Strange Temple

by John Lilley

  ‘Hey guys, look over here,’ he shouted.

  The others looked up from the jeep and followed Jake’s pointing hand. The shadowy mirage figure was now 100 yards away and walking at them from the direction of the low evening sun. As it drew closer, they could see that it was a skinny middle-aged man, wearing white canvas trousers, khaki linen shirt, a Panama hat and silver-rimmed aviator style sunglasses. There seemed to be some stiffness in his right elbow because he held that arm slightly bent. He stopped ten feet from them.

  ‘Welcome to Nevada base,’ he said.

  They all knew that voice; it was the one from the monitor: Central.

  ‘Sorry for keeping you cooped up for so long boys,’ Central continued. ‘There were some genuine radiation problems up here, but they’re all sorted now. Why don’t we all go back inside out of this heat, I’ve something to show you.’ He gestured towards the reception building with his bent right arm.

  Neil looked at Bruce for confirmation then nodded. They walked back to the building and through the revolving glass doors into the cool of the reception.

  ‘We’re not going back down there,’ said Bruce.

  ‘I wouldn’t expect you to Bruce. Please all have a seat in this reception area. I’ve arranged for some refreshments while I explain my plans for you,’ said Central, taking off his shades and slipping them into his shirt pocket.

  He’d just placed his hat on the reception desk when a simulant orderly entered through the double doors pushing a trolley of food and drinks. While they started to tuck into the contents of the trolley, Central was busy with a small control handset. The lights dimmed slightly, and an area of the wall in front of their seats began to glow.

  ‘OK boys, please watch these few slides, they show you where your new homes will be,’ said Central. ‘It’s not safe to return to the coastal bases, they’ve all been taken over by the outlaw gangs, who are now busy waging war on each other. There is also the distinct possibility of further CO2 fog incidents, like the one that killed all your friends and families. What we suggest is that we make you all new homes away from the coast, near to what was the old city of Dallas.’

  ‘How hot is it there?’ said Bruce.

  ‘It is a fair bit cooler than here in Nevada, but don’t worry, we can give you any climate you want,’ said Central.

  ‘Yeah, as long as it’s indoors,’ said Neil.

  ‘Well let’s see what we can give you first and then you can decide,’ said Central, continuing with the slide show. ‘This is what we’re thinking about: one dome for each of you. Each dome would be five miles in diameter and five hundred feet high at its centre. You can have any sort of climate and landscaping you like inside your dome. It will be your choice.’

  The film show initially displayed an animated 3D walk-through of a wire-frame dome schematic, but then filled in the detail with various diverse landscapes, from desert to jungle and prairie to temperate forests.

  ‘Each environment would, of course, come with its own set of appropriate wildlife, subject to us being able to source it. Creatures like Lions (Panthera Leo) and Tigers (Panthera Tigris) are of course off the list, as are all the other extinct creatures from around the world. We do have an extensive selection of plants and animals here in our underground genetic collection, all originally sourced from before the main die-back. I promise you that we will try our best to get you what you want, but you will be limited to picking from the catalogue we give you. The creatures you select will also have to suit the environment of your domes and must, of course, be able to live peacefully alongside each other.’

  ‘Where exactly will these domes be located?’ asked Bruce.

  ‘They will be near a place called Sand Creek, a natural oasis in the desert about 60 miles from what was Dallas city. The domes will be arranged in a ring around the creek, about 30 miles apart. Until you younger boys are 16 you will live with either Bruce or Neil, but you can still start to create your own domes in readiness, I’m sure that Neil and Bruce will help you. Each dome will come with two simulant servants a hovercar and a land car of your choice. You can have any land car from history, and we will fabricate it for you. Well, what do you think?'

  ‘Cool,’ said Gene. ‘I’m going to have a Cadillac.’

  ‘Impressive, but when are we going to meet some more people?’ said Neil.

  ‘All of the other bases were wiped out in the same way that yours was; by a sudden release of CO2 from the seabed, and as I told you when you arrived here, the outlaw gangs are currently fighting it out on the coast. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to meet them. We have regular patrols of all of the US territories looking for outlying settlements, but we’ve not found anyone for the past 10 years, apart from the outlaws of course. As you know, the last of our armed forces perished in an atomic war started by the British 18 years ago. Our boys had beaten the British but were wiped out by a freak tsunami on their way back. This was the same tsunami that wiped out our east-coast bases. Looking further afield, our long-range drones have picked up no signals from anywhere on the rest of the planet since the mass die-back of 25 years ago,’ said Central.

  ‘Yes we know the Brits have gone, but what about the Natives?’ asked Neil.

  ‘The Natives were slowly killed off by the outlaw gangs as they worked their way through the great Canadian forests. We offered the last remaining tribes sanctuary, but they refused. I can only assume they went the same way as the rest. We’ve had no contact now for 12 years, but we will not give up our search, and if we pick up some more people we’ll bring them here, I promise you,’ said Central.

  ‘So what if we don’t want to go along with your domes plans?’ asked Bruce.

  ‘We will transport you to anywhere you want to go, your old campsite for example. However, you will be on your own from then onwards.’ said Central.

  Bruce and Neil looked at each other.

  ‘OK, you need to give us some time to think about this. Come back in an hour,’ said Neil.

  ‘Fine, I’ll be back,’ said Central abruptly as he turned and exited through the revolving doors, putting his Panama hat and shades back on as he did so. He left the dome slideshow running.

  ‘Right guys, what should we do?’ said Neil.

  ‘I want a Cadillac, a blue one, with cream leather seats,’ said Gene.

  ‘I’m going to have a pool in my dome, no a lake, with a waterfall,’ said Jake.

  ‘I want a candy store in mine,’ said Bill.

  ‘I want my Mom,’ said Carlos, with his forearm across his face to hide the tears.

  Bruce bent down and picked him up: ‘There, there, little guy.’

  He looked across at Neil and indicated some chairs on the other side of the reception area. They left the boys watching the dome videos and retreated out of earshot.

  ‘We can’t just leave these little ones, and I think he knows it. I’ve heard that tale about the US forces being wiped out before and a lot of people who were there when our guys sailed away, didn’t think there was enough time for it to happen the way that Central described it. Central was the chief instigator of that campaign anyway, if anyone is to blame for that loss, then it’s him. With all the troops gone the outlaws took over, so once again, the reason we’re in this mess today is Central’s fault. I just don’t trust him,’ said Neil.

  ‘I know what you mean. Many of my Dad’s friends were involved with the annexation of Canada and the building of the Mexican security wall. They reckoned that the Native’s forests were a no-go area at that time, before the die-back, because they’d lost so many of their people in there. If they could keep the Marines at bay and Central’s killer-robots, it sounds unlikely that they would be taken out by a bunch of disorganised outlaws,’ said Bruce.

  ‘I agree, there are a lot of things that don’t add up. My Mom reckoned that a lot of the on-line information about recent events had been tampered with. Central has had absolute control for so long now, he can do anything he likes, but we mustn't forget that
at the end of the day, he is just a bunch of wires and relays,’ said Neil.

  ‘So, what do we do? I don't see that we have many options but to take up his offer and settle into the domes. It will be fun for a while, but I think once the boys are a bit older, you and I should pay the Natives and possibly the Brits a visit?’ said Bruce.

  ‘Yep, I agree. Let’s get ourselves set up here and try to give the boys as normal a childhood as we can. We can keep our current line of discussion to ourselves, at least until we’ve checked out the Natives,’ said Neil.

  19 BUSINESS AS USUAL

  Central’s plan since the disastrous UK invasion had been “Business as usual”, but only for the few official survivors in his bases. He felt he had tried with everyone else, but they were just impossible to manage. They always wanted to split into separate competing groups based on race, religion or even what NFL team they supported. He wanted an integrated society but found it impossible to deal with all their disparate demands. The bases were his solution: bring together a group of people with only one set of rules, in an environment where those rules could be easily reinforced and enforced.

  The bases were all heavily defended locations on the west coast, away from the central desert which Central wanted for himself, and away from the crazy weather that now ravaged the east. It also put them further way from those troublesome Brits. The base personnel had all of the usual conveniences of modern living, including where necessary a temperature controlled environment. Unofficial survivors were shot on sight, and if they were determined to cause trouble for the chosen few; they were hunted down by Central’s army of military killer robots. It was all about control, and Central found that humans were much easier to manage in small groups, and given the right rewards they even thrived.

  However, things had definitely not gone to plan. The six “boys” were the only survivors of the first coastal CO2 calamity. Every one of the five official bases had completely succumbed, over 50,000 personnel had perished. The gangs rapidly took over the bases and immediately began inter-base wars. Central just let them get on with it. He intended to negotiate with the winners. The negotiations would consist of a simple selection process, where Central would pick the best of the bunch and then kill everyone else, simple. However, six months later the CO2 returned and claimed all of the remaining gang members including their women and children.

  The Natives were Central’s continuing nightmare from his early days. The destruction of their tunnels had been his first mission after his inception. These had been easy to find, based on the intelligence gathered by Lucas Powel’s team many years earlier. The day after they were destroyed, six of his senior staff were found dead in their West Coast offices. Each one of them had precisely fifty arrows sticking out of their upper torsos. Despite his requests for further missions into the forests, his remaining senior staff were strangely not very keen on the idea. They argued that the Natives never came after Americans as long as they stayed out of the forests. They even accused Central of having a personal vendetta against the Natives, which they wanted nothing to do with. Central had agreed to back off from further contact with the Natives, but he was now being forced to reconsider since the demise of all the outlaws.

  Hell, he thought, he might even have to reopen a channel with the Brit’s?

  20 THE NATIVES

  Neil and Bruce were sat on the porch of Neil’s house having a beer. The house was an exact copy of the one that Neil had grown up in at the coastal base. It was located in the centre of Neil’s dome and behind the house was a garage which housed Neil’s 1960 red and cream Corvette Stingray. Next to the garage was his office and games room and behind the games room was a large swimming pool. He’d not been overly ambitious with the rest of the dome, just going for a temperate forest look with appropriate plants and animals.

  ‘Well, it’s hard to believe where we were six years ago,’ said Neil.

  ‘Sure is buddy. I had no idea what Central and his gang were capable of. The young ones seem to have enjoyed the ride so far. Perhaps it’s now time for our little excursion?’ said Bruce.

  Neil just held his finger to his lips.

  ‘You mean that break we said we would have down on the gulf coast right?’ Neil asked to puzzled looks from Bruce.

  ‘Yeah, that’s the one. It would be great to see the sea again. I’m sure that the servants could handle the kids for a few days don’t you?’ said Bruce with a wink.

  ‘Let’s go for a swim and then let the others know,’ said Neil.

  Central wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about their proposed trip. He seemed even more depressed than the last time they had spoken and gave them a long list of warnings about what to expect on the coast. The four younger boys seemed excited about the whole thing, perhaps because Neil and Bruce’s parenting style tended to be a bit stricter than they would have liked. Jake immediately started planning a pool party at his newly constructed ranch. There would be burgers, tortillas and plenty of soft drinks.

  The servants agreed to move their operation to Jake’s dome for the duration of the seven-day trip. Meanwhile, Bill had been working on his latest secret batch of home brew. His previous attempt had resulted in something that tasted awful and made him violently sick, but Bill was not one to give up easily. He remembered how much his Dad and the other Dads had loved their beer, and he saw it as a rite of passage, something he was determined to help the other boys get through. It would also elevate him in the maturity stakes that were all too important at that time. He hoped to impress them with a few sample bottles of Bill No. 2 at the pool party.

  In a way, Neil and Bruce felt a bit let down that the four boys seemed unperturbed by their impending absence. That evening they loaded up Bruce’s hovercar with gear and supplies. This would be their first camping trip in two years; a welcome change. Setting off they took the hovercar up to cruising altitude and headed south. After 50 miles they turned west and after a further 50 miles due north. It wasn’t long before Central’s image appeared on the monitor.

  ‘Forgotten something guys?’ he asked.

  ‘We changed our minds, thought we would head over to our old campsite,’ said Neil, exactly as they’d rehearsed.

  ‘Well OK guys, but please keep an eye out for mountain lions. My Sentinel has picked up some movement in that area two months back,’ lied Central.

  ‘Will do, over and out,’ said Neil, as he gave Bruce a knowing stare.

  They did spend one night at the campsite. Nothing appeared to have changed there. The small gulley was still full of trees, and the stream, waterfall and plunge pool were exactly as they’d left them.

  At sundown, they had their supper on one of the nearby hills.

  ‘Do you think he’s put listening devices inside us somehow?’ asked Bruce.

  ‘I wondered about that a few months back, so I’ve been testing it out: telling you something, then seeing if Central knows about it later, just some little everyday things such as the time we will meet or what our plans are for the boys. The good news is that he didn’t seem to know. Anyway, when would he have inserted such a device, during our sleep? He could be double bluffing of course, but I think that if we’re near any of his hardware, hovercars included, then we should be careful since he may be able to hear us. What I’d like to know is the location of that Sentinel he mentioned. I’ve been looking around the campsite but couldn’t see it anywhere,’ said Neil.

  ‘That could be tricky, he does have some sort of cloaking device available, the same as in the hovercars,’ said Bruce.

  ‘No way man, how did you find out about that?’ said Neil.

  ‘It was something my Uncle told me. You know that he used to service the cars. It was never used when the cars were coming in or out of the base, but he did show it to me. It’s a bit spooky when you see it for the first time and works best where there are other objects around to merge in with, such as buildings or trees. You can see through it sometimes by looking at the cloaked object through the corner
of your eye, but otherwise, it’s pretty effective. I’ll show it to you in the morning if I can remember the code,’ said Bruce.

  Bruce was washing the breakfast pots in the stream when Neil walked up slowly behind him.

  ‘I think I can see it,’ he whispered.

  Bruce stood up with a pan in his hand.

  ‘OK, where should I look?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘Behind the hovercar, about fifty yards further back, there are three trees, but when you take a sideways glance at them, there are four,’ whispered Neil.

  Bruce took a quick glance back at the hovercar then returned to washing the pan, but slowly rotated his head to put the trees at the limit of his peripheral vision.

  ‘Cool, your right buddy. It looks like it’s got some mean looking weapon system at the top of it,’ he whispered.

  ‘When we take off, why don’t we slowly hover a bit too close to it and see if we can put it out of action?’ said Neil.

  ‘Good idea buddy, but there will still be all the systems in the car which will tell Central exactly where we’re going. How far do you think it is to the forests?’ said Bruce.

  ‘I reckon around 1,300 miles due north, which would put us somewhere near Kamloops. To get there and back would be approaching the car’s range limit, we may need to land at one of the old bases, probably Portland, on the way back and hope we can find some fuel,’ said Neil.

  ‘OK, well look, there’s something else that my Uncle mentioned, it’s to do with the cloaking. If it’s on, the high-level drones can’t pick you up, and it also switches off all other telemetry sent back to Central. So what I suggest is that we head towards the coast, switch it on and then turn north,’ said Bruce.