As they passed through the archway, Sarah thought she caught sight of something ahead.
‘Did you see that?’ she asked them.
‘See what?’ Jason said as he walked past.
‘I thought I saw a light up ahead.’
‘I didn’t see anything,’ Trish said, also moving past. ‘It was probably the torchlight reflecting off some stone.’
‘Yeah, maybe,’ she said. But Sarah was certain she’d seen something.
‘This place is huge,’ Jason called back over his shoulder. ‘My light doesn’t reach the ceiling of this cavern either.’
No chasms or deep drops littered the way now, just a flat plateau. As they moved deeper in, their lights highlighted strange shapes a few hundred yards away. Jason forged ahead reaching one first. It stuck out of the ground, jet black and stretching upwards like a skeletal arm beckoning to the heavens.
‘I think it’s a dead tree,’ he said, walking around examining it. ‘It looks almost fossilised. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘How is that possible? We’re in a cave.’ Trish touched it tentatively and then ran her hand across its surface.
‘There are more of them up ahead,’ Sarah said, increasing the range of her beam.
There weren’t just a few more, there were a lot more, thousands in fact.
‘This must have been a forest at some point,’ Trish said in awe as they moved amongst the now densely packed trunks, some of which towered far above them.
Keeping up the pace, they continued pressing forwards until finally the dead trees thinned, and then Sarah saw it again.
‘I definitely saw a light ahead that time,’ she said, speeding up but ensuring she watched her footing.
As the final trunks disappeared she could see it clearly now; a blazing light in the distance, shimmering hundreds of feet in the air. She stopped moving, entranced by the sight of it.
Trish and Jason came to a stop by her side, also lost for words.
The hushed silence persisted, before Trish shattered the spell. ‘What do you think it is?’ she asked them in a whisper.
‘Perhaps Homo gigantis still lives down here,’ Jason said, the wonder in his voice mirroring the feelings of them all.
The hairs on Sarah’s neck stood up at the thought. She took a deep breath and then expelled it.
‘Let’s go and find out,’ she said and they began walking once more, but at a faster pace, the ethereal radiance temporarily making them forget their plight.
The light turned out to be much farther away than they had initially thought, and when they eventually neared it, they could tell it was a lot higher, too.
‘It must be a mile up,’ Jason said, tilting his head back to keep it in view, ‘if not more.’
Out of the dark another monstrous entrance loomed in front of them and the star-like luminance they’d been following vanished behind it. It had a similar form to the arch they had seen previously, but if anything this one was even bigger. Passing underneath and coming out on the other side, the light failed to reappear and instead a vast blackness rose up before them. As Sarah tried to work out what it was, she heard a noise to her right and a small shape came rolling towards them out of the dark. They all focused their light on it.
‘That’s strange,’ Trish said, as it came to a stop a few yards away.
As they peered at it a small, red, blinking light came on at one end and then a deafening explosion tore through them, knocking them off their feet.
Stunned and disorientated, Sarah stared upwards from where she lay sprawled on her back. Odd looking shapes filled her blurred vision. She couldn’t make them out, but they were moving now, and coalescing into indistinct bipedal forms. As her sight cleared, a light bathed her face and what seemed like talking strove to make itself heard over the ringing in her ears. Finger like appendages grabbed and hauled her upright. Her wrists were bound and she was pushed roughly forwards with Trish and Jason by her side. It was clear now these weren’t some ancient race of humanoids, not Homo gigantis but Homo sapiens. Humans.
With their torches left behind, the men around them seemed ghostlike in appearance, resembling the forgotten shades of long dead warriors. A dim glow sprang up in front of them, tracing two towering rectangles in the shadows ahead, and a million thoughts swam through Sarah’s head as her mind returned to clarity.
‘Who are you?’ she demanded.
They didn’t respond.
‘Where are you taking us?’ Where are we?’
Again she was met with silence.
Up ahead the lead man raised an arm and waved an object through the air in a curious motion. The rectangles parted and dazzling light erupted between them, streaming out to encompass the three friends and everything else in its path. As their eyes adjusted, a massive city could be seen beyond, teeming with life, a phenomenal tower in its centre soaring above them, its spire shining with a beacon-like brilliance.
‘Where are you?’ a man said at last in a strong American accent. ‘Welcome … to U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’
Chapter Twenty Six
Rebecca’s legs ached and her feet were sore; however, she only had concern for her small flock. The past couple of days had been very confusing and traumatic for a variety of reasons. They had been whisked up by a mysterious group of GMRC employees and a large collective of mercenaries, after having been assaulted by a gang of criminals. They had then been attacked by God knows who and experienced the death of one of their number, a much-loved elderly lady. If that wasn’t enough, they’d travelled in claustrophobic conditions for hundreds of miles and then been dumped in the middle of some cold Mexican mountains and left to trudge miles to a secret facility, after which they had been transported deep underground by the biggest elevator ever created and marched along seemingly never ending tunnels.
To top it all off, an earthquake had struck, sending rock cascading down onto their heads. Luckily the only large piece to hit the carers and their wards had Joseph’s name on it, and he’d been wearing the helmet Richard Goodwin had given him so it had bounced harmlessly off. Joseph had initially looked at Rebecca in shock, but a big grin had soon reasserted itself on his face when he realised what had happened.
Since the initial quake another smaller one had hit, but it had been a faint echo of the first and hadn’t resulted in any more injuries or falling debris. Their relentless walk had resumed soon after and Rebecca had been trying to keep Joseph away from the soldiers who moved along with them. Many wore some kind of weird helmet which made them look like they had glowing eyes. Rebecca thought they looked sinister, but Joseph, apparently undeterred, seemed fascinated with them. She could have done with eyes in the back of her head as he gravitated towards these grim men like filings to a magnet. On one such occasion Rebecca had been helping a younger mentally handicapped girl and turned back to find him gone. Looking about frantically she spotted him off to one side with one such soldier.
‘Joseph!’ she said, her voice raised in alarm. ‘Haven’t I told you not to leave my side?’
Joseph grinned and held up a large rifle to show her.
‘Oh, my God!’ she shrieked, striding over. ‘Give me that.’ She snatched the heavy weapon off him and shoved it back at the man who’d given it to him. ‘Are you out of your damn mind?!’ she shouted at the Darklight soldier.
‘It’s not loaded,’ the man said, oblivious to why his actions were inappropriate.
‘I don’t give a rat’s ass. You do not give real guns to him, do you hear me?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ the soldier said, nonplussed at her anger.
Joseph had got angry and upset when he’d been taken away back into the mass of civilians; he’d been irritable with Rebecca ever since. Rebecca didn’t mind this reaction, she was used to it and much preferred it to the alternative, where he or someone else got hurt, or worse. She blamed herself, however; it was she who had encouraged Joseph with the pretend shotgun back at the care home; how was he to know the differenc
e between a real and a fake weapon? She’d just ended up confusing the poor boy and now she felt guilty when reprimanding him for doing what she’d praised him for previously.
As they trudged ever onwards through the endless caves, Rebecca craned her neck now and then to see ahead, occasionally catching sight of Richard Goodwin alongside the hulking shape of the military leader, Commander Hilt. And, as she glimpsed the pair again, she wondered, not for the last time, where this underground base was and why they hadn’t reached it yet; surely, she reasoned, it can’t be too much further?
♦
The sound of thousands of footfalls and the murmur of chatter filled the caverns through which they now passed. Goodwin had been receiving continued updates from Hilt about the progress of the Darklight scouts. As yet they were all coming back the same. No sign of manmade chamber systems or any human habitation at all, just more of the same.
As they descended ever further, Hilt’s radio crackled to life once more.
‘Commander, we’ve found something down here,’ a soldier said.
‘Something?’ Hilt frowned at the lack of detail. ‘Clarify.’
‘It’s – well – it’s better if you come and take a look for yourself. You’re about a click on our six.’
‘Very well, I’ll be with you shortly.’
Hilt called a halt to everyone’s movement and, giving out a few orders to his lieutenant, he made to leave.
‘I’ll come with you, Commander,’ Goodwin said.
Hilt hesitated, obviously weighing up the risks, but Goodwin had already walked past him with a torch in hand.
As they proceeded along the deserted intersecting passageways, Goodwin noticed something. ‘Is it me or is the draught getting stronger?’
‘You’re right,’ Hilt said, ‘it’s almost a light wind; we must be getting near to the base.’
As they rounded a curve in the cave wall they saw light ahead. The reconnaissance team had gathered and switched on their personal lights as they waited for their arrival.
‘Sir.’ A man saluted at their approach.
‘Report,’ Hilt said.
‘We came across a structure, sir.’
‘And this warranted my attention?’ Hilt asked the recon leader.
‘Yes, sir, follow me.’ The man headed off to one side past his men and into a dark opening leading to an adjoining section of the cave system.
The beams of light from the three men sought out and highlighted the features of the chamber they now found themselves in.
‘This is manmade,’ Goodwin said as he studied the structure of the floor and walls around them.
The soldier didn’t comment, but pressed further on until they came to a wide expansive and curiously constructed room, adorned in places with cracked and crumbling carvings of strange description. As their lights converged ahead, they illuminated something Goodwin couldn’t quite believe was there.
In front of them a large stone plinth rose up from the floor some thirty feet in length and ten in height, the surfaces intricately carved with a bewildering array of patterns and forms. This in itself would have been a marvel, but what rested on top was a revelation. Perhaps measuring twenty foot long, lay a carved stone representation of a man. Bizarre garments adorned it and while only the side of the face could be seen at an angle, the detail of form throughout was simply amazing, including the thick, long locks of hair on its head. Goodwin had seen such artistry in ancient marble sculptures in museums and galleries, but nothing on this scale.
‘And this is what you called me down here to see?’ Hilt said, the sharpness in his tone indicating his displeasure.
‘Sir, this is amazing. What is it even doing down here? Surely it’s worth investigating further?’
‘Sergeant, I don’t care for statues or tombs or whatever this is,’ Hilt said, gesturing vaguely at the monument. ‘I’m trying to deliver thousands of people to safety and you’re showing me some meaningless relic. Forget about it and continue the search at once.’
‘Yes, sir!’ The soldier saluted, spun on his heel and returned to his men.
Hilt got straight on the radio to tell his lieutenant to start everyone moving again, and then turned to Goodwin. ‘I’m sorry, sir, this has held us up needlessly.’
‘Don’t worry, Commander, it’s not much of a delay and besides, this is an incredible find, don’t you think?’
Hilt looked at the statue again. ‘Perhaps,’ he conceded, ‘but hardly important in the scheme of things.’
Goodwin removed his mobile computer from his jacket pocket and took some pictures so he could examine them later. ‘I wonder who put it here? It looks terribly old. I can’t quite grasp how it’s located all the way down here, especially considering Sanctuary is only about thirty years old.
‘Is it?’ Hilt said. ‘What do we really know about this base? It’s shrouded in secrecy and as far as I know no Darklight teams have ever set foot inside it. Do you know anyone who’s ever been here?’
Goodwin considered Hilt’s words for a moment. ‘The professor has, and the secrecy is just part of the GMRC protocol regarding the subterranean programme.’
‘There’s secrecy and then there’s secrecy,’ Hilt said. ‘Has Professor Steiner ever disclosed any pertinent information about Sanctuary?’
‘He’s mentioned systems and management issues on occasion,’ Goodwin replied.
‘None of which is descriptive of the base itself. I’ve never heard anything about its structure, design or capacity and now that I come to think of it I haven’t met anyone else from any other base that has ever been here, either.’
Hilt was right. Goodwin had never spoken to anyone else who’d been to, or come from, Sanctuary. He’d never really thought much about it before, as plenty of GMRC assets were regarded as black projects. He had high level clearance, but accepted he didn’t know everything that went on. This find was very strange, however. He gave it a final look before they left to rejoin the rest of the group.
It wasn’t long until they were moving again, but little time had passed before the sergeant came back on the com once more.
‘Sir, we’ve come out of the tunnels into some kind of … cavern. There’s still no sign of the base.’
‘Copy that,’ Hilt replied.
‘Sir?’ the Darklight operative said again, his hesitance plain to hear.
‘What is it, Sergeant?’ Hilt said calmly, with only a hint of exasperation.
‘Sir, we’ve err – found something else. You better get up here.’
Hilt’s jaw clenched as the radio went silent. Goodwin hoped whatever the team had found this time was good, for the sergeant’s sake. He’d never seen Hilt angry and he decided he didn’t want to, either. Nevertheless, it must have been worth risking the wrath of their commander for, and therefore worth checking out, so Goodwin once again accompanied Hilt forwards.
They found the recon teams a few hundred yards outside the exit from the caves they had been endlessly trekking through. The area they were now in was vast, as their torchlight didn’t reach any walls; most likely an unused chamber of the base, Goodwin presumed. At last we’re getting somewhere, he thought, relief washing over him like a thirst-quenching wave. Ever since the earthquake he’d begun to fear they’d be trapped down there forever.
Coming to a halt, Goodwin noticed they stood at the edge of a large drop and strangely none of the soldiers had their torches on.
‘This better be good, Sergeant,’ Hilt said to the man, who had turned towards them at their approach. The rest of his men still had their helmets on and were peering up into the darkness.
‘It is, sir; trust me, you won’t believe this.’ The sergeant detached an odd looking gun from his armour, turned away from them, adjusted a few dials on the side of the weapon and then aimed and fired into the air above them.
A small trail of smoke shot up into the dark and disappeared from view. Silence followed and then after a few seconds a small detonation sounded high above and
a plume of yellow light sprang to life, shedding a powerful glow around and beneath it.
The scene that greeted them made Goodwin inhale sharply in surprise and wonder; they weren’t in a chamber at all, at least not a small one, definitely not a small one. As he craned his head back towers, huge impossibly tall towers, rose up out of the earth in front of them. As the parachute flare drifted down the recon leader sent up two more, further apart and even higher.
‘This is not possible,’ Goodwin said, his voice a breathless whisper.
Hilt stood silently by his side, also taking in the unveiling of the spectacle before them as the other flares burst to life.
‘There must be scores of them,’ Goodwin said.
Another soldier handed him some goggles. ‘More like hundreds, sir.’
Goodwin put them on and was greeted with the sight of more towers. They stretched as far as the eye could see, hundreds of spires reaching to the heavens in a great city that humbled anything found on the surface of the Earth many, many times over.
Goodwin gave a shake of his head. ‘My God,’ he said, the spine-tingling vision sending a shiver of awe coursing through his body, ‘what is this place?’
♦
It wasn’t long before the thirty thousand strong column of Darklight and GMRC personnel walked between the enormous structures. Using spectral range finders, some of the buildings measured around two miles high.
As Hilt relayed the information to him, Goodwin marvelled at the prospect. ‘That’s over ten thousand feet!’
‘According to the major,’ Hilt said, ‘the ceiling of this space is another mile above that.’
Goodwin couldn’t help but laugh, the sound verging on the hysterical. ‘That is just – wow.’
Revelations Page 37
