Project Aura

by Bob Mayer

  *****

  The first load of American commandos off-loaded on the roof, immediately blowing holes in the ceiling, and clearing their way down.

  Farruco and his men were beating a hasty retreat across the back lawn, firing as they went. An Apache gunship raced by, thirty-millimeter cannon spitting bullets, killing half of Farruco's gunslingers before they reached the relative safety of the jungle.

  Two more lifts of commandos off-loaded on the roof. Thirty men were in the villa.

  From his vantage point Kirtley could see the action, but he made no move. The plan had been for him to redirect the commandos to capture the Aura transmitter, which Boreas had expected to be located nearby. Given that it was in space, he was at a loss what to do now.

  He started in surprise as he sensed a shift in his link to Sybyl. Against his will, he was being drawn back. The villa disappeared and he was in total blackness.

  *****

  The first Blackhawk carefully gained altitude, lifting the cargo net full of isolation tubes off the grate. Jackson and Barnes had managed to put six in that net. The second bird dropped its net and they quickly spread it out. The unknown helicopters were three minutes away and closing.

  ****

  Valika turned on the Aura generator. Despite her warning, the men inside the helicopter bay were startled when Raisor's image appeared, floating half in and half out of the left side door, just in front of Valika.

  "We're three minutes out," Valika informed him

  *****

  The F-15 was shuddering as it passed through fifty thousand feet altitude. The pilot was linked to Space Command in Colorado Springs, which had a lock on the target satellite and was relaying the data to his targeting computer. In turn, the computer was automatically downloading updates to the ALMV every second.

  *****

  The second sling load was attached to the bottom of the Blackhawk, then Roby carefully maneuvered the chopper away from the platform and down, until his cargo door was level with the metal grate. The crew chief waved for Jackson and Barnes to get on board.

  "What about the sergeant major?" Roby asked as soon as Jackson put on a headset.

  "He said to come back for him after we deliver this load," Jackson said.

  Roby shook his head, but he added power, moving up and away from the mountainside. He cursed as something flashed by, coming around the side of the mountain, narrowly missing. Another helicopter. The equally surprised crew of that chopper swerved away, then continued to the platform, disgorging a swarm of armed men.

  "What the hell?" Roby muttered, but he didn't have time to contemplate the scene below any longer as a second Huey came around the mountain and someone leaned out the side and fired an MP-5 on full automatic at his Blackhawk.

  Roby banked hard, working to keep from losing the slingload, and headed to the south. One of the Hueys tried to follow but it was no match for the speed of the more modern Blackhawk, even one carrying a sling load.

  After five minutes of chase, the Huey gave up and turned back.

  *****

  "Are you clear yet?" Cesar demanded of Farruco over the SATPhone.

  "Yes. We're in the jungle."

  Cesar turned to Souris. "Do it"

  *****

  The F-15 peaked out at seventy thousand feet the air no longer thick enough to keep the engine firing. Just before stalling, the pilot hit the release for the ALMV. The eight-foot-long rocket separated; the first stage ignited and it roared toward the darkness of space as the F-15 rolled over and headed back toward Earth, the pilot nursing his engine to keep it from flaming out.

  *****

  "It's going to take several minutes for his body to warm up enough to bring him back in completely," Hammond said.

  They both turned as a thunderous explosion echoed down the entrance tunnel into the control room. Alarms began stridently ringing. Dalton pulled his pistol out of its holster and chambered a round.

  *****

  Souris hit the Enter key and the signal left the antenna.

  *****

  The seeker on the nose of the ALMV picked up the energy in the Aura IV satellite. It closed at over five thousand miles an hour.

  The uplink hit the satellite and the battery surged, adding power to the downlink just as the ALMV slammed into the satellite. The kinetic energy of mass times the extreme velocity resulted in complete disintegration of the satellite.

  Space Command recorded the hit.

  *****

  "You've got to go back for Dalton," Barnes insisted.

  Roby was concentrating on flying. "Hauling a sling load reduces options greatly. We'd be sitting ducks. Even a pig Huey could fly circles around me right now. I can only outrun them going straight."

  "We've got to get the isolation tubes hooked back up," Jackson said. "The sergeant major told me to do this."

  "Where are we going?" Barnes changed the subject

  "Cheyenne Mountain," Roby said. He could see the first helicopter ahead of them, the red cargo netting holding the iso-tubes and other equipment hanging below. It was hard to believe there were living people inside of the dark tubes.

  "Space Command?" Jackson was surprised Dalton would have picked that as the place to bring the iso-tubes.

  "Not Space Command," Roby answered. "The west side of the mountain. We'll drop the load and go back for the sergeant major."

  "Who the hell were those people?" Barnes asked and received no response.

  Jackson wanted to know what was on the west side of Cheyenne Mountain, but she figured she would see soon enough for herself.

  *****

  Dalton checked the security monitor. A half dozen men dressed in black were slipping through the hole ripped in the vault door. He had no clue who they were, but their method of entry left no doubt that they would not be friendly when they reached the control center.

  "How long before you can pull Kirtley?"

  "Three minutes."

  "Set the controls to refreeze. We have to leave him," Dalton said. "We don't have three minutes."

  "We can't-"

  "Do it," Dalton cut Hammond off. "It's his only chance."

  Hammond quickly entered the commands, having Sybyl reverse the process.

  "Where are your technicians?" Dalton asked.

  "In their billets along the main corridor. I always clear the control room once people go over. Standard procedure, since I can run everything through Sybyl."

  "How many?"

  "Eight people."

  Dalton saw it was too late for Hammond's support team. The main corridor was already half overrun. As he watched on the monitor, one of Hammond's white-coated techs stepped out of a door to be instantly cut down with a burst of automatic weapon fire.

  Dalton turned to Hammond. "There has to be a main air shaft for this place. Something that comes out on the mountain other than the main entrance."

  "I don't know," Hammond said.

  Dalton knew they didn't have time to stand around and think. One of the tenets he'd learned early in his military career was that action, even the wrong one, was better than standing around in the kill zone, which is what the control room was going to become in about a minute.

  "Come on." He ran toward the service elevator. Hammond pulled a thumb drive out of the mainframe before following.

  The door slowly slid open when he hit the button.

  "Sergeant Major and Dr. Hammond."

  Dalton spun about in surprise at the familiar voice. Raisor's image was floating in the air behind them. Dalton didn't hesitate, pressing the down button. The doors slid shut.

  Raisor appeared inside. "Can't get rid of me that easily. You both should know that" He pointed at Hammond. "You cut me off."

  "I ordered her to," Dalton said. "You disregarded the mission." He was watching the numbers click as the elevator descended.

  "No, I was doing my mission. You have no idea what's going on here, do you?"

  "I don't think you do either," Dalton answered.
The elevator came to a halt. The doors opened. The cavern that had housed Sybyl III was in front of them. The generators still hummed, providing power to Sybyl IV. "You know who betrayed your sister, don't you?"

  "McFairn," Raisor said.

  Dalton laughed at the image floating in front of him, while his eyes darted about, searching. "Who's McFairn?"

  "Deputy Director of the NSA."

  The generators were diesel. There had to be a duct bringing in fresh air for them and removing the exhaust. "McFairn is just a puppet. Your sister discovered something about HAARP. About the Priory. That's your real enemy. And my enemy too. Do you trust these people you’re with? Do you know who they are? Who they work for?" Dalton asked as he headed toward the generators, Hammond close by his side.

  "I don't have to trust them,” Raisor said. “They're giving me back my body. I know for sure I don't trust you.”

  "Fine. I recommend you go back then and make sure everything's all right because I left charges on all the tubes." Dalton checked his watch. "Set to go off in two minutes. That will guarantee you never get back to your body, because it will be in a thousand pieces."

  Raisor's image snapped out.

  "Come on," Dalton was ripping off a panel on a large tube that ran behind the rows of generators, connected to each by several rubber hoses. He was greeted with the stench of diesel exhaust. The tube was three feet in diameter. A tight fit.

  "Cut off the generators," he told Hammond.

  She threw the master switch and a sudden silence filled the cavern. Then there was a hum as the rows of backup batteries kicked in power. Dalton stuck his head in. Utter darkness. "Let's go."

  *****

  Raisor appeared in the room containing his sister's team and his own tube. Valika and her mercenaries were searching the operations center. He heard another burst of automatic weapons firing as he searched for the charges. Nothing.

  The Russian saw him. "What do we need to take with us?"

  Dalton had lied about the charges. Raisor would have laughed if he were capable of it. Still, he had what he had come for. He pointed. "My sister's tube. And mine. And the master computer. I'll show you. And there are two people trying to escape in the generator room. You might want to go down there and stop them."

  Valika ran toward the freight elevator, calling for several of the mercenaries to come with her. She ordered others to work with Raisor, who was now behind the command console.

  "The power's been cut off" Raisor said. "We're running on backup batteries. You need to restart the generators."

  Valika acknowledged that as the elevator doors shut.

  She rode down to the lowest level. As soon as the door began opening, she jumped through, weapon at the ready. "Search," she ordered as she made her way to the generators, weapon sweeping back and forth. She saw that the master switch was off. She flipped it back up and the room filled with the roar of the diesel engines.

  "Here!" one of the merks yelled from behind the generators.

  Valika ran around to where he was pointing. She coughed at the foul fumes that were pouring out of the removed panel.

  *****

  Dalton heard the sound of the generators starting. "Go!" he shoved Hammond not too gently. He had no idea how far it was to the outlet. They were scrambling as quickly as they could, but it was difficult in the narrow tube.

  He bumped into Hammond's rear as she suddenly halted.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Do you hear it?"

  "Hear what?"

  "There's something just ahead of us. Something running."

  Dalton tried to hear over the roar of the generators reverberating up the tube. He caught the first whiff of exhaust fumes. She was right. A rhythmic sound ahead.

  "A fan," Hammond said. "There's got to be a fan pulling the exhaust out. Geez, I could have run right into it"

  "We can't stay here."

  "I don't know where the fan is," Hammond said. "I can't see a damn thing."

  "We need to go forward." Dalton squeezed up against Hammond, trying to get by. Their bodies pressed tight together and he inched by her. Once past, he began moving. "Come on." He focused all his senses forward, keying on the sound of the fan, hearing it get closer, feeling the air moving on his cheeks getting stronger. As was the smell of the diesel exhaust.

  Soon he knew they were close to the fan. The sound of it turning was louder than the generators, filling the tube. He could feel the backwash from it. A dozen feet away. Maybe less. He edged forward.

  Stop.

  For a second Dalton thought it was Hammond who had spoken.

  Now.

  He knew that voice better than any other, but it was inside his head. Marie. Dalton stopped.

  A drop.

  He reached forward with his hand. The floor of the tube abruptly ended less than a foot in front of him. Feeling about, Dalton realized the tube made a ninety-degree turn down. If he’d continued, he'd have fallen in, to meet the fan, which was just below.

  Dalton pulled his pistol out and pointed it downward, hoping he was aiming for the center. He fired, shifting aim slightly each time he pulled the trigger. He heard several of the rounds hit metal. The seventh one did the trick, hitting the motor in the center of the fan. It stuttered to a halt.

  Dalton could hear Hammond coughing. He felt lightheaded and very calm. He knew both were a bad sign. The lack of anxiety meant his mind was starting to shut down from the exhaust poisoning.

  Reholstering his pistol, Dalton edged his feet over and lowered himself until he came in contact with one of the blades of the fan. He put more weight on it until it was holding all of his. Of course, he had no idea how the drop was below the fan.

  Slide.

  "Come on," Dalton called to Hammond. He reached up. "Give me your hand."

  He searched in the darkness and then finally felt her flesh. He gripped it and pulled her toward him, despite her screech of protest. He held her weight in his arms. "We have to slide between the blades."

  "'Slide’?" Hammond coughed. "Are you crazy? It's a straight drop, God knows how far."

  "We’ll be safe. I know."

  There was no answer. Dalton shook Hammond and she stirred, muttering something. He lowered her between the blades and let go. Then he followed.

  He dropped straight for about ten feet then hit the side of the tube. As he slid he realized it was curving back to the horizontal. He put his arms and legs out trying to slow down, afraid of slamming into Hammond when the tube reached the end.

  Despite his efforts, he hit her hard, slamming her up against a grate. He felt fresh, cold air on his face.

  *****

  Raisor had wanted to go back to his body before they left Bright Gate, but Valika denied him that option. She had seen the two Blackhawks leaving as they arrived and was sure some sort of alert had already been broadcast and reinforcements were most likely on their way. She had her mercenaries racing about, unhooking Sybyl and moving the two designated isolation tubes to the landing grate.

  "What about the others?" she asked Raisor, indicating the tubes containing the rest of the other three teams.

  "According to the computer, the only one who is still technically alive is him." Raisor pointed at Kirtley's tube.

  "Do we need him?" Valika asked.

  "No. And he’ll be lost as soon as you finish unhooking the computer."

  She tucked the stock of the MP-5 in her shoulder and aimed at the tube. She fired a sustained burst, shattering the tube and freeing the freezing liquid. An alarm went off and a yellow warning light began flashing. One of the ancillary computer monitors flickered and came on. A man's face appeared.

  "Dr. Hammond." Kirtley's voice came out of the computer's speakers, his face appearing on the display.

  Raisor and Valika went to the screen.

  "If you are seeing this," the man on the screen continued, "something has gone wrong and I am dead. I warned you not to do anything to me. You should have taken me more seriously." />
  Valika looked from the screen to the body half- hanging out of the tube she had just shot "It's him," she said, pointing. She had a very bad feeling about this, which was immediately confirmed as the man on the screen continued talking.

  "If this program is activated, it means that life signs from my isolation tube have flat-lined. That you've killed me. So in keeping with my warning, I will now kill you and everyone else in the facility." The face on the screen smiled and his right hand appeared, holding a watch. "Sixty seconds. How does it feel to know you only have a minute of life left?"

  Valika didn't wait to see any more. "Bomb! Evacuate!" she screamed at the mercenaries as she raced toward the exit. They dropped what they were doing and followed her.

  Raisor didn't run. The tube containing his body was on a cart near the door to the corridor--abandoned. Along with the Aura generator that was giving him what little power he had. He looked at the screen.

  "Fifty seconds," Kirtley said. "I have to assume, though, that is more time than you gave me when you did whatever it is you did to me."

  Raisor reached out and flowed into the computer. Perhaps whatever Kirtley had planned was being run by the computer and he could stop it. He sped along electronic pathways, searching.

  "Forty seconds. I was recruited by the Priory. Do you know that?" Kirtley's voice echoed in the now empty control room, but inside the computer Raisor could still hear the words. He found the location of the recording, then followed the thread of data to a link with Sybyl's monitoring program. Wrong way, Raisor suddenly realized. This was the direction the alert had come to start the destruct program. He reversed direction.

  "Thirty seconds."

  *****