“Well there’s no better time than now to exhume the body,” Jules commented.
“Unfortunately,” Alex admitted, “I don’t know where to begin.”
Water began to ooze more rapidly through the cavern’s floor. The ground was now covered by an inch of water where a few minutes ago only scattered puddles existed. It would only be a short matter of time before the explosives in their cavern would detonate, inundating the area completely.
“What do you mean ‘I don’t know where to begin?’” Jules questioned. “It seems as if you have already made a good show of things so far.”
“That’s not it,” Alex quickly responded, still bringing up different diagrams on the screen. “Everything has been changed or rerouted when they converted the original bunker into the Masjid Project.”
“Well, you have a whole 10 minutes to figure it out,” Jules said, noticing the water level rise to his ankles. “Or maybe less.”
“Somehow,” Alex said aloud, “I have to find a way to divert the remaining auxiliary power to open the hidden door on the floor and raise the casket out of the hole.”
Jules interjected, “Can we just reach down ourselves and grab it.”
“Not unless your arms are a hundred feet long.”
A loud concussion rocked their tunnel. It sounded as if one of the caverns next to them had just exploded. A few metal support beams crashed to the floor, bringing with them pipes and other wires. The red lights began to flicker but continued to stay lit.
The ceiling appeared as if it were about to collapse at any second. Most of the metal rungs that held it in place had broken or hung precariously while the remaining pipes and wires looked like vines dangling above them.
Another explosion a little farther away sent a large chunk of rock crashing down next to Jules, hitting the water with a splash. The impact threw him back slightly, and he scrambled to regain his balance in the now knee-high water. A few inches closer and that rock surely would have killed him.
“Jules, there should be two levers about 10 feet down the wall,” Alex said, pointing where he wanted Jules to look. “I need you to pull both of them at once when I say go.”
Jules ran over to the spot, ducking under a pipe and climbing over another on his way. He looked at the wall. Most of it had been smashed or missing, and only one red lever remained. The other must have been knocked off during one of the explosions.
The air quickly began to fill with smoke. Something started to burn, but amidst the chaos the source became imperceptible. Jules could still see Alex but his features grew more blurred by the second.
“On three,” Alex shouted.
Jules attempted to halt the count, but before he could stop it the word three spewed out of Alex’s mouth. He had no other choice and pulled the only lever remaining.
“Did you do it?” Alex immediately shouted.
“There was only one lever,” Jules responded. “The other one must have been destroyed.”
Alex again looked back at the screen. He had rerouted most of the auxiliary power to the console but without the second lever, he could not divert the necessary energy to the burial tunnel. Though seemingly out of options, Alex thrived under pressure.
“Do you see a silver, rectangular box above that lever?” Alex asked.
“I do.”
“Just pull the whole thing off the wall.”
Jules grabbed it with his two hands. Just as he was about to yank it off the circuit board, a nearby explosion threw him backward. He splashed down in the waist-high water, empty handed.
The entire wall where he had been standing was gone. Only a pile of rubble and fizzing circuits remained.
Jules looked over to Alex. The smoke had become so thick that he could not even decipher his colleague’s outline.
“The wall’s gone!” Jules then shouted. “I never got the box!”
His words were met with no response.
“Alex!” Jules shouted. “Alex, can you hear me!”
Again nothing.
Jules sprang to his feet. Almost walking blindly in the smoke and dimming light, he trudged through the water only to find Alex slumped next to the control panel with blood dripping down the side of his head.
“Regain your senses my boy,” Jules said while splashing water into Alex’s face.
“What—” Alex slowly responded. “What happened?”
“Something must have fallen on you.”
Alex turned to the screen. Half of it was missing while the other half looked blurred. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel until the whole thing turned red.
“Were you successful?” Jules then asked.
The other end of the cavern suddenly collapsed. Though not being able to view it through the smoke, the thunderous roar gave them a clear indication what had just occurred. Water now rose precipitously fast, climbing almost a centimeter every second. Within a few minutes the whole cavern would be inundated, leaving any further means to obtain the key impossible.
Because of the water’s proximity to the magma, it felt warm and gave them the sensation of being in a bath.
“Almost,” Alex responded, quickly regaining his senses. He shook his head a few times and wiped his face with the water. “There’s just one more thing I have to do.”
“Stay right here,” Alex rushed to say, knowing there were only minutes left. “If the screen changes in any way push these three buttons one after another from left to right.”
Alex dove under the water. As the smoke grew thicker the only true visibility left in the cavern would be underwater. Jules placed his face about an inch away from the screen, squinting the entire time to keep it in focus. His eyes burned while he attempted to keep them open amidst the irritating smoke.
A few more explosions went off nearby, causing further disorder in their cavern. It almost sounded as if a train moving full speed had crashed into one of its walls. Jules questioned if there were anything left to collapse. At this point he also seriously doubted that their mining drone or the tunnel in which they descended still remained intact.
The water now rose above Jules’ head, and he had to dive into it so that he could still look at the screen. The salt water stung his eyes.
Where’s Alex!
The remaining part of the screen suddenly turned blue with black script in Arabic written across it. Jules pushed the buttons in succession. Immediately the screen went blank and all power to the console ceased.
Did it work? He thought.
Jules swam to the surface. Only about two feet of hot, smoky air remained. He gagged on it with each breath.
Still no sign of Alex.
Jules contemplated his next course of action. Should he wait or attempt to find him? With a deep breath, he descended under the water, making his decision.
Another explosion again racked the cavern, sending a strong concussive shock wave rippling through the water. Jules felt as if his entire body had just been pummeled by a bag of bricks. Somehow, he continued to hold his breath without gasping in pain.
Where could Alex be? Jules swam in the same direction where his colleague had departed and fervently searched the area.
He suddenly felt a tug on his left ankle. Did it get caught on something?
Jules quickly looked down, hoping his leg had not gotten ensnared amidst some wires. Instead, he saw Alex struggling to get the heavy pipe off of him. It had him pinned to the ground and no matter how hard he pushed, the pipe would barely move.
Alex then pointed to his left.
Squinting, Jules instantly recognized there was about a three-foot long casket half protruding from the floor. He surmised that the pipe must have hit Alex by surprise when he was attempting to open it.
Jules grabbed the open end of the pipe with one hand and a broken metal girder with the other. He gave Alex a quick nod, indicating for him to push while he pulled.
Between the two of them, the pipe lifted just enough for Alex to pull his legs out from undern
eath it.
Just as he was about to swim to the top of the cavern for an extra breath of air, Jules noticed a small-scale model of the Achilles shield he had received from his uncle beside The New Reality insignia on the casket. Immediately understanding its significance, he placed his hand on it, planning to pry it free.
Upon his touch, it instantly dislodged, creating a residual yellow glow in its wake. He then grabbed Alex and the shield and began to swim through the salty water to the top of the cavern.
Alex tried to kick his legs or paddle but was too exhausted. Between the concussion and lack of oxygen, he had absolutely no strength. If Jules had come a few seconds later, he surely would have drowned.
“I got it,” Jules gasped as the two surfaced. With only a few inches of smoke-ridden air left, they needed to scrape their noses against the ceiling just to keep their heads above water.
The air burned their lungs and left them with a horrible metallic taste. It was surprising any oxygen remained in such an insufferable atmosphere. The smoke had become so thick that all visibility had been lost.
“No,” Alex attempted to gasp. “I couldn’t get the casket open.”
Jules grasped the miniature shield against his chest. “I have it right here. The key is in the shield. Let’s go!”
With only a minute before the entire cavern fully inundated with water, Alex had no other option but to trust Jules. Though he wanted to swim back down to the casket, time had run out.
“Take a deep breath and hold it without coughing,” Alex then choked out.
Jules complied, attempting not to cough. After inhaling slowly through his nose, Alex pulled him underwater and began to swim along the wall. Pipes, rocks and other electrical equipment covered the floor. Some of the material floated, while most lay undisturbed on the ground, creating a large obstacle course for them to circumvent.
Jules felt completely disoriented underwater. In a maze that looked less organized than a plane crash, he began to have little hope of survival. Alex then grabbed one of the steel girders overhead and began to climb up and through the ceiling. Jules quickly followed, ready at any time to gasp for air.
They both swam up a dark shaft just wide enough for one to fit at a time. Before Alex reached the top, his head surfaced above the water. Air! He took in a deep breath and climbed into the horizontal end of the shaft where it made a 90-degree turn.
“How’d you find this place?” Jules gasped, pulling himself next to Alex.
Now in complete darkness, they could only listen to the sound of each other’s voice.
“It’s one of the accessory air shafts that lead to the cavern,” Alex said through the blackness. “The specs on my vedere lens shows a bunch of them down here. Hopefully we can follow it back to the mining tunnel and get out of this place!”
Jules admired his colleague’s quick thinking and overall bravado. He also felt a hint of jealousy as it not only paralleled his own best attributes, but in some ways exceeded them.
The air proved not as toxic in the shaft, and the men breathed with a little less effort. Jules scurried on his hands and knees behind Alex through the shaft. The fresher air dampened the nauseating metallic taste caused by the toxic fumes.
A dim light caught their attention about 20 yards down the shaft. Before they had a chance to rejoice, another explosion rocked the cavern and the shaft quickly filled with water. Like a tidal wave, it swept in from behind and flooded the shaft in a matter of seconds.
Luckily they both were able to obtain one last gasp of air before they found themselves again submerged. Undaunted, they swam towards the light at the end of the shaft as fast as they could move. Their lungs hurt and muscles cramped. A body could only take so much abuse and theirs were at the limit. If the lack of oxygen didn’t kill them, pure exhaustion would.
Once emerging from the shaft, they used their last bit of strength to paddle upward to the surface.
Fresh air!
Alex and Jules’ bodies were limp with fatigue. It took every last bit of energy from them just to stay afloat. In order not to sink, they grabbed a few pieces of floating debris and wrapped their arms around them.
The water level rose swiftly and began to carry them up the mining tunnel. Alex stared over at Jules as they waded in the bath-like water. He looked like a drowned rat. And the word rat seemed apropos as he certainly needed to do some explaining about how he allegedly found the key. Alex wanted to begin interrogating him, but he knew that in a matter of moments this entire plateau was about to be transformed into one large lava pit.
The water quickly swept them up the tunnel. A loud explosion directly underneath them accelerated their ascent. The explosives in their cavern must have just detonated, completing its final destruction.
Alex rested his head against the piece of debris without saying another word while he let the water bring them aboveground. The sun had never seemed so beautiful, nor the sky so blue.
As they looked out upon the plateau, it slowly began to fill with water and other pieces of floating debris. The magnitude of the project suddenly came into vision as they witnessed the massive man-made lake that had just been created. They could only image how it would appear when replaced by magma.
“Where’s the bike?” Jules stood up and asked.
“We’re going to need something faster than the aero-bike,” Alex responded, getting to his feet. He looked up into the beautiful and tranquil sky, knowing that in a matter of moments it would be filled with utter chaos.
Jules continued to search. Just as he began to sift through debris, he heard a splashing sound to his left as a long, oval-shaped ship known as a stratoskimmer appeared to materialize out of the air. With two large cylindrical engines in the rear and a curved tail fin running the length of the vehicle, it appeared built for speed.
A large staircase descended from the ship’s sidewall and splashed down onto the water. Without needing an invitation, Jules raced up the stairs, closely followed by Alex.
“Get us out of here!” Alex shouted, running towards the cockpit. “This place is about to explode.”
The stairs quickly retracted back to the opening in the stratoskimmer’s wall. Upon closure, the ship then rapidly accelerated away from the plain, but began to buck and sway along the trajectory.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!” William protested as he attempted to steer the ship.
“Push it to 50 Teslas not five,” Alex demanded as he jumped into the copilot’s seat. “This whole place is about to go nuclear.”
Suddenly they felt a shock wave riveted through their ship, sending Alex and Jules to the floor. William, however, had been belted to his seat and remained in place despite the incredible jolt. “Mayday, Mayday,” William shouted expecting death to overtake him in a second.
Alex grabbed the copilot’s steering wheel from the floor and pulled himself back to the seat. Anticipating imminent impact, he was surprised to notice only clear blue skies on the horizon.
“I thought you said Mayday?” Alex reproached, exasperated by the experience.
William, still wearing his red hat but now soaked in perspiration, turned to his friend and said, “You can never be too sure.”
Alex smacked William on the back and smiled with appreciation. “Thank you.”
“That’s all I get? Thank you?” William grumbled. “First you gave me that injection thing that made me anemic…”
“Destroyed your biotags,” Alex corrected with a grin.
“Now you almost get me killed in some volcanic apocalypse,” he said pointing at a visual image Alex had brought up on the bottom of their front window.
The picture showed a large plume of magma jettisoning up into the air. In its wake a massive magma lake remained along the once sandy plateau. Its size and enormity seemed much more colossal than the original technical plans had concluded. It not only covered the entire plain but it also overtook and destroyed a sizable portion of the adjacent mountain range.
> “Hold on,” Alex said. “I’m taking us up to the troposphere. It’ll be especially difficult to track us there under stealth.”
The ship then dramatically edged its nose almost vertically as it began to ascend through the atmosphere at the ship’s top speed. The blue sky began to turn black the higher they traveled.
Jules had strapped himself in the third and remaining chair left in the cockpit. He remained silent while watching Alex fly the ship.
“I thought they called this thing a stratoskimmer because it is supposed to fly in the stratosphere,” William grumbled.
“That is incorrect,” Jules finally said. “It’s called a stratoskimmer because it flies in the troposphere and theoretically skims the top of the underlying atmospheric level known as the stratosphere.”
William turned back and glared at the unwelcome guest in the ship. Although he should have easily recognized the man’s face, Jules appeared more like a wet and beaten dog than a powerful executive.
Alex began to level off the ship. Turning back, he said, “William, this is Jules Windsor. Jules, this is William Fowler.”
William would have shaken his hand except that his hands were gripped so tightly on the wheel that it would require a crow bar to pry them off. “You’re that New Reality executive I saw on the news,” he said with a smile finally emerging.
“My reputation precedes me,” Jules rebutted.
“Take the wheel,” Alex said, unbuckling his seat and getting out of it. He then walked over to Jules. “Yes,” he then went on to say, “Your reputation does precede you. Cunning, brilliant, and arrogant were some of the salient characteristics I’ve read about you before our meeting.”
Jules smiled, amused by the backhanded compliment.
“Tell me about the key,” Alex then demanded, hovering over Jules.
Jules took the shield out of his pocket and laid it on one of his open palms.
“It’s a replica of the Achilles shield,” Alex observed. “The most prized piece of antiquity in Albert Rosenberg’s ancient Greco-Roman collection.”
“But you know, my boy,” Jules said craftily, “it’s much more than that.”
The Hidden Reality (Alex Pella, #2) Page 12