2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) (34 page)

Still shielding his eyes from the blaze of light wreathed around the tower’s base, Goodwin watched the remarkable sight as the energy rippled up the tower once more.

Lieutenant Manaus moved closer. ‘Sir, we should move. We still don’t know what effect this energy could have on us.’

Goodwin stayed bathing in the dazzling light, his mood lifting.

‘Richard,’ Rebecca said, touching his arm.

Reluctantly he turned away and followed the two women as they rejoined the bulk of their force. At the same time, Joseph came wandering over to hold Rebecca’s hand, his attention fixed on the awe-inspiring tower behind.

Moving off at a brisk walk, the black clad mercenaries formed a roving perimeter around them, weapons at the ready and visors lowered, their combat systems glowing blue in the dark like the eyes of demons.

‘And we still don’t know what causes it?’ Rebecca said to the lieutenant.

‘No, it seems the source of the tower’s power is located underground.’

A thought struck Goodwin. ‘Have you tried tapping into it?’

Manaus raised her visor, her expression surprised and a little concerned. ‘No, sir. You asked us to do that a few days ago. Don’t you remember?’

Goodwin waved a dismissive hand. ‘Yes, yes, of course.’
Did I?
he thought as they continued on in silence. Thinking back, he couldn’t recall asking any such thing.
That’s because I had more important things to do
, he told himself.

‘Why couldn’t you tap into it, Lieutenant?’ Rebecca said, breaking the awkward moment. ‘What was the reason?’

‘We determined it was too risky and the sporadic nature of the event made it an unreliable power source.’

Rebecca and the Darklight officer continued to talk and a minute later the tower’s light show ceased, plunging them back into darkness and eliciting a grunt of displeasure from Joseph. Goodwin knew how he felt, he could have done with soaking up the precious rays for longer and his mood plummeted as they made their way through the forbidding city, their path now lit by the dim glow of the soldiers’ in-built helmet torches. Unlike before, his fear of the creature that stalked the blackness was numbed, like the rest of his senses. He could tell, however, that the men and women around him didn’t feel such calm; their movements sharp and alert, ready for the unexpected.
Ready for death
, his mind taunted him.

After a two hour trek through the city’s silent avenues they joined up with another substantial force of Darklight mercenaries, their number greater than Goodwin had been expecting. At their head stood the form of Major Offiah, the newly crowned Darklight leader, his black armour glinting alongside the three hundred men at his back.

‘What news, Major?’ Goodwin said, as the two forces became one.

Manaus saluted her superior and made way for Offiah, who fell into step alongside Goodwin. ‘May we speak in private, sir?’ the major said.

Goodwin sighed and the two men moved out of earshot of those around them.

‘So, what’s with the cloak and dagger?’ Goodwin said.

‘Sir?’

‘Nothing, just get on with it, man.’

A flicker of unease crossed the soldier’s features. ‘We’ve still had no contact from the commander, but there’s been no sign of the entity. It seems our fears of there being more than one were unfounded.’

‘And you think such news should be kept private, do you, Major?’

Offiah glanced back at Rebecca and the lieutenant. ‘Yes, sir, don’t you? We need to keep the civilians calm. If they thought we suspected there might be more than one of those things out there, we could have a panic on our hands.’

Goodwin rubbed his eyes while a headache throbbed through his temple. ‘So it’s good news for a change; that’s something, I suppose.’

‘It’s more than something, sir. One of those things could be enough to take out – well – it could decimate our whole force, for all we know. Its capabilities are untested. We know very little.’

‘We know it’s attracted to the glowing blue stones,’ Goodwin said.

‘That’s true, although the hypothesis is still relatively untested.’

‘Hilt seemed to feel otherwise.’

Offiah remained silent, perhaps unwilling to criticise his absent leader.

‘And it’s capable of withstanding direct gunfire,’ Goodwin continued. ‘It can manipulate our technology and apparently outsmart us, too. It can appear and vanish at will. It breathes, from what I remember; it can move quickly and can at the very least submerge in water. It’s able to corral a defenceless person and take out a forty strong survey team, along with military support in the form of highly trained, well-armed Special Forces commandos. Have I missed anything?’

Offiah shook his head.

‘Then to say we know very little is not accurate and I intend to find out more. If it comes back we’ll be ready, do you hear me, Major?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good. Now, is there anything else, or can I actually look at what I’ve just walked miles to see?’

Offiah stepped aside and Goodwin moved back to the rest of the company.

‘And they still haven’t found any more of the glowing stones, Major?’ Rebecca said after the Darklight man had rejoined them.

‘No, ma’am. The location at the lakeshore where you originally found them was searched with a fine toothcomb, as was the surrounding area. All civilian personnel have also been told to stay vigilant for any sightings, but as yet nothing.’

The conversation continued and Goodwin tuned out until he was shown the object they’d come to see.

‘We found it by chance,’ a Darklight recon leader was saying, ‘one of our men literally tripped over it.’

Goodwin bent down to inspect it. Measuring ten metres long and five high it appeared to be made of granite, its dark, dusty surface smooth to the touch. A jagged outline had been uncovered from the compacted earth and strange carvings adorned its interior.

‘I need more light.’ Goodwin waved a hand and moments later the scene illuminated. He stood up. Curious creatures lined the outer edge while the upper left quadrant depicted a cluster of symbols arranged in two sweeping arcs, one following behind the other with a space in-between.

‘This is what you bought me here to see?’ Goodwin looked at Lieutenant Manaus and then Offiah, his eyes demanding an answer.

The recon leader moved past Manaus and pointed at the symbols. ‘Can’t you see it, sir?’ he said. ‘Look, they’re part of a map.’

‘A map of what?’

The soldier looked at his major, uncertain.

‘A map of the city,’ Offiah said, intervening, ‘at least the centre of the city.’

‘I don’t see it,’ Goodwin said.

‘It’s a radial pattern. They are two of its arms. It’s as I told you the other day, the centre of the city is laid out in the form of a spiral.’

Goodwin remained pensive.
What is he talking about? I don’t remember him telling me anything of the sort. Are they testing me,
he wondered,
or
worse,
trying to make me look incompetent?

‘So it’s a map?’ Rebecca said.

Goodwin’s interest refocused. A map, this is what he was searching for. Something like this may lead them to the USSB. He crouched back down. ‘Where’s the rest of it?’

‘This seems to be it,’ the recon leader said.

Goodwin ran his hands around the edge, searching beneath the thick slab by touch, and everyone else watched as he worked his way round.

‘They’ve already looked, Richard,’ Rebecca said.

Goodwin glanced up at her and she gave him a small smile.

‘Someone give me something to dig with.’ He held out his hand and a soldier passed him a collapsible shovel. Unhinging it, Goodwin dug into the hard earth to the left of the stone slab. Minutes passed and the Darklight contingent filtered away, leaving him to his work while Rebecca stayed nearby. The sound of more digging made him pause. Looking round he saw Joseph had also sourced a shovel and now moved to work alongside him. The young man gave him a broad grin and Goodwin gave him a nod of recognition. It seemed someone still believed in him.

Side by side, the two men tore at the ground until Joseph’s tool clanked down onto something hard. He froze, eyes round in wonder and shock and Goodwin eased him aside to see what he’d found.

‘What is it, Richard? Has he found something?’

‘I’m not sure.’

Piece by piece and chunk by chunk, another section of the map appeared. It was deeper down than the first, but still very much in existence.

Goodwin looked up at her. ‘Get the Major, we need help.’

Excited, Rebecca hurried away.

♦

Hours later, and with a workforce numbering two hundred, the men and women of Darklight aided Goodwin, Joseph and Rebecca in exposing the hidden monument that lay up to two feet below the surface. At the edge of vision, the remaining soldiers stood guarding them, guns at the ready, while four Anakim towers beyond formed the boundary to the square plaza buried beneath their feet. With an array of lighting rigs set up, the monstrous size of the structure that had lain hidden for what could have been a thousand generations or longer emerged from the dry earth.

Goodwin’s arms ached as he continued to toil while others flagged. Sweat dripped from his brow and soaked his dirt-covered shirt, but he couldn’t stop now; this could be the answer to their prayers.

He dumped another shovel full of soil onto a growing mound as Rebecca held out a canteen to him. ‘You better have some water,’ she said in concern, ‘you haven’t had a break in hours.’

Goodwin shook his head and increased his work rate until a hand on his arm made him pause. Joseph passed him a bottle of water and Goodwin – unable to refuse his loyal assistant – accepted the offering and drank long and deep. The cool liquid felt good, as did the cease in movement. He looked around at what they’d achieved. The sparkling granite plaque stretched away in all directions, some sections glistening with the sheen of pristine metal.

‘It’s a bit like the Elgin Marbles don’t you think?’ Rebecca said. ‘Like a horizontal frieze.’

She was right; the high relief design resembled the marbles that had once adorned the Parthenon of Greece, except these were on a different scale. The shapes of various Anakim figures dwarfed those that worked to uncover them, and while the full spiral map had long since been revealed, Goodwin had pressed on, insisting further detail could be found that would help them in their quest for knowledge. As time went by, however, it had become apparent that no further depictions of the city or of the surrounding area would be forthcoming, the relief favouring the ornate rather than the factual.

Major Offiah approached. ‘Sir, we’ve had an urgent message from Dr. Vandervoort, she’s requesting your immediate return to camp.’

Goodwin walked away to look at the spiral carving of the city and Offiah followed. ‘Director, did you hear me? We need to go back. Someone has died, and a variety of issues need your attention.’

‘Died? Was it the light?’

‘No, a lack of medication.’

‘Then there’s nothing to be done.’ He traced the spiral arms of the map with a finger, the shapes comprised of symbols denoting the surrounding structures.

‘Sir, I have to insist—’

‘Insist, Major?’ Goodwin said, continuing his inspection. ‘I think you’ll find I’m the only director here, or hadn’t you noticed?’

‘Sir, I know that, but—’

‘No buts, ifs or maybes, Major. We stay. There’s too much at stake to do otherwise.’

‘Director, forgive me, but there’s nothing here to help us.’

Goodwin stood up. ‘Did I just hear a “but” in there, Major?’

‘It’s just some old relic,’ Offiah said, ‘even the map is useless to us. We must return—’

‘Must?’

‘We
should
return. Dr. Vandervoort—’

‘Is not in charge, I am. And what I say goes. If you feel you need to return to camp to help, then by all means do so, but you’ll leave me with the force I was allocated and I’ll return as scheduled. Is that clear, Major?’

Offiah glanced at Rebecca, who looked shocked by Goodwin’s words. ‘Clear as crystal, sir.’

The Darklight major strode away, issuing orders as he went.

‘I don’t think Kara would say it was urgent if it wasn’t,’ Rebecca said, watching as the majority of the mercenaries assembled to leave.

‘Kara can deal with the camp; she’s more than capable, as are those by her side. This is more important.’ Goodwin returned his attention to the frieze, now notably devoid of workers. The unearthing process had increased the visible area to a large square about half the size of a football pitch, but the enormity of the designs made it difficult to resolve from up close.

Goodwin looked around and spied a cluster of fallen statues next to one of the towers and a large, barren plinth that had once supported them. Dropping his shovel, he walked over to it and Rebecca and Joseph followed.

Lieutenant Manaus joined them while the plaza emptied of most of her comrades, who returned with Offiah to camp. ‘I hear you’ve decided to stay, sir.’

‘Give me a hand up will you, Lieutenant?’

Manaus interlaced her hands and boosted her director up the side of the platform. Goodwin grasped the ledge and hauled himself onto it. Joseph, not one to be left behind, held up his hands from below and Goodwin reached down to him.

Anxious, Rebecca stepped forward. ‘Be careful, Joseph.’

Stronger than he looked, the tall form of the young mentally handicapped man scrambled up alongside Goodwin, before turning to look down at his carer. ‘Come, Becca.’

Rebecca looked uncertain, but when the lieutenant offered her a boost she accepted and let out a small shriek as Goodwin and Joseph hauled her up.

The Darklight officer followed and the four of them worked their way further up the oblong construction. At its peak they stopped atop the bases of the statues whose smashed remnants lay forty feet down on the ground below. Rebecca held tight to Goodwin’s arm while the dim beam from his torch and the lights from the lieutenant’s helmet left large patches of shadow around their feet.

They gazed out at their handiwork, but since Offiah had left most of the portable lighting had gone, too, leaving swathes of the design in deep shadow. Manaus pressed a button on her helmet. ‘Corporal, I need some more light on the artefact.’