Robbie Hatman and the Mysterious Bunkers

Wednesday, 27 July 2016 - Robbie's House, Weeting, Suffolk

The next morning was much the same as the day before. Dad had gone to work and Mum was pottering around the house doing the laundry and tidying up. 

After breakfast and getting dressed, Robbie said he would tackle to shed first. 

He opened the shed door and regretted it straight away. The thought of all those spiders hiding away in the corners and lurking behind tins ready to dart out. He shuddered. When he normally took his bike out he never gave the shed contents a thought. Now that he stood there looking at it he realised home much junk there was. This was going to take most of the morning. He started by pulling all the bulky items out; like bikes, lawn mower and garden tools. He then set about sorting the shelves and then putting tools and open bags of screws and fasteners away into their right places. He took his time, quite happy to drag this out for the rest of the day. 

After a couple of hours, he took a break and sat on his garden swing set. Something else he had almost outgrown. His feet rested in a grassless well he had worn away over the years of use. As he sat he looked up at the house, part of a row of thatched cottages that dated back hundreds of years, apparently, and older than his granny. He could see the slight differences in the sides of the row of cottages which resulted from a fire several years before. Just before they had moved there.They looked whiter than normal with the morning sun lighting up the backs of the houses. Another reason to doing the shed this morning while it was still cool. He didn't fancy doing in the heat of the afternoon. 

As he slowly pushed himself back and forth dragging his feet along the ground, a familiar voice came over the fence. It was Joshua talking to someone unseen. He ignored him and hoped he would go away. Joshua entered the garden by the back gate and slowly walking across the lawn over to the swing. 

In his hands was the device he had taken from Robbie the day before. 

'I'm sorry I took this from you yesterday. I'm sorry I pushed you over as well. Hope I didn't hurt you?' said Joshua offering over the device. Good grief, what was happening to the world? thought Robbie. He looked up at Joshua. He seemed genuine about it all. Robbie took the device from his outstretched arms half expecting him to snatch it back. 'Thank you. Not hurt but a little sore where I landed on the bag.' He didn't mention the radio. 

An elderly man entered the garden and walked over to them. He recognised Joshua's Grandad, the one who had come to his rescue. 

'Hello again?' replied Robbie. 

'Hi, I'm Josh's Grandad. We weren't formally introduced the other day,' the elderly man offered out his hand to shake. He looked at the mess strewn around the shed. 'I hope we aren't interrupting anything?' 

'No, I have been asked to tidy the shed up.' he replied. 'Thank you for helping me last week.' 

'Just did what anybody else would do.' He smiled. 'I wanted to ask you a question.' Josh's Grandad started. 

'Sure.' Said Robbie. 

'I was wondering where you got that device? The one you are holding. Josh came home with it yesterday,' said the Grandad. 'I didn't believe for one moment he had found it. He's not exactly the outdoors type. The thought of him going out somewhere other than the shop, made me suspicious.'

Robbie smiled. Joshua went crimson and looked away. 

'I found it in Weeting Woods a couple of miles north of here,' began Robbie. 'I stumbled across it in some old buildings on Monday. Robbie looked at Joshua, but continued speaking to the Grandad. 'When I entered two of the buildings they contained many items along with this device.' Robbie turned the device in his hand. 

'In the second bigger building was something that looked like, well the best way I can describe it as a large bell-shaped UFO. But I doubt it was a UFO.' explained Robbie. 'Almost like one of these...' Suddenly remembering, Robbie left the swing and entered the shed and returned with something small in his right hand. Robbie handed over a spark plug to the grandad saying, 'It looked like this but much fatter round the middle.' Joshua furrowed his brow, trying not to believe any of this. 

The Grandad nodded. 'Joshua had said you had made this all up and that the buildings were all empty.' 

'And for some time...' interrupted Joshua. They all ignored Joshua. 

'They were missing when we visited them yesterday.' slightly embarrassed as if it was his fault they were gone. 'I did see possible footprints in the grass, as if somebody had been there recently.' 

'He is correct, Joshua. He is telling the truth.' said the Grandad turning to look directly at his grandson. 

Joshua looked quizzically at his Grandad. 'How do you know?' 

'In 1946, nine months after the end of the second world war, many of the German research projects were divided up and shared between the Allies. Russia, and America, as you may know, got most of the technology. However, not many people realise that the Brits managed to divert several projects from the Americans and sent them to various secret locations around the UK, one of which ended up right here.' 

'They would constantly move them around by train for many years, spending 36short times at each location before being moved on. We know the Americans suspected us but they could not prove it.' 

'Ever wondered why there are still two USAF bases situated in the vicinity of this location, long after all the other bases have closed? Because they have been looking. They suspected it was in this area. When we thought it was safe, we constructed those buildings in the woods and moved one of the projects there. Some tests were carried out on the technology to make sure it worked and to see if weunderstood it. Then it was all locked away and eventually forgotten about.' 

'How do you know so much about it?' Asked Robbie. 

'I was involved at the end of the project, in 1965, just before it was locked away, once we were happy we understood the technology and couldn't learn anything else. By then we had superseded it. It was no longer relevant to us, so we secured it away so the Americans couldn't find it either. 

'Why not hand it back to the Americans?' Robbie asked. 

'Then that would be an admission of guilt, that we did steal it.' Explain the Grandad. 

'I see.' said Robbie. 

'And that was the last time I was involved with it.' said his Grandad. 

'You've never said anything about the war before or being involved in any secret operations.' said Joshua excitedly. He was impressed. Joshua looked at his Grandadin a new light. 

'I am not allowed to mention it, not even supposed to now. I shouldn't be telling you any of this.' said his Grandad. 'But I am old and I think everybody has forgotten about it.' 

'Not everybody, it seems' added Robbie. 'So, who do you think has taken it, then. Russian or American?' 

'I wouldn't like to speculate.' replied Grandad. 'Would you take me to these buildings tomorrow, Robbie? It's been a long time since I saw those buildings. To be honest we never knew where they were exactly. We were driven there in blacked out vans.' 

'Sorry, it's my birthday tomorrow. So, I better not make any plans'. Robbie was looking forward to the following day. 'Maybe the day after, instead.' 

'Okay,' Agreed Joshua's Grandad. 'We'll take the car. I don't think I can manage bicycles at my age.' They all laughed. 

Joshua and his grandad left, leaving Robbie to continue tackling the contents of the shed. 

'Everything okay?' asked his mum who appeared round the shed door. 'Just that I heard voices in the garden.' 

'It was Joshua just popping round, wanted to see if I was going out to play. I said I was busy.' Robbie updated his mum.

'Okay dear,' began Mum. 'As long as you are fine.' he placed a glass of juice on a clear spot on a work bench. 

'Do we have any plans tomorrow?' Robbie hopefully asked. 

'We need to go food shopping, but that's all.' said Mum. 'I'll call when tea is ready.' Mum left. 

Robbie was excited but not sure over what. She didn't say anything about his birthday. Maybe she needed to get some things for it in the shopping. He carried on with the tidying up now putting items back into the shed.