The Lie (The Seekers Book 2) Page 12

  Dominik interrupted, “The thing is – it is sometimes called the Harvest– the very term that the Fallen use for their gatherings.”

  “So?”

  The Professor beamed suddenly, “Ah, I see – here they harvest at the beginning while yours awaits an appointed time. Hmm... interesting.”

  Millie was confused. “But not all your children are harvested; you said they only took them at certain times.”

  “Yes, but our numbers are finite. When we stopped co-operating they stopped production of new units here. This is all that is left on Kalos. Who knows what they are achieving elsewhere.”

  Christina looked at the children; they had been silent now for about ten minutes, that never happened in her classroom, except for in an exam. They looked so human it was a struggle for her now to readjust. “What happens if you refuse?”

  “They have the power to obliterate us all. So far they have been patient because we provide them with what they want, eventually, so we have been just buying time really. They are really desperate not to lose anymore organic material.”

  “Where did they get it?” asked Dominik.

  “Hmm?”

  “The original material?”

  “Why, it was taken from Eden of course.” He scanned their faces but was disappointed again at their lack of enthusiasm, “Don’t tell me you don’t know about that either!”

  Millie laughed, “Right. The Garden of Eden I suppose.”

  “Clearly.” The Professor bristled, “There is no other. All life was begun there.”

  Millie rolled her eyes but got no further as she noticed Christina and Dominik were nodding in agreement. The young man had a question of his own anyway, “Why didn’t they just clone a human if that’s what they want so badly?”

  “As I understand it,” answered the Professor, “no-one expected the gateway to be sealed and access to be denied so quickly. Following the Great Rebellion the Fallen were banished and could no longer gain admittance to the Higher Planes. They are forbidden from visiting Earth too, but they break through from time to time, of course, and seek to gain dominion of it eventually.”

  Millie could not contain herself any longer, “I’m sorry but we are wasting time with all these silly stories, everyone knows life on earth evolved over billions of years. Science has proven it. We need to do what we can here and then go and find Oliver before it’s too late.” She started to get up but the teacher’s stern voice shocked her back down.

  “Actually, evolution is only a theory and a very poor one at that.”

  “Oh yeah, how come?” snapped Millie.

  Dominik began counting on his fingers, “One, the fact that complex coded information in DNA would have to be added if the complex was to “evolve” from the less complex. Two, there is no known mechanism for life to arise from non-living chemicals. Three, natural selection always involves the sorting of pre-existing genes to produce variety. This removes information and results in the loss of traits – never adds. Four, the lack of transitional fossils in the fossil record – if living things had really evolved from other kinds of creatures you would expect to see evidence of it. Instead what you actually see is creatures appearing abruptly and fully formed. Five ...”

  Millie put her hands up, “Whoa there – who are you David Attenborough?”

  “Five – many dinosaur fossils include real bone and inside are blood cells, haemoglobin, fragile proteins, soft tissue and DNA. This is a real problem for evolutionists – how could they possibly be 65 million years old? Six, in 2012 radiocarbon was also discovered in the bones – but carbon-14 decays so quickly that even if they were only 100,000 years old none should be detectable. Seven, the Big Bang contains more science fiction than a H.G. Wells novel. Cosmology is not even a science it is a philosophy – and there are so many fudge factors to make their theories work – like all the made up stuff about Dark Energy, Dark Matter and Inflation. Eight...”

  Christina put a hand on his shoulder to stop him but looked at Millie, “It’s his life’s work to know these things and to share it with others. He is also a Professor, in Human Genetics, and as you can see very passionate about his research.”

  The other Professor looked at the people in front of him, not really appreciating the depth of emotion but empathising with a fellow academic sidelined by ideology.

  Dominik looked down, “Eight, the human genome operates in four dimensions and would need 850 Bible sized books to hold it all. You have one copy from each parent in every cell of your body, except your red blood cells. All 3 billion letters of DNA fits inside something smaller than a full stop you know...”

  Christina smiled at him, “And nine when we look at real –world mutation rates for Mitochondrial Eve it gives an age of 6000 years for the human population – or a 200 generation time frame.”

  Dominik lifted his head, “You remembered!”

  Millie sighed, “Fine. You and Oliver can chat about it later; can we please get a move on now?”

  “Do you have a plan for finding Oliver?” asked the Professor.

  “Actually I do,” Millie pointed at the children, “I will go as one of them.”

  “W e are going out the way we came in!” Alana exclaimed.

  I very much doubt that, thought Oliver, but he nodded encouragement anyway. She ran to the far wall so Oliver followed. Bending down she ran her fingers along the edge of the floor, concentrating on a section about two metres wide.

  “What are we looking for?” asked Oliver, it all looked the same to his eyes. But Alana had found something.

  She didn’t bother to answer, instead she stood up and put her head against the wall and began to sing. Well, that’s what Oliver thought she did when he looked back on it, but his mind could not comprehend it really. The sound was haunting. There were no words, her voice simply rose and fell in the cavernous space and echoed all around him. Within a few moments there were other voices building layer upon layer and Oliver could feel it moving within him. He felt his eyes closing against his will and his entire being began to vibrate. He wasn’t sure if he could take much more and a panic took hold of him, Oliver couldn’t explain it but he felt like he was going to explode into a million tiny pieces. He raised his hands to tell her to stop but when he opened his eyes there was nobody there and he was on the other side of the wall. Collapsing to the floor Oliver was forced to rest for several minutes before regaining his strength. Where was she? What had just happened? He looked around, there was indeed a staircase going down, and he was very pleased about that. This was the first time he had felt weak in his new incarnation and he didn’t like it. He was struggling to get up when Alana reappeared. “Sorry, should have checked that you had journeyed before. Are you okay?”

  Oliver ran his hand through his hair, “Beats queuing for RyanAir I suppose.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Never mind. Is that the way out?”

  Alana grinned, “Wait till you see what I found.” She headed back down the stairs so Oliver followed. He lost count after 500 steps, Alana was always one level ahead of him; she was certainly fit. There were no other exits so they had no choice really, but Oliver wasn’t happy about it. What could possibly be at the bottom?

  Alana’s footsteps stopped and he hurried to catch up. She had entered a small room full of monitors and each screen was displaying an ongoing contest between a Collossus and a challenger. Alana put her hands to her face, “Mattie, oh Mattie!” she cried.

  Oliver rushed to her side, “Which one?”

  Alana pointed out her sister, “These were all blank when I first came down. They must have started a new round of challenges. We have to do something; my little sister is no fighter.”

  The young girl was clearly terrified, running aimlessly in contrast to her sister’s measured movements in her encounter. It would be all over very quickly at this rate. Oliver took in his surroundings, there was no point in watching the screen, but Alana could not help herself, tears coming to her eyes. Her
voice shook, “Please, oh please ...”

  What was the point of a bunch of screens if nobody was watching them? What was the point of the stupid challenges? Oliver didn’t buy into the pledge that they would be released; it was all too sophisticated for that. There had to be another reason. He suddenly spotted a small door behind the furthest batch of screens and he was in such a hurry he nearly pulled it off the hinges. But what he saw made him stop in his tracks. A large snake lay coiled in the middle of the room, bathed in soft orange light it was swaying gently, but its eyes were firmly fixed on Oliver. Great, thought Oliver, what the hell are you doing here?

  As if in reply the reptile began to slowly uncoil, its massive muscles rippling as it made its way towards Oliver. The only other thing in the room was a slim, tall, glass platform, which had something on it, but Oliver could not see clearly. Why would a snake be guarding that? Oliver didn’t know if the snake was venomous or if it would just crush him to death but he wasn’t going to wait to find out. He slowly backtracked to the door and tried to open it. It was locked.

  He heard Alana scream and risked turning his back on the snake but he still could not fathom how to open it, the handle on this side just would not turn. Some journeying now would be quite useful, thought Oliver as he kicked the door and was about to turn back, but he was too late. In an instant he felt the first strike on his ankle and a second and third followed in quick succession. He ran to his left but the animal kept pace with him, it struck again, this time on his arm and face. The creature was lightening fast and clearly not your everyday species. Oliver wondered how long he had, he knew you were supposed to be still to stop the venom travelling through your body, and then he remembered. I don’t have a body! He felt okay. Nothing was happening to him, just the unpleasant sensation of being attacked by an oversized python. Oh well, that’s alright then.

  Alana screamed again. Oliver raced to the platform at the far end of the room, perhaps there was another way out he could use. The creature was becoming more enraged, it was frustrated at its ineffectiveness and striking more frequently but Oliver continued his run. Drawing nearer to the platform he decided to make a final leap and was surprised by the distance he covered. He almost crashed into the glass stand, and as he put his hands on it to steady himself, a small metal cylinder rolled off the top and he caught it by pure instinct.

  The snake shrieked as if in pain and Oliver watched as it shrivelled and died before his eyes, all that remained was a small, smouldering, heap of skin. Oliver covered his nose with his hand in disgust, but before he could move away the door flew open and Alana looked at him accusingly. “Now what did you do?” she screamed, “They’ve all gone.”

  “Don’t come in,” cried Oliver as he raced to join her in the doorway, “This is a one way street.”

  He pulled her out of the way and slammed the door. The room was now eerily quiet with all the monitors turned off but a high pitched whistling noise was getting louder. Oliver looked at his hand and saw the small metal cylinder was changing colour and shimmering with a fierce intensity. It was getting hot! Oliver dropped it and as it rolled across the floor they both stared at it.

  “What is that thing?” Alana backed away, covering her ears.

  But Oliver was rooted to the spot and made no attempt to protect himself.

  “Come on Oliver, we have to get out of here.” Alana tried to pull him away but Oliver resisted.

  The cylinder turned orange, and then red, and finally emitted a brilliant white radiance until it was too bright to look at. The room and everything in it began to spin. There was no time to escape. They were trapped.

  Chapter 20

  “D on’t be ridiculous” snorted Christina derisively, “you’d never get away with it.”

  “Well, that would depend on how quickly she could escape, after all she does look exactly like one of them.” said Dominik. It was true. The older ones looked about Millie’s age and they did indeed look human. But the Professor was shaking his head wildly, “No, no, no, my dear. Much too dangerous, if they discover your humanity who knows what they will do with you. You have what they want.”

  Millie was adamant, “And they have Oliver. I have to go back, don’t you see? Quark said we only have twenty-four hours, so I can’t waste any more time. I will volunteer to be the second envoy, find Oliver and return here for you. I still have the amulet remember.” The magnificent jewelled breastplate lay at their feet. “It can transport me back can’t it?”

  The Professor nodded, “Oh yes, they will want that back too, I suppose,” he said wearily.

  “But what will you do? Oliver is in the hospital, what good can it do going back to that dreadful place?” Christina was horrified at the thought of letting her go. “Your parents trusted me to find you.”

  Millie smiled at her teacher, “Sorry Miss, but some things are bigger than we can understand. I know what I saw and I know what I have to do. You can help the Professor here to get the children ready to leave.”

  “Leave?”

  “Of course, seems to me they deserve a new start somewhere else. Where would you like to go Professor?”

  Momentarily startled the Professor’s eyes twinkled mischievously, “Well, I always fancied the Higher Planes myself. Could you manage that?”

  Millie nodded, “Oh yes, I’m sure Quark can manage that.” She stood up and turned towards the group, “So which one have you chosen?”

  A boy who looked about sixteen stood up and approached. He did not smile but there was warmth in his pale green eyes and his shoulder length, blonde hair framed his youthful face. His athletic build made him quite intimidating. Goodness, thought Millie, less Twilight , more Adonis. “Hello,” she said simply.

  The boy put his hand out and Millie looked at it for a second before she realised he actually expected her to shake it. “Oh right, yes er ... hi.”

  The Professor came to her rescue, “This is Amanaki. He is the eldest of his clan and has volunteered to go.”

  “Right. Good.” Millie let go of his hand and picked up the Amulet, “How do I actually...?”

  “Simply state your destination to the portal. I suggest you wear it under your jacket, then ask for Kalos on your return. Amanaki can direct you here.”

  The boy had still not spoken but Millie felt she could trust him somehow.

  “And if they don’t come back?” asked Christina suddenly, “How do Dominik and I get home?”

  There was an awkward silence.

  “Come on,” answered Dominik finally, “I bet Doctor Who’s assistant never asked that question. It will be fine – think how much we can learn here and like Millie said, twenty-four hours is not that long.”

  Famous last words.

  O liver didn’t understand how someone without a body could be so cold. But he was. He assumed Quark would explain the energy principles one day, but for now he had more than enough to occupy his thoughts. They were clearly outside now but Oliver had never seen a more miserable place. It resembled a military barracks from some old wartime movie; small domed outhouses were stacked in neat rows but everywhere looked deserted. The odd patch of green here and there tried to break up the bleak greyness, but there was little to cheer the soul.

  Alana looked at him quizzically, “What just happened and where are we now?”

  Oliver shrugged, “I have no idea. Don’t you know where we are?”

  Alana was in no mood for silly questions, “No.”

  “Sorry. I meant is anything about this familiar to you?”

  Alana was still angry, “My sister is still fighting for her life and you and that ... thing are taking me sightseeing. I need to get back inside.”

  Oliver had forgotten the cylinder. It now lay at his feet, apparently harmless. He picked it up somewhat gingerly and put it in his pocket absently. “I know, I’m sorry, I didn’t plan this you know, it just sort of happened.”

  Alana looked down at her bare feet, “Brilliant.”

  Oliver smiled at her
sarcasm and somewhat reluctantly she found herself smiling back, “Let’s take a look then. I don’t even see anything that resembles where we were taken originally. Where is everybody?”

  A similar thought had occurred to Oliver, so far the only thing he had seen was a snake and he preferred to forget that. The nearest hut was only twenty metres away but with every step Oliver had an ever increasing sense of doom. Alana was trying to walk on tiptoe, the place was freezing and her thin dress was no protection from the cold. Suddenly the old wooden door in the middle of the hut swung open and a small grey figure was silhouetted in the frame, long matted hair almost reaching to the ground. It pointed a finger at Oliver, “Welcome to Sheol.”

  Oliver looked at the stranger, and for a split second he would have preferred another snake. He could not tell if it was male or female. The eyes were sightless and yet they bore into him. He had no frame of reference for this ageless entity, just an intense loathing. He grabbed Alana’s arm but she pulled away and carried on walking. “We are looking for the Arena, can you help us?”

  The milky white eyes twisted in her direction and two intense beams of light radiated from them. Alana was completely engulfed in the pulsating rays. And then she was gone.

  “R ight,” said the Professor taking charge, “take me over to the reconstruction unit and we will get you on your way.”

  Amanaki stepped forward and held out his hand for the book, so Dominik passed it over. He watched as the young man approached a booth he had not noticed before, in a corner of the room and placed the book on the floor. Closing the sliding screen behind him, he entered a command into the keypad and within seconds a form began to appear. Millie smiled as the Professor materialized; his mop of hair jiggling from side to side as his sheer delight at being back in his own form led him to do a little dance. They couldn’t hear anything behind the screen but Millie thought he was singing too. His clothes were incredible. He had on a three piece blue and green tartan suit and a bright yellow tie. There had to be a story there somewhere! In no time at all the screen rolled away and the Professor leapt out grinning broadly, he embraced Amanaki and made his way to the children who all moved en masse towards him.