Tunnels 05 - Spiral

outriders blazing the way, the official limousine roared down Berliner Strasse, one of the grandest and usually busiest roads in New Germania. But other than this single vehicle, with its old-fashioned swept-back airflow styling and gleaming silver paintwork, there was no traffic now.
    As the vehicle drew to a halt near the waiting delegation, the door opened. Placing a dainty combat boot on the chalk-colored road, Rebecca One emerged unhurriedly from the vehicle. And, just as unhurriedly, she made her way toward the delegation, inclining her head to listen to the forlorn drone of sirens resounding across the city.
    Then she turned to survey the opposite side of the broad avenue across the central reservation with its palm trees, where a multitude of people were standing in several queues. There were so many New Germanians there that the lines wound up and down the baking surface of the road. And not one of the people spoke or made a sound, simply shuffling forward as the queues moved at an interminably slow rate.
    Rebecca One blew through her lips. “Water . . . somebody bring me some water,” she said, flapping her long black coat open to circulate air to her body.
    A Limiter soldier in the delegation immediately removed a canteen from his belt and passed it to her. She took several long gulps before handing it back. “This climate — it’s too much,” she said, squinting at the ever-burning sun directly overhead in the sky. She lowered her eyes to the Limiter General, who was waiting for his orders. She frowned slightly as she studied the sand-colored fatigues he and the other Limiters were wearing. “I leave you in charge and this is what happens. I know the heat is the reason you’ve ditched your uniforms, but I’m not sure I approve of the replacement. It’s not really us, is it? A little too
beach party
for my taste.”
    There was no change in the Limiter General’s deadpan expression, but he was clearly troubled by her criticism as he looked down at the loose-fitting combat jacket and trousers. “They’re New Germanian Special Forces issue,” he explained.
    “Don’t worry about it now,” she said. “But if you’re the Master Race, you’ve got to look the part. Isn’t that right, Chancellor? Isn’t that what your wonderful Third Reich believed w . . .” She fell silent as she sought out Herr Friedrich, who was standing in the midst of the delegation. He was miles away, his head craned back as he watched a lone pterodactyl riding a thermal high in the sky. “Hey, porky boy — I’m talking to you!” she barked.
    The Chancellor, the former supreme leader of the nation of New Germania, hiccupped with surprise. He, too, had had his fair share of the Dark Light, with the expected ill effects.
    “Hello?” he said, frowning at Rebecca One.
    “Oh, forget it,” she snapped. She swung to the Limiter General. “Give me an update. How’s Vane getting on?”
    The Limiter General shook his head. “She’s exceeding all expectations.” He pointed at one of the institutional buildings that lined the road, a substantial ten-story edifice of light granite. “As you know, we filled the Institute of Geology with human stock.” He panned his finger along the other, similarly imposing buildings in the row, coming closer to where he and Rebecca One were standing. “Then we did the same with the medical facility, and the universities of antiquities and prehistory. She’s worked her way through the human hosts in all of them. That’s three hundred and fifty bodies for impreg-nation and nearly double that number for sustenance —”
    “Wait!” Rebecca One broke in. “You’re telling me that she’s impregnated that many already? She’s just one woman. How can that be?”
    “Might I suggest you come and see for yourself?” the Limiter General replied. He and the rest of the delegation fell in behind Rebecca One as she stepped over the central reservation and cut straight through the queues. The people dumbly moved out of her way. One of them, an elderly man, his face bright red from exposure to the unforgiving sun, abruptly collapsed. Rebecca One hardly bothered to look at him as he lay where he fell.
    “Yes, through there,” the Limiter General said as she reached the nearest building.
    It was a huge botanical greenhouse, its facade nearly a thousand feet in length. “Kew Gardens,” Rebecca One said under her breath as she noted the similarity to the Royal Botanic Gardens she’d