CHAPTER 104
Immari Research Base Prism
East Antarctica
“I beg you not to do this, Dorian.” Martin stepped in front of the door and spread his arms.
“Be reasonable, Martin. You know the time has come.”
“We don’t know that—”
“What we do know is that a huge chunk of their city has broken off. And that one of their Bells was activated almost 75 years ago — we have the bodies from the sub as proof. You want to take the risk? We both know they’ll come out of hibernation soon, if they haven’t already. We don’t have time to research and debate. If they march out of there, the human race is finished.”
“You assume—”
“I know it. You know it. We’ve seen what the Bell can do. And that’s just the porch light over the stoop — the doorway to the type of cities we won’t be capable of building for thousands of years, assuming we’re even capable of inventing technology on their scale. Imagine what weapons they have in there. The Bell is simply a bug-zapper to keep the beasts from disturbing their rest. They don’t want anyone inside there for a reason. I’m ensuring our survival. This is the only way.”
“An act of this magnitude, based upon so much conjecture—”
“Great leaders are forged from the fire of hard decisions,” Dorian said. “Now stand aside.”
Inside the cell, Dorian knelt down to look the two Indonesian children in the face. They sat on a white bench, just outside the primate lab. Their feet dangled a few inches above the ground.
“I bet you two are glad to be out of those suits, aren’t you?”
The boys just stared at him.
“My name is Dorian Sloane. What are your names?”
The boys’ eyes were a blank stare that drifted slowly from Dorian to the floor.
“That’s ok, we don’t need names to play this game. The name game is boring anyway. We’re going to play a better game, a very fun game. Have you ever played hide and seek? It was my favorite game as a child. I was very good at it.” He turned to his assistant. “Get the packs from Dr. Chase.”
Dorian fixed the boys with a stare. “We’re going to put you inside a maze, a giant maze. Your job is to find a certain room.” Dorian held out a picture. “You see this? This is a room with a lot of glass tubes in it. Tubes big enough to hold a man! Can you believe it? If you can find this room, and hide in it, you’re going to win the prize.” Dorian laid the glossy printout on their laps. It was a computer rendering — an extrapolation of what the Immari thought a large tube room might look like.
The boys each studied it. “What prize?” one of them asked.
Dorian spread his hands. “That would be my question too. My, you’re clever, so very clever.” Dorian looked around. What prize indeed. He hadn’t thought they would ask. He hated kids. Almost as much as their questions. “We actually have several prizes. What…what prize would you like?”
The other boy put the printout on the bench. “Kate.”
“You want to see Kate?” Dorian said.
Both boys nodded, matching the rhythmic motion of their dangling legs.
“Well, I tell you what. If you find that room, and hide there, and wait, Kate will come and find you.” Dorian nodded when the boys’ eyes got bigger. “That’s right. I know Kate. We’re old friends, actually.” Dorian smiled to himself, for the inside joke, but the grin had the desired effect. The boys bounced subtly on the bench, excited.
A lab assistant entered with the packs. “Here they are, sir.” He helped Dorian put the packs on the children. “The snap activates the warheads. We’ve tried our best to make them tamper-resistant. If the snaps are disconnected, the warheads will detonate. As you requested, once they’re activated, there’s no manual or remote deactivation. We set the countdown for five hours.”
“Excellent work.” Dorian snapped the chest straps tight. He held the boys by the shoulders. “Now this is a very important part of the game. You can’t take these packs off. If you do, the game is over. No prize. No Kate. I know they’re kind of heavy. You can stop to rest if you need to, but remember — if you take them off — No. Kate. And there’s one last thing.” Dorian pulled out an envelope and pinned it to the taller boy’s chest. It had large script letters that read ‘Papa.’
Dorian put a few more pins in the envelope, ensuring it wouldn’t move. “If you see a man inside, an older man in a military uniform, you win the game — if you give him this envelope. So if you see him, you run to him and tell him that Dieter sent you. Can you remember that?”
The boys nodded.
Fifteen minutes later, Dorian watched from the command center as the two boys waddled toward the Bell almost two miles below the lab.
The deadly device didn’t so much as flicker. Ahead of them, a giant iron portal door opened in layers, like a reptile’s eyelid, Dorian thought.
He watched the monitors, which showed the camera feeds from the boys’ suits. Each video panned upward as the boys looked up at the Bell several hundred yards above them, hanging there in the massive dome of ice.
Dorian clicked a button. “It’s not going to hurt you. Just go on in. Remember the room with the tubes.” He unclicked the button and turned to the tech in the command center. “Can you put the computer image of the tubes on their suit display? Good.” He activated the link to the boys’ suits again. “There it is. Go in and find the tubes.”
Dorian sat back in the chair and watched the boys walk through the portal doors. Their camera feeds turned to static as the portal doors closed. On the other screens in the control room, Dorian could see the outside chamber and the Bell. The domed entryway was still. And dead quiet.
On the wall of screens, a digital readout ticked off the seconds of the countdown: 04:23:57, 04:23:56, 04:23:55.