Quickly they climbed around the tower and down into the billowing clouds of vapour. The stench was unbelievable: the high concentration of hydrogen sulphide made the chasm stink like it was filled with rotten eggs and not molten rock. But Rose knew that there was more than just a bad smell rising from the chasm. Silent killers like carbon monoxide, and hydrogen chloride that would dissolve in the moisture of their eyes and throat to form hydrochloric acid could finish them off just as quickly as any Nagas.
‘Hold your breath if you can,’ he hissed. ‘Otherwise breathe shallow. We’ll be through the worst of it soon.’
They were in the clouds for less than a minute, but that was long enough. Rose’s eyes stung from the noxious fumes and the exposed skin on his hands was itchy and raw.
They climbed down until at last they could jump onto the jagged black rock of the cavern floor.
‘Stay low,’ Rose warned. ‘Follow the lip of the rift as far as you can. And stay out of those damn clouds.’
They hurried along the lip of the rift. Years of volcanic activity and lava splatter had formed a ridge that ran along the edge of the rift. Rose hoped it would give them enough cover to avoid being spotted by the Nagas on the other side. As they made their way back towards the exit by the underground river, Rose looked for somewhere to hide the case. He needed a spot within easy reach, but somewhere where the Asuras would not find it. If they retrieved the case and managed to disarm it, then all their efforts would have been for nothing! He unslung the case from his webbing and kept it handy, ready to stash it somewhere amongst the jagged tephra.
Their tactics worked, for a while. They were all but invisible to the hordes of Nagas on the other bank of the subterranean cleft, but they were totally exposed to eyes that watched them from above.
A roar from the tower made Rose turn. One of the two remaining Asuras stood on a balcony high above the cavern floor. It bellowed out its commands to the masses below like some demonic legate reading a papal bull. It was a call to arms for the mass of Nagas.
‘Go, go, go!’ Rose shouted. ‘Get the hell out of here. Head for the river as quick as you can!’
The time for subtlety was gone. They ran for their lives. It was now a foot race. They had a head start and shorter route but it would still be a close run thing. Rose had no idea how long it would take the Nagas to figure out a way across the rift, but sooner of later he knew they would. The Nagas were relentless, remorseless. They would not stop until they had carried out their masters’ orders to the letter.
They charged through fields of pumice so soft it kicked up in their wake like powder snow. They clambered between house-sized boulders and dodged through showers of half-solidified lava nuggets that rained down after some of the bigger eruptions. The hard edges of the unweathered rock tore at their clothing until they were ripped to rags and then started on the flesh beneath. But they couldn’t stop. Their one chance was to make it to the exit before the Nagas. Rose still had a few grenades, enough to seal the tunnel and prevent the Nagas from following them.
If they could only make it to the tunnel first.
After a few minutes, Rose realised that they weren’t going to make it. Underneath the buzzing high of the adrenaline, their bodies were bruised and half-starved. They were tiring quickly and their pace slowed.
The cavern floor broke up into plates separated by fissures that varied in width from hairline cracks to miniature versions of the rift behind them over three yards wide. Tej led them through the maze, picking his way through by memory and instinct. They leapt the smaller fissures and jumped from boulder to boulder, using them like stepping stones across the larger chasms that threatened to trap them.
Then tragedy struck.
They were running across a field of fragile pumice. Ahead of them only one more fissure lay between them and the bedrock that curved up to fall the walls of the cavern. Tej had already reached the fissure and found a way across. Garrett and Rose brought up the rear.
Whether it was the passage of so many feet over the soft rock, or just bad luck they would never know, but suddenly Garrett’s foot punched through a soft spot in the frothy rock. The crust cracked and the material underneath was little more than a confection of rock powder and he sank in up to his knee: falling flat on his face and wrenching his knee badly.
As he fell forwards the case slipped from his grasp and sailed through the air. Rose watched in horror—unable to do anything as it bounced off hard rock and disappeared over the edge of the rift!
Garrett quickly clambered out of the pumice and ran to the edge of the rift. It’s over, Rose thought. The anti-matter bomb was not like a regular explosive. Any second now the hot lava would melt through the aluminium casing and the technology that held the antimatter in suspension would disappear in a flash of vaporised metal.
‘I can see it!’ Garrett shouted. ‘It’s not in the lava. There’s a kind of ledge.’
The others raced over to him. Garrett was right: a narrow ledge of solidified rock ran alongside the river of lava that filled the bottom of the rift. At some time in the past the level of the flow had been higher. When the lava retreated it left behind a beach of cooling rock on either side. The bright aluminium case lay on the rock only a few feet from where the lava lapped and splattered. But it was a three-story drop between the cavern floor and the bottom of the rift.
‘I’ll get it,’ said Garrett and went to climb down. But Rose grabbed his shoulder.
‘You’ll only break your damn neck. Those sides are too sheer.’
‘Then what? We can’t just leave it there. Not after all we’ve been through.’
‘Can’t we detonate it remotely?’ Khamas asked.
‘Not without the transmitter,’ Rose replied.
The roar of the approaching Nagas was getting louder. They didn’t have much time.
‘Tej,’ Rose said, ‘—lead them out of here. That’s an order.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Tej asked, although the answer was clear.
‘I’ll hold them off as long as I can and then I’ll throw it into the lava. You should have enough time to get to the lake cavern before it blows.’
‘It’s suicide!’ Khamas exclaimed.
‘It’s necessary. Now go on, get out of here!’
But before anyone could stop him Garrett leaped over the edge of the rift and began to climb down.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Rose shouted after him, but Garrett was too concentrated on his climb. The sides were a build-up of years of lava splatter: frothy, explosive gobs of rock that had solidified where they’d hit. They were no more solid than the friable pumice plain they had just crossed. Garrett was not so much climbing as controlling his slide into the rift as the rock crumbled beneath every attempted hand and foothold. He fell the last couple of yards, landing awkwardly and almost stumbling into the river of lava, but he was down. He grabbed the case and held it up triumphantly like a trophy. He made a half-hearted attempt to climb back out, but it was no use. As soon as he put his weight onto the rock it crumbled beneath him. He was just tearing gouges into the soft material without gaining any height at all.
‘Garrett you fool!’ Rose shouted.
‘Now then, Captain!’ Garrett chided him. ‘Allow a man to pay for his own mistakes. The plan is unchanged; get out of here. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.’
Rose’s mind raced. There must be some other way! But the rift was too deep. There was no way Garrett could climb back out or even throw the case up to them. They were out of tricks and fast running out of time.
‘You’re a brave man, Mister Garrett,’ Khamas called. He flung his rifle down into the rift for Garrett to catch.
‘Garrett is right,’ said the Major. ‘We have to go and we have to go now! Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.’
Rose nodded sullenly. ‘Goodbye Garrett, and thank you.’
‘You’re welcome, Captain. Now bugger off, there’s a good chap.’
; Rose threw Garrett a quick salute and then led the band of four around the rift and towards the way out.
Garrett watched the men as on-by-one they disappeared from the top of the rift.
‘Rupert you bloody fool, what have you let yourself in for this time?’ he asked himself.
He inspected his surroundings. He was standing on a narrow ledge only a couple of metres wide. A similar ledge ran along the other side of the rift and in between was a wide crack at the bottom of which lava flowed. The heat was tremendous! No matter—he would not have to stand it for long.
One end of the rift narrowed until its edges came together to enfold the lava river, forcing it underground. That was the path Rose and the others had taken.
In the other direction the rift widened until it was about ten metres across. Half way along its length a narrowing of the central cleft would allow him to cross over onto the far bank.
That’s it, he thought, Rupert Garrett’s last stand!
Wincing from the pain in his wrenched knee he jogged heavily along the ledge. He leaped the narrows and the blast-furnace heat from below, and continued as far up the bank as he could. The noise from the Nagas grew louder.
Not long now, he thought.
He placed the case down at the edge of the cleft. It would need only a kick to send it down to the lava below. Certain that he would not fail in that final duty, he checked the clip in his borrowed SCAR and waited.
He did not have to wait long before the first Nagas peered over the lip of the ravine. Barely a minute had passed since the others had left; the Nagas were right on their tail. The monster screeched for its comrades before climbing head-first down the ravine.
Garrett waited until it was almost at the pinch point in the river of lava. That would be the killing field. The heavy rifle bucked hard against his shoulder and a couple of rounds went wide, but one found its mark. That was enough to knock the creature off balance and it fell into the river of molten rock.
More followed and Garrett was soon busy. He knew that he couldn’t hold them off forever, but every second took his friends farther away from the cavern. Every second gave them that much more of a chance. Garrett owed them every instant that he could wring from the situation and if each instant meant another Nagas fell the so much the better.
Garrett fired into the mass that now swarmed down the face of the rift. Soon the bodies of the dead would clog the narrows building a bridge of charred and steaming corpses fro the others to cross. He thought of Morcellet, clinging on with the last of his strength even as the bullets had torn into his mangled body. He had hated the Frenchman for that at first. With his last breath Morcellet had lumbered Garrett with a debt that could never be repaid. Only now did he realise that some debts were not meant to be repaid. Or rather that ledger could only be balanced by paying the act forward. He could not bring Morcellet back, but by his bravery the Frenchman had kept Garrett alive. And by doing so had given Garrett the opportunity to save Rose and the others.
Garrett ran the SCAR dry and switched to the Remington. The storm of flechettes pushed the Nagas back for a few more seconds until that too ran out of ammunition. He was left with only the P9. He had intended to save the last round for himself: a last luxury, a chance to cheat the Nagas of their sport.
‘Fuck it,’ he swore and emptied the handgun into the mob.
The slide sprung back as the handgun emptied and Garrett tossed it casually aside. He picked up the case and flung it into the river of lava. It sat on top of a crust of semi-molten rock for a second before up ending like a sinking ship and slipping beneath the slag.
Calm flooded him. He had done everything he could. He could feel the Nagas as they clawed their way towards him. But their terrible screeches meant nothing now.
Garrett watched as the lava covered the last corner of the case, oblivious to the monsters that charged towards him.
There was an instant of silence.
There was a lifetime of noise and heat and white light packed into a single heartbeat, and then all was quiet once more.
CHAPTER 36
Rose was wading through the subterranean river when it hit. There was the sudden sensation of weight as the rock surged upwards beneath his feet and then he was falling. The world around him disintegrated: water rock and air were no longer distinct, but rather one surging, tumbling mass.
Then the noise slammed into him like a physical force, a screaming banshee scarifying his last remaining sense. There was no up or down, no light, no air: there was only the pressure, the noise and the heat. Rose could not catch his breath, think or control his tumbling fall. All he could do was exist, and that not for much longer.
The pressure built, squeezing the air from his lungs. His blood throbbed at his temples.
Suddenly he could see. For a second he even managed to snatch a breath before something smacked him hard across the back and forced him to spill his precious mouthful of air.
He was in water now. The bubbles in front of him snaked upwards through grey clouds of dust that rose from his body like steam. He followed them upwards until he burst through the silvery surface of the water and caught a delicious, shuddering gasp of air.
Tej surfaced next to him: then Khamas and the Major. They were back in the lake cavern. The explosion had ripped open the lava tube. A great triangular crack split the dome of the cavern wall and the river surged through it, tumbling into the lake as a great, dirty cataract.
The whole mountain shook. Waves surged across the lake, white-caps breaking over their heads as the four men bobbed in the water. Chunks of rock the size of semi-trailers broke free from the dome above and plunged into the lake raising geysers of white spray eight metres high.
‘The whole place is collapsing!’ Khamas shouted.
‘Which way is the beach?’ the Major asked. ‘I can’t see anything but these damn waves!’
Rose put the shattered lava tube at his back and waited for a big wave. As it lifted him up he caught a glimpse of the beach and the tunnel that led out of the mountain.
‘It’s gone,’ he said. ‘That whole wall is just a pile of rocks.’
A shard of black granite the size of a stealth bomber dove into the water only metres away. The wave formed by its passing threatened to scatter them, but they managed to stay together.
‘Head for the central spire!’ Rose shouted. ‘Get under the opening in the roof. It’s the safest place.’
Just then the cavern rumbled and a plume of steam shot out of the shattered lava tube behind them. The billowing cloud poured out from the depths of the mountain. It was never-ending, as if the whole river had been suddenly vaporised.
‘The spire! Now!’ Rose shouted as the clouds arched up towards the roof of the cavern.
Then the cataract started to flow once more, but it was no longer water spilling into the lake. A river of molten rock spewed from the shattered lava tube. Thousands of litres of water were instantly flash-vaporised; the effect was like a bomb going off as the water vapour expanded outwards like the shockwave from a never-ending explosion. Gobs of lava the size of grapefruit peppered the water around them’. Clouds rolled over them as they swam for their lives: thick, stinging clouds of water vapour mixed with hydrochloric acid. The mineral-rich lake water breaking down in the intense heat to form a caustic cocktail of corrosive gasses.
Rose swam as fast as he could. It was getting difficult to breathe as the clouds grew denser. His eyes burned and each heaving breath between strokes felt like he was inhaling hot sand. The vapour rose upwards to condense in the cool air near the opening in the roof and fell back on them as acid rain.
The water was getting hotter. On the other side of the cavern another plume of lava haze exploded upwards as the rocks cracked and bled. Rose could sense a vibration through the water as if the entire mountain was ready to blow its top.
By the time they reached the central spire the water was already uncomfortably hot. As Rose climbed higher he saw parts of the lake bubbli
ng. Lava still poured in from the shattered lava tube and a dozen other places around the cavern.
‘The whole lake is boiling!’ Tej shouted. ‘We need to get higher.’
He was right. Vapour from the lake and the poisonous lava haze was rapidly filling the cavern. Their only chance was to make it to the clearer air above.
The spire lurched beneath their feet. Whatever geological upheaval the explosion had stated was far from over.
‘Watch out for loose ice!’ Rose shouted. The upper slopes of the spire were coated with slick ice where the water vapour had condensed against the cold rock near the roof opening. Now it was dangerously unstable. Rivulets of melt water ran across the surface and the rock beneath was getting hotter all the time.
A sheet of ice the size of a pool table slid from its setting above and spun towards them. It flashed past Tej, missed cutting him in half by centimetres before shattering into a thousand tinkling shards.
Rose climbed as fast as he could. He avoided the icier sections where he could and stuck to the black rock which was getting hotter by the second. The entire cavern was now filled with dense fog. It stung their eyes, forcing Rose to peer through a painful squint. But he didn’t need to see very far. He climbed by feel, gliding instinctively from hold to hold.
The heat from below was terrific. He risked a quick look down. The fog below them had a cherry glow, backlit by the primordial fire below. The whole lake was gone now; or rather it had been replaced by a lake of fire. The tranquil cavern that had stood unchanged for three thousand years would soon be gone: buried forever under a million tonnes of cooling slag. Campbell, Carver, the Major’s men—entombed forevermore.
He could see light ahead; they must be near to the summit of the spire, but there was still no release from the stinging clouds.
With a roar from below the entire spire sagged sideways. The foundations of the ancient monolith were being melted out from under it. Soon it would sink into the lake of fire.
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