one?”
“Nagoya has mapped the one that leads to Chernobyl by tracking the emissions from the probe the Russians sent through that Gate. He thinks we can map others doing the same thing. Send probes in, then see where the emissions come out in the space between.”
“That could take a while,” Dane said. “And we don’t have much time according to Ahana’s numbers.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Not yet.” Dane rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What about the Ones Before? Flaherty said they were on our side.”
“If we could contact them, it would help,” Foreman acknowledged. “But getting a hold of them seems as hard as fighting the Shadow.”
“They sent Flaherty into the Angkor Gate,” Dane noted.
Foreman’s SATPhone buzzed and he flipped it open. He listened for a half minute then shut it. “There’s another problem.”
“Great.”
Foreman turned for the control center, Dane following, waiting for the further bad news.
“A half-dozen World War II era five hundred pound bombs were sent out of the Chernobyl gate into the remains of the reactor core,” Foreman said over his shoulder.
“Did they explode?”
“No. The monitoring personnel evacuated, but when nothing happened, they went back in. The bombs are just sitting there.”
They entered and Ahana spoke before Foreman could. “The super-kamiokande in Japan tracked a burst of muonic activity at Chernobyl.”
Foreman told her and Nagoya about the bombs.
Dane had been considering this new development. “Do you think the Shadow could have backtracked the probe we sent through Chernobyl?”
“Possibly,” Foreman allowed.
“Chekov once wrote that a playwright shouldn’t introduce a gun in act one unless it was fired by act three,” Dane noted.
Foreman frowned at the arcane reference. “And?”
“The Shadow sent those bombs through for a reason,” Dane said. “They will be detonated.”
“We assume that also,” Foreman said. “The Russians are rigging a remote controlled robot to go in and remove the fuses.”
“I’ve been in contact with Professor Kolkov,” Nagoya said. “He has done some rough calculations and he believes that the Tower Four containment wall will hold even if all six bombs are detonated.”
Dane turned to the old Japanese scientist. “And what about the gates?”
“We have learned much,” Nagoya said. “We have a good idea now how the gates work on our planet. The gate that we see on the surface—” he nodded toward the bulkhead beyond which lay the Devil’s Sea gate-- “is like a foothold established on our planet. It appears that all the gates lead to one place via portals inside of them. That place is where the two of you were,” he said, looking at Foreman, then Ahana. “For lack of a better term, we will use what you say Amelia Earhart called it-- the space-between.
“Time here,” Nagoya pointed down, indicating Earth, “is linear and relatively fixed. But as you know, there are people in the space-between who are from many different time periods— Viking warriors, Romans legionnaires, people from varying times who appear to not have aged from the time they disappeared, such as you claim Ms. Amelia Earhart appeared.”
Dane bristled at the word choice but said nothing, knowing Nagoya meant no insult but was simply speaking as a scientist who had not seen the famed aviatrix with his own eyes.
“Inside the space-between,” Nagoya continued, “time appears to be a variable. Indeed, it must be, because the space-between is connected via portals to various times in our planet’s history as recent events have shown. Such as when the Roman legion came to your aid inside the space-between and gave you time to escape.”
Although he knew what Nagoya was saying was true, Dane found it confusing. As if sensing this, Ahana spoke. She was a young Japanese woman, a brilliant scientist who was Nagoya’s primary assistant. She had accompanied Dane through the Devil’s Sea gate
“Nagoya has mapped the one that leads to Chernobyl by tracking the emissions from the probe the Russians sent through that Gate. He thinks we can map others doing the same thing. Send probes in, then see where the emissions come out in the space between.”
“That could take a while,” Dane said. “And we don’t have much time according to Ahana’s numbers.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Not yet.” Dane rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What about the Ones Before? Flaherty said they were on our side.”
“If we could contact them, it would help,” Foreman acknowledged. “But getting a hold of them seems as hard as fighting the Shadow.”
“They sent Flaherty into the Angkor Gate,” Dane noted.
Foreman’s SATPhone buzzed and he flipped it open. He listened for a half minute then shut it. “There’s another problem.”
“Great.”
Foreman turned for the control center, Dane following, waiting for the further bad news.
“A half-dozen World War II era five hundred pound bombs were sent out of the Chernobyl gate into the remains of the reactor core,” Foreman said over his shoulder.
“Did they explode?”
“No. The monitoring personnel evacuated, but when nothing happened, they went back in. The bombs are just sitting there.”
They entered and Ahana spoke before Foreman could. “The super-kamiokande in Japan tracked a burst of muonic activity at Chernobyl.”
Foreman told her and Nagoya about the bombs.
Dane had been considering this new development. “Do you think the Shadow could have backtracked the probe we sent through Chernobyl?”
“Possibly,” Foreman allowed.
“Chekov once wrote that a playwright shouldn’t introduce a gun in act one unless it was fired by act three,” Dane noted.
Foreman frowned at the arcane reference. “And?”
“The Shadow sent those bombs through for a reason,” Dane said. “They will be detonated.”
“We assume that also,” Foreman said. “The Russians are rigging a remote controlled robot to go in and remove the fuses.”
“I’ve been in contact with Professor Kolkov,” Nagoya said. “He has done some rough calculations and he believes that the Tower Four containment wall will hold even if all six bombs are detonated.”
Dane turned to the old Japanese scientist. “And what about the gates?”
“We have learned much,” Nagoya said. “We have a good idea now how the gates work on our planet. The gate that we see on the surface—” he nodded toward the bulkhead beyond which lay the Devil’s Sea gate-- “is like a foothold established on our planet. It appears that all the gates lead to one place via portals inside of them. That place is where the two of you were,” he said, looking at Foreman, then Ahana. “For lack of a better term, we will use what you say Amelia Earhart called it-- the space-between.
“Time here,” Nagoya pointed down, indicating Earth, “is linear and relatively fixed. But as you know, there are people in the space-between who are from many different time periods— Viking warriors, Romans legionnaires, people from varying times who appear to not have aged from the time they disappeared, such as you claim Ms. Amelia Earhart appeared.”
Dane bristled at the word choice but said nothing, knowing Nagoya meant no insult but was simply speaking as a scientist who had not seen the famed aviatrix with his own eyes.
“Inside the space-between,” Nagoya continued, “time appears to be a variable. Indeed, it must be, because the space-between is connected via portals to various times in our planet’s history as recent events have shown. Such as when the Roman legion came to your aid inside the space-between and gave you time to escape.”
Although he knew what Nagoya was saying was true, Dane found it confusing. As if sensing this, Ahana spoke. She was a young Japanese woman, a brilliant scientist who was Nagoya’s primary assistant. She had accompanied Dane through the Devil’s Sea gate
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