Basement B3

Part 2

     That night when Tracy's husband Laurence arrived home she asked him over dinner if he knew anything about the 'haunting' in B2, and what had happened in B3 all those years ago.

"B3?" he said between mouthfuls of food, "I didn't know there was a third basement floor, and as for B2 being haunted, I've only ever been down there once and I never saw or heard anything strange. Those women probably imagined it all."

"Maybe," Tracy replied, "But what about those two scientists who died, Walker and Bolton, did you know anything about them, what they were working on?"

"No idea. That was before I started work there. Why don't you ask your father?"

"He's away on the Mars base mission, and it's very hard talking to someone on the radio when there's a time lag for the radio signal to reach them."

"Wait till he gets back then."

"Yes I suppose so," Tracy said thoughtfully as she finished her dinner.

Later after she had put their daughter to bed she decided she couldn't wait until her father returned. She went to the bedroom she used as a home office and logged onto the company computer.

"Computer, tell me what Doctors Dan Walker and John Bolton were working on in B3."

The computer replied in its soft monotone voice, "Limited information available. Most of the reports on Doctors Walker and Bolton's research project being conducted in Basement Level Three have been removed from this system."

"Removed? Well tell me what you have."

"Doctors Walker and Bolton conducted research in Laboratory Number 2, Level B3 from February 12th 2001 to March 28th 2001 when they both were involved in a fatal car accident. As a result the project was terminated and their research archived. The laboratory was closed down and secured. The floor has closed off to all staff since April 2nd 2001."

"That's all you can tell me?" questioned Tracy, "What was the project they were working on?"

"The project was classified Level One A."

Tracy knew that Level One A was the highest security level at the facility meaning very few staff would have known about it. "I have Level One security clearance," she told the computer, "so tell me what it was."

"I'm sorry Dr Whitfield, but further information on this project is not available."

"Then tell me who knows about it."

"Dr Hammond and Professor Phillips."

Dr Hammond, CEO of the Silver Star Research facility, was Tracy's father, and Professor Phillips was second in charge of the complex.

"Good, I'll talk to Martin Phillips about it tomorrow," Tracy said, "But in the meantime can you give me some information on Walker and Bolton."

"Both Doctors Walker and Bolton were biologists and were on Earth rotation after returning from an eight month roster at Mainbase."

"What about the night they died?"

"Both scientists left the facility at nine twelve pm. The security officer at the gate reported that they appeared tense and highly nervous. When they drove off at high speed he notified head of Security who prepared a report, but took no action. The bodies of Doctors Walker and Bolton were found in their badly damaged car six kilometres from the complex on Tom's Gully Road at seven am the following morning by a passing motorist."

"Have there been any reports by staff of any strange incidents in Basement Level B2 in the last twelve months?"

"Only one report fifteen days ago of a power failure for approximately twenty seconds with emergency lighting also failing. Maintenance staff were unable to find the cause of the failure of both primary and back up power circuits."

Tracy turned the computer off and lay on her bed thinking. Walker and Bolton had returned from the moon and immediately locked themselves away in the most secure lab in the complex to conduct some highly secret project. Maybe something to do with this project had killed them? Tomorrow she would find out from Martin Phillips exactly what the project was.

The following morning Tracy called Martin Phillips' office only to receive bad news.
"Professor Phillips is away today and tomorrow," his executive assistant announced, "He'll be back on Thursday."

Okay, Tracy thought, in the meantime maybe I'll just go down to B2 and check up on this 'haunting' business.
She found a few old paper files which needed to go into storage and walked around to the lifts. A few minutes later the lift door opened and she stepped out onto Level B2.

Basement Level B1 in the Silver Star Research complex housed equipment and non sensitive storage. Level B2 was divided into storage at one end of the floor, and "the vault" as it was called, at the other end of the floor which was for storage of highly sensitive materials, equipment and files, and was only available to a handful of staff.

Tracy stood in the quiet passage and looked around, waiting to see if she picked up anything. None of her friends or work colleagues knew about her telepathic abilities. If there was something paranormal on this floor she would know about it. She waited. Nothing. No strange sounds, no mysterious figures in lab coats. She walked into the file room for the MRU and stored the files she had brought with her. No one else was on the floor at the time. She could understand why Angie said it felt creepy. She walked past the lifts and continued to the door of the One A security area or 'the vault' where the 'ghost' had apparently been seen. Nothing here either.

Tracy turned to go back to the lift and had taken two steps when she heard the muffled sound of a man's voice behind her. She whirled around but no one was there, just the locked door. She looked carefully around. Was somebody playing a trick on her? The passage was deserted. She walked back to the lifts. Again a man's voice came from behind her, but no one was there. Tracy felt a chill run down her spine and suddenly the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.
Then the voice came clearly. "Increase the power."
A moment later the lights flickered and then dimmed for several seconds before returning to normal.
"Something's happening to it, it's glowing. Cut the power".

That was enough for Tracy. She stabbed the button for the lift. It arrived thirty seconds later while the disembodied voice became muffled and fainter.

LRU = Lunar Research Unit
MRU = Mars Research Unit