Brandon and India walked over to the tunnel leading back down to the submarine dock.
‘Why would they leave us here?’ asked Brandon. ‘If they wanted us to die, they could have shot us in our sleep. Just leaving us here makes no sense, there was plenty of room on that sub.’
‘I don’t think they went back down there,’ said India. ‘Look.’
Brandon looked over and saw the turntable had been rotated approximately forty-five degrees and was now facing a totally new tunnel entrance.
‘I think they carried on,’ said India, ‘though this time it seems we were surplus to requirements.’ They peered into the tunnel but though there were working lights as far as the eye could see, there was no sign of the battery train. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘First of all, we don’t panic,’ said Brandon. ‘We have enough food for a few days, so we have time to find a way out of here and make contact with our support.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Brandon, ‘but let’s split up and see if we can find anything that may be of use. We’ll meet back here in an hour?’
‘OK,’ said India, and they both turned to walk away in different directions.
India started back up in the control room while Brandon made his way to all the other rooms around the cavern wall. At first he just found storerooms or empty offices but eventually he found a doorway that led to a large meeting room with a circular table at its centre, topped with what seemed like black glass, etched with a detailed matrix of lines and circles. He stared at the tabletop in confusion but when he saw it had a switch connected to one side, he guessed what it might be. As the switch didn’t work he went back out into the cavern and called up to the control room.
‘India, is there a power supply up there for the offices?’
‘Hang on,’ came the muffled answer, and a few moments later, the meeting room lit up as the overhead bulb kicked into life.
‘That’s it,’ shouted Brandon, and returned to the table. This time when he flicked the switch, a light source beneath the table illuminated the glass and highlighted the engravings from below. At first he stared at the surface, trying to work out what the design was, but suddenly it became clear and his eyes widened in astonishment.
‘India,’ he called, ‘come down here.’
A few minutes later, India appeared in the doorway.
‘What have you found?’
‘Take a look,’ he said. ‘What do you make of this?’
She stood beside him and stared at the lit table. About twenty red circles were situated randomly across the surface and each was bisected with straight white lines which shot out to join other nearby red circles.
‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I’m struggling to work it out. Where are we exactly on this map?’
‘Here,’ said Brandon, and pointed at a small circle near to the edge of the table.
‘What?’ gasped India. ‘But that’s impossible. If that circle represents this cavern, then this complex must be enormous.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ said Brandon, ‘and what is more, most of it is inland from here. According to this we have only just arrived on the edge.’
‘Why is this part of the table shaded in grey, yet most of it is just white?’ asked India.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Brandon, ‘but at a guess, I would think that the grey shading is the underground part of the complex, while the white areas are probably in the open air.’
‘If that’s the case,’ said India, ‘then what about those?’ She pointed at several oval shapes toward the far edge of the table that were shaded in green.
Brandon looked at India without speaking.
‘No, it can’t be,’ said India, understanding the shared unspoken thoughts. ‘Nothing can grow out there, it’s nothing but an icy wilderness.’
‘I agree,’ said Brandon, ‘but all those people must have gone somewhere. What if there was an area inland that was capable of supporting life?’
‘I think it’s a stretch of the imagination,’ said India, looking again at the table.
‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing at a tiny light on one of the lines bisecting their own cavern.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Brandon, ‘I hadn’t noticed it, to be honest. I suppose it might just be a broken bulb underneath. Whoever made this was very clever, though why they couldn’t just have drawn it on a map is beyond me.’
‘It moved,’ said India suddenly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘That light,’ she said, ‘it just moved a few millimetres along the line.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive,’ said India, ‘keep watching.’
They both stared at the map, focusing on the single yellow spot. Thirty seconds later, the light disappeared and another came on immediately adjacent to its original position.
‘That’s why it wasn’t just drawn on a map,’ said India, ‘it’s an electronic diagram that shows the position of any of those battery trains along the tracks. Every line on this table must have tiny bulbs underneath to indicate where any vehicle is at any one time. A bit like the old maps for the London Underground.’
‘That’s mad,’ said Brandon. ‘Imagine the work involved in putting this together.’
‘Germany was blessed with some of the very best scientists in the world,’ said India. ‘Designing rail lines that carried battery-powered trains would have been simple. Combine that with an unlimited supply of labour and anything was possible.’
‘But why?’ asked Brandon. ‘What was the point?’
‘To get them from the U-boat station to places further inland, I suppose,’ said India. ‘But whatever the reason, I think what we have in front of us is an electronic rail map, forty years ahead of its time, and that yellow light is the train that Meister and his cronies took.’
Brandon watched the yellow light change position again.
‘Well, despite their politics,’ he said, ‘you have to give them credit, this is superb. Where do you think Meister is headed?’
India traced the line with her finger.
‘Well, he could turn off in any hub,’ said India, ‘but at the moment he is headed toward the green areas. Whatever it is he is searching for must be out there somewhere.’
Brandon’s gaze intensified.
‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘Look at that circle there.’ He pointed to one side where a slightly larger circle pulsed gently with a golden glow.
‘What about it?’
‘It’s not like the others,’ said Brandon, ‘so I reckon it may be a headquarters of some kind. If we can just make our way there, perhaps we can find a way out of this place.’
‘How far is it?’
‘This thing doesn’t seem to be to scale,’ said Brandon, ‘but it can’t be more than fifty miles or so.’
‘Fifty miles?’ said India numbly. ‘And how are we supposed to get there?’
‘By foot,’ said Brandon. ‘Come on, you are fairly fit, with a bit of effort we could probably do it in twelve hours or so.’
‘But what if there’s nothing there?’
‘We’ll worry about that when we get there.’
‘We could stay here and wait for Meister to return.’
‘And then what?’ asked Brandon. ‘You don’t think he’s going to let us walk away from this, do you? If he finds what he is looking for, he’ll probably call in a helicopter and leave us down here. No, we have to make our own luck, and the only option I can see is to keep moving forward.’
‘OK,’ sighed India. ‘When do we go?’
‘No time like the present,’ said Brandon. ‘We’ll grab something to eat and set out.’
Thirty minutes later they stood at the beginning of the tunnel that led to the core of the complex. Brandon had copied a rough sketch of the route into his notebook while India had packed the rucksacks.
‘Ready?’ asked Brandon, throwing his rucksack onto his back.
‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ said India as she picked up her own rucksack. ‘Do you need to take another look at the electronic map?’
‘No, I’ve copied down the route,’ said Brandon. ‘Meister’s train is miles away in a different part of the complex, so I don’t expect any trouble. I’ve seen all I need to see.’
‘In that case,’ said India, ‘let’s get this over with.’
She followed Brandon into the tunnel, keeping to the concrete path at the side of the tracks.
Back in the meeting room, the electronic map glowed gently in the gloom.
Brandon had been right. To one side, Meister’s train was moving inexorably closer to the mysterious green areas, far from the core, but if Brandon hadn’t been in such a rush to leave, he might have seen a second light appear from another hub, one much nearer to their destination and travelling much, much faster.