“What’s the timetable for all of this?”
“I’ll take you to Anthony, he’ll know more than me,” Jerry replied.
Jack started taking Jerry’s other shoe and sock off. Jerry didn’t require further prompting.
“Okay! I haven’t been fully briefed on the next steps yet. The key to the success of the organisation is in the drip-feeding of information. Genesis Alliance can’t afford to have hundreds of people walking around with the full timetable, so we only get told one step at a time. I have radio contact with control, but get the specifics off Anthony; he emailed me on Thursday night to tell me about Friday.”
“Email? You’re joking? How did you avoid being turned into a killer?”
“Why is that a joke? I put on a respirator and ear defenders — one of the sets that are over there. You must have been okay, because of either the altitude or the cabin pressure. I honestly don’t know, and I don’t think most members of Genesis Alliance really know either. That is why we wear both kinds of protection.”
Jerry looked in the direction of the equipment we had seen earlier in the barn. There were five of each item. Enough for all of us if we found out about any future activations and felt inclined to save him. However, I hadn’t decided yet what we would do with Jerry.
“Lea, have you been listening to this?” I shouted.
“Yes, I heard it all, but I still can’t get my head around it.”
“Same here,” Jack replied, then said to Jerry, “If this is true, you’ve just done all of their dirty work. How do you know that you’ll be left in peace? If whoever they are can quite happily destroy ninety nine percent of humanity, why would they let you off the hook?”
“Because I helped them. If this was going to happen anyway, wasn’t it better that at least some of us survived to maintain human existence?”
“Jerry, you really are an idiot,” I said. “No matter how you see it, you’ve been used. And look at what you’ve done.”
“No I haven’t, I get to live. Ron guaranteed it.”
“Who is Ron?”
Jerry didn’t say anything and closed his eyes.
“Who is Ron? Spit it out,” Jack shouted.
“Do it.” I said, gesturing towards Jerry’s foot.
I was bluffing and hoped for a quick response. Jerry opened his eyes.
“No wait. Ron leads Genesis Alliance. He is Control in Monroe. Somebody raised the same concern with him three months ago at one of our meetings. He assured us that we would live like kings.”
“I take it you haven’t seen the state of the City? How do you expect to live like kings now that all of our systems are down? Not to mention, who will be your servants? Certainly not the people lying dead all over the country.”
“How did you all get together? How did you all keep it a secret?” Jack asked.
“The group was formed mainly through the internet and word of mouth. We didn’t even try to keep it a secret. Genesis Alliance had a forum that required a username and password, but that was it. Anyone reading it would have thought we were insane. We were hidden in plain sight, just as the devices were.”
“Why did you join? Did you realise what the consequences of your actions would be?” I replied.
“Does it fucking matter? It’s done now and can’t be reversed. Can’t you see that I am only a tiny cog?”
“Well, you’ve certainly made an impact. You sound pathetic, Jerry,” Jack shouted.
“If it wasn’t for me and Genesis Alliance, humanity would have been completely wiped out. Now let me take you to Anthony, I’ll even fool him so you can take him by surprise.”
I felt uneasy about what we might now be facing. An unknown enemy, that had already shown itself to be technologically advanced, intent on taking over the world. A powerful force would easily sweep up the fragmented population that had managed to stay alive. Something didn’t quite fit though.
“I still don’t believe a small lunatic organisation could do all of this. Do you?” I asked.
“Well, we did, you’ve seen the evidence. We planted the devices and activated them. There are patrols on the ground, but the numbers are limited. Don’t you think this is a small price to pay for our on-going existence?”
“You really don’t have a clue what is going to happen, do you? The only thing that either of us know for sure, is that you have used this technology against your own people.” I pointed towards the corner of the barn at the device.
I walked over and looked at it again. A chill ran down my spine when I thought about the destructive intent of the designers.
“How did Genesis Alliance know this would work?” I called back towards Jerry.
“Some of our organisation volunteered to take part in tests.”
“What? Why? Where did these tests take place? Have you met anyone who actually made these devices?” Jack asked.
Jerry was still squinting in pain and I noticed his left hand had started to shake. He may have been going into shock.
“I don’t know, and I haven’t met them,” Jerry replied. “I only know certain members of the organisation, like Anthony. The anonymity protects us all to a certain extent — like in situations like this.”
“You really are stupid, Jerry. What if they decide that you are surplus to requirements?”
“Ron will make sure I am taken care of.”
“Yeah, sure he will,” Jack replied “You will be top priority. I don’t see the cavalry descending down on us now, do you? You’re not needed.”
“I’m not the only that knows what’s going on.”
A smug look crossed his face.
The purpose and scale of the activations had been explained, but I wanted to know about Genesis Alliance. Who exactly was Ron, and why was he approached to carry out this work. I could understand how a group of misfits could be created to carry out the required tasks with promises of salvation and a comfortable life ringing in their deluded ears. But none of that explained how it all came about and what was coming. If Jerry didn’t know, Hermitage was our next destination.
“What else do you know? What are the origins of Genesis Alliance and what is Ron’s history?” I pressed.
“I’ve told you, I wasn’t in it from the start. Some questions are not allowed to be asked. I was trusted to know part of the plan, but I am only a regional coordinator.”
“Regional coordinator?” Jack replied angrily. “You make it sound like you were setting up for the Olympics, not attempting to wipe out our race.”
“Unless you give us something more, Jerry, I’m going to leave you to the mercy of Jack,” I said.
It was another attempted bluff to see if we could get any more out of him.
“Control is in Monroe. That’s where the activation is triggered,” Jerry said hastily.
“I guessed that. What else?”
I moved towards him. Jack came to stand on the other side of the table with menace in his eyes.
“The activation failed in Northern England as we had two device errors. I heard it on the radio. We don’t have a mobile device that can be put in the area, as the south of the country is covered by the one in the Shard, which can’t be moved.”
Jack motioned towards the barn door and we walked outside to stand with Lea again.
“Lea, did you hear that?” Jack said.
“Yes, but what does one unaffected area in England mean for us over here?”
It was a good question, and we all pondered it for a minute. The problem we faced was that we didn’t know what the right questions were for Jerry. He was answering what we asked, but nothing more. We still didn’t fully know what he knew.
“I don’t think it means anything for us at the moment,” I said. “Our priority should be trying to stop this at the source, in Monroe. We’ll stop on the way to talk to Anthony.”