The Prometheus Project (2 page)

Something had been fishy about the move from the beginning. Their parents were top scientists who frequently received job offers from around the world. They had always refused because they loved their jobs at the university and were not willing to leave San Diego. Until now.

So what had changed? Why had they felt they had no other choice but to move to Pennsylvania? Why did they have to leave immediately? And why would a company locate in a place as isolated as Snooze-ter? The town was mostly woods and farmland. The roads were not even paved—just dirt or gravel. Their new house was the only one for quite a distance. Proact was hastily clearing trees and building a large housing development about a mile away—the Resnicks were scheduled to move there in three months or so—but nothing was ready now.

They had no choice but to investigate further. And that meant a trip to the Proact facility. They had never been there before but they knew it was several miles south of them along a dirt road.

They jumped on their bikes and pedaled like crazy. Before long they spotted a large Proact sign off in the distance. They immediately exited the road and biked into the woods until they were out of sight. They parked by a tall tree and quickly climbed up onto some of its higher branches. Secure in the tree, they turned to get their first view of the now mysterious Proact facility.

It was surrounded by the most wicked-looking chain-link fence either of them had ever seen. A lethal, two-foot high coil of spiked wire, wound very tightly, ran along the top of the entire length of fence, like a giant steel slinky made almost entirely of knife blades. The fence created a square enclosure about a quarter of a mile on each side.

Regan shook her head, almost unable to believe her eyes. “I’ve seen barbed-wire fences before, but this is like something out of a horror movie. This makes regular barbed-wire look like a joke.”

“Yeah,” said her brother, nodding slowly. “I’ve heard about this stuff. I think it’s called
razor-wire
.”

Regan studied the fence more closely and realized that the tightly spaced blades were exactly that—razors—with pointed barbs at both ends. “It’s well named,” she noted grimly. Their dad had mentioned a laser alarm system and video monitors soon to come, but the sight of this deadly razor-wire barrier left no room for doubt. Their mom had been correct. This place had some
serious
security.

Off to one corner they quickly spotted the main Proact building. It was large, modern and very impressive. It was also unfinished.
Unfinished?
So why the hurry for their parents to come here?

Off in the distance they could see what appeared to be large signs attached to the perimeter fence at regular intervals. Ryan lifted the binoculars, put them to his eyes, and focused in on one of the signs.

WARNING—DO NOT ENTER! INTRUDERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT!

He swallowed hard. Saying nothing he handed the binoculars to his sister sitting on the branch beside him. He watched a troubled look come over her face as she read one of the signs.

“Not exactly what I would call a friendly greeting,” she noted wryly.

Ryan nodded. “I guess they ran out of the signs that say, ‘Welcome To Proact’ with bright yellow happy faces painted on them.”

Regan smiled as she continued scanning. A few seconds later she pointed and said, “Can you see those men just inside the fence over there?”

Ryan followed her finger and could make out four men near the fence, looking small in the distance.
What were they doing?

Regan carefully turned a small dial on the front of the binoculars to improve the focus. “They must be the ones who shut down the laser alarm system. It looks to me as if they’re checking to make sure it was reset properly.” She paused. “Take a look.”

Ryan put the binoculars to his eyes. Two of the men were throwing powder high into the air and watching intently. The falling powder passed through two previously invisible laser beams, each the thickness of a broom handle, and in so doing turned them both red and easy to see. Ryan had seen a movie about a thief trying to steal a diamond from the middle of a room protected by countless such invisible beams crisscrossing the floor—lasers of the type that only produced light and not searing heat. Anything that blocked one of the beams for even an instant, like part of a thief’s body, triggered an alarm. Particles from a powder mist, however, could make the beams temporarily visible without fully blocking them and setting off the alarms.

The beams ran parallel to the fence-line—about three feet in from it. One beam was about a foot above the ground and the other was about four feet up. Someone who managed the impossible task of getting through the fence without being cut to ribbons, and without being seen by the cameras, would still have a nasty little surprise waiting for them when they took their first step or two and walked through one or both of the invisible beams.

Ryan’s brow furrowed in deep concentration. An interesting thought occurred to him.

He used the binoculars to carefully explore the entire fence perimeter, foot by foot, looking intently for something in particular. After five minutes, he found it.

He lowered the binoculars. It was time for them to leave. They needed to beat their parents home.

But it was now crystal clear to him what he had to do the next morning, and despite the warm summer weather the thought of it brought a chill to his spine.

Chapter 3

Shot on Sight?

Ryan and Regan set their alarms for five-thirty the next morning and awoke to find that their parents were already out of the house. Just how early had they left? When their dad had indicated they would be working around the clock he had not been kidding.

By six-thirty the two kids were back in the same tree branch they had been in the day before.

“Okay,” began Ryan as he looked out over the Proact grounds from his perch in the tree. “Mom and Dad could be spies and they could be criminals. Worse, they could be here against their will, being threatened in some way if they don’t cooperate. We need to figure this out and we need to do it quickly.” He saw agreement in his sister’s eyes. “Do you have any theories?” he asked her.

She paused in thought for a few seconds and then shook her head no.

Ryan frowned. “Yeah, me neither. And I have a bad feeling that we’re not going to get anywhere by sitting here in this tree, talking about it, and guessing what might be happening. We need more information.”

Regan raised her eyebrows. She could tell her brother had come up with a plan. “What do you have in mind?” she asked.

Ryan took a deep breath and then said, “I think we need to get inside the Proact building and snoop around. See what we can learn. I think it’s our only chance to get to the bottom of this.” He paused to let his words sink in. “But if we’re going to do it, we need to do it now. I mean like
today
.”

“I don’t get it. Why such a big hurry?”

“Because they’re about to finish putting in all the video cameras.”

“Ryan, it’s not like they need the
cameras
to keep us out,” she said, rolling her eyes. She nodded toward the fence. “Even if we could get through the million-razor-blades-of-death over there—which is totally impossible—the laser alarm system is still working.”

The corners of Ryan’s mouth curled up into just a hint of a smile. “Who said anything about getting
through
the fence?” he said. Without another word he handed his sister the binoculars and pointed to the east. “Take a look.”

She put the binoculars to her eyes and followed his finger. “What am I looking for?”

“The woods are pretty thick around here so there are hundreds of trees near the fence. But one of the trees has a branch that’s grown over the razor-wire. Do you see what I’m talking about?”

About thirty seconds later Regan nodded.
Very interesting
. The branch ended only a few feet inside the fence line, but it was enough. They could easily crawl along it to get beyond the fat coil of razor-wire.
Very, very interesting
. “What about the laser alarm system?” she asked.

“Not such a problem if you know it exists and you know exactly where it is. Luckily, I do.” He pulled two plastic bags filled with a white powder out of his pants pocket. “I filled a couple of sandwich bags before we left with talcum powder. All I have to do is make the beams visible with this.”

Regan nodded. He had thought things through quite carefully. Once the beams were visible they
would
be fairly easy to avoid. “Great plan,” she said admiringly. “Well, we won’t be bored today, that’s for sure.”

Ryan nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay with the idea. I was a bit worried you might not be. So you stay in the tree near the fence with the binoculars as a look-out while I check out Proact. Hopefully, I won’t be gone more than an hour or so.”

“What! What are you talking about?” She shook her head adamantly. “I’m not waiting for you in a tree. Even if I saw something I couldn’t warn you anyway. I’m coming with you.”

“I can’t let you do that Regs,” said Ryan protectively. “It’s too dangerous. Remember all the ‘intruders will be shot on sight’ signs?”

“How could I forget. But they won’t shoot a couple of kids.”

“Are you positive about that?”

“Positive. They just put the signs up to scare people so they won’t trespass,” insisted Regan.

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing for them they didn’t use the ‘Welcome to Proact’ signs with bright yellow smiley faces after all. Probably not as scary.”

“Probably not,” agreed Regan, grinning. She quickly turned serious once again. “If we were large men carrying guns they probably
would
shoot on sight. But we’re just a couple of kids. They’ll even be less nervous if
I’m
with you. I’m younger than you and pretty short for my age. Since we won’t look threatening, they’ll want to catch us first and ask us questions—you know,
before
they shoot us.”

“Thanks, that’s very comforting,” said Ryan, rolling his eyes. He shook his head. “But you still aren’t coming.”

Despite his last words, Regan knew she was beginning to convince him. “Come on Ryan. You
need
me. They won’t hurt a small, harmless girl. And we’re in this thing together. Besides,” she added with finality, “you don’t have a choice. I’m coming whether you want me to or not.”

He sighed heavily. He really couldn’t stop her if she insisted on going with him, and he had seen the determined look she now wore on her face many times before. He had learned from experience that once she set her mind to something, no power on Earth could get her to change it. “All right,” he said finally. “You’re in.”

He was impressed. He and Regan fought a lot but he had to admit she was sharp and gutsy. Now she was showing him that she had even more guts than he had thought. He had worried it would be tough to convince her to let him go on this insane mission, and instead she had convinced him to let
her
come along. And he realized to his surprise that he was very glad she had.

“Let’s do it,” said Ryan as he rose from his perch in the tree. “I do have to admit that we won’t be bored today.
Dead
maybe,” he added wryly as he began his climb down to the ground. “But definitely not bored.”

Chapter 4

Guards and Radiation

Thirty minutes later Ryan was clinging to the tree limb that extended over the fence. They had agreed if they got caught he would do the talking while Regan would look small and innocent. He would explain they had been on their bikes, had seen the tree limb running over the fence, and decided to use it as a short-cut to visit their parents. They would play dumb if asked about anything else.

Ryan searched long and hard for any guards. All was clear. He slid along the branch until he made it over the fence. He was now ten or eleven feet off the ground and more than a little stressed. The branch hadn’t seemed all that high when he was looking up, but now that he was looking down and preparing to jump, the ground seemed awfully far away.

Ryan took a deep breath and lowered himself the full length of his body. He searched for the flattest, softest landing site possible and prepared to let go.

And froze!

A man inside the fence had appeared from nowhere and was coming straight toward him! Worse still, the man had a gun, and it was drawn! Ryan’s heart beat like a jackhammer in his chest. He quickly pulled his legs up under him so they weren’t dangling down at the man’s eye level.

The man hadn’t looked up yet, but he would in a matter of seconds. And even if he didn’t, Ryan couldn’t hold on for much longer. They would be caught before they had even begun. He was a sitting—or in this case, hanging—duck.

“Jim, come in!” bellowed an anxious voice from the man’s waist. “Emergency! Jim, do you read?”

The man holstered his gun and lifted a small walkie-talkie from his belt, bringing it to his mouth. “Collins here,” he said quickly.

“Jim, we’ve got a problem,” squawked the walkie-talkie. “Make your way to the west perimeter immediately! We spotted two intruders . . .” There was a long hesitation. “Coming
out
of Prometheus Alpha.”

The walkie-talkie almost slipped from the man’s grasp and he had to juggle it before he regained his hold. “Did you say
out
?” he said in astonishment. “That’s
impossible
. No intruders have ever gotten
in,
” he insisted.

“Well apparently
these
two did,” snapped the voice. “And Jim,” he continued. “We think they’re kids.”

The man—Jim—looked at the walkie-talkie in disbelief.
“Kids?”

“We think so. Alan almost had them but they made it to the west woods. I want you to join him in the search,” the other man ordered. “Immediately. We have to find them!”