Lemuria by Burt Clinchandhill (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📗

onto the second staircase, she heard the painting slide down again. She gave a deep sigh. Was she safe? The arrows led her inside the room, and without hesitation, she stepped in. The room was no bigger than thirty by thirty feet. The walls were made of stainless steel. The wall to her right held a large flatscreen, and opposite the entrance was another—in this case, closed—door. The flatscreen came to life with Lean on it.

“Is your party complete?”

“Yes,” Amie said, panting.

The door behind her closed and a series of heavy bolts shooting into place locked the entry tight.

“Hello, and welcome to The Space.” Amie looked around, expecting the door on the other side to open, but it didn’t. “You are now in The Space’s decontamination room. You are safe now. This room is bullet- and bomb-proof, and once decontamination has started, it cannot be opened. From here, your journey further into The Space will continue in about an hour. In the meantime, you will be freed of all possible contaminations. The light in the room will turn a dark blue color, and gaseous decontaminants will be sprayed into the room sterilizing both body and clothes, so there’s no need to undress. You might experience slight discomfort from odor and a tingling sensation in the throat. Decontamination will commence in one minute and will take about forty-five minutes. If you wish, you can rest on one of the seats provided.”

Amie looked around, but the room was completely empty.

“Relax.” Without a doubt, Lean’s voice was programmed to emanate calmness, but Amie found it nerve-racking. “On the touchscreen, you can experience The Space in advance.” A floorplan to The Space materialized. Amie looked at it briefly. It was huge. For a moment, she was impressed, but that feeling quickly turned to unease. What was going on? Was she safe? Who knew she was here tonight? Did someone know what she was working on? What she knew? She walked to the door where she had come in and looked through the porthole. The light had gone off again, and it was pitch black on the other side.

Amie startled when Lean began speaking again. “Did you know The Space is a three-story underground survival complex, capable of housing over three hundred people in their own apartments should a catastrophe occur?” Amie turned to the screen, and on it were luxuriously decorated rooms, with modern furniture and bright kitchens. LED screens with images of green pastures served as windows. “The space has its own heavily filtrated oxygen supply, is, of course, bomb- and radiation-proof and has its own freshwater facility. There is a supermarket with fresh, stored groceries that will feed all occupants for up to three years, and for entertainment, there’s a swimming pool, video arcade, shooting range, two bars, and a cinema stacking thousands of movies.” On the screen, images of a luxury pool with artificial palm trees, and a horizon complete with a blue sky painted on the walls. “Please feel free to use the floorplan for more impressions.”

She felt a slight breeze from a ventilator that came on, and the light in the room changed to dark blue, as she quickly turned back to the porthole. At that same moment, the light on the stairway behind the entrance came on again. Just as she looked through it, the light went off again. She gazed into the darkness but couldn’t define any shape or form. With both hands now against the glass, she pressed her head between them, staring into the nothingness on the other side. Suddenly, she took a big step back, inhaled two quick and shallow breaths, and then pressed all of the air out of her lungs, as on the other side of the door, someone’s breath condensed on the glass.

What the fuck? She stepped aside, keeping her eyes on the porthole. For a long moment, the room stayed silent except for Amie’s shallow breathing. The condensation on the glass had dissipated.

“Hello, Amie.” A distorted voice now sounded through the room, startling her again. “What are you doing in there?”

Amie stepped away, as far as she could, from the door. “Who are you? What do you want?” she asked with her back against the opposite door. “Hello?” she asked again when everything remained silent.

“Do you know that every day, you and your boss defy God and everything He stands for?” The distorted voice came back, and Amie thought she could vaguely distinguish a silhouette through the porthole. Was it a man? She couldn’t be sure, and the voice also didn’t give away anything distinctive.

“Who are you?” Amie repeated with a trembling voice.

Another long moment of silence. “Who I am is of no importance. We warned you before what would happen if you didn’t stop.”

Amie fought a rising panic. Who was he? What did he know, and who would want to stop me? Stop what, and why this way? Then she saw a flat hand placed on the other side of the glass. What was he doing?

The hand slowly moved over the glass, and then out of sight. Next to the door, on the outside, was a small touchscreen panel. The assailant’s fingers skillfully moved over the panel and punched the projected buttons. A low rumble sounded inside the decontamination room, followed by absolute silence. Amie looked up when she noticed the ventilator had stopped. Almost immediately, the dark blue light went off, and just before it went totally dark, the silhouette behind the door became clearly visible.

“You?” she cried out.

A hissing sound filled the room, and she quickly felt lightheaded, dizziness setting in. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she lost her balance, sinking to her knees. For a second, she sat on her knees. Then she tipped over, her eyes completely closed, and there was absolute blackness.

Chapter 10 – Trinil

Java, Indonesia, The Present

The Short SC.7 Skyvan made its approach to Ngloram Airport at Bandar Udara Ngloram in Central Java, Indonesia. The plane—fabricated by the Short Brothers of Belfast, Northern