Tremayne said, “Decisive? Treacherous, Godwin! Treacherous!”
Jones said, “And what are you going to do with your network of bombs? Tell us, Commodore!”
Out by the blocked road, fires had been lit and kettles whistled, and somewhere somebody had organised a sing-song.
Buck found Phillips. “Sir, you Brits never cease to amaze me.”
“Spirit of the Blitz, eh, Sergeant Grady?”
“Listen, Captain, there are some bits of good news. The aid convoys are getting through, at last.”
“Well, about time.”
“But the news from Aldmoor isn’t so good. Still that stand-off developing there.”
“All right. I know the roads have been cleared, more or less. We can afford to leave this lot for now, I think. You get the truck ready. I’ll find Miss Bennet.”
Clare murmured, “Doctor Jones. Look. This other clock has started clicking over.”
“Yes. Once again we’re in the middle of a countdown—with only minutes to go. But a countdown to what?”
Godwin said now, “It had to be done this way, Tremayne. The bombs had to be planted, the control network established, in utter secrecy—even before the first test explosion, tonight. Surely you can see that.”
Jones said, “And when the bombs detonate, Godwin? What then? What’s their true purpose? Hmm. Considering where the emplacements are—Tremayne. These bombs of yours deliver shaped explosions, don’t they?”
Tremayne said, “Yes. That’s a key part of their design. You can blast out a specific seam of mineral ore or shape a chamber to your design—with a single detonation.”
“But if you set off a whole network of the things, wrapped around the world—give me that bit of paper. Pen, Clare!”
“All right, all right!”
Jones sketched rapidly. “You see, Tremayne? If all the explosive pulses were coordinated like this, say, or like this—”
“My God. Yes. You could combine the pulses to create a single seismic wave, to strike anywhere in the world—a wave of extraordinary magnitude.”
Clare asked, “What are you talking about?”
Jones said, “A weapon, Clare. The whole of Hades is a single weapon, using coordinated pulses of seismic waves to deliver a devastating geological blow.”
Godwin said, “Do you know what a super-volcano is, Jones? There is the relic of one under Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. Others in Sumatra, New Zealand. A catastrophic explosion. Plumes poking right up into the stratosphere. Clouds of ash, gas, and rock that scrape the landscape bare for miles around.”
“There’s been nothing like it while humans have been on the Earth,” Jones said grimly. “And this monstrosity is what you plan to use as a weapon, is it, Godwin?”
“Think of it. If we could set off a supervolcano under Moscow—the end of the Communist threat, forever. The end of Russia!”
“The end of the world, more like!”
“We had no intention of using the bombs—at dawn this morning we would have announced their existence, and the test as a demonstration of their potency—and we would have pronounced our willingness to use them, regardless of political cowardice. The threat alone would have caused the Soviet Union to fold like a house of cards.”
Tremayne said, “No, no. No, no. This is all wrong. That wasn’t my intention at all.”
Jones said, “But you still haven’t told us it all, have you, Godwin? These computers are in the middle of being reprogrammed. You are somehow redirecting Project Hades, aren’t you? What are you up to?”
But Tremayne, growing ever more agitated, wouldn’t be quiet. “I meant my project to show the madness of war, and a way to a future of peaceful uses of the weapons. I have been betrayed. You, Godwin, and your cabal of conspirators, have used my technology for precisely the opposite purpose to that which I intended—to deliver a weapon of such insane potency that it could destroy mankind altogether. What have I done—oh, what have I done?” He stood over a control panel.
Godwin raised his revolver. “Get away from there.”
“It’s all my fault—all mine. I must put a stop to all this—” He raised a code book and smashed a glass screen.
Godwin held his arm out straight, pointing the weapon. “You asked for it, John.”
Jones yelled, “No!” He leapt at the Commodore, trying to get the gun. They fell together on top of Tremayne, who was knocked to the ground. The gun went off; Jones felt it as much as heard it. Gas hissed from a ruptured pipe and klaxons wailed. Jones rolled away from Tremayne and Godwin, seeking the cover of one of the console blocks.
Clare shouted, “Doctor Jones!”
“Stay down, Clare!”
“Tremayne—”
Jones saw Tremayne’s slumped form. “He’s out cold, but he’s not been hit. Poor old chap. His whole life’s work ruined in a moment of betrayal.”
Godwin called, “There’s no use hiding. I suggest you come out quietly.”
Clare whispered, “He can’t see us. All this gas.”
“Yes, I think he hit some kind of pneumatic feed. Look, Clare, get Tremayne out of here. Go that way. I’ll distract Godwin.”
“But Doctor Jones—”
“Listen to me. Get him to Winston and Thelma. All right? Tell them they must work together with Tremayne. Do as full an analysis of the data on the Magmoids as they can manage.”
“What for?”
“Well, if I’m to make the Magmoids see sense, I need to understand what they’re saying to each other, don’t I?”
“Saying to each other? But—oh, never mind. I’m not leaving you here.”
“Now don’t be a fool. Tremayne needs your protection, Constable Clare. I don’t.”
“But Godwin—”
“I’ll deal with him.”
“You’re still under arrest, Doctor Jones.”
“Naturally. Now go, go!” He heard her crawl away. “Now then—Godwin! Over here!”
The gun cracked. He ducked back. The klaxons still wailed, but the hiss of escaping gas stopped. “Thank heaven for that.”
Godwin called, “So, Jones, you smuggled out your friends. It’s of no consequence. Just you and me now.”
“Just you and me and a planetful of bombs—and a countdown clock. And you won’t shoot me, will you, which would be the logical thing to do? Men like you always need an audience before whom to strut and preen.”
“I would advise you not to goad me, Jones.”
“Ah, yes, you do have that short fuse. What is it Tremayne said about you? Calm, calm, bang? Are you prepared to tell me now what you’re planning?”
“As you observed, I’ve set in train a reprogramming sequence. I’m no technician, but it was a quite a simple procedure.”
“So you’re resequenced the explosions? Redirected the impulses? Is that what the clock is ticking down towards, some immense new bang? But what are you trying to blow up, Godwin? Not the Russians, surely.”
“The Russians are rather irrelevant now, don’t you think? For suddenly mankind faces a much greater enemy.”
“Godwin—you don’t mean—surely you can’t think—”
“You yourself showed me their origin, on the surface of Earth’s inner core. Jones, Hades is designed to strike right through the body of the Earth, to a remote point on the surface. It was a simple matter to redirect it to strike at the heart.”
An automated voice filled the room. “Ten seconds to Project Hades full synchronised initiation. Nine. Eight…”
“You intend to attack the Magmoids, don’t you? Are you quite mad? You’re declaring war on beings unutterably superior to humanity in every way—a war you can’t possibly win!”
“A war you might not win. I am made of different stuff. Can you think of a better way of proving the rightness of these mighty swords?”