The Earthrise Trilogy Part 2

Steve had been right, the cleaners were the only ones in the building, they could hear the clank of mops and trolleys down the corridor. Steve took Clare's hand, "Follow me," he whispered, and led her into a stairwell. They climbed two flights, and emerged slowly, into the corridor where Vink's office was situated.

"This could be tricky," Steve, said, "I don't know if the place is alarmed."

"Go for it Hun," Clare said, "we've been lucky this far." She gave his hand a rea.s.suring squeeze.

Steve was about to insert the screwdriver into Vink's door, when, on an impulse, he tried the handle, the door opened.

"I can't believe it," Steve said looking at Clare. "Vink's office is normally locked up like Fort Knox!"

Clare smiled one of those womanly smiles and said, "Even Fort Knox has to be cleaned."

They were inside and Steve hit the power switch on Vink's computer. He turned the brightness control on the monitor all the way down so as not to alert the cleaners when it started up. When the machine was running, he slowly increased the brightness so they could just see the text. Vink's computer had a recent doc.u.ments system, so Steve was able to see everything that Vink' had been working on that day. It took only a few moments to find the article that he had seen the day before.

"Come and see this," he said softly to Clare, who was keeping an eye on the corridor. She came over and looked at the screen.

"Why, that's the article on tropical plants I did for National Geographic," she said. "Why would he want that?"

"I don't know Sweetie, but keep looking there may be more." Clare knew her way around a computer too, and it didn't take her long to find something shocking.

"Steve," she called out somewhat loudly.

"Shush, not so loud, what is it?"

"He's got virtually all my field notes on here, just about everything I've ever written, it's all here."

"Something is going on," Steve said, realising the gravity of what Clare had just said. "He's using your notes for something illicit. We've got to find out what it is and put a stop to it Sweetie."

"That we have, I'm not having that weasel stealing my work." With that she hit the delete key.

"No wait," Steve said, grabbing her arm, but it was too late. Clare had wiped everything.

"That'll teach him," she said, smugly, "let's see him use it now."

"I do wish you hadn't done that Sweetie," Steve said, "now he'll know that someone has rumbled him, and he'll go to ground."

"Ah, didn't think of that," Clare said, "sorry Hun, but he deserves it anyway."

"Never mind that now, let's get out of here before the cleaners arrive." Steve reset Vink's computer and turned it off.

They left the building the same way they had come in. Once they were in the alley, Clare caught hold of Steve's arm and said, "I think it's time for some straight talking, don't you?"

"OK," Steve replied, "let's get back to the car."

They drove around nervously, the car seeming to be the safest place for them to talk. Having seen what Vink' was up to, it might not be safe even at home.

"Do you think that Vink' would bug our house?" Clare asked.

"No," Steve replied, "but I wouldn't put it past Carter! We'll need to be careful from now on."

"So," Clare said after a short silence, "just what are you working on Hun?"

Steve thought for a moment, he had never broken a confidence like this before, and it took him a few seconds to summon up the courage now, but he knew he had to.

"For the last year Sweetie, I've been working on a top secret project called Moon Base Alpha. Star Labs have been involved with it for ten years, and they drafted me in when the last project head was taken ill and had to retire."

"Retire? Do you believe that?" Clare asked.

"Not on your life," Steve's replied, "I think he was sidelined by Vink' or Carter for some reason. MBA was his project, he would never have retired."

"Do you mean to tell me that there are people actually living on the moon?" Clare asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, there are Sweetie, the base is still under construction, but there are people up there right now."

"So what's your part in this?"

"I'm in charge of technology, it's my job to invent new systems and make sure that they function in s.p.a.ce. There's a lot of new stuff gone into this project, why, even the communication system uses a totally new form of interface. It's neural based-"

"Neural?" Clare interrupted.

"Yes, neural. It's not perfected yet, but it has the capability to sense your feelings, at least it will one day. Right now, it can detect micro changes in skin resistance and body temperature, which are signs of the situation you are in, i.e. restful, active, danger etc."

"Clever," Clare said, "and you invented it?"

"Well, yes, I did," Steve said, a little hesitantly, "that and other stuff."

"I'm impressed," she said snuggling down onto his shoulder. "You're my little professor."

Steve was glad that Clare finally knew what he was doing, he'd hated keeping secrets from her, but the work was cla.s.sified as top secret, and that meant telling no one, no one at all.

Suddenly, a thought dawned on him. Clare's life might now be in danger. If they'd done away with the project leader, they wouldn't think twice about someone like Clare. The thought frightened him, and Clare became aware of his fear.

"What is it Hun?" She asked.

"It's you Sweetie," he answered, "by telling you, I may have put your life at risk."

"It probably was anyway." Clare replied. "'That Forester woman,' remember? And all my notes were on his computer. I figure I'm involved in Moon Base Alpha as much as you are."

Clare was smart, Steve hadn't made the connection, but it had not escaped his wife.

"So, why do you think they've got your study notes?" Steve asked.

"Well, there are some things about my work that you don't know. My field is hybrid plants remember?"

"Sure I do, but what's that got to do with the Moon?"

"Ah, that's the 64,000 dollar question, isn't it, but my guess is it's to do with either food, or air production."

"Of course," Steve shouted, "that's it! One of the main problems MBA has to overcome is air, it's not possible to transport enough of it from Earth, and it can only be recycled so many times. Air is the key to MBA's success, without it, MBA will fail, but is it really possible to use plants to create enough air?"

"Not that I know of," Clare replied, "at least, not yet, but there was one plant I discovered high up in the Andes that was very efficient at converting sunlight into oxygen. All green leaf plants do it, but B37A was almost ten times more efficient than your everyday plant. I wrote an article on it..." Her voice faded as she realised that she'd seen the very same article on Vink's computer. "That must be it," she said, "they've taken my work on hybrids and created a new strain of B37A, a strain that can make enough air to run MBA."

"Makes sense," Steve said, "grow enough of the stuff, and it's free air. There's one other problem though, water. There's no water on the Moon, and plants need water."

"Can't help you there," Clare replied, "I don't know of a plant the can turn sunlight into water."

"Maybe not," Steve replied, "but plants could be created that used very little of it-"

"They already exist," Clare interrupted, "most of Earth's deserts have some form of plant life, even if it just lies dormant until it rains."

By now it was really late, they had been driving around for a couple of hours and Clare was sleepy. "Let's go home," she said, "I'm all in."

It was on TV the following morning. Rufus was his usual self, and the kids were full of beans, but mom and dad were rather fragile. "Shush," Clare suddenly gestured, "quiet, there's something on the news." Everyone became silent, even Rufus, for a second or two. Clare went over to the TV to listen.

"What is it Sweetie?" Steve asked.

"There's been an accident in Russia," she said, "some sort of explosion at a factory."

"Must be bad to make the news," Steve said, "I wonder what kind of factory it was?"

"Don't know," Clare replied, "but it doesn't look good. There are ma.s.s evacuations taking place." Steve just caught the end of the item.

'Sabotage cannot be ruled out,' came the voice from the TV.

"Well, at least it's not nuclear," Chris piped up, "remember the last time?"

"Yes, that's good," Clare, said, "the last one caused a lot of suffering."

Steve left for work as usual. He had no idea what would be waiting for him on his arrival, and his mind was racing with thoughts of being arrested for breaking and entering, with squad cars and blue and red lights everywhere. He needn't have bothered though, everything was just like any other day. There was no sign that anything had happened during the night.

'This can't be right,' Steve thought as he entered the building. 'Vink must be going out of his mind by now seeing his precious data erased.' There was nothing. All was calm.

"Hi Jimmy," Steve called out, on seeing him, "anything happening yet?" he asked, knowing that Jimmy would know if anyone did.

"Nope, not yet," Jimmy replied, "just another boring day!"

"It should be anything but boring," Steve said, under his breath, whilst heading for his Lab.

It was lunchtime before Steve had a chance to quiz anyone else, but his opportunity came when he b.u.mped into Janice in the canteen.

"Hi there," he greeted her, "how's uncle Vink' today?"

"Well, funny you should ask Steve, but he's not here. I haven't seen him all day and his office is not locked."

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Steve said, "do you think we should take a look, just in case?"

"I don't really know," Janice, replied, "it is very unusual."

"Come on," Steve said, taking her arm, "let's go and check, this is a top secret organisation after all."

They ran to Vinkle's office, and sure enough the door wasn't locked. They went in and couldn't believe what they saw. Everything was a mess.

"Wow," Steve said, "someone sure did a number on this place, call security."

"Right," Janice said, looking for the phone. "The files are all gone," she said seeing the empty cabinet.

"Computer's gone too," Steve, said, "this is not good."

Security arrived and took over, there were procedures in place for just such an event. The whole building was put in lockdown, all doors locked and all personnel taken to a secure waiting room.

"I hope we're on overtime," Jimmy said, grinning.

"I wonder what happened to Vinkle?" Kay asked, "I do hope he's all right."

Jimmy looked with disbelief at that last remark. "I hope who ever took him is all right," he laughed. The laughter stopped abruptly as Carter walked in.

"I want to see each of you in the office," he said gruffly, but Steve had a feeling he wasn't as mad as he was making himself out to be.

"Guess this will be the third degree," Jimmy said to no one in particular.

"Could be Jimmy," Steve said, "we'll soon find out."

Steve arrived home a little early that day. "Hey, you're early," Clare called out to him as he entered.

"We need to talk," Steve said, greeting her in the kitchen. They went to Steve's study and closed the door.

"Uh oh," Chris said, to Sh.e.l.ley, "this looks serious."

"Well, whatever it was, you shouldn't have done it!" Sh.e.l.ley responded.

"But I didn't do anything!" Chris protested, putting the TV on.

"So, Vink' has gone missing," Clare said.

"Yes, and all his files and computer too, the place was a real mess. Carter conducted the interviews himself, but it seemed that he was not really interested, I think he knew all about it and was just covering his tracks."

"So what now Hun, what's the next move?"

"I don't know Sweetie, I wasn't expecting this."

They came out of the study to hear the newsreader on the TV say: "the outbreak is localised to the surrounding regions. The Russian government has issued a statement claiming that there is no link to yesterdays explosion, and that all necessary precautions are being taken to minimise the risk of further cases of the mystery virus."

"What was that about guys?" Steve asked the kids.

"There's some kind of sickness broken out in Russia, near where that explosion was, and no one seems to know what it is."

"Has anyone died from it?" Clare asked expecting the answer.