunker Trilogy

by Paul Teague

  Already Henry Pierce and Zadra Nurmeen had a plan in motion to sabotage the terraforming process and deliver the Earth to the Helyions as a dead, but still mineral rich, planet.

  That was good, but unknown to Henry Pierce, they’d also hatched a plan of their own. Call it a backup plan, in case the human, Pierce, was unable to deliver.

  Under cover of the terraforming darkness, they would land a craft in the most hospitable area that they could locate on the planet.

  With the entire planet asleep, defence systems down, and nobody to monitor what they were doing, they would be able to slip through the matrix using the cloaking mechanism which nobody in The Global Consortium believed them to be capable of building.

  They’d all despised the Helyions, with their dark, industrial practices and rough physicality, but appearances had deceived, and they were capable of advanced scientific developments – in spite of the way they looked.

  The Helyion ship would lurk within the contaminated waters of Lake Karachay while the terraforming process worked through to completion of TerraLevel 3 on the surface above them.

  While it did so, and they could reside on the planet undetected, they would begin a detailed analysis of their own. They would sample the planet’s mineral deposits and confirm the options for sustainability for their own species.

  If the Earth scientist and Zadra Nurmeen were successful, they would sabotage the terraforming and deliver a dead planet, one which they would have full rights under the O-Fed Covenant to plunder.

  And if Pierce and Zadra Nurmeen failed? Well, they’d just take the planet anyway, thus causing the first interplanetary war since The Off-World Federation had come into existence.

  The Captive

  Amy was not fully aware of what had happened next, but when she thought back to it, she had noticed the moment at which the Trooper had paused – only for a few seconds. Later she would understand that this was because the data stream from his helmet had been broken and he’d been disorientated, but it was this which eventually saved her life.

  As the Transporter lights activated, Amy lost consciousness, finally giving in to the power of the blows which she’d received from the Trooper. She was half aware of what was going on around her as the Transporter rematerialized on Quadrant 3, and she’d have to ask others to fill in the hazy details afterwards.

  The doors to the lift opened. As she drifted in and out of awareness, Amy clocked the explosives that had been packed around this area in case of attack. The minute the doors opened, what seemed like several laser beams immediately lit up the area, all targeted on the Trooper.

  She didn’t know it at the time, but they were both seconds away from being blown up in the lift. If the explosives expert that Magnus had put in charge down here had had less presence of mind, he’d have detonated the minute that they saw the Trooper.

  As it was, it was the fact that he was not wearing a helmet that had caused hesitation. With no helmet on, the Trooper became humanized. It was, after all, a human being in there, underneath the robotics and technological enhancements.

  So Amy did not lose her life that day; the Trooper was stunned and not killed, and the Transporter remained intact, in readiness for any future use. Or as the portal which would be used for the final invasion of Quadrant 3, which would surely come soon.

  Amy was vaguely aware of being taken on a HoverTrolly to the MedLab, but she was unable to speak coherently, the force of the Trooper’s blows had taken their toll. And so it was that the items in her bag lay undiscovered. Items which could provide two essential pieces of information capable of turning the current situation entirely on its head.

  Airlock

  Henry Pierce is a very worrying man. He is erratic, violent and completely unpredictable. One minute he appears charming, the next he is exploding into a horrible temper.

  I have barely noticed this before, amid all the activity and threats, but there are other people here – besides the Troopers.

  They’re diminutive by comparison, and they seem to be keeping their heads down, trying not to bait Pierce in any way. They appear to be of Asian ethnic origin and look scared out of their wits, just like they’re school children trying to avoid being noticed by the school bully.

  One of these people in particular catches my attention – he’s very carefully trying to catch my eye without being noticed. I wince as I see a terrible scar across his face. It’s barely healed, in fact it looks like it may be septic. It has been left untreated, that’s for sure – this man does not look like he’s here of his own free will.

  He certainly does not appear to be part of whatever is going on here, he’s a victim in this scenario I think. I try to be subtle in my acknowledgement of him – that alien guy doesn’t miss a thing.

  He’s quieter than Pierce who seems to have a need to make his presence felt. He just sits there taking it all in. If you ask me, he’s the one in control here. Just because he’s not the one making all the noise, his composure and self-assurance are quite threatening.

  Pierce wants me out of the way. It sounds like they’re getting ready to mount their final assault on Magnus’s bunker now that the Quadrants are all locked in.

  Pierce signals to one of the Troopers to take me away. As he does so, the man who has been trying to attract my attention pretends to drop something, immediately stooping to pick it up.

  His timing is excellent. He is able to put something in my hand as I’m manhandled through the Ops Area by the Trooper. I barely pause as he hands it to me, you’d have to have been looking very carefully to see what just happened.

  For a moment I’m fearful. Pierce runs across the room straight at the man and pushes him violently to the floor. He picks up whatever it was that the man dropped and throws it at him contemptuously, admonishing him for being so careless. Pierce is on a really short fuse right now.

  I’m thrown unceremoniously into the airlock with Nat and Harold Pierce. Doctor Pierce is out cold on the floor, Nat is dazed, sitting in the corner.

  This area has large windows looking directly out into space, and it’s easier to get a sense of how this place is laid out in here. We appear to be in a central, circular area, I can see how the four Quadrants have joined together to create an outer ring. It’s quite a sight – amazing even, I wish I had time to appreciate it all.

  However, this room opens directly into space: it’s an airlock and there’s very little between us and airless oblivion. I try not to dwell on how vulnerable that makes us all right now, especially with that mad man just along the corridor in the Ops Area.

  Two Troopers stand outside the airlock, guarding the door. I’m not sure where they think we might be going.

  I turn to face Nat in the corner, as if going to speak to her, but I’m really concealing my actions from the surveillance camera behind me. Whoever that man was who risked Doctor Pierce’s ferocious temper to pass these two things to me, is obviously a friend rather than an enemy.

  He has handed me my Comms-Tab for starters, and that means we can at least alert Simon and Kate, maybe even Magnus. And there’s a crumpled piece of paper with it too. I unfold it and look at what’s written there. Just a name I think, it means nothing to me. It reads ‘Dae-Ho’.

  Blood Clue

  Xiang was making good progress in her makeshift laboratory. She was thanking her luck now that she was surrounded by techies rather than biologists. She’d placed Dan and Nat’s vital signs on a large screen in the work area – everybody here needed to be mindful of the pressure that they were under.

  The NanoTrackers that she’d placed in their bloodstreams sent a steady stream of data to her console. Nat appeared to be at 83 percent through the viral contamination process, Dan was still some way behind at 71 percent.

  But Xiang had noticed some interesting things happening on her screens, though she wasn’t quite clear yet of their significance. Dan and Nat’s adrenaline levels had soared, and as they did so, it seemed to speed up the genetic degeneration th
at was taking place. That was only to be expected really, adrenaline flow tended to make all the body’s functions run on overdrive.

  She wondered what the twins were up to, but knew that she must not get distracted, she had to focus on just one thing: finding a solution to Dan and Nat’s impending deaths.

  Something completely unexpected happened though, and it made Xiang approach the problem in a completely different way.

  She reckoned the twins had about fifty-five minutes left, maybe less than if she’d got her projections wrong.

  At one point, without explanation, both Nat and Dan’s viral levels had gone down. Nat had dropped to 69 percent, Dan to 51 percent – in an instant they’d bought themselves another thirty to sixty minutes of life. What had just happened there?

  Xiang tried to contact the twins via their Comms-Tabs, but worryingly there was no reply. She immediately alerted Magnus, then returned to her analysis work.

  ‘Focus, Xiang. You know the twins are alive, you can see the data on the screen,’ she reminded herself.

  ‘Let Magnus deal with the immediate problem, it’s my job to solve this one.’

  Xiang stared hard at the information streams, trying to fathom the reason for this change. Then, from nowhere, a third stream of data came online. But how?

  The same genetic breakdown process was occurring in a third person – but who? To be showing these signs, they would have to be the same genetic make-up as Dan and Nat – human hybrids.

  Xiang broke into a sweat as she realized the implications of this. There was another like Dan and Nat – and whoever it was, somehow, had had this NanoVirus transferred to them. It was contagious to those with the correct biology. Human hybrids.

  In effect, they were sharing the NanoVirus between the three of them. The third person was showing low infection signs at only 5 percent through the genetic degeneration process. In fact the figures for this third person were static, remaining at 5 percent, but it had been good for Dan and Nat, effectively it had bought them a little more time.

  Xiang was working blind here, she did not know who the third person was or what had happened to cause this change. But she could extrapolate three pieces of key information from this data.

  Firstly, this NanoVirus could be transferred from one host to another, and in so doing, it could prolong the life of somebody who was already infected. But what was the means of transfer – or transmission?

  Secondly, the genetic disintegration process was not one way; it could be reversed, speeded up or slowed down. That gave Dan and Nat a better chance – but it only bought them minutes, not hours or days as she would have preferred.

  Finally, and most importantly to Xiang, this data suggested that Dan and Nat were not unique, there was at least one other like them. That meant that she’d have a third subject for a possible transfusion; this was the process that Magnus’s tech team were working on at that very moment. The NanoVirus was man-made, although the carrier was biologically based, but that meant that the solution could be man-made too.

  Nanotechnology could be deployed by Xiang to create a reverse process, one of genetic renewal rather than destruction, as was happening to Dan and Nat at that very moment.

  There was only one problem. This third person would have been perfect for her to deploy the nanotech straight away and thus reverse the genetic degeneration of Nat and Dan.

  The only issue being that this person was useless to her. They had also been affected by the destructive process which would eventually kill the twins. This meant that there was another hybrid at imminent risk from this invasive and deadly genetic virus.

  Had Xiang known that this very hybrid was about to eject somebody who was completely innocent from an airlock, she might have been slightly less concerned about their welfare.

  Chapter Six

  Recollection

  It was as if for a moment the past eighteen years had never happened. Here they were once again, together, under great duress and pressure and in this particular place. The simulation exercises had been carried out in space: this ship, these Quadrants, this entire project must have been conceived many years ago.

  Simon always knew that his work had been part of something big – and very Top Secret – but he’d never imagined that it would be as far-reaching as this. Both Kate and Simon had known real fear in this hangar – they’d been sure they were about to die, they’d seen the faces of family members streamed to these very screens and threatened with death.

  But it was the answer to that nagging question that they’d carried with them for all these years that they were most pleased to have answered. That thing that had been in the corner when the simulation ended. It was not human, there was something off-world involved here.

  That explained a lot – particularly about the twins, and the amazing technology used in this place and in the Quadrants.

  Kate looked at Simon. This memory and these strong emotions had helped her to refocus her mind after being under the influence of the Neuronic Device for so long. As the memories surfaced, she was once again certain that she was experiencing her own thoughts here and not those of some remote and controlling force.

  ‘So we’ve been here before,’ said Simon, though he barely needed to say it.

  ‘It looks exactly the same as it did then,’ Kate picked up. ‘It seems like it’s been put in storage though.’

  They’d both recognized immediately the distinctive rows of green grid lines which marked out this virtual reality arena.

  ‘I wonder if it’s still operational,’ Simon wondered aloud, making for the terminal where they’d seen the unusual figure sitting just before they were both shot unconscious. They’d thought it was for real at the time.

  The terminal surged immediately to life as he moved deftly around the pads – this was standard Global Consortium navigation and configuration, he could probably figure this out.

  Kate was less useful here. She walked around the hangar exploring, looking for anything which might be useful. Without warning, directly in front of her and all around her, a battlefield emerged. The sights, the sounds, the fire of weaponry, in a matter of an instant she was in the middle of battlefield hell.

  Just as quickly it stopped.

  ‘Whoa, sorry Kate!’ Simon shouted across the hangar. ‘This thing works, it’s programmed with a load of simulation exercises.

  ‘This place renders immersive virtual reality environments – this is what happened to us in that exercise they sent us on.

  ‘It all happened here Kate, it wasn’t real!’

  Kate was still shaken by what had just happened when Simon had activated the terminal. It certainly was totally immersive and felt immediately real. She wasn’t sure that she’d be able to hold a steady nerve even if she was aware of it being a simulation. When she was placed in the thick of it, it felt completely real.

  ‘I’m going to leave this activated Kate,’ Simon continued. ‘It may come in useful later!’

  Then Kate noticed something that they’d both missed before.

  Right along the length of the hangar, between the green grid lines, a narrow strip had been marked out, like a concealed pathway. It was faintly drawn along the floor, but definitely there.

  ‘I want to try something Simon,’ said Kate, walking to the end of the room, the beginning of the tramlines.

  ‘Give me any simulation you want!’ Kate shouted across the hangar. Simon was in the same position where they’d noticed the non-human looking figure eighteen years ago. It was unnerving for her.

  She saw him make some hand movements, then he was gone and she was immediately immersed in a new environment, only this time she understood that it was virtual. Still, it was pretty frightening – the psychological trick that seemed to be employed every time was in disorientating you, so you thought that one thing was happening, then it all changed in an instant.

  Kate held her nerve, though all around her was a scene of mayhem, with explosions, bullets being fired and attac
kers coming at her. She walked a steady route through the hangar, keeping to where she knew the tramlines to be.

  ‘Simon, turn it off, turn it off!’ she shouted as she reached what she supposed must be near the end of the hangar.

  The simulation stopped and the hangar returned. Simon was at the console, he’d seen everything on his monitor.

  ‘You saw all that I assume?’ asked Kate. ‘You can walk straight through this thing if you use that pathway, nothing touches you.’

  ‘And did you notice the device in the ceiling?’ replied Simon, nodding his agreement with her theory.

  ‘That’s central in every simulation, it’s what they used to stun us in our own simulation exercise eighteen years ago.’

  ‘This entire room is a psychological trick!’ Kate picked up. ‘This machine is meant to be beaten.’

  They didn’t know whether to be angry, amused or amazed at this new information. They certainly felt cheated: when they’d made their decision eighteen years ago, it had been in the heat of the moment, they’d genuinely thought that the lives of their family members were in danger. They hadn’t known it was a virtual simulation back then. Neither had they known they were in space.

  Whatever they felt, they would be thankful for this hangar later. It would be the place which shielded them just before the end came.

  The President’s Plan

  Mike tried to focus on the matter in hand; he forwarded a summary of the last file to Magnus. Doctor Pierce was a twin, there were two of them. That seemed to explain quite a bit. The man appeared to be everywhere after all.

  But he was more than just a twin. Like Dan and Nat, the Pierces were hybrids too. That could be good or bad, he wasn’t sure yet.

  Mike reconsidered the circulation of that memo to Magnus – he wondered if Xiang might find that information useful too. He copied her in, highlights only. If there were more hybrids like Dan and Nat it could help her to solve their current problem.