Thumbprint in the Dome

By Brian Bennett

For John Stratton, an officer in the Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad, the day starts much as any other. He bids his new wife goodbye as they both set off for work, little realising that it would be the last time they were to see each other for more than two years. He soon finds himself held in a futuristic village known as the Dome, to which he

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Bennett Books
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781739258092

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Thumbprint in the Dome

by Brian Bennett

THUMBPRINT IN THE DOME

Brian Bennett

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2019 Brian Bennett

Brian Bennett has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

The right of Brian Bennett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of this book has been deposited with the British Library Board

John Stratton, aged thirty-four, stretched his finely tuned muscular body as he woke from a good night’s sleep. It was a warm summer Monday morning in late June, and he lay there listening to the beautiful dawn chorus as the early morning birds call for their mates. With the sun streaming through the newly fitted skylight, the sun’s rays warmed his tanned body. He watched his beautiful new wife, as she slowly surfaced from a deep, satisfying sleep. He gently tapped the side of her leg with his foot, in a bid to gently rouse her.

Without opening her eyes, she smiled broadly to herself in a knowing sort of way and whispers in a low raspy voice,

Good morning husband. She turned her head and flicked a strand of her long blond hair out of her sparkling green eyes and with eyes full of passion, she turned her head and looked deep into his eyes. But soon her eyes were drawn to the 22carat diamond ear stud, which created shards of light blue, rays of silver, and grey towers from taking a direct hit from the early morning sunshine. The stunningly beautiful woman opened her mouth to speak, and he saw the gold stud in her tongue. This instantly reminded him of the untold pleasure that she had given him only a few hours before. Soon they were lost as they began to make love the way only newlyweds can, both of them deeply in love with each other, both of them full to the brim with passion and lust. When the young lovers were totally spent, they lay together, their bodies fully entwined, damp with sweat, and if possible even more deeply in love than they had been before they married only a few weeks before. Little did they both know that, sadly, this would be the last time they would make love for a very long time.

Sarah at five–feet six inches, was athletically slim with long blond hair. She had large sparkling green eyes; and was so stunningly beautiful that she could grace the cover of any top fashion magazine. Sarah was the most perfect spouse, a woman that any man would be proud to have as a wife and lover. They had talked about children and if it happened, it happened, he just knew that she would make the perfect loving mother.

John’s freshly showered lover walked down the stairs with her hair wrapped in a white fluffy towel. She gave off the scent of freshly squeezed lemons. She smiled to herself as she almost glided into the kitchen and sidled up to her lover. She reached up and linked her fingers behind his neck and eased her tingling body into his. She felt very proud as she looked into the blue eyes of her handsome husband. John a six-foot-hardened police man breathed in his wife’s lemony scent, he had a full head of short black hair; bright blue eyes that had sparkled from the first time they had met each other all that time ago at her work. And from that wonderful day to this, she always smiled to herself because whenever she looked into his eyes, they always seemed to be undressing her.

Will you wake me up like that every morning for the rest of our lives, my darling, even when we are old and grey? she asked hopefully.

He smiled down at her and whispered seductively.

Especially then, but it might just take a little longer, came the honest reply. Pulling her to him he kissed her passionately.

As they prepared to leave for work, John winked and smiled lovingly at his wife as he folded himself into his shiny black BMW M3. Sarah climbed into her Golf GTI. She followed him through the streets of Oxford to the Junction of the M40 motorway. They waved to one another as Sarah headed north towards Banbury and John turned down the slipway to begin his hour-long journey, toward London. He smiled to himself as he watched her red car in his rearview mirror, as it quickly faded into the distance. Almost as soon as he had begun his journey down the motorway, he groaned out loud as he saw a flashing yellow road sign that was telling him that the road ahead was closed, due to a serious accident.

He slapped the steering wheel in frustration because he knew from experience that the next exit was a long way down the motorway and he could be stuck there for hours. The traffic was very light at this time of the morning, but give it another hour and you would then be into the daily grind of rush hour. It was then that you would be crawling along at a ridiculously slow speed for mile after mile. When for no apparent reason at all, the traffic would suddenly speed up again, making you wonder why it had ever slowed down, to begin with. John lifted his foot from the accelerator and moved to the inside lane to contemplate his options.

He made the decision to phone the office and tell his boss that he was going to be late. Then, he smiled to himself because coming up on his left-hand side he spotted a police only exit sign. Thinking to himself that he hadn’t noticed this particular exit before, he shrugged his shoulders; and checked that there were no marked police cars in sight. He then slowed down and took the exit [after all he was with the met fraud squad]. John drove up the long, windy slipway until he reached a T junction that joined a main A road. Not being sure where he was, he plotted the car’s sat-nav for Baker Street, London.

John smiled to himself because he had chosen his favorite deep-voiced Irish woman to relay his route for him. The main reason he liked her was that she definitely had some devilment about her. She instructed him to turn right. Without even thinking about it, he turned the steering wheel and did exactly as he was instructed. He smiled as almost immediately he was informed by a road sign, that London was 48 miles ahead. He cruised along the A road at the correct speed limit.  Selecting a Don Williams track he began singing along to, You’re My best friend. John began to think about Sarah and just how lucky he was to have found the perfect woman.

John was deep in thought when he was instructed by his invisible Irish guide that there was a left turn just 200 yards ahead, which he needed to take. John slowed down and took the left turn as instructed and immediately found himself on a single-track concrete road. He followed the deserted road for a few minutes until he came to a large white sign on the side of the road in large black letters, the sign told him that he was on a strictly private road and to go no further. He looked far into the distance, then into the rear-view mirror, and thought to himself that this surely can’t be right.

As there was nowhere that he could turn around, with no thought of reversing all the way back to the main road, he had no other option but to carry on driving straight ahead. The narrow single-track road seemed to be heading nowhere but then the road must have a destination because every 400 yards or so the road had speed humps built into it. He stopped again and looked ahead, but something in the back of his brain suggested that he continued forward. About a mile further down the narrow track, he slowed down to ease over a rather high-speed hump and came to a sudden, shuddering stop.

What the bloody hell? he said out loud, thinking that he must be stuck on the speed hump.

With the car still in gear, he revved the big engine to no avail. He put the car into reverse and tried again. Nothing. He placed the automatic car into park and climbed out, looking all around him in every direction. He saw that he was totally isolated, alone amongst many acres of corn fields and high hedgerows. He took his mobile phone out of the car and tried to contact his office, but found that he has no signal. He placed his hands on his hips and swore out loud in frustration.

He then got down on all fours and looked underneath the car. Strange, he thought to himself because he didn’t appear to be caught up on anything, so why won’t the bloody car move? He took a quick look all around the car, and finding it clear, he decided that it must be mechanical. With no phone and no car, he was lost and in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t believe that this was happening to him, not today of all days, and began to curse his Irish guide.

He looked back to where he had come from and could see nothing, no farmhouse, main road, just the straight concrete road surrounded by dark green corn fields. He turned around and looked in the direction that the car was facing and saw even more of the same. The Irish woman had sent him in this direction for some unknown reason, so placing his trust in his Irish guide, he began to walk along the private concrete road, to where he didn’t know. After only a few paces, he bumped into what appeared to be an invisible wall of some kind.

He placed his hands on the clear bumpy material of whatever the obstacle was. It felt like silk, but the surface was completely covered in tiny raised bumps. John was confused further because he could clearly see through the invisible wall to the tree-covered hills in the distance. But if he placed his face against the unseen obstacle, he could see nothing at all. Suddenly there was a loud click and the rushing sound of escaping air.

Just to the right of him as if by magic, an unseen doorway of some sort appeared. For some unknown reason, he moved tentatively towards the opening and was instantly terrified when he was suddenly sucked forward, into an unknown world.

John fell forward onto his hands and knees. He turned his head and looked back behind him. He was momentarily stunned as he stood up, he could see no car, road, nothing. He looked down to discover that somehow his clothing had changed. He was now dressed in dark-blue trousers, and he now had white flip-flops on his feet.

What the bloody hell is going on here? he asked himself, as he turned back to find the opening again, but there was nothing there. He reached into his pocket for his phone, only to find that he no longer had any of his personal possessions.

I must be bloody dreaming, John said out loud, suddenly very confused.

Chapter 2.

John looked around at his new surroundings, at what could only be described as a modern looking small purpose-built town, that was full of square, sterile-looking two-story buildings. All the square-looking constructions were surrounded by well-kept, well-nourished grass that held a spattering of fully leaved trees. People dressed in exactly the same clothes that he was now wearing were walking around the buildings. Each one of them seemingly went about their daily business as if in some sort of trance. In the distance, he could see two couples dressed in white, playing tennis, and a group of fit-looking joggers disappeared out of view behind large white buildings. John looked to his left and saw a stranger walking directly toward him. The unknown man was smiling broadly.

He was dressed in the same dark blue clothing that he himself was wearing. The man was of short stocky build and aged somewhere around forty years of age. His thin grey hair was combed over a shiny bald pate. The man had small, round gold-rimmed glasses that were somehow perched on the end of his pitted bulbous nose, a nose that was a deep purple color. A nose that was the centerpiece of a pale, sunken cheeked narrow face, and his grey eyes looked as if they had been pushed deep into his fat face.

Had to be a drinker, thought John to himself.

John, the man waved his left hand as he called out his name.

How the bloody hell do you know my name? he asked the man who was holding his outstretched right hand towards him, in welcome,

Welcome to the Dome. My name is Joe He reached out and took hold of John’s right hand with his own sweaty limp hand, the unhandsome man began to shake John’s hand vigorously but John asked angrily,

What the bloody hell is going on here? John, for some unknown reason, continued to shake the other man’s hand.

Ah yes, please walk with me and I will try and explain what is happening to you, offered Joe.

As the two men began to walk towards the group of square white buildings, Joe began trying to explain what was happening to John.

Well, to begin, the best way for me to try and explain what is happening to you, is this-: For you to be here at all, means that you must have been selected because you must have a certain skill that is required by the controllers of the Dome.

But, I don’t want to be here in the bloody Dome. I am perfectly happy with my life, thank you. I have only been married a month for God’s sake, snapped a very unhappy John.

I’m afraid that there is nothing that you or I can do about it now because there is no possible escape from this place. Many inmates have tried every which way possible, all to no avail. If you are lucky, you will only be with us for two years, and by us, I mean there are five hundred other fellow inmates, and we have all been chosen for our own individual skills. From what I have been told, you are a serving met fraud officer, is that correct? Suddenly, in a state of shock, all that John can do is stand there with an open mouth, nodded his head, and wonder how this complete stranger, can know so much about him.

From what I have also been told there is amongst our small community, a certain criminal element that is committing a very serious crime and your expertise is needed to investigate the said crimes, and you are to bring those responsible to justice, says Joe, in his almost squeaky voice.

But I don’t want to be here, I want to speak to the person in charge. NOW demanded John.

That I am afraid is one thing that I cannot help you with, simply because there is no one person in charge, as you put it" answered Joe.

But, there must be someone in charge, for you to know that I was here, who I am, and what I do for a living? argued a confused John.

Joe took John gently by the arm and said reassuringly,

Let’s you and I sit down at a bench and I will do my best to explain what I can. You see what will happen is that when you have settled in and are ready to begin your investigation, you will receive your instructions, as if by some sort of invisible telepathic voice. A thought will come into your head and that thought is what you will act upon, take this suspected crime matter that I mentioned earlier, all will be explained to you, and only you by some silent voice. Now let me take you to your new apartment, and I will explain the rules of the Dome as best I can

For some unknown reason, all the argument seemed to have left John as he simply turned and followed this strange little man. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what the bloody hell was going on, it was as if he was somehow doing everything on autopilot and he hated the thought of not being in control.

Chapter 3.

They entered a white stone three-story apartment block that was marked on the outside with a large black letter A, they walked along a stone whitewashed corridor with brown wooden doors on either side at regular intervals, and they stopped outside room number 3. Joe opened the door and let John enter the simple rooms, Joe gave John a short but informative tour of the rooms which contained a fully functional, white-tiled bathroom, a simply furnished one-person bedroom, and a comfortable sitting room, with a large flat-screen TV but strangely there was no kitchen, John asks why? Joe smiled and explained that there was no need for a kitchen, as you could eat out every mealtime at no cost, in essence, you could eat whatever and whenever you want. He did go on to explain that there were coffee/tea-making facilities in the main living room.

John looked at Joe and pleaded with him,

Can I please contact my wife now she will be very worried about me? Joe shrugged his shoulders and said,

I’m sorry John but there is no way to contact the outside world, there are no phones, computers, no posts, no daily newspapers. Now please sit down and I will explain the rules of the Dome

"First let me tell you about the currency here in the Dome, you will have an allowance of 250 Dome points every day of your stay, we have all the normal everyday shops here in the facility which means that you can purchase almost anything you like, to pay for your chosen items you simply scan your right thumbprint on the scanner provided. There is a scanner placed in every one of the shops and at the end of each working day any points that you have not used, will go into your final account, of which your target in this account will be 10,000 points; if you should reach the said target by the end of your two years stay with us, you will then be released.

Now, if for whatever reason you don’t reach the said target, you will remain here until you do eventually reach that target of 10,000 points. In the main square, you will find normal clothes shops, you are more than welcome to buy these clothes but you are only allowed the wear normal clothes in the evenings after 6 pm, or if you were going to let’s say, have a meal with a friend or go to the cinema. Other than that you must remain dressed as we are now, is that understood? This next item will not apply to you personally but I have to inform you of it anyway, crime, if you are in any way involved in any crime whatsoever, no matter the severity of the crime for a total of three times, you will be forced to face your punishment in the tube, and I can assure you that you don't want to do that, for reasons that will become abundantly clear at a later date.

The only thing that I can tell you about the tube, is that no one has ever come back from the experience, and having witnessed the deadly event myself, I wouldn’t recommend it at all, under any circumstances. Now should you be fortunate enough to have enough points when you do come to the end of your two-year stay, on your release you will go through a scanner of sorts and you will remember nothing whatsoever of your incarceration here at the Dome, or of the Dome facility itself. The final thing that you need to know is this, you are more than welcome to have a sexual relationship here at the Dome, but if it is just sex that you require, we have certain young ladies that will provide that particular service, you can find these ladies in the pubs and don’t worry, you can’t miss them. This service is again to be paid for with your thumbprint, so basically you can get anything you desire, whenever you desire it. Taking everything into consideration that I have just told you, all in all, it is a perfect life here at the Dome,"

Chapter 4.

Sarah sat quietly at her work desk trying to concentrate, but she was beginning to seriously worry about John, he always contacted her at least once a day, but today she had heard nothing at all from him and for some unknown reason, his phone had been switched of all day, which wasn't like him at all. She had called his office repeatedly, only to be told by his work colleagues that they have heard nothing from him all day, they have tried but could not contact him by phone or their police radios. Police all over the country were trying to locate his vehicle by using the tracker device fitted to his car. Sarah returned home to their recently built detached, three-bedroom house and began to prepare spaghetti Bolognese for their supper, she stopped what she was doing to call John’s best friend Jimmy.

It turned out that Jimmy was also very worried about John, as they were supposed to meet for lunch that very day, but John had never turned up. Jimmy told Sarah that if he did hear anything, day or night, he would call her immediately. Sarah continued to prepare their meal even though she was worried to death about her absent husband. Sarah sat on the settee chewing her nails with her cold untouched meal lying on her lap, it was then that she broke down and began to cry uncontrollably.

After she had cleared up the remnants of her untouched meal, she began to get a really bad feeling about John, so she decided to contact the local police and report him missing. She spoke to the desk sergeant, who informed her that he wasn’t supposed to act on a call about a missing person for the first 24 hours, but as her husband was a serving police officer, he would make an exception to the rule and check all the local hospitals. He also told her not to worry and that her husband was likely to turn up anytime soon. The sergeant went on to tell her that if she had not heard from John by the same time the following evening, she was to call back, they would then take things to the next level and contact CID. These specially trained officers would take over the case and set a nationwide search in motion, this would be to try and locate his car and then hopefully find John at the same time. Again Sarah called everyone that she could think of, it was as if John had simply vanished from the face of the earth. She tried his dead phone one last time before she climbed into a cold lonely bed and cried herself to sleep.

Chapter 5.

Joe took John on a tour of the sterile-looking Dome facility. The first building that they arrived at was the Dome bank where John was asked by Joe to register his thumbprint. Which when done would enable him to make his purchases, with this done he was introduced to the bank manager Mr. Andrews, who was in his early 60s; and had a large pot belly that was stretching his black waistcoat to its limit. Each of the small black buttons were straining so much that it looked as if the whole lot could explode at any time.

The fat man who had piggy little eyes that seemed to be sunken into his fat face, bright red cheeks, and the sweat beads that lined his forehead was a sure sign that he had very high blood pressure. The strange little man was sitting behind a large oak desk, on which stood hardly anything that you would associate with running a bank, there was a large writing pad that was covered in blue-shaped doodles, and by its side a single blue pen.

There were three plain white pots, one contained pencils, one different colored pens and the other was full to the brim with paper clips, most of which seem to have been playfully joined together, add to that a plain white coffee mug, a black remote and that was everything. There were no filing cabinets, papers, or computers, just a few boring landscaped pictures on the wall.

The fat man stood to greet them and John got his first look at the man’s short bowed legs, after shaking hands the clinically obese manager made his office chair creak under the strain as he flopped his huge bulk back down. Once he was comfortable Mr. Andrews informed John that they would be working closely together in solving a very serious crime, a crime for which he had been specifically chosen. John was suddenly fascinated by the fat man’s thick-lensed glasses; they were so thick that they magnified his grey eyes to the extent that they reminded him of Brains from the children’s hit TV show *Thunderbirds*.

After his meeting with the bank manager John and Joe continued their tour of the facility, on the way they paused at a large ornate pond that had been purposely built and filled with exotic-looking Koi carp of many different colors and sizes, they stopped and watched as inmates both male and female sat around the small wall of the pond and fed the fish by hand, the thick fish lips making a slurping sound as the sucked the white pellets deep into their mouths. They continued their tour and Joe showed him the shops in turn, plus the three Dome pubs, The Bell, The Swan, and the Dome Central, John stopped walking and turned to Joe and asked,

How can this be happening Joe, there must be someone in ultimate charge, I just don’t understand what I am doing here. I just want to go home to Sarah, back to my normal life, Joe shook his head and said,

"As silly as this may sound John, you will eventually get used to life here and I know that two years sounds like a very long time, but I promise you that the time will soon pass. Just try and accept that there is nothing that you can do about the situation, so you must think positively. Now,