“I don’t think he’s going to let us leave,” Newcombe said. “But is that going to stop us?”
He thought he saw her begin to smile, but at just that moment, there was a clanking sound and the floor beneath the resonance device fell away in two halves. The three observers found themselves staring down from a height of several hundred feet, at a brown and green landscape, veiled in shadow with the approach of evening. Cool air rushed in through the gap, stealing their breath away.
Over the wind noise, Newcombe heard Von Heissel shout the order to activate the device, and almost immediately he felt vibrations travel through the metal deck plates and into the railing.
Far below, an area of terrain in a perfect circle, about a hundred yards across, began to shimmer as individual grains of dirt and sand danced to the rhythmic pulses of energy. After a few seconds, the entire circle dropped several inches — then several feet — as large rocks dissolved like clumps of flour in a sifter, and the fine sediment infiltrated tiny void spaces. And still the vibration continued. One minute passed. Five minutes. The earth in the circle rippled like the surface of a pond, and settled deeper and deeper as invisible waves of energy pulverized the rock beneath.
Despite the chill, Newcombe felt a bead of sweat trickle down his back. There was so much that could go wrong….
“Enough,” Von Heissel shouted.
The vibration instantly ceased, and then the two sections of floor rose back into place, shutting off the rush of wind.
The baron moved out of his sheltered area and approached the trio. “You have wrought exceedingly well, doctor. I am very pleased. How deep would you say the effects went?”
“Without knowing the composition of the soil and the underlying bedrock, it’s hard to say, but judging by the amount of compaction, I would say at least a hundred feet, possibly more. You would certainly achieve deeper penetration from a lower altitude.”
“Lower. Yes. This was of course just a preliminary test.” Von Heissel clapped his hands together. “I should say a celebration is warranted. Won’t you join me for dinner?”
“Like you’re giving us a choice,” Fiona muttered.
Newcombe jumped in quickly, before Von Heissel could respond to her. “Dinner sounds wonderful. A good meal, and a good night’s sleep before you get to work on the next phase of… whatever it is you’ve got planned for this machine.”
The baron offered a cryptic smile. “Just dinner, I’m afraid. There’s no time to waste sleeping. The next phase, as you called it, begins in just—” He consulted his pocket watch—“One hour and forty-two minutes.”
Chapter 19—Storming the Heavens
Frey delivered the news like a doctor handing out a terminal diagnosis. “Evidently, Walter Barron still has friends in high places. He refused our request to set down for a customs inspection, and about ten minutes later, we were ordered to leave him alone.”
“Don’t they know who we’re dealing with here?” Hurricane growled.
“Even if some of them do, it’s all tangled in bureaucracy now. The army doesn’t have the authority to conduct operations on US soil, and Customs doesn’t seem to think there’s any problem.”
Dodge took the news in stride. He had expected something like this to happen. Since arriving at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station a few hours earlier, he had told several military and political leaders about Von Heissel’s activities and his suspicions about what the man was planning, and had been met with varying degrees of disbelief and distrust.
“Where’s Majestic now?”
“Somewhere over Eastern Pennsylvania, at last report.”
Dodge turned to Hurricane and Nora. “He’s going back to that valley. I’m not sure why it’s important to him, but it’s completely cut off from the rest of the world. It’s the perfect place for him to execute his plan.”
“Then I guess we’ve got choice but to execute ours,” Nora said.
Dodge frowned at her. “I don’t suppose there’s any way I’m going to convince you to sit this one out.”
“No, but I’m flattered that you care enough to try one more time.”
When the plan had first been conceived, Dodge had half-expected Nora to voluntarily bow out. Instead, she had simply said: “Sounds like fun,” and the argument had begun in earnest.
Dodge had learned from experience — experience that he remembered now with a bitter taste — that a woman could be every bit as capable in sticky situation as a man. But like most men, he had an almost reflexive urge to be protective toward the fairer sex, an urge no doubt amplified by his growing attraction to her. The plan to get aboard Majestic was audacious and inherently dangerous; any number of things could go wrong before they ever got inside the floating fortress. Yet, at its heart, his argument came down to the simple fact that he didn’t want to let her go because she was a woman.
“A woman who knows Majestic at least as well as you two,” she had countered. “You’re going to need all the help you can get, and unless the powers that be have a sudden change of heart and decide to send in the marines, it’s just we three. You can’t afford to leave me behind.
His attempts to frighten her with the potential risks were equally unsuccessful. They had already faced so many dangers together, what was one more? Hurricane hadn’t been much help on that front. “Dodge, Miss Nora’s a daredevil. I’ve ridden with her. This is the kind of lady who doesn’t take kindly to being told she shouldn’t do something.”
A fearless daredevil, intimately familiar with the objective was exactly the kind of person they needed, and that was something Dodge couldn’t argue against. And deep down, he didn’t really want to. He wanted her with him almost as much as he wanted her to stay safely behind.
Colonel Frey led them to the waiting Ford tri-motor plane, one of a small fleet used by the US Army for transcontinental transport. Dodge had used a similar aircraft to make his escape from the destruction of the Outpost in Antarctica, and the memories that association triggered were not particularly pleasant. Even worse was the realization that, although this plane would be taking them into the sky, they would not be aboard when it landed.
They had already changed into heavy coveralls, and received a hasty block of instruction—“Let’s not call it a crash course,” Frey had joked, but no one had laughed — in how to use the equipment. Now all that remained was to carry out the crazy scheme.
As the sun sank below the distant horizon, the plane taxied down the runway and headed west. As dangerous as the plan was, they didn’t dare attempt it in daylight; if they were observed by one of Majestic’s gun batteries, they would be doomed. The flight seemed painfully brief. After what seemed like only a few minutes, Colonel Frey came back to give them an update.
“We’re setting up to make our pass over Majestic. She’s holding stationary in the valley, just like you said she’d be. We’re only going to fly over once, so as not to attract their attention. When you get the signal to jump, do it. If you hesitate, you’ll miss the objective.”
Hurricane nodded confidently. Dodge wished he shared the big man’s unflappable courage. He’d done some crazy things before, but usually with a lot less forethought. The anticipation of what was coming filled him with dread. Nevertheless, as the big man got up from his seat and went to the side hatch, Dodge followed, with Nora right behind him.
“Thirty seconds,” Frey called.
Hurricane worked the latch and threw the door open. A blast of cold air rushed through the cabin, but Dodge knew that wasn’t the reason he was shivering.