Free 2040 Revelations by Robert Storey Page B

birds flew up as they glided by. After a few minutes the underground forest opened up on either side. Pushing a couple of buttons, the cabbie detached the vehicle from the main trunk road’s induction track and drove into a gravel car park. Having arrived at their destination, Goodwin asked the driver to wait for their return before joining Steiner out in the fresh air. The two men then walked over to an oval shaped building which overlooked a large expanse of water. A plaque outside read:
     
    M.E.C.A.
    MANAGED ECOSYSTEM
    CONTROL ARRAY
     
    U.S.S.B. STEADFAST
    BIO-CHAMBER FIVE
    Protocols 6;12;56;57;58;81
     
    Goodwin had his bio signatures confirmed and then unlocked the doors with a quick swipe of his phone. The two men entered the building and an elevator transported them up to the sixth, and top, floor. They exited at the centre of a large room that was encased in a single transparent dome, showing off the full glory of the forest and lake below, all the way to the distant edge of the chamber a couple of miles away.
    A young looking woman greeted them. ‘Richard,’ she said in a rich South African accent, ‘the system told me you were en route; it’s good to see you, it’s been a while.’
    Goodwin kissed her on both cheeks and then introduced her to Professor Steiner.
    ‘Professor, this is Dr. Kara Vandervoort, the head of our wonderful ecosystem.’
    ‘It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, my dear; you have quite the reputation amongst your international peers.’
    ‘We call her Green Fingered Kara,’ Goodwin said, smiling fondly at Kara, who blushed in response. ‘How was your trip,’ he asked her, ‘did you get to see everything you wanted?’
    Dr. Vandervoort shrugged. ‘Yes, I suppose,’ she said, a little downcast. ‘I thought I had prepared myself for letting go, but I hadn’t realised how hard it was going to be. Knowing the places you grew up, went to school, the national landmarks, everything, is soon going to disappear is …’ – she stared off into space – ‘difficult.’
    Goodwin laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. There wasn’t much he could say, South Africa was to take the brunt of the impact and nothing would be left after AG5’s arrival.
    ‘These will be difficult times for us all,’ Steiner said, turning serious. ‘Your nation will be mourned, my dear, but it will not be forgotten.’
    ‘And the country can be rebuilt when everything has settled down again in the future, isn’t that right, Professor?’ Goodwin said, catching a brief flicker of angst – or was it fear? – on the professor’s face, before the warm smile came back as though it had never been away.
    ‘Most definitely, all will be well.’
    Goodwin felt a little uneasy after witnessing that micro expression. Did the professor think South Africa couldn’t be rebuilt in the future? And if so, why? Unable to think of an answer, he shrugged it off while the doctor demonstrated for them the real-time monitoring systems and presented historical results and forecasts, all of which Goodwin had seen many times before. The professor, however, took it all in, asking numerous pertinent questions.
    After leaving Kara to continue with her work, they spent a few hours taking in many of the other major systems and facilities throughout the base. Finally they took a cab back to the main Command Centre located in the middle of Steadfast. The building, a massive structure fifty floors high, cut through three chamber levels and housed the majority of Steadfast’s high ranking civilian and operational personnel.Goodwin led the professor to the core observation deck located in the heavily reinforced interior. The large room comfortably held seventy systems operators, technicians and analysts. Each person had their own semi-wrapped crescent screen and operators flicked and gestured at their monitors, shifting information from location to location remotely. Complicated graphics, charts and telemetry cascaded down onto one