Time Storm Shockwave

by Juliann Farnsworth

  “We can’t shut it off, it will close the void.” The lead scientist was beginning to sweat as the dials spun out of control.

  Mark started to run up the stairs, but Dierdra blocked his way.

  “Listen, Dierdra, you’ve got to let me talk to the admiral.”

  She didn’t budge; he was about to take her on but tried one more time, “Listen, this is the reason the admiral wanted me as a scientific advisor. You don’t know much about science but trust me; I have to talk to him.”

  Just for a second he thought he saw her flinch as if he had struck a chord and then her face became impassive again, but she moved aside.

  He ran up the stairs two at a time. “Admiral, we have to turn it off. The machine, it’s lost its balance. It will create a black hole.”

  The admiral just ignored him.

  “You’ve got to shut it off; an imbalance in the void could take the whole planet!” Mark screamed at him.

  “No”—the admiral yelled—“they will get it back under control.”

  “Listen to me—” Mark grabbed the admiral by the shoulders, and began to shake him “—we’ve got to shut it off; it’s going to suck us in.”

  Mark’s words were interrupted by the roaring screech caused by the straining of metal. The admiral looked shocked. He ran down the stairs, and across the monitor room. Mark contemplated just for a second before running back down too. Partway down the stairs, he stepped onto a landing, which ran around the entire room. He stopped directly in front of the large breakers.

  In the confusion, no one was paying attention to him and he began shutting each of them off one by one. He hoped to break the connection and turn off the machine. They were difficult to push up because of the huge amount of current running through them; each one required a tremendous effort. The imbalance, from the lack of synchronization in the power, started causing sparks and lightning bolts to shoot through the machine room.

  One of the high-pressure, large liquid nitrogen pipes, a foot in diameter, was hit. It ruptured and started spraying pressurized liquid nitrogen in the direction of the control room. When it hit the bulletproof window, the sudden temperature change made the glass shatter. The liquid continued to spray through the breach and into the room. The Leidenfrost effect was causing the liquid on the floor to boil into a gas almost instantaneously, but not soon enough. Pools of it gathered, building more quickly as the now frozen floor slowed the evaporation.

  Like the stream from an enormous fire hose, it hit one of the guards full on. He screamed in agony right before his torso froze solid and broke in half. His eyes were still wide open and aware as the top half of him toppled to the floor, leaving only disembodied legs.

  “No!” the admiral yelled when he saw what Mark was doing.

  Trying to avoid the spray, the admiral didn’t notice the deep pool of liquid, which now covered most of the not quite level floor. When he stepped into it, his feet froze solidly in place. He looked down in shock and tried to pull one of them free, but it broke off instead.

  The admiral’s scream was a horrible sound. Several other people in the room also found their feet frozen to the ground but were now paralyzed with fear from what they had just witnessed.

  Dierdra leveled her gun at Mark who didn’t stop. Thankfully, he had been on the landing. The liquid nitrogen had not yet risen to that level. He was pushing up the last breaker when the ground began to tremble and rumble. A bullet whistled passed him. He was sure that Dierdra would not have missed if not for the quickly building shaking of the earth beneath them.

  Guards from the entrance moved to stop him, but couldn’t get to him because the Earth was now bouncing them as if they were in a fun house. The room was filled with screams of agony as the jerking broke off the frozen feet of the scientists, who then fell to the floor into the ever deepening pool of liquid nitrogen—never to move again.

  One guard finally managed to reach Mark, but caught a bullet that was intended for him. The guard fell from the landing into the freezing liquid below. Mark pushed up on the last of the breakers, and then ran as fast as he was able, nearly falling himself. He felt increasingly dizzy as the nitrogen gas began to pull the oxygen from the air. He felt as if he were about to pass out, but managed to crawl his way up the stairs.

  Dierdra was standing in the open doorway where there was still oxygen coming from the outside. She aimed her gun right at him and held onto the doorframe to steady herself, but he plowed into her like a football player. As she fell, the gun went off, barely grazing Mark’s shoulder. He practically flew over the top of her and was finally out into the fresh air.

  She turned over onto her stomach and tried to get up and chase him. Mark looked back and saw her reaching out, trying to cling to something just as the entire underground building was sucked into the Earth. He turned toward the fence and sprinted as fast as possible, revived by the oxygen that was once again filling his lungs.

  Ashlyn, Stewart, and Kathleen all were running toward the fence as Mark plowed through the gate.

  He yelled at them and motioned wildly, “Turn around, run!”

  They watched in stunned horror as the Meliorator fell into the void. The shaking of the Earth abruptly stopped and so did Mark. He stood there staring at the hole in the ground.

  Stewart asked in a frantic voice, “what happened?”

  “We closed the void,” Mark answered him, still staring at the scene before him.

  “It worked then?” Kathleen yelled over the noise of sirens that were beginning to go off in the barracks of the enlisted men.

  “There’s no way to know until—”

  His words were cut off by the shock of the sudden return to darkness. At first it seemed pitch black, after the brightness of noonday, but as their eyes adjusted, they could tell that they were indeed back under the sea.

  Then a deafening sound pounded in their ears. He had to yell in order for his answer to be heard over the noise. “We are definitely back!” He pointed to the darkened sky. Then the source of the sound became apparent. There was a crack in the dome, and it was spreading fast.

  The sudden force of all the water, compounded by the small singularity into which the Meliorator had fallen, had created a pressure imbalance in the shield. It was no longer capable of holding the ocean back, at least not for long.

  Ashlyn’s face went white. “What should we do?”

  “Stewart, get the cart, fast, and our gear,” Mark yelled in response to Ashlyn’s question, and Stewart took off as fast as he could move in the direction of the golf cart.

  Mark cursed the fact that there weren’t any faster vehicles available to them. At that moment, he would have traded his right arm for a real car.

  Kathleen shouted loudly over the noise, “Shouldn’t we be running?”

  He looked up before answering her. “We can still move faster in a cart in spite of how slow they are.”

  Mark tried to pull Ashlyn into his arms, but she stopped him, staring at his shoulder. “You’ve been shot.”

  He looked down at it as if it were the first time he had noticed, and then after a moment said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a graze, I’m fine.”

  Within minutes, Stewart showed up with the cart. “Come on, let’s go!” Stewart yelled.

  Mark stared up again at the growing phosphorescent fissure.

  Ashlyn had climbed onto the cart, but Mark continued studying the sky for another minute until she yelled at him. “Get on Mark!”

  He obeyed, jumping onto the back seat. Stewart took off, pushing the electric motor as fast as it would go.

  “How are we going to decompress fast enough”—she asked—“we’re under six thousand feet.”

  Kathleen corrected her, “Only 175 feet, that’s what the stable pressure is at, the depth of the middle floor of the pyramid.”

  “But the admiral said—”

  “He lied”—Kathleen interrupted—“he tells everybody that so that they won’t try to leave.”

&nbs
p; “Of course”—Mark shook his head—“we didn’t even feel our ears pop on the way down. I should have known.”

  We came in through the water in scuba gear”—Ashlyn said—“how does the navy transport people in and out of here?”

  “The Navy shaft is camouflaged with rocks at about twenty-five feet and is only accessible by submarine.”

  “How slow will we have to decompress”—Stewart tried to calculate—“we’ve been at 175 feet for months, and it’s cumulative.”

  “I don’t know”—Mark answered—“but this can’t be good. How do we get to the shaft the navy built?”

  “We can’t get out that way,” Kathleen said.

  “Why?” Mark asked.

  “The navy shaft requires the admiral’s code, and he’s …,” she didn’t say it; she just looked behind them.

  He shot Ashlyn a look, and she clearly got the message. They only had three sets of scuba gear. Maybe Kathleen and Stewart can buddy-breathe, Mark thought. He and Ashlyn couldn’t share; their systems were self-contained. I hope Stewart has enough left in his tank. It was ill advised at best, but there wasn’t another option.

  “Wait a minute—” Kathleen panicked “—I’ve never scuba-dived before! Why can’t we just stay in the upper pyramid until we find another way out?”

  Mark turned to Stewart, and then looked at Ashlyn. They both had worried expressions on their faces.

  “We might be able to, but”—Mark sounded doubtful—“assuming that it happens fast, which I think it will, the air pressure in here will sky rocket. It will breach the pyramid and rip us all to shreds. It’s basic hydraulics on a scale never imagined.”

  “That pyramid was designed by the Atlanteans”—Kathleen said hopefully—“it’s strong. Won’t it protect us?”

  He thought for a moment. “Look, they didn’t design it to hold that much pressure—” he paused “—we can’t wait around to see if it will hold. If it doesn’t, we won’t have a chance to change our minds. Getting out the way we came is still our safest bet.”

  “Don’t worry”—Ashlyn said empathetically—“we’ll help you.”

  They rode in silence for a while. At least they were silent. Sirens, men yelling, and even screaming in the distance was filling them all with dread.

  “What about my assistants”—Kathleen asked—“and the other thousand plus people down here?”

  When nobody answered her, silent tears began running down her face. They all wore grim expressions. None of them wanted to think about it.

  Explosive sounds were coming faster—from above and all around them.

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Ashlyn complained.

  “No, unfortunately—” Stewart pressed harder on the pedal just the same “—just pray we don’t run out of charge in the battery.”

  “Oh great”—she said—“that hadn’t even crossed my mind!”

  “Sorry Ash,” he said.

  She glanced back at Kathleen who had gone white as a sheet. “It’s going to be okay, I promise”—Ashlyn said—“you can use my suit; it’s easy, you don’t have to know how to scuba dive.”

  “I don’t understand”—Kathleen asked bewildered—“are they different? What will you use then?”

  “Don’t worry about it, I can buddy breathe with Stewart. We are both experience divers and—”

  “No, you will not!—” Mark cut her off “—she can use my system. You are pregnant, and I’m not taking any chances that you will be deprived of oxygen.”

  “You’re pregnant?” Stewart said, alarmed.

  “—I will be fine,” she said. “I’m an experience diver and …,” she repeated but didn’t finish her thought.

  “No, Ashlyn”—Mark wasn’t bending on this—“you will wear the rebreather. Stewart and I will buddy breathe.”

  None of them wanted Kathleen to realize how unsafe the trip was going to be, so they didn’t speak. It would be safer if they were just going up, but they had to swim down the tunnel first. It was only large enough for one person at a time. Secondly, and probably more dangerous, was the fact that they had to stop and decompress at various levels. They had been down here a long time. Failing to decompress would kill them. Scaring Kathleen might kill them faster.

  Moreover, assuming they didn’t run out of air in that tank, die from decompressing too fast, panic, or get eaten by a hungry shark, they could only hope and pray that the yacht was where they left it. It had been anchored to the spot, but thieves could have taken it, or a storm could have capsized it. A million other things crossed Mark’s mind. He decided that he was better off not thinking about it. Fear was by far the most dangerous enemy.

  They had no idea how much farther they had to go. There were no landmarks. On the way there, it had seemed like forever, but they hadn’t been timing it, and they hadn’t been traveling at top speed either. The cracking of the dome was spreading out more and more, and they could still hear people yelling in the distance. There was a loud, rushing sound somewhere behind them. They tried to see what it was, but it was too dark to see much of anything. They wouldn’t be able to see the cracks in the dome if they hadn’t been emitting phosphorescent light.

  “Kathleen”—Ashlyn asked hopefully—“do you think anybody else has clearance to get through the top of the elevator?”

  “I don’t know of any, and after what Mark said about the pressure, I don’t think we should wait around to find out.”

  “I just hope the yacht is still there,” Stewart said, and Mark glared at him. I wish he would stop mentioning his fears aloud. There was little doubt that they were all terrified.

  “I think we only have about half a mile to go,” Mark said, looking at his watch again.

  Just as he said it, they heard a hissing noise, followed by the unmistakable sound of water exploding inward. There had been a breach, but looking up and around they couldn’t see it.

  “Hurry!” Ashlyn yelled.

  “I’m going as fast as this thing will go”—he said sarcastically—“you can get out and push if you want.”

  Kathleen glanced back, and then grabbed Ashlyn’s arm and pointed. She turned to look. A wall of water was now vaguely discernible in the darkness, and it was headed their direction. The breach must have been on the south end of the dome, but it was traveling fast.

  “Here it comes,” she shouted and clinched her jaw.

  Mark looked back, but Stewart didn’t move his eyes from the road ahead—willing the cart to go faster. They could see the exit now, but water washed forward, under the cart, ahead of the rushing wall so that they were driving through a lake, at least six inches deep.

  They were close, extremely close now, but so was the rushing mountain behind them. It was becoming more visible every second. The water underneath them was deepening. The cart’s electrical system shorted out making it come to an abrupt halt.

  “Run!” Stewart yelled.

  Chapter 21

  Nothing can harm a good man, either in life or

  after death. — Socrates

  ~

  They had already divided the scuba gear so that no one was carrying too much of a load. They ran as fast as they were able, impeded by the foot-deep water that was rising rapidly. They reached the Atlantean elevator. Luckily, Kathleen knew how to operate it. The invisible door shut behind them, but the floor was already covered with more than a foot of water.

  On the way down, they hadn’t felt anything, but this time they felt a jolt and knew that the wall of water must have hit the shaft. They held their breath, praying that the pressure wouldn’t breach the pyramid. The water on the floor began to bubble violently as pressurized air pressed in through invisible cracks.

  Kathleen grabbed Stewart’s hand and began to hyperventilate. He forced her to look at him and commanded her to slow her breathing. The back wall opened with a hiss this time, and their ears began to pop. There didn’t appear to be anyone about. The four of them ran as fast as they could. Sounds of hissing and bu
bbling water followed them, but they didn’t look back.

  When they reached the room where they had entered, Mark quickly turned the control on the floor, and the door slid closed.

  “Hopefully, that will buy us some time”—he shook his head—“but we still have to hurry.”

  Stewart helped Kathleen put the rebreather suit and helmet on while Ashlyn donned hers.

  “You don’t have to do anything but breathe normally”—he said as he put the helmet over her head—“and you will be able to talk to Ashlyn. She is an experienced diver. Do what she says no matter what!”

  He quickly got into his wetsuit and tanks, leaving Mark the only one with neither a suit nor oxygen tank—his choice.

  “Mark—” Ashlyn protested “—I’m not sure I can do this. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

  “This is the best way to do it, and you know it. I’m the most experienced diver; I will buddy-breathe with Stewart. He can wait for me at the bottom of the shaft.”

  Mark turned to Stewart, “Have the oxygen ready for me when I get there, alright?”

  He nodded his head and started down the shaft.

  Ashlyn still hadn’t put on her helmet. “Mark I …” he silenced her by kissing her. He held her close for just a moment then put the helmet over her head.

  She took Kathleen by the hand and spoke to her over the comm. system. “Just follow me—” Kathleen hesitated, so Ashlyn encouraged her “—you can do this, trust me.”

  She climbed into the pool and swam down the shaft, followed by a terrified Kathleen. The two women swam out of the shaft into the cave. Ashlyn looked down and saw the three weight-belts lying where they had left them. She picked them up and put one of them on Kathleen.

  “Why do I need this?” she asked.

  “We mustn’t rise too quickly or—” Ashlyn hesitated “—it would be bad, just trust me. We will need to swim up. All you need to do is follow me, exactly. Stop when I stop. Got it?”

  Kathleen nodded her head, still looking uncertain.

  “Oh, and keep your legs straight when you are kicking”—Ashlyn added—“bending your knees too much can cause you to rise too quickly.”