by JC Ryan
“I know that, but if what Siasha is telling you is true, then there is a good chance this will work. I am a soldier and a dominant personality. This, Robert, was not a soldier; he was a peaceful man. Yes?”
“Yes, but he is a descendant of the X’ran, the most ferocious, war-loving people ever known and you are of the B’ran. There’s no telling how the merging of an X’ran and B’ran would be tolerated in a single body. And even if it can be done, no one knows if the human body is capable of handling the personalities of two people. The one time it was tried it ended in disaster.”
“We must risk it,” Tawndo said.
“No!”
“Linkola,” Siasha interrupted, “I don’t like this idea any more than you do, but I think Tawndo might be correct. He is a dominate personality, a soldier, and from a warring race. However, he is a peaceful man and fully supports the L’gundo beliefs and culture.
“He is highly intelligent and will fully understand what is happening. Because of this, he will likely be able to maintain dominance and control over Robert until we can explain what has happened and he has a chance to adjust.”
“And if he can’t adjust?” Linkola shot back.
Siasha paused, then said quietly, “I suggest we destroy and remove his chip.”
“You can’t… possibly… be serious!” he said aghast.
“Quite serious. I believe Tawndo’s intelligence would allow him to survive the separation, and that the possible damage to the brain could be repaired.”
“You are both completely insane!” Linkola stated in undisguised terror. “And I will not be a party to any of it.” He stormed out of the lab.
Siasha sat down at the table. “Well, that actually went better than I expected.”
“Glad to hear it,” Tawndo said with an uncertain look toward the door through which Linkola had exited.
“You do realize, don’t you, that he is not exaggerating what happened in the experiment. This could kill you.”
“Yes, I realize that, but there is no other way.”
“Just how do you plan to contact the Rosslerites if we do successfully merge you with Robert?”
“I have been working on that with Korda. We will have Robert tell us who he thinks would be most likely of the Rosslers to respond to him and then we can project a holographic image of me to that person first and take it from there.”
“It sure seems like there is an awful lot that can go wrong with this whole idea.”
“There is, but we must risk it. If you have a better idea, then let me have it.”
“Very well. I will speak to Linkola again after he calms down. In the meantime, how about a swim?” she asked slyly.
Tawndo read the message in her eyes, “I’d love it; lead the way!”
They left the lab together, hand in hand.
Siasha, seriously worried about how much longer she would have her beloved Tawndo with her.
Chapter 56- So many big batteries
When Max arrived, almost two hours later, with Doug, Cliff and the two Tectus members in tow, Jack had already explored the tunnel leading to portals C and D. It was clear and usable, and both portal entrances were filled with concrete just as Nigel said.
While he explored the access tunnel, Stan and Aaron walked the entire circular tunnel that was the roadway for the site. One lane went in each direction with no cross tunnels. They guessed this was done to help maintain the structural integrity of the mountain rather than risk opening up the entire cavity.
Light and the sound of a light rail car moving along the tracks alerted them to the arrival of another of the monorail cars. The three stepped into the shadows and waited to see who had arrived.
Max stepped off the car first, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Doug and Cliff followed, and then two unfamiliar men joined them on the platform.
Jack stepped forward greeting the men. “Welcome to Raven Rock guys.”
Dennis whistled, “I’ve heard rumors about this place, but never thought I’d ever see it.”
“As you know, Daniel intends to use this as a headquarters from where we will launch our operation to overthrow Hayden. We are here to secure it and get it operational before he arrives.
“That means checking every corner of this place, verifying the water is potable and that all support systems are functioning as they were designed to do.
“We need to split into four teams of two each and work as fast as we can while still being thorough.
“Max, you and Aaron start with the power plant on the far side. See if you can get it up and running, and then find the water reservoir. Test the water and make sure it’s safe to drink and that the water treatment plant is functional. Then check the ventilation control system.”
“Right,” Max replied.
“Dennis, you and Cliff start by checking portals A and B, then move on to the power plant on this side. Make sure it’s secure and check for any signs of damage that could indicate it might be non-functional. Then move on to buildings D and E. Search and secure them, every floor, every room, every closet. Got it?”
“Yes, sir!” Dennis said with a salute.
“Doug, Eric; you two take the strip mall. Again, search and secure every room inside.
“You got it, Jack,” Doug acknowledged.
“Yes, sir!” Eric echoed with a smile.
“Stan and I will take buildings A and B. We’ll meet you at building C, and the four of us will search it together. Any questions?”
When there were no questions, Jack dismissed them. “All right, let’s get to it. We’ll all meet at the entrance to building C when we’re done.”
***
Max and Aaron made their way quickly down the roadway to the left of the platform and turned to the right at their first opportunity. The map of the area provided by Daniel indicated that there was a freshwater reservoir ahead and to the left, and the West side power plant was straight ahead.
Aaron had expected to find a huge cavern with a small city inside. So far all he had seen were tunnels. “I’m beginning to feel like we should see Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble any minute.”
Max laughed. “This is a bit surreal, isn’t it?”
“It’s weird alright. It feels like a cave, but it doesn’t smell quite like a cave exactly. It has a mechanical smell to it or something.”
“Yeah, that’s the paved roads and concrete along with the car and diesel exhaust that got trapped in here over the years. Their ventilation system worked good enough to keep them from being poisoned but didn’t eliminate all the odor.
“They probably focused on the living area and didn’t worry too much about the tunnels since they didn’t expect foot traffic in them.”
They came to a turn to the left but didn’t see a power plant.
“Now what?” Aaron asked. “Where’s the power plant?”
Max examined the wall for a few moments, then shown his light down the left tunnel followed by the right tunnel. He thought he saw an odd shadow in the tunnel to the right. “Let’s go this way.”
Aaron followed him, and in a few dozen steps they found a large rolling door on the left side of the tunnel. To their surprise, it opened easily, and they stepped inside. It was the control room to the power plant.
Aaron studied the control panels and workstations. “It’s solar!” he exclaimed. “They must have one hell of a battery farm! Let’s see!” He stepped through a door at the back of the control room and entered what resembled a long warehouse filled from floor to ceiling with rack after rack of huge batteries running the length of it.
Max stepped inside with him. “Wow. I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“It’s amazing!” Aaron replied with excitement.
“Can you get it powered up?”
“From what I could see, the batteries are fully charged; let’s give it a try.”
Stepping back into the control room he flipped a switch that brought the instrument panel and computer to life.
Once the computer booted up, it waited for a password.
Max took a small device out of his backpack, inserted it into the computer’s 3.5-inch floppy drive and waited while it searched for the password.
“Wow! I can’t remember the last time I saw a computer with a floppy drive!” Aaron said.
“Yeah, these computers are seriously out of date, nearly antique. It’s a good thing Raj has a hobby of messing with old technology and thought of this scenario.” The computer beeped and the screen changed, giving Aaron access to all the systems.
“First thing I’m going to do is change the password!” he grinned, doing just that.
It didn’t take them long to figure out the system and get it up and running.
“We better check the generators and the diesel fuel levels just in case.”
At the far end of the battery room was another door which opened to reveal eight large generators sitting side by side, four on each side of the room. At the back hung a regular looking fuel hose and nozzle, except the hose was long enough to reach all the generators.
“There must be a tank below the floor or in the ground behind it. But the gauge on the wall here says the tank is nearly full.”
“That’s good. We’ve done what we came here to do, let’s move on.”
They left the power plant and stepped out into a dimly lit tunnel.
“Well, the power is on. I guess they had the vehicles depend on their headlights.”
“Probably. Come on,” Max started off back the way they had come.
Like the power station, the entrances to the Water Treatment Plant and the Waste Water Treatment plant were simple roll up garage doors opening into equipment filled caverns in the rock.
Both facilities had been left in stand-by mode, and as soon as power was restored to them, they went back into operation.
Aaron checked the equipment in both locations, and announced they were operational. “We really need someone who knows about water treatment to verify both of these. I can vouch for the physical operation of the machinery, but I don’t know anything about chemical levels and such that are actually used in the treatment process.”
“Alright,” Max said, “we’ll make sure that is included as a request in our report. Let’s test the water in the lake.”
They continued to follow the tunnel which came to a sudden end on a wooden dock. There were lights around the dock, and a spotlight light shining out over the water, but visibility was limited. The cavern ceiling was less than fifteen feet high where they were standing and tapered off toward the waterline in the distance.
A small boat was laying upside down on the dock. Aaron flipped it over into the lake and got in. “I’m supposed to take the reading away from shore.”
“Okay, be careful.”
Aaron rowed to what he hoped was about the middle of the lake, retrieved the small test kit from his backpack and proceeded to perform the tests as he’d been instructed to. He carefully recorded the results in the log book he’d brought with him from the Water Treatment plant.
When he had finished, he noted that the boat had drifted more than he expected. “Hey! I think there’s an underground river feeding this lake; there seems to be a current here.”
“There’d just about have to be; either that or a spring, otherwise this water would be no good.”
“I wonder how deep it is; it sure is cold,” he said shaking his wet hand after rinsing the test container, “my hand is nearly numb!”
“Let’s not find out right now, come on back.”
“On my way,” he said as he began rowing back to the dock. Between the ultra-quiet, the dim light, the musty cave odor, and the echo, this place is eerie.
They stored the little boat back on the dock and headed back into the tunnel.
Moving on to the ventilation control room, they found it already in operation. It too had powered up and started running as soon as the power was restored.
Aaron performed a quick check but didn’t see anything suspicious or damaged and pronounced it functional.
“Okay, well done Aaron!” Max praised. “Let’s see if we can find the others and lend a hand.”
“Right behind you!” Aaron answered with a grin.
Walking back down the tunnel past the power station, they found another tunnel leading off to the left and followed it. When they stepped from it into the habitation area, Aaron stopped abruptly and stared. This is more like what I had been expecting.
A large parking lot lay before them in a massive cavern that had been opened in the granite. It was at least fifty feet high at the center and had five-foot-square columns of granite, floor to ceiling, at evenly spaced intervals to provide stability to the cavern ceiling.
Commercial street lights provided illumination for the parking lot and exteriors of the buildings—a city of perpetual night.
As they headed across the parking lot toward building C, Doug and Eric emerged from the west end of the mall.
“Did you find anything?” Max asked
“Empty buildings,” Doug replied. “Thanks for getting the lights on, that helped a lot!”
“Anything for my buddies!” Aaron laughed.
Dennis and Cliff were waiting outside building C when they arrived.
“Find anything?” Max asked them.
“Nope; the blast doors were sealed, but the power station seems intact. I’ve never seen so many big batteries all in one place. Must be solar powered,” Dennis replied.
“Yeah, it is!” Aaron replied excitedly. “Have you ever seen anything so amazing?”
Chapter 57- Quietly down the tunnel
Jack moved quietly down the tunnel, Stan a few steps behind them. Max and Aaron had moved away from the platform first and were already quite a way ahead of them.
When Max and Aaron disappeared into what they assumed was the power plant, Jack and Stan continued, turning left into another adjoining tunnel. Several yards into the new tunnel it turned sharply to the right, and within a few steps, they found they were no longer in the tunnel but in an area of blackness so vast their flashlight beams could not penetrate to the end.
“Stop,” Jack commanded. “We can’t go wandering off into that. According to Nigel’s information, the buildings are to our left. We’ll stay next to the wall and walk in that direction.”
They’d gone no more than a few dozen steps when the glow of light appeared above them, and they were able to identify a parking lot to their right and several buildings ahead.
“Well, that will make things easier,” Stan said.
“If it doesn’t get us killed,” Jack commented under his breath. Realizing how exposed they were if there were people in the cavern, he hustled Stan ahead of him toward the buildings at a fast pace.
Stan, suddenly realizing what Jack’s concern was, broke into a run and arrived at the shadowy edge of the building alongside Jack.
“Building A,” Jack said pointing at the square sign affixed to the side of the building above their heads. Looking around he said, “Let’s go,” and moved cautiously down the side of the building.
At the center, they found a covered entry way. Stan laughed quietly and shook his head. “Some things never change. Do you think they were expecting rain in here?”
Jack laughed with him. “Have to keep up appearances, my friend!”
They proceeded to enter the building and explore the first floor. Jack went down the first hallway to the right and Stan to the left. Thanks to JR’s research, and Roy’s and Raj’s talents, they each had ‘master key’ of sorts that allowed them to enter each room.
After searching all the rooms in the first hallway, they moved to the next hallway and then up to the second floor where they found exactly the same layout. Each door opened to a modestly furnished studio apartment with a neutral color scheme and decorations. Some of the apartments had adjoining doors.
When they reached the third floor, they found one bedroom apartments with neutral color schemes just lik
e the studios.
Satisfied that building A was empty, they moved on to building B where they expected to find a similar layout.
Instead, the ground floor of building B had a common area with comfortable looking couches and chairs at one end, along with a couple of game tables. The middle, held tables and chairs set up like a large dining room, and at the far end, a large kitchen and buffet style cafeteria.
The kitchen had been cleaned and shut down in an orderly fashion, but everything was still in place: stoves, griddles, ovens, pots, pans, skillets, mixers, and toasters, etcetera, were all awaiting use.
Jack wiped his fingers along the counter top, noting the thick layer of dust. “The maid has apparently been on leave,” he joked.
The second and third floors were identical to those in building A; studio and one bedroom apartments
Building C was again housing; studio and one bedroom apartments, on the first and second floors. In this building, the third floor contained two bedroom apartments.
“Guess they didn’t have many families staying here … must have been mostly singles.”
“That and it is reminiscent of military barracks. Studios for the recruits, one bedrooms for the junior officers, and two bedrooms for the senior officers.
“Knowing the secrecy surrounding this place, I doubt anyone would be allowed to bring children in.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Well, let’s go see what the others found.”
***
Doug, Eric, Dennis, and Cliff all set off together, following the tunnel to the right of the platform. Shortly after it made a sharp bend to the left, they came to an intersection.’
“Nigel’s drawings say portals A and B are this way,” Eric said pointing to the right. “I guess this is where Doug and I leave you.”
“Watch for bears,” Dennis teased, knowing of his friend’s love and respect for the magnificent creatures.
“Don’t worry, if there’s one in here I’ll have him so tame he can be my bunk-mate!” Eric responded with a grin.
