Holes in the Ground (12 page)

Jerry laughed. “Like some sort of Lego demon or one of those robots in the
Power Rangers
?”

Nessie giggled. “You’re such a nerd.”

Jerry frowned and looked down at his book, turning the pages one after the other without reading any of them. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“No,” said Nessie. “I like it. I think you’re funny.”

Jerry looked up at her. “What, funny in a good way?”

“Is there any other kind?”

“There’s funny in an odd way.”

“But odd is good, isn’t it? Who wants to be normal?”

“I guess.”

Nessie motioned for him to take the seat beside her. Jerry did so, his hands starting to sweat as he pulled back the chair.

“This book is all about the Nordic bronze-age. It has a chapter that indexes all the different cave paintings and rock carvings from that time.”

“What time?”

“1700BC to about 500BC. That’s really old, but not as old as you’d think. The earliest forms of civilizations may have started as early as 12,000BC.”

Jerry whistled. “Crikey! So why are you not starting back there, at the beginning?”

“Well, with so much time to cover, I feel it’s best to start with this period and work backwards and forwards based on what I find. If I find mention of Bub, then I’ll go backwards a few centuries and search for something else. If I find nothing then I’ll try something a little more recent. I’m trying to pinpoint Bub’s place in time.”

Jerry nodded. It seemed like finding a needle in a haystack to him, but if it took an age to come up with something useful, then he would be quite happy to sit next to Nessie the whole time. Her reddish hair seemed to sparkle beneath the soft lights of the library and her rosy cheeks radiated warmth. She had a way of making Jerry feel comfortable; probably the first woman that had ever managed to do that, since he wasn’t exactly the smoothest around members of the opposite sex.

“So, what makes you think there’s anything about Bub in the history books? Wouldn’t we all know about him if there was?”

Nessie smiled. “One of the first things you learn when inducted into Deus Manus is that there are certain history books written only to be read by a few people. Most of the books in this library were written by hand and reproduced perhaps only a dozen times. Deus Manus probably owns all of the reproductions as well as the originals. What we have in this library is the complete and concise history of the world. What everyone else has is just the Cliff Notes.”

Jerry looked around at all the dusty tomes that lined the many shelves. “I think you just blew my mind.”

Nessie chuckled. “Well, it’s been a long time since I blew a man’s anything.” As soon as the words left Nessie’s mouth there was a look of horror in her eyes. She placed a hand over her lips and shook her head. “I can’t believe I just said that. My god, I’ve been in this hole too long.”

Jerry felt himself turn red. “Hey, erm, don’t worry about it. It was just a joke; a pretty funny one actually.”

Nessie moved her hand away from her mouth and sighed. “Wow, I’m sorry. Still can’t believe I just said that. Anyway, look at this.”

Jerry stared at the pages in front of Nessie. On the page was a photograph of a cliff wall. Splashed on it in faded red paint was the image of a winged man with horns and the lower body of a goat. It looked just like the batling, only bigger. All around the winged figure were people on their knees, bowing before it.

“What is this?” Jerry asked.

“This,” said Nessie, “is proof that people once worshipped Bub as a god.”

“What people?”

“The Nordic tribes. We don’t know a lot about them, as written sources are lacking, but we do know that they worshipped two gods—one good and one bad. It could be said that these two gods were actually a duality of one being—a good and bad side of one god. But it could also be that they worshipped the same god we do, a caring god in the heavens, and a second god, an evil god down here on earth.”

“Bub?”

Nessie looked at Jerry and nodded. “Could be. If they really did worship Bub, then we know that he is at least three-thousand years old. Let’s go back further.”

Jerry stood up and went over to one of the bookcases. “What can I get you? Remember that I am here to serve.”

“Ooh, I always wanted my own assistant. Can you get me that big blue book just over there?” She pointed. “It should say
Hadzabe
on the spine. It’s a book on a Stone Age tribe from Tanzania. I want to see if I can find Bub in a different time and location.”

Jerry located the book and brought it over. “You want to find out if Bub got about a bit?”

Nessie laughed. “Yes. It would be good to see just how far his influence stretched, just how many civilizations were touched by him.”

Jerry sat back down at the table and opened the book. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s Google this bitch, old school.”

Jerry saw out the corner of his eye that Nessie was smiling at him, and that made him smile too.

“So how are we going to do this?”

Andy looked at his wife and wished he had a clear-cut answer to give to her. They were still sitting at the conference table and had been discussing the plan of getting Lucas and the batling together for the past hour. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I think the best man to ask would be Rimmer.”

Sun nodded. “Let’s get him in here, then.”

Andy leant forward and examined the intercom in the center of the table. There was a small LCD display and some buttons. After a couple of seconds, Andy worked out how to use the device and put a call through to the security office.

“Rimmer. Who’s this?”

“Andy and Sun. We’re still in the conference room. Would you be able to come meet with us?”

A sigh came from the speakers, but Rimmer said, “I’ll be there in five.”

Andy leant back in his chair and folded his hands on his lap. He spent a couple minute’s thought on the logistics of what he wanted to achieve.

“Maybe if we can divide one of the cells in two, it would work.”

“How will we move one of them to the other’s cell? We know the batling is dangerous, but Lucas could be too.”

“There has to be some way of moving the occupants. I mean, how do they get them in here in the first place? You heard it yourself that they move specimens between facilities from time to time.”

“We blitz the cell with sleeping gas,” Rimmer said, entering the room. “Then we head in as quickly as we can and secure the prisoner inside a titanium cargo crate. In this case we may be able to use simple handcuffs and drag the inmate down the corridor.”

Andy frowned at Rimmer. “You heard what we were talking about?”

Rimmer pointed to the intercom. “I was listening on the intercom. I can access it remotely.”

“You should be working for the NSA,” Andy said. “You’re wasted here.”

Rimmer deadpanned. “The NSA can’t afford me.”

“So,” Sun said. “You think it can be done? Moving Lucas and the batling together?”

Rimmer pulled at his raggedy beard. “Seems like a stupid idea to me, but you’re the eggheads. I’m obliged to facilitate whatever you think is best—within reason.”

“Is there a way to divide one of the cells?” Andy asked.

“Maybe. They aren’t very big on this level, but we may be able to rig something up. Give me a few hours and I’ll work something out. One thing I’ve learned, being down here, is that these creatures will take any chance they can to escape. You better clear things with Dr. Gornman. She’ll make a fuss if you don’t.”

Andy rolled his eyes. “Great. I’ve been looking forward to working with her. She seems like such a charmer.”

Rimmer deadpanned again, but the corners of his mouth twitched as if fighting a smile. “Dr. Gornman is a brilliant scientist. I imagine having her level of intellect can be a burden at times.”

Andy nodded. He was aware that being a genius could be at the detriment to other mental functions—most notably, social skills. He himself had struggled to maintain relationships in his formative years due to his intelligence, and had seen first-hand, with the likes of his former colleague, Dr. Belgium, that the smartest people were usually the most awkward.

“I’ll meet up with you folks later,” Rimmer said, and then left the room.

Andy looked at Sun and gave her a forlorn smile. “Shall we go deal with Gornman now or later?”

“Let’s get it over with.”

They headed away from the conference table towards the back of the room, over to the door that read:
LABS 1-4
. Andy pushed open the door and held it for his wife. Sun stepped through and looked around.

“Sure puts Samhain to shame,” she said.

Andy stepped inside and took it all in. They were standing in a clinical white corridor that had several glass cubicles on either side: small examination rooms and offices mostly. Up ahead was a vast laboratory. All four of its walls were glass and the equipment inside was cutting-edge. Andy could not even imagine what most of it was for. Standing inside the lab, wearing her lab coat was Dr. Gornman. When she saw them approaching, the aggravation was clear on her face.

But then she smiled and waved at them.

Andy and Sun exchanged confused glances. “Perhaps she’s accepted us being here,” Sun suggested.

Gornman gave them a hand signal that suggested she would be ‘two minutes’ and then started to pull off her latex gloves, depositing them in a waste-disposal tub. Thirty seconds later she was opening the door to the lab and stepping out.

“Mr. and Ms, Dennison-Jones. Welcome to the labs. This is our level-1 lab. You can perform the more benign experiments here such as cultures and DNA sequencing. The other labs are more secure. That’s where we do our more sensitive experiments.”

“I’d be lost in any of them,” Andy said. “I’m not science-savvy.”

Gornman smiled. “I could say the same about myself and foreign languages, Mr. Dennison-Jones.”

“So what are you doing?” Sun asked.

Gornman frowned. “As you no doubt found with Bub, the batling seems to share DNA with just about every other species on earth. I performed an x-ray on a tissue sample we got from the batling and observed degradation under even the mildest doses of radiation, so that seems to be a weakness. In other words, I haven’t yet discovered anything that you didn’t already know when you got here.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find something,” Sun said. “Let us know if we can help.”

Dr. Gornman looked down at her shoes like a scolded child. “I’m afraid I was a little brusque before. You must understand that, working down here, so far from civilization, one tends to become stuck in their ways.”

“It’s okay,” Sun said. “I was once in the same environment. I understand cabin fever all too well.”

“Well, I apologize sincerely. Anything you need, just let me know.”

“Now that you mention it,” Andy said. “We were hoping to get your help with something.”

“Yes?”

“We want to move Lucas and the batling into the same cell.”

Gornman’s eyes went unnaturally wide. “You want to place two different creatures in the same space? Are you insane?”

Andy sighed.
Didn’t take long for the brusque to return.

“We think it’s the best way to find out if Lucas is here because of the batling or vice-versa. We need to know if they are here for related reasons.”

Gornman rubbed at her forehead and let out a long breath. When she looked at them again, she was calmer, but it seemed forced. “Okay, okay. I hope you can excuse my surprise. It’s just that we’ve never attempted such a thing down here before—least of all with the guests of subbasement 5. But if that’s what you want to do, then it is my duty to accommodate you. Now, when were you hoping to achieve this feat of insane peril?”

“We were hoping to get it done this afternoon,” said Andy. “Sooner the better.”

“Of course, why wait and plan when you can rush right in. Let us get started then.”

“So you approve?” Andy asked, somewhat suspiciously.

Gornman stared at him and raised both her eyebrows. “Of course. I’m happy to help, Mr. Dennison-Jones.”

Dr. Gornman walked between Sun and Andy and left the labs. Sun was frowning at Andy and he asked her what was wrong.

“You know I’m not superstitious, right?”

“You’re the opposite of superstitious, hon. You’re a skeptic.”

“I know.” Sun hugged herself and shivered. “So why do I feel like someone just walked over my grave?”

“They want to do
what?
” Kane wasn’t sure that he had heard correctly.

Rimmer folded his arms across his wide chest and checked his watch. “It’s not necessarily a bad idea. Neither the Manx man or the batling are talking. But if we put them together, maybe we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Of all people, I wouldn’t expect you to agree with this. It’s an unnecessary risk to security.”

Rimmer chewed the side of his cheek, appeared to think about it, and then said, “Sometimes a risk is the only option left. In Iraq we would have been dead in the water without eavesdropping on prisoners for Intel. I remember shoving a couple of Iraqi soldiers in a cell together once and watching them go at it. They were long-time enemies, but both loyally served Saddam. As one spat accusations and insults at the other, the other one would spit them right back. By the end of the day we had gotten enough information to know the names of their entire families and half their friends. We also knew that one of the men was responsible for a botched attack on a US base. His enemy straight-out insulted him for his incompetence in failing in his mission.”

Kane ran his palms over the surface of his desk, enjoying the feel of the wood grain against his calloused hands. “You think this is what this is? Putting two enemies together to see what we can overhear?”

“Among other benefits,” Rimmer added.

“Such as?”

“They might tear each other apart. Two less monsters for us to deal with.”

Kane’s frown became a tight smirk. He appreciated Rimmer’s straight forward approach to things. “It’s our job to house these creatures safely, Sergeant. While I don’t disagree with your sentiment, I swore an oath to do them no harm.”