2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (23 page)

‘Your higher clearance might make that easier,’ Trish told her, ‘although the military might still have it all under lock and key.’

Sarah pursed her lips. ‘Riley said he used to be in the military. I’ll try and broach the subject at some point and see what he thinks. You never know, the Smithsonian might have it by now; they are after all Anakim related.’

‘I wonder what happened to our camp on the surface?’ Jason said. ‘The canister and bones might still be up there, sitting out in the open for anyone to get their thieving hands on.’

Trish lent forwards. ‘I’ve been thinking about that too. They’re either still where we left them or the locals or Vatican have nabbed them, or maybe the military from this base sent out a communication to have everything picked up and brought back down here.’

‘Sadly, we may never find out,’ Sarah said. ‘I try not to think about it. We have enough to worry about down here. We can think on that when we get to the surface.’

‘If we don’t find any trace of our stuff down here that is,’ Jason added.

Sarah nodded in agreement. ‘I have to admit, though, the knowledge that this place exists and actually being in it comes a very close second to having discovered Sanctuary ourselves, don’t you think?’

‘Most definitely,’ Trish said.

‘Bloody hell, yes,’ Jason agreed. ‘This place is unbelievable.’

Sarah looked around, making sure they remained out of earshot of any eavesdroppers. ‘It shouldn’t be a secret, though. To keep something like this hidden is a crime against humanity. Also, some of these people may seem nice, but I don’t trust any of them; we are basically prisoners down here for all intents and purposes. We must never forget that.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Trish said.

Sarah looked up at the sun, or at least the simulation of sunlight, from the dome above. She thought it strange to be underground and basking in this light, whereas on the surface everyone else was consigned to living beneath a blackened sky. It was perhaps this abstract image, in a roundabout way, that made her realise she needed to unburden herself. ‘There’s something I need to tell you both.’

Trish and Jason looked at her expectantly as she struggled with how to begin. ‘After my artefacts were stolen in Oxford, I realised my previous discoveries hadn’t been taken from me in freak occurrences. The stolen femur and burnt maps must have been the work of the same people who broke into the vault in Oxford. The confrontation with Carl and the Italian in Turkey reinforce my certainty that my theory is actually fact and that the Vatican was behind all four incidents.’

Sarah halted and fiddled with her fingers as she sought more words to say while Trish and Jason exchanged looks, unsure where this was leading.

‘As the maps were taken from me on purpose,’ Sarah continued, ‘that also means the fire was started deliberately and in turn my mother’s subsequent death was no accident. The inconclusive report on how the fire started also lends itself to arson. Since they targeted my maps and I put the maps in my mum’s house for safekeeping, it’s down to me that she died before her time.’

‘Sarah, no!’ Trish’s voice was full of concern. ‘You can’t possibly blame yourself for that, you didn’t start that fire and even if someone did do it to destroy your evidence of gigantis, then they are to blame, not you!’

Sarah knew her friend was right, she didn’t start the fire and couldn’t have prevented her mother’s death, but it didn’t stop her from feeling a deep sense of guilt, shame and despair about her indirect contribution to it. ‘They may have started the fire, but it was my actions that led to her death and there’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. It’s a fact.’

Trish looked at Jason for some support, but he seemed reluctant to say anything. Trish frowned at him and with a subtle head movement indicated she wanted him to say something supportive.

‘It might not have been deliberate – the fire,’ Jason said at Trish’s instigation. ‘It could have been just an accident, a coincidence.’

Sarah gave him a weak smile and knew he meant well, but she could tell he believed that as much as she did. ‘I want to bring the people responsible for her death to justice,’ Sarah told them, her voice flat and cold as she fought to keep her emotions in check.

‘How will you do that?’ Trish asked, choosing her words with care. ‘The police didn’t find anything at the scene, if I remember rightly.’

Sarah shifted in her seat ‘I don’t know, but I won’t stop until I find out who killed my mother, or at the very least expose the cover-up of gigantis, which will strike a blow at the Vatican and the people that work for them.’

‘Is that why you were so intent on extracting that Mayan plaque from the monument in the Copán ruins?’ Trish said, finally able to understand her friend’s motivations.

‘And why you were so keen to go to South Africa, despite the danger involved?’ Jason added.

Sarah nodded.

No one spoke for a moment as they digested Sarah’s revelations.

‘Have you considered the GMRC or U.S. Government might have started the fire that destroyed the maps?’ Trish asked, her tone tentative.

‘The thought crossed my mind,’ Sarah admitted, ‘but my online group always fingered the Catholic Church for the cover-ups, especially in Europe. Plus our run in with the Italian all but seals it for me. There were other fires that destroyed gigantis evidence in the past, according to my group, and from records found dating back to the middle ages the Vatican even admitted they set fires to purge heresies from being spread; specific cases even hint that the objects targeted for destruction may have been of gigantis origin.’

‘That the Vatican set fires to maintain their doctrine isn’t new, Sarah,’ Trish said, ‘and your group can come up with some pretty outlandish claims in their quest to prove gigantis exists.’

‘I don’t think the U.S. or GMRC had anything to do with the fire or the theft of the other artefacts,’ Jason said to Sarah. ‘There was mention of the Catholic Church’s activities in Sanctuary’s museum; I saw it on the day you got rearrested. It goes into some detail about the lengths that the Catholic Church went to in covering up the existence of gigantis in Europe and South America. The U.S. Government had altercations with agents of the Church back in the eighteen hundreds and even as recently as the late twentieth century. The major difference between the two factions – the Vatican and the U.S. Government – is that one wants to destroy the existence of gigantis, while the other just wants to keep it hidden. The museum we visited should be testament to that fact on its own.’

Trish looked at Jason with some surprise, clearly impressed by his serious and well thought out argument.

Sarah wasn’t taken aback by Jason’s new information, but it did confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt who was to blame for the fire that had robbed her of much more than evidence of the historical existence of giants.

Jason leaned forward and lowered his voice. ‘The references in the museum also indicate that there is still friction between the Smithsonian Institution and the Vatican to this day. It didn’t go into details, but that’s what it implied. There was also one interesting passage of text about another organisation that has links to the Roman Catholic Church and one that may have knowledge of the Anakim.’

‘What are they called?’ Sarah knew every scrap of information could help her in her quest for justice.

‘The Apocryphon. It doesn’t say anything else about them. I thought you might be interested so I looked up the term on the USSB’s library database and there’s no further reference to it anywhere.’

Sarah listened as Jason described other interesting titbits of information he’d unearthed at the museum and Trish also joined in, relaying details of her own discoveries. Sarah, happy to let talk divert away from the painful subject she had finally had the courage to share with her two friends, sat back, only joining in to ask the odd question. Some time later she took her leave and made her way back to her new digs, the emotional drain from bringing up the subject of her mother making her seek out her own company.

♦

Trish, now alone with Jason, had time to discuss Sarah and the concerns she had for her friend.

‘I’m just worried about her,’ she said, as they walked around a small lake in the park.

Jason made a dismissive gesture. ‘She’ll be fine. She’s just got a lot on her mind, is all.’

Trish’s brows remained furrowed. ‘I know she wants to blame someone for her mum’s death, but if she thinks she can bring the Vatican, or individuals working for them, to book for their crimes she’ll only meet with failure and the only one left to blame, according to her, will be Sarah herself.’

Jason plucked a flower from a nearby bush and began detaching the petals from it one by one. ‘What do you propose we do it about it? She’s made up her mind. You know Sarah; when she gets a mind to do something, she doesn’t stop until she achieves it.’

‘You’re right, but I can’t help thinking she’s seeking revenge rather than justice; and revenge is unhealthy, it will eat away at her from the inside.’

‘You don’t know she’s out for revenge,’ Jason said, and besides, revenge is a form of justice in itself. An eye for an eye ‘n’ all that; although considering it’s the Church who she’s up against, that phrase is perhaps a little inappropriate, but you know what I mean.’

Trish did know what he meant, he wasn’t the subtlest of people, but she couldn’t help but fear for Sarah. Jason was right about one thing, though; once Sarah had made her mind up there was little chance of changing it. They would just have to be there to help her when she needed it, or pick up the pieces if things went badly.

Trish glanced up at the dome’s simulated sunset, which announced its presence above them with a sumptuous display of colour. Deep reds, blues and greens intermingled in a vision that amazingly managed to outstrip the real thing. ‘Keep an eye on her for me, will you?’ she asked Jason as they made their way back to the monotube station.

‘Of course.’ He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. ‘She’ll be fine, though, you’ll see. You worry too much.’

‘I hope so,’ she said, her vexation undiminished. ‘I do hope so.’

Chapter Twelve

Loud, drawn out grinding noises punctuated the air, accompanied by a deep rumbling that sent powerful vibrations through the SED Command Centre and its surrounding building. These mysterious sounds petered away to nothing before starting again minutes later, indicating to Sarah that giant mechanisms were at work behind the scenes somewhere in the complex – somewhere close.

Nearby, a bewildering array of staff manned a multi-tiered office kitted out with state-of-the-art work stations, computers and communication systems – a control centre set-up resembling something utilised by NASA or the CNSA, China’s national space agency. Huge transparent wallscreens dominated the rear of a raised platform which backed onto a large area Sarah recognised as the room in which Riley had become aware of her infiltration.

Now in Sanctuary’s Exploration Division legitimately, Sarah could relax and take in her surroundings at leisure. She had yet to see Riley, but so far her first day had consisted of boring and yet necessary administrative procedures to enrol her in the programme as an SED employee. She didn’t expect to understand the full workings of the extensive outfit on her first attempt, but from what she’d seen so far, and from her initial illegal foray, it would take many months to get up to speed on what went on here, if not longer. One thing was for sure, however, the SED beat the pants off the archivist position she’d previously been given in Sanctuary’s Smithsonian Institution.

Currently, from her location in a reception room on the third floor of the Command Centre, Sarah watched a number of survey teams performing a rigorous set of training exercises. The instructor looked military and shouted out various commands in order to get his graduates to switch positions or to improve their energy or technique. One man fell to the floor in utter exhaustion, but rather than offer any kind of assistance, the drill sergeant moved to stand over him and scream out obscenities until his victim forced himself back to his feet to continue the punishing session, only to fall back down again moments later. Sarah’s chest tightened in sympathy before a movement glanced out of the corner of her eye made her turn her head.

Riley had appeared at a doorway in front of her and waved her inside. ‘Sarah, come in, he’ll see you now.’

Sarah, dressed in her plain grey USSB uniform, stood up and brushed her hair back with a nervous hand before walking past Riley, who gave her a brief smile of support.

‘Sit down, Miss Morgan,’ a man seated behind a desk said, his voice rich with authority. Riley, remaining with her, closed the door behind them.

Sarah instantly recognised the man who had addressed the SED teams during her impromptu visit. Close up, he seemed a little less imposing and a tad older. His silvery hair, cropped in a military style, accentuated his powerful shoulders and strong jaw. Unlike before, he wore a white and red uniform, similar to the red and blue one Riley sported; the Deep Reach team leader in question took an informal seat on top of a desk off to her right.

‘My name is Dresden Locke,’ the man behind the desk began, his hands clasped in front of him on the table as Sarah settled into a chair opposite. ‘I am the Sanctuary Exploration Division’s commanding officer. While the SED operates with military oversight, we are primarily a civilian outfit and as such we have our own strict codes of conduct which we expect all our personnel to adhere to at all times. Riley, here,’ he said, indicating his subordinate, ‘tells me you will prove a valuable asset to the SED and has requested you be assigned to his survey team, Alpha Six.’

Sarah glanced at Riley who gave her a wink.

‘You will be aware that your clearance level has already been upgraded,’ Locke continued, ‘but before I can sign off your deployment, you will need to pass the necessary tests and exams, both mental and physical. Everyone at the SED who goes outside the base is required to achieve a certain proficiency, but members of our Deep Reach teams are in privileged positions and only the best have what it takes to make the grade.