Pandora Jones: Reckoning

by Barry Jonsberg

  ‘I’m a lab technician.’

  ‘What does that involve?’

  ‘Some research work, but under supervision. I spend most of my time entering research data.’

  ‘Okay. You’re working on a virus, is that right?’

  ‘Yes. A strain of H2N3.’

  ‘And that is?’

  ‘A bird-flu virus.’

  ‘An engineered virus?’

  ‘Yes. Well, the original was natural, but we tweaked it genetically.’ The girl looked around. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that,’ she said. ‘It’s not unethical or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. I did similar work in the UK before I got the job here.’

  ‘Fine,’ said Pan. ‘No one’s accusing you of anything.’

  Wei-Lin snorted, but Pan ignored her.

  ‘So you’ve been developing a strain of a virus, here in the lab. What’s happened to it?’

  ‘Nothing’s happened to it. It’s kept in a secure location.’ Ruby’s eyes widened even more, though Pan had difficulty believing that was possible. ‘I can’t get in there,’ she said. ‘That is way beyond my pay scale. Only one or two people have that kind of clearance. So if you’re thinking of stealing it . . .’

  Pan held up her hand.

  ‘We don’t want to steal it,’ she said. ‘But this virus is dangerous, am I right? Lethal if you’re exposed to it.’

  Ruby creased her brow. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. I told you, I’m just a lab tech. Low level.’

  ‘All right. But tell me something else, Ruby. I’m assuming you’ve also been working on an antidote to this virus, a way of neutralising it? That’s what we’re interested in. That’s what I meant about vials of vaccine.’

  ‘Oh.’ Ruby’s face cleared. For a moment it seemed as if she was going to smile, but then she remembered the situation and kept her face straight. ‘You don’t understand,’ she continued. ‘Vaccines are only effective before infection. They can sometimes mitigate effects, but they don’t cure viruses if they’re already in the system. It doesn’t work like that.’

  ‘Then how does it work?’

  ‘It’s all about gene therapy,’ said Ruby. ‘No, hang on. That’s far too simplistic.’ She put a finger to her lips. ‘Do you understand the difference between DNA and RNA?’

  ‘What’s she goin’ on about?’ said Jen.

  ‘DNA,’ said Pan. ‘De-oxy something. Double helix. Genes.’ She shrugged. ‘Sorry. Science wasn’t my strong point at school.’

  ‘Deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid.’ Sanjit’s voice was quiet. He turned to Pan and raised an eyebrow. ‘Science was my strong point at school.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Ruby. She looked at Sanjit. ‘So I guess you know about “messenger RNA”.’ Her voice was almost reverential.

  Jen snorted again, but Sanjit nodded. ‘mRNA,’ he said.

  ‘Yes. mRNA carries genetic information from the nucleus to the ribosomes where it’s translated into proteins, with amino acid sequences defined by the nucleotide sequence according to the genetic code.’

  Sanjit nodded again.

  ‘You really understand this crap?’ Jen narrowed her eyes at Sanjit.

  ‘Yes,’ said Sanjit. ‘Let her finish.’

  ‘It’s been known for some time,’ Ruby continued, ‘that “small interfering RNA” molecules are active in regulating gene expression – by binding to mRNA through base-pairing and stopping the translation process. siRNA doesn’t actually modify the DNA of the target cells, it really only switches genes off.’ She smiled and glanced around the group. ‘You see what I’m getting at.’

  ‘Oh sure,’ said Jen. ‘You’d have to be a moron not to.’ She rubbed her eyes. ‘Sanjit is clearly not a moron, but do me a favour here, Ruby. Pretend I am. Simple sentences, okay?’

  Ruby swallowed hard.

  ‘I’ll try,’ she said. Her brow furrowed as she collected her thoughts. ‘Our engineered virus has a gene we built in that is responsible for the activation of the virus itself. Think of it like a switch. If nothing happens, that gene turns itself on after a period of time.’

  ‘Like three months,’ said Pan.

  ‘Yeah, something like that. What we’ve done here is use siRNA nanoparticle therapy . . .’ She glanced nervously at Jen. ‘. . . to target that gene so it is never activated. The switch stays off.’

  ‘So someone’s got the virus, but it doesn’t do anything?’

  ‘Essentially, yes.’

  ‘They’re cured?’

  ‘Not cured. The virus is still there, but it’s irrelevant. Harmless.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Pan. ‘Where is that . . . therapy? I mean, what form does it take?’

  ‘It’s genetic information,’ said Ruby. ‘It’s in the computer.’

  The team turned to the bank of computers ranged along the far wall.

  ‘Those computers?’ asked Sanjit.

  ‘They’re all networked,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Do you have the access password?’ Sanjit leaned towards her as he spoke.

  ‘I have a password,’ Ruby replied. ‘But that information is secure. It’s got a higher level of password protection.’

  ‘But you can get into the system?’

  ‘Sure.’

  Sanjit laced his fingers together and turned his palms towards the girl. His shoulders bunched as he flexed his hands.

  ‘The password?’ he asked.

  For ten minutes, the group gathered around Sanjit as he peered at the computer screen, but there wasn’t much to see. The password Ruby had provided got him into the system and Sanjit quickly brought up a series of files, though he didn’t open them. His fingers flew over the keyboard, and files and windows quickly overlapped each other on the screen.

  ‘Okay, show me your secrets,’ Sanjit whispered, but it was clear he was talking to himself. In fact, his whole demeanour suggested he was engaged in a private conversation with the computer and the files. ‘As I thought. Backup power, but . . .’ His fingers danced across the keyboard. ‘. . . only thirty minutes left. Should be enough time. Should be.’

  ‘Can you crack it, Sanjit?’ Pan asked. ‘If it’s not in the part of the network that Ruby can access, will you be able to hack in?’

  But Sanjit didn’t reply. His shoulders hunched and he continued whispering. After a while, Jen put a hand on Pan’s arm.

  ‘Give him space, Pandora,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing we can do to help, and we need to talk anyway.’

  ‘What about?’ said Pan.

  Jen rubbed at her forehead, kneaded the area above both eyes.

  ‘Let’s assume he gets the information,’ she said. ‘What do we do then? We have to get out of this place and then past the guards who as sure as hell are waiting for us in the village. Maybe we should use this time to plan for that.’

  ‘I have an idea about how we get out,’ said Pan.

  Jen smiled. ‘I shouldn’ta doubted you, Pandora. Tell me.’

  ‘In a minute,’ said Pan. ‘First of all, send Ruby to find a USB drive or an external hard drive, or something. There has to be one around here, and Sanjit will need storage if he manages to hack in. Get Karl to watch her.’

  Pan sat at the bench and considered her options. Her plan was growing by the second. Three things she needed to do. Two of them would determine their chances of getting beyond the locked doors and into the village. The third was about keeping a vow.

  Pan didn’t know if she would succeed in any of the attempts. But of one thing she was certain. By the end of the night she was going to have the mother of all headaches.

  ‘Come on, come on . . .’ Sanjit muttered to himself, his jaw clenched. There was a clock in the top right of the screen and it was counting down. Two minutes and forty-three seconds, two minutes and forty-two . . .

  ‘Have you got it?’ said Wei-Lin.

  ‘Come on,’ Sanjit muttered.

  A window appeared, containing dozens of files. Sanjit highlighted them and dragged them to the empty win
dow that had appeared when he’d inserted the portable hard drive. Almost immediately a dialogue box appeared. Copying files flashed up, and a bar that filled with green. Slowly. Five minutes and twenty seconds remaining appeared in small type beneath the dialogue box. The clock said two minutes and twenty seconds, two minutes and nineteen seconds.

  So close, thought Pan. So close and so much effort. Always with time against us.

  But then the copying message changed to one minute, twenty seconds remaining and then four minutes, five seconds. Goddamn it. They all gathered around Sanjit. Even Dr Morgan was leaning over and watching. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath while the seconds ticked down.

  Abruptly, the box disappeared and Sanjit clicked Eject storage. The clock had five seconds left as he disconnected the portable hard drive from the computer. Then the countdown reached zero. The computer stayed on.

  ‘This is great,’ said Sanjit. He caressed the top of the casing almost lovingly. ‘So fast. Fastest I’ve ever seen. Those files would’ve taken hours on a regular computer.’

  ‘You got it?’ said Wei-Lin.

  ‘I think so.’ Sanjit leaned back in the chair and exhaled slowly. Suddenly, he seemed drained of energy. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Had to wing it a bit, because there wasn’t time to read the filenames, let alone check what was in the files. But I went for the most secure and encrypted files on the network. Figured that’s where the good oil would be.’

  ‘You had no problem hacking in?’ asked Karl.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ said Sanjit. The screen suddenly went black and he smiled. ‘Nearly more problems than I could handle. The security was the most sophisticated I’ve encountered. But I got there in time. Just.’

  ‘Good job, Sanjit,’ said Pan. ‘Another barrier overcome.’

  ‘Just another hundred to go,’ said Jen.

  Wei-Lin volunteered to stay on guard in the lab while the others climbed to the second floor to get some sleep. It was close to three in the morning and they needed rest.

  ‘There’s only one way in,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘And I’ll hear them coming down that tunnel. Plenty of time to get to you guys and raise the alarm.’

  ‘No heroics,’ Jen warned. ‘You hear anything, you even think you hear anything, then come get us. Understood?’

  ‘Understood.’

  There was some debate about what to do with Ruby and Dr Morgan, but in the end Karl ripped out an array of cables from the back of the computers to use as ties. Pan worried about tying Ruby up. She didn’t think she would pose a threat, and the girl had been through enough already. She didn’t have the same scruples about Dr Morgan. In fact, tying him up suited her plans. And there was no doubt he would be a threat if everyone was asleep and he had freedom of movement.

  Jen and Nate tied Dr Morgan as securely as they could to a bed in one of the rooms on the second floor. The cables were not ideal and Pan was certain he could escape if he really tried, so she volunteered to stay in the room with him. Getting out of his bonds would make noise and she assured everyone that she was a light sleeper. Jen reluctantly agreed.

  Ruby’s hands were bound and she was assigned the adjoining room with Jen. Sam and Karl took a room to themselves. Nate and Sanjit bunked down in single rooms.

  Dr Morgan lay on his side, his arms stretched above his head. It didn’t look comfortable. Pan lay on the bed opposite and watched him.

  ‘You are a resourceful girl, Pandora Jones,’ he said. ‘Do not get yourself killed in this crazy plan to escape. It can’t be done and the world will be considerably poorer for your absence.’

  ‘Go to sleep, Doc,’ said Pan. ‘We no longer have anything to talk about.’

  But it took another half an hour before his light snoring filled the room. Pan waited another ten minutes, before she slipped from her bed and padded over to him.

  She reached out and touched his hand.

  It wasn’t difficult slipping into his mind. What was tricky was making sense of his mind once she was in it. The dreams, of course – wild chaotic images and some Pan really didn’t want to consider and had to shy away from. She tried to move further and deeper, into memories. And there they were. But there was no order. It was like a million pages from a book, ripped out and thrown into the air so the narrative was buried in the resulting mess, each page a portion of a story only. Slowly, methodically, she sifted through, discarding each until she found what she was looking for.

  And then she left Dr Morgan’s head and was grateful, even though there was a dull pounding behind her eyes as the migraine built.

  Pan knew what had happened to Cara.

  She sat on the edge of her bed, head in hands, and repeated the promise she had made so long ago.

  Someone will pay. Someone will be brought to justice.

  And now she knew who that someone was.

  Chapter 18

  According to the watch on Dr Morgan’s wrist, it was a quarter to four in the morning and Pan still had work to do. But her migraine was gaining intensity and that familiar feeling of nausea was building. She searched through the cupboards and drawers in the common room and eventually discovered a packet of paracetamol tablets. She swallowed a couple with the help of a cola from the dark fridge.

  She almost spat the soft drink out. After so long without one, the taste was oily and disgustingly sweet.

  Pan sat in one of the chairs and waited for the tablets to kick in. She figured she had at least another two hours and the job would be so much easier if she wasn’t battling severe pain. But she couldn’t wait too long. Another hour, she thought. Then, regardless of my headache, I’ll have to do it.

  She knew she should return to the room and keep an eye on Dr Morgan, but he’d been in a deep sleep when she left and she thought it unlikely he would wake in the next hour. Plus, Pan needed to talk to Wei-Lin. She would be battling her own tiredness, down there on the fourth floor, and maybe a conversation would help pass the time and keep her awake. In any case, a talk with Wei-Lin was long overdue.

  Pan padded down the stairs, along the short corridor and into the lab. There was no sign of Wei-Lin. Pan felt panic rising, and tried to keep her breathing even.

  ‘You should have called out.’ The voice behind her made Pan spin, her heart and head thudding. Wei-Lin stepped out from the darkness of the tunnel, bow in hand, an arrow nocked. ‘I might have killed you.’

  ‘Jesus.’ Pan sat on one of the stools and put a hand to her forehead. ‘You scared me half to death.’

  Wei-Lin cocked her head to one side, but didn’t apologise. ‘What do you want?’ she said.

  ‘To talk.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘ “Why?” ’ Pan threw her hands in the air and instantly regretted it. Her head throbbed. ‘Listen to yourself, Wei-Lin. You’re stressed to breaking point, you fly off the handle at the slightest thing, and you look like you’re just waiting for an opportunity to put an arrow through someone’s head. Anyone’s.’ Pan sighed. She forced herself to look Wei-Lin in the eyes and not break contact. But her friend’s eyes were dark, flat and unfriendly. There was no spark in them and she didn’t smile. This wasn’t the girl Pan remembered, the bundle of energy with the infectious smile. What had happened to her?

  Wei-Lin didn’t break eye contact either. ‘I wasn’t trying to hurt that girl. I just wanted to frighten her, so we would get the information we needed.’

  ‘I wasn’t talking about her. But shooting an arrow at her was over the top.’

  ‘I did what needed to be done. It worked, didn’t it?’

  Pan put her hands flat on the bench and closed her eyes. The pain in her head was receding, but confrontation wasn’t helping. She got to her feet and walked around the bench. Wei-Lin backed away, but Pan kept moving towards her. She reached out for the bow and gripped it in her right hand, tried to take it. For one moment Wei-Lin resisted the pressure and Pan thought they would become engaged in a bizarre tug-of-war. But then Wei-Lin let go, and Pan put the bow down on th
e bench. Then she stepped forward and put her arms around her friend, hugged her close.

  Wei-Lin stiffened, her hands splayed out to the side. But then she seemed to melt. Her arms slowly came together around Pan’s back and she returned the hug, her head resting on Pan’s left shoulder. They stayed that way for a full minute, not saying anything. Then Wei-Lin started to shake. Pan heard her sobs, muffled by her own shoulder. She rubbed Wei-Lin’s back and let her cry.

  Finally, Wei-Lin broke away and wiped angrily at her eyes.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

  ‘What for?’ said Pan. ‘It’s actually a relief to hear you cry.’ She smiled. ‘What’s wrong, Wei-Lin? I mean, apart from the fact we’re locked in an underground tomb with an army waiting for us outside and a world that’s on the brink of dying?’

  Wei-Lin laughed.

  Pan couldn’t remember the last time she had done that.

  ‘When you put it like that, I feel a bit stupid being upset. I should lighten up.’

  ‘Yeah. It’s not like we’ve got real problems.’

  Wei-Lin sat on a stool, pushed her bow to the centre of the bench and rested her elbows on its surface.

  ‘I’m so angry, Pan,’ she said. ‘I’m angry all the time. Even when I sleep, I have dreams of . . . retribution. Destroying, killing. What’s happening to me?’

  ‘We all feel a bit like that,’ Pan replied.

  ‘But this is so intense. It’s like something’s taking me over, you know? Demonic possession or something. And there’s enough evil in this place without me joining the ranks. To be honest, Pan, I’m terrified of what I’m becoming.’

  Pan pulled out a stool and sat opposite her friend.

  ‘We’re all dealing with this in our own different ways, Wei-Lin. I understand how you feel. If I allowed myself to think too carefully about what The School’s done, what it’s still doing, then I might go mad. Cut yourself some slack.’

  Wei-Lin nodded, but didn’t seem convinced.

  ‘I can’t stop thinking about my sister,’ she said. ‘I told you about her, yeah?’