Free Vigil by Craig Saunders, C. R. Saunders Page A

corralling each thought as it tried to leap away from him.
    ‘What’s all this about, Tom? You’ve got the whole complex in a bloody panic now. I’ve half a mind to put you back in solitary.’
    ‘Thanks, Jean. Nice to know I’ve still got a few friends on the council.’
    Jean sighed and held his hands up in a gesture of peace. ‘Perhaps that was uncalled for. What’s on your mind?’
    Tom took a breath. Steeled himself. Easy. Take it easy on them.
    ‘Rumour, Jean. Rumour. And fact. Bear with me while I work through it.’
    ‘You’ve been with us since the start, Tom,’ said Kappa. ‘You’ve earned your five minutes.’
    Kappa had been on the original security team from before the fall. He’d seen the signs, same as Tom. He was far from a grunt. Twenty years down the line, he was one of the few in the complex that Tom respected and trusted.
    ‘Thanks, Kappa. Now, we know vampires are evolving, right?’
    ‘You want a medal?’
    ‘Let him speak, Sam,’ said Marie.
    ‘OK,’ Tom continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted. ‘Let’s just suppose, for a minute, that vampires remember the things they knew from before, you know, before the cure. And to take it further, wouldn’t it be possible that vampires, mechanics, doctors, football players, could still have the skills they had before they turned?’
    ‘When they turn they’re drivelling idiots, purely driven by the hunger.’
    ‘The hunger, yes. Millions died when the hunger took, but some still lived. We’ve seen what happens then. They grow more powerful, they grow more intelligent. We’ve a vampire in quarantine being tested right now, and he can speak.’
    ‘He doesn’t say anything worth a damn but ‘please,’’ said Sam with a grin.
    Tom ignored him. ‘Let’s assume that they know all they knew before…is there any reason a scientist, or a military man, or a sniper…anyone, could become cured…survive…remember?’
    Jean looked at Tom thoughtfully. ‘I suppose so.’
    ‘And just suppose that a leader came. Suppose a leader got them together. He’d have to be powerful to rule them, and offer them something they wanted. He’d have to offer them food. People must be dwindling out, getting better at hiding.
    ‘Food is getting scarce. So he has the idea of keeping their food alive. Farming people. They need more people. They need food. Because food on the hoof has got wise and gone to ground.’
    ‘You think they want to farm us?’
    ‘No, Jean. That’s what I thought to start with. That’s what the rest of the complex thinks. That’s why I wanted to speak to the council in private, Jean, because the people don’t need to know what I think.’
    ‘You’re not making any sense.’
    ‘I know that’s not what they want. Do you know what the place in Switzerland is?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘It’s the biggest particle accelerator on the planet. It was set up to study the theory behind the big bang. It was supposed to recreate the state of the universe at its inception on a small scale. That’s what they said it was for. It was run by a team of international scientists, the brightest in the world. Particle physics on a grand scale, with an accelerator miles underground. Immense. And powerful.’
    ‘So you think that’s where these new vampires are coming from?’
    ‘I’m sure of it. But I haven’t finished. The project was taken over in 2020 by a private concern. It was big news when it all started…then…nothing. But it was rumoured there were breakthroughs. I heard through my dad that they’d done it.’
    ‘What?’ said Marie.
    Tom looked into her eyes. If she believed him, maybe the others might, too.
    ‘Broken the barrier.’
    ‘What barrier?’
    ‘The particle accelerator didn’t work as it was supposed to. They didn’t create the big bang. They created a worm hole.’
    ‘OK, Tom. You’re not making any sense. What the fuck is a wormhole?’
    Tom ignored Samson and turned to Jean.
    ‘It’s a gateway, Jean.