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

in half with tracks leading all the way to the end of the hall, where they disappeared underneath two huge sliding doors. “You can say what you want, but the construction of this site alone is incredibly impressive.”

“Wait until we arrive at the launch bay,” Jennifer said. “Then you’ll see something impressive. But you’re right. Everything Eldin Mulder does has a sort of greatness about it. But make no mistake. I’ve learned a lot about the man in these past months, and beneath all his boyish charm and his ability to accomplish things no one else can, there’s a ruthless, self-centered, egomaniacal man. Brilliant, but with a hint of schizophrenia.”

“He wouldn’t be the first brilliant schizophrenic. Where now?” They neared the sliding doors at the end of the assembly hall.

“There.” She pointed to the right end of the sliding doors where next to it was a small door. “That’s the door to the launch bay. But, first, we need to move all the way to the end, so we can see where the rest is and what’s behind that door.” Together, they passed the sliding doors and into a small glass cubicle.

“Where is everybody?” Bishop asked.

“When I first got here, there must have been hundreds of people working these floors. Now that the work here is done, I guess everyone who’s not working the launches has gone home.” She touched a screen on a desk, clicked the ‘General Feed’ button and a multi-camera view appeared. “That’s everything I can do without access, but the view should switch to the other side of these sliding doors any minute now. We can also see if we can locate our friends anywhere on these rotating screens.”

For a long two minutes, they gazed at the screen.

Jennifer pointed to the screen. “There’s the inside of the launch bay.” There was considerable bustle going on with numbered people working a rocket not far from the sliding doors.

“What’s that?” Bishop pointed to the screen where a train of baggage dollies—like the ones used on airfields—disappeared behind the rocket. “Luggage?”

“I don’t know. Nobody told me what the rockets are carrying. There.” She pointed to the top of the support tower.

“Who’s that?” At the top of the screen, a non-distinguishable man walked in and out of the open door at the top of the rocket.

“Mulder.”

“How do you know? I can barely see if it’s a man or a woman.”

‘There’s no number above his head.”

“Of course.” Bishop tried to get a better look at the profile, but the screen’s resolution was too low.

“Still no sign of our friends.” Jennifer shook her head. “You see those crates over there?” She pointed to the screen where a large stack of crates, filled with jerrycans, was placed near the sliding doors. “I suggest we get in and hide behind them until the others arrive.”

“All right.”

They quickly moved to the doors. Jennifer slowly opened it and peeked around the corner. “It’s free.” She opened the door a bit further and snuck through. Bishop needed to open it a bit further. Then he also went through and closed it again behind him. Jennifer tiptoed to the crates with Bishop on her heels. Once they arrived, they put their backs against the boxes and waited. Bishop peeked around the crates and at the rocket several hundred feet away.

On the side, in enormous letters, it read, ‘Lemuria-1.’ The rocket was painted bright orange with white squares. Standing on its three legs, the three-hundred-foot-tall rocket reminded him of the one in the comic, The Adventures of Tintin, Destination Moon. On each leg, in bright white letters, it read, ‘Hawkeye-FX1.’ It was public knowledge that Mulder was a huge comic book fan, and Bishop didn’t find it surprising he would sculpt a real rocket after one from a comic. After all, the Lgé One, Logynous’s first electric car was made after Black Beauty, the sleek black vehicle used by the Green Hornet to battle crime. In the center of the three legs, the extensive rocket propulsion system floated on top of a deep cavern that functioned as a fire guiding channel once the engines ignited.

“There.” Bishop pointed to another train of baggage dollies in the distance. “Can you make out what’s on them?”

Jennifer squatted next to Bishop and turned her head toward the dollies. Most of the carts were covered with a tarp draped over the sides, except for the last two. “I’m not sure. It looks like drawers. Wait here.” She straightened herself and stepped away from behind the crate.

“What are you....” Bishop whispered as Jennifer casually walked toward the rocket, where the baggage dollies in the distance had already stopped.

She nonchalantly passed engineers and other workers on her way and nodded friendly to them.

Bishop sighed and returned behind the crates when Jennifer went out of sight on the other side of the rocket.

A minute or two passed when Jennifer, panting, returned to the crates again and placed herself next to Bishop.

“And?” Bishop asked.

She lifted a finger. “One second.” She panted, catching her breath.

“That was nuts. You know that?”

“You wanna know what’s on the carts or not? In the drawers on the carts are stretchers with people tied to them.”

“People?”

“I believe they’re the tribe members.”

“What?”

“I think he’s shipping unconscious tribe members in the rockets.”

“My God.” Bishop covered his mouth with both hands. “When we discovered the tribes on the surface and saw what he was doing to them, we assumed he was using them to test their ability to adjust to a terraformed planet. But it’s worse. He’s planning to actually take them there. He was preparing them for colonizing Mars.”

Suddenly, the blaring of sirens echoed through the hallway. It sounded like a locomotive, slowly gathering speed.

As the light in the hall changed, Bishop looked up. A slit of stars in the dark evening sky materialized through the slowly opening rooftop.

“Everybody out.” Mulder’s voice echoed loudly through the launch bay.

Men and women working the floors stopped and looked up at the man, now halfway down the tower.

“Everybody out