©geraldinebanksJanuary2025
Sandy and Allenby watched through the one way window as the interrogations began.
Sandy saw a young man being wheeled in on a gurney , he was strapped to it and despite attempting to extricate himself could not move his arms or legs. He was surrounded by people in white lab coats who began to attach monitors to his body. Sandy saw one of them inject what she assumed was a sedative into his arm. Gradually he stopped struggling and seemed to relax and fall asleep. Finally all the monitors were in place and he was given another shot in the arm. He opened his eyes wide as if he was having the most awful nightmare, he began to scream, the monitors began to show crazy readings and the people in the lab coats began to move around him trying to see what was going on. There was blood coming from the young man’s mouth as he had bit his own tongue. Someone rushed to hold his head while they put a cloth in his mouth for him to bite on to. They tried as best they could to clean the blood from his mouth.
“The idiots! Sandy I’m so sorry, this is not what I wanted you to see. This is purely research , experimental, trying to find out what combinations of drugs work best. This is not helpful. ” Allenby stood up in sheer frustration.
Sandy looked at the young man. ” Will he be OK?”
” I don’t know, but this is not what I wanted you to see. This is our research laboratory where we are trying to find the ideal drug combination to get the results that we want. This should not have happened, however, we may as well move on.”
Sandy could see that Allenby was annoyed.
” I’ll let you know tomorrow how the young man is. We may aswell go to the Prison Facility now, I wanted to soften the blow, but in truth this has just made things worse.” He passed his hand over a sensor and the window reverted to it’s normal glass and Sandy could no longer see what was going on in the laboratory.”
Allenby explained that they would have to take his car to the prison facility She followed him down the corridor , trying as best as she could to remember the directions as to where she was going. As yet she hadn’t even taken out her notebook. They reached the Professor’s car and she got in .She could see the Professor was angry and he didn’t say anything, but he sent a brief message on his phone. The Professor relaxed a little as he started driving.
“It’s about a ten minute drive. It’s getting dark which is just as well, this part of the site is not landscaped. Not necessary, literally people are bussed in here and they will never leave.”
Sandy watched the road ahead of her , it was dark and the atmosphere felt dark. The conversation stopped while Allenby parked in a reserved spot. Sandy again tried to memorise the route he had taken.
This building was a characterless, concrete facility whose austerity contrasted with the rest of the site .As they got out of the car, two security guards passed by with their dogs. One of the dogs snarled at Allenby. He quickly moved out of the way.
” Come this way Sandy.” He snapped.
Sandy made her way around the car , avoiding the two dogs. She smiled at the Security men, who just ignored her and kept walking on their patrol.
Again they used their Iris recognitions to gain entrance through a small double door which was in fact at the back of the building, so there was no one there to greet them.
They ascended a short stairwell, and began climbing a flight of stairs. Sandy could just make out the walls as the lighting was minimal. When they reached the top of the stairs there was a walkway which lead to an elevated platform above a quadrangle. About four floors below she could see a lot of people milling around. There were some uniformed security guards , but most of the people below were dressed in civilian clothes, and all looked tired and their clothes were shabby. Sandy could see what looked like cells surrounding the quadrangle on all the floors apart from the one she was on.
“We came in the back way.” Allenby explained. “Gives you a good view of the people down there, these are from all over the World, people who have been working against us.”
” You bring them here, it’s not dealt with locally then?”
” No longer, it just wasn’t working. The local Laws just couldn’t cope, there was always interference. Now , we have control.”
Sandy looked down at all the people milling around and realised it must have been a mealtime, some of them were queueing at a mobile kitchen, some were walking back to benches situated in the middle of the quadrangle with plates of food. No one seemed to be talking to each other, they all seemed very subdued.
“Is this really necessary Professor?” Sandy looked directly at Allenby.
” Yes, we have tried all other means and now we have to resort to this.” Allenby looked down at the quadrangle.
Sandy looked below her , she could see that most of them had the clothes on that they were probably captured in , there was a mixture of medical fatigues and civilian clothes.
” Come on, we have a lot more to see.” Allenby beckoned to Sandy.
Sandy continued to follow the Professor along the walkway Another iris recognition and then they turned left and entered a large reception like area, manned by people in lab coats and what could have been a large waiting room. There were people much like Sandy had just seen below in the quadrangle area waiting on benches, they looked nervous and apprehensive.
Suddenly as Sandy was taking in this new location , a pair of double doors burst open and an unconscious man in a wheel chair was pushed through by two orderlies in white coats. Sandy recognised him immediately it was Dr William King. Being a tall man , he was practically sliding downwards out of the chair, some orderlies appeared and helped the nurses pull his body upwards . They propped him up as best as they could , but again he slid downwards and began to moan. His eyes opened and closed.
” Come on Dr King, we’ll go to the recovery room now.” Dr King was wheeled out through another set of doors and disappeared.
Sandy stayed calm and continued to watch the unfolding situation. Two more orderlies took hold of a woman who was sitting on the bench nearest the door , she struggled as they both took one of her arms and lifted her up and marched her out. They disappeared through the double doors that Dr King had came through.
Sandy sensed the trepidation and disbelief in the people who sat on the benches waiting to see what their fate was. Sandy had mentally prepared herself and she whispered in the ear of the Professor with the appearance of genuine curiousity.
“What is going on?”
” Sandy , this is our torture chamber.” he whispered.
“Modern Torture or Medieval?” Sandy quickly responded.
” Nothing messy” The Professor smiled at her.” Just a lot of questions and drug treatments and some flashing lights.Nothing to be scared of really. We’re trying as hard as we can to get as much information out of these people as we can. Mainly locations and if we are lucky some names.”
“Is this Legal?”
“Not really, but not on record either, officially these people now officially no longer exist. We don’t even know their real names, they will have been captured at one of the locations that our monitoring has unearthed and transported here. We have a lot of support from a Global Point of view. Basically these people now have no status and do not exist. “
Sandy already knew about the secretive web surrounding Alex and this reassured her that despite these extreme efforts, that the Professor was making slow progress.
” I think they are about to begin the next interrogation, it’s an important part of our jigsaw. These are criminals, we need to show them as such. This is an important , if unpalatable part of our story.”
Allenby motioned for Sandy to again follow him , which she did, the doorway to the side where Allenby led her was basically another viewing gallery. Again they could watch through a one- way mirror . Sandy sat down beside another man who was already seated watching the proceedings through the window and making notes. Allenby did not introduce him. Sandy could tell Allenby was tense. The lights dimmed, and Sandy’s eyes adjusted to the view. Allenby remained standing.
Sandy saw a woman strapped to a chair, she wasn’t sure if it was the one that she had seen a few minutes before as her face was contorted and her eyes were wide open. The woman strained to see what the people surrounding her were doing, but her head was held in place by leather straps. The nurses or doctors were putting an intravenous drip into her arm. The woman’s eyes tried to follow everything that was going on around her, she looked like a scared wild animal.
Another injection was put into her arm and the laboratory where she was began to flash with strobe lighting of many colours. The white lab coats increased the intensity of the lights as the orderlies and nurses backed off and the interrogating team came in.
They were dressed in suits and held clip boards. The strobe lights flashed , their speed increasing and the range of colours alternating. The woman reacted to the lights and they obviously made her terrified.”
“What are those drugs?” Sandy asked.
” A mixture of hallucinogens and inhibition suppressants, it’s taking us a while to get the mix right. We’ve had a few problems, we have an infirmary and a long stay facility. I’ll show you later . We have found that by heightening the fear quotient the drugs are more effective , hence all the theatricals with the lights. Completely pointless, except one of the drugs will have made the lady highly sensitive to light. We are not sure what the pain threshold with that is , but obviously when we turn them off , she probably feels relief.”
Sandy kept looking straight ahead at the woman. The strobe lights stopped suddenly and the laboratory was in complete darkness, Sandy heard a click , the Professor had turned on the sound.
” Stop it, Stop it, Please. ” The woman was sobbing and snuffling as she cried out in desperation.
The bright laboratory lights were turned on and the woman in the chair was faced by three interrogators sitting opposite her. The questioning began like a rapid fire machine gun. The woman stared at them, rigid with fear.
“What’s your name?”
“Where do you come from?”
“Where were you educated, do you have a degree?”
“Why are you here?”
“Where are your parents?”
They gave the woman no time to reply and this seemed to agitate her even further. She struggled in the chair and could only move her arms and legs a little. The strobe lights came on , Sandy sensed they were a higher intensity. The questioning continued.
“Who recruited you/?”
” Did you think you were doing the right thing?”
” Where were you born?”
” Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
” When is your birthday?”
Sandy was finding this extremely stressful, the woman in the chair was obviously beginning to lose her mind.
“No I can’t take this let me go! The pain, in my head is unbearable!”
Immediately the lights stopped and the lab was again in darkness. Sandy did not see two of the interrogators leave room , but when the lights came back on only one of them remained seated facing the woman who had now succumbed to uncontrolled sobbing which was painful to hear.
Professor Allenby moved closer to Sandy.
“They don’t usually succumb that quickly , maybe she’s faking it. Oh well , we’ll find out. Ridiculous really, we know all the answers to our questions, we just need to know if she’ll cooperate and I think this one will .” Allenby grabbed the notes of the man sitting beside him and read some details. Allenby pressed the intercom button and spoke. His voice echoed throughout the Laboratory where the woman sat. Allenby’s voice boomed as if it was coming from nowhere.
” Ruth we know all about you, we want you to cooperate now, the drugs will be working through your system . Shortly we can get you to do exactly what we want, but by then it will be too late for you. The effects are irreversible and you really would be of no use to us. Tell us now before it is too late. Tell us now and we’ll put the anti-dote in your system and you will be none the wiser for your experience , you can come and work for us. We need people like you.”
Ruth began to sweat profusely and Sandy began to think that what the Professor was saying was true.
Ruth’s face was pale and she whimpered and looked defeated.
” I know nothing, I was a nurse, I looked after children , it was my job. I don’t know anything about anything. “
” You are on the wrong side Ruth, I don’t believe you . Well if you won’t help us , then that’s it!” Allenby turned off the intercom.
” Absolutely pointless” He passed the notes roughly to the man who was sitting beside him. ” She’ll be of no use to us , I don’t think she knows anything of importance.”
Allenby turned to Sandy.
” I’m sorry you’re going to have to see the next bit, it can be very upsetting.” He put his hand on her shoulder. She felt her stomach churn and her skin crawled.
” I’ll see how much I can stomach”. Sandy looked as Allenby turned and watched the interrogation continue. At first there was a calm period. The woman seemed as if she was recovering. The questioning had stopped and the interrogator that had stayed in the room with her reached forward and touched her hand reassuringly. He was prompting her with questions which she answered, it was almost as if they were having a conversation. Sandy realised how little Ruth knew about her position and how that people like Ruth were protecting her son even now somewhere far away from here.
After about ten minutes of this , however, things changed rapidly. Ruth became irritated and asked for a drink of water, which was not forthcoming.
Allenby whispered to Sandy. ” We’re not being cruel. If we give her a drink now, she’ll drown in her own fluids, and that would not be a pretty sight.”
“I’m not sure I can watch much more.” Sandy shifted in her chair slightly.
“This is all a bit pointless, but it is a life we are destroying and I feel we should at least respect the process and see it until the end.”
Ruth’s pallor changed very quickly and her body began to spasm and the veins in her arms distended. Sandy could see the fear in Ruth’s eyes.
“What’s happening to her now?”
“Awful isn’t it Sandy, but we can’t keep everyone here forever. This is the part of the operation that is very distasteful, I’m not sure if people knew about it that we would be allowed to continue? That’s my dilemma. On one hand if we keep it hidden we’re OK , on the other if people understand and accept that this is necessary than we can do what we need to do much more quickly. “
“I can’t look anymore Professor, I think I’m going to be sick.”
Allenby signalled to someone and the blind came down on the viewing station and a woman in a white lab coat entered carrying a glass of water and a small tablet on a saucer.
Allenby turned to Sandy and said “Here take this.” He took the glass and the saucer from the assistant and passed it to Sandy.
Submissively Sandy took what she was given, she was in shock.
” Out of respect , I normally watch until the very end, I am the one who makes the decision about whether the interrogation will be useful. We have a non-denominational service for the deceased and we have a Garden of Peace. As I have said Sandy we are not animals and these people officially do not exist.”
The Professor continued ” Perhaps you see how important to me you are now. I need your support. Gerry said that you are very supportive of our gene cleansing programme, we know it is important to keep the Public on our side and if this ever got out , well all our work would be ruined. This is the hard but unavoidable end of the process, but we’ve done everything else to stop these people and nothing has worked. We have learned to be hard.”
Sandy listened to Allenby and couldn’t help but wonder how Gerry had convinced Allenby that she was who Allenby needed. Up until a few months ago she was a second rate sports hack, given the jobs that no one else wanted. She realised that she ‘d have to keep her story consistent. She pretended to be annoyed with Gerry.
“I really could kill Gerry at this moment. I just didn’t expect this. Did you tell Gerry you were executing people?” She went on the offensive.
“Well no, for obvious reasons I would not openly discuss this with anyone. I wanted you to see it though with your own eyes. You must remember I’m not now breaking the Law. These people do not exist in their Countries anymore. The decision as to what happens to them now is up to me . However I am well aware that if this ever got out into the Public Domain, then there could be a lot of trouble. So I was hoping you as a journalist could advise us going forward.”
” Advise you on what exactly, am I supposed to say this is OK?”
Allenby continued .”Gerry said that you are a strong individual, independent thinking, I expect you to have reservations. Let’s talk further, hopefully the queasiness has passed and you have an appetite for dinner. I’ll show you the rest of the facility tomorrow. You will meet some of the best people in their field.”
Sandy gathered herself and her things together, the queasiness had passed entirely due to the tablet she had been given.
“Some dinner and a chance to talk would be nice Professor.”
“Call me Ian, Sandy, it’s after 9.00pm.” Allenby winked at her.
“Call me Ian” echoed in her mind as she realised later that Allenby was a serial womaniser as he instigated some very kinky sexual manoeuvres with her in her room later that evening. Sandy did not care, she knew it was for Alex and she would do anything to protect her little boy.
Even in bed Allenby was a total control freak. Sandy knew they were playing a cat and mouse game. He had questioned her about Gregor and she had given Allenby the excuse that she just wanted to make Gerry jealous, he had dumped her for his new baby wife. Nothing had happened between her and Gregor, they had parted ways outside her room. Gregor had suggested a meeting when he was next in London, but she had heard nothing from him, she suspected that Gregor did not support Professor Allenby’s work and that she felt it would have been an angle worth following up. The meeting of course had never happened and now she knew what had happened to Gregor.
Over dinner, they had talked a lot about relationships, with her husband with the people she met in her job. Allenby was forever trying to catch her out. How she felt about Gerry? Did she miss being away from her children? What did her husband think of her working away from home was ? Was Martin successful in his career.
Sandy later thought that Allenby turned what would be normal social chit chat into an interrogation. Sandy, however had kept a cool head and began to realise how well Gerry had prepared the ground for her, unintentionally perhaps. Allenby was beginning to trust her, she also realised that his arrogance was his weakness, the man could never be wrong. He was the Perfect Judge of everything.
thenotsomightyom 