The God Complex: The Book Of Alan, Destroyer Of Worlds

Chapter Forty-Three

'His story checks out. His dad is part of Abaddon's inner circle of corporate advisors and the YAMA is even docked next to Abaddon One. It's feasible they would have access to that level of information and it's feasible the Yamagotchi's would be cutthroat enough to sell out Abaddon to ensure a greater return on profits in the new world.'

'Exactly. When something is too good to be true, it usually is. I want to continue keeping him out of the loop. I don't want him used in the operation and I don't want him knowing where our base is. Not until we're sure he can be trusted.'

'Easily done,' replied Gabe crouching down to feel the cold wet sand in his hands and breathe in the faint scent of marzipan. 'The only question is when do we attack? For the fourth day running, we've reported yet another swell of recruits to the cause. It seems the longer he keeps attacking us on the news, the stronger we grow.'

'The longer he keeps attacking Susan, the stronger we grow,' she corrected.

'Still no word?' he said wiping the sand from his hands.

'Nothing,' she said wearily, 'she's the final piece; the green light from God to end his miserable life without risking humanity's chance of finding a new home. We've never been so close yet so far away.'

The last rays of sun hit the glassy lake, transforming it into a shimmering turquoise mirror that reflected an infinity of stars. It was as if it opened up a portal to an alternate dimension. Just one small step forward and they could leave it all behind and start anew.

'She'll come through,' said Gabe absently.

'Well, I guess that's problem solved then,' she snarked, 'Let's just stand here and wait for her to magically appear because you "believe she'll come through". Christ, I hope you applied more than blind hope when looking into the validity of Jäger's intel, otherwise we're all screwed.'

'Hey!' laughed Gabe, 'blind hope is a new concept for me, let me enjoy it.'

'Oi Geezer!'

Gabe wheeled round to see Monkey bounding towards him, waving his arm for them to come over.

'I've brought a friend!'

Pembo pushed past Gabe to get a closer look at the woman in white satin, standing solemnly at the entrance to the cave.

'Susan?'

'Told you,' smirked Gabe.

Pembo rushed to the foot of the cave to embrace Susan, but stopped short when she saw her cold expression.

'It's good to see you again, Susan,' she said awkwardly.

'And you,' replied Susan pulling her sleeves over her hands.

'Listen, I'm sorry we never believed you about Alan back on Earth. Making Abaddon face justice was all I could think about. We should have taken you seriously, maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now?'

'No,' sighed Susan, 'it is I who should apologise. I stood in your way and now, not a day goes by that I wish I hadn't. You warned me about Abaddon and I didn't listen.'

'Then let's go put things right, 'said Pembo embracing her. 'Come, we've been busy since the last time we met.'

Monkey put his arm around Gabe and beamed heartily at him.

'What's that big grin for?'

'Let's go find Jaibles and I'll tell you.'

The tunnels of Planet Battenberg were seemingly endless. They had used the shuttles four-man Rovers to initially explore how far into the planet they went, but had to turn back after two continuous days of travelling into the planet's core. As a hiding place, it was second to none: it was big enough to hide their fleet of shuttles and maddening enough for an intruder to search for days without finding them. All members had to carry a map and a radio with them all times.