2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent)

by Robert Storey

Trish’s brows remained furrowed. ‘I know she wants to blame someone for her mum’s death, but if she thinks she can bring the Vatican, or individuals working for them, to book for their crimes she’ll only meet with failure and the only one left to blame, according to her, will be Sarah herself.’

  Jason plucked a flower from a nearby bush and began detaching the petals from it one by one. ‘What do you propose we do it about it? She’s made up her mind. You know Sarah; when she gets a mind to do something, she doesn’t stop until she achieves it.’

  ‘You’re right, but I can’t help thinking she’s seeking revenge rather than justice; and revenge is unhealthy, it will eat away at her from the inside.’

  ‘You don’t know she’s out for revenge,’ Jason said, and besides, revenge is a form of justice in itself. An eye for an eye ‘n’ all that; although considering it’s the Church who she’s up against, that phrase is perhaps a little inappropriate, but you know what I mean.’

  Trish did know what he meant, he wasn’t the subtlest of people, but she couldn’t help but fear for Sarah. Jason was right about one thing, though; once Sarah had made her mind up there was little chance of changing it. They would just have to be there to help her when she needed it, or pick up the pieces if things went badly.

  Trish glanced up at the dome’s simulated sunset, which announced its presence above them with a sumptuous display of colour. Deep reds, blues and greens intermingled in a vision that amazingly managed to outstrip the real thing. ‘Keep an eye on her for me, will you?’ she asked Jason as they made their way back to the monotube station.

  ‘Of course.’ He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. ‘She’ll be fine, though, you’ll see. You worry too much.’

  ‘I hope so,’ she said, her vexation undiminished. ‘I do hope so.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Loud, drawn out grinding noises punctuated the air, accompanied by a deep rumbling that sent powerful vibrations through the SED Command Centre and its surrounding building. These mysterious sounds petered away to nothing before starting again minutes later, indicating to Sarah that giant mechanisms were at work behind the scenes somewhere in the complex – somewhere close.

  Nearby, a bewildering array of staff manned a multi-tiered office kitted out with state-of-the-art work stations, computers and communication systems – a control centre set-up resembling something utilised by NASA or the CNSA, China’s national space agency. Huge transparent wallscreens dominated the rear of a raised platform which backed onto a large area Sarah recognised as the room in which Riley had become aware of her infiltration.

  Now in Sanctuary’s Exploration Division legitimately, Sarah could relax and take in her surroundings at leisure. She had yet to see Riley, but so far her first day had consisted of boring and yet necessary administrative procedures to enrol her in the programme as an SED employee. She didn’t expect to understand the full workings of the extensive outfit on her first attempt, but from what she’d seen so far, and from her initial illegal foray, it would take many months to get up to speed on what went on here, if not longer. One thing was for sure, however, the SED beat the pants off the archivist position she’d previously been given in Sanctuary’s Smithsonian Institution.

  Currently, from her location in a reception room on the third floor of the Command Centre, Sarah watched a number of survey teams performing a rigorous set of training exercises. The instructor looked military and shouted out various commands in order to get his graduates to switch positions or to improve their energy or technique. One man fell to the floor in utter exhaustion, but rather than offer any kind of assistance, the drill sergeant moved to stand over him and scream out obscenities until his victim forced himself back to his feet to continue the punishing session, only to fall back down again moments later. Sarah’s chest tightened in sympathy before a movement glanced out of the corner of her eye made her turn her head.

  Riley had appeared at a doorway in front of her and waved her inside. ‘Sarah, come in, he’ll see you now.’

  Sarah, dressed in her plain grey USSB uniform, stood up and brushed her hair back with a nervous hand before walking past Riley, who gave her a brief smile of support.

  ‘Sit down, Miss Morgan,’ a man seated behind a desk said, his voice rich with authority. Riley, remaining with her, closed the door behind them.

  Sarah instantly recognised the man who had addressed the SED teams during her impromptu visit. Close up, he seemed a little less imposing and a tad older. His silvery hair, cropped in a military style, accentuated his powerful shoulders and strong jaw. Unlike before, he wore a white and red uniform, similar to the red and blue one Riley sported; the Deep Reach team leader in question took an informal seat on top of a desk off to her right.

  ‘My name is Dresden Locke,’ the man behind the desk began, his hands clasped in front of him on the table as Sarah settled into a chair opposite. ‘I am the Sanctuary Exploration Division’s commanding officer. While the SED operates with military oversight, we are primarily a civilian outfit and as such we have our own strict codes of conduct which we expect all our personnel to adhere to at all times. Riley, here,’ he said, indicating his subordinate, ‘tells me you will prove a valuable asset to the SED and has requested you be assigned to his survey team, Alpha Six.’

  Sarah glanced at Riley who gave her a wink.

  ‘You will be aware that your clearance level has already been upgraded,’ Locke continued, ‘but before I can sign off your deployment, you will need to pass the necessary tests and exams, both mental and physical. Everyone at the SED who goes outside the base is required to achieve a certain proficiency, but members of our Deep Reach teams are in privileged positions and only the best have what it takes to make the grade.

  ‘Since your introduction to Sanctuary has been less than regular and your standing with the military is blotchy at best, Riley will be overseeing your training. He is also your guarantor and will be responsible for your actions. Any transgressions on your part will not only land you back in military custody, but will also have significant consequences for Riley himself. Needless to say, you are now representing the SED and I expect you to uphold our reputation with an exemplary and sustained commitment. If any of your actions are to the detriment of the SED I will personally drag you back to your cell and throw away the key. Do I make myself clear?’

  Sarah nodded.

  ‘The proper response is yes, sir,’ Riley told her.

  Sarah bobbed her head. ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Since Riley is to begin an important assignment in six weeks’ time,’ Locke continued, ‘your training has been compressed to suit. Usually it takes four months to prepare for the assessments, so you are being thrown in at the deep end and will have to hit the ground running if you want to succeed. Fail the tests and you will be moved to admin, your clearance downgraded. Pass the tests but fail to meet the levels required for Deep Reach and you will be put on an archaeological team. Given the circumstances, an archaeological position is the most likely outcome, but it should not be seen as an easy ride. The work of all our teams outside of Deep Reach is still highly demanding, although it is not as dangerous and you will only be working on sites already found by other teams.’

  Dresden Locke appraised her for a moment before continuing. ‘Personally I don’t care if you succeed or not,’ he told her. ‘If you do, however, you will have joined an elite group undertaking perhaps the most important work on the planet. Surveying Sanctuary Proper will be extremely challenging, exciting and immensely rewarding, as you uncover lost civilisations, discover ancient artefacts, and potentially document new materials, species of plants, insects and even small animals.

  ‘You should also be aware that the SED has a long and illustrious history, dating back to the year 1826 when Sanctuary was first discovered.’ Locke indicated a black and white photograph mounted on the wall behind him, portraying a group of bearded men wearing nineteenth century clothing and kitted out with similarly antiquated climbing equipme
nt. ‘Our founder, John Quincy Adams, the sixth and, in my opinion, greatest ever President of the United States, wanted to create a legacy for those that followed in his footsteps. In various guises, and over many generations, the SED has functioned as the first and foremost agency in the exploration of this vast subterranean world. We were here long before the USSB was built, and long before the military even knew it existed and the GMRC was ever conceived. Our purpose, and now your purpose, is to uphold the SED’s traditions and values for our brothers and sisters that will follow us in the future. I want you to think long and hard about your motivations to be here and what you want to get out of an opportunity many others have strived for their whole careers, only to fall short. To tarnish our long history by underperforming is to demean the hard work of those around you, those that have gone before and those that will surely come after. I employ the best, so I expect the best. Any questions?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘No? Good. Take her away, Riley,’ he told him and shooed the two of them out of his room with a motion of his hands, the one sided conversation at an end.

  Outside the office Riley slapped her on the shoulder. ‘Welcome aboard, and don’t worry about Locke, he’s a pussycat really; he just hasn’t got much time for new recruits. If you pass the tests he’ll have more respect for you and will give you the time of day; it may be a short time but you’ll get it nonetheless.’

  ‘You’re my guarantor; are you crazy?’ she said as Locke’s words sank in. ‘You do know my track record here, don’t you? I have a tendency to break the rules.’

  ‘You’re an explorer, that’s what you do; I get it, it’s my job too. You just happened to discover somewhere that’s protected.’

  ‘Twice,’ Sarah pointed out, following him down a corridor.

  ‘And that’s exactly the sort of tenacity I look for in my team.’

  Sarah smiled at his smooth answer. ‘You failed to mention the exams and tests when you offered me the position.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll breeze it, especially with me as your trainer.’

  ‘Confident aren’t you?’

  He opened a door to a room marked GYMNASIUM. ‘I back my abilities and I trust my judgement. In my line of work you have to be able to make snap decisions, there’s no room for uncertainty or the unskilled. We’re the best at what we do; it’s as simple as that.’

  Sarah liked his attitude; it was one she’d like to replicate; to have that much faith in yourself must be a great feeling. She’d felt she could reach a peak at certain times, but she had always found it hard to keep herself there. Although, she reasoned, if someone had a job on an SED team, then motivation would be unlikely to be a problem. The energy and buzz of the place was infectious and she found herself being sucked in by it as Riley took her on a tour of the facilities on offer. A group of multifaceted and extensive climbing courses took up a huge segment on one side of the building and around the grand atrium that surrounded it. Every type of climb imaginable could be replicated, with some reaching up hundreds of feet.

  Other areas included various departments, ranging from Decontamination Simulation to Subterranean Survey Equipment and Training, and from Archaeology to Structural Engineering. The scientific departments even had their own dedicated building located to one side of the main SED complex. Sarah was amazed at the resources they had available to them, but it wasn’t until Riley took her down a couple of floors that she was truly bowled over.

  ‘This is the inner workings of the transport system all the teams use when they are launched into Sanctuary Proper,’ Riley said.

  Sarah took in the scene before her, not quite sure what she was looking at. Dominating the area ahead a massive gaping hole disappeared into the ground, its interior brightly lit by an array of strip lighting. Spanning two hundred feet across, the giant oval shaft had eight evenly distributed vertical tracks attached to its inner surface. At its pinnacle, each twin-railed track twisted one hundred and eighty degrees and then curved at right angles to the vertical drop, bringing them onto a horizontal plane and up onto the ceiling of the level on which Sarah and Riley now stood. One of these tracks, its shiny metal rails glinting above her, ran past and into some kind of garage with grey frosted shutters blocking out whatever mysterious machine lay beyond.

  ‘They’re the docking stations for the air-shuttles,’ Riley said when he saw her looking.

  ‘Air-shuttles?’

  ‘The vehicles we use to travel outside the USSB and into various areas of Sanctuary Proper.’

  ‘Each track goes to a different place?’

  ‘Pretty much. Mostly they head out west, but one takes a southern route while another heads due north.’

  ‘None go east?’

  ‘No, the density of the rock in that direction is unusually hard to penetrate and the huge chamber that contains the USSB’s dome has collapsed to the East. We think there might be a significant chamber behind it, but our equipment has been ineffective in penetrating it so far. That section also suffers from a higher frequency of quakes and has been deemed too high-risk for exploration. Personally I think they’re being over cautious, as there are plenty of structural and geological disturbances elsewhere, although a whole survey team was lost many years back on one of the first eastern surveys, which had a big bearing on the decision made by SED Command.’

  ‘Can we take a look at one of the shuttles?’

  ‘Not right now, everything has been locked down. Don’t worry,’ Riley said, noticing Sarah’s disappointment, ‘you’ll get to see one soon enough when you go on your first mission, although your enthusiasm may be short-lived once you’ve ridden one.’

  ‘Rough ride?’ Sarah took one last glance behind as they made their way back upstairs.

  ‘Some think so, its nickname is the Rollercoaster.’

  ‘Sounds fun.’

  Riley just grinned and moved off to show her yet another part of the SED’s operation.

  ♦

  The next few weeks flew past in a blur as Riley pushed Sarah to her limits and beyond. The mental side of the training taxed her, but at times the gruelling, physical workouts she found almost impossible.

  ‘No more!’ Sarah said on one such occasion, collapsing to the floor in a heap, her energy reserves spent.

  Riley squatted down next to her, also breathing hard from his own exertions. ‘Circuit training is perfect for your situation. We don’t have much time to get you ready and CT condenses a lot of exercise into a shorter time period. You’ll gain muscle mass on your scrawny limbs, which will help with climbing, and it’ll improve your cardiovascular endurance, which is currently pathetic.’

  Sarah usually retorted with a well-aimed quip when he directed one of his playful jibes her way; now, however, she just resorted to giving him the finger.

  ‘Having trouble with your new recruit, Riley?’ a woman’s voice said from nearby.

  Sarah rolled her head sideways to see a group of people entering the gym; at their head was the person who’d made the comment, a tall muscular woman with short, spiky, jet-black hair, hawk-like features and a web of colourful tattoos covering her upper arms and shoulders.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be competing, Cora?’ Riley replied as he held out a hand, which Sarah took to be pulled to her feet, her sweat-soaked vest clinging to her skin.

  Cora stopped to talk further while her colleagues walked on past, acknowledging Riley and giving Sarah interested looks of appraisal.

  ‘I’ve already won my heats,’ Cora said, looking Sarah up and down as if she were a prize sow in a farmer’s fair.

  ‘You think you’ll be beating Richardson again this year?’ Riley asked. ‘Some say he’s faster than ever.’

  Cora shifted her gaze back to him. ‘I don’t care what some people say. I am the best and I’ll win.’

  ‘I see your modesty is in check, as ever,’ Riley said with a wry smile. ‘This is Sarah, by the way; she’ll be taking her assessments at the end of the week.’<
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  ‘Ah, the girl who supposedly broke into Sanctuary.’ Cora held out a hand. ‘I was expecting someone less—’

  ‘Less what?’ Sarah frowned as she took the woman’s powerful grip, not appreciating being referred to as girl.

  ‘Fragile.’ Cora squeezed Sarah’s hand harder before releasing it.

  ‘I’m stronger than I look,’ Sarah said, cursing her defensive stance when Cora smiled at her pathetic attempt to save face in front of Riley.

  Cora grabbed one of Sarah’s wrists, wrenching it up and out. Sarah, taken by surprise and unable to stop herself, stumbled forwards into Cora, who held her gaze with an intensity that took Sarah off guard. The hold on her arm was hurting, so she went to release it with her free hand, but as she did Cora snaked out her other meat hook, locking that arm in place too. The woman was freakishly strong and Sarah was held fast like an insect caught in liquid amber.

  ‘You’d better build up some muscle, girl.’ Cora held her gaze while Sarah’s forearms shook from the tension as she resisted the woman’s strength. ‘Sanctuary is a dangerous place. You wouldn’t want to lose your hold in the darkness, it could prove – fatal.’ At the word fatal Cora released her grip and nodded to Riley before departing after her fellows.

  Sarah watched Cora stalk away. ‘What the fuck was that all about?’

  ‘Don’t worry about her, she’s all talk; well, sometimes she is. Cora’s always a little—’

  ‘Mental?’

  ‘Competitive. She’s threatened by you.’

  ‘By me? Why?’

  ‘Word’s out, you’re the woman who broke into Sanctuary. You must have expected it sooner or later.’

  ‘I hadn’t even thought about it,’ Sarah said. And it was true; she hadn’t given her previous exploits a second thought; well, not in that sense anyway.

  Riley chuckled. ‘You’d better get used to the attention. You’re infamous within the SED already. You have a lot to live up to, so you better do me proud and make it into my team, or I’ll look like a right fool.’