The silurian bridge, p.30
The Silurian Bridge, page 30
Rashid sighed. “And he may be hurt. You need to be ready for anything you see and hear, and not flinch or hesitate. You’ll only have mere seconds. Time will be everything.” He crouched in front of the woman. “Alyssa, you’ll have one shot at this. The time paradoxes create unbreakable rules for us. Once you have been to a time period, that slice becomes unavailable to us again. You cannot return to that exact point of points, as there can’t be two of you existing in the same place at the same time.”
Alyssa tilted her head back and exhaled a wretched sigh. “So I’ll have seconds. And I can’t go back twice?” She looked up. “And he might be . . . sick.”
“That’s right,” Hanley said. “One shot, and one shot only.”
“If I fail, then I can’t go back again,” she confirmed.
Hanley and Rashid looked to Hammerson, who just stared back through half-lidded eyes. But it was Pinchella who stepped forward and laid a hand on the woman’s shoulder.
“We, and you, don’t need to worry about that. Because you won’t fail. You will succeed.” She squeezed. “I know it.”
Alyssa looked up. “But if something is really wrong, and I can’t bring him back,” she said softly, “could I stay with him? Whatever that would mean?”
“No,” Hammerson said. “The program will bring you back automatically.” He stepped closer. “All you need to do is grab him – and hold on. You won’t fail.”
Alyssa nodded. “What do I need to do, and when?”
“Now. Right now,” Hanley replied. “Because right now, we can pinpoint exactly where he is. The signal is weak, but we’ve got him. If everything goes to plan, you’ll be there and back, with Sam, in the blink of an eye.”
Alyssa stood up. “Then I’m ready.”
Pinchella straightened and smiled. “Of course you are.”
Hanley stepped back and clapped his hands. “Team Janus, we are go.”
Their technical team flew into action to prepare the time bridge, and Alyssa was led into the tachyon chamber.
They had given her a special suit, a little like the HAWCs’ Kevlar skinsuits, but this one was designed to increase the tachyon power and remove the need for an implant. The suit was a shimmering, reflective white for high tachyon particle absorption.
Strapped to Alyssa’s chest was a powerful tachyon magnifier that would construct an envelope over herself and the huge body of Sam Reid. It was all theoretical and untested, so they prayed it had enough power to identify them, hold them, and then bring them back together.
Hammerson began to pace again. All Alyssa needed to do was grab Sam. And hold him. Janus would do the rest.
In five more minutes they were ready. Alyssa stood in the chamber, her mouth dry and eyes glassy with fear. Her legs shook and she looked tiny, but her expression was resolute.
Pinchella gave her a thumbs-up, and Quartermain nodded to her.
“Initiating bridge,” Rashid said.
The blue beam shot out and touched on the small woman. It soon enveloped her, and in her white reflective suit she glowed like a miniature sun for a second – and then she was gone.
No one spoke. No one seemed to breathe or even blink.
Hammerson sucked in a huge breath. Ten seconds was all they were going to give her.
He heard Quartermain whisper: Get him, Alyssa. Please get him.
He had the same prayer.
CHAPTER 46
Ito was shielding Cooper as best he could, but his blade was little more than a tool to parry the arthropod creatures’ blows, as it could never cut their bodies.
Just as Ito was forced down onto one knee, Alex came in fast, lowered a shoulder and smashed into the thing from the side, crushing its carapace.
He didn’t wait to see if it got back up, but instead moved among the swarm of shelled bodies, ripping jointed limbs from multiple shoulders, and punching right through armored shell.
As fast as he was and as furious his decimation of the horde, there were always far too many, and he knew his team could not prevail against the hundreds of what he assumed were the minions of the monster from below.
More and more poured into the lake cave; it was just a matter of time until they were worn down and beaten. Then he bet that Dagon would rise again. And this time none of them would have the strength to fight back.
“Gotta get to that exit.” Casey pointed to the huge steps leading to the carved cave mouth on the other side of the water.
As the team was now being pushed back to the dark water’s edge, their choices were rapidly vanishing.
Then Alex felt the approach of a presence, a welcome one, and looked up. Without slowing a fraction, the android dog burst from the high cave mouth they had entered and launched itself into the air. Even though it was encumbered with ten heavy nuclear packages, it landed safely and skidded to a stop between the HAWCs and the crustacean beings.
“Defend,” Alex yelled.
Immediately the robotic animal went into defensive guardian mode. Combat armor slid over it, and multiple barrels extended from its front. Then lasers, grenades, and bullets shot out in a furious artillery barrage, obliterating the front line of crab beings and pushing back those that weren’t destroyed.
Alex rushed to Tor and pulled the packs from its body. He knew that even though the huge monster from below had retreated, it would be back. Over the hundreds of millions of years until humanity’s rise, it would grow, consume, and be waiting for them when they returned.
Unless he changed the game.
“Gonna seal it in,” he said. “Sink this damn place.”
“Yeah, burn and bury it!” Casey responded with a gore-spattered, raised fist.
Alex knew the staggered detonations going off every hundred years would create long term corruption to the environment. But a single mega blast would create a wound that would quickly heal.
He armed every one of the bombs and changed their century long timer to be set to sixty minutes. He turned. “We’ve got one hour,” he said grimly, then tossed all the packages into the dark water and watched them sink. “Let’s go,” he yelled.
Without a second thought about what might be lurking below, he and his team dived into the dark water and swam across it, leaving Tor to generate his wall of fire between them and their attackers. Even Alex felt vulnerable as he swam over the black water, knowing that somewhere down there the beast was waiting. And maybe watching.
When they arrived at the other side, they all climbed hurriedly out, and Alex pointed. “Get up there, run.”
The HAWCs and Cooper moved fast, scaling the colossal steps and making their way up to a massive stone archway. He saw that Tor had obliterated hundreds of the things and they lay in a burned and broken wall around it. But the android’s armaments were being depleted and it was down to just the field laser. There was no more they could do – their job was done.
“Tor,” he yelled, and then Alex, too, turned to run.
The android animal spun away and, rather than enter the water, it put on a burst of lightning speed, actually running up the sheer vertical cliff face until it got to Alex. Without even thinking about it, Alex lowered his hand and lay it gently on the metal dog’s head for a second or two.
Then, together, they ran up and out through the massive doorway.
The HAWCs didn’t stop, sprinting all the way to the shoreline, with Alex out front, using his body like a battering ram to smash a hole through the jungle. They then went south along the coast until they came to where they had left their boat, with Tor running backwards and cutting down any of the crustacean beings if they got too close.
At the beach, Alex remembered their boat was submerged a few dozen feet offshore. He cursed himself for only allowing sixty minutes until the massive detonation, but it was too late to change that now.
He powered ahead of the group, dived in and swam at speed to the waiting boat. As he dived down the ten feet to find it, he was buffeted by a large eel-like creature that had a flat, shovel-shaped head full of needle teeth. It obviously didn’t think he was edible and swam off into the gloom.
Alex found the boat, pulled himself in, and started the engine. Then he brought it to the surface. They’d need to stay there now that they no longer had their HAWC aquatic suits, which wasn’t great as the combined nuclear detonation might engulf them. Being below the waterline might have given them some insulation.
The group jumped in, with Tor boarding last and acting as a rear gunner, cutting down anything that tried to follow them into the water. Alex handed over the controls to Ito, who sped them away.
“Where to?” Ito called.
Alex wasn’t sure. He turned to Cooper. “We’re done. What now?”
Cooper checked her wristwatch. “It’s almost time for pull-out.” She shook her head. “Any minute now. It doesn’t matter where we are; the tachyon drive should find us and pull us back over the bridge.”
Alex nodded. “I hope it’s before the detonation.” He turned away. “If not, it’s gonna get real hot here soon. Let’s just get as far away as possible.”
Ito kept the engines at maximum speed and the land quickly shrank behind them.
Alex checked his watch. Minutes mattered now.
He exhaled, feeling his frustration. They should be ten miles away, and bunkered down to try and get underneath the blast’s shockwave, which would be like a brick wall moving at 500 miles per hour.
He checked his watch again. Time was up.
He’d failed. They weren’t nearly far enough away.
“Don’t look at it,” he warned.
Alex crushed his eyes shut for a moment as the incendiary flash of the multiple bombs heralded the titanic explosion that came from somewhere deep down in the earth. And then, as soon as the light receded, he opened his eyes again and looked back to see the massive bubble of heat, light, and blast plasma rising into the upper atmosphere.
Seconds later they could see the shockwave coming across the water. They didn’t need to worry about the nuclear fallout, the sun-hot temperature, or the toxic debris cloud. The shockwave alone would be so powerful it would blow them into pieces, and nothing bigger than a postage stamp would remain.
He half-smiled as his mind started to drift. He remembered the faces of Aimee and Joshua. Did he really have anything to go back to? Why not join them now?
“Let it happen,” he whispered.
CHAPTER 47
Phillip Hanley couldn’t even blink as he watched the old-style analogue clock on the wall in their main laboratory as it counted down the seconds.
Time seemed to have slowed down, but then he heard the tachyon generators start up again and the bridge chamber began to glow its familiar soft blue.
The man prayed; first prize, they brought back Sam Reid and Alyssa. Second prize, he at least brought the woman home.
He could feel Pinchella’s glare. The damn woman scared the shit out of him. Just like that damn colonel, who reminded him of a bulldog with a military crew cut, and with the pale, unblinking eyes of a killer. What was it about the HAWCs that the people they employed were so damn frightening?
He drew in a deep breath – they only had this one shot, and it had to work. Alyssa either grabbed up Sam Reid, or he was stuck there forever.
And another thing – they were sending Alyssa back for just ten seconds. But the time distortion might mean she was there for anything from two seconds to a week.
Hanley sighed. Everything was so complex, and they didn’t fully understand the technical things they were working with. And he was supposed to be the expert.
“Initiating,” Rashid said softly.
And then . . .
“Got something. I don’t know what.” Rashid looked up just as the tachyon chamber lit with its usual blinding blue flash.
***
It took twenty Philistines using stout ropes to drag Sam to the center of the arena. He heard their bloodthirsty cries: Death to the mighty Samson.
He fought them a little, for show, but really, he let them take him.
After the heat of the day, he now felt the coolness of evening coming on. The ground beneath him was crusted with blood and littered with what he thought might be viscera and the remains of dead animals and humans. He could smell the charnel house stink rising from the still-warm sand.
This is a horrible civilization, he thought. It doesn’t deserve to exist anymore.
He tried not to dwell on the death that was to be his fate – it was going to be a gruesome spectacle; a massacre. They still feared him, so his restraints would not come off. They wanted him to die slowly and in agony. They wanted him humbled and begging for death.
He could smell the hot coals and the heating of irons. He knew what that meant – they were going to prolong his agony, by hacking into him, and then heat-searing the wounds with the glowing metal. Pain upon more pain.
How long would it last? he wondered. How long would it take him to die?
His huge body and toughened mentality had an ability to absorb punishment. It might fight death, even as he desired it.
He knew he had one chance – he would be bound between the two mighty pillars that the hundred-foot-high stone statue of their corrupt idol rested upon.
Let them do it, he thought. Your god against mine.
Before this day was done, if he prevailed, none would survive.
***
Sam felt the cool rock of the massive pillars against his hands. He was chained between them now, and he heard raised voices. When he turned his head he could feel the force of the crowd’s jeers. The Saran’s entire retinue, the nobles and high born, the army generals, and many hundreds of the cruelest of the Philistines were gathered here, drunk now on wine and bloodlust.
Good, he thought.
He heard the Saran’s voice as he addressed the crowd. He taunted Sam, Samson, and promised the crowd he would die slowly and painfully.
Sam lowered his head and said a soft prayer.
This is where it ends, he thought. My torment is nearly over.
He rested his hands against the cool stone and flexed his fingers, testing it.
A drunken jeer rang out from the crowd. “The mighty Samson, now mad as a goat tied in the sun.” More laughter as more and more voices heckled him.
The first arrow struck him in the chest. It pierced the flesh, and the pain was intense, but the MECH armor beneath his skin protected his heart. It could never be penetrated by a mere arrow.
Another struck his shoulder. Then another. The pain was intense, and the blood flowed.
He couldn’t allow them to bleed him out, drain him of his strength. Not yet.
He lifted his head, his teeth bared.
“Go to Hell,” he roared in English. “All of you.”
“He speaks in mad tongues,” he heard someone yell in response to this unknown language, and then the crowd roared with laughter.
Of course they could not understand his words. But they would soon understand his actions.
He spread his fingers, feeling the stone, feeling its weight.
Another arrow struck him, this time in the meat of his thigh.
Sam moved into HAWC mode and took himself outside of the pain as more and more arrows struck.
Then he heard someone give the command to approach him, and knew he had little time left before they began to hack at him with their long, machete-like swords. Already the blood loss was making his breathing labored and his heart work harder than it should.
He braced his hands and roared: “Let it be upon your foul heads.”
He pushed.
Pushed harder.
Sam threw his head back and felt the internal machinery within him begin to fully engage. It was time to wake it after so many years of little use.
Laughter rang around the arena. Another arrow struck him, and he heard the slide of swords from scabbards. The soldiers were close now.
Screaming with exertion, he pushed with the combined strength of his own body and his internal chassis. His roars almost drowned out the derisive laughter.
And then . . . the mighty column to his left moved.
The laughter faded to a few nervous titters.
He pushed again, and this time the stone shifted several inches and he felt dust rain down.
The laughter stopped completely.
“Cut him down,” the Saran yelled.
Sam heard the soldiers charge at him, and he pushed with all his remaining strength. The column to his left tumbled out and began to fall like a mighty redwood trunk to roll down the steps. There were screams of abject horror, and he could tell the soldiers had been crushed like bugs. But he didn’t stop, turning immediately to the column on the right and giving it all his attention.
It shifted now too. In a few seconds it began to move.
Sam knew that when this one was gone, the colossal stone statue resting upon it, weighing hundreds of tons, would fall on the arena, bringing it down and crushing everything inside.
“Cut him down!” The Saran’s scream was so high-pitched it could even be heard above the shifting rock.
Sam gave one last push, and the column began to fall away. He stood there then, lifting his arms wide, waiting for the crush of stone.
Sam could not see what happened. But just as the thousands of tons of rock bore down on him, a blue light engulfed him.
A glowing woman appeared, all in blinding white. She looked at nothing but Sam, put her arms around him, and then in another flash of blue, she and Sam were gone.
***
As the arena came down the Saran stood, holding his goblet of gold and rubies in a shaking hand. Around him the crowd descended into chaos as they were crushed alive. “Even the angels come for you,” he said, raising his goblet in a toast. “To you and your God, mighty Samson.”
The arena collapsed, burying everything and everyone within it.
The only thing that remained was a legend.
CHAPTER 48
Casey Franks grinned at the shockwave coming at them followed by a tsunami that was at least 100 feet high. “Fucking surf’s up,” she shouted.
