The Rock
Page 26
Tuskin heard the snap as his left leg broke and could feel several ribs on the side that had hit Sergot splinter and tear into his left lung. He ignored the pain as he reached with both hands and seized Sergot's right hand, squeezing with all his might. The older man was dazed when Tuskin landed on him and desperately tried to flip open the lid to the firing device. Tuskin kneed him with his good leg and dug his thumb into the other man's wrist, forcing the fingers open. Tuskin grabbed the device as he heard the roar of a pistol and felt the thud of a large-caliber bullet slamming into his gut. As Sergot fired again with his left hand, Tuskin threw the firing device clear of the two of them and turned his head up at Hawkins, hovering in the doorway of the skimmer overhead. "Shoot!" Tuskin screamed, but his words were blown away by the roar of the engines.
Sergot shifted and again fired into Tuskin at pointblank range. Tuskin felt his hold on the other man slip away as a darkness came over his eyes. With all his might he gripped the other man one last time to keep him from crawling after the detonator. He smiled for the briefest of moments as he heard the crackle of the plasma projector come from above. Then the smile was obliterated along with the rest of his body and Sergot.
Hawkins gently lowered the skimmer into a field a short distance away and then walked back to the truck. He stepped, with hardly a glance, around the black charred spot that had been two men, and pulled aside the tarp that covered the back. The bomb sat there all alone in the rear. Hawkins got into the cab of the truck and drove it to the skimmer and trundled the bomb on board.
He went up to the cockpit and set the controls for Tunguska.
TIME
Meteor Crater
23 DECEMBER 1995, 0455 LOCAL
23 DECEMBER 1995, 1155 ZULU
"Five minutes." Batson muttered. Looking at the glowing face of his watch. The gray in the eastern horizon was now an ever-brightening reddish tinge, heralding the coming of the sun. Fran could now make out the outline of the eastern rim of the crater hundreds of feet above her head.
"Why were you sent back so many years before now?" Fran asked.
Pencak had been fading and coming back into focus every thirty seconds or so, for the past ten minutes. The old woman wearily looked at the younger one. "I was the one who had to help set up the whole scenario here in the United States."
"That's why you wrote all those articles about nuclear explosions forming the craters," Don observed. "And why you made your living here."
Pencak nodded. "But I had much more to do than that." She paused, faded, and then came back. Her voice was shaky as she tried to explain. "I had to monitor events and people. I have watched all of you at various times, as did my comrades. We had the facts laid out in our books and computers, but we wanted to know about the people themselves-would they be up to the tasks set before them."
"Were you the only one?" Don asked.
Pencak sighed. "No. My husband went back when I did. Except he went to Russia and he went earlier in 1943."
"Felix Zigorski!" Fran exclaimed.
"Yes. We got to see each other only every few years and then he died in 1990. But he had done his job well enough by then that the plan could go forward without him."
"You've sacrificed much to change things," Fran said.
Pencak looked at the younger woman for a long moment. "Our sacrifices will be for nothing if you do not make your own from here on out."
Tunguska
23 DECEMBER 1995, 1757 LOCAL
23 DECEMBER 1995, 1157 ZULU
The antiaircraft systems surrounding Tunguska didn't even have a chance to fire as the skimmer hit the portal at over two hundred miles an hour. Hawkins flinched in the front seat as the front display showed nothing but trees just below until, at the last second, the craft skipped over the lip of the excavation and dived straight into the black Wall.
He was out on the other side before he had a chance to fully comprehend what had happened. By itself the skimmer threaded its way through the underground complex to the elevator door. The door slid open and Hawkins landed the skimmer. He rolled the bomb down the ramp and settled it on its side. He glanced up as three figures dressed in robes appeared and seemed to glide forward toward him.
Hawkins ignored them for the moment. He leaned both Tuskin's and his plasma projectors against the bomb casing, then straightened and stared at the figures. "I've recovered the second bomb. Colonel Tuskin died getting it."
"Yes, we can see that you have the bomb, Major Hawkins." The sound seemed to come from the center figure. "There are only a few minutes remaining." The Speaker slid his hood down, revealing his misshapen features. "My name is Raynor. I am human like you and come from your future."
Hawkins didn't even blink. During the ride back to the portal he'd put many of the pieces together. He stared at Raynor. "You're trying to change history."
"We have changed history, now that we have that bomb here. It was scheduled to go off in two minutes and twenty-three seconds. When it doesn't, this complex and my comrades and I will no longer exist. This future will no longer exist."
Hawkins shrugged wearily. "It doesn't look like a future I would want."
"It isn't." Raynor stepped forward. "You don't care about your own future, do you?"
Hawkins shook his head. "No. Here's as good a place as any to die."
"But it's not your time," Raynor replied. "It's our time." A black portal appeared on the side wall. "You must go back."
"What about the others?" Hawkins asked.
"Fran Volkers and Don Batson have already gone back. Debra is staying here."
"Is that her choice?" Hawkins asked.
"Yes. It is her choice." The three figures faded to the point of almost disappearing, then reappeared. "We may not be able to keep the portal open much longer. Go!"
Hawkins unfastened the protective suit and threw it on top of the bomb. He walked to the portal and stepped through without a backward glance. The portal flashed and he was gone.
Meteor Crater
23 DECEMBER 1995, 0459 LOCAL
23 DECEMBER 1995, 1159 ZULU
"One minute," Batson announced.
"What will happen now?" Fran suddenly asked. "What did your projections show as the most probable course of events if the bomb is stopped and the governments cooperate?"
Pencak smiled. "That, my dear, is for you to live." The old woman's smile dissolved and faded, along with the rest of her, and Fran and Don were left alone at the bottom of the crater.
"It worked," Don whispered.
Fran looked up where the first rays of the sun were lancing over the rim of the crater and tickling the far side with their warmth. "It worked so far. But now it's up to us to make sure things stay on track." She reached out and took Don's hand. "It's a long walk to the top. I think we ought to get going." Together they walked across the crater bottom toward the closest side, where a winding trail led to the rim.
Ayers Rock
23 DECEMBER 1995, 2130 LOCAL
23 DECEMBER 1995, 1200 ZULU
The wall disappeared, leaving bare rock in its place. The Russian general turned and looked at Lamb. "The twenty-four hours are up."
Lamb nodded. "They've closed it off."
"They've been doing that at Tunguska on and off over the past day," the general commented. He reached a hand up and pressed an earplug tighter in as he strained to listen.
"Tunguska has closed again. My men also report that the strange craft went back through just three minutes ago." The general pulled the earplug out and regarded Lamb solemnly. "What do you think the Coalition's decision was?"
Lamb felt something give way inside himself and suddenly he felt lighter and freer than he had in years. He put an arm on the Russian's shoulder. "We may never know. We can only hope it was to extend the perimeter. If not-well, either way we must join together and prepare either for eventual acceptance into the Coalition or to fight the Swarm. But we no longer have to wonder what path to choose-it's been chosen for us."
/> Epilogue
Leesburg, Virginia
12 SEPTEMBER 1991, 1400 LOCAL
12 SEPTEMBER 1991, 1900 ZULU
Hawkins felt terribly disoriented for a few seconds. His hands twitched on the steering wheel and the pickup almost swerved off the road.
"Watch it, hon!" Mary exclaimed, her hand squeezing his arm.
Hawkins slammed on the brakes and pulled off the road onto the shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Mary asked, looking at him with concern.
Hawkins steadied himself against the back of the seat as he looked at his wife, alive and vibrant in the bright sunshine streaming through the windshield.
"Are you all right?"
Hawkins nodded. "I'm fine. Just fine." He fought back the confusion and forced a smile. "What's today's date?"
"Twenty-second June."
"What year?"
Mary playfully punched her husband on the shoulder. "Oh, come on, now. What are you trying to pull?"
"Please, Mary, just tell me the year?"
The smile faded from Mary's lips as she saw tears forming in her husband's eyes. "Nineteen ninety-one."
He turned off the engine and grabbed her with both arms, squeezing her tight to him. "Tell you what. Why don't we just sit here?" He wrapped her up tightly and waited, letting the minutes tick by until he knew it was safe and that the future was now much different.
Ayers Rock, Australia
6 JULY 2018, 0430 LOCAL
6 JULY 2018, 1900 ZULU
The world dissolved around Debra, as if everything were going through a portal and she were the lone point of stability. There was a flash of white and then, in a dizzying array of colors, everything came back into focus-except it wasn't what had been.
Ayers Rock loomed in the near distance, intact and spectacular in the early afternoon sun. The desert that had surrounded the monolith in her time was replaced by rolling green plains.
She was standing in the center of a large circle, carpeted in some sort of soft red fabric. A waist-high railing surrounded the circle and there were people gathered all around. As soon as they saw her, a tall, strong-looking man strode forward, his arms outstretched. "Welcome, Debra. I am Raynor Batson Volkers and I welcome you to your time." He pointed at a skimmer, parked at the side of the circle. "My parents are waiting to talk to you."
THE END
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