‘I think, Miss Vernan, you’ll be impressed by what you see here at what’s known officially, but highly confidentially, as “Site Three”.’
Kerrith took the hand he offered and stepped out of the train.
As in London on their underground visits, the air was cool and regulated against her skin, the darkness punctuated by electric lights. But this felt bigger than London. And deeper.
The Director seemed to sense her excitement and led her, without talking, down a twist of tunnels. There were street names pinned to the walls, road ways marked on the ground, people dressed in white uniforms striding about with purposeful steps. The Director led the way to a long double escalator and stepped aboard.
Kerrith tightened her grip on the handrail as the metal stairway took them even lower under the earth.
Once at the bottom of the stairway, the Director led Kerrith towards a wide entrance. He opened the doors. ‘This is where we “manage” things,’ he said in a voice of barely disguised laughter.
‘Manage?’
The Director pointed up to a bank of plasma screens lining the walls. ‘We manage things here at the Site and we manage life from above. By the time people have made it to Site Three, they’re deemed a high risk to security. We need to watch their every move and we also need to be sure the information regarding the life they’ve left and the world above is carefully, how shall I put this? Filtered. Site Three is about controlling what’s known above and below ground.’