Chapter Twenty-One

“A Shadow’s Lair”

1.

Who would have thought that there would be a room?

Wandering aimlessly through the air ducts for an hour or more, Annabelle had been surprised when the narrow tunnel opened into a larger room, a sort of central access chamber. From this room were five shafts―four horizontally deployed, one vertical―that led to other parts of the station. Where they went, she wasn’t sure. More important, though, were not the shafts themselves, but the room into which they fed.

Piled wherever the meagre space would allow was what Annabelle could only assume were the missing ten crates of goods. Cans of American corn, carrots, sugar beets, peas, beans, and other varieties of fruits and vegetables were there to be had. Dried beef as well, tins of biscuits, coffee, and jugs of potable water were stacked haphazardly in corners, stuffed into the shafts, or merely strewn about the room as if an angry child had thrown a tantrum here. On the floor were three sleeping pallets piled with soiled coveralls and socks. Several clean pairs were folded neatly and sitting atop a mouldering block of cheese about the size of Annabelle’s torso, which had chunks of it cut away by knives.

By one of the pallets were the makings of another bomb, half-finished, with a small tool chest nearby left open. Annabelle inspected the bomb further and found two small vials in a wooden box, packed with cotton. Nitro-glycerine. Annabelle did not touch the box nor attempt to pull the vials from it. She was amazed, in fact, that they had managed to bring the compound from Earth, given the jostling that occurred leaving a planetary atmosphere.

This discovery couldn’t be more pleasing, she decided. She had found their lair, and so soon. They! It had turned out not to be a single man, but apparently a conspiracy of at least three, if the number of pallets on the floor were any indication. She could not wait to see the look on van den Bosch’s face when she returned.

Annabelle was about to leave when she caught a glimpse of movement. She peered down the long expanse of air shaft directly in front of her. Strange.

Taking up her lantern, she trained the light down the shaft, but could see nothing. If it was someone, they had to be as quiet as a ghost, she thought, for she had not heard them pass.

Her pulse quickened. Unless Dolan had done as she’d asked and sent men into the air ducts (which was not likely) only one type of person would be lurking here besides her. If one of them had passed by, it would be impossible to think that he would have missed the lantern’s light. That meant she had been discovered, and now she was in danger.

2.

A more prudent person would surely have chosen a different shaft and fled. Instead Annabelle plunged straight ahead after her quarry, using her bandaged arm to push the lantern ahead while bracing herself with the other.

She reached a t-section and turned right, the direction she assumed the shadow had gone, and followed it for some time.

At another four-way, Annabelle saw a bright, white light coming from her left. Having spent so long in Peregrine’s gloom, she did not quite comprehend at first what she was seeing, but she quickly recovered and turned in its direction. The further along she went, the brighter the light got.

Ahead, a room beyond the grate offered enticing possibilities. What sort of place was this that its lighting was brighter than everywhere else on the station?

She was soon rewarded. At a dead end, the grate popped easily from its housing, suggesting that perhaps it had been used a number of times. Where she found herself was a small alcove that formed part of a larger room. Beyond was brightly lit, and from the moment she crawled from the air duct she felt a strange buzzing just inside her head, as if a hive of bees had taken up residence there. The air seemed to shimmer with a strange energy.

Leaving the alcove she was greeted with an awesome sight. On a platform approximately twenty feet by forty feet, was an impressive machine. It was from here the strange sensations emanated.

It hummed with a ferocious vigour. Above it was a field of some kind, emanating from four metal posts, one at each corner of the machine, through which a strange, crackling energy coursed. And suspended above the machine was a swirling mass like nothing Annabelle had ever seen before. It was as though the mass was both transparent and black at the same time, for she could see through to the other side, though the light reflecting from the mass was much darker than in the rest of the room. As if the mass was also trying to devour the light, which was fighting back and glowing brighter because of it.

Awed by the scene, and uncaring if close proximity would endanger her, Annabelle drifted forward to get a better look. Being around Uncle Cyrus, she had witnessed many strange sights, but never had she seen something so forceful, so primal, as this. It was as if the mass was a living thing, an animal trapped in a cage, and in its violent revolutions within the field it demonstrated its lonely need to be free. A slight change in the field made the mass suddenly sparkle with purplish energy. Annabelle was overwhelmed with its beauty.

Something moved to her right. Too late, she recalled why she had come here in the first place, to find the bomber or one of his compatriots. Her body jerked left to run, but just as it did something crashed down across the back of her head. A bright flash of light erupted across her vision. Her legs buckled, and she dropped to the floor.

3.

She lay on the ground, not quite unconscious, yet sliding in that direction. Her eyes were sealed shut, and she was too weak then to even think of opening them. What she had, then, were her other senses, and the feeling of someone, or several someones, drawing near.

The voices she heard then were unfamiliar.

“Brennan is dead.”

“Jesus be praised. He’s blown Greenhouse Two to Hell and back, so you know.”

“I’m aware of that, thank you. I’m also aware that you were told to find and neutralise him before something like this occurred. The damage he has caused might be insurmountable, and what is worse, he nearly sat down in Stone’s lap. If I hadn’t dealt with him when I did, he might have doomed us all.”

“Sorry, sir. Should I eliminate Stone as well?”

“No! At least not yet. I want some sense of normalcy to return. Stone is aware of us now, but he is not hostile. We’ll discreetly steer him to the correct conclusion and let him repair the stabilisers for us. Only then, once his usefulness is done will we arrange an accident. Until then, we are ghosts.”

“And Miss Somerset, sir?”

“Dispose of her. She knows too much.”

“Yes, sir. Right at once, sir.”

Annabelle closed her eyes, and everything slipped away.