The rumbling grew louder, and the floor began to shake. Logan glanced out the window. The sky was overcast, filling with dark gray clouds. The HoloPad was suddenly activated, and the image of two short people appeared. One was dressed in white, the other in black.
“Doctors, is everything all right?” Simon asked.
“We have implemented . . .” said the doctor in white.
“The harmonic,” said the doctor in black.
“The energy device . . .”
“Has become overloaded.”
“The island . . .”
“Is not safe.”
“Then shut the device down!” Catherine said.
“We . . .”
“Can’t.”
“The harmonic has caused . . .”
“An unstable standing wave.”
Suddenly, a lightning bolt shot by the window. A moment later another flashed by and then a third. “I don’t think this is what they expected,” Valerie whispered. “It might be our only chance.” She turned and eyed the two guards who were standing nearby with their guns drawn.
“Take these two to the transport dock!” Simon ordered Rashidi. “We will meet you there in ten minutes.”
Simon, Catherine, and Nadine left the room. Rashidi walked over to Logan and pulled him roughly to his feet. The other guards grabbed Valerie and Chetan, and the six of them walked to another door. Two more bolts of electricity flashed by the windows, the sudden light and sonic boom causing the guards to lose their balance for a second. That gave Chetan enough of an opportunity to shove his shoulder into the chest of the guard closest to him, causing him to fall backward. Valerie struck another guard in the throat; he dropped to the floor, unable to breathe, and she immediately snagged his weapon. Shots rang out, and Valerie turned and saw Chetan reel. Valerie fired a round at the guard he’d been struggling with, catching the guard in the head. Rashidi then threw Logan to the side and began firing at Valerie, who dropped to the ground and rolled to safety behind a chair. She fired two rounds, which missed. Rashidi ran to the door, which opened at his approach, an angle-vator waiting outside. Valerie took better aim and fired off three more rounds, but it was too late; her shots struck the closing doors. After seeing Rashidi flee, the guard Valerie had struck in the throat gave up. He stood with his hands raised above his head.
Logan went over and helped Chetan up.
“Are we going after the tall guy with the dreadlocks?” Logan asked, as he walked over with a limping Chetan.
“I’d like to,” Valerie said. “He still has my gun. But we need to leave.
“What’s the fastest way out of here?” she asked Mr. Pastor, as more bolts of electricity flew by the window.
Before he could answer, a call came in on her PCD, and the image of Sylvia was projected. “What is going on out there? We’re detecting electrical readings from your location that are off the charts.”
“They managed to activate the device,” Chetan said. “And also managed to lose control of it.”
“We’re leaving now,” Valerie said.
“You can’t,” Sylvia said. “We are detecting deadly electromagnetic readings all across the globe. Each time a spike takes place on that island, spikes follow instantaneously in other places. Two massive earthquakes just struck. One northeast of Xi’an, China, and the other near East St. Louis, right here in the Federation. Reports of more are coming in.” Sylvia turned her head as Darvis entered the frame and whispered something to her. Her face grew even more concerned.
“What it is?” Valerie asked.
“People are heading to hospitals in droves,” Sylvia said.
“Complaining about headaches again?” Logan asked.
“Not just that,” Sylvia said. “People are dying from them now.”
Logan bowed his head, thinking about his children, Jamie in particular.
“You have to shut that device down right now,” Sylvia said. “You’re at ground zero.”
The HoloPad at the center of the room was activated. Logan motioned to Valerie to look at it. The image of the two doctors reappeared. “Mr. Simon,” one of them said.
“Are you there?” the other one said.
“We’ll get back to you,” Valerie said to Sylvia, shutting down her PCD. She and Logan rushed over to the projection.
“Where is . . .”
“Mr. Simon?”
“He’s abandoned you,” Valerie said. “You need to deal with us now if you want to survive.”
55
Much learning does not require much teaching.
—THE CHRONICLES OF SATRAYA
AMESBURY, U.K., 3:35 P.M. LOCAL TIME, MARCH 26, 2070
“Are you sure this is the Altar of the Bluestones?” Britney asked. “I don’t see anything blue or anything that looks like an altar.”
“I’m certain of it,” Anita said. They stood outside a chain-link fence that enclosed a ring of standing stones. “The term bluestones refers to the smaller dolerite rocks in the inner circle that were brought here from South Wales.”
“Wales?” Britney said. “That’s a long way to drag them.”
“Well, no one is exactly sure how the stones were transported here.”
Britney looked up at a large stone that was about five meters tall and seemed to be leaning forward. It stood a good distance away from the main circle. “Looks like they got tired and figured they’d just leave this one out here.”
Anita smiled and shook her head. “This one is called the Friar’s Heel or Sun-Stone. There’s a lot of folklore about it.”
After leaving Salisbury Cathedral, Anita and Britney had taken a taxi ten kilometers north to a field in a rural area near Amesbury. It was one of the most famous places in the world: Stonehenge. Clouds scuttled by overhead, as a cool wind blew across the grassy plain that surrounded the circle of twenty-nine stones that had stood there for more than four thousand years. While the site remained open despite the recent earthquake nearby, there were only a few tourists there today, along with a group of about thirty people wearing white robes. Ten of them stood within the ring of stones, holding silver swords and chanting, while the others sat on the grass outside tents they had pitched.
“Who are those people in the robes? And what are they doing?” Britney asked.
“They look like New Age Druids who are carrying out a ceremony. Maybe it’s related to the spring equinox,” Anita said. While Anita and Britney could not make out what the group was chanting, the combination of the sounds and the setting conveyed an aura of mysticism.
“I wonder if there are other places like this around the world,” Britney said. “Prehistoric monuments that were built on those lines Mr. Quinn and the others were talking about.”
“The sonorous lines,” Anita said. “I suspect that most pyramids, temples, and ancient structures were constructed on those energy lines.”
“It’s amazing that people way back then knew about all this stuff that somehow we have forgotten.”
Anita glanced at her friend with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” Britney said.
“Three days ago, you were telling me all of this stuff was hocuspocus.”
“That was before Mr. Quinn started to explain things. So what do we do now?”
Before Anita could say anything, the ground began to shake, and an arc of blue light passed between two of the stones in the circle. The white-robed people standing inside the stone circle cried out joyfully, as if their chants and prayers were being answered. Other members of the group who were sitting by tents or walking in the fields ran over to join them.
“What was that?” Britney asked, concerned. She turned and looked at Anita, whose eyes were closed and hands were pressed against the sides of her head. “Are you all right?”
“It’s happening again,” Anita said. “My head is starting to hurt.”
Three more electrical arcs rent the sky above Stonehenge. Four more followed. One of the arcs hit a couple of the Druids within the rin
g of stones, catapulting their bodies into the open field. Anita opened her eyes in time to see the charred bodies crashing to the ground. Other Druids rushed over to stamp out the flames running up the stricken people’s robes, while others screamed and ran away. The electrical discharges intensified and now reached all the way to the parking lot, where vehicles were toppled by their intensity.
Anita looked on in horror. “They’re being electrocuted! They’re burning up, just like in my vision!” She put her hand into her blue book bag and pulled out Sumsari’s resonator and tuning fork. “I have to do something!”
“Do what?” Britney asked in panic. “You can’t go in there! Remember how dangerous Mr. Quinn said it was to try to stop these forces?”
Anita watched as more lightning struck. “I’m not going to wait to be called into service!” She darted off toward the circle of Stonehenge.
“Anita!” Britney yelled, rushing after her. “Anita!” The ground shook more violently. Britney lost her balance and fell.
Anita struggled to stay on her feet, as the earth convulsed beneath her. The ground continued to shake, and the lightning kept sweeping through the sky. She summoned all of her strength and will to reach the center of Stonehenge. Kneeling by one of the taller standing stones, she held Sumsari’s resonator in one hand and the tuning fork in the other. She struck the tuning fork and held it over the aperture of the resonator until she found the right spot, just as she had done at the cathedral. A harmonic began to form. She struck the tuning fork again, and then again. The harmonic grew.
56
There is no absolute truth or wisdom. If there were, the earth would still be flat and the wheel would still be made of wood. Truth and wisdom evolve along with all of you.
—THE CHRONICLES OF SATRAYA
NOVACON ISLAND, 3:01 P.M. LOCAL TIME, MARCH 26, 2070
An angle-vator car transported Logan, Valerie, and Chetan to the highest point inside the pyramid, just under the apex. They walked into the control center and saw the doctors sitting at two of the numerous workstations that surrounded the floating image of the pyramid. “Where is everyone?” Valerie asked.
“They all fled,” said the doctor dressed in black.
“Like Mr. Simon,” added the other doctor.
“I am Dr. Josef,” said the doctor dressed in black.
“I am Dr. Rosa,” said the doctor in white.
Chetan took a seat at one of the consoles. “I’m going to try to get the Cube online.”
An image of Sylvia was projected. “Who are those two?” she asked.
“The only two people in the world who know how this NovaCon device works,” Chetan answered.
“Well, they’d better turn it off fast. The chaos is spreading. Earthquakes are now being reported in the south of England and throughout Africa.”
“We need your help, Doctors,” Logan told them. “You need to shut this thing down right now.”
“We do not . . .”
“Know how.”
“Then who does?” Valerie asked, incredulous.
The doctors looked at each other. Dr. Josef said, “Perhaps the one . . .”
“Who provided the harmonic,” Dr. Rosa said.
“Madu,” Logan said, turning to Valerie. “We need to find your father and Madu. They might be able to help us.”
Valerie walked over to the doctors. “We saw Simon speaking with my father, Alain Perrot, and his friend, a scientist named Madu Shata, when we entered the Hades Room. Are they being held somewhere on the island?”
“No, we spoke to them . . .”
“Via HoloPad.”
“Bring them up,” Valerie ordered. The doctors looked at each other. “Do it now.”
Dr. Rosa manipulated the controls on the HoloPad. The image of the rotating pyramid disappeared and was replaced by that of Mr. Perrot and Madu huddled together at the center of a violently shaking chamber, ducking flying bolts of electricity.
“Dad!” Valerie called out. “Where are you?”
Mr. Perrot and Madu quickly crawled closer to the imaging device. “Logan, Valerie,” Mr. Perrot said breathlessly. “Something terrible is happening. I fear we have somehow triggered the Menkaure Pyramid here at Giza.”
“It’s not you,” Logan said. “Using the information that you and Madu provided, Simon was able to activate the pyramid here on NovaCon Island in the Azores. But it’s wreaking havoc around the world.”
“My wife,” Madu said. “How is Nadine?”
Neither Logan nor Valerie had the heart to tell him of her betrayal. “She’s safe,” was all Logan could say. “Right now, we need your help to shut this device down.”
Madu nodded. “Did they follow my original design? Does the pyramid possess a radioactive core, and has it been built over a massive heat source?”
“Yes, we have a core . . .” Dr. Josef said.
“And an intense heat source,” Dr. Rosa added.
Madu shook his head. “It is as I feared. Adding the harmonic without first expunging the radioactivity and the heat source created more energy than the device can handle.”
More electrical discharges sped by outside the window. At the same moment, a bolt flew past Mr. Perrot and struck the ground nearby. The shaking at both locations increased.
“The ELF readings from around the world are way off kilter,” Sylvia said. “I can’t even get a reading on the Schumann resonance any longer.”
“Logan,” Madu said, “you must find a way to isolate the radioactive core and then insulate the pyramid from the heat source. It is the only way to reduce the additional ions and bring the device into equilibrium.”
“We have already isolated . . .” Dr. Josef said.
“The radioactive core,” Dr. Rosa added.
“The lead shielding . . .”
“Is already down.”
“Did you hear that?” Logan asked.
“Yes,” Madu replied. “You have to remove the heat source!”
Another series of discharges could be seen, this time almost reaching the ocean. Additional static electricity spiraled through the chamber where Mr. Perrot and Madu were trapped. The image started to break up, and then it vanished, suddenly replaced with the image of the NovaCon pyramid.
“Get them back!” Valerie cried.
Chetan tried. “Looks like the imaging device in the chamber was damaged. It’s not connecting now.”
Valerie turned to the doctors. “What do we do about the lava?”
The doctors looked at each other and then at Valerie. “We do not have . . .”
“A solution for that.”
Logan walked over to the window and watched as the storm raged outside. More lightning erupted from the pyramid.
“Oh, no!” Sylvia yelled. Everyone turned to her anguished image in the projection. “They’ve ordered a Black Star strike. They’re going to take out the island. You have twenty-two minutes to get out of there!”
“Who ordered that?” Valerie asked.
Director Sully walked into the frame. “I did, Agent Perrot. We have no choice.”
“What’s Black Star?” Logan asked.
“It’s a laser system,” Chetan said. “Part of some Akasha Vault upgrades that were deemed classified. This entire island could be vaporized along with everything on it.”
“You cannot . . .”
“Destroy the device.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Valerie said.
“I think what they mean,” Chetan said, “is that by blowing up the device, we would blow up the radioactive core and release a huge amount of radiation into the atmosphere.”
“Yes!” said Drs. Josef and Rosa at the same time.
“Chetan’s right,” Sylvia said. “We could take out half of Portugal and Spain if that core explodes. Not to mention the radioactive fallout that could blanket Europe and eventually all of us.”
“You still think that Catherine Bribergeld has your back?” Valerie said to Director Sully.
The director ignored her, saying, “You have twenty minutes to stabilize that device, Agent Perrot.” Sully walked out of the frame, leaving Sylvia by herself.
“Our only hope is to isolate the lava under the device,” Chetan said. “That is the only way to stabilize the device.”
“It can’t . . .”
“Be done.”
“Can we flood the lava pit with seawater? Would that cool it down sufficiently?” Valerie asked.
“I don’t see a way to get enough water down there,” Chetan said. “Even if we could, the steam that would result from the air trapped in the pit would blow the top off the pyramid like the lid off a pressure cooker.”
“Along with the core,” Sylvia added.
“A pressure cooker,” Logan repeated, thinking quickly. The others turned to him. “Instead of letting the air build up, what if we got rid of it? If we could get the air out of the lava pit, wouldn’t that cool the lava? That would suffocate it, right?”
“In theory, yes,” Sylvia said. “At the very least, the surface of the pit would cool, and the hotter lava would be trapped underneath.”
“But how do we do that?” Valerie asked.
“The nanites,” Logan said. “We drop them into the pit and activate them. Let the nanites eat up the oxygen. That’s what they do, right?”
There was a long pause. “It might work,” Chetan said, breaking the silence. “If they consumed all the oxygen, the lava would cool.”
“The dilemma is how to get the nanites into the pit.”
“You can use the access . . .”
“Hatch to the core.”
The doctors manipulated their controls and zoomed in on the lower portion of the pyramid.
“That’s the huge circular tube we saw when we came through the lava tunnel,” Valerie said. “Look at how it’s swinging back and forth.”
“It’s going to keep doing that until the rocking and rolling slows down,” Sylvia said.
“Inside the access tube . . .”
“Is another smaller tube made of lead.”
“It contains . . .”
“The nuclear core.”
“How are the charged ions exposed to heat?” asked Sylvia.
Journey Through the Mirrors Page 37