Falling Ark

by Leigh Snelson

  “It has been a pleasure serving with everyone.” Hank said solemnly.

  “We gave it a good try, who knows, maybe after this, more people will learn to stand up for what they believe in.” Tony said as he and Julie joined us at the window too.

  Everyone else got up from their desks and made their way to the window. The captain and a few crew members stood to one side and we stood next to them on the other, staring out as the sun lowered itself in the sky and blinded our view. The oncoming fleet was too far away to see right now but they would soon be here.

  “Dom, please tell me you have an idea?” Ava asked as she turned and looked at me.

  “Just watch.” I said and reached out for her hand.

  I stood there silently staring out to the horizon. Derek had rotated the ship, and little black dots started to come into view.

  As we all stood by the window. Julie and Tony were holding each other. I couldn’t be sure, but Julie looked like she was crying. Hank placed his hand on Derek’s shoulders as they both stared out into the distance. The crew managed to keep their emotions in check and I felt a strong feeling of guilt. All this was my fault, they were all fighting for a cause that I started. I doubted they were prepared to die for me, but now they had no options left.

  Ava gripped my hand hard as the oncoming fleet came into view. I looked down and could see the emotions in her eyes. She had not given up the fight yet, she was still calculating. Then she looked up at me, deep into my eyes, then back out of the window and finally back up at me. I saw the resignation fall over her.

  I leaned down and kissed her goodbye.

  Chapter 37

  Our embrace lasted just long enough for Bills forces to close the distance. Ava and I both looked out of the window to see the vast fleet approach. It was the same type of craft Lara was using.

  This time they were manned. We could see through the large glass domes into seats filled with pilots, gunners and officers as they flew passed the window. Obviously, Lara was willing to give Bill the designs for the ships but not access to her remote pilots.

  Over a thousand planes sounds like a lot but until they’re flying past you it is impossible to judge how impressive the number is.

  Hundreds had already flown straight through our fleet. Not a single craft firing guns or missiles. This went on for over a minute, a thousand planes are a lot. Half of Bills fleet had now disappeared behind us without taking aim at any of our planes.

  I turned to look at Sam. I was going to ask what he thought their tactics were, why they weren’t firing at us but as I turned, I saw he had the biggest smile on his face.

  “Smiling? At a time like this?” Ava screamed and elbowed him in ribs.

  “Just watch!” He replied, pointing out of the window.

  It took a few minutes for the entire fleet to pass us by. Then, at the rear a single craft slowed down and came face to face with the Armillary. We could see Bill sitting in the middle of the cockpit smiling back.

  A transmission came over the ship system.

  “Permission to come aboard?” Bill asked.

  “Permission granted.” Sam replied.

  The rest of us stood there, mouths open, stuck for words.

  “What are you playing at?” I asked as Bills ship slowly coasted below the window and through the hanger bay door under our feet.

  “It’s a trap you must see that!” Ava moaned.

  “Your absolutely right!” Sam replied. “And we are about to spring it!”

  “He’s selling us out!” Julie screamed. “He’s been working with Lara all along!”

  All eyes turned to Sam.

  “No, that doesn’t seem right.” Hank defended. “But what is going on! We need to know!”

  Heavy clanking could be heard as Bill made his way up the metal stairs and into the control room.

  Sam walked over to him and shook his hand. No-one else moved as we all tried to understand what was happening in front of us.

  “Bill! Thank you for your help!” Sam said as they hugged and shook hands.

  “No problem.” Bill replied. “You should have seen Lara’s face when she was asking for backup. She seemed desperate. Now everyone, pull up a chair and watch as my new fleet puts an end to that terrible woman’s reign.”

  Bill sat down in one of the crew chairs that were dotted around the room. He didn’t have a control panel, but he positioned himself so that he could see outside the window and also watch the screens that displayed the overview of the battle.

  Nobody moved. We just stood there watching the monitors. Bills forces were about a minute away from engaging with Lara’s. We could see the huge wave of dots wave approaching her considerably smaller force and everyone could tell that it would not last long.

  I looked at Ava. She was staring at Bill but then turned away when she noticed me.

  “What do you think?” I whispered to her.

  “I think Sam has some explaining to do!” She replied.

  I could tell that she wasn’t sure about anything. Given that we thought we were about to die; the relief of the moment was clouding everyone’s judgement. I wasn’t sure we were safe.

  “I am sorry guys.” Sam started to explain. “But I couldn’t give anything away. What if Lara had discovered Bill was working with us all along?”

  “You tried to kill us!” Hank said, walking up to and towering over Bill.

  “Hold on. That was not me. I am sorry about that.” Bill remarked. “My immediate concern was to make sure everyone was safe!”

  “How can we trust you?” Julie asked.

  “Watch the screens? They aren’t my planes anymore; I am handing them over to you.” He replied, looking at Ava.

  She caught his stare and turned away, burying her head in my chest and quietly let out a little sob. This was all too much.

  The battle was short lived. Lara’s craft soon dwindled and a final few tried to make their escape but were easily tracked down and destroyed. It was a crushing victory.

  “Position half the fleet on the facility boundary and half the fleet one mile out in a spherical formation.” Sam commanded as the monitors turned all of Bills planes into green icons, indicating that Lovelace was now in control.

  Again, no one moved.

  “Guy’s we just won the battle, now let’s finish this war.” Sam argued.

  “You’re right!” Derek replied, taking his seat back at the control panel.

  “Take the ship down and land in the carpark.” Sam’s next commands provoked more of the crew to take their seats and resume their roles.

  “Instructions loaded.” Derek replied.

  Derek was now doing the job of two as Ava was still coming to terms with the current situation. She hadn’t moved and I wasn’t going anywhere without her.

  As we landed, we were met with a familiar sight. A large inflatable dome, like the kind we used on the moon and it was covering the crater where the giant tree and replicator had been ripped from the ground.

  “Can anyone spot an entrance?” Sam asked.

  “Yes, an airlock near at the nine-o-clock position.” Hank replied.

  The facility was deadly quiet. There was no-one around. There wasn’t even a breeze in the air.

  I stood in the window holding Ava’s hand, staring at the dome that had replaced the glass atrium. My mind was racing. I understood that Sam had to play this carefully. He had used Bill to steal more of Lara’s plans and use his replicator. It was a risky move though, and it also didn’t take into consideration Ava’s feelings.

  Ava was now staring out of the window too. For a moment our eyes locked in the reflection and she squeezed my hand.

  “I think everything is going to be fine now.” I whispered.

  “I know.” The soft, delicate reply starting to show more of the character I had grown to know.

  “We have movement.” I shouted as the airlock door swung open.

  “I see it.” Derek confirmed and he displayed a camera feed of th
e dome’s airlock door.

  People wearing lab coats started to walk out. Dozens of them. They were cheering and gesturing thanks to our craft, parked just in front of them. They were behaving like we had just released them from captivity.

  “We need to get in there and scout the place out.” Hank said.

  He chucked a small metal device at me and I caught it with one hand. My other hand was still being held tight by Ava and I was not letting her go.

  We can split up and these will allow us to stay in communication with each other and map out the facility. He threw one to Sam and to Tony.

  They were the same tracking devices he had developed on the moon to ensure that we were all safe after Franks attack. They were small tube-like structures, a bit smaller than a soda can, with two buttons, green on the top and red on the bottom.

  “Press the green button to talk. Like a walkie talkie.” Hank explained. “Press the red to send your location.”

  I pressed bottom button and a screen shot out of the side of the tube. It must have been rolled up inside but now a small six-inch screen unfurled itself in my hand and I could see a top down view of the Armillary control room with icons indicating the locations of the other communicators.

  “I would suggest teams of two.” Sam said, “Lara has got to be in there somewhere, along with the pilots for all the craft. Stealth is going to be key, do not engage but wait for support. She can’t leave, we have her surrounded.”

  Derek and Hank stood next to each other along with Tony and Julie. I was already stood next to Ava and we were still holding each other’s hands tightly. Finally, Sam and Bill nodded to each other. These were our four teams.

  Hank reached onto his desk and pressed a button to take control of the screens around the room. He showed a blueprint of the facility.

  “Julie and Tony, you take the north sector, that’s the biolabs, or what is left of them, you know that area best. Derek and I will take the south tower, that seems to be where most of the guards were based when we broke in last time.” Hank gestured to the small three-storey building that rose up beside the dome. “Bill and Sam, if you go into the dome with Dom and Ava then split up and explore the basement levels. We should only be a few minutes from each other at any point, so if you need help, call for it!”

  “And what shall we do?” The captain asked, with his crew eagerly waiting for instructions.

  “Keep everyone out of that building, no-one goes back in!” Hank commanded. “Everyone understand?”

  Nods came from around the room. I could tell everyone was still not sure about the situation but were just going along with it. When you didn’t have a clue about what was happening it was easier to follow orders.

  “One last thing.” Bill said as he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a frosted glass tube with a metal handle. It was a smaller version of the laser gun and it was glowing white. Everyone held their breath as he pointed it around the room.

  Ava tightened her fingers around my hand again. For such a small person she sure had a powerful grip and I was starting to worry that she was doing permanent damage.

  “I just wanted to let you know I have a crate of these things in my plane, grab one, they might just help.”

  The room let out a collective sigh and then laughter as we all looked around and realised how worked up everyone else was.

  “We just need to disperse the crowds now.” I said, pointing to the constant stream of people leaving the building and filling the carpark.

  “I’ve got this.” Derek said.

  He pressed a button on the desk and started to speak into the microphone.

  “Please evacuate the building and move to the far end of the carpark until the facility is deemed safe.” Derek commanded over the loudspeaker.

  Outside people looked up at our ship, waving to us through the window.

  “Well that worked.” I commented, looking at the unchanging sea of people.

  “Give it to me!” Ava said, finally letting go of my hand and striding purposefully across room and reaching over Derek’s desk to the microphone.

  “Move! Move! Move! This area is unsafe! MOVE!” Ava shouted.

  Everyone jumped, even Hank, at the sudden outburst. The crowd of scientists outside started to turn and run across the carpark in blind panic away from the building.

  Ava walked back over to me with a smile on her face.

  “Feeling better?” I asked.

  “Nearly.” She replied, holding out her hand so that I could clasp it again.

  We evacuated the Armillary down the staircase that was built into the landing leg and made our way over to the big dome.

  Tony and Julie went around the edge of the buildings to enter the facility from the north, whilst Derek and Hank turned to the left and made their way over to the building that we suspected might contain guards and pilots. I was concerned about them but also relieved that it wasn’t me going that way. I knew Hank could hold out much longer than I would be able too.

  There was an awkward moment as Bill held the airlock door open for Sam, then me and finally Ava. I could see that Ava didn’t want to make eye contact with Bill. She still didn’t know if she could trust him, neither of us did, but we trusted Sam’s judgement.

  Bill closed the door and tapped Ava on the shoulder.

  “I know I haven’t been there for you, but I hope that after all of this is finished, we can start fresh.” Bill said.

  “I think I would like that.” Ava replied, the insecurity audible in her voice.

  All four of us stood on the edge of the huge crater we had created when we had ripped out the replicator. There were pipes and cables everywhere and it was obvious crews of people had been tasked with repairing the damage as soon as possible. Scaffolding was in place and equipment lying around ready to start the rebuilding process. There were parcels of emergency equipment all around the hole and security tape ringed the entire thing reminding people not to fall in.

  As we stood there on the cracked, marble floor I could see the remains of the offices in the basement below. Two storeys down, some rooms still had their ceilings in place but others were open. I could see inside rooms I had never been in before.

  Then I spotted it. The glass wall where the server sat. This area was still mostly intact with rooms still above it. It struck me how many bad memories I had of this place recently.

  There were two main routes down into the basement, the stairs or the lifts, and they were at different ends of this huge cavity in the floor.

  “We’ll take the lifts; you take the stairs.” Sam suggested.

  I looked at Bill, the old man with the cane and I nodded in agreement. In all honesty he was probably fitter than I was, but I didn’t argue.

  “Good luck!” I replied as Ava and I made our way around the edge of the broken concrete wall and towards the opening that had previously contained a door into the stairwell.

  “Did you mean that?” I asked when we were a good distance away from them. “About wanting to start again.”

  “I don’t know, but I suppose he has helped us out, maybe he isn’t a bad person after all.” Ava replied.

  “Let’s just get through this and then see what the future brings.” I reassured her as we walked into the stairwell, careful to examine the floor below to make sure it wouldn’t collapse under us.

  The emergency lighting was still being used, I guess we had ripped out the main electrical feeds, and it meant the stairwell was bathed in a harsh LED glow. Both Ava and me, carrying the laser sticks in front of us like we were in a terrible cop movie descended into the depths of the basement.

  We reached the lowest floor and opened the door. I had done this so many times in my life. I almost expected to see the concrete corridor that led to the replicator, offices dotted around and people coming and going from the small staff room, instead we found ourselves at the bottom of the hole staring up, through the wreckage at the dome, sunlight pouring through transparent section
s.

  Concrete and metal lay around in neat piles where someone had cleaned up but didn’t know how to dispose of the rubble.

  We made our way around the mangled mess of wires and girders until we passed the glare of the flashing lights from the supercomputer.

  The bullet-proof glass wall was shattered and broken, missing entirely in some places. I could see the slag of metal bullets that had welded themselves into the floor instead of hitting me weeks ago. It would not be easy to remove that, and I wouldn’t have wanted the job. Somewhere within that metal puddle were the remains of two of Franks guards, compressed and melted together.

  The computer was still there and I could see the resemblance to Lovelace, our supercomputer in the Armillary. They had the same panels, and the same layout of blinking lights and connectors, everything was the same.

  Ava also saw it and ran over, jumping through a gap in the glass panels to get a closer look.

  “If we could get this out of here, we could increase Lovelace exponentially!” Ava yelled excitedly.

  “Yes, but where would we put it?” I genuinely asked. “We would have to move our bedroom somewhere else.”

  “Our bedroom?” Ava questioned as she caught what I had said. “Is that what people are calling it now?” Her wispy, multicoloured hair blew around in the air-conditioned room.

  This caught me off guard.

  “No… I meant… that’s not how it sounds…” I stuttered, trying to get the foot out of my mouth.

  “It’s fine, I think we should call it ‘Our’ bedroom.” Ava said, smiling at my embarrassment.

  My chest fluttered at her smile and for a moment I forgot completely where I was, a huge grin appearing on my face.

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yeah, after all, we both use it, just not at the same time.” Ava replied.

  “Yeah, I guess.” I said, trying to hide the obvious disappointment in my voice.

  “I’m kidding!” Ava laughed, and playfully punched me in the arm. “But you still owe me that meal you promised first!”

  I looked back at her and felt the smile return to my face. “I know the chef of this great restaurant!” I cheekily replied.