The lights dimmed, and a slight shudder went through the room as the first energy wave from Thero’s weapon surged through the cavern. Kurt glanced up as dust drifted down on them from above.
“Is that what I think it is?” Joe said.
Kurt nodded. “According to Dirk, the show’s starting early.” He turned to the prisoners. “Is there any other way up to the top level?”
Masinga spoke first. “When we began to dig the mine, there was a vertical shaft. It was sealed off as soon as we began tunneling sideways into the kimberlite. You might be able to circumvent Thero’s defenses if you use it.”
“Can you find it?”
Masinga nodded. “I think so.”
“Let’s go.”
Two minutes later, they were down the tunnel, prying a metal plate from a section of the wall. Once they’d pulled it aside, Kurt stuck his head in.
He looked up. A sixty-foot climb to the top. “Could use that rocket-propelled harpoon of yours right now, Joe.”
“Better go search the lost and found, then,” Joe said.
“No time. We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.”
Kurt glanced down. The shaft dropped another hundred feet or so. Kurt could swear he smelled the ocean. He turned to Devlin. “I think I know where you’ll find that ship of yours.”
Devlin nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Gather up the prisoners. Get them down there.”
Devlin nodded. Masinga did the same. “Once we’ve taken it over, we’ll wait for you.”
“Don’t bother,” Kurt insisted. “Just head for the sea.”
Devlin stared at Kurt for a moment, offered him a salute, and then he and Masinga went back to round up the other prisoners.
“You should really go with them,” Kurt said to Joe.
“Sorry,” Joe said. “Our last cruise made me seasick. Bad navigation. Poor accommodations. And don’t get me started on the food. It was just awful. They should really put a health inspector aboard that vessel.”
Kurt laughed. He should have known better than to try benching his friend at this point in the proceedings. He turned to Gregorovich. “Ready for one last gambit?”
“Ready to end this game,” Gregorovich said. “Once and for all.”
Kurt, Joe, and Gregorovich climbed up the abandoned shaft, while Devlin, Masinga, and the South American led the surviving prisoners down toward the water level.
As they neared the top, another powerful vibration shook the cavern. In the hollow shaft, it made a sound like a rushing train.
Kurt gripped the scaffolding as the vibration came up. He noticed a strange luminescence to the metal work, something he hadn’t seen before.
“We might want to hurry,” he suggested.
The other two fell behind, the beatings they’d taken slowing them down.
Kurt reached the top and braced himself, waiting as both Joe and Gregorovich caught up.
Another barrier of corrugated tin blocked whatever lay beyond. Kurt put his ear to it. A loud droning could be heard.
“What is it?” Joe asked.
“Generators.”
Kurt pulled his backpack off and wedged it into the scaffolding, taking out the last brick of C-4.
“What are you going to do?” Joe asked.
“Looks like it’s only attached at four points,” Kurt said. “One in each corner. If I wedge some explosives into the gap between the tin sheet and the wall and trigger them all at the same time, that should blast the corrugated sheet out into the room.”
“How much are you going to use?”
Kurt almost laughed. “You and Devlin must have gone to the same school of asking too many questions.”
Unlike his effort with the heavy door he’d blown earlier, Kurt wanted to use as little explosive as possible in this case. Just enough to separate the sheet of tin from the opening it covered.
He tore off small sections of the plastic explosives and wedged them into the corners the way one might caulk a drafty window. Setting the detonators, he rigged his clacker once again.
“Hold on tight,” he said.
Both Joe and Gregorovich wrapped their arms and legs around the scaffolding, and Kurt did the same.
As the next wave of energy began to vibrate the cavern, Kurt figured he had the perfect opportunity. He squeezed the clacker tight. The four little charges blew simultaneously. The tin sheet flew out into the room, trailing smoke and clattering to the floor. The drone of humming generators doubled in volume.
Kurt looked inside.
A head poked out from behind one of the generators and seconds later gunfire burst forth from behind two others.
Kurt ducked back behind the edge of the rock as bullets tore up the inside of the mineshaft.
“So much for our surprise entrance,” Joe said.
• • •
A HUNDRED AND SIXTY FEET BELOW, Devlin and Masinga had reached the bottom level of the shaft. A short tunnel led to the cave where the black hulk of the Voyager remained docked.
From a side tunnel, Devlin noticed a man carrying a large crate toward it.
He put a finger to his lips and then jumped out, slamming the butt of the rifle down on the man’s head. The man stumbled, dropped what he was carrying, and sprawled on the floor.
Devlin recognized him and stuck the business end of the rifle in his face. “Running away again, Janko?”
Janko froze as he realized who was speaking.
“Look at this,” Masinga said, opening the crate. “Diamonds.”
Devlin drew back and slugged Janko with the butt of the rifle once again, knocking him out.
A few minutes later, wearing Janko’s clothes, he boarded the Voyager and took over the bridge. With the command crew under the gun, he waved Masinga and the other prisoners forward.
“Come on,” he shouted as the cave began to shake yet again. This series of tremors lasted longer and ran deeper than any of the others. Small rockslides could be seen throughout the cave.
As the last of the former prisoners climbed on board, Devlin turned to the helmsman. “Fire this tub up.”
• • •
AT THE TOP OF THE SHAFT, just outside the generator room, Kurt, Joe, and Gregorovich had run into better-prepared defenses than they’d expected. Eight of Thero’s men were inside, hiding behind the generators.
“Getting through that cross fire is going to be suicide,” Joe pointed out.
“I have an idea,” Kurt said. He rigged up what remained of the C-4 and looked at Joe. “Get ready,” he shouted.
Joe nodded, switching the selector on his rifle to full auto.
Kurt flung the pack around the corner and into the room, squeezing the clacker one last time. A booming explosion shook the generator room, hopefully knocking the defenders off their feet.
“Go!” Kurt shouted.
Joe went to rush in, but Gregorovich pulled him aside and climbed over him. He charged into the room, wielding his two pistols and blazing away. From the middle of the room, he fired in all directions, twirling and shooting, even as Thero’s men fired back and hit him several times.
With Gregorovich drawing their fire, Joe and Kurt rushed in behind him. They each took a side and gunned down the last of Thero’s men in rapid sequence.
When the shooting stopped, only Kurt and Joe were standing. They rushed to Gregorovich, who was on the floor badly wounded.
Maxmillian Thero stood in the control room, bathed in the light of his great creation and oblivious to the gunfire outside. He gazed through the portal, mesmerized by the swirling galaxy-like pattern of the zero-point energy. It raced around the inside of the globelike structure, faster and faster, until finally disappearing in a blinding flash and heading toward Australia.
The first pulses probably had
n’t been felt except by a few kangaroos in the outback. This surge would rattle windows and shake doors. It would cause tremors up and down the rift and set the stage for what was to come, as each reverberation built upon the previous one.
He checked the monitor. The next oscillation was beginning to build.
Suddenly, the door burst open behind him. He turned in time to hear the crack of the gunshot from Kurt Austin’s weapon and see the flash of fire from the barrel. He fell backward, slammed into the viewing portal, collapsed, and slid down it, leaving a trail of blood on the thick Plexiglas.
As he slumped to the ground, he rolled toward Hayley. She was lying on the ground a few feet away.
“Thank . . . you,” he managed.
“George,” she whispered.
He nodded, and then his eyes closed.
Kurt rushed into the room and over to Hayley. “Are you all right?”
“I think so,” she said, beginning to move.
As he helped her up, the room began shaking violently.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Thero has engaged his weapon. You have to help me shut it off.”
Joe appeared in the door, supporting Gregorovich and lowering him to a seat, as Kurt led Hayley to the console. Kurt watched as she scanned everything, eyes going from one computer monitor to the next. A look of trepidation crept over her. “I can’t stop it,” she said.
“What?” Kurt asked. “Why?”
“Thero’s done something here. He’s distorted the pattern, stretching it like a rubber band. The next wave will take longer to arrive, but it will be monstrous when it hits.”
“Not if we shut this thing off,” Kurt said, getting ready to fire a spread of shells into the computer.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “It’s already off. What you’re seeing is a free-form chain reaction. The energy is coming from the imbalance in the zero-point field itself.”
Kurt glanced out into the generator room. She was right. The last charge of C-4 had knocked the generators off-line, they were winding down on their own.
“How do we stop it, then?”
“We can’t. It’s like a car skidding out of control, overcorrecting back and forth. It will stop only when it finally crashes. When a large enough surge of energy overwhelms the wave and collapses it.”
“The rift giving way,” Kurt said.
She nodded.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There had to be a way. He looked around. His gaze fell on the Russian nuclear bomb. “What if it found some other source of energy? A closer source.”
She turned toward the bomb. “That might do it,” she said. “From this range, that might just be enough to collapse the wave.”
Kurt moved to the bomb and opened the case. “Gregorovich. How do I set this?”
“It’s a simple timer,” the Russian managed. “Set the time, press INITIATE, and it will blow at zero.”
Kurt looked for the timer. The control panel had been smashed. He flipped the timer switch to the on position. Nothing happened. He toggled it several times. “The timer is shot,” he said.
“Then you have to set it off manually,” Gregorovich said.
Kurt looked to Joe and Hayley. “You two, get out of here,” he said. “Take the vertical shaft. Get to the ship, if you can.”
“No,” Hayley said. “You can’t stay.”
“Not alone anyway,” Joe said.
The click of a pistol being cocked sounded.
All three of them looked up to see Gregorovich aiming his gun their way. “All of you will leave,” he said. “I will detonate the device.”
Kurt stared at him.
“Look at me,” he said. “I’m not going home.”
“All right,” Kurt said, well aware that Gregorovich was dying. He slid the bomb over to where Gregorovich sat against the wall.
“Remove the timer,” Gregorovich said.
Kurt pulled the timer off. A simple detonation switch rested underneath.
“Arm it.”
Kurt turned the switch to the armed position. “Are you sure you can do this?”
“It’s a simple process,” Gregorovich said. “All I have to do is press the button.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I finish what I start,” Gregorovich said.
“Eight minutes,” Hayley said, looking at the computer screen. “At that moment the wave will be about to crest. It will be at its most unstable. Blow it then. No later or Australia will be in ruins.”
Gregorovich nodded as a new tremor shook the room.
Kurt noticed that this one felt different. Stronger.
It was time to go.
He offered a hand, and Gregorovich shook it. By the time he let go, Joe and Hayley were already climbing down the scaffolding. He went to follow them.
“You were right,” Gregorovich called after him. “Even pawns come in useful every once in a while.”
Kurt nodded and ducked out. He raced to the shaft and began climbing down. Halfway to the bottom, the cave shook again as if something solid had hit it. Cracks began snaking their way up and down the walls, and frigid, icy water began pouring in from above.
The tremors had caused a series of fissures to open at the base of the volcano. As magma and scalding heat flowed upward, the underside of the glacier began to melt. It shifted and slid forward. By the time Kurt reached the bottom of the shaft, an icy waterfall was pouring down on him.
He ran out from under it, catching up to Joe and Hayley as they reached the harborlike cave.
A strange black ship sat at the end of a narrow dock.
“Come on,” an Irish voice shouted from the deck. “I’m not bloody well leaving anyone behind this time.”
Kurt was tremendously happy to see that Devlin had ignored his suggestion. He ran with Joe and Hayley. They climbed on board as the ship began to move. Inside, they found a few of Thero’s men at the controls, guarded by Masinga and the other prisoners.
“Take us out,” Devlin ordered. “And open the gates.”
As the cave shook, a stream of rubble fell from the roof. Fist-sized rocks pelted the Voyager, clanging off her decks, and a huge boulder crashed into the water only yards away. Seconds later, the Voyager was under way, submerging and heading for the slowly widening gap between the two doors.
“Increase the power,” Devlin ordered. “Let’s go!”
The helmsman did as he was told, and the Voyager began to push forward.
“Isn’t this how Captain Nemo met his end?” Joe mentioned.
“Allegedly,” Kurt said. “Allegedly met his end.”
Hayley gripped Kurt’s hand, and everyone on the bridge held their breath as they stared at the slowly parting doors. The Voyager stabilized its depth and continued to pick up momentum. It passed through the gap in the doors, scraping badly against the right-hand plate.
“I’d give it full power, if I was you,” Kurt said.
“You heard the man,” Devlin ordered. “Flank speed ahead.”
The helmsman didn’t need to be told twice. He jammed the throttle lever to full. The big ship shuddered as the propellers increased their revolutions.
“We’re much faster on the surface,” the helmsman suggested.
“Take us up,” ordered Devlin.
The crewman reached over and blew the tanks, and the Voyager began to rise. It breached the surface with a minute to go.
• • •
BACK IN THE CONTROL ROOM, half the ceiling had collapsed. A gap opened up between the control room and the level above, allowing the slush and water from the melting glacier to come pouring in.
This frozen mixture swept Gregorovich across to the far side of the control room, slamming him into the wall before its force lessened and sloughe
d away.
Gregorovich looked at his watch. He didn’t know anything about waves or orders of magnitude in the zero-point field, all he knew was the promise he’d made. Eight minutes. He was supposed to detonate the bomb in eight minutes no matter what happened.
He tried to pull himself up. He had thirty seconds. He found he couldn’t stand, the freezing water and slush was slopping around him, slowly filling the room.
He crawled through it, pushing floating debris out of the way. His eyesight was fading. His mind blurring. He thought back to the pain and the cold of the bog his father had once tortured him in and rose up, unwilling to give in.
He pushed forward through the flooding and made his way to the bomb. The secondhand on his watch hit zero, and he slammed his fist down on the detonator.
• • •
KURT STARED through the Voyager’s windows as the sea began flashing its brilliant white. He knew what was coming.
He looked back toward the island as a shock wave of energy erupted from the lagoon behind them. He saw a ball of white-orange flame. It raced outward as if it would engulf them and then just as suddenly collapsed back in on itself, like a bubble imploding at a great depth. A booming echo reverberated past them, and moments later a thin sheet of debris and water droplets pelted the Voyager like hail. But there was no fire, no heat. No angry flashing sea to be feared. Everything had gone dark and quiet.
At first, it seemed too good to be true. For a moment, no one spoke a word. Finally, Kurt asked the question on everyone’s mind: “Is it over?”
Hayley looked up at him and then back outside. The ship was rising and falling on the swells. The sea looked normal. The shuddering vibration was gone.
“I think so,” she said. “I think he did it.”
Kurt continued to stare. Gregorovich had done exactly what he said he’d do. He’d finished the job.
“Somebody point me to a radio,” Kurt said. “We need to find out if Australia is still in one piece.”
Eight hours after the explosion, the Voyager rendezvoused with the Gemini and the MV Rama. Kurt, Joe, Hayley, and the other survivors were taken aboard the Gemini to a warm welcome led by Gamay Trout, who’d never met a celebration she didn’t like. Amid the laughter, the iron words of Commander Matilda Wallaby were told and retold until Gamay was thoroughly embarrassed by it all. The story of Paul’s home-built turret and his bluffing of the MV Rama received similar treatment, and both were sure to go down in NUMA lore.