System Seven (58 page)

“Hold here.”

“Who’s leading this
detour?” Meng asked.

“They aren’t saying, but
it’s got a taste of authority to it. High authority.”

“I don’t like it,” Austin
said. “Just sitting here.”

“If we don’t have
company in one minute, we go down for a look.”

“Into the sand? For
what?”

“Backdoor. What else?”

“Backdoor or trap?
Seriously, who’s feeding us? And what about waiting for Soldado?”

“Relax. Things are
happening. This is the right way.”

He shook his head. “I
don’t like it.”

A few seconds later,
Javier gave the order to descend. “Pitch straight down and dig thirty feet
before using the short-scan radar.”

“You sure?”

“How else are we going
to see what’s there?”

“Okay. Down we go to
signal the bad guys we’re here.”

He piloted the craft
into the sands of the Rub’ al Kali. The wrinkled kinetic field scooped the sand
around the ship as it sunk down into the sandy ocean. At thirty feet he
adjusted the settings of the radar and kicked it on. The return showed the
underlying topology was anything but flat.

“There, see the ridge
line?” Javier pointed. “The lighter shades beyond. That’s what we want.”

He steered towards
what became a large crevice in the rock floor. Scanning it revealed a larger
chamber where a perfectly symmetrical disc-shaped rock lined the floor at an
angle.

“Looks like a huge
plug,” he said.

“That’s exactly what
it is. Meng, get the gear ready.”

“Abandoned tunnel?”

“Construction tunnel.
Used when they were building the base. Sealed off and we’re told forgotten.”

“Forgotten, huh?
Better be. How are we gonna pop it?”

“They say knock.
Really hard. And turn up audio.”

Again he shook his
head. “This better not be a fucking trap, man. Better. Not. Be.” He parked the
ship near the rock plug. A slight hum issued from the speakers, the sound of
the sand vibrating against the field. “Scan shows two feet thick. How hard to I
punch?”

“Hard enough to break
that rock.”

“Okay. If we pancake,
I blame you. On three. One, two,
three
.”

He snapped the disc
fully forward then back in a quick motion. A thunderous crack sounded followed
by a rumble. Fragments slammed onto a metal floor under the weight of the sand.

“Visual.”

“Can’t. Sand’s in the
way. I need to go in further.”

“Go then.”

He nudged the craft
into the tunnel past the sand collapse. Low-light cameras revealed the perfect
circular form of a tunnel and rails set in the floor. On the sides of the
tunnel were recessed panels that might have been lights.

“See the seams? Looks
like rings, twenty feet each. Steel? Maybe an alloy. Wonder who made them.”

Meng set rifles and
bags against the hull.

“Check for power
readings, any electromagnetic fields at all. See if they’ve got eyes down
here.”

Austin shook his head.
“If they do, they’re closed right now.”

“Good. Let’s get
moving. Augment visual with the radar. The angle will level out about a
kilometer in. Take it carefully. There should be nothing ahead but I don’t want
surprises.”

• • •

Bastion stared out
from the observation lounge as it rose from the MILOPS levels to the SUPOPS
levels. Control teams from all operations branches now worked under direct
coordination from CoreOps. Overseer
managed the presentation and prioritization of all data and communications.

The models and
techniques being employed had been tested in small scenarios involving
multinational theatres but this was the first time they had been utilized live
on a global basis. It was an ambitious engagement made more challenging given
the mass dispersion of the priests. They were weakened but also less
predictable.

He looked at an
overhead screen and chuckled. Behind him, some of the council clapped softly.
The screen alternated between cameras following the progress of a gurney
through the Core. Prone atop the gurney, dressed in a commoner’s robe, was the
leader of the Runa Korda.

“Ganzai, how about
that? It pays to think outside the box, no?”

Ganzai smiled and
raised his wine glass in salute. “Yes, it does.”

“I think we’ll rather
enjoy the next few hours. Team One has learned the locations of key priests as
well as some of their civilian conspirators. Their collaboration will finally
cost them.”

Markus asked, “And
what of Gerrit and Cathbad? Team Three has been quiet.”

“We’ll not do a thing
with Gerrit until we are certain of the technique. Combining got us this far
with them, I want to be sure they don’t slip through cracks made by our haste.
For now their containment is more than sufficient progress.”

He smiled at the
screen showing the gurney in the lift. “He’s arriving. More wine, everyone. Get
a glass ready for old Cathbad, too. He may want to destroy us but we will
remain civil.”

Ganzai made a round to
refill glasses. Bastion ordered the screens changed. Remote views appeared from
G2 and G3 in pre-deployment readiness. Initial operations in five cities were
set to begin, the targets of which not yet revealed by Bastion. The floor
behind the council slid open and attendants rose with the gurney.

“Sit him over there.”
Bastion watched the men handle Cathbad into place. The old priest’s head lolled
forward. He walked over and tugged at the beard. “Fantastic. He’s almost
exactly what I’d imagined.”

A message arrived via
his neural link. He froze. “Oh really?”

He faced the council,
all mirth dissolved. “The Korda have found the Qatar line and presumably the
Jeddah line as well. Probably all of them. Overseer, close the feeder shafts
and recall trains. Monitor the sites and prepare total destruct orders for all
but the Duqm terminal. Have troops ready there. BaseOps, extend the mesh
jammer, use whatever power is necessary. And
test
it. Highest alert condition for all rings. Cormac, have Team
One readied. Deploy the guardians. Focus them on all outer ring entry points.”

“You think they will
enter one of the lines?”

“I think they will
try. They may use the ship, somehow.” He looked at Cathbad’s sleeping face.
“Notify G2 to be ready to suppress any reports of discovery of the terminals.
And prepare dirty bombs for Jerusalem, Rome, and New York City. They want to
keep playing, so play we will.”

• • •

“Faster.”

The tunnel had
descended before leveling out as expected. Cruising at a hundred miles an hour
through the narrow shaft, Austin relied more on the short-scan radar than the
cameras.

“Any faster and I
won’t have time to correct. What about ‘taking it carefully’?”

“They say it’s clear.
Extend the radar if you have to. We’ve got to reach the junction quickly.”

“Your call.” He
increased the radar and accelerated to five hundred miles per hour. The
darkened light panels and ring seams flickered by on screen. What Javier and
the others were planning hadn’t been shared yet. Whatever it was, at some point
he would be free to go after Bastion and the council... whether Javier liked it
or not. The certainty of his grip on the fabric of Raon calmed him. He would
destroy those who had killed and hurt his family and the entire world. He sat
at the very tip of history, ready to inflict long overdue retribution that was
once thought impossible. The thought made his heart pound.

“We’re into the gray
zone. Careful.”

Sure enough, Austin
tried to extend from his body and nothing happened. The option was simply
absent.

“Okay that’s wicked
bad. What the hell could be doing that?”

“We need to find out.”

A change in the radar
showed the junction ahead. He slowed as a break in the circular tunnel revealed
a platform and beyond it a large hollowed out staging area with tracks and other
platforms.

“Still no power
readings. This bar’s closed.”

“Good. Go left, head
for the far side. We’re looking for a descending ramp with rails.”

The lights of the ship
pierced the darkness and reflected from the metal rails. It was easy to imagine
train cars loaded with materials and some empty, awaiting return. Presumably
others would carry workers or maybe they’d used robots...

“How old is this
place?” he asked.

Javier looked to Meng.

“Its existence was
first suggested in 1919, either to be built or already built. Confirmation it
existed didn’t come until 1937 but with no intel on where. There was never an
industrial trail for materials or labor or even rumors of projects covering
something this big.”

An opening formed in
the floor, the beginning of a ramp.

“Down?” He lined up on
the ramp and followed it into another angled tunnel. “So it could have been
here all along?” Austin asked. “Built by others? Aliens maybe?”

Meng shrugged.
“Anything’s possible.”

“There may be clues,”
Javier said. “Already I see standard rail track gauge. Rather conventional and
suggests mid-nineteenth century. The precision on the tunnel sections suggests
fine milling techniques but nothing beyond their capabilities, even then. The
metal composition could shed further light. Until I see more, it’s hard to
know.”

The tunnel leveled
out. “How far?”

“A stretch then a
loading area. Not sure how far. Keep the radar up and halve the speed.”

They shot through the
tube until eventually arriving at the end of the line. Rail switches lined the
space ahead, further suggesting human tech. Three inch tubing ran along the
ceiling with spigots at intervals along the track.

“What were they
filling up with?” Austin asked.

“With any luck, you’ll
see. Still no readings?”

“Nada.”

“Alright. Grab a rifle
and a kit. You and I are going for a walk. Meng will guard the shack.”

Austin stood and
traded places with Meng. The druid had skimmed most of what he knew about the
controls.

“You good? No
questions?”

“I’m good.”

He hefted a bullpup
design assault rifle with mounted laser guide and spotlight. “Whoa, this made
of plastic?” It was lightweight, no more than three or four pounds, even with a
full clip.

“Keep it off full
auto,” Javier said. “You’ll eat a clip in just a couple seconds. Grab your kit.
We’ll use the goggles.”

He inventoried the
waist-mount bag. Three clips total for the rifle, four clips for the Glock,
four quick-timer C4 door bangers, and one fuck-you-asshole slab of Semtex high
explosive with a remote detonator. Two knives, an LED penlight, five smoke
balls, a small med kit and the low-profile goggles rounded out his supplies.

“Are these thermal? Or
night vision?”

“Both.”

“No shit? Nice. You
guys think of everything. But no beer. I could use a beer. Wait, what’s this?”
He held up what looked like a steampunk shower cap with wafer-like elements
woven into a covering pattern.

“Nanofiber cap. Might
save your brain. Put in on first.”

It slid over his head
and side flaps velcro’d together to cover his face.

“This is for you,”
Javier said, offering him the familiar light-bending fabric.

“What about you?”

“The best trick goes
to the most talented prick. That would be you.”

“Well thanks and fuck
you, too, pal. What about the rifle?”

“Sling it, keep it
inside. Hopefully with that suit and your voodoo we won’t have to fire a round.
If need be, I’ll return fire first. Your safety is top tier priority so don’t
engage with guns unless your suit’s been torn. No, it isn’t bulletproof.”

“I don’t like you
being exposed.”

“Just put the thing
on, will you? And quickly.”

He played with the
fabric until the insides were visible and he could stuff his legs in. It
stretched easily over the body armor and boots as well as the rifle.

“Tell me this isn’t
alien tech.”

“I don’t think it is.”
Javier shuffled to the ship’s door. “Meng, stay open to me. We stay linked the
whole time. Austin, ready?”

“Ready.”

“Pop the hatch.”

A damp, cool air
flowed in.

Austin asked the
obvious. “Water?”

“Ten points for Mr.
Crichlow. Now, no voodoo unless you have to. The idea is to keep to yourself
and keep your energy up. Stay stealthy. Comprendè?”

“Ci, ci.”

“Alright then.” Javier
climbed out and engaged his rifle’s spotlight in feeder mode to enable night
vision. “Kill the lights, Meng. Stay with me, Austin.”