ACADEMY FOR THE DAMNED

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Durand had her breakfast as usual in her inner sanctum. A robot took away the tray and clomped out of her apartment. A red light began to flash on a wall accompanied by an intermittent buzz.

She strode over to a wall clad in a decorative and expensive walnut panelling. If she were going to spend months in this boundary alongside Hell she wanted the best of everything, and made damn sure she was accommodated.

Flicking a switch the wall slid away revealing a bank of glowing television screens. Her investors wanted a report. The screens held the faces of middle aged to old men. Durand was the only woman of any rank among these people. Here before her were the richest and most powerful men in the world. Most were white Caucasian, some black, some dark skinned, a few oriental. The people who ran the world.

Durand was extremely intelligent and it helped she came from a very wealthy family and was the only heir to her father's business empire. He had schooled her in the art of manipulating others and of the necessary toadying and scraping to move upwards through the ranks of the world's greatest movers and shakers. Even so, it had taken Durand decades to get to this position, and nobody, not even Genghis Khan at his height, now wielded so much power.

"Gentlemen," she said. "What would you like to know?"

One of the hoary heads spoke. "Miss Durand, it has come to our attention that you may be losing control of the enterprise."

Durand gasped. "What on earth gives you that idea?"

"We have our sources," said another head.

Durand cursed inwardly. She knew this place was full of spies but she had not been prepared for the investors to suddenly have little confidence in her ability to run this venture.

"Gentlemen, it's true we hit a few bumps in the road but then you know we swim in uncharted waters. Nobody has done what we are doing now in the entire history of the world but everything is heading in the right direction, I promise you."

Another head spoke. "Miss Durand, please be in no illusion you are indispensable. We can have you replaced at a moment's notice if you should fail to grant us results."

"Whatever you have heard, lies! I have as much to lose as you have."

"Miss Durand you have a lot more to lose than we have. None of us are going to lose our lives."

Yet another head spoke. "We want the project fast tracked. We believe the longer this takes the more possibilities for something to go wrong and frankly we want a little payback."

"I don't believe a fast track as you say is the right way," said Durand. "The situation is unstable..."

"Durand, are you admitting you cannot handle this mission?"

Durand became angry. "What I am saying is we are sitting on a powder keg. We are facing an imminent invasion."

"Which you assured us you could cope with and that is precisely why we handed you this job. We have given you every resource possible. That has not been cheap for any of us."

"But we are facing a deadly foe.."

"What about the alien?"

"She is doing the best she can and I feel that we need to march to her drum for the moment."

"Not what we heard."

"Durand, do what is necessary to close that opening in space time or whatever it is and then we can progress on stage two, the stage important to us."