Then a small red dot appeared in the middle of Zandra’s chest and she staggered back a step, the gun wavering, then coming back up. The sound of a pistol going off again and again reverberated through the cavern as Duncan kept firing, her bullets hitting Zandra.
The fingers went limp and the gun dropped out of Zandra’s hand as she collapsed to the floor. Duncan stepped forward, her weapon at the ready as she nudged the body with the toe of her shoe.
“She’s dead,” Turcotte confirmed, seeing where several of the rounds had come out of Zandra’s back.
“Who the hell were they?” Duncan asked, looking up from the two bodies as MPs ran up, weapons ready.
“Everything’s all right!” Turcotte yelled to the MPs. He put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. He could feel her trembling. “I don’t know who they were. That’s something we’re going to have to find out. But right now our big problem is coming from that way.” He pointed upward.
“How are you getting back, Mike?” Duncan asked.
“I’m coming back on the bouncer in the hold,” Turcotte said.
“But they don’t work that far outside the Earth’s magnetic field,” Duncan noted.
“I know that,” Turcotte said. He turned her to face him. “Trust me that I will make it back.”
Duncan nodded. “I do.”
“I have to go now,” Turcotte said.
Duncan stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “Good luck.”
Inside the chamber Kelly Reynolds’s pleadings echoed off the stone walls. Then she paused as a golden tendril coalesced above the top of the pyramid. It wavered in the air, then reached down toward her.
Kelly remained perfectly still as the translucent golden arm wrapped itself around her head. The tortured look on her face disappeared and her features relaxed, a smile even touching her lips.
The message Larry Kincaid had sent had finally made it across the gap from Earth to Surveyor, silently orbiting above the planet. The on-board computer came to life. The simple commands Kincaid had programmed were sorted through and acted on. Maneuvering thrusters fired and Surveyor’s orbit changed. It moved on a course that would bring it over Cydonia in less than an hour.
In the air and water surrounding Easter Island, Navy ships and planes circled, forming up, waiting for the final word. Smart bombs were being made dumb, their sophisticated electronic targeting turned off and the crews preparing flight paths that would allow them to drop their ordnance from a safe distance and explode on impact, all targeted toward Rano Kau. There was enough explosive being prepared that the admiral in charge of the fleet had no doubt that by the third wave of planes, the would have blasted down the chamber that held the guardian.
CHAPTER 40
Turcotte looked through the stack of pages attached to the clipboard that someone had put in the pilot’s seat. He found what he was looking for: three sheets in the basic instructions for the mothership’s magnetic atmospheric drive.
Majestic-12 had figured out how to fly the mothership, using its magnetic drive; they just hadn’t known they were missing the fuel core for the interstellar drive. The instructions had been placed there by the mothership experts at Quinn’s order. Like the bouncers the mothership’s control system was the essence of simplicity. Turcotte sat down in a chair that was much too large for him and read the notes.
Satisfied he knew enough for the job ahead, he pressed his palm down on a certain part of the console.
“Oh, shit, not again,” Duncan whispered as she felt her stomach flip. She turned and knelt, throwing up as mothership's magnetic drive engaged.
The mothership lifted off its cradle for the second time in a month. But Turcotte was taking it much farther than the four-foot hover Majestic had done.
His left hand was moving on another console, directing the ship up. A panoramic view of Groom Mountain appeared on the curved wall in front of him as he gained altitude.
Lisa Duncan stared at the massive ship silently climbing into the sky. All around Area 51 work ceased and people looked up as the ship cleared Groom Mountain and rose farther and farther. Duncan’s entire focus was on the ship, her lips moving in a silent prayer as it faded to a small dot and then disappeared into the dark sky.
The ship was accelerating, but the only way Turcotte could tell was by the way the ground below fell away quicker and quicker. Soon the long airstrip at Area 51 was nothing but a very faint line scratched in the desert floor below. Soon even that faded into haze.
Turcotte could see the curvature of the Earth now on the display. It had been night when he lifted off, the last night before the dawn that would bring the Airlia. Turcotte knew he was out of the atmosphere when he could see the glow of the sun around the curve of the eastern horizon.
He didn’t feel any different, and Turcotte had to assume the ship had some sort of artificial gravity built in. He continued away from the planet, until he could see the entire world on the front screen.
Then he slowed the ship and reoriented it away from Earth so he could look outward. The mothership came to a halt in a very high orbit above the planet.
Turcotte could see nothing but stars and the moon off to the right. He knew the talons were out there, but he wouldn’t be able to see them until they were right on top of him and by then it would be too late. The last data he’d gotten from Quinn had indicated the talons were just under an hour away.
Turcotte turned to the SATCOM radio that he had had Quinn install. He had Quinn route him through to the Easter Island chamber, where a SATCOM radio had been left by the departing UNAOC scientists. “Kelly, this is Mike Turcotte.”
He tried again. When he got no answer, he had a very good idea what was happening under Easter Island. “Kelly, this is Mike. Listen to me carefully. You have to tell Aspasia that we are sorry. That we made a mistake. That we’ve put the ruby sphere on board the mothership and I’m flying it up to give it to them in orbit. That we just want to be left alone. And then you need to leave the island right away, Kelly.”
Turcotte repeated the message three times, then turned off the radio. He had much to do. Turcotte shut down the magnetic drive, then began the long walk from control room to the cargo bay holding the bouncer, the ruby sphere, and the “specials” he’d had Zandra order.
Coridan indicated for Kincaid to move and took his place at the computer link. Coridan typed in some commands and a code word, then transmitted them.
Coridan turned his sunglasses toward Kincaid. “I am done here. Good day.” With that he walked out of the control room.
Kelly Reynolds was now totally enveloped in a golden haze. Her eyes were closed and her face peaceful and relaxed for the first time in a very long time. She’d heard Turcotte’s message echo off the walls of the chamber and she knew the guardian had heard, too, taking it out of her brain and sending it to Aspasia.
She felt happy that Turcotte was still alive and that he finally understood. There was hope after all.
The first wave approached Easter Island. Composed of F-14’s and F-18’s, they came in at high altitude and released their “dumb” bombs on a glide path that would have them land right on top of Rano Kau.
The admiral watched the bombs float through the air, heading directly for the volcano, when suddenly they began exploding in the air, two miles from the island. The admiral had seen the same thing a week ago when he’d attacked the island with Tomahawk cruise missiles at General Gullick’s orders. He picked up the mike and called Area 51. “Your ‘dumb’ plan might have worked with foo fighters, but this thing is different. We aren’t going to be able to crack this nut.”