The Secret Bunker Trilogy: Part One: Darkness Falls (9 page)

She
appeared
to be helping me, giving me the information that I was
asking for. I wanted this, I wanted these answers and this information.
So why did it all seem to be bad news? Everything she said seemed to be a block - a ‘No’ - yet the way that she
said sounded like it was a positive thing.

I knew what Dad meant about that guy in HR now.
‘A viper’.
He must have felt the same thing when he left his job.
I didn’t feel that I was much further forward.
What did I know?
Mum was missing, but was probably okay.

They were looking for her.
I couldn’t progress that, I was in their hands on that one. Dad, Harriet and David were safe.
I hadn’t
seen
them with my own eyes, and even though I was unsure of
Kate, I did believe her that they were okay at least. They might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The worst that could happen would be that they were restricted to a
certain area. The Red Zone probably.

And what about me?
How did
I
get lucky?
And why am I on the ‘biometric database’ or whatever she called it? I know I’ve joined a lot of random web sites but I’m pretty sure they’re
no more sinister than Minecraft or Runescape. I’m certain I didn’t get myself onto any biometric database.
I really must read the terms and conditions more carefully next time I
register.
I decide to focus on the facts. Dad, Harriet and David are alive and fine.
Mum is alive - and I hope she’s fine. I’m certainly feeling much better after my time in the MedLab - or
whatever it was that Kate called it - and the burger and chips that I
just ate seem to have had amazing recuperative powers.
‘Am I okay to take a look around?’ I ask Kate, ‘Get a feel for the place?’

‘No problem!’ Kate replies, pleased to get away from the tricky and
troublesome topics I suspect.
Actually, she looks pretty relieved that I’m changing the subject.
‘Kate,’ I ask, remembering that there’s one more thing that I want to
ask her right now.
‘How did this place change like this, from the old bunker that we saw?
It seems incredible, it’s like it’s a different place.’
Clearly happy to move to other topics, Kate introduced me to yet
another new word. Who needs home-ed when you get to spend the day in a hi-tech, space
age military-style bunker?
It was doing wonders for my vocabulary.

‘Transmogrification,’ Kate declared.
It sounded like something unpleasant that might happen to a cat. ‘Transformation using nanotechnology,’ Kate continued, ‘A
technological based process that completely changes the interior of
the building. It’s not like technology that I’ve ever seen before, I think
I’m probably as amazed as you are.’

‘How does it happen while we’re right in the middle of it?’ I wondered.

‘When the sirens went, everybody inside the bunker went to the
Holding Area. The bunker staff recruited for this mission had been
briefed to do that, and our first role was to move any civilians who
were in the vicinity into the Holding Area with us - pending formal
clearance to leave and assume our duties.’

‘We got to your Dad and brother and sister just in time to secure them
with us in the Holding Area.’’

‘The change process happened while the lights were out,’ she paused
as if considering whether to tell me something, ‘We’re still not quite
sure
why
there was such a long delay with the lights coming back on.’
‘How come I got away with it, as I wasn’t inside the safe room with
you?’ I ask, genuinely intrigued by this conversation now.

‘You got lucky,’ Kate replies, ‘The entrance is only a superficial
transformation, if furniture, fixtures and fittings are involved I’m
guessing it gets a bit messy!’

Whatever is was, it was pretty incredible.
This place has been completely transformed. I know it’s the same building, the shape and layout is the same, but it’s
like the team from that old Changing Rooms show on TV have been let
loose on the pace after drinking
way
too much coffee.
‘How come you came to get me in those anti-virus suits too?’ I asked,
squeezing out one last question.

‘We hadn’t had time to ascertain if the corridor was 100% free of any
external contamination at that time, so protocols state that until we’ve
completed that process, we have to use the suits … sorry if we
frightened you!’ she added in, remembering that she is talking to a
youngster rather than an adult.

I ask Kate if it’s okay if I take a look around on my own. For someone who just spent 24 on his own in the dark, I’m feeling
quite plucky now. Burgers and sleep are amazing things, they can completely restore me.
‘Fine,’ she says, you’re on surveillance wherever you go and your
biometrics will only give you access where you have clearance.’
I wasn’t sure if this was useful information or a warning. As in ‘Don’t go anywhere you’re not supposed to.’
‘No problem’ I said and I was on my way. Fuelled by a space age burger.

I could remember most of the layout from the previous day, and even
though it was completely different in appearance, I could pretty well
find my way around, the corridor layout was exactly the same.
Red Zone rooms were clearly marked as were Green Zone rooms. Even I could follow that.
To get through any door you placed your hand on a pad.
Presumably it scanned your hand in some way - something to do with
your biometric whatever it was - as I was never blocked wherever I
went.

The dormitories - Green Zone - no problem. The Chapel - Green Zone - no problem.
The broadcasting studio - Green Zone - no problem.
Only it wasn’t a broadcasting studio any more. Now it was a gym.
I wouldn’t be needing that right now - or anytime soon - so I made my
exit swiftly.
As I walked through to the doors, I noticed an area just along the
corridor that I hadn’t spotted before. Red Zone.
Look, I’m twelve years old, what did you expect? It was only a matter of time until I tried one of the hand pads on a Red
Zone door. I knew I was on camera, I didn’t try to hide it, because I expected to be
denied access. No big deal.

When I put my hand on the pad, I was half expecting that ‘Uh-uh’
sound that they use on that quiz show when families mess up an
answer. Maybe Mum’s right, too much time spent watching old clips on video
websites. So there’s nobody more surprised than me when I place my hand on
the pad and the door opens.

It’s dark inside at first, but the lights are clearly wired to come on as
soon as someone enters. It takes my eyes a short time to adjust, but as they do, they fall on
three figures in what I can only describe as ‘pods’. They’re wired up to all sorts of electronic gadgetry, and they’re clearly
unaware of me. At first I think I’ve stumbled on some kind of sleeping area, but I saw
the dormitories only a few minutes ago. They were Green Zone.
This is Red Zone.
These three figures are not sleeping. They’re unconscious,
restrained
, they’re being kept that way by the
gadgetry.
I recognise one of them, she was the lady who gave us our tickets
when we came in - these must be the staff. Used to serving tourists.
Caught up in something by accident.
‘Unauthorised personnel’ is what Kate would probably call them. Or ‘Unauthorised personnel, Dan’ more likely.
Building more rapport.

One of the lights in the room flickers into life as I move further into the
room. I don’t know why - or how - I got into this room, but I’m very pleased I
did. As the light adjusts to full brightness and my eyes re-adjust, I focus on
another three figures held captive in these sinister pods. It’s Dad, David and Harriet.

Chapter Ten
Blast Doors
The device that quietly and undetectably pulsated in her neck was
made of extremely advanced technology. Only a very limited number of people knew its source.
It worked very cleverly in the background, she was completely
unaware of its effect upon her consciousness. Those who knew how to look for the devices would have immediately
spotted that it was currently in ‘receive’ mode.
Somebody was controlling her thoughts, but not in a robotic way.
Her device emitted a faint blue light. The untrained eye might have mistaken it for a vein in her neck.
The
trained
eye would have looked specifically at the colour, because
that was the most crucial thing. Blue, red, yellow, purple, black or green - it made all the difference. She had full consciousness and complete knowledge of what was
going on around her.

She was not aware that her recognition of the child in the car had been
suppressed by the device, but it had been, working away undetected
in the background, filtering out the elements that would create a
strong emotional response. Things that might distract her right now.
It was very subtle.
So as she rushed past the black car with her new companion, there
was no glimmer of recognition. Neither the child nor the car registered in her memory, even though
she was aware of both. She was aware that there were questions to be asked about why the
child had been in the car in the first place, but it was like her attention
had been caught by something else.

She had a very strong and compelling sense that she
must
take shelter
in the bunker. But she’d come for the laptop, juice and Dan’s phone, and she’d even
returned to the car to get one of them. She knew too that there was urgency and that they would have to
hurry. Crazy. Something terrible is happening and you still return to get the tech.

The sky is now darkening quickly, this appears to be much more than
a storm. It is unworldly, she knows it must be freak weather conditions, maybe
a solar effect or something like that, but she instinctively feels that the
siren and the darkness are linked.

The two figures rush towards the cottage, through the doors, and with
massive urgency now they try to make up for those few lost seconds
when she returned to the car. They approach the bunker doors just too late. If
only
they hadn’t returned for the tech. They would have made it if they’d not wasted those vital moments.
They approached the run up to the blast doors as the gap between
them began to narrow to a close. There was just time to see Dan’s face and hear his final calls to them as
the heavy doors shut tightly with a thunderous clang. They were all alone.

Deceit

I’m stunned for a few moments as I look at the still forms of three
members of my family in their glass pods. They are clearly unharmed, I can see that no physical damage has
been done to them. I can also figure out enough from the screens and dials surrounding
them to see that they are alive.

I’m not totally sure what I’m looking at, but I’ve seen enough hospital
dramas to know that these are monitoring life-signs, and Dad, David
and Harriet all have constantly pulsing heart rates and lively brain
activity. In fact David’s brain activity looks
really
lively on the screen.
He must be thinking about Minecraft again.
My instinct is not to panic, but I am suddenly pretty angry.

It’s okay Kate saying that they have to ‘stay contained’ because they
don’t have clearance. I can accept that.
After all, the alternative is to be trapped beyond the bunker doors. I’m happy that they’re okay.
But I assumed that being ‘contained’ would mean being held in a
comfortable room somewhere together. I didn’t think it would mean being frozen or put to sleep … or
whatever it is that has been done to them.

The other thing that’s bothering me is that Kate has quite clearly
deceived me. She hasn’t actually told me any lies, but she hasn’t told me the whole
truth either.
For instance, my family are being held in a Red Zone area. I’m only supposed to have Green Zone access, so I’m not supposed to
be seeing this. It makes me wonder what else is going on in the other Red Zone
rooms.

And even more intriguing is why
I
can get access to these areas. It has to be some terrible computer error or glitch.
Maybe they use Windows 8 too.

At the moment I need to stay focused.
I’m the best hope for Dad, David and Harriet. If I end up in one of these pods too, we’ll be at the mercy of whoever is
running this place.
I don’t get the feeling that anything sinister is going on, but I’d still
rather be conscious and moving than stuck in one of these glass
coffins.

‘Don’t call them coffins,’ I think.
But that’s what they remind me of.
Bearing in mind what’s happened in the past day or two, I’m pretty
impressed with how maturely I figure out what needs to come next. Dad would be proud of me.
If he was awake. I need to be cool about this situation, because if I cause trouble, I’ll
probably end up like all the other ‘civilians’ in this room.

If I end up here, I won’t be able to figure out what’s going on. Dad needs me to make sure that somebody is looking out for them.
And there’s Mum too. I couldn’t bear ending up in here and not knowing what’s happened to
her. So everybody needs me to play the game with Kate and just keep
things ticking over.
For some reason I’ve got clearance to roam freely. Who knows why?
That might change when they have more time to acclimatise to their
new surroundings, or when they get their mission instructions.
The best bet is to stay cool, keep off the radar and maintain a low
profile.
Great strategy Dan. Because at that very moment, Kate bursts into the room with two
armed guards at her side.

The World Sleeps

The darkness creeps across the surface of the earth, obliterating all
light, filling all spaces that it encounters. It began with the skies, but it moved across the earth, permeating the
seas, obliterating all light, extinguishing all flames.
Many things could be planned for in advance.
Nuclear power stations closed down, one by one, under government
instructions. Just a routine drill, a test for a ‘national emergency’.
It didn’t matter what the excuse was, they were used to instructions
like this ‘from above’, they just did what they were told, when they
were told.