Decipher, p.54
Decipher, page 54
Making their way through the pits of ice that were glowing violently red, they watched in awe as hundreds of feet farther up, the energy twister of solar plasma cascaded down and coiled itself around the seven vast crystal towers.
In the middle of the ice sat a glowing crystal platform. Square-shaped and of exquisite design, it pulsed and throbbed with light, like a magic carpet waiting to take its guests up into the pyramid above.
But there was a problem, because there was simply no way of reaching the platform.
For standing between them and salvation was an entire legion of Golems. Waiting patiently. Fully armed. They knew they did not even need to attack because time was on their side. Around them stood the curious hulks and burnt-out strewn wreckage of the Chinese base Jung Chang. Torn and twisted from where it had fallen in from the surface, it was the perfect reminder that they too might yet become part of some macabre cemetery.
Hackett described it best of all by saying: “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one without an Act of God.”
An Act of God.
That was precisely what they got.
ACT OF GOD
The ground shook.
So violent was the earthquake that November was knocked to her knees. Peals of thunder rang out as the deep red glow of the nearby volcano descended upon the whole city.
Matheson panicked. “Is this it?”
Hackett shook his head. “No,” he said, “this is just the buildup. Pre-tremors before the main event. Minor gravitational fluctuations before she pops her load completely.”
November couldn’t help it. She started sobbing as Scott helped her to her feet, and that’s when they all saw it. An intense white-hot glow, darkening to a distinct yellow, then orange, as it grew larger in a speckled effect at random all across the more imposing glaciers around them.
Suddenly, huge dark shafts of hot volcanic pumice began blasting out all around them as molten lava ate its way through the Antarctic ice like a hot knife through butter and cooled dramatically along the way.
The team dived for cover as a sudden protrusion of rock accompanied by super-hot jets of steam exploded right next to them. It was ironic, for they fared better than the Golems who stood stoically waiting for them. Multiple columns of heavy black pumice seemed to crisscross uncontrollably and explode out into the crystal crowd while the foul, choking stench of sulfur descended upon the whole area.
The ground shook again, more violently than before.
And as these weird, tree-trunk-sized lances of cooling rock continued to shoot forth through the ice, so the heavens opened up in a sudden cascade of brimstone. Hot molten rocks, some still glowing bright yellow and obviously malleable came hurtling through the ice cavern above and rained down upon the legion of Golems. Huge smoldering boulders rolled through the ice creating instant slush in their wake and knocking over hundreds of them at a time like skittles.
And Scott saw his chance. It was now or never.
Gently he took his arms from around November’s shoulders and removed her head from his chest. He delicately brushed her hair from her face and kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
“I will miss you,” he said.
She looked up into his eyes. So earnest. So comforting. “I’ll miss you too,” she replied.
Matheson tapped his watch. “Go!” he cried. “We’ll try and cover you! And Richard?”
Scott turned back.
“Thank you.”
Scott was puzzled. “For what?”
“For thinking any of us are actually worth saving.”
“Who’d have thought it?” Hackett scoffed. “Us geeks really do get to inherit the earth.”
Scott nodded, relinquishing his sonic weapon to the others.
Neither he nor Sarah would need one where they were going.
“Take care,” Sarah said as she departed. “All of you.”
They all moved forward in unison, the five who would remain behind, each blasting a path through the Golems to allow Scott and Sarah safe passage to the glowing platform.
The air was thick with throbbing vibration, as if the device itself was anxious. Anticipating the moment when it would fulfill its purpose.
They could all feel the crushing bass tones pound on their lungs and then—
Whoosh!
Scott and Sarah had taken their places aboard the floating skiff and were hurtling skyward, propelled by forces the others couldn’t even contemplate. Within seconds the flying platform had docked with the pyramid and they were gone.
Hackett checked his watch. Checked with Pearce. The CIA agent agreed: “Two minutes,” he said.
The Golems were closing in all around them, swords drawn like a multitude of scythes, ready to do the bidding of the Angel of Death himself.
And then, one by one, the faces of the closest Golems began to warp and mutate. Until eventually they had transformed into effigies of men Matheson recognized. Men Rola Corp. had used in the past. Men who worked as mercenaries in South America. Ruthless, cold-blooded killers.
Maple, Carver and his entire squad.
Two minutes. Two whole minutes. There was every reason to believe they would not survive the next two minutes.
CONTROL CENTER
Everything was silent.
A peaceful calm had descended once the platform had locked into position. It was as if nothing could penetrate in from the outside world.
The room was vast and for the most part featureless. Though its glyph-covered walls closed in on them like some incredibly massive cathedral spire, the pyramid, unlike the ones in Egypt, was entirely hollow.
There were a few more platforms dotted way off up into the dark night of the obscured pinnacle, and a few panels and podiums in the exact center. And there were two human-shaped recesses, one on either side, into which they obviously would have to place themselves.
This was it.
Neither of them could breathe. Though they had shown firm resolve in front of the others, it had been a lie. They had been sharing each other’s thoughts for some time now, and each knew that the other one was petrified.
“I wish I had known you sooner,” Scott ventured.
“I wish that too,” Sarah replied.
They both gulped in unison and closed their eyes. Then reveled in a moment of exquisite closeness for one final moment as they took pleasure in the deep and lasting ecstasy of a kiss.
“Ah, ain’t that cute,” Bulger quipped mercilessly.
Scott and Sarah broke from their embrace as, across the expanse of Carbon 60 flooring, walked Jack Bulger—wearing the boots of a recently deceased marine.
He clanked his way toward them, and grinned.
SURFACE USS JOHN S. MCCAIN DDG-56
Fortune Favors the Brave—that was the ship’s motto.
This sixth ship in the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers was specifically designed to conduct simultaneous operations against land, air, surface and subsurface targets. The AEGIS weapon system and its AN/SPY-ID multifunction radar meant the crew could track hundreds of potential targets at once.
The McCain had 22 officers and 315 enlisted men and women aboard; every single one of her 90 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles was already stored and positioned for rapid fire in her vertical launching system.
All she awaited was the word, which wasn’t long in coming.
As the lead ship in coordinating the SaRGE decoy offensive, crewmen aboard the McCain had positioned the remote robotic soldiers to draw the Chinese forces out while old-fashioned tanks, artillery and camouflaged ground troops outflanked these forces from behind. Once these forces were in position the McCain would fire a barrage of Tomahawks at the Chinese incursion force in an attempt to make them retreat. If the strategy was successful, they would fall back right into the lap of the waiting U.S. troops.
It was risky. But then, there was always risk. It was still a sound plan.
On the bridge they waited patiently for word from the Truman and the other ships in both carrier battle groups while the clipped confirmation came in that: “All missiles locked to target, sir.”
The captain, Larry Belvedere, from New Port, Connecticut, nodded silently as he waited with his senior officers.
Eventually the call came in from the carrier. All troops were in position, and Admiral Dower was giving the orders to the support ships, personally. “The President regretfully confirmed some moments ago that the Chinese are refusing to back down on these matters and as a consequence we are authorized to fire at will,” he commanded.
Out on the deck of the McCain, the first wave of Tomahawks were away. And on the barren ice flats of Antarctica, the first shots between U.S. and Chinese forces were exchanged.
War had commenced.
FINAL BATTLE
Jack Bulger swung so fast and with such power that when his rock-hard fist connected with Scott’s jaw it propelled the anthropologist through the air, smacking him against the far end of the control chamber.
“I’m disappointed,” Bulger beamed. “I was so looking forward to mashing you some more.” He wiggled his toes, pleased, because by wearing the boots he was obviously not in contact with any expanses of Carbon 60 that would deactivate him. “These boots were made for walking,” he hummed. “And that’s just what I’ll do.”
He swung again, launching himself at Sarah, but she had already anticipated his attack and moved swiftly to the side.
“You really think they’ll let you live?” she challenged him.
Bulger shrugged. “It’s not much of an afterlife. But it’s still life after death.”
“You’re nothing to them,” Sarah countered. “They’re microscopic psychopaths. You won’t have a place in their new world order. You’re just a programming tool. When you’ve served your purpose they’ll discard you.”
Bulger didn’t like that, not one bit. Enraged, he swung again and clawed at Sarah’s thick parka, literally tearing strips off her. He threw her to the ground and kicked her hard.
All this, while Scott came to at the far end of the chamber. He couldn’t see straight and his jaw was broken: he could feel the bone moving beneath his flesh. But in spite of this he staggered over to try and stop Bulger’s attack.
The Golems were closing in.
Those with sonic weapons tried to keep them at bay, as Gant directed their efforts. But it didn’t take long for the automatons to figure out the error of their attack, and instead of sending in one or two effigies at a time, they changed tack—and did what they did best.
They swarmed.
The team loosed their sonic blasts. But those Golems which had taken the forms of Maple and Carver were smart. They grabbed their comrades and used them as disposable shields as they advanced.
November fell back a step, and another, only to find other concerns to occupy her mind. A spring of water had started trickling from one of the protruding mini-glaciers, followed by a second spring. Then a third.
She could hear the cracking of ice all around them. The shaking and violent pounding of swarming Golems was weakening the structure of the entire ice cavern. “This place is collapsing!” she cried. “Look over there!” She pointed to the far side of the city.
The entire rear wall of the ice cavern about two miles away was bowed out where the heat from the volcano had warped the ice. But it was cracking under the extreme pressure now and could hold back the reservoir of water built up behind it no longer.
It creaked and groaned as cracks shot through the ice until ultimately its brittleness betrayed it. The far wall exploded, unleashing millions of tons of fresh water.
Swiftly, other ice formations began to collapse. Huge icebergs were starting to rise up in the distance as the tidal wave headed directly for them. Some hit buildings and burst apart so ferociously, the ice shrapnel shot toward both human and Golem like bullets.
Golems to the left and right were decapitated by flying ice as what appeared to be an entire legion was washed away in the distance.
“Run!” Gant ordered.
“Run where?” Matheson panicked.
“Anywhere! We’ve got to get out from under this pyramid or we drown!”
But as they all broke into a sprint they too were suddenly swept off their feet as another reservoir of water roared through its icy confines and burst in upon them.
They were separated, each floating freely in a frothing lake of freezing water. Hackett smacked into a boulder of ice with the side of his face and cut his eye open all the way down to the cheekbone. He shrieked in agony.
Gant spotted him and swam for the physicist, picking his way through huge chunks of ice.
“Where are the others?” Hackett asked, clearly having problems with the cold.
Gant could hear the man’s teeth chattering away. Much longer in this water and it would kill them both. He looked about sharply and eventually spotted something. “That iceberg!”
Hackett swirled around and saw November fishing Matheson up out of the water. She had made it onto an iceberg and was using it as a raft.
They swam over, to join them, fighting the forces of incredible eddies and currents within the swirl of floodwater. It took every inch of effort their bodies could muster and soon their limbs felt numb.
But the most distressing thing of all was the enemy, because the Golems were relentless.
Bulger kicked hard and kicked again, jamming his boot so viciously into Sarah’s ribs that Scott could hear them crunch. But even knowing he was endangering his own life, Scott threw himself in front of the Golem and swung it around to face him.
“You don’t see what they’re doing, do you?” Scott said passionately. “They’re not even fighting this war, they’re making us kill each other. Kill ourselves—and for what? For greed. Tell me something, Jack—what are you going to do with all this carbon crystal and diamond when this is over, if there’s not going to be anyone around to sell it to?”
The effigy of Jack Bulger didn’t respond, in case it might weaken his resolve. Instead, he stood back a pace and produced one of those grim rapiers the other Golems had used.
The city had flooded to such an extent that a few crystalline buildings were now completely submerged. But the water level was rising extraordinarily rapidly. It wouldn’t be long before the whole place had drowned once again.
Gant used all his strength to heave Hackett up onto the iceberg alongside November and Matheson.
“Don’t struggle too much!” Matheson warned, unsteady on his feet. “I don’t want to give this thing any excuse to roll over.”
November in the meantime was on her knees, clawing at the marine, trying to get him to safety as well. “Get up here now!” she bellowed. “Move!”
Gant didn’t need telling twice. The Golems were already morphing into grotesque versions of sharks with hideous oversized teeth. He clambered aboard, digging frenzied fingers into the ice as he did so, just as two of the sharks rammed the iceberg with their snouts, causing it to spin around in the currents and make the team feel giddy as they were shunted off toward the side of the cavern.
Gant pulled himself upright. “Where’s Pearce?” he said breathlessly. “Anybody seen Bob?”
Bulger swung, aiming to bring his sword straight down through Scott’s head. But his way was suddenly barred by a slender blue crystal arm that thrust out and took the blow.
The arm belonged to Sarah.
She had pulled away part of her parka only to discover that she was changing. She whipped her hand around, snapped off the blade and threw it across the room. It connected with the Carbon 60 flooring, shuddering and melting into oblivion.
Bulger was stunned.
“I’ve been changing, thanks to you,” Sarah announced. She eyed Scott and revealed: “I didn’t even feel it.”
And that gave Scott the idea. He glanced down at his own leg. Had he been changing too? There was only one way to find out. He pulled his leg back and kicked Jack Bulger.
The effigy shot across the room, propelled by a force that defied belief.
Scott and Sarah watched, breathless, as Bulger plowed into the back wall and hung there like a fridge magnet. He wriggled, panicked—and he screamed. Finally he was atomized, and all that was left were a pair of black leather combat boots which clattered noisily to the floor.
They were overwhelmed. Hackett, November, Matheson and Gant.
Though they stood their ground bravely and fought the noble fight, ultimately the Golems were simply too many in number. Too large and too brutish.
Up out of the water the head of Maple arose, attached to the body of a massive sea creature that was still coalescing beneath the iceberg. It reached over and grabbed Gant by the throat and seemed not even to notice the blows that the marine was raining down on it. Meanwhile, another nanoswarm casually slapped November with the back of its massive hand and sent her skidding across to the water’s edge.
As November fought for consciousness she could just see Bob Pearce being dragged under the surface of the water, some way off, surrounded by fins.
The Antarctic Team was beaten. And indeed, none of them even heard it when Hackett’s watch alarm finally beeped to announce—it was time.
pulsar
God runs electromagnetics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the wave theory … and the devil runs it by quantum theory on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Sir William Bragg, Co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, 1915
ZERO HOUR
Pulsars were God’s timepieces.
When a star had used up all its fuel it collapsed down on itself and went one of two ways. It either became a quantum singularity—a black hole—or it exploded in a supernova. A pulsar was said to come after the supernova.
All that was left, all the stellar material, would collapse back down into a star again. But it would form a very different kind of star. Protons would meld with electrons to form neutrons. The resulting neutron degeneracy pressure, the need for the unstable neutron to blast itself apart, would fight with gravity, the force keeping the neutron bound together.
