2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (4 page)

♦

Sarah Morgan reached out, grasped Jason’s outstretched hand and was pulled to safety. Her burnt and blackened Deep Reach uniform smoked with residual heat. Her eyes stung with soot and tears. Burns covered her neck and hands, while her whole body cried out in exhaustion. But amongst all this, cutting through the pain like a razor, was the vision of her friend falling into the abyss below, her clothes and hair aflame.

All Sarah could hear was Trish’s final heartbreaking words:
love you
.

‘Love you,’ Sarah murmured and opened her hand to look at the broken necklace nestled in the palm of her hand. It was the only piece of her friend she had left, torn from Trish’s neck as she fell. The golden locket that remained on the chain glittered in the light from her helmet’s torches.

Rough hands grabbed her shoulders and she gazed up into Jason’s terrified eyes. He was shouting, but all she could hear was the ring of tinnitus.

He dragged her to her feet and shook her again. ‘SARAH!’

Her hand closed around Trish’s locket.

‘Sarah, for fuck’s sake snap out of it!’ Jason slapped her round the face, shook her and slapped her again.

He went to strike her a third time, but she caught his wrist. The sensation of pain and loss sunk vicious talons into her heart and she slumped back to the ground in defeat.

Jason hauled her back up. He was shouting at her again, but what he was saying didn’t make any sense. She shook her head, unable to make herself say the fateful words.

‘Yes!’ Jason dragged her away from the cliff edge. ‘We need to hurry!’

Sarah let herself be pulled along before resisting. ‘No! Jason, she’s gone, Trish is … gone!’ She felt her legs go weak in realisation.

It was Jason’s turn to shake his head. ‘You’re wrong, she’s still alive!’

Fresh tears rolled down Sarah’s face. ‘I saw her fall.’

‘So did I,’ Jason said, frantic, ‘but she hit the water, she fell into the aqueduct! We have to move. We have to find her!’

Brief hope disappeared to the crush of reality. ‘Even if she did,’ Sarah said, her speech robotic, ‘it must be hundreds of feet down, the impact would have been like hitting concrete.’

Jason’s expression grew angry. He grasped her arms, his fingers digging into bruised flesh. ‘I’m not giving up on her!’ He yanked Sarah forward through the darkness and into the pitch-black of a tunnel. And then they were running, and Sarah followed Jason in a daze.

The path leading to the Anakim transportation device that had been within reach vanished behind them, lost to the labyrinth of its foundations. The promised land of the surface was forgotten, the dream had gone and only nightmares remained.

Chapter Three

Sarah ran down into the dark. She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t care. Jason was wrong, Trish was gone and nothing could bring her back.

The grey figure of Jason raced along in front of her, her visor keeping the never-ending black of Sanctuary at bay. But every stride she took ate away at her spirit; it felt like she was running through tar. The effort to keep going became overwhelming, the desperation of grief too much to bear. Sarah slowed and Jason disappeared into the gloom, his passage fuelled by the intense and deceptive silver tongue of hope.

Moments later, Sarah stumbled and fell sprawling to the ground. She lay there, unmoving, her breath rasping and shallow. It felt good to be still, to not worry; to not fear.
Just stay here
, a voice whispered in her mind.
There’s
nothing left for you
,
there’s nothing left to fight for
.
Your place is here in the dark
.
The dark is safe; the dark is where you belong – the dark is your friend
.

‘Sarah! Sarah, where are you?!’

The lights from Jason’s helmet appeared around a corner.

The sensation of cold, wet stone pressing against her face made her roll over.

She groaned as Jason helped her to her feet.

‘Are you hurt?’

‘Go on without me,’ she said, ‘I’ll only hold you back.’

‘What are you talking about? We stick together. Come on, I’ve found the water.’

He helped her back into a jog, the movement jarring and abhorrent.

They rounded a series of bends and stopped as the path ended in a crumbling ruin. Water lapped at its lip, while further out a fast-flowing river powered from right to left.

‘It heads out to the aqueduct, look.’ Jason increased the power output from his helmet and focused the twin beams to highlight the start of the bridge of water that crossed the deep void below.

As Sarah wondered what he expected her to do, the torches on his helmet stuttered and went out. He cursed and banged the Deep Reach unit with the flat of his hand.

A memory from her SED training popped into her head. ‘Switch to battery saving mode.’ She lent forward as he fumbled with the buttons and flicked a concealed switch.

With his torchlight gone and only basic visor functions to guide him, Jason stepped into the shallows and held out his hand.

She mustered a sigh. ‘What are you doing?’

‘This river will take us to her.’

‘You’re afraid of water.’ Sarah eyed the rapid torrent. Her visor displayed the temperature, two degrees Centigrade, thirty-five Fahrenheit; it was almost freezing. ‘Jason,’ – she grasped his hand and tried pulling him back – ‘this is crazy.’

‘She’s alive, I know it.’

Sarah shook her head. She didn’t know what else to say.
He’s in denial
, she thought,
nothing I say will help
.

He tightened his grip and waded deeper and Sarah, too weary to offer much resistance, splashed into the water after him. Before she had time to think a wave knocked Jason from his feet, plunging them both into the rapids. Icy water swallowed her whole. Spun round, she resurfaced with a gasp. Jason bobbed up ten feet ahead as the two them were carried out onto the aqueduct. Sarah’s feet brushed the bottom of the bridge and she looked up to see the lava flow on the cliff that had claimed Trish’s life.

A hand grasped her shoulder. ‘Are you okay?!’ Jason shouted over the rush of water.

She managed a nod as they were swept from the aqueduct and back into another tunnel.

Her lights and visor flickered as the freezing liquid fused its circuitry. The screen gave a final fuzz of pixels before flashing dead, thrusting her into total darkness.

‘My helmet’s failed!’ she said, the terror of blindness intense.

‘Mine’s still working,’ Jason said, ‘hang on.’

‘I can’t see anything!’

‘I won’t let you go.’

Sarah clung to him, her fingers going numb with cold.

Their passage slowed as the water calmed and Sarah adjusted her vice-like grip. ‘What can you see?’

‘More tunnel.’

‘What’s that noise?’

A strange reverberating sound grew louder with each passing second and she felt Jason twist round to look.

‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘my visor light’s really dim.’

The river’s flow picked up again and Jason swore.

Sarah tensed. ‘What is it?’

‘Waterfall,’ he said, his voice full of fear.

Sarah felt panic swell within her. The voice had been wrong, the darkness wasn’t her friend – it was her enemy!

Jason wrapped his arms around her as the thunderous sound engulfed them. ‘HOLD ON!’

Sarah took a deep breath and went weightless as they were washed over the top of the waterfall. Seconds later they plunged into frothing darkness. Torn from Jason’s grasp, Sarah’s helmet clonked against hard rock and pain exploded in her back. Tumbling over and over, she was tossed round the seething cauldron like a rag doll. Lungs bursting, the submersion continued and the terror of death seized her. Moments later she surfaced and gasped for air as she flailed in the water.

‘Jason!’

Swept onwards through the black, she heard no reply. ‘Jason!!’

A faint shout came from far ahead. She tried to swim, but the sodden arms of her coveralls made it impossible. Concentrating on keeping her head above water, she called out again and this time Jason’s answer sounded closer.

A wave caught her in the face. ‘Where are you!’ she said, spitting out water.

‘Sarah, over here, this way!’

Sarah turned her head in the dark, trying to get a fix on his voice. More water covered her head and she went under. The sound of water filled her ears before she bobbed back to the surface.

‘Sarah, I’m here, keep going!’

A hand grabbed her collar and she was pulled sideways into calmer waters.

‘Put your feet down,’ Jason said.

Coughing and spluttering, she did as instructed and found the bottom with her feet. She stood up, waist deep in water, and clung to Jason in desperate relief.

‘There’s a path,’ he said, ‘take my hand.’

Reluctant to let him go, Sarah hung on until she felt his hand grip hers.

Splashing forward, she was led into the shallows.

‘Stay here,’ – Jason prised away her hand – ‘I’ve got to climb up.’

She grasped his arm. ‘Don’t leave me!’ she said, pulling him back.

He touched her cheek. ‘I’ll be right here, I promise. Just don’t move.’

Reluctantly, she let him go while the noise of the river continued to thunder past behind. Blind and freezing cold, she stood shivering in the dark, her arms hugged tight to her chest.

‘Okay,’ Jason said, his voice coming from just above, ‘reach out and you’ll feel a wall.’

Sarah put out a tentative hand and felt hard, crumbling sediment.

Something touched her arm and she yelped.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, ‘it’s me. Hold out your hands and I’ll pull you up. It’s about six foot high.’

Sarah raised her arms and felt Jason’s hands grasp hers.

‘You ready?’ he said.

Sarah said, ‘Yes,’ and was lifted from the ground.

When she was back standing by his side, she felt around for another wall to guide her, but found nothing.

‘Wait!’ Jason grabbed her. ‘There’s a sheer drop two feet away. We’re on a raised walkway. The river on one side, nothing on the other, okay? I’m going to clip you to my harness.
Don’t
move.’

Sarah heard the clink of climbing gear as Jason secured her to him.

‘Right,’ he said, and gave the short piece of rope between them a quick tug, ‘where you go, I go. If you fall left, shout “
left
!” and I’ll jump right and stop us both going over. Now the ground on the right also drops away, so if you fall right, shout “
right
!” and I’ll jump left, okay?’

Sarah nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘And if I fall, I’ll do the same and you jump the opposite way to my call, agreed?’

‘Agreed.’

‘Good – okay, the river carries on, but I can see more waterfalls ahead as this place opens out into a big chamber. The path’s quite narrow so we’re going to have to take it slow. Hold onto my harness with one hand and keep your arm extended, otherwise we’ll get too close and you’ll trip me up. Understood?’

‘Yes,’ she said, her teeth chattering.

‘We’re lucky; the air in this chamber’s warm,’ – he rubbed her arms vigorously – ‘which means the sooner we get to safe ground, the sooner we can dry out and move on. If Trish was unconscious she’ll have been swept downstream. Let’s get moving.’

Sarah reached out and felt for his harness. Securing her hold, they moved out in single file. In the lead was the man who couldn’t see the truth – and behind – the woman who just couldn’t see. It was the delusional leading the blind, and both chased the dead.

Chapter Four

Sarah clung to the back of Jason’s climbing harness with an outstretched hand. Soaked to the bone, she trudged along one step at a time, led onwards by Jason, the two of them on a hiding to nothing. Her mind wandered as the noise of the cascading waters below echoed through the chamber around them. Three times she’d almost slipped from the edge, but due to their slow pace she’d managed to cling on and avoid taking the desperate action Jason had envisaged should one of them fall.

The thought of jumping into mid-air was bad enough, but to jump headlong into darkness sent fear coursing through her veins. She knew the rope that bound them together would prevent her from falling to her death, but it didn’t make the idea any less daunting. Jason could falter at any moment and she’d have to react immediately or be pulled over the edge with him.

Step by step she felt the pressure increase, the wait for the inevitable almost unbearable. Some would say the darkness was preferable as you wouldn’t be able to see the deadly drop below. Sarah, however, didn’t need to see the hidden danger; she knew it was there and that was enough. Memories of past excursions – and of sanctuary itself – terrorised her mind, hinting at what would happen if she made a mistake, a fatal error of judgement that would kill them both.

Time passed and Sarah’s fears remained until the path ended, bringing them out onto a flat plain that Jason said followed the river, which continued into the distance. Taking a quick time out, they shed their Deep Reach climbing gear, jackets, coveralls and underwear and squeezed out the water as best they could. Sarah also removed her Deep Reach helmet and shook out the liquid that remained inside while Jason decided not to risk disturbing his in case it ended in disastrous results; if they were both blind they were truly lost. After rubbing themselves down with handfuls of dusty soil from close by, they pulled on damp clothing and struggled back into their harnesses, Sarah operating by feel alone while Jason utilised the dim visor on his helmet.

With the river close by, they drank their fill and then moved on.

Sticking close to the fast-flowing waters, Jason scoured the landscape looking for signs of Trish. At first Sarah had held onto his hand, but as they continued she let go, trusting in his unwavering guidance and the rope that linked them together.

Hours later, Sarah’s energy reserves finally gave up the ghost and she pulled on the rope to halt Jason’s advance.