Chapter 6
"You can't just take over a military operation, you madwoman!" Becker stormed across the muddy car park, hot on Kate's heels. He had to take half a step backwards to avoid colliding with her when she whirled round to face him.
"Some military operation this is!" Kate yelled back. "You're so called divers don't know the area, don't know what they're looking for and frankly, I don't think they know what end of the body their fins go on!"
"And you do, of course?"
"Yes, I do! I know this pond like the back of my hand! I know what I saw and where I saw it! I know how to dive and, wonder of wonders, I even know how to catch a fish under water! So far all your flippin' frogmen have come up with is chunks of our artificial reef! They're a liability!"
"You are a civilian! You cannot go down there!"
"I'm a scientist! I'm an expert diver and an expert in marine biology! I'm the most qualified person you've got here!"
"You're still a civilian!"
"Which means I DON'T have to take ORDERS from YOU!"
Connor and Abby sat on one of the observation benches, casually sipping slushies from the dive centre's tea shop. They watched calmly as the pair stormed past them towards the newly emerged dive team.
"Better than telly this," Connor muttered, not taking his eyes off the scene.
"Mm-hmm," Abby agreed, through her straw.
XXXX
"What do you mean you don't recognise it: it's your office!" Lester was finding Nick Cutter's apparent memory loss tiresome.
"Since when?" Nick shrugged.
"Since... I don't know!" Lester fought for words. "Since the ARC was built! Since the anomalies began! Since the days when that egotistical maniac Leek would follow me round like a puppy to try and hide a latent desire to murder me horribly with the aid of your unscrupulous megalomaniacal dominatrix of a wife and a giant bat!"
Nick blinked.
"Who's Leek?"
Lester threw his hands up in despair.
"You're doing this to annoy me! I know you are! You must be! Nobody, NOBODY, could actually manage to come back from an anomaly twice with no memory! Once is careless, twice is just ridiculous!"
"Lester, what are you babbling about?"
"This!" Lester threw his hands up again. "All this! It's happened before and I'm getting that detestable feeling of de-ja vu that caused so many problems in The Matrix!"
"Right," Nick turned to face Lester fully, leaning back against the wall of his so called office. His tone was patient, but he was finding it difficult to keep it that way. "So why don't you tell me what happened last time and we'll see if that rings any bells."
Lester sighed and folded his arms, drawing a hand over his face as he did so. He needed to think, and once he had thought, he decided to take a slightly different track from the one Nick Cutter had suggested.
"What is the last thing you remember?" Lester asked flatly.
"Coming back through the anomaly."
"Which one?"
Cutter frowned.
"The Permian one, of course," he said.
Lester let his head drop into his free hand.
"Oh," he groaned, "we're not back to there again!"
"What?"
"When you came through that anomaly, you were confused. You said that something had changed in the present while you were in the past, so you recognised the change but we didn't. I just decided you'd lost your memory. Since then, you have spent a considerable amount of time behaving even more strangely than usual however you did eventually prove your point when Helen, of all people, confirmed your story. It's been the best part of a year since you came through that Permian anomaly and a lot has changed since."
"Like what?"
"Let me fill you in on the easy stuff first," Lester's tone became graver. "Then we can deal with some of the stuff that might be harder to take. You might want to sit down for this."
As Lester and Nick eased themselves into chairs, the thoughts running through Lester's mind took a rare sympathetic side. He had seen horrors in his career. While the best thing for Nick's memory might be a slow, natural return, it was about to receive the exact opposite. A situation which might forever inhibit the full return of those memories. On the other hand, however, there were some things this man had seen that might be better left forgotten.
XXXX
A quiet stillness had descended over the cave system, at least where the cells were. It might be what passed for night in this labyrinth of sunless hollows. The man started when a guard suddenly walked past his cell, his body fully enclosed in his uniform jump suit, boots, gloves and helmet. He listened intently to sounds coming from the cell next door. What was happening now? Was this part of the plan? His head snapped up when the guard returned to his field of view. This time he had Helen securely in his grasp, her hands fastened behind her back. The man felt his heartbeat quicken as the guard removed the loose bars from the front of the cell. He stood up and edged away from the guard, only relaxing when he finally recognised the familiar glint of Cai's eyes within the helmet. He nodded recognition and allowed Cai to bind his wrists as he had Helen's.
They made their way through the cave system with little difficulty: nobody challenged a guard and two prisoners. The man kept his head bent downward, but let his eyes roam from left to right, taking in landmarks of their route should he ever need to retrace it. There were guard posts at regular intervals, at least for the first part of the journey. Rooms sprouted on either side of him, revealing food stores, armament stores, classrooms, training rooms. He even spotted a gym as they passed, its weights stacked neatly against a wall next to a giant white ball. He could have sworn that ball moved as they marched past.
Eventually they turned down a narrower corridor and Cai produced a light to guide them as they marched on ahead of him. They made their way down a long, steep flight of stairs, then along some more corridors, each one more winding and convoluted than the previous one. As they moved down a second flight of steps, the man could feel the air about him grow cooler and fresher. There was still an acrid taste to it, but it was definitely air from outside the caves.
In another ten minutes, the man's suppositions were rewarded with the sight of pale light filtering through an open door way. There was another guard at the door, holding the heavy metal contraption open with his body and a small control in his right hand. In his left he held two packs.
At some signal from Cai, the guard stepped aside and raised the two packs and control. Cai took them from the other guard and nodded to him. The guard nodded back and disappeared back along the corridor. As the man stood looking up at the open sky above him, so familiar yet so different, he felt his bonds released and looked round to see Helen rubbing her wrists and Cai sheathing a knife.
"You cannot remain out here for long," Cai told them, looking from the man to Helen and back again. "The radiation will damage you in these clothes. In each these packs you will find food, water and a shelter, as well as some means of defence should you need it. In Madame Cutter's pack there is also a piece of equipment we have found very useful. It will open a door to wherever you choose to go. Your new memories should include instructions on its use. I must leave you now. I can only say once more that you must not spend too long in this environment. I wish you luck in your quest. Our hopes rest with you."
XXXX
Lester scrutinised the young woman standing beside Becker. He would have preferred to be there in person, but videophones had their uses after all. He had received the background checks on Miss Barratt and there was nothing there that would prevent her being an asset to the team, indeed the details in his possession suggested quite the opposite. She would be of great use to them, provided she could keep her trap shut!
"Very well," he snapped. "I'll fax through a provisional copy of the Official Secrets Act for her to sign. It doesn't look as though Professor Cutter will be joining you for a while."
"I thought he was awake?" Becker replied, puzzled.
"Awake, yes," said Lester. "Capable of leading an operation like this, no. You're in charge until further notice. If Mr Temple complains, which I doubt, tell him I want him to concentrate on that contraption he and his geeks have been building. That should keep him quiet."