Albert stared at the man stood before him. He didn’t know what a person who had lived underground for years should look like, but it wasn’t this. Olsen wore a grey cable-knit sweater, navy-blue slacks and loafer shoes, no socks. His hair was a yellowish-blond colour, short, carefully combed and parted to the side. He was in his seventies, at least. Albert looked like a vagabond in comparison, dressed in a white shirt, baggy cloth trousers held up by braces, worn black shoes and a raincoat with holes. How had Olsen stayed so presentable, having been isolated from civilisation for so long? What about access to basics like food and water?
Olsen ushered them inside and secured the door.
He smiled at Albert. ‘I can tell from the look on your face I’m not what you expected.’ His accent sounded Danish.
‘Not really.’ Albert narrowed his eyes. Olsen’s accent differed to that of the camera operator.
‘Ah, you expect me to behave like an animal, then?’ Olsen mimicked an ape and scratched under his arms. He straightened up and looked at Isobel. ‘So you’re the structural engineer?’
She nodded. ‘And you are?’
‘One of many.’ He holstered the Buzz Gun. ‘No need for this down here. You’re trapped and outnumbered.’ Olsen jerked his head and they followed him down a tunnel leading away from the door.
As they walked, Olsen turned to Isobel. ‘How did you fool the criminal gangs?’
‘They think I’m an empath.’
Olsen laughed. ‘Probably the most useless Indigenes known to the human race. Well, on Earth, anyway. We don’t need psychologists. We need skilled labourers.’
They walked along the smooth tunnel that had probably been bored out by a precise drilling tool. Olsen gestured them to a room on the left. Inside, Albert saw three black leather sofas and a glass table with several DPads scattered on it. The DPads looked in reasonable condition.
‘Welcome to our home. This is where we like to kick back, relax. It can get tense when you’re living with the same people all the time.’
‘Try living in one of the neighbourhoods,’ said Albert. ‘You don’t know what “tense” is. I have close to thirty refugees living on my floor because of the life-support issue.’
Olsen’s smile carried a hint of tension. He walked through the relaxation room and into what appeared to be the kitchen with a large wooden table and eight chairs. Three replicator machines, black and boxy, sat on a counter on the right. Another door made of brushed metal with a vertical handle sat between two tall, glass-doored cupboards, with cups and plates in one and glasses in the other. A strong light leaked under the door.
Albert was about to ask what was in the room when he became aware of eyes on him. A man with unruly black hair and a woman with brown shoulder-length hair sat at the table watching him.
‘Robinson, Hayes, this is...’ Olsen hesitated. ‘Sorry, I don’t know your names.’
Albert made the introductions and Olsen nodded to his colleagues.
‘Robinson is our resident medic and Hayes is our IT expert.’
‘What’s in there?’ Albert said, nodding towards the door with the bright light.
Olsen smiled. ‘We call it our sunshine room.’
Sunshine? Albert stared at the door and a stab of jealousy hit him. How many years had it been since he’d felt the sun on his skin?
‘How many of you live down here?’ said Isobel.
‘Twenty or so,’ said Robinson. He eyed Isobel. ‘Have you any medical training? I’ve been dying to swap medical techniques with an Indigene.’
‘I’m sorry, no.’
Robinson scoffed and stood up. He was taller, thinner and paler than Olsen. ‘What use is she, Olsen? Why did you bring them down here?’
Olsen turned to Isobel, ignoring Robinson. ‘Yes, I want to know that, too. How is it you think you can help us?’
‘Why don’t you demonstrate for them, Isobel?’ said Albert.
Isobel took a moment to look around the kitchen. Her gaze was neutral as she studied the walls and ceiling. She stepped outside and examined the tunnel arch. Her gaze sharpened. ‘There.’
They all followed her. She pointed to a spot in the smooth rock where the arch was marginally higher. ‘I can see weak fissure cracks where the original builders put the vault in. The load up top is putting too much stress on the support. If you don’t reinforce the vault, you’re looking at another cave-in, right where you live.’ She nodded further down the tunnel. ‘If that happens while someone is in this part of the facility, they’ll be cut off from the entrance.’
Hayes leaned against the door. Her green eyes shone under the overhead lighting. ‘It’s all bullshit, Olsen. Mac examined the tunnels extensively. He says there are no issues. The collapse happened before we arrived. It’s been eight years and there have been no problems.’
‘Mac used to work as an overseer for construction, Hayes,’ said Olsen. ‘He was by no means a civil engineer, like our friend here.’
‘She’s telling us this to manipulate us. If you think I’ll help them, you’re sorely mistaken. I’ve got to get back to work.’ She walked away but Isobel grabbed her arm as she passed. Hayes tried to twist out of her grip, but Isobel tightened her hold.
‘Isobel, please,’ said Albert. They hadn’t come this far to get kicked out before they got help.
Isobel levelled Hayes with her powerful glare. ‘Do you know what my species can do? Our visionary capabilities are superior to yours. We can run fast, we’re strong and we can hear a pin drop from over a mile away. I can read emotions, but not as keenly as others of my kind.’
Hayes snatched her arm away. ‘But now you’re devolved, so you’ve lost those abilities.’
Isobel shook her head. ‘I still have all those things, except now I’m starting to resemble my former human self. But I feel far from human. I will always be Indigene.’
‘So? What’s that got to do with—’
‘Do I stand before you and tell you how a computer works? But yet you challenge me on what I can and can’t do. I used to be a structural engineer. Those abilities were heightened through a change I did not ask for. Now we’re stuck together on a planet that is no longer my home. I can see things your eyes will never see. Should I dare to call myself an IT expert because I know how to operate a DPad?’
Robinson muffled a laugh with his hand, earning him a scowl from Hayes.
Albert smiled. Why had he ever feared Isobel? She was possibly the most interesting person he’d met in some time.
‘I studied a little civil engineering,’ said Olsen, stepping in, ‘but not enough to call myself an engineer. I gave it up and got into law instead. Forget about Hayes and tell me what you see, Isobel.’
Isobel relaxed and focused on the tunnel wall. ‘The engineers built these facility tunnels incorrectly, which has led to weak spots directly underneath the heaviest building up top. The Widener Library. The weight of the building has created fissure cracks that, over time, have led to the partial collapse. Just because it happened before you got here doesn’t mean the problems are over.’ She glanced at Hayes. ‘The bedrock beneath the college campus is made of limestone, which weakens if exposed to the elements. Many of your tunnels run further underground and shouldn’t give you cause for concern. But the wall here...’ She patted an area near the vaulted section. ‘It’s only a metre thick and it’s not providing enough support for the vault. The original builders should have supported these weak points with metal-alloy struts, stronger than steel. I can show you the exact points where you must reinforce the walls and the ceilings.’
Olsen frowned at the ceiling and rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven chin. ‘We need more than instructions. We need someone to do the work for us. I never thought we’d need a civil or structural engineer. Everyone assumed the remaining structures were solid. Are you willing to work with us?’
Albert had heard enough.
‘We came down here to do a deal. Isobel’s help for your IT expertise.’
Olsen gave him a hard look. ‘I said I would consider it. I don’t go back on my word.’
He motioned for them to return to the kitchen. Isobel hovered by the table while the others sat down.
‘Waverley neighbourhood is losing life support,’ said Albert. ‘I spoke to some of the refugees who confirm there’s a pattern to the energy failures.’
‘Waverley, you say?’ said Robinson. ‘My family lived near there when it was still called Cambria Heights.’
Hayes leaned forward. ‘What sort of pattern?’
Albert explained how the residential blocks were losing life support, but the ones that had originally been business premises—like the old school in East Compound—had so far been unaffected.
‘So why not relocate all the people to the unaffected blocks?’ said Olsen.
‘Because there are too few of them.’ Albert paused and looked around the room. ‘How have you not been affected by the changes up top?’
‘We have our own power supply,’ said Robinson. ‘All the medical facilities do.’
Olsen frowned. ‘I don’t understand what you’re asking, Albert. Where does this code come into it?’
‘Jenny has the details. The short-haired woman outside. All we can tell you is that for years the criminals have forced us into a life of servitude. We’ve been reliant on them for working generators to access basic light and heat. Recently, some money was stolen in our neighbourhood. Marcus, who runs Waverley, rarely asks questions. He just inflicts punishment. Around the same time as the money theft, the life support failed.’
‘And you think Marcus has something to do with the code and the life support?’ said Olsen.
‘Jenny doesn’t seem to think so. When I told him about the life support failure he seemed genuinely surprised.’
Olsen nodded. ‘The controls for some facilities, like here, have been separated out, but the rest run off a central feed.’
Hayes grunted. ‘The criminals are all degenerates, Olsen. They are the least skilled and most opportunistic of those who still live on the planet. The factions all occupy the big mansions left behind by the World Government elite. Those properties have their own power supplies, like we do. But unlike ours, which is independent, their power is controlled by the World Government supercomputer.’ She looked at Albert. ‘How many of you currently live in the neighbourhood?’
‘Approximately fifty thousand.’
Hayes stood up and left the room.
Olsen called after her. When she didn’t answer, he sighed. ‘We’re all strong personalities down here, but we are smart enough to know that there needs to be a chief. I think my age swung it.’
‘Will she help?’ said Albert.
Olsen shrugged. ‘I think I should speak to Jenny before I commit to anything. I’ll arrange for someone to bring her down here.’
Robinson’s eyes sharpened. ‘You want to bring an underground movement crusader down here to see our operations? Over my dead body.’
‘We don’t have any choice. I know you don’t trust them, but we need more information about this code.’
Robinson seemed intent on disagreeing, but finally relented. He stood up. ‘Don’t come running to me when she fleeces the place of everything we own.’
‘I don’t think that’s her style,’ said Albert after Robinson had left.
Olsen shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter if she’s a Girl Scout. Robinson has history with their movement.’
He pulled out a walkie-talkie. ‘Hanson. Get the woman Jenny. She’s up top. Bring her down here.’
A few minutes later, Albert heard the metal door being opened and the echo rush along the tunnel.
Jenny joined Albert and Isobel in the kitchen. She looked around, drinking in every little detail of the room.
When Olsen asked her about the code, she told him everything she knew about the encrypted message; how it repeated on a certain channel and how it only started broadcasting a week ago, not long before the life support failure.
‘Now you know as much as we do.’
Hayes returned with a DPad in her hand. She slowed when she saw Jenny. Olsen made the introductions before adding, ‘We can trust her.’
Hayes gave him a look and handed her the DPad. ‘Is this what you’ve been seeing?’
Jenny nodded. ‘Do you know what it says?’
‘No. I haven’t tried to decipher it. I thought it was mumbo jumbo.’ Hayes flipped the DPad around and presented it to Isobel. ‘Can you read what this says?’
Isobel shook her head. ‘I don’t know anything about computer languages.’
‘The message has been playing on a private channel,’ Hayes said to Olsen. ‘The first time I noticed it was a week ago. I thought it was the criminals testing us. I was reluctant to answer or acknowledge it, if they were using one of the Indigenes to track our location. Now that I know it’s not from them, I’d be more willing to decipher it. I’ll need an hour to run this through the decryption program.’
Olsen looked at Albert. ‘Do you have an hour to spare?’
Albert checked his watch. ‘Unfortunately not. I have to get back before curfew.’
Jenny stood. ‘Have the car take you and Isobel back, Albert. I’ll wait here.’
‘What about you?’
‘Tell the driver to circle back for me. Come find me at the stall tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have something to discuss.’
Albert nodded and stood up. He caught the hard look Robinson gave Jenny and hoped she could convince them.