Contest

by Matthew Reilly

  The displacement had not been present during any previous sweeps, and its amperage was dangerously similar to that of previously recorded electronic scrambling—or jamming—frequencies used by North African guerilla forces, in particular those used by Libya.

  And after the bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993 by North African extremists and the destruction of two American embassies in Africa in 1998, no-one in the NSA was willing to take any chances.

  The response was immediate.

  The LandSat 5 results were bounced immediately to NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. A KH-11E counter-intelligence electronic surveillance satellite—more commonly known by its call-sign ‘Eavesdropper’—was sequestered from the National Reconnaissance Office, and retasked so that it would pass over New York.

  By chance, the Eavesdropper happened to be in the right place at the right time and was on the scene in minutes, and the first set of results were soon in the hands of the NSA’s crisis management team in Maryland—a team that had included Marshall.

  Once those results had been reviewed, in the space of nine minutes all records of correspondence between satellite control in Maryland, LandSat 5 and the Eavesdropper had been destroyed.

  LandSat 5 was retasked for immediate splashdown somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, while the Eavesdropper continued to monitor the Manhattan area with every pass.

  It was then that the mission had been handed to James Marshall and his boys at Sigma Division.

  Time was short, and Marshall had wasted no time.

  He had raced to the airport immediately and as he stepped onto the Director’s Lear, someone at Sigma was already preparing a press release that would explain the unfortunate and regrettable loss of the two satellites.

  And so here he was. On the NSA Director’s Lear ready for touchdown in New York.

  Marshall reached into his suitcase for a final look at the report from the Eavesdropper.

  Judging by the long stretch of time covered in the report, Marshall noted, the Eavesdropper could hold its field of view on a single target for a full fifty minutes. Its orbital velocity must have been much slower than that of the smaller LandSat 5.

  Marshall read the transcript.

  LSAT-560467-S

  DATA TRANSCRIPT 463/511-001

  SUBJECT SITE: 231.957 (North-eastern seaboard: CT, NY, NJ)

  * * *

  NO. TIME/EST LOCATION READING

  1. 18:03:48 CT. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:09

  2. 18:03:58 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:06

  3. 18:07:31 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:05

  4. 18:10:09 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:07

  5. 18:14:12 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:06

  6. 18:14:37 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:02

  7. 18:14:38 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:02

  8. 18:14:39 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:02

  9. 18:14:40 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:02

  10. 18:16:23 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:07

  11. 18:20:21 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:08

  12. 18:23:57 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:06

  13. 18:46:00 N.Y. Isolated energy surge/Source: UNKNOWN

  Type: UNKNOWN/Dur: 0.00:34

  Marshall frowned at the transcript.

  At the moment it meant nothing to him.

  Twelve strong surges of some unknown kind of energy—the sources of which were also unknown—had all occurred in New York City between 6:03 and 6:46 p.m.

  Added to that, the first surge, which had come from somewhere inside Connecticut. Curious also was the last surge—distinctive because it had lasted thirty-four seconds, more than three times longer than any of the others. Not to mention the four consecutive two-second surges that Marshall had underlined.

  What it amounted to was a puzzle, a puzzle Marshall wanted to solve.

  And Levine’s news was good. The taps on Con Edison’s phones had been worthwhile, if not altogether legal. The theory that large energy surges would affect local electricity systems had turned out to be correct.

  Robert Charlton had led them right to the source of the energy surges.

  The New York State Library.

  Now they had the location. And they were going to get whatever was there.

  James Marshall grinned at the thought as his Lear hit the tarmac at Newark.

  Hawkins lowered Balthazar to the floor, resting him up against the concrete wall of the janitor’s room. Then he himself collapsed, breathless, alongside the big bearded man.

  ‘You’re one heavy bastard, you know that?’

  The janitor’s room was a complete mess. The cyclone fence cutting across the middle of the room had been crumpled by the Karanadon. The splintered remains of smashed wooden boxes lay strewn everywhere. And without the big hydraulic door, the doorway was nothing more than a gaping hole in the wall.

  Hawkins glanced at Balthazar by his side. He wasn’t looking good. Eyes still badly bloodshot. A red rash forming on the surrounding skin. Bubbles of saliva still running through his bushy beard.

  Balthazar groaned, and then as if testing himself, he put a hand to the floor to get up, but immediately fell awkwardly back against the wall.

  They would have to hole up here for a while. But first, Hawkins thought, he had to do something about that doorway.

  At last, Selexin got up and walked across the elevator and stared at the massive body of the unconscious Karanadon. He bent down and peered at the long white fangs that protruded from the jet-black snout.

  He made a face of pure disgust. ‘Hideous,’ he said. ‘Truly hideous.’

  Swain was holding Holly in his lap. She had gone to sleep quickly, complaining of a terrible headache. ‘Yeah, not too bright, either,’ he said. ‘Have you ever seen one before? Up close?’

  ‘No. Never.’

  Swain nodded and they both just stared at the gigantic black beast in silence. Then he said, ‘So what do we do? Do we kill it? Can we kill it?’

  ‘I do not know,’ Selexin shrugged. ‘No-one has ever done this before.’

  Swain offered a crooked smile and spread his hands. ‘What can I say?’

  Selexin frowned, not comprehending. ‘I am sorry, but I am afraid I do not understand. What exactly can you say?’

  ‘Don’t worry. It’s just a saying.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Swain said, ‘like “Fuck you”.’

  Selexin blushed. ‘Oh, yes. That. Well, I had to say something. My life was in the balance too, you know.’

  ‘Hell of a thing to say to something like that,’ Swain nodded at the Karanadon.

  ‘Oh, well . . .’

  ‘But it was pretty bold. And I needed it. Thanks.’

  ‘Think nothing of it.’

  ‘Well, thanks anyway,’ Swain said. ‘By the way, are you allowed to do that? Allowed to help me?’

  ‘Well,’ Selexin said, ‘technically, no. I am not supposed to help you physically in any battle—whether against another contestant or the Karanadon. But considering what Bellos has done by bringing hoods into the Presidian, then, to use another of your sayings, I think that all gambling has been cancelled.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Is that not how you say it? “All gambling has been cancelled?” It means that the rules no longer apply.’

  ‘I think what you’re trying to say is, All bets are off,’ Swain said gently. ‘But you
were close. Very close.’

  Selexin preened at that, pleased with himself.

  Swain turned back to the Karanadon. The long spiked bristles on the beast’s back were rising and falling in time with its loud, strained breathing. It was absolutely enormous.

  ‘So can we kill it?’

  ‘I thought you did not kill defenceless victims,’ Selexin said.

  ‘That only counts for people.’

  ‘Balthazar was not a person, and you did not kill him. He is amorphic, remember. As a matter of fact, I am sure that you would be rather surprised at Balthazar’s true form—’

  Swain said, ‘All right. Only for things that look like people, then. And besides,’ he looked at the Karanadon, ‘Balthazar wasn’t going to rip my head off if he decided to fight back.’

  Selexin looked as if he was about to object but stopped himself. He merely said, ‘Okay.’

  ‘So. What do you think? Can we kill it?’ Swain asked.

  ‘I don’t see why not. But what will you kill it with?’

  They surveyed the elevator. There wasn’t much to be found by way of weapons. The roof of the lift had been made of thin plasterboard and one whole half of it had simply disappeared, destroyed by the Karanadon’s fall. Large jagged shards of frosted plastic from the fluorescent lights lay strewn across the floor. Swain picked one up. In his hand, it looked like a pretty pathetic weapon.

  Selexin shrugged. ‘It could work. Then again, it might not do anything except wake it up.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Swain didn’t like the thought of that.

  He didn’t want to rouse the Karanadon. It was fine now. Out cold. But for how long? And killing something that was bigger and stronger than a grizzly bear, by hand, with a shard of plastic, somehow didn’t seem very likely.

  At that moment, the Karanadon’s right claw reached up lazily and swatted at something buzzing around its snout. Then the claw resumed its position by the creature’s side and the big beast continued its slumber as if nothing had happened.

  Swain watched it intently. Frozen.

  The Karanadon snorted loudly, shuffled onto its side, rolled over.

  ‘You know, upon further reflection, I am not so sure that killing it is a very good idea,’ Selexin whispered.

  ‘I was just thinking the same thing myself,’ Swain said. ‘Come on, let’s go.’ He stood up and lifted Holly.

  ‘Come on, honey. Time to go.’

  She stirred groggily, ‘—my head hurts.’

  ‘Where to?’ Selexin asked.

  ‘Up,’ Swain said, pointing to the big hole in the roof of the elevator.

  After heaving the outer elevator doors open, Swain looked out into the musty yellow gloom to see row upon row of bookshelves stretching away to his left and right.

  It was Sub-Level Two.

  The Stack.

  They were standing on what was left of the roof of the destroyed elevator, five feet below the floor level of Sub-Level Two. The concrete bottom of the elevator shaft, it seemed, was still a fair way below Sub-Level Two.

  Swain climbed out first and saw that on this floor, the elevators were embedded in the wall of bookshelves.

  He looked out from the doors and immediately realised that they were on one of the long ends of the rectangular floor. The southern wall.

  Swain remembered finding Hawkins on this floor, and seeing Reese for the first time, and running blindly through the maze of shelves to the safety of the stairwell. But that, he remembered, had happened on the other side of the floor.

  He turned back to the elevator shaft and pulled Holly and Selexin out.

  ‘I remember this part of the labyrinth,’ Selexin said, seeing the bookshelves around him. ‘Reese.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Daddy, I have a headache,’ Holly said wearily.

  ‘I know, honey.’

  ‘I want to go home.’

  ‘So do I,’ Swain said, reaching down, touching her head. ‘We’ll see if we can find something for your headache, and at the same time, somewhere to hole up. Come on, let’s go.’

  They began walking left, down the southern wall of the Stack. After walking some distance, their aisle turned sharply to the right, and they headed up the shorter western wall of the floor. They had gone about twenty yards along the wall when Swain noticed something odd.

  Just ahead of them, flush against the outer wall of shelves, something was ajar, sticking slightly out into the aisle. Something red.

  As they came closer, Swain realised what it was.

  It was a door.

  A small red door, slightly opened. It was tucked into the outer wall of shelves, very unobtrusively. Indeed, Swain had seen it only because he had almost walked right past it. Anyone conducting a cursory examination of the Stack would almost certainly miss it.

  The small red door had writing on it.

  ‘ “No Staff Access Permitted”,’ Selexin read aloud. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

  But Swain wasn’t paying any attention to Selexin. He was already kneeling in front of the door, peering down at its base.

  Selexin said, ‘I thought the staff were allowed to go everywhere in a place like this—’

  ‘Shh,’ Swain said. ‘Look at this.’

  Selexin and Holly crouched beside him and stared down at the book lying on the floor, wedged in between the door and its frame.

  ‘It looks like it is holding the door open . . .’ Selexin said.

  ‘It is holding the door open,’ Swain said, ’or at least stopping it from closing.’

  ‘Why?’ Holly asked.

  Swain frowned. ‘I don’t know.’ He looked at the door handle. On the library side, it had a keyhole in the middle of a plain silver knob. On the other side, though, he could not see any lock or keyhole. High up near the hinges he saw the closing mechanism.

  ‘It’s springloaded,’ he said. ‘To make sure it shuts every time. That’s why someone used the book.’

  ‘Why is no staff access permitted?’ Selexin asked.

  ‘Probably because this door has nothing to do with the library. And only staff are allowed in the Stack. I’d say it’s probably a gas or electricity meter. Something like that,’ Swain said. ‘Something the staff are not supposed to touch.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Holly said, ‘Can we get out through there?’

  Swain looked to Selexin. ‘I don’t know. Can we?’

  ‘The labyrinth was supposed to be sealed at the time of electrification. I cannot know what would happen if one entrance was not fully closed at that time. But I can guess.’

  ‘So guess.’

  ‘Well,’ Selexin peered around the rim of the small red door marked NO STAFF ACCESS PERMITTED. ‘I see no visible sign of electrification here. And unless there is another door beyond this one that was closed at the time of electrification, my guess is that we may have just found a way out of the labyrinth.’

  ‘A way out?’ Holly said hopefully.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Swain whispered.

  ‘There is only one way to find out,’ Selexin said. ‘We have to see if there is another door beyond this one.’

  ‘Do we?’ Swain said, thinking.

  ‘Why, yes,’ Selexin said. ‘Unless you can think of another way.’

  Crouching on the floor, Swain looked up at the little man, and said, ‘As a matter of fact, I think I can.’

  And with that, Stephen Swain thrust his left arm—with the thick grey wristband attached to it—through the gap between the small red door and its frame.

  Immediately they heard a loud, insistent beeping coming from outside the door, and after a couple of seconds, Swain pulled his wrist back inside.

  The beeping stopped instantly.

  They all looked at the thick grey wristband. Its display now read:

  INITIALISED—6

  DETONATION SEQUENCE INITIALISED.

  AT * 14:57 * DETONATION SEQUENCE CANCELLED

  RESET.


  14:57 was flashing.

  Swain smiled at Selexin. ‘There’s no outer door. This is the last one.’

  ‘How do you know, Daddy?’ Holly asked.

  ‘Because,’ Selexin said, ‘your father’s wristband is set to initialise an automatic detonation sequence of fifteen minutes as soon as it senses that it is outside the energy field of this labyrinth.’

  ‘What?’ Holly said.

  Swain said, ‘He means that if I move outside the electric field that’s all around this building, this wristband will explode unless I get back inside in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘And do you see that?’ Selexin pointed to the readout, the flashing 14:57. ‘The countdown started when he put his wrist outside the door.’

  ‘Which means,’ Swain continued, ‘that once we’re outside this door, we’re outside the electrical field, and outside the labyrinth.’

  ‘Right,’ Selexin said.

  ‘So let’s go,’ Holly said., ‘Let’s get out of this place.’

  ‘We can’t,’ Swain said sadly, ‘or, at least, I can’t. Not yet.’

  ‘Why not?’ Holly said.

  ‘Because of the wristband,’ Selexin sighed.

  Swain nodded. ‘I can’t get it off. And if I don’t, I’ll only last fifteen minutes before this thing explodes.’

  ‘Then we had better find a way to get it off,’ Selexin said.

  ‘How?’ Swain said, shaking his wrist. The wristband was hard and strong, a thick steel clamp., ‘Look at it. It’s as solid as a rock. We’d need an axe or a hammer to break it open, and someone strong enough to crack it.’

  ‘I bet Balthazar could do it,’ Holly said. ‘He’s really big. And I bet he’s really strong, too.’

  ‘And when we last saw him, he was not strong enough to stand up by himself,’ Selexin said sourly.

  ‘We don’t even know if he and Hawkins are still alive,’ Swain said. ‘There has to be another way.’

  Selexin said, ‘Maybe they have a vice around here that we could squeeze it in. Snap it open with the pressure.’

  ‘In a library? Not likely.’

  Frustrated, Selexin sat down next to the semiopened door, staring at the escape he couldn’t use. Swain was also gazing at the door, deep in thought. Holly held him tightly by the arm.