Transhumans

Chapter 14

“All hope abandon, ye who enter here!” – Dante Alighieri

With one of the new vehicles Rachel had gotten for them – a small airship for small expeditions –, Raja, Luke and Vishnu arrived at the place in less than an hour. They followed Rachel’s instruction of leaving the airship among the surrounding small forest and walked to the tall gates. With a chill of horror, Raja realised that the building had once been the Senate House of the University of London. The whole surrounding had been destroyed and abandoned for the sole purpose of the construction of that camp. The nearest Province was about 2 miles away. They had built tall grey walls around the place, with electric fences on the top. As they passed by the main entrance, she saw the gates, made of two thick pieces of metal, four security guards holding weapons and a sign that said ‘Camp of Special Purposes 592’.

“This is disgusting,” she whispered to Luke. “How come there are people who don’t know about this?”

“I suppose even they know it’s shameful.” He looked sadly at the gates. “Don’t think I am proud of it.”

They walked among the trees so the guards would not see them, being as careful as they could. It was almost 9am, and Rachel would soon open the trash door for them to enter. It was a bit hard to find the place; the small backdoor was in a corner of the back of the building, and it was almost invisible behind a lot of trash bags, and no security guards. Raja assumed it was not necessary to guard the place since the staff kept the keys.

“It is here. Let’s go.”

Vishnu and Luke followed the leader, looking both ways before running. They hid behind the trash bags, the smell of putrefaction and rottenness invading their noses.

“2 minutes to 9am,” Raja announced, twisting her face. She hoped Rachel would not take long. The nausea was starting to sicken her.

It was not the smell that bothered her so much; she started remembering the last time she hid among the trash, scared in the dark, so young and alone, waiting until it was absolute silence. The memory of that night numbed her mind, and she could visibly remember the moment she climbed outside the trash bin, in the dark of the night. “Mummy?”, she had called, and only obtained silence.

“Raja!” Vishnu touched her arm, awakening her from the divagation. “Let’s go!”

She turned to see the small door opening, and Rachel’s face greeting them with a smile. She was wearing the uniform of the staff, a grey pair of skirt and long-sleeved buttoned blouse, with a little identification sign tied to her chest pocket, like in the old military uniforms. Her hair was put up in a bun, and she was holding the high heels on her hands so she would not make a sound as she walked. Even dressed as a nazi soldier, she still looked stunningly beautiful.

“Welcome,” she said. “Quick, come on in.”

They obeyed, grateful for leaving behind the trash, and took a deep breath of fresh air once they were inside.

“Alright, remember what I said,” Rachel told them. “I will take you to the power room now, but then I will have to come back. The cameras start at the 7th corridor, two corridors after the power house.”

“Thank you, R,” Luke said, giving his pupil a kiss on her forehead. “You are fantastic.”

Quietly, the Transhuman girl conducted the three of them to a small room where there was only a big round tank-like structure at the centre. The lights were dim, but the glow the tank was emitting was enough.