Tuskin shrugged. "Then I suppose I ought to just kill you both right now and continue on with my mission. We know those two bodies we have in Tunguska are American. We can't prove it, and the politicians don't want to make a fuss, but I know. That's good enough for me."
Hawkins could understand Tuskin's thought process. He'd be saying the same thing if he were on the delivering end of the weapon and Ayers Rock had been infiltrated by an obviously well-trained Russian team.
Tuskin shifted his gaze to Levy. "Who are you?"
She answered without hesitation. "Debra Levy."
"What are you?"
"I am a physicist."
Tuskin showed some surprise for the first time, looking back at Hawkins as if trying to figure out what the two of them were doing here, wherever here was.
"Do you have to keep pointing those guns at us?" Levy continued.
"Your major is a very dangerous man, if all I have heard about him is true," Tuskin answered, but he lowered his muzzle, his men reluctantly following suit. The move surprised Hawkins.
Levy gestured back the way they'd come. "Did you come out the same Wall we did?"
Tuskin frowned. "Wall? You mean the portal?"
Levy nodded. He pointed past the massive jumble of machines to the opposite wall. "No. We came out back there." Tuskin regarded the two of them for a long minute. "Are you saying you are not responsible for all this?"
Levy shook her head. "No."
Tuskin looked at Hawkins. "I almost believe that, because I do not think you would be here so ill prepared if you knew what was happening. How did you get here?"
Before Hawkins could stop her, Levy answered. "I went through the portal in Ayers Rock and Major Hawkins tried to stop me and ended up here with me."
"Ah! So there is one in Australia! We thought that's what you might be digging for after we intercepted the transmission and then saw the imagery. So, if I am to believe you, then you do not know where we are either?"
Hawkins shook his head. "I've never seen this place before."
"You have lied to me once already. Why should I believe anything you say?" Tuskin asked.
"All right," Hawkins acknowledged, accepting the strangeness of the situation. If this was a Russian setup, it was by far the most complicated and sophisticated he'd ever imagined. "Those were my men. The one who escaped and went through the Tunguska portal, as you call it, came out in Ayers Rock."
Tuskin shook his head. "How can that be? We went through the Tunguska portal over an hour ago and we ended up here."
Hawkins spread his hands. "We went through the Ayers Rock portal fifteen minutes ago and ended up here."
Tuskin looked worried for the first time and Hawkins could understand his consternation. The Russian was realizing that perhaps he could not simply return through the portal he'd come out of and end up back in Tunguska. It must have taken extreme bravery for him to bring his men through the portal in the first place-that or a very strict order to do so.
Hawkins was about to say something when a distant noise caught his attention. It was a hissing sound, almost like a steam jet, and it appeared to be coming closer. Tuskin heard it too. He suddenly turned and his three men deployed in a defensive line, facing the noise.
With a great blast of dust a large airborne vehicle appeared, hovering over the nearest machinery and clearing it. The vehicle's four large thrusters pointed to the ground as it slowly settled down and came to a halt ten meters in front of them.
Tuskin's men stood there, pointing their rifles at the dull gray sides of the craft. It was fifty feet long by twenty wide, flat on the bottom except for the thrusters, with the sides sloping up to a slightly rounded roof. The front was blunted, with no apparent cockpit, although a wicked-looking barrel mounted on three arms protruded from above the front-obviously a weapon of some sort. It wasn't pointing at them, but Hawkins had no doubt that whoever or whatever was inside could readily make up that deficiency. He also had little doubt that Tuskin's rifles would probably have little effect on this craft. The dull sheen of the metal sides had that same tough, unyielding look as the armor on a main battle tank.
Obviously, Tuskin was thinking the same thing, too, because his men lowered their weapons for the second time. He looked over his shoulder at Hawkins. "Any suggestions, Major?"
"No, Colonel."
The weapons swung up immediately as a crack appeared on the nearer side of the craft. A section of metal folded down to the ground, making a ramp. A low red glow pulsed out of the inside. The tableau stayed frozen for a long minute and it was Levy who broke the spell. "I suggest we go on board, since it seems no one is coming out. I think this is our ride."
Hawkins started forward, only to come to an abrupt halt as Tuskin swung his weapon around at him. "How do I know this is not a trap set up by you to catch me and my men?"
Hawkins smiled grimly. "How do we know it's not a trap set for all of us?" He continued toward the craft, past Tuskin. Glancing over his shoulder, Hawkins watched the Russian consider the situation and then bark orders into his radio. With one of his men he headed for the ramp behind Hawkins and Levy. The other two Russians held their position on the rock floor.
The inside of the craft consisted of benches all along the walls, facing inward. The front was blocked off-if there was a pilot, he, or it, was behind that wall. Hawkins settled down on the bench, Levy at his side. Tuskin walked up to the front and studied the bulkhead, looking for a door. As he was doing that, the ramp picked up without a noise and slid back into place, closing them off from the world outside.
Tuskin stumbled slightly as the craft lifted and then banked hard to the right. There was hardly any sound inside from the thrusters underneath, and Hawkins briefly allowed his mind to wonder what was propelling them. He'd been on Hovercraft, but this was different. He certainly didn't want to waste any brainpower guessing where they were going or what they might run into. Since coming through the portal he'd taken things one step at a time, and even then he'd been overwhelmed by events.
He glanced across the compartment at the Russian officer. Tuskin was seated uncomfortably on the far bench, his headgear still tightly in place. Hawkins recognized the cylinder on the man's back as some sort of rebreather-lighter and easier to carry than oxygen. Despite Levy's and his apparent good health Tuskin was obviously not going to trust himself to the strange atmosphere. Hawkins didn't blame him-for all they knew, there was some slow-acting particle in the air that might have already passed a sentence of death on the unprotected.
That train of thought was interrupted as the craft settled with a slight thud and the thin whine of the thrusters was silenced. The ramp folded out again and Hawkins stood quickly, looking out. He brushed past the hesitant Russians and stepped down to the ground. They were inside a smaller room off the large open area-he could see the ceiling about fifty feet above, and the walls were eighty meters away on the near sides. There were two other craft similar to the one they had just ridden in parked nearby, but no sign of life.
A door on the nearest wall slid open. Hawkins glanced at Levy, who started forward without a word. Hawkins followed and Tuskin and his trooper brought up the rear.
They entered a twenty-foot-by-twenty room. The door slid shut and the floor practically jumped from beneath their feet as the room hurtled downward. Within ten seconds the process reversed and Hawkins's knees almost buckled as they rapidly decelerated and the elevator came to a halt.
The door slid open, leading to a small room with eight chairs set in a row facing a raised platform with a large flat white surface. In front of each chair was a curved arm, rising from the floor, looking like the equipment tray a dentist uses, except thicker, with two openings in it, each about four inches across and spaced shoulder width apart.