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Chapter Eight – Mansions and Explosions
According to the newspaper, Halifax lived in the Platinum District, a street of luxurious mansions. His was the fifth one down, a four storey turreted affair reminiscent of a sixteenth century castle on Earth. "I can't believe this guy lives here, and we had to walk through slums to reach it" said Anthony. "Petrox Minor has one of the worst divisions between the rich and the poor of any planet in this sector" answered Hope with a bit of disgust. "Now let's see if anybody's home".
She stepped up and rapped her knuckles against the faux wood door. Inside a dimly lit room within the mansion, someone watched the man and two women on the security feed. "State your name and purpose" he spoke into a microphone. His voice emanated from a disc embedded in the centre of the door. Hope looked right at it, into the camera, and stated, "Hope Smith, Jenny Smith and Anthony Williams. We'd like to talk to you about your project" she finished firmly.
There was a long pause. "Enter" the disembodied voice said at last, "a servant will show you to the meeting room". The door split down the middle and swung inwards. Although the outside was architecturally old fashioned, the inside melded Victorian-esque décor with high-tech screens and chrome control panels. "Sheesh, it looks like someone took the fifth and eighth versions of my dad's TARDIS and squished them together" Hope said dismissively.
Anthony, for his part, was rather impressed; then he remembered the slums surrounding the Platinum District and changed his mind. A servant dressed completely in white showed them silently to a board room. They stood and waited for about five minutes before a door at the other end of the room opened. A middle aged man with greying black hair and a long nose stepped in. "My apologies for the delay" he said formally, "my name is Steven Halifax, CEO of Halifax Industries".
"Halifax Industries; founded thirty five years ago, builds and distributes defensive technology- including force field generators, like the one sealing the continuum breach here in the city" Hope rattled off. Halifax raised an eyebrow. "You appear to be well informed" he asked. "You can thank the journalists for that. The paper told us you were sixty and that you'd created the company when you were twenty five. Oh, and that your company creates and sells defence and security systems. It wasn't that hard to infer info from" Hope explained nonchalantly.
Halifax gestured for them to sit and positioned himself at the head of the table. Hope, Jenny and Anthony remained standing. "Suit yourself" he sighed, steepling his fingers. "You said you wished to speak to me about my project. You're going to have to be a bit more specific, my dear – I have many projects" he told Hope. Anthony took a step forward. "She's my dear" he said bluntly, and then added hastily, "and the project is, um, the 'Light of Petrox Major' one".
"Minor" hissed Hope. Anthony went red and resisted the urge to face-palm. "Ah yes, the anomaly; such a fascinating thing. Discovered by some plumbers a few weeks ago, laying new supply lines – of course when they died people realised the anomaly was dangerous, so they called me, naturally" said Halifax, with pride lacing his voice. The man's callous disregard for the lives that had been lost made Anthony's fist clench.
Hope walked around the table towards Halifax. "That 'anomaly' is a volatile breach in the fabric of reality, and as we speak it is leaking out lethal amounts of artron energy. Do you have a pump handy?" she asked all of a sudden. Halifax looked bewildered by the question, but sent a servant to fetch one regardless. When the servant returned with a simple bicycle pump, Hope thanked him and pulled a flat balloon from her pocket.
She placed them both on the table, the end of the pump inserted into the balloon. "Pretend this pump is the breach, and the balloon is your force-field generator" she told Halifax, pressing on the pump over and over again. As she pumped the balloon full of air she said, "the force-field is containing the energy for now, but the pressure is building, and if the breach isn't shut"- the balloon burst into pieces with a sudden bang. "City goes bye-bye".
Anthony couldn't help but gasp. He knew the blast would be large, but the whole city? "Do you see why you have to let us close it?" he demanded of Halifax. The man regarded the pieces of scarlet rubber littering his desk with a thoughtful expression. "This…artron energy, you called it? Is it very powerful?" he inquired coolly. "I think the fact that the explosion that will occur if we don't close the breach soon would level the city is proof enough of that. Oh, and it isn't compatible with your technology" she added.
Halifax stood up. "That can soon be rectified. You don't seem to understand that there is no issue here; I can merely siphon the energy from within the force-field and use it to power, why, the whole city…or at least the parts that can afford it" he told them. "No, you can't just 'siphon it'" snapped Jenny, "it's gone beyond that point! The energy will leak out and tear people apart one atom at a time. Are you seriously going to put your business above thousands of innocent lives?" she demanded.
The man's dark eyes flashed black with anger. "Thank you for your concern" he spat, before striding out of the room. The click of a lock could be heard in the silence that followed. A second click soon followed. Jenny and Anthony tried either door from the room; both were locked. "No problem" smiled Hope, pulling out her sonic. "Hang on; don't you want to finish your moment? I can just look the other way" suggested Jenny.
Hope looked at Anthony, who shook his head. "No, it's okay – we're not like Halifax, right? We don't put ourselves before other people" he said. Hope smiled. She stepped forward and gave him a brief kiss. "You are good" she murmured, before heading over to the door. Anthony followed her. He stood between Hope and Jenny as the former sonic-ed the door; luckily it hadn't been deadlocked.
A servant stopped and stared at him. A moment later he was sliding down the opposite wall, courtesy of Anthony's fist. "And you call me violent" Hope commented. "Call it a pre-emptive strike" he replied, "I made sure just to knock him out. Can't have him running to tell Halifax we escaped, can we?" Hope scoffed. "Just be glad I sonic-ed that security camera before you duked him" she informed Anthony.
They made their way through the mansion more or less unobstructed. Hope, with the help of a small vanity mirror, would disable the cameras littered throughout the corridors before they could be spotted. "So where are we going?" asked Jenny. "To the breach, to find the force-field generator" answered Hope, "I need to get a good look at it, see how it works. If I can, I want to set it to turn off on a timer, to give us time to get back to the TARDIS and save the city" she explained.
"Hey, Hope?" Anthony began. She looked at him inquisitively. "That first breach we discovered, the one that…altered me; you couldn't close it. You tried everything, but you couldn't close it" he reminded her. Hope nodded in agreement. "I know. I told Halifax it had to be closed so he'd believe there was something to be done about it. Not that he cares either way" she added bitterly. "Don't worry, I have a plan" she told Anthony.
They emerged from the mansion, only to be seized by several dark clothed people wearing balaclavas. "Get off!" they cried, lashing out; but they were outnumbered, and soon overwhelmed. The thugs bundled them into the back of a black van, which rushed off at speed. "Does one of you want to tell us what's going on?" asked Jenny with an indignant huff.
One of the balaclava wearing kidnappers pulled off their woollen mask, revealing a round face with dark brown eyes and sandy blonde hair. "Simple, we need information. Now, what do you know about the LPM Project?" he demanded.
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A/N: Cliff-hanger! I know this chapter is pretty short, but there should be more sooner rather than later, hopefully.
