Sand Glass (32 page)

‘Do come in!’
said another sort of voice. Jared looked at all of us. We all
nodded. So we opened the door.

There were two
people in the room. The first, who had spoken was a man that I
vaguely remembered seeing from a long time ago. The other was
Hanson.

The man sat at
a desk with a book in his hand and cup of tea at his elbow, looking
for all the world as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Hanson was fastened to a chair with metal shackles. His head was
over to one side. He had the look of one who has been drugged very
deeply. Oliver immediately went to check him, and then got his med
pack out straight away.

The man seemed
to ignore what Oliver did. Perhaps it was just a way of delaying
us. Hanson had maybe served his purpose and was really of no
further use to them. I certainly couldn’t imagine them drugging
Hanson for any other reason.

‘Please do help
yourself!’ said this new Man waving his hand vaguely in Oliver’s
direction. ‘I really must get this fixed.’ He muttered and pressed
a button on his remote. Somewhere I heard the sounds of laughter
from a distance. All other doors appeared locked out of this room.
The one we had come in by remained open. Oliver had the set of keys
in his hands that he had taken quite a while back. He undid the
cuffs, and rather unceremoniously slung Hanson over his
shoulder.

‘Let’s go.’ He
said to Jared.

‘How do we
leave the whole place?’ Jared asked the man.

‘That’s easy.’
He said still prodding the remote, ‘the way you came in.’

‘But it gets
further away.’

‘My my… this is
annoying.’ The man prodded some more, he looked up, ‘You could try
breaking something. That can be useful. It breaks the apparent
illusion you see. That way you get back to where you were
quickly.’

‘Thank you…’
said Jared as we all back out of the room. We closed the door.

‘No one move.’
said Jared.

I looked up. We
appeared to be far away again.

‘In the eye of
the beholder.’ said Jared, ‘we are being deceived.’

‘Explosives?’
Oliver said.

‘Mmm…. That
should do the trick.’ Jared spoke softly.

‘Who is he?’ I
said, as Oliver dumped Hanson at my feet.

‘Keep an eye on
him.’ said Oliver.

‘It’s what will
happen to the Nimbus project if we don’t blow it to bits right
now.’ said Jared.

‘A computer
game?’ I said incredulously.

Jared looked at
me, ‘No. A reality that you can use to play in. Everything is real.
Except no consequences. A reality with no morning after. Not
virtual. But actual.’ He handed the explosive charge to Oliver,
‘Wait here.’ He told me and Janey.

Jared and
Oliver went to the nearest weird black boulder and set the charge.
They came running back. Oliver dropped down as the explosion rained
in slow motion. Like a stop frame animation flicking through
slowly. Black shards flew. Jared covered Janey with his body as she
fell backwards in surprize. We all covered our eyes and heads. The
noise was hideous and then it was gone. Breaking glass.

‘Bloody Hell!’
said Oliver.

‘It worked.’
said Jared, ‘Look!’

We opened our
eyes. We were in a cavern. And better still it was open to the
grass lands at one end. Behind us was the tunnel we had entered by,
and to our left was another wide tunnel, but like the one at the
jungle entrance it was lined with rubbery panels.

‘Where are we?’
Jared asked Oliver.

We took a few
minutes to find out our exact position.

‘The transport
is a little way from here,’ said Oliver, ‘I’ll take Hanson, and
make sure he doesn’t go wandering.’

Jared sat on
the earth floor while Oliver marched off with his lumpy burden.

Janey looked at
me and sat down too.

‘We came
through to the other entrance.’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ Jared
said wearily, ‘everything is closer together now. Contracting down.
Collapsing.’ He lay down on the ground. I sat down then myself. I
was grindingly tired.

‘Why is it
daylight?’ I asked suddenly.

‘Because it
is.’ said Jared, and leaned on one elbow, ‘Oh… here’s Reece.’

We all got back
up.

‘He’s not
moving for a while.’ said Oliver, ‘Let’s go.’

We all tramped
down to tunnel. It quickly led us into the chemically clean
corridors that Oliver and I had seen before.

‘We’re here.’
said Janey suddenly.

‘Where?’ said
Jared and hugged her to him, ‘what is it my dear girl. You look
worried.’

‘And you sound
knackered.’ Janey retorted.

‘Quite so.
Quite so.’ Jared smiled at her again, ‘Come on Angel, just one more
effort. Then home time.’

‘You always say
that.’ said Janey; then to me, ‘this is the place. Down that little
corridor is Rimmington’s office or lab.’

‘How do you
know?’ I asked.

‘Because that’s
where he took me, the last time.’

‘You said you
slipped the cuffs?’

‘I did, I was
there. And I escaped. Hanson didn’t. he’s not as skinny as me.’ She
looked at Jared as she spoke. He smiled back at her, reached out
and pulled her too him. ‘Shh….tread lightly Angel,’ he said to her,
and kissed her on the forehead. She looked up at him. ‘Te amore.’
She laid her head against his chest. He was resting his chin on the
top of her head for one moment with his eyes closed. I turned away
and looked towards the set of doors that opened into view.

We found it all
in order. A well-appointed cave with a bank of computer screens. A
more sophisticated version of the one Hanson had shown us. I went
and pressed the buttons that I had seen him press and moved the
slider to bring the image nearer.

‘This is very
interesting.’ said Jared darkly, as the little manikins trooped
around the map of the mountain. ’But where is he?’

Oliver went
over to another machine; ‘There are things going on here that is
beyone the original experiment. Something doesn’t add up…. Look at
this.’

‘On it.’ said
Janey, and punched into the small keypad.

Jared zoomed in
on the images on the screen. He seemed to have grasped how to use
the viewer with extraordinary swiftness. ‘Why would one need this?’
he said.

‘I saw it
before,’ I said, ‘that was quite a way form here. I think it
was….at least I suppose it must be. It seems to be about more than
surveillance. I mean it just doesn’t make sense…’

‘No, it
doesn’t….’ Jared faced me, ‘do you think you could just work the
control while I step outside fo the door. And you tll me what you
see?’

‘Okay.’ I
watched as Jared appeared just outside of our position. There was
no other presensce registered near. But the little manikin glowed
orange. Jared came back.

‘It was orange.
I saw it befire. It means there is a level of possible threat. But
we can’t see anyone.’

‘He’s here.’
Jared scanned the walls.

‘Got it.’ Janey
said, ‘He operating a secondary system from inside the mountain.
The control isn’t here but it is inside the boundaries of this
place.’

‘Are you sure?’
I was hoping that we could do something from here.

‘No one leaves
a top secret control centre unguarded and open to anyone.’ said
Oliver. All at once we heard a muffled clang and something thudded
as if someone had dropped something heavy on the other side of a
door.

‘Get out!’
Jared went to the door. Simultaneously there was the solid thud of
bolts locking us in; and another door in a metal panel at the far
end of the cave cracked open with the sound of an air seal
breaking. Voices. Janey pulled Jared away from the door. ‘Easy
now.’ she said quietly. He turned and saw the aperture stood
ajar.

‘So where is
he?’ Jared started forward, but Oliver blocked him. ‘Out of the way
Reece!’

‘Cool it
Arden.’ Oliver pulled the wrist with the knife back down. I’d not
seen draw it out.

‘So where are
you?!’ Jared shouted. There was an discomforting pause. Jared
shivered once. We all glanced at each other and then fastened our
eyes back on the metal opening.

Several
soldiers came out and lined up around us, spewing out of the narrow
space like rabbits out of a magician’s hat. There was a slight
pause. Then at man in a well cut suit emerged.

‘I am here Mr
Arden. And you are in my world now.’ The soldiers raised their
guns. We all put our hands up. Another group of soldiers streamed
out behind him. And then one man with a bundle of thick material
that wriggled and struggled. There was one opf those awful silences
where were really all thought we had just about had our chips. The
man with the burden that seemed alive looked to Mr Alexander.

‘Give her to
them.’ said Alexander in a resigned tone,

The soldier
gripped the edge of the big roll of fabric and threw the bundle
towards us. It rolled over and over and like an unwrapped half
kinked piece of carpet the end flopped in front of Jared. There
tumbling Cleopatra style at his feet was the tiny nurse from Aiden
camp; the mute they called Ellen. Janey helped her up.

‘Small Fry.’
said Alexander, ‘she knows everything. It’s a pity she can’t
talk.’

I felt that the
obvious flaw in his logic might be a sign that this was getting to
be a bit too easy. First Hanson, now Ellen. She could write. And
besides, Aiden said she could talk in the real world. Perhaps,
(here I had another thought), she would remember nothing of this
world, and it would fade like a dream. Maybe that’s what he
meant.

My mind shifted
gears back to the moment. In the bizarre relaxation of those few
seconds, when we felt they were not about shoot us my mind had slid
side ways. I tried to pay attention, and forget I was glad to be
repleased from the threat of certain death. Jared and he were
conversing. It was polite, benign almost. They seemed quite in
agreement.

‘….so we get
all our people out now. And then you reset it again?’

‘Yes. I can do
it from here you know. There really is no need for all this
unpleasantness.’

‘And all
your….copies?’

‘Decommissioned. It was all getting a bit tedious anyway. It’s
really no fun having conversations with yourself!’

‘Indeed,’ Jared
folded his arms, ‘And about the resignation?’

‘Of course I
would expect it to be made effective immediately. Your absolute and
complete withdrawal from the board. You will undertake not to take
up that position again.’

‘Yes, I agree.’
Jared said with a matter of fact tone.

‘Jared?’ I
hissed, ‘What are you doing?’

‘Resigning.’ He
looked at me with a warning light in his eyes. Oliver stood nearby
looking impassive, but then glanced at his watch.

‘I think we
better leave.’ Oliver said.

‘Yes… of
course!’ Alexander said in a pleased avuncular tone, ‘So much for
you young people to do. So much to look forward to. I envy you I
really do, your youth, your life…. What it is to be young!’ the
sound of the locks b eing released then was music to my ears. I
didn’t stop to wonder how that had been achieved, as Jared began
backing out of the door. Ellen tugged on his sleeve. She pointed
upwards. I noticed a spot on the ceiling, in fact several of them.
Cameras?

Outside, we
walked quickly away with the prickle of fear. No one was following
us. so we tracked down the deserted corridors to the maze of halls
and accommodation. White walls and floors. Janey whispered
something to Jared. He nodded. We found ourselves near a place that
was familiar. Back in those older greyer tunnel again. This was it.
The place nearby, where we had nearly got killed. And where
Alexander had his little prep room with the books and the maps.

‘He’s here.’
said Jared.

‘Who is?’ I
asked Him.

‘Haven’t you
been paying attention?’ said Oliver.

‘Yes…’

‘Shush!’ Janey
this time.

I heard him
before I saw him. Elland that is. We had got our knives out quickly
and Oliver raised the cross bow again.

A strange
little crowd appeared along the grey wall as the bend made them
visible. Elland looking like a great injured bear, with blood on
his face, cuffed and escorted by two soldiers. He was followed by
the real Mr Alexander looking angry and arrogant at the same time.
Then Marcia, not cuffed, but held by two of the men. She had a
smear of blood down her shirt and one on the right shoulder. After
that were six more soldiers. These had guns, and pointed them at
us, with no possibility of mistaking the intention. We were to be
passed through yet another trail. Each one was different. Each was
taking something from us. until there was only or lives left to
take. What could we do. This was not a place to celebrate, but to
mourn. I remembered. I was thinking of the garden outside. And for
some reason of Merlin and his failed mouse catching exploits. Here
we were! And if he was real or another copy… it made no difference,
we were approaching the end of the line, one way or another.

Alexander….
Rimmington saw us. This time he had a greedy knowledgeable look on
his face. He was hungry for his planned assassination of all
enemies to succeed.

I looked to
Elland. He was obviously badly hurt, but still struggled.

‘My! Such
spirit! A pity you’re such a bad sport. I was willing to make a
deal.’

‘I don’t do
deals!’ Elland growled and spat blood at Rimmington.

Rimmington
nodded to the soldiers who herded everyone one down through the
corridor into that open space. This was the dead end we had so
dreaded. Especially me. I didn’t like to think of that drop. I felt
my stomach disappear with fright.

‘Courage
Davey!’ whispered Jared, ‘Not long now.’

I looked at my
watch. Eleven forty five. Oh well…. Death by bits and pieces. I
hoped it would be quick this time. I wondered what Lazarus really
thought about dying when it came to his time again. My melodramatic
train of thought was broken into by Marcia.