The Power of Five Oblivion

shoulders without me having to move around. They even supplied shampoo, which was a lovely golden colour and smelled of apples. My room was small and plain. It had no windows – but that didn’t matter. I was asleep in less than five seconds and it was another nine hours before I woke up.
    Jamie had the room next door – identical to mine, I noticed – and that evening (if it was evening … it was hard to say) we had supper together in the main room with the other Nexus people, who seemed like a nice bunch and looked normal, even if they were all dressed the same. Of course, there was nothing normal about this underground complex but after Little Moulsford it was nice to be introduced to people who smiled and chatted and didn’t stare at you like they were imagining you served up as the Sunday roast.
    Then the Traveller appeared, not just washed but shaved for the first time, which made him look ten years younger. He was dressed, like all of us, in grey overalls and his arm was in a sling. I could just make out fresh bandages wrapped around his shoulder, so I guessed they must have taken out the bullet and given him painkillers or whatever because he looked completely refreshed.
    I still didn’t know very much about the other members of the Nexus. We’d eaten with Will and Sophie, who had wanted to know all about the end of the village and our flight down the canal but annoyingly told us very little about themselves. Perhaps they’d been instructed not to. Will admitted to being the Traveller’s brother, older by two years – so at least I’d been right about that. Sophie was just a friend, although a close one. It couldn’t have been easy for her either, being apart from him all this time.
    The Traveller led us away from the dining area and through a door next to the kitchen. It led to a conference room with a glass table, comfortable leather chairs and maps of the UK pinned to the walls. Susan Ashwood was waiting for us. Sophie and Will had come too, so that made six of us sitting with the door shut in this private space.
    “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” the Traveller said. “So I’ll begin by answering some of them. Jamie … you met Susan Ashwood just before you went to Hong Kong. She’s in charge here. You could say she’s our boss. She was the one who sent me to the village to find you, although I have no idea how she knew that you’d show up. That doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you’re safe. And in case you’re wondering, you’re about ten miles from St Meredith’s, to the north of London. Miss Ashwood will tell you the rest. Then we’ve got to decide what we’re going to do.”
    The blind woman had been waiting for her turn to speak. It was interesting how all three of them seemed to be in awe of her, even though they had known her all this time. Nobody called her “Susan”, for example. She was always “Miss Ashwood”. She turned her head so that she could address Jamie directly.
    “Jamie, you know that the Nexus existed only to help you and the other Gatekeepers,” she began. “We were always aware that the world would come to these terrible times – it had been predicted by Joseph of Cordoba, for a start. So when we met you in Farringdon all those years ago, we had already made preparations. We had millions of pounds at our disposal. Our members were enormously wealthy … industrialists, statesmen. We were effectively able to plan for the end of the world.
    “We built survival pods. That’s what you’re in now. You may think it a little extreme but let me assure you that back in the Sixties – when I was a young girl – there were many places just like this in existence. The world was afraid of nuclear war and the British government built a series of bunkers deep underground. This was one of them. We bought it and adapted it to our own needs. There were six other pods. The one in Tokyo was destroyed and Istanbul was discovered by the Old Ones and overrun. But the Nexus still has people around the world. We have sent our agents to Mecca, Buenos Aires, Cairo and Delhi. It was fortunate that Matt and Richard Cole were able to bring us a copy of the monk’s diary. It gave us the locations of many of the gates and we have tried to maintain a presence near every one of them. In addition, we have planes. We have food and weapons. We are here to serve you.
    “I last met you ten years ago, when you and Matthew Freeman left for Hong Kong. Shortly