2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) (24 page)

Trish shrugged him off and Sarah decided to defuse the situation by moving away to look back the way they’d come. As she searched the flat landscape she could hear them conversing in angry tones and her thoughts strayed to her idea. She knew her plan would work. Lure the light to them, which would open up the path behind, allowing them to head back the way they’d come. Then they could – hopefully – find their way to the temple and the Anakim transportation device. Of course that would mean someone attracting the light in the first place and keeping it occupied long enough to secure the other two safe passage. It then came down to luck whether the third person, Sarah herself, could make it back to rejoin her friends in one piece.

A mild breeze ruffled her hair while she scanned the terrain with her visor to see if the shimmering light lurked in the shadows or amongst the fields of glowing flora. She switched to another visual spectrum and repeated the process, and then she tried another spectrum, and then another after that.

Minutes had passed before Trish and Jason returned.

‘We’ve come up with another idea,’ Trish said, looking determined and more than a little exultant.

Sarah frowned and glanced at Jason, who looked at her expectantly.

‘Don’t you want to hear it?’ Trish said.

Sarah shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you think you’ve come up with, but it’s not going to work.’

Trish’s face darkened. ‘You haven’t bloody heard it yet.’ She looked at Jason. ‘I told you she wouldn’t listen.’

‘Just tell her.’

Trish made a noise of annoyance before turning her attention back to Sarah. ‘Do you remember when we left South Africa, before the asteroid hit?’

Memories of an aeroplane journey came to Sarah’s mind and along with it the sense of relief and jubilation she’d felt in those heady days of success; Anakim treasures located and unearthed in a daring raid under the threat of annihilation from the skies above. How could she forget? Little did she know at the time such joy could lead to where they were now, lost in the dark pit of despair.

She nodded.

Trish glanced at Jason again; he encouraged her with a gesture. She looked back to Sarah and continued, ‘Do you remember what we saw that day on one of the parchments?’

‘A map of Honduras.’

‘Before that.’

Sarah thought back. ‘The Earth, that city – a massive, beautiful city, full of spires.’

‘Yes, but before that, too.’

Sarah couldn’t remember seeing anything else. So much had gone on in such a short space of time, the whole episode had turned into a blur. Mix that with recent events and her mind was a blank. ‘I don’t know, just tell me.’

‘A schematic, don’t you remember? A kind of blueprint. We didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I think I do now.’

Sarah looked into the distance for any signs of the light. ‘What does it mean, then?’ she said, tight-lipped, her patience wearing thin.

‘The schematic, we’ve seen it somewhere else. It came to me just now. Maybe not exactly the same, but the same outline. That Professor Steiner showed it to us in his induction video. It’s Sanctuary. The schematic is Sanctuary!’

‘She’s right,’ Jason said, unable to contain himself any longer, ‘it’s Sanctuary, I’m sure of it, too!’

Sarah didn’t remember the image in the detail Trish and Jason seemed to, but their hearts were in the right place, along with their conviction; both of these things, however, failed to help their situation. ‘So, say it’s Sanctuary, as you say. We couldn’t power that part of the map for long between all three of us, what makes you think it’ll be any different now?’

‘We had another idea,’ Trish said. ‘Well, this is more Jason’s than mine—’

Jason flashed her a smile and took over. ‘You said the interference to human technology, our technology, might be greater down in Sanctuary the deeper we go. What if, now we’re
in
Sanctuary, the opposite were true for Anakim technology?’

‘Your pendant has more power,’ Trish said. ‘Don’t you think it weird how we opened up that tunnel through the arch so easily? That must have taken massive power, but we did it without even feeling the after-effects. None of us felt exhausted afterwards and our energy reserves were already depleted.’

Such reasoning hadn’t occurred to Sarah.
Probably because I’m tired
, she presumed, before instantly regretting the thought.
Have I become so arrogant to think I’m always right, always one step ahead?

Sarah contemplated her friends. ‘Okay, even if that’s true and we could see the map of Sanctuary, we know how big this place is. How can we hope to find where we are? We’d still be looking for a needle in a haystack.

Jason looked around them. ‘You sure about that?’

Sarah followed his gaze, the Anakim highway, if that’s what it was, was indeed immense. It had to go on for at least thirty miles, possibly more. Something that large and straight, regardless of what level it was on, had to be easier to locate than virtually any other place they’d been – in theory, anyway.

Sarah had to admit, their assumptions had merit, but there was only one way to test them. She dug into her pocket and withdrew the collection of Anakim parchments she’d stolen from the military vault. Amongst them was the parchment in question, the one that they’d originally recovered from the red Anakim canister near Johannesburg and the Cradle of Humanity.

Sarah rolled up her sleeves and placed her thumb on the small circle found at the top of the paper-like material. She looked at her friends who put their hands onto her bare arms to boost the bioelectrical power for channelling through the pendant. As soon as they did so an image of the Earth appeared on the page. The giant sphere of green and blue slowly rotated, the clarity of detail and colour stunning.

‘It worked!’ Trish said, excited.

Manipulating the image using the familiar control symbols down one side, Sarah zoomed in using her free hand. Once she had the virtual Earth where she wanted it – positioned over central Mexico – she zoomed in again, further and further until the ground filled the screen before fading from view.

Jason shifted his grip on her arm. ‘I hope this works.’

A strange set of symbols emerged before the schematic Jason and Trish had reminded her about materialised.

‘There,’ Trish leaned in, ‘that’s it, that’s Sanctuary; tell me I’m wrong.’

Sarah may have wanted to, but Trish was right, the shape of the structure displayed on the ancient digitised parchment was reminiscent of that shown to them on their first day of freedom in the USSB.

She zoomed in on the image and once again she couldn’t help but be amazed at the intricacies on display; the detail was astounding.

A whisper of noise on a breeze made all three of them look up in alarm.

‘I’ve just had another thought,’ Trish said, looking worried, ‘what if the Anakim technology is what attracts the light?’

Jason swore and Sarah almost lost her grip on the parchment.

‘You two keep an eye out,’ Sarah said, ‘I’ll search.’ She hunted through the image, looking for signs of the massive Anakim structure that surrounded them.

 A few minutes later her quest continued and Jason glanced down. ‘Any luck?’

Sarah shook her head. ‘No, you try.’ She passed the parchment over and the image disappeared before returning when everyone had readjusted position and Sarah had given Jason her pendant.

More time passed and Sarah could have sworn she’d heard another noise in the distance, possibly the same noise they’d learnt to fear.

Jason looked up. ‘I have it!’

Trish and Sarah peered at the image.

‘Are you sure?’ Trish said, sounding sceptical.

‘There.’ He traced a straight line on the parchment with a finger, before rotating it further and expanding the view.

‘Zoom in further,’ Sarah said.

He did so and the resemblance to their surroundings became clear, even down to the stairs they’d descended after their abseil.

‘Fantastic!’ Trish kissed Jason on the cheek.

But Sarah saw a flaw in the plan. ‘How do we find a transportation device?’

‘They must have put them at locations where a lot of people congregate,’ Trish said, ‘like the temple. Large places or areas like the one when we entered Sanctuary, that large circular cavern. You can’t tell me there won’t be some around here. Also, they should show up on the map when we do find one, like the canisters and that square platform at the Ruins of Copán, remember?’

Sarah felt they were clutching at straws again and her doubt must have shown.

‘I’d rather hunt around on this map looking for transportation devices and water than go up against that bloody light. Wouldn’t you?’ Trish looked at Jason, who nodded.

Sarah stayed silent, thinking.

‘Well?’ Trish said.

‘Okay, we’ll do it, but now we’re without water again that should be our first priority.’

Trish and Jason’s expressions were of sheer relief that they’d averted Sarah’s plan. Sarah on the other hand felt disappointed. She still believed her option was the better of the two, but now her friends had an alternative in their minds there’d be no counselling them. And yet another thought worried her more.
I’d wanted to face the light, head on
,
to face my fear rather than flee from it. Is that so wrong
, she wondered,
or is it the danger I seek?
Flashes of her recurring nightmare came to mind and she felt the days of sleep deprivation and lack of food press down upon her like an anvil. Leadership, and the burden that came with it, had drained her, body and soul, and yet they were still far from safety, the job only half done. If only they could catch a break. Since they’d left the base, virtually the entire journey to the Anakim temple had been one crisis after another, progress followed by calamity, followed by disaster. It almost seemed like Sanctuary itself was conspiring against them, lusting to hold on to those that dared traverse its dark domain.

Now a decision had been made, Sarah was compelled to make it work despite any misgivings she had about it. With the three of them still working as one to channel the power of their bodies through the pendant, they spent some time searching the parchment schematic for signs of water. However, such a hope was soon dashed when it became clear such resources weren’t displayed on the map, at least none that they were able to find. They then switched their attention to looking for the temple, their original destination, reasoning there might be another way to reach it. An alternative route also meant they could avoid any confrontation with the light. Unfortunately that failed to work too, due in no small part to the three dimensional complexity of the map, but also because, on further inspection, many features shown didn’t correspond to present day Sanctuary. Undeterred, Trish and Jason insisted there was still enough correct detail to be of use, and it was with this persistence that their searching finally bore fruit.

‘What’s that?!’ Trish stabbed a finger at the parchment.

‘Careful,’ – Jason gave her a stern look – ‘we can’t afford to damage it.’

Sarah leaned closer. ‘It looks like another temple.’

‘And what does that look like to you?’ Trish said, indicating a specific area.

Sarah squinted. ‘Zoom in further.’

Jason made the image larger.

‘It could be a transport device,’ she said, ‘or it could be something completely different.’

Trish gave Jason’s shoulder a congratulatory squeeze. ‘We won’t know till we take a look.’

‘What’s that around it?’ Sarah gestured for Jason to alter the perspective.

‘It looks like it’s on a hill,’ he said.

Trish eyed the image, her expression full of concentration. ‘Looks more like a mountain than a hill.’

‘Who cares,’ Sarah said, ‘let’s just find it.’

Working out its location in respect to their own, they set off again, desperation strong but optimism renewed. Sarah just hoped it didn’t turn out to be another nail in a coffin of their own making.

♦

A few hours later and Jason fired up the map again to see how close they were to the new temple.

‘It should be through there.’ He pointed over to the right at a group of crumbling ruins surrounding a spire that must have been over a mile high, its point a distant shape through their visors.

The map disappeared and Jason let out a squawk of protest. Trish had turned away to look back the way they’d come.

Sarah moved to her side. ‘What is it?’

‘I’m sure I just saw movement.’

‘The light?’

‘I don’t know.’

Jason joined them. ‘Where?’

Trish indicated an area on the far side of the highway, a mile behind them.

Sarah searched the terrain with her eyes and scanned across before stopping and returning to a section she’d just passed. Her eyes narrowed. A curious fluctuation in the air hovered in the shadow of a fallen statue. ‘Don’t make any sudden moves,’ she said, ‘but I think I see it.’

‘What?!’ Trish sounded terrified.

‘I think it’s stalking us. You two start moving to the temple.’

Trish hesitated. ‘I’m not letting you be bait.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you, let’s just not give away that we know it’s there.’

Jason took charge of the Centipede and with Trish at his side, made his way under a shattered archway. Sarah pretended to look in the opposite direction to where the light hunkered, while on her visor she watched its position in the mirror. Giving Trish and Jason time to get well into the complex, Sarah followed at a slow walk. Reaching some steps, she almost tripped as her attention remained focused on the light with increasing intensity, the image seeming to fill her whole mind.

At the arch she paused, waiting to see if it moved.

It didn’t.

Reluctant to relinquish her advantage, she activated her helmet communicator with a touch of a button. ‘How far are you inside?’

A crackle of noise buzzed over the speakers and then Trish said, ‘About a kilometre, where are you?’

‘I’m still outside.’

‘What, why?!’

‘I don’t want to let it out my sight. We know where it is, that’s an advantage.’