Ancients

19

The giant staircase had been chipped out of the surrounding stone by the hands of thousands of slaves. It was the grandest staircase, the likes of which the world had never seen. The entire company could traverse the stairs side by side and still have room on both sides.

"What do you think, Colonel?" the SEAL lieutenant asked.

"If it goes up, we go with it," he said as he looked at Sarah. "You sure you think we're below the main city?"

"Positive, Colonel. This is the Wave chamber that used to sit below the capital, and up there is the Coalition and the Wave equipment. I would bet my life on it."

"You just did, Lieutenant, yours and about half the population of the planet." Collins looked around. "Mr. Everett, you and the SEALs take the lead, and don't bump into anything blindly until we know what we have to face. The taking out of the Wave hardware is priority one." He looked from face to face. "Repeat: priority one. This is where I give you the old speech about we are all expendable to that one goal. Well, after you, navy boys."

The SEALs and Carl started out first at a brisk pace. Collins watched them disappear into the steam that escaped from the walls and then looked at the young faces of the marines around him.

"Lock and load; we may not have any time when we arrive on-site. I don't have to tell you what's at stake here. You are marines, you know the story and the drill, and this is one army-type asshole that's glad you're here. Let's go, Major. I'll take the first platoon and the rest of my people; you bring up the rear with the other three and heavy stuff."

"Yes, sir. Gunny, saddle up, and let's do something about this place, I hear they don't like marines," he shouted, making Jack cringe just a bit. But he let them cheer themselves. After all, he thought, if they succeed or don't succeed, no one will ever even know they were here.

Tomlinson smiled as the generators were holding up far better than anticipated. After the initial assault on everyone's senses, the effects had calmed and allowed everyone on the large platform to enjoy the moment. The diamond chamber was being cooled by a steady flow of liquid nitrogen to keep the titanium-reinforced module from melting because of the tremendous friction of the spinning Atlantean Key. One of the by-products of the tone grooves cut into the diamond was the fact that no one could get closer than ten feet because of the miniwave produced by the tremendous amount of air that passed over and around the diamond. It felt as if your head would explode if you attempted it.

Little did they know that with every revolution of the diamond, excess energy wasn't being bled off; instead it was absorbed by the blue diamond. The earth's rarest mineral was now acting as a battery, only it was now the most efficient storage element in the history of the world.

"We are receiving firsthand reports that New York is experiencing distress from the Wave," Engvall said above the noise and piercing scream of the large centrifuge that spun the giant diamond.

" 'Distress'? Must we be so formal, Professor? You may say what it really is. Thor's Hammer has struck and the world is feeling it!"

"The Wave will travel east at five times the speed of sound and strike our old enemies, with Russia feeling it first, then China, to the east."

"Very good. Inform your technicians they have nothing to fear from above; the Americans have failed in their attempts to reopen the excavation. Soon, with practice, we can send the Wave directly at their offshore efforts and warships, and we need not fear reprisal."

Engvall looked from the confident face of Tomlinson to the rock-hard and emotionless face of Caretaker, and then to the scared countenances of Dame Lilith and the eighteen other Coalition board members. He walked away, hoping that this surreal nightmare would soon be at an end.

The giant passageway and staircase were immense. Giant stalactites grew unchecked in the thousands of years of darkness, dampness, and disrepair. Huge fissures rent throughout the broken stairs. Thousands of feet below, the flowing lava that the Ancients had used for power generation ran free in a never-ending ribbon of hell's water.

Everett and the SEALs had been fifteen minutes ahead as Jack and the marine contingent followed. The climb was arduous in the extreme heat, but they all felt the pressure and the mugginess sliding away the closer to the top they got.

"Jack, we've reached a dead end here," Carl said as he backtracked to the main group.

Collins doubled his speed and caught up with the SEALs. Sure enough, as he looked around all he could see were the rough-hewn rock strata around them. The staircase dwindled to only fifteen feet across and abruptly ended.

"There's a loose panel of marble flooring above," the SEAL lieutenant said as he stepped up to Jack and Carl. "The sounds of machinery, engine noises, are easily coming through. Thought I would wait until you came back to open the door."

Jack walked past the SEAL team and looked at the section of flooring above him. He looked at Carl and they both crouched to get as low as possible and used their legs and hands to push up on the panel. It moved easily, and as it did so, bright light poured into the shaft from above. This startled the two men and they lowered it back down momentarily until just a few inches were left open. Collins ventured a look around and saw that it was a large chamber of some kind. Marble pillars lay everywhere, and there was a general look of destruction, which was becoming a common site for the Backdoor team. As Jack looked out, a pair of boots stepped directly into his line of sight and he froze.

As Jack watched, he pointed up at Carl, who nodded. Collins held up one finger and then sliced that finger over his throat. Normally they would have waited this person out, but they were preciously low on time; they had to get above this subterranean level. Jack braced himself and looked at Carl. The ex-SEAL had his combat knife out and had the large blade clamped between his teeth and was looking directly at the marble flooring.

Five steps below, the marine major and SEAL lieutenant exchanged questioning looks.

Jack nodded and pushed up with all his might and in that split second of bright light Everett reached through and grabbed the unseen person's boots and pulled his feet out from under him, making the person fall flat on his face with just the sound of a thud in return. Then Everett used all his weight and dragged the person through the opening just as Jack let the floor marble fall easily back into place. It was if a trapdoor spider had plucked an insect from the surface.

As the SEAL lieutenant jumped in to help hold the shocked and stunned person in place, Everett brought the knife to his throat and then was shocked to see that it was a woman guard. Her eyes were wide and staring.

"Speak English?" Everett asked easily and slowly.

The blond woman's head bobbed up and down. The SEAL's hand was still placed hard over her mouth, and then he slowly removed it after placing a 9-millimeter to her temple.

"Nationality?" Everett asked.

"A ... A ... American," the woman said, looking around at the three faces staring down at her.

"What's above us?"

Jack just watched from his perch on the highest step.

The woman just shook her head.

"One time, and one time only: what is directly above us?" Everett persisted, his cold eyes staring a hole through the mercenary.

As she watched with wide eyes, she saw Everett reach out and take the 9-millimeter from the lieutenant's hand and then reach out again and take something from the man who had opened the piece of flooring she had been pulled through. Then her eyes went to the pistol as the large blond man attached the silencer. Then he quickly pointed it at her knee. The SEAL and the marine major were shocked when he didn't hesitate a split second before loosing a round into her kneecap. The SEAL clamped his hand down hard onto her mouth to cut off her scream.

"Knee number two goes when the question isn't answered the second time," Everett said as he shifted the silenced pistol to her undamaged leg.

The woman shook her head from side to side again and Everett nodded at the lieutenant, who eased his hold on her mouth.

"The Empirium Chamber," she groaned.

"Guards?" Jack asked from above them.

"All ... out at ... their ... posts," she moaned in pain.

"Bring up Lieutenant McIntire," Carl said, anticipating Jack.

Sarah came forward and saw the woman, but her eyes held no sympathy.

"What surrounds this Empirium Chamber?"

"It's the central government building; all other buildings radiate out from this one."

"Not much help," Jack said. "Mr. Everett, assist our guest with her pain."

Everett nodded and then moved the pistol to her forehead.

The woman was in a panic as she moved her head vigorously until the SEAL's hand was shaken free.

"No. There's a lava mount directly behind the Empirium. It rises above the emplaced gun positions, and you can at least observe the city unseen from there. Please don't kill me. There's also an old aqueduct that rises three hundred feet above all the buildings."

"Mercenaries have changed somewhat," Everett said as he moved the pistol from her forehead.

"I was a part of the Fourth Infantry Division. I--"

Everett cut off her sob story before it could begin. He slugged her with his fist, knocking her unconscious.

"Yeah, and I bet they're real proud at how you turned out," he said as he stood and looked at Jack. "I guess we better have a look-see, huh, Jack?"

"After you, swabby," Collins said as he once again eased up the flooring.

As Jack moved the flooring aside, Everett slid through the opening and followed, and Sarah was right on their heels.

"Who are those guys? Do you know them?" the marine major asked the SEAL lieutenant once more.

"They're a little unorthodox, but they sure do know how to treat a lady, don't they, Major?"

The chamber was a mess. The klieg lights cast long shadows across the devastation. The great circular table, where thousands of years before the fate of the world had been decided by fools who wouldn't be around to see that fate, was broken in many places by fallen pillars of marble. A giant headless statue was at the center of the room as the team of Jack, Sarah, Carl, and the SEAL leader and the marine major advanced through with their MP-5s raised in readiness.

Collins paused and listened as the sound of the generators penetrated the chamber. Shouting voices and loudspeakers signaled a large contingent around them. As he listened, he verified that all the noise was coming from his far right, nothing to the left. He headed in that direction.

Slowly, one and two at a time, the marines followed.

Collins saw a large opening in the back and saw beyond that the black and gray rise of lava rock. He poked his head the opening and looked up. What he saw was an amazing sight. A wall of lava rose a thousand feet into the air. Sarah joined him and her mouth was open as she saw the curvature of the great Crystal Dome above them.

"Jesus, Jack, how that dome withstood the forces of a trillion tons of earth and water is beyond our engineering. This lava wall erupted from beneath and cooled as the island sank. The seafloor and landmass must have covered the dome as the strata beneath the island collapsed."

"I have to hand it to you, shorty, you have an eye for detail. But for right now, take a mental picture for one of your classes, and I'll be sure to take it in. For now, let's get above this mess and see what we can do to stop these madmen."

As Jack started using the large ripples of the ancient lava flow for cover, the entire marine company followed, not knowing they were outnumbered ten to one.

Something was wrong and Tomlinson could see it. Professor Engvall was running from technician to technician, throwing switches and yelling something. The other Coalition members were watching the same frightening scene below them on the bottom of the ancient dry lake. Tomlinson picked up a bullhorn.

"What is the problem down there?" he asked.

Engvall did not answer at first. Then Tomlinson heard the generators start to power down.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"We have problems!" the professor shouted back. "Shut down the centrifuge immediately!"

As men and women started to move, the pitch of the Atlantean Key became shrill-sounding as the diamond began to spin even faster. There was near panic as several men ran to the large steel carriage where the blue diamond was housed. As they drew near, their legs weakened and they went to their knees, and then as one, the three men collapsed.

"The centrifuge is being fed by stored energy from the diamond and it's attacking faults and plates that aren't targeted!"

"What in the bloody hell is he talking about?" Dame Lilith asked as she grabbed Tomlinson's arm.

He roughly shrugged off her grip and used the bullhorn again.

"Explain yourself!"

Engvall stopped running for a moment and looked up at the raised platform.

"The damn Key is far too powerful; it's increasing the power to the amplifiers. The tones are out of control. Somehow the fault lines of every sector must be connected. It's not just the power of the diamond or the accuracy of the tone grooves. The fault and plate diagram of the Ancients was inaccurate, and now our monitors are picking up seismic stresses as far away as Africa, the Middle East, and Europe!"

Tomlinson still did not grasp what was happening.

"Are the tones working against our main targets?"

"Yes, they are! But they're also attacking the plates of every continent on the planet! The strata information on the chart was incorrect: the Key with its increased power output is tearing apart less dense rock and stone that make up the tectonic plates. The Ancients made mistakes in their calculations of density; that, coupled with the diamond storing and increasing power, is shattering the crust of the planet!"

As if for added emphasis, the stone flooring beneath them started to vibrate, and then rumbling sounds fed upward from below Atlantis.

"This cursed science was never meant to be used!" Engvall screamed.

Tomlinson just stared at him.

Jack and Everett, along with the two other marine team leaders, watched the activity below them. The ground was starting to move in small jerks and the remaining buildings of Atlantis were starting to move almost imperceptibly.

Jack and the others used their night-vision goggles in the semidarkness around them. Arrayed around the city were machine-gun teams and what looked like mortar positions. There were even four artillery pieces, all aimed at the excavation opening that was now sealed.

"Well, we have the element of surprise, and, boys and girls, that's all we have," Jack said as he lowered his goggles.

"That's something, at least. Maybe we could--"

Everett's words were cut off as the porous rock around them started to shake.

"Do you get the feeling that something may have screwed up down there?" Sarah asked.

Jack looked around hurriedly. "We have to move now. I want the two mortar positions set up, with priority on their counterparts below. Then I need those howitzers taken out. Major, they're your men, get them into place. I'll need the three assault platoons for hitting that lake bed below. The third will assist with the mortar teams. Mr. Everett, you and the SEALs take out that platform and shut that equipment down; follow our lead, we'll make room. It's a plan on the fly, but as you can feel, things are starting to get a little dicey around here. I'm taking a fire team up the slope and getting on top of that aqueduct; we can cover everyone from there."

Everett looked at his watch. "I suggest we give the two mortar teams five minutes and then we go in exactly five minutes and thirty seconds."

"Check. Okay, Major, get your element ready. And remember, the first rounds you send out there have to be accurate as hell, that's your job. If they turn those mortars and artillery pieces against our men, we'll be cut to ribbons."

"Yes, sir, the corps won't let you down."

"Well, it won't be me as much as the entire world, son. Good luck."

"Sir, what about this dome structure? One stray round looks like it would do it in."

Collins looked around him and didn't have an answer for the major.

"Let's look at it this way: if that happens, we win."

As Collins moved off, the major mumbled to himself so that only Sarah caught his words: "I was hoping for something a little more inspirational than that."

Twelve thousand years before, the Black Sea was nothing more than a freshwater lake, a large lake to be sure, that supported a medium-size pre-Bronze Age civilization. This civilization of fishermen and hunter-gatherers was crushed by the Atlantean Wave when the waters of the Mediterranean rolled into the basin that is now the Black Sea. The beaches of pure white sand and the ruins of stone walls now lay at the bottom, over a thousand feet down. The Wave that had destroyed these long-dead people was rising again, this time from the very seafloor where they had once struggled to survive.

The next link in the chain was Russia. The attack was coming from the south, the closest the Coalition could get into that closed country. The fault line that the amplifiers lay over was one of the oldest in the world and had lain dormant since the last great quake of the area, in 1939. These were known to science as the most dangerous faults and plates in the entire world, capable of triggering earthquakes on other continents.

The amplifiers at the bottom of the sea started to vibrate and then the tone was sent out with the force of a nuclear weapon. The sound struck the first of the shallowest faults and started the chain reaction as that smaller fault led into a larger one and so on. The stresses involved and the cracking wide open of the faults started a continental shift of earth-changing dimensions.

The Black Sea lurched in its bed. When the waters retreated and then started their return, like a child dropping recklessly into a bathtub, the separated sea met in the middle and a plume of water shot straight up over a half a mile into the air. As the seabed continued to crack, a crazy zigzag pattern emerged outward from the sea toward Turkey and the Ukraine. The Urals actually started to crumble; their rocky strata were the first to succumb to the enormous movement.

The cities of Sevastopol and Odessa were the first to die. The mass populations were crushed in their homes without warning as the earth flew up six feet, moving as if a blanket had been shaken out. The next was the Romanian city of Bucharest. As one of the oldest cities in Europe, she didn't stand a chance; buildings shook once and then their foundations gave way after centuries of water rot. The rivers that flowed into and past the city changed course in a matter of moments and drowned those who had escaped the falling stone. The fires would burn out of control for two weeks due to a lack of water and men to fight them.

In Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, spires and ancient walls started to rock and fall. Two thousand people were lost in the first few minutes as they panicked and ran.

A thousand-mile-long strip of the richest soil in the Ukraine, the European breadbasket, split and rolled over to reveal a bloody-looking new landscape of molten rock as it was forced to the surface. It would leave a long and ugly scar for many thousands of years.

The last to feel the movement was Moscow. The cobbled roadways split and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur as long-dormant volcanoes erupted under the city. Mounds and vents that had been dead for a million years suddenly sprang to life as the forces of the Wave made for the paths of least resistance. Air-raid warnings sounded for the first time since the practiced drills in October 1963. Only this time it was no drill.

The president held on to his large desk as the Secret Service made to assist him out of the White House and into the underground shelter. He shrugged them off angrily. He knew there was no place to hide.

Niles closed his eyes and tried to think about the tectonic structure in Washington, but he found that for the first time in years, his mind was blank. The only thing he could think of was his request to allow Jack the time to end this, and that was what was hurting him.

"Sir, Moscow is being hit hard. The Ukraine is a ruin and Turkey is flying to pieces. The effects are now starting to be felt in the lake region outside of Beijing," the national security Adviser said as he read from the latest NSA dispatch. "The Black Sea was the focal point of the Wave. It's now gone!"

Suddenly the shaking stopped. They heard a picture fall off the wall not far from the office and a woman scream, then all was silent.

"What in the hell is happening, Niles?" the president asked, his body still shaking even though the room was still.

Niles picked up the phone in front of him and called the Event Center.

"Pollock."

"Virginia, what are our people saying?"

"This is to be expected. We have maybe twenty minutes to a half hour. The initial forces have been spent, but, Niles, the worst is yet to come."

The president was staring at the speaker box as if it were a person, until the chairman of the Joint Chiefs handed him a phone. "The Russian president."

"The buildup will continue with fresh materials from deeper in the earth that will replace those sent upward in the first forced strike. In laymen's terms, Niles, the earth is getting itself ready for a fight-ending punch and we don't know what's going to happen. We're still picking up the audio wave from the Long Island Sound, the navy is depth-charging the area in hopes of smashing their amplifiers, but our geology people are saying it may be too late."

"Thank you. Keep monitoring."

"Nothing from Jack and our ground team?" Virginia asked.

"Nothing."

The president and Niles hung up their phones simultaneously and looked at the fifteen faces in the Oval Office.

"The Russian president has just informed me that they have an attack submarine in the Med and he has ordered her to assist us."

"Inform the captain onboard the Cheyenne that a Russian attack boat is nearby and to allow it to stand by with them."

After the long climb up the lava wall, Collins and his eight-man fire team reached the aqueduct without being see. The vantage point gave them a clear view of the entire area below. They set up two M-60 machine guns and the rest took up stations to fire down into the Coalition forces below.

Jack looked at his wristwatch. One minute. He raised his night-vision glasses and looked around. The marines were spread out and had made it to the assigned assault positions he had picked out for them, and he hoped that with a lot of luck, they wouldn't be noticed until it was too late. The darkness of the city hid them well. He shifted his view and saw Everett and his SEAL team right where they needed to be. Their outlines, due to their Nomex clothing, were far harder to see than were the marines.

Jack raised his radio. "Thirty seconds," he said softly. The transmission required no response.

Down below, he had assigned Mendenhall, Sarah, Ryan, and ten marines the job of stopping that centrifuge when the marines made their attack. He roamed the area where they were supposed to be but failed to pick them up. "Damn," he said under his breath. There was nothing he could do. If they had found difficulty in their route through the lava field to the center of the city, he knew he couldn't wait for them to do so.

"Sir, this position is starting to make me a little nervous," a young lance corporal said. "The shaking is getting stronger, and look at this," he said as he pointed to his right.

Collins looked over and saw what the corporal was talking about. A small waterfall had developed in the last few minutes, meaning that the Crystal Dome above them had started to fracture somewhere above. The ancient aqueduct was starting to run with seawater.

He turned and looked at the nineteen-year-old and held out his hand. "We don't have a lot of time here, so make 'em count, son," he said as he slapped the boy on the shoulder. With that, Collins aimed his MP-5 at the closest group of mercenaries firing from the side of one of the pyramids two hundred yards from the aqueduct.

Everett heard the thirty-second call and then looked out over the city. He saw the three massive electrical lines coming out of the dry lake at the center of the city. They were exposed for only ten feet before some paranoid engineer had sent them down through a crack in the cobbled roadway and then had covered them with cement. As he looked on, he knew that they would have precious little time to lay the explosives on the leads that led to thousands of miles of cable and ended at the sound-amplification modules in three different parts of the world.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and rumble as one of the remaining upright pillars of marble fell from its base. Carl winced as the twenty-five-ton pillar crashed into the center of the city, making a hundred or so Coalition troops run for cover. He looked over at the SEAL lieutenant.

"I don't know if that's good or bad. It cleared out part of our sector of responsibility, but this whole damn place could start coming down around our ears, and I don't think our little tiny skulls could handle the pressure this deep in the Med if that shaky-ass dome suddenly collapses."

Everett looked at his watch and waited. Three, two, one. Off in the distance Everett thought he heard the soft thump-thump-thump of the marines' mortar pits opening up. He turned and trained his glasses on the dry lake bed and the huge tower rising from its center. As he zeroed in on the tower's occupants, he saw one man in heavy clothing turn at the strange sound to his rear. He stood stock-still for a moment and then suddenly turned and ran for the scaffolding.

"Damn, that son of a bitch has a survival instinct to end all instincts."

Suddenly, flame and debris erupted out of the dry lake bed. One mortar round caught the tower and destroyed half of it and killed most of the observers there.

"Damn, that's good shootin'," Everett said as more 40-millimeter mortars fell into the dry lake bed. He ventured another look up and saw four more people run from the tower, one of whom he could swear was a well-dressed woman.

More rounds started targeting the heavy machine-gun emplacements throughout the destroyed city. Here and there eruptions of flame and shrapnel tore through men and old marble. But added to the fierceness of the marines' mortar attack was the power of the Wave as it started to add its weight to the fight. In a hundred different places the dome started to leak all at once. The already cracked and damaged ruins around them started to move in a frighteningly furious way. But still, Everett heard the shrill whistle coming from halfway around the ancient city.

The U.S. Marines came storming out of the natural darkness around Atlantis, screaming and firing their weapons at anything that moved to their front.

The assault was on, and the marines had just added one more verse to the corps hymn: the continent of Atlantis.