Lionel pointed to a couple of Angels. “Secure the corridor. Raise the alarm if you hear anything.”
The Angels followed Lionel’s command as Makara wandered off, brushing her hand along the servers.
“They’re warm,” she said.
Samuel placed his hand on one of them. Several of the men did the same.
“What does it matter, if it’s not going to help us find the others?” Michael asked.
Both Samuel and Makara looked at Michael thoughtfully, but it was Samuel who spoke.
“Who said we couldn’t do that?”
Michael frowned, wondering at Samuel’s words. Samuel walked to the glass door separating the overhang from the control room below. He pulled it open, walking down the metal steps.
“Leave your men here,” Makara said to Lionel. “We’re going down with Samuel.”
She motioned for Michael, Julian, and me to follow her.
While Lionel and the Angels stood guard, we went down the steps. I was the last one through, letting the glass door close automatically behind me.
The room was surprisingly warm; these computers were also running. They had to be powered, only I didn’t know where from. When the Community lived here, they had gotten their power from the fusion generator aboard Aeneas. But there was no spaceship in Bunker 84, so Jade and the Lords must have devised an alternate power source, or maybe they were using backup power. Whatever the case, they needed power to grow food, pump water, and supply ventilation.
Samuel stood in front of a thin, sleek monitor in the center of the Control Room. He pressed a random key. The monitor came to life, displaying a login screen.
“So it is on,” Makara said.
“We might be able to access the Bunker security system from here,” Samuel said. “If so, we could use the cameras to find other Angels.”
“And enemies,” Julian said.
“Not just that,” Makara said. “We might even be able to communicate. I’m sure an intercom system is built into this entire Bunker.”
“Probably,” I said. “Ours had one, so I imagine they all would.”
Samuel logged in with his username and password. Instantly, the desktop screen loaded.
“Surprised it took it,” Michael said.
“It did at Bunker One,” Samuel said. “It must have updated at every Bunker still online.” Samuel paused, thinking. “Don’t know much about computers, actually. All that stuff I said…I have no idea how to do it.”
“Ashton would know,” I said.
“We can try contacting him,” Makara said.
“This deep underground?” Michael asked.
Makara didn’t have an answer for that.
“There has to be a way to communicate,” I said. “Ashton called Bunker 84 while he was in Skyhome.”
Samuel clicked the start menu. As soon as he did, the other computer screens came to life, bathing the control room with blue light.
In addition, the large display screen ahead flashed on, slowly gaining in color and clarity. A large map of the United States and Canada was displayed.
“What did you do?” Makara asked.
Samuel shrugged. The large screen displayed red dots pinpricking the topographic map, each with a number above it. 84. 16. 108.
“Bunker locations,” I said.
A similar map had been on the LCD of the plane that took us to Bunker One, only this one was far more detailed.
The map also appeared on Samuel’s screen.
“It looks like I can control the map,” Samuel said.
He clicked on the location of Bunker 84, located in Northern California. Immediately, he was taken to a web site of some sort, dedicated to the Bunker. On the screen were links naming different departments. Hydroponics. Recycling. The Citizens’ Council. Security.
“Click that last one,” Makara said.
Samuel clicked on “Security.” The website was bare and utilitarian, and obviously not meant for most residents’ general use. There were several more links. An Officers’ Directory. Nuclear Development. I wanted to tell Samuel to click on that one, just out of curiosity, but nukes weren’t what we were after. One of the links said “Security Feed.”
“There,” Makara said.
Samuel clicked on it. More screens popped up, displaying on the large screen ahead as well as on Samuel’s computer. Row upon row of camera feeds loaded, ranging in number from one all the way to three hundred and six. Not all the camera feeds could fit on Samuel’s screen, so he had to scroll down to see them all. As he scrolled, the main screen ahead also scrolled down, mimicking Samuel’s actions.
The only problem was, all of the video feeds were dead, with completely black screens. The word “offline” showed in the bottom right corner of each feed.
“Offline,” Makara said.
“Go back,” I said. “And click on the ‘Power Plant’ link.”
Samuel complied, digging his way back from the camera feeds until he arrived at the listing of departments. He clicked on “Power Plant.” It took us to a screen that showed basic schematics for the reactors that must have been powering the Bunker. There was a “details,” which Samuel clicked.
Hibernation. Backup module available.
“What does that mean?” Makara asked.
“It means the reactor must have shut down once it realized it wasn’t being used,” Samuel said. “Probably.”
“Then how is this place running?” Michael asked.
Samuel shrugged. “There must be some form of backup power for the Command Center servers alone. This place would be the most important to keep online. I guess the cameras have lower priority.”
“Try turning the backup module on,” Julian said.
Samuel clicked it, setting it to on. The computer thought a moment before accepting the change.
Nothing happened. Then, a message appeared on the computer screen, giving a timer.
“What?” Makara asked.
Samuel read the message out loud. “Backup module online in five minutes…”
“Is it really turning on?” I asked.
“I guess,” Makara said.
“While we’re here,” Samuel said, “might as well look at some of that other stuff.”
Samuel backed out of the screen. The countdown was minimized while he clicked on the “Nuclear Development” link.
“Really, Samuel?” Makara asked.
He shrugged. “Might as well take a look.”
A wealth of information overtook the screen. There were twelve silos. One through three were empty, while the rest read “armed.”
“So three of the silos have shot off missiles?” Makara asked, now curious. “Where to? When?”
“Let me see what I can dig up,” Samuel said. “Maybe Elias had been busy.”
“If they had gotten to this computer,” I said, “don’t you think they would have restored power a long time ago?”
“Good point,” Samuel said. “Which makes me believe that the Community did not fire any missiles. They probably couldn’t even get past the login screen.”
“So, who shot them off?” Makara said.
“This would have been before the Community,” Julian said. “The U.S. fired three nuclear missiles in the fifteen years Bunker 84 was online.”
Why would Bunker 84’s authorities launch nukes? Had they been aware of the xenoviral threat long before Bunker One was? Or had Bunker One given the order itself?
“Found it,” Samuel said.
We crowded around the computer. In a column labeled “expired targets” three dates were listed: November 22, 2034, December 5, 2036, and July 17, 2045. Next to these dates were target locations.
The first two were nothing like what I expected.
Bunker 23. And Bunker 144.
“What?” I asked. “They nuked Bunkers?”