by A. G. Taylor
He placed a gloved hand on the bubble and pushed. With a cry, Sarah fell back into the tank, powerless to resist.
For a moment she floundered helplessly as the bubble rolled around on the surface of the water. At the edge of the tank, Major Bright held up an object that looked like a TV remote. He pressed a button and immediately the bubble collapsed around Sarah, like a balloon that had been pricked with a pin. The torn material clung to her like a wet plastic bag.
Sarah sank to the bottom of the tank like a stone.
16
Somewhere in the back of Sarah’s mind, an instinct or maybe a memory of the life-saving class she’d taken at the local pool back home kicked into gear.
When she touched the bottom of the tank, rather than struggle and thrash against the ripped plastic weighing her down, she calmly pulled it away from her face and shoulders. With all her strength, she pushed her body out of the layers of plastic and kicked upward. Sarah broke the surface of the water a few seconds later and gulped in a mouthful of air.
Looking around wildly, she saw the tall figures of the soldiers and Major Bright walking around the side of the tank. A whirring sound filled the air and she turned, trying to make out where the noise was coming from. They were trying to kill her! She fought down that wave of panic and began to swim for the edge of the water, aware of something moving across the top of the tank.
“Try to stay focused, Sarah!” Major Bright called to her from the other side. “I think you’ll find this a very interesting experience.”
Sarah ignored the voice, swimming hard for the other side. If she could just get out before they pushed her back in…
Something was sliding across the top of the tank. Sarah stopped swimming and looked up to see a surface like a massive glass window pass above her head. On the other side she could see another surface sliding out. Seconds later, the two met in the middle of the tank with a clunk, forming a lid over the water.
Sarah reached up, placed her hands on the glass and looked around. There was about half a metre of air between the water and the lid, with no visible way out at the edge of the tank. She started to feel the claustrophobia of being trapped between the water and the glass, gasping for breath uncontrollably. Sarah closed her eyes and centred herself. The tank was huge. There was enough air to last for hours.
Footsteps approached across the lid.
Sarah opened her eyes to see Major Bright standing above her. Clearly it was strong enough to hold his weight, so fat chance of breaking through. Major Bright looked at her floating below him, like he was studying a bug under glass.
“Sarah, can you hear me?” His voice was piped into the tank through speakers at the edge.
She nodded up at him, powerless to do anything else.
“We’re going to try a different test today,” Major Bright continued. “The tank is going to fill with more water. I want you to try to get out before you drown. Okay?”
Sarah stared up at the man in disbelief. He delivered this last piece of information like he was asking if she fancied a diet cola. She slammed her palm against the glass and screamed at him. Above her, he tapped the side of his helmet and shrugged to show that he couldn’t hear.
“Try to save your breath, Sarah,” Major Bright said as he turned and walked back towards the edge. “I’m sure you’ll surprise us all…”
On either side of the tank, the sound of water churning grew, like taps running into a bath. Sarah wheeled around, aware that the gap between the surface of the water and the glass was getting rapidly smaller. In less than a minute, it was down to thirty centimetres. In desperation, she half-swam, half-pulled her way along in pursuit of the man above her.
“Help me!” she cried, despite the fact she knew her persecutors couldn’t hear. “You can’t do this!”
But they could do it. And they were.
The water went over Sarah’s mouth and nose briefly and she panicked, going under the surface. When she kicked back towards the lid she found that there was less than ten centimetres of air – and that was disappearing fast. Tipping her head back, Sarah took one last, desperate intake of breath and filled her lungs as the tank topped up completely with water.
For a moment Sarah hung there, suspended one metre beneath the glass. There was nowhere to run. No air left. Only water. And death.
With a powerful frog kick, she sent herself gliding through water towards the feet of one of the soldiers standing on the glass. Turning in the water, she kicked her feet desperately at the glass ceiling to attract his attention. The soldier looked down – their eyes met…
HELP ME! she screamed out in her head.
Behind his mask, the soldier’s eyes widened. A jumble of confused images tumbled through her mind: soldiers marching in parade, a plane crashing, Colonel Moss and (most disconcertingly) herself floating in the tank, viewed from above. Sarah came to a sudden realization: the images were from the soldier’s mind! Somehow, she was accessing them directly. The air in her lungs began to burn like fire and she released it in a cloud of bubbles. With all her strength Sarah kicked the glass again, realizing that she only had seconds left before she started drowning.
DO SOMETHING! BREAK THE GLASS! SHOOT IT!
She repeated the orders like a chant in her mind…
The soldier held her eyes, dropping the dart-rifle to his feet. Not breaking her gaze for a second he reached to his belt and extracted a hand pistol. He aimed it directly between his boots, finger on the trigger. Sarah stared down the barrel, aware that he was about to fire blindly in her direction. In desperation, she arched round and away from the path of fire.
A muffled explosion vibrated through the water…
Sarah looked round in time to see the path of the bullet as it pierced the glass and carried on down to the bottom of the tank, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake. A split second later, the section upon which the soldier was standing shattered. He plunged into the water, surrounded by a thousand shards of glass.
Not waiting another second, Sarah pushed towards the gap in the lid, swimming through the glass fragments as best she could. Her lungs screamed out for air. She broke the surface and gulped in oxygen with a cry of triumph. Below her the soldier, still dazed, carried on down to the bottom.
Sarah placed both of her hands on the metal frame of the next complete section and pushed herself up and out of the water. She landed on the slippery glass beside the soldier’s fallen dart-rifle. Someone was approaching from behind, so Sarah closed her hands over the weapon and wheeled round. The other soldier stood there with his dart-rifle raised.
DON’T!
The soldier froze. Sarah aimed the dart-rifle at him, still gasping for breath.
Drop yours in the water. And the pistol.
Without a word, the soldier tossed his weapon into the broken section. It disappeared under the water. He then unclipped his pistol from its holster and tossed that as well.
Very good. Now sit down with your hands on your head.
Sarah laughed spontaneously as the soldier, muscle-bound and over two metres tall, sat down obediently before her. She lowered the dart-gun and shook her head.
“What are you doing?” Major Bright demanded excitedly, running up as the other soldier emerged from the tank, shaking his head in confusion. “Why did you throw away your weapons? Tell me!”
“I don’t think they had much choice,” a female voice said from the edge of the pool.
Both Sarah and Major Bright looked round at the person who’d spoken. She was an attractive woman dressed in a white lab coat. Sarah detected an air of authority about her that suggested she was more than just another HIDRA scientist, however. She was a little breathless, as if she’d been running, and there was anger in her eyes.
“I’m calling off this little experiment, Major Bright,” the woman ordered, glaring at him.
“Colonel Moss wants results—” Bright began.
“That’s enough, Major!” the woman interrupted, clearly trying har
d to keep calm. “You seem to have forgotten I outrank you, even if I am a scientist.”
Inside his helmet, Major Bright’s face went a shade of red that bordered on purple, but he said nothing. The woman ran a hand through her long, black hair and turned her attention to Sarah. She was about Major Bright’s age, but her face was warmer, more intelligent. She certainly didn’t look like any of the military people Sarah had met so far at HIDRA.
“Hi, my name’s Rachel,” the woman said with a smile. “I’m sorry we haven’t met before now.”
Sarah took a step forward and pointed the dart-gun at her. Rachel gestured to the open door behind her.
“Come on, I want to help you,” she said. “How far do you really think you’re going to get like that?”
Sarah looked at the weapon in her hand – not much use against all of HIDRA. The woman had a point. She lowered it.
Rachel smiled. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, Sarah. I’ll leave your men to clean up this mess, Major.”
He gave a grunt of disapproval.
Sarah looked from Rachel to Major Bright and back again. After a moment’s consideration, she threw the dart-gun into his arms and walked to the edge of the tank. Rachel draped a towel over her shoulders and led her out of the building.
17
“Shouldn’t I be in one of the bubbles?” Sarah asked as Rachel led her from the building across the HIDRA complex. It seemed strange to be walking around with nothing to separate her from the outside world. The atmosphere inside the dome was unexpectedly stuffy, as if it were full of air recycled too many times. There was something stale about it.
“Your tests came back negative,” Rachel explained. “You’re not a carrier any more and neither is Robert. So, no more bubbles.”
Rachel led her to a small building and showed her inside. It was some kind of office, with computers, microscopes and other machines Sarah didn’t recognize arranged on tables. There was also a television and DVD in one corner, next to a folding bed. Sarah frowned at the set-up as Rachel showed her over to a chair and flicked on a kettle.
“Do you live in here?” she asked as the woman fixed two mugs of instant coffee.
Rachel looked round the room and nodded with a faint smile.
“I don’t get out much,” she admitted.
“You’re a scientist?” Sarah asked, looking along a line of expensive-looking microscopes. It was then she saw the name plaque next to the computer: Dr. Rachel Andersen, Chief Scientist.
“Oh, I see,” Sarah said. “You’re the one in charge here.”
Rachel turned and handed her a mug. “I wouldn’t say that. But I have some say in what goes on. Enough to put Major Bright in his place. He’s Colonel Moss’s second-in-command, but I outrank him.”
“Was the water tank your idea or his?”
Rachel pulled up a chair and sat before her, cradling the coffee in her hands. She looked into Sarah’s eyes. “I didn’t know that was going to happen. The moment I found out, I came running. Do you believe me?”
Sarah concentrated on Rachel and had the overwhelming impression she was telling the truth.
“I guess.”
Rachel smiled. “Are you warm enough? How’s the drink?”
“Very good,” Sarah replied, taking another sip. Her eyes fell on a set of photographs pinned above a computer workstation: two girls about Robert’s age in identical school uniforms. They were both dark-haired like Rachel and had her brown eyes.
Rachel followed Sarah’s gaze. “My girls. Audrey and Katherine. They’re nine and eleven.”
“Are they here?” Sarah asked.
“No, with their father back in England,” Rachel replied, sadness in her voice. “I get back to them as much as possible, but the fall virus has kept me pretty busy since the outbreak in South America. Looks like I won’t be seeing them for a while now…”
“It must be hard for you,” Sarah said. “To be so far away, I mean.”
Rachel nodded and looked back at her. “It’s the hardest thing in the world. But whenever I miss them too much, I think about what would happen if something like the fall virus found its way to Europe. That’s what I’m working for – to keep them safe.”
“So, you can’t go home until you find the cure,” Sarah said.
“Something like that.”
“What do you want from me, Rachel?”
“I’d like you to tell me how you got out of the tank,” the scientist replied bluntly.
Sarah shrugged. “The soldiers are the ones who broke the glass. Ask them.”
“I don’t think they’d be able to tell me themselves, do you? They didn’t seem fully in control of their actions. I can help you, Sarah. But you have to start being honest with me. You must’ve worked out by now that the tests are about more than just finding a cure for the virus.”
Sarah thought back to the sleep sensors, the room with the noise, the tank.
“Okay, let’s do it like this,” Rachel said finally. “I’ll answer one of your questions truthfully for every one of mine you answer. Deal?”
Sarah thought for a moment. “Fine. What are—”
“And I get to ask the first question,” Rachel interrupted, holding up a finger. “How did you get out of the tank?”
“I made the soldier shoot the glass,” Sarah replied, giving as little as possible. “What are you doing with Robert?”
“He’s safe, undergoing tests like you have. But I promise he won’t be put in the tank. Nobody will be again. How did you make the soldier do that?”
“I can do…things. I saw into his mind and made him draw his gun.”
Saying it out loud, it sounded unbelievable even to Sarah herself. However, Rachel merely sat back in her chair and nodded as if she’d been expecting such an answer.
“Why am I being kept apart from Robert?” she pressed.
Rachel regarded her evenly. “Because some people around here are afraid of what you might be able to do together. That’s why you’ve been isolated. Have you spoken to your brother since the tests began?”
“No,” Sarah began, but then corrected herself. “I hear his voice sometimes. In my head. Why are they afraid? Who’s afraid?”
Rachel grinned. “That’s two questions, so I’ll only answer one. Young people who come into contact with the fall virus and are immune to its effects tend to develop new abilities, just like the ones you’ve talked about. Mind-reading, telekinesis, telepathic communication – all possible side-effects for those who have immunity. Pretty scary, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Sarah replied. “And I’m counting that as a question. So tell me who’s afraid.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow at that, but answered anyway. “Some of the soldiers. HIDRA is made up of both scientists, like me, and the military, like our friend Major Bright. Let’s just say, each group has different ideas about how things should be run. What happened in the tank today isn’t going to help. They probably won’t like the idea of a fourteen-year-old girl being able to control where they point their guns.”
“Then they shouldn’t have tried to drown me, should they?” Sarah replied angrily. “Why did they do that?”
“The development of these abilities has been linked to traumatic events,” Rachel explained, even though it was her turn to ask a question. “It seems that a highly stressful situation – like the water tank – can give the mind a push. Maybe it’s the natural survival instinct forcing the body to use the power given by the virus. Colonel Moss developed the tank test after the Colombian meteorite. I hate to say it, but it seems to have worked with you, hasn’t it?”
Sarah shook her head, remembering what happened when Colonel Moss told them about Daniel. That’s when Robert had first projected his thoughts into her mind. Was it the shock that broke his mental block? And she had to admit the tank had forced her to discover how to control the soldiers…
“That’s horrible,” she said. “And you work for that guy?”
“Colonel Mos
s’s methods have become very questionable since the Colombian meteorite,” Rachel said, leaning forward in her chair. “But he still has the support of some influential people. That’s why I believe I can do more good on the inside of HIDRA. When I have enough evidence against him, I’ll make sure he’s removed.”
Sarah looked at her sceptically. She was getting used to not trusting anyone around the base.
Rachel seemed to read her thoughts. “Look into my mind, Sarah. You’ll see I’m on your side…”
Sarah hesitated for a moment, before focusing her attention on Rachel, picking a spot between her eyes. Slowly, images began to form, as if a wireless connection was downloading them directly into her brain. At first they were a confused jumble, just as when she had connected with the soldier, but this time Sarah found she could sort them more quickly. One image stood out from the rest and she zeroed in on it, until it filled her consciousness. She closed her eyes…
Inside a building Sarah has never seen… Rachel stands opposite Colonel Moss, hands on her hips…
“I want to know why we’re putting these children through this, Colonel,” she demands. Behind her, Sarah can make out monitors showing children in other rooms. Some are sleeping, while others are being attended by suited scientists – all are alone…
“The side-effects have priority, Dr. Andersen,” Colonel Moss replies curtly, as if this is a conversation they’ve had before.
“HIDRA’s primary objective is finding a cure for the virus,” Rachel protests. “General Wellman made it perfectly clear—”
“General Wellman is sixteen thousand kilometres away,” Colonel Moss interrupts. “As long as we contain the virus to mainland Australia, the general will be perfectly happy. You might have his ear at the Paris HQ, but you’re a long way from there now and way out of your depth.”
The colonel opens a drawer and pulls out a wad of email printouts. He throws them on the desk. Rachel runs her hand over them.
“You’ve been intercepting my emails?” she says, anger rising in her voice. “This is a gross breach of privacy, Colonel. On what grounds have you done this?”
