“What about Dunwoody’s force?”
“None of the black dots are moving. They were trapped between the fire and overwhelming numbers of base soldiers. They never stood a chance.” His hand trembled as he tried to hold the tiny computer steady. “A lot of the green dots are stationary too. Dunwoody’s guys must have put up quite a fight before they were killed.”
“How many base soldiers are still alive?”
“Fifty or sixty, I’d say. But not for much longer. That’s why we’re all hiding behind something.”
“Yeah? Why is that exactly?”
“Level five is burning. That’s where experiments on alternative fuel cells take place. Highly combustible.” Jimmy slid down and put his arms over his head. “The flames will be getting there just about now.”
“So keep down everyone.” Sherman began. “We don’t know how much com…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
There was a massive boom from below. Sherman’s team and the children gritted their teeth and covered their heads as a noise like a low flying jet rocketed through the corridors. The solid steel doors of the Ops Room buckled like tin foil and a plume of yellow flame shot across the roof before being sucked back into the corridor.
“And then there were none,” Jimmy said sadly.
The rest lay in stunned silence. Finally Sherman raised his head.
“Status report,” he said, loudly to compensate for the ringing in their ears.
“None of the green dots are moving.” Simon said in a cracked voice. “They’re all dead.”
“No they’re not!” Jimmy was glaring at the hand com. “The men in the Bunker 10 are still alive.”
“How could they survive?”
“Bunker 10 contains the Biohazard labs!” he replied. “Any samples of infectious material or contaminants will be stored there, so they obviously have a blast proof door too. It must be weakened but it withstood the explosion.”
“Damn! How will we get past it?”
“The sodjers inside winnae even die fae smoke inhalation,” Dave groaned. “There are huge fans down there to stop any leaked viruses getting oot. They’ll just sook the fumes away.”
“How many?”
“About twenty. And I bet May Rose is with them.”
“Then it’s time we did our bit.” Sherman got unsteadily to his feet. “Check your weapons.”
“The force of the explosion will have blown out the fire,” Jimmy said. “We’ll be able to start descending in a few minutes. Don’t touch any metal surfaces, though, they’ll still be too hot.”
“Ok.” Sherman looked uneasily across at Barn. The boy was making a strange gurgling sound, tears streaking down his blackened face. Blood was smeared across his forehead where a shard of flying metal from the door had grazed it.
“You all right son?”
Barn shook his head slowly, his shoulders heaving.
“I killed all those people,” he moaned, rocking backwards and forwards. “I’m going to hell.” He looked around at the drifting smoke and dead bodies. “I’m in hell now!”
He began convulsing, gulping in huge mouthfuls of air.
“Barn?”
“He’s havin a fit!” Dave ran over and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “C’mon big man! Keep the heid, eh? Ahm here. Dave’s here!”
Barn’s eyes began to roll back in his head.
“Aw no! Somebody dae something!”
Sherman took a shuddering breath and crawled over to them.
“Barn,” he said loudly. “Listen to me. You didn’t kill anyone.” He pulled the shaking boy towards him and held him tightly. “Nobody is dead. Not a soul.”
He gripped Barn as tightly as he could, rocking him back and forwards. Eventually the boy’s shuddering abated and his breathing became normal.
“I didn’t kill anyone?”
“You didn’t,” Sherman repeated. “This is just a simulation. None of it is real.”
19.22
“Sherman!” Darren’s voice was strident. “You can’t tell them!”
“Tell us whit, man?”
“Yeah. Why not?” Nulce piped up. “What difference does it make?”
“Will you be all right? Sherman asked Barn. “I need to talk to the others.”
“I think so.” The boy looked at him tearfully. “I trust you.”
Sherman swallowed hard.
I’ll be back in a minute.” He wiped the boy’s tears from his leather jacket and signalled to the others. “The rest of you over here with me.”
They gathered round him. Barn sat on the floor a few feet away, lost in his own misery.
“This is a bad idea,” Darren griped in a low voice.
“Putting this guy in charge was a worse one,” Nulce mumbled.
“Ehm… look…. none of this is actually happening.” Sherman told the children. He opened his arms to take in the room. “Like I said, all of this is a simulation.”
“Dinnae be daft, man.”
“He’s right,” Darren said resignedly. “This whole base is fake and…eh… here’s the hard part… so is everyone in it.”
The children stared uncomprehendingly at him.
“I know you won’t understand, but… oh how do I tell you this?”
“You’re not children,” Madrid broke in. “You’re characters in a virtual simulation. Computer programmes.”
“You trying to tell us we’re not real?” Jimmy gaped incredulously.
“You’re capable of independent thought,” Darren said. “But essentially, yes, you’re programmed to think and act as children. Incredibly smart children. But you’re actually pieces of very sophisticated circuitry.”
“Oh aye. An I bet you leave oot eggs fur the Easter Bunny.”
“I do not believe I’m hearing this!” Simon’s face was bright red behind the dirt. “Are you completely insane? Of course this is real! I mean, right now I don’t want it to be real… but it is.”
“Ahm wi Simon on this one.” Dave held up a bruised arm. “This is way too sair tae be imaginary.”
“Calm down you two.” Jimmy narrowed his eyes and jerked a thumb towards Barn. “You want him to have another fit? Anyway, we’re scientist aren’t we? Shouldn’t be scared of weird ideas.”
“This isnae weird, man,” Dave hissed. “It’s pure mental.”
“Think about it.” Darren brushed ash from his shoulder. “We suddenly appear from nowhere, in a top secret base, just at the right moment to save you.” He pointed to the handcom. “We know all about your plan to escape and we’ve got technology more advanced that anything you’ve ever seen.”
The children pondered this with a sinking feeling.
“So why are you here?” Jimmy said. “Supposing you’re telling the truth.”
“Because of May-Rose.” Darren said. “She’s a rogue programme. Started off like you, but somehow she’s become aware of what she really is.”
“So, she’s reprogramming the other characters in this ‘game’ in an attempt to do… what?”
“Get out and affect other computer systems, I imagine.” Darren looked around. “We need a sample of her programming to find out for sure◦– what you would call her genetic makeup. And we need to get it before this whole place vanishes.”
“Before it blows up, ye mean?”
“Before the computer running the programme shuts down.”
Dave gave a bark of laughter “You lot are absolutely oot-yer face, nutters!”
“Feeling a bit insecure shorty?” Nulce said snidely. “Come on geniuses. Why would we tell you this crap unless it was true?”