Milwaukee Deep

“Okay, so what’s this place?” asked Perks as he parked his car in front of two large metal gates – behind them sat a large industrial warehouse.

Harding turned to Perks.

“You wanted the truth, well; in there you’ll get it.”

“Good. So how do we get in?”

Harding took a moment.

“Are you certain that’s what you want, Perks – because if you do, I’m stating now that I’m not responsible for what happens to you after that?”

Perks took off his sunglasses and looked directly at his passenger.

“Just cut the bullshit, Harding and tell me what’s going on.”

Harding nodded his head.

“Fine…undo these handcuffs; this is going to take a while.”

Perks hesitated momentarily and then proceeded to unlock Harding out of his binds.

Harding cleared his throat…

“It all started back in July 47; the United States military was called to investigate a crash site 75 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico.”

“Roswell?” interrupted Perks, “Jesus, Harding, you’re not going to fill me full of Roswell bullshit are you? I don’t have the time to sit here and have you pull my dick – two of my guys are missing.”

“I know that, but this is what you wanted - the truth.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that the Roswell incident actually happened?”

“Well if you let me finish, you’ll get your answer.”

Perks looked across at Harding – he focused in on his eyes.

“Go on.”

Harding shook his head slightly, annoyed by the interruption.

“As I was saying, the investigation crew found the remains of an alien aircraft, nothing any of them had ever come across before,” Harding paused for a moment, “Adding to that, they found the pilot.”

Harding didn’t catch Perks’ reaction as he noticed a packet of cigarettes and a lighter that sat neatly within the centre consol.

“Do you mind?” he asked pointing to them.

“Go ahead,” said Perks without any thought – his mind still focused on Harding’s last statement.

Harding reached over and pulled one out. Putting it to his mouth, he lit up - Perks sat silent, waiting outwardly patient but inwardly in turmoil.

“By all reports we kept it alive for decades – it was a scout on a mission to find another planet for its kind.”

“Another planet?”

“Its home planet was destroyed by a virus – a plague. The scout’s mission was to find another viable planet to settle on.”

“So were they planning to invade?”

“No, quite the contrary. The scout was sent to try and negotiate a safe passage for the rest of the survivors. They wanted to use our planet, more so the inhabitants of our planet, to help find a cure.”

“Go on.”

Harding inhaled hard on the cigarette.

“The thing was we couldn’t communicate – month after month we spent every waking moment trying to decipher its language, but all it could do was screech and howl – dramatic to say the least, but pointless.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, finally we had a breakthrough – it came in the sixteenth month of the operation. A scientist by the name of Crane came up with the solution - Morse code. It was a simple form of communication that we could teach it and within a short time we discovered the truth as to why it had landed.”

“So what happened to the rest of them – the survivors?” Perks asked

“They arrived in ’49 – twelve hundred of them – the last of their kind – the rest of their race wiped out by the virus, their home planet uninhabitable.”

“Twelve hundred – how big was their craft?”

Harding nodded his head and blew out another puff of smoke.

“Yeah, it’s pretty big – one and a half miles in diameter.”

“One and a half miles – Jesus, how the hell did you hide that?”

“Easy,” replied Harding, “you bury it under twenty thousand feet of sea water – actually more like twenty seven thousand four hundred and ninety three feet to be exact.”

“Hold on, are you telling me that it’s still here?”

Harding produced a tiny smirk.

“I’m afraid so – approximately eight hundred and forty nautical miles off the coast of Florida. They’re situated at Milwaukee Deep – it forms part of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Holy shit,” muttered Perks, “And so what’s Ganton got to do with all of this?”

“Well that’s the thing – he shouldn’t have anything to do with this. You see, at first they performed tests on animals, plants – anything that we could give them to assist in their quest.”

“Which was?”

“To find a cure - they wanted to go home; they needed a cure to take back with them so that they could reinhabit their world.”

“But?”

“But the things they were testing on just wouldn’t suffice,” Harding paused, “so they asked if they could perform their tests on humans.”

Perks closed his eyes.

“We didn’t say no, did we?”

“No we didn’t. The scientist Crane came up with the idea – sell them the humans they wanted.”

“Sell them?”

“That’s right. We give them a subject to test on – they give us the technology they have to help us advance as a race.”

“So Ganton was sold – like cattle. No wonder he wanted revenge.”

“No, that’s not the way it happened. The arrangement had only ever been criminals on death row,” Harding replied, “At no stage had there ever been a case, other than now, where we had sent anyone but a death row inmate.”

Perks shook his head.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean death row inmates – are you saying that they were only supposed to perform tests on dead bodies?”

“No. All death row inmates are kept alive - we fake their deaths. In fact, about ninety five percent of death row inmates are sent to the mother ship. The electric chair, lethal injection, these have all been set up to give the illusion that the inmates have died – the set up has been in place for as long as I can remember – it’s the only reason that the death penalty still exists.”

Perks reached over and pulled out a cigarette from the same packet that sat in the console.

“So hold on, I’m confused – how do we hide this – surely people would know if someone didn’t die in the electric chair?”

“That’s right,” Harding replied, “But if you owned and controlled the prison system you can hide anything”

“So they’re in on it?”

“Crane controls the system – he employs everyone that is connected in some way or another - every prison doctor, every guard that occupies the row, all of them, the wardens that have the death penalty in their prisons, they’re all employed and work for Crane.”

“But how do you keep them quiet – surely someone’s going to let this leak out eventually.”

Harding blew out his final puff of smoke and threw the butt out the window.

“Fear. Pure, unadulterated, fear, Perks. This operation is classified as a black op, secret to the core. You start by paying them way over the norm so there’s no financial incentive to talk, but if anyone wants to take a chance and talk they end up beneath an interstate highway somewhere. You see, Perks, Crane’s the single most powerful man in American – in the world. He has the President of the United States eating out of his hand – he hand picked him himself, along with the last four. Money’s power, and Crane, even though no one has even heard of him, has the most amount of money of anyone on the planet – he is linked to every important person in government and has been since the beginning. His father created it all and now he’s running it – bit by bit.”

Perks put the cigarette in his mouth and lit up

“His father?”

“Remember the scientist. Well it’s his son. Crane senior died a long time ago – an accident at Area 51 where the scout was being kept. His son, who grew up not knowing anything other than what his father did took over the family business,” Harding produced a tiny smirk, “we call him ‘Scarface’ – he got too close to the scout one day and it nearly ripped off his face with it’s tail – the scar runs all the way down from the eye to the chin.”

“So he made his money on the technology they gave him?”

“Yes, that was the beginning, now it’s because he runs it all. Every weapon produced, every military exercise, it all runs through Crane’s companies. Every contract that’s considered military, like food, construction, anything, is somehow funnelled up to Crane who sits at the top and reaps the benefit of his father’s creation. He’s smart, like his father – every dollar they made, they shared. They channelled it among the fraternity of power that resides on Capitol Hill. And now he owns it all.”

“So is the technology and knowledge shared, all military?” Perks asked.

“To be honest, I can’t answer that. Who knows what they’re receiving from down below – at my pay grade I’ll never be privy to that kind of detail.”

Perks threw his cigarette butt out the window.

“Well here’s the thing,” he said, “You still haven’t answered my first question - why Ganton - what’s he got to do with all of this – he was never an inmate so why was he sent there?”

Harding took a moment.

“Perks, I told you that I would tell you everything, but this I can’t. Only a few people know why Ganton was sent, and if somehow they find out that you know then they’ll trace it back to me and you know what that means. Look, knowing about what I’ve told you is one thing – there are a number of people who know the truth about Milwaukee Deep, I can always deny it was me, but about Ganton, well I’m the only one who knows the truth along with Crane, Willow and Ganton himself and we all know that Ganton and Willow can’t say much more now.”

Perks glared at Harding.

“Don’t look at me like that – I told you everything I know, except one minor detail. I will tell you this, though – Willow did send Ganton down below without authorisation – it was something between the two.”

“And Ganton escaped and set out to get revenge, hence the kidnapping,” said Perks

“Exactly.”

Harding shook his head.

“I tell you, Perks, I don’t know how they did it – how he and Burton ever got out is beyond me.”

Perks looked up at Harding.

“What do you mean Burton? You mean Sam Crease’s Burton?”

“Yes, that’s why we’re after him,” Harding replied.

“So Burton’s infected.”

“Yes.”

“Was Ganton infected – is that why he’s dead?”

Harding looked back at Perks

“And Willow didn’t have a heart attack did he?”

Harding looked away.

“You killed him, didn’t you – at the hospital. He sent Ganton when he shouldn’t have and now he’s paid the highest price.”

Harding kept his head down.

“I told you Crane can and will get to anyone,” he replied.

Perks took in a deep breath.

“Is Sam in danger, Tom?”

Harding looked up.

“Yes,” he paused for a moment, “The thing is, we all are.”

Perks didn’t respond – he just sat there waiting for Harding’s next words.

“With Burton being infected, the risk of the virus getting airborne is far too great to ignore. If it gets airborne then this whole planet will follow the same fate as our visitor’s – total annihilation. If that virus gets out, Perks, we’re all fucked.”

Perks sat in silence for a moment.

“So what do we do now?” he finally asked, “we just can’t sit here.”

“First we go inside that warehouse and find out what the deal was with Ganton – why we’re all still alive – hopefully we can learn something that may lead us to Burton.”

“What’s in there?” Perks asked as he looked up at the warehouse.

“It’s where we performed Ganton’s autopsy – hopefully they’ve finished.”

“Tell me, Harding how is it that two people can escape from twenty seven thousand feet under water – Ganton being ex-military could somehow pull it off I suppose, but an inmate of all things – how the hell would Burton have done it?”

Harding looked over at Perks.

“Michael Burton is no inmate.”

“What? But I thought you said-.”

“He’s CIA. Trust me I ran in a lot of favours to find that out once we identified Burton as the subject.”

“CIA? What is he another Willow masterpiece?” asked Perks

“No – there’s no connection with Burton and Willow – I’ve looked.”

“Then who sent him there?”

“Only two people in the world would know that, Perks – the guy who sent him and Burton himself.”