Escape Velocity

by Mark Walden

  ‘This is not the time for lessons in theory, Mr Darkdoom,’ the Colonel said impatiently.

  ‘No, wait. I think Nigel has a point,’ Ms Leon said quickly. ‘We’re only going to get one shot at this and if we make any mistakes we’ll all end up dead. We need to keep our actions secret for as long as possible and if we start involving too many other people the chances of discovery go up exponentially.’

  ‘You have an alternative?’ Chief Lewis asked.

  ‘Perhaps, but only if we can get the Phalanx team together in one place,’ Ms Leon replied. ‘We will need a diversion.’

  ‘I’m sure I can come up with something suitable,’ the Chief said with a sly smile.

  ‘And we’ll need Professor Pike,’ Ms Leon added.

  ‘Leave that to me,’ the Colonel said.

  ‘Then we have a chance,’ Ms Leon said, ‘a slim one, but a chance nevertheless.’

  Darkdoom’s technicians hurried around the Megalodon’s missile launch room, making final adjustments to the seven huge missiles that were mounted to the rack on one wall.

  ‘Everything ready?’ Raven said as she walked into the room, already wearing her thermoptic camo suit.

  ‘Yes,’ Darkdoom replied, looking up from the tablet display he had been reading. ‘Are the others ready?’

  ‘They’re suiting up now.’ Raven looked over at the missiles. ‘Are you sure these things are safe?’

  ‘Safe is probably not the right word,’ Darkdoom replied with a grim smile, ‘but the failure rate is low enough to be acceptable.’

  ‘How reassuring,’ Raven said, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Well, take some solace in the fact that if they do go wrong you won’t have to worry about it for long. In fact, as a cloud of vapour you’ll have very little to worry about at all.’

  ‘OK, I’m going to stop talking to you now,’ Raven said with a chuckle. She walked back out of the door and down the corridor that led to the prep room. Inside she found the other five members of their somewhat bizarre infiltration team making their final preparations. Shelby was checking Laura’s camo suit and Otto was talking to H.I.V.E.mind on the far side of the room. Wing sat on a bench, eyes closed. To the casual observer he looked like he might have been asleep, but Raven knew him better than that. She sat down next to him.

  ‘Ready?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘Always,’ Wing replied, slowly opening his eyes.

  Good. Remember everything I’ve taught you. I’m counting on you and Otto to get Nero out of there in one piece. We can’t afford any mistakes.’

  ‘There will be none,’ Wing said calmly.

  ‘Good.’ Raven smiled for a moment but then her expression became more serious and she lowered her voice. ‘You have to keep Otto safe at all costs. These people want him badly and it’s up to you to make sure that they don’t get their hands on him, understood?’

  ‘He is a mission critical target,’ Wing said, turning to look at Raven, ‘but he is also my best friend. No harm shall befall him while I still draw breath.’

  ‘Of course,’ Raven said, putting her hand on his shoulder. ‘Just be careful.’

  ‘I might ask you to take equal care of your charges,’ Wing said quietly, looking over at Laura and Shelby, who were laughing about something on the other side of the room.

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,’ Raven said with a smile. ‘I’m not sure if I’ll be protecting them from H.O.P.E., or H.O.P.E. from them.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Wing said, finally smiling himself.

  Raven patted Wing on the shoulder reassuringly, stood up and walked over to Otto.

  ‘An interesting modification,’ she heard H.I.V.E.mind say as she approached.

  ‘I work on this for hours and all you can say is that it’s interesting,’ Otto said, sounding slightly exasperated as he unplugged a cable from the small black oval attached to H.I.V.E.mind’s chest.

  ‘It does not appear to have corrupted my systems in any way,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

  ‘Oh ye of little faith,’ Otto said. ‘Right, try it.’

  For a moment nothing happened, and then suddenly H.I.V.E.mind disappeared.

  ‘You got it working then?’ Raven said as she walked up to Otto.

  ‘Of course,’ Otto replied. ‘I wish somebody around here had a little confidence in me.’

  Moments later H.I.V.E.mind popped back into view.

  ‘The cloaking field is fully operational,’ H.I.V.E.mind said.

  ‘It’s basically the same as the field that the suits project,’ Otto explained. ‘I’ve made a couple of small improvements – strengthened the shielding on the unit, that kind of thing. It’s quick and dirty but at least now he won’t stick out like a sore thumb.’

  ‘All of my digits are operating within normal parameters,’ H.I.V.E.mind said, sounding slightly confused. ‘Should I run further diagnostics?’

  ‘Never mind,’ Otto said with a grin. ‘You’re good to go.’

  ‘Diabolus needs the coordinates, Otto,’ Raven said, suddenly serious. ‘They need to plot the flight paths.’

  ‘OK,’ Otto said with a deep breath, ‘looks like it’s showtime.’

  Colonel Francisco walked into the detention centre and nodded at the Phalanx guard who sat at the monitoring station.

  ‘I need to speak to Professor Pike,’ he said as he approached the desk.

  ‘You need authorisation,’ the guard said coldly.

  ‘This is my authorisation,’ the Colonel said, producing a Sleeper from behind his back and pulling the trigger.

  ZAP!

  The guard slumped forwards on to the desk, out cold. Francisco pulled his unconscious body from the chair and hid him behind the desk. He would be out for the next few hours.

  The Colonel walked quickly to the Professor’s cell and found him sitting on the edge of his bunk, eyes wide with surprise.

  ‘Was that sound what I think it was?’ the Professor said. He knew the sound of a Sleeper’s sonic stun blast from past experience.

  ‘Yes, we have to leave – now,’ the Colonel said quickly, hitting the button on the wall to open the cell.

  ‘Are you mad?’ the Professor said angrily. ‘The Contessa will have your head for this.’

  ‘No time to explain,’ the Colonel said with a grim smile, ‘but if everything goes according to plan we won’t have to worry about that.’

  ‘Flight-path calculations complete,’ the technician said, looking up from the display in front of him.

  ‘Viable?’ Darkdoom asked quickly.

  ‘We have a zero profile trajectory,’ the technician replied. ‘It won’t be a smooth ride but it should get you on target without being detected.’

  ‘Good,’ Darkdoom replied and turned to the six other members of the infiltration team.

  ‘This is it, ladies and gentlemen,’ he said. ‘Time to mount up.’

  Otto walked towards the Megalodon’s vertical launch tubes as their hatches slid open with a hiss. Inside each tube a second hatch slid open in the sides of the missiles within. Otto looked at the nervous expression on Laura’s face and gave her a wink before pulling on his helmet and climbing inside the cramped compartment. Technicians stepped up behind him and strapped him tightly into the missile, then activated the small display just six inches from his face. The screen lit up with arrays of coordinates and a flashing message that read ‘system ready’. There was a hiss from somewhere behind him and the hatch slid closed, sealing him inside the tiny space, the only illumination in the pitch blackness coming from the tiny screen.

  ‘Comms check,’ a voice said over the earpiece inside his helmet.

  ‘Good to go,’ Otto said as calmly as he could.

  ‘Check two,’ Raven said efficiently.

  ‘Ready,’ Darkdoom said.

  ‘All systems are operating within acceptable parameters,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

  ‘Ready here,’ Wing said calmly.

  ‘Does this feel like a coffin to anyone else?’ Shel
by asked.

  ‘Shut up, Shel,’ Laura replied nervously.

  ‘OK. That’s everyone,’ the technician’s voice replied in Otto’s ear. ‘Captain Sanders, are we at launch depth?’

  ‘Affirmative,’ the Captain replied, ‘you are go for launch.’

  ‘Roger that, launch in ten . . . nine . . . eight . . . seven . . .’

  Unseen above them seven hatches lifted silently open in the upper hull of the Megalodon.

  ‘Six . . . five . . . four . . .’

  Otto gritted his teeth and wondered how he got himself into these situations.

  ‘Three . . . two . . . one . . . ignition!’

  In the bottom of the launch tube a small explosive charge detonated, flash-vaporising the water held in a tank above it. The high-pressure steam pushed the missile up and out of the launch tube and sent it racing towards the surface of the ocean above. The white body of the missile breached the surface in an explosive plume, lifting clear into the air and out of the water before igniting its rocket engines with a roar.

  Inside the missile Otto felt the crushing weight of the g-forces as the engines carried the fat white missile on a curving trajectory into the sky. After a few seconds explosive bolts fired and the outer white shell of the missile fell away to reveal the sleek black dart within. As the outer shell dropped away towards the ocean, the engines in the tail of this inner projectile fired and tiny wings slid out from its sides. The black missile banked sharply and dived back towards the sea, pulling out of the dive at the last second and screaming along parallel to the surface of the water at an altitude of just a couple of metres. Moments later the missile’s surface shimmered for an instant before it disappeared from view completely.

  Otto stared at the display in front of him. It showed seven projectiles racing across the ocean towards the coastline of Europe.

  ‘Darkdoom to Megalodon,’ the familiar voice crackled in Otto’s ear, ‘all hawks on track.’

  ‘Roger that,’ the Captain’s voice replied. ‘Good luck. See you on the other side.’

  There was silence on the comms system for a few seconds before Shelby spoke.

  ‘OK, has anyone else just been a little bit sick in their helmet?’

  .

  Chapter Ten

  The invisible missiles raced through the mountains, hugging the terrain. Otto had watched the video feed from the camera in the nose of the missile for a minute or two before he had to turn it off. Logically he knew the computerised navigation systems that controlled their flight paths were more than capable of safely navigating at such low altitude, but that didn’t mean that he particularly wanted to watch as the nose of the missile bobbed and weaved through the mountain passes, just metres from the ground. He’d idly wondered about reaching out with his mind and seeing if he could connect with the computers controlling his flight, but had decided that under the circumstances it was probably best not to distract them.

  ‘Two minutes to target,’ Darkdoom said calmly over the comms system.

  ‘We’re well within their detection range; no sign of attempted interception yet,’ Raven reported.

  ‘Good. Landing zone in ninety seconds – good luck, everyone,’ Darkdoom replied.

  Otto tried to stay calm and relaxed but he knew that this was one of the most risky stages of the operation. The landing zone they had chosen was the only suitable site for miles around and there could be no second attempts.

  ‘Thirty seconds,’ Darkdoom said as the rumble of the rocket motors at the rear of Otto’s missile began to diminish.

  In the frozen night air outside, the noise of the seven invisible missiles dropped to a bare whisper as they headed towards their target. The stubby wings in the side of each missile extended outwards, increasing their surface area for this final stage of terminal near-glide. The lead missile hit the soft powdery snow of the mountainside, tiny vectored thrust nozzles in its nose and tail sections firing at the very last moment to make the landing as soft as possible and to try to slow the bulky projectile down. At the rear of the missile there was a soft pop and twin grappling cables shot backwards into the darkness. The grapples found purchase and the brakes on the cable reels squealed as the missile slid across the field of snow. It slowed to a stop just thirty metres from the dizzying vertical drop-off that plunged away at the end of the snow field.

  ‘Leader reporting, down and clear,’ Darkdoom said and Otto could have sworn that he had heard a quiet sigh of relief as the radio went dead. At least that proved it could be done.

  One by one the other missiles glided down on to the side of the mountain, each of their computers adjusting their own trajectories to avoid the troughs that the previous landings had carved into the virgin snow. Raven’s was the final missile to come in to land, but as it hit the snow there was a cry of alarm over the radio.

  ‘Grapples aren’t firing,’ Raven yelled as the missile ploughed through the snow. Otto punched the button to open his own hatch and slapped the quick release on his harness. He leapt out of the coffin-like interior and into the crisp night air, struggling to stay on his feet in the powdery snow. The others were also scrambling out of their capsules and watching in horror as Raven’s missile slid straight off the precipice at the end of the landing area and dropped out of view. Darkdoom and H.I.V.E.mind were already running as fast as they could towards the drop-off, but the faint muffled crump of an explosion from far below suggested that it was too late.

  Suddenly there was a familiar-sounding grunt and a hand appeared on the edge of the precipice and slowly Raven hauled herself up and over the edge. As she stood up, the last couple of feet of line from the freshly installed grappler unit on her wrist reeled back in.

  ‘I had a feeling this would come in handy,’ she said with a deep breath, holding up the grappler. ‘come on, let’s get moving. We still have two clicks to go and the night’s not going to last for ever.’

  ‘Three hours and seventeen minutes until dawn,’ H.I.V.E.mind added helpfully.

  ‘We’ll rely on cover of darkness until we get nearer,’ Darkdoom said. ‘leave your suits powered down until we reach the access points – no sense in wasting the batteries. H.I.V.E.mind, if your sensors detect any form of surveillance within range let us know in plenty of time so we can activate camouflage systems.’

  ‘Understood,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

  ‘OK, let’s go.’

  It took the best part of two hours to cover the remaining distance to the area where they were supposed to find the entrance to the ventilation system. The patches of ice that covered their suits suggested that they should all be grateful that the armour was not only well insulated but also capable of gently warming itself to maintain the wearer’s body temperature. Conditions at this altitude in the Swiss Alps in the middle of the night were not exactly what one would call hospitable.

  Otto looked around the boulder-strewn depression in the side of the mountain, searching for any sign of the vents that he had seen on the schematics they had stolen from Deepcore. Even through his night-vision goggles there was nothing immediately obvious. That was not actually terribly surprising. This was supposed to be a secret facility, after all. Then suddenly he noticed that through his goggles one of the nearby rock outcroppings was glowing a slightly brighter green than the rocks surrounding it. He walked towards the rock and reached out to touch it, but his outstretched fingers just seemed to pass straight through its surface.

  ‘Got something here,’ Otto whispered over the comms system. ‘Looks like a holographic projection.’

  The others quickly hurried over to Otto and inspected the phantom rock face.

  ‘Looks like this is our way in,’ Shelby said quietly, a trace of excitement in her voice.

  ‘H.I.V.E.mind, do you detect anything on the other side of this illusion,’ Darkdoom asked quickly.

  ‘I am picking up an array of small localised electromagnetic signatures, which would suggest the presence of multiple passive detection and defence system
s. Now would be a wise time to engage our cloaking systems.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Darkdoom replied. ‘Suits on. You all know your missions from this point on. Good luck, everyone.’

  With that, Darkdoom engaged his camouflage suit and disappeared from normal sight. He was still clearly visible to the other members of the infiltration team through their specialised goggles, but to the rest of the world he was near invisible. The other members of the team also activated their camouflage systems before walking through the illusory wall and into the low passageway beyond. They arrived in a low concrete tunnel that was sealed by a set of solid steel vertical bars.

  ‘I am detecting a motion-sensing anti-intrusion system on the other side of these bars,’ H.I.V.E.mind reported, ‘but there does not appear to be direct video surveillance of this entry point.’

  ‘Sloppy,’ Shelby said. ‘Brand, hack that puppy.’

  Laura pulled the notebook computer from the holster on her belt and began to scan for the signal that was being emitted by the motion sensor. Blocking the signal once she had found it was a trivial task for her and moments later the motion sensor was still functioning perfectly but was now wholly incapable of reporting to anyone what it was sensing.

  ‘Clear,’ Laura said, keeping an eye on the display.

  ‘Stand back,’ Raven ordered as she pulled one of her katanas from its scabbard. She made two quick cuts at the bars and three of them fell aside, sliced cleanly top and bottom. The gap she created was just big enough for them to squeeze through one at a time. They crawled forward into the darkness, passing by the gagged security device and deeper into the bowels of the mountain. Laura remotely reconnected the motion sensor and snapped her computer shut. As they crawled further down the concrete tunnel the floor began to slope more and more steeply, steering them downwards. The shaft was nearly vertical by the time they reached its end and dropped to the floor of a large concrete junction room. Raven quickly examined the walls for any sign of security devices, but the chamber seemed clean.