“I can’t allow this—you’re insane—”
“Get back!”
“Three. Two.”
“Godwin! Stop this!”
“Welcome to hell, Jones.”
“Zero.”
A tremendous detonation lifted the whole room.
5
0436.
The truck drew to a halt. Buck called, “Aldmoor. This bus terminates here.”
They all climbed stiffly down from the truck. Buck ran off for “a recce.” Thelma blinked, trying to clear gritty eyes; a part of her longed for sleep. A faint dawn was seeping into the eastern sky. And to the west the military camp blazed with light from floodlights and flares that drifted in the air, and she thought she could hear a pop of gunfire. She was still perhaps a quarter of a mile from the fence.
Winston said, “What now, Thelma? Where’s Doctor Jones?”
“I don’t know, Winston. Perhaps he’s still inside the base. Captain, that big explosion—” It had nearly turned the truck over, as if the earth was a blanket being shaken out.
Phillips said, “No. It didn’t sound like volcanoes to me either.”
Winston said, “Another nuke. That’s what it felt like. But why would they set off another nuke? What’s going on in that base?”
“I don’t know. I just—God, will this long night never end?”
Thelma said, “It will, Captain Phillips. But not yet. Bear up.”
“The trouble is I may have some grave decisions to make before the end of it. Very grave.”
Buck jogged up. “Looks like a right mess, sir.”
Phillips said, “You don’t say.”
“No comms in or out of the base for hours. Your guys have got the place locked down. But the spotters say they see armed men looking back out at them through the fence.”
“Wonderful. Armed Britishers outside, armed Americans inside. So much for the special relationship, eh? Who’s in command in there, Sergeant Grady?”
“Unknown, sir.”
“What do you mean, unknown?”
“There’s some scuttlebutt that Major Crowne has been killed. Whispers heard by your squaddies through the fence.”
“But he’s the senior American officer. Well, that puts the tin lid on it.”
Thelma asked, “What will you do, Captain?”
“My orders are to find out what’s what and then sort it out—and the sooner the better if whoever’s in charge in there is going around setting off nuclear bombs. I have a horrible feeling that might mean storming the base. Or worse.”
Winston said, “Look! There’s somebody coming up through that hatch, outside the fence.”
Thelma, whirling, saw the hatch open in the grass, and two figures clambering stiffly out.
Phillips said, “By George. That’s Professor Tremayne. And that WPC!”
Thelma said, “They’ll know about Doctor Jones. Come on!”
“Do you smoke, Jones?”
“Smoke? No, Commodore, I don’t smoke.”
Godwin struck a match, lit a cigar, and took a deep inhale. “Ah. Cuban.”
“Isn’t that an illegal import?”
“Finest cigars in the world produced by one of the world’s most rotten states. Isn’t that a sign that the order of the world is all wrong, Jones?”
“ ‘Order of the world?’ Godwin—what are we doing here in this steel tomb? You’ve already set off your damn bombs. The Magmoids will strike back…” He glanced at his watch. “They seemed to have skipped the latest ninety-minute cycle, at least in terms of attacks here. I’d guess next time then, at about six. And this time they will target the base itself, believe me. So now what?”
“Oh, my work here isn’t finished yet.”
“What do you mean, Godwin?”
“Project Hades is rather extensive. Did you know that Britain spends three times as much on defence as on education? You’d be surprised how freely money sloshes around in a world that believes it is at war—and how easily it can be diverted.”
“There are more bombs. In addition to the ones you’ve detonated already. Is that what you’re telling me? In heaven’s name, man, you’ve already launched one assault on the Magmoids at the centre of the Earth. What more can you do?”
“I have a second strike capability. A reserve. It’s standard strategy. Your Magmoids have been stirred up by my first assault. Good. Let them rise up. In a short while I will be ready to strike again. The countdown has already started.”
“Good lord, man, can you not see what a storm you’ll reap? You don’t know the Magmoids. They could have the Earth shake off humanity as a dog shakes off water. Commodore, I urge you to reconsider. Let Captain Phillips into the base. Let Tremayne shut down these systems. Abandon this madness.”
Something exploded, not far away, perhaps a grenade; the room shook and glass crashed.
“Oh, do sit down, Jones. You are an excitable sort of chap, aren’t you? And this gun is loaded, you know. Are you sure you won’t take a cigar? They really are rather good.”
I must get a message out of this lunatic asylum, Jones thought. I must.
Clare and Tremayne limped away from the base lights.
Tremayne said, “All my fault. All this.”
Clare, panting, supporting him, said, “Come on, Professor, keep moving. We need to get away from the fence. There are too many guns pointing at us for my liking.”
“I only meant—you know—peaceful application—such power, such power, in the hands of good men—I should have known! I should have known!”
Winston ran up. “Clare! Clare!”
“Winston. Oh, thank God.” She grabbed him and hugged him.
Phillips, Grady, and Thelma followed close behind. Phillips said, “Come with us, Professor Tremayne, you’re all right now. Well done, Constable.”
“I found a tunnel—there is a whole set of them, actually. They must be for emplacing bombs for the tests. Lucky we didn’t crawl into a live one. What happened to you?”
Winston said, “Quite a lark. My mum’s running a refugee camp just off the A68.”
Clare laughed. “Well, that’s the first thing I’ve heard tonight that hasn’t surprised me.”
Thelma said, “Clare. What about Doctor Jones?”
“Still in there. With Godwin.”
“Who?”
“The base commander. Commodore Godwin? He’s gone rogue.”
Phillips said, “He’s what?”
“He’s setting off the bombs. Not just here, all over the world. We tried to stop him, but—”
Buck said, “Did he kill Major Crowne?”
“I’m afraid so, Buck.”
Phillips said, “Well, that explains a lot. You’re going to have to come with me for a debrief, young lady.”
“All right. But Thelma—”
“Yes?”
“Doctor Jones got us out. Me and the Professor. But he had a message for you. He was very insistent.”
“Tell me.”
“The stuff you’ve brought back. The data. You’re to work with the Professor. Analyse it all. Look for signals in the seis—seis—”
Winston said, “Seismometry?”
“That’s it. Something to do with talking to them.”
“Talking to who?”
“The Magmoids. The creatures that are attacking us.”
Phillips said, “Creatures?”
“From inside the Earth.”
“Oh, now really, Constable—”
Tremayne said, “It’s true. I saw the displays myself. Very plausible chap, Doctor Jones. Very plausible. I should have listened to him. What a fool I am!”
Clare said softly, “It’s going to be hard working with him, Thelma. He’s been through too much tonight, poor old boy.”
“We’ll just have to do what we can. Help me get him to that tent. Now come on, Professor, we’ve got work to do.”