India’s eyes opened slightly and though the surroundings were painfully bright, her view was narrow and hazy. The floor seemed to vibrate beneath her and she knew she was lying on her back but apart from that, her memory struggled to recall what had happened. A snow-white head loomed into view just above her and she could see those large black eyes once more in an otherwise featureless face.
‘She’s coming around,’ said a voice.
‘It’s too early,’ said a second voice, ‘put her back under.’
India felt a sharp stab in her shoulder and the scene faded into blackness as she descended once more into unconsciousness.
India’s whole body shuddered violently and she threw her head to one side, retching as she emptied what little food she had eaten over the past few hours into the cardboard tray held by an unseen hand.
‘Take it easy,’ said a voice, ‘the stimulant is a bit aggressive.’
Eventually the convulsions eased and she lay back in confusion as her awareness returned. She felt a cool hand on her head and realised that she was lying on some sort of bed. She risked opening her eyes and Brandon’s familiar face eased into view.
‘Hello, India,’ he said, ‘welcome back.’
‘Brandon,’ she said, ‘where am I?’
‘We are in the core,’ said Brandon, ‘in a medical unit.’
‘What about the monsters?’ she asked.
‘What monsters?’ he asked.
‘The ones with the black eyes,’ she said.
‘Oh, don’t you worry about them,’ he said with a wink, ‘they are safely back in their cages.’
India closed her eyes again as her body adjusted to consciousness.
‘Get her to drink this,’ said an unfamiliar voice.
She felt two pairs of hands helping her to an upright position and she opened her eyes again to see Brandon and a strange woman standing in front of her. Brandon was wearing a blue dressing gown while the woman wore a white boiler suit complete with hood, gloves and face mask.
India looked up at Brandon in confusion.
‘I don’t understand,’ she said, ‘what’s going on?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Brandon, ‘but I think we may have some sort of contagious disease and we are in quarantine. Here, drink this.’ He gave her a large glass of cloudy water.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Rehydration salts,’ he said. ‘Over the last few hours you have been sick a lot and we need to replace the salts.’
India drank the water and handed the glass to the nurse.
‘Who’s she?’ she whispered.
‘Her name is Magda,’ said Brandon, ‘and she is a nurse attached to the station here. She doesn’t talk much.’
‘Station?’
‘Yes, apparently this is a classified Antarctic research station populated by a joint effort from several countries.’
‘Like NATO?’
‘No, it’s not like NATO,’ boomed an accented voice from the end of the room, and both people looked up at the giant man standing the other side of the Plexiglas window. ‘Miss Summers,’ he said, ‘welcome back, for a while there we thought we had lost you. My name is Lazarus Montague, but you can call me Monty. I am the scientist in charge of this station.’
Monty was dressed in a three-piece suit and sported the most magnificent red beard India had ever seen. Immediately they could see he was probably quite a character.
‘Hello, Monty,’ said Brandon. ‘I am Brandon Walker. Can I ask, where exactly are we, and why are we locked in this room?’
‘An unfortunate situation, but quite necessary,’ said Monty. ‘However, with a bit of luck, you should be out in a few days. In the meantime, I will answer what questions I can to put your minds at rest, but information will be limited until I can have you checked out.’
‘What do you mean, checked out?’
‘It’s quite simple,’ said Monty, ‘we need to check your security clearance.’
‘What do you think is wrong with us?’ asked India.
‘We will discuss that later,’ said Monty, ‘but we believe you are going to be fine.’
‘So what is this place?’ asked Brandon.
‘Basically it’s a large group of scientists, doctors and some private security people who have been put together by a range of countries in order to study this place and monitor Neuschwabenland.’
‘Neuschwabenland?’
‘The area of territory outside of the tunnels, stretching several miles.’
‘So you are not Nazis?’ asked India before she could help herself.
‘Well, there are some Germans here, but Nazis? No. We are all nice.’
‘If you are such nice people,’ said Brandon, ‘why did you shoot us back in the tunnels?’
‘Yes, sorry about that, but it was necessary. We had no idea who you were and could not afford the time to indulge in polite conversation, so we had to use the Zapper.’
‘The Zapper?’
‘Yes, it’s a sort of taser, but with different effects. It knocks out the victim for several hours.’
‘But why?’ asked Brandon. ‘Surely you could have just explained.’
‘We didn’t want to waste time,’ said Monty. ‘It was important to get you out as soon as possible and the best way to do that was act first, explain later.’
‘So go ahead,’ said Brandon, ‘explain.’
‘Look, the thing is, all we knew was that the power source in the lower caverns had been activated, and as there had been no activity down there other than our own in decades, you can imagine our shock when all the lights came on, so to speak.’
‘What do you mean, a power source?’
‘We’ll talk more of that later,’ said Monty, ‘but we assumed there was a malfunction of the old equipment and some sort of failure had triggered the power supply. You can imagine our shock when we found the power switches had been thrown and somebody had probably gained access via the sub tunnel.’
‘The sub tunnel?’
‘The cavern containing the U-boats,’ said Monty, ‘isn’t that the way you came in?’
‘It is,’ said Brandon, ‘didn’t you see the mini sub?’
‘Oh no, Mr Walker,’ said Monty, ‘we never go down there, for reasons that will become clear soon enough. For a while we had no idea where you were and it was only pure chance when one of the POD drivers spotted you ducking into that tunnel. If I get a chance later, I will introduce you to him and you can thank him for saving your life.’
‘I assume that by POD, you are referring to the battery train?’
‘Yes. We have modified our trains over the years but they use the same rail network. It was one of those that brought you back to the core.’
‘You say that you saved our lives,’ said Brandon, ‘but apart from getting lost, I can’t see how we were in any immediate danger. On the contrary, all I remember is being shot, being injected with a tube full of chemicals and throwing my guts up for the last few hours. Now you are telling me you saved our lives.’
‘We did,’ said Monty, ‘but this is not the place or the time to explain. You need to get some rest. You will be required to stay in here for a few days, but once you receive the all clear and when you feel strong enough, Magda here will bring you to my office and I will explain everything. Please be patient, all will be made clear soon enough.’ He turned and walked away from the window.
‘What was all that about?’ asked India.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ said Brandon, ‘but one thing is clear, we are not free to leave.’ He nodded toward the nurse on the other side of the glass door as she turned the key in the lock.
‘I don’t feel well,’ said India, holding her stomach.
‘Me neither,’ said Brandon.
The next few days were uncomfortable for both as they spent most of the time running for the toilets suffering extreme diarrhoea and bouts of sickness. Any meals they managed to eat consisted of very weak soup and four times a day they were subject to a raft of medical tests. Finally, in the early hours of the fourth morning, they managed to get some sleep and woke up midday feeling much better but very tired. A team of doctors carried out another range of blood tests before they were given the all clear.
‘All clear of what?’ asked Brandon.
‘Mr Montague will explain,’ came the answer.
‘When will we get to see him?’
‘Soon,’ said the man and left the room, locking the door behind him.
Half an hour later, Magda arrived and showed them to a shower block where they were given towels, soap and a change of clothes. A meal of warm porridge helped them regain some strength before they were taken down a network of well-lit tunnels and shown into an office straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel. Monty was sitting on the other side of a huge wooden desk, staring at a computer screen before him.
‘Sit,’ he said, and indicated the two chairs to one side.
They pulled out the chairs and waited in silence as the man continued his search.
‘Ah, here it is,’ he said eventually, ‘let’s see what we have got here.’ Silence fell for a few moments before he smiled and looked up at them over his glasses.
‘Good,’ he said, ‘I am happy to report your security level checks out, Mr Walker, though it seems Miss Summers is a bit of a newcomer to all this cloak and dagger stuff.’ He closed the lid of his laptop and leaned back in his enormous chair, his fingers intertwined across his chest.
‘This is some office you have,’ said India.
‘Yes, it is rather grand,’ said Monty. ‘I suppose you could say it’s a perk of the job.’
‘Did you really ship all this down here?’ asked Brandon.
‘Oh no, Brandon. Can I call you Brandon? Good. All this was already here. The original tenants obviously had expensive tastes, so when we arrived all we had to do was round up the best pieces.’
‘And when did you arrive?’
‘Personally, about five years ago, but my predecessors have been here since the seventies.’
‘The seventies?’ gasped Brandon. ‘What exactly is this place?’
‘Look,’ said Monty, ‘ordinarily we would not be having this conversation, but your clearance level is high enough and my contacts in London have approved your briefing. On top of that, as you are already here it’s probably pointless trying to cover up the existence of this place. What you are about to hear is obviously classified, so just to make it doubly safe, I need you to sign some forms.’ He slid two documents across the desk along with a pen.
‘What are these?’ asked India.
‘The Official Secrets Act,’ said Brandon. ‘I’ve already signed this in the army.’
‘Then you won’t have a problem signing it again,’ smiled Monty. ‘Just so our paperwork is in order.’
After a pause, Brandon leaned over and signed the document, closely followed by India.
‘Aren’t you going to read it?’ asked Monty.
‘I know what is says,’ said Brandon. ‘Keep your gob shut or else.’
‘That about sums it up,’ said Monty, and picked up the documents before placing them in a drawer in his desk.
‘So, now we are the best of friends, what do you want to know?’
‘Everything,’ said Brandon.
‘From what point?’
‘Why not start at the beginning?’ said India. ‘I find it usually works for me.’