Tunnels 05 - Spiral

else rather incongruous.
    “There’s Danforth,” he said, pointing into the entrance tunnel. All the section doors were open, and the small man was standing a distance down it.
    At that moment, the Hub completely powered down, and they were all plunged into total darkness.
    “Is it the Styx?” Mrs. Burrows said, sensing something was wrong. Will hadn’t seen her enter the Hub, and of course the darkness made no difference to her.
    “No, we don’t know that. All of you stay where you are,” Parry ordered, trying to keep everyone calm.
    “Where’s Emily off to?” Mrs. Burrows asked.
    The emergency lighting blinked on. And, sure enough, in the pale yellow glow suffusing the passageway, Mrs. Rawls was striding purposefully toward the Professor.
    “Mum!” Chester shouted after her.
    She hadn’t reached Danforth when she came to an abrupt halt and wheeled around.
    “What’s she wearing?” Chester asked in a choked voice as he saw his mother was dressed in some sort of bulky vest.
    Elliott had her rifle trained down the passageway. “I might be able to wing him,” she whispered loudly enough for Drake to hear.
    Drake gave the slightest shake of his head, then called out to Danforth. “What
is
this? What’s going on?” he asked.
    “Plan B,” the Professor laughed. “I didn’t think you’d be on my tail so soon.” He was holding something in his hand. It wasn’t a weapon.
    “What do you mean,
your tail
?” Drake demanded as he started toward him.
    “Might I suggest that you keep well back?” the Professor threatened, brandishing the control in his hand. “I Darklit Mrs. Rawls when Sergeant Finch was having his nap. It may have been a little rushed and not as polished as I’d have ideally liked, but the task I’ve programmed into her is simple enough. She’s sporting enough explosive in her vest to bring the roof down if I tell her to detonate. And if anyone fires a shot at me, or even comes too close, she also knows what to do. It’s
boom
time.”
    “DANFORTH!” Parry bellowed. “What the
hell
do you think you’re playing at?”
    “Don’t raise your voice at me, Commander, old chap. I’ve overridden all the systems in the Complex, so please be civil to me. There isn’t anything you can do.” Danforth touched the control in his hand, and the section door between him and Mrs. Rawls began to close across the passageway. Mrs. Rawls didn’t move, standing as still as a statue. Danforth touched the device again, and the door immediately reversed direction, rolling back into the wall. Sergeant Finch was trying the buttons on the handlebars of his mobility scooter, but they no longer had any effect.
    “Explain yourself, Danforth!” Parry yelled, his voice like thunder.
    “You can’t win,” the Professor proclaimed. “The Styx are ushering in a new dawn. You know I finished translating the
Book of Proliferation
while you were down in London. It’s a blueprint for what comes next . . . after the human race. And what I found when I investigated Elliott — well — it opened my eyes. So it’s nothing personal, Parry . . . it’s evolution, and I want to be on the winning team.”
    “So you’re jumping ship and joining the other side? Is that it?” Parry shouted. “Sounds pretty personal to me, you damn fool!”
    “Why shouldn’t I?” Danforth replied. “I’ve had it with my own kind — they had the benefit of my life’s work, and all the thanks I got was an enforced retirement and house arrest in some Scottish backwater. It wasn’t right, but I don’t expect you to understand, Parry.”
    “No, I bloody don’t,” the old man roared. “We all did what our country asked of us, and none of us expected medals in return.”
    For the first time, Danforth lost his cool repose, his voice going up an octave as he rocked from foot to foot. “I didn’t expect flaming medals. I expected
gratitude
.” He took a breath, calming himself. “All I wanted was someone to say, ‘Good work, Professor Danforth — you made the world a better place with your ingenuity.’ But instead, I received a gag order in a buff envelope and a one-way ride in a police car to your moldy old estate, Parry.”
    “So, like some whining brat, you’ve decided to betray us,” Parry said.
    “It was a simple matter to trace the Rebeccas’ cell phone number. It was too late to salvage their operation in the factory, but I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. They didn’t. Once the new order