The Fog - James Herbert [75]
‘He destroyed his work and killed a fellow scientist in the process. Then he became – a nothing. His brain hardly functioned, he neither saw nor heard anything. He died soon after by his own hand!
‘We decided the mutation was too dangerous ever to be used so we had to get rid of it. There were three ways of doing this: destroy it, dump it in the sea, or bury it below ground.’
‘My God!’ said Sir Trevor, exhaling a long breath. ‘And you decided to bury it!’
‘Er, not me, Sir Trevor. My superiors at that time. It was fifteen years ago, remember.’
‘Carry on, Sir Keith,’ said the Home Secretary.
‘Well, we couldn’t destroy it; we didn’t know what it was exactly. And we couldn’t dump it in the sea; we considered that was too risky. So we buried it. Very, very deep below ground, in glassed steel vials inside a strong, lead container.’
‘Under the village,’ said Holman, not a question, but a statement.
‘Certainly not! The exact location was a quarter of a mile away from the village.’ He looked at Holman with annoyance.
‘Go on, Sir Keith,’ said the Home Secretary again, keeping a tight rein on the meeting, refusing to allow it to become heated in any way.
‘Records were made concerning the mycoplasma’s potential and its location, and filed away. Fifteen years ago, as I said. Er, now . . .’ He hesitated, looking at the expressionless faces, reluctant to continue. ‘Er, up until a few weeks ago, the army has been carrying out some underground explosive tests—’
‘I knew it!’ Sir Trevor exploded, leaping to his feet. ‘Trust the bloody army! The whole of Salisbury Plain and you have to pick the bloody spot where you planted a deadly disease fifteen years before!’
‘We most certainly did not! Our experiment was at least two miles from there!’
‘Then how do you account for the eruption in the village?’
‘Sir Trevor, please sit down!’ the Home Secretary ordered sharply. ‘I’ve already warned you. This meeting will not become a dispute. We are here to find a solution! Sir Keith – please continue.’
‘We were experimenting with a powerful new explosive. It was one of many we have carried out below ground for the past twenty years now. Many countries use this method to test the power of their bombs. Would you rather we blew up the countryside?’
‘I’d rather you didn’t test bombs at all,’ Sir Trevor retorted.
‘Apparently, the bomb – I’m afraid I can’t tell you the nature of the explosive – caused a running fissure below the earth. It was this that caused the eruption and released the mycoplasma.’
‘Do you mean to tell me you have a bomb that can cause that sort of damage two miles away?’ asked Sir Trevor incredulously.
‘Yes. Although we didn’t know it at the time,’ answered the Chief of the General Staff, careful to keep any hint of pride from his voice. ‘The earth was ruptured severely around the blast, but the fissure that caused most damage ran for several miles. It must have reached the point where the mycoplasma was housed in its lead case, the force of the earth crushed it open, the tremor continued on its way until it found its way to the surface under the village, the mycoplasma being pushed along with it. We assume it was the mutation, already polluted and creating its own gas that was seen emerging from the fissure.’
‘Why do you assume that?’ asked Holman.
‘Because we have been checking through our records most of the day – since we heard a poisonous gas may have been involved – of all our deposited stocks. We found that particular stock was directly in line with the fissure.’
‘And you’ve known all this time it was your explosion that caused the earthquake?’ asked Sir Trevor