The Hunting (12 page)

‘This is that moment just before the
Titanic
hit an iceberg, right?’ she added.

Rian laughed. ‘No icebergs out here, Renée. Worst case scenario we collide with a whale or something.’

‘Killer whales are so forgiving, I hear.’

A huge swell rolled under them and the yacht tilted forty-five degrees. Renée clung to Rian for dear life.

‘Get below and hang on. I think it’s going to get a lot worse.’

Renée didn’t need telling. She jumped down and grabbed the plastic bucket. Someone was going to need it, for sure – namely her.

C
ary shook her awake. ‘Genie? Can you hear me? Genie?’

Genie opened her eyes. She was freezing cold. She looked up and there was Cary looking down at her. She could hear others too. She was no longer on the yacht. Was this a dream? Or real? What just happened?

She turned her head and Denis was trying to get a torch to work and swearing at it. She could see that they were in a kind of tunnel, dug out of chalk. It was dark but there was a blue glow from emergency lighting built into the tunnel wall.

‘Anyone know where we are?’ Cary asked.

Genie shook her head. ‘I don’t even know how I got here.’

Denis got the torch to work and flashed it up on the walls. They could make out the words:
Radspan – Warning 100,000 volts. Avoid live cables
.

Genie looked at Cary. ‘One hundred thousand volts?’

‘There’s more than that going through here. You seen the rats?’

‘Rats?’ Genie thought she’d seen enough of rats back on Granville Island.

‘Lot of dead ones. They’ve been chewing the cable linings. One bite and
fritzzzzz
.’

‘Nice.’

Denis came over and helped Genie up. ‘Hey, your hair’s growing. Cool.’

Genie felt her head; it was reassuringly as stiff as a brush.

She looked at Denis and Cary; they both still had their hair, but somehow it didn’t look quite convincing.

‘Where are we, Denis?’ Genie asked him. ‘Are you guys OK?’

‘This is the service tunnel, I think,’ Cary told her. ‘It leads to Radspan. It’s what they built before Synchro.’

‘But what is it?’

‘Early particle collider maybe? It runs for kilometres in a huge circle,’ Cary said. ‘But you brought us here; we didn’t move a muscle.’

‘I did?’ Genie was confused. Last she remembered was being really, really tired on the yacht.

‘You didn’t say how you guys are. I mean, I heard they caught you, but have they … ?’ Genie asked, her voice trailing away. She wasn’t sure they wanted to talk about it. She squatted down on an old wooden box. Her head was foggy. Her being here right now didn’t make any sense. Denis was as small as ever. Cary didn’t look so pale any more – and Renée was right, she realized, he was pretty good-looking for a geek.

‘You got away then. I called you,’ Denis reminded her.

‘I know. But how come I’m here now? We made it, Denis. We got down the river, stole Reverend Schneider’s yacht and everything. We were getting away, I swear, and now I’m right back here.’

‘Maybe you’re dreaming,’ Cary suggested. ‘Is Renée with you? On the yacht, I mean.’

‘Yeah. She is.’ She suddenly smiled. ‘Did you know she has the hots for you?’

Denis laughed and punched Cary on the arm. ‘Told you.’

Cary blushed but was secretly very pleased.

‘Really,’ Genie assured him. ‘She likes you a lot.’

‘Well, don’t tell her what happened. Especially about the hair,’ Cary said, grinning.

‘Hair? What happened? I was going to ask you about your hair. It kinda moves.’

Denis sat beside her and leaned up against her. ‘Bastards grabbed us. Got Julia too. First thing they did was shave our heads. Told us they were going to teleport us again. Jules went hysterical; they strapped her down and later they took her off someplace else. Randall was in another room too. I heard him screaming.’

‘But you’ve got hair now?’ Genie pointed out the inconsistency.

Cary pointed at Denis. ‘He found this program. It’s like Bratz dress-up software. We can have hair, change our clothes, y’know.’

‘No it isn’t,’ Denis protested, clearly embarrassed.

‘Is too. Admit it. You found it on a kids’ website.’

‘Well, I’m not going around bald for anyone,’ Denis told her. ‘Not even in your dreams, Genie.’

She smiled. This really was like some surreal dream.

‘Miho’s dead,’ Genie told them. ‘We saw it in a newspaper. They said it was suicide but I think it was a Mosquito attack.’

Cary looked at Denis and they shrugged. ‘You don’t get it, do you?’

‘What?’

‘We’re
all
in a coma. Mosquito attack. Like it was a major electro-magnetic pulse. They just wiped us out. Denis and me – we’re lying in the cell now. We’re on life-support.’

Genie was confused. She reached out and touched Cary. He was as solid as she was.

‘I don’t get it.’

‘You sure you’re conscious?’ he asked her. ‘You sure you’re on a boat? They blasted that thing wide. You could be lying in a coma somewhere. I’m not surprised Miho is dead. I’m just amazed you aren’t. We aren’t real, y’know? This is a construct, like before.’

‘Construct?’

‘It’s like gaming,’ Denis explained. ‘You created this place, us, we’re like avatars or something. It’s all in the mind.’

Genie shook her head. ‘No. I didn’t. This is real. I know it. You being here is real. If I can touch and feel, it’s real.’

Cary shook his head. ‘We’re lying on a slab with our heads shaved in a coma and they’re thinking of switching us off. I’m sorry, Genie, but that’s the truth.’

Genie looked at them both and part of her knew it was true. Part of her wasn’t accepting it either.

‘I know we’re here for a reason,’ she said. ‘We need to find out why, that’s all.’

‘But you
could
be lying in a ditch somewhere. This is just a wish-fulfilment thing,’ Cary stated.

Genie slapped him on his hand; she wasn’t taking this defeatist attitude. ‘I am here. I’m real. This is what I do. I go places. I don’t choose it, or know why it happens, but I am here. If I’m here, it’s for a reason. Think, Cary. Radspan. What is it? Where is it?’

Cary was reluctant to try, she could see that. Denis was frowning, he understood what she was saying. He remembered seeing Genie in Synchro before, during the flood and even then it was impossible she was there, but she had been. He never really thought about it much, but he remembered something else, that odd feeling of hope he always got when he saw her. She could do impossible things.

‘Listen to her, Cary. She got us out of the Fortress once, maybe she can do it again,’ Denis said.

Genie tried to remember stuff. ‘Did either of your legs go missing? Your hands maybe? Renée had an episode an—’

Denis rolled his eyes. ‘I lost my feet. Cary was screaming about his arms and legs. That’s when it started. They kept saying that there wasn’t anything wrong, but I know my feet went missing.’

Genie smiled. ‘Latent memory syndrome. Renée was the same. They weren’t missing, but your brain switched them off, just like when the servers went down before. Rian worked it out.’

Cary was about to disagree, but then nodded.

‘That kinda makes sense. Makes a lot of sense.’

‘So, help me guys. Why are we here? Think.’

Denis was shining the torch around and it swept past something on the wall. He stood up and shone the beam on the wall again.

‘Hey, come and look at this.’

Genie and Cary walked behind him, stepping over the many cables lining the centre of the tunnel.

‘I think we found your answer,’ Denis said. ‘We’ve discovered something important.’

They were looking at a map of Radspan – it carried a date. 1998. It was like a subway map and a series of stations. The primary station was Synchro and then it fanned out to an unnamed place and then jumped to Whistler and starting making longer leaps as far as Banff and some place near Calgary and right across Canada as far as St John’s. The last six stations were labelled ‘under construction’.

‘Twenty-five. Fifty. One hundred. Two hundred. Four hundred …’ Cary was saying. ‘Each leap doubles up. Radspan. It fans out from Synchro and each time they were going to try and leap further. It’s the original teleport concept.’

Cary was excited now. He turned to Genie. ‘Look, here’s us.’

He traced his fingers over the map to the point just besides Synchro. ‘But it doesn’t start in Synchro. It starts here – in a tunnel about half a mile under Marshall’s farm. I can take a bet that it’s where it is. Almost exactly in the middle between the Fortress and Synchro.’

‘Like Marshall’s farm.’

Denis was looking at the key code at the bottom of the map and trying to make sense of the different colours and squiggles.

‘Maybe we teleported up there the first time because there’s some kind of conflict. Remember there was something about the magnetic activity.’ Cary was thinking aloud. ‘You might be the trigger, but there’s something in Radspan that pulled us through.’

Genie smiled, shivering now in the cold. She was a tad confused. ‘And this means?’

‘If we knew how to get on it, work it, maybe we could use it to escape,’ Denis said excitedly.

‘It’s not a literal tunnel, Denis,’ Cary told him. ‘It’s not a train. And I’d like to remind you guys that we’re in a coma in the Fortress. I mean, this is cool and all, but unless Genie can break into the Fortress, wake us up
and
steal our bodies, we’re not going anywhere.’

‘Come on,’ Denis said. ‘That first station has to be along this track some place.’

Cary and Genie followed him, but Cary was down again. He still thought it was hopeless. They could barely see anything except the torchlight ahead and hear Denis whistling. He was happier at least.

‘Does Renée really like me?’ Cary asked.

Genie took his arm. ‘Yes, very much. She wants you to figure out a way back, Cary. Your brain is working, right? I mean, if you were in a real coma, surely you couldn’t even dream you were with me, and if it was a dream – well, Denis wouldn’t be in it too, would he?’

‘If it was my dream you wouldn’t have any clothes on,’ Denis called back and laughed.

Genie smiled. ‘Gross, Denis. You’re Dirty Denis from now on.’

He laughed again.

A light came on, several more, moving on and on right the way along the tunnel until it came to a distance door.

‘We just triggered something.’ They could all hear a generator starting up.

Cary smiled. ‘Good. Means it’s still operational.’ He turned to Genie and took a deep breath. ‘Thanks for coming, Genie. I know you didn’t have a choice, but you know how to make a person hope, y’know?’

Genie said nothing. It was she who was having doubts now. Cary was right. If he and the others were in comas, even if they could get them out, how would she ever wake them up? And why was it so darn cold down here?

Denis got to the door first and he looked at the keypad on it and seemed to contemplate it for a few seconds, then punched in four digits.

The door swung open with a hiss as chilled, stale air rushed out to meet them.

‘In the nineties they were still using four-digit codes, can you believe it? The only cool thing about being hooked up to the Fortress is you can access codes. I used to do it all the time when I was inside. Can’t believe I can still do it.’

Cary slapped Denis on the back. ‘That’s because you’re still hooked up to the Fortress, remember.’ He looked at Genie. ‘Denis is all numbers. He can see them like shapes or something. I’m jealous.’

Denis winked at Genie as they pushed the door further open.

‘It’s my only skill. I’m getting better at it. It’s cool.’

They entered a huge dome carved out of the chalk and stone. Lights came on automatically overhead and moisture dripped from stalactites forming in the ceiling. Whatever this place had been, it had been neglected and there were signs of water damage everywhere.

Genie realized it was a primitive version of a teleportation chamber. There were rows of old Cray computers and all kinds of wires and tubes, but it was essentially the same thing.

‘Wow,’ Cary said, walking up to the transmission pad. He felt the smooth curved granite wall. Noted the shadows burned deep into the grain. They had tried teleporting here and failed.

‘It doesn’t work,’ a voice said behind them.

They spun around and there was Julia sitting in a chair watching them. Her hair looked lank, colourless. She was wearing a simple cloth over her and looked so pale, she might as well be dead.

‘Julia,’ they all cried out in unison.

‘I can’t stay. I’m pretty far gone. Genie … ?’

‘Yes?’

‘Did you really get away?’

Genie nodded. ‘So far. I don’t know why I’m here, but I’m here. I’m sorry, Julia.’

‘My mother’s heart is broken. They dragged me away from her. Daddy’s got lawyers and everything, but they told them I wasn’t me. I mean, of course I’m me. Daddy’s had a breakdown, he actually cried. Made my heart hurt to see it. I can’t believe I’m back. Can’t believe I’m going to die.’

Genie shook her head. ‘You’re not going to die. I’m going to find a way, Jules. I have to find a way to get you out.’

Julia shook her head. ‘Too late. Can’t stay. Not strong enough. Can’t stay …’

Julia disappeared before their eyes. They stared at the empty chair.

Genie felt sick. This
was
a dream then. She wasn’t doing any of them any good.

Cary was looking at the computer systems. He turned to speak to Genie for a moment. ‘They tried, but it would have been hopeless. They would never have had enough memory or power. Even with these supercomputers.’

‘Why did they abandon it?’

Denis was looking at a video recording on an old TV monitor he’d fired up. It showed a simple furry toy, a rabbit disintegrating. Another scene, another toy burning – another scene showed it exploding; scene after scene, toy after toy destroyed.

‘I guess it just didn’t work,’ Denis declared. ‘Built the whole thing and it just didn’t work.’

Genie was looking at an old financial magazine with a faded cover left on a chair: ‘
Premier slashes science research budget in credit squeeze
.’