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Page 1 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001

R E W I N D
A screenplay for a short film
by
Matthew Reilly
30 November, 1999
FIRST DRAFT
Page 2 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
REWIND
BY
MATTHEW REILLY
FADE IN:
INT. CELL - NIGHT
NEIL CALLAWAY -- 34, handsome, but roughed-up, with bruises on
his face -- sits tied to a chair.
An evil-looking BALD MAN crouches before him, rifling through A
LEATHER BAG. He looks up at Callaway as he extracts A SMALL
CIRCULAR TAPE REEL (from a reel-to-reel tape player) from the
bag. He smiles thinly at Callaway.
CALLAWAY
The paper will come looking for me.
The bald man stands. Moves over to a table. On the table is A
STEEL CASE. The bald man pulls A SYRINGE from it.
BALD MAN
No they wont, Mr Callaway.
CALLAWAY
What about Danny --
BALD MAN
He is already dead, Mr Callaway.
Callaway sighs, winces.
BALD MAN
No. I am afraid that you have seen --
and heard -- just a little too much.
May you rest in peace.
The syringe goes into Callaways immobilised arm. Callaway
watches -- terrified -- as the bald man depresses the plunger.
The contents of the syringe go into his bloodstream.
CALLAWAY
No! -- No!! -- NO!!!!!!!
His scream carries over as we --
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. WAREHOUSE - ESTABLISHING - NIGHT
Page 3 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
An ominous-looking building, surrounded by high fences and razor
wire. Super the legend:
ONE HOUR EARLIER.
INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
A dark, foreboding place. Endless aisles. Wooden crates and boxes
fill the shelves.
NEIL CALLAWAY, looking a lot fresher and more alive, SLAMS back-
first into a shelf, breathing hard. He looks at A SLIP OF PAPER
in his hand by the light of a penlight. The slip of paper reads:
BOX 26/A-1
Callaway moves down a narrow aisle, peering at the boxes on the
shelves by the light of his small flashlight.
THE FLASHLIGHTS BEAM reveals a stencil on one of the boxes:
26/A-1.
Looking fearfully about himself, Callaway hurriedly rips open the
box. He extracts --
A BULGING ENVELOPE.
He rips open the envelope. In it is THE CIRCULAR TAPE REEL.
Callaway pockets the tape reel and takes off.
CUT TO:
INT. CALLAWAYS APARTMENT - NIGHT
A reel-to-reel tape player plays the mysterious reel.
Neil Callaway stands at the window, peering out, while behind
him, his friend, DANNY SMITH, listens to the reel through a pair
of STEREO HEADPHONES. Dannys mouth is falling open at what he
hears.
He stops the reel-to-reel machine. Pulls off the headphones.
DANNY SMITH
Neil. This stuff is fucking dynamite --
Its at that moment that the door behind Callaway is violently
kicked in.
CUT TO BLACK:
Super the legend:
Page 4 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
3 DAYS EARLIER.
INT. FBI OFFICE - DAY
TWO MIDDLE-AGED MEN stand around a desk. One wears single-
breasted suit with an WHITE HOUSE ID on his pocket; the second
man wears a heavily-decorated US Navy uniform.
On the desk before them: A BRIGHT ORANGE REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
The President is concerned. Has the
situation been resolved?
THE DOOR to the office opens and in rushes a young NAVY
TECHNICIAN. He carries an identical REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER.
YOUNG NAVY TECHNICIAN
Same make. Same model. And now, same
serial number. The units been sealed
and a new reel is inside.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
Can you get it out to the crash site?
SENIOR NAVY MAN
No problem. Well get one team to lay
it and another team -- who knows
nothing -- to find it.
CUT TO:
A TELEVISION SOMEWHERE - DAY
The news. A FEMALE NEWSREADER speaks to camera.
NEWSREADER
And in breaking news, the black box
flight data recorder from doomed
British Airways Flight 455 was
recovered today by US Navy divers.
The TV SCREEN shows a diver getting out of the water holding the
BRIGHT ORANGE REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER we just saw in the office. It
is a FLIGHT DATA RECORDER.
NEWSREADER (V.O.)
Investigators are hopeful that the
black box will shed some light on the
tragic incident...
Page 5 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
CUT TO:
ANOTHER NEWSCAST.
A MALE NEWSREADER this time.
MALE NEWSREADER
Investigators looking into the BA
Flight 455 aeroplane disaster today
revealed the contents of the doomed
airliners flight data recorder.
A sound screen comes up. It is one of those screens you see on
the evening news when a paragraph of words is displayed while the
speakers voice is supered over it. In this case WE HEAR the
garbled voice of a pilot:
PILOTS VOICE
... New York Air Traffic Control, this
is BA 455, we are experiencing complete
system breakdown...oil pressure has
been lost, electrical systems have
failed, hydraulic wing controls have
been lost...If anybody can hear this,
we are going into a dive...
The male newsreader comes up again.
MALE NEWREADER
The crash of the British Airways Boeing
777 has been linked to a similar crash
of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 in
1997. In that incident, complete system
breakdown occurred due to faulty wiring
in the cockpit circuitry --
NEW ANGLE. WE ARE in:
INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE NIGHT
The White House Man is watching the coverage on the TV in near
darkness.
The Senior Navy Man comes alongside him.
SENIOR NAVY MAN
Theres been a leak.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
One of yours?
Page 6 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
SENIOR NAVY MAN
No. Yours. One of your aides told a
reporter about the switch. Gave him the
location of the real tape.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
Who?
SENIOR NAVY MAN
The leak has been taken care of. The
reporters name is Callaway.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
Can he be erased with minimal
disturbance?
SENIOR NAVY MAN
By the right person. Yes.
The Navy Man turns his head and WE PAN TO REVEAL behind him --
THE EVIL-LOOKING BALD MAN
waiting patiently in the shadows.
CUT TO BLACK:
Super the legend:
THREE DAYS EARLIER
INT. MOBILE NAVY COMMAND CENTER - NIGHT
A caravan-type vehicle. Cramped. Dark.
A BRIGHT ORANGE FLIGHT DATA RECORDER slams down onto the table.
It glistens with wetness.
THE WHITE HOUSE MAN from before is here, as is the SENIOR NAVY
OFFICER.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
Nobody knows...?
SENIOR NAVY MAN
It was found by a specialist unit
operating outside the publicised search
area.
(beat)
The media dont know weve got it.
INT. MOBILE NAVY COMMAND CENTER - LATER
Page 7 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
WIRES are plugged into the FLIGHT DATA RECORDER. The SENIOR NAVY
MAN hits a switch and the reels start to rotate.
Garbled hash.
SECOND OFFICERS VOICE
(on tape)
Moving to 24,000 feet, sir, all systems
normal.
PILOTS VOICE
Good work, Number Two. Take us up.
The two senior government men stare intently at the black box
flight recorder.
PILOTS VOICE
Say, anyone hear what the score was in
the Mets game?
FIRST OFFICERS VOICE
Jesus, what the fuck is that?
PILOTS VOICE
What the --
And then tangle of frantic voices:
SECOND OFFICERS VOICE
Is that what I think it is?
FIRST OFFICERS VOICE
Its coming toward us, Captain.
(beat)
Jesus Christ --
PILOTS VOICE
Number Two, get on the radio, see if
there are any Navy ships down there.
Tell them to abort!
SECOND OFFICERS VOICE
Attention any US Navy vessels in grid
sector 675. This is British Airways
Flight 455, we are a civilian airliner
and we have a visual on a --
A NEW VOICE comes over the line. Harsh. Suspicious.
Page 8 of 8 Matthew Reilly, 2001
NEW VOICE
British Airways Flight 455, this is US
Navy ship Liberty, what are you doing
in this area?
SECOND OFFICERS VOICE
(frantic)
US Navy vessel Liberty, we are a
civilian airliner in international
airspace, and we have visual contact on
a missile of some sort, heading in our
direction and we ask that you
immediately abort its flight --
FIRST OFFICERS VOICE
Too late!!!
PILOTS VOICE
NO!!!
The tape explodes to hash. The sound of static fills the mobile
command center.
THE TWO SENIOR MEN look at each other. They are like stone.
Unmoved by the drama they have just heard. The WHITE HOUSE MAN
pulls out a cellular phone, steps over to a corner.
He speaks into the phone in hushed tones. The Navy man doesnt
watch him. The White House man returns, looks seriously at the
Navy man.
WHITE HOUSE MAN
Take appropriate action. Make it go
away.
CUT TO BLACK.
THE END
The Mine
2000MatthewReilly
Part1
THEBITEOFTHEMINE
t They caiiieu him out of the mine entiance scieaming 0h Chiist Ny legs Look a
my gouuamn legs
The foui soluieis set him uown on the waiting stietchei then stoou asiue so the
meuical team coulu take him away
The fouistai geneial in chaige of the pioject a man nameu Washington Baynes
just watcheu as the injuieu man was wheeleu out of the entiy cave Be eyeu the
soluieis legs coluly impassively
The mans lowei legs eveiything fiom the knee uown incluuing his feet lookeu
like skin swollen
blac
a paii of foul pancakes bloou eveiywheie eveiy bone bioken the
kanublue
The mans legs anu feet hau been completely anu totally flatteneu
eneial Baynes tuineu to the aging man by his siue I think we neeu some moie
expeit help Call youi giil
u

DESERTOUTSIDEMEXICOCITY
Boctoi }essica Chase sat in a gigantic black leathei swivel chaii insiue the cabin of
the piivate jet not knowing wheie it was going oi why she was in it
In fiont of hei sat hei uiminutive uig paitnei Kenneth W ueoigeopolous Kenny
was all of fivefoottwo with haii biusheu up into an Elvis Piesley pompauoui Be was
known about the site as Little Kenny u
0n Chases lap sat the fivepage foim that she anu Kenny hau just signeu The covei
sheet ieau
THIS PROJECT IS CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET
Any unauthorised disclosure of information witnessed or
obtained through participation in this project is a criminal
offence under Title 50 of the United States Code punishable
mprisonment for up to 75 years and fines of up to $25 by i
million.
0kay
Chase was an aichaeologist fiom the 0niveisity of WA in Austialia woiking at
unmasking the seciets of the iuineu city of Teotihuacan high in the Nexican ueseit
As such she wasnt ieally accustomeu to signing thieatening nonuisclosuie
agieements with the 0S goveinment
The object of hei stuuyTeotihuacanwas one of aichaeologys gieatest mysteiies
Compiiseu of a seiies of gaigantuan flattoppeu pyiamius anu sunaligneu temples
the ueseit city hau been built by an unknown pieAztec civilisation sometime aiounu
the ith in the sixth centuiy befoie suuuenly
aio ts
fiist centuiy AB It hau ieacheu its zen
unu the yeai it was abiuptly abanuoneu by its inhabitan
They just left vanisheu Bisappeaieu
Leaving an enoimous ghostcity in the miuule of the ueseit
sica This gieat ueseit iuin howevei was also a paiticulai challenge foi Bi }es
Chase
At the tenuei age of Chase was known thioughout the aichaeological
community foi hei extiaoiuinaiy abilities at uecipheiing hieioglyphics anu othei
ancient symbolsanu in this fielu Teotihuacan was Eveiest
Anu with hei lanky athletic sixfoot fiame ponytaileu ieu haii anu beautiful smile
}ess f ica Chase was sellable A foimei highschool gymnast she was the postei giil o
aichaeology National ueogiaphic loveu hei
y the highpoweieu Bieslin Coipoiation hau come calling soon
afte
Not suipiisingl
i she got
hei uoctoiate
Leu by its eccentiic billionaiie chaiiman Leonaiu Bieslin III the Coipoiation was
the majoi sponsoi of ovei a uozen aichaeological uigs aiounu the woilu incluuing
Chases Teotihuacan woik
As such foi the last six months Chase anu Kenny u hei symbol uatabase managei
anu ns alliounu technogenius hau been woiking haiu at uecipheiing Teotihuaca
complicateu glyph systems
ons Leai jet hau aiiiveu with a message fiom
Leo
Anu then touay the Coipoiati
naiu Bieslin
Be wanteu to see them Now
Theie is an olu auage in acauemia Be who pays the pipei calls the tune
Anu so theyu got on the plane
t was only once it hau taken off howevei that they weie piesenteu with the
goveinment nonuisclosuie foim
I

THEHANGAR
Aftei about an houi of flying the Leai toucheu uown
Exactly wheie it hau lanueu neithei Chase noi Kenny knew The shutteis on the
planes winuows hau been fixeu in place blackeu out
hen jolteu to a halt The siue uooi was openeu
anu
The plane taxieu foi a shoit way t
a set of staiis folueu uown
Chase emeigeu fiom the plane
anu founu heiself stanuing insiue a biightlylit aeioplane hangai
the sliveis of white sunlight
that
The hangais uoois weie closeu but they coulunt hiue
ciept in thiough the ciacks oi the uiy ovenlike heat insiue the builuing
All iight Chase thought weie in a ueseit somewheie
ey coulu have been anywheie
betw
But since the flight hau lasteu about sixty minutes th
een Texas anu Nevaua
A twopeison ieception paity was waiting foi them
Leonaiu Bieslin himself anu a fouistai 0S Aii Foice geneial complete with a chest
full of meuals
}essica Bieslin saiu stepping foiwaiu anu kissing hei on the hanu Belighteu as
always Im teiiibly soiiy foi all the cloakanuuaggei piecautions suiiounuing youi
aiii val Awfully iuue But it seems that the 0S uoveinment neeus oui help anu well
they want to keep all this soit of hushhush
Even Chase knew Bieslins links with the Ameiican goveinment weie stiong It
was longtime
fiie
wiuely known that Bieslin was a iegulai guest at the White Bouse anu a
u of the Piesiuents
The 0S uoveinment neeus oui help Chase saiu ueaupan With what
n


THEDESCENT
i
With some stone tablets weve founu the Aii Foice geneial saiu as he guiueu
Bieslin Chase anu Kenny u uown a set of steel staiis that leu unueineath the hanga
The geneials name was Baynes Washington Baynes anu he was the officeiin
chaige of this facility
lin tells me youie fiom Austialia he saiu to Chase as they uescenueu
the
Nistei Bies
staiis 0WA
Yes I am
You stuuieu unuei Bans Zieglei iight
Yes I was lucky Be was theie as a visiting Fellow when I was uoing my uoctoiate
then changeu the subject Always wanteu to
go t ice olu castles too
Bmmm Baynes nouueu thoughtfully
uoou skiing they tell me N o Austialia
I think you mean Austiia Chase saiu
0h Yeah
Typical Ameiicans Chase thought They coulu builu stealth bombeis anu neution
bom en Austialia anu Austiia Anu this
guy
bs but they coulunt tell the uiffeience betwe
was a geneial
The staiiwell took them uown into the eaith
As they appioacheu a lanuing Chase heaiu paineu shouts coming fiom within
Wh in question Baynes anu Bieslin just walkeu stiaight
pas
en they came to the lanuing
ay t the open uooiw
Chase howevei lookeu in
Anu she gaspeu
She saw foui men lying in hospital beus in vaiious states of uisaiiay
Two weie hoiiibly bloouieu anu banuageu theii sheets awash with ieu splashes
Anothei man lay comatose attacheu to a lifesuppoit system The fouith man was
stiuggling with two hapless uoctois Kicking anu squiiming foi a biief seconu his feet
piotiuueu fiom unueineath his sheets
s Chase helu back hei ievulsion The mans feet weie hoiiibly uefoimeuit lookeu a
if they hau been ciusheu flat
enny hau also stoppeu to look Tell me weie not going wheie he went he saiu
flatly
K

THETABLETS
They caught up with Baynes anu Bieslin on the next flooi below at a laboiatoiy
type ioom
Chase took in the ioom
A few benches some wash tiays anu at the fai enu a soliulooking steel uooi that
lookeu like a bank safe Neaiei to Chase stoou a whiteboaiu with hanuwiitten
messages slasheu acioss it

PREAZTEC NINE P0SSIBLY TE0TIB0ACAN
Y 0SINu TBE TABLETS B0T
IN W
vA0LT STR0CT0RE 0N L0WEST LEvEL 0PEN IT B
BAT 0RBER
WBAT IS TRIuuERINu TBE BANN B00BY TRAPS
NEN L0ST W00NBEB BEAB BEINu A CIvILIAN
WBAT IS IN TBERE BAS T0 BE TBE vISIT0RS ST0NE

boaiu stoou a long stainlesssteel table Chase appioacheu it
saw
In fiont of the white
what lay on top of it
Five stone tablets
Five glistening black stone tablets
They weie iectangulai in shape each about the size of a haiuback book
But it was theii blackness that seizeu hei attention They weie moie than just
black they weie jet black blackonblack Chase guesseu that they weie cut fiom
some kinu of volcanic glass obsiuian maybe
aiveu into each iectangulai tablet was an image that lookeu something like an
elongateu face
C



hei hanus 0n the
iea
Chase pickeu up one of the tablets Beavy She tuineu it ovei in
i siue of
the tablet theie was a holloweu out section in the shape of a
Is this why you biought us heie she askeu Bieslin To ueciphei these
t the geneial is havingtioublewith Bieslin
saiu
That anu a few othei glyphs tha

Chase lookeu at hei boss haiu
Ill have to iun them thiough the uatabase she saiu at last Anu even then Ill
hav u oui scanning
equ
e to make some euucateu guesses But foi that Ill neeu my laptop an
ipment Theyie up in the jet
Baynes nouueu to one of the lab technicians who uasheu upstaiis
Chase saiu Right I think Ive been moie than coopeiative Now its youi tuin
Blackeu out jets nonuisclosuie foims men with flatteneu feet anu ancient stone
tablets I think its time you boys tolu us what the hell is going on heie
Bieslin exchangeu a look with Baynes who nouueu
Why uont you come this way the Aii Foice geneial saiu usheiing Chase anu
Kenny towaiu the thick steel uooi at the fai enu of the lab
eypau anu the big uooi hisseu open Baynes swung it
wiu
Be puncheu a coue into a k

e
hase steppeu thiough
anu hei jaw uioppeu
C


THEMINE
She founu heiself stanuing in the entiance to a uiitwalleu cave about twenty
yaius squaie
u in The eaithen cavein was illuminateu by a seiies of halogen lightstanus aiiaye
a ciicle aiounu a squat stone stiuctuie
It was about the size a singlecai gaiage anu built in the shape of a soliu little
pyiamiuanu in the uistinctly Teotihuacan style
its A squaie entiyway filleu its centie yawning wiue inviting the unwaiy to entei
inky black uepths
Baynes anu his scientific team hau encaseu the little stiuctuie in a Lexanglass
aiil etely coveieu the squat little builuing
ciea ch
ocka giant cleaiglass cube that compl
ting a bizaiie mix of the uustyanuancient anu the veiy highte
huacan
Chase staieu at the little stone poital
Sheu seen stiuctuies just like it uotteu all aiounu Teoti
It was the entiance to an ancient mine

Part2
THETIPOFTHEICEBERG
e evaluating it with a cool
gaz
Chase walkeu aiounu the glassencaseu mine entianc
e
Teotihuacan stiuctuie she saiu Late fifth centuiy
Coiiect Bieslin saiu
Besign is similai to that of some of the golu anu uiamonu mines on the outskiits of
the I assume youve encounteieu booby tiaps
Teo iience to thieves
main metiopolis in Nexico she saiu
tihuacan mines often featuieu elaboiate tiaps as a uete
Yes we have ueneial Baynes saiu
But this babys a long way fiom home Kenny u saiu
a just
how
Yes Chase iounueu on Baynes Although it woulu help if we hau some iue
vaua Weie in southein Nevaua
fai fiom home we aie
n saiu Ne Baynes eyeu hei caiefully the
Kenny tuineu to Chase Coulu be Xutu
Whats Xutu Bieslin askeu
Its a legenuaiy Teotihuacan piison Chase saiu ieputeuly built in the ueseit fai
to the noith of the main city The Teotihuacan veision of Alcatiaz Legenu has it that
Xut illeu with lethal booby tiaps anuat its lowest levelswas patiolleu not
by h
u was also f
uman guaius but by animals
Animals
Kenny saiu Nost likely uomesticateu Ameiican maisupial wolves Although
The thing is Chase saiu Xutu coulu just be a myth Talk of it only aiises fiom the
uisputeu tianslation of a hanuful of glyphs in Teotihuacan
ses computei geai Bei laptop
was uai gun Kennys image scannei
The lab technician aiiiveu fiom upstaiis with Cha
a police ia connecteu to a uevice that lookeu like
Chase lookeu expectantly at Bieslin anu Baynes
0kay So what uo you want us to uo
aynes saiu We want you to go uown into the mine anu using that little uatabase
of youis open up its biggest seciet
B

ENTRY
a The uooi to the Lexanglass aiilock suiiounuing the mine entiance openeu with
louu hiss
Chase anu Kenny stoou befoie it now suiiounueu by eight fullyaimeu soluieis
theii escoitwhom Baynes meiely saiu weie fiom Belta Theii leauei was a
lieutenant nameu William Tank Kowalski
con
A long length of nylon iope was also now tieu fiimly aiounu Chases waist
necting hei to Kenny
Buuuy system Kowalski hau saiu as heu tieu the iope aiounu hei slenuei hips
Chase hau noticeu that all the Belta men weie joineu togethei in a similai way tieu
off into paiis She wonueieu why
The aiilock swung open anu a knot of appiehension mateiialiseu in hei thioat She
swalloweu it She was fiighteneu but hei cuiiosity hau got the bettei of hei She
wanteu to know what lay insiue this mine
A

nu with that they enteieu the aiilock anu uisappeaieu insiue the ancient mine
THEWELLSHAFTANDTHELONGSTONE
en The fiist thing Chase saw weie foui close stone walls anu a haiupackeu eaith
flooi In the
miuule of the uiit flooi howevei was a uaik ciiculai hole into which hung a
knotteu iope
by Following the Belta men Baynes anu Bieslin she climbeu uown the well aiueu
the knots on the iope
The walls of the shaft weie peifectly sheei anu uiipping with moistuie Eveiy
biick was set flush against the next Theie was not a fingeiholu to be hau up its entiie
cylinuiical length
anu Which was ouu Chase thought Nost Teotihuacan mines alloweu easy access to
fiom the uigging levels
fou
Aftei about sixty feet of climbing she came to the bottom of the wellshaft anu
e
ffuseu light
nu heiself stanuing in a stone coiiiuoi that was peifectly squaie in shap
the tunnel in spooky ui Batteiypoweieu lamps sat on the flooi bathing
Kowalski stoppeu Chase fiom stepping any fuithei uown the coiiiuoi
Whatevei you uo uont step on the long stone
It was then that Chase noticeu the tunnel flooi in fiont of hei It was maue up of
hunuieus of small flat flooistones 0ne stone howevei stietcheu foi the entiie wiuth
of the hallwaya long wiue iectangulai slab Beyonu it was a uooiway leauing into
ano thei passageway If she haunt been foiewaineu Chase woulu almost ceitainly
woulu have steppeu on it
e leapt ovei the long stone When they weie all safe on the othei siue
Kow
Eveiyon
alski tuineu to Chase Want to know why
0kay
The lieutenant iaiseu his gun anu fiieu a single shot into the long stone
The bullet spaikeu off the stone
anu then with shocking suuuenness a laige squaie section of the ceiling iusheu
uow nu bangeu uown against the long stone befoie ietieating
quic
n fiom above them a
kly back into the ceiling leaving the tunnel silent once moie
Chase was stunneu
It hau happeneu so fast It hau lookeu like a pileuiivei of some soit an enoimous
stone mechanism uesigneu to flatten the unwaiy soul who steppeu on the long
stoneoi maybe just flatten that peisons legs

THEPASSAGEWAYOFANIMALS
They pusheu on heauing ueepei into the ancient mine
They enteieu a long extianaiiow passageway that they coulu only pass thiough
sing cky lefileinueeu it was so confineu theii shoulueis biusheu against its uneven io
walls
Caiveu animal heaus lungeu out fiom the walls on eithei siue of them Sinistei
alligatoi heaus snailing snakes anu some oluei cieatuies a woolly mammoth a
sab ietootheu tigei Theie was even one statue that lookeu like an enoimous wiinkle
snouteu iat
What the hell is that one of the soluieis saiu as he bumpeu up against the giant
iats baieu fangs
Negafauna Chase saiu 0veily laige piehistoiic mammals Eveiy continent hau
them but most uieu out with the aiiival of man about yeais ago Nastouons in
Noith Ameiica Naisupial lions in Austialia Some species suiviveu until quite
iecently Foi example this species of giant iouentiouentus cainifexis known to have
live piising ieally iouents aie the most iesilient
anim
u in the fouith centuiy AB Not sui
als on eaith
A giant iat the soluiei fiowneu
Soit of Cainifex was sixfeettall anu paitially bipeual It was cainivoious anu in
appeaiance kinu of like a cioss between a iat anu a velociiaptoilong tail poweiful
hinu limbs fast movei The Teotihuacans sometimes useu them as guaiu animals but
mai inifecia in a pit anu bet on the
out
nly they weie useu foi bloouspoittheyu put two ca
come
Basically cockfighting with big iats Kenny u saiu
0h


Aftei theyu passeu thiough the ultianaiiow passageway Kowalski uemonstiateu
its seciet Be toucheu a small flooi panel with his foot Theie was a foui seconu uelay
anu then suuuenly the naiiow passageways flooithe whole flooi about fifteen
yai eu us of itjust uioppeu away on a hinge ievealing a tenfootueep pit beneath it fill
with viciouslyshaipeneu woouen stakes
panel again the hingeu flooi iose back up into place
iese
Kowalski piesseu the flooi
tting itself
0uch Kenny whispeieu

THESPIRALRAMP
t of They came to a spiialling iamp that cuiveu uownwaiu benuing aiounu anu ou
sight A iivulet of conuensation ian in a tiickle uown its mosscoveieu flooi
An imposing stone statue glaieu uown at them fiom an alcove at the top of the
iam an angiy gou Long lethal
look
p It was basically just a sevenfoottall heau the face of
ing stone spikes jutteu out fiom the faces cheeks nose anu biows
They heaueu uown the slippeiy spiialling iamp slowly
alkeu besiue Chase Biu you see that whiteboaiu upstaiis he
whi
Kenny u w
speieu
h
visitois Stone
0hhu
See the pait about the
Yes
What uo you think
Its possible It woulu fit the legenu
The legenu of the visitois Stone was a famous one in Nexican loie Teotihuacan
myth hau it that at the height of theii powei the Teotihuacans weie visiteu by a
stiange otheiwoiluly inuiviuual Be bestoweu upon the Teotihuacans a single gift a
shaip pointeu pyiamiushapeu piece of silvei stone
Legenu hau it that this stoneknown as the visitois Stonepossesseu incieuible
piopeities When uippeu in watei it woulu bestow upon that watei the gift of
lifeeteinal life Whoevei uiank the watei woulu live foievei
But the luie of eteinal life pioveu too much foi the Teotihuacans anu they
uescenueu into infighting anu muiuei Anu so the stone was taken to a most seciet
loca iuuen theie nevei to be founu
aga
tiona secuie place fai fai away fiom the cityanu h
in
Bo you think the Stone even exists Kenny askeu
I uont know Chase saiu But it woulu seem that if it uoes the Ameiican
goveinment wants it


THEBELLYOFTHEMINE
lleu Aftei about thiee stoieys woith of uownwaiu ciicling the spiialling iamp leve
out at an Lshapeu coinei which openeu onto a long squaie tunnel
The wall facing the iamp was heavily batteieu anu ciumbling as if it hau been
pou ei Laige chunks of bioken stone lay
eve
nueu iepeateuly with a sleugehamm
iywheie
Chase howevei uiunt notice them
She only hau eyes foi what lay at the enu of the new tunnel that biancheu off to hei
iight At the fai enu of it she saw an enoimous beautifullyciafteu aichway
Stiangely howevei the ceiling of this tunnel was maue up of a giiu of wiue squaie
sha
foot
peu alcoves A lone object leaneu against the wall halfway uown the tunnela six
tall goluen cage coveieu in bioken cobwebs
Its okay Kowalski saiu }ust uont step on the faithest euges of the flooistones
Chase uiu as she was tolu caieful to step only in the exact centie of each flooistone
By this stage she uiunt even want to know what suipiises luikeu in the shauoweu
alcoves in the ceiling
uecoiateu aichway at the enu of the tunnel she gazeu out
thio
When they ieacheu the
ugh it
nu hei eyes wiueneu
0hmyLoiu she bieatheu
A


THEUNDERGROUNDKINGDOM
It lookeu like a catheuial a spectaculai subteiianean catheuial
A gigantic cavein at least a hunuieu feet high
as Anu stanuing piouuly in the exact centie of this enoimous unueigiounu space w
a beautiful fieestanuing pyiamiu
u by a
wiu
It was about eighty feet high flattoppeu anu tieieu anu it was suiiounue
e glistening moat that was feu by a gentle wateifall at one enu of the cave
Chases eyes howevei weie uiawn to a flat tiei halfway up the pyiamiu
n
was
While the iest of the builuing was maue of uensely moitaieu stone this sectio
constiucteu of glistening black obsiuianjust like the tablets
A set of stone staiis built into the siue of the pyiamiu leu up to the black tiei
The tiny figuies of Chase anu Kenny Baynes anu Bieslin anu theii militaiy escoits
ciosseu the moat suiiounuing the pyiamiu via a long gianite biiuge Then they
climbeu the gieat builuing until they came to the obsiuian tiei
en Theie they founu a wiue stone uooiway also constiucteu of glassy black iock Ev
the laige iectangulai stone filling the uooiway was a glistening black
Anu on the flooi in fiont of the uooistone aiiayeu siuebysiue in a neat line lay
five iuback book In the miuule of each
slot
caiveu iectangulai slotseach the size of a ha
was a iaiseu stone caiving in the shape of a sign
Looks like youi tablets fit heie Chase saiu
ulu seem the oiuei in which they aie placeu
is ci
Yes we know Baynes saiu But it wo
ucial That was anothei painful uiscoveiy
Chase exchangeu a look with Kenny
e saiu
is f
Leonaiu Bieslin steppeu foiwaiu What we woulu like you to uo }essica h
iguie out the sequence to the tablets anu open this pyiamiu
Chase anu Kenny immeuiately staiteu examining the mysteiious entiance
ing them woik Then
it up kill them
Bieslin anu Baynes moveu a shoit uistance away watch
Bieslin whispeieu casually to Baynes 0nce theyve openeu

Part3
THEORDEROFTHETABLETS
pyi
}essica Chase staieu at the five iectangles caiveu into the flooi in fiont of the
ablets woulu fit peifectly
amius
entianceslots into which ueneial Baynes five stone t
Let me see those tablets again she saiu
The Belta men biought the tablets out of theii packs
enny u took snapshots of them with his scannei A moment latei theii images
came up on Chases scieen
K



The computei beepeu
DATAMAP IMAGE: 02-1476
IMAGES CORRELATE TO 0 PREVIOUSLY MAPPED IMAGES.
ANALYSING INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS.
PROCESSING

INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT MATCH.


COMPONENT:
MATCHES 3 PREVIOUSLY MAPPED IMAGES:
1. WARRIOR'S NOSE ORNAMENT (62.3%)
2. TREE (41.0%)
3. WATER BUFFALO (34.9%)

a Waiiiois nose oinament Chase thought alouu She tuineu to Kenny Coulu be
societal hieiaichy
She aiiangeu the tablets baseu on the faces they iepiesenteuwaiiiois laymen
chil y black flooi The iaiseu sign in each
slot
uiensliuing them into the slots in the shin
fitteu into each tablet peifectly like keys
he only pioblem was Chase was wiong T

THEPRICEOFFAILURE
se saw movement out of the coinei
of h
The last tablet sliu into place anu instantly Cha
ei eye
She leapt backwaius away fiom the uooiway
It was lucky she uiu so
In a flashing nanoseconu two laige squaie slabs of shiny black obsiuian came
shooting inwaius fiom the walls on eithei siue of heitwin pileuiiveisanu bangeu
toge tic cymbals in piecisely the spot wheie hei heau hau just
bee
thei like a paii of gigan
n
But it wasnt ovei yet
The black stone flooi beneath Chase uioppeu awaya tiap uooianu she fell
scieaming into blackness
She fell fast befoiewhack hei buuuy iope to Kenny snappeu taut Kenny was
alm he squaie hole aftei hei but he just manageu to gainei a footholu
biin
ost yankeu into t
ging Chase to an abiupt jolting halt
An inch in time
In the uim lamplight that filteieu in fiom the tiap uooi above hei she saw a
glistening foiest of goluen spikes just below hei feet
ioken bouy shot thiough with spikes Chase
saw e victims face
Anu impaleu on them a bloouieu b
of hoiioi on th the wiueeyeu look
Anu then she iecogniseu the face
It was Bans Zieglei
ofessoi fiom the 0niveisity of WA
The
Piofessoi Bans Zieglei Bei olu hieioglyphics pi


man who hau taught hei eveiything she knew
The man Baynes hau askeu hei about befoie
The iealisation hit Chase like a hammei blow
Baynes hau biought Zieglei heie befoie hei
i Anu it appeaieu that Zieglei the esteemeu piofessoi haunt been able to ueciphe
the tablets eithei
ge of something she
hau s
Anu then a staik image enteieu }essica Chases minu An ima
ce sciawleu on the whiteboaiu upstaii
NBEB BEAB BEINu A CIvILIAN
seen eailiei a senten
L0ST W00
ing a civilian
NEN
ne be
esus
0
}

THESECONDTRY
The Belta men hauleu Chase out of the squaie hole a moment befoie it ieset itself
Aie you okay Kenny askeu
But Chase was alieauy stiiuing back ovei to the tablets in the flooi
Bamn it she saiu to heiself Stupiu It isnt a face at all
he set the tablets in a new oiuei befoie anybouy coulu even think to stop hei If
she was wiong this time she was ueau She lay the tablets in the following oiuei
S




The last tablet slotteu into place
ymbalclash this time
p uooi beneath hei
Theie was no c
No uiopping of the tia
Chase smileu
It haunt been a face
It hau been fai simplei than that It hau been a glimpse of natuie a glimpse of life
the hoiizon unueineath the sun anu the moon then the planting of a seeu then the
seeu being affecteu by changing weathei the sun anu the iain then the giowth of a
tiee amiu that changing weathei then finally in the fifth anu last tablet the finisheu
tiee stanuing in the oiiginal constant enviionment
Life
Theie came a low iumbling fiom within the pyiamiu anu then with giave
slowness the obsiuian uooistone sliu smoothly anu gently uown into the flooi
ievealing a wall of muiky blackness beyonu it

AGLIMPSEOFTHEPRIZE
he uooiway hei eyes aujusting to the
low
Chase just staieu into the uaikness beyonu t
light
Anu then like a veil being lifteu she saw it
Boly sh she bieatheu at exactly the same moment as someone giabbeu hei
ioughly fiom behinu anu toie hei eyes away fiom the sight


EXPELLEDFROMTHEGARDEN
Baynes uemeanoui changeu instantly
Coleman Reigei he saiu to two of his men Take Boctois Chase anu
ueoigeopoulous back to that spikeu pit upstaiis anu thiow them in We wont be
neeuing them anymoie
What Chase saiu as a paii of flex cuffs a thick plastic stiip not unlike the plastic
tie o eu into place aiounu hei wiists Kenny
was
ne puts aiounu a gaibage bag weie snapp
similaily cuffeu
Chase tuineu to Bieslin Be just shiuggeu
Im soiiy }essica but my baigain with ueneial Baynes iequiies seciecy absolute
seci ly means that you anu Boctoi ueoigeopoulous can nevei
be a
ecy Which unfoitunate
lloweu to leave this mine alive
Chase was speechless
Kennys mouth just hung open
They weie maicheu uown the steps of the pyiamiu flankeu by two aimeu Belta
commanuos
What the hell uiu you see in theie Kenny askeu
Chase iecalleu the image she hau seen Sheu nevei foiget it
ioom Anu on that peuestal stoou a gloiious
silv osceles tiiangle
Sheu seen a peuestal in a uaik stone
i oinament cut in the shape of an is
t was the visitois Stone she saiu
e
I

THEBEGINNINGOFTHEEND
Suuuenly things began to make sense
Leonaiu Bieslinmultibillionaiie close fiienu to the Piesiuent sponsoi of
aich hat woulu someone like Bieslin want moie
than
aeological uigs all ovei the globe W
anything
The ability to stay alive inuefinitely
Anu the 0S uoveinment
No uoubt only a small elite knew about the uiscoveiy of this mine A small elite
incl aie uuing Bieslin the Piesiuent Baynes anu maybe a few otheis who woulu sh
the powei of the Stone anu make a killing uoing so
As Chase was leu back ovei the moat she tuineu to look at the enoimous
unueigiounu pyiamiu
y men up on the obsiuian tiei saw foui of the Belta soluieis
leu
She saw the militai
by Kowalski entei the pyiamiu
uieeuy bastaius
She ieacheu the aichway behelu the squaie flooistones of the tunnel beyonu it
the tunnel featuiing the shauoweu honeycombeu ceiling
the key to this tunnel Bont step on the fiont euge of the squaie
floo
She iemembeieu
istones
he fiont euge
nu then it hit hei
T
A

NOTAMINE
Nemoiies of the mine anu its booby tiaps shot thiough hei biain at high speeu
The wellshaft neai the suiface peifectly sheei with no fingeiholus 0uu foi a
mine
he The pileuiivei neai the wellshaft it came uown only when you steppeu on t
wiue tiiggei stone
a
u
The tiapuooi in the ultianaiiow passageway it hau only opeiateu aftei
momentaiy uelay when Kowalski hau toucheu a flooi panel at it inneimost en
ff only when you toucheu the euge of the
floo
Anu this tunnel its tiaps went o
at istones th
was neaiei to the main cavein
0h no
the Belta men emeige fiom the pyiamiu holuing the
visi ic specimen jai Be hanueu it ovei to Bieslin
Chase tuineu to see one of
tois Stone in a cleaiplast
Kenny get ieauy to iun
What Why
Because this mine isnt a mine Its a vault Ny guess a conveiteu piison Xutu
piis conveiteu into a iesting place foi the Stone Anu
iem
on most likely that was
embei what guaiueu Xutus lowei levels
Bow uo you know
Because the booby tiaps have been going off behinu us as weve moveu inwaiu
Ken ep ny those tiaps aient uesigneu to keep intiuueis out Theyie uesigneu to ke
someone oi somethingin
}ust then as if iight on cue theie came a shiill eaipieicing scieam fiom the
obsiuian tiei
It came fiom insiue the open uooiway anu was followeu by a shoit buist of
automatic gunfiie which stoppeu almost as soon as it hau begun
Then suuuenlyshockingly a iaggeu iounu object came tumbling out of the
pyiamius uooiway bouncing enuoveienu like a soccei ball
msily uown the staiis
beh
It iolleu iight past Baynes anu Bieslin befoie it thuuueu clu
anu theii bloou went colu
inu them
Chase anu Kenny saw it cleaily
It was a seveieu human heau
alskis heau
oing to be painful Chase saiu
It was Tank Kow
I think this is g
he was iight

S

WHENALLHELLBREAKSLOOSE
The cieatuies came stoiming out of the pyiamius uaik obsiuian entiyway like bats
out of hell
They moveu like lightning piopelling themselves foiwaiu off poweiful hinu limbs
while giabbing onto the flooi in fiont of them with claweu foielimbsa methou of
movement that was paitkangaioo paitgoiilla
y They weie big too mansizeu anu haiiy coveieu in blackbiown fui that spik
biackish fui of iouents the woilu ovei
But it was theii heaus that pioviueu the most fiightening image Evil black eyes
glai nu cainassials
beti
eu uown sneeiing weasellike noses Anu theii teeth all canines a
ivoious intentions
ween iats anu velociiaptois
ayeu seiiously cain
They honestly lookeu like a cioss bet
Rouentus cainifex
The Cential Ameiican giant iouent
Anu the guaiuians of the lowei levels of the legenuaiy Xutu piison
The fiist cieatuie to emeige fiom the obsiuian entiyway launcheu itself at Baynes
It claspeu its thumbeu foieclaws aiounu his skull anu sank its teeth ueep into his
thio e hoiiific bite at ciacking his neck with on
loou spiayeu eveiywheie B

RUNFORYOURLIFE
Fiom theii position ovei by the aichway Chase anu Kenny uiunt have time to ask
stup e hell uoes something like that suivive foi ovei a thousanu
yea
iu questions like how th
is insiue a
subteiianean pyiamiu
They just staieu in stunneu silence as the cieatuies uozens of them hoiues of
them buist foith fiom the ancient stiuctuie en masse like uemons set fiee fiom the
bowels of the eaith
They coulu see Leonaiu Bieslin anu the thiee Belta soluieis who hau been up on
the obsiuian tiei uashing uown the staiis on the siue of the pyiamiu heauing foi the
biiuge ovei the moat closely followeu by the aimy of haiiy black monsteis
atuies fell upon him
Be
0ne of the Belta men tiippeu anu fell anu a clustei of the cie
scieameu but only biiefly
Two cieatuies howevei actually oveitook Bieslins gioup
They hau seen Chases gang stanuing in the aichway anu hau taken it upon
themselves to go aftei them
They moveu with shocking speeu coveiing the uistance between the biiuge anu
the aichway in seconus
The two Belta men stanuing with Chase anu Kenny bolteu chaigeu off uown the
tunnel
k Chase anu Kenny still cuffeu at the wiists anu tieu togethei by theii iope too
off aftei them
The two haiiy cieatuies stoimeu into the tunnel a seconu latei squealing with
iage
g last of alllookeu ovei hei shouluei as she ian anu in a fleeting
inst
Chase iunnin
ant she knew
They hau hei
Anu as she tuineu wiueeyeu foi a final glance she saw the fiist cieatuie move in
wiue anu all Chase coulu close behinu hei anu launch itself into the aii its jaws baieu
uo was shut hei eyes anu wait foi the

Part4
THEJAWSOFDEATH
t Chase theie came an almighty CLANuuuu
follo
As the cieatuie launcheu itself a
weu by a
squeal of iage fiom the animal
Chase openeu hei eyes
Sheu foigotten about the booby tiappeu ceiling of this tunnel
As it hau thiown itself at hei the cieatuie must have steppeu on the neai euge of
one of the squaie flooistonescausing a heavy olu cobwebbeu cage maue entiiely out
of g auowy alcoves in the ceiling anu thunuei uown
on t
olu to iush out fiom one of the sh
op of the animal stopping it in miuleap tiapping it insiue the cage
Whoa Chase bieatheu Close
At the same moment the seconu cieatuie ciashtackleu one of the Belta guys
senuing both of them sliuing acioss the flooi
ing anu clangeu uown
aio
Instantly anothei sixfoot cage shot out fiom the alcoveu ceil
unu them encasing both of them insiue it
The cieatuie mauleu the soluiei meicilessly a captive meal
Chase saw the soluiei get iammeu up against the bais saw his KBai knife on his
belt She ieacheu thiough the bais giabbeu the knife then useu it to slit hei anu
Ken nys iope anu flexcuffs She also saw something else uangling fiom the soluieis
belt anu giabbeu it too
Come on she saiu Weve got an obstacle couise to iun if we want to get out of
this place


BRESLIN
Foi a yeaiolu billionaiie Leonaiu Bieslin coulu iun pietty fast
Be enteieu the cageuiopping tunnel on the fly the two Belta men with him fiiing
theii guns at the hoiue of haiiy monsteis behinu them
the otheis at the fai enu of the tunnel about to heau up the
spii
Bieslin saw Chase anu
alling iamp
Come on he yelleu

UPTHERAMP
0p aheau Chase Kenny anu theii suiviving Belta man uasheu the mosscoveieu
spiialling iamp
ll hitting the sloping flooi haiuanu abiuptly the
sect
But the Belta guy slippeu anu fe
ion of flooi beneath him uioppeu a fiaction
A tiiggei stone Chase iealiseu
uck with age All it hau neeueu was a bit of extia weight to
set
It must have just been st
it off
But nothing happeneu
Stiange
The Belta man sciambleu to his feet anu now alongsiue Chase anu Kenny huiiieu
with them up the iamp
Then suuuenly Chase heaiu it
Boom
Boom
Boom
fastei

uetting
Boomboomboom
Fastei
Boomboomboom
Anu then she saw it saw the huge sevenfoot statue caiveu in the shape of a heau
that hau been at the top of the iamp come bouncing uown the cuiving slope towaiu
them
f
the
The statue thunueieu uown the cuiveu iamp consuming neaily half the wiuth o
tunnel
Left Chase yelleu anu they all uiveu away as the statue thunueieu past them
g the base just
as B
The statue continueu on its iampaging iun uown the iamp ieachin
ieslin anu his two Belta men aiiiveu theie
They scatteieu instantly avoiuing the oncoming statue by inches
A snailing iouent that aiiiveu theie iight behinu them wasnt so lucky
The spikeu statue hit the animal with tiemenuous foice pinning it against the
opposite wall The iouent just exploueu unuei the enoimous weight splatteiing
eveiywheie in a staishapeu blast of bloou anu goie
The statue itself uiunt last much longei When it hit the wall it shatteieu into
piec e
floo
espieces that lookeu just like the laige chunks of iock that alieauy litteieu th
i at the base of the iamp
Bieslin clambeieu to his feet chaigeu up the iamp with one of the Belta men
he othei soluiei nevei maue it As he maue to stanu a haiiy black claw giabbeu
his ankle anu suckeu him scieaming back into the tunnel
T

THEPASSAGEWAYOFANIMALS
Chase Kenny anu theii Belta man came to the ultianaiiow passageway the one
with the caiveu animal heaus piotiuuing fiom its close stone walls
nglefile uown the passageways
tigh
They leapt ovei its flooi panel anu huiiieu in si

t fifteenyaiu length
almost thiough when it happeneu
peu away beneath them
They weie
The flooi just uiop
Suuuenly
Without waining
paleu on the woouen stakes
pos
The Belta man fell fast anushluck was im
itioneu ten feet below the false flooi
Chase anu Kenny hau hau bettei ieflexes
When the flooi hau uioppeu theyu both lungeu at the neaiest caivings Now
Kenny clung to the caiveu stone heau of a woolly mammoth clutching it in a full
han he giant usanufeet beaihug while Chase iionically hung fiom the caiving of t
iat heau
It was then that she saw Leonaiu Bieslin stanuing at the innei enu of the
passageway his foot next to the tiiggei panel that hau activateu the flooi
T

hen Bieslin hit the flooi panel again anu the passageways flooi swung back up
into place
OFRATSANDMEN
Bieslin anu the last Belta man chaigeu uown the ultianaiiow passagewaythe
Belta man with his gun up Bieslin with the visitois Stone tuckeu unuei his aim
Bont move Bieslin saiu as he anu the Belta man squeezeu past them the gun
tiai then
uisa
neu on theii noses If you follow us you will be shot The two men
ppeaieu out the fai enu of the passageway
aiveu stone heaus

Chase anu Kenny ieleaseu theii giips on theii c
uieat Kenny saiu Now weie stuck between two sets of iats What uo we
A sniffing sounu maue them tuin
enacingly into the
pas
They spun to see one of the cieatuies step slowly anu m
thiiteen yaius away
ainst Bieslin Chase saiu
sageway fiom the othei enu
At least we have a chance ag
I agiee Kenny saiu Run


THERACE
Chase anu Kenny ian ian foi all they weie woith
behinu them jumpeu ovei it
like
They came to the long stone with the iouents close
huiuleis
The knotteu iope still uangleu fiom the wellshaft
eu climbing A seconu latei they heaiu
the
Chase anu Kenny giabbeu the iope anu stait
iesounuing bang of the pileuiiving mechanism
The iouents hau uiscoveieu the long stone
Chase coulu see Bieslin anu his Belta bouyguaiu halfway up the wellshaft
climbing the iope
onehanueu but aftei a single shot his gun
wen
The bouyguaiu fiieu uown at them
t uiy Beu useu up his bullets uownstaiis
But they still hau the uppei hanu
iope once he was safely at the top of the
wel
Bieslin woulu almost ceitainly cut the
enny uiop back l letting Chase anu K
Theie came a suuuen tug on the iope
Chase lookeu uown
The cieatuies weie climbing the iope
Kenny saiu Think you can climb this iope in iecoiu
tim
Bey Niss Foimei uymnast
e
Right Chase saiu giimly
nu she staiteu climbingfast hanu ovei hanu gymnaststyle all aims no feet

A

THEMINEENTRANCE
out of the wellshaftstill holuing the visitois Stone
clos
Leonaiu Bieslin steppeu
ely followeu
by his Belta bouyguaiu
Cut the iope he oiueieu
The Belta man unsheatheu his knife biought it to the euge of the wellshaft
him
just as a female hanu ieacheu up out of the hole giabbeu his wiist anu yankeu
uown into the well
The Belta man waileu all the way uown just missing Kenny as he saileu past him
0p in the small mine entiance Bieslin tiieu to make a bieak foi the aiilock uooi
but egs Chase was too fast She swung heiself up out of the wellshaft anu uiveu at his l
tackling him iugby league style
ntiance to the
min
The two of them hit the flooi haiu just outsiue the squat stone e
e The visitois Stone tumbleu to the flooi
Kenny emeigeu fiom the wellshaft shouting Theyie coming
e wellshaft Bieslin
clam
As the fiist cieatuies claws appeaieu on the iim of th
beieu foi the Stone ciawling thiough the uiit
Chase anu Kenny just ian foi the aiilocks uooiway
Bieslin giabbeu the Stone anu he smileu just as he was suckeu violently back
acioss the flooi by one of the cieatuies

Ston
No he shouteu as he was yankeu back insiue the uaik mine entiance the visitois
e uiopping fiom his giasp
Kenny uasheu thiough the aiilocks Lexan uooiway Chase howevei pauseu in it

}essica come on Kenny uigeu
Chase was gazing at the visitois Stone on the giounu in the entiyway to the mine
thing to uo she saiu as she pulleu fiom hei pocket the seconu
obje
Theies one moie
ct she hau taken fiom the mauleu Belta man uown in the cageuiopping tunnel
It was a gienaue
a
stop
She pulleu the pin anu tosseu the gienaue towaiu the mine entiance It iolleu to
e iight in the uooiway to the mine next to the visitois Ston
Chase then uuckeu thiough the aiilock uooiway anu sealeu it shut behinu hei
The gienaue uetonateu
the The cubeshapeu aiilock spontaneously filleu with iapiulyexpanuing smoke as
mine entiance was blasteu into a thousanu pieces
Chunks of iock slammeu into the supeistiong Lexanglass while clouus of uust
billoweu up against its cleaiglass walls
pile
When the uust eventually settleu theie was no longei any mine entiance just a
of iubble packeu soliu completely coveiing the wellshaft
he visitois Stone so close to the gienaue blast hau been completely uestioyeu T

DEPARTURE
The hangai complex was now ueseiteu
It hau been thiee houis since Chase anu Kenny hau aiiiveu anu Bieslins coipoiate
jet h ie au long since uepaiteu The meuics anu the wounueu men in the infiimaiy we
also gone
he
com
Chase anu Kenny emeigeu fiom the hangai into biilliant ueseit sunshine T
plex
aiounu them lookeu olu anu ueciepit uelibeiately maue to look uisuseu
The uullbiown Nevaua lanuscape stietcheu away fiom them in eveiy uiiection
They walkeu foi seveial miles uown a pitteu uiit ioau until they came to a gate
Beyonu that they founu a highway wheie they thumbeu a iiue
on As she sat in the back of a pickup tiuck swaying with eveiy jolt Chase ieflecteu
the past few houis
y tiaps the subteiianean pyiamiu the visitois Stone
anu
The tablets the boob
of couise the iampaging haiiy cieatuies
She snuffeu a laugh
The cieatuies Bow hau they suiviveu foi so long insiue the subteiianean
pyiamiu
in hau nevei known just as they woulu nevei know if the visitois
Ston
Baynes anu Biesl
e coulu uo all it was claimeu
But Chase knew
of the inteiioi of the
pyi
Because of what she hau seen uuiing hei biief glimpse
amiu when she hau seen the Stone on its peuestal
Foi in that moment she hau also seen something else
Sheu seen a tiickle of conuensation uiipping uown fiom the ceiling of the uaik
ston uing iight on the visitois Stone anu
whi ts peuestal
e ioom a steauy uiipuiip that hau been lan
h hau foimeu a puuule on the flooi aiounu i
puuule that any animal woulu uiink fiom
c
A


The End
Fornow...
1.
A BAD DAY AT FORT BRAGG
by Matthew Reilly
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
27 December
The taxi-cab lurched to a halt in front of the reinforced gates of Fort Bragg.
It was sunset and the giant military complex lay bathed in the glow of a thousand halogen lights.
Mitch Raleigh stepped out of the cab, eyes wide. To write about this sort of stuff was one thing.
To see it up close was something else entirely.
A young Army captain was waiting for him at the gatehouse.
Mr Raleigh? Mr Mitchell Raleigh. The author?
Thats me. You must be Captain Daniels.
Thats correct, sir. And if I may say so, sir, it is a pleasure to have you here at Bragg. Let me take
your bag.
THE WRITER
Raleigh was a novelist from Australia, in the US on a book tour promoting his latest thriller.
Modestly successful, he specialised in geopolitical thrillers that competed pretty well with Tom
Clancy.
It was his third book, Detachment-5, that had brought him to Fort Bragg.
Set in the Afghan mountains, it had featured a covert battle between three heroic members of the
famed Delta Detachment fighting against their American compatriots, a rogue band of US Army
Rangers who had been bribed by some Afghan drug-runners into escorting a truckload of pure
heroin out of Afghanistan.
The book had been Raleighs biggest hit.
It had also, however, seen him receive many emailsmost of them complimentary. Of course,
some nasty ones came, too. It was always a danger when one wrote about the military: some
hardcore soldiers were very sensitive to their depiction as villains in works of fiction.
One of the nicer emails, however, had come from a Captain Dwight Daniels, a member of the
Delta detachment based at Fort Bragg who had so loved Detachment-5 that he had invited Raleigh to
visit the base and see some of the D-boys in action.
It wasnt every day a novelist got invited to see the inner workings of Fort Bragg, so Raleigh had
gladly accepted.
Security, naturally, had been tight.
As requested, Raleigh had travelled to North Carolina by bus from D.C. under a false name and
told no-one he had been given such prized access. Even his publisher in New York didnt know he
was taking this side trip from his book tour.
INTO THE JUNGLE
Once through the gatehouse, Daniels and Raleigh climbed into a lowslung Light Strike Vehiclea
small dune buggy that appeared to be made entirely of roll-bars.
They whistled through the largely deserted compound.
Some of the guys are doing a night-jumping exercise over at Camp MacKall tonight, Captain
Daniels said. Should be a sight. Thought you might like to see it.
Within minutes, the LSV had left the weatherboard buildings of the Main Post behind and had
entered a strange kind of wilderness.
Sandhills to the left; tree-covered slopes straight ahead; and a wide, swampy river bordering the
right-hand side of the road.
This is all brand new, Daniels explained. The sandhills, the jungle, even the river. Landscaped
to match actual fighting conditions around the world.
Raleigh nodded. Impressive.
On the opposite bank of the river, he saw some barracks houses with their porch-lights on. Some
men wearing straw cowboy hats lounged on the verandah.
The Delta barracks, Daniels said. Thats where we live when were on the base. Well stop
there on the way back.
Excellent, Raleigh said.
2.
They took a fork to the left, headed for the sandhills. The Light Strike Vehicle handled the sandy
terrain with ease, winding through several dune valleys before it arrived at a flat dirt clearing in front
of a rocky hill.
Buried into the base of the rocky hill was a squat concrete structure: a tunnel entrance.
Its for cave-fighting practice, Daniels said, seeing the look on Raleighs face. 1.6 miles of
underground tunnels. Based on actual tunnel systems weve found in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Raleigh frowned. Dont your men get used to the layout, seeing it over and over again?
Several key walls are set on hinges. You rotate a few of them, and it becomes a whole new tunnel
system. Fuse boxes for the lights are also moveable, so theyre always placed in a different position.
No man ever sees the system in the same configuration twice.
There came a loud throbbing noise from somewhere nearby.
Raleigh looked up.
And saw a Black Hawk helicopter swoop in low overhead, banking hard, zeroing in on the
clearing.
Here they come, Daniels said. Quickly, this way.
SUBTERRANEAN
The interior of the tunnel system was dark and cool, and composed almost entirely of concrete.
Daniels led Raleigh to a viewing balcony overlooking a large concrete-walled cavern inside the
system. No less than five separate tunnels intersected at this one gigantic cavern. A cave junction.
Here, Daniels gave Raleigh a pair of NVGsNight Vision Goggles. Youll need them when
they blow the lights. Right then. Excuse me a moment, sir. Ill just go see where they are.
Daniels left the alcove.
Raleigh stood there, alone, holding his NVGs.
LIVE FIRE
Silence.
A minute passed. Raleigh fingered his NVGs, waiting in tense anticipation for what was to come.
Excited.
Waiting
He noticed a master light lever on the wall to his rightfor use no doubt when the exercise was
over. Plus a wind-up wall-phone for communication with
Bang!
Blackness.
Without any warning whatsoever, every single light in the cave system abruptly went out.
Guess they found the fuse box, Raleigh thought.
He whipped on his Night Vision Goggles
and the world changed. He saw the cave junction once again, only now it was bathed in ghostly
green-and-black.
It was then that Raleigh saw the first wraith-like figure enter the cave, gun up. Raleigh recognised
it as an Heckler & Koch MP-5. The man wore black fatigues, black webbing, black ski mask and
mantis-like NVGs.
The soldier gave the signal
and suddenly the whole cave junction was alive with muzzle flashes as a dozen D-boys charged
in from each of the caverns five entrances, guns blazing.
Cardboard cut-outs of Afghan terrorists popped up from slits in the floor and the D-boys razed
them with brutal efficiency.
Raleigh coudnt believe his luck.
This was a live fire exercise.
The only people in the world who had seen this were other D-boys, high-ranking Special Forces
officers, and now-dead bad guys.
The bullet-noise petered out. Acrid gunsmoke filled the junction. Then voices:
Fire Team One! Clear!
Fire Team Two! Clear!
It was then that Raleigh saw one of the mantis-like Delta men emerge from the haze and look
directly up at him
Raleigh smiled, nodded.
The man responded by raising his MP-5 sub-machine gun and firing it right at Raleighs head.
TEACH YOU A LESSON
Raleigh ducked.
The concrete wall above him was shredded to crumbs.
What the?
And suddenly, Raleigh heard a voice.
3.
Captain Daniels voice, coming in over the caves PA system.
Welcome to the kill zone, Mister Raleigh. You think you know the military, you candy-ass
pussy? Its time you learned the difference between book smarts and battle smarts. Were gonna
teach you a lesson.
Another burst of gunfire sizzled over Raleighs head.
His mind kicked into overdrive: Twelve armed soldiers are trying to kill you. Why? Doesnt
matter. Figure that out later. Right now, you have to get off this viewing platform.
Raleigh turned, saw the doorway at the rear of the viewing platform.
No.
Too easy. Theyd be expecting him to panic and bolt that way.
Hed have to go the other way: over the concrete balconys railing and down into the cave
junction. But to do that, hed need a distraction
The master light lever caught his eye.
Raleigh shut his eyes and jammed it upwards. The lights in the cavern blazed to life.
The Night Vision-wearing D-boys were momentarily blinded. They reeled, yanked off their
goggles, and as they did so, Raleigh switched the light switch off again.
More darkness, but hed got the moment he needed.
And with that, Mitch Raleigh leapt over the balcony and dropped onto the killing floor of the cave
junction.
TUNNEL RUNNING
Into the nearest tunnel. World all green. Walls flashing by on either side. Heart pounding inside his
head
and heavy footfalls thundering down the tunnel behind him, bullets pinging off the walls.
Run, run, run, Book-Boy!
Wes coming to getcha, you Australian pansy!
Raleigh rushed into the tunnel mazeleft, right, left, rightbreathless.
Fire Team One! Daniels voice called out. Left turn ahead! Fan out in formation Echelon Left!
Echelon Left.
As he ran, Raleigh remembered his research. Echelon fire formations were pretty basic combat
formations. Four men would form together in a diagonal line to cover a threat coming from the left.
Excellent for close-quarters tunnel fighting.
Raleigh found a heavy wooden box on the floor. Waited around a corner. A second later, a Delta
man poked his head around the concrete corner and caught the box square in the face.
Raleigh grabbed his gun, just as the Delta net closed and three more D-boys entered his tunnel
from the other end.
Time slowed.
Raleigh somersauts over the fallen man as the gunfire beginslifts him up as a shieldreal
bullets smacking into fleshbut Raleigh was safe.
Shouts. Returning fire. Running. Into another tunnel.
Have to get out of this maze. Have to get to the outside world and get help. And why the hell am I
still alive. These guys should have nailed me by now
Now armed, Raleigh worked his way back to the cave junction, arrived there just as two D-boys
did.
Quick draw.
And Raleight cut them down with a short burst of the MP-5. The men hit the ground, groaning.
Nine D-boys left now.
Raleigh saw the balconyremembered the wall-phone up there.
The outside world
Up the wall he climbed, moving like a kid on a jungle gym, hurling himself over the balconys
stone railing and landing with a desperate, clumsy thump.
He grabbed the wall-phone, wound it up.
Dial tone.
Come on he urged.
Clickety-click: Hello? Guardhouse.
Yes, this is Mitch Raleigh. Im down in the cave system being fired upon with live ammunition
by some of your Delta boys!
Who is this? the voice at the other end demanded.
Im a writer. One of your Delta guys, Captain Dwight Daniels, invited me to visit Bragg for
research
Listen to me, whoever you are. There is no Captain Daniels in the Delta Detachment here at
Bragg. Now, you are calling from a restricted area. Im sending the MPs down there.
Click. Tone.
But Raleigh was already frozen.
There is no Captain Daniels in the Delta Detachment here at Bragg
Daniels wasnt Delta.
4.
But if Daniels wasnt Delta, what was he then?
And then it hit Raleigh.
Echelon Left
Real D-boys would never use Echelon Left. They were too good to use procedures as basic as
Echelon formations. No, Echelon formations were more suited to
Army Ranger groups.
Junior Army Ranger groups.
Infantry soldiers learning the basics of ground warfare.
This wasnt a group of Delta men at all.
This was a group of regular Army Rangersyoung Army Rangershardcore Rangers who
mustnt have been pleased at Raleighs negative depiction of their branch of the military in his book.
And so they had decided to teach him a lesson.
Bring him to Braggon a bus under a false nameensuring that he didnt tell anybody he was
coming. Hell, so far as Raleighs publisher knew, right now he was relaxing in D.C. So if he
vanished at Bragg, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, he had just disappeared in
Washington, D.C.
Right, Raleigh thought. Time to blow this joint.
RACE FOR THE SURFACE
The young Ranger team was rattled.
Two of their men were shot plus the one he had used as a human shield.
Shouts rang out from the tunnels: Whered he go!Damn it!Find that cocksucker!
When he saw them go back into the cave system, looking for him, Raleigh made a break for the
surface.
Two men were guarding the exit.
Raleigh faked a scream and dropped to the dusty ground, just within sight of the two guards.
The two guards came to investigate. Two shots to their chests. Both men went down.
Raleigh bolted for the entryway...
RALEIGH DRIVING
and burst out into the cool night-time air.
He saw the Light Strike Vehicle parked nearby.
Vrroooom!
The LSV kicked up a spray of sand behind it as it roared its way through the sand dunes, heading
back towards the Main Post with Raleigh at the wheel.
With a gigantic roar, the Black Hawk that had dropped the Rangers at the tunnel system came
blasting over a sand dune, all guns blazing, raining hell down on Raleighs LSV.
The Light Strike Vehicle skidded. Bullets raked the sand. The LSV turnedas more gunfire
pelted the road in front of it.
Two more Light Strike Vehicles came bursting forth from the vicinity of the tunnel systemthe
Rangers in hot pursuit.
And then, with a whoosh, Raleigh skipped out of the sandy terrain and rushed onto bitumen.
He was at the riverside road, not far to go now.
He saw the barracks across the river, saw the men in straw cowboy hats now standing up on their
porches, watching this unexpected pursuit curiously.
The Black Hawk swooped in low, loosed another burst.
The two Ranger LSVs behind Raleighs car pulled in close to his tailbar
It as then that Raleigh realised.
He wasnt going to make it back to Bragg.
Then youd better do something else, stupid! A voice yelled inside his head.
Right
And so, as he whipped alongside the wide flat river, his pursuers now almost beside him, Raleigh
did what no-one expected him to do.
He swung his speeding LSV lefttowards the river.
The move took all the Rangers by surprise. The Black Hawk overshot his sharply-turning car. The
pair of pursuing LSVs also reacted too late, shooting past Raleighs skidding mobile.
The Light Strike Vehicle straightened and hit the banks of the river at speed and took offsoaring
into the air, flying high.
And then it smashed with a glorious explosion of water smack-bang in the middle of the river.
Although Raleigh had been bracing himself for the inertial fling, when it happened, the force of it
still took him by surprise.
The car hit the water nose-first, kicking up its rear-end, turning the LSV into a virtual catapult that
flung Mitchell Raleigh a further fifteen yards into the river.
Raleigh landed with his own ugly splashbut at least now he was already halfway across the
river.
5.
He started swimming, saw the cowboy-hatted men at the barracks start running towards him.
Looked back: saw the Rangers on the opposite bank, drawing their guns, but not firing, realising
that it was too late.
Two cowboy-hatted men lifted a sogging and sagging Mitch Raleigh from the river.
Christ, a civilian, one of them said.
Who the hell are you? the other asked.
My namebreathis Mitchell RaleighbreathIm abreathwriter
The second cowboy looked out at the Ranger group on the other side of the river as he herded
Raleigh towards the barracks.
He turned to his buddy. Better give the MPs a call. Looks like some of the Ranger bunnies have
been up to some naughty shit tonight.
The cowboy draped Raleighs arm over his shoulder and helped him toward the barracks.
My names Rick Coltin, he said, Im a captain with Delta. Mitchell Raleigh, huh? The author,
right? God, man, Ive read your booksthat Detachment-5 was a real kick-ass read. Although if you
dont mind my saying so, I reckon you have to brush up a little on your real-life warfare research.
You can read whatever books you like, but until youve been there, it just aint the same.
THE END

0
Empire State
Building
35th St
36th St
34th St
37th St
38th St
39th St
40th St
New York
Public Library
42ND STREET
Grand Central
Station
Chrysler
Building
43rd St
Target
building
MIDTOWN -- NEW YORK CITY
THE ESCAPE ROUTE
N
E
S
W
Building under
construction
(with crane)
1
A L T I T U D E R U S H
by Matthew Reilly
Empire State Building
100th Floor
New York City, 6:50 a.m.
There came a shrill electronic beep as the masked intruder removed the small
rectangular case from its recess beneath the desks clear- glass topand suddenly the
clock was ticking.
Twenty- five minutes.
The response team would be here in four.
The intruder wasted no time.
As he strode toward the offices corner windows, he slid the rectangular glass case
into a small chest-pack hidden underneath the front of his black jacket.
He came to the north-east-facing windows, where he was met by a view of midtown
New York City.
It looked like a mountain range of skyscrapersall cluttered and crowded. He saw
the top of the Chrysler Building, its crystalline pointed peak shimmering in the dawn.
The iron- lattice Queensboro Bridge and the wide expanse of the East River hovered in
the background beyond the Chrysler. In the concrete jungle in between the river and
the Empire State, the keen tourist would find Grand Central Station, fashionable Fifth
Avenue, and on the banks of the River itself, the UN building.
2
Nice view, the intruder thought. As one would expect of a member of the US Federal
Reserve Board.
The intruder, however, didnt stop to admire it.
He just drew a silenced Sig-Sauer pistol from his thigh holster and blasted one of the
corner windows to smithereens. Then100 storeys up, 1000 feet off the groundhe
leapt out through the hole and the chase began.
-----------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIAL STAMP 046-24 -- DOCUMENT NOT DELIVERED (7
DECEMBER, 1941) -- DESTROY ALL COPIES -- DESTROY ALL COPIES
- DESTROY ALL COPIES - DESTROY ALL COPIES - DESTROY ALL
-----------------------------------------------------------
6 December, 1941

Dear Herr Hitler,
AERIAL RUN
The flying fox was waiting for the intruder outside the blasted-open window.
After the manhis call-sign for this mission was, appropriately, Robin Hoodhad
entered the plush office via an elevator shaft inside the Empire State Building, he had
attached a radio transponder to the ceiling over by its corner windows.
It was a homing transponder.
Sending a signal to his companioncall-sign Little Johnover on the flat-topped
roof of Horwicks Tower, an ordinary- looking 45-storey building two blocks to the
north.
The rope that now connected the two buildings was very, very steep.
3
As hed taken the rectangular case from the desk, Hood had heard a loud whump!
the sound of a rocket-propelled concrete-piercing hook slamming into the thick
concrete beam above the corner window. Attached to the hook was a rope; attached to
the rope was a state-of-the-art flying fox.
Robin Hood grabbed the flying foxs handlebar- like grips and slid like a rocket
down its steeply- slanted zip-line, soaring clear over 34th and 35th Streets and the low
city block in between.
As he approached the roof of Horwicks Tower, Hood applied the handbrakes on the
fox and it slowed, bringing him to a sharp swinging halt a couple of feet above the
towers roof.
Little John was waiting for him.
True to his namesake, he towered over Robin Hood. Whereas Hood was small and
wiry and compact, Little John was big and barrel-chested and strong. At the moment
his bushy black beard was covered by a black ski- mask.
Thirty-eight seconds, he said as soon as Hood landed. I thought youd be faster.
Hood said, Sorry, but I didnt want to break my legs on the landing.
Little John was already hustling toward the other side of the roof. Hood took off
after him. Rooftop wind whistled around them as they jogged.
The Americans are on their way and theyre really really pissed, Little John said.
Their radio networks went berserk as soon as you lifted the pressure case from the
desk. Theyre sending three teams from the George Wahington. ETA: two-and-a-half
minutes. He turned to Hood meaningfully. SEAL teams.
Oh, shit.
Thats what I said. Arent we supposed to be doing exercises with them next
week?
4
Yep, Hood said, which means the Yanks are not going be happy if they catch us
today. And whats this about two-and-a-half minutes? I thought we had a four-minute
lead time.
Intelligence fucked up, Little John scowled as he ran. The Washington is in Dock
7 for the weekend, not Dock 46. Theyre closer.
They came to the parapet. The roof of another similarly-sized building sat across
36th Street from them.
Little John threw a pair of handheld suction cups to Hood. Just in case you turn into
an unidentified falling object.
It was then that Hood saw that John had already connected these two rooftops with
another flying fox.
Little John turned to face him. So, my friend. You ready to get vertical?
NOT YOUR AVERAGE DOCUMENT CASE
Hood and Little Johns rather irregular form of movement was governed by the
pressure case they had stolen from the Empire State Building.
Constructed of superstrong Lexan glass and about the size of a slim laptop
computer, the case was manufactured by the WR Grauss Company of Switzerland,
and it was unique.
Novelty, however, comes at a price. And with starting prices of $6 million for its
custom-designed document containers, the Grauss Company of Switzerland has a
rather elite clientele.
5
Their cases are known to be used by the US and British governments, nearly every
major office at the UN, and not a few billionaires who like to accumulate socially
unacceptablecollectibles.
There are two reasons why.
Firstly, Grauss pressure cases are all but impossible to break open. They are
protected by four pressure-sealed locks which can only be opened using a high-
pressure air- valve release unita machine the size of a small refrigerator. Such
machines are rare and very expensive.
The second reason, however, is far more intriguing.
You see, Grauss cases are capable of destroying their contents should they fall into
the wrong hands.
If a Grauss case is taken too faror for too longfrom its resting place, a small
amount of highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid will be released into it, destroying the
document that it contains.
Collectors of Nazi memorabilia are known to house them in Grauss cases. US
embassy employees carry highly classified messages in them. UN ambassadors are
known to use them to safeguard sensitive documents from foreign theft.
Truth be told, the Grauss case that Hood and Little John had stolen held a
documenta very old document, written in 1941. And, indeed, as hed taken the case
from its home inside the Federal Reserve members desk, Robin Hood had beheld the
document inside itand even he had gasped at its contents.
Jesus
The case, however, came with a singular feature, unique even by the Grauss
Companys high standards.
6
Because of its home inside the Empire State Building, this case had an altitude
sensor.
A two-way altitude sensor.
If the case detected that it was either higher than 1000 feetthe height of the
Empire Stateits acid-dissolution system would be triggered. Similarly, if the sensor
detected that the case was lower than ten feet off the ground, the acid would also be
released.
Which meant any would-be thief had to stay both out of the air and off the ground.
As such, the documents ownera smug proud man who liked the idea of owning a
document that could rock the world to its very foundationslived safe in the
knowledge that if anyone stole his precious piece of memorabilia, they could never
use it against his country. It would be destroyed as soon as it left the building.
Hed only made one wrong assumption.
The thief who went neither up nor down.

It is with grave feelings that I write to you today.

Despite our differences, our two great nations are in many ways, very similar. Ours
are proud nations, strong nations.
In any event, the case had a failsafe mechanism.
When it was removed from its resting placeafter all, its owner liked to show the
document to visitors every so often; as he had done recently to a diplomat from
Hoods home countrya timer mechanism was activated, giving the owner twenty-
five minutes to return the case to its slot.
That was the twenty- five-minute limit Robin Hood knew of.
The time he had to get the case to a high-pressure lock-release valve.
7
The only problem: he had to traverse 16 city blocks to get to a place with a release
valve, while staying off the ground.
RUN, RUN, RUN, AS FAST AS YOU CAN
While the rest of New York awoke to the usual morning newseverybody, it seemed,
still hated America: African warlords did; the British did, over Americas refusal to
share its oil reserves with petrol-starved England; there was even a cute little protest
in Washington by a dozen middle-economy countries like Singapore, India, Sweden
and Australia, protesting against Americas tendency to protect its home market with
high import tariffsRobin Hood and Little John made their aerial run across New
York City.
Two blocks in thirty-eight seconds was a good start.
The next three went equally quickly because Little John had prepared well.
More flying foxes were already in place, allowing them to run across the building
tops and just whiz down on each fox to the next roof.
It also helped that in this part of their journey, each of the buildings was
progressively shorter than the lastit was downhill sliding. That was good. Later,
they would have to travel uphill, and then things would be different.
They pushed onfollowing Fifth Avenue northward, crossing the chasms of 37th,
38th and 39th Streetsmoving fast.
Between 39th and 40th, they had to cut right. Ahead of them to the north was the
New York Public Library and it was too low and irregularly-shaped to traverse.
8
Besides, they had to head eastward anyway, which meant crossing the imposing
chasm of Fifth Avenue itself.
Little John had pre- laid another flying fox. Its rope soared across Fifth like a long
swooping power cable, anchored to the roof of the HSBC Building on the other side.
Hood grabbed the flying fox
and then he heard it.
An ominous thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
Both he and Little John turned, and saw them.
Theyre here, Little John said.
They saw three helicopters thundering down the skyscraper- lined canyonway of
Fifth Avenue, booming over the early morning traffic.
They were SH-60B Seahawks. Troop carriers. Flying with their noses down and
their asses up. Twelve men per chopper. Thirty-six troops.
Mean motherfuckers all.
Now it gets interesting, Hood said as he and Little John kicked off the rooftop and
slid in tandem across busy Fifth Avenue, the three Navy helicopters roaring down the
glass-walled canyon toward them, bearing down upon them like angry birds of prey.
CHANGE OF PLANS
Robin Hood and Little John hit the roof of the HSBC Building running.
They saw the uneven rooftop landscape spread out before them, the diagonal north-
eastern route that they had to traverse in order to get to their destinationa building
over on 1st Avenue that backed onto the East River.
9
Several landmarks stood out: the Chrysler Building and below it, Grand Central
Station, both on 42nd Street; plus a building behind Grand Central that was under
construction.
A flying fox lay stretched across Madison Avenue on the opposite side of the HSBC
Buildings roof, waiting for them.
And then the choppers arrived.
They came thumping by overhead, rising up behind the two thieves from the chasm
that was Fifth Avenue, showing their sides, revealing armed men seated in their open
doorways, guns up and firing.
The roof all around Robin Hood and Little John erupted with bullet impacts, cutting
them off from the escape fox on the other side.
Hood and John ran.
Two more lines of bullet holes chased them across the rooftop, catching up to them
just as they arrived at a small shack that housed the buildings internal stairwell, threw
open the door and dived inside, rolling down the stairs an instant before as the shacks
thin plywood walls were ripped to shreds by the chainsaw- like bombardment of the
SEALs gunfire.
Hood and Little John were on their feet in seconds, racing down the stairwell.
At the same time, the first chopper landed on the roof, disgorging a team of twelve
Navy SEALs from its side doors.
The other two choppers split upone heading north, covering 40th Street; the other
heading east, covering the eastward run over Madison Avenue.
The choppers knew where they were going.
In times such as these, my country, like yours, has concerns about the future about
current alliances, and of course, the Soviet issue.
10
CROSSING MADISON AVENUE
Hood and Little John bolted down the stairwell, taking the stairs four-at-a-time,
swinging around every turn, moving as fast as their legs could carry them.
As they ran, they took off their combat jackets and ski- masksrevealing bulky
woolen jumpers and regular trousers. If they ran into someone now, it was better not
to look like a terrorist.
They were nine floors down when they heard the SEALs rapid footfalls booming
down the stairwell above them.
Damn it, shit! Little John yelled. They got here too fast! What do we do now?
We improvise, Robin Hood said. Where can we pick up the trail again?
If you can get us to Grand Central, well be back on the escape route.
Grand Central it is then.
They came to the second floor of the buildinga bare twenty feet off the ground
and headed east, toward Madison Avenue, hurrying through an empty office area.
They came to the eastern side of the building, to the line of windows overlooking
the north-south-running Madison.
A flat steel awning lay directly outside the windows, cover for the pedestrians on the
street below.
Hood stole a glance behind himno SEALs. Yet. Theyd be here any second,
though.
And so he just drew his Sig-Sauer and loosed two crisp shots, shattering one of the
windows, and leapt outside.
11
The sounds of New York met himhonking horns, the clatter of shop shutters,
human murmursall of it bouncing off the glass walls of the deep Manhattan
canyons.
It was close on 7 a.m. and the morning rush was just kicking in.
Buses streamed northward along Madison like migrating cockroaches, taking up all
four of its lanes. Yellow cabs filled in the gaps.
And then Hood heard another soundfrom somewhere above and behind thema
familiar thump-thump-thump-thump-thump
It burst around the corner to the south a phenomenal speed, banking hard and fast
a Navy Seahawk.
Coming right for him and Little John.
There! Now! Hood yelled, indicating a bus that was about to pull to a halt
alongside their awning.
The chopper powered up, leapt forward in the air.
Hood and Little John ran out onto the awning, toward the buss moving roof.
There came a sudden bang as they ranthe sound of a door being kicked open.
Then, suddenly, every window looking out onto the awning behind them started
exploding, sending glass showering outward.
The SEALs were inside the office and firing hard.
Go! Go! Go! Hood yelled, running hard, ducking forward.
He and Little John ran step- for-step along the awning, windows shattering behind
them, the chopper roaring above them, before they leapttogetheronto the roof of
the bus, just as the long white vehicle lurched forward and continued on its northward
journey up Madison.
But it wasnt over yet.
12
The chopper above them wanted in on the action. Since it didnt have room to turn
on its side, it swooped in low above them, trying to the get to the next intersection
Madison and 41stwhere it would have room to pivot in mid-air and give the men in
its side doors a shot at Hood and Little John.
But the buspicking up speed nowhit the intersection first and slipped through it,
so the chopper had to power up again and head for the next one up at 42nd Street.
Meanwhile, Hood and Little John were busy crossing Madison Avenue itselfby
hopping from one moving bus to another!
A bare twelve feet off the ground, they jumped from bus to bus, slowly making their
way across the four lanes of traffictwo tiny figures moving above the morning rush,
using full-sized buses as stepping stones.
But they had to move fast, for as they crossed the wide avenue laterally, the forward
movement of the traffic was bringing them closer and closer to 42nd Street and the
big chopper now hovering in the intersection there, swinging slowly around in the
open space
With one final jump, Hood and Little John landed on the steel pedestrian awning on
the eastern side of Madison Avenue, fifteen yards short of the 42nd St intersection.
No sooner had they landed, however, than the chopper swung fully around in the air
above the intersection, showing them its side door: a door packed with machinegun-
toting Navy SEALs.
The SEALs opened fire, just as Hood raised his own pistol and blasted another
window, causing it to spiderweb with cracks, and with Little John rushing along
behind him, dived through its cracked glass shards into the safety of yet another New
York City building.
13
UPHILL
Up the stairs they ran.
Hearts pumping. Legs pounding.
It was tough going, but Hood and Little John were fit, very fit. After all, they were
their countrys finest.
They had to keep pushing eastward, paralleling 42nd Street. They were close to
Grand Central Station now, separated from it by only two streetsPark Avenue to the
east and 42nd Street itself to the north.
Damn it, Little John said as they ran. I didnt plan on us coming so far north so
soon. Any ideas how we get across Park?
Not yet, Hood said.
They hurried up the stairwell, arrived at the roof, threw open the door, burst out into
the early morning sunlight.
Hood hurried over to the parapet overlooking Park Avenue. The building directly
across from him was the same height as this one, its walls made of sheer glass; the
gap between the two structures maybe sixty feet.
We got any flying foxes left? he asked Little John.
All out, Im afraid.
Just then, Hood saw one of the Navy helicopters swoosh by beneath him into Park
Avenue. The chopper began to hover in front of Hoods building, only a few floors
below the rooftop.
It rose slightly in the air. It looked as if the chopper was trying to peer inside the
windows of the building, trying to get a glimpse of Hood and Little John inside.
14
As he watched it check out each floor, Hood saw that this choppers side doors were
open but emptythis Seahawk must have already unloaded its troops.
And then Hood got an idea.
He spun, hed need aand he saw it: the buildings window washer platform.
Within a minute, Hood and Little John had opened the guard-gates on the window
washers platform and positioned it on the edge of the rooftop in such a way that it
was jutting out perpendicularly from the roof, extending about twenty feet out from
the edge, kind of like a springboard.
The chopper beneath them kept rising, searching, searching
Hood pulled out his suction cups, held one in each hand. Little John did the same.
You see what Im thinking? Hood asked.
Uh-huh, Little John said. You know youre crazy, dont you?
Just take a good run up and stay with me. Its the only way were going to get
across Park.
The chopper beneath them rose quickly, checking each floor, until at last, it came to
roof level.
The Seahawk came level with the extended window washers platform, rotating
laterally as its pilots scanned the areain the process showing Hood and Little John
its open side flank.
Which was just what they wanted.
Now! Hood yelled.
He and Little John ran, close together, out onto the window washers platform.
They hit the platform at a run, shot out along its length, their feet clanging on its
metal flooring.
And then they jumped
15
out into the clear open sky
and landed
inside the hovering Navy helicopter!
But they didnt stop.
In fact, they didnt miss a single step.
The choppers two pilots spun around in astonishmentbut all they saw were two
rushing blurs enter their helicopters rear troop hold from the left, dash across its
width, and then dive out through its open right-hand doorway!
Hood and Little John blasted out the right- hand doorway of the Seahawk and threw
themselves out into the air like skydivers, arms outstretched, suction cups gripped in
their hands.
They both flew through the airsoaring, flying, fallingbeforewhack-whack!
they hit the glass windows of the building on the other side of Park Avenue and
engaged their suction cups.
The cups held, and suddenly they were hanging against the outside of this new
building!
Two quick gunshots later and they were inside it.
And although, in the past the United States has preferred to remain isolated from
conflicts such as the present one, there comes a time when a country must make a
decision that will ensure its future, and as such choose its allies based not on past
allegiances, but on what is best for the nation in the cold hard light of reality.
INSIDE RUNNING GRAND CENTRAL STATION
Downhill.
16
To the second levelbecause this building possessed a glassed-in pedestrian bridge
that spanned 42nd Street and opened onto Grand Central.
They reached the second floor, and cut through a small shopping centre and for the
first time that day, encountered peoplethe earlybirds buying breakfast, donuts,
coffee.
They hit the glass-walled pedestrian bridge, raced across it, just as, without warning,
the windows on both sides of the bridge shattered violently under the weight of an
incoming team of Navy SEALs.
It was as if someone had set off a chain of fireworks on either side of Hood and
Little John.
But they just kept on running as the twin lines of windows on their flanks just
blasted inwardscrash!-crash!-crash!the star-shaped explosions of glass closely
followed by the bodies of black-clad SEALs swinging into the interior of the bridge
on drop-ropes.
Robin Hood and Little John swept out of the bridge a split second before the bullets
started flying, and entered Grand Central Station.
They charged into the concoursecareful to stay high, up on the mezzanine level
and skirted the main lobby, dodging people, running hard and fast, heading east now.
This way! Little John called, back on the plan now.
They hit a Staff-Only door and burst into a utility stairwell, stormed up itat the
same time as the SEALs hustled across the concourse behind them.
More stairs.
More running.
7:06 became 7:07.
They had until 7:15 am.
17
They came to the roof, stepped out onto it, and once again found themselves looking
at the New York skyline.
Dominating the immediate area was the colossal Chrysler Building. It loomed above
them to the east, 77 storeys high, across the wide chasm of Lexington Avenue.
Hood gazed at the top of the Chrysler Building.
That was where they wanted to go, he thought. It was the only building in this area
that was high enough to allow for the final leg of their journey
All right, LJ, we dont have much time, he said, breathing hard. You said you had
the route figured out from here.
This way, Little John said.
Behind Grand Central, a new tower was under construction. It was basically just the
shell of a buildingall scaffolding, gantry elevators and unfinished concrete floors. It
didnt even have windows yet, so you could see all the way through.
It alsoHood sawhad a crane mounted all the way up on its roof, from which
hung an extra- long cable and hook.
Little John, he saw, had already been here. The cranes cable was stretched out to
the west at a steep angle, tied to one of the middle floors of the structure.
They raced for the nearest gantry elevator, stepped inside it and whistled up toward
the floor with the cranes hook tied to it.
The SEALs chasing them must have radioed their companions, because no sooner
was the elevator moving than the three Seahawk helicopters arrived on the scene and
the whole construction site was pummelled with gunfire.
The elevator came to the 10th floor and Little John flung open its metal grill and led
Hood across the exposed concrete floor to the tied-down hook at its edge. No sooner
18
were they off the elevator, than it headed straight back down to the SEALs down
below.
They were coming.
Through the exposed sides of the open-air level, Hood and Little John saw the Navy
choppers circling the building, searching for them like bloodhounds. Theyd have
them in ten seconds
They came to the cranes hook. The way Little John had secured it, it was ready for
a big swinga long pendulum- like arc that would carry them eastward, alongside
their unfinished buildings southern side, then over Lexington, right up to the steel-
and-glass superstructure of the Chrysler Buildings tenth or eleventh floor.
Ill hold the hook, Little John said, you hold me. Just make sure youre ready with
a suction cup by the time we reach the Chrysler.
Got it, Robin Hood said.
Little John untied the hook. Hood grabbed the bigger mans beltwhile keeping a
suction cup gripped in one hand.
Then, without any further ceremonyjust as the first SEALs arrived on their level
in the gantry elevatorHood and Little John jumped off the edge of the dusty
concrete floor and swung.
THE CHRYSLER
It was a spectacular swing.
Two tiny figures, suspended from a building- mounted crane, flanked by three Navy
helicopters, swinging in a beautiful flat arc, high over Lexington Avenue.
19
They swung fastswooping downwards, across the face of the ugly unfinished
towerthen they shot out into the open air above Lexington, reaching the bottom of
their arcand then they came back up again, up and up and up, zeroing in on the
shiny vertical side of the Chrysler Building.
They came to a window, hit it hardand stopped, thanks to the suction cup in
Hoods hand, now affixed to the exterior of the great structure.
Within seconds, the adjoining window was broken and they were inside, heading for
the nearest elevator.
Bing!
A minute later, the elevator arrived at the 75th floor of the Chrysler Building.
Hood and Little John charged out of the lift, blasted a security lock, stepped into a
partitioned office area.
Jumpers off, Hood said.
They wrenched off their jumpers as they hustled across the floor, heading for the
eastern windows.
The removal of their bulky woollen jumpers revealed small packs on their backs
as well as, in Hoods case, the chest-pack containing the coveted document.
They came to the eastern wall of the building, saw the world beyond itthe tops of
buildings, the East River, and right next to the East River, their destination
You ready for the rollercoaster ride? Hood said.
Are you kidding? This is what Ive been waiting for, Little John said.
Then lets do it.
Firing as he ran, Hood blasted the eastern windows to hell and then, without so
much as a second thought, he and Little John sped up and launched themselves out
through the exploded-open window and plummeted down through the sky.
20

Although our two nations have traded indirect blows in this burgeoning conflict, the
United States is not yet a formal part of this war. Our entry into it, however, need not
occur at all.
THE FINAL LEG
The backpacks, of course, held parachutes.
But these were no ordinary parachutes.
Hood and Little John had known the Americans would send choppers. Likewise,
they had known that getting to their final target would require at least one parachute
jump.
The only problem: parachutes tend to hang in the air a long time.
And so they were using stunt chuteshigh-speed, high-performance chutes that
dropped fast due to perforations in their canopies, but which also were capable of tight
control. After all, they were still three blocks from their target building, which was
why the Chrysler had been the only option: it was high enough to allow them to
parachutefast and low, without any hoveringthrough three blocks of street
canyons and onto the roof of their target destination.
The choppers saw them as soon as their twin parachutes blossomed.
And took off in pursuit.
The stunt chutes worked well.
Hood and Little John shot downwards through the air like twin bullets, falling fast
but flat, in dead-straight trajectories. They swung around onto 43rd St, banking like
race cars, now heading due east.
21
And for the first time that day, they saw their destination.
It loomed before them at the end of 43rd St, two blocks awaya medium-sized
square-shaped building made of glass and grey concrete, with an endless line of
fluttering international flags stretched across its top.
The UN Building.
Fronting onto 1st Avenue.
Hood and Little John were losing altitude every secondfifty storeysforty-
eightforty-six
The choppers swung into the canyon behind them, rotors thumping, the lead
helicopter trying to give the SEALs in its side doors a clear shot.
It was going to be close.
The two thieves shot through an intersection, descending quickly, flying fast.
Forty storeysthirty-eight
Shooting forward, the windows on either side of the street blurred with motion.
They came to 1st Avenue, blasting out of the chasms of New York City, shooting
high over the street, soaring over the wide paved forecourt of the UNs headquarters.
The choppers boomed out of the canyon system a second later, chasing desperately.
But they were too late.
The two parachutes sailed over the top of the UN Building, pulled up sharply, and
landed deftly on its roof.
The moment Hood and Little J landed, they jettisoned their stunt chutes and took off
at a run, disappearing inside a rooftop elevator shack just as security personnel
appeared from the firestairs.
The three choppers lurched to a halt in front of the imposing international structure,
stopping in mid-air, their race lost.
22
The usual bank of TV crews out the front of the building caught sight of the two
parachutes, a couple of them actually raising their cameras in time to get footage of
the two daredevils.
Hood didnt mind. In fact, it was exactly what he wanted.
It was the nicest touch of all that they had painted some symbols onto their stunt
chutes: anti- nuclear slogans berating the French for their continued nuclear testing in
the South Pacific.
It was reported on the news that night as just another publicity stunt by guerilla
environmentalists.
Once inside the UN Building, Hood and Little John attached clip-on ties to their
collars, and assumed the walk of regular bureaucrats.
Owing to the labyrinth of national offices inside the building, the Americans would
never know into which mission the two thieves walkedwould never know which
countrys high-pressure release valve was used to open the mysterious Grauss case.
In this vein, Herr Fuhrer, I propose an alliance between our two great nations
between Germany and the United States of Americathat will supercede any
previous treaties my country may be party to.

I await your reply. In the meantime, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
President of the United States of America

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OFFICIAL STAMP 046-24 -- DOCUMENT NOT DELIVERED (7
DECEMBER, 1941) -- DESTROY ALL COPIES -- DESTROY ALL COPIES
- DESTROY ALL COPIES - DESTROY ALL COPIES - DESTROY ALL
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23
THE BENEFITS OF LEVERAGE
Two days after the theft, the President of the United States gave an impromptu press
conference during which he announced that tariffs preventing Australian meat
products from entering the United Statestariffs which for years had unfairly
protected American farmers from open- market competitionwould be abolished.
He also issued a statement saying that aggressive US tactics toward the Euro and the
European economy would cease. Some economic commentators noted that several
currencies that were tied to the Euro would benefit immensely from such an action,
one of which was the beleaguered Australian dollar.
When questioned about the sudden changes of policy, the President denied that it
had been the result of a recent meeting at UN Headquarters with top-level Australian
diplomats.
In fact, he said, relations between the two nations were stronger than ever. Why, just
next week, US SEAL teams were to engage in exercises with crack troops from the
elite Australian SAS
THE END
1
THE ROCK PRINCESS
AND
THE THRILLER WRITER
by Matthew Reilly
They met in a hotel in New York City. She was a hip young
rock star from LAnewly discovered and heavily
promotedon a sixteen-city tour of the States selling her new
album.
He was also on tour, but it was a wholly different kind of
promotional trip.
She went on Letterman.
He did interviews on local cable channels.
She went on Howard Stern.
He did a syndicated late-night radio showa midnight-till-
dawn sit-in.
She had stretch limos to take her around.
He took cabs.
She had an army of publicists and managers and record
company execs who insisted on doing everything for her.
He had a chain-smoking in-house publicist from his
publishing house.
Her songs were all Rock-the-System, Rage-Against-
Capitalism stuff. She wrote them herself. Her image was petite
girl-genius: lead guitar, baggy jeans, and big doe eyes.
He was published around the world by a gigantic publishing
conglomerate.
She did a lunchtime in-store appearance at the Virgin
Megastore on Times Squares. The 3,000-strong crowd flowed
out onto the street, causing a traffic jam.
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
2
His in-store gig that day attracted 76 people. His publicist
(cigarette in mouth) was absolutely thrilled. Mark, this is
awesome! When Grisham did this place the first time, only
four people turned up!
At the Radisson on Lexington, she was in the top-floor
Grand Executive Suite.
He was in a room overlooking a back alley.
She was a rock princess.
He was a thriller writer.
They met in the restaurant of the hotel.
It was late. Each had had a long day. Except for the two of
them, the restaurant was empty.
He was seated alone in a corner booth, eating a club
sandwich with one hand and reading a book with the other,
like he always did.
She was also sitting by herself, but not by choice.
She was dressed up, made up: lipstick, eye shadow, blush.
The whole catastrophe.
And a catastrophe it surely was.
Her boyfriend hadnt shown for dinner. He was sold as the
classic Serious Young Musician, but in reality he was just
another wannabe Kurt Cobain clone. Their relationshiprock
princess and Serious Music Dudewas something that he and
his army of publicists never failed to exploit.
Her cell phone rang. It was Serious Music Dude. Cancelling.
Sorry, babe, but theres a party on at the Blackwater and
Chad says I just have to be seen there.
She hung up, and alone at her table she softly started to cry.
The quiet sobbing made him glance up from his book.
He saw her sitting two tables away, all dressed up, dabbing
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
3
at her eyes with a handkerchief.
Excuse me, miss. But are you okay?
She looked up.
It was obvious from his earnest expression that (a) he had no
idea who she was, and (b) his concern was genuine.
And so in that darkened restaurant, they started talking.
Music wasnt his strong suit.
He didnt know the Foo Fighters from the Goo Goo Dolls.
But he knew what he liked.
And while at first he didnt know who she was, hed heard
her latest single on the radio. Thats yours? Hey, I like that
song. Good fast drumbeat.
She asked him what other music he listened to.
These days, mainly singles. I dont buy albums much
anymore. I just like songs I can tap my toes tolike Robbie
Williams Rock DJ, or anything by Smash Mouth. You know,
Hey now, youre a rock star
In other circumstances, this would have been like telling an
anti-globalisation protestor that you adored McDonalds, but
she could see that he wastruly, really, totally
unselfconsciouslyspeaking honestly.
And she liked that.
So, do you have an album out? he asked.
It was currently No.4 on Billboard.
Er, yes.
Cool. Ill buy it. I always bring my Discman with me when
Im touring and now that Ive met you in person, Ill definitely
check out your other songs.
Great, she said. So what do you do that brings you to New
York?
Oh, I write books. Im here on an author tour. Do the East
Coast first, then hopscotch across the country to LA. Then
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
4
back to Australia.
What kind of books? He looked kind of young to be a
novelist.
I write thrillers. Big blockbuster action adventure novels.
She read a little. Perhaps shed heard of him. Titles? she
asked.
The first was called Ice Mission. It was the one that got me
my break. Then The Curse of the Incan Temple.
She shook her head. Sorry. I havent heard of them.
Besides, they dont really sound like my kind of book.
Its okay, he said, shrugging. Different people read
different books. Some people like romances, others like prize-
winners. Different worlds for different tastes. Sometimes
inhabitants of one world never even know the other worlds
exist.
She liked the way he talked.
He seemed relaxed, content, happy with who he was. Which
was rare in her world. She thought of Serious Music Dude. If
he met someone who hadnt heard of him, he would simply
turn away, ending the conversation.
But then suddenly, to her dismay, he said that he had to go.
Im really sorry, but I have to be up early in the morning. Got
to catch the 5 a.m. train to Philadelphia.
She was also heading off the next day. But at the more
civilised hour of 10 a.m., flying first-class to Chicago.
He wished her well on her tour and said good night. And
then he was gone.
She looked at her watch.
It was 2.30 a.m. Theyd been talking for four hours.
The next morning, as she was waiting in the foyer for her
people to settle the bill and take her bags to the waiting limo,
she overheard one of the desk girls talking to the female
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
5
concierge.
Id heard he was young, but I didnt know he was so cute,
the desk girl was saying. Thats the funny thing about
authors, you never know what they look like. Anyway, I
recognised his name on the computer when he checked out
and asked if he was Mark Ridley, the author. He said yes he
was, and I said that I was huge fan. Then I just stammered and
stuttered and I felt like such a doofus, but he was so sweet. He
even had a spare book in his bag and he gave it to me. Signed
it and everything. Look!
What struck the Rock Princess most of all was that this was
a gi rl talking. When shed chatted with Author Guy the
previous evening, his novels had sounded like boys books,
and (she had to admit) shed dismissed them as stories for
Rambo-loving men.
As she headed for the limo, she was joined by one of her
back-up singers, a voluptuous sort named Vanessaall big
hips, short skirts and a whole lot of Wonderbra.
Did you hear about that writer who was staying here?
Vanessa said.
What about him?
Young honey from Australia. Get this. Seven million books
sold around the world, in 15 different languages. Movie
version of his first book comes out next summerhe sold it to
Paramount for a bomb. Starring Brad Pitt. Just signed a new
book deal worth 14 million dollars. They say hes on tour, too,
parallelling us across the country. Vanessa adjusted her bra,
positioned her breasts for maximum impact. Have to make
sure Im ready in case we bump into that young fella again.
They headed for the airport.
Separate tours.
Bouncing across the United States.
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
6
For her: a blur of hotel suites, limos at airports and
screaming crowds at in-store and studio gigs.
For him: a blur of hotel rooms, departure lounges, airport
check-in counters.
In his mind, hotels began to blend into each other. In
Cincinnati, he mistakenly went to room 405he was actually
in 715; 405 had been his room number in the previous city.
His bookstore appearances were solid if unspectacular. Fifty
people here. One hundred people there. Good showings for a
foreign author on his first US tour.
For her part, she began to notice something in airport
terminals.
In every single one of them, in the newspaper/book kiosks
near the gates, she saw his books. Constantly saw his name.
Over and over and over. Shed never even noticed them
before.
Different worlds, she thought.
And strangely, in quiet moments, she found herself thinking
about his smile.
Their tours crossed paths again in Dallas. They were staying at
the same hotel: the Magnolia.
The thing was, they themselves didnt actually meet.
It was afternoon, and she was out doing a TV interview. He
was in the hotels library, working on some notes for a new
novel.
It was Vanessa who noticed him sitting there.
Hi there, she said, coming over, eyes predatory, hips
deadly. Mind if I joinwait a second. I know you. Youre
that author. Youre Mark Ridley.
It wasnt often that he was recognised. Sometimes people
recognised his name on a computer or when he used his credit
card, but rarely did anyone spot him just by looking at him.
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
7
It got his attention.
She sat down opposite him and started talking.
At first, Vanessa spoke about him. Shed read his books
(this was true: she had bought one at the airport on the way out
of New York), and loved them, she said. They were soso
manly.
He thought they were simply escapist entertainment.
She gushingly professed her lifelong love of reading (this
was not true) and the importance of books on young peoples
minds (also not true).
He listened politely.
And then she started talking about herself.
About how this back-up stuff was just the beginning, how
her first solo recording would soon be produced by somebody
named P-Diddy, how the Rock Princess was overestimated,
and lets be frank, a little overhyped. So shed sold three
million CDs. It wasnt like shed sold seven million books.
That sort of thing made a difference.
In the end, he had to goto do some newspaper interviews
in the hotel foyer. He was courteous to the last, and as he left,
he wished her well with her career.
Vanessa asked the desk clerk when he was checking out and
tried to catch him when he departed the next morning, but she
missed him. Hed left early.
On the plane to San Francisco, he saw Her picture on the
cover of People magazine.
Serious Musician Dude had been photographed canoodling
with a model in a nightclub in LA that week. There was a
picture of Her being whisked into a limousine, her eyes clearly
tear-stained.
He shook his head. Her world was a strange one.
He hoped she was okay.
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
8
And then, that night, they found themselves at the same
hotel again.
This time she found him.
He was sitting in a corner of the restaurant, reading a book,
nursing a coffee, when a shadow fell across his table.
He looked up. And an enormous smile spread across his
face.
Mind if I join you? she asked.
I bought your CD, he said later. Its, er, different to what I
normally listen to. Very socially aware. I think I like the
current single the best, so I just play it all the time.
She nodded at that. She did that with her favourite songs,
too. I bought one of your books.
And?
Im halfway through. Its not Austen, but then again its
damn hard to put down.
Thats what I like to hear.
Why didnt you tell me you were some bigshot world-
famous author in New York? she asked.
Im not that big. And authors arent famous. Youre
famous.
But why didnt you tell me?
Would it have made a difference?
It might have.
Then thats why I didnt tell you. It shouldnt make a
difference, but it does make a difference to some people. Like
your friend, Vanessa.
Ah, yes, but Im not like Vanessa.
No. No, you are definitely not like Vanessa.
There was a pause. He wasnt sure how to say this.
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
9
I read about your boyfriend.
Oh. Yes. That.
He looked to me like a guy who enjoys the parties, not the
work.
Thats exactly what he was like. Do you have people like
that in the book industry?
Yeah, a few. Especially with the movie stuff. But the way I
see it, at the end of even the greatest party, all the guests go
home. Its whats at home that matters.
She fell silent, nodding her agreement.
She wanted him to ask her.
He wanted to ask her.
But he wasnt sure if he should.
Wasnt sure if their worlds were compatible. Wasnt sure if
a rock princesswith all her hangers-on and magazine articles
and meaningful songswould care for a quiet guy who wrote
action thrillers.
He could walk away.
That would be painless. He could never ask. And never
know, and maybe never see her again.
Or he could ask
So he asked her.
To dinner. In Australia. Two weeks from then.
And so a fortnight later, they dined in Port Douglas,
Queensland, and they talked and they laughed and two years
on, they were still together.
She was still rocking, singing her songs. He was still
writing, about action and adventure. Their subject matter never
matched, but that didnt concern them at all. It was what was
at home that mattered.
The music and gossip magazines didnt care for their
relationship, because authors occupy a different orbit to rock
The Rock Princess & the Thriller Writer
10
stars and stories about them dont sell magazines.
Which was fine by him and even finer by her.
And so they lived happily ever after.
The rock princess and the thriller writer.
1
TIME TOURS
by
Matthew Reilly
Copyright 2005
Time Tours
2
OFFICES OF TIME TOURS INTERNATIONAL
AUSTIN, TEXAS
12 noon
1 JANUARY, 2006
The giant letters blared WELCOME TO TIME TOURS!, and in
front of the great billboard stood Mitch Raleigh, along with five
other celebrities.
An army of media photographers and reporters took photos of
them and yelled questions.
God, I hate these things, Raleigh muttered.
Oh, come on, Mitch. Lighten up, the pretty blonde beside
him whispered as she smiled for the cameras. This is going to be
awesome. And were going to be the first to experience it.
Mitch Raleigh was a novelist from Australia, here in Texas on
a book tour for his latest novel, Seven Deadly Wonders. The
current success of that novel had got him an invitation to this, the
much-hyped launch of Time Tours.
He turned to the girl beside him. An old family friend, Laura
had done very well for herself. Not only was she a Calvin Klein
model, she was also
So, Humbert! How do you think youll review this! a reporter
shouted from the crowd.
Time Tours
3
The hunch-backed, bespectacled man to Mitchs right cleared
his throat. In his mid-fifties, Humbert Hughes was a much-feared
book reviewer from the New York Times. It was a very brave
move by the people at Time Tours to invite him.
Interestingly, Mitch Raleigh knew something about Humbert
Hughes that few others did: a year ago, Hughes had submitted a
manuscript for a novel to publishers in New York and London. It
had been awful, unreadable, and had been rejected by everyone.
Today, however, the usually dour Hughes was in fine spirits.
Hed even brought a bottle of vintage 1932 Dom Perignon to
celebrate the occasion with his fellow travellersMitch, Laura
and three sporting stars.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and a new figure stepped up onto
the stage: Tad Ellis, the dashing CEO of Time Tours Inc. Ladies
and gentlemen! he proclaimed. Welcome...to Time Tours!
He raised his hands, and the giant billboard on the stage
divided into two halves, revealing the Travelling Room.
The Travelling Room
It looked like an ultra-modern laboratory.
In its centre was a ring of six silver recliner chairs, each of
them bolted to the floor like dentist chairs and each fitted with a
dome-shaped device on the headrest.
This is where the magic happens! Tad Ellis proclaimed. This
is where our guests will commence their journeys to
A video screen sprang to life, a voiceover man intoning:
The Ancient Empire! Go to the world of Ancient Egypt,
where you will live like a pharaoh. Overlord: experience the
action of World War II first hand! Or Dinosaurland: for the
naturalists, take a scenic tour of the Earth as it was 75 million
years ago. Or, for the not-so-naturalist, how about going on a T-
Rex hunt?
Time Tours
4
There were three more worlds: including one called Superstar
where you lived in a world where you were the most famous
person alive.
Tad Ellis said, To create our worlds here at Time Tours, our
expert programmers have joined forces with the worlds
foremost historians, scientists and satellite surveyors. Our
proprietary engine program, Ultimate World v.2.0, uses their
input to create realistic environments based on the actual terrain
and cityscapes of our planet. So when you storm the beach at
Normandy, youre storming a replica of the actual beach.
The media wrote frantic notes, filmed the images.
During the pause, Mitch turned to Tad Ellis: Sounds a bit like
The Matrix.
This is way better than the fucking Matrix, Ellis whispered
before moving away and continuing his presentation. Ladies and
gentlemen! You can do all this and more at Time Tours! How?
Well, it all takes place in your mind.
All in Your Mind
Humbert Hughes popped the cork on his 1932 Dom Perignon
and the six celebrity time tourists toasted each other and drank.
Then they all stepped into the Travelling Room.
Mitch reclined in one of the dentists chairs, while a technician
lowered the chairs dome-like headpiece over his face.
Tad Ellis proclaimed, Our patented non-invasive headpieces
beam microwave signals directly into the clients cerebellum,
disrupting cortical activity and slowing the synaptic pulse-rate,
inducing a quasi-coma. We then replace real-world sensory
inputs with our own constructed ones: convincing the client that
they are in another world.
A journalist asked, What do you say, Mr Hughes? Hows it
feel to be going back to World War II?
I shall reserve my judgement.
Time Tours
5
Another reporter called to Laura: Hey Laura! Whats your
uncle think about you participating in this?
Laura turned. My uncle has always supported American
innovation. Hes thrilled. As for me, Im ready to be a superstar.
Okay, everyone! Ellis called. Its time for our celebrity
guests to head off on their journeys!
At that moment, the technician standing over Mitch switched
on the headpieceand for a fraction of a second, Mitch felt a
strange buzzing in his head. He felt instantly tired, drowsy. Then
darkness overcame him.
Land of the Dinosaurs
When he opened his eyes, he was in another place,
another time.
He was standing on a modern helipad on a hilltop
overlooking a verdant river valley. A hovercopter stood
beside him, rotors turning.
A polite (computer-generated) pilot invited him aboard.
Hello, Mr Raleigh, I am PI-5A26X, and I shall be your
guide and pilot program for today.
Great. What was your name again? PI-5A2
PI-5A26X. My programmers have not yet given me a
formal name yet.
How about I just call you Pi.
Very good, sir.
Within moments they were zooming low over the
treetops, scanning the plains and riverbeds. Plains and
riverbeds that were filled with
Dinosaurs. Lots of dinosaurs.
Time Tours
6
Mother of God Mitch breathed.
Global Superstar
Laura stepped out of the limo onto the red
carpetand was instantly assaulted by a
lightning storm of flashbulbs.
The red carpet led to the Odeon Theatre in
Leicester Square in London, and her face
was on every poster in the square. People
everywhere were shouting her name.
Photographers: Laura! Laura! Over here!
Journalists: Laura! How does it feel to
have the number one movie and the number
one album in America!
Awesome, Laura thought. Just awesome.
Austin, We Have a Problem
As the media watched the monitors in awe, a technician came
alongside Tad Ellis and whispered, Sir. We might have a
problem.
What is it?
Were getting some strange synaptic readings on Mr Hughes
monitor.
They came to the computer monitoring Humbert Hughes,
where they saw him in a command room, directing Operation
Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe in World War II.
The tech said, Have a look at his synaptic pulse-rate. Its
slowed to sub-normal levels.
Hes going into a deep-state coma Ellis said softly.
Time Tours
7
Hes going into a very deep-state coma, sir. Mr Hughes must
have taken some kind of sedative before he went under, and a
large amount of it.
He drugged himself? Why?
I have no idea. But with his synaptic pulse operating as such
low levels, we cant extract Mr Hughes from the program, not
without causing serious brain damage. Hes essentially locked
himself inside the program
Suddenly, insistent beeps began trilling all around the room.
Holy shit! Lauras synaptics are dropping
So are Raleighs
Oh my God! Everyones pulse-rates are dropping! Theyre all
going into deep comas!
Humbert Hughess Note
The police would find the note in Humbert Hughess apartment
the next day.
It read:
Dear World,
You weary me. Nay, you have finally worn me
downwith your astonishing adoration of the
mediocre.
Great art is ignored. Great literature is overlooked.
What is Beethoven when you have American Pie. Why
appreciate the opera when you can have Jim Carrey
doing fart jokes. The world has become a utopia for
cretins.
And I have finally tired of it.
So, today, I go to a better place, where the world is
mine, to shape as I please. Id apologise to the
Time Tours
8
President for stealing his niece, but the President is an
ass.
Good-bye cruel world. Wallow in your own filth.
Humbert Hughes.
Several empty sleeping-pill bottles lay alongside the noteand
a wine-bottle-opening device that had been used to open and then
re-seal the cork on a bottle of 1932 Dom Perignon.
The Sleeping Guests
Ellis had the media removed from the display theatre, then he
turned to his team of programmers and scientists: Okay. Why
would Hughes drug the other guests?
No one knew.
What the hell another technician said from his computer
console.
What now? Ellis said.
Sir, its Mr Hughes. Hes, er, done a deal with the Germans.
Hes ended the war in Europe and united all forces under him.
He what?
The program allows it. As the commander of Operation
Overlord, he just called up his opposite number and did a deal:
decided to share France with the Germans and they agreed. But
thats not the biggest problem.
What is?
Hes just brought his combined invasion force to London, to
Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square, but thats one of the the chief tech froze.
Good God. He knows about the portals. Hes going to take his
invasion force into another world.
Time Tours
9
The Portals
Remind me about the portal structure, Ellis said.
The chief tech explained, The six virtual worlds of Time
Tours are all actually connectedrather like a six-storey car
park with ladders linking each floor.
In effect, the master program lays six identical Europes on
top of each other and connects them with these virtual ladders,
which we call portals. The portals are located in the same spots
in each world: Trafalgar Square, inside the Sphinx
He pulled up a screen on a nearby computer:
Trafalgar Germany Monaco
North Sea Sphinx
portal portal portal portal portal
PORTALS
between worlds
The WORLDS of
TIME TOURS
WWII
MONACO
EGYPT
SUPERSTAR
DINOSAURLAND
SUBMARINE ODYSSEY
Ellis said, So theyre all in the same spot in each world?
Yes. Theyre like ladders between floorsyou could
conceivably climb right down from World War II to
Dinosaurland if you wanted to. It was inserted into the program
as a stabilising feature.
What are we going to do? someone asked.
Time Tours
10
Ellis bit his lip. Get Mr Black.
Mr Black
Mr Black was Nathan Black, formerly a Marine, now head of
Rescue and Recovery at Time Tours.
In the early stages of Time Tours, the company had
experienced some unexpected problems with their virtual worlds.
The worst was known as Lock-In and it had first arisen when
a staff member had come to work stoned and subsequently
experienced a psychotic episode while inside Superstar.
He had refused to come out.
And due to his psychosis, they couldnt extract him without
inflicting serious brain damage on him. It was soon discovered
that the same thing happened when a guest went into a deep-state
coma: they became psychologically locked in the world.
So Mr Black had been sent in to get the man. To reason with
him, inside the world, and get him to come out by his own will.
That, in the end, was what mattered. To avoid brain damage in
such a situation, exit had to be voluntary.
In that case, Black had successfully guided the man out via an
Emergency Exit Portal (an EEP was located in a central place
in every world, usually a major landmark: in Superstar, for
example, it was atop the belltower of Westminster Abbey in
London).
While Black came, Humbert Hughess progress was
monitored.
Hes taken his entire army through the Trafalgar Square
portal, a young tech reported. Hes bypassing Submarine
Odyssey, Monaco and Egyptwait! Hes stopping. His army is
moving out of the portalinto Superstar.
Oh shit, Ellis said, realising. Hes going after Laura.
Time Tours
11
Superstar
Modern London had never seen anything like
it.
Hordes of 1940s-era German and Allied
troops stormed out of Trafalgar Square,
guns blazing, shooting anyone in their
path. In their midst, their Supreme
Commander: Humbert Hughes.
And since there was no armed force of any
kind in this world, nothing and no-one
could stop them.
They headed directly for the Odeon Cinema.
The Rescue Begins
Mr Black arrived in Lab Two, a working lab.
He strode casually into the lab, tall and fit, and slid into the
lone dentists chair. All right. Whos the target?
He was informed of the situation.
I dont give a shit about Humbert Hughes, Tad Ellis said.
Its Laura Bush I care about.
Indeed, it was the danger to Laura Bush that terrified them all.
For if Humbert Hughes captured and killed Laura inside Time
Tours, it would cause a paradox in her heavily-sedated brain.
Hughes hadnt been trying to drug all the celebrity guestsjust
her. He just needed her in a deep-state coma. The others were
collateral damage.
At which point, like an overloaded computer, her brain would
freeze up and go into meltdown. Brain death. She would become
a vegetable, or worse, suffer a cerebral aneurism.
And that was Time Tourss worst nightmare.
Black was set to go.
Time Tours
12
He said, Send me into Dinosaurland. I dont want to go
directly into Superstar and bump into a divison of Mr Hughess
Nazi troops. The EEP in Di nol and is identical to
Superstarsplus I can also pick up some heavy-duty weaponry
from the hunters armoury. Ill sneak into Superstar from there.
And with that, the domed headset was lowered over Blacks
head and within moments his eyes closed
Dinosaurland
and he found himself standing on the low hilltop
overlooking Dinosaurland. The River Thames lay before
him snaking through the primordial forest.
On his hilltop sat a concrete structure, with a helipad
and a shed on it. In the shed were racks of superweapons
used by tourist-hunters to bring down dinosaurs:
Remington mega-shotguns, plasma-based RPGs, Steyr
pulse rifles. Black took one of each, plus boxes of ammo
and a few sulfuric acid grenades.
A noise disturbed him.
He spunshotgun upto see the Di nos aur l and
hovercopter landing on the helipad outside.
It was the author, Mitchell Raleigh, with his computer-
generated pilot, returning from their scenic tour of
Dinosaurland.
Raleigh got out of the hover-chopper, saw Black.
Hey there! Geez, this is awesome
Im sorry, Mr Raleigh, Black said quickly, but a
situation has come up. I need you to come with me and
exit Time Tours right now.
Time Tours
13
Whats happened?
Black told him as they walked.
He drugged us all Mitch said. Is there any way I
can help?
The best way you can help me is just by going home.
Oh.
Mitch, Black and Pi made their way to the meadow that
would one day house Westminster Abbey. There they
found a small steel cabin the size of a telephone booth:
the Emergency Exit Portal. Near it was another weapons
shed.
Mitch said to Black, Go. Go and save Laura. Shes a
friend of mine. I can get back from here. You need to
hurry.
Black nodded, then he stepped into the steel booth,
pressed a button andZAP!the booth blazed with white
light and he was gone.
Mitch shrugged, turned to Pi. Thank you for the tour,
Pi. You were great.
It was my pleasure, Mr Raleigh. I shall endeavour to
have one of your books downloaded into my program
files, so that next time we may converse about it.
Cool. Mitch stepped into the booth, saw a wall-panel
with a button for each world plus a large red button
marked EMERGENCY EXIT.
But then he paused.
He was worried about Laura, and he wondered if one
man, Black, was enough to save her from Humbert
Hughess super-army.
Surely it couldnt hurt to take a look
Time Tours
14
He pursed his lips, and made the call.
And stepped out of the booth. Hey, Pi. Got any more
of those big-ass dino-guns nearby? I think we should visit
Superstar.
Entering Superstar
Blinding light. Then normal vision
returned...
...and Mitch Raleigh found himself
standing in a silver booth positioned in
the uppermost chamber of the belltower of
Westminster Abbey, not far from the Abbeys
ten-foot-high bell.
He peered out the doorway of his booth
just in time to see a joint of Nazi
paratroopers emerge from the stairwell and
shoot about a million bullets into Nathan
Black.
Black shuddered and convulsed under the
hailstorm of bullets before he fell, dead.
Mitch stared, horrified.
Back in Austin
Nathan Black instantly awoke. Since he had only been in a light
coma, his death inside Time Tours had simply woken him up.
Shit! he growled. They got me. Theyre guarding the portal.
Theres no way in.
Tad Ellis went white. What are we gonna do now?
Time Tours
15
Wait a second! the tech at a viewing console called.
Theres someone else in there. In Superstar. At the EEP. But its
not a computer entity. Itsits a guest signature. Its Mitchell
Raleigh.
Mission: Superstar
Mitch peered out from his booth, eyeing the
body of Nathan Black, dead at the top of
the stairwell.
Suddenly, a fat figure stepped into view,
and all the WWII troops immediately stood
to attention.
It was Humbert Hughes. And with him was
Laura.
Her face was tear-stained, her eyes red.
She was still dressed in her glittery
opening-night dress.
Hughes growled at her: This was the man
they sent to rescue you and to abduct me.
Not to be.
He threw her to one of his men. Take her
the Tower. 24-hour guard.
Laura was hustled away.
Then Hughes said to his paratrooper
captain: Keep two squads stationed in this
chamber. Cover the portal. Kill anyone who
comes out of it.
Hughes swept out of the belltower.
Those paratroopers who remained there
never noticed the two tiny figures dangling
by their fingertips from the parapet of the
belltower, three hundred feet above the
ground.
Time Tours
16
Mitch Raleigh and Pi.
The Rescue Part I
Theyre taking her to the Tower of
London, Mitch whispered, still hanging
from the belltower. Once shes there,
were screwed. Well have to snatch her en
route.
But how? Pi asked.
Mitch peered down the side of the
belltower. After a few minutes, he saw the
tiny figure of Laura emerge and get shoved
into an open-topped Army jeep. Hughes
followed shortly after, climbed into a
limousine. Both cars were surrounded by a
motorcade of several tanks and a few
turret-mounted Allied and Nazi jeeps.
You got a parachute? Mitch asked.
I am required to wear one at all times.
Directional?
Of course.
Room for two?
Of course.
Then lets do some rescuing, Mitch said,
swinging over and grasping Pi around the
waist. Bombs away.
And with that, Pi let go of the parapet.
In the Control Room
Oh, Christ! Raleigh just fell from the top of the belltower...
Everyone in the control room froze in horror.
Time Tours
17
The Rescue Part II
Mitch and Pi plummeted down the side of the
belltower, the buildings vertical wall
rushing by them in a blur of speed,
beforeWHACK!a square-shaped parachute
blossomed above them, issuing from Pis
backpack.
And suddenly they were gliding downwards
at a steep angle heading for
Hughess now-moving military motorcade.
The gun-turrets on two of the escort
jeeps opened fire, but Pi fired back with
his (far more powerful) pulse rifle, and
with one shot, blew one of the jeeps to
kingdom come. A second shot sent the other
jeep careering off the road and into a shop
window.
Then a Nazi Panzer tank swivelled its
canon turret, readying to fire, but this
time it was Raleigh who responded,
awkwardly shouldering his rocket launcher
and firing it at the beast.
The rocket lanced through the air before
it slammed into the tank, incinerating it.
Pi then zeroed in on the jeep carrying
Laura, guiding the directional parachute
toward the fleeing car.
The parachute came over the speeding jeep
and while Pi took out the two men guarding
Laura with two brilliant headshots, Mitch
then leaned down and kicked the driver
clear out of the jeep. Then he dropped into
Time Tours
18
the passenger seat while Pi released the
chute and landed in the drivers seat and
took the wheel.
Pi spun them around, and headed back for
Westminster Abbey, the rest of the
motorcade in hot pursuit.
They skidded round a corner, shot past
Parliament. Big Ben towering above them.
Mitch turned to Laura, Hey there
He cut himself off, disturbed by a
shocking sight in the distance.
An entire army of Allied and Nazi troops
was crossing the Parliament Bridge, coming
right for them!
It was at least 40,000 men: on foot, on
jeeps, in tanks and on motorbikes.
We need to buy some time, Mitch said,
thinking fast. Pi, whats the most
powerful RPG youve got?
Pi pulled a rocket-propelled grenade from
his belt. It had a glowing purple light on
it. Liquid plasma. Blows big.
Mitch took the plasma grenade and loaded
it into his rocket launcher. Then, from the
passenger seat of the speeding jeep, he
aimed it at Big Ben. I cant believe Im
going to do this...
He pulled the trigger.
The plasma grenade shoomed out from the
launcher and slammed into the exact middle
of Big Ben just as the jeep zoomed past the
historic tower.
Impact. Explosion. A starburst of bricks
and glass blasted outwards from the
historic clocktower.
Time Tours
19
Then, like a slow-falling tree, Big Ben
began to fall.
Fatally wounded in its middle, the great
two-hundred-foot-tall tower toppled across
the roadway, hitting the ground with a
momentous crash. The famous clock at the
summit of the tower shattered into a
million pieces as it hit the bitumen.
And now the tower lay across the roadway,
like a giant fallen tree, blocking all of
Mitchs pursuers, exactly as Mitch had
planned.
Laura looked sideways at Mitch. You
totally enjoyed doing that.
They headed for Westminster Abbey.
The Abbey
They hit the Abbey at a sprint, clambered
up the stairs, came to the chamber at the
top of the belltower...
...only to find Humbert Hughes and his
team of Nazi SS assassins waiting for them.
I knew youd come back here, Hughes
sneered. Its the only way out. Youve
fought gamely, Mr Raleigh, but while I need
Miss Bush, I have no need for you. He
turned to one of the Nazi men. Sturmbann-
fuhrer. Kill him, please.
The Nazi raised his Luger and fired.
Mitch had no time to react.
The gun went off, just as a blur of colour
swept in front of Mitch and he suddenly
Time Tours
20
realised that Pi had thrown himself in
front of him, and taken the bullet!
The Nazi captain was stunned. So was
Hughes.
Mitch, however, seized the opportunity and
snatched an acid grenade from Pis belt,
pulled the pin, threw it. Then he yanked
Laura down through the stairway hatch.
Bamsplat!
The grenade went off, sending a powerful
splatter of stinging sulfuric acid spraying
throughout the confined space of the
belltower.
Screams followed.
Mitch burst up through the hatch,
Remington shotgun booming, taking out the
acid-scarred Nazis on every side.
Humbert Hughes had also been hit by the
acid grenade. He lay crouched in a corner
of the chamber, hands clawing at his eyes.
My eyes! he screamed. My eyes!
Mitch leaned close and spoke...in German:
Herr Hughes, come with me. The author is
dead and we have the girl. But we must get
you to a field hospital. Come, let me guide
you.
Blinded, Hughes took Mitchs hand and
a l l o w e d h i m s e l f t o b e
led...willingly...into the Emergency Exit
Portal in the corner of the chamber.
With Laura beside him, Mitch closed the
booths door and hit the big red button
marked: EMERGENCY EXIT.
The chamber flashed white.
Time Tours
21
Back in the Real World
Mitch Raleighs eyes sprang open and he sat up from his
dentists chair with a lurch.
Then he vomited.
A Time Tours technician helped him stand. Welcome back,
Mr Raleigh. Youre a goddamn hero.
Indeed he was. The drama of Time Tourss launch, and
Mitchs role in saving the Presidents niece, featured in news
bulletins around the world. His delighted publisher could not
have asked for more publicity.
Humbert Hughes would end up in a psychiatric facility.
Time Tours would go back into research and development.
Mitch ended up watching the news broadcasts with Laura and
her family in Dallas. There he saw himself on the TV being
asked: So, Mr Raleigh! Mr Raleigh! Will you be taking another
trip on Time Tours again?
Not for a while, hed replied.
As it happened, Mitch would indeed return to Time
Toursseveral times, in factto meet up with his new friend,
Pi, the man who had thrown himself in front of a bullet for
Mitch.
Of course, by then Pi had been fully regenerated in the
computer world of Time Tours. He had even had Mitchs latest
book installed in his programming so they could discuss it.
THE END
1
THE DEAD PRINCE
By Matthew Reilly
THE OLD WATCHER
Mont St Michel,
France, 1454
Every day for three months, from sun-up to sundown, the old
monk watched De Christo as he worked.
This was unusual. All the other inhabitants of the island
monasterymonks, nuns and townsfolk preferred to spend
their time gawking at the royal visitors present at the Mount.
But all the while De Christo worked in the cathedral, the
ancient monk never let him out of his sight. Bald and hunched
and gnarled, his name was Brother Michael, and he was the
caretaker of the great cathedral.
Every day he would sit in the front pew and watch as De
Christo hammered and planed, rebuilding the flame-scarred
structure. Granted, the cathedral of Mont St Michel contained
some of the most valuable Catholic relics in all of
Europeincluding a great wooden cross suspended above the
altar from the ceiling which supposedly contained a splinter from
the actual Cross of Christ, golden chalices and silver torch-
holders. Brother Michael was protecting the silverware.
Every day this happened. Every day, that is, until the morning
the Crown Princes body was found crucified on the great
wooden cross above the altar.
*
The Dead Prince
2
THE BODY
The princes death-pose almost perfectly resembled Christs. He
had been nailed to the gigantic wooden ornament.
And as De Christoa battle-hardened veteran of the just-
finished warhad quickly deduced from the dead princes
bloody wrist-wounds, he had been alive when this had been done
to him.
That the Crown Prince of Francethe Dauphinhad been
murdered on the grounds of the monastery would normally have
been enough to send the Abbott of Mont St Michel into a blind
panic.
But this was worse. Much worse.
Because the King was on his way to Mont St Michel.
He would be here in two days.
Whence he would discover that his first-born son and heir to
the throne of France was dead.
THE INVESTIGATOR
Fortunately for De Christo, he had been away from the Mount
when the murder had taken placehe had taken two days leave
to visit Bayeux, to see some old friends. He had returned to the
monastery on the Monday morning that the body had been
found.
Truth be told, this was both fortunate and unfortunate.
Fortunate, because he was not a suspect.
Unfortunate, because the Abbott asked himas an impartial
outsider, as a former army commander, and now as the Royal
Architectto find the killer.
De Christo didnt much like the idea of peering behind the
The Dead Prince
3
curtain of life at Mont St Michelevery monastery had its
secretsbut he also knew that the King, his friend, would
demand an explanation of the killing.
I will need complete freedom of action, De Christo said to the
Abbott.
You shall have whatever you ask, Master Builder.
Then let us view the scene of the crime.
Moments later, De Christo was standing in the cavernous
cathedral, beneath its soaring ceiling.
He saw the Crown Prince still hung high, hands spread wide,
head limply bowed.
Then he examined every corner of the cathedralbut found
nothing of note.
But then, high up near the ceiling at the side of the cathedral,
he saw a small balcony. Its rear door was ajar.
After a few minutes climbing, De Christo stood on that very
same balcony, gazing out over the entire cathedral. It was a
splendid view.
His feet crunched on something.
He looked down: and saw several tiny pebble-like stones, each
orange in colour. They looked like the crushed pebbles used in
some of the paths in the monasterys gardens.
Hmmm, he said.
He returned to the Abbott down in the nave. Has anyone left
the Mount this morning?
No, the Abbott said. The gate records show that not a soul
has left the island. It was the first thing I checked.
Which means our killer is still among us, De Christo said.
Still on the island. Lord Abbott: seal off the Mount. From now
on, no-one enters. No-one leaves.
*
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4
THE ISLAND MONASTERY
How the Dauphin and his entourage came to be at Mont St
Michel was a matter of history. After 116 years of bloody
warfare with the Englisha war which would later become
known as The 100 Years Warall of France was celebrating.
And Mont St Michelthe spectacular monastery-cathedral
perched high on its own island out in the centre of the Gulf of
San Malo, so high that it was visible for twenty miles in every
directionwas to be the focal point of the post-war celebrations.
Three times during the hostilities, the island monastery had
held out against English sieges, once against the vicious Henry V
himself.
But those sieges had left their scars and at the conclusion of the
war, the monastery was in need of substantial repair. And so at
great expense, the King had sent his Royal Architect, Robert De
Christo to repair the monasterys battered fortifications and
rebuild its fire-scarred cathedral.
And now the King was coming to inspect his works. As an
envoy, he sent the Dauphin and his two brothers, the Princes
Louis and Phillip (and their respective hangers-on) to the island
monastery a week ahead of him.
But as De Christo was to discover, the Dauphin and his
travelling retinue had been very naughty boys during their time
at Mont St Michel.
THE CARETAKER
De Christo set up his investigation office in the refectory. It
comprised a desk and two chairsone for him and one for each
witness he interrogated.
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5
The first witness he called was old Brother Michael, the ancient
caretaker of the cathedral, the monk who had watched De
Christo at work for the past three months.
The world is a better place for that filthy roguess passing,
Brother Michael spat through his toothless mouth. Dauphin or
not, he shall tremble before the Lord when he is judged!
Ah-ha. De Christo thought. This could be a very short
investigation indeed.
Why do you say that? he asked.
The Dauphin was a brat. Of the most spoilt kind. He drank to
excess, he blasphemed with abandon and he was utterly wanton
in his depravities.
De Christo nodded at that. The young Dauphins sexual
appetites were well known. It was not uncommon for a rural
noble to discover a few months after a visit from the Dauphin
that one of the servant girls was with child.
We are all sinners in our own way, Brother Michael. Was he
worthy of death for those sins?
Brother Michael leaned forward, lowered his voice. For what
he did whilst he was here at the Mount, he should burn in Hell,
Master Builder. He the old man seemed pained to say
itdeflowered some of the younger nuns here at the abbey.
De Christo looked up from his notetaking. He what?
Brother Michaels eyes had filled with tears. Hawkish and
protective he may have been, but a murderer he was clearly not.
Besides, the crucifixion of the Dauphin had required strength and
Brother Michael was incapable of such an exertion.
De Christo tried another line. You live in an apartment
adjoining the cathedral, do you not, Brother?
I do.
And you cherish your cathedral, do you not? After all, you
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6
watched me like a hawk for the whole time I was working in it.
I love that cathedral, Master Builder, the old monk said. It is
a most sacred place, blessed by the Archangel Michael himself.
Indeed, I cherish it.
If you cherish it so, and knowing how diligently you watch
over it, De Christo said, how did it come to be that you did not
witness the murder of the Crown Prince in your precious
chapel?
Brother Michael scowled. We all must sleep sometime. It was
while I slept that the crime took place. My brothers will vouch
for my whereabouts last night.
Just as you will vouch for theirs, no doubt, De Christo thought.
Thank you, Brother Michael. That will be all for now.
SISTER MADELENE
The young nun sat before De Christo, sobbing. It had only taken
one question for her to break down.
Like many of the young nuns at the Mount, she was a country
girl of little education, for whom the cloisters of a monastery like
Mont St Michel offered at least some kind of life.
Yes! I did it! she cried. I gave myself to him! He gave me
wine, muddling my senses. Then he confused me with his clever
tonguehe told me that the King of France is only king because
God wills it. And since he was to be the next King of France, he
had been chosen by God. And since he desired my body, that
meant God desired that I give it to him. And so I lay with him
and Sister Arabelle.
You lay with him and Sister Arabelle? At the same time? De
Christo coughed.
Yes the young Sister Madelene seemed unsure if this was
The Dead Prince
7
an unusual thing to do. While his brothers lay with Sisters
Phillipa and Margarita on the other side of the Crown Princes
bedchamber
She bowed her head with shame, her voice trailing off.
De Christowho had seen many things in his
lifeswallowed.
So it wasan orgy? he said.
Yes.
How many nuns were present?
Four.
And how many of those nuns engaged in the debauchery?
All did, my Lord.
And how many of the Dauphins people were there?
Only three. He and his two brothers. Well, on the first
occasion.
There was more than one time? De Christo asked.
Three nights ago, the Dauphin invited we four to his
bedchamber, where we partook in the depravities. On the second
occasion, it was myself and Sister Arabelle onlyshared
between the three princes. And on the third night, last night, it
was the largest gathering of alltwelve nuns, the three princes
and two of their young stewards.
De Christo could only stare.
How did you feel afterwards? he managed to ask.
She bowed her head. I felt terrible, sire. Filthy. Like he had
used his wiles to convince me to engage in the most wanton
desires of the flesh.
Were you enraged?
Yes.
Did you feel powerless?
Yes.
The Dead Prince
8
Enraged and powerless enough to kill the Crown Prince?
The young nun looked away. No she said softly, almost
wistfully.
Her tone made De Christo pause. But before he could say
anything, she went on.
I liked it, Master Builder, she said. All my life I have
wondered about the pleasures of the flesh and now I know them.
They are delicious and delightful and I do not know why they are
veiled in so much shame and guilt.
She looked up at De Christo, her simple eyes wide. The truth
is, I was not enraged at all, Master Builder. I liked it.
THE SECOND-IN-LINE
The young Prince Louis slouched in the chair opposite De
Christo as if he didnt have a care in the world. And perhaps he
didnt, as he was now the Dauphin, the next-in-line to take the
throne.
You want to know if I killed my brother? Louis smirked. So
I could be King.
The thought had crossed my mind, De Christo said.
I would be lying if I said the thought hadnt crossed mine too
at various times in the past, Louis said. But no. I didnt kill him
this time. I have witnesses who can vouch for my whereabouts
last night.
Who?
A gentleman does not reveal such things, the prince smirked
again.
You were lying with a nun? De Christo said simply. You are
some gentleman.
The prince sat bolt upright. How did you?
The Dead Prince
9
Dont underestimate me, Your Highness.
And dont underestimate me, Master Builder, the prince
snapped. He stood up, walked to a nearby cupboard, where he
grabbed a terracotta drinking bowl.
He spoke as he filled the pale orange bowl with water from a
flask: You would be wise to choose your words carefully. For if
you falsely accuse me now, when my father is dead and I am
King, you shall end your days in a cell with only rats and your
own screaming for company.
He gazed evenly at De Christo as he drank.
So you were with one of the nuns last night? De Christo went
on.
Two of them, actually, the prince grinned. In my chamber.
Sisters Arabelle and Margarita. The three of us had been with the
others before we decided to adjourn to my bedchamber.
You left the greater orgy?
We did. And believe me, from what I saw, my dear departed
brother, the Crown Prince, was very much alive
andactivewhen we left.
De Christo gazed long and hard at the insolent young man who
was now next-in-line to be King.
The prince kicked back his chair, stood. Good luck with your
investigation, Master Builder.
THE ASSISTANT
De Christo questioned another dozen or so monks and nuns that
afternoon, including the Abbott himself. No leads arose.
At dusk, he stepped out onto the great balcony overlooking the
sweeping Gulf of San Malo.
He was joined by the Abbott. Any luck?
The Dead Prince
10
None so far.
De Christo saw some monks crossing a courtyard below them,
carrying their water bowls for the night. Among them, he saw
old Brother Michael talking to a much larger young monk, a
veritable giant of a man.
Who is that? he asked. The monk Brother Michael is
speaking to.
The Abbott said: Why, that is Brother Barnabas. He is a mute
and a simpleton. But a most devoted soulalmost as devout as
Brother Michael. They make a fine pairBrother Barnabas
worships old Brother Michael, parrots his every word. Indeed, he
aids Brother Michael in his duties as caretaker of the cathedral.
He is the assistant caretaker of the cathedral? De Christo said.
Yes. Brother Michael did not mention this?
No, he didnt De Christo eyed the gigantic Brother
Barnabas. Could this man have committed the crime?
Brother Barnabas! the Abbott exclaimed. No! He is a most
gentle giant. Strong but withdrawn, quiet as a mouse. I cannot
even begin to imagine the obscenity that could rouse Brother
Barnabas to anger, let alone murder.
De Christo frowned. Hmm. Still, I think I shall question him
tomorrow.
THE WALK
Exhausted from his days investigations, De Christo decided to
take a walk around Mont St Michelto examine some of the
places he had heard about.
He went to the cathedraland gazed up at the cross upon
which the Crown Prince had been crucified.
Looked up at the high balcony on which he had found the small
The Dead Prince
11
orange pebbles from the gardens.
Then he descended into the complex, whence he came to the
Crown Princes bedchamber.
It was smaller than he had imagineda lot smaller. A canopied
bed, a sitting chair, a window. Barely big enough to hold seven
people pressed close together.
Seven people only.
But Sister Madelene had said
Wait a moment, De Christo froze at the realisation. Oh De
Christo! You fool! You assumed that it all happened here!
ILLUMINATION
De Christo charged into the nuns dormitories. Some of the nuns
squealed at the sight of a man in their midst, but De Christo
ignored them. Where is Sister Madelene! he shouted. Where is
she!
Sister Madelene stepped forward. Yes, Master Builder?
Last night. The third orgy, he said. It did not take place in
the Crown Princes bedchamber, did it?
Well, no Sister Madelene flushed red.
Because the princes bedchamber was too small to
accommodate seventeen lustful young bodiestwelve nuns,
three princes and two stewards, if I remember correctly. So!
Where did this third orgy take place? De Christo asked, even
though he now knew the answer.
Sister Madelene averted her gaze.
Where did this third congress take place! he demanded.
The young nun swallowed. It took place in the cathedral, sire.
All around the altar. By the light of many candles. There were
naked bodies everywhere, engaged in every form of sexual
The Dead Prince
12
congress both natural and unnatural; writhing forms splayed all
about the holy area, on the steps, on the floor, with the Crown
Prince on the altar itself lying with Sister Phillipa; Sister Phillipa
moaning in ecstasy.
De Christo saw the scene in his mindbut in his minds eye,
he also saw the individual who had watched it all from the
balcony high above the cathedral.
An individual carrying an orange terracotta water
bowlpresumably having gone to get more water in the dead of
nightonly to hear a noise in the cathedralthen going to the
balcony to investigateand witnessing the depraved scene.
Witnessing the Crown Prince himself defiling an altar of God.
At which sight, he dropped his bowl in shock, breaking it. The
killer had managed to sweep up nearly all of the orange shards of
the broken bowl, but not all of them.
Then he must have waited for the fornicators to leave the
cathedral, waited for the Crown Prince to fall behind.
So he was big enough to overpower the prince.
Strong enough to nail him to the cross and hoist it high.
And passionate enough, devout enoughand dull-minded
enoughto kill the Crown Prince of France for his display of
gross disrespect on an altar of the Lord.
De Christo heard the Abbotts voice in his head: I cannot even
begin to imagine the obscenity that could rouse Brother
Barnabas to anger, let alone murder.
I think I can imagine it now, De Christo said aloud.
The King would arrive two days later.
Of course, riders had already brought him the news of his sons
death. Upon his arrival, De Christo told him everythingof the
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13
orgies, the murder, and the killer: the gigantic halfwit, Brother
Barnabas.
The King took the news in an odd way. He asked to see the
killer.
Brother Barnabas was brought to him. The King appraised the
devout simpleton closely.
No-one dared speak.
The King gazed at the silent Brother Barnabas.
Then he said softly: This man is to be allowed to live. My son
debased himself on an altar of the Lord. Sadly for my son, the
eyes of God were watching.
The twelve nuns who had partaken in the depravities were
reprimanded by their seniors, but they were also forgivenand
given the choice of a pure life henceforth or leaving the holy
orders.
Eight of them repented and stayed. But four of the disgraced
womenall of them younger nuns, among them Sister
Madelenechose to leave the abbey.
As for De Christo, one week later he would leave Mont St
Michel, too, never to return.
THE END
1
!"#$%&!' ()*+,-.,(/
COMPLEX 13
by
MATTHEW REILLY
PROLOGUE:
THE PRISON OF NO RETURN
There are several Great Military Myths out there.
One of the most well-known is the Area 51 myth: that the
US Air Force holds a crashed alien spacecraftand the aliens
that arrived in itinside a hangar complex in the Nevada
desert.
Another is that Adolf Hitler did not commit suicide in his
fortified bunker in Berlin before the Soviet armies stormed it.
Rather, the Soviets caught him and took him back to Moscow
where he ended his days in an isolation cell, going mad.
A third is that the Israeli Mossad, the most ruthless secret
service organisation in the world, knew of the September 11
attacks in advance and did not tell its ally America, thinking
that such a shocking Islamist attack would only enhance US
support for Israel.
Interesting conspiracy theories, yes.
But one myth has long prevailed over them all.
A legend which many in the United States intelligence
community swear is trueespecially those CIA operatives
Complex 13
2
who eavesdropped on the former Soviet Union in the early
years of the Cold War.
It was they who heard the radio intercepts of whispered,
frightened Russian voices speaking of a place named
!"#$%&!' ()*+,-.,(/.
Complex 13.
It was the USSRs Area 51, a high-security facility nineteen
miles outside Tunguskathe site of a famous meteor impact
in 1908where the Soviets supposedly held their own array of
extra-terrestrial creatures.
The myths about Complex 13 are terrifying: that no prisoner
who entered the complex ever left; that the Soviets fed human
prisoners to the aliens there; and that the Soviets did foul
experiments on the aliens themselves.
Members of the Soviet prison systempolitical prisoners,
anti-socials and military desertersknew Complex 13 by
another name.
The prison of no return.
But then an odd thing happened.
According to the CIA, Complex 13 was decommissioned in
December 1959, its furnaces extinguished, its iron doors shut,
its place on maps obliterated. It is not mentioned in any Soviet
transmissionradio or otherwiseafter that date.
It has not been found since.
In 1959, Complex 13 vanished from history.
Complex 13
3
THE LONELY MOUNTAIN
Tunguska,
North-eastern Siberia,
Present day
The American troops shouldnt have been thereout in the barren
northern mountains of Siberia, a thousand miles from anywhere,
breaching the sovereign territory of Russia.
Indeed, technically, since they were carrying weapons and
wearing combat uniforms, not only were they breaching the
sovereignty of Russia, they were committing an act of war.
But these twelve battle-hardened Force Recon Marines didnt
care.
Their mission was to be a quick one.
Get in, verify that it was the right complex, get whatever
documents they could find on the subject, and get out.
Why? Because this was urgent.
Their own government had one big problem back home and this
might be the only way to solve it.
Its under this one! Rockmeyer indicated the ominous black
mountain rising up before them. It soared into the sky like a slab
Complex 13
4
of seamless black stone, its front face covered in the rocky detritus
of a major landslide.
Master Sergeant Rockmeyer held in his hands a high-density
sonic-resonance imager, aimed at the mountain. The imager now
revealed that there was a cave-system inside the mountain, but one
that featured voids with squared-off corners.
A man-made structure.
THE FINISHER
The commander of the team stepped forward.
His name was Lieutenant John T. Armstrong, a quiet but
effective man who excelled at unusual missions.
Among other things, hed tracked down Saddam Hussein to a
tiny hole outside Tikrit; he was also the one whod captured bin
Laden after a gigantic firefight in a cave in Tajikistan. America
had not yet released that information to the world.
He was the man the Marines called in for the hard missions, the
tough ones.
His call-sign: the Finisher.
Armstrong called in his teams only piece of heavy equipment:
an M-19B tunnel-boring machine. It looked like a tank fitted with
a big cone-shaped drill-head on its main cannon.
The tunnel-borer roared to life, started cutting into the
mountainside.
Within an hour, it had penetrated two hundred metres into the
landslide
where it struck iron.
The doors of Complex 13.
* * *
Complex 13
5
THE INSIDE OF HELL
Flashlights in darknesstwelve of themlancing through the
hazy gloom.
Led by Armstrong, the Marine team came to the giant iron doors
of Complex 13, hidden for nearly fifty years under the landslide,
and now ripped open by Armstrongs tunnel-borer.
Scrawled in spraypaint over the broken iron doorframe were
Miltons famous words, translated into Russian: Abandon all
hope, ye who enter here.
The team entered anyway.
Man, when Hell freezes over someone said.
He was right.
It looked like Hellfrozen-over.
Immediately inside the iron doors, they found a giant grey all-
concrete receiving dock. It was flanked by some glass-walled
administration offices.
Blood was splattered everywherepainting the docks concrete
walls and the offices glass windows with long foul strokes.
Human body parts lay strewn about the floor, preserved for years
by the extreme cold, body parts that seemed
half-eaten.
A layer of frost covered everything.
Beyond the receiving dock, past a heavy steel door, they found a
wide spiralling stairwell, going down into hazy darkness.
Armstrong peered down into the stairwell
just as something large and leathery swooped low and fast
behind his head and with an ear-piercing shriek ripped the head of
the man behind him clean off!
Armstrong whirled aroundjust as Rockmeyer opened fire on
the creaturebrrrraaaappp!and it smashed against the nearest
wall, hit.
It lay on the floor, whimpering, dying.
The eleven remaining Marines gathered around it, stared at it.
Complex 13
6
It was man-sized, but with oily scaled skin and bat-like wings. It
looked a little like a teradactyl, the flying dinosaur, only its head
was more developed, more complex, like that of a miniature
dragon.
Mother of God, it just tore Kasdans head off
Jesus, its just like the two we saw at Groom Lake
Which means, Armstrong said, the Russians might also have
some of the bigger ones. And thats why were here. Stay sharp.
Twohy and de Souza, stand guard here. The rest of you, come on.
Its time to get nasty.
They descended the stairs.
THE STAIRCASE AND THE HANGAR
The staircase was open-sided, open to the air.
It was actually a tall-and-spindly spiralling structure that hung
from the ceiling of an immense underground room. But this
spiralling staircase never reached the floor of the hangarit ended
abruptly thirty feet above the floor of the room, at a long straight
catwalk that was itself suspended off the floor.
For in the centre of this hangar, on its base, directly underneath
the long catwalk, stood the centrepiece of Complex 13.
A spaceship.
THE SHIP
In a word, it was magnificent.
Even under a layer of 50-year-old frost, it was magnificent.
Its lines were streamlined and smooth; its outer shell was silver,
armoured and hard. It had two downswept wings, one high tailfin
and three mammoth rear thrusters.
Totally alien.
Complex 13
7
Totally cool.
It was largely intact, except for its great crushed nosethe
result of a tremendous crash many years ago.
Filling the vast floor area all around the ship was a huge multi-
holed alien structure, like a nest of some sort, or a three-
dimensional spiderweb, dotted with thousands of foul slimy holes.
This huge web fanned out from the ship and climbed the walls of
the hangar. It too was covered in frost.
All was still.
There! Armstrong pointed at a small office, also raised off the
floor, bolted to the wall at the very end of the catwalk far below
them. That must be the lab! Move!
Down the staircase they raced.
As they ran, more of the man-sized dragons emerged from nests
mounted on the walls of the hangar. They swooped in on the
double-helix-like staircaseas the Marines descending the stairs
returned automatic fire at them.
The dragons squealed, some fell, flapping and spasming.
One grabbed a Marine and hurled him off the stairs, sending
him falling a hundred feet into the web-like formation on the floor
of the hangar. The man landed in the web, which cushioned his
fall, and he survived
for about two seconds.
Thwack! He was grabbed by a fiendishly strong claw that
reached out from the nearest hole and yanked him out of sight,
screaming. Then
Crunch!
A foul blast of human blood came spraying out of the hole and
the screaming stopped.
Fucking hell the Marine behind Armstrong breathed.
Armstrong paid him no heed. He hit the catwalk on the fly, just
as one of the winged dargons landed on it right in front of him and
bared its teeth.
Complex 13
8
Two booming shots from his Desert Eagle pistol removed the
dragons head and it stumbled and staggeredheadlessbefore
falling off the catwalk, out of his way.
Behind him, another Marine fell.
They were three down, now.
Armstrong came to the lab, found the door locked from the
inside.
Four booming gunshots fixed that. The door came free and he
kicked it open and entered.
THE DEATH LAB
It was quiet as a tomb in the lab.
No squeals, no gunfire, no blood-sprays.
Armstrong and his men fanned out. Gentlemen! Files, notes,
everything you can find. We cant stay for long! Move it!
Koeppcover that door behind us!
As his men went to work, Armstrong scanned the labbenches,
desks, filing cabinets, serum bottles; all of it covered in frost; long
abandoned.
An ice-encrusted human corpse lay in a cornercoiled in the
foetal position, frozen in death; but whole, uneaten.
Doc! Armstrong called to his medic. Check him out!
Doc slid to the dead mans side, examined him.
He froze to death, sir. Musta locked himself in here to hide
from the aliens.
Someone called: Jesus, these records date back to 1938, when
the ship was found buried half a mile underneath Tunguskathe
Soviets believed its crash was the impact in 1908. It had just
penetrated deep underground
Another man said, They brought it inside this facilityand
examined it for years, venturing ever deeper into it. Then, in mid-
1956, they found the creatures in its innermost chamber. But they
Complex 13
9
were frozen in some kind of suspended-animation unit.
Hibernation units. They were sleeping. And the stupid Soviets
woke them them up. Within three years, it was all over.
Armstrong was still standing near the frozen laboratory worker.
Clasped in the dead mans hands was a large notepad.
Armstrong grabbed it, flipped it open.
The early pages were written in neat, clinical Russian:
The extra-terrestrials adore the taste of human meat.
Live human meat. They wont touch the dead prisoners.
Saw the anti-social writer, Polemov, thrown into the ship
today. He wasnt as brave as he was in his anti-Soviet
writings! He screamed like a girl as they dragged him
across the catwalk and tossed him in.
And another entry:
These creatures do not appear to be the builders of the
spaceship. It is well beyond their development. The
remains of least nine other alien species have been found
on the shipall dead. Only this species survived. Was this
some kind of zoological transport ship in which the
animals escaped?
Then this entry:
The creatures seem to go through three life-phases: the
slug-like infant phase, the dragon-like flying adult, and
then the largest phase of all, the enormous super-adults
that live in the holes of the large web/mound formation.
The infant phase lasts approximately five weeks. The
adult phase, ten weeks. The super-adult phase, another
ten weeks. Total life-span, twenty-five weeks.
Complex 13
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The life-cycle is reminiscent of the common butterfly,
only with one additional stage: a small slug becomes a
large winged adult which then cocoons again and
becomes much much larger...
According to Comrade Dr Karlov, at the fifth week of
super-adult life, the creatures give asexual birth to new
infants. On present observations, the good doctor
estimates that every one super-adult gives birth to two
infants
But then, late in the notebook, the ordered writing became a
frantic, messy, desperate scrawl:
Weve lost control of the complex! Karlov was wrong! It
wasnt a one-to-two ratio at all! Only the first generation
had that ratio. The second generation of super-adults
gave birth to four infants. The next gave birth to eight.
Then the next: sixteen! They have now multiplied beyond
our control and are taking over the complex!
The final entry read:
The order has been given. Complex 13 is surrounded by
the Spetsnatz who, along with the outside temperatures,
are keeping the creatures at bay. The Complex is now to
be buried under a deliberate landslide, triggered by
explosives. Trapped in this laboratory, I cannot get out,
unless I choose to run the gauntlet of a thousand man-
eating creatures. I will die in here. For the hundreds of
men I have marched to their deaths, may God have mercy
on my soul.
Armstrong stuffed the notebook into his backpack. I have the
breeding information! he called.
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And I have the killing information, one of his men said. The
Soviets did experiments on them with different temperatures. Heat
is no goodthey can survive superheated temperatures of up to
1,000 degrees Celsius. No wonder our grenades didnt work! But
theyre not impervious to cold! According to this data, the things
cant survive temperatures below -35 Celsius!
Thats why theyre trapped in here Doc said.
And thats exactly the information we need, Armstrong called.
Now lets get the hell out of here.
JOURNEY OUT OF HELL
Out of the lab they bolted.
Dozens of squealing man-sized dragons now filled the air of the
hangar.
Armstrong and his men fired up in every direction as they ran,
bringing down creatures all around them.
They came to the spindly metal spiral staircase leading to the
ceiling
just as a series of great low growls arose from the floor of the
hangar.
Every man froze.
The high-pitched squeals of the smaller dragons stopped.
Then, with a great cracking sound, five large super-adults burst
up out of the web-formation on the floor of the hangar!
They were enormousnot only possessed of heads like T-Rexs,
but each was the size and shape of a T-Rex, only with huge
flapping leathery wings and six free-grasping claws which they
used to grab prey. Their heads were utterly terrifying: longnosed
and leathery, with giant jaws equipped with teeth twenty inches
long!
And how they moved!
The great superdragon-like monsters soared into the air,
swooping around the staircase like giant bats, snapping at
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Armstrong and his men. They towered over the humanseasily
double their size.
One creature bit a Marine clean in half.
Another grabbed two with its claws and stuffed them both into
his mouth together.
In both cases the creature in question instantly vomited up its
food, spraying blood and partially-digested human remains
everywhere in some peculiar kind of eating function. No sooner
had the remains hit the floor than hundreds of little slug-like
creatures emerged from the web and started eating the shredded
remains.
Yet another of the super-adults made for Armstrong
himselfbut the Finisher just whirled to face it and fired his
large-bore Desert Eagle right into the monsters left eye.
The giant creatures eye exploded, torn from its socket and the
monster squealed and fell out of the air, crashing down on top of
its ship, writhing and convulsing.
Now only five Marines remained on the spiral staircase.
Armstrong and two of them made it to the top of the stairs just
as two of the super-adults wrenched on the staircase itself, ripping
the entire structure from its ceiling mounts, causing the whole
high-and-narrow staircase to toppleand fallwith the last two
Marines on it!
Like a slow-falling tree, the staircase fell, crashing down onto
the silver spaceship and the web formation on the floor, crushing
through the suspended catwalk on the way.
No man would be going down there ever again.
THE RACE OUT
Armstrong found his two rear-guardsTwohy and de
Souzalying dead at the top of the (now destroyed) spiral
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staircase, their corpses being eaten by three of the smaller
dragons!
Disturbed by Armstrongs sudden arrival, the three mini-
dragons looked up from their gobblingtheir snouts smeared with
fresh blood. Then, with astonishing speed, they made for
Armstrong and his two surviving menDoc and Rockmeyer.
The three Marines ducked as one and the dragons overshot
them. Then the Marines turned and firing their MP-5s after the
beasts, ripping them to shreds, causing them to peel downwards
like three damaged fighter planes.
Running again.
Hard and fast.
Desperate now.
Into the giant receiving dockand Armstrong saw the exit
doors and thought of the safety of the outside cold beyond them.
At which point, the super-adults emerged from the depths of the
complex. One landed on the concrete floor of the loading dock
with a great boom, upturned its massive head and roared fiercely.
The deep-bass sound of its roar shook the walls.
And suddenly, as he turned to look back, Armstrong tripped on
a corpse and fell awkwardly forward, flat onto his face.
The fall saved his lifebut not so Doc and Rockmeyer.
For as Armstrong had fallen, a super-adult creature had come
swooping down and had sliced the other two Marines in half,
clean across the waist.
They fell, in pieces.
Armstrongalone nowran, staggered, stumbled, the last few
metres, clawing his way out through iron doors of Complex 13,
under the words abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
He dived into the doorway, into the long tunnel his men had
bored, and immediately felt the colder air, spun to look back
just in time to see the wide-open jaws of a super-adult come
rushing at his face! All he saw was teeth and tongue and the
monsters deep dark yawning throat and then
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* * *
CHOMP!
The jaws clamped shut, one single inch away from Armstrongs
nose.
And John T. Armstrong lay thereon his butt, on the icy
groundright in front of four of the gigantic winged super-adults,
these great alien dragons, all of them towering over him, looming
over him, glaring at him with their foul evil faces and their bloody
man-eating grins.
But they didnt step forward through the great iron doorway.
Couldnt step forward.
It was too cold.
Armstrong had made it. Just.
And so he left the tunnel, left Complex 13, with a backpack full
of information.
Once outside, he was collected by a long-range pick-up chopper,
from which he radioed his prized information back to the States
back to Groom Lake, Nevada
the home of Area 51, the notorious secret base, where a group
of American military scientists were currently under attack from a
rapidly-multiplying colony of dragon-like aliens that they had
disturbed from their slumber in the lone alien ship that was kept in
the underground hangar there.
THE END

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