Stranded (A stand-alone SF thriller) (The Prometheus Project Book 3) (20 page)

Under almost any other circumstance imaginable, the two girls would have been sure Ryan was exaggerating. But after recent events they weren’t about to argue the point.

Ryan spoke as quickly as he could because he had a lot to cover. He told them about the discovery of Prometheus deep underground and the Prometheus Project that was established to explore the abandoned city. He told them about the zoo building and the portals off-planet.
He told them about the bizarre and fantastic architecture and some of the wondrous technologies they had found. Finally he told them that he and Regan had made some key discoveries and were offered the chance to join the team. He didn’t go into any detail and he asked them to hold their questions until later. The information he left out could have filled entire encyclopedias, but in less than five minutes they had at least learned the basics.

Alyssa realized this explained perfectly why Ryan and his sister behaved the way they did at school. Why they always seemed different—above it all. When you’re a part of the most important, and secret, project in the world, it’s hard to get too excited about pep rallies or math class. Both Ryan and his sister could have let their special status on the Prometheus team go to their heads; could have become arrogant, self-important jerks. But Ryan was always friendly and never acted as if he thought he was better than everyone else. Which made him all the more impressive in Alyssa’s mind.

“So this city, this … Prometheus,” said Kelsey, pointing. “It’s right through this door?”

“Well, the Prometheus
elevator
is. The city itself is quite a ways down, of course.”

“Incredible,” said Alyssa. “And the Proact people don’t know about it?”

“Everyone who works at Prometheus is ‘officially’ working at Proact. In the beginning only a very few Pro-act
scientists were on the Prometheus team, but the team has really grown in the past year. Now, about half of the Proact people are really with Prometheus.” Ryan raised his eyebrows. “And your mother is one of them.”

Both Alyssa and Kelsey’s eyes widened in surprise. They had set out only a few hours earlier to perform a practice run of their experiment and now their lives had been turned completely upside down.

As Ryan spoke he continued to glance at the monitors to be sure no one was approaching the building.

“When I was talking to you at school today,” he continued, “I wanted to tell you. But I couldn’t. Your mom is involved in the most incredible discovery ever. It’s normal for scientists to get carried away their first few months. It’s the chance of a lifetime. Your mom’s a biologist. Can you imagine how great it must be for her to be able to explore the biology of other
worlds
? Only a few people in history—the ones on the team—have ever had that chance.”

“Isn’t your mom a biologist too?” asked Alyssa.

Ryan nodded.

“So they work together?”

“Yes. Since my mom was one of the earliest members of the team, she now ranks pretty high. So, in a way, your mom works for mine.”

Alyssa shook her head. “This is all so incredible. Now I get why we never see Mom anymore. I’m not surprised she’s working every minute.” She frowned deeply.
“But I’d expect her to be loving it. And she’s not. The few times she
has
been around she’s been a
nightmare
.”

“Alyssa!” said Kelsey sharply, not approving of talking about their mother in this way in front of a stranger.

“It’s true Kel and you know it.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Look, Kel, Ryan told us some things he shouldn’t have. Now maybe I’m doing the same. But this is important. Since we moved here, he knows Mom better than we do. She was living this secret life that we knew nothing about.”

Kelsey thought about what her sister was saying and nodded her reluctant agreement.

Alyssa turned back toward Ryan. “So is our mom only miserable when she’s around us? Is she friendly and happy when she’s at work? You know, in this alien city of yours.”

Ryan considered his response carefully. Finally he shook his head. “Not really,” he admitted. “But it’s probably just lack of sleep—and stress. She’s under a ton of pressure. Stress can make you act like an idiot.” He frowned. “Earlier today, I was under a lot of stress.” He thought back to his time on Isis and decided this was an understatement. “And I was a total jerk to my sister. A total jerk.” He didn’t mention that she was trying to save his life at the time, which made his behavior even worse.

Ryan sighed. As much as he would have liked to stall forever, he had to tell them the rest. “I need to move on for a second. There’s no good way to tell you this,” he said, “so I’m just going to come out with it. Your mom has been taken hostage. By Nathaniel Smith, the man behind all of this.”

Kelsey reeled from this revelation as if from a physical blow, reaching out and holding her sister’s arm as if to steady herself. “No,” she mumbled numbly. “That can’t be true.”

“I wish it weren’t,” said Ryan earnestly.

“Why her?” asked Alyssa, as a tear began forming in her eye.

“I don’t know,” said Ryan softly. “She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“What does this guy want?” said Alyssa. “Has he asked for anything in exchange for letting her go?”

“No. He may just have wanted her in case he ran into trouble leaving Prometheus. Now that he’s in the clear, she may still be a hostage or she may not be. He has this gravity weapon, so he doesn’t really need a hostage, but he’s very careful and likes the idea of having one anyway. If she isn’t slowing him down, he probably still has her.”

“Or she might not be useful anymore and he’s already killed her,” said Kelsey, her eyes now moist as well.

Ryan lowered his eyes but made no response.

Alyssa shook her head in horror. “This is a
nightmare
.
Since we’ve moved here
everything
has gone wrong. Mom and Dad divorced about a year ago. It was terrible. Hard on all of us. But after a few months, Mom seemed to be okay. Then, after the move, that changed. She must have been fooling herself. The divorce, the move, the new job, the longer hours. No wonder she’s been like she has. It was too much for her to handle all at once.”

“We shouldn’t have been so angry at her,” said Kelsey.

Alyssa nodded her agreement as a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek. “We’ve done nothing but fight the few times we’ve seen her, and these might be the last memories of her we’ll ever have.”

Ryan had never really thought about what might have happened if he and Regan had never become part of the team, but they might have ended up just like this. He never realized how hard the Prometheus Project must be on families.

“Look,” said Ryan, “as far as we know, your mom is still fine. Nathaniel could have killed everyone inside Prometheus and Proact—but he didn’t. When he decides he doesn’t need her anymore, he’ll probably just let her go.”

Alyssa visibly fought to get control of her emotions. She took Kelsey’s hand. “He’s right, Kel. Things might work out. And when they do, we’ll make it up to Mom. We won’t be so selfish.”

“You’re
not
selfish,” insisted Ryan. “How could you
not be mad at your mom? Regan and I were mad at our parents when we first moved here too. They moved us away from our friends. Away from San Diego, which we loved, to the most boring place on Earth. And my parents work all the time also. We were just lucky to have discovered the Prometheus Project and to join the team. If not for that, who knows how it might have turned out for our family, but I have the feeling it would have been really, really bad.”

Alyssa and Kelsey nodded gratefully at Ryan’s words.

Ryan knew how important this was for them. He was giving them the chance to learn about their mother’s secret life, and the chance to gain perspective from someone who had rare insight into their situation.

Ryan was amazed at Alyssa’s ability to stay upbeat at school; amazed at how little she had complained. When he and Regan had moved here, they had complained loudly and often to whomever would listen—and their parents
hadn’t
been eaten alive with stress and
hadn’t
turned bitter the way Alyssa’s mom had.

“I promise you we’ll get through this,” said Ryan with absolute conviction. “All of us. Including your mom. And when we do, everything will change. I’m sure of it. When your life is on the line, you suddenly remember what’s really important. Believe me, right now your mom isn’t thinking about Prometheus. She’s thinking about the two of you.”

Alyssa thought about this. Ryan was right. If they
were lucky enough to get through this, things
would
change with their mom. Now they knew what she was really doing here. Why she had felt the need to move. If they could all survive this ordeal, Alyssa had no doubt they would become closer with their mom than ever.

Kelsey also agreed with Ryan that their relationship with their mother would change for the better if she survived. But his promise that their mother would get through this meant
nothing
. He had no idea what would happen. And he had no control over any of it. It wasn’t as if he could do a single thing to stop Nathaniel from doing whatever he wanted to do.

Ryan read the skepticism in Kelsey’s face and guessed what she was thinking. He knew that she was right. He shouldn’t have made such a hollow promise. He had only wanted to make the sisters feel better, however he could, but the truth was their mom’s chances were
not
good.

He thought about the contents of Nathaniel’s letter.

No, he realized grimly, Michelle Cooper’s chances were not good at all.

C
HAPTER
25
Full Briefing

C
olonial Carl Sharp called Alyssa’s phone a minute later, right on schedule.

“Ryan, I’ve got you patched through my headphones,” he said as he hurtled toward the East Coast. “Are you still safe and undetected?”

Ryan confirmed that he was. He could hear the roar of the jet in the background but Carl must have been using noise canceling technology because his voice came through quite clearly.

“My strike team is on the ground and estimated to arrive at Proact in forty minutes,” continued Carl. There was a pause. “Ryan, President Quinn has been patched in with us as well.”

“Hello, Ryan,” said the president. His famous voice was unmistakable. “Nice to talk to you again. I wish it could be under better circumstances.”

Alyssa and Kelsey were close enough to hear both ends of the conversation and both of them gasped. It was really the president! And he knew Ryan Resnick!

It was a wonder Ryan’s head hadn’t grown too big to fit through a door, thought Alyssa. It was remarkable that he was
ever
able to act like an ordinary kid. At first she had just liked him, but now she had come to admire him as well.

“Ah … hello, Mr. President,” said Ryan. He gritted his teeth and winced. “Sorry about threatening to blow you up, sir.”

President Quinn laughed. “Just try not to make a habit of it,” he said wryly. “Can you give us a full briefing?”

Ryan did so. As he spoke, Alyssa and Kelsey hung on his every word, intent on learning as much about their mother’s situation as they possibly could.

Ryan told Carl and the president how Dr. Harris was found shot in the Enigma building and everything that happened since. He told them how Nathaniel had tricked them and left them stranded on Isis. How he had taken Michelle Cooper hostage. About the contents of Nathaniel’s letter. About the sea of lava that had surprised them and split Ryan from the rest of the expedition. About how the shield had opened on its own when Ryan was being attacked by vicious animals. “Probably a safety feature,” he had lied.

Ryan spoke rapidly and Carl and President Quinn
asked very few questions. Even when he told them how he had escaped from the mercenaries in the woods—and just who it was that had helped him—they said nothing. Finally he finished and waited for them to respond.

“So I assume Michelle Cooper’s daughters are there with you now,” said Carl.

“Yes. Alyssa and Kelsey.”

“Just to be sure I heard you right,” said President Quinn. “Did you really say they took out a professional soldier with …” He hesitated as though he couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “With a trained swarm of
honeybees
?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what happened.”

“Incredible,” said President Quinn. “Tell them I’m very impressed,” he added appreciatively. “I sure am glad the kids of Brewster are on
our
side.”

The girls glanced at each other in amazement. The President of the United States was talking about
them
. He was complimenting
them
. It seemed far too fantastic to be reality. Yet it was.

“I know I broke the rules by getting them involved with Prometheus,” said Ryan. “I wouldn’t have done it if there was any other way. But even if I hadn’t been there, they would have run into the patrolling mercenaries before too long.”

“That’s okay, Ryan,” said Carl reassuringly. “You
did nothing wrong. We’ll worry about that later. Your safety is our main concern right now.”

“Ryan, thanks for the briefing,” said President Quinn. “I have to sign off now. Colonel Sharp, I’m going to keep this in your hands for now. You’ll have absolute authority to command any part of the military you need. But keep me fully informed. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir, Mr. President.”

“Ryan. Colonel Sharp. Good luck.” And with that the president left them.

With the president no longer on the line, Ryan wasted no time in changing the subject. “Carl, I know you have other things to worry about right now,” he said, “but my job is to get help for the Isis team.”

“Understood,” said Carl. “But there is nothing anyone can do for them right at the moment. I realize they think they’re stranded and they’ve sustained some bad injuries, but they’ll be safe within the portable shield until we can get to them.”