2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent)

by Robert Storey

  Chapter Thirty One

  ‘What the hell is it?’

  ‘No idea, but it looks pretty.’

  ‘Pretty?’

  ‘Don’t you think so?’

  ‘Hmm, I’d say more like disturbing, or ungodly.’

  ‘It’s been going on for some minutes now,’ a deep voice said from behind, making the two of them jump at the interruption.

  Goodwin looked back at Hilt. ‘Commander, what do you think it is?’

  ‘An electrical discharge of some kind.’ Hilt looked up in the same direction as everyone else who had gathered at the edge of the camp. ‘I have to agree with the doctor on this one, sir, it is pretty.’

  Goodwin looked at Hilt in amazement, the word pretty, not something he’d ever imagined the hardened mercenary ever saying.

  Hilt glanced at Goodwin and gave him an odd expression, the downturn of his mouth and raised brows conveying his willingness to stand by his comment despite the shock it had invoked.

  ‘See, I told you,’ Kara said, ‘how can you not call that pretty?’

  Goodwin looked back up at the spectacle, giving Hilt a final look of confounded disappointment before he did so. I can see their point, I suppose, he thought to himself, watching the pinnacle of the distant Anakim tower throb as a wave of purple energy pulsed up its length to discharge towards the ceiling of the chamber, over a mile above.

  ‘One of my lieutenants tells me it’s one of the tallest structures in the city, if not the tallest structure,’ Hilt told them, as another ripple of purple light flowed up from within the dark of the metropolis to erupt from behind the other surrounding towers and swirl around the building’s pointed spire.

  ‘Why do you think it’s started now?’ Goodwin asked.

  Kara pondered the question. ‘Perhaps it always happens at this time of year.’

  ‘Or it’s a once in a lifetime event,’ Hilt said.

  A man in front of them, earwigging on their conversation, glanced back. ‘Or our presence has sparked off a chain of events that has activated some ancient mechanism.’

  ‘An electrostatic build-up through the city, maybe,’ Kara said, ‘discharged when a certain mass has been reached?’

  They were all plausible theories, but none sated Goodwin’s curiosity.

  A Darklight soldier approached from behind and handed his commander a pair of VSE goggles. Hilt held them up to his eyes for some moments and watched the energy spike discharge once more, up into the rocky roof of the ceiling. ‘Interesting.’ He handed the device to Goodwin for him to try.

  Goodwin looked through the lenses, their enhancement of the visual spectrum displaying the phenomenon in a grey, crystal clear image. With the scene magnified, Goodwin could see the branches of electrical lightning dispersing into the air at the building’s summit and flashing to the ceiling, sending out tiny trails of white light in all directions. Goodwin watched a few more of the pulses before passing the goggles to Kara.

  ‘I’ve sent a team to investigate,’ Hilt told Goodwin. ‘It’ll take them half a day to get there, but it’s worth a look, I think.’

  ‘Most definitely, Commander,’ Goodwin said before, as quickly as it had begun, the repetitive cycle of purple light stopped. A groan of discontent swept through the onlookers. Everyone waited for some time before, one by one, and then in groups, they broke away, going back to their normal routines, the fascinating display accepted as being over.

  Goodwin, with Kara at his side and the Darklight commander just behind, walked back into camp, their conversation about what they’d just witnessed immersive in its detail and scope. As they approached the command tent, a heart wrenching scream of despair split the quiet, sending all three of them running to locate the source.

  Coming in from the other direction a Darklight soldier held a sobbing woman in his arms, trying to pull her back to her feet from where she’d collapsed to the floor. Kara, the first to react, took over, offering soothing words of comfort to the near hysterical woman.

  ‘Rebecca?’ Goodwin said, realising who it was as others in the vicinity rushed to the scene, drawn by Rebecca’s terrible cries of pain and torment. ‘Rebecca, what’s wrong? What’s happened?’ he asked, anguished at her suffering.

  ‘I’ll take her inside.’ Hilt bent down, scooped Rebecca up and carried her into the camp’s central tent, Goodwin and Kara close on his heels.

  Hilt placed Rebecca down on a pile of discarded clothing, quickly assembled by Kara to act as a place of comfort in an area otherwise free of any kind of soft furnishings. Goodwin got a glass of water, which he managed to get Rebecca to sip as she calmed while Kara continued to whisper to her soothingly.

  Rebecca tried to speak, but her shallow breathing made the words stick in her throat as she fought to get them out.

  ‘Deep breaths, Rebecca,’ Kara said, ‘slow, deep breaths.’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘I can’t – I couldn’t – find her.’

  Goodwin crouched down before her. ‘Find who?’

  ‘Susan.’ Rebecca’s face crumbled again as the tears came. ‘Susan’s gone!’

  ‘Gone? Gone where?’

  Rebecca sobbed harder.

  ‘Come on, Rebecca, sweetheart,’ Kara said, ‘you need to tell us what’s happened.’

  Another soldier appeared in the tent, with Joseph in tow. The young handicapped man rushed to Rebecca’s side, embracing her and holding her tightly, trembling himself.

  ‘I came – I came back to our tent and somehow Susan and Joseph had sneaked out,’ Rebecca told them, stroking Joseph’s hair. ‘Julie and Arianna were beside themselves. I ran out to look for them, expecting them to be close by—’ Rebecca paused again, wiping away her tears as her voice strengthened. ‘I saw Joseph in the distance, at the edge of the camp. I called out to him, but he didn’t seem to hear me. I ran over to where he’d been, but by then he’d moved out beyond one of the floodlights, beyond the boundary. I had my torch with me so I turned it on and ran after him, heading straight out into the dark. I heard a noise in the distance, followed by Susan’s screams, I called out, shouting her name and Joseph’s. Neither of them responded. I kept shouting until I was hoarse, and eventually I found Joseph, on his knees. He was shaking uncontrollably, he’d wet himself too. There was no sign of Susan. I tried to search for her, but Joseph wouldn’t move forwards and I couldn’t leave him in the dark again. I managed to drag him back towards the camp and I can’t really remember the rest. A soldier started taking me back here, but I knew Susan was still out there, on her own, alone. I tried to tell him, but I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t—’ Her voice broke again.

  ‘Joseph.’ Goodwin touched the boy’s shoulder; he whimpered and flinched from the contact. ‘Joseph,’ Goodwin said again, moving round to try and look into his face, ‘it’s me, it’s Winnie.’

  Joseph’s eyes opened a fraction and he stared into Goodwin’s face. Goodwin gave him a comforting smile, noticing the handicapped man’s limbs still shook and spasmed as his body attempted to rid itself of the massive amounts of pent up energy created by his trauma.

  ‘Joseph, what did you see?’ Goodwin asked.

  Joseph closed his eyes, his body shaking in response to the question.

  Goodwin cupped the poor boy’s cheek. ‘Joseph, where is Susan?’

  Joseph opened his eyes again. ‘Noise,’ he whispered across Rebecca’s shoulder, his grip on his carer unrelinquishing.

  ‘Noise?’ Goodwin said. ‘What noise?’

  Joseph let out another whimper and shut his eyes.

  Goodwin was about to stand back up, but before he could Joseph started making a strange sound that got louder and louder until he was shrieking in one extended scream, his eyes wide, his face a mask of terror.

  Goodwin stumbled backwards in shock and fear, the hairs all over his body standing up on end. He stared at Joseph in horror as the boy quietened and hid his face in Rebecca’s shoulder once more, his shaking unabated, and whimpering increased. />
  ‘What is it?’ Hilt asked, seeing Goodwin’s expression. ‘Sir, what’s wrong?’

  ‘That sound—’

  ‘That was exactly the same sound that we heard in the city,’ Kara said, her voice as distressed as Goodwin felt.

  Hilt looked from Kara to Goodwin. ‘How can that be?’

  ‘The boy can mimic sounds.’ Goodwin tried to dispel the awful noise produced by Joseph from his mind. ‘He’s seen what we saw in the city. Susan isn’t lost, she’s been taken, by whatever, or whoever, that light is.’

  Hilt contemplated them both, perhaps judging the conviction of their claims. Apparently satisfied the information was sound, he turned to one of his men. ‘Lieutenant, get me my armour.’

  ‘Sir!’ The man sped from the room.

  Hilt strode to his command desk and flicked some switches on the main console before picking up a communication device and holding it to one ear. ‘This is Command. Code Red alert. All units receiving this message return to base immediately. I repeat, Code Red.’

  ‘Sir,’ Major Offiah said, ‘what about the men at the lake; shouldn’t we leave at least a token force in case the U.S. military return?’

  Hilt muttered something unintelligible but maintained his calm. ‘Very well, make it happen.’

  Offiah got on his radio.

  Another Darklight soldier approached the commander. ‘Sir, the sensors didn’t activate in the quadrant where we found the woman and the boy. We have no data on movements in that sector for the past hour.’

  ‘You’re telling me we had a malfunction at the exact time one of our number goes missing, in the same location?’

  ‘Yes, sir – well – no, sir – I mean, the equipment is sound. We’ve tested it. It just didn’t work when it was supposed to.’

  Hilt’s face darkened. ‘Then it’s no coincidence.’

  ‘You think this thing, this light, manipulated your systems by design?’ Goodwin said.

  Hilt’s mouth tightened before he nodded in confirmation. ‘Whatever this thing is, it’s turned out to be more of a threat than expected. I won’t underestimate it again. It’s come into this camp, disabled a high-tech piece of hardware and made off with an unarmed and vulnerable woman; but it’s shown its hand now and I aim to ensure that will be the first – and last – mistake it makes.’

  The lieutenant returned with the commander’s armour. Hilt inspected the black hardened panels before, piece by piece, clipping them to his body with clinical precision.

  ‘Major,’ Hilt said, attaching his formidable chest-plate.

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘I want every available man and woman with a torch assembled in this camp a-sap. Recall all the reconnaissance teams from the tunnels. I want this girl found and I want her found now.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ The Major scurried from the enclosure, his superior’s words motivating him like no other.

  The Darklight leader secured the final section of his armour, completing the process of encasing himself in the impenetrable black shell, the white Darklight insignia and his name and rank on the chest and shoulders. He then placed the substantial helmet down on the central table, ready to be worn at a moment’s notice. Next to this he laid his large assault rifle. Finally, the knife he’d been using as a paperweight was returned to its home; a sheath built into the armour on one side of his chest-plate.

  ‘Sir,’ Hilt said to Goodwin, ‘when everyone is ready I’ll need you to coordinate our civilian response with my men. No one goes out alone and no one goes without an armed escort.’

  Goodwin nodded, his thoughts racing, the turn of events taking on a life of their own. ‘Commander,’ Goodwin said, bringing Hilt’s attention back to him. ‘If you think the sensors going down aren’t a coincidence, what about the light on the tower? The two events coincided just as closely, don’t you think?’

  The Darklight leader gestured for Goodwin to follow him out of the tent and they stopped once they were out of earshot. ‘The thought had crossed my mind.’ Hilt’s brows furrowed in an uncommon display of emotion.

  ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’ Goodwin said, perceiving the Commander’s continued unease.

  Hilt nodded, moving yet further away from the command tent. ‘This – incident – has also occurred in close proximity to the light at the lake and the relocation of my patrols from around this camp. If that hadn’t happened, there would have been no way anything could have taken Susan the way it, or they, did.’

  Goodwin didn’t like the implications of what Hilt was saying and it must have shown as Hilt’s expression grew graver still.

  ‘You think the U.S. Army footprints were simulated somehow?’ Goodwin said.

  ‘We can’t rule out anything at this point. As crazy as it sounds, we could be dealing with something beyond our comprehension. From what I’ve gleaned from Alvarez and his men, they class Sanctuary Proper – as they call it – as a highly dangerous environment, full of ancient technology and materials that can prove extremely hazardous to human health.’

  ‘I thought Alvarez wasn’t so forthcoming with his information?’ Goodwin said.

  ‘No, you’re right. He only released his knowledge sparingly, but when he did it was with a care that seemed rehearsed. That’s why I had his tent bugged as soon as they were released from custody.’

  Goodwin whistled in appreciation. ‘The sergeant would’ve gone berserk if he’d known.’

  ‘He was paranoid enough to keep talk within the camp to a minimum,’ Hilt said. ‘On the odd occasion he, or one of his men, slipped up, we were listening. We never got much, just titbits here and there.’

  ‘If the footprints were a diversion—’ Goodwin left his sentence hanging.

  ‘Then,’ Hilt continued, ‘it would mean whatever we’re dealing with is capable of differentiating between two military units to the finest detail. It also knows exactly how to manipulate us into an appropriate response. Which is unsettling, to say the least.’

  Goodwin thought for a moment. ‘Another possibility is that the light at the lake is an untimely, unconnected event. Alvarez is still out there somewhere; he might have had a hand to play with the light on the tower and even the footprints at the lake.’

  ‘Whatever is the case, our hand has been forced.’ Hilt paused before continuing. ‘I’m sorry, sir, it appears I’ve failed you. It won’t happen again.’

  ‘Nonsense, Commander. You’ve failed no one. Under the circumstances you’ve been exemplary in every department. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.’

  ‘Thank you, sir, but on this, we’ll have to agree to disagree.’

  A soldier ducked his head outside the tent. ‘Sir, you’re needed.’

  ‘Go to work, Commander,’ Goodwin said. ‘Find her, find Susan.’

  Hilt nodded once, his expression set as hard as stone. His director had commanded and he obeyed.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Forty-eight hours had passed since the mentally handicapped woman, Susan, had gone missing. Neither Hilt nor Goodwin had slept much during that time, tirelessly working round the clock to make use of their resources as best they could. The twenty-five thousand strong civilian contingent had been separated into five hundred groups, each fifty people strong. These civilian teams were each assigned five Darklight soldiers, and even now they combed the vast area around the camp and beyond, searching for any sign of Susan. Floodlights near the centre of camp were moved further out into the darkness, acting as points of reference for the team leaders as they guided their people to the zones allotted by those back at base.

  Further afield, the remaining available Darklight reconnaissance units delved deeper into the city and surrounding areas, scouring every inch of land, their specialised equipment making steady work of what would otherwise be a near impossible task.

  ‘This is pointless!’ Goodwin threw a map to the ground and stalked away to the entrance of the command tent. Standing there, staring out into the dark, his thoughts as ever dwelling on Susa
n, Goodwin felt a small hand slip around his waist.

  ‘We’ll find her.’ Kara moved in front of him to take his chin in her other hand. ‘We just have to keep going, keep searching.’

  ‘This place is too big,’ Goodwin said, her words, while appreciated, not helping to relieve his growing despair at their lack of progress. ‘We’ve been here for months on end, every day we’ve found new structures, new tunnels, new cave systems. How can we expect to find one small woman in a place this big, this dark? It’s a damn labyrinth!’

  Kara didn’t reply, perhaps fearing – as he did – that the longer Susan was missing the more likely it was, if they did find her, they would be recovering a body.

  Goodwin sighed; he unhooked himself from Kara’s embrace and returned to pick up the discarded map, dusting it off before replacing it back on the table. Smoothing it out with both hands, he looked up at the three lieutenants tasked with helping him coordinate the search. ‘So Hilt’s team has already covered this quadrant?’ Goodwin pointed at an area within the city.

  ‘Yes, sir, but—’

  The soldier was cut off as the main radio crackled to life, announcing an incoming communication from one of the search teams.

  ‘Civilian team, Lambda Eight, reporting,’ the voice said, sounding excited, ‘we’ve found something; we think it’s part of a bracelet!’

  Goodwin, his hopes lifting, snatched up the handset. ‘What does it look like?’

  ‘It’s broken.’ The reply came back after a short pause, testing Goodwin’s patience to the limit. ‘But it has a few stones and shells left on it, the stones glow bright blue in the dark.’

  ‘That’s it!’ Goodwin smacked the table. ‘That’s Susan’s bracelet!’

  ‘Where are Lambda Eight on the map?’ Kara asked one of the soldiers.

  ‘There ma’am.’ The woman placed her finger in a sector to the south-west of the city.

  Goodwin’s attention homed in on the area in question. ‘We don’t want to pull everyone into the area.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, deep in concentration. ‘She may no longer be there, or it could be a trick of some kind.’