Shifting Sand
Shifting sands
The shuttle bus meandered along what used to be a highway, now it was just a rough potholed track. Glancing at the radar Kanga did not see anything unusual a quick check of the plasma and DNA readouts confirmed no sign of life. Kanga took his hands from the wheel one at a time stretching each finger painfully, it had been at least three and half hours since he left the Main City terminus. Oh how he hated that city, the fact that people could live there and actually say that they enjoyed it amazed him.
Although the meals did not look appetizing, the black market army rations were about all that you could depend on to stay alive and avoid the sickness, which would certainly befall anyone stupid enough to eat something that did not come out of a tin. Anyway, Kanga never had any complaints, the only problem he seemed to have was getting his passengers to disembark but then he did not blame them for not wanting to leave. Life on the outside was not easy. The scan completed, he turned his thoughts to home it had been a long week upon arriving at Camp 7. He was due for some well earned rest and relaxation. A single man was he, having lost his family in the holocaust. Sometimes he wondered whether it was worth going on, he lived in the hope that just maybe someone in his family had survived. Virtually all records that were lost, the magnetic interference that came about after the nuclear attack had rendered electronic communications, computers, radio and Television unusable. There were no satellites left; they had been one of the first things to be knocked out. The electronic equipment on the bus was built to military specifications. The cost put it out of the reach of citizens, besides the military did not allow for private vehicles any more, the only ones with vehicles were Raiders and Outlanders.
Raiders took advantage of this hostile landscape, knowing that the shuttle buses were fitted with radar and scanners did not deter them as the equipment had a very limited range 500 meters at best. Trapping unsuspecting travellers had become such a problem that the military had supplied limited defence equipment to the owners of the buses under very stringent conditions. If a bus should fall into enemy hands it was the duty of the operator to activate a self destruct mechanism. Failure to do so meant that if the raiders didn’t kill you the military would. The last time a gang of Raiders tried Kanga on for size they got themselves vaporized by a microwave particle accelerator, a gift from one of his grateful and regular customers. It didn’t really matter who or what the customers were, just as long as they paid their fare and didn’t cause any trouble during the four hour journey; once they had disembarked it was of no concern to him what their intentions may be.
With the furnace like intensity of the sun beating down, the temperature leapt from minus thirty degrees Celsius to around forty plus within a very short period. This rise in temperature was shortly followed by relentless hot winds that sucked the moisture out from everything. Time to engage the air conditioning he thought, entering garcon-oxy-humidity mode. There was a vague drone emanating from the life support system. He mused to himself that the bus as a whole really did require a full service, however the dealer no longer existed, maintenance was on a need to know basis if something wasn’t broken then don’t try to fix it.
The silence from the intercom was deafening, no doubt it had found Caz snoozing again. Kanga’s side kick David, had earned himself the title of Caz, due to his casual and aloof demeanour, but make no mistake he was sharp as a tack when it came down to the business side of things. “Cazza talk to me this could be serious.” “Yeah yeah what’s the matter?” came the reply. “I’m not sure, but when the life support unit engaged, there was a droning noise for a couple of seconds. I know it is overdue for servicing and so is the rest of this jalopy, do you think we should stop in at TQ30 to take a look?” He replied in the affirmative. TQ30 had been a thriving inland city once with a population of approximately 250,000. Australia being a country where the majority of the population had lived along the coast, when the seas rose and flooded vast areas people had to flee inland, unfortunately the infrastructure of the inland cities could not cope with the massive influx of refugees. Chaos and lawlessness ensued; it had been almost ten years since that happened. Hundreds of thousands of people had perished or simply disappeared into the central Australian desert. Some were able to cope by learning from the aboriginal inhabitants of this hostile wilderness whilst others perished largely due to their own stupidity.
Ten kilometres to go; estimating this should take about twenty-five minutes at this speed. Everything appeared to be functioning normally; the sound of metal against metal filled his ears jarring his senses. Not wanting to stop, he reduced speed to little more than walking pace so that if raiders did appear they would not find a sitting duck so to speak. “Caz here, I think we better stop Kanga.” he exclaimed. These were the words Kanga did not want to hear, however if Caz deemed it necessary he had little choice.
Bringing the bus to a standstill in a choking swirl of dust he thought to himself, I must not appear alarmed or anxious addressing the passengers as to the cause. As Kanga ran a system check, all systems ok was the response. Oh shit! That can only mean one thing something outside the vehicle was causing the problem. Caz slipped into his Bio hazard suit while Kanga scanned the area for signs of life. “Clear” said Kanga,” but be quick.” Five minutes passed so slowly, he could see that a couple of passengers were becoming agitated. If it came down to the crunch he could subdue them with an anaesthetic introduced through the air conditioning, crude but effective.
The last thing he wanted was dramatic outbursts. His tolerance of such things had worn thin over the years to the point of zero tolerance. As far as he was concerned, all passengers would comply with company policy. Failure to do so meant you could and would be restrained, simple as that, or thrown off the bus there and then. He hoped it wouldn’t develop into one of those situations as it always left a nasty taste in his mouth. Finally Caz reported “we have picked up some barbed wire, it’s wrapped around the rear axle, looks quite messy, there is oil seeping out of the wheel bearings.” “Ok” he replied “get back in here and give me a full report.”
It became painfully clear to Kanga after hearing what Caz had to say that the rear wheel bearing had overheated due to the lack of oil. If they sat and let it cool then added oil to the differential although that wouldn’t fix the problem, it would more than likely hold out until they could get to TQ30 and repair the damaged bearings. If they added oil now without letting the bearings cool one of two things could happen, the bearings being so hot would shatter as soon as the cool oil touched them, and or possibly burst into flames or both. Either way it was a scenario that neither of them wanted to explore at this point in time, the decision being made to wait clearly had a negative effect on some of the passengers.
Tq30 was an outpost that was besieged by raiders on a regular basis. Due to its close proximity of the new coastline Raiders were able to sneak in under the cover of darkness. Man made shipping hazards had been constructed along the coast as far as practical, I mean man made, as earthmoving machinery, trucks and cars no longer existed, the few vehicles that did were commandeered by the military. The military also controlled all fuel supplies. After the shit hit the fan the supplies of crude oil dried up as the middle east was so radioactive no one could live near there for a couple of lifetimes, at least such was the intensity when America let loose on Iraq. There was no stopping the madness that ensued especially after North Korea became involved. Limited supplies of Australian produced LPG were available for a couple of years; the price of LPG soared due to the dangers involved.
Drilling platforms became targets for anyone with an axe to grind, pipelines also were targeted. Some tried tapping into the pipeline resulting in an explosion or two. Terrorists did not want to be left out either, the end result being fuel oils and LPG became redundant and the few surviving commercial vehicles were converted to hydrogen power using technology developed by the Military back in the later part of the 90’s.
Casualties after a few years was absurd to say the least, people eventually accepted the fact that if travel outside of your encampment was necessary there was two choices, walk or the shuttle bus. Walking was for fools with a death wish, since the chances of not reaching your destination were far greater than expected by some only to discover the harsh reality when it was too late.
The wheel bearings having cooled to an acceptable level, Caz prepared to carry out the repairs. Within a few minutes he returned, and gave the thumbs up. Terrific, thought Kanga, motoring along at a sedate 10 kilometres an hour. You could feel the relief from all on the bus, it might take a little longer to get to their destinations but at least they where mobile, because if the bus had become stranded, the chances of survival were slim.
Tq30 appeared and Kanga felt a feeling of relief sweep over him. Using his short-wave radio to contact the gatekeepers he applied for permission to enter which was granted subject to the usual quarantine and travel document checks. He eased the bus into the reception compound and instructed the passengers to have all necessary documentation ready as the guards in this outpost did not have a sense of humour, the slightest sign of non compliance would be met with a tamer or cattle prod, then you could explain yourself to a military appointed tribunal.
The bus door slid open and rancid air filled everyone’s nostrils. “Everybody out” instructed the officer in charge. The passengers filed out in an orderly manner only to herded into a small holding cell, and then the officer in charge entered the bus. He cast his gaze at the luggage area and decided that some of goons should have a closer look. The thought of this made Kanga seethe as all baggage and freight was thoroughly checked prior to departure and he knew that they would make one hell of a mess, steal what they wanted and then leave. “Sit in that seat and don’t move!” Kanga sat in the driver’s seat and laid the seat back. He could see a young girl in the command post training what looked like an assault rifle on him and wondered if life would ever become enjoyable again.
Here was a generation of kids running around with weapons and distrust in their eyes not knowing what it used to be like, the freedom to go anywhere anytime you liked. Back then, most people had a car and lived in their own home, the great Australian dream in other words.
“Any complaints with our inspection?” snapped Kanga back to reality; he had been daydreaming while the so called inspection was taking place. “No, not at all” was the reply. “Good then, sign here old man and don’t forget what I said, fix it before sundown or it will be impounded and forfeited!” as Kanga signed the documents that were thrust in his face by this arrogant little boy. It was nearly too much for kanga to take. Oh how he would like to plant his size nine boot where the sun doesn’t shine! The smirk on his face said it all.
Apparently one of the goons had taken offence to the audacity shown by Kanga, slamming the butt of his rifle into Kanga’s head knocking him senseless. He was taken away for interrogation or worse. He woke to find himself in a cell surrounded by the passengers, his head throbbing; he couldn’t help but notice Caz was in the cell too. All things aside, this was not going to be a good day by the look of things.
That night three inhabitants of Tq30 were brought in to the cells. Upon learning of what had befallen the travellers, one of the three decided to speak, he introduced himself as Lupercus Moondragon a highly respected shaman and healer. He had been imprisoned along with two others on charges of treason. He told of how life in Tq30 had changed for the worse. The guards who were supposed to protect the place had decided to take over and run the town they way they wanted disposing of anybody that dared challenge their authority.
After listening to the stories of Lupercus, Kanga realized that they were in deep shit somehow, he wasn’t quite sure how, but he had a responsibility to his passengers and crewman to get them out of this predicament. Lying on the hard floor he was pondering what course of action to take when a guard appeared at the cell door demanding to have Kanga accompany him, the cell door slammed shut; they all waited in hushed silence for his return.
Morning came and went, the day dragged on; it was stifling in the cell. Some of the people having already succumbed to the conditions had been taken by the guards, presumably to the infirmary. It was well into the night when the door opened and Kanga was pushed in looking a bit worse for wear. He proceeded to explain the situation to a stunned audience. None of them would leave, at least not the way that they expected unless he handed over the codes for the bus. It was just a useless piece of scrap metal without them. This bought them some time. Kanga was no fool, he knew he had something to bargain with; he realized that to hand over the codes now would most certainly mean they would all perish as dead men tell no tales. What was needed was a carefully thought out plan of attack.
The guards appeared at the door, only this time it was not Kanga they wanted. Taking four of the passengers they left ignoring pleas for water and food as the door slammed shut, sending a shiver down his spine. Kanga, CASs and Lupercus sat in a corner discussing their plan when the door again burst open and another four passengers were ordered to accompany the guards, this time the head guard pointed his dirty fingers at the three in the corner saying to them “the codes old man or we will take another four every hour. Understand we mean business!” When queried as to what fate awaits the passengers the guards lips quivered as his face contorted into an evil grin, “you have no doubt heard of the Tarpon?!”
Kanga did not have to reply, the shocked look on his face said it all as the guard spinning on his heels dealt a sickening blow to one of the passengers who dared to look at him. Coward, thought Kanga, typical of scum like that. If the tables were turned and he hoped somehow to achieve this, these so called guards who thought themselves tough guys would most probably be nothing more than snivelling cowards. “Alright” he said “I will give you the codes, but what of my crew and passengers?” he asked. “You will be left here to fend for yourselves” was the reply. This did not seem like a very good deal, but given the circumstances he wasn’t in a position to argue. “Ok take me to the bus and I will show you how to activate the codes.” The four passengers were told to sit in a separate holding cell near the entrance gates.
Entering the bus Kanga felt anger at being pushed and prodded by the bastards. He showed them the codes and the procedure to activate the hydrogen fuel cells. Happy with their little victory, a couple of guards stayed to monitor the system. Kanga was escorted back to his cell. Noting the four passengers were still in the holding cell, he managed a weak smile as he was marched along the corridor. Lupercus grabbing Kanga by the arm said to him “did you really give them control of the bus.” “Yes” was the reply. Shocked he said, “You will be court martial led for that.”
Kanga nodded saying he had to get out of here first, then he would face the consequences. Within the hour the guards had filled the bus with supplies and having built up sufficient fuel reserves they opened the gates and drove out into the searing heat oblivious to the fact that this was going to be the last journey they would ever take. While kanga had been in the bus he had managed to slip his particle generator into his pocket, the guards being to busy to notice.
Blasting the locking mechanism on the cell door, they tasted freedom. Kanga went to the holding cell and released four of the passengers. Lupercus went to the reception area and closed the gates. Once shut he disabled the gate opening mechanism, they were now sealed in. Kanga queried his actions. Lupercus said that if any of the people were sympathetic to the guards they may just try and join them, disabling the main gate meant that the few vehicles that were stored underground would remain here in Tq30.
It was fairly common knowledge that in the early days of settlement, a wide range of vehicles had been stored in air tight shipping containers underneath the city, along with large quantities of fuel, mining equipment and explosives. Lupercus reminded Kanga that Tq30 had once been the largest gold mining city in the Australia. Kanga‘S mind wandered for a moment, then he remembered, it was called Ballarat and yes the whole city was built on top of gold mines!
After securing the compound Lupercus was able to ascertain that the first four passengers that were taken by the guards were still alive. The guards in their haste to escape had forgotten about them. Although quite visibly upset they were relieved at not being fed to the Tarpon, the question now was what would the reaction be from the tarpon now that they had been done out of a meal. Apparently the guards had been feeding them prisoners to appease their craving in return for safe passage in the underground caverns; their searching of the caverns had proved fruitless so theoretically they had not found the storage areas.
Lupercus called a meeting of the town elders. Meanwhile Kanga, Caz and all the passengers where treated to a feast wine song and much merriment. The people of Tq30 apologized for the treatment that had been thrust upon them by the renegade guards and recounted tales of abuse and tyranny and how they were powerless to stop it. As so much as a sideways glance or murmur and you would surely disappear. The leader of the renegades, Jonas he called himself, had been a Landscape Gardener prior to coming to Tq30 and had risen through the ranks rather swiftly. In hindsight it seemed quite clear that his sudden rise was not based on ability but on cunning, the slightest doubt of allegiance by one of his troops was dealt with most ruthlessly. Kanga sat motionless listening to what was being said, although his thoughts were on his bus he did not want to say too much for fear of sympathetic ears. The night wore on into the wee hours; he and Caz excused themselves and went to find their accommodation. After showering he lay on the bed and closed his eyes although his brain was still going a hundred miles an hour he told himself everything will turn out fine and with that thought he drifted off to sleep.
He awoke to the sound of knocking on the door, “come!” said him. The door opened and in came a swarm of people, Lupercus was trying to keep them calm saying “please citizens, you will all get your chance. Give these men some privacy please!” the chatter abated somewhat. One lady approached holding out her arms, she had garments draped over them. “Please take your pick, these are the finest garments I have and you are welcome to take what you like.” Somewhat amused by all the fuss, Kanga and Caz agreed and where duly measured and fitted. These were indeed fine garments! The likes of which he had not seen for many a year. The old lady and her husband had once owned a clothing store and she had kept the stock in airtight storage for years not telling a soul for fear she would be robbed. One day she hoped things would return to normal. She said to Kanga and Caz that according to the buzz around here that they were heroes and she thought that they should be dressed in a manner befitting. Kanga was about to try and dispel these rumours when he noticed a tear in the old ladies eyes and decided that a bit of discretion might be called for in dealing with this situation. He smiled at her and thanked her for her kindness as Caz and himself had left all their possessions in the bus.
Lupercus interrupted with a smile on his face, “when you two shop dummies are ready we have some serious business to attend to.” Thanking the old lady again, Kanga stood up and noticed a shooting pain in his legs and lower back. Lupercus asked if he was alright and he said that sleeping in a proper bed was something that he had not done since his wife perished over ten years ago. He and Caz had made the bus home as they both had no family or home to go to and had taken turns sleeping on a bunk at the back of the bus so that one of them was always awake. This they attributed to their success in not having been robbed or killed, they had seen others perish over the years largely due to complacency on their part. You could never be sure who was watching them on their journeys maybe just waiting for a chance to jump them and take control.
Lupercus listened intently and came to the conclusion that these were no ordinary transport operators but two minds working as one. He asked if they would like to accompany him to the assembly hall now that they had rested and had been given breakfast and new clothes. “Certainly!” was the reply. The assembly hall was empty; Lupercus summoned the two of them to follow him. Lupercus reached under the Lectern for a moment then said “quick this way” going through a side door. Stage right behind the proscenium he again reached only this time he laid his palm flat against the wall and a rather large broom closet slid sideways revealing an entrance to what looked like a tunnel. “Follow me now quickly and watch your head,” crouched over they scurried along in the inky black darkness, the only source of light, a candle that Lupercus swung almost nonchalantly above his head.
When he stopped Kanga thought this is all getting fairly bizarre. Yesterday he was sitting in his bus doing his job which he liked, today he was somewhere underneath a city with a person he didn’t know and wasn’t really sure he could trust, but then again neither he nor Caz had much choice. Lupercus again placed his palm on the wall of the tunnel and a portal opened. Punching a code into the keypad there was a clicking sound then a door slid open to reveal a staircase; they entered and proceeded to descend the stairs coming to a landing. Lupercus spoke these words “IN NOMINE PAX” there was a whir and a click. Lupercus turned to the two bewildered men and said “Gentleman, welcome to my home and come in peace.” The three men entered, the door sliding shut behind them. Lupercus clapped his hands and the lights came on. To their amazement the room was dazzlingly bright. Lupercus explained that there eyes would adjust in a few minutes in the meantime “please take a seat and have a cool drink.” Sitting down both Kanga and Caz looked around in awe; they just couldn’t believe what they were seeing. This place looked for all the world like a NASA control room. Lupercus laughed, “close” said Lupercus “it was actually a satellite tracking station built by the Australian Government, so secret was it that only a handful of people knew of its existence when the nuclear bombs were dropped.” All records of the place had been destroyed. Lupercus stated that there where only two people in Tq30 that knew about it, himself and that dear little old lady that had given them the clothes. Her husband had been one of the operatives. His clothing business was just a front and no one had ever suspected them or Lupercus for that matter. The guards had thought that he was just a harmless old hippie until recently when he had voiced his opinion a little too strongly and had come to the attention of Jonas.
Kanga pointed to the vast array of computers and asked “do any of them work?” “yes all of them in fact” replied Lupercus, “and what would you like to have a look at?” Kanga thought for a moment and said, “I thought that all the satellites had been wiped out?” “Not so my friend, only some of the domestic ones were affected, the military satellites are still up and running.” “So how come radio transmitter television and the like don’t work anymore?” “Well, they would, except the military block those wavelengths on purpose so as to keep the population ignorant. That way they have full control.” Kanga went on to explain the plasma sensors and radar on the bus had a very limited range, no more than about ten kilometres at best. “What you fail to realize Kanga, is that the military supplied that equipment to you and if you were to look inside you would find that compression devices had been fitted.” Kanga said that he had never looked inside any of the equipment as it had tamper proof seals fitted to the covers and to remove those seals would have resulted in a court marshal. “Exactly” said Lupercus, the military has everyone bluffed, “Come take a look at this!” Lupercus kicked one of the computers into life. What they saw on the screen shocked Kanga and Caz into a reality check, it was an Elvis movie. Apparently the top brass had their own private movie network, not only that, but the Internet was still their for those with the right security clearances. Kanga’s blood boiled, rotten bastards he thought! It took quite a while and a bottle or two of very fine wine that Lupercus had stashed in his underground hideaway to calm his mind. It had been a long time between drinks as alcohol was strictly forbidden in the new regime. Caz didn’t really say much most of the time, after his wife disappeared he had lost the will to live. It had been his long time friend Kanga that had persuaded him to come on the bus promising him that in every town that they visited they would not leave a stone unturned in the search for their loved ones.
Kanga cussed out loud “rotten bastards you gonna die. Lupercus?” he asked “can you track a vehicle?” “Yes” he said “which one?” “My bus, I would like to know where those thieving bastards think they are going in my bus, can you give me the digital signature of the transponder Kanga?” “Yes and I can also give you the code for the main computer if that’s any help.” Lupercus with his bloodshot eyes staggered over to the computer console and started punching buttons. He said “I wondered if I would ever find a use for this equipment again, did I tell you that I designed most of the software for this system?!” Caz blurted “I was a software developer too!” “Really?” said Lupercus, “well come over here and make yourself useful.” His eyes lit up like a child on Christmas day. Lupercus and Caz sat next to each other and engaged in what can only be described as Geek speak.
Kanga was feeling quite warm and fuzzy, “may I indulge in another bottle of wine?” “Certainly” said Lupercus “I haven’t had this much fun in years.” Noticing an old guitar leaning against the wall Kanga picked it up and strummed it lightly, it was in tune, what a bonus! He thought. He hadn’t played in years, the combination of alcohol and good company saw him singing and playing songs from a time when the world was a nice place. The gnarly gray haired old bus driver sang of love and emotions much to the amazement of Lupercus. After a couple of songs Caz said “old mate I never thought I would hear you play again!” Caz told Lupercus that Kanga in his younger days, he had been quite a successful singer songwriter and had played in a couple of bands; unfortunately music was another thing that was banned nowadays.
“Kanga I think we have found your bus.” “Very good” he said “where is it?” Lupercus entered the co ordinates: “Silo 12” He said, “I might just double check that.” Sure enough that’s where it is all right. “What’s in Silo 12?” Asked Kanga. Lupercus replied that silo 12 had been a storage depot for aircraft “that is very interesting!” Caz said “I’m into the mainframe what now?” “Have a look if there are any correspondences.” Caz downloaded all recent messages.
“Attention: -
Unauthorized use of this vehicle has been detected and is punishable in accordance with the agenda of unilateral agreement pursuant to and otherwise agreed upon. All persons until further are under arrest and must remain in the vehicle any attempt to exit will activate the anti terrorist self-destruct mechanism.”
Kanga fell back in the chair, now they really were in deep shit, and then Caz said “I’ve an idea! What we can do is send a bogus message saying that we have been kidnapped and are being held against our wishes. With a bit of luck someone on the bus might try to escape and kaboom! No trace! We can disappear with complete anonymity!” “Sounds good to me Caz, the other option is to face a court martial and I for one don’t fancy that at all.” Lupercus and Caz set about the task with all the enthusiasm of a hacker which was basically what they were doing. Kanga asked if the message could be traced back to here. They assured him that it could not. “Good” he said “when you have sent the message can you check to see if it has been sent to control?” “Yes we can do that!” “Excellent! Then I want you to send this code when you are satisfied that control has received our distress message.” He handed a scribbled line of code to Caz. Caz looked at it and asked “what is it for?” “It is the destruct code and will take effect in ten seconds of being loaded.” Caz looked at him and said “are you serious?” “Yes I am!” was the reply “those bastards on the bus don’t deserve to live and as long as control thinks that we perished along with them that puts an end to our problem. As far as our passengers know we left them behind, no one knows we are here Caz” His face suddenly bursting into a great big grin and said “I think I’m going like it here” with that, he entered the code. Sure enough approximately ten seconds later the buses transponder ceased transmitting. Lupercus said “ok, that’s enough fun for one day, let’s turn these computers off.” As they began shutting down the movie channel was interrupted, a special bulletin appeared:-
“ATTENTION ALL PERSSONEL
SECTOR 12
EMERGENCY CLEANUP CREW REQUIRED REPORT IMMEDIATELY
End transmission”
The silence in the room was deafening some things are better left unsaid thought Kanga. Eventually Lupercus spoke much to the relief of the other two. “How would you like a feast of fresh vegetables and chicken?” A look of disbelief came over them. “How is that possible?” asked Kanga. Lupercus stated that this installation was capable of sustaining two hundred &fifty personnel indefinitely in the event of a nuclear attack with Hydroponics gardens, livestock pens, bio mass water filtration, and methane collectors. Nothing was wasted, all excess produce and waste went into the methane pit and the gas was collected and used to run a generator which supplied the Electricity to run all the equipment a self sustaining environment which is fully automated. About the only thing that required human intervention was collecting the eggs from the layers, “your joking aren’t you?” they exclaimed, “On the contrary come and have a look.” was the reply. The three men entered yet another air lock with heavy steel doors and digital keypads the doors slid open to reveal a room which had rows of fluorescent lights. Once their eyes had adjusted, Kanga and Caz noticed that the lights were mounted in what looked like shelves that reached all they way to the top of the chamber some ten meters. The length of the shelving was approximately one hundred meters so they were told by Lupercus. The approximate yield per year was in excess of two hundred tonnes of fresh produce; most of the growing beds were now shut down. Lupercus had only kept enough of the place running to keep the poultry alive and enough to keep the batteries charged as the workload of keeping the place running at full capacity was futile at present and as this would have meant introducing outsiders to help him run the installation. He thought it better not to choose that course of action. Next was the poultry pens, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing, rows upon rows of clucking chickens! Lupercus said he didn’t have the heart to dispense with the chooks. However the end result meant that tonnes of eggs were wasted as they were collected automatically now and sent straight to the methane pit, and yet people were going hungry in the compound, but to distribute the eggs meant blowing his cover and that was something that he could never do.
The three of them sat down to a fine meal of fresh vegetables and chicken, with Pavlova for dessert. After dinner, the talk became a little bit more serious. Lupercus wanted to know just what Kanga and Caz had in mind as to there future. Solemnly, Kanga spoke of great cynicism towards the Military and life in general. Caz nodded in silent agreement, turning to Lupercus they asked what he thought they should do as for all purpose and intent they no longer existed. “Well now that you mentioned it, I do have some ideas; the only thing is you have to understand that to contact anybody from your past will be fatal. You can’t come back from the dead and not arouse suspicion.” They both agreed on that and as far as they knew neither of them had any family so this was not an obstacle. “Good!” said Lupercus “don’t get me wrong, I think it sad that you two don’t have any family, but in a way it is for the better. Because if you did the military would have them in custody by now interrogating them just to make sure you didn’t stage the whole thing.” The cleanup crew he assured them would be at the site of the explosion by now looking for evidence of foul play. With a bit of luck they would not do DNA samples of every bit of tissue and bone that they found.
Kanga said that the detonation device was designed as an incendiary device combined with the anaesthetic canister, the cleanup crew would not find much at all. Lupercus had never heard of anaesthetic being used on a bus before. Caz grinned from ear to ear. He had found a stockpile of gas cylinders while treasure hunting one day. That was the good part of being on a bus crew, they were allowed access to places that civilians weren’t and not too many questions were asked anyway. While moving refugees from down south in the face of rising floodwaters, Caz was able to explore a disused hospital and had managed to acquire lots of equipment which he disassembled for the lasers and other components and the anaesthetic of course which he installed in the bus as a way of controlling unruly behaviour. It worked a treat he assured Lupercus. Introducing it through the ventilation system was Cazza’s idea of course; he had a sick sense of humour as Kanga knew only to well. Cazza’s eyes were glazed and he was quite agitated. Lupercus and Kanga didn’t know what to make of this sudden outburst as Caz usually didn’t say much at all. Kanga asked Caz if he was all right and Caz assured him he was fine, and then he dropped the punch line on them. Once the detonation device had been triggered, anaesthetic would automatically be pumped into the passenger compartments of the bus. Only those in the crew quarters and driving compartments would be unaffected. By the time that they realized what was happening it would be too late to do anything about it as took hours for the effect to wear off. The passengers in the compartments would still be conscious as to what was happening but would unable to do anything as that type of anaesthetic was a muscle relaxant and did not affect the nervous system. As a special treat the ten seconds of the countdown was automatically broadcast over the intercom. Those in the driver and crew quarters could watch the anaesthetic ignite five seconds before the main explosion and ponder the error of their ways.
NEXT
CHAPTER TWO
Lupercus called a meeting of the town elders knowing fully that whatever was said would be reported to the military before sunrise, he was not a fool! There where military sympathizers here in this town and to deny it would be deluding oneself. With this in mind he prepared a speech that in effect would no doubt raise a few eyebrows and even set the cat amongst the pigeons so to speak, hopefully flushing out all the military sympathizers and other undesirable elements. He explained to Kanga and Caz that they must remain hidden. Their presence in the town would have been reported no doubt, the subsequent hijacking of there bus was conducted by renegade militia who were vaporized and now unfortunately not able to give any evidence. So for all purpose and intent Kanga and Caz did not officially exist and were able to assist in the campaign for independence of TQ30 and other towns that were being run by corrupt influences.
The special meeting of town elders went ahead as planned. What the delegates didn’t know was that they were being watched. Kanga and Caz were thoroughly enjoying this new life of theirs. Caz had given a communicator to Lupercus; it was about the size of a match head and was placed just inside his ear. Apart from eavesdropping on conversations that were held outside of the meeting hall it was also a locating device so that he could be tracked wherever he went. What seemed like hours after the meeting had finished, Lupercus entered the underground command center with a great big smile on his face. “Did you see the looks on there faces when I proposed my plan of independence?” “Yes” they exclaimed, “it was a sight to behold.” Although Caz had a bit of bad news shortly after the meeting, he intercepted an outgoing transmission from somewhere inside the town. He assured Lupercus that the message had been successfully scrambled and then went on to say that whoever sent the message only had basic knowledge as an expert would have picked the scramble up straight away. The difference in radio interference and scrambling had a completely different signature and so if they tried to send a transmission again Caz would have to use a different tactic to avoid raising suspicion, only this time he would be ready for them. He only needed five seconds to triangulate the co ordinates and hey presto! He would have the exact location.
The days dragged on into months. Caz kept himself busy with running system checks on the mass of computers that were installed there. Even though the equipment had been shutdown for quite some time everything appeared to be functioning correctly. What he really wanted to do was go online and see how many satellites were still functioning. Lupercus was a bit apprehensive about this as it could lead to them being discovered. The only reason he had kept offline for so long was that if this complex was discovered it would surely mean the end of the town as the military would stop short of nothing to either take it over or shut them down. After much debate it was decided that Caz would hack into another computer and use it as a proxy a standard hacking technique, this would certainly gain the attention of the military but to no avail. By the time they got suspicious, he would have already executed a virus to wipe the hard drives of any computer that they used to access it. Writing codes to develop viruses and worms was something he had played around with as a teenager. Like most of his friends at the time, they bragged to each other how many systems they could crash in a weekend, then the anti virus companies would come up with countermeasure that only served to make the hackers more determined to write something a bit more complex and so the game went.
Lupercus wanted to know if Caz could develop a plan of attack using the equipment that was available and if they should be discovered what was the worst case scenario.
Caz said he would get right on to it. Kanga asked what he could do to help. Lupercus smiled and said “come with me,” they went to the hydroponics room. “Do you think you could get these growing trays up and running to full capacity?” Kanga nodded, “just show me how it works and where everything is and I will make it work.” Ok” said Lupercus “there is a control room in it. You will find all that you need.” They opened the door to the control room, it smelt a bit musty as it hadn’t been used for quite some time and proceeded to start the air conditioning system. When it was operating, Lupercus explained the whole growing cycle was controlled by computer, the only human intervention required was to make sure that there were no leaks as the system had been idle. There would probably be a few seals that had perished, that didn’t seem to be a big problem he thought, I can do that easily sitting in the control room. Looking around he thought ok, let’s get this show on the road. The computers started humming and the display panels sprang into life. So far so good. It would take about a week to get the system running at full speed. Lupercus said that this was ok as it would take him that long at least to recruit others to join them. He estimated it would take at eight people to run the complex for a start and twenty five in the final stage. Kanga inquired as to why twenty five people would be needed seeing as the place was virtually run by computers. Lupercus said he had yet another surprise for Kanga and Caz and that he’d show them the rest of the complex if they liked.
The elevator was a bit of a surprise. Lupercus said that he hadn’t used it because the amount of power required for its use placed a strain on the system in the mode that he had been operating in. However now that the system was being brought back up to online status, apart from the elevators, there was battery powered golf buggies and a other few mod cons at their disposal, such as a bowling alley, movie theatre, and bar complete with poker machines. This information stunned the pair. What was the government of the day thinking when they designed and built this place? Lupercus explained that it was designed as a refuge for the elite. Its purpose was two fold. It could be used as a military command post and a self contained city, it even had a hospital complete with state of art operating facilities. Arriving at level two, Lupercus entered the required code. The blast proof doors silently slid open revealing an inky black darkness. “Wait just a minute or so until your eyes adjust,” said Lupercus. Then the trio walked into the blackness, they walked in silence only the sound of their boots could be heard on the concrete floor. “I would like turn on the lights but we don’t have enough power in reserve for that.” Then they came to another door, the glow of a digital keypad broke the darkness, entering a code it too slid open to reveal more darkness. Lupercus said “wait here I will return with a vehicle,” it was very eerie to say the least. Kanga said to Caz “I hope Lupercus doesn’t walk into something and knock himself out as we would never be able to find our way out of here,” then there was a deafening roar. A single beam of light cut through the darkness like a knife, the sound got closer and the light was pointed straight at them. Kanga was starting to feel like a rabbit being hunted with a spotlight when Lupercus came to a screeching halt at their feet sitting astride a dusty old Harley Davidson with sidecar. “Jump on” he said and “we can use this to get around on until there is sufficient power to charge the batteries on the electric buggies,” and off they went, mile after mile of corridors and huge caverns filled to overflowing with every conceivable item of man made consumer goods and military hardware. Lupercus said that the military had a policy that dated back to the first world war of keeping enough supplies to outfit all of their regiments twice over in the event of war, in case that the factories were destroyed. This was not the only storage facility of this magnitude in Australia, but one of three, one at Ularu in the Northern Territory, and the other is at Parkes New south Wales. The general public had known for years about the satellite tracking station at Parkes due to the fact it been used to track the space craft of the early moon missions there was even a movie based on that starring Sam Neil.
The old Harley bellowed, the sound of its echo resounding off the walls of the communication tunnels. They are lined with sound deadening baffles but there was no mistaking the throaty rumble as they cruised through seemingly endless tunnels and storage areas eventually arriving back at the elevator from where they had entered this labyrinth. Caz remarked that he had wanted to own a Harley Davidson as a boy but between studying and marrying at a young age; his wife and he had put all their energy and money into buying their first home so that they would not be caught in the rent trap like some people. After paying off the house, they would buy the toys. He had still wanted that shiny black Harley, and Jill his wife wanted a red Porsche. When that fateful day came, he could still see it plain as day, his computer screen had gone blank, then he overheard others in the office saying that the terminals were dead. Thinking that it was just a power out he decided to take the back stairs down into the outside parking lot and have a cigarette as it would take at least half an hour for the system to come online after the power was restored. Sitting in his car he suddenly realized there was nothing on the radio it was dead, he then tried to start the car it was dead as well. Walking out of the parking lot he noticed that nothing was moving, all the vehicles were stopped a sense of dread and foreboding overcame him. People were walking and running all around him there was a sense of panic in the air. What of his wife? She worked in the heart of the city. Was she alright, where was she? He didn’t really know what to do, and then he remembered the fold up pushbike in the trunk of his car. Cycling as fast as he could he headed into the city, wave after wave of terror stricken people surged towards him then he was knocked off the bike. Someone quickly grabbed it and that was last thing he remembered before lapsing into unconsciousness and then waking up to find he had been robbed and dumped in the river. Every bit of clothing, even his watch was gone. He hid in the bushes beside the river until dusk, then cautiously he emerged, feeling very confused as to what was happening. He realized that he was very cold. He heard singing and crept quietly as he could towards the source, there was a couple of old wino’s sitting beside a Smokey fire. He came into view, one of the wino’s spoke “what do you want old mate? We have nothing of value if you are thinking of rolling us.” “No” he said “I am cold, please help me, I don’t know who I am or where I’m from and my head hurts.” Touching the side of his head, he could feel the sticky warmth of something running down his cheek. Two wino’s looked at each other and laughed and said “join the club, here have a drink.” Reaching out he took the bottle and drank deeply, feeling a warm surge through his veins then he began to shiver. Nausea overcame him, then one of the wino’s spoke, “that is a nasty cut on your head; you really should wrap it with something.” With that, he produced an old bootlace and a filthy old rag, and pours a bit of the wine on the cloth, then gently places it against Caz’s head. “Now hold still, we will have you patched up in no time mate.” The other wino pulled a crinkled up garbage bag from his pocket, “here put this on, it will stop the wind, you don’t want to get hypothermia. It’s my raincoat but it will do till morning then you can go and find something to wear.”
Morning came round all too soon. Caz’s head still hurt; at least the bleeding seemed to have stopped. He got up and started walking, not knowing where to, he just walked the streets aimlessly. Wandering through the parkland along the river, he wondered why everything looked vaguely familiar and yet he seemed to be lost. Then he heard voices shouting at him not sure as to what was going on he stood frozen as the men in army uniforms questioned him it was then he realized that he didn’t even know who he was. It had taken months of hospitalization before his memory returned, by that time surrounded with all the confusion he had given up hope of finding his wife. The area of the city where she had worked had taken a direct hit and many thousands of people had perished. There had not been enough time or resources to look for survivors as the sea levels rose at an alarming rate causing mass evacuations of coastal areas. People could only take what they could carry on their back, because of electronic disturbance from the nuclear explosions the only form of transport was unbelievably, trains hauled by steam engines. All the old Loco’s that had been mothballed and used mainly for excursions and tourist trains had been commandeered and formed the backbone of the great exodus inland.
Stepping into the elevator Lupercus said to Caz that any time he wanted to take the old Harley for a spin he was more than welcome. As soon as they had the generators up and running there would be plenty of light and ventilation down in the storage areas, besides, it would not hurt for both he and Kanga to familiarize themselves with the layout of the complex. “There are crates of Motorcycles down here if you look in the inventory files, choose whatever you like, all that’s needed is some fuel and oil and a bit of air in the tires and they are ready to go.” The old fashion technology of magneto ignition on the Harley’s means that theoretically you could use one on the surface without worrying about electrical interference. The low compression ratio of the engine is suitable for running on ethanol, a product of the sugar beet crops produced in the hydroponics growing shed no6. Kanga inquired as to how many growing sheds are there. “Twelve in all,” Lupercus replied, “now I think you are starting to get the picture as to why I had to shut the place down, I could not run it by myself.”
Caz busied himself with the computers while Kanga inspected miles upon miles of pipes, pumps, control panels, shut off valves fire suppression equipment and the like. It really did not feel like six months had passed since their arrival, but it was to the day, Lupercus informed them. Meanwhile he had doing a bit of work himself using a network of trusted allies, managing to recruit some people that could be of value and wondering what the other two thought of his plan. “Excellent!” they replied, “What skills do these people have?” “I have selected mainly on character type as it all very well to have an expert on whatever down here, but if he or she cannot cope with the isolation then they are of no use whatsoever, do we agree on this?” Kanga and Caz nodded in agreement. “When do we get to meet them Lupercus?” they asked. “I will bring them down one at a time over the next few weeks,” he replies.
Caz wasted no time. Deep down he really did want to get out of here and breathe fresh air, feel the warmth of sunlight. If everything went to plan then the reality was achievable. He perused the inventories of this place, it was amazing whoever planned and designed all this had left no stone unturned. There were shipping containers full of dried foodstuffs, vehicles of all shapes and sizes, office equipment furnishings and so on.
What originally had been an office on level two, Caz refurbished as a private little getaway for him complete with all the trappings He had a vehicle for everyday of the week and seven Harley’s just in case he felt like feeling a bit of wind in his face. He laughed to himself about the absurdity of having so many vehicles at his disposal as you can only use one at a time; however, there was a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach called loneliness.
The complex was running smoothly. Lupercus had achieved a great deal in a short amount of time especially now that the computer systems were operating apart from a few minor glitches. Caz had been able to access the main database. Sifting through massive amounts of Data he had found security clearance codes, gaining the access codes for the blast doors was an important breakthrough to the success of this adventure because up until now they had been restricted to the first three levels.
Although Lupercus had played a major role in designing and building this complex, his influence only extended so far, the lower levels had been controlled by his old friend who had died a couple of years back and had taken the secrets of the lower levels with him.
Caz contacted Lupercus and it was decided that Caz would take a crew to level four and have a look. In the meantime, Caz went about busying himself getting into the computer system of level four. If he could get the air conditioning and security cameras working it would make the job a lot easier. One of the perks of having set up his own work space on level two was that he would not be interrupted, plus he had full access to the liquor supply. He calculated that if drank a bottle of spirits a day it would take about two lifetimes to get through it. After many hours of trying to hack into level, four he gave up. The computer system down there was locked up with a degree of security that he had never come across, or it had been sabotaged. He sat back and gave some thought to this scenario. If it had been sabotaged, then by whom, and if so, what would they find upon opening it up, or if the encryption level of their security system was so high that even he could not get in with the proper access codes, just what were they hiding and from whom?
Fuelled by curiosity and alcohol, he kicked the super glide into life and went to find out, roaring along through the tunnel. He liked the way that the sound of the big vee twin reverberated off the walls and the air rushing past his face felt good even though it was somewhat musty arriving at level four blast door. His mind was spinning.
Lupercus had told him about the security feature of the blast doors, keeping this in mind he checked the contents of his rucksack satisfied that he had everything he needed. He entered the first code and the door started to open. As soon as there was, enough room to squeeze through he gunned the throttle and went wildly fishtailing into the darkness. Grabbing another gear he thought his heart would jump out it was beating that hard. At the second door, he wasted no time entering the ten-digit code. After what seemed like an eternity but was no more than a couple of seconds, he heard the metallic clunk of the locking pins retracting and the door started to move. That was all he needed to know, he jammed the Harley into gear and headed out leaving a trail of burnt rubber behind him. As he rounded the bend, the first door had started to close. Passing through the narrow gap at great speed, he breathed a sigh of relief, skids to a halt and turns to watch the door close. A feeling of relief that he was on this side, shutting down the Harley, he takes from his rucksack a bottle of rum and drinks long and hard. The adrenalin coursing through his veins mixed with the alcohol makes his head thump.
As to what lies behind those doors soon would no longer be a mystery. Lupercus had assembled a team of specialists for Caz to take on a reconnaissance mission. Caz wasted little time briefing the four men and two women on all that he knew even though he was reasonably sure Lupercus would have done his best to supply them with all the available information. After equipping the team with weapons vehicles and anything else that they might require the intrepid seven headed down to level four when the sound of the second blast door closed behind them, Caz felt a shiver run up his spine there was no turning back it was agreed that the vehicles would be left at this point until they were quite sure that no booby traps had been set inching along the dark tunnel in single file the forward scouts kept an eye on their infra red scanners for any signs.
Caz did not like wearing night vision goggles they made him feel claustrophobic so he undid his bootlace and tied it to the rucksack of the man in front of him letting him lead the way with Caz trotting along behind like a puppy on a leash this made for a bit of light hearted ridicule one of the team asked if he had remembered to bring his handbag Caz saw this as good team bonding if he could take a jibe and not take offence after what seemed like an eternity they arrived at the third and final door only to discover that the control panel was lifeless, Caz cursed under his breath all this effort only to turn back, Peter offered some information that stunned Caz, the blast doors circuitry was only twelve volts so theoretically if they could get some power to the control panel then they should be able to open the door Caz did not feel like trekking all the way back to the vehicles in the dark so he waited while the others went when they arrived back Caz already had the control panel cover off and was reasonably sure he had located the circuit that was required connecting a set of jumper leads from one of the vehicles he cautiously entered the code the door started to move then it stopped abruptly what they hadn’t bargained on was amount of power required to open the door taking the batteries out of all the vehicles
they quickly Jerry rig them all together and the door slid open effortlessly as soon as there was enough room to fit the vehicles he disconnected the batteries and they proceeded on foot one of the team members stayed behind to put the batteries back in the vehicles and make sure they would start when needed.
Caz had looked at some blueprints of the layout down here according to his calculations they were not far from a command post maybe a hundred meters at most it was so dark the you could not see your hand in front of your face shuffling along single file they finally reached the command post and entered the office area after a quick search for nasties it was agreed to bring the vehicles up, radioing to Steven he brought a humvee up to the command post picked the rest of the crew up and ran them back to their vehicles Caz scouted around the office area until he found the main control panel achieving this he set about deciphering the schematic layout diagram when they returned he had them bring the four fifty volt three phase generator up to the office door then they ran a heavy duty cable in to the control room in no time at all Caz had some lights working next on his list was the computers once they were online he would be able to tap into the main grid and power the whole level as there sure was a musty smell in the air he just hoped it wasn’t toxic Caz instructed the team to unpack all of the vehicles as this area would become their base once the vehicles were unpacked and everybody was inside he locked the door and issued instructions that no one was to leave this secure area until such time as he was satisfied that there was no nasty surprises down here as it had taken almost six hours for them to get here he decided that a well earned rest be taken for him that meant a bottle of rum something to eat and a bit of sleep the air conditioning unit hummed gently and the flicker of the neon lights lulled him off to sleep before he finished the bottle, a stew was being cooked it certainly did smell nice but sleep overcame him he felt exhausted the weeks leading up to this expedition were taking there toll on him and it showed he awoke with a sore back and a cramp in his legs he mused that chairs were not designed to sleep in he noticed that the rest of the team had made use of the beds and made a mental note to claim one for himself in front of him was a pannikin full of cold stew he looked at the congealed skin on top of it and decided that what was in the bottle would be far safer downing a couple of hefty swigs he shook his head and stomped his feet on the floor phew what a heart starter he thought, getting straight into work he set about resurrecting the computer system when something touched him on the shoulder his heart skipped a beat and he nearly leapt off the chair much to the amazement of Steven sorry he said I didn’t mean to scare you it’s quite alright said Caz it’s just that I’m not used to having company that’s all Steven went on to say that he could not sleep so could he be of any use noticing the cold stew he offered to heat it for Caz maybe there was a microwave oven in here somewhere and off he went returning about ten minutes later with a microwave oven and a big grin finding a power point he plugged it in and heated the stew Caz welcomed the steaming hot stew and readily gulped it down not realizing just how hungry he actually was until he tasted that first mouthful. Steven inquired as to whether it would be ok to explore the command post Caz thought for a moment and said if you only turn on one bank of lights at a time that will be ok we don’t have enough reserve power to light a whole floor with that in mind Steven set off Caz feeling warm and fuzzy after eating the stew returned to the task at hand by the time the rest of the team had woken up he had managed to boot the main computer and was in the process of gaining access to the network after a few failed attempts he succeeded one by one he brought the operating systems online then the utilities finally the security system, informing the team of his success he proudly announced that they would be able to have a hot shower and even watch a bit of television if they wished this broke the somber mood somewhat as everyone knew they weren’t down here to have a good time now that the systems were up and running it was time for them to go to work
Caz instructed each team to contact him every fifteen minutes regardless, he was reasonably sure the air quality would be satisfactory and reminded them to check there radiation and oxygen equipment. Two teams of three set off on their first foray into what was largely uncharted territory Caz waited he had powered the north access tunnel according to the information available this would lead to a submarine docking area the teams were to gain access to the control room and if possible set about getting the computer system in that area online this way Caz would have access to the whole level from the control room on level four the security system cameras were working and he watched the teams walking along the north tunnel progress was slow, as there was no point rushing into the unknown they were on there own down here any accident could be fatal it took the best part of an hour for them to reach the blast doors of level five entering the code the door dutifully slid open and the teams entered Caz watched the door close behind them and a tightness gripped his chest he hoped that this was not the last time he would see or hear from them as a rescue mission was out of the question, two hours then three drifted by, there radio’s were useless once that blast door closed as it was designed to keep out EMP (electro-magnetic pulses) and as radio signals fell into that category they really were on there own now a telephone started to ring Caz got such a fright he nearly fell off the chair where was the darn thing, he could here it but wasn’t quite sure just as to where it was coming from eventually he tracked it down on the wall near the entrance there it was a red phone with use in emergency only printed on a plaque underneath it, Tarrin the leader of team one announced that they had all arrived successfully at the control room of level five and just joking to the others had said he would ring you much to his surprise the phone actually worked nothing like a bit of old technology after all, Caz wanted to know if they were secure inside the control center Tarrin reported that three of the team members where checking all doors as he spoke, the other two were connecting the generator to the main bus line so they could have some light then they would start work on the computer system.
Caz sat back in his chair and accessed a computer on level two he had taken the liberty of recording just about CD he had found in the storage area on level two onto the hard drive of one of the computers, Black Sabbath Paranoid, seemed to be a fine choice cranking the computers speakers up to Max he sat back thinking of better times, however making the best of a bad time he demolished one bottle of rum and had started on another and was doing his best to drain that as well when Tarrin contacted him via the computer all systems were up and running on level five and he wanted to know whether the teams should split up and explore the level or wait until Lupercus had been advised.
Lupercus did not want the team knocking themselves out carrying large amounts of equipment in an oppressive environment
And it was his desire that after securing the control room a thorough search should be made of the computer records and crew’s quarters as there may be some evidence as to what transpired in a crew members diary, with a bit of luck any Emails that had been sent should still be in the outbox, the team of six set about there task with renewed vigour, the air conditioning system was operating although it would take some time to have any effect, until then they just had to put with the dank musty air during the next couple of hours snippet’s of information trickled forth then precisely what they had been looking for it had taken some time to break the encryption but it was certainly worth the effort a detailed running sheet and log of the day to day operations of level five, Caz read the running sheets in pure amazement apparently there is an Annexe to level five that even Lupercus did not know it existed.
It was also interesting to note that one of the mini subs had been launched from level five well after hostilities had begun seemingly without an objective, was it used as a means of escape or had it been commandeered by persons unknown time would tell, Steven the leader of the team requested two of the team members suit up and check the submarine holding pens thoroughly for anti personnel mines booby traps “oh and please do count how many subs we have left” what they found was to set the course of action immediately at the bottom of the holding pen lay the errant mini sub, attaching a steel lifting cable used for maintenance the sub was lifted onto the repair dock Steven lowered himself into the cramped confines of the air lock and released the hatch into the cockpit grasping his Pistol in one hand he entered and was repelled by a stench that meant only one thing someone was very deceased in there, donning his breathing apparatus he made another attempt and sure enough found not one corpse but six poor bastards he thought what a terrible way to go suffocated in a can in only 50 feet of water, Steven retrieved the log from the stricken vessel and left closing the hatch tightly as he didn’t want a stench like that wafting through the air conditioning, as he was downloading the mini sub log on to the computer in the control room he thought he heard some strange noises and decided to send two of the team to make a perimeter check, they would all feel at lot better when the security cameras where operating what he found in the log made him shudder.
Steven contacted Caz, we are not alone down here according what we have found there was genetic mutations running around willy nilly in the Annexe of level five, it was used as a experimental area by the military in there quest for the perfect warrior and apparently there had been a security breach, the six crew men we found in the mini sub had decided that they where not no going to stick around to see what the mutants were all about and had tried to escape as they knew if they tried to get out via the tunnels they were as good as dead seeing only one of them a technician had any idea how to pilot a sub that he should take command of one and they would make good their escape what they didn’t realize was that with six of them crammed in they had hopelessly overloaded the craft and it had gone straight to the bottom of the pen after releasing from it’s cradle in there panic the oxygen used by them would have exceeded the capability of the oxygen generator it would not have been able to keep up and as a result asphyxiation followed when the craft was found it was perched rather precariously on a rocky outcrop wedged between the pen wall and what looked like construction scaffolding that had been left behind by the engineers this had made escape by the emergency exit impossible and so they perished no doubt trying to free the craft right up until the power supply gave up and the air supply with it.
The two team members that Steven had dispatched had not reported in over an hour and he was starting to get a bit worried when there was a tapping sound on the glass observation panel in the main control room looking up from the computer screen he couldn’t believe what he was seeing he thought he must be losing his mind standing before him was a Tarpon he had seen pictures of them but had never been this close to a real one he turned the intercom on and spoke in an authorative manner hoping for a response from the Tarpon nothing happened and the two of them stared at each other Steven wondered what this half man half machine was thinking when he noticed that that the Tarpon had something dripping from beneath it’s hooded canopy he felt a chill run up his spine it was blood, the fate of the two team members that had not reported in became fairly obvious he moved his hand slowly toward the communication button and spoke into the microphone calling the other team members into the control room sweat was dripping off his brow and his throat was dry he wasn’t sure what to do next the crew came bursting into the room brandishing enough weaponry to wipe out a small army upon seeing this the Tarpon reacted lifting one of it’s tentacles Steven ordered his crew to drop there weapons to the floor the Tarpon reacted in a likewise manner lowering it’s tentacle.
What to do next Steven wondered, the four team members sat themselves down and quietly observed the Tarpon as Steve tried to contacted Caz when there was no response he noticed that he was sweating profusely and starting to tremble slowly he turned his head far enough to make eye contact with the crew and was pleased to see there weapons although on the floor were in easy reach if needed looking out of the corner of his eye he noticed the Tarpon was moving toward the control room they were all frozen in anticipation the Tarpon lifted a tentacle and placed it on the window to their astonishment it wrote the word help in the dust on the window ledge Steven grabbed a marker pen and wrote on the window how the Tarpons next reply was computer then it pointed to what looked like a communication socket under it’s hood, Pat was the quit one of the team he never spoke unless spoken to first, interrupting Steven, I think if we look around here there might be a cable that we can connect to the Tarpon pat offered to approach the Tarpon and ascertain what kind of cable was needed exactly Steven would not hear of it Pat again interrupted stating that if the Tarpon had wanted to kill us he could and would have done so by now Steven surmised that it was useless trying to argue against that kind of logic however he would have to consult Caz or Lupercus first he had already lost two members of the team and would have to answer for that he did not want anymore lives on his conscience Pat stubbornly argued that they were all equal down here and that Steven was not responsible for him, Steven thought to himself there is an old saying about watch out for the quit ones and it appeared Pat was a bit of a dark horse, inquiring of pat just as to what his specialty was and why he had been chosen by Lupercus for this mission Pat replied that his father had been a scientist attached to the medical unit that was responsible for the Tarpon project and as a bored kid living on a military base had nothing better to do in his leisure time so he routinely hacked into his fathers computer then came the day his father did not come home, he copied the entire contents of his fathers hard drive onto disks sealing them tightly in a container burying them where they lay undisturbed until he was sure that no one would come looking for them as shortly after his fathers disappearance the military police had come to their house questioning his entire family as to there knowledge of the fathers occupation and had removed all the computers software and every CD and cassette tape in the premises thereby verifying his belief that whatever his father had been involved in it was ultimately responsible for his demise.
Steven had not been successful in his attempts to contact Caz or Lupercus and so decided that if Pat went outside the protective area of the control room he did so at his own risk, as Pat exited the side door Steven inquired as to whether he might feel more comfortable with some protection motioning towards a cabinet on the wall Pat replied that approaching a Tarpon wearing a weapon would more than likely invite a hostile response besides the 44 Magnum that Steven was referring to would not stop a Tarpon, Pat walked slowly toward the Tarpon when he was within a few feet the Tarpon crouched down on it’s front tentacles like a Praying Mantis Pat felt a wave of relief come over himself, quickly as he could with shaking hands he observed that a standard network cable would do nicely relaying this information via the intercom to Steven one of the team went to the store and returned with a coil of network cable which they wasted no time in spooling out the door and connecting to the Tarpon as soon as the connection was established the Tarpon downloaded information at an astonishing rate, the complete history of the Tarpon experiments from day one until now was at their fingertips one piece of information that had not escaped Stevens gaze as it had been purposely highlighted the two missing team members were safe and had not been harmed the blood dripping from the Tarpon was actually a leaking valve Steven commented that the Tarpon must have read his mind concerning the safety of his team or had been able to listen in on what was being said almost instantaneously the reply came back that yes indeed the Tarpon was able to hear every word he was equipped with just about every military device ever produced including hearing capabilities so acute he could detect a footstep up to a mile away, the Tarpon introduced himself as Karris a one time pizza delivery driver who’s delivery van had been hit by a train his body smashed to pieces the surgeons at the hospital had removed his brain and kept it alive in a saline solution until such time as a military medical team had brought it here and implanted his brain into what you see a fully grown Tarpon the pride of scientists and engineers he went on to say he missed his family and knew he would never see them again however the other scenario which would have seen him buried did not appeal at all.
Steven was getting rather perturbed as he could not make contact with Caz or Lupercus. The location of the two missing team members was revealed to Steven and he dispatched one of the crew to go and let them out apparently Karris had locked them inside a service tunnel mainly for there own protection as some of the of the other Tarpon would not be approachable and would probably have to be terminated, if they had of fired upon Karris he would have had no option other than to protect himself that was the way he had been hardwired and there guns were no match for his Lasers and pulse canon he was glad it had not come to that Karris was not possessed by the same blood lust as some of the Tarpon he had been the first successful and fully operational Tarpon and so he was respected and feared by all the others as he knew more about them than they did of him however some time ago a group of six tarpon had failed to return from an above surface mission all contact was lost when the computers went offline and he did not know of their fate.
Steven was quick to inform Karris that the six Tarpon he was talking about had been holding the above ground population to ransom for a couple of years and had inflicted quite heavy mortality rates wherever and whenever they surfaced the human population where absolutely petrified of the Tarpon he also informed him that the security force that had been assigned by the government to look after TQ30 the town above had turned renegade and had been feeding the Tarpon inhabitants that they deemed expendable in a vain attempt at curbing the raids, Karris replied that his metabolism required no input whatsoever he had a reticulation system that the others did not because of the imminent threat of war the Tarpon building program had to be expedited so the Scientists started cutting corners on the premise that if they could get six to twelve months out of one unit the cost was justifiable to build others like Karris was not cost effective therefore the other units needed to feed on blood they also needed water and a power supply to recharge their Ni Cad power packs and run an internal dialysis machine as Karris had earlier explained he was fully reticulating although he required rest after long periods of activity he could function at maximum power for 12 hours after that his power levels drained quicker than he could recharge thus requiring a time of hibernation if no power supply was available, he had been manufactured in the hope his deployment in the middle east would help to find underground installations and track movements of troops it was possible for him to bury himself in the soft desert sand and wait indefinitely using his sonar and radar drained very little power and every 12 hours he would disseminate the data using an onboard computer and database then upload via satellite information collected during the preceding 12 hours which only took about 15 seconds so there was very little chance of being traced or detected his shell was constructed of carbon fibre so there was very little chance of metal detectors picking up a signal from him and as he was motionless motion detectors wouldn’t work either then a crucial piece of information leapt from the screen all Tarpon were fitted with transducers bingo thought Steven, now we have a means of finding the six deserters.
Karris ended the download and inquired as to whether the team would like to take a look at the laboratory were he had been created Steven said that he would send a team to take a look he picked four who had skills and specialities that he deemed suitable for the task, Pat the scientists son and The closest thing they had to an expert on Tarpon, Jessie was an ex SaS operative and weapons expert, Michael & Bridget computer scientists, Linguists anthropologist and team videographers, the thought of sending a team into what he considered enemy territory didn’t sit to well with Steven but he didn’t have much choice especially as Karris had been quite insistent that no weapons should be carried, weaponless the team of outsiders would not be considered a threat by the other Tarpon.
Steven sat in silence for a time not looking at the computer not thinking just staring into space, coffee yes coffee that’s what was needed after he and Peter drained a pot of old army ration coffee they laughed no wonder soldiers fight like men possessed that stuff was awful he tried again in vain to reach Caz and Lupercus, the network connection on Cazza’s computer was working overtime Lupercus thought it most strange that Caz had been absent from the computer for an extraordinary amount of time without an explanation, Steven was trying to make contact all in vain his messages went unanswered the screen flickered in the semi darkness, not knowing that Caz in his drunken stupor had tripped and fallen and was now unconscious with a fractured skull and a badly cut leg from falling on the empty bottle his vital fluids slowly seeping in to the dusty floor as Black Sabbath played on.
Lupercus & Kanga went to level two they were not sure of just what lay ahead arming themselves with experimental particle generators and laser guns that not even Caz knew existed as they were not officially listed as war stores and as such had not been included in the inventory, Lupercus commented that Caz must have had quite a fair amount of spare time to renovate the level two office area into what looked like a country and western bar complete with Harley’s parked out front Kanga said that he thought it
harmless, and leaving Caz down here by himself had paid off, Caz had almost single handedly undone a tangled network of passwords and codes that quite frankly Kanga and Lupercus had thought impossible to undo Lupercus had to agree he certainly was in the genius category when it came to computers so what if he liked to play music loud have a drink or seven and ride motorbikes like a maniac, Lupercus couldn’t help but notice the amount of burnt rubber on the tunnel floor leading to level four Kanga informed him that.
Caz liked to see how fast he could get from the office to the end of the tunnel and back Kanga had watched him roar through the storage area past the crates of machinery at over a hundred miles an hour only to grab the brakes at the last second coming to a screeching halt outside the office with a cheesy grin on his face and glazed eyes he had to said kanga what a blast have a go, Kanga had declined he knew what broken bones felt like and was in no hurry to tempt fate he knew it was only a matter of time and they would probably have to come down here and scrape what was left of Caz off the wall, poor Caz he thought he just could not get over losing his wife for the couple of years they had travelled in their bus Caz sometimes had bouts of melancholy.
Kanga didn’t find it too much of a drain on his emotions to help his friend in times like that as he was usually able to find a spark to ignite behind those glazed eyes and get his friend back on track again arriving at the blast door they entered the code and the door slid open they ventured to the level five door only to find the control panel had been tampered with they didn’t know what to make of this they could see the tyre tracks left behind by Cazza’s crew and wondered how did they get the door open turning back to level four Kanga inquired of Lupercus is the control room operational on level four yes was the reply but no one is there they are all down in level five as an afterthought Kanga said we should check the control room in level four there maybe a clue as to getting the door open or we may be able to make contact via the computer in there.
As I believe Caz and his team got the system functioning there before moving on Lupercus agreed that it was a good idea with there weapons drawn they cautiously entered the air lock everything appeared to be functioning perfectly exiting the air lock into the main control room they were faced with disbelief here was Caz semi conscious lying in pool of vomit and blood while Kanga tended to his friend Lupercus scouted around looking for whoever had done this he presently returned having not found any intruders only to discover the smashed bottle on the floor, Caz who was reasonably coherent by this time sat there slurring his words babbling about how sorry he was for letting everyone down Lupercus was furious but chose not to show it he assured Caz everything was all right and that he had not let anyone down the tears rolled down Cazza’s face then he passed out again.
Kanga picked his friend up and put him in the vehicle leaving Lupercus behind he drove through the lifeless tunnels back to level one and deposited Caz in the infirmary he informed the doctor that Caz was not to leave under any circumstances until Lupercus and he came back if he tried then restrain him in any manner you see fit he was effectively under arrest for being drunk on duty and abandoning his post putting the lives of team members in jeopardy.
Arriving back at level four Lupercus noticed Kanga’s mood and explained to him that he would not take any action against Caz, as they were both volunteers and what’s more they were only human people do make mistakes Kanga said Lupercus, I will help him any way I can he is a good man I can see that he is hurting inside and to proud to show it hence he shut himself away and tried to drown his sorrows and the motorbike stunts that was his way of letting out aggression and pent up frustration I wouldn’t mind putting a bet on after we talk to him he will admit to secretly desiring to end it all full speed full of booze into one of the blast doors only thing is something stopped him time and time again that is what we have to find out what stopped him.
Kanga felt a lot better knowing that Lupercus understood and had shown compassion, for most of the time he was rather cold and distant, now we have an understanding of that situation Kanga my friend said Lupercus, Kanga was slightly taken aback by that statement Lupercus had never referred to him as a friend and wondered why he was buttering him up, we will endeavour to get your friend back to full health just as soon as we deal with the current situation here have a look at this, Kanga perused the computer screen and asked Lupercus whether this was a joke by Steven and his crew Lupercus assured him it was not what they needed was a source of power to get the level five blast doors open apparently Steven had managed by hooking up the batteries of their vehicles as we have only one vehicle this means a trip back to level two and obtain a generator pity Caz was Laid up said Kanga he would know exactly were the generators were stored that’s not a problem Kanga, said Lupercus.
I did that while waiting for you and gave him the location scribbled on a note pad, when Kanga returned with the generator he connected it to the door and entering the code the blast door dutifully slid open Lupercus entered another code and assured Kanga that this would stop the door from closing behind them as they didn’t want to be trapped with the doors electronics not functioning properly it might just be their Savior to leave it open, Steven and Peter were very glad to see Lupercus and Kanga, neither of them made any mention of Caz other than he was unavailable what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them and as it served no purpose whatsoever to inform them of his accident and subsequent breakdown the subject was quickly changed to Steven and his crews encounter with Karris the Tarpon.
Lupercus found it incredible after all these years he was finally talking to someone that had seen a Tarpon and lived to tell the tale over the next couple of hours and more pots of army coffee the four of them gathered an overview of the Tarpon experiments and were astonished as to the secrecy and levels of deceit and skullduggery that had been committed in this compound in the name of science, Lupercus felt betrayed that his command of the compound had been nothing more than a facade as he read through the massive amount of information that Karris had provided them with certain items came to his attention he remembered frequent priority one level Alerts.
The guards down on the lower levels where on constant alert 24/7 to have all the doors open at once only to see one sometimes two vehicles leave and then have them return within the hour he had wondered what was so important as opening all the doors at once required a team of roughly sixty personnel to co ordinate these convoys could happen any hour of the day or night, so he had to have two crews rested and ready twenty four hours a day as well as running the rest of the compound the military brass made him run the administration area on a skeleton staff saying that the budget didn’t allow for extra staff no wonder he thought all the money was going into research of genetically modified mutants, he felt no grief whatsoever that the government building were all the politicians and brass were sheltering before being moved to the compound had taken a direct hit and had been obliterated if they were here now he would have no problem in disposing of each and every one of them.
They took turns keeping watch while the others slept the time seemed to drag finally the four crew returned they looked exhausted Karris took up his position outside the window curling his tentacles underneath himself he lowered his massive frame to the floor Pat connected the network cable and a power supply to his interface this pleased Karris it had been a long time since he had felt a surge of electricity through his microprocessors he looked for all the world like a big old hound dog curled up in front of the fire on his favourite rug but make no mistake warned Lupercus this was the deadliest fighting machine ever invented by man and could vaporize all of them in a split second if he so desired, to which Karris replied Lupercus you are right but I only want to help not destroy,
There are a few that do not think like me the one’s who’s brains were taken out of convicted killers immediately after executions for example apart from the six that escaped the others rely on me for their survival and I keep them alive they know they would perish without me I provide enough blood, water, and power to keep their circuitry working but not enough for them to attack me or escape they are very weak and currently running on less than a quarter power they know a sudden burst of full power would be enough to overload their circuits and they would have an internal meltdown I keep them in a cage it is hewn from solid rock and the doors are made from titanium it would take an hour or more of full power to breakout and they are aware of that so they don’t bother trying.
After the team made their report Lupercus felt sick to his stomach even though he farmed chickens and pigs up on level three he didn’t realize that down here the scientists farmed people in much the same manner mainly prisoners who the government decided would not be missed, were officially listed as having died while in custody were actually brought here and put into suspended animation according to the video footage that Bridget had recorded these people were kept alive by intravenous tube all their waste was gathered via tube and dumped into the methane producer, it was a horror show to say the least these people were suspended by stainless steel rods. Skewered in fact just like a chicken the scientists had taken great care not to damage any vital organs in the skewering process the rods protruded at the base of the skull effectively cutting the spinal column so they didn’t feel any pain from the neck down. Bridget noted that a couple of the bodies were conscious and had tried to make eye contact with her she found this very disturbing their mouths had been stitched shut one can only guess why,
Karris informed them that the scientists had found it necessary to keep up the blood supply as he had explained before to Steven there was not enough money or time to make more like him, Lupercus inquired as to what the bodies where being fed on ? Plankton came the reply there was enough freeze dried plankton in the store room to last ten years to which was added small amounts of trace elements the whole process was automated and did not require intervention by Karris the lucky bodies had their brain removed and a microprocessor installed in it’s place, Lupercus and Kanga spent days going through all the information then they went to the Bio lab with karris.
One by one they interviewed each Tarpon Lupercus was able to build up a profile on each one the end result 13 where suitable five unfortunately had to be terminated, their minds had snapped and where nothing more than gibbering idiots the months passed slowly Karris had proved invaluable he was able to counsel and instruct the thirteen Tarpon for hours on end there ability for warfare having been subdued made them docile as a lap dog.
Karris was left fully functioning as Lupercus believed he could be trusted, Lupercus was very impressed by the achievements Of his tireless team, Caz had been reinstated after agreeing to undergo intensive rehabilitation and had progressed to a point where there was no doubt in Lupercus or Kanga’s mind that he would relapse, just as a safeguard one of the female crew members had been assigned to Caz presumably as an assistant, the truth being she was not to let him out of her sight 24/7 like it or not he had no choice in the matter as Lupercus explained to him no one wanted a repeat performance of his drunken binge that could have had fatal consequences not only for him but the team he was supposed to be looking after.
Caz did not work quite so hard these days preferring to put in a modest eight hours of work, eight hours of rest and relaxation, and eight hours of sleep after a few weeks he noticed that his work had improved and he was sleeping better, the nightmares had virtually faded into oblivion his new assistant was perfect in his eyes, they got along very well, he made a mental note to thank Lupercus one day.
Miranda what would you like for dinner it’s my turn to cook! He couldn’t help being seduced by Miranda’s charm and wit, not only was she pleasant to be around, her intelligence made for stimulating conversation as neither of them suffered fools gladly, after dinner they sat and talked about the future and what it held for them, Caz pointed out he would not rest until he found what had happened to his wife as he was sure she had been able to escape the initial blast and was somewhere in one of the cities, he had searched what records where available during visits to the outlying cities, in his travels with Kanga, he had turned up nothing as though she did not even exist, Miranda stated that she had no ties and wasn’t sure what the future outside of TQ30 held for her.
As they where now in their third year of working for Lupercus, Kanga and Caz were quite surprised when Lupercus informed them that maybe they needed a break his plan was to have them take one of the amphibious vehicles and basically go for a jaunt around the coastline, they both jumped at the chance to get out of there self imposed incarceration, it was settled then Kanga, Caz, Miranda, Karris, and two others would take a vehicle and whatever supplies they needed and head off into the unknown as soon as possible, equipping the vehicle was no problem for Caz taking into account the needs of everyone including Karris he quickly assembled all the supplies that where required and set about stowing everything in a manner that would be beneficial making the most of limited storage space,
He had the resident engineer make some minor modifications such as installing a water Desalination unit, within the space of a week they where ready, Lupercus gave the order to open the sea gates on Level five as he watched the Amphibian glide out of view he pondered as to the fate that lay ahead for the intrepid crew.
Kanga guided the Amphibian out of the cavern and into the open sea when clear of any obstructions he gently deposited the craft on the seabed here they would stay until nightfall to avoid detection, although they could travel on the seabed he thought it best just to sit motionless at least until they had ascertained that all systems where up and running and any minor calibrations had been taken care of, when night fell they surfaced, there was no need to take an oxygen sample as it had been almost five years since the Holocaust and besides what choice did they have opening the hatch one by one they climbed onto the fore deck no one spoke a word it was amazing there where stars in the sky and the air smelt sweet there was even a hint of rotten seaweed in the air,
Karris commented that even though the part of his brain the deals with emotions had been cauterised being out here in the open made him feel good which confused him a little as he was not supposed to have feelings, they all laughed it had been so long since any of them had seen a star or breathed fresh air, the moment was shattered Karris interrupted his motion sensors had picked up something large moving towards them.
Quickly said kanga everybody back inside on the double, Caz slammed down the hatch behind them and secured it Kanga blew the ballast tanks and down they went levelling out at three hundred feet kanga reduced the rate of descent Miranda and Caz gazed at the sonar surely enough there was something moving towards them, Kanga opened the armor-plated porthole cover so as too get a visual 100 feet and closing everyone was silent Kanga had shut down all systems they sat there in suspended animation 50 feet and closing 30 feet whatever it was it was right on top of them peering in to the inky blackness they could make out a shape unless Kanga was horribly wrong in his assessment it looked for all the world like a fish, switching on the forward spotlights they could see clearly it was a southern right whale.
Kanga started the motors and surfaced, the whale surfaced next to them and spouted water from it’s blow hole splashing and cavorting it put on a show then silently as it had appeared it drifted away leaving the crew alone in the darkness,
Having checked the GPS co-ordinates against a sextant reading, Kanga was satisfied that their instrument calibrations where close enough for the purpose of this exercise, and issued the command to set a heading for an inlet named as AX.13/7, according to a printout Caz had procured from a Navigation Satellite this inlet would offer them an easy landing point and access to what once was a major highway.
At a modest 3 knots they made their way under the cover of darkness, as the sky began to turn pink, Kanga asked if anyone would like to join him on the fore deck to watch the sun rise, he didn’t need to ask twice, as he nearly got himself trampled the first rays of sunlight hit them and it felt good warming their bones, Caz whipped his shirt off saying that he wanted to soak up a few rays having been a keen surfer in his younger days he really did miss the suns embrace and the salt water, so many times he and his mates had watched the sunrise waiting for the surf , back then they had taken it for granted thinking that they would be able to surf until they became to old to get on a board, Kanga surmised that if he didn’t watch it next thing Caz would be trying to ski behind the Amphibian.
The sun was about halfway above the horizon and although the temperature had risen it was not as hot as Kanga had expected he noted the time and temperature then asked everyone to go back inside, securing the hatch behind them, Caz drifted in to his role of flight attendant for want of a better word it was just like before, Kanga and himself with a load of passengers heading off on an adventure only this time it was a bit more serious they weren’t playing games.
The mission objective was to hunt down the renegade Tarpon, and eliminate them, lying on the ocean bed the day passed quickly enough, then with cover of darkness the Amphibian surfaced making there way to the inlet the crew prepared as best they could the plan was to deposit Karris as close as possible to the last known sighting of the renegade Tarpon, using his motion detector he would be able to scan for movement meanwhile Kanga and his crew would position themselves offshore using the coordinates that karris supplied they would conduct a grid search using satellite tracking the Military would be none the wiser, Caz assured them hacking into satellites was child’s play.
The third day out Karris had disposed of two tarpon, apparently he caught them unaware in an abandoned building, however he could not be sure as to whether they were able to send a warning to the others, so he had decided to lay low and wait, sure enough on day five he detected movement, Kanga and his crew had infiltrated the area shortly after Karris disposing of the first two, and had set land mines around the perimeter knowing that the renegades would come looking, watching from the safety of the Amphibian they sensed this renegade Tarpon was not capable of fighting it was moving very slowly almost limping.
Kanga warned Karris not to approach as it could be a ploy to draw him out in the open, Kanga noticed that even in it’s supposed weakened state it had detected the land mines and was now moving away from Karris at a considerable pace but to no avail, Caz locked the satellite on to it hoping it would lead them to it’s liar, they were interrupted by Karris his motion sensors had detected vehicles coming towards him, Kanga instructed him to start moving at full pace in the direction the renegade had gone upon finding a suitable place hide, and let the Military go on there merry way with a bit of luck they will pick up on the tracks left by the renegade, to everyone’s amusement that’s exactly what they did.
At full speed like a bunch of cowboys the Military vehicles pursued there prey charging across the sandy wasteland passing within a few meters of karris who had buried himself on the Lee side of a sand drift,
Caz was able to patch into their radio frequency listening attentively to the communications he ascertained that the Military detachment had been dispatched in response to satellites picking up the skirmish between Karris and the renegades, now Kanga and Caz were worried that meant that there presence probably had not gone unnoticed either, Kanga ordered karris to follow the convoy and eliminate them, upon completion of this task he was to return to the inlet promptly, Karris completed his task with the utmost efficiency wasting no time he had appeared behind the military convoy, they had cornered a very tired renegade, Karris vaporized the military vehicles before they had time to react to his presence he trained his canon on the renegade to his surprise it slumped to the ground it was trying to communicate with him for a split second he paused, this nearly cost him dearly from the left flank came a burst of plasma canon, manoeuvring himself into an attack stance he let go with everything he had.
When the dust had settled he counted three mangled Tarpon, being in a weakened state they were no match for him, damn he thought that still leaves one but it would have to wait, Karris headed for the inlet travelling as fast as his legs would carry him on the soft sand, he decided to detour slightly this would bring him to the old highway he could then travel a lot faster and expend less energy, it was just on sunset when he reached the waters edge, the Amphibian appeared on the beach, with Karris safely aboard they slid beneath the waves.
Apart from the excitement at having eliminated five renegades the question that posed a problem now was how to contact Lupercus without giving themselves away, Karris said he could upload to the TQ30 mainframe with a level of encryption that would be impossible for military to unravel, Kanga stated that was not the problem, what did concern him was the transmission itself as he was sure the military would be on alert especially after Karris had vaporized three of their armoured personnel carriers,
They sat on the seabed for a week continuously monitoring the military activity that ensued this gave Caz a chance to record the frequencies that the, military used he was planning a tactic of confusion.
Lupercus meanwhile was none the wiser as they had not contacted him, Kanga was trying to remain aloof and appear to be in full control however something had been eating at him, under the current conditions he could not get his friend Caz alone to have a private word with him about his misgivings something was not right.
Kanga had been thinking a lot of things over lately sitting here quietly on the seabed had given him time to reflect on the events that had unfolded since leaving TQ30, call it paranoia or just a gut feeling, why had the military not come looking for them, it was a certainty that the satellites would have pinpointed there exact location the only thing in there favour was the depth of water they were in, it would take a submarine or depth charges dropped from a patrol boat to attack them either way Kanga knew he could outwit and out manoeuvre them having Karris along for the ride helped, his plasma canon was able to penetrate Armour plate steel and could easily open the hull of a submarine or patrol boat just like a can opener.
Therein lies the key the military knew they weren’t capable of attacking as long as we have karris we have the upper hand, Kanga gave the order to surface and head for the inlet it was a beautiful moonlit night as they headed towards the shore once they were in the beach Kanga informed the crew that they were free to go ashore and do whatever they wished just be back before sunrise all except Caz, Kanga made an excuse he was needed to monitor the instruments, without anyone noticing, Kanga had uploaded information to Karris when he was ashore Kanga would run the command and Karris would become leader of a bunch of castaways.
Kanga had worked it out it would take three hours at a steady march for them to reach TQ30 as they did not have to worry about an attack by Tarpon and any raiders that they came across Karris would dispatch quite easily one by one the four crew members climbed down the ladder, Kanga had instructed them to carry water and weapons whilst ashore in the event they became lost in the dark, Karris stood at the water’s edge dipping his proboscis into the water Kanga and Caz were amused thinking he was playing then they remembered he could desalinate water for himself.
The five of them wandered off into the darkness, Kanga and Caz returned to the confines of the Amphibian Kanga came up to Caz and put his hand on his shoulder, I want to talk to you privately he whispered in his ear Caz could tell by the look in his eyes this was serious he nodded, Kanga put his index finger in front of his mouth, Caz understood Kanga motioned for Caz to shut the hatch Kanga fired up the drive unit and they motored out to sea when they out of firing distance Kanga motioned to Caz to follow him to the engine room over the hum of the drive unit Kanga related his sense of paranoia to Caz, strangely Caz had been having the same feelings kanga was sure the Amphibian was bugged and that at least one of Lupercus’s hand picked crew were less than honest both of them went back to the control center without saying a word Caz shut down everything and went to emergency battery backup the craft bobbed lazily it was so quiet with everything shut down he started searching the usual FM radio frequency used by bugging devices finding nothing he upped the stakes and went for UHF then VHF finally HF and bingo the Amphibian was bugged all right, the craft was littered with them they moved swiftly gathering them up and throwing them over the side, Caz ran another sweep and was satisfied that had cleaned the craft of any eavesdropping devices it was then Kanga started to speak there was an urgency in his voice.
Firstly he told Caz of his plan to leave the crew in the care of Karris as he had uploaded a mission objective to Karris’s memory to take the four crew back to TQ30 citing safety reasons, Lupercus would understand Caz was a little bit confused and a bit sad he would miss Miranda however he knew better than to question Kanga, as Kanga did not make rash decisions he had obviously been doing a lot of thinking in the two weeks they had spent hiding underwater, Kanga entered the run command to karris,
Now old friend we are on our own just like the old days exclaimed Kanga, Caz replied he had started to get a bit grumpy the last few days being stuck in a tin can and nothing to do and virtually no privacy, even though living underground at TQ30 was somewhat limiting there were places you could go and chill out when human interaction was not required.
The crew members on the beach were stunned when Karris’s voice broke the silence, He was now in command the four of them were to fall inline in front of him and march to TQ30, no questions asked all questions will be answered by Lupercus upon arrival in complete silence the five marched through the night using the old highway, to do so prior to Karris eliminating the renegade tarpon would have been out of the question, Karris halted the group and told them to take cover his sensors had picked up movement clambering up an embankment the group sat and waited, Miranda had night vision binoculars and was able to make out a group of people wandering along the road pushing a cart she wanted to go and see if they needed any help, Karris reminded her he was in charge and of the mission objective there would be no fraternizing, she replied to Karris she did not like being told by a mutant what to do and she was going to help them, Karris’s response was brief if you so much as move a muscle, I will silence you were you sit do you understand this left Miranda speechless as she knew only to well Karris was capable of carrying out his threat but would he, it all happened in the blink of an eye Sharon who was a new recruit of Lupercus choosing obviously had not had much training in how to take a direct order she stood up and said stuff you robot man I’m going to help them Karris’s response was swift the laser hit her temple and she slid to the ground, Miranda peered through the night glasses the refugees on the road had not seen or heard anything they were still wandering along oblivious to what had just taken place it took some time for them to pass, Karris picked up Sharon and hoisted her across his turret and they resumed there march.
Upon reaching the outskirts Karris motioned for the team to follow him Sharon had regained consciousness but was rather nausea’s so she stayed on Karris’s back, Karris led them down a cliff slipping and sliding all to aware of the drop if they should lose their footing they didn’t have eight legs like Karris when they reached the bottom of the cliff Karris informed them they now had to swim to gain entry to the compound plunging into the water Karris instructed them to jump in and come up under his canopy where they would find an air pocket they each grabbed hold of one of his tentacles and karris pulled them through the cavern as fast as possible they made it only just to an air pocket were he let them rest for a moment while he aspirated his system he wasn’t used to breathing for five and his oxygenator was working overtime then taking another breath they resumed this time surfacing outside the blast doors of level five.
Karris entered the code and they took another deep breath and resumed their journey air pocket after air pocket Karris was lucky he could swim the whole way without surfacing but for humans without breathing apparatus it was nearly impossible thought Miranda, Karris was quick to point out a few of the workers and experiments had tried to escape over the years no one had ever succeeded in swimming out of here some had used aqualungs others had tried without only to get as far as the blast doors then realize they didn’t have enough air or energy to get back and had consequently perished Karris had been sent out on occasions to retrieve the bodies after such events.
When the motley crew surfaced in the submarine bay they were met by Automatic weapons pointed directly at them, Steven and his crew had detected the blast door opening and had been waiting for the Amphibian to arrive the security camera had shown only one Tarpon swimming towards them and they couldn’t be sure it was Karris so the whole of level five was on red alert Lupercus was on his way down now and wanted to know what the hell was going on where is the Amphibian and Kanga and Caz,
Miranda thanked Karris for bringing them home safely and proceeded to walk away Steven grabbed her arm were do you think you are going Miranda let fly with a roundhouse kick knocking Steven to the ground, I’m going to have a hot shower and put some clean dry clothes on! Oh and by the way don’t ever touch me again, Lupercus was in the control room and had witnessed the display his daughter had put on he mused that she always had been a feisty sort of kid and he was sure once she had showered and eaten she would calm down and he was right as usual he had one of the cooks whip up a huge breakfast for the crew, Stevens crew joined in as well everyone sat quietly after eating, Karris was in the corner plugged in to the mainframe, anticipation filled the air finally Miranda spoke she went into great detail of the two weeks that had passed since they had set off in the Amphibian.
Meanwhile Kanga and Caz were on their way down the coast travelling above the surface at night and along the seabed during daylight taking it in turns to navigate if there calculations were correct within three days they would be in striking range of the military communications centre Caz had worked out a two pronged approach firstly he would hit their satellite dishes with a massive blast of microwave interference disabling the system long enough for them to get within firing range, the Amphibian was fitted with short range missiles eight in all, Caz wondered how the military would react to getting their butt kicked by their own weapons,
Taking a deep breath Caz gritted his teeth and hit the fire button the Amphibian started to shudder Kanga had to knock Cazza’s hand off the fire button, I thought you wanted to disable their system not melt it, Oh yeah Caz replied I got a bit excited, Yeah well you damn near melted our power unit these microwave canons are designed for short sharp bursts no more than five seconds at a time, anyway I think after that they won’t be using those satellite dishes for a while Caz checked all the known frequencies there was nothing complete silence.
Happy with that prognosis Kanga headed straight for the installation he wasn’t using full power as Cazza’s oversight had overheated the central core and it would take a while to stabilize once they were in the twenty mile zone Caz set the coordinates and launched two of the missiles immediately reloading he fired again resetting the coordinates for each round of firing ensuring a spread of damage he kept two missiles just in case they were attacked, Kanga headed out to sea at about half throttle on the presumption that if any planes were sent out after them they wouldn’t look to far out to sea, as fuel for planes was in short supply.
Besides trying to find a camouflage blue Amphibian in the open sea would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack if a patrol boat was dispatched by the time it got anywhere near them Kanga would dive to the bottom and wait Caz would then take them out with a missile or a torpedo the only thing that did worry them is if another Amphibian came after them, although after knocking out the communications centre any type of attack would be unlikely as how would they organize anything by the time the military got it’s act together Kanga and company would be long gone.
Motoring along at a sedate speed enjoying the sunshine it sure was nice to breathe fresh air after two weeks of confined living the stale air and body odour was taking it’s toll, Kanga asked Caz if wanted to return to TQ30 or sail off into the sunset and see what lay over the horizon, Caz replied he wanted to go back and find Miranda unlike Kanga he needed someone in his life to share things with, Kanga understood what he meant, but for himself he didn’t need or desire the company of another person in his life he was quite happy on his own, mid afternoon the next day they were both refreshed after getting some well earned sleep.
Caz perused the radar screen and noticed a blip heading there way Kanga surfaced Caz locked a missile on and fired they watched the fighter plane go down in flames the pilot ejected and kanga headed towards him he was unconscious when they dragged him out of the water quickly rolling up his parachute they got him below and secured him to a chair with cable ties he woke up staring down the barrel of a 44 magnum, Caz said start talking the pilot told them about the attack and the mayhem, dozens had been killed and wounded the whole military compound was destroyed the pilot was ordered to fly that plane until he found something only trouble was no one knew what they were supposed top be looking for, Kanga proudly told him you found us guess you get the prize the pilot was stunned he thought he was on a military Amphibian he could not comprehend that they had been attacked by one of their own weapons he thought he was looking for renegades or Outlanders or some other long standing enemy.
Kanga smiled at the pilot and said what say we get you into some dry clothes and a feed or would you prefer a coffee first, the pilot replied coffee would be nice as he had swallowed a fair bit of seawater before they rescued him, ok said Kanga cutting him loose lets go to the galley and I will put the coffee pot on this way if you please, Kanga motioned towards the hatch the pilot climbed up the stair climbing out on to the deck he had taken no more than a couple of steps when a single shot rang out, entering the back of his skull the magnum blew the front of his face to pieces, I don’t suppose dental records are going to help identify this one Caz said Kanga, they consigned the bloody corpse to Davey Jones locker later that night they reached TQ30 and motored into the sub bay there was a welcoming committee waiting for them.
Lupercus addressed the meeting and informed all present that the mission was a complete success the military compounds access to communication satellites was completely destroyed he had been scouring the satellites for information and was pleased to announce that the remaining military outposts were in a complete state of panic without communication to the main base they were virtually on their own and very vulnerable,
Karris was instructed to make ready the Tarpon army, as they were functioning at one hundred percent now, in Kanga and Cazza’s absence Lupercus and the remaining crew had been busy putting the finishing touches to Lupercus’s master plan to rid the country of the military dictatorship, the Tarpon would be deployed to key areas their mission was to dispose of all military facilities, a task that the Tarpon needed little encouragement in carrying out.
Two days later
Lupercus opened the main Gate of TQ30 and a convoy of vehicles rolled out there was no going back now thought Kanga, he had requested of Lupercus before departing that no matter what happens he would not be returning to TQ30, Lupercus had no problem with that request at all and thanked Kanga for his support wishing him all the best whatever the future held Kanga had teamed up with two Tarpon and were heading the furthest from TQ30 depending upon their success it would remain to be seen whether others would follow, the remainder of the convoy split up and went their separate ways most probably never to see each other again.
Caz and Miranda had Karris with them and were taking on the role of a mobile communications centre they headed for the Great Dividing Range once reaching there Karris would set up the satellite dishes on top of the range then sit back and wait for the fireworks to start, three days after heading out most of the units were in place and had not been detected, Kanga was the only one still enroute but then in all fairness he had the longest distance to cover, Day five and all was ready, the communications that Caz and Miranda had set up were working perfectly.
Lupercus gave the order to advance on the military outposts but only to attack in self defence there had been a lot of confusion some outposts upon seeing a military vehicle had acceptingly opened their gate others had taken an aggressive approach and had opened fire which was returned without a second thought, a quick blast from a Tarpon Laser subdued even the most trigger happy guard, Late afternoon on day six all was quite.
Lupercus had transmitted a message to all compounds he had a mission statement and wanted people everywhere to take responsibility for their own lives fuck the military, the crews had done their best to get the message across to the population patching into closed circuit television channels where available others had to set up a television sets in meeting halls and the like.
At one of the outposts a guard had foolishly tried to take a pot shot at one of the crew members while they were conducting a meeting of towns people, the Tarpon that was assigned to protect sensed a threat and did not hesitate vaporizing the guard and blowing a massive hole in the side of the building in the process ensuring compliance if nothing else.
On the seventh day after leaving Tq30 Kanga arrived at the northern most outpost he was dismayed to discover no signs of recent occupation the two tarpon accompanying him had commenced scanning of the area and he would report there findings as soon as they became available.
Kanga scoured the outpost from top to bottom and had come to the conclusion that nobody had inhabited the place for quite some time, Kanga decided to look for the entrance to underground installation with the help of Eric as he liked to be called the Tarpon, after a rest and consultation with Lupercus.
He had decided to call the other Tarpon Gonzo because he showed the same traits as Kanga’s pet cat of the same name, friendly and faithful and yet the perfect killing machine, according to Gonzo upon his return to the vehicle there was no trace of humans in the immediate vicinity.
Gonzo rattled off his report, while Kanga made a fresh pot of coffee and tried to clear the cobwebs from his brain he listened intently as they waited for Eric to return Kanga discussed what he thought might be an appropriate plan with Gonzo they didn’t have to wait long before Eric returned confirming Gonzo’s initial findings of no human habitation, at least not on the surface.
Kanga reported to Lupercus the initial findings and a suggestion that he and the Tarpon should try and gain access to the underground complex then he sat back patiently and waited for a reply when the reply came it was short and to the point, on no account should Kanga try and enter the complex.
For a variety of reasons instead he should send one Tarpon with the codes for the blast doors and move himself and the other tarpon to a distance that would be safe if there was an explosion or worse, satisfied that this was a reasonable request he instructed Eric to move on in to the compound and locate the entrance to the access tunnel,
Kanga patched the laptop into the Eric’s camera so he could watch the proceedings; meanwhile Gonzo hunkered down in the blistering heat letting his solar panel soak up life giving rays and for the entire world reminding Kanga of his pet cat however this was not the time to be sentimental.
Using Eric’s talents and the coordinates Lupercus had supplied Eric soon located an entrance which was hidden behind a false wall in the back of a warehouse, Eric hit the wall with a short laser burst making a hole large enough for himself to squeeze through, he entered an access code and the first door to the underground compound slid open he hesitated for a moment.
Kanga said see how far you can get and report back to me when you are finished, safely inside the armoured personnel carrier he engaged the radar in case someone or something came snooping around, then he promptly laid back in his seat and went to sleep
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