Katori pointed to the first window on the screen. “Once the tracking system can see the target and has a stable lock, this box will turn green. The middle window will show when the Blaster is actually aligned with the tracking system. When it syncs, it will also turn green. The last window on the right is a bar graph of the capacitors’ charge. When it hits 100 percent, and the other systems are green, it will be ready to initiate the firing command.”
They all heard it at the same time — the unmistakable sound of a big cargo jet passing overhead. They looked at Josh.
Josh ignored it. “Can you set it so it’ll fire automatically when the capacitors hit full charge?”
Katori said, “We can set the tracking scope lock and the projector’s aiming system to fully automatic, but there’s still one manual intervention required for safety. When the capacitors are at full power, someone must hit the interlock safety switch or the firing will be aborted.”
Josh asked, “Where’s that?”
He pointed to the console under the main display. “It’s the big red button.”
Josh smiled. “You’re kidding. To fire this thing, we actually have to push a big red button?”
Katori smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, well, it’s actually a go-no-go button. The firing sequence is automatic, but we have to push the button to allow the firing sequence to continue. If we don’t press it within five seconds after the capacitors reach full charge, the system aborts. But once it’s pushed, it’s impossible to stop the firing sequence.”
Frowning, Josh said, “Shouldn’t it be green?” He shook his head. “Never mind. Can we push it now?”
“No. For safety, it requires human intervention to fire, and it can’t be pressed until we hit 100 percent charge.”
On the intercom, they heard Bobinski report, “Second reactor is putting out 110 percent, but she’s running a little hot.” There was a pause. “And, I think we have company soon.”
Josh said to Bobinski and the others, “Obviously, things didn’t get straightened out back home. These guys are here to shut us down. Chris, keep us powered as long as you can, but these guys are dangerous ... they know not what they do.”
50
SEALS
Carl looked at the clock. It was 11:20 pm. The Op Center received confirmation that the C-17 had landed at the Polar base. The first objective was to cut off any escape and shut down the power, without which the Blaster was useless. The SEALs broke into three groups. The first would secure the other C-17. They would also commandeer the helicopter, so they could use it to get to the top of the mountain. The second team would secure the snowcats to prevent any escape and round up the staff. The third would go a half mile to the nuclear reactor building and shut down the power.
They were getting a live video feed from cameras on the C-17. With zoom lenses and low-light capability, they pointed a camera at each of the buildings and the top of the mountain. They could also hear all radio communication between the SEAL teams.
In less than 10 minutes, the first SEAL team reported they had taken control of the other C-17 and the helicopter without any resistance, and were putting their pilot into the H-60 to take the assault team to the mountaintop.
The second team reported the same. They secured the snowcats and captured the staff. The engineers were indignant and angry, but didn’t put up a fight.
The third SEAL team had the furthest to go. After another 10 minutes, they reported that they had just secured the reactor building without any resistance and would shut down the power.
From the Op Center, the operation was rather anticlimactic. Although they still had to secure the mountaintop, they now controlled the base and power. Stuck on the top of a mountain, surrounded by 300 kilometers of polar ice, there was no place for the Prophet to run.
Mount Howe
The Navy helicopter pilot that accompanied the first SEAL team was in the cockpit going through the startup procedures. Five fully armed SEALs were onboard. They carried the compact but deadly MP5 submachine guns for close-quarters work.
The pilot started the engines but when he tried to engage the rotors, nothing happened. Finally, he gave the cut signal to the SEAL Commander in the back. On the intercom, he said, “Sorry guys, this bird ain’t going anywhere; transmission’s frozen.”
The SEAL Team Commander simply said to his team, “Plan B.” He reported the problem via radio as they headed toward the snowcats.
Josh looked at Katori. “How much longer?”
Katori looked at his laptop. “Another 30 minutes to full charge.”
Josh sighed and said quietly, “We don’t have 30 minutes. Our friends will be up here in the other helo any time now.”
Smith, standing at the back of the room with the helicopter pilot and Musk, cleared his throat. “I’m afraid someone may have disconnected the helicopter’s transmission oil heater.”
Musk and the helicopter pilot shook their heads with a smile as they looked at Smith.
Katori nodded. “They’ll have to use the snowcats ... unless they also have issues?”
Smith nodded. “Regrettably.”
Josh knew SEALs never showed up unprepared. They would have brought their own vehicles. He looked at the capacitor charge. It might not matter. If they shut down the reactors, game over.
Langley
Carl heard the SEAL Commander report that the helicopter had a bad transmission and they would go up the mountain using the snowcats. Buster, frowning, began to pace, chewing his gum loudly. Carl relayed the situation to Davidson.
Mount Howe
“Which one of you is Christoff Bobinski?”
Bobinski and his men had been sipping coffee with their feet propped up on the consoles when the SEALS burst in. Now, they were all lying face down on the floor. Bobinski raised his hand.
The SEAL Team Leader said, “Get up, but don’t make any sudden moves.”
Bobinski stood up slowly. Having served in the Russian army, he knew he was facing a Navy SEAL. He also recognized the subdued rank insignia, Senior Chief Petty Officer.
The Senior Chief said slowly and clearly, “We have a nuclear engineer and reactor expert with us. I need you to shut down the reactors and kill the power to the mountaintop. Do you understand?”
Bobinski said, “Sure, but if we kill reactors, it will get very dark and cold.”
The Senior Chief looked at his expert. The young engineer said, “There’s a backup generator. If we need to, we can turn the reactors back on later.”
Bobinski nodded and casually went over to the main control panel with the engineer. One SEAL went with them. The Senior Chief and the third SEAL stayed back, where they could cover everyone. He told Bobinski, “Shut it down, but don’t touch anything on that control panel without telling him.” He pointed to his young engineer. To the engineer, he said, “Check every step.”
Bobinski picked up a clipboard in Russian and referring to it said, “First, we increase the cooling and make sure SCRAM interlocks are ready.” The young engineer nodded as Bobinski leaned forward to comply.
After five minutes of the slow step-by-step process, the Senior Chief interrupted, “How long’s this going to take?”
Bobinski stopped and turned around slowly. “To shut down safely by procedure, about hour.”
The young engineer nodded. “That’s probably reasonable for a normal shut down.”
The SEAL team leader said, “That’s not acceptable! We need this thing offline now. I know these things can be shut down in an emergency faster than that.”
The engineer said, “Yes, we can SCRAM the reactor. That drops graphite control rods into the core, absorbing the neutrons and stopping the reaction, but we might not be able to get it started again.”
The Senior Chief, looking at the young engineer like he was an idiot, said, “I don’t care. SCRAM it!”
The engineer turned to Bobinski.
Bobinski shrugged his shoulders, “OK.” He pointed at the large red button at the t
op of the control panel. The young engineer reached toward it. He looked back at the Senior Chief, and then pushed it.
A very loud alarm startled all of them.
After a few seconds the SEAL asked, “Is it shut down?”
The engineer, looking carefully at the control panel indicators, said, “No. The rods failed to drop. The alarm is indicating a SCRAM failure. If I’m reading this right, this reactor is at full power and it’s over-temping!”
The Senior Chief said, “Shut that noise off!”
Bobinski, complied, shutting the alarm off, and said with a half-smile, “Dah, she’s like Russian woman, hard to turn on, but once on, very hard to turn off.”
The young engineer and Senior Chief weren’t amused.
Bobinski continued more seriously. “We have trouble with reactors. They were damaged during transport. Cold weather hasn’t helped.”
The SEAL team leader said to both of them, “I don’t care what you have to do, shut it down and shut it down now!”
The engineer looked at Bobinski almost pleadingly. Bobinski glanced quickly at one of the repeater monitors. It showed the capacitors were at 92 percent charge. “We must do emergency manual shutdown.”
The young engineer said, “I assume the SCRAM button on the other reactor is also malfunctioning?”
Bobinski shrugged. “We can try it.”
The Senior Chief leaned over to the engineer and said quietly, “Are they stringing us along?”
Frowning, he whispered back, “Remember Chernobyl? They really don’t seem to worry that much about fail-safes. This thing appears to have none.”
The SEAL said to Bobinski, “How long will the emergency manual shutdown take?”
Bobinski turned around slowly and said, “If you quit asking questions and pointing guns at us, we can shut it down in about 10 minutes.” Of course, 10 maintenance minutes were very different than SEAL minutes.
Langley
The SEALs reported that they were having technical difficulties with the reactor shut down, and the other team had discovered the snowcats were missing parts. Carl heard Buster swear and spit out his gum. Buster then walked over to the control console where a Navy liaison officer sat. They talked quietly.
Mount Howe
It had been 20 minutes since the C-17 landed. The capacitors were at 94 percent, but they’d lost all contact with the base camp. Josh hated standing around waiting. He took a cup of coffee to Chandra. “Victoria, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your trust. I know it hasn’t been easy.”
She turned to Josh with raised eyebrows. “Actually, the message I got said, and I quote, ‘Fuze is dangerous and a threat to national security.’” She shrugged. “I’ve been in the government my entire career. I know things can go terribly wrong in a bureaucracy. But this is the weirdest program I’ve ever been a part of.”
Josh, looking apologetic, didn’t know what to say.
Chandra tapped her finger against her lips as if thinking. “Let’s see, listen to a faceless bureaucrat on a satellite link, or believe a combat-decorated carrier captain and a madman who throws himself off cliffs to save people?” She shook her head. “That’s a tough one.”
Josh shook his head with a smile. “You and Katori are amazing, and the way you work under pressure....”
“Pressure?” She shook her head dismissively as she sat down at her computer. “I have three teenagers at home.”
Antarctic Ocean
In the twilight off the Antarctic coast, the bow of the guided missile destroyer crashed through 20-foot swells. The Captain of the USS Truxton was standing in her ship’s Combat Information Center when the message came in. As she read it, her body automatically swayed to compensate for the ship’s pitch and roll. They were in the middle of one of the polar cyclones that frequented the Antarctic Ocean. The storm’s wind and waves were within the ship’s launch parameters, but it made for a rough ride. She checked and rechecked the authorization code, and then gave the order.
Two Tomahawk cruise missiles exploded out of the destroyer’s deck cells. They climbed out of a boiling orange ball of flame, their fiery exhaust illuminating the ship’s deck and the dark rolling sea around it. As the missiles jettisoned their rocket boosters, small wings popped out and their turbine engines spun up. They both turned south and accelerated.
The Captain sent back the launch confirmation. She grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to watch the missile’s progress on the big display. They had positioned themselves as close to the Antarctic coast as possible, but the cruise missiles still had a 700-mile journey. She looked at the countdown timer. In an hour and 15 minutes, the missiles would deliver two 1,000-pound, high-explosive warheads to their target with an accuracy measured in inches.
Her Executive Officer joined her. Watching the missiles’ progress on the screen, he said what she was thinking, “I have a hard time imagining what we need to blow up at the South Pole, but the CIA must know what they’re doing.” He handed her a piece of paper. “Check this message out. We’re going to be joined by friends in this God forsaken place.”
After reading it, the Captain looked up at her XO with surprise. “Reagan and her entire Carrier Battle Group?”
Mount Howe
Fifteen minutes had elapsed. The Senior Chief was angry. “Forget about the reactors! I want the power to the mountaintop cut off!”
Bobinski said, “We can do that but it wouldn’t be wise before we shut reactor down.”
“And why is that?”
“Reactors are putting out 11 megawatts of power. If we don’t shut down reactor first, where will that heat go?”
The engineer chimed in, “He’s right. This thing’s running in the red. It’s over-temping at full power. It should have already shut itself down. If we pull the load suddenly, without any way to SCRAM it, it could go critical and melt the core.”
The Senior Chief said, “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The engineer looked at him incredulously. “A core meltdown with an explosive release of radioactive uranium. If the explosion doesn’t kill us, we’ll die of radiation poisoning before they can get us out of here. There’s no place to run.”
Frustrated, the Senior Chief let loose with a long string of expletives, finally ending with, “Just finish what you’re doing!”
Bobinski smiled to himself. He started life as a language major and was impressed. He hadn’t realized the grammatical versatility of the worst word in the English language. The SEAL had effectively used it as an interjection, noun, verb and adjective, all in one sentence.
Bobinski overheard the Senior Chief call his Commander. He reported that they had to shut the reactors down before they could cut the power. Bobinski was close enough that he heard the reply. “We’re on our way to the top. I don’t care what you have to do. The power will be off before we get there. Is that understood?”
51
CHECKMATE
It had been 30 minutes since the C-17 landed. Josh was startled when the door opened. Cho came inside, accompanied by a blast of bone-chilling air. He closed the door and pulled his parka hood back. Shivering, he said, “I aligned that sucker, and she looks good, but I didn’t have time to check the continuity of all the power circuits.”
Katori nodded.
Josh watched Cho pick his way back toward his laptop, gingerly squeezing his large frame between tables and cables. As he sat down, he said to no one in particular, “It’s definitely going to work!” Then, with a quick furtive glance around, he made the sign of the cross over his chest.
The Senior Chief glanced at his watch, and with a calm but deadly voice, said to Bobinski, “It’s been 20 minutes, why isn’t it off?”
Before Bobinski could respond, the Senior Chief said, “I think you’re lying.” He looked at his engineer and said, “Kill the power.”
The engineer shook his head and started to say, “That would be extremely dangerous....”
The Senior Chief ignored him and walk
ed over to Petrov, who was sitting in front of the power distribution panel. He asked, “Do you understand me?”
Petrov nodded and said, “Yes.”
Slowly and clearly, he said, “Shut the power off now.”
Petrov shook his head no.
The SEAL took his pistol out, pulled the slide back and put it to Petrov’s head. Calmly, but with steel in his voice, he said, “Shut the power off or die.”
Petrov saw the capacitor charge at 97 percent. Keeping eye contact with the SEAL, he slowly reached up on his control panel and flipped a breaker.
The lights in the control room went out.
In the dark, Bobinski flipped the SCRAM alarm override switch. As the ear splitting alarm began to howl, Bobinski yelled, “Oh my God! Reactor’s going critical! She’s melting down! Everyone to get out! Now!”
Josh, suddenly felt anxious. The heaters and the electronics made a lot of background noise, but he heard a sound outside. They were out of time. Instinctively, he moved to the wall on the hinge side of the door. With his sensitive hearing and a little more, he knew a split second before—
The door burst open and two SEAL commandos rushed in with submachine guns in front of them. One went left, one right.
Once again, as his adrenaline flowed, time slowed. Josh moved behind the first SEAL with superhuman speed. With the agility of a magician, he unlatched and pulled the SEAL’s pistol from its holster. As the man started to spin to his right, Josh had the nine-millimeter pressed against his neck.
Impact (Fuzed Trilogy Book 1) Page 32