David Golemon - Leviathan

Everett and Virginia were frantically looking for the command bypass on the main auxiliary control panel. Alexandria was sitting in her chair in the control suite and trying to explain to Everett what he was looking for just as they both heard Leviathan sound her diving alarm. A few moments later, she felt her stomach leap as the giant ship slipped beneath the surface.

"Leviathan is starting to make a run for the sea," she said. The only good news thus far was that Tyler's men hadn't discovered them in the auxiliary control suite — yet.

Everett let out a whoop when he finally found what he was looking for. He quickly threw a switch, and the holographic controls lit up, coming to life with a myriad of colors.

For the first time in weeks, a true and meaningful smile crossed the red lips of Alexandria Heirthall.

She now had access to her element — the brain of Leviathan .

Heirthall smiled at Virginia as she once more took her place in the elevated command chair and turned on the holographic controls for her personal hologram. It failed to illuminate.

"They have cut power to my command hologram, but I will still give Tyler and Alvera the ride of their lives," she said as she reached into a compartment on the side of the command chair and removed a small case. "Captain, get to control and assist Colonel Collins. Kill Tyler and Alvera, and anyone else you can. Without Tyler and the yeoman, the rest won't launch. I'll do my best to keep Leviathan under the ice."

Everett started to turn when Alexandria stopped him, taking his arm. It seemed the captain had regained some of her strength and determination.

"I will sink her… if I have to."

"Understood."

Everett left the control suite. If he had lingered, he would have beheld a new Heirthall.

Alexandria Heirthall had chosen a side — her human side. Virginia smiled at her friend, then strapped herself into her seat.

"There have to be more weapons and good cover here someplace," Niles said as the last of the children filed into the large ice building.

Henri Farbeaux turned away from the large group and limped across the composite floor. For the moment he was just grateful for the warmth of the carved-out interior, but he knew their time was short. All the syms had come out of the water.

"Here they come," Sarah said, looking out of one of the shuttered wooden windows embedded in its ice frame.

Farbeaux went to the first room in the great building of rooms. He opened the door and found a comfortable meeting area, complete with long mahogany table and Queen Anne chairs. He shook his head and closed the door. He went to the next and opened it. It was a supply room — no firearms, only ice spikes, spearlike devices. The rest were ropes, ladders, boots for ice walking, and other cold-weather gear. Lined along the far wall were self-inflating, Zodiac-style rubber boats — only these were of a size Farbeaux had never before seen. They could easily seat one hundred and fifty adults. He also knew that they would do them no good one mile down in the Ross Ice Shelf. Farbeaux grabbed ten of the long, spiked poles and left the room.

"These are all we have," he said, handing them out to Niles, Sarah, Alice, Robbins, and Lee. "They may stop them better than bullets. I will check the last room. When I return, the senator, Dr. Compton, Dr. Robbins, and I will stand our ground at the front of the building. Young Sarah, you and Mrs. Hamilton will take charge of the children. I do not expect mercy from these creatures — do you understand?"

Everyone nodded. Henri turned and walked as quickly as his wound would allow to the back of the large building. He found the last door and saw a small staircase that went down into the ice. The composite material, resembling rubber, was scarce, unlike the rest of the building. He started down, hoping it might be an armory. When he reached the bottom, he stopped suddenly. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.

"My compliments, Captain Heirthall and Roderick Deveroux," he whispered.

At the lowest level of the building, in a special vaultlike room that was sealed against the harsh environment and lined in rubber for protection against the sea, was the Heirthall treasure — at least a thousand tons of gold, silver, and crates of jewels, a few of which were broken open and spilling their contents across the ice floor. Golden weapons; Saracen swords; golden shields from the time of Christ, and suits of armor from the Crusades. As he studied the room's design, he knew it would possibly be an area capable of a last stand against the enemy lurking outside.

Farbeaux shook his head at the discovery of the treasure — wondering what its true value would be, not only in terms of what it would bring on the open market, but in the prestige of owning some of the artifacts arrayed on the shelves. Henri looked upon the richest treasure in the history of the world and smiled.

"Colonel, here they come!" Sarah shouted.

"Ah, nothing is ever easy," Farbeaux said, turning away from the find of a lifetime, and he made his way back up the carved staircase. "How many, little Sarah?"

"Uh, all of them, I think."

When he looked through the open doorway on the main level, the first awful scream of a sym sounded. Niles Compton scored the first blow for the defense by jabbing the long, spearlike pole into the right eye of the first creature that came at them.

"Yes, nothing is ever easy," he repeated as he came forward, spike at the ready.

Captain Heirthall took the handgrips of the two toggles. Without rudder control, she could only use the bow and tower planes. She knew it might be enough to cause Leviathan to slow, or at the very least announce to whomever was listening that Leviathan was coming their way. This last point she kept to herself.

Heirthall removed a large pair of holographic glasses from their case and put them on. They resembled the visor of a pilot's flight helmet. She needed to utilize these because of the power loss to visuals. She flexed her fingers as the visor came to life. Leviathan's depth was close to a mile and a half, or a quarter of a mile under the deepest pressure ridge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The great vessel was only sixty miles from breaching the open sea. In the lower-right corner of the visor, she patched in to sonar, and could clearly see open water in front of her. She knew that didn't mean anything. As a matter of fact, she was guessing that Missouri was there — somewhere.

"Ginny, if I pass out or die on you, take the right plane control and pull back to its stops. Ram Leviathan into the bottom of the ice and keep her there. Give Colonel Collins and Captain Everett time."

"Can ice sink this damn thing?"

"I don't think so, but we can tear her up enough to slow her down, possibly causing enough damage to make her stop the missile launch."

Alexandria took hold of the hand grips, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pulled the right toggle control all the way back, at the same time pressing a small red button on the top, releasing control of the submarine from the command bridge. Her brainchild was once again hers.

Leviathan responded.

Yeoman Alvera made her final calculation for launching the missiles. A straight, deadly red line ran straight toward the center of the surface of the Ross Sea.

"Acting chief?"

"Aye," said the sixteen-year-old girl standing between the helm seats.

"Make ready to adjust depth and course in three—" Alvera almost bit her tongue off as Leviathan suddenly went nose up and shot for the bottom of the shelf. The yeoman watched the navigation hologram as the symbol for the submarine was speeding at fifty knots toward a series of jagged pressure ridges.