The Atlantis Gene: A Thriller (41 page)

It’s a man. No, an ape. Or something in between.

Rutger looks back at me, for the first time with an expression other than arrogance or contempt. He’s confused. Maybe scared. I certainly am.

I put my hand on his shoulder and resume scanning the room. “Don’t touch anything, Rutger.”

CHAPTER 90

December 24th, 1917

Helena glows in the dress. The tailor spent a week taking it out and took me for a small fortune, but it was worth the wait and every last shilling I paid him. She’s radiant. We dance, both ignoring her promise to take it easy. I can’t say no to her. Mostly I stand stationary, but the pain is manageable, and for perhaps once in our lives, we are well-matched on the dance floor. The music slows, she rests her head on my shoulder, and I forget about the ape-man in the tube. The world feels normal again, for the first time since that tunnel exploded on the Western Front.

Then, like the fog in the tube, it all goes away. The music stops and Lord Barton is speaking, raising a glass. He’s toasting me — Immari’s new head of shipping, his daughter’s husband, and a war hero. Heads nod around the room. There’s some joke about a modern day Lazarus man, back from the dead. Laughter. I smile. Helena hugs me closer. Barton’s finally finished, and around the room, revelers are downing champagne and nodding at me. I make a silly little bow and escort Helena back to our table.

At that moment, for some reason I can’t understand, all I can think about is the last time I saw my father — the day before I shipped off to the war. He got drunk as a sailor that night and lost control — the first, last, and only time I ever saw him lose control. He told me about his childhood that night, and I understood him, or so I thought. How much can you ever really understand any man?

We lived in a modest home in downtown Charleston, West Virginia, alongside the homes of people who worked for my father. His peers, the other business owners, merchants, and bankers, lived across town, and my father liked it that way.

He paced in the living room, spitting as he spoke. I sat there in my pristine tan US Army uniform, the single brass bar of a second Lieutenant’s rank hanging on my collar.

“You look as foolish as another man I knew who joined an American army. He was almost giddy as he ran back to the cabin. He waved the letter in the air like the King himself had written it. He read it to us, but I didn’t understand it all then. We were moving down to America — a place called Virginia. The war between the states had broken out about two years earlier. I can’t remember exactly when, but it was getting pretty bloody by this point. And both sides needed more men, fresh bodies for the grinder. But if you were rich enough, you didn’t have to go. You just had to send a substitute. Some rich southern planter had hired your grandfather as his substitute. A substitute. The idea of hiring another man to die in the war in your place, just because you have the money. When they start the conscriptions this go round, I’ll see to it in the Senate that no man can send a replacement.”

“They won’t need conscripts. Brave men are joining by the thousands—”

He laughed and poured another drink. “
Brave men by the thousands
. Fools by the train car load — joining because they think there’s glory in it, maybe fame and adventure. They don’t know the cost of war. The price you pay.” He shook his head and took another long pull, almost emptying the glass. “Word will get around soon, and then they’ll have to draft, just like the states did during the Civil War. They didn’t at first, this was years after the war started, when people got a taste of it, that’s when they began the conscriptions and rich men started writing to poor men like my father. But the post runs slow in the Canadian frontier, especially if you’re a logger living way out of town. By the time we got down to Virginia, this planter had already hired another substitute, said he hadn’t heard from your grandfather, was scared he’d have to
show up himself
, heaven forbid. But we were in Virginia, and he was hell bent on fighting for a fortune — up to $1,000 — that’s what the substitutes were paid, and it was a fortune, if you could collect it. Well he didn’t. He found another planter who was up against it, and he wore that wretched gray uniform and died in it. When the South lost, society crumbled, and the huge track of land promised to your grandfather as payment was bought by some northern carpet bagger on the steps of the county courthouse for pennies on the dollar.” He finally sat down, his glass empty.

“But that was the least of the horror of Reconstruction. I watched my only brother die of typhoid while the occupying Union soldiers ate us out of house and home, what home there was — a small run-down shack on the plantation. The new owner kicked us out, but my mother made a deal: she’d work the fields if we could stay. And she did. Worked those fields to death. I was twelve when I walked off the plantation and hitched my way to West Virginia. Work in the mines was hard to get, but they needed boys, the smaller the better — to crawl through the narrow spaces. So that’s the cost of war. Now you know. At least you don’t have a family. But that’s what you have to look forward to: death and misery. If you’ve ever wondered why I was so hard on you, so frugal, so demanding — there it is. Life is hard — for everyone — but it’s hell on earth if you’re foolish or weak. You’re neither, I’ve seen to it, and this is how you repay me.”

“This is a different war—”

“It’s always the same war. Only the names of the dead change. It’s always about one thing: which group of rich men get to divvy up the spoils. They call it ‘The Great War’ — clever marketing. It’s a European Civil War, the only question is which kings and queens will divvy up the continent when it’s all over. America’s got no business over there, that’s why I voted against it. The Europeans had the good sense to stay the hell out of our civil war, you’d think we might do the same. Whole affair is practically a family feud between the royal families, they’re all cousins.”

“And they’re our cousins. Our mother country’s back is against the wall. They would come to our aide if we were facing annihilation.”

“We don’t owe them a thing. America is ours. We’ve paid for this land with our blood, sweat, and tears — the only currency that has ever mattered.”

“They need miners desperately. Tunnel warfare could end the war early. You’d have me stay home? I can save lives.”

“You can’t save lives.” He looked disgusted. “You haven’t understood a word I’ve said, have you? Get out of here. And even if you do make it back from the war, don’t come back here. But do me one favor, for all I’ve given you. When you figure out that you’re fighting some other man’s war, walk away. And don’t start a family until you take that uniform off. Don’t be as cruel and greedy as he was. We walked through the devastation of the North to reach that plantation in Virginia. He knew what he was getting into, and he charged on. When you see war, you’ll know. Make better choices than the one you made today.” He walked out of the room, and I never saw him again.

I’m so lost in the memory I barely notice the throngs of people that file past us, introducing themselves and touching Helena’s stomach. We sit there like a royal couple at some state function. There are dozens of scientists, in town no doubt to study the room we recently uncovered. I meet the heads of Immari divisions overseas. The organization is massive. Konrad Kane marches over. His legs and arms are rigid, his back is straight and unbending, as if he were being probed with some unseen instrument. He introduces the woman at his side — his wife. Her smile is warm and she speaks kindly, which catches me off guard. I’m a little embarrassed at my harsh demeanor. A young boy runs from behind her (she must have been holding him), and jumps into Helena’s lap, crushing her stomach. I grab him by the arm, jerking him off of her and back onto the ground. My face is filled with rage, and the boy looks as though he will cry. Konrad locks eyes with me, but the boy’s mother has her arms around him, admonishing, “Be careful, Dieter. Helena is pregnant.”

Helena straightens in the chair and reaches for the boy. “It’s ok, give me your hand, Dieter.” She takes the boy’s arm and pulls him to her, placing the hand on her stomach. “You feel that?” The boy looks up at Helena and nods. Helena smiles at him. “I remember when you were inside your mama’s stomach. I remember the day you were born.”

Lord Barton steps between Konrad and me. “It’s time.” He looks at the woman and the child palming Helena’s swollen belly. “Excuse us, ladies.”

Barton leads us through the hall, to a large conference room.

The other apostles of the apocalypse are here waiting on us: Rutger, Mallory Craig, and a cadre of other men, mostly scientists and researchers. The introductions are hasty. These men are clearly less star-struck with me. There’s another quick round of congratulations and hyperbole like we’ve cured the plague; then they get down to business.

“When will we get through — to the top of the stairwell?” Konrad asks.

I know what I want to say, but the curiosity gets the better of me. “What are the devices in the chamber we found?”

One of the scientists speaks. “We’re still studying them. Some sort of suspension chamber.”

I had assumed as much, but it sounds less crazy when a scientist says it. “The room is some sort of laboratory?”

The scientists nod. “Yes. We believe the building is a science building, possibly one giant lab.”

“What if it’s not a building?”

The scientist looks confused. “What else could it be?”

“A ship,” I say.

Barton lets out a laugh and speaks jovially. “That’s rich, Patty. Why don’t you focus on the digging and leave the science to these men?” He nods appreciatively at the scientists. “I assure you they’re better at it than you are. Now Rutger has told us you’re worried about water and gas above the stairs. What’s your plan?”

I press on. “The walls, inside the structure. They look like bulkheads in a ship.”

The lead scientist hesitates, then says, “Yes, they do. But they’re too thick, almost five feet. No ship would need walls that thick, and it wouldn’t float. It’s also too large to be a ship. It’s a city; we’re fairly certain of that. And there are the stairs. Stairs on a ship would be very curious.”

Barton holds up his hand. “We’ll sort out all these mysteries when we’re inside. Can you give us an estimate, Pierce?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

My mind drifts back to that night in West Virginia for a brief moment, then I’m back in the room, staring at the Immari Council and the scientists. “Because I’m done digging. Find someone else,” I say.

“Now look here, my boy, this isn’t some social club, some frivolous thing you join and then quit when the dues become too burdensome. You’ll finish the job and make good on your promise,” Lord Barton says.

“I said I’d get you through, and I have. This isn’t my war to fight. I have a family now.”

Barton rises to shout, but Kane catches his arm and speaks for the first time. “War. An interesting choice of words. Tell me, Mr. Pierce, what do you think is in that last tube?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

“You should,” Kane says. “It’s not human, and it doesn’t match any bones we’ve ever found.” He waits for my reaction. “Let me connect the dots for you, as you seem either unable or remiss to do so. Someone built this structure — the most advanced piece of technology on the planet. And they built it thousands of years ago, maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago. And that frozen ape-man has been in there for who-knows-how-many thousands of years. Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“We don’t know, but I can assure you that when he and the rest of the people who built that structure wake up, the human race is finished on this planet. So you say this isn’t your war, but it is. You can’t outrun this war, can’t simply abstain or move away, because this enemy will chase us to the far corners of the world and exterminate us.”

“You assume they’re hostile. Because you’re hostile, extermination and war and power dominate your thoughts, and you assume the same for them.”

“The only thing we know for sure is this: that
thing
is some form of man. My assumptions are valid. And practical. Killing them ensures our survival. Making friends does not.”

I consider what he’s said, and I’m ashamed to admit I think it makes sense.

Kane seems to sense my wavering. “You know it’s true, Pierce. They’re smarter than we are, infinitely smarter. If they do let us live, even some of us, we’ll be nothing more than pets to them. Maybe they’ll breed us to be docile and friendly, feeding us like curious wolves by their proverbial campfire, weeding out the aggressive ones, the same way we made dogs so many thousands of years ago. They’ll make us so civilized we can’t imagine fighting back, can’t hunt, and can’t feed ourselves. Maybe it’s already happening and we don’t even know it. Or maybe they won’t find us that cute at all. We could become their slaves. You’re familiar with this concept, I believe. A group of brutal yet intelligent humans with advanced technology subjugating a less advanced group. But this time it will be for the rest of eternity; we would never advance or evolve further. Think of it. But we can prevent that fate. It seems harsh, to go in and murder them in their sleep, but think of the alternative. We will be celebrated as heroes when history learns the truth. We are the liberators of the human race, the emancipators—”

“No. Whatever happens from here, happens without me.” I can’t get the image of Helena’s face out of my mind, the thought of holding our child, of growing old by some lake, of teaching our grandchildren to fish when they’re on break from school. I can’t make a difference in the Immari plan. They’ll find another miner. Maybe it will set them back a few months, but whatever is down there will wait.

I stand and stare at Kane and Barton for a long moment. “Gentlemen, you’ll have to excuse me. My wife is pregnant, and I should be getting her home.” I focus on Barton. “We’re expecting our first child. I wish you the best on the project. As you know, I was a soldier. And soldiers can keep secrets. Almost as well as they can fight. But I hope my fighting days are behind me.”