by Greig Beck
He called again for help and more sailors rushed to him, as he continued to struggle with the hockey puck sized pellet. He grunted in his efforts. “Stuck tight. Maybe an explosive.” His lips turned down in scorn. “Small. Unlikely to damage the armor plating.” He gripped it harder and tugged again.
As if in response to his derision, a small red light started to glow on its surface. Unbeknown to the sailors, the plasma-mine had initiated a tiny nuclear fusion. Inside its tiny casing, the miniature reactor collided particles and gamma rays with molten salts to generate trapped energy as pure heat – in two seconds it went from the sub-zero surface temperature of the steel plating to two thousand degrees Kelvin. Qui Long’s hands were vaporized to the elbow and he fell back screaming with the skin on his entire body red and peeling, as the now glowing disc sank into the gun, turning the surrounding steel to gray liquid as it went.
The same thing was occurring to all the guns, each of them having their barrels or firing mechanisms melted beyond use. The Kunming had just been taken out of the game.
*
Water bubbled around Alex as it rapidly drained away. The tightness around his waist was still there as he moved into full consciousness, and he jerked back, immediately banging hard into the side of the submarine’s seal tube.
“Easy there, big guy.”
Alex’s vision cleared, as the Special Forces underwater portal was flushed and filled with air. Two men in bulky ice-environment wetsuits stood close by, breathers now dangling at their necks. One had been holding him up, and now stepped away.
“Okay, now?” The man’s breath steamed in the freezing tube.
Alex nodded and shook more clarity into his mind. The heavy door-wheel was spun from outside, and there came a sudden sibilant hiss, as the watertight seals were pulled apart and the oval door swung open.
He then stepped into the artificial light in the metal corridor of the USS Texas, and sucked in a deep draft of the warm air. His exposed skin prickled from the sudden change in temperature.
“Jesus Christ.” A sailor stood waiting, mouth open. He stepped back as Alex moved further into the corridor. “Ah, Petty Officer Third Class, Anderson.” He saluted.
Alex nodded, peeling off his gloves. He went to return the salute, but caught sight of his own hand – it was blue, and the fingers still wouldn’t bend properly. He’d only ever seen skin like that on fresh corpses pulled from icy water.
“Commander Eric Carmack sends his regards, sir,” Anderson said in a rush.
Alex began to peel himself out of the wetsuit. He felt the pain in his shoulder, and looked down at the ragged bullet hole there. He tugged harder on the neoprene suit and a partially flattened metal slug fell to the deck.
Petty Officer Anderson looked down briefly at the remains of the high caliber bullet. When he looked back up, his eyes went to Alex’s wound, and became transfixed.
Alex could feel the familiar tingling over the trauma site, as the bullet wound began to heal, the skin around the meaty hole bubbling, and then pulling closed before the seaman’s eyes.
“That … musta hurt,” Anderson said, swallowing, with an attempted smile that was more of a grimace.
“Every time,” Alex said, and rolled his shoulder. He turned away; there was no time for conversation. “You have a package for me.” It wasn’t a question.
Anderson nodded. “Your kit and the skidder is juiced and ready. We also have a medic waiting to see you, if …”
“Don’t need him. Commander Carmack on the bridge?”
“Sir.” Anderson pointed. “Follow me.”
“I know my way.” Alex headed for the bridge and Carmack, feeling impatience rising in his gut. Time was moving against him, the race was on, and he was already playing catch-up. He moved fast down the steel corridor, Anderson jogging in pursuit.
CHAPTER 14
Chinese rescue team – Two miles down and west of the Xuě Lóng Base
Captain Wu Yang held the shard of super-hard steel in his hand, his mind working. The metal had been flattened, impossibly compressed. He felt his frustration welling up. “Just like the elevator cage.” He turned, holding it out, and looked along the faces of the assembled engineers and scientists. They stood, shuffling their feet, refusing to return his gaze.
“What happened? Well?” His booming voice made many of them flinch back.
“The cutter has been dragged away … maybe taken into another tunnel,” Soong Chin Ling said softly.
“Dragged away; that’s what you think?” He glared. Soong dropped her eyes, and only one of the group met his gaze now – Shenjung Xing.
Yang flung the piece of steel down the tunnel and the fragment bounced away, clanging off into the darkness.
“This machine” – Yang waved his arm over the debris littering the tunnel – “weighed over a thousand tons and its drill head is solid tungsten.” He tilted his head, looking up at the ceiling and then down and around the edges of the huge tunnel. “It is so large that the device should have fully plugged the end of the pipe.” He scoffed. “But it’s not gone, and it hasn’t been dragged away into another tunnel.”
Yang walked to one of the walls, lifting his flashlight, illuminating a similar shards of steel embedded deep into the rock. “It’s still here. Except now, what remains of it is crushed into the walls, floor, and ceiling.”
No one said anything, avoiding his gaze.
“Just like the elevator cage,” he repeated. “What could do that?” Yang placed his hands on his hips and turned slowly, finding Shenjung. “Firedamp again, hmm?”
The lead scientist remained mute.
Yang walked towards them. “And if so, then where are they?” He leaned closer to the scientist, becoming infuriated with his calm. “Where is the team, their burned up bodies, blood traces, bones, anything?” He turned again to one of the shards sticking out from the wall, frowned, and leaned in closer. He sniffed.
Yang straightened, and beckoned to Shenjung and Soong, clicking his fingers and waving them closer.
“Smell it.”
Soong bent to wipe one of her gloved hands along a shard of twisted steel. She sniffed at it, and then held her hand up to Shenjung.
“The same as in the base, and on the boot.”
Shenjung nodded and placed a hand against the rock wall, looking around at the obliterated interior. “If whatever came through here could do that to the cutter, there would be nothing left of flesh and bone, Captain. But, maybe they are not dead, but instead further inside, trapped maybe.”
Yang grunted, just as the scouts came running back in from down the tunnel. He turned to them. “Report.”
“Sir, we found something, two hundred feet further in. Another tunnel. But it’s not one cut by the machines. It seems far older.”
“Ahh.” Yang waggled a finger in the air. “Perhaps our missing base members did descend lower. One of Comrade Zhang Li’s last communications talked of opening a void, yes?”
“A void,” Shenjung repeated softly. “Then yes, perhaps they were able to descend lower, and avoid whatever catastrophe occurred here.”
“There is something else, Captain Yang.”
Yang slowly turned. The soldier stood so rod-straight, it was if he were on a parade ground and not deep below the earth.
“Writing. There seems to be some sort of writing on the walls.” The soldier stared straight ahead.
“Good, they also left us a message.” Yang clicked his fingers. The soldiers fell in around him, and the scientists and engineers were pushed to the rear, their smaller frames eclipsed by the larger men at the front.
Yang looked down along the line. “Comrade Shenjung.” He motioned impatiently, and saw the man lean in closer to the small woman beside him.
“You come too,” Shenjung tried to whisper. “I think I get a front row seat.”
“I’m sure it is whether you like it or not,” she returned softly.
Yang walked briskly, Shenjung and Soong jogging to k
eep up, and not be trampled by the larger men behind them. They stopped at a collapsed wall, where the drilling ended when it had broken through into exactly what the missing Zhang Li had described – a dark void. Yang and several of his men lifted flashlights and panned them around slowly. Though the interior of the new cave was huge, it looked like it primarily sloped downwards, and its structure was vastly different from the tunnels they had been traveling along so far. The drilled tunnel had smelled primarily of cut stone and diesel fuel. But inside the new cavern, it smelled old, ancient, the rocks timeworn. There was a greenish tinge on several, indicating there was still moisture in the air.
Yang stepped lightly up onto the tumbled boulders, some the size of bread loaves, others the size of small cars. He let his eyes move over the broken debris. Shenjung went to climb up beside him, but the rocks shifted, and started to slide underneath him.
“Watch it.” Yang grabbed at him, but missed. The table-sized boulder that Shenjung stood atop began to skate down the pile and Soong screamed. Yang knew the rock would flip soon, and the scientist would be crushed.
People scattered … all but one. Mungoi planted trunk-like legs as the huge boulder came towards him. It caught on the edge of another stone and lifted. Shenjung was thrown to the ground, as the eight-foot slab rose up like the lid of a trap about to close on top of him.
Shenjung rolled and ended up at Mungoi’s feet, and the huge man lifted his arms, and leaned forward. The immense rock came down, and was stopped by the giant’s hands. Mungoi’s feet sunk into the debris to the ankles, and he grunted from the strain. The scientist stared up at him with his mouth open.
Yang smiled and nodded. “Good work, Mungoi.” He looked down at Shenjung. “I suggest you watch where you walk, comrade. We cannot be holding your hand every second.”
He watched as the scientist got to his feet and dusted himself off. The scientist turned to thank Mungoi, who looked down at him with disinterest, and then simply flipped the huge rock to the side.
Shenjung carefully clambered back up the debris pile, sucking in huge breaths.
“Okay?” Yang raised an eyebrow.
Shenjung nodded, calming himself. “Your man is strong.”
Yang turned away. “You have no idea.”
Shenjung then pointed. “It is clear that the drill broke through here.”
“Maybe.” Yang sniffed deeply. “I smell salt.” He lifted his flashlight a little higher. “Maybe the ocean. But we are miles from the shoreline.” He turned. “What is your opinion?”
Shenjung inhaled deeply. “Maybe mineral salts?”
“No, I know seawater when I smell it.” Yang panned his flashlight around at the debris and then behind them. He noticed that the rubble was inside their tunnel, and not the old cave.
“Strange, the wall was pushed inwards. If I was to make an educated guess as to what occurred here, I would say that the miners didn’t break through into this cave, but instead, something broke through in on them.”
Shenjung pointed down at the debris. “Maybe when they retracted the cutter head, they drew the entire wall down on top of themselves.”
“Once again, where are the bodies?” Yang climbed inside, and lifted his flashlight.“Zha-aaaang!”
Zhang – zhang – zhang – zhan – zha … The echo receded to a whisper and then vanished.
Shenjung grimaced. “It’s big.” He turned his face towards the darkness. “And deep, but there is a breeze – I can feel it.” He carefully stepped in and down along the debris, and then walked a few paces into the new cave. He stopped suddenly, lurching. “Careful, a drop off.”
Yang quickly joined him, grabbing Shenjung’s shoulder and pulling him back. He too peered over the edge. They were standing on a shelf of stone, and his light refused to penetrate the dark more than fifty feet into the pit. He picked up a fist-sized rock and let it drop. There was nothing for a few seconds before it struck a wall – once, twice, three times, and again, this time far away.
Shenjung exhaled. “We do not have enough rope.”
“Neither did they,” Yang responded and turned to several of his men. “Go, scout around. Find how Comrade Zhang Li descended.”
Shenjung saw that the soldiers and now his own team of engineers and scientists had crowded into the ancient cave. Yang took him by the arm and walked him several paces away.
“Well, Comrade Shenjung, with the cutter destroyed, it looks like one of our tasks is already at an end. There can be no repair, only replacement – and this will not happen easily.” He lifted his chin towards his engineering team crowding into the new cavern. “And so, their usefulness has expired. We don’t need to bring them any further on our mission.” He paused. “But you must stay.”
“Our mission?” Shenjung Xing paled, and then shook his head. “I don’t think …”
Yang held up a hand, and the smaller man wilted under his gaze. “We only need one geological specialist … and that will be you. That is an order.”
“You can’t order me.”
Yang snorted. “Comrade, the engineering part of the mission is finished – the part you were in charge of. The priority remaining now, is finding the source of the signal from below the ground – the military mission – my mission. This is where I take the lead, and you follow. And that is an order you will obey.”
*
“The part you were in charge of” – Shenjung Xing could have laughed; he never felt in charge. He held up a hand. “I am an engineer, geologist, and mining specialist, not a cave expert.”
Wu Yang’s eyes closed, and Shenjung waited, but after a few seconds he exhaled, knowing further protest would be wasted on the man.
“I will tell them.”
He carefully picked his way around the fallen boulders, and gathered his small team. He felt their eyes on him, and spoke slowly.
“There is no machine to repair, recover, or restart. Our work here has completed early.” Their faces were blank, waiting. Shenjung cleared his throat. “Until we receive further instructions, we will head back to the surface.” He smiled. “Drink tea, relax, and stay warm.”
There were murmurs about work, pay, departure, but he ignored them. There was only one person’s face he sought out. “There is one more thing; I will accompany Captain Yang a little further into the caves … alone.”
Soong came closer. Her lips held a fragile smile. “Calling for volunteers?”
He shook his head. “Not this time, my Soong. You take them back up.”
“I’m not a good babysitter.” Her smile fell away. “I would prefer to be down here with you.”
“I’m sorry, this is not a request. These are Captain Yang’s orders, and this time I agree with them. The less people we have down here the less chance more will get injured, or disappear. If we find anything significant, then we can return and decide what we need to do.”
“And if you find Zhang Li or his team? What if they are hurt, and need to be carried out?” Soong asked. “We can be extra hands.”
Shenjung shook his head. “And what if there is another rockfall, and more are hurt? All we do is create more people needing to be carried out, or more people vanished. We have twenty strong soldiers.” He gave her a weary smile, and leaned in a little closer. “I would also like you with me, but maybe in other circumstances.” He reached out to take her hand. “Get a message home, and tell them that the rock cutter cannot be repaired. Take our team back to the surface; wait for us there.”
“No,” she said softly. “I will wait for just you there.” She turned away and seemed to shiver. “My grandfather used to say: Heaven has a road, yet no one travels it; Hell has no gate but men will dig to get there.” She looked up at him. “And Yang is digging you deep now.”
His weary smile lifted into something stronger. “We must learn what happened to our lost colleagues.” He held up a finger. “And my grandfather also had a saying: learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” He grinned. “You see, t
wo wise old men gave good advice to their grandchildren.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be fine. But only if I know that you are safe.”
Soong looked at her feet momentarily, before the words rushed out. “Shenjung, I did not come here because of the project.” She squeezed his hand hard in return. “I will be waiting for you.” She paused, looking like she wanted to say more, or lean in close to him. In the end, she clicked on her flashlight, stepped back, and then turned to the dark tunnel, following the others.
He watched her go, her small light getting smaller and smaller until it vanished completely. And one joy scatters a hundred griefs, he whispered. Despite the gloom of the dark passages, and the knot he felt in his belly at the thought of scaling down any further in the dark caves, the idea that this young woman would be waiting for him suddenly filled him with lightness and hope.
CHAPTER 15
McMurdo Base, the surface
Sergeant Bill Monroe stood in his snowmobile and looked out over the bluff. Below was a plain of blinding white, with a few swirling flurries, looking like small ghosts racing each other across the freezing landscape. The wind was only around twenty miles per hour with gusts of thirty – mild. Down here katabatic blasts got up to 250, easy. Still, the chill factor made the wind feel like needle sharp teeth trying to get at his flesh.
Monroe wore standard extreme weather kit, with goggles fitted into a full-face covering. The face plate was padded with insulation on the inside and externally was of a tough polymer that had shielded him from far worse temperatures than these. And he knew well what the cold could do – freeze burn gave black blisters on the skin, the same as if you touched a red-hot stovetop. Extremities exposed for longer periods were lost. Fingers, toes, ears, noses – once the meat was frozen, the cells got ice crystals in them, and the flesh died. Removal was the only option – lose a bit to save the rest – it was as simple as that.
