by James Cooke
‘Thanks for all your help, Sarah, we couldn’t have done any of this without you, I hope you know that.’
Sarah smiled back, fluttering her wet eyelids.
‘Hey, don’t get all soft on me just yet, we’ve still got to hear the big bang, to know for sure.’
‘Yeah, of course, how could I forget!’
Brian checked his watch, ‘um, I reckon we’ve still got about two hours to detonation.’
Meanwhile, the shoot-out ensued but it eventually subsided, and all they could see were four FBI agents, walking about.
‘Seems to me as if the FBI people have taken Eghert and his men out by the sound of it? I think it might be safe enough now for us to go down and introduced ourselves, what do you think? Brian asked.
Sarah glanced left, then right, ‘Very carefully, I’d say. Hell, we’ve come this far, it’d be a crying shame now to end up being shot at this point; but if you think it’s ok then okay, let’s go.’
Brian didn’t think they could ever be mistaken for Egherts men, but nevertheless, decided to slowly make their way downstairs, very cautiously and with hands held high just to make their selves known to the FBI. Two agents spotted them at the foot of the stairwell and immediately aimed their machine guns at them. Oh, for the love of god, please don’t shoot us now, though Brian, his heart pounding like a drum.
‘Please don’t shoot, we’re civilians.’ Brian managed to shout out.
“FREEZE. STAY WHERE YOU ARE.” they all heard one of them shout out.
Brian and Lucy immediately complied and raised their hands.
‘It’s ok Lucy, just do as they ask, it’ll be okay, I promise.’ Brian whispered.
One of the FBI agents stepped forward and performed a quick body search.
‘Everyone relax, they’re just checking that we haven’t got any concealed weapons.’ Sarah said, reassuringly. When the agent got around to checking Lucy, Brian noticed that he appeared to be utterly perplexed, as it must have appeared more or less obvious, that Lucy wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon under her skin-tight wetsuit.
‘They’re clean.’ he shouted.
They all put their arms down and relaxed a little. Just then, another agent, of slighter build and wearing a tight-fitting black outfit, who had been up until now standing back, stepped forward and removed her balaclava. Agent Foss’s long silky black hair tumbled out and down over her shoulders. Even though she had her head down out of view, it dawned on Brian and Sarah who she was, they both recognised her from their previous encounter. Brian stood still, dumbstruck, gawping at her without saying a word. Foss then glanced up directly at Brian and flashed him a coquettish smile.
‘Well-well! We meet again, Mr Hopper and in such unusual circumstances, wouldn’t you say? My my, just what have you and your friends been up to I wonder?’ Foss asked.
Sarah rolled her eyes, oh my god, who does she think she is? Considered Sarah, seemingly a minor player in the day’s events.
Foss invited them to sit down at a nearby table. Brian and Sarah, mostly Sarah, took the liberty of explaining, in great detail, what had happened since their paths last crossed; about how they got to Marion Island and witnessed the murder of Dr Carter by Eghert. Finally, Brian decided to lay all their cards on the table and tell Foss everything about Lucy, about the self-destruction mechanism about to destroy the Kel-Taire, and the spaceship. He saw absolutely no point in holding anything back now.
‘You see, it’s the only way to save us all; I hope you understand.’ he concluded.
‘Wow, that’s quite a story – Brian.’ Foss replied, placing a hand on his.
Sarah glanced at Foss, frowning.
Foss continued, ‘At the moment, I’m more concerned about Eghert. He’s the reason I’m here, and my orders are to arrest him and return him back to the States you’ll be pleased to know.’
‘Ah, I think that might be slightly difficult now, now that he’s just left the Island on board that huge helicopter.’ Brian replied.
Foss didn’t appear to be too concerned at that revelation.
‘Not necessarily, Brian. I know what Eghert is like, and that’s not his style, believe me. For now, I suggest you remain here until we can evacuate you all safely.’ Foss replied before walking away with her team.
Even at this critical juncture, when all of humanities existence depended on the destruction of the Kel-Taire, Brian couldn’t help but think how attractive and poised Foss was; something that he’d not particularly noticed back in the interrogation room. Not surprisingly, Sarah could see that Brian was smitten by Foss and stared at him in disbelief.
‘Typical! You men are all the same, one track minds,’ she muttered.
Brian blushed, ‘What’s your problem, don’t tell me you don’t think she’s attractive too.’ He retorted embarrassingly.
‘Maybe, but at least I don’t make it so gapingly obvious. That’s the difference between you and us girls, isn’t that right Lucy?’ Sarah replied.
Lucy appeared confused, ‘I’m not sure what you are both talking about, but it seems that human-to-human interactions are far more complex than my database covers. Nonetheless, I should remind you both that detonation will occur in approximately one hour and thirty-six minutes.’
That subtle reminder soon brought Brian and Sarah round to their senses. Just as she was about to leave the room, Brian shouted across to agent Foss.
‘Agent Foss, there’s something else you need to know.’
Foss hesitated and swung around. She beckoned Brian to continue, opening her eye’s wide open.
‘Go on, Brian.’
‘I’m sorry, we’ve been a bit economical with the facts about how the self-destruct mechanism works, it’s not just a simple bomb.’
Sarah glanced daggers at Brian, open-mouthed, ‘excuse me, who’s “we.”’
Foss noted the tone of the conversation was getting strained, and so she raised a hand to Sarah. Turning back to Brian, she asked, ‘Okay Brian, what exactly are we dealing with?’
‘Lucy, would you be kind enough to explain what is going to happen once the self-destruct mechanism goes off.’
Lucy kindly obliged and explained the principle of the quantum bomb in great detail to agent Foss. At the end, Foss sat back in her chair, shell-shocked at the news.
‘Oh – my – god. That could be a big problem, a huge fucking problem. If what you say about this device supposedly creating a sphere of five thousand degrees plasma, a half a kilometre wide, then everything within that sphere will be vaporised including the ship and a few billion gallons of seawater, which will instantly be vapourised into superheated steam.’ Foss explained knowledgeably.
Already feeling a bit of a fool for not revealing this earlier, Brian asked what he thought was a reasonable question, ‘Why would that be a problem for us here on the Island, I mean we’ll be far enough away, won’t we?’
Sarah waited for Foss to give a positive response, none was to come.
‘The explosion in itself isn’t the problem, it’s the aftermath that’s the problem. You see the void left by the explosion under sea level will collapse under enormous pressure, and the surrounding seawater will rush in to fill it. The result will undoubtedly trigger a tsunami. It might not affect us here too much given the deep water surrounding the north coast, but it could be a problem once it reaches the shallow waters of South Africa. And then, the problem for us here is that the sonic shock wave will hit us, hard, like a sledgehammer blast of wind. I suggest we all move inland as far as we can. You and the station staff should all definitely stick with my agents and me from here on.’
They had no reason to doubt what agent Foss had said and nodded in agreement.
‘Okay, my men will escort the rest of the base staff out of here. Hey, guys, I’m not exaggerating, it’s going to be like a tornado hitting us, if only for a few seconds. I’m not sure if this bizarre building can survive it and stay totally intact.’ Foss explained.
‘Oh, for Christ�
�s sake, talk about rubbing salt into the wound, can thing’s get any worse?’ Sarah exclaimed.
‘Hey come on Sarah. We’ve made it this far and survived. It’ll all be over in about an hour, and then we can all gladly get back to our wonderfully drab lives!’ Brian replied.
‘Hey, you two, I’ll admit you’ve done a fantastic job, and although it’s not quite over, I’m sure we can all get through this last bit okay. Have some faith, yeah? Now Brian, since you’ve been here longer than I have, perhaps you can lead the way to a safe spot, preferably half a mile or more away at least.’ Foss replied with a plan of action.
Sarah took a few deep breaths, ‘Fine, but just so you know, that’s going to be easier said than done, not only is it pitch black out there, if we’re not careful, we could easily be blown away by that infernal storm force wind. All I’m saying is that it’s hardly perfect weather for a late-night stroll.
A silent impasse ensued, and after what could only have been a few seconds, Brian decided to break the ice, ‘Okay I’m up for a stroll. We’re going to need torches, as you probably already know, it’s pretty dangerous terrain out there. The place is littered with bogs, crevasses and god knows what else.’
Lucy cocked her head in puzzlement, that word god, he’s used it again, she thought to herself.
‘Very sensible Brian, you lead the way then.’ Foss replied.
Oh god, here we go again, “very sensible Brian, blah blah.”, I don’t know what’s worse, being blown to bits or listening to her going on about how wonderful Brian is? Thought Sarah.
After leading the way back downstairs, they eventually found a stash of torches in the main entrance area, charged and ready to use.
‘Right, now we’ve just got to find the rest of the station staff, and tell them the bad news, any ideas, anyone?’ Foss asked.
‘Yeah, try the canteen, that’s where I’d be, stuffing my face with cakes.’ Sarah replied.
Brian laughed but stopped when Sarah glared back at him.
‘C’mon, no time to lose. How much longer do we have Lucy?’ Foss asked.
‘Twenty-two minutes and thirty-eight seconds and counting.’
Sarah was right, all the station staff were in the canteen, eating, drinking and smoking. Van den Bough was deep in conversation with Jones.
‘Hey, Jonesy, we’re back. It’s not all good news though, perhaps I’d better let special FBI agent Foss here, explain everything.’ Brian said.
‘Listen up, everybody, we don’t have much time I’m special agent Anna Foss of the United States FBI; here’s my badge if anyone wants to check it - .’ Foss explained, before being interrupted by Jones.
‘With all due respect, Ms Foss of the F – B – I, in situ terra firma is unless there has been a change of ownership, most certainly belonging to our dear motherland, namely South Africa. Notwithstanding the possibility that I may still be asleep, having a somewhat weird dream, which is possible I grant you, far from me to state the obvious, I do believe you and your associates are outside your, how is it you say, your jurisdiction?’
‘Hang on a minute Jonesy, I do believe there might be a precedent for overseas, governmental agencies operating on, what amounts to foreign soil.’ Van den Bough countered.
‘Oh for heaven's sake you two, don’t you know anything about our constitution. Only when sanctioned by the President himself, can overseas agencies be considered, special permission to carry out authorised activities on South African territory,’ Dr Hellaby interrupted.
‘Yes, but it all depends on the nature of the incident, I think you’ll find.’ Ms Simone added.
Foss locked eyes with Brian, mouth aghast, slowly shaking her head from side to side.
Brian raised both shoulders, unable to provide an explanation, and raised both hands, opened.
Foss rolled her eyes in disbelief. She raised her hand in an attempt to get everyone to listen to what she was about to say.
‘I’ll put this in the simplest way I can. YOU'RE ALL GOING TO FUCKING DIE, in about thirty minutes unless you get out of here and follow my team and I. I haven’t got time to explain, but if you all want to live, I suggest you stop discussing my authority and follow me.
Sarah fist pumped, teeth gritted, ‘Yes, that bitch slapped them.’
‘Wow,’ added Brian.
The station staff were left speechless, their mouth’s wide open.
Jones attempted to speak but struggled to get the words out, coherently, ‘I - I think I speak for all of us here,’ he said, glancing left and right, ‘we will forego any further discussion for now, and entrust ourselves at your disposal, ergo, please lead the way.’
Brian smiled and nodded, he liked Jones, particularly the cut of his jib, which was unlike any he had encountered before.
Foss sighed, pleased that she had gotten through to them the seriousness of the situation, and having calmed down a little, she thumbed the direction to be followed.
Foss led the way with Brian at her side, for directions. Sarah and Lucy followed close by. The rest of the station staff followed similarly, in tow, mumbling consternations to each other. As Brian and Foss passed the hanger where the spaceship had been stored, a loud clanging noise suddenly rang out. The lights were still on which afforded some illumination of the interior. Just then, at that second, they caught sight of movement at the back of the hanger. Foss instinctively drew her pistol and stealthily crept towards the rear of the hanger, which was littered with large wooden shipping crates.
‘Get behind me and stay low.’ Foss ordered, ‘Sarah, Lucy, stay back and tell the others to be quiet.’ She added.
Foss advanced slowly, tip-toeing, her back against the edge of a huge crate. Suddenly, without warning, a shot in the dark rang out, everyone hit the deck.
‘Jesus Christ, it must be one of Egherts men, probably got left behind.’ Brian whispered to Foss. ‘Maybe, but it doesn’t make any sense.’ Foss replied.
Another two shots rang out only this time Foss fired back, but whoever it was, they remained hidden. Foss gave a hand signal for everyone to stay down low and to keep back.
‘Brian, stay here and keep your head down, while I go around the back and see if I can flank the son of a bitch.’ Foss whispered.
After a minute, nothing had happened, no more shots, Brian wondered what the hell was going on. So, he decided to take a peek and popped his head around the corner of the crate. Instantly, he heard a shot, which hit the edge of the crate inches from his face. A large splinter hit his cheek, and his first thoughts were that he been hit. A second later he heard Foss cry out, “Freeze! FBI.”
The assailant had already spotted Foss and lashed out with a karate kick, knocking the pistol out of her hand. They both came out of the shadows trading punches. Then under the direct light of the fluorescent tube above, Brian could see the assailant for who he was; Eghert! The bastard had stayed behind after all, but he clearly hadn’t reckoned on the FBI showing up to spoil the party. Like himself, Brian saw that Foss was fully trained and more than capable in hand to hand combat. Nevertheless, she was being outfought by Eghert’s hard punches. He readied himself to intervene, but it was too late, Eghert landed Foss a powerful undercut, and she went flying across the room.
Then before he could do anything, Eghert spat blood on the floor, reached down, with gritted teeth, took a concealed gun from his ankle holster and aimed it straight at Brian ready to fire.
‘You meddling fool Hopper, you should have kept out of this like I suggested. I’ve just about had of enough of you, now prepare to die!’
In a split second, Brian imagined being dead, and all he could think off was poor Megan without her father; this wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. Just when he thought the last thing, he’d ever see was Eghert firing his gun at him, he caught sight of Lucy, in the corner of his eye, standing on top of a large crate. Then with her arms akimbo, she leapt down and delivered a powerful chop to the back of Egherts neck.
Eghert was caught off guar
d and fell to his knees, temporarily stunned, dropping his gun in the process. For a second, Eghert had the expression of being utterly gobsmacked, but this was soon replaced with a vicious snarl. Eghert and Lucy locked eyes on each waiting for the other to make the next move. It was Eghert who reacted first, lunging for the pistol and on grabbing it swung it towards Lucy ready to shoot. But it was too late, Lucy had reacted far faster than you could have ever imagined and delivered the coup-de-grâce with a dropkick to Egherts head. Eghert lay flat on the floor, dead.
Brian and Sarah were mesmerised by Lucy’s ninja-like prowess, which juxtaposed with her calm and composed appearance. Brian’s heart was beating like a drum, shocked that he had been a split second away from death. Lucy had saved his life, and for that, he knew that he owed her an enormous debt of gratitude. ‘Jesus, are you okay, Brian?’ Sarah asked.
‘Yeah, I think so, thanks to Lucy.’
Brian went to Lucy, ‘Lucy, that was amazing. You saved me, I want to thank you.’
‘He was a bad man, I could not allow him to harm anybody. I think we should go now.’ Lucy replied. By now, agent Foss had come around after having been knocked out, and Sarah helped her to her feet.
‘God, what happened?’ she asked.
‘Eghert knocked you out. He was just about to shoot Brian when Lucy jumped him, they had a fight, and as you can see, he’s pretty much dead.’ Sarah replied.
Foss regarded Lucy with admiration.
‘Well it saves me a job, but the bastard is still going to create a lot of paperwork. Shit, how much time do we have before detonation?’ Foss asked.
‘Eight minutes and thirty seconds.’ Lucy replied.
‘Damn, there’s not enough time to make it to safety, we’ll just have to take our chances here.
Foss scanned the immediate area, searching for inspiration.
‘Got it! We can crawl underneath that truck over there. That should be heavy enough to protect us. Just get ready to hang on tightly,’ she added.
‘What about the rest of the station staff,’ Brian asked.
