Code Name Flood. Laura Martin
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cavorting behind Boz’s head.
“I think that sounds like a very good idea.” Boz smiled. “Dr Schwartz, grab me one of those techy devices. The XI 4000 should fit this.” Schwartz nodded stiffly and walked out.
“Now that he’s gone,” Boz said, setting down the plug in front of him, “are you absolutely sure that you weren’t followed here? This General Kennedy and his marines seem to have had no problem tracking you to Todd’s village.” His change of subject startled me, and I glanced over at Todd.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Like I said, we ditched everything from the compound that could have potentially held a tracker. Todd thinks they were tracking us the old-fashioned way, by following our trail. But –” I paused – “If they did, our tracks will just lead them to Lake Michigan and then disappear.” Boz nodded, seeming satisfied.
Schwartz returned with a large port and propped it up on a stand. Boz pressed his entire hand to the screen, and it hummed for a second, then turned on. Handprint entry, I thought, impressive. With practiced fingers, Boz slid the tiny plug into the port. A black screen appeared, followed by the revolving gold symbol of the ark. The screen blinked and there was my dad.
I leant forward hungrily, taking in the tiny image on Boz’s screen. My dad was wearing a stained and dishevelled lab coat, his brown hair sweaty and his face tight and anxious.
“This message is for Dr Bartholomew Boznic or Ivan Ironarm. You need to enter the ten-digit code we used to pass secret messages within the Colombe. If it is not entered in the next thirty seconds, this memory plug will lock down, corrupt itself, and destroy the hard drive of every piece of technology within two hundred feet.”
Boz looked startled at this and frowned.
“Do you know it?” I asked, my throat tight. If Boz didn’t know the code my dad was talking about, the plug would destroy the secrets it contained. If that happened, everything I’d been through, everything I’d dragged my friends through, would be for nothing. But even as my heart raced in terrified anticipation, I couldn’t help but stare at my dad. It had been over five years since I’d seen him, and in that time my memories of him had faded and blurred. Now everything came rushing back: the way his hair waved across his forehead, the crease between his eyebrows that showed he was worried, the way he used his hands when he talked.
“I think so.” Boz nodded. He quickly typed in a ten-digit number, and I held my breath. I wasn’t the only one. When the screen beeped, the room let out a collective sigh of relief. This time my dad sat at his desk, sweat shining on his forehead, and from the way the camera struggled to focus, I could tell that his hand was shaking.
“I found something,” he said, his words rushed and panicked. “It’s what I was worried about all those years ago when I first started the Colombe. I warned everyone that someday the Noah was going to do something drastic. I was right. He’s going to wipe out the dinosaurs, but it’s worse than I ever imagined. If I don’t make it to tell either of you this in person, then hopefully this plug will. We have to stop this.” My dad jumped as a loud banging came from behind him. His face went from frightened to terrified. The screen flickered, and a video icon appeared.
I didn’t realise I had tears running down my cheeks until Shawn used his sleeve to wipe them away. Boz reached up and clicked the icon.
The port buzzed and then a grainy video began, revealing a windowless room with six men sitting around a table. At the head of the table was our current Noah. He had the same gray-tinged hair and serious expression as his counterparts, and his eyes were dark and hooded behind thick-rimmed glasses. I was struck by how old he looked.
“What is this?” Todd asked.
“It’s some kind of meeting,” Schwartz snapped.
The Noah cleared his throat. “Today we have reached a monumental decision that will change our world forever.” He looked up from his papers to his audience. “Today, by a five-to-one vote, we made the decision to reclaim our world, eradicate the dinosaur pestilence that plagues us, and sacrifice the few for the many. After over a hundred and fifty years of fear, we will triumph.”
The Noah wasn’t wearing his customary smile, the one that said, trust me, everything will be OK. The one I’d seen him wear countless times in North Compound assemblies, the one designed to help the people of the compounds rest easy that supplies would be delivered and life would go on. Instead, his solemn face was all business and his eyes held a cool resignation. They were the eyes of a man who had set a course and was going to stick to it. Those eyes scared me.
Shawn’s hand was on my shoulder; squeezing it uncomfortably, and I wondered if his own stomach was tied in the same painful knot mine was. I bit my lip as the Noah went on. “The fortifications to our nation’s four underground compounds are progressing well,” the Noah said, “as we prepare to set the second phase of the Ark Plan, code name Flood, into place. We know that future generations will look back on this day and thank us for the decision we have made. Our temporary refuge underground has gone on long enough, and it is time for us to regain what is rightfully ours. Our efforts to eradicate the dinosaurs in the past have failed. But we have found the solution.”
The Noah looked straight at the camera. “We know that the dinosaurs of millions of years ago were destroyed by a meteor strike that made the earth’s surface uninhabitable. Modern technology has at last given us the tools to recreate this phenomenon. We have located enough nuclear weaponry to eradicate the dinosaur population completely.” The two serious men sitting next to him nodded solemnly.
Todd was on his feet, gesturing wildly at the screen, his voice quivering. “What is he talking about? Is that who I think it is? Can they do that?” I grabbed his arm and yanked him into the seat next to me.
“Our weapon specialists have developed strategic drop sites that will spare our compounds from structural damage, allowing the human race to survive underground, away from dangerous radiation. Our top scientists are taking samples and DNA from a large number of species and plants, and we feel confident that, when the dust settles, we will be able to rebuild our great nation from a clean slate. Today marks the beginning of a war. One we will win.”
The port clicked off, and the silence in the room was deafening. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what he had just said. Phase two of the Ark Plan? Code name Flood? Nuclear war? How could it be a war when only one side had weapons?
Boz’s face was white as a sheet as he stared at the blank screen in horror. Then he looked at us, his eyes wide and panicked. “They are going to kill us all.”
“What?!” Todd yelped, jumping to his feet again.
“They are going to blast our continent with bombs. Wipe the world clean, and start all over again,” Boz gasped.
“Why is no one else freaking out right now?” Todd’s voice echoed the disbelief I felt.
“There is no way anyone could be that stupid,” I said, hoping I could make it true.
“We always knew the current Noah was an extremist, but I never thought …” Boz shook his head sadly. “Does he not realise the catastrophic effects of wiping out millions and millions of years of evolution? Every animal will have to be re-created, every plant germinated in a lab, every bacterium grown on a petri dish. It’s impossible. The human race would continue to survive underground for a while, but what would be left of the world when they finally did venture aboveground?”
“These bombs would kill everyone who lives aboveground?” Todd asked in horror. “I know of at least three other villages within a month’s travel from the Oaks. All of those people are just going to be left to die? So the privileged compound moles can survive? That isn’t fair!”
“That might be the understatement of the century,” I said, feeling sick as I sat frozen in my chair, thinking about everything I’d learned about dinosaurs since coming topside. I kept seeing Ivan’s table in a jumbled heap on his floor after he’d demonstrated what would happen to our world without the dinosaurs, the rotten wood crumbled and scattered.