Meteorite Strike

by A. G. Taylor

  “I don’t mind you going behind my back to the general,” Moss continues, ignoring her question. “Now, what did you write again…?”

  “That your methods are questionable,” Rachel replies. “And that you seem to have lost sight of our humanitarian objective.”

  Colonel Moss’s blue eyes are as hard as diamonds. “What disappoints me, Rachel, is that you can’t see that we’re in the middle of something bigger than finding vaccinations for a few civilians. We’re at the start of a war, and you’re either with us or against us.”

  Rachel shakes her head. “Our only priority is the sleepers! We’ve got an epidemic on our hands.”

  Colonel Moss slams his fist on the desk. “HIDRA’s priority is whatever I say it is. This is a military–scientific operation, Dr. Andersen, but the military comes first. The power those children are developing is a weapon, whether you want to acknowledge that or not. Either we unlock the secrets of that weapon, or the wrong people will. We’ve been getting nowhere with the Williams girl. I’ve decided it’s time to push a little harder.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rachel demands.

  “Traumatic events clearly force their abilities to new heights,” Colonel Moss states. “Telekinesis. Telepathy. The CIA has been trying to develop this for sixty years! Putting those kids under stress can yield excellent results, as we saw with the Colombian boys…”

  “The tank!” gasps Rachel. “I won’t allow it again…”

  “Too late,” Colonel Moss replies. “The girl is already being processed.”

  Rachel runs from the room…

  Sarah opened her eyes again and the images faded.

  “The colonel – why did you want me to see that?” she asked.

  “Because I want you to trust me,” Rachel replied. “Not everyone here is like Colonel Moss and Major Bright. As soon as I can get enough evidence to use against him, I’m going to make sure he loses his command. But for the moment he’s in control. That means we have to work with him.”

  Sarah looked round the office – so cramped and small compared to Colonel Moss.

  “Why don’t your people just take over?” she asked.

  Rachel shook her head. “Again, my people are scientists – not fighters. The majority of HIDRA soldiers are just following orders, but the colonel’s Special Forces are one hundred per cent behind him. Colonel Moss isn’t just going to relinquish command because a few scientists ask him to – and don’t think for a moment they wouldn’t use force to put down a mutiny. Right now, we can achieve more by playing along with the colonel.”

  Sarah nodded, trying to make sense of everything she was being told. Colonel Moss was clearly taking advantage of the crisis and their isolation in the desert to do whatever he pleased. Suddenly she was a bit more scared of him than she had been before. Hearing the woman describe their situation made it very real.

  Rachel stood and walked to the door. “Come on. There’s something else I have to show you.”

  18

  Rachel led her to a small room in another building. There were cameras, monitors and a long window which looked into a white room. A girl who looked about eight sat on the edge of a bed, leafing listlessly through the pages of a book. She brushed away the long blonde hair from her face and looked directly at them, revealing the most unusual eyes – one iris was green and one was blue. The effect was startling and for a moment Sarah thought the girl saw them, but quickly realized they were on the other side of a two-way mirror like the one in her room. The girl looked back at the book.

  Rachel tapped on the shoulder of a woman sitting in front of one of the monitors.

  “Give us ten minutes,” she ordered.

  The woman rose and looked round at them both with a frown. Sarah noticed the woman’s security pass lying on the desk. Magda Stepnik. She moved to stand in front of it.

  “Colonel Moss said this one was not to leave my sight,” the woman said, her accent eastern-European.

  Rachel glanced at Sarah and then back at Magda. “That’s an order.”

  The other woman looked for a moment as if she was going to argue, but finally rose from the chair and stomped out of the room. “I’ll wait in the corridor.”

  “You do that,” Rachel said coldly. Behind her back, Sarah palmed the forgotten security card.

  “What was that about?” she asked Rachel.

  The doctor sighed and took the vacated chair. “The colonel has his spies among the scientists, too. I know who they are, but for the moment…” She shrugged.

  Sarah nodded and turned her attention to the girl on the other side of the glass.

  “Louise,” Rachel said into the microphone. The girl looked up.

  “Hello?” she said. “Where’s Magda?”

  “Magda’s busy at the moment,” Rachel replied. “How are you feeling today, Louise?”

  The girl jumped off the bed and walked to the mirror.

  “I want to see Dad. I don’t want to stay in here alone.” Her voice broke a little.

  “Your dad’s not well at the moment, Louise, you know that.” Rachel’s voice was firm, but showed concern. “But would you like it if I could find a friend for you? Someone to play with? How does that sound?”

  Louise looked at the mirror, her face brightening.

  “Can she stay?”

  “She can stay with you as long as she likes,” Rachel replied, glancing at Sarah. “I’ll ask her if she’d like to visit.”

  Rachel placed her hand over the mic and said softly, “She’s lost her father to the virus and she needs someone to be her friend. Someone she can trust.”

  Sarah shook her head. “I’m not her mother,” she said.

  “Our people are scientists and soldiers, you’ve seen that,” Rachel replied. “They don’t understand children. Look at Louise, Sarah. She’s all alone. She’s hearing voices in her head and needs someone who understands what’s happening to her.”

  “And I guess you’d want me to report anything else I notice while I’m with her,” Sarah added.

  Rachel sighed. “You’re right, that’s what you’d have to do, Sarah. But you’d be saving her from the attentions of Major Bright. If you can find out information about Louise and her developing powers, it’ll keep Colonel Moss’s men off our backs for a while. Maybe long enough for my scientists to develop a cure. When we have that, perhaps I’ll be able to persuade the general to throw Colonel Moss out.”

  “And what if I say no?” Sarah held Rachel’s eyes defiantly.

  Rachel regarded her evenly. “Do you want to see your brother or not? I can get you one hour with him for every hour you work with Louise. Colonel Moss will allow that. Even he knows we need help. It’s the best I can do right now.”

  Sarah looked away. The idea of helping Colonel Moss in any way didn’t make her feel good, but she needed to see Robert. And maybe if she made contact with other children on the base there might be the chance to…

  “Make your mind up, Sarah,” Rachel demanded. “You have to meet me halfway here.”

  Sarah nodded finally. “I’ll need some other things as well.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want out of this hospital smock.”

  “Right. I’ll get you some clothes.”

  “And I want some music.”

  “I’ll get you an iPod. Anything else?”

  “That’s all – for now,” Sarah replied.

  With that, Rachel pressed a button by the window and a door appeared in the wall, revealing a corridor. The doctor placed a restraining hand on Sarah’s shoulder as she was about to leave the room. She froze, gripping Magda’s security pass tighter in her hands.

  “Thank you,” Rachel said. “You’re doing a good thing here.”

  Sarah nodded and moved forward. A door at the end of the corridor slid open and she stepped into Louise’s room. The younger girl looked at her with surprise and shock.

  “I don’t know you,” she whispered.

  “It’s okay,�
� Sarah said, walking further inside. The door closed and locked with a click. Louise let out a scream and backed into the nearest corner. Sarah stopped in her tracks, deciding to try a different approach.

  It’s okay, Louise. I’m a friend. My name’s Sarah.

  The girl looked at Sarah, eyes widening.

  You can talk too!

  Sarah smiled.

  Yes. So can my brother.

  I thought it was just me and Wei.

  Who’s Wei?

  Louise pointed to the wall. He’s over there somewhere. We talk sometimes. I thought you were one of them. They hurt me.

  Louise rubbed her arm as she said the last sentence. Sarah nodded and held out her own arm, showing the bruises caused where they’d taken repeated blood samples.

  They’ve hurt me too.

  Louise walked towards Sarah and reached out to touch her hand.

  I’m sorry I screamed before, Louise said. I’m not supposed to, I know.

  Why’s that? asked Sarah.

  Bad things happen when I get upset. Things get broken. I broke the mirror once…

  Sarah looked round at the mirror in the wall, sensing Rachel watching them behind it.

  How did you do that?

  I just got really angry and it started to crack all over… I’m not even supposed to talk about it…

  Sarah sensed Louise starting to get upset, so she decided to change the subject. She saw pens and sheets of paper laid out on the bed. She picked one up and looked at the picture Louise had drawn: it showed a girl standing next to the towering figure of a man.

  Is that your dad? Sarah asked.

  Louise looked down and shook her head. No, Colonel Moss. I don’t like him.

  Sarah picked up a blank piece of paper and a pencil.

  Then why don’t we draw a picture together? A nicer one.

  Louise smiled and nodded.

  As they sat down together, Sarah cast a look at the mirror, aware of Rachel on the other side. Out of sight, she slid Magda’s security pass from her hand and under the mattress for safe keeping.

  19

  “I don’t like this game,” Louise said with a pout. “It’s boring.”

  “I know, but just one more time,” Sarah said, shaking the pieces from the jigsaw frame onto the floor. “Then we can go on SingStar again.”

  Louise sighed theatrically, but nodded. Sarah laid the frame between them and sat back. Louise crossed her legs on the floor and closed her eyes. One by one, the jigsaw pieces began to lift into the air and float across to the frame. It was a toddler’s puzzle – only ten pieces. Nevertheless, the second and third pieces went in face down.

  “Louise,” Sarah warned. “Do it properly.”

  “Okay, okay,” the other girl replied with a sigh. The pieces rearranged themselves quickly. The rest of the puzzle was solved within a few seconds. Louise opened her eyes and looked at Sarah. “Happy now?”

  Sarah put the completed jigsaw to one side. “Excellent work. How do you do that?”

  Louise shrugged. “I just close my eyes and picture the pieces on the ground. Then I imagine them going where I want. And it happens.”

  Sarah glanced at the mirror. Testing was over for that day – the third session she’d spent with Louise. It gave her a bad feeling to be conducting tests like the jigsaw – making it seem like a game for Louise – but it was all part of the deal she’d made with Rachel. She knew that in the room next door, they’d be taping everything during her and Louise’s “play session”.

  “I’m going first!” Louise said, jumping up and grabbing the microphone near the games console. They’d got her some more toys at Sarah’s request and SingStar was a favourite. Louise used the controller to select the same song she’d been performing all morning: “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

  “Not that one again,” Sarah groaned. “Don’t you want to choose something newer? Have a bit of a change?”

  Louise lowered the mic in her hand and looked at Sarah, tears forming in her eyes. “It was my dad’s favourite. He used to play it in the car all the time.”

  “Oh, I see,” Sarah began, placing a comforting hand on Louise’s shoulder…

  A stream of images flooded her mind…

  The interior of a car… Dust swirls around the windows, almost obscuring the desert beyond… A dark-haired man slumps over the wheel…

  Figures approach through the sandstorm – suited and recognizable as mirror-masks… Then they’re in the car, dragging the man away…

  Louise’s voice cries out, “Stop that! Leave my dad alone!”

  Now she’s outside the car… A mirror-mask tries to grab her… She raises a hand…

  “No!”

  The mirror-mask flies back into the sandstorm, as if pushed by a massive, unseen force… The other suits look at one another and then move in…

  “I said no!”

  One of them makes a lunge at her, but Louise screams… The mirrored faceplate of his helmet explodes outwards…

  Sarah tore her hand away and blinked at Louise in surprise.

  “Are you okay, Sarah?” Louise asked quietly.

  “Yeah,” Sarah said with a nod. “I might just sit down for a moment.”

  She moved to the bed, still a little shaky from the experience. It had felt as if Louise’s memories were drowning her. The girl’s thoughts had an intensity that hadn’t been there when she’d connected with Rachel. It was almost scary.

  “I felt you inside my mind,” the other girl said. “How do you do that?”

  Sarah shook her head. “I don’t even know yet. I saw you – what were you doing out in the desert?”

  “We were driving to Perth,” Louise replied. “Dad wanted to drive all round the country. He said I should see every state before I was ten. He…”

  Her voice cracked and Sarah held out her arms to hug her, being careful not to touch the girl with her bare hands. Sarah had learned one thing that day: intense emotions could be suffocating with her sensitive new power.

  “They took him away,” Louise sobbed into her shoulder. “Colonel Moss said I couldn’t be with him because I hurt the people who tried to rescue us. But I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay,” Sarah soothed. “You were just afraid. We’re going to learn how to control our powers, just you see. Then everything will be okay.”

  “Promise?” Louise mumbled.

  “Promise.”

  Half an hour later, Sarah left Louise’s room and was met in the corridor by a white-coated HIDRA scientist who asked her question after question about the session. Sarah had sensed the anger in the other girl and her fear for her dad, who had been sent somewhere by Colonel Moss. Now Sarah also sensed the fear in the scientists around her.

  They’re afraid of us, she thought.

  “Tell me about her powers,” the scientist demanded. “Have you observed a strengthening in her telekinetic ability? Has she moved anything larger than the jigsaw pieces with her mind?”

  Sarah shrugged. “You’re the ones watching through the mirror. You should’ve seen.”

  “Does she seem angry?”

  “She wants to see her dad.”

  “That’s not possible. He’s been relocated. Now, tell me about…”

  So it went on. After the questions, Sarah was finally allowed to see Robert again. Two soldiers escorted her across the dome to the building where her brother was being kept.

  Sarah!

  Robert flew across the room and threw his arms around her. She stroked a hand through his hair.

  It’s okay. I’m here now.

  They had an hour together. At Sarah’s direction, they spoke out loud about “safe” subjects: the food, things that Robert wanted for his room, games they could play. In their minds, however, they exchanged all the information they didn’t want Robert’s “mirror watcher”, Michael, to hear. He talked about the tests to which they’d subjected him, holding back tears as he did so.

  We’re getting out of here, Sarah told h
im while they played cards together on the edge of his bed. I just need a little time to find a way. I think Louise might be able to help. They’re afraid of her power.

  Robert shifted uneasily. They keep on asking me what I can do. They try to get me to move things, or read their minds, but I can’t. They said the virus has changed us, but all I can do is speak to you.

  It’s okay, Sarah reassured. There’s nothing wrong with you. But we can’t stay here. They’re not good people. She thought of Colonel Moss, and then Rachel. Well, most of them aren’t, anyway.

  What about Daniel?

  Sarah placed a hand on his arm. He’s got the virus, Robert. He isn’t coming back. We’re going to have to look after ourselves now.

  At that, Robert began to cry quietly and she put her arms around him once more. Too soon, the voice of Michael from the mirror told her it was time to go and the door opened.

  Don’t go! Her brother tried to hold her back as she rose.

  I have to, Robert, Sarah said firmly. They won’t let me come back if we cause trouble. I’m going to find a way for us to escape, but you have to be strong until then. Can you do that for me?

  He wiped his eyes and nodded seriously. Sarah squeezed his hand and left the room.

  20

  Sarah lay awake in the darkness. Under the bed-sheets she turned the stolen security pass over and over in her hands, but her mind was focused on the woman sitting on the other side of the mirror. Sarah called her Mandy2, because she worked the night shift watching her. Mandy2 had never bothered to introduce herself properly and Sarah hadn’t asked for her name either.

  In her mind, Sarah sensed Mandy2 staring at the darkened room… The boredom and fatigue… Her eyes beginning to close, just like they always did at some point in the night…

  Sarah waited until she was fully asleep before easing herself out of the bed. Taking one of the pillows, she placed it under the cover. If Mandy2 did wake up, she might be fooled into thinking she was still there for a while by the bulge. It was hard to see in the darkness.

  Pleased with her handiwork, Sarah moved swiftly to the door with Magda’s key card in her hand. However, she paused before she swept it through the reader – for all she knew it was only good for Louise’s door. Perhaps it would even trigger an alert. Deciding it was worth the risk, she swiped the card…