down to less than two percent strength and still the black triangle drew the remaining power. There was quite a bit of speculation among Russian scientists about what would happen when the rods were completely spent, but it was all conjecture, as most everything thought about the gates was.
It was just before midnight when the spetsnatz —Russian special forces-- soldiers manning the monitoring station built into the concrete wall surrounding the core jumped to their feet as alarms sounded. Looking at the video screens that were linked to cameras inside the core, they saw a black, cylindrical object with four tail fins fall out of the black triangle onto the floor of the core container. There was no doubt what the object was—a bomb, but one of old design. As they watched, a half-dozen similar objects hit the floor and came to a rest.
The major in charge ordered a withdrawal before the last bomb appeared. The men unbolted the shield door leading to the outside world and dashed up the tunnel, the major taking the time to shut the door and slap one of the bolts in place, before dashing after his men.
They exited the encasement and paused, bodies tensed, waiting for the explosion. But nothing happened.
***************
The strap from Reizer’s leather bag cut so deep into the skin on Davon’s upper thigh that she couldn’t see most of it. Her hand was on the handle of the umbrella, which was attached to a knot on the strap. She had cranked the handle around several times to tighten the tourniquet, but Davon had lost a lot of blood.
She looked up at the wall of flame in front of her, feeling the heat coming off it but not as much as she expected being this close. It was as if the fire was contained between two invisible planes of glass extending up ten feet. For the first time she noted that the ground was trembling slightly.
Reizer was startled as Davon grabbed her arm. She leaned over the young man and ran a comforting hand across his sweat-soaked, pale forehead. His lips moved as he tried to speak. She leaned closer.
“What is it?” he finally managed to get out. His eyes shifted over to the wall of fire to let her know what he was talking about.
“Power into the planet,” Reizer said. “Channeled somehow.”
“The Shadow?”
Reizer shrugged, and then realized he couldn’t see the movement. “I don’t know.”
“Lines of power,” Davon said. He smiled, his lips almost drained of color. “I knew I was right.”
“You need to rest,” Reizer said, although she knew that he had scant seconds, if even a minute of life left.
A surprised look passed over Davon’s face. “I’ve seen—” he paused and the next couple of words weren’t audible—“before. The other—” his head slumped back and the eyes went vacant.
***************
“We have to destroy the portal that’s drawing the power through Nazca,” Foreman said. He and Dane were standing on the deck of the FLIP
Dane shook his head. “We don’t have a priestess to go into the gate and then the portal and stop it, like Kaia did in the Devil’s Sea. We don’t even know exactly what’s going on there,” he tapped the photo of the fiery images that he had carried out of the control center. “We’re not sure there’s a gate there and even if there was, we might have trouble finding the portal. We only managed to find the one here because of the Chernobyl probe.”
“We know more than we did,” Foreman said. “Nagoya has analyzed the data you picked up from the last trip into the gate,” Foreman nodded his head, indicating the dark wall two miles away. “He thinks there are numerous portals inside this space between our worlds. Some lead to other gates on our planet, but at least one has got to lead to the other side. To the Shadow’s world. Maybe we can stop this at the source.”
“And does he know which is which?” Dane asked.
“Not quite.”
“So what are we going to do?” Dane asked. “Try each
It was just before midnight when the spetsnatz —Russian special forces-- soldiers manning the monitoring station built into the concrete wall surrounding the core jumped to their feet as alarms sounded. Looking at the video screens that were linked to cameras inside the core, they saw a black, cylindrical object with four tail fins fall out of the black triangle onto the floor of the core container. There was no doubt what the object was—a bomb, but one of old design. As they watched, a half-dozen similar objects hit the floor and came to a rest.
The major in charge ordered a withdrawal before the last bomb appeared. The men unbolted the shield door leading to the outside world and dashed up the tunnel, the major taking the time to shut the door and slap one of the bolts in place, before dashing after his men.
They exited the encasement and paused, bodies tensed, waiting for the explosion. But nothing happened.
***************
The strap from Reizer’s leather bag cut so deep into the skin on Davon’s upper thigh that she couldn’t see most of it. Her hand was on the handle of the umbrella, which was attached to a knot on the strap. She had cranked the handle around several times to tighten the tourniquet, but Davon had lost a lot of blood.
She looked up at the wall of flame in front of her, feeling the heat coming off it but not as much as she expected being this close. It was as if the fire was contained between two invisible planes of glass extending up ten feet. For the first time she noted that the ground was trembling slightly.
Reizer was startled as Davon grabbed her arm. She leaned over the young man and ran a comforting hand across his sweat-soaked, pale forehead. His lips moved as he tried to speak. She leaned closer.
“What is it?” he finally managed to get out. His eyes shifted over to the wall of fire to let her know what he was talking about.
“Power into the planet,” Reizer said. “Channeled somehow.”
“The Shadow?”
Reizer shrugged, and then realized he couldn’t see the movement. “I don’t know.”
“Lines of power,” Davon said. He smiled, his lips almost drained of color. “I knew I was right.”
“You need to rest,” Reizer said, although she knew that he had scant seconds, if even a minute of life left.
A surprised look passed over Davon’s face. “I’ve seen—” he paused and the next couple of words weren’t audible—“before. The other—” his head slumped back and the eyes went vacant.
***************
“We have to destroy the portal that’s drawing the power through Nazca,” Foreman said. He and Dane were standing on the deck of the FLIP
Dane shook his head. “We don’t have a priestess to go into the gate and then the portal and stop it, like Kaia did in the Devil’s Sea. We don’t even know exactly what’s going on there,” he tapped the photo of the fiery images that he had carried out of the control center. “We’re not sure there’s a gate there and even if there was, we might have trouble finding the portal. We only managed to find the one here because of the Chernobyl probe.”
“We know more than we did,” Foreman said. “Nagoya has analyzed the data you picked up from the last trip into the gate,” Foreman nodded his head, indicating the dark wall two miles away. “He thinks there are numerous portals inside this space between our worlds. Some lead to other gates on our planet, but at least one has got to lead to the other side. To the Shadow’s world. Maybe we can stop this at the source.”
“And does he know which is which?” Dane asked.
“Not quite.”
“So what are we going to do?” Dane asked. “Try each
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