Armen Gharabegian - Protocol 7

“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” Max said. “All the ocean-to-dome entrances in the Fissure are underwater for a significant portion of their length. You’d need a submersible or gills to escape the continent that way.”

Lucas looked crestfallen. “I know that now,” he said. “Just from what I learned talking to you and glancing at your data-logs. It’s very…disappointing.”

“Escape from what?”

“From here. From the underworld of Antarctica. We escaped from the Vector5 installation after being imprisoned for years, but we never could figure a way off this damn continent, not even during the crazy quarantine evacuation.”

“You keep talking about them-about this ‘Vector5.’ I’ve never even heard of them.”

“Not surprising,” Lucas said. “In fact, I’d be surprised if you had heard of them. I don’t really know their exact origin. They’re a military force, an intelligence-gathering operation, and a global smuggling cartel. They’ve used advanced technology to penetrate thousands of feet through the ice, and they’ve been extracting valuable minerals and resources from Antarctica without anyone’s knowledge for almost twenty years.”

“But that’s impossible,” Simon blustered. “You mean, no one knows this has been going on? With all the satellites, telescopes, and scientific explorations on the continent in the last two decades?”

“If anyone found out, the whole world would turn upside-down.”

“So how did you end up here?” Max asked. “What makes you so special?”

Lucas turned for a quick glance back at Max while he kept on walking. “They still need scientists and technicians. Always will. I was recruited for a legitimate job as a chemical engineer by one of their shell companies and brought to Antarctica to work at one of the topside stations, thinking I was going to assist in a mining robotics research project.” He stopped and swiveled his flashlight left and right, looking for some sort of landmark or signpost. He must have found what he was after; a moment later he turned forty degrees to the left and trudged off, obviously expecting the two men to follow.

“I must have impressed them,” Lucas said. “After three years, I was taken captive and dragged below, where I’ve lived for over eight years. My wife and kids have probably forgotten about me by now. They think I’m dead.”

The last few words pierced Simon like a dull knife. He and Max exchanged a quick glance, both of them realizing how similar Lucas’ story was to Oliver’s.

Simon took a long step forward, clapped a hand on Lucas’ shoulder and pulled at him. “Stop,” he ordered.

Lucas halted without resistance, as if he was expecting it. He turned to face the other two men, his mask unbuckled and blowing warm air again, so at least they could see his pale, haunted eyes.

“Do you know my father?”

Lucas’ smile was as cold as the terrain. “Everyone knows your father, Simon. He’s a very important man to Vector5. One of their prized possessions.”

The response sent chills down Simon’s spine, totally unlike the penetrating cold of the arctic caves. “Have you spoken to him? Can you get a message to him? Where is he?” He wanted to shake the truth out of Lucas. He wanted to know, now!

Lucas put his gloved hands in there air. “I only had one chance to speak to him, and that was months ago,” Lucas said. “Just before we broke out. I tried to convince him to come with us, but…but you know what? He said we’d get free of the prison, but never get off the continent.” His smile grew bitter and dark. “He was exactly fucking right.”

“What did he say? Where-”

“He mentioned your name to me.”

Simon was absolutely stunned. “What?”

“In those few minutes, when he knew we were going to try and escape, he made sure to mention his boy Simon and made me promise to tell you everything if we ever met.”

Max gaped. “I don’t believe it,” he said.

Lucas shrugged inside his well-insulated coat. “Neither do I,” he said. “But here we are.”

“Then what…” Simon began. “Where…?”

“He’s being held in the special facility-the secret one that everyone knows about, almost five thousand feet below where we stand right now. Part of it is secret, though. No one really knows what Vector5 is doing down there, but everyone knows its name: Ground Zero, sometimes called ‘The Nest,’ though I’m not sure why.”

Simon stood stock-still, surrounded by the freezing dark, as Lucas continued.

“That’s where I last saw him, anyway. It was almost a year ago. I and the rest of the guys you saw today had been working on the eastern side of the continent on coring machines that had mysteriously stopped working. We were called in but couldn’t find a thing wrong. That’s when they brought Oliver in-under armed guard, no less-to take a look, since he’s the spook expert.”

“‘Spook expert?’” Max echoed.

“Something weird happens, call Oliver. Somebody sees something scary, or goes crazy, or starts talking about the elder gods eating the earth? Call Oliver.”

He looked past them now, deep into the endless darkness. “Simon, Vector5 is one of the most secretive military forces ever assembled, and the fact that they have created this world is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. But listen to me carefully-there is something far stranger down here. No one knows anything about it, but your father was brought down here when certain…unexplained things…started to happen at the lower depths. Geophysical anomalies and such. These are just rumors. I’m just an engineer specializing in heavy machinery, so I’ve never been allowed in Central Command, but believe it or not, this is only part of the mystery.”

Max’s eyebrow lifted as soon as he heard the words. “The tip of the iceberg, so to speak,” he said.

Simon had been listening very carefully. “So there is a central command?” he said.

Lucas nodded. “That’s where the whole operation is controlled. Down on Shelf 3. Deep. So deep even the air is thin.”

Simon hunched his shoulders inside his suit to try and trap just a fraction more heat. Max wrapped his arms around his torso and squeezed. They both knew no matter how good the exo-suits were, it was cold in these tunnels. And the topic of discussion was chilling them in an entirely different way.

“I can’t believe they’ve kept it a secret all this time,” Simon said, still trying to get his mind around the idea.

“That’s the biggest miracle of all, isn’t it?” Lucas said. “But it’s all about the control of information. Vector5 has been monitoring activity on and around the continent for three decades, making sure that no radar would discover their tunnels, especially the obscure entrances to Fissure 9. That’s why your submarine started malfunctioning as it approached; they can manipulate sound waves, radio waves, even light. Makes you wonder what the theories around the Bermuda Triangle were all about, eh?”

They were moving again, heading downhill toward an almost perfectly circular side tunnel lined with ice and permafrost. Simon thought he could detect the slightest hint of light glowing deep inside it.

“They control information, too,” Lucas continued. “No messages can enter or leave this land mass without Vector5’s watchful eye. You cannot send information to anyone outside the surface of the ice. Even the vehicles that Vector5 uses are designed to escape radar detection by some accidental fly-over or rogue intel-gatherer who happens to try a deep scan.”

“You mean, this whole continent has been under Vector5’s surveillance and control for over twenty years?”

“Longer,” replied Lucas. “But I’m afraid it goes further than that. Information around the world has been controlled to allow this operation to take place. It’s the only way they could have remained secret for so long. I’m positive that high-level members of all the most powerful nations are part of it. How could they not be? And they are benefiting from the steady flow of energy resources, strategic metals, and innovation out of this place.” He clapped his hands together and suppressed a shudder as he trudged forward. The cold was starting to get to him, too. “I hate to admit it, but I’m sure some of the scientists that have been working on the surface are connected in some way as well.”