‘What’s wrong with the lights?’ Essie asked.
‘Most of the time there’s nobody down here,’ Spinner explained. ‘They have motion sensors that switch the lights on where you need them, and after a while they switch off again.’
Will tested them, making little darting runs into the darkness to see how quickly he could make the lights come on, crowing with delight. They began to walk past rows and rows of corridors stretching away into the distance. Some were lined with cupboards and drawers, others with rows of fridges or freezers.
‘What is all this stuff?’ Annalie asked.
‘A record of life on our world,’ Spinner said. ‘Specimens, samples, genetic material.’
‘You mean extinct things?’
‘They have a lot of seeds, and the plants could certainly be brought back and propagated. But a lot of the specimens down here are extinct, yes. When this place was first set up, they hoped they might be able to bring some of them back one day.’
‘Is that possible?’ asked Will.
‘Before the Flood, I think they were getting close, technologically. These days, I doubt it,’ Spinner said. ‘Hopefully, one day, smarter people than us will be able to do something with all this knowledge.’
‘Look at this row,’ Annalie said. ‘It looks really old.’
It was a long row of antique cupboards, lockers and drawers, the wood glowing from years of furniture polish.
‘It is old,’ Spinner said. ‘This used to be a museum collection. They donated it to the Ark. Collections like these take up a lot of room and they’re expensive to maintain, so I guess the museum was happy to get rid of it.’
‘Collections of what?’ asked Pod.
Spinner checked the labels, which were handwritten in a beautiful script on cards which were beginning to brown. The scientific names were incomprehensible to the children. He pulled open a drawer. Five little furry animals lay inside, looking very dead and a little deflated.
‘The Lesser Duxan Ground Squirrel,’ Spinner said. ‘Extinct for about a hundred years.’
‘Why do they look like that?’ asked Pod. ‘Kind of weird.’
‘They’re museum specimens,’ Spinner said. ‘They were preserved and stuffed. All that’s left are the skins.’
‘They were cute,’ Essie said wistfully.
‘After they introduced foxes to Dux, they didn’t stand a chance,’ Spinner said.
‘Are all these drawers and cupboards full of dead things?’ Pod asked.
‘More or less,’ Spinner said.
‘Hey, check this out!’
Blossom had wandered off and opened another drawer, further down on the other side. Now she was beckoning to them excitedly.
They all came to see what she’d found. Spinner caught his breath, and Graham let out a horrified squawk.
There in the drawer were six birds who looked almost exactly like Graham, along with a smaller juvenile and some eggs.
Graham flapped agitatedly around and then landed on Spinner’s shoulder. ‘Who did this?’ he rasped.
‘It happened a long time ago,’ Spinner said softly. He read the notes on the cards accompanying each specimen. ‘Some of these are more than a hundred years old.’
Graham peered at the birds suspiciously. ‘How they die?’
‘I don’t know. Caught by collectors? They may have just died of old age.’
Graham whistled thoughtfully.
‘If they’ve got them here, does that mean…’ Annalie began.
She stopped before she could finish the thought, but Graham caught her drift.
‘Graham not extinct!’ he snapped.
‘Of course you’re not,’ Spinner said soothingly. ‘You’re an exceptional bird.’
Pod glared at Blossom. ‘Why did you have to show him?’ he hissed.
Blossom was baffled by his anger. ‘I thought it was cool.’
‘They’re his ancestors,’ Pod said. ‘Dead and stuffed. How would you like it?’
‘Do you think there are ghosts down here?’ Blossom said. She didn’t look frightened; if anything, she looked a little excited. ‘With all these dead things, I bet there are heaps of ghosts.’
Essie shuddered. ‘This place is creepy,’ she said, turning to the others. ‘Can we go?’
The sight of the dead parrots had thrown a pall over all of them, and they were happy to leave the dark and labyrinthine corridors of the archives behind. Down there, everything was already dead and gone, a memory of all that had been lost; up above, it felt like there was still hope, for there everything was still alive, and thriving.
When they reached the habitat level, they all went their separate ways, in search of lunch (Will and Pod), a long, hot shower (Essie), and undisclosed business (Blossom). Annalie lingered with Spinner.
‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ she said. ‘I found the memory stick.’
‘Oh.’ Spinner looked at her warily.
‘When I ran away from school, I took Lolly with me. I don’t know why, I just…Anyway, I still had her when we landed at Uncle Art’s place. His kids broke her and the memory stick fell out.’
‘And then what happened to it?’
‘I got it back and we left. But Uncle Art saw the stick, and he knows I’ve got it. He was working for the Admiralty the whole time, Spinner. He must have told them I have it.’
‘So they got to Art?’ Spinner sighed. ‘I can’t blame him, I guess. They would’ve made it pretty tough for him.’
Annalie couldn’t understand why Spinner wasn’t angrier. ‘He betrayed you. He betrayed all of us!’
‘He’s got a family of his own to consider,’ Spinner said. He looked at her sadly. ‘I’m sorry you got caught up in all this. I should have done more to keep you safe. I thought you were safe. I was wrong.’
‘It’s all right,’ Annalie said. ‘We can look after ourselves.’
Spinner gave her an affectionate look. ‘You and your brother are the smartest, toughest kids on the planet. I’m lucky to have you.’ He paused. ‘So where is the memory stick now?’
‘It’s right here.’
Through all their adventures she had kept the memory stick safe, secured inside several layers of waterproofing, and then stitched into a secret pocket of her shorts. Now she gave it to Spinner.
He sighed, looking down at the little object nestled in his hand.
‘Did I do the wrong thing bringing it to
