Outlanders - Ghost Walk by James Axler

Author:James Axler
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

A series of unsteady flickering shapes flashed over the screen. Gray-and-white figures moved jerkily about the dimly lit circular chamber, the curving walls lined by consoles. A metal shaft mounted in a drum-shaped socket rose from the floor.

“That’s the control room of the theta-pinch transmitter,” Brigid said.

“It is,” Erica van Sloan conceded. “Inside Phantom Mesa. This sequence was copied from the installation’s security cameras. The quality isn’t the best, but considering the video equipment was installed over two hundred years ago, I’m surprised anything at all was recorded.”

“Why show us this?” Lakesh asked impatiently.

“This is the first consortium team to enter Phantom Mesa Theta-Z Research Station. When the power was restored, the cameras began recording automatically. It was filmed about three months ago.”

“How did the consortium find the place?” Kane wanted to know. “I’d think you’d be able to guess,”

Erica replied dryly. “I told them, of course. I was aware of the researches into theta fusion. It was one way of establishing my bona fides.”

“The work of many divisions of the Totality Concept overlapped from time to time,” Lakesh interposed.

Erica nodded. “Exactly. Now pay attention.”

On the screen a slender dark-skinned man came into view. He was attired in the standard bodysuit of the Millennial Consortium operative, but it fit him very well.

“There he is,” Erica stated, touching a button on the keyboard and freezing the image. “The quintessential devil in this situation. Section Chief Quintus Breech.” He was tall, with dark brown skin. His face was youthful, unlined and slightly rounded. The man’s hair was short and black, a cap of tight curls. There was about him an air of childlike enthusiasm, but the posture of his body and the tilt of his head suggested absolute authority.

“Gray mentioned that name,” Brigid commented. “He was your predecessor.”

“Yes,” Erica said simply. The man seemed to stare aggressively out at the screen at her, and she averted her face, turning her gaze on Brigid. “Breech was recruited into the consortium from the Mandeville Historical Division three years ago,” Erica declared. “He was considered quite a wunderkind with a very impressive degree of knowledge about predark technology. He had obviously been tapping into archived, classified files. But unlike you, Brigid, he was never found out. He joined the consortium and swiftly rose through the ranks.”

“Ranks,” Grant repeated. “Is the Millennial Consortium set up like the old ville hierarchy?”

“Not exactly. You might look at the consortium as more of a franchise with semi-independent operations going within it. The range of activities is very broad.”

“There’s some sort of oversight council or committee, isn’t there?” Kane asked.

“There is,” Erica answered reluctantly. “Which basically makes sure all the operations are geared to the same ultimate end.”

“I’m sure I can guess this one,” Kane said sarcastically. “The conquest of the world and the institution of a technocratic rule.”

Erica shrugged negligently. “Something like that. Anyway—”

“Anyway,” Brigid broke in, a hard edge to her tone, “you don’t believe in the consortium’s philosophy any more than we do.”

Erica regarded her with a calm violet eye.

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