She forced her frozen fingers to grip onto the rock as she navigated her way down the narrow passageway that led down to the gorge. She couldn’t feel her nose anymore, but for some reason, she could feel her eyes. She laughed, but it came out as more of a ragged cough. It would be so much faster if she just let go and dropped to the bottom. But somehow her hands and feet kept moving until she reached the bottom.
She walked ten paces before she noticed that her eyes were closed. She forced them open. Carefully, she peeked out from under her thin sleeve, her vision filled with a thousand white specks, dancing on a stage of gray. A frigid wind blew across her face, scattering frozen bits of wetness across her cheeks. Tiny white dancers swirled in unison, making beautiful patterns above her head. Behind the hazy sky, a bright spot hinted at a powerful sun, but today it was just the backdrop to a festival of snow.
Flora looked behind her, but there was nothing there. She was alone in this snow-filled landscape. She saw a small domed building in the distance, its gray walls just barely visible in the snow. She trudged towards it, but the storm grew stronger, the roar of the wind deafening her ears. She had never felt such cold in her life, her limbs losing all sensation as she willed herself forward. Minutes passed, perhaps hours, but the domed building remained as far as ever. Exhausted, she collapsed into a bed of snow as her eyelids pulled a blanket of darkness over her eyes.
Chapter 17: Plan A
Jane had no idea how long she had been here. Did it matter anymore? She stared blankly at her cotton shoes as they tapped hollowly at the gray cement floor. They hadn’t treated her poorly, and her cell was warm enough. The food was adequate. They asked her questions, and she answered them. What did it matter? Mai-lin was dead. Tony was likely dead as well. But more importantly, Project Phoenix was dead, and so was her will.
Jane rubbed the globe pendant that still hung around her neck. Out of kindness or perhaps ironic delight, Mr. Chou had allowed her to keep it. She never saw him again. The necklace was the leash to which she had been unknowingly tied to for over thirty years, and yet she couldn’t bear to throw it away. It was her only link to Paul and to memories of a more optimistic time. But then again, what did it matter? She had focused her life on the promise of Terrene, and now that had been ripped away from her so violently that the explosions would be etched into her memories forever. What did she have left?
At the peak of her distress, the answer to her question walked into her cell. Strong arms enveloped her weak shoulders. “Mom,” Ashton said. “I’m here to take you home.”
Jane looked up at Ashton’s face and felt the warmth return to her soul. She leaned on his arm as she struggled to rise to her feet. She shuffled towards the open door, held open by one of the prison guards, no sign of emotion on his face. She paused at the door. “Hold on a second, son,” she said. She reached behind her neck, undid the clasp to her necklace, and threw the globe pendant onto the bare cot. “I won’t be needing that anymore.” She squeezed Ashton’s hand, the feel of his hands soft on her dry, wrinkled skin. “I have something better.”
************
Chris gave her a gigantic hug, right in front of the guards who had escorted them to the runway. “So happy you’re alright, Mum,” she managed to say between her vigorous sobs of happiness. Her percussive squeezing left Jane gasping for air, but she didn’t mind at all. It was good to feel again.
Chris escorted Jane into the familiar Gulfstream jet where she was shocked and relieved to find Tony strapped into the corner seat. He looked like he had lost forty pounds and gained fifteen years, but he was otherwise in good health and showed no signs of abuse or torture. “Tony!” she cried, moving to hug him. But he didn’t get up. He didn’t even turn to see her. He just stared out the window, his face etched with lines of anger.
“Hasn’t said a word,” Chris told her. “Won’t even look at us.”
Jane wondered if Tony knew how the Chinese had found them, if he knew that it was all her fault. She backed away and then sat down as far away from him as possible. Perhaps he held her partially responsible for Mai-lin’s death. She couldn’t blame him. She felt the emptiness of Mai-lin’s absence in her heart as well.
Chris ducked into the cockpit, and soon they were high above the clouds, cruising peacefully in the sky, a sky that Jane hadn’t seen for two months.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get you out sooner,” Ashton said, taking her hands into his own. “Negotiating with the Chinese was a strenuous ordeal, but eventually Bryce bought them off.”
“At the end, all they wanted was money?” Jane asked, sounding unconvinced. “They took Terrene for money?”
“Well no,” Ashton replied. “They grabbed up Terrene along with most of Bhutan as insurance. Russian scientists have been monitoring the level of methane gas in the arctic regions of Siberia for the last thirty years. There are vast amounts of carbon underneath the ground, stored as methane hydrate.”
“Yes, of course,” Jane said, her mind slowly powering back on after months of meditation. “The methane gas molecules are locked inside a crystalline structure formed by frozen water molecules. Scientists have postulated that a steady rise in arctic temperatures could cause those water molecules to melt, releasing tons of carbon into the atmosphere. That would in turn raise temperatures again, setting off an increasingly vicious cycle of carbon release and global warming.”
“Yes,” Ashton said, gripping Jane’s hands. “Those Russian scientists just logged a spike in methane levels, suggesting the cycle is about to begin.”
“The Chinese now believe that global warming is inevitable,” continued Jane. “And they moved to claim the mountainous regions which are likely to be prime real estate in the future.” Then she frowned. “So that means Terrene is truly gone. Project Phoenix is dead.”
“Not exactly,” Ashton said nervously without bothering to elaborate.
“Did he find another location for the project?” Jane asked.
“Well, China’s movements haven’t gone unnoticed,” Ashton said. “The other powerful nations have all begun staking out the new fertile territories. The United States sent troops into Canada to secure land above the arctic circle. The EU has fallen apart as the individual European nations are all pushing to lay claim to Scandinavia. And the Russians are sending troops to Siberia to head off the Chinese troops that have begun massing at the border.” He shrugged. “I suppose that’s why the Chinese were willing to let you go for some cash.”
“World War III?” Jane asked.
“Not quite,” Ashton said. “Or at least not yet,” he continued. “It’s mostly just posturing for now rather than all out war, but it looks like Bryce might be right. Humanity isn’t putting its best foot forward. We may have to wait until after the collapse to build a new hope for humanity.”
“Second chance to ruin the world,” Tony muttered angrily. “Humanity doesn’t deserve it.” Everyone turned towards Tony, but his eyes were once more glazed over, staring intently at a world that was not theirs.
“Tony?” Jane leaned over to touch his hand. But Tony jerked away from the contact and stared furiously out the window, silent once more.
“He’ll be fine,” Ashton assured her, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. “He’s been through some hard times, but he’ll recover once he’s among friends again back at the Nimitz.”
Jane wasn’t so sure. After the attack on Terrene, Jane had lost a lot of her own faith in humanity. She didn’t think she had the energy to start over again. She was tired and starting to feel her own mortality. She just wanted to settle down and live her life with loved ones by her side. She looked over at Ashton, still full of energy and hope and decided to keep her mouth shut.
************
In the two weeks since Jane’s return to the Nimitz, she had only seen Bryce once. When she first arrived, Bryce had welcomed her grandly, giving her a warm smile and his own lavish quarters on the Nimitz’s island. She saw genuine happiness and caring i
n his eyes. When she thanked him for bailing her out, Bryce almost lost his composure. “I’m so sorry it took so long,” he apologized. “You must know that money was never a consideration, it’s just that the Chinese dragged their feet, trying to keep you for as long as possible.” For the first time in Jane’s experience, Bryce looked desperate, like he needed validation. Jane nodded, giving his shoulder a light squeeze. She wasn’t the only one who had aged over the last couple of months.
“Ashton and I are going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks,” Bryce said brightly, recovering his persistent optimism. “I just want you to rest, to recover from your ordeal.” He waved Chris over. “Chris will be available to take care of anything you need.” He left before Jane could think of anything else to say.
Since then, Jane had spent most of her time chatting with Chris on the flight deck. Chris was good company, but there wasn’t much to do on the ship, and even the breathtaking view eventually became tediously monotonous. She had wanted to spend more time with Ashton, but he was always working, and Chris was insistent that they not disturb him.
Jane was slowly regaining her strength after months of waiting in a closed cell, but she was still dreadfully thin. One morning she spent a good twenty minutes looking at herself in the mirror. She had never felt old, but the woman looking back at her was gray-haired, wrinkled and frail. She was even holding a walking stick like some crippled invalid. She was an old woman now, alone and weak.
“I still can’t believe we lost Terrene,” Jane said to Chris one morning as they watched the waves rising gently in the breeze. “Bryce and Ashton ran simulations on the whole world, and yet they didn’t predict that something as simple as the Chinese army could ruin our plans.”
“Well, actually, uh...” Chris started to say.
“Wait, are you saying they did predict this would happen?” Jane demanded. They had been sitting ducks for the Chinese.
“No, well yes, but not exactly,” Chris stammered.
“What?!!” Jane catapulted to her feet, energy coursing back into her body. “You left us there knowing....” Mai-lin had died, and they knew?
“No, it’s not like that,” Chris said. “The timeline was unexpected...shifted the plan...”
“So what exactly was the plan?” Jane asked.
“I can’t really say,” Chris said. “Bryce didn’t want to upset you or Tony. He said you needed to recover.”
“Upset me?” Jane repeated, her eyes lit with rage. “I’m not upset,” she said, grabbing her cane.
“Please,” Chris implored. “Just relax.”
“Where’s Bryce?” Jane asked, swinging her cane over her head wildly to accentuate the question.
“I don’t actually know,” Chris said. “No one’s seen him for days.”
Jane started hobbling down the stairs to the flight deck. “Ashton then.”
“He should be in the main data center, down in the hanger,” Chris replied, following after her but remaining out of reach of her cane just in case.
“Let’s go visit him,” Jane said, hobbling as fast as she could down the flight deck. Chris ran after her, not daring to stop her, but not willing to leave her unescorted either.
Jane made it to the stairs that led down to the main hanger only to find her way blocked by a young man in a security uniform. “I’m sorry Dr. Ingram,” he said, stepping in front of her. The main hanger is off limits right now.”
“Since when have we had security?” she asked.
“Mr. Kandari just wants to ensure the safety of all the researchers and the crew, Ma’am,” he responded. “Please go back to your cabin.”
“Ridiculous,” she said. “When will I be able to go into the hanger again?”
“I don’t know the answer to that,” he replied stonily.
She grinned mischievously. “Fine then,” she said and then turned to walk back towards the island. As she turned, her knee suddenly buckled, and she fell onto the flight deck, crying out in pain. Her walking stick skittered across the flight deck and out of reach. Chris was instantly by her side.
“Are you okay?” she asked, giving her a hand.
“I twisted my ankle,” Jane said. “I don’t think I can walk. I’m going to need more support.”
As if on cue, the guard came over to help her up. As he lifted her up by the arms, suddenly Jane turned and kicked the back of his knees, sending him onto the ground. She immediately sprinted for the stairs with surprising speed. It felt great to be doing something again. She leapt down the stairs like someone half her age, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Nothing was going to stop her.
Except she had no idea where she was going. The main hanger had been completely transformed. Gone were the glass clean rooms and the racks of computer equipment. In their place stood three giant cylindrical metal structures surrounded by a dozen smaller cylinders, seemingly placed at random. Pipes sprung out the domed tops, reminiscent of ancient steam turbines. It certainly didn’t look like progress to Jane. She heard some thumping coming from above her. She needed to find Ashton or Bryce before the guard caught up with her.
She descended into the labyrinth of giant espresso machines with no idea where to go next. There was no clear control room or central work area. It looked like she was in an industrial plant rather than a computation farm. In fact, there were no computers in sight. She walked aimlessly for a while, just trying to put some distance between herself and the guard who had followed her in. She wasn’t about to let some young security contractor manhandle her. She would find her way through this maze on her own.
Once, Tony had told her that if she ever got lost anywhere: a lake, a forest, a desert, that she should move in a straight line and not waver. Eventually she would find the way out. That’s what she did now. She kept moving until she hit a large, gray metal wall. Then she followed the wall until she reached a set of stairs that went further down into the ship. “Why not?” she thought as she descended down into the next deck.
Jane found herself in a tiny metal corridor divided up into ten foot sections. Each section was separated from the next with a heavy metal door so that they could be sealed off in case of a leak. Jane wondered if these doors had ever been closed. She heard voices echoing down through the corridor and moved towards them.
“The aberration seems to have left the containment area. The fields look stable on numbers one, two, and three,” said one of the voices, surprisingly easy to understand.
“It better be,” someone else answered gruffly. “We’re 95% done with the scan. We can’t lose computational power now.” The voices started fading away. They must be traveling away from her.
Jane reached a junction and decided randomly to go towards the right. She wasn’t too worried about where she was going. She was just excited to be going anywhere after weeks of doing nothing. She took a few more random turns, moving faster and faster into the core of the ship. And then she smacked headlong into a guard, almost knocking him into the room he was guarding.
“Hold on,” he yelled, grabbing her painfully by the wrists. “What are you doing in here?”
“I’m Dr. Jane Ingram,” she announced, putting on her best authoritative voice. “I’m one of the lead scientists for Project Phoenix.”
“I don’t care who you are,” the guard said stiffly. “No one is allowed to be here.” His eyes flitted to the left, probably accessing his internal com unit. “Backup requested in medical sector two.” Almost immediately another guard showed up. He threw handcuffs over her wrists and escorted her down the corridor, but not before she had gotten a good glimpse at what was in the room.
She had clearly seen a man lying down on a raised table. A large ring suspended from the ceiling encircled the width of the table, like a miniature MRI machine. It wrapped around the man’s dormant body like a high-tech coffin, emitting a low hum but showing no visible signs that it was actually doing anything. And though his eyes had been closed and his body mostly covered by the mach
ine, Jane recognized him immediately. She had found Bryce Kandari.
************
Once again, Jane sat in a cell, biding her time. And once again, it was Ashton who came to get her.
“Tripping guards, running around restricted areas?” Ashton didn’t look too happy. “What’s gotten into you?”
Ashton waved at the guards apologetically as he escorted Jane out of the brig.
“What’s gotten into you?” Jane replied. “I shouldn’t need to do these things to find some answers. Since when do you keep secrets from me? Why haven’t you told me what’s going on? And Bryce. What’s he doing in the medical center?”
Ashton sighed. “Chris told me about her little slip up and your...reaction. Really, we didn’t mean to keep things from you. We just wanted you to have some time to rest and get readjusted to life here before we threw more at you.”
“So the Chinese taking over really was part of the plan?” Jane asked pointedly.
“Mom, we didn’t ask the Chinese to attack. But we did anticipate that Terrene would eventually be compromised, just not so soon.”
“But you didn’t tell Tony did you?” Jane asked, remembering the anger in his face. It was more than anger. It was the look of betrayal.
“No,” Ashton said. “Bryce thought he would get...emotional. He was waiting for the right time.”
“I don’t have to tell you two how much you screwed up that one,” Jane said. “So how exactly is Project Phoenix supposed to continue without Terrene?” Jane asked.
Ashton opened a door, and Jane found that they were now in the main hanger again but in the rear section next to the big globe where Ashton had proposed to Chris. “Let me show you,” Ashton said as he opened the door to the big globe and ushered her in.
************
The dome looked exactly the same as she remembered. The white expanse that surrounded her made her feel as if she was no longer a part of this world, like an angel floating in nothing. Well, nothing except for the chairs in the middle of the room. She walked across the matte white floor and sat down in one of them as Ashton powered up the simulator. The diffuse white lighting faded from the globe around her and was replaced by sheer darkness.