“Diamond mining?” Aaditya said.
“No, just for clearing rock, although finding diamonds would be a bonus. It’d certainly help pay the bills.”
“Huh?” Aaditya said, shocked Tim had responded to a question he thought he’d pondered internally. “Uh, okay. Why all the machines?”
“We’ve just started work really. It might take another ten years to finish. Mr Yamamoto just wanted to show you how far we’ve got.”
“Enough with the games and riddles. I’m not in the mood. Why do you always do that?”
“Aady, matey bubbles, where’s that smile I love so much? Those little pearly sparkles are the only diamonds I wanna see… Okay,” Tim said, holding up his hands as Aaditya clenched a fist and snarled, “looks like we’re still a little grumpy. I’ll let Mr Yamamoto explain. It’ll cheer you up, promise.”
“So, he’s not asked me here to, like, because he’s angry? I wasted a lot of money. I mean a lot of money, piles of the stuff. Have you read the papers?”
Tim laughed sympathetically.
“Don’t beat yourself up, chap. You did a great job. Don’t listen to the muppets who don’t have a clue.”
“I’m so confused,” Aaditya said, hanging his head.
“Let’s get you some answers,” Tim said, beckoning for Aaditya to follow. “It’s bloody freezing, mate. We’re gonna die out here, come on.”
Aaditya simply nodded and followed. They weaved through the mining vehicles and came to a loading entrance in the rock face. Tim waded through the snow, to a door beside the vehicular entrance. He swiped his glove over a plate which beeped and a red light blinked.
“Bugger it,” Tim grumbled.
He swiped a few more times until the light blinked green and the door slid open.
“It’s gonna get hot,” Tim said, leading Aaditya inside. “Best shed the snow garb or you’ll bake.”
Tim whistled as they undressed. This only added to Aaditya’s irritated mood. How could someone be so merry when they’d failed so spectacularly?
“Ready?” Tim asked when they’d removed their cold weather gear. “It’s about to get exciting.”
“Stop acting like some lunatic ring master at a carnival. If I have to ask you to stop with the games once more, I’m gonna lose it. I’m not kidding, I’ll hurt you. I’m a man on the edge.”
“I know, sorry. I’m just excited, you know like at Christmas when you know you’ve got someone the most amazing present. Go on, it’s through that door, you go first.”
Aaditya grumbled and pushed open the internal door. As he did so, a shriek from the pit of his lungs, from the deepest, most primal depths of his core erupted. He fell backwards and raised his hands to shield his face. Teeth, sharp teeth, bore down on him and glowing red eyes glared. Clawed hands reached for him.
“Heeeelp meeeee… nooooo!”
He immediately realized Mr Yamamoto had decided to kill him for failing so miserably, for wasting all that money. Aaditya closed his eyes and waited for the end, but all he could hear was Tim laughing. He looked up and blinked at an animatronic dinosaur, twenty feet tall, rocking on a hydraulic mount. He could hear the pistons inside firing as the jaw and arms articulated.
“What are you trying to do to me?” Aaditya gushed, sniffing, tears welling in his eyes.
Tim’s face changed in an instant and he sprang to Aaditya’s side and helped him up.
“Bad joke,” he said hugging Aaditya and patting his back. “I thought it might cheer you up. The operations guys love it. Mate, I’m sorry. It’s kind of a ritual newbies have to go through. A right-of-passage type thing. I’m sorry. It was a joke, mate.”
“A joke?” Aaditya croaked. “Jokes are supposed to be funny.”
“I know. It was dumb. It’s just a model, see.”
“D’you know what’s happened to my life?” Aaditya said, sniffing. “I was a world leader in solar science, and now I’m a joke. No, the joke… Mr Anti Einstein… and now even you’re making fun of me.”
“You are far from a joke,” a deep voice said. “Tim, you know he’s fragile at the moment.”
“You put the thing there,” Tim defended.
“For the workers’ enjoyment, not to scare our number one asset half to death. Poor guy. Here, Aady, are you alright?” Mr Yamamoto said, curling an arm around Aaditya’s shoulder. “You’re fine. It’s just a robot.”
“You two are crazy,” Aaditya stuttered, pushing Mr Yamamoto away. “You should be arrested. Why is everything with you two a game?”
“Aady,” Mr Yamamoto reassured, “come back to us. This isn’t a game. I need you lucid and present. We have work to do. Tim, that really was mean, you’ve practically broken him.”
“Could’a killed me,” Aaditya said, scowling at Tim, who was staring at the floor like a scolded child.
“Sorry,” Tim mumbled.
“I’m sorry too,” Mr Yamamoto comforted. “Please, come through and ignore Tim’s terrible sense of humor.”
Aaditya gathered himself and followed Mr Yamamoto through the internal door. The enormous room behind the model dinosaur opened up into a cavernous expanse, lit with bright sun-yellow lights nestled high on the walls. Tall palm and pine trees stretched upwards and exotic birds squawked as they fluttered from branch to branch, tree to tree. The vibrant forest inside the mountain looked like it went on for miles. Mist rolled around the tree trunks. Aaditya felt as though he’d stepped into a lost world.
“It’s so hot,” he managed, astonished, “humid like the tropics.”
“We’re still working with the climate controls,” Mr Yamamoto said. “It’s a little too hot, we think. We’ll know for sure when the hard data starts coming in. The place has yet to settle in.”
“Data? What’s this place for?” Aaditya said, noticing a lagoon into which a waterfall cascaded, splashing against rocks where tiny rainbows sprouted. Colorful birds cheeped as they preened their wings.
“It’s a test bed,” Mr Yamamoto said. “We hope these animals and trees will entrench themselves in time. We’re building a resort. It’s years from completion. We envisage three chambers, each with a footprint of roughly eight square miles. It’s a big project. But this is just Genesis, the beginning. There’s so much to do, more all the time. It’s daunting. I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I’m having. They say I should take pills, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
“Genesis? You want to excavate chambers eight square miles big?” Aaditya said, staring in amazement at the forest inside the mountain. “Why? That’s massive. Why does it need to be so big?”
“Exactly,” Mr Yamamoto said. “That’s where we need your help. We nee…”
“Oh, no. No no no no. I’m out,” Aaditya said, waving his hands. “I’m done. I already made a fool of myself. It’s over for me. I just wanna quiet life with some good books and some nice wine. Scratch that, lots of nice wine. I think I can make peace with that.”
“So could we all,” Mr Yamamoto said. “But, some of us are destined to serve a greater good.”
“Just quit it,” Aaditya said. “I’m out. I already made a fool of myself…”
“Perhaps you should rest. You must be hungry after your flight?”
“Hungry?” Aaditya growled. “I’ve been on a cargo plane for eleven hours. I feel awful. Like I’ve been forced to eat sponges whilst being punched in the head! I just wanna go home, somewhere quiet. I came out of respect and to say sorry. I really am. I’m sorry, but please, I’m done. Nothing can change that.”
“Okay,” Mr Yamamoto said, holding up a hand. “No sleep, no food, no BS, nothing apart from truth. I lied to you. That’s the truth. You didn’t fail. Your probes were successful. They successfully broke through time and landed on the moon.”
“Wha… I… shut up. Please… don’t you get it? Enough of the games! LET… ME… GO!”
“Aady,” Mr Yamamoto said, grabbing Aditya’s arm as he turned to leave. “The probe data fed to the Ta
negashima Space Center was fabricated. We needed the world to disengage from this, to believe we’d failed. We can’t operate with the interference of governments, the press or regulators, especially on something like this. It’s too big. The authorities would wrap everything in red tape. It’d take two hundred years to reach our goal. This always needed to be off the grid. Your probes landed at an alternate site on the moon. Seven of them, safe and well. You were right, Aady. You succeeded. Your theory was spot on.”
“So you used me?” Aaditya said, stalking towards Mr Yamamoto. “You made me look like an idiot in front of the entire world?”
“If we’d have told you the truth you might have given the game away,” Tim said. “We couldn’t risk it. You know how nervous you get.”
“We?” Aaditya said, turning to Tim and clenching his fists. “We!”
“Your probes were on the moon before any of us were born,” Mr Yamamoto continued. “You were right about time travel. Everything we send to the past is already there. As soon as we found the Icarus two in that plesiosaur, I chose you to solve the mechanics of time travel. As soon as you came up with the theory and the plan to land the probes on the moon, I chose a landing site and checked it out. There they were. I couldn’t believe it. I knew you’d succeeded before you’d started.”
“So we did it?” Aaditya said, suddenly feeling light-headed. “We actually did it?”
“No, Aady, you did it. You alone, but we’ve only just started. I think you’ll like this. Come on, this way.”
Dazed, Aaditya followed Mr Yamamoto, who ushered him onto an awaiting golf cart. He couldn’t believe the probes had actually succeeded. Were Tim and Mr Yamamoto still playing games? He didn’t know what to believe anymore. Mr Yamamoto drove through the forest and into a tunnel lined with fluorescent strip lights. The scale of the warren of tunnels carved through the mountain was staggering. They’d been heading up an inclining path for a good ten minutes when bright light appeared up ahead.
“Here we are,” Mr Yamamoto said as a new cavern opened up around them. “This is the launch chamber.”
“Is that… no way,” Aaditya said. “Is that thing real?”
“It is,” Tim replied, “one of the prototype Space Shuttles. That thing wasn’t cheap to acquire.”
Technicians in orange overalls were crawling over the carcass of a space shuttle. Acetylene cutting torches hissed and sparked as workers sliced sections of the craft away. All around the Shuttle, pieces of the spacecraft lay on blankets. As Mr Yamamoto drove further into the chamber, Aaditya spotted a blackbird spy plane and a stealth bomber, also being dismantled. There were other space age looking aircraft too, but Aaditya didn’t recognise them.
“All of these planes are designed to fly at the edge of space or sit on a rocket and be blasted into space,” Mr Yamamoto said. “We’re developing a hybrid. It’s early stages, but we’ve got the best minds on the planet working on the problem. We’re hopeful of launching a test vehicle within the next three years. The first reusable, one stage, ground to space vehicle ever made.”
“You won’t be able to fly to the sun with people on-board,” Aaditya said, realizing what Mr Yamamoto was attempting to do. “It won’t work. It’s too hot. Everyone would die, even if they survived the six or seven years it would take to get there. You…”
“Relax, Aady, we’re not flying people into the sun. We need something much closer than that. I need you to meet some people. They’re itching to meet you, Starman.”
“Starman?”
“It’s kind of become a nickname for you.”
“Now that, I like,” Aaditya said, smiling to himself. “Starman…”
“It’s good, right? They’re just down here. There’s no time to waste. I need you and your team to get started as soon as possible.”
“On what?” Aaditya asked, staring around the chamber in amazement as he spotted ever more fantastical looking crafts.
“Now, don’t panic,” Mr Yamamoto said, bringing the golf cart to a stop and turning to Aaditya. “I have full confidence you can successfully accomplish what I’m about to propose. You’ve done amazingly well thus far. If anyone can do this, you can.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not gonna like what you’re about to say?”
“Oh, you’ll like this,” Tim said.
“Go on then.”
“Aady, my brilliant friend,” Mr Yamamoto said, his nebulous gaze full of awe. “Like I told you when we first met, your funding limits do not exist. Whatever you need, however much it costs, it’s yours.”
“You want me to build more probes?”
“No, Starman,” Nori said, a twinkle in his eye, his smile growing wide. “That part’s already done. For your next trick, we need you to build us a star…”
Brothers Forever
A shley Cooper made his way from the Clapham South underground tube station with a jig in his step as David Bowie’s Starman blared through his headphones. The crisp evening air, in which snowflakes drifted all around, was tingling with festive magic. The snow crunching underfoot sparkled red, green and blue, reflecting the Christmas lights spilling from the houses either side of the street. Each and every passer by seemed to be smiling. There wasn’t a bad vibe or sour face in sight. Steam poured from the exhausts of cars making their way down the road, their occupants probably as excited to get home as Ash was. It was the Friday before Christmas and the holidays had finally begun.
Ash thumbed the envelope in his jacket pocket. His mum was going to go nuts when she read the contents. All those long hours keeping his head down and working hard at the catering college had finally paid off. It was fair to say, today was the greatest day Ash had experienced in a very long time. Today, anything was possible and he breezed through the streets as though borne upon the shoulders of kings.
Even making his way through the warrens that led between the imposing social housing blocks he lived in, his upbeat mood was unbreakable. It helped that the usual litter of discarded crisp packets and takeaway boxes was covered by a blanket of fresh snow, and that the darkness concealed the lazy graffiti and tags plastered across the walls. Here too, warm, colorful lights spilled from the flats and a faint smell of cinnamon and orange scented the air. It seemed the world had been crafted for one special night, especially for him, so that his mood was doubly joyous when he delivered the tidings of joy the envelope contained, to his mother and little brother. It was the best Christmas present he’d ever been able to give anyone. Things were definitely looking up.
A ringtone interrupted his music, so he clicked a button on his headphones.
“Y’ello,” he answered chirpily.
“Hey, bro, I’m in D block. You never guess what I got?”
“Ethan? Is that you?” Ash said, turning up the volume. His little brother wasn’t supposed to be out at this time of night. If their mum found out she’d freak out.
“I’s chillin’ with Fedex and his crew. You never guess what, Fedex gave me a iphone Glass! It’s brand new, bruv. Totally maxed!”
“You what?” Ash said, suddenly panicking. “What you hanging out with them for? Stay put, I’m coming. You know you can’t keep that phone.”
“Shut ya face. I do what I want. You can’t be tellin’ me what I do… not no more.”
“No, Ethan,” Ash shouted, running in the direction of D Block. “Just shut it. It’s not a game with those lot. You’ll get hurt.”
“Tsss, a’ight grandma,” Ethan replied, amidst cackles of laughter in the background. “I’m out. I don’t need you givin’ me rules. I make my own rules now. Peace!”
“Ethan… Ethan?” Ash shouted, tearing off his headphones and breaking into a sprint.
Reaching the courtyard at the bottom of D block stairwell he heard a smash of glass, followed by peals of cackling laughter. He flew up the stairs, lungs burning, leg muscles screaming. Eventually, below the sign for the ninth floor, he spotted the vultures. Fedex’s wingman, Stoney, was leaning towards his little
brother, shaking an open packet of cigarettes.
“Take one little man. You’s a big dog now,” Stoney was saying.
Ash reached them, panting. He snapped a cigarette from the packet and tucked it behind his ear.
“Th… thanks,” he said, breathing heavily. “Just got back from… ha… from school. Save that for later.” He stepped in front of his brother and nodded at Fedex, who was flanked by four strong looking boys dressed in black. They all stood with purpose, pulling poses they’d probably rehearsed in the mirror at home, the same way Ash used to practice before he’d found a better path. “S’up, Fedex, you cool?”
“Am I cool?” Fedex replied, smirking and looking at his boys who sniggered. All of them were staring directly into Ash’s eyes. “I’m always cool, bruv. Sounds like you’s the one losing his cool, being all dictatorial to my boy.”
“Nah, Fed, you got me wrong,” Ash said turning to his brother, whose face was lit up with joy as he played with the features of the new phone in his tiny hands. Seizing the opportunity, Ash swiped the phone from Ethan and held it out for Fedex. “My mum’ll go skitz if she sees this. She’ll call up the po-po for sure. No one wants that.”
“Give it back,” Ethan squealed, lunging for the phone. “It’s mine. They gave it to me, not you. Why don’t you go home and cuddle with mummy if you’re such a mummy’s boy!”
Fedex stuck out his tongue and howled with laughter, as did his boys who were busily giving each other ‘fives.’
“Oh, snap,” Fedex said, “You got dissed, bro. Come here my little soldier,” he said, holding out a hand to Ethan.
“Give it back,” Ethan yelled, jumping up at Ash, his high-pitched voice piercing the night.
“No, Ethan!” Ash barked. “It’s time to go home. It’s late. I’ll make you some dinner. I learned a new recipe today. I can make us the best potatoes you ever had, all crispy, covered in garlic and rosemary. Sounds good, yeah?”
Jurassic Earth Trilogy Box Set Page 4
